Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/153

 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 133 CHAPTER XXVII Death of Gratian — lluin of Arianism — St. Ambrose — First Civil War, against Maxiimcs — Character, Administration, and Penance of Theodosius — Death of Valentinian II. — Second Civil War, against Eiigenius — Death of Theodosius The fame of Gratian, before he had accomplished the twentieth character and year of his age, was equal to that of the most celebrated princes. emperor°Gra* His gentle and amiable disposition endeared him to his private ajd." 379 sss friends, the graceful affability of his manners engaged the affec- tion of the people : the men of letters, who enjoyed the liber- ality, acknowledged the taste and eloquence, of their sovereign ; his valour 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 His defects be imputed to the arts of flattery which had besieged the son of Valentinian from his infancy ; nor to the headstrong passions which 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 ex- perience 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 laboured to form the mind and