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GRATIAN (FLAvrus GRATIANUS AUGUSTUS)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 378 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRATIAN (FLAvrus See also:GRATIANUS See also:AUGUSTUS) , See also:Roman See also:emperor 375-383, son of Valentinian I. by Severa, was See also:born at Sirmium in See also:Pannonia, on the 18th of See also:April (or 23rd of May) 359. On the 24th of See also:August 367 he received from his See also:father the See also:title of Augustus. On the See also:death of Valentinian (17th of See also:November 375) the troops in Pannonia proclaimed his See also:infant son (by a second wife Justina) emperor under the title of Valentinian II. (q.v.). Gratian acquiesced in their choice; reserving for himself the See also:administration of the Gallic provinces, he handed over See also:Italy, See also:Illyria and See also:Africa to Valentinian and his See also:mother, who fixed their See also:residence at See also:Milan. The See also:division, however, was merely nominal, and the real authority remained in the hands of Gratian. The eastern portion of the See also:empire was under the See also:rule of his See also:uncle See also:Valens. In May 378 Gratian completely defeated the Lentienses, the southernmost See also:branch of the See also:Alamanni, at Argentaria, near the site of the See also:modern See also:Colmar. When Valens met his death fighting against the Goths near See also:Adrianople on the 9th of August in the same See also:year, the See also:government of the eastern empire devolved upon Gratian, but feeling himself unable to resist unaided the incursions of the barbarians, he ceded it to See also:Theodosius (See also:January 379). With Theodosius he cleared the Balkans of barbarians. For some years Gratian governed the empire with See also:energy and success, but gradually he sank into indolence, occupied himself chiefly with the pleasures of the See also:chase, and became a See also:tool in the hands of the Frankish See also:general See also:Merobaudes and See also:bishop See also:Ambrose. By taking into his See also:personal service a See also:body of See also:Alani, and appearing in public in the See also:dress of a Scythian See also:warrior, he aroused the contempt and resentment of his Roman troops.

A Roman named See also:

Maximus took See also:advantage of this feeling to raise the See also:standard of revolt in See also:Britain and invaded See also:Gaul with a large See also:army, upon which Gratian, who was then in See also:Paris, being deserted by his troops, fled to See also:Lyons, where, through the treachery of the See also:governor, he was delivered over to one of the See also:rebel generals and assassinated on the 25th of August 383. The reign of Gratian forms an important See also:epoch in ecclesiastical See also:history, since during that See also:period orthodox See also:Christianity for the first See also:time became dominant throughout the empire. In dealing with pagans and heretics Gratian, who during his later years was greatly influenced by Ambrose, bishop of Milan, exhibited severity and injustice at variance with his usual See also:character. He prohibited See also:heathen See also:worship at See also:Rome; refused to See also:wear the insignia of the See also:pontifex maximus as unbefitting a See also:Christian; removed the See also:altar of Victory from the See also:senate-See also:house at Rome, in spite of the remonstrance of the See also:pagan members of the senate, and confiscated its revenues; forbade legacies of real See also:property to the Vestals; and abolished other privileges belonging to them and to the pontiffs. For his treatment of heretics see the See also:church histories of the period.

End of Article: GRATIAN (FLAvrus GRATIANUS AUGUSTUS)

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