82. His eloquence is celebrated by Libanius (Orat. Parent.
c. 75, 76, p. 300, 301), who distinctly mentions the orators
of Homer. Socrates (1. iii. c. 1.) has rashly asserted that
Julian was the only prince since Julius Caesar who harangued
the senate. All the predecessors of Nero (Tacit. Annal.
xiii. 3.), and many of his successors, possessed the faculty
of speaking in public; and it might be proved by various
examples that they frequently exercised it in the senate.