CHAPTER XIII

THE IMPIETY OF JULIAN, THE UNCLE OF THE EMPEROR, AND LIKEWISE THAT OF HIS COMPANIONS, VISITED BY DIVINE VENGEANCE

THIS act of impiety and of daring iniquity did not long escape the hand of Justice. Julian was almost instantaneously seized with a loathsome disease. Putrefaction arose in his intestines, and his excrements, instead of being conveyed through the ordinary channel, were propelled upwards into that wretched mouth which had been used as the instrument of blasphemy. It is related, that his wife, who was eminent for faith, said to him, “You ought to praise Christ the Saviour, for having, by this chastisement, revealed to you his power; for you would never have known towards whom you were evincing so much hostility, had He, with His usual long-suffering, exempted you from affliction.” These words, and the agonies which he suffered, led him to discern the cause of his disease, and he besought the emperor to restore the church to those from whom it had been taken; but he died without obtaining his request. Felix was also struck by Divine Justice: the blood rushed from every part of his body, and issued day and night from his mouth. This total effusion of blood terminated his life, and he passed away into eternal death. Such were the judgments visited on iniquity.