Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

252 9 Exchange of information between West and East
through the organs of the state and, as he knew the script of both languages, 36
turned to accounting: he took down which and how many troops were positioned
in which places and where and when they would march, ready to fight battle, and
he also made eager inquiries whether the supplies of arms and provisions and other
supplies for the war were abundant. (2) While he was thus gathering information
about the inner affairs of the entire East, namely about the distribution of troops
and their pay in Illyria, where the emperor was held up by the difficult situation,
the deadline arrived by which he had to pay the money that he had under threat
of violence acknowledged in writing as debt. As he anticipated that he would be
exposed to all sorts of dangers and as the comes largitionum put more and more
pressure on him to comply with the demands of the other one, he made incredible
efforts to escape to the Persians together with his wife, his children and everything
that was dear to him. (3) In order not to raise the attention of the soldiers guarding
the border, for a small sum he bought an estate in Hiaspis, a place right on the
river Tigris. Because of this trick, nobody dared to ask him, the owner of a large
estate, what he was doing in the most remote part of the Roman border territory;
and with the help of servants who were both loyal and knew how to swim he
conducted secret talks with Tamsapor, 37 who at the time was a dux and in charge
of all the areas on the opposite bank; as he had been known before, he and all his
possessions were ferried over on barges in the middle of the night with the help
of agile men from the Persian camp, and although so much unlike a Zopyrus still
similar to a Babylonian traitor. 38
Apparently Antoninus had used his social and political rank, his education
and language skills in order to acquire comprehensive insight into Roman
internal affairs in the East. It is thus not surprising that the Sasanians
showed an interest in the man and that the Persian satrap Tamsapor, whom
Antoninus had known already before, 39 helped him in every possible way
to escape to Persian territory. After his successful flight in the year 359,
Antoninus became one of the most important advisors of the Sasanian ruler
ˇSāpūr II during his campaigns of 359 and 360 against Rome. Throughout
the books 18–20 of Ammianus Marcellinus’ work he plays an important
role.
The historian Agathias, who was from Myrina in Asia Minor, tells us
about very different ways of acquiring knowledge about the other culture.
36 These are Greek and Latin.
37 This name, which consists of the royal name and the adjective ‘tam’ (= strong, powerful), is a
name of honour and indicates the high rank of the official; our sources mention Tamsapor also as a
persecutor of Christians during the reign of ˇ Sāpūr II; cf. Peeters 1925: 276–7.
38 During the reign of the Achaemenid king Darius I (522–485 bc) a Persian Zopyrus had gone to
Babylon in order to worm himself into the confidence of the people there and afterwards play the
city into Darius’ hands (Hdt. iii.153–8); Lib. Or. 12.74 compares Antoninus with the Spartan king
Demaratos who in the early fifth century had fled to the court of Darius I (Hdt. vi.70).
39 Amm. xviii.8.5–6.