Follis - Honorius VIRTVS EXERCITI, Antioch

Honorius became Western emperor at ten years old upon Theodosius I's death in 395, leaving the actual business of military administration to the generalissimo Stilicho. The VIRTVS EXERCITI type — "the valor of the army" — was issued from the Antioch mint precisely during the years when that valor was most in question: Gothic federates were fracturing along loyalty lines, and Alaric's forces were already moving through the Balkans.

Antioch's mint operated under the Eastern court of Arcadius, making this a western emperor's coin struck on eastern soil — a jurisdictional oddity that reflects the still-unsettled division of 395.