СНАР. Julian is mortally wounded. 89 camp $9. Julian, who always contented himfelf with fuch food as a hungry foldier would have difdained, diftributed, for the ufe of the troops, the provifions of the Imperial household, and whatever could be fpared from the fumpterhorfes of the tribunes and generals. But this feeble relief served only to aggravate the sense of the public diftrefs; and the Romans began to entertain the most gloomy apprehenfions, that before they could reach the frontiers of the empire, they fhould all perish, either by famine, or by the fword of the Barbarians 90. While Julian ftruggled with the almoft infuperable difficulties of his fituation, the filent hours of the night were ftill devoted to study and contemplation. Whenever he clofed his eyes in fhort and interrupted flumbers, his mind was agitated with painful anxiety; nor can it be thought surprising, that the Genius of the empire fhould once more appear before him, covering with a funereal veil, his head, and his horn of abundance, and flowly retiring from the Imperial tent, The monarch started from his couch, and stepping forth, to refresh his wearied fpirits with the coolness of the midnight air, he beheld a 89 In Mark Antony's retreat, an attic chenix fold for fifty drachmæ, or, in other words, a pound of flour for twelve or fourteen fhillings: barley-bread was fold for its weight in filver. It is impoffible to peruse the interesting narrative of Plutarch (tom. v. p. 102-116.), without perceiving that Mark Antony and Julian were purfued by the fame enemies, and involved in the fame diftrefs. 90 Ammian. xxiv. 8. xxv. 1. Zofimus, 1, iii. p. 184, 185, 186. Libanius, Orat Parent. c. 134, 135. p. 357, 358, 359. The fophift of Antioch appears ignorant that the troops were hungry. XXIV. fiery meteor, which fhot athwart the fky, and CHAP. fuddenly vanifhed. Julian was convinced that he had seen the menacing countenance of the god of war "; the council which he fummoned, of Tufcan Harufpices ", unanimously pronounced that he fhould abftain from action: but on this occafion, neceffity and reafon were more prevalent than fuperftition; and the trumpets founded at the break of day. The army marched through a hilly country; and the hills had been fecretly occupied by the Perfians. Julian led the van, with the skill and attention of a confummate general; he was alarmed by the intelligence that his rear was fuddenly attacked. The heat of the weather had tempted him to lay afide his cuirass; but he fnatched a shield from one of his attendants, and haftened, with a fufficient reinforcement, to the relief of the rear-guard. A fimilar danger recalled the intrepid prince to the defence of the front; and as he galloped between the columns, the centre of the left was attacked, and almost overpowered, by a furious charge of the Perfian cavalry and elephants. This huge body was foon defeated, by the well 91 Ammian. xxv. 2. Julian had fworn in a paffion, nunquam fe Marti facra facturum (xxiv. 6.). 'Such whimfical quarrels were not uncommon between the gods and their infolent votaries; and even the prudent Auguftus, after his fleet had been twice shipwrecked, excluded Neptune from the honours of public profeffions. See Hume's philofophical Reflections. Effays, vol. ii. p. 418. 92 They ftill retained the monopoly of the vain, but lucrative, fcience,which had been invented in Hetruria, and profeffed to derive their knowledge of figns and omens, from the ancient books of Tarquitius, a Tuscan sage. 0 3 timed. XXIV. 93 CHAP. timed evolution of the light infantry, who aimed their weapons, with dexterity and effect, against the backs of the horfemen, and the legs of the elephants. The Barbarians fled; and Julian, who was foremost in every danger, animated the pursuit with his voice and gestures. His trembling guards, scattered and oppreffed by the dif orderly throng of friends and enemies, reminded their fearless fovereign that he was without armour; and conjured him to decline the fall of the impending ruin. As they exclaimed 23, a cloud of darts and arrows was discharged from the flying fquadrons; and a javelin, after razing the fkin of his arm, tranfpierced the ribs, and fixed in the inferior part of the liver. Julian attempted to draw the deadly weapon from his fide; but his fingers were cut by the fharpnefs of the fteel, and he fell fenfelefs from his horfe. guards flew to his relief; and the wounded emperor was gently raised from the ground, and conveyed out of the tumult of the battle into an adjacent tent. The report of the melancholy event paffed from rank to rank; but the grief of the Romans inspired them with invincible valour, and the defire of revenge. The bloody and obftinate conflict was maintained by the two armies, till they were feparated by the total darknefs of the night. The Perfians derived fome honour from the advantage which they obtained His 93 Clamabant hinc inde candidati (see tne note of Valefius) quos disjecerat terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male compofiti culminis declinaret, Ammian, xxv. 3. against XXIV. against the left wing, where Anatolius, mafter CHAP. of the offices, was flain, and the præfect Salluft very narrowly escaped. But the event of the day was adverse to the Barbarians. They abandoned the field; their two generals, Meranes, and Nohordates 94, fifty nobles or fatraps, and a multitude of their bravest foldiers: and the fuccefs of the Romans, if Julian had furvived, might have been improved into a decifive and useful victory. The first words that Julian uttered, after his recovery from the fainting fit, into which he had been thrown by lofs of blood, were expreffive of his martial fpirit. He called for his horfe and arms, and was impatient to rufh into the battle. His remaining ftrength was exhaufted by the painful effort; and the furgeons, who examined his wound, difcovered the fymptoms of approaching death. He employed the awful moments with the firm temper of a hero and a fage; the philofophers who had accompanied him in this fatal expedition, compared the tent of Julian with the prison of Socrates; and the fpectators, whom duty, or friendship, or curiofity, had affembled round his couch, listened with respectful grief to the funeral oration of their dying emperor "5. "Friends and fellow-foldiers, the "feafon 95 94 Sapor himself declared to the Romans, that it was his practice, to comfort the families of his deceased fatraps, by fending them, as a present, the heads of the guards and officers who had not fallen by their mafter's fide. Libanius, de nece Julian. ulcif. c. xiii. p. 163. 95 The character and situation of Julian might countenance the fufpicion, that he had previously compofed the elaborate oration, The death XXIV. CHAP. "feafonable period of my departure is now ar"rived, and I difcharge, with the cheerfulness "of a ready debtor, the demands of nature. "I have learned from philofophy, how much the "foul is more excellent than the body; and that "the feparation of the nobler fubstance, should "be the subject of joy, rather than of affliction. "I have learned from religion, that an early "death has often been the reward of piety "; " and I accept, as a favour of the gods, the "mortal stroke, that fecures me from the dan ger of difgracing a character, which has hi"therto been supported by virtue and fortitude. "I die without remorse, as I have lived with"out guilt. I am pleased to reflect on the in"nocence of my private life; and I can affirm "with confidence, that the fupreme authority, "that emanation of the Divine Power, has been "preferved in my hands pure and immaculate. "Detefting the corrupt and deftructive maxims "of defpotifm, I have confidered the happiness "of the people as the end of government. 66 Submitting my actions to the laws of prudence, "of justice, and of moderation, I have trufted "the event to the care of Providence. Peace "was the object of my counfels, as long as peace which Ammianus heard, and has tranfcribed. The verfion of the Abbé de la Bleterie is faithful and elegant. I have followed him in expreffing the Platonic idea of emanations, which is darkly infinuated in the original. 96 Herodotus (1. i. c. 31.) has displayed that doctrine in an agreeable tale. Yet the Jupiter (in the 16th book of the Iliad), who laments with tears of blood the death of Sarpedon his fon, had a very imperfect notion of happiness or glory beyond the grave. 1 |