Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1215

Rh VALENS. compelled to surrender after the death of the rebel, and were distributed in the towns along the Danube and kept under surveillance. The Gothic king, Erraenric, demanded these Goths back, but Valens refused them, and resolved on war, as he had nothing else to do. Before undertaking the war, for which he made great preparation, Valens I'eceived the rite of bap- tism from Eudoxus, the chief of the Arians who was then seated in the chair of Constantinople. Thus, saj'^s Tillemont, " he began by an act which involved him in a thousand mishaps, and finally- precipitated his body and his soul to death.'' The emperor posted his troops on the Danube, and fixed his camp at Marcianopolis, the capital of Lower Maesia. He was ably assisted by Auxonius, who was made Praefectus Praetorio in place of Sallus- tius, who was relieved of his office on accoimt of his age. Valens crossed the Danube, and finding no resistance, ravaged the country of the enemy. He was again at Marcianopolis in January A. d. 368, where he appears to have passed the winter. An incursion of the Isaurians, who extended their ravages to Cilicia and Pamphylia, and cut to pieces Musonius, the Vicarius of Asia, and his troops, may perhaps be referred to this year. The military events of the year A. d. 368 were unimportant. Valens was unable to cross the Danube, and he passed the winter again at Mar- cianopolis. On the 10th of October, the city of Nicaea was destroyed by an earthquake. On the 3d of May, a. d. 369, Valens left Marcianopolis for Noviodunum, where he crossed the Danube and entered the country of the Goths. The Goths sustained considerable loss ; and Valens also de- feated Athanaric, who opposed him with a nume- rous army. He returned to Marcianopolis, intending to pass another winter there, but the Goths sued for peace, which was granted on the condition that they should not cross the Danube, and should only be allowed to trade at two towns on the river. The treaty between Valens and Athanaric was concluded on vessels in the Danube, for Athanaric refused to set his foot on the Roman territory. At the end of this year, Valens was at Constantinople. The year a. d. 370 is memorable for the cruel punishment of eighty ecclesiastics. The Arians were persecuted by the Catholics at Constantinople, and the Catholics sent a deputation of eighty eccle- siastics to Valens, who was then at Nicomedia. It is said that Valens ordered them to be put to death, and that his order was executed by Modestus, Praefectus Praetorio, by placing them in a vessel on the sea, and setting fire to it. " This inhumanity," observes Tillemont, " was punished by a famine which desolated Phrygia and the neighbouring country ; " but the pious historian does not explain how the sufferings of the innocent are to be con- sidered as a punishment on the guilty. Valens spent the early part of A. d. 371 at Con- stantinople, whence he moved to Caesarea in Cap- padocia, where he probably spent the winter. About this time he lost his only son. When the youth was taken ill, the emperor who had enter- tained a design of banishing Basilius, bishop of Caesarea, applied to him for his help, and the bishop promised that the boy should recover, if the emperor would allow him to be baptized by Catholic priests : " but Valens caused him to be baptized by Arians, and the child immediately died." It was about this time also that Valens divided Cap- VALENS. 12(36 padocia into two provinces, and made Tyana the capital of the second. In A. D. 372 Modestus, the Praefect, and Arin- thaeus were consuls. Arinthaeus, who was a man of extraordinary stature, and of perfect form, of great courage and superior military skill, had been employed both by Julian and Jovian, and he had served Valens well in the war against Procopius. On the 1 3th of April, Valens was at Antioch in Syria, whither he had gone to conduct the war against Sapor king of Persia. Sapor had made a treaty with Jovian, in which it seems that Ar- menia was comprehended. However this may be. Sapor had set his mind on getting possession of Armenia, and about a. d. 369, having prevailed on Arsaces, the Armenian king, to come to an enter- tainment, he made him prisoner, put out his eyes, and finally ordered him to be executed. He gave the government of Armenia to Cylax and Artabanus, two natives, and creatures of his. Olympias, the wife of Arsaces, escaped with her son Para and her treasures to a strong place, which Cylax and Artabanus with some Persian troops made an unsuccessful attempt to take : it is said that Cylax and Artabanus were treacherous to their Persian allies. '! Para implored the assistance of Valens, who supported him at New Caesarea in Pontus, in a manner suitable to his rank, and he sent Comes Terentius to put him in possession of Armenia, but without conferring on him the insignia of royalty, which, it was supposed, might be taken as an infraction of the treaty with the Persians. On hearing of this Sapor sent troops into Armenia, who drove Para into the mountains. Sapor, not being able to seize Para, made a show of recon- ciliation and Para of submission, one of the tokens of which was the heads of Cylax and Artabanus, for which Sapor had asked, on the ground that they were rather the masters than the servants of Para. Valens upon this sent Arinthaeus into Ar- menia, who checked the approach of the Persian troops. Sapor complained, but Valens paid no at- tention to his complaints. The Persian king threatened an attack, but nothing was done this year, though Valens appears to have advanced into Mesopotamia. In the following year A. D. 373, the Roman and the Persian armies met ; the Romans, commanded by Comes Trajanus and Vadomarus, formerly a king of the Allemanni. (Amm. Marc. xxix. 1.) Mesopotamia was apparently the seat of the war. Sapor was defeated, and retired to Ctesiphon after a truce was agreed on. Valens spent the winter at Antioch. During this winter there was a conspiracy to as- sassinate Valens, to which some persons, said to be pagans, were encouraged by believing that some person whose name began with Theod, was des- tined to succeed Valens. This was learned by the application of certain magical arts, and the person pointed out as the successor of the emperor was Theodorus, one of the notarii or secretaries of the emperor. This afiuir is told at length by Am- mianus (xxix. 1);. Theodorus and many other persons w.ere put to death, some innocent and others guilty, for the existence of a plot appears probable enough. Sozomen says that all persons of rank who bore a name beginning with Theod were put to death, which is not credible. He also assigns this as the cause of the death of 4 H 2