Superstitious rather than truly religious, he sacrificed innumerable victims without regard to cost, so that one might believe that if he had returned from the Parthians, there would soon be a scarcity of cattle.
• Res gestae, XXV, iv, 17
• Res gestae, XXV, iv, 17
“
Superstitiosus magis quam sacrorum legitimus observator, innumeras sine parsimonia pecudes mactans, ut aestimaretur (si revertisset de Parthis), boves iam defuturos.
— Ammianus Marcellinus
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Superstitiosus magis quam sacrorum legitimus observator, innumeras sine parsimonia pecudes mactans, ut aestimaretur (si revertisset de Parthis), boves iam defuturos." in the context of "Superstitious rather than truly religious, he sacrificed innumerable victims without regard to cost, so that one might believe that if he had returned from the Parthians, there would soon be a scarcity of cattle.
• Res gestae, XXV, iv, 17" 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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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.
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.
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