In former times, by dint of strength and heroism, six abodes of lordship gained dominion and supremacy over the countries and provinces of the mundane globe, to wit, (first) the beautiful dominion of the Assyrians,— as the poet said:
- A king of the Assyrians before everyone
gained the truly constant dominion;
a man with wreathed hair, with clear sense,
Assur son of Shem, son of Noah.
And (secondly) the most noble dominion of the Medes. And (thirdly) the primary dominion of the Persians. And (fourthly) the pure-formed dominion of the Chaldees. And (fifthly) the fierce-great dominion of the Greeks. And the royal Roman senate (was) the sixth dominion.
Howbeit, the beginning and commencement of the high realm of the Assyrians are taken from Ninus, son of Belus, son of Ploscus, of the clans of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech. By him was built the famous chief-city, even Babylon. Vast was the size of that city: fouredged was its shape: a
Ninus son of Belus (was) the first king of the Assyrians, and Tonus (?) their last king. Eleven hundred and six score (years) was the length of their dominion.
Two hundred and fifty-nine years was the length of the dominion of the Medes. Eight men assumed the kingship of them. Arbaces (was) their first king and Astyages their last king.
Now Cyrus son of Darius, the first king of the Persians, was the son of Astyages' daughter. 'Tis he that dethroned his mother's father. By him Babylon was sacked, and its king, Belshazzar, was slain, and he freed the Children of Israel from the seventy years' captivity in Babylon, and he let them go to Jerusalem with the utensils of Solomon's Temple, to wit, five thousand vessels of gold and four hundred vessels of silver.
Darius (Codomannus) was the last king of the Persians. Twelve kings reigned over them. Two hundred and thirty years was the length of their dominion.
The first king of the soldiers of Greece was Alexander son of Philip, overlord of the whole world from Spain in the west to India in the east, and from Ethiopia in the south to the Riphaean mountains in the north. 'Tis by that Alexander the fleet was sent upon the fiery sea to discover the southern temperate zone; for to know only the northern temperate zone did not suffice him. At the end of his twelfth year Alexander proceeded to invade (Greece). Two and thirty years was his age when poison killed him in Babylon. Now Philip was the last king of the Greeks.
The royal Roman dominion had a beginning in manner different from those of the high dominions aforesaid; for not at all with overkings did Rome's supremacy abide. But whenever it was desirable, the chiefs of the senate, together with men of rank and honourable degrees, gave orders to levy their tribute for them from foreign races, and to invade the several tribes of the world, to rule and to guide the royal Roman right.
Now Decanus was the appellation of the lowest of those ranks. He was chief of ten: he was the man who used to punish every theft and robbery and outrage that was committed amidst the City.
Centurio above the Decanus: chief of a hundred was that man.
Tribunus above the Centurio: chief of two hundred or three hundred was he.
Vicarius above the Tribunus: that man used to assume the function of the Comes when the Comes would go to converse with the king.
Comes above the Vicarius: chief of one city was he.
Tóissech ('chieftain') above the Comes: twelve cities were subject to him.
Patricius above the Tóissech; the righthand man of a King or Emperor; and this was his work, to pass judgments and decrees instead of the overlord when the king himself was weary.
King above the Patricius: three tribes were his domain.
Emperor above the King. Howbeit the Romans had not that rank until Julius Caesar took it by dint of his hand, as the tale hereafter will tell. The Emperor, now, was overlord of the world above everyone, and there was no one superior to him.
There were, moreover, two grades, the rank of Consul and the rank of Dictator. Now the Consul had (only) one year in his rank, and at the end of the year he was changed lest he should become proud or arrogant from the strength of his power and
Now the Dictator, whether he did well or ill, was not changed from his rank till the end of five years. If then everyone was thankful for him, he was not changed at all. Wherefore that rank is the most esteemed that they had, until an Emperor's might rested upon them.
Thus then the Roman realm extended and spread out to the four airts of the world, so that pride and glory grew thereout in the Romans, and vast quarrels and civil warfare arose among some of those nobles in the provinces wherein they dwelt outside throughout the world, and others in Rome itself in the midst, for the greatness of their pride, and because of the exceeding great power which they had acquired over the nations and kindreds of the globe.
For the space of two-hundred-and-fifty-three years the royal dominion of the Romans remained in that wise, without an Emperor, without a monarch over them, but the men of diverse ranks directing their government. Until once upon a time, by decision of the senate and by advice of the people, (a Dictator) was made by them, for the dictatorship is the one rank they had that is noblest and most honorable.
Three persons equally high were then ordained by them, and the whole world was parted among them to be put by free-will or perforce under the Romans' tax and tribute. And this is why they appointed three to that grade, because if one of them should exalt himself against the senate// the third man would
Now these are three to whom was then entrusted the guidance of that grade, to wit, Pompey the Great and Marcus Crassus and Julius Caesar. As to that Caesar, his father's name was Ferius, and he was of the Rutulians. On his mother's side he was of the race of Ilus son of the Trojan Aeneas, and therefore it was that the dictatorship was conferred upon him by the Romans. He was called by the name of Caesar, because he was a furbaide ('excised') and his mother's womb was severed when he was taken from her. Now Caesar in the Roman language is tesctha 'severed' in the Gaelic.
That Caesar had a queenly, very beautiful daughter named Julia. She became the wife of Pompey the Great, one of the three dictators then appointed.
So the nations of the world were divided among that trio. The southwest of the world from Spain in the west, and the tribes of the whole of Africa, were entrusted to Pompey the Great.
To Caesar was appointed the ruling of the northwest of the world, to wit, the land of Gallia and the isles of Britain and the broad-long lands of Lochlann.
Marcus Crassus, to him was given the supremacy of Asia and the east of the world.
Then vast companies of the great army of Rome and of the youth of Italy went with them to the territories and the kindreds to conquer them.
Marcus Crassus, he seized the tribes of Asia in the east, till he came to the country of the Parthians. And from every tribe that he conquered he levied tribute, and he accepted from them no other treasure but gold, for little he deemed the burden of carrying it on a hosting, and great was its profit
Then Marcus Crassus was captured, and he was brought by main force to the assembly of the Parthians, and this is the plan they determined on, to give him his bellyful of gold, for he was seeking it greedily throughout the world. Then they melted the full of an earthen pot of golden ingots, and they spilled it as a molten fluid into his mouth, and he died at once, his entrails being burnt by the boiling fluid of the molten gold.
Pompey the Great, however, he obtained the tribes of the southwest of the world, from Spain in the west; and he left two leaders of his household in supremacy of Spain, Petreius and Afranius were their names. He himself returned to Rome, after gaining victory and triumph from everyone to whom he came.