Note 102 The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates (1. iii.c. 22), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 3), and Theodoret (1. iv. c. 1), ascribe to Jovian the merit of a confessor under the preceding reign, and piously suppose that he refused the purple till the whole army unanimously exclaimed that they were Christians. Ammianus, calmly pursuing his narrative, overthrows the legend by a single sentence. Hostiis pro Joviano extisque inspectis, pronuntiatum est, etc. (xxv. 6).

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The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire— Chapter 24