t among the favorites of the late emperor, there were many who
had abused his credulity or superstition; and who could no longer hope
to be protected either by favor or justice. The greater part of the
ministers of the palace, and the governors of the provinces, were
removed from their respective stations; yet the eminent merit of
some officers was distinguished from the obnoxious crowd; and,
notwithstanding the opposite clamors of zeal and resentment, the whole
proceedings of this delicate inquiry appear to have been conducted with
a reasonable share of wisdom and moderation. The festivity of a new
reign received a short and suspicious interruption from the sudden
illness of the two princes; but as soon as their health was restored,
they left Constantinople in the beginning of the spring. In the castle,
or palace, of Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the
solemn and final division of the Roman empire. Valentinian bestowed on
his brother the rich praefecture of the East, from the Lower Danube to
the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his immediate government
the warlike * praefectures of Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul, from the
extremity of Greece to the Caledonian rampart, and from the rampart
of Caledonia to the foot of Mount Atlas. The provincial administration
remained on its former basis; but a double supply of generals and
magistrates was required for two councils, and two courts: the division
was made with a just regard to their peculiar merit and situation,
and seven master-generals were soon created, either of the cavalry or
infantry. When this important business had been amicably transacted,
Valentinian and Valens embraced for the last time. The emperor of the
West established his temporary residence at Milan; and the emperor of
the East returned to Constantinople, to assume the dominion of fifty
provinces, of whose language he was totally ignorant.

The tranquility of the East was soon disturbed by rebellion; and the
throne of Valens was threatened by the daring attempts of a rival whose
affinity to the emperor Julian was his sole merit, and had been his only
crime. Procopius had been hastily promoted from the obscure station of a
tribune, and a notary, to the joint command of the army of Mesopotamia;
the public opinion already named him as the successor of a prince who
was destitute of natural heirs; and a vain rumor was propagated by his
friends, or his enemies, that Julian, before the