d their actions
to the rigorous laws which that philosophic emperor imposed on himself.
One of his most intimate friends, who had often shared the frugal
simplicity of his table, has remarked, that his light and sparing diet
(which was usually of the vegetable kind) left his mind and body always
free and active, for the various and important business of an author, a
pontiff, a magistrate, a general, and a prince. In one and the same day,
he gave audience to several ambassadors, and wrote, or dictated, a great
number of letters to his generals, his civil magistrates, his private
friends, and the different cities of his dominions. He listened to
the memorials which had been received, considered the subject of the
petitions, and signified his intentions more rapidly than they could be
taken in short-hand by the diligence of his secretaries. He possessed
such flexibility of thought, and such firmness of attention, that he
could employ his hand to write, his ear to listen, and his voice to
dictate; and pursue at once three several trains of ideas without
hesitation, and without error. While his ministers reposed, the prince
flew with agility from one labor to another, and, after a hasty dinner,
retired into his library, till the public business, which he had
appointed for the evening, summoned him to interrupt the prosecution of
his studies. The supper of the emperor was still less substantial
than the former meal; his sleep was never clouded by the fumes of
indigestion; and except in the short interval of a marriage, which was
the effect of policy rather than love, the chaste Julian never shared
his bed with a female companion. He was soon awakened by the entrance
of fresh secretaries, who had slept the preceding day; and his servants
were obliged to wait alternately while their indefatigable master
allowed himself scarcely any other refreshment than the change of
occupation. The predecessors of Julian, his uncle, his brother, and his
cousin, indulged their puerile taste for the games of the Circus, under
the specious pretence of complying with the inclinations of the people;
and they frequently remained the greatest part of the day as idle
spectators, and as a part of the splendid spectacle, till the ordinary
round of twenty-four races was completely finished. On solemn festivals,
Julian, who felt and professed an unfashionable dislike to these
frivolous amusements, condescended to appear in the Circus; and after
bestowing