The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · ¶379

When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the sceptre of the Roman empire to the hands of Valentinian, his reputation in arms, his military skill and experience, and his rigid attachment to the forms, as well as spirit, of ancient discipline, were the principal motives of their judicious choice.

Edward Gibbon · Project Gutenberg #732 (Milman edition) — public domain
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