Valentinian, the Great Emperor

Valentinian, who became emperor shortly afterward, was at that time a tribune and commanded the spearmen of the guard quartered in the palace. He made no secret of his zeal for the true religion. Once, when the infatuated emperor was going in solemn procession into the sacred enclosure of the Temple of Fortune, the temple servants stood on either side of the gates, purifying, as they supposed, everyone who came in with their sprinkling whisks. Valentinian was walking ahead of the emperor. When he noticed that a drop had fallen on his own cloak, he struck the attendant with his fist. “For,” he said, “I am not purified but defiled.” For this deed he won two empires. When Julian the accursed saw what had happened, he sent him to a fortress in the desert and ordered him to stay there. But after a year and a few months had passed, he received the empire as a reward for confessing the faith. For the just Judge honors those who care for holy things not only in the life to come; sometimes, even here below, he gives a reward for good deeds, and by what he gives in abundance now he confirms the hope of the rewards still to be received. [a]

But the tyrant devised another scheme against the truth. Following ancient custom, he had taken his seat on the imperial throne to hand out gold to the ranks of his soldiers. But, against custom, he had an altar full of hot coals brought in, and incense placed on a table, and he ordered every man who was to receive the gold first to throw incense on the altar and then take the gold from the emperor’s own right hand. Most of them had no idea of the trap that had been laid. Those who had been warned in advance pretended to be ill and so escaped this cruel snare. Others, in their eagerness for the money, made light of their salvation, while yet another group abandoned their faith out of cowardice.