§1Sapori regi regum vel soli 1:
Si scirem posse aliquando Romanos penitus vinci, gauderem tibi de victoria, quam praefers. sed quia vel fato vel virtute gens illa plurimum potest, vide ne, quod senem imperatorem cepisti et id quidem fraude, male tibi cedat et posteris tuis.
To Sapor, king of kings, or even the only king 1: If I knew that the Romans could ever be utterly defeated, I would congratulate you on the victory which you display. But because that nation, whether by fate or by valor, is extremely powerful, see to it that your capturing of an old emperor, and that too by fraud, does not turn out badly for you and your descendants.
cogita quantas gentes Romani ex hostibus suas fecerint, a quibus saepe victi sunt.
Reflect on how many nations the Romans have made their own from enemies by whom they were often defeated.
audivimus certe quod Galli eos vicerint et ingentem illam civitatem incenderint; certe Romanis serviunt, quid Afri? eos non vicerunt? certe serviunt Romanis, de longioribus exemplis et fortasse inferioribus nihil dico.
We have certainly heard that the Gauls defeated them and burned that immense city; yet they certainly serve the Romans. What of the Africans? Did they not defeat them? Yet they certainly serve the Romans. Of more distant and perhaps lesser examples I say nothing.
Mithradates Ponticus totam Asiam tenuit; certe victus est, certe Asia Romanorum est.
Mithridates of Pontus held the whole of Asia; yet he was certainly defeated, and Asia certainly belongs to the Romans.
si meum consilium requiris, utere occasione pacis et Valerianum suis redde, ego gratulor felicitati tuae,; si tamen illa uti tu scias.
If you seek my advice, use the opportunity for peace and restore Valerian to his people; I congratulate you on your good fortune, if only you know how to use it.
§2Velenus rex Cadusiorum sic scripsit:
Remissa mihi auxilia integra et incolumia gratanter accepi.
Velenus, king of the Cadusians, wrote thus: I have gratefully received the auxiliary forces sent back to me, intact and unharmed.
at captum Valerianum principem principum non satis gratulor, magis gratuler, si redderetur.
But I do not rejoice enough at the capture of Valerian, the prince of princes; I should rejoice more if he were restored.
Romani enim graviores tunc sunt, quando vincuntur.
For the Romans are more formidable precisely when they are defeated.
age igitur ut prudentem decet, nec fortuna te inflammet, quae multos decepit.
Act, therefore, as becomes a prudent man, and let not fortune inflame you, which has deceived many.
Valerianus et filium imperatorem habet et nepotem Caesarem, et quid ad omnem orbem illum Romanum, qui contra te totus insurget? redde igitur Valerianum et fac cum Romanis pacem, nobis etiam ob gentes Ponti eas profuturam.
Valerian has both a son who is emperor and a grandson who is Caesar, and what does this mean against that whole Roman world, which will rise up entirely against you? Restore, therefore, Valerian and make peace with the Romans, which will be of benefit to us as well on account of those nations of Pontus.
§3Artavasdes rex Armeniorum talem ad Saporem epistulam misit:
In partem gloriae venio, sed vereor ne non tam viceris quam bella severis.
Artavasdes, king of the Armenians, sent such a letter to Sapor: I share in your glory, but I fear lest you have not so much conquered as sown the seeds of wars.
Valerianum et filius repetit et nepos et duces Romani et omnis Gallia et omnis Africa et omnis Hispania et omnis Italia et omnes gentes quae sunt in Illyrico atque in oriente et in Ponto, quae cum Romanis consentiunt aut Romanorum sunt, unum ergo senem cepisti sed omnes gentes orbis terrarum infestissimas tibi fecisti, fortassis et nobis, qui auxilia misimus, qui vicini sumus, qui semper vobis inter vos pugnantibus laboramus.
Valerian is demanded back by his son, his grandson, the Roman generals, all Gaul, all Africa, all Spain, all Italy, and all the nations that are in Illyricum, in the East, and in Pontus, which either allied with the Romans or belong to them. Therefore, you have captured one old man, but you have made all the nations of the world most hostile to you, and perhaps also to us, who sent auxiliaries, who are neighbors, and who always suffer when you fight among yourselves.
§4Bactriani et Hiberi et Albani et Tauroscythae Saporis litteras non receperunt sed ad Romanos duces scripserunt auxilia pollicentes ad Valerianum de captivitate liberandum.
The Bactrians, Hiberians, Albanians, and Tauroscythians did not receive Sapor's letters, but wrote to the Roman generals, promising auxiliaries for liberating Valerian from captivity.
Sed Valeriano apud Persas consenescente Odaenathus Palmyrenus collecto exercitu rem Romanam prope in pristinum statum reddidit.
But while Valerian was growing old among the Persians, Odaenathus of Palmyra, having gathered an army, restored the Roman affairs almost to their former state.
cepit regis thesauros, cepit etiam, quas thesauris cariores habent reges Parthici, concubinas, quare magis reformidans Romanos duces Sapor timore Ballistae atque Odaenathi in regnum suum ocius se recepit, atque hic interim finis belli fuit Persici.
He captured the king's treasures; he also captured the concubines, whom the Parthian kings hold dearer than treasures. Wherefore, Sapor, dreading the Roman generals even more, retreated more swiftly into his own kingdom out of fear of Ballista and Odaenathus, and this was, for the time being, the end of the Persian war.
§5Haec sunt digna cognitu de Valeriano, cuius per annos sexaginta vita laudabilis in eam conscenderat gloriam ut post omnes honores et magistratus insigniter gestos imperator fieret, non, ut solet, tumultuario populi concursu, non militum strepitu, sed iure meritorum et quasi ex totius orbis una sententia.
These things are worthy of knowledge concerning Valerian, whose praiseworthy life through sixty years had risen to such glory that, after all honors and magistracies had been outstandingly discharged, he became emperor, not, as is customary, by a tumultuous gathering of the people, nor by the clamor of the soldiers, but by the right of merits and as if by the single voice of the entire world.
denique si data esset omnibus potestas promendi arbitrii quem imperatorem vellent, alter non esset electus.
Indeed, if the power of declaring their choice had been given to everyone, as to whom they wished for emperor, no other would have been elected.
Et ut scias quanta vis in Valeriano meritorum fuerit publicorum, ponam senatus consulta, quibus animadvertant omnes quid de illo semper amplissimus ordo indicaverit.
And so that you may know how great a power of public merits there was in Valerian, I will set down the decrees of the senate, by which everyone may perceive what that most illustrious order always judged concerning him.
Duobus Deciis consulibus sexto kal. Novembrium die, cum ob imperatorias litteras in Aede Castorum senatus haberetur, ireturque per sententias singulorum, cui deberet censura deferri (nam id Decii posuerant in senatus amplissimi potestate), ubi primum praetor edixit:
Quid vobis videtur, patres conscripti, de censore deligendo?
atque eum, qui erat princeps tunc senatus, sententiam rogasset absente Valeriano (nam ille in procinctu cum Decio tunc agebat), omnes una voce dixerunt interrupto more dicendae sententiae:
Valeriani vita censura est.
On the sixth day before the Kalends of November, in the consulship of the two Decii, when the senate was being held in the Temple of Castor on account of an imperial letter, and opinions were being gathered from each individual as to whom the censorship ought to be conferred upon (for the Decii had placed this in the power of the most illustrious senate), as soon as the praetor proclaimed: "What is your opinion, conscript fathers, concerning the choosing of a censor?" and when he had asked the opinion of him who was then the prince of the senate, in the absence of Valerian (for he was then on active service with Decius), everyone with one voice said, interrupting the custom of delivering opinions: "The life of Valerian is a censorship.
ille de omnibus iudicet, qui est omnibus melior, ille de senatu iudicet, qui nullum habet crimen, ille de vita nostra sententiam ferat, cui nihil potest obici.
Let him judge concerning everyone, who is better than everyone; let him judge concerning the senate, who has no charge against him; let him pass judgment on our lives, against whom nothing can be objected.
Valerianus a prima pueritia fuit censor.
Valerian has been a censor from his earliest boyhood.
Valerianus in tota vita sua fuit censor, prudens senator, modestus senator, gravis senator, amicus bonorum, inimicus tyrannorum, hostis criminum, hostis vitiorum, hunc censorem omnes accipimus, hunc imitari omnes volumus, primus genere, nobilis sanguine, emendatus vita, doctrina clarus, moribus singularis, exemplum antiquitatis. quae cum essent saepius dicta, addiderunt,
omnes,
atque ita discessum est.
Valerian in his whole life was a censor, a prudent senator, a modest senator, a grave senator, a friend of the good, an enemy of tyrants, a foe of crimes, a foe of vices. This man we all accept as censor; this man we all wish to imitate. First in family, noble in blood, blameless in life, illustrious in learning, singular in character, an exemplar of antiquity." When these things had been said repeatedly, they added: "Everyone!" And thus the assembly broke up.