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Why did Julian reduce the size and expenses of the imperial court?
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Julian
Julian the Apostate, detail of a marble statue; in the Louvre, Paris.
Julian reduced the size and expenses of the imperial court as part of his broader political goal to return to the liberal principate of the Antonines, effectively rejecting the administrative reforms and style of his predecessors, Diocletian and Constantine.1
By simplifying palace life and living like an ascetic, Julian sought to model his rule after the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius. Additionally, this reduction in personnel served to dismantle the influence of the eunuchs and agentes in rebus who had been associated with the perceived terrorism of the court under Constantius II.21