21 Persecution of Heresy State of the Church, Part 7 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 affection which opposed the authority and religion of their sovereign. The ordinary punishments of death, exile, and confiscation were inflicted with partial vigor, and all the Greeks still revered the holy memory of two clerks, a reader and a subdeacon, who were accused of the murder of Hermogenus, and who 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 Aryan bishops, and particularly with Macedonias, were deprived of the immunities of ecclesiastics, and the rights of the 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 Macedonias. The civil and military powers were directed to obey his commands, and the cruelties exercised by this semi-Aryan tyrant in the support of the Homocian, 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 Macedonias. The rights 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 eggshells, or inhumanely compressed between sharp and heavy boards. The Novacians of Constantinople and the adjacent country, by their firm attachment to the Homocian standard, deserved to be confounded with the Catholics themselves. Macedonias was informed that a large district of Paphlegonia was almost entirely inhabited by these sectaries. He resolved either to convert or 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 division. The Novacian peasants, animated by despair and religious fury, boldly encountered the invaders of their country, and though many of the Paphlegonians were slain, the Roman legions were vanquished by an irregular multitude, armed only with cysts and axes, and, except a few who escaped by ignomious 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 those of his units. Many were imprisoned and persecuted and driven into exile. Whole troops of those who are styled heretics were massacred, particularly at Cisacus and at Samosada. In Paphlegonia, Bethenia, Galatia, and many other provinces, towns and villages were laid waste and utterly destroyed. While the flames of the area and controversy consumed the vitals of the empire, the African provinces were infested by their peculiar enemies. The savage fanatics, who, under the name of Circumcellians, formed the strength and scandal of the Donatist Party. The severe execution of the laws of Constantine had excited a spirit of discontent and resistance. The strenuous efforts of his son Constance to restore the unity of the church exasperated the sentiments of mutual hatred, which had, at first, occasioned the separation. And the methods of force and corruption employed by the two imperial commissioners, Paul and Macarius, furnished the schismatics with the specious contrast between the maxims of the apostles and the conduct of their pretended successors. 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 avenging 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 infirmitable gangs on the edge of the Gatulian Desert, and readily exchanged the habits of labor for a life of vitalness and rapine, which was consecrated by the name of religion and faintly condemned by the doctors of the sect. The leaders of the Circumcellians 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 Circumcellians 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 signaled their zeal were tortured by the fanatics with the most refined and wanton barbarity. The spirit of the Circumcellians was not always exerted against their defenseless enemies. They engaged and sometimes defeated the troops of the province, and in the bloody action of Baga'i 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 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 Circumcellians has been renewed in the persecution, the boldness, the crimes, and the enthusiasm of the Camisads, and if the fanatics of Langdok surpassed those of Numidia by their military achievements, the Africans maintained their fierce independence with more resolution and perseverance. 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. 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 travelers 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. From the actions of these desperate enthusiasts who were admired by one party as the martyrs of God, and abhorred by the others 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. 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 Amianus had convinced him that the enmity of the Christians towards each other surpassed the fury of savage beasts against man, and Gregory Nazianen 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. 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 demons. 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 in 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. The 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 intolerable spirit which has been extracted from the pure and simple maxims of the gospel. A modern writer who, with a just confidence, has prefixed to his own history the honorable epithets of political and philosophical 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. Out 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 or 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 refused 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. 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 faintest pretenses of justice and the public good, and while Constantine designed to ruin the foundations, he seemed to reform the abuses of the ancient religion. To the example of the wisest of his predecessors, he condemned, under the most rigorous penalties, the occult and impious acts of divination, which excited the vain hopes and sometimes the criminal attempts of those who were discontented with their present condition. An ignomious 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 practiced in the face of the day and to the honor of Venus. 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 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. The sons of Constantin trod in the footsteps of their father, with more zeal and with less discretion. The pretenses of rapine and oppression were insensibly multiplied, 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. The name of Constantius is prefixed to a concise law which might have superseded the necessity of any preacher 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. 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. The 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 rights and sacrifices, and though he had embraced a different religion he never attempted to deprive the empire of the sacred worship of antiquity. 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 more absolute authority over the religion which they had deserted than over that which they professed. The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of paganism, 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 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 mind 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 enumerous 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 prescribed sect, and their hopes were revived by the rel-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. End of Chapter 21 Part 7 Chapter 22 Part 1 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 2 This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 22 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 practiced with success. They easily discovered that his simplicity was not exempt from affectation. The ridiculous epitaphs of an hairy savage, of an ape invested with the purple, were applied to the dress and person of the philosophic warrior. His modest dispatches were stigmatized by the vain and elaborate fictions of a lacretious Greek, a speculative soldier who has studied the art of war and missed the groves of the academy. The voice of malicious folly was at length silenced by the shouts of victory. The conqueror of the Franks in Alemani 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 above forty days journey. So extravagant a fable was incapable, however, of deceiving the public credulity, or even of satisfying the pride of the emperor himself. Secretly conscious of 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 appearance of truth and candor. Instead of deprecating 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, wilson private, and perhaps in his own breast he disguised, under the less odious appellation of fear, the sentiments of hatred and envy which he secretly conceived for the inimitable virtues of Julian. The apparent tranquility of Gaul and the imminent danger of the eastern provinces offered a specious pretense 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 notary, with positive orders from the emperor that they were directed to execute and he was commanded not to oppose. Constantius signified his pleasure that four entire legions, the Celti and Petulins, 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 previous use 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. The Caesar foresaw and lamented the consequences of that faithful mandate. Most of the auxiliaries who had 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 consider truth as the noblest of their virtues, and freedom is the most valuable of their possessions. The legionaries who had enjoyed the title and privileges of Romans were enlisted for the general defense 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 a 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.  But a positive refusal was an act of rebellion and a declaration of war, the inexorable jealousy of the emperor, the preemptory and perhaps insidious nature of his commands left not any room for a pharaoh-apology or a 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 councils of Salist 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 Lou Piccanus, the general of the cavalry, was dispatched into Britain to repulse the inroads of the Scots and Picts, and Florentius was occupied at Vienne 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 prefect was indispensable in the Council of the Prince. In the meanwhile, the Caesar was oppressed by the rude and important 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, which he could not abdicate with safety. After a painful conflict, Julian was compelled to acknowledge that obedience was the virtue of the most imminent 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 the 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, 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. The licentious murmurs, which every hour were communicated from tent to tent with more boldness and effect, prepared their minds for the most daring act of sedition. And by the connivance of their tribunes, a seasonal libel was secretly dispersed, which painted in lively colors the disgrace of the Caesar, the oppression of the Gallic Army, and 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. As soon as the approach of the troops was announced, the Caesar went out to meet them and ascended his tribunal, which had been directed in a plane before the gates of the city. After distinguishing the officers and soldiers who by their rank or merit deserved a coup your attention, Julian addressed himself in a study duration to the surrounding multitude. He celebrated their exploits with grateful applause, encouraged them to accept, with alacrity, the honor of serving under the eyes 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 defending their general by an indecent clamor or of belying their sentiments by a 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 desserts, 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 molded 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 the sentience 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, and careless of future dangers proclaimed the fatal and irrevocable words, Julian Augustus. The prince, whose anxious suspense was interrupted by the 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 an external 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 a 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 individuals he sometimes employed their mercy and sometimes expressed his indignation, conjured them not to sell 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 the 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 and derage. The inflexible Caesar sustained to 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. The rich military collar which was offered by chance supplied the want of a diadem. 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. The grief of Julian could proceed only from his innocence, but his innocence must appear extremely doubtful in the eyes of those who have learned to suspect the motives and professions of princes. His lively and active mind was susceptible of the various impressions of hope and fear, of gratitude and of 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 perspective, way and operation of these sentiments or to assert the principles of action which might escape the observation while they guided or rather impaled 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 and it may seem ungenerous to distrust the honor of a hero in 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. 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. To moderate the zeal of his party, to protect the persons of his enemies, to defeat and to despise the secret enterprises which were formed against his life and dignity with 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 his 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 Gaelic provinces.  This epistle is inscribed with the modest appellation of Caesar, with Julian's solicits in a preemptory, the 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 prefect of approved discretion and a 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 in August. The soldiers and the people rejoiced in the revolution, which was not stained even with the blood of the guilty. Florentius was a fugitive, a pinnacus, a prisoner. The persons who were disaffected to the new government were disarmed and secured, and the vacant officers were distributed according to the recommendation of merit by a prince who despised the intrigues of the palace and the clamors of the soldiers. 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 persecution of the faction of Mingentius had filled Gaul with numerous bans of outlaws and robbers. They cheerfully accepted the offer of a general pardon from a prince whom they could trust and submitted to the restraints of military discipline and retained only their implacable hatred to the person and government of Constantius. As soon as the season of the year permitted Julian to take the field, he appeared at the head of his legions through a bridge over the Rhine in the neighborhood of Clive and prepared to chastise the perfidy of the Atuari, a band 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 can penetrate into a country which former princes had considered as inaccessible. After a given piece to the barbarians, the emperor carefully visited the fortifications along the Rhine from Clive to Basel, surveyed with peculiar attention the territories which he had recovered from the hands of the Alemani, passed through Basin-Saum, which had severely suffered from their fury and fixed his headquarters at Vienne for the ensuing winner. 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. Vatomer was the only prince of the Alemani whom he esteemed or feared, and while the subtle barbarian affected to observe the faith of trees, 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 Alemani by his own arts, and Vatomer, who, in the character of a friend, had unconsciously 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 had 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 already been made by four preceding expeditions. End of Chapter 22, Part 1. Chapter 22, Part 2 of the Decline of Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 2. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The ambassadors of Julian had been instructed to execute with the utmost diligence their important commission. But in their passage, through Italy and the Lyricum, they were detained by the tedious and affected delays by the provincial governors. They were conducted by slow journeys from Constantinople to Caesarea and Cappadocia, and when at length they were admitted to the presence of Constantius, they found that he had already conceived from the dispatches 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, the 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. 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 Parton, which were announced by Epictetus, a Gallic bishop, and one of the Aryan favorites of Constantius. Several months were ineffectually consumed in a treaty which was negotiated at the distance of 3,000 miles between Paris and Antioch, and as soon as Julian perceived that his moderate 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 quaister Leonis. The haughty epistle of Constantius was read to the attempt of 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 continued 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 ambassadors 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 to helpless orphan. An orphan interrupted Julian, who justified his calls 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 Leonis, who with some difficulty had been protective 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 embittered by the simulation of 20 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, 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. 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 Cotian Alps, seemed to indicate the march of two armies and the size of those magazines, each of which consisted of 600,000 quarters of wheat, or rather, flour, was the 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 minds 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 the 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 implications to the service of a leader whom they celebrated as the deliverer of Gaul and the conqueror of the Germans. This solemn engagement which seemed to be dictated by affection rather than by duty was singly opposed by Nabriticus who had been admitted to the office of Praetorian Prefect. 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 and honorable by 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 Prefect 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. The high office in Nabriticus was bestowed on Salist and the provinces of Gaul which were now delivered from the intolerable oppression of taxes enjoyed the model and equitable administration of a friend of Julian who was permitted to practice those virtues which he had instilled in the mind of his pupil. 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. One body which consisted of 10,000 men was directed under the command of Nevada general of the cavalry to advance through the midland parts of Racia and Noricum. A similar division of troops under the orders of Jovius and Jovenus prepared to follow the oblique course of the highways through the Alps in the northern confines of Italy. The instructions to the generals was 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 and 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 Sermium. For himself Julian had reserved a more difficult and extraordinary part. He selected 3,000 brave and active volunteers resolved, like their leader, to cast behind them every hope of retreat. At the head of this faithful band he fearlessly plunged into the recesses of the Markeum or Black Forest which conceals the sources of the Danube. 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 without reflecting whether he traversed the territory of the Romans or of the Barbarians. And at length emerged between Ritisban and Vienna at the place where he had designed to embark his troops on the Danube. By a well-concerted stratagem he seized a fleet of light brigantines as a layered anchor, secured a supply of coarse provisions sufficient to satisfy the indelicate but voracious appetite of a Gallic army and boldly committed himself to the stream of the Danube. The labors of his mariners who plied their ores with incessant diligence and the steady continuance of a favorable wind carried his fleet above 700 miles in 11 days and he had already disembarked his troops at Benonia, only 19 miles from Sermium 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 nil time valor. The banks of the Danube were crowded on either side with spectators who gazed on with the military pomp, anticipated the importance of the event and diffused through the adjacent country, the fame of the young hero who advanced with more the mortal speed at the head of innumerable forces of the west. Julian who with the rank of general of the cavalry commanded the military powers of Balericum was alarmed and perplexed by the doubtful reports which he could neither reject nor believe. He had taken some slow and no-resolute measures for the purpose of collecting his troops when he was surprised by Degelephus, an active officer whom Julian assumes he landed at Benonia 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 Lucillian had no sooner recovered his spirits than he betrayed his one 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 counselor but as a suppliant. Conscious that success alone could justify his attempts and that boldness only good command success he instantly advanced at the head of 3,000 soldiers to attack the strongest and most populous city of the Illyrian provinces. As he entered the long suburb of Sermium he was received by the joyful acclamations of the army and the 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 March to occupy the narrow house of Suci in the defiles of Mount Hymas which almost in the midway between Sermium and Constantinople separates the provinces of Thrace and Dacia by an abrupt dissent towards the former and a general declivity on the side of the latter. The defense of this important post was entrusted to the brave Navitta who as well as the generals of the Italian division successfully executed the plan of the March and the junction which their master had so ably conceived. The homage which Julian obtained from the fears or the inclinations of the people extended far beyond the immediate effects of his arms. The prefectures 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 have retired with precipitation to the court of Asia Julian who cannot always restrain the levity of his temper stigmatize their flight by adding and all the acts of the year the epitaph of fugitive to the names of the two consuls. The provinces which 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 headquarters of Cermium and Nicis he distributed to the principal cities of the empire a labored apology for his own conduct. Published secret dispatches of Constantius and solicited the judgment of mankind between two competitors one of whom had expelled and the other had invited the barbarians. 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 seems to have been dictated by an elegant enthusiasm which prompted him to submit his actions and 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 Aereopagus. 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 Tertullius prefect of the city. The epistle of Julian was read and as he appeared to be the 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. 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. 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 this military expedition in any other light than that of a hunting party. In the camp of Heriapolus 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 the shout of their onset. The speech of the emperor was received with military applause and Theodotus, the president of the Council of Heriapolus, requested with tears of adulation that his city might be adorned with the head of the vanquished rebel. The chosen detachment was dispatched away in post wagons to secure, if it were yet possible, the passive sushi. The recruits, the horses, the arms and the magazines which had been prepared against Sappor 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 subsidence 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 which were stationed at Sermium, but he suspected with reason the fidelity of those troops which had been distinguished by the emperor and it was thought expedient under the pretense 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 of the savage fierceness of the Germans, they resolved by the instigation of one of their tribunes to halt at Aquilea 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, Jobinus led back a part of the army into Italy and the siege of Aquilea was formed with diligence and prosecuted with vigor. But the legionaries who seemed to have rejected the yoke of discipline conducted the defense of the place with skill and perseverance invited the rest of Italy to imitate the example of their courage and loyalty and threaten the retreat of Julian if he should be forced to yield the superior numbers of the armies of the east. But the humanity of Julian was preserved from the cruel alternative which he pathetically laments of destroying or of being himself destroyed and the seasonal 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 opposed 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 Moksurini 12 miles beyond Tarsus where he expired after a short illness in the 45th year of his age and the 24th of his reign. 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 had inherited 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 aboard the thought of a civil war. In two officers of rank were instantly dispatched 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. Inpatient to visit the place of his birth and the new capital of the empire he advanced from Nysos through the mountains of Hymas and the cities of Thrace. When he reached Heraclia at the distance of 60 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. And 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 inexperienced 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. 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 remarks of respect may be interpreted as a self-attribute to the birth and dignity of his imperial kinsmen the tears of Julian professed to the world that he had forgotten the injuries and remembered only the obligations which he had received from Constantius. 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 32nd year of his age acquired the undisputed possession of the Roman Empire. End of chapter 22 part 2 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2 This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org 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 into posterity for the happiness of millions. Julian recollected with terror the observation of his master Plato 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 God's or of the genie. From this principle he justly concluded that the man who presumes terrain should aspire to the perfection of the divine nature that he should purify his soul from her mortal and terrestrial part and 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, seldom fails to ascend the throne of a despot. 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 in their actions 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 free inactive for the various and important businesses of an author a pontiff, a magistrate, a general and a prince and one in 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 he listened to the memorials which had been received considered the subject of the petitions and signified his intentions more rapidly they could be taken in shorthand 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 his ability 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 Chase Julian never shared his bed with the female 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 occupations the predecessors of Julian his uncle his brother and his cousin indulged the purile taste for the games of the circus under the specious pretense of complying with the inclinations of the people and they frequently remained until the ordinary round of 24 races 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 on five or six of the races he hastily withdrew with the impatience of a philosopher who considered every moment is lost that was not devoted to the advantage of the public or the improvement of his own mind to protect the short duration of his reign and if the dates were less securely assertant we should refuse to believe that only 16 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 are still extant remains as a monument of the application as well as the genius of the emperor a couple 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 to Constantinople and the latter at Antioch the reformation of the imperial court was one of the first and most necessary acts of the government of Julian 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 a barber exclaimed the prince with effective surprise that I want not the receiver general of the finances 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 20 servants and his many horses a thousand barbers a thousand cup errors a thousand cooks were distributed in the several offices of luxury the monarch who resigned to his subjects the superiority of merit in 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 color marbles and ornaments of messy gold the most exquisite dainties were procured to gratify their pride rather than their taste birds of the most distant climates winter roses and summer snows the domestic crowd of the palace surpassed the expensive 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 appointments and the most worthless of mankind might purchase the privilege and 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 fear 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 wrapping and venality could be equaled to those 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 and 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 initiative 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 has accused of proceeding with too much haste and inconsiderable severity by a single edict he reduced the pain of slaves and dependents 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 maximum of Aristotle that true virtue was placed at an equal distance between the opposite vices the splendid populace and the person of Constantine were constantly rejected by his philosophic successor but with the properties julian affected to renounce the decencies of dress and seemed to value himself for his neglect of the laws of cleansiness in a satirical performance which was designed for the public eye the emperor the use of the razor was confined to his head alone and celebrates with visible complacency the shaggy and populace speared which he finally 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 effectation of diogenes as well as the abuses without punishing the crimes of his predecessors 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 I do not mean to apply that epithet to my brother Constantius he is no more 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 has he wished to escape the reproach of condemning his personal enemies the office of president was exercised by the veneral prefect of the east a second salist whose virtues conciliated the esteem of greek sophists and of christian bishops he was assisted by the eloquent one of the consuls elected his merit is loudly celebrated by the doubtful evidence of his own retio our betio 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 letters of the jovian and herkulean bands encompassed the tribunal and the judges were alternately swayed by the laws of justice and by the clamors of faction the chamberlain eusebius who had so long abused the favor of constantius expiated by an ignominious reign the executions of paul and epidemius 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 amianus appeared to weep over the fate of Ursulus the treasurer of the empire the rage of the soldiers whom he had provoked by his indiscretion was the cause and excuse of his death and the emperor deeply wounded by his own approaches 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 insines of the prefecture and consulship Taurus and Florentius were reduced to implore the clemency the former was banished to Vercelli in Italy and a sentence of death was pronounced against the latter a wise prince should have rewarded the crime of Tarsus 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 interstrate of an informer and used to learn what place concealed the wretched fugitive from his just resentment some months after the tribunal of Chalcedon had been dissolved the Praetorian vice-region of Africa the notary Gaudentius and Artemius the Duke of Egypt were executed in Antioch Artemius had reigned the cruel and corrupt tyrant of a great province Gaudentius had long practiced the arts of Calamity against the innocent the virtuous and even the 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 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'd loudly re-demanded the gifts which they had imprudently or illegally bestowed he foresaw the endless prosecution of exaceous suits and he engaged a promise which ought always to have been in absolute order which prohibited the watermen from transporting any Egyptian to Constantinople and thus detained his disappointed clients on the Asiatic shore till their patients and money being utterly exhausted they were obliged to return with indignant murmurs to their native country. End of Chapter 22 Part 3 Chapter 22 Part 4 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librivox.org 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. Conscience and 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 Ankara had prepared for his own use of purple garment and this indiscreet action which under the reign of Constantius Julian by the officious importunity of a private enemy. The monarch after making some inquiry into the rank and character of his rival dispatched 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 of a 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 reigns of empire but that youth 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 inflected by the hand of justice. Julian was not insensible to the advantages of freedom. From his studies he had imbibed the spirit 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. He sincerely abhorred the system of oriental despotism which Diocletian Constantine and the patient habits of four score years had established in the empire. A motive of superstition prevented the execution of the design which Julian of relieving his head from the weight of a costly diadem but he absolutely refused the title of Dominus or Lord a word which had grown so familiar to the years 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 of January at break of day the new consuls Mamertinus and Novita 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 which in their eyes degraded the majesty of the purple. But the behavior of Julian was uniformly supported during the games of the circus he had imprudently or designedly perform 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 and even to the forms of the republic. The spirit of his administration and his regard for his nativity induced Julian to confer on the senate of Constantinople the same honors, privileges and authority which were still enjoined by the senate of ancient Rome. A legal fiction was introduced and gradually established that one half of the national council had migrated to 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 service 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 Lebanus 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 had bequeathed to the latest posterity the monuments of their genius or the examples of their virtues. He relieved the distress and restored the beauty of the cities of Epairis and Peloponnesis Athens acknowledged him for her benefactor Argos for her deliverer the pride of Corinth again arising 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 amphitheater along 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 including the Olympic the Pythian and the Nemian games claimed the 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 allowed the cause to be referred to a superior tribunal and his eloquence was interposed most probably with success in the defense of a city which had been the royal seat of Agnemennon and which had given to Macedonia a race of kings and conquerors. 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 and of judge which are almost unknown to the 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 republic and the talents of a rhetoric. In his first declamation the several modes of praise of censure of exhortation and his friend Labanius had remarked 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 flake civil winter snow or the pathetic enforceable eloquence of Ulysses the functions of a judge which are sometimes incompatible with those of a prince of amusement. And although he might have trusted the integrity and discernment of his praetorian prefix 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 truth of facts and to pervert the sense of the laws. He sometimes forgot the gravity of a station asked in discreet or unseasonable questions and betrayed by the loudness the earnest veniments with which he maintained his opinions 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 have observed the shame as well as the gratitude of their monarch. The decrees of Julian were almost always 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 noble and wealthy adversary. He carefully distinguished the judge from the legislator and though he meditated a necessary reformation of the Roman jurisprudence he pronounced one of those laws which the magistrates were bound to execute and the subjects to obey. The generality of princes if they were stripped of their purple and cast naked into the world would immediately sink to the lowest ranks 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 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 and studious solitude would have placed beyond the reach of kings his present happiness and his immortal love the portrait of Julian something seems wanting to the grace in 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 severance 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 superior ority of his genius and peace as well as in war and to confess with a sigh that the apostate Julian was a lover he deserved the empire of the world End of Chapter 22 Part 4 Chapter 23 Part 1 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 2 This is the LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 23 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 which were targeted 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 effect A devout and sincere attachment for the gods of Athens and Rome constituted 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 venomous 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 by the desire of victory or the shame of 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 of Gregory Nazianzen The interesting nature of the events in the short reign of this active emperor deserves 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 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 and religion were soon associated in a youthful imagination which was susceptible to the most lively impressions The care of his infancy was entrusted to Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia who was related to him on the side of his mother until Julian reached the 20th year of his age he received from his Christian perceptors the education not of a hero human while he bestowed the advantages of baptism on the nephews of Constantine 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 of Saint Mammas at Caesarea was erected or at least was undertaken by the joint labor of Gallus and Julian 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 aesthetic life as the two princes advanced to the opening 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 and resisting obedience which was required in the neighbor 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 will stay silenced he was educated in the lesser Asia amidst the scandals of the arian controversy the fierce conduct of the eastern bishops the insensitive 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 the predictable evidence he heard with suspicion and disputed with obstinacy and acuteness the doctrines for which he had 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 as soon as gallus was invested with the honors of the purple julian was permitted to breathe the era of freedom of literature and of paganism the crowd of soffists who were attracted by the taste and liberality of the 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 barred imprint themselves on the minds which are the least addicted to superstitious credulity are familiar knowledge of their names and characters their forms and attributes seem to bestow on those eerie beings a real and substantial existence and the pleasing enchantment produces an imperfect and momentary ascent of the imagination to those fables which are the most repugnant to our reason and experience long 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 2000 years the weakness of polytheism was in some measure excused by the most licentious skepticism 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 in 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 the gospel Wylst he made a voluntary offering of his reason on the alters of Jupiter and Apollo one of the orations of Julian is consecrated to the honor of Sibli 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 the stupendous miracle which convinced the senate and people of Rome at the lump of clay which their ambassadors had transported over the seas was endowed with life and sentiment and divine power for the truth of this prodigy he appeals to the public monuments of the city and the censures with some acrimony the sickly and affected taste of those men who impertently derided the sacred traditions of their ancestors but the devout philosopher probably encouraged the superstition of the people reserved for himself the privilege of the 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 the clear and audible voice that the pious inquirre 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 the philosophers of the Platonic school Platinus Poffery and the Divine Iamblicus were admired as the most skillful 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 Adesius the venerable successor of Iamblicus aspired to the possession of a treasure which he esteemed if we may far above the empire of the world 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 most agreeable to his peculiar fancy the fable of Ades and Sibley had already been explained by Poffery but his labors served only 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 cannot form a just idea of the strange illusions the forced entomologies the solemn trifling and the impenetrable obscurity of these sages who professed previously 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 Ades explained the revolution of the sun between the tropics and the restoration of the human soul from vice and error the theological system of julium appears to have contained the sublime and important principles of natural religion but as the faith was not founded on revelation must be 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 this the writings and even in the mind of julium 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 secession of dependent spirits of gods of heroes and of men and every being which derived his existence immediately from the first cause received the inherent gift of immortality that so precious an advantage might not be lavished upon unworthy objects the creator had entrusted to the skill and power of the inferior beings the office of forming the human body and of arranging the beautiful harmony of the animal 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 of 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 of the power 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 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 they were constantly 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 the 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 most worthy of worship in every age and sustains the universe justly claimed the adoration of mankind is the bright representative of the logos the lively the rational the beneficent image of the intellectual father in every age the absence of genuine inspiration is supplied by the strong illusions of enthusiasm and the mimic arts of imposter if there is a suffering cause some indulgence might perhaps be allowed to the interests and habits of the sacri-dotal character but it may appear a subject of surprise and scandal that the philosophers themselves should have contributed to abuse the superstitious crudulity of mankind and that the Grecian mysteries should have been supported by the magic of the superior diamonds to enjoy the view and conservation of the superior gods and by disengaging the soul from her material bands to reunite that immortal particle with the infinite and divine spirit. The devout and fearless curiosity of Julian tempted the philosophers with the hopes of an easy conquest in the mouth of Odysseus 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 Crassanthes and Eusebius supplied at his own desire to dispute to excite the impatient hopes of the aspirant till they delivered him into the hands of their associate Maximus the boldest and most skillful master of the theurgic science by his hands Julian was secretly initiated at Ephesus in the 20th year of his age his residents at Athens confirmed this unnatural alliance of philosophy and superstition he obtained the privilege which amidst the general decay of the Grecian worship still retained some vestiges of their primeval sanctity and such was the zeal of Julian that he afterwards invited the Lusinian Pontiff to the court of Gaul for the sole purpose of consummating by mystic rights and sacrifices the great work of his sanctification as these ceremonies were performed in the depth of caverns and in the silence of night which was initially initiated I shall not presume to describe the horrid sounds and fiery apparitions which were presented to the senses or the imagination of the Crujulius Esperant till the visions of comfort and knowledge broke upon him in a blaze of celestial light in the caverns of Ephesus and Lusus the mind of Julian was penetrated with sincere, deep 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 rules of religious abstinence and it was honor of Pan or Mercury or Hecate or Isis that Julian on particular days denied himself the use of some particular food which might have been offensive to his two-triller 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 himself we may learn from his faithful friend the orator Labanius that he lived in a perpetual intercourse with the gods and goddesses and 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 to extinguish the voice of Jupiter from that of Minerva in the form of Apollo from the figure of Hercules 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 lies of Antony or Pacomias were consumed in these vain occupations Julian can break from the dream of superstition to arm himself for battle for 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 the important secret of the apostasy of Julian was entrusted to the fidelity of the initiated with whom he was united by the sacred ties of friendship and religion the pleasing rumor was cautiously circulated by the subjects of the hopes the prayers and the predictions of the pagans and every province of the empire from the zeal and virtues of the 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 the successor of Constantine whose capricious passions alternately saved and threatened the life of Julian the arts of magic and divination were strictly prohibited under a despotic government which kind of scented to fear them and if the pagans were reluctantly indulged in the exercise of their superstition the rank of Julian would have exempted him from the general toleration the apostate soon became the presumptive error of the monarchy and his death alone could have appeased his ambitions 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 the banias has considered the hypocrisy of his friend as a subject not of censure but of praise as the statues of the gods says the orator which had been defiled with filth are again placed 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 had disguised himself with a lion's hide our lion was obliged to conceal the dissimulation of Julian lasted above 10 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 of the incense in 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 the human nature sincerity