perfidious arts of Maximus;
but they wanted time, and force, and resolution, to stand against the
Gauls and Germans, either in the field, or within the walls of a large
and disaffected city. Flight was their only hope, Aquileia their only
refuge; and as Maximus now displayed his genuine character, the brother
of Gratian might expect the same fate from the hands of the same
assassin. Maximus entered Milan in triumph; and if the wise archbishop
refused a dangerous and criminal connection with the usurper, he might
indirectly contribute to the success of his arms, by inculcating, from
the pulpit, the duty of resignation, rather than that of resistance.
[74] The unfortunate Justina reached Aquileia in safety; but she
distrusted the strength of the fortifications: she dreaded the event
of a siege; and she resolved to implore the protection of the great
Theodosius, whose power and virtue were celebrated in all the countries
of the West. A vessel was secretly provided to transport the Imperial
family; they embarked with precipitation in one of the obscure harbors
of Venetia, or Istria; traversed the whole extent of the Adriatic and
Ionian Seas; turned the extreme promontory of Peloponnesus; and, after
a long, but successful navigation, reposed themselves in the port of
Thessalonica. All the subjects of Valentinian deserted the cause of
a prince, who, by his abdication, had absolved them from the duty of
allegiance; and if the little city of Aemona, on the verge of Italy, had
not presumed to stop the career of his inglorious victory, Maximus would
have obtained, without a struggle, the sole possession of the Western
empire.

[Footnote 72: The modest censure of Sulpicius (Dialog. iii. 15) inflicts
a much deeper wound than the declamation of Pacatus, (xii. 25, 26.)]

[Footnote 73: Esto tutior adversus hominem, pacis involurco tegentem,
was the wise caution of Ambrose (tom. ii. p. 891) after his return from
his second embassy.]

[Footnote 74: Baronius (A.D. 387, No. 63) applies to this season of
public distress some of the penitential sermons of the archbishop.]

Instead of inviting his royal guests to take the palace of
Constantinople, Theodosius had some unknown reasons to fix their
residence at Thessalonica; but these reasons did not proceed from
contempt or indifference, as he speedily made a visit to that city,
accompanied by the greatest part of his court and senate. After the
first tender expressions of friendship and