ich recalled him to court was probably accompanied
by some intimation of his approaching 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 indignation, when he found himself accosted with false 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 endeavored, by the most soothing caresses, to dispel his
terrors, and reconcile him to his fortune. But the ceremony of shaving
his beard, and his awkward demeanor, 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 neighborhood 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 delivered with dignity, the emperor represented
the various dangers which threatened the prosperity of the republic, the
necessity of naming a Caesar for the administration of the West, and his
own intention, if it was agreeable to their wishes, of rewarding
with the honors of the purple the promising virtues of the nephew
of Constantine. The approbation of the soldiers 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 performed, Constantius addressed him with the tone
of authority which his superior age and station pe