Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 May 2015
In a recent paper (Antichthon 9 [1975], 81-3), Brian Croke usefully draws attention to Getica xxviii 145, wherein Jordanes seemingly makes a fool of himself by connecting Eugenius with the murder of Gratian. There is one immediate dividend to be had: this reference (and also Jordanes’ other discussion at Romana 317-18) may be used to supplement the entry for Eugenius in The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, which ignores Jordanes. However, it is not enough to accuse the chronicler of ‘the most vile error’ and leave it at that. Other explanations are possible, and merit a hearing. Hence a warrant for the following remarks.
1 Vol. i (Cambridge, 1971), 293 (Eugenius 6).
2 Chron. 1153 (MGH [AA] XI, 154).
3 Chron. 1197 (MGH [AA] XI, 463).
4 xiii 18 (Migne,.PG 134, 1172a).
5 Zosimus 4.35.6; Rufinus, HE 2.14; Socrates 5.11.7; Sozomen 7.13.8; cf. PLRE 62–3, for his full career.
6 568 (Migne. PG 121,618).
7 Zosimus 4.47.1; Socrates 5.14.2; Sozomen 7.14.6; Orosius 7.35.5; etc.
8 It is relevant here to adduce the rigmarole in Malalas 13.344 (also in such sources as the Chronicon Paschale) about Gratian’s murder in the Hippodrome at Constantinople!