JOVELLAR Y SOLER

jovellar y soler, joaquin (1819-1892), captain-general of spain, was born at palma de mallorca, on the 28th of december 1819. at the close of his studies at the military academy he was appointed sub-lieutenant, went to cuba as captain in 1842, returned to the war office in 1851, was promoted major in 1853, and went to morocco as private secretary to marshal o'donnell, who made him colonel in 1860 after jovellar had been wounded at the battle of wad el ras. in 1863 jovellar became a brigadier-general, in 1864 under-secretary for war; he was severely wounded in fighting the insurgents in the streets of madrid, and rose to the rank of general of division in 1866. jovellar adhered to the revolution, and king amadeus made him a lieutenant-general in 1872. he absented himself from spain when the federal republic was proclaimed, and returned in the autumn of 1873, when castelar sent him to cuba as governor-general. in 1874 jovellar came back to the peninsula, and was in command of the army of the centre against the carlists when marshal campos went to sagunto to proclaim alfonso xii. general jovellar became war minister in the first cabinet of the restoration under canovas, who sent him to cuba again as governor-general, where he remained until the 18th of june 1878, when the ten years' insurrection closed with the peace of zaujon. alfonso xii. made him a captain-general, president of the council, life-senator, and governor-general of the philippines. jovellar died in madrid on the 17th of april 1892. jovian (flavius jovianus) (c. 332-364), roman emperor from june 363 to february 364, was born at singidunum in moesia about 332. as captain of the imperial bodyguard he accompanied julian in his persian expedition; and on the day after that emperor's death, when the aged sallust, prefect of the east, declined the purple, the choice of the army fell upon jovian. his election caused considerable surprise, and it is suggested by ammianus marcellinus that he was wrongly identified with another jovian, chief notary, whose name also had been put forward, or that, during the acclamations, the soldiers mistook the name jovianus for julianus, and imagined that the latter had recovered from his illness. jovian at once continued the retreat begun by julian, and, continually harassed by the persians, succeeded in reaching the banks of the tigris, where a humiliating treaty was concluded with the persian king, shapur ii. (q.v.). five provinces which had been conquered by galerius in 298 were surrendered, together with nisibis and other cities. the romans also gave up all their interests in the kingdom of armenia, and abandoned its christian prince arsaces to the persians. during his return to constantinople jovian was found dead in his bed at dadastana, halfway between ancyra and nicaea. a surfeit of mushrooms or the fumes of a charcoal fire have been assigned as the cause of death. under jovian, christianity was established as the state religion, and the labarum of constantine again became the standard of the army. the statement that he issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that, while the exercise of magical rites would be severely punished, his subjects should enjoy full liberty of conscience, rests on insufficient evidence. jovian entertained a great regard for athanasius, whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal throne, desiring him to draw up a statement of the catholic faith. in syriac literature jovian became the hero of a christian romance (g. hoffmann, _julianus der abtrunnige_, 1880). see ammianus marcellinus, xxv. 5-10; j. p. de la bleterie, _histoire de jovien_ (1740); gibbon, _decline and fall_, chs. xxiv., xxv.; j. wordsworth in smith and wace's _dictionary of christian biography_; h. schiller, _geschichte der romischen kaiserzeit_, vol. ii. (1887); a. de broglie, _l'eglise et l'empire romain au iv^e siecle_ (4th ed. 1882). for the relations of rome and persia see persia: _ancient history_.