The Illness and Death of Theodosius the Great

The anxiety and exertion of this war brought the emperor Theodosius into bodily illness. Believing that the disease which had struck him would prove fatal, he became more concerned about public affairs than about his own life, considering how often great disasters overtake the people after the death of their ruler. So he hastily summoned his son Honorius from Constantinople, wishing above all to set in order the state of things in the Western parts of the empire. After his son arrived at Milan, he seemed to recover a little and gave orders for games in the Hippodrome to celebrate his victory. Before dinner he was fairly well and watched the games. But after he had dined he suddenly became too ill to return to them, and he sent his son to preside in his place. When night came on he died. It was the seventeenth of January, in the consulship of Olybrius and Probus. This was in the first year of the two hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad. The emperor Theodosius lived sixty years and reigned sixteen. This book, therefore, covers the events of sixteen years and eight months. [a]