Ammianus Marcellinus, History

§ 25.8.11 And he took the prudent step of appointing Malarichus, who also was even then living in Italy in a private capacity, as successor to Jovinus, commander of the cavalry in Gaul, sending him the insignia of that rank. Thereby he aimed at a double advantage: first, in getting rid of a general of distinguished service and therefore an object of suspicion; and, second, the hope that a man of slight expectations, when raised to a high rank, might show great zeal in supporting the position of his benefactor, which was still uncertain.

§ 25.8.12 Also the men who were commissioned to carry out these plans were ordered to set the course of events in a favourable light, and wherever they went, to agree with each other in spreading the report that the Parthian campaign had been brought to a successful end. They were to hasten their journey by adding night to day, to put into the hands of the governors and the military commanders of the provinces the messages of the new emperor, to secretly sound the sentiments of all of them, and to return speedily with their replies, in order that as soon as it was learned how matters stood in the distant provinces, timely and careful plans might be made for safeguarding the imperial power.

§ 25.8.13 Meanwhile rumour, the swiftest messenger of sad events, outstripping these messengers, flew through provinces and nations, and most of all struck the people of Nisibis with bitter grief; when they learned that their city had been surrendered to Sapor, whose anger and hostility they feared, recalling as they did what constant losses he had suffered in his frequent attempts to take their city.

§ 25.8.14 For it was clear that the entire Orient might have passed into the control of Persia, had not this city with its advantageous situation and mighty walls resisted him. Nevertheless, however much the unhappy people were tormented with great fear of the future, yet they could sustain themselves with one slight hope, namely, that the emperor would, of his own accord or prevailed upon by their entreaties, keep the city in its present condition, as the strongest bulwark of the Orient.

§ 25.8.15 While varied rumours were spreading the news of the course of events everywhere, in the army, since the few provisions which (as I have said) we had brought with us were used up, we should have been forced to resort to human bodies, had not the flesh of the slain pack-animals held out for a time; but the result was, that many arms and packs were thrown away; for we were so wasted by fearful hunger, that if anywhere a modius of flour was found (which seldom happened) it was sold for ten gold-pieces, and that was considered a cheap price.

§ 25.8.16 Setting out from there, we came to Thilsaphata, where Sebastianus and Procopius, with the tribunes and officers of the soldiers which had been entrusted to them for the defence of Mesopotamia, came out to meet us as formal usage required. And after having been courteously received, they joined our march.

§ 25.8.17 After this we went on more speedily, and looking eagerly at Nisibis, the emperor made a permanent camp outside of the city; but in spite of the earnest request of many of the populace to enter and take up his residence in the palace as was usual with the emperors, he obstinately refused, from shame that during his own stay within its walls the impregnable city should be handed over to the enemy.

§ 25.8.18 There, as the darkness of evening was then approaching, Jovianus, chief among all the secretaries, who (as I have already said ) at the siege of the city of Maiozamalcha had with others been first to come out through the mine, was taken from the dining-table, led to a secluded spot, thrown headlong into a dry well, and crushed by a great number of stones that were thrown upon him. The reason for this undoubtedly was that, after Julian's death, he too was named by a few as worthy of the throne, and that after the election of Jovian he had not acted with moderation, but was overheard whispering this and that about some business, and from time to time had even invited military officers to his table.

§ 25.9.1 On the following day Bineses, one of the Persians, who (as I have said) was eminent beyond all others, hastening to fulfil the orders of his king, urgently demanded what had been promised. Therefore, with the permission of the Roman emperor, he entered the city and raised the flag of his nation on the top of the citadel, announcing to the citizens their sorrowful departure from their native place.

§ 25.9.2 And when all were commanded to leave their homes at once, with tears and outstretched hands they begged that they might not be compelled to depart, declaring that they alone, without aid from the empire in provisions and men, were able to defend their hearths, trusting that Justice herself would, as they had often found, aid them in fighting for their ancestral dwelling-place. But suppliantly as the council and people entreated, all was spoken vainly to the winds, since the emperor (as he pretended, while moved by other fears) did not wish to incur the guilt of perjury.

§ 25.9.3 Thereupon Sabinus, distinguished among his fellow-citizens for his wealth and high birth, declared in impassioned language that Constantius once, when the flames of a cruel war were raging, had been defeated by the Persians and finally had been driven in flight with a few followers to the unprotected post of Hibita, where he was obliged to live on a bit of bread which he begged from an old peasant woman; yet up to his last day he had lost nothing, whereas Jovian at the beginning of his principate, had abandoned the defences of provinces whose bulwarks had remained unshaken from the earliest times.

§ 25.9.4 But when nothing came of this, since the emperor the more stoutly maintained the sanctity of his oath; and when for a time he had refused the crown that was offered him but was finally forced to accept it, one Silvanus, a pleader at the bar, was bold enough to say: “Thus may you be crowned, O emperor, by the rest of the cities,” Exasperated by these words, the emperor gave orders that all must leave the walls within three days, they the while expressing horror at such a condition of affairs.

§ 25.9.5 Accordingly, men were appointed to drive them out, and threatened with death all who hesitated to leave. Lamentation and grief filled the city, and in all its parts no sound save universal wailing was to be heard; the matrons tore their hair, since they were to be sent into exile from the homes in which they were born and reared; mothers who had lost their children, and widows bereft of their husbands, mourned that they were driven far from the ashes of their loved ones; and the weeping throng embraced the doors or the thresholds of their homes.

§ 25.9.6 Then the various roads were filled with people going wherever each could find refuge. In their haste many secretly carried off such of their own property as they thought they could take with them, disregarding the rest of their possessions, which, though many and valuable, they were obliged to leave behind for lack of pack-animals.

§ 25.9.7 You are here justly censured, O Fortune of the Roman world! that, when storms shattered our country, you did snatch the helm from the hands of an experienced steersman and entrust it to an untried youth, who, since he was known during his previous life for no brilliant deeds in that field, cannot be justly either blamed or praised.

§ 25.9.8 But what grieved the very heart of every patriotic citizen was this, that fearful of a rival to his power and bearing in mind that it was in Gaul and Illyricum that many men had taken the first steps to loftier power, in his haste to outstrip the report of his coming, under pretext of avoiding perjury he committed an act unworthy of an emperor, betraying Nisibis, which ever since the time of King Mithridates' reign had resisted with all its might the occupation of the Orient by the Persians.

§ 25.9.9 For never (I think) since the founding of our city can it be found by a reader of history that any part of our territory has been yielded to an enemy by an emperor or a consul; but that not even the recovery of anything that had been lost was ever enough for the honour of a triumph, but only the increase of our dominions.

§ 25.9.10 Hence it was that triumphs were refused to Publius Scipio for the recovery of Spain; to Fulvius, when Capua was overcome after long contests, and to Opimius, when, after shifting fortunes of war, the people of Fregellae, at that time our deadly enemies, were forced to surrender.

§ 25.9.11 In fact, the ancient records teach us that treaties made in extreme necessity with shameful conditions, even when both parties had taken oath in set terms, were at once annulled by a renewal of war. For example, when in days of old our legions were sent under the yoke at the Caudine Forks in Samnium; when Albinus in Numidia devised a shameful peace; and when Mancinus, the author of a disgracefully hasty treaty, was surrendered to the people of Numantia.

§ 25.9.12 So then, after the inhabitants had been withdrawn, and the city had been handed over, the tribune Constantius was sent to deliver the strongholds, with the surrounding country, to the Persian grandees. Then Procopius was sent with the remains of Julian, in order to inter him, as he had directed when still alive, in the suburb of Tarsus.

§ 25.9.13 Procopius set out to fulfil his mission, but immediately after burying the body he disappeared and in spite of the most careful search could not be found anywhere, until long afterwards he suddenly appeared at Constantinople, clad in the purple.

§ 25.10.1 After this business had been thus attended to, we came by long marches to Antioch; where for successive days, as though the divinity were angered, many fearful portents were seen, which those skilled in such signs declared would have sad results.

§ 25.10.2 For the statue of the Caesar Maximianus, which stood in the vestibule of the royal palace, suddenly dropped the brazen ball, in the form of the globe of heaven, which it was holding, the beams of the council hall gave forth an awful creaking, and in broad daylight comets were seen, about which the views of those versed in natural history are at variance.

§ 25.10.3 For some think that they are so called because they are numerous stars united in one body, and send out writhing fires resembling hair. Others believe that they take fire from the dryer exhalations of the earth, which gradually rise higher. Others again think that the rays streaming from the sun are prevented by the interposition of a heavier cloud from going downward, and when the brightness is suffused through the thick substance, it presents to men's eyes a kind of star-spangled light. Yet others have formed the opinion that this phenomenon occurs when an unusually high cloud is lit up by the nearness of the eternal fires, or at any rate, that comets are stars like the rest, the appointed times of whose rising and setting are not understood by human minds. Many other theories about comets are to be found in the writings of those who are skilled in knowledge of the universe; but from discussing these I am prevented by my haste to continue my narrative.

§ 25.10.4 The emperor lingered for a time at Antioch, bowed down by the weight of divers cares, but pursued by an extraordinary desire for getting out of the place. Accordingly, he left there on a day in the dead of winter, sparing neither horse nor man, although many signs (as has been said) forbade, and entered Tarsus, the famous city of Cilicia, of whose origin I have already spoken.

§ 25.10.5 Though in excessive haste to leave that place, he determined to adorn the tomb of Julian, situated just outside the walls on the road which leads to the passes of Mount Taurus. But his remains and ashes, if anyone then showed sound judgement, ought not to be looked on by the Cydnus, although it is a beautiful and clear stream, but to perpetuate the glory of his noble deeds they should be laved by the Tiber, which cuts through the eternal city and flows by the memorials of the deified emperors of old.

§ 25.10.6 After this the emperor left Tarsus, and making long marches arrived at Tyana, a town of Cappadocia, where on their return the secretary Procopius and the tribune Memoridus met him. They gave him an account of their missions, beginning (as order demanded) with the entry of Lucillianus with the tribunes Seniauchus and Valentinianus, whom he had taken with him, into Mediolanum; but on learning that Malarichus refused to accept the position he had gone at full speed to Durocortorum.

§ 25.10.7 Then, as if that nation were in profound peace, he ran off the track (as the saying is), and quite out of season, since everything was not yet secure, devoted his attention to examining the accounts of a former actuary. This man, being conscious of deceit and wrong-doing, fled for refuge to the army and falsely asserted that Julian was still alive and that a man of no distinction had raised a rebellion; in consequence of his falsehoods a veritable storm broke out among the soldiery, and Lucillianus and Seniauchus were killed. For Valentinianus, who was shortly afterwards emperor, in terror and not knowing where to turn, was safely gotten out of the way by Primitivus, his guest-friend.

§ 25.10.8 This sad news was followed by another message, this time a happy one, namely, that soldiers sent by Jovian, heads of the divisions, as camp parlance termed them, were on the way, reporting that the Gallic army embraced with favour the rule of Jovian.

§ 25.10.9 On receipt of this news Valentinian, who had returned with the others, was entrusted with the command of the second division of the targeteers, and Vitalianus, formerly a soldier in the division of the Eruli, was made a member of the household troops; long afterwards he was raised to the rank of Count, but suffered a defeat in Illyricum. Arintheus was hastily sent to Gaul, bearing letters to Jovinus, urging him to act firmly in holding his position; he was also bidden to punish the originator of the disturbance and to send the ringleaders in the rebellion in fetters to the court.

§ 25.10.10 After these arrangements had been made as seemed expedient, the officers of the Gallic troops had audience with the emperor at Aspuna, a small town of Galatia; when they entered the council chamber, the news which they brought was heard with pleasure, and after receiving rewards, they were ordered to return to their posts.

§ 25.10.11 When the emperor had entered Ancyra, after the necessary arrangements for his procession had been made, so far as the conditions allowed, he assumed the consulship, taking as his colleague in the office his son Varronianus, who was still a small child; and his crying and obstinate resistance to being carried, as usual, on the curule chair, were an omen of what presently occurred.

§ 25.10.12 From here also the destined day for ending his life drove Jovian swiftly on. For when he had come to Dadastana, which forms the boundary between Bithynia and Galatia, he was found dead that night. As to his taking-off, many doubtful points have come up.

§ 25.10.13 For it is said that he was unable to endure the unwholesome odour of a recently plastered bedroom, or that his head was swollen from the burning of a great amount of charcoal and so he died, or at any rate that he had a fit of acute indigestion from an immoderate amount of food of different kinds. At all events he died in the thirty-third year of his age. The end of his life was like that of Scipio Aemilianus, but so far as I know no investigation was made of the death of either.

§ 25.10.14 He walked with a dignified bearing; his expression was very cheerful. His eyes were gray. He was so unusually tall that for some time no imperial robe could be found that was long enough for him. He took as his model Constantius, often spending the afternoon in some serious occupation, but accustomed to jest in public with his intimates.

§ 25.10.15 So too he was devoted to the Christian doctrine and sometimes paid it honour. He was only moderately educated, of a kindly nature, and (as appears from the few promotions that he made) inclined to select state officials with care. But he was an immoderate eater, given to wine and women, faults which perhaps he would have corrected out of regard for the imperial dignity.

§ 25.10.16 It was said that his father, Varronianus, learned what would happen long beforehand from the suggestion of a dream, and trusted the information to two of his confidential friends, adding the remark that the consular robe would be conferred also on himself. But although one prophecy was fulfilled, he could not attain the other prediction. For after learning of the elevation of his son, he was overtaken by death before seeing him again.

§ 25.10.17 And since it was foretold to the old man in a dream that the highest magistracy awaited one of that name, his grandson Varronianus, then still a child, was (as I have before related) made consul together with his father Jovianus.

§ 26.1.1 Book 26 Having narrated the course of events with the strictest care up to the bounds of the present epoch, I had already determined to withdraw my foot from the more familiar tracks, partly to avoid the dangers which are often connected with the truth, and partly to escape unreasonable critics of the work which I am composing, who cry out as if wronged, if one has failed to mention what an emperor said at table, or left out the reason why the common soldiers were led before the standards for punishment, or because in an ample account of regions he ought not to have been silent about some insignificant forts; also because the names of all who came together to pay their respects to the city-praetor were not given, and many similar matters, which are not in accordance with the principles of history; for it is wont to detail the high lights of events, not to ferret out the trifling details of unimportant matters. For whoever wishes to know these may hope to be able to count the small indivisible bodies which fly through space, and to which we give the name of atoms.

§ 26.1.2 This is what some of the writers of old feared, who during their lifetime set down their knowledge of various historical events with eloquent pen, but did not publish them while they lived: as also Cicero, a witness worthy of respect, declares in a letter to Cornelius Nepos. Accordingly, disregarding the ignorance of the vulgar, let us hasten to continue our narrative.

§ 26.1.3 So this ferocity of changeable circumstances came to a lamentable end after the death of three emperors at short intervals; and the body of the deceased prince was embalmed and sent to Constantinople, to be laid to rest among the remains of the Augusti. But the army marched on towards Nicaea, which is the metropolis of the Bithynian cities; and the principal civil and military leaders, busied with important cares for the general welfare, and some of them puffed up with vain hopes, were looking about for a ruler who had long been proved and possessed dignity.

§ 26.1.4 And rumour, in the obscure whispers of a few, touched on the name of Aequitius, who was at that time tribune of the first division of the targeteers, but he did not find favour in the judgement of the more important authorities, because he was rude and somewhat boorish. Then fickle favour was transferred to Januarius, a relative of Jovian, who had charge of the commissary department in Illyricum.

§ 26.1.5 He also was rejected because he was living far away, and under the inspiration of the powers of heaven Valentinian was chosen without a dissenting voice, as being fully up to the requirements and suitable; he was commander of the second division of the targeteers, and had been left behind at Ancyra, to follow later according to orders. And as it was agreed without contradiction that this was to the advantage of the state, envoys were sent to urge him to hasten his coming; but for ten days no one held the helm of the empire, which the soothsayer Marcus, on inspection of the entrails at Rome, had declared to have happened at that time.

§ 26.1.6 Meanwhile, however, to prevent any interference with the decision that had been made, and to keep the fickle temper of the soldiers, who are always ready for a change, from turning towards someone who was on the spot, Aequitius made earnest efforts, and with him Leo; the latter was still holding the office of military paymaster under Dagalaifus, commander of the cavalry, and later played a deadly part as chief-marshal of the court. Both endeavoured, so far as their efforts could prevail, being Pannonians and adherents of the emperor elect, to maintain the decision which the whole army had made.

§ 26.1.7 When the emperor arrived in answer to the summons, informed either by presentiments about the task he must fulfil (as was given to be understood) or by repeated dreams, he did not let himself be seen next day, nor would he appear in public, avoiding the bisextile day of the month of February, which dawned at that time and (as he had heard) had sometimes been unlucky for the Roman state. Of this day I will give a clear explanation.

§ 26.1.8 The extent of the revolving year is completed, according to the calculations of men of old who were versed in the movements of the universe and the stars, of whom the most eminent are Meton, Euctemon, Hipparchus, and Archimedes, when the sun, in accordance with the eternal law of the heavenly bodies, has traversed the signs of the heaven which in Greek are called zodiakos, the zodiac, and after the course of 365 days and nights returns to the same turning-point; that is (for instance) when it has started from the second degree of the Ram and after completing its course has returned to the same place.

§ 26.1.9 But the true length of a year ends, in the said 365 days and six hours besides, at high noon, and the first day of the next year will extend from the end of the sixth hour to evening. The third year begins with the first watch and ends with the sixth hour of the night. The fourth goes on from midnight until broad daylight.

§ 26.1.10 Therefore, in order that this computation because of the variations in the beginning of the year (since one year commences after the sixth hour of the day and another after the sixth hour of the night) may not confuse all science by a disorderly diversity, and an autumnal month may not sometimes be found to be in the spring, it was decided to combine those series of six hours, which in four years amounted to twenty-four, into one day and an added night.

§ 26.1.11 And after deep consideration, by the agreement of manylearned men it was arranged that the completion of the year's course has a single definite end, and is neither changeable nor uncertain; so that the reckoning of the sun's course no longer appears beclouded by any error, and the months retain their appointed seasons.

§ 26.1.12 The Romans were long ignorant of all this, since their realm was not yet widely extended, and for many centuries they were involved in obscure difficulties; and they wandered in still deeper darkness of error when they gave over the power of intercalation to the priests, who lawlessly served the advantage of tax-collectors or of parties in litigation by arbitrarily subtracting or adding days.

§ 26.1.13 From this beginning many other errors arose, which I think it superfluous to mention here. These were done away with by Octavianus Augustus who, following the Greeks, corrected the confusion and brought order into this inconsistency by adopting after great deliberation the arrangement of twelve months and six hours, during which the sun in its eternal course through the twelve signs completes a whole year.

§ 26.1.14 This reason for the “bisextile year” Rome, which will live even through the centuries, with the aid of the divine power approved and firmly established. Now let us go on to the rest of our narrative.

§ 26.2.1 When the day unfavourable (as some think) for beginning great enterprises had passed, just as evening was coming on, at the motion of the prefect Salutius it was promptly and unanimously decided that, under penalty of death, no one who held high authority, or had been suspected of aiming at a higher station, should appear in public on the following morning.

§ 26.2.2 And when to the chagrin of many, tormented by their vain hopes, the night ended and day at last appeared, the whole army was assembled. Then Valentinian appeared on the plain, was allowed to mount a tribunal raised on high and after the custom of elections was chosen by the favourable votes of all present as a man of serious purpose, to be the ruler of the empire.

§ 26.2.3 Then, wearing the imperial robes and a coronet, with all the praises which the charm of novelty could call forth he was hailed as Augustus, and was already getting ready to make the speech he had prepared. But as he bared his arm, in order to speak more conveniently, a threatening murmur arose, as the centuries and maniples made a loud noise and all the common maniples clashed their shields and all the common soldiers persistently urged that a second emperor should at once be named.

§ 26.2.4 But although some thought that a few had been bribed to do this, in favour of those who had been passed over, yet such a suspicion seemed to have no ground, for the reason that the shouts which were heard were not purchased, but came unanimously as an expression of the wish of the whole throng, since from a recent example they dreaded the frailty of lofty fortunes. Then the whispers of the uproarious army seemed likely to be succeeded by a violent outbreak, and men began to fear the recklessness of the soldiers, who sometimes break out in deeds of violence.

§ 26.2.5 Since Valentinian more than all others feared lest this should happen, quickly raising his hand, with the authority of an emperor who was full of confidence, he had the courage to upbraid some of them as rebellious and intractable. Then, without further interruption, he delivered the speech which he had prepared:

§ 26.2.6 I rejoice, brave defenders of our provinces, and I maintain and always shall maintain that it is your services that have bestowed on me, rather than another, the rule of the Roman world, which I neither hoped for nor desired.

§ 26.2.7 The task, then, which was placed in your hands before the ruler of the empire was chosen you carried out expediently and gloriously, by raising to the pinnacle of honours one whom from his earliest youth until the present prime of life you know by experience to have lived with distinction and uprightness. Therefore, I beg of you, listen with friendly ears while I tell you in simple words what I think is best for the common welfare.

§ 26.2.8 That to meet all chances necessity demands the choice of a colleague with equal powers, at the demands of much varied reasoning I neither doubt nor dispute, since I myself also, as a man, fear masses of cares and varied changes of circumstances. But with all our strength we must strive for harmony, through which even the weakest states grow strong; and this will easily be attained, if your calmness combined with fairness willingly allows me what belongs to my position.

§ 26.2.9 For Fortune (I hope) which aids good purposes, so far as I can accomplish this and effect it, will give me after careful search a man of sober character. For as the philosophers teach us, not only in royal power, where the greatest and most numerous dangers are found, but also in the relations of private and everyday life, a stranger ought to be admitted to friendship by a prudent man only after he has first tested him; not tested after he has been admitted to friendship.

§ 26.2.10 This I promise you with the hope of a happier future. Do you, while the winter rest allows, retain your firmness and loyalty of conduct and refresh your strength of spirit and body: then be sure that you will receive without delay what is your due because of your imperial nomination of myself.

§ 26.2.11 Having finished his address, to which his unexpected assumption of authority had given greater weight, the emperor gained the favour of the whole assembly; and even those who shortly before were with excited cries making another demand followed his advice and escorted him to the imperial quarters, surrounded by eagles and standards, with a splendid retinue of various ranks, and already an object of fear.

§ 26.3.1 While the changing lots of the fates were unfolding these events in the Orient, Apronianus, prefect of the eternal city, a just and strict official, among urgent cares with which that office is often burdened, made it his first main effort that the sorcerers, who at that time were becoming few in number, should be arrested, and that those who, after having been put to the question, were clearly convicted of having harmed anybody, after naming their accomplices, should be punished with death; and that thus through the danger to a few, the remainder, if any were still in concealment, might be driven away through dread of a similar fate.

§ 26.3.2 In this work he is said to have shown special activity for the following reason, namely, that after his appointment by authority of Julian, when he was still living in Syria, he had lost one eye on the way, and suspecting that he had been attacked by wicked arts, with justifiable but extraordinary resentment he tracked out these and other crimes with great energy. In this he seemed cruel to some because more than once during the races in the ampitheatre, while throngs of people were crowding in, he investigated the greatest crimes.

§ 26.3.3 Finally, after many punishments of the kind, a charioteer called Hilarinus was convicted on his own confession of having entrusted his son, who had barely reached the age of puberty, to a mixer of poisons to be instructed in certain secret practices forbidden by law, in order to use his help at home without other witnesses; and he was condemned to death. But since the executioner was lax in guarding him, the man suddenly escaped and took refuge in a chapel of the Christian sect; however, he was at once dragged from there and beheaded.

§ 26.3.4 But efforts were still made to check these and similar offences, and none, or at any rate very few, who were engaged in such abominations defied the public diligence. But later, long-continued impunity nourished these monstrous offences, and lawlessness went so far that a certain senator followed the example of Hilarinus, and was convicted of having apprenticed a slave of his almost by a written contract to a teacher of evil practices to be initiated into criminal secrets; but he bought escape from the death penalty, as current gossip asserted, for a large sum of money.

§ 26.3.5 And this very man, after being freed in the manner alleged, although he ought to be ashamed of his life and his offence, has made no effort to get rid of the stain on his character, but as if among many wicked men he alone was free from any fault, mounts a caparisoned horse and rides over the pavements, and even now is followed by great bands of slaves, by a new kind of distinction aiming to draw special attention to himself. Just as we hear of Duillius of old, that after that glorious sea-fight, he assumed the privilege, when he returned home after a dinner, of having a flute-player play soft music before him.

§ 26.3.6 However, under this Apronianus there was such a constant abundance of all necessary articles of food, that there never arose even the slightest murmur about a scarcity of victuals, a thing which constantly happens in Rome.

§ 26.4.1 Now Valentinian was chosen emperor in Bithynia (as we have said before). He gave the signal for the march for the next day but one, and assembling the chief civil and military officials, as if ready to follow safe and sound advice rather than his own inclination, inquired who ought to be chosen as partner in the rule. When all the rest were silent, Dagalaifus, at that time commander of the cavalry, boldly answered: “If you love your relatives, most excellent emperor, you have a brother; if it is the state that you love, seek out another man to clothe with the purple.”

§ 26.4.2 The emperor, angered by this, but keeping silence and concealing his thoughts, forcing the pace, entered Nicomedia on the first of March, and appointed his brother Valens chief of his stable with the rank of tribune.

§ 26.4.3 Then, on his arrival in Constantinople, after much counsel with himself, considering that he was already unequal to the amount of pressing business and believing that there was no room for delay, on the twenty-eighth of March he brought the aforesaid Valens into one of the suburbs and with the consent of all (for no one ventured to oppose) proclaimed him Augustus. Then he adorned him with the imperial insignia and put a diadem on his head, and brought him back in his own carriage, thus having indeed a lawful partner in his power, but, as the further course of our narrative will show, one who was as compliant as a subordinate.

§ 26.4.4 No sooner were these arrangements perfected without disturbance than both emperors were seized with violent and lingering fevers; but as soon as their hope of life was assured, being more successful in investigating various matters than in settling them, they commissioned Ursatius, the chief-marshal of the court, a rough Dalmatian, and Viventius of Siscia, who was then quaestor, to make a strict investigation of what they suspected to be the cause of these diseases. Persistent rumour had it, that their purpose was, by asserting that they had been harmed by secret sorcery, to rouse hatred of the memory of the emperor Julian and his friends. But this charge was easily shown to have nothing in it, since no evidence of such plots was found, even in a single word.

§ 26.4.5 At this time, as if trumpets were sounding the war-note throughout the whole Roman world, the most savage peoples roused themselves and poured across the nearest frontiers. At the same time the Alamanni were devastating Gaul and Raetia, the Sarmatae and Quadi Pannonia, while the Picts, Saxons, Scots, and Attacotti were harassing the Britons with constant disasters. The Austoriani and other Moorish tribes raided Africa more fiercely than ever and predatory bands of Goths were plundering Thrace and Pannonia.

§ 26.4.6 The king of the Persians was laying hands on Armenia, hastening with mighty efforts to bring that country again under his sway, under the false pretext that after the death of Jovian, with whom he had concluded a treaty of peace, nothing ought to prevent his recovery of what he claimed had formerly belonged to his forefathers.

§ 26.5.1 So, then, the emperors spent the winter quietly in perfect harmony, the one eminent through the choice that had fallen upon him, the other joined with him in the office, but only in appearance. After hastening through Thrace, they came to Naessus, where in a suburb called Mediana, distant three miles from the city, they shared the generals between them in view of their coming separation.

§ 26.5.2 To Valentinian, in accordance with whose wish the matter was settled, fell Jovinus, who had previously been promoted by Julian to be commander of the cavalry in Gaul, and Dagalaifus, whom Jovian had raised to the same rank. But it was arranged that Victor, who had also been promoted by the decision of the aforesaid emperor, should follow Valens to the Orient, and with him Arintheus was associated. For Lupicinus, who also had formerly been made commander of the cavalry by Jovian, was already in charge of the eastern provinces.

§ 26.5.3 At the same time Aequitius, who was not yet a commander-in-chief, but only a count, was put in charge of the army in Illyricum, and Serenianus, who some time before had been retired from service, being a Pannonian girded on his sword and was joined with Valens in command of a part of the bodyguard. After matters had been thus arranged, the troops also were divided between the two emperors.

§ 26.5.4 And when after this the two brothers had entered Sirmium, after sharing the places of residence according to the wishes of the superior, Valentinian went off to Mediolanum, Valens to Constantinople.

§ 26.5.5 The Orient was governed by Salutius with the rank of prefect, Italy with Africa and Illyricum by Mamertinus, and the Gallic provinces by Germanianus.

§ 26.5.6 Living therefore in the cities named, the emperors for the first time assumed the consular robes; and this whole year brought heavy losses to the Roman state.

§ 26.5.7 For the Alamanni broke through the frontiers of Germania, being unusually hostile for the following reason: when their envoys had been sent to the headquarters, in order as usual to receive the regular appointed gifts, smaller and cheaper ones were given them, which they received with indignation and threw away as unworthy of them. And being roughly treated by Ursatius, who was then court-marshal, a hot-tempered and cruel man, they returned home, and exaggerating what had happened, aroused the savage peoples, on the ground that they had been grievously insulted.

§ 26.5.8 And about that time, or not much later, in the Orient Procopius had started a revolution. This and the Alamannic revolt were reported to Valentinian on one and the same day about the first of November as he was on his way to Lutecia.

§ 26.5.9 Then Valentinian ordered Dagalaifus to go in haste to meet the Alamanni, who after devastating places near the frontier had withdrawn to a distance without the loss of a man. But as to checking the attempt of Procopius before it became ripe, he was distracted by doubt and anxiety, being especially troubled because he did not know whether Valens was alive or whether his death had led Procopius to aspire to the throne.

§ 26.5.10 For Aequitius knew of the matter only from the report of the tribune Antonius, who commanded the soldiers in central Dacia and gave a vague account of the affair from that which he himself had heard; and Aequitius himself had not yet heard anything trustworthy, and so merely reported the circumstance to the emperor in simple words.

§ 26.5.11 Upon hearing the news, Valentinian, after raising the said Aequitius to the rank of a commander-in-chief, decided to go back to Illyricum, lest the rebel after rushing through Thrace and being already formidable should invade Pannonia with a hostile army. For he was greatly alarmed by a recent example, recalling that Julian a short time before, making light of an emperor who had been victor in all civil wars, contrary to all hope and expectation had passed with incredible speed from city to city.

§ 26.5.12 But his eager longing to return was modified by the advice of his confidential friends, who advised, nay begged him, not to give up Gaul to the savages who threatened destruction, and not under that pretext to abandon provinces which needed strong support. These were supported by deputations from famous cities, who begged that he should not leave unprotected in such hard and doubtful times cities which by his presence he could save from the greatest dangers, since the glory of his name would strike fear into the Germans.

§ 26.5.13 At last, after giving careful thought to what was expedient, he followed the view of the majority, often repeating that Procopius was only his own and his brother's enemy, but the Alamanni were enemies of the whole Roman world; and so he resolved for the present nowhere to leave the boundaries of Gaul.

§ 26.5.14 And having returned as far as Durocortorum, and feeling anxious about Africa, for fear that it might suddenly be invaded, he decided that Neoterius, afterwards consul but at that time a secretary, should go to protect that province, and also Masaucio, an officer of the household troops, bearing in mind that, having had long training there under his father, the former Count Cretio, he knew all the suspected places; and he joined with them Gaudentius, an officer of the targeteers, a loyal man who long had been known to him.

§ 26.5.15 Because, then, at one and the same time lamentable storms arose on both sides, we shall set down the single events in their proper place, first giving an account of a part of what took place in the Orient, then of the wars with the savages: since most of the events both in the west and in the east took place in the same months; for I fear that by hastening to return from one place to another by leaps and bounds we might confuse everything and involve the course of events in the deepest darkness.

§ 26.6.1 Procopius was born in Cilicia of a distinguished family and correspondingly educated, and for the reason that he was related to Julian, who was afterwards emperor, he was conspicuous from his first entry into a public position; and as he was somewhat strict in his life and character, although retiring and silent, he served for a long time with distinction as state-secretary and tribune, and already had prospects of attaining the highest positions. But when after the death of Constantius he became through the change in the situation a relative of the emperor, he aimed higher and entered the order of counts; and it was evident that, if ever he had the opportunity, he would be a disturber of the public peace.

§ 26.6.2 When Julian invaded Persia, he left Procopius in Mesopotamia, in association with Sebastianus, who was given the same rank, with a strong force of soldiers, and ordered him (as rumour darkly whispered, for no one vouched for the truth of the report) to act in accordance with the conditions that arose, and if he learned that the Roman power in Persia was weakened, to take measures quickly to have himself named emperor.

§ 26.6.3 Procopius followed these directions with moderation and prudence, but when he learned that Julian had been mortally wounded and died, and that Jovian had been raised to the rule of the empire, and that the false report was circulated that Julian had with the last breath of his failing life declared that it was his wish that Procopius should be entrusted with the helm of the state, he feared that on that account he might be put to death without a trial. Accordingly, he withdrew from public sight; and he was in special fear after the death of Jovianus, the chief of all the secretaries, because he had learned that after Julian's death Jovianus had been named by a few soldiers as worthy of imperial power, and that from that time on he had been suspected of rebellious designs and had suffered a cruel death.

§ 26.6.4 And because Procopius had learned that he was being tracked with extreme care, in order to avoid the weight of greater hatred he retreated to still more remote and secret places. Then hearing that Jovianus was diligently hunting for his hiding-places, and being already thoroughly wearied of living the life of a wild beast — for being cast down from a lofty station to a lower condition and confined to desert places, he actually suffered from hunger and was deprived of intercourse with mankind — under the compulsion of extreme necessity he came by round-about ways to the vicinity of Chalcedon.

§ 26.6.5 There, since it seemed to him a safe refuge, he hid himself with the most loyal of his friends, a certain Strategius, a soldier of the court guards who rose to be a senator, often going as secretly as possible to Constantinople, as was afterwards known from the testimony of that same Strategius when frequent investigations were held of the accomplices in the cabal.

§ 26.6.6 And so, after the fashion of some clever spy, being unrecognizable because of his unkempt appearance and his leanness, he gathered the gossip, which was then becoming frequent, of many who, since men are always discontented with present conditions, were finding fault with Valens, as being inflamed with a desire of seizing the property of others.

§ 26.6.7 To the emperor's cruelty deadly incentive was given by his father-in-law Petronius, who from the command of the Martensian legion had by a sudden jump been promoted to the rank of patrician. He was a man ugly in spirit and in appearance, who, burning with an immoderate longing to strip everyone without distinction, condemned guilty and innocent alike, after exquisite tortures, to fourfold indemnities, looking up debts going back to the time of the emperor Aurelian, and grieving excessively if he was obliged to let any one escape unscathed.

§ 26.6.8 Along with his intolerable character he had this additional incentive to his devastations, that while he was enriching himself through the woes of others, he was inexorable, cruel, savage and fearlessly hardhearted, never capable of giving or receiving reason, more hated than Cleander, who, as we read, when prefect under the emperor Commodus, in his haughty madness had ruined the fortunes of many men; more oppressive than Plautianus, also a prefect under Severus, who with superhuman arrogance would have caused general confusion, if he had not perished by the avenging sword.

§ 26.6.9 These lamentable occurrences, which under Valens, aided and abetted by Petronius, closed the houses of the poor and the palaces of the rich in great numbers, added to the fear of a still more dreadful future, sank deeply into the minds of the provincials and of the soldiers, who groaned under similar oppression, and with universal sighs everyone prayed (although darkly and in silence) for a change in the present condition of affairs with the help of the supreme deity.

§ 26.6.10 All this Procopius observed from his hiding-place, and thinking that when a more favourable turn of fortune should occur, the crown of supreme power could be gained with little trouble, he lay in wait like a beast of prey, ready to leap forth at once on seeing anything which he could seize.