23. This character of his was made known by experience to others, and by his coming to the throne which gave him free scope to display it. But it had previously been detected by some; ever since I lived with this person at Athens; for he too had gone thither, immediately after the catastrophe of his brother, having himself solicited this permission from the emperor. There was a double reason for this journey: the one more specious----the object of acquainting himself with Greece and the schools of that country; the other more secret, and communicated to but a few----that he might consult the sacrificers and cheats there upon the matters concerning himself; so far back did his paganism extend. At that time, therefore, I remember that I became no bad judge of his character, though far from being of much sagacity in that line; but what made me a true guesser was the inconsistency of his behaviour and his extreme excitability ²² (that is, if he be the best diviner who knows how to guess shrewdly). A sign of no good seemed to me to be his neck unsteady, his shoulders always in motion and shrugging up and down like a pair of scales, his eye rolling and glancing from side to side with a certain insane expression, his feet unsteady and stumbling, his nostrils breathing insolence and disdain, the gestures of his face ridiculous and expressing the same feelings, his bursts of laughter unrestrained and gusty, his nods of assent and dissent without any reason, his speech stopping short and interrupted by his taking breath, his questions without any order and unintelligent, his answers not a whit better than his questions, following one on top of the other, and not definite, nor returned in the regular order of instruction.

ΚΓʹ. Ταῦτα τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἡ πεῖρα παρέστησε, καὶ ἡ δυναστεία προλαβοῦσα τὴν ἐξουσίαν: ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ πόῤῥωθεν τρόπον τινὰ ἑωρᾶτο, ἐξ οὗ τῷ ἀνδρὶ συνεγενόμην Ἀθήνῃσιν. Ἦλθε γὰρ κἀκεῖσε, ἄρτι τῶν κατὰ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ νεωτερισθέντων, τὸν βασιλέα τοῦτο αὐτὸ παραιτησάμενος. Διττὸς δὲ αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐπιδημίας ὁ λόγος: ὁ μὲν εὐπρεπέστερος, καθ' ἱστορίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖσε παιδευτηρίων: ὁ δὲ ἀποῤῥητότερος, καὶ οὐ πολλοῖς γνώριμος, ὥστε τοῖς ἐκεῖ θύταις καὶ ἀπατεῶσι περὶ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν συγγενέσθαι, οὔπω παῤῥησίαν ἐχούσης τῆς ἀσεβείας. Τότε τοίνυν οὐ φαῦλος ἐγὼ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς εἰκαστὴς οἶδα γενόμενος, καίτοι γε οὐ τῶν εὖ πεφυκότων περὶ ταῦτα εἷς ὤν. Ἀλλ' ἐποίει με μαντικὸν ἡ τοῦ ἤθους ἀνωμαλία, καὶ τὸ περιττὸν τῆς ἐκστάσεως: εἴπερ μάντις ἄριστος, ὅστις εἰκάζειν οἶδε καλῶς. Οὐδενὸς γὰρ ἐδόκει μοι σημεῖον εἶναι χρηστοῦ αὐχὴν ἀπαγὴς, ὦμοι παλλόμενοι καὶ ἀνασηκούμενοι, ὀφθαλμὸς σοβούμενος καὶ περιφερόμενος, καὶ μανικὸν βλέπων, πόδες ἀστατοῦντες καὶ μετοκλάζοντες, μυκτὴρ ὕβριν πνέων καὶ περιφρόνησιν, προσώπου σχηματισμοὶ καταγέλαστοι τὸ αὐτὸ φέροντες, γέλωτες ἀκρατεῖς τε καὶ βρασματώδεις, νεύσεις καὶ ἀνανεύσεις σὺν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ, λόγος ἱστάμενος καὶ κοπτόμενος πνεύματι, ἐρωτήσεις ἄτακτοι καὶ ἀσύνετοι, ἀποκρίσεις οὐδὲν τούτων ἀμείνους, ἀλλήλαις ἐπεμβαίνουσαι καὶ οὐκ εὐσταθεῖς, οὐδὲ τάξει προϊοῦσαι παιδεύσεως.