Welcker, in the Rhein. Mus. 1833, vol. i. p. 289; R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, p. 393.) [P. S.]
PROCLUS (Πρόκλος), a physician, probably a
native of Rhegium[1], among the Bruttii in Italy.
He belonged to the medical sect of the Methodici
(Galen, De Meth. Med. i. 7, vol. x. p. 52, Introd.
c. 4, vol. xiv. p. 684), and must have lived about
the end of the first century after Christ, as he was
junior to Thessalus, and senior to Galen. He is
no doubt the same physician who is called Proculus in our present editions of Caelius Aurelianus
(De Morb. Chron. iii. 8, p. 469), where he is said
to have been one of the followers of Themison, and
his opinion on the different kinds of dropsy is quoted.
He may also be the same person whose remedy for
the gout and sciatica is mentioned by Paulus Aegineta (iii. 77, vii. 11, pp. 492, 661) and Joannes
Actuarius (De Meth. Med. v. 6, p. 265). [W. A. G.]
PROCLUS, LARGINUS, a person in Germany, who predicted that Domitian would die on
a certain day. He was in consequence sent to
Rome, where he was condemned to death; but as
the punishment was deferred, in order that he
might be executed after the fatal day had passed,
he escaped altogether, as Domitian died on the
very day he had named. (Dion Cass. lxviii. 16;
comp. Suet. Dom. 16.)
PROCNE (Πρόκνη), a daughter of king Pandion of Athens, was the wife of Tereus, and was
metamorphorsed into a swallow. (Apollod. iii. 14.
§ 8; Thucyd. ii. 29.) [L. S.]
PROCOPIUS (Προκόπιος), Roman emperor
in the East, through rebellion, from A. D. 363 to
366. According to all probability, he was a relation of the emperor Julian through Basilina, the
mother of that emperor, and the second wife of
Constantius Consul, who was the youngest son of
Constantius Chlorus. [See the genealogical table
Vol. I. p. 832.] Procopius was a native of Cilicia,
where he was born about A. D. 365. Constantius
II. made him his secretary, and employed him in
the field as tribune. The emperor Julian created
him comes, and appointed him commander in Mesopotamia, when he set out against Persia in A. D.
363. It was then said that Julian had advised
him to assume the purple, or manifested a wish that
he should be his successor in case he should lose his
life in the projected expedition, and this saying
afterwards found many believers, to the great
advantage of Procopius. However, it was Jovian
who succeeded Julian, in 363, and by him Procopius was charged with conducting the body of
the fallen hero to Tarsus. Aware that Jovian
entertained suspicions against him, or, perhaps, in
order to carry out schemes which, at that period,
nobody expected, Procopius went to Caesareia in
Cappadocia, instead of returning to the imperial
quarters. This step was sufficient to rouse the
suspicions of Jovian, whatever might have been his
previous disposition, and some troops were despatched to seize the fugitive, who, however, deceived
his pursuers, and escaped with his family to Tauris.
Afraid of being betrayed by the barbarians, he soon
left that country and returned to Asia Minor; a
dangerous step, which, however, throws some light
on his secret plans. During some time he wandered
from place to place, and his return having been
discovered by Valentinian and Valens, the successors of Jovian (364), he hid himself in the mountains, till at last he found refuge at the house of
the senator Strategius, who lived near Chalcedon.
Strategius became a confidant of the ambitious
schemes of Procopius, who found further adherents
among the numerous adversaries of Valens in
Constantinople, whither the fugitive general often
proceeded on secret visits. The eunuch Eugenius
became one of the principal promoters of the plans
of Procopius, which were now manifestly those of
deposing Valens, and making himself master of the
East. The plot broke out in 365, and owing to
his numerous partisans and his own artifices, the
people of Constantinople proclaimed him emperor
on the 28th of September of that year. The
emperor Valens was at that period staying at
Caesareia in Cappadocia, but was soon informed
of the rebellion, and, prepared for effective resistance. Meanwhile, Procopius set out for Asia
Minor with a well-disciplined army, advanced as
far as the Sangarius, and, through a bold stratagem,
caused an imperial body, which defended the passage of that river, to desert their master, and join
his own army. However, Valens advanced in
his turn, and laid siege to Chalcedon, but was
defeated under its walls, and obliged to retreat
into Phrygia; Marcellus, a general of Procopius,
took the important town of Cyzicus, and Procopius became master of Bithynia; a series of
successes which turned his mind, made him
haughty, and caused him more adversaries than
adherents. The war was renewed with vigour in
the spring of the following year 366, but to the
great disadvantage of Procopius, whose army, commanded by the fugitive Persian prince, Hormisdas,
was totally defeated by the celebrated general
Arbetion. Soon afterwards, on the 27th of May,
366, another battle was fought at Nacolia, in
Phrygia, the two rivals commanding their armies
in person, and it ended in the rout of the rebels.
Procopius fled, accompanied by a few attendants,
with whom he wandered some days in the mountains, when they treacherously seized him, and
delivered him into the hands of Valens, by whose
order he was immediately put to death. Socrates
says that Procopius suffered death by being tied to
two trees forcibly bent together, which, on snapping asunder, tore the body of the unfortunate
man to pieces. The cruel conduct of Valens against
the partisans of Procopius belongs to the history of
the former. There are gold and silver coins of
Procopius extant, the former being extremely rare,
according to Eckhel. (Amm. Marc. xxvi. 6; Zosim.
lib. iv.; Themist. Orat. 7 ; Socrat. iv. 3, &c.;
Philostorg. ix. 5; Eckhel, vol. viii. pp. 156,
157.) [W. P.]
COIN OF PROCOPIUS.
- ↑ That is, if in Galen, De Meth. Med. i. 7, vol. X. p. 52, we read τού 'Ρηγίνον instead of καί 'Ρηγίνον, an alteration which is not unlikely to be a sound one, as the name of Rheginus applied to a physician is probably not to be found elsewhere.
