V A L 



lUgma capitate. Perici. Capfule pulpy, roundifli, burlling 

 into three or four revolute valves, juicy within, of one cell. 

 Seeds four, oblong. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx coloured, in five deep fpreading feg- 

 ments. Corolla none. Capfule fuperior, pulpy, of one cell, 

 and four feeds. 



I. V. tlicifoUa. Holly -leaved Valentinia. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 689. Willd. n. I. ( Malpighia aquifolii amplioribus 

 foliis ; Plum. Ic. 160. t. 167. f. 2. Ilex folio agrifolii 

 americana ; Pluk. Phyt. t. 196. f. 3.) — Native of the moft 

 barren ftony parts of Hifpaniola, towards the ocean ; alfo 

 of Cuba, about the Havannah, flowering in January. A 

 Jhntb, two or three feet high, branched, of a rigid habit, 

 without thorns ; the branches fmooth. Leaves alternate, 

 oblong, rigid, ftalked, with axillary buds ; their length three 

 or four inches ; their breadth more than one ; their margins 

 undulated, and befet with broad fpinous teeth, like our com- 

 mon Holly ; both furfaces fmooth and veiny. Floiuers at 

 the ends of the branches, ftalked, fomewhat umbellate, fear- 

 let. Calyx permanent. Fruit in an early ftate fnow-white, 

 afterwards fcarlet. Seeds three or four, fmooth, imbedded 

 in yellow pulp. — Bumiann, with more than his ufual faga- 

 city, fufpefted this plant was not really a Malpighia, 

 bccaufe of its alternate leaves. Dr. Swartz thinks it belongs 

 to the fame natural order as Ilex, but the want of a corolla, 

 and the ftrufture of the/ru/V, caufe fome difficulties. 



VALENTINIAN I., in Biography, a Roman emperor, 

 dcfcended from an obfeure family of Cibalis, in Pannonia, and 

 born A.D. 321. Dedicated to the profeffion of arms, he 

 diftinguifhed himfelf by attention to military difcipline, and 

 in the reign of Conftantine commanded a body of cavalry in 

 Gaul. Under Julian he was tribune of one of the bands of 

 imperial guards, and difplayed his zeal for the Chrillian re- 

 ligion. On the acceffion of .Jovian, he ferved in Gaul ; and re- 

 turning to the Eaft, he was at Ancyra at the time of Jovian's 

 death : and here he was raifed to the purple by general ap- 

 plaufc in 364, in the 43d year of his age. On his arrival at 

 Conftantinople, he declared his brother Valcns his partner in 

 the empire. On the divifion of the empire (fee Valeks), 

 he referved to himfelf the weftern portion, confifting of Illy- 

 ricum, Italy, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Africa. After this 

 event he relided at Milan. Soon after, his reign was dif- 

 turbed by an irruption of the Alemanni into Gaul. In 

 ^68 he eroded the Rhine with a powerful army, and having 

 forced the camp of the Alemanni, he returned to Treves, 

 and fortified the banks of that river, fo that Gaul was fe- 

 cured from any hoftile attacks during the remainder of his 

 reign. The fpirit of his government was that of vigorous 

 difcipline ; and till he was corrupted by power, he paid a 

 regard to juftice and the public good ; enafting many falu- 

 tary laws in favour of the poor and difeafcd, providing for 

 the inftruftion of youth, and exercifing toleration in matters 

 of religion. Accordingly he allowed unmolefted hberty to 

 Jews and Pagans, whilll he profcribed magical rites, and 

 punilhed thofe who praftifed them. He alfo reftrained the 

 avarice and luxury of the clergy, and declared donations, that 

 were injurious to families, illegal ; and proceeded fo far as to 

 incapacitate all perfons of the ecclefiaftical order from re- 

 ceiving any teftamentary bequeft, except fuch as came to 

 them by inheritance. 



Valentinian wasrafhand violent in his temper, and liable 

 to be impofed upon by his minifters and officers. Among 

 the other events of his reign, we may mention an invafion 

 of the Alemanni by the Burgundians, at his folicitation ; 

 the predatory mcurfions of the Saxons on the maritime pro- 

 vinces of Gaul ; and the recovery of the Roman province in 

 Britain from the invafion of the Pi<5is and Scots. Being en- 



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camped near Bafil, in 374, he received intelligence that the 

 Quadi had entered Pannonia, and that the Sarmatians had in- 

 vaded Mcefia ; he advanced to the Danube, and crofling that 

 river, laid wafte the country of the Quadi with fire and 

 fword. When the Quadi fued for peace, he menaced and re- 

 proached them with fuch an excefs of paffion, that he broke 

 a blood-veffel, and fell Ipeechlefs into the arms of his attend- 

 ants. This difafter was foon followed by his death, which 

 happened in 375, in the twelfth year of his reign, when he 

 attained the age of about fifty-four years. The hiftorian 

 Socrates afRrms that he had two wives at a time, iffuing an 

 edia that extended the fame privilege to all his fubjefts. 

 But this circumftance has been doubted, as no lefs inconfift- 

 ent with the religion and manners of the period in which he 

 lived, than with his own difpofition and charafter, for he does 

 not feem to have been addided to licentious pleafures. Ha- 

 bituating himfelf to fcenes of torture and death, he at length 

 took delight in them ; and he is faid to have kept two enor- 

 mousbearsnear his perfon, which he employed as executioners, 

 for his private amufement. Upon the whole, however, his 

 government was beneficial ; and wliilft he defended the empire 

 with vigour, he promoted its reputation and profperity by 

 good laws and ufeful inftitutions. Anc. Un. Hift. Gib- 

 bon's Rom. Emp. Gen. Biog. 



Valentinian II., a Roman emperor, was thefonof the 

 former by the emprefs Juftina, and born in 371. On the 

 death of his father, when his half-brother Gratian, his partner 

 in the empire, was at a diftance, he was declared emperor by 

 the principal minifters and officers of his deceafed parent, 

 and Gratian acquicfced in the appointment. His portion of 

 the empire comprehended Italy, Illyricum, and Africa. As 

 his mother was attached to the Arian fed, flie was involved 

 in a conteft with Ambrofe, archbiftiop of Milan, and thus 

 the people became difaffefted to her fon ; fo that upon the 

 death of Gratian, the ufurper Maximus invaded Italy, and 

 obliged Juftina and Valentinian to take refuge in Aquileia. 

 Hence they proceeded to Theftalonica, and implored the 

 affiftance and protection of Theodofius, emperor of the 

 Eaft. Theodofius having prevailed with Valentinian to re- 

 nounce the Arian doftrine, promifed to fupport his caufe, and 

 the confequences of his interpofition were the defeat and 

 death of Maximus, in the year 388. Upon this the young 

 emperor was reftored to his dominions ; and difplayed thofe 

 virtues which ferved to gain for him the eulogy of Ambrofe 

 and other ecclefiaftical writers. Such was his religious zeal, 

 that he refufed to grant to his pagan fubjecls a reftoration of 

 their privileges to the heathen priefts and temples. Whilft 

 Valentinian was at Vienne, in Gaul, the barbarians on the 

 frontiers of Italy threatened an invafion ; but the emperor, 

 before he expofed himfelf to the hazards of war, determined 

 to be baptized, and fent for Ambrofe to adminifter the rite. 

 He alfo wifhed to engage the prelate's mediation with Arbo- 

 gaftes, the Frank, who had affumed an almoft uncontrouled 

 power over the government. He alfo fought the afliltence 

 of Theodofius. In the mean while he received Arbogaftes, 

 whilft he was feated on his throne, and delivered to him a 

 paper, exprelfing his difmiflion from all his employments. 

 The Frank told him that his authority did not depend upon 

 the will of a monarch, and threw the paper contemptuoufly 

 on the ground. Valentinian was enraged, and attempted 

 to avenge himfelf by wrefting a fword from one of his 

 guards : but his violence was reftrained. However, a few 

 days after he was found ftrangled in his apartments. May, 

 A.D. 392, being then in his twenty-firft year, and having 

 nominally reigned 16^ years. Anc. Un. Hift. Gibbon's 

 Rom. Emp. Gen. Biog. 

 Valentinian III., a Roman emperor, the fon of Pla- 



ci'3't. 



