Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/382

 364- THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, and servile respect by the assassins of his family. ' Eusebia, rejoicing in the success of her benevolent schemes, embraced him with the tenderness of a sister; and endeavoured, by the most soothing cai'esses, to dispel his terrors and reconcile him to his fortune. But the ceremony of shaving his beard, and his awk- ward demeanour when he first exchanged the cloak of a Greek philosopher for the military habit of a Roman prince, amused, during a few days, the levity of the imperial court '. The emperors of the age of Constantine no longer deigned to consult with the senate in the choice of a colleague ; but they were anxious that their nomination should be ratified by the consent of the army. On this solemn occasion, the guards, with the other troops whose stations were in the neighbourhood of Milan, appeared under arms ; and Constantius ascended his lofty tribunal, holding by the hand his cousin Julian, who entered the same day into the twenty-fifth year of his age" In a studied speech, conceived and deli- vered with dignity, the emperor represented the vari- ous dangers which threatened the prosperity of the republic, the necessity of naming a Caesar for the ad- ministration of the west, and his own intention, if it was agreeable to their wishes, of rewarding with the hon- ours of the purple, the promising virtues of the nephew of Constantine. The approbation of the sol- diers was testified by a respectful murmur : they gazed on the manly countenance of Julian, and observed with pleasure, that the fire which sparkled in his eyes was tempered by a modest blush, on being thus exposed, for the first time, to the public view of mankind. As soon as the ceremony of his investiture had been per- formed, Constantius addressed him with the tone of ' Julian liimself relates (p. 274.) with some humour, the circumstances of his owu metamorphosis, liis downcast looks, and his perplexity at being thus suddenly transported into a new world, where every object appeared strange and hostile. "' See Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xv. c. 8 ; Zosimus, 1. iii. p. 139; Aurelius Victor ; Victor junior iu Epitom. ; Eutrop. x. 14.