On 25 March 467, Leo I, with the consent of Ricimer, designated Anthemius Western Emperor as Caesar and sent him to Italy with an army led by the "Magister militum per Illyricum" Marcellinus. On 12 April, Anthemius was proclaimed Emperor at the third or twelfth mile from Rome. Anthemius' election was celebrated in Constantinople with a panegyric by Dioscorus. By choosing Anthemius, Leo obtained three results: he sent a possible candidate to the eastern throne far away; he repulsed Gaiseric's attempt to put a puppet of his own on the Western throne; and he put a capable and proven general with a trained army in Italy, ready to fight the Vandals. The reign of Anthemius was characterised by a good diplomatic relationship with the Eastern Empire; for example, Anthemius is the last Western Emperor to be recorded in an Eastern law. Both courts collaborated in the choice of the yearly consuls, as each court chose a consul and accepted the other's choice. Anthemius had the honour of holding the consulate "sine collega" (without a colleague) in 468, the first year he started as Emperor, following a similar honour given to Leo in 466. The following year the two consuls were Anthemius' son, Marcian, and Leo's son-in-law, Flavius Zeno (later successor of Leo on the Eastern throne). In 470 the consuls were Messius Phoebus Severus, Anthemius' old friend and fellow student at Proclus' school, and the "Magister militum per Orientem" Flavius Iordanes. In 471, the year in which Leo held his fourth consulate with the Praetorian prefect of Italy Caelius Aconius Probianus as colleague, the two emperors strengthened their bonds with a marriage between Anthemius' son, Marcian, and Leo's daughter, Leontia; Marcian was honoured with his second consulate the following year, this time chosen by the Eastern court. Anthemius' matrimonial policy also included the marriage of his only daughter, Alypia, and the powerful "Magister militum" Ricimer. The poet Sidonius Apollinaris arrived in Rome on the occasion of the wedding at the end of 467 and described the celebrations in which all social classes were involved; he also hints that Alypia might have not liked her husband, a barbarian. The Vandals were the major problem of the Western Empire.