(4) EUGENIUS –

USURPER: VALENTINIAN DYNASTY (WESTERN EMPIRE)

(392-394 AD: 2 YEARS 15 DAYS)

 

Yes, I’m going there – I’m ranking Eugenius as one of the three good usurpers in the classical Roman empire.

That’s because I see him as one of the great what-ifs of the late Roman empire – that the western empire would have fared better or at least stalled its fall longer if he and his military commander Arbogast had won the Battle of the Frigidus in 394 AD.

Or even better, if they had not fought it at all, with the eastern emperor Theodosius recognizing Eugenius as western emperor instead.

Yes – that reference to Arbogast as his military commander is somewhat reversed, as it would be more accurate to refer to Eugenius as Arbogast’s emperor, arguably a black mark against Eugenius as figurehead or puppet emperor of Arbogast.

On the other hand, it helps that Eugenius didn’t really usurp his predecessor Valentinian II, as Valentinian had died, probably at the hands or orders of Arbogast, three months before Eugenius became emperor.

Arbogast was the magister militum or supreme military commander of the western empire and effectively its de facto ruler. However, as a Frank and a pagan, Arbogast needed to defer, at least nominally, to a Roman and Christian emperor, not least because such an emperor was more likely to be supported by the Roman Senate. His friend Eugenius, a former teacher of grammar and rhetoric as well as imperial official, met the criteria of imperial candidacy nicely.

As I said, it’s arguably a black mark against Eugenius as puppet emperor or figurehead for Arbogast. However, if a good emperor like Marcian could be elevated in a similar role as eastern emperor in the fifth century by the Gothic miliary commander Aspar yet effectively rule in partnership of overlapping interests rather than as a puppet, then why not Eugenius?

And indeed Eugenius seems to have been reasonably capable in the role, whether as Arbogast’s partner or puppet, ably replacing the imperial administrators Theodosius had installed to keep the whole empire beholden to himself.

Alas, it was not to be, with Theodosius rejecting Eugenius as western emperor, proclaiming his eight year old son Honorius as western emperor instead – and defeating Eugenius in the costly victory of the bloody Battle of the Frigidus, fought over two days. Eugenius was captured in the battle and executed, while Arbogast took his own life the next day.

And so we come to those what-ifs of the history of the late Roman empire.

The Battle of the Frigidus saw the whole empire ruled by the dire Theodosian dynasty. Theodosius only ruled as the last emperor to rule the whole empire for a few months before dying from illness, but it was long enough to secure dynastic succession to his two useless sons for an empire thereafter divided into its western and eastern halves, Honorius in the western empire and Arcadius in the eastern empire.

In fairness, the victory of Theodosius did bring Stilicho as supreme military commander in its baggage, but even he was not enough to counteract the baleful influence of the Theodosian dynasty – first being rebuffed and thwarted by Arcadius in the eastern empire, before then being betrayed and executed by Honorius in the western empire.

The victory of Theodosius also brought the Gothic leader Alaric in its baggage – and worse, gave him a grievance against the empire for having used the Goths as legion fodder for casualties, a grievance that was to culminate in the sack of Rome itself by Alaric in 410, one of the western empire’s mortal wounds.

The casualties of the battle were costly enough for the forces of Theodosius (and Alaric), but even more critically weakened the army in the western empire – and it is hard not to draw a straight line from the losses for the legions in that battle and the Crossing of the Rhine by Germanic tribes twelve years later.

That’s particularly so as Eugenius had also been successful in the military field – “notably in the renovation of old alliances with Alamanni and Franks, even marching to the Rhine frontier, where he impressed and pacified the Germanic tribes by parading his army in front of them”.

Another what-if is the potential restoration or at least more harmonious tolerance of Roman pagan religion, reversing Theodosius’ persecution or “religious policies targeting pagans” and the discontent that arose in the western empire from them. Despite being Christian himself, Eugenius “renovated the pagan Temple of Venus and Roma and restored the Altar of Victory after continued petitions from the Roman Senate”, as well as appointing pagan officials to his imperial administration.

 

DID DOVAHHATTY DO RIGHT?

 

I feel Dovahhatty gives Eugenius somewhat short shift but at least gives him a pair of slick shades (and cigarette) as wojak.

 

 

RATING: 3 STARS***

X-TIER (WILD TIER)