l
desire to remain ignorant.

The emperor Gratian was far advanced on his march towards the plains
of Hadrianople, when he was informed, at first by the confused voice
of fame, and afterwards by the more accurate reports of Victor and
Richomer, that his impatient colleague had been slain in battle, and
that two thirds of the Roman army were exterminated by the sword of the
victorious Goths. Whatever resentment the rash and jealous vanity of his
uncle might deserve, the resentment of a generous mind is easily subdued
by the softer emotions of grief and compassion; and even the sense of
pity was soon lost in the serious and alarming consideration of the
state of the republic. Gratian was too late to assist, he was too weak
to revenge, his unfortunate colleague; and the valiant and modest youth
felt himself unequal to the support of a sinking world. A formidable
tempest of the Barbarians of Germany seemed ready to burst over the
provinces of Gaul; and the mind of Gratian was oppressed and distracted
by the administration of the Western empire. In this important crisis,
the government of the East, and the conduct of the Gothic war, required
the undivided attention of a hero and a statesman. A subject invested
with such ample command would not long have preserved his fidelity to a
distant benefactor; and the Imperial council embraced the wise and manly
resolution of conferring an obligation, rather than of yielding to an
insult. It was the wish of Gratian to bestow the purple as the reward
of virtue; but, at the age of nineteen, it is not easy for a prince,
educated in the supreme rank, to understand the true characters of his
ministers and generals. He attempted to weigh, with an impartial hand,
their various merits and defects; and, whilst he checked the rash
confidence of ambition, he distrusted the cautious wisdom which
despaired of the republic. As each moment of delay diminished something
of the power and resources of the future sovereign of the East, the
situation of the times would not allow a tedious debate. The choice of
Gratian was soon declared in favor of an exile, whose father, only three
years before, had suffered, under the sanction of his authority, an
unjust and ignominious death. The great Theodosius, a name celebrated in
history, and dear to the Catholic church, was summoned to the Imperial
court, which had gradually retreated from the confines of Thrace to the
more secure station of Sirmium. Five months