Eugenius

Eugenius
Usurper of the Western Roman Empire
Eugenius wearing imperial insigna, on a coin celebrating the VIRTVS ROMANORVM, the "(military) value of the Romans".
Reign	22 August 392 – 6 September 394 (against Theodosius I)
Full name	Flavius Eugenius
Died	September 6, 394
Place of death	Frigidus

Flavius Eugenius (died 6 September 394) was a usurper in the Western Roman Empire (392–394) against Emperor Theodosius I. Though himself a Christian, he was the last Emperor to support Roman polytheism.^[1]

Life

A former teacher of grammar and rhetoric, as well as magister scrinorum, Eugenius was an acquaintance of the Frank magister militum and de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire Arbogast.

Rise to power

Following the death of Valentinian II, Arbogast, who had probably been the cause of Valentinian's murder or suicide, elevated Eugenius to the purple (22 August 392). The choice of Eugenius over proclaiming himself, offered to Arbogast two strong advantages: Eugenius, a Roman, was more suitable than Arbogast, a Frank, as an emperor; furthermore, the Roman Senate would have been more likely to have supported Eugenius than Arbogast.

Civil, religious, and military policies

After being installed as Emperor, Eugenius changed the imperial administrators. When Theodosius had left the western half of the empire to Valentinian, he had put his own men in the highest civil offices, to keep a strong grasp on the whole empire. Eugenius replaced these administrators with others loyal to himself, coming from the senatorial class. Virius Nicomachus Flavianus the Elder became Praetorian Prefect of Italy, his son Nicomachus Flavianus the Younger received the title of Prefect of Rome, while the new praefectus annonae was Numerius Proiectus.

Eugenius was nominally a Christian, and therefore was reluctant to accept a program of imperial support to Polytheism. His men, however, convinced Eugenius to use public money to fund 'Pagan' projects, such as the rededication of the Temple of Venus and Rome and the restoration of the Altar of Victory within the Curia (removed by Emperor Gratian). This religious policy created tension with Theodosius and the powerful and influential Bishop Ambrose, who left his see in Milan when the imperial court of Eugenius arrived.

Eugenius was also successful in the military field, notably in the renovation of old alliances with Alamanni and Franks. Arbogast, who was Frank and had also Alamanni and Frank soldiers in his ranks, marched to the Rhine frontier, where he impressed and pacified the Germanic tribes by parading his army in front of them.

Fall

When he was elected emperor, Eugenius sent ambassadors to Theodosius's court, asking for recognition of his election. Theodosius received them, but started to gather troops to defeat Eugenius. Theodosius also promoted his eight-year-old son Honorius to the rank of Augustus of the West in January 393.

Theodosius then moved from Constantinople with his army, and met Eugenius and Arbogast in the Battle of the Frigidus (on the modern Italy-Slovenia border) on 6 September 394. The bloody battle lasted two days, and was marked by unusual astronomical and meteorological events, but in the end Theodosius won. Arbogast immediately committed suicide after the defeat, while Eugenius was held for execution as a criminal, his head afterward being displayed in Theodosius' camp.

Evaluation

The reign of Eugenius marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. A year later Theodosius died, dividing his empire between his two sons. This had happened many times before in the previous two centuries, but this time it was to be final – the Roman Empire never reunited until before Leo I the Thracian, and the Western half soon fell.

Eugenius also represented the last opportunity for the Pagans and the senatorial class to oppose the Christianization of the Empire. The Battle of the Frigidus was part of a trend towards using increasing percentages of barbarian troops, especially in the west, where it led to the weakening of the empire itself.

References

External links

• Media related to Eugenius at Wikimedia Commons
• Roberts, Walter, "Flavius Eugenius (392-394)", De Imperatoribus Romanis