The Reign and Piety of Jovian

After Julian had been killed, the generals and prefects met in council and debated who ought to succeed to the imperial power. Whoever it was would have to save the army in the middle of the campaign and restore the fortunes of Rome, which the rashness of the late emperor had now placed, as the common saying goes, on the razor’s edge of danger. But while the commanders were still deliberating, the troops gathered and demanded Jovian for emperor, although he was neither a general nor of the next highest rank. He was, however, a man of remarkable distinction, and well known for many reasons. He was tall in stature and lofty in soul. In war and in hard struggles it was his habit to be first. He had spoken out courageously against impiety, with no fear of the tyrant’s power, and with a zeal that ranked him among the martyrs of Christ. [a]

So the generals accepted the unanimous vote of the soldiers as a choice made by God. The brave man was led forward and set on a raised platform hastily put together, and the army saluted him with the imperial titles, calling him Augustus and Caesar. With his usual frankness he spoke out, unafraid in the presence of the commanding officers, and unafraid too though he knew how recently the troops had fallen away from the faith. Jovian made this admirable reply: “I am a Christian. I cannot govern men like these. I cannot command Julian’s army, trained as it has been in vicious discipline. Men like these, stripped of the covering of God’s providence, will fall an easy and ridiculous prey to the enemy.” On hearing this the troops shouted with one voice: “Do not hesitate, Emperor. Do not think it a mean thing to command us. You will reign over Christians brought up in the training of the truth. Our veterans were taught in the school of Constantine himself, and the younger men among us were taught by Constantius. This dead man’s reign lasted only a few years, far too few to stamp its brand even on those it deceived.”