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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Theodusus Biography THEODOSIUS I, surnamed THE GREAT, Emperor 379-395, was of Spanish descent, and was born either at Italica, or, more probably, at Cauca, near Segovia, about 346. His father, also named Theodosius, was the great general of the Roman Empire, who, after freeing South Britain from the Caledonians, and annihilating the formidable rebellion of the Moor Firmus, was beheaded at Carthage in 376. Theodosius accompanied his father in his British campaigns, and afterward, by routing the Sarmatians, saved Mœsia from devastation, but retired from active service after his father's murder, and took up the care of his patrimonial lands in Spain. But, on the defeat and death of Valens (q.v.), his colleague, Gratianus (q.v.), feeling his inability to sustain alone the cares of empire, intrusted to Theodosius, Jan. 19, 379, the administration of Thrace, Dacia, Macedonia, Egypt, and the East, and especially the protection of the Empire against the Goths. Theodosius found it most prudent to sow jealousy and dissension among the Goths by promises and bribes, and, after a four years' so-called campaign, succeeded in pacifying the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths retreating towards Scythia. The latter returned in 386, their ranks swelled by Scythians, but were totally routed in attempting to go across the Danube, and the survivors were transported to Phrygia and Lydia. See GOTHS. In 387 Theodosius undertook to restore to the throne of the Western Empire Valentinian II (whose sister Galla he married), the brother of Gratian, who had been expelled by Maximus, and after a successful contest captured Maximus and put him to death at Aquileia (388). In 392 the suspicious death of Valentinian and the elevation of the puppet Eugenius by Arbogastes, the real ruler of the West, again made Theodosius interfere; after two years of preparation his army gained a complete victory over the army of the West, and the two portions of the Roman Empire were again united under one ruler. The union lasted only four months, owing to the death of Theodosius, Jan. 17, 395. Though he professed the orthodox Christian faith, Theodosius was not baptized till 380, and his behavior after that stamps him as a cruel and vindictive persecutor. His humiliation before St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, for the massacre at Thessalonica, was regarded by the Church as one of its greatest victories over the temporal power. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 181. |