Theodosius I, Roman emperor, whose services to the State and the Church earned for him the title of " the Great," was descended from an ancient family, and born about A.D. 346 at Cauca or at Italica, in Spain. His father was Comes Theodosius, the soldier who re- stored Britain to the empire. He was trained in the camp of his father, and entered on a military career, ap- proving his talents in a campaign in Moesia in 374, where he defeated the Sarmatians; but he renounced his brilliant prospects when the emperor Gratian caused the elder Theodosius to be beheaded at Carthage in 376, and retired to his estates, where he engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits. The incursions of the Goths soon rendered his services necessary in the field. Gratian called him to fill the place of his colleague Valens, who had fallen at Hadrianople, and he was proclaimed Au- gustus Jan. 19, 379. He received the government of the East. His conduct of the war was distinguished by the prudence with which he handled the di;*pirited troops, so that victory was gained without the fighting of pitched battles. On his return he passed through a severe sickness, and, in the belief that his end was near, received baptism at the hands of Ascolius, the orthodox bishop of Thessaloiiica. His baptism was followed, Feb. 28, 380, bj- an edict which imposed the Nicene Creed on his subjects as the faith of the land. Other laws, having regard to the improvement of morals and the welfare of the State, followed on his restoration to health. The Goths were subdued in successive campaigns, and admitted into the empire as allies.
At the time of the accession of Theodosius, Constan- tinople was the principal seat of Arianism. Demophi- lus, the Arian prelate, preferred to resign his dignities rather than subscribe the Nicene Creed, and Gregory of Nazianzum was invited to become his successor. He declined the place, but induced the emperor to deprive the Arians of the possession of all churches and oth- er property, and to expel them from the metropolis. The Eunomians experienced similar treatment. The Jlanichajan heresy was made punisliable with death af- ter the Second Oecumenical Council had, in 381, con- firmed the Nicene Creed and condemned all heretics. Theodosius also exempted bishops from obedience to the civil tribunals; and to his reign belongs the infamy of first establisliing inquisitors of the faith. Measures were also taken to prevent the sacrifice of bloody offer- ings and the practice of augurj"^ among the adherents of heathenism, which induced such votaries to retire from the cities to more distant and unimportant places. This
THEODOSUTS
322
TIIEODOTIOX
pave rise to the terms pnami and pnganhm in popular usage when si)eakiiig of the iiolytheistic religions.
In the year '6>ib tlie (irniccss Tulcheria ilieil, and soon afterwards the empress FlaciUa, panegyrics being pronounced in tlieir honor by tirogory of Nyssa ; and in the following year Theodosius niarricd Galla, the sister of Valcntinian II, emjieror of the West. The latter, with liis motlier, was expelled from Italy in 387 by i\[axinius. tlie usurper who ruled in Spain, (iaul, and IJritaiii ; and Tiieodosius, after he had heard that Max- iunis favored the (lagans, inarclied against anil defeated him. Me entered Home on June 13, 389. In 391 oc- curred the famous incident in which Ambrose, the arch- bishop of Lilian, forbade the emperor to enter his church, and reipiired of him the acknowledgment of his guilt in having delivered over to death 7000 (chiefly inno- cent) inhabitants of Thessalonica. in retaliation for the murder of his governor, Boteric. The emperor laid aside the insignia of his rank, and entreated pardon for his great sin before the congregation in the Church of Mi- lan ; and he issued an edict by which an interval of thirty days was lixed between every severe sentence and its execution.
Coin of Theodosius 1.
The affairs of the Western Empire were at length set- tled, and Valentinian re-established on the throne, so that Theodosius w'as at liberty to return to his own cap- ital. On the way, he delivered Macedonia from the robbers who lurked in its forests and swamps, and en- tered Constantinople in November, 391. Valentinian, however, was slain on May 15, 392, probably at the instigation of Arbogastes, a soldier of Frankish race, whose influence with the army made him more power- ful than his lord. Eugenius, a learned rhetorician and skilfid courtier, the mere instrument of Arbogastes, be- came emperor. Theodosius met the usurper in the plains of Aquileia, and achieved a victor\'^ which de- stroyed both Eugenius and Arbogastes, and secured the submission of the West. Four months later Theodosius died, Jan. 17, 39.5, of dropsy. His body was brought to Constantinople, and buried in tlie mausoleum of Con- stantine the Great.
See Zosimus, //w/. lib. iv, passim ; Claudian, L. Sereii. 50 sq. ; De J]' Cons. Hororii, etc.; Pacatus, Panegyi: Theod. Auf/.; Thcm'isluis, Graft. 5, 6, It!, 18; Sozomen, //ist. Eccl. lib. V, vii ; Socrates, lib. v ; Theodoret, Hist. EccL lib. V ; Ammianus INIarcellinus, lib. xxii, xxix ; Je- rome, ad ai).379, and />e Viris ///m.sV?-. cxxxiii, 103; Am- brose, Epp. 17, 21, 27, 28, 51, 07, etc. ; id. De Obitn Theod. passim ; Idathius, Chron. p. 10 sq., and Fast. p. 1 10 ; Oro- sius, lib. vii ; Cod. Theod. passim ; Augustine, De Civitate Dei, lib. v; Rufinus, ///.«/. /sec/. H, vi; Prosper, Chron.; Cedrenus, p. 552 sq. ; Greg. Naz. Ctirm. \\ 21 ; nX.Orat. 25 ; Theophanes, p. 105 sq. ; Libanius, Orat.pro Templis, ed. Keiske; >iyvamAc\\u», ICpist. x, 17 sq. ; (ireg. Nj-ss. 0pp. torn, iii, ed. Paris; Evagrius, Hist. Eccl. i, 20; Eunap. .^des, c. 4, p. 60 sq.; Paulin, Vita Arnbros. c. 24; Philo- storgius, II, xi ; Ambrose, De Valent. Ohitu Cons. p. 1 173. Also Flechier, //ist. de Theodose le Grand (Paris, 1680, 8vo; Tillemont, //ist.des Emperevrs,\a\.v ; Gibbon, ch. iv and v; Baumgarten, Allf/em. Weltf/esch. (Halle, 1754) vol. xiv; Midler [P. E.],Co/«OTe«^//^5^rfe . . . T/ieodos. (Gott. 1797 sq.); Kiicliger, De Statu Pac/anoi-um sub Impp. Chi-istianis ; Suffken, De Theod, M. etc. (Lugd. 1828) ; Pauly, Real-Encij/dop. s. v. ; Ullmann, Gre(jor r. Xazianz (Darmst. 1825) ; Olivier, De Theod. M. Consti- tutioitibus (Lugd. Bat. 1835) ; Schnickh, ('hristl. Kirchen- gesch. vol. vii ; (Jieseler, K irc/tenr/esch. vol. i ; Smith, Diet. ofBiog. and Mythol. s. v. ; Herzog, Reul-Encylclop. s, v.