(1) Post hōs Decius ē Pannoniā īnferiōre, Budaliae nātus, imperium sūmpsit. Bellum cīvīle, quod in Galliā mōtum fuerat, oppressit. Fīlium suum Caesarem fēcit. Rōmae lavācrum aedificāvit. Cum bienniō imperāssent ipse et fīlius, uterque in barbaricō interfectī sunt. Inter dīvōs relātī.
notes
Messius Decius Emperor, 249–251 CE
Post hōs: referring to Philip the Arab and Philip II
Decius: his full name was Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius. He was sent by Philippus to Moesia to crush an insurrection and was compelled by the soldiers to proclaim himself emperor. His reign was occupied chiefly with warring against the Goths. He persecuted the Christians with great severity (Hazzard).
Budaliae: "at Budalia," locative case (AG 427.3)
mōtum fuerat: = motum erat > moveo, movēre
Fīlium suum Caesarem fēcit: Herennius Etruscus
lavācrum aedificāvit: The Baths of Decius (Thermae Decianae) are no longer extant.
imperāssent: imperavissent
in barbaricō: understand solō, "in barbarian territory" (LS solum I.B1); Decius died in the Battle of Abritus in 251 CE, in what is now Bulgaria. As Jordanes relates,
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"Cniva divided the army into two parts and sent some to waste Moesia, knowing that it was undefended through the neglect of the emperors. He himself with seventy thousand men hastened to Euscia, that is, Novae. When driven from this place by the general Gallus, he approached Nicopolis, a very famous town situated near the Iatrus river. This city Trajan built when he conquered the Sarmatians and named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius drew near, Cniva at last withdrew to the regions of Haemus, which were not far distant. Thence he hastened to Philippopolis, with his forces in good array. When the Emperor Decius learned of his departure, he was eager to bring relief to his own city and, crossing Mount Haemus, came to Beroa. While he was resting his horses and his weary army in that place, all at once Cniva and his Goths fell upon him like a thunderbolt. He cut the Roman army to pieces and drove the Emperor, with a few who had succeeded in escaping, across the Alps again to Euscia in Moesia, where Gallus was then stationed with a large force of soldiers as guardian of the frontier. Collecting an army from this region as well as from Oescus, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war. But Cniva took Philippopolis after a long siege and then, laden with spoil, allied himself to Priscus, the commander in the city, to fight against Decius. In the battle that followed they quickly pierced the son of Decius with an arrow and cruelly slew him. The father saw this, and although he is said to have exclaimed, to cheer the hearts of his soldiers: 'Let no one mourn; the death of one soldier is not a great loss to the republic,' he was yet unable to endure it, because of his love for his son. So he rode against the foe, demanding either death or vengeance, and when he came to Abritus, a city of Moesia, he was himself cut off by the Goths and slain, thus making an end of his dominion and of his life. This place is to-day called the Altar of Decius, because he there offered strange sacrifices to idols before the battle." (Get. 18.101–104, Translated by Charles C. Mierow)
vocabulary
Core Vocabulary | Numbers | Dates
Decius, ī, m. |
the name of a Roman gens. (Metius) Decius, Roman emperor 249–251 A.D. |
Pannonia, ae, f. |
one of the most important provinces of Rome, lying between the Danube and the Alps |
Budalia, ae, f. |
a town in Lower Pannonia, the birthplace of the emperor Decius |
cīvīlis, e [cīvis], adj. |
pertaining to a citizen; civil; polite, moderate |
Gallia, ae, f. |
the country of the Gauls; modern France and the territories on the west bank of the Rhine. The northern part of Italy was settled by Gauls, and was called Gallia Cisalpina; hence the pl. Galliae. |
opprimō, ere, pressī, pressus |
to crush utterly, overpower, overwhelm |
Caesar, aris, m. |
a family name in the Julian gens. (1) C. Iūlius Caesar, the famous dictator; (2) Sex. Iūlius Caesar, uncle of the dictator. Consul 91 B.C.; (3) C. Octāviānus, the emperor Augustus |
lavācrum, ī [lavō], n. |
bath |
aedificō, āre, āvī, ātus [aedis + faciō] |
to build |
biennium, ī [bis + annus], n. |
two years' time |
Barbaricum, ī, n. |
a foreign land |