Illud autem erat inclemens, obruendum perenni silentio, quod arcebat docere magistros rhetoricos et grammaticos, ritus Christiani cultores." - Meaning and context.">
But this one thing was inhumane, and ought to be buried in eternal silence, namely, that he forbade teachers of rhetoric to practise their profession, if they were followers of the Christian religion.
• Res gestae, XXII, x, 7
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Illud autem erat inclemens, obruendum perenni silentio, quod arcebat docere magistros rhetoricos et grammaticos, ritus Christiani cultores.

— Ammianus Marcellinus

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Illud autem erat inclemens, obruendum perenni silentio, quod arcebat docere magistros rhetoricos et grammaticos, ritus Christiani cultores." in the context of "But this one thing was inhumane, and ought to be buried in eternal silence, namely, that he forbade teachers of rhetoric to practise their profession, if they were followers of the Christian religion.
• Res gestae, XXII, x, 7" 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
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.