VALENTINIAN IL, an infant of four years of age, with his half-brother Gratian, a lad of about seventeen, became the emperors of the West on the death of their father, Valentinian I., in 375. They made Milan their home; and the empire was nominally divided between them, Gratian taking the trans-Alpine provinces, whilst Italy, Illyricum in part, and Africa were to be under the rule of Valentinian II., or rather of his mother, Justina. Justina was an Arian, and the imperial court at Milan pitted itself against the Catholics, under the famous Ambrose, bishop of that city. But so great was his popularity that the court was decidedly worsted in the contest, and the emperor’s authority materially shaken. In 387 Maximus, who had commanded a Roman army in Britain, and had in 383 (the year of Gratian’s death) made himself master of the northern provinces, crossed the Alps into the valley of the Po and threatened Milan. The emperor and his mother fled to Thessalonica, to Theodosius, the emperor of the East and husband of Galla, Valentinian’s sister. At their entreaty he marched into Italy with an army, decisively defeated Maximus, and set Valentinian once more on the throne (388). He also converted the lad to orthodox Catholicism. Four years later Valentinian was dead. A barbarian warrior, a Frank named Arbogast, who had fought for Gratian and Theodosius, so presumed on his services that Valentinian was provoked into giving him a letter of dismissal. But Arbogast tore the letter up before the emperor’s face and openly defied him. Soon afterwards Valentinian was slain, no doubt by Arbogast’s order, at Vienne in Gaul, while taking part in some athletic sports. Eugenius, a humble dependent of the barbarian, succeeded to the empire of the West, a disgrace noted by the poet ...