242 Austi)i Morris Harmon, 



fac me imperatorem 

 si id volueris impetrare. 

 Occasionally Ammianus seems to retain the actual words of a 

 short quotation, but fills out his clausulae with a verbum dicendi. 

 An example is the exclamation of the actor in Antioch, when the 

 Persians surprised the jteople in the theatre : " nisi somnus est " 

 inquit " en Persae ! " The remark of Iphicles when the emperor 

 asked him if the people of Epirus spoke from their hearts in prais- 

 ing their prefect, may also be cited: " Gementes " inquit "at in viti." 

 I can refer to but two quotations of this sort which have irregular 

 clausulae : when Gratian was elevated to the purple, Eupraxius 

 exclaimed familia Gratiani hoc meretur, and wlien Valentinianus had 

 ordered a wholesale execution of dignitaries in several cities, Flo- 

 rentius remarked 



ecquid agetur si oppidum aliquod 



curiales non hal)eret tantos? 



inter reliqua id quoque suspend! debet 



ut cum habuerit occidantur. 

 Even in Ammianus' citations from books a few trifling changes in 

 the direction of a better rhythm are discernible, but it may well 

 be that these are unintentional.^ 



' Thus I. 9. 2 (order); 232. 23 {erraverit for erravertmt); II. 149. 26 

 (transposition of sc). It should be noted that many of Ammianus' quo- 

 tations cannot be tested, as the works from which the^^ were taken liave 

 perished. 



