In the evening of the same day Julian received a letter: it was from the
Emperor Constantius in Byzantium, who did not acknowledge his election
to the imperial throne, and threatened to bring an army against him in
Gaul. This was quite unexpected, and Julian left Lutetia in order to
march against his cousin. As he went towards the East, he felt as though
he were going to his death. But the first throw of the dice of destiny
was a lucky one for him. Constantius died on the march, and Julian was
left sole Emperor. This he took for a sign that the gods were on his
side, and he proceeded on his campaign feeling that he was supported by
the higher powers. But it was only the last jest of his gods.
It is related that before his last march against the Persians, he wished
to ascertain his destiny, and had a woman’s body cut open in order to
take an augury from the entrails. But that may be untrue, as is also
the case with the conflicting reports of his death, which happened soon
after. One thing, however, is certain; the “Galilaean” conquered Zeus,
who rose no more.
It is also a fact, confirmed by Christian, Jewish, and heathen
writers, that the Temple of Jerusalem was never built again, for as
the foundation was about to be laid, fire broke out of the ground
accompanied by an earthquake. The same earthquake also destroyed Delphi,
“the centre of the earth,” and the focus of the religious and political
life of Greece.
ATTILA
With the demise of Constantine the Great, Greece, Rome, and
Palestine had ceased to exist. Civilisation had passed Eastward, for
Constantinople was the metropolis of Europe; and from the East, Rome,
Spain, Gaul, and Germany were governed by satraps with various titles.
It seemed as though the vitality of Europe had been quenched, and as
though Rome had been buried, but it was only apparently so. History did
not proceed in a straight line, but took circuitous paths, and therefore
development seemed to be in disorder and astray. But it was not really
so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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