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[19] For as that emperor felt superhuman exultation because he so often killed a great number of wild animals with javelins in the presence of the people, and slaughtered with various kinds of weapons in the arena of the amphitheatre a hundred lions that were let in together, without needing to inflict a second wound, 1 just so Gratian also, while he pierced sharptoothed beasts with many an arrow-shot within the enclosures which are called vivaria, 2 neglected as of little moment many serious occurrences; and that too at a time when, even if Marcus Antoninus had been emperor, he could not without like-minded colleagues and most prudent counsel 3 have mitigated the grievous disasters to our country.

1 See Lamprid., Commodus, 12, 12.

2 Parks where wild beasts were kept.

3 Cf. Capitolinus, Ant. Phil. 22, 3 ff.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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