The Fall and Death of Maximus

As the emperor marched against the usurper, news of his formidable preparations so alarmed the troops under Maximus that instead of fighting for him they handed him over in chains to the emperor, who had him put to death on the twenty-seventh of August, in the same consulship. Andragathius, who had killed Gratian with his own hand, learning what had happened to Maximus, threw himself into the nearby river and drowned. Then the victorious emperors made their public entry into Rome, accompanied by Honorius, the son of Theodosius, still only a boy, whom his father had sent for from Constantinople as soon as Maximus was defeated. They stayed on at Rome celebrating their festivals of triumph. [a]

During this time the emperor Theodosius showed remarkable mercy toward Symmachus, a man who had held the office of consul and was the head of the senate at Rome. This Symmachus was famous for his eloquence, and many of his speeches, composed in Latin, still survive. But because he had written a speech in praise of Maximus and delivered it before him in public, he was afterward charged with high treason, and to escape the death penalty he took refuge in a church. The emperor’s reverence for religion led him not only to honor the bishops of his own communion but also to treat with consideration those of the Novatians, who held the homoousian creed. So, to oblige Leontius, bishop of the Novatian church at Rome, who pleaded for Symmachus, he graciously pardoned him for that crime. After he had obtained his pardon, Symmachus wrote a speech of apology to the emperor Theodosius. So the war, which at its outset had looked so threatening, was brought to a quick end.