Valentinian Proclaimed Emperor of the West

After the usurper’s death, the emperor Theodosius was very anxious about whom he should proclaim emperor of the West. He had a cousin, then very young, named Valentinian. He was the son of Theodosius’s aunt Placidia, who was the daughter of Theodosius the Great and the sister of the two Augusti, Arcadius and Honorius; and he was the son of that Constantius who had been proclaimed emperor by Honorius and had died after reigning with him a short time. Theodosius made this cousin Caesar and sent him to the western regions, entrusting the government to his mother, Placidia. He himself also hurried toward Italy, so that he might proclaim his cousin emperor in person, and, by being present among them, try to persuade the natives and residents by his counsel not to give in to usurpers so readily. But when he reached Thessalonica, illness kept him from going any farther. So he sent the imperial crown on to his cousin by Helion the patrician, and he himself went back to Constantinople. But I think the account I have given of these matters is enough. [a]