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AFTER Valens had crossed the Bosphorus and come into Thrace he
first spent a considerable time at Constantinople, in alarm as to the
issue of the war. He had sent Trajanus in command of troops against
the barbarians. When the general came back beaten, the emperor
reviled him sadly, and charged him with infirmity and cowardice.
Boldly, as became a brave man, Trajanus replied: "I have not been
beaten, sir, it is thou who hast abandoned the victory by fighting
against God and transferring His support to the barbarians. Attacked
by thee He is taking their side, for victory is on God's side and
comes to them whom God leads. Dost thou not know," he went on,
"whom thou hast expelled from their churches and to whose government
these churches have been delivered by thee?" Arintheus and
Victor,? generals like Trajanus, confirmed the truth of what he
said, and implored the emperor not to be angered by reproaches which
were founded upon fact.
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