X XIV. Libanius, A. D. 314-390. &c. Yet Antioch possessed one citizen, whose ge- CHAP. nius and virtues might atone, in the opinion of Julian, for the vice and folly of his country. The sophist The sophist Libanius was born in the capital of the East; he publicly professed the arts of rhetoric and declamation at Nice, Nicomedia, Constantinople, Athens, and, during the remainder of his life, at Antioch. His school was assiduously frequented by the Grecian youth; his disciples, who sometimes exceeded the number of eighty, celebrated their incomparable master; and the jealousy of his rivals, who persecuted him from one city to another, confirmed the favourable opinion which Libanius ostentatiously displayed of his superior merit. The preceptors of Julian had extorted a rash but solemn assurance, that he would never attend the lectures of their adversary: the curiosity of the royal youth was checked and inflamed: he secretly procured the writings of this dangerous sophist, and gradually surpassed, in the perfect imitation of his style, the most laborious of his domestic pupils *. When Julian ascended the throne, he declared his impatience to embrace and reward the Syrian sophist, who had preserved, in a degenerate age, the Grecian purity o taste, of manners, and of religion. The emFeror's prepossession was increased and justified by the discreet pride of his favourite. Instead of pressing, with the foremost of the crowd, into L 4 * Libanius, Oret. Parent. c. vii. p. 230, 231. the CHAP. the palace of Constantinople, Libanius calmly expected his arrival at Antioch; withdrew from court on the first symptoms of coldness and indifference; required a formal invitation for each visit; and taught his sovereign an important lesson, that he might command the obedience of a subject, but that he must deserve the attachment of a friend. The sophists of every age despising, or affecting to despise, the accidental distinctions of birth and fortune *, reserve their esteem for the superior qualities of the mind, with which they themselves are so plentifully endowed. Julian might disdain the acclamations of a venal court, who adored the imperial purple ; but he was deeply flattered by the praise, the admonition, the freedom, and the envy of an independent philosopher, who refused his favours, loved his person, celebrated his fame, and protected his memory. The voluminous writings of Libanius still exist for the most part, they are the vain and idle compositions of an orator, who cultivated the science of words; the productions of a recluse student, whose mind, regardless of his contemporaries, was incessantly fixed on the Trojan war, and the Athenian commonwealth. Yet the sophist of Antioch sometimes descended from this imaginary eleva tion; he entertained a various and elaborate correspondence; Eunapius reports, that Libanius refused the honorary rank of prætorian præfect, as less illustrious than the title of Sophist (in Vit. Sophist. p. 135.). The critics have observed a similar sentiment in one of the epistles (xviii. edit. Wolf.) of Libanius himself. XXIV. correspondence *; he praised the virtues of his CHAP. own times; he boldly arraigned the abuses of public and private life; and he eloquently pleaded the cause of Antioch against the just resentment of Julian and Theodosius. It is the common calamity of old age t, to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable; but Libanius experienced the peculiar misfortune of surviving the religion and the sciences, to which he had consecrated his genius. The friend of Julian was an indignant spectator of the triumph of Christianity; and his bigotry, which darkened the prospect of the visible world, did not inspire Libanius with any lively hopes of celestial glory and happiness. The martial impatience of Julian urged him to take the field in the beginning of the spring; and he dismissed, with contempt and reproach, the senate of Antioch, who accompanied the emperor * Near two thousand of his letters, a mode of composition in which Libanius was thought to excel, are still extant, and already published. The critics may praise their subtile and elegant brevity; yet Dr Bentley (Dissertation upon Phalaris, p. 487.) might justly, though quaintly, observe, that “you "feel by the emptiness and deadness of them, that you converse with some dreaming pedant, with his elbow on his "desk." His birth is assigned to the year 314. He mentions the seventy-sixth year of his age (A. D. 390.), and seems to allude to some events of a still later date. Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but curious narrative of his own life (tom. ii. p. 1–84. edit. Morell.), of which Eunapius (p. 180-135.) has left a concise and unfavourable account. Among the moderns, Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 571-576.), Fabricius (Bibliot. Græc. tom. vii. p. 376-414.), and Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, tom. iv. p. 127-163 ), have illustrated the character and writings of this famous sophist, March of Julian to the Eu A.D. 363, phrates. CHAP emperor beyond the limits of their own territory, to which he was resolved never to return. XXIV. After a laborious march of two days *, he halted on the third, at Berea, or Aleppo, where he had the mortification of finding a senate almost entirely Christian; who received with cold and formal demonstrations of respect, the eloquent sermon of the apostle of paganism. The son of one of the most illustrious citizens of Beræa, who had embraced, either from interest or conscience, the religion of the emperor, was disinherited by his angry parent. The father and the son were invited to the imperial table. Julian, placing himself between them, attempted, without success, to inculcate the lesson and example of toleration; supported, with affected calmness, the indiscreet zeal of the aged Christian, who seemed to forget the sentiments of nature, and the duty of a subject; and at length turning towards the afflicted youth, "Since you have lost a father," said he, "for my sake, it is incumbent on me "to supply his place t." The emperor was received in a manner much more agreeable to his wishes at Batnæ, a small town pleasantly seated in From Antioch to Litarbe, on the territory of Chalcis, the road, over hills and through morasses, was extremely bad; and the loose stones were cemented only with sand. Julian, epist. xxvii. It is singular enough, that the Romans should have neglected the great communication between Antioch and the Euphrates. See Wesseling. Itinerar. p. 190. Bergier, Hist. des Grands Chemins, tom. ii. p. 100. Julian alludes to this incident (epist. xxvii.), which is more distinctly related by Theodoret (1. iii. c. 22.). The intolerant spirit of the father is applauded by Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv p. 534.), and even by La Bleterie (Vie de Julief, p. 413.). cypresses, about twenty XXIV. in a grove of miles from CHAP. the city of Hierapolis. The solemn rites of sacrifice were decently prepared by the inhabitants of Batnæ, who seemed attached to the worship of their tutelar deitie, Apollo and Jupiter; but the serious piety of Julian was offended by the tumult of their applause; and he too clearly discerned, that the smoke which arose from their altars was the incense of flattery, rather than of devotion. The ancient and magnificent temple, which had sanctified, for so many ages, the city of Hierapolis, no longer subsisted; and the consecrated wealth, which afforded a liberal maintenance to more than three hundred priests, might hasten its downfal. Yet Julian enjoyed the satisfaction of embracing a philosopher and a friend, whose religious firmness had withstood the pressing and repeated solicitations of Constantius and Gallus, as often as those princes lodged at his house, in their passage through Hierapolis. In the hurry of military preparation, and the careless confidence of a familiar correspondence, the zeal of Julian appears to have been lively and uniform. He had now undertaken an important aud difficult war; and the anxiety of the event rendered him still more attentive to observe and register the most trifling presages, from which, according to the rules of divination, any knowledge of futurity could be derived. See the curious treatise de Deâ Syriâ, inserted among the works of Lucian (tom. iii. p. 451-490, edit. Reitz.). The singular appellation of Ninus vetus (Ammian. xiv. 8.) might induce a suspicion, that Hierapolis had been the royal seat of the Assyrians. |