of their own principles, or of exposing
the various follies of Polytheism.

It was undoubtedly the wish and design of Julian to deprive the
Christians of the advantages of wealth, of knowledge, and of power; but
the injustice of excluding them from all offices of trust and profit
seems to have been the result of his general policy, rather than the
immediate consequence of any positive law. Superior merit might deserve
and obtain, some extraordinary exceptions; but the greater part of the
Christian officers were gradually removed from their employments in the
state, the army, and the provinces. The hopes of future candidates were
extinguished by the declared partiality of a prince, who maliciously
reminded them, that it was unlawful for a Christian to use the sword,
either of justice, or of war; and who studiously guarded the camp and
the tribunals with the ensigns of idolatry. The powers of government
were intrusted to the pagans, who professed an ardent zeal for the
religion of their ancestors; and as the choice of the emperor was often
directed by the rules of divination, the favorites whom he preferred as
the most agreeable to the gods, did not always obtain the approbation of
mankind. Under the administration of their enemies, the Christians had
much to suffer, and more to apprehend. The temper of Julian was averse
to cruelty; and the care of his reputation, which was exposed to the
eyes of the universe, restrained the philosophic monarch from violating
the laws of justice and toleration, which he himself had so recently
established. But the provincial ministers of his authority were placed
in a less conspicuous station. In the exercise of arbitrary power, they
consulted the wishes, rather than the commands, of their sovereign;
and ventured to exercise a secret and vexatious tyranny against the
sectaries, on whom they were not permitted to confer the honors of
martyrdom. The emperor, who dissembled as long as possible his knowledge
of the injustice that was exercised in his name, expressed his real
sense of the conduct of his officers, by gentle reproofs and substantial
rewards.

The most effectual instrument of oppression, with which they were
armed, was the law that obliged the Christians to make full and
ample satisfaction for the temples which they had destroyed under
the preceding reign. The zeal of the triumphant church had not always
expected the sanction of the public authority; and the bishops, who were