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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextus_Claudius_Petronius_ProbusFamily
According to the historical study "Fifth-century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?" (1992) by John Drinkwater and Hugh Elton, Probus was a son of Petronius Probinus, Consul in 341 and "Claudia"/"Clodia", a sister of
Clodius Celsinus Adelphus.
Faltonia Betitia Proba, a Christian poet, was sister to this Probinus and wife of Adelphus. Hermogenianus was a son of Proba and Adelphus.
[1]The elder Probinus and Proba were children of
Petronius Probianus, Consul in 322. Drinkwater and Elton consider his wife to be an "Anicia", a sister to
Amnius Anicius Julianus. Claudia and Adelphus were children of Clodius Celsinus and Demetrias.
[2]The eldest Probianus was a son of Petronius Annianus, Consul in 314. Drinkwater and Elton consider his wife to be "Proba", a daughter of
Probus.
[3]Probus was married to her first cousin once removed on her father's side Anicia Faltonia Proba (ca 365 - 410-432), daughter of
Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius and wife Turrenia Anicia Juliana or Anicia Faltonia Proba, by whom he had two sons, Probinus and Olybrius, one of them the father of
Petronius Maximus.
Career
He was
Proconsul of
Africa in 358
[4] and
consul as colleague of the Emperor
Gratian in 371. He also held the posts of
Prefect of
Illyricum in 364,
Prefect of
Gaul in 366,
Prefect of
Italy with Illyricum and Africa in 368-375 and again in 383-384.
[5] Ammianus Marcellinus, in his History (Book 27, ch.11) portrays him as a vain and rapacious man who 'owned estates in every part of the empire, but whether they were honestly come by or not is not for a man like me to say'.
[6] Ammianus says he was one who was benevolent to his friends and a pernicious schemer against his enemies, servile to those more powerful than him and pitiless to those weaker, who craved office and exercised enormous influence through his wealth, always insecure and petty even at the height of his power.
In 372 he defended
Sirmium against barbarian attack and in 375 was accused of corruption and repression in extorting taxes for
Valentinian I. On various inscriptions he describes himself vaingloriously as 'the summit of the Anician house' (Aniciae domus culmen), 'most learned in all subjects' (omnibus rebus eruditissimus) and 'the acme of the nobility, the light of literature and eloquence' (nobilitatis culmen, litterarum et eloquentiae lumen). As these phrases suggest he was a patron of literature, including the poet
Ausonius. His two sons
Probinus and
Olybrius continued the tradition by being the patrons of
Claudian, who paints a flattering picture of Probus in his Panegyricus dictus Probino et Olybrio consulibus written to celebrate his sons' joint consulship in 395. Through his sons, Probus was the paternal grandfather of two Emperors,
Petronius Maximus and
Olybrius.
His date of death is unknown, though he was still living in 390 when, according to the Vita Ambrosii of
Paulinus of Nola, two Persian noblemen presented themselves before
Theodosius I at
Mediolanum but departed the next day for Rome in order to see for themselves Petronius Probus, the pride of the Roman aristocracy, a legend in his lifetime.