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244 VALENS naturelle des poissont, commenced with Cuvier (11 vols., Paris, 1829-'49), and Histoire natu- relle des mollusques, des annelides et des zoo- phytes (1833). VALENS. Flavins, a Roman emperor of the East, born about A. D. 328, killed at Adrian- ople, Aug. 9, 378. In March, 364, his brother Valentinian I. made him emperor of the East. In the following year Procopius was proclaimed emperor by the people of Constantinople, and met and defeated Valens at Ohalcedon ; but in 366, after two successful battles, Valens cap- tured Procopius and slew him. After reducing the taxes one fourth, and being; baptized, in 367 he began a war with the Goths who had assisted Procopius, and at first was successful, compelling Athanaric to sue for peace. Re- turning in triumph, he began a desultory war against the Persians, chiefly in defence of Ar- menia. In the mean time the Goths, retiring before the Huns, had been permitted to settle in Moesia ; but they soon became discontented, ravaged Thrace and Macedonia, and defeated the Romans in several battles. The last of these, at Adrianople, in which Valens perished, was one of the severest reverses the Romans ever experienced. VALENTIN, Gabriel Gustav, a German physi- ologist, of Jewish parentage, born in Breslau, July 8, 1810. He took his degree in medicine at Breslau in 1832, and in 1836 became pro- fessor of physiology at Bern. His works in- clude Lehrbuch der Physiologic des Menschen (2 vols., Brunswick, 1845 ; 2d ed., 1847-'50); Grundriss der Physiologic des Menschen (1846; 4th enlarged ed., 1855) ; and Versuch einer physiologuchen Pathologic des Blutes und der ubrigen Korpersafte (Leipsic, 1866). VALENTINE, Saint, according to some eccle- siastical writers a bishop, according to others a presbyter, who was beheaded at Rome in the reign of the emperor Claudius (270), and was early canonized. Wheatley says that St. Valentine " was a man of most admirable parts, and so famous for his love and charity, that the custom of choosing Valentines upon his festival (which is still practised) took its rise from thence." Others derived the custom from birds being supposed to select their mates on this day ; others from a practice prevalent in ancient Rome at the festival of the Luper- calia, during the month of February, when, among other ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were taken by young men, as chance directed. The pastors of the early church, finding it impossible to extirpate this pagan ceremony, changed its form. It was the custom on the eve of Feb. 14, St. Valentine's day, to have the names of a select number of one sex put into some vessel by an equal number of the other ; and thereupon every one drew a name, which for the time being was called his or her Valen- tine. The custom of choosing Valentines ex- isted very early. Presents of gloves, garters, and jewelry were common as valentines. VALENTINIAN VALENTINIAN (VALENTINIANTTS), the name of three Roman emperors. I. Flavins, born at Cibalffl, Pannonia, in A. D. 321, died at Bre- getio, in the same province, Nov. 17, 375. He was the son of Count Gratian, and on the ac- cession of Jovian in 363 he was made captain of the second company of the guards. On the death of Jovian at Dadastana in February, 364, the throne was offered by the army leaders to Valentinian, who was then at Ancyra. He as- sumed the purple on the plains of Nicoea, Feb. 26, and after reaching Constantinople made his brother Valens associate emperor with the control of the eastern provinces. Valentinian then went to Italy, and for some years was engaged in protecting the frontiers of the em- pire. He first fixed bis headquarters at Lute- tia (now Paris), and during 366 the Aleaian- ni were defeated by his general Jovinus, the master of the horse. The following winter was spent at Durocortorum (Rheims), in build- ing forts and taking other means of defence against the incursions of the Germans. In 367 the Alemanni surprised and plundered Moguntiacum (Mentz) ; but the emperor drove them back into their own country, defeating them at a place called Solicinum. In 370 the Saxons, who had made an incursion into Ro- man territory, were destroyed fey an ambus- cade. In 374 Valentinian prepared for a cam- paign against the Quadi, but died at Bregen- tio, near the modern town of Comorn, as he was on the point of setting out. He was one of the ablest of the Roman emperors, but his character was disfigured by passion and cruelty. He was succeeded by his son Gratian. II. Fla- vins, son of the preceding, born about 371, strangled May 15, 892. Immediately on the death of his father, he was raised by the army to the imperial dignity, being but four or five years old; and although his brother Gratian consented to this arrangement, and made a partition of the western empire, assigning to Valentinian Italy, Illyricum, and Africa, Gra- tian really exercised the supreme authority over all the territory until his murder in 883. Then Theodosius took charge of Valentinian, and upheld his rights in 387 and 888 against the usurper Maximus. In 392 he endeavored to rid himself of his general and chief adviser Arbogast by dismissal, and a few days later was found strangled in his apartment at Vi- enna in Gaul. III. Placidins, emperor of the West, born about 419, assassinated in 465. He was the son of Constantius and Galla Placi- dia, daughter of Theodosius I. On Oct. 23, 425, he received from his cousin Theodosius II. the purple and the title of Augustus. The first years of his reign, while his mother Placi- dia ruled for him, were marked by the disas- trous rivalry between the last two great Ro- man generals, Aetius and Boniface, and the consequent loss of Africa. In 437 Valentinian married at Constantinople Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosins. In the mean time the extreme provinces of the western empire were gradu-