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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.

CHAP.

XVII.

justice.

But the work of public reformation would have Chamber of 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 vora"cious jaws of the Hydra. I do not mean to apply "that epithet to my brother Constantius. He is no "more; may the earth lie light on his head! But "his artful and cruel favourites studied to deceive "and exasperate a prince, whose natural mildness "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

66

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 commissioners an absolute power to pronounce and execute their final sentence, without delay, and without appeal. The

In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339.) he draws a very singular picture of him-
self, and the following words are strangely characteristic; αυτος προσέθεικα τον
βαθυν τετονι πωγωνα
ταυτα τοι διαθέοντουν ανεχομαι των φθείρων οσπερ εν
Roxen Two Angiov. 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 deli-
cacy (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.

XVII.

CHAP. 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. He was assisted by the eloquent Mamertinus, 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.

Punishment of the inno

guilty.

The chamberlain Eusebius, who had so long abused oft and the the favour of Constantius, expiated, by an ignominious death, the insolence, the corruption, 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 pa thetic expression of Ammianus*) appeared to weep over the fate of Ursulus, the treasurer of the empire; and his blood accused the ingratitude of Julian, whose distress had been seasonably relieved by the intrepid liberality of that honest minister. The rage of the soldiers, whom he had provoked by his indiscretion, was the cause and the excuse of his death; and the emperor, deeply wounded by his own reproaches and those of the public, offered some consolation to the family of Ursulus, by the restitution

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

of his confiscated fortunes. Before the end of the
year in which they had been adorned with the en-
signs of the prefecture and consulship, Taurus and
Florentius were reduced to implore the clemency of
the inexorable tribunal of Chalcedon. The former
was banished to Vercellæ in Italy, and a sentence of
death was pronounced against the latter. A wise
prince should have rewarded the crime of Taurus :
the faithful minister, when he was no longer able to
oppose the progress of a rebel, had taken refuge in
the court of his benefactor and his lawful sovereign.
But the guilt of Florentius justified the severity
of the judges; and his escape served to display the
magnanimity of Julian; who nobly checked the in-
terested diligence of an informer, and refused to learn
what place concealed the wretched fugitive from his
just resentment*. Some months after the tribunal
of Chalcedon had been dissolved, the prætorian vice-
gerent of Africa, the notary Gaudentius, and Arte-
mius duke of Egypt, were executed at Antioch.
Artemius had reigned the cruel and corrupt tyrant
of a great province; Gaudentius had long practised
the arts of calumny against the innocent, the virtuous,
and even the person of Julian himself. Yet the cir-
cumstances of their trial and condemnation were so
unskilfully managed, that these wicked men obtained,
in the public opinion, the glory of suffering for the
obstinate loyalty with which they had supported the
cause of Constantius. The rest of his servants were
protected by a general act of oblivion; and they
were left to enjoy with impunity the bribes which they
had accepted, either to defend the oppressed, or to
oppress the friendless. This measure, which, on the
soundest principles of policy, may deserve our appro-
bation, was executed in a manner which seemed to

* Ammian. xx. 7.

CHAP.

XVII.

Julian.

CHAP. degrade the majesty of the throne. Julian was tor-
XVII. mented by the importunities of a multitude, particu

larly of Egyptians, who loudly demanded the gifts which they had imprudently or illegally bestowed: he foresaw the endless prosecution of vexatious suits; and he engaged a promise, which ought always to have been sacred, that if they would repair to Chalcedon, he would meet them in person, to hear and determine their complaints. But as soon as they were landed, he issued an absolute order, which prohibited the watermen from transporting any Egyp tian to Constantinople; and thus detained his disappointed clients on the Asiatic shore, till their pa tience and money being utterly exhausted, they were obliged to return with indignant murmurs to their native country *.

Clemency of The numerous army of spies, of agents, and informers, inlisted by Constantius to secure the repose of one man, and to interrupt that of millions, was immediately disbanded by his generous successor. Julian was slow in his suspicions, and gentle in his punishments; and his contempt of treason was the result of judgment, of vanity, and of courage. Conscious of superior merit, he was persuaded that few among his subjects would dare to meet him in the field, to attempt his life, or even to seat themselves on his vacant throne. The philosopher could excuse the hasty sallies of discontent; and the hero could despise the ambitious projects which surpassed the fortune or the abilities of the rash conspirators. A citizen of Ancyra had prepared for his own use a purple garment; and this indiscreet action, which, under the reign of Constantius, would have been considered as a capital offence, was reported to Julian by the officious importunity of a private enemy.

The

* See Ammian. xxii. 6. and Vales. ad locum; and the Codex Theodosianus, 1. ii. tit. xxxix. leg. 1.; and Godefroy's Commentary, tom. i. p. 218. ad locum.

XVII.

monarch, after making some inquiry into the rank CHAP.
and character of his rival, despatched the informer
with a present of a pair of purple slippers, to com-
plete the magnificence of his Imperial habit. A more
dangerous conspiracy was formed by ten of the do-
mestic guards, who had resolved to assassinate Julian
in the field of exercise near Antioch. Their intem-
perance revealed their guilt; and they were con-
ducted in chains to the presence of their injured
sovereign, who, after a lively representation of the
wickedness and folly of their enterprise, instead of a
death of torture, which they deserved and expected,
pronounced a sentence of exile against the two prin-
cipal offenders. The only instance in which Julian
seemed to depart from his accustomed clemency was
the execution of a rash youth, who, with a feeble
hand, had aspired to seize the reins of empire. But
that youth was the son of Marcellus, the general of
cavalry, who, in the first campaign of the Gallic war,
had deserted the standard of the Cæsar, and the re-
public. Without appearing to indulge his personal
resentment, Julian might easily confound the crime
of the son and of the father; but he was reconciled
by the distress of Marcellus, and the liberality of the
emperor endeavoured to heal the wound which had
been inflicted by the hand of justice*.

Julian was not insensible of the advantages of free- His love of
dom. From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of dome
ancient sages and heroes: his life and fortunes had public.
depended on the caprice of a tyrant; and when he
ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes mor-
tified by the reflection, that the slaves who would not
dare to censure his defects, were not worthy to ap-

The clemency of Julian, and the conspiracy which was formed against his life at Antioch, are described by Ammianus (xxii. 9, 10. and Vales. ad loc.), and Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 99. p. 323).