Res Gestae

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

There, since it seemed to him a safe refuge,[*](Probably because he thought that he would not be looked for in so important a city.) 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.

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.

To the emperor’s cruelty deadly incentive was given by his father-in- law[*](The wife of Valens was Albia Dominica.) Petronius, who from the command of the Martensian legion[*](Apparently so named from the Marteni, a people of Babylonia. On the praepositi, see vol. i., Index II.) had by a sudden jump been promoted to the rank of patrician.[*](See Introd., vol. i, p. xxviii.) 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,[*](He ruled from 270-275.) and grieving excessively if he was obliged to let any one escape unscathed.

Along with his intolerable character he had this additional incentive to his devastations, that while he was enriching himself through the woes of others,

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.

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.

And while he was burning with impatience to hasten his designs, fate offered him this most timely opportunity. For Valens at the end of winter hastened to Syria and had already crossed the frontier of Bithynia, when he learned from the reports of his generals that the Gothic tribes, at that time

And so, since the emperor was removed to a distance, Procopius, worn out by long-continued troubles, and thinking that even a cruel death would be more merciful than the evils by which he was tormented, hazarded at one cast all perils whatsoever; and without fear now of suffering the worst, led by a desperate resolve he essayed the bold deed of hastening to tempt the legions of Divitenses and the Younger Tungricani,[*](Cf. xxvii. 1, 2.) who had been ordered with other troops to hasten to the urgent service in Thrace, and as usual were to remain for two days in Constantinople.[*](For rest and preparation for the campaign.) This he did by hastening to appeal to certain acquaintances that he had among those same troops; but because it would be dangerous and difficult to speak with all, he confided in only a few.

These men, enticed by the hope of great rewards, promised under the sanctity of an oath that they would do everything that he wished, guaranteeing also the favour of their comrades, with whom they held an important place in giving advice, since they were the highest paid[*](A soldier’s pay differed in the various branches of the army, and was increased according to his years of service; cf. Veget. ii. 21.) and the most deserving.

So, as had been agreed, as soon as the sun’s rays illumined the day, the

So there he stood rather wasted (you would think that he had come up from the lower world), and because a purple robe could nowhere be found, he was dressed in a gold-embroidered tunic, like an attendant at court, but from foot to waist he looked like a page in the service of the palace[*](The paedagogium was the apartment where pages or slaves were trained for service; cf. Pliny, Epist. vii. 27, 13, and xxix. 3, 3, below.) ; he wore purple shoes on his feet, and bore a lance, and a small piece of purple cloth in his left hand; just as sometimes on the stage you might think that a splendidly decorated figure was suddenly made to appear as the curtain was raised, or through some mimic deception.[*](The language is far from clear, but the general meaning is that he resembled some grotesque actor in a stage-play or mime; Salvète (see Bibliogr. Note, vol. i.) seems to take it to be a figure painted on the curtain. In that case through the curtain would mean by the curtain, as it was raised at the end of a performance; cf. Virg., Georg. iii. 24 f., vel scaena ut versis discedat frontibus utque purpureas intexti tollant aulaea Britanni. The curtain as it rises shows the figure a part at a time and the representation in a mime would be grotesque; Ammianus seems to have combined the two ideas. It is hard to see how per aulaeum can mean behind the curtain, as Büchele takes it, or that a figure on the stage could be seen through the curtain. Yonge omits per aulaeum altogether.)

Raised in a laughable

And as he advanced more boldly,[*](Val. takes intimidius as equivalent to timidius, com- paring Vell. ii. 37, 2, armis infractus. ) the people neither opposed nor favoured him; nevertheless, they were aroused by the sudden charm of novelty which is inborn in most of the commons, and they were still more strongly moved because they one and all (as we have already said) hated Petronius, who was enriching himself by violence, and was reviving transactions that were long since buried, and debts of the misty past brought up again against all classes.[*](See § 7, above.)

Accordingly, when the said Procopius had mounted the tribunal,[*](It was opposite the palace near the Senate House.) and all were filled with amazement, fearing the gloomy silence, and believing (as indeed he had expected) that he had merely come to a steeper road to death, since a trembling which pervaded all his limbs hindered his speaking, he stood for a long time without a

Certainly some may wonder that so laughable a reign, rashly and blindly begun, broke out into such lamentable disasters to the state, if perchance they are unacquainted with previous instances, and think that this happened for the first time.

It was thus that Andriscus of Adramytium,[*](Cf. xiv. 11, 30.) a man born to the lowest condition, raised himself to the title of a Pseudophilippus and added to the Macedonian wars a third, full of danger. It was thus, when the emperor Macrinus was living at Antioch, that Heliogabalus Antoninus[*](Cf. Lamprid., Heliog. i. 5, Scr. Hist. Aug. ii. p. 106, note, L.C.L. ) burst forth from Emesa.[*](A city of Apamene, north of Coelesyria) Thus, by the unexpected uprising of Maximinus, Alexander[*](Alexander Severus; cf. Jul. Cap., Max. 7, 8; and Lamprid., Alex. Sev. 61.) was murdered with his mother Mamaea. Thus in Africa the elder Gordian was hurried to the throne, but when he found himself entangled in the terror of coming dangers, ended his life with the noose.[*](Capit., Gord. 16, 2; for his cenotaph, see xxiii. 5, 7, above.)