ed, and even angry with his gods, like other heathen. In the Persian war, having obtained some successes and expecting more, he prepared a grand sacrifice for Mars; but the omen not being favourable, he was greatly incensed; and called Jupiter to witness, that he would never more offer a sacrifice to Mars. This excess of superstition, it seems to me, is a proof of the want of judgment—a defect which appeared upon divers occasions, and in many actions not altogether becoming the dignity of an emperor. The conduct of Julian towards the Christians does not seem to have been characterized by all that impartiality which his admirers claim for him. Sozomen, the historian, says, he ordered the strictest inquiry to be made after the estates that belonged to Christians, with a view to confiscate the whole of them, not hesitating to employ torture to come at the truth. He subjected the Christian clergy to the lowest services in the army-and threatened that unless the Christians rebuilt the pagan temples, he would not suffer THE GALILEANS to wear their heads; and our historian observes that, if it had been in his power, and he had not been prevented by death, he would probably have been as good as his word.† Though Julian forbore to persecute unto death, he could not, on several occasions, refrain from using insults, which sufficiently showed what he felt, and what he wished to do. When he was sacrificing in a temple at Constantinople, and Maris, the bishop of Chalcedon, a man respectable for his learning and for the part he had acted in public life, and now venerable for his age, happening to pass by, he abused him as an impious person, and an enemy of the gods. He had even the meanness to reproach him for his blindness, saying, "Will not your Galilean God cure you?" The old man replied, "I thank my God that I am deprived of *Lardner's Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 25. sight, that I may not see your fall from piety." On this occasion, Julian had so much command of himself, as to pass on without making any reply. But notwithstanding his affectation of magnanimity, Julian was not always so much master of himself, as he appeared to be on this occasion. While at Antioch, just before he set out on his expedition against Persia, two of the officers who usually attended upon his person, inadvertently complained, that by his orders, every thing in the city was polluted with the rites of heathenism, insomuch that the very fountains that supplied the city, and every thing sold in the market, bread, butcher's meat, herbs, fruits, &c., had been sprinkled with lustral water, by which they were, as it were, consecrated to the heathen gods: such had been his insidious policy, in order to draw the people insensibly into idolatry. These complaints coming to the ears of Julian, he ordered them to be brought before him; and interrogating them, as was his custom, with great familiarity, they frankly told him, that they had made those complaints; and that having been educated in the Christian religion, under his predecessors, Constantine and Constantius, they could not help being disgusted at seeing every thing contaminated with the rites of heathenism; but that this was the only thing in his reign of which they complained. At this he was so provoked, that he ordered them to be put to death with torture; pretending that it was not on account of their religion, but for their petulance in insulting their emperor. About the same time, a deaconess, of the name of Pythia, who led the female singers, happening, as the emperor was passing by the doors of a place of worship, to be singing a psalm, and having, perhaps, imprudently pitched upon one of those in which the heathen gods and their worshippers are spoken of with contempt, he was so provoked that he sent for her; and, though she was very old, one of his guards struck her, by his command and in his presence, on both the cheeks, with such violence, that the blood gushed out.* After a short reign of twenty months, Julian, who perished by the lance of a common soldier, while prosecuting the Persian war upon the banks of the Euphrates, was succeeded in the year 363 by Jovian, one of the officers of his army. He had been educated in the principles of Christianity, and as soon as he ascended the throne, transmitted a circular letter to all the governors of the provinces, securing the legal establishment of the Christian religion. The edicts of Julian were abolished, and ecclesiastical immunities restored and enlarged. The Catholic clergy were unanimous in the loud and sincere applause which they bestowed on Jovian, but they were yet ignorant what creed or what synod he would choose for the standard of orthodoxy. The leaders of the different factions were properly aware, how much depended upon the first impressions made on the mind of an untutored soldier, and they hastened to the imperial court. The public roads were crowded with Athanasian, Arian, Semi-arian, and Eunomian bishops, who struggled to outstrip each other in the race: the apartments of the palace resounded with their clamours, and the ears of the prince were assaulted, and perhaps astonished by the singular mixture of metaphysical argument and personal invective. He wisely recommended to them charity and concord, but referred the disputants to the decision of a future council. The conduct of Jovian seems to have given the death blow to the prevalence of paganism in the empire. "Under his reign," says the historian of the Roman empire, "Christianity obtained an easy and lasting victory; and as soon as the smile of royal patronage was withdrawn, the genius of paganism, which had been fondly raised and cherished by the acts of Julian, sunk irrecoverably in the dust. In many cities, the temples were shut or deserted; the phi *Theod. Hist. book iii. ch. 15. losophers who had abused the transient favour, thought it prudent to shave their beards, and disguise their profession; and the Christians rejoiced, that they were now in a condition to forgive or to revenge the injuries which they had suffered under the preceding reign."* Jovian, nevertheless, issued a wise and gracious edict, in which he explicitly declares, that though he should severely punish the sacrilegious rites of magic, his subjects might exercise with freedom and safety, the ceremonies of the ancient worship. "I hate contention," says he, "and love those only that study peace;" declaring that "he would trouble none on account of their faith, whatever it was; and that such only should obtain his favour and esteem, as should stand forward in restoring the peace of the church." The senate of Constantinople deputed an orator, of the name of Themistius, to express their loyal devotion to the new emperor. His oration is preserved, and merits particular attention, for the discovery which it inadvertently makes of the state of the established Catholic church at that period. "In the recent changes," says he, "both religions have been alternately disgraced, by the seeming acquisition of worthless proselytes, of those votaries of the reigning purple, who could pass, without a reason and without a blush, from the church to the temple, and from the altars of Jupiter to the sacred table of the Christians."+ Could a volume give us a more striking picture of the wretched state to which the Christian profession was reduced in so short a time as half a century after its establishment? Jovian reigned only one year. He appears to have been addicted to intemperance; for, after indulging himself in the pleasures of the table at supper, he retired to rest, and the next morning was found dead in his bed. The throne of the emperor now remained ten days vacant; but it was at length filled by two brothers, Valentinian and Valens, the former a distinguished officer in the army, who, *Gibbon, vol. iv. ch. 25. + Quoted by Gibbon, ubi supra. thirty days after his own elevation, voluntarily associated his brother with him in the government of the empire, A. D. 364. Of both these princes, Mr. Gibbon says, that "they invariably retained in the purple, the chaste and temperate simplicity which had adorned their private life; and under their reign, the pleasures of a court never cost the people a blush or a sigh." Though in a great measure illiterate themselves, they were great promoters of learning among their subjects. They planned a course of instruction for every city in the empire, and the academies of Rome and Constantinople, but more especially the latter, were considerably extensive. The two emperors were of very different tempers, and took different courses in regard to religion. The former was of the orthodox party; but though he especially favoured those of his own sentiments, he gave no disturbance to the Arians. Valens, on the contrary, was less liberal in his views, and persecuted all who differed from him. In the beginning of their reign, a synod was convened in Illyricum, which again decreed the consubstantiality of Father, Son, and Spirit. The emperors issued a circular letter, declaring their assent to this, and ordering that this doctrine should be preached-though they published laws for the toleration of all religious denominations, and even paganism. In the year 375, Valentinian died suddenly in a transport of rage, and Valens being sole emperor, was soon prevailed on by the artifice of Eudoxius, bishop of Constantinople, to take a decided part with the Arians, and to abandon his moderation, by cruelly persecuting the Or thodox. The first thing that fired his resentment was the conduct of these latter, who had solicited and obtained his permission to hold a synod at Lampsacus, for the amendment and settlement of the faith; when, after two months' consultation, they decreed the doctrine of the Son's being like the Father as to his essence, to be the true orthodox faith, and deposed all the bishops of the Arian party. This highly exasperated Valens, who without delay, convened a |