Chapter 11

But I hasten on to what is still more agreeable. For in your letter which was delivered to me, you diverged from this subject, and so far condescended as to ask me what sort of robe should be sent me. With your anxiety you have worn out the whole staff of officials in charge of your bounties. Have I not then received over and above the con- sulate an additional gift in these pains, which cost you so much trouble and caused me so much happiness? Swords are being drawn in Illyricum: for my sake you distribute robes of civil dignities in Gaul: you, wearing your equipment, deal with the question of my gown; while prepared for battle and on the verge of a supreme struggle, you make arrangements for the decoration of my palm-broidered garb. Yet the omen was happy and auspicious. For just as in peace time this apparel marks the consul, so in victory it distinguishes the conqueror in his triumph. But it is not enough for you to ask what kind of robe shall be sent me: you must have it produced before your eyes. You are not content that the officials of your largess should perform their ordinary duties: you choose one robe out of many with your own hands, and having chosen it, follow up your gift with words of compliment. You say: I have sent yon a palm-broidered robe in winch is worked a figure of the sainted Constantins 1 my ancestor. Happy am I that such pains should be bestowed upon my vestments! It is, it most surely is, a broidered robe, as you say; but embroidered more richly with your words than with its own threads of gold. But, since it is you who have invested me, I perceive that its enrichment means far more. For the light which flashes from this single garment bespeaks two imperial personages: Constantius is embroidered in the actual fabric of the robe; but in the complimentary nature of the gift, I feel the presence of Gratian.