Surviving Works

CONSTANTIUS AND GALLUS. 353.

agitated by the fear of disgrace, they defected to the Roman garrisons, but without achieving any result in their departure, and then they languished, inactive.

IV. 1. The Saraceni Saracens/Arabs, however, are never to be desired as friends nor as enemies. Moving back and forth, they would devastate everything they could find in a brief moment of time, like rapacious kites. If these birds descry prey from on high, they snatch it with a swift flight, or, if they do not succeed, they do not linger. 2. Although I may have already reported on their customs in the deeds of the Emperor Marcus, and occasionally afterwards, I shall now set forth a few points about them briefly. 3. Among these tribes, whose territory extends from the Assyrians to the cataracts of the Nile and the borders of the Blemmyes, all are warriors of equal rank. They are half-naked, clad in colored cloaks as far as the groin, and move through various regions—whether in peace or in turmoil—with the help of swift and slender camels. None of them ever touches a plow-tail, cultivates a tree, or seeks a living by tilling the fields. Instead, they always wander through wide and vast spaces, without a home, without fixed settlements, or laws. Nor do they endure the same sky for long, or is the tract of any one land ever pleasing to them. 4. Their life is always in flight, and their wives are hired on a temporary, contractual basis. So that there may be a semblance of marriage, the future spouse offers a spear and a tent to the husband in the name of a dowry, with the understanding that she will depart after a fixed day if she so chooses. It is incredible with what ardor both sexes among them are given to sexual desire. 5. Moreover, they wander so widely throughout their lives that a woman may marry in one place, give birth in another, and raise her children far away, with no opportunity for rest. 6. The food for all of them is wild game, an abundant supply of milk—by which they are sustained—diverse herbs, and whatever birds they can catch by fowling. We have seen many of them who were entirely ignorant of the use of grain and wine. 7. So far...