Imperial Brothers

When Valentinian I was proclaimed emperor in 364, he appointed his brother Valens to govern the East. Hughes traces their careers in parallel: Valentinian’s campaigns along the Rhine and Danube, the recovery of Britain after the Barbarian Conspiracy and the suppression of revolt in Africa are set against Valens’s civil war with Procopius, Gothic conflicts and confrontation with Persia. The comparison reveals the different military and administrative pressures faced by the two halves of the empire.

After Valentinian’s death, Gothic refugees driven toward the Danube by the Huns were admitted into Roman territory and then exploited by imperial officials. Revolt followed, and Valens chose to fight before the western army arrived. The defeat and his death at Adrianople in 378 form the climax of the study, which assesses why the brothers acquired sharply different reputations and whether those judgements are justified by the evidence.