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AFTER Julian was slain the generals and prefects met in council
and deliberated who ought to succeed to the imperial power and effect
both the salvation of the army in the campaign, and the recovery of the
fortunes of Rome, now, by the rashness of the deceased Emperor,
placed to use the common saying, on the razor edge of peril. But
while the chiefs were in deliberation the troops met together and
demanded Jovianus for emperor, though he was neither a general nor in
the next highest rank; a man however remarkably distinguished, and for
many reasons well known. His stature was great; his soul lofty. In
war, and in grave struggles it was his wont to be first. Against
impiety be delivered himself courageously with no fear of the tyrant's
power, but with a zeal that ranked him among the martyrs of Christ.
So the generals accepted the unanimous vote of the soldiers as a divine
election. The brave man was led forward and placed upon a raised
platform hastily constructed. The host saluted him with the imperial
titles, calling him Augustus and Caesar. With his usual bluntness,
and fearless alike in the presence of the commanding officers and in
view of the recent apostasy of the troops, Jovianus admirably said
"I am a Christian. I cannot govern men like these. I cannot
command Julian's army trained as it is in vicious discipline. Men
like these, stripped of the covering of the providence of God, will
fall an easy and ridiculous prey to the foe." On hearing this the
troops shouted with one voice, "Hesitate not, O emperor; think it
not a vile thing to command us. You shall reign over Christians
nurtured in the training of truth; our veterans were taught in the
school of Constantine himself; younger men among us were taught by
Constantius. This dead man's empire lasted but a few years, all too
few to stamp its brand even on those whom it deceived."
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