Recalled to

Milan,

preserved for Athens that tender regard which seldom fails to arise in a liberal mind, from the recollection of the place where it has discovered and exercised its growing powers. The gentleness and affability of manners, which his temper suggested and his situation imposed, insensibly engaged the affections of the strangers, as well as citizens, with whom he conversed. Some of his fellow-students might perhaps examine his behaviour with an eye of prejudice and aversion; but Julian established, in the schools of Athens, a gene ral prepossession in favour of his virtues and talents, which was soon diffused over the Roman world (29).

Whilst his hours were passed in studious retirement, the empress, resolute to achieve the generous design which she had undertaken, was not unmindful of the care of his fortune. The death of the late Cæsar had left Constantius invested with the sole command, and oppressed by the accumulated weight of a mighty empire. Before the wounds of civil discord could be healed, the provinces of Gaul were overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians. The Sarmatians no longer respected the barrier of the Danube. The impunity of rapine had increased the number and boldness of the wild Isaurians: those robbers descended from their craggy mountains to ravage the adjacent country, and had even presumed, though without success, to besiege the important city of Seleucia, which was defended by a garrison of three Roman legions. Above all, the Persian monarch, elated by victory, again threatened the peace of Asia, and the presence of the emperor was indispensably required, both in the West, and in the East. For the first time, Constantius sincerely acknowledged, that his single strength was unequal to such an extent of care and of dominion (30). Insensible to the voice of flattery, which assured him that his all-powerful virtue, and celestial fortune, would still continue to triumph over every obstacle, he listened with complacency to the advice of Eusebia, which gratified his indolence, without offending his suspicious pride. As she perceived that the remembrance of Gallus dwelt on the emperor's mind, she artfully turned his attention to the opposite characters of the two brothers, which from their infaney had been compared to those of Domitian and of Titus (31). She accustomed her husband to consider Julian as a youth of a mild unambitious disposition, whose

(29) Libanius and Gregory Nazianzen have exhausted the arts as well as the powers of their eloquence, to represent Julian as the first of heroes, or the worst of tyrants. Gregory was his fellowstudent at Athens; and the symptoms which he so tragically describes, of the future wickedness of the apostate, amount only to some bodily imperfections, and to some peculiarities in his speech and manner. He protests, however, that he then foresaw and foretold the calamities of the church and state (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 121, 122.).

(30) Succumbere tot necessitatibus tamque crebris unum se, quod nunquam fecerat, aperte demonstrans. Ammian. 1. xv. c. 8. He then expresses, in their own words, the flattering assurances of the courtiers.

(31) Tantum a temperatis moribus Juliani differens fratris quantum inter Vespasiani filios fuit, Domitianum et Titum. Ammian. l. xiv. c. 11. The circumstances and education of the two brothers were so nearly the same, as to afford a strong example of the innate difference of characters.

allegiance and gratitude might be secured by the gift of the purple, and who was qualified to fill, with honour, a subordinate station, without aspiring to dispute the commands, or to shade the glories, of his sovereign and benefactor. After an obstinate, though secret struggle, the opposition of the favourite eunuchs submitted to the ascendancy of the empress; and it was resolved that Julian, after celebrating his nuptials with Helena, sister of Constantius, should be appointed, with the title of Cæsar, to reign over the countries beyond the Alps (32).

Although the order which recalled him to court was probably accompanied by some intimation of his approaching greatness, he appeals to the people of Athens to witness his tears of undissembled sorrow, when he was reluctantly torn away from his beloved retirement (33). He trembled for his life, for his fame, and even for his virtue; and his sole confidence was derived from the persuasion, that Minerva inspired all his actions, and that he was protected by an invisible guard of angels, whom for that purpose she had borrowed from the Sun and Moon. He approached, with horror, the palace of Milan; nor could the ingenuous youth conceal his indignation, when he found himself accosted with false and servile re→ spect by the assassins of his family. Eusebia, rejoicing in the suc→ cess of her benevolent schemes, embraced him with the tenderness of a sister; and endeavoured, by the most soothing caresses, to dispel his terrors, and reconcile him to his fortune. But the cere→ mony of shaving his beard, and his awkward demeanour, when he first exchanged the cloak of a Greek philosopher for the military habit of a Roman prince, amused, during a few days, the levity of the Imperial court (34)..

The emperors of the age of Constantine no longer deigned to consult with the senate in the choice of a colleague; but they were anxious that their nomination should be ratified by the consent of the army. On this solemn occasion, the guards, with the other troops whose stations were in the neighbourhood of Milan, appeared under arms; and Constantius ascended his lofty tribunal, holding by the hand his cousin Julian, who entered the same day into the twenty-fifth year of his age (35). In a studied speech, conceived and delivered with dignity, the emperor represented the various dangers which threatened the prosperity of the republic, the necessity of naming a Cæsar for the administration of the West, and his own

(32) Ammianus, 1. xv. c. 8. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 137. 138.

(33) Julian. ad S.P.Q.A. p. 275, 276. Libanius, Orat. x. p. 268. Julian did not yield till the gods had signified their will by repeated visions and omens. His piety then forbade him to resist.

(34) Julian himself relates (p. 274.) with some humour, the circumstances of his own metamorphosis, his downeast looks, and his perplexity at being thus suddenly transported into a new world, where every object appeared strange and hostile.

(35) See Ammian. Marcellin, 1. xv. c. 8. Zosimus, l. iii, p. 139. Aurelius Victor. Victor Junior in Epitom. Eutrop. x. 14..

and declared Cæsar,:

Nov. 6.

intention, if it was agreeable to their wishes, of rewarding with the 'honours of the purple, the promising virtues of the nephew of Constantine. The approbation of the soldiers was testified by a respectful murmur: they gazed on the manly countenance of Julian, and observed with pleasure, that the fire which sparkled in his eyes was tempered by a modest blush, on being thus exposed, for the first time, to the public view of mankind. As soon as the ceremony of his investiture had been performed, Constantius addressed him with the tone of authority, which his superior age and station permitted him to assume; and exhorting the new Cæsar to deserve, by heroic deeds, that sacred and immortal name, the emperor gave his colleague the strongest assurances of a friendship which should never be impaired by time, nor interrupted by their separation into the most distant climates. As soon as the speech was ended, the troops, as a token of applause, clashed their shields against their knees (36); while the officers who surrounded the tribunal expressed, with decent reserve, their sense of the merits of the representative of Constantius.

The two princes returned to the palace in the same chariot; and A. D. 355. during the slow procession, Julian repeated to himself a verse of his favourite Homer, which he might equally apply to his fortune and to his fears (37). The four-and-twenty days which the Cæsar spent at Milan after his investiture, and the first months of his Gallic reign, were devoted to a splendid, but severe captivity: nor could the acquisition of honour compensate for the loss of freedom (38). His steps were watched, his correspondence was intercepted; and he was obliged, by prudence, to decline the visits of his most intimate friends. Of his former domestics, four only were permitted to attend him; two pages, his physician, and his librarian; the last of whom was employed in the care of a valuable collection of books, the gift of the empress, who studied the inclinations as well as the interest of her friend. In the room of these faithful servants, an household was formed, such indeed as became the dignity of a Cæsar; but it was filled with a crowd of slaves, destitute, and perhaps incapable of any attachment for their new master, to whom, for the most part, they were either unknown or

Ammianus

(36) Militares omnes horrendo fragore scuta genibus illidentes; quod est prosperitatis indicium plenum; nam contra cum bastis clypei feriuntur, iræ documentum est et doloris. adds, with a nice distinction, Eumque ut potiori reverentia servaretur, nec supra modum laudabant nec infra quam decebat.

(37) έλλαβε πορφύρεος θάνατος, καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή. The word purple, which Homer had used as a vague but common epithet for death, was applied by Julian to express, very aptly, the nature and object of his own apprehensions.

(38) He represents, in the most pathetic terms (p. 277.), the distress of his new situation. The provision for his table was however so elegant and sumptuous, that the young philosopher rejected it with disdain. Quum legeret libellum assidue, quem Constantius ut privignum ad studia mittens manu sua conscripserat, prælicenter disponens quid in convivia Cæsaris impendi deberet: Phasianum, et vulvam et sumen exigi vetuit et inferri. Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xvi. c. 5.

'suspected. His want of experience might require the assistance of
a wise council; but the minute instructions which regulated the
service of his table, and the distribution of his hours, were adapted
to a youth still under the discipline of his præceptors, rather than
to the situation of a prince entrusted with the conduct of an impor-
tant war. If he aspired to deserve the esteem of his subjects, he
was checked by the fear of displeasing his sovereign; and even the
fruits of his marriage-bed were blasted by the jealous artifices of
Eusebia (39) herself, who, on this occasion alone, seems to have
been unmindful of the tenderness of her sex, and the generosity of
her character. The memory of his father and of his brothers re-
· minded Julian of his own danger, and his apprehensions were in-
creased by the recent and unworthy fate of Sylvanus. In the
summer which preceded his own elevation, that general had been
chosen to deliver Gaul from the tyranny of the Barbarians; but
Sylvanus soon discovered that he had left his most dangerous ene-
mies in the Imperial court. A dexterous informer, countenanced
by several of the principal ministers, procured from him some re-
commendatory letters; and erasing the whole of the contents, ex-
cept the signature, filled up the vacant parchment with matters of
high and treasonable import. By the industry and courage of his
friends, the fraud was however detected, and in a great council of
the civil and military officers, held in the presence of the emperor
himself, the innocence of Sylvanus was publicly acknowledged.
But the discovery came too late; the report of the calumny, and the
hasty seizure of his estate, had already provoked the indignant chief
to the rebellion of which he was so unjustly accused. He assumed
the purple at his head-quarters of Cologne, and his active powers
appeared to menace Italy with an invasion, and Milan with a siege.
In this emergency, Ursicinus, a general of equal rank, regained,
by an act of treachery, the favour which he had lost by his eminent
services in the East. Exasperated, as he might speciously allege,
by injuries of a similar nature, he hastened with a few followers to
join the standard, and to betray the confidence, of his too credulous
friend. After a reign of only twenty-eight days, Sylvanus was as-
sassinated the soldiers who, without any criminal intention, had
blindly followed the example of their leader, immediately returned
to their allegiance; and the flatterers of Constantius celebrated the

(39) If we recollect that Constantine, the father of Helena, died above eighteen years before in a mature old age, it will appear probable, that the daughter, though a virgin, could not be very young at the time of her marriage. She was soon afterwards delivered of a son, who died immediately, quod obstetrix corrupta mercede, mox natum præsecto plusquam convenerat umbilico necavit. She accompanied the emperor and empress in their journey to Rome, and the latter, quæsitum venenum bibere per fraudem illexit, ut quotiescunque concepisset, immaturum abjiceret partum. Ammian. 1. xvi. c. 10. Our physicians will determine whether there exists such a poison. For my own part, I am inclined to hope that the public malignity imputed the effects of accident as the guilt of Eusebia.

Fatal end of

Sylvanus, September.

A. D. 355.

Constantius visits Rome,

A. D. 357.

April 28.

wisdom and felicity of the monarch who had extinguished a civil war without the hazard of a battle (40).

The protection of the Rhætian frontier, and the persecution of the Catholic church, detained Constantius in Italy above eighteen months after the departure of Julian. Before the emperor returned into the East, he indulged his pride and curiosity in a visit to the ancient capital (41). He proceeded from Milan to Rome along the Æmilian and Flaminian ways; and as soon as he approached within forty miles of the city, the march of a prince who had never vanquished a foreign enemy, assumed the appearance of a triumphal procession. His splendid train was composed of all the ministers of luxury; but in a time of profound peace, he was encompassed by the glittering arms of the numerous squadrons of his guards and cuirassiers. Their streaming banners of silk, embossed with gold, and shaped in the form of dragons, waved round the person of the emperor. Constantius sat alone in a lofty car resplendent with gold and precious gems; and, except when he bowed his head to pass under the gates of the cities, he affected a stately demeanour of inflexible, and, as it might seem, of insensible gravity. The severe discipline of the Persian youth had been introduced by the eunuchs into the Imperial palace; and such were the habits of patience which they had inculcated, that during a slow and sultry march, he was never seen to move his hand towards his face, or to turn his eyes either to the right or to the left. He was received by the magistrates and senate of Rome; and the emperor surveyed, with attention, the civil honours of the republic, and the consular images of the noble families. The streets were lined with an innumerable multitude. Their repeated acclamations expressed their joy at beholding, after an absence of thirty-two years, the sacred person of their sovereign; and Constantius himself expressed, with some pleasantry, his affected surprise that the human race should thus suddenly be collected on the same spot. The son of Constantine was lodged in the ancient palace of Augustus: he presided in the senate, harangued the people from the tribunal which Cicero had so often ascended, assisted with unusual courtesy at the games of the Circus, and accepted the crowns of gold, as well as the panegyrics which had been prepared for the ceremony by the deputies of the principal cities. His short visit of thirty days was employed in viewing the monuments of art and power, which were scattered over the seven hills and the interjacent vallies. He admired the awful majesty of the capitol, the vast extent of the baths of Caracalla

(40) Ammianus (xv. v.) was perfectly well informed of the conduct and fate of Sylvanus. He himself was one of the few followers who attended Ursicinus in his dangerous enterprise.

(41) For the particulars of the visit of Constantius to Rome, see Ammianus, 1. xvi. c. 10. We have only to add, that Themistius was appointed deputy from Constantinople, and that he composed his ourth oration for this ceremony.