A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

360 A Source Book for Ancient Church History[329]Emperor of the inertness of his military officers procured forhim a coadjutor in the command more in sympathy with hisardor; and by their combined efforts an assault was made uponthe barbarians. But they sent him an embassy, assuring him thatthey had been ordered by letters of the Emperor to march intoRoman territories, and they showed him the letters. But he castthe ambassadors into prison, vigorously attacked the forces ofthe enemy and totally defeated them; and having taken their kingprisoner, he sent him to Constantius. After these successes hewas proclaimed Emperor by the soldiers; and inasmuch as therewas no imperial crown at hand, one of the guards took the chainwhich he wore around his own neck and placed it upon Julian'shead. Thus Julian became Emperor; but whether he subsequentlyconducted himself as a philosopher, let my readers determine.For he neither sent an embassy to Constantius, nor paid him theleast homage in acknowledgment of past favors; but conductedeverything just as it pleased him. He changed the rulers of theprovinces, and he sought to bring Constantius into contempt byreciting publicly in every city the letters which Constantius hadwritten to the barbarians. For this reason the cities revolted fromConstantius and attached themselves to him. Then he openlyput off the pretence of being a Christian; going about to thevarious cities, he opened the pagan temples, offering sacrificesto the idols, and designating himself “Pontifex Maximus”; andthe heathen celebrated their pagan festivals with pagan rites. Bydoing these things he excited a civil war against Constantius; andthus as far as he was concerned all the evils involved in war happened.For this philosopher's desire could not have been fulfilledwithout much bloodshed. But God, who is the judge of His owncounsels, checked the fury of these antagonists without detrimentto the State by the removal of one of them. For when Julianarrived among the Thracians, it was announced that Constantiuswas dead. And thus did the Roman Empire at that time escape theintestine strife. Julian entered Constantinople and at once con-