sited the temple of the god
or goddess to whom the day was peculiarly consecrated, and endeavored to
excite the religion of the magistrates and people by the example of
his own zeal. Instead of maintaining the lofty state of a monarch,
distinguished by the splendor of his purple, and encompassed by
the golden shields of his guards, Julian solicited, with respectful
eagerness, the meanest offices which contributed to the worship of the
gods. Amidst the sacred but licentious crowd of priests, of inferior
ministers, and of female dancers, who were dedicated to the service of
the temple, it was the business of the emperor to bring the wood,
to blow the fire, to handle the knife, to slaughter the victim, and,
thrusting his bloody hands into the bowels of the expiring animal, to
draw forth the heart or liver, and to read, with the consummate skill of
an haruspex, imaginary signs of future events. The wisest of the Pagans
censured this extravagant superstition, which affected to despise the
restraints of prudence and decency. Under the reign of a prince, who
practised the rigid maxims of economy, the expense of religious worship
consumed a very large portion of the revenue a constant supply of the
scarcest and most beautiful birds was transported from distant climates,
to bleed on the altars of the gods; a hundred oxen were frequently
sacrificed by Julian on one and the same day; and it soon became a
popular jest, that if he should return with conquest from the Persian
war, the breed of horned cattle must infallibly be extinguished. Yet
this expense may appear inconsiderable, when it is compared with the
splendid presents which were offered either by the hand, or by order,
of the emperor, to all the celebrated places of devotion in the Roman
world; and with the sums allotted to repair and decorate the ancient
temples, which had suffered the silent decay of time, or the
recent injuries of Christian rapine. Encouraged by the example, the
exhortations, the liberality, of their pious sovereign, the cities and
families resumed the practice of their neglected ceremonies. "Every part
of the world," exclaims Libanius, with devout transport, "displayed
the triumph of religion; and the grateful prospect of flaming altars,
bleeding victims, the smoke of incense, and a solemn train of priests
and prophets, without fear and without danger. The sound of prayer and
of music was heard on the tops of the highest mountains; and the same
ox affor