don, who had almost
despaired of their safety, threw open their gates; and as soon as
Theodosius had obtained from the court of Treves the important aid of a
military lieutenant, and a civil governor, he executed, with wisdom and
vigor, the laborious task of the deliverance of Britain. The vagrant
soldiers were recalled to their standard; an edict of amnesty dispelled
the public apprehensions; and his cheerful example alleviated the
rigor of martial discipline. The scattered and desultory warfare of the
Barbarians, who infested the land and sea, deprived him of the glory
of a signal victory; but the prudent spirit, and consummate art, of the
Roman general, were displayed in the operations of two campaigns, which
successively rescued every part of the province from the hands of a
cruel and rapacious enemy. The splendor of the cities, and the security
of the fortifications, were diligently restored, by the paternal care of
Theodosius; who with a strong hand confined the trembling Caledonians
to the northern angle of the island; and perpetuated, by the name and
settlement of the new province of Valentia, the glories of the reign of
Valentinian. [118] The voice of poetry and panegyric may add, perhaps
with some degree of truth, that the unknown regions of Thule were
stained with the blood of the Picts; that the oars of Theodosius dashed
the waves of the Hyperborean ocean; and that the distant Orkneys were
the scene of his naval victory over the Saxon pirates. [119] He left
the province with a fair, as well as splendid, reputation; and was
immediately promoted to the rank of master-general of the cavalry, by
a prince who could applaud, without envy, the merit of his servants.
In the important station of the Upper Danube, the conqueror of Britain
checked and defeated the armies of the Alemanni, before he was chosen to
suppress the revolt of Africa.

[Footnote 118: Ammianus has concisely represented (xx. l. xxvi. 4,
xxvii. 8 xxviii. 3) the whole series of the British war.]

[Footnote 119: Horrescit.... ratibus.... impervia Thule. Ille.... nec
falso nomine Pictos Edomuit. Scotumque vago mucrone secutus, Fregit
Hyperboreas remis audacibus undas. Claudian, in iii. Cons. Honorii, ver.
53, &c--Madurunt Saxone fuso Orcades: incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule,
Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne. In iv. Cons. Hon. ver. 31, &c.
-----See likewise Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 5.) But it is not easy
to appreciate the intrinsic valu