The Usurper Procopius

While Valens was occupied in this way in Syria, a usurper named Procopius arose at Constantinople. In a very short time he gathered a large body of troops and planned an expedition against the emperor. The news caused the emperor great anxiety and for a while checked the persecution he had begun against all who dared to differ from him in opinion. And while people anxiously expected the upheavals of a civil war, an earthquake struck and did great damage to many cities. The sea also left its usual bounds. In some places it flooded so far that ships could sail where there had been roads, and in other places it drew back so far that the ground was left dry. These things happened in the first consulship of the two emperors. [a]