brother Valentinian. The death of the emperor was followed by that of
his powerful general Mellobaudes, the king of the Franks; who
maintained, to the last moment of his life, the ambiguous reputation,
which is the just recompense of obscure and subtle policy. These
executions might be necessary to the public safety: but the successful
usurper, whose power was acknowledged by all the provinces of the
West, had the merit, and the satisfaction, of boasting, that, except
those who had perished by the chance of war, his triumph was not
stained by the blood of the Romans.

The events of this revolution had passed in such rapid succession,
that it would have been impossible for Theodosius to march to the
relief of his benefactor, before he received the intelligence of his
defeat and death. During the season of sincere grief, or ostentatious
mourning, the Eastern emperor was interrupted by the arrival of the
principal chamberlain of Maximus; and the choice of a venerable old
man, for an office which was usually exercised by eunuchs, announced
to the court of Constantinople the gravity and temperance of the
British usurper. The ambassador condescended to justify, or excuse,
the conduct of his master; and to protest, in specious language, that
the murder of Gratian had been perpetrated, without his knowledge or
consent, by the precipitate zeal of the soldiers. But he proceeded, in
a firm and equal tone, to offer Theodosius the alternative of peace,
or war. The speech of the ambassador concluded with a spirited
declaration, that although Maximus, as a Roman, and as the father of
his people, would choose rather to employ his forces in the common
defence of the republic, he was armed and prepared, if his friendship
should be rejected, to dispute, in a field of battle, the empire of
the world. An immediate and peremptory answer was required; but it was
extremely difficult for Theodosius to satisfy, on this important