With the West divided, it was imperative that Eastern Rome become the pillar upon which the Roman Empire could lean while it recovered its strength. That’s what made the disastrous defeat suffered by Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople so devastating. The folly of Julius Valens was so wide in scope and crippling in effect that it staggered the Roman mind. No matter where the story was told, the Roman people struggled to comprehend such wholesale defeat. The Emperor was dead, the eastern armies were decimated, and the victorious barbarian horde roamed unchecked across the Balkans. It seemed the only solution to such a dangerous problem was to empower a dangerous man. Enter the Spaniard Theodosius, an exiled former genal with an undeniable skill for turning back barbarian incursions.