Page:A general history for colleges and high schools (Myers, 1890).djvu/389

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VALENTINIAN AND VALENS.
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new faith; for the purity of its teachings, the universal and eternal character of its moral precepts, had given it a name to live. Equally in vain were his efforts to restore the worship of the old Grecian and Roman divinities. Polytheism was a transitional form of religious belief which the world had now outgrown: Great Pan was dead.

The disabilities under which Julian had placed the Christians were removed by his successor Jovian (A.D. 363–4), and the Christian worship was re-established.

GERMANS CROSSING THE RHINE. (Drawing by Alphonse de Neuville.)

Valentinian and Valens.—Upon the death of Jovian, Valentinian, the commander of the imperial guard, was elected emperor by a council of the generals of the army and the ministers of the court. He appointed his brother Valens as his associate in office, and assigned to him the Eastern provinces, while reserving for himself the Western. He set up his own court at Milan, while his brother established his residence at Constantinople.

The Movements of the Barbarians.—The reigns of Valentinian and Valens were signalized by threatening movements of