(7) BEST: PROBUS –
NON-DYNASTIC / CRISIS OF THE THIRD CENTURY
(276 – 283 AD: 6 YEARS 3 MONTHS)

 

Usually overlooked among Roman emperors, Probus deserves to be hailed with Aurelian as the saviors of the empire in the Crisis of the Third Century – one of “the soldier emperors who saved Rome”. Although Aurelian got the empire through the worst of the third century, the empire may well still have fallen apart under the onslaught of new invasions and revolts without an emperor such as Probus at the helm.

Probus was one of so-called Illyrian emperors, hailing from the region of Illyricum or other Danubian provinces as the core of the Roman army, that renewed the Roman empire, most immediately in its third century crisis, but which also were its best emperors for the next three centuries. The Illyrian emperors usually rose to prominence and served with distinction as military commanders in succession – indeed, Probus had reconquered Egypt from Zenobia in Aurelian’s war against the breakaway Palmyrene Empire – and it was said that he had “fought with success on almost every frontier of the empire” before he rose to emperor.

The Crisis of the Third Century still loomed large in other internal revolts, as well as barbarian invasions of the empire and the enduring threat of the Sassanid Persians.

It was particularly for the latter that Probus had been appointed supreme commander of the east by his imperial predecessor Tacitus and was in camp in Asia Minor when his troops rallied for him as emperor when Tacitus died. After first defeating his rival claimant Florianus (the half-brother of his predecessor), he campaigned west to defeat the Goths along the Danube.

He and his generals then campaigned in Gaul to defeat the barbarians that had invaded the empire – Alemanni, Franks, Burgundians and Lugii (reputedly 400,000 of them and the entire tribe of Lugii were wiped out during his campaigns) – and claiming the titles of Germanicus Maximus and Gothicus Maximus. After defeating the barbarians who had invaded Gaul, he then crossed the Rhine to campaign successfully against the barbarians in their homelands and restore the fortifications of the defensive line constructed by Hadrian between the Rhine and the Danube.

Probus wasn’t done yet – he fought the Vandals at the Danube (including defending his home province of Illyria), his generals defeated the desert nomad Blemmyes in Egypt, and he defeated usurpers or revolts in the west including, as usual, Britain.

In the meantime, he had also sought to cultivate and extend the army’s discipline, above all by his principle of never allowing soldiers to be idle and engaging them in civic works to reconstruct the empire when not in combat (planting vineyards, repairing bridges or canals, draining marshes and so on). He did something similar by a tribute of manpower from vanquished barbarian tribes, establishing the precedent of settling barbarians within the empire as auxiliaries on a large scale, albeit a precedent that was not as successful under subsequent emperors.

It was reputed that he even lamented the necessity of a standing army or soldiers, anticipating a future in which Rome’s enemies had been defeated so that its army would not be necessary – but first he had to deal with the Sassanids and was preparing for an eastern campaign against them when he was assassinated, with some sources attributing it to disgruntled soldiers rebelling against their orders for civic works or overhearing his laments.

“Probus was an active and successful general as well as a conscientious administrator, and in his reign of six years he secured prosperity for the inner provinces while withstanding repeated invasions of barbarian tribes on almost every sector of the frontier. After repelling the foreign enemies of the empire, Probus was forced to handle several internal revolts but demonstrated leniency and moderation to the vanquished wherever possible.”

He was also diligent in respecting the authority of the Senate and hailed by Gibbon as “the last of the benevolent constitutional emperors of Rome” – with the Senate never again playing an active role in the management of the empire under his successors.

 

MAXIMUS

 

Gothicus Maximus and Germanics Maximus – he celebrated a triumph in Rome in 281.

 

DEIFICATION OR DAMNATION

 

Deified!

 

EMPIRE-SAVER

 

The Illyrians saved the empire!

 

DID DOVAHHATTY DO RIGHT?

 

Damn right – with Probus as chad in the prelude to the Tetrarchy

 

RATING: 4 STARS****
A-TIER (TOP TIER)