Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.—Part IV

The honor, as well as interest, of Julian, forbade him to consume
his time under the impregnable walls of Ctesiphon and as often as
he defied the Barbarians, who defended the city, to meet him on
the open plain, they prudently replied, that if he desired to
exercise his valor, he might seek the army of the Great King. He
felt the insult, and he accepted the advice. Instead of confining
his servile march to the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, he
resolved to imitate the adventurous spirit of Alexander, and
boldly to advance into the inland provinces, till he forced his
rival to contend with him, perhaps in the plains of Arbela, for
the empire of Asia. The magnanimity of Julian was applauded and
betrayed, by the arts of a noble Persian, who, in the cause of
his country, had generously submitted to act a part full of
danger, of falsehood, and of shame. 77 With a train of faithful
followers, he deserted to the Imperial camp; exposed, in a
specious tale, the injuries which he had sustained; exaggerated
the cruelty of Sapor, the discontent of the people, and the
weakness of the monarchy; and confidently offered himself as the
hostage and guide of the Roman march. The most rational grounds
of suspicion were urged, without effect, by the wisdom and
experience of Hormisdas; and the credulous Julian, receiving the
traitor into his bosom, was persuaded to issue a hasty order,
which, in the opinion of mankind, appeared to arraign his
prudence, and to endanger his safety. He destroyed, in a single
hour, the whole navy, which had been transported above five
hundred miles, at so great an expense of toil, of treasure, and
of blood. Twelve, or, at the most, twenty-two small vessels were
saved, to accompany, on carriages, the march of the army, and to
form occasional bridges for the passage of the rivers. A supply
of twenty days’ provisions was reserved for the use of the
soldiers; and the rest of the magazines, with a fleet of eleven
hundred vessels, which rode at anchor in the Tigris, were
abandoned to the flames, by the absolute command of the emperor.
The Christian bishops, Gregory and Augustin, insult the madness
of the Apostate, who executed, with his own hands, the sentence
of divine justice. Their authority, of less weight, perhaps, in a
military question, is confirmed by the cool judgment of an
experienced soldier, who was himself spectator of the
conflagration, and who could not disapprove the reluctant murmurs
of the troops. 78 Yet there are not wanting some specious, and
perhaps solid, reasons, which might justify the resolution of
Julian. The navigation of the Euphrates never ascended above
Babylon, nor that of the Tigris above Opis. 79 The distance of
the last-mentioned city from the Roman camp was not very
considerable: and Julian must soon have renounced the vain and
impracticable attempt of forcing upwards a great fleet against
the stream of a rapid river, 80 which in several places was
embarrassed by natural or artificial cataracts. 81 The power of
sails and oars was insufficient; it became necessary to tow the
ships against the current of the river; the strength of twenty
thousand soldiers was exhausted in this tedious and servile
labor, and if the Romans continued to march along the banks of
the Tigris, they could only expect to return home without
achieving any enterprise worthy of the genius or fortune of their
leader. If, on the contrary, it was advisable to advance into the
inland country, the destruction of the fleet and magazines was
the only measure which could save that valuable prize from the
hands of the numerous and active troops which might suddenly be
poured from the gates of Ctesiphon. Had the arms of Julian been
victorious, we should now admire the conduct, as well as the
courage, of a hero, who, by depriving his soldiers of the hopes
of a retreat, left them only the alternative of death or
conquest. 82

77 (return) [ The arts of this new Zopyrus (Greg. Nazianzen,
Orat. iv. p. 115, 116) may derive some credit from the testimony
of two abbreviators, (Sextus Rufus and Victor,) and the casual
hints of Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357) and Ammianus,
(xxiv. 7.) The course of genuine history is interrupted by a most
unseasonable chasm in the text of Ammianus.]

78 (return) [ See Ammianus, (xxiv. 7,) Libanius, (Orat.
Parentalis, c. 132, 133, p. 356, 357,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183,)
Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 26) Gregory, (Orat. iv. p. 116,)
and Augustin, (de Civitate Dei, l. iv. c. 29, l. v. c. 21.) Of
these Libanius alone attempts a faint apology for his hero; who,
according to Ammianus, pronounced his own condemnation by a tardy
and ineffectual attempt to extinguish the flames.]

79 (return) [ Consult Herodotus, (l. i. c. 194,) Strabo, (l. xvi.
p. 1074,) and Tavernier, (part i. l. ii. p. 152.)]

80 (return) [ A celeritate Tigris incipit vocari, ita appellant
Medi sagittam. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 31.]

81 (return) [ One of these dikes, which produces an artificial
cascade or cataract, is described by Tavernier (part i. l. ii. p.
226) and Thevenot, (part ii. l. i. p. 193.) The Persians, or
Assyrians, labored to interrupt the navigation of the river,
(Strabo, l. xv. p. 1075. D’Anville, l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p.
98, 99.)]

82 (return) [ Recollect the successful and applauded rashness of
Agathocles and Cortez, who burnt their ships on the coast of
Africa and Mexico.]

The cumbersome train of artillery and wagons, which retards the
operations of a modern army, were in a great measure unknown in
the camps of the Romans. 83 Yet, in every age, the subsistence of
sixty thousand men must have been one of the most important cares
of a prudent general; and that subsistence could only be drawn
from his own or from the enemy’s country. Had it been possible
for Julian to maintain a bridge of communication on the Tigris,
and to preserve the conquered places of Assyria, a desolated
province could not afford any large or regular supplies, in a
season of the year when the lands were covered by the inundation
of the Euphrates, 84 and the unwholesome air was darkened with
swarms of innumerable insects. 85 The appearance of the hostile
country was far more inviting. The extensive region that lies
between the River Tigris and the mountains of Media, was filled
with villages and towns; and the fertile soil, for the most part,
was in a very improved state of cultivation. Julian might expect,
that a conqueror, who possessed the two forcible instruments of
persuasion, steel and gold, would easily procure a plentiful
subsistence from the fears or avarice of the natives. But, on the
approach of the Romans, the rich and smiling prospect was
instantly blasted. Wherever they moved, the inhabitants deserted
the open villages, and took shelter in the fortified towns; the
cattle was driven away; the grass and ripe corn were consumed
with fire; and, as soon as the flames had subsided which
interrupted the march of Julian, he beheld the melancholy face of
a smoking and naked desert. This desperate but effectual method
of defence can only be executed by the enthusiasm of a people who
prefer their independence to their property; or by the rigor of
an arbitrary government, which consults the public safety without
submitting to their inclinations the liberty of choice. On the
present occasion the zeal and obedience of the Persians seconded
the commands of Sapor; and the emperor was soon reduced to the
scanty stock of provisions, which continually wasted in his
hands. Before they were entirely consumed, he might still have
reached the wealthy and unwarlike cities of Ecbatana or Susa, by
the effort of a rapid and well-directed march; 86 but he was
deprived of this last resource by his ignorance of the roads, and
by the perfidy of his guides. The Romans wandered several days in
the country to the eastward of Bagdad; the Persian deserter, who
had artfully led them into the snare, escaped from their
resentment; and his followers, as soon as they were put to the
torture, confessed the secret of the conspiracy. The visionary
conquests of Hyrcania and India, which had so long amused, now
tormented, the mind of Julian. Conscious that his own imprudence
was the cause of the public distress, he anxiously balanced the
hopes of safety or success, without obtaining a satisfactory
answer, either from gods or men. At length, as the only
practicable measure, he embraced the resolution of directing his
steps towards the banks of the Tigris, with the design of saving
the army by a hasty march to the confines of Corduene; a fertile
and friendly province, which acknowledged the sovereignty of
Rome. The desponding troops obeyed the signal of the retreat,
only seventy days after they had passed the Chaboras, with the
sanguine expectation of subverting the throne of Persia. 87

83 (return) [ See the judicious reflections of the author of the
Essai sur la Tactique, tom. ii. p. 287-353, and the learned
remarks of M. Guichardt Nouveaux Mémoires Militaires, tom. i. p.
351-382, on the baggage and subsistence of the Roman armies.]

84 (return) [ The Tigris rises to the south, the Euphrates to the
north, of the Armenian mountains. The former overflows in March,
the latter in July. These circumstances are well explained in the
Geographical Dissertation of Foster, inserted in Spelman’s
Expedition of Cyras, vol. ii. p. 26.]

85 (return) [ Ammianus (xxiv. 8) describes, as he had felt, the
inconveniency of the flood, the heat, and the insects. The lands
of Assyria, oppressed by the Turks, and ravaged by the Curds or
Arabs, yield an increase of ten, fifteen, and twenty fold, for
the seed which is cast into the ground by the wretched and
unskillful husbandmen. Voyage de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 279, 285.]

86 (return) [ Isidore of Charax (Mansion. Parthic. p. 5, 6, in
Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. ii.) reckons 129 schæni from
Seleucia, and Thevenot, (part i. l. i. ii. p. 209-245,) 128 hours
of march from Bagdad to Ecbatana, or Hamadan. These measures
cannot exceed an ordinary parasang, or three Roman miles.]

87 (return) [ The march of Julian from Ctesiphon is
circumstantially, but not clearly, described by Ammianus, (xxiv.
7, 8,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357,) and Zosimus, (l.
iii. p. 183.) The two last seem ignorant that their conqueror was
retreating; and Libanius absurdly confines him to the banks of
the Tigris.]

As long as the Romans seemed to advance into the country, their
march was observed and insulted from a distance, by several
bodies of Persian cavalry; who, showing themselves sometimes in
loose, and sometimes in close order, faintly skirmished with the
advanced guards. These detachments were, however, supported by a
much greater force; and the heads of the columns were no sooner
pointed towards the Tigris than a cloud of dust arose on the
plain. The Romans, who now aspired only to the permission of a
safe and speedy retreat, endeavored to persuade themselves, that
this formidable appearance was occasioned by a troop of wild
asses, or perhaps by the approach of some friendly Arabs. They
halted, pitched their tents, fortified their camp, passed the
whole night in continual alarms; and discovered at the dawn of
day, that they were surrounded by an army of Persians. This army,
which might be considered only as the van of the Barbarians, was
soon followed by the main body of cuirassiers, archers, and
elephants, commanded by Meranes, a general of rank and
reputation. He was accompanied by two of the king’s sons, and
many of the principal satraps; and fame and expectation
exaggerated the strength of the remaining powers, which slowly
advanced under the conduct of Sapor himself. As the Romans
continued their march, their long array, which was forced to bend
or divide, according to the varieties of the ground, afforded
frequent and favorable opportunities to their vigilant enemies.
The Persians repeatedly charged with fury; they were repeatedly
repulsed with firmness; and the action at Maronga, which almost
deserved the name of a battle, was marked by a considerable loss
of satraps and elephants, perhaps of equal value in the eyes of
their monarch. These splendid advantages were not obtained
without an adequate slaughter on the side of the Romans: several
officers of distinction were either killed or wounded; and the
emperor himself, who, on all occasions of danger, inspired and
guided the valor of his troops, was obliged to expose his person,
and exert his abilities. The weight of offensive and defensive
arms, which still constituted the strength and safety of the
Romans, disabled them from making any long or effectual pursuit;
and as the horsemen of the East were trained to dart their
javelins, and shoot their arrows, at full speed, and in every
possible direction, 88 the cavalry of Persia was never more
formidable than in the moment of a rapid and disorderly flight.
But the most certain and irreparable loss of the Romans was that
of time. The hardy veterans, accustomed to the cold climate of
Gaul and Germany, fainted under the sultry heat of an Assyrian
summer; their vigor was exhausted by the incessant repetition of
march and combat; and the progress of the army was suspended by
the precautions of a slow and dangerous retreat, in the presence
of an active enemy. Every day, every hour, as the supply
diminished, the value and price of subsistence increased in the
Roman camp. 89 Julian, who always contented himself with such
food as a hungry soldier would have disdained, distributed, for
the use of the troops, the provisions of the Imperial household,
and whatever could be spared, from the sumpter-horses, of the
tribunes and generals. But this feeble relief served only to
aggravate the sense of the public distress; and the Romans began
to entertain the most gloomy apprehensions that, before they
could reach the frontiers of the empire, they should all perish,
either by famine, or by the sword of the Barbarians. 90

88 (return) [ Chardin, the most judicious of modern travellers,
describes (tom. ii. p. 57, 58, &c., edit. in 4to.) the education
and dexterity of the Persian horsemen. Brissonius (de Regno
Persico, p. 650 651, &c.,) has collected the testimonies of
antiquity.]

89 (return) [ In Mark Antony’s retreat, an attic chœnix sold for
fifty drachmæ, or, in other words, a pound of flour for twelve or
fourteen shillings barley bread was sold for its weight in
silver. It is impossible to peruse the interesting narrative of
Plutarch, (tom. v. p. 102-116,) without perceiving that Mark
Antony and Julian were pursued by the same enemies, and involved
in the same distress.]

90 (return) [ Ammian. xxiv. 8, xxv. 1. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 184,
185, 186. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 134, 135, p. 357, 358, 359.
The sophist of Antioch appears ignorant that the troops were
hungry.]

While Julian struggled with the almost insuperable difficulties
of his situation, the silent hours of the night were still
devoted to study and contemplation. Whenever he closed his eyes
in short and interrupted slumbers, his mind was agitated with
painful anxiety; nor can it be thought surprising, that the
Genius of the empire should once more appear before him, covering
with a funeral veil his head, and his horn of abundance, and
slowly retiring from the Imperial tent. The monarch started from
his couch, and stepping forth to refresh his wearied spirits with
the coolness of the midnight air, he beheld a fiery meteor, which
shot athwart the sky, and suddenly vanished. Julian was convinced
that he had seen the menacing countenance of the god of war; 91
the council which he summoned, of Tuscan Haruspices, 92
unanimously pronounced that he should abstain from action; but on
this occasion, necessity and reason were more prevalent than
superstition; and the trumpets sounded at the break of day. The
army marched through a hilly country; and the hills had been
secretly occupied by the Persians. Julian led the van with the
skill and attention of a consummate general; he was alarmed by
the intelligence that his rear was suddenly attacked. The heat of
the weather had tempted him to lay aside his cuirass; but he
snatched a shield from one of his attendants, and hastened, with
a sufficient reenforcement, to the relief of the rear-guard. A
similar danger recalled the intrepid prince to the defence of the
front; and, as he galloped through the columns, the centre of the
left was attacked, and almost overpowered by the furious charge
of the Persian cavalry and elephants. This huge body was soon
defeated, by the well-timed evolution of the light infantry, who
aimed their weapons, with dexterity and effect, against the backs
of the horsemen, and the legs of the elephants. The Barbarians
fled; and Julian, who was foremost in every danger, animated the
pursuit with his voice and gestures. His trembling guards,
scattered and oppressed by the disorderly throng of friends and
enemies, reminded their fearless sovereign that he was without
armor; and conjured him to decline the fall of the impending
ruin. As they exclaimed, 93 a cloud of darts and arrows was
discharged from the flying squadrons; and a javelin, after razing
the skin of his arm, transpierced the ribs, and fixed in the
inferior part of the liver. Julian attempted to draw the deadly
weapon from his side; but his fingers were cut by the sharpness
of the steel, and he fell senseless from his horse. His guards
flew to his relief; and the wounded emperor was gently raised
from the ground, and conveyed out of the tumult of the battle
into an adjacent tent. The report of the melancholy event passed
from rank to rank; but the grief of the Romans inspired them with
invincible valor, and the desire of revenge. The bloody and
obstinate conflict was maintained by the two armies, till they
were separated by the total darkness of the night. The Persians
derived some honor from the advantage which they obtained against
the left wing, where Anatolius, master of the offices, was slain,
and the præfect Sallust very narrowly escaped. But the event of
the day was adverse to the Barbarians. They abandoned the field;
their two generals, Meranes and Nohordates, 94 fifty nobles or
satraps, and a multitude of their bravest soldiers; and the
success of the Romans, if Julian had survived, might have been
improved into a decisive and useful victory.

91 (return) [ Ammian. xxv. 2. Julian had sworn in a passion,
nunquam se Marti sacra facturum, (xxiv. 6.) Such whimsical
quarrels were not uncommon between the gods and their insolent
votaries; and even the prudent Augustus, after his fleet had been
twice shipwrecked, excluded Neptune from the honors of public
processions. See Hume’s Philosophical Reflections. Essays, vol.
ii. p. 418.]

92 (return) [ They still retained the monopoly of the vain but
lucrative science, which had been invented in Hetruria; and
professed to derive their knowledge of signs and omens from the
ancient books of Tarquitius, a Tuscan sage.]

93 (return) [ Clambant hinc inde _candidati_ (see the note of
Valesius) quos terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male
compositi culminis declinaret. Ammian. xxv 3.]

94 (return) [ Sapor himself declared to the Romans, that it was
his practice to comfort the families of his deceased satraps, by
sending them, as a present, the heads of the guards and officers
who had not fallen by their master’s side. Libanius, de nece
Julian. ulcis. c. xiii. p. 163.]

The first words that Julian uttered, after his recovery from the
fainting fit into which he had been thrown by loss of blood, were
expressive of his martial spirit. He called for his horse and
arms, and was impatient to rush into the battle. His remaining
strength was exhausted by the painful effort; and the surgeons,
who examined his wound, discovered the symptoms of approaching
death. He employed the awful moments with the firm temper of a
hero and a sage; the philosophers who had accompanied him in this
fatal expedition, compared the tent of Julian with the prison of
Socrates; and the spectators, whom duty, or friendship, or
curiosity, had assembled round his couch, listened with
respectful grief to the funeral oration of their dying emperor.
95 “Friends and fellow-soldiers, the seasonable period of my
departure is now arrived, and I discharge, with the cheerfulness
of a ready debtor, the demands of nature. I have learned from
philosophy, how much the soul is more excellent than the body;
and that the separation of the nobler substance should be the
subject of joy, rather than of affliction. I have learned from
religion, that an early death has often been the reward of piety;
96 and I accept, as a favor of the gods, the mortal stroke that
secures me from the danger of disgracing a character, which has
hitherto been supported by virtue and fortitude. I die without
remorse, as I have lived without guilt. I am pleased to reflect
on the innocence of my private life; and I can affirm with
confidence, that the supreme authority, that emanation of the
Divine Power, has been preserved in my hands pure and immaculate.
Detesting the corrupt and destructive maxims of despotism, I have
considered the happiness of the people as the end of government.
Submitting my actions to the laws of prudence, of justice, and of
moderation, I have trusted the event to the care of Providence.
Peace was the object of my counsels, as long as peace was
consistent with the public welfare; but when the imperious voice
of my country summoned me to arms, I exposed my person to the
dangers of war, with the clear foreknowledge (which I had
acquired from the art of divination) that I was destined to fall
by the sword. I now offer my tribute of gratitude to the Eternal
Being, who has not suffered me to perish by the cruelty of a
tyrant, by the secret dagger of conspiracy, or by the slow
tortures of lingering disease. He has given me, in the midst of
an honorable career, a splendid and glorious departure from this
world; and I hold it equally absurd, equally base, to solicit, or
to decline, the stroke of fate. This much I have attempted to
say; but my strength fails me, and I feel the approach of death.
I shall cautiously refrain from any word that may tend to
influence your suffrages in the election of an emperor. My choice
might be imprudent or injudicious; and if it should not be
ratified by the consent of the army, it might be fatal to the
person whom I should recommend. I shall only, as a good citizen,
express my hopes, that the Romans may be blessed with the
government of a virtuous sovereign.” After this discourse, which
Julian pronounced in a firm and gentle tone of voice, he
distributed, by a military testament, 97 the remains of his
private fortune; and making some inquiry why Anatolius was not
present, he understood, from the answer of Sallust, that
Anatolius was killed; and bewailed, with amiable inconsistency,
the loss of his friend. At the same time he reproved the
immoderate grief of the spectators; and conjured them not to
disgrace, by unmanly tears, the fate of a prince, who in a few
moments would be united with heaven, and with the stars. 98 The
spectators were silent; and Julian entered into a metaphysical
argument with the philosophers Priscus and Maximus, on the nature
of the soul. The efforts which he made, of mind as well as body,
most probably hastened his death. His wound began to bleed with
fresh violence; his respiration was embarrassed by the swelling
of the veins; he called for a draught of cold water, and, as soon
as he had drank it, expired without pain, about the hour of
midnight. Such was the end of that extraordinary man, in the
thirty-second year of his age, after a reign of one year and
about eight months, from the death of Constantius. In his last
moments he displayed, perhaps with some ostentation, the love of
virtue and of fame, which had been the ruling passions of his
life. 99

95 (return) [ The character and situation of Julian might
countenance the suspicion that he had previously composed the
elaborate oration, which Ammianus heard, and has transcribed. The
version of the Abbé de la Bleterie is faithful and elegant. I
have followed him in expressing the Platonic idea of emanations,
which is darkly insinuated in the original.]

96 (return) [ Herodotus (l. i. c. 31,) has displayed that
doctrine in an agreeable tale. Yet the Jupiter, (in the 16th book
of the Iliad,) who laments with tears of blood the death of
Sarpedon his son, had a very imperfect notion of happiness or
glory beyond the grave.]

97 (return) [ The soldiers who made their verbal or nuncupatory
testaments, upon actual service, (in procinctu,) were exempted
from the formalities of the Roman law. See Heineccius, (Antiquit.
Jur. Roman. tom. i. p. 504,) and Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix,
l. xxvii.)]

98 (return) [ This union of the human soul with the divine
æthereal substance of the universe, is the ancient doctrine of
Pythagoras and Plato: but it seems to exclude any personal or
conscious immortality. See Warburton’s learned and rational
observations. Divine Legation, vol ii. p. 199-216.]

99 (return) [ The whole relation of the death of Julian is given
by Ammianus, (xxv. 3,) an intelligent spectator. Libanius, who
turns with horror from the scene, has supplied some
circumstances, (Orat. Parental. c 136-140, p. 359-362.) The
calumnies of Gregory, and the legends of more recent saints, may
now be _silently_ despised. * Note: A very remarkable fragment of
Eunapius describes, not without spirit, the struggle between the
terror of the army on account of their perilous situation, and
their grief for the death of Julian. “Even the vulgar felt that
they would soon provide a general, but such a general as Julian
they would never find, even though a god in the form of
man—Julian, who, with a mind equal to the divinity, triumphed
over the evil propensities of human nature,—* * who held commerce
with immaterial beings while yet in the material body—who
condescended to rule because a ruler was necessary to the welfare
of mankind.” Mai, Nov. Coll. ii. 261. Eunapius in Niebuhr, 69.]

The triumph of Christianity, and the calamities of the empire,
may, in some measure, be ascribed to Julian himself, who had
neglected to secure the future execution of his designs, by the
timely and judicious nomination of an associate and successor.
But the royal race of Constantius Chlorus was reduced to his own
person; and if he entertained any serious thoughts of investing
with the purple the most worthy among the Romans, he was diverted
from his resolution by the difficulty of the choice, the jealousy
of power, the fear of ingratitude, and the natural presumption of
health, of youth, and of prosperity. His unexpected death left
the empire without a master, and without an heir, in a state of
perplexity and danger, which, in the space of fourscore years,
had never been experienced, since the election of Diocletian. In
a government which had almost forgotten the distinction of pure
and noble blood, the superiority of birth was of little moment;
the claims of official rank were accidental and precarious; and
the candidates, who might aspire to ascend the vacant throne
could be supported only by the consciousness of personal merit,
or by the hopes of popular favor. But the situation of a famished
army, encompassed on all sides by a host of Barbarians, shortened
the moments of grief and deliberation. In this scene of terror
and distress, the body of the deceased prince, according to his
own directions, was decently embalmed; and, at the dawn of day,
the generals convened a military senate, at which the commanders
of the legions, and the officers both of cavalry and infantry,
were invited to assist. Three or four hours of the night had not
passed away without some secret cabals; and when the election of
an emperor was proposed, the spirit of faction began to agitate
the assembly. Victor and Arinthæus collected the remains of the
court of Constantius; the friends of Julian attached themselves
to the Gallic chiefs, Dagalaiphus and Nevitta; and the most fatal
consequences might be apprehended from the discord of two
factions, so opposite in their character and interest, in their
maxims of government, and perhaps in their religious principles.
The superior virtues of Sallust could alone reconcile their
divisions, and unite their suffrages; and the venerable præfect
would immediately have been declared the successor of Julian, if
he himself, with sincere and modest firmness, had not alleged his
age and infirmities, so unequal to the weight of the diadem. The
generals, who were surprised and perplexed by his refusal, showed
some disposition to adopt the salutary advice of an inferior
officer, 100 that they should act as they would have acted in the
absence of the emperor; that they should exert their abilities to
extricate the army from the present distress; and, if they were
fortunate enough to reach the confines of Mesopotamia, they
should proceed with united and deliberate counsels in the
election of a lawful sovereign. While they debated, a few voices
saluted Jovian, who was no more than _first_ 101 of the
domestics, with the names of Emperor and Augustus. The tumultuary
acclamation 10111 was instantly repeated by the guards who
surrounded the tent, and passed, in a few minutes, to the
extremities of the line. The new prince, astonished with his own
fortune was hastily invested with the Imperial ornaments, and
received an oath of fidelity from the generals, whose favor and
protection he so lately solicited. The strongest recommendation
of Jovian was the merit of his father, Count Varronian, who
enjoyed, in honorable retirement, the fruit of his long services.
In the obscure freedom of a private station, the son indulged his
taste for wine and women; yet he supported, with credit, the
character of a Christian 102 and a soldier. Without being
conspicuous for any of the ambitious qualifications which excite
the admiration and envy of mankind, the comely person of Jovian,
his cheerful temper, and familiar wit, had gained the affection
of his fellow-soldiers; and the generals of both parties
acquiesced in a popular election, which had not been conducted by
the arts of their enemies. The pride of this unexpected elevation
was moderated by the just apprehension, that the same day might
terminate the life and reign of the new emperor. The pressing
voice of necessity was obeyed without delay; and the first orders
issued by Jovian, a few hours after his predecessor had expired,
were to prosecute a march, which could alone extricate the Romans
from their actual distress. 103

100 (return) [ Honoratior aliquis miles; perhaps Ammianus
himself. The modest and judicious historian describes the scene
of the election, at which he was undoubtedly present, (xxv. 5.)]

101 (return) [ The _primus_ or _primicerius_ enjoyed the dignity
of a senator, and though only a tribune, he ranked with the
military dukes. Cod. Theodosian. l. vi. tit. xxiv. These
privileges are perhaps more recent than the time of Jovian.]

10111 (return) [ The soldiers supposed that the acclamations
proclaimed the name of Julian, restored, as they fondly thought,
to health, not that of Jovian. loc.—M.]

102 (return) [ The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates, (l. iii.
c. 22,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 3,) and Theodoret, (l. iv. c. 1,)
ascribe to Jovian the merit of a confessor under the preceding
reign; and piously suppose that he refused the purple, till the
whole army unanimously exclaimed that they were Christians.
Ammianus, calmly pursuing his narrative, overthrows the legend by
a single sentence. Hostiis pro Joviano extisque inspectis,
pronuntiatum est, &c., xxv. 6.]

103 (return) [ Ammianus (xxv. 10) has drawn from the life an
impartial portrait of Jovian; to which the younger Victor has
added some remarkable strokes. The Abbé de la Bleterie (Histoire
de Jovien, tom. i. p. 1-238) has composed an elaborate history of
his short reign; a work remarkably distinguished by elegance of
style, critical disquisition, and religious prejudice.]