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[1] Procopius was born in Cilicia
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of a distinguished family and correspondingly educated, and for the reason that he was related to Julian,
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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,
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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.
[2] When Julian invaded Persia, he left Procopius in Mesopotamia, in association with Sebastianus, who was given the same rank, with a strong force of soldiers,
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and ordered him (as rumour darkly whispered, for no one vouched for the truth of the report) to act in accordance with the conditions that arose, and if he learned that the Roman power in Persia was weakened, to take measures quickly to have himself named emperor.
[3] 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.
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[4] 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 he came by round-about ways to the vicinity of Chalcedon.
[5] There, since it seemed to him a safe refuge,
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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.
[6] 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.
[7] To the emperor’s cruelty deadly incentive was given by his father-in- law
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Petronius, who from the command of the Martensian legion
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had by a sudden jump been promoted to the rank of patrician.
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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,
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and grieving excessively if he was obliged to let any one escape unscathed.
[8] Along with his intolerable character he had this additional incentive to his devastations, that while he was enriching himself through the woes of others, he was inexorable, cruel, savage and fearlessly hardhearted, never capable of giving or receiving reason, more hated than Cleander,
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who, as we read, when prefect under the emperor Commodus, in his haughty madness had ruined the fortunes of many men; more oppressive than Plautianus,
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also a prefect under Severus, who with superhuman arrogance would have caused general confusion, if he had not perished by the avenging sword.
[9] 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.
[10] 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.
[11] 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 unassailed
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and therefore very savage, were conspiring together and making preparations to invade the Thracian provinces. On learning this, in order that he himself might reach his destination without hindrance, Valens ordered a sufficient reinforcement of cavalry and infantry to be sent to the places where inroads of the savages were feared.
[12] 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,
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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.
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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.
[13] 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
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and the most deserving.
[14] So, as had been agreed, as soon as the sun’s rays illumined the day, the aforesaid Procopius, full of conflicting emotions, went to the Anastasian Baths, named for the sister of Constantine,
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where he knew that the legions had their quarters. There he learned from the confidants of his secrets that their whole number in a meeting by night had united in his support. Then, after a pledge of safety was willingly given him, he was received by the throng of venal soldiers and treated indeed with honour, although he seemed in a way to be held as a prisoner; for just as once before, after the death of Pertinax, the praetorians took up Julianus,
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when he was a bidder for the imperial power, so now also these troops, with an eye to every possible gain, defended Procopius, as he plotted to enter upon his ill-starred rule.
[15] 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
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; 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.
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[16] Raised in a laughable manner to this dishonour of all honours,
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he ad- dressed his supporters with servile flattery, and promised them ample riches and dignities as the first-fruits of his principate. Then he appeared in public, surrounded by a number of armed men, and now advancing with more confidence and with upraised standards, attended with a fearful din of shields mournfully clashing together, which the soldiers from fear of his being pelted from housetops with stones or pieces of tile held closely joined together over the very crests of their helmets.
[17] And as he advanced more boldly,
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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.
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[18] Accordingly, when the said Procopius had mounted the tribunal,
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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 word. Finally, he beganwith broken and dying utterance to say a little, justifying his action by his relationship with the imperial family; then at first by the low whispers of a few, who had been hired for the purpose, later by the tumultuous acclamations of the people, he was hailed as emperor in disorderly fashion, and hastily went on to the Senate House. There finding none of the distinguished senators, but only a few persons of low rank, with rapid steps he hastened to the palace and entered it with ill-omened step.
[19] 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.
[20] It was thus that Andriscus of Adramytium,
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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
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burst forth from Emesa.
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Thus, by the unexpected uprising of Maximinus, Alexander
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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.
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Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.
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