Therefore he prepared for war, not so much by the aids of arms and weapons as of fastings and prayers; and fortified not so much by the watches of sentries as by the night-long vigils of supplications, he went about with priests and people through all the places of prayer; before the shrines of the martyrs and apostles he lay prostrate in sackcloth, and besought for himself faithful aid by the intercession of the saints. But the pagans, who ever enliven their errors with new errors, renewed sacrifices, stained Rome with deadly victims, inspected the entrails of cattle, and from the foreknowledge of the fibres announced to Eugenius a sure victory.
While Flavian, then Prefect, conducted these things more superstitiously and with all eagerness—on whose assertions (for great was his prerogative in 'wisdom') he had presumed for certain that Eugenius would be the victor. But when Theodosius, relying on the aid of the true religion, began to press upon the jaws of the Alps, first those demons, to whom so many victims had been sacrificed in vain, trembling from consciousness of their deceit, were turned to flight. Afterward the masters and teachers of these errors too, especially Flavian—guilty of more shame than crime—though, being a very learned man, he could have escaped, judged that he more justly deserved death for his error than for a crime.
But the rest drew up their battle line, and having placed an ambush on the higher ridge, they themselves awaited the fight on the descent of the mountain. But when it came to the first ranks, these straightway surrendered themselves to the lawful emperor; while with the rest, caught in the lowest valleys, a most bitter conflict was waged. For some time the victory stood doubtful; the auxiliaries of the Barbarians were being routed and were already turning their backs to the enemy. But this came to pass not that Theodosius should be conquered, but lest he should seem to conquer through the Barbarians. Then he, when he saw the ranks of his men turned, standing on a high rock, whence he might both behold and be beheld by either army, casting away his arms, turned himself to solid aids, and prostrate in the sight of God:
'Thou,' he said, 'Almighty God, knowest that I have undertaken these battles, as I think, in the name of Christ Thy Son, for the sake of just vengeance: if otherwise, take vengeance on me. But if I have come hither with a probable cause and trusting in Thee, stretch forth Thy right hand to Thine own, lest perchance the Gentiles say, Where is their God? (Psalm 79[78]:10).' This supplication of the pious emperor, which those who were present were certain had been received by God, animated the leaders to the slaughter; and especially Bacurius, a man distinguished in faith, piety, and virtue both of mind and body, and one who deserved to be the companion and ally of Theodosius, struck down those nearest with pike, javelins, and sword on every side, and broke through the dense and crowded columns of the enemy.
He made his way through thousands of those falling, right up to the tyrant himself, the ranks being broken and slaughter heaped up in piles. Hardly perhaps would the things that were done be believed by the impious. For it has been ascertained that, after that prayer of the emperor which he had poured out to God, a wind arose so violent that it hurled back the enemy's weapons upon those who had cast them. And when, the wind persisting with great force, every missile sent by the enemy was made vain, the spirit of the adversaries being broken, or rather divinely repulsed, with Arbogast their general acting bravely in vain (since God was against him), Eugenius was led before the feet of Theodosius, his hands bound behind his back. And there was the end of his life and of his struggle.
Then indeed for the religious emperor the victory over the frustrated opinions of the pagans was more glorious than that over the death of the tyrant; for whom their vain hope and false divination availed less in inflicting punishment by death than it preserved of shame in life.