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palace surpassed the expence of the legions; yet CHAP. the smallest part of this costly multitude was subservient to the use, or even to the splendour, 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 labour, 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 favour, 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 honourable citizens were obliged to dismount from their horses, and respectfully to salute an 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

populus sensit; cum quæsitissimæ dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus æstimarentur; miracula avium, longinqui maris pisces, alieni temporis poma, æstivæ nives, hybernæ rose.

XXII.

CHAP. to the indispensable calls of nature; and who placed his vanity, not in emulating, but in despising the pomp of royalty. 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, 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..

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.

XXII.

But with the fopperies, Julian affected to re- CHAP. nounce 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 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. 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

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In the Misopogon, (338, 339), he draws a very singular picture of himself, and the following words are strangely characteristic.— Αυτός προσέθεικα τον βαθυν T8TOVL πωγωνα . . . ταυτα τα διαθέοντων ανεχομαι των φθείρων οσπες εν λόχμη των θηρίων. The friends of the Abbé 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.

Chamber

of justice

CHAP. Hydra." I do not mean to apply that epithet "to my brother Constantius. He is no more;

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may the earth lie light on his head! But his "artful and cruel favourites studied to deceive "and exasperate a prince, whose natural mild"ness 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 cominissioners an absolute power to pronounce and execute their final sentence without delay and without appeal. The office of president was exercised by the venerable præfect of the East, a second Sallust, whose virtues conciliated the esteem of Greek sophists, and of Christian bishops.

" Julian, epist. xxiii, p. 382. He uses the words woλuxepaλov ådpav in writing to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was conversant with the Greek poets.

• The two Sallusts, the præfect of Gaul, and the præfect 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 virtue, (Orat. iii. p. 90). See a curious note of the Abbé de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 363.

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He was assisted by the eloquent Mamertinus,' CHAP. 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 clamours of faction."

ment of

cent and

The chamberlain Eusebius, who had so long Punishabused the favour of Constantius, expiated, by the inno an ignominious death, the insolence, the corrupte guilty. tion, 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') appeared to weep over the fate

P Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi, 1) for bestowing the offices of treasurer and præfect on a man of wisdom, firmness, integrity, &c. like himself. Yet Ammianus ranks him (xxi, 1) among the ministers of Julian, quorum merita norat et fidem.

The proceedings of this chamber of justice are related by Ammiañus, (xxii, 3), and praised by Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 74, p. 299, 300).

* Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse justitia. Libanius, who imputes his death to the soldiers, attempts to criminate the count of the largesses.