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Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.—Part I.
Julian Is Declared Emperor By The Legions Of Gaul.—His
March And Success.—The Death Of Constantius.—Civil
Administration Of Julian.
Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.—Part II. |
Julian Is Declared Emperor By The Legions Of Gaul.—His
March And Success.—The Death Of Constantius.—Civil
Administration Of Julian.
While the Romans languished under the ignominious tyranny of eunuchs and bishops, the praises of Julian were repeated with transport in every part of the empire, except in the palace of Constantius. The barbarians of Germany had felt, and still dreaded, the arms of the young Caesar; his soldiers were the companions of his victory; the grateful provincials enjoyed the blessings of his reign; but the favorites, who had opposed his elevation, were offended by his virtues; and they justly considered the friend of the people as the enemy of the court. As long as the fame of Julian was doubtful, the buffoons of the palace, who were skilled in the language of satire, tried the efficacy of those arts which they had so often practised with success. They easily discovered, that his simplicity was not exempt from affectation: the ridiculous epithets of a hairy savage, of an ape invested with the purple, were applied to the dress and person of the philosophic warrior; and his modest despatches were stigmatized as the vain and elaborate fictions of a loquacious Greek, a speculative soldier, who had studied the art of war amidst the groves of the academy. 1 The voice of malicious folly was at length silenced by the shouts of victory; the conqueror of the Franks and Alemanni could no longer be painted as an object of contempt; and the monarch himself was meanly ambitious of stealing from his lieutenant the honorable reward of his labors. In the letters crowned with laurel, which, according to ancient custom, were addressed to the provinces, the name of Julian was omitted. "Constantius had made his dispositions in person; he had signalized his valor in the foremost ranks; his military conduct had secured the victory; and the captive king of the barbarians was presented to him on the field of battle," from which he was at that time distant about forty days' journey. 2 So extravagant a fable was incapable, however, of deceiving the public credulity, or even of satisfying the pride of the emperor himself. Secretly conscious that the applause and favor of the Romans accompanied the rising fortunes of Julian, his discontented mind was prepared to receive the subtle poison of those artful sycophants, who colored their mischievous designs with the fairest appearances of truth and candor. 3 Instead of depreciating the merits of Julian, they acknowledged, and even exaggerated, his popular fame, superior talents, and important services. But they darkly insinuated, that the virtues of the Caesar might instantly be converted into the most dangerous crimes, if the inconstant multitude should prefer their inclinations to their duty; or if the general of a victorious army should be tempted from his allegiance by the hopes of revenge and independent greatness. The personal fears of Constantius were interpreted by his council as a laudable anxiety for the public safety; whilst in private, and perhaps in his own breast, he disguised, under the less odious appellation of fear, the sentiments of hatred and envy, which he had secretly conceived for the inimitable virtues of Julian.
1 (return)
[ Omnes qui plus poterant in palatio, adulandi professores
jam docti, recte consulta, prospereque completa vertebant in
deridiculum: talia sine modo strepentes insulse; in odium venit cum
victoriis suis; capella, non homo; ut hirsutum Julianum carpentes,
appellantesque loquacem talpam, et purpuratam simiam, et litterionem
Graecum: et his congruentia plurima atque vernacula principi
resonantes, audire haec taliaque gestienti, virtutes ejus obruere verbis
impudentibus conabantur, et segnem incessentes et timidum et umbratilem,
gestaque secus verbis comptioribus exornantem. Ammianus, s. xvii. 11.
* Note: The philosophers retaliated on the courtiers. Marius (says
Eunapius in a newly-discovered fragment) was wont to call his antagonist
Sylla a beast half lion and half fox. Constantius had nothing of the
lion, but was surrounded by a whole litter of foxes. Mai. Script. Byz.
Nov. Col. ii. 238. Niebuhr. Byzant. Hist. 66.—M.]
2 (return)
[ Ammian. xvi. 12. The orator Themistius (iv. p. 56, 57)
believed whatever was contained in the Imperial letters, which were
addressed to the senate of Constantinople Aurelius Victor, who published
his Abridgment in the last year of Constantius, ascribes the German
victories to the wisdom of the emperor, and the fortune of the Caesar.
Yet the historian, soon afterwards, was indebted to the favor or esteem
of Julian for the honor of a brass statue, and the important offices of
consular of the second Pannonia, and praefect of the city, Ammian. xxi.
10.]
3 (return)
[ Callido nocendi artificio, accusatoriam diritatem laudum
titulis peragebant. .. Hae voces fuerunt ad inflammanda odia probria
omnibus potentiores. See Mamertin, in Actione Gratiarum in Vet Panegyr.
xi. 5, 6.]
The apparent tranquillity of Gaul, and the imminent danger of the eastern provinces, offered a specious pretence for the design which was artfully concerted by the Imperial ministers. They resolved to disarm the Caesar; to recall those faithful troops who guarded his person and dignity; and to employ, in a distant war against the Persian monarch, the hardy veterans who had vanquished, on the banks of the Rhine, the fiercest nations of Germany. While Julian used the laborious hours of his winter quarters at Paris in the administration of power, which, in his hands, was the exercise of virtue, he was surprised by the hasty arrival of a tribune and a notary, with positive orders, from the emperor, which they were directed to execute, and he was commanded not to oppose. Constantius signified his pleasure, that four entire legions, the Celtae, and Petulants, the Heruli, and the Batavians, should be separated from the standard of Julian, under which they had acquired their fame and discipline; that in each of the remaining bands three hundred of the bravest youths should be selected; and that this numerous detachment, the strength of the Gallic army, should instantly begin their march, and exert their utmost diligence to arrive, before the opening of the campaign, on the frontiers of Persia. 4 The Caesar foresaw and lamented the consequences of this fatal mandate. Most of the auxiliaries, who engaged their voluntary service, had stipulated, that they should never be obliged to pass the Alps. The public faith of Rome, and the personal honor of Julian, had been pledged for the observance of this condition. Such an act of treachery and oppression would destroy the confidence, and excite the resentment, of the independent warriors of Germany, who considered truth as the noblest of their virtues, and freedom as the most valuable of their possessions. The legionaries, who enjoyed the title and privileges of Romans, were enlisted for the general defence of the republic; but those mercenary troops heard with cold indifference the antiquated names of the republic and of Rome. Attached, either from birth or long habit, to the climate and manners of Gaul, they loved and admired Julian; they despised, and perhaps hated, the emperor; they dreaded the laborious march, the Persian arrows, and the burning deserts of Asia. They claimed as their own the country which they had saved; and excused their want of spirit, by pleading the sacred and more immediate duty of protecting their families and friends.
The apprehensions of the Gauls were derived from the knowledge of the impending and inevitable danger. As soon as the provinces were exhausted of their military strength, the Germans would violate a treaty which had been imposed on their fears; and notwithstanding the abilities and valor of Julian, the general of a nominal army, to whom the public calamities would be imputed, must find himself, after a vain resistance, either a prisoner in the camp of the barbarians, or a criminal in the palace of Constantius. If Julian complied with the orders which he had received, he subscribed his own destruction, and that of a people who deserved his affection. But a positive refusal was an act of rebellion, and a declaration of war. The inexorable jealousy of the emperor, the peremptory, and perhaps insidious, nature of his commands, left not any room for a fair apology, or candid interpretation; and the dependent station of the Caesar scarcely allowed him to pause or to deliberate. Solitude increased the perplexity of Julian; he could no longer apply to the faithful counsels of Sallust, who had been removed from his office by the judicious malice of the eunuchs: he could not even enforce his representations by the concurrence of the ministers, who would have been afraid or ashamed to approve the ruin of Gaul. The moment had been chosen, when Lupicinus, 5 the general of the cavalry, was despatched into Britain, to repulse the inroads of the Scots and Picts; and Florentius was occupied at Vienna by the assessment of the tribute. The latter, a crafty and corrupt statesman, declining to assume a responsible part on this dangerous occasion, eluded the pressing and repeated invitations of Julian, who represented to him, that in every important measure, the presence of the praefect was indispensable in the council of the prince. In the mean while the Caesar was oppressed by the rude and importunate solicitations of the Imperial messengers, who presumed to suggest, that if he expected the return of his ministers, he would charge himself with the guilt of the delay, and reserve for them the merit of the execution. Unable to resist, unwilling to comply, Julian expressed, in the most serious terms, his wish, and even his intention, of resigning the purple, which he could not preserve with honor, but which he could not abdicate with safety.
4 (return)
[ The minute interval, which may be interposed, between the
hyeme adulta and the primo vere of Ammianus, (xx. l. 4,) instead of
allowing a sufficient space for a march of three thousand miles, would
render the orders of Constantius as extravagant as they were unjust. The
troops of Gaul could not have reached Syria till the end of autumn.
The memory of Ammianus must have been inaccurate, and his language
incorrect. * Note: The late editor of Ammianus attempts to vindicate
his author from the charge of inaccuracy. "It is clear, from the whole
course of the narrative, that Constantius entertained this design of
demanding his troops from Julian, immediately after the taking of Amida,
in the autumn of the preceding year, and had transmitted his orders into
Gaul, before it was known that Lupicinus had gone into Britain with the
Herulians and Batavians." Wagner, note to Amm. xx. 4. But it seems
also clear that the troops were in winter quarters (hiemabant) when the
orders arrived. Ammianus can scarcely be acquitted of incorrectness in
his language at least.—M]
5 (return)
[ Ammianus, xx. l. The valor of Lupicinus, and his military
skill, are acknowledged by the historian, who, in his affected language,
accuses the general of exalting the horns of his pride, bellowing in
a tragic tone, and exciting a doubt whether he was more cruel or
avaricious. The danger from the Scots and Picts was so serious that
Julian himself had some thoughts of passing over into the island.]
After a painful conflict, Julian was compelled to acknowledge, that obedience was the virtue of the most eminent subject, and that the sovereign alone was entitled to judge of the public welfare. He issued the necessary orders for carrying into execution the commands of Constantius; a part of the troops began their march for the Alps; and the detachments from the several garrisons moved towards their respective places of assembly. They advanced with difficulty through the trembling and affrighted crowds of provincials, who attempted to excite their pity by silent despair, or loud lamentations, while the wives of the soldiers, holding their infants in their arms, accused the desertion of their husbands, in the mixed language of grief, of tenderness, and of indignation. This scene of general distress afflicted the humanity of the Caesar; he granted a sufficient number of post-wagons to transport the wives and families of the soldiers, 6 endeavored to alleviate the hardships which he was constrained to inflict, and increased, by the most laudable arts, his own popularity, and the discontent of the exiled troops. The grief of an armed multitude is soon converted into rage; their licentious murmurs, which every hour were communicated from tent to tent with more boldness and effect, prepared their minds for the most daring acts of sedition; and by the connivance of their tribunes, a seasonable libel was secretly dispersed, which painted in lively colors the disgrace of the Caesar, the oppression of the Gallic army, and the feeble vices of the tyrant of Asia. The servants of Constantius were astonished and alarmed by the progress of this dangerous spirit. They pressed the Caesar to hasten the departure of the troops; but they imprudently rejected the honest and judicious advice of Julian; who proposed that they should not march through Paris, and suggested the danger and temptation of a last interview.
6 (return)
[ He granted them the permission of the cursus clavularis, or
clabularis. These post-wagons are often mentioned in the Code, and were
supposed to carry fifteen hundred pounds weight. See Vales. ad Ammian.
xx. 4.]
As soon as the approach of the troops was announced, the Caesar went out to meet them, and ascended his tribunal, which had been erected in a plain before the gates of the city. After distinguishing the officers and soldiers, who by their rank or merit deserved a peculiar attention, Julian addressed himself in a studied oration to the surrounding multitude: he celebrated their exploits with grateful applause; encouraged them to accept, with alacrity, the honor of serving under the eye of a powerful and liberal monarch; and admonished them, that the commands of Augustus required an instant and cheerful obedience. The soldiers, who were apprehensive of offending their general by an indecent clamor, or of belying their sentiments by false and venal acclamations, maintained an obstinate silence; and after a short pause, were dismissed to their quarters. The principal officers were entertained by the Caesar, who professed, in the warmest language of friendship, his desire and his inability to reward, according to their deserts, the brave companions of his victories. They retired from the feast, full of grief and perplexity; and lamented the hardship of their fate, which tore them from their beloved general and their native country. The only expedient which could prevent their separation was boldly agitated and approved the popular resentment was insensibly moulded into a regular conspiracy; their just reasons of complaint were heightened by passion, and their passions were inflamed by wine; as, on the eve of their departure, the troops were indulged in licentious festivity. At the hour of midnight, the impetuous multitude, with swords, and bows, and torches in their hands, rushed into the suburbs; encompassed the palace; 7 and, careless of future dangers, pronounced the fatal and irrevocable words, Julian Augustus! The prince, whose anxious suspense was interrupted by their disorderly acclamations, secured the doors against their intrusion; and as long as it was in his power, secluded his person and dignity from the accidents of a nocturnal tumult. At the dawn of day, the soldiers, whose zeal was irritated by opposition, forcibly entered the palace, seized, with respectful violence, the object of their choice, guarded Julian with drawn swords through the streets of Paris, placed him on the tribunal, and with repeated shouts saluted him as their emperor. Prudence, as well as loyalty, inculcated the propriety of resisting their treasonable designs; and of preparing, for his oppressed virtue, the excuse of violence. Addressing himself by turns to the multitude and to individuals, he sometimes implored their mercy, and sometimes expressed his indignation; conjured them not to sully the fame of their immortal victories; and ventured to promise, that if they would immediately return to their allegiance, he would undertake to obtain from the emperor not only a free and gracious pardon, but even the revocation of the orders which had excited their resentment. But the soldiers, who were conscious of their guilt, chose rather to depend on the gratitude of Julian, than on the clemency of the emperor. Their zeal was insensibly turned into impatience, and their impatience into rage. The inflexible Caesar sustained, till the third hour of the day, their prayers, their reproaches, and their menaces; nor did he yield, till he had been repeatedly assured, that if he wished to live, he must consent to reign. He was exalted on a shield in the presence, and amidst the unanimous acclamations, of the troops; a rich military collar, which was offered by chance, supplied the want of a diadem; 8 the ceremony was concluded by the promise of a moderate donative; and the new emperor, overwhelmed with real or affected grief retired into the most secret recesses of his apartment. 10
7 (return)
[ Most probably the palace of the baths, (Thermarum,) of
which a solid and lofty hall still subsists in the Rue de la Harpe.
The buildings covered a considerable space of the modern quarter of the
university; and the gardens, under the Merovingian kings, communicated
with the abbey of St. Germain des Prez. By the injuries of time and the
Normans, this ancient palace was reduced, in the twelfth century, to a
maze of ruins, whose dark recesses were the scene of licentious love.
Explicat aula sinus montemque amplectitur alis;
Multiplici latebra scelerum tersura ruborem.
.... pereuntis saepe pudoris Celatura nefas,
Venerisque accommoda furtis.
(These lines are quoted from the Architrenius, l. iv. c. 8, a poetical work of John de Hauteville, or Hanville, a monk of St. Alban's, about the year 1190. See Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. dissert. ii.) Yet such thefts might be less pernicious to mankind than the theological disputes of the Sorbonne, which have been since agitated on the same ground. Bonamy, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xv. p. 678-632]
8 (return)
[ Even in this tumultuous moment, Julian attended to
the forms of superstitious ceremony, and obstinately refused the
inauspicious use of a female necklace, or a horse collar, which the
impatient soldiers would have employed in the room of a diadem.
----An equal proportion of gold and silver, five pieces of the
former one pound of the latter; the whole amounting to about five pounds
ten shillings of our money.]
10 (return)
[ For the whole narrative of this revolt, we may appeal
to authentic and original materials; Julian himself, (ad S. P. Q.
Atheniensem, p. 282, 283, 284,) Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. 44-48, in
Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 269-273,) Ammianus, (xx. 4,)
and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 151, 152, 153.) who, in the reign of Julian,
appears to follow the more respectable authority of Eunapius. With such
guides we might neglect the abbreviators and ecclesiastical historians.]
The grief of Julian could proceed only from his innocence; out his innocence must appear extremely doubtful 11 in the eyes of those who have learned to suspect the motives and the professions of princes. His lively and active mind was susceptible of the various impressions of hope and fear, of gratitude and revenge, of duty and of ambition, of the love of fame, and of the fear of reproach. But it is impossible for us to calculate the respective weight and operation of these sentiments; or to ascertain the principles of action which might escape the observation, while they guided, or rather impelled, the steps of Julian himself. The discontent of the troops was produced by the malice of his enemies; their tumult was the natural effect of interest and of passion; and if Julian had tried to conceal a deep design under the appearances of chance, he must have employed the most consummate artifice without necessity, and probably without success. He solemnly declares, in the presence of Jupiter, of the Sun, of Mars, of Minerva, and of all the other deities, that till the close of the evening which preceded his elevation, he was utterly ignorant of the designs of the soldiers; 12 and it may seem ungenerous to distrust the honor of a hero and the truth of a philosopher. Yet the superstitious confidence that Constantius was the enemy, and that he himself was the favorite, of the gods, might prompt him to desire, to solicit, and even to hasten the auspicious moment of his reign, which was predestined to restore the ancient religion of mankind. When Julian had received the intelligence of the conspiracy, he resigned himself to a short slumber; and afterwards related to his friends that he had seen the genius of the empire waiting with some impatience at his door, pressing for admittance, and reproaching his want of spirit and ambition. 13 Astonished and perplexed, he addressed his prayers to the great Jupiter, who immediately signified, by a clear and manifest omen, that he should submit to the will of heaven and of the army. The conduct which disclaims the ordinary maxims of reason, excites our suspicion and eludes our inquiry. Whenever the spirit of fanaticism, at once so credulous and so crafty, has insinuated itself into a noble mind, it insensibly corrodes the vital principles of virtue and veracity.
11 (return)
[ Eutropius, a respectable witness, uses a doubtful
expression, "consensu militum." (x. 15.) Gregory Nazianzen, whose
ignorance night excuse his fanaticism, directly charges the apostate
with presumption, madness, and impious rebellion, Orat. iii. p. 67.]
12 (return)
[ Julian. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 284. The devout Abbe de
la Bleterie (Vie de Julien, p. 159) is almost inclined to respect the
devout protestations of a Pagan.]
13 (return)
[ Ammian. xx. 5, with the note of Lindenbrogius on the
Genius of the empire. Julian himself, in a confidential letter to his
friend and physician, Oribasius, (Epist. xvii. p. 384,) mentions another
dream, to which, before the event, he gave credit; of a stately tree
thrown to the ground, of a small plant striking a deep root into the
earth. Even in his sleep, the mind of the Caesar must have been agitated
by the hopes and fears of his fortune. Zosimus (l. iii. p. 155) relates
a subsequent dream.]
To moderate the zeal of his party, to protect the persons of his enemies, 14 to defeat and to despise the secret enterprises which were formed against his life and dignity, were the cares which employed the first days of the reign of the new emperor. Although he was firmly resolved to maintain the station which he had assumed, he was still desirous of saving his country from the calamities of civil war, of declining a contest with the superior forces of Constantius, and of preserving his own character from the reproach of perfidy and ingratitude. Adorned with the ensigns of military and imperial pomp, Julian showed himself in the field of Mars to the soldiers, who glowed with ardent enthusiasm in the cause of their pupil, their leader, and their friend. He recapitulated their victories, lamented their sufferings, applauded their resolution, animated their hopes, and checked their impetuosity; nor did he dismiss the assembly, till he had obtained a solemn promise from the troops, that if the emperor of the East would subscribe an equitable treaty, they would renounce any views of conquest, and satisfy themselves with the tranquil possession of the Gallic provinces. On this foundation he composed, in his own name, and in that of the army, a specious and moderate epistle, 15 which was delivered to Pentadius, his master of the offices, and to his chamberlain Eutherius; two ambassadors whom he appointed to receive the answer, and observe the dispositions of Constantius. This epistle is inscribed with the modest appellation of Caesar; but Julian solicits in a peremptory, though respectful, manner, the confirmation of the title of Augustus. He acknowledges the irregularity of his own election, while he justifies, in some measure, the resentment and violence of the troops which had extorted his reluctant consent. He allows the supremacy of his brother Constantius; and engages to send him an annual present of Spanish horses, to recruit his army with a select number of barbarian youths, and to accept from his choice a Praetorian praefect of approved discretion and fidelity. But he reserves for himself the nomination of his other civil and military officers, with the troops, the revenue, and the sovereignty of the provinces beyond the Alps. He admonishes the emperor to consult the dictates of justice; to distrust the arts of those venal flatterers, who subsist only by the discord of princes; and to embrace the offer of a fair and honorable treaty, equally advantageous to the republic and to the house of Constantine. In this negotiation Julian claimed no more than he already possessed. The delegated authority which he had long exercised over the provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was still obeyed under a name more independent and august. The soldiers and the people rejoiced in a revolution which was not stained even with the blood of the guilty. Florentius was a fugitive; Lupicinus a prisoner. The persons who were disaffected to the new government were disarmed and secured; and the vacant offices were distributed, according to the recommendation of merit, by a prince who despised the intrigues of the palace, and the clamors of the soldiers. 16
14 (return)
[ The difficult situation of the prince of a rebellious army
is finely described by Tacitus, (Hist. 1, 80-85.) But Otho had much more
guilt, and much less abilities, than Julian.]
15 (return)
[ To this ostensible epistle he added, says Ammianus,
private letters, objurgatorias et mordaces, which the historian had not
seen, and would not have published. Perhaps they never existed.]
16 (return)
[ See the first transactions of his reign, in Julian. ad S.
P. Q. Athen. p. 285, 286. Ammianus, xx. 5, 8. Liban. Orat. Parent. c.
49, 50, p. 273-275.]
The negotiations of peace were accompanied and supported by the most vigorous preparations for war. The army, which Julian held in readiness for immediate action, was recruited and augmented by the disorders of the times. The cruel persecutions of the faction of Magnentius had filled Gaul with numerous bands of outlaws and robbers. They cheerfully accepted the offer of a general pardon from a prince whom they could trust, submitted to the restraints of military discipline, and retained only their implacable hatred to the person and government of Constantius. 17 As soon as the season of the year permitted Julian to take the field, he appeared at the head of his legions; threw a bridge over the Rhine in the neighborhood of Cleves; and prepared to chastise the perfidy of the Attuarii, a tribe of Franks, who presumed that they might ravage, with impunity, the frontiers of a divided empire. The difficulty, as well as glory, of this enterprise, consisted in a laborious march; and Julian had conquered, as soon as he could penetrate into a country, which former princes had considered as inaccessible. After he had given peace to the Barbarians, the emperor carefully visited the fortifications along the Qhine from Cleves to Basil; surveyed, with peculiar attention, the territories which he had recovered from the hands of the Alemanni, passed through Besancon, 18 which had severely suffered from their fury, and fixed his headquarters at Vienna for the ensuing winter. The barrier of Gaul was improved and strengthened with additional fortifications; and Julian entertained some hopes that the Germans, whom he had so often vanquished, might, in his absence, be restrained by the terror of his name. Vadomair 19 was the only prince of the Alemanni whom he esteemed or feared and while the subtle Barbarian affected to observe the faith of treaties, the progress of his arms threatened the state with an unseasonable and dangerous war. The policy of Julian condescended to surprise the prince of the Alemanni by his own arts: and Vadomair, who, in the character of a friend, had incautiously accepted an invitation from the Roman governors, was seized in the midst of the entertainment, and sent away prisoner into the heart of Spain. Before the Barbarians were recovered from their amazement, the emperor appeared in arms on the banks of the Rhine, and, once more crossing the river, renewed the deep impressions of terror and respect which had been already made by four preceding expeditions. 20
17 (return)
[ Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 50, p. 275, 276. A strange
disorder, since it continued above seven years. In the factions of the
Greek republics, the exiles amounted to 20,000 persons; and Isocrates
assures Philip, that it would be easier to raise an army from the
vagabonds than from the cities. See Hume's Essays, tom. i. p. 426, 427.]
18 (return)
[ Julian (Epist. xxxviii. p. 414) gives a short description
of Vesontio, or Besancon; a rocky peninsula almost encircled by the
River Doux; once a magnificent city, filled with temples, &c., now
reduced to a small town, emerging, however, from its ruins.]
19 (return)
[ Vadomair entered into the Roman service, and was promoted
from a barbarian kingdom to the military rank of duke of Phoenicia. He
still retained the same artful character, (Ammian. xxi. 4;) but under
the reign of Valens, he signalized his valor in the Armenian war, (xxix.
1.)]
20 (return)
[ Ammian. xx. 10, xxi. 3, 4. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 155.]
The ambassadors of Julian had been instructed to execute, with the utmost diligence, their important commission. But, in their passage through Italy and Illyricum, they were detained by the tedious and affected delays of the provincial governors; they were conducted by slow journeys from Constantinople to Caesarea in Cappadocia; and when at length they were admitted to the presence of Constantius, they found that he had already conceived, from the despatches of his own officers, the most unfavorable opinion of the conduct of Julian, and of the Gallic army. The letters were heard with impatience; the trembling messengers were dismissed with indignation and contempt; and the looks, gestures, the furious language of the monarch, expressed the disorder of his soul. The domestic connection, which might have reconciled the brother and the husband of Helena, was recently dissolved by the death of that princess, whose pregnancy had been several times fruitless, and was at last fatal to herself. 21 The empress Eusebia had preserved, to the last moment of her life, the warm, and even jealous, affection which she had conceived for Julian; and her mild influence might have moderated the resentment of a prince, who, since her death, was abandoned to his own passions, and to the arts of his eunuchs. But the terror of a foreign invasion obliged him to suspend the punishment of a private enemy: he continued his march towards the confines of Persia, and thought it sufficient to signify the conditions which might entitle Julian and his guilty followers to the clemency of their offended sovereign. He required, that the presumptuous Caesar should expressly renounce the appellation and rank of Augustus, which he had accepted from the rebels; that he should descend to his former station of a limited and dependent minister; that he should vest the powers of the state and army in the hands of those officers who were appointed by the Imperial court; and that he should trust his safety to the assurances of pardon, which were announced by Epictetus, a Gallic bishop, and one of the Arian favorites of Constantius. Several months were ineffectually consumed in a treaty which was negotiated at the distance of three thousand miles between Paris and Antioch; and, as soon as Julian perceived that his modest and respectful behavior served only to irritate the pride of an implacable adversary, he boldly resolved to commit his life and fortune to the chance of a civil war. He gave a public and military audience to the quaestor Leonas: the haughty epistle of Constantius was read to the attentive multitude; and Julian protested, with the most flattering deference, that he was ready to resign the title of Augustus, if he could obtain the consent of those whom he acknowledged as the authors of his elevation. The faint proposal was impetuously silenced; and the acclamations of "Julian Augustus, continue to reign, by the authority of the army, of the people, of the republic which you have saved," thundered at once from every part of the field, and terrified the pale ambassador of Constantius. A part of the letter was afterwards read, in which the emperor arraigned the ingratitude of Julian, whom he had invested with the honors of the purple; whom he had educated with so much care and tenderness; whom he had preserved in his infancy, when he was left a helpless orphan.
"An orphan!" interrupted Julian, who justified his cause by indulging his passions: "does the assassin of my family reproach me that I was left an orphan? He urges me to revenge those injuries which I have long studied to forget." The assembly was dismissed; and Leonas, who, with some difficulty, had been protected from the popular fury, was sent back to his master with an epistle, in which Julian expressed, in a strain of the most vehement eloquence, the sentiments of contempt, of hatred, and of resentment, which had been suppressed and imbittered by the dissimulation of twenty years. After this message, which might be considered as a signal of irreconcilable war, Julian, who, some weeks before, had celebrated the Christian festival of the Epiphany, 22 made a public declaration that he committed the care of his safety to the Immortal Gods; and thus publicly renounced the religion as well as the friendship of Constantius. 23
21 (return)
[ Her remains were sent to Rome, and interred near those of
her sister Constantina, in the suburb of the Via Nomentana. Ammian. xxi.
1. Libanius has composed a very weak apology, to justify his hero from
a very absurd charge of poisoning his wife, and rewarding her physician
with his mother's jewels. (See the seventh of seventeen new orations,
published at Venice, 1754, from a MS. in St. Mark's Library, p.
117-127.) Elpidius, the Praetorian praefect of the East, to whose
evidence the accuser of Julian appeals, is arraigned by Libanius, as
effeminate and ungrateful; yet the religion of Elpidius is praised by
Jerom, (tom. i. p. 243,) and his Ammianus (xxi. 6.)]
22 (return)
[ Feriarum die quem celebrantes mense Januario, Christiani
Epiphania dictitant, progressus in eorum ecclesiam, solemniter numine
orato discessit. Ammian. xxi. 2. Zonaras observes, that it was on
Christmas day, and his assertion is not inconsistent; since the churches
of Egypt, Asia, and perhaps Gaul, celebrated on the same day (the sixth
of January) the nativity and the baptism of their Savior. The Romans,
as ignorant as their brethren of the real date of his birth, fixed
the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or winter
solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of the sun.
See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, l. xx. c. 4, and
Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheismo tom. ii. p. 690-700.]
23 (return)
[ The public and secret negotiations between Constantius and
Julian must be extracted, with some caution, from Julian himself. (Orat.
ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286.) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 51, p. 276,)
Ammianus, (xx. 9,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 154,) and even Zonaras, (tom.
ii. l. xiii. p. 20, 21, 22,) who, on this occasion, appears to have
possessed and used some valuable materials.]
The situation of Julian required a vigorous and immediate resolution. He had discovered, from intercepted letters, that his adversary, sacrificing the interest of the state to that of the monarch, had again excited the Barbarians to invade the provinces of the West. The position of two magazines, one of them collected on the banks of the Lake of Constance, the other formed at the foot of the Cottian Alps, seemed to indicate the march of two armies; and the size of those magazines, each of which consisted of six hundred thousand quarters of wheat, or rather flour, 24 was a threatening evidence of the strength and numbers of the enemy who prepared to surround him. But the Imperial legions were still in their distant quarters of Asia; the Danube was feebly guarded; and if Julian could occupy, by a sudden incursion, the important provinces of Illyricum, he might expect that a people of soldiers would resort to his standard, and that the rich mines of gold and silver would contribute to the expenses of the civil war. He proposed this bold enterprise to the assembly of the soldiers; inspired them with a just confidence in their general, and in themselves; and exhorted them to maintain their reputation of being terrible to the enemy, moderate to their fellow-citizens, and obedient to their officers. His spirited discourse was received with the loudest acclamations, and the same troops which had taken up arms against Constantius, when he summoned them to leave Gaul, now declared with alacrity, that they would follow Julian to the farthest extremities of Europe or Asia. The oath of fidelity was administered; and the soldiers, clashing their shields, and pointing their drawn swords to their throats, devoted themselves, with horrid imprecations, to the service of a leader whom they celebrated as the deliverer of Gaul and the conqueror of the Germans. 25 This solemn engagement, which seemed to be dictated by affection rather than by duty, was singly opposed by Nebridius, who had been admitted to the office of Praetorian praefect. That faithful minister, alone and unassisted, asserted the rights of Constantius, in the midst of an armed and angry multitude, to whose fury he had almost fallen an honorable, but useless sacrifice. After losing one of his hands by the stroke of a sword, he embraced the knees of the prince whom he had offended. Julian covered the praefect with his Imperial mantle, and, protecting him from the zeal of his followers, dismissed him to his own house, with less respect than was perhaps due to the virtue of an enemy. 26 The high office of Nebridius was bestowed on Sallust; and the provinces of Gaul, which were now delivered from the intolerable oppression of taxes, enjoyed the mild and equitable administration of the friend of Julian, who was permitted to practise those virtues which he had instilled into the mind of his pupil. 27
24 (return)
[ Three hundred myriads, or three millions of medimni, a
corn measure familiar to the Athenians, and which contained six Roman
modii. Julian explains, like a soldier and a statesman, the danger of
his situation, and the necessity and advantages of an offensive war, (ad
S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286, 287.)]
25 (return)
[ See his oration, and the behavior of the troops, in
Ammian. xxi. 5.]
26 (return)
[ He sternly refused his hand to the suppliant praefect,
whom he sent into Tuscany. (Ammian. xxi. 5.) Libanius, with savage
fury, insults Nebridius, applauds the soldiers, and almost censures the
humanity of Julian. (Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278.)]
27 (return)
[ Ammian. xxi. 8. In this promotion, Julian obeyed the law
which he publicly imposed on himself. Neque civilis quisquam judex nec
militaris rector, alio quodam praeter merita suffragante, ad potiorem
veniat gradum. (Ammian. xx. 5.) Absence did not weaken his regard for
Sallust, with whose name (A. D. 363) he honored the consulship.]
The hopes of Julian depended much less on the number of his troops, than on the celerity of his motions. In the execution of a daring enterprise, he availed himself of every precaution, as far as prudence could suggest; and where prudence could no longer accompany his steps, he trusted the event to valor and to fortune. In the neighborhood of Basil he assembled and divided his army. 28 One body, which consisted of ten thousand men, was directed under the command of Nevitta, general of the cavalry, to advance through the midland parts of Rhaetia and Noricum. A similar division of troops, under the orders of Jovius and Jovinus, prepared to follow the oblique course of the highways, through the Alps, and the northern confines of Italy. The instructions to the generals were conceived with energy and precision: to hasten their march in close and compact columns, which, according to the disposition of the ground, might readily be changed into any order of battle; to secure themselves against the surprises of the night by strong posts and vigilant guards; to prevent resistance by their unexpected arrival; to elude examination by their sudden departure; to spread the opinion of their strength, and the terror of his name; and to join their sovereign under the walls of Sirmium. For himself Julian had reserved a more difficult and extraordinary part. He selected three thousand brave and active volunteers, resolved, like their leader, to cast behind them every hope of a retreat; at the head of this faithful band, he fearlessly plunged into the recesses of the Marcian, or Black Forest, which conceals the sources of the Danube; 29 and, for many days, the fate of Julian was unknown to the world. The secrecy of his march, his diligence, and vigor, surmounted every obstacle; he forced his way over mountains and morasses, occupied the bridges or swam the rivers, pursued his direct course, 30 without reflecting whether he traversed the territory of the Romans or of the Barbarians, and at length emerged, between Ratisbon and Vienna, at the place where he designed to embark his troops on the Danube. By a well-concerted stratagem, he seized a fleet of light brigantines, 31 as it lay at anchor; secured a apply of coarse provisions sufficient to satisfy the indelicate, and voracious, appetite of a Gallic army; and boldly committed himself to the stream of the Danube. The labors of the mariners, who plied their oars with incessant diligence, and the steady continuance of a favorable wind, carried his fleet above seven hundred miles in eleven days; 32 and he had already disembarked his troops at Bononia, 3211 only nineteen miles from Sirmium, before his enemies could receive any certain intelligence that he had left the banks of the Rhine. In the course of this long and rapid navigation, the mind of Julian was fixed on the object of his enterprise; and though he accepted the deputations of some cities, which hastened to claim the merit of an early submission, he passed before the hostile stations, which were placed along the river, without indulging the temptation of signalizing a useless and ill-timed valor. The banks of the Danube were crowded on either side with spectators, who gazed on the military pomp, anticipated the importance of the event, and diffused through the adjacent country the fame of a young hero, who advanced with more than mortal speed at the head of the innumerable forces of the West. Lucilian, who, with the rank of general of the cavalry, commanded the military powers of Illyricum, was alarmed and perplexed by the doubtful reports, which he could neither reject nor believe. He had taken some slow and irresolute measures for the purpose of collecting his troops, when he was surprised by Dagalaiphus, an active officer, whom Julian, as soon as he landed at Bononia, had pushed forwards with some light infantry. The captive general, uncertain of his life or death, was hastily thrown upon a horse, and conducted to the presence of Julian; who kindly raised him from the ground, and dispelled the terror and amazement which seemed to stupefy his faculties. But Lucilian had no sooner recovered his spirits, than he betrayed his want of discretion, by presuming to admonish his conqueror that he had rashly ventured, with a handful of men, to expose his person in the midst of his enemies. "Reserve for your master Constantius these timid remonstrances," replied Julian, with a smile of contempt: "when I gave you my purple to kiss, I received you not as a counsellor, but as a suppliant." Conscious that success alone could justify his attempt, and that boldness only could command success, he instantly advanced, at the head of three thousand soldiers, to attack the strongest and most populous city of the Illyrian provinces. As he entered the long suburb of Sirmium, he was received by the joyful acclamations of the army and people; who, crowned with flowers, and holding lighted tapers in their hands, conducted their acknowledged sovereign to his Imperial residence. Two days were devoted to the public joy, which was celebrated by the games of the circus; but, early on the morning of the third day, Julian marched to occupy the narrow pass of Succi, in the defiles of Mount Haemus; which, almost in the midway between Sirmium and Constantinople, separates the provinces of Thrace and Dacia, by an abrupt descent towards the former, and a gentle declivity on the side of the latter. 33 The defence of this important post was intrusted to the brave Nevitta; who, as well as the generals of the Italian division, successfully executed the plan of the march and junction which their master had so ably conceived. 34
28 (return)
[ Ammianus (xxi. 8) ascribes the same practice, and the same
motive, to Alexander the Great and other skilful generals.]
29 (return)
[ This wood was a part of the great Hercynian forest, which,
is the time of Caesar, stretched away from the country of the Rauraci
(Basil) into the boundless regions of the north. See Cluver, Germania
Antiqua. l. iii. c. 47.]
30 (return)
[ Compare Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278, 279, with
Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 68. Even the saint admires the speed
and secrecy of this march. A modern divine might apply to the progress
of Julian the lines which were originally designed for another
apostate:—
—So eagerly the fiend,
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.]
31 (return)
[ In that interval the Notitia places two or three fleets,
the Lauriacensis, (at Lauriacum, or Lorch,) the Arlapensis, the
Maginensis; and mentions five legions, or cohorts, of Libernarii, who
should be a sort of marines. Sect. lviii. edit. Labb.]
32 (return)
[ Zosimus alone (l. iii. p. 156) has specified this
interesting circumstance. Mamertinus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 6, 7, 8,)
who accompanied Julian, as count of the sacred largesses, describes this
voyage in a florid and picturesque manner, challenges Triptolemus and
the Argonauts of Greece, &c.]
3211 (return)
[ Banostar. Mannert.—M.]
33 (return)
[ The description of Ammianus, which might be supported by
collateral evidence, ascertains the precise situation of the Angustine
Succorum, or passes of Succi. M. d'Anville, from the trifling
resemblance of names, has placed them between Sardica and Naissus. For
my own justification I am obliged to mention the only error which I have
discovered in the maps or writings of that admirable geographer.]
34 (return)
[ Whatever circumstances we may borrow elsewhere, Ammianus
(xx. 8, 9, 10) still supplies the series of the narrative.]
The homage which Julian obtained, from the fears or the inclination of the people, extended far beyond the immediate effect of his arms. 35 The praefectures of Italy and Illyricum were administered by Taurus and Florentius, who united that important office with the vain honors of the consulship; and as those magistrates had retired with precipitation to the court of Asia, Julian, who could not always restrain the levity of his temper, stigmatized their flight by adding, in all the Acts of the Year, the epithet of fugitive to the names of the two consuls. The provinces which had been deserted by their first magistrates acknowledged the authority of an emperor, who, conciliating the qualities of a soldier with those of a philosopher, was equally admired in the camps of the Danube and in the cities of Greece. From his palace, or, more properly, from his head-quarters of Sirmium and Naissus, he distributed to the principal cities of the empire, a labored apology for his own conduct; published the secret despatches of Constantius; and solicited the judgment of mankind between two competitors, the one of whom had expelled, and the other had invited, the Barbarians. 36 Julian, whose mind was deeply wounded by the reproach of ingratitude, aspired to maintain, by argument as well as by arms, the superior merits of his cause; and to excel, not only in the arts of war, but in those of composition. His epistle to the senate and people of Athens 37 seems to have been dictated by an elegant enthusiasm; which prompted him to submit his actions and his motives to the degenerate Athenians of his own times, with the same humble deference as if he had been pleading, in the days of Aristides, before the tribunal of the Areopagus. His application to the senate of Rome, which was still permitted to bestow the titles of Imperial power, was agreeable to the forms of the expiring republic. An assembly was summoned by Tertullus, praefect of the city; the epistle of Julian was read; and, as he appeared to be master of Italy his claims were admitted without a dissenting voice. His oblique censure of the innovations of Constantine, and his passionate invective against the vices of Constantius, were heard with less satisfaction; and the senate, as if Julian had been present, unanimously exclaimed, "Respect, we beseech you, the author of your own fortune." 38 An artful expression, which, according to the chance of war, might be differently explained; as a manly reproof of the ingratitude of the usurper, or as a flattering confession, that a single act of such benefit to the state ought to atone for all the failings of Constantius.
35 (return)
[ Ammian. xxi. 9, 10. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 54, p. 279,
280. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 156, 157.]
36 (return)
[ Julian (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286) positively asserts,
that he intercepted the letters of Constantius to the Barbarians; and
Libanius as positively affirms, that he read them on his march to the
troops and the cities. Yet Ammianus (xxi. 4) expresses himself with
cool and candid hesitation, si famoe solius admittenda est fides. He
specifies, however, an intercepted letter from Vadomair to Constantius,
which supposes an intimate correspondence between them. "disciplinam non
habet."]
37 (return)
[ Zosimus mentions his epistles to the Athenians, the
Corinthians, and the Lacedaemonians. The substance was probably the
same, though the address was properly varied. The epistle to the
Athenians is still extant, (p. 268-287,) and has afforded much valuable
information. It deserves the praises of the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Pref.
a l'Histoire de Jovien, p. 24, 25,) and is one of the best manifestoes
to be found in any language.]
38 (return)
[ Auctori tuo reverentiam rogamus. Ammian. xxi. 10. It is
amusing enough to observe the secret conflicts of the senate between
flattery and fear. See Tacit. Hist. i. 85.]
The intelligence of the march and rapid progress of Julian was speedily transmitted to his rival, who, by the retreat of Sapor, had obtained some respite from the Persian war. Disguising the anguish of his soul under the semblance of contempt, Constantius professed his intention of returning into Europe, and of giving chase to Julian; for he never spoke of his military expedition in any other light than that of a hunting party. 39 In the camp of Hierapolis, in Syria, he communicated this design to his army; slightly mentioned the guilt and rashness of the Caesar; and ventured to assure them, that if the mutineers of Gaul presumed to meet them in the field, they would be unable to sustain the fire of their eyes, and the irresistible weight of their shout of onset. The speech of the emperor was received with military applause, and Theodotus, the president of the council of Hierapolis, requested, with tears of adulation, that his city might be adorned with the head of the vanquished rebel. 40 A chosen detachment was despatched away in post-wagons, to secure, if it were yet possible, the pass of Succi; the recruits, the horses, the arms, and the magazines, which had been prepared against Sapor, were appropriated to the service of the civil war; and the domestic victories of Constantius inspired his partisans with the most sanguine assurances of success. The notary Gaudentius had occupied in his name the provinces of Africa; the subsistence of Rome was intercepted; and the distress of Julian was increased by an unexpected event, which might have been productive of fatal consequences. Julian had received the submission of two legions and a cohort of archers, who were stationed at Sirmium; but he suspected, with reason, the fidelity of those troops which had been distinguished by the emperor; and it was thought expedient, under the pretence of the exposed state of the Gallic frontier, to dismiss them from the most important scene of action. They advanced, with reluctance, as far as the confines of Italy; but as they dreaded the length of the way, and the savage fierceness of the Germans, they resolved, by the instigation of one of their tribunes, to halt at Aquileia, and to erect the banners of Constantius on the walls of that impregnable city. The vigilance of Julian perceived at once the extent of the mischief, and the necessity of applying an immediate remedy. By his order, Jovinus led back a part of the army into Italy; and the siege of Aquileia was formed with diligence, and prosecuted with vigor. But the legionaries, who seemed to have rejected the yoke of discipline, conducted the defence of the place with skill and perseverance; vited the rest of Italy to imitate the example of their courage and loyalty; and threatened the retreat of Julian, if he should be forced to yield to the superior numbers of the armies of the East. 41
39 (return)
[ Tanquam venaticiam praedam caperet: hoc enim ad Jeniendum
suorum metum subinde praedicabat. Ammian. xxii. 7.]
40 (return)
[ See the speech and preparations in Ammianus, xxi. 13.
The vile Theodotus afterwards implored and obtained his pardon from the
merciful conqueror, who signified his wish of diminishing his enemies
and increasing the numbers of his friends, (xxii. 14.)]
41 (return)
[ Ammian. xxi. 7, 11, 12. He seems to describe, with
superfluous labor, the operations of the siege of Aquileia, which, on
this occasion, maintained its impregnable fame. Gregory Nazianzen
(Orat. iii. p. 68) ascribes this accidental revolt to the wisdom of
Constantius, whose assured victory he announces with some appearance of
truth. Constantio quem credebat procul dubio fore victorem; nemo enim
omnium tunc ab hac constanti sententia discrepebat. Ammian. xxi. 7.]
But the humanity of Julian was preserved from the cruel alternative which he pathetically laments, of destroying or of being himself destroyed: and the seasonable death of Constantius delivered the Roman empire from the calamities of civil war. The approach of winter could not detain the monarch at Antioch; and his favorites durst not oppose his impatient desire of revenge. A slight fever, which was perhaps occasioned by the agitation of his spirits, was increased by the fatigues of the journey; and Constantius was obliged to halt at the little town of Mopsucrene, twelve miles beyond Tarsus, where he expired, after a short illness, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign. 42 His genuine character, which was composed of pride and weakness, of superstition and cruelty, has been fully displayed in the preceding narrative of civil and ecclesiastical events. The long abuse of power rendered him a considerable object in the eyes of his contemporaries; but as personal merit can alone deserve the notice of posterity, the last of the sons of Constantine may be dismissed from the world, with the remark, that he inherited the defects, without the abilities, of his father. Before Constantius expired, he is said to have named Julian for his successor; nor does it seem improbable, that his anxious concern for the fate of a young and tender wife, whom he left with child, may have prevailed, in his last moments, over the harsher passions of hatred and revenge. Eusebius, and his guilty associates, made a faint attempt to prolong the reign of the eunuchs, by the election of another emperor; but their intrigues were rejected with disdain, by an army which now abhorred the thought of civil discord; and two officers of rank were instantly despatched, to assure Julian, that every sword in the empire would be drawn for his service. The military designs of that prince, who had formed three different attacks against Thrace, were prevented by this fortunate event. Without shedding the blood of his fellow-citizens, he escaped the dangers of a doubtful conflict, and acquired the advantages of a complete victory. Impatient to visit the place of his birth, and the new capital of the empire, he advanced from Naissus through the mountains of Haemus, and the cities of Thrace. When he reached Heraclea, at the distance of sixty miles, all Constantinople was poured forth to receive him; and he made his triumphal entry amidst the dutiful acclamations of the soldiers, the people, and the senate. At innumerable multitude pressed around him with eager respect and were perhaps disappointed when they beheld the small stature and simple garb of a hero, whose unexperienced youth had vanquished the Barbarians of Germany, and who had now traversed, in a successful career, the whole continent of Europe, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Bosphorus. 43 A few days afterwards, when the remains of the deceased emperor were landed in the harbor, the subjects of Julian applauded the real or affected humanity of their sovereign. On foot, without his diadem, and clothed in a mourning habit, he accompanied the funeral as far as the church of the Holy Apostles, where the body was deposited: and if these marks of respect may be interpreted as a selfish tribute to the birth and dignity of his Imperial kinsman, the tears of Julian professed to the world that he had forgot the injuries, and remembered only the obligations, which he had received from Constantius. 44 As soon as the legions of Aquileia were assured of the death of the emperor, they opened the gates of the city, and, by the sacrifice of their guilty leaders, obtained an easy pardon from the prudence or lenity of Julian; who, in the thirty-second year of his age, acquired the undisputed possession of the Roman empire. 45
42 (return)
[ His death and character are faithfully delineated by
Ammianus, (xxi. 14, 15, 16;) and we are authorized to despise and detest
the foolish calumny of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 68,) who accuses Julian
of contriving the death of his benefactor. The private repentance of the
emperor, that he had spared and promoted Julian, (p. 69, and Orat. xxi.
p. 389,) is not improbable in itself, nor incompatible with the public
verbal testament which prudential considerations might dictate in the
last moments of his life. Note: Wagner thinks this sudden change of
sentiment altogether a fiction of the attendant courtiers and chiefs of
the army. who up to this time had been hostile to Julian. Note in loco
Ammian.—M.]
43 (return)
[ In describing the triumph of Julian, Ammianus (xxii. l,
2) assumes the lofty tone of an orator or poet; while Libanius (Orat.
Parent, c. 56, p. 281) sinks to the grave simplicity of an historian.]
44 (return)
[ The funeral of Constantius is described by Ammianus, (xxi.
16.) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 119,) Mamertinus, in (Panegyr.
Vet. xi. 27,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. lvi. p. 283,) and
Philostorgius, (l. vi. c. 6, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 265.)
These writers, and their followers, Pagans, Catholics, Arians, beheld
with very different eyes both the dead and the living emperor.]
45 (return)
[ The day and year of the birth of Julian are not perfectly
ascertained. The day is probably the sixth of November, and the year
must be either 331 or 332. Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.
693. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 50. I have preferred the earlier date.]
Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages of action and retirement; but the elevation of his birth, and the accidents of his life, never allowed him the freedom of choice. He might perhaps sincerely have preferred the groves of the academy, and the society of Athens; but he was constrained, at first by the will, and afterwards by the injustice, of Constantius, to expose his person and fame to the dangers of Imperial greatness; and to make himself accountable to the world, and to posterity, for the happiness of millions. 46 Julian recollected with terror the observation of his master Plato, 47 that the government of our flocks and herds is always committed to beings of a superior species; and that the conduct of nations requires and deserves the celestial powers of the gods or of the genii. From this principle he justly concluded, that the man who presumes to reign, should aspire to the perfection of the divine nature; that he should purify his soul from her mortal and terrestrial part; that he should extinguish his appetites, enlighten his understanding, regulate his passions, and subdue the wild beast, which, according to the lively metaphor of Aristotle, 48 seldom fails to ascend the throne of a despot. The throne of Julian, which the death of Constantius fixed on an independent basis, was the seat of reason, of virtue, and perhaps of vanity. He despised the honors, renounced the pleasures, and discharged with incessant diligence the duties, of his exalted station; and there were few among his subjects who would have consented to relieve him from the weight of the diadem, had they been obliged to submit their time and their actions to the rigorous laws which that philosophic emperor imposed on himself. One of his most intimate friends, 49 who had often shared the frugal simplicity of his table, has remarked, that his light and sparing diet (which was usually of the vegetable kind) left his mind and body always free and active, for the various and important business of an author, a pontiff, a magistrate, a general, and a prince. In one and the same day, he gave audience to several ambassadors, and wrote, or dictated, a great number of letters to his generals, his civil magistrates, his private friends, and the different cities of his dominions. He listened to the memorials which had been received, considered the subject of the petitions, and signified his intentions more rapidly than they could be taken in short-hand by the diligence of his secretaries. He possessed such flexibility of thought, and such firmness of attention, that he could employ his hand to write, his ear to listen, and his voice to dictate; and pursue at once three several trains of ideas without hesitation, and without error. While his ministers reposed, the prince flew with agility from one labor to another, and, after a hasty dinner, retired into his library, till the public business, which he had appointed for the evening, summoned him to interrupt the prosecution of his studies. The supper of the emperor was still less substantial than the former meal; his sleep was never clouded by the fumes of indigestion; and except in the short interval of a marriage, which was the effect of policy rather than love, the chaste Julian never shared his bed with a female companion. 50 He was soon awakened by the entrance of fresh secretaries, who had slept the preceding day; and his servants were obliged to wait alternately while their indefatigable master allowed himself scarcely any other refreshment than the change of occupation. The predecessors of Julian, his uncle, his brother, and his cousin, indulged their puerile taste for the games of the Circus, under the specious pretence of complying with the inclinations of the people; and they frequently remained the greatest part of the day as idle spectators, and as a part of the splendid spectacle, till the ordinary round of twenty-four races 51 was completely finished. On solemn festivals, Julian, who felt and professed an unfashionable dislike to these frivolous amusements, condescended to appear in the Circus; and after bestowing a careless glance at five or six of the races, he hastily withdrew with the impatience of a philosopher, who considered every moment as lost that was not devoted to the advantage of the public or the improvement of his own mind. 52 By this avarice of time, he seemed to protract the short duration of his reign; and if the dates were less securely ascertained, we should refuse to believe, that only sixteen months elapsed between the death of Constantius and the departure of his successor for the Persian war. The actions of Julian can only be preserved by the care of the historian; but the portion of his voluminous writings, which is still extant, remains as a monument of the application, as well as of the genius, of the emperor. The Misopogon, the Caesars, several of his orations, and his elaborate work against the Christian religion, were composed in the long nights of the two winters, the former of which he passed at Constantinople, and the latter at Antioch.
46 (return)
[ Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed these
philosophical ideas with much eloquence and some affectation, in a very
elaborate epistle to Themistius. The Abbe de la Bleterie, (tom. ii. p.
146-193,) who has given an elegant translation, is inclined to believe
that it was the celebrated Themistius, whose orations are still extant.]
47 (return)
[ Julian. ad Themist. p. 258. Petavius (not. p. 95) observes
that this passage is taken from the fourth book De Legibus; but either
Julian quoted from memory, or his MSS. were different from ours Xenophon
opens the Cyropaedia with a similar reflection.]
48 (return)
[ Aristot. ap. Julian. p. 261. The MS. of Vossius,
unsatisfied with the single beast, affords the stronger reading of which
the experience of despotism may warrant.]
49 (return)
[ Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. lxxxiv. lxxxv. p. 310, 311,
312) has given this interesting detail of the private life of Julian. He
himself (in Misopogon, p. 350) mentions his vegetable diet, and upbraids
the gross and sensual appetite of the people of Antioch.]
50 (return)
[ Lectulus... Vestalium toris purior, is the praise which
Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 13) addresses to Julian himself. Libanius
affirms, in sober peremptory language, that Julian never knew a woman
before his marriage, or after the death of his wife, (Orat. Parent. c.
lxxxviii. p. 313.) The chastity of Julian is confirmed by the impartial
testimony of Ammianus, (xxv. 4,) and the partial silence of the
Christians. Yet Julian ironically urges the reproach of the people of
Antioch, that he almost always (in Misopogon, p. 345) lay alone. This
suspicious expression is explained by the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de
Jovien, tom. ii. p. 103-109) with candor and ingenuity.]
51 (return)
[ See Salmasius ad Sueton in Claud. c. xxi. A twenty-fifth
race, or missus, was added, to complete the number of one hundred
chariots, four of which, the four colors, started each heat.
Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus.
It appears, that they ran five or seven times round the Mota (Sueton in Domitian. c. 4;) and (from the measure of the Circus Maximus at Rome, the Hippodrome at Constantinople, &c.) it might be about a four mile course.]
52 (return)
[ Julian. in Misopogon, p. 340. Julius Caesar had offended
the Roman people by reading his despatches during the actual race.
Augustus indulged their taste, or his own, by his constant attention to
the important business of the Circus, for which he professed the warmest
inclination. Sueton. in August. c. xlv.]
The reformation of the Imperial court was one of the first and most necessary acts of the government of Julian. 53 Soon after his entrance into the palace of Constantinople, he had occasion for the service of a barber. An officer, magnificently dressed, immediately presented himself. "It is a barber," exclaimed the prince, with affected surprise, "that I want, and not a receiver-general of the finances." 54 He questioned the man concerning the profits of his employment and was informed, that besides a large salary, and some valuable perquisites, he enjoyed a daily allowance for twenty servants, and as many horses. A thousand barbers, a thousand cup-bearers, a thousand cooks, were distributed in the several offices of luxury; and the number of eunuchs could be compared only with the insects of a summer's day. The monarch who resigned to his subjects the superiority of merit and virtue, was distinguished by the oppressive magnificence of his dress, his table, his buildings, and his train. The stately palaces erected by Constantine and his sons, were decorated with many colored marbles, and ornaments of massy gold. The most exquisite dainties were procured, to gratify their pride, rather than their taste; birds of the most distant climates, fish from the most remote seas, fruits out of their natural season, winter roses, and summer snows. 56 The domestic crowd of the palace surpassed the expense of the legions; yet the smallest part of this costly multitude was subservient to the use, or even to the splendor, of the throne. The monarch was disgraced, and the people was injured, by the creation and sale of an infinite number of obscure, and even titular employments; and the most worthless of mankind might purchase the privilege of being maintained, without the necessity of labor, from the public revenue. The waste of an enormous household, the increase of fees and perquisites, which were soon claimed as a lawful debt, and the bribes which they extorted from those who feared their enmity, or solicited their favor, suddenly enriched these haughty menials. They abused their fortune, without considering their past, or their future, condition; and their rapine and venality could be equalled only by the extravagance of their dissipations. Their silken robes were embroidered with gold, their tables were served with delicacy and profusion; the houses which they built for their own use, would have covered the farm of an ancient consul; and the most honorable citizens were obliged to dismount from their horses, and respectfully to salute a eunuch whom they met on the public highway. The luxury of the palace excited the contempt and indignation of Julian, who usually slept on the ground, who yielded with reluctance to the indispensable calls of nature; and who placed his vanity, not in emulating, but in despising, the pomp of royalty.
53 (return)
[ The reformation of the palace is described by Ammianus,
(xxii. 4,) Libanius, Orat. (Parent. c. lxii. p. 288, &c.,) Mamertinus,
in Panegyr. (Vet. xi. 11,) Socrates, (l. iii. c. l.,) and Zonaras, (tom.
ii. l. xiii. p. 24.)]
54 (return)
[ Ego non rationalem jussi sed tonsorem acciri. Zonaras uses
the less natural image of a senator. Yet an officer of the finances,
who was satisfied with wealth, might desire and obtain the honors of the
senate.]
56 (return)
[ The expressions of Mamertinus are lively and forcible.
Quis etiam prandiorum et caenarum laboratas magnitudines Romanus
populus sensit; cum quaesitissimae dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus
aestimarentur; miracula avium, longinqui maris pisces, aheni temporis
poma, aestivae nives, hybernae rosae]
By the total extirpation of a mischief which was magnified even beyond its real extent, he was impatient to relieve the distress, and to appease the murmurs of the people; who support with less uneasiness the weight of taxes, if they are convinced that the fruits of their industry are appropriated to the service of the state. But in the execution of this salutary work, Julian is accused of proceeding with too much haste and inconsiderate severity. By a single edict, he reduced the palace of Constantinople to an immense desert, and dismissed with ignominy the whole train of slaves and dependants, 57 without providing any just, or at least benevolent, exceptions, for the age, the services, or the poverty, of the faithful domestics of the Imperial family. Such indeed was the temper of Julian, who seldom recollected the fundamental maxim of Aristotle, that true virtue is placed at an equal distance between the opposite vices.
The splendid and effeminate dress of the Asiatics, the curls and paint, the collars and bracelets, which had appeared so ridiculous in the person of Constantine, were consistently rejected by his philosophic successor. But with the fopperies, Julian affected to renounce the decencies of dress; and seemed to value himself for his neglect of the laws of cleanliness. In a satirical performance, which was designed for the public eye, the emperor descants with pleasure, and even with pride, on the length of his nails, and the inky blackness of his hands; protests, that although the greatest part of his body was covered with hair, the use of the razor was confined to his head alone; and celebrates, with visible complacency, the shaggy and populous 58 beard, which he fondly cherished, after the example of the philosophers of Greece. Had Julian consulted the simple dictates of reason, the first magistrate of the Romans would have scorned the affectation of Diogenes, as well as that of Darius.
57 (return)
[ Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing whole towns
on the eunuchs, (Orat. vii. against Polyclet. p. 117-127.) Libanius
contents himself with a cold but positive denial of the fact, which
seems indeed to belong more properly to Constantius. This charge,
however, may allude to some unknown circumstance.]
58 (return)
[ In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a very
singular picture of himself, and the following words are strangely
characteristic. The friends of the Abbe de la Bleterie adjured him,
in the name of the French nation, not to translate this passage, so
offensive to their delicacy, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 94.) Like
him, I have contented myself with a transient allusion; but the little
animal which Julian names, is a beast familiar to man, and signifies
love.]
But the work of public reformation would have remained imperfect, if Julian had only corrected the abuses, without punishing the crimes, of his predecessor's reign. "We are now delivered," says he, in a familiar letter to one of his intimate friends, "we are now surprisingly delivered from the voracious jaws of the Hydra. 59 I do not mean to apply the epithet to my brother Constantius. He is no more; may the earth lie light on his head! But his artful and cruel favorites studied to deceive and exasperate a prince, whose natural mildness cannot be praised without some efforts of adulation. It is not, however, my intention, that even those men should be oppressed: they are accused, and they shall enjoy the benefit of a fair and impartial trial." To conduct this inquiry, Julian named six judges of the highest rank in the state and army; and as he wished to escape the reproach of condemning his personal enemies, he fixed this extraordinary tribunal at Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus; and transferred to the commissioners an absolute power to pronounce and execute their final sentence, without delay, and without appeal. The office of president was exercised by the venerable praefect of the East, a second Sallust, 60 whose virtues conciliated the esteem of Greek sophists, and of Christian bishops. He was assisted by the eloquent Mamertinus, 61 one of the consuls elect, whose merit is loudly celebrated by the doubtful evidence of his own applause. But the civil wisdom of two magistrates was overbalanced by the ferocious violence of four generals, Nevitta, Agilo, Jovinus, and Arbetio. Arbetio, whom the public would have seen with less surprise at the bar than on the bench, was supposed to possess the secret of the commission; the armed and angry leaders of the Jovian and Herculian bands encompassed the tribunal; and the judges were alternately swayed by the laws of justice, and by the clamors of faction. 62
59 (return)
[ Julian, epist. xxiii. p. 389. He uses the words in writing
to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was conversant with the
Greek poets.]
60 (return)
[ The two Sallusts, the praefect of Gaul, and the praefect
of the East, must be carefully distinguished, (Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. iv. p. 696.) I have used the surname of Secundus, as a convenient
epithet. The second Sallust extorted the esteem of the Christians
themselves; and Gregory Nazianzen, who condemned his religion, has
celebrated his virtues, (Orat. iii. p. 90.) See a curious note of the
Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 363. Note: Gibbonus secundum
habet pro numero, quod tamen est viri agnomen Wagner, nota in loc. Amm.
It is not a mistake; it is rather an error in taste. Wagner inclines to
transfer the chief guilt to Arbetio.—M.]
61 (return)
[ Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi. l.) for bestowing
the offices of Treasurer and Praefect on a man of wisdom, firmness,
integrity, &c., like himself. Yet Ammianus ranks him (xxi. l.) among the
ministers of Julian, quorum merita norat et fidem.]
62 (return)
[ The proceedings of this chamber of justice are related by
Ammianus, (xxii. 3,) and praised by Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 74, p.
299, 300.)]
The chamberlain Eusebius, who had so long abused the favor of Constantius, expiated, by an ignominious death, the insolence, the corruption, and cruelty of his servile reign. The executions of Paul and Apodemius (the former of whom was burnt alive) were accepted as an inadequate atonement by the widows and orphans of so many hundred Romans, whom those legal tyrants had betrayed and murdered. But justice herself (if we may use the pathetic expression of Ammianus) 63 appeared to weep over the fate of Ursulus, the treasurer of the empire; and his blood accused the ingratitude of Julian, whose distress had been seasonably relieved by the intrepid liberality of that honest minister. The rage of the soldiers, whom he had provoked by his indiscretion, was the cause and the excuse of his death; and the emperor, deeply wounded by his own reproaches and those of the public, offered some consolation to the family of Ursulus, by the restitution of his confiscated fortunes. Before the end of the year in which they had been adorned with the ensigns of the prefecture and consulship, 64 Taurus and Florentius were reduced to implore the clemency of the inexorable tribunal of Chalcedon. The former was banished to Vercellae in Italy, and a sentence of death was pronounced against the latter. A wise prince should have rewarded the crime of Taurus: the faithful minister, when he was no longer able to oppose the progress of a rebel, had taken refuge in the court of his benefactor and his lawful sovereign. But the guilt of Florentius justified the severity of the judges; and his escape served to display the magnanimity of Julian, who nobly checked the interested diligence of an informer, and refused to learn what place concealed the wretched fugitive from his just resentment. 65 Some months after the tribunal of Chalcedon had been dissolved, the praetorian vicegerent of Africa, the notary Gaudentius, and Artemius 66 duke of Egypt, were executed at Antioch. Artemius had reigned the cruel and corrupt tyrant of a great province; Gaudentius had long practised the arts of calumny against the innocent, the virtuous, and even the person of Julian himself. Yet the circumstances of their trial and condemnation were so unskillfully managed, that these wicked men obtained, in the public opinion, the glory of suffering for the obstinate loyalty with which they had supported the cause of Constantius. The rest of his servants were protected by a general act of oblivion; and they were left to enjoy with impunity the bribes which they had accepted, either to defend the oppressed, or to oppress the friendless. This measure, which, on the soundest principles of policy, may deserve our approbation, was executed in a manner which seemed to degrade the majesty of the throne. Julian was tormented by the importunities of a multitude, particularly of Egyptians, who loudly redemanded the gifts which they had imprudently or illegally bestowed; he foresaw the endless prosecution of vexatious suits; and he engaged a promise, which ought always to have been sacred, that if they would repair to Chalcedon, he would meet them in person, to hear and determine their complaints. But as soon as they were landed, he issued an absolute order, which prohibited the watermen from transporting any Egyptian to Constantinople; and thus detained his disappointed clients on the Asiatic shore till, their patience and money being utterly exhausted, they were obliged to return with indignant murmurs to their native country. 67
63 (return)
[ Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse justitia.
Libanius, who imputes his death to the soldiers, attempts to criminate
the court of the largesses.]
64 (return)
[ Such respect was still entertained for the venerable names
of the commonwealth, that the public was surprised and scandalized to
hear Taurus summoned as a criminal under the consulship of Taurus.
The summons of his colleague Florentius was probably delayed till the
commencement of the ensuing year.]
65 (return)
[ Ammian. xx. 7.]
66 (return)
[ For the guilt and punishment of Artemius, see Julian
(Epist. x. p. 379) and Ammianus, (xxii. 6, and Vales, ad hoc.) The
merit of Artemius, who demolished temples, and was put to death by an
apostate, has tempted the Greek and Latin churches to honor him as a
martyr. But as ecclesiastical history attests that he was not only
a tyrant, but an Arian, it is not altogether easy to justify this
indiscreet promotion. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1319.]
67 (return)
[ See Ammian. xxii. 6, and Vales, ad locum; and the Codex
Theodosianus, l. ii. tit. xxxix. leg. i.; and Godefroy's Commentary,
tom. i. p. 218, ad locum.]
The numerous army of spies, of agents, and informers enlisted by Constantius to secure the repose of one man, and to interrupt that of millions, was immediately disbanded by his generous successor. Julian was slow in his suspicions, and gentle in his punishments; and his contempt of treason was the result of judgment, of vanity, and of courage. Conscious of superior merit, he was persuaded that few among his subjects would dare to meet him in the field, to attempt his life, or even to seat themselves on his vacant throne. The philosopher could excuse the hasty sallies of discontent; and the hero could despise the ambitious projects which surpassed the fortune or the abilities of the rash conspirators. A citizen of Ancyra had prepared for his own use a purple garment; and this indiscreet action, which, under the reign of Constantius, would have been considered as a capital offence, 68 was reported to Julian by the officious importunity of a private enemy. The monarch, after making some inquiry into the rank and character of his rival, despatched the informer with a present of a pair of purple slippers, to complete the magnificence of his Imperial habit. A more dangerous conspiracy was formed by ten of the domestic guards, who had resolved to assassinate Julian in the field of exercise near Antioch. Their intemperance revealed their guilt; and they were conducted in chains to the presence of their injured sovereign, who, after a lively representation of the wickedness and folly of their enterprise, instead of a death of torture, which they deserved and expected, pronounced a sentence of exile against the two principal offenders. The only instance in which Julian seemed to depart from his accustomed clemency, was the execution of a rash youth, who, with a feeble hand, had aspired to seize the reins of empire. But that youth was the son of Marcellus, the general of cavalry, who, in the first campaign of the Gallic war, had deserted the standard of the Caesar and the republic. Without appearing to indulge his personal resentment, Julian might easily confound the crime of the son and of the father; but he was reconciled by the distress of Marcellus, and the liberality of the emperor endeavored to heal the wound which had been inflicted by the hand of justice. 69
68 (return)
[ The president Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur,
&c., des Romains, c. xiv. in his works, tom. iii. p. 448, 449,) excuses
this minute and absurd tyranny, by supposing that actions the most
indifferent in our eyes might excite, in a Roman mind, the idea of
guilt and danger. This strange apology is supported by a strange
misapprehension of the English laws, "chez une nation.... ou il est
defendu da boire a la sante d'une certaine personne."]
69 (return)
[ The clemency of Julian, and the conspiracy which was
formed against his life at Antioch, are described by Ammianus (xxii. 9,
10, and Vales, ad loc.) and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 99, p. 323.)]
Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom. 70 From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and heroes; his life and fortunes had depended on the caprice of a tyrant; and when he ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes mortified by the reflection, that the slaves who would not dare to censure his defects were not worthy to applaud his virtues. 71 He sincerely abhorred the system of Oriental despotism, which Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of fourscore years, had established in the empire. A motive of superstition prevented the execution of the design, which Julian had frequently meditated, of relieving his head from the weight of a costly diadem; 72 but he absolutely refused the title of Dominus, or Lord, 73 a word which was grown so familiar to the ears of the Romans, that they no longer remembered its servile and humiliating origin. The office, or rather the name, of consul, was cherished by a prince who contemplated with reverence the ruins of the republic; and the same behavior which had been assumed by the prudence of Augustus was adopted by Julian from choice and inclination. On the calends of January, at break of day, the new consuls, Mamertinus and Nevitta, hastened to the palace to salute the emperor. As soon as he was informed of their approach, he leaped from his throne, eagerly advanced to meet them, and compelled the blushing magistrates to receive the demonstrations of his affected humility. From the palace they proceeded to the senate. The emperor, on foot, marched before their litters; and the gazing multitude admired the image of ancient times, or secretly blamed a conduct, which, in their eyes, degraded the majesty of the purple. 74 But the behavior of Julian was uniformly supported. During the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently or designedly, performed the manumission of a slave in the presence of the consul. The moment he was reminded that he had trespassed on the jurisdiction of another magistrate, he condemned himself to pay a fine of ten pounds of gold; and embraced this public occasion of declaring to the world, that he was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens, to the laws, 75 and even to the forms, of the republic. The spirit of his administration, and his regard for the place of his nativity, induced Julian to confer on the senate of Constantinople the same honors, privileges, and authority, which were still enjoyed by the senate of ancient Rome. 76 A legal fiction was introduced, and gradually established, that one half of the national council had migrated into the East; and the despotic successors of Julian, accepting the title of Senators, acknowledged themselves the members of a respectable body, which was permitted to represent the majesty of the Roman name. From Constantinople, the attention of the monarch was extended to the municipal senates of the provinces. He abolished, by repeated edicts, the unjust and pernicious exemptions which had withdrawn so many idle citizens from the services of their country; and by imposing an equal distribution of public duties, he restored the strength, the splendor, or, according to the glowing expression of Libanius, 77 the soul of the expiring cities of his empire. The venerable age of Greece excited the most tender compassion in the mind of Julian, which kindled into rapture when he recollected the gods, the heroes, and the men superior to heroes and to gods, who have bequeathed to the latest posterity the monuments of their genius, or the example of their virtues. He relieved the distress, and restored the beauty, of the cities of Epirus and Peloponnesus. 78 Athens acknowledged him for her benefactor; Argos, for her deliverer. The pride of Corinth, again rising from her ruins with the honors of a Roman colony, exacted a tribute from the adjacent republics, for the purpose of defraying the games of the Isthmus, which were celebrated in the amphitheatre with the hunting of bears and panthers. From this tribute the cities of Elis, of Delphi, and of Argos, which had inherited from their remote ancestors the sacred office of perpetuating the Olympic, the Pythian, and the Nemean games, claimed a just exemption. The immunity of Elis and Delphi was respected by the Corinthians; but the poverty of Argos tempted the insolence of oppression; and the feeble complaints of its deputies were silenced by the decree of a provincial magistrate, who seems to have consulted only the interest of the capital in which he resided. Seven years after this sentence, Julian 79 allowed the cause to be referred to a superior tribunal; and his eloquence was interposed, most probably with success, in the defence of a city, which had been the royal seat of Agamemnon, 80 and had given to Macedonia a race of kings and conquerors. 81
70 (return)
[ According to some, says Aristotle, (as he is quoted by
Julian ad Themist. p. 261,) the form of absolute government is contrary
to nature. Both the prince and the philosopher choose, how ever to
involve this eternal truth in artful and labored obscurity.]
71 (return)
[ That sentiment is expressed almost in the words of Julian
himself. Ammian. xxii. 10.]
72 (return)
[ Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 95, p. 320,) who mentions the
wish and design of Julian, insinuates, in mysterious language that the
emperor was restrained by some particular revelation.]
73 (return)
[ Julian in Misopogon, p. 343. As he never abolished, by any
public law, the proud appellations of Despot, or Dominus, they are
still extant on his medals, (Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 38, 39;) and the
private displeasure which he affected to express, only gave a different
tone to the servility of the court. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de
Jovien, tom. ii. p. 99-102) has curiously traced the origin and progress
of the word Dominus under the Imperial government.]
74 (return)
[ Ammian. xxii. 7. The consul Mamertinus (in Panegyr. Vet.
xi. 28, 29, 30) celebrates the auspicious day, like an elegant slave,
astonished and intoxicated by the condescension of his master.]
75 (return)
[ Personal satire was condemned by the laws of the
twelve tables: Si male condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus est
Judiciumque—Horat. Sat. ii. 1. 82. ——-Julian (in Misopogon, p. 337)
owns himself subject to the law; and the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de
Jovien, tom. ii. p. 92) has eagerly embraced a declaration so agreeable
to his own system, and, indeed, to the true spirit of the Imperial
constitution.]
76 (return)
[ Zosimus, l. iii. p. 158.]
77 (return)
[ See Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 71, p. 296,) Ammianus,
(xxii. 9,) and the Theodosian Code (l. xii. tit. i. leg. 50-55.) with
Godefroy's Commentary, (tom. iv. p. 390-402.) Yet the whole subject of
the Curia, notwithstanding very ample materials, still remains the most
obscure in the legal history of the empire.]
78 (return)
[ Quae paulo ante arida et siti anhelantia visebantur, ea
nunc perlui, mundari, madere; Fora, Deambulacra, Gymnasia, laetis et
gaudentibus populis frequentari; dies festos, et celebrari veteres,
et novos in honorem principis consecrari, (Mamertin. xi. 9.) He
particularly restored the city of Nicopolis and the Actiac games, which
had been instituted by Augustus.]
79 (return)
[ Julian. Epist. xxxv. p. 407-411. This epistle, which
illustrates the declining age of Greece, is omitted by the Abbe de la
Bleterie, and strangely disfigured by the Latin translator, who, by
rendering tributum, and populus, directly contradicts the sense of the
original.]
80 (return)
[ He reigned in Mycenae at the distance of fifty stadia, or
six miles from Argos: but these cities, which alternately flourished,
are confounded by the Greek poets. Strabo, l. viii. p. 579, edit.
Amstel. 1707.]
81 (return)
[ Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 421. This pedigree from Temenus
and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after a strict
inquiry, by the judges of the Olympic games, (Herodot. l. v. c. 22,) at
a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure and unpopular in Greece.
When the Achaean league declared against Philip, it was thought decent
that the deputies of Argos should retire, (T. Liv. xxxii. 22.)]
The laborious administration of military and civil affairs, which were multiplied in proportion to the extent of the empire, exercised the abilities of Julian; but he frequently assumed the two characters of Orator 82 and of Judge, 83 which are almost unknown to the modern sovereigns of Europe. The arts of persuasion, so diligently cultivated by the first Caesars, were neglected by the military ignorance and Asiatic pride of their successors; and if they condescended to harangue the soldiers, whom they feared, they treated with silent disdain the senators, whom they despised. The assemblies of the senate, which Constantius had avoided, were considered by Julian as the place where he could exhibit, with the most propriety, the maxims of a republican, and the talents of a rhetorician. He alternately practised, as in a school of declamation, the several modes of praise, of censure, of exhortation; and his friend Libanius has remarked, that the study of Homer taught him to imitate the simple, concise style of Menelaus, the copiousness of Nestor, whose words descended like the flakes of a winter's snow, or the pathetic and forcible eloquence of Ulysses. The functions of a judge, which are sometimes incompatible with those of a prince, were exercised by Julian, not only as a duty, but as an amusement; and although he might have trusted the integrity and discernment of his Praetorian praefects, he often placed himself by their side on the seat of judgment. The acute penetration of his mind was agreeably occupied in detecting and defeating the chicanery of the advocates, who labored to disguise the truths of facts, and to pervert the sense of the laws. He sometimes forgot the gravity of his station, asked indiscreet or unseasonable questions, and betrayed, by the loudness of his voice, and the agitation of his body, the earnest vehemence with which he maintained his opinion against the judges, the advocates, and their clients. But his knowledge of his own temper prompted him to encourage, and even to solicit, the reproof of his friends and ministers; and whenever they ventured to oppose the irregular sallies of his passions, the spectators could observe the shame, as well as the gratitude, of their monarch. The decrees of Julian were almost always founded on the principles of justice; and he had the firmness to resist the two most dangerous temptations, which assault the tribunal of a sovereign, under the specious forms of compassion and equity. He decided the merits of the cause without weighing the circumstances of the parties; and the poor, whom he wished to relieve, were condemned to satisfy the just demands of a wealthy and noble adversary. He carefully distinguished the judge from the legislator; 84 and though he meditated a necessary reformation of the Roman jurisprudence, he pronounced sentence according to the strict and literal interpretation of those laws, which the magistrates were bound to execute, and the subjects to obey.
82 (return)
[ His eloquence is celebrated by Libanius, (Orat. Parent.
c. 75, 76, p. 300, 301,) who distinctly mentions the orators of Homer.
Socrates (l. iii. c. 1) has rashly asserted that Julian was the
only prince, since Julius Caesar, who harangued the senate. All
the predecessors of Nero, (Tacit. Annal. xiii. 3,) and many of his
successors, possessed the faculty of speaking in public; and it might
be proved by various examples, that they frequently exercised it in the
senate.]
83 (return)
[ Ammianus (xxi. 10) has impartially stated the merits and
defects of his judicial proceedings. Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 90,
91, p. 315, &c.) has seen only the fair side, and his picture, if
it flatters the person, expresses at least the duties, of the judge.
Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 120,) who suppresses the virtues, and
exaggerates even the venial faults of the Apostate, triumphantly
asks, whether such a judge was fit to be seated between Minos and
Rhadamanthus, in the Elysian Fields.]
84 (return)
[ Of the laws which Julian enacted in a reign of sixteen
months, fifty-four have been admitted into the codes of Theodosius and
Justinian. (Gothofred. Chron. Legum, p. 64-67.) The Abbe de la Bleterie
(tom. ii. p. 329-336) has chosen one of these laws to give an idea of
Julian's Latin style, which is forcible and elaborate, but less pure
than his Greek.]
The generality of princes, if they were stripped of their purple, and cast naked into the world, would immediately sink to the lowest rank of society, without a hope of emerging from their obscurity. But the personal merit of Julian was, in some measure, independent of his fortune. Whatever had been his choice of life, by the force of intrepid courage, lively wit, and intense application, he would have obtained, or at least he would have deserved, the highest honors of his profession; and Julian might have raised himself to the rank of minister, or general, of the state in which he was born a private citizen. If the jealous caprice of power had disappointed his expectations, if he had prudently declined the paths of greatness, the employment of the same talents in studious solitude would have placed beyond the reach of kings his present happiness and his immortal fame. When we inspect, with minute, or perhaps malevolent attention, the portrait of Julian, something seems wanting to the grace and perfection of the whole figure. His genius was less powerful and sublime than that of Caesar; nor did he possess the consummate prudence of Augustus. The virtues of Trajan appear more steady and natural, and the philosophy of Marcus is more simple and consistent. Yet Julian sustained adversity with firmness, and prosperity with moderation. After an interval of one hundred and twenty years from the death of Alexander Severus, the Romans beheld an emperor who made no distinction between his duties and his pleasures; who labored to relieve the distress, and to revive the spirit, of his subjects; and who endeavored always to connect authority with merit, and happiness with virtue. Even faction, and religious faction, was constrained to acknowledge the superiority of his genius, in peace as well as in war, and to confess, with a sigh, that the apostate Julian was a lover of his country, and that he deserved the empire of the world. 85
85 (return)
[
... Ductor fortissimus armis;
Conditor et legum celeberrimus; ore manuque
Consultor patriae; sed non consultor habendae
Religionis; amans tercentum millia Divum.
Pertidus ille Deo, sed non et perfidus orbi.
Prudent. Apotheosis, 450, &c.
The consciousness of a generous sentiment seems to have raised the Christian post above his usual mediocrity.]