Probus Marcus Aurelius Severus, a native of Sirmium in Pannonia. His father was originally a gardener, who, by entering the army, rose to the rank of a military tribune. His son obtained the same office in the 22nd year of his age, and he distinguished himself so much by his probity, his valour, his intrepidity, moderation, and clemency, that, at the death of the emperor Tacitus, he was invested with the imperial purple by the voluntary and uninfluenced choice of his soldiers. His election was universally approved by the Roman senate and the people; and Probus, strengthened on his throne by the affection and attachment of his subjects, marched against the enemies of Rome, in Gaul and Germany. Several battles were fought, and after he had left 400,000 barbarians dead in the field, Probus turned his arms against the Sarmatians. The same success attended him, and after he had quelled and terrified to peace the numerous barbarians of the north, he marched through Syria against the Blemmyes in the neighbourhood of Egypt. The Blemmyes were defeated with great slaughter, and the military character of the emperor was so well established, that the king of Persia sued for peace by his ambassadors, and attempted to buy the conqueror’s favour with the most splendid presents. Probus was then feasting upon the most common food when the ambassadors were introduced; but without even casting his eyes upon them, he said, that if their master did not give proper satisfaction to the Romans, he would lay his territories desolate, and as naked as the crown of his head. As he spoke, the emperor took off his cap, and showed the baldness of his head to the ambassadors. The conditions were gladly accepted by the Persian monarch, and Probus retired to Rome to convince his subjects of the greatness of his conquests, and to claim from them the applause which their ancestors had given to the conqueror of Macedonia or the destroyer of Carthage, as he passed along the streets of Rome. His triumph lasted several days, and the Roman populace were long entertained with shows and combats. But the Roman empire, delivered from its foreign enemies, was torn by civil discord; and peace was not re-established till three usurpers had been severally defeated. While his subjects enjoyed tranquillity, Probus encouraged the liberal arts; he permitted the inhabitants of Gaul and Illyricum to plant vines in their territories, and he himself repaired 70 cities in different parts of the empire which had been reduced to ruins. He also attempted to drain the waters which were stagnated in the neighbourhood of Sirmium, by conveying them to the sea by artificial canals. His armies were employed in this laborious undertaking; but as they were unaccustomed to such toils, they soon mutinied, and fell upon the emperor as he was passing into one of the towns of Illyricum. He fled into an iron tower which he himself had built to observe the marshes, but as he was alone, and without arms, he was soon overpowered and murdered, in the 50th year of his age, after a reign of six years and four months, on the second of November, after Christ 282. The news of his death was received with the greatest consternation; not only his friends, but his very enemies, deplored his fate, and even the army, which had been concerned in his fall, erected a monument over his body, and placed upon it this inscription: Hic Probus imperator, verè probus, situs est, victor omnium gentium barbararum, victor etiam tyrannorum. He was then preparing in a few days to march against the Persians that had revolted, and his victories there might have been as great as those he obtained in the two other quarters of the globe. He was succeeded by Carus, and his family, who had shared his greatness, immediately retired from Rome, not to become objects either of private or public malice. Zosimus.—Probus.—Saturninus.——Æmilius, a grammarian in the age of Theodosius. The lives of excellent commanders, written by Cornelius Nepos, have been falsely attributed to him by some authors.——An oppressive prefect of the pretorian guards, in the reign of Valentinian.
Procas, a king of Alba after his father Aventinus. He was father of Amulius and Numitor. Livy, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 622.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 767.
Prochy̆ta, an island of Campania in the bay of Puteoli, now Procida. It was situated near Inarima, from which it was said that it had been separated by an earthquake. It received its name, according to Dionysius, from the nurse of Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, li. 715.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 2.
Procilius, a Latin historian in the age of Pompey the Great. Varro.
Procilla Julia, a woman of uncommon virtue, killed by the soldiers of Otho. Tacitus, Agricola, ch. 4.
Caius Valerius Procillus, a prince of Gaul, intimate with Cæsar.
Proclēa, a daughter of Clitius, who married Cycnus, a son of Neptune. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 14.
Procles, a son of Aristodemus and Argia, born at the same birth as Eurysthenes. There were continual dissensions between the two brothers, who both sat on the Spartan throne, See: [Eurysthenes] and [Lacedæmon].——A native of Andros in the Ægean sea, who was crowned at the Olympic games. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 14.——A man who headed the Ionians when they took Samos. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 4.——A Carthaginian writer, son of Eucrates. He wrote some historical treatises, of which Pausanias has preserved some fragments. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 35.——A tyrant of Epidaurus, put to death and thrown into the sea. Plutarch, de Defectu Oraculorum.——A general of the Naxians in Sicily, who betrayed his country to Dionysius the tyrant for a sum of money.
Proclidæ, the descendants of Procles, who sat on the throne of Sparta, together with the Eurysthenidæ. See: [Lacedæmon] and [Eurysthenes].
Procne. See: [Progne].