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WHEN he had completed his preparations for war, Theodosius
declared his younger son Honorius emperor, and leaving him to reign at
Constantinople conjointly with Arcadius, who had previously been
appointed emperor, he departed from the East to the West at the head
of his troops. His army consisted not only of Roman soldiers, but of
bands of barbarians from the banks of the Ister. It is said that when
he left Constantinople, he came to the seventh milestone, and went to
pray to God in the church which he had erected in honor of John the
Baptist; and in his name prayed that success might attend the Roman
arms, and besought the Baptist himself to aid him. After offering up
these prayers he proceeded towards Italy, crossed the Alps, and took
the first guard-posts. On descending from the heights of these
mountains, he perceived a plain before him covered with infantry and
cavalry, and became at the same time aware that some of the enemy's
troops were lying in ambush behind him, among the recesses of the
mountains. The advance guard of his army attacked the infantry
stationed in the plain, and a desperate and very doubtful conflict
ensued. Further, when the army surrounded him, he considered that he
had come into the power of men, and could not be saved even by those
who would desire to do so, since those who had been posted in his rear
were seizing the heights; he fell prone upon the earth, and prayed
with tears, and God instantly answered him; for the officers of the
troops stationed in ambush on the height sent to offer him their
services as his allies, provided that he would assign them honorable
posts in his army. As he had neither paper nor ink within reach, he
took up some tablets, and wrote on them the high and befitting
appointments he would confer upon them, provided that they would
fulfill their promise to him. Under these conditions they advanced to
the emperor. The issue did not yet incline to either side, but the
battle was still evenly balanced in the plain, when a tremendous wind
descended into the face of the enemy. It was such an one as we have
never before re corded, and broke up the ranks of the enemies. The
arrows and darts which were sent against the Romans, as if projected
by the opposing ranks, were turned upon the bodies of those who had
cast them; and their shields were wrenched from their hands, and
whirled against them with filth and dust. Standing thus exposed, in a
defenseless condition, to the weapons of the Romans, many of them
perished, while the few who attempted to effect an escape were soon
captured. Eugenius threw himself at the feet of the emperor, and
implored him to spare his life; but while in the act of offering up
these entreaties, a soldier struck off his head. Arbogastes fled
after the battle, and fell by his own hands. It is said that while
the battle was being fought, a demoniac presented himself in the temple
of God which is in the Hebdomos, where the emperor had engaged in
prayer on starting out, and insulted John the Baptist, taunting him
with having his head cut off, and shouted the following words: "You
conquer me, and lay snares for my army." The persons who happened to
be on the spot, and who were waiting impatiently to learn some news of
the war, were amazed, and wrote an account of it on the day that it
occurred, and afterwards ascertained that it was the same day as that
on which the battle had been fought. Such is the history of these
transactions.
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