tory. The conquests of Trajan had, it is true, been abandoned by Hadrian and Aurelian, but these were voluntary cessions, dictated by political wisdom; the treaty of Dura was a plain confession of inferiority, a barter of territory for life and liberty. Ammianus, who was present, speaks of it with the grief and indignation of a gallant soldier; and he maintains that, in the four days that were spent in negotiation, the army might have reached Corduene, though it was a hundred miles distant. But he seems to have forgotten that the incessant attacks of the Persians had already forced the army to halt at Dura; and he does not explain how an army of 60,000 men could have marched one hundred miles in four days, without provisions, and continually assailed by an active and persevering foe. Eutropius, who was also present, is, perhaps, more correct in saying that the peace, though inglorious, was necessary. But the original error may be charged on Julian, who should have repassed the Tigris when he found himself unable to undertake the siege of Ctesiphon; and perhaps it was death alone that saved him from the disgrace of concluding the treaty of Dura. The Roman soldiers hastened to pass to the farther bank of the river. Some crossed on inflated skins, leading their horses by the bridle; others got over in the boats which had been brought with the army. Some of the more impatient, who had not waited for the signal for the passage, were drowned, in their attempts to swim across; or, if they reached the other side, were slain or carried away for slaves, by the Saracens. When the whole army had effected its passage, the march was directed for the Roman territory. The ruins of the once impregnable Atra were passed, and, after a march of seventy miles, which occupied six days, over an arid plain, which only produced bitter plants and brackish water, the army reached the castle of Ur, where it was met by a small convoy of provisions, sent from the army of Procopius and Sebastian. The troops made a halt there for a few days, of which the emperor took the advantage for sending appointments to offices of trust and importance to those whom he thought best calculated to support his interests in the West. When the supply of provisions was exhausted, the army renewed its march; and the famine which it experienced was so great, that a modius (20lbs.) of meal, whenever it chanced to be found, was sold for ten pieces of gold. At the town of Thilsaphata, the emperor was met by Sebastian and Procopius, and their principal officers; and the army finally encamped under the walls of Nisibis, which city shame prevented Jovian from entering, though earnestly entreated by the people. The following day, Bineses, a Persian nobleman, who was one of the hostages sent with the army, called on the emperor to fulfil his promise, and surrender the town. Jovian having acceded to his demand, he entered, and displayed the banner of Persia from the citadel. Nothing could exceed the grief and indignation of the Nisibenes. They implored the emperor not to force them to migrate, affirming that, even unaided, they were able to maintain their town against all the power of Persia. But Jovian, alleging a regard for his oath, was deaf to their entreaties; and at length, exasperated at an advocate named Silvanus, who cried out, when he saw a crown presented to him by the citizens, "May you be thus crowned, O emperor, by the remaining cities!" he issued orders for those to depart within three days who were not willing to be subjects of the king of Persia. The grief and lamentation were naturally great, and the loss of property was considerable, owing to the want of beasts of burden to convey it away. A new quarter was built at Amida for the reception of the exiles, which city, in consequence, resumed its former importance. Singara and the Moors' Camp were surrendered in like manner, and Jovian then led his troops to Antioch. The remains of the late emperor were committed to the charge of Procopius, to be conveyed to Tarsus. The attachment of Jovian to the Christian faith was well known. On the march to Antioch, the Labarum was again displayed. By a circular epistle, addressed to the governors of the provinces, he declared the Christian faith to be the religion of the empire; all the edicts of Julian against it were abolished, and the church was restored to its possessions and immunities. The prelates thronged to the court of the Christian emperor; and the venerable Athanasius, although seventy years of age, undertook, at that advanced season of the year, a journey from Alexandria to Antioch, in order to confirm him in the path of orthodoxy. By a wise and humane edict, Jovian calmed the fears of his pagan subjects, proclaiming universal toleration, except for the practisers of magic arts. Impatient to reach the capital, Jovian remained only six weeks at Antioch. He first marched to Tarsus, where he made a brief halt, and gave directions relating to the tomb of Julian. At Tyana in Cappadocia, he was met by deputies, sent to assure him of the obedience of the armies and people of the West. On the 1st of January, 364, he assumed the consulate at Ancyra, with his infant son for his colleague, whose crying, and reluctance to be carried in the curule chair, were regarded as ominous. He thence proceeded toward the capital; but, having supped heartily one night, (Feb. 17,) when he halted at Dadastana, a little town on the frontiers of Bithynia, he was found dead in his bed the following morning. Various causes were assigned for his death; but the most probable one was his having lain in a recently plastered room, in which there was a large fire of charcoal. He was in the 33d year of his age, and he had not reigned quite eight months. CHAPTER V.* VALENTINIAN, VALENS, GRATIAN, VALEN. TINIAN II., AND THEODOSIUS. ELEVATION OF VALENTINIAN AND OF VALENS. PROCOPIUS. AT THESSALONICA. MAXIMUS. OF VALENTINIAN II. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF EUGENIUS. -- DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THEODOSIUS. EMPIRE. STATE OF THE Valentinian and Valens. A. U. 1117-1128. A. D. 364-375. THE death of the emperor Jovian did not prevent the advance of the army; and while it was on its march for Nicæa, the generals and civil officers met in frequent delib * Authorities: Ammianus, Zosimus, the Epitomators, and Ecclesi astical Historians. All the suffrages were eration on the choice of an emperor. united in favor of the prefect Sallust; but he again refused the imperial dignity, both for himself or for his son, alleging the age of the one and the inexperience of the other. Various persons were named and rejected: at length all united in approbation of Valentinian, who was then at Ancyra, in command of the second school of the Scutarians; and an invitation was sent to him to repair to Nicæa, where the solemn election was to be held. Valentinian was a Pannonian by birth, son of Count Gratian, a distinguished officer. He had himself served with great credit, and was now in the forty-third year of his age. In person he was tall and handsome. He was chaste and temperate in his habits; his mind had been little cultivated, and he was unacquainted with the Greek language, and with literature in general. He was a Christian in religion, and he had offended the emperor Julian by the public expression of his contempt for the rites of paganism. Every prudent measure was adopted by the friends of Valentinian to prevent the appearance of a competitor for the empire. No time, it might therefore be supposed, would have been lost in causing him to be acknowledged; yet it was not till the second day after his arrival at Nicæa that he let himself be seen; the first happening to be the Bissextile, a day noted as unlucky in the annals of Rome. On the evening of that day, at the suggestion of Sallust, it was forbidden, on pain of death, for any man of high rank to appear the next morning in public. At daybreak, the impatient troops all assembled without the city; Valentinian advanced, and, having ascended a lofty tribunal, was unanimously saluted emperor. He was then arrayed in the imperial habit, and was proceeding to address the assembled troops, when a general cry arose for him to name a colleague; for late events had made even the meanest perceive the danger of an unsettled succession. The tumult increased, and menaced to become serious, when the emperor, by his authority, stilled the clamor, and, addressing them, declared that he felt as well as they the necessity of an associate in the toils of government, but that the choice required time and deliberation. He assured them that he would make the choice with all convenient speed, and in conclusion promised them the usual donative. Their clamors were converted into acclamations, and the emperor was conducted to the palace, surrounded by eagles and banners, and guarded by all the troops. The word was given to march for Nicomedia. Meantime Valentinian called a council of his principal officers to deliberate on the choice of a colleague, though he had probably already, in his own mind, fixed on the person. All were silent but the free-spoken Dagalaiphus, who said, "If you love your own family, most excellent emperor, you have a brother; if the state, seek whom you may invest with the purple." Valentinian was offended, but he concealed his feelings. The army marched for the Bosporus, and, soon after their arrival at Constantinople, (Mar. 28,) the emperor assembled them in a plain near the city, and presented to them his brother Valens, as his colleague in the empire. In this choice, he proved that natural affection was stronger in his breast than regard for the public happiness; for Valens, though in his thirty-sixth year, had never borne any employment, or showed any distinguished talent. As none, however, ventured to dissent, the choice seemed to be made with the general approbation. A general reformation of the administration of the empire was effected in the course of the year. Most of the officers of the palace and governors of provinces appointed by Julian, were dismissed; but the whole proceeding was regulated by equity. In the spring of the following year, (365,) the two emperors quitted the capital of the East, and at the palace of Mediana, three miles from Naissus, they made a formal division of the empire, and parted. never again to meet. Valentinian, reserving to himself the West, committed the East, including Greece and the country south of the Lower Danube, to the rule of his brother. The able generals and great officers were also divided between them; to the inexperienced Valens were assigned the services of Sallust, Victor, Arinthæus, and Lupicinus; among those whom Valentinian retained for himself, was the intrepid Dagalaiphus. Valens had soon to contend for his empire. Procopius, after the funeral of the emperor Julian, had retired to his estates in Cappadocia, where he lived in peace, till an officer and soldiers appeared, sent by the new emperors to arrest him. He made his escape to the sea-coast, and sought refuge among the barbarians of the country of Bosporus; but, after some time, weary of the hardships and privations he endured, he came secretly to Bithynia, and sheltered himself there in various retreats. He at length ventured into the capital, where two of his friends, a senator and a eunuch, afforded him concealment. He there observed the discontent of the |