Valens humbly and cheerfully acknowledged in CHAP. every action of his life 2. All XXV. divifion of the eastern and weftern em A. D. 364. June. Before Valentinian divided the provinces, he The final reformed the administration of the empire. ranks of fubjects, who had been injured or oppreffed under the reign of Julian, were invited pires, to fupport their public accufations. The filence of mankind attefted the fpotlefs integrity of the præfect Salluft 29; and his own preffing folicitations, that he might be permitted to retire from the bufinefs of the ftate, were rejected by Valentinian with the most honourable expreffions of friendship and eftcem. But among the favourites of the late emperor, there were many who had abufed his credulity or fuperftition; and who could no longer hope to be protected either by favour or juftice". The greater part of the minifters of the palace, and the governors of the provinces, were removed from their respective ftations; yet the eminent merit of fome officers was distinguished from the obnoxious crowd; and, notwithstanding the oppofite clamours of zeal and refentment, the whole proceedings of this delicate enquiry appear to have been con 28 Participem quidem legitimum poteftatis ; fed in modum apparitoris morigerum, ut progrediens aperiet textus. Ammian. xxvi. 4. 29 Notwithstanding the evidence of Zonaras, Suidas, and the Pafchal Chronicle, M. de Tillemont (Hift. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 671.) wishes to disbelieve these ftories fi avantageuses à un payen. 30 Eunapius celebrates and exaggerates the fufferings of Maximus (p. 82, 83.): yet he allows, that this fophift or magician, the guilty favourite of Julian, and the perfonal enemy of Valentinian, was difmiffed on the payment of a small fine. VOL. IV. R ducted XXV. 32 CHAP. ducted with a reasonable fhare of wisdom and moderation ". The festivity of a new reign received a short and suspicious interruption, from the fudden illness of the two princes: but as foon as their health was restored, they left Conftantinople in the beginning of the spring. In the caftle or palace of Mediana, only three miles from Naiffus, they executed the folemn and final divifion of the Roman empire 3. 'Valentinian bestowed on his brother the rich præfecture of the East, from the Lower Danube to the confines of Persia; whilft he reserved for his immediate government the warlike præfectures of Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul, from the extremity of Greece to the Caledonian rampart; and from the rampart of Caledonia, to the foot of Mount Atlas. The provincial administration remained on its former basis; but a double supply of rals and magiftrates was required for two councils, and two courts: the divifion was made with a just regard to their peculiar merit and fituation, and seven mafter-generals were foon created, either of the cavalry or infantry. When this important business had been amicably tranfacted, Valentinian and Valens embraced for the laft time. The emperor of the West established his temporary refidence at Milan; and the emperor of the East returned to Constantinople, to assume gene 31 The loofe affertions of a general difgrace (Zofimus, 1. iv. p. 201.) are detected and refuted by Tillemont (tom. v. p. 21.). 32 Ammianus, xxvi. 5. the XXV. the dominion of fifty provinces, of whofe lan- CHAP. guage he was totally ignorant 33. 34 The tranquillity of the East was foon disturbed by rebellion; and the throne of Valens was threatened by the daring attempts of a rival, whofe affinity to the emperor Julian ** was his fole merit, and had been his only crime. Procopius had been haftily promoted from the obfcure ftation of a tribune, and a notary, to the joint command of the army of Mefopotamia; the public opinion already named him as the fucceffor of a prince who was deftitute of natural heirs; and a vain rumour was propagated by his friends, or his enemies, that Julian, before the altar of the Moon, at Carrhæ, had privately invefted Procopius with the Imperial purple 3. He endeavoured, by his dutiful and fubmiffive behaviour, to disarm the jealousy of Jovian; refigned, without a conteft, his military command; and retired, with his wife and family, to cultivate the ample patrimony which he poffeffed in the pro 35 33 Ammianus fays, in general terms, fubagreftis ingenii, nec bellicis nec liberalibus ftudiis eruditus. Ammian. xxxi. 14. The orator Themiftius, with the genuine impertinence of a Greek, wifhed, for the first time, to speak the Latin language, the dialect of his fovereign, тny diadentov ngarusav. Orat. vi. p. 71. 34 The uncertain degree of alliance, or confanguinity, is expreffed by the words ave frog, cognatus, confobrinus (fee Valefius ad Ammian. xxiii. 3.). The mother of Procopius might be a fifter of Bafilina, and Count Julian, the mother and uncle of the apoftate. Ducange. Fam. Byzantin. p. 49. 35 Ammian. xxiii. 3. xxvi. 6. He mentions the report with much hesitation: fufurravit obfcurior fama; nemo enim dicti auctor exftitit verus. It ferves, however, to mark, that Procopius was a pagan. Yet his religion does not appear to have promoted, or obftructed, his pretenfions. Proco Revolt of pius, A.D. 365. Sept. 28. XXV. CHAP. vince of Cappadocia. These useful and innocent occupations were interrupted by the appearance of an officer, with a band of soldiers, who, in the name of his new fovereigns, Valentinian and Valens, was dispatched to conduct the unfortunate Procopius, either to a perpetual prison, or an ignominious death. His prefence of mind procured him a longer refpite, and a more fplendid fate. Without prefuming to difpute the royal mandate, he requested the indulgence of a few moments, to embrace his weeping family; and, while the vigilance of his guards was relaxed by a plentiful entertainment, he dexterously escaped to the fea-coaft of the Euxine, from whence he paffed over to the country of Bofphorus. In that fequeftered region he remained many months, expofed to the hardships of exile, of folitude, and of want; his melancholy temper brooding over his misfortunes, and his mind agitated by the just apprehenfion, that, if any accident should discover his name, the faithless Barbarians would violate, without much fcruple, the laws of hofpitality. In a moment of impatience and despair, Procopius embarked in a merchant veffel, which made fail for Conftantinople; and boldly aspired to the rank of a fovereign, because he was not allowed to enjoy the fecurity of a fubject. At first he lurked in the villages of Bithynia, continually changing his habitation, and his dif guife". By degrees he ventured into the capi 36 One of his retreats was a country-house of Eunomius, the heretic. The master was abfent, innocent, ignorant: yet he narrowly efcaped a fentence of death, and was banished into the remote parts of Mauritania (Philoftorg. 1. ix, c. 5. 8. and Godefroy's Differt. P. 369-378.). tal, XXV. tal, trufted his life and fortune to the fidelity of CHAP. two friends, a fenator and an eunuch, and conceived fome hopes of fuccefs, from the intelligence which he obtained of the actual ftate of public affairs. The body of the people was infected with a spirit of discontent: they regretted the justice and the abilities of Salluft, who had been imprudently difmiffed from the præfecture of the Eaft. They despised the character of Valens, which was rude without vigour, and feeble without mildnefs. They dreaded the influence of his father-in-law, the Patrician Petronius, a cruel and rapacious minifter, who rigorously exacted all the arrears of tribute, that might remain unpaid fince the reign of the emperor Aurelian. The circumftances were propitious to the defigns of an ufurper. The hoftile measures of the Perfians required the prefence of Valens in Syria: from the Danube to the Euphrates the troops were in motion; and the capital was occafionally filled with the foldiers who paffed, or repaffed, the Thracian Bofphorus. Two cohorts of Gauls were perfuaded to liften to the fecret proposals of the confpirators; which were recommended by the promise of a liberal donative; and, as they still revered the memory of Julian, they eafily confented to fupport the hereditary claim of his profcribed kinsman. At the dawn of day they were drawn up near the baths of Anastasia; and Procopius, clothed in a purple garment, more fuitable to a player than to a monarch, appeared, as if he rose from the dead, R 3 |