Rome, year 392. The position of emperor of the West is occupied by a young man of twenty years named Valentinian. A few years earlier he had to enlist the help of his brother-in-law and Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius.
Theodosius, like his father of the same name, had been a noted general. That success had not served his father to avoid a death sentence and our Theodosius had retired to his possessions in his native Hispania when he was called by Gratian to occupy the post of Eastern Emperor after the death of Valens in the disastrous battle from Adrianople.
Valentiniano was the brother of Graciano and inherited the position from him after he was assassinated following a rebellion started in Britannia by a general named Máximo, also of Hispanic origin. Maximus respected the life of the young Valentinian, but he requested the help of Theodosius, who took it in stride but ended up confronting and defeating Maximus's troops at Aquileia. The rebel general was executed.
However, when another general named Arbogastus, of Frankish origin and pagan beliefs, rebelled in turn against Valentinian, Theodosius did not arrive in time to save the life of his brother-in-law. Arbogastus was smart enough to know that Rome would not accept a barbarian as emperor. He had a Roman rhetoric professor named Eugene, who shared his aversion to Christianity, appointed to the position.
After the death of Theodosius' wife and Valentinian's sister, Gala, giving birth to her daughter, Theodosius decided to confront Arbogastus and avenge her brother-in-law. By the way, that daughter whose birth caused the death of her mother was called Gala Placidia and she would play an important role in the following years... but that's another story.
Returning to Theodosius and Arbogastus, their armies met on the banks of the Frigid River (today Isonzo), on September 5, 394. Showing off their paganism, and in order for their troops to feel that they had divine help to To achieve victory, Arbogasto had installed in his camp various statues of the god Jupiter in his traditional representation with a thunderbolt in his hand.
Theodosius, for his part, was not far behind. In a meeting with his staff, he recounted that Saint John and Saint Philip had appeared to him in a dream, guaranteeing that he would achieve victory. At that moment a soldier came into the tent saying that he had had the same dream as the emperor. Theodosius wasted no time in causing this "miraculous" coincidence to spread throughout his camp and his soldiers to believe that his god was on his side. By the way, among the members of Teodosio's staff was another character who would play a very important role in the following years; a Visigoth general named Alaric.
In this way, what was a confrontation between the army of the Eastern Roman Empire and that of the West, became a battle between the supporters of the old pagan religion of Rome against the new Christian official religion. The battle concluded with the victory of Theodosius and the suicide of Argobastus and Eugenius. According to Christian historians, the pagan forces were blinded by a very strong wind that rose against them and contributed to their victory. Be that as it may, the battle of the Frigid River was the last fought in the name of Roman paganism against Christianity.
The following year Theodosius, seriously ill, appointed his two sons Arcadius and Honorius to rule in Constantinople and Rome, respectively.
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