, they distributed
alms to the poor, gifts to the clergy, and oblations to the tombs of
the martyrs; and the splendid monument of St. Mamas, at Caesarea, was
erected, or at least was undertaken, by the joint labor of Gallus and
Julian. They respectfully conversed with the bishops, who were eminent
for superior sanctity, and solicited the benediction of the monks and
hermits, who had introduced into Cappadocia the voluntary hardships
of the ascetic life. As the two princes advanced towards the years of
manhood, they discovered, in their religious sentiments, the difference
of their characters. The dull and obstinate understanding of Gallus
embraced, with implicit zeal, the doctrines of Christianity; which never
influenced his conduct, or moderated his passions. The mild disposition
of the younger brother was less repugnant to the precepts of the gospel;
and his active curiosity might have been gratified by a theological
system, which explains the mysterious essence of the Deity, and
opens the boundless prospect of invisible and future worlds. But
the independent spirit of Julian refused to yield the passive and
unresisting obedience which was required, in the name of religion, by
the haughty ministers of the church. Their speculative opinions
were imposed as positive laws, and guarded by the terrors of eternal
punishments; but while they prescribed the rigid formulary of the
thoughts, the words, and the actions of the young prince; whilst
they silenced his objections, and severely checked the freedom of his
inquiries, they secretly provoked his impatient genius to disclaim the
authority of his ecclesiastical guides. He was educated in the Lesser
Asia, amidst the scandals of the Arian controversy. The fierce contests
of the Eastern bishops, the incessant alterations of their creeds, and
the profane motives which appeared to actuate their conduct, insensibly
strengthened the prejudice of Julian, that they neither understood nor
believed the religion for which they so fiercely contended. Instead of
listening to the proofs of Christianity with that favorable attention
which adds weight to the most respectable evidence, he heard with
suspicion, and disputed with obstinacy and acuteness, the doctrines for
which he already entertained an invincible aversion. Whenever the young
princes were directed to compose declamations on the subject of the
prevailing controversies, Julian always declared himself the advocate of
Paganism; und