Valens Asks His Brother for Troops

The Lord stirred up the Goths to war, and drew to the Bosporus the man who knew how to fight only against the godly. Then for the first time the vain man became aware of his own weakness, and he sent to his brother to ask for troops. But Valentinian replied that it would be ungodly to help a man who was fighting against God; it was right, rather, to check his rashness. This filled the unhappy man with still greater folly. Yet he did not draw back from his rash undertaking, and he kept on setting himself against the truth. [a]