Nicomachus (4) Flavianus, Virius, Roman senator, c. 340–394 CE

Virius Nicomachus (4) Flavianus (c. 340–394 CE), was a Roman aristocrat, officeholder, and author, though no works survive. He has traditionally been seen alongside his fellow senators Vettius Agorius Praetextatus and Q. Aurelius Symmachus as a major figure in the last days of Roman paganism; Flavianus in particular is seen as having supported a pagan revival under the usurper Eugenius, whom he served as praetorian prefect and consul in 394 before committing suicide upon Eugenius’s defeat by Theodosius I at the Battle of the River Frigidus. The supposed pagan revival has been called into question in recent scholarship. Flavianus is also known to have written a history, which is lost.