PROBUS, MARCUS AURELIUS (M. Aurelius Probus), ROMAN EMPEROR. — Born at Sirmium on 19 August 232, died there in September 282. He advanced rapidly and brilliantly in military service and was heaped with honors by the emperors.
In 276, after the death of Tacitus, he was proclaimed emperor by the legions of Asia, and after the death of the rival Florianus he was acknowledged by the soldiers of Thrace and also by the Senate. He immediately set about repelling the barbarians, and in victorious campaigns from 277 to 279 he defeated the Gauls, Lycians, Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Sarmatians, Goths, and Isaurians. In 280 he had to contend with the usurpers Saturninus in Egypt and Proculus and Bonosus in Gaul. Upon his return to Rome he inaugurated a vast program of public works, rebuilding cities devastated by war and fostering the development of agriculture. His principal objective was to defeat the Persians; while preparing the expedition he was killed at Sirmium in a military conspiracy. Under his rule the Christians were not officially persecuted.