Epigram XXVIII. — On the Source of the Danube. Written by Command of the Emperor Valentinian

Lord among streams of Illyricum, next to thee in greatness, O Nile, I, Danube, from my source put forth my head in joy. I bid the Emperors hail, father and son, whom I have nurtured amid the sword-wearing Pannonians. As herald to the Euxine Sea even now I long to speed, that Valens, who is Heaven's next care, may learn of this — that with slaughter, Hight, and fire the Swabians are hurled to destruction, and Rhine no longer is accounted the frontier of Gaul. But if at the sea's behest my stream should flow backwards may I hither bring from there news that the Goths are vanquished.