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At about that same time Sabinianus, puffed up by his suddenly acquired power, entered the confines of Cilicia and handed his predecessor the emperor's letter, which directed him to make all haste to the court, to be invested with a higher rank; and that too at a crisis when, even if Ursicinus were living in Thule, 1 the weight of affairs with good reason demanded that he be sent for, 2 well acquainted as he was with the old-time discipline and with the Persian methods of warfare from long experience.

1 Looked on by the Romans as a land north of Britain, perhaps Norway confused with Iceland, but of which they had no definite conception. It is a proverbial expression for “the ends of the earth.”

2 That is, to go to the seat of war against Sapor, instead of to the emperor's court.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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