His letter to Constantius.

Negotiation between Julian and Constantius.

The resolution with which Julian rejected the advice of his soldiers to put to death the partisans of Constantius who had opposed his elevation, and the generosity with which he forgave an Eunuch, who, it is said, was bribed to murder him, are traits calculated to confirm the high opinion entertained of his character. No blood was shed: Florentius fled from Gaul; Lupicinus, on returning from Britain, was arrested, but experienced humane treatment.

After having assembled his troops, and exhorted them to protect him whom they themselves had exalted to the Imperial dignity, he wrote, in his name and that of the army, a conciliatory epistle to the Emperor, which he sent by two of his chief officers, Pentadius and Eutherius. Assuming only the name of Cæsar, he detailed the circumstances of his promotion, and solicited that he might be permitted to enjoy the title which he had been forced to accept; he allowed the supremacy of Constantius, to whom he promised to send yearly Spanish horses and some foreign troops, and to leave the nomination of the Prætorian Præfect. But he reserved to himself the appointment of the other officers; and, at the same time, represented that the state of Gaul was such, that so far from being able to spare any of the inhabitants of her wasted regions, she needed the assistance of the other Provinces.*

The ambassadors of Julian met the Emperor at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia. The letters, with which they were charged, transported him with inordinate rage, and he dismissed them, trembling, from his presence, without interrogating or listening to them. In the height of his fury he hesitated whether he should prosecute his expedition against the Persians, or march without delay against his rival. On calmer thoughts, he despatched Leonas, his Quæstor, into Gaul, with a threatening letter, in which, after annulling Julian's Civil and military appointments, and nominating new officers, he required him to lay down the title which had been conferred by rebels, and, as he valued his own safety and that of his friends, to rest satisfied with the rank of Caesar, which he was permitted to retain. Julian gave audience to Leonas, sitting on his tribunal, surrounded by the soldiers and people, purposely assembled, and the Quæstor read with a loud voice the letter of Constantius. Julian then declared that he was willing to resign his new dignity, if he obtained the consent of the soldiery, by whom it had been bestowed. The words were scarcely uttered, when reiteIated acclamations confirmed to him the title of Augustus. When that part of the letter was read, in which Julian was accused of ingratitude towards the Emperor, who observed, that he found him an orphan, and with all the tenderness of a father had taken care of

Ammianus adds, that besides this public letter, Julian added a private one, filled with cutting reproaches, which he had not seen, and would have thought it unbecoming to insert in his History. (lib. xx. 167.)

From

A. D.

323.

his infancy and education. "An orphan!" (cried the Constantius, indignant Julian,) "does it become the assassin of my father and of all my family, to reproach me that I was left an orphan? Does he wish to reopen wounds which are scarcely closed?" The assembly being dismissed, Leonas, who had been treated with the attentions due to his rank and merit, was sent back with a letter, in which Julian expressed without disguise the feelings which he had long smothered.

to

A. D. 361.

In the mean time, while the Emperor was engaged Julian's in the Persian war, Julian passed the Rhine at Tricesi- fourth and fifth expedi ma,* and fell suddenly on the Attuarii, a Tribe of tion beyond Franks, inhabiting the present Countries of Cleves and the Rhine. Munster, who had repeatedly invaded the Gallic fron- A. D. tier. He slaughtered great numbers of them, and 360, 361. compelled the rest to submit. Having spent three months in this expedition, he visited the fortresses along the Rhine as far as Basle, recovered and fortified some places which were still in the power of the enemy, passed through Besançon, and took up his winter-quarters at Vienna. Here he celebrated the fifth year which had elapsed since his elevation to the rank of Cesar, and assumed the diadem, adorned with pearls and precious stones, which was borne by the Emperors since Constantine.† But the Alemanni, though subdued by arms and bound by Treaties, still evinced a disposition to avail themselves of every opportunity to frustrate his design of imparting permanent tranquillity to Gaul. They again broke into that Province on the side of Rhætia, and recommenced the work of devastation. Radomarius, one of their Kings, (whose Country lay near Basle,) an extremely crafty and dangerous man, pretended to feel the deepest respect for Julian, on whom he lavished the most lofty titles, and, at the same time, holding communications with Constantius, secretly fomented the hostilities of which he affected to complain. Julian, having intercepted a letter which disclosed his dissimulation, resolved to use artifice against artifice, caused him to be arrested at a banquet, which he imprudently accepted, and banished him into Spain. Julian had already despatched against the Alemanni, Lebano, one of his commanders, who was killed, and his troops routed. He advanced, therefore, in person, passed the Rhine for the last time, surprised the Barbarians, destroyed great numbers, and obliged the rest, after having restored their booty, to receive Peace on the conditions which he chose to prescribe, and which they durst not violate during his lifetime.

Constanti

In the mean time, the active and formidable prepara- Open rup tions of Constantius indicated, in a manner not to be ture with mistaken, that he was unalterably determined on war. Julian, after the failure of several messages, hopeless of effecting by negotiation any amicable settlement of

Tricesima is supposed by some to be Cleves, by others Kellen. About this time died Helena, his wife. Her pregnancy had been rendered fruitless, and her days abridged, by the detestable arts which Eusebia, it is said, (though the assertion is irreconcilable with the known character of the Empress,) caused to be employed, when delivered of a son. Obstetrix corrupta mercede, mox natum præsecto plusquam convenerat umbilico necavit. (Ammian, lib. xvi. c. 10.) When she accompanied to Rome the Emperor and his wife, the latter quæsitum venenum bibere per fraudem illexit, ut quotiescunque conce pisset, immaturum abjiceret partum. (I.) Her body was sent to Rome, and interred near that of her sister Constantina. (Id. lib. xxi. c. 1.) She is styled on medals Flavia Julia Helena, and on some has the title of Augusta. Julian did not re-marry. Pagan writers speak of his chastity in a tone of panegyric, which seems to derive confirmation from the silence of the Christians. See La Bleterie, Fie de Julien, p. 109.

A. D.

to

A. D.

History. their dispute, ventured at length to throw off the mask which he had hitherto worn, and openly committed the From care of his life to the Gods. At this critical period he bent his mind towards the most effectual means of 323. securing his newly acquired power. He perceived the high importance of seizing by a sudden movement the Province of Illyricum, which was able both to furnish 361. his army with recruits, and to enable him to sustain the expenditure of the war, by the resources which its mines of gold and silver might supply. Accordingly he opened this design to his assembled troops, and, after expatiating on the advantages which would result from the attempt, however daring, conjured them to be mindful of that strictness of discipline, and that regard for moderation towards the people, which had reflected upon them more lustre than the most splendid military achievements. No sooner was his animated address concluded, than the same soldiers, whom the prospect of leaving Gaul had roused to rebellion against Constantius, now, filled with enthusiasm, evinced by their unanimous acclamations, and by the loud clashing of their shields, their readiness to follow the fortunes of Julian to the farthest extremities of the world. They then proceeded to take the oath of allegiance to his person, and, pointing their naked swords to their throats, swore with dreadful imprecations, that, devoted to his service, they would shed for him, if necessity should require it, the last drop of their blood. Nebridius alone, who held at that time the office of Prætorian Præfect, courageously refused to enter into this engageRaised to his dignity by the sole favour of Constantius, he had the nobleness of mind to declare, that he would not bind himself to act against his benefactor and master. It was with difficulty that he escaped falling a sacrifice to the armed crowd, from whose fury he was screened by Julian, who threw over the Præfect his Imperial mantle, and afterwards allowed him to retire unmolested into Hetruria. His disinterestedness and loyalty, though unfeelingly disparaged by an ancient Orator, cannot but obtain their full meed of praise from the impartiality of the modern Historian. The office of Nebridius was afterwards conferred on Sallust, who had thus an opportunity of practically displaying, in his own administration, those principles of moderation and justice which had before distinguished his instructions.

edmaster

Llyricum.

ent

Julian, now fully assured of the fidelity of his troops, kes him divided them in such a manner, that their numerical strength might appear large beyond reality, and that they might spread the terror of their arms in a greater variety of directions. Twenty thousand men were sent into Pannonia, under the conduct of Nevitta, Jovius, and Jovinus, and ordered to march by different routes: the remaining three thousand, which completed his army, were commanded by Julian himself; all were appointed to meet at Sirmium, as the place of rendez

vous.

At the head of his select band, Julian boldly penetrated into the Marcian Forest, advanced with rapidity over mountain and morass, careless whether he passed the Country of the Romans or of the Barbarians; and pressing on with the greatest vigour and secrecy by land and water, after a series of the most skilful manœuvres, arrived unexpectedly at Bononia, which is but nineteen miles from Sirmium, before the enemy had any certain knowledge that he had begun his march from the banks of the Rhine. Dagalaïphus, one of his officers, hastening with a Body of light infantry, immediately surprised Lucilian, who

From A. D. 323.

to

A. D.

361

commanded the military in Illyricum, and intended, in Constantius. consequence of certain confused reports, to assemble his forces. Suddenly roused from repose, seized, and thrown upon a horse, he was brought, stupified with terror, into the presence of Julian. But no sooner had he recovered his self-possession and bewildered senses, than with singular imprudence he ventured to remark to Julian, that he had rashly thrown himself, with a small number of men, into the midst of his adversaries. "Reserve for Constantius these prudent counsels, (replied the conqueror with a bitter smile,) when I gave you my Purple to kiss, I wished not to receive your advice, but to dispel your fears." Sensible that his fortune, and perhaps his life, was placed on a desperate cast, Julian continued with undiminished speed, energy, and boldness, to urge on the execution of his project. As he approached the suburbs of Sirmium, he was received with every demonstration of joy by the soldiers and a promiscuous crowd of people, who led him, with due honours, to the Imperial palace. Departing on the dawn of the third day, he seized without opposition the important pass of Succi, a very narrow and precipitous defile between Mount Hæmus and Mount Rhodope, which separates the Provinces of Thrace and Illyria. Having intrusted the defence of this post to Nevitta, who, with the other commanders, had ably effected, in ten or eleven days' time, the designed junction at Sirmium, he returned to Neissus, where he employed his time in levying fresh troops from all quarters, and in writing to several cities of Greece, among the rest, Athens, Lacedæmon, and Corinth, to explain and justify, with a degree of study and solicitude which evinced the weight he attached to public esteem, the motives which induced him to revolt against Constantius.* The power of Julian soon became widely felt. Taurus and Florentius, who were stigmatized in the public Acts of the year by the title of the "fugitive Consuls,"† abandoned the Præfectures of Italy and Illyricum, over which they had been respectively placed, and hastened to acquaint the Emperor with the imminent dangers which threatened his Empire. The deserted Provinces submitted to Julian, the master of Italy; he addressed to the Senate of Rome an epistle, which contained invectives so severe against the vices of Constantius, that the assembly exclaimed with one accord, as if Julian had been present, “We beseech you to respect the author of your fortune:"an expression which may, perhaps, be considered as evincing their courage and gratitude, though it might be interpreted to mean that the choice of Julian as Cæsar was a blessing conferred on them, and was sufficient to throw the many faults of Constantius into the shade.‡

Constantius was no sooner apprized of the speed and Preparasuccess of Julian, than, availing himself of the retreat tions of Constantius. of the Persian Monarch, against whom he was engaged, he prepared to attack his rival-a task the difficulties of which he affected to treat with the utmost contempt.

From A. D. 323. to

A. D.

361.

History. The progress of Julian, hitherto so prosperous, was suddenly interrupted by an event, which seemed likely to be attended with considerable embarrassment and danger. Having found at Sirmium two legions and a cohort of archers attached to the cause of Constantius, he had determined to remove them to Gaul: on the march, however, they resolved, with common feelings of discontent, to occupy, in concert with the inhabitants, Aquileia, a town of the greatest strength on the side of Illyricum, and the key of Italy and Gaul. On the first intelligence of their refractory movement, Jovinus was ordered to lead back a part of the army into Italy, and to form the siege of this almost impregnable post. But whilst the legionaries defended themselves with obstinate courage, the forces of Julian were weakened by this diversion, and his situation would have been rendered perilous, had not the further progress of Civil war been unexpectedly prevented by the death of Constantius. On his arrival at Tarsus he was seized with a slight fever, occasioned perhaps by intense mental anxiety, which he thought might be reduced by exercise. Accordingly he proceeded to Mopsucrene, a small town on the borders of Cilicia, where, by the increasing heat and violence of his distemper, he was obliged to stop. All remedies proving ineffectual, he Constantius expired in the forty-fifth year of his age and the twentyNov. 3. fourth of his reign. Before he closed his life, he is said A. D. to have named Julian his successor-a circumstance 361. which is perhaps explicable on the supposition that his extreme solicitude for the safety of Faustina, whom he had lately married, on the death of Eusebia, and whom he now left with child, may, in the moment of parting anguish, have softened down into tenderness the angry feelings, which it was become useless to indulge, and urged him to assume the right of bestowing that which it was no longer in his power to refuse.

Death of

His

character.

The character of Constantius was marked by weakness which unfitted him for the station in which he was destined to move. The slave of his Eunuchs, who retained their ascendancy over him from his earliest years, he suffered desert to be neglected, whilst appointments were bestowed on men, who purchased the favour of his Ministers, and who, in order to realize the profits which had tempted them to incur this expense, grievously oppressed the wretched people whom they were sent to govern and protect. Surrounded by heartless flatterers, he had not perhaps the opportunity of being convinced of the inexpediency and injustice of the measures which they

From A. D. 323.

to A. D.

361.

suggested or approved. His capacity was limited, his Constantius vanity inordinate. Jealous of his power, and suspicious of danger, he lent a ready ear to informers, who prompted him to acts of atrocious cruelty, to which he appears not to have been naturally inclined. His proneness to mercy, except in cases of treason, where fear smothered feeling, though generally believed to be sincere, has been represented as feigned, but it has been so represented by an enemy. He was not, however, without virtues, which might have produced for him an unsullied reputation in private life, where his faults, perhaps, would not have been so glaringly exhibited. Frugal in his diet and temperate in his habits, he was remarkable for a chastity which suspicion has not aspersed. His filial deference is also an amiable trait, which redeems some of his failings. On the whole he swells the catalogue of Princes, whose good qualities have been repressed and whose defects elicited by the arts of evil counsellors.

Dec. 11.

Upon intelligence of the death of his rival, Julian Julian's et hastened to Constantinople, the place of his birth, into try into Co which he entered in triumph amid general rejoicings. stantinopi The crowds which gathered round him with all the eagerness of curiosity were surprised at the small stature and youthful appearance of the conqueror of Barbarian Kings and nations, whose fame was diffused through the vast extent of territory which had witnessed his extraordinary success. The attempt of the intriguer Eusebius and his adherents to oppose his career and maintain their own influence by electing another Emperor, were rejected by the army, who immediately acquainted Julian with their readiness to acknowledge his authority, which was thus established without bloodshed. The remains of the deceased Emperor were brought to Constantinople and solemnly interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Julian accompanied the funeral procession on foot, without a diadem, in a mourning habit. The tears which he shed seemed to evince that reflections on benefits conferred, predominating over the remembrance of past wrongs, had drawn forth the effusions of a feeling heart; yet, it cannot be denied, that policy, rather than sincerity, may have dictated this apparent burst of grief. The legionaries who occupied Aquileia, on learning the death of Con- Univers stantius, submitted to the new Emperor and obtained acknow. his pardon. Thus was Julian left in his thirty-second ledged year sole master of the Roman Empire.

peror.

History.

From

A. D.

361.

to

A. D.

363.

Justice.

JULIAN no sooner found his power established on a secure basis, than he applied himself to the correction of numerous abuses, against which the public voice had been raised, with a degree of zeal which appeared to have derived an additional stimulus from the remembrance of private wrongs. A Chamber of Justice was instituted and fixed at Chalcedon to investigate the conduct of such as were thought to have discharged Chamber of improperly the authority with which they had been intrusted under the preceding Emperor. But some of the persons selected as judges were themselves of too obnoxious a character to inspire respect for this tribunal. Their proceedings, too, were marked by an excess of severity, which sometimes proved fatal to innocence itself, or, at least, which confounded the different shades of criminality. The Consul Taurinus, for instance, whose only guilt consisted in his fidelity to the deceased Prince, was condemned to banishment, and the Acts of his trial were dated from his Consulate; an ill-judged and unnecessary measure, which was calculated to excite indignation, as it seemed to reflect new disgrace on an office which had not yet wholly lost its attractions. But "Justice herself wept and taxed the Emperor with ingratitude," to use the terms of the impartial Ammianus, when Ursulus,† who, during his office of Treasurer in Gaul, had opportunely assisted Julian in opposition to the known wishes of Constantius, was put to death. It was in vain that the Emperor endeavoured to clear himself from the deep odium and execrations which so unjustifiable a sentence had excited, by denying that he had ever consented to his execution, and by restoring to his daughter a part of his confiscated property. He represented the unfortunate man as the victim of a soldiery, provoked at expressions which he had dropped against their want of courage. A very different impression was produced by the signal punishment of some notorious informers. Paul, called the Chain, whose very name could scarcely be uttered without a shudder of horror, was consigned to the flames. Capital punishment was also inflicted on the Eunuch Eusebius, the Chamberlain of Constantius, who, raised from the most abject condition, had exerted a complete and pernicious ascendancy over the mind of his master.

Reform of

The plans of reform, which Julian had adopted, were the Palace. next extended to the Imperial household, into which the wasteful dissipation of Constantius had introduced every refinement of luxury. Yet here, as in other instances, an alloy of inconsiderate rigour is said to have mixed

Ammian. lib. xxii. c. 3. Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 74.

† Ursuli verò necem, largitionum Comitis, ipsa mihi videtur flesse Justitia, Imperatorem arguens ut ingratum. (lib, xxii. c. 3.) See above, p. 179.

From A. D.

361.

to

A. D. 363.

itself with measures of unquestionable utility. A thou- Julianus. sand cooks, with as many cupbearers, and a still greater number of barbers, besides eunuchs as countless as swarms of summer insects,* drained, in haughty indolence, the public revenue. Julian, having occasion for a barber, one so splendidly arrayed presented himself, that he exclaimed with astonishment, "It was a barber I sent for, not a receiver-general of the finances."+ This man, being asked the value of his appointment, replied, that he received a daily allowance for twenty persons and as many horses, without reckoning a considerable annual pension and many profitable perquisites. The indignation of the Imperial Philosopher was aroused, and he soon cleared his Palace of inmates so useless and so expensive. His love of simplicity, however, so strongly, and, doubtless, so intentionally contrasted with the ostentatious taste of his predecessor, was blamed by those, who considered it as a violent extreme, liable, by stripping power of its glittering externals, to deprive it of much of its influence on the feelings of the multitude. It was a juster subject of censure, that his indiscriminate severity struck with poverty and disgrace, not merely the profligate menial, by whom that treatment was amply deserved, but the faithful domestic, whose long services had a claim to indulgence, if not to gratitude.

The conduct of Julian towards the Senate was equally Conduct of different from that observed in the preceding reign. Julian toConstantius had never condescended to visit their as- wards the semblies, to consult their opinions, nor even to offer Senate. them a seat when summoned to receive his commands. Julian, on the contrary, who wished to appear observ-' ant of the forms of the old Republic, was assiduous in his attendance at their deliberations, allowed them to enjoy the full liberty of discussion, and took pleasure in giving scope to the studied variety of his own oratorical talents. It has been incorrectly asserted, however, that he was the first and last of the Roman Emperors, since the death of Julius Cæsar, who made harangues in the Senate.§ Averse to the haughtiness of despotism, he refused the title of Dominus, or Lord,|| to which

Ευνούχους, ὑπὲρ τὰς μυίας παρὰ τοῖς ποιμέσιν ἐν ἦρι. Liban. Comp.

Socrat. lib. iii. Zonar. lib. xiii.

2 c

From A. D.

361.

to

A. D. 363. Amelioration of the Laws.

History., habit had at length familiarized the degenerate sons of the Republic. So great was the reverence which he felt or affected to feel for the office of Consul, that he fined himself ten pounds of gold on being reminded that he had trespassed on its jurisdiction by the manumission of some slaves during the Circensian Games, in presence of that Magistrate.* His attention was also bestowed in the most useful manner on the simplification and improvement of the ancient Laws. Subtilties, the web of chicanery, were removed, and that degree of precision introduced which might enable every citizen to ascertain the nature and extent of his public duties. His moderation and disinterestedness towards the Provinces in refusing to receive crowns of a value likely to prove oppressive, evinced his sincerity in the contempt for riches which he was fond of expressing. He relieved, moreover, many celebrated cities of Greece, and diminished the burthen of some grievous imposts.

Military improvements.

Persian invasion.

Superstition of Julian.

The cares of Julian in Civil matters, though eminently great and unremitted, proved no bar to his military exertions. Experienced officers were appointed to important posts, and strict discipline was established in the various ranks of the army. The towns of Thrace were fortified; the garrisons on the banks of the Danube were effectively supported; nations the most rude and distant were awed into respect. The Indians and the inhabitants of the Island of Ceylont had sent Ambassadors loaded with presents, and had courted the friendship of the Romans. The Persians were the only nation who still made a show of resistance. It would have been easy, however, to have induced them, spent with a protracted war, of which the advantages had been neglected, to entertain more pacific sentiments. But the stirring spirit of Julian, still full of youth, and impatient of an inactive life, longed to break into new fields of warlike enterprise. It was proposed to him to undertake to chastise the Goths, a deceitful and treacherous nation. But to tame the power of Persia, which had so frequently scattered terror through the armies and the territories of the Empire, was an object better suited to the loftiness of his views. Preparations were accordingly made in a manner commensurate with the extent of the undertaking; and neither the outcries of the envious nor the warnings of the cautious could deter him from the prosecution of a scheme, which he hoped would form a brilliant consummation to a long series of triumphs.

Suddenly raised to the possession of supreme power and universally feared, if not admired, Julian was not insensible to the feelings of pride which so remarkable a change of fortune was calculated to inspire. His views were stretched beyond the petty sphere of ordinary minds, and his plans were laid out on a scale of gigantic magnitude. It is an instance, however, of the inequalities which exist in the greatest characters, that the same large and vigorous intellect which could compass projects of the widest range, should, even in the execution of them, betray the influence of the narrowest prejudices. Numerous and profuse sacrifices, far-fetched victims, and ruinous ceremonies, insipid tales, and absurd practices-all, in short, that could open an avenue to folly or to fraud,—were the preludes of an undertaking * Multa quædam correxit in melius, ambagibus circumcisis, indicantia liquidè quid juberent fieri vel vetarent. Ammian.

+ Ab usque Divis et Serendivis, Amm. lib. xx. c. 7.; on which see the note of Valesius. See also J. Vossius in Observ. ad Pompon. Melam. lib. iii. c. 7.

‡ Prosperis Julianis elatior, ultra homines jam spirabat. Ammian. ib. xxii. c. 9.

in the conduct of which strength and clearness of judg- Julianus, ment were so conspicuously manifested.

From
A. D.

361.

to

A. D. 363. May 15,

A. D.

362.

After having conciliated, by his liberality, the inhabitants of Constantinople, for which city, as being his native place, he felt peculiar attachment, which he demonstrated by conferring on its Senate the privileges and authority enjoyed by that of ancient Rome,* he proceeded to visit Antioch, the pride of the East. On his way he arrived at Nicomedia, once famed for the number and magnificence of its public and private edifices, but then reduced, by the successive ravages of an earth- He sets out quake and a conflagration, to a mournful heap of ashes. for Antioch. As he passed in silence through the ruins of seats, in which he had spent a part of his early days, and caught the well-known features of some former friend, he was so much affected as to be unable to refrain from tears. Nor did he fail to manifest the sincerity of his affliction, by taking measures for the reparation of the wreck which he had witnessed.

Arriving at the borders of Galatia, Julian, changing his route, proceeded to Pessinus in Phrygia, to visit the ancient Temple of Cybele, whose statue had been transported to Rome by Scipio Nasica in the second Punic war. It was in this place that he composed a Discourse Discourse, still extant, on the Mother of the Gods, in on Cybele. which, after the manner of the Pagan Philosophers of that Age, he labours to give an allegorical explanation of the fable of Atys and the worship of Cybele. He He writes also wrote against a Cynic who found fault with the against a conduct of Diogenes-a Philosopher on whom he Cynic. lavished such extravagant applause as makes it easily perceptible that he found in his own breast a flow of congenial feeling, which accident alone had drawn into a different channel.

On entering Cilicia he was greeted by his former fellow-student Celsus, then Governor of that Province, who pronounced his panegyric; for Julian, whose actions were rarely untainted with vanity, appears to have courted the suffrages of literary characters, whose eloquence could impart a durable circulation to their praises, by investing them with honourable and important posts. It was shortly after, that, impatient to enjoy the advantages which he expected to find in Antioch, he made his entry into that city for the first time, on the anni- Julian versary of the death of Adonis-an ominous moment, enters in the opinion of the superstitious, when the seat of Antioch. Princes resounded with cries of lamentation and woe. His first act was calculated to inspire a favourable sense of his magnanimity. When the Magistrates came to offer their customary salutations, he had forbidden the presence of one of them named Thalassius, in consequence of his conduct towards Gallus. Many mean mency. individuals, quick at availing themselves of a state of mind which would give sanction to their vindictive feelings, collected the next day round the Emperor, enumerating various alleged wrongs which they had received from Thalassius, the enemy of the Prince. Julian was too penetrating not to perceive that these were attempts to complete and profit by the ruin of a man, who, however he had merited his displeasure, might be innocent towards others: "I own," he said, "that the person you speak of has given me just cause of offence; but, on this very account, it befits you to be silent till I have received satisfaction, who am his principal enemy."†

Zosim. lib. iii.

† Ammian. lib. xxii. c. 9.

His cle