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And on this account, Theodosius not only preserved during the
lifetime of Gratian that fidelity which was due to him, but also,
after his death, he, like a true Christian, took his little brother
Valentinian under his protection, as joint emperor, after he had been
expelled by Maximus, the murderer of his father. He guarded him with
paternal affection, though he might without any difficulty have got rid
of him, being entirely destitute of all resources, had he been
animated with the desire of extensive empire, and not with the ambition
of being a benefactor. It was therefore a far greater pleasure to
him, when he had adopted the boy, and preserved to him his imperial
dignity, to console him by his very humanity and kindness.
Afterwards, when that success was rendering Maximus terrible,
Theodosius, in the midst of his perplexing anxieties, was not drawn
away to follow the suggestions of a sacrilegious and unlawful
curiosity, but sent to John, whose abode was in the desert of
Egypt, for he had learned that this servant of God (whose fame was
spreading abroad) was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and from him
he received assurance of victory. Immediately the slayer of the tyrant
Maximus, with the deepest feelings of compassion and respect,
restored the boy Valentinianus to his share in the empire from which he
had been driven. Valentinianus being soon after slain by secret
assassination, or by some other plot or accident, Theodosius, having
again received a response from the prophet, and placing entire
confidence in it, marched against the tyrant Eugenius, who had been
unlawfully elected to succeed that emperor, and defeated his very
powerful army, more by prayer than by the sword. Some soldiers who
were at the battle reported to me that all the missiles they were
throwing were snatched from their hands by a vehement wind, which blew
from the direction of Theodosius' army upon the enemy; nor did it
only drive with greater velocity the darts which were hurled against
them, but also turned back upon their own bodies the darts which they
themselves were throwing. And therefore the poet Claudian, although
an alien from the name of Christ, nevertheless says in his praises of
him, "O prince, too much beloved by God, for thee Ĉolus pours
armed tempests from their caves; for thee the air fights, and the
winds with one accord obey thy bugles." But the victor, as he had
believed and predicted, overthrew the statues of Jupiter, which had
been, as it were, consecrated by I know not what kind of rites
against him, and set up in the Alps. And the thunderbolts of these
statues, which were made of gold, he mirthfully and graciously
presented to his couriers who (as the joy of the occasion permitted)
were jocularly saying that they would be most happy to be struck by such
thunderbolts The sons of his own enemies, whose fathers had been slain
not so much by his orders as by the vehemence of war, having fled for
refuge to a church, though they were not yet Christians, he was
anxious, taking advantage of the occasion, to bring over to
Christianity, and treated them with Christian love. Nor did he
deprive them of their property, but, besides allowing them to retain
it, bestowed on them additional honors. He did not permit private
animosities to affect the treatment of any man after the war. He was
not like Cinna, and Marius, and Sylla, and other such men, who
wished not to finish civil wars even when they were finished, but
rather grieved that they had arisen at all, than wished that when they
were finished they should harm any one. Amid all these events, from
the very commencement of his reign, he did not cease to help the
troubled church against the impious by most just and merciful laws,
which the heretical Valens, favoring the Arians, had vehemently
afflicted. Indeed, he rejoiced more to be a member of this church
than he did to be a king upon the earth. The idols of the Gentiles he
everywhere ordered to be overthrown, understanding well that not even
terrestrial gifts are placed in the power of demons, but in that of the
true God. And what could be more admirable than his religious
humility, when, compelled by the urgency of certain of his intimates,
he avenged the grievous crime of the Thessalonians, which at the
prayer of the bishops he had promised to pardon, and, being laid hold
of by the discipline of the church, did penance in such a way that the
sight of his imperial loftiness prostrated made the people who were
interceding for him weep more than the consciousness of offence had made
them fear it when enraged? These and other similar good works, which
it would be long to tell, he carried with him from this world of time,
where the greatest human nobility and loftiness are but vapor. Of
these works the reward is eternal happiness, of which God is the
giver, though only to those who are sincerely pious. But all other
blessings and privileges of this life, as the world itself, light,
air, earth, water, fruits, and the soul of man himself, his body,
senses, mind, life, He lavishes on good and bad alike. And among
these blessings is also to be reckoned the possession of an empire,
whose extent He regulates according to the requirements of His
providential government at various times. Whence, I see, we must
now answer those who, being confuted and convicted by the most manifest
proofs, by which it is shown that for obtaining these terrestrial
things, which are all the foolish desire to have, that multitude of
false gods is of no use, attempt to assert that the gods are to be
worshipped with a view to the interest, not of the present life, but
of that which is to come after death. For as to those who, for the
sake of the friendship of this world, are willing to worship vanities,
and do not grieve that they are left to their puerile understandings,
I think they have been sufficiently answered in these five books; of
which books, when I had published the first three, and they had begun
to come into the hands of many, I heard that certain persons were
preparing against them an answer of some kind or other in writing.
Then it was told me that they had already written their answer, but
were waiting a time when they could publish it without danger. Such
persons I would advise not to desire what cannot be of any advantage to
them; for it is very easy for a man to seem to himself to have answered
arguments, when he has only been unwilling to be silent. For what is
more loquacious than vanity? And though it be able, if it like, to
shout more loudly than the truth, it is not, for all that, more
powerful than the truth. But let men consider diligently all the
things that we have said, and if, perchance, judging without party
spirit, they shall clearly perceive that they are such things as may
rather be shaken than torn up by their most impudent garrulity, and,
as it were, satirical and mimic levity, let them restrain their
absurdities, and let them choose rather to be corrected by the wise
than to be lauded by the foolish. For if they are waiting an
opportunity, not for liberty to speak the truth, but for license to
revile, may not that befall them which Tully says concerning some
one, "Oh, wretched man! who was at liberty to sin?" Wherefore,
whoever he be who deems himself happy because of license to revile, he
would be far happier if that were not allowed him at all; for he might
all the while, laying aside empty boast, be contradicting those to
whose views he is opposed by way of free consultation with them, and be
listening, as it becomes him, honorably, gravely, candidly, to all
that can be adduced by those whom he consults by friendly disputation.
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