He was the son of Valerius Maximus and first wife Septimia Bassa.
He was praefectus urbi Romae under the emperors Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius I, between 379 (the year of Thedosius's ascension) and 383 (the year of Gratian's death).
He possibly married Adelphia, as their son's nomina and cognomen suggest, daughter of Clodius Celsinus Adelphius and wife Faltonia Betitia Proba, and had a son named Valerius Adelphius Bassus (fl.
in 383 and in 392, in turn the father of Valerius Adelphius and the paternal grandfather of Adelphia, wife of Anicius Probus (fl.
424-459), praetor in 424 and vir illustris in 459, son of Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius and wife and cousin Anicia Juliana, the possible parents of emperor Anicius Olybrius.