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A Note Concerning the Early Career of Valentinian I A NOTE CONCERNING THE EARLY CAREER OF VALENTINIAN I In 357 the future emperor Valentinian I was dismissed from the army by the emperor Constantius II, and returned to his native land in disgrace. Unfortunately, this incident is only recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus1. His brief account omits many details which would otherwise be required for a full understanding of this incident, including the exact position held by Valentinian when he fell from grace2. It is my purpose here to re- examine the evidence as a whole in order to determine what Valentinian’s position most probably was at the time of his dismissal. Let us begin with a brief description of the circumstances surrounding this dismissal. Constantius had planned a twin-pronged attack against the Alamanni to take place during the campaign season of 357. One force commanded by Julian Caesar advanced to Rheims from interior Gaul, while the other force commanded by the magister peditum Bar- batio advanced to Augst from Italy. However, a barbarian host slipped between the two armies and made a surprise attack upon Lyons. Julian despatched three detachments of cavalry to wait in ambush upon three possible return routes. These ambushes were successful. Unfortunately, however, some barbarians did escape by routes which had been left to 1 Amm. XVI 11.1-7. The ecclesiastical historians give confused and contradictory accounts of a dismissal of Valentinian when Julian was the sole emperor. J. MATTHEWS, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court AD 364-425, Oxford 1975, p. 34, wisely advises, «the story told by the ecclesiastical historians of his dismissal and exile for cross- ing Julian on a religious matter can safely be ignored». An unsuccessful attempt is made to reconcile the testimony of the ecclesiastical historians with one another and the evi- dence of Ammianus in PLRE I, p. 933-934. However, a comparison of Sozomen, HE VI 6, and Theodoret, HE III 12, does suggest that Sozomen had some knowledge of the his- torical dismissal of Valentinian in Gaul. It would seem, in fact, that he tried to reconcile two separate traditions, an accurate historical account of Valentinian’s dismissal in Gaul and a second account which described his dismissal on religious grounds and located it at Antioch during the sole reign of Julian. See D. WOODS, Valens, Valentinian I, and the Ioviani Cornuti, in Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History VIII, ed. C. DEROUX, Brussels (forthcoming), where I argue that this second account related rather to the dis- missal by Julian at Antioch of the future emperor Valens during the New Year festival of 363. 2 As P. DE JONGE, Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XVI, Groningen 1972, p. 151-152, cautiously states: «Which rank Valent. had here is not clear from the text. Probably also tribunus with the mounted troops». Most commentators are careful not to commit themselves on this issue. 274 D. WOODS Barbatio to guard. In particular, two tribunes were held responsible for the escape of the raiders, Bainobaudes and the future emperor Valentin- ian. The tribunus scutariorum Cella who was Barbatio’s colleague had forbidden them to guard the road over which they had been informed the raiders would return. In a report to Constantius Barbatio claimed that the tribunes had used the pretext of public business to disturb the soldiers under his command. Thus, they were dishonorably discharged from the army, and returned to their homes. Although we are informed of the rank of Valentinian, tribune, we do not learn the title of the unit to which he belonged, if any. However, the first clue to the identification of his unit is provided by the identity of that which his companion Bainobaudes commanded. He seems to be identifiable with the Bainobaudes who as tribunus scutariorum, that is commander of a schola palatina, was sent by Constantius to Constan- tinople in 354 to keep an eye on Gallus Caesar3. There were certainly two units of scutarii among the scholae palatinae by 363 at latest when Ammianus specifically refers to a schola scutariorum secunda4. How- ever, Ammianus’ references to the visits in close succession by Scudilo 3 Amm. XIV 11.14; PLRE I, p. 145. The best account of the origin and history of the scholae palatinae remains that by D. HOFFMANN, Das spätrömische Bewegungsheer und die Notitia Dignitatum I, Düsseldorf 1969, p. 279-308. The survival of the Notitia Digni- tatum (ND) reveals that seven scholae palatinae served under the command of the east- ern magister officiorum (ND Or. XI 4-10), and five under the command of the western magister officiorum (ND Oc. IX 4- 8), by the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries respectively. An examination of this document suggests that a number of original scholae palatinae had each been divided to produce two homonymous or similarly entitled units where only one had existed previously. This division, however achieved, has usually been identified with the division of the army by the emperors Valentinian and Valens in 364. See, for example, R. TOMLIN, Seniores–Iuniores in the Late Roman Army, AJPh 93 (1972), p. 253-278. A single original schola scutariorum prima gave rise to two homonymous units of the exact same title, one in the East (Or. XI 4), and one in the West (Oc. IX 4), as seems to have been the case also with the schola scutario- rum secunda (Or. XI 5; Oc. IX 5). However, in the case of the original schola gentilium and the schola armaturarum, these units seem to have been divided to form pairs of units dis- tinguished by the titles seniores and iuniores. The existence of the schola scutariorum cliba- nariorum (Or. XI 8) before 364, even though it does not seem to have been divided in the manner of the other scholae, seems proven by CTh. XIV 17.9-10. In brief, it is my con- tention that for the period with which we are here concerned there existed only five scholae palatinae: the schola scutariorum prima, the schola scutariorum secunda, the schola scu- tariorum clibanariorum, the schola armaturarum, and the schola gentilium. 4 During the winter of 362/63 Romanus and Vincentius, the tribunes of the scholae scutariorum prima and secunda respectively, were both exiled by Julian: Amm. XXII 11.2. See R. TOMLIN, art. cit. (n. 3), p. 277, who also argues that there were only two scholae scutariorum until the accession of Valentinian and Valens in 364. A NOTE CONCERNING THE EARLY CAREER OF VALENTINIAN I 275 and Bainobaudes, each as tribunus scutariorum, to Gallus Caesar seem to suggest that the two scholae of scutarii were already in existence by 354 even5. Thus, the identification of Cella as tribunus scutariorum in 357 does not preclude the possibility that Bainobaudes was still tribunus scutariorum also in 357, but of a different schola scutariorum6. In so far as late Roman military units often operated in pairs of similar status, this immediately raises the possibility that Valentinian was tribune of a schola palatina also7. A number of pieces of evidence are supportive of such a hypothesis. Firstly, there is Valentinian’s military background to be taken into consideration. His father, Gratian, had held a number of senior military commands, including that of comes Africae, before his disgrace and the confiscation of his property c. 353 for the support which he was alleged to have shown the usurper Magnentius8. Aged 54 when he died in 375, Valentinian had probably been recruited into the army by about 20 years of age, that is to say c. 3419. Thus, he would have joined the army long before the final disgrace of his father. His acceptance, therefore, as a recruit to the scholae palatinae was highly likely given his background10. His case should be considered similar to that of Martin of Tours, for exam- ple, whose father was able to get him accepted as a recruit to the scholae palatinae because of his own status as a former tribune11. The circumstances of the reinstatement of Valentinian as a military officer also support the suggestion that he had risen through the ranks of 5 Amm. XIV 11.11; 11.14. On Scudilo, PLRE I, p. 810-811. 6 For an attempt to reconstruct the succession of tribunes to the two scholae scutario- rum based on the evidence of Ammianus, see D. WOODS, Ammianus Marcellinus and Some Tribuni Scholarum Palatinarum c. AD 354-364, CQ (forthcoming). 7 R. TOMLIN, art. cit. (n. 3), p. 276, draws attention to the fact that the gentiles and scutarii were regularly associated together by Ammianus. 8 Amm. XXX 7.2-3: PLRE I, p. 400. 9 Socrates, HE IV 31.6; Amm. XXX 6.6. The epigraphic evidence suggests that recruits were normally about 20 years of age when conscripted. See T. DREW-BEAR, A Fourth-Century Latin Soldier’s Epitaph at Nakolea, HSCP 81 (1977), p. 257-274, for example, on the career of Flavius Aemilianus, an almost exact contemporary of Valentin- ian, who had served 27 years by the time of his death at the age of 47 in 356. See also nos. 1, 8, 12, and 32, in the collection of late fourth-century inscriptions published by D. HOFFMANN, Die spätrömischen Soldatengrabschriften von Concordia, MH 20 (1963), p. 22-57, which also reveal that conscription took place at 20 years of age. 10 See R.I. FRANK, Scholae Palatinae: The Palace Guard of the Later Roman Empire, Rome 1969, p. 72-76, on the privileged treatment of veteran’s sons, particularly the sons of former officers. 11 The comparison is often made, as by J.
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