XXII. victories of Constantius inspired his partisans CHAP. 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 part of the army into Italy; and the siege of Aquileia was formed, with diligence, and prosecuted with vigour. But the legionaries, who seemed to have rejected the yoke of discipline, conducted the defence of the place with skill and perseverance; invited the rest of Italy to imitate the example of their cou-. rage and loyalty; and threatened the retreat of and death CHAP. Julian, if he should be forced to yield to the XXII. superior numbers of the armies of the East." But the humanity of Julian was preserved stantius, from the cruel alternative, which he pathetically A. D. 361, laments, of destroying, or of being himself de of Con Nov. 3. stroyed; 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 favourites 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 beyondTarsus, where he expired, after a short illness, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign. His genuine character, which was composed of pride and weakness, of superstition and cruelty, has been fully displayed in s Ammian. xxi, 7, 11, 12. He seems to describe, with superAluous labour, the operations of the seige 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 proculdubio fore victorem : nemo enim omnium tunc ab hæc constanti sententi discrepebat. Ammian, xxi. 7. 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. events. XXII. the preceding narrative of civil and ecclesiastical CHAP 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 Hamus, and the cities of Thrace. When he reached Heraclea, at the CHAP distance of sixty miles, all Constantinople was XXII. poured forth to receive him; and he made his Julian en- triumphal entry amidst the dutiful acclamations stantino- of the soldiers, the people, and the senate. An ters Con ple, 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." A few days afterwards, when the remains of the deceased emperor were landed in the harbour, the subjects of Julian applauded thereal 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.** As soon as the "In describing the triumph of Julian, Ammianus (xxii, 1, 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. 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, (1. 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. XXII. legions of Aquileia were assured of the death of CHAP. 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 and is acknowledglenity of Julian; who, in the thirty-second year ed by the of his age, acquired the undisputed possession pire. of the Roman empire. whole em His civil govern private Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages of action and retirement; but ment, and the elevation of his birth, and the accidents of life 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 posterity for the happiness of millions. Julian recollected with terror the observations of his master Plato', that the government of our flocks and 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. Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed' these philosophical ideas with much eloquence, and some affectation, in a very elaborate epistle to Themistius. The Abbé de la Bleterie, (tom. ii, p. 146193), who has given an elegant translation, is inclined to believe that it was the celebrated Themistius, whose orations are still extant. a Julian and 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 Cyropædia with a similar reflection. |