enemies. He seated
Valentinian on the throne of Milan; and, without stipulating any present
or future advantages, restored him to the absolute dominion of all the
provinces, from which he had been driven by the arms of Maximus. To
the restitution of his ample patrimony, Theodosius added the free and
generous gift of the countries beyond the Alps, which his successful
valor had recovered from the assassin of Gratian. [101] Satisfied
with the glory which he had acquired, by revenging the death of his
benefactor, and delivering the West from the yoke of tyranny, the
emperor returned from Milan to Constantinople; and, in the peaceful
possession of the East, insensibly relapsed into his former habits
of luxury and indolence. Theodosius discharged his obligation to
the brother, he indulged his conjugal tenderness to the sister, of
Valentinian; and posterity, which admires the pure and singular glory
of his elevation, must applaud his unrivalled generosity in the use of
victory.

[Footnote 101: It is the niggard praise of Zosimus himself, (l. iv.
p. 267.) Augustin says, with some happiness of expression,
Valentinianum.... misericordissima veneratione restituit.] The empress
Justina did not long survive her return to Italy; and, though she
beheld the triumph of Theodosius, she was not allowed to influence the
government of her son. [102] The pernicious attachment to the Arian
sect, which Valentinian had imbibed from her example and instructions,
was soon erased by the lessons of a more orthodox education. His growing
zeal for the faith of Nice, and his filial reverence for the character
and authority of Ambrose, disposed the Catholics to entertain the most
favorable opinion of the virtues of the young emperor of the West. [103]
They applauded his chastity and temperance, his contempt of pleasure,
his application to business, and his tender affection for his two
sisters; which could not, however, seduce his impartial equity to
pronounce an unjust sentence against the meanest of his subjects. But
this amiable youth, before he had accomplished the twentieth year of
his age, was oppressed by domestic treason; and the empire was again
involved in the horrors of a civil war. Arbogastes, [104] a gallant
soldier of the nation of the Franks, held the second rank in the
service of Gratian. On the death of his master he joined the standard
of Theodosius; contributed, by his valor and military conduct, to
the destruction of the tyrant; an