previous next
[6] Here we learned that on a plain extending for seventy miles through dry regions only water that was salt and ill-smelling could be found, and nothing to eat except southernwood, wormwood, dragonwort and other plants of [p. 541] the most wretched sort. Therefore the vessels which we carried with us were filled with fresh water, and by killing camels and other pack animals we provided ourselves with food, unwholesome 1 though it was.

1 Büchele thinks the text means “which eventually cost us dear,” since they lost the use of these animals.

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.

The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1940)
load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1939)
load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1935)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: