SOURCE: Momigliano, Arnaldo. “The Lonely Historian Ammianus Marcellinus.” In Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography, pp. 127-40. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1977.

In the following essay, Momigliano reflects on Ammianus's motives in depicting himself as “intellectually isolated” and in keeping his emotions and opinions in check.

I

In the second part of the fourth century the Greek East became economically stronger, militarily safer and religiously more Christian than the Latin West. The rise of Constantinople to the position of a new Rome was the most tangible expression of the new situation; but Antioch was hardly less prestigious. Latin, however, was the language of law and, to a great extent, of administration: it was also the language of the army. Many Greeks felt that they had to learn Latin just because their prospects of a career in the Roman administration had become brighter. In Egypt (and no doubt in...