3 34
THEODOSIUS THE GREAT.
a native of Spain, the province which had given birth to Trajan
and Hadrian, to whom, however, he was not related. He was
born in the neighbourhood of Valadolid, while Sevillewas the
native place of the two earlier emperors. He bears the sur-
name of Great withjustice, for he accomplished great things ;
and if we overlook Majorian, whose evil star was too powerful
for him, he was the last great emperor. One of his faults was
a passionate and angry disposition, which, however, was in-
timately connected with his best qualities ; but his chief fault
was, that after great exertions he often abandoned himself en-
tirely to inactivity, and in the administration of the empire,
relied too much on many unworthy persons whom he honoured
with his confidence.
LECTURE CXXXIV.
The task which Theodosius had before him, was so vast that
it makes one shudder to think of it. With the remaining
forces of the eastern empire (for the West would give him no
support), he was to repel the Goths; and he succeeded not
only in putting a stop to their progress, but in disarming them
by treaties of which we know nothing. In a series of cam-
paigns he separated one tribe from the others, and split them
up into so many parts, that they submitted to the supremacy
of Rome. They appear, however, to have remained in the
north of Illyricum, in Moesia and Servia, where they inhabited
the country, while the towns remained Roman. The pure
descendants of the ancient Goths exist in Illyricum even to
this day. There they dwelt under Rome’s sovereignty, and
pledged themselves to serve the empire ; for Theodosius stood
in need of them for his wars, and Gotliic troops in fact were
always engaged in the Roman service. They were not tribu-
tary, however, but rather received a tribute under the name of
pay. This arrangement became established, especially after
the year A. D. 384, and continued until the death of Theodosius
in A. D. 395.
The first war in which Thcodosius was involved, arose from
the misfortnne of Gratian, who had lost the popularity which
Theodosius—Valentiniax ii.—maximus. 335
he had at first enjoyed : he remained a good and amiable youth
of unblemished character, but he ceased to rule, allowing
business to take its course, and abandoning himself to the use-
less pleasures of the chase. He moreover surrounded himself
with barbarians, preferring the Alani to his own countrymen,
who were thereby led to revolt against him. In addition to
this, there was an insurrection of the troops in Britain under
Maximus. Gratian was murdered, and Maximus, on being
proclaimed emperor, was acknowledged by all the AVest. Max-
imus was a mild prince, and shed blood only because he was
urged on by the clergy to religious persecution. He offered
his friendship to Theodosius who wisely accepted it. This
friendship remained undisturbed for four years. Valentinian
II (the child under the guardianship of his mother Justina),
Maximus and Tlieodosius were now the three Augusti. But
Maximus resolved to cross the Alps, and to deprive young
Valentinian of his empire. The latter fled with his mother to
Thessalonica, where they were received by Theodosius. The
extraordinary beauty of the princess Galla induced him to take
the family under his protection, and he accordingly led Valen-
tinian back to Italy. AIaximus was defeated near Aquileia1
abandoned by his troops and killed, whereupon Theodosius
gave the whole of the western empire to his brother-in-law
Valcntinian. The latter seemed to have all the good qualities
of his father without his faults ; but he was unfortunate. A
Frankish general, Arbogastes, the commander of his army,
assumed a position relatively to his master similar to that of a
Frankish major domus towards his king. Valentinian resisted
this, but by doing so, caused his own destruction. AVhile
staying at Vienne in Dauphiné, lie was strangled by Arbogas-
tes, who now put on the throne one Eugenius, who was
tribunus notariorιm, that is, according to our idea, something
like a privy councillor, or courtier of rank. It was against
this man that Theodosius led his army. The decisive battle
was fought again near Aquileia (a. d. 394) : in it Theodosius
displayed all his talent as a general, on which subject we have
the beautiful verses of Claudian1. He knew how to make use,
for his objects, of the most different nations—Goths, Alani,
and Huns—so that they were willing to devote themselves to
his service. The elemeuts also were favourable to him; for a
tempest is said to have contributed to his success in the battle.
‘ Ciaudianus, de tertio consul. Honorii, 90.