astened to the palace to salute
the emperor. As soon as he was informed of their approach, he leaped
from his throne, eagerly advanced to meet them, and compelled the
blushing magistrates to receive the demonstrations of his affected
humility. From the palace they proceeded to the senate. The emperor, on
foot, marched before their litters; and the gazing multitude admired the
image of ancient times, or secretly blamed a conduct, which, in their
eyes, degraded the majesty of the purple. But the behavior of Julian was
uniformly supported. During the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently
or designedly, performed the manumission of a slave in the presence of
the consul. The moment he was reminded that he had trespassed on the
jurisdiction of another magistrate, he condemned himself to pay a fine
of ten pounds of gold; and embraced this public occasion of declaring to
the world, that he was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens,
to the laws, and even to the forms, of the republic. The spirit of his
administration, and his regard for the place of his nativity, induced
Julian to confer on the senate of Constantinople the same honors,
privileges, and authority, which were still enjoyed by the senate of
ancient Rome. A legal fiction was introduced, and gradually established,
that one half of the national council had migrated into the East; and
the despotic successors of Julian, accepting the title of Senators,
acknowledged themselves the members of a respectable body, which
was permitted to represent the majesty of the Roman name. From
Constantinople, the attention of the monarch was extended to the
municipal senates of the provinces. He abolished, by repeated edicts,
the unjust and pernicious exemptions which had withdrawn so many idle
citizens from the services of their country; and by imposing an equal
distribution of public duties, he restored the strength, the splendor,
or, according to the glowing expression of Libanius, the soul of the
expiring cities of his empire. The venerable age of Greece excited the
most tender compassion in the mind of Julian, which kindled into rapture
when he recollected the gods, the heroes, and the men superior to heroes
and to gods, who have bequeathed to the latest posterity the monuments
of their genius, or the example of their virtues. He relieved the
distress, and restored the beauty, of the cities of Epirus and
Peloponnesus. Athens acknowledged him for her benefactor; Argos, for