Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 2
by Edward Gibbon
Hypertext Meanings and Commentaries
from the Encyclopedia of the Self
by Mark Zimmerman
Return to Part 1 of 2

[Footnote 85: Quia etiam tum catechumenus sacramentum fidei
merito videretiu potuisse nescire. Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, l.
ii. p. 410.]
[Footnote 86: Socrates, l. ii. c. 2. Sozomen, l. iii. c. 18.
Athanas. tom. i. p. 813, 834. He observes that the eunuchs are
the natural enemies of the Son. Compare Dr. Jortin's Remarks on
Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 3 with a certain genealogy in
Candide, (ch. iv.,) which ends with one of the first companions
of Christopher Columbus.]

[Footnote 87: Sulpicius Severus in Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 405,
406.]
[Footnote 88: Cyril (apud Baron. A. D. 353, No. 26) expressly
observes that in the reign of Constantine, the cross had been
found in the bowels of the earth; but that it had appeared, in
the reign of Constantius, in the midst of the heavens. This
opposition evidently proves, that Cyril was ignorant of the
stupendous miracle to which the conversion of Constantine is
attributed; and this ignorance is the more surprising, since it
was no more than twelve years after his death that Cyril was
consecrated bishop of Jerusalem, by the immediate successor of
Eusebius of Caesarea. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p.
715.]

[Footnote 89: It is not easy to determine how far the ingenuity
of Cyril might be assisted by some natural appearances of a solar
halo.]

[Footnote 90: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 26. He is followed by
the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, by Cedrenus, and by
Nicephorus. See Gothofred. Dissert. p. 188.) They could not
refuse a miracle, even from the hand of an enemy.]

     The sentiments of a judicious stranger, who has impartially
considered the progress of civil or ecclesiastical discord, are
always entitled to our notice; and a short passage of Ammianus,
who served in the armies, and studied the character of
Constantius, is perhaps of more value than many pages of
theological invectives. "The Christian religion, which, in
itself," says that moderate historian, "is plain and simple, he
confounded by the dotage of superstition. Instead of reconciling
the parties by the weight of his authority, he cherished and
promulgated, by verbal disputes, the differences which his vain
curiosity had excited. The highways were covered with troops of
bishops galloping from every side to the assemblies, which they
call synods; and while they labored to reduce the whole sect to
their own particular opinions, the public establishment of the
posts was almost ruined by their hasty and repeated journeys."
^91 Our more intimate knowledge of the ecclesiastical
transactions of the reign of Constantius would furnish an ample
commentary on this remarkable passage, which justifies the
rational apprehensions of Athanasius, that the restless activity
of the clergy, who wandered round the empire in search of the
true faith, would excite the contempt and laughter of the
unbelieving world. ^92 As soon as the emperor was relieved from
the terrors of the civil war, he devoted the leisure of his
winter quarters at Arles, Milan, Sirmium, and Constantinople, to
the amusement or toils of controversy: the sword of the
magistrate, and even of the tyrant, was unsheathed, to enforce
the reasons of the theologian; and as he opposed the orthodox
faith of Nice, it is readily confessed that his incapacity and
ignorance were equal to his presumption. ^93 The eunuchs, the
women, and the bishops, who governed the vain and feeble mind of
the emperor, had inspired him with an insuperable dislike to the
Homoousion; but his timid conscience was alarmed by the impiety
of Aetius. The guilt of that atheist was aggravated by the
suspicious favor of the unfortunate Gallus; and even the death of
the Imperial ministers, who had been massacred at Antioch, were
imputed to the suggestions of that dangerous sophist. The mind
of Constantius, which could neither be moderated by reason, nor
fixed by faith, was blindly impelled to either side of the dark
and empty abyss, by his horror of the opposite extreme; he
alternately embraced and condemned the sentiments, he
successively banished and recalled the leaders, of the Arian and
Semi-Arian factions. ^94 During the season of public business or
festivity, he employed whole days, and even nights, in selecting
the words, and weighing the syllables, which composed his
fluctuating creeds. The subject of his meditations still pursued
and occupied his slumbers: the incoherent dreams of the emperor
were received as celestial visions, and he accepted with
complacency the lofty title of bishop of bishops, from those
ecclesiastics who forgot the interest of their order for the
gratification of their passions. The design of establishing a
uniformity of doctrine, which had engaged him to convene so many
synods in Gaul, Italy, Illyricum, and Asia, was repeatedly
baffled by his own levity, by the divisions of the Arians, and by
the resistance of the Catholics; and he resolved, as the last and
decisive effort, imperiously to dictate the decrees of a general
council. The destructive earthquake of Nicomedia, the difficulty
of finding a convenient place, and perhaps some secret motives of
policy, produced an alteration in the summons. The bishops of the
East were directed to meet at Seleucia, in Isauria; while those
of the West held their deliberations at Rimini, on the coast of
the Hadriatic; and instead of two or three deputies from each
province, the whole episcopal body was ordered to march. The
Eastern council, after consuming four days in fierce and
unavailing debate, separated without any definitive conclusion.
The council of the West was protracted till the seventh month.
Taurus, the Praetorian praefect was instructed not to dismiss the
prelates till they should all be united in the same opinion; and
his efforts were supported by the power of banishing fifteen of
the most refractory, and a promise of the consulship if he
achieved so difficult an adventure. His prayers and threats, the
authority of the sovereign, the sophistry of Valens and Ursacius,
the distress of cold and hunger, and the tedious melancholy of a
hopeless exile, at length extorted the reluctant consent of the
bishops of Rimini. The deputies of the East and of the West
attended the emperor in the palace of Constantinople, and he
enjoyed the satisfaction of imposing on the world a profession of
faith which established the likeness, without expressing the
consubstantiality, of the Son of God. ^95 But the triumph of
Arianism had been preceded by the removal of the orthodox clergy,
whom it was impossible either to intimidate or to corrupt; and
the reign of Constantius was disgraced by the unjust and
ineffectual persecution of the great Athanasius.
[Footnote 91: So curious a passage well deserves to be
transcribed. Christianam religionem absolutam et simplicem, anili
superstitione confundens; in qua scrutanda perplexius, quam
componenda gravius excitaret discidia plurima; quae progressa
fusius aluit concertatione verborum, ut catervis antistium
jumentis publicis ultro citroque discarrentibus, per synodos
(quas appellant) dum ritum omnem ad suum sahere conantur
(Valesius reads conatur) rei vehiculariae concideret servos.
Ammianus, xxi. 16.]

[Footnote 92: Athanas. tom. i. p. 870.]

[Footnote 93: Socrates, l. ii. c. 35-47. Sozomen, l. iv. c.
12-30. Theodore li. c. 18-32. Philostorg. l. iv. c. 4 - 12, l.
v. c. 1-4, l. vi. c. 1-5]
[Footnote 94: Sozomen, l. iv. c. 23. Athanas. tom. i. p. 831.
Tillemont (Mem Eccles. tom. vii. p. 947) has collected several
instances of the haughty fanaticism of Constantius from the
detached treatises of Lucifer of Cagliari. The very titles of
these treaties inspire zeal and terror; "Moriendum pro Dei
Filio." "De Regibus Apostaticis." "De non conveniendo cum
Haeretico." "De non parcendo in Deum delinquentibus."]

[Footnote 95: Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 418-430. The
Greek historians were very ignorant of the affairs of the West.]
     We have seldom an opportunity of observing, either in active
or speculative life, what effect may be produced, or what
obstacles may be surmounted, by the force of a single mind, when
it is inflexibly applied to the pursuit of a single object. The
immortal name of Athanasius ^96 will never be separated from the
Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, to whose defence he consecrated
every moment and every faculty of his being. Educated in the
family of Alexander, he had vigorously opposed the early progress
of the Arian heresy: he exercised the important functions of
secretary under the aged prelate; and the fathers of the Nicene
council beheld with surprise and respect the rising virtues of
the young deacon. In a time of public danger, the dull claims of
age and of rank are sometimes superseded; and within five months
after his return from Nice, the deacon Athanasius was seated on
the archiepiscopal throne of Egypt. He filled that eminent
station above forty-six years, and his long administration was
spent in a perpetual combat against the powers of Arianism. Five
times was Athanasius expelled from his throne; twenty years he
passed as an exile or a fugitive: and almost every province of
the Roman empire was successively witness to his merit, and his
sufferings in the cause of the Homoousion, which he considered as
the sole pleasure and business, as the duty, and as the glory of
his life. Amidst the storms of persecution, the archbishop of
Alexandria was patient of labor, jealous of fame, careless of
safety; and although his mind was tainted by the contagion of
fanaticism, Athanasius displayed a superiority of character and
abilities, which would have qualified him, far better than the
degenerate sons of Constantine, for the government of a great
monarchy. His learning was much less profound and extensive than
that of Eusebius of Caesarea, and his rude eloquence could not be
compared with the polished oratory of Gregory of Basil; but
whenever the primate of Egypt was called upon to justify his
sentiments, or his conduct, his unpremeditated style, either of
speaking or writing, was clear, forcible, and persuasive. He has
always been revered, in the orthodox school, as one of the most
accurate masters of the Christian theology; and he was supposed
to possess two profane sciences, less adapted to the episcopal
character, the knowledge of jurisprudence, ^97 and that of
divination. ^98 Some fortunate conjectures of future events,
which impartial reasoners might ascribe to the experience and
judgment of Athanasius, were attributed by his friends to
heavenly inspiration, and imputed by his enemies to infernal
magic.
[Footnote 96: We may regret that Gregory Nazianzen composed a
panegyric instead of a life of Athanasius; but we should enjoy
and improve the advantage of drawing our most authentic materials
from the rich fund of his own epistles and apologies, (tom. i. p.
670-951.) I shall not imitate the example of Socrates, (l. ii. c.
l.) who published the first edition of the history, without
giving himself the trouble to consult the writings of Athanasius.

Yet even Socrates, the more curious Sozomen, and the learned
Theodoret, connect the life of Athanasius with the series of
ecclesiastical history. The diligence of Tillemont, (tom. viii,)
and of the Benedictine editors, has collected every fact, and
examined every difficulty]

[Footnote 97: Sulpicius Severus (Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 396)
calls him a lawyer, a jurisconsult. This character cannot now be
discovered either in the life or writings of Athanasius.]

[Footnote 98: Dicebatur enim fatidicarum sortium fidem, quaeve
augurales portenderent alites scientissime callens aliquoties
praedixisse futura. Ammianus, xv. 7. A prophecy, or rather a
joke, is related by Sozomen, (l. iv c. 10,) which evidently
proves (if the crows speak Latin) that Athanasius understood the
language of the crows.]

     But as Athanasius was continually engaged with the
prejudices and passions of every order of men, from the monk to
the emperor, the knowledge of human nature was his first and most
important science. He preserved a distinct and unbroken view of
a scene which was incessantly shifting; and never failed to
improve those decisive moments which are irrecoverably past
before they are perceived by a common eye. The archbishop of
Alexandria was capable of distinguishing how far he might boldly
command, and where he must dexterously insinuate; how long he
might contend with power, and when he must withdraw from
persecution; and while he directed the thunders of the church
against heresy and rebellion, he could assume, in the bosom of
his own party, the flexible and indulgent temper of a prudent
leader. The election of Athanasius has not escaped the reproach
of irregularity and precipitation; ^99 but the propriety of his
behavior conciliated the affections both of the clergy and of the
people. The Alexandrians were impatient to rise in arms for the
defence of an eloquent and liberal pastor. In his distress he
always derived support, or at least consolation, from the
faithful attachment of his parochial clergy; and the hundred
bishops of Egypt adhered, with unshaken zeal, to the cause of
Athanasius. In the modest equipage which pride and policy would
affect, he frequently performed the episcopal visitation of his
provinces, from the mouth of the Nile to the confines of
Aethiopia; familiarly conversing with the meanest of the
populace, and humbly saluting the saints and hermits of the
desert. ^100 Nor was it only in ecclesiastical assemblies, among
men whose education and manners were similar to his own, that
Athanasius displayed the ascendancy of his genius. He appeared
with easy and respectful firmness in the courts of princes; and
in the various turns of his prosperous and adverse fortune he
never lost the confidence of his friends, or the esteem of his
enemies.

[Footnote 99: The irregular ordination of Athanasius was slightly
mentioned in the councils which were held against him. See
Philostorg. l. ii. c. 11, and Godefroy, p. 71; but it can
scarcely be supposed that the assembly of the bishops of Egypt
would solemnly attest a public falsehood. Athanas. tom. i. p.
726.]

[Footnote 100: See the history of the Fathers of the Desert,
published by Rosweide; and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii., in
the lives of Antony, Pachomius, &c. Athanasius himself, who did
not disdain to compose the life of his friend Antony, has
carefully observed how often the holy monk deplored and
prophesied the mischiefs of the Arian heresy Athanas. tom. ii. p.
492, 498, &c.]

     In his youth, the primate of Egypt resisted the great
Constantine, who had repeatedly signified his will, that Arius
should be restored to the Catholic communion. ^101 The emperor
respected, and might forgive, this inflexible resolution; and the
faction who considered Athanasius as their most formidable enemy,
was constrained to dissemble their hatred, and silently to
prepare an indirect and distant assault. They scattered rumors
and suspicions, represented the archbishop as a proud and
oppressive tyrant, and boldly accused him of violating the treaty
which had been ratified in the Nicene council, with the
schismatic followers of Meletius. ^102 Athanasius had openly
disapproved that ignominious peace, and the emperor was disposed
to believe that he had abused his ecclesiastical and civil power,
to prosecute those odious sectaries: that he had sacrilegiously
broken a chalice in one of their churches of Mareotis; that he
had whipped or imprisoned six of their bishops; and that
Arsenius, a seventh bishop of the same party, had been murdered,
or at least mutilated, by the cruel hand of the primate. ^103
These charges, which affected his honor and his life, were
referred by Constantine to his brother Dalmatius the censor, who
resided at Antioch; the synods of Caesarea and Tyre were
successively convened; and the bishops of the East were
instructed to judge the cause of Athanasius, before they
proceeded to consecrate the new church of the Resurrection at
Jerusalem. The primate might be conscious of his innocence; but
he was sensible that the same implacable spirit which had
dictated the accusation, would direct the proceeding, and
pronounce the sentence. He prudently declined the tribunal of
his enemies; despised the summons of the synod of Caesarea; and,
after a long and artful delay, submitted to the peremptory
commands of the emperor, who threatened to punish his criminal
disobedience if he refused to appear in the council of Tyre. ^104
Before Athanasius, at the head of fifty Egyptian prelates, sailed
from Alexandria, he had wisely secured the alliance of the
Meletians; and Arsenius himself, his imaginary victim, and his
secret friend, was privately concealed in his train. The synod
of Tyre was conducted by Eusebius of Caesarea, with more passion,
and with less art, than his learning and experience might
promise; his numerous faction repeated the names of homicide and
tyrant; and their clamors were encouraged by the seeming patience
of Athanasius, who expected the decisive moment to produce
Arsenius alive and unhurt in the midst of the assembly. The
nature of the other charges did not admit of such clear and
satisfactory replies; yet the archbishop was able to prove, that
in the village, where he was accused of breaking a consecrated
chalice, neither church nor altar nor chalice could really exist.

The Arians, who had secretly determined the guilt and
condemnation of their enemy, attempted, however, to disguise
their injustice by the imitation of judicial forms: the synod
appointed an episcopal commission of six delegates to collect
evidence on the spot; and this measure which was vigorously
opposed by the Egyptian bishops, opened new scenes of violence
and perjury. ^105 After the return of the deputies from
Alexandria, the majority of the council pronounced the final
sentence of degradation and exile against the primate of Egypt.
The decree, expressed in the fiercest language of malice and
revenge, was communicated to the emperor and the Catholic church;
and the bishops immediately resumed a mild and devout aspect,
such as became their holy pilgrimage to the Sepulchre of Christ.
^106

[Footnote 101: At first Constantine threatened in speaking, but
requested in writing. His letters gradually assumed a menacing
tone; by while he required that the entrance of the church should
be open to all, he avoided the odious name of Arius. Athanasius,
like a skilful politician, has accurately marked these
distinctions, (tom. i. p. 788.) which allowed him some scope for
excuse and delay]

[Footnote 102: The Meletians in Egypt, like the Donatists in
Africa, were produced by an episcopal quarrel which arose from
the persecution. I have not leisure to pursue the obscure
controversy, which seems to have been misrepresented by the
partiality of Athanasius and the ignorance of Epiphanius. See
Mosheim's General History of the Church, vol. i. p. 201.]
[Footnote 103: The treatment of the six bishops is specified by
Sozomen, (l. ii. c. 25;) but Athanasius himself, so copious on
the subject of Arsenius and the chalice, leaves this grave
accusation without a reply.
     Note: This grave charge, if made, (and it rests entirely on
the authority of Soz omen,) seems to have been silently dropped
by the parties themselves: it is never alluded to in the
subsequent investigations. From Sozomen himself, who gives the
unfavorable report of the commission of inquiry sent to Egypt
concerning the cup. it does not appear that they noticed this
accusation of personal violence. - M]

[Footnote 104: Athanas, tom. i. p. 788. Socrates, l. i.c. 28.
Sozomen, l. ii. c 25. The emperor, in his Epistle of
Convocation, (Euseb. in Vit. Constant. l. iv. c. 42,) seems to
prejudge some members of the clergy and it was more than probable
that the synod would apply those reproaches to Athanasius.]

[Footnote 105: See, in particular, the second Apology of
Athanasius, (tom. i. p. 763-808,) and his Epistles to the Monks,
(p. 808-866.) They are justified by original and authentic
documents; but they would inspire more confidence if he appeared
less innocent, and his enemies less absurd.]

[Footnote 106: Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 41-47.]

Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.

Part V.

     But the injustice of these ecclesiastical judges had not
been countenanced by the submission, or even by the presence, of
Athanasius. He resolved to make a bold and dangerous experiment,
whether the throne was inaccessible to the voice of truth; and
before the final sentence could be pronounced at Tyre, the
intrepid primate threw himself into a bark which was ready to
hoist sail for the Imperial city. The request of a formal
audience might have been opposed or eluded; but Athanasius
concealed his arrival, watched the moment of Constantine's return
from an adjacent villa, and boldly encountered his angry
sovereign as he passed on horseback through the principal street
of Constantinople. So strange an apparition excited his surprise
and indignation; and the guards were ordered to remove the
importunate suitor; but his resentment was subdued by involuntary
respect; and the haughty spirit of the emperor was awed by the
courage and eloquence of a bishop, who implored his justice and
awakened his conscience. ^107 Constantine listened to the
complaints of Athanasius with impartial and even gracious
attention; the members of the synod of Tyre were summoned to
justify their proceedings; and the arts of the Eusebian faction
would have been confounded, if they had not aggravated the guilt
of the primate, by the dexterous supposition of an unpardonable
offence; a criminal design to intercept and detain the corn-fleet
of Alexandria, which supplied the subsistence of the new capital.
^108 The emperor was satisfied that the peace of Egypt would be
secured by the absence of a popular leader; but he refused to
fill the vacancy of the archiepiscopal throne; and the sentence,
which, after long hesitation, he pronounced, was that of a
jealous ostracism, rather than of an ignominious exile. In the
remote province of Gaul, but in the hospitable court of Treves,
Athanasius passed about twenty eight months. The death of the
emperor changed the face of public affairs and, amidst the
general indulgence of a young reign, the primate was restored to
his country by an honorable edict of the younger Constantine, who
expressed a deep sense of the innocence and merit of his
venerable guest. ^109

[Footnote 107: Athanas. tom. i. p. 804. In a church dedicated to
St. Athanasius this situation would afford a better subject for a
picture, than most of the stories of miracles and martyrdoms.]

[Footnote 108: Athanas. tom. i. p. 729. Eunapius has related (in
Vit. Sophist. p. 36, 37, edit. Commelin) a strange example of the
cruelty and credulity of Constantine on a similar occasion. The
eloquent Sopater, a Syrian philosopher, enjoyed his friendship,
and provoked the resentment of Ablavius, his Praetorian praefect.

The corn-fleet was detained for want of a south wind; the people
of Constantinople were discontented; and Sopater was beheaded, on
a charge that he had bound the winds by the power of magic.
Suidas adds, that Constantine wished to prove, by this execution,
that he had absolutely renounced the superstition of the
Gentiles.]

[Footnote 109: In his return he saw Constantius twice, at
Viminiacum, and at Caesarea in Cappadocia, (Athanas. tom. i. p.
676.) Tillemont supposes that Constantine introduced him to the
meeting of the three royal brothers in Pannonia, (Memoires
Eccles. tom. viii. p. 69.)]

     The death of that prince exposed Athanasius to a second
persecution; and the feeble Constantius, the sovereign of the
East, soon became the secret accomplice of the Eusebians. Ninety
bishops of that sect or faction assembled at Antioch, under the
specious pretence of dedicating the cathedral. They composed an
ambiguous creed, which is faintly tinged with the colors of
Semi-Arianism, and twenty-five canons, which still regulate the
discipline of the orthodox Greeks. ^110 It was decided, with some
appearance of equity, that a bishop, deprived by a synod, should
not resume his episcopal functions till he had been absolved by
the judgment of an equal synod; the law was immediately applied
to the case of Athanasius; the council of Antioch pronounced, or
rather confirmed, his degradation: a stranger, named Gregory, was
seated on his throne; and Philagrius, ^111 the praefect of Egypt,
was instructed to support the new primate with the civil and
military powers of the province. Oppressed by the conspiracy of
the Asiatic prelates, Athanasius withdrew from Alexandria, and
passed three years ^112 as an exile and a suppliant on the holy
threshold of the Vatican. ^113 By the assiduous study of the
Latin language, he soon qualified himself to negotiate with the
western clergy; his decent flattery swayed and directed the
haughty Julius; the Roman pontiff was persuaded to consider his
appeal as the peculiar interest of the Apostolic see: and his
innocence was unanimously declared in a council of fifty bishops
of Italy. At the end of three years, the primate was summoned to
the court of Milan by the emperor Constans, who, in the
indulgence of unlawful pleasures, still professed a lively regard
for the orthodox faith. The cause of truth and justice was
promoted by the influence of gold, ^114 and the ministers of
Constans advised their sovereign to require the convocation of an
ecclesiastical assembly, which might act as the representatives
of the Catholic church. Ninety-four bishops of the West,
seventy-six bishops of the East, encountered each other at
Sardica, on the verge of the two empires, but in the dominions of
the protector of Athanasius. Their debates soon degenerated into
hostile altercations; the Asiatics, apprehensive for their
personal safety, retired to Philippopolis in Thrace; and the
rival synods reciprocally hurled their spiritual thunders against
their enemies, whom they piously condemned as the enemies of the
true God. Their decrees were published and ratified in their
respective provinces: and Athanasius, who in the West was revered
as a saint, was exposed as a criminal to the abhorrence of the
East. ^115 The council of Sardica reveals the first symptoms of
discord and schism between the Greek and Latin churches which
were separated by the accidental difference of faith, and the
permanent distinction of language.
[Footnote 110: See Beveridge, Pandect. tom. i. p. 429-452, and
tom. ii. Annotation. p. 182. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p.
310-324. St. Hilary of Poitiers has mentioned this synod of
Antioch with too much favor and respect. He reckons ninety-seven
bishops.]

[Footnote 111: This magistrate, so odious to Athanasius, is
praised by Gregory Nazianzen, tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 390, 391.

     Saepe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem.

For the credit of human nature, I am always pleased to discover
some good qualities in those men whom party has represented as
tyrants and monsters.]
[Footnote 112: The chronological difficulties which perplex the
residence of Athanasius at Rome, are strenuously agitated by
Valesius (Observat ad Calcem, tom. ii. Hist. Eccles. l. i. c.
1-5) and Tillemont, (Men: Eccles. tom. viii. p. 674, &c.) I have
followed the simple hypothesis of Valesius, who allows only one
journey, after the intrusion Gregory.]

[Footnote 113: I cannot forbear transcribing a judicious
observation of Wetstein, (Prolegomen. N.S. p. 19: ) Si tamen
Historiam Ecclesiasticam velimus consulere, patebit jam inde a
seculo quarto, cum, ortis controversiis, ecclesiae Graeciae
doctores in duas partes scinderentur, ingenio, eloquentia,
numero, tantum non aequales, eam partem quae vincere cupiebat
Romam confugisse, majestatemque pontificis comiter coluisse,
eoque pacto oppressis per pontificem et episcopos Latinos
adversariis praevaluisse, atque orthodoxiam in conciliis
stabilivisse. Eam ob causam Athanasius, non sine comitatu, Roman
petiit, pluresque annos ibi haesit.]

[Footnote 114: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 12. If any corruption
was used to promote the interest of religion, an advocate of
Athanasius might justify or excuse this questionable conduct, by
the example of Cato and Sidney; the former of whom is said to
have given, and the latter to have received, a bribe in the cause
of liberty.]

[Footnote 115: The canon which allows appeals to the Roman
pontiffs, has almost raised the council of Sardica to the dignity
of a general council; and its acts have been ignorantly or
artfully confounded with those of the Nicene synod. See
Tillemont, tom. vii. p. 689, and Geddos's Tracts, vol. ii. p.
419-460.]

     During his second exile in the West, Athanasius was
frequently admitted to the Imperial presence; at Capua, Lodi,
Milan, Verona, Padua, Aquileia, and Treves. The bishop of the
diocese usually assisted at these interviews; the master of the
offices stood before the veil or curtain of the sacred apartment;
and the uniform moderation of the primate might be attested by
these respectable witnesses, to whose evidence he solemnly
appeals. ^116 Prudence would undoubtedly suggest the mild and
respectful tone that became a subject and a bishop. In these
familiar conferences with the sovereign of the West, Athanasius
might lament the error of Constantius, but he boldly arraigned
the guilt of his eunuchs and his Arian prelates; deplored the
distress and danger of the Catholic church; and excited Constans
to emulate the zeal and glory of his father. The emperor
declared his resolution of employing the troops and treasures of
Europe in the orthodox cause; and signified, by a concise and
peremptory epistle to his brother Constantius, that unless he
consented to the immediate restoration of Athanasius, he himself,
with a fleet and army, would seat the archbishop on the throne of
Alexandria. ^117 But this religious war, so horrible to nature,
was prevented by the timely compliance of Constantius; and the
emperor of the East condescended to solicit a reconciliation with
a subject whom he had injured. Athanasius waited with decent
pride, till he had received three successive epistles full of the
strongest assurances of the protection, the favor, and the esteem
of his sovereign; who invited him to resume his episcopal seat,
and who added the humiliating precaution of engaging his
principal ministers to attest the sincerity of his intentions.
They were manifested in a still more public manner, by the strict
orders which were despatched into Egypt to recall the adherents
of Athanasius, to restore their privileges, to proclaim their
innocence, and to erase from the public registers the illegal
proceedings which had been obtained during the prevalence of the
Eusebian faction. After every satisfaction and security had been
given, which justice or even delicacy could require, the primate
proceeded, by slow journeys, through the provinces of Thrace,
Asia, and Syria; and his progress was marked by the abject homage
of the Oriental bishops, who excited his contempt without
deceiving his penetration. ^118 At Antioch he saw the emperor
Constantius; sustained, with modest firmness, the embraces and
protestations of his master, and eluded the proposal of allowing
the Arians a single church at Alexandria, by claiming, in the
other cities of the empire, a similar toleration for his own
party; a reply which might have appeared just and moderate in the
mouth of an independent prince. The entrance of the archbishop
into his capital was a triumphal procession; absence and
persecution had endeared him to the Alexandrians; his authority,
which he exercised with rigor, was more firmly established; and
his fame was diffused from Aethiopia to Britain, over the whole
extent of the Christian world. ^119

[Footnote 116: As Athanasius dispersed secret invectives against
Constantius, (see the Epistle to the Monks,) at the same time
that he assured him of his profound respect, we might distrust
the professions of the archbishop. Tom. i. p. 677.]

[Footnote 117: Notwithstanding the discreet silence of
Athanasius, and the manifest forgery of a letter inserted by
Socrates, these menaces are proved by the unquestionable evidence
of Lucifer of Cagliari, and even of Constantius himself. See
Tillemont, tom. viii. p. 693]

[Footnote 118: I have always entertained some doubts concerning
the retraction of Ursacius and Valens, (Athanas. tom. i. p. 776.)
Their epistles to Julius, bishop of Rome, and to Athanasius
himself, are of so different a cast from each other, that they
cannot both be genuine. The one speaks the language of criminals
who confess their guilt and infamy; the other of enemies, who
solicit on equal terms an honorable reconciliation.

     Note: I cannot quite comprehend the ground of Gibbon's
doubts. Athanasius distinctly asserts the fact of their
retractation. (Athan. Op. i. p. 124, edit. Benedict.) The
epistles are apparently translations from the Latin, if, in fact,
more than the substance of the epistles. That to Athanasius is
brief, almost abrupt. Their retractation is likewise mentioned
in the address of the orthodox bishops of Rimini to Constantius.
Athan. de Synodis, Op t. i. p 723-M.]

[Footnote 119: The circumstances of his second return may be
collected from Athanasius himself, tom. i. p. 769, and 822, 843.
Socrates, l. ii. c. 18, Sozomen, l. iii. c. 19. Theodoret, l. ii.
c. 11, 12. Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 12.]

     But the subject who has reduced his prince to the necessity
of dissembling, can never expect a sincere and lasting
forgiveness; and the tragic fate of Constans soon deprived
Athanasius of a powerful and generous protector. The civil war
between the assassin and the only surviving brother of Constans,
which afflicted the empire above three years, secured an interval
of repose to the Catholic church; and the two contending parties
were desirous to conciliate the friendship of a bishop, who, by
the weight of his personal authority, might determine the
fluctuating resolutions of an important province. He gave
audience to the ambassadors of the tyrant, with whom he was
afterwards accused of holding a secret correspondence; ^120 and
the emperor Constantius repeatedly assured his dearest father,
the most reverend Athanasius, that, notwithstanding the malicious
rumors which were circulated by their common enemies, he had
inherited the sentiments, as well as the throne, of his deceased
brother. ^121 Gratitude and humanity would have disposed the
primate of Egypt to deplore the untimely fate of Constans, and to
abhor the guilt of Magnentius; but as he clearly understood that
the apprehensions of Constantius were his only safeguard, the
fervor of his prayers for the success of the righteous cause
might perhaps be somewhat abated. The ruin of Athanasius was no
longer contrived by the obscure malice of a few bigoted or angry
bishops, who abused the authority of a credulous monarch. The
monarch himself avowed the resolution, which he had so long
suppressed, of avenging his private injuries; ^122 and the first
winter after his victory, which he passed at Arles, was employed
against an enemy more odious to him than the vanquished tyrant of
Gaul.

[Footnote 120: Athanasius (tom. i. p. 677, 678) defends his
innocence by pathetic complaints, solemn assertions, and specious
arguments. He admits that letters had been forged in his name,
but he requests that his own secretaries and those of the tyrant
might be examined, whether those letters had been written by the
former, or received by the latter.]
[Footnote 121: Athanas. tom. i. p. 825-844.]

[Footnote 122: Athanas. tom. i. p. 861. Theodoret, l. ii. c. 16.

The emperor declared that he was more desirous to subdue
Athanasius, than he had been to vanquish Magnentius or Sylvanus.]

     If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the
most eminent and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel
order would have been executed without hesitation, by the
ministers of open violence or of specious injustice. The
caution, the delay, the difficulty with which he proceeded in the
condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop, discovered to
the world that the privileges of the church had already revived a
sense of order and freedom in the Roman government. The sentence
which was pronounced in the synod of Tyre, and subscribed by a
large majority of the Eastern bishops, had never been expressly
repealed; and as Athanasius had been once degraded from his
episcopal dignity by the judgment of his brethren, every
subsequent act might be considered as irregular, and even
criminal. But the memory of the firm and effectual support which
the primate of Egypt had derived from the attachment of the
Western church, engaged Constantius to suspend the execution of
the sentence till he had obtained the concurrence of the Latin
bishops. Two years were consumed in ecclesiastical negotiations;
and the important cause between the emperor and one of his
subjects was solemnly debated, first in the synod of Arles, and
afterwards in the great council of Milan, ^123 which consisted of
above three hundred bishops. Their integrity was gradually
undermined by the arguments of the Arians, the dexterity of the
eunuchs, and the pressing solicitations of a prince who gratified
his revenge at the expense of his dignity, and exposed his own
passions, whilst he influenced those of the clergy. Corruption,
the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was
successfully practised; honors, gifts, and immunities were
offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; ^124 and
the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully
represented as the only measure which could restore the peace and
union of the Catholic church. The friends of Athanasius were
not, however, wanting to their leader, or to their cause. With a
manly spirit, which the sanctity of their character rendered less
dangerous, they maintained, in public debate, and in private
conference with the emperor, the eternal obligation of religion
and justice. They declared, that neither the hope of his favor,
nor the fear of his displeasure, should prevail on them to join
in the condemnation of an absent, an innocent, a respectable
brother. ^125 They affirmed, with apparent reason, that the
illegal and obsolete decrees of the council of Tyre had long
since been tacitly abolished by the Imperial edicts, the
honorable reestablishment of the archbishop of Alexandria, and
the silence or recantation of his most clamorous adversaries.
They alleged, that his innocence had been attested by the
unanimous bishops of Egypt, and had been acknowledged in the
councils of Rome and Sardica, ^126 by the impartial judgment of
the Latin church. They deplored the hard condition of
Athanasius, who, after enjoying so many years his seat, his
reputation, and the seeming confidence of his sovereign, was
again called upon to confute the most groundless and extravagant
accusations. Their language was specious; their conduct was
honorable: but in this long and obstinate contest, which fixed
the eyes of the whole empire on a single bishop, the
ecclesiastical factions were prepared to sacrifice truth and
justice to the more interesting object of defending or removing
the intrepid champion of the Nicene faith. The Arians still
thought it prudent to disguise, in ambiguous language, their real
sentiments and designs; but the orthodox bishops, armed with the
favor of the people, and the decrees of a general council,
insisted on every occasion, and particularly at Milan, that their
adversaries should purge themselves from the suspicion of heresy,
before they presumed to arraign the conduct of the great
Athanasius. ^127
[Footnote 123: The affairs of the council of Milan are so
imperfectly and erroneously related by the Greek writers, that we
must rejoice in the supply of some letters of Eusebius, extracted
by Baronius from the archives of the church of Vercellae, and of
an old life of Dionysius of Milan, published by Bollandus. See
Baronius, A.D. 355, and Tillemont, tom. vii. p. 1415.]
[Footnote 124: The honors, presents, feasts, which seduced so
many bishops, are mentioned with indignation by those who were
too pure or too proud to accept them. "We combat (says Hilary of
Poitiers) against Constantius the Antichrist; who strokes the
belly instead of scourging the back;" qui non dorsa caedit; sed
ventrem palpat. Hilarius contra Constant c. 5, p. 1240.]
[Footnote 125: Something of this opposition is mentioned by
Ammianus (x. 7,) who had a very dark and superficial knowledge of
ecclesiastical history. Liberius . . . perseveranter renitebatur,
nec visum hominem, nec auditum damnare, nefas ultimum saepe
exclamans; aperte scilicet recalcitrans Imperatoris arbitrio. Id
enim ille Athanasio semper infestus, &c.]
[Footnote 126: More properly by the orthodox part of the council
of Sardica. If the bishops of both parties had fairly voted, the
division would have been 94 to 76. M. de Tillemont (see tom.
viii. p. 1147-1158) is justly surprised that so small a majority
should have proceeded as vigorously against their adversaries,
the principal of whom they immediately deposed.]
[Footnote 127: Sulp. Severus in Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 412.]
     But the voice of reason (if reason was indeed on the side of
Athanasius) was silenced by the clamors of a factious or venal
majority; and the councils of Arles and Milan were not dissolved,
till the archbishop of Alexandria had been solemnly condemned and
deposed by the judgment of the Western, as well as of the
Eastern, church. The bishops who had opposed, were required to
subscribe, the sentence, and to unite in religious communion with
the suspected leaders of the adverse party. A formulary of
consent was transmitted by the messengers of state to the absent
bishops: and all those who refused to submit their private
opinion to the public and inspired wisdom of the councils of
Arles and Milan, were immediately banished by the emperor, who
affected to execute the decrees of the Catholic church. Among
those prelates who led the honorable band of confessors and
exiles, Liberius of Rome, Osius of Cordova, Paulinus of Treves,
Dionysius of Milan, Eusebius of Vercellae, Lucifer of Cagliari
and Hilary of Poitiers, may deserve to be particularly
distinguished. The eminent station of Liberius, who governed the
capital of the empire; the personal merit and long experience of
the venerable Osius, who was revered as the favorite of the great
Constantine, and the father of the Nicene faith, placed those
prelates at the head of the Latin church: and their example,
either of submission or resistance, would probable be imitated by
the episcopal crowd. But the repeated attempts of the emperor to
seduce or to intimidate the bishops of Rome and Cordova, were for
some time ineffectual. The Spaniard declared himself ready to
suffer under Constantius, as he had suffered threescore years
before under his grandfather Maximian. The Roman, in the presence
of his sovereign, asserted the innocence of Athanasius and his
own freedom. When he was banished to Beraea in Thrace, he sent
back a large sum which had been offered for the accommodation of
his journey; and insulted the court of Milan by the haughty
remark, that the emperor and his eunuchs might want that gold to
pay their soldiers and their bishops. ^128 The resolution of
Liberius and Osius was at length subdued by the hardships of
exile and confinement. The Roman pontiff purchased his return by
some criminal compliances; and afterwards expiated his guilt by a
seasonable repentance. Persuasion and violence were employed to
extort the reluctant signature of the decrepit bishop of Cordova,
whose strength was broken, and whose faculties were perhaps
impaired by the weight of a hundred years; and the insolent
triumph of the Arians provoked some of the orthodox party to
treat with inhuman severity the character, or rather the memory,
of an unfortunate old man, to whose former services Christianity
itself was so deeply indebted. ^129

[Footnote 128: The exile of Liberius is mentioned by Ammianus,
xv. 7. See Theodoret, l. ii. c. 16. Athanas. tom. i. p.
834-837. Hilar. Fragment l.]
[Footnote 129: The life of Osius is collected by Tillemont, (tom.
vii. p. 524-561,) who in the most extravagant terms first
admires, and then reprobates, the bishop of Cordova. In the
midst of their lamentations on his fall, the prudence of
Athanasius may be distinguished from the blind and intemperate
zeal of Hilary.]

     The fall of Liberius and Osius reflected a brighter lustre
on the firmness of those bishops who still adhered, with unshaken
fidelity, to the cause of Athanasius and religious truth. The
ingenious malice of their enemies had deprived them of the
benefit of mutual comfort and advice, separated those illustrious
exiles into distant provinces, and carefully selected the most
inhospitable spots of a great empire. ^130 Yet they soon
experienced that the deserts of Libya, and the most barbarous
tracts of Cappadocia, were less inhospitable than the residence
of those cities in which an Arian bishop could satiate, without
restraint, the exquisite rancor of theological hatred. ^131 Their
consolation was derived from the consciousness of rectitude and
independence, from the applause, the visits, the letters, and the
liberal alms of their adherents, ^132 and from the satisfaction
which they soon enjoyed of observing the intestine divisions of
the adversaries of the Nicene faith. Such was the nice and
capricious taste of the emperor Constantius; and so easily was he
offended by the slightest deviation from his imaginary standard
of Christian truth, that he persecuted, with equal zeal, those
who defended the consubstantiality, those who asserted the
similar substance, and those who denied the likeness of the Son
of God. Three bishops, degraded and banished for those adverse
opinions, might possibly meet in the same place of exile; and,
according to the difference of their temper, might either pity or
insult the blind enthusiasm of their antagonists, whose present
sufferings would never be compensated by future happiness.
[Footnote 130: The confessors of the West were successively
banished to the deserts of Arabia or Thebais, the lonely places
of Mount Taurus, the wildest parts of Phrygia, which were in the
possession of the impious Montanists, &c. When the heretic Aetius
was too favorably entertained at Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the place
of his exile was changed, by the advice of Acacius, to Amblada, a
district inhabited by savages and infested by war and pestilence.
Philostorg. l. v. c. 2.]

[Footnote 131: See the cruel treatment and strange obstinacy of
Eusebius, in his own letters, published by Baronius, A.D. 356,
No. 92-102.]
[Footnote 132: Caeterum exules satis constat, totius orbis
studiis celebratos pecuniasque eis in sumptum affatim congestas,
legationibus quoque plebis Catholicae ex omnibus fere provinciis
frequentatos. Sulp. Sever Hist. Sacra, p. 414. Athanas. tom. i.
p. 836, 840.]

     The disgrace and exile of the orthodox bishops of the West
were designed as so many preparatory steps to the ruin of
Athanasius himself. ^133 Six-and-twenty months had elapsed,
during which the Imperial court secretly labored, by the most
insidious arts, to remove him from Alexandria, and to withdraw
the allowance which supplied his popular liberality. But when
the primate of Egypt, deserted and proscribed by the Latin
church, was left destitute of any foreign support, Constantius
despatched two of his secretaries with a verbal commission to
announce and execute the order of his banishment. As the justice
of the sentence was publicly avowed by the whole party, the only
motive which could restrain Constantius from giving his
messengers the sanction of a written mandate, must be imputed to
his doubt of the event; and to a sense of the danger to which he
might expose the second city, and the most fertile province, of
the empire, if the people should persist in the resolution of
defending, by force of arms, the innocence of their spiritual
father. Such extreme caution afforded Athanasius a specious
pretence respectfully to dispute the truth of an order, which he
could not reconcile, either with the equity, or with the former
declarations, of his gracious master. The civil powers of Egypt
found themselves inadequate to the task of persuading or
compelling the primate to abdicate his episcopal throne; and they
were obliged to conclude a treaty with the popular leaders of
Alexandria, by which it was stipulated, that all proceedings and
all hostilities should be suspended till the emperor's pleasure
had been more distinctly ascertained. By this seeming
moderation, the Catholics were deceived into a false and fatal
security; while the legions of the Upper Egypt, and of Libya,
advanced, by secret orders and hasty marches, to besiege, or
rather to surprise, a capital habituated to sedition, and
inflamed by religious zeal. ^134 The position of Alexandria,
between the sea and the Lake Mareotis, facilitated the approach
and landing of the troops; who were introduced into the heart of
the city, before any effectual measures could be taken either to
shut the gates or to occupy the important posts of defence. At
the hour of midnight, twenty-three days after the signature of
the treaty, Syrianus, duke of Egypt, at the head of five thousand
soldiers, armed and prepared for an assault, unexpectedly
invested the church of St. Theonas, where the archbishop, with a
part of his clergy and people, performed their nocturnal
devotions. The doors of the sacred edifice yielded to the
impetuosity of the attack, which was accompanied with every
horrid circumstance of tumult and bloodshed; but, as the bodies
of the slain, and the fragments of military weapons, remained the
next day an unexceptionable evidence in the possession of the
Catholics, the enterprise of Syrianus may be considered as a
successful irruption rather than as an absolute conquest. The
other churches of the city were profaned by similar outrages;
and, during at least four months, Alexandria was exposed to the
insults of a licentious army, stimulated by the ecclesiastics of
a hostile faction. Many of the faithful were killed; who may
deserve the name of martyrs, if their deaths were neither
provoked nor revenged; bishops and presbyters were treated with
cruel ignominy; consecrated virgins were stripped naked, scourged
and violated; the houses of wealthy citizens were plundered; and,
under the mask of religious zeal, lust, avarice, and private
resentment were gratified with impunity, and even with applause.
The Pagans of Alexandria, who still formed a numerous and
discontented party, were easily persuaded to desert a bishop whom
they feared and esteemed. The hopes of some peculiar favors, and
the apprehension of being involved in the general penalties of
rebellion, engaged them to promise their support to the destined
successor of Athanasius, the famous George of Cappadocia. The
usurper, after receiving the consecration of an Arian synod, was
placed on the episcopal throne by the arms of Sebastian, who had
been appointed Count of Egypt for the execution of that important
design. In the use, as well as in the acquisition, of power, the
tyrant, George disregarded the laws of religion, of justice, and
of humanity; and the same scenes of violence and scandal which
had been exhibited in the capital, were repeated in more than
ninety episcopal cities of Egypt. Encouraged by success,
Constantius ventured to approve the conduct of his minister. By
a public and passionate epistle, the emperor congratulates the
deliverance of Alexandria from a popular tyrant, who deluded his
blind votaries by the magic of his eloquence; expatiates on the
virtues and piety of the most reverend George, the elected
bishop; and aspires, as the patron and benefactor of the city to
surpass the fame of Alexander himself. But he solemnly declares
his unalterable resolution to pursue with fire and sword the
seditious adherents of the wicked Athanasius, who, by flying from
justice, has confessed his guilt, and escaped the ignominious
death which he had so often deserved. ^135
[Footnote 133: Ample materials for the history of this third
persecution of Athanasius may be found in his own works. See
particularly his very able Apology to Constantius, (tom. i. p.
673,) his first Apology for his flight (p. 701,) his prolix
Epistle to the Solitaries, (p. 808,) and the original protest of
the people of Alexandria against the violences committed by
Syrianus, (p. 866.) Sozomen (l. iv. c. 9) has thrown into the
narrative two or three luminous and important circumstances.]

[Footnote 134: Athanasius had lately sent for Antony, and some of
his chosen monks. They descended from their mountains, announced
to the Alexandrians the sanctity of Athanasius, and were
honorably conducted by the archbishop as far as the gates of the
city. Athanas tom. ii. p. 491, 492. See likewise Rufinus, iii.
164, in Vit. Patr. p. 524.]

[Footnote 135: Athanas. tom. i. p. 694. The emperor, or his
Arian secretaries while they express their resentment, betray
their fears and esteem of Athanasius.]

Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.

Part VI.

     Athanasius had indeed escaped from the most imminent
dangers; and the adventures of that extraordinary man deserve and
fix our attention. On the memorable night when the church of St.
Theonas was invested by the troops of Syrianus, the archbishop,
seated on his throne, expected, with calm and intrepid dignity,
the approach of death. While the public devotion was interrupted
by shouts of rage and cries of terror, he animated his trembling
congregation to express their religious confidence, by chanting
one of the psalms of David which celebrates the triumph of the
God of Israel over the haughty and impious tyrant of Egypt. The
doors were at length burst open: a cloud of arrows was discharged
among the people; the soldiers, with drawn swords, rushed
forwards into the sanctuary; and the dreadful gleam of their arms
was reflected by the holy luminaries which burnt round the altar.
^136 Athanasius still rejected the pious importunity of the monks
and presbyters, who were attached to his person; and nobly
refused to desert his episcopal station, till he had dismissed in
safety the last of the congregation. The darkness and tumult of
the night favored the retreat of the archbishop; and though he
was oppressed by the waves of an agitated multitude, though he
was thrown to the ground, and left without sense or motion, he
still recovered his undaunted courage, and eluded the eager
search of the soldiers, who were instructed by their Arian
guides, that the head of Athanasius would be the most acceptable
present to the emperor. From that moment the primate of Egypt
disappeared from the eyes of his enemies, and remained above six
years concealed in impenetrable obscurity. ^137

[Footnote 136: These minute circumstances are curious, as they
are literally transcribed from the protest, which was publicly
presented three days afterwards by the Catholics of Alexandria.
See Athanas. tom. l. n. 867]
[Footnote 137: The Jansenists have often compared Athanasius and
Arnauld, and have expatiated with pleasure on the faith and zeal,
the merit and exile, of those celebrated doctors. This concealed
parallel is very dexterously managed by the Abbe de la Bleterie,
Vie de Jovien, tom. i. p. 130.]
     The despotic power of his implacable enemy filled the whole
extent of the Roman world; and the exasperated monarch had
endeavored, by a very pressing epistle to the Christian princes
of Ethiopia, ^* to exclude Athanasius from the most remote and
sequestered regions of the earth. Counts, praefects, tribunes,
whole armies, were successively employed to pursue a bishop and a
fugitive; the vigilance of the civil and military powers was
excited by the Imperial edicts; liberal rewards were promised to
the man who should produce Athanasius, either alive or dead; and
the most severe penalties were denounced against those who should
dare to protect the public enemy. ^138 But the deserts of Thebais
were now peopled by a race of wild, yet submissive fanatics, who
preferred the commands of their abbot to the laws of their
sovereign. The numerous disciples of Antony and Pachonnus
received the fugitive primate as their father, admired the
patience and humility with which he conformed to their strictest
institutions, collected every word which dropped from his lips as
the genuine effusions of inspired wisdom; and persuaded
themselves that their prayers, their fasts, and their vigils,
were less meritorious than the zeal which they expressed, and the
dangers which they braved, in the defence of truth and innocence.
^139 The monasteries of Egypt were seated in lonely and desolate
places, on the summit of mountains, or in the islands of the
Nile; and the sacred horn or trumpet of Tabenne was the
well-known signal which assembled several thousand robust and
determined monks, who, for the most part, had been the peasants
of the adjacent country. When their dark retreats were invaded by
a military force, which it was impossible to resist, they
silently stretched out their necks to the executioner; and
supported their national character, that tortures could never
wrest from an Egyptian the confession of a secret which he was
resolved not to disclose. ^140 The archbishop of Alexandria, for
whose safety they eagerly devoted their lives, was lost among a
uniform and well-disciplined multitude; and on the nearer
approach of danger, he was swiftly removed, by their officious
hands, from one place of concealment to another, till he reached
the formidable deserts, which the gloomy and credulous temper of
superstition had peopled with daemons and savage monsters. The
retirement of Athanasius, which ended only with the life of
Constantius, was spent, for the most part, in the society of the
monks, who faithfully served him as guards, as secretaries, and
as messengers; but the importance of maintaining a more intimate
connection with the Catholic party tempted him, whenever the
diligence of the pursuit was abated, to emerge from the desert,
to introduce himself into Alexandria, and to trust his person to
the discretion of his friends and adherents. His various
adventures might have furnished the subject of a very
entertaining romance. He was once secreted in a dry cistern,
which he had scarcely left before he was betrayed by the
treachery of a female slave; ^141 and he was once concealed in a
still more extraordinary asylum, the house of a virgin, only
twenty years of age, and who was celebrated in the whole city for
her exquisite beauty. At the hour of midnight, as she related
the story many years afterwards, she was surprised by the
appearance of the archbishop in a loose undress, who, advancing
with hasty steps, conjured her to afford him the protection which
he had been directed by a celestial vision to seek under her
hospitable roof. The pious maid accepted and preserved the
sacred pledge which was intrusted to her prudence and courage.
Without imparting the secret to any one, she instantly conducted
Athanasius into her most secret chamber, and watched over his
safety with the tenderness of a friend and the assiduity of a
servant. As long as the danger continued, she regularly supplied
him with books and provisions, washed his feet, managed his
correspondence, and dexterously concealed from the eye of
suspicion this familiar and solitary intercourse between a saint
whose character required the most unblemished chastity, and a
female whose charms might excite the most dangerous emotions.
^142 During the six years of persecution and exile, Athanasius
repeated his visits to his fair and faithful companion; and the
formal declaration, that he saw the councils of Rimini and
Seleucia, ^143 forces us to believe that he was secretly present
at the time and place of their convocation. The advantage of
personally negotiating with his friends, and of observing and
improving the divisions of his enemies, might justify, in a
prudent statesman, so bold and dangerous an enterprise: and
Alexandria was connected by trade and navigation with every
seaport of the Mediterranean. From the depth of his inaccessible
retreat the intrepid primate waged an incessant and offensive war
against the protector of the Arians; and his seasonable writings,
which were diligently circulated and eagerly perused, contributed
to unite and animate the orthodox party. In his public
apologies, which he addressed to the emperor himself, he
sometimes affected the praise of moderation; whilst at the same
time, in secret and vehement invectives, he exposed Constantius
as a weak and wicked prince, the executioner of his family, the
tyrant of the republic, and the Antichrist of the church. In the
height of his prosperity, the victorious monarch, who had
chastised the rashness of Gallus, and suppressed the revolt of
Sylvanus, who had taken the diadem from the head of Vetranio, and
vanquished in the field the legions of Magnentius, received from
an invisible hand a wound, which he could neither heal nor
revenge; and the son of Constantine was the first of the
Christian princes who experienced the strength of those
principles, which, in the cause of religion, could resist the
most violent exertions ^144 of the civil power.

[Footnote *: These princes were called Aeizanas and Saiazanas.
Athanasius calls them the kings of Axum. In the superscription of
his letter, Constantius gives them no title. Mr. Salt, during
his first journey in Ethiopia, (in 1806,) discovered, in the
ruins of Axum, a long and very interesting inscription relating
to these princes. It was erected to commemorate the victory of
Aeizanas over the Bougaitae, (St. Martin considers them the
Blemmyes, whose true name is Bedjah or Bodjah.) Aeizanas is
styled king of the Axumites, the Homerites, of Raeidan, of the
Ethiopians, of the Sabsuites, of Silea, of Tiamo, of the
Bougaites. and of Kaei. It appears that at this time the king
of the Ethiopians ruled over the Homerites, the inhabitants of
Yemen. He was not yet a Christian, as he calls himself son of the
invincible Mars. Another brother besides Saiazanas, named
Adephas, is mentioned, though Aeizanas seems to have been sole
king. See St. Martin, note on Le Beau, ii. 151. Salt's Travels.
De Sacy, note in Annales des Voyages, xii. p. 53. - M.]
[Footnote 138: Hinc jam toto orbe profugus Athanasius, nec ullus
ci tutus ad latendum supererat locus. Tribuni, Praefecti,
Comites, exercitus quoque ad pervestigandum cum moventur edictis
Imperialibus; praemia dela toribus proponuntur, si quis eum
vivum, si id minus, caput certe Atha casii detulisset. Rufin. l.
i. c. 16.]

[Footnote 139: Gregor. Nazianzen. tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 384,
385. See Tillemont Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 176-410, 820-830.]

[Footnote 140: Et nulla tormentorum vis inveneri, adhuc potuit,
quae obdurato illius tractus latroni invito elicere potuit, ut
nomen proprium dicat Ammian. xxii. 16, and Valesius ad locum.]

[Footnote 141: Rufin. l. i. c. 18. Sozomen, l. iv. c. 10. This
and the following story will be rendered impossible, if we
suppose that Athanasius always inhabited the asylum which he
accidentally or occasionally had used.]
[Footnote 142: Paladius, (Hist. Lausiac. c. 136, in Vit. Patrum,
p. 776,) the original author of this anecdote, had conversed with
the damsel, who in her old age still remembered with pleasure so
pious and honorable a connection. I cannot indulge the delicacy
of Baronius, Valesius, Tillemont, &c., who almost reject a story
so unworthy, as they deem it, of the gravity of ecclesiastical
history.]

[Footnote 143: Athanas. tom. i. p. 869. I agree with Tillemont,
(tom. iii. p. 1197,) that his expressions imply a personal,
though perhaps secret visit to the synods.]

[Footnote 144: The epistle of Athanasius to the monks is filled
with reproaches, which the public must feel to be true, (vol. i.
p. 834, 856;) and, in compliment to his readers, he has
introduced the comparisons of Pharaoh, Ahab, Belshazzar, &c. The
boldness of Hilary was attended with less danger, if he published
his invective in Gaul after the revolt of Julian; but Lucifer
sent his libels to Constantius, and almost challenged the reward
of martyrdom. See Tillemont, tom. vii. p. 905.]

    The persecution of Athanasius, and of so many respectable
bishops, who suffered for the truth of their opinions, or at
least for the integrity of their conscience, was a just subject
of indignation and discontent to all Christians, except those who
were blindly devoted to the Arian faction. The people regretted
the loss of their faithful pastors, whose banishment was usually
followed by the intrusion of a stranger ^145 into the episcopal
chair; and loudly complained, that the right of election was
violated, and that they were condemned to obey a mercenary
usurper, whose person was unknown, and whose principles were
suspected. The Catholics might prove to the world, that they
were not involved in the guilt and heresy of their ecclesiastical
governor, by publicly testifying their dissent, or by totally
separating themselves from his communion. The first of these
methods was invented at Antioch, and practised with such success,
that it was soon diffused over the Christian world. The doxology
or sacred hymn, which celebrates the glory of the Trinity, is
susceptible of very nice, but material, inflections; and the
substance of an orthodox, or an heretical, creed, may be
expressed by the difference of a disjunctive, or a copulative,
particle. Alternate responses, and a more regular psalmody, ^146
were introduced into the public service by Flavianus and
Diodorus, two devout and active laymen, who were attached to the
Nicene faith. Under their conduct a swarm of monks issued from
the adjacent desert, bands of well-disciplined singers were
stationed in the cathedral of Antioch, the Glory to the Father,
And the Son, And the Holy Ghost, ^147 was triumphantly chanted by
a full chorus of voices; and the Catholics insulted, by the
purity of their doctrine, the Arian prelate, who had usurped the
throne of the venerable Eustathius. The same zeal which inspired
their songs prompted the more scrupulous members of the orthodox
party to form separate assemblies, which were governed by the
presbyters, till the death of their exiled bishop allowed the
election and consecration of a new episcopal pastor. ^148 The
revolutions of the court multiplied the number of pretenders; and
the same city was often disputed, under the reign of Constantius,
by two, or three, or even four, bishops, who exercised their
spiritual jurisdiction over their respective followers, and
alternately lost and regained the temporal possessions of the
church. The abuse of Christianity introduced into the Roman
government new causes of tyranny and sedition; the bands of civil
society were torn asunder by the fury of religious factions; and
the obscure citizen, who might calmly have surveyed the elevation
and fall of successive emperors, imagined and experienced, that
his own life and fortune were connected with the interests of a
popular ecclesiastic. The example of the two capitals, Rome and
Constantinople, may serve to represent the state of the empire,
and the temper of mankind, under the reign of the sons of
Constantine.
[Footnote 145: Athanasius (tom. i. p. 811) complains in general
of this practice, which he afterwards exemplifies (p. 861) in the
pretended election of Faelix. Three eunuchs represented the
Roman people, and three prelates, who followed the court, assumed
the functions of the bishops of the Suburbicarian provinces.]

[Footnote 146: Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. l. ii.
c. 72, 73, p. 966-984) has collected many curious facts
concerning the origin and progress of church singing, both in the
East and West.

     Note: Arius appears to have been the first who availed
himself of this means of impressing his doctrines on the popular
ear: he composed songs for sailors, millers, and travellers, and
set them to common airs; "beguiling the ignorant, by the
sweetness of his music, into the impiety of his doctrines."
Philostorgius, ii. 2. Arian singers used to parade the streets
of Constantinople by night, till Chrysostom arrayed against them
a band of orthodox choristers. Sozomen, viii. 8. - M.]

[Footnote 147: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 13. Godefroy has
examined this subject with singular accuracy, (p. 147, &c.) There
were three heterodox forms: "To the Father by the Son, and in the
Holy Ghost." "To the Father, and the Son in the Holy Ghost;" and
"To the Father in the Son and the Holy Ghost."]

[Footnote 148: After the exile of Eustathius, under the reign of
Constantine, the rigid party of the orthodox formed a separation
which afterwards degenerated into a schism, and lasted about
fourscore years. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 35-54,
1137-1158, tom. viii. p. 537-632, 1314-1332. In many churches,
the Arians and Homoousians, who had renounced each other's
communion, continued for some time to join in prayer.
Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 14.]

     I. The Roman pontiff, as long as he maintained his station
and his principles, was guarded by the warm attachment of a great
people; and could reject with scorn the prayers, the menaces, and
the oblations of an heretical prince. When the eunuchs had
secretly pronounced the exile of Liberius, the well-grounded
apprehension of a tumult engaged them to use the utmost
precautions in the execution of the sentence. The capital was
invested on every side, and the praefect was commanded to seize
the person of the bishop, either by stratagem or by open force.
The order was obeyed, and Liberius, with the greatest difficulty,
at the hour of midnight, was swiftly conveyed beyond the reach of
the Roman people, before their consternation was turned into
rage. As soon as they were informed of his banishment into
Thrace, a general assembly was convened, and the clergy of Rome
bound themselves, by a public and solemn oath, never to desert
their bishop, never to acknowledge the usurper Faelix; who, by
the influence of the eunuchs, had been irregularly chosen and
consecrated within the walls of a profane palace. At the end of
two years, their pious obstinacy subsisted entire and unshaken;
and when Constantius visited Rome, he was assailed by the
importunate solicitations of a people, who had preserved, as the
last remnant of their ancient freedom, the right of treating
their sovereign with familiar insolence. The wives of many of
the senators and most honorable citizens, after pressing their
husbands to intercede in favor of Liberius, were advised to
undertake a commission, which in their hands would be less
dangerous, and might prove more successful. The emperor received
with politeness these female deputies, whose wealth and dignity
were displayed in the magnificence of their dress and ornaments:
he admired their inflexible resolution of following their beloved
pastor to the most distant regions of the earth; and consented
that the two bishops, Liberius and Faelix, should govern in peace
their respective congregations. But the ideas of toleration were
so repugnant to the practice, and even to the sentiments, of
those times, that when the answer of Constantius was publicly
read in the Circus of Rome, so reasonable a project of
accommodation was rejected with contempt and ridicule. The eager
vehemence which animated the spectators in the decisive moment of
a horse-race, was now directed towards a different object; and
the Circus resounded with the shout of thousands, who repeatedly
exclaimed, "One God, One Christ, One Bishop!" The zeal of the
Roman people in the cause of Liberius was not confined to words
alone; and the dangerous and bloody sedition which they excited
soon after the departure of Constantius determined that prince to
accept the submission of the exiled prelate, and to restore him
to the undivided dominion of the capital. After some ineffectual
resistance, his rival was expelled from the city by the
permission of the emperor and the power of the opposite faction;
the adherents of Faelix were inhumanly murdered in the streets,
in the public places, in the baths, and even in the churches; and
the face of Rome, upon the return of a Christian bishop, renewed
the horrid image of the massacres of Marius, and the
proscriptions of Sylla. ^149

[Footnote 149: See, on this ecclesiastical revolution of Rome,
Ammianus, xv. 7 Athanas. tom. i. p. 834, 861. Sozomen, l. iv. c.
15. Theodoret, l. ii c. 17. Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p.
413. Hieronym. Chron. Marcellin. et Faustin. Libell. p. 3, 4.
Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p.]
     II. Notwithstanding the rapid increase of Christians under
the reign of the Flavian family, Rome, Alexandria, and the other
great cities of the empire, still contained a strong and powerful
faction of Infidels, who envied the prosperity, and who
ridiculed, even in their theatres, the theological disputes of
the church. Constantinople alone enjoyed the advantage of being
born and educated in the bosom of the faith. The capital of the
East had never been polluted by the worship of idols; and the
whole body of the people had deeply imbibed the opinions, the
virtues, and the passions, which distinguished the Christians of
that age from the rest of mankind. After the death of Alexander,
the episcopal throne was disputed by Paul and Macedonius. By
their zeal and abilities they both deserved the eminent station
to which they aspired; and if the moral character of Macedonius
was less exceptionable, his competitor had the advantage of a
prior election and a more orthodox doctrine. His firm attachment
to the Nicene creed, which has given Paul a place in the calendar
among saints and martyrs, exposed him to the resentment of the
Arians. In the space of fourteen years he was five times driven
from his throne; to which he was more frequently restored by the
violence of the people, than by the permission of the prince; and
the power of Macedonius could be secured only by the death of his
rival. The unfortunate Paul was dragged in chains from the sandy
deserts of Mesopotamia to the most desolate places of Mount
Taurus, ^150 confined in a dark and narrow dungeon, left six days
without food, and at length strangled, by the order of Philip,
one of the principal ministers of the emperor Constantius. ^151
The first blood which stained the new capital was spilt in this
ecclesiastical contest; and many persons were slain on both
sides, in the furious and obstinate seditions of the people. The
commission of enforcing a sentence of banishment against Paul had
been intrusted to Hermogenes, the master-general of the cavalry;
but the execution of it was fatal to himself. The Catholics rose
in the defence of their bishop; the palace of Hermogenes was
consumed; the first military officer of the empire was dragged by
the heels through the streets of Constantinople, and, after he
expired, his lifeless corpse was exposed to their wanton insults.
^152 The fate of Hermogenes instructed Philip, the Praetorian
praefect, to act with more precaution on a similar occasion. In
the most gentle and honorable terms, he required the attendance
of Paul in the baths of Xeuxippus, which had a private
communication with the palace and the sea. A vessel, which lay
ready at the garden stairs, immediately hoisted sail; and, while
the people were still ignorant of the meditated sacrilege, their
bishop was already embarked on his voyage to Thessalonica. They
soon beheld, with surprise and indignation, the gates of the
palace thrown open, and the usurper Macedonius seated by the side
of the praefect on a lofty chariot, which was surrounded by
troops of guards with drawn swords. The military procession
advanced towards the cathedral; the Arians and the Catholics
eagerly rushed to occupy that important post; and three thousand
one hundred and fifty persons lost their lives in the confusion
of the tumult. Macedonius, who was supported by a regular force,
obtained a decisive victory; but his reign was disturbed by
clamor and sedition; and the causes which appeared the least
connected with the subject of dispute, were sufficient to nourish
and to kindle the flame of civil discord. As the chapel in which
the body of the great Constantine had been deposited was in a
ruinous condition, the bishop transported those venerable remains
into the church of St. Acacius. This prudent and even pious
measure was represented as a wicked profanation by the whole
party which adhered to the Homoousian doctrine. The factions
immediately flew to arms, the consecrated ground was used as
their field of battle; and one of the ecclesiastical historians
has observed, as a real fact, not as a figure of rhetoric, that
the well before the church overflowed with a stream of blood,
which filled the porticos and the adjacent courts. The writer
who should impute these tumults solely to a religious principle,
would betray a very imperfect knowledge of human nature; yet it
must be confessed that the motive which misled the sincerity of
zeal, and the pretence which disguised the licentiousness of
passion, suppressed the remorse which, in another cause, would
have succeeded to the rage of the Christians at Constantinople.
^153

[Footnote 150: Cucusus was the last stage of his life and
sufferings. The situation of that lonely town, on the confines
of Cappadocia, Cilicia, and the Lesser Armenia, has occasioned
some geographical perplexity; but we are directed to the true
spot by the course of the Roman road from Caesarea to Anazarbus.
See Cellarii Geograph. tom. ii. p. 213. Wesseling ad Itinerar.
p. 179, 703.]

[Footnote 151: Athanasius (tom. i. p. 703, 813, 814) affirms, in
the most positive terms, that Paul was murdered; and appeals, not
only to common fame, but even to the unsuspicious testimony of
Philagrius, one of the Arian persecutors. Yet he acknowledges
that the heretics attributed to disease the death of the bishop
of Constantinople. Athanasius is servilely copied by Socrates,
(l. ii. c. 26;) but Sozomen, who discovers a more liberal temper.
presumes (l. iv. c. 2) to insinuate a prudent doubt.]

[Footnote 152: Ammianus (xiv. 10) refers to his own account of
this tragic event. But we no longer possess that part of his
history.
     Note: The murder of Hermogenes took place at the first
expulsion of Paul from the see of Constantinople. - M.]

[Footnote 153: See Socrates, l. ii. c. 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 26,
27, 38, and Sozomen, l. iii. 3, 4, 7, 9, l. iv. c. ii. 21. The
acts of St. Paul of Constantinople, of which Photius has made an
abstract, (Phot. Bibliot. p. 1419-1430,) are an indifferent copy
of these historians; but a modern Greek, who could write the life
of a saint without adding fables and miracles, is entitled to
some commendation.]

Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.

Part VII.

     The cruel and arbitrary disposition of Constantius, which
did not always require the provocations of guilt and resistance,
was justly exasperated by the tumults of his capital, and the
criminal behavior of a faction, which opposed the authority and
religion of their sovereign. The ordinary punishments of death,
exile, and confiscation, were inflicted with partial vigor; and
the Greeks still revere the holy memory of two clerks, a reader,
and a sub-deacon, who were accused of the murder of Hermogenes,
and beheaded at the gates of Constantinople. By an edict of
Constantius against the Catholics which has not been judged
worthy of a place in the Theodosian code, those who refused to
communicate with the Arian bishops, and particularly with
Macedonius, were deprived of the immunities of ecclesiastics, and
of the rights of Christians; they were compelled to relinquish
the possession of the churches; and were strictly prohibited from
holding their assemblies within the walls of the city. The
execution of this unjust law, in the provinces of Thrace and Asia
Minor, was committed to the zeal of Macedonius; the civil and
military powers were directed to obey his commands; and the
cruelties exercised by this Semi- Arian tyrant in the support of
the Homoiousion, exceeded the commission, and disgraced the
reign, of Constantius. The sacraments of the church were
administered to the reluctant victims, who denied the vocation,
and abhorred the principles, of Macedonius. The rites of baptism
were conferred on women and children, who, for that purpose, had
been torn from the arms of their friends and parents; the mouths
of the communicants were held open by a wooden engine, while the
consecrated bread was forced down their throat; the breasts of
tender virgins were either burnt with red-hot egg-shells, or
inhumanly compressed betweens harp and heavy boards. ^154 The
Novatians of Constantinople and the adjacent country, by their
firm attachment to the Homoousian standard, deserved to be
confounded with the Catholics themselves. Macedonius was
informed, that a large district of Paphlagonia ^155 was almost
entirely inhabited by those sectaries. He resolved either to
convert or to extirpate them; and as he distrusted, on this
occasion, the efficacy of an ecclesiastical mission, he commanded
a body of four thousand legionaries to march against the rebels,
and to reduce the territory of Mantinium under his spiritual
dominion. The Novatian peasants, animated by despair and
religious fury, boldly encountered the invaders of their country;
and though many of the Paphlagonians were slain, the Roman
legions were vanquished by an irregular multitude, armed only
with scythes and axes; and, except a few who escaped by an
ignominious flight, four thousand soldiers were left dead on the
field of battle. The successor of Constantius has expressed, in
a concise but lively manner, some of the theological calamities
which afflicted the empire, and more especially the East, in the
reign of a prince who was the slave of his own passions, and of
those of his eunuchs: "Many were imprisoned, and persecuted, and
driven into exile. Whole troops of those who are styled
heretics, were massacred, particularly at Cyzicus, and at
Samosata. In Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Galatia, and in many other
provinces, towns and villages were laid waste, and utterly
destroyed. ^156

[Footnote 154: Socrates, l. ii. c. 27, 38. Sozomen, l. iv. c.
21. The principal assistants of Macedonius, in the work of
persecution, were the two bishops of Nicomedia and Cyzicus, who
were esteemed for their virtues, and especially for their
charity. I cannot forbear reminding the reader, that the
difference between the Homoousion and Homoiousion, is almost
invisible to the nicest theological eye.]

[Footnote 155: We are ignorant of the precise situation of
Mantinium. In speaking of these four bands of legionaries,
Socrates, Sozomen, and the author of the acts of St. Paul, use
the indefinite terms of, which Nicephorus very properly
translates thousands. Vales. ad Socrat. l. ii. c. 38.]
[Footnote 156: Julian. Epist. lii. p. 436, edit. Spanheim.]
     While the flames of the Arian controversy consumed the
vitals of the empire, the African provinces were infested by
their peculiar enemies, the savage fanatics, who, under the name
of Circumcellions, formed the strength and scandal of the
Donatist party. ^157 The severe execution of the laws of
Constantine had excited a spirit of discontent and resistance,
the strenuous efforts of his son Constans, to restore the unity
of the church, exasperated the sentiments of mutual hatred, which
had first occasioned the separation; and the methods of force and
corruption employed by the two Imperial commissioners, Paul and
Macarius, furnished the schismatics with a specious contrast
between the maxims of the apostles and the conduct of their
pretended successors. ^158 The peasants who inhabited the
villages of Numidia and Mauritania, were a ferocious race, who
had been imperfectly reduced under the authority of the Roman
laws; who were imperfectly converted to the Christian faith; but
who were actuated by a blind and furious enthusiasm in the cause
of their Donatist teachers. They indignantly supported the exile
of their bishops, the demolition of their churches, and the
interruption of their secret assemblies. The violence of the
officers of justice, who were usually sustained by a military
guard, was sometimes repelled with equal violence; and the blood
of some popular ecclesiastics, which had been shed in the
quarrel, inflamed their rude followers with an eager desire of
revenging the death of these holy martyrs. By their own cruelty
and rashness, the ministers of persecution sometimes provoked
their fate; and the guilt of an accidental tumult precipitated
the criminals into despair and rebellion. Driven from their
native villages, the Donatist peasants assembled in formidable
gangs on the edge of the Getulian desert; and readily exchanged
the habits of labor for a life of idleness and rapine, which was
consecrated by the name of religion, and faintly condemned by the
doctors of the sect. The leaders of the Circumcellions assumed
the title of captains of the saints; their principal weapon, as
they were indifferently provided with swords and spears, was a
huge and weighty club, which they termed an Israelite; and the
well-known sound of "Praise be to God," which they used as their
cry of war, diffused consternation over the unarmed provinces of
Africa. At first their depredations were colored by the plea of
necessity; but they soon exceeded the measure of subsistence,
indulged without control their intemperance and avarice, burnt
the villages which they had pillaged, and reigned the licentious
tyrants of the open country. The occupations of husbandry, and
the administration of justice, were interrupted; and as the
Circumcellions pretended to restore the primitive equality of
mankind, and to reform the abuses of civil society, they opened a
secure asylum for the slaves and debtors, who flocked in crowds
to their holy standard. When they were not resisted, they
usually contented themselves with plunder, but the slightest
opposition provoked them to acts of violence and murder; and some
Catholic priests, who had imprudently signalized their zeal, were
tortured by the fanatics with the most refined and wanton
barbarity. The spirit of the Circumcellions was not always
exerted against their defenceless enemies; they engaged, and
sometimes defeated, the troops of the province; and in the bloody
action of Bagai, they attacked in the open field, but with
unsuccessful valor, an advanced guard of the Imperial cavalry.
The Donatists who were taken in arms, received, and they soon
deserved, the same treatment which might have been shown to the
wild beasts of the desert. The captives died, without a murmur,
either by the sword, the axe, or the fire; and the measures of
retaliation were multiplied in a rapid proportion, which
aggravated the horrors of rebellion, and excluded the hope of
mutual forgiveness. In the beginning of the present century, the
example of the Circumcellions has been renewed in the
persecution, the boldness, the crimes, and the enthusiasm of the
Camisards; and if the fanatics of Languedoc surpassed those of
Numidia, by their military achievements, the Africans maintained
their fierce independence with more resolution and perseverance.
^159

[Footnote 157: See Optatus Milevitanus, (particularly iii. 4,)
with the Donatis history, by M. Dupin, and the original pieces at
the end of his edition. The numerous circumstances which
Augustin has mentioned, of the fury of the Circumcellions against
others, and against themselves, have been laboriously collected
by Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 147-165; and he has often,
though without design, exposed injuries which had provoked those
fanatics.]

[Footnote 158: It is amusing enough to observe the language of
opposite parties, when they speak of the same men and things.
Gratus, bishop of Carthage, begins the acclamations of an
orthodox synod, "Gratias Deo omnipotenti et Christu Jesu . . .
qui imperavit religiosissimo Constanti Imperatori, ut votum
gereret unitatis, et mitteret ministros sancti operis famulos Dei
Paulum et Macarium." Monument. Vet. ad Calcem Optati, p. 313.
"Ecce subito," (says the Donatist author of the Passion of
Marculus, "de Constantis regif tyrannica domo . . pollutum
Macarianae persecutionis murmur increpuit, et duabus bestiis ad
Africam missis, eodem scilicet Macario et Paulo, execrandum
prorsus ac dirum ecclesiae certamen indictum est; ut populus
Christianus ad unionem cum traditoribus faciendam, nudatis
militum gladiis et draconum praesentibus signis, et tubarum
vocibus cogeretur. Monument. p. 304.]

[Footnote 159: The Histoire des Camisards, in 3 vols. 12mo.
Villefranche, 1760 may be recommended as accurate and impartial.
It requires some attention to discover the religion of the
author.]

     Such disorders are the natural effects of religious tyranny,
but the rage of the Donatists was inflamed by a frenzy of a very
extraordinary kind; and which, if it really prevailed among them
in so extravagant a degree, cannot surely be paralleled in any
country or in any age. Many of these fanatics were possessed
with the horror of life, and the desire of martyrdom; and they
deemed it of little moment by what means, or by what hands, they
perished, if their conduct was sanctified by the intention of
devoting themselves to the glory of the true faith, and the hope
of eternal happiness. ^160 Sometimes they rudely disturbed the
festivals, and profaned the temples of Paganism, with the design
of exciting the most zealous of the idolaters to revenge the
insulted honor of their gods. They sometimes forced their way
into the courts of justice, and compelled the affrighted judge to
give orders for their immediate execution. They frequently
stopped travellers on the public highways, and obliged them to
inflict the stroke of martyrdom, by the promise of a reward, if
they consented, and by the threat of instant death, if they
refused to grant so very singular a favor. When they were
disappointed of every other resource, they announced the day on
which, in the presence of their friends and brethren, they should
east themselves headlong from some lofty rock; and many
precipices were shown, which had acquired fame by the number of
religious suicides. In the actions of these desperate
enthusiasts, who were admired by one party as the martyrs of God,
and abhorred by the other as the victims of Satan, an impartial
philosopher may discover the influence and the last abuse of that
inflexible spirit which was originally derived from the character
and principles of the Jewish nation.

[Footnote 160: The Donatist suicides alleged in their
justification the example of Razias, which is related in the 14th
chapter of the second book of the Maccabees.]

     The simple narrative of the intestine divisions, which
distracted the peace, and dishonored the triumph, of the church,
will confirm the remark of a Pagan historian, and justify the
complaint of a venerable bishop. The experience of Ammianus had
convinced him, that the enmity of the Christians towards each
other, surpassed the fury of savage beasts against man; ^161 and
Gregory Nazianzen most pathetically laments, that the kingdom of
heaven was converted, by discord, into the image of chaos, of a
nocturnal tempest, and of hell itself. ^162 The fierce and
partial writers of the times, ascribing all virtue to themselves,
and imputing all guilt to their adversaries, have painted the
battle of the angels and daemons. Our calmer reason will reject
such pure and perfect monsters of vice or sanctity, and will
impute an equal, or at least an indiscriminate, measure of good
and evil to the hostile sectaries, who assumed and bestowed the
appellations of orthodox and heretics. They had been educated in
the same religion and the same civil society. Their hopes and
fears in the present, or in a future life, were balanced in the
same proportion. On either side, the error might be innocent,
the faith sincere, the practice meritorious or corrupt. Their
passions were excited by similar objects; and they might
alternately abuse the favor of the court, or of the people. The
metaphysical opinions of the Athanasians and the Arians could not
influence their moral character; and they were alike actuated by
the intolerant spirit which has been extracted from the pure and
simple maxims of the gospel.

[Footnote 161: Nullus infestas hominibus bestias, ut sunt sibi
ferales plerique Christianorum, expertus. Ammian. xxii. 5.]

[Footnote 162: Gregor, Nazianzen, Orav. i. p. 33. See Tillemont,
tom vi. p. 501, qua to edit.]

     A modern writer, who, with a just confidence, has prefixed
to his own history the honorable epithets of political and
philosophical, ^163 accuses the timid prudence of Montesquieu,
for neglecting to enumerate, among the causes of the decline of
the empire, a law of Constantine, by which the exercise of the
Pagan worship was absolutely suppressed, and a considerable part
of his subjects was left destitute of priests, of temples, and of
any public religion. The zeal of the philosophic historian for
the rights of mankind, has induced him to acquiesce in the
ambiguous testimony of those ecclesiastics, who have too lightly
ascribed to their favorite hero the merit of a general
persecution. ^164 Instead of alleging this imaginary law, which
would have blazed in the front of the Imperial codes, we may
safely appeal to the original epistle, which Constantine
addressed to the followers of the ancient religion; at a time
when he no longer disguised his conversion, nor dreaded the
rivals of his throne. He invites and exhorts, in the most
pressing terms, the subjects of the Roman empire to imitate the
example of their master; but he declares, that those who still
refuse to open their eyes to the celestial light, may freely
enjoy their temples and their fancied gods. A report, that the
ceremonies of paganism were suppressed, is formally contradicted
by the emperor himself, who wisely assigns, as the principle of
his moderation, the invincible force of habit, of prejudice, and
of superstition. ^165 Without violating the sanctity of his
promise, without alarming the fears of the Pagans, the artful
monarch advanced, by slow and cautious steps, to undermine the
irregular and decayed fabric of polytheism. The partial acts of
severity which he occasionally exercised, though they were
secretly promoted by a Christian zeal, were colored by the
fairest pretences of justice and the public good; and while
Constantine designed to ruin the foundations, he seemed to reform
the abuses, of the ancient religion. After the example of the
wisest of his predecessors, he condemned, under the most rigorous
penalties, the occult and impious arts of divination; which
excited the vain hopes, and sometimes the criminal attempts, of
those who were discontented with their present condition. An
ignominious silence was imposed on the oracles, which had been
publicly convicted of fraud and falsehood; the effeminate priests
of the Nile were abolished; and Constantine discharged the duties
of a Roman censor, when he gave orders for the demolition of
several temples of Phoenicia; in which every mode of prostitution
was devoutly practised in the face of day, and to the honor of
Venus. ^166 The Imperial city of Constantinople was, in some
measure, raised at the expense, and was adorned with the spoils,
of the opulent temples of Greece and Asia; the sacred property
was confiscated; the statues of gods and heroes were transported,
with rude familiarity, among a people who considered them as
objects, not of adoration, but of curiosity; the gold and silver
were restored to circulation; and the magistrates, the bishops,
and the eunuchs, improved the fortunate occasion of gratifying,
at once, their zeal, their avarice, and their resentment. But
these depredations were confined to a small part of the Roman
world; and the provinces had been long since accustomed to endure
the same sacrilegious rapine, from the tyranny of princes and
proconsuls, who could not be suspected of any design to subvert
the established religion. ^167
[Footnote 163: Histoire Politique et Philosophique des
Etablissemens des Europeens dans les deux Indes, tom. i. p. 9.]

[Footnote 164: According to Eusebius, (in Vit. Constantin. l. ii.
c. 45,) the emperor prohibited, both in cities and in the
country, the abominable acts or parts of idolatry. l Socrates
(l. i. c. 17) and Sozomen (l. ii. c. 4, 5) have represented the
conduct of Constantine with a just regard to truth and history;
which has been neglected by Theodoret (l. v. c. 21) and Orosius,
(vii. 28.) Tum deinde (says the latter) primus Constantinus justo
ordine et pio vicem vertit edicto; siquidem statuit citra ullam
hominum caedem, paganorum templa claudi.]

[Footnote 165: See Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. ii. c. 56, 60.

In the sermon to the assembly of saints, which the emperor
pronounced when he was mature in years and piety, he declares to
the idolaters (c. xii.) that they are permitted to offer
sacrifices, and to exercise every part of their religious
worship.]

[Footnote 166: See Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c.
54-58, and l. iv. c. 23, 25. These acts of authority may be
compared with the suppression of the Bacchanals, and the
demolition of the temple of Isis, by the magistrates of Pagan
Rome.]

[Footnote 167: Eusebius (in Vit. Constan. l. iii. c. 54-58) and
Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 9, 10, edit. Gothofred) both
mention the pious sacrilege of Constantine, which they viewed in
very different lights. The latter expressly declares, that "he
made use of the sacred money, but made no alteration in the legal
worship; the temples indeed were impoverished, but the sacred
rites were performed there." Lardner's Jewish and Heathen
Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 140.]

     The sons of Constantine trod in the footsteps of their
father, with more zeal, and with less discretion. The pretences
of rapine and oppression were insensibly multiplied; ^168 every
indulgence was shown to the illegal behavior of the Christians;
every doubt was explained to the disadvantage of Paganism; and
the demolition of the temples was celebrated as one of the
auspicious events of the reign of Constans and Constantius. ^169
The name of Constantius is prefixed to a concise law, which might
have superseded the necessity of any future prohibitions. "It is
our pleasure, that in all places, and in all cities, the temples
be immediately shut, and carefully guarded, that none may have
the power of offending. It is likewise our pleasure, that all
our subjects should abstain from sacrifices. If any one should
be guilty of such an act, let him feel the sword of vengeance,
and after his execution, let his property be confiscated to the
public use. We denounce the same penalties against the governors
of the provinces, if they neglect to punish the criminals." ^170
But there is the strongest reason to believe, that this
formidable edict was either composed without being published, or
was published without being executed. The evidence of facts, and
the monuments which are still extant of brass and marble,
continue to prove the public exercise of the Pagan worship during
the whole reign of the sons of Constantine. In the East, as well
as in the West, in cities, as well as in the country, a great
number of temples were respected, or at least were spared; and
the devout multitude still enjoyed the luxury of sacrifices, of
festivals, and of processions, by the permission, or by the
connivance, of the civil government. About four years after the
supposed date of this bloody edict, Constantius visited the
temples of Rome; and the decency of his behavior is recommended
by a pagan orator as an example worthy of the imitation of
succeeding princes. "That emperor," says Symmachus, "suffered
the privileges of the vestal virgins to remain inviolate; he
bestowed the sacerdotal dignities on the nobles of Rome, granted
the customary allowance to defray the expenses of the public
rites and sacrifices; and, though he had embraced a different
religion, he never attempted to deprive the empire of the sacred
worship of antiquity." ^171 The senate still presumed to
consecrate, by solemn decrees, the divine memory of their
sovereigns; and Constantine himself was associated, after his
death, to those gods whom he had renounced and insulted during
his life. The title, the ensigns, the prerogatives, of sovereign
pontiff, which had been instituted by Numa, and assumed by
Augustus, were accepted, without hesitation, by seven Christian
emperors; who were invested with a more absolute authority over
the religion which they had deserted, than over that which they
professed. ^172
[Footnote 168: Ammianus (xxii. 4) speaks of some court eunuchs
who were spoliis templorum pasti. Libanius says (Orat. pro
Templ. p. 23) that the emperor often gave away a temple, like a
dog, or a horse, or a slave, or a gold cup; but the devout
philosopher takes care to observe that these sacrilegious
favorites very seldom prospered.]

[Footnote 169: See Gothofred. Cod. Theodos. tom. vi. p. 262.
Liban. Orat. Parental c. x. in Fabric. Bibl. Graec. tom. vii. p.
235.]

[Footnote 170: Placuit omnibus locis atque urbibus universis
claudi protinus empla, et accessu vetitis omnibus licentiam
delinquendi perditis abnegari. Volumus etiam cunctos a
sacrificiis abstinere. Quod siquis aliquid forte hujusmodi
perpetraverit, gladio sternatur: facultates etiam perempti fisco
decernimus vindicari: et similiter adfligi rectores provinciarum
si facinora vindicare neglexerint. Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x.
leg. 4. Chronology has discovered some contradiction in the date
of this extravagant law; the only one, perhaps, by which the
negligence of magistrates is punished by death and confiscation.
M. de la Bastie (Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xv. p. 98) conjectures,
with a show of reason, that this was no more than the minutes of
a law, the heads of an intended bill, which were found in
Scriniis Memoriae among the papers of Constantius, and afterwards
inserted, as a worthy model, in the Theodosian Code.]

[Footnote 171: Symmach. Epistol. x. 54.]

[Footnote 172: The fourth Dissertation of M. de la Bastie, sur le
Souverain Pontificat des Empereurs Romains, (in the Mem. de
l'Acad. tom. xv. p. 75- 144,) is a very learned and judicious
performance, which explains the state, and prove the toleration,
of Paganism from Constantino to Gratian. The assertion of
Zosimus, that Gratian was the first who refused the pontifical
robe, is confirmed beyond a doubt; and the murmurs of bigotry on
that subject are almost silenced.]

     The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of
Paganism; ^173 and the holy war against the infidels was less
vigorously prosecuted by princes and bishops, who were more
immediately alarmed by the guilt and danger of domestic
rebellion. The extirpation of idolatry ^174 might have been
justified by the established principles of intolerance: but the
hostile sects, which alternately reigned in the Imperial court
were mutually apprehensive of alienating, and perhaps
exasperating, the minds of a powerful, though declining faction.
Every motive of authority and fashion, of interest and reason,
now militated on the side of Christianity; but two or three
generations elapsed, before their victorious influence was
universally felt. The religion which had so long and so lately
been established in the Roman empire was still revered by a
numerous people, less attached indeed to speculative opinion,
than to ancient custom. The honors of the state and army were
indifferently bestowed on all the subjects of Constantine and
Constantius; and a considerable portion of knowledge and wealth
and valor was still engaged in the service of polytheism. The
superstition of the senator and of the peasant, of the poet and
the philosopher, was derived from very different causes, but they
met with equal devotion in the temples of the gods. Their zeal
was insensibly provoked by the insulting triumph of a proscribed
sect; and their hopes were revived by the well-grounded
confidence, that the presumptive heir of the empire, a young and
valiant hero, who had delivered Gaul from the arms of the
Barbarians, had secretly embraced the religion of his ancestors.

[Footnote 173: As I have freely anticipated the use of pagans and
paganism, I shall now trace the singular revolutions of those
celebrated words. 1. in the Doric dialect, so familiar to the
Italians, signifies a fountain; and the rural neighborhood, which
frequented the same fountain, derived the common appellation of
pagus and pagans. (Festus sub voce, and Servius ad Virgil.
Georgic. ii. 382.) 2. By an easy extension of the word, pagan and
rural became almost synonymous, (Plin. Hist. Natur. xxviii. 5;)
and the meaner rustics acquired that name, which has been
corrupted into peasants in the modern languages of Europe. 3.
The amazing increase of the military order introduced the
necessity of a correlative term, (Hume's Essays, vol. i. p. 555;)
and all the people who were not enlisted in the service of the
prince were branded with the contemptuous epithets of pagans.
(Tacit. Hist. iii. 24, 43, 77. Juvenal. Satir. 16. Tertullian de
Pallio, c. 4.) 4. The Christians were the soldiers of Christ;
their adversaries, who refused his sacrament, or military oath of
baptism might deserve the metaphorical name of pagans; and this
popular reproach was introduced as early as the reign of
Valentinian (A. D. 365) into Imperial laws (Cod. Theodos. l. xvi.
tit. ii. leg. 18) and theological writings. 5. Christianity
gradually filled the cities of the empire: the old religion, in
the time of Prudentius (advers. Symmachum, l. i. ad fin.) and
Orosius, (in Praefat. Hist.,) retired and languished in obscure
villages; and the word pagans, with its new signification,
reverted to its primitive origin. 6. Since the worship of Jupiter
and his family has expired, the vacant title of pagans has been
successively applied to all the idolaters and polytheists of the
old and new world. 7. The Latin Christians bestowed it, without
scruple, on their mortal enemies, the Mahometans; and the purest
Unitarians were branded with the unjust reproach of idolatry and
paganism. See Gerard Vossius, Etymologicon Linguae Latinae, in
his works, tom. i. p. 420; Godefroy's Commentary on the
Theodosian Code, tom. vi. p. 250; and Ducange, Mediae et Infimae
Latinitat. Glossar.]

[Footnote 174: In the pure language of Ionia and Athens were
ancient and familiar words. The former expressed a likeness, an
apparition (Homer. Odys. xi. 601,) a representation, an image,
created either by fancy or art. The latter denoted any sort of
service or slavery. The Jews of Egypt, who translated the Hebrew
Scriptures, restrained the use of these words (Exod. xx. 4, 5) to
the religious worship of an image. The peculiar idiom of the
Hellenists, or Grecian Jews, has been adopted by the sacred and
ecclesiastical writers and the reproach of idolatry has
stigmatized that visible and abject mode of superstition, which
some sects of Christianity should not hastily impute to the
polytheists of Greece and Rome.]

Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.

Part I

     Julian Is Declared Emperor By The Legions Of Gaul. - His
March And Success. - The Death Of Constantius. - Civil
Administration Of Julian.
     While the Romans languished under the ignominious tyranny of
eunuchs and bishops, the praises of Julian were repeated with
transport in every part of the empire, except in the palace of
Constantius. The barbarians of Germany had felt, and still
dreaded, the arms of the young Caesar; his soldiers were the
companions of his victory; the grateful provincials enjoyed the
blessings of his reign; but the favorites, who had opposed his
elevation, were offended by his virtues; and they justly
considered the friend of the people as the enemy of the court.
As long as the fame of Julian was doubtful, the buffoons of the
palace, who were skilled in the language of satire, tried the
efficacy of those arts which they had so often practised with
success. They easily discovered, that his simplicity was not
exempt from affectation: the ridiculous epithets of a hairy
savage, of an ape invested with the purple, were applied to the
dress and person of the philosophic warrior; and his modest
despatches were stigmatized as the vain and elaborate fictions of
a loquacious Greek, a speculative soldier, who had studied the
art of war amidst the groves of the academy. ^1 The voice of
malicious folly was at length silenced by the shouts of victory;
the conqueror of the Franks and Alemanni could no longer be
painted as an object of contempt; and the monarch himself was
meanly ambitious of stealing from his lieutenant the honorable
reward of his labors. In the letters crowned with laurel, which,
according to ancient custom, were addressed to the provinces, the
name of Julian was omitted. "Constantius had made his
dispositions in person; he had signalized his valor in the
foremost ranks; his military conduct had secured the victory; and
the captive king of the barbarians was presented to him on the
field of battle," from which he was at that time distant about
forty days' journey. ^2 So extravagant a fable was incapable,
however, of deceiving the public credulity, or even of satisfying
the pride of the emperor himself. Secretly conscious that the
applause and favor of the Romans accompanied the rising fortunes
of Julian, his discontented mind was prepared to receive the
subtle poison of those artful sycophants, who colored their
mischievous designs with the fairest appearances of truth and
candor. ^3 Instead of depreciating the merits of Julian, they
acknowledged, and even exaggerated, his popular fame, superior
talents, and important services. But they darkly insinuated, that
the virtues of the Caesar might instantly be converted into the
most dangerous crimes, if the inconstant multitude should prefer
their inclinations to their duty; or if the general of a
victorious army should be tempted from his allegiance by the
hopes of revenge and independent greatness. The personal fears
of Constantius were interpreted by his council as a laudable
anxiety for the public safety; whilst in private, and perhaps in
his own breast, he disguised, under the less odious appellation
of fear, the sentiments of hatred and envy, which he had secretly
conceived for the inimitable virtues of Julian.

[Footnote 1: Omnes qui plus poterant in palatio, adulandi
professores jam docti, recte consulta, prospereque completa
vertebant in deridiculum: talia sine modo strepentes insulse; in
odium venit cum victoriis suis; capella, non homo; ut hirsutum
Julianum carpentes, appellantesque loquacem talpam, et purpuratam
simiam, et litterionem Graecum: et his congruentia plurima atque
vernacula principi resonantes, audire haec taliaque gestienti,
virtutes ejus obruere verbis impudentibus conabantur, et segnem
incessentes et timidum et umbratilem, gestaque secus verbis
comptioribus exornantem. Ammianus, s. xvii. 11.

     Note: The philosophers retaliated on the courtiers. Marius
(says Eunapius in a newly-discovered fragment) was wont to call
his antagonist Sylla a beast half lion and half fox. Constantius
had nothing of the lion, but was surrounded by a whole litter of
foxes. Mai. Script. Byz. Nov. Col. ii. 238. Niebuhr. Byzant.
Hist. 66. - M.]

[Footnote 2: Ammian. xvi. 12. The orator Themistius (iv. p. 56,
57) believed whatever was contained in the Imperial letters,
which were addressed to the senate of Constantinople Aurelius
Victor, who published his Abridgment in the last year of
Constantius, ascribes the German victories to the wisdom of the
emperor, and the fortune of the Caesar. Yet the historian, soon
afterwards, was indebted to the favor or esteem of Julian for the
honor of a brass statue, and the important offices of consular of
the second Pannonia, and praefect of the city, Ammian. xxi. 10.]

[Footnote 3: Callido nocendi artificio, accusatoriam diritatem
laudum titulis peragebant. . . Hae voces fuerunt ad inflammanda
odia probria omnibus potentiores. See Mamertin, in Actione
Gratiarum in Vet Panegyr. xi. 5, 6.]
     The apparent tranquillity of Gaul, and the imminent danger
of the eastern provinces, offered a specious pretence for the
design which was artfully concerted by the Imperial ministers.
They resolved to disarm the Caesar; to recall those faithful
troops who guarded his person and dignity; and to employ, in a
distant war against the Persian monarch, the hardy veterans who
had vanquished, on the banks of the Rhine, the fiercest nations
of Germany. While Julian used the laborious hours of his winter
quarters at Paris in the administration of power, which, in his
hands, was the exercise of virtue, he was surprised by the hasty
arrival of a tribune and a notary, with positive orders, from the
emperor, which they were directed to execute, and he was
commanded not to oppose. Constantius signified his pleasure,
that four entire legions, the Celtae, and Petulants, the Heruli,
and the Batavians, should be separated from the standard of
Julian, under which they had acquired their fame and discipline;
that in each of the remaining bands three hundred of the bravest
youths should be selected; and that this numerous detachment, the
strength of the Gallic army, should instantly begin their march,
and exert their utmost diligence to arrive, before the opening of
the campaign, on the frontiers of Persia. ^4 The Caesar foresaw
and lamented the consequences of this fatal mandate. Most of the
auxiliaries, who engaged their voluntary service, had stipulated,
that they should never be obliged to pass the Alps. The public
faith of Rome, and the personal honor of Julian, had been pledged
for the observance of this condition. Such an act of treachery
and oppression would destroy the confidence, and excite the
resentment, of the independent warriors of Germany, who
considered truth as the noblest of their virtues, and freedom as
the most valuable of their possessions. The legionaries, who
enjoyed the title and privileges of Romans, were enlisted for the
general defence of the republic; but those mercenary troops heard
with cold indifference the antiquated names of the republic and
of Rome. Attached, either from birth or long habit, to the
climate and manners of Gaul, they loved and admired Julian; they
despised, and perhaps hated, the emperor; they dreaded the
laborious march, the Persian arrows, and the burning deserts of
Asia. They claimed as their own the country which they had
saved; and excused their want of spirit, by pleading the sacred
and more immediate duty of protecting their families and friends.

The apprehensions of the Gauls were derived from the knowledge of
the impending and inevitable danger. As soon as the provinces
were exhausted of their military strength, the Germans would
violate a treaty which had been imposed on their fears; and
notwithstanding the abilities and valor of Julian, the general of
a nominal army, to whom the public calamities would be imputed,
must find himself, after a vain resistance, either a prisoner in
the camp of the barbarians, or a criminal in the palace of
Constantius. If Julian complied with the orders which he had
received, he subscribed his own destruction, and that of a people
who deserved his affection. But a positive refusal was an act of
rebellion, and a declaration of war. The inexorable jealousy of
the emperor, the peremptory, and perhaps insidious, nature of his
commands, left not any room for a fair apology, or candid
interpretation; and the dependent station of the Caesar scarcely
allowed him to pause or to deliberate. Solitude increased the
perplexity of Julian; he could no longer apply to the faithful
counsels of Sallust, who had been removed from his office by the
judicious malice of the eunuchs: he could not even enforce his
representations by the concurrence of the ministers, who would
have been afraid or ashamed to approve the ruin of Gaul. The
moment had been chosen, when Lupicinus, ^5 the general of the
cavalry, was despatched into Britain, to repulse the inroads of
the Scots and Picts; and Florentius was occupied at Vienna by the
assessment of the tribute. The latter, a crafty and corrupt
statesman, declining to assume a responsible part on this
dangerous occasion, eluded the pressing and repeated invitations
of Julian, who represented to him, that in every important
measure, the presence of the praefect was indispensable in the
council of the prince. In the mean while the Caesar was
oppressed by the rude and importunate solicitations of the
Imperial messengers, who presumed to suggest, that if he expected
the return of his ministers, he would charge himself with the
guilt of the delay, and reserve for them the merit of the
execution. Unable to resist, unwilling to comply, Julian
expressed, in the most serious terms, his wish, and even his
intention, of resigning the purple, which he could not preserve
with honor, but which he could not abdicate with safety.
[Footnote 4: The minute interval, which may be interposed,
between the hyeme adulta and the primo vere of Ammianus, (xx. l.
4,) instead of allowing a sufficient space for a march of three
thousand miles, would render the orders of Constantius as
extravagant as they were unjust. The troops of Gaul could not
have reached Syria till the end of autumn. The memory of
Ammianus must have been inaccurate, and his language incorrect.

     Note: The late editor of Ammianus attempts to vindicate his
author from the charge of inaccuracy. "It is clear, from the
whole course of the narrative, that Constantius entertained this
design of demanding his troops from Julian, immediately after the
taking of Amida, in the autumn of the preceding year, and had
transmitted his orders into Gaul, before it was known that
Lupicinus had gone into Britain with the Herulians and
Batavians." Wagner, note to Amm. xx. 4. But it seems also clear
that the troops were in winter quarters (hiemabant) when the
orders arrived. Ammianus can scarcely be acquitted of
incorrectness in his language at least. - M]

[Footnote 5: Ammianus, xx. l. The valor of Lupicinus, and his
military skill, are acknowledged by the historian, who, in his
affected language, accuses the general of exalting the horns of
his pride, bellowing in a tragic tone, and exciting a doubt
whether he was more cruel or avaricious. The danger from the
Scots and Picts was so serious that Julian himself had some
thoughts of passing over into the island.]

     After a painful conflict, Julian was compelled to
acknowledge, that obedience was the virtue of the most eminent
subject, and that the sovereign alone was entitled to judge of
the public welfare. He issued the necessary orders for carrying
into execution the commands of Constantius; a part of the troops
began their march for the Alps; and the detachments from the
several garrisons moved towards their respective places of
assembly. They advanced with difficulty through the trembling and
affrighted crowds of provincials, who attempted to excite their
pity by silent despair, or loud lamentations, while the wives of
the soldiers, holding their infants in their arms, accused the
desertion of their husbands, in the mixed language of grief, of
tenderness, and of indignation. This scene of general distress
afflicted the humanity of the Caesar; he granted a sufficient
number of post-wagons to transport the wives and families of the
soldiers, ^6 endeavored to alleviate the hardships which he was
constrained to inflict, and increased, by the most laudable arts,
his own popularity, and the discontent of the exiled troops. The
grief of an armed multitude is soon converted into rage; their
licentious murmurs, which every hour were communicated from tent
to tent with more boldness and effect, prepared their minds for
the most daring acts of sedition; and by the connivance of their
tribunes, a seasonable libel was secretly dispersed, which
painted in lively colors the disgrace of the Caesar, the
oppression of the Gallic army, and the feeble vices of the tyrant
of Asia. The servants of Constantius were astonished and alarmed
by the progress of this dangerous spirit. They pressed the
Caesar to hasten the departure of the troops; but they
imprudently rejected the honest and judicious advice of Julian;
who proposed that they should not march through Paris, and
suggested the danger and temptation of a last interview.

[Footnote 6: He granted them the permission of the cursus
clavularis, or clabularis. These post-wagons are often mentioned
in the Code, and were supposed to carry fifteen hundred pounds
weight. See Vales. ad Ammian. xx. 4.]

     As soon as the approach of the troops was announced, the
Caesar went out to meet them, and ascended his tribunal, which
had been erected in a plain before the gates of the city. After
distinguishing the officers and soldiers, who by their rank or
merit deserved a peculiar attention, Julian addressed himself in
a studied oration to the surrounding multitude: he celebrated
their exploits with grateful applause; encouraged them to accept,
with alacrity, the honor of serving under the eye of a powerful
and liberal monarch; and admonished them, that the commands of
Augustus required an instant and cheerful obedience. The
soldiers, who were apprehensive of offending their general by an
indecent clamor, or of belying their sentiments by false and
venal acclamations, maintained an obstinate silence; and after a
short pause, were dismissed to their quarters. The principal
officers were entertained by the Caesar, who professed, in the
warmest language of friendship, his desire and his inability to
reward, according to their deserts, the brave companions of his
victories. They retired from the feast, full of grief and
perplexity; and lamented the hardship of their fate, which tore
them from their beloved general and their native country. The
only expedient which could prevent their separation was boldly
agitated and approved the popular resentment was insensibly
moulded into a regular conspiracy; their just reasons of
complaint were heightened by passion, and their passions were
inflamed by wine; as, on the eve of their departure, the troops
were indulged in licentious festivity. At the hour of midnight,
the impetuous multitude, with swords, and bows, and torches in
their hands, rushed into the suburbs; encompassed the palace; ^7
and, careless of future dangers, pronounced the fatal and
irrevocable words, Julian Augustus! The prince, whose anxious
suspense was interrupted by their disorderly acclamations,
secured the doors against their intrusion; and as long as it was
in his power, secluded his person and dignity from the accidents
of a nocturnal tumult. At the dawn of day, the soldiers, whose
zeal was irritated by opposition, forcibly entered the palace,
seized, with respectful violence, the object of their choice,
guarded Julian with drawn swords through the streets of Paris,
placed him on the tribunal, and with repeated shouts saluted him
as their emperor. Prudence, as well as loyalty, inculcated the
propriety of resisting their treasonable designs; and of
preparing, for his oppressed virtue, the excuse of violence.
Addressing himself by turns to the multitude and to individuals,
he sometimes implored their mercy, and sometimes expressed his
indignation; conjured them not to sully the fame of their
immortal victories; and ventured to promise, that if they would
immediately return to their allegiance, he would undertake to
obtain from the emperor not only a free and gracious pardon, but
even the revocation of the orders which had excited their
resentment. But the soldiers, who were conscious of their guilt,
chose rather to depend on the gratitude of Julian, than on the
clemency of the emperor. Their zeal was insensibly turned into
impatience, and their impatience into rage. The inflexible
Caesar sustained, till the third hour of the day, their prayers,
their reproaches, and their menaces; nor did he yield, till he
had been repeatedly assured, that if he wished to live, he must
consent to reign. He was exalted on a shield in the presence, and
amidst the unanimous acclamations, of the troops; a rich military
collar, which was offered by chance, supplied the want of a
diadem; ^8 the ceremony was concluded by the promise of a
moderate donative; and the new emperor, overwhelmed with real or
affected grief retired into the most secret recesses of his
apartment. ^10
[Footnote 7: Most probably the palace of the baths, (Thermarum,)
of which a solid and lofty hall still subsists in the Rue de la
Harpe. The buildings covered a considerable space of the modern
quarter of the university; and the gardens, under the Merovingian
kings, communicated with the abbey of St. Germain des Prez. By
the injuries of time and the Normans, this ancient palace was
reduced, in the twelfth century, to a maze of ruins, whose dark
recesses were the scene of licentious love.

     Explicat aula sinus montemque amplectitur alis;
     Multiplici latebra scelerum tersura ruborem.
     .... pereuntis saepe pudoris
     Celatura nefas, Venerisque accommoda furtis.

(These lines are quoted from the Architrenius, l. iv. c. 8, a
poetical work of John de Hauteville, or Hanville, a monk of St.
Alban's, about the year 1190. See Warton's History of English
Poetry, vol. i. dissert. ii.) Yet such thefts might be less
pernicious to mankind than the theological disputes of the
Sorbonne, which have been since agitated on the same ground.
Bonamy, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xv. p. 678-632]

[Footnote 8: Even in this tumultuous moment, Julian attended to
the forms of superstitious ceremony, and obstinately refused the
inauspicious use of a female necklace, or a horse collar, which
the impatient soldiers would have employed in the room of a
diadem.]

[Footnote 9: An equal proportion of gold and silver, five pieces
of the former one pound of the latter; the whole amounting to
about five pounds ten shillings of our money.]

[Footnote 10: For the whole narrative of this revolt, we may
appeal to authentic and original materials; Julian himself, (ad
S. P. Q. Atheniensem, p. 282, 283, 284,) Libanius, (Orat.
Parental. c. 44-48, in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p.
269-273,) Ammianus, (xx. 4,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 151, 152,
153.) who, in the reign of Julian, appears to follow the more
respectable authority of Eunapius. With such guides we might
neglect the abbreviators and ecclesiastical historians.]

     The grief of Julian could proceed only from his innocence;
out his innocence must appear extremely doubtful ^11 in the eyes
of those who have learned to suspect the motives and the
professions of princes. His lively and active mind was
susceptible of the various impressions of hope and fear, of
gratitude and revenge, of duty and of ambition, of the love of
fame, and of the fear of reproach. But it is impossible for us
to calculate the respective weight and operation of these
sentiments; or to ascertain the principles of action which might
escape the observation, while they guided, or rather impelled,
the steps of Julian himself. The discontent of the troops was
produced by the malice of his enemies; their tumult was the
natural effect of interest and of passion; and if Julian had
tried to conceal a deep design under the appearances of chance,
he must have employed the most consummate artifice without
necessity, and probably without success. He solemnly declares,
in the presence of Jupiter, of the Sun, of Mars, of Minerva, and
of all the other deities, that till the close of the evening
which preceded his elevation, he was utterly ignorant of the
designs of the soldiers; ^12 and it may seem ungenerous to
distrust the honor of a hero and the truth of a philosopher. Yet
the superstitious confidence that Constantius was the enemy, and
that he himself was the favorite, of the gods, might prompt him
to desire, to solicit, and even to hasten the auspicious moment
of his reign, which was predestined to restore the ancient
religion of mankind. When Julian had received the intelligence
of the conspiracy, he resigned himself to a short slumber; and
afterwards related to his friends that he had seen the genius of
the empire waiting with some impatience at his door, pressing for
admittance, and reproaching his want of spirit and ambition. ^13
Astonished and perplexed, he addressed his prayers to the great
Jupiter, who immediately signified, by a clear and manifest omen,
that he should submit to the will of heaven and of the army. The
conduct which disclaims the ordinary maxims of reason, excites
our suspicion and eludes our inquiry. Whenever the spirit of
fanaticism, at once so credulous and so crafty, has insinuated
itself into a noble mind, it insensibly corrodes the vital
principles of virtue and veracity.
[Footnote 11: Eutropius, a respectable witness, uses a doubtful
expression, "consensu militum." (x. 15.) Gregory Nazianzen, whose
ignorance night excuse his fanaticism, directly charges the
apostate with presumption, madness, and impious rebellion, Orat.
iii. p. 67.]

[Footnote 12: Julian. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 284. The devout Abbe
de la Bleterie (Vie de Julien, p. 159) is almost inclined to
respect the devout protestations of a Pagan.]

[Footnote 13: Ammian. xx. 5, with the note of Lindenbrogius on
the Genius of the empire. Julian himself, in a confidential
letter to his friend and physician, Oribasius, (Epist. xvii. p.
384,) mentions another dream, to which, before the event, he gave
credit; of a stately tree thrown to the ground, of a small plant
striking a deep root into the earth. Even in his sleep, the mind
of the Caesar must have been agitated by the hopes and fears of
his fortune. Zosimus (l. iii. p. 155) relates a subsequent
dream.]

     To moderate the zeal of his party, to protect the persons of
his enemies, ^14 to defeat and to despise the secret enterprises
which were formed against his life and dignity, were the cares
which employed the first days of the reign of the new emperor.
Although he was firmly resolved to maintain the station which he
had assumed, he was still desirous of saving his country from the
calamities of civil war, of declining a contest with the superior
forces of Constantius, and of preserving his own character from
the reproach of perfidy and ingratitude. Adorned with the ensigns
of military and imperial pomp, Julian showed himself in the field
of Mars to the soldiers, who glowed with ardent enthusiasm in the
cause of their pupil, their leader, and their friend. He
recapitulated their victories, lamented their sufferings,
applauded their resolution, animated their hopes, and checked
their impetuosity; nor did he dismiss the assembly, till he had
obtained a solemn promise from the troops, that if the emperor of
the East would subscribe an equitable treaty, they would renounce
any views of conquest, and satisfy themselves with the tranquil
possession of the Gallic provinces. On this foundation he
composed, in his own name, and in that of the army, a specious
and moderate epistle, ^15 which was delivered to Pentadius, his
master of the offices, and to his chamberlain Eutherius; two
ambassadors whom he appointed to receive the answer, and observe
the dispositions of Constantius. This epistle is inscribed with
the modest appellation of Caesar; but Julian solicits in a
peremptory, though respectful, manner, the confirmation of the
title of Augustus. He acknowledges the irregularity of his own
election, while he justifies, in some measure, the resentment and
violence of the troops which had extorted his reluctant consent.
He allows the supremacy of his brother Constantius; and engages
to send him an annual present of Spanish horses, to recruit his
army with a select number of barbarian youths, and to accept from
his choice a Praetorian praefect of approved discretion and
fidelity. But he reserves for himself the nomination of his
other civil and military officers, with the troops, the revenue,
and the sovereignty of the provinces beyond the Alps. He
admonishes the emperor to consult the dictates of justice; to
distrust the arts of those venal flatterers, who subsist only by
the discord of princes; and to embrace the offer of a fair and
honorable treaty, equally advantageous to the republic and to the
house of Constantine. In this negotiation Julian claimed no more
than he already possessed. The delegated authority which he had
long exercised over the provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain,
was still obeyed under a name more independent and august. The
soldiers and the people rejoiced in a revolution which was not
stained even with the blood of the guilty. Florentius was a
fugitive; Lupicinus a prisoner. The persons who were disaffected
to the new government were disarmed and secured; and the vacant
offices were distributed, according to the recommendation of
merit, by a prince who despised the intrigues of the palace, and
the clamors of the soldiers. ^16

[Footnote 14: The difficult situation of the prince of a
rebellious army is finely described by Tacitus, (Hist. 1, 80-85.)
But Otho had much more guilt, and much less abilities, than
Julian.]

[Footnote 15: To this ostensible epistle he added, says Ammianus,
private letters, objurgatorias et mordaces, which the historian
had not seen, and would not have published. Perhaps they never
existed.]

[Footnote 16: See the first transactions of his reign, in Julian.
ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 285, 286. Ammianus, xx. 5, 8. Liban.
Orat. Parent. c. 49, 50, p. 273-275.]

     The negotiations of peace were accompanied and supported by
the most vigorous preparations for war. The army, which Julian
held in readiness for immediate action, was recruited and
augmented by the disorders of the times. The cruel persecutions
of the faction of Magnentius had filled Gaul with numerous bands
of outlaws and robbers. They cheerfully accepted the offer of a
general pardon from a prince whom they could trust, submitted to
the restraints of military discipline, and retained only their
implacable hatred to the person and government of Constantius.
^17 As soon as the season of the year permitted Julian to take
the field, he appeared at the head of his legions; threw a bridge
over the Rhine in the neighborhood of Cleves; and prepared to
chastise the perfidy of the Attuarii, a tribe of Franks, who
presumed that they might ravage, with impunity, the frontiers of
a divided empire. The difficulty, as well as glory, of this
enterprise, consisted in a laborious march; and Julian had
conquered, as soon as he could penetrate into a country, which
former princes had considered as inaccessible. After he had
given peace to the Barbarians, the emperor carefully visited the
fortifications along the Qhine from Cleves to Basil; surveyed,
with peculiar attention, the territories which he had recovered
from the hands of the Alemanni, passed through Besancon, ^18
which had severely suffered from their fury, and fixed his
headquarters at Vienna for the ensuing winter. The barrier of
Gaul was improved and strengthened with additional
fortifications; and Julian entertained some hopes that the
Germans, whom he had so often vanquished, might, in his absence,
be restrained by the terror of his name. Vadomair ^19 was the
only prince of the Alemanni whom he esteemed or feared and while
the subtle Barbarian affected to observe the faith of treaties,
the progress of his arms threatened the state with an
unseasonable and dangerous war. The policy of Julian
condescended to surprise the prince of the Alemanni by his own
arts: and Vadomair, who, in the character of a friend, had
incautiously accepted an invitation from the Roman governors, was
seized in the midst of the entertainment, and sent away prisoner
into the heart of Spain. Before the Barbarians were recovered
from their amazement, the emperor appeared in arms on the banks
of the Rhine, and, once more crossing the river, renewed the deep
impressions of terror and respect which had been already made by
four preceding expeditions. ^20

[Footnote 17: Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 50, p. 275, 276. A strange
disorder, since it continued above seven years. In the factions
of the Greek republics, the exiles amounted to 20,000 persons;
and Isocrates assures Philip, that it would be easier to raise an
army from the vagabonds than from the cities. See Hume's Essays,
tom. i. p. 426, 427.]

[Footnote 18: Julian (Epist. xxxviii. p. 414) gives a short
description of Vesontio, or Besancon; a rocky peninsula almost
encircled by the River Doux; once a magnificent city, filled with
temples, &c., now reduced to a small town, emerging, however,
from its ruins.]

[Footnote 19: Vadomair entered into the Roman service, and was
promoted from a barbarian kingdom to the military rank of duke of
Phoenicia. He still retained the same artful character, (Ammian.
xxi. 4;) but under the reign of Valens, he signalized his valor
in the Armenian war, (xxix. 1.)]
[Footnote 20: Ammian. xx. 10, xxi. 3, 4. Zosimus, l. iii. p.
155.]

Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.

Part II.

     The ambassadors of Julian had been instructed to execute,
with the utmost diligence, their important commission. But, in
their passage through Italy and Illyricum, they were detained by
the tedious and affected delays of the provincial governors; they
were conducted by slow journeys from Constantinople to Caesarea
in Cappadocia; and when at length they were admitted to the
presence of Constantius, they found that he had already
conceived, from the despatches of his own officers, the most
unfavorable opinion of the conduct of Julian, and of the Gallic
army. The letters were heard with impatience; the trembling
messengers were dismissed with indignation and contempt; and the
looks, gestures, the furious language of the monarch, expressed
the disorder of his soul. The domestic connection, which might
have reconciled the brother and the husband of Helena, was
recently dissolved by the death of that princess, whose pregnancy
had been several times fruitless, and was at last fatal to
herself. ^21 The empress Eusebia had preserved, to the last
moment of her life, the warm, and even jealous, affection which
she had conceived for Julian; and her mild influence might have
moderated the resentment of a prince, who, since her death, was
abandoned to his own passions, and to the arts of his eunuchs.
But the terror of a foreign invasion obliged him to suspend the
punishment of a private enemy: he continued his march towards the
confines of Persia, and thought it sufficient to signify the
conditions which might entitle Julian and his guilty followers to
the clemency of their offended sovereign. He required, that the
presumptuous Caesar should expressly renounce the appellation and
rank of Augustus, which he had accepted from the rebels; that he
should descend to his former station of a limited and dependent
minister; that he should vest the powers of the state and army in
the hands of those officers who were appointed by the Imperial
court; and that he should trust his safety to the assurances of
pardon, which were announced by Epictetus, a Gallic bishop, and
one of the Arian favorites of Constantius. Several months were
ineffectually consumed in a treaty which was negotiated at the
distance of three thousand miles between Paris and Antioch; and,
as soon as Julian perceived that his modest and respectful
behavior served only to irritate the pride of an implacable
adversary, he boldly resolved to commit his life and fortune to
the chance of a civil war. He gave a public and military
audience to the quaestor Leonas: the haughty epistle of
Constantius was read to the attentive multitude; and Julian
protested, with the most flattering deference, that he was ready
to resign the title of Augustus, if he could obtain the consent
of those whom he acknowledged as the authors of his elevation.
The faint proposal was impetuously silenced; and the acclamations
of "Julian Augustus, continue to reign, by the authority of the
army, of the people, of the republic which you have saved,"
thundered at once from every part of the field, and terrified the
pale ambassador of Constantius. A part of the letter was
afterwards read, in which the emperor arraigned the ingratitude
of Julian, whom he had invested with the honors of the purple;
whom he had educated with so much care and tenderness; whom he
had preserved in his infancy, when he was left a helpless orphan.

"An orphan!" interrupted Julian, who justified his cause by
indulging his passions: "does the assassin of my family reproach
me that I was left an orphan? He urges me to revenge those
injuries which I have long studied to forget." The assembly was
dismissed; and Leonas, who, with some difficulty, had been
protected from the popular fury, was sent back to his master with
an epistle, in which Julian expressed, in a strain of the most
vehement eloquence, the sentiments of contempt, of hatred, and of
resentment, which had been suppressed and imbittered by the
dissimulation of twenty years. After this message, which might
be considered as a signal of irreconcilable war, Julian, who,
some weeks before, had celebrated the Christian festival of the
Epiphany, ^22 made a public declaration that he committed the
care of his safety to the Immortal Gods; and thus publicly
renounced the religion as well as the friendship of Constantius.
^23

[Footnote 21: Her remains were sent to Rome, and interred near
those of her sister Constantina, in the suburb of the Via
Nomentana. Ammian. xxi. 1. Libanius has composed a very weak
apology, to justify his hero from a very absurd charge of
poisoning his wife, and rewarding her physician with his mother's
jewels. (See the seventh of seventeen new orations, published at
Venice, 1754, from a MS. in St. Mark's Library, p. 117-127.)
Elpidius, the Praetorian praefect of the East, to whose evidence
the accuser of Julian appeals, is arraigned by Libanius, as
effeminate and ungrateful; yet the religion of Elpidius is
praised by Jerom, (tom. i. p. 243,) and his Ammianus (xxi. 6.)]

[Footnote 22: Feriarum die quem celebrantes mense Januario,
Christiani Epiphania dictitant, progressus in eorum ecclesiam,
solemniter numine orato discessit. Ammian. xxi. 2. Zonaras
observes, that it was on Christmas day, and his assertion is not
inconsistent; since the churches of Egypt, Asia, and perhaps
Gaul, celebrated on the same day (the sixth of January) the
nativity and the baptism of their Savior. The Romans, as
ignorant as their brethren of the real date of his birth, fixed
the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or
winter solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of
the sun. See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, l.
xx. c. 4, and Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheismo tom. ii.
p. 690-700.]
[Footnote 23: The public and secret negotiations between
Constantius and Julian must be extracted, with some caution, from
Julian himself. (Orat. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286.) Libanius,
(Orat. Parent. c. 51, p. 276,) Ammianus, (xx. 9,) Zosimus, (l.
iii. p. 154,) and even Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 20, 21,
22,) who, on this occasion, appears to have possessed and used
some valuable materials.]

     The situation of Julian required a vigorous and immediate
resolution. He had discovered, from intercepted letters, that his
adversary, sacrificing the interest of the state to that of the
monarch, had again excited the Barbarians to invade the provinces
of the West. The position of two magazines, one of them
collected on the banks of the Lake of Constance, the other formed
at the foot of the Cottian Alps, seemed to indicate the march of
two armies; and the size of those magazines, each of which
consisted of six hundred thousand quarters of wheat, or rather
flour, ^24 was a threatening evidence of the strength and numbers
of the enemy who prepared to surround him. But the Imperial
legions were still in their distant quarters of Asia; the Danube
was feebly guarded; and if Julian could occupy, by a sudden
incursion, the important provinces of Illyricum, he might expect
that a people of soldiers would resort to his standard, and that
the rich mines of gold and silver would contribute to the
expenses of the civil war. He proposed this bold enterprise to
the assembly of the soldiers; inspired them with a just
confidence in their general, and in themselves; and exhorted them
to maintain their reputation of being terrible to the enemy,
moderate to their fellow-citizens, and obedient to their
officers. His spirited discourse was received with the loudest
acclamations, and the same troops which had taken up arms against
Constantius, when he summoned them to leave Gaul, now declared
with alacrity, that they would follow Julian to the farthest
extremities of Europe or Asia. The oath of fidelity was
administered; and the soldiers, clashing their shields, and
pointing their drawn swords to their throats, devoted themselves,
with horrid imprecations, to the service of a leader whom they
celebrated as the deliverer of Gaul and the conqueror of the
Germans. ^25 This solemn engagement, which seemed to be dictated
by affection rather than by duty, was singly opposed by
Nebridius, who had been admitted to the office of Praetorian
praefect. That faithful minister, alone and unassisted, asserted
the rights of Constantius, in the midst of an armed and angry
multitude, to whose fury he had almost fallen an honorable, but
useless sacrifice. After losing one of his hands by the stroke
of a sword, he embraced the knees of the prince whom he had
offended. Julian covered the praefect with his Imperial mantle,
and, protecting him from the zeal of his followers, dismissed him
to his own house, with less respect than was perhaps due to the
virtue of an enemy. ^26 The high office of Nebridius was bestowed
on Sallust; and the provinces of Gaul, which were now delivered
from the intolerable oppression of taxes, enjoyed the mild and
equitable administration of the friend of Julian, who was
permitted to practise those virtues which he had instilled into
the mind of his pupil. ^27
[Footnote 24: Three hundred myriads, or three millions of
medimni, a corn measure familiar to the Athenians, and which
contained six Roman modii. Julian explains, like a soldier and a
statesman, the danger of his situation, and the necessity and
advantages of an offensive war, (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286,
287.)]

[Footnote 25: See his oration, and the behavior of the troops, in
Ammian. xxi. 5.]

[Footnote 26: He sternly refused his hand to the suppliant
praefect, whom he sent into Tuscany. (Ammian. xxi. 5.) Libanius,
with savage fury, insults Nebridius, applauds the soldiers, and
almost censures the humanity of Julian. (Orat. Parent. c. 53, p.
278.)]

[Footnote 27: Ammian. xxi. 8. In this promotion, Julian obeyed
the law which he publicly imposed on himself. Neque civilis
quisquam judex nec militaris rector, alio quodam praeter merita
suffragante, ad potiorem veniat gradum. (Ammian. xx. 5.) Absence
did not weaken his regard for Sallust, with whose name (A. D.
363) he honored the consulship.]

     The hopes of Julian depended much less on the number of his
troops, than on the celerity of his motions. In the execution of
a daring enterprise, he availed himself of every precaution, as
far as prudence could suggest; and where prudence could no longer
accompany his steps, he trusted the event to valor and to
fortune. In the neighborhood of Basil he assembled and divided
his army. ^28 One body, which consisted of ten thousand men, was
directed under the command of Nevitta, general of the cavalry, to
advance through the midland parts of Rhaetia and Noricum. A
similar division of troops, under the orders of Jovius and
Jovinus, prepared to follow the oblique course of the highways,
through the Alps, and the northern confines of Italy. The
instructions to the generals were conceived with energy and
precision: to hasten their march in close and compact columns,
which, according to the disposition of the ground, might readily
be changed into any order of battle; to secure themselves against
the surprises of the night by strong posts and vigilant guards;
to prevent resistance by their unexpected arrival; to elude
examination by their sudden departure; to spread the opinion of
their strength, and the terror of his name; and to join their
sovereign under the walls of Sirmium. For himself Julian had
reserved a more difficult and extraordinary part. He selected
three thousand brave and active volunteers, resolved, like their
leader, to cast behind them every hope of a retreat; at the head
of this faithful band, he fearlessly plunged into the recesses of
the Marcian, or Black Forest, which conceals the sources of the
Danube; ^29 and, for many days, the fate of Julian was unknown to
the world. The secrecy of his march, his diligence, and vigor,
surmounted every obstacle; he forced his way over mountains and
morasses, occupied the bridges or swam the rivers, pursued his
direct course, ^30 without reflecting whether he traversed the
territory of the Romans or of the Barbarians, and at length
emerged, between Ratisbon and Vienna, at the place where he
designed to embark his troops on the Danube. By a well-concerted
stratagem, he seized a fleet of light brigantines, ^31 as it lay
at anchor; secured a apply of coarse provisions sufficient to
satisfy the indelicate, and voracious, appetite of a Gallic army;
and boldly committed himself to the stream of the Danube. The
labors of the mariners, who plied their oars with incessant
diligence, and the steady continuance of a favorable wind,
carried his fleet above seven hundred miles in eleven days; ^32
and he had already disembarked his troops at Bononia, ^* only
nineteen miles from Sirmium, before his enemies could receive any
certain intelligence that he had left the banks of the Rhine. In
the course of this long and rapid navigation, the mind of Julian
was fixed on the object of his enterprise; and though he accepted
the deputations of some cities, which hastened to claim the merit
of an early submission, he passed before the hostile stations,
which were placed along the river, without indulging the
temptation of signalizing a useless and ill-timed valor. The
banks of the Danube were crowded on either side with spectators,
who gazed on the military pomp, anticipated the importance of the
event, and diffused through the adjacent country the fame of a
young hero, who advanced with more than mortal speed at the head
of the innumerable forces of the West. Lucilian, who, with the
rank of general of the cavalry, commanded the military powers of
Illyricum, was alarmed and perplexed by the doubtful reports,
which he could neither reject nor believe. He had taken some
slow and irresolute measures for the purpose of collecting his
troops, when he was surprised by Dagalaiphus, an active officer,
whom Julian, as soon as he landed at Bononia, had pushed forwards
with some light infantry. The captive general, uncertain of his
life or death, was hastily thrown upon a horse, and conducted to
the presence of Julian; who kindly raised him from the ground,
and dispelled the terror and amazement which seemed to stupefy
his faculties. But Lucilian had no sooner recovered his spirits,
than he betrayed his want of discretion, by presuming to admonish
his conqueror that he had rashly ventured, with a handful of men,
to expose his person in the midst of his enemies. "Reserve for
your master Constantius these timid remonstrances," replied
Julian, with a smile of contempt: "when I gave you my purple to
kiss, I received you not as a counsellor, but as a suppliant."
Conscious that success alone could justify his attempt, and that
boldness only could command success, he instantly advanced, at
the head of three thousand soldiers, to attack the strongest and
most populous city of the Illyrian provinces. As he entered the
long suburb of Sirmium, he was received by the joyful
acclamations of the army and people; who, crowned with flowers,
and holding lighted tapers in their hands, conducted their
acknowledged sovereign to his Imperial residence. Two days were
devoted to the public joy, which was celebrated by the games of
the circus; but, early on the morning of the third day, Julian
marched to occupy the narrow pass of Succi, in the defiles of
Mount Haemus; which, almost in the midway between Sirmium and
Constantinople, separates the provinces of Thrace and Dacia, by
an abrupt descent towards the former, and a gentle declivity on
the side of the latter. ^33 The defence of this important post
was intrusted to the brave Nevitta; who, as well as the generals
of the Italian division, successfully executed the plan of the
march and junction which their master had so ably conceived. ^34

[Footnote 28: Ammianus (xxi. 8) ascribes the same practice, and
the same motive, to Alexander the Great and other skilful
generals.]
[Footnote 29: This wood was a part of the great Hercynian forest,
which, is the time of Caesar, stretched away from the country of
the Rauraci (Basil) into the boundless regions of the north. See
Cluver, Germania Antiqua. l. iii. c. 47.]

[Footnote 30: Compare Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278, 279,
with Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 68. Even the saint admires
the speed and secrecy of this march. A modern divine might apply
to the progress of Julian the lines which were originally
designed for another apostate: -

      - So eagerly the fiend,
     O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,  

  With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
     And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.]

[Footnote 31: In that interval the Notitia places two or three
fleets, the Lauriacensis, (at Lauriacum, or Lorch,) the
Arlapensis, the Maginensis; and mentions five legions, or
cohorts, of Libernarii, who should be a sort of marines. Sect.
lviii. edit. Labb.]

[Footnote 32: Zosimus alone (l. iii. p. 156) has specified this
interesting circumstance. Mamertinus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 6,
7, 8,) who accompanied Julian, as count of the sacred largesses,
describes this voyage in a florid and picturesque manner,
challenges Triptolemus and the Argonauts of Greece, &c.]

[Footnote *: Banostar. Mannert. - M.]

[Footnote 33: The description of Ammianus, which might be
supported by collateral evidence, ascertains the precise
situation of the Angustine Succorum, or passes of Succi. M.
d'Anville, from the trifling resemblance of names, has placed
them between Sardica and Naissus. For my own justification I am
obliged to mention the only error which I have discovered in the
maps or writings of that admirable geographer.]

[Footnote 34: Whatever circumstances we may borrow elsewhere,
Ammianus (xx. 8, 9, 10) still supplies the series of the
narrative.]

     The homage which Julian obtained, from the fears or the
inclination of the people, extended far beyond the immediate
effect of his arms. ^35 The praefectures of Italy and Illyricum
were administered by Taurus and Florentius, who united that
important office with the vain honors of the consulship; and as
those magistrates had retired with precipitation to the court of
Asia, Julian, who could not always restrain the levity of his
temper, stigmatized their flight by adding, in all the Acts of
the Year, the epithet of fugitive to the names of the two
consuls. The provinces which had been deserted by their first
magistrates acknowledged the authority of an emperor, who,
conciliating the qualities of a soldier with those of a
philosopher, was equally admired in the camps of the Danube and
in the cities of Greece. From his palace, or, more properly,
from his head-quarters of Sirmium and Naissus, he distributed to
the principal cities of the empire, a labored apology for his own
conduct; published the secret despatches of Constantius; and
solicited the judgment of mankind between two competitors, the
one of whom had expelled, and the other had invited, the
Barbarians. ^36 Julian, whose mind was deeply wounded by the
reproach of ingratitude, aspired to maintain, by argument as well
as by arms, the superior merits of his cause; and to excel, not
only in the arts of war, but in those of composition. His
epistle to the senate and people of Athens ^37 seems to have been
dictated by an elegant enthusiasm; which prompted him to submit
his actions and his motives to the degenerate Athenians of his
own times, with the same humble deference as if he had been
pleading, in the days of Aristides, before the tribunal of the
Areopagus. His application to the senate of Rome, which was
still permitted to bestow the titles of Imperial power, was
agreeable to the forms of the expiring republic. An assembly was
summoned by Tertullus, praefect of the city; the epistle of
Julian was read; and, as he appeared to be master of Italy his
claims were admitted without a dissenting voice. His oblique
censure of the innovations of Constantine, and his passionate
invective against the vices of Constantius, were heard with less
satisfaction; and the senate, as if Julian had been present,
unanimously exclaimed, "Respect, we beseech you, the author of
your own fortune." ^38 An artful expression, which, according to
the chance of war, might be differently explained; as a manly
reproof of the ingratitude of the usurper, or as a flattering
confession, that a single act of such benefit to the state ought
to atone for all the failings of Constantius.
[Footnote 35: Ammian. xxi. 9, 10. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 54,
p. 279, 280. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 156, 157.]

[Footnote 36: Julian (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286) positively
asserts, that he intercepted the letters of Constantius to the
Barbarians; and Libanius as positively affirms, that he read them
on his march to the troops and the cities. Yet Ammianus (xxi. 4)
expresses himself with cool and candid hesitation, si famoe
solius admittenda est fides. He specifies, however, an
intercepted letter from Vadomair to Constantius, which supposes
an intimate correspondence between them. "disciplinam non
habet."]

[Footnote 37: Zosimus mentions his epistles to the Athenians, the
Corinthians, and the Lacedaemonians. The substance was probably
the same, though the address was properly varied. The epistle to
the Athenians is still extant, (p. 268-287,) and has afforded
much valuable information. It deserves the praises of the Abbe
de la Bleterie, (Pref. a l'Histoire de Jovien, p. 24, 25,) and is
one of the best manifestoes to be found in any language.]
[Footnote 38: Auctori tuo reverentiam rogamus. Ammian. xxi. 10.
It is amusing enough to observe the secret conflicts of the
senate between flattery and fear. See Tacit. Hist. i. 85.]

     The intelligence of the march and rapid progress of Julian
was speedily transmitted to his rival, who, by the retreat of
Sapor, had obtained some respite from the Persian war.
Disguising the anguish of his soul under the semblance of
contempt, Constantius professed his intention of returning into
Europe, and of giving chase to Julian; for he never spoke of his
military expedition in any other light than that of a hunting
party. ^39 In the camp of Hierapolis, in Syria, he communicated
this design to his army; slightly mentioned the guilt and
rashness of the Caesar; and ventured to assure them, that if the
mutineers of Gaul presumed to meet them in the field, they would
be unable to sustain the fire of their eyes, and the irresistible
weight of their shout of onset. The speech of the emperor was
received with military applause, and Theodotus, the president of
the council of Hierapolis, requested, with tears of adulation,
that his city might be adorned with the head of the vanquished
rebel. ^40 A chosen detachment was despatched away in
post-wagons, to secure, if it were yet possible, the pass of
Succi; the recruits, the horses, the arms, and the magazines,
which had been prepared against Sapor, were appropriated to the
service of the civil war; and the domestic victories of
Constantius inspired his partisans with the most sanguine
assurances of success. The notary Gaudentius had occupied in his
name the provinces of Africa; the subsistence of Rome was
intercepted; and the distress of Julian was increased by an
unexpected event, which might have been productive of fatal
consequences. Julian had received the submission of two legions
and a cohort of archers, who were stationed at Sirmium; but he
suspected, with reason, the fidelity of those troops which had
been distinguished by the emperor; and it was thought expedient,
under the pretence of the exposed state of the Gallic frontier,
to dismiss them from the most important scene of action. They
advanced, with reluctance, as far as the confines of Italy; but
as they dreaded the length of the way, and the savage fierceness
of the Germans, they resolved, by the instigation of one of their
tribunes, to halt at Aquileia, and to erect the banners of
Constantius on the walls of that impregnable city. The vigilance
of Julian perceived at once the extent of the mischief, and the
necessity of applying an immediate remedy. By his order, Jovinus
led back a part of the army into Italy; and the siege of Aquileia
was formed with diligence, and prosecuted with vigor. But the
legionaries, who seemed to have rejected the yoke of discipline,
conducted the defence of the place with skill and perseverance;
vited the rest of Italy to imitate the example of their courage
and loyalty; and threatened the retreat of Julian, if he should
be forced to yield to the superior numbers of the armies of the
East. ^41

[Footnote 39: Tanquam venaticiam praedam caperet: hoc enim ad
Jeniendum suorum metum subinde praedicabat. Ammian. xxii. 7.]

[Footnote 40: See the speech and preparations in Ammianus, xxi.
13. The vile Theodotus afterwards implored and obtained his
pardon from the merciful conqueror, who signified his wish of
diminishing his enemies and increasing the numbers of his
friends, (xxii. 14.)]

[Footnote 41: Ammian. xxi. 7, 11, 12. He seems to describe, with
superfluous labor, the operations of the siege of Aquileia,
which, on this occasion, maintained its impregnable fame.
Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iii. p. 68) ascribes this accidental
revolt to the wisdom of Constantius, whose assured victory he
announces with some appearance of truth. Constantio quem
credebat procul dubio fore victorem; nemo enim omnium tunc ab hac
constanti sententia discrepebat. Ammian. xxi. 7.]

     But the humanity of Julian was preserved from the cruel
alternative which he pathetically laments, of destroying or of
being himself destroyed: and the seasonable death of Constantius
delivered the Roman empire from the calamities of civil war. The
approach of winter could not detain the monarch at Antioch; and
his favorites durst not oppose his impatient desire of revenge.
A slight fever, which was perhaps occasioned by the agitation of
his spirits, was increased by the fatigues of the journey; and
Constantius was obliged to halt at the little town of Mopsucrene,
twelve miles beyond Tarsus, where he expired, after a short
illness, in the forty- fifth year of his age, and the
twenty-fourth of his reign. ^42 His genuine character, which was
composed of pride and weakness, of superstition and cruelty, has
been fully displayed in the preceding narrative of civil and
ecclesiastical events. The long abuse of power rendered him a
considerable object in the eyes of his contemporaries; but as
personal merit can alone deserve the notice of posterity, the
last of the sons of Constantine may be dismissed from the world,
with the remark, that he inherited the defects, without the
abilities, of his father. Before Constantius expired, he is said
to have named Julian for his successor; nor does it seem
improbable, that his anxious concern for the fate of a young and
tender wife, whom he left with child, may have prevailed, in his
last moments, over the harsher passions of hatred and revenge.
Eusebius, and his guilty associates, made a faint attempt to
prolong the reign of the eunuchs, by the election of another
emperor; but their intrigues were rejected with disdain, by an
army which now abhorred the thought of civil discord; and two
officers of rank were instantly despatched, to assure Julian,
that every sword in the empire would be drawn for his service.
The military designs of that prince, who had formed three
different attacks against Thrace, were prevented by this
fortunate event. Without shedding the blood of his
fellow-citizens, he escaped the dangers of a doubtful conflict,
and acquired the advantages of a complete victory. Impatient to
visit the place of his birth, and the new capital of the empire,
he advanced from Naissus through the mountains of Haemus, and the
cities of Thrace. When he reached Heraclea, at the distance of
sixty miles, all Constantinople was poured forth to receive him;
and he made his triumphal entry amidst the dutiful acclamations
of the soldiers, the people, and the senate. At innumerable
multitude pressed around him with eager respect and were perhaps
disappointed when they beheld the small stature and simple garb
of a hero, whose unexperienced youth had vanquished the
Barbarians of Germany, and who had now traversed, in a successful
career, the whole continent of Europe, from the shores of the
Atlantic to those of the Bosphorus. ^43 A few days afterwards,
when the remains of the deceased emperor were landed in the
harbor, the subjects of Julian applauded the real or affected
humanity of their sovereign. On foot, without his diadem, and
clothed in a mourning habit, he accompanied the funeral as far as
the church of the Holy Apostles, where the body was deposited:
and if these marks of respect may be interpreted as a selfish
tribute to the birth and dignity of his Imperial kinsman, the
tears of Julian professed to the world that he had forgot the
injuries, and remembered only the obligations, which he had
received from Constantius. ^44 As soon as the legions of Aquileia
were assured of the death of the emperor, they opened the gates
of the city, and, by the sacrifice of their guilty leaders,
obtained an easy pardon from the prudence or lenity of Julian;
who, in the thirty-second year of his age, acquired the
undisputed possession of the Roman empire. ^45

[Footnote 42: His death and character are faithfully delineated
by Ammianus, (xxi. 14, 15, 16;) and we are authorized to despise
and detest the foolish calumny of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 68,)
who accuses Julian of contriving the death of his benefactor.
The private repentance of the emperor, that he had spared and
promoted Julian, (p. 69, and Orat. xxi. p. 389,) is not
improbable in itself, nor incompatible with the public verbal
testament which prudential considerations might dictate in the
last moments of his life.
     Note: Wagner thinks this sudden change of sentiment
altogether a fiction of the attendant courtiers and chiefs of the
army. who up to this time had been hostile to Julian. Note in
loco Ammian. - M.]

[Footnote 43: In describing the triumph of Julian, Ammianus
(xxii. l, 2) assumes the lofty tone of an orator or poet; while
Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 56, p. 281) sinks to the grave
simplicity of an historian.]
[Footnote 44: The funeral of Constantius is described by
Ammianus, (xxi. 16.) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 119,)
Mamertinus, in (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 27,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent.
c. lvi. p. 283,) and Philostorgius, (l. vi. c. 6, with Godefroy's
Dissertations, p. 265.) These writers, and their followers,
Pagans, Catholics, Arians, beheld with very different eyes both
the dead and the living emperor.]

[Footnote 45: The day and year of the birth of Julian are not
perfectly ascertained. The day is probably the sixth of
November, and the year must be either 331 or 332. Tillemont,
Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 693. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p.
50. I have preferred the earlier date.]

Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.

Part III.

     Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages
of action and retirement; but the elevation of his birth, and the
accidents of his life, never allowed him the freedom of choice.
He might perhaps sincerely have preferred the groves of the
academy, and the society of Athens; but he was constrained, at
first by the will, and afterwards by the injustice, of
Constantius, to expose his person and fame to the dangers of
Imperial greatness; and to make himself accountable to the world,
and to posterity, for the happiness of millions. ^46 Julian
recollected with terror the observation of his master Plato, ^47
that the government of our flocks and herds is always committed
to beings of a superior species; and that the conduct of nations
requires and deserves the celestial powers of the gods or of the
genii. From this principle he justly concluded, that the man who
presumes to reign, should aspire to the perfection of the divine
nature; that he should purify his soul from her mortal and
terrestrial part; that he should extinguish his appetites,
enlighten his understanding, regulate his passions, and subdue
the wild beast, which, according to the lively metaphor of
Aristotle, ^48 seldom fails to ascend the throne of a despot. The
throne of Julian, which the death of Constantius fixed on an
independent basis, was the seat of reason, of virtue, and perhaps
of vanity. He despised the honors, renounced the pleasures, and
discharged with incessant diligence the duties, of his exalted
station; and there were few among his subjects who would have
consented to relieve him from the weight of the diadem, had they
been obliged to submit their time and their actions to the
rigorous laws which that philosophic emperor imposed on himself.
One of his most intimate friends, ^49 who had often shared the
frugal simplicity of his table, has remarked, that his light and
sparing diet (which was usually of the vegetable kind) left his
mind and body always free and active, for the various and
important business of an author, a pontiff, a magistrate, a
general, and a prince. In one and the same day, he gave audience
to several ambassadors, and wrote, or dictated, a great number of
letters to his generals, his civil magistrates, his private
friends, and the different cities of his dominions. He listened
to the memorials which had been received, considered the subject
of the petitions, and signified his intentions more rapidly than
they could be taken in short-hand by the diligence of his
secretaries. He possessed such flexibility of thought, and such
firmness of attention, that he could employ his hand to write,
his ear to listen, and his voice to dictate; and pursue at once
three several trains of ideas without hesitation, and without
error. While his ministers reposed, the prince flew with agility
from one labor to another, and, after a hasty dinner, retired
into his library, till the public business, which he had
appointed for the evening, summoned him to interrupt the
prosecution of his studies. The supper of the emperor was still
less substantial than the former meal; his sleep was never
clouded by the fumes of indigestion; and except in the short
interval of a marriage, which was the effect of policy rather
than love, the chaste Julian never shared his bed with a female
companion. ^50 He was soon awakened by the entrance of fresh
secretaries, who had slept the preceding day; and his servants
were obliged to wait alternately while their indefatigable master
allowed himself scarcely any other refreshment than the change of
occupation. The predecessors of Julian, his uncle, his brother,
and his cousin, indulged their puerile taste for the games of the
Circus, under the specious pretence of complying with the
inclinations of the people; and they frequently remained the
greatest part of the day as idle spectators, and as a part of the
splendid spectacle, till the ordinary round of twenty-four races
^51 was completely finished. On solemn festivals, Julian, who
felt and professed an unfashionable dislike to these frivolous
amusements, condescended to appear in the Circus; and after
bestowing a careless glance at five or six of the races, he
hastily withdrew with the impatience of a philosopher, who
considered every moment as lost that was not devoted to the
advantage of the public or the improvement of his own mind. ^52
By this avarice of time, he seemed to protract the short duration
of his reign; and if the dates were less securely ascertained, we
should refuse to believe, that only sixteen months elapsed
between the death of Constantius and the departure of his
successor for the Persian war. The actions of Julian can only be
preserved by the care of the historian; but the portion of his
voluminous writings, which is still extant, remains as a monument
of the application, as well as of the genius, of the emperor.
The Misopogon, the Caesars, several of his orations, and his
elaborate work against the Christian religion, were composed in
the long nights of the two winters, the former of which he passed
at Constantinople, and the latter at Antioch.

[Footnote 46: Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed these
philosophical ideas with much eloquence and some affectation, in
a very elaborate epistle to Themistius. The Abbe de la Bleterie,
(tom. ii. p. 146-193,) who has given an elegant translation, is
inclined to believe that it was the celebrated Themistius, whose
orations are still extant.]

[Footnote 47: Julian. ad Themist. p. 258. Petavius (not. p. 95)
observes that this passage is taken from the fourth book De
Legibus; but either Julian quoted from memory, or his MSS. were
different from ours Xenophon opens the Cyropaedia with a similar
reflection.]

[Footnote 48: Aristot. ap. Julian. p. 261. The MS. of Vossius,
unsatisfied with the single beast, affords the stronger reading
of which the experience of despotism may warrant.]

[Footnote 49: Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. lxxxiv. lxxxv. p.
310, 311, 312) has given this interesting detail of the private
life of Julian. He himself (in Misopogon, p. 350) mentions his
vegetable diet, and upbraids the gross and sensual appetite of
the people of Antioch.]

[Footnote 50: Lectulus . . . Vestalium toris purior, is the
praise which Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 13) addresses to
Julian himself. Libanius affirms, in sober peremptory language,
that Julian never knew a woman before his marriage, or after the
death of his wife, (Orat. Parent. c. lxxxviii. p. 313.) The
chastity of Julian is confirmed by the impartial testimony of
Ammianus, (xxv. 4,) and the partial silence of the Christians.
Yet Julian ironically urges the reproach of the people of
Antioch, that he almost always in Misopogon, p. 345) lay alone.
This suspicious expression is explained by the Abbe de la
Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 103-109) with candor and
ingenuity.]

[Footnote 51: See Salmasius ad Sueton in Claud. c. xxi. A
twenty-fifth race, or missus, was added, to complete the number
of one hundred chariots, four of which, the four colors, started
each heat.

     Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus.

     It appears, that they ran five or seven times round the Mota
(Sueton in Domitian. c. 4;) and (from the measure of the Circus
Maximus at Rome, the Hippodrome at Constantinople, &c.) it might
be about a four mile course.]
[Footnote 52: Julian. in Misopogon, p. 340. Julius Caesar had
offended the Roman people by reading his despatches during the
actual race. Augustus indulged their taste, or his own, by his
constant attention to the important business of the Circus, for
which he professed the warmest inclination. Sueton. in August. c.
xlv.]

     The reformation of the Imperial court was one of the first
and most necessary acts of the government of Julian. ^53 Soon
after his entrance into the palace of Constantinople, he had
occasion for the service of a barber. An officer, magnificently
dressed, immediately presented himself. "It is a barber,"
exclaimed the prince, with affected surprise, "that I want, and
not a receiver-general of the finances." ^54 He questioned the
man concerning the profits of his employment and was informed,
that besides a large salary, and some valuable perquisites, he
enjoyed a daily allowance for twenty servants, and as many
horses. A thousand barbers, a thousand cup-bearers, a thousand
cooks, were distributed in the several offices of luxury; and the
number of eunuchs could be compared only with the insects of a
summer's day. The monarch who resigned to his subjects the
superiority of merit and virtue, was distinguished by the
oppressive magnificence of his dress, his table, his buildings,
and his train. The stately palaces erected by Constantine and
his sons, were decorated with many colored marbles, and ornaments
of massy gold. The most exquisite dainties were procured, to
gratify their pride, rather than their taste; birds of the most
distant climates, fish from the most remote seas, fruits out of
their natural season, winter roses, and summer snows. ^56 The
domestic crowd of the palace surpassed the expense of the
legions; yet the smallest part of this costly multitude was
subservient to the use, or even to the splendor, of the throne.
The monarch was disgraced, and the people was injured, by the
creation and sale of an infinite number of obscure, and even
titular employments; and the most worthless of mankind might
purchase the privilege of being maintained, without the necessity
of labor, from the public revenue. The waste of an enormous
household, the increase of fees and perquisites, which were soon
claimed as a lawful debt, and the bribes which they extorted from
those who feared their enmity, or solicited their favor, suddenly
enriched these haughty menials. They abused their fortune,
without considering their past, or their future, condition; and
their rapine and venality could be equalled only by the
extravagance of their dissipations. Their silken robes were
embroidered with gold, their tables were served with delicacy and
profusion; the houses which they built for their own use, would
have covered the farm of an ancient consul; and the most
honorable citizens were obliged to dismount from their horses,
and respectfully to salute a eunuch whom they met on the public
highway. The luxury of the palace excited the contempt and
indignation of Julian, who usually slept on the ground, who
yielded with reluctance to the indispensable calls of nature; and
who placed his vanity, not in emulating, but in despising, the
pomp of royalty.
[Footnote 53: The reformation of the palace is described by
Ammianus, (xxii. 4,) Libanius, Orat. (Parent. c. lxii. p. 288,
&c.,) Mamertinus, in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 11,) Socrates, (l. iii. c.
l.,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 24.)]

[Footnote 54: Ego non rationalem jussi sed tonsorem acciri.
Zonaras uses the less natural image of a senator. Yet an officer
of the finances, who was satisfied with wealth, might desire and
obtain the honors of the senate.]
[Footnote 56: The expressions of Mamertinus are lively and
forcible. Quis etiam prandiorum et caenarum laboratas
magnitudines Romanus populus sensit; cum quaesitissimae dapes non
gustu sed difficultatibus aestimarentur; miracula avium,
longinqui maris pisces, aheni temporis poma, aestivae nives,
hybernae rosae]

     By the total extirpation of a mischief which was magnified
even beyond its real extent, he was impatient to relieve the
distress, and to appease the murmurs of the people; who support
with less uneasiness the weight of taxes, if they are convinced
that the fruits of their industry are appropriated to the service
of the state. But in the execution of this salutary work, Julian
is accused of proceeding with too much haste and inconsiderate
severity. By a single edict, he reduced the palace of
Constantinople to an immense desert, and dismissed with ignominy
the whole train of slaves and dependants, ^57 without providing
any just, or at least benevolent, exceptions, for the age, the
services, or the poverty, of the faithful domestics of the
Imperial family. Such indeed was the temper of Julian, who
seldom recollected the fundamental maxim of Aristotle, that true
virtue is placed at an equal distance between the opposite vices.

The splendid and effeminate dress of the Asiatics, the curls and
paint, the collars and bracelets, which had appeared so
ridiculous in the person of Constantine, were consistently
rejected by his philosophic successor. But with the fopperies,
Julian affected to renounce the decencies of dress; and seemed to
value himself for his neglect of the laws of cleanliness. In a
satirical performance, which was designed for the public eye, the
emperor descants with pleasure, and even with pride, on the
length of his nails, and the inky blackness of his hands;
protests, that although the greatest part of his body was covered
with hair, the use of the razor was confined to his head alone;
and celebrates, with visible complacency, the shaggy and populous
^58 beard, which he fondly cherished, after the example of the
philosophers of Greece. Had Julian consulted the simple dictates
of reason, the first magistrate of the Romans would have scorned
the affectation of Diogenes, as well as that of Darius.
[Footnote 57: Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing whole
towns on the eunuchs, (Orat. vii. against Polyclet. p. 117-127.)
Libanius contents himself with a cold but positive denial of the
fact, which seems indeed to belong more properly to Constantius.
This charge, however, may allude to some unknown circumstance.]

[Footnote 58: In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a very
singular picture of himself, and the following words are
strangely characteristic. The friends of the Abbe de la Bleterie
adjured him, in the name of the French nation, not to translate
this passage, so offensive to their delicacy, (Hist. de Jovien,
tom. ii. p. 94.) Like him, I have contented myself with a
transient allusion; but the little animal which Julian names, is
a beast familiar to man, and signifies love.]

     But the work of public reformation would have remained
imperfect, if Julian had only corrected the abuses, without
punishing the crimes, of his predecessor's reign. "We are now
delivered," says he, in a familiar letter to one of his intimate
friends, "we are now surprisingly delivered from the voracious
jaws of the Hydra. ^59 I do not mean to apply the epithet to my
brother Constantius. He is no more; may the earth lie light on
his head! But his artful and cruel favorites studied to deceive
and exasperate a prince, whose natural mildness cannot be praised
without some efforts of adulation. It is not, however, my
intention, that even those men should be oppressed: they are
accused, and they shall enjoy the benefit of a fair and impartial
trial." To conduct this inquiry, Julian named six judges of the
highest rank in the state and army; and as he wished to escape
the reproach of condemning his personal enemies, he fixed this
extraordinary tribunal at Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side of the
Bosphorus; and transferred to the commissioners an absolute power
to pronounce and execute their final sentence, without delay, and
without appeal. The office of president was exercised by the
venerable praefect of the East, a second Sallust, ^60 whose
virtues conciliated the esteem of Greek sophists, and of
Christian bishops. He was assisted by the eloquent Mamertinus,
^61 one of the consuls elect, whose merit is loudly celebrated by
the doubtful evidence of his own applause. But the civil wisdom
of two magistrates was overbalanced by the ferocious violence of
four generals, Nevitta, Agilo, Jovinus, and Arbetio. Arbetio,
whom the public would have seen with less surprise at the bar
than on the bench, was supposed to possess the secret of the
commission; the armed and angry leaders of the Jovian and
Herculian bands encompassed the tribunal; and the judges were
alternately swayed by the laws of justice, and by the clamors of
faction. ^62
[Footnote 59: Julian, epist. xxiii. p. 389. He uses the words in
writing to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was
conversant with the Greek poets.]

[Footnote 60: The two Sallusts, the praefect of Gaul, and the
praefect of the East, must be carefully distinguished, (Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 696.) I have used the surname of Secundus,
as a convenient epithet. The second Sallust extorted the esteem
of the Christians themselves; and Gregory Nazianzen, who
condemned his religion, has celebrated his virtues, (Orat. iii.
p. 90.) See a curious note of the Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de
Julien, p. 363.
     Note: Gibbonus secundum habet pro numero, quod tamen est
viri agnomen Wagner, nota in loc. Amm. It is not a mistake; it
is rather an error in taste. Wagner inclines to transfer the
chief guilt to Arbetio. - M.]
[Footnote 61: Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi. l.) for
bestowing the offices of Treasurer and Praefect on a man of
wisdom, firmness, integrity, &c., like himself. Yet Ammianus
ranks him (xxi. l.) among the ministers of Julian, quorum merita
norat et fidem.]

[Footnote 62: The proceedings of this chamber of justice are
related by Ammianus, (xxii. 3,) and praised by Libanius, (Orat.
Parent. c. 74, p. 299, 300.)]

     The chamberlain Eusebius, who had so long abused the favor
of Constantius, expiated, by an ignominious death, the insolence,
the corruption, and cruelty of his servile reign. The executions
of Paul and Apodemius (the former of whom was burnt alive) were
accepted as an inadequate atonement by the widows and orphans of
so many hundred Romans, whom those legal tyrants had betrayed and
murdered. But justice herself (if we may use the pathetic
expression of Ammianus ^63) appeared to weep over the fate of
Ursulus, the treasurer of the empire; and his blood accused the
ingratitude of Julian, whose distress had been seasonably
relieved by the intrepid liberality of that honest minister. The
rage of the soldiers, whom he had provoked by his indiscretion,
was the cause and the excuse of his death; and the emperor,
deeply wounded by his own reproaches and those of the public,
offered some consolation to the family of Ursulus, by the
restitution of his confiscated fortunes. Before the end of the
year in which they had been adorned with the ensigns of the
prefecture and consulship, ^64 Taurus and Florentius were reduced
to implore the clemency of the inexorable tribunal of Chalcedon.
The former was banished to Vercellae in Italy, and a sentence of
death was pronounced against the latter. A wise prince should
have rewarded the crime of Taurus: the faithful minister, when he
was no longer able to oppose the progress of a rebel, had taken
refuge in the court of his benefactor and his lawful sovereign.
But the guilt of Florentius justified the severity of the judges;
and his escape served to display the magnanimity of Julian, who
nobly checked the interested diligence of an informer, and
refused to learn what place concealed the wretched fugitive from
his just resentment. ^65 Some months after the tribunal of
Chalcedon had been dissolved, the praetorian vicegerent of
Africa, the notary Gaudentius, and Artemius ^66 duke of Egypt,
were executed at Antioch. Artemius had reigned the cruel and
corrupt tyrant of a great province; Gaudentius had long practised
the arts of calumny against the innocent, the virtuous, and even
the person of Julian himself. Yet the circumstances of their
trial and condemnation were so unskillfully managed, that these
wicked men obtained, in the public opinion, the glory of
suffering for the obstinate loyalty with which they had supported
the cause of Constantius. The rest of his servants were
protected by a general act of oblivion; and they were left to
enjoy with impunity the bribes which they had accepted, either to
defend the oppressed, or to oppress the friendless. This
measure, which, on the soundest principles of policy, may deserve
our approbation, was executed in a manner which seemed to degrade
the majesty of the throne. Julian was tormented by the
importunities of a multitude, particularly of Egyptians, who
loudly redemanded the gifts which they had imprudently or
illegally bestowed; he foresaw the endless prosecution of
vexatious suits; and he engaged a promise, which ought always to
have been sacred, that if they would repair to Chalcedon, he
would meet them in person, to hear and determine their
complaints. But as soon as they were landed, he issued an
absolute order, which prohibited the watermen from transporting
any Egyptian to Constantinople; and thus detained his
disappointed clients on the Asiatic shore till, their patience
and money being utterly exhausted, they were obliged to return
with indignant murmurs to their native country. ^67
[Footnote 63: Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse
justitia. Libanius, who imputes his death to the soldiers,
attempts to criminate the court of the largesses.]

[Footnote 64: Such respect was still entertained for the
venerable names of the commonwealth, that the public was
surprised and scandalized to hear Taurus summoned as a criminal
under the consulship of Taurus. The summons of his colleague
Florentius was probably delayed till the commencement of the
ensuing year.]

[Footnote 65: Ammian. xx. 7.]

[Footnote 66: For the guilt and punishment of Artemius, see
Julian (Epist. x. p. 379) and Ammianus, (xxii. 6, and Vales, ad
hoc.) The merit of Artemius, who demolished temples, and was put
to death by an apostate, has tempted the Greek and Latin churches
to honor him as a martyr. But as ecclesiastical history attests
that he was not only a tyrant, but an Arian, it is not altogether
easy to justify this indiscreet promotion. Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1319.]

[Footnote 67: See Ammian. xxii. 6, and Vales, ad locum; and the
Codex Theodosianus, l. ii. tit. xxxix. leg. i.; and Godefroy's
Commentary, tom. i. p. 218, ad locum.]

Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.

Part IV.

     The numerous army of spies, of agents, and informers
enlisted by Constantius to secure the repose of one man, and to
interrupt that of millions, was immediately disbanded by his
generous successor. Julian was slow in his suspicions, and
gentle in his punishments; and his contempt of treason was the
result of judgment, of vanity, and of courage. Conscious of
superior merit, he was persuaded that few among his subjects
would dare to meet him in the field, to attempt his life, or even
to seat themselves on his vacant throne. The philosopher could
excuse the hasty sallies of discontent; and the hero could
despise the ambitious projects which surpassed the fortune or the
abilities of the rash conspirators. A citizen of Ancyra had
prepared for his own use a purple garment; and this indiscreet
action, which, under the reign of Constantius, would have been
considered as a capital offence, ^68 was reported to Julian by
the officious importunity of a private enemy. The monarch, after
making some inquiry into the rank and character of his rival,
despatched the informer with a present of a pair of purple
slippers, to complete the magnificence of his Imperial habit. A
more dangerous conspiracy was formed by ten of the domestic
guards, who had resolved to assassinate Julian in the field of
exercise near Antioch. Their intemperance revealed their guilt;
and they were conducted in chains to the presence of their
injured sovereign, who, after a lively representation of the
wickedness and folly of their enterprise, instead of a death of
torture, which they deserved and expected, pronounced a sentence
of exile against the two principal offenders. The only instance
in which Julian seemed to depart from his accustomed clemency,
was the execution of a rash youth, who, with a feeble hand, had
aspired to seize the reins of empire. But that youth was the son
of Marcellus, the general of cavalry, who, in the first campaign
of the Gallic war, had deserted the standard of the Caesar and
the republic. Without appearing to indulge his personal
resentment, Julian might easily confound the crime of the son and
of the father; but he was reconciled by the distress of
Marcellus, and the liberality of the emperor endeavored to heal
the wound which had been inflicted by the hand of justice. ^69

[Footnote 68: The president Montesquieu (Considerations sur la
Grandeur, &c., des Romains, c. xiv. in his works, tom. iii. p.
448, 449,) excuses this minute and absurd tyranny, by supposing
that actions the most indifferent in our eyes might excite, in a
Roman mind, the idea of guilt and danger. This strange apology
is supported by a strange misapprehension of the English laws,
"chez une nation . . . . ou il est defendu da boire a la sante
d'une certaine personne."]

[Footnote 69: The clemency of Julian, and the conspiracy which
was formed against his life at Antioch, are described by Ammianus
(xxii. 9, 10, and Vales, ad loc.) and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c.
99, p. 323.)]
     Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom. ^70
From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and
heroes; his life and fortunes had depended on the caprice of a
tyrant; and when he ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes
mortified by the reflection, that the slaves who would not dare
to censure his defects were not worthy to applaud his virtues.
^71 He sincerely abhorred the system of Oriental despotism, which
Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of fourscore
years, had established in the empire. A motive of superstition
prevented the execution of the design, which Julian had
frequently meditated, of relieving his head from the weight of a
costly diadem; ^72 but he absolutely refused the title of
Dominus, or Lord, ^73 a word which was grown so familiar to the
ears of the Romans, that they no longer remembered its servile
and humiliating origin. The office, or rather the name, of
consul, was cherished by a prince who contemplated with reverence
the ruins of the republic; and the same behavior which had been
assumed by the prudence of Augustus was adopted by Julian from
choice and inclination. On the calends of January, at break of
day, the new consuls, Mamertinus and Nevitta, hastened to the
palace to salute the emperor. As soon as he was informed of their
approach, he leaped from his throne, eagerly advanced to meet
them, and compelled the blushing magistrates to receive the
demonstrations of his affected humility. From the palace they
proceeded to the senate. The emperor, on foot, marched before
their litters; and the gazing multitude admired the image of
ancient times, or secretly blamed a conduct, which, in their
eyes, degraded the majesty of the purple. ^74 But the behavior of
Julian was uniformly supported. During the games of the Circus,
he had, imprudently or designedly, performed the manumission of a
slave in the presence of the consul. The moment he was reminded
that he had trespassed on the jurisdiction of another magistrate,
he condemned himself to pay a fine of ten pounds of gold; and
embraced this public occasion of declaring to the world, that he
was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens, to the laws,
^75 and even to the forms, of the republic. The spirit of his
administration, and his regard for the place of his nativity,
induced Julian to confer on the senate of Constantinople the same
honors, privileges, and authority, which were still enjoyed by
the senate of ancient Rome. ^76 A legal fiction was introduced,
and gradually established, that one half of the national council
had migrated into the East; and the despotic successors of
Julian, accepting the title of Senators, acknowledged themselves
the members of a respectable body, which was permitted to
represent the majesty of the Roman name. From Constantinople,
the attention of the monarch was extended to the municipal
senates of the provinces. He abolished, by repeated edicts, the
unjust and pernicious exemptions which had withdrawn so many idle
citizens from the services of their country; and by imposing an
equal distribution of public duties, he restored the strength,
the splendor, or, according to the glowing expression of
Libanius, ^77 the soul of the expiring cities of his empire. The
venerable age of Greece excited the most tender compassion in the
mind of Julian, which kindled into rapture when he recollected
the gods, the heroes, and the men superior to heroes and to gods,
who have bequeathed to the latest posterity the monuments of
their genius, or the example of their virtues. He relieved the
distress, and restored the beauty, of the cities of Epirus and
Peloponnesus. ^78 Athens acknowledged him for her benefactor;
Argos, for her deliverer. The pride of Corinth, again rising
from her ruins with the honors of a Roman colony, exacted a
tribute from the adjacent republics, for the purpose of defraying
the games of the Isthmus, which were celebrated in the
amphitheatre with the hunting of bears and panthers. From this
tribute the cities of Elis, of Delphi, and of Argos, which had
inherited from their remote ancestors the sacred office of
perpetuating the Olympic, the Pythian, and the Nemean games,
claimed a just exemption. The immunity of Elis and Delphi was
respected by the Corinthians; but the poverty of Argos tempted
the insolence of oppression; and the feeble complaints of its
deputies were silenced by the decree of a provincial magistrate,
who seems to have consulted only the interest of the capital in
which he resided. Seven years after this sentence, Julian ^79
allowed the cause to be referred to a superior tribunal; and his
eloquence was interposed, most probably with success, in the
defence of a city, which had been the royal seat of Agamemnon,
^80 and had given to Macedonia a race of kings and conquerors.
^81

[Footnote 70: According to some, says Aristotle, (as he is quoted
by Julian ad Themist. p. 261,) the form of absolute government is
contrary to nature. Both the prince and the philosopher choose,
how ever to involve this eternal truth in artful and labored
obscurity.]

[Footnote 71: That sentiment is expressed almost in the words of
Julian himself. Ammian. xxii. 10.]

[Footnote 72: Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 95, p. 320,) who
mentions the wish and design of Julian, insinuates, in mysterious
language that the emperor was restrained by some particular
revelation.]

[Footnote 73: Julian in Misopogon, p. 343. As he never
abolished, by any public law, the proud appellations of Despot,
or Dominus, they are still extant on his medals, (Ducange, Fam.
Byzantin. p. 38, 39;) and the private displeasure which he
affected to express, only gave a different tone to the servility
of the court. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii.
p. 99-102) has curiously traced the origin and progress of the
word Dominus under the Imperial government.]

[Footnote 74: Ammian. xxii. 7. The consul Mamertinus (in
Panegyr. Vet. xi. 28, 29, 30) celebrates the auspicious day, like
an elegant slave, astonished and intoxicated by the condescension
of his master.]

[Footnote 75: Personal satire was condemned by the laws of the
twelve tables:
     Si male condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus est
     Judiciumque -

     Horat. Sat. ii. 1. 82.

Julian (in Misopogon, p. 337) owns himself subject to the law;
and the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 92) has
eagerly embraced a declaration so agreeable to his own system,
and, indeed, to the true spirit of the Imperial constitution.]

[Footnote 76: Zosimus, l. iii. p. 158.]

[Footnote 77: See Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 71, p. 296,)
Ammianus, (xxii. 9,) and the Theodosian Code (l. xii. tit. i.
leg. 50-55.) with Godefroy's Commentary, (tom. iv. p. 390-402.)
Yet the whole subject of the Curia, notwithstanding very ample
materials, still remains the most obscure in the legal history of
the empire.]

[Footnote 78: Quae paulo ante arida et siti anhelantia
visebantur, ea nunc perlui, mundari, madere; Fora, Deambulacra,
Gymnasia, laetis et gaudentibus populis frequentari; dies festos,
et celebrari veteres, et novos in honorem principis consecrari,
(Mamertin. xi. 9.) He particularly restored the city of Nicopolis
and the Actiac games, which had been instituted by Augustus.]
[Footnote 79: Julian. Epist. xxxv. p. 407-411. This epistle,
which illustrates the declining age of Greece, is omitted by the
Abbe de la Bleterie, and strangely disfigured by the Latin
translator, who, by rendering tributum, and populus, directly
contradicts the sense of the original.]
[Footnote 80: He reigned in Mycenae at the distance of fifty
stadia, or six miles from Argos: but these cities, which
alternately flourished, are confounded by the Greek poets.
Strabo, l. viii. p. 579, edit. Amstel. 1707.]
[Footnote 81: Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 421. This pedigree from
Temenus and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after
a strict inquiry, by the judges of the Olympic games, (Herodot.
l. v. c. 22,) at a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure
and unpopular in Greece. When the Achaean league declared
against Philip, it was thought decent that the deputies of Argos
should retire, (T. Liv. xxxii. 22.)]

     The laborious administration of military and civil affairs,
which were multiplied in proportion to the extent of the empire,
exercised the abilities of Julian; but he frequently assumed the
two characters of Orator ^82 and of Judge, ^83 which are almost
unknown to the modern sovereigns of Europe. The arts of
persuasion, so diligently cultivated by the first Caesars, were
neglected by the military ignorance and Asiatic pride of their
successors; and if they condescended to harangue the soldiers,
whom they feared, they treated with silent disdain the senators,
whom they despised. The assemblies of the senate, which
Constantius had avoided, were considered by Julian as the place
where he could exhibit, with the most propriety, the maxims of a
republican, and the talents of a rhetorician. He alternately
practised, as in a school of declamation, the several modes of
praise, of censure, of exhortation; and his friend Libanius has
remarked, that the study of Homer taught him to imitate the
simple, concise style of Menelaus, the copiousness of Nestor,
whose words descended like the flakes of a winter's snow, or the
pathetic and forcible eloquence of Ulysses. The functions of a
judge, which are sometimes incompatible with those of a prince,
were exercised by Julian, not only as a duty, but as an
amusement; and although he might have trusted the integrity and
discernment of his Praetorian praefects, he often placed himself
by their side on the seat of judgment. The acute penetration of
his mind was agreeably occupied in detecting and defeating the
chicanery of the advocates, who labored to disguise the truths of
facts, and to pervert the sense of the laws. He sometimes forgot
the gravity of his station, asked indiscreet or unseasonable
questions, and betrayed, by the loudness of his voice, and the
agitation of his body, the earnest vehemence with which he
maintained his opinion against the judges, the advocates, and
their clients. But his knowledge of his own temper prompted him
to encourage, and even to solicit, the reproof of his friends and
ministers; and whenever they ventured to oppose the irregular
sallies of his passions, the spectators could observe the shame,
as well as the gratitude, of their monarch. The decrees of
Julian were almost always founded on the principles of justice;
and he had the firmness to resist the two most dangerous
temptations, which assault the tribunal of a sovereign, under the
specious forms of compassion and equity. He decided the merits
of the cause without weighing the circumstances of the parties;
and the poor, whom he wished to relieve, were condemned to
satisfy the just demands of a wealthy and noble adversary. He
carefully distinguished the judge from the legislator; ^84 and
though he meditated a necessary reformation of the Roman
jurisprudence, he pronounced sentence according to the strict and
literal interpretation of those laws, which the magistrates were
bound to execute, and the subjects to obey.

[Footnote 82: His eloquence is celebrated by Libanius, (Orat.
Parent. c. 75, 76, p. 300, 301,) who distinctly mentions the
orators of Homer. Socrates (l. iii. c. 1) has rashly asserted
that Julian was the only prince, since Julius Caesar, who
harangued the senate. All the predecessors of Nero, (Tacit.
Annal. xiii. 3,) and many of his successors, possessed the
faculty of speaking in public; and it might be proved by various
examples, that they frequently exercised it in the senate.]

[Footnote 83: Ammianus (xxi. 10) has impartially stated the
merits and defects of his judicial proceedings. Libanius (Orat.
Parent. c. 90, 91, p. 315, &c.) has seen only the fair side, and
his picture, if it flatters the person, expresses at least the
duties, of the judge. Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 120,) who
suppresses the virtues, and exaggerates even the venial faults of
the Apostate, triumphantly asks, whether such a judge was fit to
be seated between Minos and Rhadamanthus, in the Elysian Fields.]

[Footnote 84: Of the laws which Julian enacted in a reign of
sixteen months, fifty-four have been admitted into the codes of
Theodosius and Justinian. (Gothofred. Chron. Legum, p. 64-67.)
The Abbe de la Bleterie (tom. ii. p. 329-336) has chosen one of
these laws to give an idea of Julian's Latin style, which is
forcible and elaborate, but less pure than his Greek.]
     The generality of princes, if they were stripped of their
purple, and cast naked into the world, would immediately sink to
the lowest rank of society, without a hope of emerging from their
obscurity. But the personal merit of Julian was, in some
measure, independent of his fortune. Whatever had been his
choice of life, by the force of intrepid courage, lively wit, and
intense application, he would have obtained, or at least he would
have deserved, the highest honors of his profession; and Julian
might have raised himself to the rank of minister, or general, of
the state in which he was born a private citizen. If the jealous
caprice of power had disappointed his expectations, if he had
prudently declined the paths of greatness, the employment of the
same talents in studious solitude would have placed beyond the
reach of kings his present happiness and his immortal fame. When
we inspect, with minute, or perhaps malevolent attention, the
portrait of Julian, something seems wanting to the grace and
perfection of the whole figure. His genius was less powerful and
sublime than that of Caesar; nor did he possess the consummate
prudence of Augustus. The virtues of Trajan appear more steady
and natural, and the philosophy of Marcus is more simple and
consistent. Yet Julian sustained adversity with firmness, and
prosperity with moderation. After an interval of one hundred and
twenty years from the death of Alexander Severus, the Romans
beheld an emperor who made no distinction between his duties and
his pleasures; who labored to relieve the distress, and to revive
the spirit, of his subjects; and who endeavored always to connect
authority with merit, and happiness with virtue. Even faction,
and religious faction, was constrained to acknowledge the
superiority of his genius, in peace as well as in war, and to
confess, with a sigh, that the apostate Julian was a lover of his
country, and that he deserved the empire of the world. ^85
[Footnote 85: . . . Ductor fortissimus armis;

     Conditor et legum celeberrimus; ore manuque
     Consultor patriae; sed non consultor habendae
     Religionis; amans tercentum millia Divum.
     Pertidus ille Deo, sed non et perfidus orbi.

     Prudent. Apotheosis, 450, &c.

The consciousness of a generous sentiment seems to have raised
the Christian post above his usual mediocrity.]

Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.

Part I.

     The Religion Of Julian. - Universal Toleration. - He
Attempts To Restore And Reform The Pagan Worship - To Rebuild The
Temple Of Jerusalem - His Artful Persecution Of The Christians. -
Mutual Zeal And Injustice.
     The character of Apostate has injured the reputation of
Julian; and the enthusiasm which clouded his virtues has
exaggerated the real and apparent magnitude of his faults. Our
partial ignorance may represent him as a philosophic monarch, who
studied to protect, with an equal hand, the religious factions of
the empire; and to allay the theological fever which had inflamed
the minds of the people, from the edicts of Diocletian to the
exile of Athanasius. A more accurate view of the character and
conduct of Julian will remove this favorable prepossession for a
prince who did not escape the general contagion of the times. We
enjoy the singular advantage of comparing the pictures which have
been delineated by his fondest admirers and his implacable
enemies. The actions of Julian are faithfully related by a
judicious and candid historian, the impartial spectator of his
life and death. The unanimous evidence of his contemporaries is
confirmed by the public and private declarations of the emperor
himself; and his various writings express the uniform tenor of
his religious sentiments, which policy would have prompted him to
dissemble rather than to affect. A devout and sincere attachment
for the gods of Athens and Rome constituted the ruling passion of
Julian; ^1 the powers of an enlightened understanding were
betrayed and corrupted by the influence of superstitious
prejudice; and the phantoms which existed only in the mind of the
emperor had a real and pernicious effect on the government of the
empire. The vehement zeal of the Christians, who despised the
worship, and overturned the altars of those fabulous deities,
engaged their votary in a state of irreconcilable hostility with
a very numerous party of his subjects; and he was sometimes
tempted by the desire of victory, or the shame of a repulse, to
violate the laws of prudence, and even of justice. The triumph
of the party, which he deserted and opposed, has fixed a stain of
infamy on the name of Julian; and the unsuccessful apostate has
been overwhelmed with a torrent of pious invectives, of which the
signal was given by the sonorous trumpet ^2 of Gregory Nazianzen.
^3 The interesting nature of the events which were crowded into
the short reign of this active emperor, deserve a just and
circumstantial narrative. His motives, his counsels, and his
actions, as far as they are connected with the history of
religion, will be the subject of the present chapter.

[Footnote 1: I shall transcribe some of his own expressions from
a short religious discourse which the Imperial pontiff composed
to censure the bold impiety of a Cynic. Orat. vii. p. 212. The
variety and copiousness of the Greek tongue seem inadequate to
the fervor of his devotion.]
[Footnote 2: The orator, with some eloquence, much enthusiasm,
and more vanity, addresses his discourse to heaven and earth, to
men and angels, to the living and the dead; and above all, to the
great Constantius, an odd Pagan expression.) He concludes with a
bold assurance, that he has erected a monument not less durable,
and much more portable, than the columns of Hercules. See Greg.
Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 50, iv. p. 134.]
[Footnote 3: See this long invective, which has been
injudiciously divided into two orations in Gregory's works, tom.
i. p. 49-134, Paris, 1630. It was published by Gregory and his
friend Basil, (iv. p. 133,) about six months after the death of
Julian, when his remains had been carried to Tarsus, (iv. p.
120;) but while Jovian was still on the throne, (iii. p. 54, iv.
p. 117) I have derived much assistance from a French version and
remarks, printed at Lyons, 1735.]

     The cause of his strange and fatal apostasy may be derived
from the early period of his life, when he was left an orphan in
the hands of the murderers of his family. The names of Christ
and of Constantius, the ideas of slavery and of religion, were
soon associated in a youthful imagination, which was susceptible
of the most lively impressions. The care of his infancy was
intrusted to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, ^4 who was related to
him on the side of his mother; and till Julian reached the
twentieth year of his age, he received from his Christian
preceptors the education, not of a hero, but of a saint. The
emperor, less jealous of a heavenly than of an earthly crown,
contented himself with the imperfect character of a catechumen,
while he bestowed the advantages of baptism ^5 on the nephews of
Constantine. ^6 They were even admitted to the inferior offices
of the ecclesiastical order; and Julian publicly read the Holy
Scriptures in the church of Nicomedia. The study of religion,
which they assiduously cultivated, appeared to produce the
fairest fruits of faith and devotion. ^7 They prayed, they
fasted, they distributed alms to the poor, gifts to the clergy,
and oblations to the tombs of the martyrs; and the splendid
monument of St. Mamas, at Caesarea, was erected, or at least was
undertaken, by the joint labor of Gallus and Julian. ^8 They
respectfully conversed with the bishops, who were eminent for
superior sanctity, and solicited the benediction of the monks and
hermits, who had introduced into Cappadocia the voluntary
hardships of the ascetic life. ^9 As the two princes advanced
towards the years of manhood, they discovered, in their religious
sentiments, the difference of their characters. The dull and
obstinate understanding of Gallus embraced, with implicit zeal,
the doctrines of Christianity; which never influenced his
conduct, or moderated his passions. The mild disposition of the
younger brother was less repugnant to the precepts of the gospel;
and his active curiosity might have been gratified by a
theological system, which explains the mysterious essence of the
Deity, and opens the boundless prospect of invisible and future
worlds. But the independent spirit of Julian refused to yield
the passive and unresisting obedience which was required, in the
name of religion, by the haughty ministers of the church. Their
speculative opinions were imposed as positive laws, and guarded
by the terrors of eternal punishments; but while they prescribed
the rigid formulary of the thoughts, the words, and the actions
of the young prince; whilst they silenced his objections, and
severely checked the freedom of his inquiries, they secretly
provoked his impatient genius to disclaim the authority of his
ecclesiastical guides. He was educated in the Lesser Asia,
amidst the scandals of the Arian controversy. ^10 The fierce
contests of the Eastern bishops, the incessant alterations of
their creeds, and the profane motives which appeared to actuate
their conduct, insensibly strengthened the prejudice of Julian,
that they neither understood nor believed the religion for which
they so fiercely contended. Instead of listening to the proofs
of Christianity with that favorable attention which adds weight
to the most respectable evidence, he heard with suspicion, and
disputed with obstinacy and acuteness, the doctrines for which he
already entertained an invincible aversion. Whenever the young
princes were directed to compose declamations on the subject of
the prevailing controversies, Julian always declared himself the
advocate of Paganism; under the specious excuse that, in the
defence of the weaker cause, his learning and ingenuity might be
more advantageously exercised and displayed.

[Footnote 4: Nicomediae ab Eusebio educatus Episcopo, quem genere
longius contingebat, (Ammian. xxii. 9.) Julian never expresses
any gratitude towards that Arian prelate; but he celebrates his
preceptor, the eunuch Mardonius, and describes his mode of
education, which inspired his pupil with a passionate admiration
for the genius, and perhaps the religion of Homer. Misopogon, p.
351, 352.]

[Footnote 5: Greg. Naz. iii. p. 70. He labored to effect that
holy mark in the blood, perhaps of a Taurobolium. Baron. Annal.
Eccles. A. D. 361, No. 3, 4.]

[Footnote 6: Julian himself (Epist. li. p. 454) assures the
Alexandrians that he had been a Christian (he must mean a sincere
one) till the twentieth year of his age.]

[Footnote 7: See his Christian, and even ecclesiastical
education, in Gregory, (iii. p. 58,) Socrates, (l. iii. c. 1,)
and Sozomen, (l. v. c. 2.) He escaped very narrowly from being a
bishop, and perhaps a saint.]

[Footnote 8: The share of the work which had been allotted to
Gallus, was prosecuted with vigor and success; but the earth
obstinately rejected and subverted the structures which were
imposed by the sacrilegious hand of Julian. Greg. iii. p. 59,
60, 61. Such a partial earthquake, attested by many living
spectators, would form one of the clearest miracles in
ecclesiastical story.]

[Footnote 9: The philosopher (Fragment, p. 288,) ridicules the
iron chains, &c, of these solitary fanatics, (see Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. ix. p. 661, 632,) who had forgot that man is by
nature a gentle and social animal. The Pagan supposes, that
because they had renounced the gods, they were possessed and
tormented by evil daemons.]

[Footnote 10: See Julian apud Cyril, l. vi. p. 206, l. viii. p.
253, 262. "You persecute," says he, "those heretics who do not
mourn the dead man precisely in the way which you approve." He
shows himself a tolerable theologian; but he maintains that the
Christian Trinity is not derived from the doctrine of Paul, of
Jesus, or of Moses.]

     As soon as Gallus was invested with the honors of the
purple, Julian was permitted to breathe the air of freedom, of
literature, and of Paganism. ^11 The crowd of sophists, who were
attracted by the taste and liberality of their royal pupil, had
formed a strict alliance between the learning and the religion of
Greece; and the poems of Homer, instead of being admired as the
original productions of human genius, were seriously ascribed to
the heavenly inspiration of Apollo and the muses. The deities of
Olympus, as they are painted by the immortal bard, imprint
themselves on the minds which are the least addicted to
superstitious credulity. Our familiar knowledge of their names
and characters, their forms and attributes, seems to bestow on
those airy beings a real and substantial existence; and the
pleasing enchantment produces an imperfect and momentary assent
of the imagination to those fables, which are the most repugnant
to our reason and experience. In the age of Julian, every
circumstance contributed to prolong and fortify the illusion; the
magnificent temples of Greece and Asia; the works of those
artists who had expressed, in painting or in sculpture, the
divine conceptions of the poet; the pomp of festivals and
sacrifices; the successful arts of divination; the popular
traditions of oracles and prodigies; and the ancient practice of
two thousand years. The weakness of polytheism was, in some
measure, excused by the moderation of its claims; and the
devotion of the Pagans was not incompatible with the most
licentious scepticism. ^12 Instead of an indivisible and regular
system, which occupies the whole extent of the believing mind,
the mythology of the Greeks was composed of a thousand loose and
flexible parts, and the servant of the gods was at liberty to
define the degree and measure of his religious faith. The creed
which Julian adopted for his own use was of the largest
dimensions; and, by strange contradiction, he disdained the
salutary yoke of the gospel, whilst he made a voluntary offering
of his reason on the altars of Jupiter and Apollo. One of the
orations of Julian is consecrated to the honor of Cybele, the
mother of the gods, who required from her effeminate priests the
bloody sacrifice, so rashly performed by the madness of the
Phrygian boy. The pious emperor condescends to relate, without a
blush, and without a smile, the voyage of the goddess from the
shores of Pergamus to the mouth of the Tyber, and the stupendous
miracle, which convinced the senate and people of Rome that the
lump of clay, which their ambassadors had transported over the
seas, was endowed with life, and sentiment, and divine power. ^13
For the truth of this prodigy he appeals to the public monuments
of the city; and censures, with some acrimony, the sickly and
affected taste of those men, who impertinently derided the sacred
traditions of their ancestors. ^14

[Footnote 11: Libanius, Orat. Parentalis, c. 9, 10, p. 232, &c.
Greg. Nazianzen. Orat. iii. p 61. Eunap. Vit. Sophist. in
Maximo, p. 68, 69, 70, edit Commelin.]

[Footnote 12: A modern philosopher has ingeniously compared the
different operation of theism and polytheism, with regard to the
doubt or conviction which they produce in the human mind. See
Hume's Essays vol. ii. p. 444- 457, in 8vo. edit. 1777.]

[Footnote 13: The Idaean mother landed in Italy about the end of
the second Punic war. The miracle of Claudia, either virgin or
matron, who cleared her fame by disgracing the graver modesty of
the Roman Indies, is attested by a cloud of witnesses. Their
evidence is collected by Drakenborch, (ad Silium Italicum, xvii.
33;) but we may observe that Livy (xxix. 14) slides over the
transaction with discreet ambiguity.]

[Footnote 14: I cannot refrain from transcribing the emphatical
words of Julian: Orat. v. p. 161. Julian likewise declares his
firm belief in the ancilia, the holy shields, which dropped from
heaven on the Quirinal hill; and pities the strange blindness of
the Christians, who preferred the cross to these celestial
trophies. Apud Cyril. l. vi. p. 194.]

     But the devout philosopher, who sincerely embraced, and
warmly encouraged, the superstition of the people, reserved for
himself the privilege of a liberal interpretation; and silently
withdrew from the foot of the altars into the sanctuary of the
temple. The extravagance of the Grecian mythology proclaimed,
with a clear and audible voice, that the pious inquirer, instead
of being scandalized or satisfied with the literal sense, should
diligently explore the occult wisdom, which had been disguised,
by the prudence of antiquity, under the mask of folly and of
fable. ^15 The philosophers of the Platonic school, ^16 Plotinus,
Porphyry, and the divine Iamblichus, were admired as the most
skilful masters of this allegorical science, which labored to
soften and harmonize the deformed features of Paganism. Julian
himself, who was directed in the mysterious pursuit by Aedesius,
the venerable successor of Iamblichus, aspired to the possession
of a treasure, which he esteemed, if we may credit his solemn
asseverations, far above the empire of the world. ^17 It was
indeed a treasure, which derived its value only from opinion; and
every artist who flattered himself that he had extracted the
precious ore from the surrounding dross, claimed an equal right
of stamping the name and figure the most agreeable to his
peculiar fancy. The fable of Atys and Cybele had been already
explained by Porphyry; but his labors served only to animate the
pious industry of Julian, who invented and published his own
allegory of that ancient and mystic tale. This freedom of
interpretation, which might gratify the pride of the Platonists,
exposed the vanity of their art. Without a tedious detail, the
modern reader could not form a just idea of the strange
allusions, the forced etymologies, the solemn trifling, and the
impenetrable obscurity of these sages, who professed to reveal
the system of the universe. As the traditions of Pagan mythology
were variously related, the sacred interpreters were at liberty
to select the most convenient circumstances; and as they
translated an arbitrary cipher, they could extract from any fable
any sense which was adapted to their favorite system of religion
and philosophy. The lascivious form of a naked Venus was
tortured into the discovery of some moral precept, or some
physical truth; and the castration of Atys explained the
revolution of the sun between the tropics, or the separation of
the human soul from vice and error. ^18

[Footnote 15: See the principles of allegory, in Julian, (Orat.
vii. p. 216, 222.) His reasoning is less absurd than that of some
modern theologians, who assert that an extravagant or
contradictory doctrine must be divine; since no man alive could
have thought of inventing it.]

[Footnote 16: Eunapius has made these sophists the subject of a
partial and fanatical history; and the learned Brucker (Hist.
Philosoph. tom. ii. p. 217-303) has employed much labor to
illustrate their obscure lives and incomprehensible doctrines.]

[Footnote 17: Julian, Orat. vii p 222. He swears with the most
fervent and enthusiastic devotion; and trembles, lest he should
betray too much of these holy mysteries, which the profane might
deride with an impious Sardonic laugh.]

[Footnote 18: See the fifth oration of Julian. But all the
allegories which ever issued from the Platonic school are not
worth the short poem of Catullus on the same extraordinary
subject. The transition of Atys, from the wildest enthusiasm to
sober, pathetic complaint, for his irretrievable loss, must
inspire a man with pity, a eunuch with despair.]

     The theological system of Julian appears to have contained
the sublime and important principles of natural religion. But as
the faith, which is not founded on revelation, must remain
destitute of any firm assurance, the disciple of Plato
imprudently relapsed into the habits of vulgar superstition; and
the popular and philosophic notion of the Deity seems to have
been confounded in the practice, the writings, and even in the
mind of Julian. ^19 The pious emperor acknowledged and adored the
Eternal Cause of the universe, to whom he ascribed all the
perfections of an infinite nature, invisible to the eyes and
inaccessible to the understanding, of feeble mortals. The
Supreme God had created, or rather, in the Platonic language, had
generated, the gradual succession of dependent spirits, of gods,
of daemons, of heroes, and of men; and every being which derived
its existence immediately from the First Cause, received the
inherent gift of immortality. That so precious an advantage
might be lavished upon unworthy objects, the Creator had
intrusted to the skill and power of the inferior gods the office
of forming the human body, and of arranging the beautiful harmony
of the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. To the
conduct of these divine ministers he delegated the temporal
government of this lower world; but their imperfect
administration is not exempt from discord or error. The earth
and its inhabitants are divided among them, and the characters of
Mars or Minerva, of Mercury or Venus, may be distinctly traced in
the laws and manners of their peculiar votaries. As long as our
immortal souls are confined in a mortal prison, it is our
interest, as well as our duty, to solicit the favor, and to
deprecate the wrath, of the powers of heaven; whose pride is
gratified by the devotion of mankind; and whose grosser parts may
be supposed to derive some nourishment from the fumes of
sacrifice. ^20 The inferior gods might sometimes condescend to
animate the statues, and to inhabit the temples, which were
dedicated to their honor. They might occasionally visit the
earth, but the heavens were the proper throne and symbol of their
glory. The invariable order of the sun, moon, and stars, was
hastily admitted by Julian, as a proof of their eternal duration;
and their eternity was a sufficient evidence that they were the
workmanship, not of an inferior deity, but of the Omnipotent
King. In the system of Platonists, the visible was a type of the
invisible world. The celestial bodies, as they were informed by
a divine spirit, might be considered as the objects the most
worthy of religious worship. The Sun, whose genial influence
pervades and sustains the universe, justly claimed the adoration
of mankind, as the bright representative of the Logos, the
lively, the rational, the beneficent image of the intellectual
Father. ^21
[Footnote 19: The true religion of Julian may be deduced from the
Caesars, p. 308, with Spanheim's notes and illustrations, from
the fragments in Cyril, l. ii. p. 57, 58, and especially from the
theological oration in Solem Regem, p. 130-158, addressed in the
confidence of friendship, to the praefect Sallust.]
[Footnote 20: Julian adopts this gross conception by ascribing to
his favorite Marcus Antoninus, (Caesares, p. 333.) The Stoics and
Platonists hesitated between the analogy of bodies and the purity
of spirits; yet the gravest philosophers inclined to the
whimsical fancy of Aristophanes and Lucian, that an unbelieving
age might starve the immortal gods. See Observations de
Spanheim, p. 284, 444, &c.]

[Footnote 21: Julian. Epist. li. In another place, (apud Cyril.
l. ii. p. 69,) he calls the Sun God, and the throne of God.
Julian believed the Platonician Trinity; and only blames the
Christians for preferring a mortal to an immortal Logos.]

     In every age, the absence of genuine inspiration is supplied
by the strong illusions of enthusiasm, and the mimic arts of
imposture. If, in the time of Julian, these arts had been
practised only by the pagan priests, for the support of an
expiring cause, some indulgence might perhaps be allowed to the
interest and habits of the sacerdotal character. But it may
appear a subject of surprise and scandal, that the philosophers
themselves should have contributed to abuse the superstitious
credulity of mankind, ^22 and that the Grecian mysteries should
have been supported by the magic or theurgy of the modern
Platonists. They arrogantly pretended to control the order of
nature, to explore the secrets of futurity, to command the
service of the inferior daemons, to enjoy the view and
conversation of the superior gods, and by disengaging the soul
from her material bands, to reunite that immortal particle with
the Infinite and Divine Spirit.

[Footnote 22: The sophists of Eunapias perform as many miracles
as the saints of the desert; and the only circumstance in their
favor is, that they are of a less gloomy complexion. Instead of
devils with horns and tails, Iamblichus evoked the genii of love,
Eros and Anteros, from two adjacent fountains. Two beautiful
boys issued from the water, fondly embraced him as their father,
and retired at his command, p. 26, 27.]

     The devout and fearless curiosity of Julian tempted the
philosophers with the hopes of an easy conquest; which, from the
situation of their young proselyte, might be productive of the
most important consequences. ^23 Julian imbibed the first
rudiments of the Platonic doctrines from the mouth of Aedesius,
who had fixed at Pergamus his wandering and persecuted school.
But as the declining strength of that venerable sage was unequal
to the ardor, the diligence, the rapid conception of his pupil,
two of his most learned disciples, Chrysanthes and Eusebius,
supplied, at his own desire, the place of their aged master.
These philosophers seem to have prepared and distributed their
respective parts; and they artfully contrived, by dark hints and
affected disputes, to excite the impatient hopes of the aspirant,
till they delivered him into the hands of their associate,
Maximus, the boldest and most skilful master of the Theurgic
science. By his hands, Julian was secretly initiated at Ephesus,
in the twentieth year of his age. His residence at Athens
confirmed this unnatural alliance of philosophy and superstition.

He obtained the privilege of a solemn initiation into the
mysteries of Eleusis, which, amidst the general decay of the
Grecian worship, still retained some vestiges of their primaeval
sanctity; and such was the zeal of Julian, that he afterwards
invited the Eleusinian pontiff to the court of Gaul, for the sole
purpose of consummating, by mystic rites and sacrifices, the
great work of his sanctification. As these ceremonies were
performed in the depth of caverns, and in the silence of the
night, and as the inviolable secret of the mysteries was
preserved by the discretion of the initiated, I shall not presume
to describe the horrid sounds, and fiery apparitions, which were
presented to the senses, or the imagination, of the credulous
aspirant, ^24 till the visions of comfort and knowledge broke
upon him in a blaze of celestial light. ^25 In the caverns of
Ephesus and Eleusis, the mind of Julian was penetrated with
sincere, deep, and unalterable enthusiasm; though he might
sometimes exhibit the vicissitudes of pious fraud and hypocrisy,
which may be observed, or at least suspected, in the characters
of the most conscientious fanatics. From that moment he
consecrated his life to the service of the gods; and while the
occupations of war, of government, and of study, seemed to claim
the whole measure of his time, a stated portion of the hours of
the night was invariably reserved for the exercise of private
devotion. The temperance which adorned the severe manners of the
soldier and the philosopher was connected with some strict and
frivolous rules of religious abstinence; and it was in honor of
Pan or Mercury, of Hecate or Isis, that Julian, on particular
days, denied himself the use of some particular food, which might
have been offensive to his tutelar deities. By these voluntary
fasts, he prepared his senses and his understanding for the
frequent and familiar visits with which he was honored by the
celestial powers. Notwithstanding the modest silence of Julian
himself, we may learn from his faithful friend, the orator
Libanius, that he lived in a perpetual intercourse with the gods
and goddesses; that they descended upon earth to enjoy the
conversation of their favorite hero; that they gently interrupted
his slumbers by touching his hand or his hair; that they warned
him of every impending danger, and conducted him, by their
infallible wisdom, in every action of his life; and that he had
acquired such an intimate knowledge of his heavenly guests, as
readily to distinguish the voice of Jupiter from that of Minerva,
and the form of Apollo from the figure of Hercules. ^26 These
sleeping or waking visions, the ordinary effects of abstinence
and fanaticism, would almost degrade the emperor to the level of
an Egyptian monk. But the useless lives of Antony or Pachomius
were consumed in these vain occupations. Julian could break from
the dream of superstition to arm himself for battle; and after
vanquishing in the field the enemies of Rome, he calmly retired
into his tent, to dictate the wise and salutary laws of an
empire, or to indulge his genius in the elegant pursuits of
literature and philosophy.

[Footnote 23: The dexterous management of these sophists, who
played their credulous pupil into each other's hands, is fairly
told by Eunapius (p. 69- 79) with unsuspecting simplicity. The
Abbe de la Bleterie understands, and neatly describes, the whole
comedy, (Vie de Julian, p. 61-67.)]
[Footnote 24: When Julian, in a momentary panic, made the sign of
the cross the daemons instantly disappeared, (Greg. Naz. Orat.
iii. p. 71.) Gregory supposes that they were frightened, but the
priests declared that they were indignant. The reader, according
to the measure of his faith, will determine this profound
question.]

[Footnote 25: A dark and distant view of the terrors and joys of
initiation is shown by Dion Chrysostom, Themistius, Proclus, and
Stobaeus. The learned author of the Divine Legation has
exhibited their words, (vol. i. p. 239, 247, 248, 280, edit.
1765,) which he dexterously or forcibly applies to his own
hypothesis.]

[Footnote 26: Julian's modesty confined him to obscure and
occasional hints: but Libanius expiates with pleasure on the
facts and visions of the religious hero. (Legat. ad Julian. p.
157, and Orat. Parental. c. lxxxiii. p. 309, 310.)]

     The important secret of the apostasy of Julian was intrusted
to the fidelity of the initiated, with whom he was united by the
sacred ties of friendship and religion. ^27 The pleasing rumor
was cautiously circulated among the adherents of the ancient
worship; and his future greatness became the object of the hopes,
the prayers, and the predictions of the Pagans, in every province
of the empire. From the zeal and virtues of their royal
proselyte, they fondly expected the cure of every evil, and the
restoration of every blessing; and instead of disapproving of the
ardor of their pious wishes, Julian ingenuously confessed, that
he was ambitious to attain a situation in which he might be
useful to his country and to his religion. But this religion was
viewed with a hostile eye by the successor of Constantine, whose
capricious passions altercately saved and threatened the life of
Julian. The arts of magic and divination were strictly prohibited
under a despotic government, which condescended to fear them; and
if the Pagans were reluctantly indulged in the exercise of their
superstition, the rank of Julian would have excepted him from the
general toleration. The apostate soon became the presumptive
heir of the monarchy, and his death could alone have appeased the
just apprehensions of the Christians. ^28 But the young prince,
who aspired to the glory of a hero rather than of a martyr,
consulted his safety by dissembling his religion; and the easy
temper of polytheism permitted him to join in the public worship
of a sect which he inwardly despised. Libanius has considered
the hypocrisy of his friend as a subject, not of censure, but of
praise. "As the statues of the gods," says that orator, "which
have been defiled with filth, are again placed in a magnificent
temple, so the beauty of truth was seated in the mind of Julian,
after it had been purified from the errors and follies of his
education. His sentiments were changed; but as it would have
been dangerous to have avowed his sentiments, his conduct still
continued the same. Very different from the ass in Aesop, who
disguised himself with a lion's hide, our lion was obliged to
conceal himself under the skin of an ass; and, while he embraced
the dictates of reason, to obey the laws of prudence and
necessity." ^29 The dissimulation of Julian lasted about ten
years, from his secret initiation at Ephesus to the beginning of
the civil war; when he declared himself at once the implacable
enemy of Christ and of Constantius. This state of constraint
might contribute to strengthen his devotion; and as soon as he
had satisfied the obligation of assisting, on solemn festivals,
at the assemblies of the Christians, Julian returned, with the
impatience of a lover, to burn his free and voluntary incense on
the domestic chapels of Jupiter and Mercury. But as every act of
dissimulation must be painful to an ingenuous spirit, the
profession of Christianity increased the aversion of Julian for a
religion which oppressed the freedom of his mind, and compelled
him to hold a conduct repugnant to the noblest attributes of
human nature, sincerity and courage.

[Footnote 27: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. x. p. 233, 234. Gallus
had some reason to suspect the secret apostasy of his brother;
and in a letter, which may be received as genuine, he exhorts
Julian to adhere to the religion of their ancestors; an argument
which, as it should seem, was not yet perfectly ripe. See
Julian, Op. p. 454, and Hist. de Jovien tom ii. p. 141.]
[Footnote 28: Gregory, (iii. p. 50,) with inhuman zeal, censures
Constantius for paring the infant apostate. His French
translator (p. 265) cautiously observes, that such expressions
must not be prises a la lettre.]
[Footnote 29: Libanius, Orat. Parental. c ix. p. 233.]

Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.

Part II.

     The inclination of Julian might prefer the gods of Homer,
and of the Scipios, to the new faith, which his uncle had
established in the Roman empire; and in which he himself had been
sanctified by the sacrament of baptism. But, as a philosopher,
it was incumbent on him to justify his dissent from Christianity,
which was supported by the number of its converts, by the chain
of prophecy, the splendor of or miracles, and the weight of
evidence. The elaborate work, ^30 which he composed amidst the
preparations of the Persian war, contained the substance of those
arguments which he had long revolved in his mind. Some fragments
have been transcribed and preserved, by his adversary, the
vehement Cyril of Alexandria; ^31 and they exhibit a very
singular mixture of wit and learning, of sophistry and
fanaticism. The elegance of the style and the rank of the
author, recommended his writings to the public attention; ^32 and
in the impious list of the enemies of Christianity, the
celebrated name of Porphyry was effaced by the superior merit or
reputation of Julian. The minds of the faithful were either
seduced, or scandalized, or alarmed; and the pagans, who
sometimes presumed to engage in the unequal dispute, derived,
from the popular work of their Imperial missionary, an
inexhaustible supply of fallacious objections. But in the
assiduous prosecution of these theological studies, the emperor
of the Romans imbibed the illiberal prejudices and passions of a
polemic divine. He contracted an irrevocable obligation to
maintain and propagate his religious opinions; and whilst he
secretly applauded the strength and dexterity with which he
wielded the weapons of controversy, he was tempted to distrust
the sincerity, or to despise the understandings, of his
antagonists, who could obstinately resist the force of reason and
eloquence.

[Footnote 30: Fabricius (Biblioth. Graec. l. v. c. viii, p.
88-90) and Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 44-47) have
accurately compiled all that can now be discovered of Julian's
work against the Christians.]
[Footnote 31: About seventy years after the death of Julian, he
executed a task which had been feebly attempted by Philip of
Side, a prolix and contemptible writer. Even the work of Cyril
has not entirely satisfied the most favorable judges; and the
Abbe de la Bleterie (Preface a l'Hist. de Jovien, p. 30, 32)
wishes that some theologien philosophe (a strange centaur) would
undertake the refutation of Julian.]

[Footnote 32: Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. lxxxvii. p. 313,) who
has been suspected of assisting his friend, prefers this divine
vindication (Orat. ix in necem Julian. p. 255, edit. Morel.) to
the writings of Porphyry. His judgment may be arraigned,
(Socrates, l. iii. c. 23,) but Libanius cannot be accused of
flattery to a dead prince.]

     The Christians, who beheld with horror and indignation the
apostasy of Julian, had much more to fear from his power than
from his arguments. The pagans, who were conscious of his
fervent zeal, expected, perhaps with impatience, that the flames
of persecution should be immediately kindled against the enemies
of the gods; and that the ingenious malice of Julian would invent
some cruel refinements of death and torture which had been
unknown to the rude and inexperienced fury of his predecessors.
But the hopes, as well as the fears, of the religious factions
were apparently disappointed, by the prudent humanity of a
prince, ^33 who was careful of his own fame, of the public peace,
and of the rights of mankind. Instructed by history and
reflection, Julian was persuaded, that if the diseases of the
body may sometimes be cured by salutary violence, neither steel
nor fire can eradicate the erroneous opinions of the mind. The
reluctant victim may be dragged to the foot of the altar; but the
heart still abhors and disclaims the sacrilegious act of the
hand. Religious obstinacy is hardened and exasperated by
oppression; and, as soon as the persecution subsides, those who
have yielded are restored as penitents, and those who have
resisted are honored as saints and martyrs. If Julian adopted
the unsuccessful cruelty of Diocletian and his colleagues, he was
sensible that he should stain his memory with the name of a
tyrant, and add new glories to the Catholic church, which had
derived strength and increase from the severity of the pagan
magistrates. Actuated by these motives, and apprehensive of
disturbing the repose of an unsettled reign, Julian surprised the
world by an edict, which was not unworthy of a statesman, or a
philosopher. He extended to all the inhabitants of the Roman
world the benefits of a free and equal toleration; and the only
hardship which he inflicted on the Christians, was to deprive
them of the power of tormenting their fellow-subjects, whom they
stigmatized with the odious titles of idolaters and heretics.
The pagans received a gracious permission, or rather an express
order, to open All their temples; ^34 and they were at once
delivered from the oppressive laws, and arbitrary vexations,
which they had sustained under the reign of Constantine, and of
his sons. At the same time the bishops and clergy, who had been
banished by the Arian monarch, were recalled from exile, and
restored to their respective churches; the Donatists, the
Novatians, the Macedonians, the Eunomians, and those who, with a
more prosperous fortune, adhered to the doctrine of the Council
of Nice. Julian, who understood and derided their theological
disputes, invited to the palace the leaders of the hostile sects,
that he might enjoy the agreeable spectacle of their furious
encounters. The clamor of controversy sometimes provoked the
emperor to exclaim, "Hear me! the Franks have heard me, and the
Alemanni;" but he soon discovered that he was now engaged with
more obstinate and implacable enemies; and though he exerted the
powers of oratory to persuade them to live in concord, or at
least in peace, he was perfectly satisfied, before he dismissed
them from his presence, that he had nothing to dread from the
union of the Christians. The impartial Ammianus has ascribed
this affected clemency to the desire of fomenting the intestine
divisions of the church, and the insidious design of undermining
the foundations of Christianity, was inseparably connected with
the zeal which Julian professed, to restore the ancient religion
of the empire. ^35

[Footnote 33: Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. lviii. p. 283, 284 has
eloquently explained the tolerating principles and conduct of his
Imperial friend. In a very remarkable epistle to the people of
Bostra, Julian himself (Epist. lii.) professes his moderation,
and betrays his zeal, which is acknowledged by Ammianus, and
exposed by Gregory (Orat. iii. p.72)]

[Footnote 34: In Greece the temples of Minerva were opened by his
express command, before the death of Constantius, (Liban. Orat.
Parent. c. 55, p. 280;) and Julian declares himself a Pagan in
his public manifesto to the Athenians. This unquestionable
evidence may correct the hasty assertion of Ammianus, who seems
to suppose Constantinople to be the place where he discovered his
attachment to the gods]

[Footnote 35: Ammianus, xxii. 5. Sozomen, l. v. c. 5. Bestia
moritur, tranquillitas redit .... omnes episcopi qui de propriis
sedibus fuerant exterminati per indulgentiam novi principis ad
acclesias redeunt. Jerom. adversus Luciferianos, tom. ii. p.
143. Optatus accuses the Donatists for owing their safety to an
apostate, (l. ii. c. 16, p. 36, 37, edit. Dupin.)]
     As soon as he ascended the throne, he assumed, according to
the custom of his predecessors, the character of supreme pontiff;
not only as the most honorable title of Imperial greatness, but
as a sacred and important office; the duties of which he was
resolved to execute with pious diligence. As the business of the
state prevented the emperor from joining every day in the public
devotion of his subjects, he dedicated a domestic chapel to his
tutelar deity the Sun; his gardens were filled with statues and
altars of the gods; and each apartment of the palace displaced
the appearance of a magnificent temple. Every morning he saluted
the parent of light with a sacrifice; the blood of another victim
was shed at the moment when the Sun sunk below the horizon; and
the Moon, the Stars, and the Genii of the night received their
respective and seasonable honors from the indefatigable devotion
of Julian. On solemn festivals, he regularly visited the temple
of the god or goddess to whom the day was peculiarly consecrated,
and endeavored to excite the religion of the magistrates and
people by the example of his own zeal. Instead of maintaining
the lofty state of a monarch, distinguished by the splendor of
his purple, and encompassed by the golden shields of his guards,
Julian solicited, with respectful eagerness, the meanest offices
which contributed to the worship of the gods. Amidst the sacred
but licentious crowd of priests, of inferior ministers, and of
female dancers, who were dedicated to the service of the temple,
it was the business of the emperor to bring the wood, to blow the
fire, to handle the knife, to slaughter the victim, and,
thrusting his bloody hands into the bowels of the expiring
animal, to draw forth the heart or liver, and to read, with the
consummate skill of an haruspex, imaginary signs of future
events. The wisest of the Pagans censured this extravagant
superstition, which affected to despise the restraints of
prudence and decency. Under the reign of a prince, who practised
the rigid maxims of economy, the expense of religious worship
consumed a very large portion of the revenue a constant supply of
the scarcest and most beautiful birds was transported from
distant climates, to bleed on the altars of the gods; a hundred
oxen were frequently sacrificed by Julian on one and the same
day; and it soon became a popular jest, that if he should return
with conquest from the Persian war, the breed of horned cattle
must infallibly be extinguished. Yet this expense may appear
inconsiderable, when it is compared with the splendid presents
which were offered either by the hand, or by order, of the
emperor, to all the celebrated places of devotion in the Roman
world; and with the sums allotted to repair and decorate the
ancient temples, which had suffered the silent decay of time, or
the recent injuries of Christian rapine. Encouraged by the
example, the exhortations, the liberality, of their pious
sovereign, the cities and families resumed the practice of their
neglected ceremonies. "Every part of the world," exclaims
Libanius, with devout transport, "displayed the triumph of
religion; and the grateful prospect of flaming altars, bleeding
victims, the smoke of incense, and a solemn train of priests and
prophets, without fear and without danger. The sound of prayer
and of music was heard on the tops of the highest mountains; and
the same ox afforded a sacrifice for the gods, and a supper for
their joyous votaries." ^36
[Footnote 36: The restoration of the Pagan worship is described
by Julian, (Misopogon, p. 346,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 60,
p. 286, 287, and Orat. Consular. ad Julian. p. 245, 246, edit.
Morel.,) Ammianus, (xxii. 12,) and Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv.
p. 121.) These writers agree in the essential, and even minute,
facts; but the different lights in which they view the extreme
devotion of Julian, are expressive of the gradations of
self-applause, passionate admiration, mild reproof, and partial
invective.]
     But the genius and power of Julian were unequal to the
enterprise of restoring a religion which was destitute of
theological principles, of moral precepts, and of ecclesiastical
discipline; which rapidly hastened to decay and dissolution, and
was not susceptible of any solid or consistent reformation. The
jurisdiction of the supreme pontiff, more especially after that
office had been united with the Imperial dignity, comprehended
the whole extent of the Roman empire. Julian named for his
vicars, in the several provinces, the priests and philosophers
whom he esteemed the best qualified to cooperate in the execution
of his great design; and his pastoral letters, ^37 if we may use
that name, still represent a very curious sketch of his wishes
and intentions. He directs, that in every city the sacerdotal
order should be composed, without any distinction of birth and
fortune, of those persons who were the most conspicuous for the
love of the gods, and of men. "If they are guilty," continues
he, "of any scandalous offence, they should be censured or
degraded by the superior pontiff; but as long as they retain
their rank, they are entitled to the respect of the magistrates
and people. Their humility may be shown in the plainness of
their domestic garb; their dignity, in the pomp of holy
vestments. When they are summoned in their turn to officiate
before the altar, they ought not, during the appointed number of
days, to depart from the precincts of the temple; nor should a
single day be suffered to elapse, without the prayers and the
sacrifice, which they are obliged to offer for the prosperity of
the state, and of individuals. The exercise of their sacred
functions requires an immaculate purity, both of mind and body;
and even when they are dismissed from the temple to the
occupations of common life, it is incumbent on them to excel in
decency and virtue the rest of their fellow-citizens. The priest
of the gods should never be seen in theatres or taverns. His
conversation should be chaste, his diet temperate, his friends of
honorable reputation; and if he sometimes visits the Forum or the
Palace, he should appear only as the advocate of those who have
vainly solicited either justice or mercy. His studies should be
suited to the sanctity of his profession. Licentious tales, or
comedies, or satires, must be banished from his library, which
ought solely to consist of historical or philosophical writings;
of history, which is founded in truth, and of philosophy, which
is connected with religion. The impious opinions of the
Epicureans and sceptics deserve his abhorrence and contempt; ^38
but he should diligently study the systems of Pythagoras, of
Plato, and of the Stoics, which unanimously teach that there are
gods; that the world is governed by their providence; that their
goodness is the source of every temporal blessing; and that they
have prepared for the human soul a future state of reward or
punishment." The Imperial pontiff inculcates, in the most
persuasive language, the duties of benevolence and hospitality;
exhorts his inferior clergy to recommend the universal practice
of those virtues; promises to assist their indigence from the
public treasury; and declares his resolution of establishing
hospitals in every city, where the poor should be received
without any invidious distinction of country or of religion.
Julian beheld with envy the wise and humane regulations of the
church; and he very frankly confesses his intention to deprive
the Christians of the applause, as well as advantage, which they
had acquired by the exclusive practice of charity and
beneficence. ^39 The same spirit of imitation might dispose the
emperor to adopt several ecclesiastical institutions, the use and
importance of which were approved by the success of his enemies.
But if these imaginary plans of reformation had been realized,
the forced and imperfect copy would have been less beneficial to
Paganism, than honorable to Christianity. ^40 The Gentiles, who
peaceably followed the customs of their ancestors, were rather
surprised than pleased with the introduction of foreign manners;
and in the short period of his reign, Julian had frequent
occasions to complain of the want of fervor of his own party. ^41

[Footnote 37: See Julian. Epistol. xlix. lxii. lxiii., and a long
and curious fragment, without beginning or end, (p. 288-305.) The
supreme pontiff derides the Mosaic history and the Christian
discipline, prefers the Greek poets to the Hebrew prophets, and
palliates, with the skill of a Jesuit the relative worship of
images.]

[Footnote 38: The exultation of Julian (p. 301) that these
impious sects and even their writings, are extinguished, may be
consistent enough with the sacerdotal character; but it is
unworthy of a philosopher to wish that any opinions and arguments
the most repugnant to his own should be concealed from the
knowledge of mankind.]

[Footnote 39: Yet he insinuates, that the Christians, under the
pretence of charity, inveigled children from their religion and
parents, conveyed them on shipboard, and devoted those victims to
a life of poverty or pervitude in a remote country, (p. 305.) Had
the charge been proved it was his duty, not to complain, but to
punish.]

[Footnote 40: Gregory Nazianzen is facetious, ingenious, and
argumentative, (Orat. iii. p. 101, 102, &c.) He ridicules the
folly of such vain imitation; and amuses himself with inquiring,
what lessons, moral or theological, could be extracted from the
Grecian fables.]

[Footnote 41: He accuses one of his pontiffs of a secret
confederacy with the Christian bishops and presbyters, (Epist.
lxii.) &c. Epist. lxiii.]
     The enthusiasm of Julian prompted him to embrace the friends
of Jupiter as his personal friends and brethren; and though he
partially overlooked the merit of Christian constancy, he admired
and rewarded the noble perseverance of those Gentiles who had
preferred the favor of the gods to that of the emperor. ^42 If
they cultivated the literature, as well as the religion, of the
Greeks, they acquired an additional claim to the friendship of
Julian, who ranked the Muses in the number of his tutelar
deities. In the religion which he had adopted, piety and
learning were almost synonymous; ^43 and a crowd of poets, of
rhetoricians, and of philosophers, hastened to the Imperial
court, to occupy the vacant places of the bishops, who had
seduced the credulity of Constantius. His successor esteemed the
ties of common initiation as far more sacred than those of
consanguinity; he chose his favorites among the sages, who were
deeply skilled in the occult sciences of magic and divination;
and every impostor, who pretended to reveal the secrets of
futurity, was assured of enjoying the present hour in honor and
affluence. ^44 Among the philosophers, Maximus obtained the most
eminent rank in the friendship of his royal disciple, who
communicated, with unreserved confidence, his actions, his
sentiments, and his religious designs, during the anxious
suspense of the civil war. ^45 As soon as Julian had taken
possession of the palace of Constantinople, he despatched an
honorable and pressing invitation to Maximus, who then resided at
Sardes in Lydia, with Chrysanthius, the associate of his art and
studies. The prudent and superstitious Chrysanthius refused to
undertake a journey which showed itself, according to the rules
of divination, with the most threatening and malignant aspect:
but his companion, whose fanaticism was of a bolder cast,
persisted in his interrogations, till he had extorted from the
gods a seeming consent to his own wishes, and those of the
emperor. The journey of Maximus through the cities of Asia
displayed the triumph of philosophic vanity; and the magistrates
vied with each other in the honorable reception which they
prepared for the friend of their sovereign. Julian was
pronouncing an oration before the senate, when he was informed of
the arrival of Maximus. The emperor immediately interrupted his
discourse, advanced to meet him, and after a tender embrace,
conducted him by the hand into the midst of the assembly; where
he publicly acknowledged the benefits which he had derived from
the instructions of the philosopher. Maximus, ^46 who soon
acquired the confidence, and influenced the councils of Julian,
was insensibly corrupted by the temptations of a court. His
dress became more splendid, his demeanor more lofty, and he was
exposed, under a succeeding reign, to a disgraceful inquiry into
the means by which the disciple of Plato had accumulated, in the
short duration of his favor, a very scandalous proportion of
wealth. Of the other philosophers and sophists, who were invited
to the Imperial residence by the choice of Julian, or by the
success of Maximus, few were able to preserve their innocence or
their reputation. The liberal gifts of money, lands, and houses,
were insufficient to satiate their rapacious avarice; and the
indignation of the people was justly excited by the remembrance
of their abject poverty and disinterested professions. The
penetration of Julian could not always be deceived: but he was
unwilling to despise the characters of those men whose talents
deserved his esteem: he desired to escape the double reproach of
imprudence and inconstancy; and he was apprehensive of degrading,
in the eyes of the profane, the honor of letters and of religion.
^48

[Footnote 42: He praises the fidelity of Callixene, priestess of
Ceres, who had been twice as constant as Penelope, and rewards
her with the priesthood of the Phrygian goddess at Pessinus,
(Julian. Epist. xxi.) He applauds the firmness of Sopater of
Hierapolis, who had been repeatedly pressed by Constantius and
Gallus to apostatize, (Epist. xxvii p. 401.)]
[Footnote 43: Orat. Parent. c. 77, p. 202. The same sentiment is
frequently inculcated by Julian, Libanius, and the rest of their
party.]
[Footnote 44: The curiosity and credulity of the emperor, who
tried every mode of divination, are fairly exposed by Ammianus,
xxii. 12.]

[Footnote 45: Julian. Epist. xxxviii. Three other epistles, (xv.
xvi. xxxix.,) in the same style of friendship and confidence, are
addressed to the philosopher Maximus.]

[Footnote 46: Eunapius (in Maximo, p. 77, 78, 79, and in
Chrysanthio, p. 147, 148) has minutely related these anecdotes,
which he conceives to be the most important events of the age.
Yet he fairly confesses the frailty of Maximus. His reception at
Constantinople is described by Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 86, p.
301) and Ammianus, (xxii. 7.)

     Note: Eunapius wrote a continuation of the History of
Dexippus. Some valuable fragments of this work have been
recovered by M. Mai, and reprinted in Niebuhr's edition of the
Byzantine Historians. - M.]

[Footnote 47: Chrysanthius, who had refused to quit Lydia, was
created high priest of the province. His cautious and temperate
use of power secured him after the revolution; and he lived in
peace, while Maximus, Priscus, &c., were persecuted by the
Christian ministers. See the adventures of those fanatic
sophists, collected by Brucker, tom ii. p. 281-293.]

[Footnote 48: Sec Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 101, 102, p. 324,
325, 326) and Eunapius, (Vit. Sophist. in Proaeresio, p. 126.)
Some students, whose expectations perhaps were groundless, or
extravagant, retired in disgust, (Greg. Naz. Orat. iv. p. 120.)
It is strange that we should not be able to contradict the title
of one of Tillemont's chapters, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.
960,) "La Cour de Julien est pleine de philosphes et de gens
perdus."]

     The favor of Julian was almost equally divided between the
Pagans, who had firmly adhered to the worship of their ancestors,
and the Christians, who prudently embraced the religion of their
sovereign. The acquisition of new proselytes ^49 gratified the
ruling passions of his soul, superstition and vanity; and he was
heard to declare, with the enthusiasm of a missionary, that if he
could render each individual richer than Midas, and every city
greater than Babylon, he should not esteem himself the benefactor
of mankind, unless, at the same time, he could reclaim his
subjects from their impious revolt against the immortal gods. ^50
A prince who had studied human nature, and who possessed the
treasures of the Roman empire, could adapt his arguments, his
promises, and his rewards, to every order of Christians; ^51 and
the merit of a seasonable conversion was allowed to supply the
defects of a candidate, or even to expiate the guilt of a
criminal. As the army is the most forcible engine of absolute
power, Julian applied himself, with peculiar diligence, to
corrupt the religion of his troops, without whose hearty
concurrence every measure must be dangerous and unsuccessful; and
the natural temper of soldiers made this conquest as easy as it
was important. The legions of Gaul devoted themselves to the
faith, as well as to the fortunes, of their victorious leader;
and even before the death of Constantius, he had the satisfaction
of announcing to his friends, that they assisted with fervent
devotion, and voracious appetite, at the sacrifices, which were
repeatedly offered in his camp, of whole hecatombs of fat oxen.
^52 The armies of the East, which had been trained under the
standard of the cross, and of Constantius, required a more artful
and expensive mode of persuasion. On the days of solemn and
public festivals, the emperor received the homage, and rewarded
the merit, of the troops. His throne of state was encircled with
the military ensigns of Rome and the republic; the holy name of
Christ was erased from the Labarum; and the symbols of war, of
majesty, and of pagan superstition, were so dexterously blended,
that the faithful subject incurred the guilt of idolatry, when he
respectfully saluted the person or image of his sovereign. The
soldiers passed successively in review; and each of them, before
he received from the hand of Julian a liberal donative,
proportioned to his rank and services, was required to cast a few
grains of incense into the flame which burnt upon the altar.
Some Christian confessors might resist, and others might repent;
but the far greater number, allured by the prospect of gold, and
awed by the presence of the emperor, contracted the criminal
engagement; and their future perseverance in the worship of the
gods was enforced by every consideration of duty and of interest.

By the frequent repetition of these arts, and at the expense of
sums which would have purchased the service of half the nations
of Scythia, Julian gradually acquired for his troops the
imaginary protection of the gods, and for himself the firm and
effectual support of the Roman legions. ^53 It is indeed more
than probable, that the restoration and encouragement of Paganism
revealed a multitude of pretended Christians, who, from motives
of temporal advantage, had acquiesced in the religion of the
former reign; and who afterwards returned, with the same
flexibility of conscience, to the faith which was professed by
the successors of Julian.

[Footnote 49: Under the reign of Lewis XIV. his subjects of every
rank aspired to the glorious title of Convertisseur, expressive
of their zea and success in making proselytes. The word and the
idea are growing obsolete in France may they never be introduced
into England.]

[Footnote 50: See the strong expressions of Libanius, which were
probably those of Julian himself, (Orat. Parent. c. 59, p. 285.)]

[Footnote 51: When Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. x. p. 167) is
desirous to magnify the Christian firmness of his brother
Caesarius, physician to the Imperial court, he owns that
Caesarius disputed with a formidable adversary. In his
invectives he scarcely allows any share of wit or courage to the
apostate.]
[Footnote 52: Julian, Epist. xxxviii. Ammianus, xxii. 12. Adeo
ut in dies paene singulos milites carnis distentiore sagina
victitantes incultius, potusque aviditate correpti, humeris
impositi transeuntium per plateas, ex publicis aedibus . . . . .
ad sua diversoria portarentur. The devout prince and the
indignant historian describe the same scene; and in Illyricum or
Antioch, similar causes must have produced similar effects.]
[Footnote 53: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 74, 75, 83-86) and Libanius,
(Orat. Parent. c. lxxxi. lxxxii. p. 307, 308,). The sophist owns
and justifies the expense of these military conversions.]

     While the devout monarch incessantly labored to restore and
propagate the religion of his ancestors, he embraced the
extraordinary design of rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem. In a
public epistle ^54 to the nation or community of the Jews,
dispersed through the provinces, he pities their misfortunes,
condemns their oppressors, praises their constancy, declares
himself their gracious protector, and expresses a pious hope,
that after his return from the Persian war, he may be permitted
to pay his grateful vows to the Almighty in his holy city of
Jerusalem. The blind superstition, and abject slavery, of those
unfortunate exiles, must excite the contempt of a philosophic
emperor; but they deserved the friendship of Julian, by their
implacable hatred of the Christian name. The barren synagogue
abhorred and envied the fecundity of the rebellious church; the
power of the Jews was not equal to their malice; but their
gravest rabbis approved the private murder of an apostate; ^55
and their seditious clamors had often awakened the indolence of
the Pagan magistrates. Under the reign of Constantine, the Jews
became the subjects of their revolted children nor was it long
before they experienced the bitterness of domestic tyranny. The
civil immunities which had been granted, or confirmed, by
Severus, were gradually repealed by the Christian princes; and a
rash tumult, excited by the Jews of Palestine, ^56 seemed to
justify the lucrative modes of oppression which were invented by
the bishops and eunuchs of the court of Constantius. The Jewish
patriarch, who was still permitted to exercise a precarious
jurisdiction, held his residence at Tiberias; ^57 and the
neighboring cities of Palestine were filled with the remains of a
people who fondly adhered to the promised land. But the edict of
Hadrian was renewed and enforced; and they viewed from afar the
walls of the holy city, which were profaned in their eyes by the
triumph of the cross and the devotion of the Christians. ^58

[Footnote 54: Julian's epistle (xxv.) is addressed to the
community of the Jews. Aldus (Venet. 1499) has branded it with
an; but this stigma is justly removed by the subsequent editors,
Petavius and Spanheim. This epistle is mentioned by Sozomen, (l.
v. c. 22,) and the purport of it is confirmed by Gregory, (Orat.
iv. p. 111.) and by Julian himself (Fragment. p. 295.)]
[Footnote 55: The Misnah denounced death against those who
abandoned the foundation. The judgment of zeal is explained by
Marsham (Canon. Chron. p. 161, 162, edit. fol. London, 1672) and
Basnage, (Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. p. 120.) Constantine made a
law to protect Christian converts from Judaism. Cod. Theod. l.
xvi. tit. viii. leg. 1. Godefroy, tom. vi. p. 215.]
[Footnote 56: Et interea (during the civil war of Magnentius)
Judaeorum seditio, qui Patricium, nefarie in regni speciem
sustulerunt, oppressa. Aurelius Victor, in Constantio, c. xlii.
See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 379, in 4to.]

[Footnote 57: The city and synagogue of Tiberias are curiously
described by Reland. Palestin. tom. ii. p. 1036-1042.]

[Footnote 58: Basnage has fully illustrated the state of the Jews
under Constantine and his successors, (tom. viii. c. iv. p.
111-153.)]

Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.

Part III.

     In the midst of a rocky and barren country, the walls of
Jerusalem ^59 enclosed the two mountains of Sion and Acra, within
an oval figure of about three English miles. ^60 Towards the
south, the upper town, and the fortress of David, were erected on
the lofty ascent of Mount Sion: on the north side, the buildings
of the lower town covered the spacious summit of Mount Acra; and
a part of the hill, distinguished by the name of Moriah, and
levelled by human industry, was crowned with the stately temple
of the Jewish nation. After the final destruction of the temple
by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over
the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction.
Sion was deserted; and the vacant space of the lower city was
filled with the public and private edifices of the Aelian colony,
which spread themselves over the adjacent hill of Calvary. The
holy places were polluted with mountains of idolatry; and, either
from design or accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus, on the
spot which had been sanctified by the death and resurrection of
Christ. ^61 ^* Almost three hundred years after those stupendous
events, the profane chapel of Venus was demolished by the order
of Constantine; and the removal of the earth and stones revealed
the holy sepulchre to the eyes of mankind. A magnificent church
was erected on that mystic ground, by the first Christian
emperor; and the effects of his pious munificence were extended
to every spot which had been consecrated by the footstep of
patriarchs, of prophets, and of the Son of God. ^62
[Footnote 59: Reland (Palestin. l. i. p. 309, 390, l. iii. p.
838) describes, with learning and perspicuity, Jerusalem, and the
face of the adjacent country.]

[Footnote 60: I have consulted a rare and curious treatise of M.
D'Anville, (sur l'Ancienne Jerusalem, Paris, 1747, p. 75.) The
circumference of the ancient city (Euseb. Preparat. Evangel. l.
ix. c. 36) was 27 stadia, or 2550 toises. A plan, taken on the
spot, assigns no more than 1980 for the modern town. The circuit
is defined by natural landmarks, which cannot be mistaken or
removed.]

[Footnote 61: See two curious passages in Jerom, (tom. i. p. 102,
tom. vi. p. 315,) and the ample details of Tillemont, (Hist, des
Empereurs, tom. i. p. 569. tom. ii. p. 289, 294, 4to edition.)]

[Footnote *: On the site of the Holy Sepulchre, compare the
chapter in Professor Robinson's Travels in Palestine, which has
renewed the old controversy with great vigor. To me, this temple
of Venus, said to have been erected by Hadrian to insult the
Christians, is not the least suspicious part of the whole legend.
- M. 1845.]

[Footnote 62: Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 25-47,
51-53. The emperor likewise built churches at Bethlem, the Mount
of Olives, and the oa of Mambre. The holy sepulchre is described
by Sandys, (Travels, p. 125-133,) and curiously delineated by Le
Bruyn, (Voyage au Levant, p. 28-296.)]
     The passionate desire of contemplating the original
monuments of their redemption attracted to Jerusalem a successive
crowd of pilgrims, from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and the
most distant countries of the East; ^63 and their piety was
authorized by the example of the empress Helena, who appears to
have united the credulity of age with the warm feelings of a
recent conversion. Sages and heroes, who have visited the
memorable scenes of ancient wisdom or glory, have confessed the
inspiration of the genius of the place; ^64 and the Christian who
knelt before the holy sepulchre, ascribed his lively faith, and
his fervent devotion, to the more immediate influence of the
Divine Spirit. The zeal, perhaps the avarice, of the clergy of
Jerusalem, cherished and multiplied these beneficial visits. They
fixed, by unquestionable tradition, the scene of each memorable
event. They exhibited the instruments which had been used in the
passion of Christ; the nails and the lance that had pierced his
hands, his feet, and his side; the crown of thorns that was
planted on his head; the pillar at which he was scourged; and,
above all, they showed the cross on which he suffered, and which
was dug out of the earth in the reign of those princes, who
inserted the symbol of Christianity in the banners of the Roman
legions. ^65 Such miracles as seemed necessary to account for its
extraordinary preservation, and seasonable discovery, were
gradually propagated without opposition. The custody of the true
cross, which on Easter Sunday was solemnly exposed to the people,
was intrusted to the bishop of Jerusalem; and he alone might
gratify the curious devotion of the pilgrims, by the gift of
small pieces, which they encased in gold or gems, and carried
away in triumph to their respective countries. But as this
gainful branch of commerce must soon have been annihilated, it
was found convenient to suppose, that the marvelous wood
possessed a secret power of vegetation; and that its substance,
though continually diminished, still remained entire and
unimpaired. ^66 It might perhaps have been expected, that the
influence of the place and the belief of a perpetual miracle,
should have produced some salutary effects on the morals, as well
as on the faith, of the people. Yet the most respectable of the
ecclesiastical writers have been obliged to confess, not only
that the streets of Jerusalem were filled with the incessant
tumult of business and pleasure, ^67 but that every species of
vice - adultery, theft, idolatry, poisoning, murder - was
familiar to the inhabitants of the holy city. ^68 The wealth and
preeminence of the church of Jerusalem excited the ambition of
Arian, as well as orthodox, candidates; and the virtues of Cyril,
who, since his death, has been honored with the title of Saint,
were displayed in the exercise, rather than in the acquisition,
of his episcopal dignity. ^69

[Footnote 63: The Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem was
composed in the year 333, for the use of pilgrims; among whom
Jerom (tom. i. p. 126) mentions the Britons and the Indians. The
causes of this superstitious fashion are discussed in the learned
and judicious preface of Wesseling. (Itinarar. p. 537-545.)]

[Footnote *: Much curious information on this subject is
collected in the first chapter of Wilken, Geschichte der
Kreuzzuge. - M.]

[Footnote 64: Cicero (de Finibus, v. 1) has beautifully expressed
the common sense of mankind.]

[Footnote 65: Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 326, No. 42-50) and
Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 8-16) are the historians and
champions of the miraculous invention of the cross, under the
reign of Constantine. Their oldest witnesses are Paulinus,
Sulpicius Severus, Rufinus, Ambrose, and perhaps Cyril of
Jerusalem. The silence of Eusebius, and the Bourdeaux pilgrim,
which satisfies those who think perplexes those who believe. See
Jortin's sensible remarks, vol. ii. p 238-248.]

[Footnote 66: This multiplication is asserted by Paulinus,
(Epist. xxxvi. See Dupin. Bibliot. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 149,) who
seems to have improved a rhetorical flourish of Cyril into a real
fact. The same supernatural privilege must have been
communicated to the Virgin's milk, (Erasmi Opera, tom. i. p. 778,
Lugd. Batav. 1703, in Colloq. de Peregrinat. Religionis ergo,)
saints' heads, &c. and other relics, which are repeated in so
many different churches.

     Note: Lord Mahon, in a memoir read before the Society of
Antiquaries, (Feb. 1831,) has traced in a brief but interesting
manner, the singular adventures of the "true" cross. It is
curious to inquire, what authority we have, except of late
tradition, for the Hill of Calvary. There is none in the sacred
writings; the uniform use of the common word, instead of any word
expressing assent or acclivity, is against the notion. - M.]
[Footnote 67: Jerom, (tom. i. p. 103,) who resided in the
neighboring village of Bethlem, describes the vices of Jerusalem
from his personal experience.]

[Footnote 68: Gregor. Nyssen, apud Wesseling, p. 539. The whole
epistle, which condemns either the use or the abuse of religious
pilgrimage, is painful to the Catholic divines, while it is dear
and familiar to our Protestant polemics.]

[Footnote 69: He renounced his orthodox ordination, officiated as
a deacon, and was re-ordained by the hands of the Arians. But
Cyril afterwards changed with the times, and prudently conformed
to the Nicene faith. Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii.,) who
treats his memory with tenderness and respect, has thrown his
virtues into the text, and his faults into the notes, in decent
obscurity, at the end of the volume.]

     The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to
restore the ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem. ^70 As the
Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting
destruction had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the
Mosaic law, the Imperial sophist would have converted the success
of his undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of
prophecy, and the truth of revelation. ^71 He was displeased with
the spiritual worship of the synagogue; but he approved the
institutions of Moses, who had not disdained to adopt many of the
rites and ceremonies of Egypt. ^72 The local and national deity
of the Jews was sincerely adored by a polytheist, who desired
only to multiply the number of the gods; ^73 and such was the
appetite of Julian for bloody sacrifice, that his emulation might
be excited by the piety of Solomon, who had offered, at the feast
of the dedication, twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and
twenty thousand sheep. ^74 These considerations might influence
his designs; but the prospect of an immediate and important
advantage would not suffer the impatient monarch to expect the
remote and uncertain event of the Persian war. He resolved to
erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a
stately temple, which might eclipse the splendor of the church of
the resurrection on the adjacent hill of Calvary; to establish an
order of priests, whose interested zeal would detect the arts,
and resist the ambition, of their Christian rivals; and to invite
a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be always
prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures
of the Pagan government. Among the friends of the emperor (if the
names of emperor, and of friend, are not incompatible) the first
place was assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and
learned Alypius. ^75 The humanity of Alypius was tempered by
severe justice and manly fortitude; and while he exercised his
abilities in the civil administration of Britain, he imitated, in
his poetical compositions, the harmony and softness of the odes
of Sappho. This minister, to whom Julian communicated, without
reserve, his most careless levities, and his most serious
counsels, received an extraordinary commission to restore, in its
pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem; and the diligence of
Alypius required and obtained the strenuous support of the
governor of Palestine. At the call of their great deliverer, the
Jews, from all the provinces of the empire, assembled on the holy
mountain of their fathers; and their insolent triumph alarmed and
exasperated the Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem. The desire
of rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion
of the children of Israel. In this propitious moment the men
forgot their avarice, and the women their delicacy; spades and
pickaxes of silver were provided by the vanity of the rich, and
the rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple. Every
purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a
share in the pious labor, and the commands of a great monarch
were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people. ^76

[Footnote 70: Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens
propagare Ammian. xxiii. 1. The temple of Jerusalem had been
famous even among the Gentiles. They had many temples in each
city, (at Sichem five, at Gaza eight, at Rome four hundred and
twenty-four;) but the wealth and religion of the Jewish nation
was centred in one spot.]

[Footnote 71: The secret intentions of Julian are revealed by the
late bishop of Gloucester, the learned and dogmatic Warburton;
who, with the authority of a theologian, prescribes the motives
and conduct of the Supreme Being. The discourse entitled Julian
(2d edition, London, 1751) is strongly marked with all the
peculiarities which are imputed to the Warburtonian school.]
[Footnote 72: I shelter myself behind Maimonides, Marsham,
Spencer, Le Clerc, Warburton, &c., who have fairly derided the
fears, the folly, and the falsehood of some superstitious
divines. See Divine Legation, vol. iv. p. 25, &c.]

[Footnote 73: Julian (Fragment. p. 295) respectfully styles him,
and mentions him elsewhere (Epist. lxiii.) with still higher
reverence. He doubly condemns the Christians for believing, and
for renouncing, the religion of the Jews. Their Deity was a true,
but not the only, God Apul Cyril. l. ix. p. 305, 306.]
[Footnote 74: 1 Kings, viii. 63. 2 Chronicles, vii. 5. Joseph.
Antiquitat. Judaic. l. viii. c. 4, p. 431, edit. Havercamp. As
the blood and smoke of so many hecatombs might be inconvenient,
Lightfoot, the Christian Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le
Clerc (ad loca) is bold enough to suspect to fidelity of the
numbers.

     Note: According to the historian Kotobeddym, quoted by
Burckhardt, (Travels in Arabia, p. 276,) the Khalif Mokteder
sacrificed, during his pilgrimage to Mecca, in the year of the
Hejira 350, forty thousand camels and cows, and fifty thousand
sheep. Barthema describes thirty thousand oxen slain, and their
carcasses given to the poor. Quarterly Review, xiii.p.39 - M.]

[Footnote 75: Julian, epist. xxix. xxx. La Bleterie has
neglected to translate the second of these epistles.]

[Footnote 76: See the zeal and impatience of the Jews in Gregory
Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 111) and Theodoret. (l. iii. c. 20.)]

     Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power and
enthusiasm were unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish
temple, which is now covered by a Mahometan mosque, ^77 still
continued to exhibit the same edifying spectacle of ruin and
desolation. Perhaps the absence and death of the emperor, and
the new maxims of a Christian reign, might explain the
interruption of an arduous work, which was attempted only in the
last six months of the life of Julian. ^78 But the Christians
entertained a natural and pious expectation, that, in this
memorable contest, the honor of religion would be vindicated by
some signal miracle. An earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery
eruption, which overturned and scattered the new foundations of
the temple, are attested, with some variations, by contemporary
and respectable evidence. ^79 This public event is described by
Ambrose, ^80 bishop of Milan, in an epistle to the emperor
Theodosius, which must provoke the severe animadversion of the
Jews; by the eloquent Chrysostom, ^81 who might appeal to the
memory of the elder part of his congregation at Antioch; and by
Gregory Nazianzen, ^82 who published his account of the miracle
before the expiration of the same year. The last of these writers
has boldly declared, that this preternatural event was not
disputed by the infidels; and his assertion, strange as it may
seem is confirmed by the unexceptionable testimony of Ammianus
Marcellinus. ^83 The philosophic soldier, who loved the virtues,
without adopting the prejudices, of his master, has recorded, in
his judicious and candid history of his own times, the
extraordinary obstacles which interrupted the restoration of the
temple of Jerusalem. "Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor
of the province, urged, with vigor and diligence, the execution
of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the
foundations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the
place, from time to time, inaccessible to the scorched and
blasted workmen; and the victorious element continuing in this
manner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them
to a distance, the undertaking was abandoned." ^* Such authority
should satisfy a believing, and must astonish an incredulous,
mind. Yet a philosopher may still require the original evidence
of impartial and intelligent spectators. At this important
crisis, any singular accident of nature would assume the
appearance, and produce the effects of a real prodigy. This
glorious deliverance would be speedily improved and magnified by
the pious art of the clergy of Jerusalem, and the active
credulity of the Christian world and, at the distance of twenty
years, a Roman historian, care less of theological disputes,
might adorn his work with the specious and splendid miracle. ^84

[Footnote 77: Built by Omar, the second Khalif, who died A. D.
644. This great mosque covers the whole consecrated ground of
the Jewish temple, and constitutes almost a square of 760 toises,
or one Roman mile in circumference. See D'Anville, Jerusalem, p.
45.]

[Footnote 78: Ammianus records the consults of the year 363,
before he proceeds to mention the thoughts of Julian. Templum .
. . . instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis. Warburton has a
secret wish to anticipate the design; but he must have
understood, from former examples, that the execution of such a
work would have demanded many years.]

[Footnote 79: The subsequent witnesses, Socrates, Sozomen,
Theodoret, Philostorgius, &c., add contradictions rather than
authority. Compare the objections of Basnage (Hist. des Juifs,
tom. viii. p. 156-168) with Warburton's answers, (Julian, p.
174-258.) The bishop has ingeniously explained the miraculous
crosses which appeared on the garments of the spectators by a
similar instance, and the natural effects of lightning.]
[Footnote 80: Ambros. tom. ii. epist. xl. p. 946, edit.
Benedictin. He composed this fanatic epistle (A. D. 388) to
justify a bishop who had been condemned by the civil magistrate
for burning a synagogue.]
[Footnote 81: Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 580, advers. Judaeos et
Gentes, tom. ii. p. 574, de Sto Babyla, edit. Montfaucon. I have
followed the common and natural supposition; but the learned
Benedictine, who dates the composition of these sermons in the
year 383, is confident they were never pronounced from the
pulpit.]

[Footnote 82: Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 110-113.]

[Footnote 83: Ammian. xxiii. 1. Cum itaque rei fortiter instaret
Alypius, juvaretque provinciae rector, metuendi globi flammarum
prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum
exustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum; hocque modo elemento
destinatius repellente, cessavit inceptum. Warburton labors (p.
60-90) to extort a confession of the miracle from the mouths of
Julian and Libanius, and to employ the evidence of a rabbi who
lived in the fifteenth century. Such witnesses can only be
received by a very favorable judge.]

[Footnote *: Michaelis has given an ingenious and sufficiently
probable explanation of this remarkable incident, which the
positive testimony of Ammianus, a contemporary and a pagan, will
not permit us to call in question. It was suggested by a passage
in Tacitus. That historian, speaking of Jerusalem, says, [I omit
the first part of the quotation adduced by M. Guizot, which only
by a most extraordinary mistranslation of muri introrsus sinuati
by "enfoncemens" could be made to bear on the question. - M.] The
Temple itself was a kind of citadel, which had its own walls,
superior in their workmanship and construction to those of the
city. The porticos themselves, which surrounded the temple, were
an excellent fortification. There was a fountain of constantly
running water; subterranean excavations under the mountain;
reservoirs and cisterns to collect the rain-water." Tac. Hist. v.
ii. 12. These excavations and reservoirs must have been very
considerable. The latter furnished water during the whole siege
of Jerusalem to 1,100,000 inhabitants, for whom the fountain of
Siloe could not have sufficed, and who had no fresh rain-water,
the siege having taken place from the month of April to the month
of August, a period of the year during which it rarely rains in
Jerusalem. As to the excavations, they served after, and even
before, the return of the Jews from Babylon, to contain not only
magazines of oil, wine, and corn, but also the treasures which
were laid up in the Temple. Josephus has related several
incidents which show their extent. When Jerusalem was on the
point of being taken by Titus, the rebel chiefs, placing their
last hopes in these vast subterranean cavities, formed a design
of concealing themselves there, and remaining during the
conflagration of the city, and until the Romans had retired to a
distance. The greater part had not time to execute their design;
but one of them, Simon, the Son of Gioras, having provided
himself with food, and tools to excavate the earth descended into
this retreat with some companions: he remained there till Titus
had set out for Rome: under the pressure of famine he issued
forth on a sudden in the very place where the Temple had stood,
and appeared in the midst of the Roman guard. He was seized and
carried to Rome for the triumph. His appearance made it be
suspected that other Jews might have chosen the same asylum;
search was made, and a great number discovered. Joseph. de Bell.
Jud. l. vii. c. 2. It is probable that the greater part of these
excavations were the remains of the time of Solomon, when it was
the custom to work to a great extent under ground: no other date
can be assigned to them. The Jews, on their return from the
captivity, were too poor to undertake such works; and, although
Herod, on rebuilding the Temple, made some excavations, (Joseph.
Ant. Jud. xv. 11, vii.,) the haste with which that building was
completed will not allow us to suppose that they belonged to that
period. Some were used for sewers and drains, others served to
conceal the immense treasures of which Crassus, a hundred and
twenty years before, plundered the Jews, and which doubtless had
been since replaced. The Temple was destroyed A. C. 70; the
attempt of Julian to rebuild it, and the fact related by
Ammianus, coincide with the year 363. There had then elapsed
between these two epochs an interval of near 300 years, during
which the excavations, choked up with ruins, must have become
full of inflammable air. The workmen employed by Julian as they
were digging, arrived at the excavations of the Temple; they
would take torches to explore them; sudden flames repelled those
who approached; explosions were heard, and these phenomena were
renewed every time that they penetrated into new subterranean
passages. ^* This explanation is confirmed by the relation of an
event nearly similar, by Josephus. King Herod having heard that
immense treasures had been concealed in the sepulchre of David,
he descended into it with a few confidential persons; he found in
the first subterranean chamber only jewels and precious stuffs:
but having wished to penetrate into a second chamber, which had
been long closed, he was repelled, when he opened it, by flames
which killed those who accompanied him. (Ant. Jud. xvi. 7, i.)
As here there is no room for miracle, this fact may be considered
as a new proof of the veracity of that related by Ammianus and
the contemporary writers. - G.
     To the illustrations of the extent of the subterranean
chambers adduced by Michaelis, may be added, that when John of
Gischala, during the siege, surprised the Temple, the party of
Eleazar took refuge within them. Bell. Jud. vi. 3, i. The sudden
sinking of the hill of Sion when Jerusalem was occupied by
Barchocab, may have been connected with similar excavations.
Hist. of Jews, vol. iii. 122 and 186. - M.

[Footnote *: It is a fact now popularly known, that when mines
which have been long closed are opened, one of two things takes
place; either the torches are extinguished and the men fall first
into a swoor and soon die; or, if the air is inflammable, a
little flame is seen to flicker round the lamp, which spreads and
multiplies till the conflagration becomes general, is followed by
an explosion, and kill all who are in the way. - G.]

[Footnote 84: Dr. Lardner, perhaps alone of the Christian
critics, presumes to doubt the truth of this famous miracle.
(Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 47-71.)]

     The silence of Jerom would lead to a suspicion that the same
story which was celebrated at a distance, might be despised on
the spot.

Note: Gibbon has forgotten Basnage, to whom Warburton replied. -
M.]

Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.

Part IV.

     The restoration of the Jewish temple was secretly connected
with the ruin of the Christian church. Julian still continued to
maintain the freedom of religious worship, without distinguishing
whether this universal toleration proceeded from his justice or
his clemency. He affected to pity the unhappy Christians, who
were mistaken in the most important object of their lives; but
his pity was degraded by contempt, his contempt was embittered by
hatred; and the sentiments of Julian were expressed in a style of
sarcastic wit, which inflicts a deep and deadly wound, whenever
it issues from the mouth of a sovereign. As he was sensible that
the Christians gloried in the name of their Redeemer, he
countenanced, and perhaps enjoined, the use of the less honorable
appellation of Galilaeans. ^85 He declared, that by the folly of
the Galilaeans, whom he describes as a sect of fanatics,
contemptible to men, and odious to the gods, the empire had been
reduced to the brink of destruction; and he insinuates in a
public edict, that a frantic patient might sometimes be cured by
salutary violence. ^86 An ungenerous distinction was admitted
into the mind and counsels of Julian, that, according to the
difference of their religious sentiments, one part of his
subjects deserved his favor and friendship, while the other was
entitled only to the common benefits that his justice could not
refuse to an obedient people. According to a principle, pregnant
with mischief and oppression, the emperor transferred to the
pontiffs of his own religion the management of the liberal
allowances for the public revenue, which had been granted to the
church by the piety of Constantine and his sons. The proud
system of clerical honors and immunities, which had been
constructed with so much art and labor, was levelled to the
ground; the hopes of testamentary donations were intercepted by
the rigor of the laws; and the priests of the Christian sect were
confounded with the last and most ignominious class of the
people. Such of these regulations as appeared necessary to check
the ambition and avarice of the ecclesiastics, were soon
afterwards imitated by the wisdom of an orthodox prince. The
peculiar distinctions which policy has bestowed, or superstition
has lavished, on the sacerdotal order, must be confined to those
priests who profess the religion of the state. But the will of
the legislator was not exempt from prejudice and passion; and it
was the object of the insidious policy of Julian, to deprive the
Christians of all the temporal honors and advantages which
rendered them respectable in the eyes of the world. ^88

[Footnote 85: Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 81. And this law was
confirmed by the invariable practice of Julian himself.
Warburton has justly observed (p. 35,) that the Platonists
believed in the mysterious virtue of words and Julian's dislike
for the name of Christ might proceed from superstition, as well
as from contempt.]

[Footnote 86: Fragment. Julian. p. 288. He derides the (Epist.
vii.,) and so far loses sight of the principles of toleration, as
to wish (Epist. xlii.).]
[Footnote 88: These laws, which affected the clergy, may be found
in the slight hints of Julian himself, (Epist. lii.) in the vague
declamations of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 86, 87,) and in the
positive assertions of Sozomen, (l. v. c. 5.)]

     A just and severe censure has been inflicted on the law
which prohibited the Christians from teaching the arts of grammar
and rhetoric. ^89 The motives alleged by the emperor to justify
this partial and oppressive measure, might command, during his
lifetime, the silence of slaves and the applause of Gatterers.
Julian abuses the ambiguous meaning of a word which might be
indifferently applied to the language and the religion of the
Greeks: he contemptuously observes, that the men who exalt the
merit of implicit faith are unfit to claim or to enjoy the
advantages of science; and he vainly contends, that if they
refuse to adore the gods of Homer and Demosthenes, they ought to
content themselves with expounding Luke and Matthew in the church
of the Galilaeans. ^90 In all the cities of the Roman world, the
education of the youth was intrusted to masters of grammar and
rhetoric; who were elected by the magistrates, maintained at the
public expense, and distinguished by many lucrative and honorable
privileges. The edict of Julian appears to have included the
physicians, and professors of all the liberal arts; and the
emperor, who reserved to himself the approbation of the
candidates, was authorized by the laws to corrupt, or to punish,
the religious constancy of the most learned of the Christians.
^91 As soon as the resignation of the more obstinate ^92 teachers
had established the unrivalled dominion of the Pagan sophists,
Julian invited the rising generation to resort with freedom to
the public schools, in a just confidence, that their tender minds
would receive the impressions of literature and idolatry. If the
greatest part of the Christian youth should be deterred by their
own scruples, or by those of their parents, from accepting this
dangerous mode of instruction, they must, at the same time,
relinquish the benefits of a liberal education. Julian had reason
to expect that, in the space of a few years, the church would
relapse into its primaeval simplicity, and that the theologians,
who possessed an adequate share of the learning and eloquence of
the age, would be succeeded by a generation of blind and ignorant
fanatics, incapable of defending the truth of their own
principles, or of exposing the various follies of Polytheism. ^93

[Footnote 89: Inclemens. . . . perenni obruendum silentio.
Ammian. xxii. 10, ixv. 5.]

[Footnote 90: The edict itself, which is still extant among the
epistles of Julian, (xlii.,) may be compared with the loose
invectives of Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 96.) Tillemont (Mem. Eccles.
tom. vii. p. 1291-1294) has collected the seeming differences of
ancients and moderns. They may be easily reconciled. The
Christians were directly forbid to teach, they were indirectly
forbid to learn; since they would not frequent the schools of the
Pagans.]
[Footnote 91: Codex Theodos. l. xiii. tit. iii. de medicis et
professoribus, leg. 5, (published the 17th of June, received, at
Spoleto in Italy, the 29th of July, A. D. 363,) with Godefroy's
Illustrations, tom. v. p. 31.]
[Footnote 92: Orosius celebrates their disinterested resolution,
Sicut a majori bus nostris compertum habemus, omnes ubique
propemodum . . . officium quam fidem deserere maluerunt, vii. 30.

Proaeresius, a Christian sophist, refused to accept the partial
favor of the emperor Hieronym. in Chron. p. 185, edit. Scaliger.
Eunapius in Proaeresio p. 126.]

[Footnote 93: They had recourse to the expedient of composing
books for their own schools. Within a few months Apollinaris
produced his Christian imitations of Homer, (a sacred history in
twenty-four books,) Pindar, Euripides, and Menander; and Sozomen
is satisfied, that they equalled, or excelled, the originals.

     Note: Socrates, however, implies that, on the death of
Julian, they were contemptuously thrown aside by the Christians.
Socr. Hist. iii.16. - M.]
     It was undoubtedly the wish and design of Julian to deprive
the Christians of the advantages of wealth, of knowledge, and of
power; but the injustice of excluding them from all offices of
trust and profit seems to have been the result of his general
policy, rather than the immediate consequence of any positive
law. ^94 Superior merit might deserve and obtain, some
extraordinary exceptions; but the greater part of the Christian
officers were gradually removed from their employments in the
state, the army, and the provinces. The hopes of future
candidates were extinguished by the declared partiality of a
prince, who maliciously reminded them, that it was unlawful for a
Christian to use the sword, either of justice, or of war; and who
studiously guarded the camp and the tribunals with the ensigns of
idolatry. The powers of government were intrusted to the pagans,
who professed an ardent zeal for the religion of their ancestors;
and as the choice of the emperor was often directed by the rules
of divination, the favorites whom he preferred as the most
agreeable to the gods, did not always obtain the approbation of
mankind. ^95 Under the administration of their enemies, the
Christians had much to suffer, and more to apprehend. The temper
of Julian was averse to cruelty; and the care of his reputation,
which was exposed to the eyes of the universe, restrained the
philosophic monarch from violating the laws of justice and
toleration, which he himself had so recently established. But
the provincial ministers of his authority were placed in a less
conspicuous station. In the exercise of arbitrary power, they
consulted the wishes, rather than the commands, of their
sovereign; and ventured to exercise a secret and vexatious
tyranny against the sectaries, on whom they were not permitted to
confer the honors of martyrdom. The emperor, who dissembled as
long as possible his knowledge of the injustice that was
exercised in his name, expressed his real sense of the conduct of
his officers, by gentle reproofs and substantial rewards. ^96

[Footnote 94: It was the instruction of Julian to his
magistrates, (Epist. vii.,). Sozomen (l. v. c. 18) and Socrates
(l. iii. c. 13) must be reduced to the standard of Gregory,
(Orat. iii. p. 95,) not less prone to exaggeration, but more
restrained by the actual knowledge of his contemporary readers.]
[Footnote 95: Libanius, Orat. Parent. 88, p. 814.]

[Footnote 96: Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 74, 91, 92. Socrates, l.
iii. c. 14. The doret, l. iii. c. 6. Some drawback may, however,
be allowed for the violence of their zeal, not less partial than
the zeal of Julian]
     The most effectual instrument of oppression, with which they
were armed, was the law that obliged the Christians to make full
and ample satisfaction for the temples which they had destroyed
under the preceding reign. The zeal of the triumphant church had
not always expected the sanction of the public authority; and the
bishops, who were secure of impunity, had often marched at the
head of their congregation, to attack and demolish the fortresses
of the prince of darkness. The consecrated lands, which had
increased the patrimony of the sovereign or of the clergy, were
clearly defined, and easily restored. But on these lands, and on
the ruins of Pagan superstition, the Christians had frequently
erected their own religious edifices: and as it was necessary to
remove the church before the temple could be rebuilt, the justice
and piety of the emperor were applauded by one party, while the
other deplored and execrated his sacrilegious violence. ^97 After
the ground was cleared, the restitution of those stately
structures which had been levelled with the dust, and of the
precious ornaments which had been converted to Christian uses,
swelled into a very large account of damages and debt. The
authors of the injury had neither the ability nor the inclination
to discharge this accumulated demand: and the impartial wisdom of
a legislator would have been displayed in balancing the adverse
claims and complaints, by an equitable and temperate arbitration.

But the whole empire, and particularly the East, was thrown into
confusion by the rash edicts of Julian; and the Pagan
magistrates, inflamed by zeal and revenge, abused the rigorous
privilege of the Roman law, which substitutes, in the place of
his inadequate property, the person of the insolvent debtor.
Under the preceding reign, Mark, bishop of Arethusa, ^98 had
labored in the conversion of his people with arms more effectual
than those of persuasion. ^99 The magistrates required the full
value of a temple which had been destroyed by his intolerant
zeal: but as they were satisfied of his poverty, they desired
only to bend his inflexible spirit to the promise of the
slightest compensation. They apprehended the aged prelate, they
inhumanly scourged him, they tore his beard; and his naked body,
annointed with honey, was suspended, in a net, between heaven and
earth, and exposed to the stings of insects and the rays of a
Syrian sun. ^100 From this lofty station, Mark still persisted to
glory in his crime, and to insult the impotent rage of his
persecutors. He was at length rescued from their hands, and
dismissed to enjoy the honor of his divine triumph. The Arians
celebrated the virtue of their pious confessor; the Catholics
ambitiously claimed his alliance; ^101 and the Pagans, who might
be susceptible of shame or remorse, were deterred from the
repetition of such unavailing cruelty. ^102 Julian spared his
life: but if the bishop of Arethusa had saved the infancy of
Julian, ^103 posterity will condemn the ingratitude, instead of
praising the clemency, of the emperor.

[Footnote 97: If we compare the gentle language of Libanius
(Orat. Parent c. 60. p. 286) with the passionate exclamations of
Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 86, 87,) we may find it difficult to
persuade ourselves that the two orators are really describing the
same events.]

[Footnote 98: Restan, or Arethusa, at the equal distance of
sixteen miles between Emesa (Hems) and Epiphania, (Hamath,) was
founded, or at least named, by Seleucus Nicator. Its peculiar
aera dates from the year of Rome 685, according to the medals of
the city. In the decline of the Seleucides, Emesa and Arethusa
were usurped by the Arab Sampsiceramus, whose posterity, the
vassals of Rome, were not extinguished in the reign of Vespasian.

See D'Anville's Maps and Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 134.
Wesseling, Itineraria, p. 188, and Noris. Epoch Syro-Macedon, p.
80, 481, 482.]
[Footnote 99: Sozomen, l. v. c. 10. It is surprising, that
Gregory and Theodoret should suppress a circumstance, which, in
their eyes, must have enhanced the religious merit of the
confessor.]

[Footnote 100: The sufferings and constancy of Mark, which
Gregory has so tragically painted, (Orat. iii. p. 88-91,) are
confirmed by the unexceptionable and reluctant evidence of
Libanius. Epist. 730, p. 350, 351. Edit. Wolf. Amstel. 1738.]

[Footnote 101: Certatim eum sibi (Christiani) vindicant. It is
thus that La Croze and Wolfius (ad loc.) have explained a Greek
word, whose true signification had been mistaken by former
interpreters, and even by Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Ancienne et
Moderne, tom. iii. p. 371.) Yet Tillemont is strangely puzzled to
understand (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1390) how Gregory and
Theodoret could mistake a Semi-Arian bishop for a saint.]
[Footnote 102: See the probable advice of Sallust, (Greg.
Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 90, 91.) Libanius intercedes for a
similar offender, lest they should find many Marks; yet he
allows, that if Orion had secreted the consecrated wealth, he
deserved to suffer the punishment of Marsyas; to be flayed alive,
(Epist. 730, p. 349-351.)]

[Footnote 103: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 90) is satisfied that, by
saving the apostate, Mark had deserved still more than he had
suffered.]
     At the distance of five miles from Antioch, the Macedonian
kings of Syria had consecrated to Apollo one of the most elegant
places of devotion in the Pagan world. ^104 A magnificent temple
rose in honor of the god of light; and his colossal figure ^105
almost filled the capacious sanctuary, which was enriched with
gold and gems, and adorned by the skill of the Grecian artists.
The deity was represented in a bending attitude, with a golden
cup in his hand, pouring out a libation on the earth; as if he
supplicated the venerable mother to give to his arms the cold and
beauteous Daphne: for the spot was ennobled by fiction; and the
fancy of the Syrian poets had transported the amorous tale from
the banks of the Peneus to those of the Orontes. The ancient
rites of Greece were imitated by the royal colony of Antioch. A
stream of prophecy, which rivalled the truth and reputation of
the Delphic oracle, flowed from the Castalian fountain of Daphne.
^106 In the adjacent fields a stadium was built by a special
privilege, ^107 which had been purchased from Elis; the Olympic
games were celebrated at the expense of the city; and a revenue
of thirty thousand pounds sterling was annually applied to the
public pleasures. ^108 The perpetual resort of pilgrims and
spectators insensibly formed, in the neighborhood of the temple,
the stately and populous village of Daphne, which emulated the
splendor, without acquiring the title, of a provincial city. The
temple and the village were deeply bosomed in a thick grove of
laurels and cypresses, which reached as far as a circumference of
ten miles, and formed in the most sultry summers a cool and
impenetrable shade. A thousand streams of the purest water,
issuing from every hill, preserved the verdure of the earth, and
the temperature of the air; the senses were gratified with
harmonious sounds and aromatic odors; and the peaceful grove was
consecrated to health and joy, to luxury and love. The vigorous
youth pursued, like Apollo, the object of his desires; and the
blushing maid was warned, by the fate of Daphne, to shun the
folly of unseasonable coyness. The soldier and the philosopher
wisely avoided the temptation of this sensual paradise: ^109
where pleasure, assuming the character of religion, imperceptibly
dissolved the firmness of manly virtue. But the groves of Daphne
continued for many ages to enjoy the veneration of natives and
strangers; the privileges of the holy ground were enlarged by the
munificence of succeeding emperors; and every generation added
new ornaments to the splendor of the temple. ^110

[Footnote 104: The grove and temple of Daphne are described by
Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1089, 1090, edit. Amstel. 1707,) Libanius,
(Naenia, p. 185-188. Antiochic. Orat. xi. p. 380, 381,) and
Sozomen, (l. v. c. 19.) Wesseling (Itinerar. p. 581) and Casaubon
(ad Hist. August. p. 64) illustrate this curious subject.]

[Footnote 105: Simulacrum in eo Olympiaci Jovis imitamenti
aequiparans magnitudinem. Ammian. xxii. 13. The Olympic Jupiter
was sixty feet high, and his bulk was consequently equal to that
of a thousand men. See a curious Memoire of the Abbe Gedoyn,
(Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ix. p. 198.)]
[Footnote 106: Hadrian read the history of his future fortunes on
a leaf dipped in the Castalian stream; a trick which, according
to the physician Vandale, (de Oraculis, p. 281, 282,) might be
easily performed by chemical preparations. The emperor stopped
the source of such dangerous knowledge; which was again opened by
the devout curiosity of Julian.]
[Footnote 107: It was purchased, A. D. 44, in the year 92 of the
aera of Antioch, (Noris. Epoch. Syro-Maced. p. 139-174,) for the
term of ninety Olympiads. But the Olympic games of Antioch were
not regularly celebrated till the reign of Commodus. See the
curious details in the Chronicle of John Malala, tom. i. p. 290,
320, 372-381,) a writer whose merit and authority are confined
within the limits of his native city.]

[Footnote 108: Fifteen talents of gold, bequeathed by Sosibius,
who died in the reign of Augustus. The theatrical merits of the
Syrian cities in the reign of Constantine, are computed in the
Expositio totius Murd, p. 8, (Hudson, Geograph. Minor tom. iii.)]

[Footnote 109: Avidio Cassio Syriacas legiones dedi luxuria
diffluentes et Daphnicis moribus. These are the words of the
emperor Marcus Antoninus in an original letter preserved by his
biographer in Hist. August. p. 41. Cassius dismissed or punished
every soldier who was seen at Daphne.]
[Footnote 110: Aliquantum agrorum Daphnensibus dedit, (Pompey,)
quo lucus ibi spatiosior fieret; delectatus amoenitate loci et
aquarum abundantiz, Eutropius, vi. 14. Sextus Rufus, de
Provinciis, c. 16.]

     When Julian, on the day of the annual festival, hastened to
adore the Apollo of Daphne, his devotion was raised to the
highest pitch of eagerness and impatience. His lively
imagination anticipated the grateful pomp of victims, of
libations and of incense; a long procession of youths and
virgins, clothed in white robes, the symbol of their innocence;
and the tumultuous concourse of an innumerable people. But the
zeal of Antioch was diverted, since the reign of Christianity,
into a different channel. Instead of hecatombs of fat oxen
sacrificed by the tribes of a wealthy city to their tutelar deity
the emperor complains that he found only a single goose, provided
at the expense of a priest, the pale and solitary in habitant of
this decayed temple. ^111 The altar was deserted, the oracle had
been reduced to silence, and the holy ground was profaned by the
introduction of Christian and funereal rites. After Babylas ^112
(a bishop of Antioch, who died in prison in the persecution of
Decius) had rested near a century in his grave, his body, by the
order of Caesar Gallus, was transported into the midst of the
grove of Daphne. A magnificent church was erected over his
remains; a portion of the sacred lands was usurped for the
maintenance of the clergy, and for the burial of the Christians
at Antioch, who were ambitious of lying at the feet of their
bishop; and the priests of Apollo retired, with their affrighted
and indignant votaries. As soon as another revolution seemed to
restore the fortune of Paganism, the church of St. Babylas was
demolished, and new buildings were added to the mouldering
edifice which had been raised by the piety of Syrian kings. But
the first and most serious care of Julian was to deliver his
oppressed deity from the odious presence of the dead and living
Christians, who had so effectually suppressed the voice of fraud
or enthusiasm. ^113 The scene of infection was purified,
according to the forms of ancient rituals; the bodies were
decently removed; and the ministers of the church were permitted
to convey the remains of St. Babylas to their former habitation
within the walls of Antioch. The modest behavior which might
have assuaged the jealousy of a hostile government was neglected,
on this occasion, by the zeal of the Christians. The lofty car,
that transported the relics of Babylas, was followed, and
accompanied, and received, by an innumerable multitude; who
chanted, with thundering acclamations, the Psalms of David the
most expressive of their contempt for idols and idolaters. The
return of the saint was a triumph; and the triumph was an insult
on the religion of the emperor, who exerted his pride to
dissemble his resentment. During the night which terminated this
indiscreet procession, the temple of Daphne was in flames; the
statue of Apollo was consumed; and the walls of the edifice were
left a naked and awful monument of ruin. The Christians of
Antioch asserted, with religious confidence, that the powerful
intercession of St. Babylas had pointed the lightnings of heaven
against the devoted roof: but as Julian was reduced to the
alternative of believing either a crime or a miracle, he chose,
without hesitation, without evidence, but with some color of
probability, to impute the fire of Daphne to the revenge of the
Galilaeans. ^114 Their offence, had it been sufficiently proved,
might have justified the retaliation, which was immediately
executed by the order of Julian, of shutting the doors, and
confiscating the wealth, of the cathedral of Antioch. To discover
the criminals who were guilty of the tumult, of the fire, or of
secreting the riches of the church, several of the ecclesiastics
were tortured; ^115 and a Presbyter, of the name of Theodoret,
was beheaded by the sentence of the Count of the East. But this
hasty act was blamed by the emperor; who lamented, with real or
affected concern, that the imprudent zeal of his ministers would
tarnish his reign with the disgrace of persecution. ^116

[Footnote 111: Julian (Misopogon, p. 367, 362) discovers his own
character with naivete, that unconscious simplicity which always
constitutes genuine humor.]

[Footnote 112: Babylas is named by Eusebius in the succession of
the bishops of Antioch, (Hist. Eccles. l. vi. c. 29, 39.) His
triumph over two emperors (the first fabulous, the second
historical) is diffusely celebrated by Chrysostom, (tom. ii. p.
536-579, edit. Montfaucon.) Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. iii.
part ii. p. 287-302, 459-465) becomes almost a sceptic.]
[Footnote 113: Ecclesiastical critics, particularly those who
love relics, exult in the confession of Julian (Misopogon, p.
361) and Libanius, (Laenia, p. 185,) that Apollo was disturbed by
the vicinity of one dead man. Yet Ammianus (xxii. 12) clears and
purifies the whole ground, according to the rites which the
Athenians formerly practised in the Isle of Delos.]
[Footnote 114: Julian (in Misopogon, p. 361) rather insinuates,
than affirms, their guilt. Ammianus (xxii. 13) treats the
imputation as levissimus rumor, and relates the story with
extraordinary candor.]

[Footnote 115: Quo tam atroci casu repente consumpto, ad id usque
e imperatoris ira provexit, ut quaestiones agitare juberet solito
acriores, (yet Julian blames the lenity of the magistrates of
Antioch,) et majorem ecclesiam Antiochiae claudi. This
interdiction was performed with some circumstances of indignity
and profanation; and the seasonable death of the principal actor,
Julian's uncle, is related with much superstitious complacency by
the Abbe de la Bleterie. Vie de Julien, p. 362-369.]

[Footnote 116: Besides the ecclesiastical historians, who are
more or less to be suspected, we may allege the passion of St.
Theodore, in the Acta Sincera of Ruinart, p. 591. The complaint
of Julian gives it an original and authentic air.]

Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.

Part V.

     The zeal of the ministers of Julian was instantly checked by
the frown of their sovereign; but when the father of his country
declares himself the leader of a faction, the license of popular
fury cannot easily be restrained, nor consistently punished.
Julian, in a public composition, applauds the devotion and
loyalty of the holy cities of Syria, whose pious inhabitants had
destroyed, at the first signal, the sepulchres of the Galilaeans;
and faintly complains, that they had revenged the injuries of the
gods with less moderation than he should have recommended. ^117
This imperfect and reluctant confession may appear to confirm the
ecclesiastical narratives; that in the cities of Gaza, Ascalon,
Caesarea, Heliopolis, &c., the Pagans abused, without prudence or
remorse, the moment of their prosperity. That the unhappy
objects of their cruelty were released from torture only by
death; and as their mangled bodies were dragged through the
streets, they were pierced (such was the universal rage) by the
spits of cooks, and the distaffs of enraged women; and that the
entrails of Christian priests and virgins, after they had been
tasted by those bloody fanatics, were mixed with barley, and
contemptuously thrown to the unclean animals of the city. ^118
Such scenes of religious madness exhibit the most contemptible
and odious picture of human nature; but the massacre of
Alexandria attracts still more attention, from the certainty of
the fact, the rank of the victims, and the splendor of the
capital of Egypt.

[Footnote 117: Julian. Misopogon, p. 361.]

[Footnote 118: See Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iii. p. 87.) Sozomen
(l. v. c. 9) may be considered as an original, though not
impartial, witness. He was a native of Gaza, and had conversed
with the confessor Zeno, who, as bishop of Maiuma, lived to the
age of a hundred, (l. vii. c. 28.) Philostorgius (l. vii. c. 4,
with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 284) adds some tragic
circumstances, of Christians who were literally sacrificed at the
altars of the gods, &c.]
     George, ^119 from his parents or his education, surnamed the
Cappadocian, was born at Epiphania in Cilicia, in a fuller's
shop. From this obscure and servile origin he raised himself by
the talents of a parasite; and the patrons, whom he assiduously
flattered, procured for their worthless dependent a lucrative
commission, or contract, to supply the army with bacon. His
employment was mean; he rendered it infamous. He accumulated
wealth by the basest arts of fraud and corruption; but his
malversations were so notorious, that George was compelled to
escape from the pursuits of justice. After this disgrace, in
which he appears to have saved his fortune at the expense of his
honor, he embraced, with real or affected zeal, the profession of
Arianism. From the love, or the ostentation, of learning, he
collected a valuable library of history rhetoric, philosophy, and
theology, ^120 and the choice of the prevailing faction promoted
George of Cappadocia to the throne of Athanasius. The entrance
of the new archbishop was that of a Barbarian conqueror; and each
moment of his reign was polluted by cruelty and avarice. The
Catholics of Alexandria and Egypt were abandoned to a tyrant,
qualified, by nature and education, to exercise the office of
persecution; but he oppressed with an impartial hand the various
inhabitants of his extensive diocese. The primate of Egypt
assumed the pomp and insolence of his lofty station; but he still
betrayed the vices of his base and servile extraction. The
merchants of Alexandria were impoverished by the unjust, and
almost universal, monopoly, which he acquired, of nitre, salt,
paper, funerals, &c.: and the spiritual father of a great people
condescended to practise the vile and pernicious arts of an
informer. The Alexandrians could never forget, nor forgive, the
tax, which he suggested, on all the houses of the city; under an
obsolete claim, that the royal founder had conveyed to his
successors, the Ptolemies and the Caesars, the perpetual property
of the soil. The Pagans, who had been flattered with the hopes
of freedom and toleration, excited his devout avarice; and the
rich temples of Alexandria were either pillaged or insulted by
the haughty prince, who exclaimed, in a loud and threatening
tone, "How long will these sepulchres be permitted to stand?"
Under the reign of Constantius, he was expelled by the fury, or
rather by the justice, of the people; and it was not without a
violent struggle, that the civil and military powers of the state
could restore his authority, and gratify his revenge. The
messenger who proclaimed at Alexandria the accession of Julian,
announced the downfall of the archbishop. George, with two of
his obsequious ministers, Count Diodorus, and Dracontius, master
of the mint were ignominiously dragged in chains to the public
prison. At the end of twenty-four days, the prison was forced
open by the rage of a superstitious multitude, impatient of the
tedious forms of judicial proceedings. The enemies of gods and
men expired under their cruel insults; the lifeless bodies of the
archbishop and his associates were carried in triumph through the
streets on the back of a camel; ^* and the inactivity of the
Athanasian party ^121 was esteemed a shining example of
evangelical patience. The remains of these guilty wretches were
thrown into the sea; and the popular leaders of the tumult
declared their resolution to disappoint the devotion of the
Christians, and to intercept the future honors of these martyrs,
who had been punished, like their predecessors, by the enemies of
their religion. ^122 The fears of the Pagans were just, and their
precautions ineffectual. The meritorious death of the archbishop
obliterated the memory of his life. The rival of Athanasius was
dear and sacred to the Arians, and the seeming conversion of
those sectaries introduced his worship into the bosom of the
Catholic church. ^123 The odious stranger, disguising every
circumstance of time and place, assumed the mask of a martyr, a
saint, and a Christian hero; ^124 and the infamous George of
Cappadocia has been transformed ^125 into the renowned St. George
of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry, and of the garter.
^126

[Footnote 119: The life and death of George of Cappadocia are
described by Ammianus, (xxii. 11,) Gregory of Nazianzen, (Orat.
xxi. p. 382, 385, 389, 390,) and Epiphanius, (Haeres. lxxvi.) The
invectives of the two saints might not deserve much credit,
unless they were confirmed by the testimony of the cool and
impartial infidel.]

[Footnote 120: After the massacre of George, the emperor Julian
repeatedly sent orders to preserve the library for his own use,
and to torture the slaves who might be suspected of secreting any
books. He praises the merit of the collection, from whence he
had borrowed and transcribed several manuscripts while he pursued
his studies in Cappadocia. He could wish, indeed, that the works
of the Galiaeans might perish but he requires an exact account
even of those theological volumes lest other treatises more
valuable should be confounded in their less Julian. Epist. ix.
xxxvi.]

[Footnote *: Julian himself says, that they tore him to pieces
like dogs, Epist. x. - M.]

[Footnote 121: Philostorgius, with cautious malice, insinuates
their guilt, l. vii. c. ii. Godefroy p. 267.]

[Footnote 122: Cineres projecit in mare, id metuens ut clamabat,
ne, collectis supremis, aedes illis exstruerentur ut reliquis,
qui deviare a religione compulsi, pertulere, cruciabiles poenas,
adusque gloriosam mortem intemerata fide progressi, et nunc
Martyres appellantur. Ammian. xxii. 11. Epiphanius proves to the
Arians, that George was not a martyr.]

[Footnote 123: Some Donatists (Optatus Milev. p. 60, 303, edit.
Dupin; and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 713, in 4to.) and
Priscillianists (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 517, in
4to.) have in like manner usurped the honors of the Catholic
saints and martyrs.]

[Footnote 124: The saints of Cappadocia, Basil, and the
Gregories, were ignorant of their holy companion. Pope Gelasius,
(A. D. 494,) the first Catholic who acknowledges St. George,
places him among the martyrs "qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti
sunt." He rejects his Acts as the composition of heretics. Some,
perhaps, not the oldest, of the spurious Acts, are still extant;
and, through a cloud of fiction, we may yet distinguish the
combat which St. George of Cappadocia sustained, in the presence
of Queen Alexandria, against the magician Afhanasius.]

[Footnote 125: This transformation is not given as absolutely
certain, but as extremely probable. See the Longueruana, tom. i.
p. 194.

     Note: The late Dr. Milner (the Roman Catholic bishop) wrote
a tract to vindicate the existence and the orthodoxy of the
tutelar saint of England. He succeeds, I think, in tracing the
worship of St. George up to a period which makes it improbable
that so notorious an Arian could be palmed upon the Catholic
church as a saint and a martyr. The Acts rejected by Gelasius
may have been of Arian origin, and designed to ingraft the story
of their hero on the obscure adventures of some earlier saint.
See an Historical and Critical Inquiry into the Existence and
Character of Saint George, in a letter to the Earl of Leicester,
by the Rev. J. Milner. F. S. A. London 1792. - M.]
[Footnote 126: A curious history of the worship of St. George,
from the sixth century, (when he was already revered in
Palestine, in Armenia at Rome, and at Treves in Gaul,) might be
extracted from Dr. Heylin (History of St. George, 2d edition,
London, 1633, in 4to. p. 429) and the Bollandists, (Act. Ss.
Mens. April. tom. iii. p. 100-163.) His fame and popularity in
Europe, and especially in England, proceeded from the Crusades.]

     About the same time that Julian was informed of the tumult
of Alexandria, he received intelligence from Edessa, that the
proud and wealthy faction of the Arians had insulted the weakness
of the Valentinians, and committed such disorders as ought not to
be suffered with impunity in a well-regulated state. Without
expecting the slow forms of justice, the exasperated prince
directed his mandate to the magistrates of Edessa, ^127 by which
he confiscated the whole property of the church: the money was
distributed among the soldiers; the lands were added to the
domain; and this act of oppression was aggravated by the most
ungenerous irony. "I show myself," says Julian, "the true friend
of the Galilaeans. Their admirable law has promised the kingdom
of heaven to the poor; and they will advance with more diligence
in the paths of virtue and salvation, when they are relieved by
my assistance from the load of temporal possessions. Take care,"
pursued the monarch, in a more serious tone, "take care how you
provoke my patience and humanity. If these disorders continue, I
will revenge on the magistrates the crimes of the people; and you
will have reason to dread, not only confiscation and exile, but
fire and the sword." The tumults of Alexandria were doubtless of
a more bloody and dangerous nature: but a Christian bishop had
fallen by the hands of the Pagans; and the public epistle of
Julian affords a very lively proof of the partial spirit of his
administration. His reproaches to the citizens of Alexandria are
mingled with expressions of esteem and tenderness; and he
laments, that, on this occasion, they should have departed from
the gentle and generous manners which attested their Grecian
extraction. He gravely censures the offence which they had
committed against the laws of justice and humanity; but he
recapitulates, with visible complacency, the intolerable
provocations which they had so long endured from the impious
tyranny of George of Cappadocia. Julian admits the principle,
that a wise and vigorous government should chastise the insolence
of the people; yet, in consideration of their founder Alexander,
and of Serapis their tutelar deity, he grants a free and gracious
pardon to the guilty city, for which he again feels the affection
of a brother. ^128
[Footnote 127: Julian. Epist. xliii.]

[Footnote 128: Julian. Epist. x. He allowed his friends to
assuage his anger Ammian. xxii. 11.]

     After the tumult of Alexandria had subsided, Athanasius,
amidst the public acclamations, seated himself on the throne from
whence his unworthy competitor had been precipitated: and as the
zeal of the archbishop was tempered with discretion, the exercise
of his authority tended not to inflame, but to reconcile, the
minds of the people. His pastoral labors were not confined to
the narrow limits of Egypt. The state of the Christian world was
present to his active and capacious mind; and the age, the merit,
the reputation of Athanasius, enabled him to assume, in a moment
of danger, the office of Ecclesiastical Dictator. ^129 Three
years were not yet elapsed since the majority of the bishops of
the West had ignorantly, or reluctantly, subscribed the
Confession of Rimini. They repented, they believed, but they
dreaded the unseasonable rigor of their orthodox brethren; and if
their pride was stronger than their faith, they might throw
themselves into the arms of the Arians, to escape the indignity
of a public penance, which must degrade them to the condition of
obscure laymen. At the same time the domestic differences
concerning the union and distinction of the divine persons, were
agitated with some heat among the Catholic doctors; and the
progress of this metaphysical controversy seemed to threaten a
public and lasting division of the Greek and Latin churches. By
the wisdom of a select synod, to which the name and presence of
Athanasius gave the authority of a general council, the bishops,
who had unwarily deviated into error, were admitted to the
communion of the church, on the easy condition of subscribing the
Nicene Creed; without any formal acknowledgment of their past
fault, or any minute definition of their scholastic opinions.
The advice of the primate of Egypt had already prepared the
clergy of Gaul and Spain, of Italy and Greece, for the reception
of this salutary measure; and, notwithstanding the opposition of
some ardent spirits, ^130 the fear of the common enemy promoted
the peace and harmony of the Christians. ^131

[Footnote 129: See Athanas. ad Rufin. tom. ii. p. 40, 41, and
Greg. Nazianzen Orat. iii. p. 395, 396; who justly states the
temperate zeal of the primate, as much more meritorious than his
prayers, his fasts, his persecutions, &c.]
[Footnote 130: I have not leisure to follow the blind obstinacy
of Lucifer of Cagliari. See his adventures in Tillemont, (Mem.
Eccles. tom. vii. p. 900-926;) and observe how the color of the
narrative insensibly changes, as the confessor becomes a
schismatic.]

[Footnote 131: Assensus est huic sententiae Occidens, et, per tam
necessarium conilium, Satanae faucibus mundus ereptus. The
lively and artful dialogue of Jerom against the Luciferians (tom.
ii. p. 135-155) exhibits an original picture of the
ecclesiastical policy of the times.]

     The skill and diligence of the primate of Egypt had improved
the season of tranquillity, before it was interrupted by the
hostile edicts of the emperor. ^132 Julian, who despised the
Christians, honored Athanasius with his sincere and peculiar
hatred. For his sake alone, he introduced an arbitrary
distinction, repugnant at least to the spirit of his former
declarations. He maintained, that the Galilaeans, whom he had
recalled from exile, were not restored, by that general
indulgence, to the possession of their respective churches; and
he expressed his astonishment, that a criminal, who had been
repeatedly condemned by the judgment of the emperors, should dare
to insult the majesty of the laws, and insolently usurp the
archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria, without expecting the orders
of his sovereign. As a punishment for the imaginary offence, he
again banished Athanasius from the city; and he was pleased to
suppose, that this act of justice would be highly agreeable to
his pious subjects. The pressing solicitations of the people
soon convinced him, that the majority of the Alexandrians were
Christians; and that the greatest part of the Christians were
firmly attached to the cause of their oppressed primate. But the
knowledge of their sentiments, instead of persuading him to
recall his decree, provoked him to extend to all Egypt the term
of the exile of Athanasius. The zeal of the multitude rendered
Julian still more inexorable: he was alarmed by the danger of
leaving at the head of a tumultuous city, a daring and popular
leader; and the language of his resentment discovers the opinion
which he entertained of the courage and abilities of Athanasius.
The execution of the sentence was still delayed, by the caution
or negligence of Ecdicius, praefect of Egypt, who was at length
awakened from his lethargy by a severe reprimand. "Though you
neglect," says Julian, "to write to me on any other subject, at
least it is your duty to inform me of your conduct towards
Athanasius, the enemy of the gods. My intentions have been long
since communicated to you. I swear by the great Serapis, that
unless, on the calends of December, Athanasius has departed from
Alexandria, nay, from Egypt, the officers of your government
shall pay a fine of one hundred pounds of gold. You know my
temper: I am slow to condemn, but I am still slower to forgive."
This epistle was enforced by a short postscript, written with the
emperor's own hand. "The contempt that is shown for all the gods
fills me with grief and indignation. There is nothing that I
should see, nothing that I should hear, with more pleasure, than
the expulsion of Athanasius from all Egypt. The abominable
wretch! Under my reign, the baptism of several Grecian ladies of
the highest rank has been the effect of his persecutions." ^133
The death of Athanasius was not expressly commanded; but the
praefect of Egypt understood that it was safer for him to exceed,
than to neglect, the orders of an irritated master. The
archbishop prudently retired to the monasteries of the Desert;
eluded, with his usual dexterity, the snares of the enemy; and
lived to triumph over the ashes of a prince, who, in words of
formidable import, had declared his wish that the whole venom of
the Galilaean school were contained in the single person of
Athanasius. ^134
[Footnote 132: Tillemont, who supposes that George was massacred
in August crowds the actions of Athanasius into a narrow space,
(Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 360.) An original fragment, published
by the Marquis Maffei, from the old Chapter library of Verona,
(Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. iii. p. 60-92,) affords many
important dates, which are authenticated by the computation of
Egyptian months.]

[Footnote 133: I have preserved the ambiguous sense of the last
word, the ambiguity of a tyrant who wished to find, or to create,
guilt.]
[Footnote 134: The three epistles of Julian, which explain his
intentions and conduct with regard to Athanasius, should be
disposed in the following chronological order, xxvi. x. vi. * See
likewise, Greg. Nazianzen xxi. p. 393. Sozomen, l. v. c. 15.
Socrates, l. iii. c. 14. Theodoret, l iii. c. 9, and Tillemont,
Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 361-368, who has used some materials
prepared by the Bollandists.]

[Footnote *: The sentence in the text is from Epist. li.
addressed to the people of Alexandria. - M.]

     I have endeavored faithfully to represent the artful system
by which Julian proposed to obtain the effects, without incurring
the guilt, or reproach, of persecution. But if the deadly spirit
of fanaticism perverted the heart and understanding of a virtuous
prince, it must, at the same time, be confessed that the real
sufferings of the Christians were inflamed and magnified by human
passions and religious enthusiasm. The meekness and resignation
which had distinguished the primitive disciples of the gospel,
was the object of the applause, rather than of the imitation of
their successors. The Christians, who had now possessed above
forty years the civil and ecclesiastical government of the
empire, had contracted the insolent vices of prosperity, ^135 and
the habit of believing that the saints alone were entitled to
reign over the earth. As soon as the enmity of Julian deprived
the clergy of the privileges which had been conferred by the
favor of Constantine, they complained of the most cruel
oppression; and the free toleration of idolaters and heretics was
a subject of grief and scandal to the orthodox party. ^136 The
acts of violence, which were no longer countenanced by the
magistrates, were still committed by the zeal of the people. At
Pessinus, the altar of Cybele was overturned almost in the
presence of the emperor; and in the city of Caesarea in
Cappadocia, the temple of Fortune, the sole place of worship
which had been left to the Pagans, was destroyed by the rage of a
popular tumult. On these occasions, a prince, who felt for the
honor of the gods, was not disposed to interrupt the course of
justice; and his mind was still more deeply exasperated, when he
found that the fanatics, who had deserved and suffered the
punishment of incendiaries, were rewarded with the honors of
martyrdom. ^137 The Christian subjects of Julian were assured of
the hostile designs of their sovereign; and, to their jealous
apprehension, every circumstance of his government might afford
some grounds of discontent and suspicion. In the ordinary
administration of the laws, the Christians, who formed so large a
part of the people, must frequently be condemned: but their
indulgent brethren, without examining the merits of the cause,
presumed their innocence, allowed their claims, and imputed the
severity of their judge to the partial malice of religious
persecution. ^138 These present hardships, intolerable as they
might appear, were represented as a slight prelude of the
impending calamities. The Christians considered Julian as a
cruel and crafty tyrant; who suspended the execution of his
revenge till he should return victorious from the Persian war.
They expected, that as soon as he had triumphed over the foreign
enemies of Rome, he would lay aside the irksome mask of
dissimulation; that the amphitheatre would stream with the blood
of hermits and bishops; and that the Christians who still
persevered in the profession of the faith, would be deprived of
the common benefits of nature and society. ^139 Every calumny
^140 that could wound the reputation of the Apostate, was
credulously embraced by the fears and hatred of his adversaries;
and their indiscreet clamors provoked the temper of a sovereign,
whom it was their duty to respect, and their interest to flatter.

They still protested, that prayers and tears were their only
weapons against the impious tyrant, whose head they devoted to
the justice of offended Heaven. But they insinuated, with sullen
resolution, that their submission was no longer the effect of
weakness; and that, in the imperfect state of human virtue, the
patience, which is founded on principle, may be exhausted by
persecution. It is impossible to determine how far the zeal of
Julian would have prevailed over his good sense and humanity; but
if we seriously reflect on the strength and spirit of the church,
we shall be convinced, that before the emperor could have
extinguished the religion of Christ, he must have involved his
country in the horrors of a civil war. ^141
[Footnote 135: See the fair confession of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p.
61, 62.)]
[Footnote 136: Hear the furious and absurd complaint of Optatus,
(de Schismat Denatist. l. ii. c. 16, 17.)]

[Footnote 137: Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 91, iv. p. 133. He
praises the rioters of Caesarea. See Sozomen, l. v. 4, 11.
Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 649, 650) owns, that their
behavior was not dans l'ordre commun: but he is perfectly
satisfied, as the great St. Basil always celebrated the festival
of these blessed martyrs.]

[Footnote 138: Julian determined a lawsuit against the new
Christian city at Maiuma, the port of Gaza; and his sentence,
though it might be imputed to bigotry, was never reversed by his
successors. Sozomen, l. v. c. 3. Reland, Palestin. tom. ii. p.
791.]

[Footnote 139: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 93, 94, 95. Orat. iv. p.
114) pretends to speak from the information of Julian's
confidants, whom Orosius (vii. 30) could not have seen.]

[Footnote 140: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 91) charges the Apostate
with secret sacrifices of boys and girls; and positively affirms,
that the dead bodies were thrown into the Orontes. See
Theodoret, l. iii. c. 26, 27; and the equivocal candor of the
Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 351, 352. Yet contemporary
malice could not impute to Julian the troops of martyrs, more
especially in the West, which Baronius so greedily swallows, and
Tillemont so faintly rejects, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.
1295-1315.)]

[Footnote 141: The resignation of Gregory is truly edifying,
(Orat. iv. p. 123, 124.) Yet, when an officer of Julian attempted
to seize the church of Nazianzus, he would have lost his life, if
he had not yielded to the zeal of the bishop and people, (Orat.
xix. p. 308.) See the reflections of Chrysostom, as they are
alleged by Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 575.)]

Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.

Part I.

     Residence Of Julian At Antioch. - His Successful Expedition
Against The Persians. - Passage Of The Tigris - The Retreat And
Death Of Julian. - Election Of Jovian. - He Saves The Roman Army
By A Disgraceful Treaty.
     The philosophical fable which Julian composed under the name
of the Caesars, ^1 is one of the most agreeable and instructive
productions of ancient wit. ^2 During the freedom and equality of
the days of the Saturnalia, Romulus prepared a feast for the
deities of Olympus, who had adopted him as a worthy associate,
and for the Roman princes, who had reigned over his martial
people, and the vanquished nations of the earth. The immortals
were placed in just order on their thrones of state, and the
table of the Caesars was spread below the Moon in the upper
region of the air. The tyrants, who would have disgraced the
society of gods and men, were thrown headlong, by the inexorable
Nemesis, into the Tartarean abyss. The rest of the Caesars
successively advanced to their seats; and as they passed, the
vices, the defects, the blemishes of their respective characters,
were maliciously noticed by old Silenus, a laughing moralist, who
disguised the wisdom of a philosopher under the mask of a
Bacchanal. ^3 As soon as the feast was ended, the voice of
Mercury proclaimed the will of Jupiter, that a celestial crown
should be the reward of superior merit. Julius Caesar, Augustus,
Trajan, and Marcus Antoninus, were selected as the most
illustrious candidates; the effeminate Constantine ^4 was not
excluded from this honorable competition, and the great Alexander
was invited to dispute the prize of glory with the Roman heroes.
Each of the candidates was allowed to display the merit of his
own exploits; but, in the judgment of the gods, the modest
silence of Marcus pleaded more powerfully than the elaborate
orations of his haughty rivals. When the judges of this awful
contest proceeded to examine the heart, and to scrutinize the
springs of action, the superiority of the Imperial Stoic appeared
still more decisive and conspicuous. ^5 Alexander and Caesar,
Augustus, Trajan, and Constantine, acknowledged, with a blush,
that fame, or power, or pleasure had been the important object of
their labors: but the gods themselves beheld, with reverence and
love, a virtuous mortal, who had practised on the throne the
lessons of philosophy; and who, in a state of human imperfection,
had aspired to imitate the moral attributes of the Deity. The
value of this agreeable composition (the Caesars of Julian) is
enhanced by the rank of the author. A prince, who delineates,
with freedom, the vices and virtues of his predecessors,
subscribes, in every line, the censure or approbation of his own
conduct.

[Footnote 1: See this fable or satire, p. 306-336 of the Leipsig
edition of Julian's works. The French version of the learned
Ezekiel Spanheim (Paris, 1683) is coarse, languid, and correct;
and his notes, proofs, illustrations, &c., are piled on each
other till they form a mass of 557 close-printed quarto pages.
The Abbe' de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien, tom. i. p. 241-393) has
more happily expressed the spirit, as well as the sense, of the
original, which he illustrates with some concise and curious
notes.]

[Footnote 2: Spanheim (in his preface) has most learnedly
discussed the etymology, origin, resemblance, and disagreement of
the Greek satyrs, a dramatic piece, which was acted after the
tragedy; and the Latin satires, (from Satura,) a miscellaneous
composition, either in prose or verse. But the Caesars of Julian
are of such an original cast, that the critic is perplexed to
which class he should ascribe them.

     Note: See also Casaubon de Satira, with Rambach's
observations. - M.]
[Footnote 3: This mixed character of Silenus is finely painted in
the sixth eclogue of Virgil.]

[Footnote 4: Every impartial reader must perceive and condemn the
partiality of Julian against his uncle Constantine, and the
Christian religion. On this occasion, the interpreters are
compelled, by a most sacred interest, to renounce their
allegiance, and to desert the cause of their author.]
[Footnote 5: Julian was secretly inclined to prefer a Greek to a
Roman. But when he seriously compared a hero with a philosopher,
he was sensible that mankind had much greater obligations to
Socrates than to Alexander, (Orat. ad Themistium, p. 264.)]

     In the cool moments of reflection, Julian preferred the
useful and benevolent virtues of Antoninus; but his ambitious
spirit was inflamed by the glory of Alexander; and he solicited,
with equal ardor, the esteem of the wise, and the applause of the
multitude. In the season of life when the powers of the mind and
body enjoy the most active vigor, the emperor who was instructed
by the experience, and animated by the success, of the German
war, resolved to signalize his reign by some more splendid and
memorable achievement. The ambassadors of the East, from the
continent of India, and the Isle of Ceylon, ^6 had respectfully
saluted the Roman purple. ^7 The nations of the West esteemed and
dreaded the personal virtues of Julian, both in peace and war.
He despised the trophies of a Gothic victory, and was satisfied
that the rapacious Barbarians of the Danube would be restrained
from any future violation of the faith of treaties by the terror
of his name, and the additional fortifications with which he
strengthened the Thracian and Illyrian frontiers. The successor
of Cyrus and Artaxerxes was the only rival whom he deemed worthy
of his arms; and he resolved, by the final conquest of Persia, to
chastise the naughty nation which had so long resisted and
insulted the majesty of Rome. ^9 As soon as the Persian monarch
was informed that the throne of Constantius was filed by a prince
of a very different character, he condescended to make some
artful, or perhaps sincere, overtures towards a negotiation of
peace. But the pride of Sapor was astonished by the firmness of
Julian; who sternly declared, that he would never consent to hold
a peaceful conference among the flames and ruins of the cities of
Mesopotamia; and who added, with a smile of contempt, that it was
needless to treat by ambassadors, as he himself had determined to
visit speedily the court of Persia. The impatience of the
emperor urged the diligence of the military preparations. The
generals were named; and Julian, marching from Constantinople
through the provinces of Asia Minor, arrived at Antioch about
eight months after the death of his predecessor. His ardent
desire to march into the heart of Persia, was checked by the
indispensable duty of regulating the state of the empire; by his
zeal to revive the worship of the gods; and by the advice of his
wisest friends; who represented the necessity of allowing the
salutary interval of winter quarters, to restore the exhausted
strength of the legions of Gaul, and the discipline and spirit of
the Eastern troops. Julian was persuaded to fix, till the ensuing
spring, his residence at Antioch, among a people maliciously
disposed to deride the haste, and to censure the delays, of their
sovereign. ^10

[Footnote 6: Inde nationibus Indicis certatim cum aonis optimates
mittentibus . . . . ab usque Divis et Serendivis. Ammian. xx. 7.

This island, to which the names of Taprobana, Serendib, and
Ceylon, have been successively applied, manifests how imperfectly
the seas and lands to the east of Cape Comorin were known to the
Romans. 1. Under the reign of Claudius, a freedman, who farmed
the customs of the Red Sea, was accidentally driven by the winds
upon this strange and undiscovered coast: he conversed six months
with the natives; and the king of Ceylon, who heard, for the
first time, of the power and justice of Rome, was persuaded to
send an embassy to the emperor. (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 24.) 2.
The geographers (and even Ptolemy) have magnified, above fifteen
times, the real size of this new world, which they extended as
far as the equator, and the neighborhood of China.

     Note: The name of Diva gens or Divorum regio, according to
the probable conjecture of M. Letronne, (Trois Mem. Acad. p.
127,) was applied by the ancients to the whole eastern coast of
the Indian Peninsula, from Ceylon to the Canges. The name may be
traced in Devipatnam, Devidan, Devicotta, Divinelly, the point of
Divy.

     M. Letronne, p.121, considers the freedman with his embassy
from Ceylon to have been an impostor. - M.]

[Footnote 7: These embassies had been sent to Constantius.
Ammianus, who unwarily deviates into gross flattery, must have
forgotten the length of the way, and the short duration of the
reign of Julian.]

[Footnote 8: Gothos saepe fallaces et perfidos; hostes quaerere
se meliores aiebat: illis enim sufficere mercators Galatas per
quos ubique sine conditionis discrimine venumdantur. (Ammian.
xxii. 7.) Within less than fifteen years, these Gothic slaves
threatened and subdued their masters.]
[Footnote 9: Alexander reminds his rival Caesar, who depreciated
the fame and merit of an Asiatic victory, that Crassus and Antony
had felt the Persian arrows; and that the Romans, in a war of
three hundred years, had not yet subdued the single province of
Mesopotamia or Assyria, (Caesares, p. 324.)]
[Footnote 10: The design of the Persian war is declared by
Ammianus, (xxii. 7, 12,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 79, 80, p.
305, 306,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 158,) and Socrates, (l. iii. c.
19.)]

     If Julian had flattered himself, that his personal
connection with the capital of the East would be productive of
mutual satisfaction to the prince and people, he made a very
false estimate of his own character, and of the manners of
Antioch. ^11 The warmth of the climate disposed the natives to
the most intemperate enjoyment of tranquillity and opulence; and
the lively licentiousness of the Greeks was blended with the
hereditary softness of the Syrians. Fashion was the only law,
pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendor of dress and
furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch.
The arts of luxury were honored; the serious and manly virtues
were the subject of ridicule; and the contempt for female modesty
and reverent age announced the universal corruption of the
capital of the East. The love of spectacles was the taste, or
rather passion, of the Syrians; the most skilful artists were
procured from the adjacent cities; ^12 a considerable share of
the revenue was devoted to the public amusements; and the
magnificence of the games of the theatre and circus was
considered as the happiness and as the glory of Antioch. The
rustic manners of a prince who disdained such glory, and was
insensible of such happiness, soon disgusted the delicacy of his
subjects; and the effeminate Orientals could neither imitate, nor
admire, the severe simplicity which Julian always maintained, and
sometimes affected. The days of festivity, consecrated, by
ancient custom, to the honor of the gods, were the only occasions
in which Julian relaxed his philosophic severity; and those
festivals were the only days in which the Syrians of Antioch
could reject the allurements of pleasure. The majority of the
people supported the glory of the Christian name, which had been
first invented by their ancestors: ^13 they contended themselves
with disobeying the moral precepts, but they were scrupulously
attached to the speculative doctrines of their religion. The
church of Antioch was distracted by heresy and schism; but the
Arians and the Athanasians, the followers of Meletius and those
of Paulinus, ^14 were actuated by the same pious hatred of their
common adversary.
[Footnote 11: The Satire of Julian, and the Homilies of St.
Chrysostom, exhibit the same picture of Antioch. The miniature
which the Abbe de la Bleterie has copied from thence, (Vie de
Julian, p. 332,) is elegant and correct.]

[Footnote 12: Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and Berytus,
comedians; Caesarea, pantomimes; Heliopolis, singers; Gaza,
gladiators, Ascalon, wrestlers; and Castabala, rope-dancers. See
the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 6, in the third tome of Hudson's
Minor Geographers.]

[Footnote 13: The people of Antioch ingenuously professed their
attachment to the Chi, (Christ,) and the Kappa, (Constantius.)
Julian in Misopogon, p. 357.]
[Footnote 14: The schism of Antioch, which lasted eighty-five
years, (A. D. 330-415,) was inflamed, while Julian resided in
that city, by the indiscreet ordination of Paulinus. See
Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 803 of the quarto edition,
(Paris, 1701, &c,) which henceforward I shall quote.]
     The strongest prejudice was entertained against the
character of an apostate, the enemy and successor of a prince who
had engaged the affections of a very numerous sect; and the
removal of St. Babylas excited an implacable opposition to the
person of Julian. His subjects complained, with superstitious
indignation, that famine had pursued the emperor's steps from
Constantinople to Antioch; and the discontent of a hungry people
was exasperated by the injudicious attempt to relieve their
distress. The inclemency of the season had affected the harvests
of Syria; and the price of bread, ^15 in the markets of Antioch,
had naturally risen in proportion to the scarcity of corn. But
the fair and reasonable proportion was soon violated by the
rapacious arts of monopoly. In this unequal contest, in which
the produce of the land is claimed by one party as his exclusive
property, is used by another as a lucrative object of trade, and
is required by a third for the daily and necessary support of
life, all the profits of the intermediate agents are accumulated
on the head of the defenceless customers. The hardships of their
situation were exaggerated and increased by their own impatience
and anxiety; and the apprehension of a scarcity gradually
produced the appearances of a famine. When the luxurious
citizens of Antioch complained of the high price of poultry and
fish, Julian publicly declared, that a frugal city ought to be
satisfied with a regular supply of wine, oil, and bread; but he
acknowledged, that it was the duty of a sovereign to provide for
the subsistence of his people. With this salutary view, the
emperor ventured on a very dangerous and doubtful step, of
fixing, by legal authority, the value of corn. He enacted, that,
in a time of scarcity, it should be sold at a price which had
seldom been known in the most plentiful years; and that his own
example might strengthen his laws, he sent into the market four
hundred and twenty- two thousand modii, or measures, which were
drawn by his order from the granaries of Hierapolis, of Chalcis,
and even of Egypt. The consequences might have been foreseen,
and were soon felt. The Imperial wheat was purchased by the rich
merchants; the proprietors of land, or of corn, withheld from the
city the accustomed supply; and the small quantities that
appeared in the market were secretly sold at an advanced and
illegal price. Julian still continued to applaud his own policy,
treated the complaints of the people as a vain and ungrateful
murmur, and convinced Antioch that he had inherited the
obstinacy, though not the cruelty, of his brother Gallus. ^16 The
remonstrances of the municipal senate served only to exasperate
his inflexible mind. He was persuaded, perhaps with truth, that
the senators of Antioch who possessed lands, or were concerned in
trade, had themselves contributed to the calamities of their
country; and he imputed the disrespectful boldness which they
assumed, to the sense, not of public duty, but of private
interest. The whole body, consisting of two hundred of the most
noble and wealthy citizens, were sent, under a guard, from the
palace to the prison; and though they were permitted, before the
close of evening, to return to their respective houses, ^17 the
emperor himself could not obtain the forgiveness which he had so
easily granted. The same grievances were still the subject of
the same complaints, which were industriously circulated by the
wit and levity of the Syrian Greeks. During the licentious days
of the Saturnalia, the streets of the city resounded with
insolent songs, which derided the laws, the religion, the
personal conduct, and even the beard, of the emperor; the spirit
of Antioch was manifested by the connivance of the magistrates,
and the applause of the multitude. ^18 The disciple of Socrates
was too deeply affected by these popular insults; but the
monarch, endowed with a quick sensibility, and possessed of
absolute power, refused his passions the gratification of
revenge. A tyrant might have proscribed, without distinction,
the lives and fortunes of the citizens of Antioch; and the
unwarlike Syrians must have patiently submitted to the lust, the
rapaciousness and the cruelty, of the faithful legions of Gaul.
A milder sentence might have deprived the capital of the East of
its honors and privileges; and the courtiers, perhaps the
subjects, of Julian, would have applauded an act of justice,
which asserted the dignity of the supreme magistrate of the
republic. ^19 But instead of abusing, or exerting, the authority
of the state, to revenge his personal injuries, Julian contented
himself with an inoffensive mode of retaliation, which it would
be in the power of few princes to employ. He had been insulted
by satires and libels; in his turn, he composed, under the title
of the Enemy of the Beard, an ironical confession of his own
faults, and a severe satire on the licentious and effeminate
manners of Antioch. This Imperial reply was publicly exposed
before the gates of the palace; and the Misopogon ^20 still
remains a singular monument of the resentment, the wit, the
humanity, and the indiscretion of Julian. Though he affected to
laugh, he could not forgive. ^21 His contempt was expressed, and
his revenge might be gratified, by the nomination of a governor
^22 worthy only of such subjects; and the emperor, forever
renouncing the ungrateful city, proclaimed his resolution to pass
the ensuing winter at Tarsus in Cilicia. ^23

[Footnote 15: Julian states three different proportions, of five,
ten, or fifteen medii of wheat for one piece of gold, according
to the degrees of plenty and scarcity, (in Misopogon, p. 369.)
From this fact, and from some collateral examples, I conclude,
that under the successors of Constantine, the moderate price of
wheat was about thirty-two shillings the English quarter, which
is equal to the average price of the sixty-four first years of
the present century. See Arbuthnot's Tables of Coins, Weights,
and Measures, p. 88, 89. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 12. Mem. de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 718-721. Smith's
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol.
i. p 246. This last I am proud to quote as the work of a sage
and a friend.]

[Footnote 16: Nunquam a proposito declinabat, Galli similis
fratris, licet incruentus. Ammian. xxii. 14. The ignorance of
the most enlightened princes may claim some excuse; but we cannot
be satisfied with Julian's own defence, (in Misopogon, p. 363,
369,) or the elaborate apology of Libanius, (Orat. Parental c.
xcvii. p. 321.)]

[Footnote 17: Their short and easy confinement is gently touched
by Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. xcviii. p. 322, 323.)]

[Footnote 18: Libanius, (ad Antiochenos de Imperatoris ira, c.
17, 18, 19, in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 221-223,)
like a skilful advocate, severely censures the folly of the
people, who suffered for the crime of a few obscure and drunken
wretches.]

[Footnote 19: Libanius (ad Antiochen. c. vii. p. 213) reminds
Antioch of the recent chastisement of Caesarea; and even Julian
(in Misopogon, p. 355) insinuates how severely Tarentum had
expiated the insult to the Roman ambassadors.]

[Footnote 20: On the subject of the Misopogon, see Ammianus,
(xxii. 14,) Libanius, (Orat. Parentalis, c. xcix. p. 323,)
Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 133) and the Chronicle of
Antioch, by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 15, 16.) I have essential
obligations to the translation and notes of the Abbe de la
Bleterie, (Vie de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 1-138.)]

[Footnote 21: Ammianus very justly remarks, Coactus dissimulare
pro tempore ira sufflabatur interna. The elaborate irony of
Julian at length bursts forth into serious and direct invective.]

[Footnote 22: Ipse autem Antiochiam egressurus, Heliopoliten
quendam Alexandrum Syriacae jurisdictioni praefecit, turbulentum
et saevum; dicebatque non illum meruisse, sed Antiochensibus
avaris et contumeliosis hujusmodi judicem convenire. Ammian.
xxiii. 2. Libanius, (Epist. 722, p. 346, 347,) who confesses to
Julian himself, that he had shared the general discontent,
pretends that Alexander was a useful, though harsh, reformer of
the manners and religion of Antioch.]

[Footnote 23: Julian, in Misopogon, p. 364. Ammian. xxiii. 2,
and Valesius, ad loc. Libanius, in a professed oration, invites
him to return to his loyal and penitent city of Antioch.]

     Yet Antioch possessed one citizen, whose genius and virtues
might atone, in the opinion of Julian, for the vice and folly of
his country. The sophist Libanius was born in the capital of the
East; he publicly professed the arts of rhetoric and declamation
at Nice, Nicomedia, Constantinople, Athens, and, during the
remainder of his life, at Antioch. His school was assiduously
frequented by the Grecian youth; his disciples, who sometimes
exceeded the number of eighty, celebrated their incomparable
master; and the jealousy of his rivals, who persecuted him from
one city to another, confirmed the favorable opinion which
Libanius ostentatiously displayed of his superior merit. The
preceptors of Julian had extorted a rash but solemn assurance,
that he would never attend the lectures of their adversary: the
curiosity of the royal youth was checked and inflamed: he
secretly procured the writings of this dangerous sophist, and
gradually surpassed, in the perfect imitation of his style, the
most laborious of his domestic pupils. ^24 When Julian ascended
the throne, he declared his impatience to embrace and reward the
Syrian sophist, who had preserved, in a degenerate age, the
Grecian purity of taste, of manners, and of religion. The
emperor's prepossession was increased and justified by the
discreet pride of his favorite. Instead of pressing, with the
foremost of the crowd, into the palace of Constantinople,
Libanius calmly expected his arrival at Antioch; withdrew from
court on the first symptoms of coldness and indifference;
required a formal invitation for each visit; and taught his
sovereign an important lesson, that he might command the
obedience of a subject, but that he must deserve the attachment
of a friend. The sophists of every age, despising, or affecting
to despise, the accidental distinctions of birth and fortune, ^25
reserve their esteem for the superior qualities of the mind, with
which they themselves are so plentifully endowed. Julian might
disdain the acclamations of a venal court, who adored the
Imperial purple; but he was deeply flattered by the praise, the
admonition, the freedom, and the envy of an independent
philosopher, who refused his favors, loved his person, celebrated
his fame, and protected his memory. The voluminous writings of
Libanius still exist; for the most part, they are the vain and
idle compositions of an orator, who cultivated the science of
words; the productions of a recluse student, whose mind,
regardless of his contemporaries, was incessantly fixed on the
Trojan war and the Athenian commonwealth. Yet the sophist of
Antioch sometimes descended from this imaginary elevation; he
entertained a various and elaborate correspondence; ^26 he
praised the virtues of his own times; he boldly arraigned the
abuse of public and private life; and he eloquently pleaded the
cause of Antioch against the just resentment of Julian and
Theodosius. It is the common calamity of old age, ^27 to lose
whatever might have rendered it desirable; but Libanius
experienced the peculiar misfortune of surviving the religion and
the sciences, to which he had consecrated his genius. The friend
of Julian was an indignant spectator of the triumph of
Christianity; and his bigotry, which darkened the prospect of the
visible world, did not inspire Libanius with any lively hopes of
celestial glory and happiness. ^28
[Footnote 24: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. vii. p. 230, 231.]
[Footnote 25: Eunapius reports, that Libanius refused the
honorary rank of Praetorian praefect, as less illustrious than
the title of Sophist, (in Vit. Sophist. p. 135.) The critics have
observed a similar sentiment in one of the epistles (xviii. edit.
Wolf) of Libanius himself.]

[Footnote 26: Near two thousand of his letters - a mode of
composition in which Libanius was thought to excel - are still
extant, and already published. The critics may praise their
subtle and elegant brevity; yet Dr. Bentley (Dissertation upon
Phalaris, p. 48) might justly, though quaintly observe, that "you
feel, by the emptiness and deadness of them, that you converse
with some dreaming pedant, with his elbow on his desk."]

[Footnote 27: His birth is assigned to the year 314. He mentions
the seventy-sixth year of his age, (A. D. 390,) and seems to
allude to some events of a still later date.]

[Footnote 28: Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but curious
narrative of his own life, (tom. ii. p. 1-84, edit. Morell,) of
which Eunapius (p. 130-135) has left a concise and unfavorable
account. Among the moderns, Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. iv. p. 571-576,) Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p.
376-414,) and Lardner, (Heathen Testimonies, tom. iv. p.
127-163,) have illustrated the character and writings of this
famous sophist.]

Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.

Part II.

     The martial impatience of Julian urged him to take the field
in the beginning of the spring; and he dismissed, with contempt
and reproach, the senate of Antioch, who accompanied the emperor
beyond the limits of their own territory, to which he was
resolved never to return. After a laborious march of two days,
^29 he halted on the third at Beraea, or Aleppo, where he had the
mortification of finding a senate almost entirely Christian; who
received with cold and formal demonstrations of respect the
eloquent sermon of the apostle of paganism. The son of one of
the most illustrious citizens of Beraea, who had embraced, either
from interest or conscience, the religion of the emperor, was
disinherited by his angry parent. The father and the son were
invited to the Imperial table. Julian, placing himself between
them, attempted, without success, to inculcate the lesson and
example of toleration; supported, with affected calmness, the
indiscreet zeal of the aged Christian, who seemed to forget the
sentiments of nature, and the duty of a subject; and at length,
turning towards the afflicted youth, "Since you have lost a
father," said he, "for my sake, it is incumbent on me to supply
his place." ^30 The emperor was received in a manner much more
agreeable to his wishes at Batnae, ^* a small town pleasantly
seated in a grove of cypresses, about twenty miles from the city
of Hierapolis. The solemn rites of sacrifice were decently
prepared by the inhabitants of Batnae, who seemed attached to the
worship of their tutelar deities, Apollo and Jupiter; but the
serious piety of Julian was offended by the tumult of their
applause; and he too clearly discerned, that the smoke which
arose from their altars was the incense of flattery, rather than
of devotion. The ancient and magnificent temple which had
sanctified, for so many ages, the city of Hierapolis, ^31 no
longer subsisted; and the consecrated wealth, which afforded a
liberal maintenance to more than three hundred priests, might
hasten its downfall. Yet Julian enjoyed the satisfaction of
embracing a philosopher and a friend, whose religious firmness
had withstood the pressing and repeated solicitations of
Constantius and Gallus, as often as those princes lodged at his
house, in their passage through Hierapolis. In the hurry of
military preparation, and the careless confidence of a familiar
correspondence, the zeal of Julian appears to have been lively
and uniform. He had now undertaken an important and difficult
war; and the anxiety of the event rendered him still more
attentive to observe and register the most trifling presages,
from which, according to the rules of divination, any knowledge
of futurity could be derived. ^32 He informed Libanius of his
progress as far as Hierapolis, by an elegant epistle, ^33 which
displays the facility of his genius, and his tender friendship
for the sophist of Antioch.

[Footnote 29: From Antioch to Litarbe, on the territory of
Chalcis, the road, over hills and through morasses, was extremely
bad; and the loose stones were cemented only with sand, (Julian.
epist. xxvii.) It is singular enough that the Romans should have
neglected the great communication between Antioch and the
Euphrates. See Wesseling Itinerar. p. 190 Bergier, Hist des
Grands Chemins, tom. ii. p. 100]

[Footnote 30: Julian alludes to this incident, (epist. xxvii.,)
which is more distinctly related by Theodoret, (l. iii. c. 22.)
The intolerant spirit of the father is applauded by Tillemont,
(Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 534.) and even by La Bleterie,
(Vie de Julien, p. 413.)]

[Footnote *: This name, of Syriac origin, is found in the Arabic,
and means a place in a valley where waters meet. Julian says,
the name of the city is Barbaric, the situation Greek. The
geographer Abulfeda (tab. Syriac. p. 129, edit. Koehler) speaks
of it in a manner to justify the praises of Julian. - St. Martin.
Notes to Le Beau, iii. 56. - M.]

[Footnote 31: See the curious treatise de Dea Syria, inserted
among the works of Lucian, (tom. iii. p. 451-490, edit. Reitz.)
The singular appellation of Ninus vetus (Ammian. xiv. 8) might
induce a suspicion, that Heirapolis had been the royal seat of
the Assyrians.]

[Footnote 32: Julian (epist. xxviii.) kept a regular account of
all the fortunate omens; but he suppresses the inauspicious
signs, which Ammianus (xxiii. 2) has carefully recorded.]

[Footnote 33: Julian. epist. xxvii. p. 399-402.]

     Hierapolis, ^* situate almost on the banks of the Euphrates,
^34 had been appointed for the general rendezvous of the Roman
troops, who immediately passed the great river on a bridge of
boats, which was previously constructed. ^35 If the inclinations
of Julian had been similar to those of his predecessor, he might
have wasted the active and important season of the year in the
circus of Samosata or in the churches of Edessa. But as the
warlike emperor, instead of Constantius, had chosen Alexander for
his model, he advanced without delay to Carrhae, ^36 a very
ancient city of Mesopotamia, at the distance of fourscore miles
from Hierapolis. The temple of the Moon attracted the devotion of
Julian; but the halt of a few days was principally employed in
completing the immense preparations of the Persian war. The
secret of the expedition had hitherto remained in his own breast;
but as Carrhae is the point of separation of the two great roads,
he could no longer conceal whether it was his design to attack
the dominions of Sapor on the side of the Tigris, or on that of
the Euphrates. The emperor detached an army of thirty thousand
men, under the command of his kinsman Procopius, and of
Sebastian, who had been duke of Egypt. They were ordered to
direct their march towards Nisibis, and to secure the frontier
from the desultory incursions of the enemy, before they attempted
the passage of the Tigris. Their subsequent operations were left
to the discretion of the generals; but Julian expected, that
after wasting with fire and sword the fertile districts of Media
and Adiabene, they might arrive under the walls of Ctesiphon at
the same time that he himself, advancing with equal steps along
the banks of the Euphrates, should besiege the capital of the
Persian monarchy. The success of this well-concerted plan
depended, in a great measure, on the powerful and ready
assistance of the king of Armenia, who, without exposing the
safety of his own dominions, might detach an army of four
thousand horse, and twenty thousand foot, to the assistance of
the Romans. ^37 But the feeble Arsaces Tiranus, ^38 king of
Armenia, had degenerated still more shamefully than his father
Chosroes, from the manly virtues of the great Tiridates; and as
the pusillanimous monarch was averse to any enterprise of danger
and glory, he could disguise his timid indolence by the more
decent excuses of religion and gratitude. He expressed a pious
attachment to the memory of Constantius, from whose hands he had
received in marriage Olympias, the daughter of the praefect
Ablavius; and the alliance of a female, who had been educated as
the destined wife of the emperor Constans, exalted the dignity of
a Barbarian king. ^39 Tiranus professed the Christian religion;
he reigned over a nation of Christians; and he was restrained, by
every principle of conscience and interest, from contributing to
the victory, which would consummate the ruin of the church. The
alienated mind of Tiranus was exasperated by the indiscretion of
Julian, who treated the king of Armenia as his slave, and as the
enemy of the gods. The haughty and threatening style of the
Imperial mandates ^40 awakened the secret indignation of a
prince, who, in the humiliating state of dependence, was still
conscious of his royal descent from the Arsacides, the lords of
the East, and the rivals of the Roman power. ^!

[Footnote *: Or Bambyce, now Bambouch; Manbedj Arab., or Maboug,
Syr. It was twenty-four Roman miles from the Euphrates. - M.]

[Footnote 34: I take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my
obligations to M. d'Anville, for his recent geography of the
Euphrates and Tigris, (Paris, 1780, in 4to.,) which particularly
illustrates the expedition of Julian.]
[Footnote 35: There are three passages within a few miles of each
other; 1. Zeugma, celebrated by the ancients; 2. Bir, frequented
by the moderns; and, 3. The bridge of Menbigz, or Hierapolis, at
the distance of four parasangs from the city.]

[Footnote *: Djisr Manbedj is the same with the ancient Zeugma.
St. Martin, iii. 58 - M.]

[Footnote 36: Haran, or Carrhae, was the ancient residence of the
Sabaeans, and of Abraham. See the Index Geographicus of
Schultens, (ad calcem Vit. Saladin.,) a work from which I have
obtained much Oriental knowledge concerning the ancient and
modern geography of Syria and the adjacent countries.]

[Footnote *: On an inedited medal in the collection of the late
M. Tochon. of the Academy of Inscriptions, it is read Xappan.
St. Martin. iii 60 - M.]
[Footnote 37: See Xenophon. Cyropaed. l. iii. p. 189, edit.
Hutchinson. Artavasdes might have supplied Marc Antony with
16,000 horse, armed and disciplined after the Parthian manner,
(Plutarch, in M. Antonio. tom. v. p. 117.)]

[Footnote 38: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armeniac. l. iii. c. 11, p.
242) fixes his accession (A. D. 354) to the 17th year of
Constantius.]
[Footnote *: Arsaces Tiranus, or Diran, had ceased to reign
twenty- five years before, in 337. The intermediate changes in
Armenia, and the character of this Arsaces, the son of Diran, are
traced by M. St. Martin, at considerable length, in his
supplement to Le Beau, ii. 208-242. As long as his Grecian queen
Olympias maintained her influence, Arsaces was faithful to the
Roman and Christian alliance. On the accession of Julian, the
same influence made his fidelity to waver; but Olympias having
been poisoned in the sacramental bread by the agency of
Pharandcem, the former wife of Arsaces, another change took place
in Armenian politics unfavorable to the Christian interest. The
patriarch Narses retired from the impious court to a safe
seclusion. Yet Pharandsem was equally hostile to the Persian
influence, and Arsaces began to support with vigor the cause of
Julian. He made an inroad into the Persian dominions with a body
of Rans and Alans as auxiliaries; wasted Aderbidgan and Sapor,
who had been defeated near Tauriz, was engaged in making head
against his troops in Persarmenia, at the time of the death of
Julian. Such is M. St. Martin's view, (ii. 276, et sqq.,) which
rests on the Armenian historians, Faustos of Byzantium, and
Mezrob the biographer of the Partriarch Narses. In the history
of Armenia by Father Chamitch, and translated by Avdall, Tiran is
still king of Armenia, at the time of Julian's death. F.
Chamitch follows Moses of Chorene, The authority of Gibbon. - M.]

[Footnote 39: Ammian. xx. 11. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856) says,
in general terms, that Constantius gave to his brother's widow,
an expression more suitable to a Roman than a Christian.]

[Footnote 40: Ammianus (xxiii. 2) uses a word much too soft for
the occasion, monuerat. Muratori (Fabricius, Bibliothec. Graec.
tom. vii. p. 86) has published an epistle from Julian to the
satrap Arsaces; fierce, vulgar, and (though it might deceive
Sozomen, l. vi. c. 5) most probably spurious. La Bleterie (Hist.
de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 339) translates and rejects it.
     Note: St. Martin considers it genuine: the Armenian writers
mention such a letter, iii. 37. - M.]

[Footnote *: Arsaces did not abandon the Roman alliance, but gave
it only feeble support. St. Martin, iii. 41 - M.]

     The military dispositions of Julian were skilfully contrived
to deceive the spies and to divert the attention of Sapor. The
legions appeared to direct their march towards Nisibis and the
Tigris. On a sudden they wheeled to the right; traversed the
level and naked plain of Carrhae; and reached, on the third day,
the banks of the Euphrates, where the strong town of Nicephorium,
or Callinicum, had been founded by the Macedonian kings. From
thence the emperor pursued his march, above ninety miles, along
the winding stream of the Euphrates, till, at length, about one
month after his departure from Antioch, he discovered the towers
of Circesium, ^* the extreme limit of the Roman dominions. The
army of Julian, the most numerous that any of the Caesars had
ever led against Persia, consisted of sixty-five thousand
effective and well-disciplined soldiers. The veteran bands of
cavalry and infantry, of Romans and Barbarians, had been selected
from the different provinces; and a just preeminence of loyalty
and valor was claimed by the hardy Gauls, who guarded the throne
and person of their beloved prince. A formidable body of
Scythian auxiliaries had been transported from another climate,
and almost from another world, to invade a distant country, of
whose name and situation they were ignorant. The love of rapine
and war allured to the Imperial standard several tribes of
Saracens, or roving Arabs, whose service Julian had commanded,
while he sternly refuse the payment of the accustomed subsidies.
The broad channel of the Euphrates ^41 was crowded by a fleet of
eleven hundred ships, destined to attend the motions, and to
satisfy the wants, of the Roman army. The military strength of
the fleet was composed of fifty armed galleys; and these were
accompanied by an equal number of flat-bottomed boats, which
might occasionally be connected into the form of temporary
bridges. The rest of the ships, partly constructed of timber,
and partly covered with raw hides, were laden with an almost
inexhaustible supply of arms and engines, of utensils and
provisions. The vigilant humanity of Julian had embarked a very
large magazine of vinegar and biscuit for the use of the
soldiers, but he prohibited the indulgence of wine; and
rigorously stopped a long string of superfluous camels that
attempted to follow the rear of the army. The River Chaboras
falls into the Euphrates at Circesium; ^42 and as soon as the
trumpet gave the signal of march, the Romans passed the little
stream which separated two mighty and hostile empires. The
custom of ancient discipline required a military oration; and
Julian embraced every opportunity of displaying his eloquence.
He animated the impatient and attentive legions by the example of
the inflexible courage and glorious triumphs of their ancestors.
He excited their resentment by a lively picture of the insolence
of the Persians; and he exhorted them to imitate his firm
resolution, either to extirpate that perfidious nation, or to
devote his life in the cause of the republic. The eloquence of
Julian was enforced by a donative of one hundred and thirty
pieces of silver to every soldier; and the bridge of the Chaboras
was instantly cut away, to convince the troops that they must
place their hopes of safety in the success of their arms. Yet
the prudence of the emperor induced him to secure a remote
frontier, perpetually exposed to the inroads of the hostile
Arabs. A detachment of four thousand men was left at Circesium,
which completed, to the number of ten thousand, the regular
garrison of that important fortress. ^43

[Footnote *: Kirkesia the Carchemish of the Scriptures. - M.]
[Footnote 41: Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Ammian.
xxiii. 3 Somewhat higher, at the fords of Thapsacus, the river is
four stadia or 800 yards, almost half an English mile, broad.
(Xenophon, Anabasis, l. i. p. 41, edit. Hutchinson, with Foster's
Observations, p. 29, &c., in the 2d volume of Spelman's
translation.) If the breadth of the Euphrates at Bir and Zeugma
is no more than 130 yards, (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 335,)
the enormous difference must chiefly arise from the depth of the
channel.]
[Footnote 42: Munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum, Abora (the
Orientals aspirate Chaboras or Chabour) et Euphrates ambiunt
flumina, velut spatium insulare fingentes. Ammian. xxiii. 5.]

[Footnote 43: The enterprise and armament of Julian are described
by himself, (Epist. xxvii.,) Ammianus Marcellinus, (xxiii. 3, 4,
5,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 108, 109, p. 332, 333,) Zosimus,
(l. iii. p. 160, 161, 162) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. l,) and John
Malala, (tom. ii. p. 17.)]
     From the moment that the Romans entered the enemy's country,
^44 the country of an active and artful enemy, the order of march
was disposed in three columns. ^45 The strength of the infantry,
and consequently of the whole army was placed in the centre,
under the peculiar command of their master-general Victor. On
the right, the brave Nevitta led a column of several legions
along the banks of the Euphrates, and almost always in sight of
the fleet. The left flank of the army was protected by the
column of cavalry. Hormisdas and Arinthaeus were appointed
generals of the horse; and the singular adventures of Hormisdas
^46 are not undeserving of our notice. He was a Persian prince,
of the royal race of the Sassanides, who, in the troubles of the
minority of Sapor, had escaped from prison to the hospitable
court of the great Constantine. Hormisdas at first excited the
compassion, and at length acquired the esteem, of his new
masters; his valor and fidelity raised him to the military honors
of the Roman service; and though a Christian, he might indulge
the secret satisfaction of convincing his ungrateful country,
than at oppressed subject may prove the most dangerous enemy.
Such was the disposition of the three principal columns. The
front and flanks of the army were covered by Lucilianus with a
flying detachment of fifteen hundred light-armed soldiers, whose
active vigilance observed the most distant signs, and conveyed
the earliest notice, of any hostile approach. Dagalaiphus, and
Secundinus duke of Osrhoene, conducted the troops of the
rear-guard; the baggage securely proceeded in the intervals of
the columns; and the ranks, from a motive either of use or
ostentation, were formed in such open order, that the whole line
of march extended almost ten miles. The ordinary post of Julian
was at the head of the centre column; but as he preferred the
duties of a general to the state of a monarch, he rapidly moved,
with a small escort of light cavalry, to the front, the rear, the
flanks, wherever his presence could animate or protect the march
of the Roman army. The country which they traversed from the
Chaboras, to the cultivated lands of Assyria, may be considered
as a part of the desert of Arabia, a dry and barren waste, which
could never be improved by the most powerful arts of human
industry. Julian marched over the same ground which had been trod
above seven hundred years before by the footsteps of the younger
Cyrus, and which is described by one of the companions of his
expedition, the sage and heroic Xenophon. ^47 "The country was a
plain throughout, as even as the sea, and full of wormwood; and
if any other kind of shrubs or reeds grew there, they had all an
aromatic smell, but no trees could be