Valens, in Roman mythology, according to Cicero, was the name of the second Mercury. Some declared him to be the father of Trophonius.
Valens, the Roman emperor, the brother and co- Augustus of Valentinian I, is important to Church his- tory as the last political representative of Arianism in the East. He was nominated to the throne by Valen- tinian, March 28, 3G4, and assigned to the rule of the East. His tirst efforts were directed towards the secur- ing of his rule against the pretensions of Procopins, whom the late emperor Julian had selected to become his successor. It is not certain that other than politi- cal motives were at work in this campaign, though Milman, basing his remark on a fragment by Eimapius, says, in Gibbon, Decline and Fall, iii, 25, " It may be suspected that the heathen and philosophic party es- poused the cause of Procopius" (but comp. Ammian. Marcell. xxvi, 6-9). The next campaign of Valens was directed, against the Goths, who had operated along the Danube in behalf of Procopius; but before entering on that undertaking, the emperor sought to conciliate the favor of Heaven by receiving Christian baptism ; and as the rite was performed by Eudoxius, the Arian bishop of Constantinople, the event became decisive of the future course of the administration of Valens bv identifying him with the Arian party and bringing him into direct conflict with the Catholic and semi- Arian sections of the Church and empire. The (iothic war was successfully completed, and was followed by a systematic persecution of the orthodox and semi-ortiio- dox party throughout the East, A special edict was
i.ssued against monks, and military bands were sent to traverse the wilderness in which they dwelt to compel them to enter the service of the State and contribute to its support. Orthodo.x bishops everywhere were exiled, and historians speak of many who were drowned or otherwise put to death. The persecution was most se- vere where the emperor was himself present; and as the operations of the Persian king compelled his pres- ence at Antioch, that province became the scene of the most thorough and extensive persecution. The most horrible incident of the persecution was the destruction of eighty presbyters who had been deputed to protest against the instalment of the Arian Demophilus as the bishop of Constantinople, instead of Evagrius, the choice of the Catholics, and whom the pnefect Methodius em- barked in a vessel which he caused to be burned on the high seas. Curiously enough, the persecution resulted in the placing of Christian orthodoxy and heathen superstition under the same category of enemies to the emperor. The heathens had api)ealed to an oracle to obtain the name of the next emperor, when Valens dis- covered their acti(ui, and at once proceeded to enforce against them the edicts of the empire. His ragings were, however, brought to a close by I lie progress of events on the northern boundary of his State, where the migrating nations involved him in a war which became fatal to liimself and the coiniirv. His army suffered an unexampled defeat near Adrianofile (.\ug. 9, 379), and he was slain. During his reign of lil'teen years he had done all he could to intensify the hatred of religious parties within the empire, and he now achieved the uii-
Coin of Va'eus.
enviable distinction of being the first to show to foreign invaders the way into the heart of his coinitrv. The political history of his reign is, upon the whole, given with great thoroughness and fidelity by Ammian. iMar- cellinus and Zosimus, while the ecclesiastical may be gathered from the writings of Basil the (ireat and the two Gregories, Nyssa and Nazianzen. See also Tille- mont, Hisf. des Fmpereurs, v, 33-39; Gibbon, ut sup.; Schlosser, Unirersalhistor. Uebersicht, etc., iii, 2, 370; the ancient histories of the Church, Socrates, Sozomen, etc. ; Smith, Diet, of Or. and Rom. Biog. s. v. ; and Her- zog, Real-Fncyklop. s. v.
Valentia, in Roman mythology, was a goddess of health, similar to Hygeia, venerated b}- the city Ocricu- lum, in Umbria, as a protecting goddess.
Valentia, Gregorio dp:, a Spanish .lesuit, was born in 1551 at Medina del Campo, in Old Castile, and died at Rome, April 25, 1G03. He is the author of De Rebus Fidei hoc Tempore Controt:ersiis (Leyden, 1591; Paris, 1610, M.):—De Trinitate Libri V (In'golstadt, 1586) :— De Transsubstant. Panis et Vini in Corpus et Sanepiineni Christi (ibid. 1587) : — Dispiit. de Legitiino Usu Eiicha- ristice in Altera tantum Specie (ibid. eod.). See Winer, flandb. der theol. Literatur, i, 341, 419, 455, 456, 853. (B. P.)
Valentin, Pierre, a French painter, was born at Coulommiers-en-Brie, near Paris, in 1600. He studied painting, and went to Rome at an early age, where he re- mained during the rest of his life. He painted the Mar- li/rdnm of Sis. Processo and Martiniann (thought to be his best performance): — Decollation of St. John : — St, Peter Denying Christ: — Judith, icith the Head of llolo- fernes :^The Judgment of Solomon : — and many others. He was an artist of great promise, but died in the flower of his life, in 1632. See Spooner, Biog. JJist. of the Fine Arts, s. V.
VALEXTIXE
698
YALENTINUS
Valentine, St.. a Roman bishop (or presbyter), uas beheaded in the reii^ii of the emjieror Claudius, A.I). "270, and was early canonized. lie is said to have been a man of admirable qualities, and noted for his love and charity. Feb. 14 is celebrated in his Iionor. The custom of .choosing V.ilentiiies on that day is accounted for in various ways. J5y some it is said to have arisen from the fact that birds select their mates at that season; by others, from a practice prevalriit at the ancient Homan festival of the Luper- calia, during the month of February, of placing the names of young women in a box, from which they were drawn by young men as chance directed. A similar custom was followed throughout Europe on the eve of Feb. 14 until recently, the person chosen becoming Val- entine to the one choosing for a year. See Chambers, Book of Days, i, 255. See Valentinus, St.