OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 67 the names of Valentinian and Valens, in all the legal transac- tions of the Roman government. By his mai-riage with the grand-daughter of Constantine, the son of Valentinian acquired rcongtantia, all the hereditary rights of the Flavian family ; which, in a coSft'antiSB series of three Imperial generations, were sanctified by time, "'^ religion, and the reverence of the people. At the death of his father, the royal youth was in the seventeenth year of his age ; and his virtues already justified the favourable opinion of the army and people. But Gratian resided, without apprehension, in the palace of Treves ; whilst, at the distance of many hundred miles, Valentinian suddenly expired in the camp of Bregetio. The passions, which had been so long suppressed by the presence of a master, immediately revived in the imperial council ; and the ambitious design of reigning in the name of an infant, was artfully executed by Mellobaudes and Equitius, [?««■• Mero- who commanded the attachment of the Illyrian and Italian bands. They contrived the most honourable pretences to remove the popular leaders and the troops of Gaul, who might have asserted the claims of the lawful successor ; they sug- gested the necessity of extinguishing the hopes of foreign and domestic enemies by a bold and decisive measure. The empress Justina, who had been left in a palace about one hundred miles from Bregetio, was respectfully invited to appear in the camp, with the son of the deceased emperor. On the sixth day after the death of Valentinian, the infant prince of the same name, who was only four years old, was shewn in the arms of his mother to the legions ; and solemnly invested by military acclamation with the titles and ensigns of supreme power. The impending dangers of a civil war were seasonably prevented by the wise and moderate conduct of the emperor Gratian. He cheerfully accepted the choice of the army ; declared that he should always consider the son of Justina as a brother, not as a rival ; and advised the empress, with her son Valentinian, to fix their residence at Milan, in the fair and peaceful province of Italy ; while he assumed the more arduous command of the countries beyond the Alps. Gratian dis- sembled his resentment till he could safely punish, or disgrace, the authors of the conspiracy ; and, though he uniformly behaved with tenderness and regard to his infant colleague, he gradually confounded, in the administration of the Western empire, the office of a guardian with the authority of a sovereign. The government of the Roman world was exercised in the united names of Valens and his two nephews ; but the
