Book 26
2.5
Since Valentinian more than all others feared lest this should happen, quickly raising his hand, with the authority of an emperor who was full of confidence, he had the courage to upbraid some of them as rebellious and intractable. Then, without further interruption, he delivered the speech which he had prepared:—
2.6
I rejoice, brave defenders of our provinces, and I maintain and always shall maintain that it is your services that have bestowed on me, rather than another, the rule of the Roman world, which I neither hoped for nor desired.
2.7
The task, then, which was placed in your hands before the ruler of the empire was chosen you carried out expediently and gloriously, by raising to the pinnacle of honours one whom from his earliest youth until the present prime of life you know by experience to have lived with distinction and uprightness. Therefore, I beg of you, listen with friendly ears while I tell you in simple words what I think is best for the common welfare.
2.8
That to meet all chances necessity demands the choice of a colleague with equal powers, at the demands of much varied reasoning I neither doubt nor dispute, since I myself also, as a man, fear masses of cares and varied changes of circumstances. But with all our strength we must strive for harmony, through which even the weakest states grow strong; and this will easily be attained, if your calmness combined with fairness willingly allows me what belongs to my position.
