Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/371

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. .153 was an ancient palace, the residence of the kings of (MlAl'. Cappadocia ; the situation was pleasant, the buildings |__ stately, the enclosure spacious. They pursued their studies, and practised their exercises, under the tuition of the most skilful masters ; and the numerous house- hold appointed to attend, or rather to guard, the ne- phews of Constantine, was not unworthy of the dignity of their birth. But they could not disguise to them- selves that they were deprived of fortune, of freedom, and of safety ; secluded from the society of all whom they could trust or esteem, and condemned to pass their melancholy hours in the company of slaves, de- voted to the commands of a tyrant, who had already injured them beyond the hope of reconciliation. At length, however, the emergencies of the state com- pelled the emperor, or rather his eunuchs, to invest Gallus, in the twenty-fifth year of his age, with the Gallus de- title of Ca?sar, and to cement this political connection l^^^^j. by his marriage with the princess Constantina. After a A.D. 351, formal interview, in which the two princes mutually engaged their faith never to undertake any thing to the prejudice of each other, they repaired without delay to their respective stations. Constantius con- tinued his march towards the west, and Gallus fixed his residence at Antioch, from whence, with a dele- gated authority, he administered the five great dioceses of the eastern prefecture °. In this fortunate change, the new Caesar was not unmindful of his brother Julian, who obtained the honours of his rank, the appearances of liberty, and the restitution of an ample patrimony". The writers the most indulgent to the memory of Cruelty and Gallus, and even Julian himself, though he wished to„f^a]|us. " For the promotion of Gallus, see Idatius, Zosimus, and the two Victors. According to Philostorgius, (1. iv. c. 1.) Theophilus an Arian bishop, was the witness, and, as it were, the guarautee, of this solemn engagement. He supported that character with generous firmness; but M. de Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, torn. iv. p. 1 120.) thinks it very improbable that an heretic should have possessed such virtue. " Julian was at first permitted to pursue his studies at Constantinople ; but the reputation which he acquired soon excited the jealousy of Constan- tius ; and the young prince was advised to withdraw himself to the less conspicuous scenes of fiithynia and Ionia. VOL. II. A a