e
Danube, he watched the movements of the barbarians, who, before his
arrival, had been proposing, under friendly pretences, to enter
Pannonia, meaning to lay it waste during the severity of the winter
season, before the snow had been melted by the warmth of spring and the
river had become passable, and while our people were unable from the
cold to bear bivouacking in the open air.

5. He at once therefore sent two tribunes, each accompanied by an
interpreter, to the Limigantes, to inquire mildly why they had quitted
the homes which at their own request had been assigned to them after the
conclusion of the treaty of peace, and why they were now straggling in
various directions, and passing their boundaries in contempt of his
prohibitions.

6. They made vain and frivolous excuses, fear compelling them to have
recourse to lies, and implored the emperor's pardon, beseeching him to
discard his displeasure, and to allow them to cross the river and come
to him to explain the hardships under which they were labouring;
alleging their willingness, if required, to retire to remoter lands,
only within the Roman frontier, where, enjoying lasting peace and
worshipping tranquillity as their tutelary deity, they would submit to
the name and discharge the duties of tributary subjects.

7. When the tribunes returned and related this, the emperor, exulting
that an affair which appeared full of inextricable difficulties was
likely to be brought to a conclusion without any trouble, and being
eager to add to his acquisitions, admitted them all to his presence. His
eagerness for acquiring territory was fanned by a swarm of flatterers,
who were incessantly saying that when all distant districts were at
peace, and when tranquillity was established everywhere, he would gain
many subjects, and would be able to enlist powerful bodies of recruits,
thereby relieving the provinces, which would often rather give money
than personal service (though this expectation has more than once proved
very mischievous to the state).

8. Presently he pitched his camp near Acimincum,[108] where a lofty
mound was raised to serve for a tribune; and some boats, loaded with
soldiers of the legions, without their baggage, under command of
Innocentius, an engineer who had suggested the measure, were sent to
watch the channel of the river, keeping close under the bank; so that,
if they perceived the barbarians in disorder, they might come upon them
and surprise thei