. XXIV.

more decisive and conspicuous *. Alexander and CHAP Cæsar, Augustus, Trajan, and Constantine, acknowledged with a blush, that fame or power, or pleasure, had been the important object of their labours but the gods themselves beheld, with reverence and love, a virtuous mortal, who had practised on the throne the lessons of philosophy; and who, in a state of human imperfection, had aspired to imitate the moral attributes of the Deity. The value of this agreeable composition (the Cæsars of Julian) is enhanced by the rank of the author. A prince, who delineates with freedom the vices and virtues of his predecessors, subscribes, in every line, the censure or approbation of his own conduct.

In the cool moments of reflection, Julian preferred the useful and benevolent virtues of Antoninus but his ambitious spirit was inflamed by the glory of Alexander; and he solicited, with equal ardour, the esteem of the wise, and the applause of the multitude. In the season of life, when the powers of the mind and body enjoy the most active vigour, the emperor, who was instructed by the experience, and animated by the success, of the German war, resolved to signalize his reign by some more splendid and memorable achievement. The ambassadors of

the

Julian was secretly inclined to prefer a Greek to a Roman. But when he seriously compared a hero with a philo sopher, he was sensible that mankind had much greater obli gations to Socrates than to Alexander (Orat. ad Themistium, p. 264.).

He re

solves to

march a

gainst the

Persians,

A. D.362.

XXIV.

CHAP. the East, from the continent of India, and the isle of Ceylon*, had respectfully saluted the Roman purple t. The nations of the West esteemed and dreaded the personal virtues of Julian, both in peace and war. He despised the trophies of a Gothic victory, and was satisfied that the rapacious Barbarians of the Danube would be restrained from any future violation of the faith of treaties, by the terror of his name, and the additional fortifications with which he strengthened the Thracian and Illyrian frontiers. The suc

cessor of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, was the only rival whom he deemed worthy of his arms; and he resolved, by the final conquest of Persia, to chastise the haughty nation, which had so long resisted

Inde nationibus Indicis certatum cum donis optimates mittentibus . . . ab usque Divis et Serendivis. Ammian, xx. 7. This island, to which the names of Taprobana, Serendib, and Ceylon, have been successively applied, manifests how imperfectly the seas and lands to the east of Cape Comorin were known to the Romans. 1. Under the reign of Claudius, a freedman, who farmed the customs of the Red Sea, was accidentally driven by the winds upon this strange and undiscovered coast he conversed six months with the natives; and the king of Ceylon, who heard, for the first time, of the power and justice of Rome, was persuaded to send an embassy to the emperor (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 24.). 2. The geographers (and even Ptolemy) have magnified, above fifteen times, the real size of this new world, which they extended as far as the equator, and the neighbourhood of China.

These embassies had been sent to Constantius. Ammianus, who unwarily deviates into gross flattery, must have forgotten the length of the way, and the short duration of the reign of Julian.

Gothos sæpe fallaces et perfidos; hostes quærere se me◄ liores aiebat: illis cuim sufficere mercatores Galatas per quos ubique sine conditionis discrimine venundantur. Within less than fifteen years, these Gothic slaves threatened and subdued their masters.

AS CHAP.

resisted and insulted the majesty of Rome*.
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 Ju-
lian; 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 military preparations. The
generals were named; a formidable army was
destined for this important service; and Julian,
marching from Constantinople through the pro-
vinces 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 Casar, who deprecated 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 pro vince of Mesopotamia or Assyria (Cæsares, p. 324.).

XXIV.

XXIV.

Julian pro

ceeds from

CHAP of the legions of Gaul, and the discipline and spirit of the Eastern troops. Julian was per suaded to fix, till the ensuing spring, his residence at Antioch, among a people maliciously disposed to deride the haste, and to censure the delays, of their sovereign *.

Constanti

nople to Antioch, August.

Licentious

manners of

of Antioch.

Fa

If Julian had flattered himself, that his perthe people sonal connection with the capital of the East 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 t. 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. shion 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 for 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

from

* 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.).

The Satire of Julian, and the Homilies of St Chrysos tom, 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 pubiic 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 t; 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, the VOL. IV. followers

L

* Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and Berytus, comedians; Cæsarea, pantomimes; Heliopolis, singers; Gaza, gla diators; 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 πολιέχον αντι το Διο;. The peopl of Antioch ingeniously professed their attachment to the Chi (Christ), and the Kappa (Constantius). Julian in Misopos gon, p. 357.