Qui dum formidine successoris agitaretur in dies, obumbratis blanditiarum concinnitatibus, cavillando Valentem, subrusticum hominem, sibi varie commulcebat, horridula eius verba et rudia flosculos Tullianos appellans, et ad extollendam eius vanitiem, sidera quoque, si iussisset, exhiberi posse promittens.
This man, being daily terrified by the thought of a successor, by tricking Valens, who was somewhat simple-minded, with veiled but clever flattery tried to wheedle over the emperors favour in various ways, calling his rough, crude words choice Ciceronian posies; and to increase his vanity he declared that, if Valens should order it, even the stars could be brought down and displayed for him.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book29.json