Labour, and are only visible to such as visit that part of the world; but this cannot fail as it moves about to be known to all men in all places; and which the time to come, I well know, will receive, holding up, as it does, to infamy thee and thy actions, and warning all that remain never to venture upon any such rebellion against God, lest if they do the same things, they may meet with the same retribution!

LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION UPON THE

EMPEROR JULIAN.

RIGHT were it, my friends, that the thing for which I

and all mankind were praying, had been accomplished—that the power of the Persians had ere this been overthrown; that Romans, in the place of Satraps, were governing and administering their country according to our laws; that our temples at home should be decorated with the trophies brought from thence, whilst he that had achieved this success, seated on his imperial throne, should be receiving our panegyrics upon his victory; for so were it, I ween, but just and proper, and a fit return for the numerous sacrifices which he had offered. But since envious Fortune hath proved stronger than our well-founded hopes, and he has been carried back from the confines of Babylon a corpse, who had come so near to the accomplishment of his enterprise, whilst all the tears it was natural to drop have been shed by every eye, and it is not in our power to prevent the end-let us do what is left for us, and, at the same time, the most acceptable service to him who is no more; before a different kind of audience' let us discourse upon his achievements, since he himself has been debarred upon hearing our

A mourning instead of a triumphant one.

eulogy upon the deeds he has performed. For, in the first place, we should be unjust if, after he had braved every danger for the sake of gaining praise, we on our side should defraud him of the prize of his exploits; and secondly, it were the basest of conduct, that he, when dead, should not receive the same homage wherewith we honoured him when living, besides its being an act of the lowest sycophancy to pay court to those who survive, but to forget those who are departed. As for the living, though one should not gain their favour by means of speech, yet one can do so in many other ways; but with respect to those who are gone, one way only is left to us, namely, eulogies and speeches handing down their virtuous actions to all time to come. Though it has been my constant endeavour to sing the praises of this hero, yet have I ever found my words fall far short of the greatness of his performances; and most certainly I was never vexed if the merit of my sovereign and friend went beyond the range of the ability of one who loved him, for I regarded this as the common gain of the public, that he who had succeeded to the government for the salvation of the community, should not leave it possible to any speech to be commensurate with his own actions. And when it is not in my power to extol as they deserve only his exploits upon the shores of the Western Ocean, what figure shall I make to-day when obliged to comprise both them and his expedition against the Persians in a single discourse! Nay, I believe that even should he obtain leave to return from the gods below, for the purpose of aiding me in the labour of this discourse, and unseen by all take part in my task, not even so would due measure be exactly meted to his actions; but they would be described in a better manner than is now possible, and yet, in all likelihood, not even then fully described.

What then must I expect to suffer in undertaking so great a task, without such powerful help! But were I not assured beforehand that you all are not ignorant that

victory belongs to actions, and at the same time you take pleasure in their description, it had been better for me to hold my tongue; but since on the former occasion you applauded me, and listened with satisfaction to my words, I do not think there is any just pretext for silence, and therefore will endeavour to pay my debt to my sovereign and friend.

There have been several emperors not deficient in the art of government, though not distinguished by birth, knowing how to protect their empire, yet ashamed to declare from what parents they sprung,' to such a degree that it was a hard job for those who lauded them to salve that sore; but in the present case there is nothing that I cannot parade for his glorification; for at starting, as regards his family, his grandfather2 was an emperor, one who above all others held riches in contempt, and in a special degree won the affections of his subjects; whilst his father was the son of an emperor and the brother of an emperor, and one who had better right to the throne than he who got it; but nevertheless he did not assert his claim, but wished success to him who seized the power, and continued to the last to live with him in sincerity and affection; he married the daughter of a præfect (a worthy and sensible man, whom even the foe that had vanquished him respected, and exhorted his own friends to take him for a pattern in the exercise of power), and he became the sire of this admir

4

3

1 Alluding to Diocletian and his very plebeian colleagues and suc

cessors.

2 Constantius Chlorus, who, moreover, was great-nephew to that best of emperors, Claudius Gothicus.

3 A very curious remark, for Julius Constantius was a younger brother of Constantine's. Perhaps he means to impugn the legitimacy of the latter; there was actually a rumour that Helena was only a concubine of Constantius Chlorus.

+ This Julianus was, therefore, Prefect of Rome under Maxentius, when Constantine took the city.

able person now lying before us, and complimented his father-in-law by giving his name to his son. Constantine had no sooner ended his life, than the sword passed through almost his whole house, fathers and children alike; but this one escaped the general massacre, as well as an elder brother by the same father; the latter having been rescued from destruction by an illness which it was supposed would result in death; the other by his tender age, for he had only just been weaned. That brother devoted himself to different pursuits than literature, thinking that in this way he should less expose himself to the malice of his enemies ; but this one his appointed destiny stimulated to the love of learning, and he spent his life in that pursuit in the greatest of cities after Rome, going regularly to school-he the grandson of an emperor, the nephew of an emperor, the cousin of an emperor not strutting arrogantly, nor annoying people, nor claiming public attention by the multitude of his attendants, and the bustle they produced; but an eunuch,2 an excellent guardian of his modesty, and another tutor not without some tincture of learning, accompanied him ; his dress of the ordinary kind; his looks not contemptuous towards others; salutations to whomsoever came in his way; no rude repulsing of the beggar; and when invited entering a house; and stopping still even before he was called; and taking his place where it was the rule for the rest to stand; and being addressed in the same way as the other scholars; and taking his departure in company with the rest; and seeking for no precedence over them; so that anyone coming upon them from outside, and looking at a class, and not knowing who and whose children they were, would not have discovered in any outward circumstances the superiority of his rank. Not

1 A very far-fetched excuse for the brutality and debauchery of Gallus Cæsar.

2

Mardonius, highly praised by his pupil in the " Misopogon."