Imperial colleagues were exhibited to the veneration of the people;
nor should it be lightly supposed, that, in the moment of a solemn
reconciliation, Theodosius secretly cherished the intention of perfidy
and revenge.

The contempt of Gratian for the Roman soldiers had exposed him to the
fatal effects of their resentment. His profound veneration for the
Christian clergy was rewarded by the applause and gratitude of a
powerful order, which has claimed, in every age, the privilege of
dispensing honors, both on earth and in heaven. The orthodox bishops
bewailed his death, and their own irreparable loss; but they were soon
comforted by the discovery, that Gratian had committed the sceptre of
the East to the hands of a prince, whose humble faith and fervent
zeal, were supported by the spirit and abilities of a more vigorous
character. Among the benefactors of the church, the fame of
Constantine has been rivalled by the glory of Theodosius. If
Constantine had the advantage of erecting the standard of the cross,
the emulation of his successor assumed the merit of subduing the Arian
heresy, and of abolishing the worship of idols in the Roman world.
Theodosius was the first of the emperors baptized in the true faith of
the Trinity. Although he was born of a Christian family, the maxims,
or at least the practice, of the age, encouraged him to delay the
ceremony of his initiation; till he was admonished of the danger of
delay, by the serious illness which threatened his life, towards the
end of the first year of his reign. Before he again took the field
against the Goths, he received the sacrament of baptism from Acholius,
the orthodox bishop of Thessalonica: and, as the emperor ascended from
the holy font, still glowing with the warm feelings of regeneration,
he dictated a solemn edict, which proclaimed his own faith, and
prescribed the religion of his subjects. "It is our pleasure (such is