Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1217

Rh I VALENS. and a battle was resolved on. It was on the 9th of August, A. D. 37B, and some few hours from Ha- drianople, where the Romans sustained a defeat so bloody, that none can be compared with it in the Annals of Rome except the fight of Cannae. Am- niianus (xxxi. 13) has given a laboured descrip- tion of the battle, not particularly clear. The Theuringi under Fritigern, and the Greuthungi under Alatheus and Saphrax, destroyed two-thirds of the Imperial army. Trajanus, Sebastianus, Valerianus Comes Stabuli, and Equitius, fell. Valens was never seen after the battle. He was wounded by an arrow, and, as some say, died on the field. According to another story, he was carried to a peasant's house, to which the barbarians set fire without knowing who was in it, and Valens was burnt. Though the mode of his death is not certain, all authorities agree in saying that his body was never found. The commentary of Orosius on the death of Valens is instructive (vii. 33): " The Goths some time before sent ambassadors to Valens to pray that bishops (episcopi) might be sent to them to teach them the rule of Christian faith. Valens, through pestiferous depravity, sent teachers of the Arian dogma. The Goths retained the in- struction in their first faith, which they received. Therefore by the just judgment of God the very persons burnt him alive, who through him, even after death, are destined to burn on account of the vice of their error." The reign of Valens is important in the history of the empire on account of the admission of the Goths into the countries south of the Danube, the commencement of the decline of the Roman power. The furious contests between the rival creeds of the Catholics and the Arians, and the persecution of the Catholics by Valentinian, also characterize this reign. These religious quarrels, which we might otherwise view with indifference, are not to be overlooked in forming our judgment of this period, nor must we forget them when we attempt to estimate the value of the historians for this period. The character of Valens is drawn by Gibbon and Tillemont ; by Gibbon perhaps with as much impartiality as he could exercise, by Tillemont under the influence of strong religious convictions, with as much fairness as we can expect from one who condemned the persecutions of Valens, both as a man of humanity and a zealous Catholic. The chronicle of Hieronymus terminates with the death of Valens, and here also ends the history of Ammianus, the last of the Roman historians. Eutropius, who does not deserve the name of his- torian, wrote his Breviarium Historiae Romanae in the time of Valens, and by the order of the em- peror, to whom his work is dedicated. (Gibbon, cc. 25, 2G ; Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, vol. v., where all the authorities are collected.) [G. L.] VALENS. 1205 COIN OF VALENS VALENS, the name of probably two phy- sicians : — 1. Vectius Valens, one of the paramours of Messallina, Avho was put to death, a. d. 48. (Tac An7i. xi. 30, 31, 35 ; Sen. Apocol. c. 13.) He ia said by Pliny {H. N. xxix. 5) to have given some attention to the study of eloquence, and to have founded a new sect. Haller {Bibl. Medic. Pract. vol. i.) andSprengel {Hist, de la Mtd. vol. ii.) state that he was one of the followers of Themison, but they give no authority for this assertion. 2. Terentius Valens, one of whose medical formulae is quoted by (apparently) Andromachua the younger (ap. Gal. De Compos. Medicam. sec. Log. ix. 4, vol. xiii. p. 279), must have lived some time in or before the first century after Christ. He may be supposed to be the same person who is elsewhere quoted by Andromachus and Galen {ibid.xu. 6, ix. 4, 5, pp. 115, 285, 292) ; but it is quite uncertain whether he was the Valens who is said by Scribonius Largus {De Compos. Medi- cam. c. 22. § 94, p. 208) to have been one of his fellow pupils under Appuleius Celsus ; or the " Valens physicus," whose third book of " Cura- tiones " is quoted by Caelius Aurelianus. {De Morb.Acut. iii. 1. p. 180.) Fabricius {Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 440, ed. vet.) and Haller {Bibl. Medic. Pract. vol. i. p. 294) mention another Valens, who (as they state) is said by Marcellus Empiricus {De Medicam. c. 16. p. 310) to have been his tutor ; but this is an error that has arisen from their not having noticed that the passage referred to in Marcellus is either quoted by him, or interpolated by some modern transcriber, from the chapter of Scribonius Largus referred to above. [ W. A. G.] VALENS, ABURNUS, also called ABUR- NIUS, a Sabinian, is one of the jurists who are excerpted in the Digest. As Valens cites Javo- lenus (Dig. 33. tit. 1. s. 15), and also Julianus (Dig. 4. tit. 4. s. 33), it may be inferred that he was younger than both, though Pomponius men- tions Valens before Julianus (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. §47). A passage of Valens proves at least that he survived Trajan (Dig. 49. tit. 14. s. 42, ex con- stitutione Divi Trajani). Valens was probably in the consilium of Antoninus Pius. The passage of Capitolinus (c. 12), states : " usus est jurisperitis Umidio Vero, Salvio Valente, Volusio Metiano, Ulpio Marcello, et Javoleno ;" whence we may conclude that the name of Valens was also Salvius ; but in that case we ought to read " Juliano " for " .Javoleno." If " Javoleno " is right we may read the passage thus : " Umidio Vero, Salvio, Valente, &c.," where Salvius will represent Salvius Julianus. There is a rescript of Antoninus (Dig. 48. tit. 2. s. 7. § 2) addressed to Salvius Valens. In the titles of the excerpts from Valens in the Digest, he is called Valens only. The Florentine Index men- tions seven books on Fideicommissa by Valens, from which there are nineteen excerpts in the Digest ; but he also wrote De Actionibus, for there is an excerpt in the Digest (36. tit. 4. s. 15) from his seventh book. The Fabius Valens to whom one of Pliny's letters (iv. 24) is addressed, cannot be the jurist. (Zimmem, Geschiclde des Rom. PrivatrechtSy p. 334.) [G. L.J VALENS, AURE'LIUS VALE'RIUS, an officer whom Licinius, after the battle of Cibalis (a. d. 314), associated with himself as colleague 4 H 3