Editing Theodosius I (section)

=== Middle reign: 384–387 ===
Theodosius's second son [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] was born on 9 December 384 and titled ''[[nobilissimus puer]]'' (or ''nobilissimus iuvenis'').{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} The death of Aelia Flaccilla, Theodosius's first wife and the mother of Arcadius, Honorius, and Pulcheria, occurred by 386.{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} She died at [[Scotumis]] in [[Diocese of Thrace|Thrace]] and was buried at Constantinople, her [[Funeral oration (ancient Greece)|funeral oration]] delivered by [[Gregory of Nyssa]].{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Groß-Albenhausen|first=Kirsten|year=2006|title=Flacilla|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/flacilla-e412010|journal=Brill's New Pauly|language=en}}</ref> A statue of her was dedicated in the [[Byzantine Senate]].<ref name=":1" /> In 384 or 385, Theodosius's niece [[Serena (wife of Stilicho)|Serena]] was married to the ''magister militum'', [[Stilicho]].{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}}

[[Image:Forum Theodosius Istanbul March 2008 (18) detail.JPG|thumb|250px|Marble fragment of monumental column to emperor Theodosius I]]
In the beginning of 386, Theodosius's daughter [[Pulcheria (daughter of Theodosius I)|Pulcheria]] also died.{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} That summer, more Goths were defeated, and many were settled in [[Phrygia]].{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} According to the ''Consularia Constantinopolitana'', a [[Roman triumph]] over the Gothic [[Greuthungi]] was then celebrated at Constantinople.{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} The same year, work began on the great triumphal column in the [[Forum of Theodosius]] in Constantinople, the [[Column of Theodosius]].{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} The ''Consularia Constantinopolitana'' records that on 19 January 387, Arcadius celebrated his ''quinquennalia'' in Constantinople.{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} By the end of the month, there was an uprising or riot in [[Antioch]] (modern [[Antakya]]).{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}} The [[Roman–Persian Wars]] concluded with the signing of the [[Peace of Acilisene]] with Persia. By the terms of the agreement, the ancient [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] was divided between the powers.{{Sfn|Kienast|pp=323–326|loc="Theodosius I"}}

By the end of the 380s, Theodosius and the court were in Milan and northern Italy had settled down to a period of prosperity.{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=135}} Peter Brown says gold was being made in Milan by those who owned land as well as by those who came with the court for government service.{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=135}} Great landowners took advantage of the court's need for food, "turning agrarian produce into gold", while repressing and misusing the poor who grew it and brought it in. According to Brown, modern scholars link the decline of the Roman empire to the avarice of the rich of this era. He quotes Paulinus of Milan as describing these men as creating a court where "everything was up for sale".{{sfn|Brown|2012|pp=136, 146}} In the late 380s, [[Ambrose]], the bishop of Milan took the lead in opposing this, presenting the need for the rich to care for the poor as "a necessary consequence of the unity of all Christians".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=147}} This led to a major development in the political culture of the day called the “advocacy revolution of the later Roman empire".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=144}} This revolution had been fostered by the imperial government, and it encouraged appeals and denunciations of bad government from below. However, Brown adds that, "in the crucial area of taxation and the treatment of fiscal debtors, the late Roman state [of the 380s and 390s] remained impervious to Christianity".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=145}}