istory and reflection, Julian was persuaded,
that if the diseases of the body may sometimes be cured by salutary
violence, neither steel nor fire can eradicate the erroneous opinions of
the mind. The reluctant victim may be dragged to the foot of the altar;
but the heart still abhors and disclaims the sacrilegious act of the
hand. Religious obstinacy is hardened and exasperated by oppression;
and, as soon as the persecution subsides, those who have yielded are
restored as penitents, and those who have resisted are honored as saints
and martyrs. If Julian adopted the unsuccessful cruelty of Diocletian
and his colleagues, he was sensible that he should stain his memory with
the name of a tyrant, and add new glories to the Catholic church,
which had derived strength and increase from the severity of the pagan
magistrates. Actuated by these motives, and apprehensive of disturbing
the repose of an unsettled reign, Julian surprised the world by an
edict, which was not unworthy of a statesman, or a philosopher. He
extended to all the inhabitants of the Roman world the benefits of a
free and equal toleration; and the only hardship which he inflicted on
the Christians, was to deprive them of the power of tormenting their
fellow-subjects, whom they stigmatized with the odious titles of
idolaters and heretics. The pagans received a gracious permission, or
rather an express order, to open All their temples; [34] and they were
at once delivered from the oppressive laws, and arbitrary vexations,
which they had sustained under the reign of Constantine, and of his
sons. At the same time the bishops and clergy, who had been banished
by the Arian monarch, were recalled from exile, and restored to their
respective churches; the Donatists, the Novatians, the Macedonians, the
Eunomians, and those who, with a more prosperous fortune, adhered to
the doctrine of the Council of Nice. Julian, who understood and derided
their theological disputes, invited to the palace the leaders of the
hostile sects, that he might enjoy the agreeable spectacle of their
furious encounters. The clamor of controversy sometimes provoked
the emperor to exclaim, "Hear me! the Franks have heard me, and the
Alemanni;" but he soon discovered that he was now engaged with more
obstinate and implacable enemies; and though he exerted the powers of
oratory to persuade them to live in concord, or at least in peace, he
was perfectly satisfied, before he dismissed them from his p