East and West

In January 420 Fl. Constantius had entered office as consul for the third time. His second consulship, in 417, had been distinguished by his marriage to Galla Placidia; and now, close upon the completion of his third, came his elevation, on 8 February 421, to the rank of Augustus. At the same moment, his wife received the title Augusta, and their little son, Valentinian, became at under two years of age, ‘nobilissimus’. For the moment, the political and dynastic situation in the west seemed full of promise. During the past ten years Constantius had achieved much for the western empire, by policies reminiscent above all of those of Stilicho—that is, by a measured, realistic combination of military force and diplomacy. A dynasty based upon Constantius as the active member in an alliance (doubly, through Placidia as his wife and Honorius as his colleague) with the house of Theodosius, had much to offer.

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