Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book I Chapter IX
by Venerable Bede
HOW DURING THE REIGN OF GRATIAN, MAXIMUS, BEING CREATED EMPEROR IN BRITAIN, RETURNED
INTO GAUL WITH A MIGHTY ARMY. [A.D. 383.]
IN the year of our Lord's incarnation, 377, Gratian, the fortieth from Augustus, held
the empire six years after the death of Valens; though he had long before reigned with his
uncle Valens, and his brother Valentinian. Finding the state of the commonwealth much
impaired, and almost gone to ruin, he looked around for some one whose abilities might
remedy the existing evils; and his choice fell on Theodosius, a Spaniard. Him he invested
at Sirmium with the royal robes, and made him emperor of Thrace and the Eastern provinces.
At which time, Maximus, a man of valour and probity, and worthy to be an emperor, if he
had not broken the oath of allegiance which he had taken, was made emperor by the army,
passed over into Gaul, and there by treachery slew the Emperor Gratian, who was in a
consternation at his sudden invasion, and attempting to escape into Italy. His brother,
Valentinian, expelled from Italy, fled into the East, where he was entertained by
Theodosius with fatherly affection, and soon restored to the empire. Maximus the tyrant,
being shut up in Aquileia, was there taken and put to death.
