ar energy he attacked the Persians, and would have gained in that
country both a triumph and a surname, if the will of heaven had been in
accordance with his glorious plans and actions.

27. And as we know by experience that some men are so rash and hasty
that if conquered they return to battle, if shipwrecked, to the sea, in
short, each to the difficulties by which he has been frequently
overcome, so some find fault with this emperor for returning to similar
exploits after having been repeatedly victorious.

V.

Sec. 1. After these events there was no time for lamentation or weeping.
For after he had been laid out as well as the circumstances and time
permitted, that he might be buried where he himself had formerly
proposed, at daybreak the next morning, which was on the 27th of June,
while the enemy surrounded us on every side, the generals of the army
assembled, and having convened the chief officers of the cavalry and of
the legions, deliberated about the election of an emperor.

2. There were great and noisy divisions. Arinthaeus and Victor, and the
rest of those who had been attached to the court of Constantius, sought
for a fit man of their own party. On the other hand, Nevitta and
Dagalaiphus, and the nobles of the Gauls, sought for a man among their
own ranks.

3. While the matter was thus in dispute, they all unanimously agreed
upon Sallustius. And when he pleaded ill health and old age, one of the
soldiers of rank observing his real and fixed reluctance said, "And what
would you do if the emperor while absent himself, as has often happened,
had intrusted you with the conduct of this war? Would you not have
postponed all other considerations and applied yourself to extricating
the soldiers at once from the difficulties which press on them? Do so
now: and then, if we are allowed to reach Mesopotamia, it will be time
enough for the united suffrages of both armies to declare a lawful
emperor."

4. Amid these little delays in so important a matter, before opinions
were justly weighed, a few made an uproar, as often happens in critical
circumstances, and Jovian was elected emperor, being the chief officer
of the guards, and a man of fair reputation in respect of his father's
services. For he was the son of Varronianus, a distinguished count,[155]
who had not long since retired from military service to lead a private
life.

5. And immediately he was clothed in the imperial robes, and was
suddenly led fort