ING
WALIAN
GRAD
DG
317
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ARTES
1817
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY VERITAS OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SPLUATIOUS UMUM E
TUEBOR
· QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM·AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
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.......
JULIAN THE EMPEROR
CONTAINING
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S TWO INVECTIVES
AND LIBANIUS' MONODY
WITH JULIAN'S EXTANT THEOSOPHICAL WORKS
TRANSLATED BY
C. W. KING, M.A.
"Fame, if not double-faced, is double-voiced;
And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds:
On both his wings, one black, the other white,
Bears greatest names in his wild aëry flight."
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET
COVENT GARDEN
1888
CHISWICK PRESS :-C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS court,
CHANCERY LANE.
Rict 7-12-28 BF
15 E. m. 1.
10 M
28 BF
L
PREFACE
DG
317
+K52
CONTENTS.
302 222.
563
PAGE
vii
I. GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S
TWO INVECTIVES AGAINST
JULIAN THE EMPEROR
1
II. LIBANIUS' MONODY; OR, FUNERAL ORATION UPON
JULIAN
122
III. UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN; ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
IV. UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS
219
254
INDEX
278458
281
I
PREFACE.
N the case of the Emperor Julian, Historic Truth
possesses the very rare advantage of having
two portraits of the same person, taken from diame-
trically opposite points of view-and both of them
by painters intimately acquainted with their subject
during the whole course of his career. Gregory of
Nazianzus, a city of Cappadocia, sometime Bishop
of Constantinople, had been a fellow-student of
Julian's at the University of Athens, and had been
treated by him with marked kindness and considera-
tion (for which the worthy Father was subsequently
forced to invent a very malicious motive), after his
elevation to the purple. Libanius, a teacher of
Eloquence, or, in modern phrase, a Professor of Greek
Literature, had been summoned and established at
Antioch by Julian's ill-fated brother the Cæsar Gallus;
in which city during the nine months whilst the em-
peror was making his vast preparations for the Persian
War, he lived upon terms of the greatest familiarity
with him. They then renewed the friendship formed
some seven years before at Nicomedia, where Julian,
as yet in a private station, had greatly benefited by
the lectures of the Pagan Professor, although debarred
vii
viii
PREFACE.
from personally attending them by the jealousy of
his appointed Tutor, Ecdicius. The satirist and the
panegyrist were both of them men of the highest
education their times could afford. I leave it to the
rcader of their respective productions to decide which
of the two had reaped the greater advantage from
that education. But the careful perusal of their
Attack and Defence will throw a clearer light upon
the state of feeling that distracted the civilized world,
at this, in every sense, the most critical period of its
history, than can be gained from the study of all the
Church historians that have written, from the gigan-
tic treatise of Philippus Sidetos in a thousand books
("equally useless to the learned and the unlearned"),
down to whatever of the kind may be most in vogue.
at the present day. I may however remark, paren-
thetically, that some of Gregory's charges against
the emperor, require a very projudiced construction
to give them the blackness aimed at as for ex-
ample, his refraining from actual persecution from no
other motive than that he begrudged the Christians
the honour of martyrdom to which they so zealously
aspired. The history of this, in every way, remarkable
man, has hitherto been considered merely in its con-
nection with Religion: and, so treated, it is become
the most threadbare of all themes. I, therefore, take
some credit to myself for discovering a totally new way
of investigating these records of his life, and that is,
for the valuable service they afford to archæology. A
glance at my Index (compiled specially with that view),
will show how many curious questions of antiquity
derive fresh light from the casual remarks of the two
PREFACE.
ix
writers. To instance a few-we get descriptions of
ancient "University life;" the course of study there
pursued; military matters, such as the system of
carrying on distant campaigns; and what is unexplained
from any other source, the true nature of the Dracones
(ventosa draconum pallia, as Prudentius calls them);
the transformation of the materials of the ancient
temples into the decorations of private houses; the
inner life of the later Imperial Court, with its swarms
of rapacious officials and domestics, so comparable to
that of a Turkish Sultan; the duties and the abuses
of the Agentes in rebus; the constitution and the
burdens of the Provincial Curiales; the British corn-
trade, and the route it followed; and the solution
of the problem that has so long vexed every intelli-
gent numismatist-the existence of that incalculable.
quantity of billon denarii, of various degrees of
baseness, but nevertheless all pretending to be the
actual mintage of the emperors of the third century.'
1
The Manes of the saintly Gregory himself (“si
quis sensus in illis") will doubtless rejoice at my
thus making use of the unintentional service he has
rendered to archæology, for that he, despite his
austere Puritanism, was a lover of Antiquity, is
abundantly shown by the hundred and eighty-two
little poems, full of good feeling and good taste,
which he has directed against the bigoted, or rapa-
cious, destroyers of ancient monuments.
To complete my portrait of the imperial philosopher,
1 The Numeration in the text of Libanius refers to Reiske's edition,
used for this Translation.
X
PREFACE.
وو
I have added a translation of his only two theosophical
treatises still extant; from which the reader will be
able to form an unprejudiced view of the religious
system adopted by him. These little "Confessions
of Faith " are evidently coloured by the careful
study of certain Treatises amongst the "Moralia
of Plutarch: but they exhibit the fullest and latest
development of notions only briefly sketched out by
the carlier writer. Plutarch and Julian, therefore,
enable us to contemplate Platonism and Neo-Pla-
tonism side by side, and I know not where can be
found so lucid and able an exponent of the latter
system as the emperor shows himself in these writings.
In these our days, when we are gravely assured
that "Cosmic Theism is the future religion of the
World," many thinking men (but unable to wade
through the difficulties of philosophic Greek) will
be thankful to know what "Cosmic Theism meant
in the ages when it was the religion of the World
(or, at least, of its educated portion), in the form
under which its doctrines are hero set forth by a
man of acute intellect and high education, and who,
at a mature age, and dissatisfied with all other systems,
had embraced it out of a deep conviction of its truth.
C. W. KING.
دو
TRINITY COLLEGE.
March 1, 1888.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
FRONTISPIECE.
No. 1. Constantius II. Rev. The emperor standing,
crowned by victory, and holding the labarum, emblazoned
with the monogram of Christ. The legend Hoc signo
victor eris, adopted from the celebrated vision of Constan-
tine, makes it probable that this reverse was chosen as a
hopeful augury of success when the pious emperor was
making his vast preparations to resist the invasion of the
bold usurper Magnentius. The letter in the field indi-
cates that the value of the coin is one-third of the Follis,
the largest copper piece, which after the monetary reform
of Diocletian, was made the unit of the currency.
No. 2. This fine portrait of Julian must represent him
nearly at the close of his twenty months' reign, to calcu-
late from the ample growth of his beard. He did not
venture sapientem pascere barbam, and to assume that
outward and visible sign of a "philosopher," which then
meant an adversary of Christianity, until he was become
the undisputed master of the Empire through the sudden
death of Constantius. In fact, Ammian mentions that
on Julian's departure from Gaul to contest the purple
with his cousin, in his march through Vienne, he attended
the Church service of the Epiphany, in order to conciliate
the favour of the Christians, an important element of the
provincial population. In the Mithraic religion (even at
that date predominating in the Roman world) the Bull
xii
ILLUSTRATIONS.
was the emblem of the Earth; and the representation of
the Persian piercing the animal with his acinaces signified.
the penetration of the solar ray into the soil. The Two
Stars are in antique art, the regular symbols of the Twin
Dioscuri, whose apparition, when invoked by tempest-
tossed mariners, quieted the winds and calmed the waves.
The type of this coin therefore meant, and certainly was
understood by the generality, as signifying the restoration
of Tranquillity to the world after all the civil and foreign
wars of the three-and-twenty years of Constantius's reign
--and this is the proper translation of the legend SECU-
RITAS REIPUBLICÆ. At first sight, it appears unaccount-
able why Julian, with all his zeal for the ancient worship,
did not restore the Grecian gods to their old place upon
the coins, and should have contented himself with such
inoffensive symbolism. It may be that he was guided by the
Pythagorean rule forbidding the profanation of things holy
by exposing their representations to the touch of vulgar
hands; for which very reason, as Plutarch ("Numa")
had found on record, the Romans placed no figures of
gods in their temples for the first five centuries after the
building of the city. The name of the mint, Heraclea, is
given at full length in the exergue, the sole example of the
kind known to me, such indications being usually much
abbreviated. It would seem that the mintmaster gloried
in the new liberty of using a Pagan device. The coin is a
Follis, twelve of which went to the Siliqua, small denarius
of the period. Julian has made good his boast of being
a votary of the Sovereign Sun " by an elegant reverse
of a gold coin, in which we see the cities of Rome and
Constantinople holding up between them a large shield,
emblazoned with the established emblem of the Sun-a
great eight-rayed star—a type without precedent or imi-
tation. And what is more, the same emblem, within a
myrtle crown, is the sole type used for the reverse of the
few coins that can with certainty be assigned to his wife,
Helena.
66
ILLUSTRATIONS.
xiii
Nos. 3 and 4. The obverse of one of these pieces is the
bust of Julian himself: the other in the character of
Serapis. The reverse of the one bears Isis carried upon
her cow, and tinkling the sistrum as she goes. They are
not current coins, for they lack the mint-mark, the indis-
pensable stamp of the Sacra Moneta (legal currency) in those
times, but are medals in the modern sense of that word.
Ficoroni has published in his "Piombi Antichi," cap.
xxxvi., a stone mould for casting square medals (five at a
time) of the same nature. They have on one side Isis
standing, holding up the sistrum; on the other, the
sistrum alone. There can be little doubt that they were
meant for tickets to be given to those initiated into the
Mysteries of Isis.
No. 3 presents us with the Jackal-headed Anabis, bear-
ing the caduceus, in his character of Guide of Souls in the
Lower World, whilst in the right hand he lifts up the
sistrum. The legends Vota Publica seem to imply that
the restoration of the ancient religion was the "universal
wish." There are many varieties of these types, though
individually they are extremely rare. Some bear heads
of Serapis and Isis conjugated, others the same confronted,
where the goddess is supposed to represent the emperor's
lost Helena, but on no sure grounds. I am inclined to
place these memorials of a dying cause in the class of the
posthumous portraits of Julian, mentioned by his pane-
gyrist as introduced into the Temple.
Note.-No. 2 is drawn to the actual size, the others are enlarged.
WOODCUTS IN THE TEXT.
Page 85. Epicurus: inventor of the Atomic Theory, and
denier of the eternity of the universe,
Page 121. Aristippus: on each side are placed full-
length figures of Venus and Bacchus, the deities who in-
xiv
ILLUSTRATIONS.
spired his jovial system of philosophy.—Antique paste.
(Blacas Cabinet).
Page 218. Bust of Julian's great rival, the master of
the other half of the then known world, Sapor II. This
is not meant for the portrait of the monarch in the flesh,
but as his Ferhouer, the Jewish Angel of the man, the
Platonic Idea or Type, pre-existent in the mind of Ormuzd.
This is symbolized by the quadruple wings that bear it
aloft as a deity, and the Sun and Moon, emblems of
Eternity, between which it is placed. The Pehlevi legend
reads Piruz Shahpuhri, "Of the victorious Sapor," which
supplies an interesting comment upon Ammian's notice,
that at the siege of Maogamalcha the Persians chanted
the praises of their sovereign with the titles Pyroses and
Sasaan, which he translates by "Victor" and "
Kings." (New York Museum of Art.)
King of
Page 253. Confronted heads of Socrates and Plato, the
finest portraits of these two philosophers to be found on
gems.-Sard. (Paris.)
Page 280. Signet of a Roman Pontifex: exhibiting as
the insignia of his office the victim's skull surrounded
with the several sacrificial implements.
Page 288. Plato: the butterfly-wings affixed to his
temples allude to his doctrine of the Immortality of the
Soul.-Sard. (Berlin.)
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
(6
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
HEAR me all ye nations, give ear unto me all ye
dwellers upon earth," for I am calling on you all, as
it were, from a conspicuous and lofty watch-tower, with a
cry both high and loud. Hear ye nations, tribes, tongues,
every kind of men, and every age, as many as now are,
and as many as shall be; and in order that my proclama-
tion may be greater, every Power of heaven, all ye Angels,
whose deed was the putting down of the tyrant, who have
overthrown not Sihon, king of the Amorites, nor Og, king
of Bashan-insignificant princes, and injuring but a
small part the land of Israel—but the Dragon, the Apos-
tate, the Great Mind, the Assyrian, the public and private
enemy of all in common, him that has madly raged and
threatened much upon earth, and that has spoken and
meditated much unrighteousness against Heaven!
2. “
Hear, O heaven! and give ear, O earth;" for it is
the fitting season for me to exclaim the same things with
that loudest-voiced of all the prophets, Isaiah; save that
he calls out and testifies thus to disobedient Israel; but
I, over a tyrant who also was disobedient, and has fallen
a fitting victim of his own impiety.
3. Hear this, thou Soul of the great Constantius !—if
thou art sensible of things below,—and ye souls of all the
B
2
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
1
emperors before him that were lovers of Christ; but of
him (Constantius) above all the rest, inasmuch as he had
grown up together with the inheritance of Christ, had
augmented it to the utmost of his power, had made it
strong through duration, so that he became on that ac-
count the most celebrated of all the sovereigns that had
gone before.
Alas for the contumely done him! He
committed a mistake highly unworthy of his hereditary
piety; he perceived not that he was bringing up for the
Christians the enemy of Christ, and this one alone of all
he did not well in showing kindness, &c., in saving ¹ and
crowning him that was saved and was crowned for evil.
And very greatly will he rejoice, as much at the over-
throw of impiety and the restoration of the affairs of the
Christians to their first condition, as at this speech of
mine: for I am about to offer unto the Lord a sermon of
thanksgiving-one more holy and more pure than any
sacrifice of heart; not after the fashion of that man's
criminal and idle speeches, and his yet more criminal
sacrifices, of which the superfluity and the effect was the
power of impiety, and the wisdom, to give it the right
name, foolishness: because all the power and learning of
this world is but "walking in darkness, and falling away
far from the light; but that of his was of such sort,
lying in such things, and bearing such fruits, that it was
""
like grass quickly withered up, and as the herbs of
grass quickly falling off," and clinging unto rocks tum-
bling down in ruin with a crash, and more conspicuous for
its fall than even for its impiety.
4. But as to me, sacrificing the sacrifice of praise to-day,
and kindling the bloodless offering of words, who will
furnish me with a stage commensurate with my thankful-
ness; or what tongue will sound it forth to such a dis-
tance as I desire; what audience will be equally eager
In allowing Julian, then a child of six years old, to escape, when he
commanded the massacre of his father and brothers.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
3
with my speech? For not merely are thanksgivings in
words most suitable unto that "Word," Who, of all the
names whereby He is called, especially delights in this
appellation, and in such a sense of the title, but also a
fitting judgment is it for that man to be punished by
means of words for his transgressions against words,'
which, though the common property of all rational beings,
he begrudged to the Christians, as though they were his
own exclusively; devising as he did a most irrational
thing with respect to words; although, in his own
opinion, the most rational of men.
2
5. In the first place, because he wrongfully transferred
the appellation to a pretence, as though the Greek speech
belonged to religious worship exclusively, and not to the
tongue; and for this reason he debarred us from the use
of words as though we were stealing other people's goods
—just as if he would have excluded us from the practice
of the arts that are found in use amongst Greeks, and
thought it made any difference to him on account of
the identity of name; and in the next place, because he
fancied he should escape our notice, not in his attempt to
rob us of a benefit of the first class-we who so utterly
despise these mere words-but in his apprehensions of our
refutation of his impious doctrine, just as though our force
lay in the elegance of diction, and not in the knowledge of
the truth, and in arguments or syllogisms, from which it
is more impossible to preclude us than to hinder us from
acknowledging God as long as we have a tongue. For
we offer in sacrifice this thing along with the rest, that is
to say, our speech, in the same way as we do our bodies,
¹ It is impossible to preserve in English this string of miserable puns
on the word λóyoç, in its numerous senses of the Word, Reason, Litera-
ture, Speech, &c., on which the preacher evidently prides himself not a
little.
2 Another play upon the double meaning of "EXλŋvɛs,” “Greeks,"
Ελληνες,
and "Pagans."
4
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
whensoever it may be necessary to contend for the Truth's
sake: so that when he issued this order, he did indeed
prevent us from talking Celtic, but did not stop our speak-
ing Truth, and he exposed his own rottenness, but did not
escape our refutations; because he did not perceive that he
was laying himself so much the more open to them.
6. For it was not acting like one who had full con-
fidence in the grounds of his religion, or in the arguments
themselves, to put a check upon our words: exactly as
though a man should consider himself the best of the
athletes, and demand to be proclaimed victor over them
all, through ordering that none of those distinguished in
that line should take part in the contest, or descend into
the arena; or else should first maim his competitors in
some limbs, which conduct would be a proof of cowardice
and not of strength, for the crowns belong to those that
contend, not to those that sit above, and to those that put
forth the whole of their strength, not to those that have
been deprived of part of their force; but if thou art alto-
gether afraid to engage and to come to blows, by this very
fact thou hast proclaimed thy defeat, and the victory be-
longs to me, though I have not contended at all, and he
whom thou hast contended with should not contend. Thus
then acted our wise Sovereign and Lawgiver, as though
wishing that nothing should be beyond the scope of his
tyranny, and enjoined speechlessness over all the extent.
of his empire, exerting his tyranny over words first and
foremost. But it is well-fitting for us to return thanks to
God in behalf of words themselves, which have now
recovered their liberty; and especially to honour Him with
other offerings, sparing nothing, neither money nor estates,
which though at the mercy of the times, and of his
tyranny, the goodness of God hath preserved to us and
before all other things to honour Him with words-that
well-deserved and united return of all whosoever have had
their share in the benefit. But thus much suffices for my
words concerning Words: for fear lest by stretching the
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
ст
5
theme too far we exceed the limits of our time, and be
thought to attend to other matters than the one on
account of which we are here met together.
7. Already does my speech leap, and exult; and grows
joyous along with those who hasten onward, and summons
unto the spiritual dance all who were giving themselves
over to fastings, to weeping, and to prayer; by day and night
beseeching for deliverance out of the troubles that beset
them; and making their fitting remedy in their ills that
"Hope which bringeth no shame;" all who, having gone
through great conflicts and struggles, and been beaten by
the many and hard assaults of the times, have become "a
spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men," according
to the saying of the Apostle, and though wearied in their
bodies, yet continuing unconquered in their souls, being
strong for everything in the Christ who gave them strength;
all who, having put off the worldly Matter and dominion
of Evil, or who have submitted with joy to the robbery of
their possessions,' or banished unjustly, as the saying is,
from their own country, severed, for a brief space, from
husbands, or wives, or parents, or children, or by whatever
other names of kindred less close we are bound; and who,
for the blood of Christ, have despised their sufferings for the
sake of Christ-all these may now seasonably repeat, and
sing the words: "Thou hadst set men upon our heads,
we passed through fire and water, and thou didst lead us
forth into a cool place."
2
8. I also summon the other side to the rejoicing, as
many as while they acknowledge the God of all, and so
far are sound in their doctrines, but yet stick fast in their
questions touching Providence, and out of the opposite
have often chosen the better part, "through the goodness
that exhorteth unto reformation "—but who nevertheless,
1 That is the restitution of the revenues of the temples which they had
appropriated without form of law under Constantius.
2 Probably alluding to the immense body of neutrals, who had given
up Paganism, but not accepted Christianity.
6
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
through their meanness of spirit, and their levity, in the
"proudness of the ungodly," are kindled and set on fire,
neither do bear "the peace of sinners," as the Psalm says,
nor endure the counsel of God, neither do they wait
patiently unto the end," being ever slaves of things.
present, and of things visible, by wonders like these are
made strong for the reception of truth.
9. I call also to the souls that stand amazed around the
scene and great theatre of this world, and I call unto them
in the words of Isaiah : "Ye women returning from the
show, come hither, and turn towards me the eye of the
soul from its wandering abroad, and wait and know that
this is the God, exalting Himself amongst the heathen,
exalting Himself in the great things that He hath done, in
signs, and in the things now done yet more manifestly."
1
10. Would that part of our choir were that company
which of old chanted together with us a hymn to God,
one neither feigned nor inglorious, but deemed worthy
once of a place at His Right Hand, and which I am confi-
dent, shall be again (after a little time) thought worthy
of that same place: but which at present, from I know
not what offence, stands aloof, and revolts from us, and
does not even (what more astonishes me) through the
influence of the common joy, come to meet together with
us, but is holding a festive dance on its own account-
that is neither good in measure, nor danced to tune (for
thus much, perhaps, even they themselves will allow me to
remark)—but of what kind, and what a dance!! But if
Zeal is moved to speak, yet Faith gets the upper hand, and
I shall check the harshness of my speech out of respect
for my hope. Still do I cherish my own members: still
do I concede more to old love than to present jealousy,
and for that reason I become too long-suffering than that
I should upbraid them in warmer terms.
'The monks of Nazianzus, who having squabbled with their bishop
about some matter of discipline, hated him even more than they did
Julian.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
7
11. One party, one kind of souls, do I exclude from the
festive assembly, though I groan and am pained, and
grieved for them who perhaps understand me not, neither
are sensible of their own ruin, whom I bewail (for this is
the most pitiable part of their affliction): nevertheless I
exclude by proclamation, all who have not been sown
upon the solid and immovable Rock, but upon the dry
and barren ground. These be they who having come
unto the Word superficially, and through not having
depth of earth, forthwith springing up and peeping forth,
upon a brief assault of the Evil One, and a slight blast of
persecution, have withered up and died away. And those
yet worse than they, and still more worthy of exclusion
from the festivity-all those who did not for even a little
space hold out against the times and against those who
were leading us into an evil captivity away from Him
"Who ascended up on high and made captives of us for
our good;" but these did superfluously show themselves.
good for nought, and mercenary, inasmuch as they did
not resist even for a little while, but were straggling plants,
though not even a slight affliction or trial had befallen
them on account of the Word; but for the sake of tempo-
rary gain, or court-favour, or brief power, these wretched
fellows bartered away their own salvation!
12. And now that we have purified by speech the entire
body of our choir, let us sanctify ourselves both in body
and in soul, and joining all together in one spirit, let us
chant the song of triumph which Israel sang of old over
the Egyptians overwhelmed in the Red Sea, while Miriam
led the choir, and brandished high her timbrel.
"Let us
sing unto the Lord, for He hath glorified Himself mar-
vellously, the horse and the rider He hath cast" (not into
the sea, for this part of the song I alter, but) "whither
it was pleasing to Him, and in what way He thought it
fit; the God that doeth and changeth all things" (as saith
1 An unfortunate simile-a "solid rock" being even more unfavour-
able to the germination of seed than a "dry ground."
со
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
somewhere in his prophecy, Amos, most divinely philo-
sophizing). He that turneth into mourning the shadow
of death, and that darkeneth the day into night," and
Who, as it were, by means of a certain revolution, directs
and corrects the whole world, as well as our affairs,
whether tempest-tossed or not tempest-tossed, shaken and
upset by its changes, and subject to constant vicissitudes,
though by the ordering of His Providence they be fixed
and not to be shaken, even though they move through con-
trary courses-ways that be clear unto the Word, although
unknown to us. "He that putteth down the mighty from
their thrones, and adorneth with a crown him that ex-
pected it not" (for this, too, I borrow from Holy Scrip-
ture). "Who clotheth the feeble knees with strength, and
breaketh the arms of the sinner and the wicked" (this is
from another song, just as each occurs to my recollection,
there being many ready to complete my hymn, and to
contribute their part to my song of thanksgiving). "He
that giveth to be seen of the ungodly both the exaltation
above the cedars, and the plucking down into being no
more; when we may be able with safety and swiftness of
foot to escape from the ungodliness of the same."
13. Who shall sing these things as they deserve, and
relate them amongst those who relate things divine?
"Who shall tell the mighty works of the Lord, shall
make to be heard all his praises?" What voice or what
force of speech shall he find equal to the miracle? Who
hath broken the shield, the sword, and the battle? Who
hath bruised the heads of the dragon upon the waters, and
given him for food unto the nations to whom Thou hast
delivered him up? Who hath stilled the whirlwind into
a breeze? Who hath said unto the sea, Be thou silent,
be thou muzzled, and thy waves shall break themselves
within thee? He Who hath crushed him that was lifted
up and boiled furiously, but not for long. Who hath
given us to walk upon serpents and scorpions, no longer
lying secretly in wait for the heel of the passer-by (as
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
9
their sentence directed), but publicly rising up and lifting
on high the head that they were condemned to have
trampled under foot? Who is He that hath made an
unexpected condemnation an acquittal ? Who is He that
hath not completely "suffered the rod of sinners" (shall
I venture to say) "in the lot of the righteous" (or, what
is more modest than this expression) in the lot of those
that know Him?
14. For it was not as righteous that we were delivered
up to Him (for this is what few men, on few occasions,
have experienced in order that they, like noble athletes,
may put to shame him that tries their strength, but as
offenders who have been condemned, and afterwards par-
doned out of His fatherly compassion; having been beaten
only that we may be reformed, and admonished in order
that we may turn unto Him. "For He hath tried us,
yet not in wrath; He hath chastised us, but not in anger:
having manifested his loving-kindness through both things
-his admonition, and his remission. "Who is he that
hath wrought vengeance among the heathen, rebukes
amongst the nations?" "Even the Lord strong and
mighty, the Lord mighty in battle."
15. I find but one voice, one song in any way worthy
of the present occasion-that which Isaiah hath shouted
out before us, exactly suited to the present times, and
vying with the magnitude of the blessing: "Let the
heavens above rejoice, and let the clouds drop down
righteousness; let the mountains break forth into joy,
and let the little hills exult" inasmuch as the whole
creation and the heavenly powers, such, at least, is my
opinion, take an equal interest in these events. For not
only does the "whole creation groan with us and is in the
pangs of labour, being made subject to corruption" (I
mean to things below that are born and perish) "expect-
ing the end of these things and the revelation," in order
that itself may then obtain the hoped-for deliverance, as
being bound fast to them against its will through the
10
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
power of Him that created it; but it also joins in glori-
fying Him, and exults together with the sons of God when
they do rejoice.
16. For this cause I will not refrain from sacred ex-
pressions when I am telling of Divine Power. "Let the
desert rejoice, and let her blossom like the lily" (that is,
the Church, which but yesterday seemed a widow, and
husbandless, as well as everyone that was withered up
by the envious and joyless winter of ungodliness), "be-
cause the Lord hath had compassion upon His people,
neither hath He abandoned His own inheritance: because
He hath done marvellous things, and His ancient, true
counsel, the which was to be favourable towards them
that fear Him and that hope in His mercy, forasmuch as
He hath broken down the gates of brass, and smitten
asunder the bars of iron; because we have been humbled
for our transgressions, and the snare has been broken,
and we are set free, in the joy of the God that hath called
us, and who comforts the lowly in heart."
17. Do ye mark how I weave my song out of sacred
words and thoughts? and, as it were, with what belongs
to others, I exalt and decorate myself, how I grow in-
spired by my joy? I spurn everything humble and
human, cementing together and joining one thing with
another, and bringing into one whole what belongs to the
same spirit.
18. Aforetime the wonderful works of God were shown
forth in Enoch translated, Isaiah' caught up, Noah himself
saved, and saving the names of races; the whole world in
a small bark escaping the deluge of the inhabitable land,
in order that the earth might be adorned with more godly
inhabitants; Abraham called, and honoured with a son
in spite of his age, as a pledge of another promised Seed,
¹ This name must be wrong; all these legends being quoted in chrono-
logical order. Methuselah was probably written, he being the only
noteworthy personage between Enoch and Noah.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
11
and offering up his only begotten son a willing sacrifice,
and receiving a miraculous victim instead of that son; the
miraculous destruction of the wicked overwhelmed with
fire and brimstone; the yet more miraculous deliverance;
the Pillar of Salt that proclaimed the turning back again
to sin; Joseph sold into slavery, fallen in love with, pre-
serving his chastity, and receiving wisdom from God,
and set free, and made a ruler, and dispensing corn in a
higher stewardship; Moses thought worthy of talking with
God and admonished, and making laws, and becoming a
god unto Pharaoh, and leading forth Israel into the Land
of Promise; the plagues of the destroyed Egyptians, and
the preservation of the Israelites, who laboured in the
midst of these Egyptians; and the Sea retiring before the
rod, and giving heed unto a word, and letting some pass
along as on dry land, whilst others, according to its proper
nature, it overwhelmed.
1
19. And whatever other miracles came after these: the
Pillar of Cloud giving shadow by day, the Pillar of Fire
giving light by night, and both of them leading the way;
the Bread rained down in the wilderness; the Meat sent
down from heaven-the former proportioned to their need,
the latter even above their need; the Water from the
Rock-the one gushing forth, the other rendered sweet;
Amalek overcome in battle, and that too by the ineffable
and mystical gesture of the hands; the Sun standing
still and the Moon stayed, and Jordan cut in twain; and
the walls shaken down by the walking round them of
the priests and the sounding of trumpets, and by the
number² that hath power; the Earth and the Fleece of
Wool alternately wetted and unmoistened; Strength
residing in the hair—a match for a whole army; the few
chosen by Lapping of Water, and trusting to conquer, and
conquering according to their trust, that small number
1 Supposed to represent the Cross.
2 The number Seven,
12
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
those many thousands. What need is there for me to reckon
up one by one everything that was done through Christ
Himself during His saving presence and dwelling in the
flesh ? And all the miracles that have been wrought after
Him and through Him, by His holy Apostles and ministers
of the Word ? How many books and monuments tell their
history!
20. But as for the present matter in truth, come hither
and hearken, and I will tell unto you, in order that the
generation that now is, and those that come after, may
understand the wonders of the power of the Lord-since
it is not possible to set them forth without first laying
before you the greatness of the danger that threatened us.
And this cannot be done without our showing up the
badness of that disposition, and from what principles and
seeds of wickedness it ran off into this unhappiness, storing
up its venom little by little, till it exceeded all the most
spiteful of reptiles and wild beasts. To tell the tragic tale
of all his actions we shall leave to books and to the charge
of history; for we at least have not leisure to rehearse
them beyond the limits of our present purpose; but by
enumerating a few instances out of many we will leave to
those that come after, as it were a published bill of indict-
ment against him, having collected therein the most
weighty of our charges.
21. First and foremost then, this man having been saved
by the great Constantius, immediately on his succession to
his father, at what time the army rose against those in
power¹ (making a revolution through their apprehension
of revolution), and settled the government under new
sovereigns; being saved together with his brother (a pre-
servation beyond belief and all expectation), he neither felt
¹Constantine's half-brothers, Julius Constantius and Delmatius. There
can be no reasonable doubt that Constantius II. was a party to the
forgery of his father's last injunctions by the Bishop of Nicomedia,
which was the pretext for the massacre of these two princes and their
sons.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
13
gratitude to God for his escape nor to the emperor through
whose means he had been preserved,¹ but showed himself
wicked towards both, by conceiving apostacy from the one
and rebellion against the other.
22. But to come to what is necessary for me to state in
the beginning-they were honoured with a princely main-
tenance and education in one of the royal castles, being
treasured up for imperial power by this most humane
emperor, as the sole relics of his family: who thus, at the
same time, made his excuse for the revolution that had
taken place upon his accession on the plea that it had been
audaciously done and not with his consent;" and equally
seeking to display his own magnanimity by the sharing of
the empire with them; and thirdly, to establish his
power on more solid foundations by means of theso
props-a thing that showed he planned more humanely
than wisely.
23. Whilst they were here enjoying complete leisure,
imperial rank being still in the future, and being prepared
for them, whilst their age and expectations did not yet
exalt them to the secondary dignity; they had masters in
all branches of learning, their uncle and sovereign causing
them to be instructed in the complete and regular course
of education; they studied also, and still more extensively,
Even by Gregory's own showing, these children owed their escape
from the massacre, not to the mercy of Constantius, but to the care of
Marcus, who made them take sanctuary in a church.
2 The two children were kept close prisoners for fourteen years in a
secluded castle at Cappadocia, carefully secluded from their friends, and
allowed to see none but their servants. There is no doubt that if Con-
stantius had had male issue, the last of his nephews would immediately
have been sacrificed to state necessity..
• 3 He showed his complicity in the murders not only by appropriating
the provinces of the slaughtered princes (which might be excused by
political necessity), but by confiscating the paternal estates of the
orphans, and retaining them to the last. It was only after Julian was
made Caesar that he restored to him the dowry of his mother, Basilina.
14
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
our own kind of philosophy,' that which deals not with
words alone, but which conveys piety by means of moral
training: living in intercourse with the most excellent of
men, and in the exercise of the most pleasant of occupa-
tions, and which offers a great field for the display of virtue :
for both brothers offered and enrolled themselves amongst
the clergy; reading aloud the sacred books to the people,
thinking that this tended not a little to their glory, and
that piety was a greater decoration than all things else.
2
24. By most sumptuous monuments to Martyrs, by
emulation in their offerings, by all the other marks by
which the fear of God is characterized, did they make
known their love of wisdom and their love of Christ: the
one of them being sincerely pious; for although too hasty
in temper, nevertheless he was genuine in his piety: the
other awaiting his opportunity, and concealing under a
mask of goodness his evil disposition. A proof of this
(for indeed I cannot omit noticing it) was the miracle
which then occurred, one highly deserving of being re-
membered, and capable of opening the eyes of many of
the ungodly."
25. Both the brothers were, as I have told you, labour-
ing for the Martyrs, and were zealously vying with one
another in erecting an edifice to their honour with a
large and efficient body of workmen : but inasmuch as
the work did not proceed from the same motive, so neither
did the labour come to the same end with both: for the
1 Theology, under Eusebius of Cæsarea. The enthusiastic temper of
Julian was so wrought upon by his teachers that at one time he was
anxious to become a monk.
2 Gallus was a monster of cruelty; but this, not being incompatible
with soundness of faith, Gregory regards as a mere trifle. Julian, as he
remarks in an epistle to the Alexandrians, was, up to the age of twenty,
a firm believer in Christianity.
3 It must be borne in mind that his congregation was composed en-
tirely of women, and mechanics or slaves-the only apology for such a
narration.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
15
work of the one (the elder brother, I mean) was finishing,
and going on according to calculation, as though God
readily accepted the offering, like Abel's sacrifice, rightly
offered up, and cut in pieces; for the donation was, in
some sort, the consecration of the first-fruits of the flock:
but the offering of the other (alas for the dishonour of
the impious, that already in this world bears testimony to
the next, and that proclaims beforehand great events by
trifling signs!), the God of Martyrs rejected it, as He did
the sacrifice of Cain!
26. And he continued labouring, and the earth shook
off what he had toiled at, and he grew all the more
zealous in the task, and she rejected the foundations of
him that was unsound in the faith; as though she were
crying aloud at the shaking of the world that was about
to proceed from him, and doing honour to the Martyrs
through the dishonour she did to the most impious of
men. This fact was a kind of presage of the future ob-
stinacy and madness of the man, and of his insults to the
Martyrs, and of his lawless conduct against the sacred
edifices—one that from afar pursued¹ the persecutor, and
signified in advance the recompense of his impiety!
27. O thou Soul, clever truly for evil-doing, yet that
canst not escape thy own punishment! O thou God, that
hidest the Future, in order that it may either cut short
impiety, or display Thy foreknowledge! Oh unexpected,
yet more true than unexpected miracle! Oh brotherly
love of the Martyrs! They did not accept honour from
him that was hereafter to do dishonour to many Martyrs;
they did not receive the gift of him that was hereafter to
make many Confessors, or rather, to begrudge them the
credit of the conflict! Or, to speak more correctly, they
did not suffer themselves to be the only Martyrs to be
insulted, whilst the others were interred and cared for by
2
1 A curious figure, of a thing pursuing what it preceded!
2 This admission, which Gregory often repeats, is a sufficient evi-
dence that there was no real persecution of the Christians by Julian.
16
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
pious hands; nor would they give the Sophist of Wicked-
ness the pleasure of exulting over the insults done them,
in order that by the same hand some monuments of the
Martyrs should be set up, and others pulled down; and
that some Martyrs should be honoured, but others dis-
honoured; whilst the honour in semblance anticipated by
but a little while the dishonour in reality; lest, in addi-
tion to the greatness of the insult, he should think in
himself how clever he was in thus cheating (as he did
man) God also the most quick-sighted, the All Wise,
He who "seizeth the wise in their craftiness "—by means
of his outward show; but that he might know that he
was understood, and that he might not be puffed up,
seeing that he was detected.
28. For if the God of Martyrs had not checked his
impiety, nor had dried up, like a poisonous stream, his
intended and concealed villany, or cut it short by what
means He only knew, according to His hidden wisdom
and government, like as He suffered the iniquities of the
Amorites to fill up their measure; but it was needful
that his evil intention should be hated, and his offering
be rejected, for the edification of the multitude, and that
the justice and purity of God with respect to the things
offered unto Himself should be manifested to the world.
""
29. For He that said unto backsliding Israel, "If yo
offer a wheaten cake, it is vain: your incenso is an
abomination unto me; not accepting their New Moons
and Sabbaths and Great Day, seeing that He, being full,
stands not in need of anything that is human and little,
so that He should take pleasure in those who offer to Him
unworthily; for He abominates the sacrifice of trans-
gressors, even though it be a calf, as that of a dog, and
their frankincense like a blasphemy; and excluding from
the Temple and shaking off as defilement the hire of a
harlot; whilst He gives honour to that sacrifice alone
which pure hands bring unto the Most Pure, and a high
and sanctified spirit. What wonder, then, if He did not
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
17
accept honour from that man, offered in bad manner and
from a bad motive,—He that seeth not as man seeth, nor
looketh at the outward appearance, but at the hidden man,
and the inward workshop of virtue or of wickedness! So
much for this; and if anyone is incredulous, we call in
evidence those that beheld the fact, for they are nume-
rous, who have delivered down the miracle to us, and
will deliver it down to those who come after.
30. But when, as the two advanced to man's estate,
they began to handle the doctrines of philosophy (which I
wish they had never done), and were deriving that power
from words which to the good is the weapon of virtue,
but to the ill-conditioned the incentive to vice, this man
was no longer able to restrain his disease in every part,
nor to plan within himself alone the plot of his impicty
in all its completeness; but like as fire smouldering in
wood, even though it does not rise into a bright flame,
either sparks flying out, or smoke from the inside, give
warning of the mischief; or, if you like it better, as cer-
tain water-springs that run through subterrancan chan-
nels by the aid of air, and then, not having sufficient
room nor a free passage, burst forth in many places of
the ground, and gurgle out from below, being forced up-
wards by the strength of the air, but checked and repelled
by the weight above; in the same way did he conceal the
most part of his impiety, by reason of the times and the
superintendence of one stronger than himself (for as yet
it was not safe to be impious); still, in some points he
exposed the secret of his thoughts; and, to the more
sharpsighted, his impiety rather than his intelligence, by
exerting himself in advocacy of the Pagans, in his dispu-
tations against his brother, to a greater degree than was
becoming on the pretext, forsooth, that he was prac-
tising upon the weaker argument; but this was in reality
an exercising of himself against the Truth, and a delight-
ing in everything by which an impious disposition is
characterized.
C
18
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
31. But when the kindness of the emperor appoints his
brother ruler, and puts into his hands no small part of the
habitable earth, this youth obtained opportunity to hold
intercourse, in all freedom and security, with teachers and
opinions of the freest kind. Aria was his school of im-
piety; whatever works wonders as regards astrology,
nativities, the show of knowledge of the Future, and all
the jugglery that goes along with them. The only thing
now wanting was for power to be added to his impiety;
he had not long to wait, and this also is given to him
against us, because wickedness of the multitude was now
filled up to the brim, and the prosperity of the Christians
had run, so to speak, into extravagance, and demanded the
contrary change; and because of the license, and honours,
and satiety, through which we had waxed proud.
""
32. In reality it seems a harder matter to retain good
things, than to obtain those we do not possess; and more
easy to recover departed prosperity by dint of care, than
to preserve long that which is present, and "pride goeth
before destruction," the Proverbs well say, "and humility
before glory; or, that I may speak more plainly, ruin
follows pride, and glorification follows humility. "The
Lord sets His face against the high-minded, and giveth
grace unto the humble, and recompenseth contrary things
unto the adversaries; He that meeteth out all things
justly." Of this the divine David was well aware, and
reckons as one of his blessings, the fact of his being
chastened, and confesses his thankfulness to Him, Who had
chastened; inasmuch as the learning the commandments
accrued to himself therefrom. And, "Before I was hum-
bled (says he), I went astray: on this account I have kept
Thy word," placing his humiliation in the middle between
his transgression and his correction, seeing that it arose`
out of the first, and produced the second, for sin is the
parent of humiliation, and humiliation of repentance. So
we, having been exalted when we were virtuous and
orderly; and having grown up into this form and multi-
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
19
tude through God's guidance, "waxed fat and kicked;"
and when we had spread ourselves out, we were pressed
close; and the glory and strength that we had gathered
amidst persecutions and oppression, this when we pros-
pered we brought to ruin-the sequel of my discourse shall
show how.
33. The reign and the life of the Caesar (Gallus)
receives its termination: the intervening events I shall
pass over in silence, from a wish to spare both the maker
and the sufferer, of both of whom I respect the piety,
though I approve not of their rashness; for though it
was unavoidable for them, as being men, to err, this
feature is what one cannot praise in the character of either,
except that, even in this case, by the charge we shall
bring against the one we shall acquit the other of all
blame. The man we are speaking of immediately became
the heir of his brother's power, but not of his piety, and
shortly after heir to the men who had raised him to power,
partly with his consent, and partly because he was forced
by the lot of all, and was overcome by compulsion, which
proved evil and ruinous to the whole world."
34. Why didst thou this, O most religious and Christ-
loving of princes! (for I address thee as though present
here, and listening to my censure, even though I know
thee to be far above our fault-finding, for thou art placed
at the side of God, and hast inherited the glory that is
there; having retired from earth only to receive another
crown-change thy crown). Why didst thou devise this
scheme? thou who didst so far surpass all in sagacity
and understanding, not only the princes of thy own times,
but also those who preceded thee: thou who didst clear
¹ The temerity of Gallus in power was so far beyond all calculation
as to exonerate Constantius from the charge of temerity in raising him
to that power.
Alluding to the advice of Constantius' prime minister Eutropius, to
put Julian to death along with his brother—a piece of useless cruelty
overruled by the empress, whose influence Gregory here deprecates.
20
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
away barbarian force from round about us, and didst put
down domestic tyrants, some by means of argument,'
others by force of arms; and in either way, without being
embarrassed in the one course by the employment of the
other: thou of whom great trophies stand erected with
arms and with battles, but yet greater and more conspi-
cuous thy gifts to heaven: thou to whom embassies and
petitioners flocked from every quarter of the world, whom
part already obeyed, and the rest would have obeyed; for
everything was hoped, equal to what had been already
achieved. Thou that wert led by God's own hand in every
action and purpose, whose prudence was admired more than
his valour, and his valour again more than his prudence, and
yet more admirable than his glory in both was his piety.
35. How was it then that in this case alone thou didst
show thyself ignorant and inconsiderate? What meant the
hastiness of thy inhuman humanity? What evil spirit
took part in thy deliberation? The great inheritance, thy
hereditary decoration—I mean those that are named after
Christ-the nation shining out in all parts of the habitable
world, the Royal Priesthood gathered together with so
much blood and sweat: didst thou in so little space and
brief moment of time present and deliver up unto the
public murderer!
36. Perhaps I appear to you, my brethren, to be im-
pious somewhat, and unreasonable in using words like
these, and because I do not immediately subjoin the words
of the truth to the words of upbraiding; and yet I have
sufficiently cleared myself even by the terms of my accusa-
tion, if ye have only paid a little attention to the form of
my chiding. And in this case only the accusation contains
in itself the acquittal, for by using the word "benignity,"
I let you see the defence: for who is not assured, even of
those but slightly acquainted with that prince, that not
1 Vetranio, whose troops Constantius gained over by bribery, whilst
spinning out fictitious negotiations with him: Sylvanus, whom he caused
to be assassinated; and Magnentius in pitched battle.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
21
merely would he have passed over not only that man, the
glory of his own family, or the maintenance of his own
power, but that he would have, without grudging, pur-
chased our well-being and safety by the sacrifice of his
empire, of all his possessions, and of his very life, than
which nothing is more precious to every man ?
for
37. No one, surely, was ever possessed with so fervent
a desire for any object, as was that emperor for the aggran-
dizement of the Christians, and their advancement to the
highest pitch of glory and power: and neither nations
vanquished, nor the commonwealth well governed, nor the
greatness of wealth, nor the superabundance of glory, nor
the being, and the being entitled "King of Kings," nor all
the other marks by which mortal felicity is distinguished;
not one of all these things gave him such delight as that,
through his means, we, and through our means, he should
have glory in the sight of God and men, and that our
supremacy should continue indestructible to all time
besides all this, he clearly perceived the fact (thinking
as he did on these matters with deeper insight and loftier
mind than the vulgar herd), that simultaneously with the
state of the Christians grew up that of the Romans, and
their supremacy began its course with the sojourn of Christ
upon earth, which before that time had not perfectly
ripened into a monarchy: and for this reason, in my opinion,
he fostered and befriended our Church all the more: inas-
much as he, though he did slightly vex¹ us, yet did so not
out of despite and insolence, nor to gratify other parties
at our expense: but he vexed us a little in order that we
might be at one together, and become unanimous, and not
be divided, neither be separated by our schisms.
38. But, as I observed, simplicity of disposition is a thing
that is unguarded, and humanity goes along with inse-
curity, and one free from wickedness is the last to suspect
wickedness in others: for this reason what was coming
¹ A mild, very mild allusion, to his persecution of the Catholic sect,
at the instigation of his Arian advisers.
22
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
was unperceived, and the simulation was undetected; and
impiety little by little crept in, and two kind feelings came
into play simultaneously, one of them for his own pious
family, the other for this, the most impious and godless
of mankind. And what had this said individual to blame
in the Christians, what was there in our morals that he
disapproved of, what did he find so superior and un-
shakable by argument in the doctrines held by the heathen,
what sort of model did he follow, that he set himself up
for the most knowing of all through his impiety, and
strove to rival the author of his elevation after a somewhat
novel fashion ? And since truly he could not possibly
surpass him in virtue and better conduct, he aimed at so
doing by means of showing himself quite the reverse, by
his outrageous behaviour against religion, and his zeal
for the worse side. The apology for that person [Con-
stantius], in behalf of the Christians, and as regards the
Christians, goes so far as this, and is a satisfactory one,
at least for people of sense.
39. But as there are many who, though they acquit
Constantius of the above-named charge, yet do not excuse
him on another count, but accuse him of stupidity in that
he put power into the hands of one most ill-disposed
towards himself (nay, rather his mortal foe); and, first of
all, made the same person his enemy, and then made him
strong, laying the foundations of his enmity by the execu-
tion of his brother [Gallas], and then furnishing the
strength by the conferring of the imperial rank-it is
necessary for me to go a little into particulars upon this
subject, and to show that his kindness was not entirely
¹ Constantius had in reality been so alarmed by the rebellion of
Sylvanus upon the Rhine, that he felt the necessity of a colleague in the
West, and Julian was the sole survivor of his own family, to whom he
could have recourse. By marrying him to his sister, Helena, he made
the bond doubly sure, and but for his own stupid jealousy, the measure
would have proved the best possible for his own interest-that of the
empire was of but small account to him.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
23
without reason, nor foreign to the magnanimity and fore-
thought befitting an emperor; for we should be ashamed
if, after receiving so much honour at his hands, and being
firmly convinced of his eminent piety, we did not state
what is just in his defence; a thing which is due from us,
the Cultivators of Reason and Truth, even to those who
have conferred no benefits upon us; and, all the more so,
after his departure from this world, when we have escaped
all appearance of being flatterers and our statements are
no longer exposed to injurious suspicion.
40. For who would not have expected, if nothing more,
at least to tame that man [Julian] by the honours lavished
on him, or to make him more honest by the very confidence
with which he was treated? as though by a just and
imperial decision on the merits of the two brothers, both
of him that had been punished, and of him that was pro-
moted; inasmuch as the man who raises the second brother
to honours that no one could have expected, not even the
recipient of those honours himself, makes it evident that
he had not punished the first brother without just grounds
of anger; and that the first action was the result of the
audacious behaviour of that party, the second the effect of
his own insolence.
41. And besides this, he derived confidence, if one must
mention the principal thing, not so much from that per-
son's trustworthiness, as from confidence in his own
strength, just as Alexander the Great seems to mo out of
similar confidence to have granted, not merely his life to
the vanquished Porus, and that, too, after he had contended
so vigorously for his kingdom, but the sovereignty of India
to boot: as though he could display in no other way than
this his magnanimity—a point in which he, being Alex-
ander, deemed it far worse to be beaten, than by force of
arms in the first instance; whilst, if he found him ungrate-
ful, it still remained in his power to reduce him a second
time to subjection; and the very superabundance of con-
fidence produced his humanity.
24
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
42. And yet why do I contest this point, when it is
quite possible for me to gain my cause, even though
beaten here ? For if he that trusted is blameworthy,
what must the person trusted be, compared with him?
And if the not discovering, beforehand, a man's disposition
is to be censured, how low must we place that badness of
disposition itself? But in truth wickedness is a thing
that defies all calculation, and there is no means whereby
one can make the bad better; when this person, by the
very things through which he justly ought to have been
rendered better disposed, and if he still harboured any
spark of ill feeling, to have extinguished it altogether,
was kindled, by these very favours, into yet more bitter
enmity, and sought out for the means to revenge himself
upon his benefactor.
43. Such things did his Platos teach him, and his
Chrysippuses, and the far-famed Walk, and the grave
Porch, send those who mouth so grandiloquently this,
the equality of Geometry, and the arguments about
Justice, and the duty to prefer receiving wrong to the
committing wrong! this, his fine teachers, and the accom-
plices and lawgivers of his reign-people that he had
picked up out of the highways and the pits; of whom he
could not approve the conduct, though he admired their
loquacity, and probably not so much this as their mere
impiety, a fitting counsellor and instructor as to what
ought to be done, and what not.
44. Assuredly we ought to admire these men that build
cities in words (which cannot subsist in reality), that all
but worship majestic tyrannies, and, with all their grave
looks, esteem the penny far above their gods,¹ some of
whom hold that there is no God at all, others that He
takes no heed of things here below, but that the universe
1 Maximus the philosopher, accused of having drawn large sums of
money out of Julian; on which charge he was imprisoned and put to
the torture under Jovian.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
25
moves along at random, and by chance; others, that it is
guided by the Stars and the dispositions of Necessity,
directed I know not by whom, nor from what source;
others suppose that the All tends to Pleasure, and that
this is the end of human existence; Virtue is to them
merely a specious name, nor is there anything beyond the
present life, nor any Judgment upon the things done in
this life hereafter, to chastise iniquity; for either no one
of the wise men amongst them has perceived the truth,
but has been entangled in the deep mud (as the saying is)
and unillumined gloom of error and ignorance, so as not
even to look towards the rays of the Truth, after purifying
his intellect; but grovelling in the dirt around things
below, and the objects of the senses, and not able to
imagine anything superior to the "demons," nor to raise
himself up in a manner worthy of Him that made us-or
if anyone caught a slight glimpse of it, inasmuch as he used
for his guide Reason and not God, he was drawn astray by
that which had the most plausible appearance, and which
attracted the vulgar by its proximity.
1
45. What wonder is it then, that starting from such
principles as these, and steered by such pilots, the man
trusted should have turned out such a villain towards him
that had trusted him; the man honoured, so base to him
that had conferred the honour? For if I must make any
apology for him, in the midst of my indictment, the
fellow does not seem to me to have rebelled against those
who had set him up, and to have sought free scope for
his own folly, so much out of resentment for the loss of his
brother 2 (whom he well knew was opposed to him on the
side of religion) as because he could not endure the spread
1 The Platonic Powers of Nature, the actual agents of the One
Supreme.
2 Julian certainly condoned the death of Gallus, as merited by his
cruelty and treasonable designs; he only complains of his execution
without form of trial. And this in his "Epistle to the Athenians," in
which he puts all his charges against Constantius in the strongest light.
26
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
of Christianity, and had run mad against the Faith; for
"philosophy and sovereignty (as their cant hath it) ought
to be united in one "-not in order that states may be
restrained from impiety,' but that they may be filled
therewith.
46. And that first act of his self-will and madness, his
assuming the diadem and decorating himself with the
supreme title-the which, not being the rapine of chance,
but the price of merit, either regular succession confers,
or else the revolution of the sovereign; or else the decision
of the Senate, as in the olden time: a title which does not
render him that is master of the power, master likewise of
the honour in its full extent. In the next place, since he
knew that he had made desperate measures a matter of
necessity to him in consequence of what he had already
dared, what does he plan, and to what extent of impiety
and audacity does he proceed? O the mad soul! He
marches against the emperor, and moves forth out of the
West, under the pretence of excusing his conduct in as-
suming the diadem, for he still thought of cloaking his
desperate intention, but in reality with the view of trans-
ferring the empire to himself, and getting himself admired
for his want of sense-and truly he was not disappointed
in his hopes.
47. (Let not those be astonished, who know not the
inscrutable depth of the counsels of God, by which the
universe is directed, and who do not submit to the One
skilled in the pilotage, Who is in all respects wiser than
ourselves, Who guides His own whither and in what man-
ner He pleaseth: and entirely for their good, and healing,
what though those that are being healed be impatient
under the cure: by which counsels He is not stirred up
unto wickedness, for the Deity being good by His nature,
is not the cause of evils, neither of him that prefers the
1
"Impiety" is regularly used for Paganism, as is "Atheism" for
Christianity, by writers on the two sides.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR,
27
things of wickedness.) He was not, however, checked in
his career, but with vast celerity traversing his own and
some part of the barbarian frontier, and forcing a passage
more by stealth than by force of arms, he at last is draw-
ing near to the capital of the empire; being, as his own
partisans say, stimulated to this expedition by presages,
the dæmons promising a revolution in the time coming,
and devising a change in the state: or rather, as the tale
is of those who tell the truth, he did this in accordance
with a certain preconcerted plot, but one more secret and
deeply laid; he was calculating upon a death, of which he
was himself the contriver, having plotted the execution
of the crime by means of someone in the interior:
so that
his success was not foreknowledge but knowledge, and not a
favour of the dæmons. How sagacious they are in such
matters, Persia has clearly shown: so let people cease
praising the dæmons for his rapid success, or else we shall
impute his ruin also to the same agency.
1
48. Now, if the decease of the emperor had not antici-
pated the advance of the tyrant, and his privy machination
been more effectual than his open violence, the miscreant
would soon have discovered that he had been too expe-
ditious for his own destruction; and before his fit of frenzy
was chastised by the Persians, he would have paid the
penalty of his crime in the territories of the Romans upon
whom he basely waged war. Proof of this is at hand:
for whilst he was still advancing and fancying himself
undiscovered, by order of that most excellent emperor he
was being surrounded by a force that cut off his retreat,
as became evident from what followed; for even after he
was master of the empire, he had no small trouble in
mastering this army. Now, his adversary, boiling with
indignation against this folly and impiety combined, and
¹ Of the palace. Gregory wishes his hearers to believe a lie which
he was too acute to believe himself, that Julian had suborned one of the
palace eunuchs to poison Constantius at a fixed time.
مجھے
28
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
having this very clever fellow completely in his net-alas
for our wickedness!-in the very middle of his march
closes his mortal career, after offering many excuses to
God and man for his misplaced humanity,' and having set
an example to all Christians by his zeal of affection for the
Faith!
49. In this place, a tear or two mingled with joy on
account of what comes next in my theme, rises to my
eyes, and, as it were, the battle, engagement, and strife,
when river and sea come together and strive for mastery.
For from what came last I am affected with the joy, but
from what went before I am moved to the tears, not
merely on account of the Christians and the contumely
that befell them, whether moved by the Evil One, and
permitted by God for our correction on account of our
pride: but also on account of that man's soul, and those
that were drawn away together with him into the same
perdition.
50. Some people bewail their concluding plagues, and
their torments in this world, because the present life is
the only thing they believe in, and they cannot reach
with their minds into the next, neither do they believe
there is any account taken, or retribution in store for the
things done in this life: but they lead the life of brute
beasts, existing only upon what comes day by day, and
the Present; measuring happiness by one thing alone,
comfort in this world, and by its opposite, their disap-
pointments, they estimate unhappiness. But it strikes
me one should bewail them more for their torments in
the next world, and the punishment that is stored up
for the wicked: and yet I do not mention the greatest of
1
In not having murdered Julian when a child-a pious frame of mind
quite consistent with Gregory's way of thinking. But in reality the
dying emperor, caring for nothing but his infant daughter and wife,
publicly declared Julian his heir and successor, assured of their safety
under his protection.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
29
all, their being shut out from God: how vast an aggra-
vation that is of their punishment!
51. How should I not weep for the unhappy man him-
self; for the persecutors more than for the persecuted?
How not bewail yet more than those that went over to
the side of evil, the man that carried them with him?
But rather, to the one side, it was no hardship to suffer
for Christ's sake, nay the most welcome thing possible,
and that not only for the next world, but for the glory
and freedom of speech that they bestowed upon them-
selves by means of their dangers: but to the other side,
before the torments in store and threatened, came those
they have suffered now: and better were it for them if
they had been punished a longer time in this world, than
to have been reserved for the yet juster punishments of the
future state. Thus much for the sake of the law that
forbids us to exult over the fall of an enemy, and demands
sympathy from those that stand upright: and now it is
time for me to return to the rest of my subject.
1
52. What was this so great zeal in a bad cause, what
this love of impiety, what this running after destruction,
whence became such an enemy of Christ this former
disciple of Christ, he that was conversant in so many
words of Truth, and who had preached and heard of the
things that lead unto salvation? For no sooner had he in-
herited the empire than he publicly professed his impiety,
as if ashamed of ever having been a Christian, and on this
account bearing a grudge against the Christians in whose
name he had participated: and the very first of his
audacities, according to those who boast of his secret
doings, into which details am I forced to enter! with un-
hallowed blood he rids himself of his baptism,¹ setting up
the initiation of abomination against the initiation accord-
This "sympathy" is the assurance of the everlasting torments to
which Julian has just been consigned by the compassionate preacher.
Supposed by La Bléterie to mean that Julian unbaptized himself
30
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
ing to our rite, "a swine wallowing in the mire," accord-
ing to the proverb; and he unconsecrates his hands by
cleansing them from the bloodless sacrifice by means
whereof we are made partakers with Christ, both in His
sufferings and in His divinity. With victims and with
sacrifices he inaugurates his palace, using evil counsellors
for an evil reign.
53. But since I have mentioned victims and the man's
superstition, or more properly unhappy condition,' as re-
gards such matters, I do not know whether I ought to
commit to writing the miracle that was whispered about,
or to disbelieve those that report it; for I myself am
wavering in my judgment, and know not to which side
to incline, inasmuch as things justly claiming to be be-
lieved are mixed up with others totally unworthy of
credit. For that some sign from heaven should have
been given to mark the novelty and impiety of the
crime, is not to be reckoned among things incredible, but
amongst such as have often happened before on the eve
of very great changes; but that this sign was given in
the manner reported is, to me at any rate, a matter of
great astonishment, as well as to all such as wish and
believe that things pure are manifested in a pure
manner.
2
54. The story is, that when he was sacrificing, the en-
trails of the victim displayed the figure of the Cross
enclosed within a garland, which sight struck the others
with horror and dismay, and the conviction of our gaining
the victory; but the instructor in impiety it filled with
by going through the baptism of blood in the Taurobolia: the context,
however, shows that Gregory refers only to the revival of pagan sacri-
fices in the Palace.
1 A play upon δεισιδαιμονία and δυσδαιμονία, which shows the
identity of the preacher's pronunciation of the two words.
2 The preacher wishes his congregation to believe the story, but
endeavours to save his own credit with sensible people by declaring
himself not altogether convinced of its accuracy or details.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
31
confidence, as he pretended, as showing that we were cir-
cumscribed and hemmed in, for in this way did he extem-
porize the explanation of the Cross and the circle around
it. Now this is what excites my wonder, and if false, let
the winds bear it away; but if true, then here is Balaam
again prophesying and Samuel raised, or seems so, by the
woman having a familiar spirit; and the devils, as they go
out, confessing Jesus, and the Truth is shown forth by its
adversaries. It may be that this was so ordered that he
(Julian) should be checked in his impious course, for the
Deity, ever inclining towards mercy, knows how to invent
new and singular ways of salvation; but what is told by
many, to believe also is not unreasonable.
55. He had descended into one of those sanctuaries,'
inaccessible to the multitude, and feared by all (as would
that he had feared the way leading unto hell before pro-
ceeding to such extremities), in company with the man
that was as bad as many sanctuaries put together, the
wise in such things, or sophist more rightly to be called;
for this is a kind of divination amongst them to confer
with darkness, as it were, and the subterranean demons
concerning future events: whether that they delight more
in darkness, because they are darkness, and makers of the
darkness of wickedness, or that they shun the contact of
pious persons above ground, because through such they
lose their power. But when, as my fine fellow proceeded
in the rites, the frightful things assailed him, unearthly
noises, as they say, and unpleasant odours, and fiery
apparitions, and other fables and nonsense of the sort,
being terror-struck at the novelty (for he was yet a novice
in these matters), he flies for help to the Cross, his old
remedy, and makes the sign thereof against his terrors,
and makes an ally of Him whom he persecuted.
what follows is yet more horrible.
Probably a Mithraic cave.
And
32
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
2
56. The Seal¹ prevailed: the demons are worsted, the
terrors are allayed. And then what follows? The
wickedness revives, he takes courage again; the attempt
is repeated, the same terrors return; again the sign of the
Cross, and the vanishing demons; the neophyte in despair.
The celebrant is at hand, explaining away the truth: “We
have made ourselves abominable, we have not terrified
them;" the worse side conquers, for these were his words:
and by dint of talking he persuades, and by persuading he
leads his disciple into the pit of perdition. And no
wonder at it, for a vicious disposition is more ready to
follow what is better than to be checked by what is better.
Now what he said, did, or was deceived in, before he was
sent up again, those may know who initiate and are
initiated into these rites: at any rate he reascends full of
the demon both in mind and in his actions, and indicating
by the frenzy of his eyes whom he had been worshipping;
if indeed he was not possessed with a demon from the
very day on which he first took up with such bad
ideas; but then, it became more conspicuous, in order that
he might not have gone down there in vain, and become
partaker with demons: a thing which those people call
enthusiasm," putting a handsome name upon it. Now
his first actions were as related above.
66
57. But when the birth-pains were growing strong, and
the magician was bursting forth to light, he became aware
of something (either as being a man clever in wickedness
and without a rival in impiety, or whether he was put up
to it by those who anointed him for this end), that to carry
on the war openly, and to preside in person over the im-
pious attempt, besides being both rash and stupid, was in
The Sign of the Cross; regularly termed by Eusebius owτýjρLov
σημεῖον.
2 How did this scene become public? The sole operators, Julian and
Maximus, were not likely to have divulged it, on their reascension from
the cave.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
33
all respects most damaging to his object: for that wo
should become the more obstinate when oppressed, and
would oppose to tyranny our zeal in the cause of religion;
inasmuch as generous spirits are wont to grow restive
against compulsion, and after the manner of a flame fanned
by the wind, to blaze up so much the more, the more
violently they are blown down. And this he discovered
not only from reflection, but had it proved to him by the
history of the previous persecutions, which have only made
the Christian more honoured instead of more feeble,
strengthening him in piety, and like heated iron dipped in
water, steeling him by means of his dangers; but if he
carried on the war with artifice, and coloured violence with
cajolery, and like covering round a hook with the bait, so
covered his tyranny with wheedling, his enterprise would
become at once ingenious and likely to be successful.
58. For, besides his other motives, he begrudged the
honour of martyrdom to our combatants, and for this
reason he contrives now to use compulsion, and yet not
seem to do so.¹ That we might suffer, and yet not gain
honour as though suffering for Christ's sake. What
folly in the first place if he thought it would be unknown
on whose account these dangers were run, and that he could
hide the truth by his cunning devices! But the more he
plotted against our honours so much the greater and more
conspicuous was he making them.
59. In the second place, if he imagined that we braved
danger out of love of glory, and not of the Truth, let the
Empedocleses amongst those people play at such a game,
and their Aristacuses, and their Empedotimuses, and
their Trophoniuses, and a lot more of such unlucky folks
¹ An admission quite sufficient to disprove the existence of any per-
secution for religion's sake. Julian's grand offence in the preacher's
eyes was the depriving the Christians of the power of persecuting others
of different views, of which they had fully availed themselves during the
twenty-four years of the reign of Constantius.
D
34
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
-of whom the one, after making a God of himself, as he
fancied, by means of the Sicilian crater, and sent himself
up to a better termination of existence, was betrayed by
that dear little sandal, vomited up by the fire, and was
proclaimed not a god amongst men, but a man of vanity,
no philosopher, nay, not even possessed of common
intelligence; whilst those who out of the same itch and
ambition buried themselves in certain inaccessible caves,
and were afterwards detected, did not reap so much
honour from the deception as they did disgrace from the
discovery.
60. It is sweeter to Christians to suffer for religion's
sake, even though they may be unknown to all men, than
it is to others to enjoy glory combined with impiety; for
we make small account of pleasing men, but our whole
aim is at honour from God, or rather at something above.
this honour, we being true lovers of wisdom and lovers of
God, craving for assimilation to the Good for the sake of
the Good itself, not for the honours in store for us there.
For this is the second class of the praiseworthy actions—
the doing anything for reward, and on account of recom-
pense as the third is of those that shun wickedness out
of fear of punishment. Such and of such character are
our societies: and this is easy, for those who choose, to
prove from many examples.
61. But he, as though he were about to deprive us of a
very great honour (for the vulgar always judge of other
people's feelings by their own), particularly persecuted
this reputation of ours:¹ neither did he, in common with
former persecutors magnanimously proclaim his own im-
piety: nor does he (if not like a sovereign, at any rate
like a tyrant), take his measures about us, in the way of
one who thought it a fine thing to force impiety upon the
nations of the world, and to tyrannize over a creed that
1
Martyrdom, which he refused the Christians, grudging them the
honour it would bring them.
-
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
35
had vanquished all other creeds-he attacks our religion
in a very rascally and ungenerous way, and introduces
into his persecution the traps and snares concealed in
arguments.¹ Consequently, as power is divided into two
parts—persuasion and force (and what was yet more in-
human, he made over the exercise of his tyranny to mobs
and to towns, of whom the frenzy is less open to blame on
account of their want of reason, and inconsiderate im-
petuosity in everything; and this he did, not by means of
a public order, but by not repressing their outbreaks,
making their will and pleasure, an unwritten law).
62. But the milder and more kingly part, the way of
persuasion, he forsooth takes for himself; he did not,
however, play this part quite perfectly, for neither is it in
Nature that either the leopard should put off its spots or
the Ethiopian his blackness, or the fire its burning, or
the wicked one, being a murderer from the beginning, his
hatred of man, or that he should put off that spiteful
disposition with which he started against us.
But as the
story goes that the chameleon becomes all kinds of colours
and readily assumes every hue except the white (for I
pass by the Proteus of the fable, that Egyptian trickster),
in the same way that man also was and became every-
thing towards the Christians except clemency, and his
humanity was very inhuman, and his persuasiveness com-
pulsion, and his goodness an excuse for savageness: in
order that he might appear to use force with good reason,
when he had failed in persuading.
63. And this is evident from the fact that persuasion
lasted but a short time, whilst much more prevalent was the
argument of force that followed close upon it, in order
that, as in the hunts, we might be caught either in the
snares or by the pursuit ; and one way at least should capture
1 The true "head and front of his offending" was Julian's refraining
from persecution-argument, the preacher felt, was an infinitely more
dangerous weapon.
Co
36
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
us all. In the next place, he being thus disposed and pre-
pared, uses another stratagem against us, with all possible
security, though exceeding impiety; he (as is the custom
with all persecutors), makes a beginning of his wickedness.
with those nearest to him and the company around his
person; inasmuch as it was not possible to attack those
outside if those within were not gained over, just as one
cannot lead an army against the enemy which is mutinous
towards its own general.
64. And for this reason he changes the imperial house-
hold, first selecting some individuals for death,' and
banishing others, not as being well disposed to the great
emperor (their late master), but as being yet better dis-
posed towards that Greater One, and thereby unservice-
able to himself on both accounts. The soldiery he gains
over partly by his own efforts, partly through their
officers, an engine he considered most to be relied on-
part of them being vanquished by the hope of promotion,
part seduced by their own simplicity, and knowing no
other law than the will of the emperor.
65. And still more than the army, did he make his
own all that portion which he found already corrupt and
unsound-time-servers" then as they had been before, of
whom he had enslaved one half and hoped to do the
other, for he had not exterminated the whole body,
1 The wretch Eusebius, the mortal enemy of Gallus and himself, and
a very small number of Constantius' ministers, who, be it remembered,
were condemned, not by Julian, but by a military tribunal, composed of
Gallic officers, many of whom must have been Christians, in conse-
quence of the preponderance of that religion in the West.
2 The state of England under Mary is an exact parallel to that of the
Empire under Julian. The new religion in each case was held by a
small minority, but well organized and extremely noisy; the rest of the
population, except in certain districts where local causes kept up zeal
for the ancient religion, were entirely indifferent to principles, but eager
for the plunder of the temple lands and treasures, as of those of the
abbeys and cathedrals. This state of things clearly appears from
Julian's complaints in the Misopogon.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
37
neither had the power who persecuted through his
agency given him so much strength against us, for there
yet remained " over sixteen thousand that had not bent
the knee unto Baal," neither had worshipped the Golden
Image, neither had been bitten by the serpents, but had
looked up to the Serpent that was hung upon a tree, and
was destroyed by the sufferings of Christ. For there
were many persons in office and in high station,' whom
there was a probability of overcoming whether by means
of fear or of hope; many also of those in lower place,
and only considerable through number, in attacking whom
he was rebuffed like a warlike engine of unsuitable sort
by some well-built wall. Nevertheless, that which
escaped did not vex him so much as that which was
caught encouraged him (as it naturally would a man so
infatuated); and his wishes pictured to him what was
hoped for as already in his possession.
3
66. Moreover he shows his audacity against the great
symbol," which marches in procession along with the Cross,
and leads the army, elevated on high, being both a solace
to toil, and so named in the Roman language, and king
(as one may express it) over all the other standards, what-
ever are adorned with imperial portraits, and expanded
webs in divers dyes and pictures, and whatever, breathing
through the fearful gaping mouths of dragons, raised on
high on the tops of spears, and filled with wind through-
out their hollow bodies, spotted over with woven scales,
present to the eye a most agreeable and at the same time
1 An admission that such persons did not lose their places on the score
of their religion, for Gregory allows that they were permitted to remain
in office, upon the chance of their ultimately coming over to Julian's
views.
2 The Monogram of Christ, revealed to Constantine in a vision, and
painted on the soldiers' shields on the eve of his battle with Maxentius.
-See account in Lactantius.
• Labarum, quasi laborum levamen! A curious illustration of the pre-
vailing pronunciation by accent.
38
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
terrible show.
And when things about him were settled
according to his mind, and he was, as he fancied, out of
the reach of danger in his own vicinity, he then proceeds
to what came next.
67. O thou most foolish, and impious, and ignorant in
great matters! dost thou dare this against the great in-
heritance and the whole world's harvest, that passes over
all limits by means of the simplicity of the Word and
the folly, as ye will call it, of the prcaching, the which
has overcome the wise, and put an end to devils, and has
shot over Time, being at once ancient and new, in the
same way as ye make a special wonder of one of your
own gods; since it is the former by its shadowing forth
in types, the latter by the accomplishment of the mystery
stored up for its due time? Didst thou not do this
against the great heritage of Christ, and who wert thou,
and what, and from whence? Against the great heritage,
and which will never cease, even though some may rage
against it, even more than thou hast done, but which will
advance ever further and be exalted? (for I believe the
prophecies and the things seen); that heritage which He,
as God, hath created, and, as Man, hath inherited; which
the Law hath typified, grace fulfilled, and Christ dedi-
cated; which the Prophets built up, the Apostles bound
together, and the Evangelists finished off !
68. Didst thou war against the sacrifice of Christ with
thy abominations, against the blood that cleansed the
world with thy offerings of blood? Didst thou wage war
against Peace?, Didst thou lift thy hand against the
Hand that was nailed for thee and through thee? Against
the Gall didst thou set thine own liking; against the
Cross, a trophy; against His death, subversion of religion ;
against His Resurrection, thy rebellion; against the
Martyr, the want of martyrs ? Thou persecutor next
1 Or, "against the Testifier, the want of testimony," a miserable play
upon the general and special senses of uaorÙÇ.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
39
1
to Herod, thou traitor next to Judas, except so far as not
ending thy life with a halter, as he did; thou murderer
of Christ next to Pilate; thou hater of God next to the
Jews!
69. Hadst thou no respect for the victims slain for
Christ's sake ? Didst thou not fear those mighty cham-
pions, that John, that Peter, Paul, James, Stephen, Luke,
Andrew, and Thecla? And those who after them, and
before them, faced danger in the cause of Truth, and who
confronted the fire, the sword, the wild beasts, the tyrants,
with joy, and evils either present or threatening, as though
they were in the bodies of others, or rather as if released
from the body! And what for? That they might not
betray the Truth, even as far as a word goes; those to
whom belong the great honours and festivals; those by
whom devils are cast out and diseases healed; to whom
belong manifestations of future events, and to whom be-
long prophecies; whose very bodies possess equal power with
their holy souls, whether touched or worshipped; of whom
even the drops of the blood and little relics of their pas-
sion, produce equal effect with their bodies! 2
:
70. All these marvels thou dost not respect, but dost
contemn, thou that admirest the funeral pyre of Hercules,
the result of his misfortunes and evil doings for women's
sake and that butchery of Pelops for the sake of hospi-
tality, or of piety, in consequence whereof the descendants
of Pelops were marked by their shoulders and the piece
of ivory; and the castrations of Phrygians, who are fas-
cinated by means of the pipe, and are abused after the
piping; and those in the rites of King Mithras, the well-
deserved or mystical brandings; and the sacrifice of
1 Implying a pious wish that he had so ended his life.
2 Which best deserves the name of idolatry and aσɛßɛĩa, this dis-
gusting relic-worship, thus distinctly attributing divine power to dead
bones, or Julian's adoration of natural agencies regarded as the visible
ministers of the invisible and supreme God?
40
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
strangers at Tauri, and the sacrifice of the royal maid
before the expedition to Troy; and the blood of Menæceas
shed for Thebes, and that of the daughters of Scedasus
for Leuctra; and the Laconian youths lacerated with
scourges, and their blood upon the altar so delightful to
the pure and virgin goddess; thou that extollest the
hemlock of Socrates, and the leg of Epictetus, and the
death of Anaxarchus-persons whose philosophy was
more the result of compulsion than of choice; and the
leap of Cleombrotus the Ambraciote, brought about by
the treatise on souls; and Pythagoras' prohibition con-
cerning beans, and Theano's contempt of death, and that
of I know not how many of those initiated into her own
rites, or following the same philosophy.
71. But thou must admire at least what is here before
thee, if thou dost not those just set forth, thou most
philosophical and high-minded of men, that apest the
Epaminondases and Scipios of old in the article of the
endurance of hardship; thou that marchest on foot along
with thy troops, and eatest whatever food is at hand, and
praisest that kind of rulership which does everything for
itself. For it is the mark of a philosophical and gene-
rous mind not to despise the virtue even of enemies, and
to give more credit to the valour of foes than to the bad-
ness and cowardice of one's own side. Dost thou see
these persons here without livelihood and without a home,
all but without a body and without blood in their veins,
and who in this respect approach near unto God ?¹ These
men,
"With feet unwashed, and with the earth for bed"
1
(as thy Homer hath it, in order that he may do honour to
one of his demons by the fiction)—these men that are
By rendering themselves incorporeal-alluding to the ascetics in
the congregation. His audience were too obtuse to perceive the dif
ference between Julian's contempt for luxury practised for the real
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
41
here below, and yet superior to things below? these that
are amongst men, and yet above things human; these that
are bound, and yet free; that are overcome, yet invin-
cible; that have nothing in this world, and get all things
in the world above; of whom the life is double-the one
part despised, the other diligently sought after; who are
through mortification of themselves immortal; through
solitariness united with God; that are without desire, and
with the Divinity, and without the passion of earthly
love; whose is the Fountain of Light, and its irradiation
even now; whose are the angelic chants, the station
through the night, and the escape of the soul rapt up,
before its time, unto God; to whom belong the power of
purifying others, and the being purified themselves; who
know no limit either in ascending or in deification; to
whom belong the rocks' and the heavens; to whom be-
long the being cast out and the thrones; whose are
nakedness and a vesture of incorruptibility; whose are
solitude and a solemn assembly here; whose it is to have
trampled upon all pleasures, and who have the everlasting
and ineffable enjoyment of pleasure; whose is the tear,
the bewailing of sin, that purifies one from the world;
the stretching forth of whose hands quenches the fire,
quells the rage of wild beasts, blunts the edge of the
sword, routs legions, and will (be sure) muzzle even thy
impiety, even though thou mayest be exalted for a little
while, and play the comedy of thy impiousness with thy
own demons to help thee!
72. How comes it that all these things are not terrible
to thee, thou too daring man, that runnest into death, if
ever anyone did? How comes it they do not inspire thee
with respect? And yet they are more worthy of honour
good of the empire and the asceticism of monks and hermits, tending
solely to their own glorification and uselessness-true fakirs, whose
chief merit was their dirtiness, as the quotation from Homer shows.
1 The caves in the desert haunted by these solitaries.
42
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
than the greediness of Solon, the wise, and the legislator,
which Croesus tested by means of his Lydian gold: and
than Socrates' love of Beauty (for I am ashamed to say
love of boys, although he disguises it very prettily with
his inventions): and then Plato's gluttony in Sicily,
through which he is sold for a slave, and is ransomed not
by one of his own disciples nor by a Greek at all; and
then Xenocrates' fondness for fish; and then the wit of
Diogenes (he that lived in the tub), whereby he makes
strangers give place to kings, out of the tragedy, that is,
household bread to the cheese-cakes,' or than the philosophy
of Epicurus which lays down no Good above Pleasures.
Crates is a great man with you; and certainly it was
philosophic conduct for a sheep-farmer to have cast away
his fortune-conduct quite like that of our own philoso-
phers. But then he makes too much parade of his liberty
in his preaching, whereby he shows himself not so much a
lover of wisdom as a lover of fame. A great man is he of
the tempest-tossed ship, and all the goods thrown over-
board, who returned thanks to dame Fortune for reducing
him again to the bare cloak. A great man too is Antis-
thenes, who when he had had his face battered by some
mischievous and impudent fellow, wrote upon his forehead,
like the maker of a statue, the name of the man who had
beaten him—perhaps in order to accuse him more forcibly.
Thou dost also praise a man, a little before our own times,
because he stood still the space of a whole day, praying to the
sun-perhaps after having waited for the luminary to be
nearest to the earth, in order that he might abridge his
devotions, which he concluded with the moment of its
setting; and also that man's standing, at Potidea, in the
winter season during a whole night, engaged in contem-
plation, and not feeling the frost, by reason of his ecstasy;
1 "Strangers must give place to kings as household bread does to
cheese-cakes.”—A quotation from some old play.
2 A good hit, for once, at the rapacity of the Greek sophists (ridiculed
by Libanius himself), who had beset the too liberal Julian.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
43
1
or Homer's zeal for knowledge in the case of the Arcadian
riddle; or Aristotle's philosophy and attention to the
currents of the Euripus, through which puzzles the two
came by their deaths; or the well of Cleanthes," and the
leather strap of Anaxagoras, and the melancholy of
Heraclitus.
73. How many are they who have done all this, and
for how long? Yet thou dost not admire the thousands
and tens of thousands of similar examples on our side, of
persons practising such philosophy during their whole
life, and so to speak, over the whole world; men and
women vying together in continence, and forgetting their
nature only so far as it behoves them to propitiate God
by means of chastity and endurance of hardships, and
these not only common people, accustomed to toil through
their original mean condition, but also persons, once of
high rank and distinguished both for opulence, birth, and
station; who now invent for themselves a life of sufferings,
in imitation of Christ, of whom though there be no talk
(by reason that religion is not placed in talk, and that
"brief is the fruit of lip-wisdom," as is the sentiment of
one of your own poets also), yet more abundant is the
blessedness, and the edification in their actions.
74. But in spite of this, he slighted all these things,
and was bent on one object alone, namely, how to gratify
the demons who had often possessed him, as he well
deserved. Before settling any other of the affairs of state
he rushes upon the Christians," and those two objects
engrossed his whole attention, namely the "Galilæans "
(as he insultingly used to call us), and the Persians, who
-The riddle of the fishermen (louse-catchers), "What we caught we
threw away; what we caught not, we carry with us."
2 Who supported himself by watering gardens at night in order to go
to school by day.
3 By putting a stop to their mutual squabbles, and restoring the
exiled Catholic bishops to their sees.
44
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
obstinately continued the war,' but our affair is much
greater and more important, that he considered the war
with the Persians a mere trifle and child's play. And
this he did not indeed proclaim openly, yet he did not
conceal it; and such was the excess of his infatuation that
he never ceased avowing it to all parties; neither was this
most excellent and sagacious of all sovereigns aware that
by the former persecutions it was but a little thing that
was troubled and upset, inasmuch as our system of religion
had not yet spread over many people, and the Truth was
established in only a few, and stood in need of illustration;
but now that the Word of Salvation was spread abroad,
and prevailed the most in our parts of the world, the
attempt to change or upset the status of the Christians
was no other than to toss about 2 the Roman empire, and
endanger the whole commonwealth, and to suffer at our
own hands what not even our enemies would wish us
worse; and this too from that new-fangled philosophy and
government through which we were made so happy, and
had returned once more to that Golden Age and way of
life so free from all fighting and discord!
75. The government administered with moderation,³ the
lowering of the taxes, the judicious choice of magistrates,
the punishment of peculators, and all the other marks of a
transient and momentary prosperity and illusion were,
forsooth, likely to produce great benefit to the public, and
our ears must needs be dinned with their praises; but popu-
lations and cities torn by faction, families torn asunder,
1 Who, in reality, upon the news of Julian's accession, used every effort
to obtain terms of peace from so formidable an adversary.
2 This looks like an allusion to the joke of the Antiochenes upon his
Bull Apis, "which tossed over the whole empire."
3 μετρίως "carried on within the limits prescribed by law and usage,
without any arbitrary exercise of power;" all this seems implied in the
word. This unwilling confession of an enemy of the existence of all the
essential parts of good government in Julian's system, is worth more
than all the eulogies of Libanius.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
45
households set at variance, marriages dissolved, and all
else that it was natural should follow that mischievous step,
and which really did follow it to a great extent¹ were
these things conducive either to that man's glory, or to
the benefit of the public? and yet who is there either so
warm a partisan of impiety (paganism), or so destitute of
common sense, that he would assent to this? For, as in
the case of the body, if one or two members are diseased,
the rest may possibly endure it without harm, and the
blessing of health be maintained in the entire person
through which even the parts affected may again be set to
rights; but when the greater part is at strife, and full of
bitterness, there is no possibility for the whole to be well,
and such a state of things is manifest danger; in the
same manner in governments it happens that single infir-
mities are covered over by the well-being of the mass;
but when the majority are in a rotten state, there is danger
to the whole. And this I think anyone else, even of
those who hate us most, would have perceived; his bad
temper, however, had darkened his reason, and he goes
on weaving the snares of persecution for small and great
alike.
76. That measure of his was very childish and silly; so
far from being that of a prince, as not even to be worthy
of a person moderately sound of understanding, and this
was his fancying that our subversion would follow upon
his changing of our name, or that he shamed us as though
called by the most opprobrious of titles. He immediately
¹ All these evils being in truth less virulent than those caused by the
sectarian quarrels which had raged under Constantius. In the new
reign whatever annoyances the Christians endured were entirely of
their own seeking, as all the examples quoted by Gregory prove to
demonstration.
2 This argument tells against the pleader; the Christians being as
yet a small minority in the empire their discontent was less dangerous
than that of the Pagans. Gregory has confessed that the whole army
conformed without difficulty to Julian's change of the state religion.
46
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
makes a change in our appellation, naming us Galileans
instead of Christians, and making it law we should so
be styled; proving by the act that the being called after
Christ is a very great thing to one's glory,' and highly
honourable, by the very fact that he plotted how to de-
prive us of the same; being perhaps afraid of that Name, as
are the devils, and for that reason changing it to another
name, something neither customary nor generally known.
77. We, however, will not disturb their names, for we
could not change them into any other name more ridicu-
lous than what they have-their "Phalli " and their
"Ithyphalli," their "Melampygi" and their "Apygi,"
their "Tragopan," and their venerable "Pan” himself,
one god born out of many lovers," and receiving his dis-
grace for his name; for with them it is necessary either
that the one and the most excellent Being should have
sinned against many women, or else that he was the son
of many fathers, and the most vile in his origin. We
therefore will not begrudge them either their doings or
their names, but let them enjoy their own folly, and pride
themselves upon things the most disgraceful, and, should
they wish it, we will leave them their "Bulleater," and
their "Child of three Nights," in order the more to gratify
them; him that was begotten and that begot others so
respectably performing for his thirteenth labour the feat
of the fifty daughters of Thestias in one night, in order
that through such exploits he might be styled a god. For
the Christians (if they chose, that is) had many appella-
tions to fit him selected out of his own stock, and those
more disgraceful and more proper for him than the name
he gave us. For what should have hindered us from
joking in return with the emperor of the Romans (and as
he fancied himself, deluded as he was by his demons, of all
A clever hit of Gregory's, the sharpest in the whole invective.
2 An allusion to the absurd fable that Pan was the fruit of Penelope's
amours with all her suitors.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
47
the world), and styling him "Idolianus," and "Pismas,"
and "Adonæus," and "Ball-burner," as some of the wits
amongst us actually entitled him (inasmuch as this were a
very easy business), and whatever other names history
supplies us with, either to parody or to coin consistently
with truth?
66
78. But the strangest thing of all is that when the
Saviour and Lord of all, the Creator and Ruler of this
lower universe, the Son and Word of the Great Father,
Mediator, High-priest, and Partner of His throne; He,
who for the sake of us that had dishonoured His image,
and had cast it down to the ground, and who knew not
the great mystery of the Union, had not merely come
down into the form of a servant," but had gone up unto
the Cross, carrying with Him my sin, to die there—that
He being called a Samaritan, and what is much worse,
accused of being possessed by a devil, was neither ashamed,
nor reproached those who insulted Him-He to whom it
was an easy thing to avenge himself upon the wicked by
means of the angelic host, and by a single word—but that
He answered those that insulted Him, altogether patiently
and with mildness, and shed tears for those who crucified
Him-a very strange thing it was for him to think that
we would be vexed or ashamed at being so called, or be
slackened in our zeal for the good cause, or would make
more account of his insults than of our own lives and
bodies, which we know how to despise for the Truth's
sake! But this matter which I have mentioned was more
ridiculous than annoying, and we send it back to the stage
-at all events we should never be able to surpass those
who thus joke and are joked at with things of the sort upon
the head.
79. That thing, however, was very bad and ill-natured
in him, when not being able to persuade us openly, and
being ashamed to use force like a tyrant,' he disguised the
1 Τὸ δὲ Βιάζεσθαι τυραννικῶς αισχυνόμενος-by this unguarded ad-
mission the preacher refutes his whole invective.
48
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
foe in the lion's skin, or if you like it better, he disguised
in the mask of Menos, a measure most unjust. What is
the proper name for it? He forced with gentleness. The
rest I shall leave to such as choose to inquire into or to
write about him, as my discourse is hastening to its con-
clusion, since I think that many, to whom it will seem a
pious deed to cast a word at a sinner, will be interested in
what I know not whether to call the tragedy or the comedy
of that season, in order that a fact of such importance, and
by no means deserving of oblivion, may be handed down
to those who come after us. But instead of telling all, I
will mention one or two things as a specimen, for the
benefit of those who so greatly admire his conduct, that
they may be convinced they are endeavouring to praise a
person for whom it is not even possible to find censure
equal to his deserts.
80. It is a royal custom, I know not whether with all
men amongst whom royalty exists, but certainly with the
Romans, and one, too, of those most thought of, that the
reigning princes shall be honoured with public statues.
For the crowns, and the diadems, and the dye of the purple
robe, and the numbered life guards, and the multitude of
subjects do not suffice to establish their sovereignty, but
they must needs have adoration through which they may
appear more awful-and not merely that adoration which
they receive in person, but also that received in their
statues and pictures, in order that the veneration may be
more insatiable and more complete. These portraits
different emperors delight in accompanying with other
representations; some the chief cities of their dominions
offering them gifts, others, Victories holding garlands
over their heads; others, their officials doing homage to
them, and decorated with the insignia of their charges;
others, hunting scenes' and feats of archery; others, bar-
¹ The celebrated "Sapphire of Constantius," which represents him
spearing a wild boar before Cæsarea personified, may with good reason
be supposed a copy of some similar group.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
49
barians overcome, and trampled under foot, or being
slaughtered in a variety of forms; for they love not only
the realities of the actions upon which they pride them-
selves, but also the representations of the same.
This
81. Now what does this man contrive, and what snare
does he set for the former sort of Christians? Like those
who mix poison with food, he mixes his impiety (idolatry)
with the customary honours of the sovereign, and thus
bringing into one the Roman laws and the worship of idols;
he associates his own portraits with the figures of his
demons, pretending that they were some other sort of
customary representations. He exposes these figures to
peoples and to cities, and above all to those in government
of nations, so that he could not miss being in one way or
another mischievous: for either by the honour paid to the
sovereign that to idols was also insinuated, or else by the
shunning of the latter the sovereign himself was insulted,
the worship of the two being mixed up together.
treachery, and so cunningly devised snare of impiety, a
few ¹ indeed escape (of the more cautious and intelligent
sort), but these get punished for their sagacity on the pre-
text that they had offended against the respect due to the
emperor; but, in reality, because they braved the danger
for the sake of their true sovereign and their religion.
But many of the more ignorant and simple sort were
caught in the trap, who, perhaps, deserve pardon for their
ignorance, thus drawn away by stratagem into impiety.
So much for this, which alone were enough to brand with
infamy the policy of an emperor; for we do not hold that
the same conduct is becoming in princes as in private
persons, seeing that the two things are not of the same
importance. For a private individual may be excused for
effecting his object by artifice-for often in those to whom
1
Their fewness proves there was nothing in these representations
calculated to scandalize any but those bent upon discovering pretext for
disaffection.
E
50
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
force is not possible, this way of contrivance must be con-
ceded; but in the case of a sovereign, as it is very dis-
graceful to be overcome by force, so is it, in my opinion,
much more disgraceful and unbecoming to gain his ends
and purpose, like a thief, by means of trickery.
82. Another action of his, which proceeded from the
same motive and policy, but much worse and more impious
in degree, inasmuch as the mischief extended itself to a
greater number of sufferers, is what I shall subjoin to
what has been already told. It was the day of an im-
perial distribution of gifts (either the annual one or ex-
temporized by the emperor at the moment out of malice),
when the soldiery were ordered to attend to be rewarded
according to the merit, or to the rank of such. Again
comes on that ignoble farce; again, that impious comedy!
In order that his cruelty might be painted over with a
certain show of benevolence, and the soldiers' incon-
siderateness and greediness (in which they generally live)
might be caught by the bait of money! Now he sat in
state in all his splendour, splendidly holding festival
against Religion, and priding himself upon the success of
his tricks, like a Melampus, I ween, or a Proteus, being and
becoming all things, and changing his forms with perfect
ease. But what sort of things were those surrounding
him, and what lamentations do they not deserve, not only
from those then present at the scene, but also from those
now receiving that atrocious spectacle through their
ears ?
83. There was placed before him gold, there was placed
before him incense; the fire at hand; the masters of the
ceremonies close by. And the pretext how plausible!
that this was the regular formality of the imperial
donative, that is to say, of the more ancient and honorific
description. What next? Each was obliged to throw
¹ One of the regular insignia of imperial rank was the thuribulum
carried before the Augustas, and the putting incense thereon by
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
51
1
incense upon the fire, and so to receive gold from the
emperor, pay for perdition, small price for so dear a thing
-for entire souls of men, and for sin against God! Alas,
for the bargain! alas, for the bartering! A whole army
to be purchased for one trick! and they that had subdued
the whole world were overthrown by a tiny fire, a gold
coin, and by means of a little incense-smoke; the greater
part of them not even being aware of the sacrifice of
themselves! for this was the most grievous part of the
business: each passed in review with the idea he was to
get something; and did not even keep himself after getting
it! He kissed the emperor's hand, and did not know that
he was kissing his own murderer! And those who did
know it were none the better off; when once involved in
the mischief, and taking for an inviolable law their own
original inadvertence. What myriads of Persians, what
archers, what slingers had effected this! What soldier of
steel, in armour of proof, what battering engines had
brought about what was effected by a single hand, a
single moment, and a vile trick!
84. Shall I join with this a yet more painful sting
than what is told above? It is reported that some of
those thus unwittingly taken in, after they had been thus
treated, and were returned home, they gave an entertain-
ment to their messmates (τοῖς συσσίτοις κοινωνεῖν τραπέζης).
After the meal, when the drinking had advanced as far
as the customary cold draught, they, as though no harm
had happened, invoked the name of Christ over the bowl
containing the liquor, casting their eyes upwards with the
sign of the Cross. Some one of their messmates, won-
all petitioners. Thus Dion notes that Marcia enjoyed all the honours
of an Augusta, except that of the thuribulum (as being the highest of
all, and therefore which even Commodus dared not allow a concubine).
The idolatry in the scene was the invention of mischief-making bigots,
who actually, later, got up a plot for Julian's assassination.
1
¹ A sufficient proof that the honour was paid to the emperor alone, in
accordance with the ancient ceremonial.
52
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
""
dering at it, said: "What means this? Do ye mention
Christ, after renouncing Him?" "How have we re-
nounced Him?" reply they, half dead with fright, "and
what is this strange news we hear? On his reply,
"You have thrown incense on the fire," and informing
them that was the renunciation,' they immediately, leap-
ing up from the banquet like men out of their senses and
frantic, boiling with zeal and fury, they rushed through
the grand square, shouting out and calling, "We are
Christians! Christians in our souls! Let every man
hear it, and God above all, unto Whom we live and will
die! We have not been false to Thee, O Saviour Christ;
we have not denied the blessed Confession; if the hand
has erred at all, the conscience has not gone with it.
We have been cunningly entrapped by the Emperor, we
have not turned traitors for gold. We cast off the im-
piety; we cleanse ourselves with our blood.”
Then run-
ning up to the Emperor, they cried out very boldly, “We
have not received gifts, O Emperor, but have been con-
demned to death; we have not been summoned for honour,
but have been sentenced to disgrace. Grant a favour to
thy own soldiers: sacrifice us to Christ, of Whom alone
we are the subjects: give us fire instead of the fire;
make ashes of us instead of those ashes: cut off the
hands which we so wickedly extended; the feet with
which we so wickedly ran. Honour with thy gold others
that will not repent of having taken it; Christ suffices us,
Whom we have in the place of all things." Saying these
words all with one voice, they also exhorted the rest to
understand the fraud, to recover from their intoxication,
to make excuse to Christ with their blood. The Em-
peror was exasperated at this, but avoided putting them
to death openly, that he might not make martyrs out of
1 The burning incense to Jupiter had been the appointed test of con-
formity to paganism in Diocletian's persecution. The instigators to
rebellion availed themselves of this fact, keeping out of sight the essen-
tial difference of the two ceremonies.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
53
them they who, as far as depended on themselves at
least, were true martyrs; he sentenced them to banish-
ment,¹ and so took his revenge on them, thereby con-
ferring on them the greatest benefit, that they should be
stationed at a distance from his abominations and his
stratagems.
85. And yet, although he followed such a course, and
exhibited his malevolence in many things, he did not
constantly keep to the same design, because his mind had
no stability, but depended entirely on the inspiration of
the demon; neither did he keep the secret of his wicked-
ness, but, as the story goes, like as the fire of Etna
slumbers within the recesses of the mountain, swelling
like a flood from below, and violently compressed (whether
it be something else, or the panting of the Giant in
torment), for a while it utters a suppressed but fearful
sound, and belches out from its summit smoke, a token of
the mischief going on within; but if it should be super-
abundant, and grow irrepressible, bursting forth from its
proper bosom, rushing upwards, and pouring over the
edges of the crater, it devastates parts of the subjacent
land with its treacherous and fearful stream ;—in just
such a manner you might have found him keeping him-
self under restraint, and attacking our community with
the deceitfulness of his sophistical creed; but whenever
the unruliness of his rage overflowed, then was he no
longer able to conceal his malice, but carried on the per-
secution without disguise against our divine and pious
band.
86. To pass over his edicts against the sacred edifices,
both such as were publicly set forth and such as were
privately executed; his confiscation of offerings and reve-
nues, not so much out of impiety as avarice; his robbery
of consecrated vessels, insulted by profane hands, and
"oрía πараdóvra. No stronger proof is needed of Julian's tolerance
than this so inadequate punishment for their mutinous and insolent
behaviour.
1
54
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
those who, on account of these vessels, were brought to
judgment and put to the torture, priests and their flock,
and the columns besmeared with blood, surrounded and
girded by their hands whilst they were lacerated with the
scourges; and the archers running about through towns
and villages, yet more cruel and more fierce than he who
had commanded this, in order that, instead of Persians and
Scythians and the other barbarians, they might subduc
us;-to say nothing of all this, who does not know of the
cruelty of the Alexandrians, who, besides the many other
atrocities they committed against us, taking immoderate
advantage of the occasion, being a population by nature
factious and furious, are reported to have added this also
to their impious deeds, that they filled our sacred edifice
with blood, alike that of sacrificed boasts and murdered
men; and to have done this under the direction of a
certain person amongst the Emperor's philosophers, only
celebrated for deeds of the sort. Who is ignorant of the
tumult of the Heliopolitans? Who, of the mad behaviour
of the people of Gaza-those that were praised and re-
warded by that man because they had properly appre-
ciated his magnificence? Who has not heard of the in-
sanity of the Arethusians, a place previously unknown,
but ever since that time only too notorious? for it is not
only distinguished conduct that renders people famous,
but also any wickedness that surpasses other people's
reputation for evil.
87. They are said-for I must relate one fact out of
many, a thing to cause a shudder even in those without
God!-to have seized consecrated virgins, superior to the
world, and unpolluted almost by even the eyes of males,
and brought them out into their midst, stripping them of
their clothes in order to abase them first by the expo-
sure, then ripping them up and cutting them open (O
Christ, how can I put up with Thy longsuffering on this
occasion!). Some feasted on them abominably with their
own teeth, in a way worthy of their evil genius; gorged
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
55
themselves with their raw livers; and after that repast,
took another of the usual and lawful kind; whilst others,
sprinkling the yet panting entrails with swine's food, and
letting in the fiercer sort of swine, exhibited a show-and
what a show!—to behold the flesh eaten up, and chewed
together with the barley-a food not to be approached,
and then for the first time seen, or even heard of!' With
which to feed his own demons only did the contriver of
such scenes deserve, as in truth he did feed them right
well with that blood and that wound which he received in
his own entrails, even though those wretched men, not
even possessed of common sense by reason of their im-
piety, may continue blind to the fact.
88. But as to the affair of Marcus-that admirable man
—and of the Arethusians, who is there so much out of our
world as to be ignorant of it, and not anticipate the nar-
rator with the story? This man, in the time of the excel-
lent Constantius, having, under the authority then granted
to the Christians, pulled down a certain habitation of
demons, and turned many Christians from the error of
heathenism unto salvation, no less by the sanctity of his
life than through the power of his preaching, had long
been an object of hatred to the Arethusians, or rather to
the devil-worshippers among the Arethusians. But when
the power of the Christians was shaken, and that of the
heathen began to revive, Marcus did not escape the
tyranny of the times; for the mob, although it may keep
under its passions for the present, like a fire smouldering
amongst sticks, or a torrent strongly dammed up, is wont,
when it gets an opportunity, to blaze up and burst forth.
Seeing, therefore, the commotion of the people against
¹ These horrible displays of popular fury prove the cruelty with
which the party using such retaliation had been treated during the
preceding reign. La Bléterie cannot deny this, but ingeniously shifts
the blame upon the Arians, whom he calls a sanguinary and perse-
cuting sect. But Gregory's tone throughout shows that he only lacked
the power, not the will, to follow their mode of dealing with the pagans.
56
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
J
him, who were intending and threatening extreme mea-
sures, at first he meditates making his escape, not so
much out of cowardice, as on account of the command-
ment bidding one to flee from one city to another city,
and give way unto the persecutors; seeing that it behoves
people, being Christians, to have regard, not merely to
what concerns themselves (even though they be very
courageous, and full of fortitude), but likewise even to
spare their persecutors, so that the share in the business,
at least, belonging to themselves, shall not contribute to
the danger of their enemies. But when many persons
were seized and pulled about on his account, and were
even in danger of their souls by reason of the cruelty of
the persecutors,' he would not suffer others to be imperilled
for his individual security; and therefore he forms a reso-
lution at once most virtuous and most philosophic. He
returns from flight, comes and surrenders himself to the
mob to treat as they please, and boldly faces the hostility
of the times. On that occasion what horror was wanting?
What new cruelty not invented? Whilst his assailants
each contributed a different thing to the concert of the
one wickedness, and did not respect, if nothing else, the
philosophic behaviour of their victim. Nay, they were the
more exasperated on that account, and interpreted his
giving himself up as contempt for themselves, and not as
courage to face dangers.
89. The aged priest was led in triumph through the
city, a voluntary champion of the faith, venerable for his
age, yet more venerable for his dignity, except in the eyes
of his persecutors and tyrants! He was led along by
every age and condition, with no exception, alike by men
and women, old and young, by all who held public offices,
and by all people of rank. All had but one object of
On the point of renouncing Christianity through their alarm.
2 A sufficient evidence of the tyrannical manner in which he had
exercised the authority granted to him by the "excellent Constantius."
The "habitation of devils" demolished by him, was a time-honoured
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
57
emulation, how to surpass cach other in atrocity towards
the aged man; and it was considered by them a pious
deed to do the most mischief, and to conquer the ancient
champion who was fighting against the whole town. He
was dragged through the streets, he was thrust into the
sewers, he was pulled by the hairs, not only of the head,
but of every part of the body without exception, shame
being mingled with torment, at the hands of people who.
deservedly are thus tortured in the rites of Mithras,' he was
tossed in the air from one set of school-boys to another,
who caught that noble body on the points of their writing-
styles, and made a game out of a tragedy: he had his legs
squeezed with slip-knots to the very bones, he had his
ears cut through with twine, and that of the thinnest and
sharpest sort, hoisted on high in a hamper, smeared over
with honey and pickle, he was lacerated by bees and
wasps at noon-day, when the sun was darting his flames,
and melting away the flesh of the victim, but making his
assailant get more fierce in the devouring of that happy
flesh, for I cannot call it wretched. In that situation it is
2
said, that-let this also be deemed worthy of record—that
this old man, youthful and bold to face his trials (for his
cheerfulness never deserted him amidst these horrors, but
on the contrary he exulted in his torments), uttered that
memorable and often quoted expression "that he approved
of the omen, beholding himself raised on high, and them
humbled and lying below him." So greatly was he
superior to those that had him in their power, and so
much was he beyond the reach of their vexations, as
temple, dear to the whole population-nevertheless, he would have been
allowed to compound for his former bigotry by the payment of a
noininal fine-moderation hardly to be expected in the case of mob-law.
1 This, therefore, must have formed part of the "Twelve Tortures”
-a curious revelation.
The preacher is incorrect in his entomology in his zeal to heighten
the picture; bees and wasps neither bite, nor would be attracted by
such bait—the flesh-flies were quite sufficient for the occasion.
58
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
though he were present at the danger of another, and
considered the whole scene as a triumph, not a calamity.
90. And yet what man, even in the smallest degree
equitable and humane, would not have respected his
behaviour? But the times did not allow of it, neither
did the zeal of the emperor' that exacted cruelty from
mobs, cities, and magistrates, even whilst he pretended
the contrary to such as did not understand the depth of
his malice. Such was the treatment of this intrepid old
man-and what for? That he might not throw away a
single piece of gold upon his tormentors, in order that it
might be clear that he was enduring all this on account
of religion. For as long as the other party made the com-
pensation for the temple (he had pulled down) very
heavy and demanded from him the amount in full, or else
required him to rebuild the temple at his own cost, it was
thought that the impossibility of the demand, and not his
religious scruples, was the reason for his obstinacy.
when he got the better of them by his fortitude, and con-
tinually made them subtract something from the valua-
tion, he at the end reduced it so far that the sum demanded
was extremely small, and very easy for him to pay. And
there was equal emulation on both sides-the one party
to gain their point by receiving ever so little, the other,
not to be subdued into paying anything at all, although
there were many eager to contribute even a larger amount,
not merely from piety, but on account of the firmness and
fortitude of the individual. On that occasion he showed
that he was carrying on the contest, not for the sake of
the money, but for his religion.
But
91. Are these things then evidences of good nature
and clemency, or the reverse, marks of audacity and
cruelty? Let these tell us who admire the prince-philoso-
pher. For my part I fancy no one in the world will be
1 Who was perfectly innocent of this treatment of Marcus, which
was the spontaneous act of his fellow-citizens.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
59
1
at a loss for the proper and true answer, and I have not
yet added that amongst those who saved the villain when
his whole family was in danger, and carried him off by
stealth, this Marcus was one; for which deed alone he
justly, perhaps, suffered this treatment, nay, was deserving
of suffering even worse, because he had unwittingly pre-
served such a pest to the whole world! It is reported
that the then Præfect2 (for he was a person, though a
heathen in religion, yet superior to all the heathen, both
those of old and those of reputation in the present day)
spoke thus with boldness to the emperor, because he
could not consent to the varied tortures inflicted on the
old man, and his fortitude under them: "Are we not
ashamed, Sire, to be so much beaten by all Christians as
to be unable to get the better of a single old man, that
has undergone every kind of torture? And when the
subduing of him is no great triumph, is it not the extreme
of ill-luck to come away beaten by him? And thus, as
it seems, subordinates were ashamed of the very conduct
that emperors gloried in. Than this what could happen
more distressing for the actors than for the sufferers?
Such was the affair of the Arethusians, and so conducted
-so that the cruelty of Echetos³ and of Phalaris was a
trifle compared to the barbarity of those people, or rather
of him that stimulated and brought about these atrocities
-for from the seed come the plants, and from the gale
come the wrecks.
92. The rest of my tale, of what a kind, and how
extensive is it! Would that someone would give me the
leisure and the eloquence of Herodotus and Thucydides, that
I may fitly deliver down to all time to come the wicked-
ness of that man, and that the stories of that period may
¹ Curious morality-to make a person responsible for all the future
consequences of a virtuous action!
2 Probably Sallustius Secundus.
3 The savage tyrant to whom the Suitors threaten to ship off Ulysses.
60
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
be posted up for those who come after us! I will say
nothing about the Orontes and the nightly murders which
the Orontes concealed at the emperor's command, its
stream choked with corpses, and slaying without making
a show; for here it would be more to the purpose to
quote the lines of the "Iliad." I will hurry over the
vaults and recesses of his place, and all that there was in
the cisterns, in the wells, and in the conduits,' crammed
as they were with wicked stores and mysteries-not only
of boys and maidens cut into pieces for the purpose of
raising ghosts, for divination, and for unlawful sacrifices,
but also of persons who had perished for their religion.
Let us put down all this to the account of those of whom
even he was ashamed-in this at least acting rightly, for
he showed by the attempt to conceal it that the abomina-
tion was not a seemly thing to be made public. The
affair, however, of our friends at Cæsarea, those that were
so immoderate and hot in the zeal for religion, and were
so harassed and insulted by him on that account, it is
perhaps not reasonable to blame him for, as he appeared
to be rightly exasperated on account of Dame Fortune's
having come to grief in the moment of his good fortune—
since we must make some allowance even to unrighteous-
ness when it is in power.
93. But who is ignorant of the story how that when a
certain mob was running mad against the Christians, and
had already committed great slaughter, and was threaten-
ing a great deal more, the governor of that province,
}
"Wells, cisterns, conduits "—the very last places for the concealment
of murdered persons. And all these scenes passing under the eyes of
Julian's body-guard, many of whom in high command, as Jovian
Valentinian, and were steady Christians. But it was a common trick
of the monks to hide human bones in temples, and then point them out
as evidences of human sacrifice. A notorious example is that of the
Mithræum at Alexandria. Nothing is more likely than that the same
stratagem was practised in Julian's palace at Antioch by some zealot.
A single bone would suffice to build all Gregory's declamation on.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
61
steering a middle course between the temper of the times
and the law (for he thought himself obliged to serve the
former, but at the same time had a tolerable respect for
the latter), he executed many of the Christians, but
punished a very few of the heathen. Thereupon, being
summoned before the emperor, on such charge brought
against him, he was cashiered, arrested,¹ and tried on
this charge. He put forward in his defence the laws in
accordance with which he had been entrusted with the
administration of justice-he narrowly escaped being sen-
tenced to death; at last, however, he met with indulgence,
and was condemned to exile." And how admirable and
humane was the speech, when that upright judge, that
non-persecutor of the Christians, said: "What great matter
is it if a single Grecian hand has despatched ten Gali-
læans!" Was not this undisguised savageness? Was
not this an edict of persecution infinitely more precise in
terms, and more terrible than those publicly posted up?
For what difference is there between enacting penalties
for the Christians and showing oneself pleased with those
that persecuted the Christians, and making a heavy
charge out of one's acting impartially? For the will of a
prince is an unwritten law, being backed by might, and one
of far greater force than the written laws that be not
supported by authority.
3
94. "Not so," say those who venerate his memory, and
are making up for us this "new god," this "sweet-
tempered, philanthropic personage," and this because he
proclaimed, “Let not the Christians be persecuted, but
let them suffer whatever their persecutors think fit," in
such manner clearing him from the charge of persecution.
}
ανάρπαστος,
áváρπασтоç, “arrested and brought up before Julian," seems all
implied in the word.
2 Not, however, on account of the execution of these pagans, but for
remissness in not checking the sedition before it broke out into civil war.
3 Eλŋ had now got the double sense of " Grecian" and "pagan.”
62
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
And yet no one ever thought the Hydra gentle because it
raised aloft nine heads instead of a single one (if it be
right to believe the fable); nor yet the Chimera of Patara,
because it had three, and those of different kinds, to make
it as formidable as possible; or Cerberus in Hell, because
he has three also, and all alike; or the sea-monster, Scylla,
because she has six round about her, and those greatly to
be shunned; and yet they say her upper parts are fair,
gentle, and not unpleasing to the view, for so far she was
a young woman, having some share of the same nature
with ourselves; but from thence downwards the canine
and bestial heads were there for no good, seizing upon
whole fleets at once, and differing nought in point of
dangerousness from the Charybdis on the opposite side.
Or dost thou upbraid the shafts and the stones of archers
and slingers, and not the men that sling and shoot them ?
Or again, the hounds of the hunters, and the drugs of the
poisoners, and the horns and the claws of butting bulls and
of tearing beasts? And shall those who employ these
instruments stand out of it and get no part of the blame
for the atrocities these instruments commit? Such con-
duct shows great want of reason, and truly needs a sophist
to defend his own crimes, and by the power of his eloquence
to disguise the truth. But it is impossible that he shall
disguise himself, though he turn himself into many shapes,
and become of all kinds by means of his devices; even
though he should put on the "Helmet of Pluto," as the
saying is, or the Ring of Gyges, and by using the turning
of the beasil steal himself away. On the contrary, the
more he attempts to escape and to turn himself away,
so much the more is he convicted before Truth, who sits
in judgment (and before persons of any intelligence in these
matters), of both doing and attempting things that not
even he would be able to defend as justly done: so easily
convicted is wickedness, and on all sides inconsistent with
itself.
95. And it is not that the things he was already doing
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
63
were of such a nature as I have described, and so far removed
from the generosity and dignity of a sovereign, whilst those
he was intending were more clement and more worthy of an
emperor; it would have been a very good job if they did not
prove far more inhuman than the actions already stated.
For as when a great serpent moves along some of its scales
stand up on end, others half way, others are about to be
similarly erected, whilst it cannot but be that the rest will
in their turn be set in motion, even though at the moment
they appear motionless; or, if you like the simile better,
as in a thunderstorm, part is already come down, part is
blackening overhead, until this too shall come down when
the mischief acquires the force sufficient. In the same way
was it with him too-part of his wickedness had been
already committed, part was being sketched out by his
hopes and his threats against us. And these measures
were so preposterous and out of the common course, as to
be due to his invention exclusively, both as to the plan-
ning of them and the wish to put them into execution,
although there had been before him many persecutors of
the Christians.
96. For things of which Diocletian never dreamed (he
that first wantonly attacked the Christians); nor yet
Maximian, who followed and went beyond him; nor yet
Maximin (Daza), who came after them, and surpassed both
as a persecutor, the signs of whose chastizement for this
crime his statues, exposed in public, yet display, and publish
for his infamy the mutilation of his body. These things
was he meditating, as the sharers in his secrets (and
betrayers of them attest) declare. But he was held back
by the hand of God, and by the tears of the Christians-
many of which, indeed, were shed, and by many who had
no other remedy against the persecutor. This plan of his
1
1 These expressions indicate that Maximin's statues were not destroyed
upon his downfall (according to the regular custom of the times,
"descendunt statuæ restemque sequuntur "), but were left mutilated, as
objects of public scorn.
64
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
was to deprive the Christians of all freedom of speech, to
exclude them from all meetings, markets, and public
assemblies, nay, even from the law-courts; for that no one
should be allowed to participate in all these who did not
first burn incense upon altars set there for the purpose,
and pay to him a mighty price, and that for so great a
favour! Oh! ye laws, lawgivers, and sovereigns, that,
like the beauty of the sky, the light of the sun, the diffusion
of the air, are ordained for a common and impartial blessing
unto all, in like manner ordaining for all free men the
benefit of the laws, equally and for the same price, of
which he was plotting how to deprive the Christians. So
that neither would it be allowed them, when tyrannically
used, to obtain redress; nor if defrauded in their money
matters, or ill-treated in any way less or more, to be
helped by the laws; but that they should be banished
from their own country, be slain, and almost excluded
from things inanimate! Actions these that brought to the
sufferers greater zeal for the good cause, and freedom of
speech towards God, but upon those that committed them
the more criminality and dishonour!
97. And how very clever was the argument of him.
that was at once executioner and sovereign, law-breaker,
and law-maker; or, to speak more correctly, rather
"enemy and avenger," according to our way of speaking.
"That it was part of our religion neither to resist injury
nor to go to law, nor to possess anything at all, nor to con-
sider anything one's own, but to live in the other world,
and to despise things present as though they were not;
neither is it lawful for anyone to return evil for evil, but
when they are smitten on the one cheek to turn the other
also to the smiter, and to be stripped of the coat after the
cloak ;" and perhaps he will add, "ought to pray for those
that injured them, and wish well to their persecutors."
'Tis very true he could not help knowing all this-he that
once was a Reader of the divine oracles, was a candidate
for the honour of the great pulpit, and used to glorify
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
65
the Martyrs by the gift of churches and of consecrated
lands !
98. In which place I am first astonished that the man
so accurately acquainted with all this, had not observed,
or else had purposely overlooked that text, "The wicked
man shall perish in an evil way, and so shall everyone that
denieth God;" nay (what is going further than this),
whilst he was plaguing such as stood fast in their confes-
sion, and was entangling them in such troubles as he
himself richly deserved to fall into. If, therefore, accord-
ing to the rule he prescribes, "that we must be such as
above described, and abide within the limits defined," he is
able to prove that fact¹-then judgment is passed on him
that he is the worse of the two, or else that this conduct is
well-pleasing to his own gods; and inasmuch as habits are
divided into two kinds (I mean Virtue and Vice), he
proves that the better part is set apart for us, the worse
cast contemptuously to his side. Let him allow this, and
then we shall gain our cause by the testimony of our
adversaries and those prosecuting us. But if they make
any pretence to generosity and clemency, in speech at
least if not in action, and are not so devoid of shame (even
though they be very wicked and delight in evil gods) as
to assert that Vice, like one of two snares, belongs to
them-let them show in that case how and where it is just
that we when wronged shall endure it patiently, whilst
they should not spare us who spare them? View the
matter in this way: seasons of power have come to us as
well as to you, revolving and changing from one side to
the other. What has ever happened to your party from
the Christians of the kind that has often happened to the
Christians from your party? Of what liberty of speech
have we debarred you? Against whom have we stirred
"Of the Christian's non-resistance to injury, contempt of the world,"
&c. Gregory, clearly unable to meet the unanswerable logic of Julian's
quotations, takes refuge in a cloud of involved quibbles, the purport of
which can hardly be discerned.
F
66
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
•
up furious mobs, or officials going far beyond their instruc-
tions? Whom have we brought into peril of his life, or
rather, whom have we expelled from their offices and
honours that belong by right to the best men ? And to
sum up all, upon whom have we inflicted anything like
what has often been perpetrated by your side, and often
been threatened? Not even yourselves can say this, you
who cast in our teeth our own gentleness and humanity.¹
99. And then how comes it that thou dost not consider
this circumstance, thou wisest and most knowing of
men, thou that confinest the Christians within the strictest
limit of virtue, that in our code of laws 2 some rules carry
with them the necessity of obedience to their injunctions;
and which, if not observed, punishment follows; whereas
others do not carry with them obligation, but voluntary
obedience; whilst for such as do not observe them, no pun-
ishment whatever follows. Now if it were possible for all
to be very good, and attain to the extreme point of virtue,
this certainly would be best and most perfect: and since
things divine are distinct from things human, and whilst
the former have in themselves all that is good, it is a
great thing if the latter attain even to mediocrity-what
is the meaning of thy prescribing rules that are not meant
for all, or else that they are condemned who do not keep
them; just as though those not deserving of capital pun-
1 The penal laws of Constantius and Constans are sufficient answer to
this boasting of a tolerance that sprung out of want of power, not want
of will to persecute. Take for example those enacted a few years pre-
viously: "Pœna capitis subjugari præcipimus eos quos operam sacri-
ficiis dare, et colere simulacra constiterit."-Dat. XI. Kal. Mart. Med.
Constantio A. VII., et Juliano Cæs. Coss. (A.D. 356.)
"Cesset super-
stitio, sacrificiorum aboleatur insania; nam quicunque contra legem
Divi Principio, parentis Nostri, et hanc Nostrae Mansuetuinis jussiorum
ausus fuerit sacrificia celebrare, competens in eum vindicta, et præsens
sententia cxseratur."-Acc. Marcellino et Probiano Coss. (A.D. 341.)
2 The doctrine of "Commandments" and "Counsels of Perfection,"
a most convenient subterfuge for evading all inconvenient rules in a
religious system.
1
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
67
ishment were ipso facto deserving of commendation: and,
on the other hand, those not worthy of commendation
deserved capital punishment; but rather the right thing
is so long as we remain within the limits of our own system
and of human capability, then to demand of us correctness
of conduct.
100. But I must carry back my words to the subject of
words; for I cannot help returning to this point, and
must endeavour to the best of my ability to advocate their
cause for though there are many and weighty reasons
why that person deserves to be detested, yet in no case
will he be shown to have acted more illegally than in this:
and let everyone share in my indignation who takes a
pleasure in words,' and is addicted to this pursuit-of
which number I will not deny that I am one: all other
things I have left to those who like them, riches, nobility,
glory, power, which are of the lower world, and give
delights fleeting like a dream. Words alone I cleave to,
and I do not begrudge the toils by land and sea that have
supplied me with them. May mine be the possession of
words, and his, too, whoever loves me, which possession
I embraced, and still embrace, first of all after the things
that be first of all-I mean Religion and the Hope beyond
the visible world—so that if, according to Pindar, what
is one's own weighs heavily," speech in their defence is
incumbent upon me; and it is especially just for me,
perhaps more than anyone else, to express my gratitude
to words for words by word of mouth.
66
101. How did it come into thy head, thou silliest and
greediest of mortals, to deprive the Christians of words?
(For this was not one of the measures threatened only,
but of those actually enforced.) Whence came the idea,
and for what cause? What "oracular Hermes, as thou
1
Xóyoɩ in the sense of "literature," or in modern phrase "books.”
Now follows a string of miserable puns upon the various meanings
of λόγος, as Reason," "Speech," &c., impossible to preserve in the
translation.
68
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
wouldst call him, put this notion into thy head? What
Telchines did it, those mischievous and envious demons?
If thou pleasest we will assign the reason: it was fated
that thou for attempting so many things contrary to law,
shouldest finally be brought down to this, and publicly
be inconsistent with thyself: that in the very thing, on
which thou most didst pride thyself, in this thou shouldest
unconsciously disgrace thyself, and receive the more
painful condemnation. Answer, pray, what does thy
decree mean, and what is the reason of this innovation
with respect to words? And if thou canst show any just
cause, we shall indeed be vexed, yet we will not blame
thee; for as we have learnt how to conquer with reason
on our side, so have we also been taught how to be beaten
fairly.
102. "Ours" (says he)" are the words and the speaking
of Greek, whose right it is to worship the gods; yours
are the want of words,' and clownishness, and nothing
beyond the faith in your own doctrine." At this, those I
fancy will not laugh, who follow the sect of Pythagoras
amongst you, with whom the "autòs pa" is the first and
greatest of articles of faith; and preferable to the "Golden
(perhaps Leaden) Words." For after that preliminary and
much celebrated training of Silence of such as were initiated
into his doctrine (in order that they might be trained in
bridling speech by dint of holding their tongues), it was the
rule, 'tis said, that when questioned about any one of his
tenets, they replied in explanation, when the reason was
asked, that it had been so decreed by Pythagoras himself:
and that the reason of the doctrine was what had come into
that sage's head, without proof, and unquestioned. Thus
your "He said so" comes to the same thing with our
Believe," but in other syllables and terms, although you
never give over ridiculing and abusing the latter. For our
saying means that it is not allowable to disbelieve things
((
1
¹áλoyía, implying also want of reason, want of education, &c.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
689
said by divinely-inspired persons, but that the proof of
the Word is their trustworthiness, a thing more convincing
than any logical argument or defence.
And how must
Let me define
103. However, allow this part of our notions to be
worthy of ridicule: in what way wilt thou prove that
words concern thee? Nay, if they be thine, how canst
thou show that we have no part in them, according to
thy legislation and unreasonableness? Whose property
are the words of the Greek language?
that language be spoken and conceived?
the meaning of the term to thee, O thou man that busiest
thyself about synonyms, and meanings, and things of
different signification under one name, or the same under
different names, and so forth-for thou must either assert
that they belong to the religion, or else to the nation which
first invented the meaning of the language. If speaking
Greek belongs to the religion, pray show where it is the
rule, and amongst what sort of priests (like particular
sorts of sacrifices), and in honour of what kind of diction?
Since all nations have not the same doctrines, nor any
single one the sole possession of them; nor yet the same
ceremonial, as it is laid down by your own sacred inter-
preters and directors of sacrifice. For in some places,
with the Sindians for instance, it is a religious action to
curse the "Bull-eater," and this is a way of doing honour
to the god, namely, the reviling of him; or with the Tauri
to sacrifice strangers; or with the Saconeans to be flogged
upon the altar; or with the Phrygians to castrate them-
selves when fascinated by the sound of the fife, and emas-
culated by force of dancing: or amongst others, to abuse
boys, or to prostitute oneself; and whatever else belongs
to the different Mysteries, not to mention them one by
one: in the same manner, for whom of the gods or demons
dost thou pretend that speaking Greek is reserved? And
yet even though such were the case, it is not even then
made out that this tongue is Heathen property, nor that
it is the common good set apart for any one of your gods
70
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
or demons, in the same way as the custom is to sacrifice
many other common things.
104. But if thou wilt not pretend thus much, and yet
will lay claim to the language, and the property of your
side, and consequently shut us out of it, as from an estate
descended to you by right of inheritance, with which we
have no concern-in the first place I do not see what are
thy reasons, nor how thou wilt make good this claim for
thy demons. For it does not follow that, if we have
agreed that such as are Greeks in tongue and in religion
are the same people, then, as a matter of course, the words
belong to the religion, and we are reasonably pronounced
to be excluded from the use of them. This inference, at
least, is judged by your own grammarians as illogical,
since it does not follow that because the two things have
to do with one and the same, that they necessarily are both
identical with each other. Or, put the case in this way,
if we suppose the same person to be both a goldsmith and
a painter, will "goldsmith's work" be changed into
"painting," or "painting" into "goldsmith's work?
Such arguments are mere waste of time.
>>
105. In the next place, I will ask thee, thou philhellene
and philologian, whether it is thy intention to debar us
entirely from speaking Greek—for instance, from this
kind of ordinary and prose expressions, of vulgar use, or
merely from the polished and transcendental style, as not
allowable to be approached by any others than persons of
superior education ? If the latter, what loss is it to us if
such words as σμερδαλέον, οι καναβίζειν, οι μῶν, οι δήπουθεν,
οι ἅττα, οι ὁμωςγέπως, be accounted as belonging to the
select language, and all the rest be thrown to the mob,
as were bastards of old into the Cynosarges? But if
what is commonplace and plain be also a part of speaking
Greek, why do ye not exclude us from this also; or, in
short, from the Greek tongue altogether, of whatever
kind, or in whatever condition it be? Such a course
would be the more humane, and put the finishing-stroke
to your own barbarism.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
71
1
106. The case stands thus (let me philosophize to thee
in a more exalted and refined manner): If there are cer-
tain sounds issuing from the vocal organs, diffusing them-
selves through the air, and penetrating into the ears,
superior to our own, and more expressive; for I laugh at
your majestic terms, the "Moly," the "Xanthus," and
the "Chalces,' or whether they (the gods) converse with
one another by means of bare thoughts and ideas, it is
not our part to determine; but what is our part is this-
that a language is not the property of those that invented
it, but of those who share in the same; neither is there
any art or occupation, of whatsoever sort thou mayest
think of, which is not subject to this rule; but just as in
a skilfully-composed and musical harmony there is a dif
ferent sound of each different string, either high or low,²
yet all belong to one tuner and performer, contributing
together to the single beauty of the tune, in the same
way, also, the artist and creator, Speech, has appointed a
different word for the inventor of each different art or
occupation, and has exposed them all alike for public use,
coupling together human society by the ties of mutual com-
munication and kindness, and rendering it more gentle.
2
107. Is speaking Greek thy exclusive right? Pray tell
me, are not the letters of the alphabet the invention of
the Phoenicians, or, as others say, of the Egyptians, or of
those yet wiser than they, the Hebrews-if they believe
that the Law was engraved by God upon divinely in-
scribed tables of stone? Is the Attic language thy right?
To calculate sums, and to count, to reckon on the fingers
weights and measures, and, before all these, tactics and
military rules, to whom do they belong? Do they not to
the Euboeans, since Palamedes was an Eubœan—that in-
ventor of many things, and thereby becoming an object
of jealousy, and having to pay the penalty of his clever-
1 Words said by Homer to belong to the language of the gods.
2 Literally, "stretched or slackened."
72
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
ness, condemned to death by those who fought against
Troy? What, pray, if Egyptians, Phoenicians, and
Hebrews are those whom we employ in common for our
own education-supposing the natives of Euboea should
make a claim (according to the rule thou hast laid down)
for the things specially belonging to themselves, what in
the world shall we do? And what defence shall we offer
to them when convicted by laws of our own making? Surely
there is no help for it, we must be dispossessed of these
things, and suffer the fate of the jackdaw, stripped bare,
divested of our borrowed plumes, and made objects of
ridicule.
108. Are pocms thine by right? Do they not rather
belong to that old lady who, being bumped on the shoulder
by someone that was running violently in the opposite
direction, as the story goes, in reviling the vehemence of
his haste, gave utterance to an epic verse? And this
same verse having greatly taken the young man's fancy,
and been more carefully reduced to metre, created thy
poetry, so greatly admired. And what of the rest? If
thou pridest thyself so much upon arms, from whom dost
thou get arms, my noble sir? Is it not from the Cyclops,
the inventors of forging metal? And if a great thing
in thy estimation-nay, the greatest of all that are—is
that imperial purple, in virtue of which thou art a wise
man and a lawgiver (of this sort), must not thou take it
off and return it to the Tyreans, to whom belongs the
sheep-keeping bitch that having fed upon the shell-fish,
and stained her lips, thereby made the dye known to the
shepherd, and bestowed upon you sovereigns the proud
rag so full of woe unto the wicked! And husbandry and
shipbuilding-what shall we say if the Athenians debar
us from them, when they tell about their Ceres and their
Triptolemus, and the Dragons, and Celeus, and Icarius,
and the whole stock of legends concerning them, which
have turned them into an infamous Mystery, one truly
worthy of the night?
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
73
109. Dost thou wish me to ascend to the main article
in thy madness, or rather infatuation? Whence come the
very practice of initiating and being initiated, and reli-
gious ceremony? Do not they all proceed from the
Thracians? Let the very appellation (gnonɛÚɛI) con-
vince thee. As for sacrificing victims, does not that
come from the Assyrians, or perhaps the Cyprians; the
observation of the stars from the Chaldeans, the art of
land-measuring from the Egyptians? Is not the science
of magic a Persian invention ? The interpretation of
dreams, from whom else dost thou hear it but from the
Telmessians? And augury, from whom else than the
Phrygians, the first men to study the flying of birds and
their various motions? And not to draw out the subject
too far, whence dost thou get each single part? Is it not
one part from each separate source? but out of all coming
together into the same, there has grown up a single mys-
tery of superstitious worship. What follows then must
we submit, when everything has thus reverted to the first
inventors, to possess nothing of our own but vice and
this new-fangled rule as regards the Deity? For thou
art the first of the Christians that hast plotted rebellion
against thy Master, just as the slaves did against the
Scythians, as history tells us; and it had been a very
good thing if thy wicked band also had been dispersed
according to thy own' Scythian rulers and laws, in which
case we had been delivered from troubles, and it would
have been our lot to view the Roman realm in the enjoy-
ment of its ancient happiness, and exempted from all in-
testine discord—a thing that is more to be shunned and
dreaded than any war of foreigners, by so much as the
:
σong, which makes a very weak sense, looks much like a corruption
of Σkvetovç, in allusion to the mode in which the Scythians put down
the slaves' revolt by the application of the horsewhip, according to Hero-
dotus. Nazianzen politely suggests that such would have been the best
cure for Julian at the hands of his cousin.
74
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
devouring of one's own flesh is more to be shunned than
the consuming that of others.
110. If the above charges seem to thee to indicate an
accusation smoothly clothed, and unsuited to the imperial
dignity, let me now advance others yet more to the pur-
pose than these. Perceiving that our cause was strong,
both in its doctrines and also in the testimonies from
on high, and that it was at once both old and new-
old, that is, by the prophecies and the inspiration of the
Deity that flashed through it; new by the final manifes-
tation of the Godhead, and the miracles springing out of
and during this manifestation, but still stronger and more
conspicuous in the types of the Church that have been
handed down and observed for this purpose-in order, I say,
that not even this side should remain exempt from his
mischief, what does he do, and what does he plan? He
follows the example of Rabshakeh the Assyrian. This
person was a general of Sennacherib, king of the Assy-
rians. This king having marched into Judæa, and be-
sieging Jerusalem with a great force and army, sitting
down before the city, when he found himself unable to
reduce it by force, neither was any hope held out to him
from traitors within, he attempts to win over the city by
means of soft and smooth-tongued words, which design
the besieged detecting, begged first of all that the con-
ference should be carried on with them in the Syrian.
tongue, and not in Hebrew, lest perchance they might be
inveigled into slavery through the gentleness of his
speech.
111. He (Julian) also, having the same design, was
intending to establish schools in every town, with pulpits.
and higher and lower rows of benches, for lectures and
expositions of the heathen doctrines, both of such as give
rules of morality and those that treat of abstruse subjects,
also a form of prayer alternately pronounced, and penance
for those that sinned proportionate to the offence, initia-
tion also, and completion, and other things that evidently
A
75
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
He was purposing also to
belong to our constitution.
build inns and hospices for pilgrims, monasteries for men,
convents for virgins, places for meditation, and to estab-
lish a system of charity for the relief of prisoners, and
also that which is conducted by means of letters of re-
commendation by which we forward such as require it
from one nation to another-things which he had espe-
cially admired in our institutions.
112. Such things was that evil teacher and sophist
planning: that they were not completed nor his scheme
ever brought into action, I know not whether it was to
the advantage of ourselves (who got rid of him and his too.
soon for it), or of himself, to have proceeded no further
than the dreaming of them. For the attempts would
have exhibited some of the motions of men, and some of
the mimicry of apes: for these animals are said to mimic
the actions of men when certain baits are spread before
them with treacherous intention. By these baits the
animals are taken, because their mimicry is unable to
come up to the cleverness of man. For the Thessalian
cavalry, the Lacedæmonian women, and they who drink
of Arethusa (I mean the Sicilians), as their own
oracle hath it, have not the superiority over those of the
same race in a higher degree than the above-named
customs and institutions, which chiefly distinguish the
Christians, have over others: being such as can be rivalled
by no others of those that try to follow us, seeing that
they are established, not through human devising, but by
the power of God and the consolidating effect of time.
""
113. But there is nothing like examining this wonderful
copying of theirs, or rather parodying as it were on the
stage; and discovering what was the scope of the teach-
ing, and what the object of the congregations in order
that, as Plato says about his projected Republic, “when
they move about we may discover their intention." For,
as Philosophy is divided into two parts, that is, Theory
and Practice, and the former is the more sublime but
76
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
difficult to investigate; the latter the more humble, yet
of greater real utility-the two gain credit with us by
means of one another: for Theory we take for a travelling-
companion into the other world, whilst we make Practice
the stepping-stone to Theory: inasmuch as it is impos-
sible for persons not living wisely to have claims to
wisdom. But on their side I know not which of these
two branches is the more ridiculous, or the more feeble,
since they derive not the strength of their system from
divine inspiration, just as those roots that are carried
away down a stream have no firm hold. Now, let us
have a fling at their happiness, and let us play, as often
is done on the stage, with them while they play and tell
fables; and let there be an addition made to the text "to
rejoice with those that do rejoice, and to weep with them
that weep," namely, "to endure to talk nonsense with
then that talk nonsense;" and the poets know of laughter
in the midst of tears. Let the theatre be got ready (or
by whatever other name they bid us call their new build-
ing); let the beadles make proclamation; let the people/
assemble, and those take the chief seats who either are
distinguished by hoary hairs and age, and the excellence
of their conduct as citizens; or else those conspicuous by
their birth and reputation, and by the wisdom that cleaves
to earth, and contains more of what is amusing than of
true religion: for this point we will leave to their own
discretion. What will they do next? Let them describe
their presidents for themselves "A purple robe shall
adorn them, also a fillet round the head, and the garland
and beauty of flowers,"¹—since I have on many occasions
observed that a majestic appearance, and something above
the common, is greatly affected by them, on the supposi-
tion that what is commonplace and prosaic brings with it
contempt, but what is exaggerated and difficult to be
¹ Probably taken out of one of Julian's numerous regulations for the
better ordering of public worship.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
77
reached produces credit: or else, perhaps, in this case too,
they will descend down to our level, and hold that it is
not dignity in outward forms that becomes them, but, like
ourselves, superiority in morals. For we make small
account of what is visible and pictured to the eye, our
chief occupation is with the Inner Man, and to draw the
spectator along with us to the object of thought, whereby
we the more edify the public.
114. So far, so good: what comes after? Thou wilt
certainly supply them with interpreters of the "inspired
Oracles"
(as ye will call them), and open books upon
theology and morals. But what books, pray, and of what
authors? A fine thing, truly, for the books of Hesiod to
be chanted by them with their wars and rebellions, their
Titans and Giants, with their terrible names and doings:
Cotos, Briareus, Gyges, Encelados, those serpent-footed,
lightning-armed gods of yours; the islands piled upon
them, weapons and tombs at once to whoso encountered
them: and the births and dropping from all these, Hydras,
Chimeras, Cerberi, Gorgons-a revelling in everything
bad. Let these samples of Hesiod's fine things be set
forth to the audience: let Orpheus come forward with
his harp and all-attractive song; let him thunder out in
honour of Jove the Great, supernatural words and ideas
of his theogony :
"Jove, greatest of the gods, rolled up in dung"
of sheep, that is, and of horses, as well as of mules, in
order that from hence may be exhibited the life-giving and
life-maintaining power of the Deity:' for in no other way
could it be done. Nor should he spare the rest of his
magniloquence :-
""
"The goddess spoke, and both her thighs exposed :
in order to initiate her lovers, a thing she still does by
¹ A curious allusion to the Egyptian symbolism of the scarabeus.
78
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
means of figures: and after all, Phanes, and Ericapaus,
and he that swallows up all the other gods, and throws
them up again, so that he may become father both of gods
and men.
Let these things be brought on the stage for
the benefit of the wonderful audience of this theology, and
over and above all this, let there be contrived allegories
and exhibitions of miracles: and let the sermon, running
wild from these premises, advance into pits and precipices
of speculation that has no solid foundation.
115. And where will thou place Homer, that great
comedian in the matter of thy gods, or (if it so please),
tragedian; for both these qualifications wilt thou find in
his wonderful poems, some deserving of indignation, others
of laughter? For really it is a matter of no little anxiety
to see how Ocean shall be reconciled to Tethys by the
agency of Hera decked out like a courtesan : inasmuch as
there would be danger to the whole universe should the
two remain continent for any time; whether that it be
that the dry Principle be interchanged with the moist,
lest, through the excess of the one or the other, the whole/
be thrown into confusion; or whatever other explanation
thou inventest yet more absurd than this.¹ What means
that wondrous copulation of the Cloud-compeller with the
majestic Juno when she entices him to act indecently at
noonday; even though the poets with their fine verses
make the best of his conduct, by making him a bed out
of dewy lotus, and causing crocus and hyacinth to spring
(dia)
1 Julian might justly retort, that these old Greek myths were fully
as susceptible of interpretation in a higher sense, as were the Jewish
Canticles with their infinitely grosser images, out of which the preacher
extracted so much spiritual grace and prophecy. He might have also
replied with good show of reason, that lessons of morality were to be as
easily extracted from him
<<
Qui quid sit pulcrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non,
Planius et Milius Chrysippo et Crantore dixit "
as from the Hebrew legends and institutions.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
79
up out of the ground? Whence comes this, and what is
the sense of it all? How, pray, is the same Juno,
according to you, sister and wife of the supreme Jove, at
one time suspended in the air, and amidst the clouds,
and pulled down by iron anvils at her feet-though she
is complimented with fetters of gold-she, the white-
armed and rosy-fingered! so that even the gods who
sought to beg for her pardon found their humanity not
without danger to themselves: at another time draw-
ing on herself the whole cestus of the Loves, in the
midst of her decorations aimed at Jove, so that he con-
fessed that his desires for all his other mistresses collec-
tively fell far short of this single one. What fear, then,
is there lest, while the gods are bestirring themselves on
account of the Laconian adulteress, and whilst heaven
sounds the charge, the foundations of earth should be
broken up, the sea be shifted from its bed, the realms of
Hades be made public, and things hidden for time out of
mind be brought to the light of day? What is the nod
with the dark brows, and the accompanying wave of the
ambrosial hair, that makes all Olympus tremble? Who
is the Mars that is wounded, or else shut up in the brazen
pot, that awkward lover of the Golden Venus, and incau-
tious adulterer, that was caught by the limping god (who
assembled together a whole theatre full of deities to
witness his own dishonour), and after all purchased his
ransom at a small price?
116. All these tales, and yet more than these so cleverly
and ingeniously put together, and quite out of the common
rule, who is there of your party so sublime, so powerful
and truly "comparable to Jove for wisdom," as to be able
to bring them into a decent form, by means of the words
of cloudy dissertation, soaring far above the limits of our
comprehension? And yet these stories, if true, you ought
not to be ashamed of, nay, ye ought to glory in them, or
at any rate to prove that they are not shameful. And
what good is there in taking refuge in "fable" as a veil
80
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
for shame; for fable is the resource not of persons con-
fident in their cause, but of those giving it up: but if
these tales be fictions-in the first place let them produce
us their undisguised theologians, in order that we may
have to deal with them; and next let them explain how
it is not silly to make a boast of the very things of which
they feel ashamed: and the very things that it was
possible to conceal from the vulgar (for education does.
not belong to all), to make these public to everybody's
eyes, by means of statues and figures, and, worst of all,
with how great a waste of money, in temples, and altars,
and monuments, and offerings, and sacrificos costing many
talents: and, when it was in their power to be pious without
cost, to prefer the being impious at a great expense!
117. But if they will argue that those things are only
fictions and idle stories of poets employing two instru-
ments to give a charm to their poetry, namely, metre and
fable; and sweetening as it wore by these means the sound
of their works, whereas there is concealed in the same
fictions a more secret and transcendental sense, only ac-
cessible to a few of the wiser sort: consider in what way
I shall learn from the latter plainly and honestly these two
things: firstly, how it is that they load with praise the
person 1 who make a mock of those whom people worship;
and why they esteem worthy of all but divine honours
those very persons for whom it were full enough good
luck to escape the punishment duo to their impiety. For
if death be the penalty assigned by law for all such as
blasphemo against a single one of their gods-personally
and slightly-what ought not they to suffer who let loose
their poetry against all in a lump, publicly, and in the
most opprobrious terms, and hand down the libel to all
time to come! Secondly, this point too is worth consi-
dering there are, I will not deny it, amongst ourselves,
also certain doctrines under concealment, but what is the
1 The poets, who retail such scandalous stories of the gods.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
81
nature of their envelope, and what its effect on the mind?
Neither the outward form is indecent, whilst the hidden
sense is admirable and exceeding glorious, to such as are
introduced into its depth, and like some beauteous and
unapproachable body, it is veiled by a robe by no means
to be condemned. For it is fitting, at least in my opinion,
that neither our expositions nor symbolism of things
divine be indecorous and unworthy of the things set forth
thereby; nor such as even men would be annoyed at were
the samo tales related concerning themselves: but should
possess the highest beauty, or at any rate not the greatest
deformity, in order that the former might charm the wiser
sort, the latter not disgust the vulgar.
118. But with you the inner sense is not worthy of
credit, whilst what conceals it is full of mischief. What
wisdom is there in leading one into the town through the
middle of a bog, or to hurry through jutting rocks and
shoals into harbour? What good can come from such
things, and what the end of these tales? Thou wilt go
on babbling and allegorizing thine own hallucinations and
fancies-but there will be nobody to believe them; because
what strikes the eye has the stronger power of persuasion.
Thou wilt, therefore, not please thy hearer whilst thou
wilt ruin thy spectator, because he is always on the side
of what strikes the eye. Now their theoretical part is
such as I have described, and so foreign to the premises,
that one must first bring together and mix up with each
othor the several portions, before fitting them and uniting
them into one whole, and asserting that all belong to the
same person-I mean things concealed in the fable, and the
fables which conceal them.
119. But what wilt thou say about the Moral department of
these teachers? Whence and from what principles will they
start, and what arguments will they uso, in order to incite
men unto virtue, and render them honest people by their
lessons? Avery good thing is Concord, for statos to agree to-
gether, and nations, and families, and individuals; following
G
82
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
the law and disposition of Nature which hath divided and
united all; and hath made all this into one single world
out of several parts. By what examples will they go
about to prove this? Perhaps by quoting the wars of
the gods, their tumults, and rebellions, and the whole
host of evils which they suffer themselves and occasion to
others, publicly and privately; with which pretty nearly
all history and poetry is filled! Sooner, from the things
mentioned, would they render people quarrelsome and
furious instead of sane, than convert the imprudent and
rude into orderly and sober men, by means of examples
like these! For people whom, even without anything to
draw them into wickedness, it is a hard matter to reform
from evil ways, and bring over to the better part from the
worse who can possibly make such as these gentle and
self-restrained, when they have gods for inciters and
patrons of their passions; where the being vicious is an
honourable thing, inasmuch as some one of the gods:
presides over it, to whom the particular passion belongs,
being dignified with altars and sacrifices, and invested
with legal impunity. For this is the most terrible part of it
all—that the very things which are punished by the laws
are your objects of worship: so great is the absurdity of
unrighteousness !
120. In the second place, let the subject expounded to
them be Respect and Honour for parents, and the reve-
rencing the first cause of being next to the First Cause of
all. Here let a legend be brought in, and let theology
convince. Assuredly Saturn will convince the hearers,
when he has castrated Uranus, in order that he may be
unable to generate more gods, and give unto the waves
to create a goddess, offspring of the foam: and let Jove
rebel against Saturn, following his sire's example; that
sweet stone and bitter slayer of tyrants, or whatever else
of the sort their books afford them, touching honour to
parents. Let the third theme be the contempt of riches,
and not to seek for gain from every source, and not to
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
83
take that earnest penny of wickedness, the getting of
money by bad means! In what light will the "Patron
of gain" be set before them, and his Purse be represented,
and the thievish character of the deity be duly honoured,
and the saying "Without a copper Phoebus does not
prophesy," and "Nothing is more to be honoured than
the obolus "for such are their venerable and respectable
maxims.
1
121. And what next ? Let them teach chastity, and
bring forward the subject of temperance: and see! the con-
vincing argument is ready for them in him that turned
himself into all manner of things for the sake of women.
Jupiter, and the Phrygian Boy, and the Eagle ravisher
most dear, in order that the gods might feast most
pleasantly, being served with wine by Jove's own favourite:
also Hercules, the child of three nights, labouring amongst
the fifty daughters of Thestias in a single night, and
performing this as his thirteenth Labour; although not
counted, I know not wherefore, in the list. Let Mars bridle
anger; Bacchus, drunkenness; Diana, inhospitality;
Deceit, their own Oblique" giver of oracles: or im-
moderate Laughter, the deity that limps, whilst the gods are
amused, and steadies himself upon his two spider-legs:
Gluttony, Jupiter running along with the "blameless"
Venus to a splendid banquet, and followed by the rest of
the deities; and the "Bull-eater " that robbed the plough-
man, and swallowed up his ox, and got his title and
honour from this feat; as well as all the others that ran
after the fumes of burnt-offerings and libations.
66
122. And yet how do these maxims come up to ours,
whose rule of friendship is "loving as one's own self,"
and the wishing to our neighbour the same good that we
wish to ourselves; amongst whom it is a crime not merely
1 "No penny, no pater-noster" became the form of the same axiom
very speedily after the preacher's side attained the supremacy in the
State.
84
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE
to have acted wickedly, but even to have been on the point
of it, the wish being punished as much as the deed; by
whom chastity is so studied that even the eye is restrained;
with whom the murderous hand is so far removed that
even anger is chastised; to whom the swearing a false oath
is so terrible and monstrous a thing, that to us alone swear-
ing at all is interdicted; whilst as for money, the most of
us have never had any at all, whilst others had gladly
possessed moro, but only that they might have more to
despise, philosophically preferring the having nothing to
all wealth; casting away the yoke of the belly as a bitter
and abominable tyrant, and the author of every evil. Is
it not a great thing to boast that they strive to be not even
flesh and blood, expending the mortal upon the immortal
part; their single rule of virtue being the not giving way
to small vices and such as are thought nothing of by the
generality. But the greatest thing of all is, that whereas
others punish tho ends, as tho law directs, we chastise the
beginnings, and repress them like some dangerous and
unruly torrent.
123. Where else in the world, tell me, wilt thou find,
"When reviled do ye bless; whon blasphemed at do ye
exhort" (inasmuch as it is not the accusation that does the
harm but the reality), "when persecuted, submit; when
cursed, pray for them that curse you; when stripped, strip
yourself to boot"; in one word, to overcome malice by
goodness, and make them better who injuro us, by endur-
ing the things whereby our patience is tried? And yet
even though we should grant that they can repress vice
by means of the lessons of their false doctrine, yet how
can they over attain to the full height of our virtue and
discipline, when we even regard as vice the not progress-
ing in what is good, and becoming young in place of old,
and standing still in the same place, in the condition of
whipping-tops, running round, but not going forward at
all, but moving in a stationary way, so to speak, by the
impulse of the lash; and it behoves us to have already
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
85
practised one part of the virtues to grasp at another, and
to aim at yet another, until the end, and that deification
for which we were born, and to which we aspire, inasmuch
as we cast a mental glance across the gulf between the
two worlds, and have in expectation a reward commen-
surate with the magnificence of God!

86
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
1.
THUS, then, the first portion of my task has now been
completed and brought to an end; for I have shown
up the wickedness of that personage, both in what he did
towards us, and in what he intended to do, perpetually
contriving something yet more tyrannical than the last.
Now, we shall aim at another mark, which perhaps no one/
has yet hit-one more sacred to God, more agreeable to
ourselves, and perhaps more full of edification for those
that come after us. I mean to subjoin to what has been
already said, a narrative of the just dispensations (balances)
of God, and by what equivalents He repays iniquity, which
comes in for some of these payments at the moment, for
others after a short postponement-in whatever way may
seem best to the Word, the Creator, and the Dispenser of
all things, Who knows how to temper calamity with mercy,
and to chastise arrogance with disgrace and with plagues,
according to the measure of correction that He appoints.
2. Diseases justly sent upon the impious, rendings that
cannot be concealed, plagues and scourges of divers kinds,
corresponding to the atrocities they have committed,
deaths that follow not the common course of Nature,¹ and
¹ Probably an allusion to the mysterious death (perhaps the result of
slow poisoning) of the Prefect of Egypt, Julian's uncle, of the same
name.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
87
exclamations and vain repentances amidst their troubles,
the warnings of dreams, and the apparitions in a true
vision—who can rehearse all these in a manner worthy of the
theme? and all that has come upon those who either have
transgressed against religious houses, or have insulted the
holy tables, or have acted like madmen to the mystical
chalices, or have greedily gorged themselves with our
flesh, or all the other crimes that they have dared to do-
all the things that have fallen upon the perpetrators them-
selves are evident and public manifestations of God's anger
at such doings. All these facts therefore I will willingly
pass over, not that I disbelieve what I have seen and
heard, nor refer these occurrences to natural causes or
accident, after the fashion of those who vainly so interpret
them, but that I may not be thought to be dwelling upon
trifles, omitting greater and more remarkable facts. A
miracle, therefore, that is in the mouth of everybody, and
not disputed even by the heathen themselves, is the one I
proceed to describe.
1
3. He [Julian] was daily growing more infuriated
against us, as though raising up waves by other waves, he
that went mad first against himself, that trampled upon
things holy, and that did despite unto the Spirit of Grace:
is it more proper to call him Jeroboam or Ahab, those
most wicked of the Israelites; or Pharaoh the Egyptian,
or Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian; or combining all together
shall we name him one and the same, since he shows him-
self to have united in himself the vices of them all-the
apostasy of Jeroboam, the bloodthirstiness of Ahab, the
hardness of heart of Pharaoh, the sacrilegious acts of Nebu-
chadnezzar, the impiety of all put together! For when he
had exhausted every other resource, and despised every
other form of tyranny in our regard as trifling and un-
worthy of him (since there never was a character so fertile
in finding out and contriving mischief), at last he stirred
It is to be remarked that the preacher never once mentions Julian
by name. Was this meant for an expression of contempt?
88
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
up against us the nation of the Jews, making his accom-
plice in his machinations their well-known credulity, as
well as that hatred for us which has smouldered in them
from the very beginning; prophesying to them out of
their own books and mysteries that now was the appointed
time come for them to return into their own land, and to
rebuild the Temple, and restore the reign of their here-
ditary institutions—thus hiding his true purpose under the
mark of benevolence.
4. And when he had formed this plan, and made them
believe it (for whatever suits one's wishes is a ready engine
for deceiving people), they began to debate about re-
building the Temple, and in large number and with great
zeal set about the work. For the partisans of the other
side report that not only did their women strip off all their
personal ornaments and contribute it towards the work
and operations, but even carried away the rubbish in the
laps of their gowns, sparing neither the so precious clothes
nor yet the tenderness of their own limbs, for they believed
they were doing a pious action, and regarded everything
of less moment than the work in hand. But they being
driven against one another, as though by a furious blast¹
of wind, and sudden heaving of the earth, some rushed to
one of the neighbouring sacred places to pray for mercy;
others, as is wont to happen in such cases, made use of
what came to hand to shelter themselves; others were
carried away blindly by the panic, and struck against
those who were running up to see what was the matter.
There are some who say that neither did the sacred place
(To iegòv)² admit them, but that when they approached the
folding doors that stood wide open, on coming up to them
ΤΟ
1
2
Boaoμ. Gregory knows nothing of the "metuendi flammarum
globi," with which Ammian adorns the story. It is plain from this
account, written but a few months after the occurrence, that a sudden
storm of wind sufficed to frighten the superstitious Jews, who saw in it
a sign of the displeasure of Heaven with the work they were about.
2 This must be Helena's Church: Gregory terms the Temple vɛws.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
89
I
they found them closed in their faces by an unseen and
invisible power which works wonders of the sort for the
confusion of the impious and the saving of the godly. But
what all people nowadays report and believe is that when
they were forcing their way and struggling about the
entrance a flame issued forth from the sacred place
[church] and stopped them, and some it burnt up and
consumed so that a fate befell them similar to the disaster
of the people of Sodom, or to the miracle about Nadab and
Abiud, who offered incense and perished so strangely:
whilst others it maimed in the principal parts of the body,
and so left them for a living monument of God's threaten-
ing and wrath against sinners. Such then was this event;
and let no one disbelieve, unless he doubts likewise the
other mighty works of God! But what is yet more
strange and more conspicuous, there stood in the heavens
The keepers of the church, who naturally shut the doors in the face
of a mad crowd of Jews running towards it (for only one purpose as
they would imagine), and then proceeded to disperse those attempting to
force an entrance by the usual expedient of throwing fire upon them
through the windows. Ammian confounds the fire thrown from the
Christian church with "flames spontaneously issuing out of the ruins"
of the ancient Temple, which completely alters the case. He also
states that Julian was rebuilding the Temple at his own cost, whereas it
appears from Gregory he left it entirely to the fanaticism of the Jews,
doubtless (i.e., the moneyed part of them), very glad of a sign from
Heaven to stop so expensive a project. But to give Ammian's words,
CC
Templum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis: negotiumque
maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Britannias curaverat
propræfectis. Cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius, juvaretque
provincial rector, metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris
assultibus erumpentes, fecere locum exustis aliquantis operantibus in-
accessum, hoc que modo, elemento destinatius repellente, cessavit in-
ceptum," xxiii. 1, A.D. 363. The story had got embellished with these
terrible globes of flame, in the interval of twenty years between the event
and the time of Ammian's writing. The pious Gregory was much too
fond of miracles to have omitted so splendid a manifestation had the
report of it been contemporary.
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GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
a light circumscribing a Cross, and that which before on
earth was contemned by the ungodly both in figure and in
name is now exhibited in heaven, and is made by God a
trophy of His victory over the impious, a trophy more
lofty than any other!
5. What will those gentlemen say of these events—
they who are wise, as this world goes, and make a fine
show of their own cause, smoothing down their flowing
beard and trailing before our eyes that elegant philosophic
mantle Reply to me for thyself, thou writer of long
discourses, that dost compose incredible stories and gapest
up at the skies, telling lies about things celestial, and
weaving out of the movements of the stars, people's
nativities and predictions of the future ! Tell me of those
stars of thine, the Ariadne's Crown, the Berenice's Hair,
the lascivious Swan, the violent Bull! or, if thou pleasest,
tell me of thine Ophiuchus, or of thy Capricorn, or of thy,
Lion, or all the rest that thou hast discovered for a bad
end and made them into gods in constellations! Where
dost thou find this cycle in thy science, where the Star
that of old moved towards Bethlehem out of the East, that
leader and introducer of thy own Wise Men! I, too, have
something to tell from the heavens: that Star declared the
presence of Christ: this Crown is that of the victory of
Christ!
6. Thus much is taken from things celestial and
sympathizing with our fortunes, in accordance with the
mighty harmony and disposition of the universe. What
follows let the Psalm finish for me: "Because Thou hast ·
cast down cities," namely, those ancient ones for the very
same acts of impiety, in the middle of the very same
offences against us; some thereof overwhelmed by the
floods, others swallowed up by earthquake; so that one is
pretty nearly able to apply the remainder: "The me-
morial of them hath perished with a sound and a de-
struction noised abroad." For such has been their fall,
and such their ruin, also of those their neighbours who
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
91
took the most delight in their impiety, so that a very long
time were necessary to them for their restoration, even if
anyone should have the boldness to undertake it.
7. Was it then only earth and heaven, and did not air
likewise give a sign on that occasion, and was hallowed
with the badges of the Passion? Let those who were
spectators and partakers of that prodigy exhibit their gar-
ments, which to the present time are stamped with the
brandmarks of the Cross! For at the very moment that
anyone, either of our own brethren or of the outsiders,
was telling the event or hearing it told by others, he be-
held the miracle happening in his own case or to his
neighbour, being all spotted with stars, or beholding the
other so marked upon his clothes in a manner more
variegated than could be done by any artificial work of the
loom or elaborate painting. What is the result of this?
Such great consternation at the spectacle that nearly all,
as by one signal and with one voice, invoked the God of
the Christians, and propitiated Him with many praises
and supplications: whilst many, without further delay, but
at the moment of the occurrence, ran up to our priests,
and besought them earnestly that they might be made.
members of the Church, being sanctified by the holy
baptism, for they had been saved by means of their
fright.
8. So passed that affair; but he, infatuated and urged.
on as he was by his furies in detail, advances to meet the
finishing stroke of his crimes: for, as he supposed the
matter of the Christians was going on according to his
mind, and expected from what he had already accomplished
that complete success (if he only willed it) would attend
his enterprises; taking advantage of the tranquillity pre-
vailing on the side of the Western barbarians, he plans the
following scheme- a very sensible and very humane one,
too! Having levied in these parts a double force, one mili-
tary, the other of the demons who led him on (in which he
placed the more confidenee of the two), he marches against
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GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
2
the Persians, trusting rather to his inconsiderate rashness
than to the warranty of his strength, not being able to
discern, very wise as he was, that courage and rashness
(θάρσος, θρασος), however similar they may be in sound,
are yet widely different from each other in reality as much
as what we call manliness and unmanliness. For the
being bold in military matters is a mark of courage, just
as being dispirited is of cowardice: but where there is too
much danger, to run headlong and thrust oneself into it
and not check oneself, is a mark of rashness; whereas
giving way shows caution, and it does not evince the same
prudence to prefer keeping one's own, and to seek to ob-
tain something of what is not one's own, for the former is
our first duty, and to be held in honour by all sensible
persons; the latter, if it can be done with facility, is to be
admitted, but if it be injurious, must be given up; whilst
he who risks everything he has for the sake of getting
something of what he hopes for, is extremely foolish, and'
seems to me to be like an unskilful pugilist striking
out before he fairly settles himself on his guard, or else
like the captain of a ship that is going to pieces and no
longer fit for sea, who sinks or attempts to sink an enemy's
vessel. None of these things does he seem to have con-
sidered when he engaged without reflection in his schemes:
and whilst his Romans were still convulsed and ill-dis-
posed towards him on account of the persecution, to covet
1 The success of the invasion depended entirely upon the celerity with
which it was executed, which gave Sapor no time to collect a force to
oppose it.
The event fully proved the sagacity of the plan of the cam-
paign. Julian reached the capital without ever seeing a defender, and
was only forced to retreat through the treachery or stupidity of Proco-
pius and Sebastian, who failed to carry out their instructions of joining
him before that city.
2 A maxim fully carried out by his hero Constantius, who took the
field after immense preparations, against the Persians, year after year,
and on their approach as regularly withdrew, without striking a blow,
into some place of security.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
93
a stranger's empire and to be a Salmoneus, making
thunder out of a drum, having his eyes fixed upon the
Trajans and Hadrians of former times, (persons whose
caution was no less admirable than their bravery,) he
did not think of the Carus,' and the Valerian who paid
the penalty of their inconsiderate rashness (“not to insult
misfortune," as the tragedian says) in the territories of
Persians, and were destroyed in the middle of their
success.
And his vow,
And his vow, how great
Christ, thou Word, thou
Mystery of all creation!)
9. But, as already said, such was his determination-
and he was full of eagerness, bringing into one every
jugglery of divination, of imposture, of mentionable and
unmentionable sacrifices, in order that it might be all at
once destroyed in a brief space.
and monstrous a thing, (O thou
Passion of the impassive, thou
It was to subjugate the whole Christian family to obedience
to his own demons, so soon as he had accomplished the
business in hand! Now, the first steps in his enterprise,
excessively audacious and much celebrated by those of his
own party, were as follows. All the land of the Assyrians
that the Euphrates flows through, and skirting Persia
there unites itself with the Tigris; all this he took and
ravaged, and captured some of the fortified towns, in the
total absence of anyone to hinder him, whether that he
had taken the Persians unaware by the rapidity of his
advance, or whether he was out-generalled by them and
drawn on by degrees further and further into the snare
(for both stories are told); at any rate, advancing in this
way, with his army marching along the river's bank and
his flotilla upon the river supplying provisions and carry-
ing the baggage, after a considerable interval he touches
Ctesiphon, a place which, even to be near, was thought
by him half the victory, by reason of his longing for it.
¹ An example not to the point, for Carus was killed by lightning in
the midst of a most successful campaign; and, as it was, his
his army after
losing him, returned home without any opposition.
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GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
10. From this point, however, like sand slipping from
beneath the feet, or a great wave bursting upon a ship,
things began to go back with him; for Ctesiphon is a
strong fortified town, hard to take, and very well secured
by a wall of burnt brick, a deep ditch, and the swamps
coming from the river. It is rendered yet more secure
by another strong place, the name of which is Cochè, fur-
nished with equal defences as far as regards garrison and
artificial protection, so closely united with it that they
appear one city, the river separating both, between them.
For it was neither possible to take the place by general
assault, nor to reduce it by siege, nor even to force a way
through by means of the fleet principally, for he would
run the risk of destruction; being exposed to missiles from
higher ground on both sides, he leaves the place in his
rear, and does so in this manner. Of the river Euphrates,
which is a very large one, he cuts off no inconsiderable
part and diverts it so as to be navigable for vessels, by
means of a canal, of which ancient vestiges are said to be
visible; and thus joining the Tigris a little in front of
Ctesiphon, he saves his boats from one river by means of
the other river, in all security; in this way he escapes
the danger that menaced him from the two garrisons.
But, as he advanced, a Persian army suddenly started up,
and continually received fresh reinforcements, but did not
think it advisable to stand in front and fight it out, with-
out the greatest necessity (although it was in their power
to conquer, from their superior numbers); but from the
tops of the hills and narrow passes they shot arrows and
threw darts, whenever opportunity served, and thus readily
prevented his further progress. Hence he is reduced to
great perplexity, and not knowing to what side to turn,
he finds out an unlucky solution for the difficulty.
11. For a man, one of no little consideration amongst
the Persians, following the example of that Zopyrus em-
ployed by Cyrus in the case of Babylon, on the pretence
that he had had some quarrel, or rather a very great one
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
95
and for a very great cause, with his king, and, on that
account very hostile to the Persian cause, and well dis-
posed towards the Romans, thus addresses the emperor:
"Sire, what means all this, why do you take such rotten
measures in so important a matter? Wherefore this pro-
vision-fleet, and this train of everything—a mere incentive
to cowardice; for nothing is so unfit for fighting, and
fond of laziness, as a full belly, and the having the means
of saving oneself in one's own hands? But if you will
listen to me, you will burn this flotilla: what a relief
to this fine army will be the result! and yourself will
take another route, better supplied and safer than this;
along which I will be your guide (being acquainted with
the country as well as any man living), and will cause you
to enter into the heart of the enemy's country, where you
can obtain whatever you please, and so make your way
home; and me you shall then recompense, when you have
actually made proof of my good will and good advice."
12. And when he had said this, and gained credence
to his story (for rashness is credulous, especially when
God drives it on), everything that was dreadful happened
at once; the boats were the prey of the flames, there was
no bread, the ridicule of the enemy came to fill up the
measure, the fatal blow was inflicted by his own hand,
even hope had well nigh vanished, the guide had dis-
appeared along with his promises, round about him the
enemy, swelling up round him the war, the getting at them
not easy, provisions not procurable, the army in despair
and discontented with their commander, of hope for good
nothing was left, but one wish alone, as was natural under
the circumstances, the ridding themselves of bad govern-
ment and bad generalship.
13. Up to this point, such is the universal account; but
thenceforward, one and the same story is not told by all,
but different accounts are reported and made up by dif-
ferent people, both of those present at the battle, and
those not present; for some say that he was hit by a dart
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GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
from the Persians, when engaged in a disorderly skirmish,
as he was running hither and thither in his consternation;
and the same fate befell him as it did to Cyrus, son of
Parysatis, who went up with the Ten Thousand against
his brother Artaxerxes, and by fighting inconsiderately
threw away the victory through his rashness.¹ Others,
however, tell some such story as this respecting his end:
that he had gone up upon a lofty hill to take a view of
his army and ascertain how much was left him for carrying
on the war; and that when he saw the number consider-
able and superior to his expectation, he exclaimed, "What
a dreadful thing if we shall bring back all these fellows to the
land of the Romans!" as though he begrudged them a safe
return. Whereupon one of his officers, being indignant and
not able to repress his rage, ran him through the bowels,
without caring for his own life. Others tell that the deed
was done by a barbarian jester, such as follow the camp,
"for the purpose of driving away ill humour and for amus-
ing the men when they are drinking." This tale about
the jester is borrowed from Lampridius, who gives it as
one of the many current respecting the death of Alexander
Severus. The "Historia Augusta," a recent compilation,
was then in everybody's hands! At any rate, he receives
a wound truly seasonable (or mortal) and salutary for
the whole world, and by a single cut from his slaughterer
he pays the penalty for the many entrails of victims to
which he had trusted (to his own destruction); but what
surprises me, is how the vain man that fancied he learnt
the future from that means, knew nothing of the wound
about to be inflicted on his own entrails! The concluding
2
1 This first, and true account, the preacher tells in order to save his
own conscience—the following string of ridiculous and contradictory
fabrications he retails for the benefit of his congregation, of whose
credulity and ignorance he was well assured.
2 A wretched play upon the double sense of raípios. The preacher
evidently wishes his flock to infer that the blow was the vengeance of a
Christian-as Sozomen later actually boasts.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
97
reflection is for once very appropriate: the liver of the
victim was the approved means for reading the Future,
and it was precisely in that organ that the arch-diviner
received the fatal thrust.
14. One action of this person deserves not to be passed
over in silence, as it contains, to wind up many others,
the strongest exemplification of his madness.
He was
lying upon the bank of the river, and in a very bad way
from his wound, when, remembering that many of those
before his time who had aimed at glory, in order that they
might be thought something higher than mortals, had
(through some contrivances of their own) disappeared
from amongst men, and thereby got themselves accounted
gods; so he, being filled with a craving for similar glory,
and at the same time ashamed of the manner of his end
(by reason of the disgrace arising from his temerity), what
does he contrive and what do? for not even with life does
wickedness become extinct. He endeavours to throw his
body into the river, and for this purpose he was using the
assistance of some of his confidants and accomplices in his
secret doings! And had not one of the imperial eunuchs
perceived what was going on, and telling it to the rest
out of disgust at the extravagant notion, prevented his
purpose from being effected-why, another new god born
out of an accident, would have manifested himself to the
stupid! And he, having thus reigned, thus commanded
his army, closed his life in this way.
15. When that man had received the imperial power
immediately after him, who was elected for his successor
in the very camp, and in the extremity of danger-that
imperatively demanded a leader—a man illustrious in all
other respects as well as for piety,¹ and in personal ap-
¹ Piety, perhaps certainly not morality, for Jovian's love of good
cheer and other pleasures are gently alluded to by his old comrade
Ammian, with the kind remark that respect for his new dignity would
have produced reform had his life been spared.
H
98
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
2
pearance truly fitted for sovereignty-he was utterly un-
able to come to blows with, or even to get near the
Persians (although far from deficient either in courage or
eagerness for battle), because his army had lost all force
and all hope.¹ He sought therefore for the means of re-
treating, and considered in what way he could effect this
with safety, inasmuch as he had not been the inheritor of
empire, but of defeat. Now, if the Persians had not made a
moderate use of their victory (for it is a law with them
to know how to measure out prosperity) or had not been
fearful of something or other, as the report goes, and
therefore had agreed to terms so unexpected and reason-
able, nothing was there to prevent "not even a fire-
carrier's" (as the saying is) "surviving out of the whole
army," so completely had the Persians got them in their
power, inasmuch as the latter were fighting in their own
country, and were elated by the recent events; for the
obtaining of some success is a sufficient foundation for
hope of the future. In the present case, the one party
had, as I have said, but one object in view-namely, how
to save his army and preserve the sinews of the Roman
power, for they were the sinews, and though they had
failed, it was more through the imprudence of him that
commanded than their own cowardice. So they agreed to
these terms, so disgraceful, and so unworthy of the hand
3
¹ An admission damaging to the preacher's argument to allow that
all hope vanished with the loss of Julian, instead. of reviving upon the
election of the every way perfect Jovian.
2 An attempt to shield his new Christian hero from the universal
outcry raised against him for submitting to the disgraceful and ruinous
terms of peace offered him by Sapor.
66
3 Gregory had the moment before called these terms reasonable,"
but now spying an opportunity of laying the blame on Julian, he calls
them "disgraceful." Whoever reads Ammian's dispassionate account of
the transaction will be convinced that Jovian actually reduced himself to
the necessity of accepting Sapor's terms, by allowing himself to be cajoled
by the wily Persian into wasting a precious week in idle negotiation,
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
99
of Romans, to sum up the whole in one word; of the
blame of which convention if anyone acquits the late and
charges the present emperor, he is, in my opinion, but an
ignorant critic of what has happened, for the crop is not
due to the reaper, but to its sower, nor the conflagration
to him that is unable to extinguish it, but to the incen-
diary. And the remark of Herodotus about the tyranny
at Samos may be appropriately quoted, "that Histiæus
stitched the shoe, but Aristagoras put it on," meaning him
that had received the succession from the man who had
first gotten it.
16. What then remained but for the corpse of the im-
pious one to be carried home by the Romans, although he
had closed his career in this manner? For we also have
one dead of our own, in the prince that deceased before
this one: so let us take a view, in this point also, of the
difference between the two, whether this conduces to the
felicity or to the misery of the departed. The one is
followed to the tomb with public benedictions and proces-
sions, and, in fact, with all our solemnities, nocturnal
chants, and torchlight followings, wherewith we Chris-
tians use to do honour to a pious departure from this
world. The assembly meets, the carrying forth of the
corpse takes place amidst the weeping of all; and, if one
can believe the story, which is spread about by the reports
of the vulgar, when the corpse was passing over Mount
Taurus,¹ on its way to his native city (that city of the
same name with those princes and of illustrious name) a
sound from the heights was heard by some of the train,
as though of persons playing on musical instruments and
instead of boldly escaping by the passage of the Tigris, the feasibility
of which had already been demonstrated by his German legion. By so
doing he would have protected himself from the Persian cavalry, and
the days wasted in delay were more than sufficient to have carried them
into the friendly land of Corduene.
1 Constantius died at Mopsuestia, and was thence conveyed to the
imperial tomb at Constantinople.
100
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
accompanying them-these being, I suppose, the angelic
hosts, in honour to his piety and a funereal recompense of
his virtue. For although he had seemed to shake the
foundations of the true faith, this, nevertheless, must be
laid to the charge of his subordinates' stupidity and un-
soundness, who, getting hold of a soul that was unsus-
picious and not firmly grounded in religion, nor able to
see the pitfalls in its path, led it astray what way they
pleased, and under the pretence of correctness of doctrine,
converted his zeal into sin.¹
1
17. We, however, more commonly out of regard for his
father (who had laid the foundation of the imperial power
and the Christian religion) as well as for the inheritance
of the Faith that had come to him by descent-we reve-
renced with good reason the earthly Tabernacle of him
that had spent his life in reigning righteously, that had
finished his course with a holy end, and had left the supre-
macy to our side.
And when the corpse drew near to
the great imperial city, what needs it to mention the
cortège of the whole army and the escort under arms that
attended as upon the living emperor, or the crowd that
poured forth from the splendid city, the most splendid
that was ever seen, or ever will be? Nay, even that
audacious and bold person, decorated with the still new
purple, and therefore, as was natural, full of pride, him-
self forms a part of the funereal honour paid his prede-
cessor, paying and receiving the same obligation, partly
out of constraint, partly (they say) of his own free will,
for the whole army, even though they submitted to the
existing authority, nevertheless paid more respect to the
deceased, for the reason that, somehow or other, we are
naturally inclined to sympathize more with recent mis-
fortune, mingling regret with our love, and adding com-
passion to the two. For this reasou they could not endure
A compliment to the Arian bishops, now falling into the background,
Jovian being a Catholic, with Athanasius for his adviser.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
101
that the departed one should not be honoured and re-
ceived like an emperor; so they persuade, nay, compel,
the rebel to go to meet the corpse in befitting form,¹ that
is, stripping his brow of the diadem, and with head bent
before his sovereign, as was right, thus to escort the
corpse, in company with the bearers, to the tomb and to
the famous Church of the Apostles, who received the
holy race, and now guard their remains, which receive
almost equal honours with their own! In this way our
emperor was interred.
18. But as for the other, the circumstances attending
his departure to the war were disgraceful (for he was
pursued by mobs and townsfolk with vulgar and ribald
cries, as most people yet remember), but still more in-
glorious was his return. What was his disgrace? Buffoons
and mimeș escorted him, the train moved along amidst
foul jokes from the stage," with piping and dancing,
whilst he was upbraided with his apostasy, his defeat, and
his end, suffering every sort of insult, hearing every sort
of thing in which such people indulge who make ribaldry
their trade, until the city of Tarsus received him (why and
wherefore condemned to this indignity I know not);"
where he has a consecrated ground without honour, a
3
1 This compulsion is entirely an invention of the preacher's. It was
common sense that constrained Julian to show every respect to the
memory of the last of his line, who had nominated him finally his heir.
By so doing he proved the legitimacy of his succession. During his
whole reign Julian continued to speak of his cousin as his friend and
benefactor, ascribing all enmity between them to the machinations of
evil counsellors, which was indeed the truth.
2 A revival of the ancient ceremonial at an emperor's funeral, where
he was personated by a mime, who spoke in his character, and received
the satire of the mob upon his past doings-a rough and primitive
method of inflicting posthumous justice upon unpopular sovereigns, and
teaching their successors to take heed to their ways.
3 A charitable hint that Julian's body ought to have been thrown to
the dogs. Tarsus was the burial-place of his family.
102
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
tomb accursed, a temple abominable, and not even to
be looked at by pious eyes!
19. And these things I have related as forming the
greatest and most important of the charges against him,
though I am not ignorant that to two or three of the
parasites in the palace, his equals in irreligion (for the
others I willingly pass over), there was given such mighty
payment for their impiety that nothing would have pre-
vented their plundering all that was subject to the
Romans, both land and sea, if an end had not been put
opportunely to the business, so greatly did they surpass
in rapine and greediness those hundred-handed giants of
old; for the governments of the provinces were not put
into the hands of the most humane, but of the most
cruel,¹ and one road to office was apostasy, and to obtain
preferment at his hands the taking the worst measures
both for one's self and others.
20. What shall I say of his revisals and alterations of
sentences, frequently changed and upset at midnight, like
the tides? For my fine fellow thought proper to play the
judge, making everything his own out of vanity. But per-
haps by blaming him for very trifling things I shall be
thought to disparage very important matters through others.
inconsiderable; nevertheless, it must be owned that such
conduct is not deserving of the Elysian Fields, nor of the
glory of a Rhadamanthus in the next world, a lot which
those of the same fraternity and set claim for him. One
thing in his conduct I have to admire. Many of his
former companions and acquaintances, principally from
the schools in Asia, he summoned to him with all haste,
as though about to do wonderful things for them, as he ex-
cited them to hope when they remembered his fine promises.
Gregory forgets that in the previous oration he had lauded Julian
for his judicious appointments of magistrates and other officials. His
extravagant gifts (of which Ammian and Libanius complain) were con-
fined to a few of the "philosophers " about his person.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
103
But when they were arrived, 'twas the saying, "the de-
ceits of counters and the illusions of dreams," for some
he befooled in one way, some in another, for there were
whom he entertained at table, and drank to, with much
bawling out of "My friend," and after all sent them
about their business disappointed, not knowing whom to
blame the most-him for the deception, or themselves for
their credulity.
21. That part, too, is certainly to be commended in the
training of our philosopher, that he was so very free from
anger, and superior to all the passions, after the model of
the princes of any period that were neither to be bent nor
to be shaken, nor would turn their faces round, whatever
should happen, or betray any trace of feeling! so that
when sitting in judgment he used to fill the whole palace.
with his cries and exclamations, as though it were he that
was being ill-treated and punished, and not himself pro-
tecting those that suffered such things. This behaviour
we shall not deem worth a single word, but there is one
thing of which who in the world is ignorant-how that
many persons of the vulgar sort that approached for the
purpose of making such petitions as people do to their
rulers, he used so badly, hitting them with his fist and
kicking them with his foot, that they were very well con-
tent to escape without worse treatment.
22. But the puffings and blowings of the fire (in which
this wonderful man, who reviles our rites, set an ex-
ample to all old ladies) when he was kindling the sacri-
ficial flame, in what part of our discourse shall we place
them? How fine a thing to behold the cheeks of the
emperor of the Romans thus distorted, and occasioning
laughter, not merely to the outside world, but to the
very people whom he thought to please by acting thus!
for he had never heard of Minerva, his own goddess, that
cursed the pipes by which she had disfigured her face,
when instead of mirror she used the pool; and the healths
and loving-cups that he pledged in public to the courte-
104
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
1
!
1
sans, and was pledged by them in return, whilst he
cloaked the indecency under the show of a religious cere-
mony-a thing certainly well worthy of admiration!
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 catas-
trophe of his brother, having himself solicited this per-
mission 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 re-
member 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 (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 un-
steady 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

2
In the procession of Astarte, as Chrysostom describes it, some
forty years later. Ammian alludes, with ill-repressed disgust, at the
pattern of chastity consorting with "stupratis mulierculis” on the
occasion. Julian, with all the zeal of a new convert, thought himself
bound to maintain old rites of the ancient religion, which the en-
lightened Pagans always had viewed with disgust; just as our Protestant
“perverts” revive practices and ideas at which the hereditary Catholic
smiles with pity and contempt, as the fungi of mediæval ignorance.
2 τὸ περιττὸν τῆς ἐκοτάςεως.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
105
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, follow-
ing one on top of the other, and not definite, nor returned
in the regular order of instruction.
24. Why should I go into particulars? I saw the man
before his actions exactly what I afterwards found him in
his actions; and were any present of those who were then
with me and heard my words, they would without hesita-
tion bear testimony to what I say; to whom I exclaimed
as soon as I had observed these signs, "What an evil the
Roman world is breeding!" at once making the prediction
and praying against myself that I might turn out a false
prophet; for that were better than for the world to be
filled with these evils, and such a monstrosity make its
appearance as never was seen before; though there are
many celebrated deluges on record, and conflagrations,
and quakings and yawnings of the earth, and men yet
more savage, and beasts of strange sort and composite
form, such as Nature has made out of caprice. Thus he
has met with an end well suited to his folly, for God did
not show His wonted long-suffering in this case, where
His clemency had been an evil unto many, and had occa-
sioned much dejection to the upright, and much arrogance
in sinners; as though there were no one to superintend
our affairs, nor either Providence or Retribution, but that
blind Chance carried on and turned about everything-a
notion springing from a wicked mind, and one that is in a
dangerous condition as regards the highest subjects.
""
25. These are the "tales of us Galilæans-of us, the
vile and abject these are told by us who worship the
Crucified One, the disciples of the uneducated fishermen,
as ye call us; by us, who sit together and sing psalms
with the old women; by us, wasted away and half dead
with the long fasts; by us, who keep awake to no purpose,
and through standing vigils grow silly-but yet overthrow
106
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
you.
"Where are the learned men? Where are the
councillors?" (I quote the song of victory from one of
our own ignorant men, as ye think them). Where are
your sacrifices and ceremonies and mysteries? Where
are your victims, both public and those kept secret, and
the art of divination by entrails, so highly lauded?
Where is the jugglery of prediction, and the miracles of
those having familiar spirits? Where is the glorious
Babylon, so much talked of, and the whole world brought
before your view by means of a little, and accursed,
blood? Where are the Persians and Medes already
grasped in the hand? Where are the gods that were
followed in procession, and did follow your march-they
that fought for you, and fought with you? Where are
your predictions and threats against the Christians, and
the preordained extermination of us, even to the name?
All are vanished, have been falsified, have melted away-
the boastings of the impions have turned out a dream!
26. Now the King of Judah, Hezekiah, when a certain
king of the foreigners had come against him with a great
force, and had encompassed Jerusalem with his leaguer,
and uttered in a sarcastic manner blasphemous and im-
pious words against the king and against his God, as
though, whatever might happen, He should not deliver
the city out of his power-he went up to the Temple, and
having rent his clothes, and shedding streams of tears,
extending his hands to heaven, calls God to witness the
blasphemy of Sennacherib, and prays that He would
become the avenger of the arrogance of his threats,
saying, "Thou hast seen how greatly this stranger 'hatli
reviled Thee, the Lord of Israel; Thou hast seen it, O
Lord, keep not Thou silence! And truly he was not
disappointed of his prayer: but the enemy of God per-
ceived in the end his own madness, and went off without
doing anything, with all his threats, having lost the bulk
of his army by the stroke of some invisible Power, and
retreating in consequence of disagreeable tidings, that
""
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
107
raised the siege unexpectedly, and ruined his hopes.
Thus did Hezekiah, he that was clothed with much
strength, the King of Jerusalem the great, and who perhaps
would have repelled the enemy by his unassisted efforts.
But we, whose sole arm, bulwark, and all other defence
left, was the hope in God, stripped and shorn entirely of
all human aid, whom were we to have, either as hearer of
our prayer, or as hinderer of those threats, save and
accept Him that swears against pride-the God of Jacob?
O the incredible tale! O the audacity of the things
hoped for! We were promised, in place of all other sacri-
fice, to the demons; and we, the great inheritance of God,
the holy nation, the royal priesthood, were made the prize
of a single hope, the trophy of a single war!
27. Is this the recompense from thee to the Christians,
in return for having been saved (unluckily) by their
means? Didst thou thus repay the Lord thy God?
Formerly, whilst God still bore with thee, and delayed
His revenge on our account, nor had yet kindled all His
indignation, but held up His hand on high against the
ungodly, and was bending and making ready His bow,
but held it back by force, and, like some concealed con-
stitutional disease, He waited first for the whole of its
virulence to break out; as indeed is the regular course of
God's judgments, in order that either He may save
through repentance, or punish with greater cause: at
that time we being discontented at what had taken place,
and apprehensive of what was to come (for we did not
bear patiently the hidden goodness of God towards His
own people), we uttered those expostulations unto God,
at one time invoking Him as a master, at another suppli-
cating Him as a kind father, partly upbraiding and ex-
postulating with Him, as is the wont of people in grief:
"Wherefore hast Thou rejected us, O God; for ever?
Hath Thy Spirit been wroth against the sheep of Thy
pasture? Remember the help that Thou hast possessed
from the beginning, which Thou hast obtained through
108
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
the sufferings of Thy Only-begotten Word, which Thou
hast thought worthy of the great Covenant, which Thou
hast drawn up to the heavens by the New Mystery and
by the pledge of the Spirit: and lift up Thine hand
against their pride at last; remembering what the ene-
mies have done against Thy saints, and how they have
boasted against Thy festivals." The sword also we in-
voked, and the plagues of Egypt, and besought Him to
execute His own judgment, and exhorted Him to rise up
at last against the ungodly, saying, "How long, Lord,
shall the sinners-how long shall the sinners boast them-
selves, and shall tread down Thy people, and harm Thine
inheritance, and shall alike speak and do what is unlaw-
ful?" And again those pitiful and yet more appropriate
expressions, "Thou hast made us a thing to be spoken
against, and a contempt unto those near at hand; a bye-
word to our neighbours, and a laughing-stock to all men."
A vine (we used to say) transplanted out of Egypt (out
of dark ignorance of God), which had grown up to this
beauty of faith and bigness, then the fence was taken
away which formerly defended us (the protection of God);
it was laid open to all passers by (to bad rulers); it was
laid waste by the wild boar (by him that chose wicked-
ness for his own, and was covered with the mire).
28. These things therefore did I think and cry aloud
unto God, but now for what expressions, and in place of
what, do I exchange them? Henceforth, I bewail the
destruction of the wicked, I become loving unto those that
hated me, and I cry aloud in words like these: “How
have they been turned into desolation! Of a sudden they
have failed, they have perished through their own trans-
gressions, as dust that a whirlwind hath carried away,
like down tossed about by the winds; as the morning
dew, as the whizzing of a dart that is thrown, as a clap of
thunder, as lightning flying past." If now they should
be converted, and ceasing from their long error and in-
fatuation should follow after Truth, then perchance some
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
109
good would accrue to them from their disaster: inasmuch
as the being chastised is often for the advantage of those
suffering chastisement. But if they should remain in the
same mind, and cleave unto their idols still, nor be cor-
rected by misfortune (a thing that makes even fools wise)
then doth Jeremiah bewail Jerusalem so greatly, that he
exhorts even things inanimate to lamentation, and demands
a tear from the very walls. But for these people, what
adequate lamentation can be found, and who can fittingly
bewail their present condition, though he cease to shed a
tear for their future chastisement? Because "they have
become foolish, and have gone afar off, and have wor-
shipped the creature beyond the Creator "-not only so,
but have risen up against those that served God, and have
lifted up an impious hand, well deserving of such great
plagues!
29. Let these things therefore take their course in what
way soever is well-pleasing to God! Who knows whether
He "who looseth those that be bound, and bringeth back
from the Gates of Death him that is heavy and bowed
down," He "who desireth not the death of a sinner, but
rather his conversion," who enlightened and corrected us
who were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death-
will not some time or another take to himself these men
also, and will lead them like a flock with the shepherd's
rod, laying aside the heavy rod of iron. But my speech
will again run back to the same song of triumph:
"Bel
hath fallen, Dagon is broken to pieces, Sharon hath become
a marsh, Lebanon is ashamed:" they will not longer "bid
the fool to reign over them," that is, the motionless,
senseless host of idols: neither will they seek after the
goddess of flies, Accaràn, or any other more ridiculous than
she: they will no more think about the groves, and the
high-places, and every well-wooded and shady mountain:
they will no more sacrifice their sons and their daughters
unto devils, for which Israel of old was rebuked by the
prophets; but what is all this to me? Let me turn to
110
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
the present, and what concerns ourselves. No more shall
they cast an evil eye upon our sacred edifices; no more
shall they defile with polluting blood the altars named
after the most pure and bloodless sacrifice: no more shall
they disgrace with impious altars the places not to be
approached no more shall they plunder and profane the
consecrated gifts, uniting rapine with sacrilege: no longer
shall they insult the hoary hairs of priests, the gravity of
deacons, and the modesty of virgins: no more shall they
let loose the fury of swine upon the entrails of saints cut
open, in order that they may gorge themselves at once
with food and with entrails: no more shall they set fire
to the monuments of the martyrs, as though they could
check the zeal of others to follow their example by their
insults against them: no more shall they destroy with
fire the relics of saints, polluting their bones by mixing
them with the vilest bones, and then scatter them to the
winds, in order to defraud them of the honour due even to
such remains: no more shall they set up a pulpit of pes-
tilences, and revel in their blasphemies against bishops.
and presbyters, nay, against Prophets and Apostles, and
even against Christ himself! No more shall they hold
festivals against us; and exclude us by law from the
cultivation of false learning, as though they could at the
same time put a gag upon our tongues!
30. Give me thy reasons, both as an emperor, and as a
sophist, thy conclusive arguments and syllogisms: let us
see what our own fishermen and vulgar folks will have to
say for themselves, "Put away the sound of thy songs
and the music of thy instruments," as my Prophet exhorts
thee. Let David again sing with freedom, he that struck
down the lofty Goliath with the Mystic Stones, he that
overcame many through meekness, and who healed Saul
through his spiritual harmony, when possessed by the
Evil Spirit. Let the torch-bearer put out his fire; let the
wise and holy virgins kindle their own lamps for the bride-
groom; let the hierophant put off his harlot's attire: ye
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
111
priests clothe yourselves with righteousness, and with the
garment of glory, instead of the spirit of sloth, and with
that great and spotless vesture, namely, Christ, our proper
decoration!
:
31. Let thy herald hush his disgraceful proclamation;
let my herald cry aloud the words of inspiration destroy
thy books of jugglery and divination, let only those of the
Prophets and Apostles be opened: put a stop to thy in-
famous rites, so full of darkness: I will raise up against
them our sacred vigils of the Light: stop up thy sanc-
tuaries and the roads leading unto hell; I will show
thee the open road and that leads to heaven! What
mighty preparations of arms, or contrivances of engines
have brought these things? How many myriads of men
and legions had effected such great things as we have
done merely by our prayers, and the Lord who willed the
same! He hath scattered the darkness, He hath restored
the light, He hath founded firmly the earth, He hath bent
the heavens like a bow, He hath put the stars in their
order, He hath sown the air, He hath set bounds to the
sea, He hath drawn out the rivers, He hath given life to
animals, He hath formed Man after His own image, He
hath placed the universe around all, He hath by one word
set free the darkened earth and restored it to light, order,
and pristine harmony. No more shall gluttonous and
sinful demons have dominion; no more shall the creature
be dishonoured under pretence of honour, being worshipped
in the place of God! Throw down thy Triptolemuses,
and thy Eleusis, and thy foolish Dragons: shame thyself
of the books of thine oracular Orpheus: accept the gift
of the season that covers thy nakedness; and if these
things be but fables and fictions, I will reveal to thee the
mysteries of Night!
32. No more does the Oak speak; no more does the
Cauldron give oracles; no more is the Pythia filled with
I know what, save lies and nonsense. Again the Castalian
Fount has been silenced and is silent, and becomes no
112
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
longer an oracular stream, but an object of ridicule: again
a voiceless statue is Apollo: again is Daphne a shrub
bewailed in fable: again is thy Bacchus a catamite, with
a train of drunkards tied to his tail, as well as thy grand
mystery, the Phallus; and a god abandoning himself to
the beautiful Prosymnus: again Semele is struck with
lightning again Vulcan is lame (though quick to catch
an adulterer), and a god grimed with soot, although a
famous artificer, and the Thersites of Olympus: again
Mars is a prisoner for adultery, with all his terrors, and
frights, and tumults, and gets wounded through his
audacity: again Venus is one, formerly a harlot, to her
shame, and the procuress of shameful copulations again
Minerva is a maid, and yet brings forth a dragon: again
Hercules is mad, or rather has ceased to be mad: again out
of lasciviousness and impurity, Jove, teacher, and sovereign
of the gods, turns himself into all sorts of things; and
though able to draw up all the gods together with all
living things, is himself drawn down by none: again
Jupiter's tomb is shown in Crete. If I see thy god of
gain, thy god of speech, thy president of games, I close
my eyes and run past thy god out of shame for the exhi-
bition:¹ thou mayest, for ought I care, adore the tension
of his speech (shall I call it), and his money-bag. One
thing alone of them all is respectable-namely, the honours
paid amongst the Egyptians to the Nile by the catamite,
also those to Isis, and the gods of Mendes and the Apis
bulls, and the other things thou dost sculpture or paint,
composite and monstrous creatures, thy ludicrous Pan,
thy Priapus, thy Hermaphroditus; and the gods who
castrate themselves, or tear themselves to pieces. These
subjects, however, I will leave to the stage, and to those
¹ Of his distinguishing emblem, the erect genital member.
2
2 Some indecent ceremony not mentioned by other authors; unless,
perhaps, Gregory has vaguely in his recollection what Herodotus tells of
the boat procession with the women that exposed their persons and
uttered scurrile jests as they sailed by the villages on the banks.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
113
who decorate them with pomps and ceremonies, and I
will conclude my discourse with an exhortation.
33. Men and women, young and old, all ye that have
been admitted to this tribunal, and all ye that are set in
the lower place, all ye whom the Lord hath redeemed, first,
out of error and ungodliness, and now from the rebellion
of the gentiles, from the dangers already present, and
from those anticipated: hear the words of a man not
slightly versed in such matters both from what daily takes
place and from ancient histories, books, and facts. It is a
great thing never to have experienced any trouble-though
perhaps, after all, not a great thing if the saying be true,
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth the
son whom He accepteth and for whom He careth." But
truly it is a great thing never to have sinned at all—at
least heinously, inasmuch as completeness in virtue the
Lord has placed beyond mortal reach; and secondly, it is
a great thing that such as have somewhat stumbled and
been chastised, and then set on their feet again, should
abide sensible of that correction, and shun a second scourg-
intr
i for a second offence.
4. Wherefore let us be really corrected by this divine
correction; let us show ourselves deserving, not only of
what we have suffered at first, but of the blessings we ob-
tained afterwards; let us make some defence, as regards
the calamity that overtook us, in the fact that we were
not given over to the gentiles as malefactors, but have been
chastised as sons; let us not forget the tossing in the calm,
nor the sickness in time of health, nor the captivity when
restored to Jerusalem, nor Egypt after leaving Egypt.
Let us not make the time of suffering better for us than
that of delivery, but we shall make it so if we show our-
selves at that time chastened and moderate, and raising
up all our hopes to heaven; but now puffed up and boast-
ful, and running back again into the same sins out of
which we were carried into the calamities that then befell
"Not so, my children, not so," says in some place
us.
I
114
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
Eli the priest, reproving his sons when offending against
God. For we know that it is easier to recall past discipline
than to preserve it when sent to us from God; because a
virtuous course brings back the one, whilst negligence
dissipates the other: also our bodies when diseased, re-
cover through strict diet and fasts, but when recovered
they fall back through gradual careless living and sur-
feiting, and tumble again into the same maladies. Know-
ing these things, and teaching others the like, let us be
masters over ourselves, and use the occasion with pru-
dence.
35. First, therefore, brethren, let us keep a festival, not
with cheerfulness of face, nor changes and sumptuousness
of apparel, nor with revellings and drunkenness, the fruit
whereof ye have been taught is chambering and wanton-
ness; neither let us crown the streets with flowers, nor
our tables with the scandal of perfumes, nor let us decorate
the entrances of our dwellings; neither let our houses be
illuminated with the material light, nor resounding with
concerts and the clapping of hands-for this is the pride
of a heathen festivity. But let not us glorify God, or
celebrate the present occasion with such things as the,
wherewith it is not fitting—but rather with purity of soul
and cheerfulness of temper, and with the lamps of the
Church that illuminate the body, I mean with godly con-
templations, and thoughts raised aloft upon the Sacred
Lamp-stand,' and diffusing a light over all the world!
Compared to such a Light, I esteem as a mere trifle all
that men light up when they hold festival. have also a
I
certain unguent," but one wherewith only priests and
kings are anointed, being of various ingredients and very
1
Alluding to the Golden Candlestick of the Temple, greatly reve-
renced by Jews and Christians of that age.
2 Used in its double sense of ordinary perfumes, that great essential
to ancient festivities, and which were merely scented oils, and the
anointing oil of the Temple used in the consecration of high-priests
and kings.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
115
66
costly, and poured out for our sake, but compounded by
the art of the Great Ointment-maker. Oh, that it may be
mine to offer up to God the sweet savour of this ointment!
I have likewise a table, this spiritual one, which the Lord
hath prepared for me, when He rescued me out of the
hand of the oppressors, at the which I refresh myself and
revel, yet do not grow wanton out of fulness, but calm
down all rebellion of my passions. Flowers, too, I have,
more blooming and lasting than all those of spring, "out
of the full land that the Lord hath blessed," that is, the
holy and sweet-smelling pastors and teachers, and all that
is pure and choice of the congregation; with these do I
desire to be crowned and to go in procession, having
fought the good fight, having finished my course, having
kept the faith," according to the holy Apostle. Let us
take up hymns instead of timbrils, psalmody instead of
profane talking and songs, the applause of thanksgiving
instead of the applause of the theatre, and action that is of
good report, understanding instead of laughter, instead of
drunkenness, sober reflection, instead of luxury, gravity of
demeanour. And if thou must needs dance, like a festival-
keer and reveller, then dance, but not the dance of
Herodias the immodest, the end whereof was the death
of the Baptist, but rather that of David upon the stopping
of the Ark,¹ the which I take for an emblem of a rapid
and diversified walking after the will of God. This is the
first and chiefest chapter of my exhortation.
36. Secondly, the words I am about to utter will be un-
pleasant and hard of acceptation, I well know, to the
generality (for man when placed in a position to retaliate
loves to do so, more especially when justly provoked at
what he has lately suffered, while reason is far from com-
pelling anger to obey the rein). Nevertheless, they de-
serve to be listened to and followed. Let us not use the
occasion unsparingly; let us not abuse our power; let us
1 A curious confusion between David and Uzziah.
116
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
not be bitter towards those that have wronged us; let us
not do the same things that we have blamed in others, but
profiting by the change so far as escaping danger goes, let
us detest all thoughts of retaliation: a sufficient vengeance
for reasonable men is the terror of those that have injured
them, and their expecting the treatment of which they
are deserving, and the torments of their own conscience;
for what a person fears that he is about to suffer, the same
he does suffer even though he does not actually suffer it;
and perhaps even more from himself than he would from
those that should inflict it. Let us, therefore, not consent
for anger to be meted out as their due to our enemies, nor
let us show ourselves punishers too gentle for their de-
serts; but seeing that we cannot exact from them the full
debt of vengeance, let us forgive them the whole; let us be
better and more highminded than those who have wronged
us let us show them what their demons teach them, and
what Christ hath taught us, who having glory in the things
that He suffered, was not less superior in the things e
refrained from doing, though He had the power. Let us
render unto God our thankoffering; let us magnify the
Mystery by our goodness, and to this end let us impove
the occasion.
37. Let us conquer those that have oppressed us, with
clemency; and above all let humanity be our director,
and the force of that commandment which promises us like
for like mercy whenever we need the same; for “with
what measure ye mete, with the same shall it be measured
to you again," as we well know. And if any of you feel
exceedingly bitter, let us leave to God those who have
vexed us, and to the tribunal of the next world; let us!
not diminish aught of the coming wrath by means of our
own violence; let us not think of confiscation; let us not
bring them before the tribunals; let us not banish them
from their country; let us not torture them with scourges,
nor, to sum up all, let us not do to them anything of all
that they have done to us.
Let us make them better, if
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
117
perchance that be possible, by our own example. If any
one's father has been a sufferer, or his son, or wife, or
kinsman, or friend, or any of those dear to him, let us
render the suffering profitable to them by persuading them
to bear patiently the things which they have suffered; in
this way we shall do them a greater favour than in any
other. Shall I mention the greatest of the blessings we
now enjoy? Those that persecuted us are hooted by mobs
and cities, and market-places, and assemblies. The old
state of things is cried up, the new derided, even by those
who joined in the persecution, which is a strange thing;
the gods themselves are pulled down amidst all sorts of
execration by the very men who set them up, as though
they had deceived them for a long time and the delusion
had come to an end at last; and he that was yesterday a
worshipper is to-day a reviler. What greater thing than
all this do we seek for ? At the present time this (per-
haps too light for their offences) is the fate of those
wretched men—a time will come when I shall behold them
and their Great Leader bewailing their own sin, at the time
when all wickedness shall be judged and tormented!
3. I pass over the inspired, and our own denounce-
ments, and the punishments that, according to us, are in
store in the world to come: turn, pray, to thine own
stories that are accepted, not by the poets only, but also
by people who were philosophers; I mean thy Pyriphle-
gethons, Cocyti, and Acherons, wherewith they punish
wickedness, Tantalus, Tityos, Ixion. Julian, your king
of this fraternity, shall be reckoned amongst these—nay,
at the head of them all, according to my calculation and
definition-though he be not tormented with thirst
whilst up to his chin in a lake; nor fearing (as
Tragedy pleases) the rock overhanging his head, continu-
ally pushed away, continually rolling back; nor revolving
along with the whizzing wheel; nor torn by vultures in
his liver, never coming to an end, always renewed-
whether all this be truth, or fable foreshowing the truth
118
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
in fictions-but we shall see with what, and what sort
of torture he will be punished, and how much more
severely than all the rest-if, indeed, punishments and
retributions be adjudged according to the measure of
offences.
991
39. Here is "a keepsake for thee in return for a kick,'
thou best and wisest of men! (to address thee in thy own
words); this do we offer thee, we that were excluded from
the use of words, according to thy mighty and wonderful
legislation; thou seest that we were not destined to be
silenced for ever, or be condemned to speechlessness by
thy decrees, but to utter a free voice demonstrative of thy
folly. For neither is there any means of holding-in the
cataracts of Nile, which tumble down from Ethiopia upon
Egypt, nor yet the solar beam, even though it may be
veiled for a little space by the snowfall, nor to tie the
tongue of Christians from exposing to ridicule thy reli-
gion. These words Basil and Gregory send thee, "those,
opponents and counterworkers of thy scheme," as thou
wast wont to call them and persuade others to do the
same-doing us honour by what thou didst threaten as
with, and moving us all the more to piety-persons who
being well known for their life, discourse, and mutual
affection, and whom thou wast acquainted with ever since
our common residence in Greece, thou didst treat with
the honour the Cyclops paid Ulysses; 2 thou didst keep
us in reserve as the last victims for the persecution, and
didst probably design as a thankoffering for victory to
thy own demons (a great and splendid one, in truth!)
in case
we should get thee back returning triumphant

"A kiss for a blow."
2 That of being the last devoured-a most ingenious defence of
Gregory's against the spiteful insinuations of zealots, doubtless now
assailing hun, based upon the friendship Julian had constantly shown
him and his family, which even went so far as to appoint the bishop's
brother his own physician. For their college life at Athens, see his
funeral sermon on Basil, Orat. XX., Bailey's edition.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
119
1
from Persia; or else thou didst hope, in thy infatuation, to
drag us along with thee into the same abyss as thyself!
2
1
40. For we two were not less courageous than the
youths who were cooled with dew in the furnace; and
who overcame the wild beasts through Faith; and who
zealously faced danger along with the mother that bore
them and the yet bolder priest—showing that Faith alone
of all things is invincible; or than those youths in thy
own time, one of whom having insulted thy "Mother of
the gods," and pulled down her altar, was brought before
thee as a criminal, but came before thee as a triumphant
champion, and after casting much ridicule upon thy purple
robe and thy speeches, as mere counters ² and things to be
laughed at, went out again with greater confidence than
one returning from a feast or splendid entertainment;
whilst another, deeply lacerated over all his body with
scourges, and having but little breath left in him from
his wounds, was so far from giving in to his torments or
making a hardship of his condition, that when he per-
ceived any part of his body not marked by the lashes,
he forthwith accused his torturers as defrauding him, and
o conferring honour upon his whole body, but letting
some part pass unlacerated and unhallowed-holding out
his leg as the only part that had escaped the claws,³ and
bidding them not spare that also.
1
¹ The first, and most preposterous alternative, is intended to suit the
capacity of his congregation; the second, to appease his own conscience
that smote him for thus wantonly insulting his former benefactor.
2 Used in calculation, and which, as Polybius remarks in narrating
the fate of Achæus stand for thousands of gold pieces, or for a single
copper, at the will of him that uses them. The intolerant bigotry and
insolence of this Confessor, so much admired by Gregory, plainly shows
that the persecution" he complains of ought rather to be called well-
merited punishment inflicted on disturbers of the public peace—the first
to violate the rights of conscience.
(.
3 Answering to the "ungula" of the Roman tribunals; Prudentius
has of it :-
120
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S SECOND INVECTIVE
41. This is the meaning of the lies and ravings of thy
Porphyry (of which ye all boast as divinely-inspired
words), and of thy "Misopogon," or rather "Antichrist,"
for thou gavest both names to the book-than which
nothing is more contemptible in the eyes of Christians;
though at the time thy imperial rank made it important,
aided by the parasites that extolled all thy actions; but
now it is a Beard tossed about and plucked at, and the
object of ridicule together with those that helped make
it; in which book thou art mighty proud about the fru-
gality of thy way of living, and of never suffering from
indigestion in consequence of over-eating; whilst thou
dost purposely omit how bitterly thou didst persecute the
Christians, and eat up so great and holy a people. And
yet what damage is it to the public if an individual has
indigestion, or emits natural eructations? But when so
great a persecution as this is stirred up, and such great
disturbance occasioned by the change, it is unavoidable
that the Roman empire should be in a bad way, as now it
proves to have been.
42. Here is a pillar 2 for thce, raised by our hands
more lofty and more conspicuous than the "Pillars of¹
Hercules ; for they were set up to commemorate ne
"Cessit his lacerans fortiter ungula,
Nec carpsit penetralia."
1 It is very remarkable that Gregory should confound the earlier-
written treatise "Against the Christians and their God" with the
"Misopogon" not finished till after Julian's departure from Antioch.
The quotations following prove that Gregory had read the "Miso-
pogon," and that in its original state it contained no attack on Chris-
tianity, as some have suspected. The book "Against the Christians,
&c.," appears not to have come in his way, or perhaps, he might think it
prudent to ignore its existence.
2 The orŋŋ was erected to proclaim the infamy of offenders, as well
as to denounce curses against transgressors of certain rules therein
specified. Thus orŋλirɛów came to its later sense of "libelling," “ex-
posing to ridicule." Our word "pillory" presents a curious analogy
in derivation.
AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
121
Labour, and are only visible to such as visit that part of
the world; but this cannot fail as it moves about to be
known to all men in all places; and which the time to
come, I well know, will receive, holding up, as it does, to
infamy thee and thy actions, and warning all that remain
never to venture upon any such rebellion against God,
lest if they do the same things, they may meet with the
same retribution !

ZONNI
ULTING
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION UPON THE
R¹
EMPEROR JULIAN.
IGHT were it, my friends, that the thing for which I
and all mankind were praying, had been accom-
plished that the power of the Persians had ere this
been overthrown; that Romans, in the place of Satraps,
were governing and administering their country according
to our laws; that our temples at home should be decorated
with the trophies brought from thence, whilst he tha
had achieved this success, seated on his imperial throne
should be receiving our panegyrics upon his victory; for
so were it, I ween, but just and proper, and a fit return
for the numerous sacrifices which he had offered. But
since envious Fortune hath proved stronger than our
well-founded hopes, and he has been carried back from
the confines of Babylon a corpse, who had come so near
to the accomplishment of his enterprise, whilst all the
tears it was natural to drop have been shed by every eye,
and it is not in our power to prevent the end-let us do
what is left for us, and, at the same time, the most accep-
table service to him who is no more; before a different
kind of audience' let us discourse upon his achievements,
since he himself has been debarred upon hearing our

A mourning instead of a triumphant one.
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION.
123
eulogy upon the deeds he has performed. For, in the
first place, we should be unjust if, after he had braved
every danger for the sake of gaining praise, we on our
side should defraud him of the prize of his exploits; and
secondly, it were the basest of conduct, that he, when
dead, should not receive the same homage wherewith we
honoured him when living, besides its being an act of the
lowest sycophancy to pay court to those who survive, but
to forget those who are departed. As for the living, though
one should not gain their favour by means of speech, yet
one can do so in many other ways; but with respect to
those who are gone, one way only is left to us, namely,
eulogies and speeches handing down their virtuous actions.
to all time to come. Though it has been my constant
endeavour to sing the praises of this hero, yet have I ever
found my words fall far short of the greatness of his per-
formances; and most certainly I was never vexed if the
merit of my sovereign and friend went beyond the range
of the ability of one who loved him, for I regarded this
as the common gain of the public, that he who had suc-
ceeded to the government for the salvation of the com-
munity, should not leave it possible to any speech to be
commensurate with his own actions. And when it is not
in my power to extol as they deserve only his exploits
upon the shores of the Western Ocean, what figure shall
I make to-day when obliged to comprise both them and
his expedition against the Persians in a single discourse!
Nay, I believe that even should he obtain leave to return
from the gods below, for the purpose of aiding me in the
labour of this discourse, and unseen by all take part in
my task, not even so would due measure be exactly meted
to his actions; but they would be described in a better
manner than is now possible, and yet, in all likelihood,
not even then fully described.
What then must I expect to suffer in undertaking so
great a task, without such powerful help! But were I
not assured beforehand that you all are not ignorant that
124
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
victory belongs to actions, and at the same time you take
pleasure in their description, it had been better for me to
hold my tongue; but since on the former occasion you
applauded me, and listened with satisfaction to my words,
I do not think there is any just pretext for silence, and
therefore will endeavour to pay my debt to my sovereign
and friend.
There have been several emperors not deficient in the
art of government, though not distinguished by birth,
knowing how to protect their empire, yet ashamed to
declare from what parents they sprung,' to such a degree
that it was a hard job for those who lauded them to salve
that sore; but in the present case there is nothing that I
cannot parade for his glorification; for at starting, as
regards his family, his grandfather" was an emperor, one
who above all others held riches in contempt, and in a
special degree won the affections of his subjects; whilst
his father was the son of an emperor and the brother
of an emperor, and one who had better right to the
throne than he who got it; but nevertheless he did
not assert his claim, but wished success to him who
seized the power, and continued to the last to live
with him in sincerity and affection; he married the
daughter of a præfect (a worthy and sensible man, whom
even the foe that had vanquished him respected, and ex-
horted his own friends to take him for a pattern in the
exercise of power), and he became the sire of this admir-
3
¹ Alluding to Diocletian and his very plebeian colleagues and suc-
cessors.
2 Constantius Chlorus, who, moreover, was great-nephew to that
best of emperors, Claudius Gothicus.
3 A very curious remark, for Julius Constantius was a younger brother
of Constantine's. Perhaps he means to impugn the legitimacy of the
latter; there was actually a rumour that Helena was only a concubine
of Constantius Chlorus.
This Julianus was, therefore, Prefect of Rome under Maxentius,
when Constantine took the city.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
125
1
able person now lying before us, and complimented his
father-in-law by giving his name to his son. Constantine
had no sooner ended his life, than the sword passed through
almost his whole house, fathers and children alike; but
this one escaped the general massacre, as well as an
elder brother by the same father; the latter having been
rescued from destruction by an illness which it was sup-
posed would result in death; the other by his tender
age, for he had only just been weaned. That brother
devoted himself to different pursuits than literature,
thinking that in this way he should less expose himself
to the malice of his enemies; but this one his appointed
destiny stimulated to the love of learning, and he spent
his life in that pursuit in the greatest of cities after
Rome, going regularly to school-he the grandson of an
emperor, the nephew of an emperor, the cousin of an
emperor! hot strutting arrogantly, nor annoying people,
nor claiming public attention by the multitude of his
attendants, and the bustle they produced; but an eunuch,2
n excellent guardian of his modesty, and another tutor
ot without some tincture of learning, accompanied him;
is dress of the ordinary kind; his looks not contemptuous
towards others; salutations to whomsoever came in his
way; no rude repulsing of the beggar; and when invited
entering a house; and stopping still even before he was
called; and taking his place where it was the rule for the
rest to stand; and being addressed in the same way as
the other scholars; and taking his departure in company
with the rest; and seeking for no precedence over them;
so that anyone coming upon them from outside, and
looking at a class, and not knowing who and whose
children they were, would not have discovered in any
outward circumstances the superiority of his rank. Not

1 A very far-fetched excuse for the brutality and debauchery of
Gallus Cæsar.
2 Mardonius, highly praised by his pupil in the " Misopogon.”
126
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
:
however that he was on a level with those school fellows
of his in all respects, for in the understanding and catching
of what was said, and in retaining what he had caught,
and in repeating the same without difficulty, he made a
vast difference between the others and himself, which,
when I perceived, I was grieved that I myself had not
the cultivation of so fine a mind; because a certain good-
for-nothing sophist' had received the youth in charge as
a payment for speaking evil of the gods; for the youth
was brought up in the same notions about religion, and
had to put up with the silliness of his teacher's discourses,
in consequence of the war waged by his guardian against
our altars for now he was nearly grown up, and mani-
fested the princeliness of his character by many striking
instances. All this troubled the repose of Constantius;
and he being afraid lest the vast capital (that possessed
such influence in determining the choice of sovereigns,
and was in point of strength a match for all the rest put
together), should be attracted by the eminence of th
boy's character, and that some trouble to himself migh
be the consequence, he sends him away to the city
Nicomedia, as a place that did not inspire equal appr
hensions, and yet offered facilities for his education. He
however did not come to my lectures, although I had for
some time been holding classes there, and had exchanged one
city for another, choosing that which offered tranquillity
in the place of one that swarmed with dangers; but by
purchasing copies of my lectures he kept up a constant
conversation with me. But the cause of his taking so
much pleasure in my discourses, and yet avoiding their
author, was that the wonderful sophist above-mentioned
had bound him by many strong promises neither to become,
nor to be called my visitor, nor be entered in the list
of my pupils; for which thing the youth being angry
with him that had so tied him down, and yet not wishing

1 Ecdiceus, a convert.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
127
to break his word (although desirous of my acquaintance),
he found out how he might without perjuring himself
have the benefit of my lectures, by procuring through
heavy bribes one to be the communicator of what had been
said by me day by day.
On which occasion he displayed in the highest degree
the force of his natural abilities; for though never in my
company, he was superior to those constantly with me
in the imitation of my style, and through this circuitous
course he outstripped their plain and straightforward one
in the production of the fruits of study; from which cir-
cumstance, I believe, there is in his works composed
after this time a certain family likeness to my own, and
he was thought to be one of those that come nearest to
me in this respect. Now his occupation lay in pursuits
of this kind; meantime his brother obtained a share in
the empire, that is to say, in the secondary rank; for as a
double war was upon Constantius' hands, namely, the
first one with the Persians, and that which came on top
of it against the usurper (Magnentius), he stood in need,
assuredly, of a colleague; and Gallus is despatched from
Italy on the road to the East—and the same circumstance
that had happened to his father before, now became the
casẹ with him—that is, he was now brother of a reigning
prince. The latter marched through Bithynia attended by
his bodyguard, and the two brothers had an interview
but the change of fortune of the one did not pervert the
disposition of the other; neither did he take his brother's
elevation to empire as a motive for indolence; on the con-
trary it increased the desire he felt for learning; he
augmented the labours he took in its pursuit; for he
thought that should he have to continue in a private
station he would possess wisdom in the place of imperial
power—a more noble treasure! whilst should he ever be
raised to the sceptre, he would adorn his dignity by his
wisdom. For this reason he employed the light of day
for his studies, and when night overtook him, the light of
128
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
fire;
he did not make his wealth any greater, though he
had every opportunity for so doing, but his mind more
accomplished; and at last having got into company with
those who were full of Plato, and hearing from them
about the gods and genii, and those that had really created,
and do maintain the universe, and what the soul is, and
whence it came, and whither it goes, and by what things
it is submerged, and by what is it captured, and by what
it is weighed down, and by what it is elevated also what
are its bonds, and what its liberation; and in what way
he might succeed in escaping from the one and attaining
to the other-"he washed away the brackish tale with a
drinkable story ;" and having cast out of his mind the
whole of the nonsense that previously occupied it, he
supplied its place with the beauty of the Truth; as though
replacing in some grand temple the statues of the gods
previously prostrate in the mud. Now, he was another
man in these respects, yet he kept, up his former pro-
fession, for it is clear he had no liberty of conscience.
Esop would have written a fable on the subject, not the
hiding of the ass under the lion's skin, but the lion under
the hide of the ass, because he had learnt that which was
better worth knowing, yet pretended to what was the
safer to hold.
His reputation being spread abroad in all directions, all
persons in the service of the Muses (and even of the other
deities) flocked to him, some by land, others by sea,
anxious to see and to converse with him, to say something
of their own, and to hear him talk. But when they were
come they found it not casy to depart; for the syren de-
tained them not only by his words, but by his natural
power to enchant; whilst, by his knowing how to love
sincerely, ho taught others also how to do so well; so
that they being cemented together fittingly were not
separable without difficulty. He possessed, then, universal
knowledge, gathered up and put to use-poetry, rhetoric,
the systems of various philosophers, much acquaintance
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
129
with the Greek language, and not a little of the other
[Latin]; for he cultivated both; and 'twas the prayer
from every mouth (of sensible people), that the youth had
been made the manager of affairs,' to put a stop to the
ruin of the state, and that one had been appointed to tend
the sick who understood how to treat maladies of the
kind. I would not indeed say that he blamed these
wishes, neither make this boast on his account, I say that
he also desired it, but that he desired it not out of love of
luxury, or riches, or the purple, but for the sake of restor-
ing, through his own labours to mankind the blessings
whence they had fallen, both others and particularly the
worship of the gods-a desire with which he was especially
filled, seeing, as he did, the temples lying desolate, and
the ceremonies of religion put a stop to, and altars over-
turned, and sacrifices suppressed, and priests expelled,
and the revenues of the temples divided amongst the most
licentious of men ; to such a degree did he feel all this,
that I believe had one of the gods promised him their
restoration by other hands, he would have shunned the
imperial dignity with all his might. Thus he did not
aspire to the possession of power, but to the means of
doing good to his states. Now, as the wish was growing
strong in the bosoms of all educated men, that the world
should be cured of its distresses through this man's pru-
dence, against his brother Gallus there came
a false
accusation, and letters were discovered containing the
blackest treachery; and when the culprits were punished 3
1 Instead of his brother Gallus.
2 Reiske has on this so truly Protestant a note that I cannot avoid
transcribing it for the benefit of the admirers of the primitive Church
Clericos, et monachos Christianos quos ubique impudicitiæ atque
salacitatis flagitiosis simæ arguit: id quod nemo mirabitur qui suam
reputet homines cœlibes, nulli arti de ditos, seques, otio diffluentes,
opiparè pastos, stimulis illicitæ veneris puniri esse prorsus consen-
taneum.
>>
³ Domitian, the imperial commissioner sent to investigate the conduct
K
130
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
for this (for he was not a likely person to reward them for
it, after having been thus provoked), it was decided at
Court that he who had inflicted punishment was guilty
for what he had done-so he was destroyed in silence,
the sword having anticipated his defence of his conduct.
Upon this our hero was arrested and kept a prisoner in
the midst of armed men of fierce look and rough voice,
and, by their actions, making imprisonment appear a
trifle; to this was added his not being stationary in one
place of confinement, but having to change one prison for
another for the mere purpose of annoying him. And this
treatment he suffered though no charge was brought
against him, either small or great-for how could that be,
because he had lived at a distance, from his brother, of
more than three hundred posts ?² and even letters he only
sent to his brother rarely, and those confined to mere
compliments; in consequence of which no one came for-
ward to accuse him, even falsely; but nevertheless, he
was tormented, as I have said, for no other reason than
because the two had one father. On this occasion again,
he deserves to be admired for not having courted favour
with the murderer by declarations against him that was
dead, nor yet exasperating the living by speeches in
defence of the same; but whilst he honoured the memory
of the one by secret grief, he gave the other no occasion
for a second murder, strongly as he desired it. So well
and honourably did he bridle his own tongue, and this,
too, though the annoyances that surrounded him rendered
it no easy task; so that by his patience he gagged the
mouths of the wickedest of men. Nevertheless, not even this
of Gallus, and murdered by the populace at his instigation. Constantius,
however, is not to be blamed for the destruction of Gallus; besides his
abominable misgovernment of the East, there was good proof that he
was preparing to dispute the empire with his benefactor.
Compared to the worse fate apparently in store for him.
2 The distance between Nicomedia and Antioch, the capital of
Gallus.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
131
1
would have sufficed for his preservation, nor have checked
the malice of those enraged against him without a cause;
but an
"Ino daughter of Cadmus," looked down upon
him, so tempest-tossed, in the person of the wife of Con-
stantius-the one she pitied, the other she softened, and,
by dint of many prayers, obtained his liberty, longing, as
he was, for Greek, and, above all, for that "Eye of Grecce,"
Athens, to send him to the desired place. Assuredly
this marks a soul come down from the gods, that when he
set about the choice of a residence, did not look out for
gardens, or palaces, or forests, or lands situated upon
arms of the sea, or the pleasure arising from other sources,
numerous as they are, all of which were before him, if he
remained in Ionia-but he esteemed as trifles what others
esteem important in comparison with the City of Minerva,
the birthplace of Plato and of Demosthenes, and of every
other variety of wisdom. He came thither in all haste,
with the view of adding to what he already knew, and to
meet with teachers able to furnish him with something
more than he already possessed. But when he held inter-
course with them and afforded them the opportunity of
testing him, whilst he got the same opportunity for trying
them, he filled them with astonishment, rather than ex-
periencing the same feeling himself; and he was the only
one of the young men who came to Athens that went
away having rather imparted than received instruction.
On this account there was always to be seen around him,
like a swarm of bees, a crowd of young and old, philo-
sophers and rhetoricians; the deities, too, kept an eye
upon him, being well aware that it was he who should
restore to them their hereditary rights. He was equally
to be admired for his eloquence and his modesty, for there
was no subject he ever discoursed upon without blushing:
ảvλãr,
ὑλῶν
1 The text has avλar, which makes no sense; λv was probably
what Libanius wrote: alluding to facilities for the chase-an amusement
to which Constantius was much addicted.
132
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
all persons enjoyed his affability, the best men his confidence
also; and first among them all was He, our fellow-citizen,
the only man without reproach, that had subdued envy by
his merit.
Now, it was the youth's intention to spend his life and
end his days at Athens, and this he had judged the height
of happiness; but the state of affairs demanding a second
emperor because the provinces upon the Rhine were being
ravaged, and the generals sent there were aspiring to
more than their due,' the man is summoned to rule who
was studying philosophy at Athens, because, from this
very pursuit of philosophy, he inspired with confidence in
him that person who had injured him most deeply-for
though he had been the murderer of his father and his
brothers, some of them long before, but one recently,
nevertheless he hoped that his pledges of fidelity would
be faithfully kept, and that his good disposition would
prove stronger than his causes for complaint. The one
party, in truth, was not wrong in his confidence in the
virtue of the other; but there was nothing in his own
conduct to induce the latter to believe that the honour
done him would not turn out a snare, for the blood already
spilt gave him cause to suspect it; but there being no
way to decline the offer, he, with tears in his eyes, invokes
the goddess, and having prayed her to defend him, took
his departure.
Being made colleague in power, he is sent off forthwith
to face labours that demand the hands of a Hercules, for
the affairs of the Gauls, who dwell most remote upon the
ocean, were then in the following condition. Constantius
being at war with Magnentius, who had usurped another
man's empire, though he governed it in accordance with
the laws,2 thought himself justified in trying every expe-
1 Julian, in his "Epistle to the Athenians," assigns the usurpation of
Sylvanus as the true cause of his own elevation to the rank of Cæsar.
Impartial testimony to the good government of the Gallic usurper,
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
133
dient to upset his enemy, and actually by means of letters
opens to the barbarians the Roman territories, giving them
leave to take possession of as much as they were able.
When this impunity was given to them, and the treaties
binding the barbarians were annulled by these instructions,
they overran the country, in the complete absence of
anyone to prevent (because Magnentius had got all his
troops in Italy),' they make booty of the flourishing towns
of Mæsia; villages are destroyed, walls battered down,
property carried off, women and children, and magistrates
followed the train carrying, poor wretches! their own
goods upon their shoulders; whilst he that would not
submit to be a slave, seeing his wife and daughter a prey
to violence, wept and slew himself; and after our goods
had been transported to the enemies' country, the con-
querors cultivated our land with their own hands, but
their own territory by the hands of their captives. And
again, those towns that had escaped sacking through the
strength of their walls, had no land except an extremely
small portion left for their support, and therefore were
consumed by famine, and were driven to every possible
resource for food, until they were reduced to so small a
number of souls that their towns served them both for
towns and fields, and the uninhabited part within the
fortifications was sufficient to be cultivated; for the ox
was yoked, the plough was dragged, the seed was cast,
and the wheat-ear sprung up, and the reaper, the thresher,
and all suchlike occupations were seen within the city
gates; so that one would not have said that those carried
away captive were any more to be pitied than those left at
home. And the person that had bought his victory at so
which is confirmed by the enthusiasm the natives had displayed in his
support.
1
After the great battle of Myrsa, his colleague, Decentius, was
blockaded by the Germans, at Constantius' instigation, in the city of
Sens, and thus prevented from bringing up reinforcements.
2 This picture of the desolation of Gaul after its recovery by Con-
134
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
dear a rate, at first indeed rejoiced and boasted himself,
but when his treason had come to light, and Rome was
all but crying out against him on account of being thus
dismembered, he had not the courage to drive away the
insolent spoilers by running any danger of his own; but
obliged the youth to turn soldier, who had just been
dragged from the schools into the din of arms; and,
strangest thing of all, he was anxious that one and the
same person should prove at once stronger and weaker than
the enemy, doing the former out of his desire to recover
his territories, the other out of envy to his colleague.
And
that he had sent him off quite as much to perish as to
conquer, he immediately made evident: for though he
possessed a military force as great as had previously
kept these empires in order, and numerous foot soldiers,
numerous cavalry, whose invulnerability, by reason of their
armour, is, I think, most formidable,' he gave orders that
he should be followed by no more than three hundred of
the very worst of his infantry," pretending that he would
find soldiers in those long beforo stationed whither he was
bound, these being men who had long been taught how
to be beaten, and whose trade it was to be blockaded.
Nothing of all this disturbed our hero, or rendered him
timid; but though he then tasted arms and war for the
first time in his life, and was about to command cowardly
troops against foes invariably victorious, he wore hist
armour as though he had from the beginning handled the
shield instead of books; ho marched as boldly as though
stantius, was probably derived from Julian's "Commentaries upon his
Gallic and German Wars," unfortunately lost.
1
¹ The "Clibanarii," armed cap-a-pic in the Persian style, of whom
Constantius had no less than 30,000 in his pay.
2 Not a fair cause of complaint, these 350 men were merely a guard
of honour. Julian found that the troops actually stationed in his
province were fully sufficient, under proper management, for its defence;
and in its exhausted condition anything more would have been but a
cruel burden to the natives.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
135
at the head of ten thousand Ajaxes. Two things made
him such as he was-the one his philosophy, and his know-
ing that good counsel is stronger than force of hands ; the
other, his confidence that the gods were on his side. For
he had learnt how that Hercules had escaped from the
Styx through Minerva's interposition. Of the good will
of Heaven towards him, the tokens were from the first as
plain as he could wish; for though he was summoned out
of Italy in the dead of winter, when it was a very possible
thing for anyone not having the shelter of a roof to perish
through the frost and the snowfalls, he enjoyed so cheerful
a sunshine in his journey that they all marched along
calling the season spring, and the cold was vanquished
before the enemy was beaten. And again, the following,
was a presage of better fortune: as he was passing
through a little town, the first he came to in the province
committed to him, a crown of branches (for the townsfolk
tie many such on high from strings stretched from the
house-walls to the pillars), one of these crowns wherewith
we decorate our cities getting loose from its fastening,
dropped upon the head of the prince and fitted it exactly—
a shout arose on all sides. By the crown, I fancy, were
foreshown his future trophies, and that he came to
conquer.
And if the sender had allowed him to set to
work immediately, and carry out his own plans, he would
have had at once all the benefit of the change; but, as it
was, he was master of no one thing beyond his general's
uniform-his officers were his masters; for such had been
the determination of the person who had sent him that the
latter should direct and he obey." But he remembering
Ulysses, and the deeds of Ulysses, put up with all this.
Now it so happened that it pleased the commanders to
1 Alluding to the dictum, ὡς ἕν σοφὸν βούλευμα τὰς πολλὰς χέρας
νικά-
2 In the case of a young man going direct from college to manage a
most difficult war, this precaution shows more prudence than malignity
on the part of the sender.
136
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
remain inactive ("to sleep on "), and this conduct made
the enemy bold, seeing that they retained, now that the
prince was come, the same superiority as they possessed
before. But nevertheless, though he was thus hampered
in the beginning, and went around the provinces merely
for the purpose of inspection (for this was the only
authority granted him), yet his name and presence had
such influence that forthwith one of those towns that had
been long blockaded, and cooped up,¹ sallied forth and cut
off the barbarian that was occupying their land close up to
the walls, and another town did the same to another horde,
and so on; whilst a daring night escalade was repulsed by
a handful of old men, long discharged the service on
account of age. For the enemy had brought ladders and
set them up against an unguarded gate (a plan through
which they had surprised many towns); but the others, so
soon as they discovered the attempt, making a weapon out
of whatever came in their way, ran with their decrepit feet,
shouting aloud the name of the prince. So the old fellows
got the better of them (just like those of Myronides);
some of the enemy they slew, others threw themselves
down from the wall and were killed. From another quarter
was made a sally against the barbarians by young men
never used to such things in the time before. So the one
party turned and fled, whilst the others revelled in their
slaughter-not that they saw the prince, but had been
encouraged by the fact that he was near them. Others
again, who were intending to desert their habitations, cast
away their fears and remained there. And when the
barbarians, sallying out of a thick wood, had attacked the
rear of his line of march, the whole affair took such a turn
that those who had hoped to harm him were themselves
cut to picces, and he that slew an enemy brought in as a
proof the head of the slain; for a certain price was set on
every head, and the great eagerness for cutting off heads
1
τεταριχευμενων, "like herrings in a barrel," as we should say.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
137
was its natural result-for that most clever of men purged
their souls of cowardice by means of the lust of gain, and
the wish to get something incited them to be courageous.
Such of the barbarians who had taken refuge in the islands
formed by the Rhine, fell a prey to those of our men that
reached them either by swimming or in boats, and our
towns were provisioned with their flocks and herds. And
of the two largest cities of the province, the prince
having found the one reduced to distress through the
innumerable attacks of the barbarians, the other totally
depopulated and lying in ruins from its recent sack, he
lent a helping hand to the latter for the purpose of its
rebuilding, and stationed a strong garrison within it. The
other, so utterly destitute of all things, that the people
were forced by necessity to feed upon things contrary to
all custom,' he encouraged to better hopes. Seeing this,
a king of no inconsiderable part of the enemy's country,
came over to make his excuses, on the ground that he had
done no great harm, and to solicit his alliance; and because
there seemed some justice in what he said, a truce is
agreed upon for a short time, for he made the barbarian
more submissive through the fear of what was to follow.
In this manner, and to a yet greater extent than this, he
inspected the province, and grew strong, although he had
not yet attained to the full authority of doing what he had
in his mind.
And when that fellow was got rid off that was so
afraid of the enemy, and so insolent to his friends, and
there came as his successor (Sallustius Secundus), a man
of the highest character in other respects, and not with-
out experience in military affairs, and most of the ob-
stacles in his way had been removed-then, truly then,
the time had come to the prince for the full display of his
These two places were Treves, which had managed to keep out the
German invaders; and Cologne, which had been sacked by them.
3 Florentius, whom Julian sufficiently abuses in his letters, calling
him among other names μιαρόν ανδρόγυνον.
138
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION.
ability. To take a review of the facts: when it appeared
to the elder one (the Præfect) to be advisable to make an
inroad across the river upon the enemy, a thing which his
junior had long been wishing for, and chafing against the
restraint by which he was bound-then Constantius per-
ceiving that his forces were but small, and not equal to
his courage, despatched to his aid a double number of his
own troops-that is to say, thirty thousand foot soldiers,
appointing for their commander a person (Barbatio) that
was supposed to know how to use his power. It was fixed
that the two armies should be joined in one, but when
there was no great distance between both as they drew
together, the elder general being afraid his junior should
get a share in the victory, and at the same time thinking
his own force sufficient for the purpose, gives orders not
to unite with the other army, and crosses the river alone.
But whilst he is throwing a bridge of boats over the
river, the barbarians cut down a wood higher up, and let
great trunks of trees float down the stream, which striking
against the boats, scatter some, tear loose others, and sink
others to the bottom. His first attempt being thus frus-
trated, the general went off precipitately, and his thirty
thousand troops with him, whilst the enemy were not con-
tent with the having suffered no loss, but thought it was
now their turn to inflict some; they crossed the river in
pursuit, caught him up, slew some of his men, and re-
turned home with songs of triumph; they also followed up
one action with another, and from words they proceeded
to what comes next.
Now when they were all got home again, and the prince
felt his strength, he provisioned with corn both castles
and towns out of the spoils made upon the enemy, em-
ploying for this purpose, as far as was possible, the labour
of his own soldiers. The ruined places, too, were re-
built; and the prince, though in winter quarters a long
way from the Rhine, was able to get early intelligence of
the movements of the enemy by means of couriers re-
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
139
ceiving the message in succession: for previously the large
extent of country lying desolate had precluded him from
the discovery of their designs. In this way, indeed,
when they (the Germans) learnt that the Romans, on
Roman land, were reaping the crops that belonged to
them, they were indignant, as though their paternal fields
were being cut by strangers, they sent a herald, and by
his hands they exhibited the letters (of Constantius) which
made the land their own, and declared "that he was con-
travening the determinations of his senior colleague, and
must confess as much; that he must either abide by the
written orders, or, if he wished for more, must expect to
fight for it.” But the prince said that the man had been
sent merely as a spy, otherwise their chief would not have
been so audacious as to send such a message, and there-
fore detained him; and remembering himself the exhor-
tations which he had heard the generals of old delivering
in history, and well aware that speech of the sort pre-
ceding action renders the soldier more courageous for the
struggle, he delivered a harangue which I would very
gladly have inserted in the present oration, but as the
rule in such cases does not allow it, I will only say that
it at once made fighting more to the taste of his hearers
than doing nothing was before.' It was determined that
the cavalry should form either wing, the legionaries
occupy the centre; the best men of these two arms to be
in the right wing around the prince. This order ought
to have been concealed from the enemy; it did not, how-
ever, escape them, owing to the treachery of some de-
serters. And when the enemy had effected a crossing of
the Rhine, the prince, though it was in his power to pre-
vent it, would do nothing of the sort, nor even fall upon
a small detachment of them, but as soon as there were
thirty thousand of them over, he came down before that
¹ Ammian gives this speech, evidently extracted from Julian's "Com-
mentaries," and it certainly is very much to the purpose.
140
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
several times as many should reinforce them, for they had
resolved, as was afterwards ascertained, that not one of
their fighting-men should be left at home. Both things,
therefore, are worthy of admiration in his conduct that
he did not attack the first force, nor wait for that which
was on the move. The first would have been trifling, the
second a matter of the greatest danger; the one would
have been the conduct of a timid, the other of a rash com-
mander. For this reason he did not prevent their passing
over to a larger number, and by a great deal too, than his
own force, whilst by his attack he checked what was
flocking in to their aid.
And as for the barbarians, who were well informed of
his arrangements, the braver part of their men were set
against the better troops on the Roman side, whilst they
had strengthened their own right wing with a reserve
which they concealed behind an elevated water-course,
overgrown with reeds, that country being marshy, that
concealed them sitting down. Nevertheless, they did not
thus escape the eyes of the Romans upon the extreme
left; but these as soon as they discovered them ran down
with a shout, and starting them out of their cover, began
the chase, and threw into confusion by their means as
much as half their army, flight causing flight, that of the
first occasioning that of the second, and in this engage
ment there is something similar to the sea-fight between
the Corinthians and the Corcyræans, for in that one also
it was the fate of either side to be beaten and to beat; for
in reality each side gained the day; for when the right
wing of the Romans, surrounding the prince, was hard
pressed (being the picked men of one side, and assailed
by the picked men of the other), then not even those
who carried the standards, soldiers the most practised in
keeping their place, any longer preserved their order, and
were giving way, the prince shouting aloud and copying
the words of the Son of Telamon (for the one said, “that
were the ships destroyed no escape remained for the
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
141
Greeks," whilst the other declared "that if they were
beaten the towns would close their gates against them,
and no one would give them food"), added at last "that
if they had determined to fly they must first kill him, and
then run away, for that so long as he was living he would
not suffer them;" and at the same time pointed out to
them those barbarians who had been worsted by those
who had put them to flight; and when our men partly
heard, partly saw this, and were shamed by the one, and
inspirited by the other, they turned again and renewed
the combat, and the disgrace was cancelled, and everybody
engaged in the pursuit to such a degree that the guards
of the baggage train, left on the top of the hill, were
seized with a desire to take part in what was going on;
and as they hurried down, and their running became
visible, they presented to the barbarians the appearance
of a larger force than they really were-there was no
longer one of them that chose to stand his ground, so
that the place was strewed with eight thousand corpses,
the Rhine hidden by the bodies of those drowned through
their want of knowing how to swim; the islands of the
river were full of the dead lying about, whilst the victors
went after those that had concealed themselves in the
woods, whilst to the most remote barbarians corpses and
arms carried down by the stream told the tale of the
battle. But greatest luck of all-when netting the
fugitives on the islands, in this chase they caught the
chief along with his subjects, and carried him off by
catching hold of his hands, without stripping him of his
armour, being a man very tall and very handsome,
attracting all eyes both by his personal appearance and
by his equipment. The sun after beholding all this came.
to his setting. The barbarian chief our prince questioned
concerning his audacious attempt he admired him so
long as he used language that displayed courage; but.
when he followed up his spirited beginning with a base
conclusion, showing fear for his life, and begging for
142
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
safety-much as he was disgusted with his behaviour,
yet he did him no harm, nor deposed him, out of respect.
for his previous high fortune, and the consideration of
the mighty change brought about by a single day.
Which of the festivals amongst the Greeks could one com-
pare to that evening, when the leaders were drinking
with one another, and counting up to each other all those
they had borne down in the battle, whilst some were
laughing, others singing, and others bragging of their
exploits ! He that was debarred from food on account of
his wounds, found a sufficient consolation in the wounds
themselves; even in their dreams those warriors were
conquering the barbarians, and during the night again
they were reaping the pleasure of what they had toiled
for in the day; for it was after a long, a very long, in-
terval of misfortune that they had erected this trophy
over the barbarians, and were the more greatly rejoiced
by the unexpectedness of the event. And yet whether
it was that they were naturally cowards, but that Julian
had made them heroes, like some god inspiring them with
courage, and the strength to do what was greater even than
too great for man. Nay rather, they were brave souls
whom badness of their former leaders had paralyzed.
And what is more glorious than to lead the good to the
opportunity of exhibiting their virtues? But it was some
deity, I believe, that, working unseen, had rendered their
actions more splendid; and truly 'tis more respectable to
fight with heaven on one's side, for in my opinion it is
more to the glory of the Athenians to have performed
what history tells at Marathon with the aid of Hercules
and Pan, than had they achieved the same victory without
the help of the gods.
Now any other man, after so great a victory, would
have disbanded his army, and returned to his capital to
feast his eyes with circus races and theatrical amusements,
The bearers of
and have reposed himself—not so Julian.
the standards, who had given way, he punished in order
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
143
to teach them to keep their post; yet spared their lives,
granting to their victory the remission of the capital
sentence: but the Giant, the king, his prisoner, he sends
to Constantius¹ as the news-bearer of his own fall; con-
sidering it to be his own duty to labour, but to give up
all prizes of the sort to his superior-like Achilles con-
ceding his booty to Agamemnon. The latter held a
triumph upon the occasion, and plumed himself, and was
glorious through another man's dangers; inasmuch as
the German chief also, who had crossed over in company
with the one in question, but had advised not fighting,
Julian so terrified by what had happened, that he made
him run off, and throw himself into the hands of Con-
stantius. In this way the latter became master of both
the kings, the one giving himself up, the other taken
prisoner.
But I will repeat what was said above, Julian did not
fall into the same weakness as those conquerors, whom a
victory dismisses into amusements and idleness: he did
not allow his soldiers, desirous as they were of it, to lay
down their arms; but holding that what had been done
was the act of men defending only their own, whereas it
behoves the brave to exact vengeance also for what they
have suffered, he led them into the enemy's land, instruct-
ing and telling them that what remained to be done was
short, and rather an amusement than a labour, as the
barbarians were like a wild beast that had been hit and
was waiting for the finishing stroke. And he was not in
the wrong; for when they crossed over, the natives that
were of age to bear arms deposited their women and chil-
dren in the woods, and saved themselves by flight. But
Julian wasted their villages with fire, and brought out
all that was concealed; the trees did not hinder him:
1 Who made him Duke of Mesopotamia, in accordance with the wise
policy of the empire to utilize such restless spirits, by occupying them
where they could do no harm.
144
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
forthwith there came an embassy using humble languaage,
suited to their present evil case. The proposals were
these, that the Romans should stop where they were, and
desist from ravaging the country, and hold them in future
for friends. He makes a truce, in fact, and the term of
the truce was the present winter only; from which, even
without a truce, the natives would perhaps have gained
a respite. Thus much, then, did he concede to the van-
quished; but he himself accepted not of it; for a thou-
sand Franks,' to whom snow and flowers are equally
pleasant, who were pillaging some villages in the middle
of which was a deserted castle, he shut up in this castle,
surrounded them with a palisade, and forced them by
famine to surrender, whom he then sent off to his superior
in chains, a most unheard-of thing, for it is a law with
those warriors either to conquer or to perish: and never-
theless they were made prisoners, having suffered the
same fate with the Lacedæmonians at Sphacteria. Now
the emperor, who received these prisoners, styled them a
gift, and incorporated them with his own legions, believ-
ing that he was placing amidst the latter towers of strength:
so much was each of these Franks a match for many
ordinary mortals!
:
Now this was one exploit of such importance in the
winter: another followed not inferior to it. A whole
tribe having unexpectedly run down upon the country, he
hastened off himself for the purpose of expelling them,
with the aid of the troops stationed to guard the part in
danger the latter, however had discovered the incursion,
and before his arrival had repulsed the enemy with no
small loss of men. Thus the prince, both when present
and when coming, was alike victorious: and these things
he achieved just starting up from amidst his books; or
rather, in marching against the adversary, he marched
with his books, for he had always in his hands either
1 ppakrove in the text, which makes no sense.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
145
books or arms, believing that war was wonderfully assisted
by philosophy, and that a prince competent to give
counsel threw more weight into the scale than a fighting
one. For example, the two following things were assu-
redly of the greatest advantage to the public, and display
a certain ingenuity of invention-his augmenting the zeal
of the brave by the rewards that he obtained for them
from him who awarded things of the sort; and his making
those that plundered the possessions of the enemy masters
of all that they should seize: for this very thing was
clearly of a piece with the order, that whoever brought in
the head of an enemy should receive a piece of gold for
his bravery.
His reputation spreading at once over the world, every
soldier loved the man that was a lover of action; men of
letters loved him also; and of those residing at Athens,
such as were conscious of their merit, flocked to him, as
of old the philosophers to Lydia, to the court of Crœsus.
But Croesus exhibited to Solon his treasures of money,
because he possessed nothing more precious than them-
whereas Julian unlocked to the comers the treasures of
his soul, wherein¹ lay the gifts of the Muses: the prince
also composed verses with which to compliment his
visitors; and even now you may meet with and read the
same. Thus, then, did he hold revels with the servants
of Mercury and of Jove: but when the season gave the
signal, he forthwith marches out, and upsetting every-
thing in the neighbourhood of the river (the Rhine), he
so terrified the natives that they begged leave to change
their residence and become a part of the Roman dominion,
thinking it more desirable to live under him than in their
own country: they asked for lands and they received
1 g in text, corruption from dig: πn seems out of its proper place,
and dɛv written for det These corrections would give a good sense,
thus: "Wherein were stored the verses that came from the Muses;
and the prince knew how to compliment with these verses all who visited
him."
L
146
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
some and he employed barbarians against barbarians,
deeming it a much finer thing to pursue with such means,
than to fly in company with his own side. So much in-
deed was achieved without fighting: but having deter-
mined to cross the river a second time, and in the absence
of boats having obliged his horse and foot to swim the
river, he advanced, laying waste and taking booty, for
there was no one to hinder him: late at last did the un-
happy natives sue for mercy, just before the fire touched.
But he, thinking that the day had now come which should
heal all the wounds of the Gauls, at first dismissed the
suppliants with contempt; but when they returned again,
bringing their chiefs in person as suppliants, and they
who bore the sceptre humbled themselves to the ground,
then, reminding them of their long-continued insolence and
their innumerable offences, he bade them purchase peace
by healing the mischief they had done, by rebuilding
towns, and bringing back persons. They promised, and
did not fail: timber and iron were brought in for the
rebuilding of the houses; and every one of the captives
was set at liberty, and caressed by the man that just
before flogged him, in order that they should bear no
malice: whilst they had to give proof of the death of all
whom they did not restore amongst those they had carried
off; and the truth, in such cases, was judged of by the
released captives. From the Ten Thousand soldiers of
Xenophon, verily the first sight of the sea, after such a
multitude of mountains crossed and toils endured, drew
forth a shout and tears mingled with joy; and they em-
braced one another, the partners in so many dangers: but
these men did the same, not when they saw the sea, but
when they saw each other; some of them beholding rela-
tives escaped out of slavery; the latter recovering again
family and home: and all wept with them who, though
not sharing in the relationship, yet beheld their em-
bracings; and tears flowed, far sweeter than the former
tears; some of which were shed for those long separated
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
147
SO
from home, some for those now once more united. Thus,
on that occasion, did the war both tear asunder and bring
together the natives of Gaul; the first part being brought
about by the cowardice of the leaders, the second part
by their bravery. Now the town halls were filled, and
population, and trades, and revenues of money grew
apace, and the betrothals of daughters, and marriages of
young men, and journeys from home, and feasts and
solemn assemblies, resumed their former order;
that were one to style this prince the founder of those
cities, he would not be far wrong. For some towns he
gathered together again after they were dispersed, to others
that were all but emptied he restored the inhabitants;
and the fact of no one's fearing his neighbour inspired fear
into others. No longer therefore on the approach of winter
did any of the barbarians sail out on their accustomed
piratical expeditions; but they stayed at home, and fed
on their own things, not so much truly out of respect for
treaties as out of fear of war; since even those that had
not obtained a truce, the terror hanging over them warned
to keep quiet. That greatest of all islands under the sun,
and which the ocean encompasses, he viewed in his de-
liberations, and sends¹ (to Constantius) the accounts of
the expenditure, which by name was military, but in
reality was the perquisite of the governors; and those
who committed this fraud he compelled to be honest. A
second thing he did much more important than this, and
extremely beneficial to the Gauls. The corn that was
brought formerly from that island, after the sea-passage,
1 Some word has evidently dropped out here, the sense requiring
that Julian should send for the statement of the expenses of the mili-
tary establishment in Britain (or else a commissioner to investigate)
without farther application to his superior, for Libanius adds that Julian
himself corrected the abuses. Perhaps Alypius of Antioch was the
person sent to examine into the affairs of Britain, for he is mentioned by
Ammian as having governed the island "pro præfectis," i.c., super-
seding them.
148
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
by way of the Rhine, the barbarians, after they had got the
upper hand, did not allow to pass; so the merchant-ships
were drawn up on the shore and left to rot, and but few put
to sea; and of these the cargo was discharged in the sea-
ports (on the Gallic coast), and waggons served instead
of the river [for its conveyance inland];¹ and the business
was one of the greatest expense. Endeavouring, therefore,
to change this, and thinking it grievous if he could not
put the corn-trade upon its old footing, in the first place
he appointed sailing ships of war (which had not been
done before), and planned in what way the river should
receive the corn for him.
2
Whilst he was engaged in these matters, a subordinate
prosecuted his superior for peculation. For Florentius
used to sit in judgment as Prefect, and being trained to
robbery, and having, too, on the present occasion been
bribed by the defendant, vented his rage upon the plaintiff
out of goodwill towards a brother in the trade. But as his
rascality did not escape detection, and people were talk-
ing to each other of it, and the whispering annoyed even.
his own ears, he begged the prince to try the case himself.
The latter, however, refused, on the ground that this power
had not been given to him. And this Florentius did, not
for the sake of obtaining a just sentence, but from
supposing that Julian would side with him, even though
he were proved guilty. But when he perceived that the
truth had more influence than his favour with the prince,
he was grieved to the soul, and calumniated by letters [to
Constantius] the person³ with whom he [Julian] was most
intimate, for egging on the young prince, and he caused his
1 A most curious revelation of the high cultivation of Britain in the
fourth century-that it should have become the granary of Northern
and Eastern Gaul.
2 This “sailing" was the novelty-the Roman war-ships being gallies
moved by oars only. Julian probably took the idea from the sailing
pirate craft of the Saxons and Jutes.
3 Probably Sallust.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
149
expulsion from the palace, though he stood in the place of
a father to the Cæsar. In return therefore the latter did
honour to his friend by a composition which to the present
day testifies to his grief upon their separation, but whilst
he smarted under the wrong, he at the same time stuck
fast to what was left him; nor did he become any the
worse disposed though so greatly injured, nor did he think
it right to exact vengeance from the Roman empire for the
ill-treatment he had suffered: on the contrary, he went
down to the very Ocean and rebuilt a city called Heraclea,'
the work of Hercules, and he brought the corn-ships into
the Rhine, whilst those who were expecting to prevent
their entrance were ready to choke with rage, but yet un-
able to hinder him. He then marched along, skirting the
land of those under truce, in order that he might not in
spite of himself do them any damage by marching through
them against the enemy. And so at once the transports
sailed along, and the army of the enemy moved in line
with them with the object of preventing them from throw-
ing a bridge across the stream. On this occasion let each
contemplate this consummate general, and how there was
no impossibility that he did not at once contrive to meet!
For when as he advanced and reconnoitred the opposite
bank he espied a suitable place, such that if occupied it
would afford security to the occupiers, having left behind
some vessels and a small body of his own troops in a
hollow place of his own bank, he advanced himself and
obliged the enemy to move on an equal distance: but when
he pitched his camp at night he gives the signal to those
left behind to cross over and seize the place. These obeyed
orders, and took possession of it, whilst the others returned
and made a bridge, commencing from their own side and
terminating in the place that had been occupied. This
1 Which therefore must have been situated near the navigable entrance
of the Rhine. There was a temple to Hercules at some place in that
vicinity, named Deuson, for which the Gallic emperor, Postumus, pro-
fessed particular veneration.
150
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
inspired the barbarians with the idea of more than one
bridge having been made, and they supposed that there
were not a few of the dangers surrounding them that they
were not aware of. Therefore they thought better of such
as had already come to terms, and came themselves
begging for the same treatment and upon the same con-
ditions. But Julian after burning and spoiling their land,
when at last he was satiated, comes to terms with them;
and again occur the restoration of captives and many
tear-moving scenes, similar to the first.
Now when the Gauls and the surrounding Barbarians
had thus resumed their original conditions, the former
blooming once more, the latter drooping; the former en-
gaged in festivals, the latter lying in lamentations; the
one having lost the power which they thought they should
hold for ever, the others having recovered the force to
which they never hoped to return again; and every voice
was singing his praises, not so much for his success in
arms as for his sagacity; there fell upon him envy on the
part of the man that owed him triumphal wreaths: and the
part of the army that was in fine condition and ready for
all service,¹ this person summoned and sent for, whilst
that which was invalided and formed a cypher instead of
a reality he allowed to remain, his pretext being the Persian
War, and that the peaceful state of Gaul did not require
an army; just as though oaths were not easily trampled
upon by the faithlessness of barbarians, and it were not
needful that the security of arms should be added to that
of treaties of peace. I think, however, that Constantius
did not require any larger force against the Persians than
what was already with him, for a part was sufficient; and
after having assembled so great a host he would never
1 The intended draft was of no more than 4,000 men-a strong proof
of the smallness of the military establishment maintained in the West.
The same thing appears from Eumenius' remark that Britain was held
by a single legion when surprised by Carausius "occupata legione.”
The legion at this period was reduced to 1,000 strong.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
151
have come to blows with the Persians, because he had re-
solved to defer it for ever. Far different, however, was
his motive: he wished to blast the prince's actions and
growing reputation; nay, rather to ruin that which he
had gained, by bringing again upon him and his few worn-
out soldiers the flower of the barbarians, for he was de-
sirous that a contrary report to the then prevailing one
should be everywhere spread abroad, namely, "that Julian
himself is shut up and besieged, that nothing checks the
enemy, but they are again taking towns, and pulling down
cities, and seizing upon and cultivating the land of others."
For he was well aware that however good a general that
prince might be, he would suffer the same fate with the
pilot of a great ship deprived of sailors, for not even his
skill would compensate for the want of the whole crew to
the vessel. Thus did that most excellent sovereign be-
grudge the power he had himself bestowed to him that had
shaken off the yoke of the barbarians.
The high-minded prince, therefore, being reduced to
desperation, and seeing that his ruin would be the conse-
quence both of obedience and of disobedience (for the
stripping himself of his forces involved his slaughter by
the enemy, but his retaining them by his friends), he pre-
ferred to be left alone and meet his fate rather than seem
to be disloyal; deeming more tolerable the blow from the
enemy than that which his kinsman was about to strike
him. Thus he gave permission to the sycophants of his
elder colleague to do what they wished; and these,
beginning with his very guardsmen and those whom
he most trusted, rushed through the whole army picking
out men until they left him soldiers fit for nothing but to
say their prayers. And he put up with this, not indeed
without tears, yet he thought proper to suffer it. But
when the dispersed cohorts were set in motion from all
quarters, a lamentation was raised to heaven from every
side, from poor and rich, slaves and free men, farmers,
townsfolk, men and women, young and old, thinking they
152
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
were all but cast for a prey to their enemies, and that the
evils long since¹ eradicated were about to spring up once
more. But above all, those women that had had children
by the soldiers point to their infants, especially those at
the breast, and shaking these on high instead of supplica-
tory boughs, besought the prince not to betray them."
When the latter heard all this, he advised those who were
come from Italy to lead the soldiers off by a different route,
and keep them far away from the city in which he was
stationed and was then residing, for he was afraid, I sup-
pose, lest they should do what they actually did well in
doing. But as those fellows (the imperial commissioners)
paid no attention to his advice, but led into the city the
flower of the legions, of whom he was henceforth despoiled,
the entire population began to entreat them to remain, and
save all for whose sake they had laboured. They, on
their part, felt pity for the petitioners, and were averse to
the journey. The prince perceiving this, addressed them
from the usual tribunal in front of the city, to the effect
that there was no debating about what had been already
settled by his superior. They for a long while received
his address in silence, and made no response; but when it
became evening, or rather about midnight, they put on
their armour and surrounded the palace; they shouted
out and gave him the supreme dignity and title.
He was
indignant at what happened; but nothing was to be done,
except to forbid anyone indoors to touch a bolt. But
when day showed itself they broke open a door and dragged
him out, brandishing their swords, to the same tribunal ;
and then came a long strife between expostulation and
clamour, whilst the one was speechifying in order to pre-
vent the step into which he was being drawn,³ the others
1 πόλις in text, certainly for πάλαι.
2 Ammian says these soldiers had enlisted on the express condition
of not being sent out of their country on foreign service.
3 ois nyero in the text, makes no sense, "soldiers under his com-
mand," but must read йyɛto.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
153
endeavouring to vanquish him by their noise.
But when
he declined the fillet of gold, and sheltered himself under
the excuse¹ of the ancient custom, a certain man, tall and
superior in other respects, standing behind him, put round
his head the torques he was himself wearing, and invested
him with the higher dignity.
Vanquished, therefore, by necessity, and unable to re-
press the ungovernable passion boiling in them, he made his
first display of high spirit in the case of the very men who
had bestowed this power upon him, for instead of seeking
means to find them pay, and courting them with large
donatives, he made proclamation that they must take hist
will for law; and therefore it was his pleasure that no
one of such as had opposed what had taken place should
be molested, nor the sword be drawn against them, nor to
terrify them by a look, nor annoy them by a word, but to
treat in the same manner those that had fought against their
purpose as those who had shared in it. And yet, what other
man in his place would not have stimulated them to ven-
geance? Not so he—he wished not to pollute his accession
to empire with bloodshed or the charge of treason. For this
reason he issued orders moderating their zeal; and forth-
with those who had trembled made their appearance cheerful
and bold, and stood around his throne, grateful for escaping
death; for which escape they did not make a fitting
return; but "in payment for a benefit they were not
bound" (according to the proverb), on the contrary, they
plotted how to kill the prince by stimulating by great.
promises to the deed the eunuchs highest in office in the
bedchamber. But when the murder was on the point of
¹ Probably, that the diadem was a modern innovation, but the laurel
wreath, the proper ancient distinction of the Roman imperator. This
view is supported by Ammian's statement that for some months after
this election he did not assume the diadem, but contented himself" vili
corona."-See p. 182.
"Payment for kindness is not a debt recoverable at law."
154
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
accomplishment, a certain soldier was inspired by Apollo,
and sang aloud what was about to happen, and called
together the multitude to help, and traced out the con-
spiracy; and, wonderful to say, not even the creature who
served as their instrument was put to death. But when
he (Julian) perceived that those who favoured the other
party, were conspiring close to him, and even had the im-
pudence to say on one occasion that perhaps it were better
for him to descend to his former station, and quit that
which he now held; he taking the gods for the only
competent advisers in such great emergencies, consulted
them, and received answer that he must remain in the
post he held.
And having thus received the vote of
heaven in his favour, as well as the unanimous sanction
of the army, he despatches governors to all the cities; in
place of bad ones, good men; in place of dunces, men of
education. He also formed an army out of those who had
been forced to turn banditti, the men who having joined
Magnentius in his enterprise and been unsuccessful, had
taken to the highways, and maintained themselves by un-
lawful means. These men he called to arms, giving them
impunity to show themselves, and thus freed them from the
necessity of crime, and travellers from the fear of them.
Then marching to the Rhine, and having shown the
Barbarians his head [with the imperial diadem], and
having bound them with strong oaths, he hastened away
to the contest sorely against his will, or rather to the
succession to the sceptre, without war against his kins-
man: for he had learnt from the gods, and knew what
was about to happen. But stop! I have omitted a cir-
cumstance well worthy of mention, and this must be
related. When envoys were passing to and fro on both
sides, and those from that part of the world (Julian's
side) petitioning that he might continue in his present
dignity [of Augustus] but to enjoy nothing more in reality
-those from this quarter insisting that he should descend
entirely from that title, and return in all points to his
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
155
1
original condition; which meant for himself to perish,
with the greater part, that was attached to him, of the
army, and his friends to boot; for his own death he cared
but little, but held it atrocious to turn traitor to those
most dear, when these things were going on and Constan-
tius was again having recourse to his old device of
calling in the barbarians by letter, in the same way
as before, and begging them as a personal favour to
enslave the Roman territory-he allows but one only out
of many to break their engagements. This one both plun-
dered the country, and at the same time kept up a revel
in the lands which he had gotten for his reward; and just
as though he were doing no wrong, he used to go and feast
with the generals of our side; and kept at his potations
the very person who winked at his breaking the truce.
Julian, however, crossed over into his country and inflicted.
on him a punishment that no one can blame for when
all those chiefs flocked together in great alarm who had
kept their faith, and were grievously ashamed of this one's
transgressions, and added oaths upon oaths of fidelity-he
mounted upon a lofty tribunal in the middle of the Bar-
barian country, and looking from above upon their chiefs
standing together with the multitude in the attitude of
subjects, after partly reminding them of his benefits, partly
threatening them in case of disobedience, he took his de-
parture. And by this time a certain force had been got
together, of which not so much the amount as the zeal was
to be admired, who bound each other by promises and
pledges that full surely they would do everything, endure
everything for the sake of victory; and would fear
nothing save the disgrace arising from the not keeping
their word. But as the oath was going the round of all,
¹ Constantius actually proposed to him to quit Gaul, and return to a
private station on condition that his life should be spared! To comply,
was to renew, in a worse form than before, the cruel political exccutions
and proscriptions that had followed the fall of Magnentius.
156
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
a certain man, or rather hermaphrodite,' Nebridius, who
was Prefect, having received this appointment from the
elder emperor, found fault with what was being done, and
condemned the oath, and refused it, giving those that had
sworn it the name of Barbarians; 2 such a sycophant was
he. And having thus drawn down upon himself uni-
versal indignation, he would deservedly have been cut
to pieces by the man who had already wounded him,
naturally enough, but was saved by being as it were
"enveloped in a cloud;" and this mercifulness of Julian's
some may with reason censure; so great, however, was the
humanity of this our own sovereign.
3
Rushing thence like a torrent, mastering all that come
in his way, ever growing in numbers, seizing upon the
bridges, surprising his opponents in their sleep, feigning
to attack them in a different quarter, but approaching
them in the rear, making them expect something different
and attempt things in vain; making use of the land, but
when the rivers were not watched, sailing down them
with a small party whenever it was possible; leaving the
guards on the frontiers undisturbed, but taking posses-
sion of the towns; effecting all he had proposed through
persuasion, through force, through stratagem. Such, for
instance, was the following fact:-Having equipped his
men in the armour of the soldiers whom he had captured,
he sent them against a certain well fortified town; the
people thought those approaching to be their own men,
and opening their gates admitted the enemy. But the
most pleasing thing of all was that having seized before-
hand on the beautiful Italy, and having also possessed
himself in advance of the Italians, those excellent soldiers,
¹ Nebridius hardly deserves this name for his courage in retaining
his allegiance to the sovereign whose officer he was, under such trying
circumstances.
2 i.c. enemies of their country.
By Julian's throwing his robe over him.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
157
1
and their numerous and strong cities, and a territory
sufficient for a great empire—on no one occasion was he
laid under the necessity of fighting and bloodshed, but
the mere opinion of him sufficed, with the news of the
coming of the sovereign. Of mighty service also to his
cause were the letters of that coward and traitor, with
which he called on the Barbarians. Thus making his
way by water and by land, through cities opened to him,
and through opened camps; enumerating his labours in
those noble manifestoes which exasperated the hearer
against the one emperor, and gained him over to the
other, and this too when he was bringing a very incon-
siderable part of his army with him. Yet the Macedonians
revolted in his favour, as did also Greece, which hailed
the moment for which she was praying in silence and
without an altar-for there was none. Opened was the
temple of Minerva and the temples of the other gods, the
emperor in person opening them, and honouring them with
gifts, and himself offering sacrifice and exhorting others to
do the like. And knowing that the gods had been brought
to judgment before the Athenians, he condescended to
give in a justification of his own conduct; and he, the
sovereign, appointed the people of Erechtheus for his
judges-sending them his defence in writing. For he
held it to be the privilege of a tyrant not to be judged,
but of a lawful sovereign to give the reasons for his
actions.
In the course of his expedition, also, he pacified by
means of letters a quarrel which had broken out between
the consecrated families, and which was splitting the city
into factions. So the Athenians offered sacrifice after
long intermission, and prayed the gods for what they
meant to give though no one should pray for it. Now
he still advanced, having divided his forces into three
1 Of which the most important, "The Epistle to the Athenians," has
alone survived a statement of his government in Gaul, his provoca-
tions, and reasons for moving against Constantius-a masterpiece in its
way.
158
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
bodies; and this, too, although Thrace was occupied by
the opposite party; for he hoped speedily to get the better
of them. And when he arrived at the Bosporus with the
intention of seizing the passage, posts brought him news
from Cilicia announcing the death of his senior at the
Springs; whom, whilst talking bigger than Xerxes of old,
and deliberating how he should treat the person of his
opponent (for he fancied he had him in his power before
he caught him), Jove, that (as Sophocles hath it) “hateth
the vauntings of the boastful tongue," had hampered
with disease and carried him off. Now to others the news
looked like a fiction, a contrivance, and a stratagem-
a thing that ought to be distrusted; but Julian sent
for a book out of his trunk, and showed them certain
oracles, much older than the intelligence, and verified by
that intelligence; and how that the messengers were come
by the sending of God; who had promised them a victory
unstained by bloodshed, and warned him to make haste,
lest in his absence someone else might seize the empire.
Reading this, therefore, and seeing that the war had met
with an issue so good and so much to be desired, and
hearing of the death of a man that had entertained the
feelings of a savage beast towards himself, he did not turn
to feasting and carousing, and the amusements of the
theatre; but now that the oracles were fulfilled, and land
and sea were subject to him, and no one dared to look
him in the face, and all were agreed that all should belong
to one; no longer constrained to anything that he did not
please; and when all the palaces were unlocked to him,
he burst into lamentation, and his tears dropped upon the
prophecies, and everything gave way to natural feeling;
his first inquiry was about the deceased, and "Where is
the corpse, and has he received the honours due?" So
kind was he towards the man that would have imitated
the conduct of Creon¹ towards himself! And his atten-
¹ Who ordered the corpse of Polynices to be thrown to the dogs.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
159
tions to the departed emperor did not stop here; he went
down to the harbour of the capital, having assembled all
the population, and whilst the corpse was carried across
the water, he uttered lamentations; and held the coffin
with his own hands, having laid aside all the marks of
royalty except the robes-not deeming it right to blame
the body for the things plotted by the soul. And after that
personage had been honoured with the marks of respect
befitting his station, the emperor made a beginning with
the gods-that is, with the religion of the capital-by
offering libation in the sight of all, taking pleasure in all
its accompaniments; laughing at such as followed not his
example; endeavouring to persuade, but not presuming to
force their conscience. And yet terror was hanging over
the corrupt; there was amongst them an expectation that
they would have their eyes put out, have their heads cut
off, and that rivers of blood would flow in massacres:
"for the new sovereign will invent novel modes of com-
pulsion, compared to which trifling will seem fire and
sword, and throwing in the sea, and burying alive, and
mutilation, and cutting to pieces : for all these things
had been done by those before him; and far more grievous
than these did they expect. But he blamed such as did
these things, as not effecting the object they aimed at; and
had discovered there was no use in compulsion in matters
of their sort: for though those that be sick in body one
may cure by chaining them up, yet a false belief in matters
of religion you cannot eradicate by cutting and burning:
but even though the hand burns incense, the conscience
blames and accuses the weakness of the body, and holds to
the same things as at first; and 'tis an empty show of
conversion, not a change of opinions: and the end is that
part of them obtain toleration, and those put to death
receive divine honours. Disapproving, therefore, of such
measures, and seeing that the strength of the other party
had been augmented by their slaughter, he avoided what
he blamed in others; and such as were susceptible of
160
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
1
being reformed he led into the Truth, whilst those that
preferred the worse part he did not drag there. He did
not, however, cease exclaiming, "Whither are ye rushing,
you fellows; and are ye not ashamed of considering Dark-
ness brighter than the Light? Do ye not perceive that ye
are affected by the same disease with the impious Giants,
whose stature did not really differ from those of other
men, so that they should throw their fabled weapons; but
,it was their contemning the power of the gods that gave
rise to the fable!" For he well knew that he who handles
this religion with understanding, will care for his soul
above all things else, and of all the good things of the
soul, for piety in the first place for this has the same, the
very same effect in human life as the keel in a ship, and
the foundation in a house: for were he to make all men
richer than Midas, every city greater than Babylon of old,
and overlay with gold the walls of each city, yet should
reform none of their errors in religion, he would be acting
like a physician, who, having taken charge of a person full
of maladies in every part of his body, should doctor every-
thing except the eyes. For this reason he proceeded to
the curing, in the first place, of men's souls, becoming
their guide to the knowledge of those who in reality govern
heaven, and holding dearer than his own kinsmen such as
were instructed in these matters; esteeming as his friend
him that was a friend to Jupiter, and as his enemy him
that was hostile; or rather, as a friend to himself whoso-
ever was a friend to Him, yet not as an enemy every one
that was not yel a friend to Jove. For such as he hoped
to convert in time, he did not chase away, but he en-
chanted and led them on, and the very men who at first
refused, he finally showed dancing around his altars. But
in the first place, as I have observed, he brought Piety,
like a fugitive, home again; erecting some temples, re-
storing others, into others introducing seats.¹ Fines were
¹ dŋ in text, I suspect, should be the similarly-sounding ü dei—“ all
that was wanting."
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
161
paid by such as had used the materials of temples for
building their own houses: and one might behold columns
carried back some in ships, others on waggons, to the plun-
dered gods; and in all quarters were to be seen altars,
and fire, and blood, and burning fat, and smoke, and cere-
monies, and diviners released from fear: and on the tops
of mountains were pipings, and processions, and the ox
that sufficed at once for the worship of the gods and the
banquet of men. And because it was not easy for the
emperor to go out of his palace every day to a temple,
whilst constant intercourse with heaven was a thing of the
utmost importance, a temple was built in the centre of the
palace to Him who rules the day; and he himself took
his part of the Mysteries and communicated thereof to
others; being both initiated and initiating. He erected also
altars to all the gods separately. And his first action-
ever on leaving his bed was to converse by means of
sacrifice with the upper powers, in this respect to surpass
Nicias of old, so far did he stretch the limits of his zeal
in these matters; bringing together the things lost, and
adding new to the old. His chastity gave him a claim to
have this confidence; and he that contemned all sensual
pleasures was allowed to have his divinity close to his
temple: for nothing was done there by night unworthy
of such neighbours.
1
What, therefore, he had promised to gods and men.
before his accession, he thus brilliantly performed after it;
such of the cities as kept their temples yet standing he
was delighted with, even before this event, and declared
them worthy of receiving the greatest favours; but those
that had pulled down either all, or the greater part of
them, he regarded as polluted; and though he gave them
a share in his benefits, because they were his subjects, it
was not without grudging. In doing this, and establishing
and reconciling the gods to the earth, he resembled a ship-
1 That is, to the palace, inside of which the temple stood.
M
162
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
builder who again equips a great ship, that has lost her
rudders, with new ones-with this difference, that he was
restoring the same defenders to the world.
After having made these regulations about the first and
most important affairs, on looking into the state of the
imperial court, and seeing a useless multitude kept for no
purpose, a thousand cooks, and hairdressers no fewer, cup-
bearers yet more numerous, swarms of waiters, eunuchs
in number beyond the flies around the flocks in spring,
and of all other descriptions an indescribable lot of drones,
-for the grand resource for the lazy and clever at eating,
was to get themselves called and enrolled of the imperial
household; and the piece of gold quickly produced the
enrolment these persons, then, whom the imperial trea-
sury maintained to no_purpose, he looked upon as an
injury and not as servants-he expelled them forthwith He
also expelled along with them those numerous secretaries,
who though holding the rank of domestic servants, yet
pretended to make the prefects their subordinates; and it
was not possible to live near them, nor to salute them at
mecting, but they cheated, they robbed, they forced people
to sell; some paying no price at all, others not the fair
one; whilst some put off paying; some reckoned to
orphans the fact of not hurting them for an equivalent of
the money due to them; and they went about like the
common enemies of all possessing anything fine, such as
a horse, a slave, a tree, a piece of land, or a garden; for
they considered that these things were rather their own
property than that of the owners. And he that gave up
his paternal inheritance to the stronger party, was an ex-
cellent fellow, and went off bearing this title in return
for his property; whereas he who thought it hard to be
thus treated was a murderer, a cheat, loaded with crimes,
liable to punishment on many accounts. Thus making
other men poor from rich, and themselves rich from poor,
and growing wealthy through the poverty of those before
opulent, and stretching forth their greediness to the
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
163
furthest limits of the world: they promised whatever
they pleased on the part of the sovereign, and it was im-
possible to say them nay; but ancient cities were plun-
dered, and beautiful things that had vanquished Time
were brought across the seas, in order to make the houses
of fullers' sons more gay than the imperial palace. And
whilst these creatures were thus intolerable, there were
many followers in each case, like lap-dogs, as the saying
is, mimicking their mistresses, for there was not a servant
of theirs that was not insolent, imprisoning people, pulling
down, and embezzling, beating, ejecting, driving off, re-
quiring forced labour on his land, to drive a pair of horses
in his chariot, to be a master, nay, as great a one as his
own lord-persons that were not satisfied with being rich,
but were indignant if they did not participate in their
master's dignity, as though by this means they could
cloak, forsooth, their servile condition; and they, in
league with their owners, had a purse that forced to
tremble both street, prison, and city. These Cerberi, these
many-headed monsters, he reduced to a private station,
telling them to consider it clear gain that they were not
put to death. A third band of rascals, officers that filched
and picked pockets, and said and did everything with a
view to gain, and who had defrauded their native countries
of all due service from themselves, and had run away to
wait upon the councils and law-courts, and culminating
into imperial messenger, had bought for themselves the
appointment of AGENTES IN REBUS,' and their pretence was
of being watchmen, in order that the emperor might be
apprised of whatever was plotted against him, but in
reality they were shopkeepers. For just as these open
their doors of a morning, and look out for custom, so did
they talk about jobs to the brokers of such matters, who
1 Officers appointed to inspect the provinces, and keep an eye over the
conduct of the governors-a service giving them great power, which
they very naturally abused to the fullest extent.
164
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
used to bring the working-men, although silent, on the
pretence of speaking ill of the government, under the lash
of those fellows—not in order that they might be lacerated,
but that they should pay for the not-suffering such treat-
ment.
And no one was beyond their range; neither
citizen, nor sojourner, nor foreigner, but even he that did
no harm was destroyed if he did not pay; whereas the
very great culprit, by sacrificing something, got off clear.
Now their greatest resource for getting money was any
offence against the government; for instead of giving up
the person convicted to the fury of those that were ag-
grieved, they took the part of the conspirators, instead of
those who had put them in places of trust, for the sake
of a bribe. Furthermore, by sending youthful beauties.
to visit persons that made profession of chastity,' and
thereby bringing them under the apprehension of loss of
character, they stuck upon people entirely guiltless the
evidence of liars; and had these two plans for very great
sources of profit. And yet again, a third-more lucrative
than both put together: by giving license to debase the
coin to such as had the audacity to do so-out of the
caves 2 where that business was carried on, they drew good
1 Evidently meaning the Christian clergy, who from their vow of
celibacy, were peculiarly open to this stratagem ; and whether guilty or
innocent, were forced to pay hush-money to the inspector.
Evidently alluding to the immense fabrication of billon then carried
on by private speculators "in caves," whose manufactories still come
frequently to light. The gold and silver of Constantius was never
forged; but the currency of the people was the billon denarii of the
middle empire, which was reproduced by casting in moulds to an incre-
dible extent. The truth of these remarks of Libanius is attested by
a discovery, placing in the clearest light these malpractices of the
Roman mint-master: "In the ruins of a mint at Damary, excavated in
the year 1830, was found a vase containing 4,000 billon denarii from
Philip down to Postumus, 1,500 being of the latter. Also many clay
moulds for denarii of Caracalla, Philip, and Postumus. But what
gives value to the discovery by fixing the date of the fabrication of the
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
165
money in return for the forged, and revelled in luxury.
In short, of the two sources of profit, the one lay in the
unseen and clandestine; the other in what was public and
open, and which received the colour of legality—being
not much less productive than the first; so that on men-
tioning any province, they at once added the amount of
money it was possible to draw from thence.
66
These
'Eyes," therefore, of the emperor, that pretended to bring
all to light, and to make the bad virtuous through the
impossibility of concealment, opened every road to villainy,
and all but made proclamation of impunity, inasmuch as
the preventers of crime, themselves sheltered the offenders
-like dogs turning confederates with the wolves. For
this reason, it was as good as finding a treasure to have a
share in these mines; for he that came an Irus, in a short
time became a Callias. When, therefore, one "pumped
away" after another, and the cities grew poorer, and those
who carried on the trade grew richer, our emperor was
long indignant at it, and declared he would stop it when
he had the power, and having attained to power he did
stop it; by dispersing the whole of that fraternity and
abolishing the title and office in virtue of which they wasted
and pulled down everything, employing his own men for
the conveyance of letters, and not giving them authority
to do things of the kind. This was, in fact, making the
cities free in the strictest sense of the word (angıßãs); for
so long as the man stood by, that had the power to do
these things, it was impossible to breathe freely. One
person was hit, another was on the point of it, and even
to him that suffered no hurt, the expectation of being
struck became equivalent to suffering the blow. Again,
because the post-mules were worn out by unremitting
employment, and because the lately mentioned persons
killed them by starvation, whilst they provided them-
billon, was the finding of a second vase filled with 2,600 small brass of
Constantine, Junia, and Constans, all struck with a die, evidently meant
for contemporaneous issue.
166
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
selves with a Sybaris through their starvation (for what
made the work excessive, and as it were hamstrung the
beasts, was the fact that it was in the power of anyone
that pleased to yoke a pair and drive off, and that the
order of the emperor and of the imperial visitor (agens in
rebus), were of equal force in this particular; so that the
animals were never allowed to halt, or enjoy a feed; whilst
the whip was never lifted off their backs to make them
run, and twenty or even more were required for a single
carriage; whilst as to most of them, some as soon as
unyoked, dropped down dead; and others in the harness
even before they were unfastened). From such a state
of things, business that required despatch was impeded;
and further, the cities incurred loss as far as money is
concerned. That this department was in a miserable con-
dition, the winter season particularly proved, the service
of the post-mules being then interrupted in many places;
so that the muleteers ran off and kept in the mountain
fastnesses, whilst the hurrying travellers had no remedy
save crying out and smiting upon the thigh; and not a
few opportunities for business over-slipped their execution
through the delays thus occasioned. I omit mentioning
the horses that suffered the same treatment, and the
asses still worse; the result being that the persons who
carried on these services were completely ruined. This
disorder, also, Julian put a stop to, by prohibiting all
posting that was not absolutely necessary, and by de-
claring licences of this kind equally dangerous to grant
and to receive; as well as by instructing his officers,
some to keep beasts of their own, others to hire them
when wanted. And a thing not to be believed was to be
seen, that is, car-drivers exercising mules, and grooms
horses; for, just as previously the animals had been spoilt
by over-work, so now it was to be feared they would come
to the same state through the long continuance of want
of work.
In the next place he rendered the houses of his subjects
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
167
more opulent, for he exercised the same forethought with
respect to the Councils [Curia] in the towns, which of old
used to flourish both with numbers and with wealthy per-
sons, but these were reduced to nothing, all the members
[Curiales], except a very few, having slunk off, part into
the catalogue of the soldiery,' part into the Great Senate;
for others there was some other subterfuge to shelter
them, so that they took their case, and gratified their bodily
wants, and laughed at such as walked not the same way
with themselves: whilst those left in the Council, being a
mere handful, were eaten up with expenses, and the
holding of office ended to the greater part of them in their
begging their bread. And yet who does not know that
healthiness of the Council is the soul of the city? But
Constantius, though curing men's souls with his "Word,":
was their enemy by his actions, by transferring to other
places such as evaded that duty, and by granting illegal
exemptions. The Councils, therefore, were like so many
old women, wrinkled, half dead, all rags: and those that
administered justice [the Prefects] agreed with them that
they had been and were hardly used, and though disposed
to help them, were nevertheless unable to give them any
assistance. But it was fated that these also should recover
their pristine vigour and deserving of all praise is that
Rescript that every man must be called before the Council,
and whoever had no valid ground for exemption should be
enrolled in it. In this way he set the mattor to rights,
so much so that the halls proved too small for the number
2
1 Ammian with an unreasonable esprit de corps is very bitter upon
Julian's not allowing military rank for an exemption from serving in
the Curia. Julian in his Misopogon enumerates amongst his other
benefits to Antioch, that he did not exempt from such service even his
own mint-masters. As the Curiales were responsible for the taxes paid by
their towns, the honour was necessarily a burdensome one.
2 Or,
ર
as far as talking went." A pagan joke upon the then logical
use of the term, so much in the mouth of the devout emperor and his
advisers.
168
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
of those entering the Council, for there was no more get-
ting a substitute; nor an eunuch to let one off for a bribe;
but the latter, as is the place for onnuchs, discharged ser-
vile duties, without giving themselves airs on the strength
of their court liveries, whilst the other servants discharged
whatever duties require writing, ink, and pen; and knew
how to be modest in other matters-for that they had
been taught by a master like this, to be content to labour
honestly.
Even now, therefore, you will meet with many who in
conscquence of that intimacy with him, are better than
any philosophers, and it is my opinion that all the rest,
even the common rank and file, were then far from making
gain their object, but coveted glory above all things else.
And you remember that those very personages at whose
approach we formerly fell down prostrate, as we do in
thunderstorms, now, with these very same persons, when
they dismount from their horses in the public square, we
shake hands and converse; and they hold it a greater
mark of honour. to be prouder than other people, rather
than to inspire them with terror.
Law is an easy thing for princes to make (because that
is their prerogative), but to do so to the benefit of the
people, is no such easy matter, seeing that wisdom is re-
quired for that purpose; but this emperor made such laws,
in addition to those he found in force, that men who lived
prior to these laws of his suffered a great loss. The laws
of liko nature with those of his, amongst those that were
in force in old times, but which had been repealed by the
caprice of the sovereign, he declared to be again valid ;
regarding it as a more honourable object of ambition to
acquiesce in things well done already, than to lay hands
to no purpose upon things already settled. Next, let us
consider the case of the persons who were punished [on
Julian's coming to the throne]. Of the three who had
enriched themselves through murders, the first [Paulus
Catona"] had gone over the whole world, accusing
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
169
2
people falsely,' and owed ten thousand deaths to both
Europe and Asia; so that all who knew the fellow were
sorry that it was not possible to slay the slain, and to do so
thrice over, and yet oftener: the second [Eusebius] besides
having enslaved Constantius-being himself a slave, and
what makes it still more shameful, a eunuch-had been
the prime cause of the most cruel death of Gallus. The
third man [Ursulus] fell a victim to the resentment of the
army, for having defrauded them, as was reported, of the
imperial donatives; nevertheless after his decease he met
with some amends, for the emperor conceded to his
daughter no small part of her father's property. Those,
however, who had done injury to him personally (for there
were, persons who incited others to seize the sceptre), and
who had spared no terms, in any point against him,
did not meet with the punishment they deserved; they
were not put to death, but confined in islands, where they
were taught how to bridle the tongue. Thus did he
know how to avenge well others that had been wronged,
but in matters against himself, he displayed this greatness
of soul! He also went into the Senate, and made the
supreme council sit down around him, which had for a
long time been deprived of that honour; for previously
it used to be summoned into the Palace, in order to stand
stock-still, and hear a few words; for the emperor never
went into the Senate, because from his inability to speak,
he shunned a place that required an orator; whereas he,
as Homer says of the good speaker, "haranguing without
a stumble," sought after assemblies of the kind, and gave
everyone that chose full freedom of speech towards him-
He was employed to hunt up the partisans of Magnentius in Gaul
and Britain. Ammnian describes his proceedings as fully justifying
these remarks of our author.
C
2 Justice herself deplored the death of Ursulus," says Ammian,
who allows, however, that he fell a victim to the vengeance of the mili-
tary court of inquiry, without the knowledge of Julian.
170
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
self, delivering, now, a few words and sweetly, now pour-
ing forth "like to the wintry snow flakes;
"" at one time
imitating those Homeric speechifiers, at another, in that
he was their superior in dignity, surpassing them all.
Once while he was speaking, and praising some things,
censuring others, and advising others, a message is brought
that his preceptor was arrived, an Ionian (Maximus of
Ephesus), a philosopher invited from Ionia; the prince
springing down from the midst of the senators, runs to the
door to meet him, inspired by the same feelings as Chære-
phon towards Socrates; but the latter did so, being only
Charephon, and in the palæstra of Taureas; whereas Julian
was lord of all, and in the middle of the most dignified
assembly; showing to the world, and proclaiming by his
actions, that Wisdom is a thing more to be honoured than
Royalty, and that whatever good was in him, this was the
gift of Philosophy. He embraced and saluted him, as is
the manner of private men to each other, or of princes to
each other, and brought him in, although not a member
of the Senate, thinking that he was not honouring the
man by the place, but the place by the presence of the
man; and having made a speech before them all, setting
forth what he had been, and what he was become through
his means, he retired with him holding him by the right
had. What did he mean by this conduct? He was not
merely, as one might suppose, paying the debt of his own
education, but was encouraging youth all over the world,
nay I would add old age also, to the pursuit of learning;
for old men have ere this been stirred up by the love of
knowledge; since everything that is slighted by the great
is neglected by all; whereas whatever is held in honour
by them is studied. Now he believing that literature and
the worship of the gods are twin sisters, and seeing that
the one was entirely extinguished, and the other in great
part, in order that everything relating to these subjects
should be set to rights, he brought it about, firstly by the
honours bestowed upon the learned, and secondly by com-
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
171
2
posing treaties of his own, for he then immediately pub-
lished two books, the work each of a single day, or rather a
single night; of which the one¹ knocked down a fellow, a
spurious imitator of Antisthenes, impudent without con-
sideration by laying down the laws of the sect; the other
contains many fine things upon "The Mother of the Gods."
Part of the same plan was to render the cities intelligent
by means of treatises; and to discard the barbarians at the
helm of the provinces, who by writing all in a hurry, and
being devoid of common sense, the ship; but see-
ing those men had been pushed
e minds were
well stored with the pocts, historians, and writers whence
the duty of a ruler might be learnt, he appointed them to
govern the provinces. For this reason, when he was
marching into Syria, cach one welcomed him on the fron-
tiers with a speech, a gift far more acceptable than the
wild boars, fowl, and stags, that used to be offered to
emperors; but instead of such things came speeches;
whilst rhetoricians, as officers, took their place in the im-
perial train; amongst whom the governor of Cilicia
[Celsus], a pupil of mine, and a very great friend of his,
delivered the complimentary oration to the emperor, after
he had offered sacrifice, and was standing by the altar, and
the perspiration flowed in streams from both parties, from
the speaker himself, and from him that loved the speaker.

3
In consequence of all this, great was the blossoming of
philosophy and high the hopes of advancement to such as
had gone over to the pursuit of learning, and the trade of
1 "Against ignorant Cynics."
2 This word is inapplicable, orpέpovrɛs “ steering the ship at random,"
suits the simile better. It appears that Constantius had appointed
foreigners, probably Franks, who, says Ammian, were all-powerful at
his court, to the civil governments of the provinces, instead of Italians or
Greeks.
3 By a singular analogy the Venetian officials received annually from
the State a present of game, "osella," which in later times was com-
muted for coins of the same name struck for the purpose.
172
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
į
the sophists improved when some persons commenced their
education under them, and others, though late in life,
frequented their schools, going to them with beards on
their chins, whilst the work of their fingers thus once
more made the business of the Muses flourish; and what
was really best, once more began to be accounted most
honourable; and things that are only suitable to slaves
ceased to be more highly esteemed than what beseem free
men.¹ And yet whatter action can one name than his
raising the gods
oblest gift of the gods, literature,
into estimatio
e extremest neglect, giving free.
admission to sophists along the whole line of his march,
providing for the right way as regards the holy gods,
enduring cheerfully the length of the journey, its hard-
ships, and the heat. He did not indeed accept the idle
story about the picty of the Magi, for he was warned by
the local deities, both that a plot was forming against him,
and what were the means of escape.
For this reason he
altered the order of his march, and advanced more quickly
than before, and so avoided the ambuscade. Entering
Syria, he remitted the arrears of the cities, and when he
had shown himself in the consecrated places, and con-
versed with town councillors on their seats, he hastened
off to his vengeance on the Persians. He did not think
proper to delay, nor to waste the season in his chair. But
as both foot and horse soldiers were worn out, and begged
for a little respite, he yielded to them, against his will again,
for his soul was boiling over with indignation, but never-
theless he did yield to the necessity, after only uttering
the exclamation, "that there would be many a one to let
fly the taunt at him that he was in good sooth the kinsman
of him who went before."
Let us now contemplate the emperor in his quarters, and
see whether every season of his life does not offer actions
deserving of our laudations. There came a letter from
1 A glance at the theological questions so much in vogue under his
predecessor.

UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
173
the Persian court begging him to receive an embassy, and
to settle differences by discussion. Now we others were
overjoyed, we clapped our hands at it, and shouted out to
accept the offer. He on the contrary ordered the letter to
be thrown down with contempt, saying it were the most
grievous thing possible that the cities' should lie in ruins.
whilst they were conferring together. He therefore sent
the message back that there was no need for ambassadors,
since they would very soon see him in person.
Was not
this a victory before the conflict, and trophies before the
battle! The very thing that we see occur in athletic
contests, when it is enough for him who is greatly an
overmatch for the others merely to show himself. And
the fact that monarchs felt thus upon the mere appear-
of our emperor, is not too much to be wondered at
(although it is certainly a wonderful thing to rout him
that used to terrify one); but that after Constantius had
denuded this country of troops, and Julian, who had suc-
ceeded to his powers, was still at a distance from those
parts, the Persian made no attempt upon a single town,
but remained quiet at the very sound of his name.
assuredly eclipses every prodigy! And thus was he
minded with respect to the embassy, that what had taken
place before demanded arms, not words. As for the
soldiers, those that he had previously commanded he
knew were first-rate men in all respects, for they were
vigorous in body, took pleasure in fighting, their weapons
were of no bad make, and they went into battle calling
upon the gods, whilst those soldiers whom he had suc-
ceeded to were indeed to look at both fine and tall men,
equipped with their national arms, but in consequence of
having often run away from the enemy they felt the same
at the sight of the Persians as does, as Homer says, a man
1 Which Sapor had lately destroyed, Amida, &c.
This
2 The Gauls and Germans whom he had brought with him, and who
appear, from the last words of the passage, to have been all Pagans.
174
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
in the mountains at the sight of a dragon; or, if you like
it better, a stag at the view of the hounds. But being of
opinion that they had been cowed in spirit not merely
through the incapacity of the commanders, but also through
their going into battle without the aid of the gods, he
remained in quarters for nine months, engaged in pro-
curing for them this preponderance, for he believed that
neither multitude of men, force of steel, strength of shields,
all things, in a word, to be mere trifling when the gods
fight not on one's side. And in what way he made them
to be on our side was by persuading the hand that grasped
the spear to touch likewise libation and incense, so that
when darts were flying about they might have those to
pray to that were able to prevent all mischief. And when
words did not suffice, gold also and silver co-operated for
| persuasion, and through a trifling gain the soldier got a
greater gain, that is through a piece of gold the favour of
the gods, the lords of battles. For the emperor did not
think proper to call in Scythians to help him, nor a multi-
tude that would do harm through its own numbers, and
would multiply the difficulties of the undertaking, but the
far heavier hand of the celestial Powers; for these did he
offer for helpers to such as sacrifice, namely, Mars, and
Strife, and Fury, and Terror, and Fear; those of whom
the will gives victory. Wherefore if one should say that
he shot and cut at the Persians, whilst he was still tarrying
upon the Orontes, he would say so with truth.
(6
In this enterprise much treasure was expended; yet this
expenditure is certainly more honourable than upon
theatres, and chariot-drivers, and such as combat with
'pickled" wild beasts-none of which amusements had
any attraction for this man. For even when the con-
straint of custom obliged him to take his seat in the
Hippodrome, he kept his eyes fixed upon other things,
paying honour at once to the day and to his own affairs-
¹ That is, cooped up in confinement until wanted for the amphi-
theatre.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
175
the former by his presence, the latter by continuing his
attention to them; for no quarrelling, nor contention, nor
shouting of the spectators diverted his mind from his
meditations: nay, even when he was giving a feast, ac-
cording to custom, to a motley throng, leaving the others
to drink, he mingled words with their cups, only so far
taking part in the banquet as not to seem to stand aloof
from it. For what man ever did so strictly bridle his
appetite, even of such as practise philosophy in a humble
dwelling? What man has abstained so much from diffe-
rent eatables at different seasons,¹ whilst doing homage to
various deities at their various times; for example, to Pan,
to Mercury, to Hecate, to Isis, and the rest severally?
What man else has cheerfully kept so many fasts, engaged
in converse with the gods? For truly in his case the
story of the poets was a reality, and "one of those that
came down from heaven grasped him by the hair," and
departed after having told him something and received his
answer. His other colloquies with the gods it were
tedious to enumerate, but once, having gone up into
Mount Casias, to the Casian Jupiter, upon an appointed
noontide, he saw the god visibly, and on beholding him
rose to his feet, and received from him a warning through
which he a second time escaped an ambuscade. If there-
fore it were possible that a man should share heaven with
the gods, he would have been their fellow partner, the
gods themselves conceding to him their own abode. But
inasmuch as his material body did not permit such a
thing, they came in person to visit him, becoming his in-
structors as to what he ought to do, and not to do. Now,
Agamemnon had Nestor the Pylian for adviser, a very
aged man truly, but yet a mortal; but this prince had no
need of men for such purposes, for of all mankind he was


1 In the "Hymn to the Mother of the Gods" Julian discusses at some
length the reasons for the prohibition of different meats, vegetables, and
fruits at certain holy seasons.
176
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
"by a long shot" (èn Béλous) the most sharp-sighted, since
his fore-knowledge came from those who know all things.
By these guardians was he watched over, and with them
he often held intercourse; fasting frequently, and never
burdening his stomach with these superfluous loads; so
that he went through his business like a winged thing,
giving answers to embassies one after the other, in tho
samo day; writing letters to cities, to commanders of
armies, to absent friends, and to those visiting him; listen-
ing to despatches read, examining petitions, making the
hands of secretaries appear slow through the quickness of
his tongue. For this prince alone had brought about the
union of three different occupations, namely, of hearing, of
speaking, and of writing: for to the reader ho lent his ear,
to the writer his voice, and to such as required his signature
his right hand, and he had the gift never to make mistakes
in anything. Rest was for his ministers; for himself it was
to skip from one kind of work to another, for whenever a
cessation of business occurred, after breakfasting just
sufficient to support life, he was not beaten by the cigale,
but throwing himself upon piles of books he sung away,
until at eventide the cares of the empire again called for
him; and the supper was yet more frugal than the first
meal, and his sleep just so much as was consistent with
such a moderation in food.

1
Afterwards again came another set of secretaries that
had passed the day in bed; for his servants stood in need
of relays, and they got their rest from one another: but
he only changed his kinds of labour, and alone laboured
at everything-going through the transformations of
Proteus in the palace; being at once priest, book-maker,
diviner, judge, gencral, soldier-everywhere a saviour!
Neptuno was shaking down the principal city in Thrace;
messages camo ono after the other that unless someone
1 This shows that the ancients always chanted aloud whatever they
were reading, just as the Arabs of our time.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
177
would propitiate the god the ruin of the place would be
consummated. He no sooner heard it than, standing in
the middle of the garden, he caught some rain-drops in hist
cup,' whilst the others stood under shelter, looking on and
wondering; but the wondrous man, standing patiently
thus until late in the evening, pacified the god, and put a
stop to the danger. And after that day news was brought
[that so it was], when they counted to the day on which
the earthquake ceased; neither did the rain occasion him
any personal inconvenience.
But when the winter lengthened the nights (besides
many other beautiful works) he set himself to attack the
books that set up the god of the fellows from Palestine,
and their god's son, by long controversy and by force of
argument showing their stories to be ridiculous nonsense
(yéλwta nai prńvopov), and showed himself more knowing
than the old man of Tyre upon the same subject. I hope
this same old man (Porphyry) will pardon me, and take
kindly what I have said, as being "a father surpassed by
his own son. ""
This was the pleasure our emperor reaped from the
length of the nights, whilst others were following the
business of Venus. But he was so far from inquiring
where there was a fair daughter, or wife, that had he not
once been tied by Juno with the bond of marriage, he
would have ended his days knowing nothing of sexual
intercourse but by name. But as it was he regretted his
wife, yet did not touch another woman, either before or
after her; being by his constitution enabled to be continent,
and his constant occupation in the art of soothsaying
concurring to require this restraint; in which occupation
3
¹ No doubt "My Lord's cup whereby he divineth."
By his treatise "Against the Christians and their God," now lost,
but partly preserved in Cyril's Reply.
3
³ Helena, sister of Constantius, who had died the previous winter at
Paris, immediately before he assumed the diadem. What is singular,
Julian never once alludes to her in one of his numerous letters.
N
178
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
he spent his time, employing the most eminent, diviners,
and himself inferior to none in that science, so that it was
not possible for any soothsayers to impose upon him, when
his own eyes helped to examine what appeared in the
victim; and on some occasions he came off superior to those
who studied that one art alone, so wide and universal was
this prince's genius. Some things he discovered through
his own sense, on others he held communication with the
Powers above. Hence it was that he gave office to
persons whom he was not expected to prefer, and did not
give to those whom it was supposed he would-both giving
and withholding preferment by the counsel of the gods.
But, again, how genuine a guardian he was of the
empire, and how greatly he preferred its interests to his
own, he has shown in many instances, and will appear
more plainly for the following circumstance. Being ex-
horted by his relations to marry, that he might get chil-
dren for heirs to his power, "It was out of fear of this
very thing," replied he, "that I have neglected to do so,
lest they, succeeding by hereditary right, should turn out
bad and ruin the state, experiencing the same fate with
Phaethon." 1
Thus did he regard his own want of chil-
dren as a lighter calamity than the chance of mischief to
the provinces. On that account he did not shun the
labour attending upon the administration of justice, as
though he were dividing his mind into so many parts,
though he had it in his power to leave this fatigue to the
most learned and incorruptible of judges, he nevertheless.
¹ He had a warning in his own family, the conduct of the three sons
of Constantine; and, indeed, in that of every emperor-Domitian,
Commodus, Caracalla, Gallienus, Carinus-who had succeeded by right
of birth. Where the sovereign has absolute power, elective sovereignty
remedies many evils in that state of things, and the only objection to it
is the risk of a disputed succession. In Julian's case, even Jovian-
certainly Valentinian-was infinitely better for the empire than his own
on would have proved.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
179
offered himself for one of those that try causes, and
stripped himself for the combat-unless anyone objects to
the word, and says that law cases were no "combat"
for him, but rather a diversion and a rest; so easily did
he repcl the deceptions of the advocates, and seize upon the
right thing in each affair, testing false arguments by true
ones with incredible quickness of wit, refuting and baffling
quibbles by means of laws; he did not, however, set himself
against the rich, even when they had right on their side,
and take the part of the poor and shameless, as one would
do that envied the former their fortune, and was biassed
by a feeling of compassion totally out of place; but he
separated his mind from the contending parties, and he
applied his judgment to the nature of the cases, so that
occasionally the rich man came off the gainer and the poor
man the loser of his suit; and yet he had it in his power,
if he chose, to override the laws, and ran no risk of
being brought to justice and paying the penalty of the
transgression. So much more strictly than the most petty
judges did he think it his duty to adhere to the rules laid
down in the case of trials, that when one of those per-
sons detested by him on account of their other offences
against law was pushing his cause by means of forged
papers, he himself detected it, but inasmuch as the injured
party was unable to show that the document was forged,
he decided that the wrong-doer gained his cause, adding
at the same time, "That he was not ignorant of the cheat,
but as the person aggrieved had kept silence, he himself,
being a slave to the law, must give his vote in favour of
the criminal.' For which reason the gainer went off
with greater grief than the loser, the one being damaged
in pocket, the other in reputation. In this way he con-
trived how not to infringe the law, and yet to punish the
¹ Julian, like Lord Mansfield, thought " he did not sit there to admi-
nister justice, but to administer law, which is a very different thing.'
But an emperor bound by the rules of a lawyer makes himself ridi-
culous.
""
180
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
1
culprit. And when the court of justice of the emperor
was opened, and all had full liberty to fly for refuge
thither, as many as had got possession of the goods of
the weaker party by means of illegal violence-some
through barefaced robbery, others under pretence of pur-
chase, came and made restitution to such as accused
them; nay, even to such as remained quiet, anticipating
complaint out of fear of judgment, so that each one of
the oppressors became his own judge, and consequently,
as they tell us happened in the case of Hercules, that
such as suffered wrong anywhere, either by land or sea,
used to invoke him, though absent, and his mere name
sufficed for their deliverance; of the same force do we
know was the calling upon the name of this prince. And
cities, and villages, and markets, and houses, and conti-
nents and islands, and young and old, and men and
women, by the saying that such a one was reigning, used
to repel all aggressors; and the hand raised to strike, the
sound of this name full often checked. That court often
received cities that were disputing about precedence, the
greatest in Syria next to our own. One of the two pos-
sessed superior beauty, as having the enjoyment of the
sea. And after long arguments had been gone through,
and the one party enumerated the particulars of its
beauty, and the wisdom of one of its citizens, whilst
those on the mainland (Apamea) vaunted the wisdom of
an alien (Iamblichus) and of a native (Sopater), one of
whom had persuaded her to cultivate philosophy, and the
other had received with welcome the emperor and those
that followed him from all sides; he left out of the ques-
tion the splendour of the buildings in both, but comparing
the inhabitants together, pronounced that city to hold the
first place which was the superior in the excellence of the
latter. By making a decree of such a sort did he not
¹ The courtiers of Constantius, whose peculations and extortions
have been already detailed.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
181
incite the cities to cultivate virtue, when he made no
account of the beauty of things inanimate, as not com-
petent to give preponderance to a cause with a judge who
was good for anything. His impartiality in matters of
religion I have already mentioned. I will now produce
something still greater: that he showed this quality in
the strongest light when administering justice, both to-
wards the advocates and those for whom they were labour-
ing, by giving full liberty to the raising of the voice, the
lifting up of the hand, and other gestures, to their jokes
upon each other, and, in fine, to whatever expedients they
trusted in for gaining their cause; and very much in his
mouth was 66
My good fellow" to each and every one.¹
This term he used not only towards the advocates, but to
all alike—an appellation now for the first time given to
subjects by their ruler, and more potent than a talisman
for the breeding of goodwill, for he did not hold fear, and
silence, and the keeping the hand in the robe, and bend-
ing to the ground, and looking at his shoe rather than
into his face, and to show themselves slaves instead of
free men in all that was said and done-it was not this,
he thought, that magnified royalty, but the fact that no
one of such as conversed with him should have more
reason to admire those ceremonies than the emperor him-
self; since even the purple robe, that the reigning prince
could not avoid wearing, he used to wear as though it
differed nothing from ordinary attire. Consequently, he
did not look at himself when he wore it, nor did he test
the dye, nor think that by putting on a better sort he
became a better man, and best of all when he put on his
best; neither did he measure the happiness of sovereignty
by the excellence of the colour, but left that for dyers and
weavers to deal with as they chose. On the contrary, he
believed that he was making his reign magnificent by the
¹ Julian had got the word out of Plato's Dialogues. No wonder it
sounded strangely affable to Roman subjects.
182
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION.
exercise of wisdom, and the safety of the state accruing
from the same, and through these means to grow more
brilliant. The gold, it is true, upon his head continued
there, the gods having so decreed, and this fact I believe
he was informed of through the gods themselves, for he
had frequently had the intention to divest his head of
gold-but He that prevented it was the stronger party.' This
gold reminds me of the crowns of gold that the several
cities were sending to him, vying with each other in their
weight—this one weighing a thousand gold-pieces, that
one two thousand, one from another place more than both
at once. But he, disapproving of the magnitude of the
offering, being well aware that contributions of the sort
are not collected without occasioning distress, notified to
them that not above the weight of seventy gold-pieces
was the regular thing (patav), for he thought the honour
from one and the other to be of equal value, whereas it
showed covetousness to seek after gain in the shape of
compliments. And the persons who carried round these
laws and epistles, part of them not inferior, part even
superior to the above, were so far from demanding a fee
upon their receipt that even when people offered it spon-
taneously they would not accept it: so much danger was
attached to all irregular gains, and it was well known
that it was impossible for a receiver to escape detection,
and that he needs must be punished for it.
In this way
the reputation of a good superior was not disgraced by
the villainy of those that served him.
2
Now he was thus occupied, when all of a sudden there
arose a cry in the Hippodrome of the starving population
1 This wish to lay aside the diadem (Constantine's innovation in the
imperial costume) is of a piece with Julian's dislike to the title "Do-
minus,” alluded to in the Misopogon. It is a significant fact that the
Emperor Magnentius, who set up for the restorer of public liberty,
never wears the diadem on his coinage.
2 Put roughly for 72 one Roman pound, for 6 solidi of his times
went to the ounce (avoirdupois), each weighing 3 dwts. troy.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
183
[of Antioch], on the ground that the earth had been ill-
treated by the weather, and the city by the land-owners
not bringing into market the stores of the annual harvest,
but forcing up the prices of corn. He called together
husbandmen, artizans, retailers-in fine, all people of that
sort and compelled them by law to keep order; then
he was himself the first to follow the regulation and bring
his own wheat into the market; but when he discovered
that the Town Council were fighting against the law,
and making use of his supplies, but hoarding up their
own, anyone, not acquainted with the events of that time,
thinks he is going to hear of spear and sword, and burn-
ing and drowning—for such things seem the due of such
as war against their lords. For truly this is a war with-
out arms, to be disobedient deliberately; and when it is in
one's power to join in the song, to interrupt it by dis-
cord; and what things he was bent upon establishing, to
make the same null and void by every possible art. Now
the right of power allowed of such proceedings (summary
punishment), and yet more severe ones, and full surely
anyone else would have come down upon these insolent
fellows like a thunderbolt: he, however, was accustomed
to bridle his anger on every occasion, then especially did
he vanquish himself, and let them off the punishment that
was their due, making them to suffer rather the name of
imprisonment, than actual bonds: not a single one, there-
fore, of his opposers came inside the gates of the prison;
not even a night closed upon this brief and mild imprison-
ment; but short was the interval between the two sets of
guards; the one party conducted them into custody, the
other brought the order for their release. They on their
part went to supper and to bed, but he to neither one nor
the other; for they rejoiced for what they had not suffered,
whilst he was grieved at what they had: and he said this
1
¹ Julian ordered the whole Senate of Antioch into prison, but revoked
the order before they were actually locked up.
184
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
was the greatest insult he had received from the city, the
being compelled to inflict such a punishment upon it. In
such a way did this event, though very trifling in itself,
affect him as a very serious one, and as one totally at
variance with his own disposition: nor did he wait for any
friends to censure it, but was his own accuser-not because
it had befallen people that were without offence, but on the
grounds that it was becoming in him not even on account
of crimes to treat a Town Council in such a manner. For
shortly after, when even more audacious measures had
been taken by the city (although these terms are used of
my native place, Truth before all things), he passed over
the punishment of the men in power, and though he had
full right to rack and put to death,¹ yet he had recourse
to the arms of an orator, and avenged himself upon the
city with a book. a thing that he had done before to a
certain Roman who had audaciously committed an offence
of such sort that he would justly, at the very least, have
been deprived of his estates: the prince, however, did not
deprive him of his wealth, but struck at him with the
weapon of an epistle. But, nevertheless, the man so loath
to shed blood, ten soldiers laid a plot to murder: they
only waited for the day of the practice of manœuvres,
but their drunkenness fortunately anticipated the proper
time, and brought all to light; and the secret was blabbed
in song.2
Perhaps someone is astonished that a prince
so mild and gentle-one that either inflicted no punish-
1 Those suspected, with very good reason, of firing the temple of
Apollo.
2 Out of this plot Nazianzen makes his fine episode of the soldier-
confessor (cap. 83). The circumstances as told by saint and sophist tally
too exactly to permit doubt of their having the same event in view. Both
give the occasion as the time of a grand review, and the dénouement as
brought about at a drinking-party. According to the Christian version
of the facts, these soldiers were exasperated at having been seduced
into burning incense, and rushed upon the emperor to upbraid him for
the deception.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
185
ment at all, or else one lighter than the culprit's deserts-
should have had enemies amongst his subjects: the cause
of this I will explain when I come to mention his end-
an end so full of sorrow for me!
-an
At present it is the place to speak about his intimate
friends that is, of those who lived intimately with him.
Some were very good men, and had that reputation of it;
but others had the reputation and were not so: the former
nothing at all ever changed, whilst the latter, time un-
masked. For when he had taken possession manifestly
of the empire, and was become lord of the treasures and
of all else that constitutes imperial power, then some of
their number attended him without fee or reward; they
did not attempt to make their own wealth greater by
means of his revenues; they deemed it ample (R. 590) gain
to love and to be loved, and to see the same man attached
to them who was ruling so vast an empire; and to receive
with discretion-yea, often by his express command
estate, a cavalry troop,' a house, silver, gold: but they
saying they were rich enough, declined his largesses. Thus
acted the best amongst them: but others who had long
been thirsting for money (though pretending to despise
it), having bided their time, made the most of it when it
dawned upon them-they begged, and when they received
they begged again; neither did they cease from pocketing,
and there was nothing that could appease their greediness.
He, on his part, through generosity lavished his money on
them, but thought all the worse of them for the future:
he was vexed to have been deceived in them, but never-
theless put up with their conduct out of regard to the
length of time [of their intimacy], and he esteemed the
reputation of being constant in friendship as preferable to
the ridding himself of people of such a character: since
¹ A sinecure colonelcy; the tribunatus alluded to by Juvenal's
"Semestri vatum digitos circumligat auro."
Libanius is here singing his own praises to an intelligent audience.
186
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
he was not ignorant of the disposition of any one amongst
his intimates, taking pleasure in such of them as were
men of merit, and annoyed with those of different sort, he
clung fast to the one, whilst he did not drive away the
others nay more, a sophist who displayed a soul superior
to his title he would respect, whilst a philosopher that fell
below his profession he used to contemn: but through his
wish not to appear forgetful of old friendship, when arrived
at the imperial dignity, he put up with and winked at
everything.
But I see you are longing for the recital of the latest
and greatest of his performances, the way in which he
handled the Persians and their country in his expedition
against them: and this is not to be wondered at, since
you have long had your attention fixed upon that quarter
of the world, and are acquainted with the main fact-that
he fell in the midst of victory; though as to the particu-
lars, some you have not heard at all, and others not
correctly. What makes you so eager for the story (R. 591)
is the thought of the might of the Persians, and how
great was the power of Constantius whom they used to
vanquish, and against what pride and audacity the hero of
my speech did so fearlessly advance. The fact is that
Constantius, besides the possession of the islands and the
regions lying upon the Atlantic, was master of the land
from the very shores up to the streams of the Euphrates
-a region producing other things of all sorts, and tall
men and courageous souls, wherewith to form an army
invincible. Nevertheless this prince, so abounding in
resources, the possessor of innumerable and splendid
cities, in receipt of those vast tributes, he that was draw-
ing that immense amount of gold from his mines,' he who
clad the bodies of his cavalry in steel with greater care
¹ Probably those then worked in Thrace; for a few years later
Ammian mentions the miners joining the Gothic invaders, because they
could not endure the weight of their taxation.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
187
than the Persians themselves, who protected from wounds
the very horses by means of armour ¹—this prince, having
inherited a war from his father that called for courage
befitting an emperor, and a soul knowing how to employ
his forces to the best advantage, he, just as though he had
determined to assist his adversaries, never took thought
how he might wrest anything from them, or defend his
own from falling into their hands, but leading an army,
year by year, at the beginning of summer, whilst they were
laying siege to places with the opening of spring, crossing
the Euphrates and halting his mighty armament in its
vicinity, with the intention of beating a retreat if the
enemy should show themselves, almost within hearing of
the lamentations of his besieged subjects, he thought it
better generalship to avoid fighting and not to succour his
own people! What, therefore, was the result of his camping
there? The one monarch battered down walls, demolished
towns, and returned home carrying away goods and
captives; the other sent out persons to view the desola-
tion, and was grateful to Fortune that no greater mischief
had been done, and made his return through the middle
of the cities in broad daylight, welcomed by the population
with the cries that are appropriated to victory! (R. 592.)
And this was the programme of each successive year.
The Persian king crossed the frontier, the other intended
so doing; he attacked the fortifications, the other began
to move; he was on the point of taking them, the other
made inquiries about the matter; he took them, the other
was well satisfied at not having come to blows; the one
exulted in the multitudes of his captives, the other in his
horse-races; the one received crowns from the cities, the
other was giving them to charioteers. Is not such a man
rightly to be styled an ally of the Persians? for when it
is in one's power to hinder mischief, to permit it, is next
1 Also a Persian invention: three centuries before, Propertius has,
"Barbarus armato nec cataphractus equo."
་
188
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
door to assisting in it with your own hands. And let not
anyone suppose me ignorant of that nocturnal battle (of
Singara), in which both sides with mutual gall and loss
separated; nor yet that sea-fight' upon dry land (at
Nisibis), in which they with difficulty saved the town that
had endured so much; for this is the very hardship of the
case, that he who had received by inheritance spirits
knowing how to strike fear into the enemy, trained them
into feeling fear, and by a bad education unnerved
courageous dispositions. What the force of training is in
all matters philosophers point out, and the fable too
declares; for it can change the better and the worse into
the opposite to their former selves, if given to the former,
of a worse kind than his natural disposition, and to the
latter, superior to the same (R. 593). It (practice) has
made women ride on horseback and rendered them more
than a match for men in arms; and if it has forced the
man endued by nature with virtue to live in the midst of
revelling and drunkenness, his virtue forsakes him, and
when he has learned this way of living instead of an
honourable one, his former course grows hateful to him,
and habit has distorted his natural character. Something
of this sort do I say that prince's soldiers experienced
through his fault, when they took up arms but were for-
bidden to come to blows, and were taught to slumber under
their tents whilst their countrymen were taken captive, and
not to dread disgrace, but to fear death; at which lessons
they were at first impatient, as was natural for courageous
men; then, less so; next they assented to, and finally they
approved of them. Consequently, a dust rising in the
distance, such as would be made by cavalry, did not stir
them up to the conflict, but made them turn to flee. But
when a squadron, and that only a small one, showed itself,
1
¹ Sapor had dammed up the river with the view of drowning the city,
thereby converting the suburbs into one huge lake, and placing his
battering train upon boats to approach the walls.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
189
they prayed earth to swallow them up, preferring to suffer
any fate rather than look a Persian in the face. And
when their manhood had been thus extirpated their con-
fidence was equally destroyed, to such a degree that in the
houses where they were billeted whenever they demanded
to be served by their hosts the word "Persian" put a stop
to their being troublesome; and everyone used to say,
jeering at them, "Here comes a Persian soldier!" and
they forthwith turned red in the face and jumped away.
Nevertheless, when led against their own countrymen
they knew how to strike and to suffer blows, but the
Persian terror, growing in the course of long years, had
become so fixed in them that somebody said they even
would have trembled at the Persians in a picture. (R. 594.)
These troops, so spoilt as they were, this admirable
man led against the Persians, as they little by little
regained the courage they had of old, and grew confident
that they could pass through fire unscathed by means of
his good counsel. What then were these measures? He
knew the mighty force that lies in secresy (for nothing that
is divulged is of any avail, though if kept secret it may be
of great utility), and therefore never made public either
the time of his invasion, the route of his expedition, the
nature of his contrivances-in short, any of the things he
was revolving in his mind, well knowing that whatever is
spoken aloud immediately gets into the ears of spies; but
orders were given to the Prefect to cover the Euphrates
with boats, and to load these same boats with provisions;
and before the winter had expired, outstripping the hopes
of all, and rapidly crossing the river, he did not move
upon the near-lying great and populous town called
Samosata, in order that he might see and be seen, and
receive the honours usually paid to sovereigns, but knowing
that the occasion required despatch, he marched to a city
possessing a grand ancient temple of Jupiter (Hierapolis),
which having admired and offered up vows that the god
would grant him power to ruin the Persians, he detaches


190
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
from his army twenty thousand men,¹ whom he sends off
to the river Tigris in order to guard the country in case
any danger should approach in that quarter, and to join
him when he should summon them at the fitting time. It
was arranged that the Armenian King should act in a
similar manner; for the enemy was expected to march
through the best of his territory with fire and sword, to
give battle to the emperor; and when they (Romans and
Armenians) had united their forces, either to put the
enemy to flight out of his boundaries, or come to battle
with them if they stood their ground.
Having given these commands, he advanced, hugging
the Euphrates, which both allowed of navigation and con-
veyed his provisions by his side in the boats. (R. 595.)
And seeing a great number of camels, tied camel to
camel, and loaded with baggage, this load being the
choicest wines from different countries and everything
else that has been invented by man to make the use of
wine more delicious, he inquired what they were carrying,
and when he learnt what it was, he ordered the fountains
of luxury to be left behind, saying, "That it behoves good
soldiers only to drink the wine that their sword hath
won; that he was himself one of the soldiers, and would
have the same diet as the rest." Having thus cut off all
that had luxury in it, he marched along, retaining no more
than what actual necessity most required, the country
itself feeding his baggage animals with excellent herbage,
for spring had already set in over that region. And in
their advance they espied a castle placed on an island of
the river Cherbonesus, the first seen and the first taken,
not by force of arms, but by terror; for when the garri-
son beheld the opposite hills covered with the legions,
not being able to endure the flashing of their armour,
they opened their gates, and giving themselves up, went
1 This was the force under Procopius and Sebastian, whose failure to
join him before Ctesiphon occasioned the ruin of the whole scheme.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
191
off to settle in our territory. The abundance of provi-
sions,' sufficient for several days' consumption, was to the
benefit of each man, so that as they marched through the
desert that came next, they had as much to eat as when
living in the towns. There was another castle in a pre-
cipitous island, and a wall carried around the entire
island, leaving nothing outside of it, not even room for
the foot. (R. 596.) Thinking the occupants lucky in
the nature of their post, and being well aware that if he
should attempt what could not be accomplished he would
only be pleasing the enemy, and that it shows equal want
of sense to pass by the things one can take, and to wrestle
with what cannot be conquered-saying that he would
come back for them shortly, and striking no small fear
into their souls thereby, and unsettling their determina-
tion by his words, he touches the land of the Assyrians:
that land which renders its inhabitants blessed, partly
through the plentifulness and fineness of the crops that
grow from little seed sown, partly by reason of the pro-
duce of the vines and palm trees, and all other good things
that are the productions of a fertile soil. All these our
soldiers saw and partook of, abundant as they were in
every village (for the villages were numerous and large,
and like towns not very big, situated all over Assyria);
our army, therefore, meeting with these comforts, did not
grumble at the hardships of the march, for the prize was
worth the toils they had endured, to gain the fertile land
through the desert. Here they cut down the palm trees,
rooted up the vines, beat down the barns, pulled down
the houses with fury; they ate and they drank, not in-
deed to intoxication, for they were restrained by the ex-
ample made of one that was executed for drunkenness ;
but they kept up their strength, and yet took care to keep
sober. The unfortunate Assyrians, afar off from the
mountain-tops, beheld their own calamities; flecing away,
1 Captured in this castle.
192
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
and leaving the flat country, so unfavourable to them,
they (R. 597) made an ally of the River instead. In
what way, then, did the River assist one side, but oppose
the other? The Euphrates is the greatest of rivers, and
equal to many rivers put together; inconsiderable in no
part of its course, it grows to its largest size when the
spring showers have melted the snow piled up by winter
on the Armenian hills. The farmers dwelling about it,
by cutting canals from thence inland, derive as much
utility from the Euphrates as do the Egyptians from the
Nile, and of both the cultivator is master as to whether
the water shall flow in or not (into his canals). On the
approach, therefore, of our army, by opening all the en-
trances for the stream, they flooded all the canals, and by
these means the whole of the country. This, then, was
the hardest of all our soldiers' labours, for the water
spreading like a lake, gave trouble to them all, whilst
that in the canals in some places reached breast high, in
others up to the chin, in others even over the head. It
became, therefore, a struggle of the utmost difficulty to
save one's self, one's arms, provisions, and beast; whilst
those who knew how to swim had a resource in their
knowledge, but those ignorant of the art had all the
greater labour; so that the latter were making bridges,
whilst the former boldly ventured on. And those who ad-
vanced along a causeway both high and narrow succeeded
in escaping a wetting, yet the narrowness of the way was
a source of danger, which those who shunned, going in-
side of it, were drenched in the waters, and here the
servant was holding out his hand to his master, there the
master pulling his servant out of a hole.
And though
passing through perils thus great, they neither groaned
nor shed tears nor grumbled at the expedition; they
uttered no cross words, nor thought them to themselves;
but just as though walking through the gardens of
Alcinous they found amusement in the actual state of
things, a better hope being, I ween, in the background
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
193
(R. 598); and, above all, their emperor sharing in the
fatigue with the common men; for he did not lay boards
upon the heads of soldiers, as another would have done,
and so walked along without fatigue-the only one so
amongst sufferers-but with his own person he was fore-
most to pierce through the mud, slime, and water; he
encouraged the others by actions, not by words, showing
to soldiers and baggage-bearers his imperial robes soaked
with water. Now the Assyrians, who had caused the vast
inundation, were in hopes this device would either divert
the march, or wear out the strength of our troops, but
they, as though endowed with wings, or as though Nep-
tune had cleft the waters before them, continued their
advance. In this way escaping with small loss, they no
longer laid siege to castles, but there was a great city of
the Assyrians called after the name of the king then
reigning (Pyrisapor), and having within its wall a second
enclosure, so as to form a town within a town, a smaller
within a larger, after the manner of bowls put within
bowls. And on the assault being given their alarm made
the inhabitants draw together within the smaller fortifi-
cation, as being the stronger of the two.
Our men,
having thus possession of the one wall, and making their
approaches to the other, are plied with shot from the
archers above, and a considerable number were killed,
but by raising mounds that overtopped the wall, they re-
duced the besieged to surrender. The terms were that
they should not be given back to the Persian, even upon
the declaration of peace for they well knew their
custom of flaying defaulters alive-which is a plain
proof that it was not through their own cowardice that
they were captured, but fighting with all their might.
1
1
Thus all things proved weaker than our emperor, and
The same stipulation we have seen in the case of the garrison of
Cherbonesus. It appears that Sapor's rule was to flay alive the Per-
sians who had surrendered their towns, " pour encourager les autres."
0
194
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
nothing could stand against the hero. But he was severe
to the enemy, severe also to such of his own men as knew
not how to conquer or to fall. Thus, when the cavalry
appointed to protect the advance had behaved so badly in
fight as to lose their captain (after they had thrice de-
manded to receive a gratuity in preference to the whole
army), he handed them over to the executioners, not send-
ing their punishment behind the scenes, but walking
boldly into the midst of them as they returned, and
ordering (R. 599) several of them to dismount, though
they were all armed and he himself had not three of his
guards with him. To such a point had he trained his
soldiers to obey, and to submit to whatever seemed good
to their master. Having therefore met these horsemen
when they were seeking with loud cries for their lost
commander, and having inflicted deserved punishment,
upon those who had failed to defend him, and shown to
all the rest of his army what fate awaited the cowardly,
he returned into his tent, having made himself more to
be admired than ever. And being desirous to damage
as much of the enemy's country as possible, he made
his halts frequent, in order that part of the army
might remain stationary within the stockade,' whilst it
should be for the light troops and the more active to
pillage the country, dispersing themselves in different
directions. And these discovered subterraneous habita-
tions, and brought back to us children of the Assyrians,
together with their mothers, so that the number of cap-
tives was greater than that of the captors, yet not even
so was there a scarcity of food. From thence he moves
on to encounter the same difficulty—the flooded canals, or
1 Coins of Licinius and of Constantine, legend VIRTUS EXERCITUS,
show an immense chevaux-de-frise, its horizontal beam of sufficient width
for soldiers to stand on and defend. Its being thought worthy of this
monetary record, makes one suspect it an invention of the time, probably
a portable defence available at short notice. Perhaps such fortification
is alluded to here.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
195
rather to the most difficult part of that obstruction, for
now more numerous were the cuttings in the soil, and
much greater their depth-on which occasion he showed
himself yet more clearly as the father of the whole army.
For when another line of march was recommended by
some others, longer indeed, but beyond the reach of the
inundation, he said this was the very thing he was afraid
of in the march-to suffer thirst, and at the same time to
be deprived of any sort of water-adding that in the one
case (R. 600) there was annoyance, but in the other de-
struction, and that it was far better to march on incom-
moded by the waters than to seek for water and not get
any. And remembering the fate of a certain Roman
general who through similar want of reflection had
destroyed himself and all he led, and having shown them
directly in a book the account of his utter ruin, he
obliged those who proposed this inexpedient course to
blush for what they had said, and persuaded the rest to
fear nothing. Directly after this the palm trees on the
land grew more plentiful, numerous bridges were made
out of them, and the crossing over became an amusement
to the generality, for there was a contest who should
outstrip him that was going over a bridge, by plunging
one's self into the water; and in this way the last expe-
dient of the enemy was baffled, and the water vanquished,
and high was the hope of success. Yet another defence
remained for the natives, and this, too, was destined to be
proved of no avail. It was a strong castle, also situated
on an island, and rearing itself aloft into the middle of
the sky with precipice and wall combined, such was the
height of both. The space below, except exceedingly little,
was girt with a thicket of reeds that covered from view
the people drawing water, who, by means of a stair, un-
perceived by those outside, with full security under cover
Doubtless Plutarch's "Life of Crassus;" that writer was certainly
much studied by Julian.
196
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
of the reeds, had the use of the river. The wall also was
too strong for the battering-engines; firstly, as being
constructed upon an island, the whole of which it en-
closed within itself; and, secondly, being upon an island
of such steepness; and, added to all this, the burnt brick
of which it was built was cemented together with asphalte.
The strength of the castle was a reason for not attempt-
it, but the fact that some of the garrison had sallied out
upon the advanced guard of the army, and had very
nearly succeeded in wounding the emperor himself, in-
duced the sufferers, through resentment, to lay siege to
the place. So they sat down before it, whilst the Persians
upon the walls laughed, jeered at, and insulted them, shot
arrows and hit them, and thought they were doing the
same as though they should attempt to scale the skies.
Now our general at the outset did himself attack the
enemy on the walls by means of stone shot and dart, and
one or two fell down with the dart sticking in his body;
but afterwards he connected the island with the bank by
means of a bridge. Our men at this work had for pro-
tection their boats of hide, for by turning these upside
down, and creeping under them, and using the bottoms
of the boats for a penthouse, they were as well off for
shelter as the enemy inside the walls,' for the Persians
found fire and every sort of missile of no avail against
this cover, which it was not possible to pierce with arrow-
heads, nor to crush with stones, nor to burn with fire;
yet they were not struck with consternation at all this;
but though they knew that the enemy was driving mines,
though they saw they were using every kind of art, yet
they kept up a revel night and day, in the belief that they
were labouring to no result. Our men, however, plied
the work, and fainted not, and pushing on made their way
towards the upper parts. The width of the mine was the
1 The text has οἱ μὲν εἴσω τῶν τείχων, which must be an error fer
τοῖς.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
197
width of a man, and the first that emerged from the
opened ground penetrated unperceived at midnight into
the middle of a tower; him followed a second, and then
a third, and everyone was eager to be amongst those who
came up. An old woman whom they found sleeping there
alone along with a little child they silenced; they occupied
the doors of the towers, and gave a signal to their friends
below to shout; and upon a loud shout being raised, the
garrison leaping out of their beds with the alarm, nothing
more was wanted than to kill them all as they came in
their way, for in truth the greater part destroyed themselves
by throwing themselves down off the wall; there was also
much hunting after such as were endeavouring to hide,
and no one wished to take prisoner rather than kill, so
that they flung them from above, and from below the
spears welcomed the living, the half dead, and the dead.
In so many ways, therefore, did they hold festival unto
the hostile gods, and display the same to the Solar Deity
as he rose, in this thing alone disobeying the orders of
their emperor, for he had ordered to spare life and to
make prisoners of whom they caught, but they, remem-
bering the shots, and knowing who had been hit, whilst
fury impelled the hand, assuaged in slaughter their vexation
at the labours they had endured, and they begged to be
pardoned if they inflicted the same evils as they had
suffered. And upon the slaughtered men the castle also
was destroyed, for it was razed to the ground more effec-
tually than any other of the captured forts in that
country, for in the same measure as that castle was supe-
rior to all the rest, by so much the more did it draw down
on itself the sentence of utter demolition, for the loss
affected the Persians in two ways, whether they rebuilt
the place or not.
.
So brilliant and so far surpassing human capability was
their exploit, that the one side now believed that nothing
in the world could resist them, whilst the spirit of their
adversaries sank along with the fall of the castle, and they
198
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
began to think that all their resources were no better than
rotten. The emperor too, always doing great things, and
always thinking them trifles, could not help regarding this
as something very great; for he exclaimed, what he had
never done before, "that he had given the Syrian (meaning
myself) a theme for an oration." The theme, indeed, was
admirable, thou dearest to me of men, but now that I have
lost thee, what pleasure is there in life! But I must
return to the point-the fate of the castle, in the manner
I have related, produced a great bruit of what had hap-
pened, when reported to a great distance amongst those
who were preparing to oppose him; so that even the bag-
gage-bearers went up to the villages and took them,
which the inhabitants had deserted without destroying
them; or rather they took some things, and what they
were unable to carry off they committed to the river or to
the flames; as, for instance, a palace of the Persian king,
situated upon the river, and containing all kinds of
Persian magnificence, whatever lies in buildings, whatever
in gardens, in the luxuriance of shrubs, and in the fra-
grance of flowers; and a herd of wild swine were kept
in a walled park (xwpíov) opposite, in hunting which the
Persian prince used to take his exercise. These furnished
a feast to all the Romans. This palace was burnt, with
less honour¹ than the one at Susa, as they say; and
a second after this, and then a third, inferior indeed to
the other in splendour (R. 604), but yet not deficient in
beauty.
Doing things of this sort, they at length arrive at the
cities, so long objects of their desire, the which, in place of
Babylon, adorn the land of the Babylonians. Through
2
¹ Because that was burnt by Alexander's own hand, but this by the
common soldiers.
2 Distant forty-five miles. Both towns lie on the Tigris; Seleucia
founded by the Macedonians, Ctesiphon by the Parthians as its counter-
poise, at three miles distance. Seleucia had been destroyed by L. Verus,
and only its suburb, Coche, was at this time standing.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
199
1
the midst of these runs the river Tigris, and after passing
by them some little distance, unites with the Euphrates.
At this point, what was to be done could not be discovered;
for if the soldiers should pass along in the flotilla it was
impossible to approach the towns; whilst if they attacked
the towns, their boats would be useless to them, and
if they should sail up the Tigris, the labour would be
excessive, and they would have to pass in the middle
between the cities. Who then solved the difficulty? It
was not a Calchas, nor a Teiresias, nor any one of the
diviners; the emperor seized some prisoners out of those
dwelling in the neighbourhood, and made inquiry about
a navigable canal (this too from his books) constructed
by the ancient kings, and leading from the Tigris into the
Euphrates, at some distance from the two cities (Ctesiphon
and Seleucia). Of these prisoners, the youthfulness of
the one was entirely unsuspicious of his design in putting
the question, whilst the one of advanced age told the truth
because there was no help for it (for he perceived that the
emperor was as exactly informed about the locality as
anyone of the natives, so much had he, though distant,
got a view of the place in books). The elder prisoner there-
fore tells, both where the canal is, and in what way it is
closed up, and that it had been filled up with earth,
and sowed over with corn at the part next its opening.
At the nod of the commander all the obstruction was
taken out (R. 605), and of the two streams the one is seen
drained dry; the other bore along the flotilla which
kept side by side with the army; whilst the Tigris coming
down upon those in the cities greater than before, inas-
much as it had received the waters of the Euphrates,
occasioned them great alarm, in the belief that it would
1
¹ If the army were forced to descend the Euphrates, along which they
were moving, down to its natural confluence with the Tigris, and then
to reascend the latter river, and run the gauntlet between the two great
cities built upon its opposite banks.
200
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
not spare their walls. At last the choicest force of the
Persians shows itself, and covers the river-bank with
shining shields, with neighing horses, with bent bows, and
with the huge bodies of elephants, to which it is the same
thing to walk through stalks of corn and the midst of
legions in battle array. These troops were opposite to us :
a river ran on each side, the one close at hand, the other
forced by art, and some other river at a little distance,
and a second army of Persians; the country behind was
cruelly laid waste, and allowed us no return by the way
we came. The situation stood in need of superhuman
courage for men that did not mean to perish by famine,
and all looked up to One. He on his part acted like a
person full of confidence; levelling a racecourse, he in-
vited the horsemen to the contest, and assigned prizes for
the racehorses. Spectators of these doings, in addition
to his own men, were the enemy, part looking at the con-
tests from below, part from their own battlements; whilst
they felicitated him as being in the midst of the revel-
lings of victors, but bewailed their own fate, being un-
able to hinder these proceedings. In the meantime, whilst
the army was diverting itself with the horse-races, the
boats were emptied of their guards, under the pretext that
the rowing gear might be examined to ascertain whether
it were in any way worn out; but in reality the emperor
wished suddenly to embark the soldiers without previous
notice (R. 606), having called together those in command
after they had feasted, and proved to them there was only
one way left for escape-namely, for them to cross the
Tigris, and so be enabled again to have the use of an
undevastated country. The other officers he found kept
silence, but the one under whose command was the bulk
of the army spoke in opposition, being discouraged by the
height of the bank and the multitude of the enemy. To
this the emperor replied that the nature of the locality
would be the same however long they delayed, whilst the
enemy would grow more numerous, and bad another
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN,
201
officer [direct the operation]. He also predicted that this
officer would be successful, though not without a wound,
and this wound he would get in the hand, nay, more, he
added in what part of the hand, and this again-that it
would stand in need of but little doctoring! Now the
boats had already taken the combatants on board; but he
stood looking up to heaven, and when he had received the
sign from thence, he gives the signal to the tribunes,
and they to the rest with all possible secrecy; they sailed,
and landed, though discovered by those close at hand, and
plied with shot; but nevertheless a steep bank that even
in time of peace, with no one to hinder them, men without
incumbrance would not have dared attempt by daylight,
this same bank they at night and having the enemy above
their heads, and loaded with armour, succeeded in mount-
ing; but how they did it, not even now can they tell when
asked. In reality this exploit was not so much due to
man as to some god that lifted him with his own hands.
Our soldiers therefore followed up their crossing with
slaughter, and beat down such as opposed them, whilst
they came upon others like an evil dream, and slew them
in their sleep; and those aroused from their slumber had
thus much the advantage over the sleepers that they knew
what they were suffering, for even these had no power to
defend themselves; and, as was likely in night and dark-
ness, many swords fell upon men's bodies, many upon the
trees; the latter the sound betrayed, a groan was heard
when men were hit, had been hit, expected to be so, were
begging quarter, were expiring; the others advanced
slaughtering as they went, and the ground was covered
with the bodies of the fallen, as far as six thousand corpses
could cover it; and if our men had not through greediness
after spoils wasted their time over the slain, but had
rushed to the gates, and either torn them open or cut
them down, they would have gained the famous Ctesi-
phon; as it was, they got the gold, silver, and horses of
the slain. But with dawn of day they had to fight with
202
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
cavalry, which at first gave them some trouble; but these,
afterwards, having received some loss from a single soldier
who ran up to them from behind a stone fence, they took
to flight. Then the rest of the camp passed over; and,
whilst the latter were turning their eyes in all directions
with astonishment, the slayers were washing themselves.
in the river, and the Persian Tigris flowed dyed with the
blood of Persians. Let anyone consider their incursions
into our territory, and each exploit one by one, and com-
pare this single invasion with their numerous inroads, and
he will find the latter performances to be indeed glorious,
but the present superior to any one of them all; for those
exploits of theirs were done when there was nobody to
oppose them, but this was carried out fully in the face
of fighting men; so that were one to ask the Persians
whether they would choose rather not to have done what
they had done, and not suffer what they did suffer, they
would doubtless reply, beginning with the king (R. 608)
himself, that they had bought their former successes very
dear. Anyone may see it from the following fact-Con-
stantius in none of the invasions was forced to descend to
the begging for a truce, but after the aforesaid things had
been done, the king sent to pray that Julian would end the
war then and there, and that the victor, abstaining from
further violence, should have the other's empire for friend
and ally.
Nay more, the Persian, one of the nobles who
had come on this mission, went into the tent to the
brother ¹ of the sender, but who was marching against him
with us, and embracing his knees, besought him to take
part in his petition to the emperor. He then in haste and
with joy, as though announcing some good news, entered
the emperor's presence with a smile on his face, and
looked for a reward for his tidings, but the other com-
manded him to keep silence on the affair, to send away his
1
Hormisdas, who had taken refuge at the court of Constantius, and
turned Christian.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
203
visitor without his saying a word to anyone, and to pre-
tend that their relationship was the only reason for the in-
terview; for neither did he think it expedient to end the
war, and he considered that mere name of peace was a
dangerous thing to blunt the courage of the soldier;
for he that is persuaded that it is at his own option
not to fight at all, will fight but badly if compelled.
For this reason he ordered the sweet name of truce "to
bide within his teeth," and yet who else would not, in
order to display to his men how great was his merit as a
commander (R. 609), have held an assembly of the troops
for the purpose of hearing these proposals? Nevertheless
this man, though invited to peace, went up to the walls
(of Ctesiphon) and challenged the besieged to battle,
saying that what they were doing was fit for women, but
what they shunned for men. On their replying that he
must seek out the king, and show himself to him, he was
anxious to see and pass through Arbela, either without
a battle, or after fighting a battle; so that in company with
Alexander's victory at that place his own might become
the theme of song.
His intention was to traverse all the
land which the Persian empire comprises; nay more, the
adjacent regions also; but he retreated because no rein-
forcements came to him, neither of his own side, nor from
his ally the latter through the false play of the prince of
that nation; whilst the second army, according to report,
because some of their men had been shot at the very be-
ginning whilst bathing in the Tigris, had thought it
better worth their while to wage war on the natives. Add
to this, the quarrelling of the generals with one another
had bred cowardice in those under their command; for
whenever the one leader was gaining victories, the other,
by recommending inaction, gave advice that pleased his
men.
1
Arsaces, the Armenian, who as the former protégé of Constantius,
and a zealous Christian, was very lukewarm in Julian's cause, for which
treachery Nazianzen duly praises him.
+
204
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
(R. 609). This state of things, however, did not dis-
courage the emperor; he did not approve of their being
absent, yet he proceeded as he had planned to do if they
had joined him, and extended his views as far as Hyrcania
and the rivers of India. But when the army was already
on the move in that direction, and part was actually
marching off, the other part collecting the baggage, some
god diverts him from his first scheme, and, as the poet
hath it, "warned him to think of his return.' The
flotilla, according to his original design, had been given
for prey to the flames-for better so than to the enemy.
The same thing would probably have been done, even
though the former plan (of advancing) had never been
contemplated; but that of returning had carried the day;
because the Tigris, swift and strong, running counter to
the prows of the boats, forced them to require a vast
number of hands (to tow them up the stream); and it
was necessary for those engaged in towing to be more
than half the army; this meant that the fighting men
were to be beaten, and after them everything else was
gained by the enemy without fighting for it. Besides all
this, the burning of the fleet removed every encourage-
ment to laziness, for whoever wished to do nothing, by
feigning sickness obtained conveyance in a boat; but
when there were no vessels, every man was under arms.
Since therefore it was impossible, however much they
wished it, to keep so many vessels, it was decided not to
be expedient even to retain those that had been saved
(they were fifteen in number, reserved for making bridges);
for the stream being too violent for the skill of the boat-
men, and the multitude (R. 611) of hands, used to carry
the boat with those embarked therein into the hands of
the enemy; so that if it behoves the side that is injured
to complain of the conflagration, it will be the Persian
that has to grumble; and full often, they say, he did
complain. In this way they marched on, drinking of the
waters of the Tigris, and keeping that river on the left
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
205
hand, whilst they were passing through a country more
fertile than the former, so that they added to the captives
whom they already had,' with all confidence. But when
they were at the end of the planted land, and in the
middle of that bare of trees, though no less fertile, procla-
mation is made that they must load themselves with pro-
visions for twenty days; for thus long was the march to
the noble city which, at the same time, is the boundary of
our empire. Then for the first time is beheld the battle-
array of the Persians—no disorderly multitude; abundance
of gold upon their armour. But when one or two of our
vanguard had fallen, and when all had joined battle, neither
horseman nor foot-soldier stood the shields on our side,
but turned and fled, being inferior in this one branch of
warfare. And thenceforward there was no pitched battle,
but only ambuscades and cowardly attacks of a few horse-
men at a time, jumping upon the hindmost out of ditches,
and not even then doing them so much hurt as they re-
ceived; for the legionary getting under the lance of the
horseman, and ripping up his horse with his sword
(R. 612), got them both on the ground, and, truly, ready
for slaughter the man in his iron shirt. Now, those who
came close were treated in this manner; but those that
are efficient from a distance-namely, the archers-by dis-
charging their shafts at the unprotected right sides of the
soldiers, obliged us to look to them, and to advance with
caution. They did advance, however, and the cloud of
arrows did not check them entirely; for the emperor spurring
his horse to all parts, brought help to the hard-pressed,
carrying reinforcements from those out of danger to those
in need, and sending the best of his officers to the rear-
guard.
Up to this point he was advancing in his career of
¹ πρоσεTilɛσav, which Reiske translates, "increased the allowance of
provisions," which seems to me very far-fetched.
2 Being prevented from rising by its enormous weight.
206
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
victory, and it is a pleasure to me to speak-but thence-
forth, O ye gods and genii and vicissitudes of fortune! to
what a tale am I compelled! Do you wish that I should
hold my tongue, and end the history with its more auspi-
cious part? It would be to you much comfort, instead of
a source of lamentation. What, then, is your decision-
must we shut up, or proceed? You appear to me to be
sorrow-stricken by the fact, but to crave the account of
it. It is indeed necessary I should speak out, and put an
end to the false reports current concerning his end. For
when the Persian was already reduced to despair, having
been manifestly conquered, and in fear lest our troops.
should occupy the best places in his kingdom, and winter
there when he was choosing envoys, was counting out
presents (amongst which was a crown ¹), and intending, it
is said, to send them on the following day, together with
a supplication for peace, and to leave him (Julian) the
arbiter of the terms-a part of the army is separated
from the rest, from some troops having to resist an attack,
and the others going on without perceiving it—and a
brisk breeze at the same time stirring up the dust and
producing a cloud, and giving cover to those who wished
to commit the crime-the (R. 613) emperor hastened up
with one attendant for the purpose of uniting the broken
line, when a horseman's spear cast at him, being without
armour (for he, on account, I suppose, of his being so
much the stronger, did not even arm himself), passed
through his arm and entered into his side. The hero
fell, and seeing the blood pouring forth, but wishing to
conceal the disaster, remounted his horse, when, as the
blood betrayed the wound, he kept crying out to those he
successively met "not to be alarmed at his hurt, for that
it was not mortal." He said this, but at the same time
was sinking under the danger; and is carried to the tent,
An extraordinary mark of homage, an acknowledgment of his
inferiority.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
207
to the black bed, the lion's hide, and mattress-for such
was his couch. And when the surgeons pronounced there
was no hope of life, the army receiving the news of his
death all set up a wail, all beat the breast, by all was the
ground moistened with tears; their weapons escaped from
their hands, and were thrown away; for they thought that
not even one to carry the tidings would return from thence
home. The Persian king dedicated to the gods his saviours,
those gifts which he ought to have sent to him; and had
customary table set up before him, having before that
made the earth serve in its place; he decorated his head
according to custom, which had been neglected all the
time of his danger; and all things that he would have
done if his adversaries had been swallowed up root and
branch by the earth opening her mouth, the same way
did he behave because a single young man was come to
his end. Both sides, therefore, gave their vote that the
existence of the Romans was locked up in him (R. 614),
the one as they mourned, the other as they exulted; the
one as they deemed they were lost, the other as they
believed they had already conquered. One may discern
his excellence even from his dying words; for when all
who stood round him had fallen a-weeping, and not even
the masters of philosophy could master their feelings, he
rebuked the others, and especially the latter persons, be-
cause "when his past life was bringing him to the islands
of the Blest, they wept for him as though he had spent his
life so as to deserve Tartarus." The scene was like the
prison that contained Socrates; those present resembled
those that were present with that philosopher; the wound
the cup of poison; the words his words; whilst the cir-
cumstance that Socrates shed not a tear was paralleled by
our hero's doing the same. But when his friends besought
him to name a successor to the empire, inasmuch as he
saw nobody like himself at hand, he referred the election to
the army; and him he urges to do his best to save the troops,
for that he in preserving them had endured every toil.
208
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
Who was the one that killed him, does anyone desire to
hear? His name I know not, but that he who killed him
was not an enemy there is a clear proof, namely, that
none of the opposite side received rewards for the fatal
blow, although the Persian king summoned by public
proclamation the slayer to come forward and receive re-
ward, and it was in his power if he did come forward to
gain great things. And yet no one from desire of the re-
wards boasted of the deed; and, truly, we ought to be
very thankful to the enemy that they did not arrogate to
themselves the glory of things they had not done, but gave
it to us to look for the murderer amongst ourselves. For
those persons to whom his being in life was no advantage
(these were they who lived not according to the laws ¹)
had previously plotted against him, and then, profiting by
the occasion, effected their purpose; their natural wicked-
ness compelling them to it, which had no liberty to exert
itself under his government; and, above all (R. 615), the
fact that the gods were receiving due honour, the very
opposite thing to what they strove for. And what Thucy-
dides remarks concerning Pericles, that he showed, by his
death, how important a man he was to the state; the same
thing, one may say, with respect to this emperor; for
though all other things remained the same as they had
been before the men, the arms, the officers, the legions,
the captives, the pay, the rations-yet in a single change,
that regarding the sovereign, everything was shipwrecked.
For, in the first place, they did not stand against the very
foes whom, up to then, they drove before them; in the
next, being unmanned by the name of peace (for the enemy
brought the same device again to play upon them), and all
cried out to accept terms and be glad to get them—nay,
the new prince himself was the first drawn in. And the
1 An euphemism for the Christians. But the absence of all such
fanaticism from his troops signally appears from his highest officers,
many of whom were Christians, immediately offering the empire to
Sallust, that column of paganism.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
209
Mede having found them thus eager for quiet, trifled with
them, wasted time in asking questions, and giving answers :
accepting this, rejecting that, wearing out their stock of
provisions by a succession of embassies; and when they
were in want of bread, and of everything else, and were
begging mercy, and stern necessity to concede everything
had beset them-then he demanded as the easiest price,
cities, and provinces, and nations, the bulwarks of the
safety of the Romans.¹ The other assented, and gave up
everything, and thought it no hardship; so that I have
often wondered at the Mede, because when it was in his
power to get more, he did not choose it (R. 616); for who
would have said him nay, had he extended his demands as
far as the Euphrates? or as far as the Orontes ? or as far as
the Cydnus? or as far as the Sangarios ? or as far as the
Bosporus itself? For there was many a one at hand to
persuade the Roman prince that what was left would
be ample for ruling over, for luxury, for drunkenness, and
for gluttony: 2 wherefore, if anybody rejoices that all this
was not done, let him be thankful to the Persians who
exacted ever so small a part of what it was in their power
to obtain. So that these men of ours, having thrown
away their arms for the enemy to keep, returned home as
out of a shipwreck, naked, begging their bread the most of
them, whilst he that carried a half of his shield, or a third
of his spear, or one of his boots upon his shoulders, such a
man was a hero; but all had one and the same apology for
Under the circumstances, Sapor's terms were very reasonable,
for he only demanded restitution of the territory taken by Galerius
from his grandfather, Narses, some seventy years before, and yet in his
letters to Constantius, he had actually (but evidently only out of
bravado) claimed possession of the entire inheritance of his pretended
ancestor Xerxes, i.e., the whole of Asia Minor.
2 Bold language this for Libanius to use-for these were the notorious
vices of Jovian; although his brother-in-arms, Ammian, expresses a
charitable hope that respect for his new dignity would have produced a
reform, had his life been prolonged.
p
210
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
their unseemly flight-the death of him that would have
cast all these disgraces upon the adversaries' heads.
(R. 617.) For what reason, then, ye gods and genii!
have ye not ratified these vows of his? Wherefore is the
race, that knows you not, made happy? Wherefore did ye
not ordain this prince to be the author of happiness to
them? What fault had ye to find with his intentions ?
which of his actions did ye not approve of? Did he not
raise up your fallen altars, did he not erect new ones to
your honour? Did he not worship magnificently, gods,
heroes, æther, the heavens, the earth, the sea, fountains,
rivers? Did he not wage war against those who warred
against you? Was he not chaster than Hippolytus him-
self, a cultivator of justice after the model of Rhadaman-
thus? Was he not more sagacious than Pericles, more
courageous than Brasedas? Did he not restore the world to
health when almost at the last gasp? Was he not a hater
of bad men, mild towards the honest, an enemy not even
to the lawless; to the virtuous a friend? O, what a vast
army, what numerous razings of castles; what repeated
trophies, what an end so unworthy of his enterprise! We,
indeed, were thinking that the whole Persian land would
become a part of the Roman empire, and be administered
by our laws, and receive magistrates from hence, and pay
tributes, and change their language, and reform their cos-
tume, and cut their hair, and sophists should at Susa train
up the Persian boys into orators, whilst the temples
amongst ourselves, decorated with the spoils from thence,
should teach those that came after the greatness of the
victory; whilst he who had achieved all this should
establish prizes for such as delivered panegyrics upon his
exploits, admiring some of the speakers, and not driving
out the others, being pleased with the former, but not ex-
asperated at the latter, and the speeches, then if ever, be
most delightful to the crowd; whilst the tomb-houses ¹
¹ The Christian churches dedicated to relic-worship, the grand staple
of the religion in that age.
1
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
211
1
should give place to the temples, with everybody consenting
to come to the altars; whilst those who had formerly upset
them, should set them up of themselves, and those who
formerly shunned the blood of victims, should be offering
sacrifice of their own accord; and that the private houses
of each would grow in opulence through a thousand
various sources, as well as by the lightness of taxation.
For this again is reported (R. 618), that he prayed to the
gods in the midst of his distresses, "that the war might
be so concluded that it should be in his power to reduce
the capitation tax to its original figure." All these, and
yet more expected blessings, a band of envious demons has
robbed us of, and the champion just on the point of grasp-
ing the crown, they have carried back to us hidden in his
coffin! with good reason therefore did lamentation spread
over land and sea; with good reason then did those die
with joy who fell after him, and others grieve at not
having died; deeming the times before him one perpetual
night, and one perpetual night those to come after him;
the period of his reign one of truly bright sunbeams!
Alas for the cities that thou wouldest have built! Alas for
the corruptions that thou wouldest have corrected! Alas
for learning that thou wouldest have raised into honour!
Alas for all virtue, how greatly would it have flourished
under thee! Alas for Justice, which once more descended
upon earth, but is gone back to heaven from hence. Alas
for the rapid change of fortune! alas for the public happi-
ness that begun, and that ended with him! For we are in the
same condition as though when a man were athirst and rais-
ing to his lips a bowl of cool and clear water, and taking the
first sip, someone should snatch it away and run off with it;
1 Which seems to have been a single aureus per head, to judge from
the proceeding of Severus Alexander in the coinage of smaller denomina-
tions of gold with the view of reducing the caput. In Julian's five years'
government of Gaul, he had reduced the caput from twenty-three solidi
to seven-a proof of what might be effected by proper management of
the finances.
212
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
for if it were fated that we should be robbed of it directly,
it were better not to have had part of it at first, than to be
deprived thereof before one was satisfied. But as it is, He
that gave us the taste took away the cup, that we might
not enjoy it, but rather groan from knowing what kind of
things we shall no more enjoy; (R. 619) just as if Jove,
after having shown the Sun to mortals, had detained him
at his court, and prevented his giving the daylight any
more. And yet, although the Sun does this, and traverses
the usual course, yet the favour is no longer the same as
far as good men are concerned; for this affliction, depress-
ing the soul, darkening the mind, casts, as it were, a mist
over the eyes, and we differ but little from men living in
darkness: for what a darkness has returned through the
murder of our emperor! exultant are they that preach
against the gods; the priests are involved in vexatious
lawsuits; for what things the Deity was worshipped with,
and what things the fire received, for these a fine is imposed
upon them—or rather ¹ he that has the means pays it out of
his own pocket at home, whilst he that has not the means
is thrown into chains and put to death: of the temples
some have been pulled down, those which are half finished
stand for a laughing stock to the Christian little ones. Of
the philosophers, the bodies are put to the torture, and
the fact of having received anything as a present from the
sovereign is put down as a debt to the treasury; the
charge of embezzlement is thrown in to boot, and the man
must stand stripped naked (R. 620) in the height of summer,
at midday, tortured by the sunbeams; and over and above
1
•
1
2
¹ It appears from this that the Christians now having the upper hạnd
in the Curiæ, were suing the pagan priest for the value of the victims
supplied by their towns under the late reign.
¹TÉOŋkɛ seems the true reading in the sense, "the poorer pagan is
thrown into prison until he pays the fine;" this sense is demanded by
the "at home" in the first member of the sentence," the rich pagan
pays his fine and is no more troubled, the poorer one is cast into gaol
until he finds the money."
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
213
what he is not proved to have taken, and which he cannot
refund, he is compelled to pay still more-not in order
that he may pay (for how can he do what is impossible?)
but in order that he may be killed by reeking and burning.¹
The professors of rhetoric, who previously lived on friendly
terms with people holding office, are driven away from
their doors like so many cut-throats; the flocks of youths
that formerly surrounded them, seeing all this, fly from
learning as a useless thing, and look out for some other
means of living. The town-councillors (members of the
curia) evade the rightful service of their native places, and
hunt after immunities contrary to all justice, for there is no
one to check him that does wrong. All places are full
of extortioners-continents, islands, villages, towns, har-
bours, allies; they are selling house and slaves, nurse and
nursling, schools of children, and ancestral tombs: every-
where there are poverty and beggary and tears, whilst the
husbandmen think it better to go a begging than to till the
ground; and he that is able to give assistance, to-morrow
stands in need of one to give it to himself. Scythians,
Sarmatians, Celts, all the other barbarians whom He,
when living, had brought to keep the peace (R. 621) have
again sharpened their swords, and are marching on,
sailing about, are threatening, are up and doing, pursue
and take, when pursued, beat their pursuers; just like
bad servants when their master is dead, rising up against
his orphans.
At all this, what man that has sense would not cast
himself prostrate on the ground, and pour ashes upon his
head, and tearing, if young his curls, if old his grey hairs,
bewail both himself and the inhabited world, if indeed it be
rightly so called any longer! Earth truly has been fully
sensible of her loss, and has honoured the hero by an ap-
1 An allusion to the treatment Maximus was receiving at the moment.
As he had made himself specially obnoxious to the Christians, these
charges of embezzlement were brought against him in order to furnish a
pretext for torturing him to death.
...
214
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
propriate shearing off of her tresses, shaking off, as a
horse doth his rider, so many and such great cities.¹ In
Palestine several ; of the Libyans all and every one.
Prostrate lie the largest towns of Sicily, prostrate all of
Greece save one; the fair Nicea lies in ruins; the city,
pre-eminent in beauty, totters to her fall, and has no con-
fidence for the time to come! These are the honours paid
to him by Earth, or if you choose, by Neptune himself;
but on the part of the Seasons, famines and pestilences,
destroying alike man and beast, just as though it were not
lawful for creatures upon earth to enjoy health now that he
has departed! What wonder then is it, if such being the
state of things, many a one, like myself, deems it a loss
not to have died before! and yet I for my part had begged
the gods not to honour this admirable man after such
fashion, but rather with a progeny of children, advanced
old age, and length of reign. But of that Lydian king, O
Jove, with bloodstained hands, one of his race reigned for
nine-and-thirty years, another for fifty-seven (R. 622);
and the murderous guardsman himself for forty all but
two: but to this prince thou hast granted only to touch
upon his third year³ on the higher throne- a man whom
thou oughtest to have thought worthy of a longer, or at
any rate, no shorter life than the great Cyrus; for like
him he had preserved for his subjects the institutions of
their fathers.
2
But stop, for when I reflect upon the reproof which he
administered to his weeping friends in his tent, I see him
disapproving of this complaining part of my oration, and I
fancy that he, descending hither, were it allowed, would
use to us language such as this: "Ye that are lamenting
the fatal blow, and my death in the flower of youth, if ye
1
¹ In the middle of June, 365.
* Gyges, who had been captain of the guard to King Candaules, whom
he murdered, and usurped his throne.
Reckoning from the death of Constantius in the spring of 361, to his
own in the summer of 363.
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
215
deem it a worse thing to dwell with the gods than to dwell
with men, ye are not in your right senses: but if ye sup-
pose that I have not been admitted to that region, ye are
entirely in the dark, and appear to me to be in a most un-
reasonable condition of mind, for ye are entirely un-
acquainted with the very person whom ye believe you
know most intimately. Neither let my falling in battle,
and by the steel, be accounted by you a bad end-so fell
Leonidas, so fell Sarpedon, so Epaminondas, so Memnon,
children of the gods. If my time on earth grieves you by
its shortness, let Alexander, the son of Jove himself, bring
you consolation.” Thus would he speak—but I, what
shall I have to add to his words? One thing only, the first
and greatest (R. 623). The decrees of the Fates are not
to be controverted; and perhaps a Fate governs the
Roman empire, of the same kind as ruled the Egyptian of
old and since it was ordained that this of ours should
come to a bad end, and this man stood in the way by his
bringing in prosperity, he has made way for the career of
worse men in order that they should not escape faring as
badly as they deserve.¹ Secondly, let us consider with
ourselves another point, that although he hath departed
young, yet it is after having surpassed in his performances
the longest length of reigns, for whom does history record
as having done so many, and such great things, though he
lived thrice as long? It behoves us therefore, having his
glory in place of himself, to bear his loss, and not to
grieve on account of his end, more than we were rejoiced
before that loss. This is he who at once is absent from the
Roman world, and yet presides over it; who has left his
corpse on hostile ground, and yet his own land under his
sovereignty, and equally powerful to insure universal
tranquillity now that he is absent as when he was with us.
For neither hath the barbarian grasped his weapons with-
¹ He has made way for the innovators, in order that they may eat
the fruits of their own devices.
216
LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION
out his willing it; nor has a single tumult broken out at
home, such as has frequently been made by daring spirits,
even when emperors have been present. And yet, it
is either love or fear that causes this; or more properly
speaking, if fear checks the enemy, and love the sub-
ject, assuredly there is good cause to admire the hero on
either account-his striking terror into his adversaries,
and his inspiring affection into his friends; or rather, if
you please, his filling both parties with both feelings at
once.
Let this reflection, therefore, remove some of your grief;
and in addition to it, this other,—that none of those of old
time is able to say to himself that he had been ruled over
by a better sovereign. For what other ever had a better
right to reign? that is, if it be right that he who excels the
rest in prudence, in ability to speak, and all other virtues,
should command those less accomplished than himself (R.
624). The man in person we shall no more be able to see,
but we can peruse his books, so numerous, and all written
with skill. And yet the greatest part of those who have
grown old in writing, have shunned more branches of
literature than just so many as they have ventured to
treat upon; whence they have reaped less credit for what
they have done, than blame for what they have not written
about. But He, at one and the same time, carrying on
wars and composing books, hath left behind him works in
every descriptions of literature: in all of them surpassing
all competitors, but his own works in that of "Epistles."
Taking up these books I procure myself some consola-
tion; by the aid of these, his offspring, you will be able to
bear your sorrow; for these has he left behind him to
the world in the place of children, and which time
will not be able to obliterate along with the colours in
his portraits. And since I have alluded to portraits-
many cities have placed him by the side of the statues of
the gods and do honour to him with the gods, and
This fact may be connected with the issue of the little medals bear-

1
1
UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
217
already many a one has asked in prayer for some blessing
from him, and has not been disappointed: so evidently
hath he ascended up unto them, and received a share in the
powers of those above (R. 625). Very much in the right,
therefore, were they who were near upon stoning the first
who brought news of his death, as one that slandered
a god. Consolation, too, comes to me from the Persians
representing, in pictures, the events of his invasion; for
they are said to have likened him to a thunderbolt, and to
paint a thunderbolt with his name written below; thereby
intimating that he had inflicted upon them calamities be-
yond the power of mere human nature.
Earth, in the suburbs of Tarsus in Cilicia, has received
his corpse—the place ought rather to have been the garden
of the Academy by the side of the tomb of Plato, so that
the same rites might be paid to him by youths and teachers
as are paid to Plato himself; to make in his honour songs,
in his honour odes, and every species of commemorative
discourse in setting out to war to invoke as helper
against the barbarians Him, who, being able to discover
all the future by means of divination, made it his business
to discover whether he should do harm to the Persians, but
did not trouble himself to know whether he should himself
return home in safety-thereby proving that he was
anxious for glory, not for life. To be governed by such
virtue as his was indeed the greatest of all happiness; but
since we are bereft of it, we must make his glory the
medicine of our grief, and must swear boldly and with the
gods to back us, laying our hands upon his tombstone,
that he is more to be blessed¹ than by any of the
barbarians are those reputed the most just amongst them.
ing Julian's head in the character of Serapis, the god of the Shades,
and therefore an appropriate type for a memento-piece.
I
µãdλov évλoyov, something seems lost here—the sense may, how-
ever, be "
we can safely swear that he is more worthy of praise, than any
prince amongst foreigners most celebrated for his justice," .e., Cyrus,
Dejoces, Solomon, Zamolxis, &c.
218 LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.
"O offspring of deities, disciple of deities, associate of
deities! O thou that dost fill but a little spot of earth by
thy tomb, but the whole inhabited world with admiration!
(R. 626.) O thou who hast conquered foreigners by thy
battles, thy countrymen without fighting! O thou that
art more to be regretted by fathers than their own lost
sons, by sons than their own fathers, by brothers than
their own brethren! O thou who hast done great things,
but wert about to do still greater! O thou defender
of gods, and converser with gods! O thou that didst
spurn all pleasures save those of literature! this offering
do I make to thee out of my eloquence, mean as it is,
although thou didst once esteem it great!
""

2
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN. ADDRESSED TO
SALLUST.
IT is my opinion that the present subject interests all:
"Whatever breathes, and moves upon the earth,"
all that are endowed with existence, with a rational soul,
and with a mind: but that above all others it interests
myself, inasmuch as I am a votary (ỏπados) of the Sun.
Of which fact I possess the most certain evidences in my
own case; but one instance, which it is allowable to
adduce, is the following:-From my earliest infancy I
was possessed with a strange longing for the solar rays, so
that when, as a boy, I cast my eyes upon the ethereal
splendour, my soul felt seized and carried up out of itself.
And not merely was it my delight to gaze upon the solar
brightness, but at night also whenever I walked out
in clear weather, disregarding all else, I used to fix
my eyes upon the beauty of the heavens; so that I neither
paid attention to what was said to me, nor took any notice
of what was going on. On this account, people used to
think me too much given to such pursuits, and far too in-
quisitive for my age: and they even suspected me, long
before my beard was grown, of practising divination by
means of the heavenly bodies. And yet at that time no
book on the subject had fallen into my hands, and I was
220
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
utterly ignorant of what that science meant. But what
use is it to quote these matters, when I have still stranger
things to mention; if I should mention what I at that
time thought about the gods? But let oblivion rest upon
that epoch of darkness! How the radiance of heaven,
diffused all round me, used to lift up my soul to its own
contemplation! to such a degree that I discovered for
myself that the moon's motion was in the opposite direc-
tion to that of the rest of the system, long before I met
with any works giving the philosophy of such matters.
What I have said must be taken as evidence of this. And
truly do I envy the felicity of that man who, being
endowed with a body sprung from a holy and prophetic
seed, is able to unlock the treasures of philosophy: but
neither do I undervalue that state and condition to which
I have myself attained through the favour of heaven,
in that I have drawn my birth from the family to which it ·
has given the empire, and possession of the world.
My own belief is, if philosophers be entitled to any
credit, that the Sun is the common parent of all men, to
use a comprehensive term. It is a true proverb, "Man
begets man, and so does the Sun :)' but souls that
luminary showers down upon earth, both out of himself, and
out of the other gods: which souls show to what end they
were propagated by the kind of life that they pursue.
But well is it for that man who, from the third generation
backwards, and a long succession of years, has been dedi-
cated to the service of this god; yet neither is that
person's condition to be despised who, feeling in his own
nature that he is a servant of this deity, alone, or with
few on his side, shall have devoted himself to his worship.¹
Come then, and let us celebrate in the best way we can
the anniversary festival,' which the imperial city is keep-
' Julian's first care had been to erect a temple to the Sun, within the
palace precincts, in which he began each day with sacrifice to that
luminary.
"Natale Solis Invicti," December 25th, the origin of Christmas
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
221
And yet I feel
ing by sacrifices, with unusual splendour.
how difficult it is for the human mind even to form a con-
ception of that Sun who is not visible to the sense, if our
notion of Him is to be derived from the Sun that is visible;
but to express the same in language, however inadequately,
is, perhaps, beyond the capability of man! To fitly explain
His glory, I am very well aware, is a thing impossible; in
lauding it, however, mediocrity seems the highest point to
which human eloquence is able to attain. Nevertheless
in that attempt may Hermes, presiding over all knowledge,
be our guide, together with the Muses and Apollo leader
of their quire, for to him belongs my theme; and may
they grant me to deliver such things concerning the im-
mortal gods as shall be acceptable and well-pleasing to
themselves. What plan, therefore, of setting forth His
praises shall we pursue? shall we treat of His nature and
origin, His powers and influences, both those that be mani-
fest to all, and those occult; or of the distribution of
blessings which He showers down so largely upon all
worlds; and by so doing, perchance, we shall not be un-
successful in the kind of praise that is most acceptable unto
Him? From this point therefore let us start.
That divine and all-beauteous World, which from the
highest vault of Heaven down to the lowest Earth is held
together by the immutable providence of God, and which
has existed from all eternity, without creation, and shall be
eternal for all time to come, and which is not regulated by
anything, except approximately by the Fifth Body') (of
which the principle is the solar light) placed, as it were,
on the second step below the world of intelligence; and
finally by the means of the "Sovereign of all things,
around whom all things stand." This Being, whether
2
Day-Julian was writing at Antioch, in the middle of his preparations
for the Persian campaign.
Apparently the same as the "Soul of the World; " intermediate be-
tween the cooμòs voŋròs and the Supreme God, "The One."
2 As Plato calls Him in his celebrated Epistle to Dionysius the Younger.
222
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
properly to be called "That which is above comprehen-
sion," or the "Type of things existing," or "The One,"
(inasmuch as Unity appears to be the most ancient of all
things), or "The Good," as Plato regularly designates Him,
This, then, is the Single Principle of all things, and which
serves to the universe as a model of indescribable beauty,
perfection, unity, and power. And after the pattern of
the primary substance that dwells within the Principle, He
hath sent forth out of Himself, and like in all things unto
Himself, the Sun, a mighty god, made up of equal parts of
intelligible and creative causes. And this is the sense of
the divine Plato, where he writes, "You may say (replied
I) that I mean the offspring of the Good, whom the Good
has produced, similar to itself; in order that, what the
Good is in the region of intelligence, and as regards things
only appreciable by the mind, its offspring should be the
same in the region that is visible, and in the things that
are appreciable by the sight." For this reason I believe
that the light of the Sun bears the same relation to things
visible as Truth does to things intelligible. But this
Whole, inasmuch as it emanates from the Model and
"Idea" of the primal and supreme Good, and exists from
all eternity around his immutable being, has received
sovereignty also over the gods appreciable by the intellect
alone, and communicates to them the same good things,
(because they belong to the world of intelligence), as are
poured down from the Supreme Good upon the other
objects of Intelligence. For to these latter, the Supreme
Good is the source, as I believe, of beauty, perfection, exis-
tence, and union; holding them together and illuminating
them by its own virtue which is the "Idea" of the Good.
The same things, therefore, does the Sun communicate to
things intelligible, over whom he was appointed by the
Good to reign and to command: although these were
1
¹ Referring to the emanation from the Good, above described by
Plato; and apparently what Julian has designated in the beginning as the
"Fifth Body."
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
223
created and began to exist at the same moment with him-
self. And this, I think, was done, in order that a certain
Principle which possessed the "Idea" or pattern of the
Good, and exercised the principle of Good towards the in-
telligible gods, should direct all things according to intelli-
gence. And in the third place, this visible disk of the
Sun is, in an equal degree, the source of life and preserva-
tion to things visible, the objects of sense; and everything
which we have said flows down from the Great Deity upon
the intelligible gods, the same doth this other visible deity
communicate to the objects of sense. Of all this there are
clear proofs, if you choose to investigate things non-
apparent by the means of things that are visible. For
example, first take his light—is it not an incorporeal and
divine image of what is transparent in its action? and the
very quality that we term "transparence," what else is it,
to speak generally, but the property that goes with all the
elements, and is their approximate form? and which is
neither corporeal, nor composite, and does not destroy the
natural properties of the body with which it goes. For
this reason it is wrong to call heat a property of it,' or cold
its opposite; or to hardness, softness, or any other distinc-
tion perceptible by the touch, nor, again, must we attribute
to it either scent or taste. For the quality in question is
the object of the sight alone, which is brought into play by
the instrumentality of light. But light is a form of this,
as it were of a material substance, diffused through bodies.
But of that light which is incorporeal, the most perfect
part and as it were the flower, are the solar rays.
Phoenicians who from their sagacity and learning possess
great insight into things divine, hold the doctrine that
this universally diffused radiance is a part of the "Soul of
the Stars." This opinion is consistent with sound reason:
if we consider the light that is without body, we shall per-
2
1 The light of the Sun.
2 Or, as we should say, "quintessence."
The
224
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
ceive that of such light the source cannot be a body, but
rather the simple action of a mind, which spreads itself by
means of illumination as far as its proper seat; to which
the middle region of the heavens is contiguous, from which
place it shines forth with all its vigour and fills the
heavenly orbs, illuminating at the same time the whole
universe with its divine and pure radiance.
The effects
that redound from this Power upon the gods themselves,
have been already slightly touched upon, and I will shortly
return to the subject. When we see things, this action has
the name of "Sight," but the effect is of no value unless it
obtains the influence and assistance of the light. For can
anything be the object of sight, unless it be first brought
under it, like the raw material to the workman, that it may
receive its form? In the same manner, the things that are
by their nature objects of the sight, unless they be brought
together with light before the instruments of seeing,
cease altogether to be objects of sight. Since, therefore,
both to the seers, in order that they may see, and to the
objects seen, in order that they may be visible, this god
gives the powers, it follows that he constitutes by his own
action both sight and the objects of sight. "Perfections "
consist of Form and Essence; this definition, however,
may be too abstruse. But a fact patent to all, learned
equally with unlearned, philosophers and uneducated, is
the influence which this deity possesses in the world at his
rising and at his setting; how he produces day and night,
and how he manifestly transforms and regulates the state
of this creation—an influence assignable to no one of
the other planets. From these considerations ought we
not to draw conclusions respecting matters more beyond
the reach of man: that is to say, respecting the existence
of those beings that are divine, and objects of the intellect
alone, who exist invisible above the heavens, and derive
their fulness from that "Type" of Good, Him whom all
the host of the stars follow, and whose nod that whole
family (of deities), whom he governs by his providence,
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
225
fail not to obey. For the planets round about him (the
Sun), as though he were their king, lead on their dance,
at appointed distances from him pursue their orbits with
the utmost harmony; they make, as it were, pauses; they
move backwards and forwards (terms by which those skilled
in astronomy denote these properties of the stars); and
then, in proportion to her distance from the Sun, how
doth the Moon increase or wane !-things patent to all.
And such being the case, is it not reasonable to suppose
that a more ancient system, corresponding to this visible
arrangement of Nature, exists in the case of the deities
who are only conceivable by the mind? From all this,
therefore, we must gather the powerful and perfecting
truth, that the object which enables things to see that are
endowed with the sense of sight, the same object renders
these things perfect by means of his own light, whilst the
creative and productive power arises from his changes as
he moves around the universe: and that capacity for em-
bracing all things at once is the effect of what is so appa-
rent in his movements; namely, the harmony of all in
one and the same thing. The Centre-point comes from
himself¹ as being central; whilst the circumstance of his
being placed for king amongst the objects of intellect is the
result of his station amongst the planets. If we perceived
these, or other similar properties, to exist in any other of
the visible deities, certainly we should award him the first
place amongst them. If, however, he should have nothing
in common with them, except this power of doing good,
which he commnnicates unto all, then we ought to acqui-
esce in the reasoning of the Egyptian priests, who raise
altars to the Sun conjointly with Jupiter; nay, rather we
should assent to Apollo himself (long before them), who
sits on the same throne with Jove, and whose words are,
"One Jove, one Pluto, one Sun is Serapis."
From which we must conclude that the sovereignty of the
¹ Is furnished by himself.
Q
226
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
Sun and of Jupiter amongst the deities that are objects of
intellect is held in common, or rather is one and the same.
For this reason Plato seems to me to be right in calling
Pluto a provident (ogóvμos) deity. The same god we also name
"Serapis," that is, 'Aidns, "Invisible," clearly because he
is the object of the intellect alone: up to whom (it is said)
that the souls ascend of such as have led the best and
most righteous lives. We must not suppose him (Pluto)¹
the terrible being that Fable describes him; but a mild
and benevolent one, who completely frees souls from the
trammels of Birth; far from nailing them down to new
bodies, and punishing and exacting retribution from souls.
already released from the body: but on the contrary, he
directs them in their upward course, and carries them
aloft to the Intelligible World. This doctrine is far from
being of modern origin; those most ancient poets, Homer
and Hesiod, are already possessed thereof-whether they
conceived it through their own sagacity, or whether, like
prophets, they derived the truth from some supernatural
source, must be concluded from the fact itself. For the one
in describing the genealogy of the Sun makes him out to be
the offspring of Hyperion and Thea; by which account he
almost directly declares that he is the son of the supernal
and all-surpassing Godhead: for what else can we under-
Julian seems here to have in his mind Plutarch's observation on the
true nature of Osiris as identified with Pluto ("De Iside et Osiride,"
lxxix.) : "It disturbs the mind of the vulgar when they get the notion
that the sacred and truly holy Osiris dwells in the earth, and under the
earth, where are hidden the corpses of such as seem to have come to an
end. . . But the souls of men here below, enveloped in bodies and in
passions, have no participation in that deity except in as far as they
grasp him by conception, like some indistinct dream, through the
medium of philosophy. But when they are set free and migrate to the
Formless, Invisible, Impassible, and Good, then doth this god become
Leader and King to them; they hang, as it were, upon him, and con-
template without ever being satiated, and long for, that Beauty which
can neither be spoken nor described."
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
227
"Thea,"
stand by the title "Hyperion" ?1
Hyperion " ?¹ And as for "
what does that imply except the most divine of all things?
For we must not suppose any corporeal conjunction or
marriage in the case-all which are merely the sportive
fables of Poetry; but must hold the father and the pro-
ducer of that Being as something most divine and super-
eminent. Of such a nature is He who is above all things,
around whom, and by reason of whom, all things do sub-
sist. But Homer calls him by his father's name, "Hype-
rion," in order to show that he is independent, and not
subjected to any constraint. For Jupiter, as the poet tells,
orders about the other gods according to his will and
pleasure, as being their master; but when this deity declares
that he will retire from Olympus on account of the impious
deed of the companions of Ulysses, Jupiter swears:
2
"I would drag thee with the sea and earth together."
Yet he does not threaten him with chains or personal vio-
lence: and promises to avenge him upon the authors of
the sacrilege, and begs him to continue to give light to
the gods. Now what else did Homer signify by this fable
but that this deity, besides being totally independent,
possesses also the power of perfecting ? For wherefore do
the other gods stand in need of him, unless that he, by in-
fusing into their substance and essence the illumination
of his mystic radiance, he may communicate to them the
power of effecting all the good things that we have already
mentioned ? ³
3
((
Imperial Juno sent the unwearied Sun
To Ocean his unwilling course to run."
1 Taken literally for "he that goes over, or above."
2 Translating vπɛρíwv in a second sense of "overleaping all bounds."
Of these far-fetched etymologies Julian found examples more than
enough in the above-quoted treatise of Plutarch's.
66
3 The argument only becomes intelligible by keeping in mind that
gods" here signify "Natural Causes," such as the respective influences
of the planets, etc.
228
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
has no other significance than that, in consequence of
darkness being spread over the earth, men supposed it to
be night before its time. And of the same goddess we
read in another passage of this poet :—
"Darkness profound great Juno sent before."
But let us now dismiss these poetical fictions; because
with what is divine they have mingled much of human
alloy; and let us now consider what the deity has de-
clared concerning himself and the other gods.
The region surrounding the Earth has its existence in
virtue of birth. From whom then does it receive its eternity
and imperishability, if not from him who holds all things
together within defined limits, for it is impossible that the
nature of bodies (material) should be without a limit, in-
asmuch as they cannot dispense with a Final Cause, nor
exist through themselves. For if things should be created
out of what previously existed, whilst nothing is again
refunded into that same source-the material for such
creation would in time come to an end. But this deity,
as he revolves with a defined and regular motion, by
kindling this nature, stimulates and renews the same,
whilst by his receding to a distance he weakens and
destroys it, or else animates its nature by impressing
motion upon it, and transfusing life out of himself;
whilst when he deserts the same objects, and turns his
influence in another direction, he occasions the destruc-
tion of the things that are destroyed-the good effects
that emanate from the same source are equally diffused
upon the earth.
Different regions become partakers in
these benefits in different ways; so that neither their pro-
duction comes to an end, nor does the Deity confer his
blessings upon the recipient world with any degree of
variation. For where the substance is the same, so is the
action thereof, in the case of Divine Powers; especially
with him who is king of them all, namely, the Sun; of
whom the motion is the most simple amongst all the
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
229
bodies that move in a contrary direction to the world, which
fact that most excellent philosopher, Aristotle, adduces
to prove the superiority of that luminary to the others.
But, further, the other intelligible Powers exercise a by
no means imperceptible influence upon our earth—but
what of that, for we do not exclude them when we give
the first rank to the deity in question? In fact, we en-
deavour to draw conclusions from things evident concern-
ing things that are abstruse and not apparent. For which
reason, in the same way as the Sun perfects the influence
and virtue which descend upon the earth from the other
powers, and modifies and applies the same to himself, or
rather to the universe, so have we good grounds to infer
the existence of a similar arrangement and co-partnership
of the same powers in the things that are not apparent to
the sense-namely, that the influence of the Sun holds the
chief place amongst these also, whilst the rest act in con-
cert with him. But as we have laid it down that he holds
the middle place amongst the intelligible Powers (which
are themselves intermediate), I pray the Sovereign Sun
himself to grant me ability to explain the nature of the
station that he holds amongst those in whose middle he is
placed! By the term "middle we are to understand not
what is so defined in the case of things contrary to each
other, as "equi-distant from the extremes," as orange and
dark brown in the case of colours; lukewarm, in that of
hot and cold, and other things of the sort; but the power
that collects and unites into one things dispersed, like the
"Harmony" of Empedocles, from which he completely
excludes all discord and contention. What, then, are the
things that the Sun unites into one, and in the midst of
which he holds his station, as we have defined it? The
answer is, the Sensible Powers that revolve around him as
their centre, and the Immaterial and Intelligible Powers
that are with the "Good," whose essence also is intelli-
gible and divine, and multiplied in a manner of their own,
without either passion or accession.)
""
230
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
(In this manner, therefore, the intelligible and excellent
substance of the sovereign Sun does not consist of any-
thing made up out of extremes, but is perfect in itself, and
free from all admixture with other Powers, whether visible
or invisible, whether intelligible or sensible. This is my
definition of the sense in which "middle station" ought
to be understood; but if we are to investigate particularly
this central station of his nature, in its relation to first
and last, although the subject be not an easy one to ex-
plain, nevertheless let us endeavour to treat it to the best
of our ability.)
The one absolutely, the Intelligible, the ever
existing, comprehending all the universe together within
the One—nay, more, is not the whole world One living
thing-all and everywhere full of life and soul, perfect
and made up out of parts likewise perfect ? Now of this
double unity the most perfect part (I mean of the Unity in
the Intelligible World that comprehends all things in One,
and of the Unity encompassing the Sensible World, that
brings together all things into a single and perfect nature)
is the perfection of the sovereign Sun, which is central
and single, and placed in the middle of the intermediate
Powers. But coming after this, there exists a certain
connection in the Intelligible World with the Power that
orders and arranges all things in one. Does not the
essence of the Fifth Body, which is turned, as it were by
a lathe, in a circle, move around the heavens, and is that
which holds together all the parts, and binds them to one
another, uniting what is naturally united'¹ amongst them
and also those parts that mutually affect each other.²
These two essences, which are the causes of mutual attrac-
tion and of union (whereof the one manifests itself in the
The parts having a natural affinity to each other.
2 A definition showing this " Fifth Body" to be the same with the
Mercury to whom, says Ammian, Julian paid adoration on his first
waking, as the "Soul of the World."
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
231
Intelligible, the other in the Sensible creation) does the
Sun thus concentrate into one. Of the former he imitates
this power of embracing and containing all things in the
Intelligible creation, inasmuch as he proceeds from that
source; whilst he governs the latter, that which is per-
ceptible in the world of Sense. Perhaps, therefore, the
self-existent principle, which existed first in the Intelli-
gible creation, and lastly in the Visible bodies of the
heavens, is owner of the intermediate, self-created essence
of the sovereign Sun, from which primal creative essence
there descends upon the visible world the radiance which
illuminates the universe.
And again, to consider the subject in another light,
One indeed is the Creator of all things, but many are the
creative powers revolving in the heavens; we must, there-
fore, place the influence of the Sun as intermediate with
respect to each single operation affecting the earth. More-
over, the principle productive of Life is vastly super-
abundant in the Intelligible World; our world, also, is evi-
dently full of generative life. It is therefore clear that the
life-producing power of the sovereign Sun is intermediate
between these two, since the phenomena of Nature bear
testimony to the fact; for some kinds of things the Sun
brings to perfection, others of them he brings to pass,
others he regulates, others he excites, and there exists
nothing that, without the creative influence of the Sun,
comes to light and is born. And, furthermore, if we
consider the Sun's unpolluted, pure, and immaterial
essence—where nothing from without approaches, and
nothing of a different nature has part; but which is full
of its own undefiled purity; and also his nature in the
universe, as regards the Body that revolves in a circle
about the planets which are all free from admixture, must
be homogeneous in the extreme and composed of an unde-
filed and divine body. We shall from all these considerations
lay down that the essence of the sovereign Sun, being pure
and unmixed, is intermediate between the two-the im-
t
232
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
material Purity in the Intelligible World, and that part
existing in the Visible World which is undefiled and without
mixture as regards birth and corruption, and of pure
homogeneousness. A very weighty argument is this-
namely, that neither does the light which descends from
thence, chiefly upon the world, mix itself with anything,
nor admit of dirtiness or pollution, but remains entirely,
and in all things that are, free from defilement, admixture,
and suffering. Besides, we must pay attention to the
other kinds of phenomena, both to the Intelligible, and
yet more to the Sensible-whatever are connected with
matter, or will manifest themselves in relation to our
subject. Here, again, the Intelligible is the centre of the
species that lie around the mighty Sun, through whose
means the species connected with Matter are benefited,
inasmuch as they would be unable either to exist, or to
subsist, unless they be helped by him as regards their
existence. Besides, is not he the author of the separation
of Species and of the combination of Matter? He not
merely allows himself to be mentally conceived, but to be
an object of the sight, for the distribution of his rays over
the whole world, and the unity of his light, demonstrate
the creative and separating powers of his mode of action.
And as there are still numerous visible benefits con-
nected with the essence of this deity, which surround that
which is intermediate between the Intelligible and the
Sensible powers, let us pass on to his final and visible
conclusion. The first degree of his, contains as it were the
model and the substance for a pattern to the Solar Angels
who are stationed around the lowest world. After this
comes that which is generative of things perceptible to
Sense of which the more refined part contains the source
of heaven and the stars, whilst the inferior part superintends
generation, containing from all eternity within itself the
ungenerated essence of generation. To explain, however,
everything relating to the nature of this deity, is beyond
the power of man, even though the god himself should
:
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
233
:
grant him the ability to understand it in a case where it
seems, to me at least, impossible even mentally to conceive
all its extent. And now that we have discussed so much,
we must put as it were a seal upon this subject; and to
stay a while and pass on to other points no less requiring
examination. What then is this seal
What then is this seal; and what comprises
everything, as it were in a summary of the conception
concerning the nature of the god? May He Himself inspire
our understanding when we attempt briefly to explain the
source out of which he proceeded; and what he is himself;
and with what effects he fills the visiblə world. (It must
therefore be laid down that the sovereign Sun proceeded
from the One God,-One out of the one Intelligible world;
he is stationed in the middle of the Intelligible Powers,
according to the strictest sense of "middle position; "
bringing the last with the first into a union both har-
monious and loving, and which fastens together the things
that were divided: containing within himself the means
of perfecting, of cementing together, of generative life, and
of the uniform existence, and to the world of Sense, the
author of all kinds of good; not merely adorning and
cheering it with the radiance wherewith he himself illu-
mines the same, but also by making subordinate to him-
self the existence of the Solar Angels; and containing
within himself the unbegotten Cause of things begotten;
and moreover, prior to this, the unfading, unchanging
source of things eternal.)
All, therefore, that was fitting to be said touching the
nature of this deity (although very much has been passed
over in silence) has now been stated at some length. But
since the multitude of his qualities, and the beauty of his
effects have been passed in review, it remains for us
to glance at the superabundance of the theories that have
been started concerning the nature of this god, because
as divine objects, when they come forth into the light,
are naturally multiplied, owing to the excess and the
fecundity of the life that is in the same. But what, I
234
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
beseech you, shall we do when we strip ourselves to
swim a sea without a shore, having hardly, and much
to our content, recovered our breath after the discourse
already pronounced? Nevertheless let us trust in the
god and take courage, and make an attempt to handle the
subject.
As a general rule, all that has been hitherto advanced
respecting the nature of this deity, must be understood to
refer to his properties: for the nature of the god is not one
thing, and his influence another: and truly, besides these
two, his energy a third thing: seeing that all things which
he wills, these he is, he can, and he works. For neither
doth he will that which he is not; nor is he without
strength to do that which he wills; nor doth he will that
which he cannot effect. Now this is very different in the
case of men, for theirs is a double nature mixed up in one,
that of soul and body; the former divine, the latter full of
darkness and obscurity: hence naturally arise warfare and
discord between the two. For this reason Aristotle re-
marks that neither our pleasures, nor our pains harmonize
with each other within us: for the one part of our nature
being in opposition to the other parts, pain is the result.
But with the deities there is nothing of the kind, for their
essence is that which is good, and that too uninterruptedly,
not sometimes one thing, sometimes another. In the first
place, therefore, as we stated when attempting to describe
his being, it must be borne in mind that we lay this down
as regards his qualities and his effects, since in matters of
this kind the discussion has a natural tendency to contra-
dict itself. Everything, therefore, that we are going to
consider under the title of qualities and energies, all these
must be regarded as existence, and as effects. For there are
Powers of kindred nature with the Sun, crowning the un-
polluted being of that god, multiplying themselves around
him in the world, though existing in uniformity. Listen,
therefore, to what those say who do not look up to heaven,
like so many horses or oxen, or any other irrational or un-
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
235
taught animal, but who investigate the unseen through the
medium of the visible Nature. Besides, if agreeable to
you, let us consider his supra-mundane powers and ener-
gies, and as they are infinite in number, take a few of
them for subjects of discussion. The first of his powers is
that by which bringing together into one and the same
thing the whole intelligible existence through its whole
extent, that is to say, the extremities thereof, he converts
it into One: a thing which is clearly discernible in the
case of the visible world, how that fire and earth being
wrapped together, air and water, which are in the middle,
form the bond between the extremes: this fact we may
reasonably take as a guide in the case of the nature
of bodies that is beyond the reach of Sense. That which
possesses the final cause of generation is not itself genera-
tion 1; so must we consider it as the law that, in the
former case, the extreme causes, entirely separated from
bodies,¹ by means of certain intermediate agencies are by
the sovereign Sun brought together, and made one around
him with him, too, concurs the creative power of Jupiter.
On this account, as we have already stated, in Cyprus
certain temples are founded and dedicated to them both
conjointly. Nay, we call Apollo himself to bear witness
to this statement (who certainly ought to know more
about his own nature than anyone else), for he is co-exis-
tent with the Sun, and communicates to him both the un-
mixed character of things Intelligible, and the stability of
his being, and the unchangeableness of his energy. Nay,
more, this deity, as is evident, by no means separates from
the Sun the discriminating operation of Dionysos; for he
ever makes it subordinate to the latter; and, by declaring
him (the Sun) "partner of his throne," he becomes to us
the interpreter of the most beautiful thoughts by means of
that deity. But how many are the final causes of union,
the most beautiful, which this deity contains within him-
'Purely immaterial.
236
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
""
self? The Sun, that is, Apollo, is "Leader of the Muses;
and inasmuch as he completes our life with good order, he
produces in the world Esculapius; for even before the
world was, he had the latter by his side.
But were one to discuss the numerous other qualities
belonging to this god, he would never arrive to the end of
them. But we must content ourselves with considering
his property of separation (which also is prior to all bodies.
and is also prior to all visible energy); whence we must
conclude that the sovereign power is one and the same of
the Sun and Jupiter; but that the singleness of thoughts,
coupled with divinity and unchangeableness, we must
adjudge to Apollo: whilst the separative power of crea-
tion together with the power that directs this separation,
belongs to Dionysos, whilst the quality of the finest har-
mony and intelligible unification we have already defined
as belonging to the power of the "Leader of the Muses;
whilst that which makes complete the harmony of all life,
we suppose the prerogative of Æsculapius.¹
,,
Thus much then for his powers that are prior to the
creation of the world, but his operation, which is of the
same order with them, over the visible world, consists in
the fully carrying out of what is good. For since he
is the legitimate offspring of the Good, having received
from Him the good portion entire, he distributes it
amongst all the Intelligible deities, imparting to them
their good-working and perfect nature. This, then, is one
of his operations. And the second operation of this god
is the most exact distribution of Intelligible Beauty
amongst the intelligible incorporeal species. For the
generative principle which is visible in Nature (that
which aims at generating in the Beautiful, and at bring-
1
The Sun and Apollo are one deity in two, but certain powers belong
to him when entitled "Dionysos," others when "Musagetes," others
again when " Æsculapius." This deity or Natural Power, has the same
influence in the universe as the planet Jupiter.
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
237
ing forth its birth), must necessarily be directed and pre-
ceded by that Being who performs the same function in
the Intelligible Beauty, with full power and without inter-
mission, that is, not to do so at one time, and at another to
do the contrary; or now to be generating, and then with-
out generation: inasmuch as all things that here below
are occasionally beautiful, are so permanently in the Intelli-
gible world. We must, therefore, hold that the genera-
tive final cause belonging to the Sun in the visible creation
is preceded by the uncreated offspring existing in the
intelligible and eternal Beauty, which offspring this deity
contains, having also stationed it round about himself: to
which likewise he imparts his perfect Intelligence, in the
same manner as he imparts sight to the eyes by means of
his own light: so, in the same way, by means of that
Intelligible pattern which he holds out (one far more con-
spicuous, in truth, than his celestial radiance) doth he, as
I think, furnish all the Intelligible Powers with the
capacity to understand and to be understood. Another
operation, equally worthy of our admiration, besides those
just described, is discoverable with respect to that sovereign
of the universe, the Sun-namely, that more benignant.
Fate which grants birth to angels, to genii, to heroes, and
to those souls out of the common run, all which abide by
the guidance of their Pattern and Type, without giving
themselves over to the tendency of their bodies.
Now, therefore, the pre-mundane existence, the proper-
ties, the operations, in celebrating the sovereign Sun, as
far as our ability extended to extol his divinity, all these
we have rehearsed with the utmost care. But since, as
the saying goes, the eyes are more to be trusted than the
ears (although they be less to be relied on, and more
feeble than the intellect), let us now make an attempt
to speak concerning his visible operation, after first solicit-
ing from him a moderate degree of success in such
attempt.
The visible world has, as I have said, subsisted around
238
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
him from all eternity: and the Light also which surrounds
the world has also its place from all eternity,' not inter-
mittently, nor in different degrees at different times, but
constantly and in an equable manner. But whosoever
will attempt to estimate, as far as thought goes, this
external Nature, by the measure of Time, he will very
easily discover respecting the Sun, Sovereign of all
things, of how many blessings he is, from all eternity,
the author to the world. I am aware that the great
Plato himself, and after him, a man posterior to him in
date, though not in mind, I mean Iamblichus of Chalcis
(who initiated us into other branches of philosophy, and
also into this by means of his discourses), did both of them
as far as hypothesis goes, take for granted the fact of a
Creation and assumed the universe to have been, in a cer-
tain sense, the Work of Time, in order that the most
important of the effects produced by this Power, may be
reduced into a shape for examination. But for myself, so
far inferior in force to those philosophers, such a liberty
must not be taken in any way; since it is certainly unsafe
to assume, even as far as bare hypothesis, any temporal
creation in the case of the world; as also the illustrious
hero Iamblichus was of opinion. Nevertheless, as this
deity himself proceeds from an Eternal Cause, or, rather,
has produced all things from all eternity, by his divine
volition, and with ineffable velocity, and with power not to
be surpassed, having begotten all things simultaneously in
Time that now is, he hath allotted to himself the middle
space of heaven, as it were, for his more peculiar station,
in order that he may equally from all sides distribute his
2
¹ Julian insists upon this proposition as being diametrically opposed to
the cosmogonies of the Epicureans and the Christians.
2 Iamblichus, though for the convenience of discussion he assumed a
temporal creation, nevertheless thought such assumption a very dan-
gerous one, and not to be attempted by any not passed-masters in philo-
sophy-evidently fearing the advantage such an admission would afford
to the Christian side.
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
239
2
benefits upon the gods that come forth below him, and
together with him; that he may direct the Seven,¹ and also
the eighth revolution of the heavens. This ninth operation
I assume to be the Generation eternally revolving in an
uninterrupted course of production and destruction. Ast
for the planets as they dance around him, it is evident that
they have for the law of their movement in relation to this
god, some such harmony as that just described to regulate
their figures; and the entire heaven, making its parts.
everywhere harmonize with him, is filled with spirits
emanating out of the Sun. For this god is ruler of five
orbits in the heavens, and whilst traversing three out
of these orbits, he produces in three the Graces, themselves
three in number, the remaining circles form the Scales to
the Balance of supreme Necessity. I am, perhaps, speak-
ing unintelligibly to the Greeks (just as if it were right.
only to speak of things commonplace and familiar to them),
yet this point is not, as one might suppose, altogether
strange to them.
For what, I pray you tell me, are your
Dioscuri, ye very wise people that take most things upon
credit, without any examination? Are they not called
"alternate day-keepers" because it is not lawful for both
of them to be visible on the same day? It is clear that you
hear of this both yesterday and to-day." In the next
place, in the name of these same Dioscuri, let us mentally
assume this very circumstance as applicable to a nature and
an operation of a different kind, in order that what we are
speaking about may not be unintelligible: yet, however
much we investigate it, we shall not arrive at any exact
result. For it is not true, what some suppose to be
stated by theologians, that the two hemispheres of the
universe possess a kind of Reason (xóyov); for in what
The seven spheres, moving one within the other, as fully described
by Plato, at the end of his " Republick."
2 These astrological doctrines being of Chaldean growth.
3 This is no news to you."
240
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
way each of them is "alternate
”¹ it is not easy even to
conceive, inasmuch as each day the increase in their
visible appearance takes place by insensible degrees. Let
us now examine the points in which we shall probably
be thought by some people to be introducing a novelty.
Those beings may properly be designated as "alternate
day-keepers," whichsoever possess an equal portion of
time out of the Sun's passage over the earth, in one and
the same month. Let anyone now see whether this
"alternate day-keeping" does not apply to the other
cycles, as well as to the tropical. Someone will reply
that the case is not the same, because the former are
always visible; and for those inhabiting opposite sides of
the globe, the one tropical cycle is visible to the one half,
the second to the other; whereas in the case of the latter
(cycles) those who behold the one, do not behold the other
by any manner of means. But not to waste time by dwell-
ing too long upon the same subject; the Sun, by performing
his returns (solstices) in the manner known to all, becomes
the parent of the Seasons: but did he never desert the poles
at all, he would be the " Oceanos," that Ruler of the double
substance. Perhaps what we are saying is somewhat unin-
telligible? Homer has said the same thing before us :—
Ocean, to all things made the source of life."
3
What, both of mortal, and (as he would say) "of the
blessed gods"? Yea, verily, for of all things nothing
exists that is not by its substance the offspring of ocean.
But why will you have me tell this to the vulgar?
Although better to have been shrouded in silence, it
Because they do not change places with each other day by day, but
by an imperceptible movement.
2 ¿TEpiμspo-the ancient title of the Dioscuri.
In other words the philosophical dogma that Water is the source of
all things. Julian seems to allude to the Egyptian notion (often cited
by Plutarch) that the Sun was born of water.
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
241
nevertheless has been spoken; at all events I declare it,
although all men will not readily receive the same.
The solar disk moves over the space which has no
stars, and is much more elevated than the fixed region;
in this way he will not occupy the centre of the planets, but
rather of the "Three Motions," as they are called in the
hypotheses taught in the Mysteries, if, indeed, such things
are rightly to be termed "hypotheses," or rather ought
they not to be called "articles of faith" (dóɣuata), but
what relates to the spheres, "hypotheses "? For those
so assert who have heard the same from the gods, or else
from some mighty dæmons; whereas the others [natural
philosophers] make up a theory that is plausible from its
agreement with visible phenomena. The latter, indeed,
it is but fair to praise; but whoso thinks it better to
believe in the former [the teaching of the Mysteries] him
do I both in jest and in earnest admire, and always
have admired. Such therefore are their statements upon
these points. Besides those I have mentioned, there exist
a vast number of Powers in the confines of the heavens;
they have been discovered by those persons who do not
contemplate the heavens carelessly and after the manner
of brute beasts; for the Sun cutting the three circles
in four places, by reason of the communication with each
of them of the zodiacal circle, again distributes this
zodiac amongst the powers of twelve deities, and this
again is subdivided into three, so as to make six-and-
thirty. Hence, I think, there extends as far as ourselves
downwards from heaven above, a triple descent of the
Graces; that is to say, from the circles which this god
intersects in his course in four places, and so sends down
the fourfold splendour of the Seasons, which in truth.
occupy the turning-points of the times. In fact, the
Graces in their representations upon earth imitate the
figure of a circle,' whilst the "Giver of the Graces
1 The Graces, clasping each other round the neck, stand in the form
R
242
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
1
(xagidorns) is Dionysos, who has been shown to reign
conjointly with the Sun in the same place. Wherefore
should I mention to you Horus, and the other names of
gods, all of them belonging in reality to the Sun? For
we men have gained our notion of the god from the
works which the same god actually works-he that hath
made the universal heaven perfect through his Intelligible
blessings, and given to the same a share of his Intelligible
beauty. And beginning from that point, himself wholly
and partially by the giving of good men,¹
for
they superintend every motion as far as the extremest
limits of the universe. And Nature and Soul, and all
that at any time exists, all these, and in all places, does
he bring to perfection; and after having marshalled so
vast a host of deities into one governing unity, he has
given to them Athene, or Providence; who, mythology says,
sprung forth out of the head of Jupiter; but whom we
assert to have been projected entire out of the entire
Sovereign Sun, for she was contained within him, in this
particular dissenting from the legend, in that we do not
hold her to have sprung out of the topmost part, but all
entire, and out of the entire god. For in other respects,
inasmuch as we consider Jupiter to be one and the same
with the Sun, we are agreed with the antique tradition.
And in calling Athene " Providence," we are making no
innovation, if indeed we rightly understand the line :
"He came to Pytho and the blue-eyed Prescience."
In this way, then, was Athene, or Providence, regarded
by the ancients also, as partner of the throne with Apollo,
of a circle. Julian, after the fashion of theologians, taking words in
the sense they will bear, not in that for which they are meant, makes
Bacchus' old title, "joy-giver," as god of wine, take the transcendental
meaning of "Giver of the Graces," supposing the god the Solar Power.
¹A lacuna here in the MS., but what follows shows it to have referred
to the Sun's giving birth to angels, heroes, etc., as set forth amongst his
other "Operations," at p. 237.
ADDRESSED TO SALLust.
243
the latter considered as no other than the Sun. Perhaps
Homer uttered this by divine command, for he was, as is
commonly said, "possessed by a god," and he has actually
spoken like a prophet in many places in his poem:
Honours, that Phoebus and Athene gain.”
From Jupiter, that is to say, who is the same with the
Sun, in the same way as the sovereign Apollo is a partner
with the Sun by means of the singleness of their concep-
tions. So, indeed, must we believe that Athene, having
received her own being from him (and who is also his
perfect Intelligence), binds together the other deities, with
the Sun into unity, without confusion of person with the
Sun, sovereign of the universe; and that she regulates
and distributes the streams of unpolluted and pure Life
from the topmost vault' of heaven, through the seven
cycles, as far as the region of the Moon, which last, as
being the most remote of the bodies moving in cycles, this
goddess has filled by the agency of her thought; em-
powered by which the Moon not merely contemplates the
Intelligible things that be above the heavens, but regulates
the Matter that is below her, and eliminates therefrom
whatever is brutish, turbulent, and disorderly. Unto men
Athene gives good things-namely, wisdom, understand-
ing, and the creative arts; and she dwells in their citadels,
I suppose, as being the founder of civil government through
the communication of her own wisdom.
2
Now for a few words about Aphrodite, whom the
Phoenician theologians agree in making co-operate in the
work of creation with the last-mentioned goddess—and I
1 The Egyptian Neith is regularly depicted as forming, by her own
body, bent from one end of the horizon to the other, the actual vault of
heaven. In the primitive Nature-worship she represented the visible
heavens. The Alexandrian Platonists extracted from the type the re-
fined doctrine set forth in the text.
2 Perhaps referring to Aristotle's statement that Athene was properly
the lunar deity, whence her attribute, the Owl.
C
244
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
believe they are right. She, then, is the mingling together
of the celestial deities, and of the harmony of the same,
for the purposes of love and unification. For she being
near to the Sun, and running her course together with
him, and approaching close to him, she fills the heavens
with a good temperament, she imparts to the earth the
generative power, whilst she herself provides for the per-
petuity of generation of animals, of which generation the
Sovereign Sun contains the final efficient cause. She,
however, is joint cause with him, enthralling our souls by
the aid of pleasure, whilst she sheds down from the æther
upon the earth her rays so delightful and pure, more
lustrous than gold itself.
And yet, again, I wish to mete out a little more of the
theology of the Phoenicians-whether to good purpose my
argument will discover as it goes on. Those who inhabit
Edessa, a place consecrated to the Sun, from time imme-
morial, place on the same throne with him two gods called
"Monimos" and "Azizos." By these names are under-
stood (as Iamblichus says, from whom I have borrowed
these few things out of his abundance) by "Monimos "
Mercury, by "Azizos" Mars, the assessor of the Sun, who
also diffuses, as a channel, many blessings upon the region
encompassing the earth.
The operations therefore of this deity as regards the
heavens are of the number above stated, and are effected
by the aforesaid agencies, reaching as far as the extremest
boundaries of the earth. But all that he operates in the
region above the Moon it would be too tedious to recount
in full. Nevertheless, these also must be told in a sum-
mary way: I am aware that I have already alluded to
them when I recommended you to view things unseen
through the medium of natural phenomena, in the ques-
tion of the nature of the gods. My subject now demands
that in this sequence I should express my opinions upon
these points.
In the same manner therefore as we have laid it down
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
245
that the Sun holds the supremacy in the Intelligible
world, having round about his own being, in one species,
a vast multitude of gods (supposing him to have the same
in the Sensible world), all of which move along their
everlasting and most felicitous course in a circle, so do
we prove him to be Leader and Lord, imparting to and
filling the whole heaven, as he does, with his own splen-
dour, likewise with infinite other blessings that be invisible
to us; whilst the benefits commenced by the other deities
are brought to perfection by him; nay, more, before this,
these gods themselves were rendered perfect through his
spontaneous and divine operation. And similarly it is to
be believed that certain deities, held together by the Sove-
reign Sun, are stationed about the region belonging to
Birth,' who govern the fourfold nature of the elements,
and dwell, in company with the three superior species,
round about the souls around which these same elements
are fixed. And to the disembodied souls themselves of
how many blessings is not He the source! by his holding
forth to them the means of examining themselves, by his
correcting them with his justice, and purifying them with
his brilliancy. Is it not He that stirs up and fans the
flame of all Nature, by imparting unto her the faculty of
generation? Nay more, to the disembodied natures also
He is truly the cause of their progress towards perfec-
tion, for Man is generalled by Man and the Sun, as Aris-
totle hath it. The same opinion it behoves us to hold
respecting the Sovereign Sun, in the case of all other
things, whatever be the operations. And what! doth not
this deity produce the rain, the winds, and all that takes
place in the upper regions, by making use of the double.
effect of evaporation, as it were for his raw material? For
by his heating the earth he draws up the vapour and
1 Meaning, perhaps, the Milky Way, which Macrobius describes as
the road taken by souls in their downward course for union with the
body.
246
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
fumes; out of which are generated not only atmospheric
changes, but all the effects, both small and great, that go
on under the earth.
But why do I dwell upon the same things when it is in
my power to advance towards the end, after having sung
all the benefits that the Sun hath bestowed upon mankind?
For we spring out of him, and are nourished from him.
Furthermore, his more transcendental operations—all the
service he renders unto souls, by releasing them from the
body, and carrying them up to the Beings that are cog-
nate to the Divinity, whilst he lends them for vehicle of
their safe return to their birthplace, the subtile and elastic
part of the divine light-all this may be celebrated by
others as it deserves: but by us it must rather be believed
in than demonstrated. Such things, however, as by their
nature are patent to all people, these we must not be too
lazy to set forth. Heaven, says Plato, was our first
teacher of Philosophy; for from thence we got the notion
of the nature of Numbers. The same Plato adds Day
and Night, in the first place [to the list of teachers
and secondly we gain the same notions] from the
light of the Moon, the which is lent to this deity from
the Sun. After this we advance still further in this
power of comprehension, everywhere having for our aim
an exact agreement with the teaching of this deity.
As the same philosopher somewhere observes that our
race being full of trouble, the gods out of compassion
have given to us Bacchus and the Muses for allies." 1
Now it has been proved by us already that the Sun is
the common leader of these deities, since he is sung of
as the sire of Bacchus ; and likewise is the "Leader
of the Muses." And the Apollo who is joint-ruler
with him, hath he not given forth his Oracles in all
"
Julian, like the philosophers of his day, here sees in Plato more
than Plato saw," for the ancient sage is unmistakably thinking of wine
and song in their most materialistic sense.
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
247
parts of the earth? He has given to men inspired
wisdom; he has adorned states with religious and political
institutions.
This god has civilized, by the agency of the Greek
colonies, the greatest part of the habitable globe; he has
prepared it the more readily to submit to the Romans--a
race possessing not merely a Grecian origin, but also
Greek, and who have established and maintained a creed
as regards the gods that is thoroughly Greek from begin-
ning to end; and who, besides all this, have founded a
form of government in no way inferior to that of the
best regulated states-even if of all the governments
that have ever been tried, it be not the very best; from
all which circumstances, I think I have myself recognized
the Roman state as being Greek both in its origin and in
its government. Furthermore, I make known unto thee
how He hath provided for the bodily health of us all, by
having produced sculapius, the Preserver of the uni-
verse; and how he hath communicated to us virtue of
every kind, by sending down Aphrodite in company
with Athene for our guardian; having made it all but a
law that no one should use copulation except for the end
of generating his like. For this reason truly, according
to his revolutions and seasons, do the various vegetable
and animal races feel themselves stirred towards the
generation of their kind. What need is there to magnify
the glory of his rays, and of his light? A night without
moon, and without stars, how terrible is it! Let anyone
reflect on this, in order that he may estimate how great a
blessing is the light we derive from the Sun! Although
he affords the same light continuously, and not shared
with Night, in the suitable regions reckoning upwards
from the Moon, yet doth he grant men a respite from
their toil through the intervention of the Night. But
there would be no end to the discourse were
one to
attempt to enumerate everything of this sort, inasmuch
as there is no blessing in life that we have not received
•
248
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
from this deity-either complete, and directly from him,
or else indirectly coming from him, but perfected by
the means of the other Powers. Our patron is he-
for the Capitol in our metropolis is occupied not merely
by Jupiter, conjointly with Venus and Minerva-that
Jupiter, who is hymned as the "Universal Sire”—but
by Apollo likewise upon the Palatine Hill, Apollo himself
—a name thus common to all, and belonging by right to
them. But how we universally and everywhere belong to
him, as the sons of Romulus and of Æneas, though I have
much to say, I will but mention a few, and the best-known
facts. Æneas sprung from Venus, who is the agent of
and akin to, the Sun. The actual founder of our city,
tradition has delivered down to be the son of Mars, con-
firming the improbable tale by the miracle that followed
his birth; for a she-wolf gave suck to the child, according
to report. That Mars, called "Azizos " by the natives of
Edessa in Syria, is the harbinger of the Sun, though I am
aware of the fact and have already named, I shall for the
present pass it by. For what reason is the wolf the
attribute of Mars, rather than of the Sun? And yet they
say that his annual revolution is called "Lycobas,"
Wolf's-walk, after this god; and not only Homer so deno-
minates it, but also other well-known poets; as, more-
over, the god himself, for he says at the end of a response
"The twelvemonth's ancient Lycobas, in dance.”
Do you wish me then to adduce to you a stronger proof
that the founder of our city was not merely sent down from
(the planet) Mars, but that perhaps to the creation of his
body aid was lent by some martial and generous dæmon-
the one that, according to the legend, visited Sylvia as
she was carrying the lustral water to her goddess. And
to make a general observation, the soul of the god Quirinus
came down from the Sun. For in the same manner as
the exact conjunction of those bodies which assign sove-
reignty, namely, the Sun and Moon, brought him down
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
249
upon earth, so did it carry up again to heaven that soul
which it carried back again from earth; when it elimi-
nated the mortal part of his body by the fire of lightning.
And thus manifestly, the goddess who is the creator of
terrestrial phenomena, and who is in a special sense sub-
ordinate to the Sun, took back again that Quirinus who
was sent down upon earth through the agency of Minerva
-Providence; for she carried him back, as he flew
upwards from earth, unto the Sun, sovereign of the Uni-
verse. Do you wish me to adduce respecting the same
matter the institution of King Numa? The fire derived
from the Sun is preserved unextinguished by virgins,
agreeing with the different Seasons in number; which
latter in truth guard the fire that was produced by the
Moon, around the earth, by the influence of the Sun. I
have yet a stronger proof to mention of this deity's exis-
tence; the actual working of the most divine sovereign.
The months, by all mankind so to speak, are reckoned
from the Moon; we alone, and the Egyptians, count the
days of the year according to the motions of the Sun. If
after this I were to mention that we worship Mithras,
and celebrate quadrennial games, I should be speaking
of more recent institutions; it is better therefore to con-
fine myself to those of more ancient date in what I am
going to add. The beginning of the annual cycle different
nations calculate in different ways; some taking for it
the vernal equinox; others the middle point of Summer;
others again the end of Autumn. In all this they celebrate
the most conspicuous blessings of the deity in the first,
the opening of the favourable season for work, when the
earth blossoms and rejoices, with all the crops just spring-
ing up.
The seas do then become fit for navigation; and
the never-smiling and sulky face of Winter is transformed
into a more cheerful aspect. The second sort have done
this honour to Midsummer Day, as having it then in their
power to rejoice securely over the success of their crops:
the seed-crops being by this time got in, and the fruit-
250
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
crops already ripe, and the produce still hanging on the
trees now drawing to maturity. The third, yet more acute
than they, have established for the end of the year the
most complete maturity and decay of all productions; for
this cause do they hold their annual festivals when the
Autumn is now drawing to an end. But our ancestors,
from the time of that most religious King Numa, paying
special honour to the god in question, cast aside the
common practice, and as they were of superior under-
standing, they recognized this deity, and settled to hold
the New Year's festival in the present season, at what
time the Sun returns to us, leaving the extreme distance
of the meridian, and bending his course around Capricorn
as his goal, moves from the South towards the North;
being about to give us our share of his annual blessings.
And that they havo thus fixed the time of the New Year's
festival out of an accurate understanding of the case, may
be easily discerned from the following circumstance—they
did not fix the festival upon the actual day when the Sun
makes the turn [but on the day]' when it is apparent
to all that he is making his progress from the South
towards the North. For not yet known to them was the
subtlety of those rules which the Chaldæans and Egyptians
invented, but which Hipparchus and Ptolemy brought
to perfection; but they trusted to their senses, and followed
the guidance of natural phenomena. And in this way,
as I have said, the matter was discovered to be of such a
nature by those who came after them. Immediately after
the last month, which is Saturn's, and previous to the
festival in question, we celebrate the most solemn of our
Games, dedicating it to the honour of the "Invincible
Sun," during which it is not lawful for anything cruel
¹ảλλà must have dropped out of the text; for Julian argues that
New Year's Day was not fixed at the real solstice, December 21,
but
at a later day, when the change in the Sun's motion was clearly percep-
tible to these simple rustics.
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
251
1
(although necessary), which the previous month presented
in its Shows, should be perpetrated on this occasion. The
Saturnalia, being the concluding festival, are closely
followed in cyclic order by the Festival of the Sun; the
which I hope that the Powers above will grant me fre-
quently to chaunt, and to celebrate; and above all others.
may the Sovereign Sun, lord of the universe! He who
proceeding from all eternity in the generative being of
the Good, stationed as the central one amidst the central
intelligible deities, and replenishing them all with concord,
infinite beauty, gencrative superabundance, and perfect
intelligence, and with all blessings collectively without
limit of time; and in time present illuminating his
station which moves as the centre of all the heavens, his
own possession from all eternity! Whilst he imparts his
own beauty to every phenomenon of Nature, and fills the
universal heaven with as many deities as he contains
intelligibly within himself; whilst they multiply round.
about him without separation, and dwell together with
him in unity of species! And nevertheless the region
below the Moon he embraces by the agency of his perpetual
generation, and the benefits flowing out of the Cyclic
Body; providing for the entire family of Man, and, espe-
cially, for our commonwealth; in the same way as he
hath from all eternity created our own soul, having appointed
it for minister unto himself." May He therefore grant unto
me that which I have just now prayed for; and morcover
to the whole of my empire may He with his good will
supply and guard all possible continuance! And to
ourselves may He grant success both in religious and
secular affairs, so long as He may concede us life!
1
The Saturnalia lasted the three days following the 16th or 18th
December, the festival of the "Sol Invictus" was held on the 25th of
the same month.
2 ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὴν ἡμετεραν ψυχην ἐξ ἀϊδίου υπέστησ' εν, ὁπαδὸν
vπo pípaç àvrou. A remarkable enunciation of the soul's eternal pre-
existence, and derivation from the Sun.
*252
UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN.
And grant us to live, and to govern in life, as long as
it is well-pleasing to himself, best for us, and expedient to
the public interests of the Romans ! ¹
(C
Thus much, my dear Sallust, upon the threefold opera-
tion of the deity have I ventured to write for you, in about
three nights' space, having gone over the subject in my
memory as far as it was possible: since what I had pre-
viously written to you upon the Saturnalia "2 did not
prove entirely labour thrown away. But on the same subject
you will obtain more complete and more abstruse informa-
tion by consulting the works upon it composed by the
divine Iamblichus you will find there the extreme limit
of human wisdom attained. May the mighty Sun grant
me to attain to no less knowledge of himself, and to teach
it publicly to all, and privately to such as are worthy to
receive it: and as long as the god grants this to us, let
us consult in common his well-beloved Iamblichus; out of
whose abundance a few things, that have come into my
mind, I have here set down. That no other person will
treat of this subject more perfectly than he has done, I
am well aware; not even though he should expend much
additional labour in making new discoveries in the re-
search; for in all probability he will go astray from the
most correct conception of the nature of the god. It were
perhaps an idle attempt (if I were writing this discourse
for the sake of giving instruction) for me to treat of it at
all after what that philosopher has done; but inasmuch
as it is my wish only to compose a hymn of thanksgiving
in honour of the god, I have deemed it quite sufficient"
to discourse to the best of my ability concerning his
I do not think I have wasted words to no pur-
nature.
1
¹ A prayer most remarkably fulfilled! for what a troublous, perhaps
disgraceful reign, awaited the enthusiast, had he returned alive from
his unsuccessful expedition.
2 The book has perished; it doubtless was of the same mystic cha-
racter as this and the following "Hymn.”
3 rò πavò, all in all-complete success.
ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.
253
pose the maxim, "Sacrifice to the immortal gods accord-
ing to thy means," I accept as applying not merely to
burnt-offerings, but also to our praises addressed unto the
gods. I pray for the third time, in return for this my
good intention, the Sun lord of the universe to be propi-
tious to me, and to bestow on me a virtuous life, a more
perfect understanding, and a superhuman intellect, and a
very easy release from the trammels of life at the time ap-
pointed and after that release, an ascension up to him-
self, and an abiding place with him, if possible, for all
time to come; or if that bo too great a recompense for
my past life, many and long-continued' revolutions around
his presence!
Before the same soul is again re-united with Matter, and imprisoned
in the body exemption from such thraldom being a reward doled out
in measure proportioned to merit during its last probation on earth.

(
M
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.¹
UST we then speak of this subject also: and shall
we write concerning things that are not to be told,
and shall we publish things not to be divulged, and secrets
not to be spoken aloud? Who indeed is Attis or Gallos
who the Mother of the Gods; what is the reason of this
rule of Chastity; moreover for what cause has such an
institution been established among us from remote anti-
quity; handed down to us indeed from the most ancient
of the Phrygians, but accepted in the first place by the
Greeks and those not the vulgar herd, but the Athe-
nians—taught by the event that they had not done well
in ridiculing him that was performing the rites of the
Great Mother. For they are said to have insulted and
driven off the Gallos, as one who was making innovations
in religion because they did not understand the character
of the goddess, or how that she was the very "Deò,"
Rhea," and "Demeter" so much honoured amongst
them themselves.
66
Then followed vengeance on the part of the goddess,
and then a remedy for that vengeance. For she that
was directress unto the Greeks in all good things (namely,
the prophetess of the Delphic god) ordered them to pro-
pitiate the anger of the Great Mother; and hence was
¹ Written at Pessinus, in a single night (says Libanius), in the winter
before his expedition into Persia (which also appears from Julian's own
asseveration at p. 278), A.D. 362-3.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
255
erected by the Athenians the Temple "of the Mother,"
wherein were kept all the public documents. After the
Greeks, the Romans also received her; the Pythia having
advised them, in their turn, to bring the goddess out of
Phrygia for their helper in the war against the Cartha-
ginians. And here there is nothing to prevent me from
relating a little history. These most religious inhabitants
of Rome, on the receipt of the oracle, send off an embassy
to beg of the kings of Pergamus, who at that time were
masters of Phrygia, and from the Phrygians themselves,
the most holy statue of the goddess. They received and
carried away the sacred burthen, having embarked it in a
large merchant-ship, competent to traverse such mighty
seas. Having crossed the Egean and Ionian Seas, and
sailed round the Sicilian and the Tyrrhene, she finally
entered the mouth of the Tiber. The people streamed
out of the city, together with the Senate: before them
all, however, advanced to receive her the priests and
priestesses, arrayed after the manner of the country, with
their attention fixed upon the vessel which was coming in
under full sail. They gazed at the surging of the waves
as they divided themselves around the keel; and as she
sailed up they welcomed her, each one kissing his hand
to her, as they happened to be standing in front, from a
distance. But the ship, as though desirous to prove to
the people of Rome that it was not a mere lifeless wooden
image¹ she was bringing them from Phrygia, but that,
whatever it was she was bringing them from the Phry-
gians, it must possess some greater and supernatural
virtue of its own, as soon as the goddess touched the
Tiber she made the ship stand still, as though it had sud-
denly taken root in the bed of the river. They towed
her against the stream-she did not follow: they waded
into the shallows, and endeavoured to shove off the ship-
1
¹ A remark worthy of notice, for her famous idol at Pessinus was a
shapeless black stone, doubtless an aërolite.
256
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
she did not yield for all their pushing: next every pos-
sible resource was tried-she none the less remained im-
movable. For this cause a dire and unjust suspicion was
cast upon the virtue of the Virgin who was invested with
the highest sacerdotal rank, and they accused Clodia (such
was the name of the reverend Vestal) of not keeping her-
self entirely unpolluted and pure in honour of the goddess,
and therefore the latter was perhaps incensed, and took
her vengeance: for all thought the event to be something
supernatural. The Vestal, at first, was filled with shame
at the rumour, and at the suspicion; so far removed was
she from the forbidden and disgraceful fact: but when
she perceived the slander against herself was spreading,
and every moment gaining strength, she took off her girdle,
and fastening it about the figure-head of the ship, as if by
a sudden inspiration she ordered the crowd to fall back,
and besought the goddess not to suffer her to be without
cause exposed to such accusations. Then shouting, they
say, like the sailors' cry: "Mistress and Mother," she
exclaimed, "if I am chasto, follow me:" and forthwith
she not merely stirred the ship, but towed it after her for
a considerable distance against the current. And hereby
the goddess, I ween, showed unto the Romans that the
freight they were bringing from Phrygia was one worth
no small price, but rather worth all they had to give: not
a thing human, but a thing divine: not mere soulless earth,
but something possessed of life, and out of nature. Such a
manifestation, therefore, of her power did the goddess make
before our people: she proved also another thing, that
neither the virtue nor the vice of a single one of the
citizens could escape her scrutiny. The war immediately
prospered with the Romans against the Carthaginians, in
such sort that their third war was merely for the walls of
Carthage.
If this tale of the Vestal shall be thought by some in-
credible, and not suitable for either a philosopher or a
theologian, let it none the less be recounted, for it is pub-
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
257
licly recorded by very many historians, and its memory
preserved in brazen statues in that most noble and reli-
gious city, Rome. I am not indeed ignorant that certain
over-wise people will call these legends "old wives'
fables," and not worth listening to; but I think, for my
part, that in such matters it is better to believe the testi-
mony of nations than of those witty individuals, whose
little soul is acute indeed, but has a clear insight into no
one thing. As regards the theory that came into my mind
lately, during the actual period wherein continence is en-
joined, I am informed that Porphyry, too, has composed a
philosophical treatise upon this very subject; but as I
have not met with his book, I cannot tell whether he
happens to agree in any way with my own explanation.
For my part, by my unassisted judgment I understand by
this " Gallos,” or Attis," the existence of the Generative
and Formative Intelligence, which generates all things.
down to the very furthest limits of Matter, and which
contains in itself all the reasons and causes of material
species. For the species of all are not contained in all;
nor are those of the farthest off and the last of all, beyond
which no more exists, contained in the Causes that be
highest (final) and first, or where the name of "Deprivation"
is applied with the sense of "Absence of Form." Now
since there are many Existences, and very many Creators,
the nature of that Creator who possesses the remote
reasons, and the continuous efficient causes of material
species, the nature, that is to say, of the superabundance
of generative faculty, which is the lowest placed, and
which extends as far as our earth from the stars above-
1
66
2
¹ A remark showing that the old religion was still in the ascendant
there.
2 A fundamental principle of this philosophy, repeatedly insisted
upon in the "Hymn to the Sun," is that the Natural Powers, Oɛoì, are
continually replenished with their proper forces from some supreme
fount, and the surplus of such force is expended by them in the creation.
and maintenance of material species.
S
258
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
But
this Nature is the Attis we are seeking for. It is, how-
ever, necessary to make a clearer definition of what I am
advancing. I lay it down that there is Matter, and also
there are Material Species, but unless a Final Cause for
them be previously assumed, we shall be, without per-
ceiving it, introducing the doctrine of Epicurus: since if
nothing be anterior to two efficient causes, a spontaneous
flux and chance must have united the two together.
we see (remarks some quick-witted Peripatetician, like
Xenagoras) that the cause of these things is the "Fifth¹
and Revolving Body:" Aristotle, also, has made himself
ridiculous by his inquiry and idle curiosity in this subject,
and Theophrastus has followed his example, for he did not
understand his own language. For after he had got as
far as the Incorporeal and Intelligible existence he stopped
short, not investigating that existence, but defining in what
way these things came to exist; whereas he ought, I fancy,
to have assumed their coming into existence in the same
way as he did in the case of the "Fifth Body," and not
sought after the causes, and to have stopped at this point,
without flying off into the Ideal-a thing which has no
natural existence of itself, but rests upon bare mental
conception. To this effect I remember having heard
Xenarchus lecture, but whether he was correct or not in
so speaking must be left to the most high flying Peripa-
Aristotle's Tεμπтη óvoia, afterwards so famous as the " Quint-
essence," the Fifth Element, superior to all the rest. But the best defi-
nition is Plutarch's (De Ei Delphico, cap. x.):—Tò dè πÉμµπTOV oúpavòv,
οἱ δὲ φῶς, οἱ δ᾽ αἰθέρα καλοῦσιν, οἱ δ᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πέμπτην οὐσίαν, ᾗ
τὸ κύκλῳ περιφέρεσθαι μόνη τῶν σωμάτων κατὰ φύσιν ἐστὶν, οὐκ ἐξ
ἀνάγκης οὔτ᾽ ἄλλως συμβεβηκότος. This Attis of the Mysteries seems to
have the same origin with the Metatron of the Kabbala, the only-begotten
son of the Tetragrammaton, who, like a wheel, ophan, is continually de-
scending and ascending, bringing down lights from the Father, and
carrying up to Him the good deeds of His people. At any rate, the
Ophites (says Hippolytus) discerned in Attis, "almond-branch," the
"wheatear cut off," the express type of the Saviour.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
259
teticians to discover, but that he (Aristotle) does not speak
in every way to my satisfaction is quite clear, inasmuch as
I do not accept even the hypotheses of Aristotle unless
they be brought into conformity with the doctrine of
Plato; and, still more, the present subject must be recon-
ciled with the revelations given to us from the mouth of
the gods. One question, however, is worth asking; In
what way can the Revolving Body contain the incorporeal
causes of the immaterial species? for that without these
Causes it is not possible that generation can subsist is, I
suppose, self-evident and certain. To what purpose, pray,
exist all these things that be born? Whence come male
and female? Whence the difference in kind of all things
that be, amongst visible species, unless there be certain
pre-existing and previously established Reasons and Causes
subsisting beforehand, in the nature of a pattern?With
regard to which, though we are dull of sight, yet let us
strive to clear away the mist from the eyes of the soul.
The proper mode of clearing them is to turn into oneself,
and to contemplate how the soul, and the mind imprisoned
in Matter, are, as it were, the impression in wax and the
image of things Immaterial. For this one thing is not
of the number of bodies, nor of the things that exist and
are contemplated, incorporeally in connection with our
bodies, the conception of which the soul is unable to re-
ceive independently of the body: a thing that it (the soul)
would never have done, did it not possess in its nature
some certain relationship with things incorporeal. This
is Aristotle's meaning when he called the soul the " Type
of species, though not in activity, yet in potentiality."
That a soul thus constituted, and one turned inwards upon
the body, contains these qualities in potentiality, is a neces-
sary consequence; and if this soul be unconfined and
without mixture, as it were, it cannot upset the argument,
but must be supposed in all respects to be in activity.
This impression, or image, of the immaterial world.
1
260
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
66
Let us consider the point more intelligibly, through the
medium of an example which Plato has used in his
Sophist," although applied there to a different subject.
The example I do not intend adducing for a proof of my
argument, for it ought not to be taken as a proof, but only as
an illustration; since it is about the First Causes, or those
at least which are of the same rank with the First, that
is, if our Attis be (as there is good reason to think) of
divine nature. But what, and what sort of thing is your
example? Plato remarks somewhere in his discussion
upon "Imitation," that "if one should try to imitate in
such a way as to reproduce the thing imitated, the task is
full of labour and difficult-nay, of a truth almost an
aiming at what is impossible; whereas that of imitating
reality by means of appearance is pleasant, easy, and very
possible. When, therefore, we take a mirror and carry it
round, we easily take the impression of real objects, and
show the figures of each of them." From this example
let us transfer the comparison to the subject under dis-
cussion, so that the mirror may stand for what is termed
by Aristotle the "Place of Forms in potentiality," for the
real forms. But these forms themselves must necessarily
exist in activity before existing in potentiality, and conse-
quently prior to our soul (which is the opinion of Aris-
totle) that contains these forms in potentiality. Where,
therefore, are we to place these things that exist first of
all in activity? Must we place them in things united
with Matter? No, for these are evidently the latest in
rank. The only alternative left us, is to look for the im
material causes in activity, previously established, of
things material, prior to which our soul has existed, and
together with which it has emanated from its source, and
out of which it receives (as do mirrors from real objects),
as a necessary consequence, the reasons of Forms, and
communicates them through the agency of its nature unto
Matter, as well as to the material bodies. Now that
Nature is the maker of these bodies, we all know, inas-
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
261
much as she is, as it were, the entire Nature of the uni-
verse; that she is also the maker of each individual part
is, I fancy, self-evident and certain. But Nature in acti-
vity is distinct from Imagination (pavracía) in us, whilst
the soul, which is superior to her, has received the pro-
perty of Imagination. If, then, it is allowed that
Nature possesses the cause of the things whereof she does
not possess the conception, why in God's Name shall
we not allow the same to hold good, and in a still higher
degree, in the case of the soul, where we already know by
means of imagination, and discover by means of the
reason? For who is there so fond of cavilling as to allow
that Nature possesses the material reasons (if not all alike
in activity) at least all in potentiality, and yet refuse the
same to the soul? If, therefore, Forms exist in Nature
in potentiality, but not in activity, they certainly do exist
in the Soul potentially in a purer and more distinct man-
ner, so as to be comprehended and be known, although by
no means in activity. To what shall we fasten the cables
of this continuous generation? Where shall we mentally
fix¹ our reasonings concerning the eternal duration of the
world? The circulating Body' is certainly made up out
1 An allusion to the doc Tou oru of Archimedes.
2 Aristotle makes the Universe to consist of seven concentric spheres,
each governed by a spirit of its own; whilst God eternally revolves in
external space, and perpetually keeps up the existence of the whole
("Metaphysics," book x.). From Aristotle Dante derived the term
("Paradiso," viii. 126):-
"La Circular Natura che è suggello
Alla cera mortal, fa ben sua arte,
Ma non distingue l'un dall' altro ostello.
Quinci addivien ch' Esau si diparte
Per seme da Iacob; e vien Quirino
Da sì vil padre che si rende a Marte.
Natura generata il suo cammino
Simil farebbe sempre ai generanti,
Se non vincesse il provveder divino."
262
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
2
of subject and form. This is a necessary consequence,
unless these two exist in activity, separate from each
other; but, by thought at least, all the former must be
regarded as existing the first,' and as the more ancient.
Since, therefore, a certain Cause is allowed to have pre-
ceded material forms, being itself entirely immaterial,
under the "Third Creator" who is to us father and
lord, not of these objects only, but also of the Visible and
Fifth Body), so we separate from the former [the Third
Creator] Attis as the Cause that descends as far as the
region of Matter, and we regard this Attis as the genera-
tive Power and the Gallos at one and the same time-him
who, as Fable tells, was exposed by the side of the streams
of the river Gallos, and there grew up, and afterwards,
when he had got tall and handsome, became the favourite
of the Mother of the Gods, and she committed to his care
all other things, and placed upon his head the star-be-
spangled cap. Now if the head of Attis be covered by
this visible heaven, ought we not perchance to interpret
the river Gallos as signifying the span of the Milky Way,
for at that point, it is said, that the body which is suscep-
tible of passion mixes with the impassive circular orbit
of the Fifth Body? As far as this limit truly hath the
Mother of the Gods allowed this minion of her's to leap
about and dance-namely, he that resembles the sunbeams,*
this intelligible Power, Attis. And when the same is
3
1 As being the first to exist.
2 This notion is not to be found either in Plato or Aristotle, but comes
from Iamblichus, who makes тρεiç Anμiovρyoì connected with the three
species of Being-the Intelligible, the Intellectual, the Cosmic. The
"Third Creator," therefore, is the one that comes more immediately
into contact with Matter, and produces the universe.
3 As symbolized by his starry cap, a proof of the identity of Attis
with Deus Lunus.
4 An evident allusion to an explanation in the Phrygian Mysteries
that made the mad dances of the Galli symbolize the play of the sun-
beams.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
263
arrived at the extremity of his limits, he is said in the
fable to have descended into the Cave,¹ and conversed
with the nymph, symbolizing the duplicity of Matter, and
it is not Matter itself that is here meant, but the ultimate
Cause of things incorporeal, which also existed before
Matter. Moreover, it is asserted by Heraclitus: “Death
unto souls is but a change to liquid." This Attis, there-
fore, the intelligible Power, the holder together of things
material below the Moon, having intercourse with the
pre-ordained Cause of Matter, holds intercourse there-
with, not as a male with a female, but as though flowing
into it, since he is the same with it.
Who then is the Mother of the Gods ? She is the
Source of the Intelligible and Creative Powers, which
direct the visible ones; she that gave birth to and copu-
lated with the mighty Jupiter: she that exists as a great
goddess next to the Great One, and in union with the
Great Creator; she that is dispenser of all life; cause of
all birth; most easily accomplishing all that is made;
generating without passion; creating all that exists in
concert with the Father; herself a virgin, without mother,
sharing the throne of Jupiter, the mother in very truth
of all the gods; for by receiving within herself the causes
of all the intelligible deities that be above the world, she
became the source to things the objects of intellect. Now
this goddess, who is also the same as Providence, was
seized with a love without passion for Attis. And accord-
ing to her will and pleasure made not only material
things, but in a still higher degree the causes of the
same. Now the fable relates how that the Virginity,
According to the legend, Attis having vowed perpetual chastity in
honour of Cybele, was afterwards seduced by a certain nymph, and
being punished with madness for thus breaking his vow, castrated him-
self in a fit of frenzy.
2 This notion plays a great part in the system of the Naaseni
(Ophites), who identified their serpent, Naas, with the element, Water.
264
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
which preserves that things that be born and those that
die, became enamoured of the creative and generative
cause of these things, and commanded it to conceive, in
preference, within the intelligible world, and to turn itself
towards her, and to consort with her; that she made an
injunction it should do so with none of the other Powers;
whereby it should at once preserve the unity of form that
conduces to preservation, and escape all tendency towards.
Matter; also she commanded this Cause to look up to
herself (because she is the source of the creative Powers),
without being drawn down or seduced into generation.
For in this way the great Attis would become more
powerfully creative, inasmuch as in every case the aiming
at the better is more effective than the declination towards
the worse. For in fact the Fifth Body is more creative
through the former, than through the latter tendency,¹
and likewise more divino in consequence of its directing
itself towards the gods; since the body, even though it
wore composed of the purest wther, no one would pre-
sume to say was superior to the soul that was both un-
defiled and pure, such as was the soul of Horcules, which
emanated from the Creator. And yet this soul was more
effective when she had given it to a body. For unto this
very Hercules the superintendence of things below had
been rendered more easy now that he is returned entire to
his entire Father, than was it of old time when he wore
flesh and lived amongst mon. Thus in all cases the going
away towards the better is more productive of effect than
the turning towards the worse. And this the legend
aims at teaching when it makes the Mother of the Gods
onjoin upon Attis to be her servant, and not to stray
from her, and not fall in love with another woman. But
ho went forward, and descended as far as the boundaries
of Matter. But when it became necessary for this igno-
1 To lock up towards the Mother of the Gods.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
265
1
rance to cease and be stopped-then Corybas," the mighty
Sun, the colleague of the Mother of the Gods (he that
creates, and contrives all things beforehand, in unison
with her, and who does nothing without her), persuades.
the lion to turn informer. Who then is this lion ? We
hear him styled "blazing "-he must, therefore, I think,
be the cause presiding over the hot and fiery element; that
which was about to wage war against the Nymph, and to
make her jealous of her intercourse with Attis; and who
this Nymph is we have already stated." This lion, the
fable tells, lent his aid to the Mother of the Gods, that is,
to the creative Providence of things that be; and by his
detecting the offence and turning informer, became the
author of the castration of the youth. Now this "castra-
tion" signifies a check to ignorance; for the business of
generation stood still in the ordained forms, being checked
by the creative Providence of the universe, not without
the intervention of the fabled madness of Attis; which
madness, running wild and overleaping all bound, and
therefore deprivative of all strength, and not possible to
be kept under command, was a thing which it is not un-
reasonable to suppose is due to the Final Cause of the gods.
Contemplate and consider the Fifth Body-how it remains
¹àreipia used here as signifying a "going out of bounds," as if de-
ἀπειρία
rived from ipag. It is the "Indefiniteness" used by Plato to denote
imperfection.
2 Here we find the true origin of the Ophite Triad, composed of the
Spiritual Man (Adam Kadmon), Ervoía, and the Spirit; out of which
proceeds the Christ, who corresponds to the Attis in his operations.
3 He makes her play the same part that Matter does in all the
Gnostic theories. Thus in the "Pistis-Sophia," the main plot turns
upon the seduction of the Mon so named, and her entanglement in the
sticky abyss of Matter.
CC
Or the going out of bounds," the double meaning of the word
(somewhat forcibly obtained, 'tis true), which affords foundation for this
esoteric doctrine, cannot be preserved in the translation. Plato himself
is the author of this play upon the words. Indefinity," is a good
equivalent for ȧrepía proposed by Dr. Jackson.
266
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
2
free from change during every change, in the case of the
illuminations of the moon; in order that finally the world,
so constantly renewed, and continually destroyed, may be
near to the Fifth Body. With regard to her¹illumina-
tions we observe the occurrence of a certain change, and
particular effects taking place simultaneously. It is
not therefore unreasonable to suppose this Attis a super-
natural personage (in fact the fable implies as much), or
rather in all respects, a deity, seeing that he comes forth
out of the Third Creator, and returns again after his cas-
tration, to the Mother of the Gods, after he has persuaded
himself to incline completely towards him, although he
seemed at first to have a tendency towards Matter. One
will not be wrong in taking him for the last of the gods,
although the foremost of all things not human. For this
reason the fable styles him a demi-god," in order to
express the difference between him and the unchangeable
deities. The Corybantes, who are assigned by the Great
Mother to act as his bodyguard, are the three primal Sub-
stances³ of the superior kinds, that come next to the gods.
He also rules over the lions, which together with their
chief, Leo (the Zodiacal Sign), having a hot and fiery
nature allotted to them, are the causes of the element Fire
in the first instance, and by means of the heat resulting
therefrom, are the authors of the Exciting Energy, and
also of preservation to all the rest. He is crowned with
the heavens instead of a tiara, coming forth as he does, so
to speak, from thence unto us. This great god of ours
is Attis; this is the meaning of the " Flight of King
Attis" that we have just been lamenting; his "Conceal-
ments," his "Vanishings," his "Descents into the Cave."
Let my evidence be the time of year when all these cere-
¹ Probably referring to the identity of Attis with Deus Lunus.
2 That is, "to be completely reconciled to the Third Creator."
3 The elements Air, Water, Earth; Fire being mentioned in the next
sentence.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
267
2
monies take place; for it is said that the Sacred Tree' is
cut down at the moment when the Sun arrives at the
extreme point of the equinoctial arc: next in order follows
the Sounding of the trumpets, and lastly is cut down the
sacred and ineffable Harvest of the god Gallos: after
these come, as they say, the Hilaria and festivities. Now
that a
"cessation of Indefinity" is meant by the cas-
tration so much talked of by the vulgar, is self-evident
from the fact that when the Sun touches the equinoctial
circle, where that which is most definite is placed (for
equality is definite, but inequality indefinite and inexpli-
cable); at that very moment (according to the report),
the Sacred Tree is cut down; then come the other rites
in their order; whereof some are done in compliance with
rules that be holy and not to be divulged; others for
reasons allowable to be discussed.
The " Cutting of the
Tree;" this part refers to the legend about the Gallos,
and has nothing to do with the rites which it accompanies;
for the gods have thereby, I fancy, taught us symbolically
that we ought to pluck what is most beautiful on earth,
namely virtue joined with piety, and offer the same unto the
goddess, for a token of good government here below. For
the Tree springs up out of the earth and aspires upwards
into the air; it is likewise beautiful to see and be seen, and
to afford us shade in hot weather; and furthermore to
produce, and regale us with its fruit; thus a large share
of a generous nature resides in it. The rite, therefore,
enjoins upon us who are celestial by our nature, but who
have been carried down to earth, to reap virtue joined
with piety from our conduct upon earth, and to aspire
upwards unto the deity, the primal source of being and
the fount of life. Then immediately after the cutting
does the trumpet give out the invocation to Attis and
'An almond-tree-Valentinus had before interpreted all these rites
as prefiguring the history of Christ.
2 Or "a stop to straying."
268
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
to those that be of heaven, whence we took our flight, and
fell down to earth. And after this, when King Attis
checks the Indefinity by the mans of castration, the
gods thereby warn us to extirpate in ourselves all incon-
tinence, and to imitate the example,¹ and to run upwards.
unto the Definite, and the Uniform, and if it be possible,
to the One itself; which being accomplished the "Hilaria
must by all means follow. For what could be more con-
tented, what more hilarious than the soul that has escaped
from uncertainty, and generation, and the tumult that
reigns therein, and hastens upwards to the gods?
whose number was this Attis, whom the Mother of the
Gods would not suffer to advance farther than was proper
for him, but turned him towards herself, and enjoined
him to check all indefinity.
Of
And let nobody suppose me to say that all these things
were done and happened formerly without the gods them-
selves knowing what they meant to do; or as though they
were chastising their own faults. The causes of things
that be, the ancients (whether with the gods to guide
them, or discovering them by their unassisted efforts, but
better to say seeking them out under the guidance of the
gods), when they had discovered them, wrapped up the
same in strange fables, in order that the fiction, being de-
tected through its own extravagance and obscurity, might
draw us on to the investigation of the Truth. For the
vulgar, incapable of reasoning, derive sufficient benefit
from what is conveyed by means of symbols; whilst to
those of superior intellect, the truth respecting the gods
will then only be serviceable, when they through diligent
research shall find it out and lay hold thereof: whilst
they are reminded by means of dark legends that it is
their duty to inquire; and that they may advance to the
end, as to the summit of the thing, after they have dis-
cerned it by means of such research; not so much out of
1 τοὺς ἡμῶν in text, is clearly a corruption of τὸ σημεῖον.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
269
respect and confidence in the judgment of others, as in the
exertion of one's own understanding upon other objects.
What then do we assert as the fact-to consider it, as it
were, in a summary ? That as far as the Fifth Body, not
merely the Intelligible, but also the Visible bodies, be-
cause they belong to the impassive and divine part, the
ancients believed to be gods free from all mixture: whilst
through the generative activity of the gods simultaneously
existing in this same region of the universe, Matter had
emanated in company with these gods from all eternity.
Whilst out of these gods, and through their agency (on
account of the superabundance of their generative and
creative faculty), the Providence of things that be, uniting
itself from all eternity with the gods, became at once
Colleague of the Mighty Jupiter, and Source of the Intel-
ligible Powers; whilst what appears without life, without
generative power—the refuse, and what one may call the
off-scouring, dregs, and sediment of things that be—(was
made) by means of the lowest in order of all the gods,
that is to say, by him in whom the beings of all the gods
terminate; and this maker has regulated, corrected, and
changed the same for the better. For this Attis wears
the star-spangled tiara-evidently meaning that he has.
ordered the visible limits of the influence of all the gods
upon the Sensible world, to be the beginnings of his own
kingdom. Above him was the Unmixed and Pure, ex-
tending as far upwards as the Milky Way; but round
about this place (where the passive element mingles with
the impassive, and Matter exists simultaneously from that
same source) his intercourse with the latter is symbolized
by his "Descent into the Cave": a descent not indeed
made against the will of the gods and of the Mother of
them all, although said to have been made against their
will. For the gods being by nature in superior place, the
Better Part seeks not to drag them down from thence to
this condition, but rather by means of the united descend-
ing of the Better Part, to draw the latter up to the supe-
270
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
1
rior, and what is more acceptable to the gods, the limit
already mentioned. In this sense the Great Mother is
described as not hating Attis after his castration; nay
more, sho is described as no longer wrath with him: she
was wrath with him on account of the descent into the
Cave, because he, being a god and superior, had given
himself up to his inferior: and after he had of his own
accord checked the progress of his straying out of bounds,
and had reduced to order this disorder by means of his
subjection to the same influences with the equinoctial
circle (in order that the mighty Sun may govern that
which is most perfect in measure in his appointed course),
then does the Goddess gladly recall him to herself, or
rather retains him by her side. And there never was a
time when these things followed another order than they
do now ever is Attis minister and charioteer to the Groat
Mother; ever does he stimulate generation; perpetually
does he cut away from himself all extravagance (want of
limitation) by means of the ordained Cause of Forms.
And returning, as it were, out of the bowels of the earth,
he is said to sway his ancestral sceptre: although never
deposed therefrom, nor to be deposed; yet, as the legend
goes, deposed on account of his intercourse with the pas-
sive clement. One point, however, is perhaps worth
discussion: how it is that, the Equinox being double, Attis
has preferred that which falls in Scorpio's Claws to that
falling in Arics. The reason for this preference is plain.
onough in my opinion. For at what time the Sun is be-
2
In reference to the explanation above given of the reason for hold-
ing the festival of Attis at the time of the equinox.
2 “Extravagance," taken in its primary sense, expresses the meaning
Julian extracts out of ȧrapia more exactly than "ignorance." The aim
of all this high-flying argument seems to be to show that Attis symbo-
lizes the Creative Energy (the Gnostic Demeurgus) that at first wasted
itself in illimitable Space, but finally ceased from such extravagance, and
confined its operations within the forms or types appointed by the
Supreme Being.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
271
ginning to approach us from the equinoctial line, and the
length of day is on the increase-this season was, I think,
considered the most suitable to the subject; for besides
the reason which asserts that light is the accompaniment
of the gods,' they believed (the ancients) that the attrac-
tive rays of the Sun were favourable to all those who
aimed at being released from the trammels of generation.
Consider the matter by the light of experience: the Sun
draws up all things out of the earth, he calls up to him-
self and causes them to spring aloft by means of his
stimulating and wondrous heat, penetrating all bodies.
with the extremest subtilty; whilst the objects that natu-
rally have a downward tendency he renders light. And
such facts as these we ought, I think, to take for illustra-
tions of his invisible operations; for he that forces such
results in bodies by means of his corporeal heat, cannot
but by means of the invisible, entirely spontaneous, divine
and pure activity existing in his beams, draw up and
attract to himself the blessed souls. When therefore he
has displayed this light, so congenial to the gods, and to
men desirous of ascending unto him, and whilst this light
is on the increase, so that the day shall be longer than the
night, and the Sovereign Sun is beginning to traverse the
Sign of the Ram, at that time the attractive nature of the
rays of this deity is manifested both by their visible ope-
ration and their invisible, whereby innumerable souls are
drawn upwards, following the guidance of the most lumi-
nous and most sun-like of all the senses. For this ocular
sense Plato hath extolled as not so much pleasant and
useful for the purposes of daily life, as it is a guide in the
acquisition of wisdom in a higher point of view. But if
I should touch upon that unspeakable mystic science
which the Chaldæan hath uttered through inspiration, con-
cerning the "god of the seven rays "2 making souls ascend
The λvy attending upon the manifestation of a deity-" rosea
cervice refulsit."
The number of rays in the crown of Serapis-the irraуpáµµaтos
272
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
through him, I shall be speaking of things unknown; yea,
altogether unknown to the vulgar, yet familiar unto the
blessed ministers of the gods, wherefore I shall now pass
it over in silence.
But to return to what I was saying, namely, that we
must suppose the season for the festival was fixed by those
of old time not without consideration, but rather with
plausible, in the highest degree, and well grounded rea-
sons, a proof of this is that the goddess in question has
the equinoctial line assigned to her. For under the Sign
Libra the solemn and ineffable mysteries are celebrated in
honour of Ceres and her daughter, and with good cause is
this done, for it was fitting that they should be held a
second time in honour of the god (Sun) as he is leaving
us, in order that we may suffer nothing unpleasant from
that goddess and dark Power¹ which then gets the upper
hand. At any rate, the Athenians celebrate the Mysteries
to Ceres twice a year; in the Sign Aries they celebrate, it is
said, the Lesser Mysteries; the greater they hold when
the Sun is in the Claws of Scorpio; for the reasons already
stated. I
I believe them to be called "Greater" and
"Lesser" Mysteries, for other reasons, but particularly
as is probable for this, their being held when the Sun is
receding, rather than when he is approaching us; where-
fore in the latter case they are done merely as a reminder ;
because the preserving and sublimating deity is still pre-
sent, the preliminaries of the Initiation are marked out
then, shortly after, continuous practices of religion, and
purifications connected with the rites; and when the deity
later is taking his departure for the zone opposite to our
land, then the crowning rite of the ceremonies is per-
formed for the sake of our protection and preservation.
θεός. One account of the introduction of the Serapis-worship into
Alexandria makes it brought from Babylon; and in fact Plutarch, in
describing the last days of Alexander, calls the Temple of Belus that
of Serapis.
1 Evidently an allusion to Ahrimanes, the Power of Darkness.
;
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
273
And observe how in this case also the final cause of genera-
tion is cut away, for amongst the Athenians also those that
handle the holy things are strictly continent; and the
Hierophant who presides over them shuns all generation,
inasmuch as he has nothing to do with progression into
indefinity, but on the contrary, is concerned with the
Essence that is definite, that abides for ever, and is com-
prehended in the One, the which also is free from admix-
ture, and pure. On this subject, thus much is sufficient.
It now remains for us in continuation to discuss this ob-
servance of strict continence and of purity in order that we
may extract them from whatever bears upon our hypo-
thesis. And at first starting, this thing appears to every-
body an absurdity, that the sacred rule allows one to touch
flesh, and prohibits one's touching seeds. Are not the
latter without life, the former possessing life? Are not the
latter clean, the former filled with blood and much that
is disagreeable both to the sight and to the hearing?
Whilst the former possess the additional recommendation
that no one is aggrieved by the eating of them, whereas in
the other case there is the slaughtering and throat-cutting
of the beasts, which feel pain in consequence, as is natural,
and make a roaring noise. Thus much many superior souls
may possibly say, what follows, even the most impious of
mankind nowadays ridicule, namely, that the stalks of
vegetables are eaten; but their roots, for example turnips,
are refused; that figs are allowed to be eaten, but pome-
granates by no means, and apples, besides. This I have
frequently heard many people whining at; and though I
have said it already, I consider myself especially indebted
to all the gods together, and more than all to the Great
Mother in this particular instance (as in all others) that
she did not suffer me to wander about, as it were in the
dark, but firstly commanded me to cut away, not as regards
my body, but as regards the irrational appetites and
motions of the soul, all that was superfluous and empty,
by the aid of the Cause, the object of intellect, and which
T
274
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
presides over souls, whilst she herself enabled me to con-
ceive certain notions perhaps not discordant with a true,
and at the same time, reverential understanding of divine
matters. But I seem to be running around in a circle, as
though I had nothing that I could say. It is in my power,
even by giving particulars, to adduce clear and convincing
reasons why it is not allowable for us to bring to table
those vegetables and fruits, which are prohibited by the
sacred rule; and this I will do a little further on. At
present, it is better to produce some types, as it were, and
models; by following which, even though in my haste.
something may be left unnoticed, we may be enabled to form
some judgment on these points. This is the proper place
to recapitulate; first of all, whom I have stated Attis to be,
and what is the meaning of his castration; what is sym-
bolized by the things done between the castration and the
Hilaria, and what the object of the observation of conti-
nence, Now, this Attis has been defined by me as an
Existing Cause, and a deity proximately creating the ma-
terial world; who, when he descends as far as the extreme
limits, is checked by the Sun in his generative motion;
when the latter Power arrives at the sharply defined cir-
cumference of the universe, the name whereof is the Equi-
noctial line by reason of its effect. His castration, we have
explained to mean the checking of straying beyond bounds
-the which can only be brought about by his recall and
reascension to the more ancient and original Causes.
the continence itself, the aim we say is the reascent of the
soul; therefore, in the first place, it forbids the eating of the
plants that sink below the ground, forasmuch as the Earth
is the lowest of things that be; for thither Plato also says
that evil things return after having been driven away;
and the gods also by their oracles in many places have
called it the "refuse;" and frequently exhort us to make
our escape therefrom. First of all, therefore, the life-
giving and provident goddess doth not allow us even as far
as concerns our bodily nourishment, to make use of things
Of
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
275
that descend beneath the earth; thereby warning us to
look up to heaven, or rather above the heavens. Some
persons, it is true, eat one sort of seed, namely, kidney
beans; because they look upon them as not so much seeds
as green vegetables, on account of their growing in an
upward direction and erect, and not being at all rooted
under the earth; for the bean is rooted from the haulm,
in the same way as the fruit of an ivy or of a vine hangs
from the tree. This is the reason why it is forbidden
us to use the seed of plants, whilst it is allowed us to
use fruits and green vegetables, not such, however, as
creep along the ground, but those that raise themselves
aloft in air. In this way she commands us to reject as
earthy the ground-loving nature of the turnip, whilst
she allows us to bring to table that which grows upwards
and aspires on high; inasmuch as this very action is the
mark of purity. At any rate she allows us to use the
stalks of vegetables, whilst she forbids their roots, most
especially those that grow under, and are affected by the
same influences as the ground. And truly the apples of
trees, as being holy and goldlike, and the images of the
mystic prizes,' and of those given in the ceremonies, she
permits us not to destroy nor to consume; secing that
they deserve, for the sake of the things they symbolize, to
be respected and taken care of; but pomegranates she
has rejected as being an earthy shrub; and the fruit of the
palm tree, some one perhaps will say, in consequence of
its not growing in Phrygia, where the religion was first
established. It seems however to me that it was as a
tree sacred to the Sun, and not subject to decay that she
forbids us to consume it, during the fasts, for the nourish-
ment of the body. In addition to the foregoing rules, she
forbids us to use every sort of fish; and this question
concerns us in common with the Egyptians. For my part
1 The regular shape of the prize-vases, ex. gr., those figured on the
imperial copper of Byzantium, is that of a pomegranate.
276
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
·
I think that for two reasons we should abstain from fish,
-best entirely; or, at any rate, during the time of fast-
ing; and firstly because we ought not to eat of things the
which it is not lawful to sacrifice unto the gods,' and here
perhaps some dainty and gluttonous persons may raise
objection, as I remember to have been often served before
on different occasions when they heard me explaining for
what reason we do not offer sacrifice of fish to the gods.
But in reality we have something to say in reply to this
objection; for we do offer them up, I replied, in the sacri-
fices of Initiation, in the same way as the Romans to the
horse; and many other beasts and living things, for ex-
• ample the dog to Hecate (like the Greeks and the Romans
also); and there are many similar victims belonging to
initiatory rites amongst other nations, offered by the com-
munity either once or twice a year; although not in the
honorary sacrifices of which alone it is lawful for the gods
to partake and banquet upon. Now fishes we do not
offer up in the honorary sacrifices, because they are things
that we do not pasture, nor do we take care of their
breeding; neither have we herds of fish in the same way
as we have of sheep and of oxen. For these latter animals
being fed and made to multiply through our care, may
justly be applied to our other uses, and above everything
else, to the purpose of the most honorific sacrifices. This
is one reason why I think we are not allowed to use fish
for food during the times of fasting. There is yet another,
and which I fancy is more consonant with what has been
already said-namely, that fishes from their habit of sink-
ing to the bottom, are more of an earthy nature than seeds
themselves; whilst he that desires to soar upwards, and
to fly aloft above the air unto the very pinnacles of heaven,
will with good cause reject all things of the kind; he will
emulate and run after those that aspire upwards into air,
1 This may have been the very reason why the Christians allowed
fish to be eaten during their own fasts, out of the spirit of contrariety.
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
277
that aim at ascension, and to speak poetically, that gaze at
heaven. Birds, our religion allows us to eat, with the ex-
ception of a few that are held sacred by the common con-
sent of mankind; and also the usual quadrupeds, except
the swine; the latter as being earthy in all respects, in
form, in habits, in the very article of its nature, (for it is
full of superfluity, and bloated in body) is justly pro-
scribed from the holy table. For this beast is believed to
be an acceptable offering to the infernal gods, and not
without good reason, for it is without sight of heaven, not
merely never attempting, but even naturally made inca-
pable of looking upwards. Such are the reasons that the
holy institution assigns for abstinence from the things-
whence we are bound to abstain; and which we, who
understand them, communicate to those who believe in
the gods.
But as regards what we are permitted to eat, I make
this observation. The holy rule does not allow all indis-
criminately, but keeping in view what is within the power
of human nature, allows us to make use of these common
things, not in order that we should all of us necessarily
consume all such things (for this perhaps were no easy
matter), but that, firstly, each might use whatever his own
constitution should permit: secondly, a larger supply for
human wants is the consequence of such variety; and,
thirdly, it is attended by the exercise of will,¹ which last
it is right to strain to the utmost in matters of religion,
so as to be zealous and to exert one's self, even beyond
one's strength to follow the divine rules. Such conduct
is the more serviceable to the soul as regards its health,
supposing that one makes greater account of it, and not
of the health of the body. Nay, as regards the body, it
will ultimately prove to have participated unconsciously
in this more estimable and still greater benefit. For when
1 This permitted variety of diet, affording occasion for the exercise
of "meritorious self-denial" in abstaining even from lawful enjoyment.
278
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
the soul gives itself up completely to the gods, committing
all that concerns itself entirely to its superiors, whilst
purity of life is the consequence, and previous to this the
divine rules lead the way where is nothing further that
confines or trammels it; for all things are in the power
of the gods, and all things subsist around the gods,¹ and
all things are full of the gods; thereupon does the divine
light illumine their souls, and being themselves rendered
divine, they impart a tension and a strength to the spirit,2
to which they are united at birth, whilst the latter, being
thus sharpened and at the same time governed by the soul,
becomes the source of health to the whole body. That
probably all bodily diseases, or at any rate the greater
number and the worst, arise from the upsetting and de-
pravation of the animal spirits, as I fancy none of the
sons of Esculapius will deny, for some say this of all
diseases, others of the most numerous, the worst, and the
most difficult to cure. Testimony to this fact are the
oracles of the gods; I mean that not only the soul, but
the body likewise, is rendered worthy of much benefit and
health by means of this purity of living. For, as
they say,
"The mortal envelope of bitter Matter is like-
wise preserved," as the gods promise in encouragement to
the extremely pure amongst their own ministers.
What subject then remains for us to handle—especially
when we are confined within the short space of a single night,
and have read nothing beforehand, or made any research
into these matters, nay, without any previous intention of
writing about them, before asking for these tablets; the
goddess will bear witness to what I say. But as I was
1 The gods are centres about which all things turn.
2 Julian here uses púɣn and πvεuμa exactly in the sense of the Latin
"animus" and "anima." But in the regular Neo-Platonism the vouc
takes the place of his first, and holds the same relation to the puxŋ that
the latter holds to the body. This is fully and curiously set forth by
Plutarch in his "Face in the Moon."
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
279
saying, what else is left for us to do, save to commemo-
rate the goddess conjointly with Athene and Bacchus
-the festivals of whom, in truth, the law has fixed
during the time of this fast, perceiving doubtless the re-
lationship that exists between Athene and the Mother of
the Gods, because of the provident nature common to both,
having also an eye to the separate creative operation of
Bacchus, which power the mighty Bacchus has received
from the mighty Jupiter, inasmuch as he has emanated
out of him, and has communicated the same to all the
visible creation, while he directs and governs the universal
separate creation. It is also fitting to make mention of
Hermes, entitled "Epaphroditus "-for so the god is styled
by those initiated persons, who profess to kindle torches in
honour of Attis "the Wise." But who is so thick-headed
as not to understand that through Hermes and Aphrodite are
invoked all things in all places that contain the cause of
the universality and various forms of generation, which is
the proper subject of my argument? Is not this the Attis,
who at first is called insane, and then sane, in consequence
of his castration? Insane because he chose for himself the
realm of Matter, and superintends the work of genera-
tion; but sane because he hath modelled this refuse into
Beauty, and hath wrought therein so great a transforma-
tion, that no skill or craft of man can imitate the same. But
what shall be the conclusion of my theme? Verily a
Hymn of praise unto the goddess. O Mother of gods and
men, assister and colleague of mighty Jove! O source
of the Intelligible Powers! Thou that keepest thy course
in unison with the simple essences of things intelligible;
thou that hast received out of all the universal Cause, and
impartest it to the Intelligible world! Goddess, giver
of life, Mother, Providence, and Maker of our souls!
Thou that lovest the mighty Bacchus ; who didst preserve
Attis when he was cast forth, and didst recall him to thy-
1 ἔχοντα τὸ ἔνεκα τα παντῆ και παντὼς.
280
UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.
self after he had sunk down into the cave of the earth;
thou that art the beginning of all Good unto the Intelli-
gible Powers, and that fillest the world with all the objects
of Sense, and grantest all good things, in all places, unto
mankind! Grant unto all men happiness, of which the
sum and substance is the knowledge of the gods; and to
the Roman people universally, first and foremost to wash
away from themselves the stain of atheism,¹ and in addi-
tion to this, grant them propitious Fortune, that shall
assist them in governing the empire for many thousands
of years to come! To myself grant for the fruit of my
devotion to thee-Truth in belief concerning the gods, the
attainment of perfection in religious rites, and in all the
undertakings which we attempt as regards warlike or
military measures, valour coupled with good luck, and
the termination of my life to be without pain, and happy
in the good hope of a departure for your abodes!
2
By the complete eradication of Christianity, the denial of his gods.
2 A hint of some important reforms he was contemplating in the
constitution of the army, which was kept secret until the successful ter-
mination of the Persian War should enable him to carry it out, in de-
fiance of all opposition from the officials interested in the existing cor-
ruption.

Λ.
INDEX.
Absurdities of Paganism, 77.
Accaran, goddess of flies, 109.
"Against the Christians," when
written, 177.
Agentes in rebus, their knavery,
163.
Αυτὸς ἔφα, opposed to Faith, 66.
Alexandria, Pagan excesses at,
54.
Alphabet, inventors of the, 71.
Alternate spheres, the, 239.
Alypius sent into Britain, 147.
Amathusa, riots at, 54.
Amos, quoted, 8.
Angels, dæmons, heroes, whence
derived, 236.
solar, 232.
Antioch, famine at, 182.
184.
Senate of, sent to prison,
Julian's quarters for nine
months, 174.
Apamea and Antioch dispute
for precedence, 180.
Aphrodite, planetary power of,
243.
Apis, Mendes, Priapus, 112.
Apollo reveals a plot against
Julian, 154.
co-existent with Sun, 236.
Apollo's Temple at Antioch
burnt, 184.
Apostles, Church of the, burial-
place of Constantine's family,
101.
Apples, why forbidden, 273,
275.
Aria, place where Julian was
brought up, 15.
Aristotle, of God, 261.
of sight, 271.
of the soul, 259.
of the sun, 228.
on man's double nature, 234.
on the Revolving Body,
258.
Aristotle's plan of the universe,
261.
Armour for horses, 187.
Army, how gained over, 36.
Arsaces, King of Armenia, 203.
Arts and sciences, inventors of
the, 71, 72.
Asceticism, glorification of, 40.
Esculapius, purifier of Matter,
247.
Asphalte for cement, 196.
Assyria, Julian's march through,
194.
laid waste, 191.
Astrologers ridiculed, 90.
Astrology studied by Julian, 18.
"Atheism for Christianity,
280.
Athene
Providence, 242.
the moon, 242.
Athenians, letter to the," 157.
Athens, introduction of the
Gallos at, 254.
Julian at, 104.
Julian's residence at, 125.
282
INDEX.
Athens, temple
Mother "at, 255.
of "The
temples re-opened at, 157.
Attis, Gallos, explained, 257.
his starry cap, 262.
typical castration of, 274.
B.
Barbatio sent into Gaul, 138.
Barbers, cooks, eunuchs, of the
Palace, 162.
Basil and Gregory, Julian's
friendship with,
Basilina, Julian's mother, 13.
Banditti enlisted, 154.
Beauty, the Intelligible, 236.
Belus, same with Serapis, 271.
Billon coinage, real origin of,
164.
Blood, magic mirror of, 106.
Blood of Martyrs, kept as relics,
39.
Boats used for penthouse, 196.
Branding, Mithraic, 39.
Brick fortifications, 196.
Britain, exportation of corn
from, 138.
147.
peculation of the Governor,
British corn-fleet sails up the
Rhine, 147.
Buffoons and mimes at funerals,
101.
Buffoons kept in the camp, 96.
Bull Apis, made sport of, 44.
Burying alive, punishment of,
159.
C.
Canal joining Euphrates with
Tigris, 201.
Candlestick, the golden, 114.
Capitation-tax, proposed reduc-
tion of, 211..
Casius, Mount, 175.
Castle, siege of a, 196.
Castration of Attis, typical, 265.
Castalian Fount silenced, 111.
Catamite, sacrifices to Nile, 112.
Cataphractus, 187.
"Catholics" persecuted by Con-
stantius, 21.
Cave used for magic, 31.
Celebration of victory, 114.
Celsus, Prefect of Cilicia, 171.
Chameleon, simile of, 35.
Charbonesus, river, 190.
Chastity of Julian, 177.
Chevaux de frise, portable, 194.
Christian institutions aped by
Julian, 74, 75.
Christianity, final triumph of,
212.
Christians, how ridiculed by
Julian, 105.
Cigale, their music, 176.
Clibunarii, heavy cavalry, 134.
Clodia and her zone, 255.
"Commentaries," Julian's, 138.
Constans', edicts of, 66.
Constantius calls the Germans
into Gaul, 133.
funeral of, 158.
Constantius' letters to the Ger-
mans exhibited, 138.
mode of campaigning, 189.
persecution of the "Catho-
lics," 21.
Constantius poisoned, 27.
stirs up the Germans
against Julian, 157.
Continence, why enforced, 267.
why enjoined, 273.
Conversion of the army, easy,
36.
Corn trade, British, 138.
Corrupt practices of Constantius'
officials, 163-4-5.
Corybantes, the Seasons, 266.
Corybas, title of Sun, 264.
"Counsel of Perfection," 66.
Counters for calculation, 119.
Courtesans, procession of, 104.
Court-servants, innumerable,
162.
Cowardice, how punished, 193.
Cowardice of Constantius'
troops, 188.
INDEX.
283
Cowardice of Constantius'
troops, accounted for, 173.
Creative powers, numerous, 231.
Cross appearing in the heavens,
91.
crowned, omen of, 30.
how pre-figured, 11.
miraculous impressions of
the, 89.
miraculously printed upon
Jews' garments, 91.
Crossing oneself at meals, 51.
in alarm, 31.
Crowns of gold offered by cities,
174.
Ctesiphon, battle of, 202.
described, 93.
Cup, Julian's magic, 176.
Curiales, re-establishment of
the, 167.
Cynics, Against ignorant,"
when written, 171.
Cynosarges, infants exposed in,
70.
Cyprus, Temple of Sun in, 235.
D.
Damary, forgers' mint at, 164.
Dante's Circular Natura, 261.
Daphne, a mere tree, 111.
Deification of Julian, 215.
Ded, identical with Mother of
the Gods, 254.
Diadem, Julian's dislike of the,
182.
""
not used by Magnentius, ib.
"Descent into the cave, ex-
plained, 269.
Dionysius, Plato's Epistle to,
221.
Dionysos, equivalent of Sun,
236.
Dioscuri, type of alternations,
239.
Discipline, Julian's strict, 193.
Doctrines, Christian, kept secret
from the vulgar, 180.
Domitianus murdered, 130.
Dragon, military ensign, 37.
Drunkenness punished, 191.
Divination, Julian's skill in,
178,
E.
Earthquake in Thrace, 176.
the great, of 365, 213.
Ecdicius, Julian's tutor, 125.
Edessa, City of the Sun, 244.
Eighth Revolution, the, 239.
Empedocles, the "Harmony"
of, 229.
((
Epaphroditus," Hermes, 279.
Epic metre, origin of, 72.
Esoteric Christian doctrines, 80.
Eternity of the universe, 221.
of visible world, 238.
Eulogies, string of, 209.
Eusebia protects Julian, 131.
Eusebius, the eunuch, put to
death, 168.
Extortion, various modes of,
164.
F.
Failure of the Persian expedi-
tion, 203.
Fakirs, Christian, 40.
False-coiners, licensed, 164.
Fasts kept by Julian, 175.
Fidicula, mode of torture, 57.
Fifth Body, the, 221.
defined, 230.
Fish, mystic offerings of, 275.
why forbidden, 275.
Flaying alive, 193.
Flies, goddess of, 109.
Flooding the fields, 192.
Florentius, Prefect of Gaul, 136.
Forbidden foods, 273.
Fortuna, at Cæsarea, the, 60.
Franks put into civilian posts,
171.
Funeral rites of Constantius, 99.
of Julian, 106.
G.
"Galileans" made a legal ap-
pellation, 46.
284
INDEX.
Gallic troops drafted for the
Persian War, 150.
Gallus made Cæsar, 23, 125.
put to death secretly, 130.
why deposed, 23.
Game, presents of, to Emperors,
171.
Gaul, desolation of, 133.
Gaza, riots at, 54.
German occupation of Gaul, 133.
"God of Seven Things," the,
271.
Gold on the head, Julian's dis-
like of, 182.
mines of Constantius, 186.
"Good Fellow, My," used by
Julian, 181.
Graces, how they descend from
the heavens, 241.
their origin and office, 239.
"Great Mind," the, 1.
"Greek," in the sense of "Pa-
gan," 247.
Gregory kindly treated by Ju-
lian, why? 120.
<<
H.
Hair-pulling, mode of torture, 57.
Harmony," the Empedoclean,
229.
Head-money paid by Julian,
144.
Helena Juliani, dies, 177.
Constantine's mother, 121.
Heliopolis, riots at, 51.
Heraclea, on the Rhine, 148.
Heraclitus, of Water, 263.
Hercules, the soul of, 264.
Pillars of, 120.
Hermes, not to be looked at, 112.
Hide, boats made of, 106.
Hiding-places,
194.
subterranean,
Hierapolis, Jupiter of, 189.
Hierophant at Athens, 273.
Hilaria, festival of Cybele, 267.
Hill, the Pagan, 117.
Homer, absurd myths in, 79.
of Ocean, 240.
Homer, of the Sun, 227.
Horus, name of Sun, 242.
Human victims sacrificed in
palace, 60.
I.
Iamblichus, equal to Plato, 238.
his "Third Creator," 261.
of Apamea, 180.
Imagination, Pavraoía, 261.
Imperial statues, varieties of,
48.
"Indefinity,” ȧtɛipia, 265.
Initiations, in palace-temple of
Sun, 161.
Ino calms the waves, 131.
Invisible Sun, who, 221.
Irrigation of Assyria, 192.
J.
Jerusalem, rebuilding of the
Temple, 88, 89.
the Jews restored to, 88.
Judge, Julian presides as, 180.
Julian arrested, 130.
builds Martyr-churches, 15.
becomes a Reader," 14.
is sent to Athens, 131.
proclaimed Emperor, 152.
reforms the Court, 162.
sent into Gaul, 132.
slain by treason, 207.
why sent into Gaul, 23.
Julian's conversion, how pro-
duced, 125.
96.
daily occupations, 176.
death, variously related,
early education, 14.
escape from the massacre
of his family, 12.
44.
good government confessed,
hereditary property confis-
cated, 13.
intended measures, 64.
march against Constantius,
156.
noble origin, 121.
INDEX.
285
Julian's numerous works, 216.
personal habits, 104.
purity of life, 161.
reasons for not leaving pos-
terity, 177.
religious disputations with
his brother, 15.
style, how formed, 126.
uncle, horrid death of, 86.
Jovian's vices glanced at, 209.
Julianus, the Prefect, 121.
Jupiter Casius appears to Ju-
lian, 175.
Jupiter's planetary effects, 235.
K
Kabala, Metraton of the, 258.
Kabalistic Wheel, the, 256.
King Attis," who, 267.,
L.
Labarum, derivation of, 37.
Latin, studied by Julian, 129.
Largess, Imperial, how distri-
buted, 56.
Lectures on Paganism, 74.
Libanius' lectures at Nicomedia,
126.
lectures, copies secretly
procured by Julian, 126.
Libra, Mysteries held under the
Sign, 271.
Light, analysis of, 223.
equivalent of Truth, 221.
the Mystic, 41.
Lion of Cybele, 265.
λoyos, puns upon, 3.
Lunus deus = Attis, 266.
Lycobas, whence derived, 248.
M.
Magnentius, good government
of, 132.
Manifestoes issued by Julian,
157.
Maogamalcha taken by mine,
196.
Marcus, how tortured, 55.
Mardonius, Julian's tutor, 125.
Matter, union of Soul with, 265.
Maximinus, statues mutilated,
not destroyed, 63.
Maximus, the philosopher,
comes to Court, 171.
Medals, posthumous, of Julian,
216.
Metraton = Attis, 258.
>> t
Melampygi, Apygi," 46.
Mines, at a siege, 196.
Mint-masters, obliged to serve
as Curiales, 167:
Miracle-workers, ascetic, 41.
Miracles, Old Testament, ap-
plied, 11.
Misopogon," the, 120.
Mithraic Cave? 31.
branding, 39.
torture, a, 57.
Mithras the Sun, 249.
Mob-law, connived at, 54.
connived at by Julian, 35.
Monimos and Azizos = Mercury
and Mars, 244.
Moon, her function in Nature,
243.
Moses, his uplifted hands, sym-
bol of the Cross, 11.
Mother of the Gods, her altar
thrown down, 119.
hymn to, when written, 171.
Mules, used for posting, 165.
Mystic Number, a, 11.
Mythology, moralization of, 75.
Myths, real use of, 268.
N.
Naaseni, disciples of Heraclitus,
263.
Names, Mystic, 16.
of deities, ridiculous, 77.
Nebridius, saved from the sol-
diers, 156.
Neith, Athene, 243.
Neptune, the "Earth-shaker,"
176.
mourning Julian's death,
213.
Neutrals in religion, 5.
286
INDEX.
Nicea destroyed by earth-
quake, 213.
Nicomedia, Julian's studies at,
126.
Nile, strange sacrifice to, 112.
Numeral having power, 11.
Nymph seducing Attis - Mat-
ter, 263.
0.
=
Obscene rites and emblems, 112.
Obstinate endurance, 119.
Ocean, source of all Life, 240.
Omen from church-building, 15.
of the Cross crowned, 30,
of the wreath dropped, 135.
Ophan, of the Kabala, 258.
Oppression of subjects under
Constantius, 163.
Opprobrious epithets,
of, 1.
string |
Oracle-book, carried about by
Julian, 158.
Orpheus, books of, 111.
Osella, Venetian, 171.
P.
Paganism, reformed by Julian,
74.
edicts against, 66.
Palace of Sapor, 198.
Palace, purging of the, 162.
Palamedes, inventor of nume-
ration, 71.
Park for hunting, 198.
Pauluş Catena put to death, 168.
Pergamus, "The Mother at,
255.
>>
Persecution, artful mode of, 33.
inutility of, 159.
Persecutions, former, 159.
Persian campaign, Julian's, 93,
94.
Phallic emblems, 112.
Pagan rites ridiculous, 69.
Philosophers ridiculed, 43, 62.
, persecuted, 213.
Philosophy sent down from
Heaven, 246.
Phoenician doctrines, 244.
Pistis-Sophia, her entanglement
in Matter, 265.
Plato, of Imitation, 260.
Planks laid upon soldiers' heads,
193.
Plutarch, "De Ei Delphico,”
258.
278.
on the Face in the Moon,
on the office of Pluto,
226.
Plot revealed by Jupiter, 175.
of soldiers, how discovered,
172.
to poison Julian, 154.
Pluto, a benevolent deity, 226.
Pomegranates, why forbidden,
273.
Porphyry, Julian's instructor,
172.
Porphyry's Prophecies, 120.
treatise on "The Mother,"
257.
Portraits of Julian placed in
temples, 216.
Postal reforms, 165.
Presages stimulating Julian to
revolt, 27.
Prize vases, shape of, 273.
Provident," Plato's title of
Pluto, 225.
Purple dye, Constantius know-
ing in, 181.
Pyrisapor Castle, 193.
Q.
Quirinus resumed by the Sun,
249.
Quintessence," the, 258.
R.
Rabshekeh, Julian imitates, 74.
Recommendation, letters of, 75.
Retreat from Persia, 209.
Relays of secretaries, 176.
Relics, miracles wrought by, 39.
INDEX,
287
Resumption of temple plun-
der, 5.
Revenge of the
212.
Christians,
Revolution of feelings, sudden,
117.
Rhine, the course of the corn-
fleet, 137.
Romulus, how conceived, 248.
Roots, why forbidden, 274.
S.
Sallustius Secundus, 137.
Samosata, 189.
Sapor's conditions of peace, 209.
alarm at Julian's success,
206.
Sapor offers a reward to the
killer of Julian, 208.
offers terms, 173.
"Sapphire of Constantius,"
origin of its design, 48.
"Saturnalia," Julian's Treatise
on the, 249.
Scarabeus, allusion to the, 77.
Secretaries, Imperial, rascalities
of, 162.
Seleucia and Ctesiphon, 199.
Self-producing power, 231.
Senate, Julian's behaviour to,
170.
Constantius's behaviour to,
ib.
Serapis, equivalent of Sun, 225.
Souls, their source, 220.
Solar festival, the, 220.
the great, 249.
Soul of the World, 223.
Type of Species," 259.
Standards, military, various,
37.
Star-gazer, Julian as a child,
219.
Stars, soul of the, 223.
Statues, imperial, varieties of,
48.
Στηλητεύειν, "to pillory," 120.
Sun, action of the, 228.
analysis of the, 221.
Sun, central place of the, 229.
cause of generation, 233.
gazed at in prayer, 42.
Julian a votary of the,
219.
middle place of, 233.
source of angels and supe-
rior souls, 236.
source of souls, 220.
Temple of, built in the
Palace, 161.
225.
the vehicle of souls, 246.
torture, 213.
typified by several gods,
type of God, 221.
the Invisible, 221.
Sun's elements and energies,
234.
233.
source, nature, effects of,
Super-lunar region, 244.
Powers, 236.
Swine, fed on human flesh, 51.
why offered to infernal
gods, 274.
T.
Tarsus, Julian's tomb at, 99,
217.
Taxes, lightening of by Julian,
44.
Telmessians, interpreters
dreams, 73.
of
Temple, Julian's memorial, 99.
lands seized by monks,
129.
plunder, resumption of, 5.
rebuilding of the, 88, 89.
spoilers fined, 160.
columns reclaimed, ib.
Theophrastus, of the
"Fifth
Body," 258.
"Third Creator," the, 261, 266.
'Three Motions" of the Mys-
teries, 241.
Thunderbolt, symbolizes Julian,
217.
288
INDEX.
Thuribulum set before the Im-
perial throne, 50.
Tigris, 20,000 troops detached
for the, 180.
Tree, mystic cutting of the, 266.
Triumph of Constantius, 143.
Trumpet sounded at the Mys-
teries, 267.
Tyrian purple, how discovered,
72.
U.
Underground refuges, 194.
Unguents, use of, 114.
(C
Ungula, claw," used in tor-
ture, 120.
Unity defined, 230.
University of Athens, 125.
Ursulus put to death, 168.
V.
Verses, Julian makes, 137.
VIRTUS EXERCITUS, coin-type,
194.
Vesta, the Fire of, 249.
W.
War-ships, sailing, 148.
Weight of the Solidus, 174,
187.
Weighty golden crowns, 174,
182..
Wells, human victims thrown
into, 60.
Wild boars preserved in park,
198.
Wine left behind on march, 190.
Wolf, attribute of Mars, 248.
Wooden image of "The Mother"
brought to Rome, 255.
"Word,” various senses of, 3.
World, a living thing, 230.
eternity of the Visible,
238.
Soul of the, 223.
Wreath, dropped on Julian's
head, 134.
X.
"Xanthus," "
Moly," language
of the gods, 71.
Xenocrates, 42.
lectures at Athens, 258.
Y.
•
Year, various beginnings of,
249.
Youthful studies of Julian, 15.
Z.
Zeal, Julian's irrational, 104.
Zeus, co-partner with Sun, 235.
Zopyrus, a new, 94.
MAY 6-
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