He often had servants and attendants executed on trifling charges, and was reportedly accustomed to keep two bears, known as Mica Aurea (golden flake), and Innocence, in an iron cage which was transported wherever he went, whom he employed to execute the sentence, which he often delivered, of capital punishment. At length Innocence, when she was considered to have faithfully discharged her office, was released with the emperor's good wishes into her native wilds. Valentinian was a Christian but permitted liberal religious freedom to all his subjects, proscribing only some forms of rituals such as particular types of sacrifices, and banning the practice of magic. Again, Valentinian steadily set his face against the increasing wealth and worldliness of the clergy. He issued a pointed edict via Pope Damasus I, forbidding the grant of bequests to Christian clergy-men; and another forcing members of the sacerdotal order to discharge the public duties owed on account of their property, or else relinquish it. Socrates Scholasticus gives an interesting account in his Historia Ecclesiastica of Valentinian's marriages, that has inspired some to call this emperor polygamous. According to the text: the empress Justina This story is known only from Socrates, and there is no trace of any edict by any emperor allowing polygamy. Valentinian I may have divorced Severa according to Roman Law, which allowed for divorce (see Women in ancient Rome). However, since divorce was not acknowledged by Christians, Socrates contemptuously describes him as a bigamist. It is also possible that Socrates attempted to accuse Justina, who was an Arian, of fornication, a common aspersion against other cults. According to John Malalas, the Chronicon Paschale, and John of Nikiu, the empress Severa was banished by Valentinian I for conducting an illegal transaction, before he consorted with Justina. Barnes believes this story to be an attempt to justify the divorce of Valentinian I without accusing the emperor. See also List of Roman emperors Illyrian emperors Notes References Sources Primary sources Ammianus Marcellinus. Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt. W. Seyfarth, ed. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1978. Consularia Constantinopolitana. T. Mommsen ed., Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi. Volume 9. Berlin, 1892. Codex Theodosianus. T. Mommsen, P.M. Meyer, and P. Krüger, eds. Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes (2 vols.). Berlin, 1905. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Vol. 6. T. Mommsen, ed. Berlin, 1875. Epitome de Caesaribus. F.R. Pichlmayr, ed. Leipzig, 1961. Jerome. Chronicon.