Vala Caius Numonius, a friend of Horace, to whom the poet addressed bk. 1, ltr. 15.
Valens Flavius, a son of Gratian, born in Pannonia. His brother Valentinian took him as his colleague on the throne, and appointed him over the eastern parts of the Roman empire. The bold measures and the threats of the rebel Procopius frightened the new emperor; and if his friends had not interfered, he would have willingly resigned all his pretensions to the empire which his brother had entrusted to his care. By perseverance, however, Valens was enabled to destroy his rival, and to distinguish himself in his wars against the northern barbarians. But his lenity to these savage intruders proved fatal to the Roman power; and by permitting some of the Goths to settle in the provinces of Thrace, and to have free access to every part of the country, Valens encouraged them to make depredations on his subjects, and to disturb their tranquillity. His eyes were opened too late; he attempted to repel them, but he failed in the attempt. A bloody battle was fought, in which the barbarians obtained some advantage, and Valens was hurried away by the obscurity of the night, and the affection of the soldiers for his person, into a lonely house, which the Goths set on fire. Valens, unable to make his escape, was burnt alive in the 50th year of his age, after a reign of 13 years, A.D. 378. He has been blamed for his superstition and cruelty, in putting to death all such of his subjects whose name began by Theod, because he had been informed by his favourite astrologers that his crown would devolve upon the head of an officer whose name began with these letters. Valens did not possess any of the great qualities which distinguish a good and powerful monarch. He was illiterate, and of a disposition naturally indolent and inactive. Yet though timorous in the highest degree, he was warlike; and though fond of ease, he was acquainted with the character of his officers, and preferred none but such as possessed merit. He was a great friend to discipline, a pattern of chastity and temperance, and he showed himself always ready to listen to the just complaints of his subjects, though he gave an attentive ear to flattery and malevolent informations. Ammianus, &c.——Valerius, a proconsul of Achaia, who proclaimed himself emperor of Rome, when Marcian, who had been invested with the purple in the east, attempted to assassinate him. He reigned only six months, and was murdered by his soldiers, A.D. 261.——Fabius, a friend of Vitellius, whom he saluted emperor, in opposition to Otho. He was greatly honoured by Vitellius, &c.——A general of the emperor Honorius.——The name of the second Mercury mentioned by Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 22, but considered as more properly belonging to Jupiter.
Valentia, one of the ancient names of Rome.——A town of Spain, a little below Saguntum, founded by Julius Brutus, and for some time known by the name of Julia Collonia.——A town of Italy.——Another, in Sardinia.
Valentiniānus I., a son of Gratian, raised to the imperial throne by his merit and valour. He kept the western part of the empire for himself, and appointed over the east his brother Valens. He gave the most convincing proof of his military valour in the victories which he obtained over the barbarians in the provinces of Gaul, the deserts of Africa, and on the banks of the Rhine and the Danube. The insolence of the Quadi he punished with great severity; and when these desperate and indigent barbarians had deprecated the conqueror’s mercy, Valentinian treated them with contempt, and upbraided them with every mark of resentment. While he spoke with such warmth, he broke a blood-vessel, and fell lifeless on the ground. He was conveyed into his palace by his attendants, and soon after died, after suffering the greatest agonies, from violent fits and contortions of his limbs, on the 17th of November, A.D. 375. He was then in the 55th year of his age, and had reigned 12 years. He has been represented by some as cruel and covetous in the highest degree. He was naturally of an irascible disposition, and he gratified his pride in expressing a contempt for those who were his equals in military abilities, or who shone for gracefulness or elegance of address. Ammianus.
Valentinianus II., second son of Valentinian I., was proclaimed emperor about six days after his father’s death, though only five years old. He succeeded his brother, Gratian, A.D. 383, but his youth seemed to favour dissension, and the attempts and the usurpations of rebels. He was robbed of his throne by Maximus, four years after the death of Gratian; and in this helpless situation he had recourse to Theodosius, who was then emperor of the east. He was successful in his applications; Maximus was conquered by Theodosius, and Valentinian entered Rome in triumph, accompanied by his benefactor. He was some time after strangled by one of his officers, a native of Gaul, called Arbogastes, in whom he had placed too much confidence, and from whom he expected more deference than the ambition of a barbarian could pay. Valentinian reigned nine years. This happened the 15th of May, A.D. 392, at Vienne, one of the modern towns of France. He has been commended for his many virtues, and the applause which the populace bestowed upon him was bestowed upon real merit. He abolished the greatest part of the taxes; and because his subjects complained that he was too fond of the amusements of the circus, he ordered all such festivals to be abolished, and all the wild beasts that were kept for the entertainment of the people to be slain. He was remarkable for his benevolence and clemency, not only to his friends, but even to such as had conspired against his life; and he used to say that tyrants alone are suspicious. He was fond of imitating the virtues and exemplary life of his friend and patron Theodosius, and if he had lived longer, the Romans might have enjoyed peace and security.
Valentinianus III., was son of Constantius and Placidia the daughter of Theodosius the Great, and therefore, as related to the imperial family, he was saluted emperor in his youth, and publicly acknowledged as such at Rome, the 3rd of October, A.D. 423, about the sixth year of his age. He was at first governed by his mother, and the intrigues of his generals and courtiers; and when he came to years of discretion, he disgraced himself by violence, oppression, and incontinence. He was murdered in the midst of Rome, A.D. 454, in the 36th year of his age, and 31st of his reign, by Petronius Maximus, to whose wife he had offered violence. The vices of Valentinian III. were conspicuous; every passion he wished to gratify at the expense of his honour, his health, and character; and as he lived without one single act of benevolence or kindness, he died lamented by none, though pitied for his imprudence and vicious propensities. He was the last of the family of Theodosius.
Valentinianus, a son of the emperor Gratian, who died when very young.
Valeria, a sister of Publicola, who advised the Roman matrons to go and deprecate the resentment of Coriolanus. Plutarch, Coriolanus.——A daughter of Publicola, given as a hostage to Porsenna by the Romans. She fled from the enemy’s country with Clœlia, and swam across the Tiber. Plutarch, de Mulierum Virtutibus.——A daughter of Messala, sister to Hortensius, who married Sylla.——The wife of the emperor Valentinian.——The wife of the emperor Galerius, &c.——A road in Sicily, which led from Messana to Lilybæum.——A town of Spain. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 3.
Valeria lex, de provocatione, by Publius Valerius Poplicola the sole consul, A.U.C. 245. It permitted the appeal from a magistrate to the people, and forbade the magistrate to punish a citizen for making the appeal. It further made it a capital crime for a citizen to aspire to the sovereignty of Rome, or to exercise any office without the choice and approbation of the people. Valerius Maximus, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Livy, bk. 2, ch. 8.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 4.——Another, de debitoribus, by Valerius Flaccus. It required that all creditors should discharge their debtors, on receiving a fourth part of the whole sum.——Another, by Marcus Valerius Corvinus, A.U.C. 453, which confirmed the first Valerian law, enacted by Poplicola.——Another, called also Horatia, by Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius the consuls, A.U.C. 305. It revived the first Valerian law, which, under the triumvirate, had lost its force.——Another, de magistratibus, by Publius Valerius Poplicola sole consul, A.U.C. 245. It created two questors to take care of the public treasure, which was for the future to be kept in the temple of Saturn. Plutarch, Publicola.—Livy, bk. 2.
Valeriānus Publius Licinius, a Roman, proclaimed emperor by the armies in Rhætia, A.D. 254. The virtues which shone in him when a private man, were lost when he ascended the throne. Formerly distinguished for his temperance, moderation, and many virtues, which fixed the uninfluenced choice of all Rome upon him, Valerian, invested with the purple, displayed inability and meanness. He was cowardly in his operations, and though acquainted with war, and the patron of science, he seldom acted with prudence, or favoured men of true genius and merit. He took his son Gallienus as his colleague in the empire, and showed the malevolence of his heart by persecuting the christians whom he had for a while tolerated. He also made war against the Goths and Scythians; but in an expedition which he undertook against Sapor king of Persia, his arms were attended with ill success. He was conquered in Mesopotamia, and when he wished to have a private conference with Sapor, the conqueror seized his person, and carried him in triumph to his capital, where he exposed him, and in all the cities of his empire, to the ridicule and insolence of his subjects. When the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, Valerian served as a footstool, and the many other insults which he suffered excited indignation even among the courtiers of Sapor. The monarch at last ordered him to be flayed alive, and salt to be thrown over his mangled body, so that he died in the greatest torments. His skin was tanned, and painted in red; and that the ignominy of the Roman empire might be lasting, it was nailed in one of the temples of Persia. Valerian died in the 71st year of his age, A.D. 260, after a reign of seven years.——A grandson of Valerian the emperor. He was put to death when his father, the emperor Gallienus, was killed.——One of the generals of the usurper Niger.——A worthy senator, put to death by Heliogabalus.