Zosimus, New History 1.29

Zosimus (Greek Ζώσιμος): Early Byzantine, pagan author of a history of the Roman Empire, published in the first quarter of the sixth century CE.

The translation of Zosimus' New History offered here was printed in 1814 by W. Green and T. Chaplin in London, and was probably prepared by J. Davis of the Military Chronicle and Military Classics Office. The translator is anonymous. The text was found at Tertullian.org. The notes were added by Jona Lendering.


[1.29.1] But Valerian brought into Italy from beyond the Alps a vast army, with which he deemed himself secure of conquering Aemilian. The soldiers of Aemilian, who saw that his conduct was more like that of a private sentinel than of an emperor, now put him to death as a person unfit for so weighty a charge.

[1.29.2] By these means Valerian became emperor with universal consent, and employed himself in the regulation of affairs. But the excursions of the Scythians and of the Marcomanni, who made an inroad into all the countries adjacent to the empire, reduced Thessalonica to extreme danger; and though they were with much difficulty compelled to raise the siege by the brave defence of those within, yet all Greece was in alarm.

[1.29.3] The Athenians repaired their walls, which they had never thought worth their care since Sulla threw them down. The Peloponnesians likewise fortified the Isthmus, and all Greece put itself upon its guard for the general security.