|
BUT there is nothing like hearing his own words, which are as
follows:
"Then he, having betrayed one of the emperors that preceded him, and
made war on the other, perished with his whole family speedily and
utterly. But Gallienus was proclaimed and universally acknowledged at
once an old emperor and a new, being before them and continuing after
them. For according to the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah,
'Behold the things from the beginning have come to pass, and new
things shall now arise.' For as a cloud passing over the sun's rays
and obscuring them for a little time hides it and appears in its place;
but when the cloud has passed by or is dissipated, the sun which had
risen before appears again; so Macrianus who put himself forward and
approached the existing empire of Gallienus, is not, since he never
was. But the other is just as he was. And his kingdom, as if it had
cast aside old age, and had been purified from the former wickedness,
now blossoms out more vigorously, and is seen and heard farther, and
extends in all directions."
He then indicates the time at which he wrote this in the following
words: "It occurs to me again to review the days of the imperial
years. For I perceive that those most impious men, though they have
been famous, yet in a short time have become nameless. But the holier
and more godly prince, having passed the seventh year, is now
completing the ninth, in which we shall keep the feast."
|
|