Maximus Rises in Britain; Justina against Ambrose; the Murder of Gratian

While the emperor Gratian was occupied at this time with a war against the Alemanni, Maximus left Britain intending to seize the imperial power. Valentinian was then living in Italy, but since he was under age, the affairs of state were managed by Probus, a praetorian prefect who had formerly been consul. [a]

Justina, the emperor’s mother, had embraced the Arian heresy. She persecuted Ambrose, bishop of Milan, and unsettled the churches by her efforts to bring changes into the Nicene doctrine and to make the form of belief set out at Ariminum prevail. She was angry with Ambrose because he firmly opposed her attempts at innovation, and she told her son that Ambrose had insulted her. Valentinian believed this slander, and, determined to avenge the supposed wrongs done to his mother, he sent a band of soldiers against the church. When they reached the church, they forced their way inside, seized Ambrose, and were about to lead him into exile on the spot, when the people gathered in crowds at the church and showed they were resolved to die rather than allow their priest to be banished. Justina was still more enraged by this. Wanting to carry out her plan by law, she sent for Menivolus, one of the legal secretaries, and ordered him to draw up as quickly as possible an edict confirming the decrees of Ariminum. Menivolus, who was firmly attached to the catholic church, refused to write the document, and the empress tried to bribe him with promises of higher honors. He still refused. Tearing off his belt, he threw it at Justina’s feet and declared that he would neither keep his present office nor accept promotion as the reward of impiety. Since he stood firm in his refusal, others were given the task of drawing up the law. By this law all who held to the doctrines set out at Ariminum and confirmed at Constantinople were encouraged to meet boldly, and death was decreed as the penalty for anyone who hindered this law of the emperor or worked against it. [b]

While the emperor’s mother was planning how to carry out this cruel law, news came of the murder of Gratian through the treachery of Andragathius, the general of Maximus. Andragathius got possession of the imperial carriage and sent word to the emperor that his wife was traveling toward his camp. Gratian, who was young and recently married, and passionately devoted to his wife, hurried across the river without caution. In his eagerness to meet her he fell unawares into the hands of Andragathius, was seized, and shortly afterward was put to death. He was in the twenty-fourth year of his age and had reigned fifteen years. This disaster quieted Justina’s anger against Ambrose. [d]

Maximus meanwhile raised a large army of Britons, the neighboring Gauls, Celts, and other nations, and marched into Italy. The pretext he gave for this was that he wanted to prevent innovations in the ancient form of religion and in the order of the church. In reality he wanted to dispel any suspicion that he was aiming at tyranny. He was watching and scheming for the imperial power in such a way that it might seem he had gained the Roman government by law and not by force. The pressure of the times forced Valentinian to recognize the symbols of Maximus’s rule. But soon afterward, fearing what he might suffer, he fled to Thessalonica with his mother Justina and Probus, the praetorian prefect in Italy. [e]