rrow, when he
was reluctantly torn away from his beloved retirement. [33] He trembled
for his life, for his fame, and even for his virtue; and his sole
confidence was derived from the persuasion, that Minerva inspired all
his actions, and that he was protected by an invisible guard of angels,
whom for that purpose she had borrowed from the Sun and Moon. He
approached, with horror, the palace of Milan; nor could the ingenuous
youth conceal his indignation, when he found himself accosted with false
and servile respect by the assassins of his family. Eusebia, rejoicing
in the success of her benevolent schemes, embraced him with the
tenderness of a sister; and endeavored, by the most soothing caresses,
to dispel his terrors, and reconcile him to his fortune. But the
ceremony of shaving his beard, and his awkward demeanor, when he first
exchanged the cloak of a Greek philosopher for the military habit of
a Roman prince, amused, during a few days, the levity of the Imperial
court. [34]

[Footnote 33: Julian. ad S. P. Q. A. p. 275, 276. Libanius, Orat. x.
p. 268. Julian did not yield till the gods had signified their will by
repeated visions and omens. His piety then forbade him to resist.]

[Footnote 34: Julian himself relates, (p. 274) with some humor, the
circumstances of his own metamorphoses, his downcast looks, and his
perplexity at being thus suddenly transported into a new world, where
every object appeared strange and hostile.]

The emperors of the age of Constantine no longer deigned to consult
with the senate in the choice of a colleague; but they were anxious that
their nomination should be ratified by the consent of the army. On this
solemn occasion, the guards, with the other troops whose stations were
in the neighborhood of Milan, appeared under arms; and Constantius
ascended his lofty tribunal, holding by the hand his cousin Julian, who
entered the same day into the twenty-fifth year of his age. [35] In
a studied speech, conceived and delivered with dignity, the emperor
represented the various dangers which threatened the prosperity of the
republic, the necessity of naming a Caesar for the administration of
the West, and his own intention, if it was agreeable to their wishes,
of rewarding with the honors of the purple the promising virtues of the
nephew of Constantine. The approbation of the soldiers was testified by
a respectful murmur; they gazed on the manly countenance of Julian, and
observed with pleasu