PBO'BUS, MARCUS AURELIUS, Emperor of Rome, was b. tit Sirmium, in Pannonia. His father, Maximus, served first as a centurion, and afterward as a tribune in the Roman army, and died in Egypt, leaving to his only son a good name and a moderate income. Probus early entered the army, and had•the good fortune to attract the favor able notice of the emperor Valerian, who elevated him before the legal period to the rank of tribune. Ills subsequent conduct justified his rapid promotion, for he greatly distin guished himself against the Sarmatians on the Danube, and subsequently in Africa, Egypt, Asia. Germany, and Gaul, winning golden opinions from Valerian's successors, GaMenus, Claudius II., Aurelian, and facitus. By the last-named emperor, he was appointed governor of the whole Asiatic possessions of Rome, and declared to be the chief mainstay of the Roman power; and such was the zealous attachment evinced for Mtn by his soldiers, whose respect and love he had equally won by his firm discipline, by his, care in providing for their wants and comforts, and his liberality in the distribution of plunder, that, on the death of Tacitus, they forced him to assume the purple;•and his rival, Florianus, having been removed, Probus was enthusiastically hailed emperor by all classes (276 A.o.). His brief reign was signalized by brilliant and important suc cesses; the Germans, who, since-Aurelian's time, had made Gaul almost a part of Ger many, were driven out with enormous slaughter,. pursued into the heart of their own country, compelled to restore their plunder, and to furnish contingent to the 'Ionian armies. Pursuing his victorious career, Probus swept the inimical barbarians from the
Rhaetian, Pannonian, and Thracian frontiers, and forced Persia to agree to a humiliating peace. 'Various aspirants to the imperial purple were also put down. On his return to Rome Probus celebrated these fortunate achievements by a triumph, and then, the external security of the empire being established, devoted himself to the development of its internal resources. The senate was confirmed in its privileges; liberal encourage ment was given to .agriculture; numerous colonies of barbarians were established in thinly-peopled spots, that they might adopt a civilized mode of life; and all branches of industry were protected and promoted. But Probus was at a loss what to do with his army, as the Romans had now no enemies either at home or abroad; and fearing that their discipline would be deteriorated by a life of inactivity, he employed the soldiers as laborers in executing various extensive and important works of public utility. Such occupations, considered as degrading by the soldiers, excited among them the utmost irritation and diScontent; and a large body of troops, who were engaged in draining tire swamps about Sirtnium, giving way to these feelings, under the excitement produced by the preSence of the emperor, murdered him, 282 A.D. Probus possessed great military genius, combined with equal administrative talent, and added to these a wisdom, justice, and amiability equal to that of Trajan or the Antonines.