66

VALENTINIAN ACKNOWLEDGED

[CH. XXV. seem from his subsequent conduct that the indiscreet and unseasonable freedom of Valentinian was the effect of military spirit, rather than of Christian zeal. He was pardoned, however, and still employed by a prince who esteemed his merit;* and in the various events of the Persian war, he improved the reputation which he had already acquired on the banks of the Rhine. The celerity and success with which he executed an important commission, recommended him to the favour of Jovian, and to the honourable command of the second school, or company, of targetteers, of the domestic guards. In the march from Antioch, he had reached his quarters at Ancyra, when he was unexpectedly summoned, without guilt, and without intrigue, to assume, in the forty-third year of his age, the absolute government of the Roman empire.

The invitation of the ministers and generals at Nice was of little moment, unless it were confirmed by the voice of the army. The aged Sallust, who had long observed the irregular fluctuations of popular assemblies, proposed, under pain of death, that none of those persons, whose rank in the service might excite a party in their favour, should appear in public on the day of the inauguration. Yet such was the prevalence of ancient superstition, that a whole day was voluntarily added to this dangerous interval, because it happened to be the intercalation of the Bissextile.† At length, when the hour was supposed to be propitious, Valentinian shewed himself from a lofty tribunal: the judicious choice was applauded; and the new prince was solemnly invested with the diadem and the purple amidst the acclamation of the troops, who were disposed in martial had presumed to purify him with lustral water. (Sozomen, 1. 6, c. 6. Theodoret. 1. 3, c. 15.) Such public defiance might become Valentinian; but it could leave no room for the unworthy delation of the philosopher Maximus, which supposes some more private offence. (Zosimus, 1. 4, p. 200, 201.) * Socrates, 1. 4. A previous exile to Melitene, or Thebais (the first might be possible), is interposed by Sozomen (1. 6, c. 6,) and Philostorgius. (1. 7, c. 7, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 293). Ammianus, in a long, because unseasonable, digression (26, 1, and Valesius ad locum), rashly supposes that he understands an astronomical question, of which his readers are ignorant. It is treated with more judgment and propriety by Censorinus (De Die Natali, c. 20), and Macrobius (Saturnal. 1. 1, c. 12-16.) The appellation of Bissextile, which marks the inauspicious year (Augustin, ad Januarium, epist. 119), is derived from the repetition of the sixth day

That

order round the tribunal. But when he stretched forth his hand to address the armed multitude, a busy whisper was accidentally started in the ranks, and insensibly swelled into a loud and imperious clamour, that he should name, without delay, a colleague in the empire. The intrepid calmness of Valentinian obtained silence, and commanded respect; and he thus addressed the assembly:-" A few minutes since it was in your power, fellow soldiers, to have left me in the obscurity of a private station. Judging, from the testimony of my past life, that I deserved to reign, you have placed me on the throne. It is now my duty to consult the safety and interest of the republic. The weight of the universe is undoubtedly too great for the hands of a feeble mortal. I am conscious of the limits of my abilities, and the uncertainty of my life: and far from declining, I am anxious to solicit, the assistance of a worthy colleague. But, where discord may be fatal, the choice of a faithful friend requires mature and serious deliberation. deliberation shall be my care. Let your conduct be dutiful and consistent. Retire to your quarters, refresh your minds and bodies; and expect the accustomed donative on the accession of a new emperor.' "'* The astonished troops, with a mixture of pride, of satisfaction, and of terror, confessed the voice of their master. Their angry clamours subsided into silent reverence; and Valentinian, encompassed with the eagles of the legions, and the various banners of the cavalry and infantry, was conducted, in warlike pomp, to the palace of Nice. As he was sensible, however, of the importance of preventing some rash declaration of the soldiers, he consulted the assembly of the chiefs and their real sentiments were concisely expressed. by the generous freedom of Dagalaiphus. "Most excellent prince," said that officer, "if you consider only your family, you have a brother; if you love the republic, look round for the most deserving of the Romans." The emperor, who suppressed his displeasure, without altering his intention, slowly‡ proceeded from Nice to Nicomedia and Constan* Valentinian's first speech is full in Ammianus; (26, 2,) concise and sententious in Philostorgius. (1. 8, c. 8.) ✈ Si tuos amas, Imperator optime, habes fratrem ; si Rempublicam, quære quem vestias. Ammian. 26, 4. In the division of the empire, Valentinian retained that sincere counsellor for himself. (c. 6.)

of the calends of March.

Ammianus says, itineribus citis; and that Valentinian reached

68

DIVISION OF THE EASTERN

[CH. XXV. tinople. In one of the suburbs of that capital,* thirty days after his own elevation, he bestowed the title of Augustus on his brother Valens; and as the boldest patriots were convinced that their opposition, without being serviceable to their country, would be fatal to themselves, the declaration of his absolute will was received with silent submission. Valens was now in the thirty-sixth year of his age; but his abilities had never been exercised in any employment, military or civil: and his character had not inspired the world with any sanguine expectations. He possessed, however, one quality, which recommended him. to Valentinian, and preserved the domestic peace of the empire; a devout and grateful attachment to his benefactor, whose superiority of genius, as well as of authority, Valens humbly and cheerfully acknowledged in every action of his life.t

Before Valentinian divided the provinces, he reformed the administration of the empire. All ranks of subjects, who had been injured or oppressed under the reign of Julian, were invited to support their public accusations. The silence of mankind attested the spotless integrity of the prefect Sallust; and his own pressing solicitations that he might be permitted to retire from the business of the state were rejected by Valentinian with the most honourable expressions of friendship and esteem. But among the favourites of the late emperor, there were many who had abused his credulity or superstition; and who could no longer hope to be protected either by favour or justice.§ The greater part of the ministers of the palace, and the governors of the provinces, were removed from their respective stations; yet the eminent merit of some officers was

Nicomedia on the first of March, three days after his election.-ED.] * In suburbano (Ammian. 26. 4.) The famous Hebdomon, or field of Mars, was distant from Constantinople either seven stadia, or seven miles. See Valesius and his brother, ad loc., and Ducange, Const. 1. 2, p. 140, 141. 172, 173. + Participem quidem legitimum potestatis; sed in modum apparitoris morigerum, ut progrediens aperiet textus. Ammian. 26, 4. Notwithstanding the evidence of Zonaras, Suidas, and the Paschal Chronicle, M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v, p. 671) wishes to disbelieve these stories, si avantageuses à un payen. § Eunapius celebrates and exaggerates the sufferings of Maximus (p. 82, 83); yet he allows that this sophist or magician, the guilty favourite of Julian, and the personal enemy of Valentinian, was

distinguished from the obnoxious crowd; and, notwithstanding the opposite clamours of zeal and resentment, the whole proceedings of this delicate inquiry appear to have been conducted with a reasonable share of wisdom and moderation.* The festivity of a new reign received a short and suspicious interruption from the sudden illness of the two princes: but as soon as their health was restored, they left Constantinople in the beginning of the spring. In the castle or palace of Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the solemn and final division of the Roman empire. Valentinian bestowed on his brother the rich prefecture of the east, from the lower Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his immediate government the warlike prefectures 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 generals and magistrates was required for two councils, and two courts: the division was made with a just regard to their peculiar merit and situation, and seven master-generals were soon created, either of the cavalry or infantry. When this important business had been amicably transacted, Valentinian and Valens embraced for the last time. The emperor of the west established his temporary residence at Milan; and the emperor of the east returned to Constantinople, to assume the dominion of fifty provinces, of whose language he was totally ignorant.‡

The tranquillity of the east was soon disturbed by rebellion; and the throne of Valens was threatened by the daring attempt of a rival, whose affinity to the emperor Julian§ was

dismissed on the payment of a small fine. * The loose assertions of a general disgrace (Zosimus, l. 4, p. 201,) are detected and refuted by Tillemont (tom. v, p. 21.) + Ammianus, 26, 5.

Ammianus says, in general terms, subagrestis ingenii, nec bellicis nec liberalibus studiis eruditus. Ammian. 31, 14. The orator Themistius, with the genuine impertinence of a Greek, wished for the first time to speak the Latin language, the dialect of his sovereign, rǹv διάλεκτον κρατοῦσαν. Orat. 6, p. 71. § The uncertain degree of alliance, or consanguinity, is expressed by the words avios, cognatus, consobrinus. (See Valesius ad Ammian. 23, 3.) The mother of Procopius might be a sister of Basilina and Count Julian, the mother and uncle of the apostate. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 49.

70

REVOLT OF PROCOPIUS.

[CH. XXV. his sole merit, and had been his only crime. Procopius had been hastily promoted from the obscure station of a tribune, and a notary, to the joint command of the army of Mesopotamia the public opinion already named him as the successor of a prince who was destitute 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 invested Procopius with the imperial purple.* He endeavoured, by his dutiful and submissive behaviour, to disarm the jealousy of Jovian; resigned, without a contest, his military command; and retired with his wife and family to cultivate the ample patrimony which he possessed in the province 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 sovereigns, Valentinian and Valens, was dispatched to conduct the unfortunate Procopius either to a perpetual prison, or an ignominious death. His presence of mind procured him a longer respite, and a more splendid fate. Without presuming to dispute the royal mandate, he requested the indulgence of a few moments to embrace his weeping family; and, while the viligance of his guards was relaxed by a plentiful entertainment, he dexterously escaped to the sea-coast of the Euxine, from whence he passed over to the country of Bosphorus. In that sequestered region he remained many months, exposed to the hardships of exile, of solitude, and of want; his melancholy temper brooding over his misfortunes, and his mind agitated by the just apprehension, that if any accident should discover his name, the faithless barbarians would violate, without much scruple, the laws of hospitality. In a moment of impatience and despair, Procopius embarked in a merchant vessel, which made sail for Constantinople; and boldly aspired to the rank of a sovereign, because he was not allowed to enjoy the security of a subject. At first he lurked in the villages of Bithynia, continually changing

* Ammian. 23, 3. 26, 6. He mentions the report with much hesitation; susurravit obscurior fama; nemo enim dicti auctor exstitit verus. It serves, however, to mark that Procopius was a Pagan. Yet his religion does not appear to have promoted, or obstructed, his pretensions. [During his short rebellion, Procopius struck coins, some of which have been preserved. None of them exhibit any Pagan emblems, while some have the Cross and the Labarum, with the Christian monogram. Eckhel. Num. Vet. vol. viii. p. 157.—ED.]