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AS OF FEBRUARY - 2002 - CONTRIBUTIONS ARE BEING SOLICITED FROM PEOPLE
AS OF FEBRUARY - 2002 - CONTRIBUTIONS ARE BEING SOLICITED FROM PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS IN David Reed
History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon Esq.
With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
Vol. 3
1782 (Written) 1845 (Revised)
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars Reign Of Theodosius.
Part I.
Death Of Gratian. -- Ruin Of Arianism. -- St. Ambrose. -- First Civil
War Against Maximus. -- Character Administration And Penance Of
Theodosius. -- Death Of Valentinian II. -- Second Civil War Against
Eugenius. -- Death Of Theodosius.
The fame of Gratian before he had accomplished the twentieth year of
his age was equal to that of the most celebrated princes. His gentle
and amiable disposition endeared him to his private friends the
graceful affability of his manners engaged the affection of the
people: the men of letters who enjoyed the liberality acknowledged
the taste and eloquence of their sovereign; his valor and dexterity
in arms were equally applauded by the soldiers; and the clergy
considered the humble piety of Gratian as the first and most useful of
his virtues. The victory of Colmar had delivered the West from a
formidable invasion; and the grateful provinces of the East ascribed
the merits of Theodosius to the author of his greatness and of the
public safety. Gratian survived those memorable events only four or
five years; but he survived his reputation; and before he fell a
victim to rebellion he had lost in a great measure the respect and
confidence of the Roman world.
The remarkable alteration of his character or conduct may not be
imputed to the arts of flattery which had besieged the son of
Valentinian from his infancy; nor to the headstrong passions which the
that gentle youth appears to have escaped. A more attentive view of
the life of Gratian may perhaps suggest the true cause of the
disappointment of the public hopes. His apparent virtues instead of
being the hardy productions of experience and adversity were the
premature and artificial fruits of a royal education. The anxious
tenderness of his father was continually employed to bestow on him
those advantages which he might perhaps esteem the more highly as he
himself had been deprived of them; and the most skilful masters of
every science and of every art had labored to form the mind and body
of the young prince. The knowledge which they painfully communicated
was displayed with ostentation and celebrated with lavish praise. His
soft and tractable disposition received the fair impression of their
judicious precepts and the absence of passion might easily be
mistaken for the strength of reason. His preceptors gradually rose to
the rank and consequence of ministers of state: and as they wisely
dissembled their secret authority he seemed to act with firmness
with propriety and with judgment on the most important occasions of
his life and reign. But the influence of this elaborate instruction
did not penetrate beyond the surface; and the skilful preceptors who
so accurately guided the steps of their royal pupil could not infuse
into his feeble and indolent character the vigorous and independent
principle of action which renders the laborious pursuit of glory
essentially necessary to the happiness and almost to the existence
of the hero. As soon as time and accident had removed those faithful
counsellors from the throne the emperor of the West insensibly
descended to the level of his natural genius; abandoned the reins of
government to the ambitious hands which were stretched forwards to
grasp them; and amused his leisure with the most frivolous
gratifications. A public sale of favor and injustice was instituted
both in the court and in the provinces by the worthless delegates of
his power whose merit it was made sacrilege
to question. The conscience of the credulous prince was directed by
saints and bishops; who procured an Imperial edict to punish as a
capital offence the violation the neglect or even the ignorance of
the divine law. Among the various arts which had exercised the youth
of Gratian he had applied himself with singular inclination and
success to manage the horse to draw the bow and to dart the
javelin; and these qualifications which might be useful to a soldier
were prostituted to the viler purposes of hunting. Large parks were
enclosed for the Imperial pleasures and plentifully stocked with
every species of wild beasts; and Gratian neglected the duties and
even the dignity of his rank to consume whole days in the vain
display of his dexterity and boldness in the chase. The pride and wish
of the Roman emperor to excel in an art in which he might be
surpassed by the meanest of his slaves reminded the numerous
spectators of the examples of Nero and Commodus but the chaste and
temperate Gratian was a stranger to their monstrous vices; and his
hands were stained only with the blood of animals. The behavior of
Gratian which degraded his character in the eyes of mankind could
not have disturbed the security of his reign if the army had not been
provoked to resent their peculiar injuries. As long as the young
emperor was guided by the instructions of his masters he professed
himself the friend and pupil of the soldiers; many of his hours were
spent in the familiar conversation of the camp; and the health the
comforts the rewards the honors of his faithful troops appeared to
be the objects of his attentive concern. But after Gratian more
freely indulged his prevailing taste for hunting and shooting he
naturally connected himself with the most dexterous ministers of his
favorite amusement. A body of the Alani was received into the military
and domestic service of the palace; and the admirable skill which
they were accustomed to display in the unbounded plains of Scythia
was exercised on a more narrow theatre in the parks and enclosures
of Gaul. Gratian admired the talents and customs of these favorite
guards to whom alone he intrusted the defence of his person; and as
if he meant to insult the public opinion he frequently showed himself
to the soldiers and people with the dress and arms the long bow the
sounding quiver and the fur garments of a Scythian warrior. The
unworthy spectacle of a Roman prince who had renounced the dress and
manners of his country filled the minds of the legions with grief and
indignation. Even the Germans so strong and formidable in the armies
of the empire affected to disdain the strange and horrid appearance
of the savages of the North who in the space of a few years had
wandered from the banks of the Volga to those of the Seine. A loud and
licentious murmur was echoed through the camps and garrisons of the
West; and as the mild indolence of Gratian neglected to extinguish the
first symptoms of discontent the want of love and respect was not
supplied by the influence of fear. But the subversion of an
established government is always a work of some real and of much
apparent difficulty; and the throne of Gratian was protected by the
sanctions of custom law religion and the nice balance of the civil
and military powers which had been established by the policy of
Constantine. It is not very important to inquire from what cause the
revolt of Britain was produced. Accident is commonly the parent of
disorder; the seeds of rebellion happened to fall on a soil which was
supposed to be more fruitful than any other in tyrants and usurpers;
the legions of that sequestered island had been long famous for a
spirit of presumption and arrogance; and the name of Maximus was
proclaimed by the tumultuary but unanimous voice both of the
soldiers and of the provincials. The emperor or the rebel -- for
this title was not yet ascertained by fortune -- was a native of
Spain the countryman the fellow-soldier and the rival of Theodosius
whose elevation he had not seen without some emotions of envy and
resentment: the events of his life had long since fixed him in
Britain; and I should not be unwilling to find some evidence for the
marriage which he is said to have contracted with the daughter of a
wealthy lord of Caernarvonshire. But this provincial rank might justly
be considered as a state of exile and obscurity; and if Maximus had
obtained any civil or military office he was not invested with the
authority either of governor or general. His abilities and even his
integrity are acknowledged by the partial writers of the age; and the
merit must indeed have been conspicuous that could extort such a
confession in favor of the vanquished enemy of Theodosius. The
discontent of Maximus might incline him to censure the conduct of his
sovereign and to encourage perhaps without any views of ambition
the murmurs of the troops. But in the midst of the tumult he
artfully or modestly refused to ascend the throne; and some credit
appears to have been given to his own positive declaration that he
was compelled to accept the dangerous present of the Imperial purple.
But there was danger likewise in refusing the empire; and from the
moment that Maximus had violated his allegiance to his lawful
sovereign he could not hope to reign or even to live if he confined
his moderate ambition within the narrow limits of Britain. He boldly
and wisely resolved to prevent the designs of Gratian; the youth of
the island crowded to his standard and he invaded Gaul with a fleet
and army which were long afterwards remembered as the emigration of
a considerable part of the British nation. The emperor in his
peaceful residence of Paris was alarmed by their hostile approach;
and the darts which he idly wasted on lions and bears might have been
employed more honorably against the rebels. But his feeble efforts
announced his degenerate spirit and desperate situation; and deprived
him of the resources which he still might have found in the support
of his subjects and allies. The armies of Gaul instead of opposing
the march of Maximus received him with joyful and loyal acclamations;
and the shame of the desertion was transferred from the people to the
prince. The troops whose station more immediately attached them to
the service of the palace abandoned the standard of Gratian the first
time that it was displayed in the neighborhood of Paris. The emperor
of the West fled towards Lyons with a train of only three hundred
horse; and in the cities along the road where he hoped to find
refuge or at least a passage he was taught by cruel experience
that every gate is shut against the unfortunate. Yet he might still
have reached in safety the dominions of his brother; and soon have
returned with the forces of Italy and the East; if he had not suffered
himself to be fatally deceived by the perfidious governor of the
Lyonnese province. Gratian was amused by protestations of doubtful
fidelity and the hopes of a support which could not be effectual;
till the arrival of Andragathius the general of the cavalry of
Maximus put an end to his suspense. That resolute officer executed
without remorse the orders or the intention of the usurper. Gratian
as he rose from supper was delivered into the hands of the assassin:
and his body was denied to the pious and pressing entreaties of his
brother Valentinian. The death of the emperor was followed by that of
his powerful general Mellobaudes the king of the Franks; who
maintained to the last moment of his life the ambiguous reputation
which is the just recompense of obscure and subtle policy. These
executions might be necessary to the public safety: but the successful
usurper whose power was acknowledged by all the provinces of the
West had the merit and the satisfaction of boasting that except
those who had perished by the chance of war his triumph was not
stained by the blood of the Romans.
The events of this revolution had passed in such rapid succession
that it would have been impossible for Theodosius to march to the
relief of his benefactor before he received the intelligence of his
defeat and death. During the season of sincere grief or ostentatious
mourning the Eastern emperor was interrupted by the arrival of the
principal chamberlain of Maximus; and the choice of a venerable old
man for an office which was usually exercised by eunuchs announced
to the court of Constantinople the gravity and temperance of the
British usurper. The ambassador condescended to justify or excuse
the conduct of his master; and to protest in specious language that
the murder of Gratian had been perpetrated without his knowledge or
consent by the precipitate zeal of the soldiers. But he proceeded in
a firm and equal tone to offer Theodosius the alternative of peace
or war. The speech of the ambassador concluded with a spirited
declaration that although Maximus as a Roman and as the father of
his people would choose rather to employ his forces in the common
defence of the republic he was armed and prepared if his friendship
should be rejected to dispute in a field of battle the empire of
the world. An immediate and peremptory answer was required; but it was
extremely difficult for Theodosius to satisfy on this important
occasion either the feelings of his own mind or the expectations of
the public. The imperious voice of honor and gratitude called aloud
for revenge. From the liberality of Gratian he had received the
Imperial diadem; his patience would encourage the odious suspicion
that he was more deeply sensible of former injuries than of recent
obligations; and if he accepted the friendship he must seem to share
the guilt of the assassin. Even the principles of justice and the
interest of society would receive a fatal blow from the impunity of
Maximus; and the example of successful usurpation would tend to
dissolve the artificial fabric of government and once more to
replunge the empire in the crimes and calamities of the preceding age.
But as the sentiments of gratitude and honor should invariably
regulate the conduct of an individual they may be overbalanced in the
mind of a sovereign by the sense of superior duties; and the maxims
both of justice and humanity must permit the escape of an atrocious
criminal if an innocent people would be involved in the consequences
of his punishment. The assassin of Gratian had usurped but he
actually possessed the most warlike provinces of the empire: the East
was exhausted by the misfortunes and even by the success of the
Gothic war; and it was seriously to be apprehended that after the
vital strength of the republic had been wasted in a doubtful and
destructive contest the feeble conqueror would remain an easy prey to
the Barbarians of the North. These weighty considerations engaged
Theodosius to dissemble his resentment and to accept the alliance of
the tyrant. But he stipulated that Maximus should content himself
with the possession of the countries beyond the Alps. The brother of
Gratian was confirmed and secured in the sovereignty of Italy Africa
and the Western Illyricum; and some honorable conditions were inserted
in the treaty to protect the memory and the laws of the deceased
emperor. According to the custom of the age the images of the three
Imperial colleagues were exhibited to the veneration of the people;
nor should it be lightly supposed that in the moment of a solemn
reconciliation Theodosius secretly cherished the intention of perfidy
and revenge.
The contempt of Gratian for the Roman soldiers had exposed him to the
fatal effects of their resentment. His profound veneration for the
Christian clergy was rewarded by the applause and gratitude of a
powerful order which has claimed in every age the privilege of
dispensing honors both on earth and in heaven. The orthodox bishops
bewailed his death and their own irreparable loss; but they were soon
comforted by the discovery that Gratian had committed the sceptre of
the East to the hands of a prince whose humble faith and fervent
zeal were supported by the spirit and abilities of a more vigorous
character. Among the benefactors of the church the fame of
Constantine has been rivalled by the glory of Theodosius. If
Constantine had the advantage of erecting the standard of the cross
the emulation of his successor assumed the merit of subduing the Arian
heresy and of abolishing the worship of idols in the Roman world.
Theodosius was the first of the emperors baptized in the true faith of
the Trinity. Although he was born of a Christian family the maxims
or at least the practice of the age encouraged him to delay the
ceremony of his initiation; till he was admonished of the danger of
delay by the serious illness which threatened his life towards the
end of the first year of his reign. Before he again took the field
against the Goths he received the sacrament of baptism from Acholius
the orthodox bishop of Thessalonica: and as the emperor ascended from
the holy font still glowing with the warm feelings of regeneration
he dictated a solemn edict which proclaimed his own faith and
prescribed the religion of his subjects. "It is our pleasure (such is
the Imperial style) that all the nations which are governed by our
clemency and moderation should steadfastly adhere to the religion
which was taught by St. Peter to the Romans; which faithful tradition
has preserved; and which is now professed by the pontiff Damasus and
by Peter bishop of Alexandria a man of apostolic holiness. According
to the discipline of the apostles and the doctrine of the gospel let
us believe the sole deity of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost;
under an equal majesty and a pious Trinity. We authorize the
followers of this doctrine to assume the title of Catholic Christians;
and as we judge that all others are extravagant madmen we brand them
with the infamous name of Heretics; and declare that their
conventicles shall no longer usurp the respectable appellation of
churches. Besides the condemnation of divine justice they must expect
to suffer the severe penalties which our authority guided by
heavenly wisdom shall think proper to inflict upon them." The faith
of a soldier is commonly the fruit of instruction rather than of
inquiry; but as the emperor always fixed his eyes on the visible
landmarks of orthodoxy which he had so prudently constituted his
religious opinions were never affected by the specious texts the
subtle arguments and the ambiguous creeds of the Arian doctors. Once
indeed he expressed a faint inclination to converse with the eloquent
and learned Eunomius who lived in retirement at a small distance from
Constantinople. But the dangerous interview was prevented by the
prayers of the empress Flaccilla who trembled for the salvation of
her husband; and the mind of Theodosius was confirmed by a theological
argument adapted to the rudest capacity. He had lately bestowed on
his eldest son Arcadius the name and honors of Augustus and the two
princes were seated on a stately throne to receive the homage of their
subjects. A bishop Amphilochius of Iconium approached the throne
and after saluting with due reverence the person of his sovereign
he accosted the royal youth with the same familiar tenderness which he
might have used towards a plebeian child. Provoked by this insolent
behavior the monarch gave orders that the rustic priest should be
instantly driven from his presence. But while the guards were forcing
him to the door the dexterous polemic had time to execute his design
by exclaiming with a loud voice "Such is the treatment O emperor!
which the King of heaven has prepared for those impious men who
affect to worship the Father but refuse to acknowledge the equal
majesty of his divine Son." Theodosius immediately embraced the bishop
of Iconium and never forgot the important lesson which he had
received from this dramatic parable.
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars Reign Of Theodosius. -- Part II.
Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and
in a long interval of forty years the faith of the princes and
prelates who reigned in the capital of the East was rejected in the
purer schools of Rome and Alexandria. The archiepiscopal throne of
Macedonius which had been polluted with so much Christian blood was
successively filled by Eudoxus and Damophilus. Their diocese enjoyed a
free importation of vice and error from every province of the empire;
the eager pursuit of religious controversy afforded a new occupation
to the busy idleness of the metropolis; and we may credit the
assertion of an intelligent observer who describes with some
pleasantry the effects of their loquacious zeal. "This city" says
he "is full of mechanics and slaves who are all of them profound
theologians; and preach in the shops and in the streets. If you
desire a man to change a piece of silver he informs you wherein the
Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a loaf you are
told by way of reply that the Son is inferior to the Father; and if
you inquire whether the bath is ready the answer is that the Son
was made out of nothing." The heretics of various denominations
subsisted in peace under the protection of the Arians of
Constantinople; who endeavored to secure the attachment of those
obscure sectaries while they abused with unrelenting severity the
victory which they had obtained over the followers of the council of
Nice. During the partial reigns of Constantius and Valens the feeble
remnant of the Homoousians was deprived of the public and private
exercise of their religion; and it has been observed in pathetic
language that the scattered flock was left without a shepherd to
wander on the mountains or to be devoured by rapacious wolves. But
as their zeal instead of being subdued derived strength and vigor
from oppression they seized the first moments of imperfect freedom
which they had acquired by the death of Valens to form themselves
into a regular congregation under the conduct of an episcopal pastor.
Two natives of Cappadocia Basil and Gregory Nazianzen were
distinguished above all their contemporaries by the rare union of
profane eloquence and of orthodox piety. These orators who might
sometimes be compared by themselves and by the public to the most
celebrated of the ancient Greeks were united by the ties of the
strictest friendship. They had cultivated with equal ardor the same
liberal studies in the schools of Athens; they had retired with equal
devotion to the same solitude in the deserts of Pontus; and every
spark of emulation or envy appeared to be totally extinguished in
the holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory and Basil. But the
exaltation of Basil from a private life to the archiepiscopal throne
of C?sarea discovered to the world and perhaps to himself the pride
of his character; and the first favor which he condescended to bestow
on his friend was received and perhaps was intended as a cruel
insult. Instead of employing the superior talents of Gregory in some
useful and conspicuous station the haughty prelate selected among
the fifty bishoprics of his extensive province the wretched village
of Sasima without water without verdure without society situate at
the junction of three highways and frequented only by the incessant
passage of rude and clamorous wagoners. Gregory submitted with
reluctance to this humiliating exile; he was ordained bishop of
Sasima; but he solemnly protests that he never consummated his
spiritual marriage with this disgusting bride. He afterwards consented
to undertake the government of his native church of Nazianzus of
which his father had been bishop above five-and-forty years. But as he
was still conscious that he deserved another audience and another
theatre he accepted with no unworthy ambition the honorable
invitation which was addressed to him from the orthodox party of
Constantinople. On his arrival in the capital Gregory was entertained
in the house of a pious and charitable kinsman; the most spacious room
was consecrated to the uses of religious worship; and the name of
Anastasia
was chosen to express the resurrection of the Nicene faith. This
private conventicle was afterwards converted into a magnificent
church; and the credulity of the succeeding age was prepared to
believe the miracles and visions which attested the presence or at
least the protection of the Mother of God. The pulpit of the
Anastasia was the scene of the labors and triumphs of Gregory
Nazianzen; and in the space of two years he experienced all the
spiritual adventures which constitute the prosperous or adverse
fortunes of a missionary. The Arians who were provoked by the
boldness of his enterprise represented his doctrine as if he had
preached three distinct and equal Deities; and the devout populace was
excited to suppress by violence and tumult the irregular assemblies
of the Athanasian heretics. From the cathedral of St. Sophia there
issued a motley crowd "of common beggars who had forfeited their
claim to pity; of monks who had the appearance of goats or satyrs;
and of women more terrible than so many Jezebels." The doors of the
Anastasia were broke open; much mischief was perpetrated or
attempted with sticks stones and firebrands; and as a man lost his
life in the affray Gregory who was summoned the next morning before
the magistrate had the satisfaction of supposing that he publicly
confessed the name of Christ. After he was delivered from the fear and
danger of a foreign enemy his infant church was disgraced and
distracted by intestine faction. A stranger who assumed the name of
Maximus and the cloak of a Cynic philosopher insinuated himself into
the confidence of Gregory; deceived and abused his favorable opinion;
and forming a secret connection with some bishops of Egypt attempted
by a clandestine ordination to supplant his patron in the episcopal
seat of Constantinople. These mortifications might sometimes tempt the
Cappadocian missionary to regret his obscure solitude. But his
fatigues were rewarded by the daily increase of his fame and his
congregation; and he enjoyed the pleasure of observing that the
greater part of his numerous audience retired from his sermons
satisfied with the eloquence of the preacher or dissatisfied with the
manifold imperfections of their faith and practice.
The Catholics of Constantinople were animated with joyful confidence
by the baptism and edict of Theodosius; and they impatiently waited
the effects of his gracious promise. Their hopes were speedily
accomplished; and the emperor as soon as he had finished the
operations of the campaign made his public entry into the capital at
the head of a victorious army. The next day after his arrival he
summoned Damophilus to his presence and offered that Arian prelate
the hard alternative of subscribing the Nicene creed or of instantly
resigning to the orthodox believers the use and possession of the
episcopal palace the cathedral of St. Sophia and all the churches of
Constantinople. The zeal of Damophilus which in a Catholic saint
would have been justly applauded embraced without hesitation a life
of poverty and exile and his removal was immediately followed by the
purification of the Imperial city. The Arians might complain with
some appearance of justice that an inconsiderable congregation of
sectaries should usurp the hundred churches which they were
insufficient to fill; whilst the far greater part of the people was
cruelly excluded from every place of religious worship. Theodosius was
still inexorable; but as the angels who protected the Catholic cause
were only visible to the eyes of faith he prudently re?nforced those
heavenly legions with the more effectual aid of temporal and carnal
weapons; and the church of St. Sophia was occupied by a large body of
the Imperial guards. If the mind of Gregory was susceptible of pride
he must have felt a very lively satisfaction when the emperor
conducted him through the streets in solemn triumph; and with his own
hand respectfully placed him on the archiepiscopal throne of
Constantinople. But the saint (who had not subdued the imperfections
of human virtue) was deeply affected by the mortifying consideration
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