Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Viri Fortes in Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae

This chapter examines Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae, composed in the fourth century ce, and the way it constructs martial masculinity as a version of hegemonic masculinity. Besides his references to real/courageous men (viri fortes), it discusses passages where unmanliness and effeminacy relate to the inability and unwillingness to display martial virtues. We know that Ammianus was himself a soldier and participated in the campaigns of Emperors Constantius II and Julian. In addition, Ammianus was aware of classical historiographical traditions and the way previous histories had portrayed warfare as a glorious aspect of being a man. This chapter scrutinizes how his portraiture of martial masculinity reflected both the gendered thinking of the fourth-century world and literary conventions. The first part of the chapter discusses how Ammianus constructs parameters of exemplary masculine performance through remarkable individuals such as Emperor Julian and other emperors. The second section focuses on how Ammianus extols martial masculinity by idealizing the Roman republican past as a period when military virtus flourished. He does this by writing extremely critically about luxurious lifestyles and luxury in the army, as well as eulogizing bellicose virtues when writing about non-Roman people. The last part of this chapter examines eunuchs and beastlike men as the opposites of manhood.