Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.—Part III

Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages of
action and retirement; but the elevation of his birth, and the
accidents of his life, never allowed him the freedom of choice.
He might perhaps sincerely have preferred the groves of the
academy, and the society of Athens; but he was constrained, at
first by the will, and afterwards by the injustice, of
Constantius, to expose his person and fame to the dangers of
Imperial greatness; and to make himself accountable to the world,
and to posterity, for the happiness of millions. 46 Julian
recollected with terror the observation of his master Plato, 47
that the government of our flocks and herds is always committed
to beings of a superior species; and that the conduct of nations
requires and deserves the celestial powers of the gods or of the
genii. From this principle he justly concluded, that the man who
presumes to reign, should aspire to the perfection of the divine
nature; that he should purify his soul from her mortal and
terrestrial part; that he should extinguish his appetites,
enlighten his understanding, regulate his passions, and subdue
the wild beast, which, according to the lively metaphor of
Aristotle, 48 seldom fails to ascend the throne of a despot. The
throne of Julian, which the death of Constantius fixed on an
independent basis, was the seat of reason, of virtue, and perhaps
of vanity. He despised the honors, renounced the pleasures, and
discharged with incessant diligence the duties, of his exalted
station; and there were few among his subjects who would have
consented to relieve him from the weight of the diadem, had they
been obliged to submit their time and their actions to the
rigorous laws which that philosophic emperor imposed on himself.
One of his most intimate friends, 49 who had often shared the
frugal simplicity of his table, has remarked, that his light and
sparing diet (which was usually of the vegetable kind) left his
mind and body always free and active, for the various and
important business of an author, a pontiff, a magistrate, a
general, and a prince. In one and the same day, he gave audience
to several ambassadors, and wrote, or dictated, a great number of
letters to his generals, his civil magistrates, his private
friends, and the different cities of his dominions. He listened
to the memorials which had been received, considered the subject
of the petitions, and signified his intentions more rapidly than
they could be taken in short-hand by the diligence of his
secretaries. He possessed such flexibility of thought, and such
firmness of attention, that he could employ his hand to write,
his ear to listen, and his voice to dictate; and pursue at once
three several trains of ideas without hesitation, and without
error. While his ministers reposed, the prince flew with agility
from one labor to another, and, after a hasty dinner, retired
into his library, till the public business, which he had
appointed for the evening, summoned him to interrupt the
prosecution of his studies. The supper of the emperor was still
less substantial than the former meal; his sleep was never
clouded by the fumes of indigestion; and except in the short
interval of a marriage, which was the effect of policy rather
than love, the chaste Julian never shared his bed with a female
companion. 50 He was soon awakened by the entrance of fresh
secretaries, who had slept the preceding day; and his servants
were obliged to wait alternately while their indefatigable master
allowed himself scarcely any other refreshment than the change of
occupation. The predecessors of Julian, his uncle, his brother,
and his cousin, indulged their puerile taste for the games of the
Circus, under the specious pretence of complying with the
inclinations of the people; and they frequently remained the
greatest part of the day as idle spectators, and as a part of the
splendid spectacle, till the ordinary round of twenty-four races
51 was completely finished. On solemn festivals, Julian, who felt
and professed an unfashionable dislike to these frivolous
amusements, condescended to appear in the Circus; and after
bestowing a careless glance at five or six of the races, he
hastily withdrew with the impatience of a philosopher, who
considered every moment as lost that was not devoted to the
advantage of the public or the improvement of his own mind. 52 By
this avarice of time, he seemed to protract the short duration of
his reign; and if the dates were less securely ascertained, we
should refuse to believe, that only sixteen months elapsed
between the death of Constantius and the departure of his
successor for the Persian war. The actions of Julian can only be
preserved by the care of the historian; but the portion of his
voluminous writings, which is still extant, remains as a monument
of the application, as well as of the genius, of the emperor. The
Misopogon, the Cæsars, several of his orations, and his elaborate
work against the Christian religion, were composed in the long
nights of the two winters, the former of which he passed at
Constantinople, and the latter at Antioch.

46 (return) [ Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed these
philosophical ideas with much eloquence and some affectation, in
a very elaborate epistle to Themistius. The Abbé de la Bleterie,
(tom. ii. p. 146-193,) who has given an elegant translation, is
inclined to believe that it was the celebrated Themistius, whose
orations are still extant.]

47 (return) [ Julian. ad Themist. p. 258. Petavius (not. p. 95)
observes that this passage is taken from the fourth book De
Legibus; but either Julian quoted from memory, or his MSS. were
different from ours Xenophon opens the Cyropædia with a similar
reflection.]

48 (return) [ Aristot. ap. Julian. p. 261. The MS. of Vossius,
unsatisfied with the single beast, affords the stronger reading
of which the experience of despotism may warrant.]

49 (return) [ Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. lxxxiv. lxxxv. p.
310, 311, 312) has given this interesting detail of the private
life of Julian. He himself (in Misopogon, p. 350) mentions his
vegetable diet, and upbraids the gross and sensual appetite of
the people of Antioch.]

50 (return) [ Lectulus... Vestalium toris purior, is the praise
which Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 13) addresses to Julian
himself. Libanius affirms, in sober peremptory language, that
Julian never knew a woman before his marriage, or after the death
of his wife, (Orat. Parent. c. lxxxviii. p. 313.) The chastity of
Julian is confirmed by the impartial testimony of Ammianus, (xxv.
4,) and the partial silence of the Christians. Yet Julian
ironically urges the reproach of the people of Antioch, that he
_almost always_ (in Misopogon, p. 345) lay alone. This suspicious
expression is explained by the Abbé de la Bleterie (Hist. de
Jovien, tom. ii. p. 103-109) with candor and ingenuity.]

51 (return) [ See Salmasius ad Sueton in Claud. c. xxi. A
twenty-fifth race, or _missus_, was added, to complete the number
of one hundred chariots, four of which, the four colors, started
each heat.

Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus.

It appears, that they ran five or seven times round the _Meta_
(Sueton. in Domitian. c. 4;) and (from the measure of the Circus
Maximus at Rome, the Hippodrome at Constantinople, &c.) it might
be about a four mile course.]

52 (return) [ Julian. in Misopogon, p. 340. Julius Cæsar had
offended the Roman people by reading his despatches during the
actual race. Augustus indulged their taste, or his own, by his
constant attention to the important business of the Circus, for
which he professed the warmest inclination. Sueton. in August. c.
xlv.]

The reformation of the Imperial court was one of the first and
most necessary acts of the government of Julian. 53 Soon after
his entrance into the palace of Constantinople, he had occasion
for the service of a barber. An officer, magnificently dressed,
immediately presented himself. “It is a barber,” exclaimed the
prince, with affected surprise, “that I want, and not a
receiver-general of the finances.” 54 He questioned the man
concerning the profits of his employment and was informed, that
besides a large salary, and some valuable perquisites, he enjoyed
a daily allowance for twenty servants, and as many horses. A
thousand barbers, a thousand cup-bearers, a thousand cooks, were
distributed in the several offices of luxury; and the number of
eunuchs could be compared only with the insects of a summer’s
day. The monarch who resigned to his subjects the superiority of
merit and virtue, was distinguished by the oppressive
magnificence of his dress, his table, his buildings, and his
train. The stately palaces erected by Constantine and his sons,
were decorated with many colored marbles, and ornaments of massy
gold. The most exquisite dainties were procured, to gratify their
pride, rather than their taste; birds of the most distant
climates, fish from the most remote seas, fruits out of their
natural season, winter roses, and summer snows. 56 The domestic
crowd of the palace surpassed the expense of the legions; yet the
smallest part of this costly multitude was subservient to the
use, or even to the splendor, of the throne. The monarch was
disgraced, and the people was injured, by the creation and sale
of an infinite number of obscure, and even titular employments;
and the most worthless of mankind might purchase the privilege of
being maintained, without the necessity of labor, from the public
revenue. The waste of an enormous household, the increase of fees
and perquisites, which were soon claimed as a lawful debt, and
the bribes which they extorted from those who feared their
enmity, or solicited their favor, suddenly enriched these haughty
menials. They abused their fortune, without considering their
past, or their future, condition; and their rapine and venality
could be equalled only by the extravagance of their dissipations.
Their silken robes were embroidered with gold, their tables were
served with delicacy and profusion; the houses which they built
for their own use, would have covered the farm of an ancient
consul; and the most honorable citizens were obliged to dismount
from their horses, and respectfully to salute a eunuch whom they
met on the public highway. The luxury of the palace excited the
contempt and indignation of Julian, who usually slept on the
ground, who yielded with reluctance to the indispensable calls of
nature; and who placed his vanity, not in emulating, but in
despising, the pomp of royalty.

53 (return) [ The reformation of the palace is described by
Ammianus, (xxii. 4,) Libanius, Orat. (Parent. c. lxii. p. 288,
&c.,) Mamertinus, in Panegyr. (Vet. xi. 11,) Socrates, (l. iii.
c. l.,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 24.)]

54 (return) [ Ego non _rationalem_ jussi sed tonsorem acciri.
Zonaras uses the less natural image of a senator. Yet an officer
of the finances, who was satisfied with wealth, might desire and
obtain the honors of the senate.]

56 (return) [ The expressions of Mamertinus are lively and
forcible. Quis etiam prandiorum et cænarum laboratas magnitudines
Romanus populus sensit; cum quæsitissimæ dapes non gustu sed
difficultatibus æstimarentur; miracula avium, longinqui maris
pisces, aheni temporis poma, æstivæ nives, hybernæ rosæ]

By the total extirpation of a mischief which was magnified even
beyond its real extent, he was impatient to relieve the distress,
and to appease the murmurs of the people; who support with less
uneasiness the weight of taxes, if they are convinced that the
fruits of their industry are appropriated to the service of the
state. But in the execution of this salutary work, Julian is
accused of proceeding with too much haste and inconsiderate
severity. By a single edict, he reduced the palace of
Constantinople to an immense desert, and dismissed with ignominy
the whole train of slaves and dependants, 57 without providing
any just, or at least benevolent, exceptions, for the age, the
services, or the poverty, of the faithful domestics of the
Imperial family. Such indeed was the temper of Julian, who seldom
recollected the fundamental maxim of Aristotle, that true virtue
is placed at an equal distance between the opposite vices.

The splendid and effeminate dress of the Asiatics, the curls and
paint, the collars and bracelets, which had appeared so
ridiculous in the person of Constantine, were consistently
rejected by his philosophic successor. But with the fopperies,
Julian affected to renounce the decencies of dress; and seemed to
value himself for his neglect of the laws of cleanliness. In a
satirical performance, which was designed for the public eye, the
emperor descants with pleasure, and even with pride, on the
length of his nails, and the inky blackness of his hands;
protests, that although the 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_ 58 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.

57 (return) [ Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing whole
towns on the eunuchs, (Orat. vii. against Polyclet. p. 117-127.)
Libanius contents himself with a cold but positive denial of the
fact, which seems indeed to belong more properly to Constantius.
This charge, however, may allude to some unknown circumstance.]

58 (return) [ In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a very
singular picture of himself, and the following words are
strangely characteristic. 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 delicacy, (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.]

But the work of public reformation would have 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 voracious jaws of the Hydra.
59 I do not mean to apply the epithet to my brother Constantius.
He is no more; may the earth lie light on his head! But his
artful and cruel favorites 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 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
office of president was exercised by the venerable præfect of the
East, a _second_ Sallust, 60 whose virtues conciliated the esteem
of Greek sophists, and of Christian bishops. He was assisted by
the eloquent Mamertinus, 61 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 clamors of faction. 62

59 (return) [ Julian, epist. xxiii. p. 389. He uses the words in
writing to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was
conversant with the Greek poets.]

60 (return) [ The two Sallusts, the præfect of Gaul, and the
præfect of the East, must be carefully distinguished, (Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 696.) I have used the surname of
_Secundus_, as a convenient epithet. The second Sallust extorted
the esteem of the Christians themselves; and Gregory Nazianzen,
who condemned his religion, has celebrated his virtues, (Orat.
iii. p. 90.) See a curious note of the Abbé de la Bleterie, Vie
de Julien, p. 363. Note: Gibbonus secundum habet pro numero, quod
tamen est viri agnomen Wagner, nota in loc. Amm. It is not a
mistake; it is rather an error in taste. Wagner inclines to
transfer the chief guilt to Arbetio.—M.]

61 (return) [ Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi. l.) for
bestowing the offices of Treasurer and Præfect on a man of
wisdom, firmness, integrity, &c., like himself. Yet Ammianus
ranks him (xxi. l.) among the ministers of Julian, quorum merita
norat et fidem.]

62 (return) [ The proceedings of this chamber of justice are
related by Ammianus, (xxii. 3,) and praised by Libanius, (Orat.
Parent. c. 74, p. 299, 300.)]

The chamberlain Eusebius, who had so long abused the favor 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 pathetic
expression of Ammianus) 63 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 of his confiscated fortunes. Before the end of the
year in which they had been adorned with the ensigns of the
prefecture and consulship, 64 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 interested diligence of an informer, and
refused to learn what place concealed the wretched fugitive from
his just resentment. 65 Some months after the tribunal of
Chalcedon had been dissolved, the prætorian vicegerent of Africa,
the notary Gaudentius, and Artemius 66 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 circumstances of their trial
and condemnation were so unskillfully 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 approbation, was
executed in a manner which seemed to degrade the majesty of the
throne. Julian was tormented by the importunities of a multitude,
particularly of Egyptians, who loudly redemanded 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 Egyptian to Constantinople; and thus detained his
disappointed clients on the Asiatic shore till, their patience
and money being utterly exhausted, they were obliged to return
with indignant murmurs to their native country. 67

63 (return) [ Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse
justitia. Libanius, who imputes his death to the soldiers,
attempts to criminate the court of the largesses.]

64 (return) [ Such respect was still entertained for the
venerable names of the commonwealth, that the public was
surprised and scandalized to hear Taurus summoned as a criminal
under the consulship of Taurus. The summons of his colleague
Florentius was probably delayed till the commencement of the
ensuing year.]

65 (return) [ Ammian. xx. 7.]

66 (return) [ For the guilt and punishment of Artemius, see
Julian (Epist. x. p. 379) and Ammianus, (xxii. 6, and Vales, ad
hoc.) The merit of Artemius, who demolished temples, and was put
to death by an apostate, has tempted the Greek and Latin churches
to honor him as a martyr. But as ecclesiastical history attests
that he was not only a tyrant, but an Arian, it is not altogether
easy to justify this indiscreet promotion. Tillemont, Mém.
Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1319.]

67 (return) [ See Ammian. xxii. 6, and Vales, ad locum; and the
Codex Theodosianus, l. ii. tit. xxxix. leg. i.; and Godefroy’s
Commentary, tom. i. p. 218, ad locum.]