Julian struggled with the almost insuperable
difficulties of his situation, the silent hours of the night
were still devoted to study and contemplation. Whenever he
closed his eyes in short and interrupted slumbers, his mind
was agitated by painful anxiety; nor can it be thought
surprising that the Genius of the empire should once more
appear before him, covering with a funereal veil his head
and his horn of abundance, and slowly retiring from the
Imperial tent. The monarch started from his couch, and,
stepping forth to refresh his wearied spirits with the
coolness of the midnight air, he beheld a fiery meteor,
which shot athwart the sky and suddenly vanished. Julian was
convinced that he had seen the menacing countenance of the
god of war: the council which he summoned, of Tuscan
Haruspices, unanimously pronounced that he should abstain
from action; but on this occasion necessity and reason were
more prevalent than superstition, and the trumpets sounded
at the break of day."[12]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 12: It is interesting to compare Gibbon's admirable picture
with the harsh original Latin of his authority, Ammianus Marcellinus.
"Ipse autem ad sollicitam suspensamque quietem paullisper protractus,
cum somno (ut solebat) depulso, ad aemulationem Caesaris Julii quaedam
sub pellibus scribens, obscuro noctis altitudine sensus cujusdam
philosophi teneretur, vidit squalidius, ut confessus est proximis,
speciem illam Genii publici, quam quum ad Augustum surgeret culmen,
conspexit in Galliis, velata cum capite cornucopia per aulaea tristius
discedentem. Et quamquam ad momentum haesit, stupore defixus, omni
tamen superior metu, ventura decretis caelestibus commendabat; relicto
humi strato cubili, adulta jam excitus nocte, et numinibus per sacra
depulsoria supplicans, flagrantissimam facem cadenti similem visam,
aeris parte sulcata evanuisse existimavit: horroreque perfusus est, ne
ita aperte minax Martis adparuerit sidus."--_Amm. Marc._ lib. xxv.
cap. 2.]

It will not be so easy to absolve Gibbon from the charge of prejudice
in reference to his treatment of the Early Church. It cannot be denied
that in the two famous chapters, at least, which concluded his first
volume, he adopted a tone which must be pronounced offensive, not only
from the Christian point of view, but on the broad ground of
historical equity. His preconceived opinions we