Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part III

Among the ecclesiastics, who illustrated the reign of Theodosius,
Gregory Nazianzen was distinguished by the talents of an eloquent
preacher; the reputation of miraculous gifts added weight and
dignity to the monastic virtues of Martin of Tours; 60 but the
palm of episcopal vigor and ability was justly claimed by the
intrepid Ambrose. 61 He was descended from a noble family of
Romans; his father had exercised the important office of
Prætorian praefect of Gaul; and the son, after passing through
the studies of a liberal education, attained, in the regular
gradation of civil honors, the station of consular of Liguria, a
province which included the Imperial residence of Milan. At the
age of thirty-four, and before he had received the sacrament of
baptism, Ambrose, to his own surprise, and to that of the world,
was suddenly transformed from a governor to an archbishop.
Without the least mixture, as it is said, of art or intrigue, the
whole body of the people unanimously saluted him with the
episcopal title; the concord and perseverance of their
acclamations were ascribed to a praeternatural impulse; and the
reluctant magistrate was compelled to undertake a spiritual
office, for which he was not prepared by the habits and
occupations of his former life. But the active force of his
genius soon qualified him to exercise, with zeal and prudence,
the duties of his ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and while he
cheerfully renounced the vain and splendid trappings of temporal
greatness, he condescended, for the good of the church, to direct
the conscience of the emperors, and to control the administration
of the empire. Gratian loved and revered him as a father; and the
elaborate treatise on the faith of the Trinity was designed for
the instruction of the young prince. After his tragic death, at a
time when the empress Justina trembled for her own safety, and
for that of her son Valentinian, the archbishop of Milan was
despatched, on two different embassies, to the court of Treves.
He exercised, with equal firmness and dexterity, the powers of
his spiritual and political characters; and perhaps contributed,
by his authority and eloquence, to check the ambition of Maximus,
and to protect the peace of Italy. 62 Ambrose had devoted his
life, and his abilities, to the service of the church. Wealth was
the object of his contempt; he had renounced his private
patrimony; and he sold, without hesitation, the consecrated
plate, for the redemption of captives. The clergy and people of
Milan were attached to their archbishop; and he deserved the
esteem, without soliciting the favor, or apprehending the
displeasure, of his feeble sovereigns.

60 (return) [ The Life of St. Martin, and the Dialogues
concerning his miracles contain facts adapted to the grossest
barbarism, in a style not unworthy of the Augustan age. So
natural is the alliance between good taste and good sense, that I
am always astonished by this contrast.]

61 (return) [ The short and superficial Life of St. Ambrose, by
his deacon Paulinus, (Appendix ad edit. Benedict. p. i.—xv.,) has
the merit of original evidence. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x.
p. 78-306) and the Benedictine editors (p. xxxi.—lxiii.) have
labored with their usual diligence.]

62 (return) [ Ambrose himself (tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 888—891)
gives the emperor a very spirited account of his own embassy.]

The government of Italy, and of the young emperor, naturally
devolved to his mother Justina, a woman of beauty and spirit, but
who, in the midst of an orthodox people, had the misfortune of
professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored to instil into
the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded, that a Roman emperor
might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his
religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and
reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single
church, either in the city or the suburbs of Milan. But the
conduct of Ambrose was governed by very different principles. 63
The palaces of the earth might indeed belong to Caesar; but the
churches were the houses of God; and, within the limits of his
diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the apostles, was
the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity,
temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true
believers; and the mind of Ambrose was satisfied, that his own
theological opinions were the standard of truth and orthodoxy.
The archbishop, who refused to hold any conference, or
negotiation, with the instruments of Satan, declared, with modest
firmness, his resolution to die a martyr, rather than to yield to
the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as
an act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert
the Imperial prerogative of her son. As she desired to perform
her public devotions on the approaching festival of Easter,
Ambrose was ordered to appear before the council. He obeyed the
summons with the respect of a faithful subject, but he was
followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people; they
pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace;
and the affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of
pronouncing a sentence of exile on the archbishop of Milan,
humbly requested that he would interpose his authority, to
protect the person of the emperor, and to restore the tranquility
of the capital. But the promises which Ambrose received and
communicated were soon violated by a perfidious court; and,
during six of the most solemn days, which Christian piety had set
apart for the exercise of religion, the city was agitated by the
irregular convulsions of tumult and fanaticism. The officers of
the household were directed to prepare, first, the Portian, and
afterwards, the new, Basilica, for the immediate reception of the
emperor and his mother. The splendid canopy and hangings of the
royal seat were arranged in the customary manner; but it was
found necessary to defend them. by a strong guard, from the
insults of the populace. The Arian ecclesiastics, who ventured to
show themselves in the streets, were exposed to the most imminent
danger of their lives; and Ambrose enjoyed the merit and
reputation of rescuing his personal enemies from the hands of the
enraged multitude.

63 (return) [ His own representation of his principles and
conduct (tom. ii. Epist. xx xxi. xxii. p. 852-880) is one of the
curious monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity. It contains two
letters to his sister Marcellina, with a petition to Valentinian
and the sermon de Basilicis non madendis.]

But while he labored to restrain the effects of their zeal, the
pathetic vehemence of his sermons continually inflamed the angry
and seditious temper of the people of Milan. The characters of
Eve, of the wife of Job, of Jezebel, of Herodias, were indecently
applied to the mother of the emperor; and her desire to obtain a
church for the Arians was compared to the most cruel persecutions
which Christianity had endured under the reign of Paganism. The
measures of the court served only to expose the magnitude of the
evil. A fine of two hundred pounds of gold was imposed on the
corporate body of merchants and manufacturers: an order was
signified, in the name of the emperor, to all the officers, and
inferior servants, of the courts of justice, that, during the
continuance of the public disorders, they should strictly confine
themselves to their houses; and the ministers of Valentinian
imprudently confessed, that the most respectable part of the
citizens of Milan was attached to the cause of their archbishop.
He was again solicited to restore peace to his country, by timely
compliance with the will of his sovereign. The reply of Ambrose
was couched in the most humble and respectful terms, which might,
however, be interpreted as a serious declaration of civil war.
“His life and fortune were in the hands of the emperor; but he
would never betray the church of Christ, or degrade the dignity
of the episcopal character. In such a cause he was prepared to
suffer whatever the malice of the daemon could inflict; and he
only wished to die in the presence of his faithful flock, and at
the foot of the altar; he had not contributed to excite, but it
was in the power of God alone to appease, the rage of the people:
he deprecated the scenes of blood and confusion which were likely
to ensue; and it was his fervent prayer, that he might not
survive to behold the ruin of a flourishing city, and perhaps the
desolation of all Italy.” 64 The obstinate bigotry of Justina
would have endangered the empire of her son, if, in this contest
with the church and people of Milan, she could have depended on
the active obedience of the troops of the palace. A large body of
Goths had marched to occupy the Basilica, which was the object of
the dispute: and it might be expected from the Arian principles,
and barbarous manners, of these foreign mercenaries, that they
would not entertain any scruples in the execution of the most
sanguinary orders. They were encountered, on the sacred
threshold, by the archbishop, who, thundering against them a
sentence of excommunication, asked them, in the tone of a father
and a master, whether it was to invade the house of God, that
they had implored the hospitable protection of the republic. The
suspense of the Barbarians allowed some hours for a more
effectual negotiation; and the empress was persuaded, by the
advice of her wisest counsellors, to leave the Catholics in
possession of all the churches of Milan; and to dissemble, till a
more convenient season, her intentions of revenge. The mother of
Valentinian could never forgive the triumph of Ambrose; and the
royal youth uttered a passionate exclamation, that his own
servants were ready to betray him into the hands of an insolent
priest.

64 (return) [ Retz had a similar message from the queen, to
request that he would appease the tumult of Paris. It was no
longer in his power, &c. A quoi j’ajoutai tout ce que vous pouvez
vous imaginer de respect de douleur, de regret, et de soumission,
&c. (Mémoires, tom. i. p. 140.) Certainly I do not compare either
the causes or the men yet the coadjutor himself had some idea (p.
84) of imitating St. Ambrose]

The laws of the empire, some of which were inscribed with the
name of Valentinian, still condemned the Arian heresy, and seemed
to excuse the resistance of the Catholics. By the influence of
Justina, an edict of toleration was promulgated in all the
provinces which were subject to the court of Milan; the free
exercise of their religion was granted to those who professed the
faith of Rimini; and the emperor declared, that all persons who
should infringe this sacred and salutary constitution, should be
capitally punished, as the enemies of the public peace. 65 The
character and language of the archbishop of Milan may justify the
suspicion, that his conduct soon afforded a reasonable ground, or
at least a specious pretence, to the Arian ministers; who watched
the opportunity of surprising him in some act of disobedience to
a law which he strangely represents as a law of blood and
tyranny. A sentence of easy and honorable banishment was
pronounced, which enjoined Ambrose to depart from Milan without
delay; whilst it permitted him to choose the place of his exile,
and the number of his companions. But the authority of the
saints, who have preached and practised the maxims of passive
loyalty, appeared to Ambrose of less moment than the extreme and
pressing danger of the church. He boldly refused to obey; and his
refusal was supported by the unanimous consent of his faithful
people. 66 They guarded by turns the person of their archbishop;
the gates of the cathedral and the episcopal palace were strongly
secured; and the Imperial troops, who had formed the blockade,
were unwilling to risk the attack, of that impregnable fortress.
The numerous poor, who had been relieved by the liberality of
Ambrose, embraced the fair occasion of signalizing their zeal and
gratitude; and as the patience of the multitude might have been
exhausted by the length and uniformity of nocturnal vigils, he
prudently introduced into the church of Milan the useful
institution of a loud and regular psalmody. While he maintained
this arduous contest, he was instructed, by a dream, to open the
earth in a place where the remains of two martyrs, Gervasius and
Protasius, 67 had been deposited above three hundred years.
Immediately under the pavement of the church two perfect
skeletons were found, 68 with the heads separated from their
bodies, and a plentiful effusion of blood. The holy relics were
presented, in solemn pomp, to the veneration of the people; and
every circumstance of this fortunate discovery was admirably
adapted to promote the designs of Ambrose. The bones of the
martyrs, their blood, their garments, were supposed to contain a
healing power; and the praeternatural influence was communicated
to the most distant objects, without losing any part of its
original virtue. The extraordinary cure of a blind man, 69 and
the reluctant confessions of several daemoniacs, appeared to
justify the faith and sanctity of Ambrose; and the truth of those
miracles is attested by Ambrose himself, by his secretary
Paulinus, and by his proselyte, the celebrated Augustin, who, at
that time, professed the art of rhetoric in Milan. The reason of
the present age may possibly approve the incredulity of Justina
and her Arian court; who derided the theatrical representations
which were exhibited by the contrivance, and at the expense, of
the archbishop. 70 Their effect, however, on the minds of the
people, was rapid and irresistible; and the feeble sovereign of
Italy found himself unable to contend with the favorite of
Heaven. The powers likewise of the earth interposed in the
defence of Ambrose: the disinterested advice of Theodosius was
the genuine result of piety and friendship; and the mask of
religious zeal concealed the hostile and ambitious designs of the
tyrant of Gaul. 71

65 (return) [ Sozomen alone (l. vii. c. 13) throws this luminous
fact into a dark and perplexed narrative.]

66 (return) [ Excubabat pia plebs in ecclesia, mori parata cum
episcopo suo.... Nos, adhuc frigidi, excitabamur tamen civitate
attonita atque curbata. Augustin. Confession. l. ix. c. 7]

67 (return) [ Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 78, 498. Many
churches in Italy, Gaul, &c., were dedicated to these unknown
martyrs, of whom St. Gervaise seems to have been more fortunate
than his companion.]

68 (return) [ Invenimus mirae magnitudinis viros duos, ut prisca
aetas ferebat, tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. The size of these
skeletons was fortunately, or skillfully, suited to the popular
prejudice of the gradual decrease of the human stature, which has
prevailed in every age since the time of Homer.—Grandiaque
effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.]

69 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. Augustin.
Confes, l. ix. c. 7, de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 8. Paulin. in
Vita St. Ambros. c. 14, in Append. Benedict. p. 4. The blind
man’s name was Severus; he touched the holy garment, recovered
his sight, and devoted the rest of his life (at least twenty-five
years) to the service of the church. I should recommend this
miracle to our divines, if it did not prove the worship of
relics, as well as the Nicene creed.]

70 (return) [ Paulin, in Tit. St. Ambros. c. 5, in Append.
Benedict. p. 5.]

71 (return) [ Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 190, 750. He
partially allow the mediation of Theodosius, and capriciously
rejects that of Maximus, though it is attested by Prosper,
Sozomen, and Theodoret.]

The reign of Maximus might have ended in peace and prosperity,
could he have contented himself with the possession of three
ample countries, which now constitute the three most flourishing
kingdoms of modern Europe. But the aspiring usurper, whose sordid
ambition was not dignified by the love of glory and of arms,
considered his actual forces as the instruments only of his
future greatness, and his success was the immediate cause of his
destruction. The wealth which he extorted 72 from the oppressed
provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was employed in levying
and maintaining a formidable army of Barbarians, collected, for
the most part, from the fiercest nations of Germany. The conquest
of Italy was the object of his hopes and preparations: and he
secretly meditated the ruin of an innocent youth, whose
government was abhorred and despised by his Catholic subjects.
But as Maximus wished to occupy, without resistance, the passes
of the Alps, he received, with perfidious smiles, Domninus of
Syria, the ambassador of Valentinian, and pressed him to accept
the aid of a considerable body of troops, for the service of a
Pannonian war. The penetration of Ambrose had discovered the
snares of an enemy under the professions of friendship; 73 but
the Syrian Domninus was corrupted, or deceived, by the liberal
favor of the court of Treves; and the council of Milan
obstinately rejected the suspicion of danger, with a blind
confidence, which was the effect, not of courage, but of fear.
The march of the auxiliaries was guided by the ambassador; and
they were admitted, without distrust, into the fortresses of the
Alps. But the crafty tyrant followed, with hasty and silent
footsteps, in the rear; and, as he diligently intercepted all
intelligence of his motions, the gleam of armor, and the dust
excited by the troops of cavalry, first announced the hostile
approach of a stranger to the gates of Milan. In this extremity,
Justina and her son might accuse their own imprudence, and the
perfidious arts of Maximus; but they wanted time, and force, and
resolution, to stand against the Gauls and Germans, either in the
field, or within the walls of a large and disaffected city.
Flight was their only hope, Aquileia their only refuge; and as
Maximus now displayed his genuine character, the brother of
Gratian might expect the same fate from the hands of the same
assassin. Maximus entered Milan in triumph; and if the wise
archbishop refused a dangerous and criminal connection with the
usurper, he might indirectly contribute to the success of his
arms, by inculcating, from the pulpit, the duty of resignation,
rather than that of resistance. 74 The unfortunate Justina
reached Aquileia in safety; but she distrusted the strength of
the fortifications: she dreaded the event of a siege; and she
resolved to implore the protection of the great Theodosius, whose
power and virtue were celebrated in all the countries of the
West. A vessel was secretly provided to transport the Imperial
family; they embarked with precipitation in one of the obscure
harbors of Venetia, or Istria; traversed the whole extent of the
Adriatic and Ionian Seas; turned the extreme promontory of
Peloponnesus; and, after a long, but successful navigation,
reposed themselves in the port of Thessalonica. All the subjects
of Valentinian deserted the cause of a prince, who, by his
abdication, had absolved them from the duty of allegiance; and if
the little city of Aemona, on the verge of Italy, had not
presumed to stop the career of his inglorious victory, Maximus
would have obtained, without a struggle, the sole possession of
the Western empire.

72 (return) [ The modest censure of Sulpicius (Dialog. iii. 15)
inflicts a much deeper wound than the declamation of Pacatus,
(xii. 25, 26.)]

73 (return) [ Esto tutior adversus hominem, pacis involurco
tegentem, was the wise caution of Ambrose (tom. ii. p. 891) after
his return from his second embassy.]

74 (return) [ Baronius (A.D. 387, No. 63) applies to this season
of public distress some of the penitential sermons of the
archbishop.]

Instead of inviting his royal guests to take the palace of
Constantinople, Theodosius had some unknown reasons to fix their
residence at Thessalonica; but these reasons did not proceed from
contempt or indifference, as he speedily made a visit to that
city, accompanied by the greatest part of his court and senate.
After the first tender expressions of friendship and sympathy,
the pious emperor of the East gently admonished Justina, that the
guilt of heresy was sometimes punished in this world, as well as
in the next; and that the public profession of the Nicene faith
would be the most efficacious step to promote the restoration of
her son, by the satisfaction which it must occasion both on earth
and in heaven. The momentous question of peace or war was
referred, by Theodosius, to the deliberation of his council; and
the arguments which might be alleged on the side of honor and
justice, had acquired, since the death of Gratian, a considerable
degree of additional weight. The persecution of the Imperial
family, to which Theodosius himself had been indebted for his
fortune, was now aggravated by recent and repeated injuries.
Neither oaths nor treaties could restrain the boundless ambition
of Maximus; and the delay of vigorous and decisive measures,
instead of prolonging the blessings of peace, would expose the
Eastern empire to the danger of a hostile invasion. The
Barbarians, who had passed the Danube, had lately assumed the
character of soldiers and subjects, but their native fierceness
was yet untamed: and the operations of a war, which would
exercise their valor, and diminish their numbers, might tend to
relieve the provinces from an intolerable oppression.
Notwithstanding these specious and solid reasons, which were
approved by a majority of the council, Theodosius still hesitated
whether he should draw the sword in a contest which could no
longer admit any terms of reconciliation; and his magnanimous
character was not disgraced by the apprehensions which he felt
for the safety of his infant sons, and the welfare of his
exhausted people. In this moment of anxious doubt, while the fate
of the Roman world depended on the resolution of a single man,
the charms of the princess Galla most powerfully pleaded the
cause of her brother Valentinian. 75 The heart of Theodosius wa
softened by the tears of beauty; his affections were insensibly
engaged by the graces of youth and innocence: the art of Justina
managed and directed the impulse of passion; and the celebration
of the royal nuptials was the assurance and signal of the civil
war. The unfeeling critics, who consider every amorous weakness
as an indelible stain on the memory of a great and orthodox
emperor, are inclined, on this occasion, to dispute the
suspicious evidence of the historian Zosimus. For my own part, I
shall frankly confess, that I am willing to find, or even to
seek, in the revolutions of the world, some traces of the mild
and tender sentiments of domestic life; and amidst the crowd of
fierce and ambitious conquerors, I can distinguish, with peculiar
complacency, a gentle hero, who may be supposed to receive his
armor from the hands of love. The alliance of the Persian king
was secured by the faith of treaties; the martial Barbarians were
persuaded to follow the standard, or to respect the frontiers, of
an active and liberal monarch; and the dominions of Theodosius,
from the Euphrates to the Adriatic, resounded with the
preparations of war both by land and sea. The skilful disposition
of the forces of the East seemed to multiply their numbers, and
distracted the attention of Maximus. He had reason to fear, that
a chosen body of troops, under the command of the intrepid
Arbogastes, would direct their march along the banks of the
Danube, and boldly penetrate through the Rhaetian provinces into
the centre of Gaul. A powerful fleet was equipped in the harbors
of Greece and Epirus, with an apparent design, that, as soon as
the passage had been opened by a naval victory, Valentinian and
his mother should land in Italy, proceed, without delay, to Rome,
and occupy the majestic seat of religion and empire. In the mean
while, Theodosius himself advanced at the head of a brave and
disciplined army, to encounter his unworthy rival, who, after the
siege of Aemona, 7511 had fixed his camp in the neighborhood of
Siscia, a city of Pannonia, strongly fortified by the broad and
rapid stream of the Save.

75 (return) [ The flight of Valentinian, and the love of
Theodosius for his sister, are related by Zosimus, (l. iv. p.
263, 264.) Tillemont produces some weak and ambiguous evidence to
antedate the second marriage of Theodosius, (Hist. des Empereurs,
to. v. p. 740,) and consequently to refute ces contes de Zosime,
qui seroient trop contraires a la piete de Theodose.]

7511 (return) [ Aemonah, Laybach. Siscia Sciszek.—M.]