Proculus
| Proculus | |||||||||
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| Died | c. 281 | ||||||||
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Proculus (died c. 281) was a
Probus in 280. This is now disputed.[2]
Probably Proculus had family connection with the
latifundia after seizing imperial office in the West. He was married to a woman named Vituriga, who was given the nickname "Samso" for her capabilities (considered "unwomanly" by the fourth century author of Historia Augusta),[3]
and at the time of his usurpation, he had one son, Herennianus, aged four.
Proculus was an ambitious soldier, who had commanded more than one
Alamanni
— who then were still called Germans — and not without illustrious glory, though he never fought save in brigand-fashion" (Historia Augusta)
On his return from fighting the
Syria, Probus forced Proculus to retreat north. After failing to find support among the Franks
, he was betrayed by them and handed over to Probus. Probus had Proculus killed (ca. 281), but spared his family " with his accustomed moderation, and spared the fortunes as well as the lives of their innocent families," (Gibbon, I.12) who remained at Albingaunum, declaring, according to Historia Augusta, that they wished neither to be princes nor brigands.
There exists a letter by Proculus that was cited by Gibbon and that is perhaps fictitious, but notable regardless. It begins with an apparent boast about his sexual prowess: "From Proculus to his kinsman Maecianus, greeting. I have taken one hundred maidens from Sarmatia. Of these I mated with ten in a single night..."[4] Gibbon comments of Proculus and his co-usurper Bonosus, a heavy drinker, that the "distinguished merit of those two officers was their respective prowess, of the one in the combats of Bacchus, of the other in those of Venus".[4]
Notes
- ^ Historia Augusta, Probus, XVIII ; Quadrigae Tyrannorum, XII-XIII
- ^ Edmund (2016) 'The Proculus Enigma: Have the history books been telling it wrong?', University of Warwick
- ^ huic uxor virago, quae illum in hanc praecipitavit dementiam, nomine Samso, quod ei postea inditum est, nam antea Vituriga nominata est.
- ^ a b Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol. I. chapter 12. Gibbon, Vol. 1, Chapter 12 Latin: Proculus Maeciano adfini salutum dicit. centum ex Sarmatia virgines cepi, ex his una nocte decem inivi; omnes tamen, quod in me erat, mulieres intra dies quindecim reddidi.
References
- Roman Emperors: Probus and rival claimants: drawing on Historia Augusta (bibliography)
- Historia Augusta: Lives of Firmus, Saturninus, Proculus and Bonosus
- Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythography: "Proculus" gives numerous others with this cognomen.
- Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol. I. chapter 12
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