Jovian’s Death; Valentinian and Valens

After Jovian had reigned about eight months, he died suddenly at Dadastana, a town of Bithynia, on his way to Constantinople. Some say that his death was caused by eating too heavy a supper. Others put it down to the dampness of the room he slept in: it had recently been plastered with quicklime, and a great deal of charcoal had been burned in it during the winter as a precaution, so the walls had become damp and were very wet. [a]

When the troops reached Nicaea in Bithynia, they proclaimed Valentinian emperor. He was a good man and able to hold the reins of the empire. He had not long come back from exile. For it is said that Julian, as soon as he came to the throne, struck Valentinian’s name from the legions called the Jovians and condemned him to lifelong exile, on the pretext that he had failed in his duty to lead the soldiers under his command out against the enemy. The true reason for his condemnation, however, was this. When Julian was in Gaul, he went one day to a temple to offer incense. Valentinian went with him according to an ancient Roman law, still in force, which required that the commander of the Jovians and the Herculeans should always attend the emperor as his bodyguard. These are the legions of soldiers that were given these names in honor of Jupiter and of Hercules. As they were about to enter the temple, the priest sprinkled water on them with the branch of a tree, as the pagan custom was. A drop fell on Valentinian’s robe. He could hardly restrain himself, for he was a Christian, and he rebuked the man who had sprinkled him. It is even said that he cut off, in the emperor’s sight, the part of his garment the water had fallen on, and threw it away. From that moment Julian was hostile to him, and soon afterward he banished him to Melitene in Armenia on the plea of misconduct in military affairs. He would not have religion seen as the reason for the sentence, so that Valentinian would not be counted a martyr or a confessor. Julian treated other Christians in the same way, as I have already said; for, as was said before, he saw that putting them in danger only added to their reputation and helped to strengthen their religion. As soon as Jovian came to the throne, Valentinian was called back from exile to Nicaea. But in the meantime the emperor died, and Valentinian, by the unanimous consent of the troops and of those who held the chief positions in the government, was made his successor. When he had been invested with the emblems of imperial power, the soldiers shouted that someone must be chosen to share the burden of government. To this Valentinian gave the following reply: “It was in your power alone, soldiers, to proclaim me emperor. But now that you have chosen me, it is not up to you but up to me to do what you ask. Stay quiet, as subjects ought to, and leave me to act as an emperor in seeing to the public business.” [b]

Not long after refusing the soldiers’ demand, he went to Constantinople and proclaimed his brother emperor. He gave him the East as his share of the empire, and kept for himself the regions along the Western Ocean, from Illyria to the farthest coasts of Libya. Both brothers were Christians, but they differed in belief and in character. For Valens, when he was baptized, had Eudoxius as the one who initiated him, and he was zealously devoted to the doctrines of Arius and would gladly have forced everyone to accept them. Valentinian, on the other hand, held to the faith of the Council of Nicaea and favored those who held the same views, without troubling those who held other opinions. [c]