History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
guilt of rebellion; while the inflexible courage of Ambrose alone
had resisted the claims of successful usurpation. With a manly
freedom, which might have been fatal to any other subject, the
archbishop rejected the gifts of Eugenius, 1201 declined his
correspondence, and withdrew himself from Milan, to avoid the
odious presence of a tyrant, whose downfall he predicted in
discreet and ambiguous language. The merit of Ambrose was
applauded by the conqueror, who secured the attachment of the
people by his alliance with the church; and the clemency of
Theodosius is ascribed to the humane intercession of the
archbishop of Milan. 121
116 (return) [ Claudian (in iv. Cons. Honor. 77, &c.) contrasts
the military plans of the two usurpers:—
.... Novitas audere priorem Suadebat; cautumque dabant exempla
sequentem. Hic nova moliri praeceps: hic quaerere tuta Providus.
Hic fusis; colectis viribus ille. Hic vagus excurrens; hic
claustra reductus Dissimiles, sed morte pares......]
117 (return) [ The Frigidus, a small, though memorable, stream in
the country of Goretz, now called the Vipao, falls into the
Sontius, or Lisonzo, above Aquileia, some miles from the
Adriatic. See D’Anville’s ancient and modern maps, and the Italia
Antiqua of Cluverius, (tom. i. c. 188.)]
118 (return) [ Claudian’s wit is intolerable: the snow was dyed
red; the cold ver smoked; and the channel must have been choked
with carcasses the current had not been swelled with blood.
Confluxit populus: totam pater undique secum Moverat Aurorem;
mixtis hic Colchus Iberis, Hic mitra velatus Arabs, hic crine
decoro Armenius, hic picta Saces, fucataque Medus, Hic gemmata
tiger tentoria fixerat Indus.—De Laud. Stil. l. 145.—M.]
119 (return) [ Theodoret affirms, that St. John, and St. Philip,
appeared to the waking, or sleeping, emperor, on horseback, &c.
This is the first instance of apostolic chivalry, which
afterwards became so popular in Spain, and in the Crusades.]
120 (return) [ Te propter, gelidis Aquilo de monte procellis
Obruit adversas acies; revolutaque tela Vertit in auctores, et
turbine reppulit hastas
O nimium dilecte Deo, cui fundit ab antris Aeolus armatas hyemes;
cui militat Aether, Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.
These famous lines of Claudian (in iii. Cons. Honor. 93, &c. A.D.
396) are alleged by his contemporaries, Augustin and Orosius; who
suppress the Pagan deity of Aeolus, and add some circumstances
from the information of eye-witnesses. Within four months after
the victory, it was compared by Ambrose to the miraculous
victories of Moses and Joshua.]
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