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JULIAN'S folly was yet more clearly manifested by his death.
He crossed the river that separates the Roman Empire from the
Persian, brought over his army, and then forthwith burnt his boats,
so making his men fight not in willing but in forced obedience. The
best generals are wont to fill their troops with enthusiasm, and, if
they see them growing discouraged, to cheer them and raise their
hopes; but Julian by burning the bridge of retreat cut off all good
hope. A further proof of his incompetence was his failure to fulfil
the duty of foraging in all directions and providing his troops with
supplies. Julian had neither ordered supplies to be brought from
Rome, nor did he make any bountiful provision by ravaging the enemy's
country. He left the inhabited world behind him, and persisted in
marching through the wilderness. His soldiers had not enough to eat
and drink; they were without guides; they were marching astray in a
desert land. Thus they saw the folly of their most wise emperor. In
the midst of their murmuring and grumbling they suddenly found him who
had struggled in mad rage against his Maker wounded to death. Ares
who raises the war-din had never come to help him as he promised
Loxias had given lying divination; he who glads him in the
thunderbolts had hurled no bolt on the man who dealt the fatal blow the
boasting of his threats was dashed to the ground. The name of the man
who dealt that righteous stroke no one knows to this day. Some say
that he was wounded by an invisible being, others by one of the Nomads
who were called Ishmaelites; others by a trooper who could not endure
the pains of famine in the wilderness. But whether it were man or
angel who plied the steel, without doubt the doer of the deed was the
minister of the will of God. It is related that when Julian had
received the wound, he filled his hand with blood, flung it into the
air and cried, "Thou hast won, O Galilean." Thus he gave
utterance at once to a confession of the victory and to a blasphemy.
So infatuated was he.
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