XXIII. CHAP. his hand or his hair; that they warned him of every impending danger, and conducted him, by their infallible wisdom, in every action of his life; and that he had acquired such an intimate knowledge of his heavenly guests, as readily to distinguish the voice of Jupiter from that of Minerva, and the form of Apollo from the figure of Hercules. These sleeping or waking visions, the ordinary effects of abstinence and fanaticism, would almost degrade the emperor to the level of an Egyptian monk. But the useless lives of Antony or Pachomius were consumed in these vain occupations. Julian could break from the dream of superstition to arm himself for battle; and after vanquishing in the field the enemies of Rome, he calmly retired into his tent, to dictate the wise and salutary laws of an empire, or to indulge his genius in the elegant pursuits of literature and philosophy. His reli gious dissi The important secret of the apostacy of Julian mulation. was intrusted to the fidelity of the initiated, with whom he was united by the sacred ties of friendship and religion. The pleasing rumour was cautiously circulated among the adherents of the ancient worship; and his future greatness * Julian's modesty confined him to obscure and occasional hints; but Libanius expatiates with pleasure on the fasts and visions of the religious hero (Legat. ad Julian. p. 157, and Orat. Parental. c. lxxxiii, p. 309, 310). d Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. x, p. 233, 234. Gallus had some reason to suspect the secret apostacy of his brother; and in a letter, which may be received as genuine, he exhorts Julian to adhere to the religion of their ancestors; an argument which, as it should seem, was not yet perfectly ripe. See Julian. Op. p. 454, and Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii, p. 141. XXIII. became the object of the hopes, the prayers, and CHAP. the predictions of the pagans, in every province of the empire. From the zeal and virtues of their royal proselyte, they fondly expected the cure of every evil, and the restoration of every blessing; and instead of disapproving of the ardour of their pious wishes, Julian ingenuously confessed, that he was ambitious to attain a situation, in which he might be useful to his country, and to his religion. But this religion was viewed with an hostile eye by the successor of Constantine, whose capricious passions alternately saved and threatened the life of Julian. The arts of magic and divination were strictly prohibited under a despotic government, which condescended to fear them: and if the pagans were reluctantly indulged in the exercise of their superstition, the rank of Julian would have excepted him from the general toleration. The apostate soon became the presumptive heir of the monarchy, and his death could alone have appeased the just apprehensions of the Christians. But the young prince who aspired to the glory of a hero, rather than of a martyr, consulted his safety by dissembling his religion; and the easy temper of polytheism permitted him to join in the public worship of a sect which he inwardly despised. Libanius has considered the hypocrisy of his friend as a subject, not of censure, but of praise. "As the с Gregory, (iii, p. 50), with inhuman zeal, censures Constantius for sparing the infant apostate, (xxxws ówdevra). His French translator, (p. 265,) cautiously observes, that such expressions must not be prises à la lettre СНАР: XXIII. "statues of the gods," says that orator, "which "have been defiled with filth, are again placed in a magnificent temple; so the beauty of truth 66 was seated in the mind of Julian, after it had "been purified from the errors and follies of his "education. His sentiments were changed; "but as it would have been dangerous to have "avowed his sentiments, his conduct still con"tinued the same. Very different from the ass "in Æsop, who disguised himself with a lion's "hide, our lion was obliged to conceal himself "under the skin of an ass, and, while he em"braced the dictates of reason to obey the laws "of prudence and necessity." The dissimulation of Julian lasted above ten years, from his secret initiation at Ephesus, to the beginning of the civil war; when he declared himself at once the implacable enemy of Christ and of Constantius. This state of constraint might contribute to strengthen his devotion; and as soon as he had satisfied the obligation of assisting, on solemn festivals, at the assemblies of the Christians, Julian returned with the impatience of a lover, to burn his free and voluntary incense on the domestic chapels of Jupiter and Mercury. But as every act of dissimulation must be painful to an ingenuous spirit, the profession of Christianity increased the aversion of Julian for a religion, which oppressed the freedom of his mind, and compelled him to hold a conduct repugnant to the noblest attributes of human nature, sincerity and courage. f Libanius, Orat. Parental. c. ix, p. 233. XXIII. ......... against Christiani The inclination of Julian might prefer the CHAP. gods of Homer, and of the Scipios, to the new faith, which his uncle had established in the He writes Roman empire, and in which he himself had been sanctified by the sacrament of baptism. ty. But as a philosopher, it was incumbent on him to justify his dissent from Christianity, which was supported by the number of its converts, by the chain of prophecy, the splendour of miracles, and the weight of evidence. The elaborate work, which he composed amidst the preparations of the Persian war, contained the substance of those arguments which he had long revolved in his mind. Some fragments have been transcribed and preserved by his adversary, the vehement Cyril of Alexandria; and they exhibit a very singular mixture of wit and learning, of sophistry and fanaticism. The elegance of the style, and the rank of the author, recommended his writings to the public attention ;' and in the impious list of the enemies of Fabricius (Biblioth. Græc. 1. v. c. viii, p. 88-90) and Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv, p. 44-47) have accurately compiled all that can now be discovered of Julian's work against the Christians. About seventy years after the death of Julian, he executed a task which had been feebly attempted by Philip of Side, a prolix and contemptible writer. Even the work of Cyril has not entirely satisfied the most favourable judges; and the Abbe de la Bleterie (Preface a l'Hist. de Jovien, p. 30, 32) wishes that some theologien philosophe (a strange centaur) would undertake the refutation of Julian. i Libanius, (Orat Parental. c. lxxxvii, p. 313), who has been sus pected of assisting his friend, prefers this divine vindication (Orat. ix in necem Julian. p. 255, edit. Morel.) to the writings of Porphyry.➡ His judgment may be arraigned, (Socrates, 1. iii. c. 23), but Libanius cannot be accused of flattery to a dead prince. XXIII. CHAP. Christianity, the celebrated name of Porphyry was effaced by the superior merit or reputation of Julian. The minds of the faithful were either seduced, or scandalized, or alarmed; and the pagans, who sometimes presumed to engage in the unequal dispute, derived from the popular work of their imperial missionary, an inexhaustible supply of fallacious objections. But in the assidious prosecution of these theological studies, the emperor of the Romans imbibed the illiberal prejudices and passions of a polemic divine. He contracted an irrevocable obligation to maintain and propagate his religious opinions; and whilst he secretly applauded the strength and dexterity with which he wielded the weapons of controversy, he was tempted to distrust the sincerity, or to despise the understandings, of his antagonists, who could obstinately resist the force of reason and eloquence. The Christians, who beheld with horror and toleration. indignation the apostacy of Julian, had much more to fear from his power than from his arguments. The Pagans, who were conscious of his fervent zeal, expected, perhaps with impatience, that the flames of persecution should be immediately kindled against the enemies of the gods; and that the ingenious malice of Julian would invent some cruel refinements of death and torture, which had been unknown to the rude and inexperienced fury of his predecessors. But the hopes, as well as the fears, of the religious factions were apparently disappointed, by the pru Universal |