Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/381

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 363 over every obstacle, he listened with complacency to CHAP, the advice of Eusebia, which gratified his indolence, ^^^' without offending his suspicious pride. As she per- ceived that the remembrance of G alius dwelt on the emperor's mind, she artfully turned his attention to the opposite characters of the two brothers, which from their infancy had been compared to those of Domi- tian and of Titus'*. She accustomed her husband to consider Julian as a youth of a mild unambitious dis- position, wbose allegiance and gratitude might be se- cured by the gift of the purple, and who was qualified to fill with honour a subordinate station, without as- piring to dispute the commands, or to shade the glo- ries, of his sovereign and benefactor. After an obsti- nate though secret struggle, the opposition of the favourite eunuchs submitted to the ascendancy of the empress ; and it w^as resolved that Julian, after cele- brating his nuptials with Helena, sister of Constantius, should be appointed, with the title of Caesar, to reign over the countries beyond the Alps'. Although the order which recalled him to court was probably accompanied by some intimation of his ap- proaching greatness, he appeals to the people of Athens to witness his tears of undissembled sorrow, when he was reluctantly torn away from his beloved retirement''. He trembled for his life, for his fame, and even for his virtue ; and his sole confidence was derived from the persuasion, that Minerva inspired all his actions, and that he was protected by an invisible guard of angels, whom for that purpose she had borrowed from the sun and moon. He approached with horror the palace of Milan ; nor could the ingenuous youth conceal his in- dignation, when he found himself accosted with false '' Tantum a temperatis moribus Juliani differens fratris quantum inter Vespasiani filios fuit, Domitianum et Titum. Araniian. 1. xiv. c. II. The circumstances and education of the two brothers were so nearly the same, as to afford a strong example of the innate difference of characters. ' Ammianus, 1. xv. c. 8 ; Zosimus, 1. iii. p. 137, 138. ^ Julian ad S. i>. Q. A. p. 275, 276 ; Libanius, Orat. x. p. 268. Julian did not yield till the gods had signified their will by repeated visions and omeus. His piety then fosbade him to resist.