151. Ammianus (xxx. 5), who acknowledges the merit, has
censured, with becoming asperity, the oppressive
administration of Petronius Probus. When Jerom translated
and continued the Chronicle of Eusebius (A.D. 380; see
Tillemont, Mem. Ecles. tom. xii. p. 53, 626), he expressed
the truth, for at least the public opinion of his country,
in the jollowing words: "Probus P. P. Illyrici iniquissimis
tributorum exactionibus, ante provincias quas regebat, quama
Barbaris vastarentur, 'erasit'." (Chron. edit. Scaliger, p.
187; Animadvers. p. 259.) The saint afterwards formed an
intimate and tender friendship with the widow of Probus; and
the name of Count Equitius, with less propriety, but without
much injustice, has been substituted in the text.