Res Gestae

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.

For the Alamanni broke through the frontiers of Germany, 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,

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 Paris.

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Valentinian ordered Dagalaifus to go in haste to meet the Alamanni, who after devastating places near the frontier had withdrawn to a distance without the loss of a man.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.

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.

Upon hearing the news, Valentinian, after raising the said Aequitius to the rank of a commander-in- chief,[*](lit. of a magister; here, magister militum per Illyricum; cf. xxvi. 7, 11. He had been a count; cf. § 3, above. He was consul with Gratian in 374.) 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

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.

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.

And having returned as far as Rheims, and feeling anxious about Africa, for fear that it might suddenly be invaded, he decided that Neoterius, afterwards consul[*](In 390.) 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,[*](Cf. xxi. 7, 4.) 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.

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.

Procopius was born in Cilicia[*](Cf. Zosimus, iv. 4-8.) of a distinguished family and correspondingly educated, and for the reason that he was related to Julian,[*](He was his cousin on his mother’s side; she was a sister of Basilina, Julian’s mother.) 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,[*](I.e. Julian.) 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.

When Julian invaded Persia, he left Procopius in Mesopotamia, in association with Sebastianus, who was given the

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.[*](Cf. xxv. 8, 18.)

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