The Chastity of Valentinian, John Gower, Confessio Amantis 5.6430ff

The Chastity of an Emperor: Valen/tinian

Name: John Gower Date: 1330 – 1408 CE Region:   [modern England] Citation:  Confession of a Lover 5.6395ff

Here the narrator discusses the Emperor Valentinian.[1] Although the eighty-year old emperor conquered numerous provinces for the Roman Empire, he said that of all his accomplishments, the one that he was the proudest of was the conquest of his own lust, for he remained a chaste virgin for all of the days of his life.

 

1] This passage more likely refers to the emperor Valens instead of Valentinian.

The Chastity of an Emperor: Valen/tinian

Hic loquitur qualiter Valentinianus Imperator, cum ipse octogenarius plures provincias Romano Imperio belliger subiugasset, dixit se super omnia magis gaudere de eo, quod contra suae carnis concupiscenciam victoriam obtinuisset; nam et ipse virgo omnibus diebus vitae suae castissimus permansit. 

John Gower [1330 – 1408 CE, modern England] was a 14th century English poet. He was a contemporary and peer of Geoffrey Chaucer; both authors use overlapping characters and themes. Although his Confession of a Lover [Confessio Amantis] was written in English, the Latin text of this story was taken from the summaries that the author wrote for each chapter in Latin.