The Goths, after committing great ravages in Mace don and Thessaly, advanced towards Constantinople, and fought a bloody battle, in which they gained con siderable advantages. Hurried away by the darkness of the night, and the affection of his soldiers, the em peror took refuge in a country house, which was set fire to by the Goths. Valens, unable to make his es cape was burnt alive in the 50th year of his age, and the 16th year of his reign.
Gratian, the son of Valentinian, who had held the western empire since his father's death, was now left in the sole possession of the sovereignty. After driving back several of the barbarians, Gratian assumed Theodosius his partner in the empire, and assigned to him the provinces which Valens had governed. By his skill and experience in war, he obtained many splendid victories over the barbarians. He defeated the Goths in Thrace, and took 4,000 of their chariots, with an immense number of prisoners of both sexes; and such was the effect of this successful campaign, that many of the enemies of Rome sued for peace, and Athanaric, the most powerful of the Gothic princes, courted the friendship of the emperor. This prince died in the same year; and Theodosius caused him to be buried with such splendour and pomp, that the Goths not only resolved never more to molest the Ro mans, but out of gratitude to Theodosius, they even guarded the banks of the Danube, to prevent any inva sion of the empire from that quarter.
In consequence of the enmity of Gratian to the pa gan superstition, Maximinus, who undertook the de fence of the pagan religion, revolted against the empe ror; and having been joined by a number of discon tented Romans, they came up with Gratian near Paris. In the battle which ensued, Gratian was deserted by his troops, and murdered by the insurgents in the year of his age.
As Maximinus announced to Theodosius that he had no design against the dominions of Valentinian, The odosius acknowledged him as his partner in the em pire. Maximinus, however, passed the Alps, and marched to Milan, the residence of Valentinian. This young prince fled for refuge to Theodosius, who pro mised to assist him on the condition of his renouncing the Arian heresy. In the mean time, Maximinus had made such progress, that he was acknowledged in Rome and in the African provinces; but Theodosius having raised a powerful army of Goths, Alans and Huns, defeated Maximinus in two battles; and having taken him prisoner, put him to death. His son Vic tor was soon afterwards taken prisoner by Arbogas tes, and put to death.
Theodosius performed a. journey to Rome in 389, and is said to have converted the senate and people to Christianity. In consequence of an attack made upon the Christians by the pagans of Alexandria, Theodo sius ordered all the temples in that city to be pulled down, and authorized 'flict.philus the bishop to sec
his orders put in execution. The temple of Serapis was thus razed to its very foundatw,.. zeal of Theophilus was not contented with this single sacrifice. He excited the people to demolish all the other temples, chapels, and places of worship used by the heathens; and he either burned or melted down the statues of the gods, leaving only the statue of an ape, for the purpose of throwing ridicule upon the pagan idolatry. When Theodosius returned to Con stantinople, he ordered all the remaining temples to be destroyed, and the Arians to be expelled from all the cities of his empire.
Valentinian, the emperor of the west, having placed too much confidence in his general Arbogastes, a na tive of Gaul, was treacherously strangled by that bar barian at Vienne in France, in the ninth year of his reign. Valentinian was a man of real merit and ex emplary virtue. He abolished the greater number of the taxes: he was distinguished by his benevolence; and he exhibited his clemency and kindness even to those who had conspired against his life.
Although Arbogastes might have seized upon the sovereignty, yet he conferred it upon one Eugenius, and reigned in his name. Eugenius, though a Christ ian, was friendly to the Pagans. He sent deputies to Theodosius; but he declined entering into any alli ance with the usurper, and made immediate prepara tions to oppose him. With this view he left Constan tinople; but found, on his arrival at the Alps, that the passes were guarded by Flavianus with a large body of Roman troops. Theodosius having defeated them with great loss, and taken their camp, Eugenius was made prisoner. His own soldiers, who had brought him to Theodosius, cut off his head while he was beg ging for his life. The rest of Eugenius's army, when they saw the head of their general upon the point of a spear, and learned that Theodosius was willing to receive them into favour. laid down their arms and submitted. Arbogastes fled into the mountains and put an end to himself; and his children, along with tho'se of Eugenius, took refuge in churches. The em peror, however, forgave them in the true spirit of his religion; and while he consented them to the Christian fi,ith, he restored to them their paternal estates, and raised them to honourable situations in the goverri ment. Theodosius appointed his son Honoriirempe ror of the west; but as he was preparing to return to Constantinople, he was attacked with a dropsy, which carried him off at Milan, in the sixteenth year of his reign, and sixtieth of his age. In the will which The odosius left behind him, he confirmed Honorius as the emperor of the west, and left the eastern empire to his other eldest son Arcadius.