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THE CAREER OF ROMANUS, COMES AFRICAE

THE CAREER OF ROMANUS, COMES AFRICAE B. H. W A R M I N G T O N / B R I S T O L The career of Romanus, comes Africae during much of the reign of Valentinian, has often been used äs a type of the corruption and greed of officials of the later Roman Empire;1 and it was similarly used by Ammianus Marcellinus, our only authority for his career, to illustrate his view that a major fault of Valentinian was his exaltation of the power of senior army officers.2 There are, however, some obscure but interesting points about Romanus* career and its chronology, and some newly discovered evidence which shows that one of the affairs in which he was involved was more complex than the historian indicates. One of the remarkable things about the Tripolitanian affair is that Ammianus wrote at such length about it. The raids by the Austuriani against the three cities - not one of which is stated to have been captured - were paltry matters compared with the wars on the Rhine and Danube. It would seem that the historian's sympathy was caught because the victims of these raids, and of the intrigues of Romanus, were almost http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Byzantinische Zeitschrift de Gruyter

THE CAREER OF ROMANUS, COMES AFRICAE

WARMINGTON, B. H.
Byzantinische Zeitschrift , Volume 49 (1) – Jan 1, 1956
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Walter de Gruyter
ISSN
0007-7704
eISSN
1864-449X
DOI
10.1515/byzs.1956.49.1.55
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

B. H. W A R M I N G T O N / B R I S T O L The career of Romanus, comes Africae during much of the reign of Valentinian, has often been used äs a type of the corruption and greed of officials of the later Roman Empire;1 and it was similarly used by Ammianus Marcellinus, our only authority for his career, to illustrate his view that a major fault of Valentinian was his exaltation of the power of senior army officers.2 There are, however, some obscure but interesting points about Romanus* career and its chronology, and some newly discovered evidence which shows that one of the affairs in which he was involved was more complex than the historian indicates. One of the remarkable things about the Tripolitanian affair is that Ammianus wrote at such length about it. The raids by the Austuriani against the three cities - not one of which is stated to have been captured - were paltry matters compared with the wars on the Rhine and Danube. It would seem that the historian's sympathy was caught because the victims of these raids, and of the intrigues of Romanus, were almost

Journal

Byzantinische Zeitschrift – de Gruyter

Published: Jan 1, 1956

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