Res Gestae

And, among other matters, it was said that he maliciously

To these evil deeds he had added still another, which soon after drove him headlong to destruction. As he was returning from the emperor’s court and passed by the beautiful temple of the Genius,[*](I.e. of the city.) attended as usual by a large crowd, he turned his eyes straight at the temple, and said: How long shall this sepulchre stand? On hearing this, many were struck as if by a thunderbolt, and fearing that he might try to overthrow even that building, they devised secret plots to destroy him in whatever way they could.

And lo! on the sudden arrival of the glad news that told of the death of Artemius, all the populace, transported by this unlooked-for joy, grinding their teeth and uttering fearful outcries, made for Georgius and seized him, maltreating him in divers ways and trampling upon him; then they dragged him about spread-eagle fashion,[*](Cf. xiv. 7, 15, of Montius.) and killed him.

And with him Dracontius, superintendent of the mint, and one Diodorus, who had the honorary rank of count,[*](veluti seems to indicate that he had the title, but not the office.) were dragged about with ropes fastened to their legs and both killed; the former, because he overthrew an altar,[*](To Juno Moneta.) newly set up in the mint, of which he had charge; the other, because, while overseer of the building of a church, he arbitrarily cut off the curls of some boys, thinking that this also was a fashion belonging to the pagan worship.

Not content with this, the inhuman mob loaded the mutilated bodies of the slain men upon camels

The emperor, on hearing of this abominable deed, was bent upon taking vengeance, but just as he was on the point of inflicting the extreme penalty upon the guilty parties, he was pacified by his intimates, who counselled leniency. Accordingly, he issued an edict expressing, in the strongest terms, his horror at the outrage that had been committed, and threatened extreme measures in case in the future anything was attempted contrary to justice and the laws.

Meanwhile, Julian was preparing a campaign against the Persians, which he had long before planned with lofty strength of mind, being exceedingly aroused to punish their misdeeds in the past, knowing and hearing as he did that this savage

He was inflamed besides with a twofold longing for war, first, because he was tired of inactivity and dreamed of clarions and battle; and then, exposed as he had been in the first flower of his youth to warfare with savage nations, while his ears were still warm[*](His two motives were: a love of action; and, since those men had prayed to him for peace who no one ever thought would do so, a desire for further glory in the Orient.) with the prayers of kings and princes who (as it was believed) could more easily be vanquished than led to hold out their hands as suppliants, he burned to add to the tokens of his glorious victories the surname Parthicus.

But his idle and envious detractors,[*](Apparently referring to the Christians.) seeing these mighty and hasty preparations, cried out that it was shameful and ruinous that through the exchange of one man for another[*](That is, of Julian for Constantius.) so many untimely disturbances should be set on foot; and they devoted all their efforts to putting off the campaign. And they repeatedly said, in the presence of those who they thought could repeat to the emperor what they had heard, that if he did not conduct himself with more moderation in his excessive prosperity and success, like plants that grow rank from too great fertility, he would soon find destruction in his own good fortune.

But though they kept up this agitation long and persistently, it was in vain that they barked around a man as unmoved by secret insults, as was Hercules by those of the Pygmies,[*](When Hercules entered the country of the Pygmies an army of them attacked him in his sleep, but he gathered them up and packed them in his lion skin.) or by

But Julian, being a man of uncommonly high spirit, no less carefully considered the importance of his campaign, and used every effort to make corre- sponding preparations.

Nevertheless, he drenched the altars with the blood of an excessive number of victims, sometimes offering up a hundred oxen at once, with countless flocks of various other animals, and with white birds[*](A colour of good omen; cf. Juv. xiii. 141, gallinae filius albae; Suet., Galba, 1; Hor., Sat. i. 7, 8, equis albis; etc.) hunted out by land and sea; to such a degree that almost every day his soldiers, who gorged themselves on the abundance of meat, living boorishly and corrupted by their eagerness for drink, were carried through the squares to their lodgings on the shoulders of passers-by from the public temples, where they indulged in banquets[*](I.e. sacrificial feasts.) that deserved punishment rather than indulgence; especially the Petulantes[*](Cf. xx. 4, 2, note.) and the Celts, whose wilfulness at that time had passed all bounds.