XXIV.

or confidently asserted, that the governors of the CHAP. church had instigated and directed the fanaticism of a domestic assassin *. Above sixteen years

after the death of Julian, the charge was solemnly and vehemently urged, in a public oration, addressed by Libanius to the emperor Theodosius. His suspicions are unsupported by fact or argument; and we can only esteem the generous zeal of the sophist of Antioch, for the cold and neglected ashes of his friend †.

It was an ancient custom in the funerals, as and funeral well as in the triumphs, of the Romans, that the of Julian, voice of praise should be corrected by that of satire and ridicule; and that, in the midst of the splendid pageants, which displayed the glory of the living or of the dead, their imperfections should not be concealed from the eyes of the world. This custom was practised in the funeral of Julian. The comedians, who resented his contempt and aversion for the theatre, exhibited, with the applause of a Christian audience, the lively and exaggerated representation

of

Ος τις εντολην πλήρων τω σφων αυτων αρχοντι. This dark and ambiguous expression may point to Athanasius, the first, with out a rival, of the Christian clergy (Libanius de ulcis. Jul, nece, c. 5. p. 149. La Bleterie, Hist. de Jovien, t. i. p. 179.).

The Orator (Fabricius, Bibliot. Græc. tom. vii. p. 145 -179.) scatters suspicions, demands an inquiry, and insinuates, that proofs might still be obtained. He ascribes the success of the Huns to the criminal neglect of revenging Julian's

death.

At the funeral of Vespasian, the comedian who personated that frugal emperor, anxiously inquired, how much it cost?-Fourscore thousand pounds (centies). Give me the tenth part of the sum, and throw my body into the Tyber. Sueton. in Vespasian, c. 19. with the notes of Casaubon and Gronovius.

XXIV.

CHAP. of the faults and follies of the deceased emperor. His various character and singular manners af'forded an ample scope for pleasantry and ridicule *. In the exercise of his uncommon talents, he often descended below the majesty of his rank. Alexander was transformed into Diogenes; the philosopher was degraded into a priest. The purity of his virtue was sullied by excessive vanity his superstition disturbed the peace, and endangered the fafety, of a mighty empire; and his irregular sallies were the less entitled to indulgence, as they appeared to be the laborious efforts of art, or even of affectation. The remains of Julian were interred at Tarsus in Cilicia; but his stately tomb which arose in that city, on the banks of the cold and lympid Cydnus †, was displeasing to the faithful friends, who loved and revered the memory of that extraordinary man. The philosopher expressed a very reasonable wish, that the disciple of Plato might have reposed amidst the groves of the academy while the soldier exclaimed in bolder accents, that the ashes of Julian should have been mingled with those of Cæsar, in the field of Mars, and among the ancient

Gregory (Orat. iv. p. 119, 120.) compares this supposed ignominy and ridicule to the.funeral honours of Constantius, whose body was chaunted over mount Taurus by a choir of angels.

The luxuriancy of his de
Yet it was almost the du

† Quintus Curtius, l. iii. c. 4. scriptions has been often censured. ty of the historian to describe a river, whose waters had nearly proved fatal to Alexander.

Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 156. p. 377. Yet he acknowledges with gratitude the liberality of the two royal brothers in decorating the tomb of Julian (de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 7. p. 152.

XXIV:

cient monuments of Rome virtue *. The history The history CHAP. of princes does not very frequently renew the example of a similar competition.

VOL. IV.

CHAP.

* Cujus suprema et cineres, si qui tunc justè consuleret, non Cydnus videre deberet, quamvis gratissimus amnis et liquidus : sed ad perpetuandam gloriam recte factorum præterlambere Tiberis, intersecans urbem æternam, divorumque veterum monumenta præstringens. Ammian. xxv. 10.

T

CHAR
XXV.

State of the

church,

CHAP. XXV.

The Government and Death of Jovian.-Election of Valentinian, who associates his Brother Valens, and makes the final Division of the Eastern and Western Empires.-Revolt of Procopius.-Civil and Ecclesiastical Administration.-Germany.—Britain.— Africa. The East.-The Danube.- Death of Valentinian.-His two Sons, Gratian and Valentinian II. succeed to the Western Empire.

THE

HE death of Julian had left the public affairs of the empire in a very doubtful and dangerous situation. The Roman army was saved A. D. 363. by an inglorious, perhaps a necessary treaty *; and the first moments of peace were consecrated by the pious Jovian to restore the domestic tranquillity of the church and state. The indiscretion of his predecessor, instead of reconciling, had artfully fomented the religious war and the balance which he affected to preserve between the hostile factions, served only to perpetuate the contest, by the vicissitudes of hope and fear, by the rival claims of ancient possession and actual favour. The Christians had forgotten the spirit of the Gospel; and the Pagans had imbibed the spirit of the church. In private families, the sentiments of nature were extinguished

The medals of Jovian adorn him with victories, laurel crowns, and prostrate captives. Ducange, Famil. Byzantin. p. 52. Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.

XXV.

`extinguished by the blind fury of zeal and revenge: CHAP. the majesty of the laws was violated or abused; the cities of the East were stained with blood; and the most implacable enemies of the Romans were in the bosom of their country. Jovian was edu cated in the profession of Christianity; and as he marched from Nisibis to Antioch, the banner of the Cross, the LABARUM of Constantine, which was again displayed at the head of the legions, announced to the people the faith of their new emperor. As soon as he ascended the throne, he transmitted a circular epistle to all the gover nors of provinces: in which he confessed the divine truth, and secured the legal establishment, of the Christian religion. The insidious edicts of Julian were abolished; the ecclesiastical immunities were restored and enlarged; and Jovian conde scended to lament, that the distress of the times obliged him to diminish the measure of charitable distributions. The Christians were unanimous in the loud and sincere applause which they bestowed on the pious successor of Julian. But they were still ignorant what creed, or what synod, he would choose for the standard of orthodoxy; and the peace of the church immediately revived those eager disputes which had been suspended during Q 2

the

* Jovian restored to the church Tv agxalov xooμov; a forcible and comprehensive expression (Philostorgius, 1. viii. c. 5. with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 329. Sozomen, l. vi. c. 3.). The new law which condemned the rape or marriage of nuns (Cod. Theod. 1. ix. tit. xxv. leg. 2.), is exaggerated by Sozomen; who supposes, that an amorous glance, the adultery of the heart, was punished with death by the evangelic legislator.