were to be seen by night and whose power still worked signs and wonders. "He is sent to the city of Nicomedes," says Libanius, "as a place of less importance than Constantinople. But this was the beginning of the greatest blessings both to himself and the world. For there was there a spark of the mantic art still. smouldering, which had with difficulty escaped the hands of the impious. By the light of this" (turning to Julian) "you first tracked out what was obscure, and learnt to curb your vehement hatred of the gods, being rendered gentle by the revelations of divination " (Liban. Prosphoneticus, ed. Reiske, 1, p. 408.
While Julian was thus having his first experience of the inner circle of heathen life, Gallus met his brother for the last time as he passed through Bithynia to undertake the government of the East with which Constantius had invested him (Liban. Epitaph. p. 527, διὰ τῆς Βιθυνίας). The two brothers, according to Julian's account, corresponded but rarely after this, and on few subjects (Jul. ad Ath. p. 273; Liban. Epitaph. p. 530). Gallus, it is said, having reason at a later date to suspect his brother's change of belief, sent the Arian Aetius to confer with him (Philostorgius, 3, 27). Julian, if we may believe Libanus, sent Galllus good advice on his political conduct, which had he followed he might have preserved both the empire and his life (Liban. ad Jul. cos. p. 376, ed. Reiske).
§ 2. Conversion to Heathenism (A.D. 351–355).—The secret apostasy of Julian was the result of his residence at Nicomedia, though it was not completed there. The chief agent in effecting it was the neo-Platonist Maximus of Ephesus, a philosopher, magician, and political schemer. The fame of the wisdom of Aedesius first attracted Julian to Pergamus but he, being old and infirm, recommended him to his pupils, Chrysanthius and Eusebius. The latter was, or pretended to be, an adversary of the theurgic methods of Maximus, and a follower of the higher and more intellectual Platonism, and used to finish every lecture by a general warning against trickery and charlatans. Julian, much struck with this, took the advice of Chrysanthius upon the point, and asked Eusebius to explain what he meant. The latter replied by an account of Maximus, which gave a new edge of the already keen curiosity of Julian. "Some days ago" (he went on) "he ran in and called our company together to the temple of Hecate, thus making a large body of witnesses against himself. . . . When we came before the goddess and saluted her, he cried, 'Sit down, dearest friends, and see what will happen, and whether I am superior to ordinary men.' We all sat down, then he burnt a grain of frankincense, and as he repeated some sort of chant to himself he so far succeeded in the exhibition of his power that first the image smiled and then even appeared to laugh. We were confounded at the sight, but he said, 'Let none of you be disturbed at this, for in a moment the torches which the goddess has in her hands will be lighted up'—and before he had done speaking light actually burned in the. torches. We then retired, being amazed and in doubt at the wonder which had taken place. But do not you wonder at anything of this kind, just as I also through the purifying effects of reason conceive it is nothing of great importance." Julian (says Eunapius) hearing this, exclaimed, "Farewell, and keep to your books, if you will; you have revealed to me the man I was in search of" (Eunapius, Vita Maximi, pp. 48–51, ed. Boissonade). It is difficult to believe that Eusebius was not in league with Chrysanthius to bring Julian under the influence of Maximus. The young prince hurried off to Ephesus, and there threw himself with eagerness into the teaching of his new master, which seems exactly to have suited his fantastic temperament. Julian had no practical Christianity to fall back upon. The sense of being watched and suspected had sunk deeply into his mind at Macellum, and he had learnt to look upon Constantius not only as his jailor, but as the murderer of his nearest relations. This naturally did not incline him to the religion inculcated by Arian or semi-Arian court bishops, who probably laid stress upon their peculiar points of divergence from the orthodox faith, and neglected the rest of Christian theology. Julian therefore conceived of Christianity, not as a great body of truth satisfying the whole man, but as a set of formulas to be plausibly debated and distinguished. On the other hand, he had a real, though pedantic, love of Hellenic authors and literature, and a natural dislike to those who destroyed the ancient monuments of the old faith. His characteristic dreaminess and love of mystery found satisfaction in the secret cults to which men like Maximus were addicted—all the more zealously as public sacrifice was difficult or dangerous. He was by nature ardent and superstitious, and never fell into good hands. The pagan coterie soon discovered the importance of their convert, and imbued him with the notion that he was the chosen servant of the gods to bring back again Hellenic life and religion. By the arts of divination a speedy call to the throne was promised him, and he vowed to restore to the temples if he became emperor. (Libanius Epitaph. pp. 529 and 565, who agrees substantially with Socrates, iii. 1, p. 168, and Sozomen, v. 2, p. 181; cf. Theod. iii. 1). For the present, however, the fulfilment of such hopes seemed distant, and Julian for ten years pretended zeal for Christianity (Liban. Epitaph. p. 528; Amm. xxii. 5, 1; Sol iii. 1; Soz. v. 2). He had, indeed, good reason to fear the suspicions of his cousin. In 354 [GALLUS], was craftily removed from his government and executed, and Julian was apprehended, on obscure charges (Amm. xv. 2, 7—the charge of leaving Macellum without permission seems strange, since the brothers had been released from their retirement some four years before). For seven months he was confined in N. Italy near the court, being removed from place to place (Jul. ad Ath. p. 272 D; Liban. Epitaph. p. 530; cf. Jul. ad Themist. p. 260 A)—an imprisonment brought to an end by the intervention of the gentle empress Eusebia, who procured for him an interview with Constantius, and leave to return to his studies (Jul.
