and the
Christians, who prudently embraced the religion of their sovereign. The
acquisition of new proselytes [49] gratified the ruling passions of his
soul, superstition and vanity; and he was heard to declare, with the
enthusiasm of a missionary, that if he could render each individual
richer than Midas, and every city greater than Babylon, he should not
esteem himself the benefactor of mankind, unless, at the same time,
he could reclaim his subjects from their impious revolt against the
immortal gods. [50] A prince who had studied human nature, and who
possessed the treasures of the Roman empire, could adapt his arguments,
his promises, and his rewards, to every order of Christians; [51] and
the merit of a seasonable conversion was allowed to supply the defects
of a candidate, or even to expiate the guilt of a criminal. As the army
is the most forcible engine of absolute power, Julian applied himself,
with peculiar diligence, to corrupt the religion of his troops,
without whose hearty concurrence every measure must be dangerous and
unsuccessful; and the natural temper of soldiers made this conquest as
easy as it was important. The legions of Gaul devoted themselves to the
faith, as well as to the fortunes, of their victorious leader; and even
before the death of Constantius, he had the satisfaction of announcing
to his friends, that they assisted with fervent devotion, and voracious
appetite, at the sacrifices, which were repeatedly offered in his camp,
of whole hecatombs of fat oxen. [52] The armies of the East, which
had been trained under the standard of the cross, and of Constantius,
required a more artful and expensive mode of persuasion. On the days
of solemn and public festivals, the emperor received the homage, and
rewarded the merit, of the troops. His throne of state was encircled
with the military ensigns of Rome and the republic; the holy name of
Christ was erased from the Labarum; and the symbols of war, of majesty,
and of pagan superstition, were so dexterously blended, that the
faithful subject incurred the guilt of idolatry, when he respectfully
saluted the person or image of his sovereign. The soldiers passed
successively in review; and each of them, before he received from
the hand of Julian a liberal donative, proportioned to his rank and
services, was required to cast a few grains of incense into the flame
which burnt upon the altar. Some Christian confessors might resist, and
others might repent;