The Celtic Literature Collective

The Appearance of Belenos at Aquileia

LATIN:
21.6 Post hoc Aquileiam venit, quae contra eum armatis circa muros dispositis portas clausit, nec propugnatio defuit Menophilo et Crispino consularibus viris auctoribus. 22. cum igitur frustra obsideret Aquileiam Maximinus, legatos in eandem urbem misit. quibus populus paene consenserat, nisi Menophilus cum collega restitisset, dicens etiam deum Belenum per haruspices respondisse Maximinum esse vincendum. unde etiam postea Maximiniani milites iactasse dicuntur Apollinem contra se pugnasse debere, nec illam Maximi aut senatus sed deorum fuisse victoriam. quod quidam idcirco ab his fictum esse dicunt, quod erubescebant armati sic paene ab inermibus victi.

ENGLISH:
21.6 After this he came to Aquileia, which shut its gates against him and posted armed men about the walls. Nor did the defence lack vigour, being conducted by Menophilus and Crispinus, both men of consular rank. 22. So when Maximinus found he was besieging Aquileia in vain, he sent envoys to the city. And the people had almost yielded to them, had not Menophilus and his colleague opposed it, saying that the god Belenus had declared through the soothsayers that Maximinus would be conquered. 2Whence afterwards the soldiers of Maximinus boasted, it is said, that Apollo must have fought against them, and that really victory belonged not to the senate and Maximus but to the gods. 3But, on the other hand, it is said that they advanced this theory because they blushed, armed men as they were, to have been defeated by men practically unarmed

SOURCE
Capitolinus, Julius. "The Two Maximini". Historia Augusta. Loeb Classical Library, 1924. Lacus Curtis: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Maximini_duo*.html