Abstract

In this article, it is argued that Ammianus’ first Roman digression (14.6) should be interpreted as elucidating the political and philosophical mindset of the surrounding narrative to which it is tightly connected. This argumentative scope of the digression is activated through intra- and inter-textual references and allusions, especially to earlier Roman historiography. The latter orientate the reader to situate the often trivial behaviors discussed in the digression within a broader philosophical and historical framework, and to associate them with specific practices of Gallus and Constantius in the account immediately preceding and following the digression. Through these narrative devices, Ammianus affirms the mutual interaction between the mores of the principes in the main account and those of the nobiles and the lower classes in the digression. Through this case study it is thus demonstrated that the placement and content of digressions are much more carefully chosen than usually supposed, while also highlighting the important role of intra- and intertextuality in connecting the digression with the main narrative.