Res Gestae

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[*](They had been sent to Illyricum and Gaul; see 8, 8, above.) 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[*](Of general of the cavalry; see 8, 11, above.) he had gone at full speed to Rheims.

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.

This sad news was followed by another message, this time a happy one, namely, that soldiers sent by Jovian,

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.

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.

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[*](Previous emperors had had their sons or Caesars declared by the Senate to be of sufficient age for office. This is the first instance of the choice of a minor.) ; and his crying and obstinate resistance to being carried, as usual, on the curule chair, were an omen of what presently occurred.

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.

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.[*](Sozomenus, vi. 6, Orosius, vii. 31. Zonaras, xiii. 14, D, A, gives the coal gas as the cause. The latter adds that he had drunk to excess and (as some said) was given a poisoned sponge; Chrysostom, Homilia, xv., says directly that he was poisoned. Ammianus, by his reference to Aemilianus, seems to imply that he was strangled; cf. Cic., Pro Milone, 7, 16; Ad Fam.ix. 21, 3.) At all events he died in the thirty-third year of his age.[*](Having reigned 8 months.) The end of his life was like that of Scipio Aemilianus,[*](Livy, Epit. lix.; Val. Max. iv. 1, 12, 3; viii. 15, 4.) but so far as I know no investigation was made of the death of either.

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.

So too he was devoted to the Christian doctrine and sometimes paid it honour.[*](At Antioch he annulled Julian’s edicts against Christianity.) 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

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[*](The trabea was a white toga, with horizontal stripes of purple. It was worn by the early Roman kings and by the consuls on ceremonial occasions. The usual dress of the consul was the toga praetexta. ) 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.

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.

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

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.[*](The letter is not extant.) Accordingly, disregarding the ignorance of the vulgar, let us hasten to continue our narrative.

So this ferocity of changeable circumstances came to a lamentable end after the death of three emperors[*](Constantius died in 361; Julian in 363; Jovian, Feb. 17, 364.) 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

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.

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.[*](Cf. Gellius, xv. 18.)

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