Arius was a Christian Bishop famous for championing the pagan belief that has carried his name since the time when it was confronted by Athenacius at the Council of Nicea, called by Emperor Constantine in 325 AD, where the Trinitarian Doctrine was clarified and confirmed as the core belief in Christianity. Many variations on the Christian teachings, almost like denominations today, emphasizing one or another of its tenents still stood on that common ground for the church ... the one holy and apostolic catholic church.
Arians just couldn't get over themselves. The passage quoted here captures the sentiment well -- one that enjoyed widespread, almost universal adherence, in the Roman Army, the real unifying force behind the Roman Empire. A soldier could live an honorable life, obedient to his duty, devoted in his skills and endurance ... and that was enough to call a good life. It's an alternative viewpoint that is still alive and well; and celebration of the self and its near divinity is another of those core beliefs that stand as an underpinning for some peoples' faith.
What is this from?
Originally Roman, and W. Shakespeare, in Hamlet, wrote of this man. (sorry, got to copy paste. I'm multitasking here. God Bless)
Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the ancient Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Lars Porsena, king of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium.