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[12] And immediately afterwards Ormisdas, a mature young man, son of the royal prince of the same name, 1 was given the rank of proconsul, and therewith according to ancient usage the control of civil and military affairs. This man acted with great mildness, in accordance with his disposition, and when he was on the point of being seized by a sudden onset of the soldiers whom Valens had sent through by-paths of Phrygia, he made his escape with such vigorous courage, that he embarked on board a ship which he had got ready in case of danger, and carried off his wife safely amid volleys of arrows when she followed him and was all but taken prisoner; she was a rich and distinguished matron, whose high reputation and commendable firmness later saved her husband amid extreme dangers.

1 See xvi. 10, 16; xxiv. 1, 2; etc. The text varies in the spelling.

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.

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