New fragments of Priscus from Panion in John Malalas?

'47

have become Praefectus Praetorio Orientis only in 448), but may well have been
mentioned by Priscus;37
- He mixed up a Rufinus, probable successor to Antiochus Chuzon senior (and so
Praefectus Praetorio Orientis between March 431 and March 432, before than Hie-
rius is attested in the role),38 with the famous Rufinus serving under Theodosius I
and Arcadius, who died as early as 395·39
The garbled information given here by Malalas about Rufinus and his treachery has
been discarded as unreliable.40 However, exactly because of the mistakes being so evi-
dent, we might apply to them the same explanation offered by Brodka for similar phe-
nomena he detected elsewhere,41 that is: a broader (Priscan) narration, once conceived
to compare different ages and emperors to criticize Theodosius II, was repeatedly mis-
understood, a fact which led later chroniclers to draw up garbled accounts of the facts,
conflating events and people from different periods.
As Rufinus is said by Malalas to be a “relative” (συγγενής) of the emperor, Croke
has thought of him being possibly a brother of the empress Eudocia (Athenais).42 This
is not very likely, since we are quite well informed about the two brothers of Eudocia,
who were Gessius43 and Valerius.44 There is also a more cogent reason to reject Croke’s
hypothesis. The famous Rufinus serving under Arcadius wanted to take part in the
imperial family, thus causing much of his own disgrace:45 Priscus may have insisted
on this point (as he did about Honoria and Attila,46 or about the sons of Aspar47), so
that Eustathius of Epiphania or Malalas might have misunderstood and/or conflated
Priscus’ account about Rufinus’ kinship with the emperor, transferring it from the
older prefect to his younger namesake.48
There is also another possibility for explaining Malalas’ definition of Rufinus as
συγγενής of Theodosius II; since Evagrius and Nicephorus Callistus deal with the

37 Many of Priscus’ Excerpta de Legationibns deal with the years 448 and 449, see exec. 6, 7, 8, 8.1 Carolla
(pp. 12-52); exec. 12,12.1 Carolla (pp. 53-54)·
38 PLREII, s.n. Rufinus, p. 953: “there was a PPO Antiochus in March 431 whose nearest recorded suc-
cessor did not hold office until March 432. Antiochus could well be Antiochus Chuzon, and Rufinus
could well have held office in March 431/March 432. This date would very well suit the correspondent
of Isidore of Pelusium”.
39 PLRE I, s. n. Rufinus 18, pp. 778-780.
40 Thurn/Meier (2009), p. 373 n. 62: “vermutlich falsch und nur durch Malalas belegt”.
41 Brodka (2012), esp. pp. 207-209; see the number of relevant errors, pp. 197-204.
42 Croke (2015), p. 118 n. 43: “It is also possible that Rufinus, the praetorian prefect of the East in 431 and
recorded as a “relative” of Theodosius II, was a brother of Eudocia”.
43 PLRE II, s.n. Gessius 2.
44 PLRE II, s.n. Valerius 6.
45 PLRE I, s. n. Rufinus 18, pp. 778-780.
46 See Priscus Panita, exc. 15,1-3 and exc. 16,3 Carolla; fr. dub. 62* Carolla, and elsewhere.
47 See Priscus Panita, exc. 44 Carolla (p. 80; from Evagrius Scholasticus, Historia Ecdesiastica II 16); see
also Carolla (2010), esp. pp. 388-392; 395-396.
48 For the probable mistakes on Eustathius’ part, see Roger Scott’s contribution in this volume.