113. Let us hear Ammianus himself. Haec, ut miles quondam at
Graecus, a principatu Caesaris Nervae exorsus, adusque
Valentis interitum, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus
veritatem professum nunquam, ut arbitror, sciens, silentio
ausus corrumpere vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua potiores
aetate, doctrinisque florentes. Quos id, si libuerit,
aggressuros, procudere linguas ad majores moneo stilos.
Ammian. xxxi. 16. The first thirteen books, a superficial
epitome of two hundred and fifty-seven years, are now lost;
the last eighteen, which contain no more than twenty-five
years, still preserve the copious and authentic history of
his own times.