Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1077

Rh TIIEODOSTUS. the Catholic faith by the council of Constantinople, proceeded to give it effect. In the course of fifteen years (a- d. 380 — 394) he published fifteen de- crees against heretics, or those whd were not of his own creed. The penalties were most particu- larly directed against those who rejected the doc- trine of the Trinity ; and they extended to ministers, assemblies, and the persons of heretics. It was about the time that the council was sitting that he deprived all persons who apostatised from Christianity to Paganism of the right which every Roman citizen had enjoyed at least from the time of the Twelve Tables, of disposing of his property by testament. In July (a. d. 381) he forbade the Arians and Eunomians to build any church ; and the law appears to mean that every place of worship which they already possessed should be taken from them. The various enactments against heretics are contained in the Code of Theodosius (16. tit. 5. 8. 6 — 23 ; and the commentary of Go- thofredus) : the Eunomians, whose guilt consisted in denying any resemblance between the two sub- stances, and who were accordingly Anomoeans, were also deprived of the power of testamentary disposition, and of taking by testamentary gift: they seem, in fact, to have been deprived of all the rights of citizens. The Manichaean heresy was punishable with death ; and the same penalty threatened the Audians or the Quartodecimans, who celebrated the festival of Easter on the wrong day. To the reign of Theodosius belonged the glory or the infamy of establishing Inquisitors of Faith, who seem to have been specially enjoined to look after the crime of the Quartodecimans. Though Theodosius thus established the principle of persecution, it is said that his rival Maximus was the first Christian prince " who shed the blood of his Christian subjects on account of their re- ligious opinions." It is fortunate for the fame of Theodosius that there is not the same evidence of his giving effect to his own laws as there is for the severity of Maximus, under whose reign Priscil- lianus and others suffered death for heresy at Treves, a. d. 385. In A. D. 387 Maximus, not content with the possession of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, aspired to wrest Italy from the feeble hands of Valenti- nian II., who as an Arian was disliked by his Catholic subjects of Italy, and was opposed in his heretical projects by the zeal of Ambrose, the Catholic arclibishop of Milan. Maximus was in sight of Milan, before Valentinian and his mother Justina, who directed the administration, were aware of his hostile intentions ; and he entered the city without resistance. Justina and her son embarked from one of the harbours in the north part of the Hadriatic and arrived in safety at Thessalonica. No resistonce was made to Maxi- mus, except by the small town of Aemona, on the border of Italy. Theodosius visited Justina and her sou at Thessalonica, and reminded Valentinian that his opposition to the iaith of Nicaea was the cause of his own ruin and of the success of Maximus. Valentinian, it is said, acknowledged his errors, and returned to the true faith ; and the orthodox emperor promised to restore him to his throne : but perhaps he was influenced by other motives than gratitude to Gratian, and zeal in support of the Catholic faith. Theodosius was a widower ; and Valentinian had a sister Galla, j^oung and beautiful. Tillemont would fix the marriage of Theodosius THEODOSIUS. 1065 and Galla a year before the visit to Thessalonica at the close of a. d. 386 ; or he would make a. compromise by admitting that Theodosius asked her in marriage in a. d. 386, but did not actually marry her till a. r>. 387 {Histoire^ ^c. vol. v. p. 740): his desire was to protect the piety of Theodosius from the scandal of a sensual motive. But Zosi- mus (iv. 44) states that Justina, a woman of in- fluence, who knew the amorous propensities of Theodosius, prevailed over the irresolution of the emperor by her daughter's tears and beauty. Theodosius saw her and was captivated : he asked her of her mother for his wife, but he only ob- tained her on condition of restoring Valentinian. Though Gibbon has preferred the authority of Zosimus, there is some evidence opposed to it ; and yet the narrative of Zosimus is so precise and cir- cumstantial that it is difficult not to give credit to it. There is nothing improbable in the fact of a passion for a woman determining a political question. After Theodosius had decided on his course, his operations were rapid and vigorous. He found Maximus encamped near Siscia, in Pannonia, a city situated on the great river Save. Maximus had not talent equal to his ambition, and Theo- dosius had a force which confounded the soldiers of the usurper by a mode of attack to which they were unaccustomed. His Huns, Alans, and his Goths were mounted archers, who annoyed th • heavy troops of Gaul and Germany by the irregu- larity of a Parthian attack. Maximus, after sus- taining one defeat on the banks of the Save, and probably a second, fled across the Alps, and shut himself up in Aquileia, just before Theodosius reached the gates. But in spite of his Moorish guard, he was given up to Theodosius by his own soldiers and the people of Aquileia, with his hands tied behind him. Theodosius, according to his panegyrist Pacatus, was not indisposed to pardon ; but his soldiers saved him the difficulty of a decision, by dragging Maximus from his presence and beheading him. Maximus had left his son Victor in Gaul, with the title of Caesar, or per- haps of Augustus. Arbogastes, the active general of Theodosius, seized the youth, and put him to death a short time after his father. Theodosius spent the winter at Milan, and in the following year (June 13th, 389) he entered Rome in triumph, accompanied by Valentinian and his own son Honorius. Two events in the life of Theodosius may be brought into juxtaposition as evidence of his un- certain character and his savage temper. In a. d. 387, the city of Antioch complained of increased taxation, the necessary consequence of the wars in which the emperor had been engaged ; and An- tioch, as it had not suffered from an enemy whose ravages had been confined to Europe, was unwilling to bear its share of the expense of the Gothic cam- paigns. The complaints of the citizens were soon changed into active riot (February): the statues of the emperor, of his father, and of his wife Pla- cilla, were thrown down ; but these idle demon- strations were quickly suppressed by an armed force. The governor sent to the emperor at Con- stJintinople an account of these riots, and the citi- zens of Antioch, in great alarm, despatched Flavian their bishop, and the senator Hilarius, to acknow- ledge their guilt and to pray for forgiveness. In March the judgment of the emperor was brought