the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Julianus, Flavius Claudius, Emperor
Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography
or Julianus (103), Flavius Claudius, emperor, often called Julian the Apostate; born A.D. 331; appointed Caesar, Nov. 6, 355; proclaimed Augustus, Apr. 360; succeeded Constantius as sole emperor, Nov. 3, 361; died in Persia, June 27, 363. For the authorities for Julian's life, see D. C. B. (4-vol. ed.), s.v.
The first and still in some respects the best English account of Julian is to be found in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , cc. 19, 22–24—a forcible and on the whole very just picture. Like some other cold and sceptical people (e.g. Strauss), Gibbon despised Julian's superstitious enthusiasm, and, though he cannot restrain some sneers at the church and the orthodox faith, this part of his history has generally met with comparative favour at the hands of Christian critics. Mr. J. W. Barlow on Gibbon and Julian in the Dublin Hermathena for 1877 endeavours to shew that Gibbon, in order to gain a reputation for impartiality, is unfair to the emperor, whom he thinks morally and intellectually the best man "of the whole series." In the first three quarters of the last century little or nothing was published in England specially on this subject. An interesting and valuable essay, written for a Cambridge historical prize by the Hon. Arthur Lyttelton, has been kindly placed at the disposal of the writer of this article, who owes to it several important references. It is embodied in the Church Qtly. Rev. for Oct. 1880, Vol. xi. pp. 24–58, The Pagan Reaction under Julian , which gives a fresh and vigorous view of the subject. Mr. Gerald H. Rendall's Hulsean Essay for 1876, The Emperor Julian; Paganism and Christianity is decidedly the best account of Julian's religious position in English, perhaps in any modern language. In French, we have the invaluable Tillemont and other writers of church history. Besides the articles in vol. iv. of the Empereurs there is a special treatise on the Persécution de l᾿Eglise par J. l᾿Apostat , in vol. vii. of the Mémoires . We miss, however, a critical treatment of the authorities and wide generalizations in Tillemont. He also seems to exaggerate the scope of the law against Christian professors. The fullest history of Julian is that of Albert de Broglie in vols. iii. and iv. of his L᾿Eglise et l᾿empire romain au quatrième siècle (Paris, 1866, etc.). This is indispensable to the student of the period. Its general attitude is that taken in this article, but he is too anxious to make points to be careful of minute accuracy, and therefore of entire fairness, and his references often want correction. These volumes were reviewed by C. Martha in the Revue des deux mondes for Mar 1867, vol. lxviii. pp. 137–169, who paints the emperor more favourably. In German J. F. A. Mücke, Flavius Claudius Julianus: nach den Quellen (Gotha, 1867 and 1869, 2 parts) is the most complete modern account. Fr. Rode, Geschichte der Reaction Kaiser Julians gegen die christliche Kirche (Jena, 1877); a useful study, and generally very accurate, paying proper attention to chronology. The writer takes up something of the same position is Keim does in his essay on Constantine's conversion—striving after fairness towards the church, without accepting its doctrines. He admires Julian's books against the Christians as anticipating the line of modem critical theology in many points, pp. 102, 103; cf. p. 32, n. 10.
§ 1. Early years of Julian as a Christian. (A.D. 331–351). § 2. Conversion to heathenism 351–355. § 3. Julian as Caesar from Nov. 6, 355 to Nov. 3, 361. § 4. Residence at Constantinople as Augustus , Nov. 3, 361 to May, 362. § 5. Journey through Asia Minor , May to July, 362. § 6. Residence at Antioch , July, 362 to March 5, 363. § 7. Persian campaign and death , March 5 to June 27, 363.
§ 1. Early Years of Julian as a Christian (A.D. 331–351).—Flavius Claudius Julianus was the youngest son of Julius Constantius, the half-brother of Constantine the Great. His mother, Basilina, was of the noble family of the Anicii, and daughter of Julianus the praetorian prefect, whose name was given to her son. Julian was born at Constantinople in the latter part of A.D. 331, the year after the dedication of the new capital.
Upon the death of Constantine in May 337, and the accession of his three sons, there was a general massacre of the male branches of the younger line of the Flavian family descended from Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Theodora. In this tragedy there perished the father and eldest brother of Julian, his paternal uncle, his cousins the Caesars Delmatius and Hanniballian, and four other members of the family. Julian and his elder half-brother Gallus, who was sick of an illness which was expected to be mortal, were alone preserved, by the compassion or the policy of Constantius (cf. Socr. H. E. iii. 1; Greg. Naz. Or. iii. p. 58 B . Julian, ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 270 C , gives the list of those who perished, and ascribes their deaths to Constantius, who he says wished at first to slay both himself and Gallus). Julian is said to have owed his life to the interference of Mark, bp. of Arethusa, who gave him sanctuary in a church (Greg. Naz. Or. iii. p. 80 C ). The boy was taken charge of by his mother's family, and his education conducted under the direction of the Arian Eusebius, bp. of Nicomedia, who was distantly related to him (Amm. xxii. 9. 4; Cf. Soz. v. 2). When Eusebius was translated in 388 to the see of Constantinople Julian probably went with him, and attended the schools of that city (cf. Libanius, ἐπιτάφιος , ed. Reiske, i. p. 525; Julian, Ep. 58; and Rode, Die Reaction Julians , p. 22, n. 10). His constant attendant and guardian was his mother's slave Mardonius, whose influence evidently had great power in moulding the character and tastes of his pupil, and who insisted strongly on a staid and perhaps rather pedantic demeanour (Liban. l.c.; Jul. Misopogon , pp. 351 seq.; Mücke, in his Julianus nach den Quellen , zweite Abtheilung, pp. 6. and 9, makes a curious blunder in supposing that Julian disliked Mardonius). Though educating him only for a private position, he set before him a high standard, and particularly held up to his imitation the names and characters of "Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Theophrastus" (Misop. p. 353 B). He kept him from the theatre and the circus, and taught him rather to love the Homeric descriptions of Phaeacia and Demodocus and Calypso's isle, and the cave of Circe ( ib. 351 D). Such teaching doubtless fed the naturally dreamy temperament of his pupil. Julian tells us that from a child he had a strange desire of gazing at the sun, and that he loved to spend a clear night in looking fixedly at the moon and stars, so that he almost gained the character of an astrologer (Jul. Or. iv. ad regem Solem ad init.; cf. the fable, Or. vii. p. 229, in which he speaks of himself as entrusted by Zeus to the sun's guardianship).
These pleasant days of freedom .were brought to an abrupt conclusion by the command of Constantius. The death of his relative Eusebius (in 342) deprived Julian of a powerful protector, when he was about 11 years old; and soon after (probably in 343 or 344) the emperor recalled Gallus from exile, and sent the two brothers to the distant palace of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here for six years they were kept under surveillance, with no lack of material comforts, but apart from young men of their own age and with only the society of their slaves (Greg. Naz. Or. iii. p. 58 B; Julian, ad Ath. p. 271 C). Their seclusion was only once broken by a visit from Constantius (Jul. ad Ath. p. 274, probably in 347, see laws of the Cod. Theod. in this year). Masters and teachers were not wanting, especially of that form of Arianism to which Constantius was devoted; and Julian now, if not before, made a considerable verbal acquaintance with the Bible, an acquaintance which frequently appears in his writings. He and Gallus were admitted to the office of Reader in the church—a proof that he had been baptized, though no mention of his baptism is recorded. They interested themselves zealously in the building of chapels over the relics of certain martyrs (Greg. Naz. Or. iii. p. 58; Soz. v. 2). The success of Gallus in this building and the ill-success of Julian was remarked at the time, and was (afterwards, at any rate) considered as an omen of his apostasy (Greg. Naz. l.c. p. 59).
In the spring of 351 Constantius felt himself forced by the burden of empire to take a colleague, and Gallus was appointed Caesar. Julian with difficulty was permitted to leave Macellum, and seems to have returned for a short time to Constantinople; there he studied grammar with Nicocles, and rhetoric with Hecebolius then a zealous Christian (Socr. H. E. iii. 1). Constantius, fearing lest his presence in the capital might lead to his becoming too popular, ordered him to remove to Nicomedia (Liban. Epitaph. p. 526, προσφωνητικός , p. 408). Hecebolius exacted a promise from his pupil that he would not attend the lectures of the famous heathen sophist Libanius; Julian kept his promise, perhaps fearing to excite suspicion by outward intercourse with a chief partisan of the old religion, but contented himself with a study of the written lectures of the master (Liban. l.c. 526 seq. Libanius does not name Hecebolius, but the description seems to point to him: Sievers, Libanius , p. 54, n. 5, supposes Nicocles to be meant). Others, however, in Nicomedia besides Libanius attracted the attention of the young prince. He here learnt to know some of the more mystical of the heathen party, to whom paganism was still a reality and the gods living beings, visions of whom were to be seen by night and whose power still worked signs and wonders. "He is sent to the city of Nicomedes," says Libanius, "as a place of less importance than Constantinople. But this was the beginning of the greatest blessings both to himself and the world. For there was there a spark of the mantic art still. smouldering, which had with difficulty escaped the hands of the impious. By the light of this" (turning to Julian) "you first tracked out what was obscure, and learnt to curb your vehement hatred of the gods, being rendered gentle by the revelations of divination " (Liban. Prosphoneticus , ed. Reiske, 1, p. 408.
While Julian was thus having his first experience of the inner circle of heathen life, Gallus met his brother for the last time as he passed through Bithynia to undertake the government of the East with which Constantius had invested him (Liban. Epitaph. p. 527, διὰ τῆς Βιθυνίας ). The two brothers, according to Julian's account, corresponded but rarely after this, and on few subjects (Jul. ad Ath. p. 273; Liban. Epitaph. p. 530). Gallus, it is said, having reason at a later date to suspect his brother's change of belief, sent the Arian Aetius to confer with him (Philostorgius, 3, 27). Julian, if we may believe Libanus, sent Galllus good advice on his political conduct, which had he followed he might have preserved both the empire and his life (Liban. ad Jul. cos. p. 376, ed. Reiske).
§ 2. Conversion to Heathenism (A.D. 351–355).—The secret apostasy of Julian was the result of his residence at Nicomedia, though it was not completed there. The chief agent in effecting it was the neo-Platonist Maximus of Ephesus, a philosopher, magician, and political schemer. The fame of the wisdom of Aedesius first attracted Julian to Pergamus but he, being old and infirm, recommended him to his pupils, Chrysanthius and Eusebius. The latter was, or pretended to be, an adversary of the theurgic methods of Maximus, and a follower of the higher and more intellectual Platonism, and used to finish every lecture by a general warning against trickery and charlatans. Julian, much struck with this, took the advice of Chrysanthius upon the point, and asked Eusebius to explain what he meant. The latter replied by an account of Maximus, which gave a new edge of the already keen curiosity of Julian. "Some days ago" (he went on) "he ran in and called our company together to the temple of Hecate, thus making a large body of witnesses against himself. . . . When we came before the goddess and saluted her, he cried, 'Sit down, dearest friends, and see what will happen, and whether I am superior to ordinary men.' We all sat down, then he burnt a grain of frankincense, and as he repeated some sort of chant to himself he so far succeeded in the exhibition of his power that first the image smiled and then even appeared to laugh. We were confounded at the sight, but he said, 'Let none of you be disturbed at this, for in a moment the torches which the goddess has in her hands will be lighted up'—and before he had done speaking light actually burned in the. torches. We then retired, being amazed and in doubt at the wonder which had taken place. But do not you wonder at anything of this kind, just as I also through the purifying effects of reason conceive it is nothing of great importance." Julian (says Eunapius) hearing this, exclaimed, "Farewell, and keep to your books, if you will; you have revealed to me the man I was in search of" (Eunapius, Vita Maximi, pp. 48–51, ed. Boissonade). It is difficult to believe that Eusebius was not in league with Chrysanthius to bring Julian under the influence of Maximus. The young prince hurried off to Ephesus, and there threw himself with eagerness into the teaching of his new master, which seems exactly to have suited his fantastic temperament. Julian had no practical Christianity to fall back upon. The sense of being watched and suspected had sunk deeply into his mind at Macellum, and he had learnt to look upon Constantius not only as his jailor, but as the murderer of his nearest relations. This naturally did not incline him to the religion inculcated by Arian or semi-Arian court bishops, who probably laid stress upon their peculiar points of divergence from the orthodox faith, and neglected the rest of Christian theology. Julian therefore conceived of Christianity, not as a great body of truth satisfying the whole man, but as a set of formulas to be plausibly debated and distinguished. On the other hand, he had a real, though pedantic, love of Hellenic authors and literature, and a natural dislike to those who destroyed the ancient monuments of the old faith. His characteristic dreaminess and love of mystery found satisfaction in the secret cults to which men like Maximus were addicted—all the more zealously as public sacrifice was difficult or dangerous. He was by nature ardent and superstitious, and never fell into good hands. The pagan coterie soon discovered the importance of their convert, and imbued him with the notion that he was the chosen servant of the gods to bring back again Hellenic life and religion. By the arts of divination a speedy call to the throne was promised him, and he vowed to restore to the temples if he became emperor. (Libanius Epitaph. pp. 529 and 565, who agrees substantially with Socrates, iii. 1, p. 168, and Sozomen, v. 2, p. 181; cf. Theod. iii. 1). For the present, however, the fulfilment of such hopes seemed distant, and Julian for ten years pretended zeal for Christianity (Liban. Epitaph. p. 528; Amm. xxii. 5, 1; Sol iii. 1; Soz. v. 2). He had, indeed, good reason to fear the suspicions of his cousin. In 354 [See GALLUS], was craftily removed from his government and executed, and Julian was apprehended, on obscure charges (Amm. xv. 2, 7—the charge of leaving Macellum without permission seems strange, since the brothers had been released from their retirement some four years before). For seven months he was confined in N. Italy near the court, being removed from place to place (Jul. ad Ath. p. 272 D; Liban. Epitaph. p. 530; cf. Jul. ad Themist. p. 260 A)—an imprisonment brought to an end by the intervention of the gentle empress Eusebia, who procured for him an interview with Constantius, and leave to return to his studies (Jul. ad Ath. pp. 272, 274; Or. 3, p. 118 B). At first he determined to retire to his mother's property in Bithynia, Constantius having confiscated all the estates of his father (Jul. ad Ath. p. 273; Ep. 40, p. 417 A, to Iamblichus—an interesting letter written 3 years later, and not concealing his religious opinions). He had hardly arrived in Asia Minor when the suspicions of Constantius were aroused by two reports brought by informers, one of treasonable proceedings at a banquet given by Africanus, the governor of Pannonia Secunda at Sirmium, the other of the rising of Silvanus in Gaul (Jul., ad Ath. p. 273 C, D; cf. Amm. xv. 3, 7 seq.). The first was no doubt connected in his mind with Julian, who had just passed through that country, and whom he in consequence recalled, but on his way back received permission, or rather command, to turn aside into Greece, a privilege which Eusebia had procured for him ( ad Ath. 273 D; Or. 3, p. 118 C). He thus could gratify a long-cherished wish of visiting Athens. The young prince was naturally well received by professors and sophists, such as Prohaeresius and Himerius, then teaching at Athens. He had a turn for philosophy, and could discourse eagerly, in the modern neo-Platonic fashion, about the descent and the ascent of souls. He was surrounded by a swarm of young and old men, philosophers and rhetoricians, and (if we may believe Libanius) gained favour as much by his modesty and gentleness as by the qualities of his intelligence (Liban. Epitaph. p. 532). Two of the most distinguished of his familiars among his fellow-students at this time were the future bishops Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, then as always close and intimate friends. Gregory, however, seems to have detected something of his real character; he noticed an air of wildness and unsteadiness, a wandering eye, an uneven gait, a nervous agitation of the features, an unreasoning and disdainful laugh, an abrupt, irregular way of talking, which betrayed a mind ill at ease with itself, and exclaimed, "What a plague the Roman empire is breeding! God grant I may be a false prophet!" ( Or. pp. 161, 162). Gregory, who had many friends among the professors, may well have been aware of the real state of the young prince's mind, and of his nightly visits to Eleusis, where he could indulge his religious feelings without reserve. Maximus had introduced him to the hierophant there, a great miracle-worker who was in league with the heathen party in Asia Minor (Eunapius, Vita Maximi , pp. 52, 53).
§ 3. Julian as Caesar (from Nov. 6, 355, to Nov. 3, 361—death of Constantius).—About May 355 Julian was permitted to go to Athens, but a few months later was summoned again to the court (Jul. ad Ath. p. 273 D). He left the city in low spirits and with many tears, and, stretching out his hands to the Acropolis, besought Athena to save her suppliant—an act which, he tells us, many saw him perform ( ib. p. 475 A). Those who did so could hardly have doubted his change of religion, and there were doubtless many sympathizers who looked to him as the future restorer of the old faith. He first crossed the Aegean to Ilium Novum, where he visited the antiquities under the guidance of the then Christian bp. Pegasius, who delighted him by omitting the sign of the cross in the temples, and otherwise shewing heathen sympathies (Jul. Ep. 78—the letter, first edited by C. Henning, in Hermes , Vol. ix.). On his arrival at Milan, Constantius was absent, but Julian was well received by the eunuchs of the empress (ad Ath. pp. 274, 275 B). His first impulse was to write to his protectress and implore her to obtain leave for him to return home; but on demanding a revelation from the gods, he received an intimation of their displeasure and a threat of disgraceful death if he did so, and, in consequence; schooled himself to yield his will to theirs, and to become their instrument for whatever purposes they chose ( ib. pp. 275, 276; cf. Liban. ad Jul. consulem , t. 1, p. 378). Constantius soon returned, and determined, under the persevering pressure of his wife and notwithstanding strong opposition, to give the dignity of Caesar to his sole remaining relative (Amm. xv. 8, 3; Zos. 3, 1). On Nov. 6, 355, Julian received the insignia in the presence of the army at Milan, and was given control of the prefecture of Gaul (i.e. Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Germany), and especially of the defence of the frontiers ( ad Ath. p. 277 A; Amm. l.c. ). As he drew the unwonted garb around him in place of his beloved pallium, he was heard to mutter the line of Homer, to which his wit gave a new shade of meaning:
"Him purple death and destiny embraced"
(Amm. xv. 8, 17). At the same time he received, through the management of Eusebia, the emperor's sister Helena as his bride, and the gift of a library from the empress herself (Or. iii. p. 123 D). Thus the reconciliation of the cousins was apparently complete. Julian produced a spirited panegyric upon the reign and just actions of Constantius, which it seems right to assign to this date ( Or. 1; cf. Spanheim's notes, p. 5). He set out, on Dec. 1, for his new duties with a small retinue, from which almost all his personal followers were carefully excluded (Amm. xv. 8, 17, 18; Jul., ad Ath. p. 277 B, C). Of his four slaves, one was his only confidant in religious matters, an African named Euhemerus ( ad Ath. p. 277 B; Eunap. Vita Maximi , p. 54). His physician, Oribasius, who had charge of his library, was only allowed to accompany him through ignorance of their intimacy (ad Ath. l.c.; Eunap. Vita Oribasii , p. 104). He entered Vienne with great popular rejoicing (for the province was hard-pressed by the barbarians) and possibly with secret expectations amongst the heathen party, which had been strong in the time of Magnentius. A blind old woman, learning his name and office as he passed, cried out, "There goes he who will restore the temples of the gods!" (Amm. xv. 8, 22).
During the next five years the young Caesar appears as a strenuous and successful general and a popular ruler. The details of his wars with the Franks and Alamanns, the Salii and Chamavi, will be found in Ammianus and Zosimus. Perhaps we ought to recollect that he was his own historian, writing "commentaries" (now no longer extant) which were no doubt intended to rival those of the author of the Gallic War. After an expedition against the Franks in the autumn of 357 he wintered for the first time at Paris, which became a favourite abode of his. He gives a well-known description of his φίλη Λουκετία in the Misopogon (pp. 340 seq.). His military successes endeared him to both troops and people. His internal government, particularly as lightening public burdens, was equally popular. He had specially to contend with the avarice of Florentius, the praetorian prefect, who desired to increase the capitatio , and who, on Julian's refusal to sign the indiction, complained of him to Constantius (Amm. xvii. 3, 2, and 5, in 357). Constantius, while reproving him for discrediting his officer, left him a practically free hand, and the tax, which on his entering Gaul was 25 aurei a head, had been reduced to 7 when he left (Amm. xvi. 5, 24; cf. xvii. 3, 6).
His ambition was to imitate Marcus Aurelius as a philosopher upon the throne, and Alexander the Great as a model in warfare (ad Themist. p. 253). His table was very plainly furnished, and he refused all the luxuries which Constantius had written down for him as proper for a Caesar's board (Amm. xvi. 5, 3). His bed was a mat and a rug of skins, from which he rose at midnight, and, after secret prayer to Mercury, addressed himself first to public business and then to literature. He studied philosophy first, then poetry, rhetoric, and history, making himself also fairly proficient in Latin. His chamber was ordinarily never warmed; and one very cold night, at Paris, he was nearly suffocated by some charcoal in a brazier, but erroneously attributed it to the dampness of the room ( Misopogon , p. 341). All this attracted the people, but was not agreeable to many of the courtiers. Julian knew that he was surrounded by disaffected officials and other spies upon his conduct, and continued to conceal his religious sentiments, and to act cautiously towards his cousin. During his administration of Gaul he produced another panegyric upon Constantius, and one upon Eusebia, though the exact occasion of neither can be determined (Or. 2 and 3). In these orations Julian, though indulging to the full in classical parallels and illustrations, takes care to hide his change of religion. He speaks even of his prayers to God for Constantius, naturally indeed and not in a canting way ( Or. 3, p. 118 D). Nor did he hesitate to join with him in issuing a law denouncing a capital penalty against those who sacrifice to or worship idols ( Cod. Theod. xvi. 10, 6, Apr. 356), in repressing magic and all kinds of divination with very severe edicts ( ib. ix. 16, 4–6, in 357 and 358), in punishing renegade Christians who had become Jews ( ib. xvi. 8, 7), and in granting new privileges to the church and clergy, and regulating those already given ( ib. xvi. 2, 13–16; the last as late as Mar 361). To have hinted at dislike to any of these measures would, indeed, have aroused at once the strongest suspicions. One of the edicts against magic, which threatens torture for every kind of divination, seems almost personally directed against Julian ( Cod. Theod. ix. 16, 6, dated July 5, 358, from Ariminum). The effect upon his conscience of condemning as a public officer what he was secretly practising must have been hardening and demoralizing. For Julian was not without thought on such subjects. At another time he declared he would rather die than sign the oppressive edict brought him by Florentius (Amm. xvii. 3, 2); and in his later famous decree against Christian professors he writes vehemently of the wickedness of thinking one thing and teaching another ( Ep. 42).
In Apr. 360 Constantius ordered the flower of the Gallic auxiliaries to be sent to aid him in his expedition against the Persians (Amm. xx. 4). This request produced great irritation among men who had enlisted on the understanding that they were not to be required to cross the Alps—an irritation fomented no doubt by the friends of Julian, particularly, it is said, by Oribasius (Eunap. Vita Oribasii , p. 104). The troops surrounded the palace at Paris and demanded that their favourite should take the title of Augustus (ad Ath. p. 284; Amm. xx. 4, 14). Julian, according to his own account, was quite unprepared for such a step, and would not accede till Jupiter had given him a sign from heaven. This sign was no doubt the vision of the Genius of the Empire, who declared that he had long been waiting on his threshold and was now unwilling to be turned away from it. Yet he warned him (so Julian told his intimates) that his residence with him would in no case be for long (Amm. xx. 5, 10; cf. Lib. ad Jul. cos. p. 386). We have no reason, however, to think that Julian had any real hesitation, except as to the opportuneness of the moment. When he came down to address the troops, he still appeared reluctant, but the enthusiasm of the soldiers would take no denial, and he was raised in Gallic fashion upon a shield, and hastily crowned with a gold chain which a dragoon ( draconarius ) tore from his own accoutrements. He promised the accustomed donative (Amm. xx. 4, 18), which the friends of Constantius, it would seem, secretly tried to outdo by bribes (ad Ath. p. 285 A). The discovery of their intrigue only raised the popular enthusiasm to a higher pitch, and Julian felt strong enough to treat with his cousin. He dispatched an embassy with a letter declining to send the Gallic troops, who (he declared) positively refused to go, and could not be spared with safety; but he offered some small corps of barbarian auxiliaries. He related the action of the army in proclaiming him Augustus, but said nothing of his own wish to bear the title. As a compromise he proposed that Constantius should still appoint the praetorian prefect, the chief governor of that quarter of the empire, but that all lesser offices should be under his own administration ( ib. D, and for particulars, Amm. xx. 8, 5–17), who gives the substance of the letter at length). But to these public and open requests he added a threatening and bitter private missive, which had the effect, whether intentionally or not, of rendering his negotiations abortive (Amm. l.c. ).
Such a state of things could only end in war, but neither party was in a hurry to precipitate it. In Vienne Julian celebrated the fifth anniversary of his appointment, and appeared for the first tune in the jewelled diadem which had become the symbol of imperial dignity (Amm. xxi. 1, 4). Meanwhile both Eusebia and Helena had been removed by death, and with them almost the last links which united the cousins. Julian still kept up the pretence of being a Christian. At Epiphany, 361, he kept the festival solemnly and even ostentatiously, joining in the public prayers and devotions (ib. 2). He witnessed calmly the triumphant return of St. Hilary after his exile, and permitted the Gallic bishops to hold a council at Paris (S. Hilarii, Frag. Hist. pp. 1353, 1354). His name also appears, after that of Constantius, attached to a law issued on Mark 1 at Antioch, giving privileges to Christian ascetics. But all this was mere dissimulation for the sake of popularity. In secret he was anxiously trying, by all possible heathen means, to divine the future (Amm. xxi. x1 6 seq.). He sent in particular for the hierophant of Eleusis, with whose aid he performed rites known to themselves alone (Eunap. Vita Maximi , p. 53; cf. Amm. xxi. 5, 1, "placata ritu secretiori Bellona").
The irritation against Constantius was further increased by an arrogant letter, addressed of course to the Caesar Julian, requiring his immediate submission and merely promising him his life. Julian, on receiving this, uttered an exclamation which betrayed his religion: "He would rather commit himself and his life to the gods than to Constantius" (Zos. iii. 9, 7). The moment seemed now come for action. In a speech to the soldiers in which he referred in ambiguous language to the will of the God of heaven—"arbitrium dei caelestis"—he called upon them to take the oath of allegiance and follow him across the Alps. He spoke in general terms of occupying Illyricum and Dacia, and then deciding what was to be done (Amm. xxi. 5). Having thus secured the Western provinces, he made a rapid and successful passage through N. Italy, receiving its submission. He reached Sirmium without opposition, having ordered the different divisions of his army to concentrate there. Then he took and garrisoned the important pass of Succi (Ssulu Derbend) on the Balkans, between Sardica and Philippopolis, thus securing the power to descend into Thrace. For the time he established his quarters at Naissus (Nish), and awaited further news. From there he wrote to the senate of Rome against Constantius, and in self-defence to the Athenians, Lacedemonians, and Corinthians (Zos. iii. 10).
The Athenian letter was possibly entrusted to the Eleusinian hierophant, who returned home about this time. It was perhaps also under his guidance that Julian underwent the secret ceremonies of initiation described by Gregory Nazianzen (Or. 4, 52–56, pp. 101–103). According to common report, he submitted to the disgusting bath of blood, the taurobolium or criobolium, through which the worshippers of Mithra and Cybele sought to procure eternal life. Julian's object, it is said, was not only to gain the favour of the gods, but also to wash away all defilement from previous contact with the Christian mysteries. This miserable story is yet a very credible one. Existing monuments prove that many pagans of position continued the taurobolium till the end of the 4th cent. (see the inscriptions in Wilmanns, Exempla Inscr. Lat. 107–126).
Such secret incidents preceded Julian's public declaration of his change of religion. At Naissus or Sirmium he threw off the mask, and professed himself openly a heathen. Of his first public sacrifice he wrote with exultation to his friend Maximus: "We worship the gods openly, and the greatest part of the troops who accompanied me profess the true religion. We have acknowledged our gratitude to the gods in many hecatombs. The gods command me to consecrate myself to their service with all my might, and most readily do I obey them. They promise us great returns for our toils if we are not remiss" (Ep. 38, p. 415 C).
Now came the news of his cousin's sudden death at Mopsucrene, at the foot of Mount Taurus, on Nov. 3, and Julian learnt that he was accepted without opposition as the successor designated by his dying breath, a report of which we cannot guarantee the truth (Amm. xxii. 2, 6).
§ 4. Julian as Augustus at Constantinople (from Nov. 3, 361, to May 362).—Julian hastened to Constantinople, through the pass of Succi and by Philippopolis and Heraclea, entering the Eastern capital amid general rejoicings on Dec. 11. He conducted the funeral of Constantius with the usual honours; laying aside all the imperial insignia, except the purple, and marching in the procession, touching the bier with his hands (Liban. Epitaph. p. 512, cf. Greg. Naz. Or. 5, 16, 17, pp. 157, 158). Constantius was buried near his father in the Church of the Apostles, but whether Julian entered it is not stated.
Almost his next act was to appoint a special commission under the presidency of Saturninus Sallustius Secundus (to be distinguished from the prefect of the Gauls) to bring to justice the principal supporters of the late government. Julian himself avoided taking part in it, and allowed no appeal from its decisions. The commission met at Chalcedon, and acted with excessive rigour.
Julian next turned his attention to the palace, with its swarm of needless and overpaid officials, eunuchs, cooks, and barbers, who battened on bribes and exactions. All these he swept away, to the general satisfaction (Amm. xxii. 4; Liban. Epit. p. 565).
Towards Christians he adopted a policy of toleration, though desiring nothing more keenly than the humiliation of the Church. His object was to set sect against sect by extending equal licence to all (cf. Amm. xxii. 5). He issued an edict allowing all bishops exiled under Constantius to return, and restoring their confiscated property (Socr. iii. 1, p. 171). On the other hand, the extreme Arian, Aetius, as a friend of Gallus, received a special invitation to court (Ep. 31). A letter "to Basil," seemingly of the same date, and of similar purport, may possibly have been addressed to St. Basil of Caesarea ( Ep. 12; De Broglie assumes this, t. iv. pp. 133, 235, n.). To Caesarius, a court physician of high repute and the brother of Gregory, Julian shewed great attention, and strove for his conversion. He even entered into a public discussion on religion with him, and was much mortified by the ill success of his rhetoric (Greg. Naz. Ephesians 6; Orat. vii. 11–14). The Donatists, Novatianists, and perhaps some extreme Arians were not loth to appear before the new emperor, who sought to destroy unanimity by extending free licence to all Christian sects, but there is no trace of any important Catholic leader falling into the snare. In the same spirit he ordered Eleusius, Arian bp. of Cyzicus, to restore the ruined church of the Novatianists within two months (Socr. ii. 38, p. 147; iii. 11; cf. Ep. 52, p. 436 A). Toleration was also extended to the Jews, from a real though imperfect sympathy. Their ritual seemed to Julian a point of contact with Hellenism, and with their rejection of an Incarnate Saviour he was quite in harmony. He approved of their worship of the Creator, but could not tolerate their identification of Him with the God Whose especial people they claimed to be—and Whom he, in his polytheism, imagined to be an inferior divinity (S. Cyril. in Jul. iv. pp. 115, 141, 201, 343, 354, ed. Spanheim).
The great task which lay nearest his heart was the restoration of heathenism to its former influence and power, and its rehabilitation both in theory and practice. He composed an oration for the festival of the sun, no doubt that celebrated on Dec. 25, as the "Natalis Solis invicti," in connexion with the winter solstice. Though Constantinople had never been a heathen city, or polluted with public heathen ceremonies, he called this "the festival which the imperial city celebrates with annual sacrifices" (Orat. 4, p. 131 D). The main body of the oration is occupied with the obscure theory of the triple hierarchy of worlds: the κόσμος νοητός or "intelligible world," the κόσμος νοερός or " intelligent," and the κόσμος αἰσθητός the "visible" or "phenomenal." In each of these three worlds there is a central principle, who is the chief object of worship and the fountain of power; the Sun king being the centre of the intermediate or "intelligent" world. This ideal god was evidently a kind of counterpoise in Julian's theology to the Word of God, the mediator of the Christian Trinity ( μέση τις, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων κραθεῖσα, τελεία δὲ καὶ ἀμιγὴς ἀφ᾿ ὅλων τῶν θεῶν ἐμφανῶν τε καὶ ἀφανῶν καὶ αἰσθητῶν καὶ νοητῶν, ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἡλίου νοερὰ καὶ πάγκαλος οὐσία , p. 139 B, and τῶν νοερῶν θεῶν μέσος ἐν μέσοις τεταγμένος κατὰ παντοίαν μεσότητα . Cf. Naville, Jul. l᾿A. et sa philosophie du polythéisme, pp. 102 seq.). This oration should be read in connexion with the fifth oration "on the Mother of the Gods," which he delivered at her festival, apparently at the vernal equinox, and while still at Constantinople. It is chiefly an allegorical platonizing interpretation of the myth of Attis and Cybele, very different from the modern reference of it to the circle of the seasons.
In the practice of all superstitious ceremonies, whether public or mystic, Julian was enthusiastic to the point of ridiculous ostentation. He turned his palace into a temple. Every day he knew better than the priests themselves what festival was in the pagan calendar, and what sacrifice was required. He himself acted as attendant, slaughterer, and priest, and had a passion for all the details of heathen ritual (Liban. Epitaph. p. 564, ad Jul. cos. pp. 394 seq.; Greg. Orat. 5, 22, p. 161; de Broglie, iv. pp. 126, 127). No previous emperor had so highly prized his office of pontifex maximus, which Julian valued as equal to all the other imperial prerogatives ( χαίρει καλούμενος ἱερεὺς οὐχ ἧττον ἢ βασιλεύς Liban. ad Jul. cos. p. 394). In this capacity he apparently attempted to introduce something of the episcopal regimen into the loose system of the heathen priesthood, himself occupying the papal or patriarchal chair (cf. Greg. Or. 4, ii. p. 138). Thus he appointed Theodorus chief priest of Asia and Arsacius of Galatia, with control over inferior priests; the hierophant of Eleusis was set over Greece and Lydia, and Callixene made high priestess of Pessinus. ( Ep. 63 Theodoro is early in his reign, and the long Fragmentum Epistolae may be a sequel to it; Ep. 49 Arsacio is later, as is that to Callixene, Ep. 21. The appointments of the hierophant and of Chrysanthius are described by Eunapius, Vita Maximi, pp. 54, 57). As chief pontiff he issued some remarkable instructions to his subordinates, some of which have been preserved. His "pastoral letters," as they may properly be called, to the chief priests of Asia and Galatia, shew a striking insight into the defects of heathenism considered as a religious ideal, and a clear attempt to graft upon it the more popular and attractive features of Christianity. He regrets several times that Christians and Jews are more zealous than Gentiles, especially in charity to the poor ( Ep. 49, pp. 430, 431; in Frag. p. 305 he refers to the influence of the Agapé and similar institutions. In Ep. 63, p. 453 D, he describes the persistency of the Jews in abstaining from swine's flesh, etc.). He promises large endowments of corn for distribution to the indigent and the support of the priesthood; and orders the establishment of guest-houses and hospitals ( ξενοδοχεῖα, καταγώγια ξένων καὶ πτωχῶν , Soz. v.16, Jul. Ep. 49, p. 430 C). In the very spirit of the Gospel he insists on the duty of giving clothing and food even to enemies and prisoners ( Frag. pp. 290–291). "Who was ever impoverished," he writes, "by what he gave to his neighbours? I, for my part, as often as I have been liberal to those in want, have received back from them many times as much, though I am but a bad man of business; and I never repented of my liberality " ( Frag. p. 290 C). Elsewhere he enters into minute details on the conduct and habits of the priesthood. He fixes the number of sacrifices to be offered by day and night, the deportment to be observed within and without the temples, the priest's dress, his visits to his friends, his secret meditations and his private reading. The priest must peruse nothing scurrilous or indecent, such as Archilochus, Hipponax, or the old comedy; nothing sceptical like Pyrrho and Epicurus; no novels and love-tales; but history and sound philosophy like Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics; and must learn by heart the hymns to the gods, especially those sung in his own temple ( Frag. pp. 300–301; cf. Ep. 56, to Ecdicius, ordering him to train boys for the temple choirs). He must avoid theatres and taverns, and all public resorts where he is likely to hear or see anything vulgar or indecent ( Frag. p. 304 B, C; Ep. 49, p. 430 B). Not only priests, but the sons of priests, are forbidden to attend the "venationes" or spectacles of wild beasts ( Frag. p. 304 D). The true priest is to be considered superior, at least in the temple, to any public official, and to be honoured as the intercessor between gods and men ( Frag. p. 296 B, C; cf. the edict to the Byzantine against applauding himself in the Tychaeum, Ep. 64). He, however, who does not obey the rules laid down for his conduct, is to be removed from his office ( Frag. p. 297; Ep. 49, p. 430 B); and we possess an edict of Julian's suspending a priest for three months for injury done to a brother priest ( Ep. 62).
Further, "he intended," says Gregory Or. iv. III, p. 138), "to establish schools in all cities, and professorial chairs of different grades, and lectures on heathen doctrines both in their bearings on moral practice and in explanation of their abstruser mysteries." Of such lectures, no doubt, he wished his own orations on the Sun and the Mother of the Gods to be examples. Besides this imitation of Christian sermons and lectures, he desired to set up religious communities of men and women, vowed to chastity and meditation ( ἁγνευτήριά τε καὶ παρθενεύματα καί φροντιστήρια cf. Soz. v. 16). These were institutions familiar to Oriental heathenism, but out of harmony with the old Greek spirit of which Julian professed himself so ardent an admirer. He was, indeed, unconsciously less a disciple of Socrates than of the Hindu philosophy, a champion of Asian mysticism against European freedom of thought.
Julian used not only his literary and personal influence and pontifical authority in favour of the worship of the gods, but also his imperial power. The temples where standing were reopened, or rebuilt at the expense of those who had. destroyed them, and received back their estates, which had been to some extent confiscated under Constantius (Amm. xxii. 4, 3, "pasti ex his quidam templorum spoliis"; Liban. Epitaph. p. 564, describes the general plan of restitution; cf. his Ep. 624, πᾶσι κηρύξας κομίζεσθαι τὰ αὑτῶν .). A friend of the gods was as a friend of the emperor's, their enemy became his (Liban. l.c. and more strongly p. 617). Yet direct persecution was forbidden and milder means of conversion practised ( Ep. 7 to Artabius; Liban. 564). Julian even bore with some patience the public attacks of the blind and aged Maris, Arian bp. of Chalcedon, who called him an "impious atheist," while he was sacrificing in the Tychaeum of Constantinople. Julian replied only with a scoff at his infirmity: "Not even your Galilean God will heal you." Maris retorted, "I thank my God for my blindness which prevents me from seeing your apostasy," a rebuke which the emperor ignored (Soz. v. 4, where we must of course read τυχαίῳ for τειχίω cf. Jul. Ep. 64, Byzantinis ). Not a few persons of position apostatized, among them Julian's maternal uncle Julianus, his former tutor Hecebolius, the officials Felix, Modestus, and Elpidius, and the former bp. of Ilium Novum, Pegasius, all of whom were rewarded by promotion. (Philost. vii. 10; Socr. iii. 13; Liban. pro Aristophane, pp. 435, 436, and Ep. 17; Greg. Naz. Or. iv. 62, p. 105; Jul. Ep. 78; cf. Sievers, Libanius, p. 105. On the readiness of many of these converts to return to the church cf. Asterius of Amasea, Hom. in Avaritiam, p. 227, and Hom. xix. in Psalm. v. p. 433, Migne.) But the number of these new converts was less than might perhaps have been expected from the divided state of the church and the low standard of court Christianity under Constantius. It was far less, no doubt, than Julian's sanguine expectations. Caesarius, as we have seen, stood firm, and so did three prominent officers in the army, destined to be his successors in the empire—Jovian, Valentinian, and Valens (Valentinian was banished, Soz. vi. 6; Philost. vii. 7; cf. Greg. Or. iv. 65, p. 106). The steadfastness of the court and the army was indeed sorely tried. The monogram of Christ was removed from the Labarum, and replaced by the old S.P.Q.R.; and heathen symbols again began to appear upon the coinage, and upon statues and pictures of the emperor, so that it was difficult to pay him respect without appearing to bow to an idol. (Greg. Or. iv. 80, 81, pp. 116, 117; Socr. vi. 17. Socrates probably somewhat exaggerates. The obscure letter of Julian to a painter, Ep. 65, appears to reprimand him for painting him without his customary images in his hands or by his side.) Julian even condescended to a trick to entrap a number of his soldiers, probably of the praetorian guard, by persuading them to offer incense when receiving a donative from his hands (Soz. v. 17; Greg. Or. iv. 83, 84, pp. 118, 119; cf. Rode, p. 62). Some of the soldiers, on discovering the snare from the jeers of their companions, protested loudly and threw down their money; and Julian, in consequence, dismissed all Christians from his bodyguard (Greg. l.c.; Socr. iii. 13). Many common soldiers were doubtless less firm, and conformed, at least outwardly, but the subsequent election of Jovian by the army of Persia looks as if their conviction was not deep. (Liban. ad Jul. cos. Jan. I. 363, p. 399; Greg. Or. iv. 64, 65, p. 106; St. Chrys. de Babyla contra Julianum, § 23, vol. ii. pp. 686, 687, ed. Gaume; cf. Sievers, Libanius, pp. 107–109). It was pretty well understood that no Christian official would be promoted to high civil functions, while converts like Felix and Elpidius were. Julian is reported to have stated in an edict that the Christian law forbade its subjects to wield the sword of justice, and therefore he could not commit the government of provinces to them. Such a sentiment would be characteristic, and this edict is probably an historical fact (Rufin. i. 32), but perhaps did not extend to persons already in office or in the army, unless they offered resistance to the course of events. Other measures were aimed at the clergy as a body, and intended to reduce the church generally to the position which it held before Constantine. The church suffered as much perhaps as private owners of property by the order to restore the temples and refund temple lands. The clergy and widows who had received grants from the municipal revenues were deprived of them and obliged to repay their previous receipts—an act of great injustice (Soz. v. 5). The church lost its power of inheritance, and its ministers the privileges of making wills and of jurisdiction in certain cases (Jul. Ep. 52, p. 437 A Bostrenis ). But perhaps what was felt most of all was the loss of immunity from personal taxation and from the service of the curiae or municipal councils, who were held responsible for the taxes of their district. A short decree issued on Mar 13, 362, made all persons, formerly privileged as Christians, liable to the office of decurion (Cod. Theod. xii. I, 50). We may readily admit that the church would have been safer and holier without some of its privileges, which bound it too closely to the state. But to abolish them all at once, without warning, was a very harsh proceeding, which caused much suffering, and Ammianus only spoke the general opinion when he censured the conduct of his hero (Amm. xxv. 4, 21, cf. xxii. 9, 12). A Greek decree of apparently the same date, addressed to the Byzantines —i.e. the citizens of Constantinople—extended this measure to all privileged persons whatsoever, except those who had "done public service in the metropolis"— i.e. probably, those who had as consuls or praetors exhibited costly games for the public amusement ( Ep. II); a later decree also confirming the "chief physicians" in their immunities ( Cod. Theod. xiii. 3–4, nearly equivalent to Ep. 25).
In the spring of this year, while he was still at Constantinople, the affairs of the church of Alexandria attracted Julian's attention, and led to the first decided step which violated his policy of personal toleration. The intruded Arian bishop, George of Cappadocia, had made himself equally detested by pagans and Catholics. On Dec. 24 he was foully murdered by the former (without any intervention of Christians) in a riot. Dracontius, master of the mint, who had overturned an altar recently set up in his office, and Diodorus, who was building a church and gave offence to pagan prejudices by cutting short the hair of some boys employed under him, were both torn to pieces in the same sedition (Amm. xxii. II, 9). Julian wrote an indignant reprimand to the people, but inflicted no punishment (Ep. 10, Amm. l.c.; cf. Julian's letter to Zeno, Ep. 45). On Feb. 22 St. Athanasius was again seated upon his throne amid the rejoicing of the people. Julian saw in him an enemy he could not afford to tolerate. He wrote to the Alexandrians (apparently at once), saying that one so often banished by royal decree ought to have awaited special permission to return; that in allowing the exiled bishops to come back he did not mean to restore them to their churches; Athanasius, he feared, had resumed his "episcopal throne," to the great disgust of "god-fearing Alexandrians." He therefore ordered him to leave the city at once, on pain of greater punishment ( Ep. 26). Athanasius braved the emperor's wrath and did not leave Alexandria, except, perhaps, for a time. Public feeling was with him, and an appeal was apparently forwarded to the emperor to reconsider his sentence. ( Ep. 51, written probably in Oct. 362, speaks of Athanasius as ( ἐπιζητούμενος by the Alexandrians.) The sequel of this appeal will appear later.
Another change of policy about this time shewed a further advance in intolerance and inconsistency. Julian determined to take the control of education into the hands of the state. On June 17, while en route between Constantinople and Antioch, he issued an edict, promulgated at Spoleto, to the Western empire, on June 28. This document said nothing about Christian teachers, but required for all professors and schoolmasters a diploma of approval from the municipal council in every city before they might teach. This was to be forwarded to himself for counter-signature ( Cod. Theod. xiii. 3, 5). This power of veto was no doubt aimed at Christian teachers; and another edict, supposed to have been issued soon after, struck an open and violent blow at the church. This may have been issued even earlier; it can hardly have been much later ( Ep. 42, with no title or date). It declares that "only a cheat and a charlatan will teach one thing while he thinks another. All teachers, especially those who instruct the young, ought . . . not to oppose the common belief and try to insinuate their own. . . . Now Homer, Hesiod, Demosthenes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Isocrates, and Lysias all founded their learning upon the gods, and considered themselves dedicated to Hermes or the Muses. It is monstrous, then, that those who teach these writers should dishonour their gods. I do not wish them to change their religion that they may retain their offices, but I give them the choice, either not to teach, or, if they prefer to do so, to teach at the same time that none of these authors is guilty of folly or impiety in his doctrine about the gods. . . . If teachers think these authors which they expound wise, and draw philosophy from them, let them emulate their religion. If they think them in error, let them go to the churches of the Galileans and expound Matthew and Luke, who forbid our sacrifices. I wish, however, the ears and tongues of you Christians may be 'regenerated,' as you would say, by these writings which I value so much."
Christians considered the decree practically to exclude them from the schools. For Julian expressly orders all teachers to insist on the religious side of their authors. Grammar schools were to become seminaries of paganism. No indifferent or merely philological teaching was to be allowed. No sincere Christian parents therefore could send their sons to such schools. A quotation given by Gregory, as if from this decree, is not found in the text of the edict as we have it ( Or. 4, 102, p. 132). Perhaps he may be quoting some other of Julian's writings, e.g. the books against the Christians. The words are characteristic: "Literature and the Greek language are naturally ours, who are worshippers of the gods; illiterate ignorance and rusticity are yours, whose wisdom goes no further than to say `believe.'" The last taunt is borrowed from Celsus (Origen, c. Celsum , i. 9).
Two celebrated men gave up their posts rather than submit to this edict—Prohaeresius of Athens, whom many thought superior to Libanius, and C. Marius Victorinus of Rome. Julian had already made overtures to the former (Ephesians 2 ), and even offered to except him from the action of the edict; but he refused to be put in a better condition than his fellows (Hieron. Chron. sub anno 2378; cf. Eunap. Prohaeresius , p. 92; Himerius , p. 95; and Frag. 76, p. 544, ed. Boissonade). Victorinus was equally famous at Rome, and his constancy was a subject of just glory to the church (see the interesting account of his conversion, etc. in August. Conf. viii. 2–5).
Attempts were made to supply the place of classical literature by putting historical and doctrinal portions of Scripture into Greek prose and verse. Thus the elder APOLLINARIS wrote 24 books in hexameters, which were to form a substitute for Homer, on the Biblical history up to the reign of Saul, and produced tragedies, lyrics, and even comedies on Biblical subjects (Soz. v. 18). The younger Apollinaris reduced the writings of the N.T. into the form of Platonic dialogues (Socr. iii. 16); and some of the works of Victorinus in Latin, such as the poem on the seven Maccabean brothers, and various hymns, may have been written with the same aim (cf. Teuffel, Gesch. der Röm. Lit. § 384, 7), as also the Greek tragedy, still extant, of Christus Patiens. Whatever their merit, these books could not properly supply the place of the classical training; and if Julian had lived and this edict had been put in force for any time, it would have been a very dangerous injury to the faith. (Socrates has some very good remarks on this subject, iii. 16.)
§ 5. Julian's journey through Asia Minor —(May to July 362).—After a sojourn of about five months in Constantinople Julian began to think of foreign affairs. Fears of internal resistance were removed by the surrender of Aquileia, which had been seized by some troops of Constantius. He determined upon an expedition against Persia, the only power he thought worthy of his steel. Shortly after May 12 he set out upon a progress through Asia Minor to Antioch. He passed through Nicaea into Galatia, apparently as far as Ancyra, from which place, perhaps, he dispatched the edict about education just described (Amin. xxii. 9, 5. If the law, Cod. Just. i. 40, 5, is rightly attributed to Julian, he was at Ancyra on May 28, to which visit belongs a somewhat hyperbolical inscription celebrating his triumphant march from the Western Ocean to the Tigris, beginning, DOMINO TOTIVS ORBIS | IVLIANO AVGVSTO | EX OCEANO BRI | TANNICO (C. I. L. iii. 247, Orell. 1109, Wilmanns 1089). From Ancyra he visited Pessinus in Phrygia to pay homage to the famous sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods, at which he offered large and costly presents (Amm. l.c.; Liban. ad Jul. cos. p. 398). The oration in honour of this deity, who, with the Sun-god, was Julian's chief object of veneration, was probably delivered earlier; but he took occasion about this time to vindicate the doctrine of Diogenes from the aspersions of false and luxurious cynics ( Or. vi. εἰς τοὺς ἀπαιδεύτους κύνας , delivered about the summer solstice, p. 181 A). He was not satisfied with the progress of heathenism, amongst the people of the place ( Ep. 49, Arsacio pontifici Galatiae, ad fin.). At Ancyra, according to the Acts of the Martyrs, a presbyter named Basil was accused of exciting the people against the gods and speaking injuriously of the emperor and his apostate courtiers. Basil was cruelly treated in his presence, and, after a second trial, was put to death by red-hot irons (Boll. Mar 22; also in Ruinart, Acta Mart. Sincera, p 599; Soz. p. 11). [See BASILIUS OF ANCYRA.] Julian left Ancyra, according to the same Acts, on June 29, and soon after was met by a crowd of litigants, some clamouring for a restoration of their property, others complaining that they were unjustly forced into the curia, others accusing their neighbours of treason. Julian shewed no leniency to the second class, even when they had a strong case, being determined to allow as few immunities as possible. To the rest he was just and fair, and an amusing instance is recorded of the summary way he disposed of a feeble charge of treason (Amm. xxii. 9, 12; cf. xxv. 4, 21).
In Cappadocia his ill-humour was roused by finding almost all the people Christian. "Come, I beseech you," he writes to the philosopher Aristoxenus, "and meet me at Tyana, and shew us a genuine Greek amongst these Cappadocians. As far as I have seen, either the people will not sacrifice, or the very few that are ready to do so are ignorant of our ritual" (Ephesians 4 ). He had already shewn his anger against the people of Caesarea, the capital of the province, who had dared, after his accession, to destroy the Temple of Fortune, the last that remained standing in their city. According to Sozomen (v. 4), he erased the city from the "list of the empire and called it by its old name Mazaca." He fined the Christians 300 pounds of gold, confiscated church property, and enrolled the ecclesiastics in the militia of the province, besides imposing a heavy poll-tax on the Christian laity. But either these severe measures must have been justified by great violence on the part of the Christians or Sozomen's account is exaggerated; for Gregory Nazianzen says that it is
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Wace, Henry. Entry for 'Julianus, Flavius Claudius, Emperor'. A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hwd/j/julianus-flavius-claudius-emperor.html. 1911.
