Flavius Valens was a Roman emperor of the East from 364 to 378. He was born in 328 and died in 378. He was the younger brother of Valentinian I, who associated Flavius Valens with him in the government, assigning to him the Eastern provinces. His reign was marked by fighting with the Persians and with the Goths, the latter of whom, pressed by the Huns on the east, menaced the north-east frontier of the empire. Flavius Valens let them settle in Thrace, but at the disastrous battle of Adrianopie, on August the 9th, 378, the Roman arms were completely defeated, and Flavius Valens disappeared. During his reign the Arian controversy raged fiercely. The emperor himself was a supporter of the Arians and persecuted orthodox Christians. Research Flavius Valens
Flavius Gratianus Valentinianus, known as Valentinian I, was Roman emperor of the West, from 364 to 375. He was born in 321 at Cibalis in Pannonia and died in 375. He rose to high rank in the army, and on his election by the troops as emperor after the death of Jovian he associated his brother Flavius Valens with himself in the government of the empire. The rebellion of Procopius was crushed in 366. There was fighting against the Alamanni on the Rhinefrontier, which kept Valentinian I in Gaul for a great part of his reign. He was a ruler of considerable ability, and endeavoured to alleviate the condition of his subjects now grievously burdened by taxation. He was prone, however, to ungovernable fits of passion, in one of which he burst a blood-vessel and died. A Catholic Christian, he tolerated Arianism and all forms of religion. Research Valentinian I
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