Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome, episode 147, capitulation.

Last week, we left off with the eastern legions in a bit of a scrape.

The Emperor Julian was dead.

He had not named a successor, and they were surrounded on all sides by a hostile, susanid

army.

Only one of those things taken alone would have been pretty rotten, but taken together,

well, let's break out the popcorn and see what happens next.

After news of Julian's death got out, the senior officers of the army got together and

tried to figure out what the hell they were going to do next.

Naturally, the first order of business was figuring out who was in charge.

After all, a good chain of command can't just peter out into a mud puddle of cavalry officers

and supply chiefs.

Someone's got to be the eye in the pyramid.

With no imperial relatives around to make the choice easy on them, the officers turned

to the most obvious non-royal candidate, the senior Praetorian prefect, Saturninius

Secundus Saluteus.

The prefect was universally respected, and from the moment Julian had been named Caesar,

Saluteus had been one of the emperor's closest and most influential advisers.

He had been so trusted in fact that when Julian had formed a commission to oversee the post-constantius

purge of the imperial court, Saluteus had been its chairman.

Elivated to the rank Praetorian prefect of the east after the commission wrapped up

its business, Saluteus was the highest ranking official in the tent after Julian died.

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