Res Gestae

His father, the elder Gratianus, was born at Cibalae, a town of Pannonia, of a humble family, and from his early boyhood was surnamed Funarius,[*](Cf. Pseud.-Aurel. Vict., Epit., 45, 2.) because when he was not yet grown up and was carrying round a rope for sale, and five soldiers tried with all their might to tear it from him, he gave way not an inch; he thus rivalled Milo of Croton, from whom no possible exercise of strength could ever take an apple, when he held it tightly in his left or his right hand, as he often did.

Hence, because of his mighty strength of body and his skill in wrestling in the soldiers’ fashion[*](On this see Capit., Max. Duo, 6, 5 ff.) he became widely known, and after holding the position of one of the bodyguard and of a tribune, he commanded the army in Africa with the title of count. There he incurred the suspicion of theft, but he departed long afterwards and commanded the army in Britain with the same rank; and at last, after being honourably discharged, he returned to his home. While he was living there far from the noise and bustle, his property was confiscated by Constantius, on the ground that when civil discord was raging he was said to have shown hospitality to Magnentius when the usurper

Because of his father’s services Valentinian was favoured from early youth, and being commended also by the addition of his own merits, he was clad in the insignia of imperial majesty at Nicaea. He took as his imperial colleague his brother Valens, to whom he was greatly attached both by the tie of fraternity and by sympathy, a man with an equal amount of excellent and bad qualities, as we shall point out in the proper place.

Valentinian, then, after suffering many annoyances and dangers while he was a private citizen,[*](I.e., not yet emperor (cf. Lucan, v. 666, of Julius Caesar, quoted on p. 520, n. 1).) had no sooner begun to reign than he went to Gaul, to fortify the strongholds and cities lying near the rivers; for these were exposed to the raids of the Alamanni, who were raising their heads higher after learning of the death of the emperor Julian, who was absolutely the only one whom they feared after the death of Constans.

But Valentinian also was rightly dreaded by them, both because he increased the armies with a strong reinforcement and because he so fortified both banks of the Rhine with lofty castles and strongholds, that nowhere should an enemy be able to hurl himself at our territories unobserved.[*](xxviii. 2, 1.)

And to pass over many things which he did with the authority of an established ruler, and the reforms that he effected either personally or through energetic generals, after admitting his son Gratianus to a share in his power, he secretly, since he could not do so openly, caused Vithicabius, king of the Alamanni,[*](Cf. xxvii. 10, 3.) son of Vadomarius, a young man in the first bloom of manhood, to be stabbed, because he