more than a match for the steady valour of the Germans and Gauls. They spurred their foaming horses into the river, dashed through the torrent, and rushed impetuously upon the enemy, who were drawn up to meet them. After a sharp conflict, the soldiers of Maximus threw down their arms; and their leader hurrying away in flight to Aquileia, was quickly followed by the victors.

10. He had scarcely time to reach the city, and close the gates behind him, when his pursuers arrived, to claim their prey. The soldiers speedily forced an entrance. Maximus

was soon delivered into their hands, and, being stripped of all his ensigns of royalty, he was led as a malefactor to the camp of Theodosius. The Emperor pitied the victim; but a sense of duty, as well as the zeal of the soldiers, constrained him to refuse the prayer of the supplicant for mercy, and to yield him up as a sacrifice to the memory of Gratian, and to the just resentment of the army. He was quickly withdrawn from the Emperor's presence, and his head severed from his body. His son Victor, on whom he had vainly bestowed the title of Augustus, shared also his father's fate; and a formidable civil war was thus put a stop to, with less difficulty and bloodshed than might have been apprehended (A.D. 388).

11. Although on this occasion the generosity of Theodosius was not shewn in sparing the life of the usurper--an action that would have been inconsistent with the peace of the empire yet, in other respects, it was displayed in a remarkable manner. The adherents of his rival were, for the most part, treated with forbearance; and only those who had been the most active supporters of his cause were executed as traitors. The sufferers in this war, who had been deprived of their lands, not only found these restored to them, but received also a donation fully equal to the losses which they had sustained. A circumstance still more deserving of praise, in the character of Theodosius as a Roman emperor and a conqueror, was his treament of the remaining family of Maximus. By his liberality the mother of his enemy was furnished with ample means of subsistence, and her daughters were generously educated.

12. At the conclusion of this war, the Emperor retired with his family to the palace of Milan, which had now be come the favourite residence of the princes of the West.

Here he spent the winter months, attending closely to the condition of the provinces, which had suffered from the invasion of Maximus. The situation of this city at the foot of the Alps, made it a convenient place of residence for the emperors, by enabling them to watch more closely than they could do at Rome, the motions of the barbarian tribes of Germany. On this account it had become, from the beginning of the fourth century (when the empire was partitioned), a place of more frequent resort with the sovereigns of Rome, than even the capital itself. Its splendour soon vied with the two imperial cities, and it was strongly fortified with a double wall. From the time of this visit, Milan also rose into high esteem with Theodosius; and he divided his time between it, and the great capital of the East. But the ancient home of the empire and its glories could not be forgotten, and early in the spring he made his triumphal entry into Rome as a conqueror, and in the manner of his great predecessors.

13. During this visit to the ancient capital, Theodosius was not unmindful of the first duty, which, as a Christian prince, he owed to that people whom he governed. About eight years previously (A.D. 380), he had been solemnly baptized in the faith of the Holy Trinity, by Acholius, the Bishop of Thessalonica. From that period, he declared his determination, not only to uphold the orthodox faith which he had embraced, in opposition to the heresy of Arius and his followers, but also to discountenance the profession of Paganism. An edict was soon after published at Constantinople (A.D. 381), which forbad those who refused to subscribe to the Nicene Creed, from any longer possessing the churches, which they had enjoyed the use of, under the patronage of the Arian Emperors, Constantius and Valens. For the space of 40 years (A.D. 340-380), Arianism had been dominant in the imperial city of the East-and in its hundred churches, and even among its mechanics and slaves, the profound doctrine of the Trinity had become a subject of bitter controversy in the pulpit, or of vulgar dispute in the streets. Those who believed in this doctrine as it is now taught and believed, for the most part throughout the Christian world, were here at this time, subjected to grievous oppressions, and could only meet for the common purposes of religion in conventicles, or places

not recognised by the laws. But the day of retribution came with the reign of Theodosius, and in the space of fifteen years (A.D. 380-395) he issued at least fifteen edicts, in defence, or maintenance of that creed, which was henceforth to take its place throughout the Christian church as the orthodox faith. Arianism now experienced the fate of a proscribed religion, was branded as heresy, and its followers subjected to penalties, though not severer than had been inflicted upon the professors of the Nicene Creed, in the days of Valens. They were excluded from the churches which had been usurped for a time, and in the room of Damophilus, the Arian Bishop of Constantinople, Gregory of Nazienzum was placed for a short interval in that post of honour (A.D. 381)—a Father highly distinguished in the annals of the church for the eloquence and piety of his writings; but which shone forth most conspicuously from that retirement to which he was driven back, to escape from the rage of party factions that unhappily embroiled the church at this period.

14. The zeal of the Emperor for the orthodox faith was still further shewn, in his summoning a council of one hundred and fifty bishops to meet at the imperial city (A.D. 381). By the great majority of these it was determined that the doctrines of the Catholic church were truly embodied in the creed of Nice. But the Deity of the Holy Ghost was now also declared to be a part of the faith of a true Christian, in opposition to the tenets of Macedonius, who had denied the perfect equality of the third person of the Trinity with the second. Among the general councils of the church, this of Constantinople takes the second rank.

15. While the Emperor thus laboured to correct the divisions of the church in the East, his attention had been also turned to the subject of Paganism. In the same year that this great council was held, it was made criminal by law, for any to apostatize from Christianity. During the reign of Valens, when the persecution was carried on by a joint concurrence of Arians, Jews, and Gentiles, many had taken shelter in the outward profession of the old religion. To prevent this hypocrisy in future, the edict of the Emperor deprived all such apostates of that which was accounted the great privilege and birthright of a Roman—the power of making a will. About the end of the same year

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(A.D. 381), it was also forbidden, under pain of proscription, to offer any of the sacrifices used in divination; for to these the Romans were still very much addicted, and the inspection of the entrails of victims, to obtain a knowledge of futurity, was one of the strongholds of Paganism in the minds of the people. It was therefore enacted, that none should approach the temples for any such purpose; that the will of the Supreme Deity should not be sought after by execrable charms and conjurations, but that he should be worshipped and invoked only by pure and chaste prayers.

16. After the defeat of Maximus, measures of a still more decided character were resolved upon, to discourage and destroy the remaining superstitions. Cynegius, the prætorian prefect of the East, received a special commission, by which he was empowered to shut up the heathen temples, to destroy the images of idolatrous worship, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to confiscate all the property which had belonged to them, for the benefit of the Emperor, the army, and the church (A.D. 387). In various other parts of the Empire, the imperial commands were to the same effect; and they were everywhere zealously executed. A few years earlier than this, Martin, bishop of Tours, was a great destroyer of idols, and of the consecrated trees throughout his diocese ; and in Syria, Marcellus also about this time waged an unceasing warfare in Apamea, against all the relics of heathen superstition. In one of these assaults, this excellent bishop was met by a body of infuriated rustics, and fell a martyr to the cause in which he was engaged. Shortly after this (A.D. 389), the same determination to carry out the designs of the Emperor, displayed itself in Egypt-a land which had long been the fountain of impurity and superstition to all the nations of the East and West. The destruction of the great temple of Serapis, "the glory and the shame" of that country, forms a remarkable event in the history of this age. It was considered the pride of Alexandria, and stood on an artificial mount raised by a hundred steps above the level of the city. A quadrangular portico surrounded it; and its stately halls were filled with statues, which exhibited in perfection all the arts of sculpture. Here, too, were collected all the treasures of ancient learning. The library of the Ptolemys was replaced by 200,000 volumes-the whole collection

which had been brought from Pergamus, and the splendid gift of Marc Antony, to Queen Cleopatra. It is to be regretted, that so noble a collection should have been pillaged or destroyed, in the wreck now made of this chosen shrine of idolatry. But our sympathies can be but little for the degrading objects which marked the superstition of a place, where these treasures were deposited. Of these, the chief was an image here worshipped under the name of Serapis ; whose temple and its recesses beneath, had been the scene of pollutions, typified by the statue of the god himself. He was represented in a sitting posture, having on his head a basket or bushel, and holding in his right hand an emblematic monster, with the head and body of a serpent, branching out into three tails, each of which were terminated with a dog, a lion, or a wolf. Animated by the presence of Theophilus, the bishop, a Christian soldier levelled a vigorous blow at the statue, which cleft his jaws, and set free a large number of mice, whe ran out from their habitation within the sacred image. Ridicule hastened on the work of destruction, after it had begun; and the dismembered limbs of the time-honoured idol, were speedily dragged about the streets in derision, and at last, amidst the shouts of the populace, consigned to the flames in the amphitheatre.

17. This and the rest of the ruined temples, were speedily occupied by the foundations of Christian churches. Over that of Serapis, was erected a building dedicated to the honour of the Martyrs, and consecrated by the supposed relics of John the Baptist. On that of Saturn, rose another called after Arcadius, the son of the Emperor. It was hoped by the Pagans, who shewed much displeasure and opposition to these proceedings, that the Nile would avenge the violated dignity of the gods, and refuse to bestow his customary gifts upon those who had forbidden the usual sacrifices to the river deity. At first some circumstances favoured this hope; and a party of the people becoming mutinous, it was thought expedient to appeal to the Emperor, who wisely replied, that it was better to discharge our duty to the true God, than to enjoy the streams of the Nile, by endeavouring to appease him with charms and sacrifices, and the defilement of his waters (as had been customary) with human blood. But after a short delay, the river rose to such an unusual height, as to occasion the fear of a destructive, rather

which