rosae]

By the total extirpation of a mischief which was magnified even beyond
its real extent, he was impatient to relieve the distress, and to
appease the murmurs of the people; who support with less uneasiness the
weight of taxes, if they are convinced that the fruits of their industry
are appropriated to the service of the state. But in the execution of
this salutary work, Julian is accused of proceeding with too much haste
and inconsiderate severity. By a single edict, he reduced the palace
of Constantinople to an immense desert, and dismissed with ignominy the
whole train of slaves and dependants, [57] without providing any just,
or at least benevolent, exceptions, for the age, the services, or the
poverty, of the faithful domestics of the Imperial family. Such indeed
was the temper of Julian, who seldom recollected the fundamental maxim
of Aristotle, that true virtue is placed at an equal distance between
the opposite vices.

The splendid and effeminate dress of the Asiatics, the curls and paint,
the collars and bracelets, which had appeared so ridiculous in the
person of Constantine, were consistently rejected by his philosophic
successor. But with the fopperies, Julian affected to renounce the
decencies of dress; and seemed to value himself for his neglect of the
laws of cleanliness. In a satirical performance, which was designed for
the public eye, the emperor descants with pleasure, and even with
pride, on the length of his nails, and the inky blackness of his hands;
protests, that although the greatest part of his body was covered
with hair, the use of the razor was confined to his head alone; and
celebrates, with visible complacency, the shaggy and populous [58]
beard, which he fondly cherished, after the example of the philosophers
of Greece. Had Julian consulted the simple dictates of reason, the first
magistrate of the Romans would have scorned the affectation of Diogenes,
as well as that of Darius.

[Footnote 57: Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing whole towns
on the eunuchs, (Orat. vii. against Polyclet. p. 117-127.) Libanius
contents himself with a cold but positive denial of the fact, which
seems indeed to belong more properly to Constantius. This charge,
however, may allude to some unknown circumstance.]

[Footnote 58: In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a very
singular picture of himself, and the following words are strangely
characteristic. The friends of the Abbe de la Bleterie a