XXIV. resisted and insulted the majesty of Rome.' As CHAP. soon as the Persian monarch was informed that the throne of Constantius was filled by a prince of a very different character, he condescended to make some artful, or perhaps sincere, overtures, towards a negotiation of peace. But the pride of Sapor was astonished by the firmness of Julian, who sternly declared, that he would never consent to hold a peaceful conference among the flames and ruins of the cities of Mesopotamia; and who added, with a smile of contempt, that it was needless to treat by ambassadors, as he himself had determined to visit speedily the court of Persia. The impatience of the emperor urged the diligence of the mili-. tary preparations. The generals were named; a formidable army was destined for this important service; and Julian, marching from Constantinople through the provinces of Asia Minor, arrived at Antioch about eight months after the death of his predecessor. His ardent desire to march into the heart of Persia, was checked by the indispensable duty of regulating the state of the empire; by his zeal to revive the worship of the gods; and by the advice of his wisest friends, who represented the necessity of allowing the salutary interval of winter quarters, to restore the exhausted strength of Alexander reminds his rival Cæsar, who depreciated the fame and merit of an Asiatic victory, that Crassus and Antony had felt the Persian arrows; and that the Romans, in a war of three hundred years, had not yet subdued the single province of Mesopotamia o Assyria, (Cæsares, p. 324). XXIV. ......... CHAP. the legions of Gaul, and the discipline and spirit of the eastern troops. Julian was perJulian pro- suaded to fix, till the ensuing spring, his resiConstanti dence at Antioch, among a people maliciously nople to disposed to deride the haste, and to censure the August. delays, of their sovereign.* ceeds from Antioch, manners ple of Au Licentious If Julian had flattered himself, that his perof the peo-sonal connection with the capital of the East tioch. would be productive of mutual satisfaction to the prince and people, he made a very false estimate of his own character and of the manners of Antioch. The warmth of the climate disposed the natives to the most intemperate enjoyment of tranquillity and opulence; and the lively licentiousness of the Greeks was blended with the hereditary softness of the Syrians. Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured; the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule; and the contempt of female modesty and reverent age, announced the universal corruption of the capital of the East. The love of spectacles was the taste, or rather passion, of the Syrians: the most skilful artists were procured * The design of the Persian war is declared by Ammianus, (xxii, 7, 12); Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 79, 80, p. 305, 306); Zosimus, (1. iii, p. 158), and Socrates, (1. iii, c. 19). 1 The Satire of Julian, and the Homilies of St. Chrysostom exhibit the same picture of Antioch. The miniature which the Abbé de la Bleterie has copied from thence (Vie de Julien, p. 332) is elegant and correct. XXIV. from the adjacent cities; a considerable share CHAP. of the revenue was devoted to the public amusements; and the magnificence of the games of the theatre and circus was considered as the happiness, and as the glory of Antioch. The rustic manners of a prince who disdained such glory, and was insensible of such happiness, soon disgusted the delicacy of his subjects; and the effeminate Orientals could neither imitate, nor admire, the severe simplicity which Julian always maintained, and sometimes affected.The days of festivity, consecrated by ancient custom to the honour of the gods, were the only occasions in which Julian relaxed his philosophic severity; and those festivals were the only days in which the Syrians of Antioch could reject the allurements of pleasure. The majority of the people supported the glory of the Christian name, which had been first invented by their ancestors;" they contented themselves with disobeying the moral precepts, but they were scrupulously attached to the speculative doctrines of their religion. The church of Antioch was distracted by heresy and schism; but the Arians and the Athanasians, Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and Berytus, comedians; Cæsarea, pantomimes; Heliopolis, singers; Gaza, gladiators; Ascalon, wrestlers; and Castabala, rope-dancers. See the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 6, in the third tome of Hudson's Minor Geographers. · Χριςον δε αγαπώντες, έχετε πολιυχον αντι τε Διος. The people of Antioch ingeniously professed their attachment to the Chi, (Christ), and the Kappa, (Constantius). Julian in Misopogon, p. 357. · XXIV. CHAP. the followers of Meletius and those of Paulinus, were actuated by the same pious hatred of their common adversary. Their aversion to The strongest prejudice was entertained aJulian. gainst the character of an apostate, the enemy and successor of a prince who had engaged the affections of a very numerous sect; and the removal of St. Babylas excited an implacable opposition to the person of Julian. His subjects complained, with superstitious indignation, that famine had pursued the emperor's steps from Constantinople to Antioch; and the discontent of a hungry people was exasperated by the injuScarcity of dicious attempt to relieve their distress. The public dis-inclemency of the season had affected the harvests of Syria; and the price of bread," in the markets of Antioch, had naturally risen in proportion to the scarcity of corn. But the fair and reasonable proportion was soon violated by corn, and content. * The schism of Antioch, which lasted eighty-five years, (A, D. 330415), was inflamed, while Julian resided in that city, by the indiscreet - ordination of Paulinus. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii, p. 803, of the quarto edition, (Paris, 1701, &c.), which henceforward I shall quote. P Julian states three different proportions of five, ten, or fifteen modii of wheat, for one piece of gold, according to the degrees of plenty and scarcity, (in Misopogon, p. 369.) From this fact, and from some collateral examples, I conclude, that under the successors of Constantine, the moderate price of wheat was about thirty-two shillings the English quarter; which is equal to the average price of the sixty-four first years of the present century. See Arbuthnot's Table of Coins, Weights, and Measures, p. 88, 89. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii, 12.→→ Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii, p. 718-721. Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol. i, p. 246. This last I am proud to quote as the work of a sage and a friend. XXIV. rapacious arts of monopoly. In this unequal CHAP. contest, in which the produce of the land is, claimed by one party, as his exclusive property; is used by another as a lucrative object of trade; and is required by a third, for the daily and necessary support of life; all the profits of the intermediate agents are accumulated on the head of the defenceless consumers. The hardships of their situation were exaggerated and increased by their own impatience and anxiety; and the apprehension of a scarcity gradually produced the appearances of a famine. When the luxurious citizens of Antioch complained of the high price of poultry and fish, Julian publicly declared, that a frugal city ought to be satisfied with a regular supply of wine, oil, and bread; but he acknowledged, that it was the duty of a sovereign to provide for the subsistence of his people. With this salutary view, the emperor ventured on a very dangerous and doubtful step, of fixing, by legal authority, the value of corn. He enacted, that, in a time of scarcity, it should be sold at a price which had seldom been known in the most plentiful years; and that his own example might strengthen his laws, he sent into the market four hundred and twenty-two thousand modii, or measures, which were drawn by his order from the granaries of Hierapolis, of Chalcis, and even of Egypt. The consequences might have been foreseen, and were soon felt. The imperial wheat was purchased by the rich merchants; the proprietors of land, or of corn, withheld from the city the |