Emperor Valentinian can be brutal, choleric, and…

Emperor Valentinian can be brutal, choleric, and authoritarian, but he serves the state with dedication and his foreign policy is excellent.

All the while he has been fighting barbarians (the Alemanni in Gaul, the Sarmatians and Quadi in Pannonia) and putting down revolts in Britain and Africa (notably that of the Berber Firmus) with the aid of his top general, Theodosius, he has taken care to improve the army's equipment and to protect Gaul by creating a brilliant fortification.

His domestic measures favor the curiales and the lower classes: from now on, taxes will be collected exclusively by officials; the protection of the poor is entrusted to “defenders of the plebs,” chosen from among retired high officials (honorati).

Nevertheless, needs of state oblige him to accentuate social immobility, to reinforce corporation discipline and official hierarchization, and to ruthlessly demand taxes.