ABSTRACT
Within months of the sedition at Antioch, in the autumn of 387, Maximus finally struck. It was too late in the year for Theodosius to move a full campaign army to Italy, and in any case the relative distances would always give Maximus the advantage. Even so, his invasion of Italy was carried out with alarming speed and was immediately successful. There was almost no resistance. Valentinian, his mother, family, and most of the court simply fled-first to Aquileia, then by ship to Salonica where they sought the safety and help of Theodosius. Ambrose seems to have remained at Milan.
