At barbari perstricti negotii magnitudine, qui se in tranquillo positos otio, tunc parum inquietari posse sperabant, aliorum exitio quid fortunis suis immineret anxie cogitantes, simulata pacis petitione, ut primae vertiginis impetum declinarent, misere legatos cum verbis compositis, quae denuntiarent concordem foederum firmitatem; incertumque quo consilio statim instituto, mutata voluntate, per alios cursu celeri venire compulsos, acerrimum nostris minati sunt bellum, ni eorum regionibus excessissent.
But the savages, thunderstruck at the vastness of the feat, since they little expected that they could be molested, settled as they were amid undisturbed peace, gave anxious thought to what might threaten their own fortunes, in view of the destruction of the others; and so under pretence of a prayer for peace, with the purpose of avoiding the brunt of the first onslaught, they sent envoys with set speeches, to declare the harmonious validity of the treaties with them; but for some unknown design that they suddenly formed they changed their minds, and by other messengers whom they forced to come post haste, they threatened our men with most bitter warfare, unless they should withdraw from their territory.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book17.json