assistance of a company of archers, to protect the capital of the Illyrian provinces. Disappointed in their attempts against the walls of Sirmium, the indignant Barbarians turned their arms against the master-general of the frontier, to whom they unjustly attributed the murder of their king. Equitius could bring into the field no more than two legions; but they contained the veteran strength of the Mæsian and Pannonian bands. The obstinacy with which they disputed the vain honours of rank and precedency was the cause of their destruction; and, while they acted with separate forces and divided councils, they were surprised and slaughtered by the active vigour of the Sarmatian horse. The success of this invasion provoked the emulation of the bordering tribes; and the province of Mæsia would infallibly have been lost, if young Theodosius, the duke, or military commander, of the frontier, had not signalized, in the defeat of the public enemy, an intrepid genius, worthy of his illustrious father, and of his future greatness.[1]
The expedition The mind of Valentinian, who then resided at Treves, was deeply affected by the calamities of Illyricum; but the lateness of the season suspended the execution of his designs till the ensuing spring. A.D. 375 He marched in person, with a considerable part of the forces of Gaul, from the banks of the Moselle: and to the suppliant ambassadors of the Sarmatians, who met him on the way, he returned a doubtful answer that, as soon as he reached the scene of action, he should examine and pronounce. When he arrived at Sirmium, he gave audience to the deputies of the Illyrian provinces; who loudly congratulated their own felicity under the auspicious government of Probus, his Prætorian præfect.[2] Valentinian, who was flattered by these demonstrations of their loyalty and gratitude, imprudently asked- ↑ Animianus (xxix. 6) and Zosimus (l. iv. p. 219, 220 [c. 16]) carefully mark the origin and progress of the Quadic and Sarmatian war. [Cp. Ranke, Weltgeschichte, iv. 1, 168. But the victory of Theodosius was probably won after his recall in 378 A.D. So Richter, Weström. Reich, 691; Sievers, Stud., 294; Kaufmann, Philologus, 31, 472, sqq. The authority is Theodoret, v. 5, 6, and perhaps Pacatus, Paneg. 9, 10.]
- ↑ Ammianus (xxx. 5), who acknowledges the merit, has censured, with becoming asperity, the oppressive administration, of Petronius Probus. When Jerom translated and continued the Chronicle of Eusebius (A.D. 380. See Tillemont, Mém. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 53, 626), he expressed the truth, or at least the public opinion of his country, in the following words: "Probus P. P. Illyrici iniquissimis tributorum exactionibus, ante provincias quas regebat, quam a Barbaris vastarentur, erasit" (Chron. edit. Scaliger, p. 187. Animadvers. p. 259). The saint afterwards formed an intimate and tender friendship with the widow of Probus; and the name of Count Equitius, with less propriety, but without much injustice, has been substituted in the text.
