The Bold Words of Trajan the General

After Valens had crossed the Bosporus and come into Thrace, he first spent a considerable time at Constantinople, anxious about how the war would turn out. He had sent Trajan in command of troops against the barbarians. When the general came back beaten, the emperor abused him harshly and accused him of weakness and cowardice. Trajan answered boldly, as a brave man should: “I have not been beaten, sir. It is you who have thrown the victory away by fighting against God and handing his support over to the barbarians. Since you attack him, he is taking their side, for victory is on God’s side and comes to those whom God leads.” He went on: “Do you not know whom you have driven out of their churches, and to whose government you have handed those churches over?” Arintheus and Victor, generals like Trajan, confirmed the truth of what he said, and begged the emperor not to be angry at reproaches that were founded on fact. [a]