endeared him to his private friends, the graceful | soon as time and accident had removed those faithaffability of his manners engaged the affection of the ful counsellors from the throne, the emperor of the people the men of letters, who enjoyed the liber-west insensibly descended to the level of his natural 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

|

genius; abandoned the reins of government to the ambitious hands which were stretched forward to grasp them; and amused his leisure with the most frivolous gratifications. A public sale of favour and injustice was instituted, both in the court, and in the provinces, by the worthless delegates of his power, whose merit it was made sacrilege to question. The conscience of the credulous prince was directed by saints and bishops; who procured an imperial edict to punish, as a capital offence, the violation, the neglect, or even the ignorance, of the divine law. Among the various arts which had exercised the youth of Gratian, he had applied himself, with singular inclination and success, to manage the horse, to draw the bow, and to dart the His defects. character or conduct, may not be im- javelin; and these qualifications, which might be puted to the arts of flattery, which had besieged the useful to a soldier, were prostituted to the viler son of Valentinian from his infancy; nor to the purposes of hunting. Large parks were enclosed headstrong passions which that gentle youth appears for the imperial pleasures, and plentifully stocked to have escaped. A more attentive view of the life with every species of wild beasts; and Gratian of Gratian, may perhaps suggest the true cause of neglected the duties, and even the dignity, of his the disappointment of the public hopes. His ap-rank, to consume whole days in the vain display of parent virtues, instead of being the hardy productions his dexterity and boldness in the chace. The pride of experience and adversity, were the premature and wish of the Roman emperor to excel in an art, and artificial fruits of a royal education. The in which he might be surpassed by the meanest of anxious tenderness of his father was continually his slaves, reminded the numerous spectators of the employed to bestow on him those advantages, which examples of Nero and Commodus; but the chaste he might perhaps esteem the more highly, as he and temperate Gratian was a stranger to their monhimself had been deprived of them; and the most strous vices; and his hands were stained only with skilful masters of every science, and of every art, the blood of animals.f had laboured to form the mind and body of the young prince. The knowledge which they painfully communicated was displayed with ostentation, and celebrated with lavish praise. His soft and tractable disposition received the fair impression of their judicious precepts, and the absence of passion might easily be mistaken for the strength of reason. His preceptors gradually rose to the rank and consequence of ministers of state; and, as they wisely dissembled their secret authority, he seemed to act with firmness, with propriety, and with judgment, on the most important occasions of his life and reign. But the influence of this elaborate instruction did not penetrate beyond the surface; and the skilful preceptors, who so accurately guided the steps of their royal pupil, could not infuse into his feeble and indolent character, the vigorous and independent principle of action, which renders the laborious pursuit of glory essentially necessary to the happiness, and almost to the existence, of the hero. As

a Valentinian was less attentive to the religion of his son; since he intrusted the education of Gratian to Ausonius, a professed pagan. (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p. 125-138.) The poetical fame of Ausonius.condemns the taste of his age.

b Ausonius was successively promoted to the prætorian præfecture of Italy, (A. D. 377.) and of Gaul, (A. D. 378.) and was at length invested with the consulship (A. D. 379.) He expressed his gratitude in a servile and insipid piece of flattery, (Actio Gratiarum, p. 699–736.) which has survived more worthy productions.

e Disputare de principali judicio non oportet. Sacrilegii enim instar est dubitare, an is dignus sit, quem elegerit imperator. Codex Justinian. I. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 3. This convenient law was revived and promulgated, after the death of Gratian, by the feeble court of Milan.

Discontent of the

A. D. 383.

The behaviour of Gratian, which degraded his character in the eyes of Roman troops, mankind, could not have disturbed the security of his reign, if the army had not been provoked to resent their peculiar injuries. As long as the young emperor was guided by the instructions of his masters, he professed himself the friend and pupil of the soldiers; many of his hours were spent in the familiar conversation of the camp; and the health, the comforts, the rewards, the honours, of his faithful troops, appeared to be the object of his attentive concern. But, after Gratian more freely indulged his prevailing taste for hunting and shooting, he naturally connected himself with the most dexterous ministers of his favourite amusement. A body of the Alani was received into the military and domestic service of the palace; and the admirable skill, which they were accustomed to display in the unbounded plains of Scythia, was exercised, on a more narrow theatre, in the parks

d Ambrose composed for his instruction a theological treatise on the faith of the Trinity: and Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 158, 159.) ascribes to the archbishop the merit of Gratian's intolerant laws.

e Qui divinæ legis sanctitatem nesciendo omittunt, aut negligendo violant, et offendunt, sacrilegium committunt. Codex Justinian. 1. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 1. Theodosius indeed may claim his share, in the merit of this comprehensive law.

f Ammianus (xxxi. 10) and the younger Victor acknowledge the virtues of Gratian; and accuse, or rather lament, his degenerate taste. The odious parallel of Commodus is saved by "licet incruentus;" and perhaps Philostorgius (1. x. c. 10. and Godefroy, p. 412.) had guarded, with some similar reserve, the comparison of Nero,

either of governor or general. His abilities, and even his integrity, are acknowledged by the partial writers of the age; and the merit must indeed have been conspicuous, that could extort such a confession in favour of the vanquished enemy of Theodosius. The discontent of Maximus might incline him to censure the conduct of his sovereign, and to encourage, perhaps without any views of ambition, the murmurs of the troops. But in the midst of the tumult, he artfully, or modestly, refused to ascend the throne; and some credit appears to have been given to his own positive declaration, that he was compelled to accept the dangerous present of the imperial purple."

and enclosures of Gaul. Gratian admired the talents and customs of these favourite guards, to whom alone be intrusted the defence of his person: and, as if he meant to insult the public opinion, he frequently showed himself to the soldiers and people, with the dress and arms, the long bow, the sounding quiver, and the fur garments, of a Scythian warrior. The unworthy spectacle of a Roman prince, who had renounced the dress and manners of his country, filled the minds of the legions with grief and indignation. Even the Germans, so strong and formidable in the armies of the empire, affected to disdain the strange and horrid appearance of the savages of the north, who, in the space of a few years, had wandered from the banks of the Volga to those of the Seine. A loud and licentious murmur was echoed through the camps and garrisons of the west; and as the mild indolence of Gratian | neglected to extinguish the first symptoms of discontent, the want of love and respect was not supplied by the influence of fear. But the subversion of an established government is always a work of some real, and of much apparent, difficulty; and the throne of Gratian was protected by the sanctions of custom, law, religion, and the nice balance of the civil and military powers, which had been established by the policy of Constantine. It is not very important to inquire from what causes the revolt of Britain was produced. Accident is commonly the parent of disorder; the seeds of rebellion happened to fall on a soil which was supposed to be more fruitful than any other in tyrants and usurpers;h the legions of that sequestered island had long been famous for a spirit of presumption and arrogance ;i Revolt of Maxi. and the name of Maximus was promus in Britain. claimed, by the tumultuary but unanimous voice, both of the soldiers and of the provincials. The emperor, or the rebel, for his title was not yet ascertained by fortune, was a native of Spain, the countryman, the fellow-soldier, and the rival of Theodosius, whose elevation he had not seen with-played in the neighbourhood of Paris. The emperor out some emotions of envy and resentment: the events of his life had long since fixed him in Britain; and I should not be unwilling to find some evidence for the marriage, which he is said to have contracted with the daughter of a wealthy lord of Caernarvonshire. But this provincial rank might justly be considered as a state of exile and obscurity; and if Maximus had obtained any civil or military office, he was not invested with the authority

g Zosimus (1. iv. p. 247.) and the younger Victor ascribe the revolution to the favour of the Alani, and the discontent of the Roman troops. Dum exercitum negligeret, et paucos ex Alanis, quos ingenti auro ad se transtulerat, anteferret veteri ac Romano militi.

h Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, is a memorable expression, used by Jerom in the Pelagian controversy, and variously tortured in the disputes of our national antiquaries. The revolutions of the last age appeared to justify the image of the sublime Bossuet," cette isle, plus orageuse que les mers qui l'environnent."

i Zosimus says of the British soldiers, των αλλων απαντων πλεον αυθάδεια και θυμῷ νικομένους.

k Helena the daughter of Eudda. Her chapel may still be seen at Caersegont, now Caernarvon. (Carte's Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 168. from Rowland's Mona Antiqua.) The prudent reader may not perhaps be satisfied with such Welch evidence.

1 Camden (vol. i. introduct. p. ci.) appoints him governor of Britain; and the father of our antiquities is followed, as usual, by his blind progeny. Pacatus and Zosimus had taken some pains to prevent this

But there was danger likewise in Flight and death refusing the empire; and from the mo- of Gratian. ment that Maximus had violated his allegiance to his lawful sovereign, he could not hope to reign, or even to live, if he confined his moderate ambition within the narrow limits of Britain. He boldly and wisely resolved to prevent the designs of Gratian; the youth of the island crowded to his standard, and he invaded Gaul with a fleet and army, which were long afterwards remembered, as the emigration of a considerable part of the British nation." The emperor, in his peaceful residence of Paris, was alarmed by their hostile approach; and the darts which he idly wasted on lions and bears, might have been employed more honourably against the rebels. But his feeble efforts announced his degenerate spirit and desperate situation; and deprived him of the resources, which he still might have found, in the support of his subjects and allies. The armies of Gaul, instead of opposing the march of Maximus, received him with joyful and loyal acclamations; and the shame of the desertion was transferred from the people to the prince. The troops, whose station more immediately attached them to the service of the palace, abandoned the standard of Gratian the first time that it was dis

of the west fled towards Lyons, with a train of only three hundred horse; and, in the cities along the road, where he hoped to find a refuge, or at least a passage, he was taught, by cruel experience, that every gate is shut against the unfortunate. Yet he might still have reached, in safety, the dominions of his brother, and soon have returned with the forces of Italy and the east, if he had not suffered himself to be fatally deceived by the perfidious governor of

error, or fable; and I shall protect myself by their decisive testimonies.
Regali habitû exulem suum, illi exules orbis induerunt, (in Panegyr.
Vet. xii. 23.) and the Greek historian still less equivocally, auTOS
(Maximus) δε εδε εις αρχην εντιμον ετυχη προελθων, (l. iv. p. 248.)
m Sulpicius Severus, Dialog. ii. 7. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 34. p. 556.
They both acknowledge (Sulpicius had been his subject) his innocence
and merit. It is singular enough, that Maximus should be less favour-
ably treated by Zosimus, the partial adversary of his rival.

Archbishop Usher (Antiquitat. Britan. Eccles. p. 107, 108.) has diligently collected the legends of the island, and the continent. The whole emigration consisted of 30,000 soldiers, and 100,000 plebeians, who settled in Bretagne. Their destined brides, St. Ursula with 11,000 noble, and 60,000 plebeian, virgins, mistook their way; landed at Cologne, and were all most cruelly murdered by the Huns. But the plebeian sisters have been defrauded of their equal honours; and, what is still harder, John Trithemius presumes to mention the children of these British virgins.

the Lyonnese province. Gratian was amused by | for revenge. From the liberality of Gratian, he had protestations of doubtful fidelity, and the hopes of received the imperial diadem: his patience would a support, which could not be effectual; till the encourage the odious suspicion, that he was more arrival of Andragathius, the general of the cavalry of deeply sensible of former injuries, than of recent Maximus, put an end to his suspense. That resolute obligations; and if he accepted the friendship, he officer executed, without remorse, the orders, or the must seem to share the guilt, of the assassin. Even intentions, of the usurper. Gratian, as he rose from the principles of justice, and the interest of society, supper, was delivered into the hands would receive a fatal blow from the impunity of A. D. 383. Aug. 25. of the assassin; and his body was de- Maximus: and the example of successful usurpanied to the pious and pressing entreaties of his tion would tend to dissolve the artificial fabric of brother Valentinian.° The death of the emperor government, and once more to re-plunge the empire was followed by that of his powerful general Mello- in the crimes and calamities of the preceding age. baudes, the king of the Franks; who maintained, to But, as the sentiments of gratitude and honour the last moment of his life, the ambiguous reputa- should invariably regulate the conduct of an indition, which is the just recompence of obscure and vidual, they may be overbalanced in the mind of a subtle policy." These executions might be neces- sovereign, by the sense of superior duties: and the sary to the public safety but the successful maxims both of justice and humanity must permit usurper, whose power was acknowledged by all the the escape of an atrocious criminal, if an innocent provinces of the west, had the merit, and the satis- people would be involved in the consequences of his faction, of boasting, that, except those who had punishment. The assassin of Gratian had usurped, perished by the chance of war, his triumph was not but he actually possessed, the most warlike prostained by the blood of the Romans. vinces of the empire: the east was exhausted by the misfortunes, and even by the success, of the Gothic war; and it was seriously to be apprehend

The events of this revolution had Treaty of peace between Maxi- passed in such rapid succession, that

mus and Theodosius,

it would have been impossible for The-ed, that, after the vital strength of the republic had

A. D. 383—387, odosius to march to the relief of his benefactor, before he received the intelligence of his defeat and death. During the season of sincere grief, or ostentatious mourning, the eastern emperor was interrupted by the arrival of the principal chamberlain of Maximus: and the choice of a venerable old man, for an office which was usually exercised by eunuchs, announced to the court of Constantinople the gravity and temperance of the British usurper. The ambassador condescended to justify, or excuse, the conduct of his master; and to protest, in specious language, that the murder of Gratian had been perpetrated, without his knowledge or consent, by the precipitate zeal of the soldiers. But he proceeded, in a firm and equal tone, to offer Theodosius the alternative of peace or war. The speech of the ambassador concluded with a spirited declaration, that although Maximus, as a Roman, and as the father of his people, would choose rather to employ his forces in the common defence of the republic, he was armed and prepared, if his friendship should be rejected, to dispute, in a field of battle, the empire of the world. An immediate and peremptory answer was required; but it was extremely difficult for Theodosius to satisfy, on this important occasion, either the feelings of his own mind, or the expectations of the public. The imperious voice of honour and gratitude called aloud

o Zosimus (1. iv. p. 248, 249.) has transported the death of Gratian from Lugdunum in Gaul (Lyons) to Singidunum in Moesia. Some hints may be extracted from the Chronicles; some lies may be detected in Sozomen (1. vii. c. 13.) and Socrates, (1. v. c. 11.) Ambrose is our most authentic evidence, (tom. i. Enarrat, in Psalm 1xi. p. 961. tom. ii. epist. xxiv. p. 888, &c. and de Obitû Valentinian. Consolat. No. 28. p. 1182.)

p Pacatus (xii. 28.) celebrates his fidelity; while his treachery is marked in Prosper's Chronicle, as the cause of the ruin of Gratian. Ambrose, who has occasion to exculpate himself, only condemns the death of Vallio, a faithful servant of Gratian, (tom. ii. epist. xxiv. p. 891. edit. Benedict.)

a He protested, nullum ex adversariis nisi in acie occubuisse. Sulp.

been wasted in a doubtful and destructive contest, the feeble conqueror would remain an easy prey to the barbarians of the north. These weighty considerations engaged Theodosius to dissemble his resentment, and to accept the alliance of the tyrant. But he stipulated, that Maximus should content himself with the possession of the countries beyond the Alps. The brother of Gratian was confirmed and secured in the sovereignty of Italy, Africa, and the western Illyricum; and some honourable conditions were inserted in the treaty, to protect the memory, and the laws, of the deceased emperor. According to the custom of the age, the images of the three imperial colleagues were exhibited to the veneration of the people: nor should it be lightly supposed, that, in the moment of a solemn reconciliation, Theodosius secretly cherished the intention of perfidy and revenge.

Baptism and or-
thodox edicts of
Theodosius,
A. D. 380.
Feb. 28.

The contempt of Gratian for the Roman soldiers had exposed him to the fatal effects of their resentment. His profound veneration for the christian clergy was rewarded by the applause and gratitude of a powerful order, which has claimed, in every age, the privilege of dispensing honours, both on earth and in heaven. The orthodox bishops bewailed his death, and their own irreparable loss; but they were soon comforted by the discovery, that Severus in Vit. B. Martin. c. 23. The orator of Theodosius bestows reluctant, and therefore weighty, praise on his clemency. Si cui ille, pro ceteris sceleribus suis, minus crudelis fuisse videtur. (Panegyr. Vet. xii. 28.)

r Ambrose mentions the laws of Gratian, quas non abrogavit hostis, (tom. ii. epist. xvii. p. 827.)

Zosimus, 1. iv. p. 251, 252. We may disclaim his odious suspi cious; but we cannot reject the treaty of peace which the friends of Theodosius have absolutely forgotten, or slightly mentioned.

Their oracle, the archbishop of Milan, assigns to his pupil Gratian a high and respectable place in heaven, (tom. ii. de Obit. Val. Consol. p. 1193.)

anzen

nople,

of Constantinople; who endeavoured to secure the | this disgusting bride. He afterwards consented to attachment of those obscure sectaries; while they abused, with unrelenting severity, the victory which they had obtained over the followers of the council of Nice. During the partial reigns of Constantius and Valens, the feeble remnant of the Homoousians was deprived of the public and private exercise of their religion; and it has been observed, in pathetic language, that the scattered flock was left without a shepherd, to wander on the mountains, or to be devoured by rapacious wolves. But as their zeal, instead of being subdued, derived strength and vigour from oppression, they seized the first moments of imperfect freedom, which they acquired by the death of Valens, to form themselves into a regular congregation, under the conduct of an episGregory Nazi- copal pastor. Two natives of Cappadocia, Basil and Gregory Nazianzen,d were distinguished above all their contemporaries,e by the rare union of profane eloquence and of orthodox piety. These orators, who might sometimes be compared, by themselves, and by the public, to the most celebrated of the ancient Greeks, were united by the ties of the strictest friendship. They had cultivated, with equal ardour, the same liberal studies in the schools of Athens; they had retired, with equal devotion, to the same solitude in the deserts of Pontus; and every spark of emulation, or envy, appeared to be totally extinguished in the holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory and Basil. But the exaltation of Basil, from a private life to the archiepiscopal throne of Cæsarea, discovered to the world, and perhaps to himself, the pride of his character; and the first favour which he condescended to bestow on his friend was received, and perhaps was intended, as a cruel insult. Instead of employing the superior talents of Gregory in some useful and conspicuous station, the haughty prelate selected, among the fifty bishoprics of his extensive province, the wretched village of Sasima," without water, without verdure, without society, situate at the junction of three highways, and frequented only by the incessant passage of rude and clamorous waggoners. Gregory submitted with reluctance to this humiliating exile: he was ordained bishop of Sasima; but he solemnly protests, that he never consummated his spiritual marriage with

e See the thirty-second Oration of Gregory Nazianzen, and the account of his own life, which he has composed in 1800 iambics. Yet every physician is prone to exaggerate the inveterate nature of the disease which he has cured.

d I confess myself deeply indebted to the two lives of Gregory Nazianzen, composed, with very different views, by Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 305-560, 692-731.) and Le Clerc. (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 1–128.)

e Unless Gregory Nazianzen mistook thirty years in his own age, he was born, as well as his friend Basil, about the year 329. The prepos. terous chronology of Suidas has been graciously received; because it removes the scandal of Gregory's father, a saint likewise, begetting children after he became a bishop. (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 693-697.)

f Gregory's Poem on his own Life contains some beautiful lines, (tom. ii. p. 8.) which burst from the heart, and speak the pangs of injured and lost friendship:

πονοι κοινοι λόγων, Ομοτεγος τε και συνέσιος βιος,

undertake the government of his native church of
Nazianzus," of which his father had been bishop
above five-and-forty years. But as he accepts the mis
was still conscious that he deserved sion of Constanti-
another audience, and another theatre, A. D. 378. Nov.
he accepted, with no unworthy ambition, the hon-
ourable invitation, which was addressed to him from
the orthodox party of Constantinople. On his ar-
rival in the capital, Gregory was entertained in the
house of a pious and charitable kinsman; the most
spacious room was consecrated to the uses of reli-
gious worship; and the name of Anastasia was
chosen, to express the resurrection of the Nicene
faith. This private conventicle was afterwards
converted into a magnificent church; and the cre-
dulity of the succeeding age was prepared to
believe the miracles and visions, which attested the
presence, or at least the protection, of the Mother of
God.i The pulpit of the Anastasia was the scene of
the labours and triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen;
and, in the space of two years, he experienced all
the spiritual adventures which constitute the pros-
perous or adverse fortunes of a missionary. The
Arians, who were provoked by the boldness of his
enterprise, represented his doctrine, as if he had
preached three distinct and equal deities; and the
devout populace was excited to suppress, by vio-
lence and tumult, the irregular assemblies of the
Athanasian heretics. From the cathedral of St.
Sophia, there issued a motley crowd" of common
beggars, who had forfeited their claim to pity; of
monks, who had the appearance of goats or satyrs;
and of women, more terrible than so many Jezebels."
The doors of the Anastasia were broke open; much
mischief was perpetrated, or attempted, with sticks,
stones, and firebrands; and as a man lost his life in
the affray, Gregory, who was summoned the next
morning before the magistrate, had the satisfaction
of supposing, that he publicly confessed the name of
Christ. After he was delivered from the fear and
danger of a foreign enemy, his infant church was
disgraced and distracted by intestine faction. A
stranger who assumed the name of Maximus,' and
the cloak of a Cynic philosopher, insinuated him-
self into the confidence of Gregory; deceived and
abused his favourable opinion; and forming a

Is all the counsel that we two have shared,
The sister's vows, &c.

Shakespeare had never read the poems of Gregory Nazianzen, he was
ignorant of the Greek language; but his mother-tongue, the language
of nature, is the same in Cappadocia and in Britain.

g This unfavourable portrait of Sasima is drawn by Gregory Nazianzen, (tom. ii. de Vitâ suâ, p. 7, 8.) Its precise situation, forty-nine miles from Archilais, and thirty-two from Tyana, is fixed in the Itinerary of Antoninus, (p. 144. edit. Wesseling.)

h The name of Nazianzus has been immortalized by Gregory; but his native town, under the Greek or Roman title of Diocæsarea, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 692.) is mentioned by Pliny, (vi. 3.) Ptolemy, and Hierocles. (Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 709.) It appears to have been situate on the edge of Isauria.

i See Ducange, Constant. Christiana, 1. iv. p. 141, 142. The Bera duvauis of Sozomen (1. vii. c. 5.) is interpreted to mean the Virgin Mary.

k Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 432, &c.) diligently collects, enlarges, and explains, the oratorical and poetical hints of Gregory himself.

1 He pronounced an oration (tom. i. Orat. xxiii. p. 409.) in his praise; but after their quarrel, the name of Maximus was changed into that of Heron, (see Jerom, tom. i. in Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 301.) I touch slightly on these obscure and personal squabbles.