He relieves distress 411 



A flagrant instance 1 is seen in the efforts made to thwart his 

 reforming energy during the winter of 357-8. After defeating and 

 humbling aggressive German tribes, he set himself to relieve the dis- 

 tress of the landowners, who had suffered great losses. There was at 

 the time a great need of money. The praetorian prefect of the Gauls, 

 Florentius, proposed to raise the sums required 2 by an additional levy, 

 and procured from Constantius an order to that effect. Julian would 

 rather die than allow this. He knew what would happen in carrying 

 it out, and that such ' precautions ' (provisiones)* or rather destructions 

 (eversiones) had often brought provinces into the extremities of want. 

 The Prefect, to whose department the matter in strictness belonged, 

 protested loudly, relying on the powers given him by Constantius. 

 But Julian stood firm, and tried to soothe him by calmly proving that 

 there was no necessity for the proposed measure. Careful calculations 

 shewed that the normal impost (capitatio) would produce enough to 

 furnish the needful supplies, and something to spare. He would have 

 nothing to do with the order 4 for an extra levy. The Prefect duly 

 reported this to Constantius, who reprimanded the Caesar for his ob- 

 stinacy. Julian replied that the provincials had been exposed to ravages 

 from various quarters, and that if they were still able to render the 

 usual dues 5 the government had reason to be thankful. To wring more 

 out of men in distress by punishments was impossible. And he did 

 manage to prevent extraordinary exactions in Gaul. In the winter of 

 358-9 he continued the same policy. He saw to the equitable assess- 

 ment 6 of the tribute, and kept at bay the horde of rascally officials who 

 made fortunes 7 out of injuring the people. The corruption of the law- 

 courts he checked by hearing the important cases himself. No wonder 

 that in an age of Christian emperors the virtuous pagan earned a 

 reputation as a restorer of Roman greatness far beyond the boundaries 

 of Gaul. Whether the fact that adherents of polytheism were now 

 chiefly to be found among rustics (pagani) had anything to do with 

 Julian's clear appreciation of the sufferings of countryfolk, is a question 

 on which I cannot venture to offer an opinion. 



That all or most of the corn levied by imperial taxation was in the 

 frontier Provinces required for the military commissariat is well known, 

 and the granaries for storing it were a leading feature of permanent 

 camps and garrison towns. The feeding of armies in the field, always 



1 xvii 3. 



2 quicquid in capitatione deesset ex conyuisitis se supplere. conquisita are the sums pro- 

 duced by a superindictio raising the amount to be levied. Cf cod Th XI i 36, and title 

 XI 6 de superindicto. 



3 Cf XXX 5 6 pravisorum, cod Th XII i 169 tuae provisionis..,incrementis. 



4 indictionale augmentum. 5 sollemnia...ntdum incrementa. 



6 xvin i. 7 quorum patrimonia publicae clades augebant. 



