the schools of Athens, a general
prepossession in favor of his virtues and talents, which was soon
diffused over the Roman world.

Whilst his hours were passed in studious retirement, the empress,
resolute to achieve the generous design which she had undertaken, was
not unmindful of the care of his fortune. The death of the late Caesar
had left Constantius invested with the sole command, and oppressed by
the accumulated weight, of a mighty empire. Before the wounds of civil
discord could be healed, the provinces of Gaul were overwhelmed by a
deluge of Barbarians. The Sarmatians no longer respected the barrier
of the Danube. The impunity of rapine had increased the boldness and
numbers of the wild Isaurians: those robbers descended from their craggy
mountains to ravage the adjacent country, and had even presumed, though
without success, to besiege the important city of Seleucia, which was
defended by a garrison of three Roman legions. Above all, the Persian
monarch, elated by victory, again threatened the peace of Asia, and the
presence of the emperor was indispensably required, both in the West
and in the East. For the first time, Constantius sincerely acknowledged,
that his single strength was unequal to such an extent of care and of
dominion. Insensible to the voice of flattery, which assured him that
his all-powerful virtue, and celestial fortune, would still continue to
triumph over every obstacle, he listened with complacency to the
advice of Eusebia, which gratified his indolence, without offending his
suspicious pride. As she perceived that the remembrance of Gallus 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 Domitian and of Titus. She accustomed her husband
to consider Julian as a youth of a mild, unambitious disposition, whose
allegiance and gratitude might be secured by the gift of the purple,
and who was qualified to fill with honor a subordinate station, without
aspiring to dispute the commands, or to shade the glories, of his
sovereign and benefactor. After an obstinate, though secret struggle,
the opposition of the favorite eunuchs submitted to the ascendency of
the empress; and it was resolved that Julian, after celebrating 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 wh