Haec ut miles quondam et Graecus, a principatu Caesaris Nervae exorsus, ad usque Valentis interitum, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum numquam (ut arbitror) sciens silentio ausus corrumpere, vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua potiores, aetate et doctrinis florentes. Quos id (si libuerit) aggressuros, procudere linguas ad maiores moneo stilos." - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
These events, from the principate of the emperor Nerva to the death of Valens, I, a former soldier and a Greek, have set forth to the measure of my ability, without ever (I believe) consciously venturing to debase through silence or through falsehood a work whose aim was the truth. The rest may be written by abler men, who are in the prime of life and learning. But if they chose to undertake such a task, I advise them to forge their tongues to the loftier style.
• Res gestae, XXXI, xvi, 9, explicit
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Haec ut miles quondam et Graecus, a principatu Caesaris Nervae exorsus, ad usque Valentis interitum, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum numquam (ut arbitror) sciens silentio ausus corrumpere, vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua potiores, aetate et doctrinis florentes. Quos id (si libuerit) aggressuros, procudere linguas ad maiores moneo stilos.

— Ammianus Marcellinus

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Haec ut miles quondam et Graecus, a principatu Caesaris Nervae exorsus, ad usque Valentis interitum, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum numquam (ut arbitror) sciens silentio ausus corrumpere, vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua potiores, aetate et doctrinis florentes. Quos id (si libuerit) aggressuros, procudere linguas ad maiores moneo stilos." in the context of "These events, from the principate of the emperor Nerva to the death of Valens, I, a former soldier and a Greek, have set forth to the measure of my ability, without ever (I believe) consciously venturing to debase through silence or through falsehood a work whose aim was the truth. The rest may be written by abler men, who are in the prime of life and learning. But if they chose to undertake such a task, I advise them to forge their tongues to the loftier style.
• Res gestae, XXXI, xvi, 9, explicit" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Ammianus Marcellinus" (Quotes: John C. Rolfe, Ammianus: Roman History, LCL, vols. 1, 2, 3 (1935, 1939, 1940) Norbert Guterman, A Book of Latin Quotations (1966), pp. 356–9) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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Ammianus Marcellinus

About Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicised as Ammian (Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; c. 330 – c. 391–400), was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). Written in Latin and known as the Res gestae, his work chronicled the history of Rome from the accession of the Emperor Nerva in 96 to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Only the sections covering the period 353 to 378 survive.