d by Tillemont, (Mem.
Eccles. tom. vii. p. 575.)]

Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.--Part I.

Residence Of Julian At Antioch.--His Successful Expedition Against
The Persians.--Passage Of The Tigris--The Retreat And Death Of
Julian.--Election Of Jovian.--He Saves The Roman Army By A Disgraceful
Treaty. The philosophical fable which Julian composed under the name
of the Caesars, [1] is one of the most agreeable and instructive
productions of ancient wit. [2] During the freedom and equality of the
days of the Saturnalia, Romulus prepared a feast for the deities of
Olympus, who had adopted him as a worthy associate, and for the Roman
princes, who had reigned over his martial people, and the vanquished
nations of the earth. The immortals were placed in just order on their
thrones of state, and the table of the Caesars was spread below the Moon
in the upper region of the air. The tyrants, who would have disgraced
the society of gods and men, were thrown headlong, by the inexorable
Nemesis, into the Tartarean abyss. The rest of the Caesars successively
advanced to their seats; and as they passed, the vices, the defects, the
blemishes of their respective characters, were maliciously noticed
by old Silenus, a laughing moralist, who disguised the wisdom of a
philosopher under the mask of a Bacchanal. [3] As soon as the feast
was ended, the voice of Mercury proclaimed the will of Jupiter, that a
celestial crown should be the reward of superior merit. Julius Caesar,
Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Antoninus, were selected as the most
illustrious candidates; the effeminate Constantine [4] was not excluded
from this honorable competition, and the great Alexander was invited to
dispute the prize of glory with the Roman heroes. Each of the candidates
was allowed to display the merit of his own exploits; but, in the
judgment of the gods, the modest silence of Marcus pleaded more
powerfully than the elaborate orations of his haughty rivals. When the
judges of this awful contest proceeded to examine the heart, and to
scrutinize the springs of action, the superiority of the Imperial Stoic
appeared still more decisive and conspicuous. [5] Alexander and Caesar,
Augustus, Trajan, and Constantine, acknowledged, with a blush, that
fame, or power, or pleasure had been the important object of their
labors: but the gods themselves beheld, with reverence and love,
a virtuous mortal, who had practised on the throne the lessons of