Florentius and the tribune Barchalbas, who
having been known ever since the time of Constantine in all the terrible
wars which had taken place, was now driven into treason by necessity not
by inclination.

9. So when the greater part of the night was passed, as the moon, which
had risen in the evening, by continuing her light till dawn increased
their fear, Procopius, finding it impossible to escape, and having no
resources, as is often the case in moments of extreme danger, began to
blame his mournful and disastrous fortune. And being overwhelmed with
care, he was on a sudden taken and bound by his own comrades, and, at
daybreak led to the camp, and brought, silent and downcast, before the
emperor. He was immediately beheaded; and his death put an end to the
increasing disturbances of civil war. His fate resembled that of
Perpenna of old, who, after Sertorius had been slain at a banquet,
enjoyed the power for a short time, but was dragged out of the thicket
where he was concealed, and brought to Pompey, by whose orders he was
put to death.

10. Giving way to equal indignation against Florentius and Barchalbas,
though they delivered up Procopius, he instantly ordered them also to be
slain, without listening to reason. For if they had betrayed their
legitimate prince, Justice herself would pronounce them justly slain;
but if he whom they betrayed was a rebel and an enemy to the
tranquillity of the state, as was alleged, then they ought to have
received an ample reward for so memorable an action.

11. Procopius perished at the age of forty years and ten months. He was
of a goodly appearance, tall, inclined to stoop, always looking on the
ground as he walked, and in his reserved and melancholy manners like
Crassus, whom Lucillius and Cicero record never to have smiled but once
in his life; and what is very remarkable, as long as he lived he never
shed blood.

X.

Sec. 1. About the same time, his kinsman Marcellus, an officer of the
guard, who commanded the garrison of Nicaea, hearing of the treachery of
the soldiers and the death of Procopius, attacked Serenianus, who was
confined in the palace, unexpectedly at midnight, and put him to death.
And his death was the safety of many.

2. For if he, a man of rude manners, bitter temper, and a love of
injuring people, had survived Valens's victory, having also great
influence with Valens from the similarity of his disposition and the
proximity of their birthplaces, he