(5) 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 savior of the empire in the Crisis of the Third Century. Perhaps not quite in the same god tier as Aurelian but in the top tier – or even top ten, as yet another emperor that could arguably be swapped into it.

Aurelian might have reunited and saved the empire, but it may well still have fallen apart without a successor such as Probus at the helm (albeit after a brief interval of ten months or so with two other emperors).

Aurelian was more fundamental but between them they saved the empire – as per the title of the book, “Aurelian and Probus: The Soldier Emperors Who Saved Rome”.

Both are part of the wider 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 – Probus having served under Aurelian (and Aurelian’s predecessors). Indeed, he had reconquered Egypt from Zenobia in Aurelian’s war against the Palmyrene Empire – and it was said that he had “fought with success on almost every frontier of the empire” before he rose to emperor.

Anyway, Aurelian might have defeated the Gallic and Palmyrene empires that had seceded in the western and eastern thirds of the empire respectively, but 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 and was in camp in Asia Minor when his troops rallied for him as emperor when that predecessor died. After first defeating his rival claimant (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 discipline restored by Aurelian, above all by his principle of never allowing soldiers to be idle and engaging them in civic works 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, anticipating a future in which Rome’s enemies had been defeated so that its army could be scaled back – 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.

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