their
pride, rather than their taste; birds of the most distant climates, fish
from the most remote seas, fruits out of their natural season, winter
roses, and summer snows. [56] The domestic crowd of the palace surpassed
the expense of the legions; yet the smallest part of this costly
multitude was subservient to the use, or even to the splendor, of the
throne. The monarch was disgraced, and the people was injured, by the
creation and sale of an infinite number of obscure, and even titular
employments; and the most worthless of mankind might purchase the
privilege of being maintained, without the necessity of labor, from the
public revenue. The waste of an enormous household, the increase of
fees and perquisites, which were soon claimed as a lawful debt, and
the bribes which they extorted from those who feared their enmity, or
solicited their favor, suddenly enriched these haughty menials. They
abused their fortune, without considering their past, or their future,
condition; and their rapine and venality could be equalled only by the
extravagance of their dissipations. Their silken robes were embroidered
with gold, their tables were served with delicacy and profusion; the
houses which they built for their own use, would have covered the farm
of an ancient consul; and the most honorable citizens were obliged to
dismount from their horses, and respectfully to salute a eunuch whom
they met on the public highway. The luxury of the palace excited the
contempt and indignation of Julian, who usually slept on the ground, who
yielded with reluctance to the indispensable calls of nature; and who
placed his vanity, not in emulating, but in despising, the pomp of
royalty.

[Footnote 53: The reformation of the palace is described by Ammianus,
(xxii. 4,) Libanius, Orat. (Parent. c. lxii. p. 288, &c.,) Mamertinus,
in Panegyr. (Vet. xi. 11,) Socrates, (l. iii. c. l.,) and Zonaras, (tom.
ii. l. xiii. p. 24.)]

[Footnote 54: Ego non rationalem jussi sed tonsorem acciri. Zonaras uses
the less natural image of a senator. Yet an officer of the finances,
who was satisfied with wealth, might desire and obtain the honors of the
senate.]

[Footnote 56: The expressions of Mamertinus are lively and forcible.
Quis etiam prandiorum et caenarum laboratas magnitudines Romanus
populus sensit; cum quaesitissimae dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus
aestimarentur; miracula avium, longinqui maris pisces, aheni temporis
poma, aestivae nives, hybernae