ppiness and his immortal fame. When we inspect,
with minute, or perhaps malevolent attention, the portrait of Julian,
something seems wanting to the grace and perfection of the whole figure.
His genius was less powerful and sublime than that of Caesar; nor did
he possess the consummate prudence of Augustus. The virtues of Trajan
appear more steady and natural, and the philosophy of Marcus is more
simple and consistent. Yet Julian sustained adversity with firmness, and
prosperity with moderation. After an interval of one hundred and twenty
years from the death of Alexander Severus, the Romans beheld an emperor
who made no distinction between his duties and his pleasures; who
labored to relieve the distress, and to revive the spirit, of his
subjects; and who endeavored always to connect authority with merit,
and happiness with virtue. Even faction, and religious faction, was
constrained to acknowledge the superiority of his genius, in peace as
well as in war, and to confess, with a sigh, that the apostate Julian
was a lover of his country, and that he deserved the empire of the
world.

Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.--Part I.

The Religion Of Julian.--Universal Toleration.--He Attempts
To Restore And Reform The Pagan Worship--To Rebuild The
Temple Of Jerusalem--His Artful Persecution Of The
Christians.--Mutual Zeal And Injustice.

The character of Apostate has injured the reputation of Julian; and
the enthusiasm which clouded his virtues has exaggerated the real and
apparent magnitude of his faults. Our partial ignorance may represent
him as a philosophic monarch, who studied to protect, with an equal
hand, the religious factions of the empire; and to allay the theological
fever which had inflamed the minds of the people, from the edicts of
Diocletian to the exile of Athanasius. A more accurate view of the
character and conduct of Julian will remove this favorable prepossession
for a prince who did not escape the general contagion of the times. We
enjoy the singular advantage of comparing the pictures which have been
delineated by his fondest admirers and his implacable enemies. The
actions of Julian are faithfully related by a judicious and candid
historian, the impartial spectator of his life and death. The unanimous
evidence of his contemporaries is confirmed by the public and private
declarations of the emperor himself; and his various writings express
the uniform tenor of his religious sent