A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

VALENS. VALENS. 1203
compelled to surrender after the death of the rebel, padocia into two provinces, and made Tyana the
and were distributed in the towns along the capital of the second.
Danube and kept under surveillance. The Gothic In A. D. 372 Modestus, the Praefect, and Arinking, Ermenric, demanded these Goths back, but thaeus were consuls. Arinthaeus, who was a man
Valens refused them, and resolved on war, as he of extraordinary stature, and of perfect form, of
had nothing else to do. great courage and superior military skill, had been
Before undertaking the war, for which he made employed both ly Julian and Jovian, and he had
great preparation, Valens received the rite of bap- served Valens well in the war against Procopius.
tism from Eudoxus, the chief of the Arians who On the 13th of April, Valens was at Antioch in
was then seated in the chair of Constantinople. Syria, whither he had gone to conduct the war
Thus, says Tillemont, " he began by an act which against Sapor king of Persia. Sapor had made a
involved him in a thousand mishaps, and finally treaty with Jovian, in which it seems that Arprecipitated his body and his soul to death." The menia was comprehended. However this may be,
emperor posted his troops on the Danube, and fixed Sapor had set his mind on getting possession of
his camp at Marcianopolis, the capital of Lower Armenia, and about A. D. 369, having prevailed on
Maesia. He was ably assisted by Auxonius, who Arsaces, the Armenian king, to come to an enterwas made P'raefectus Praetorio in place of Sallus- tainment, he made lfim prisoner, put out his
tius, who was relieved of his office on account of eyes, and finally ordered him to be executed. He
his age. Valens crossed the Danube, and finding gave the government of Armenia to Cylax and
no resistance, ravaged the country of the enemy. Artabanus, two natives, and creatures of his.
He was again at Marcianopolis in January A. D. Olympias, the wife of Arsaces, escaped with her
368, where he appears to have passed the winter. son Para and her treasures to a strong place, which
An incursion of the Isaurians, who extended their Cylax and Artabanus with some Persian troops
ravages to Cilicia and Pamphylia, and cut to pieces made an unsuccessful attempt to take: it is said
Musonius, the Vicarius of Asia, and his troops, may that Cylax and Artabanus were treacherous to their
perhaps be referred to this year. Persian allies.
The military events of the year A. D. 368 were Para implored the assistance of Valens, who
unimportant. Valens was unable to cross the supported him at New Caesarea in Pontus, in
Danube, and he passed the winter again at Mar- a manner suitable to his rank, and he sent Comes
cianopolis. On the 10th of October, the city of Terentius to put him in possession of Armenia,
Nicaea was destroyed by an earthquake. On the but without conferring on him the insignia of
3d of May, A. D. 369, Valens left Marcianopolis royalty, which, it was supposed, might be taken
for Noviodunum, where he crossed the Danube and as an infraction of the treaty with the Persians.
entered the country of the Goths. The Goths On hearing of this Sapor sent troops into Armenia,
sustained considerable loss; and Valens also de- who drove Para into the mountains. Sapor, not
feated Athanaric, who opposed him with a nume- being able to seize Para, made a show of reconrous army. He returned to Marcianopolis, intending ciliation and Para of submission, one of the tokens
to pass another winter there, but the Goths sued of which was the heads of Cylax and Artabanus,
for peace, which was granted on the condition that for which Sapor had asked, on the ground that
they should not cross the Danube, and should only they were rather the masters than the servants of
be allowed to trade at two towns on the river. The Para. Valens upon this sent Arinthaeus into Artreaty betweenValens and Athanaric was concluded menia, who checked the approach of the Persian
on vessels in the Danube, for Athanaric refused to troops. Sapor complained, but Valens paid no atset his foot on the Roman territory. At the end tention to his complaints. The Persian king
of this year, Valens was at Constantinople. threatened an attack, but nothing was done this
The year A. D. 370 is memorable for the cruel year, though Valens appears to have advanced into
punishment of eighty ecclesiastics. The Arians Mesopotamia.
were persecuted by the Catholics at Constantinople, In the following year A. D. 373, the Roman and
and the Catholics sent a deputation of eighty eccle- the Persian armies met; the Romans, commanded
siastics to Valens, who was then at Nicomedia. by Comes Trajanus and Vadomarlus, formerly a
It is said that Valens ordered them to be put to king of the Allemanni. (Amm. Marc. xxix. 1.)
death, and that his order was executed by Modestus, Mesopotamia was apparently the seat of the war.
Praefectus Praetorio, by placing them in a vessel Sapor was defeated, and retired to Ctesiphon after
on the sea, and setting fire to it. " This inhumanity,"' a truce was, agreed on. Valens spent the winter
observes Tillemont, " was punished by a famine at Antioch.
which desolated Phrygia and the neighbouring During this winter there was a conspiracy to ascountry;" but the pious historian does not explain sassinate Valens, to which some persons, said to be
how the sufferings of the innocent are to be con- pagans, were encouraged by believing that some
sidered as a punishment on the guilty. person whose name began with Theod, was desValens spent the early part of A. D. 371 at Con- tined to succeed Valens. This was learned by the
stantinople, whence he moved to Caesarea in Cap- application of certain magical arts, and the person
padocia, where he probably spent the winter. pointed out as the successor of the emperor was
About this time he lost his only son. When the Theodorus, one of the notarii or secretaries of the
youth was taken ill, the emperor who had enter- emperor. This affair is told at length by Amtained a design of banishing Basilius, bishop of mianus (xxix. 1). Theodorus and many other
Caesarea, applied to him for his help, and the persons were put to death, some innocent and
bishop promised that the boy should recover, if the others guilty, for the existence of a plot appears
emperor would allow him to be baptized by Catholic probable enough. Sozomen says that all persons
priests: " but Valens caused him to be baptized of rank who bore a name beginning with Theod
by Arians, and the child immediately died." It were put to death, which is not credible. He
was about this time also that Valens divided Cap. also assigns this as the cause of the death of
4 H 2