resence,
that he had nothing to dread from the union of the Christians. The
impartial Ammianus has ascribed this affected clemency to the desire
of fomenting the intestine divisions of the church, and the insidious
design of undermining the foundations of Christianity, was inseparably
connected with the zeal which Julian professed, to restore the ancient
religion of the empire. [35]

[Footnote 33: Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. lviii. p. 283, 284) has
eloquently explained the tolerating principles and conduct of his
Imperial friend. In a very remarkable epistle to the people of Bostra,
Julian himself (Epist. lii.) professes his moderation, and betrays his
zeal, which is acknowledged by Ammianus, and exposed by Gregory (Orat.
iii. p.72)]

[Footnote 34: In Greece the temples of Minerva were opened by his
express command, before the death of Constantius, (Liban. Orat. Parent.
c. 55, p. 280;) and Julian declares himself a Pagan in his public
manifesto to the Athenians. This unquestionable evidence may correct the
hasty assertion of Ammianus, who seems to suppose Constantinople to be
the place where he discovered his attachment to the gods]

[Footnote 35: Ammianus, xxii. 5. Sozomen, l. v. c. 5. Bestia moritur,
tranquillitas redit.... omnes episcopi qui de propriis sedibus fuerant
exterminati per indulgentiam novi principis ad acclesias redeunt. Jerom.
adversus Luciferianos, tom. ii. p. 143. Optatus accuses the Donatists
for owing their safety to an apostate, (l. ii. c. 16, p. 36, 37, edit.
Dupin.)]

As soon as he ascended the throne, he assumed, according to the custom
of his predecessors, the character of supreme pontiff; not only as
the most honorable title of Imperial greatness, but as a sacred and
important office; the duties of which he was resolved to execute with
pious diligence. As the business of the state prevented the emperor from
joining every day in the public devotion of his subjects, he dedicated
a domestic chapel to his tutelar deity the Sun; his gardens were filled
with statues and altars of the gods; and each apartment of the palace
displaced the appearance of a magnificent temple. Every morning he
saluted the parent of light with a sacrifice; the blood of another
victim was shed at the moment when the Sun sunk below the horizon;
and the Moon, the Stars, and the Genii of the night received their
respective and seasonable honors from the indefatigable devotion of
Julian. On solemn festivals, he regularly vi