Contents — 8 sections
Introduction (editor)
Gregory Nazianzen wrote 40 orations, of which a selection is already available online in the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers collection. Not among them were two further orations, nos. 4 and 5, which are the first and second invectives against Julian the Apostate. Quasten's Patrology, vol. 3 p.242 reports that they were probably never delivered in public; and that the tone is so angry and hostile that their historical value is almost zero. The last point, however, is probably an over-statement.
The English translations are those of C.W.King, published in 1888 as the first two works in a volume entitled, "Julian the Emperor" and published by George Bell & co, London in the Bohn's Library series. The volume also included the funeral oration delivered by the pagan Libanius, and two pagan works by Julian himself. After some hesitation, these have been included, and placed in the appendix because of their historical interest. The whole volume is thus online, including the advertisements, but the plan of this collection has meant some dispersal of the material not by Gregory himself.
Reading the translator's preface and notes, the reader will quickly discover that C.W. King was an enthusiastic partisan of Julian. It is unusual for a translator to detest the author or the work he is translating, but the notes by Mr. King leave little doubt that he did so detest these orations of Gregory. The majority of the notes contain the translator's opinion of the sentiments expressed, rather than explanation of historical obscurities. In fact, they seem to form a running rejoinder, in which Gregory is repeatedly described as a liar or hypocrite. But the reader will recall that a 'vituperation' or 'invective' is a literary form, as Quintilian indicates and as the Philippics of Cicero remind us, and it is useless to complain that Gregory does not give a fair picture when he did not set out to do so. After some hesitation, I have reproduced the footnotes anyway.
This is not the place to write an evaluation of Julian the Apostate. Julian has been well-served by his apologists and panegyricists, such as Libanius, and even today is regarded much more positively than any other member of his dynasty. Gregory reminds us of the darker side of this controversial reign.
Roger PEARSE 8th March, 2003
Preface
BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY. ------------------------ JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
JULIAN THE EMPEROR
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S TWO INVECTIVES AND LIBANIUS' MONODY WITH JULIAN'S EXTANT THEOSOPHICAL WORKS
"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 aery flight."
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET COVENT GARDEN 1888
CHISWICK PRESS :---- C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE..........................................................................................................................................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 ...................................................... 219
IV. UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS ....................................................................................... 254
INDEX.............................................................................................................................................281
PREFACE.
IN the case of the Emperor Julian, Historic Truth possesses the very rare advantage of having two portraits of the same person, taken from diametrically 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 consideration (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 Caesar Gallus; in which city during the nine months whilst the emperor 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 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 reader 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 gigantic treatise of Philippus Sidetes 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, parenthetically, that some of Gregory's charges against the emperor, require a very prejudiced construction to give them the blackness aimed at—as for example, 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 connection 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 archaeology. 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 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 Guriales; the British corn-trade, and the route it followed; and the solution of the problem that has so long vexed every intelligent 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.
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 archaeology, 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 rapacious, destroyers of ancient monuments.
To complete my portrait of the imperial philosopher, 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 earlier writer. Plutarch and Julian, therefore, enable us to contemplate Platonism and Neo-Platonism 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 here 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.
TRINITY COLLEGE. March 1, 1888.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
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 Constantine, 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 indicates 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 calculate 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 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 SECURITAS REIPUBLICAE. At first sight, it appears unaccountable 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 imitation. 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.
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 indispensable 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, bearing 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 inspired 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 " King of Kings." (New York Museum of Art.)
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.)
[The footnote has been moved to the end]
1. 1 The Numeration in the text of Libanius refers to Reiske's edition, used for this Translation.
GREGORY NAZIANZEN'S FIRST INVECTIVE AGAINST JULIAN THE EMPEROR.
1. "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 proclamation 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 Apostate, 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 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 account 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 and crowning him that was saved and was crowned for evil. And very greatly will he rejoice, as much at the overthrow 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 tumbling 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 thankfulness; or what tongue will sound it forth to such a distance as I desire; what audience will be equally eager 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.
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, 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 speaking 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 confidence 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 altogether afraid to engage and to come to blows, by this very fact thou hast proclaimed thy defeat, and the victory belongs 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 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 iovous 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."
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, 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."
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 Eight Hand, and which I am confident, 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----one 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.
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 temporary 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 marvellously, 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 somewhere in his prophecy, Amos, most divinely philosophizing). "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 contrary 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 expected it not" (for this, too, I borrow from Holy Scripture). "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 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 pardoned 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) "expecting 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 power of Him that created it; but it also joins in glorifying Him, and exults together with the sons of God when they do rejoice.
16. For this cause I will not refrain from sacred expressions 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), "because 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 inspired 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, 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, preserving 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.
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 number 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 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 indictment 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 power (making a revolution through their apprehension of revolution), and settled the government under new sovereigns; being saved together with his brother (a preservation beyond belief and all expectation), he neither felt gratitude to God for his escape nor to the emperor through whose means he had been preserved, 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 maintenance 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 these 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, 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 occupations, 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.
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 remembered, and capable of opening the eyes of many of the ungodly.
25. Both the brothers were, as I have told you, labouring 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 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 obstinacy 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 pursued 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 pious Lands; nor wonld they give the Sophist of Wickedness 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 dishonoured; whilst the honour in semblance anticipated by but a little while the dishonour in reality; lest, in addition 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 ye offer a wheaten cake, it is vain: your incense 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 transgressors, 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 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 numerous, 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 impiety 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 certain water-springs that run through subterranean channels 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 upwards 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 disputations against his brother, to a greater degree than was becoming----on the pretext, forsooth, that he was practising upon the weaker argument; but this was in reality an exercising of himself against the Truth, and a delighting in everything by which an impious disposition is characterized.
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 schopl of impiety; 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, arid 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 humbled (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 multitude 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 prospered 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 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 conspicuous 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 impious 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 accusation, 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 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, purchased 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?
37. No one, surely, was ever possessed with so fervent a desire for any object, as was that emperor for the aggrandizement 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; for 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: inasmuch as he, though he did slightly vex 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 insecurity, and one free from wickedness is the last to suspect wickedness in others: for this reason what was coming 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 unshakable 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 execution 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 without reason, nor foreign to the magnanimity and forethought 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 promoted; 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 person's trustworthiness, as from confidence in his own strength, just as Alexander the Great seems to me 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 Alexander, deemed it far worse to be beaten, than by force of arms in the first instance; whilst, if he found him ungrateful, it still remained in his power to reduce him a second time to subjection; and the very superabundance of confidence produced his humanity.
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 accomplices 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, 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 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.
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 (whom he well knew was opposed to him on the side of religion) as because he could not endure the spread 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 assuming the diadem, for he still thought of cloaking his desperate intention, but in reality with the view of transferring 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 manner He pleaseth: and entirely for their good, and healing, what though those that are being healed be impatient tinder 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 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 drawing near to the capital of the empire; being, as his own partisans say, stimulated to this expedition by presages, the daemons 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 daemons. How sagacious they are in such matters, Persia has clearly shown: so let people cease praising the demons for his rapid success, or else we shall impute his ruin also to the same agency.
48. Now, if the decease of the emperor had not anticipated 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 expeditious 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 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 disappointments, 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 all, their being shut out from God: how vast an aggravation that is of their punishment!
51. How should I not weep for the unhappy man himself; 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 themselves 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.
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 inherited 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 unhallowed blood he rids himself of his baptism, setting up the initiation of abomination against the initiation according to our rite, "a swine wallowing in the mire," according 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 regards 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 believed 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.
54. The story is, that when he was sacrificing, the entrails 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 confidence, as he pretended, as showing that we were circumscribed and hemmed in, for in this way did he extemporize the explanation of the Cross and the circle around it. Kow 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 proceeding 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. And what follows is yet more horrible.
56. The Seal 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.
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 impious attempt, besides being both rash and stupid, was in all respects most damaging to his object: for that we 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. 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 ----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 np 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. Eor this is the second class of the praiseworthy actions----the doing anything for reward, and on account of recompense: 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: neither did he, in common with former persecutors magnanimously proclaim his own impiety: 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 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. Consequently, as power is divided into two parts----persuasion and force (and what was yet more inhuman, 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 impetuosity 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 Aethiopian 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 everything towards the Christians except clemency, and his humanity was very inhuman, and his persuasiveness compulsion, 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 us all. In the next place, he being thus disposed and prepared, 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 household, 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 disposed towards that Greater One, and thereby unserviceable 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, 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.
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, whatever 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 throughout their hollow bodies, spotted over with woven scales, present to the eye a most agreeable and at the same time 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 inheritance 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 preaching, 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 dedicated; 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 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 champions, 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 belong 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 passion, produce equal effect with their bodies!
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 hospitality, 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 fascinated 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 strangers at Tauri, and the sacrifice of the royal maid before the expedition to Troy; and the blood of Menaeceas 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 concerning 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 generous mind not to despise the virtue even of enemies, and to give more credit to the valour of foes than to the badness 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? These men,
"With feet unwashed, and with the earth for bed"
(as thy Homer hath it, in order that he may do honour to one of his demons by the fiction)----these men that are 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 invincible; 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 belong 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 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 philosophers. 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 overboard, who returned thanks to dame Fortune for reducing him again to the bare cloak. A great man too is Antisthenes, 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 Potidaea, in the winter season during a whole night, engaged in contemplation, and not feeling the frost, by reason of his ecstasy; 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 these two objects engrossed his whole attention, namely the "Galilaeans" (as he insultingly used to call us), and the Persians, who 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 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 Grolden Age and way of life so free from all fighting and discord!
75. The government administered with moderation, 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 populations and cities torn by faction, families torn asunder, 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 extent ----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 infirmities 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 makes a change in our appellation, naming us Galilaeans 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 deprive 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 ridiculous 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 disgrace 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 appellations 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 the world), and styling him "Idolianus," and "Pisaeas," and "Adonaeus," and "Bull-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?
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 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 conclusion, 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, barbarians 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 themselves, but also the representations of the same.
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. This treachery, and so cunningly devised snare of impiety, a few indeed escape (of the more cautious and intelligent sort), but these get punished for their sagacity on the pretext 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 force is not possible, this way of contrivance must be conceded; but in the case of a sovereign, as it is very disgraceful 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 imperial distribution of gifts (either the annual one or extemporized 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' inconsiderateness 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 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 entertainment to their messmates (toi=j sussi/toij koinwne=in trape/zhj). 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, wondering at it, said: "What means this? Do ye mention Christ, after renouncing Him?" "How have we renounced 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, leaping 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 impiety; we cleanse ourselves with our blood." Then running up to the Emperor, they cried out very boldly, "We have not received gifts, O Emperor, but have been condemned 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 Emperor was exasperated at this, but avoided putting them to death openly, that he might not make martyrs out of them----they who, as far as depended on themselves at least, were true martyrs; he sentenced them to banishment, and so took his revenge on them, thereby conferring 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 wickedness, 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 superabundant, 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 himself 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 persecution 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 revenues, not so much out of impiety as avarice; his robbery of consecrated vessels, insulted by profane hands, and 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 subdue 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 beasts 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 rewarded by that man because they had properly appreciated his magnificence? Who has not heard of the insanity 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 exposure, 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 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 impiety, 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 narrator with the story? This man, in the time of the excellent 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 him, who were intending and threatening extreme measures, at first he meditates making his escape, not so much out of cowardice, as on account of the commandment 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 resolution 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 emulation, how to surpass each 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 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 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 compensation 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. But when he got the better of them by his fortitude, and continually made them subtract something from the valuation, 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.
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-philosopher. For my part I fancy no one in the world will be 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 preserved such a pest to the whole world! It is reported that the then Prefect (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 Echetos 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 wickedness of that man, and that the stories of that period may 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 abomination was not a seemly thing to be made public. The affair, however, of our friends at Caesarea, 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 unrighteousness 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 threatening a great deal more, the governor of that province, 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, 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 sentenced 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 Galilaeans!" 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.
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. 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 conduct 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 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 planning 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 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 consider 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 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 confession, and was entangling them in such troubles as he himself richly deserved to fall into. If, therefore, according 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 fact ----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 up furious mobs, or officials going far beyond their instructions? 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.
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 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 punishment 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 punishment 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.
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 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 "a)uto_j e1fa" 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 intothat 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 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.
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? And how must that language be spoken and conceived? Let me define 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 interpreters 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 themselves when fascinated by the sound of the fife, and emasculated 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 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 smerdale\on, or kanabi/zein, or mw~n, or dh&pouqen, or a#tta, or o(mwsge/pwj, 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.
106. The case stands thus (let me philosophize to thee in a more exalted and refined manner): If there are certain sounds issuing from the vocal organs, diffusing themselves 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 different sound of each different string, either high or low, 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 communication and kindness, and rendering it more gentle.
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 inscribed 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 Euboean----that inventor of many things, and thereby becoming an object of jealousy, and having to pay the penalty of his cleverness, 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 poems 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?
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 religious ceremony? Do not they all proceed from the Thracians? Let the very appellation (qrhskeu&ein) convince 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 mystery 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 enjoyment of its ancient happiness, and exempted from all intestine discord----a thing that is more to be shunned and dreaded than any war of foreigners, by so much as the 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 purpose 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 manifestation 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 Assyrians. This king having marched into Judaea, and besieging 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 conference 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, initiation also, and completion, and other things that evidently belong to our constitution. He was purposing also to build inns and hospices for pilgrims, monasteries for men, convents for virgins, places for meditation, and to establish a system, of charity for the relief of prisoners, and also that which is conducted by means of letters of recommendation by which we forward such as require it from one nation to another----things which he had especially 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 Lacedaemonian 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 teaching, 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 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 impossible 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 them 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 building); 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," ---- since I have on many occasions observed that a majestic appearance, and something above the common, is greatly affected by them, on the supposition that what is commonplace and prosaic brings with it contempt, but what is exaggerated and difficult to be 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, Chimaeras, 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 means of figures: and after all, Phanes, and Ericapaeus, 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. 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 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 drawing on herself the whole cestus of the Loves, in the midst of her decorations aimed at Jove, so that he confessed that his desires for all his other mistresses collectively 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 Yenus, and incautious 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 for shame; for fable is the resource not of persons confident 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 sacrifices 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 these things are only fictions and idle stories of poets employing two instruments to give a charm to their poetry, namely, metre and fable; and sweetening as it were by these means the sound of their works, whereas there is concealed in the same fictions a more secret and transcendental sense, only accessible 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 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 due to their impiety. For if death be the penalty assigned by law for all such as blaspheme 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 considering: there are, I will not deny it, amongst ourselves, also certain doctrines under concealment, but what is the 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 same 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 other 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 sayabout the Moral department of these teachers? Whence and from what principles will they start, and what arguments will they use, in order to incite men unto virtue, and render them honest people by their lessons? A very good thing is Concord, for states to agree together, and nations, and families, and individuals; following 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 reverencing 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 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.
121. And what next? Let them teach chastity, and bring forward the subject of temperance: and see! the convincing 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 immoderate 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 ploughman, 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.
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 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 swearing at all is interdicted; whilst as for money, the most of us have never had any at all, whilst others had gladly possessed more, 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 the ends, as the 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; when 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 injure us, by enduring 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 ever attain to the full height of our virtue and discipline, when we even regard as vice the not progressing 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 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 commensurate with the magnificence of God!
[Footnotes have been renumbered and placed at the end]
1. 1 In allowing Julian, then a child of six years old, to escape, when he commanded the massacre of his father and brothers.
2. 1 It is impossible to preserve in English this string of miserable puns on the word lo&goj, in its numerous senses of the Word, Reason, Literature, Speech, &c., on which the preacher evidently prides himself not a little.
3. 2 Another play upon the double meaning of "Ellhnej," "Greeks," and "Pagans."
4. 1 That is the restitution of the revenues of the temples which they had appropriated without form of law under Constantius.
5. 2 Probably alluding to the immense body of neutrals, who had given up Paganism, but not accepted Christianity.
6. 1 The monks of Nazianzus, who having squabbled with their bishop about some matter of discipline, hated him even more than they did Julian.
7. 1 An unfortunate simile----a "solid rock" being even more unfavourable to the germination of seed than a "dry ground."
8. 1 This name must be wrong; all these legends being quoted in chronological order. Methuselah was probably written, he being the only noteworthy personage between Enoch and Noah.
9. 1 Supposed to represent the Cross.
10. 2 The number Seven.
11. 1 Constantine'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.
12. 1 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.
13. 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 Constantius had had male issue, the last of his nephews would immediately have been sacrificed to state necessity.
14. 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.
15. 1 Theology, under Eusebius of Caesarea. The enthusiastic temper of Julian was so wrought upon by his teachers that at one time he was anxious to become a monk.
16. 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.
17. 3 It must be borne in mind that his congregation was composed entirely of women, and mechanics or slaves----the only apology for such a narration.
18. 1 A curious figure, of a thing pursuing what it preceded!
19. 2 This admission, which Gregory often repeats, is a sufficient evidence that there was no real persecution of the Christians by Julian.
20. 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.
21. 2 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.
22. 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.
23. 1 A mild, very mild allusion, to his persecution of the Catholic sect, at the instigation of his Arian advisers.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 1 The Platonic Powers of Nature, the actual agents of the One Supreme.
27. 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.
28. 1 "Impiety" is regularly used for Paganism, as is "Atheism" for Christianity, by writers on the two sides.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. 1 This "sympathy" is the assurance of the everlasting torments to which Julian has just been consigned by the compassionate preacher.
32. 2 Supposed by La Bl�terie to mean that Julian unbaptized himself by going through the baptism of blood in the Taurobolia: the context, however, shows that Gregory refers only to the revival of pagan sacrifices in the Palace.
33. 1 A play upon deisidaimoni/a and dusdaimoni/a, which shows the identity of the preacher's pronunciation of the two words.
34. 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.
35. 1 Probably a Mithraic cave.
36. 1 The Sign of the Cross; regularly termed by Eusebius swth&rion shmei=on.
37. 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.
38. 1 An admission quite sufficient to disprove the existence of any persecution 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.
39. 1 Martyrdom, which he refused the Christians, grudging them the honour it would bring them.
40. 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.
41. 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 consequence of the preponderance of that religion in the West.
42. 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.
43. 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.
44. 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.
45. 3 Labarum, quasi laborum levamen! A curious illustration of the prevailing pronunciation by accent.
46. 1 Or, "against the Testifier, the want of testimony," a miserable play upon the general and special senses of martu_j.
47. 1 Implying a pious wish that he had so ended his life.
48. 2 Which best deserves the name of idolatry and asebei=a, this disgusting 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?
49. 1 By rendering themselves incorporeal----alluding to the ascetics in the congregation. His audience were too obtuse to perceive the difference between Julian's contempt for luxury practised for the real 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.
50. 1 The caves in the desert haunted by these solitaries.
51. 1 "Strangers must give place to kings as household bread does to cheese-cakes."----A quotation from some old play.
52. 2 A good hit, for once, at the rapacity of the Greek sophists (ridiculed by Libanius himself), who had beset the too liberal Julian.
53. 1 The riddle of the fishermen (louse-catchers), "What we caught we threw away; what we caught not, we carry with us."
54. 2 Who supported himself by watering gardens at night in order to go to school by day.
55. 3 By putting a stop to their mutual squabbles, and restoring the exiled Catholic bishops to their sees.
56. 1 Who, in reality, upon the news of Julian's accession, used every effort to obtain terms of peace from so formidable an adversary.
57. 2 This looks like an allusion to the joke of the Antiochenes upon his Bull Apis, "which tossed over the whole empire."
58. 3 metri/wj "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.
59. 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.
60. 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.
61. 1 A clever hit of Gregory's, the sharpest in the whole invective.
62. 2 An allusion to the absurd fable that Pan was the fruit of Penelope's amours with all her suitors.
63. 1 To_ de\ Bia&zesqai turannikw~j a)isxuno&menoj----by this unguarded admission the preacher refutes his whole invective.
64. 1 The celebrated "Sapphire of Constantius," which represents him spearing a wild boar before Caesarea personified, may with good reason be supposed a copy of some similar group.
65. 1 Their fewness proves there was nothing in these representations calculated to scandalize any but those bent upon discovering pretext for disaffection.
66. 1 One of the regular insignia of imperial rank was the thuribulum carried before the Augustas, and the putting incense thereon by 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.
67. 1 A sufficient proof that the honour was paid to the emperor alone, in accordance with the ancient ceremonial.
68. 1 The burning incense to Jupiter had been the appointed test of conformity to paganism in Diocletian's persecution. The instigators to rebellion availed themselves of this fact, keeping out of sight the essential difference of the two ceremonies.
69. 1 'e0zori/a| parado&nta. No stronger proof is needed of Julian's tolerance than this so inadequate punishment for their mutinous and insolent behaviour.
70. 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 Bl�terie cannot deny this, but ingeniously shifts the blame upon the Arians, whom he calls a sanguinary and persecuting 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.
71. 1 On the point of renouncing Christianity through their alarm.
72. 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 temple, dear to the whole population----nevertheless, he would have been allowed to compound for his former bigotry by the payment of a nominal fine----moderation hardly to be expected in the case of mob-law.
73. 1 This, therefore, must have formed part of the "Twelve Tortures" ----a curious revelation.
74. 2 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.
75. 1 Who was perfectly innocent of this treatment of Marcus, which was the spontaneous act of his fellow-citizens.
76. 1 Curious morality----to make a person responsible for all the future consequences of a virtuous action!
77. 2 Probably Sallustius Secundus.
78. 3 The savage tyrant to whom the Suitors threaten to ship off Ulysses.
79. 1 "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 Mithraeum 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.
80. 1 a)na&rpastoj, "arrested and brought up before Julian," seems all implied in the word.
81. 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.
82. 3 ellehn had now got the double sense of "Grecian" and "pagan."
83. 1 These expressions indicate that Maximin's statues were not destroyed upon his downfall (according to the regular custom of the times, "descendunt statuae restemque sequuntur"), but were left mutilated, as objects of public scorn.
84. 1 "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.
85. 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 previously: "Poena capitis subjugari praecipimus eos quos operam sacrificiis dare, et colere simulacra constiterit."----Dat. XI. Kal. Mart. Med. Constantio A. VII., et Juliano Caes. Coss. (A.IX 356.) " Cesset superstitio, 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 praesens sententia exseratur."----Acc. Marcellino et Probiano Coss. (A.D. 341.)
86. 2 The doctrine of "Commandments" and "Counsels of Perfection," a most convenient subterfuge for evading all inconvenient rules in a religious system.
87. 1 lo&goi in the sense of "literature," or in modern phrase "books." Now follows a string of miserable puns upon the various meanings of lo&goj, as "Reason," "Speech," &c., impossible to preserve in the translation.
88. 1 a)logi/a, implying also want of reason, want of education, &c.
89. 1 Words said by Homer to belong to the language of the gods.
90. 2 Literally, "stretched or slackened."
91. 1 sou_j, which makes a very weak sense, looks much like a corruption of Skuqinou_j, in allusion to the mode in which the Scythians put down the slaves' revolt by the application of the horsewhip, according to Herodotus. Nazianzen politely suggests that such would have been the best cure for Julian at the hands of his cousin.
92. 1 Probably taken out of one of Julian's numerous regulations for the better ordering of public worship.
93. 1 A curious allusion to the Egyptian symbolism of the scarabeus.
94. 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.
95. 1 The poets, who retail such scandalous stories of the gods.
96. 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.
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, and 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 themselves 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.
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 himself 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 Nebuchadnezzar, 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 unworthy of him (since there never was a character so fertile in finding out and contriving mischief), at last he stirred up against us the nation of the Jews, making his accomplice 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 hereditary 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 rebuilding 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 blast 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 i9ero_n) admit them, but that when they approached the folding doors that stood wide open, on coming up to them 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 threatening 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 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! Eeply 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 memorial of them hath perished with a sound and a destruction noised abroad." For such has been their fall, and such their ruin, also of those their neighbours who 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 garments, 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 beheld 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 prevailing 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 military, the other of the demons who led him on (in which he placed the more confidence of the two), he marches against 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 (qa&rsoj, qrasoj), 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 obtain 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 considered when he engaged without reflection in his schemes: and whilst his Romans were still convulsed and ill-disposed towards him on account of the persecution, to covet 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.
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 his vow, how great and monstrous a thing, (O thou Christ, thou Word, thou Passion of the impassive, thou Mystery of all creation!) 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 carrying 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.
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, furnished 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, without 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 employed by Cyrus in the case of Babylon, on the pretence that he had had some quarrel, or rather a very great one and for a very great cause, with his king, and, on that account very hostile to the Persian cause, and well disposed 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 provision-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 disappeared 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 government 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 different people, both of those present at the battle, and those not present; for some say that he was hit by a dart 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. 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 considerable and superior to his expectation, he exclaimed, "What a dreadful thing if we shall bring back all these fellows to the land of the Eomans!" 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 amusing 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 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, and in personal appearance truly fitted for sovereignty----he was utterly unable 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. He sought therefore for the means of retreating, 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 reasonable, 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 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 incendiary. And the remark of Herodotus about the tyranny at Samos may be appropriately quoted, "that Histiaeus 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 impious 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 processions, and, in fact, with all our solemnities, nocturnal chants, and torchlight folldwings, wherewith we Christians 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, 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 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 unsoundness, who, getting hold of a soul that was unsuspicious 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.
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 reverenced 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 supremacy 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, himself forms a part of the funereal honour paid his predecessor, 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 misfortune, mingling regret with our love, and adding compassion to the two. For this reasou they could not endure that the departed one should not be honoured and received like an emperor; so they persuade, nay, compel, the rebel to go to meet the corpse in befitting form, 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 inglorious was his return. What was his disgrace? Buffoons and mimes 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 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 prevented 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, 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 perhaps 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 excited them to hope when they remembered his fine promises. But when they were arrived, 'twas the saying, "the deceits 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 protecting 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 content 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 example to all old ladies) when he was kindling the sacrificial 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 courtesans, and was pledged by them in return, whilst he cloaked the indecency under the show of a religious ceremony----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 catastrophe of his brother, having himself solicited this permission from the emperor. There was a double reason for this journey: the one more specious----the object of acquainting himself with Greece and the schools of that country; the other more secret, and communicated to but a few----that he might consult the sacrificers and cheats there upon the matters concerning himself; so far back did his paganism extend. At that time, therefore, I remember that I became no bad judge of his character, though far from being of much sagacity in that line; but what made me a true guesser was the inconsistency of his behaviour and his extreme excitability (that is, if he be the best diviner who knows how to guess shrewdly). A sign of no good seemed to me to be his neck unsteady, his shoulders always in motion and shrugging up and down like a pair of scales, his eye rolling and glancing from side to side with a certain insane expression, his feet unsteady and stumbling, his nostrils breathing insolence and disdain, the gestures of his face ridiculous and expressing the same feelings, his bursts of laughter unrestrained and gusty, his nods of assent and dissent without any reason, his speech stopping short and interrupted by his taking breath, his questions without any order and unintelligent, his answers not a whit better than his questions, following one on top of the other, and not definite, nor returned in the regular order of instruction.
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 hesitation 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 occasioned 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 Galileans----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 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 impious 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 impious 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 hath 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 perceived 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 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 sacrifice, 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 constitutional 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 supplicating Him as a kind father, partly upbraiding and expostulating 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 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 enemies have done against Thy saints, and how they have boasted against Thy festivals." The sword also we invoked, 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 themselves, and shall tread down Thy people, and harm Thine inheritance, and shall alike speak and do what is unlawful?" 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 wickedness 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 transgressions, 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 infatuation should follow after Truth, then perchance some 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 corrected 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 worshipped 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, Accaran, 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 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 pestilences, 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!
80. 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 bridegroom; let the hierophant put off his harlot's attire: ye 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 infamous rites, so full of darkness: I will raise up against them our sacred vigils of the Light: stop up thy sanctuaries 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 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 exhibition: 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 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 scourging for a second offence.
34. 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 obtained 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 ourselves at that time chastened and moderate, and raising up all our hopes to heaven; but now puffed up and boastful, and running back again into the same sins out of which we were carried into the calamities that then befell us. "Not so, my children, not so," says in some place 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, recover through strict diet and fasts, but when recovered they fall back through gradual careless living and surfeiting, and tumble again into the same maladies. Knowing these things, and teaching others the like, let us be masters over ourselves, and use the occasion with prudence.
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 these, 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 contemplations, add thoughts raised aloft upon the Sacred Lamp-stand, and diffusing a light over all the world I Compared to such a Light, I esteem as a mere trifle all that men light up when they hold festival. I have also a certain unguent, but one wherewith only priests and kings are anointed, being of various ingredients and very costly, and poured out for our sake, but compounded by the art of the Great Ointment-maker. Ob, 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-keeper 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, 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 unpleasant 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 compelling anger to obey the rein). Nevertheless, they deserve to be listened to and followed. Let us not use the occasion unsparingly; let us not abuse our power; let us 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 deserts; 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 He 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 improve 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 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 (perhaps 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!
38. I pass over the inspired, and our own denouncements, 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 Pyriphlegethons, 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, continually 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 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.
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 religion. 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 us 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; 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 from Persia; or else them didst hope, in thy infatuation, to drag us along with thee into the same abyss as thyself!
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 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 perceived any part of his body not marked by the lashes, he forthwith accused his torturers as defrauding him, and not 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, and bidding them not spare that also.
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 frugality 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 for thee, raised by our hands, more lofty and more conspicuous than the "Pillars of Hercules;" for they were set up to commemorate one 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!
[Footnotes have been renumbered and placed at the end]
1. 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.
2. 1 It is to be remarked that the preacher never once mentions Julian by name. Was this meant for an expression of contempt?
3. 1 Brasmw~|. 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.
4. 2 This must be Helena's Church: Gregory terms the Temple new_j.
5. 1 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, "Templum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis: negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Britannias curaverat propraefectis. Cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius, juvaretque provincial rector, metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes, fecere locum exustis aliquantis operantibus inaccessum, hoc que modo, elemento destinatius repellente, cessavit inceptum," 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.
6. 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 campaign. Julian reached the capital without ever seeing a defender, and was only forced to retreat through the treachery or stupidity of Procopius and Sebastian, who failed to carry out their instructions of joining him before that city.
7. 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.
8. 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 army after losing him, returned home without any opposition.
9. 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.
10. 2 A wretched play upon the double sense of kai/rioj. The preacher evidently wishes his flock to infer that the blow was the vengeance of a Christian----as Sozomen later actually boasts.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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, 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.
15. 1 Constantius died at Mopsuestia, and was thence conveyed to the imperial tomb at Constantinople.
16. 1 A compliment to the Arian bishops, now falling into the background, Jovian being a Catholic, with Athanasius for his adviser.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 3 A charitable hint that Julian's body ought to have been thrown to the dogs. Tarsus was the burial-place of his family.
20. 1 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 confined to a few of the "philosophers" about his person.
21. 1 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 enlightened 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 mediaeval ignorance.
22. 2 to_ peritto_n th~j e0kota&sewj.
23. 1 Of his distinguishing emblem, the erect genital member.
24. 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.
25. 1 Alluding to the Golden Candlestick of the Temple, greatly reverenced by Jews and Christians of that age.
26. 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.
27. 1 A curious confusion between David and Uzziah.
28. 1 "A kiss for a blow."
29. 2 That of being the last devoured----a most ingenious defence of Gregory's against the spiteful insinuations of zealots, doubtless now assailing him, 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.
30. 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.
31. 2 Used in calculation, and which, as Polybius remarks in narrating the fate of Achaeus 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.
32. 3 Answering to the "ungula" of the Roman tribunals; Prudentius has of it: ----
"Cessit his lacerans fortiter ungula, Nec carpsit penetralia."
33. 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 "Misopogon," and that in its original state it contained no attack on Christianity, 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.
34. 2 The sth&lh was erected to proclaim the infamy of offenders, as well as to denounce curses against transgressors of certain rules therein specified. Thus sthliteu)w came to its later sense of "libelling," "exposing to ridicule." Our word "pillory" presents a curious analogy in derivation.