ugh labouring with all their might, were unable
to remove it; so that after waiting the greater part of the day there,
he was obliged at last to go out by another gate.

18. And on the night preceding the day on which he died, he saw in a
dream, such as often visits a man in his sleep, his absent wife sitting
by, with dishevelled hair, and clad in a mourning robe; which some
people fancied was Fortune, who was about in this sad apparel to take
her leave of him.

19. After this, when he came forth in the morning, his brow was
contracted, and his countenance somewhat melancholy; and when his horse
was brought to him, it would not let him mount, but reared up its
forefeet over the shoulders of the equerry who was holding it.
Valentinian, according to the usual bent of his savage temper, grew
immoderately furious, and ordered the equerry's hand to be cut off,
which had, he said, pushed him aside when mounting a horse he was used
to: and the innocent youth would have perished under torture if
Cerealis, the principal master of the horse, had not delayed the
barbarous infliction at his own risk.

VI.

Sec. 1. After this event ambassadors arrived from the Quadi, with humble
supplications, entreating peace, and oblivion of the past: and that
there might be no obstacle to their obtaining this, they promised to
furnish a body of recruits, and some other things which would be of use
to the Roman state.

2. And after they had been received, and had obtained permission to
return with the grant of an armistice which they had solicited (but in
truth, our want of supplies and the unfavourable season of the year
prevented us from harassing them any longer), they were, by the
influence of Equitius, who became security for their good behaviour,
admitted into the council-chamber. When introduced they seemed quite
overcome by fear, bowing down to the ground; and on being ordered to
unfold their message, they urged all the customary pretences and
excuses, confirming them by an oath; assuring the council that whatever
offence had been committed against any of our people, had not been done
by the consent of the nobles of the nation, but only by some foreign
banditti who dwelt on the borders of the river; they added further, as a
fact quite sufficient to establish the truth of their allegations, that
the fortress which had been begun to be built both unjustly and
unreasonably, had inflamed the savage temper of those rude men to a
great