The Defeat and Death of Procopius

In the following year, in the consulship of Gratian and Dagalaifus, the war began. As soon as the usurper Procopius left Constantinople and set out at the head of his army against the emperor, Valens hurried from Antioch and met him in battle near a city of Phrygia called Nacolia. In the first encounter Valens was defeated. But soon afterward he took Procopius alive, through the treachery of Agilo and Gomarius, two of the usurper’s generals, and he subjected them to the most extraordinary punishments. The traitors he had sawn in two, disregarding the oaths he had sworn to them. As for the usurper, two trees standing near each other were forcibly bent down, and one of his legs was tied to each of them. Then the trees were suddenly let go, and as they sprang back upright they tore the tyrant in two. So the usurper perished, torn apart. [a]