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Now Valentinian was chosen emperor in Bithynia (as we have said before). He gave the signal for the march for the next day but one, and assembling the chief civil and military officials, as if ready to follow safe and sound advice rather than his own inclination, inquired who ought to be chosen as partner in the rule. When all the rest were silent, Dagalaifus, at that time commander of the cavalry, boldly answered: “If you love your relatives, most excellent emperor, you have a brother; if it is the state that you love, seek out another man to clothe with the purple.”

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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