Book 26
6.2
When Julian invaded Persia, he left Procopius in Mesopotamia, in association with Sebastianus, who was given the same rank, with a strong force of soldiers,Cf. xxiii. 3, 2. and ordered him (as rumour darkly whispered, for no one vouched for the truth of the report) to act in accordance with the conditions that arose, and if he learned that the Roman power in Persia was weakened, to take measures quickly to have himself named emperor.
6.3
Procopius followed these directions with moderation and prudence, but when he learned that Julian had been mortally wounded and died, and that Jovian had been raised to the rule of the empire, and that the false report was circulated that Julian had with the last breath of his failing life declared that it was his wish that Procopius should be entrusted with the helm of the state, he feared that on that account he might be put to death without a trial. Accordingly, he withdrew from public sight; and he was in special fear after the death of Jovianus, the chief of all the secretaries, because he had learned that after Julian’s death Jovianus had been named by a few soldiers as worthy of imperial power, and that from that time on he had been suspected of rebellious designs and had suffered a cruel death.Cf. xxv. 8, 18.
