Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume II/Sozomen/Book VI/Chapter 6
Chapter VI.—Death of Jovian; The Life of Valentinian, and his Confidence in God; how he was advanced to the Throne and selected his Brother Valens to reign with him; the Differences of Both.
After Jovian had reigned about eight months, he died suddenly at Dadastana, a town of Bithynia, while on his road to Constantinople.[1]
Some say that his death was occasioned by eating too plentiful a
supper; others attribute it to the dampness of the chamber in which he
slept; for it had been recently plastered with unslaked lime, and
quantities of coals had been burnt in it during the winter for a
preventive; the walls had become damp and were exceedingly moist.
On the arrival of the troops at Nicæa in Bithynia, they proclaimed Valentinian emperor. He was a good man and capable of holding the reins of the empire. He had not long returned from banishment; for it is said that Julian, immediately on his accession to the empire, erased the name of Valentinian from the Jovian legions, as they were called, and condemned him to perpetual banishment, under the pretext that he had failed in his duty of leading out the soldiers under his command against the enemy. The true reason of his condemnation, however, was the following: When Julian was in Gaul, he went one day to a temple to offer incense. Valentinian[2]
accompanied him, according to an ancient Roman law, which still
prevails, and which enacted that the leader of the Jovians and the Herculeans (that is to say, the
legions of soldiers who have received this appellation in honor of
Jupiter and of Hercules) should always attend the emperor as his
body-guard. When they were about to enter the temple, the priest, in
accordance with the pagan custom, sprinkled water upon them with the
branch of a tree. A drop fell upon the robe of Valentinian; he scarcely
could restrain himself, for he was a Christian, and he rebuked his
asperser; it is even said that he cut off, in view of the emperor, the
portion of the garment on which the water had fallen, and flung it from
him. From that moment Julian entertained inimical feelings against him,
and soon after banished him to Melitine in Armenia, under the plea of
misconduct in military affairs; for he would not have religion regarded
as the cause of the decree, lest Valentinian should be accounted a
martyr or a confessor. Julian treated other Christians, as we have
already stated, in the same manner; for, as was said before, he
perceived that to subject them to hazards only added to their
reputation, and tended to the consolidation of their religion. As soon
as Jovian succeeded to the throne, Valentinian was recalled from
banishment to Nicæa; but the death of the emperor in the meantime
took place, and Valentinian, by the unanimous consent of the troops and
those who held the chief positions in the government, was appointed his
successor. When he was invested with the symbols of imperial power, the
soldiers cried out that it was necessary to elect some one to share the
burden of government. To this proposition, Valentinian made the
following reply: “It depended on you alone, O soldiers, to
proclaim me emperor; but now that you have elected me, it depends not
upon you, but upon me, to perform what you demand. Remain quiet, as
subjects ought to do, and leave me to act as an emperor in attending to
the public affairs.”
Not long after this refusal to comply with the demand of the soldiery, he repaired to Constantinople, and proclaimed his brother emperor. He gave him the East as his share of the empire, and reserved to himself the regions along the Western Ocean, from Illyria to the furthest coasts of Libya. Both the brothers were Christians, but they differed in opinion and disposition. For Valens, when he was baptized, employed Eudoxius as his initiator, and was zealously attached to the doctrines of Arius, and would readily have compelled all mankind by force to yield to them. Valentinian, on the other hand, maintained the faith of the council of Nicæa, and favored those who upheld the same sentiments, without molesting those who entertained other opinions.