---
title: "Seven Books of History against the Pagans"
author: "Paulus Orosius"
translator: "S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)"
title_ru: "История против язычников"
title_fr: "Histoires contre les païens"
title_de: "Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 169 of 177
url: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169/
cite: "Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026), Seven Books of History against the Pagans, section 169. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169/"
---

# Seven Books of History against the Pagans

*Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)*

Russian: История против язычников · French: Histoires contre les païens · German: Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden

Augustine's pupil tells the whole of world history to prove that the Christian times are not the worst.

## 169. Book 7 · Chapter 35

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1138 from the founding of the City, Theodosius, the forty-first, after Gratian had been killed by Maximus, obtained the empire of the Roman world and remained in it for eleven years, having already reigned for six years in the eastern regions while Gratian was alive.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXXXVIII Theodosius quadragesimus primus interfecto per Maximum Gratiano imperium Romani orbis obtinuit mansitque in eo annis undecim, cum iam in orientis partibus sex annis Gratiano uiuente regnasset.

[¶1] So, moved to civil war by just and necessary causes — since, of the two brothers who were Augusti, the blood of the one who had been killed demanded vengeance, and the misery of the other, in exile, pleaded for his restoration — he placed his hope in God, and hurled himself against the tyrant Maximus, superior in faith alone (for in every comparison of warlike equipment he was far inferior).

> Latin: 2 itaque iustis necessariisque causis ad bellum ciuile permotus, cum e duobus Augustis fratribus et ultionem unius interfecti sanguis exigeret et restitutionem miseria alterius exulantis oraret, posuit in Deo spem suam seseque aduersus Maximum tyrannum sola fide maior - nam longe minor uniuersa apparatus bellici conparatione - proripuit.

[¶2] Maximus had then settled himself at Aquileia as a spectator of his own victory. His count Andragathius was directing the conduct of the war; and when, with very large forces of soldiers and with a strategy surpassing even the strength of those great forces, he had fortified all the approaches through the Alps and along the rivers to an incredible degree, by the ineffable judgement of God, while preparing to forestall and overwhelm the unwary enemy by a naval expedition, he of his own accord abandoned the very barriers he had built.

> Latin: 3 Aquileiae tunc Maximus uictoriae suae spectator insederat. Andragathius comes eius summam belli administrabat: qui cum largissimis militum copiis ipsamque magnarum copiarum fortitudinem praecellente consilio omnes incredibiliter Alpium ac fluminum aditus communisset, ineffabili iudicio Dei, dum nauali expeditione incautum hostem praeuenire et obruere parat, sponte eadem quae obstruxerat claustra deseruit.

[¶3] Thus Theodosius, with no one perceiving it — not to say resisting — crossed the empty Alps, and, arriving unexpectedly at Aquileia, without trickery and without a struggle shut in, captured and killed that great enemy Maximus, a savage man who was exacting tribute and pay even from the most monstrous nations of the Germans by the mere terror of his name.

> Latin: 4 ita Theodosius nemine sentiente, ut non dicam repugnante, uacuas transmisit Alpes atque Aquileiam inprouisus adueniens hostem illum magnum, Maximum, trucem et ab inmanissimis quoque Germanorum gentibus tributa ac stipendia solo terrore nominis exigentem, sine dolo et sine controuersia clausit cepit occidit.

[¶4] Valentinian, restored, took possession of the empire of Italy. Count Andragathius, on learning of the death of Maximus, threw himself headlong from his ship into the waves and was drowned. Theodosius received a bloodless victory, God bringing it about.

> Latin: 5 Valentinianus recepto Italiae potitus imperio est. Andragathius comes cognita Maximi nece praecipitem sese e naui in undas dedit ac suffocatus est. Theodosius incruentam uictoriam Deo procurante suscepit.

[¶5] See how, under Christian kings and in Christian times, civil wars are brought to an end when they cannot be avoided. Victory was reached, the city was broken into, the tyrant was seized. And that is a small thing. See: elsewhere a hostile army was defeated, and the tyrant’s count, more ferocious than the tyrant himself, was driven to his death; such great snares were undone and evaded, such great preparations brought to nothing;

> Latin: 6 Ecce regibus et temporibus Christianis qualiter bella ciuilia, cum uitari nequeunt, transiguntur. ad uictoriam peruentum est, inrupta est ciuitas, correptus tyrannus. et hoc parum est. ecce parte alia uictus hostilis exercitus atque ipso tyranno truculentior comes tyranni ad mortem coactus, tantae dissolutae elusaeque insidiae, tanti apparatus exinaniti sunt:

[¶6] and yet no one laid traps, no one drew up a battle line, no one, finally — if one may say so — drew a sword from its sheath. A most fearful war was concluded without bloodshed up to the victory, and, in the victory, with the death of two men.

> Latin: 7 et tamen nullus dolos struxit, nullus aciem disposuit, postremo nullus, si dici licet, gladium de uagina extulit. formidulosissimum bellum sine sanguine usque ad uictoriam et in uictoria duorum morte confectum est.

[¶7] And lest anyone think this happened by chance — so that the power of God, by which all things are both ordered and judged, being declared by the open display of its testimony, may the more compel the minds of those who clamour against us either to confusion or to faith — I state a thing both unknown to all and known to all:

> Latin: 8 et, ne hoc quisquam casu factum putet, quo magis potentia Dei, qua et dispensantur et iudicantur uniuersa, propalato sui testimonio declarata obstrepentium mentes uel ad confusionem uel ad fidem cogat, dico rem et ignotam omnibus et omnibus notam:

[¶8] after this war, in which Maximus was killed, many wars, both foreign and civil, have certainly befallen Theodosius and his son Honorius down to the present, as we all acknowledge; and yet nearly all of them, right up to this very day, have been laid to rest with no bloodshed or very little, and indeed with the fruit of a simple and holy victory.

> Latin: 9 post hoc bellum, quo Maximus interfectus est, multa utique, sicut omnes recognoscimus, Theodosium filiumque eius Honorium usque ad nunc et externa bella et ciuilia consecuta sunt, et tamen omnia paene usque in hodiernum diem et quidem cum fructu simplicis sanctaeque uictoriae uel nullo uel minimo sanguine quieuerunt.

[¶9] So the younger Valentinian, restored to his kingdom, after the destruction of Maximus and of his son Victor, whom Maximus had left as emperor over the Gauls, himself crossed into Gaul; and there, while he was living in peace in a tranquil commonwealth, he was strangled at Vienne, as they say, through the treachery of his count Arbogast, and was hung up by a noose, so that he might be thought to have brought about his own death of his own free will.

> Latin: 10 Igitur Valentinianus iunior regno restitutus extincto Maximo eiusque filio Victore, quem imperatorem Gallis Maximus reliquerat, ipse in Galliam transiit: ubi cum tranquilla republica in pace ageret, apud Viennam dolo Arbogastis comitis sui, ut ferunt, strangulatus atque, ut uoluntariam sibi consciuisse mortem putaretur, laqueo suspensus est.

[¶10] On the death of Valentinian Augustus, Arbogast soon dared to make Eugenius a tyrant, choosing a man on whom to impose the title of emperor, while he himself, a barbarian, excessive in spirit, counsel, might, daring and power, was to wield the imperial authority. He gathered from every side countless and unconquered forces, relying either on the garrisons of the Romans or on the auxiliaries of the barbarians — in the one case through his power, in the other through kinship.

> Latin: 11 mortuo Valentiniano Augusto Arbogastes Eugenium tyrannum mox creare ausus est legitque hominem, cui titulum imperatoris inponeret; ipse acturus imperium uir barbarus, animo consilio manu audacia potentiaque nimius, contraxit undique innumeras inuictasque copias, uel Romanorum praesidiis uel auxiliis barbarorum alibi potestate alibi cognatione subnixus.

[¶11] There is no need to spin out in words a story known even to the eyes of very many, which those who witnessed it know better. That Theodosius always emerged as victor through the power of God and not through confidence in man, this Arbogast is the chief proof in both respects: for both then, when he served Theodosius, he himself, with the slenderest forces, captured Maximus, equipped though Maximus was with such great defences; and now, when he overflowed against that same Theodosius with the gathered strength of the Gauls and the Franks, relying above all on the worship of idols as well, he nevertheless went down with great ease.

> Latin: 12 historiam notam etiam oculis plurimorum, quam melius qui spectauere nouerunt, dilatari uerbis non opus est. potentia Dei non fiducia hominis uictorem semper extitisse Theodosium, Arbogastes iste praecipuum in utroque documentum est, qui et tunc, cum Theodosio paruit, tantis instructum praesidiis Maximum ipse minimus cepit et nunc, cum aduersus eundem Theodosium collectis Gallorum Francorumque uiribus exundauit, nixus etiam praecipuo cultu idolorum, magna tamen facilitate succubuit.

[¶12] Eugenius and Arbogast had deployed their battle lines in good order on the plains; they had seized the narrow flanks of the Alps and the unavoidable passes, cunningly sending ambushes ahead — so that, even had they been unequal in numbers and strength, they were victors by the disposition of the war alone.

> Latin: 13 Eugenius atque Arbogastes instructas acies campis expedierant, arta Alpium latera atque ineuitabiles transitus praemissis callide insidiis occuparant, etiamsi numero ac uiribus inpares forent, sola tamen belli dispositione uictores.

*Note: The battle of the Frigidus (the Vipava valley, in modern Slovenia), 5–6 September 394.*

[¶13] But Theodosius, stationed on the heights of the Alps, without food or sleep, knowing that he was forsaken by his own men, not knowing that he was hemmed in by the enemy’s, prayed alone to the Lord Christ alone, who could do all things, his body stretched on the ground, his mind fixed on heaven.

> Latin: 14 at uero Theodosius in summis Alpibus constitutus expers cibi ac somni, sciens quod destitutus suis, nesciens quod clausus alienis, Dominum Christum solus solum, qui posset omnia, corpore humi fusus, mente caelo fixus orabat.

[¶14] Then, after he had passed a sleepless night in unbroken prayer, and had left pools of tears, almost as witnesses, which he had paid down as the price of heavenly protection, he confidently took up arms alone, knowing that he was not alone. With the sign of the cross he gave the signal for battle, and threw himself into the fight — sure to be victor, even should no one follow.

> Latin: 15 dehinc postquam insomnem noctem precum continuatione transegit et testes propemodum quas in pretium praesidii caelestis adpenderat lacrimarum lacunas reliquit, fiducialiter arma corripuit solus, sciens se esse non solum. signo crucis signum proelio dedit ac se in bellum, etiamsi nemo sequeretur, uictor futurus, inmisit.

[¶15] The first way of deliverance was Arbitio, a count of the enemy’s party: having caught the unsuspecting emperor in an ambush laid around him, he turned to reverence for the Augustus before him, and not only freed him from danger but also furnished him with help.

> Latin: 16 prima salutis uia extitit Arbitio, hostilium partium comes: qui cum ignarum imperatorem circumpositis excepisset insidiis, conuersus ad reuerentiam praesentis Augusti, non solum periculo liberauit uerum etiam instruxit auxilio.

[¶16] But when they had come within the space where the fighting would be joined, at once a great and ineffable whirlwind rushed into the faces of the enemy. The javelins hurled by our men were carried through the air, and, borne beyond the measure of a human throw across the great void, were scarcely allowed to fall anywhere before they struck home.

> Latin: 17 at ubi ad contigua miscendae pugnae spatia peruentum est, continuo magnus ille et ineffabilis turbo uentorum in ora hostium ruit. ferebantur per aera spicula missa nostrorum atque ultra mensuram humani iactus per magnum inane portata nusquam propemodum cadere, priusquam inpingerent, sinebantur.

[¶17] Moreover, the unceasing whirlwind now beat back the faces and breasts of the enemy, dashing their shields heavily against them; now shut them in, choking them with their shields pressed stubbornly upon them; now laid them bare, tearing their shields violently away; now drove them ceaselessly backward, their shields set against them; and the very weapons which they themselves had hurled with force were caught by the blast of the wind, turned about and driven back, and pierced their own throwers to their misfortune.

> Latin: 18 porro autem turbo continuus ora pectoraque hostium nunc inlisis grauiter scutis euerberabat, nunc inpressis pertinaciter obstructa claudebat, nunc auulsis uiolenter destituta nudabat, nunc oppositis iugiter in terga trudebat; tela etiam, quae ipsi uehementer intorserant, excepta uenti impetu supinato ac retrorsum coacta ipsos infeliciter configebant.

[¶18] The fear of human conscience looked to its own safety: for at once, after a small band of their men had been routed, the hostile army threw itself down before the victorious Theodosius. Eugenius was captured and killed; Arbogast struck himself down with his own hand. Thus here too a civil war was quenched by the blood of two men — apart from those ten thousand Goths, sent ahead by Theodosius, whom Arbogast is said to have utterly destroyed: to lose these was surely a gain, and to be defeated, a victory.

> Latin: 19 prospexit sibi humanae conscientiae pauor, nam continuo sese parua suorum manu fusa uictori Theodosio hostilis prostrauit exercitus; Eugenius captus atque interfectus est; Arbogastes sua se manu perculit. ita et hic duorum sanguine bellum ciuile restinctum est, absque illis decem milibus Gothorum, quos praemissos a Theodosio Arbogastes delesse funditus fertur: quos utique perdidisse lucrum et uinci uincere fuit.

[¶19] I do not taunt our detractors. Let them bring forward one single war since the founding of the City undertaken from so holy a necessity, concluded with such divine good fortune, laid to rest with such merciful kindness, in which neither the battle exacted heavy slaughter nor the victory a bloody vengeance — and perhaps I shall grant that these things may seem not to have been granted to the faith of a Christian commander;

> Latin: 20 non insulto obtrectatoribus nostris. unum aliquod ab initio urbis conditae bellum proferant tam pia necessitate susceptum, tam diuina felicitate confectum, tam clementi benignitate sopitum, ubi nec pugna grauem caedem nec uictoria cruentam exegerit ultionem, et fortasse concedam, ut non haec fidei Christiani ducis concessa uideantur;

[¶20] although I need not labour to prove this, since one of their own, a poet of the first rank indeed but a most stubborn pagan, bore witness both to God and to the man in verses of this kind, where he says: “O too beloved of God! For you the sky does battle, and the winds, sworn allies, come at the sound of your trumpets.”

> Latin: 21 quamuis ego hoc testimonio non laborem, quando unus ex ipsis, poeta quidem eximius sed paganus peruicacissimus, huiusmodi uersibus et Deo et homini testimonium tulit, quibus ait: O nimium dilecte Deo! tibi militat aether, Et coniurati ueniunt ad classica uenti.

*Note: Claudian, Panegyric on the Third Consulship of Honorius 96–98, abridged. Claudian addresses the young Honorius, not Theodosius; Augustine quotes the same lines (City of God 5.26).*

[¶21] So judgement was given from heaven between a side that, even without human protection, humbly hoped in God alone, and a side that most arrogantly presumed upon its own strength and upon idols.

> Latin: 22 Ita caelitus iudicatum est inter partem etiam sine praesidio hominum de solo Deo humiliter sperantem et partem adrogantissime de uiribus suis et de idolis praesumentem.

[¶22] Theodosius, however, having set the commonwealth in order and brought it to peace, died while staying at Milan.

> Latin: 23 Theodosius autem conposita tranquillataque republica apud Mediolanium constitutus diem obiit.