430 



ROMAN EMPIRE, 



Roman o f Strasburg, and having given them battle he defeated 

 empire, them ,with immense loss, and sent Chnodomarius a 

 prisoner to Rome. Julian next entered Germany, 

 and concluded a truce with the barbarians, which was 

 afterwards converted into a peace favourable to Rome. 

 After a successful expedition against the German 

 tribes, Constantius declared war upon Sapor, king of 

 A. D. 359. Persia, and marched against him in person ; but hav- 

 ing requested a portion of Julian's troops to assist him, 

 the soldiers refused to quit their favourite general, and 

 went so far as to proclaim him emperor. Julian seems 

 to have had no farther ambition than to share the sove- 

 reignty with his cousin ; but Constantius refused to 

 I>eathof divide his power; and, as he was marching against his 

 Constan- rival, he was seized with a fever at Mosucrene, at the 

 tins. foot of Mount Taurus, which cut him off in the 45th 



A. D. 361. year of his age. 



Important The reign of Constantius has been rendered remark- 

 laws enact- a bl e j n history, by the peculiarity of some of the laws 

 ttanti which he enacted. In the year 356, he made it a capital 



crime to offer sacrifices, or to pay any sort of worship to 

 idols. In 357, he enacted thatthe effects of every Christian 

 who renounced his religion for Judaism, should be con- 

 fiscated ; and he removed every kind of impost from 

 such of the travelling merchants as were ecclesiastics. 

 In 358, he declared all magicians, augurs, astrologers, 

 and pretenders to divination, enemies to mankind ; and 

 ia 359, he established a court of inquisition against all 

 who consulted heathen oracles. But this tribunal was 

 characterised by the same barbarities which disgraced 

 a similar establishment in succeeding ages. 



Julian stic- Julian, who has since been known by the name of 

 ceeds to the the Apostate, restored the pagan religion, and, after a 

 ""J^ 6 * short reign of twenty months, of which we have given 

 a full account in the article JULIAN, Vol. XII. p. 390, 

 he died of a wound received in a skirmish against the 

 A. D. 363. Persians, in the 32d year of his age. 

 Jovian Upon the death of Julian, the army unanimously 



raised to raised to the empire an able general, Flavius Claudius 

 the empire. Jovian, a native of Pannonia. Having been educated 

 in the Christian faith, he at first refused the imperial 

 diadem, on the ground that the people whom he was to 

 govern had relapsed into the idolatry of their ancestors ; 

 but when the army assured him that they preferred the 

 Christian religion, he immediately accepted of the 

 sovereignty. Upon the death of Julian, the troops which 

 he had conducted against the Persians had been left in 

 extreme distress ; a famine raged in the camp to such 

 a degree, that every man would have perished had not 

 the Persians made them offers of peace, and, though 

 the terms were in general disadvantageous, in so far as 

 they involved a surrender of territory to the Persians, 

 yet, considering the state of the Roman army, they could 

 not be too highly appreciated. Being now permitted 

 to return homewards without molestation, Jovian had 

 no sooner arrived at Antioch than he revoked all the 

 laws that Julian had enacted against the Christians, 

 and in favour of the pagans. He took part with the 

 orthodox Christians against the Arians, and having 

 recalled Athanasius, in a letter written in his own 

 hand, he is said to have requested him to compose the 

 celebrated creed, which is now known in every corner 

 of the Christian world. These enactments, made dur- 

 ing the march of his army, are an earnest of what 

 might have been expected from Jovian, had be been 

 permitted to reign ; but on his way to Constantinople 

 Death of he was found dead in his bed, having been suffocated 

 Jgvian. by the vapours of charcoal which had been lighted in 

 A. L.364. his room. 



On the death of Jovian, Valentinian was proclaimed Roman 

 empercr; and the soldiers having insisted that he should Empire. 

 assume a partner in the empire, he chose his brother ,7T 

 Valens. VMtettoh 



T-I t. i 11 11 i chosen em- 



Ine empire having been invaded on all sides, it was peror. 



thought necessary to divide it between the two sove- A. D. 36i. 

 reigns. In this partition, which was made at Mediana, 

 in Dacia, Valentinian received Illyricum, Italy, Gaul, 

 Spain, Britain, and Africa ; while Valens obtained 

 Asia, Egypt, and Thrace. Valentinian displayed his 

 military skill in the successes which he obtained over 

 the barbarians both in Africa and Gaul, and on the 

 banks of the Rhine and the Danube. The Quadi 

 having revolted, he took the field against them, and 

 laid waste their country with fire and sword. The 

 Quadi then sent ambassadors to sue for peace ; but 

 the emperor upbraided them for their conduct, and 

 while in the act of speaking in great warmth, he burst 

 a blood-vessel, and fell upon the ground. When 

 conveyed to his chamber he was seized with violent i) ea tl) of 

 convulsions, and expired in the greatest agony in the Valentini- 

 55th year of his age, and the 12th of his reign. an. 



The reign of Valens in the east was disturbed by the A. I). "75 

 revolt of Procopius, who was aided by Eugenius, a 

 wealthy eunuch, whom Valens had disgraced. The 

 emperor was disposed to abdicate the sovereignty ; but 

 his friends would not permit him. Procopius, on the 

 other hand, became odious to his own friends, who 

 speedily abandoned him ; and, in a battle which took Procopius 

 place between him and Valens, he was taken prisoner, defeoiedan 

 and put to death.. . slain. 



The Goths, who were marching to the assistance of 

 Procopius, retired when they learned his misfortunes ; 

 but Valens took them all prisoners; and in the war 

 with those barbarians which succeeded, Valens was 

 successful, and compelled them to make a peace advan- 

 tageous to the Romans. The reign of Valens has been 36S * 

 distinguished by his persecution of the orthodox clergy. 

 Eighty of these clergy were sent to the emperor to com- 

 plain of the treatment they had received ; but he sum- 

 marily ordered them to be put to death. The person, 

 however, who was charged with this odious duty, 

 dreading a popular commotion, put them all on board 

 a ship, and, when it was at some distance from the 

 shore, the sailors set it on fire, and escaped in their 

 boats. Valens likewise persecuted magicians, and all 

 those who had books of magic in their library. Death 

 and confiscation were the punishment which he inflict- 

 ed on this occasion, and hence people of all ranks burnt 

 their libraries, lest their enemies might have secretly 

 introduced such works among the rest. 



The Goths, after committing great ravages in Mace- A. D. 373. 

 don and Thessaly, advanced towards Constantinople, 

 and fought a bloody battle, in which they gained con- 

 siderable advantages. Hurried away by the darkness 

 of the night, and the affection of his soldiers, the em- 

 peror took refuge in a country house, which was set 

 fire to by the Goths. Valens, unable to make his escape, y^,,^ 

 was burnt alive in the 50th year of his age, and the burnt alive. 

 16'th year of his reign. A. D. 37S. 



Gratian, the son of Valentinian, who had held the Gratian 

 western empire since his father's death, was now left chosen em- 

 in the sole possession of the sovereignty. After driv- peror. 

 ing back several of the barbarians, Gratian assumed 

 Theodosius his partner in the empire; and assigned to A. D. 376". 

 him the provinces which Valens had governed. By his 

 skill and experience in war, he obtained many splen- 

 did victories over the barbarians. He defeated the 

 Goths in Thrace, and took 4000 of their chariots, with 



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3G7, 



