Kitap 30
4.18
And they no longer have before their eyes any right, but as if sold to and enslaved by avarice, they understand nothing except endless licence in making demands. And if once they have caught anyone in their nets, they entangle him in a thousand toils, purposely defaulting by pretending sicknesses one after another; and they prepare seven plausible preambles in order that the useless reading of well-known law may be introduced, thus weaving swarmsA favourite word of Ammianus, used literally in xviii. 3, 1; figuratively in xvi. 12, 11; xx. 7, 15; xxi. 5, 4. Wagner takes examina here in the sense of investigations (examina: a stateris ducta metaphora). of long delays.