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Porphyry, Introduction (or Isagoge) to the logical Categories of Aristotle (1853) vol. 2. pp.609-633.

Porphyry, Introduction (or Isagoge) to the logical Categories of Aristotle (1853) vol. 2. pp.609-633.

Chap. I.--Object of the writer, in the present Introduction.

Chap. II.--Of the Nature of Genus and Species.

Chap. III.-- Of Difference.

Chap. IV.--Of Property.

Chap. V.-- Of Accident.

Chap. VI.--Of Things common and peculiar to the Five Predicates.

Chap. VII.--Of the Community and Distinction of Genus and Difference.

Chap. VIII.--Of Community and Difference of Genus and Species.

Chap. IX.--Of Community and Difference of Genus and Property.

Chap. X.-- Of Community and Difference of Genus and Accident.

Chap. XI.--Of Community and Difference of Species and Difference.

Chap. XII.--The same subject continued.

Chap. XIII.-- Of Community and Difference of Property and Difference.

Chap. XIV.--Of Community and Difference of Accident and Difference.

Chap. XV.--Of Community and Difference of Species and Property.

Chap. XVI.--Of Community and Difference of Species and Accident.

Chap. XVII.-- Of Community and Difference of Property and Accident.

[Translated by Octavius Freire Owen, M. A. of Christ Church, Oxford. Rector of Burstow, Surrey; and Domestic Chaplain to the Duke of Portland]

INTRODUCTION OF PORPHYRY.¹

Chap. I. --Object of the writer, in the present Introduction.

Since it is necessary, Chrysaorius, both to the doctrine of Aristotle's Categories, to know what genus, difference, species, property, and accident are, and also to the assignments of definitions, in short, since the investigation of these is useful for those things which belong to division and demonstration,² I will endeavour by a summary briefly to discuss to you, as in the form of introduction, what on this subject has been delivered by the ancients, abstaining, indeed, from more profound questions, yet directing attention in a fitting manner, to such as are more simple. For instance, I shall |610 omit to speak about genera and species, as to whether they subsist (in the nature of things) or in mere conceptions only; whether also if subsistent, they are bodies or incorporeal, and whether they are separate from, or in, sensibles,³ and subsist about these,⁴ for such a treatise is most profound, and requires another more extensive investigation.⁵ Nevertheless, how the ancients, and especially the Peripatetics, discussed these and the other proposed subjects, in a more logical manner, I will now endeavour to point out to you.

Chap. II. --Of the Nature of Genus and Species ⁶

Neither genus nor species appear to be simply denominated, for that is called genus which is a collection of certain things, subsisting in a certain respect relatively to one thing, and to each other, according to which signification the genus of the |611 Heraclidae is denominated from the habitude from one, I mean Hercules, and from the multitude of those who have alliance to each other from him, denominated according to separation from other genera. Again, after another manner also, the principle of the generation of every one is called genus, whether from the generator or from the place in which a person is generated, for thus we say that Orestes had his genus from Tantalus, Hyllus from Hercules, and again, that Pindar was by genus a Theban, but Plato an Athenian, for country is a certain principle of each man's generation, in the same manner as a father. Still, this signification appears to be most ready,⁷ for they are called Heraclidae who derive their origin from the genus of Hercules, and Cecropidae who are from Cecrops; also their next of kin. The first genus, moreover, is so called, which is the principle of each man's generation, but afterwards the number of those who are from one principle, e. g. from Hercules, which defining and separating from others, we call the whole collected multitude the genus of the Heraclidse.

Again, in another way that is denominated genus to which the species is subject, called perhaps from the similitude of these; for such a genus is a certain principle of things under it, and seems also to comprehend all the multitude under itself. As then, genus is predicated triply, the consideration by philosophers is concerning the third, which also they explain by description, when they say that genus is that which is predicated of many things differing in species, in answer to what a thing is, e. g. |612 animal. For of predicates some are predicated of one thing alone, as individuals, for instance, "Socrates," and "this man," and "this thing;" but others are predicated of many, as genera, species, differences, properties, and accidents, predicated in common, but not peculiarly to any one. Now genus is such as "animal," species as "man," difference as " rational," property as " risible," accident as "white," "black," "to sit." From such things then, as are predicated of one thing only, genera differ in that they are predicated of many, but on the other hand, from those which are predicated of many and from species, (they differ) because those species are predicated of many things, yet not of those which differ in species, but in number only, for man being a species, is predicated of Socrates and Plato, who do not differ from each other in species, but in number, while animal being a genus is predicated of man, and ox, and horse, which differ also in species from each other, and not in number only. From property, moreover, genus differs because property is predicated of one species alone of which it is the property, and of the individuals under the species, as "risible" of man alone, and of men particularly, for genus is not predicated of one species, but of many things, which are also different in species. Besides, genus differs from difference and from accidents in common, because though differences and accidents in common are predicated of many things, different also in species, yet they are not so in reply to what a thing is, but (what kind of a thing) it is. For when some persons ask what that is of which these are predicated, we reply, that it is genus; but we do not assign in answer differences and accidents, since they are not predicated of a subject, as to what a thing is, but rather as to what kind of a thing it is. For in reply to the question, what kind of a thing man is, we say, that he is rational, and in answer to what kind of a thing a crow is, we say that it is black, yet |613 rational is difference, but black is accident. When however we are asked what man is, we answer, an animal, but animal is the genus of man, so that from genus being predicated of many, it is diverse from individuals which are predicated of one thing only, but from being predicated of things different in species, it is distinguished from such as are predicated as species or as properties. Moreover, because it is predicated in reply to what a thing is, it is distinguished from differences and from accidents commonly, which are severally predicated of what they are predicated, not in reply to what a thing is, but what kind of a thing it is, or in what manner it subsists: the description therefore of the conception of genus, which has been enunciated, contains nothing superfluous, nothing deficient.⁸

Species indeed is predicated of every form, according to which it is said, "form is first worthy of imperial sway;"⁹ still that is called species also, which is under the genus stated, according to which we are accustomed to call man a species of animal, animal being genus, but white a species of colour, and triangle of figure. Nevertheless, if when we assign the genus, we make mention of species, saying that which is predicated of many things differing in species, in reply to what a thing is, and call species that which is under the assigned genus, we ought to know that, since genus is the genus of something, and species the species of something, each of each, we must necessarily use both in the definitions of both. They assign, therefore, species thus: species is what is arranged under genus, and of which genus is predicated in reply to what a thing is: moreover, thus species is what is predicated of many things differing in number, in reply to what a thing is. This explanation, however, belongs to the most special, |614 and which is species only, but no longer genus also,¹⁰ but the other (descriptions) will pertain to such as are not the most special. Now, what we have stated will be evident in this way: in each category there are certain things most generic, and again, others most special, and between the most generic and the most special, others which are alike called both genera and species, but the most generic is that above which there cannot be another superior genus, and the most special that below which there cannot be another inferior species. Between the most generic and the most special, there are others which are alike both genera and species, referred, nevertheless, to different things, but what is stated may become clear in one category. Substance indeed, is itself genus, under this is body, under body animated body, under which is animal, under animal rational animal, under which is man, under man Socrates, Plato, and men particularly. Still, of these, substance is the most generic, and that which alone is genus; but man is most specific, and that which alone is species; yet body is a species of substance, but a genus of animated body, also animated body is a species of body, but a genus of animal; again, animal is a species of animated body, but a genus of rational animal, and rational animal is a species of animal, but a genus of man, and man is a species of rational animal, but is no longer the genus of particular men, but is species only, and every thing prior to individuals being proximately predicated of them, will be species only, and no longer genus also. As then, substance being in the highest place, is most generic, from there being no genus prior to it, so also man being a species, after which there is no other species, nor any thing capable of division into species, but individuals, (for Socrates, Plato, Alcibiades, and this white thing, I call individual,) will be species alone, and the last species, and as we say the most specific. Yet the media will be the species of such as are before them, but the genera of things after them, so that these have two conditions, one as to things prior to them, according to which they are said to be their species, the other to things after |615 them, according to which they are said to be their genera. The extremes on the other hand, have one condition, for the most generic has indeed a condition as to the things under it, since it is the highest genus of all, but has no longer one as to those before it, being supreme, and the first principle, and, as we have said, that above which there cannot be another higher genus. Also, the most specific has one condition, as to the things prior to it, of which it is the species, yet it has not a different one, as to things posterior to it, but is called the species of individuals, so termed as comprehending them, and again, the species of things prior to it, as comprehended by them, wherefore the most generic genus is thus defined to be that which being genus is not species, and again, above which there cannot be another higher genus; but the most specific species, that, which being species is not genus, and which being species we can no longer divide into species; moreover, which is predicated of many things differing in number, in reply to what a thing is.¹¹

Now, the media of the extremes they call subaltern species and genera, and admit each of them to be species and genus, when referred indeed to different things, for those which are prior to the most specific, ascending up to the most generic, are called subaltern genera and species. Thus, Agamemnon is Atrides, Pelopides, Tantalides, and lastly, (the son) of Jupiter, yet in genealogies they refer generally to one origin, for instance, to Jupiter; but this is not the case in genera and species, since being is not the common genus of all things, nor, as Aristotle says, are all things of the same genus with respect to one summum genus. Still, let the first ten genera be arranged, as in the Categories, as ten first principles, and even if a person should call all things beings, yet he will call them, so he says, equivocally, but not synonymously, for if being were the one common genus of all things, all things would be synonymously styled beings, but the first principles being ten, the community is in name only, yet not in the definition |616 also belonging to the name: there are then ten most generic genera. On the other hand, the most specific they place in a certain number, yet not in an infinite one, but individuals which are after the most specific are infinite; wherefore, when we have come down to the most specific from the most generic, Plato exhorts us to rest,¹² but to descend through those things which are in the middle, dividing by specific differences; he tells us however to leave infinites alone, as there cannot be science of these. In descending then, to the most specific, it is necessary to proceed by division through multitude, but in ascending to the most generic, we must collect multitude into one, for species is collective of the many into one nature, and genus yet more so; but particulars and singulars, on the contrary, always divide the one into multitude, for by the participation of species, many men become one man; but in particulars and singulars, the one, and what is common, becomes many; for the singular is always divisive, but what is common is collective and reductive to one.¹³

Genus then, and species, being each of them explained as to what it is, since also genus is one, but species many, (for there is always a division of genus into many species,) genus indeed is always predicated of species, and all superior of inferior, but species is neither predicated of its proximate genus, nor of those superior, since it does not reciprocate. For it is necessary that either equals should be predicated of equals, as neighing of a horse, or that the greater should be predicated of the less, as animal of man, but the less no longer of the greater, for you can no longer say that animal is man, as you can say that man is animal. Of those things however whereof species is predicated, that |617 genus of the species will also be necessarily predicated, also that genus of the genus up to the most generic; for if it is true to say that Socrates is a man, but man an animal, and animal substance, it is also true to say that Socrates is animal and substance. At least, since the superior are always predicated of the inferior, species indeed will always be predicated of the individual, but the genus both of the species and of the individual, but the most generic both of the genus or the genera, (if the media and subaltern be many,) and of the species, and of the individual. For the most generic is predicated of all the genera, species, and individuals under it, but the genus which is prior to the most specific (species), is predicated of all the most specific species and individuals; but what is species alone of all the individuals (of it), but the individual of one particular alone.¹⁴ Now, an individual is called Socrates, this white thing, this man who approaches the son of Sophroniscus, if Socrates alone is his son, and such things are called individuals, because each consists of properties of which the combination can never be the same in any other, for the properties of Socrates can never be the same in any other particular person;¹⁵ the properties of man indeed, (I mean of him as common,) may be the same in many, or rather in all particular men, so far as they are men. Wherefore the individual is comprehended in the species, but the species by the genus, for genus is a certain whole, but the individual is a part, and species |618 both a whole and a part; part indeed of something else, but a whole not of another, but in other things, for the whole is in its parts. Concerning genus then, and species, we have shown what is the most generic, and the most specific, also what the same things are genera and species, what also are individuals, and in how many ways genus and species are taken.

Chap. III. -- Of Difference.

Difference may be predicated commonly, properly, and most properly: for one thing is said to differ from another in common from its differing in some respect in diversity of nature, either from itself, or from something else; for Socrates differs from Plato in diversity of nature, and himself from himself when a boy, and when become a man, also when he does any thing, or ceases to do it, and it is always perceived in the different ways in which a thing is somehow effected. Again, one thing is said to differ properly from another, when one differs from another by an inseparable accident; but an inseparable accident is such as blueness, or crookedness, or a scar become scirrhous from a wound. Moreover, one is most properly said to differ from another, when it varies by specific difference, as man differs from horse by specific difference, i. e. by the quality of rational. Universally then every difference acceding to a thing renders it different, but differences common and proper render it different in quality, and the most proper render it another thing. Hence, those which render it another thing are called specific, but those, |619 which make it different in quality, are simply (called) differences, for the difference of rational being added to animal, makes it another thing, (and makes a species of animal,) but difference of being moved makes it different in quality only from what is at rest, so that the one renders it another thing, but the other only of another quality.¹⁶

According then, to the differences which produce another thing do the divisions of genera into species arise, and the definitions arising from genus and such differences are assigned. On the other hand, as to those which only make a thing different in quality, diversities alone consist, and the changes of subsistence of a thing; beginning then, again, from the first, we must say that of differences some are separable, others inseparable, thus to be moved, and to be at rest, to be ill, and to be well, and such as resemble these, are separable, but to have a crooked, or a flat nose, to be rational, or irrational, are inseparable differences. Again, of the inseparable, some exist per se, others by accident, for rational, mortal, to be susceptible of science, are inherent in man per se, but to have a crooked or flat nose, accidentally, and not per se. Wherefore, such as are present per se, are assumed in the definition of substance, and effect a different thing, but what are accidental arc neither taken in the definition of substance, nor render a thing another, but of another quality. Those too, which are per se, do not admit of the more and less, but the accidental, even if they be inseparable, admit of intention and remission, |620 for neither is genus more and less predicated of that of which it is the genus, nor the differences of genus according to which it is divided. For these are such as complete the definition of each thing, but the essence of each is one and the same, and neither admits of intention, nor remission; to have however a crooked or a flat nose, or to be in some way coloured, admits both of intension and remission. Since then, there are three species of difference considered, some indeed separable, but others inseparable, again, of the inseparable, some are per se, but others accidental, moreover of differences per se, some are those according to which we divide genera into species, but others according to which the things divided become specific:--thus of all such differences per se of animal as these, animated and sensitive, rational and irrational, mortal and. immortal, the difference of animated and sensitive is constitutive of the essence of animal, for animal is an animated substance, endued with sense, but the difference of mortal and immortal, and that of rational and irrational, are the divisive differences of animal, for through these we divide genera into species: yet these very differences which divide the genera are constitutive and completive of species. For animal is divided by the difference of rational and irrational, and again, by the difference of mortal and immortal; but the differences of rational and mortal are constitutive of man, but those of rational and immortal of God, those again, of mortal and irrational, of irrational animals.¹⁷ Thus also, since the differences of animate and inanimate, sensitive and void of sense, divide the highest substance, animate and sensitive added to substance, complete animal, but animate and deprived of sense, form plant; since then, the same |621 differences taken in one way become constitutive, but in another divisive, they are all called specific.

These indeed are especially useful for divisions of genera, and for definitions, yet not with regard to those which are inseparable accidentally, nor still more with such as are separable.¹⁸ And indeed defining these, they say that difference is that by which species exceeds genus, e. g. man exceeds animal in being rational and mortal, for animal is neither any one of these, (since whence would species have differences?) nor has it all the opposite differences, (since otherwise the same thing would at the same time have opposites,) but (as they allege) it contains all the differences which are under it in capacity, but not one of them in energy, and so neither is any thing produced from non-entities, nor will opposites at the same time subsist about the same thing.

Again, they define it (difference) also thus: difference is that which is predicated of many things differing in species in answer to the question, of what kind a thing is,¹⁹ for rational and mortal being predicated of man, are spoken in reply to what kind of thing man is, and not as to the question what is he. For when we are asked what is man, we properly answer, an animal, but when men inquire what kind of animal, we say properly, that he is rational and mortal. For since things consist of matter and form, or have a constitution analogous to matter and form, as a statue is composed of brass, matter, but of figure, form, so also man, both common and specific, consists of matter analogous to genus, and of form analogous to difference, but the whole of this, animal, rational, mortal, is |622 man, in the same manner as the statue there. They also describe it thus, difference is what is naturally adapted to separate things which are under the same genus, as rational and irrational separate man and horse, which are under the same genus, animal. Again, they give it in this way: difference is that by which each singular thing differs, for man and horse do not differ as to genus, for both we and horses are animals, but the addition of rational separates us from them; again, both we and the gods ²⁰ are rational, but the addition of mortal separates us from them. They however who more nicely discuss what pertains to difference, say that it is not any casual thing dividing those under the same genus, but such as contributes to the essence, and to the definition of the essence of a thing, and which is part of the thing. For to be naturally adapted to sail is not the difference, though it is the property of man, since we may say that of animals, some are naturally adapted to sail, but others not, separating man from other animals; yet a natural ability to sail does not complete the essence, neither is a part of it, but only an aptitude of it, because it is not such a difference as those which are called specific differences. Wherefore specific differences will be such as produce another species, and which are assumed in explaining the very nature of a thing: and concerning difference this is sufficient.

Chap. IV. --Of Property.

Property they divide in four ways: for it is that which happens to some one species alone, though not to every (individual of that species), as to a man to heal, or to geometrize: that also which happens to a whole species, though not to that alone, as to man to be a biped: that again, which happens to a species alone, and to every (individual of it), and at a certain time, as to every man to |623 become grey in old age: in the fourth place, it is that in which it concurs (to happen) to one species alone, and to every (individual of it), and always, as risibility to a man; for though he does not always laugh, yet he is said to be risible, not from his always laughing, but from being naturally adapted to laugh, and this is always inherent in him, in the same way as neighing in a horse. They say also that these are validly properties, because they reciprocate, since if any thing be a horse it is capable of neighing, and if any thing be capable of neighing it is a horse.

Chap. V. -- Of Accident.

Accident is that which is present and absent without the destruction of its subject. It receives a two-fold division, for one kind of it is separable, but the other inseparable, e. g. to sleep is a separable accident, but to be black happens inseparably to a crow and an Ethiopian; we may possibly indeed conceive a white crow, and an Ethiopian casting his colour, without destruction of the subject.

They also define it thus; accident is that which may be present and not present to the same thing; |624 also that which is neither genus, nor difference, nor species, nor property, yet is always inherent in a subject.

Chap. VI. --Of Things common and peculiar to the Five Predicates.

Having discussed all that were proposed, I mean, genus, species, difference, property, accident, we must declare what things are common, and what peculiar to them. Now it is common to them all to be predicated, as we have said, of many things, but genus (is predicated) of the species and individuals under it, and difference in like manner; but species, of the individuals under it; and property, both of the species, of which it is the property, and of the individuals under that species; again, accident (is predicated) both of species, and individuals. For animal is predicated of horse and ox, being species, also of this particular horse and ox, which are individuals, but irrational is predicated of horse and ox, and of particulars. Species however, as man, is predicated of particulars alone, but property both of the species, of which it is the property, and of the individuals under that species; as risibility both of man, and of particular men, but blackness of the species of crows, and of particulars, being an inseparable accident; and to be moved, of man and horse, being a separable accident. Notwithstanding, it is pre-eminently (predicated) of individuals, but secondarily of those things which comprehend individuals.

Chap. VII. --Of the Community and Distinction of Genus and Difference.

It is common to genus and difference to be comprehensive of species, for difference also comprehends species, though not all such as the genera; |625 for rational, though, it does not comprehend irrational, as animal does, yet it comprehends man and divinity, which are species. Whatever things also are predicated of genus as genus, are predicated of the species under it, and whatever are predicated of difference as difference, will be also of the species formed from it. For animal being a genus, substance is predicated of it as of a genus, also animated, and sensible, but these are predicated of all the species under animal, as far as to individuals. As moreover, rational is difference, the use of reason is predicated of it, as of difference, yet the use of reason will not be predicated of rational only, but also of the species under rational. This too is common, that when genus or difference is subverted, the things under them are also subverted, for as when animal is not, horse is not, nor man, thus also, when rational is not, there will be no animal which uses reason. Now, it is the property of genus to be predicated of more things than difference, species, property, and accident are, for animal (is predicated) of man and horse, bird and snake, but quadruped of animals alone, which have four feet; again, man of individuals alone, and capacity of neighing of horse alone, and of particulars. Likewise, accident of fewer things: yet we must assume the differences by which the genus is divided, not those which complete, but which divide the essence of genus.

Moreover, genus comprehends difference in capacity, for of animal one kind is rational, but another irrational, but differences do not comprehend genera. Besides, genera are prior to the differences under them, wherefore they subvert them, but are not co-subverted with them. For animal being subverted, rational and irrational are co-subverted, but differences no longer co-subvert genus, for even if all of them should be subverted, yet we may form a conception of animated, sensible substance, which is animal. |626

Yet more, genus is predicated in reference to what a thing is, but difference in reference to what kind of a thing it is, as was observed before; besides there is one genus according to every species; e. g. of man, animal (is the genus), but there are many differences, as rational, mortal, capable of intellect and science, by which he differs from other animals. Genus also is similar to matter, but difference to form: however since there are other things common and peculiar to genus and difference, these will suffice.

Chap. VIII. --Of Community and Difference of Genus and Species.

Genus and species possess in common, (as we have said,) the being predicated of many things, but species must be taken as species only, and not as genus, if the same thing be both species and genus. Moreover, it is common to them both to be prior to what they are predicated of, and to be each a certain whole; but they differ, because genus indeed comprehends species, but species are comprehended by, and do not comprehend genera, for genus is predicated of more than species. Besides, it is necessary that genera should be presupposed, and when formed by specific differences, that they should consummate species, whence also genera are by nature prior. They also co-subvert, but are not co-subverted, for species existing, genus also entirely exists, but genus existing there is not altogether species; genera too, are indeed univocally predicated of species under them, but not species of genera. Moreover, genera exceed, from comprehending the species which are under them, but species exceed genera by their proper differences; |627 besides, neither can species become most generic, nor genus most specific.

Chap. IX. --Of Community and Difference of Genus and Property.

Both to genus and to property it is common to follow species, for if any thing be man, it is animal, and if any thing be man, it is risible. Likewise to genus, to be equally predicated of species, and to property, (to be equally predicated) of the individuals which participate it; thus man and ox are equally animal, and Anytus and Melitus risible.²¹ It is also common that genus should be univocally predicated of its proper species, and property of the things of which it is the property; still they differ, because genus is prior, but property posterior, for animal must first necessarily exist, afterwards be divided by differences and properties. Also genus indeed is predicated of many species, but property of one certain species of which it is the property. Besides property is reciprocally predicated of that of which it is the property, but genus is not reciprocally predicated of any thing, for neither if any thing is an animal, is it a man, nor if a thing be animal is it risible, but if any thing is a man it is risible, and vice versa. Moreover, property is inherent in the whole species, of which it is the property, in it alone, and always, but genus in the whole species indeed of which it is the genus, and always, yet not in it alone; once more, properties being subverted do not co-subvert genera, but genera being subverted, co-subvert species, to which properties belong; wherefore, also those things of which there are properties, being subverted, the properties themselves also, are co-subverted. |628

Chap. X. -- Of Community and Difference of Genus and Accident.

It is common to genus and accident to be predicated, as we have said, of many things, whether they (the accidents) be separable or inseparable, for to be moved is predicated of many things, and blackness of crows, and of Ethiopians, and of certain inanimate things. Genus however differs from accident, in that genus is prior, but accident posterior to species, for though an inseparable accident be assumed, yet that of which it is the accident is prior to the accident. Also the participants of genus participate it equally, but those of accident do not equally; for the participation of accidents accepts intension and remission, but not that of genera. Besides, accidents primarily subsist about individuals, but genera and species are by nature prior to individual substances. Moreover, genera are predicated of the things under them, in respect to what a thing is, but accidents in respect to what kind of a thing it is, or how each thing subsists; for being asked, what kind of man an Ethiopian is, you say that he is black; or how Socrates is, you reply that he is sick or well.

Chap. XI. --Of Community and Difference of Species and Difference.

We have shown then, wherein genus differs from the other four, but each of the other four happens also to differ from the rest, so that as there are five, and each one of the four differs from the rest, the five being four times (taken), all the differences would appear to be twenty. Nevertheless, such is not the case, but always those successive being enumerated, and two being deficient by one difference, from having been already assumed, and the three by two differences, the four by three, the five by four; all the differences are ten, namely, four, three, two, one. For in what genus differs from difference, species, property, and accident, we have shown, wherefore, there are four differences; also we explained in what respect |629 difference differs from genus, when we declared in what genus differs from it. What remains then, viz. in what respect it differs from species, property, and accident, shall be told, and three (differences) arise. Again, we declared how species differs from difference, when we showed how difference differs from species; also we showed how species differs from genus, when we explained how genus differs from species; what remains then, viz. in what species differs from property and from accident, shall be told: these, then, are two differences. But in what respect property differs from accident, shall be discovered, for how it differs from species, difference, and genus, was explained before in the difference of those from these. Wherefore, as four differences of genus with respect to the rest, are assumed, but three of difference, two of species, and one of property with regard to accident, there will be ten (differences altogether), of which, four we have already demonstrated, viz. those of genus, with respect to the rest.

Chap. XII. --The same subject continued.

It is common then to difference and species to be equally participated, for particular men partake equally of man, and of the difference of rational. It is also common always to be present to their participants, for Socrates is always rational, and always man, but it is the property of difference indeed to be predicated in respect to what kind a thing is of, but of species in respect to what a thing is, for though man should be assumed as a certain kind of thing, yet he will not be simply so, but in as far as differences according to genus constitute him. Besides, difference is often seen in many species, as quadruped in many animals, different in species, but species is in the individuals alone, which are tinder the species. Moreover, difference is prior to the species which subsists according to it, for rational being subverted, co-subverts man, but man being subverted, does not co-subvert rational, since there is still divinity. Further, difference is joined with another difference, |630 (for rational and mortal are joined for the subsistence of man,) but species is not joined with species, so as to produce some other species; for indeed a certain horse is joined with a certain ass, for the production of a mule, but horse simply joined with ass will not produce a mule.

Chap. XIII. -- Of Community and Difference of Property and Difference.²²

Difference also and property have it in common to be equally shared by their participants, for rational are equally rational, and risible (equally) risible (animals). Also it is common to both to be always present, and to every one, for though a biped should be mutilated, yet (the term biped) is always predicated with reference to what is naturally adapted, since also risible has the "always" from natural adaptation, but not from always laughing. Now, it is the property of difference, that it is frequently predicated of many species, as rational of divinity and man, but property (is predicated) of one species, of which it is the property. Difference moreover follows those things of which it is the difference, yet does not also reciprocate, but properties are reciprocally predicated of those of which they are the properties, in consequence of reciprocating.

Chap. XIV. --Of Community and Difference of Accident and Difference.

To difference and accident it is common to be predicated of many things, but it is common (to the former) with inseparable accidents to be |631 present always and with every one, for biped is always present to man, and likewise blackness to all crows. Still they differ in that difference indeed comprehends but is not comprehended by species; for rational comprehends divinity and man, but accidents after a certain manner comprehend from their being in many things, yet in a certain manner are comprehended from the subjects not being the recipients of one accident, but of many. Besides, difference indeed docs not admit of intension and remission, but accidents accept the more and less; moreover contrary differences cannot be mingled, but contrary accidents may sometimes be mingled. So many then are the points common and peculiar to difference and the others.

Chap. XV. --Of Community and Difference of Species and Property.

In what respect species differs from genus and difference, was explained in our enunciation of the way in which genus, and also difference, differ from the rest; it now remains that we should point out how it (species) differs from property and accident. It is common then to species and property, to be reciprocally predicated of each other, since if any thing be man, it is risible, also if it be risible, it is man, still we have frequently declared that risible must be assumed according to natural adaptation to risibility. It is also common (to them) to be equally present, for species are equally present to their participants, and properties to the things of which they are properties, but species differs from property, in that species indeed may be the genus of other things, but property cannot possibly be the property of other things. Again, species subsists prior to property, but property accedes to species, for man must exist, in order that risible may: besides, species is always present in energy with its subject, but property sometimes also in capacity, for Socrates is a man always in energy, but he does not always laugh, though he is always naturally adapted to be risible. Once more, things of |632 which the definitions are different, are themselves also different, but it is (the definition) of species to be under genus, and to be predicated of many things, also differing in number, in respect to what a thing is, and things of this kind, but of property it is to be present to a thing alone, and to every individual and always.

Chap. XVI. --Of Community and Difference of Species and Accident.

To species and accident it is common to be predicated of many, but other points of community are rare, from the circumstance of accident, and that to which it is accidental, differing very much from each other. Now, the properties of each are these: of species, to be predicated of those of which it is the species, in respect to what a thing is, but of accident, in reference to what kind a thing is of, or how it subsists.²³ Likewise, that each substance partakes of one species, but of many accidents, both separable and inseparable: moreover, species are conceived prior to accidents, even if they be inseparable, (for there must be subject, in order that something should happen to it,) but accidents are naturally adapted to be of posterior origin, and possess a nature adjunctive to substance. Again, of species the participation is equal, but of accident, even if it be inseparable, it is not equal; for an Ethiopian may have a colour intense, or remitted, according to blackness, with reference to an(other) Ethiopian.

Chap. XVII. -- Of Community and Difference of Property and Accident.²⁴

It remains to speak of property and accident, for how property differs from species, difference, and |633 genus, has been stated. It is common then to property and inseparable accident not to subsist without those things in which they are beheld, for as man does not subsist without risible,²⁵ so neither can Ethiopian subsist without blackness, and as property is present to every, and always, so also is inseparable accident. Nevertheless, they differ, in that property is present to one species alone, as the being risible to man, but inseparable accident, as black, is present not only to an Ethiopian, but also to a crow, to a coal, to ebony, and to certain other things. Moreover, property is reciprocally predicated of that of which it is the property, and is equally (present), but inseparable accident is not reciprocally predicated, besides, the participation of properties is equal, but of accidents one (subject partakes) more, but another less. There are indeed other points of community, and peculiarity of the above-mentioned (predicables), but these are sufficient for their distinction, and the setting forth of their agreement.

[This translation appears in volume 2 of The Organon, or logical treatises of Aristotle, with the introduction of Porphyry, published by Henry G. Bohn in London in 1853.

Note that only selected footnotes are included and no marginalia. The urge to write a commentary on this text appears to overwhelm most translators, but since much of the material is either references to other pages in the book or refers to long obsolete texts on logic it has been omitted.]

1. ¹ At the request of Chrysaorius, his pupil, who had recently met with the Categories of Aristotle, Porphyry wrote this introduction, in order to his comprehension of that treatise: nearly the whole of it is composed from the writings, and often almost in the very words of Plato. As philosophers reduced all things under ten common natures, as grammarians also, with respect to eight words, so Porphyry has comprehended every significant word, except such as are significant of individuals, under five terms. The five heads of predicables therefore, taken from this Isagoge, which was written in the third century, are an addition to the Aristotelian Logic, in part of which, (the Topics,) the doctrine laid down differs from that enunciated here, in several points, as Porphyry's view also differs from that of Aldrich. Upon the subject generally, the reader may compare Albertus Magnus de Praedicab. Aquinas. Occam Logica. Abelard de Gen. et Spec. ed Cousin. Trendelenb. Elem. Crakanthorpe's, Whately's, Hill's, and Wallis' Logics, also Boethius de Divisione.

2. ² Dialectic, according to Plato, consists of four parts, division, definition, demonstration, and analysis; hence a treatise adapted to the formation of these, will be evidently useful to the dialectic of Plato. The difference between the dialectic of Plato and that of Aristotle, is noticed in the subsequent notes upon the Organon, and the reader will find the subject ably discussed in the introduction to Mansel's Logic; here we need only observe that Aristotle in the Topics, looks to opinion (in his treatment of dialectic), while Plato disregards it, and the former delivers many arguments about one problem, but the latter, the same method about many problems. Cf. Proclus. MSS. commentary on the Parmenides, Philip., Schol. p. 143, ch, 4; Waitz, vol. ii. p. 137.

3. ¹ On the metaphysical part of this question, the opinions of philosophers are as vague as (I may add) they are unprofitable, hence the term "universals," is the best to be employed, as least liable to commit the logician to any metaphysical hypothesis; since the realist may interpret it of "substances," the nominalist of "names," the conceptualist of "notions." Cf. Occam, Log. p. 1, Albertus Magnus, Abelard. The agreement between the first and last, proves that there is no real difference between nominalism and conceptualism, since they were both. Vide also Mansel, Appendix A, where the authorities upon each side will be found quoted.

4. ² Genus and species, in short all forms, have a triple subsistence, for they are either prior to the many, or in the many, or posterior to the many. Taylor. Philoponus, in his extracts from Ammonius, illustrates this as follows: Let a seal-ring be conceived, having the image of Achilles upon it, from which seal let there be many impressions taken in pieces of wax, afterwards let a man perceiving the pieces of wax to have all the impression of one seal, retain such impression in his mind: then the seal in the ring is said to be prior to the many; the impression in the wax to be in the many, and the image remaining in the conception of the spectator, after the many, and of posterior origin. This he applies to genus and species.

5. ³ Viz. metaphysics; it is, in fact, psychological. Cf. Leibnitz Meditat. de Cognit. Ver. opera. ed Erdmann. and Mansel's Prolegomena Logica.

6. ⁴ With this chapter compare ch. 5, of the Categories, and Top. i. 5 and 8, whence the discrepancies between the account of the predicables given by Arist. and this by Porphyry will appear, upon which see Mansel's comment. Log. App. A, p. 9. Cf. also Albertus Mag. de Predicab. Trac. 11, cap. 1, Metap. iv. 28.

7. ¹ Ammonius remarks that, "It is worth while to doubt why Porphyry says that the first signification of genus appears to be the one easily adopted, and not the second signification, which is the habitude of one thing to one; since this nature first knows, for she first produces one thing from one, and thus many from many." But as Taylor observes, the second signification of genus, which is second with reference to us, is first to nature; for from Hercules, one man is first produced, and thus afterwards the multitude of the Heraclidae. Universally, whatever is first to nature is second to us, and vice versa, e. g. she begins with form and matter, then flesh and bone; we begin from man, so that things prior to nature are posterior to our knowledge, wherefore the first signification is clearer than the second.

8. ¹ Porphyry does not recognise the distinction between "quale quid" and "quale," (cf. Aldrich, Abelard de Gen. et Spe. ed. Cousin,) but makes difference, property, and accident to be all predicated ἐϝ τῷ ὁποῖόν τὶ ἐστιν: Boethius distinguishes quale in substantia, from quale non in substantia. Moreover, Porphyry makes difference to be always predicated de specie differentibus; upon his consideration of property, vide note to ch. 4, Isagog.

9. ² Athenaeus attributes this verse to Euripides. Vide Ath. lib. xiii. ch. 7.

10. ¹ An infima species can be maintained by none consistently but a Realist. Vide Mansel, p. 21

11. ¹ For the exemplification of the above, see the "Arbor Porphyriana," (sometimes called by the Greek logicians, the "ladder," κλίμαξ,) given at page 7, ch. 5, of the Categories, with the note. [Note to the online text: vol. 1 can be found online at books.google.com]

12. ¹ See notes to pp. 6 and 8, Categor. An infima species implies a notion so complex as to be incapable of further accessions, the Realist maintains it to be the whole essence of the individuals of which it is predicated. Cf. Boethius; also Wallis, lib. i. 13, et seq.; Whately, b. ii. ch. 5, sect. 3 and 5.

13. ² Cf. Mansel, pp. 18 and 21, note; Whately, p. 52, 138; Outline of Laws of Thought, p. 44; Stewart, Philo. of Human Mind, part i. ch. 4.

14. ¹ Properly speaking, there cannot be more than one highest genus, which is a cognate term to every substance and quality supposed to exist; yet a subaltern genus may be relatively considered as a highest genus. Species, when resolved into its component parts, is found to be combined of genus and difference, and in different points of view, may be referred to different genera, also many species have no appropriate name, but are expressed by the combination of their constituent parts, genus and difference, e. g. "rectilinear-figure," " water-fowl;" indeed, some are denoted by the difference alone, as " repeater" (a watch which strikes the hour). Cf. ch. 3, Cat. note; Crakanthorpe, Log. lib. ii. Any singular term (denoting one individual) implies, (vide Whately, b. ii. ch. 5, 5,) not only the whole of what is understood by the species it belongs to, but also more, namely, whatever distinguishes that single object from others of the same species, as London implies all that is denoted by the term " city," and also all that distinguishes that individual city. Cf. Wallis, ch. 2.

15. ² Hence, in describing an individual, we do not employ properties (which belong to a whole species), but generally, inseparable accidents, i. e. such as can be predicated of their subject at all times.

16. ¹ According to Porphyry, difference is always predicated "de specie differentibus," and he recognises only a relative difference between two given species; thus "rational" is not the difference of man per se, but of man as distinguished from brutes....

17. ¹ Porphyry's definition of man, "animal rationale mortale," was adopted by Abelard, Albertus Magnus, and Petrus Hispanus, though sometimes with the saving clause, that it must be understood with reference to the Stoical notions of the gods. Aquinas first removed the genus animal rationale from the Arbor Porphy., and limited rationality to man, distinguishing angels as intellectuales. Cf. Summa, p. 1; Qu. lviii. 3; Opusc. xlviii. Tract 1. In the Aristotelian definition of man, ζῷον πέζον δίπουν, the last would be regarded by him as a difference.

18. ¹ Boethius agrees with Porphyry, that accidents, properly so called, are useless in definition, (vide Opera, p. 3,) accidental definition is, in fact, merely a description. Cf. Albert. 1. c. Occam, pt. i. ch. 27. The only proper definition is by genus and differentiae, hence all definable notions will be species. The definition here given of difference, as to its being the excess of species over genus, is clear, from a reference to what was stated in the last note of the preceding chapter.

19. ² "Ratione ejus, quale quid est predicatur." Buhle; so Aldrich. There is no warranty, as we have observed, by Porphyry, for distinction between "quale quid" and "quale."

20. ¹ "Rationales enim sumus et nos et Dii," vetus interpres Latinus. Commonly the word ἄγγελοι was substituted here, probably, as Casaubon conjectures, from the emendation of some Christian: Ammonius and Boethius (Comment, v.) attest that Porphyry wrote θεοὶ.

21. ¹ The property of a subaltern genus is predicated of all the species comprehended in that genus; that of a lowest species is predicated of all the individuals which partake of the nature of that species: thus,

"Shape is the generic property of body,

Growth is the generic property of living body,

Voluntary motion is the generic property of animal,

Risibility, the specific property of man."

Vide Hill's Logic.

22. ¹ Whately observes, "It is often hard to distinguish certain properties from differentia, but whatever you consider as the most essential to the nature of a species, with respect to the matter you are engaged in, you must call the differentia, as rationality to man, and whatever you consider as rather an accompaniment (or result) of that difference, you must call the property, as the use of speech seems to be a result of rationality. He adds also, that the difference is not always one quality, but is frequently compounded of several together, no one of which would alone suffice." Vide also Huyshe's Log., pp. 33, 34.

23. ² Buhle retains the distinction here, between quid and quale quid, upon which, see notes on ch. 2 and 3. The reading is that of Julius Pacius, whom all later editors have followed: the Latin interpretation renders it, "accidentis vero in eo, quod quale quiddam, vel quomodo se habens."

24. ⁴ Accidents may be distinguished from properties by the very definitions given of them. The latter belong necessarily, and therefore universally, to an essence, whereas the former are those qualities which do not of necessity belong to any essence, but are mere contingencies. Huyshe. Vide also note ch. 4, and cf. Albert de Predicab. Tract, vi. cap. I.

25. ¹ Risibility is considered to be so dependent upon rationality, as that the latter could not exist without the former, and if this were not so, the term risible would not be a property of man, but only an inseparable accident. Cf. Whately and Mansel.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_abstinence_00_eintro.htm

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Preface to the online edition.

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Preface to the online edition.

The longest work by Porphyry to survive more or less intact is this curious tract advocating that animals should not be killed, not even for food. The end of the work seems to be lost, but otherwise it is complete and preserves a mass of detail on pagan religious customs and beliefs. Interestingly it also mentioned the Jewish Essenes.

The Greek title is Περὶ αποχης εμψγχων. The work is often referred to as the De Abstinentia or DA.

The date of composition is as uncertain as for most of Porphyry's works. It was plainly written after Porphyry's arrival in Rome in 263 AD, and before the Life of Plotinus in 301 AD. The favoured date is 268-70, while Porphyry was living in Sicily recovering from his breakdown during which he had become suicidal. Suicide is often mentioned in the work. The mention of a partridge that Porphyry himself reared at Carthage (3.4.7) fits this locale also, since Carthage is only a short hop from Sicily. The work is addressed to Castricius, who is known to us only from what Porphyry says about him in this work and in the Life of Plotinus. He was one of the circle around Plotinus, and had estates at Minturnae, from which he supplied Plotinus with money.

Thomas Taylor, the English Platonist, wrote a very long time ago, and his terminology is somewhat strange but otherwise his English has not dated. I have ventured to make two global changes to the text as printed in the interest of people using Google: Essaeans becomes Essenes, and Amilcar becomes Hamilcar. The lack of accents and breathings on the Greek is a feature of Taylor's text, and he seems to have endured mockery for it. His introductory matter does not bear much on the text.

An excellent modern translation was published by Gillian Clark a few years ago, with a useful and thorough introduction, which I have used for various points here. The standard edition of the Greek text today is the Budé edition in three volumes, with critical text, apparatus, sources, and a French translation.

Manuscripts

In the 1886 edition, August Nauck declared that all the manuscripts derive from an exemplar which was uniquely and gravely corrupt. The Budé editors add, "Nothing inclines us today to modify this judgement." The text is preserved by a "tradition très médiocre". While the manuscripts fall into two families, plus another consisting of hand-written copies of the editio princeps, they share a huge number of evident errors. Wherever we can compare the text with portions quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea in the Praeparatio Evangelica, it is evident that Eusebius' text is much superior. The text of the direction tradition has been much altered, although the editors consider that this is not so much as regards its content but in the expression of it.

One family is descended from V, the other from a lost manuscript referred to as Ψ.

Siglum

Location

Shelfmark & Notes

Date /

Century

V

Rome, Vatican Library Codex Vaticanus Graecus 325 (once 195). Paper. 307x201 mm. Folios II, 325, arranged as I, 1-164; II, 165-325. Four copyists. The writing is careful and clear. Copied by four different copyists. Two copied ff.1-115, a third 116-281, and a fourth the DA. The codex appears to have been assembled from three independently written manuscripts in the 14th century. Contents:

ff. 1-108. Arrian's lecture-notes on the Discourses of Epictetus (Dissertationes ab Arriano digestae). Copied from Codex Bodleianus Auct. T. 413, s.XI-XII (the end of this ms. is lost). It has been copied remarkably accurately.

ff. 109-115. The Life of Pythagoras by Porphyry, excerpted from the lost Philosophic History;

ff. 116-281. Arrian's Anabasis

ff. 282-325. Porphyry On Abstinence (De abstinentia).

The common archetype of all the manuscripts of one family. Described by Ioannes Mercati &c. in the catalogue Codices Vaticani Graeci, v. 1, Rome (1923).

14

M

Venice, Marcianus Marcianus graecus 392. Fol. 237v-289. Perhaps a copy of V. Other contents are by Philostratus; the Lives of the Sophists, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Heroica, and Imagines. 15

L

Leipzig Lipsiensis graecus 25. A copy of M. 16

K

Leiden university Leidensis B. P. G., codex 33 D. Once the Meermannianus. f.1-40v contain the DA. Numerous copyist faults, but some interesting readings. Also contains Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, and Arrian's Anabasis, book 1. Derived from V. ca. 1540

Pa

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale Français. Parisinus Graecus 2083 16

Gd

Munich Monacensis graecus 91. DA on ff. 237-300. Contains the sententiae of Porphyry, but the text of the DA is descended from V. The two are in different hands. Also contains the Life of Pythagoras in the same hand as the DA, and while the order of the codex is disarranged, there are old folio numbers still visible on the pages which make it clear that the DA and Life of Pythagoras once formed part of a manuscript with continous pagination 1-146. 16

Ea

Madrid, Escorial Library Scorialensis R-I-5. Ff. 6-64v. Many faults and omissions. Also contains Plutarch, Bruta rat.; De Esu; Non posse suav.; Anim. an corp. Descended from V. 16

Ga

Munich Monacensis graecus 461. Ff. 117-185. Descended from Ψ, and the oldest member of that family of manuscripts. Also contains works of Themistus, Julian, Priscianus, Synesiu and Nicephorus Gregoras. 14-15

Gb

Munich Monacensis graecus 39. Ff. 137-194. A copy of Ga, it seems. Also contains works by Meletius, Galen, Dionysius the Periegete. 16

F

Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana Laurentianus 80, 15. f. 1-84. Also descended from Ψ. Also contains the Sententiae. Copied by John Scutariotes, according to E. Lamberz. 15

Ge

Munich Monacensis graecus 171. ff.1-109r. Apart from some folios added in 1729, the manuscript contains three works (DA, Sententiae, Eunapius Life of Porphyry) which were all edited and published together by Victorius in 1548. The first two are written in Victorius' own hand, and copied directly from F. In the margin are corrections by Victorius against a manuscript of the family of V. The manuscript was acquired with all the other manuscripts owned by Victorius by the prince-elector of Bavaria, Charles-Theodore, and transferred at his death from Mannheim to the Royal Library at Munich. 16

Ba

Oxford, Bodleian Bodleianus Auct. F.4, 6. Ff.1-94. Begins at book 1, 3:1. The bottom of the first four folios is missing, cut off. Some 20 chapters are missing (I.14:4-I.35:5). The codex is made up of two parts. The first, containing the DA and Sententiae, was copied by John Scutariotes in the middle of the 15th century. The rest, in a different hand, contains DA III and IV (fol. 102-141) and then an anonymous De physiognomia and four works by Gregory Nazianzen. Descended from Ψ. 15

Pb

Paris, BNF. Parisinus Graecus 2084. Descended from Ψ. 16

T

Turin Taurinensis B-I-12. ff.1-67. Also contains Eustathius, Comm. in Dion. Perieg. Descended from Ψ. 16

Vb

Rome, Vatican. Vaticanus Barberinianus Graecus 252. Ff.45-112v. Ff.41-112v (Sententiae and DA) were copied by Valeriano Albini. ff.1-38v contain Eunapius, Lives of the sophists, in another hand. Descended from Ψ. 1539

Eb

Madrid, Escorial Library Scorialensis y-I-10. fol. 78-161. Fol. 73-161 were copied by Andronikos Noukios between 1541-3, according to E. Lamberz. This manuscript has a number of particular faults which suggest that it is not directly descended from Ψ. Also contains in a different hand Porphyry Comm. Categ. Aristotl. on fol. 1-69v. 1541-3

B

Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodleianus Auct. F.3.17. ff. 1-55. Also contains the Sententiae. A copy of the editio princeps. 16 ( nd half)

H

Paris, BNF (?) Harleianus 6296. The title says that the manuscript contains the Latin translation of Felicianus, but this is lacking the end of book 4. Bears some notes by Meursius, possibly in his own hand. 17

A

Brussels, Royal Library Bruxellensis 2937 (once 4146). It once belonged to the Jesuits of Anvers, and bears some notes by A. Schott, including one on p.1 stating that it is a copy of the Florence edition and doesn't deviate from it. 17

(Lost)

Madrid, Escorial Library Two manuscripts existed at one time at the Escorial, which were destroyed in the fire of 1671. They have been described by G. Andrés, following the old pre-fire catalogues, in Catalogo de los codices griegos desparecidos de la Real Biblioteca de El Escorial, El Escorial (1968), p. 110 and 129. They are described there as recent and containing the Sententiae, so must have been members of the family derived from Ψ. "Recent"

Books 2 and 4 of the DA are very rich in details about pagan religion, and so are quoted extensively by Eusebius in the Praeparatio Evangelica, Cyril of Alexandria in Contra Julianum, and Theodoret in his Therapeutica. These lengthy quotations in Eusebius are almost always more faithful to Porphyry than the direct tradition. Cyril's text is as useful as that of Eusebius, and agrees with it closely when they quote the same passages. For passages only quoted by Cyril, again the text is generally better than the direct tradition. The quotations by Theodoret are less interesting, being generally short and all of them dependent on Eusebius and taken from it.

Editio princeps: The text was first published by Petrus Victorius at Florence in 1548. This was a folio of 127 leaves, containing the DA, the Sententiae, Michael of Ephesus Scholia on Aristotle's Part. Anim., Eunapius Life of Porphyry, and a critical apparatus.

Editors generally seem to have had difficulties finding manuscripts, and several remark on this. The chapter divisions were created by J. Valentinus for his 1655 Cambridge edition, which also had a Latin translation by Lucas Holsten (Holstenius). Taylor refers to the edition of J. de Rhoer (Utrecht, 1767), which includes conjectures by J. Reiske and F.L.Abresch, with a reprint of the translation of Felicianus. Clark says that Taylor probably used de Rhoer's edition as the basis. J.B.Felicianus (=Giovanni Feliciano) published a Latin translation of the work in 1547 in Venice. August Nauck published a Teubner edition in 1860 with a revised version in 1886, and much of the literature refers to the page numbers and lines in this.

Bibliography

Thomas Taylor, Select works of Porphyry: Containing his four books On abstinence from animal food; his treatise On the Homeric cave of the nymphs; and his Auxiliaries to the perception of intelligible natures. (1823). Several reprints. Currently available from the Prometheus Trust (1994), and this is the version from which I took these. The page numbers may not be the same as the original, however. Also available in a Kessinger reprint.

Gillian Clark, Porphyry: On Abstinence from Killing Animals. London: Duckworth (2000). ISBN 0-7156-2901-8.

Porphyre, De l'abstinence. Paris: Les Belles Lettres (Budé series). Book 1; books 2-3; book 4.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_abstinence_01_book .htm

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 1. pp.11-44

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 1. pp.11-44

BOOK ONE

[Translated by Thomas Taylor]

1. Hearing from some of our acquaintance, O Firmus ¹, that you, having rejected a fleshless diet, have again returned to animal food, at first I did not credit the report, when I considered your temperance, and the reverence which you have been taught to pay to those ancient and pious men from whom we have received the precepts of philosophy. But when others who came after these confirmed this report, it appeared to me that it would be too rustic and remote from the rational method of persuasion to reprehend you, who neither, according to the proverb, flying from evil have found something better, nor according to Empedocles, having lamented your former life, have converted yourself to one that is more excellent. I have therefore thought it worthy of the friendship which subsists between us, and also adapted to those who have arranged their life conformably to truth, to disclose your errors through a confutation derived from an argumentative discussion.

2. For when I considered with myself what could be the cause of this alteration in your diet, I could by no means suppose that it was for the sake of health and strength, as the vulgar and idiots would say; since, on the contrary, you yourself, when you were with us, confessed that a fleshless diet contributed both to health and to the proper endurance of philosophic labours; and experience testifies, that in saying this you spoke the truth. It appears, therefore, that you have returned to your former illegitimate ² conduct, either through deception,³ because you |12 think it makes no difference with respect to the acquisition of wisdom whether you use this or that diet; or perhaps through some other cause of which I am ignorant, which excited in you a greater fear than that which could be produced by the impiety of transgression. For I should not say that you have despised the philosophic laws which we derived from our ancestors, and which you have so much admired, through intemperance, or for the sake of voracious gluttony; or that you are naturally inferior to some of the vulgar, who, when they have assented to laws, though contrary to those under which they formerly lived, will suffer amputation [rather than violate them], and will abstain from certain animals on which they before fed, more than they would from human flesh.

3. But when I was also informed by certain persons that you even employed arguments against those who abstained from animal food, I not only pitied, but was indignant with you, that, being persuaded by certain frigid and very corrupt sophisms, you have deceived yourself, and have endeavoured to subvert a dogma which is both ancient and dear to the Gods. Hence it appeared to me to be requisite not only to show what our own opinion is on this subject, but also to collect and dissolve the arguments of our opponents, which are much stronger than those adduced by you in multitude and power, and every other apparatus; and thus to demonstrate, that truth is not vanquished even by those arguments which seem to be weighty, and much less by superficial sophisms. For you are perhaps ignorant, that not a few philosophers are adverse to abstinence from animal food, but that this is the case with those of the Peripatetic and Stoic sects, and with most of the Epicureans; the last of whom have written in opposition to the philosophy of Pythagoras and Empedocles, of which you once were studiously emulous. To this abstinence, likewise, many philologists are adverse, among whom Clodius the Neapolitan wrote a treatise against those who abstain from flesh. Of these men I shall adduce the disquisitions and common arguments against this dogma, at the same time omitting those reasons which are peculiarly employed by them against the demonstrations of Empedocles.

The Arguments of the Peripatetics and Stoics from Heraclides Ponticus ⁴ |13

4. Our opponents therefore say, in the first place, that justice will be confounded, and things immoveable be moved, if we extend what is just, not only to the rational, but also to the irrational nature; conceiving that not only Gods and men pertain to us, but that there is likewise an alliance between us and brutes, who [in reality] have no conjunction with us. Nor shall we employ some of them in laborious works, and use others for food, from a conviction that the association which is between us and them, in the same manner as that of some foreign polity, pertains to a tribe different from ours, and is dishonourable. For he who uses these as if they were men, sparing and not injuring them, thus endeavouring to adapt to justice that which it cannot bear, both destroys its power, and corrupts that which is appropriate, by the introduction of what is foreign. For it necessarily follows, either that we act unjustly by sparing them, or if we spare, and do not employ them, that it will be impossible for us to live. We shall also, after a manner, live the life of brutes, if we reject the use of which they are capable of affording.

5. For I shall omit to mention the innumerable multitude of Nomades and Troglodyte, who know of no other nutriment than that of flesh; but to us who appear to live mildly and philanthropically, what work would be left for us on the earth or in the sea, what illustrious art, what ornament of our food would remain, if we conducted ourselves innoxiously and reverentially towards brutes, as if they were of a kindred nature with us? For it would be impossible to assign any work, any medicine, or any remedy for the want which is destructive of life, or that we can act justly, unless we preserve the ancient boundary and law.

To fishes, savage beasts, and birds, devoid

Of justice, Jove to devour each other

Granted; but justice to mankind he gave.⁵

i.e. towards each other.

6. But it is not possible for us to act unjustly towards those to whom we are not obliged to act justly. Hence, for those who reject this reasoning, no other road of justice is left, either broad or narrow, into which they can enter. For, as we have already observed, our nature, not being |14 sufficient to itself, but indigent of many things, would be entirely destroyed, and enclosed in a life involved in difficulties, unorganic, and deprived of necessaries, if excluded from the assistance derived from animals. It is likewise said, that those first men did not live prosperously; for this superstition did not stop at animals, but compelled its votaries even to spare plants. For, indeed, what greater injury does he do, who cuts the throat of an ox or a sheep, than he who cuts down a fir tree or an oak? Since, from the doctrine of transmigration, a soul is also implanted in these. These therefore are the principal arguments of the Stoics and Peripatetics.

The Arguments of the Epicureans, from Hermachus ⁶

7. The Epicureans, however, narrating, as it were, a long genealogy, say, that the ancient legislators, looking to the association of life, and the mutual actions of men, proclaimed that manslaughter was unholy, and punished it with no casual disgrace. Perhaps, indeed, a certain natural alliance which exists in men towards each other, though the similitude of form and soul, is the reason why they do not so readily destroy an animal of this kind, as some of the other animals which are conceded to our use. Nevertheless, the greatest cause why manslaughter was considered as a thing grievous to be borne, and impious, was the opinion that it did not contribute to the whole nature and condition of human life. For, from a principle of this kind, those who are capable of perceiving the advantage arising from this decree, require no other cause of being restrained from a deed so dire. But those who are not able to have a sufficient perception of this, being terrified by the magnitude of the punishment, will abstain from readily destroying each other. For those, indeed, who survey the utility of the before-mentioned ordinance, will promptly observe it; but those who are not able to perceive the benefit with which it is attended, will obey the mandate, in consequence of fearing the threatenings of the laws; which threatenings certain persons ordained for the sake of those who could not, by a reasoning process, infer the beneficial tendency of the decree, at the same time that most would admit this to be evident.

8. For none of those legal institutes which were established from the |15 first, whether written or unwritten, and which still remain, and are adapted to be transmitted, [from one generation to another] became lawful through violence, but through the consent of those that used them. For those who introduced things of this kind to the multitude, excelled in wisdom, and not in strength of body, and the power which subjugates the rabble. Hence, through this, some were led to a rational consideration of utility, of which they had only an irrational sensation, and which they had frequently forgotten; but others were terrified by the magnitude of the punishments. For it was not possible to use any other remedy for the ignorance of what is beneficial than the dread of the punishment ordained by law. For this alone even now keeps the vulgar in awe, and prevents them from doing any thing, either publicly or privately, which is not beneficial [to the community]. But if all men were similarly capable of surveying and recollecting what is advantageous, there would be no need of laws, but men would spontaneously avoid such things as are prohibited, and perform such as they were ordered to do. For a survey of what is useful and detrimental, is a sufficient incentive to the avoidance of the one and the choice of the other. But the infliction of punishment has a reference to those who do not foresee what is beneficial. For impendent punishment forcibly compels such as these to subdue those impulses which lead them to useless actions, and to do that which is right.

9. Hence also, legislators ordained, that even involuntary manslaughter should not be entirely void of punishment; in order that they might not only afford no pretext for the voluntary imitation of those deeds which were involuntarily performed, but also that they might prevent many things of this kind from taking place, which happen, in reality, involuntarily. For neither is this advantageous through the same causes, by which men were forbidden voluntarily to destroy each other. Since, therefore, of involuntary deeds, some proceed from a cause which is unstable, and which cannot be guarded against by human nature; but others are produced by our negligence and inattention to different circumstances; hence legislators, wishing to restrain that indolence which is injurious to our neighbours, did not even leave an involuntary noxious deed without punishment, but, through the fear of penalties, prevented the commission of numerous offences of this kind. I also am of opinion, that the slaughters which are allowed by law, and which receive their accustomed expiations through certain purifications, were introduced by those ancient legislators, who first very properly instituted these things for no other reason than that they wished to prevent men as much as possible from voluntary slaughter. For the |16 vulgar everywhere require something which may impede them from promptly performing what is not advantageous [to the community]. Hence those who first perceived this to be the case, not only ordained the punishment of fines, but also excited a certain other irrational dread, though proclaiming those not to be pure who in any way whatever had slain a man, unless they used purifications after the commission of the deed. For that part of the soul which is void of intellect, being variously disciplined, acquired a becoming mildness, certain taming arts having been from the first invented for the purpose of subduing the irrational impulses of desire, by those who governed the people. And one of the precepts promulgated on this occasion was, that men should not destroy each other without discrimination.

10. Those, however, who first defined what we ought to do, and what we ought not, very properly did not forbid us to kill other animals. For the advantage arising from these is effected by a contrary practice, since it is not possible that men could be preserved, unless they endeavoured to defend those who are nurtured with themselves from the attacks of other animals. At that time, therefore, some of those, of the most elegant manners, recollecting that they abstained from slaughter because it was useful to the public safety, they also reminded the rest of the people in their mutual associations of what was the consequence of this abstinence; in order that, by refraining from the slaughter of their kindred, they might preserve that communion which greatly contributes to the peculiar safety of each individual. But it was not only found to be useful for men not to separate from each other, and not to do any thing injurious to those who were collected together in the same place, for the purpose of repelling the attacks of animals of another species; but also for defence against men whose design was to act nefariously. To a certain extent, therefore, they abstained from the slaughter of men, for these reasons, viz. in order that there might be a communion among them in things that are necessary, and that a certain utility might be afforded in each of the above-mentioned incommodities. In the course of time, however, when the offspring of mankind, through their intercourse with each other, became more widely extended, and animals of a different species were expelled, certain persons directed their attention in a rational way to what was useful to men in their mutual nutriment, and did not alone recall this to their memory in an irrational manner.

11. Hence they endeavoured still more firmly to restrain those who readily destroyed each other, and who, through an oblivion of past |17 transactions, prepared a more imbecile defence. But in attempting to effect this, they introduced those legal institutes which still remain in cities and nations; the multitude spontaneously assenting to them, in consequence of now perceiving, in a greater degree, the advantage arising from an association with each other. For the destruction of every thing noxious, and the preservation of that which is subservient to its extermination, similarly contribute to a fearless life. And hence it is reasonable to suppose, that one of the above-mentioned particulars was forbidden, but that the other was not prohibited. Nor must it be said, that the law allows us to destroy some animals which are not corruptive of human nature, and which are not in any other way injurious to our life. For as I may say, no animal among those which the law permits us to kill is of this kind; since, if we suffered them to increase excessively, they would become injurious to us. But through the number of them which is now preserved, certain advantages are imparted to human life. For sheep and oxen, and every such like animal, when the number of them is moderate, are beneficial to our necessary wants; but if they become redundant in the extreme, and far exceed the number which is sufficient, they then become detrimental to our life; the latter by employing their strength, in consequence of participating of this through an innate power of nature, and the former, by consuming the nutriment which springs up from the earth for our benefit alone. Hence, through this cause, the slaughter of animals of this kind is not prohibited, in order that as many of them as are sufficient for our use, and which we may be able easily to subdue, may be left. For it is not with horses, oxen, and sheep, and with all tame animals, as it is with lions and wolves, and, in short, with all such as are called savage animals, that, whether the number of them is small or great, no multitude of them can be assumed, which, if left, would alleviate the necessity of our life. And on this account, indeed, we utterly destroy some of them; but of others, we take away as many as are found to be more than commensurate to our use.

12. On this account, from the above-mentioned causes, it is similarly requisite to think, that what pertains to the eating of animals, was ordained by those who from the first established the laws; and that the advantageous and the disadvantageous were the causes why some animals were permitted to be eaten and others not. So that those who assert, that every thing beautiful and just subsists conformably to the peculiar opinions of men respecting those who establish the laws, are full of a certain most profound stupidity. For it is not possible that this thing can take place in any other way than that in which the other utilities of |18 life subsist, such as those that are salubrious, and an innumerable multitude of others. Erroneous opinions, however, are entertained in many particulars, both of a public and private nature. For certain persons do not perceive those legal institutes, which are similarly adapted to all men; but some, conceiving them to rank among things of an indifferent nature, omit them; while others, who are of a contrary opinion, think that such things as are not universally profitable, are every where advantageous. Hence, through this cause, they adhere to things which are unappropriate; though in certain particulars they discover what is advantageous to themselves, and what contributes to general utility. And among these are to be enumerated the eating of animals, and the legally ordained destructions which are instituted by most nations on account of the peculiarity of the region. It is not necessary, however, that these institutes should be preserved by us, because we do not dwell in the same place as those did by whom they were made. If, therefore, it was possible to make a certain compact with other animals in the same manner as with men, that we should not kill them, nor they us, and that they should not be indiscriminately destroyed by us, it would be well to extend justice as far as to this; for this extent of it would be attended with security. But since it is among things impossible, that animals which are not recipients of reason should participate with us of law, on this account, utility cannot be in a greater degree procured by security from other animals, than from inanimate natures. But we can alone obtain security from the liberty which we now possess of putting them to death. And such are the arguments of the Epicureans.

The Arguments of Claudius the Neapolitan who published a Treatise against Abstinence from Animal Food.

13. It now remains, that we should adduce what plebeians and the vulgar are accustomed to say on this subject. For they say, that the ancients abstained from animals, not through piety, but because they did not yet know the use of fire; but that as soon as they became acquainted with its utility, they then conceived it to be most honourable and sacred. They likewise called it Vesta, and from this the appellation of convestals or companions was derived; and afterwards they began to use animals. For it is natural to man to eat flesh, but contrary to his nature to eat it raw. Fire, therefore, being discovered, they embraced what is natural, and admitted the eating of boiled and masted flesh. Hence |19 lynxes are [said by Homer ⁷ to be] crudivorous, or eaters of raw flesh; and of Priam, also, he says, as a disgraceful circumstance,

Raw flesh by you, O Priam, is devoured ⁸.

And,

Raw flesh, dilacerating, he devoured ⁹.

And this is said, as if the eating of raw flesh pertained to the impious. Telemachus, also, when Minerva was his guest, placed before her not raw, but roasted flesh. At first, therefore, men did not eat animals, for man is not [naturally] a devourer of raw flesh. But when the use of fire was discovered, fire was employed not only for the cooking of flesh, but also for most other eatables. For that man is not [naturally] adapted to eat raw flesh, is evident from certain nations that feed on fishes. For these they roast, some upon stones that are very much heated by the sun; but others roast them in the sand. That man, however, is adapted to feed on flesh, is evident from this, that no nation abstains from animal food. Nor is this adopted by the Greeks through depravity, since the same custom is admitted by the barbarians.

14. But he who forbids men to feed on animals, and thinks it is unjust, will also say that it is not just to kill them, and deprive them of life. Nevertheless, an innate and just war is implanted in us against brutes. For some of them voluntarily attack men, as, for instance, wolves and lions; others not voluntarily, as serpents, since they bite not, except they are trampled on. And some, indeed, attack men; but others destroy the fruits of the earth. From all these causes, therefore, we do not spare the life of brutes; but we destroy those who commence hostilities against us, as also those who do not, lest we should suffer any evil from them. For there is no one who, if he sees a serpent, will not, if he is able, destroy it, in order that neither it, nor any other serpent, may bite a man. And this arises, not only from our hatred of those that are the destroyers of our race, but likewise from that kindness which subsists between one |20 man and another. But though the war against brutes is just, yet we abstain from many which associate with men. Hence, the Greeks do not feed either on dogs, or horses, or asses, because of these, those that are tame are of the same species as the wild. Nevertheless, they eat swine and birds. For a hog is not useful for anything but food. The Phoenicians, however, and Jews, abstain from it, because, in short, it is not produced in those places. For it is said, that this animal is not seen in Ethiopia even at present. As, therefore, no Greek sacrifices a camel or an elephant to the Gods, because Greece does not produce these animals, so neither is a hog sacrificed to the Gods in Cyprus or Phoenicia, because it is not indigenous in those places. And, for the same reason, neither do the Egyptians sacrifice this animal to the Gods. In short, that some nations abstain from a hog, is similar to our being unwilling to eat the flesh of camels.

15. But why should any one abstain from animals? Is it because feeding on them makes the soul or the body worse? It is, however, evident, that neither of these is deteriorated by it. For those animals that feed on flesh are more sagacious than others, as they are venatic, and possess an art by which they supply themselves with food, and acquire power and strength; as is evident in lions and wolves. So that the eating of flesh neither injures the soul nor the body. This likewise is manifest, both from the athletae, whose bodies become stronger by feeding on flesh, and from physicians, who restore bodies to health by the use of animal food. For this is no small indication that Pythagoras did not think sanely, that none of the wise men embraced his opinion; since neither any one of the seven wise men, nor any of the physiologists who lived after them, nor even the most wise Socrates, or his followers, adopted it.

16. Let it, however, be admitted that all men are persuaded of the truth of this dogma, respecting abstinence from animals. But what will be the boundary of the propagation of animals? For no one is ignorant how numerous the progeny is of the swine and the hare. And to these add all other animals. Whence, therefore, will they be supplied with pasture? And what will husbandmen do? For they will not destroy those who destroy the fruits of the earth. And the earth will not be able to bear the multitude of animals. Corruption also will be produced from the putridity of those that will die. And thus, from pestilence taking place, no refuge will be left. For the sea, and rivers, and marshes, will be filled with fishes, and the air with birds, but the earth will be full of reptiles of every kind. |21

17. How many likewise will be prevented from having their diseases cured, if animals are abstained from? For we see that those who are blind recover their sight by eating a viper. A servant of Craterus, the physician, happening to be seized with a new kind of disease, in which the flesh fell away from the bones, derived no benefit from medicines; but by eating a viper prepared after the manner of a fish, the flesh became conglutinated to the bones, and he was restored to health. Many other animals also, and their several parts, cure diseases when they are properly used for that purpose; of all which remedies he will be frustrated who rejects animal food.

18. But, if as they say, plants also have a soul, what will become of our life if we neither destroy animals nor plants? If, however, he is not impious who cuts off plants, neither will he be who kills animals.

19. But some one may, perhaps, say it is not proper to destroy that which belongs to the same tribe with ourselves; if the souls of animals are of the same essence with ourselves. If, however, it should be granted that souls are inserted in bodies voluntarily, it must be said that it is through a love of juvenility: for in the season of youth there is an enjoyment of all things. Why, therefore, do they not again enter into the nature of man? But if they enter voluntarily, and for the sake of juvenility, and pass through every species of animals, they will be much gratified by being destroyed. For thus their return to the human form will be more rapid. The bodies also which are eaten will not produce any pain in the souls of those bodies, in consequence of the souls being liberated from them; and they will love to be implanted in the nature of man. Hence, as much as they are pained on leaving the human form, so much will they rejoice when they leave other bodies. For thus they will more swiftly become man again, who predominates over all irrational animals, in the same manner as God does over men. There is, therefore, a sufficient cause for destroying other animals, viz. their acting unjustly in destroying men. But if the souls of men are immortal, but those of irrational animals mortal, men will not act unjustly by destroying irrational animals. And if the souls of brutes are immortal, we shall benefit them by liberating them from their bodies. For, by killing them, we shall cause them to return to the human nature.

20. If, however, we [only] defend ourselves [in putting animals to death], we do not act unjustly, but we take vengeance on those that injure us. Hence, if the souls of brutes are indeed immortal, we benefit them by destroying them. But if their souls are mortal, we do nothing impious |22 in putting them to death. And if we defend ourselves against them, how is it possible that in so doing we should not act justly. For we destroy, indeed, a serpent and a scorpion, though they do not attack us, in order that some other person may not be injured by them; and in so doing we defend the human race in general. But shall we not act justly in putting those animals to death, which either attack men, or those that associate with men, or injure the fruits of the earth?

21. If, however, some one should, nevertheless, think it is unjust to destroy brutes, such a one should neither use milk, nor wool, nor sheep, nor honey. For, as you injure a man by taking from him his garments, thus, also, you injure a sheep by shearing it. For the wool which you take from it is its vestment. Milk, likewise, was not produced for you, but for the young of the animal that has it. The bee also collects honey as food for itself; which you, by taking away, administer to your own pleasure. I pass over in silence the opinion of the Egyptians, that we act unjustly by meddling with plants. But if these things were produced for our sake, then the bee, being ministrant to us, elaborates honey, and the wool grows on the back of sheep, that it may be an ornament to us, and afford us a bland heat.

22. Co-operating also with the Gods themselves in what contributes to piety, we sacrifice animals: for, of the Gods, Apollo, indeed, is called the λυκοκτονος, slayer of wolves; and Diana, θηροκτονος, the destroyer of wild beasts. Demi-gods likewise, and all the heroes who excel us both in origin and virtue, have so much approved of the slaughter of animals, that they have sacrificed to the Gods Dodeceides ¹⁰ and Hecatombs. But Hercules, among other things, is celebrated for being an ox-devourer.

23. It is, however, stupid to say that Pythagoras exhorted men to abstain from animals, in order that he might, in the greatest possible degree, prevent them from eating each other. For, if all men at the time of Pythagoras were anthropophagites, he must be delirious who drew men away from other animals, in order that they might abstain from devouring each other. For, on this account, he ought rather to have extorted them to become anthropophagites, by showing them that it was an equal crime to devour each other, and to eat the flesh of oxen and swine. But if men at that time did not eat each other, what occasion was there for this dogma? And if he established this law for himself and |23 his associates, the supposition that he did so is disgraceful. For it demonstrates that those who lived with Pythagoras were anthropophagites.

24. For we say that the very contrary of what he conjectured would happen. For, if we abstained from animals, we should not only be deprived of pleasure and riches of this kind, but we should also lose our fields, which would be destroyed by wild beasts; since the whole earth would be occupied by serpents and birds, so that it would be difficult to plough the land; the scattered seeds would immediately he gathered by the birds; and all such fruits as had arrived at perfection, would be consumed by quadrupeds. But men being oppressed by such a want of food, would be compelled, by bitter necessity, to attack each other.

25. Moreover, the Gods themselves, for the sake of a remedy, have delivered mandates to many persons about sacrificing animals. For history is full of instances of the Gods having ordered certain persons to sacrifice animals, and, when sacrificed, to eat them. For, in the return of the Heraclidae, those who engaged in war against Lacedsemon, in conjunction with Eurysthenes and Proscles, through a want of necessaries, were compelled to eat serpents, which the land at that time afforded for the nutriment of the army. In Libya, also, a cloud of locusts fell for the relief of another army that was oppressed by hunger. The same thing likewise happened at Gades. Bogus was a king of the Mauritanians, who was slain by Agrippa in Mothone. He in that place attacked the temple of Hercules, which was most rich. But it was the custom of the priests daily to sprinkle the altar with blood. That this, however, was not effected by the decision of men, but by that of divinity, the occasion at that time demonstrated. For, the seige being continued for a long time, victims were wanting. But the priest being dubious how he should act, had the following vision in a dream. He seemed to himself to be standing in the middle of the pillars of the temple of Hercules, and afterwards to see a bird sitting opposite to the altar, and endeavouring to fly to it, but which at length flew into his hands. He also saw that the altar was sprinkled with its blood. Seeing this, he rose as soon as it was day, and went to the altar, and standing on the turret, as he thought he did in his dream, he looked round, and saw the very bird which he had seen in his sleep. Hoping, therefore, that his dream would be fulfilled, he stood still, saw the bird fly to the altar and sit upon it, and deliver itself into the hands of the high priest. Thus the bird was sacrificed, and the altar sprinkled with blood. That, however, which happened at Cyzicus, is still more celebrated than this |24 event. For Mithridates having besieged this city, the festival of Proserpine was then celebrated, in which it was requisite to sacrifice an ox. But the sacred herds, from which it was necessary the victim should be taken, fed opposite to the city, on the continent ¹¹: and one of them was already marked for this purpose. When, therefore, the hour demanded the sacrifice, the ox lowed, and swam over the sea, and the guards of the city opened the gates to it. Then the ox directly ran into the city, and stood at the altar, and was sacrificed to the Goddess. Not unreasonably, therefore, was it thought to be most pious to sacrifice many animals, since it appeared that the sacrifice of them was pleasing to the Gods.

26. But what would be the condition of a city, if all the citizens were of this opinion, [viz. that they should abstain from destroying animals?] For how would they repel their enemies, when they were attacked by them, if they were careful in the extreme not to kill any one of them? In this case, indeed, they must be immediately destroyed. And it would be too prolix to narrate other difficulties and inconveniences, which would necessarily take place. That it is not, however, impious to slay and feed on animals, is evident from this, that Pythagoras himself, though those prior to him permitted the athletae to drink milk, and to eat cheese, irrigated with water; but others, posterior to him, rejecting this diet, fed them with dry figs; yet he, abrogating the ancient custom, allowed them to feed on flesh, and found that such a diet greatly increased their strength. Some also relate, that the Pythagoreans themselves did not spare animals when they sacrificed to the gods. Such, therefore, are the arguments of Clodius, Heraclides Ponticus, Hermachus the Epicurean, and the Stoics and Peripatetics [against abstinence from animal food]: among which also are comprehended the arguments which were sent to us by you, O Castricius. As, however, I intend to oppose these opinions, and those of the multitude, I may reasonably premise what follows.

27. In the first place, therefore, it must be known that my discourse does not bring with it an exhortation to every description of men. For it is not directed to those who are occupied in sordid mechanical arts, nor to those who are engaged in athletic exercises; neither to soldiers, nor sailors, nor rhetoricians, nor to those who lead an active life. But I write to the man who considers what he is, whence he came, and |25 whither he ought to tend, and who, in what pertains to nutriment, and other necessary concerns, is different from those who propose to themselves other kinds of life; for to none but such as these do I direct my discourse. For, neither in this common life can there be one and the same exhortation to the sleeper, who endeavours to obtain sleep through the whole of life, and who, for this purpose, procures from all places things of a soporiferous nature, as there is to him who is anxious to repel sleep, and to dispose everything about him to a vigilant condition. But to the former it is necessary to recommend intoxication, surfeiting, and satiety, and to exhort him to choose a dark house, and

A bed, luxuriant, broad, and soft,---

as the poets say; and that he should procure for himself all such things as are of a soporiferous nature, and which are effective of sluggishness and oblivion, whether they are odours, or ointments, or are liquid or solid medicines. And to the latter it is requisite to advise the use of a drink sober and without wine, food of an attenuated nature, and almost approaching to fasting; a house lucid, and participating of a subtle air and wind, and to urge him to be strenuously excited by solicitude and thought, and to prepare for himself a small and hard bed. But, whether we are naturally adapted to this, I mean to a vigilant life, so as to grant as little as possible to sleep, since we do not dwell among those who are perpetually vigilant, or whether we are designed to be in a soporiferous state of existence, is the business of another discussion, and is a subject which requires very extended demonstrations.

28. To the man, however, who once suspects the enchantments attending our journey through the present life, and belonging to the place in which we dwell; who also perceives himself to be naturally vigilant, and considers the somniferous nature of the region which he inhabits;--- to this man addressing ourselves, we prescribe food consentaneous to his suspicion and knowledge of this terrene abode, and exhort him to suffer the somnolent to be stretched on their beds, dissolved in sleep. For it is requisite to be cautious, lest as those who look on the blear-eyed contract on ophthalmy, and as we gape when present with those who are gaping, so we should be filled with drowsiness and sleep, when the region which we inhabit is cold, and adapted to fill the eyes with rheum, as being of a marshy nature, and drawing down all those that dwell in it to a somniferous and oblivious condition. If, therefore, legislators had ordained laws for cities, with a view to a contemplative and intellectual life, it would certainly be requisite to be |26 obedient to those laws, and to comply with what they instituted concerning food. But if they established their laws, looking to a life according to nature, and which is said to rank as a medium, [between the irrational and the intellectual life,] and to what the vulgar admit, who conceive externals, and things which pertain to the body to be good or evil, why should anyone, adducing their laws, endeavour to subvert a life, which is more excellent than every law which is written and ordained for the multitude, and which is especially conformable to an unwritten and divine law? For such is the truth of the case.

29. The contemplation which procures for us felicity, does not consist, as some one may think it does, in a multitude of discussions and disciplines; nor does it receive any increase by a quantity of words. For if this were the case, nothing would prevent those from being happy by whom all disciplines are collected together [and comprehended]. Now, however, every discipline by no means gives completion to this contemplation, nor even the disciplines which pertain to truly existing beings, unless there is a conformity to them of our nature ¹² and life. For since there are, as it is said, in every purpose three ¹³ ends, the end with us is to obtain the contemplation of real being, the attainment of it procuring, as much as it is possible for us, a conjunction of the contemplator with the object of contemplation. For the reascent of the soul is not to anything else than true being itself, nor is its conjunction with any other thing. But intellect is truly-existing being; so that the end is to live according to intellect. Hence such discussions and exoteric disciplines as impede our purification, do not give completion to our felicity. If, therefore, felicity consisted in literary attainments, this end might be obtained by those who pay no attention to their food and their actions. But since for this purpose it is requisite to exchange the life which the multitude lead for another, and to become purified both in words and deeds, let us consider what reasonings and what works will enable us to obtain this end.

30. Shall we say, therefore, that they will be such as separate us from sensibles, and the passions which pertain to them, and which elevate us |27 as much as possible to an intellectual, unimaginative, and impassive life; but that the contraries to these are foreign, and deserve to be rejected? And this by so much the more, as they separate us from a life according to intellect. But, I think, it must be admitted, that we should follow the object to which intellect attracts us. For we resemble those who enter into, or depart from a foreign region, not only because we are banished from our intimate associates, but in consequence of dwelling in a foreign land, we are filled with barbaric passions, and manners, and legal institutes, and to all these have a great propensity. Hence, he who wishes to return to his proper kindred and associates, should not only with alacrity begin the journey, but, in order that he may be properly-received, should meditate how he may divest himself of everything of a foreign nature which he has assumed, and should recall to his memory such things as he has forgotten, and without which he cannot be admitted by his kindred and friends. After the same manner, also, it is necessary, if we intend to return to things which are truly our own, that we should divest ourselves of every thing of a mortal nature which we have assumed, together with an adhering affection towards it, and which is the cause of our descent [into this terrestrial region;] and that we should excite our recollection of that blessed and eternal essence, and should hasten our return to the nature which is without colour and without quality, earnestly endeavouring to accomplish two things; one, that we may cast aside every thing material and mortal; but the other, that we may properly return, and be again conversant with our true kindred, ascending to them in a way contrary to that in which we descended hither. For we were intellectual natures, and we still are essences purified from all sense and irrationality; but we are complicated with sensibles, through our incapability of eternally associating with the intelligible, and through the power of being conversant with terrestrial concerns. For all the powers which energize in conjunction with sense and body, are injured, in consequence of the soul not abiding in the intelligible; (just as the earth, when in a bad condition, though it frequently receives the seed of wheat, yet produces nothing but tares), and this is through a certain depravity of the soul, which does not indeed destroy its essence from the generation of irrationality, but through this is conjoined with a mortal nature, and is drawn down from its own proper to a foreign condition of being.

31. So that, if we are desirous of returning to those natures with which we formerly associated, we must endeavour to the utmost of our power to withdraw ourselves from sense and imagination, and the irrationality with which they are attended, and also from the passions which subsist |28 about them, as far as the necessity of our condition in this life will permit. But such things as pertain to intellect should be distinctly arranged, procuring for it peace and quiet from the war with the irrational part; that we may not only be auditors of intellect and intelligibles, but may as much as possible enjoy the contemplation of them, and, being established in an incorporeal nature, may truly live through intellect; and not falsely in conjunction with things allied to bodies. We must therefore divest ourselves of our manifold garments, both of this visible and fleshly vestment, and of those with which we are internally clothed, and which are proximate to our cutaneous habiliments; and we must enter the stadium naked and unclothed, striving for [the most glorious of all prizes] the Olympia of the soul. The first thing, however, and without which we cannot contend, is to divest ourselves of our garments. But since of these some are external and others internal, thus also with respect to the denudation, one kind is through things which are apparent, but another through such as are more unapparent. Thus, for instance, not to eat, or not to receive what is offered to us, belongs to things which are immediately obvious; but not to desire is a thing more obscure; so that, together with deeds, we must also withdraw ourselves from an adhering affection and passion towards them. For what benefit shall we derive by abstaining from deeds, when at the same time we tenaciously adhere to the causes from which the deeds proceed?

32. But this departure [from sense, imagination, and irrationality,] may be effected by violence, and also by persuasion and by reason, through the wasting away, and, as it may be said, oblivion and death of the passions; which, indeed, is the best kind of departure, since it is accomplished without oppressing that from which we are divulsed. For, in sensibles, a divulsion by force is not effected without either a laceration of a part, or a vestige of avulsion. But this separation is introduced by a continual negligence of the passions. And this negligence is produced by an abstinence from those sensible perceptions which excite the passions, and by a persevering attention to intelligibles. And among these passions or perturbations, those which arise from food are to be enumerated.

33. We should therefore abstain, no less than from other things, from certain food, viz., such as is naturally adapted to excite the passive part of our soul, concerning which it will be requisite to consider as follows: There are two fountains whose streams irrigate the bond by which the soul is bound to the body; and from which the soul being filled as with |29 deadly potions, becomes oblivious of the proper objects of her contemplation. These fountains are pleasure and pain; of which sense indeed is preparative, and the perception which is according to sense, together with the imaginations, opinions, and recollections which accompany the senses. But from these, the passions being excited, and the whole of the irrational nature becoming fattened, the soul is drawn downward, and abandons its proper love of true being. As much as possible, therefore, we must separate ourselves from these. But the separation must be effected by an avoidance of the passions which subsist through the senses and the irrational part. But the senses are employed either on objects of the sight, or of the hearing, or of the taste, or the smell, or the touch; for sense is as it were the metropolis of that foreign colony of passions which we contain. Let us, therefore, consider how much fuel of the passions enters into us through each of the senses. For this is effected partly by the view of the contests of horses and the athletae, or those whose bodies are contorted in dancing; and partly from the survey of beautiful women. For these, ensnaring the irrational nature, attack and subjugate it by all-various deceptions.

34. For the soul, being agitated with Bacchic fury through all these by the irrational part, is made to leap, to exclaim and vociferate, the external tumult being inflamed by the internal, and which was first enkindled by sense. But the excitations through the ears, and which are of a passive nature, are produced by certain noises and sounds, by indecent language and defamation, so that many through these being exiled from reason, are furiously agitated, and some, becoming effeminate, exhibit all-various convolutions of the body. And who is ignorant how much the use of fumigations, and the exhalations of sweet odours, with which lovers supply the objects of their love, fatten the irrational part of the soul? But what occasion is there to speak of the passions produced through the taste? For here, especially, there is a complication of a twofold bond; one which is fattened by the passions excited by the taste; and the other, which we render heavy and powerful, by the introduction of foreign bodies [i.e. of bodies different from our own]. For, as a certain physician said, those are not the only poisons which are prepared by the medical art; but those likewise which we daily assume for food, both in what we eat, and what we drink, and a thing of a much more deadly nature is imparted to the soul through these, than from the poisons which are compounded for the purpose of destroying the body. And as to the touch, it does all but transmute the soul into the body, and produces in it certain inarticulate sounds, such as frequently take place in inanimate bodies. And from all these, |30 recollections, imaginations, and opinions being collected together, excite a swarm of passions, viz. of fear, desire, anger, love, voluptuousness,¹⁴ pain, emolation, solicitude, and disease, and cause the soul to be full of similar perturbations.

35. Hence, to be purified from all these is most difficult, and requires a great contest, and we must bestow much labour both by night and by day to be liberated from an attention to them, and this, because we are necessarily complicated with sense. Whence, also, as much as possible, we should withdraw ourselves from those places in which we may, though unwillingly, meet with this hostile crowd. From experience, also, we should avoid a contest with it, and even a victory over it, and the want of exercise from inexperience.

36. For we learn, that this conduct was adopted by some of the celebrated ancient Pythagoreans and wise men; some of whom dwelt in the most solitary places; but others in temples and sacred groves, from which, though they were in cities, all tumult and the multitude were expelled. But Plato chose to reside in the Academy, a place not only solitary and remote from the city, but which was also said to be insalubrious. Others have not spared even their eyes, through a desire of not being divulsed from the inward contemplation [of reality]. If some one, however, at the same time that he is conversant with men, and while he is filling his senses with the passions pertaining to them, should fancy that he can remain impassive, he is ignorant that he both deceives himself and those who are persuaded by him, nor does he see that we are enslaved to many passions, through not alienating ourselves from the multitude. For he did not speak vainly, and in such a way as to falsify the nature of [the Coryphaean] philosophers, who said of them, "These, therefore, from their youth, neither know the way to the forum, nor where the court of justice or senate-house is situated, or any common place of assembly belonging to the city. They likewise neither hear nor see laws, or decrees, whether orally promulgated or written. And as to the ardent endeavours of their companions to obtain magistracies, the associations of these, their banquets and wanton feastings, accompanied by pipers, these they do not even dream of accomplishing. But whether any thing in the city has happened well or ill, or what evil has befallen any one from his progenitors, whether male or female, these are more concealed from such a one, than, as it is said, how many |31 measures called choes the sea contains. And besides this, he is even ignorant that he is ignorant ¹⁵ of all these particulars. For he does not abstain from them for the sake of renown, but, in reality, his body only dwells, and is conversant in the city; but his reasoning power considering all these as trifling and of no value, "he is borne away", according to Pindar, "on all sides, and does not apply himself to anything which is near."

37. In what is here said, Plato asserts, that the Coryphaean philosopher, by not at all mingling himself with the above-mentioned particulars, remains impassive to them. Hence, he neither knows the way to the court of justice nor the senate-house, nor any thing else which has been before enumerated. He does not say, indeed, that he knows and is conversant with these particulars, and that, being conversant, and filling his senses with them, yet does not know anything about them; but, on the contrary, he says, that abstaining from them, he is ignorant that he is ignorant of them. He also adds, that this philosopher does not even dream of betaking himself to banquets. Much less, therefore, would he be indignant, if deprived of broth, or pieces of flesh; nor, in short, will he admit things of this kind. And will he not rather consider the abstinence from all these as trifling, and a thing of no consequence, but the assumption of them to be a thing of great importance and noxious? For since there are two paradigms in the order of things, one of a divine nature, which is most happy, the other of that which is destitute of divinity, and which is most miserable ¹⁶; the Coryphaean philosopher will assimilate himself to the one, but will render himself dissimilar to the other, and will lead a life conformable to the paradigm to which he is assimilated, viz. a life satisfied with slender food, and sufficient to itself, and in the smallest degree replete with mortal natures.

38. Hence, as long as any one is discordant about food, and contends that this or that thing should be eaten, but does not conceive that, if it |32 were possible, we should abstain from all food, assenting by this contention to his passions, such a one forms a vain opinion, as if the subjects of his dissension were things of no consequence. He, therefore, who philosophizes, will not separate himself [from his terrestrial bonds] by violence; for he who is compelled to do this, nevertheless remains there from whence he was forced to depart. Nor must it be thought, that he who strengthens these bonds, effects a thing of small importance. So that only granting to nature what is necessary, and this of a light quality, and through more slender food, he will reject whatever exceeds this, as only contributing to pleasure. For he will be persuaded of the truth of what Plato says, that sense is a nail by which the soul is fastened to bodies ¹⁷, through the agglutination of the passions, and the enjoyment of corporeal delight. For if sensible perceptions were no impediment to the pure energy of the soul, why would it be a thing of a dire nature to be in body, while at the same time the soul remained impassive to the motions of the body?

39. How is it, also, that you have decided and said, that you are not passive to things which you suffer, and that you are not present with things by which you are passively affected? For intellect, indeed, is present with itself, though we are not present with it. But he who departs from intellect, is in that place to which he departs; and when, by discursive energies, he applies himself upwards and downwards by his apprehension of things, he is there where his apprehension is. But it is one thing not to attend to sensibles, in consequence of being present with other things, and another for a man to think, that though he attends to sensibles yet he is not present with them. Nor can any one show that Plato admits this, without at the same time demonstrating himself to be deceived. He, therefore, who submits to the assumption of [every kind of] food, and voluntarily betakes himself to [alluring] spectacles, to conversation with the multitude, and laughter; such a one, by thus acting, is there where the passion is which he sustains. But he who abstains from these in consequence of being present with other things, he it is who, through his unskilfulness, not only excites laughter in Thracian maid-servants, but in the rest of the vulgar, and when he sits at a banquet, falls into the greatest perplexity, not from any defect of sensation, or from a superior accuracy of sensible perception, and energizing with the irrational part of the soul alone; for Plato does not venture to assert this; but because, in slanderous conversation, he has |33 nothing reproachful to say of anyone, as not knowing any evil of anyone, because he has not made individuals the subject of his meditation. Being in such perplexity, therefore, he appears, says Plato, to be ridiculous; and in the praises and boastings of others, as he is manifestly seen to laugh, not dissembling, but, in reality, he appears to be delirious.

40. So that, through ignorance of, and abstaining from sensible concerns, he is unacquainted with them. But it is by no means to be admitted, that though he should be familiar with sensibles, and should energize through the irrational part, yet it is possible for him [at the same time] genuinely to survey the objects of intellect. For neither do they who assert that we have two souls, admit that we can attend at one and the same time to two different things. For thus they would make a conjunction of two animals, which being employed in different energies, the one would not be able to perceive the operations of the other.

41. But why should it be requisite that the passions should waste away, that we should die with respect to them, and that this should be daily the subject of our meditation, if it was possible for us, as some assert, to energize according to intellect, though we are at the same time intimately connected with mortal concerns, and this without the intuition of intellect? For intellect sees, and intellect hears [as Epicharmus says]. But if while eating luxuriously, and drinking the sweetest wine, it were possible to be present with immaterial natures, why may not this be frequently effected while you are present with, and are performing things which it is not becoming even to mention? For these passions every where proceed from the boy ¹⁸ which is in us. And you certainly will admit that the baser these passions are, the more we are drawn down towards them. For what will be the distinction which ought here to be made, if you admit that to some things it is not possible to be passive, without being present with them, but that you may accomplish other things, at the same time that you are surveying intelligibles? For it is not because some things are apprehended to be base by the multitude, but others not. For all the above mentioned passions are base. So that to the attainment of a life according to intellect, it is requisite to abstain from all these, in the same manner as from venereal concerns. To nature, therefore, but little food must be |34 granted, through the necessity of generation [or of our connexion with a flowing condition of being.] For, where sense and sensible apprehension are, there a departure and separation from the intelligible take place; and by how much stronger the excitation is of the irrational part, by so much the greater is the departure from intellection. For it is not possible for us to he borne along to this place and to that, while we are here, and yet be there, [i.e. be present with an intelligible essence.] For our attentions to things are not effected with a part, but with the whole of ourselves.

42. But to fancy that he who is passively affected according to sense, may, nevertheless, energize about intelligibles, has precipitated many of the Barbarians to destruction; who arrogantly assert, that though they indulge in every kind of pleasure, yet they are able to convert themselves to things of a different nature from sensibles, at the same time that they are energizing with the irrational part. For I have heard some persons patronizing their infelicity after the following manner. "We are not," say they, "defiled by food, as neither is the sea by the filth of rivers. For we have dominion over all eatables, in the same manner as the sea over all humidity. But if the sea should shut up its mouth, so as not to receive the streams that now flow into it, it would be indeed, with respect to itself, great; but, with respect to the world, small, as not being able to receive dirt and corruption. If, however, it was afraid of being defiled, it would not receive these streams; but knowing its own magnitude, it receives all things, and is not averse to anything which proceeds into it. In like manner, say they, we also, if we were afraid of food, should be enslaved by the conception of fear. But it is requisite that all things should be obedient to us. For, if we collect a little water, indeed, which has received any filth, it becomes immediately defiled and oppressed by the filth; but this is not the case with the profound sea. Thus, also, aliments vanquish the pusillanimous; but where there is an immense liberty with respect to food, all things are received for nutriment, and no defilement is produced." These men, therefore, deceiving themselves by arguments of this kind, act in a manner conformable to their deception. But, instead of obtaining liberty, being precipitated into an abyss of infelicity, they are suffocated. This, also, induced some of the Cynics to be desirous of eating every kind of food, in consequence of their pertinaciously adhering to the cause of errors, which we are accustomed to call a thing of an indifferent nature.

43. The man, however, who is cautious, and is suspicious of the enchantments of nature, who has surveyed the essential properties of |35 body, and knows that it was adapted as an instrument to the powers of the soul, will also know how readily passion is prepared to accord with the body, whether we are willing or not, when anything external strikes it, and the pulsation at length arrives at perception. For perception is, as it were, an answer to [that which causes the perception.] But the soul cannot answer unless she wholly converts herself to the sound, and transfers her animadversive eye to the pulsation. In short, the irrational part not being able to judge to what extent, how, whence, and what thing ought to be the object of attention, but of itself being inconsiderate, like horses without a charioteer ¹⁹; whither it verges downward, thither it is borne along, without any power of governing itself in things external. Nor does it know the fit time or the measure of the food which should be taken, unless the eye of the charioteer is attentive to it, which regulates and governs the motions of irrationality, this part of the soul being essentially blind. But he who takes away from reason its dominion over the irrational part, and permits it to be borne along, conformably to its proper nature: such a one, yielding to desire and anger, will suffer them to proceed to whatever extent they please. On the contrary, the worthy man will so act that his deeds may be conformable to presiding reason, even in the energies of the irrational part.

44. And in this the worthy appears to differ from the depraved man, that the former has every where reason present, governing and guiding, like a charioteer, the irrational part; but the latter performs many things without reason for his guide. Hence the latter is said to be most irrational, and is borne along in a disorderly manner by irrationality; but the former is obedient to reason, and superior to every irrational desire. This, therefore, is the cause why the multitude err in words and deeds, in desire and anger, and why, on the contrary, good men act with rectitude, viz. that the former suffer the boy within them to do whatever it pleases; but the latter give themselves up to the guidance of the tutor of the boy, [i.e. to reason] and govern what pertains to themselves in conjunction with it. Hence in food, and in other corporeal energies and enjoyments, the charioteer being present, defines what is commensurate and opportune. But when the charioteer is absent, and, as some say, is occupied in his own concerns, then, if he also has with him our |36 attention, he does not permit it to be disturbed, or at all to energize with the irrational power. If, however, he should permit our attention to be directed to the boy, unaccompanied by himself, he would destroy the man, who would be precipitately borne along by the folly of the irrational part.

45. Hence, to worthy men, abstinence in food, and in corporeal enjoyments and actions, is more appropriate than abstinence in what pertains to the touch; because though, while we touch bodies, it is necessary we should descend from our proper manners to the instruction of that which is most irrational in us; yet this is still more necessary in the assumption of food. For the irrational nature is incapable of considering what will be the effect of it, because this part of the soul is essentially ignorant of that which is absent. But, with respect to food, if it were possible to be liberated from it, in the same manner as from visible objects, when they are removed from the view; for we can attend to other things when the imagination is withdrawn from them; --- if this were possible, it would be no great undertaking to be immediately emancipated from the necessity of the mortal nature, by yielding, in a small degree, to it. Since, however, a prolongation of time in cooking and digesting food, and together with this the co-operation of sleep and rest, are requisite, and, after these, a certain temperament from digestion, and a separation of excrements, it is necessary that the tutor of the boy within us should be present, who, selecting things of a light nature, and which will be no impediment to him, may concede these to nature, in consequence of foreseeing the future, and the impediment which will be produced by his permitting the desires to introduce to us a burden not easily to be borne, through the trifling pleasure arising from the deglutition of food.

46. Reason, therefore, very properly rejecting the much and the superfluous, will circumscribe what is necessary in narrow boundaries, in order that it may not be molested in procuring what the wants of the body demand, through many things being requisite; nor being attentive to elegance, will it need a multitude of servants; nor endeavour to receive much pleasure in eating, nor, through satiety, to be filled with much indolence; nor by rendering its burden [the body] more gross, to become somnolent; nor through the body being replete with things of a fattening nature, to render the bond more strong, but himself more sluggish and imbecile in the performance of his proper works. For, let any man show us who endeavours as much as possible to live according to intellect, and not to be attracted by the passions of the body, that |37 animal food is more easily procured than the food from fruits and herbs; or that the preparation of the former is more simple than that of the latter, and, in short, that it does not require cooks, but, when compared with inanimate nutriment, is unattended by pleasure, is lighter in concoction, and is more rapidly digested, excites in a less degree the desires, and contributes less to the strength of the body than a vegetable diet.

47. If, however, neither any physician, nor philosopher, nor wrestler, nor any one of the vulgar has dared to assert this, why should we not willingly abstain from this corporeal burden? Why should we not, at the same time, liberate ourselves from many inconveniences by abandoning a fleshly diet? For we should not be liberated from one only, but from myriads of evils, by accustoming ourselves to be satisfied with things of the smallest nature; viz. we should be freed from a superabundance of riches, from numerous servants, a multitude of utensils, a somnolent condition, from many and vehement diseases, from medical assistance, incentives to venery, more gross exhalations, an abundance of excrements, the crassitude of the corporeal bond, from the strength which excites to [base] actions, and, in short, from an Iliad of evils. But from all these, inanimate and slender food, and which is easily obtained, will liberate us, and will procure for us peace, by imparting salvation to our reasoning power. For, as Diogenes says, thieves and enemies are not found among those that feed on maize ²⁰, but sycophants and tyrants are produced from those who feed on flesh. The cause, however, of our being in want of many things being taken away, together with the multitude of nutriment introduced into the body, and also the weight of digestibles being lightened, the eye of the soul will become free, and will be established as in a port beyond the smoke and the waves of the corporeal nature.

48. And this neither requires monition, nor demonstration, on account of the evidence with which it is immediately attended. Hence, not only those who endeavour to live according to intellect, and who establish for themselves an intellectual life, as the end of their pursuits, have perceived that this abstinence was necessary to the attainment of this end; but, as it appears to me, nearly every philosopher, preferring frugality to luxury, has rather embraced a life which is satisfied with a |38 little, than one that requires a multitude of things. And, what will seem paradoxical to many, we shall find that this is asserted and praised by men who thought that pleasure is the end of those that philosophize. For most of the Epicureans, beginning from the Corypheus and their sect, appear to have been satisfied with maize and fruits, and have filled their writings with showing how little nature requires, and that its necessities may be sufficiently remedied by slender and easily procured food.

49. For the wealth, say they, of nature is definite, and easily obtained; but that which proceeds from vain opinions, is indefinite, and procured with difficulty. For things which may be readily obtained, remove in a beautiful and abundantly sufficient manner that which, through indigence, is the cause of molestation to the flesh; and these are such as have the simple nature of moist and dry aliments. But every thing else, say they, which terminates in luxury, is not attended with a necessary appetition, nor is it necessarily produced from a certain something which is in pain; but partly arises from the molestation and pungency solely proceeding from something not being present; partly from joy; and partly from vain and false dogmas, which neither pertain to any natural defect, nor to the dissolution of the human frame, those not being present. For things which may every where be obtained, are sufficient for those purposes which nature necessarily requires. But these, through their simplicity and paucity, may be easily procured. And he, indeed, who feeds on flesh, requires also inanimate natures; but he who is satisfied with things inanimate, is easily supplied from the half of what the other wants, and needs but a small expense for the preparation of his food.

50. They likewise say, it is requisite that he who prepares the necessaries of life, should not afterwards make use of philosophy as an accession; but, having obtained it, should, with a confident mind, thus genuinely endure ²¹ the events of the day. For we shall commit what pertains to ourselves to a bad counsellor, if we measure and procure what is necessary to nature, without philosophy. Hence it is necessary that |39 those who philosophize should provide things of this kind, and strenuously attend to them as much as possible. But, so far as there is a dereliction from thence, [i.e. from philosophizing], which is not capable of effecting a perfect purification,²² so far we should not endeavour to procure either riches or nutriment. In conjunction, therefore, with philosophy, we should engage in things of this kind, and be immediately persuaded that it is much better to pursue what is the least, the most simple, and light in nutriment. For that which is least, and is unattended with molestation, is derived from that which is least.²³

51. The preparation also of these things, draws along with it many impediments, either from the weight of the body, [which they are adapted to increase,] or from the difficulty of procuring them, or from their preventing the continuity of the energy of our most principal reasonings ²⁴, or from some other cause. For this energy then becomes immediately useless, and does not remain unchanged by the concomitant perturbations. It is necessary, however, that a philosopher should hope that he may not be in want of anything through the whole of life. But this hope will be sufficiently preserved by things which are easily procured; while, on the other hand, this hope is frustrated by things of a sumptuous nature. The multitude, therefore, on this account, though their possessions are abundant, incessantly labour to obtain more, as if they were in want. But the recollection that the greatest possible wealth has no power worth mentioning of dissolving the perturbations of the soul, will cause us to be satisfied with things easily obtained, and of the most simple nature. Things also, which are very moderate and obvious, and which may be procured with the greatest facility, remove the tumult occasioned by the flesh. But the deficiency of things of a luxurious nature will not disturb him who meditates on death. Farther still, the pain arising from indigence is much milder than that which is produced by repletion, and will be considered to be so by him who does not deceive himself with vain opinions. Variety also of food not only does |40 not dissolve the perturbations of the soul, but does not even increase the pleasure which is felt by the flesh. For this is terminated as soon as pain is removed ²⁵. So that the feeding on flesh does not remove any thing which is troublesome to nature, nor effect any thing which, unless it is accomplished, will end in pain. But the pleasantness with which it is attended is violent, and, perhaps, mingled with the contrary. For it does not contribute to the duration of life, but to the variety of pleasure; and in this respect resembles venereal enjoyments, and the drinking of foreign wines, without which nature is able to remain. For those things, without which nature cannot last, are very few, and may be procured easily, and in conjunction with justice, liberty, quiet, and abundant leisure.

52. Again, neither does animal food contribute, but is rather an impediment to health. For health is preserved through those things by which it is recovered. But it is recovered through a most slender and fleshless diet; so that by this also it is preserved. If, however, vegetable food does not contribute to the strength of Milo, nor, in short, to an increase of strength, neither does a philosopher require strength, or an increase of it, if he intends to give himself up to contemplation, and not to an active and intemperate life. But it is not at all wonderful, that the vulgar should fancy that animal food contributes to health; for they also think that sensual enjoyments and venery are preservative of health, none of which benefit anyone; and those that engage in them must be thankful if they are not injured by them. And if many are not of this opinion, it is nothing to us. For neither is any fidelity and constancy in friendship and benevolence to be found among the vulgar; nor are they capable of receiving these, nor of participating of wisdom, or any portion of it which deserves to be mentioned. Neither do they understand what is privately or publicly advantageous; nor are they capable of forming a judgment of depraved and elegant manners, so as to distinguish the one from the other. And, in addition to these things, they are full of insolence and intemperance. On this account, there is no occasion to fear that there will not be those who will feed on animals. |41

53. For if all men conceived rightly, there would be no need of fowlers, or hunters, or fishermen, or swineherds. But animals governing themselves, and having no guardian and ruler, would quickly perish, and be destroyed by others, who would attack them and diminish their multitude, as is found to be the case with myriads of animals on which men do not feed. But all-various folly incessantly dwelling with mankind, there will be an innumerable multitude of those who will voraciously feed on flesh. It is necessary however to preserve health; not by the fear of death, but for the sake of not being impeded in the attainment of the good which is derived from contemplation. But that which is especially preservative of health, is an undisturbed state of the soul, and a tendency of the reasoning power towards truly existing being. For much benefit is from hence derived to the body, as our associates have demonstrated from experience. Hence some who have been afflicted with the gout in the feet and hands, to such a degree as to be infested with it for eight entire years, have expelled it through abandoning wealth, and betaking themselves to the contemplation of divinity ²⁶. At the same time, therefore, that they have abandoned riches, and a solicitude about human concerns, they have also been liberated from bodily disease. So that a certain state of the soul greatly contributes both to health and to the good of the whole body. And to this also, for the most part, a diminution of nutriment contributes. In short, as Epicurus likewise has rightly said, that food is to be avoided, the enjoyment of which we desire and pursue, but which, after we have enjoyed, we rank among things of an unacceptable nature. But of this kind is every thing luxuriant and gross. And in this manner those are affected, who are vehemently desirous of such nutriment, and through it are involved either in great expense, or in disease, or repletion, or the privation of leisure ²⁷.

54. Hence also, in simple and slender food, repletion is to be avoided, and every where we should consider what will be the consequence of the possession or enjoyment of it, what the magnitude of it is, and what molestation of the flesh or of the soul it is capable of dissolving. For we ought never to act indefinitely, but in things of this kind we should |42 employ a boundary and measure; and infer by a reasoning process, that he who fears to abstain from animal food, if he suffers himself to feed on flesh through pleasure, is afraid of death. For immediately, together with a privation of such food, he conceives that something indefinitely dreadful will be present, the consequence of which will be death. But from these and similar causes, an insatiable desire is produced of riches, possessions, and renown, together with an opinion that every good is increased with these in a greater extent of time, and the dread of death as of an infinite evil. The pleasure however which is produced through luxury, does not even approach to that which is experienced by him who lives with frugality. For such a one has great pleasure in thinking how little he requires. For luxury, astonishment about venereal occupations, and ambition about external concerns, being taken away, what remaining use can there be of idle wealth, which will be of no advantage to us whatever, but will only become a burden, no otherwise than repletion? - while, on the other hand, the pleasure arising from frugality is genuine and pure. It is also necessary to accustom the body to become alienated, as much as possible, from the pleasure of the satiety arising from luxurious food, but not from the fullness produced by a slender diet, in order that moderation may proceed through all things, and that what is necessary, or what is most excellent, may fix a boundary to our diet. For he who thus mortifies his body will receive every possible good, through being sufficient to himself, and an assimilation to divinity. And thus also, he will not desire a greater extent of time, as if it would bring with it an augmentation of good. He will likewise thus be truly rich, measuring wealth by a natural bound, and not by vain opinions. Thus too, he will not depend on the hope of the greatest pleasure, the existence of which is incredible, since this would be most troublesome. But he will remain satisfied with his present condition, and will not be anxious to live for a longer period of time.

55. Besides this also, is it not absurd, that he who is in great affliction, or, is in some grievous external calamity, or is bound with chains, does not even think of food, nor concern himself about the means of obtaining it; but when it is placed before him, refuses what is necessary to his subsistence; and that the man who is truly in bonds, and is tormented by inward calamities, should endeavour to procure a variety of eatables, paying attention to things through which he will strengthen his bonds? And how is it possible that this should be the conduct of men who know what they suffer, and not rather of those who are delighted with their calamities, and who are ignorant of the evils which |43 they endure? For these are affected in a way contrary to those who are in chains, and who are conscious of their miserable condition; since these, experiencing no gratification in the present life, and being full of immense perturbation, insatiably aspire after another life. For no one who can easily liberate himself from all perturbations, will desire to possess silver tables and couches, and to have ointments and cooks, splendid vessels and garments, and suppers remarkable for their sumptuousness and variety; but such a desire arises from a perfect uselessness to every purpose of the present life, from an indefinite generation of good, and from immense perturbation. Hence some do not remember the past, the recollection of it being expelled by the present; but others do not inquire about the present, because they are not gratified with existing circumstances.

56. The contemplative philosopher, however will invariably adopt a slender diet. For he knows the particulars in which his bond consists, so that he is not capable of desiring luxuries. Hence, being delighted with simple food, he will not seek for animal nutriment, as if he was not satisfied with a vegetable diet. But if the nature of the body in a philosopher was not such as we have supposed it to be, and was not so tractable, and so adapted to have its wants satisfied through things easily procured, and it was requisite to endure some pains and molestations for the sake of true salvation, ought we not [willingly] to endure them? For when it is requisite that we should be liberated from disease, do we not voluntarily sustain many pains, viz., while we are cut, covered with blood, burnt, drink bitter medicines, and are purged through the belly, through emetics, and through the nostrils, and do we not also reward those who cause us to suffer in this manner? And this being the case, ought we not to sustain every thing, though of the most afflictive nature, with equanimity, for the sake of being purified from internal disease, since our contest is for immortality, and an association with divinity, from which we are prevented through an association with the body? By no means, therefore, ought we to follow the laws of the body, which are violent and adverse to the laws of intellect, and to the paths which lead to salvation. Since, however, we do not now philosophize about the endurance of pain, but about the rejection of pleasures which are not necessary, what apology can remain for those, who impudently endeavour to defend their own intemperance?

57. For if it is requisite not to dissemble any thing through fear, but to speak freely, it is not otherwise possible to obtain the end [of a contemplative life], than by adhering to God, as if fastened by a nail, |44 being divulsed from body, and those pleasures of the soul which subsist through it; since our salvation is effected by deeds, and not by a mere attention to words. But as it is not possible with any kind of diet, and, in short, by feeding on flesh, to become adapted to an union with even some partial deity, much less is this possible with that God who is beyond all things, and is above a nature simply incorporeal; but after all-various purifications, both of soul and body, he who is naturally of an excellent disposition, and lives with piety and purity, will scarcely be thought worthy to perceive him. So that, by how much more the Father of all things excels in simplicity, purity, and sufficiency to himself, as being established far beyond all material representation, by so much the more is it requisite, that he who approaches to him should be in every respect pure and holy, beginning from his body, and ending internally, and distributing to each of the parts, and in short to every thing which is present with him a purity adapted to the nature of each. Perhaps, however, these things will not be contradicted by any one. But it may be doubted, why we admit abstinence from animal food to pertain to purity, though in sacrifices we slay sheep and oxen, and conceive that these immolations are pure and acceptable to the Gods. Hence, since the solution of this requires a long discussion, the consideration of sacrifices must be assumed from another principle.

[Footnotes moved to the end and numbered]

1. * Porphyry elsewhere calls this Firmus Castricius his friend and fellow disciple. See more concerning him in Porphyry's Life of Plotinus.

2. + παρανομηματα. Porphyry calls the conduct of Firmus illegitimate, because the feeding on flesh is for the most part contrary to the laws of genuine philosophy.

3. § The original in this place is ἤ δι απατην ουν, ἤ το μηδεν διαφερειν ηγεισθαι προς φρονησιν, κ.τ.λ.; but, for ἤ το μηδεν διαφερειν, I read δια το μηδεν διαφερειν. And this appears to be the reading which Felicianus found in his MS.; for his version of the passage is, "Vel igitur deceptione inductus, quod sive hoc sive ιλλο modo vescaris, &c."

4. * The philosopher was an auditor of Plato and Speusippus.

5. * Hesiod. Op. et Di. lib. I. v. 275, &c.

6. * This philosopher was a Mitylenaean, and is said to have been an auditor of, and also the successor of, Epicurus.

7. * Iliad, XI. v. 479.

8. + Iliad, IV. v 35.

9. § Iliad, XXII. v. 347.

10. * i.e Sacrifices from twelve animals.

11. * For Cyzicus was situated in an island.

12. * In the original εαν μη προση και̕ η κατ̕ αυτα φυσιωσις και ζων; but it is obviously necessary for φυσιωσις to read φησις.

13. + viz. As it appears to me, a pleasurable, a profitable, and a virtuous end, which last is a truly beautiful and good end.

14. * For φιλτρων here, I read φιληδονιων.

15. * The multitude are ignorant that they are ignorant with respect to objects of all others the most splendid and real: but the Coryphaean philosopher is ignorant that he is ignorant with respect to objects most unsubstantial and obscure. The former ignorance is the consequence of a defect, but the latter of a transcendency of gnostic energy. What Porphyry here says of the Coryphaean philosopher, is derived from the Theaetus of Plato.

16. + See p. 52 of my translation of the Theaetetus of Plato, from which Dialogue, what Porphyry here says, as well as what he a little before said, is derived.

17. * See the Phaedo of Plato, where this is asserted.

18. * Sense, and that which is beautiful in the energies of sense, are thus denominated by Plato.

19. * The rational part of the soul is assimilated by Plato, in the Phaedrus, to a charioteer, and the two irrational parts, desire and anger, to two horses. See my translation of that Dialogue.

20. * A kind of bread made of milk and flour.

21. * In the original αλλα παρασκευασαμενον το θαρρειν τῃ φυχῃ γνησιως ουτως αντεχεσθαι των καθ̕ ημεραν. But the editor of the quarto edition of this work, who appears to have been nothing more than a mere verbal critic, says, on a note on this passage, that the word αντεχεσθαι, signifies pertinacissime illis inhaerere, nihil ultra studere; whereas it must be obvious to any man who understands what is here said, that in this place it signifies to endure.

22. * In the original, ο μη κυριευσι της τελειας εκθαρρησεως; but for εκθαρρησεως I read with Felicianus εκκαθαρσεως.

23. + In the original, ελαχιστον γαρ και το οχληρον εκ του αλαχιστου. But it is obviously necessary for οχληρον to read ανοχληρον, and yet this was not perceived by the German editor of this work, Jacob Rhoer.

24. § i.e. Of our reasonings about intelligible objects.

25. * Conformable to this, it is beautifully observed by Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, that corporeal pleasures are the remedies of pain, and that they fill up the indigence of nature, but do not perfect any energy of the [rational] soul.

26. * This is said by Porphyry, in his Life of Plotinus, to have been the case with the senator Rogatianus.

27. + And leisure, to those who know how rightly to employ it, is, as Socrates said, καλλιστον κτηματων, "the most beautiful of possessions."

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Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 2. pp.45-80

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 2. pp.45-80

BOOK TWO

[Translated by Thomas Taylor]

1. Pursuing therefore the inquiries pertaining to simplicity and purity of diet, we have now arrived, O Castracius, at the discussion of sacrifices; the consideration of which is difficult, and at the same time requires much explanation, if we intend to decide concerning it in such a way as will be acceptable to the Gods. Hence, as this is the proper place for such a discussion, we shall now unfold what appears to us to be the truth on this subject, and what is capable of being narrated, correcting what was overlooked in the hypothesis proposed from the beginning.

2. In the first place therefore we say, it does not follow because animals are slain that it is necessary to eat them. Nor does he who admits the one, I mean that they should be slain, entirely prove that they should be eaten. For the laws permit us to defend ourselves against enemies who attack us [by killing them]; but it did not seem proper to these laws to grant that we should eat them, as being a thing contrary to the nature of man. In the second place, it does not follow, that because it is proper to sacrifice certain animals to daemons, or Gods, or certain powers, through causes either known or unknown to men, it is therefore necessary to feed on animals. For it may be shown, that men assumed animals in sacrifices, which no one even of those who are accustomed to feed on flesh, would endure to taste. Moreover, in the slaying of animals, the same error is overlooked. For it does not follow, that if it is requisite to kill some, it is therefore necessary to slay all animals, as neither must it be granted, that if irrational animals, therefore men also may be slain.

3. Besides, abstinence from animal food, as we have said in the first book, is not simply recommended to all men, but to philosophers, and to those especially, who suspend their felicity from God, and the imitation of him. For neither in the political life do legislators ordain that the same things shall be performed by private individuals and the priests, but conceding certain things to the multitude, pertaining to food and other necessaries of life, they forbid the priests to use them, punishing the transgression of their mandates by death, or some great fine.

4. For these things not being confused, but distinguished in a proper manner, most of the opposing arguments will be found to be vain. For |46 the greater part of them endeavour to show, either that it is necessary to slay animals, on account of the injuries sustained from them, and it is assumed as a thing consequent, that it is proper to eat them; or because animals are slain in sacrifices, it is inferred that therefore they may be eaten by men. And again, if it is requisite to destroy certain animals, on account of their ferocity, it is conceived, that it must follow, that tame animals likewise ought to be slain. If, also, some persons may be allowed to eat them, such as those who engage in athletic exercises, soldiers, and those who are employed in bodily labour, therefore this may likewise be permitted to philosophers; and if to some, therefore to all of them; though all these inferences are bad, and are incapable of exhibiting any necessity for their adoption. And, indeed, that all of them are bad, will be immediately evident to men that are not contentious. But some of these inferences we have already confuted, and we shall show the fallacy of others as we proceed. Now, however, we shall discuss what pertains to the consideration of sacrifices, unfolding the principles from which they originated, what the first sacrifices were, and of what kind they were; how they came to be changed, and whence the change arose; whether all things ought to be sacrificed by a philosopher, and from what animals sacrifices are made. In short, we shall unfold every thing pertaining to the proposed subject, discovering some things ourselves, but receiving others from the ancients, and as much as possible directing our attention to what is commensurate and adapted to the hypothesis, [or thing intended to be investigated.]

5. It seems that the period is of immense antiquity, from which a nation the most learned of all others ¹ as Theophrastus says, and who inhabit the most sacred region made by the Nile, began first, from the vestal hearth, to sacrifice to the celestial Gods, not myrrh, or cassia, nor the first-fruits of things mingled with the crocus of frankincense; for these were assumed many generations afterwards, in consequence of error gradually increasing, when men, wanting the necessaries of life, offered, with great labour and many tears, some drops of these, as first-fruits to the Gods. Hence, they did not at first sacrifice these, but grass, which, as a certain soft wool of prolific nature, they plucked with their hands. For the earth produced trees prior to animals; and long before trees grass, which germinates annually. Hence, gathering the blades and roots, and all the germs of this herb, they committed them to the flames, as a sacrifice to the visible celestial Gods, to whom they paid |47 immortal honour through fire. For to these, also, we preserve in temples an immortal fire, because it is especially most similar to these divinities. But from the exhalation or smoke (εκ δε της θυμιασεως) of things produced in the earth, they called the offerings θυμιατηρια, thumiateria; to sacrifice, they called θυειν, thuein, and the sacrifices, θυσιαι, thusiai; all which, as if unfolding the error which was afterwards introduced, we do not rightly interpret; since we call the worship of the Gods through the immolation of animals thusia. But so careful were the ancients not to transgress this custom, that against those who, neglecting the pristine, introduced novel modes of sacrificing, they employed execrations ² and therefore they now denominate the substances which are used for fumigations αρωματα, aromata, i.e. aromatics, [or things of an execrable nature.] The antiquity, however, of the before-mentioned fumigations may be perceived by him who considers that many now also sacrifice certain portions of odoriferous wood. Hence, when after grass, the earth produced trees, and men at first fed on the fruits of the oak; they offered to the Gods but few of the fruits on account of their rarity, but in sacrifices they burnt many of its leaves. After this, however, when human life proceeded to a milder nutriment, and sacrifices from nuts were introduced, they said enough of the oak.

6. But as barley first appeared after leguminous substances, the race of men used it in primitive sacrifices, moistening it for this purpose with water. Afterwards, when they had broken and bruised it, so as to render it eatable, as the instruments of this operation afforded a divine assistance to human life, they concealed them in an arcane place, and approached them as things of a sacred nature. But esteeming the food produced from it when bruised to be blessed, when compared with their former nutriment, they offered, in fine, the first-fruits of it to the Gods. Hence also now, at the end of the sacrifices, we use fruits that are bruised or ground; testifying by this how much fumigations have departed from their ancient simplicity; at the same time not perceiving on what account we perform each of these. Proceeding, however, from hence, and being more abundantly supplied, both with other fruits and wheat, the first-fruits of cakes, made of the fine flour of wheat, and of everything else, were offered in sacrifices to the Gods; many flowers being collected for this purpose, and with these all that was conceived to be beautiful, and adapted, by its odour, to a divine sense, being |48 mingled. From these, also, some were used for garlands, and others were given to the fire. But when they had discovered the use of the divine drops of wine, and honey, and likewise of oil, for the purposes of human life, then they sacrificed these to their causes, the Gods.

7. And these things appear to be testified by the splendid procession in honour of the Sun and the Hours, which is even now performed at Athens, and in which there were other herbs besides grass, and also acorns, the fruit of the crab-tree, barley, wheat, a heap of dried figs, cakes made of wheaten and barley flour; and, in the last place, an earthen pot. This mode, however, of offering first-fruits in sacrifices, having, at length, proceeded to great illegality, the assumption of immolations, most dire and full of cruelty, was introduced; so that it would seem that the execrations, which were formerly uttered against us, have now received their consummation, in consequence of men slaughtering animals, and defiling altars with blood; and this commenced from that period in which mankind tasted of blood, through having experienced the evils of famine and war. Divinity, therefore, as Theophrastus says, being indignant, appears to have inflicted a punishment adapted to the crime. Hence some men became atheists; but others, in consequence of forming erroneous conceptions of a divine nature, may be more justly called κακοφρονες, kakophrones, than κακοθεοι, kakotbeoi ³, because they think that the Gods are depraved, and in no respect naturally more excellent than we are. Thus, therefore, some were seen to live without sacrificing any thing, and without offering the first-fruits of their possessions to the Gods; but others sacrificed improperly, and made use of illegal oblations.

8. Hence the Thoes ⁴, who dwell in the confines of Thrace, as they neither offered any first-fruits, nor sacrificed to the Gods, were at that time suddenly taken away from the rest of mankind; so that neither the inhabitants, nor the city, nor the foundations of the houses, could by any one be found.

"Men prone to ill, denied the Gods their due,

And by their follies made their days but few.

The altars of the bless'd neglected stand, |49

Without the offerings which the laws demand;

But angry Jove in dust this people laid,

Because no honours to the Gods they paid."

Hesiod. Op. et Di. lib. i. v. 133.

Nor did they offer first-fruits to the Gods, as it was just that they should. But with respect to the Bassarians, who formerly were not only emulous of sacrificing bulls, but also ate the flesh of slaughtered men, in the same manner as we now do with other animals; for we offer to the Gods some parts of them as first-fruits; and eat the rest; --- with respect to these men, who has not heard, that insanely rushing on and biting each other, and in reality feeding on blood, they did not cease to act in this manner till the whole race was destroyed of those who use sacrifices of this kind?

9. The sacrifice, therefore, through animals is posterior and most recent, and originated from a cause which is not of a pleasing nature, like that of the sacrifice from fruits, but received its commencement either from famine, or some other unfortunate circumstance. The causes, indeed, of the peculiar mactations among the Athenians, had their beginning, either in ignorance, or anger, or fear. For the slaughter of swine is attributed to an involuntary error of Clymene, who, by unintentionally striking, slew the animal. Hence her husband, being terrified as if he had perpetrated an illegal deed, consulted the oracle of the Pythian God about it. But as the God did not condemn what had happened, the slaughter of animals was afterwards considered as a thing of an indifferent nature. The inspector, however, of sacred rites, who was the offspring of prophets, wishing to make an offering of first-fruits from sheep, was permitted to do so, it is said, by an oracle, but with much caution and fear. For the oracle was as follows:---

"Offspring of prophets, sheep by force to slay,

The Gods permit not thee: but with wash'd hands

For thee 'tis lawful any sheep to kill,

That dies a voluntary death."

10. But a goat was first slain in Icarus, a mountain of Attica, because it had cropped a vine. And Diomus, who was a priest of Jupiter Polieus, was the first that slew an ox; because, when the festival sacred to Jupiter, and called Diipolia, was celebrated, and fruits were prepared after the |50 ancient manner, an ox approaching tasted the sacred cake. But the priest, being aided by others who were present, slew the ox. And these are the causes, indeed, which are assigned by the Athenians for this deed; but by others, other causes are narrated. All of them however, are full of explanations that are not holy. But most of them assign famine, and the injustice with which it is attended, as the cause. Hence men having tasted of animals, they offered them in sacrifice, as first-fruits, to the Gods; but prior to this, they were accustomed to abstain from animal food. Whence, since the sacrifice of animals is not more ancient than necessary food, it may be determined from this circumstance what ought to be the nutriment of men. But it does not follow, because men have tasted of and offered animals in sacrifices as first-fruits, that it must necessarily be admitted to be pious to eat that which was not piously offered to the Gods.

11. But what especially proves that every thing of this kind originated from injustice, is this, that the same things are neither sacrificed nor eaten in every nation, but that they conjecture what it is fit for them to do from what they find to be useful to themselves. With the Egyptians, therefore, and Phoenicians, any one would sooner taste human flesh than the flesh of a cow. The cause, however, is that this animal being useful, is also rare among them. Hence, though they eat bulls, and offer them in sacrifice as first-fruits, yet they spare cows for the sake of their progeny, and ordain that, if any one kill them, it shall be considered as an expiation. And thus, for the sake of utility in one and the same genus of animals, they distinguish what is pious, and what is impious. So that these particulars subsisting after this manner, Theophrastus reasonably forbids those to sacrifice animals who wish to be truly pious; employing these, and other similar arguments, such as the following.

12. In the first place, indeed, because we sacrificed animals through the occurrence, as we have said, of a greater necessity. For pestilence and war were the causes that introduced the necessity of eating them. Since, therefore, we are supplied with fruits, what occasion is there to use the sacrifice of necessity? In the next place, the remunerations of, and thanks for benefits, are to be given differently to different persons, according to the worth of the benefit conferred; so that the greatest remunerations, and from things of the most honourable nature, are to be given to those who have benefited us in the greatest degree, and especially if they are the causes of these gifts. But the most beautiful and honourable of those things, by which the Gods benefit us, are the fruits of the earth. For through these they preserve us, and enable us to |51 live legitimately; so that, from these we ought to venerate them. Besides, it is requisite to sacrifice those things by the sacrifice of which we shall not injure any one. For nothing ought to be so inoxious to all things as sacrifice. But if someone should say, that God gave animals for our use, no less than the fruits of the earth, yet it does not follow that they are, therefore, to be sacrificed, because in so doing they are injured, through being deprived of life. For sacrifice is, as the name implies, something holy.⁵ But no one is holy who requites a benefit from things which are the property of another, whether he takes fruits or plants from one who is unwilling to be deprived of them. For how can this be holy, when those are injured from whom they are taken? If, however, he who takes away fruit from others does not sacrifice with sanctity, it cannot be holy to sacrifice things taken from others, which are in every respect more honourable than the fruits of the earth. For a more dire deed is thus perpetrated. But soul is much more honourable than the vegetable productions of the earth, which it is not fit, by sacrificing animals, that we should take away.

13. Some one, however, perhaps may say, that we also take away something from plants [when we eat, and sacrifice them to the Gods]. But the ablation is not similar; since we do not take this away from those who are unwilling that we should. For, if we omitted to gather them, they would spontaneously drop their fruits. The gathering of the fruits, also, is not attended with the destruction of the plants, as it is when animals lose their animating principle. And, with respect to the fruit which we receive from bees, since this is obtained by our labour, it is fit that we should derive a common benefit from it. For bees collect their honey from plants; but we carefully attend to them. On which account it is requisite that such a division should be made [of our attention and their labour] that they may suffer no injury. But that which is useless to them, and beneficial to us, will be the reward which we receive from them [of our attention to their concerns]. In sacrifices, therefore, we should abstain from animals. For, though all things are in reality the property of the Gods, yet plants appear to be our property; since we sow and cultivate them, and nourish them by other attentions which we pay to them. We ought to sacrifice, therefore, from our own property, and not from the property of others; since that which may be procured at a small expense, and which may easily be obtained, is more holy, more acceptable to the Gods, and better adapted |52 to the purposes of sacrifice, and to the exercise of continual piety. Hence, that which is neither holy, nor to be obtained at a small expense, is not to be offered in sacrifice, even though it should be present.

14. But that animals do not rank among things which may be procured easily, and at a small expense, may be seen by directing our view to the greater part of our race: for we are not now to consider that some men abound in sheep, and others in oxen. In the first place, therefore, there are many nations that do not possess any of those animals which are offered in sacrifice, some ignoble animals, perhaps, excepted. And, in the second place, most of those that dwell in cities themselves, possess these but rarely. But if some one should say that the inhabitants of cities have not mild fruits in abundance; yet, though this should be admitted, they are not in want of the other vegetable productions of the earth; nor is it so difficult to procure fruits as it is to procure animals. Hence an abundance of fruits, and other vegetables, is more easily obtained than that of animals. But that which is obtained with facility, and at a small expense, contributes to incessant and universal deity.

15. Experience also testifies that the Gods rejoice in this more than in sumptuous offerings. For when that Thessalian sacrificed to the Pythian deity oxen with gilt horns, and hecatombs, Apollo said, that the offering of Hermioneus was more gratifying to him, though he had only sacrificed as much meal as he could take with his three fingers out of a sack. But when the Thessalian, on hearing this, placed all the rest of his offerings on the altar the God again said, that by so doing his present was doubly more unacceptable to him than his former offering. Hence the sacrifice which is attended with a small expense is pleasing to the Gods, and divinity looks more to the disposition and manners of those that sacrifice, than to the multitude of the things which are sacrificed.

16. Theopompus likewise narrates things similar to these, viz. that a certain Magnesian came from Asia to Delphi; a man very rich, and abounding in cattle, and that he was accustomed every year to make many and magnificent sacrifices to the Gods, partly through the abundance of his possessions, and partly through piety and wishing to please the Gods. But being thus disposed, he came to the divinity at Delphi, bringing with him a hecatomb for the God, and magnificently honouring Apollo, he consulted his oracle. Conceiving also that he worshipped the Gods in a manner more beautiful than that of all other men, he asked the Pythian deity who the man was that, with the greatest promptitude, and in the best manner, venerated divinity, and |53 made the most acceptable sacrifices, conceiving that on this occasion the God would deem him to be pre-eminent. The Pythian deity however answered, that Clearchus, who dwelt in Methydrium, a town of Arcadia, worshipped the Gods in a way surpassing that of all other men. But the Magnesian being astonished, was desirous of seeing Clearchus, and of learning from him the manner in which he performed his sacrifices. Swiftly, therefore, betaking himself to Methydrium, in the first place, indeed, he despised the smallness and vileness of the town, conceiving that neither any private person, nor even the whole city, could honour the Gods more magnificently and more beautifully than he did. Meeting, however, with the man, he thought fit to ask him after what manner he reverenced the Gods. But Clearchus answered him, that he diligently sacrificed to them at proper times in every month at the new moon, crowning and adorning the statues of Hermes and Hecate, and the other sacred images which were left to us by our ancestors, and that he also honoured the Gods with frankincense, and sacred wafers and cakes. He likewise said, that he performed public sacrifices annually, omitting no festive day; and that in these festivals he worshipped the Gods, not by slaying oxen, nor by cutting victims into fragments, but that he sacrificed whatever he might casually meet with, sedulously offering the first-fruits to the Gods of all the vegetable productions of the seasons, and of all the fruits with which he was supplied. He added, that some of these he placed before the [statues of the] Gods,⁶ but that he burnt others on their altars; and that, being studious of frugality, he avoided the sacrificing of oxen.

17. By some writers, also, it is related, that certain tyrants, after the Carthaginians were conquered, having, with great strife among themselves, placed hetacombs before Apollo. Afterwards inquired of the God with which of the offerings he was most delighted; and that he answered, contrary to all their expectation, that he was most pleased with the cakes of Docimus. But this Docimus was an inhabitant of Delphi, and cultivated some rugged and stony land. Docimus, therefore, coming on that day from the place which he cultivated, took from a bag which was fastened round him a few handfuls of meal, and sacrificed them to the God, who was more delighted with his offering than with the magnificent sacrifices of the tyrants. Hence, also a certain poet, |54 because the affair was known, appears to have asserted things of a similar kind, as we are informed by Antiphanes in his Mystics:

In simple offerings most the Gods delight:

For though before them hecatombs are placed,

Yet frankincense is burnt the last of all.

An indication this that all the rest,

Preceding, was a vain expense, bestowed

Through ostentation, for the sake of men;

But a small offering gratifies the Gods.

Menander likewise, in the comedy called the Morose, says,

Pious th'oblation which with frankincense

And Popanum⁷ is made; for in the fire

Both these, when placed, divinity accepts.

18. On this account also, earthen, wooden, and wicker vessels were formerly used, and especially in public sacrifices, the ancients being persuaded that divinity is delighted with things of this kind. Whence, even now, the most ancient vessels, and which are made of wood, are thought to be more divine, both on account of the matter and the simplicity of the art by which they were fashioned. It is said, therefore, that Aeschylus, on his brother's asking him to write a Paean in honour of Apollo, replied, that the best Paean was written by Tynnichus⁸; and that if his composition were to be compared with that of Tynnichus, the same thing would take place as if new were compared with ancient statues. For the latter, though they are simple in their formation, are conceived to be divine; but the former, though they are most accurately elaborated, produce indeed admiration, but are not believed to possess so much of a divine nature. Hence Hesiod, praising the law of ancient sacrifices, very properly says, |55

Your country's rites in sacrifice observe:

[In pious works] the ancient law is best ⁹.

19. But those who have written concerning sacred operations and sacrifices, admonish us to be accurate in preserving what pertains to the popana, because these are more acceptable to the Gods than the sacrifice which is performed through the mactation of animals. Sophocles also, in describing a sacrifice which is pleasing to divinity, says in his Polyidus:

The skins of sheep in sacrifice were used,

Libations too of wine, grapes well preserved,

And fruits collected in a heap of every kind;

The olive's pinguid juice, and waxen work

Most variegated, of the yellow bee.

Formerly, also, there were venerable monuments in Delos of those who came from the Hyperboreans, bearing handfuls [of fruits]. It is necessary, therefore, that, being purified in our manners, we should make oblations, offering to the Gods those sacrifices which are pleasing to them, and not such as are attended with great expense. Now, however, if a man's body is not pure and invested with a splendid garment, he does not think it is qualified for the sanctity of sacrifice. But when he has rendered his body splendid, together with his garment, though his soul at the same time is not, purified from vice, yet he betakes himself to sacrifice, and thinks that it is a thing of no consequence; as if divinity did not especially rejoice in that which is most divine in our nature, when it is in a pure condition, as being allied to his essence. In Epidaurus, therefore, there was the following inscription on the doors of the temple:

Into an odorous temple, he who goes

Should pure and holy be; but to be wise

In what to sanctity pertains, is to be pure.

20. But that God is not delighted with the amplitude of sacrifices, but with any casual offering, is evident from this, that of our daily food, whatever it may be that is placed before us, we all of us make an |56 offering to the Gods, before we have tasted it ourselves; this offering being small indeed, but the greatest testimony of honour to divinity. Moreover, Theophrastus shows, by enumerating many of the rites of different countries, that the sacrifices of the ancients were from fruits, and he narrates what pertains to libations in the following manner: "Ancient sacrifices were for the most part performed with sobriety. But those sacrifices are sober in which the libations are made with water. Afterwards, however, libations were made with honey. For we first received this liquid fruit prepared for us by the bees. In the third place, libations were made with oil; and in the fourth and last place with wine."

21. These things, however, are testified not only by the pillars which are preserved in Cyrbe ¹⁰, and which contain, as it were, certain true descriptions of the Cretan sacred rites of the Corybantes; but also by Empedocles, who, in discussing what pertains to sacrifices and theogony, or the generation of the Gods, says:

With them nor Mars nor tumult dire was found,

Nor Saturn, Neptune, or the sovereign Jove,

But Venus [beauty's] queen.

And Venus is friendship. Afterwards he adds,

With painted animals, and statues once

Of sacred form, with unguents sweet of smell,

The fume of frankincense and genuine myrrh,

And with libations poured upon the ground

Of yellow honey, Venus was propitious made.

Which ancient custom is still even now preserved by some persons as a certain vestige of the truth. And in the last place, Empedocles says,

Nor then were altars wet with blood of bulls

Irrationally slain.

22. For, as it appears to me, when friendship and a proper sense of the duties pertaining to kindred natures, was possessed by all men, no one slaughtered any living being, in consequence of thinking that other |57 animals were allied to him. But when strife, and tumult, every kind of contention, and the principle of war, invaded mankind, then, for the first time, no one in reality spared any one of his kindred natures. The following particulars, likewise, ought to be considered: For, as though there is an affinity between us and noxious men, who, as it were, by a certain impetus of their own nature and depravity, are incited to injure anyone they may happen to meet, yet we think it requisite that all of them should be punished and destroyed; thus also, with respect to those irrational animals that are naturally malefic and unjust, and who are impelled to injure those that approach them, it is perhaps fit that they should be destroyed. But with respect to other animals who do not at all act unjustly, and are not naturally impelled to injure us, it is certainly unjust to destroy and murder them, no otherwise than it would be to slay men who are not iniquitous. And this seems to evince that the justice between us and other animals does not arise from some of them being naturally noxious and malefic, but others not, as is also the case with respect to men.

23. Are therefore those animals to be sacrificed to the Gods which are thought to be deserving of death? But how can this be possible, if they are naturally depraved? For it is no more proper to sacrifice such as these, than it would be to sacrifice mutilated animals. For thus, indeed, we shall offer the first-fruits of things of an evil nature, but we shall not sacrifice for the sake of honouring the Gods. Hence, if animals are to be sacrificed to the Gods, we should sacrifice those that are perfectly innoxious. It is however acknowledged, that those animals are not to be destroyed who do not at all injure us, so that neither are they to be sacrificed to the Gods. If, therefore, neither these, nor those that are noxious, are to be sacrificed, is it not evident that we should abstain from them more than from any thing else, and that we should not sacrifice any one of them, though it is fit that some of them should be destroyed?

24. To which may be added, that we should sacrifice to the Gods for the sake of three things, viz. either for the sake of honouring them, or of testifying our gratitude, or through our want of good. For, as we offer first-fruits to good men, thus also we think it is necessary that we should offer them to the Gods. But we honour the Gods, either exploring the means of averting evils, and obtaining good, or when we have been previously benefited, or in order that we may obtain some present advantage and assistance, or merely for the purpose of venerating the goodness of their nature. So that if the first-fruits of animals are to be |58 offered to the Gods, some of them for the sake of this are to be sacrificed. For whatever we sacrifice, we sacrifice for the sake of some one of the above mentioned particulars. Is it therefore to be thought that God is honoured by us, when we are directly seen to act unjustly through the first-fruits which we offer to him? Or will he not rather think that he is dishonoured by such a sacrifice, in which, by immolating animals that have not at all injured us, we acknowledge that we have acted unjustly. So that no one of other animals is to be sacrificed for the sake of honouring divinity. Nor yet are they to be sacrificed for the purpose of testifying our gratitude to the Gods. For he who makes a just retribution for the benefits he has received, ought not to make it by doing an injury to certain other animals. For he will no more appear to make a retribution than he who, plundering his neighbour of his property, should bestow it on another person for the sake of honour. Neither are animals to be sacrificed for the sake of obtaining a certain good of which we are in want. For he who endeavours to be benefited by acting unjustly, is to be suspected as one who would not be grateful even when he is benefited. So that animals are not to be sacrificed to the Gods through the expectation of deriving advantage from the sacrifice. For he who does this, may perhaps elude men, but it is impossible that he can elude divinity. If, therefore, we ought to sacrifice for the sake of a certain thing, but this is not to be done for the sake of any of the before mentioned particulars, it is evident that animals ought not to be sacrificed.

25. For, by endeavouring to obliterate the truth of these things through the pleasures which we derive from sacrifices, we deceive ourselves, but cannot deceive divinity. Of those animals, therefore, which are of an ignoble nature, which do not impart to our life any superior utility, and which do not afford us any pleasure, we do not sacrifice any one to the Gods. For who ever sacrificed serpents, scorpions, and apes, or any one of such like animals? But we do not abstain from any one of those animals which afford a certain utility to our life, or which have something in them that contributes to our enjoyments; since we, in reality, cut their throats, and excoriate them, under the patronage of divinity ¹¹. For we sacrifice to the Gods oxen and sheep, and besides these, stags and birds, and fat hogs, though they do not at all participate of purity, but afford us delight. And of these animals, indeed, some, by co-operating with our labours, afford assistance to our life, but others supply us with |59 food, or administer to our other wants. But those which effect neither of these, yet, through the enjoyment which is derived from them, are slain by men in sacrifices similarly with those who afford us utility. We do not, however, sacrifice asses or elephants, or any other of those animals that co-operate with us in our labours, but are not subservient to our pleasure; though, sacrificing being excepted, we do not abstain from such like animals, but we cut their throats on account of the delight with which the deglutition of them is attended; and of those which are fit to be sacrificed, we do not sacrifice such as are acceptable to the Gods, but such as in a greater degree gratify the desires of men; thus testifying against ourselves, that we persist in sacrificing to the Gods, for the sake of our own pleasure, and not for the sake of gratifying the Gods.

26. But of the Syrians, the Jews indeed, through the sacrifice which they first made, even now, says Theophrastus, sacrifice animals, and if we were persuaded by them to sacrifice in the same way that they do, we should abstain from the deed. For they do not feast on the flesh of the sacrificed animals, but having thrown the whole of the victims into the fire, and poured much honey and wine on them during the night, they swiftly consume the sacrifice, in order that the all-seeing sun may not become a spectator of it. And they do this, fasting during all the intermediate days, and through the whole of this time, as belonging to the class of philosophers, and also discourse with each other about the divinity ¹². But in the night, they apply themselves to the theory of the stars, surveying them, and through prayers invoking God. For these make offerings both of other animals and themselves, doing this from necessity, and not from their own will. The truth of this, however, may be learnt by any one who directs his attention to the Egyptians, the most learned of all men; who are so far from slaying other animals, that they make the images of these to be imitations of the Gods; so adapted and allied do they conceive these to be both to Gods and men.

27. For at first, indeed, sacrifices of fruits were made to the Gods; but, in the course of time, men becoming negligent of sanctity, in consequence of fruits being scarce, and through the want of legitimate nutriment, being impelled to eat each other, then supplicating divinity with many prayers, they first began to make oblations of themselves to |60 the Gods, not only consecrating to the divinities whatever among their possessions was most beautiful, but, proceeding beyond this, they sacrificed those of their own species. Hence, even to the present time, not only in Arcadia, in the Lupercal festivals, and in Carthage, men are sacrificed in common to Saturn, but periodically, also, for the sake of remembering the legal institute, they sprinkle the altars of those of the same tribe with blood, although the rites of their sacrifices exclude, by the voice of the crier, him from engaging in them who is accused of human slaughter. Proceeding therefore from hence, they made the bodies of other animals supply the place of their own in sacrifices, and again, through a satiety of legitimate nutriment, becoming oblivious of piety, they were induced by voracity to leave nothing untasted, nothing un-devoured. And this is what now happens to all men with respect to the aliment from fruits. For when, by the assumption of them, they have alleviated their necessary indigence, then searching for a superfluity of satiety, they labour to procure many things for food which are placed beyond the limits of temperance. Hence, as if they had made no ignoble sacrifices to the Gods, they proceeded also to taste the animals which they immolated; and from this, as a principle of the deed, the eating of animals became an addition to men to the nutriment derived from fruits. As, therefore, antiquity offered the first produce of fruits to the Gods, and gladly, after their pious sacrifice, tasted what they offered, thus also, when they sacrificed the firstlings of animals to the divinities, they thought that the same thing ought to be done by them, though ancient piety did not ordain these particulars after this manner, but venerated each of the Gods from fruits. For with such oblations, both nature, and every sense of the human soul, are delighted.

No altar then was wet with blood of bulls

Irrationally slain; but this was thought

To be of every impious deed the worst,

Limbs to devour of brutes deprived of life.

28. The truth of this may also be perceived from the altar which is even now preserved about Delos, which, because no animal is brought to, or is sacrificed upon it, is called the altar of the pious. So that the inhabitants not only abstain from sacrificing animals, but they likewise conceive, that those who established, are similarly pious with those who use the altar. Hence, the Pythagoreans having adopted this mode of sacrifice, abstained from animal food through the whole of life. But when they distributed to the Gods a certain animal instead of themselves, they merely tasted of it, living in reality without touching other |61 animals. We, however, do not act after this manner; but being filled with animal diet, we have arrived at this manifold illegality in our life by slaughtering animals, and using them for food. For neither is it proper that the altars of the Gods should be defiled with murder, nor that food of this kind should be touched by men, as neither is it fit that men should eat one another; but the precept which is still preserved at Athens, should be obeyed through the whole of life.

29. For formerly, as we have before observed, when men sacrificed to the Gods fruits and not animals, and did not assume the latter for food, it is said, that a common sacrifice being celebrated at Athens, one Diomus, or Sopater, who was not a native, but cultivated some land in Attica, seizing a sharp axe which was near to him, and being excessively indignant, struck with it an ox, who, coming from his labour, approached to a table, on which were openly placed cakes and other offerings which were to be burnt as a sacrifice to the Gods, and ate some, but trampled on the rest of the offerings. The ox, therefore, being killed, Diomus, whose anger was now appeased, at the same time perceived what kind of deed he had perpetrated. And the ox, indeed, he buried. But embracing a voluntary banishment, as if he had been accused of impiety, he fled to Crete. A great dryness, however, taking place in the Attic land from vehement heat, and a dreadful sterility of fruit, and the Pythian deity being in consequence of it consulted by the general consent, the God answered, that the Cretan exile must expiate the crime; and that, if the murderer was punished, and the statue of the slain ox was erected in the place in which it fell, this would be beneficial both to those who had and those who had not tasted its flesh. An inquiry therefore being made into the affair, and Sopater, together with the deed, having been discovered, he, thinking that he should be liberated from the difficulty in which he was now involved, through the accusation of impiety, if the same thing was done by all men in common, said to those who came to him, that it was necessary an ox should be slain by the city. But, on their being dubious who should strike the ox, he said that he would undertake to do it, if they would make him a citizen, and would be partakers with him of the slaughter. This, therefore, being granted, they returned to the city, and ordered the deed to be accomplished in such a way as it is performed by them at present, [and which was as follows:]

30. They selected virgins who were drawers of water; but these brought water for the purpose of sharpening an axe and a knife. And these being sharpened, one person gave the axe, another struck with it the ox, |62 and a third person cut the throat of the ox. But after this, having excoriated the animal, all that were present ate of its flesh. These things therefore being performed, they sewed up the hide of the ox, and having stuffed it with straw, raised it upright in the same form which it had when alive, and yoked it to a plough, as if it was about to work with it. Instituting also a judicial process, respecting the slaughter of the ox, they cited all those who were partakers of the deed, to defend their conduct. But as the drawers of water accused those who sharpened the axe and the knife, as more culpable than themselves, and those who sharpened these instruments accused him who gave the axe, and he accused him who cut the throat of the ox, and this last person accused the knife,---hence, as the knife could not speak, they condemned it as the cause of the slaughter. From that time also, even till now, during the festival sacred to Jupiter, in the Acropolis, at Athens, the sacrifice of an ox is performed after the same manner. For, placing cakes on a brazen table, they drive oxen round it, and the ox that tastes of the cakes that are distributed on the table, is slain. The race likewise of those who perform this, still remains. And all those, indeed, who derive their origin from Sopater are called boutupoi [i.e. slayers of oxen]; but those who are descended from him that drove the ox round the table, are called kentriadai, [or stimulators.] And those who originate from him that cut the throat of the ox, are denominated daitroi, [or dividers,] on account of the banquet which takes place from the distribution of flesh. But when they have filled the hide, and the judicial process is ended, they throw the knife into the sea.

31. Hence, neither did the ancients conceive it to be holy to slay animals that co-operated with us in works beneficial to our life, and we should avoid doing this even now. And as formerly it was not pious for men to injure these animals, so now it should be considered as unholy to slay them for the sake of food. If, however, this is to be done from motives of religious reference of the Gods, yet every passion or affection which is essentially produced from bodies is to be rejected, in order that we may not procure food from improper substances, and thus have an incentive to violence as the intimate associate of our life. For by such a rejection we shall, at least, all of us derive great benefit in what pertains to be our mutual security, if we do not in anything else. For those whose sense is averse to the destruction of animals of a species different from their own, will evidently abstain from injuring those of their own kind. Hence it would perhaps have been best, if men in after-times had immediately abstained from slaughtering these animals; but since no one is free from error, it remains for posterity to take away by |63 purifications the crime of their ancestors, respecting nutriment. This, however, will be effected, if, placing before our eyes, the dire nature of such conduct, we exclaim with Empedocles:

Ah me, while yet exempt from such a crime,

Why was I not destroyed by cruel Time,

Before these lips began the guilty deed,

On the dire nutriment of flesh to feed?

For in those only the appropriate sense sympathetically grieves for errors that have been committed, who endeavour to find a remedy for the evils with which they are afflicted; so that every one, by offering pure and holy sacrifices to the divinity, may through sanctity obtain the greatest benefits from the Gods.

32. But the benefit derived from fruits is the first and the greatest of all others, and which, as soon as they are matured, should alone be offered to the Gods, and to Earth, by whom they are produced. For she is the common Vesta of Gods and men; and it is requisite that all of us, reclining on her surface, as on the bosom of our mother and nurse, should celebrate her divinity, and love her with a parental affection, as the source of our existence. For thus, when we exchange this life for another, we shall again be thought worthy of a residence in the heavens, and of associating with all the celestial Gods, whom, now beholding ¹³, we ought to venerate with those fruits of which they are the causes, sacrificing indeed to them from all these, when they have arrived at maturity, but not conceiving all of us to be sufficiently worthy to sacrifice to the Gods. For as all things are not to be sacrificed to the Gods, so neither perhaps are the Gods gratified by the sacrifice of everyone. This, therefore, is the substance of the arguments adduced by Theophrastus, to show that animals ought not to be sacrificed; exclusive |64 of the interspersed fabulous narrations, and a few things which we have added to what he has said.

33. I, however, shall not attempt to dissolve the legal institutes which the several nations have established. For it is not my design at present to speak about a polity. But as the laws by which we are governed permit us to venerate divinity by things of the most simple, and of an inanimate nature, hence, selecting that which is the least costly, let us sacrifice according to the law of the city, and endeavour to offer an appropriate sacrifice, approaching with consummate purity to the Gods. In short, if the oblation of first-fruits is of any value, and is an acknowledgment of thanks for the benefits which we receive, it will be most irrational to abstain ourselves from animals, and yet offer the first-fruits of these to the Gods. For neither are the Gods worse than we are, so as to be in want of those things of which we are not indigent, nor is it holy to offer the first-fruits of that nutriment from which we ourselves abstain. For we find it is usual with men, that, when they refrain from animal food, they do not make oblations of animals; but that they offer to the Gods the first-fruits of what they themselves eat. Hence also it is now fit, that he who abstains from animals should offer the first-fruits of things which he touches [for the purpose of food].

34. Let us therefore also sacrifice, but let us sacrifice in such a manner as is fit, offering different sacrifices to different powers;¹⁴ to the God indeed who is above all things, as a certain wise man said, neither sacrificing with incense, nor consecrating any thing sensible. For there is nothing material, which is not immediately impure to an immaterial nature. Hence, neither is vocal language, nor internal speech, adapted to the highest God, when it is defiled by any passion of the soul; but we should venerate him in profound silence with a pure soul, and with pure conceptions about him. It is necessary, therefore, that being conjoined with and assimilated to him, we should offer to him, as a sacred sacrifice, the elevation of our intellect, which offering will be both a hymn and our salvation. In an impassive contemplation, therefore, of this divinity by the soul, the sacrifice to him is effected in perfection; |65 but to his progeny, the intelligible Gods, hymns, orally enunciated, are to be offered. For to each of the divinities, a sacrifice is to be made of the first-fruits of the things which he bestows, and through which he nourishes and preserves us. As therefore, the husbandman offers handfuls of the fruits and berries which the season first produces; thus also we should offer to the divinities the first-fruits of our conceptions of their transcendent excellence, giving them thanks for the contemplation which they impart to us, and for truly nourishing us through the vision of themselves, which they afford us, associating with, appearing to, and shining upon us, for our salvation.

35. Now, however, many of those who apply themselves to philosophy are unwilling to do this; and, pursuing renown rather than honouring divinity, they are busily employed about statues, neither considering whether they are to be reverenced or not, nor endeavouring to learn from those who are divinely wise, to what extent, and to what degree, it is requisite to proceed in this affair. We, however, shall by no means contend with these, nor are we very desirous of being well instructed in a thing of this kind; but imitating holy and ancient men, we offer to the Gods, more than anything else, the first-fruits of contemplation, which they have imparted to us, and by the use of which we become partakers of true salvation.

36. The Pythagoreans, therefore, diligently applying themselves to the study of numbers and lines, sacrificed for the most part from these to the Gods, denominating, indeed, a certain number Minerva, but another Diana, and another Apollo: and again, they called one number justice, but another temperance ¹⁵. In diagrams also they adopted a similar mode. And thus, by offerings of this kind, they rendered the Gods propitious to them, so as to obtain of them the object of their wishes, by the things which they dedicated to, and the names by which they invoked them. They likewise frequently employed their aid in divination, and if they were in want of a certain thing for the purpose of some investigation. In order, therefore to affect this, they made use of the Gods within the heavens, both the erratic and non-erratic, of all of whom it is requisite to consider the sun as the leader; but to rank the moon in the second place; and we should conjoin with these fire, in the third place, from its |66 alliance to them, as the theologist ¹⁶ says. He also says that no animal is to be sacrificed; but that first-fruits are to be offered from meal and honey, and the vegetable productions of the earth. He adds, that fire is not to be enkindled on a hearth defiled with gore; and asserts other things of the like kind. For what occasion is there to transcribe all he says? For he who is studious of piety knows, indeed, that to the Gods no animal is to be sacrificed, but that a sacrifice of this kind pertains to daemons, and other powers, whether they are beneficent, or depraved¹. He likewise knows who those are that ought to sacrifice to these, and to what extent they ought to proceed in the sacrifices which they make. Other things, however, will be passed over by me in silence. But what some Platonists have divulged, I shall lay before the reader, in order that the things proposed to be discussed, may become manifest to the intelligent. What they have unfolded, therefore, is as follows:

37. The first God being incorporeal, immoveable, and impartible, and neither subsisting in any thing, nor restrained in his energies, is not, as has been before observed, in want of any thing external to himself, as neither is the soul of the world; but this latter, containing in itself the principle of that which is triply divisible, and being naturally self-motive, is adapted to be moved in a beautiful and orderly manner, and also to move the body of the world, according to the most excellent reasons [i.e. productive principles or powers]. It is, however, connected with and comprehends body, though it is itself incorporeal, and liberated from the participation of any passion. To the remaining Gods, therefore, to the world, to the inerratic and erratic stars, who are visible Gods, consisting of soul and body, thanks are to be returned after the above-mentioned manner, through sacrifices from inanimate natures. The multitude, therefore, of those invisible beings remains for us, whom Plato indiscriminately calls daemons ¹⁷; but of these, some being denominated by men, obtain from them honours, and other religious observances, similar to those which are paid to the Gods; but others, who for the most part are not explicitly denominated, receive an occult religious reverence and appellation from certain persons in villages and certain cities; and the remaining multitude is called in common by the |67 name of daemons. The general persuasion, however, respecting all these invisible beings, is this, that if they become angry through being neglected, and deprived of the religious reverence which is due to them, they are noxious to those by whom they are thus neglected, and that they again become beneficent, if they are appeased by prayers, supplications, and sacrifices, and other similar rites.

38. But the confused notion which is formed of these beings, and which has proceeded to great crimination, necessarily requires that the nature of them should be distinguished according to reason. For perhaps it will be said, that it is requisite to show whence the error concerning them originated among men. The distinction, therefore, must be made after the following manner. Such souls as are the progeny of the whole soul of the universe, and who govern the great parts of the region under the moon, these, being incumbent on a pneumatic substance or spirit, and ruling over it conformably to reason, are to be considered as good daemons, who are diligently employed in causing every thing to be beneficial to the subjects of their government, whether they preside over certain animals, or fruits, which are arranged under their inspective care, or over things which subsist for the sake of these, such as showers of rain, moderate winds, serene weather, and other things which co-operate with these, such as the good temperament of the seasons of the year. They are also our leaders in the attainment of music, and the whole of erudition, and likewise of medicine and gymnastic, and of every thing else similar to these. For it is impossible that these daemons should impart utility, and yet become, in the very same things, the causes of what is detrimental. Among these two, those transporters, as Plato calls them, [in his Banquet] are to be enumerated, who announce the affairs of men to the Gods, and the will of the Gods to men; carrying our prayers, indeed, to the Gods as judges, but oracularly unfolding to us the exhortations and admonitions of the Gods. But such souls as do not rule over the pneumatic substance with which they are connected, but for the most part are vanquished by it; these are vehemently agitated and borne along [in a disorderly manner,] when the irascible motions and the desires of the pneumatic substance, received an impetus. These souls, therefore, are indeed daemons, but are deservedly called malefic daemons.

39. All these being, likewise, and those who possess a contrary power, are invisible, and perfectly imperceptible by human senses; for they are not surrounded with a solid body, nor are all of them of one form, but they are fashioned in numerous figures. The forms, however, which |68 characterize their pneumatic substance, at one time become apparent, but at another are invisible. Sometimes also those that are malefic, change their forms; but the pneumatic substance, so far as it is corporeal, is passive and corruptible: and though, because it is thus bound by the souls [that are incumbent on it,] the form of it remains for a long time, yet it is not eternal. For it is probable that something continually flows from it, and also that it is nourished. The pneumatic substance, therefore, of good daemons, possesses symmetry, in the same manner as the bodies of the visible Gods; but the spirit of malefic dsemons is deprived of symmetry, and in consequence of its abounding in passivity, they are distributed about the terrestrial region. Hence, there is no evil which they do not attempt to effect; for, in short, being violent and fraudulent in their manners, and being also deprived of the guardian care of more excellent dsemons, they make, for the most part, vehement and sudden attacks; sometimes endeavouring to conceal their incursions, but at other times assaulting openly. Hence the molestations which are produced by them are rapid; but the remedies and corrections which proceed from more excellent dsemons, appear to be more slowly effected: for every thing which is good being tractable and equable, proceeds in an orderly manner, and does not pass beyond what is fit. By forming this opinion, therefore, you will never fall into that most absurd notion, that evil may be expected from the good, or good from the evil. For this notion is not truly attended with absurdity, but the multitude, receiving through it the most erroneous conceptions of the Gods, disseminate them among the rest of mankind.

40. It must be admitted, therefore, that one of the greatest injuries occasioned by malefic dsemons is this, that though they are the causes of the calamities which take place upon the earth, such as pestilence, sterility, earthquakes, excessive dryness, and the like, yet they endeavour to persuade us, that they are the causes of things the most contrary to these, viz. of fertility, [salubrity, and elementary peace.] Hence, they exonerate themselves from blame, and, in the first place, endeavour to avoid being detected as the sources of injury; and, in the next place, they convert us to supplications and sacrifices to the beneficent Gods, as if they were angry. But they effect these, and things of a similar nature, in consequence of wishing to turn us from right conceptions of the Gods, and convert us to themselves; for they are delighted with all such as act thus incongruously and discordantly, and, as it were, assuming the persons of other Gods, they enjoy the effects of our imprudence and folly; conciliating to themselves the good opinion of the vulgar, by inflaming the minds of men with the love of riches, power, and pleasure, |69 and fulling them with the desire of vain glory, from which sedition, and war, and other things allied to these, are produced. But that which is the most dire of all things, they proceed still farther, and persuade men that similar things are effected by the greatest Gods, and do not stop till they even subject the most excellent of the divinities to these calumnies, through whom they say every thing is in perfect confusion. And not only the vulgar are affected in this manner, but not a few also of those who are conversant with philosophy. The cause of this, however, extends equally to philosophers, and the vulgar; for of philosophers, those who do not depart from the prevailing notions, fall into the same error with the multitude; and again, the multitude, on hearing assertions from celebrated men conformable to their own opinions, are in a greater degree corroborated in conceiving things of this kind of the Gods.

41. For poetry also inflames the opinions of men, by employing a diction adapted to produce astonishment and enchantment, and not only allures the ears, but is also capable of procuring belief in things that are most impossible. At the same time, however, it is requisite to be firmly persuaded, that what is good can never injure, or what is evil can never be beneficial; for, as Plato says, it is not the province of heat to refrigerate, but of that which is contrary to heat; and, in like manner, neither is it the province of that which is just to injure. But divinity is naturally the most just of all things; since otherwise he would not be divinity. Hence this power and portion of good is not to be abscinded from beneficent daemons; for the power which is naturally adapted, and wishes to injure, is contrary to the power which is beneficent: but contraries can never subsist about the same thing. As malefic daemons, therefore, injure the mortal race in many respects, and sometimes in things of the greatest consequence, good daemons not only never cease to act conformably to their office, but also, as much as possible, presignify to us the dangers which are impendent from malefic daemons, unfolding these through dreams, through a divinely inspired soul, and through many other things; so that he who is capable of explaining what is signified, may know and avoid all the perils with which he is threatened. For they indicate [future events] to all men, but every one cannot understand what they indicate nor is every one able to read what is written by them; but he alone is able to do this, who has learnt their letters. All enchantment, however, [or witchcraft,] is effected through daemons of a contrary nature; for those who perpetrate evil through enchantments, especially venerate these malefic beings, and the power that presides over them. |70

42. For they are full of every kind of imagination, and are sufficiently qualified to deceive, through effects of a prodigious nature; and through these, unhappy men procure philtres, and amatory allurements. For all intemperance, and hope of possessing wealth and renown, and especially deception, exist through these, since falsehood is allied to these malevolent beings; for they wish to he considered as Gods, and the power which presides over them is ambitious to appear to be the greatest God. These are they that rejoice in libations, and the savour of sacrifices, through which their pneumatic vehicle is fattened; for this vehicle lives through vapours and exhalations, and the life of it is various through various exhalations. It is likewise corroborated by the savour of blood and flesh.

43. On this account, a wise and temperate man will be religiously afraid to use sacrifices of this kind, through which he will attract to himself such-like daemons; but he will endeavour in all possible ways to purify his soul. For these malefic beings do not attack a pure soul, because it is dissimilar to them; but if it is necessary to cities to render them propitious, this is nothing to us. For by these riches, and things external and corporeal, are thought to be good, and their contraries evil; but the smallest attention is paid by them to the good of the soul. We however, to the utmost of our ability, endeavour not to be in want of those things which they impart; but all our endeavour is to become similar to God, and to the [divine] powers with which he is surrounded both from what pertains to the soul, and from externals; and this is effected through an entire liberation from the dominion of the passions, an evolved perception of truly existing beings, and a vital tendency towards them. On the other hand, we strive to become dissimilar to depraved men and evil daemons, and, in short, to every being that rejoices in a mortal and material nature. So that, conformably to what is said by Theophrastus, we also shall sacrifice from those things which theologists permit us to use for this purpose; as well knowing, that by how much the more we neglect to exempt ourselves from the passions of the soul, by so much the more we connect ourselves with a depraved power, and render it necessary that he should become propitious to us. For, as theologists say, it is necessary for those who are bound ¹⁸ to things |71 external, and have not yet vanquished their passions, should avert the anger of this [malefic] power; since, if they do not, there will be no end to their labours.

44. Thus far what pertains to sacrifices has been elucidated. As we said, however, at first, as it is not entirely necessary, if animals are to be sacrificed, that they are also to be eaten, we shall now show that it is necessary we should not eat them, though it may be sometimes necessary that they should be sacrificed. For all theologists agree in this that in sacrifices, which are made for the purpose of averting some evil, the immolated animals are not to be tasted, but are to be used as expiations. For, say they, no one should go into the city, nor into his own house, till he has first purified his garments, and his body, in rivers, or some fountain. So that they order those whom they permit to sacrifice, to abstain from the victims, and to purify themselves before they sacrifice by fasting, and especially by abstaining from animals. They add, that purity is the guardian of piety; and is, as it were, a symbol or divine seal, which secures its possessor from the attacks and allurements of evil daemons. For such a one, being contrarily disposed to, and more divine in his operations than those by whom he is attacked, because he is more pure both in his body and in the passions of his soul, remains uninjured, in consequence of being surrounded with purity as with a bulwark.

45. Hence a defence of this kind has appeared to be necessary even to enchanters; though it is not efficacious with them on all occasions. For they invoke evil daemons for lascivious purposes. So that purity does not belong to enchanters, but to divine men, and such as are divinely wise; since it everywhere becomes a guard to those that use it, and conciliates them with a divine nature. I wish, therefore, that enchanters would make use of purity continually, for then they would not employ themselves in incantations, because, through this, they would be: deprived of the enjoyment of those things, for the sake of which they act impiously. Whence becoming full of passions, and abstaining for a short time from impure food, they are notwithstanding replete with impurity, and suffer the punishment of their illegal conduct towards the whole of things, partly from those whom they irritate, and partly from Justice, who perceives all mortal deeds and conceptions. Both inward, |72 therefore, and external purity pertain to a divine man, who earnestly endeavours to be liberated from the passions of the soul, and who abstains from such food as excites the passions, and is fed with divine wisdom; and by right conceptions of, is assimilated to divinity himself. For such a man being consecrated by an intellectual sacrifice, approaches to God in a white garment, and with a truly pure impassivity of soul, and levity of body, and is not burdened with foreign and external juices, and the passions of the soul.

46. For, indeed, it must not be admitted as necessary in temples, which are consecrated by men to the Gods, that those who enter into them should have their feet pure, and their shoes free from every stain, but that in the temple of the father [of all], which is this world, it is not proper to preserve our ultimate and cutaneous vestment pure, and to dwell in this temple with an undefiled garment. For if the danger consisted only in the defilement of the body, it might, perhaps, be lawful to neglect it. But now, since every sensible body is attended with an efflux of material daemons, hence, together with the impurity produced from flesh and blood, the power which is friendly to, and familiar with, this impurity, is at the same time present through similitude and alliance.

47. Hence theologists have rightly paid attention to abstinence. And these things were indicated to us by a certain Egyptian ¹⁹, who also assigned a most natural cause of them, which was verified by experience. For, since a depraved and irrational soul, when it leaves the body, is still compelled to adhere to it, since the souls also of those men who die by violence, are detained about the body; this circumstance should prevent a man from forcibly expelling his soul from the body. The violent slaughter, therefore, of animals, compels souls to be delighted with the bodies which they have left, but the soul is by no means prevented from being there, where it is attracted by a kindred nature; whence many souls are seen to lament, and some remain about the bodies that are |73 unburied; which souls are improperly used by enchanters, as subservient to their designs, being compelled by them to occupy the body, or a part of the body, which they have left. Since, therefore, these things were well known to theologists, and they also perceived the nature of a depraved soul, and its alliance to the bodies from which it was divulsed, and the pleasure which it received from a union with them, they very properly avoided animal food, in order that they might not be disturbed by alien souls, violently separated from the body and impure, and which are attracted to things of a kindred nature, and likewise that they might not be impeded by the presence of evil daemons, in approaching alone [or without being burdened with things of a foreign nature] to the highest God ²⁰.

48. For that the nature of a kindred body is attractive of soul, experience abundantly taught these theologists. Hence those who wish to receive into themselves the souls of prophetic animals, swallow the most principal parts of them, such as the hearts of crows, or of moles, or of hawks. For thus they have soul present with, and predicting to them like a God, and entering into them together with the intromission of the body.

49. Very properly, therefore, will the philosopher, and who is also the priest of the God that is above all things, abstain from all animal food, in consequence of earnestly endeavouring to approach through himself alone to the alone God ²¹, without being disturbed by any attendants. Such a one likewise is cautious, as being well acquainted with the necessities of nature. For he who is truly a philosopher, is skilled in, and an observer of many things, understands the works of nature, is sagacious, temperate and modest, and is in every respect the saviour of |74 himself. And as he who is the priest of a certain particular God, is skilled in placing the statues of that divinity, and in his orgies, mysteries and the like, thus also he who is the priest of the highest God, is skilled in the manner in which his statue ought to be fashioned, and in purifications, and other things, through which he is conjoined to this divinity.

50. But if in the sacred rites which are here, those that are priests and diviners order both themselves and others to abstain from sepulchres, from impious men, from menstrual purgations, and from venereal congress, and likewise from base and mournful spectacles, and from those auditions which excite the passions, (because frequently, through those that are present being impure, something appears which disturbs the diviner; on which account it is said, that to sacrifice inopportunely, is attended with greater detriment than gain); --- if this, therefore, is the case, will he, who is the priest of the father of all things, suffer himself to become the sepulchre of dead bodies? And will such a one, being full of defilement, endeavour to associate with the transcendent God? It is sufficient, indeed, that in fruits we assume parts of death, for the support of our present life. This, however, is not yet the place for such a discussion. We must, therefore, still farther investigate what pertains to sacrifices.

51. For some one may say that we shall subvert a great part of divination, viz. that which is effected through an inspection of the viscera, if we abstain from destroying animals. He, therefore, who makes this objection, should also destroy men: for it is said that future events are more apparent in the viscera of men than in those of brutes; and many of the Barbarians exercise the art of divination through the entrails of men. As, however, it would be an indication of great injustice, and inexhaustible avidity, to destroy those of our own species for the sake of divination, thus also it is unjust for the sake of this to slay an irrational animal. But it does not belong to the present discussion to investigate whether God, or daemons, or soul liberated from the animal [with which it had been connected], exhibit signs of future events to those who explore such signs, through the indications which the viscera afford.

52. Nevertheless, we permit those whose life is rolled about externals, having once acted impiously towards themselves, to be borne along to that which they tend; but we rightly say, that the man who we designate as a philosopher, and who is separated from externals, will not |75 be disturbed by daemons, nor be in want of diviners, nor of the viscera of animals. For he earnestly endeavours to be separated from those things for the sake of which divinations are effected. For he does not betake himself to nuptials, in order that he may molest the diviner about wedlock, or merchandise, or inquiries about a servant, or an increase of property, or any other object of vulgar pursuit. For the subjects of his investigation are not clearly indicated by any diviner or viscera of animals. But he, as we have said, approaching through himself to the [supreme] God, who is established in the true inward parts of himself, receives from thence the precepts of eternal life, tending thither by a conflux of the whole of himself, and instead of a diviner praying that he may become a confabulator of the mighty Jupiter.

53. For if such a one is impelled by some necessary circumstance, there are good daemons, who, to the man living after this manner, and who is a domestic of divinity, will indicate and prevent, through dreams and symbols, and omens, what may come to pass, and what is necessarily to be avoided. For it is only requisite to depart from evil, and to know what is most honourable in the whole of things, and every thing which in the universe is good, friendly, and familiar. But vice, and an ignorance of divine concerns, are dire, through which a man is led to despise and defame things of which he has no knowledge; since nature does not proclaim these particulars with a voice which can be heard by the ears, but being herself intellectual ²², she initiates through intellect those who venerate her. And even though some one should admit the art of divination for the sake of predicting what is future, yet it does not from thence necessarily follow that the flesh of animals is to be eaten; as neither does it follow, that because it is proper to sacrifice to Gods or daemons, food from animals is therefore to be introduced. For, not only the history which is related by Theophrastus, but also many other narrations inform us, that in ancient times men were sacrificed, yet it must not be inferred that on this account men are to be eaten. |76

54. And that we do not carelessly assert these things, but that what we have said is abundantly confirmed by history, the following narrations sufficiently testify. For in Rhodes, on the sixth day of June, a man was sacrificed to Saturn; which custom having prevailed for a long time, was afterwards changed [into a more human mode of sacrificing]. For one of those men who, by the public decision, had been sentenced to death, was kept in prison till the Saturnalia commenced; but as soon as this festival began, they brought the man out of the gates of the city, opposite to the temple of Aristobulus, and giving him wine to drink, they cut his throat. But in the island which is now called Salamis, but was formerly denominated Coronis, in the month according to the Cyprians Aphrodisius, a man was sacrificed to Agraule, the daughter of Cecrops, and the nymph Agraulis. And this custom continued till the time of Diomed. Afterwards it was changed, so that a man was sacrificed to Diomed. But the temples of Minerva, of Agraule, and Diomed, were contained in one and the same enclosure. The man who was also about to be slain, was first led by young men thrice round the altar, afterwards the priest pierced him with a lance in the stomach, and thus being thrown on the pyre, he was entirely consumed.

55. This sacred institute was, however, abolished by Diphilus, the king of Cyprus, who flourished about the time of Seleucus, the theologist. But Daemon substituted an ox for a man; thus causing the latter sacrifice to be of equal worth with the former. Amosis also abolished the law of sacrificing men in the Egyptian city Heliopolis; the truth of which is testified by Manetho in his treatise on Antiquity and Piety. But the sacrifice was made to Juno, and an investigation took place, as if they were endeavouring to find pure calves, and such as were marked by the impression of a seal. Three men also were sacrificed on the day appointed for this purpose, in the place of whom Amosis ordered them to substitute three waxen images. In Chios likewise, they sacrificed a man to Omadius Bacchus ²³, the man being for this purpose torn in pieces; and the same custom, as Eulpis Carystius says, was adopted in |77 Tenedos. To which may be added, that the Lacedaemonians, as Apollodorus says, sacrificed a man to Mars.

56. Moreover the Phoenicians, in great calamities, either of war, or excessive dryness, or pestilence, sacrificed some one of their dearest friends, who was selected by votes for this purpose. The Phoenician history also is replete with instances of men being sacrificed, which history was written by Sanchoniatho in the Phoenician tongue, and was interpreted into Greek in eight books, by Philo Byblius. But Ister, in his collection of the Cretan sacrifices, says that the Curetes formerly sacrificed children to Saturn. And Pallas, who is the best of those who have collected what pertains to the mysteries of Mithras, says, that under the Emperor Adrian the sacrificing of men was nearly totally abolished. For, prior to his time, in Laodicea, which is in Syria, they anciently sacrificed a virgin to Minerva, but now they sacrifice a stag. The Carthaginians too, who dwell in Libya, formerly sacrificed men; but this custom was abolished by Iphicrates. And the Dumatii, a people of Arabia, annually sacrificed a boy, whom they buried under the altar, which was used by them as a statue. But Phylarchus narrates, that it was the general custom of all the Greeks, before they went to war, to immolate men. I omit to mention the Thracians and Scythians, and also the Athenians, who slew the daughter of Erechtheus and Praxithea. And even at present, who is ignorant that in the great city of Rome, in the festival of Jupiter Latialis, they cut the throat of a man? Human flesh, however, is not on this account to be eaten; though, through a certain necessity, a man should be sacrificed. For, when a famine takes place during a siege some of the besieged feed on each other, yet at the same time those who do so are deemed execrable and the deed is thought to be impious.

57. After the first war, likewise, waged by the Romans against the Carthaginians, in order to obtain Sicily, when the mercenary soldiers of the Phoenicians revolted, and, together with them, those of Africa deserted, Hamilcar, who was surnamed Barkas, in attacking the Romans, was reduced to such a scarcity of food, that at first his men ate those that fell in battle; but afterwards, these failing, they ate their captives; in the third place, their servants; and in the last place, they attacked each other, and devoured their fellow-soldiers, who were led to be slaughtered for this purpose by lot. But Hamilcar, taking those men that were in his power, caused his elephants to trample on such of the soldiers as had acted in this manner, conceiving that it was not holy to suffer them to be any longer mingled with other men; and neither did he admit that |78 men should be eaten because certain persons had dared to do this; nor his son Hannibal, who, when he was leading his army into Italy, was advised by a certain person to accustom his troops to feed on human flesh, in order that they might never be in want of food. It does not follow, therefore, that because famine and war have been the causes of eating other animals, it is also requisite to feed on them for the sake of pleasure; as neither must we admit, that on this account men are to be eaten. Nor does it follow, that because animals are sacrificed to certain powers, it is also requisite to eat them. For neither do those who sacrifice men, on this account, feed on human flesh. Through what has been said, therefore, it is demonstrated, that it does not entirely follow that animals are to be eaten because they are sacrificed.

58. But that those who had learnt what the nature is of the powers in the universe, offered sacrifices through blood, not to Gods, but to daemons, is confirmed by theologists themselves. For they also assert, that of daemons, some are malefic, but others beneficent, who will not molest us, if we offer to them the first-fruits of those things alone which we eat, and by which we nourish either the soul or the body. After, therefore, we have added a few observations more, in order to show that the unperverted conceptions of the multitude accord with a right opinion respecting the Gods, we shall conclude this book. Those poets, therefore, who are wise, though but in a small degree, say,

What man so credulous and void of mind,

What man so ignorant, as to think the Gods

In fiery bile and fleshless bones rejoice,

For hungry dogs a nutriment not fit;

Or that such offerers they will e'er reward?

But another poet says,

My offerings to the Gods from cakes alone

And frankincense shall be; for not to friends

But deities my sacrifice I make.

59. Apollo also, when he orders men to sacrifice according to paternal institutes, appears to refer every thing to ancient custom. But the ancient custom of sacrificing was, as we have before shown, with cakes and fruits. Hence also, sacrifices were called θυσιαι thusiai, and θυηλαι thuelai, and θυμελαι thumelai, and αυτο το θυειν auto to thuein, i.e. the act of sacrificing, signified the same thing as του θυμιαν ton thumian, i.e. to offer incense, and which is now called by us, επιθυειν epithuein, i.e. to |79 sacrifice something more. For what we now call θυειν thuein, i.e. to sacrifice, the ancients denominated ερδειν erdein, i.e. to perform or make.

They perfect hecatombs of bulls, or goats,

Made to Apollo.

60. But those who introduced costliness into sacrifices, were ignorant that, in conjunction with this, they also introduced a swarm of evils, viz., superstition, luxury, an opinion that a divine nature may be corrupted by gifts, and that a compensation may be made by sacrifices for injustice. Or whence do some make an oblation of three animals with gilded horns, but others of hecatombs? And whence did Olympias, the mother of Alexander [the Great,] sacrifice a thousand of each species of animals, unless sumptuousness had at length proceeded to superstition? But when the young man was informed that the Gods rejoiced in magnificent sacrifices, and, as they say, in solemn banquets of oxen and other animals, how, though he was willing to act wisely, was it possible that he could? How also, when he conceived that these sacrifices were acceptable to the Gods, was it possible he should not fancy that he was permitted to act unjustly, when he might exonerate himself from erroneous conduct through sacrifices? But if he had been persuaded that the Gods have no need of these things, and that they look to the manners of those who approach to them, and conceive that a right opinion of them, and of things themselves, is the greatest sacrifice, how is it possible that he should not have been temperate, holy, and just?

61. To the Gods, indeed, the most excellent offering is a pure intellect and an impassive soul, and also a moderate oblation of our own property and of other things, and this not negligently, but with the greatest alacrity. For the honours which we pay to the Gods should be accompanied by the same promptitude as that with which we give the first seat to worthy men, and with which we rise to salute them, and not by the promptitude with which we pay a tribute. For man must not use such language as the following to God:

If, O Philinus, you recall to mind,

And love me for, the benefits which I

On you conferr'd, 'tis well, since for the sake

Of these alone my bounty was bestow'd.

For divinity is not satisfied with such assertions as these. And hence |80 Plato says [in his Laws], that it pertains to a good man to sacrifice, and to be always conversant with the Gods by prayers, votive offerings, sacrifices, and every kind of religious worship; but that to the bad man, much labour about the Gods is inefficacious and vain. For the good man knows what ought to be sacrificed, and from what it is requisite to abstain; what things are to be offered to divinity; and of what the first-fruits are to be sacrificed; but the bad man exhibiting honours to the Gods from his own disposition and his own pursuits, acts in so doing more impiously than piously. Hence Plato thought, that a philosopher ought not to be conversant with men of depraved habits; for this is neither pleasing to the Gods, nor useful to men; but the philosopher should endeavour to change such men to a better condition, and if he cannot effect this, he should be careful that he does not himself become changed into their depravity. He adds, that having entered into the right path, he should proceed in it, neither fearing danger from the multitude nor any other blasphemy which may happen to take place. For it would be a thing of a dire nature, that the Syrians indeed will not taste fish, nor the Hebrews swine nor most of the Phoenicians and Egyptians cows; and though many kings have endeavoured to change these customs, yet those that adopt them would rather suffer death, than a transgression of the law [which forbids them to eat these animals]; and yet that we should choose to transgress the laws of nature and divine precepts through the fear of men, or of a certain denunciation of evil from them. For the divine choir of Gods, and divine men, may justly be greatly indignant with us, if it perceives us directing our attention to the opinions of depraved men, and idly looking to the terror with which they are attended, though we daily meditate how we may become [philosophically] dead to other things in the present life.

[Footnotes moved to the end and numbered]

1. * i.e. The Egyptians

2. * In the original αρασαμενους, which is derived from the verb αραομαι, imprecor, maledico; and from hence, according to Porphyry, came the word αραματα.

3. * i.e. May be rather called malevolent than unhappy.

4. + Fabricius is of opinion that these Thoes are the same with the Acrothoitae, mentioned by Simplicius in his Comment. in Epictet. from Theophrastus.

5. * In the original, η γαρ θησια, οσια τις εστιν κατα τουνομα.

6. * In the original, και τα μεν παρατιθεναι, which Felicianus very erroneously renders, "alius sequidem mihi ad vescendum sumo;" but Valentinus rightly, "et horum aliqua coram illis apponere."

7. * A round, broad, and thin cake, which was offered in sacrifice to the Gods.

8. + Tynnichus, the Chalcidensian, is mentioned by Plato in his Io.

9. * Vid. Hesiod. Fragm. v. 169.

10. * A city of Crete.

11. * i.e. Under the pretext of being patronized by divinity in so doing.

12. * Porphyry, in what he here says of the Jews, alludes to that sect of them called Essenes; concerning whom, see the th book of this work.

13. * In the original, ους νυν ορωντας τιμαν τουτους, κ.τ.λ., instead of which, Reisk proposes to read, ους νυν ουχ ορωντας τιμαν δει ̔̃ϝελ χρἦ τουτοις, κ.τ.λ. But the insertion of ουχ is most absurd: for the celestial are called the visible Gods. Thus Plato, in the Timaeus, in the speech of the Demiurgus to the junior or mundane Gods, who consist of the celestial and sublunary deities, calls the celestial Gods those that visibly revolve, and the sublunary, those that become apparent when they please: Επει ουν παντες οσοι τε περιπολουσι φανερως, και οσοι φαινονται καθ̕ οσον αν εθελωσι θεοι, γενεσιν εσχον, κ.τ.λ. conformably, therefore, to the above translation, I read, ους νυν ορωντας τιμαν δει τουτοις, κ.τ.λ. To which may be added, that our author, in paragraph 37, expressly calls the stars visible Gods.

14. * In the original, θυσομον τοινυν κα ημεις· αλλα θυσομεν, ως προσηκει, διαφορους τας θυσιας, ως αν διαφοροις δυναμεσι πρασαγοντες. This Valentinus erroneously translates as follows: "Sacrificabimus igitur etiam et nos, sed prout decet, victimas scilicet eximias potestatibus eximiis adducentes." For διαφορους and διαφοροις, in this passage, evidently mean different, and not excellent.

15. * Concerning the appellations which the Pythagoreans gave to numbers, see my Theoretic Arithmetic, in which also the occult meaning of these appellations is unfolded.

16. * "Plotinus ni fallor, aut Plato, sed ille potius", says Reisk; but everyone who is at all conversant with Platonic writers, will immediately see that by the theologist, Porphyry means Orpheus.

17. + For a more theological account of daemons, I refer the reader to my translation of the before-mentioned admirable treatise of Iamblichus On the Mysteries.

18. * In the original, ως γαρ φασιν οι θεολογοι τοις δεομενοις υπο των εκτος και μηδεπω κρατουσιν των παθων, κ.τ.λ. But for δεομενοις, it is necessary to read δεδεμενοις; and it is evident that both the Latin translators of the work found δεδεμενοις in their manuscripts. For Felicianus has "qui devincti externus rebus sunt," and Valentinus, "qui rebus externis illigantur." Reisk, however, has taken no notice of this error on the printed text.

19. * Reisk, with his usual stupidity, where merely verbal emendations are not concerned, says that this Egyptian is Plotinus, whose country was Lycopolis, in Egypt. But what instance can be adduced, in all antiquity, of the disciple of a philosopher speaking of his preceptor in this indefinite manner? Is it not much more probable that this Egyptian is the priest mentioned by Porphyry in his Life of Plotinus, who, at the request of a certain friend of Plotinus, (which friend was, perhaps, Porphyry himself,) exhibited to Plotinus, in the temple of Isis, at Rome, the familiar daemon, or, in modern language, the guardian angel of that philosopher?

20. * Conformably to this, the Pythagorean Demophilus beautifully observes, Γυμνος αποσταλεις σοφος, γυμνιτευων καλεσει τον πεμψαντα· μονου γαρ του μη τοις αλλοτριοις πεφορτισμενου επικοος ο θεος. i.e. "The wise man being sent hither naked, should naked invoke him by whom he was sent. For he alone is heard by divinity, who is not burdened with things of a foreign nature."

21. + This expression of "approaching alone to the alone God," Porphyry derived from his master, the great Plotinus, who divinely concludes his Enneads as follows: και ουτω θεων και ανθρωπων θειων και ευδαιμονων βιος, απαλλαγη των αλλων των τῃδε, ανηδονος των τῃδε, φυγη μονου προς μονον --- i.e. "This, therefore, is the life of the Gods, and of divine and happy men, a liberation from all terrene concerns, a life unaccompanied by human pleasures, and a flight of the alone to the alone.

22. * Nature, considered as the last of the causes which fabricate this corporeal and sensible world, "bounds (says Proclus in Tim.) the progressions of incorporeal essences, and is full of forms and powers, through which she governs mundane affairs. And she is a Goddess, indeed, considered as deified; but not according to the primary signification of the word. By her summit likewise she comprehends the heavens, but through these rules over the fluctuating empire of generation; and she every where weaves together partial natures in admirable conjunction with wholes." See more on this subject in my translation of that work.

23. * This epithet is used in two of the Orphic hymns, viz. in Hymn LI. 7., and Hymn XXIX. 5. But the following appears to be the reason why Bacchus is so called. Bacchus is the intellect, and Ippa the soul of the world, according to the Orphic Theology; and the former is said by Orpheus to be carried on the head of the latter. For so we are informed by Proclus, in Tim. p. 124. Jacob de Rhoer, therefore, the editor of this work, was grossly mistaken in saying, "Non dubito, quin ωμαδιος Διονυσος, aedem sit qui ωμηστης, crudivorus." Scaliger in his version of the Hymns, very improperly translates ωμαδιος; bajulus, a porter. For Bacchus is carried on, but does not carry ιρρα.

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Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 3. pp.81-109.

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 3. pp.81-109.

BOOK THREE

[Translated by Thomas Taylor]

1. In the two preceding books, O Firmus Castricius, we have demonstrated that animal food does not contribute either to temperance and frugality, or to the piety which especially gives completion to the theoretic life, but is rather hostile to it. Since, however, the most beautiful part of justice consists in piety to the Gods, and this is principally acquired through abstinence, there is no occasion to fear that we shall violate justice towards men, while we preserve piety towards the Gods. Socrates therefore says, in opposition to those who contend that pleasure is the supreme good, that though all swine and goats should accord in this opinion, yet he should never be persuaded that our felicity was placed in the enjoyment of corporeal delight, as long as intellect has dominion over all things. And we also say, that though all wolves and vultures should praise the eating of flesh, we should not admit that they spoke justly, as long as man is by nature innoxious, and ought to abstain from procuring pleasure for himself by injuring others. We shall pass on, therefore, to the discussion of justice; and since our opponents say that this ought only to be extended to those of similar species, and on this account deny that irrational animals can be injured by men, let us exhibit the true, and at the same time Pythagoric opinion, and demonstrate that every soul which participates of sense and memory is rational. For this being demonstrated, we may extend, as our opponents will also admit, justice to every animal. But we shall epitomize what has been said by the ancients on this subject.

2. Since, however, with respect to reason, one kind, according to the doctrine of the Stoics, is internal, but the other external ¹, and again, one kind being right, but the other erroneous, it is requisite to explain of which of these two, animals, according to them, are deprived. Are they therefore deprived of right reason alone? or are they entirely destitute both of internal and externally proceeding reason? They appear, indeed, to ascribe to brutes an entire privation of reason, and not a privation of right reason alone. For if they merely denied that brutes possess right reason, animals would not be irrational, but rational beings, in the same manner as nearly all men are according to them. For, according to their opinion, one or two wise men may be found in whom alone right reason prevails, but all the rest of mankind are depraved; though some |82 of these make a certain proficiency, but others are profoundly depraved, and yet, at the same time, all of them are similarly rational. Through the influence, therefore, of self-love, they say, that all other animals are irrational; wishing to indicate by irrationality, an entire privation of reason. If, however, it be requisite to speak the truth, not only reason may plainly be perceived in all animals, but in many of them it is so great as to approximate to perfection.

3. Since, therefore, reason is two-fold, one kind consisting in external speech, but the other in the disposition of the soul, we shall begin from that which is external, and which is arranged according to the voice. But if external reason is voice, which through the tongue is significant of the internal passions of the soul (for this is the most common definition of it, and is not adopted by one sect [of philosophers] only, and if it is alone indicative of the conception of [internal] reason) - if this be the case, in what pertaining to this are such animals as have a voice deficient? Do they not discursively perceive the manner in which they are inwardly affected, before it is vocally enunciated by them? By a discursive perception, however, I mean the perception produced by the silent discourse which takes place in the soul. Since, therefore, that which is vocally expressed by the tongue is reason, in whatever manner it may be expressed, whether in a barbarous or a Grecian, a canine or a bovine mode, other animals also participate of it that are vocal; men, indeed, speaking conformably to the human laws [of speech], but other animals conformably to the laws which they received from the Gods and nature. But if we do not understand what they say, what is this to the purpose? For the Greeks do not understand what is said by the Indians, nor those who are educated in Attica the language of the Scythians, or Thracians, or Syrians; but the sound of the one falls on the ears of the other like the clangor of cranes, though by others their vocal sounds can be written and articulated, in the same manner as ours can by us. Nevertheless, the vocal sounds of the Syrians, for instance, or the Persians, are to us inarticulate, and cannot be expressed by writing, just as the speech of animals is unintelligible to all men. For as we, when we hear the Scythians speak, apprehend, by the auditory sense, a noise only and a sound, but are ignorant of the meaning of what they say, because their language appears to us to be nothing but a clangor, to have no articulation, and to employ only one sound either longer or shorter, the variety of which is not at all significant to us, but to them the vocal sounds are intelligible, and have a great difference, in the same manner as our language has to us; the like also takes place in the vocal sounds of other animals. For the several species of these understand the |83 language which is adapted to them, but we only hear a sound, of the signification of which we are ignorant, because no one who has learnt our language, is able to teach us through ours the meaning of what is said by brutes. If, however, it is requisite to believe in the ancients, and also in those who have lived in our times, and the times of our fathers, there are some among these who are said to have heard and to have understood the speech of animals. Thus, for instance, this is narrated of Melampus and Tiresias, and others of the like kind; and the same thing, not much prior to our time, is related of Apollonius Tyanaeus. For it is narrated of him, that once, when he was with his associates, a swallow, happening to be present, and twittering, he said, that the swallow indicated to other birds, that an ass laden with corn had fallen down before the city, and that in consequence of the fall of the ass, the corn was spread on the ground ². An associate, also, of mine informed me, that he once had a boy for a servant, who understood the meaning of all the sounds of birds, and who said, that all of them were prophetic, and declarative of what would shortly happen. He added, that he was deprived of this knowledge through his mother, who, fearing that he would be sent to the Emperor as a gift, poured urine into his ear when he was asleep.

4. Omitting, however, these things, through the passion of incredulity, which is connascent with us, I think there is no one who is ignorant, that there are some nations even now who understand the sounds of certain animals, through an alliance to those animals. Thus, the Arabians understand the language of crows, and the Tyrrhenians of eagles. And, perhaps, all men would understand the language of all animals, if a dragon were to lick their ears. Indeed, the variety and difference in the vocal sounds of animals, indicate that they are significant. Hence, we hear one sound when they are terrified, but another, of a different kind, when they call their associates, another when they summon their young to food, another when they lovingly embrace each other, and another when they incite to battle. And so great is the difference in their vocal sounds, that, even by those who have spent their whole life in the observation of them, it is found to be extremely difficult to ascertain their meaning, on account of their multitude. Diviners, therefore, who predict from ravens and crows, when they have noted the difference of the sounds, as far as to a certain multitude, omit the rest, as not easily to be apprehended by man. But |84 when animals speak to each other, these sounds are manifest and significant to them, though they are not known to all of us. If, however, it appears that they imitate us, that they learn the Greek tongue, and understand their keepers, what man is so impudent as not to grant that they are rational, because he does not understand what they say? Crows, therefore, and magpies, the robin redbreast, and the parrot, imitate men, recollect what they have heard, are obedient to their preceptor while he is teaching them; and many of them, through what they have learnt, point out those that have acted wrong in the house. But the Indian hyaena, which the natives call crocotta, speaks in a manner so human, and this without a teacher, as to go to houses, and call that person whom he knows he can easily vanquish. He also imitates the voice of him who is most dear, and would most readily attend to the person whom he calls; so that, though the Indians know this, yet being deceived through the similitude, and obeying the call, they come forth, and are destroyed. If, however, all animals do not imitate, and all of them are not adapted to lean our language, what is this to the purpose? For neither is every man docile or imitative, I will not say of the vocal sounds of animals, but of the five dialects of the Greek tongue. To which may be added, that some animals, perhaps, do not speak, because they have not been taught, or because they are impeded by the ill conformation of the instruments of speech. We, therefore, when we were at Carthage, nurtured a tame partridge, which we caught flying, and which, in process of time, and by associating with us, became so exceedingly mild, that it was not only sedulously attentive to us, caressed and sported with us, but uttered a sound corresponding to the sound of our voice, and, as far as it was capable, answered us; and this in a manner different from that by which partridges are accustomed to call each other. For it did not utter a corresponding sound when we were silent, but when we spoke to it.

5. It is also narrated, that some dumb animals obey their masters with more readiness than any domestic servants. Hence, a lamprey was so accustomed to the Roman Crassus, as to come to him when he called it by its name; on which account Crassus was so affectionately disposed towards it, that he exceedingly lamented its death, though, prior to this, he had borne the loss of three of his children with moderation. Many likewise relate that the eels in Arethusa, and the shell-fish denominated saperdae, about Maeander, are obedient to those that call them. Is not the imagination, therefore, of an animal that speaks, the same, whether it proceeds as far as to the tongue, or does not? And if this be the case, is it not absurd to call the voice of man alone [external] reason, but |85 refuse thus to denominate the voice of other animals? For this is just as if crows should think that their voice alone is external reason, but that we are irrational animals, because the meaning of the sounds which we utter is not obvious to them; or as if the inhabitants of Attica should thus denominate their speech alone, and should think that those are irrational who are ignorant of the Attic tongue, though the inhabitants of Attica would sooner understand the croaking of a crow, than the language of a Syrian or a Persian. But is it not absurd to judge of rationality and irrationality from apprehending or not apprehending the meaning of vocal sounds, or from silence and speech? For thus some one might say, that the God who is above all things, and likewise the other Gods are not rational, because they do not speak. The Gods, however, silently indicate their will, and birds apprehend their will more rapidly than men, and when they have apprehended it, they narrate it to men as much as they are able and different birds are the messengers to men of different Gods. Thus, the eagle is the messenger of Jupiter, the hawk and the crow of Apollo, the stork of Juno, the crex and the bird of night of Minerva, the crane of Ceres, and some other bird is the messenger of some other deity. Moreover, those among us that observe animals, and are nurtured together with them, know the meaning of their vocal sounds. The hunter, therefore, from the barking of his dog, perceives at one time, indeed, that the dog explores a hare, but at another, that the dog has found it; at one time, that he pursues the game, at another that he has caught it, and at another that he is in the wrong track, through having lost the scent of it. Thus, too, the cowherd knows, at one time, indeed, that a cow is hungry, or thirsty, or weary, and at another, that she is incited to venery, or seeks her calf, [from her different lowings ³]. A lion also manifests by his roaring that he threatens, a wolf by his howling that he is in a bad condition, and shepherds, from the bleating of sheep, know what the sheep want.

6. Neither, therefore, are animals ignorant of the meaning of the voice of men, when they are angry, or speak kindly to, or call them, or pursue them, or ask them to do something, or give something to them; nor, in short, are they ignorant of any thing that is usually said to them, but are aptly obedient to it; which it would be impossible for them to do, unless that which is similar to intellection energized, in consequence |86 of being excited by its similar. The immoderation of their passions, also, is suppressed by certain modulations, and stags, bulls, and other animals, from being wild become tame. Those, too, who are decidedly of opinion that brutes are deprived of reason, yet admit that dogs have a knowledge of dialectic, and make use of the syllogism which consists of many disjunctive propositions, when, in searching for their game, they happen to come to a place where there are three roads. For they thus reason, the beast has either fled through this road, or through that, or through the remaining road; but it has not fled either through this, or through that, and therefore it must have fled through the remaining third of these roads ⁴. After which syllogistic process, they resume their pursuit in that road. It may, however, be readily said, that animals do these things naturally, because they were not taught by any one to do them; as if we also were not allotted reason by nature, though we likewise give names to things, because we are naturally adapted to do so. Besides, if it be requisite to believe in Aristotle, animals are seen to teach their offspring, not only something pertaining to other things, but also to utter vocal sounds; as the nightingale, for instance, teaches her young to sing. And as he likewise says, animals learn many things from each other, and many from men; and the truth of what he asserts is testified by all the tamers of colts, by every jockey, horseman, and charioteer, and by all hunters, herdsmen, keepers of elephants, and masters of wild beasts and birds. He, therefore, who estimates things rightly, will be led, from these instances, to ascribe intelligence to brutes; but he who is inconsiderate, and is ignorant of these things, will be induced to act rashly, through his inexhaustible avidity co operating with him against them. For how is it possible that he should not defame and calumniate animals, who has determined to cut them in pieces, as if they were stones? Aristotle, however, Plato, Empedocles, Pythagoras, Democritus, and all such as endeavoured to discover the truth concerning animals, have acknowledged that they participate of reason.

7. But it is now requisite to show that brutes have internal reason. The difference, indeed, between our reason and theirs, appears to consist, as Aristotle somewhere says, not in essence, but in the more and the less; just as many are of opinion, that the difference between the Gods and us is not essential, but consists in this, that in them there is a greater, |87 and in us a less accuracy, of the reasoning power ⁵. And, indeed, so far as pertains to sense and the remaining organization, according to the sensoria and the flesh, every one nearly will grant that these are similarly disposed in us, as they are in brutes. For they not only similarly participate with us of natural passions, and the motions produced through these, but we may also survey in them such affections as are preternatural and morbid. No one, however, of a sound mind, will say that brutes are unreceptive of the reasoning power, on account of the difference between their habit of body and ours, when he sees that there is a great variety of habit in men, according to their race, and the nations to which they belong and yet, at the same time, it is granted that all of them are rational. An ass, therefore, is afflicted with a catarrh, and if the disease flows to his lungs, he dies in the same manner as a man. A horse, too, is subject to purulence, and wastes away through it, like a man. He is likewise attacked with rigour, the gout, fever, and fury, in which case he is also said to have a depressed countenance. A mare, when pregnant, if she happens to smell a lamp when it is just extinguished, becomes abortive, in the same manner as a woman. An ox, and likewise a camel, are subject to fever and insanity; a raven becomes scabby, and has the leprosy; and also a dog, who, besides this, is afflicted with the gout, and madness: but a hog is subject to hoarseness, and in a still greater degree a dog; whence this disease in a man is denominated from the dog, cynanche. And these things are known to us, because we are familiar with these animals; but of the diseases of other animals, we are ignorant, because we do not associate with them. Castrated animals also became more effeminate. Hence cocks, when they are castrated, no longer crow; but their voice becomes effeminate, like that of men who lose their testicles. It is not possible, likewise, to distinguish the bellowing and horns of a bull, when he is castrated, from those of a cow. But stags, when they are castrated, no longer cast off their horns, but retain them in the same manner as eunuchs do their hairs; and if, when they are castrated, they are without horns, they do not afterwards produce them, just as it happens to those who, before they have a beard, are made eunuchs. So that nearly the bodies of all animals are similarly affected with ours, with respect to the bodily calamities to which they are subject. |88

8. See, however, whether all the passions of the soul in brutes, are not similar to ours; for it is not the province of man alone to apprehend juices by the taste, colours by the sight, odours by the smell, sounds by the hearing, cold or heat, or other tangible objects, by the touch; but the senses of brutes are capable of the same perceptions. Nor are brutes deprived of sense because they are not men, as neither are we to be deprived of reason, because the Gods, if they possess it, are rational beings. With respect to the senses, however, other animals appear greatly to surpass us; for what man can see so acutely as a dragon? (for this is not the fabulous Lynceus). And hence the poets denominate to see δρακειν, drakein: but an eagle, from a great height, sees a hare. What man hears more acutely than cranes, who are able to hear from an interval so great, as to be beyond the reach of human sight? And as to smell, almost all animals so much surpass us in this sense, that things which fall on it, and are obvious to them, are concealed from us; so that they know and smell the several kinds of animals by their footsteps. Hence, men employ dogs as their leaders, for the purpose of discovering the retreat of a boar, or a stag. And we, indeed, are slowly sensible of the constitution of the air; but this is immediately perceived by other animals, so that from them we derive indications of the future state of the weather. With respect to juices also, they so accurately know the distinction between them, that their knowledge of what are morbific, salubrious, and deleterious among these, surpasses that of physicians. But Aristotle says, that animals whose sensitive powers are more exquisite, are more prudent. And the diversities, indeed, of bodies are capable of producing a facility or difficulty of being passively affected, and of having reason, more or less prompt in its energies; but they are not capable of changing the essence of the soul, since neither are they able to change the senses, nor to alter the passions, nor to make them entirely abandon their proper nature. It must be granted, therefore, that animals participate more or less of reason, but not that they are perfectly deprived of it; as neither must it be admitted that one animal has reason, but another not. As, however, in one and the same species of animals, one body is more, but another less healthy; and, in a similar manner, in diseases, in a naturally good, and a naturally bad, disposition, there is a great difference; thus also in souls, one is naturally good, but another depraved: and of souls that are depraved, one has more, but another less, of depravity. In good men, likewise, there is not the same equality; for Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, are not similarly good. Nor is there sameness in a concordance of opinions. Hence it does not follow, if we have more intelligence than other animals, that on this account they are to be deprived of intelligence; as neither must it be said, that partridges |89 do not fly, because hawks fly higher; nor that other hawks do not fly, because the bird called phassophonos ⁶ flies higher than these, and than all other birds. Some one, therefore, may admit that the soul is co-passive with the body, and that the former suffers something from the latter, when the latter is well or ill affected, but in this case it by no means changes its nature: but if the soul is only co-passive to, and uses the body as an instrument, she may be able to effect many things through it, which we cannot, even when it is organized differently from ours, and when it is affected in a certain manner, may sympathize with it, and yet may not change its proper nature.

9. It must be demonstrated, therefore, that there is a rational power in animals, and that they are not deprived of prudence. And in the first place, indeed, each of them knows whether it is imbecile or strong, and, in consequence of this, it defends some parts of itself, but attacks with others. Thus the panther uses its teeth, the lion its nails and teeth, the horse its hoofs, the ox its horns, the cock its spurs, and the scorpion its sting; but the serpents in Egypt use their spittle (whence also they are called ptuades, i.e. spitters,) and with this they blind the eyes of those that approach them: and thus a different animal uses a different part of itself for attack, in order to save itself. Again, some animals, viz. such as are robust, feed [and live] remote from men; but others, who are of an ignoble nature, live remote from stronger animals, and, on the contrary, dwell nearer men. And of these, some dwell at a greater distance from more robust animals, as sparrows and swallows, who build their nests in the roofs of houses; but others associate with men, as, for instance, dogs. They likewise change their places of abode at certain times, and know every thing which contributes to their advantage. In a similar manner, in fishes and in birds, a reasoning energy of this kind may be perceived; all which particulars are abundantly collected by the ancients, in their writings concerning the prudence of animals; and they are copiously discussed by Aristotle, who says, that by all animals an habitation subservient to their subsistence and their safety, is most exquisitely contrived.

10. But he who says that these things are naturally present with animals, is ignorant in asserting this, that they are by nature rational; or if this is not admitted, neither does reason subsist in us naturally, nor with the |90 perfection of it receive an increase, so far as we are naturally adapted to receive it. A divine nature, indeed, does not become rational ⁷ through learning, for there never was a time in which he was irrational; but rationality is consubsistent with his existence, and he is not prevented from being rational, because he did not receive reason through discipline: though, with respect to other animals, in the same manner as with respect to men, many things are taught them by nature, and some things are imparted by discipline. Brutes, however, learn some things from each other, but are taught others, as we have said, by men. They also have memory, which is a most principal thing in the resumption of reasoning and prudence. They likewise have vices, and are envious; though their bad qualities are not so widely extended as in men: for their vices are of a lighter nature than those of men: This, indeed, is evident; for the builder of a house will never be able to lay the foundation of it, unless he is sober; nor can a shipwright properly place the keel of a ship, unless he is in health; nor a husbandman plant a vine, unless he applies his mind to it; yet nearly all men, when they are intoxicated, can beget children. This, however, is not the case with other animals; for they propagate for the sake of offspring, and for the most part, when the males have made the female pregnant, they no longer attempt to be connected with her; nor, if they should attempt it, would the female permit them. But the magnitude of the lascivious insolence and intemperance of men in these things, is evident. In other animals, however, the male is conscious of the parturient throes of the female, and, for the most part, partakes of the same pains; as is evident in cocks. But others incubate together with the females; as the males of doves. They likewise provide a proper place for the delivery of their offspring; and after they have brought forth their offspring, they both purify them and themselves. And he who properly observes, will see that every thing proceeds with them in an orderly manner; that they fawn on him who nourishes them, and that they know their master, and give indications of him who acts insidiously.

11. Who likewise is ignorant how much gregarious animals preserve justice towards each other? for this is preserved by ants, by bees, and by |91 other animals of the like kind. And who is ignorant of the chastity of female ringdoves towards the males with whom they associate? for they destroy those who are found by them to have committed adultery. Or who has not heard of the justice of storks towards their parents? For in the several species of animals, a peculiar virtue is eminent, to which each species is naturally adapted; nor because this virtue is natural and stable, is it fit to deny that they are rational? For it might be requisite to deprive them of rationality, if their works were not the proper effects of virtue and rational sagacity; but if we do not understand how these works are effected, because we are unable to penetrate into the reasoning which they use, we are not on this account to accuse them of irrationality; for neither is any one able to penetrate into the intellect of that divinity the sun, but from his works we assent to those who demonstrate him to be an intellectual and rational essence.

12. But some one may very properly wonder at those who admit that justice derives its subsistence from the rational part, and who call those animals that have no association with men, savage and unjust, and yet do not extend justice as far as to those that do associate with us; and which, in the same manner as men, would be deprived of life, if they were deprived of human society. Birds, therefore, and dogs, and many quadrupeds, such as goats, horses, sheep, asses, and mules, would perish, if deprived of an association with mankind. Nature, also, the fabricator of their frame, constituted them so as to be in want of men, and fashioned men so as to require their assistance; thus producing an innate justice in them towards us, and in us towards them. But it is not at all wonderful, if some of them are savage towards men; for what Aristotle says is true, that if all animals had an abundance of nutriment, they would not act ferociously, either towards each other, or towards men. For on account of food, though necessary and slender, enmities and friendships are produced among animals, and also on account of the places which they occupy; but if men were reduced to such straits as brutes are [with respect to food,] how much more savage would they become than those animals that appear to be wild? War and famine are indications of the truth of this; for then men do not abstain from eating each other; and even without war and famine, they eat animals that are nurtured with them, and are perfectly tame.

13. Some one, however, may say, that brutes are indeed rational animals, but have not a certain habitude, proximity, or alliance to us; but he who asserts this will, in the first place, make them to be irrational animals, in consequence of depriving them of an alliance to our nature. And, in |92 the next place, he will make their association with us to depend on the utility which we derive from them, and not on the participation of reason. The thing proposed by us, however, is to show that brutes are rational animals, and not to inquire whether there is any compact between them and us. For, with respect to men, all of them do not league with us, and yet no one would say, that he who does not enter into a league with us is irrational. But many brutes are slaves to men, and, as someone rightly says, though they are in a state of servitude themselves, through the improbity of men, yet, at the same time, by wisdom and justice, they cause their masters to be their servants and curators. Moreover, the vices of brutes are manifest, from which especially their rationality is demonstrated. For they are envious, and the males are rivals of each other with respect to the favour of the females, and the females with respect to the regard of the males. There is one vice, however, which is not inherent in them, viz., acting insidiously towards their benefactors, but they are perfectly benevolent to those who are kind to them, and place so much confidence in them, as to follow wherever they may lead them, though it should even be to slaughter and manifest danger. And though some one should nourish them, not for their sake, but for his own, yet they will be benevolently disposed towards their possessor. But men [on the contrary] do not act with such hostility towards any one, as towards him who has nourished them; nor do they so much pray for the death of any one, as for his death.

14. Indeed, the operations of brutes are attended with so much consideration,⁸ that they frequently perceive, that the food which is placed for them is nothing else than a snare, though, either through intemperance or hunger, they approach to it. And some of them, indeed, do not approach to it immediately, but others slowly accede to it. They also try whether it is possible to take the food without falling into danger, and frequently in consequence of rationality vanquishing passion, they depart without being injured. Some of them too revile at, and discharge their urine on the stratagem of men; but others, through voracity, though they know that they shall be captured, yet no less than the associates of Ulysses, suffer themselves to die rather than not eat. |93 Some persons, likewise, have not badly endeavoured to show from the places which animals are allotted, that they are far more prudent than we are. For as those beings that dwell in aether are rational, so also, say they, are the animals which occupy the region proximate to aether, viz. the air; afterwards aquatic animals differ from these, and in the last place, the terrestrial differ from the aquatic [in degrees of rationality]. And we belong to the class of terrene animals dwelling in the sediment of the universe. For in the Gods, we must not infer that they possess a greater degree of excellence from the places [which they illuminate], though in mortal natures this may be admitted.

15. Since, also, brutes acquire a knowledge of the arts, and these such as are human, and learn to dance, to drive a chariot, to fight a duel, to walk on ropes, to write and read, to play on the pipe and the harp, to discharge arrows, and to ride, - this being the case, can you any longer doubt whether they possess that power which is receptive of art, since the recipient of these arts may be seen to exist in them? For where will they receive them, unless reason is inherent in them in which the arts subsist? For they do not hear our voice as if it was a mere sound only, but they also perceive the difference in the meaning of the words, which is the effect of rational intelligence. But our opponents say, that animals perform badly what is done by men. To this we reply, that neither do men perform all things well. For if this be not admitted, some men would be in vain victors in a contest, and others vanquished. They add, that brutes do not consult, nor form assemblies, nor act in a judicial capacity. But tell me whether all men do this? Do not actions in the multitude precede consultation? And whence can anyone demonstrate that brutes do not consult? For no one can adduce an argument sufficient to prove that they do not. For those show the contrary to this, who have written minutely about animals. As to other objections, which are adduced by our adversaries in a declamatory way, they are perfectly frivolous; such, for instance, as that brutes have no cities of their own. For neither have the Scythians, who live in carts, nor the Gods. Our opponents add, that neither have brutes any written laws. To this we reply, that neither had men while they were happy. For Apis is said to have been the first that promulgated laws for the Greeks, when they were in want of them.

16. To men, therefore, on account of their voracity, brutes do not appear to possess reason; but by the Gods and divine men, they are |94 honoured equally with sacred suppliants. Hence, the God ⁹ said to Aristodicus, the Cumean, that sparrows were his suppliants. Socrates also, and prior to him, Rhadamanthus, swore by animals. But the Egyptians conceive them to be Gods, whether they, in reality, thought them to be so, or whether they intentionally represented the Gods in the forms of oxen, birds, and other animals, in order that these animals might be no less abstained from than from men, or whether they did this through other more mystical causes ¹⁰. Thus also the Greeks united a ram to the statue of Jupiter, but the horns of a bull to that of Bacchus. They likewise fashioned the statue of Pan from the form of a man and a goat; but they represented the Muses and the Sirens winged, and also Victory, Iris, Love, and Hermes. Pindar too, in his hymns, represents the Gods, when they were expelled by Typhon, not resembling men, but other animals. And Jupiter, when in love with Pasiphae, is said to have become a bull; but at another time, he is said to have been changed into an eagle and a swan; through all which the ancients indicated the honour which they paid to animals, and this in a still greater degree when they assert that Jupiter was nursed by a goat. The Cretans, from a law established by Rhadamanthus, swore by all animals. Nor was Socrates in jest when he swore by the dog and the goose; but in so doing, he swore conformably to the just son of Jupiter [Rhadamanthus] nor did he sportfully say that swans were his fellow-servants. But fables obscurely signify, that animals have souls similar to ours, when they say that the Gods in their anger changed men into brutes, and that, when they were so changed, they afterwards pitied and loved them. For things of this kind are asserted of Dolphins and halcyons, of nightingales and swallows.

17. Each of the ancients, likewise, who had been prosperously nursed by animals, boasted more of this than of their parents and educators. Thus, one boasted of having been nursed by a she-wolf, another by a hind, another by a she-goat another by a bee. But Semiramis gloried in having been brought up by doves, Cyrus in being nursed by a dog, and a Thracian in having a swan for his nurse, who likewise bore the name of his nurse. Hence also, the Gods obtained their surnames, as Bacchus |95 that of Hinnuleus, Apollo that of Lyceus, and, likewise, Delphinius, Neptune and Minerva that of Equestris. But Hecate, when invoked by the names of a bull, a dog, and a lioness, is more propitious. If, however, those who sacrifice animals and eat them, assert that they are irrational, in order that they may mitigate the crime of so doing, the Scythians also, who eat their parents, may in like manner say that their parents are destitute of reason.

18. Through these arguments, therefore, and others which we shall afterwards mention, in narrating the opinions of the ancients, it is demonstrated that brutes are rational animals, reason in most of them being indeed imperfect, of which, nevertheless, they are not entirely deprived. Since, however, justice pertains to rational beings, as our opponents say, how is it possible not to admit, that we should also act justly towards brutes? For we do not extend justice to plants, because there appears to be much in them which is unconnected with reason; though of these, we are accustomed to use the fruits, but not together with the fruits to cut off the trunks. We collect however, corn and leguminous substances, when, being efflorescent, they have fallen on the earth, and are dead. But no one uses for food the flesh of dead animals, that of fish being excepted, unless they have been destroyed by violence. So that in these things there is much injustice. As Plutarch also says ¹¹, it does not follow that because our nature is indigent of certain things, and we use these, we should therefore act unjustly towards all things. For we are allowed to injure other things to a certain extent, in order to procure the necessary means of subsistence (if to take any thing from plants, even while they are living, is an injury to them); but to destroy other things through luxury, and for the enjoyment of pleasure, is perfectly savage and unjust. And the abstinence from these neither diminishes our life nor our living happily. For if, indeed, the destruction of animals and the eating of flesh were as requisite as air and water, plants and fruits, without which it is impossible to live, this injustice would be necessarily connected with our nature. But if many priests of the Gods, and many kings of the barbarians, being attentive to purity, and if, likewise, infinite species of animals never taste food of this kind, yet live, and obtain their proper end according to nature, is not he absurd who orders us, because we are compelled to wage war with certain animals, not to live peaceably with those with whom it is possible to do so, but thinks, either that we ought to live without |96 exercising justice towards any thing, or that, by exercising it towards all things, we should not continue in existence? As, therefore, among men, he who, for the sake of his own safety, or that of his children or country, either seizes the wealth of certain persons, or oppresses some region or city, has necessity for the pretext of his injustice; but he who acts in this manner through the acquisition of wealth, or through satiety or luxurious pleasure, and for the purpose of satisfying desires which are not necessary, appears to be inhospitable, intemperate, and depraved; -thus too, divinity pardons the injuries which are done to plants, the consumption of fire and water, the shearing of sheep, the milking of cows, and the taming of oxen, and subjugating them to the yoke, for the safety and continuance in life of those that use them. But to deliver animals to be slaughtered and cooked, and thus be filled with murder, not for the sake of nutriment and satisfying the wants of nature, but making pleasure and gluttony the end of such conduct, is transcendently iniquitous and dire. For it is sufficient that we use, for laborious purposes, though they have no occasion to labour themselves, the progeny of horses, and asses, and bulls, as Aeschylus says, as our substitutes, who, by being tamed and subjugated to the yoke, alleviate our toil.

19. But with respect to him who thinks that we should not use an ox for food, nor destroying and corrupting spirit and life, place things on the table which are only the allurements and elegances of satiety, of what does he deprive our life, which is either necessary to our safety, or subservient to virtue? To compare plants, however, with animals, is doing violence to the order of things. For the latter are naturally sensitive, and adapted to feel pain, to be terrified and hurt; on which account also they may be injured. But the former are entirely destitute of sensation, and in consequence of this, nothing foreign, or evil, or hurtful, or injurious, can befall them. For sensation is the principle of all alliance, and of every thing of a foreign nature. But Zeno and his followers assert, that alliance is the principle of justice. And is it not absurd, since we see that many of our own species live from sense alone, but do not possess intellect and reason, and since we also see, that many of them surpass the most terrible of wild beasts in cruelty, anger, and rapine, being murderous of their children and their parents, and also being tyrants, and the tools of kings [is it not, I say, absurd,] to fancy that we ought to act justly towards these, but that no justice is due from us to the ox that ploughs, the dog that is fed with us, and the animals that nourish us with their milk, and adorn our bodies with their wool? Is it not such an opinion most irrational and absurd? |97

20. But, by Jupiter, the assertion of Chrysippus is considered by our opponents to be very probable, that the Gods made us for the sake of themselves, and for the sake of each other, and that they made animals for the sake of us; horses, indeed, in order that they might assist us in battle, dogs, that they might hunt with us, and leopards, bears, and lions, for the sake of exercising our fortitude. But the hog (for here the pleasantry of Chrysippus is most delightful) was not made for any other purpose than to be sacrificed; and God mingled soul, as if it were salt, with the flesh of this animal, that he might procure for us excellent food. In order, likewise, that we might have an abundance of broth, and luxurious suppers, divinity provided for us all-various kinds of shell-fish, the fishes called purples, sea-nettles, and the various kinds of winged animals; and this not from a certain other cause, but only that he might supply man with an exuberance of pleasure; in so doing, surpassing all nurses [in kindness], and thickly filling with pleasures and enjoyments the terrestrial place. Let him, however, to whom these assertions appear to possess a certain probability, and to participate of something worthy of deity, consider what he will reply to the saying of Carneades, that every thing which is produced by nature, is benefited when it obtains the end to which it is adapted, and for which it was generated. But benefit is to be understood in a more general way, as signifying what the Stoics call useful. The hog, however, [says he] was produced by nature for the purpose of being slaughtered and used for food; and when it suffers this, it obtains the end for which it is adapted, and is benefited. But if God fashioned animals for the use of men, in what do we use flies, lice, bats, beetles, scorpions, and vipers? of which some are odious to the sight, defile the touch, are intolerable to the smell, and in their voice dire and unpleasant; and others, on the contrary, are destructive to those that meet with them. And with respect to the balance, pistrices, and other species of whales, an infinite number of which, as Homer says ¹², the loud-sounding Amphitrite nourishes, does not the Demiurgus teach us, that they were generated for the utility of the nature of things? ¹³ And if our opponents should admit that all things were not generated for us, and with a view to our advantage, in addition to the distinction which they make being very confused and obscure, we shall not avoid acting |98 unjustly, in attacking and noxiously using those animals which were not produced for our sake, but according to nature [i.e. for the sake of the universe], as we were. I omit to mention, that if we define, by utility, things which pertain to us, we shall not be prevented from admitting, that we were generated for the sake of the most destructive animals, such as crocodiles, balaenae, and dragons. For we are not in the least benefited by them; but they seize and destroy men that fall in their way, and use them for food; in so doing acting not at all more cruelly than we do, excepting that they commit this injustice through want and hunger, but we through insolent wantonness, and for the sake of luxury, frequently sporting in theatres, and in hunting slaughter the greater part of animals. And by thus acting, indeed, a murderous disposition and a brutal nature become strengthened in us, and render us insensible to pity: to which we may add, that those who first dared to do this, blunted the greatest part of lenity, and rendered it inefficacious. The Pythagoreans, however, made lenity towards beasts to be an exercise of philanthropy and commiseration. So that, how is it possible they should not in a greater degree excite us to justice, than those who assert that, by not slaughtering animals, the justice which is usually exercised towards men will be corrupted? For custom is most powerful in increasing those passions in man which were gradually introduced into his nature.

21. It is so, say our antagonists; but as the immortal is opposed to the mortal, the incorruptible to the corruptible, and the incorporeal to the corporeal, so to the rational essence which has an existence in the nature of things, the irrational essence must be opposed, which has a subsistence contrary to it; nor in so many conjugations of things, is this alone to be left imperfect and mutilated. [Our opponents, however, thus speak], as if we did not grant this, or as if we had not shown that there is much of the irrational among beings. For there is an abundance of it in all the natures that are destitute of soul, nor do we require any other opposition to that which is rational; but immediately every thing which is deprived of soul, being irrational and without intellect, is opposed to that which possesses reason and dianoia ¹⁴. If, however, some one should think fit to assert that not nature in common, but the animated nature, is divided into that which possess and that which is without imagination, and into that which is sensitive, and that which is deprived of sensation, in order that these oppositions of habits and privations may |99 subsist about the same genus, as being equiponderant; - he who says this speaks absurdly. For it would be absurd to investigate in the animated nature that which is sensitive, and that which is without sensation, that which employs, and that which is without imagination, because every thing animated is immediately adapted to be sensitive and imaginative. So that neither thus will he justly require, that one part of the animated nature should be rational, but another irrational, when he is speaking to men, who think that nothing participates of sense which does not also participate of intelligence, and that nothing is an animal in which opinion and reasoning are not inherent, in the same manner as with animals every sense and impulse are naturally present. For nature, which they rightly assert produced all things for the sake of a certain thing, and with reference to a certain end, did not make an animal sensitive merely that it might be passively affected, and possess sensible perception; but as there are many things which are allied and appropriate, and many which are foreign to it, it would not be able to exist for the shortest space of time, unless it learnt how to avoid some things, and to pursue others. The knowledge, therefore, of both these, sense similarly imparts to every animal; but the apprehension and pursuit of what is useful, and the depulsion and avoidance of what is destructive and painful, can by no possible contrivance be present with those animals that are incapable of reasoning, judging, and remembering, and that do not naturally possess an animadvertise power. For to those animals from whom you entirely take away expectation, memory, design, preparation, hope, fear, desire, and indignation, neither the eyes when present, nor the ears, nor sense, nor phantasy, will be beneficial, since they will be of no use; and it will be better to be deprived of them than to labour, be in pain, and be afflicted, without possessing the power of repelling these molestations. There is, however, a treatise of Strato, the physiologist, in which it is demonstrated, that it is not possible to have a sensible perception of anything without the energy of intellection. For frequently the letters of a book, which we cursorily consider by the sight, and words which fall on the auditory sense, are concealed from and escape us, when our intellect is attentive to other things; but afterwards, when it returns to the thing to which it was before inattentive, then, by recollection, it runs through and pursues each of the before-mentioned particulars. Hence also it is said [by Epicharmus],---

'Tis mind alone that sees and hears,

And all besides is deaf and blind. |100

For the objects which fall on the eyes and the ears do not produce a sensible perception of themselves, unless that which is intellective is present. On which account, also, king Cleomenes, when something that was recited was applauded, being asked, if it did not also appear to him to be excellent, left this to the decision of those that asked him the question; for he said, that his intellect was at the time in Peloponnesus. Hence it is necessary that intellect should be present with ail those with whom sensible perception is present.

22. Let us, however, admit that sense does not require intellect for the accomplishment of its proper work, yet, when energizing about what is appropriate and what is foreign, it discerns the difference between the two, it must then exercise the power of memory, and must dread that which will produce pain, desire that which will be beneficial, and contrive, if it is absent, how it may be present, and will procure methods of pursuing and investigating what is advantageous, and of avoiding and flying from hostile occurrences. Indeed, our opponents, in their Introductions, [as they call them], every where inculcate these things with a tedious prolixity, defining design to be an indication of perfection; the tendency of intellect to the object of its perception, an impulse prior to impulse; preparation, an action prior to action; and memory, the comprehension of some past thing,¹⁵ the perception of which, when present, was obtained through sense. For there is not any one of these which is not rational, and all of them are present with all animals. Thus, too, with respect to intellections, those which are reposited in the mind, are called by them εννοιαι, notions; but when they are in motion [through a discursive energy] they denominate them διανοησεις, or perceptions obtained by a reasoning process. But with respect to all the passions, as they are in common acknowledged to be depraved natures and opinions, it is wonderful that our opponents should overlook the operations and motions of brutes, many of which are the effects of anger, many of fear, and, by Jupiter, of envy also and emulation. Our opponents, too, themselves punish dogs and horses when they do wrong; and this not in vain, but in order to make them better, producing in them, through the pain, a sorrow which we |101 denominate repentance. But the name of the pleasure which is received through the ears is κηλησις, i.e. an ear-alluring sweetness; and the delight which is received through the eyes is denominated γοητεια, i.e. enchantment. Each of these, however, is used towards brutes. Hence stags and horses are allured by the harmony produced from reeds and flutes; and the crabs, called παγουροι, paguri, are evocated from their caverns by the melody of reeds. The fish thrissa, likewise, is said through harmony to come forth from its retreats. Those, however, who speak stupidly about these things, assert that animals are neither delighted, nor enraged, nor terrified, nor make any provision for what is necessary, nor remember; but they say that the bee as it were remembers, that the swallow as it were, provides what is requisite, that the lion is as it were angry, and that the stag is as it were afraid. And I know not what answer to give to those who say that animals neither see nor hear, but see as it were, and as it were hear; that they do not utter vocal sounds, but as it were utter them; and that, in short, they do not live, but as it were live. For he who is truly intelligent, will readily admit that these assertions are no more sane than the former, and are similarly destitute of evidence. When, however, on comparing with human manners and lives, actions and modes of living, those of animals, I see much depravity in the latter, and no manifest tendency to virtue as to the principal end, nor any proficiency, or appetition of proficiency, I am dubious why nature gave the beginning of perfection to those that are never able to arrive at the end of it ¹⁶. But this to our opponents does not appear to be at all absurd. For as they admit that the love of parents towards their offspring is the principle in us of association and justice; yet, though they perceive that this affection is abundant and strong in animals, they nevertheless deny that they participate of justice; which assertion is similarly defective with the nature of mules, who, though they are not in want of any generative member, since they have a penis and vulva, and receive pleasure from employing these parts, yet they are not able to accomplish the end of generation. Consider the thing, too, in another way: Is it not ridiculous to say that such men as Socrates, Plato and Zeno, were not less vicious than any slave, but resembled slaves in stupidity, intemperance, and injustice, and afterwards |102 blame the nature of brutes, as neither pure, nor formed with sufficient accuracy for the attainment of virtue; thus attributing to them a privation, and not a depravity and imbecility of reason? Especially since they acknowledge that there is a vice of the rational part of the soul, with which every brute is replete. For we may perceive that timidity, intemperance, injustice, and malevolence, are inherent in many brutes.

23. But he who thinks that the nature which is not adapted to receive rectitude of reason, does not at all receive reason, he, in the first place, does not differ from one who fancies that an ape does not naturally participate of deformity, nor a tortoise of tardity; because the former is not receptive of beauty, nor the latter of celerity. And, in the next place, this is the opinion of one who does not perceive the obvious difference of things. For reason, indeed, is ingenerated by nature; but right and perfect reason is acquired by study and discipline. Hence all animated beings participate of reason, but our opponents cannot mention any man who possesses rectitude of reason and wisdom [naturally], though the multitude of men is innumerable. But as the sight of one animal differs from that of another, and the flying of one bird from that of another, (for hawks and grasshoppers do not similarly see, nor eagles and partridges); thus, also, neither does every thing which participates of reason possess genius and acuteness in the highest perfection. Indeed there are many indications in brutes of association, fortitude, and craft, in procuring what is necessary, and in economical conduct; as, on the contrary, there are also indications in them of injustice, timidity, and fatuity. Hence it is a question with some, which are the more excellent, terrestrial or aquatic animals ¹⁷? And that there are these indications, is evident from comparing storks with river horses: for the former nourish, but the latter destroy their fathers, in order that they may have connexion with their mothers. This is likewise seen on comparing doves with partridges: for the latter conceal and destroy their eggs, if the female, during her incubation, refuses to be connected with the male. But doves successively relieve each other in incubation, alternately cherishing the eggs; and first, indeed, they feed the young, and afterwards the male strikes the female with his beak, and drives her to the eggs and her young, if she has for a long time wandered from them. Antipater, however, when he blames asses and sheep for the neglect of purity, overlooks, I know not how, lynxes and swallows; of which, the former remove and entirely conceal and bury their |103 excrement, but the latter teach their young to throw it out of their nest. Moreover, we do not say that one tree is more ignorant than another, as we say that a sheep is more stupid than a dog. Nor do we say that one herb is more timid than another, as we do that a stag is more timid than a lion. For, as in things which are immoveable, one is not slower than another, and in things which are not vocal, one is not less vocal than another: thus, too, in all things in which the power of intellection is wanting, one thing cannot be said to be more timid, more dull, or more intemperate than another. For, as these qualities are present differently in their different participants, they produce in animals the diversities which we perceive. Nor is it wonderful that man should so much excel other animals in docility, sagacity, justice and association. For many brutes surpass all men in magnitude of body, and celerity of foot, and likewise in strength of sight, and accuracy of hearing; yet man is not on this account either deaf, or blind, or powerless. But we run, though slower than stags, and we see, though not so accurately as hawks; and nature has not deprived us of strength and magnitude, though our possession of these is nothing, when compared with the strength and bulk of the elephant and the camel. Hence, in a similar manner, we must not say that brutes, because their intellection is more dull than ours, and because they reason worse than we do, neither energize discursively, nor, in short, possess intellection and reason; but it must be admitted that they possess these, though in an imbecile and turbid manner, just as a dull and disordered eye participates of sight.

24. Innumerable instances, however, might be adduced in proof of this natural sagacity of animals, if many things of this kind had not by many persons been collected and narrated. But this subject must be still further considered. For it appears that it belongs to the same thing, whether it be a part or a power, which is naturally adapted to receive a certain thing, to be also disposed to fall into a preternatural mode of subsistence, when it becomes mutilated or diseased. Thus, the eye is adapted to fall into blindness, the leg into lameness, and the tongue into stammering; but nothing else is subject to such defects. For blindness does not befall that which is not naturally adapted to see, nor lameness that which is not adapted to walk; nor is that which is deprived of a tongue fitted to stammer, or lisp, or be dumb. Hence, neither can that animal be delirious, or stupid, or insane, in which intellection, and the discursive energy of reason, are not naturally inherent. For it is not possible for any thing to be passively affected which does not possess the power, the passion of which is either privation, or mutilation, or some other deprivation. Moreover, I have met with mad dogs, and also rabid |104 horses; and some persons assert that oxen and foxes become mad. The example of dogs, however, is sufficient for our purpose: for it is a thing indubitable, and testifies that the animal possesses no despicable portion of reason and discursive energy, the passion of which, when disturbed and confounded, is fury and madness. For, when they are thus affected, we do not see that there is any change in the quality of their sight or hearing. But as he is absurd who denies that a man is beside himself, and that his intellectual, reasoning, and recollective powers, are corrupted, when he is afflicted with melancholy or delirium, (for it is usually said of those that are insane, that they are not themselves, but have fallen off from reason): thus also, he who thinks that mad dogs suffer any thing else than that of having the power, which is naturally intellective, and is adapted to reason and recollect, full of tumult and distortion, so as to cause them to be ignorant of persons most dear to them, and abandon their accustomed mode of living; he who thus thinks, appears either to overlook what is obvious; or, if he really perceives what takes place, voluntarily contends against the truth. And such are the arguments adduced by Plutarch in many of his treatises against the Stoics and Peripatetics.

25. But Theophrastus employs the following reasoning:- those that are generated from the same sources, I mean from the same father and mother, are said by us to be naturally allied to each other. And moreover, we likewise conceive that those who derive their origin from the same ancestors that we do, are allied to us, and also that this is the case with our fellow-citizens, because they participate with us of the same land, and are united to us by the bonds of association. For we do not think that the latter are allied to each other, and to us, through deriving their origin from the same ancestors, unless it should so happen that the first progenitors of these were the sources of our race, or were derived from the same ancestors. Hence, I think we should say, that Greek is allied and has an affinity to Greek, and Barbarian to Barbarian, and all men to each other; for one of these two reasons, either because they originate from the same ancestors, or because they participate of the same food, manners and genus. Thus also we must admit that all men have an affinity, and are allied to each other. And, moreover, the principles of the bodies of all animals are naturally the same. I do not say this with reference to the first elements of their bodies; for plants also consist of these; but I mean the seed, the flesh, and the conascent genus of humours which is inherent in animals. But animals are much more allied to each other, through naturally possessing souls, which are not different from each other, I mean in desire and anger; and besides |105 these, in the reasoning faculty, and, above all, in the senses. But as with respect to bodies, so likewise with respect to souls, some animals have them more, but others less perfect, yet all of them have naturally the same principles. And this is evident from the affinity of their passions. If, however, what we have said is true, viz. that such is the generation of the manners of animals, all the tribes of them are indeed intellective, but they differ in their modes of living, and in the temperature of the first elements of which they consist. And if this be admitted, the genus of other animals has an affinity, and is allied to us. For, as Euripides says, they have all of them the same food and the same spirit, the same purple streams; and they likewise demonstrate that the common parents of all of them are Heaven and Earth.

26. Hence, since animals are allied to us, if it should appear, according to Pythagoras, that they are allotted the same soul that we are, he may justly be considered as impious who does not abstain from acting unjustly towards his kindred. Nor because some animals are savage, is their alliance to us to be on this account abscinded. For some men may be found who are no less, and even more malefic than savage animals to their neighbours, and who are impelled to injure any one they may meet with, as if they were driven by a certain blast of their own nature and depravity. Hence, also, we destroy such men; yet we do not cut them off from an alliance to animals of a mild nature. Thus, therefore, if likewise some animals are savage, these, as such, are to be destroyed, in the same manner as men that are savage; but our habitude or alliance to other and wilder animals is not on this account to be abandoned. But neither tame nor savage animals are to be eaten; as neither are unjust men. Now, however, we act most unjustly, destroying, indeed tame animals, because some brutes are savage and unjust, and feeding on such as are tame. With respect to tame animals, however, we act with a twofold injustice, because though they are tame, we slay them, and also, because we eat them. And, in short, the death of these has a reference to the assumption of them for food.

To these, also, such arguments as the following may be added. For he who says that the man who extends the just as far as to brutes, corrupts the just, is ignorant that he does not himself preserve justice, but increases pleasure, which is hostile to justice. By admitting, therefore, that pleasure is the end [of our actions] justice is evidently destroyed. For to whom is it not manifest that justice is increased through abstinence? For he who abstains from every thing animated, though he may abstain from such animals as do not contribute to the benefit of society, will be much more careful not to injure those of his own |106 species. For he who loves the genus, will not hate any species of animals; and by how much the greater his love of the genus is,* by so much the more will he preserve justice towards a part of the genus, and that to which he is allied. He, therefore, who admits that he is allied to all animals, will not injure any animal. But he who confines justice to man alone, is prepared, like one enclosed in a narrow space, to hurl from him the prohibition of injustice. So that the Pythagorean is more pleasing than the Socratic banquet. For Socrates said, that hunger is the sauce of food; but Pythagoras said, that to injure no one, and to be exhilarated with justice, is the sweetest sauce; as the avoidance of animal food, will also be the avoidance of unjust conduct with respect to food. For God has not so constituted things, that we cannot preserve ourselves without injuring others; since, if this were the case, he would have connected us with a nature which is the principal of injustice. Do not they, however, appear to be ignorant of the peculiarity of justice, who think that it was introduced from the alliance of men to each other? For this will be nothing more than a certain philanthropy; but justice consists in abstaining from injuring any thing which is not noxious. And our conception of the just man must be formed according to the latter, and not according to the former mode. Hence, therefore, since justice consists in not injuring any thing, it must be extended as far as to every animated nature. On this account, also, the essence of justice consists in the rational ruling over the irrational, and in the irrational being obedient to the rational part. For when reason governs, and the irrational part is obedient to its mandates, it follows, by the greatest necessity, that man will be innoxious towards every thing. For the passions being restrained, and desire and anger wasting away, but reason possessing its proper empire, a similitude to a more excellent nature [and to deity] immediately follows. But the more excellent nature in the universe is entirely innoxious, and, through possessing a power which preserves and benefits all things, is itself not in want of any thing. We, however, through justice [when we exercise it], are innoxious towards all things, but, through being connected with mortality, are indigent of things of a necessary nature. But the assumption of what is necessary, does not injure even plants, when we take what they cast off; nor fruits, when we use such of them as are dead; nor sheep, when through |107 shearing we rather benefit than injure them, and by partaking of their milk, we in return afford them every proper attention. Hence, the just man appears to be one who deprives himself of things pertaining to the body; yet he does not [in reality] injure himself. For, by this management of his body, and continence, he increases his inward good, i.e., his similitude to God.

26. By making pleasure, therefore, the end of life, that which is truly justice cannot be preserved; since neither such things as are primarily useful according to nature, nor all such as are easily attainable, give completion to felicity. For, in many instances, the motions of the irrational nature, and utility and indigence, have been, and still are the sources of injustice. For men became indigent [as they pretended] of animal food, in order that they might preserve, as they said, the corporeal frame free from molestation, and without being in want of those things after which the animal nature aspires. But if an assimilation to divinity is the end of life, an innoxious conduct towards all things will be in the most eminent degree preserved. As, therefore, he who is led by his passions is innoxious only towards his children and his wife, but despises and acts fraudulently towards other persons, since in consequence of the irrational part predominating in him, he is excited to, and astonished about mortal concerns; but he who is led by reason, preserves an innoxious conduct towards his fellow-citizens, and still more so towards strangers, and towards all men, through having the irrational part in subjection, and is therefore more rational and divine than the former character; - thus also, he who does not confine harmless conduct to men alone, but extends it to other animals, is more similar to divinity; and if it was possible to extend it even to plants, he would preserve this image in a still greater degree. As, however, this is not possible, we may in this respect lament, with the ancients ¹⁸, the defect of our nature, that we consist of such adverse and discordant principles, so that we are unable to preserve our divine part incorruptible, and in all respects innoxious. For we are not unindigent in all things: the cause of which is generation, and our becoming needy through the abundant corporeal efflux which we sustain. But want procures safety and ornament from things of a foreign nature, which are necessary to the existence of our mortal part. He, therefore, who is indigent of a greater number of externals, is in a greater degree agglutinated to penury; and by how much his wants increase, by so much is he destitute of divinity, |108 and an associate of penury. For that which is similar to deity, through this assimilation immediately possesses true wealth. But no one who is [truly] rich and perfectly unindigent injures any thing. For as long as any one injures another, though he should possess the greatest wealth, and all the acres of land which the earth contains, he is still poor, and has want for his intimate associate. On this account, also, he is unjust, without God, and impious, and enslaved to every kind of depravity, which is produced by the lapse of the soul into matter, through the privation of good. Every thing, therefore, is nugatory to any one, as long as he wanders from the principle of the universe; and he is indigent of all things, while he does not direct his attention to Porus [or the source of true abundance]. He likewise yields to the mortal part of his nature, while he remains ignorant of his real self. But Injustice is powerful in persuading and corrupting those that belong to her empire, because she associates with her votaries in conjunction with Pleasure. As, however, in the choice of lives, he is the more accurate judge who has obtained an experience of both [the better and the worse kind of life], than he who has only experienced one of them; thus also, in the choice and avoidance of what is proper, he is a safer judge who, from that which is more, judges of that which is less excellent, than he who from the less, judges of the more excellent. Hence, he who lives according to intellect, will more accurately define what is eligible and what is not, than he who lives under the dominion of irrationality. For the former has passed through the irrational life, as having from the first associated with it; but the latter, having had no experience of an intellectual life, persuades those that resemble himself, and acts with nugacity, like a child among children. If, however, say our opponents, all men were persuaded by these arguments, what would become of us? Is it not evident that we should be happy, injustice, indeed, being exterminated from men, and justice being conversant with us, in the same manner as it is in the heavens? But now this question is just the same as if men should be dubious what the life of the Danaids would be, if they were liberated from the employment of drawing water in a sieve, and attempting to fill a perforated vessel. For they are dubious what would be the consequence if we should cease to replenish our passions and desires, the whole of which replenishing continually flows away through the want of real good; since this fills up the ruinous clefts of the soul more than the greatest of external necessaries. Do you therefore ask, O man, what we should do? We should imitate those that lived in the golden age, we should imitate those of that period who were [truly] free. For with them modesty, Nemesis, and Justice associated, because they were satisfied with the fruits of the earth. |109

The fertile earth for them spontaneous yields

Abundantly her fruits ¹⁹.

But those who are liberated from slavery, obtain for themselves what they before procured for their masters. In like manner, also, do you, when liberated from the servitude of the body, and a slavish attention to the passions produced through the body, as, prior to this, you nourished them in an all-various manner with externals, so now nourish yourself all-variously with internal good, justly assuming things which are [properly] your own, and no longer by violence taking away things which are foreign [to your true nature and real good].

[Footnotes moved to the end and numbered]

1. * This external reason (λογος προφορικος) is speech.

2. * Philostratus relates this of Apollonius, in his Life of him.

3. * The words within the brackets are added from the version of Felicianus. Hence it appears, that the words εκ των διαφορων μυκηματων are wanting in the original, after the word ζητει. But the defect is not noticed by any of the editors.

4. * Porphyry derived this from the treatise of Plutarch, in which it is investigated whether land are more sagacious than aquatic animals.

5. * This was the opinion of the Stoics; but is most erroneous. For the supreme divinity, being superessential, transcends even intellect itself, and much more reason, which is an evolved perception of things; and this is also the case with every other deity, according to the Platonic theology, when considered according to his hyparxis, or summit. See my translation of Proclus on the Theology of Plato.

6. * A musket, or male hawk of a small kind. This bird is mentioned by Homer, Iliad, XIV. v. 233.

7. * Reason in a divine intellect subsists causally, or in a way better than reason, and therefore is not a discursive energy (διεξοδικη ενεργεια), but an evolved cause of things. And though, in a divine soul, it is discursive, or transitive, yet it differs from our reason in this, that it perceives the whole of one form at once, and not by degrees, as we do when we reason.

8. * In the original, ουτω δ̕ εστι λογιστικα ων δρᾳ, κ.τ.λ. But for λογιστικα, Lipsius proposes to read, λογικα, and Meerman λογικη. There is, however, no occasion whatever to substitute any other word for λογιστικα, as, with Platonic writers, το λογιστικον is equivalent to to λογιζομενον.

9. * See the first book of Herodotus, chap. 159.

10. + The more mystical cause why the Egyptians worshipped animals, appears to me to be this, that they conceived a living to be preferable to an inanimate image of divinity. Hence, they reverenced animals as visible and living resemblances of certain invisible powers of the Gods. See Plutarch's Treatise on Isis and Osiris.

11. * See the Symposiacs of Plutarch, lib. ix. 8.

12. * Odyss. XII. v. 96.

13. + The latter part of this sentence, which in the original is τι ουκ εδιδαξεν μηας ο δημιουργος οπη χρησιμα τη φυσει γεγονε; Valentinus most erroneously translates, "quare nos rerum opifex non edocuit, quomodo a natura in nostros usus facta fuerint?"

14. * i.e. The discursive energy of reason.

15. * In the original, μυημην δε καταληψις αξιωματος παρεληλυθος, οὐ το παρον εξ αισθησεως κατεληφθη; but for αξιωματος, I read πραγματος. Felicianus also appears to have found this reading in his manuscript copy of the work; for his version of the passage is, "vel memoriam rei praeteriae comprehensionem, quem praesentem sensus perciperat."

16. * This doubt may, perhaps, be solved, by admitting that brutes have an imperfect rationality, or the very dregs of the rational faculty, by which they form a link between men and zoophytes, just as zoophytes are a link between brutes and merely vegetable substances. Brutes, therefore, having an imperfect reason, possess only the beginning of perfection.

17. * Plutarch has written a most ingenious treatise on this subject.

18. * In the original, οσῳ μειζον το γενος το των ζωων, τυο ουτῳ και ωρος το μερος και το οικειον ταυτην διασωσει. On this passage, Reisk observes, "Forte οσῳ μειζων ῃ οικειωσις ωρος το γενος το των ζωων, τοσουτῳ (scilicet μαλλον) και προς το μερός, κ.τ.λ." But, instead of η οικειωσις, it appears to me that η φιλια should be substituted.

19. * Porphyry here particularly alludes to Empedocles.

20. * Hesiod. Oper. v. 117.

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Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 4. pp.110-138.

Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 4. pp.110-138.

BOOK FOUR

[Translated by Thomas Taylor]

1. In the preceding books, O Castricius, we have nearly answered all the arguments which in reality defend the feeding on flesh, for the sake of incontinence and intemperance, and which adduce impudent apologies for so doing by ascribing a greater indigence to our nature than is fit. Two particular inquiries, however, still remain; in one of which the promise of advantage especially deceives those who are corrupted by pleasure. And, moreover, we shall confute the assertion of our opponents, that no wise man, nor any nation, has rejected animal food, as it leads those that hear it to great injustice, through the ignorance of true history; and we shall also endeavour to give the solutions of the question concerning advantage, and to reply to other inquiries.

2. But we shall begin from the abstinence of certain nations, in the narration of which, what is asserted of the Greeks will first claim our attention, as being the most allied to us, and the most appropriate of all the witnesses that can be adduced. Among those, therefore, that have concisely, and at the same time accurately collected an account of the affairs of the Greeks, is the Peripatetic Dicaearchus ¹, who, in narrating the pristine life of the Greeks, says, the ancients, being generated with an alliance to the Gods, were naturally most excellent, and led the best life; so that, when compared to us of the present day, who consist of an adulterated and most vile matter, they were thought to be a golden race; and they slew no animal whatever. The truth of this, he also says, is testified by the poets, who denominate these ancients the golden race, and assert that every good was present with them.

The fertile earth for them spontaneous bore Of fruits a copious and unenvy'd store; In blissful quiet then, unknown to strife, The worthy with the worthy passed their life 2. |111 Which assertions, indeed Dicaearchus explaining, says, that a life of this kind was under Saturn; if it is proper to consider it as a thing that once existed, and that it is a life which has not been celebrated in vain, and if, laying aside what is extremely fabulous, we may refer it to a physical narration. All things, therefore, are very properly said to have been then spontaneously produced; for men did not procure any thing by labour, because they were unacquainted with the agricultural art, and, in short, had no knowledge of any other art. This very thing, likewise, was the cause of their leading a life of leisure, free from labours and care; and if it is proper to assent to the decision of the most skilful and elegant of physicians, it was also the cause of their being liberated from disease. For there is not any precept of physicians which more contributes to health, than that which exhorts us not to make an abundance of excrement, from which those pristine Greeks always preserved their bodies pure. For they neither assumed such food as was stronger than the nature of the body could bear, but such as could be vanquished by the corporeal nature, nor more than was moderate, on account of the facility of procuring it, but for the most part less than was sufficient, on account of its paucity. Moreover, there were neither any wars among them, nor seditions with each other. For no reward of contention worth mentioning was proposed as an incentive, for the sake of which some one might be induced to engage in such dissensions. So that the principal thing in that life was leisure and rest from necessary occupations, together with health, peace, and friendship. But to those in after times, who, through aspiring after things which greatly exceeded mediocrity, fell into many evils, this pristine life became, as it was reasonable to suppose it would, desirable. The slender and extemporaneous food, however, of these first men, is manifested by the saying which was afterwards proverbially used, enough of the oak; this adage being probably introduced by him who first changed the ancient mode of living. A pastoral life succeeded to this, in which men procured for themselves superfluous possessions, and meddled with animals. For, perceiving that some of them were innoxious, but others malefic and savage, they tamed the former, but attacked the latter. At the same time, together with this life, war was introduced. And these things, says Dicaearchus, are not asserted by us, but by those who have historically discussed a multitude of particulars. For, as possessions were now of such a magnitude as to merit attention, some ambitiously endeavoured to obtain them, by collecting them [for their own use], and calling on others to do the same, but others directed their attention to the preservation of them when collected. Time, therefore, thus gradually proceeding, and men always directing their attention to what |112 appeared to be useful, they at length became conversant with the third, and agricultural form of life. And this is what is said by Dicaearchus, in his narration of the manners of the ancient Greeks, and the blessed life which they then led, to which abstinence from animal food contributed, no less than other things. Hence, at that period there was no war, because injustice was exterminated. But afterwards, together with injustice towards animals, war was introduced among men, and the endeavour to surpass each other in amplitude of possessions. On which account also, the audacity of those is wonderful, who say that abstinence from animals is the mother of injustice, since both history and experience testify, that together with the slaughter of animals, war and injustice were introduced.

3. Hence, this being afterwards perceived by the Lacedaemonian Lycurgus, though the eating of animals then prevailed, yet he so arranged his polity, as to render food of this kind requisite in the smallest degree. For the allotted property of each individual did not consist in herds of oxen, flocks of sheep, or an abundance of goats, horses, and money, but in the possession of land, which might produce for a man seventy medimni ³ of barley, and for a woman twelve, and the quantity of liquid fruits in the same proportion. For he thought that this quantity of nutriment was sufficient to procure a good habit of body and health, nothing else to obtain these being requisite. Whence also it is said, that on returning to his country, after he had been for some time absent from it, and perceiving, as he passed through the fields, that the corn had just been reaped, and that the threshing-floors and the heaps were parallel and equable, he laughed, and said to those that were present, that all Laconia seemed to belong to many brothers, who had just divided the land among themselves. He added, that as he had therefore expelled luxury from Sparta, it would be requisite also to annul the use of money, both golden and silver, and to introduce iron alone, as its substitute, and this of a great bulk and weight, and of little value; so that as much of it as should be worth ten minae should require a large receptacle to hold it, and a cart drawn by two oxen to carry it. But this being ordained, many species of injustice were exterminated from Lacedaemon. For who would attempt to thieve, or suffer himself to be corrupted by gifts, or defraud or plunder another, when it was not possible for him to conceal what he had taken, nor possess it so as to be envied by others, nor derive any advantage from coining it? Together |113 with money also, the useless arts were expelled, the works of the Lacedaemonians not being saleable. For iron money could not be exported to the other Greeks, nor was it esteemed by them, but ridiculed. Hence, neither was it lawful to buy any thing foreign, and which was intrinsically of no worth, nor did ships laden with merchandise sail into their ports, nor was any verbal sophist, or futile diviner, or bawd, or artificer of golden and silver ornaments, permitted to come to Laconia, because there money was of no use. And thus luxury, being gradually deprived of its incitements and nourishment, wasted away of itself. Those likewise who possessed much derived no greater advantage from it, than those who did not, as no egress was afforded to abundance, since it was so obstructed by impediments, that it was forced to remain in indolent rest. Hence such household furniture as was in constant use, and was necessary, such as beds, chairs, and tables, these were made by them in the best manner; and the Laconic cup, which was called Cothon, was, as Critias says, especially celebrated in military expeditions. For in these expeditions, the water which they drank, and which was unpleasant to the sight, was concealed by the colour of the cup; and the turbid part of the water falling against the lips, through their prominency, that part of it which was drank, was received in a purer condition by the mouth. As we are informed, however, by Plutarch, the legislator was the cause of these things. For the artificers being liberated from useless works, exhibited the beauty of art in things of a necessary nature.

4. That he might also in a still greater degree oppose luxury, and take away the ardent endeavour to obtain wealth, he introduced a third, and most beautiful political institution, viz. that of the citizens eating and drinking together publicly; so that they might partake of the same prescribed food in common, and might not be fed at home, reclining on sumptuous couches, and placed before elegant tables, through the hands of artificers and cooks, being fattened in darkness, like voracious animals, and corrupting their bodies, together with their morals, by falling into every kind of luxury and repletion; as such a mode of living would require much sleep, hot baths, and abundant quiet, and such attentions as are paid to the diseased. This indeed was a great thing; but still greater than this, that, as Theophrastus says, he caused wealth to be neglected, and to be of no value through the citizens eating at common tables, and the frugality of their food. For there was no use, nor enjoyment of riches; nor, in short, was there any thing to gratify the sight, or any ostentatious display in the whole apparatus, because both the poor and the rich sat at the same table. Hence it was universally |114 said, that in Sparta alone, Plutus was seen to be blind, and lying like an inanimate and immoveable picture. For it was not possible for the citizens, having previously feasted at home, to go to the common tables with appetites already satiated with food. For the rest carefully observed him who did not eat and drink with them, and reviled him, as an intemperate person, and as one who conducted himself effeminately with respect to the common food. Hence these common tables were called phiditia; either as being the causes of friendship and benevolence, as if they were philitia, assuming δ for λ; or as accustoming men (προς ευτελειαν και φειδω) to frugality and a slender diet. But the number of those that assembled at the common table was fifteen, more or less. And each person brought every month, for the purpose of furnishing the table, a medimnus of flour, eight choas ⁴ of wine, five pounds of cheese, two and a half pounds of figs, and, besides all these, a very little quantity of money.

5. Hence the children of those who ate thus sparingly and temperately, came to these common tables, as to schools of temperance, where they also heard political discourses, and were spectators of liberal sports. Here, likewise, they learnt to jest acrimoniously, without scurrility, and to receive, without being indignant, the biting jests of others. For this appeared to be extremely Laconic, to be able to endure acrimonious jests; though he who could not endure was permitted to refuse hearing them, and the scoffer was immediately silent. Such, therefore, was the frugality of the Lacedaemonians, with respect to diet, though it was legally instituted for the sake of the multitude. Hence those who came from this polity are said to have been more brave and temperate, and paid more attention to rectitude, than those who came from other communities, which are corrupted both in souls and bodies. And it is evident that perfect abstinence is adapted to such a polity as this, but to corrupt communities luxurious food.⁵ If, likewise, we direct our attention to such other nations as regarded equity, mildness and piety to |115 the Gods, it will be evident that abstinence was ordained by them, with a view to the safety and advantage, if not of all, yet at least of some of the citizens, who, sacrificing to, and worshipping the Gods, on account of the city, might expiate the sins of the multitude. For, in the mysteries, what the boy who attends the altar accomplishes, by performing accurately what he is commanded to do, in order to render the Gods propitious to all those who have been initiated, as far as to muesis ⁶ (αντι παντων των μυουμενων), that, in nations and cities, priests are able to effect, by sacrificing for all the people, and through piety inducing the Gods to be attentive to the welfare of those that belong to them. With respect to priests, therefore, the eating of all animals is prohibited to some, but of certain animals to others, whether you consider the customs of the Greeks or of the barbarians, which are different in different nations. So that all of them, collectively considered, or existing as one, being assumed, it will be found that they abstain from all animals. If, therefore, those who preside over the safety of cities, and to whose care piety to the Gods is committed, abstain from animals, how can any one dare to accuse this abstinence as disadvantageous to cities?

6. Chaeremon the Stoic, therefore, in his narration of the Egyptian priests, who, he says, were considered by the Egyptians as philosophers, informs us, that they chose temples, as the places in which they might philosophize. For to dwell with the statues of the Gods is a thing allied to the whole desire, by which the soul tends to the contemplation of their divinities. And from the divine veneration indeed, which was paid to them through dwelling in temples, they obtained security, all men honouring these philosophers, as if they were certain sacred animals. They also led a solitary life, as they only mingled with other men in solemn sacrifices and festivals. But at other times the priests were almost inaccessible to any one who wished to converse with them. For it was requisite that he who approached to them should be first purified, and abstain from many things; and this is as it were a common sacred law respecting the Egyptian priests. But these [philosophic priests], |116 having relinquished every other employment, and human labours,⁷ gave up the whole of their life to the contemplation and worship of divine natures and to divine inspiration; through the latter, indeed, procuring for themselves, honour, security, and piety; but through contemplation, science; and through both, a certain occult exercise of manners, worthy of antiquity⁸. For to be always conversant with divine knowledge and inspiration, removes those who are so from all avarice, suppresses the passions, and excites to an intellectual life. But they were studious of frugality in their diet and apparel, and also of continence and endurance, and in all things were attentive to justice and equity. They likewise were rendered venerable, through rarely mingling with other men. For during the time of what are called purifications, they scarcely mingled with their nearest kindred, and those of their own order, nor were they to be seen by anyone, unless it was requisite for the necessary purposes of purification. For the sanctuary was inaccessible to those who were not purified, and they dwelt in holy places for the purpose of performing divine works; but at all other times they associated more freely with those who lived like themselves. They did not, however, associate with any one who was not a religious character. But they were always seen near to the Gods, or the statues of the Gods, the latter of which they were beheld either carrying, or preceding in a sacred procession, or disposing in an orderly manner, with modesty and gravity; each of which operations was not the effect of pride, but an indication of some physical reason. Their venerable gravity also was apparent from their manners. For their walking was orderly, and their aspect sedate; and they were so studious of preserving this gravity of countenance, that they did not even wink, when at any time they were unwilling to do so; and they seldom laughed, and when they did, their laughter proceeded no farther than to a smile. But they always kept their hands within their garments. Each likewise bore about him a symbol indicative of the order which he was allotted in sacred concerns; for there were many orders of priests. Their diet also was slender and simple. For, with respect to wine, some of them did not at all drink it, but others drank very little of it, on account of its being injurious to the |117 nerves, oppressive to the head, an impediment to invention, and an incentive to venereal desires. In many other things also they conducted themselves with caution; neither using bread at all in purifications, and at those times in which they were not employed in purifying themselves, they were accustomed to eat bread with hyssop, cut into small pieces. For it is said, that hyssop very much purifies the power of bread. But they, for the most part, abstained from oil, the greater number of them entirely; and if at any time they used it with pot-herbs, they took very little of it, and only as much as was sufficient to mitigate the taste of the herbs.

7. It was not lawful for them therefore to meddle with the esculent and potable substances, which were produced out of Egypt, and this contributed much to the exclusion of luxury from these priests. But they abstained from all the fish that was caught in Egypt, and from such quadrupeds as had solid, or many-fissured hoofs, and from such as were not horned; and likewise from all such birds as were carnivorous. Many of them, however, entirely abstained from all animals; and in purifications this abstinence was adopted by all of them, for then they did not even eat an egg. Moreover, they also rejected other things, without being calumniated for so doing. Thus, for instance, of oxen, they rejected the females, and also such of the males as were twins, or were speckled, or of a different colour, or alternately varied in their form, or which were now tamed, as having been already consecrated to labours, and resembled animals that are honoured, or which were the images of any thing [that is divine], or those that had but one eye, or those that verged to a similitude of the human form. There are also innumerable other observations pertaining to the art of those who are called mosxofragistai, or who stamp calves with a seal, and of which books have been composed. But these observations are still more curious respecting birds; as, for instance, that a turtle should not be eaten; for it is said that a hawk frequently dismisses this bird after he has seized it, and preserves its life, as a reward for having had connexion with it. The Egyptian priests, therefore, that they might not ignorantly meddle with a turtle of this kind, avoided the whole species of those birds. And these indeed were certain common religious ceremonies; but there were different ceremonies, which varied according to the class of the priests that used them, and were adapted to the several divinities. But chastity and purifications were common to all the priests. When also the time arrived in which they were to perform something pertaining to the sacred rites of religion, they spent some days in preparatory ceremonies, some indeed forty-two, but others a greater, and |118 others a less number of days; yet never less than seven days; and during this time they abstained from all animals, and likewise from all pot-herbs and leguminous substances, and, above all, from a venereal connexion with women; for they never at any time had connexion with males. They likewise washed themselves with cold water thrice every day; viz. when they rose from their bed, before dinner, and when they betook themselves to sleep. But if they happened to be polluted in their sleep by the emission of the seed, they immediately purified their body in a bath. They also used cold bathing at other times, but not so frequently as on the above occasion. Their bed was woven from the branches of the palm tree, which they call bais; and their bolster was a smooth semi-cylindric piece of wood. But they exercised themselves in the endurance of hunger and thirst, and were accustomed to paucity of food through the whole of their life.

8. This also is a testimony of their continence, that, though they neither exercised themselves in walking or riding, yet they lived free from disease, and were sufficiently strong for the endurance of modern labours. They bore therefore many burdens in the performance of sacred operations, and accomplished many ministrant works, which required more than common strength. But they divided the night into the observation of the celestial bodies, and sometimes devoted a part of it to offices of purification; and they distributed the day into the worship of the Gods, according to which they celebrated them with hymns thrice or four times, viz. in the morning and evening, when the sun is at his meridian altitude, and when he is declining to the west. The rest of their time they devoted to arithmetical and geometrical speculations, always labouring to effect something, and to make some new discovery, and, in short, continually exercising their skill. In winter nights also they were occupied in the same employments, being vigilantly engaged in literary pursuits, as paying no attention to the acquisition of externals, and being liberated from the servitude of that bad master, excessive expense. Hence their unwearied and incessant labour testifies their endurance, but their continence is manifested by their liberation from the desire of external good. To sail from Egypt likewise, [i.e. to quit Egypt,] was considered by them to be one of the most unholy things, in consequence of their being careful to avoid foreign luxury and pursuits; for this appeared to them to be alone lawful to those who were compelled to do so by regal necessities. Indeed, they were very anxious to continue in the observance of the institutes of their country, and those who were found to have violated them, though but in a small degree were expelled [from the college of the priests]. The |119 true method of philosophizing, likewise, was preserved by the prophets, by the hierostolistae ⁹, and the sacred scribes, and also by the horologi, or calculators of nativities. But the rest of the priests, and of the pastophori ¹⁰, curators of temples, and ministers of the Gods, were similarly studious of purity, yet not so accurately, and with such great continence, as the priests of whom we have been speaking. And such are the particulars which are narrated of the Egyptians, by a man who was a lover of truth, and an accurate writer, and who among the Stoics strenuously and solidly philosophized.

9. But the Egyptian priests, through the proficiency which they made by this exercise, and similitude to divinity, knew that divinity does not pervade through man alone, and that soul is not enshrined in man alone on the earth, but that it nearly passes through all animals. On this account, in fashioning the images of the Gods, they assumed every animal, and for this purpose mixed together the human form and the forms of wild beasts, and again the bodies of birds with the body of a man. For a certain deity was represented by them in a human shape as far as to the neck, but the face was that of a bird, or a lion, or of some other animal. And again, another divine resemblance had a human head, but the other parts were those of certain other animals, some of which had an inferior, but others a superior position; through which they manifested, that these [i.e. brutes and men], through the decision of the Gods, communicated with each other, and that tame and savage animals are nurtured together with us, not without the concurrence of a certain divine will. Hence also, a lion is worshipped as a God, and a certain part of Egypt, which is called Nomos, has the surname of Leontopolis [or the city of the lion], and another is denominated Busiris [from an ox], and another Lycopolis [or the city of the wolf]. For they venerated the power of God which extends to all things through animals which are nurtured together, and which each of the Gods imparts. They also reverenced water and fire the most of all the elements, as being the principal causes of our safety. And these things are exhibited by them in temples; for even now, on opening the sanctuary of Serapis, the worship is performed through fire and water; he who sings the hymns making a libation with water, and exhibiting fire, when, standing on the |120 threshold of the temple, he invokes the God in the language of the Egyptians. Venerating, therefore, these elements, they especially reverence those things which largely participate of them, as partaking more abundantly of what is sacred. But after these, they venerate all animals, and in the village Anubis they worship a man, in which place also they sacrifice to him, and victims are there burnt in honour of him on an altar; but he shortly after only eats that which was procured for him as a man. Hence, as it is requisite to abstain from man, so likewise, from other animals. And farther still, the Egyptian priests, from their transcendent wisdom and association with divinity, discovered what animals are more acceptable to the Gods [when dedicated to them] than man. Thus they found that a hawk is dear to the sun, since the whole of its nature consists of blood and spirit. It also commiserates man, and laments over his dead body, and scatters earth on his eyes, in which these priests believe a solar light is resident. They likewise discovered that a hawk lives many years, and that, after it leaves the present life, it possesses a divining power, is most rational and prescient when liberated from the body, and gives perfection to statues, and moves temples. A beetle will be detested by one who is ignorant of and unskilled in divine concerns, but the Egyptians venerate it, as an animated image of the sun. For every beetle is a male, and emitting its genital seed in a muddy place, and having made it spherical, it turns round the seminal sphere in a way similar to that of the sun in the heavens. It likewise receives a period of twenty-eight days, which is a lunar period. In a similar manner, the Egyptians philosophise about the ram, the crocodile, the vulture, and the ibis, and, in short, about every animal; so that, from their wisdom and transcendent knowledge of divine concerns, they came at length to venerate all animals ¹¹. An unlearned man, however, does not even suspect that they, not being borne along with the stream of the vulgar who know nothing, and not walking in the path of ignorance, but passing beyond the illiterate multitude, and that want of knowledge which befalls every one at first, were led to reverence things which are thought by the vulgar to be of no worth.

10. This also, no less than the above-mentioned particulars, induced them to believe, that animals should be reverenced [as images of the Gods], viz. that the soul of every animal, when liberated from the body, was discovered by them to be rational, to be prescient of futurity, to possess an oracular power, and to be effective of every thing which man |121 is capable of accomplishing when separated from the body. Hence they very properly honoured them, and abstained from them as much as possible. Since, however, the cause through which the Egyptians venerated the Gods through animals requires a copious discussion, and which would exceed the limits of the present treatise, what has been unfolded respecting this particular is sufficient for our purpose. Nevertheless, this is not to be omitted, that the Egyptians, when they buried those that were of noble birth, privately took away the belly and placed it in a chest, and together with other things which they performed for the sake of the dead body, they elevated the chest towards the sun, whom they invoked as a witness; an oration for the deceased being at the same time made by one of those to whose care the funeral was committed. But the oration which Euphantus ¹² has interpreted from the Egyptian tongue was as follows: "O Sovereign Sun, and all ye Gods who impart life to men, receive me, and deliver me to the eternal Gods as a cohabitant. For I have always piously worshipped those divinities which were pointed out to me by my parents as long as I lived in this age, and have likewise always honoured those who procreated my body. And, with respect to other men, I have never slain any one, nor defrauded any one of what he deposited with me, nor have I committed any other atrocious deed. If, therefore, during my life I have acted erroneously, by eating or drinking things which it is unlawful to eat or drink, I have not erred through myself, but through these," pointing to the chest in which the belly was contained. And having thus spoken, he threw the chest into the river [Nile]; but buried the rest of the body as being pure. After this manner, they thought an apology ought to be made to divinity for what they had eaten and drank, and for the insolent conduct which they had been led to through the belly.

11. But among those who are known by us, the Jews, before they first suffered the subversion of their legal institutes under Antiochus, and afterwards under the Romans, when also the temple in Jerusalem was captured, and became accessible to all men to whom, prior to this event, it was inaccessible, and the city itself was destroyed; - before this took place, the Jews always abstained from many animals, but peculiarly, which they even now do, from swine. At that period, therefore, there were three kinds of philosophers among them. And of one kind, |122 indeed, the Pharisees were the leaders, but of another, the Sadducees, and of the third, which appears to have been the most venerable, the Essenes. The mode of life, therefore, of these third was as follows, as Josephus frequently testifies in many of his writings. For in the second book of his Judaic History, which he has completed in seven books, and in the eighteenth of his Antiquities, which consists of twenty books, and likewise in the second of the two books which he wrote against the Greeks, he speaks of these Essenes, and says, that they are of the race of the Jews, and are in a greater degree than others friendly to one another. They are averse to pleasures, conceiving them to be vicious, but they are of opinion that continence and the not yielding to the passions, constitute virtue. And they despise, indeed, wedlock, but receiving the children of other persons, and instructing them in disciplines while they are yet of a tender age, they consider them as their kindred, and form them to their own manners. And they act in this manner, not for the purpose of subverting marriage, and the succession arising from it, but in order to avoid the lasciviousness of women. They are likewise, despisers of wealth, and the participation of external possessions among them in common is wonderful; nor is any one to be found among them who is richer than the rest. For it is a law with them, that those who wish to belong to their sect, must give up their property to it in common; so that among all of them, there is not to be seen either the abjectness of poverty, or the insolence of wealth; but the possessions of each being mingled with those of the rest, there was one property with all of them, as if they had been brothers. They likewise conceived oil to be a stain to the body, and that if any one, though unwillingly, was anointed, he should [immediately] wipe his body. For it was considered by them as beautiful to be squalid ¹³, and to be always clothed in white garments. But curators of the common property were elected by votes, indistinctly for the use of all. They have not, however, one city, but in each city many of them dwell together, and those who come among them from other places, if they are of their sect, equally partake with them of their possessions, as if they were their own. Those, likewise, who first perceive these strangers, behave to them as if they were their intimate acquaintance. Hence, when they travel, they take nothing with them for the sake of expenditure. But they neither |123 change their garments nor their shoes, till they are entirely torn, or destroyed by time. They neither buy nor sell anything, but each of them giving what he possesses to him that is in want, receives in return for it what will be useful to him. Nevertheless, each of them freely imparts to others of their sect what they may be in want of, without any remuneration.

12. Moreover, they are peculiarly pious to divinity. For before the sun rises they speak nothing profane, but they pour forth certain prayers to him which they had received from their ancestors, as if beseeching him to rise. Afterwards, they are sent by their curators to the exercise of the several arts in which they are skilled, and having till the fifth hour strenuously laboured in these arts, they are afterwards collected together in one place; and there, being begirt with linen teguments, they wash their bodies with cold water. After this purification, they enter into their own proper habitation, into which no heterodox person is permitted to enter. But they being pure, betake themselves to the dining room, as into a certain sacred fane. In this place, when all of them are seated in silence, the baker places the bread in order, and the cook distributes to each of them one vessel containing one kind of eatables. Prior, however, to their taking the food which is pure and sacred, a priest prays, and it is unlawful for any one prior to the prayer to taste of the food. After dinner, likewise, the priest again prays; so that both when they begin, and when they cease to eat, they venerate divinity. Afterwards, divesting themselves of these garments as sacred, they again betake themselves to their work till the evening; and, returning from thence, they eat and drink in the same manner as before, strangers sitting with them, if they should happen at that time to be present. No clamour or tumult ever defiles the house in which they dwell; but their conversation with each other is performed in an orderly manner; and to those that are out of the house, the silence of those within it appears as if it was some terrific mystery. The cause, however, of this quietness is their constant sobriety, and that with them their meat and drink is measured by what is sufficient [to the wants of nature]. But those who are very desirous of belonging to their sect, are not immediately admitted into it, but they must remain out of it for a year, adopting the same diet, the Essenes giving them a rake, a girdle, and a white garment. And if, during that time, they have given a sufficient proof of their continence, they proceed to a still greater conformity to the institutes of the sect, and use purer water for the purpose of sanctity; though they are not yet permitted to live with the Essenes. For after this exhibition of endurance, their manners are tried for two years more, and he who |124 after this period appears to deserve to associate with them, is admitted into their society.

13. Before, however, he who is admitted touches his common food, he takes a terrible oath, in the first place, that he will piously worship divinity; in the next place, that he will preserve justice towards men, and that he will neither designedly, nor when commanded, injure any one; in the third place; that he will always hate the unjust, but strenuously assist the just; and in the fourth place, that he will act faithfully towards all men, but especially towards the rulers of the land, since no one becomes a ruler without the permission of God; in the fifth place, that if he should be a ruler, he will never employ his power to insolently iniquitous purposes, nor will surpass those that are in subjection to him in his dress, or any other more splendid ornament; in the sixth place, that he will always love the truth, and be hostile to liars; in the seventh place, that he will preserve his hands from theft, and his soul pure from unholy gain ¹⁴; and, in the eighth place, that he will conceal nothing from those of his sect, nor divulge any thing to others pertaining to the sect, though some one, in order to compel him, should threaten him with death. In addition to these things, also, they swear, that they will not impart the dogmas of the sect to any one in any other way than that in which they received them; that they will likewise abstain from robbery ¹⁵, and preserve the books of their sect with the same care as the names of the angels. Such, therefore, are their oaths. But those among them that act criminally, and are ejected, perish by an evil destiny. For, being bound by their oaths and their customs, they are not capable of receiving food from others; but feeding on herbs, and having their body emaciated by hunger, they perish. Hence the Essenes, commiserating many of these unfortunate men, receive them in their last extremities into their society, thinking that they have suffered sufficiently for their offences in having been punished for them till they were on the brink of the grave. But they give a rake to those who intend to belong to their sect, in order that, when they sit for the purpose of exonerating the belly, they make a trench a foot in depth, and completely cover themselves by their garment, in order that they |125 may not act contumeliously towards the sun by polluting the rays of the God. And so great, indeed, is their simplicity and frugality with respect to diet, that they do not require evacuation till the seventh day after the assumption of food, which day they spend in singing hymns to God, and in resting from labour. But from this exercise they acquire the power of such great endurance, that even when tortured and burnt, and suffering every kind of excruciating pain, they cannot be induced either to blaspheme their legislator, or to eat what they have not been accustomed to. And the truth of this was demonstrated in their war with the Romans. For then they neither flattered their tormentors, nor shed any tears, but smiled in the midst of their torments, and derided those that inflicted them, and cheerfully emitted their souls, as knowing that they should possess them again. For this opinion was firmly established among them, that their bodies were indeed corruptible, and that the matter of which they consisted was not stable, but that their souls were immortal, and would endure for ever, and that, proceeding from the most subtle ether, they were drawn down by a natural flux, and complicated with bodies; but that, when they are no longer detained by the bonds of the flesh, then, as if liberated from a long slavery, they will rejoice, and ascend to the celestial regions. But from this mode of living, and from being thus exercised in truth and piety, there were many among them, as it is reasonable to suppose there would be, who had aforeknowledge of future events, as being conversant from their youth with sacred books, different purifications, and the declarations of the prophets. And such is the order [or sect] of the Essenes among the Jews.

14. All of them, however, were forbidden to eat the flesh of swine, or fish without scales, which the Greeks call cartilaginous; or to eat any animal that has solid hoofs. They were likewise forbidden not only to refrain from eating, but also from killing animals that fled to their houses as supplicants. Nor did the legislator permit them to slay such animals as were parents together with their young; but ordered them to spare, even in a hostile land, and not put to death brutes that assist us in our labours. Nor was the legislator afraid that the race of animals which are not sacrificed, would, through being spared from slaughter, be so increased in multitude as to produce famine among men; for he knew, in the first place, that multiparous animals live but for a short time; and in the next place, that many of them perish, unless attention is paid to them by men. Moreover, he likewise knew that other animals would attack those that increased excessively; of which this is an indication, that we abstain from many animals, such as lizards, worms, |126 flies, serpents, and dogs, and yet, at the same time, we are not afraid of perishing through hunger by abstaining from them, though their increase is abundant. And in the next place, it is not the same thing to eat and to slay an animal. For we destroy many of the above-mentioned animals, but we do not eat any of them.

15. Farther still, it is likewise related that the Syrians formerly abstained from animals, and, on this account, did not sacrifice them to the Gods; but that afterwards they sacrificed them, for the purpose of averting certain evils; yet they did not at all admit of a fleshly diet. In process of time, however, as Neanthes the Cyzicenean and Asclepiades the Cyprian say, about the era of Pygmalion, who was by birth a Phoenician, but reigned over the Cyprians, the eating of flesh was admitted, from an illegality of the following kind, which Asclepiades, in his treatise concerning Cyprus and Phoenicia, relates as follows:--In the first place, they did not sacrifice anything animated to the Gods; but neither was there any law pertaining to a thing of this kind, because it was prohibited by natural law. They are said, however, on a certain occasion, in which one soul was required for another, to have, for the first time, sacrificed a victim; and this taking place, the whole of the victim was then consumed by fire. But afterwards, when the victim was burnt, a portion of the flesh fell on the earth, which was taken by the priest, who, in so doing, having burnt his fingers, involuntarily moved them to his mouth, as a remedy for the pain which the burning produced. Having, therefore, thus tasted of the roasted flesh, he also desired to eat abundantly of it, and could not refrain from giving some of it to his wife. Pygmalion, however, becoming acquainted with this circumstance, ordered both the priest and his wife to be hurled headlong from a steep rock, and gave the priesthood to another person, who not long after performing the same sacrifice and eating the flesh of the victim, fell into the same calamities as his predecessor. The thing, however, proceeding still farther, and men using the same kind of sacrifice, and through yielding to desire, not abstaining from, but feeding on flesh, the deed was no longer punished. Nevertheless abstinence from fish continued among the Syrians till the time of Menander: for he says:

The Syrians for example take, since these

When by intemperance led of fish they eat,

Swoln in their belly and their feet become.

With sack then cover'd, in the public way

They on a dunghill sit, that by their lowly state,

The Goddess may, appeas'd, the crime forgive. |127

16. Among the Persians, indeed, those who are wise in divine concerns, and worship divinity, are called Magi; for this is the signification of Magus, in the Persian tongue. But so great and so venerable are these men thought to be by the Persians, that Darius, the son of Hystaspes, had among other things this engraved on his tomb, that he had been the master of the Magi. They are likewise divided into three genera, as we are informed by Eubulus, who wrote the history of Mithra, in a treatise consisting of many books. In this work he says, that the first and most learned class of the Magi neither eat nor slay any thing animated, but adhere to the ancient abstinence from animals. The second class use some animals indeed [for food], but do not slay any that are tame. Nor do those of the third class, similarly with other men, lay their hands on all animals. For the dogma with all of them which ranks as the first is this, that there is a transmigration of souls; and this they also appear to indicate in the mysteries of Mithra. For in these mysteries, obscurely signifying our having something in common with brutes, they are accustomed to call us by the names of different animals. Thus they denominate the males who participate in the same mysteries lions, but the females lionesses, and those who are ministrant to these rites crows. With respect to their fathers also, they adopt the same mode. For these are denominated by them eagles and hawks. And he who is initiated in the Leontic mysteries, is invested with all-various forms of animals ¹⁶; of which particulars, Pallas, in his treatise concerning Mithra, assigning the cause, says, that it is the common opinion that these things are to be referred to the circle of the zodiac, but that truly and accurately speaking, they obscurely signify some thing pertaining to human souls, which, according to the Persians, are invested with bodies of all-various forms. For the Latins also, says Eubulus, call some men, in their tongue, boars and scorpions, lizards, and blackbirds. After the same manner likewise the Persians denominate the Gods the demiurgic causes of these: for they call Diana a she-wolf; but the sun, a bull, a lion, a |128 dragon, and a hawk; and Hecate, a horse, a bull, a lioness, and a dog. But most theologists say that the name of Proserpine (της φερεφαττης) is derived from nourishing a ringdove, (παρα το φερβειν την φατταν) for the ringdove is sacred to this Goddess. Hence, also the priests of Maia dedicate to her a ringdove. And Maia is the same with Proserpine, as being obstetric, and a nurse ¹⁷. For this Goddess is terrestrial, and so likewise is Ceres. To this Goddess, also a cock is consecrated; and on this account those that are initiated in her mysteries abstain from domestic birds. In the Eleusinian mysteries, likewise, the initiated are ordered to abstain from domestic birds, from fishes and beans, pomegranates and apples; which fruits are as equally defiling to the touch, as a woman recently delivered, and a dead body. But whoever is acquainted with the nature of divinely-luminous appearances knows also on what account it is requisite to abstain from all birds, and especially for him who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial concerns, and to be established with the celestial Gods. Vice, however, as we have frequently said, is sufficiently able to patronize itself, and especially when it pleads its cause among the ignorant. Hence, among those that are moderately vicious, some think that a dehortation of this kind is vain babbling, and, according to the proverb, the nugacity of old women; and others are of opinion that it is superstition. But those who have made greater advances in improbity, are prepared, not only to blaspheme those who exhort to, and demonstrate the propriety of this abstinence, but calumniate purity itself as enchantment and pride. They, however, suffering the punishment of their sins, both from Gods and men, are, in the first place, sufficiently punished by a disposition [i.e. by a depravity] of this kind. We shall, therefore, still farther make mention of another foreign nation, renowned and just, and believed to be pious in divine concerns, and then pass on to other particulars. |129

17. For the polity of the Indians being distributed into many parts, there is one tribe among them of men divinely wise, whom the Greeks are accustomed to call Gymnosophists ¹⁸. But of these there are two sects, over one of which the Bramins preside, but over the other the Samanaeans. The race of the Bramins, however, receive divine wisdom of this kind by succession, in the same manner as the priesthood. But the Samanaeans are elected, and consist of those who wish to possess divine knowledge. And the particulars respecting them are the following, as the Babylonian Bardesanes ¹⁹ narrates, who lived in the times of our fathers, and was familiar with those Indians who, together with Damadamis, were sent to Caesar. All the Bramins originate from one stock; for all of them are derived from one father and one mother. But the Samanaeans are not the offspring of one family, being, as we have said, collected from every nation of Indians. A Bramin, however, is not a subject of any government, nor does he contribute any thing together with others to government. And with respect to those that are philosophers, among these some dwell on mountains, and others about the river Ganges. And those that live on mountains feed on autumnal fruits, and on cows' milk coagulated with herbs. But those that reside near the Ganges, live also on autumnal fruits, which are produced in abundance about that river. The land likewise nearly always bears new fruit, together with much rice, which grows spontaneously, and which they use when there is a deficiency of autumnal fruits. But to taste of any other nutriment, or, in short, to touch animal food, is considered by them as equivalent to extreme impurity and impiety. And this is one of their dogmas. They also worship divinity with piety and purity. They spend the day, and the greater part of the night, in hymns and prayers to the Gods; each of them having a cottage to himself, and living, as much as possible, alone. For the Bramins cannot endure to remain with others, nor to speak much; but when this happens to take place, they afterwards withdraw themselves, and do not speak for many days. They likewise frequently fast. But the Samanaeans are, as we have said, elected. When, however, any one is desirous of being enrolled in their order, he proceeds to the rulers of the city; but abandons the city or village that he inhabited, and the wealth and all the other property |130 that he possessed. Having likewise the superfluities of his body cut off, he receives a garment, and departs to the Samanaeans, but does not return either to his wife or children, if he happens to have any, nor does he pay any attention to them, or think that they at all pertain to him. And, with respect to his children indeed, the king provides what is necessary for them, and the relatives provide for the wife. And such is the life of the Samanaeans. But they live out of the city, and spend the whole day in conversation pertaining to divinity. They have also houses and temples, built by the king, in which they are stewards, who receive a certain emolument from the king, for the purpose of supplying those that dwell in them with nutriment. But their food consists of rice, bread, autumnal fruits, and pot-herbs. And when they enter into their house, the sound of a bell being the signal of their entrance, those that are not Samanaeans depart from it, and the Samanaeans begin immediately to pray. But having prayed, again, on the bell sounding as a signal, the servants give to each Samanaean a platter, (for two of them do not eat out of the same dish,) and feed them with rice. And to him who is in want of a variety of food, a pot-herb is added, or some autumnal fruit. But having eaten as much as is requisite, without any delay they proceed to their accustomed employments. All of them likewise are unmarried, and have no possessions: and so much are both these and the Bramins venerated by the other Indians, that the king also visits them, and requests them to pray to and supplicate the Gods, when any calamity befalls the country, or to advise him how to act.

18. But they are so disposed with respect to death, that they unwillingly endure the whole time of the present life, as a certain servitude to nature, and therefore they hasten to liberate their souls from the bodies [with which they are connected]. Hence, frequently, when they are seen to be well, and are neither oppressed, nor driven to desperation by any evil, they depart from life. And though they previously announce to others that it is their intention to commit suicide, yet no one impedes them; but, proclaiming all those to be happy who thus quit the present life, they enjoin certain things to the domestics and kindred of the dead: so stable and true do they, and also the multitude, believe the assertion to be, that souls [in another life] associate with each other. But as soon as those to whom they have proclaimed that this is their intention, have heard the mandates given to them, they deliver the body to fire, in order that they may separate the soul from the body in the purest manner, and thus they die celebrated by all the Samanaeans. For these men dismiss their dearest friends to death more easily than others part with their fellow-citizens when going the longest journeys. And they lament |131 themselves, indeed, as still continuing in life; but they proclaim those that are dead to be blessed, in consequence of having now obtained an immortal allotment. Nor is there any sophist, such as there is now amongst the Greeks, either among these Samanaeans, or the above-mentioned Bramins, who would be seen to doubt and to say, if all men should imitate you [i.e. should imitate those Samanaeans who commit suicide] what would become of us? Nor through these are human affairs confused. For neither do all men imitate them, and those who have, may be said to have been rather the causes of equitable legislation, than of confusion to the different nations of men. Moreover, the law did not compel the Samanaeans and Bramins to eat animal food, but, permitting others to feed on flesh, it suffered these to be a law to themselves, and venerated them as being superior to law. Nor did the law subject these men to the punishment which it inflicts, as if they were the primary perpetrators of injustice, but it reserved this for others. Hence, to those who ask, what would be the consequence if all men imitated such characters as these, the saying of Pythagoras must be the answer; that if all men were kings, the passage through life would be difficult, yet regal government is not on this account to be avoided. And [we likewise say] that if all men were worthy, no administration of a polity would be found in which the dignity that probity merits would be preserved. Nevertheless, no one would be so insane as not to think that all men should earnestly endeavour to become worthy characters. Indeed, the law grants to the vulgar many other things [besides a fleshly diet], which, nevertheless, it does not grant to a philosopher, nor even to one who conducts the affairs of government in a proper manner. For it does not receive every artist into the administration, though it does not forbid the exercise of any art, nor yet men of every pursuit. But it excludes those who are occupied in vile and illiberal arts,²⁰ and, in short, all those who are destitute of justice and the other virtues, from having any thing to do with the management of public affairs. Thus, likewise, the law does not forbid the vulgar from associating with harlots, on whom at the same time it imposes a fine; but thinks that it is disgraceful and base for men that are moderately good to have any connexion with them. Moreover, the law does not prohibit a man from spending the whole of his life in a tavern, yet at the same time this is most disgraceful even to a man of moderate worth. It appears, therefore, that the same thing must also be said with respect to diet. For that which is permitted |132 to the multitude, must not likewise be granted to the best of men. For the man who is a philosopher, should especially ordain for himself those sacred laws which the Gods, and men who are followers of the Gods, have instituted. But the sacred laws of nations and cities appear to have ordained for sacred men purity, and to have interdicted them animal food. They have also forbidden the multitude to eat certain animals, either from motives of piety, or on account of some injury which would be produced by the food. So that it is requisite either to imitate priests, or to be obedient to the mandates of all legislators; but, in either way, he who is perfectly legal and pious ought to abstain from all animals. For if some who are only partially pious abstain from certain animals, he who is in every respect pious will abstain from all animals.

19. I had almost, however, forgotten to adduce what is said by Euripides, who asserts, that the prophets of Jupiter in Crete abstained from animals. But what is said by the chorus to Minos on this subject, is as follows:

Sprung from Phoenicia's royal line,

Son of Europa, nymph divine,

And mighty Jove, thy envy'd reign

O'er Crete extending, whose domain

Is with a hundred cities crown'd

I leave yon consecrated ground,

Yon fane, whose beams the artist's toil

With cypress, rooted from the soil,

Hath fashion'd. In the mystic rites

Initiated, life's best delights

I place in chastity alone,

Midst Night's dread orgies wont to rove,

The priest of Zagreus ²¹ and of Jove;

Feasts of crude flesh I now decline,

And wave aloof the blazing pine

To Cybele, nor fear to claim

Her own Curete's hallow'd name; |133

Clad in a snowy vest I fly

Far from the throes of pregnancy,

Never amidst the tombs intrude,

And slay no animal for food.

20. For holy men were of opinion that purity consisted in a thing not being mingled with its contrary, and that mixture is defilement. Hence, they thought that nutriment should be assumed from fruits, and not from dead bodies, and that we should not, by introducing that which is animated to our nature, defile what is administered by nature. But they conceived, that the slaughter of animals, as they are sensitive, and the depriving them of their souls, is a defilement to the living; and that the pollution is much greater, to mingle a body which was once sensitive, but is now deprived of sense, with a sensitive and living being. Hence, universally, the purity pertaining to piety consists in rejecting and abstaining from many things, and in an abandonment of such as are of a contrary nature, and the assumption of such as are appropriate and concordant. On this account, venereal connexions are attended with defilement. For in these, a conjunction takes place of the female with the male; and the seed, when retained by the woman, and causing her to be pregnant, defiles the soul, through its association with the body; but when it does not produce conception, it pollutes, in consequence of becoming a lifeless mass. The connexion also of males with males defiles, because it is an emission of seed as it were into a dead body, and because it is contrary to nature. And, in short, all venery, and emissions of the seed in sleep, pollute, because the soul becomes mingled with the body, and is drawn down to pleasure. The passions of the soul likewise defile, through the complication of the irrational and effeminate part with reason, the internal masculine part. For, in a certain respect, defilement and pollution manifest the mixture of things of an heterogeneous nature, and especially when the abstersion of this mixture is attended with difficulty. Whence, also, in tinctures which are produced through mixture, one species being complicated with another, this mixture is denominated a defilement.

As when some woman with a lively red

Stains the pure iv'ry ---

says Homer ²². And again painters call the mixtures of colours, |134 corruptions. It is usual, likewise to denominate that which is unmingled and pure, incorruptible, and to call that which is genuine, unpolluted. For water, when mingled with earth, is corrupted, and is not genuine. But water, which is diffluent, and runs with tumultuous rapidity, leaves behind in its course the earth which it carries in its stream.

When from a limpid and perennial fount

It defluous runs ---

as Hesiod says ²³. For such water is salubrious, because it is uncorrupted and unmixed. The female, likewise, that does not receive into herself the exhalation of seed, is said to be uncorrupted. So that the mixture of contraries is corruption and defilement. For the mixture of dead with living bodies, and the insertion of beings that were once living and sentient into animals, and of dead into living flesh, may be reasonably supposed to introduce defilement and stains to our nature; just, again, as the soul is polluted when it is invested with the body. Hence, he who is born, is polluted by the mixture of his soul with body; and he who dies, defiles his body, through leaving it a corpse, different and foreign from that which possesses life. The soul, likewise, is polluted by anger and desire, and the multitude of passions of which in a certain respect diet is a co-operating cause. But as water which flows through a rock is more uncorrupted than that which runs through marshes, because it does not bring with it much mud; thus, also, the soul which administers its own affairs in a body that is dry, and is not moistened by the juices of foreign flesh, is in a more excellent condition, is more uncorrupted, and is more prompt for intellectual energy. Thus too, it is said, that the thyme which is the driest and the sharpest to the taste, affords the best honey to bees. The dianoetic, therefore, or discursive power of the soul, is polluted; or rather, he who energizes dianoetically, when this energy is mingled with the energies of either the imaginative or doxastic power. But purification consists in a separation from all these, and the wisdom which is adapted to divine concerns, is a desertion of every thing of this kind. The proper nutriment likewise, of each thing, is that which essentially preserves it. Thus you may say, that the nutriment of a stone is the cause of its continuing to be a stone, and of firmly remaining in a lapideous form; but the nutriment of a plant is that which preserves it in increase and fructification; and of an animated body, that which preserves its composition. It is one thing, however, |135 to nourish, and another to fatten; and one thing to impart what is necessary, and another to procure what is luxurious. Various, therefore, are the kinds of nutriment, and various also is the nature of the things that are nourished. And it is necessary, indeed, that all things should be nourished, but we should earnestly endeavour to fatten our most principal parts. Hence, the nutriment of the rational soul is that which preserves it in a rational state. But this is intellect; so that it is to be nourished by intellect; and we should earnestly endeavour that it may be fattened through this, rather than that the flesh may become pinguid through esculent substances. For intellect preserves for us eternal life, but the body when fattened causes the soul to be famished, through its hunger after a blessed life not being satisfied, increases our mortal part, since it is of itself insane, and impedes our attainment of an immortal condition of being. It likewise defiles by corporifying the soul, and drawing her down to that which is foreign to her nature. And the magnet, indeed, imparts, as it were, a soul to the iron which is placed near it; and the iron, though most heavy, is elevated, and runs to the spirit of the stone. Should he, therefore, who is suspended from incorporeal and intellectual deity, be anxiously busied in procuring food which fattens the body, that is an impediment to intellectual perception? Ought he not rather, by contracting hat is necessary to the flesh into that which is little and easily procured, he himself nourished, by adhering to God more closely than the iron to the magnet? I wish, indeed, that our nature was not so corruptible, and that it were possible we could live free from molestation, even without the nutriment derived from fruits. O that, as Homer ²⁴ says, we were not in want either of meat or drink, that we might be truly immortal! --- the poet in thus speaking beautifully signifying, that food is the auxiliary not only of life, but also of death. If therefore, we were not in want even of vegetable aliment, we should be by so much the more blessed, in proportion as we should be more immortal. But now, being in a mortal condition, we render ourselves, if it be proper so to speak, still more mortal, through becoming ignorant that, by the addition of this mortality, the soul, as Theophrastus says, does not only confer a great benefit on the body by being its inhabitant, but gives herself wholly to it. ²⁵ Hence, it is much |136 to be wished that we could easily obtain the life celebrated in fables, in which hunger and thirst are unknown; so that, by stopping the everyway-flowing river of the body, we might in a very little time be present with the most excellent natures, to which he who accedes, since deity is there, is himself a God. But how is it possible not to lament the condition of the generality of mankind, who are so involved in darkness as to cherish their own evil, and who, in the first place, hate themselves, and him who truly begot them, and afterwards, those who admonish them, and call on them to return from ebriety to a sober condition of being? Hence, dismissing things of this kind, will it not be requisite to pass on to what remains to be discussed?

21. Those then who oppose the Nomades, or Troglodytae ²⁶, or Ichthyophagi, to the legal institutes of the nations which we have adduced, are ignorant that these people were brought to the necessity of eating animals through the infecundity of the region they inhabit, which is so barren, that it does not even produce herbs, but only shores and sands. And this necessity is indicated by their not being able to make use of fire, through the want of combustible materials; but they dry their fish on rocks, or on the shore. And these indeed live after this manner from necessity. There are, however, certain nations whose manners are rustic, and who are naturally savage; but it is not fit that those who are equitable judges should, from such instances as these, calumniate human nature: For thus we should not only be dubious whether it is proper to eat animals, but also, whether we may not eat men, and adopt all other savage manners. It is related, therefore, that the Massagetas and the Derbices consider those of their kindred to be most miserable who die spontaneously. Hence, preventing their dearest friends from dying naturally, they slay them when they are old, and eat them. The Tibareni hurl from rocks their nearest relatives, even while living, when they are old. And with respect to the Hyrcani and Caspii, the one exposed the living, but the other the dead, to be devoured by birds and dogs. But the Scythians bury the living with the dead, and cut their throats on the pyres of the dead by whom they were especially beloved. The Bactrii likewise cast those among them that are old, even while living, to the dogs. And Stasanor, who was one of Alexander's prefects, nearly lost his government through endeavouring to destroy this custom. As, however, we do not on account of these examples subvert mildness of conduct towards men, so neither should we imitate |137 those nations that feed on flesh through necessity, but we should rather imitate the pious, and those who consecrate themselves to the Gods. For Democrates ²⁷ says, that to live badly, and not prudently, temperately, and piously, is not to live in reality,²⁸ but to die for a long time.

22. It now remains that we should adduce a few examples of certain individuals, as testimonies in favour of abstinence from animal food. For the want of these was one of the accusations which were urged against us. We learn, therefore, that Triptolemus was the most ancient of the Athenian legislators; of whom Hermippus ²⁹, in the second book of his treatise on Legislators, writes as follows: "It is said, that Triptolemus established laws for the Athenians. And the philosopher Xenocrates asserts, that three of his laws still remain in Eleusis, which are these, Honour your parents; Sacrifice to the Gods from the fruits of the earth; Injure not animals." Two of these, therefore, he says, are properly instituted. For it is necessary that we should as much as possible recompense our parents for the benefits which they have conferred on us; and that we should offer to the Gods the first-fruits of the things useful to our life, which they have imparted to us. But with respect to the third law, he is dubious as to the intention of Triptolemus, in ordering the Athenians to abstain from animals. Was it, says he, because he thought it was a dire thing to slay kindred natures, or because he perceived it would happen, that the most useful animals would be destroyed by men for food? Wishing, therefore to make our life as mild as possible, he endeavoured to preserve those animals that associate with men, and which are especially tame. Unless, indeed, because having ordained that men should honour the Gods by offering to them first-fruits, he therefore added this third law, conceiving that this mode of worship would continue for a longer time, if sacrifices through animals were not made to the Gods. But as many other causes, though not very accurate, of the promulgation of these laws, are assigned by Xenocrates, thus much from what has been said is sufficient for our |138 purpose, that abstinence from animals was one of the legal institutes of Triptolemus. Hence, those who afterwards violated this law, being compelled by great necessity, and involuntary errors, fell, as we have shown, into this custom of slaughtering and eating animals. The following, also, is mentioned as a law of Draco: "Let this be an eternal sacred law ³⁰ to the inhabitants of Attica, and let its authority be predominant for ever; viz. that the Gods, and indigenous Heroes, be worshipped publicly, conformably to the laws of the country, delivered by our ancestors; and also, that they be worshipped privately, according to the ability of each individual, in conjunction with auspicious words, the firstlings of fruits, and annual cakes. So that this law ordains, that divinity should be venerated by the first offerings of fruit which are used by men, and cakes, made of the fine flour of wheat ³¹."

[Footnotes moved to the end and numbered]

1. * There were many celebrated men of this name among the ancients, concerning which vid. Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. L. HI. c. 11.

2. + These lines are from Hesiod. Oper. 116. See also endnote 2.

3. * The medimnus was a measure containing six bushels.

4. * An Attic measure, containing six Attic pints.

5. + In the original και δηλου ως ταιυτῃ πολιτεια οικειον, το της αποχης της παντελους, ταις δε διεφθαρμεναις, το της βρωσευς. But the latter part of this sentence is evidently defective, though the defect is not noticed either by Valentinus, or Reisk, or Rhoer. It appears therefore to me, that της τρυφης is wanting; so that for το της βρωσεως, we should read το της τρυφης της βρωσεως. And my conjecture is justified by the version of Felicianus, which is "Huic autum abstinentiam, coeteris luxuriant victus fuisse peculiarem perspicuum est."

6. * Those who, in being initiated, closed the eyes, which muesis signifies, no longer (says Hermias in Phaedrum) received by sense those divine mysteries, but with the pure soul itself. See my Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries.

7. * In the original, και πορους ανθρωπινους; but for πορους I read πονους, and Feicianus appears to have found the same reading in his manuscript; for his version is, "laboribusque humerus." neither Reisk, however, nor Rhoer, have at all noticed the word πορους as improper in this place.

8. + Much is related about the Egyptian priests by Herodotus, lib. ii. 37. With respect to Chaeremon, the decisions of the ancients concerning him are very discordant.

9. * i.e. Those to whose care the sacred vestments were committed.

10. + These were so denominated from carrying the little receptacles in which the images of the Gods were contained.

11. * See on this subject Plutarch's excellent treatise of Isis and Osiris.

12. * Fabricius is of opinion, that this Euphantus is the same with the Ecphantus mentioned by Iamblichus (in Vit. Pyth.) as one of the Pythagoreans. Vid. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. lib. ii. c. 13.

13. * This is not wonderful; for the Jews appear to have been always negligent of cleanliness. The intelligent reader will easily perceive that there is some similitude between these Essenes and the ancient Pythagoreans, but that the latter were infinitely superior to the former. See my translation of Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras.

14. * This was a very necessary oath for these Essenes to take; as the Jews in general, if we may believe Tacitus and other ancient historians, were always a people immoderately addicted to gain.

15. + As the Essenes appear to have been an exception to the rest of the Jews, the reason is obvious why they took this oath.

16. * Similar to this was the garment with which Apuleius was invested after his initiation into the mysteries of Isis, and which he describes as follows:-"There [i.e. on a wooden throne] I sat conspicuous, in a garment which was indeed linen, but was elegantly painted. A precious cloak also depended from my shoulders behind my back, as far as to my heels. Nevertheless, to whatever part of me you directed your view, you might see that I was remarkable by the animals which were painted round my vestment, in various colours. Here were Indian dragons, there Hyperborean griffins, which the other hemisphere generates in the form of a winged animal. Men devoted to the service of divinity, call this cloak the Olympic garment." - See Book II. of my translation of the Metamorphosis of Apuleius.

17. * The first subsistence of Maia, who, according to the Orphic theology, is the same with the Goddess Night, is at the summit of the intelligible and at the same time intellectual order, and is wholly absorbed in the intelligible. As we are also informed by Proclus (in Cratylum), "She is the paradigm of Ceres. For immortal Night is the nurse of the Gods [according to Orpheus]. Night, however, is the cause of aliment intelligibly: for the intelligible is, as the Chaldean Oracle says, the aliment of the intellectual orders of Gods. But Ceres, first of all separates the two kinds of aliment [nectar and ambrosia] in the Gods." He adds, "Hence our sovereign mistress Ceres, not only generates life, but that which gives perfection to life; and this from supernal natures, to such as are last. For virtue is the perfection of souls." [Note to the online edition: See also endnote 3]

18. * Concerning the Indian philosophers, see the second Book of Diodortus Siculus.

19. + This is the Bardesanes who lived in the time of Marcus Antoninus, and who wrote a treatise on the Lake of Probation in India, which is mentioned by Porphyry in his fragment de Styge, preserved by Stobaeus.

20. * βαναυσοι, i.e. dirty mechanists and bellows-blowers, an appellation by which Plato in his Rivals designates the experimentalists.

21. * Ζαγρευς (Zagreus) is an epithet of Bacchus. Wodhull, however, from whose translation of Euripides the above lines are taken, is greatly mistaken in saying, that "it is evident from the hymns of Orpheus that Zagreus was a name given to Bacchus at his sacred rites." For the word Zagreus is not to be found either in the hymns of Orpheus, or in any other of the Orphic writings that are extant.

22. * Iliad, IV. v. 141.

23. * Oper. et. Dies, 595

24. * Iliad, V. v. 341.

25. + In the original, ου πολυ το ενοικιον, ως φησι. που θεοφραστος, τῳ σωματι διδουσης της ψυχης, κ.τ.λ. But for ου πολυ το ενοικιον, it appears to me to be necessary to read, ου μονον πολυ το ενοικιον, κ.τ.λ.

26. * Vid. Diod. Sic. lib. iii 32

27. * Reisk says, that he does not know who this Democrates is; but there can, I think, be no doubt of its being the Pythagorean of that name, whose Golden Sentences are extant in the Opuscula Mythologica of Gale, of which see Mr. Bridgman's translation.

28. + In the original, ου κακως ζην ειναι. But for ου κακως, I read, ουκ οντως. For without this emendation, Democrates will contradict himself.

29. § This Hermippus is also cited by Diogenes Laertius in Pyth.

30. * In the original, θεσμος, which, as we are informed by Proclus, signifies divine order, and a uniform boundary.

31. + This book is evidently imperfect, because there are wanting at the end examples of illustrious Greeks and Romans, who, from the most remote antiquity, abstained from animal food. And this was also obvious to Reisk.

[Note to the online edition: These endnotes are referenced in the body of the translation by superscript 1, 2, 3. I have located 2 and 3, and added a note to the relevant footnote rather than intrude an extra in the text. I have not been able to find where endnote 1 is referenced. These endnotes cover pp.139-143 of the edition used.]

Notes.

1. Though Porphyry excelled in all philosophical knowledge, whence also he was called κατ̓ εξοχην, the philosopher, yet he was inferior to his auditor Iamblichus, in theological information. On this account, Iamblichus was called by all the Platonists posterior to him, the divine, and the great priest. I shall present the reader, therefore, with an extract from my translation of his treatise On the Mysteries, which appears to me to be an admirable supplement to what Porphyry has said in this book, about sacrificing animals, and a satisfactory answer to the question whether they are to be sacrificed or not.

In Chap 14, therefore, of Sect. 5, he observes as follows: "We shall begin the elucidation of this subject in the best possible manner, if we demonstrate that the sacred law of sacrifices is connected with the order of the Gods. In the first place, therefore, we say "that of the Gods some are material, but others immaterial. And the immaterial indeed, are those that comprehend matter in themselves, and adorn it; but the immaterial are those that are perfectly exempt from, and transcend matter: but, according to true sacrific art, it is requisite to begin sacred operations from the material Gods; for the ascent to the immaterial Gods will not otherwise be effected. The material Gods, therefore, have a certain communication with matter, so far as they preside over it. Hence they have dominion over things which happen about matter, such as the division, percussion, repercussion, mutation, generation, and corruption of all material bodies. He, therefore, who wishes to worship these theurgically, in a manner adapted to them, and to the dominion which they are allotted, should, as they are material, employ, a material mode of worship. For thus we shall be wholly led to a familiarity with them, and worship them in an allied and appropriate manner. Dead bodies, therefore, and things deprived of life, the slaying of animals, and the consumption of victims, and, in short, the mutation of the matter which is offered, pertain to these Gods, not by themselves, but on account of the matter over which they preside. For though they are, in the most eminent degree, separate from it, yet, at the same time, they are present with it; and, though they comprehend matter in an immaterial power, yet they are co-existent with it. Things also that are governed, are not foreign from their governors; and things which are subservient as instruments, are not unadapted to those that use them. Hence it is foreign to the immaterial Gods, to offer matter to them through sacrifices, but this is most adapted to all the material Gods."

In the following chapter, Iamblichus observes, "that as there is a time when we become wholly soul, are out of the body, and sublimely revolve on high, in conjunction with all the immaterial Gods; so, likewise, there is a two-fold mode of worship, one of which is simple, incorporeal, and pure from all generation; and this mode pertains to undefiled souls; but the other is replete with every thing of a material nature, and is adapted to souls which are neither pure, nor liberated from all generation." He adds, "we must admit, therefore, that there are two-fold species of sacrifices; one kind, indeed, pertaining to men who are not entirely purified, which, as Heraclitus says, rarely happens to one man, or to a certain easily-to-be-numbered few of mankind; but the other kind being material, and consisting in mutation, is adapted to souls that are still detained by the body. Hence, to cities and people not yet liberated from sublunary fate, and the impending communion of bodies, if such a mode of sacrifice as this latter is not permitted, they will wander both from immaterial and material good. For they will not be able to receive the former, and to the latter they will not offer what is appropriate."

He further informs us, in Chap. 22, that though the summit of the sacrific art recurs to the most principal one of the whole multitude of Gods [i.e. to the ineffable cause of all,] and at one and the same time worships the many essences and principles that are [rooted and concentred] in it; yet this happens at the latest period, and to a very few, and that we must be satisfied, if it takes place, when the sun of life is setting. "But," says he, "our present discussion does not ordain laws for a man of this kind; for he is superior to all law; but it promulgates a law such as that of which we are now speaking, to those who are in want of a certain divine legislation." In the above passage, by "a man of this kind," Iamblichus most probably alludes to Plotinus, as both his works, and the life of him, written by Porphyry, show that he was a man capable of recurring to, and becoming united with the highest God, and thus at the same time worshipping all the divine powers that are rooted in him.

To what Iamblichus has thus excellently observed, may be added what the philosopher Sallust says in his golden treatise On the Gods and the World, viz. "that since life primarily subsists in the Gods, and there is also a certain human life, but the latter desires to be united to the former, a medium is required; for natures much distant from each other cannot be conjoined without a medium; and it is necessary that the medium should be similar to the connected natures. Life, therefore, must necessarily be the medium of life. Hence, men of the present day that are happy, and all the ancients, have sacrificed animals; and this, indeed, not rashly, but in a way accommodated to every God, with many other ceremonies respecting the cultivation of divinity." Let the truly intellectual and pious man, however, never forget that prayer, as Proclus divinely observes, possesses of itself a supernatural perfection and power.

2. The different ages, however, of mankind, which are celebrated by Hesiod in his Works and Days, signify the different lives which the individuals of the human species pass through; and as Proclus on Hesiod beautifully observes, they may be comprehended in this triad, the golden, the silver and the brazen age. But by the golden age an intellectual life is implied. For such a life is pure, impassive, and free from sorrow; and of this impassivity and purity, gold is an image, through never being subject to rust or putrefaction. Such a life, too, is very properly said to be under Saturn, because Saturn is an intellectual God, or a God characterised by intellect. By the silver age, a rustic and natural life is implied, in which the attention of the rational soul is entirely directed to the care of the body, but without proceeding to extreme depravity. And by the brazen age, a dire, tyrannic and cruel life is implied, which is entirely passive, and proceeds to the very extremity of vice. The order, also, of these metals, harmonizes, as Proclus observes, with that of the lives. "For," says he, "gold is solar-form, because the sun is solely immaterial light. But silver is lunar-form, because the moon partakes of shadow, just as silver partakes of rust. And brass is earthly, so far as not having a nature similar to a lucid body; it is replete with abundance of corruption."

[Page 128] 3. Proclus, however, in his Scholia on the Cratylus of Plato, gives a much more theological account of the derivation of the name of Proserpine, as follows:--- "Socrates now delivers these three vivific monads in a consequence order, viz. Ceres, Juno, Proserpine; calling the first the mother, the second the sister, and the third the daughter of the Demiurgus [Jupiter]. All of them, however, are partakers of the whole of fabrication; the first in an exempt manner, and intellectually; the second in a fontal manner; and, at the same time, in a way adapted to a principle (αρχικως); and the third in a manner adapted to a principle and a leader (αρχικως και ηγεμονικως).

Of these Goddesses the last is allotted triple powers, and impartibly and uniformly comprehends three monads of Gods. But she is called Core, through the purity of her essence, and her undefiled transcendency in her generations. She also possesses a first, middle, and last empire; and according to her summit, indeed, she is called Diana by Orpheus; but, according to her middle, Proserpine; and according to the extremity of the order, Minerva. Likewise, according to an essence transcending the other powers of this triple vivific order, the dominion of Hecate is established; but according to a middle power, and which is generative of wholes, that of soul; and, according to intellectual conversion, that of Virtue / Ceres, therefore, subsisting on high, and among the supermundane Gods, uniformly extends this triple order of divinities; and, together with Jupiter, generates Bacchus, who impartibly presides over partible fabrication. But beneath, in conjunction with Pluto, she is particularly beheld according to the middle characteristic: for it is this which, proceeding every where, imparts vivification to the last of things. Hence she is called Proserpine, because she especially associates with Pluto, and, together with him, distributes in an orderly manner the extremities of the universe. And, according to her extremities, indeed, she is said to be a virgin, and to remain undefiled; but, according to her middle, to be conjoined with hades, and to beget the furies in the subterranean regions. She, therefore, is also called Ceres, but after another manner than the supermundane and ruling Ceres. For the one is the connective unity of the three vivific principles; but the other is the middle of them, in herself possessing the peculiarities of the extremes. Hence, in the Proserpine conjoined with Pluto, you will find the peculiarities of Hecate and Minerva; but these extremes subsist in her occultly, while the peculiarity of the middle shines forth, and that which is characteristic of ruling soul, which in the supermundane Ceres was of a ruling b nature, but here subsists according to a mundane peculiarity."

Proclus further observes, "that Proserpine is denominated either through judging of forms, and separating them from each other, thus obscurely signifying the subversion of slaughter c, or through separating souls perfectly from bodies, through a conversion to things on high, which is the most fortunate slaughter and death to such as are worthy of it (ἥ δια το χωριζειν τας ψυχας τελεως εκ των σωματων δια της προς τα ανω επιστροφες, οπερ εστιν ευτυχεστατος φονος και θανατος τοις αξιουμενοις ταυτου.) But the name Pherephatta is adapted to Proserpine, according to a contact with generation; but according to wisdom and counsel, to Minerva. At the same time, however, all the appellations by which she is distinguished, are adapted to the perfection of soul. On this account, also, she is called Proserpine, and not by the names of the extremes; since that which was ravished by Pluto, is this middle deity; the extremes at the same time being firmly established in themselves; according to which Ceres is said to remain a virgin.

a Proclus says this conformably to the theology of the Chaldeans; for, according to that theology, the first monad of the vivific triad is Hecate, the second Soul and the third Virtue.

b That is, of a supermundane nature; for the ruling are the supermundane Gods.

c Proclus here alludes to the war which subsists among forms through their union with matter, and which Proserpine subverts by separating them from each other. δια το κρινειν τα ειδη, και χωριζειν αλληλων ως του φονου την αναιρεσιν αινιττομενον.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_cave_of_nymphs_01_intro.htm

Porphyry, On the Cave of the Nymphs (1917) Preface to the online edition.

Porphyry, On the Cave of the Nymphs (De antro nympharum) (1917) Preface to the online edition.

The Neo-platonist philosopher Porphyry (234 - ca. 305 A.D.) wrote this work as a commentary on 11 verses of Homer's Odyssey, from book 13. In these verses, Homer describes the cave of the water-nymphs or Naiads on the island of Ithaca. Porphyry's work treats this as an allegory of the way in which the souls of men originate in each generation. He draws upon an eclectic mix of sources to illustrate his theme, including Plato, Zoroaster, Heraclitus, the bible and some references to Egyptian and Chaldaean oracles. The Greek title is Πορφυριου περι του εν οδυσσειαι των νυμφων αντρου.

The translation given here was transcribed from a 1917 reprint of the translation made by the English Platonist Thomas Taylor (1758-1835) in Select Works of Porphyry (1823) and often reprinted since. The 1917 version is available online at archive.org in PDF form.

The work has reached us in the following manuscripts:

Siglum

Location

Shelfmark & Notes

Date /

Century

V

Rome, Vatican Library Vaticanus Graecus 305. Two correctors worked on the manuscript. The second was Janus Lascaris, who annotated it between 1515-7, in preparation for his edition of the text published in 1518. 13

M

Venice, Marcianus Library Marcianus Graecus IX, 4. Corrections exist in a single hand. 13

The following editions of the text exist, with Latin translations:

J. Lascaris. Porphyrii Philosophi Homericarum quaestionum liber. Eiusdem de Nympharum antro in Odyssea, opusculum. Rome, 1518.

L. Holste. Porphyrii Philosophi liber de vita Pythagorae. Ejusdem Sententiae ad intelligibila ducentes. De Antro Nympharum, quod in Odyssea describitur. Lucas Holstenius latine vertit, dissertationem de vita et scriptis Porphyrii et ad vitam Pythagorae observationes adjecit. Rome, 1630.

J. Barnes. Homeri Ilias et Odyssea, et in easdem Scholia, sive Interpretatio, Veterum... Opera, studio et impensis Iosuae Barnes... vol I. Cambridge, 1711, pp. CXIII-CXXIII.

R. M. Van Goens. Porphyrius de antro nympharum. Graece cum Latina L. Holstenius versione.... Utrecht, 1765. [Online at Google books]

R. Hercher. Aeliani De natura animalium, varia historia et fragmenta, Porphyrii philosophi de abstinentia et de antro nympharum... Paris, 1858, pp.87-95.

Aug. Nauck. Porphyrii philosophi Platonici opusula selecta. Leipzig, 1887. pp. 53-81. [Online at Google books]

The work was also summarised by the Byzantine writer Michael Psellus in the 11th century. An edition of this was published by J. F. Boissonade, Michael Psellus: De operatione daemonum, Nuremberg, 1838, pp. 52-56.

Bibliography

Yann Le Lay et al., Porphyre: L'antre des nymphes dans l'Odyssée. Verdier (1990). The source for most of these notes.

More modern English translations exist:

The cave of the nymphs in the Odyssey / [by] Porphyry; a revised text with translation, [edited] by Seminar Classics 609, State University of New York at Buffalo. (1969)

Robert Lamberton, Porphyry: On the cave of the nymphs. Barrytown, N.Y.: Station Hill Press, c1983. ISBN 0930794710.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_cave_of_nymphs_02_translation.htm

Porphyry, On the Cave of the Nymphs (1917) English translation.

Porphyry, On the Cave of the Nymphs (1917) English translation.

On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Thirteenth Book of the Odyssey

From the Greek of Porphyry

Translated by Thomas Taylor

London

John M. Watkins

21 Cecil Court, Charing Cross Road

1917

ON THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS IN THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF THE ODYSSEY

1. What does Homer obscurely signify by the cave in Ithaca, which he describes in the following verses?

High at the head a branching olive grows

And crowns the pointed cliffs with shady boughs.

A cavern pleasant, though involved in night,

Beneath it lies, the Naiades delight:

Where bowls and urns of workmanship divine

And massy beams in native marble shine;

On which the Nymphs amazing webs display,

Of purple hue and exquisite array,

The busy bees within the urns secure

Honey delicious, and like nectar pure.

Perpetual waters through the grotto glide,

A lofty gate unfolds on either side;

That to the north is pervious to mankind:

The sacred south t'immortals is consign'd."

That the poet, indeed, does not narrate these particulars from historical information, is evident from this, that those who have given us |6 a description of the island, have, as Cronius (note 1) says, made no mention of such a cave being found in it. This likewise, says he, is manifest, that it would be absurd for Homer to expect, that in describing a cave fabricated merely by poetical license and thus artificially opening a path to Gods and men in the region of Ithaca, he should gain the belief of mankind. And it is equally absurd to suppose, that nature herself should point out, in this place, one path for the descent of all mankind, and again another path for all the Gods. For, indeed, the whole world is full of Gods and men; but it is impossible to be persuaded, that in the Ithacensian cave men descend, and Gods ascend. Cronius therefore, having premised this much, says, that it is evident, not only to the wise but also to the vulgar, that the poet, under the veil of allegory, conceals some mysterious signification; thus compelling others to explore what the gate of men is and also what is the gate of the Gods: what he means by asserting that this cave of the Nymphs has two gates; and why it is both pleasant and obscure, since darkness is by no means delightful, but is rather productive of aversion and horror. Likewise, what is the |7 reason why it is not simply said to be the cave of the Nymphs, but it is accurately added, of the Nymphs which are called Naiades? Why also, is the cave represented as containing bowls and amphorae, when no mention is made of their receiving any liquor, but bees are said to deposit their honey in these vessels as in hives? Then, again, why are oblong beams adapted to weaving placed here for the Nymphs; and these not formed from wood, or any other pliable matter, but from stone, as well as the amphorae and bowls? Which last circumstance is, indeed, less obscure; but that, on these stony beams, the Nymphs should weave purple garments, is not only wonderful to the sight, but also to the auditory sense. For who would believe that Goddesses weave garments in a cave involved in darkness, and on stony beams; especially while he hears the poet asserting, that the purple webs of the Goddesses were visible. In addition to these things likewise, this is admirable, that the cave should have a twofold entrance; one made for the descent of men, but the other for the ascent of Gods. And again that the gate, which is pervious by men, should be said to be turned against the north wind, but the |8 portal of the Gods to the south; and why the poet did not rather make use of the west and the east for this purpose, since nearly all temples have their statues and entrances turned towards the east; but those who enter them look towards the west, when standing with their faces turned towards the statues they honour and worship the Gods. Hence, since this narration is full of such obscurities it can neither be a fiction casually devised for the purpose of procuring delight, nor an exposition of a topical history; but something allegorical must be indicated in it by the poet who likewise mystically places an olive near the cave. All which particulars the ancients thought very laborious to investigate and unfold; and we, with their assistance, shall now endeavour to develop the secret meaning of the allegory. Those persons, therefore, appear to have written very negligently about the situation of the place, who think that the cave, and what is narrated concerning it, are nothing more than a notion of the poet. But the best and most accurate writers of geography, and among these Artemidorus the Ephesian, in the fifth book of his work, which consists of eleven books, thus writes: "The island of Ithaca, |9 containing an extent of eighty-five stadia (note 2), is distant from Panormus, a port of Cephalenia, about twelve stadia. It has a port named Phorcys, in which there is a shore, and on that shore a cave, in which the Phaeacians are reported to have placed Ulysses." This cave, therefore, will not be entirely an Homeric fiction. But whether the poet describes it as it really is, or whether he has added something to it of his own invention, nevertheless the same inquiries remain; whether the intention of the poet is investigated, or of those who founded the cave. For, neither did the ancients establish temples without fabulous symbols, nor does Homer rashly narrate the particulars pertaining to things of this kind. But how much the more anyone endeavours to show that this description of the cave is not an Homeric fiction, but prior to Homer was consecrated to the Gods, by so much the more will this consecrated cave be found to be full of ancient wisdom. And on this account it deserves to be investigated, and it is requisite that its symbolical consecration should be amply unfolded into light.

2. The ancients, indeed, very properly consecrated a cave to the world, whether assumed |10 collectively, according to the whole of itself, or separately, according to its parts. Hence they considered earth as a symbol of that matter of which the world consists; on which account some thought that matter and earth are the same; through the cave indicating the world, which was generated from matter. For caves are, for the most part, spontaneous productions, and connascent with the earth, being comprehended by one uniform mass of stone; the interior parts of which are concave, but the exterior parts are extended over an indefinite portion of land. And the world being spontaneously produced (i.e., being produced by no external, but from an internal cause), and being also self-adherent, is allied to matter; which, according to a secret signification, is denominated a stone and a rock, on account of its sluggish and repercussive nature with respect to form; the ancients, at the same time, asserting that matter is infinite through its privation of form. Since, however, it is continually flowing, and is of itself destitute of the supervening investments of form, through which it participates of morphe (note 3), and becomes visible, the flowing waters, darkness, or, as the poet says, |11 obscurity of the cavern. were considered by the ancients as apt symbols of what the world contains, on account of the matter with which it is connected. Through matter, therefore, the world is obscure and dark; but through the connecting power, and orderly distribution of form, from which also it is called world, it is beautiful and delightful. Hence it may very properly be denominated a cave; as being lovely, indeed, to him who first enters into it, through its participation of forms, but obscure to him who surveys its foundation and examines it with an intellectual eye. So that its exterior and superficial parts, indeed, are pleasant, but its interior and profound parts are obscure (and its very bottomis darkness itself). Thus also the Persians, mystically signifying the descent of the soul into the sublunary regions, and its regression from it, initiate the mystic (or him who is admitted to the arcane sacred rites) in a place which they denominate a cavern. For, as Eubulus says, Zoroaster was the first who consecrated in the neighbouring mountains of Persia, a spontaneously produced cave, florid, and having fountains, in honour of Mithra, the maker and father of all things; |12 a cave, according to Zoroaster, bearing a resemblance of the world, which was fabricated by Mithra. But the things contained in the cavern being arranged according to commensurate intervals, were symbols of the mundane elements and climates.

3. After this Zoroaster likewise, it was usual with others to perform the rites pertaining to the mysteries in caverns and dens, whether spontaneously produced, or made by the hands. For as they established temples, groves, and altars to the celestial Gods, but to the terrestrial Gods, and to heroes, altars alone, and to the subterranean divinities pits and cells; so to the world they dedicated caves and dens; as likewise to Nymphs (note 4), on account of the water which trickles, or is diffused in caverns, over which the Naiades, as we shall shortly observe, preside. Not only, however, did the ancients make a cavern,as we have.said, to be a symbol of the world, or of a generated and sensible nature: but they also assumed it as a symbol of all invisible powers; because as caverns are obscure and dark, so the essence of these powers is occult. Hence Saturn fabricated a cavern in the ocean itself and |13 concealed in it his children. Thus, too, Ceres educated Proserpine with her Nymphs in a cave; and many other particulars of this kind may be found in the writings of theologists. But that the ancients dedicated caverns to Nymphs and especially to Naiades, who dwell, near fountains, and who are called Naiades from the streams over which they preside, is manifest from the hymn to Apollo, in which it is said: " The Nymphs residing in caves shall deduce fountains of intellectual waters to thee (according to the divine voice of the Muses), which are the progeny of a terrene spirit. Hence waters, bursting through every river, shall exhibit to mankind perpetual effusions of sweet streams" (note 5). From hence, as it appears to me. the Pythagoreans. and after them Plato, showed that the world is a cavern and a den. For the powers which are the leaders of souls, thus speak in a verse of Empedocles:

"Now at this secret cavern we're arrived."

And by Plato, in the seventh book of his Republic, it is said, Behold men as if dwelling in a subterraneous cavern, and in a denlike habitation, whose entrance is widely |14 expanded to the admission of the light through the whole cave." But when the other person in the dialogue says: You adduce an unusual and wonderful similitude," he replies, "The whole of this image, friend Glauco, must be adapted to what has been before said, assimilating this receptacle, which is visible through the sight to the habitation of a prison; but the light of the fire which is in it to the power of the sun.

4. That theologists therefore considered caverns as symbols of the world, and of mundane powers, is through this, maiifest. And it has been already observed by us, that they also considered a cave as a symbol of the intelligible essence; being impelled to do so by different and not the same conceptions. For they were of opinion that a cave is a symbol of the sensible world because caverns are dark, stony, and humid; and they asserted that the world is a thing of this kind, through the matter of which it consists, and through its repercussive and flowing nature. But they thought it to be a symbol of the intelligible world, because that world is invisible to sensible perception, and possesses a firm and |15 stable essence. Thus, also, partial powers are unapparent, and especially those which are inherent in matter. For they formed these symbols, from surveying the spontaneous production of caves, and their nocturnal, dark, and stony nature; and not entirely, as some suspect, from directing their attention to the figure of a cavern. For every cave is not spherical, as is evident from this Homeric cave with a twofold entrance. But since a cavern has a twofold similitude, the present cave must not be assumed as an image of the intelligible but of the sensible essence. For in consequence of containing perpetually flowing streams of water, it will not be a symbol of an intelligible hypostasis, but of a material essence. On this account also it is sacred to Nymphs, not the mountain or rural Nymphs, or others of the like kind, but to the Naiades, who are thus denominated from streams of water. For we peculiarly call the Naiades, and the powers that preside over waters, Nymphs; and this term also, is commonly applied to all souls descending into generation. For the ancients thought that these souls are incumbent on water which is inspired by divinity, as Numenius says, who adds, that |16 on this account, a prophet asserts, that the Spirit of God moved on the waters. The Egyptians likewise, on this account, represent all daemons and also the sun, and, in short, all the planets (note 6), not standing on anything solid, but on a sailing vessel; for souls descending into generation fly to moisture. Hence also, Heraclitus says, that moisture appears delightful and not deadly to souls; but the lapse into generation is delightful to them. And in another place (speaking of unembodied souls), he says, "We live their death, and we die their life." Hence the poet calls those that are in generation humid, because they have souls which are profoundly steeped in moisture. On this account, such souls delight in blood and humid seed; but water is the nutriment of the souls of plants. Some likewise are of opinion, that the bodies in the air, and in the heavens, are nourished by vapours from fountains and rivers, and other exhalations. But the Stoics assert, that the sun is nourished by the exhalation from the sea; the moon from the vapours of fountains and river; and the stars from the exhalation of the earth. Hence, according to them, the sun is an intellectual composition formed from |17 the sea; the moon from the river waters and the stars from terrene exhalations.

5. It is necessary, therefore, that souls, whether they are corporeal or incorporeal, while they attract to themselves body, and especially such as are about to be bound to blood and moist bodies, should verge to humidity, and be corporalised, in consequence of being drenched in moisture. Hence the souls of the dead are evocated by the effusion of bile and blood; and souls that are lovers of body, by attracting a moist spirit, condense this humid vehicle like a cloud. For moisture condensed in the air constitutes a cloud. But the pneumatic vehicle being condensed in these souls, becomes visible through an excess of moisture. And among the number of these we must reckon those apparitions of images, which, from a spirit coloured by the influence of imagination, present themselves to mankind. But pure souls are averse from generation; so that, as Heraclitus says, "a dry soul is the wisest." Hence, here also the spirit becomes moist and more aqueous through the desire of generation, the soul thus attracting a humid vapour from verging to generation. Souls, therefore, proceeding |18 into generation are the nymphs called naiades. Hence it is usual to call those that are married nymphs, as being conjoined to generation, and to pour water into baths from fountains, or rivers, or perpetual rills.

6. This world, then, is sacred and pleasant to souls wno nave now proceeded into nature, and to natal daemons, though it is essentially dark and obscure; from which some have suspected that souls also are of an obscure nature and essentially consist of air. Hence a cavern, which is both pleasant and dark, will be appropriately consecrated to souls on the earth, conformably to its similitude to the world, in which, as in the greatest of all temples, souls reside. To the nymphs likewise, who preside over waters, a cavern, in which there are perpetually flowing streams, is adapted. Let, therefore, this present cavern be consecrated to souls, and among the more partial powers, to nymphs that preside over streams and fountains, and who, on this account, are called fontal and naiades. Waat, therefore, are the different symbols, some of which are adapted to souls, but others to the aquatic powers, in order that we may apprehend that this cavern is consecrated in common to |19 both? Let the stony bowls, then, and the amphorae be symbols of the aquatic nymphs. For these are, indeed, the symbols of Bacchus, but their composition is fictile, i.e., consists of baked earth, and these are friendly to the vine, the gift of God; since the fruit of the vine is brought to a proper maturity by the celestial fire of the sun. But the stony bowls and amphorae are in the most eminent degree adapted to the nymphs who preside over the water that flows from rocks. And to souls that descend into generation and are occupied in corporeal energies, what symbol can be more appropriate than those instruments pertaining to weaving? Hence, also, the poet ventures to say, "that on these, the nymphs weave purple webs, admirable to the view." For the formation of the flesh is on and about the bones, which in the bodies of animals resemble stones. Hence these instruments of weaving consist of stone, and not of any other matter. But the purple webs will evidently be the flesh which is woven from the blood. For purple woollen garments are tinged from blood. and wool is dyed from animal juice. The generation of flesh, also, is through and from blood. Add, too, that |20 the body is a garment with which the soul is invested, a thing wonderful to the sight, whether this refers to the composition of the soul, or contributes to the colligation of the soul (to the whole of a visible essence). Thus, also, Proserpine, who is the inspective guardian of everything produced from seed, is represented by Orpheus as weaving a web (note 7), and the heavens are called by the ancients a veil, in consequence of being,as it were, the vestment of the celestial Gods.

7. Why, therefore, are the amphorae said not to be filled with water, but with honeycombs? For in these, Homer says, the bees deposit their honey, which signifies to deposit aliment. And honey is the nutriment of bees. Theologists also have made honey subservient to many and different symbols because it consists of many powers; since it is both cathartic and preservative. Hence, through honey, bodies are preserved from putrefaction, and inveterate ulcers are purified. Farther still, it is also sweet to the taste, and is collected by bees, who are ox-begotten from flowers. When, therefore, those who are initiated in the Leontic sacred rites, pour honey instead of water on their hands; they are ordered |21 (by the initiator) to have their hands pure from everything productive of molestation, and from everything noxious and detestable. Other initiators {into the same mysteries) employ fire, which is of a cathartic nature, as an appropriate punncation. And they likewise purify the tongue from all defilement of evil with honey. But the Persians, when they offer honey to the guardian of fruits, consider it as the symbol of a preserving and defending power. Hence some persons have thought that the nectar and ambrosia (note 8), which the poet pours into the nostrils of the dead, for the purpose of preventing putrefaction, is honey; since honey is the food of the Gods. On this account also, the same poet somewhere calls nectar golden; for such is the colour of honey (viz., it is a deep yellow). But whether or not honey is to be taken for nectar, we shall elsewhere more accurately examine. In Orpheus, likewise, Saturn is ensnared by Jupiter through honey. For Saturn, being filled with honey, is intoxicated, his senses are darkened, as if from the effects of wine, and he sleeps; just as Porus, in the banquet of Plato, is filled with nectar; for wine was not (says he) yet known. The |22 Goddess Night, too, in Orpheus, advises Jupiter to make use of honey as an artifice. For she says to him:—

"When stretch'd beneath the lofty oaks you view

Saturn, with honey by the bees produc'd

Sunk in ebriety (note 9), fast bind the God."

This therefore, takes place, and Saturn being bound is emasculated in the same manner as Heaven; the theologist obscurely signifying by this that divine natures become through pleasure bound, and drawn down into the realms of generation; and also that, when dissolved in pleasure they emit certain seminal powers. Hence Saturn emasculates Heaven, when descending to earth through a desire of generation (note 10). But the sweetness of honey signifies, with theologists, the same thing as the pleasure arising from generation, by which Saturn, being ensnared, was castrated. For Saturn, and his sphere, are the first of the orbs that move contrary to the course of Coelum or the heavens. Certain powers, however, descend both from Heaven (or the inerratic sphere) and the planets. But Saturn receives the powers of Heaven and Jupiter the powers of Saturn. Since, therefore, honey is assumed in |23 purgations, and as an antidote to putrefaction, and is indicative of the pleasure which draws souls downward to generation; it is a symbol well adapted to aquatic Nymphs, on account of the unputrescent nature of the waters over which they preside, their purifying power, and their co-operation with generation. For water co-operates in the work of generation. On this account the bees are said, by the poet, to deposit their honey in bowls and amphorae; the bowls being a symbol of fountains, and therefore a bowl is placed near to Mithra, instead of a fountain; but the amphorae are symbols of the vessels with which we draw water from fountains. And fountains and streams are adapted to aquatic Nymphs, and still more so to the Nymphs that are souls, which the ancient peculiarly called bees, as the efficient causes of sweetness. Hence Sophocles does not speak unappropriately when he says of souls:—

"In swarms while wandering, from the dead,

A humming sound is heard."

8. The priestesses of Ceres, also, as being initiated into the mysteries of the terrene Goddess, were called by the ancients bees; and Proserpine herself was denominated by |24 them honied. The moon, likewise, who presides over generation, was called by them a bee, and also a bull. And Taurus is the exaltation of the moon. But bees are ox-begotten. And this application is also given to souls proceeding into generation. The God, likewise, who is occultly connected with generation, is a stealer of oxen. To which may be added, that honey is considered as a symbol of death, and on this account it is usual to offer libations of honey to the terrestrial Gods; but gall is considered as a symbol of life; whether it is obscurely signined by this, that the life of the soul dies through pleasure, but through bitterness the soul resumes its life, whence, also, bile is sacrificed to the Gods; or whether it is, because death liberates from molestation, but the present life is laborious and bitter. All souls, however, proceeding into generation, are not simply called bees, but those who will live in it justly and who, after having performed such things as are acceptable to the Gods, will again return (to their kindred stars). For this insect loves to return to the place from whence it first came, and is eminently just and sober. Whence, also, the libations |25 which are made with honey are called sober. Bees, likewise, do not sit on beans, which were considered by the ancients as a symbol of generation proceeding in a right line, and without flexure; because this leguminous vegetable is almost the only seed-bearing plant whose stalk is perforated throughout without any intervening knots (note 11). We must therefore admit, that honeycombs and bees are appropriate and common symbols of the aquatic nymphs, and of souls that are married (as it were) to (the humid and fluctuating nature of) generation.

9. Caves, therefore, in the most remote periods of antiquity were consecrated to the Gods, before temples were erected to them. Hence, the Curetes in Crete dedicated a cavern to Jupiter; in Arcadia, a cave was sacred to the Moon, and to Lycean Pan; and in Naxus, to Bacchus. But wherever Mithra was known, they propitiated the God in a cavern. With respect, however, to the Ithacensian cave, Homer was not satisfied with saying that it had two gates, but adds that one of the gates was turned towards the north, but the other which was more divine, to the south. He also says that the northern gate was |26 pervious to descent, but does not indicate whether this was also the case with the southern gate. For of this, he only says, "It is inaccessible to men, but it is the path of the immortals."

10. It remains, therefore, to investigate what is indicated by this narration; whether the poet describes a cavern which was in reality consecrated by others, or whether it is an enigma of his own invention. Since, however, a cavern is an image and symbol of the world, as Numenius and his familiar Cronius assert, there are two extremities in the heavens, viz., the winter tropic, than which nothing is more southern, and the summer tropic, than which nothing is more northern. But the summer tropic is in Cancer, and the winter tropic in Capricorn. And since Cancer is nearest to us, it is very properly attributed to the Moon, which is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies to the earth. But as the southern pole by its great distance is invisible to us, hence Capricorn is attributed to Saturn, the highest and most remote of all the planets. Again, the signs from Cancer to Capricorn are situated in the following order: and the first of these is Leo, which is the house of the Sun; |27 afterwards Virgo, which is the house of Mercury; Libra, the house of Venus; Scorpio, of Mars; Sagittarius, of Jupiter; and Capricorn, of Saturn. But from Capricorn in an inverse order Aquarius is attributed to Saturn; Pisces to Jupiter; Aries to Mars; Taurus to Venus; Gemini to Mercury; and in the last place Cancer to the Moon.

11. Theologists therefore assert, that_these two gates are Cancer and Capricorn; but Plato calls them entrances. And of these, theologists say, that Cancer is the gate through which souls descend; but Capricorn that through which they ascend. Cancer is indeed northern, and adapted to descent; but Capricorn is southern, and adapted to ascent (note 12). The northern parts, likewise, pertain to souls descending into generation. And the gates of the cavern which are turned to the north are rightly said to be pervious to the descent of men; but the southern gates are not the avenues of the Gods, but of souls ascending to the Gods. On this account, the poet does not say that they are the avenues of the Gods, but of immortals; this appellation being also common to our souls, which are per se, or essentially, immortal. It is said |28 that Parmenides mentions these two gates in his treatise "On the Nature of Things", as likewise that they are not unknown to the Romans and Egyptians. For the Romans celebrate their Saturnalia when the Sun is in Capricorn, and during this festivity, slaves wear the shoes of those that are free, and all things are distributed among them in common; the legislator obscurely signifying by this ceremony that through this gate of the heavens, those who are now born slaves will be liberated through the Saturnian festival, and the house attributed to Saturn, i.e., Capricorn, when they live again and return to the fountain of life. Since, however, the path from Capricorn is adapted to ascent, hence the Romans denominate that month in which the Sun, turning from Capricorn to the east, directs his course to the north, Januanus, or January, from janua, a gate. But with the Egyptians, the beginning of the year is not Aquarius, as with the Romans, but Cancer. For the star Sothis, which the Greeks call the Dog, is near to Cancer. And the rising of Sothis is the new moon with them, this being the principle of generation to the world. On this account, the gates of |29 the Homeric cavern are not dedicated to the east and west, nor to the equinoctial signs, Aries and Libra, but to the north and south, and to those celestial signs which towards the south are most southerly, and, towards the north are most northerly; because this cave was sacred to souis and aquatic nymphsT But these places are adapted to souls descending into generation, and afterwards separating themselves from it. Hence, a place near to the equinoctial circle was assigned to Mithra as an appropriate seat. And on this account he bears the sword of Aries, which is a martial sign. He is likewise carried in the Bull, which is the sign of Venus. For Mithra. as well as the Bull, is the Demiurgus and lord of generation (note 13). But he is placed near the equinoctial circle, having the northern parts on his right hand, and the southern on his left. They likewise arranged towards the south the southern hemisphere because it is hot; but the northern hemisphere towards the north, through the coldness of the north wind.

12. The ancients, likewise, very reasonably connected winds with souls proceeding into generation, and again separating themselves |30 from it, because, as some think, souls attract a spirit, and have a pneumatic essence. But the north wind is adapted to souls falling into generation; and, on this account, the northern blasts refresh those who are dying, and when they can scarcely draw their breath. On the contrary the southern gales dissolve life. For the north wind, indeed, from its superior coldness, congeals (as it were the animal life), and retains it in the frigidity of terrene generation. But the south wind, being hot, dissolves this life, and sends it upward to the heat of a divine nature. Since, however, our terrene habitation is more northern, it is proper that souls which are born in it should be familiar with the north wind; but those that exchange this life for a better, with the south wind. This also is the cause why the north wind is, at its commencement, great; but the south wind, at its termination. For the former is situated directly over the inhabitants of the northern part of the globe, but the latter is at a great distance from them; and the blast from places very remote, is more tardy than from such as are near. But when it is coacervated, then it blows abundantly and with vigour. Since, however, souls proceed into |31 generation through the northern gate, hence this wind is said to be amatory. For, as the poet says,

"Boreas, enamour'd of the sprightly train,

Conceal'd his godhead in a flowing mane.

With voice dissembled to his loves he neighed,

And coursed the dappled beauties o'er the mead;

Hence sprung twelve others of unrivalled kind,

Swift as their mother mares, and father wind" (note 14).

It is also said, that Boreas ravished Orithya (note 15), from whom he begot Zetis and Calais. But as the south is attributed to the Gods, hence, when the Sun is at its meridian, the curtains in temples are drawn before the statues of the Gods; in consequence of observing the Homeric precept: "That it is not lawful for men to enter temples when the Sun is inclined to the south, for this is the path of the immortals. Hence, when the God is at his meridian altitude, the ancients placed a symbol of midday and of the south in the gates of the temples, and on this account, in other gates also, it was not lawful to speak at all times, because gates were considered as sacred. Hence, too, the Pythagoreans, and the wise men among the Egyptians, forbade speaking while passing through doors or gates; for then they venerated in silence |32 that God who is the principle of wholes (and, therefore, of all things).

13. Homer, likewise, knew that gates are sacred, as is evident from his representing Oeneus, when supplicating, shaking the gate:

"The gates he shakes, and supplicates the son" (note 16).

He also knew the gates of the heavens which are committed to the guardianship of the hours; which gates originate in cloudy places, and are opened and shut by the clouds. For he says:

"Whether dense clouds they close, or wide unfold" (note 17).

And on this account these gates omit a bellowing sound, because thunders roar through the clouds:

"Heaven's gates spontaneous open to the powers;

Heaven's bellowing portals, guarded by the Hours" (Note 18).

He likewise elsewhere speaks of the gates of the Sun, signifying by these Cancer and Capricorn, for the Sun proceeds as far as to these signs, when he descends from the north to the south, and from thence ascends again to the northern parts. But Capricorn and Cancer are situated about the galaxy, |33 being allotted the extremities of this circle; Cancer indeed the northern, but Capricorn the southern extremity of it. According to Pythagoras, also, the people of dreams (note 19). are the souls which are said to be collected in the galaxy, this circle being so called from the milk with which souls are nourished when they fall into generation. Hence, those who evocate departed souls, sacrifice to them by a libation of milk mingled with honey; because, through the allurements of sweetness they will proceed into generation: with the birth of man, milk being naturally produced. Farther still, the southern regions produce small bodies; for it is usual with heat to attenuate them in the greatest degree. But all bodies generated in the north are large, as is evident in the Celtae, the Thracians and the Scythians; and these regions are humid, and abound with pastures. For the word Boreas is derived from Βορα, which signifies nutriment. Hence, also, the wind which blows from a land abounding in nutriment, is called Βορρας, as being of a nutritive nature. From these causes, therefore, the northern parts are adapted to the mortal tribe, and to souls that fail into the realms of generation. |34 But the southern parts are adapted to that which is immortal (note 20), just as the eastern parts of the world are attributed to the Gods, but the western to daemons. For, in consequence of nature originating from diversity, the ancients everywhere made that which has a twofold entrance to be a symbol of the nature of things. For the progression is either through that which is intelligible or through that which is sensible. And if through that which is sensible, it is either through the sphere of the fixed stars, or through the sphere of the planets. And again, it is either through an immortal, or through a mortal progression. One centre likewise is above, but the other beneath the earth; and the one is eastern, but the other western. Thus, too, some parts of the world are situated on the left, but others on the right hand; and night is opposed to day. On this account, also, harmony consists of and proceeds through contraries. Plato also says that there are two openings (note 21) one of which affords a passage to souls ascending to the heavens, but the other to souls descending to the earth. And according to theologists, the Sun and Moon are the gates |35 of souls, which ascend through the Sun, and descend through the Moon. With Homer likewise, there are two tubs,

"From which the lot of every one he fills

Blessings to these, to those distributes ills" (note 22).

But Plato in the Gorgias by tubs intends to signify souls, some of which are malefic, but others beneficent; and some which are rational, but others irrational (note 23). Souls, however, are (analogous to,) tubs, because they contain in themselves energies and habits, as in a vessel. In Hesiod, too, we find one tub closed, but the other opened by Pleasure, who scatters its contents everywhere, Hope alone remaining behind. For in those things in which a depraved soul, being dispersed about matter, deserts the proper order of its essence, in all these it is accustomed to feed itself with (the pleasing prospects of) auspicious hope.

14. Since, therefore, every twofold entrance is a symbol of nature, this Homeric cavern has, very properly, not one portal only, but two gates, which differ from each other conformably to things themselves; of which one pertains to Gods and good (daemons), but the other to mortals and depraved natures. Hence |36 Plato took occasion to speak of bowls, and assumes tubs instead of amphorae, and two openings, as we have already observed, instead of two gates. Pherecydes Syrus also mentions recesses and trenches, caverns, doors and gates: and through these obscurely indicates the generations of souls, and their separation from these material realms.) And thus much for an explanation of the Homeric cave, which we think we have sufficiently unfolded without adducing any further testimonies from ancient philosophers and theologists, which would give a needless extent to our discourse.

15. One particular, however, remains to be explained, and that is the symbol of the olive planted at the top of the cavern, since Homer appears to indicate something very admirable by giving it such a position. For he does not merely say that an olive grows in this place, but that it flourishes on the summit of the cavern.

"High at the head a branching olive grows,

Beneath, a gloomy grotto s cool recess.."

But the growth of the olive in such a situation is not fortuitous, as some one may suspect, but contains the enigma of the cavern. For |37 since the world was not produced rashly and casually, but is the work of divine wisdom and an intellectual nature; hence an olive, the symbol of this wisdom flourishes near the present_cavern, which is an image of the world. For the olive is the plant of Minerva, and Minerva is wisdom. But this Goddess being produced from the head of Jupiter, the theologist has discovered an appropriate place for the olive by consecrating it at the summit of the port; signifying by this that the universe is not the effect of a casual event and the work of irrational fortune, but that it is the offspring of an intellectual nature and divine wisdom, which is separated indeed from it (by a difference of essence), but yet is near to it, through being established on the summit of the whole port (i.e., from the dignity and excellence of its nature governing the whole with consummate wisdom). Since, however, an olive is ever-flourishing, it possesses a certain peculiarity in the highest degree adapted to the revolutions of souls in the world, for to such souls this cave (as we have said) is sacred. For in summer the white leaves of the olive tend upwards, but in winter the whiter leaves are bent downward. On |38 this account also in prayers and supplications, men extend the branches of an olive, ominating from this that they shall exchange the sorrowful darkness of danger for the fair light of security and peace. The olive, therefore being naturally ever-flourishing, bears fruit which is the auxiliary of labour (by being its reward, it is sacred to Minerva; supplies the victors in athletic labours with crowns and affords a friendly branch to the suppliant petitioner. Thus, too, the world is governed by an intellectual nature, and is conducted by a wisdom eternal and ever-flourishing; by which the rewards of victory are conferred on the conquerors in the athletic race of life, as the reward of severe toil and patient perseverance. And the Demiurgus who connects and contains the world (in ineffable comprehensions) invigorates miserable and suppliant souls.

16. In this cave, therefore, says Homer, all external possessions must be deposited. Here, naked, and assuming a suppliant habit, afflicted in body, casting aside everything superfluous, and being averse to the energies of sense, it is requisite to sit at the foot of the olive and consult with Minerva by what |39 means we may most effectually destroy that hostile rout of passions which insidiously lurk in the secret recesses of the soul. Indeed, as it appears to me, it was not without reason that Numenius and his followers thought the person of Ulysses in the Odyssey represented to us a man who passes in a reguIar manner over the dark and stormy sea of generation, and thus at length arrives at that region where tempests and seas are unknown, and finds a nation

"Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar."

17. Again, according to Plato, the deep, the sea, and a tempest are images of a material nature. And on this account I think the poet called the port by the name of Phorcys. For he says, "It is the port of the ancient marine Phorcys" (note 24). T he daughter likewise of this God is mentioned in the beginning of the Odyssey. But from Thoosa the Cyclops was born, whom Ulysses deprived of sight. And this deed of Ulysses became the occasion of reminding him of his errors, till he was safely landed in his native country. On this account, too, a seat under the olive is proper to Ulysses, as to one who implores divinity and would |40 appease his natal daemon with a suppliant branch. For it will not be simply, and in a concise way, possible for anyone to be liberated from this sensible life, who blinds this daemon, and renders his energies inefficacious; but he who dares to do this, will be pursued by the anger (note 25) of the marine and material Gods, whom it is first requisite to appease by sacrifices, labours, and patient endurance; at one time, indeed, contending with the passions, and at another employing enchantments and deceptions, and by these, transforming himself in an all-various manner; in order that, being at length divested of the torn garments (by which his true person was concealed) he may recover the ruined empire of his soul. Nor will he even then be liberated from labours; but this will be effected when he has entirely passed over the raging sea, and, though still living, becomes so ignorant of marine and material works (through deep attention to intelligible concern) as to mistake an oar for a corn-van.

18. It must not, however, be thought that interpretations of this kind are forced, and nothing more than the conjectures of ingenious men; but when we consider the |41 great wisdom of antiquity and how much Homer excelled in intellectual prudence, and in an accurate knowledge of every virtue, it must not be denied that he has obscurely indicated the images of things of a more divine nature in the fiction of a fable. For it would not have been possible to devise the whole of this hypothesis unless the figment had been transferred (to an appropriate meaning) from certain established truths. But reserving the discussion of this for another treatise, we shall here finish our explanation of the present Cave of the Nymphs.

Notes

(1) This Cronius, the Pythagorean, is also mentioned by Porphyry in his life of Plotinus.

(2) I.e., rather more than ten Italian miles and a half, eight stadia making an Italian mile.

(3) But morphe, as we are informed by Simpicius, pertains to the colour, figure, and magnitude of supefficies.

(4) "Nymphs," says Hermias in his Scholia on the Phaedrus of Plato, " are Goddesses who preside over regeneration, and are ministrant to Bacchus, the offspring of Semele. Hence they dwell near water, that is, they are conversant with generation. But this Bacchus supplies the regeneration of the whole sensible world.

(5) These lines are not to be found in any of the hymns now extant, ascribed to Homer.

(6) Martianus Capella in lib. ii. De Nuptiis Philologiae, speaking of the sun, says: "Ibi quandam navim, totius naturae cursibus diversa cupiditate moderantem, cunctaque flammarum congestione plenissimam, beatis circumactum mercibus conspicatur. Cui nautae septem germani, tamen suique consimiles praesidebant, etc. In this passage the seven sailors are evidently the seven planets.

(7) The theological meaning of this Orphic fiction is beautifully unfolded by Proclus as follows: "Orpheus says that the vivific cause of partible natures (i.e. Proserpine), while she remained on high, weaving the order of celestials, was a nymph, as being undefiled; and in consequence of this connected with Jupiter and abiding in her appropriate manners; but that, proceeding from her proper habitation, she left her webs unfinished, was ravished; having been ravished, was married; and that being married, she generated in order that she might animate things which have an adventitious life. For the unfinished state of her web indicates, I think, that the universe is imperfect or unfinished, as far as to perpetual animals (i.e., the universe would be imperfect if nothing inferior to the celestial Gods was produced). Hence Plato says, that the one Demiurgus calls on the many Demiurgi to weave together the mortal and immortal natures; after a manner reminding us, that the addition of the mortal genera is the perfection of the textorial life of the universe, and also exciting our recollection of the divine Orphic fable, and affording us interpretative causes of the unfinished webs of Proserpine."—See Vol. II., p. 356, of my translation of Proclus on the Timaeus.

The unfinished webs of Proserpine are also alluded to by Claudian in his poem "De Raptu Proserpinae", in the following verse:

"Sensit adesse Deas, imperfectumque laborem

Deserit."

I only add, that, by ancient theologists, the shuttle was considered as a signature of separating, a cup of vivifio, a sceptre of ruling, and a key of guardian power.

(8) The theological meaning of nectar and ambrosia is beautifully unfolded by Hermias, in his Scholia on the Phaedrus of Plato, published by Ast, Lips., 1810, p. 145, where he informs us, that ambrosia is analogous to dry nutriment, and that on this account it signifies an establishment in causes: but that nectar is analogous to moist food, and that it signifies the providential attention of the Gods to secondary natures; the former being denominated, according to a privation of the mortal and corruptible; but the latter, according to a privation of the funeral and sepulchral. And when the Gods are represented as energising; providentially, they are said to drink nectar. Thus Homer in the beginning of the th Book of the Iliad;—

"Now with each other, on the golden floor,

Seated near Jove, the Gods converse; to whom

The venerable Hebe nectar bears

In golden goblets; and as these flow round

Th' immortals turn their careful eyes on Troy."

For then they providentially attend to the Trojans. The possession, therefore, of immutable providence by the Gods is signified by their drinking nectar; the exertion of this providence, by their beholding Troy, and their communicating with each other in providential energies, by receiving the goblets from each other.

(9) Ebriety, when ascribed to divine natures by ancient theologists, signifies a deific superessential energy, or an energy superior to intellect. Hence, when Saturn is said by Orpheus to have been intoxicated with honey or nectar, the meaning is, that he then energised providentially, in a deific and super-intellectual manner.

(10) Porphyry, though he excelled in philosophical, was deficient in theological knowledge; of which what he now says of the castrations of Saturn and Heaven is a remarkable instance. For ancient theologists, by things preternatural, adumbrated the transcendent nature of the Gods; by such as are irrational, a power more divine than all reason; and by things apparently base, incorporeal beauty. Hence in the fabulous narrations to which Porphyry now alludes, the genital parts must be considered as symbols of prolific power; and the castration of these parts as signifying the progression of this power into a subject order. So that the fable means that the prolific powers of Saturn are called forth into progression by Jupiter, and those of Heaven by Saturn; Jupiter being inferior to Saturn, and Saturn to Heaven.—See the "Apology for the Fables of Homer" in Vol. I. of my translation of Plato.

(11) Hence, when Pythagoras exhorted his disciples to abstain from beans, he intended to signify, that they should beware of a continued and perpetual descent into the realms of generation.

(12) Macrobius, in the twelfth chapter of his Commentary on "Scipio's Dream," has derived some of the ancient arcana which it contains from what is here said by Porphyry. A part of what he has farther added, I shall translate on account of its excellence and connexion with the above passage: "Pythagoras thought that the empire of Pluto began downwards from the milky way, because souls falling from thence appear to have already receded from the Gods. Hence he asserts that the nutriment of milk is first offered to infants, because their first motion commences from the galaxy, when they begin to fall into terrene bodies. On this account, since those who are about to descend are yet in Cancer, and have not left the milky way, they rank in the order of the Gods. But when, by falling, they arrive at the Lion, in this constellation they enter on the exordium of their future condition. And because, in the Lion, the rudiments of birth and certain primary exercises of human nature, commence; but Aquarius is opposite to the and presently sets after the Lion rises; hence, when the sun is in Aquarius, funeral rites are performed to departed souls, because he is then carried in a sign which is contrary or adverse to human life. From the confine, therefore, in which the zodiac and galaxy touch each other, the soul, descending from a round figure, which is the only divine form, is produced into a cone by its denuxion. And as a line is generated from a point and proceeds into length from an indivisible, so the soul, from its own point, which is a monad, passes into the duad, which is the first extension. And this is the essence which Plato, in the Timaeus, calls impartible and at the same time partible, when he speaks of the nature of the mundane soul. For as the soul of the world, so likewise that of man, will be found to be in one respect without division, if the simplicity of a. divine nature is considered; and in another respect partible, if we regard the diffusion of the former through the world, and of the latter through the members of the body.

"As soon, therefore, as the soul gravitates towards body in this nrst production of herself, she begins to experience a material tumult, that is, matter flowing into her essence. And this is what Plato remarks in the Phaedo, that the soul is drawn into body staggering with recent intoxication; signifying by this the new drink of matter s impetuous flood, through which the soul, becoming denied and heavy, is drawn into a terrene situation. But the starry cup placed between Cancer and the Lion is a symbol of this mystic truth, signifying that descending souls nrst experience intoxication in that part of the heavens throught the influx of matter. Hence oblivion, the companion of intoxication, there begins silently to creep into the recesses of the soul. For if souls retained in their descent to bodies the memory of divine concerns, of which they were conscious in the heavens, there would be no dissension among men about divinity. But all, indeed, in descending, drink of oblivion; though some more, and others less. On this account, though truth is not apparent to all men on the earth, yet all exercise their opinions about it; because a defect of memory is the origin of opinion. But those discover most who have drunk least of oblivion, because they easily remember what they had known before in the heavens.

"The soul, therefore, falling with this first weight from the zodiac and milky way into each of the subject spheres, is not only clothed with the accession of a luminous body, but produces the particular motions which it is to exercise in the respective orbs. Thus in Saturn it energises according to a ratiocinative and intellective power; in the sphere of Jove, according to a practic power; in the orb of the Sun, according to a sensitive and imaginative nature; but according to the motion of desire in the planet of Venus; of pronouncing and interpreting what it perceives in the orb of Mercury; and according to a plantal or vegetable nature and a power of acting on body, when it enters into the lunar globe. And this sphere, as it is the last among the divine orders, so it is the first in our terrene situation. For this body, as it is the dregs of divine natures, so it is the first animal substance. And this is the difference between terrene and supernal bodies (under the latter of which I comprehend the heavens, the stars, and the more elevated elements), that the latter are called upwards to be the seat of the soul, and merit immortality from the very nature of the region and an imitation of sublimity; but the soul is drawn down to these terrene bodies, and is on this account said to die when it is enclosed in this fallen region, and the seat of mortality. Nor ought it to cause any disturbance that we have so often mentioned the death of the soul, which we have pronounced to be immortal. For the soul is not extinguished by its own proper death, but is only overwhelmed for a time. Nor does it lose the benefit of perpetuity by its temporal demersion. Since, when it deserves to be purified from the contagion of vice, through its entire refinement from body, it will be restored to the light of perennial life, and will return to its pristine integrity and perfection."

The powers, however, of the planets, which are the causes of the energies of the soul in the several planetary spheres, are more accurately described by Proclus in p. 260 of his admirable Commentary on the Timaeus, as follows: "It you are willing, also, you may say that of the beneficent planets the Moon is the cause to Mortals of nature, being herself the visible statue of fontal nature. But the Sun is the Demiurgus of everything sensible, in consequence of being the cause of sight and visibility. Mercury is the cause of the motions of the phantasy; for of the imaginative essence itself, so far as sense and phantasy are one, the Sun is the producing cause. But Venus is the cause of epithymetic appetites (or of the appetites pertaining to desire), and Mars of the irascible motions which are conformable to nature. Of all vital powers, however, Jupiter is the common cause; but of all gnostic powers, Saturn. For all the irrational forms are divided into these."

(13) Hence Phanes, or Protogonus, who is the paradigm of the universe, and who was absorbed by Jupiter, the Demiurgus, is represented by Orpheus as having the head of a bull among other heads with which he is adorned. And in the Orphic hymn to him he is called bull-roarer.

(14) Iliad, lib. xx., v. 223, etc.

(15) This fable is mentioned by Plato in the Phaedrus, and is beautifully unfolded as follows by Hermias, in his Scholia on that Dialogue: "A twofold solution may be given of this fable: one from history, more ethical; but the other, transferring us (from parts) to wholes. And the former of these is as follows: Orithya was the daughter of Erectheus, and the priestess of Boreas; for each of the winds has a presiding deity, which the telestic art, or the art pertaining to sacred mysteries, religiously cultivates. To this Orithya, then, the God was so very propitipus, that he sent the north wind for the safety of the country; and besides this, he is said to have assisted the Athenians in their naval battles. Orithya, therefore, becoming enthusiastic, being possessed by her proper God Boreas, and no longer energising as a human being (for animals cease to energise according to their own peculiarities, when possessed by superior causes, died under the inspiring innuence, and thus was said to have been ravished by Boreas. And this is the more ethical explanation of the fable.

"But the second, which transfers the narration to wholes, and does not entirely subvert the former, is the following, for divine fables often employ transactions and histories, in subserviency to the discipline of wholes. It is said, then, that Erectheus is the God that rules over the three elements, air, water, and earth. Sometimes, however, he is considered as alone the ruler of the earth, and sometimes as the presiding deity of Attica alone. Of this deity Orithya is the daughter; and she is the prolific power of the earth, which is, indeed, co-extended with the word Erectheus, as the unfolding of the name signifies. For it is the prolific power of the earth, flourishing and restored, according to the seasons. But Boreas is the providence of the Gods, supernally illuminating' secondary natures. For the providence of the Gods in the world is signified by Boreas, because this divinity blows from lofty places. And the elevating power of the Gods is signified by the south wind, because this wind blows from low to lofty places; and besides this, things situated towards the south are more divine. The providence of the Gods, therefore, causes the prolific power of the earth, or of the Attic land, to ascend, and become visible.

"Orithya also may be said to be a soul aspiring after things above. Such a soul, therefore, is ravished by Boreas supernally blowing. But if Orithya was hurled from a precipice, this also is appropriate, for such a soul dies a philosophic, not receiving a physical death, and abandons a life pertaining to her own deliberate choice at the same time that she lives a physical life. And philosophy, according to Socrates in the Phcedo, is nothing else than a meditation of death."

(16) Iliad, lib. xi. v. 579.

(17) Iliad, lib. viii. v. 395.

(18) Iliad, lib. viii. v. 393.

(19) The souls of the suitors are said by Homer in the 24th book of the Odyssey (v. 11) to have passed, in their descent to the region of spirits, beyond the people of dreams.

(20) Hence, the southern have always been more favourable to genius, than the northern parts of the earth.

(21) See my translation of the tenth book of his Republic.

(22) Iliad, xiv. v. 528.

(23) The passage in the Gorgias of Plato, to which Porphyry here alludes, is as follows:—

"Soc.: But, indeed, as you also say, life is a grievous thing. For I should not wonder if Euripides spoke the truth when he says: ' Who knows whether to live is not to die, and to die is not to live?' And we perhaps are in reality dead. For I have heard from one of the wise that we are now dead, and that the body is our sepulchre; but that the part of the soul in which the desires are contained, is of such a nature that it can be persuaded and hurled upwards and downwards. Hence a certain elegant man, perhaps a Sicilian, or an Italian, denominated, mythologising, this part of the soul a tub, by a derivation from the probable and persuasive; and, likewise he called those that are stupid or deprived of intellect, uninitiated. He further said that the intemperate and uncovered nature of that part of the soul in which the desires are contained, was like a pierced tub, through its insatiable greediness."

What is here said by Plato is beautifully unfolded by Olympiodorus in his MS. Commentary on the Gorgias, as follows:—"Euripides (in Phryxo) says, that to live is to die, and to die to live. For the soul coming hither as she imparts life to the body, so she partakes (through this) of a certain privation of life, because the body becomes the source of evils. And hence, it is necessary to subdue the body.

"But the meaning of the Pythagoric fable which is here introduced by Plato, is this: We are said to be dead, because, as we have before observed, we partake of a privation of life. The sepulchre which we carry about with us is, as Plato himself explains it, the body. But Hades is the unapparent, because we are situated in obscurity, the soul being in a state of servitude to the body. The tubs are the desires; whether they are so called from our hastening to fill them as if they were tubs, or from desire persuading us that it is beauiiful. The initiated, therefore, i.e., those that have a perfect knowledge, pour into the entire tub, for these have their tub full; or in other words, have perfect virtue. But the uninitiated, viz., those that possess nothing perfect, have perforated tubs. For those that are in a state of servitude to desire always wish to fill it, and are more inflamed, and on this account they have perforated tubs, as being never full. But the sieve is the rational soul mingled with the irrational. For the (rational) soul is called a circle, because it seeks itself, and is itself sought, finds itself and is itself found. But the irrational soul imitates a right line, since it does not revert to itself like a circle. So far, therefore, as the sieve is circular, it is an image of the rational soul; but, as it is placed under the right lines formed from the holes, it is assumed for the irrational soul. Right lines, therefore, are in the middle of the cavities. Hence, by the sieve, Plato signifies the rational in subjection to the irrational soul. But the water is the flux of Nature; for as Heraclitus says, moisture is the death of the soul."

In this extract the intelligent reader will easily perceive that the occult signification of the tubs is more scientifically unfolded by Olympiodorus than by Porphyry.

(24) Phorcys is one among the ennead of Gods who, according to Plato in the Timaeus, fabricate generation. Of this deity Proclus observes, " that as the Jupiter in this ennead causes the unapparent divisions and separations of forms made by Saturn to become apparent, and as Rhea calls them forth into motion and generation, so Phorcys inserts them in matter, produces sensible natures, and adorns the visible essence in order that there may not only be divisions of productive principles (or forms) in natures and in souls, and in intellectual essences prior to these, but likewise in sensibles. For this is the peculiarity of fabrication."

(25) "The anger of the Gods", says Proclus, "is not an indication of any passion in them, but demonstrates our inaptitude to participate of their illuminations."

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Porphyry, On the faculties of the Soul (1988) pp.75-82

Porphyry, On the faculties of the Soul (1988) pp.75-82

On the Faculties of the Soul ¹

[Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie]

Object of the Book

We propose to describe the faculties of the soul, and to set forth the various opinions of the subject held by both ancient and modern thinkers.

Difference Between Sensation and Intelligence

Aristo [there were two philosophers by this name, one a Stoic, the other an Aristotelian] attributes to the soul a perceptive faculty, which he divides into two parts. According to him, the first, called sensibility, the principle and origin of sensations, is usually kept active by one of the sense-organs. The other, which subsists by itself, and without; organs, does not bear any special name in beings devoid of reason, in whom reason does not manifest, or ac least manifests only in a feeble or obscure manner; however, it is called intelligence in beings endowed with reason, among whom done it manifests clearly. Aristo holds that sensibility acts only with the help of the sense-organs, and that intelligence does not need them, to enter into activity. Why then does he subordinate both of these to a single genus, called the perceptive faculty? Both doubtless perceive, but the one perceives the sense-form of beings, while the other perceives their essence. Indeed, sensibility does |76 not perceive the essence, but the sense-form, and the figure; it is intelligence that perceives whether the object be a man or a horse. There are, therefore, two kinds of perception that are very different from each other: sense-perception receives an impression, and applies itself to an exterior object, while intellectual perception does not receive an impression.

There have been philosophers who separated these two parts. They called intelligence or discursive reason the understanding which is exercised without imagination and sensation; and they called opinion the understanding which is exercised with imagination and sensation. Others, on the contrary, considered rational being, or nature, a simple essence, and attributed to it operations whose nature is entirely different. Now it is unreasonable to refer to the same essence faculties which differ completely in nature; for thought and sensation could not depend on the same essential principle, and if we were to call the operation of intelligence a perception, we would only be juggling with words. We must, therefore, establish a perfectly clear distinction between these two entities, intelligence and sensibility. On the one hand, intelligence possesses a quite peculiar nature, as is also the case with discursive reason, which is next below it. The function of the former is intuitive thought, while that of the latter is discursive thought. On the other hand, sensibility differs entirely from intelligence, acting with or without the help of organs; in the former case, it is called sensation, in the latter, imagination. Nevertheless, sensation and imagination belong to the |77 same genus. In understanding, intuitive intelligence is superior to opinion, which applies to sensation or imagination; this latter kind or thought, whether called discursive thought, or anything else [such as opinion], is superior to sensation and imagination, but inferior to intuitive thought.

On the Parts of the Soul.

It is not only about the faculties that the ancient philosophers disagree... They are also in radical disagreement about the following questions: What are the parts of the soul? What is a part? What is a faculty? What difference is there between a part and a faculty?

The Stoics divide the soul into eight parts: the five senses, speech, sex-power, and the directing [predominating] principle, which is served by the other faculties, so that the soul is composed of a faculty that commands, and faculties that obey.

In their writing about ethics, Plato and Aristotle divide the soul into three parts. This division has been adopted by the greater part of later philosophers; but these have not understood that the object of this definition was to classify and define the virtues (Plato: reason, anger and appetite; Aristotle: locomotion, appetite and understanding). Indeed, if this classification be carefully scrutinized, it will be seen that it fails to account for all the faculties of the soul; it neglects imagination, sensibility, intelligence, and the natural faculties (the generative and nutritive powers).

Other philosophers, such as Numenius, do not teach |78 one soul in three parts, like the preceding, nor in two, such as the rational and irrational parts. They believe that we have two souls, one rational, the other irrational. Some among them attribute immortality to both of the souls; others attribute it only to the rational soul, and think that death not only suspends the exercise of the faculties that belong to the irrational soul, but even dissolves its being or essence. Last, some believe that, by virtue of the union of the two souls, their movements are double, because each of them feels the passions of the other.

On the Difference of the Parts, and on the Faculties of the Soul

We shall now explain the difference between a part and a faculty of the soul. One part differs from another by the characteristics of its genus (or kind), while different faculties may relate to a common genus. That is why Aristotle did not allow that the soul contained parts, though granting that it contained faculties. Indeed, the introduction of a new part changes the nature of the subject, while the diversity of faculties does not alter its unity. Longinus did not allow in the animal [or, living being] for several parts, but only for several faculties. In this respect, he followed the doctrine of Plato, according to whom the soul, in herself indivisible, is divided within bodies. Besides, that the soul does not have several parts does not necessarily imply that she has only a single faculty; for that which has no parts may still possess several faculties. |79

To conclude this confused discussion, we shall have to lay down a principle of definition which will help to determine the essential differences and resemblances that exist either between the parts of the same subject, or between its faculties, or between its parts and its faculties. This will clearly reveal whether in the organism the soul really has several parts, or merely several faculties, and what opinion about them should be adopted. [For there are two special types of these.] The one attributes to man a single soul, genuinely composed of several parts, either by itself, or in relation to the body. The other one sees in man a union of several souls, looking on the man as on a choir, the harmony of whose parts constitutes its unity, so that we find several essentially different parts contributing to the formation of a single being.

First we shall have to study within the soul the differentials between the part, the faculty and the disposition. A part always differs from another by the substrate, the genus and the function. A disposition is a special aptitude of some one part to carry out the part assigned to it by nature. A faculty is the habit of a disposition, the power inherent in some part to do the thing for which it has a disposition. There was no great inconvenience in confusing faculty and disposition; but there is an essential difference between part and faculty. Whatever the number of faculties, they can exist within a single "being," or nature, without occupying any particular point in the extension of the substrate, while the parts somewhat participate in its extension, occupying |80 therein a particular point. Thus all the properties of an apple are gathered within a single substrate, but the different parts that compose it are separate from each other. The notion of a part implies the idea of quantity in respect to the totality of the subject. On the contrary, the notion of a faculty implies the idea of totality. That is why the faculties remain indivisible, because they penetrate the whole substrate, while the parts are separate from each other because they have a quantity.

How then may we say that a soul is indivisible, while having three parts? For when we hear it asserted that she contains three parts in respect to quantity, it is reasonable to ask how the soul can simultaneously be indivisible, and yet have three parts. This difficulty may be solved as follows: the soul is indivisible insofar as she is considered within her "being," and in herself; and that she has three parts insofar as she is united to a divisible body, and that she exercises her different faculties in the different parts of the body. Indeed, it is not the same faculty that resides in the head, in the breast, or in the liver² [the seats of reason, of anger and appetite]. Therefore, when the soul has been divided into several parts, it is in this sense that her different functions are exercised within different parts of the body.

Nicholas [of Damascus],³ in his book On the Soul, used to say that the division of the soul was not founded on quantity, but on quality, like the division of an art or a science. Indeed, when we consider an extension, we see that the whole is a sum of its parts, and that it increases or diminishes according as a part is added or subtracted. |81

Now it is not in this sense that we attribute parts to the soul; she is not the sum of her parts, because she is neither an extension nor a multitude. The parts of the soul resemble those of an art. There is, however, this difference, that an art is incomplete or imperfect if it lacks some part, while every soul is perfect, and while every organism that has not achieved the goal of its nature is an imperfect being.

Thus by parts of the soul Nicholas means the different faculties of the organism. Indeed, the organism and, in general, the animated being, by the mere fact of possessing a soul, possesses several faculties, such as life, feeling, movement, thought, desire, and the cause and principle of all of them is the soul. Those, therefore, who distinguish parts in the soul thereby mean the faculties by which the animated being can produce actualizations or experience affections. While the soul herself is said to be indivisible, nothing hinders her function from being divided. The organism, therefore, is divisible, if we introduce within the notion of the soul that of the body; for the vital functions communicated by the soul to the body must necessarily be divided by the diversity of the organs, and it is this division of vital functions that has caused parts to be ascribed to the soul herself. As the soul can be conceived of in two different conditions, according as she lives within herself, or as she declines towards the body,⁴ it is only when she declines towards the body that she splits up into parts. When a seed of corn is sowed and produces an ear, we see in this ear of corn the appearance of parts, though the whole it forms is |82 indivisible,⁵ and these indivisible parts themselves later return to an indivisible unity; likewise, when the soul, which by herself is indivisible, finds herself united to the body, parts are seen to appear.

We must still examine the faculties that the soul develops by herself [intelligence and discursive reason], and which the soul develops by the animal [sensation]. This will be the true means of illustrating the difference between these two natures, and the necessity of reducing to the soul herself those parts of her being which have been enclosed within the parts of the body.⁶

1) Stobaeus, Eclogae Physicae, 1.52, ed. Heeren.

2) See Ennead IV.3.23.

3) In his book On the Soul.

4) See Ennead 1.1.12.

5) See Ennead II.6.1.

6) See Ennead 1.1.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely. The text was found in Porphyry's Launching-Points to the Realm of Mind, taken from the 1988 reprint.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_anebo_02_text.htm

Porphyry, Letter to Anebo (1821) pp.1-16. English translation

Porphyry, Letter to Anebo (1821) pp.1-16. English translation

THE EPISTLE OF PORPHYRY TO THE EGYPTIAN ANEBO.

Porphyry to the Prophet Anebo greeting.

I commence my friendship towards you from the Gods and good daemons, and from those philosophic disquisitions, which have an affinity to these powers. And concerning these particulars indeed, much has been said by the Grecian philosophers; but, for the most part, the principles of their belief are derived from conjecture.

In the first place, therefore, it is granted that there are Gods, But I inquire what the peculiarities are of each of the more excellent genera, by which they are separated from each other; and whether we must say that the cause of the distinction between them is from their energies, or their passive motions, or from things |2 that are consequent, or from their different arrangement with respect to bodies; as, for instance, from the arrangement of the Gods with reference to etherial, but of daemons to aerial, and of souls to terrestrial, bodies?

I also ask, why, since [all] the Gods dwell in the heavens, theurgists only invoke the terrestrial and subterranean Gods? Likewise, how some of the Gods are said to be aquatic and aerial? And how different Gods are allotted different places, and the parts of bodies according to circumscription, though they have an infinite, impartible, and incomprehensible power? How there will be a union of them with each other, if they are separated by the divisible circumscriptions of parts, and by the difference of places and subject bodies?

How do theologists, or those who are wise in divine concerns, represent the Gods as passive, to whom on this account, it is said, erect phalli are exhibited, and obscene language is used? But if they are impassive, the invocations of the Gods will be in vain, which announce that they can appease the anger of the divinities, and procure a reconciliation with them; and still more, what are called the necessities of the Gods, will be vain. For that which is impassive cannot be allured, nor compelled, nor necessitated. How, therefore, are many |3 things, in sacred operations, performed to them as passive? Invocations, likewise, are made to the Gods as passive; so that not daemons only are passive, but the Gods also, conformably to what Homer says,

"And flexible are e'en the Gods themselves." ¹

But if we assert with certain persons, that the Gods are pure intellects, but that daemons, being psychical, participate of intellect; in a still greater degree will pure intellects be incapable of being allured, and will be unmingled with sensible natures. Supplications, however, are foreign to the purity of intellect, and therefore are not to be made to it. But the things which are offered [in sacred rites] are offered as to sensitive and psychical essences.

Are, therefore, the Gods separated from daemons, through the former being incorporeal, but the latter corporeal? If, however, the Gods are incorporeal alone, how will the sun and moon, and the visible celestials, be Gods?

How, likewise, are some of the Gods beneficent, but others malefic?

What is it that connects the Gods in the heavens that have bodies, with the incorporeal Gods? |4

What is it that distinguishes daemons from the visible and invisible Gods, since the visible are connected with the invisible Gods?

In what do a daemon, hero, and soul, differ from each other? Is it in essence, or in power, or in energy?

What is the indication of a God, or angel, or archangel, or daemon, or a certain archon, or soul being present? For to speak boastingly, and to exhibit a phantasm of a certain quality, is common to Gods and daemons, and to all the more excellent genera. So that the genus of Gods will in no respect be better than that of daemons.

Since the ignorance of, and deception about, divine natures is impiety and impurity, but a scientific knowledge of the Gods is holy and beneficial, the ignorance of things honourable and beautiful will be darkness, but the knowledge of them will be light. And the former, indeed, will fill men with all evil§, through the want of erudition, and through audacity; but the latter will be the cause to them of every good. [I wish you, therefore, to unfold to me the truth respecting these particulars.

And, in the first place, I wish you to explain |5 to me distinctly ²] what that is which is effected in divination? For we frequently obtain a knowledge of future events through dreams, when we are asleep; not being, at that time, in a tumultuous ecstasy, for the body is then quiescent; but we do not apprehend what then takes place, in the same manner as when we are awake.

But many, through enthusiasm and divine inspiration, predict future events, and are then in so wakeful a state, as even to energize according to sense, and yet they are not conscious of the state they are in, or at least, not so much as they were before.

Some also of those who suffer a mental alienation, energize enthusiastically on hearing cymbals or drums, or a certain modulated sound, such as those who are Corybantically inspired, those who are possessed by Sabazius, and those who are inspired by the mother of the Gods. But some energize enthusiastically by drinking water, as the priest of Clarius, in Colophon; others, by being seated at the mouth of a cavern, as those who prophesy at Delphi; and others by imbibing the vapour from water, as the prophetesses in Branchidse. Some also become enthusiastic by standing on |6 characters, as those that are filled from the intromission of spirits. Others, who are conscious what they are doing in other respects, are divinely inspired according to the phan-tastic part; some, indeed, receiving darkness for a cooperator, others certain potions, but others incantations and compositions: and some energize, according to the imagination, through water; others in a wall, others in the open air, and others in the sun, or in some other of the celestial bodies. Some also establish the art of the investigation of futurity through the viscera, through birds, and through the stars.

I likewise ask concerning the mode of divination, what it is, and what the quality by which it is distinguished? All diviners, indeed, assert, that they obtain a foreknowledge of future events through Gods or daemons, and that it is not possible for any others to know that which is future, than those who are the lords of futurity. I doubt, therefore, whether divinity is so far subservient to men, as not to be averse to some becoming diviners from meal.

But, concerning the causes of divination, it is dubious whether a God, an angel, or a daemon, or some other power, is present in manifestations, or divinations, or certain other sacred |7 energies, as is the case with those powers that are drawn down through you [priests] by the necessities with which invocation is attended.

Or does the soul assert and imagine these things, and are they, as some think, the passions of the soul, excited from small incentives?

Or is a certain mixed form of subsistence produced from our soul, and divine inspiration externally derived?

Hence it must be said, that the soul generates the power which has an imaginative perception of futurity, through motions of this kind, or that the things which are adduced from matter constitute daemons, through the powers that are inherent in them, and especially things adduced from the matter which is taken from animals.

For in sleep, when we are not employed about any thing, we sometimes obtain a knowledge of the future.

But that a passion of the soul is the cause of divination, is indicated by this, that the senses are occupied, that fumigations are introduced, and that invocations are employed; and likewise, that not all men, but those that are more simple and young, are more adapted to prediction.

The ecstasy, also, of the reasoning power is |8 the cause of divination, as is likewise the mania which happens in diseases, or mental aberration, or a sober and vigilant condition, or suffusions of the body, or the imaginations excited by diseases, or an ambiguous state of mind, such as that which takes place between a sober condition and ecstasy, or the imaginations artificially procured by enchantment.

Nature, likewise, art, and the sympathy of things in the universe, as if they were the parts of one animal, contain premanifestations of certain things with reference to each other. And bodies are so prepared, that there is a presignification of some by others, which is clearly indicated by the works performed in predicting what is future. For those who invoke the divinities for this purpose, have about them stones and herbs, bind certain sacred bonds, which they also dissolve, open places that are shut, and change the deliberate intentions of the recipients, so as from being depraved to render them worthy, though they were before depraved. Nor are the artificers of efficacious images to be despised. For they observe the motion of the celestial bodies, and can tell from the concurrence of what star with a certain star or stars, predictions will be true or false; and also whether the things that are performed will be inanities, or significant |9 and efficacious, though no divinity or daemon is drawn down by these images.

But there are some who suppose that there is a certain obedient genus of daemons, which is naturally fraudulent, omniform, and various, and which assumes the appearance of Gods and daemons, and the souls of the deceased; and that through these every thing which appears to be either good or evil is effected; for they are not able to contribute any thing to true goods, such as those of the soul, nor to have any knowledge of them, but they abuse, deride, and frequently impede those who are striving to be virtuous. They are likewise full of pride, and rejoice in vapours and sacrifices.

Jugglers likewise fraudulently attack us in many ways, through the ardour of the expectations which they raise.

It very much indeed perplexes me to understand how superior beings, when invoked, are commanded by those that invoke them, as if they were their inferiors; and they think it requisite that he who worships them should be just, but when they are called upon to act unjustly, they do not refuse so to act. Though the Gods, likewise, do not hear him who invokes them, if he is impure from venereal connexions, yet, at the same time, they do not refuse to lead any one to illegal venery. |10

[I am likewise dubious with respect to sacrifices, what utility or power they possess in the universe, and with the Gods, and on what account they are performed, appropriately indeed, to the powers who are honoured by them, but usefully to those by whom the gifts are offered.²]

Why also do the interpreters of prophecies and oracles think it requisite that they should abstain from animals, lest the Gods should be polluted by the vapours arising from them; and yet the Gods are especially allured by the vapours of animals?

Why is it requisite that the inspector [who presides over sacred rites] ought not to touch a dead body, though most sacred operations are performed through dead bodies'? And why, which is much more absurd than this, are threats employed and false terrors, by any casual person, not to a daemon, or some departed soul, but to the sovereign Sun himself, or to the Moon, or some one of the celestial Gods, in order to compel these divinities to speak the truth? For does not he who says that he will burst the heavens, or unfold the |11 secrets of Isis, or point out the arcanum in the adytum, or stop Baris, or scatter the members of Osiris to Typhon, [or that he will do something else of the like kind ²], does not he who says this, by thus threatening what he neither knows nor is able to effect, prove himself to be stupid in the extreme? And what abjectness does it not produce in those who, like very silly children, are possessed with such vain fear, and are terrified at such fictions? And yet Chaeremon, who was a sacred scribe, writes these things, as disseminated by the Egyptians. It is also said, that these, and things of the like kind, are of a most compulsive nature.

What also is the meaning of those mystic narrations which say that a certain divinity is unfolded into light from mire, that he is seated above the lotus, that he sails in a ship, and that he changes his forms every hour, according to the signs of the zodiac? For thus, they say, he presents himself to the view, and thus ignorantly adapt the peculiar passion of their own imagination to the God himself. But if these things are asserted symbolically, being symbols of the powers of this divinity, I request an interpretation of these symbols. For |12 it is evident, that if these are similar to passions of the Sun, when he is eclipsed, they would he seen by all men who intently survey the God.

What also is the design of names that are without signification? and why, of such, are those that are barbaric preferred to our own? For if he who hears them looks to their signification, it is sufficient that the conception remains the same, whatever the words may be that are used. For he who is invoked is not of the Egyptian race; nor, if he was an Egyptian, does he use the Egyptian, or, in short, any human language. For either all these are the artificial contrivances of enchanters, and veils originating from our passions, which rumour ascribes to a divine nature; or we ignorantly frame conceptions of divinity, contrary to its real mode of subsistence.

I likewise wish you to unfold to me, what the Egyptians conceive the first cause to be; whether intellect, or above intellect? whether alone, or subsisting with some other or others? whether incorporeal, or corporeal; and whether it is the same with the Demiurgus, or prior to the Demiurgus? Likewise, whether all things are from one principle, or from many principles? whether the Egyptians have a knowledge of matter, or of primary corporeal qualities; and whether they admit matter to be |13 unbegotten, or to be generated? For Chaeremon, indeed, and others, do not think there is any thing else prior to the visible worlds; but in the beginning of their writings on this subject, admit the existence of the Gods of the Egyptians, but of no others, except what are called the planets, the Gods that give completion to the zodiac, and such as rise together with these; and likewise, the sections into decans, and the horoscopes. They also admit the existence of what are called the powerful leaders, whose names are to be found in the calendars, together with their ministrant offices, their risings and settings, and their significations of future events. For Chaeremon saw that what those who say that the sun is the Demiurgus, and likewise what is asserted concerning Osiris and Isis, and all the sacred fables, may be resolved into the stars and the phases, occultations and risings of these, or into the increments or decrements of the moon, or into the course of the sun, or the nocturnal and diurnal hemisphere, or into the river [Nile]. And, in short, the Egyptians resolve all things into physical, and nothing into incorporeal and living essences. Most of them likewise suspend that which is in our power from the motion of the stars; and bind all things, though I know not how, with the indissoluble bonds |14 of necessity, which they call fate. They also connect fate with the Gods; whom, nevertheless, they worship in temples and statues, and other things, as the only dissolvers of fate.

Concerning the peculiar daemon, it must be inquired how he is imparted by the lord of the geniture, and according to what kind of efflux, or life, or power, he descends from him to us? And also, whether he exists, or does not exist? And whether the invention of the lord of the geniture is impossible, or possible? For if it is possible he is happy, who having learned the scheme of his nativity, and knowing his proper daemon, becomes liberated from fate.

The canons, also, of genethliology [or prediction from the natal day] are innumerable and incomprehensible. And the knowledge of this mathematical science cannot be obtained; for there is much dissonance concerning it, and Chaeremon and many others have written against it. But the discovery of the lord, or lords, of the geniture, if there are more than one in a nativity, is nearly granted by astrologers themselves to be unattainable, and yet they say that on this the knowledge of the proper daemon depends.

Farther still, I wish to know whether the peculiar daemon rules over some one of the parts in us? For it appears to certain persons, |15 that daemons preside over the parts of our body, so that one is the guardian of health, another of the form of the body, and another of the corporeal habits, and that there is one daemon who presides in common over all these. And again, that one daemon presides over the body, another over the soul, and another over the intellect; and that some of them are good, but others bad.

I am also dubious whether this daemon is not a certain part of the soul, [such, for instance, as the intellectual part;] and if so, he will be happy who has a wise intellect.

I see likewise, that there is a twofold worship of the peculiar daemon; the one being the worship as of two, but the other as of three. By all men, however, the daemon is called upon by a common invocation.

I farther ask, whether there is a certain other latent way to felicity, separate from the Gods? And I am dubious whether it is requisite to look to human opinions in divine divination and theurgy? And whether the soul does not devise great things from casual circumstances? Moreover, there are certain other methods which are conversant with the prediction of future events. And, perhaps, those who possess divine divination, foresee indeed what will happen, yet are not on this account |16 happy; for they foresee future events, but do not know how to use this knowledge properly. I wish, therefore, that you would point out to me the path to felicity, and show me in what the essence of it consists. For with us [Greeks] there is much verbal contention about it, because we form a conjecture of good from human reasonings. But by those who have devised the means of associating with beings more excellent than man, if the investigation of this subject is omitted, wisdom will be professed by them in vain; as they will only disturb a divine intellect about the discovery of a fugitive slave, or the purchase of land, or, if it should so happen, about marriage, or merchandize. And if they do not omit this subject, but assert what is most true about other things, yet say nothing that is stable and worthy of belief about felicity, in consequence of employing themselves about things that are difficult, but useless to mankind; in this case, they will not be conversant either with Gods or good daemons, but with that daemon who is called fraudulent; or, if this is not admitted, the whole will be the invention of men, and the fiction of a mortal nature.

[Footnotes, mainly from Taylor]

1. * Iliad, lib. x. v. 493.

2. * Note to the online text: Taylor states that material indicated in square brackets at various points is not found in the text as given by Gale -- presumably the editor of the text used --, but supplied by Taylor from the answer of Iamblichus in De mysteriis. Other material in square brackets is not identified as thus interpolated.

3. In Taylor the letter is followed by the treatise On the mysteries, attributed to Iamblichus, and with the following title:

THE ANSWER OF THE PRECEPTOR ABAMMON TO THE EPISTLE OF PORPHYRY TO ANEBO, AND A SOLUTION OF THE DOUBTS CONTAINED IN IT.

Taylor adds the following two notes:

The following testimony of an anonymous Greek writer, prefixed to the manuscript of this treatise, which Gale published, proves that this work was written by Iamblichus:... i. e. "It is requisite to know that the philosopher Proclus, in his Commentary on the Enne-ads of the great Plotinus, says that it is the divine Iamblichus who answers the prefixed Epistle of Porphyry, and who assumes the person of a certain Egyptian of the name of Abammon, through the affinity and congruity of the hypothesis. And, indeed, the conciseness and definiteness of the diction, and the efficacious, elegant, and divine nature of the conceptions, testify that the decision of Proclus is just." That this, indeed, was the opinion of Proclus, is evident from a passage in his Commentaries on the Timaeus of Plato, which has escaped the notice of Gale, and which the reader will find in a note on the fourth chapter of the eighth section of the following translation.

Anebo. Porphyry in his Life of Plotinus, and also in the second book of his Treatise on Abstinence from Animals, informs us that he was familiar with a certain Egyptian priest, who, as Gale conjectures, is probably the priest to whom Porphyry now writes. The diction, indeed, as Gale observes, denotes that the person to whom this Epistle is addressed was a very great prophet, who, nevertheless, is afterwards said to be a priest. This, however, is not any thing novel or incongruous. For by Apuleius in Metamorph. lib. xi. the Egyptian Zaclas is said to be propheta primarius et sacerdos, a chief prophet and priest

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_marcella_00_eintro.htm

Porphyry, Letter to his wife Marcella. London: George Redway (1896) Preface to the online edition

Porphyry, Letter to his wife Marcella. London: George Redway (1896) Preface to the online edition

The ΠΟΡΦΥΡΙΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ ΠΡΟΣ ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΑΝ (Porphyry the Philosopher To Marcella) was unknown until a text under that title was discovered in the Ambrosian library in Milan by Cardinal Angelo Mai. The only manuscript known is Codex Ambrosianus Q. 13 sup., and the text is on folios 214v-222r. The manuscript was written around 1500 AD, and contains gaps and a fragmentary ending which probably also existed in the manuscript from which it was copied. The text is divided in modern editions into 35 chapters.

After discovering the text, Cardinal Mai published the text promptly in 1816. An edition with further emendations by J. C. von Orelli appeared in 1819, while Mai produced a revised edition in 1831 with a Latin translation. A new edition appeared by Augustus Nauck in 1860, with a second edition in 1886. This was the text used by Alice Zimmern (1855-1939) for her translation of 1896; a revised translation appeared in 1910, which, however, appears very uncommon and my attempts to borrow the copy in Glasgow University Library have so far been unsuccessful. This text is thus based on that from the Phanes Press reprint, with "'tis" changed to "it is" and Philoktetes to Philoctetes.

Eunapius tells us that Porphyry married Marcella when an old man, and indeed Porphyry himself in the text says that he is "declining into old age" (c.1). Little is known of Marcella. Cyril of Alexandria says that she was a Christian (Contra Julianum VI. 209B), while Aristocritus says that she was Jewish (Erbse, Frag. gr. Theos. 201, θ.85).

Bibliography

A. Mai, Porphyrii philosophi ad Marcellam. Mediolani: Regiis typis (1816)

Johann C. von Orelli &c, Opusula Graecorum veterum sententiosa et moralia. Leipzig (1819)

A. Mai, Classicorum auctorum e Vaticanis codicibus editorum. vol. IV (1831)

A. Nauck, Porphyrii philosophi platonici opuscula tria. Leipzig: B.G Teubner (1860) This work is available on Google Books.

A. Nauck, Porphyrii philosophi platonici opuscula selecta. Leipzig: B.G Teubner (1886)

Alice Zimmern, Porphyry the philosopher to his wife Marcella. London: George Redway (1896). nd Edition, London: Priory Press (1910). Reprinted first edition with introduction by David Fideler, Grand Rapids: Phanes Press (1986) The Phanes Press reprint contains no introduction by Alice Zimmern, and amends the translation by replacing 'thou' with 'you.'

Walter Pötscher, Porphyrios PROS MARKELLAN. Leiden: E.J.Brill (1969)

Kathleen O'Brien Wicker, Porphyry the philosopher: To Marcella. Text and translation. Atlanta: Scholars Press (1987). Series: SBL Texts and translations 28. Most of the information in this page is abbreviated from here.

Gillian Thomas, ZIMMERN, Alice Louisa Theodora (1855-1939). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_marcella_02_text.htm

Porphyry, Letter to his wife Marcella. London: George Redway (1896) pp. 39-59.

Porphyry, Letter to his wife Marcella. London: George Redway (1896) pp. 39-59.*

PORPHYRY TO MARCELLA

[Translated by Alice Zimmern]

1. I chose you as my wife, Marcella, though you were the mother of five daughters and two sons, some of whom are still little children, and the others approaching a marriageable age; and I was not deterred by the multitude of things which would be needful for their maintenance. And it was not for the sake of having children that I wedded you, deeming that the lovers of true wisdom were my children, and that your children too would be mine if ever these should embrace right philosophy, when educated by us. Nor yet was it because a superfluity of riches had fallen either to your lot or mine. For such necessaries as are ours must suffice us who are poor. Neither did I expect that you would afford me any ease through your ministrations as I advanced in years, for your frame is delicate, and more in need of care from others than fitted to succour or watch over them. Nor yet did I desire other housewifely care from you, nor sought I after honour and praise from those who would not willingly have undertaken such a burden for the mere sake of doing good. Nay, it was far otherwise, for through the folly of your fellow-citizens, and their envy toward you and yours, I encountered much |40 ill-speaking, and contrary to all expectation, I fell into danger of death at their hands on your behalf.

2. For none of these causes did I choose another to be partner of my life, but there was a twofold and reasonable cause that swayed me. One part was that I deemed I should thus propitiate the gods of generation; just as Socrates in his prison chose to compose popular music, for the sake of safety in his departure from life, instead of his customary labours in philosophy, so did I strive to propitiate the divinities who preside over this tragi-comedy of ours, and shrank not from celebrating in all willingness the marriage hymn, though I took as my lot your numerous children, and your straitened circumstances, and the malice of evil-speakers. Nor were there lacking any of those passions usually connected with a play—jealousy, hatred, laughter, quarrelling and anger; this alone excepted, that it was not with a view to ourselves but for the sake of others that we enacted this spectacle in honour of the gods.

3. Another worthier reason, in nowise resembling that commonplace one, was that I admired you because your disposition was suited to true philosophy; and when you were bereaved of your husband, a man dear to me, I deemed it not fitting to leave you without a helpmeet and wise protector suited to your character. Wherefore I drove away all who were minded to use insult under false pretence, and I endured foolish contumely, and bore in patience with the plots laid against me, and strove, as far as in my power lay, to deliver you from all who tried to lord it over you. I recalled you also to your proper mode of life, and gave you a share in philosophy, pointing |41 out to you a doctrine that should guide your life. And who could be a more faithful witness to me than yourself, for I should deem it shame to equivocate to you, or conceal aught of mine from you, or to withhold from you (who honours truth above all things, and therefore did deem our marriage a gift of Heaven) a truthful relation from beginning to end of all that I have done with respect to and during our union.

4. Now had my business permitted me to remain longer in your country, it would have been possible for you to still your thirst with fresh and plentiful draughts from fountains close at hand, so that, not contenting yourself with as much of this gift as would be requisite for ends of utility, you could rejoice in easily supplying yourself at your leisure with plentiful refreshment. But now the affairs of the Greeks requiring me, and the gods too urging me on, it was impossible for you, though willing, to answer the summons, with so large a number of daughters attending you. And I held it to be both foolish and wicked to cast them thus without you among ill-disposed men. And now that I am compelled to delay here, though I cherish the hope of a speedy return, I would deem it right to warn you to keep firm hold of those gifts you did receive in those ten months during which you did live with me, and not to cast away that you already have from desire and longing for more. As for me, I am making what haste I can to rejoin you.

5. Yet considering the uncertainty of the future, in traveling I must, in sending you consolation, lay upon you commands. And I would say somewhat that this is more suitable for you than to take care of yourself and your |42 house,

And keep all things in safety,

left behind as you are, not unlike Philoctetes in the tragedy, suffering from his sore, though his sore was caused by a baleful serpent, yours by the knowledge of the nature and extent of the descent to earth which has befallen our souls. Albeit the gods have not forsaken us, as the sons of Atreus forsook him, but they have become our helpers and have been mindful of us. Now seeing you are hard beset in a contest, attended with much wrestling and labour, I earnestly beg you to keep firm hold upon philosophy, the only sure refuge, and not to yield more than is fitting to the perplexities caused by my absence. Do not from desire for my instruction cast away what you have already received, and do not faint before the multitude of other cares that encompass you, abandoning yourself to the rushing stream of outward things. Rather bear in mind that it is not by ease that men attain the possession of the true good, and practise yourself for the life you expect to lead by help of those very troubles which are the only opponents to your fortitude that are able to disturb and constrain you. As for plots laid against us, it is easy for those to despise them who are accustomed to disregard all that does not lie in our own power, and who deem that injustice rather recoils upon the doer than injures those who believe that the worst injury inflicted on them can cause them but little loss.

6. Now you may console yourself for the absence of him who sustains your soul, and is to you father, husband, teacher, and kindred, yea, if you will, even fatherland, |43 though this seems to offer a reasonable ground for unhappiness, by placing before yourself as arbiter not feeling but reason. In the first place consider that, as I have said before, it is impossible that those who desire to be mindful of their return, should accomplish their journey home from this terrestrial exile pleasantly and easily, as through some smooth plain. For no two things can be more entirely opposed to one another than a life of pleasure and ease, and the ascent to the gods. As the summits of mountains cannot be reached without danger and toil, so it is not possible to emerge from the inmost depths of the body through pleasure and ease which drag men down to the body. For 'tis by anxious thought that we reach the road, and by recollection of our fall. But even if we encounter difficulties in our way, hardship is natural to the ascent, for it is given to the gods alone to lead an easy life. But ease is most dangerous for souls which have sunk to this earthly life, making them forgetful in the pursuit of alien things, and bringing on a state of slumber if we fall asleep, beguiled by alluring visions.

7. Now there are some chains that are of very heavy gold, but, because of their beauty, they persuaded women who in their folly do not perceive the weight, that they contribute to ornament, and thus got them to bear fetters easily. But other fetters which are of iron compelled them to a knowledge of their sins, and by pain forced them to repent and seek release from the weight; while escape from the golden imprisonment, through the delight felt in it, often causes grievous woe. Whence it has seemed to men of wisdom that labours conduce to virtue more than do pleasures. And to toil is better for man, aye, and |44 for woman too, than to let the soul be puffed up and enervated by pleasure. For labour must lead the way to every fair possession, and he must toil who is eager to attain virtue. You know that Heracles and the Discouri, and Asclepius and all other children of the gods, through toil and steadfastness accomplished the blessed journey to heaven. For it is not those who live a life of pleasure that make the ascent to the gods, but rather those who have nobly learnt to endure the greatest misfortunes.

8. I know full well that there could be no greater contest than that which now lies before you, since you think that in me you will lose the path of safety and the guide therein. Yet your circumstances are not altogether unendurable, if you cast from yourself the unreasoning distress of mind which springs from the feelings, and deem it no trivial matter to remember those words by which you were with divine rites initiated into true philosophy, approving by your deeds the fidelity with which they have been apprehended. For it is a man's actions that naturally afford demonstrations of his opinions, and whoever holds a belief must live in accordance with it, in order that he may himself be a faithful witness to the hearers of his words. What was it then that we learnt from those men who possess the clearest knowledge to be found among mortals? Was it not this—that I am in reality not this person who can be touched or perceived by any of the senses, but that which is farthest removed from the body, the colourless and formless essence which can by no means be touched by the hands, but is grasped by the mind alone. And it is not from outward things that we receive those principles which are implanted in us. We |45 receive only the keynote as in a chorus, which recalls to our remembrance those things which we received from the god who gave them us ere we set forth on our wanderings.

9. Moreover, is not every emotion of the soul most hostile to its safety? And is not want of education the mother of all the passions? Now education does not consist in the absorption of a large amount of knowledge, but in casting off the affections of the soul. Now the passions are the beginning of diseases. And vice is the disease of the soul; and every vice is disgraceful. And the disgraceful is opposed to the good. Now since the divine nature is good, it is impossible for it to consort with vice, since Plato says it is unlawful for the impure to approach the pure. Wherefore even now we need to purge away all our passions, and the sins that spring therefrom. Was it not this you did so much approve, reading as it were divine characters within yourself, disclosed by my words? Is it not then absurd, though you are persuaded that you have in yourself the saving and the saved, the losing and the lost, wealth and poverty, father and husband, and a guide to all true good, to pant after the mere shadow of a leader, as though you had not within yourself a true leader, and all riches within your own power? And this must you lose and fly from, if you descend to the flesh, instead of turning towards that which saves and is saved.

10. As for my shadow and visible image, as you were not profited by their presence, so now their absence is not hurtful if you attempt to fly from the body. But you would meet me in all purity, and I should be most truly present and associated with you, night and day, in purity |46 and with the fairest kind of converse which can never be broken up, if you would practise to ascend into yourself, collecting together all the powers which the body has scattered and broken up into a multitude of parts unlike their former unity to which concentration lent strength. You should collect and combine into one the thoughts implanted within you, endeavouring to isolate those that are confused, and to drag to light those that are enveloped in darkness. The divine Plato too made this his starting-point, summoning us away from the sensible to the intelligible. Also if you would remember, you would combine what you have heard, and recall it by memory, desiring to turn your mind to discourses of this kind as to excellent counsellors, and afterwards practising in action what you have learned, bearing it in mind in your labours.

11. Reason tells us that the divine is present everywhere and in all men, but that only the mind of the wise man is sanctified as its temple, and God is best honoured by him who knows Him best. And this must naturally be the wise man alone, who in wisdom must honour the Divine, and in wisdom adorn for it a temple in his thought, honouring it with a living statue, the mind moulded in His image.... Now God is not in need of any one, and the wise man is in need of God alone. For no one could become good and noble, unless he knew the goodness and beauty which proceed from the Deity. Nor is any man unhappy, unless he has fitted up his soul as a dwelling-place for evil spirits. To the wise man God gives the authority of a god. And a man is purified by the knowledge of God, and issuing from God, he follows after righteousness. |47

12. Let God be at hand to behold and examine every act and deed and word. And let us consider Him the author of all our good deeds. But of evil we ourselves are the authors, since it is we who made choice of it, but God is without blame. Wherefore we should pray to God for that which is worthy of Him, and we should pray for what we could attain from none other. And we must pray that we may attain after our labours those things that are preceded by toil and virtue; for the prayer of the slothful is but vain speech. Neither ask of God what you will not hold fast when you have attained it, since God's gifts cannot be taken from you, and He will not give what you will not hold fast. What you will not require when you are rid of the body, that despise, but practise yourself in that you will need when you are set free, calling on God to be your helper. You will need none of those things which chance often gives and again takes away. Do not make any request before the fitting season, but only when God makes plain the right desire implanted by nature within you.

13. Hereby can God best be reflected, who cannot be seen by the body, nor yet by an impure soul darkened by vice. For purity is God's beauty, and His light is the life-giving flame of truth. Every vice is deceived by ignorance, and turned astray by wickedness. Wherefore desire and ask of God what is in accordance with His own will and nature, well assured that, inasmuch as a man longs after the body and the things of the body in so far does he fail to know God, and is blind to the sight of God, even though all men should hold him as a god. Now the wise man, if known by only few, or, if you will, |48 unknown to all, yet is known by God, and is reflected by his likeness to Him. Let then your mind follow after God, and let the soul follow the mind, and let the body be subservient to the soul as far as may be, the pure body serving the pure soul. For if it be defiled by the emotions of the soul, the defilement reacts upon the soul itself.

14. In a pure body where soul and mind are loved by God, words should conform with deeds: since it is better for you to cast a stone at random than a word, and to be defeated speaking the truth rather than conquer through deceit; for he who conquers by deceit is worsted in his character. And lies are witnesses unto evil deeds. It is impossible for a man who loves God also to love pleasure and the body, for he who loves these must needs be a lover of riches. And he who loves riches must be unrighteous. And the unrighteous man is impious towards God and his fathers, and transgresses against all men. And though he slay whole hecatombs in sacrifice, and adorn the temples with ten thousand gifts, yet is he impious and godless, and at heart a plunderer of holy places. Wherefore we should shun all addicted to love of the body as godless and impure.

15. Do not associate with any one whose opinions cannot profit you, nor join with him in converse about God. For it is not safe to speak of God with those who are corrupted by false opinion. Yea, and in their presence to speak truth or falsehood about God is fraught with equal danger. It is not fitting for a man who is not purified from unholy deeds to speak of God himself, nor must we suppose that he who speaks of Him with such is not guilty of a crime. We should hear and use speech |49 concerning God as though in His presence. Godlike deeds should precede talk of God, and in the presence of the multitude we should keep silence concerning Him, for the knowledge of God is not suitable to the vain conceit of the soul. Esteem it better to keep silence than to let fall random words about God. You will become worthy of God if you deem it wrong either to speak or do or know aught unworthy of Him. Now a man who was worthy of God would be himself a god.

16. You will best honour God by making your mind like unto Him, and this you can do by virtue alone. For only virtue can draw the soul upward to that which is akin to it. Next to God there is nothing great but virtue, yet God is greater than virtue. Now God strengthens the man who does noble deeds. But an evil spirit is the instigator of evil deeds. The wicked soul flies from God, and would fain that His providence did not exist, and it shrinks from the divine law which punishes all the wicked. But the wise man's soul is like God, and ever beholds Him and dwells with Him. If the ruler takes pleasure in the ruled, then God too cares for the wise man and watches over him. Therefore is the wise man blest, because he is in God's keeping. Tis not his speech that is acceptable to God, but his deed; for the wise man honours God even in his silence, while the fool dishonours Him even while praying and offering sacrifice. Thus the wise man only is a priest; he only is beloved by God, and knows how to pray.

17. The man who practises wisdom practises the knowledge of God; and he shows his piety not by continued prayers and sacrifices but by his actions. No one |50 could become well-pleasing to God by the opinions of men or the vain talk of the Sophists. But he makes himself well-pleasing and consecrated to God by assimilating his own disposition to the blessed and incorruptible nature. And it is he who makes himself impious and displeasing to God, for God does not injure him (since the divine nature can only work good), but he injures himself, chiefly through his wrong opinion concerning God. Not he who disregards the images of the gods is impious, but he who holds the opinions of the multitude concerning God. But do you entertain no thought unworthy of God or of His blessedness and immortality.

18. The chief fruit of piety is to honour God according to the laws of our country, not deeming that God has need of anything, but that He calls us to honour Him by His truly reverend and blessed majesty. We are not harmed by reverencing God's altars, nor benefited by neglecting them. But whoever honours God under the impression that He is in need of him, he unconsciously deems himself greater than God. It is not when they are angry that the gods do us harm, but when they are not understood. Anger is foreign to the gods, for anger is involuntary, and there is nothing involuntary in God. Do not then dishonour the divine nature by false human opinions, since you will not injure the eternally blessed One, whose immortal nature is incapable of injury, but you will blind yourself to the conception of what is great and chiefest.

19. Again you could not suppose my meaning to be this when I exhort you to reverence the gods, since it would be absurd to command this as though the matter |51 admitted a question. And we do not worship Him only by doing or thinking this or that, neither can tears or supplications turn God from His purpose, nor yet is God honoured by sacrifices nor glorified by plentiful offerings; but it is the godlike mind that remains stably fixed in its place that is united to God. For like must needs approach like. But the sacrifices of fools are mere food for fire, and the offerings they bring help the robbers of temples to lead their evil life. But, as was said before, let your temple be the mind that is within you. This must you tend and adorn, that it may be a fitting dwelling for God. Yet let not the adornment and the reception of God be but for a day, to be followed by mockery and folly and the return of the evil spirit.

20. If, then, you ever bear in mind that wheresoever your soul walks and inspires your body with activity, God is present and overlooks all your counsels and actions, then will you feel reverence before the unbegotten presence of the spectator, and you will have God to dwell with you. And even though your mouth discourse the sound of some other thing, let your thought and mind be turned towards God. Thus shall even your speech be inspired, shining through the light of God's truth and flowing the more easily; for the knowledge of God makes discourse short.

21. But wheresoever forgetfulness of God shall enter in, there must the evil spirit dwell. For the soul is a dwelling-place, as you have learned, either of gods or of evil spirits. If the gods are present, it will do what is good both in word and in deed; but if it has welcomed in the evil guest, it does all things in wickedness. Whensoever, then, you |52 behold a man doing or rejoicing in that which is evil, know that he has denied God in his heart and is the dwelling-place of an evil spirit. They who believe that God exists and governs all things have this reward of their knowledge and firm faith: they have learnt that God has forethought for all things, and that there exist angels, divine and good spirits, who behold all that is done, and from whose notice we cannot escape. Being persuaded that this is so, they are careful not to fall in their life, keeping before their eyes the constant presence of the gods whence they cannot escape. And they have attained to a wise mode of life, and know the gods and are known by them.

22. On the other hand, they who believe that the gods do not exist and that the universe is not governed by God's providence, have this punishment: they neither believe themselves, nor yet do they put faith in others who assert that the gods exist, but think that the universe is directed by a whirling motion void of reason. Thus they have cast themselves into unspeakable peril, trusting to an unreasoning and uncertain impulse in the events of life; and they do all that is unlawful in the endeavour to remove the belief in God. Assuredly such men are forsaken by the gods for their ignorance and unbelief. Yet they cannot flee and escape the notice of the gods or of justice their attendant, but having chosen an evil and erring life, though they know not the gods, yet are they known by them and by justice that dwells with the gods.

23. Even if they think they honour the gods, and are persuaded that they exist, yet neglect virtue and wisdom, they really have denied the divinities and dishonour them. |53 Mere unreasoning faith without right living does not attain to God. Nor is it an act of piety to honour God without having first ascertained in what manner He delights to be honoured. If, then, He is gratified and won over by libations and sacrifices, it would not be just that while all men make the same requests they should obtain different answers to their prayers. But if there is nothing that God desires less than this, while he delights only in the purifications of the mind, which every man can attain of his own free choice, what injustice could there be? But if the divine nature delights in both kinds of service, it should receive honour by sacred rites according to each man's power, and by the thoughts of his mind even beyond that power. It is not wrong to pray to God, since ingratitude is a grievous wrong.

24. No god is in fault for a man's wickedness, but the man who has chosen it for himself. The prayer which is accompanied by base actions is impure, and therefore not acceptable to God; but that which is accompanied by noble actions is pure, and at the same time acceptable.

There are four first principles that must be upheld concerning God—faith, truth, love, hope. We must have faith that our only salvation is in turning to God. And having faith, we must strive with all our might to know the truth about God. And when we know this, we must love Him we do know. And when we love Him we must nourish our souls on good hopes for our life, for it is by their good hopes good men are superior to bad ones. Let then these four principles be firmly held.

25. Next let these three laws be distinguished. First, the law of God; second, the law of human nature; third, |54 that which is laid down for nations and states. The law of nature fixes the limits of bodily needs, and shows what is necessary to these, and condemns all striving after which is needless and superfluous. Now that which is established and laid down for States regulates by fixed agreements the common relations of men, by their mutual observance of the covenants laid down. But the divine law is implanted by the mind, for their welfare, in the thoughts of reasoning souls, and it is found truthfully inscribed therein. The law of humanity is transgressed by him who through vain opinions know it not, owing to his excessive love for the pleasures of the body. But the conventional law is subject to expediency, and is differently laid down at different times according to the arbitrary will of the prevailing government. It punishes him who transgresses it, but it cannot reach a man's secret thoughts and intentions.

26. The divine law is unknown to the soul that folly and intemperance have rendered impure, but it shines forth in self-control and wisdom. It is impossible to transgress this, for there is nothing in man that can transcend it. Nor can it be despised, for it cannot shine forth in a man who will despise it. Nor is it moved by chances of fortune, because it is in truth superior to chance and stronger than any form of violence. Mind alone knows it, and diligently pursues the search thereafter, and finds it imprinted in itself, and supplies from it food to the soul as to its own body. We must regard the rational soul as the body of the mind, which the mind nourishes by bringing into recognition, through the light that is in it, the thoughts within, which mind imprinted and |55 engraved in the soul in accordance with the truth of the divine law. Thus mind is become teacher and saviour, nurse, guardian and leader, speaking the truth in silence, unfolding and giving forth the divine law; and looking on the impressions thereof in itself it beholds them implanted in the soul from all eternity.

27. You must therefore first understand the law of nature, and then proceed to the divine law, by which also the natural law has been prescribed. And if you make these your starting-point you shall never fear the written law. For written laws are made for the benefit of good men, not that they may do no wrong, but that they may not suffer it. Natural wealth is limited, and it is easy to attain. But the wealth desired of vain opinions has no limits, and is hard to attain. The true philosopher therefore, following nature and not vain opinions, is self-sufficing in all things; for in the light of the requirements of nature every possession is some wealth, but in the light of unlimited desires even the greatest wealth is but poverty. Truly it is no uncommon thing to find a man who is rich if tried by the standard of vain opinions. No fool is satisfied with what he possesses; he rather mourns for what he has not. Just as men in a fever are always thirsty through the grievous nature of their malady, and desire things quite opposed to one another, so men whose souls are ill-regulated are ever in want of all things, and experience ever-varying desires through their greed.

28. Wherefore the gods, too, have commanded us to purify ourselves by abstaining from food and from love, bringing those who follow after piety within the law of that nature which they themselves have formed, since |56 everything which transgresses this law is loathsome and deadly. The multitude, however, fearing simplicity in their mode of life, because of this fear, turn to the pursuits that can best procure riches. And many have attained wealth, and yet not found release from their troubles, but have exchanged them for greater ones. Wherefore philosophers say that nothing is so necessary as to know thoroughly what is unnecessary, and moreover that to be self-sufficing is the greatest of all wealth, and that it is honourable not to ask anything of any man. Wherefore, too, they exhort us to strive, not to acquire some necessary thing, but rather to remain of good cheer if we have not acquired it.

29. Neither let us accuse our flesh as the cause of great evils, nor attribute our troubles to outward things. Rather let us seek the cause of these things in our souls, and casting away every vain striving and hope for fleeting joys, let us become completely masters of ourselves. For a man is unhappy either through fear or through unlimited and empty desire. Yet if he bridle these, he can attain to a happy mind. But in as far as you are in want, it is through forgetfulness of your nature that you feel the want. For hereby you cause to yourself vague fears and desires. And it were better for you to be content and lie on a bed of rushes than to be troubled though you have a golden couch and a luxurious table acquired by labour and sorrow. Whilst the pile of wealth is growing bigger, life is growing wretched.

30. Do not think it unnatural that when the flesh cries out for anything, the soul should cry out too. The cry of the flesh is, "Let me not hunger, or thirst, or shiver," |57 and it is hard for the soul to restrain these desires. It is hard, too, for it by help of its own natural self-sufficing to disregard day by day the exhortations of nature, and to teach it to esteem the concerns of life as of little account. And when we enjoy good fortune, to learn to bear ill fortune, and when we are unfortunate not to hold of great account the possessions of those who enjoy good fortune. And to receive with a calm mind the good gifts of fortune, and to stand firm against her seeming ills. Yea, all that the many hold good is but a fleeting thing.

31. But wisdom and knowledge have no part in chance. It is not painful to lack the gifts of chance, but rather to endure the unprofitable trouble of vain ambition. For every disturbance and unprofitable desire is removed by the love of true philosophy. Vain is the word of that philosopher who can ease no mortal trouble. As there is no profit in the physician's art unless it cure the diseases of the body, so there is none in philosophy, unless it expel the troubles of the soul. These and other like commands are laid on us by the law of our nature.

32. Now the divine law cries aloud in the pure region of the mind: "Unless you consider that your body is joined to you as the outer covering to the child in the womb and the stalk to the sprouting corn, you can not know yourself." Nor can anyone know himself who does not hold this opinion. As the outer covering grows with the child, and the stalk with the corn, yet, when they come to maturity, both are cast away, thus too the body which is fastened to the soul at birth is not a part of the man. But as the outer covering was formed along with the child that it may come to being in the womb, so likewise the |58 body was yoked to the man that he may come to being on the earth. In as far as a man turns to the mortal part of himself, in so far he makes his mind incommensurate with immortality. And in as far as he refrains from sharing the feelings of the body, in such a measure does he approach the divine. The wise man who is beloved of God strives and toils as much for the good of his soul as others do for the good of their body. He deems that he cannot become self-sufficing merely by remembering what he has heard, but strives by practising it to hasten on towards his duty.

33. Naked was he sent into the world, and naked shall he call on Him that sent him. For God listens only to those who are not weighed down by alien things, guarding those who are pure from corruption. Consider it a great help towards the blessed life if the captive in the thralls of nature takes his captor captive. For we are bound in the chains that nature has cast around us, by the belly, the throat and the other parts of the body, and by the use of these and the pleasant sensations that arise therefrom and the fears they occasion. But if we rise superior to their witchcraft, and avoid the snares laid by them, we have led our captor captive. Neither trouble yourself much whether you be male or female in body, nor look upon yourself as a woman, for I did not approach you as such. Flee all that is womanish in the soul, as though you had a man's body about you. For what is born from a virgin soul and a pure mind is most blessed, since imperishable springs from imperishable. But what the body produces is held corrupt by all the gods.

34. It is a great proof of wisdom to hold the body in |59 thrall. Often men cast off certain parts of the body; be ready for the soul's safety to cast away the whole body. Hesitate not to die for whose sake you are willing to live. Let reason then direct all our impulses, and banish from us tyrannous and godless masters. For the rule of the passions is harder than that of tyrants, since it is impossible for a man to be free who is governed by his passions. As many as are the passions of the soul, so many cruel masters have we.

35. Strive not to wrong your slaves nor to correct them when you are angry. And before correcting them, prove to them that you do this for their good, and give them an opportunity for excuse. When purchasing slaves, avoid the stubborn ones. Accustom yourself to do many things yourself, for our own labour is simple and easy. And men should use each limb for the purpose for which nature intended it to be used. Nature needs no more. They who do not use their own bodies, but make excessive use of others, commit a twofold wrong, and are ungrateful to nature that has given them these parts. Never use your bodily parts merely for the sake of pleasure, for it is far better to die than to obscure your soul by intemperance.... correct the vice of your nature.... If you give something to your slaves, distinguish the better ones by a share of honour.... for it is impossible that he who does wrong to men should honour God. But look on the love of mankind as the foundation of your piety. And....

[HERE THE MS. ENDS ABRUPTLY.]

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely. Page numbers are from the most readily available reprint, that of the Phanes Press edition (1986).

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Porphyry, Letter to his wife Marcella. London: Priory Press (1910)

Porphyry, Letter to his wife Marcella. London: Priory Press (1910)

By the Same Author

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PORPHYRY THE PHILOSOPHER

TO

HIS WIFE

MARCELLA

New and Revised Translation

BY

ALICE ZIMMERN

(Girton college, Cambridge)

LONDON THE PRIORY PRESS, HAMPSTEAD

OXFORD CAMBRIDGE

B. H. BLACKWELL BOWES AND BOWES

MCMX

PORPHYRY THE NEO-PLATONIST

Alexandria, the birthplace of Neo-Platonism, holds a position unique in the history of philosophy and letters. Founded by Alexander the Great to be the centre of a world-empire, it accomplished its destiny in a sense unguessed by its founder. Cosmopolitan through its position at the junction of three continents and the far-sighted toleration of its first rulers, it became a home for the wise and learned from all lands, and a centre of culture for the whole known world. The speedy break-up of the Alexandrian Empire and the transfer of power to Rome put an end to the idea of a world-state, but the abstract conception of a world-religion, to include within itself all other religions, found a congenial home in Alexander's city. For Neo-Platonism was a religious as well as a philosophic system. The first aim of its founders had been the revival of Plato's doctrines. But this was no longer possible. As the State had ceased to be |6 purely Greek, and was a combination of Roman, Greek, and Eastern elements, it was natural that these other influences should leave their mark on thought. The result was an eclectic system, combining in itself the best of all its predecessors. Though Plato's teaching formed the basis, Pythagoreanism, Stoicism, and Judaism contributed their quota. Still the result was no mere patchwork of older doctrines, but a complete metaphysical system, confessedly based on the teachings of Plato, though including much that is foreign to him. Of this scheme we may call Plotinus the architect, though his master, Ammonius Saccas, ranks as the true founder of Neo-Platonism.

Plotinus was born at Lykopolis in Egypt in 204 A.D. So at least we have reason to believe; but the great philosopher himself always refused to tell the date and place of his birth, since he did not wish to dwell on the details of that great misfortune, the descent of soul into body. At the age of twenty-eight he began his philosophic studies, and for eleven years was a pupil of Ammonius Saccas, who was striving to resuscitate Greek philosophy on the double basis of Plato and Aristotle. After visiting the East and studying the wisdom of Persia and India, he settled in Rome, where he founded a school of his own. For the Imperial city had learnt to welcome the great minds of the other nations over whom she |7 held sway. Rome was the intellectual as well as the political centre, and every philosophy and religion but one, the Christian, was held in honour here.

In spite of the abstruse nature of his teaching, crowds flocked round Plotinus. Men of science, physicians, senators and lawyers came to hear him; even Roman ladies enrolled themselves among his disciples. He seems to have combined in some unaccountable fashion the vocation of popular lecturer with that of philosopher and ascetic. He died in 269 A.D., at the age of sixty-five. We are told that he met his end with rejoicing, and begged his friends to celebrate the day as a festival, since it witnessed the escape of his soul from the prison-house of the body.

Of the pupils of Plotinus the greatest was Porphyry. It is indeed to him that we owe our knowledge of the Master's teachings, for he induced him to break the vow which Ammonius had exacted from all his disciples, not to commit his doctrines to writing.

A native of Tyre, born in 233 A.D., he early showed a fondness for travel, which seems to have been common to the philosophers of those days, who ranged from country to country in search of the Master at whose feet it should be most profitable to sit. There is some uncertainty about the list of his teachers and the places he visited. He studied under Origen, perhaps at Caesarea, and |8 he seems at one time to have visited Alexandria. At Athens he heard Apollonius and Longinus. At the age of twenty he went to Rome, attracted by the fame of Plotinus, but found that the great Master had closed his school and returned to the East. He then went back to Longinus, and sat under him for many years, becoming at last the chief ornament of his school. It is to him that Porphyry owes the name by which we know him. His real name was Malchus, in the Syro-Phoenician language a king, and Longinus gave him the nickname Porphyrius (Πορφύρεος) either as symbolic of the royal purple, or because of his Tyrian origin.

At the age of thirty he once more set out for Rome, this time as a confirmed disciple of Longinus, and somewhat uplifted by spiritual pride, if, as his biographer Eunapius states, he travelled to Rome "that he might measure the worth and greatness of the city by the wisdom he found in it." Here he soon came into conflict with Plotinus. Having ventured to attack one of the Master's dogmas in a written treatise, he was assailed in turn by Amelius, one of the disciples of Plotinus. A controversy ensued, from which Porphyry issued converted—a result surely rare in the history of controversy,— and ever afterwards he continued the most faithful and orthodox of Neo-Platonists. So dear did he become to his master that the greater part of |9 Plotinus' books were written in answer to Porphyry's questions, and it was he who persuaded Plotinus to break the vow exacted by Ammonius from all his pupils not to commit the inner doctrines to writing. Plotinus' writings filled fifty-four books, and Porphyry arranged them in six Enneades (groups of nine). It appears that Plotinus never revised a page, and both wrote and spelt badly; hence his disciple's task can have been no sinecure, and he well deserved the epithet conferred on him by Eunapius— "a kind of Mercury's chain let down among men" to communicate to them the learning and wisdom from above.

For six years Porphyry sat under Plotinus and listened to the doctrines of the evil of matter, the baseness of body, and the greatness of the philosopher's task. At last despair at the smallness of his own powers came upon him, and he fled to Sicily, where he seems in a fit of depression to have contemplated suicide. There, according to his biographer, Plotinus sought him out and comforted him, and restored his will to live. But another version of the story is that he went to Sicily by the advice of Plotinus, who thought that rest and change might prove a cure for melancholy. Indeed there is a good deal of obscurity about the events of Porphyry's life, for no faithful disciple seems to have done for him what he did for Plotinus, and |10 given the world an account of the Master. There is a general agreement that he spent some time in Sicily, and Christian writers assert that while there he wrote fifteen books against their doctrines. From Sicily he crossed to Carthage, and returned thence to Rome after the death of Plotinus. Here he taught for some years, and here in 302 A.D. he married Marcella, a Roman lady, about whom unfortunately we only know that she was the widow of a friend. His reasons for this marriage are set forth by Porphyry himself in a letter to Marcella. It was prompted, he says, by no mere commonplace love nor the desire to promote his domestic comfort, or to have children of his own, but because she had a disposition suited to philosophy, and because he desired to give her a home and help to bring up her seven children. Ten months after the marriage the husband was called away on some business which he describes as connected with the "affairs of the Greeks," ¹ and the will of the gods. This journey has given rise to many conjectures. A passage of Lactantius deals with the persecutions suffered by the Christians of Bithynia in the year 302. In these, he says, two men took a leading part, one of whom professed to be a high priest of philosophy (antistes philosophiae), but was in reality a man of vicious habits, who hunted after wealth, |11 while preaching the beauty of poverty. It has been suggested that the person here alluded to was Porphyry, and that he had been sent hither by the Emperor Diocletian to persecute the Christians. The slander, for such we may surely consider it, is of old standing,² but the discovery of the letter to Marcella, in which he hints that his journey was taken for religious reasons, has given some fresh colour to the story.

Perhaps the best refutation may be found in the language used about him by his Christian opponents, who certainly had no reason to deal gently with him, and yet bore full testimony to the nobility of his character. Whoever the unworthy philosopher may have been, we are surely justified in believing the vices and excesses described to be incompatible with the asceticism and simplicity of life which Porphyry is known to have practised, and which he is not likely to have abandoned at the age of sixty-nine. He might have seen no objection to persecuting the Christians, since their religion was the one exception to his rule of universal toleration, but he had other means of attack at his disposal, if it is true that thirty Christians were required to refute his writings against them.

Of the latter part of Porphyry's life little is known to us, but it seems certain that he returned |12 once more to Rome, and died there. We know nothing of the manner of his death. Even the date is uncertain, but it was probably about 305.

Whatever the object of his journey, we are the gainers by it, since it was during this absence that he wrote the letter tohiswife, whichishere reproduced in English. In it he calls her attention to the consolations of philosophy, bidding her not to grieve for "the absence of him who sustains thy soul, and is to thee father, husband, teacher, and kindred," since it is but the "shadow and visible image" which are absent; while if she can learn to enter into herself, collecting and uniting "all the powers which the body has scattered and broken up into a multitude of parts," then soul may meet soul in all purity, and distance be annihilated. Thus his attempt at consolation becomes a text on which to hang a simple version of his philosophy, suited to the feminine understanding; and it supplies something like an easy abstract of Porphyry's ethical teaching, which he who runs may read.

The letter to Marcella might almost be called a religious treatise, and indeed it was the ethical side of Neo-Platonism that attracted Porphyry, for his practical tendency led him to consider the conduct of life, as based on the teachings of his master.

The aim of philosophy is a moral life, the cure of |13 moral evils, the purification of our activity. Knowledge is only a means of purification, not in itself an essential part of the highest life. The philosopher is the physician of the soul. The aim of philosophy is the salvation of the soul.

There is an essential opposition between matter and spirit, yet the world of sense has sprung from the world of spirit. The highest power produced one below it, and so on in a downward course, in which multiplicity and evil increase, the further in the scale beings are removed from the great First Cause, for "everything which generates by its very essence generates that which is inferior to itself."³ At last the soul which hovers between the two worlds inclines downwards, and produces a lower power akin to the body, which combines with it. This descent on the part of the soul is voluntary, just as in Plato it is the souls which are weighted by the corporeal that are dragged down again into the visible world.⁴ It is the soul which seeks the body. "Nature indeed binds the body to the soul, but the soul binds herself to the body. Nature therefore liberates the body from the soul, but the soul liberates herself from the body." ⁵ |14

Before ever the soul entered this earthly life, it dwelt in the heaven of the fixed stars. Thence it descended to earth through the seven planetary spheres, clothing itself from their substance with an aerial body (πνεῦμα). This accompanies it when it leaves the earthly body, and is fashioned according to its preference for some earthly form. The purest souls receive ethereal bodies, the next class solar, the third class lunar bodies. Those lowest in the scale, who have weighted their πνεῦμα by the damp mists of earthly atmosphere, are drawn down below the earth. The pure souls have a merely spiritual existence, free from desire, imagination, and remembrance of earthly things.

It follows that the aim of the philosopher must be to rise to the height of these pure spirits. Since body is opposed to soul, since love of God cannot be combined with love of the body, the aim of life must be the purification of the soul, and its liberation from the bonds of the body. This is not attained by death alone, but by freeing the soul from a longing for the body. Death separates soul and body, but it does not help the soul to rise unless it has freed itself from earthly taint by philosophy. The aim of the philosopher is therefore to separate soul and body by ending the desire of the soul for the body.

"There is," says Porphyry, "a twofold death, |15 the one universally known, in which the body is liberated from the soul; but the other peculiar to philosophers, in which the soul is liberated from the body. Nor does the one entirely follow the other." He refers here to the condition of ecstasy, the mystic union with God, which is the characteristic teaching of Neo-Platonism. Such moments of ecstasy are short and rare; even Plotinus is said only to have attained to it four times, and Porphyry himself but once.

There are four classes of virtues: the political virtues, the purifying virtues, the intellectual virtues, the contemplative virtues. The political virtues tend to moderate passions, the purifying to withdraw the soul from earthly things, the intellectual then enable a man to turn towards the First Cause, but the contemplative lead him straight to God. "The political virtues therefore adorn the mortal man, and are the forerunners of purifications. The virtue of him who proceeds to the contemplative life consists in a departure from terrestrial concerns." ⁶ "He who energises according to the practical virtues is a worthy man; but he who energises according to the cathartic (purifying) virtues is an angelic man, or is also a good demon. He who energises according to the intellectual virtues alone is a god, but he who energises |16 according to the paradeigmatic ⁷ virtues is the father of gods." ⁸

The last contain in themselves all the rest, but it is the purifying to which we must give most heed, for these lead the way to the others. It is these that shall set us on the first rung of the upward ladder, which can lead us back to the glory whence we came. "He who wishes to return to his proper kindred and associates, should not only with alacrity begin the journey, but in order that he may be properly received, should meditate how he may divest himself of everything of a foreign nature which he has assumed, and should recall to his memory such things as he has forgotten, and without which he cannot be admitted to his kindred and friends."⁹ To attain this it is necessary that "we should divest ourselves of everything of a mortal nature which we have assumed, together with an adhering affection for it, which is the cause of our descent, and that we should excite our recollection of that blessed and eternal essence, and should hasten our return to the nature which is without |17 colour and without quality, earnestly endeavouring to accomplish two things: one that we may cast aside everything material and mortal, but the other that we may properly return and be conversant with our true kindred, ascending to them in a way contrary to that in which we descended hither." ¹⁰ We must then "endeavour to the utmost of our power to withdraw ourselves from sense and imagination and the irrationality with which they are attended, and also from the passions which subsist about them, as far as the necessity of our condition in this life will permit.... We must therefore divest ourselves of our manifold garments, both of this visible and fleshly vestment, and of those with which we are internally clothed, and which are proximate to our cutaneous habiliments; and we must enter the stadium naked and unclothed, striving for the greatest of all prizes, the Olympia of the soul."

To attain this end we must tread the path of asceticism, not merely abstaining from food, but also checking all desire for it. "For what benefit shall we derive by abstaining from deeds, when at the same time we tenaciously adhere to the causes from which the deeds proceed?" We must subdue our passions by |18 abstinence from those visible perceptions which excite them.

"Among these passions and perturbations those which arise from food are to be enumerated." ¹¹

Thus to avoid excess in food is a help towards the higher life. We should especially avoid flesh food, because it weights and clogs our bodies, and —which is even worse—may introduce malefic demons into them. A vegetarian diet is to be preferred. Among other arguments against animal food, Porphyry introduces one in his treatise on the subject that must have been very unusual in that age—the injustice towards the animals themselves.

Abstinence from animal food is an act of justice, and—which is even more important—it is a help on the upward path, " since for that purpose it is necessary to exchange the life which the multitude leads for another, and to become purified both in words and deeds." ¹²

The aim being a purer and higher life, every right means to that end should be adopted. It was this need of external aids that turned the later Neo-Platonists towards the help of religion. Porphyry is willing to tolerate the polytheism of the |19 multitude, while himself accepting their gods as symbols, and giving an esoteric interpretation to their mythology. The wise men are the few, and they must not hold the opinions of the multitude concerning God, but they may join in the common worship, provided that their sacrifices are only "the first offerings of fruits that are used by men and cakes made of the fine flour of wheat." ¹³ Those whose thoughts are not pure should not speak of God, and even the pure-minded will say little, "for the knowledge of God makes discourse short." ¹⁴ Sacrifice, though permissible, is of no special value either to giver or receiver. "We are not harmed by reverencing God's altars, or benefited by neglecting them. But whoever honours God under the impression that He is in need of him, ignorantly supposes himself to be greater than God." "God is not in need of any one, and the wise man is in need of God alone." ¹⁵ Prayer is allowed with limitations. The highest God must not be invoked by the human voice. We may pray to the gods of the second class, but we must not ask anything unworthy of them. "For to each of the divinities a sacrifice is to be made of the first-fruits of the things which he bestows, and through which he |20 nourishes and preserves us. As therefore the husbandman offers handfuls of the fruits and berries which the season first produces, thus also we should offer to the divinities the first-fruits of our conceptions of their transcendent excellence, giving them thanks for the contemplation which they impart to us and truly nourishing us through the vision of themselves which they afford us, associating with, appearing to, and shining upon us for our salvation." ¹⁶

There seems a little inconsistency in Porphyry's tolerance of the popular belief in material deities; and his Christian opponents did not hesitate to accuse him of cowardice in refusing to renounce polytheism entirely. But Porphyry, like many another noble Pagan, shrank from Christianity as a revolutionary and uncompromising doctrine; and, while willing to see good in every national religion, such as the Jewish, Chaldaean, and Egyptian, he remained to the last one of the bitterest foes of Christianity. It may be that the very points of resemblance between the two creeds tended to emphasise the differences, and unquestionably even amid the fiercest disputes they influenced each other strongly. Porphyry was a formidable foe, for his knowledge of the Bible was wideand accurate; indeed, he anticipated the German critics in discovering the |21 late date of the Book of Daniel. It is believed that his books were purposely destroyed by his opponents; at any rate they have not come down to us, but those who are curious as to the controversy will find many references to it in the writings of St Augustine. All that is impure and gross in the religion of the multitude Porphyry lays to the charge of evil demons. It is they who cause the belief that evil comes from the gods, and that they must be appeased by the sacrifice of animals. They do this that they may nourish themselves with the smoke from the altars; moreover, they are the authors of magic and of everything that is base in connection with Paganism. Even for the multitude he desires to purify religion, and for this purpose he expounds the inner meaning of the Platonic and other myths, on which he lays great stress. But the true philosopher will take little heed of outward forms, for they do not concern him. Like the Stoic sage, "he is his own priest; he only is beloved by God, and knows how to pray."

Few of Porphyry's many works are still extant except in fragments. "Rhetoric, grammar, numbers, geometry, music, philosophy, natural and magic operations" are named with magnificent vagueness by Eunapius as the subjects of his books. Those that have come down to us fairly complete |22 are:—A Life of Plotinus; a Life of Pythagoras; a treatise on Abstinence from Animal Food; The Cave of the Nymphs, an allegorical interpretation of a passage in the Odyssey; Auxiliaries to the Perception of Intelligible Natures, a sort of anthology, with comment, from Plotinus; a letter to Marcella, of which the end is missing.

This letter is not an original work, being full of quotations from Homer, Plato, Epicurus, the Pythagoreans, and even the New Testament. But it forms an excellent summary of Porphyry's ethical views; and the purpose for which it was written, to console his wife in his absence, gives it an additional interest.

Although its existence was known to scholars through quotations in other writers, the letter itself was lost for several centuries, and was only rediscovered in 1816 by Cardinal Mai, when searching the Ambrosiana Library at Milan for manuscripts of Dionysius of Halicarnassus. It is preserved in a volume with several other Greek pamphlets, and in the opinion of experts the codex is not anterior to the fifteenth century, and is possibly of an even later date. It has been edited by Mai, Orelli, and more recently by Nauck in the Teubner edition. But there are one or two passages so corrupt that even these learned editors are not quite agreed as to their emendation. Some day the discovery of a |23 second manuscript may help to solve these difficulties. The letter has been translated into French by Bouillet and into Italian by Chinazzi. To the best of my knowledge this is the only translation that has been made into English.

I take this opportunity of once more expressing my thanks to Mr R. D. Hicks of Trinity College, Cambridge, for his valuable assistance with the original translation. To the other friends now departed who first helped and encouraged me in this work, Dr Richard Garnett and Signor E. Torelli-Viollier of Milan, I can only offer the tribute of affectionate remembrance. |24 |25

PORPHYRY THE PHILOSOPHER TO MARCELLA |26 |27

PORPHYRY THE PHILOSOPHER TO MARCELLA

1. I chose thee as my wife, Marcella, though thou wert the mother of five daughters and two sons, some of whom were still little children, and the others approaching a marriageable age; nor was I deterred by the multitude of things which would be needful for their maintenance. And it was not for the sake of having children that I wedded thee, deeming that the lovers of true wisdom were my children, and that thy children too would be mine, if ever these should attain to right philosophy, when educated by us. Nor yet was it because a superfluity of riches had fallen either to thy lot or mine. For such necessaries as are ours must suffice us who are poor. Neither did I expect that thou wouldst afford me any ease through thy ministrations as I advanced in years, for thy frame is delicate, and more in need of care from others than fitted to succour or watch over them. Nor yet |28 did I desire other housewifely care from thee, nor sought I after honour and praise from those who would not willingly have undertaken such a burden for the mere sake of doing good. Nay, it was far otherwise, for through the folly of thy fellow-citizens, and their envy towards thee and thine, I encountered much ill-speaking, and contrary to all expectation I fell into danger of death at their hands on your behalf.

2. For none of these causes did I choose another to be partner of my life, but there was a twofold and reasonable cause that determined me. One part was that I deemed I should thus propitiate the gods of generation; just as Sokrates in his prison chose to compose popular music, for the sake of safety in his departure from life, instead of pursuing his customary labours in philosophy, so did I strive to propitiate the divinities who preside over this tragi-comedy of ours, and shrank not from chanting in all willingness the marriage hymn, though I took as my lot thy numerous children, and thy straitened circumstances, and the malice of evil-speakers. Nor were there lacking any of those passions usually connected with a play—jealousy, hatred, laughter, quarrelling and anger; this alone excepted, that it was not with a view to ourselves but for the sake of others that we enacted this spectacle in honour of the gods. |29

3. Another worthier reason, in nowise resembling that commonplace one, was that I admired thee because thy disposition was suited to true philosophy; and when thou wast bereaved of thy husband, a man dear to me, I deemed it not fitting to leave thee without a helpmeet and wise protector suited to thy character. Wherefore I drove away all who were minded to use insult under false pretence, and I endured foolish contumely, and bore in patience with the plots laid against me, and strove, as far as in my power lay, to deliver thee from all who tried to lord it over thee. I recalled thee also to thy proper mode of life, and gave thee a share in philosophy, pointing out to thee a doctrine that should guide thy life. And who could be a more faithful witness to me than thyself? for I should deem it shame to equivocate to thee, or conceal aught of mine from thee, or to withhold from thee (who honourest truth above all things, and therefore didst deem our marriage a gift from Heaven) a truthful relation from beginning to end of all that I have done with respect to and during our union.

4. Had my business permitted me to remain longer in your country, it would have been possible for thee to still thy thirst with fresh and plentiful draughts from fountains close at hand, so that, not contenting thyself with as much of this gift as |30 would be requisite for ends of utility, thou couldst rejoice in easily supplying thyself at thy leisure with plentiful refreshment. But now the affairs of the Greeks requiring me, and the gods too urging me on, it was impossible for thee, though willing, to answer the summons, with so large a number of daughters attending thee. And I held it to be both foolish and wicked to cast them thus without thee among ill-disposed men. Now that I am compelled to delay here, though I cherish the hope of a speedy return, I would exhort thee to keep firm hold of the gifts thou didst receive in those ten months during which thou didst live with me, and not to cast away that thou already hast from desire and longing for more. As for me, I am making what haste I can to rejoin thee.

5. But, as the future is uncertain for travellers, I must, while sending thee consolation, also lay commands upon thee. And I would send a message more suitable for thee than Odysseus' to Penelope to take care of thyself and thy house,

"And keep all things in safety,"

left behind as thou art, not unlike Philoktetes in the tragedy, suffering from his sore, though his was caused by a baleful serpent, thine by the knowledge how and from what high estate the soul has fallen at birth. Albeit the gods have not forsaken |31 us, as the sons of Atreus forsook him, but they have become our helpers and have been mindful of us. Therefore seeing thou art hard beset in a contest, attended with much wrestling and labour, I earnestly beg thee to keep firm hold upon philosophy, the only sure refuge, and not to yield more than is fitting to the perplexities caused by my absence. Do not from desire for my instruction cast away what thou hast already received, and do not faint before the multitude of other cares that encompass thee, abandoning thyself to the rushing stream of outward things. Rather bear in mind that it is not by ease that men attain the possession of the true good; and practise thyself for the life thou expectest to lead by help of those very troubles which are the only opponents to thy fortitude that are able to disturb and constrain thee. As for plots laid against us, it is easy for those to despise them who are accustomed to disregard all that does not lie in our own power, and who deem that injustice rather recoils upon the doer than injures those who believe that the worst injury inflicted on them can cause them but little loss.

6. Now thou mayest console thyself for the absence of him who sustains thy soul, and is to thee father, husband, teacher, and kindred, yea, if thou wilt, even fatherland, though this seems to offer a reasonable ground for unhappiness, by |32 placing before thee as arbiter not feeling but reason. In the first place consider that, as I have said before, it is impossible that those who desire to be mindful of their return, should accomplish their journey home from this terrestrial exile pleasantly and easily, as through some smooth plain. For no two things can be more entirely opposed to one another than a life of pleasure and ease, and the ascent to the gods. As the summits of mountains cannot be reached without danger and toil, so it is not possible to emerge from the inmost depths of the body through pleasure and ease which drag men down to the body. For 'tis by anxious thought that we reach the road, and by recollection of our fall. Even if we encounter difficulties in our way, hardship is natural to the ascent, for it is given to the gods alone to lead an easy life. But ease is most dangerous for souls which have fallen to this earthly life, making us forgetful in the pursuit of alien things, and bringing on a state of deep slumber, it we fall asleep beguiled by alluring visions.

7. Now there are some chains that are of very heavy gold, but, because of their beauty, they persuaded women who in their folly do not perceive the weight, that they contribute to ornament, and thus got them to bear fetters easily. But other fetters which are of iron compelled them to a knowledge of their sins, and by pain forced |33 them to repent and seek release from the weight; while escape from the golden imprisonment, through the delight felt in it, often causes grievous woe. Whence it has seemed to men of wisdom that labours conduce to virtue more than do pleasures. And to toil is better for man, aye and for woman too, than to let the soul be puffed up and enervated by pleasure. For labour must lead the way to every fair possession, and he must toil who is eager to attain virtue. Thou knowest that Herakles and the Dioskuri, and Asklepios and all other children of the gods, through toil and steadfastness accomplished the blessed journey to heaven. For it is not those who live a life of pleasure that make the ascent to the gods, but rather those who have nobly learnt to endure the greatest misfortunes.

8. I know full well that there could be no greater contest than that which now lies before thee, since thou thinkest that in me thou wilt lose the path of safety and the guide therein. Yet thy circumstances are not altogether unendurable, if thou cast from thee the unreasoning distress of mind which springs from the feelings, and deem it no trivial matter to remember those words by which thou wert with divine rites initiated into true philosophy, approving by thy deeds the fidelity with which they have been apprehended. For it is a man's actions that naturally afford demonstrations |34 of his opinions, and whoever holds a belief must live in accordance with it, in order that he may himself be a faithful witness to his disciples of his words. What was it then that we learned from those men who possess the clearest knowledge to be found among mortals? Was it not this—that I am in reality not this person who can be touched or perceived by any of the senses, but that which is farthest removed from the body, the colourless and formless essence which can by no means be touched by the hands, but is grasped by the mind alone? And it is not from outward things that we receive those principles which are implanted in us. We receive only the keynote as in a chorus, which recalls to our remembrance those commands we received from the god who gave them us ere we set forth on our wanderings.

9. Moreover is not every emotion of the soul most hostile to its safety? And is not want of education the mother of all the passions? Now education does not consist in the absorption of a large amount of knowledge, but in casting off the affections of the soul. The passions are the beginning of diseases. And vice is the disease of the soul; and every vice is disgraceful. And the disgraceful is opposed to the good. Now since the divine nature is good, it is impossible for it to consort with vice, since Plato says it is unlawful |35 for the impure to approach the pure. Wherefore even now we need to purge away all our passions, and the sins that spring therefrom. Was it not this thou didst so much approve, reading as it were divine characters within thee, disclosed by my words? Is it not then absurd, though thou art persuaded that thou hast in thee the saving and the saved, the losing and the lost, wealth and poverty, father and husband and a guide to all true good, to pant after the mere shadow of a leader, as though thou hadst not within thyself a true leader, and all riches in thine own power? And these must thou lose and forfeit, if thou descend to the flesh, instead of turning towards that which saves and is saved.

10. As for my shadow and visible image, as thou wast not profited by their presence, so now their absence is not hurtful, if thou train thyself to escape from the body. And thou wouldst meet with me in all purity, and I should be most truly present and associated with thee, night and day, in purity and with the fairest kind of converse which can never be broken up, if thou wouldst practise entering into thyself, to collect together all the powers which the body has scattered and broken up into a multitude of parts unlike their former unity, to which concentration lent strength. Thou shouldst collect and combine into one the thoughts implanted within thee, endeavouring to isolate those |36 that are confused, and to drag to light those that are enveloped in darkness. The divine Plato too made this his starting-point, summoning us away from the sensible to the intelligible. Also if thou wouldst remember, thou wouldst combine what thou hast heard, and recall it by memory, desiring to turn thy mind to discourses of this kind as to excellent counsellors, and afterwards practising in action what thou hast learnt, guarding it carefully, even amid thy labours.

11. Reason tells us that the Divine is present everywhere and in all men, but that only the mind of the wise man is sanctified as its temple, and God is best honoured by him who knows Him best. And this must naturally be the wise man alone, who in wisdom must honour the Divine, and in wisdom adorn for it a temple in his thought, honouring it with a living statue, the mind moulded in His image.....Now God is not in need of any one, and the wise man is in need of God alone. For no one could become good and noble, unless he knew the goodness and beauty which proceed from the Deity. Nor is any man unhappy, unless he has fitted up his soul as a dwelling-place for evil spirits. To a wise man God gives the authority of a god. And a man is purified by the knowledge of God, and issuing from God, he follows after righteousness. |37

12. Let God be at hand to behold and examine every act and deed and word. And let us consider Him the author of all our good deeds. But of evil we ourselves are the authors, since it is we who made choice of it, but God is without blame. Wherefore we should pray to God for that which is worthy of Him, and we should pray for what we could attain from none other. And we must pray that we may attain after our labours those things that are preceded by toil and virtue; for the prayer of the slothful is but vain speech. Neither ask of God what thou wilt not hold fast when thou hast attained it, since God's gifts cannot be taken from thee, and He will not give what thou wilt not hold fast. What thou wilt not require when thou art rid of the body, that despise, but practise thyself in that thou wilt need when thou art set free, calling on God to be thy helper. Thou wilt need none of those things which chance often gives and again takes away. Do not make any request before the fitting season, but only when God makes plain the right desire implanted by nature within thee.

13. Thus can God best be reflected, who cannot be seen by the body, nor yet by an impure soul darkened with vice. For purity is God's beauty, and His light is the life-giving flame of truth. Every vice is deceived by ignorance, and turned astray by wickedness. Wherefore desire and ask of |38 God what is in accordance with His own will and nature, well assured that, inasmuch as a man longs after the body and the things of the body, in so far does he fail to know God, and is blind to the sight of God, even though all men should hold him as a god. Now the wise man, if known by only few, or, if thou wilt, unknown to all, yet is known by God. Let then thy mind follow after God and by likening itself unto Him reflect His image; let the soul follow the mind, and the body be subservient to the soul as far as may be, the pure body serving the pure soul. For if it be defiled by the emotions of the soul, the defilement reacts upon the soul itself.

14. In a pure body where soul and mind are loved by God, words should conform with deeds; since it is better for thee to cast a stone at random than a word, and to be defeated speaking the truth than to conquer through deceit; for he who conquers by deceit is worsted in his character. And lies are witnesses unto evil deeds. It is impossible for a man who loves God also to love pleasure and the body, for he who loves these must needs be a lover of riches. And he who loves riches must be unrighteous. And the unrighteous man is impious towards God and his fathers, and transgresses against all men. Though he slay whole hecatombs in sacrifice, and adorn the temples with ten thousand gifts, yet is he impious and godless and at heart a |39 plunderer of holy places. Wherefore we should shun all addicted to love of the body as godless and impure.

15. Do not associate with any one whose opinions cannot profit thee, nor join with him in converse about God. For it is not safe to speak of God with those who are corrupted by false opinion. Yea, and in their presence to speak truth or falsehood about God is fraught with equal danger. It is not fitting for a man who is not purified from unholy deeds to speak of God himself, nor must we suppose that he who speaks of Him with such is not guilty of a crime. We should hear and use speech concerning God as though in His presence. Godlike deeds should precede talk of God, and in the presence of the multitude we should keep silence concerning Him, for the knowledge of God is not suitable to the vain conceit of the soul. Esteem it better to keep silence than to let fall random words about God. Thou wilt become worthy of Him if thou deem it wrong either to speak or do or know aught unworthy of Him. Now a man who was worthy of God would be himself a god.

16. Thou wilt best honour God by making thy mind like unto Him, and this thou canst do by virtue alone. For only virtue can draw the soul upward to that which is akin to it. Next to God there is nothing great but virtue, yet God is greater than virtue. And God strengthens the man who |40 does noble deeds. But an evil spirit is the instigator of evil deeds. The wicked soul flies from God, and would fain that His providence did not exist, and it shrinks from the divine law which punishes all the wicked. But the wise man's soul is in harmony with God, and ever beholds Him and dwells with Him. If the ruler takes pleasure in the ruled, then God too cares for the wise man and watches over him. Therefore is the wise man blest, because he is in God's keeping. 'Tis not his speech that is acceptable to God, but his deed; for the wise man honours God even in his silence, while the fool dishonours Him even while praying and offering sacrifice. Thus the wise man only is a priest; he only is beloved by God, and knows how to pray.

17. The man who practises wisdom practises the knowledge of God; and he shows his piety not by continued prayers and sacrifices but by his actions. No one could become well-pleasing to God by the opinions of men or the vain talk of the Sophists. But he makes himself well-pleasing and consecrate to God by assimilating his own disposition to the blessed and incorruptible nature. It is he too who makes himself impious and displeasing to God, for God does not injure him (since the divine nature can only work good), but he injures himself, chiefly through his wrong opinion concerning God. He who disregards the images of the gods is less impious |41 than the man who holds the opinions of the multitude concerning God. But do thou entertain no thought unworthy of Him or of His blessedness and immortality.

18. The chief fruit of piety is to honour God according to the laws of our country, not deeming that God has need of anything, but that He calls us to honour Him by His truly reverend and blessed majesty. We are not harmed by reverencing God's altars, nor benefited by neglecting them. But whoever honours God under the impression that He is in need of him, unconsciously deems himself greater than God. 'Tis not the anger of the gods that injures us, but our own ignorance of their nature. Anger is foreign to the gods, for anger is involuntary, and there is nothing involuntary in God. Do not then dishonour the divine nature by false human opinions, since thou wilt not injure the eternally blessed One, whose immortal nature is incapable of injury, but thou wilt blind thyself to the conception of what is greatest and chiefest.

19. Again thou couldst not suppose that I say this to exhort thee to reverence God, since it would be absurd to command this, as though the matter admitted of question. We do not worship Him only by doing or thinking this or that, neither can tears or supplications turn God from His purpose, nor yet is He honoured by sacrifices nor glorified by plentiful |42 offerings; but it is the godlike mind that remains stably fixed in its place that is united to God. For like must needs approach like. The sacrifices of fools are mere food for fire, and from the offerings they bring temple-robbers get the supplies for their evil life. But do thou, as I bade, let thy temple be the mind that is within thee. This must thou tend and adorn, that it may be a fitting dwelling for God. Let not the adornment and the reception of God be but for a day, to be followed by mockery and folly and the return of the evil spirit.

20. If then thou ever bear in mind that wheresoever thy soul walks and inspires thy body with activity, God is present and overlooks all thy counsels and actions, then wilt thou feel reverence for the unforgotten presence of the spectator, and thou wilt have God to dwell with thee. And even though thy mouth discourse the sound of some other thing, let thy thought and mind be turned towards God. Thus shall even thy speech be inspired, shining through the light of God's truth and flowing the more easily; for the knowledge of God makes discourse short.

21. But wheresoever forgetfulness of God shall enter in, there must the evil spirit dwell. For the soul is a dwelling-place, as thou hast learnt, either of gods or of evil spirits. If the gods are present, it will do what is good both in word and in deed; |43 but if it has welcomed in the evil guest, it does all things in wickedness. Whensoever then thou beholdest a man doing or rejoicing in that which is evil, know that he has denied God in his heart and is the dwelling-place of an evil spirit. They who believe that God exists and governs all things have this reward of their knowledge and firm faith: they have learnt that God has forethought for all things, and that there exist angels, divine and good spirits, who behold all that is done, and from whose notice we cannot escape. Being persuaded that this is so, they are careful not to fall in their life, keeping before their eyes the constant presence of the gods whence they cannot escape. They have attained to a wise mode of life, and know the gods and are known by them.

22. But they who believe that the gods do not exist and that the universe is not governed by God's providence, have this punishment: they neither trust the evidence of their own minds, nor that of others who assert that the gods exist, and that the universe is not directed by whirling motion void of reason. Thus they have cast themselves into unspeakable peril, trusting to an unreasoning and uncertain impulse in the events of life, and they do all that is unlawful in the endeavour to remove the belief in God. Assuredly such men are forsaken by the gods for their ignorance and unbelief. Yet |44 they cannot flee and escape the notice of the gods nor of justice their attendant, but having chosen an evil and erring life, though they know not the gods, yet are they known by them and by justice that dwells with the gods.

23. Even if they think they honour the gods, and are persuaded that they exist, yet neglect virtue and wisdom, they really have denied the divinities and dishonour them. Mere unreasoning faith without right living does not attain to God. Nor is it an act of piety to honour God without having first ascertained in what manner He delights to be honoured. For if He is gratified and won over by libations and sacrifices, it would not be just that, while all men make the same requests, they should not all obtain the same reward. But if He desires none of these things and delights only in the purification of the mind, which every man can attain of his own free choice, what injustice could there be? If however the divine nature delights in both kinds of service, it should receive honour by sacred rites according to each man's power, and by the thoughts of his mind even beyond that power. It is not wrong to pray to God, for ingratitude is a grievous wrong.

24. No god is responsible for a man's evils, for he has chosen his lot himself. The prayer which is accompanied by base actions is impure, and |45 therefore not acceptable to God; but that which is accompanied by noble actions is pure, and at the same time acceptable.

There are four first principles that must be upheld concerning God—faith, truth, love, hope. We must have faith that our only salvation is in turning to God. And having faith, we must strive with all our might to know the truth about God. And when we know this, we must love Him we do know. And when we love Him we must nourish our souls on good hopes for our life, for it is by their good hopes good men are superior to bad ones. Let then these four principles be firmly held.

25. Next let these three laws be distinguished. First, the law of God; second, the law of human nature; third, that which is laid down for nations and states. The law of nature fixes the limits of bodily needs, and shows what is necessary to these, and condemns all striving after what is needless and superfluous. That which is established and laid down for states regulates by fixed agreements the common relations of men, by their mutual observance of the covenants laid down. But the divine law is implanted by the supreme mind, for their salvation, in the thoughts of reasoning souls, and it is found truthfully inscribed therein. The law of nature is transgressed by him who through folly disregards it, owing to his excessive love for the |46 pleasures of the body. And it is broken and despised by those who, even for the body's sake, strive to master the body. The conventional law is subject to expediency, and is differently laid down at different times according to the arbitrary will of the prevailing government. It punishes him who transgresses it, but it cannot reach a man's secret thoughts and intentions.

26. The divine law is unknown to the soul that folly and intemperance have rendered impure, but it shines forth in self-control and wisdom. It is impossible to transgress this, for there is nothing in man that can transcend it. Nor can it be despised, for it cannot shine forth in a man who will despise it. Nor is it moved by chances of fortune, because it is always superior to chance and stronger than any form of violence. Mind alone knows it, and diligently pursues the search thereafter, and finds it imprinted in itself, and supplies from it food to the soul as to its own body. We must regard the rational soul as the body of the mind, which the mind nourishes by bringing into recognition, through the light that is in it, the thoughts within, which mind imprinted and engraved in the soul in accordance with the truth of the divine law. Thus mind is become teacher and saviour, nurse, guardian and leader, speaking the truth in silence, unfolding and giving forth the divine law; and |47 looking on the impressions thereof in itself it beholds them implanted in the soul from all eternity.

27. Thou must therefore first understand the law of nature, and then proceed to the divine law, by which also the natural law hath been prescribed. And if thou make these thy starting-point thou shalt never fear the written law. For written laws are made for the benefit of good men, not that they may do no wrong, but that they may not suffer it. Natural wealth is limited, and it is easy to attain. But the wealth desired of vain opinions has no limits, and is hard to attain. The true philosopher therefore, following nature and not vain opinions, is self-sufficing in all things; for in the light of the requirements of nature every possession is some wealth, but in the light of unlimited desires even the greatest wealth is but poverty. It is no uncommon thing to find a man who is rich if tried by the standard at which nature aims, but poor by the standard of vain opinions. No fool is satisfied with what he possesses; he rather mourns for what he has not. Just as men in a fever are always thirsty through the grievous nature of their malady, and desire things quite opposed to one another, so men whose souls are ill-regulated are ever in want of all things, and experience ever-varying desires through their greed.

28. Wherefore the gods too have commanded us |48 to purify ourselves by abstaining from food and from love, bringing those who follow after piety within the law of that nature which they themselves have formed, since everything which transgresses this law is impure and deadly. The multitude, however, fearing simplicity in their mode of life, because of this fear, turn to the pursuits that can best procure riches. And many have attained wealth, and yet not found release from their troubles, but have exchanged them for greater ones. Wherefore philosophers say that nothing is so necessary as to know thoroughly what is unnecessary, and moreover that to be self-sufficing is the greatest of all wealth, and that it is honourable not to ask anything of any man. Wherefore too they exhort us to strive, not to acquire some necessary thing, but rather to remain of good cheer if we have not acquired it.

29. Neither let us accuse our flesh as the cause of great evils, nor attribute our troubles to outward things. Rather let us seek the cause of these things in our souls, and casting away every vain striving and hope for fleeting joys, become completely masters of ourselves. For a man is unhappy either through fear or through unlimited and empty desire. Yet if he bridle these, he can attain to a happy mind. In as far as thou art in want, it is through forgetfulness of thy nature that thou feelest the want. For hereby thou causest to thyself vague |49 fears and desires. And it were better for thee to be content and lie on a bed of rushes than to be troubled though thou hadst a golden couch and a luxurious table acquired by labour and sorrow. Whilst the pile of wealth is growing bigger, life is growing wretched.

30. Do not think it unnatural that when the flesh cries out for anything, the soul should cry out too. The cry of the flesh is, "Let me not hunger, or thirst, or shiver," and 'tis hard for the soul to restrain these desires. 'Tis hard, too, by help of its own natural self-sufficing to disregard day by day the exhortations of nature, and to teach her to esteem the concerns of life as of little account. And when we enjoy good fortune, to learn to bear ill fortune, and when we are unfortunate not to place too much value on good fortune. And to receive with a calm mind the good gifts of fortune, and to stand firm against her seeming ills. Yea, all that the many hold good is but a fleeting thing.

31. But wisdom and knowledge have no part in chance. It is not painful to lack the gifts of chance, but rather to endure the unprofitable toil caused by vain opinions. Every disturbance and unprofitable desire is removed by the love of true philosophy. Vain is the word of that philosopher who can ease no mortal trouble. As there is no profit in the physician's art unless it cure the diseases of the body, so there is none in philosophy, unless it expel the |50 troubles of the soul. These and other like commands are laid on us by the law of our nature.

32. The divine law cries aloud in the pure region of the mind: "Unless thou remember that thy body is joined to thee as the outer covering to the child in the womb and the stalk to the sprouting corn, thou canst not know thyself." Nor can any one know himself who does not hold this opinion. As the outer covering grows with the child, and the stalk with the corn, yet, when they come to maturity, these are cast away, thus too the body which is fastened to the soul at birth is not a part of the man. But as the outer covering was formed along with the child that it may come to being in the womb, so likewise the body was yoked to the man that he may come to being on earth. In as far as a man turns to the mortal part of himself, in so far he makes his mind incommensurate with immortality. And in as far as he refrains from sharing the feelings of the body, in such a measure does he approach the divine. The wise man who is beloved of God strives and toils as much for the good of his soul as others do for the good of their body. He does not deem it sufficient merely to remember what he has heard, but strives by practising it to hasten on towards his duty.

33. Naked was he sent into the world, and naked shall he call on Him that sent him. For |51 God listens only to those who are not weighed down by alien things, and guards those who are purified from corruption. Consider it a great help towards the blessed life if the captive in the thraldom of nature takes his captor captive. For we are bound in the chains that nature has cast around us, by the belly, the throat and the other members and parts of the body, and by the use of these and the pleasant sensations that arise therefrom and the fears they occasion. But if we rise superior to their witchcraft, and avoid the snares laid by them, we lead our captor captive. Neither trouble thyself much whether thou be male or female in body, nor look on thyself as a woman, for I did not approach thee as such. Flee all that is womanish in the soul, as though thou hadst a man's body about thee. For what is born from a virgin soul and a pure mind is most blessed, since imperishable springs from imperishable. But what the body produces is held corrupt by all the gods.

34. Much discipline therefore is needful to win the rule over the body. Often men cast off certain parts of the body; be thou ready for the soul's safety to cast away the whole body. Hesitate not to die for that for whose sake thou art willing to live. Let reason then direct all our impulses, and banish from us tyrannous and godless masters. For the rule of the passions is harder than that of |52 tyrants, since it is impossible for a man to be free who is governed by his passions. As many as are the passions of the soul, so many cruel masters have we.

35. Try not to wrong thy slaves nor to correct them when thou art angry. And before correcting them, prove to them that thou dost this for their good, and give them an opportunity for excuse. When purchasing slaves, avoid the stubborn ones. Practise doing many things thyself, for our own labour is simple and easy. And men should use each limb for the purpose for which nature intended it to be used, for nature needs no more. They who do not use their own bodies, but make excessive use of others, commit a twofold wrong, and are ungrateful to nature that has given them these parts. Never use thy bodily parts merely for the sake of pleasure, for it is far better to die than to obscure thy soul by intemperance.... correct the vice of thy nature.... If thou give aught to thy slaves, distinguish the better ones by a share of honour.... for it is impossible that he who does wrong to man should honour God. But look on the love of mankind as the foundation of thy piety. And....

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[Footnotes numbered and moved to the end]

1. * Letter to Marcella.

2. * Vide Holstenius, Vita Porphyrii. 11

3. * Porphyry, Auxiliaries to the Perception of Intelligible Nature, I. Translated by Thomas Taylor.

4. + Phaedo.

5. ++ Auxiliaries.

6. * Auxiliaries, II. 15

7. * The paradeigma (παράδειγμα) is the First Cause—the great model and pattern of the universe. (See Plato, Tim. 28 C, Rep. 500 E). The paradeigmatic virtues are those by which the soul becomes one with God.

8. + Auxiliaries; II.

9. ++ On Abstinence from Animal Food, I. Translated by Thomas Taylor.

10. * On Abstinence from Animal Food, I. Translated by Thomas Taylor.

11. * On Abstinence from Animal Food, I. Translated by Thomas Taylor.

12. + Ibid.

13. * On Abstinence from Animal Food, IV. Translated by Thomas Taylor.

14. + Letter to Marcella.

15. ++ Ibid.

16. * Abstinence, II. 20

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras (1920). English translation

Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras (1920). English translation

THE LIFE OF PYTHAGORAS

[Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie]

1. Many think that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, but they differ as to the latter's race; some thinking him a Samian, while Neanthes, in the fifth book of his Fables states he was a Syrian, from the city of Tyre. As a famine had arisen in Samos, Mnesarchus went thither to trade, and was naturalized there. There also was born his son Pythagoras, who early manifested studiousness, but was later taken to Tyre, and there entrusted to the Chaldeans, whose doctrines he imbibed. Thence he returned to Ionia, where he first studied under the Syrian Pherecydes, then also under Hermodamas the Creophylian who at that time was an old man residing in Samos.

2. Neanthes says that others hold that his father was a Tyrrhenian, of those who inhabit Lemnos, and that while on a trading trip to Samos was there naturalized. On sailing to Italy, Mnesarchus took the youth Pythagoras with him. Just at this time this country was greatly flourishing. Neanthes adds that Pythagoras had two older brothers, Eunostus and Tyrrhenus. But Apollonius, in his book about Pythagoras, affirms that his mother was Pythais, a descendant, of Ancaeus, the founder of Samos. Apollonius adds that he was said to be the off-spring of Apollo and Pythais, on the authority of Mnesarchus; and a Samian poet sings:

"Pythais, of all Samians the most fair; Jove-loved Pythagoras to Phoebus bare!"

This poet says that Pythagoras studied not only under Pherecydes and Hermodamas, but also under Anaximander.

3. The Samian Duris, in the second book of his "Hours," writes that his son was named Arimnestus, that he was the teacher of Democritus, and that on returning from banishment, he suspended a brazen tablet in the temple of Hera, a tablet two feet square, bearing this inscription:

"Me, Arimnestus, who much learning traced, Pythagoras's beloved son here placed."

This tablet was removed by Simus, a musician, who claimed the canon graven thereon, and published it as his own. Seven arts were engraved, but when Simus took away one, the others were destroyed.

4. It is said that by Theano, a Cretan, the daughter of Pythonax, he had a son, Thelauges and a daughter, Myia; to whom some add Arignota, whose Pythagorean writings are still extant. Timaeus relates that Pythagoras's daughter, while a maiden, took precedence among the maidens in Crotona, and when a wife, among married men. The Crotonians made her house a temple of Demeter, and the neighboring street they called a museum.

5. Lycus, in the fourth book of his Histories, noting different opinions about his country, says, "Unless you happen to know the country and the city which Pythagoras was a citizen, will remain a mere matter of conjecture. Some say he was a Samian, others, a Phliasian, others a Metapontine.

6. As to his knowledge, it is said that he learned the mathematical sciences from the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Phoenicians; for of' old the Egyptians excelled, in geometry, the Phoenicians in numbers and proportions, and the Chaldeans of astronomical theorems, divine rites, and worship of the Gods; other secrets concerning the course of life he received and learned from the Magi.

7. These accomplishments are the more generally known, but the rest are less celebrated. Moreover Eudoxus, in the second book of his Description of the Earth, writes that Pythagoras used the greatest purity, and was shocked at all bloodshed and killing; that he not only abstained from animal food, but never in any way approached butchers or hunters. Antiphon, in his book on illustrious Virtuous Men praises his perseverance while he was in Egypt, saying, "Pythagoras, desiring to become acquainted with the institutions of Egyptian priests, and diligently endeavoring to participate therein, requested the Tyrant Polycrates to write to Amasis, the King of Egypt, his friend and former host, to procure him initiation. Coming to Amasis, he was given letters to the priests; of Heliopolis, who sent him on to those of Memphis, on the pretense that the were the more ancient. On the same pretense, he was sent on from Memphis to Diospolis.

8. From fear of the King the latter priests dared not make excuses; but thinking that he would desist from his purpose as result of great difficulties, enjoined on him very hard precepts, entirely different from the institutions of the Greeks. These he performed so readily that he won their admiration, and they permitted him to sacrifice to the Gods, and to acquaint himself with all their sciences, a favor theretofore never granted to a foreigner.

9. Returning to Ionia, he opened in his own country, a school, which is even now called Pythagoras's Semicircles, in which the Samians meet to deliberate about matters of common interest. Outside the city he made a cave adapted to the study of his philosophy, in which he abode day and night, discoursing with a few of his associates. He was now forty years old, says Aristoxenus. Seeing that Polycrates's government was becoming so violent that soon a free man would become a victim of his tyranny, he journeyed towards Italy.

10. Diogenes, in his treatise about the Incredible Things Beyond Thule, has treated Pythagoras's affairs so carefully, that I think his account should not be omitted. He says that the Tyrrhenian Mnesarchus was of the race of the inhabitants of Lemnos, Imbros and Scyros and that he departed thence to visit many cities and various lands. During his journeys he found an infant lying under a large, tall poplar tree. On approaching, he observed it lay on its back, looking steadily without winking at the sun. In its mouth was a little slender reed, like a pipe; through which the child was being nourished by the dew-drops that distilled from the tree. This great wonder prevailed upon him to take the child, believing it to be of a divine origin. The child was fostered by a native of that country, named Androcles, who later on adopted him, and entrusted to him the management of affairs. On becoming wealthy, Mnesarchus educated the boy, naming him Astrasus, and rearing him with his own three sons, Eunestus, Tyrrhenus, and Pythagoras; which boy, as I have said, Androcles adopted.

11. He sent the boy to a lute-player, a wrestler and a painter. Later he sent him to Anaximander at Miletus, to learn geometry and astronomy. Then Pythagoras visited the Egyptians, the Arabians, the Chaldeans and the Hebrews, from whom he acquired expertery in the interpretation of dreams, and he was the first to use frankincense in the worship of divinities.

12. In Egypt he lived with the priests, and learned the language and wisdom of the Egyptians, and three kinds of letters, the epistolic, the hieroglyphic, and symbolic, whereof one imitates the common way of speaking, while the others express the sense by allegory and parable. In Arabia he conferred with the King. In Babylon he associated with the other Chaldeans, especially attaching himself to Zabratus, by whom he was purified from the pollutions of this past life, and taught the things which a virtuous man ought to be free. Likewise he heard lectures about Nature, and the principles of wholes. It was from his stay among these foreigners that Pythagoras acquired the greater part of his wisdom.

13. Astraeus was by Mnesarchus entrusted to Pythagoras, who received him, and after studying his physiognomy and the emotions of his body, instructed him. First he accurately investigated the science about the nature of man, discerning the disposition of everyone he met. None was allowed to become his friend or associate without being examined in facial expression and disposition.

14. Pythagoras had another youthful disciple from Thrace. Zamolxis was he named because he was born wrapped in a bear's skin, in Thracian called Zalmus. Pythagoras loved him, and instructed him in sublime speculations concerning sacred rites, and the nature of the Gods. Some say this youth was named Thales, and that the barbarians worshipped him as Hercules.

15. Dionysiphanes says that he was a servant of Pythagoras, who fell into the hands of thieves and by them was branded. Then when Pythagoras was persecuted and banished, (he followed him) binding up his forehead on account of the scars. Others say that, the name Zamolxis signifies a stranger or foreigner. Pherecydes, in Delos fell sick; and Pythagoras attended him until he died, and performed his funeral rites. Pythagoras then, longing to be with Hermodamas the Creophylian, returned to Samos. After enjoying his society, Pythagoras trained the Samian athlete Eurymenes, who though he was of small stature, conquered at Olympia through his surpassing knowledge of Pythagoras' wisdom. While according to ancient custom the other athletes fed on cheese and figs, Eurymenes, by the advice of Pythagoras, fed daily on flesh, which endued his body with great strength. Pythagoras imbued him with his wisdom, exhorting him to go into the struggle, not for the sake of victory, but the exercise; that he should gain by the training, avoiding the envy resulting from victory. For the victors, are not always pure, though decked with leafy crowns.

16. Later, when the Samians were oppressed with the tyranny of Polycrates, Pythagoras saw that life in such a state was unsuitable for a philosopher, and so planned to travel to Italy. At Delphi he inscribed an elegy on the tomb of Apollo, declaring that Apollo was the son of Silenus, but was slain by Pytho, and buried in the place called Triops, so named from the local mourning for Apollo by the three daughters of Triopas.

17. Going to Crete, Pythagoras besought initiation from the priests of Morgos, one of the Idaean Dactyli, by whom he was purified with the meteoritic thunder-stone. In the morning he lay stretched upon his face by the seaside; at night, he lay beside a river, crowned with a black lamb's woolen wreath. Descending into the Idaean cave, wrapped in black wool, he stayed there twenty-seven days, according to custom; he sacrificed to Zeus, and saw the throne which there is yearly made for him. On Zeus's tomb, Pythagoras inscribed an epigram, "Pythagoras to Zeus," which begins: "Zeus deceased here lies, whom men call Jove."

18. When he reached Italy he stopped at Crotona. His presence was that of a free man, tall, graceful in speech and gesture, and in all things else. Dicaearchus relates that the arrival of this great traveler, endowed with all the advantages of nature, and prosperously guided by fortune, produced on the Crotonians so great an impression, that he won the esteem of the elder magistrates, by his many and excellent discourses. They ordered him to exhort the young men, and then to the boys who flocked out of the school to hear him; and lastly to the women, who came together on purpose.

19. Through this he achieved great reputation, he drew great audiences from the city, not only of men, but also of women, among whom was a specially illustrious person named Theano. He also drew audiences from among the neighboring barbarians, among whom were magnates and kings. What he told his audiences cannot be said with certainty, for he enjoined silence upon his hearers. But the following is a matter of general information. He taught that the soul was immortal and that after death it transmigrated into other animated bodies. After certain specified periods, the same events occur again; that nothing was entirely new; that all animated beings were kin, and should be considered as belonging to one great family. Pythagoras was the first one to introduce these teachings into Greece.

20. His speech was so persuasive that, according to Nicomachus, in one address made on first landing in Italy he made more than two thousand adherents. Out of desire to live with him, [.........], to which both women and built a large auditorium, to which both women and boys were admitted. (Foreign visitors were so many that) they built whole cities, settling that whole region of Italy now known as Magna Grecia. His ordinances and laws were by them received as divine precepts, and without them would do nothing. Indeed they ranked him among the divinities. They held all property in common. They ranked him among the divinities, and whenever they communicated to each other some choice bit of his philosophy, from which physical truths could always be deduced, they would swear by the Tetractys, adjuring Pythagoras as a divine witness, in the words.

"I call to witness him who to our souls expressed The Tetractys, eternal Nature's fountain-spring."

21. During his travels in Italy and Sicily he founded various cities subjected one to another, both of long standing, and recently. By his disciples, some of whom were found in every city, he infused into them an aspiration for liberty; thus restoring to freedom Crotona, Sybaris, Catana, Rhegium, Himera, Agrigentum, Tauromenium, and others, on whom he imposed laws through Charondas the Catanean, and Zaleucus the Locrian, which resulted in a long era of good government, emulated by all their neighbors. Simichus the tyrant of the Centorupini, on hearing Pythagoras's discourse, abdicated his rule and divided his property between his sister and the citizens.

22. According to Aristoxenus, some Lucanians, Messapians, Picentinians and Romans came to him. He rooted out all dissensions, not only among his disciples and their successors, for many ages, but among all the cities of Italy and Sicily, both internally and externally. He was continuously harping on the maxim, "We ought, to the best of our ability avoid, and even with fire and sword extirpate from the body, sickness; from the soul, ignorance; from the belly, luxury; from a city, sedition; from a family, discord; and from all things excess."

23. If we may credit what ancient and trustworthy writers have related of him, he exerted an influence even over irrational animals. The Daunian bear, who had committed extensive depredations in the neighborhood, he seized; and after having patted her for awhile, and given her barley and fruits, he made her swear never again to touch a living creature, and then released her. She immediately hid herself in the woods and the hills, and from that time on never attacked any irrational animal.

24. At Tarentum, in a pasture, seeing an ox [reaping] beans, he went to the herdsman, and advised him to tell the ox to abstain from beans. The countryman mocked him, proclaiming his ignorance of the ox-language. So Pythagoras himself went and whispered in the ox's ear. Not only did the bovine at once desist from his diet of beans, but would never touch any thenceforward, though he survived many years near Hera's temple at Tarentum, until very old; being called the sacred ox, and eating any food given him.

25. While at the Olympic games, he was discoursing with his friends about auguries, omens, and divine signs, and how men of true piety do receive messages from the Gods. Flying over his head was an eagle, who stopped, and came down to Pythagoras. After stroking her awhile, he released her. Meeting with some fishermen who were drawing in their nets heavily laden with fishes from the deep, he predicted the exact number of fish they had caught. The fishermen said that if his estimate was accurate they would do whatever he commanded. They counted them accurately, and found the number correct. He then bade them return the fish alive into the sea; and, what is more wonderful, not one of them died, although they had been out of the water a considerable time. He paid them and left.

26. Many of his associates he reminded of the lives lived by their souls before it was bound to the body, and by irrefutable arguments demonstrated that he had bean Euphorbus, the son of Panthus. He specially praised the following verses about himself, and sang them to the lyre most elegantly:

"The shining circlets of his golden hair; Which even the Graces might be proud to wear, Instarred with gems and gold, bestrew the shore, With dust dishonored, and deformed with gore. As the young olive, in some sylvan scene, Crowned by fresh fountains with celestial green, Lifts the gay head, in snowy flowerets fair, And plays and dances to the gentle air, When lo, a whirlwind from high heaven invades, The tender plant, and withers all its shades; It lies uprooted from its genial head, A lovely ruin now defaced and dead. Thus young, thus beautiful, Euphorbus lay, While the fierce Spartan tore his arms away."

(Pope, Homer's Iliad, Book 17).

27. The stories about the shield of this Phrygian Euphorbus being at Mycenae dedicated to Argive Hera, along with other Trojan spoils, shall here be omitted as being of too popular a nature. It is said that the river Caicasus, while he with many of his associates was passing over it, spoke to him very clearly, "Hail, Pythagoras!" Almost unanimous is the report that on one and the same day he was present at Metapontum in Italy, and at Tauromenium in Sicily, in each place conversing with his friends, though the places are separated by many miles, both at sea and land, demanding many days' journey.

28. It is well known that he showed his golden thigh to Abaris the Hyperborean, to confirm him in the opinion that he was the Hyperborean Apollo, whose priest Abaris was. A ship was coming into the harbor, and his friends expressed the wish to own the goods it contained. "Then," said Pythagoras, "you would own a corpse!" On the ship's arrival, this was found to be the true state of affairs. Of Pythagoras many other more wonderful and divine things are persistently and unanimously related, so that we have no hesitation in saying never was more attributed to any man, nor was any more eminent.

29. Verified predictions of earthquakes are handed down, also that he immediately chased a pestilence, suppressed violent winds and hail, calmed storms both on rivers and on seas, for the comfort and safe passage of his friends. As their poems attest, the like was often performed by Empedocles, Epimenides and Abaris, who had learned the art of doing these things from him. Empedocles, indeed, was surnamed Alexanemos, as the chaser of winds; Epimenides, Cathartes, the lustrator. Abaris was called Aethrobates, the walker in air; for he was carried in the air on an arrow of the Hyperborean Apollo, over rivers, seas and inaccessible places. It is believed that this was the method employed by Pythagoras when on the same day he discoursed with his friends at Metapontum and Tauromenium.

30. He soothed the passions of the soul and body by rhythms, songs and incantations. These he adapted and applied to his friends. He himself could hear the harmony of the Universe, and understood the universal music of the spheres, and of the stars which move in concert with them, and which we cannot hear because of the limitations of our weak nature. This is testified to by these characteristic verses of Empedocles:

"Amongst these was one in things sublimest skilled, His mind with all the wealth of learning filled, Whatever sages did invent, he sought; And whilst his thoughts were on this work intent, All things existent, easily he viewed, Through ten or twenty ages making search."

31. Indicating by sublimest things, and, he surveyed all existent things, and the wealth of the mind, and the like, Pythagoras 's constitution of body, mind, seeing, hearing and understanding, which was exquisite, and surpassingly accurate, Pythagoras affirmed that the nine Muses were constituted by the sounds made by the seven planets, the sphere of the fixed stars, and that which is opposed to our earth, called "anti-earth." He called Mnemosyne, or Memory, the composition, symphony and connexion of then all, which is eternal and unbegotten as being composed of all of them.

32. Diogenes, setting forth his daily routine of living, relates that he advised all men to avoid ambition and vain-glory, which chiefly excite envy, and to shun the presences of crowds. He himself held morning conferences at his residence, composing his soul with the music of the lute, and singing certain old paeans of Thales. He also sang verses of Homer and Hesiod, which seemed to soothe the mind. He danced certain dances which he conceived conferred on the body agility and health. Walks he took not promiscuously, but only in company of one or two companions, in temples or sacred groves, selecting the quietest and pleasantest places.

33. His friends he loved exceedingly, being the first to declare that the goods of friends are common, and that a friend was another self. While they were in good health he always conversed with them; if they were sick, he nursed them; if they were afflicted in mind, he solaced them, some by incantations and magic charms, others by music. He had prepared songs for the diseases of the body, by the singing of which he cured the sick. He had also some that caused oblivion of sorrow, mitigation of anger and destruction of lust.

34. As to food, his breakfast was chiefly of honey; at dinner he used bread made of millet, barley or herbs, raw and boiled. Only rarely did he eat the flesh of victims; nor did he take this from every part of the anatomy. When he intended to sojourn in the sanctuaries of the divinities, he would eat no more than was necessary to still hunger and thirst. To quiet hunger, he made a mixture of poppy seed and sesame, the skin of a sea-onion, well washed, till entirely drained of the outward juice; of the flower of the daffodil, and the leaves of mallows, of paste of barley and pea; taking an equal weight of which, and chopping it small, with Hymettian honey he made it into mass. Against thirst he took the seed of cucumbers, and the best dried raisins, extracting the seeds, and the flower of coriander, and the seeds of mallows, purselain, scraped cheese, meal and cream; these he made up with wild honey.

35. He claimed that this diet had, by Demeter, been taught to Hercules, when he was sent into the Libyan deserts. This preserved his body in an unchanging condition; not at one time well, and at another time sick, nor at one time fat, and at another lean. Pythagoras's countenance showed the same constancy was in his soul also. For he was neither more elated by pleasure, nor dejected by grief, and no one ever saw him either rejoicing or mourning.

36. When Pythagoras sacrificed to the Gods, he did not use offensive profusion, but offered no more than barley bread, cakes and myrrh; least of all, animals, unless perhaps cocks and pigs. When he discovered the proposition that the square on the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle was equal to the squares on the sides containing the right angle, he is said to have sacrificed an ox, although the more accurate say that this ox was made of flour.

37. His utterances were of two kinds, plain or symbolical. His teaching was twofold: of his disciples some were called Students, and others Hearers. The Students learned the fuller and more exactly elaborate reasons of science, while the Hearers heard only the chief heads of learning, without more detailed explanations.

38. He ordained that his disciples should speak well and think reverently of the Gods, muses and heroes, and likewise of parents and benefactors; that they should obey the laws; that they should not relegate the worship of the Gods to a secondary position, performing it eagerly, even at home; that to the celestial divinities they should sacrifice uncommon offerings; and ordinary ones to the inferior deities. (The world he Divided into) opposite powers; the "one" was a better monad, light, right, equal, stable and straight; while the "other" was an inferior duad, darkness, left, unequal, unstable and movable.

39. Moreover, he enjoined the following. A cultivated and fruit-bearing plant, harmless to man and beast, should be neither injured nor destroyed. A deposit of money or of teachings should be faithfully preserved by the trustee. There are three kinds of things that deserve to be pursued and acquired; honorable and virtuous things, those that conduce to the use of life, and those that bring pleasures of the blameless, solid and grave kind, of course not the vulgar intoxicating kinds. Of pleasures there were two kinds; one that indulges the bellies and lusts by a profusion of wealth, which he compared to the murderous songs of the Sirens; the other kind consists of things honest, just, and necessary to life, which are just as sweet as the first, without being followed by repentance; and these pleasures he compared to the harmony of the Muses.

40. He advised special regard to two times; that when we go to sleep, and that when we awake. At each of these we should consider our past actions, and those that are to come. We ought to require of ourselves an account of our past deeds, while of the future we should have a providential care. Therefore he advised everybody to repeat to himself the following verses before he fell asleep:

"Nor suffer sleep to close thine eyes Till thrice thy acts that day thou hast run o'er; How slipt? What deeds? What duty left undone?"

On rising:

"As soon as ere thou wakest, in order lay The actions to be done that following day"

41. Such things taught he, though advising above all things to speak the truth, for this alone deifies men. For as he had learned from the Magi, who call God Oremasdes, God's body is light, and his soul is truth. He taught much else, which he claimed to have learned from Aristoclea at Delphi. Certain things he declared mystically, symbolically, most of which were collected by Aristotle, as when he called the sea a tear of Saturn; the two bear (constellations) the hand of Rhea; the Pleiades, the lyre of the Muses; the Planets, the dogs of Persephone; and he called be sound caused by striking on brass the voice of a genius enclosed in the brass.

42. He had also another kind of symbol, such as, pass not over a balance; that is, Shun avarice. Poke not the fire with a sword, that is, we ought not to excite a man full of fire and anger with sharp language. Pluck not a crown, meant not to violate the laws, which are the crowns of cities. Eat not the heart, signified not to afflict ourselves with sorrows. Do not sit upon a [pack]-measure, meant, do not live ignobly. On starting a journey, do not turn back, meant, that this life should not be regretted, when near the bourne of death. Do not walk in the public way, meant, to avoid the opinions of the multitude, adopting those of the learned and the few. Receive not swallows into your house, meant, not to admit under the same roof garrulous and intemperate men. Help a man to take up a burden, but not to lay it down, meant, to encourage no one to be indolent, but to apply oneself to labor and virtue. Do not carry the images of the Gods in rings, signified that one should not at once to the vulgar reveal one's opinions about the Gods, or discourse about them. Offer libations to the Gods, just to the ears of the cup, meant, that we ought to worship and celebrate the Gods with music, for that penetrates through the ears. Do not eat those things that are unlawful, sexual or increase, beginning nor end, nor the first basis of all things.

43. He taught abstention from the loins, testicle, pudenda, marrow, feet and heads of victims. The loins he called basis, because on them as foundations living beings are settled. Testicles and pudenda he called generation, for no one is engendered without the help of these. Marrow he called increase as it is the cause of growth in living beings. The beginning was the feet, and the head the end; which have the most power in the government of the body. He likewise advised abstention from beans, as from human flesh.

44. Beans were interdicted, it is said, because the particular plants grow and individualize only after (the earth) which is the principle and origin of things, is mixed together, so that many things underground are confused, and coalesce; after which everything rots together. Then living creatures were produced together with plants, so that both men and beans arose out of putrefaction whereof he alleged many manifest arguments. For if anyone should chew a bean, and having ground it to a pulp with his teeth, and should expose that pulp to the warm sun, for a short while, and then return to it, he will perceive the scent of human blood. Moreover, if at the time when beans bloom, one should take a little of the flower, which then is black, and should put it into an earthen vessel, and cover it closely, and bury in the ground for ninety days, and at the end thereof take it up, and uncover it, instead of the bean he will find either the head of an infant, or the pudenda of a woman.

45. He also wished men to abstain from other things, such as a swine's paunch, a mullet, and a sea-fish called a "nettle," and from nearly all other marine animals. He referred his origin to those of past ages, affirming that he was first Euphorbus, then Aethalides, then Hermotimus, then Pyrrhus, and last, Pythagoras. He showed to his disciples that the soul is immortal, and to those who were rightly purified he brought back the memory of the acts of their former lives.

46. He cultivated philosophy, the scope of which is to free the mind implanted within us from the impediments and fetters within which it is confined; without whose freedom none can learn anything sound or true, or perceive the unsoundedness in the operation of sense. Pythagoras thought that mind alone sees and hears, while all the rest are blind and deaf. The purified mind should be applied to the discovery of beneficial things, which can be effected by, certain artificial ways, which by degrees induce it to the contemplation of eternal and incorporeal things, which never vary. This orderliness of perception should begin from consideration of the most minute things, lest by any change the mind should be jarred and withdraw itself, through the failure of continuousness in its subject-matter.

47. That is the reason he made so much use of the mathematical disciplines and speculations, which are intermediate between the physical and the incorporeal realm, for the reason that like bodies they have a threefold dimension, and yet share the impassibility of incorporeals; as degrees of preparation to the contemplation of the really existent things; by an artificial reason diverting the eyes of the mind from corporeal things, whose manner and state never remain in the same condition, to a desire for true (spiritual) food. By means of these mathematical sciences therefore, Pythagoras rendered men truly happy, by this artistic introduction of truly [consistent] things.

48. Among others, Moderatus of Gades, who [learnedly] treated of the qualities of numbers in seven books, states that the Pythagoreans specialized in the study of numbers to explain their teachings symbolically, as do geometricians, inasmuch as the primary forms and principles are hard to understand and express, otherwise, in plain discourse. A similar case is the representation of sounds by letters, which are known by marks, which are called the first elements of learning; later, they inform us these are not the true elements, which they only signify.

49. As the geometricians cannot express incorporeal forms in words, and have recourse to the descriptions of figures, as that is a triangle, and yet do not mean that the actually seen lines are the triangle, but only what they represent, the knowledge in the mind, so the Pythagoreans used the same objective method in respect to first reasons and forms. As these incorporeal forms and first principles could not be expressed in words, they had recourse to demonstration by numbers. Number one denoted to them the reason of Unity, Identity, Equality, the purpose of friendship, sympathy, and conservation of the Universe, which results from persistence in Sameness. For unity in the details harmonizes all the parts of a whole, as by the participation of the First Cause..

50. Number two, or Duad, signifies the two-fold reason of diversity and inequality, of everything that is divisible, or mutable, existing at one time in one way, and at another time in another way. After all these methods were not confined to the Pythagoreans, being used by other philosophers to denote unitive powers, which contain all things in the universe, among which are certain reasons of equality, dissimilitude and diversity. These reasons are what they meant by the terms Monad and Duad, or by the words uniform, biform, or diversiform.

51. The same reasons apply to their use of other numbers, which were ranked according to certain powers. Things that had a beginning, middle and end, they denoted by the number Three, saying that anything that has a middle is triform, which was applied to every perfect thing. They said that if anything was perfect it would make use of this principle and be adorned, according to it; and as they had no other name for it, they invented the form Triad; and whenever they tried to bring us to the knowledge of what is perfect they led us to that by the form of this Triad. So also with the other numbers, which were ranked according to the same reasons.

52. All other things were comprehended under a single form and power which they called Decad, explaining it by a pun as decad, meaning comprehension. That is why they called Ten a perfect number, the most perfect of all as comprehending all difference of numbers, reasons, species and proportions. For if the nature of the universe be defined according to the reasons and proportions of members, and if that which is produced, increased and perfected, proceed according to the reason of numbers; and since the Decad comprehends every reason of numbers, every proportion, and every species, why should Nature herself not be denoted by the most perfect number, Ten? Such was the use of numbers among the Pythagoreans.

53. This primary philosophy of the Pythagoreans finally died out first, because it was enigmatical, and then because their commentaries were written in Doric, which dialect itself is somewhat obscure, so that Doric teachings were not fully understood, and they became misapprehended, and finally spurious, and later, they who published them no longer were Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans affirm that Plato, Aristotle, Speusippus, Aristoxenus and Xenocrates; appropriated the best of them, making but minor changes (to distract attention from this their theft), they later collected and delivered as characteristic Pythagorean doctrines whatever therein was most trivial, and vulgar, and whatever had been invented by envious and calumnious persons, to cast contempt on Pythagoreanism.

54. Pythagoras and his associates were long held in such admiration in Italy, that many cities invited them to undertake their administration. At last, however, they incurred envy, and a conspiracy was formed against them as follows. Cylon, a Crotonian, who in race, nobility and wealth was the most preeminent, was of a severe, violent and tyrannical disposition, and did not scruple to use the multitude of his followers to compass his ends. As he esteemed himself worthy of whatever was best, he considered it his right to be admitted to Pythagorean fellowship. He therefore went to Pythagoras extolled himself, and desired his conversation. Pythagoras, however, who was accustomed to read in human bodies' nature and manners the disposition of the man, bade him depart, and go about his business. Cylon, being of a rough and violent disposition, took it as a great affront, and became furious.

55. He therefore assembled his friends, began to accuse Pythagoras, and conspired against him and his disciples. Pythagoras then went to Delos, to visit the Syrian Pherecydes, formerly his teacher, who was dangerously sick, to nurse him. Pythagoras's friends then gathered together in the house of Milo the wrestler; and were all stoned and burned when Cylo's followers set the house on fire. Only two escaped, Archippus and Lysis, according to the account of Neanthes. Lysis took refuge in Greece, with Epaminondas, whose teacher he had formerly been.

56. But Dicaearchus and other more accurate historians relate that Pythagoras himself was present when this conspiracy bore fruit, for Pherecydes had died before he left Samos. Of his friends, forty who were gathered together in a house were attacked and slain; while others were gradually slain as they came to the city. As his friends were taken, Pythagoras himself first escaped to the Caulonian haven, and thence visited the Locrians. Hearing of his coming, the Locrians sent some old men to their frontiers to intercept him. They said, "Pythagoras, you are wise and of great worth; but as our laws retain nothing reprehensible, we will preserve them intact. Go to some other place, and we will furnish you with any needed necessaries of travel." Pythagoras turned back, and sailed to Tarentum, where, receiving the same treatment as at Crotona, he went to Metapontum. Everywhere arose great mobs against him, of which even now the inhabitants make mention, calling them the Pythagorean riots, as his followers were called Pythagoreans.

57. Pythagoras fled to the temple of the Muses, in Metapontum. There he abode forty days, and starving, died. Others however state that his death was due to grief at the loss of all his friends who, when the house in which they were gathered was burned, in order to make a way for their master, they threw themselves into the flames, to make a bridge of safety for him, whereby indeed he escaped. When died the Pythagoreans, with them also died their knowledge, which till then than they had kept secret, except for a few obscure things which were commonly repeated by those who did not understand them. Pythagoras himself left no book; but some little sparks of his philosophy, obscure and difficult, were preserved by the few who were preserved by being scattered, as were Lysis and Archippus.

58. The Pythagoreans now avoided human society, being lonely, saddened and dispersed. Fearing nevertheless that among men the name of philosophy would be entirely extinguished, and that therefore the Gods would be angry with them, they made abstracts and commentaries. Each man made his own collection of written authorities and his own memories, leaving them wherever he happened to die, charging their wives, sons and daughters to preserve them within their families. This mandate of transmission within each family was obeyed for a long time.

59. Nichomacus says that this was the reason why the Pythagoreans studiously avoided friendship with strangers, preserving a constant friendship among each other. Aristoxenus, in his book on the Life of Pythagoras, says he heard many things from Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, who, after his abdication, taught letters at Corinth. Among these were that they abstained from lamentations and grieving and tears; also from adulation, entreaty, supplication and the like.

60. It is said that Dionysius at one time wanted to test their mutual fidelity under imprisonment. He contrived this plan. Phintias was arrested, and taken before the tyrant, and charged with plotting against the tyrant, convicted, and condemned to death. Phintias, accepting the situation, asked to be given the rest of the day to arrange his own affairs, and those of Damon, his friend and associate, who now would have to assume the management. He therefore asked for a temporary release, leaving Damon as security for his appearance. Dionysius granted the request, and they sent for Damon, who agreed to remain until Phintias should return.

61. The novelty of this deed astonished Dionysius; but those who had first suggested the experiment, scoffed at Damon, saying he was in danger of losing his life. But to the general surprise, near sunset Phintias came to die. Dionysius then expressed his admiration, embraced them both, and asked to be received as a third in their friendship. Though he earnestly besought this, they refused this, though assigning no reason therefore. Aristoxenus states he heard this from Dionysius himself. [Hippobotus] and Neanthes relate about Myllia and Timycha........................

This text was transcribed by Patrick Rousell as part of his upload of an edition of Guthrie's Pythagoras Sourcebook and Library (1920). An expanded reprint of this rare volume (no copy is listed in COPAC and only 1 at LOC) is available as The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (1987). I have included it here in order to gather together all the English translations of works by Porphyry, and slightly reformatted it. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: porphyry_on_images_02_text.htm

Porphyry, On Cult Images - Fragments from Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica (1903)

Porphyry, On Cult Images - Fragments from Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica (1903)

[Translated by Edwin Hamilton Gifford]

Fragment 1 (= PE 3.7.1)

I speak to those who lawfully may hear:

Depart all ye profane, and close the doors.

The thoughts of a wise theology, wherein men indicated God and God's powers by images akin to sense, and sketched invisible things in visible forms, I will show to those who have learned to read from the statues as from books the things there written concerning the gods. Nor is it any wonder that the utterly unlearned regard the statues as wood and stone, just as also those who do not understand the written letters look upon the monuments as mere stones, and on the tablets as bits of wood, and on books as woven papyrus.

Fragment 2 (= PE 3.7.2-4)

As the deity is of the nature of light, and dwells in an atmosphere of ethereal fire, and is invisible to sense that is busy about mortal life, He through translucent matter, as crystal or Parian marble or even ivory, led men on to the conception of his light, and through material gold to the discernment of the fire, and to his undefiled purity, because gold cannot be defiled.

On the other hand, black marble was used by many to show his invisibility; and they moulded their gods in human form because the deity is rational, and made these beautiful, because in those is pure and perfect beauty; and in varieties of shape and age, of sitting and standing, and drapery; and some of them male, and some female, virgins, and youths, or married, to represent their diversity.

Hence they assigned everything white to the gods of heaven, and the sphere and all things spherical to the cosmos and to the sun and moon in particular, but sometimes also to fortune and to hope: and the circle and things circular to eternity, and to the motion of the heaven, and to the zones and cycles therein; and the segments of circles to the phases of the moon; pyramids and obelisks to the element of fire, and therefore to the gods of Olympus; so again the cone to the sun, and cylinder to the earth, and figures representing parts of the human body to sowing and generation.

Fragment 3 (=PE 3.9.1-5)

'Now look at the wisdom of the Greeks, and examine it as follows. The authors of the Orphic hymns supposed Zeus to be the mind of the world, and that he created all things therein, containing the world in himself. Therefore in their theological systems they have handed down their opinions concerning him thus:'

Zeus was the first, Zeus last, the lightning's lord,

Zeus head, Zeus centre, all things are from Zeus.

Zeus born a male, Zeus virgin undefiled;

Zeus the firm base of earth and starry heaven;

Zeus sovereign, Zeus alone first cause of all:

One power divine, great ruler of the world,

One kingly form, encircling all things here,

Fire, water, earth, and ether, night and day;

Wisdom, first parent, and delightful Love:

For in Zeus' mighty body these all lie.

His head and beauteous face the radiant heaven

Reveals and round him float in shining waves

The golden tresses of the twinkling stars.

On either side bulls' horns of gold are seen,

Sunrise and sunset, footpaths of the gods.

His eyes the Sun, the Moon's responsive light;

His mind immortal ether, sovereign truth,

Hears and considers all; nor any speech,

Nor cry, nor noise, nor ominous voice escapes

The ear of Zeus, great Kronos' mightier son:

Such his immortal head, and such his thought.

His radiant body, boundless, undisturbed

In strength of mighty limbs was formed thus:

The god's broad-spreading shoulders, breast and back

Air's wide expanse displays; on either side

Grow wings, wherewith throughout all space he flies.

Earth the all-mother, with her lofty hills,

His sacred belly forms; the swelling flood

Of hoarse resounding Ocean girds his waist.

His feet the deeply rooted ground upholds,

And dismal Tartarus, and earth's utmost bounds.

All things he hides, then from his heart again

In godlike action brings to gladsome light.

Zeus, therefore, is the whole world, animal of animals, and god of gods; but Zeus, that is, inasmuch as he is the mind from which he brings forth all things, and by his thoughts creates them. When the theologians had explained the nature of god in this manner, to make an image such as their description indicated was neither possible, nor, if any one thought of it, could he show the look of life, and intelligence, and forethought by the figure of a sphere.

But they have made the representation of Zeus in human form, because mind was that according to which he wrought, and by generative laws brought all things to completion; and he is seated, as indicating the steadfastness of his power: and his upper parts are bare, because he is manifested in the intellectual and the heavenly parts of the world; but his feet are clothed, because he is invisible in the things that lie hidden below. And he holds his sceptre in his left hand, because most close to that side of the body dwells the heart, the most commanding and intelligent organ: for the creative mind is the sovereign of the world. And in his right hand he holds forth either an eagle, because he is master of the gods who traverse the air, as the eagle is master of the birds that fly aloft - or a victory, because he is himself victorious over all things.

Fragment 4 (= PE 3.11.1-2)

They have made Hera the wife of Zeus, because they called the ethereal and aerial power Hera. For the ether is a very subtle air.

Fragment 5 (= PE 3.11.5)

And the power of the whole air is Hera, called by a name derived from the air: but the symbol of the sublunar air which is affected by light and darkness is Leto; for she is oblivion caused by the insensibility in sleep, and because souls begotten below the moon are accompanied by forgetfulness of the Divine; and on this account she is also the mother of Apollo and Artemis, who are the sources of light for the night.

Fragment 6 (= PE 3.11.7)

The ruling principle of the power of earth is called Hestia, of whom a statue representing her as a virgin is usually set up on the hearth; but inasmuch as the power is productive, they symbolize her by the form of a woman with prominent breasts. The name Rhea they gave to the power of rocky and mountainous land, and Demeter to that of level and productive land. Demeter in other respects is the same as Rhea, but differs in the fact that she gives birth to Kore by Zeus, that is, she produces the shoot from the seeds of plants. And on this account her statue is crowned with ears of corn, and poppies are set round her as a symbol of productiveness.

Fragment 7 (= PE 3.11.9-16)

But since there was in the seeds cast into the earth a certain power, which the sun in passing round to the lower hemisphere drags down at the time of the winter solstice, Kore is the seminal power, and Pluto the sun passing under the earth, and traversing the unseen world at the time of the winter solstice; and he is said to carry off Kore, who, while hidden beneath the earth, is lamented by her mother Demeter.

The power which produces hard-shelled fruits, and the fruits of plants in general, is named Dionysus. But observe the images of these also. For Kore bears symbols of the production of the plants which grow above the earth in the crops: and Dionysus has horns in common with Kore, and is of female form, indicating the union of male and female forces in the generation of the hard shelled fruits.

But Pluto, the ravisher of Kore, has a helmet as a symbol of the unseen pole, and his shortened sceptre as an emblem of his kingdom of the nether world; and his dog indicates the generation of the fruits in its threefold division - the sowing of the seed, its reception by the earth, its growing up. For he is called a dog, not because souls are his food, but because of the earth's fertility, for which Pluto provides when he carries off Kore.

Attis, too, and Adonis are related to the analogy of fruits. Attis is the symbol of the blossoms which appear early in the spring, and fall off before the complete fertilization; whence they further attributed castration to him, from the fruits not having attained to seminal perfection: but Adonis was the symbol of the cutting of the perfect fruits.

Silenus was the symbol of the wind's motion, which contributes no few benefits to the world. And the flowery and brilliant wreath upon his head is symbolic of the revolution of the heaven, and the hair with which his lower limbs are surrounded is an indication of the density of the air near the earth.

Since there was also a power partaking of the prophetic faculty, the power is called Themis, because of its telling what is appointed and fixed for each person.

In all these ways, then, the power of the earth finds an interpretation and is worshipped: as a virgin and Hestia, she holds the centre; as a mother she nourishes; as Rhea she makes rocks and dwells on mountains; as Demeter, she produces herbage; and as Themis, she utters oracles: while the seminal law which descends into her bosom is figured as Priapus, the influence of which on dry crops is called Kore, and on soft fruits and shellfruits is called Dionysus. For Kore was carried off by Pluto, that is, the sun going; down beneath the earth at seed-time; but Dionysus begins to sprout according to the conditions of the power which, while young, is hidden beneath the earth, yet produces fine fruits, and is an ally of the power in the blossom symbolized by Attis, and of the cutting of the ripened corn symbolized by Adonis.

Also the power of the wind which pervades all things is formed into a figure of Silenus, and the perversion to frenzy into a figure of a Bacchante, as also the impulse which excites to lust is represented by the Satyrs. These, then, are the symbols by which the power of the earth is revealed.

Fragment 8 (= PE 3.11.22-44)

The whole power productive of water they called Oceanus, and named its symbolic figure Tethys. But of the whole, the drinking-water produced is called Achelous; and the sea-water Poseidon; while again that which makes the sea, inasmuch as it is productive, is Amphitrite. Of the sweet waters the particular powers are called Nymphs, and those of the sea-waters Nereids.

Again, the power of fire they called Hephaestus, and have made his image in the form of a man, but put on it a blue cap as a symbol of the revolution of the heavens, because the archetypal and purest form of fire is there. But the fire brought down from heaven to earth is less intense, and wants the strengthening and support which is found in matter: wherefore he is lame, as needing matter to support him.

Also they supposed a power of this kind to belong to the sun and called it Apollo, from the pulsation of his beams. There are also nine Muses singing to his lyre, which are the sublunar sphere, and seven spheres of the planets, and one of the fixed stars. And they crowned him with laurel, partly because the plant is full of fire, and therefore hated by daemons; and partly because it crackles in burning, to represent the god's prophetic art.

But inasmuch as the sun wards off the evils of the earth, they called him Heracles (from his clashing against the air) in passing from east to west. And they invented fables of his performing twelve labours, as the symbol of the division of the signs of the zodiac in heaven; and they arrayed him with a club and a lion's skin, the one as an indication of his uneven motion, and the other representative of his strength in "Leo" the sign of the zodiac.

Of the sun's healing power Asclepius is the symbol, and to him they have given the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for giving clear sight, and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores life.

But the fiery power of his revolving and circling motion, whereby he ripens the crops, is called Dionysus, not in the same sense as the power which produces the juicy fruits, but either from the sun's rotation, or from his completing his orbit in the heaven. And whereas he revolves round the cosmical seasons and is the maker of "times and tides," the sun is on this account called Horus.

Of his power over agriculture, whereon depend the gifts of wealth, the symbol is Pluto. He has, however, equally the power of destroying, on which account they make Sarapis share the temple of Pluto: and the purple tunic they make the symbol of the light that has sunk beneath the earth, and the sceptre broken at the top that of his power below, and the posture of the hand the symbol of his departure into the unseen world.

Cerberus is represented with three heads, because the positions of the sun above the earth are three-rising, midday, and setting.

The moon, conceived according to her brightness, they called Artemis, as it were, "cutting the air." And Artemis, though herself a virgin, presides over childbirth, because the power of the new moon is helpful to parturition.

What Apollo is to the sun, that Athena is to the moon: for the moon is a symbol of wisdom, and so a kind of Athena.

But, again, the moon is Hecate, the symbol of her varying phases and of her power dependent on the phases. Wherefore her power appears in three forms, having as symbol of the new moon the figure in the white robe and golden sandals, and torches lighted: the basket, which she bears when she has mounted high, is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops, which she makes to grow up according to the increase of her light: and again the symbol of the full moon is the goddess of the brazen sandals.

Or even from the branch of olive one might infer her fiery nature, and from the poppy her productiveness, and the multitude of the souls who find an abode in her as in a city, for the poppy is an emblem of a city. She bears a bow, like Artemis, because of the sharpness of the pangs of labour.

And, again, the Fates are referred to her powers, Clotho to the generative, and Lachesis to the nutritive, and Atropos to the inexorable will of the deity.

Also, the power productive of corn-crops, which is Demeter, they associate with her, as producing power in her. The moon is also a supporter of Kore. They set Dionysus also beside her, both on account of their growth of horns, and because of the region of clouds lying beneath the lower world.

The power of Kronos they perceived to be sluggish and slow and cold, and therefore attributed to him the power of time: and they figure him standing, and grey-headed, to indicate that time is growing old.

The Curetes, attending on Chronos, are symbols of the seasons, because time journeys on through seasons.

Of the Hours, some are the Olympian, belonging to the sun, which also open the gates in the air: and others are earthly, belonging to Demeter, and hold a basket, one symbolic of the flowers of spring, and the other of the wheat-ears of summer.

The power of Ares they perceived to be fiery, and represented it as causing war and bloodshed, and capable both of harm and benefit.

The star of Aphrodite they observed as tending to fecundity, being the cause of desire and offspring, and represented it as a woman because of generation, and as beautiful, because it is also the evening star -

"Hesper, the fairest star that shines in heaven." [Homer, Iliad 22:318]

And Eros they set by her because of desire. She veils her breasts and other parts, because their power is the source of generation and nourishment. She comes from the sea, a watery element, and warm, and in constant movement, and foaming because of its commotion, whereby they intimate the seminal power.

Hermes is the representative of reason and speech, which both accomplish and interpret all things. The phallic Hermes represents vigour, but also indicates the generative law that pervades all things.

Further, reason is composite: in the sun it is called Hermes; in the moon Hecate; and that which is in the All Hermopan, for the generative and creative reason extends over all things. Hermanubis also is composite, and as it were half Greek, being found among the Egyptians also. Since speech is also connected with the power of love, Eros represents this power: wherefore Eros is represented as the son of Hermes, but as an infant, because of his sudden impulses of desire.

They made Pan the symbol of the universe, and gave him his horns as symbols of sun and moon, and the fawn skin as emblem of the stars in heaven, or of the variety of the universe.

Fragment 9 - omitted Fragment 10 (= PE 3.11.45-3.2)

The Demiurge, whom the Egyptians call Cneph, is of human form, but with a skin of dark blue, holding a girdle and a sceptre, and crowned with a royal wing on his head, because reason is hard to discover, and wrapt up in secret, and not conspicuous, and because it is life-giving, and because it is a king, and because it has an intelligent motion: wherefore the characteristic wing is put upon his head.

This god, they say, puts forth from his mouth an egg, from which is born a god who is called by themselves Phtha, but by the Greeks Hephaestus; and the egg they interpret as the world. To this god the sheep is consecrated, because the ancients used to drink milk.

The representation of the world itself they figured thus: the statue is like a man having feet joined together, and clothed from head to foot with a robe of many colours, and has on the head a golden sphere, the first to represent its immobility, the second the many-coloured nature of the stars, and the third because the world is spherical.

The sun they indicate sometimes by a man embarked on a ship, the ship set on a crocodile. And the ship indicates the sun's motion in a liquid element: the crocodile potable water in which the sun travels. The figure of the sun thus signified that his revolution takes place through air that is liquid and sweet.

The power of the earth, both the celestial and terrestrial earth, they called Isis, because of the equality, which is the source of justice: but they call the moon the celestial earth, and the vegetative earth, on which we live, they call the terrestrial.

Demeter has the same meaning among the Greeks as Isis amongs the Egyptians: and, again, Kore and Dionysus among the Greeks the same as Isis and Osiris among the Egyptians. Isis is that which nourishes and raises up the fruits of the earth; and Osiris among the Egyptians is that which supplies the fructifying power, which they propitiate with lamentations as it disappears into the earth in the sowing, and as it is consumed by us for food.

Osiris is also taken for the river-power of the Nile: when, however, they signify the terrestrial earth, Osiris is taken as the fructifying power; but when the celestial, Osiris is the Nile, which they suppose to come down from heaven: this also they bewail, in order to propitiate the power when failing and becoming exhausted. And the Isis who, in the legends, is wedded to Osiris is the land of Egypt, and therefore she is made equal to him, and conceives, and produces the fruits; and on this account Osiris has been described by tradition as the husband of Isis, and her brother, and her son.

At the city Elephantine there is an image worshipped, which in other respects is fashioned in the likeness of a man and sitting; it is of a blue colour, and has a ram's head, and a diadem bearing the horns of a goat, above which is a quoit-shaped circle. He sits with a vessel of clay beside him, on which he is moulding the figure of a man. And from having the face of a ram and the horns of a goat he indicates the conjunction of sun and moon in the sign of the Ram, while the colour of blue indicates that the moon in that conjunction brings rain.

The second appearance of the moon is held sacred in the city of Apollo: and its symbol is a man with a hawk-like face, subduing with a hunting-spear Typhon in the likeness of a hippopotamus. The image is white in colour, the whiteness representing the illumination of the moon, and the hawk-like face the fact that it derives light and breath from the sun. For the hawk they consecrate to the sun, and make it their symbol of light and breath, because of its swift motion, and its soaring up on high, where the light is. And the hippopotamus represents, the Western sky, because of its swallowing up into itself the stars which traverse it.

In this city Horus is worshipped as a god. But the city of Eileithyia worships the third appearance of the moon: and her statue is fashioned into a flying vulture, whose plumage consists of precious stones. And its likeness to a vulture signifies that the moon is what produces the winds: for they think that the vulture conceives from the wind, and declares that they are all hen birds.

In the mysteries at Eleusis the hierophant is dressed up to represent the demiurge, and the torch-bearer the sun, the priest at the altar the moon, and the sacred herald Hermes.

Moreover a man is admitted by the Egyptians among their objects of worship. For there is a village in Egypt called Anabis, in which a man is worshipped, and sacrifice offered to him, and the victims burned upon his altars: and after a little while he would eat the things that had been prepared for him as for a man.

They did not, however, believe the animals to be gods, but regarded them as likenesses and symbols of gods; and this is shown by the fact that in many places oxen dedicated to the gods are sacrificed at their monthly festivals and in their religious services. For they consecrated oxen to the sun and moon.

The ox called Mnevis which is dedicated to the sun in Heliopolis, is the largest of oxen, very black, chiefly because much sunshine blackens men's bodies. And its tail and all its body are covered with hair that bristles backwards unlike other cattle, just as the sun makes its course in the opposite direction to the heaven. Its testicles are very large, since desire is produced by heat, and the sun is said to fertilize nature.

To the moon they dedicated a bull which they call Apis, which also is more black than others, and bears symbols of sun and moon, because the light of the moon is from the sun. The blackness of his body is an emblem of the sun, and so is the beetle-like mark under his tongue; and the symbol of the moon is the semicircle, and the gibbous figure.

THE END

This text was found online at the Internet Classics Archive here, and in another form by David Fideler here. A copy is uploaded for completeness by Roger Pearse, 2010. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_letters_1_trans.htm

Julian the Apostate, Letters (1923) Works vol. 3, pp.2-235.

Julian the Apostate, Letters (1923) Works vol. 3, pp.2-235.

[Translated by W. C. Wright]

1. To Priscus ¹[359 AD From Gaul]

On receiving your letter I at once despatched Archelaus, and gave him letters to carry to you, and the passport,² as you wished, for a longer time. If you are inclined to explore the ocean, everything, with the god's help, will be provided for you as you would wish, unless you dread the boorishness of the Gauls and the winter climate. This, however, will turn out as the god sees fit; but I swear to you by him who is the giver and preserver of all my good fortune that I desire to live only that I may in some degree be of use to you. When I say "you," I mean the true philosophers, and convinced as I am that you are one of these, how much I have loved and love you you well know, and how I desire to see you. May Divine Providence preserve you in health for many a year, my dearest and best beloved brother! I salute the admirable Hippia and your children.³

¹ For another letter to Priscus, see p. 15.

² Literally "token". This, like the Latin tessera, could be of various kinds, but here Julian probably refers to a document, the equivalent of the modern passport, which he had visaed for Priscus in order that he might proceed to Gaul.

³ For the life of Priscus, cf. Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists and Philosophers. He visited Julian in Gaul, was summoned to Constantinople not long after Julian's accession, and went with him to Persia. See Introduction, under Priscus.

2. To the Same [358-359, From Gaul]

As regards a visit to me from your good self,⁴ if you have it in mind, make your plans now, with the help of the gods, and exert yourself; for perhaps a little later I too shall have no time to spare. Hunt up for me all the writings of Iamblichus to his¹namesake. Only you can do this, for your sister's son-in-law owns a thoroughly revised version. And, if I am not mistaken, while I was writing this sentence, a marvellous sign ² was vouchsafed me. I entreat you not to let Theodorus ³ and his followers deafen you too by their assertions that Iamblichus, that truly godlike man, who ranks next to Pythagoras and Plato, was worldly and self-seeking. But if it be rash to declare my own opinion to you, I may reasonably expect you to excuse me, as one excuses those who are carried away by a divine frenzy. You are yourself an ardent admirer of Iamblichus for his philosophy and of his namesake for his theosophy. And I too think, like Apollodorus, that the rest are not worth mentioning compared with those two. As for your collection of the works of Aristotle, so much I will say, you have made me style myself your pupil, though I have no right to the title. For while Maximus of Tyre in six books was able to initiate me to some little extent into Plato's logic, you, with one book, have made me, perhaps I may even say, a complete initiate in the philosophy of Aristotle, but at any rate a thyrsus-bearer.⁴ When you join me I can prove the truth of my words by the great number of works that I wrote in my spare time, during last winter.

⁴ Lit. "your goodness." For Julian's use of this and similar abstract words, see p. 109.

¹ Bidez prefers "my namesake," and makes the writer refer to Julian the theurgist or Chaldean, whom we know from Suidas. More probably the younger Iamblichus is meant.

² Cf. Vol. 2, 284c, for a similar sign of approval given to Julian by Zeus.

³ Theodorus of Asine was a disciple of the great Iamblichus; we know of no such polemics as are indicated here.

⁴ Plato, Phaedo 69c, says that "many carry the thyrsus of Dionysus, but few are really inspired."

3. To Eumenius and Pharianus ¹[359 From Gaul]

If anyone has persuaded you that there is anything more delightful or more profitable for the human race than to pursue philosophy at one's leisure without interruptions, he is a deluded man trying to delude you. But if your old-time zeal still abides in you and has not been swiftly quenched like a brilliant flame, then I regard you as peculiarly blest. Four years have already passed, yes and almost three months besides, since we parted from one another. It would give me pleasure to observe how far you have progressed in this period. As for my own progress, if I can still so much as speak Greek it is surprising, such a barbarian have I become because of the places I have lived in.² Do not despise the study of mere words or be careless of rhetoric or fail to read poetry. But you must devote still more attention to serious studies, and let your whole effort be to acquire understanding of the teachings of Aristotle and Plato. Let this be your task, the base, the foundation, the edifice, the roof. For all other studies are by the way, though they are completed by you with greater zeal than some bestow on really important tasks. I call sacred Justice to witness that I give you this advice because I love you like brothers. For you were my fellow-students and my very good friends. If therefore you follow my advice I shall love you the more, but if I see that you disregard it I shall grieve. And grief, if it lasts, usually results in something that, for the sake of a happier augury, I forbear to mention.

¹ Julian went to Gaul in 355; he probably knew these students in Athens, earlier in the same year.

² Like all the sophists Julian recognises only Greek culture, and for him Latin literature or the culture of Gaul did not exist.

4. To Oribasius ¹[358-9 from Paris]

The divinely inspired Homer says² that there are two gates of dreams, and that with regard to future events we cannot trust them both equally. But I think that this time, if ever before, you have seen clearly into the future; for I too this very day saw a vision of the same sort. I thought that in a certain very spacious room a tall tree had been planted, and that it was leaning down to the ground, while at its root had sprouted another, small and young and very flourishing. Now I was very anxious on behalf of the small tree, lest someone in pulling up the large one should pull it up as well. And in fact, when I came close I saw that the tall tree was lying at full length on the ground, while the small one was still erect, but hung suspended away from the earth. Now when I saw this I said, in great anxiety, "Alas for this tall tree! There is danger that not even its offspring will be preserved." Then one ³ who was altogether a stranger to me said: "Look carefully and take courage. For since the root still remains in the earth, the smaller tree will be uninjured and will be established even more securely than before." So much then for my dreams. God knows what they portend.

As for that abominable eunuch¹, I should be glad to learn when he said these things about me, whether it was before he met me, or since. So tell me whatever you can about this.

But with regard to my behaviour towards him,²the gods know that often, when he wronged the provincials, I kept silence, at the expense of my own honour; to some charges I would not listen, others I would not admit, others again I did not believe, while in some cases I imputed the blame to his associates. But when he thought fit to make me share in such infamy by sending to me to sign those shameful and wholly abominable reports,³ what was the right thing for me to do? Was I to remain silent, or to oppose him? The former course was foolish, servile and odious to the gods, the latter was just, manly and liberal, but was not open to me on account of the affairs that engaged me. What then did I do? In the presence of many persons who I knew would report it to him I said: "Such-a-one will certainly and by all means revise his reports, for they pass the bounds of decency." When he heard this, he was so far from behaving with discretion that he did things which, by heaven, no tyrant with any moderation would have done, and that too though I was so near where he was. In such a case what was the proper conduct for a man who is a zealous student of the teachings of Plato and Aristotle? Ought I to have looked on while the wretched people were being betrayed to thieves, or to have aided them as far as I could, for they were already singing their swan-song because of the criminal artifices of men of that sort? To me, at least, it seems a disgraceful thing that, while I punish my military tribunes when they desert their post—and indeed they ought to be put to death at once, and not even granted burial— I should myself desert my post which is for the defence of such wretched people; whereas it is my duty to fight against thieves of his sort, especially when God is fighting on my side, for it was indeed he who posted me here. And if any harm to myself should result, it is no small consolation to have proceeded with a good conscience. But I pray that the gods may let me keep the excellent Sallust! ¹If, however, it turns out that because of this affair I receive his successor,² perhaps it will not grieve me. For it is better to do one's duty for a brief time honestly than for a long time dishonestly. The Peripatetic teachings are not, as some say, less noble than the Stoic. In my judgement, there is only this difference between them; the former are always more sanguine and not so much the result of deliberate thought, while the latter have a greater claim to practical wisdom, and are more rigidly consistent with the rules of conduct that they have laid down.¹

¹ Oribasius was the physician, friend, and perhaps accomplice of Julian in his ambitions: cf. Letter to the Athenians Vol. 2, p. 265; and for his career, Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists and Philosophers. He was at Vienne when Julian wrote this letter.

² Odyssey 19. 562. Oribasius had evidently reported to Julian some dream of his which augured well for their hopes. In the dream that follows the tall tree is Constantius, the sapling is Julian.

³ Hermes, who was Julian's guide in the myth in Oration 7. 230C.

¹ Probably Eusebius the chamberlain of Constantius whose intrigues against Julian are mentioned in Letter to the Athenians 274a. The epithet is unsuitable to Florentius, though some editors refer it to him.

² In spite of the abruptness of the transition, I follow Asmus in supposing that Julian here, partly for prudence -and partly because of his sophistic habit of avoiding names, refers to Florentius, prefect of Gaul 357-360 and consul 361 A.D., who was at Vienne at this time. For his oppression of the province, see Ammianus 17. 3. 2; Julian, Letter to the Athenians 282c. When Julian was proclaimed Augustus, he fled to Constantius, and later, though condemned to death by Julian, remained in hiding till the latter's death, Ammianus 22. 3. 6.

³ For Julian's refusal to sign or even read the prefect's orders for fresh taxes, see Ammianus 17. 3. 5.

¹ Sallust, who accompanied Julian as civil adviser, was recalled by Constantius in 358. Julian, Oration 8; Oration 4 is dedicated to him.

² This strains the construction but seems more probable than the rendering "If I should be superseded."

¹ I translate the suggested reading of Asmus, but the sense remains unsatisfactory.

5. To Priscus ²[358-9, Winter, Paris]

I had only just recovered by the providence of the All-Seeing One ³ from a very severe and sharp attack of sickness, when your letters reached my hands, on the very day when I took my first bath. It was already evening when I read them, and it would be hard for you to tell how my strength began to return when I realised your pure and sincere affection. May I become worthy of it, that I may not shame your love for me! Your letters I read at once, though I was not very well able to do so, but those of Antonius to Alexander I stored up for the next day. On the seventh day from their receipt I began to write this to you, since my strength is improving reasonably well, thanks to Divine Providence. May the All-Seeing god preserve you, my dearest and best beloved brother. May I see you, my treasure! Added with his own hand. I swear by your well-being and my own, by the All-Seeing god, that I really feel as I have written. Best of men, when can I see you and embrace you? For already, like doting lovers, I adore your very name.

² So Cumont, following the ascription of MS. Baroccianus. Hertlein with hesitation addressed it to Libanius. So, too, Schwarz, who accordingly gives the date as 362 A.D. But as assigned to Priscus, it should be connected with the foregoing invitation to that sophist to come to Gaul, and the illness to which Julian refers is almost certainly his semi-asphyxiation in Paris described in Misopogon 340-342A.

³ i. e. Helios-Mithras.

6. To Alypius, brother of Caesarius¹[361 Before July, from Gaul]

Syloson,² it is said, went up ³ to Darius, reminded him of his cloak and asked him for Samos in return for it. Then Darius prided himself greatly on this, because he considered that he had given much for little; though after all it proved a grievous gift for Syloson.⁴ Now consider my conduct compared with that of Darius. In the first place I think that I have behaved better than he in one point at any rate, I mean that I did not wait to be reminded by another. But after preserving the memory of your friendship so long undimmed, the first moment that the god granted me power I summoned you, not among the second but among the very first. So much for the past. Now with reference to the future, will you allow me—for I am a prophet⁵—to foretell something? I think that it will be far more prosperous than in the case I spoke of, only let not Adrasteia⁶ take offence when I say so! For you need no king to help you to conquer a city,⁷ while I on the other hand need many to help me to raise up again what has fallen on evil days. Thus does my Gallic and barbarian Muse jest for your benefit. But be of good cheer and come, and may the gods attend you.

Added with his own hand. There is good spoil of deer and hunting of small sheep in the winter quarters.¹ Come to your friend who valued you even when he could not yet know your merit.

¹ For Alypius see Introduction.

² The story of Syloson from Herodotus 3. 139, is told by Julian, Vol. 1. Oration 3. 117B. The "cloak of Syloson'" became a proverb for the overpayment of a benefit.

³ i. e. to Susa. 16.

⁴ The Persians devastated Samos before Syloson could benefit by the gift.

⁵ An echo of Plato, Phaedrus 343b.

⁶ Another name for Nemesis, cf. Vol. 2. Misopogon 370b.

⁷ If the date assigned to the letter is correct this must be Constantinople which Julian was preparing to occupy in his march against Constantius.

¹ This is perhaps a veiled allusion to Julian's plot to defeat the adherents of Constantius. 18

7. To the Same

It happened that when you sent me your map I had just recovered from my illness, but I was none the less glad on that account to receive the chart that you sent. For not only does it contain diagrams better than any hitherto made; but you have embellished it by adding those iambic verses, not such as "Sing the War of Bupalus," ² as the poet of Cyrene ³expresses it, but such as beautiful Sappho is wont to fashion for her songs.⁴ In fact the gift is such as no doubt it well became you to give, while to me it is most agreeable to receive.⁵ With regard to your administration of affairs, inasmuch as you study to act in all cases both energetically and humanely, I am well pleased with it. For to blend mildness and moderation with courage and force, and to exercise the former towards the most virtuous, and the latter implacably in the case of the wicked for their regeneration, is, as I am convinced, a task that calls for no slight natural endowment and virtue. I pray that you may ever hold fast to these ambitions and may adapt them both solely to what is fair and honourable.¹ Not without reason did the most eloquent of the ancient writers believe that this is the end and aim set for all the virtues. May you continue in health and happiness as long as possible, my well-beloved and most dear brother!

² For Bupalus cf. Horace, Epodes 6. 14; Lucian, Pseudologist 2.

³ Callimachus, frag. 90, Ernesti.

⁴ Literally "nomes," though Julian may only have meant " poetry "; in any case he refers to lyric iambics.

⁵ An echo of Isocrates, Nicocles 29b.

¹ Cf. Oration 1. d, Vol. 1.

8. To Maximus, the philosopher ²[361, November. From Naissa (Nish)]

Everything crowds into my mind at once and chokes my utterance, as one thought refuses to let another precede it, whether you please to class such symptoms among psychic troubles, or to give them some other name. But let me arrange what I have to tell in chronological order, though not till I have first offered thanks to the all-merciful gods, who at this present have permitted me to write, and will also perhaps permit us to see one another. Directly after I had been made Emperor—against my will, as the gods know; and this I made evident then and there in every way possible,—I led the army against the barbarians.³ That expedition lasted for three months, and when I returned to the shores of Gaul, I was ever on the watch and kept enquiring from all who came from that quarter whether any philosopher or any scholar wearing a philosopher's cloak or a soldier's tunic had arrived there. Then I approached Besontio.¹ It is a little town that has lately been restored, but in ancient times it was a large city adorned with costly temples, and was fortified by a strong wall and further by the nature of the place; for it is encircled by the river Doubis.² It rises up like a rocky cliff in the sea, inaccessible, I might almost say, to the very birds, except in those places where the river as it flows round it throws out what one may call beaches, that lie in front of it. Near this city there came to meet me a certain man who looked like a Cynic with his long cloak and staff. When I first caught sight of him in the distance, I imagined that he was none other than yourself. And when I came nearer to him I thought that he had surely come from you. The man was in fact a friend of mine though he fell short of what I hoped and expected. This then was one vain dream I had! And afterwards I thought that, because you were busied with my affairs, I should certainly find you nowhere outside of Greece. Zeus be my witness and great Helios, mighty Athene and all the gods and goddesses, how on my way down to Illyricum from Gaul³ I trembled for your safety! Also I kept enquiring of the gods—not that I ventured to do this myself, for I could not endure to see or hear anything so terrible as one might have supposed would be happening to you at that time, but I entrusted the task to others; and the gods did indeed show clearly that certain troubles would befall you, nothing terrible however, nor to indicate that impious counsels would be carried out.¹

But you see that I have passed over many important events. Above all, it is right that you should learn how I became all at once conscious of the very presence of the gods, and in what manner I escaped the multitude of those who plotted against me, though I put no man to death, deprived no man of his property, and only imprisoned those whom I caught red-handed. All this, however, I ought perhaps to tell you rather than write it, but I think you will be very glad to be informed of it. I worship the gods openly, and the whole mass of the troops who are returning with me worship the gods.²I sacrifice oxen in public. I have offered to the gods many hecatombs as thank-offerings. The gods command me to restore their worship in its utmost purity, and I obey them, yes, and with a good will. For they promise me great rewards for my labours, if only I am not remiss. Evagrius ³ has joined me.... of the god whom we honour....

Many things occur to my mind, besides what I have written, but I must store up certain matters to tell you when you are with me. Come here, then, in the name of the gods, as quickly as you can, and use two or more public carriages. Moreover, I have sent two of my most trusted servants, one of whom will escort you as far as my headquarters; the other will inform me that you have set out and will forthwith arrive. Do you yourself tell the youths which of them you wish to undertake which of these tasks.¹

² The theurgist. His life was written by Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists and Philosophers. Maximus was at Ephesus; Julian's headquarters were at Naissa, where he had received news of the death of Constantius, November rd, 361. Schwarz dates this letter October or November.

³ i. e. when he recrossed the Rhine in 360. For this campaign, see Ammianus 20, 10.

¹ Cf. Ammianus 20. 10, per Besontionem Viennam hiematurus abscessit. Besontio or Vesontio (Besancon), the capital of the Sequani, is described in much the same language by Caesar, Gallic War I. 38.

² Doubs.

3 Ammianus 21. 7, Zosimus 3. 10 describe this march.

¹ Julian's friends in the East were in danger after his quarrel with Constantius.

² Cf. Libanius, Oration 18. 114,

³ Cf. Letter 25, To Evagrius.

¹ Maximus did not join Julian at Naissa, but, as Eunapius relates in his Life of Chrysanthius, p. 55i (Wright), he lingered at Ephesus in the vain attempt to secure favourable omens for the journey, and finally joined Julian at Constantinople early in 362; cf. Eunapius, Life of Aedesius, pp. 440 foll.

9. To his Uncle Julian ²[361, Late Nov. or Dec. from Naissa]

The third hour of the night has just begun, and as I have no secretary to dictate to because they are all occupied, I have with difficulty made the effort to write this to you myself. I am alive, by the grace of the gods, and have been freed from the necessity of either suffering or inflicting irreparable ill.³ But the Sun, whom of all the gods I besought most earnestly to assist me, and sovereign Zeus also, bear me witness that never for a moment did I wish to slay Constantius, but rather I wished the contrary. Why then did I come? Because the gods expressly ordered me,⁴ and promised me safety if I obeyed them, but if I stayed, what I pray no god may do to me! Furthermore I came because, having been declared a public enemy, I meant to frighten him merely, and that our quarrel should result in intercourse on more friendly terms; but if we should have to decide the issue by battle, I meant to entrust the whole to Fortune and to the gods, and so await whatever their clemency might decide.

² For Count Julian, see Introduction.

³ A proverbial phrase; cf. Letter to Nilus, p. 159. The sudden death of Constantius had simplified Julian's course.

⁴ Cf. Vol. 3, Letter to the Athenians 284b-285d, for Julian's own account of the mutiny against Constantius and the sign given by the gods.

10. To Eutherius¹ [361 About December 1. From Naissa]

I am alive, and have been saved by the gods. Therefore offer sacrifices to them on my behalf, as thank-offerings. Your sacrifice will be not for one man only, but for the whole body of Hellenes.² If you have time to travel as far as Constantinople I shall feel myself highly honoured by your presence.

¹ An Armenian eunuch, a pagan who had been kidnapped, sold into slavery, and finally attained to the office of court chamberlain and confidential adviser to Constans and Julian; see Ammianus 16. 7. 4. He was employed by Julian in Gaul as a trusted messenger to Constantius at Milan; Ammianus 20. 8. 19.

2 In the fourth century this word has lost some of its national meaning, and is used of pagans as opposed to Christians, especially by Julian. The sophists of that period called themselves and all students of rhetoric "Hellenes."

11. To Leontius [361 From Naissa or Constantinople]

The Thurian historian³ said that men's ears are less to be trusted than their eyes.⁴ But in your case I hold the opposite opinion from this, since here my ears are more trustworthy than my eyes. For not if I had seen you ten times would I have trusted my eyes as I now trust my ears, instructed as I have been by a man who is in no wise capable of speaking falsely,¹ that, while in all respects you show yourself a man, you surpass yourself² in your achievements "with hand and foot," as Homer says.³I therefore entrust you with the employment of arms, and have despatched to you a complete suit of armour such as is adapted for the infantry. Moreover I have enrolled you in my household corps.⁴

³ Herodotus.

⁴ Herodotus 1. 8; cf. Julian Oration 1. 37c, and 4. 145d.

¹ An echo of Demosthenes, Olynthiac 2. 17.

² Cf. Julian, Oration 7. 235b, Letter to Themistius 264d, Caesars 309d,327c.

³ Odyssey 8. 148; the phrase is there used of the athletic sports of the Phaeacians.

⁴ i. e. the protectores domestici; cf. Symmachus, Letter 67. In C.I.L. III. 5670a (Dessau 774), a Leontius is mentioned as praepositus militum auxiliarium in 370 a.d.

12. To the philosopher Maximus [End of 361 or early in 362. From Constantinople]

There is a tradition ⁵ that Alexander of Macedon used to sleep with Homer's poems under his pillow, in order that by night as well as by day he might busy himself with his martial writings. But I sleep with your letters as though they were healing drugs of some sort, and I do not cease to read them constantly as though they w ere newly written and had only just come into my hands. Therefore if you are willing to furnish me with intercourse by means of letters, as a semblance of your own society, write, and do not cease to do so continually. Or rather come,⁶ with heaven's help, and consider that while you are away I cannot be said to be alive, except in so far as I am able to read what you have written.

⁵ Plutarch, Alexander 12.

⁶ Ammianus 22. 7. 3 describes Julian's effusive greeting of Maximus, for which he interrupted a meeting of the Senate.

13. To Hermogenes, formerly Prefect of Egypt¹ [361, Dec.? Constantinople]

Suffer me to say, in the language of the poetical rhetoricians, Ο how little hope had I of safety! Ο how little hope had I of hearing that you had escaped the three-headed hydra! Zeus be my witness that I do not mean my brother Constantius ²— nay, he was what he was—but the wild beasts who surrounded him and cast their baleful eyes on all men; for they made him even harsher than he was by nature, though on his own account he was by no means of a mild disposition, although he seemed so to many. But since he is now one of the blessed dead, may the earth lie lightly on him, as the saying is! Nor should I wish, Zeus be my witness, that these others should be punished unjustly; but since many accusers are rising up against them, I have appointed a court³ to judge them. Do you, my friend, come hither, and hasten, even if it task your strength. For, by the gods, I have long desired to see you, and, now that I have learned to my great joy that you are safe and sound, I bid you come.

¹ Hermogenes had been Prefect of Egypt before 328, since his name does not occur in the list of prefects after that year, which is extant complete.

2 Cf. for Julian's attitude to Constantius, Misopogon 357b.

³ The special commission appointed by Julian to try his enemies sat at Chalcedon in Dec. 361. Its work is described by Ammianus 22. 3; Libanius, Oration 18. 152. Among the judges were Mamertinus the rhetorician and Nevitta the Goth, who were the Consuls designate for 362, and Sallust.

14. To Prohaeresius¹ [End of 361 or early in 362. Constantinople]

Why should I not address the excellent Prohaeresius, a man who has poured forth his eloquence on the young as rivers pour their floods over the plain; who rivals Pericles in his discourses, except that he does not agitate and embroil Greece?² But you must not be surprised that I have imitated Spartan brevity in writing to you. For though it becomes sages like you to compose very long and impressive discourses, from me to you even a few words are enough. Moreover you must know that from all quarters at once I am inundated by affairs. As for the causes of my return,³ if you are going to write an historical account I will make a very precise report for you, and will hand over to you the letters,⁴ as written evidence. But if you have resolved to devote your energies to the last, till old age,⁵ to your rhetorical studies and exercises, you will perhaps not reproach me for my silence.

¹ The Armenian sophist, a Christian, who taught at Athens. For his Life see Eunapius, Lives of the Sophists and Philosophers, pp. 477-515 (Wright). See Introduction.

2 Aristophanes, Acharnians 531.

³ i. e. from Gaul, when he marched against the Emperor Constantius, in 361. This letter was probably written after his triumphal entry into Constantinople on December 11th.

⁴ For the correspondence between Julian and Constantius cf. Ammianus Marcellinus 20. 8. 5.

5 Prohaeresius was already in the late eighties.

15. To Bishop Aetius ⁶[362 Jan Constantinople]

I have remitted their sentence of exile for all in common who were banished in whatever fashion by Constantius of blessed memory, on account of the folly of the Galilaeans.¹ But in your case, I not only remit your exile, but also, since I am mindful of our old acquaintance and intercourse, I invite you to come to me. You will use a public conveyance ²as far as my headquarters, and one extra horse.

⁶ See Introduction under Aetius.

¹ Julian always scoffed at the disputes of the Arians with the various other sects of the Church.

² i. e. he was given the privilege of using an official carriage, provided by the state.

16. To the High-priest Theodorus ³ [362, Jan. or end of 361. Constantinople]

When I received your letter I was delighted, of course. How could I feel otherwise on learning that my comrade and dearest friend is safe? And when I had removed the fastening from it and perused it many times, I cannot convey to you in words my feelings and state of mind. I was filled with serenity and felicity and welcomed the letter as though I beheld in it an image, so to speak, of your noble disposition. To try to answer it point by point would take too long and perhaps I could not avoid excessive garrulity; but at any rate I shall not hesitate to say what it was that I especially approved. In the first place, the fact that the insolent behaviour to you of the Governor of Greece, if indeed a man of that sort can be called a Governor and not a tyrant, did not provoke your resentment, because you considered that none of these things had to do with you. Then again, that you are willing and eager to aid that city ¹ in which you had spent your time is a clear proof of the philosophic mind; so that in my opinion the former course is worthy of Socrates, the latter, I should say, of Musonius. For Socrates declared² that heaven would not permit a righteous man to be harmed by anyone inferior to him and worthless, while Musonius concerned himself with the welfare of Gyara ³ when Nero decreed his exile. These two points in your letter I approve, but I am at a loss how to take the third. For you write to urge me to warn you whenever I think that you yourself do or say anything out of tune. For my part I could give you many proofs that I believe myself to be more in need than you are of such advice at the present time, but I will put that off till later. However the request is perhaps not even suitable for you to make; for you have abundant leisure, excellent natural gifts, and you love philosophy as much as any man who ever lived. And these three things combined sufficed to make Amphion known as the inventor of ancient music, namely, leisure, divine inspiration and a love of minstrelsy.¹ For not even the lack of instruments avails to offset these gifts, but one who had these three for his portion could easily invent instruments also. Indeed, have we not received the tradition by hearsay that this very Amphion invented not only harmonies, but besides these the lyre itself, by employing either an almost godlike intelligence or some gift ² of the gods in a sort of extraordinary co-operation with them? And most of the great ones of old seem to have attained to genuine philosophy ³ by setting their hearts on these three things above all, and not to have needed anything else. Therefore it is you who ought to stand by me and in your letters show your willingness to advise me what I ought to do and what not. For we observe in the case of soldiers that it is not those of them who are at peace who need allies, but, I should say, those who are hard pressed in war, and in the case of pilots those who are not at sea do not call to their aid those who are at sea, but those who are navigating call on those who are at leisure. Thus it has from the very first seemed right that men who are at leisure should help and stand by those who are occupied with tasks, and should suggest the right course of action, that is whenever they represent the same interests. It is well, then, that you should bear this in mind and act towards me as you think I should act towards you, and, if you like, let us make this compact, that I am to point out to you what are my views concerning all your affairs, and you in return are to do the same for me concerning my sayings and doings. Nothing, in my opinion, could be more valuable for us than this reciprocity. May divine Providence keep you in good health for long to come, my well-beloved brother! May I see you soon, as I pray to do!

³ For the question of the authenticity of this letter see Introduction, on Theodorus.

¹ We cannot identify this city. Theodorus may have improved its water supply, which would give point to the allusion to Musonius at Gyara below.

² Plato, Apology 30d, Julian, Oration 2. 69b.

³ The Emperors banished offenders to this barren island, one of the Cyclades. For the discovery of water there by Musonius see Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 7. 16. The Nero of Philostratus is an imaginary dialogue with Musonius at Corinth, where he is supposed to have been set by Nero to dig the Corinthian canal; Julian praises Musonius in Vol. 2, To Themistius 265c, d.

¹ Possibly an echo of the lost play of Euripides, Amphion frag. 192 Nauck; cf. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 7. 34, for a similar passage.

² Apollo son of Zeus is said to have given the lyre to Amphion.

³ An echo of Plato, Sophist 216c and Laws 642c; cf. Julian, Vol. 1, Oration 2. 82b, 92b.

17. To Zeno¹[362 early. Constantinople]

There is indeed abundant evidence of other kinds that you have attained to the first rank in the art of medicine and that your morals, uprightness and temperate life are in harmony with your professional skill But now has been added the crowning evidence. Though absent, you are winning to your cause the whole city of Alexandria. So keen a sting, like a bee's, have you left in her.² This is natural; for I think that Homer was right when he said "One physician is worth many other men." ³ And you are not simply a physician, but also a teacher of that art for those who desire to learn, so that I might almost say that what physicians are as compared with the mass of men, you are, compared with other physicians. This is the reason for putting an end to your exile, and with very great distinction for yourself. For if it was owing to George that you were removed from Alexandria, you were removed unjustly, and it would be most just that you should return from exile. Do you, therefore, return in all honour, and in possession of your former dignity. And let the favour that I bestow be credited to me by both parties in common, since it restores Zeno to the Alexandrians and Alexandria to you.

¹ Zeno had been exiled by George, the Arian bishop of Alexandria, in 360. He was a friend and correspondent of Libanius. George had been murdered by the mob on December 24th, 361.

² For this echo of Eupolis, a sophistic commonplace, cf. Vol. 1. Oration 1. 33a.

³ Iliad 11. 514.

18. To an Official¹[362, before May 12. Const]

...² is it not right to pay to human beings 362 this respect that we feel for things made of wood? ³ For let us suppose that a man who has obtained the office of priest is perhaps unworthy of it. Ought we not to show forbearance until we have actually decided that he is wicked, and only then by excluding him from his official functions show that it was the overhasty bestowal of the title of "priest" that was subject to punishment by obloquy and chastisement and a fine? If you do not know this you are not likely to have any proper sense at all of what is fitting. What experience can you have of the rights of men in general if you do not know the difference between a priest and a layman? And what sort of self-control can you have when you maltreated one at whose approach you ought to have risen from your seat? For this is the most disgraceful thing of all, and for it in the eyes of gods and men alike you are peculiarly to blame. Perhaps the bishops and elders of the Galilaeans sit with you, though not in public because of me, yet secretly and in the house; and the priest has actually been beaten by your order, for otherwise your high-priest would not, by Zeus, have come to make this appeal. But since what happened in Homer ¹ seems to you merely mythical, listen to the oracular words of the Lord of Didymus,² that you may see clearly that, even as in bygone days he nobly exhorted the Hellenes in very deed, so too in later times he admonished the intemperate in these words: "Whosoever with reckless mind works wickedness against the priests of the deathless gods and plots against their honours with plans that fear not the gods, never shall he travel life's path to the end, seeing that he has sinned against the blessed gods whose honour and holy service those priests have in charge." Thus, then, the god declares that those who even deprive priests of their honours are detested by the gods, not to mention those who beat and insult them! But a man who strikes a priest has committed sacrilege. Wherefore, since by the laws of our fathers I am supreme pontiff, and moreover have but now received the function of prophecy from the god of Didymus,³ I forbid you for three revolutions of the moon to meddle in anything that concerns a priest. But if during this period you appear to be worthy, and the high-priest of the city ¹ so writes to me, I will thereupon take counsel with the gods whether you may be received by us once more. This is the penalty that I award for your rash conduct. As for curses from the gods, men of old in days of old used to utter them and write them, but I do not think that this was well done; for there is no evidence at all that the gods themselves devised those curses. And besides, we ought to be the ministers of prayers, not curses. Therefore I believe and join my prayers to yours that after earnest supplication to the gods you may obtain pardon for your errors.

¹ Julian writes as supreme pontiff, to whom a high-priest, perhaps Theodorus, had appealed for protection for a priest who had been assaulted. There is no evidence that this priest was the Pegasius of Letter 19, as Asmus thinks.

2 The first part of the letter with the title is lost.

³ i. e. images of the gods. In Vol. 2, Fragment of a Letter 297a, Julian says that we must respect priests no less than the stones of which altars are made. There are several close resemblances between these two pastoral letters. Reiske translated ξύλοις "trees,"

i. e. we allow them time to recover before cutting them down.

¹ Probably Julian refers to the wrong done to the priest Chryses which was avenged by Apollo in Iliad 1.

² Apollo. For this oracle cf. Vol. 2, Fragment of a Letter 297cd, where it is also quoted.

³ The oracle of the Didymaean Apollo was at Didyma, Miletus, where an inscription on a column in honour of Julian has been discovered; cf. Bulletin de correspondance hellenique, 1877.

¹ We do not know the name of this city and cannot identify the official who is in disgrace.

19. To a Priest² [362 or early in 363]

I should never have favoured Pegasius unhesitatingly if I had not had clear proofs that even in former days, when he had the title of Bishop of the Galilaeans, he was wise enough to revere and honour the gods. This I do not report to you on hearsay from men whose words are always adapted to their personal dislikes and friendships, for much current gossip of this sort about him has reached me, and the gods know that I once thought I ought to detest him above all other depraved persons.³ But when I was summoned¹ to his headquarters by Constantius of blessed memory I was travelling by this route, and after rising at early dawn I came from Troas to Ilios about the middle of the morning. Pegasius came to meet me, as I wished to explore the city,—-this was my excuse for visiting the temples,—and he was my guide and showed me all the sights. So now let me tell you what he did and said, and from it one may guess that he was not lacking in right sentiments towards the gods.

Hector has a hero's shrine there and his bronze statue stands in a tiny little temple. Opposite this they have set up a figure of the great Achilles in the unroofed court. If you have seen the spot you will certainly recognise my description of it. You can learn from the guides the story that accounts for the fact that great Achilles was set up opposite to him and takes up the whole of the unroofed court. Now I found that the altars were still alight, I might almost say still blazing, and that the statue of Hector had been anointed till it shone. So I looked at Pegasius and said: "What does this mean? Do the people of Ilios offer sacrifices?" This was to test him cautiously to find out his own views. He replied: "Is it not natural that they should worship a brave man who was their own citizen, just as we worship the martyrs?" Now the analogy was far from sound; but his point of view and intentions were those of a man of culture, if you consider the times in which we then lived. Observe what followed. "Let us go," said he, "to the shrine of Athene of Ilios." Thereupon with the greatest eagerness he led me there and opened the temple, and as though he were producing evidence he showed me all the statues in perfect preservation, nor did he behave at all as those impious men do usually, I mean when they make the sign on their impious foreheads, nor did he hiss ¹ to himself as they do. For these two things are the quintessence of their theology, to hiss at demons and make the sign of the cross on their foreheads.

These are the two things that I promised to tell you. But a third occurs to me which I think I must not fail to mention. This same Pegasius went with me to the temple of Achilles as well and showed me the tomb in good repair; yet I had been informed that this also had been pulled to pieces by him. But he approached it with great reverence; I saw this with my own eyes. And I have heard from those who are now his enemies that he also used to offer prayers to Helios and worship him in secret. Would you not have accepted me as a witness even if I had been merely a private citizen? Of each man's attitude towards the gods who could be more trustworthy witnesses than the gods themselves? Should I have appointed Pegasius a priest if I had any evidence of impiety towards the gods on his part? And if in those past days, whether because he was ambitious for power, or, as he has often asserted to me, he clad himself in those rags in order to save the temples of the gods, and only pretended to be irreligious so far as the name of the thing went—indeed it is clear that he never injured any temple anywhere except for what amounted to a few stones, and that was as a blind, that he might be able to save the rest—well then we are taking this into account and are we not ashamed to behave to him as Aphobius did, and as the Galilaeans all pray to see him treated? If you care at all for my wishes you will honour not him only but any others who are converted, in order that they may the more readily heed me when I summon them to good works, and those others may have less cause to rejoice. But if we drive away those who come to us of their own free will, no one will be ready to heed when we summon.

² Asmus is positive that this is the high-priest Theodorus, but there is no evidence for this. He dates the letter from Constantinople early in 362. Pegasius is otherwise unknown.

³ i.e. Christians, whom Julian often calls πονηροί, "depraved."

¹ In the winter of 354, when he was on his way from Nicomedia to the court at Milan, after the death of Gallus; first he came to Alexandria Troas, and then to New Ilios.

¹ Dieterich, Mithrasliturgie, pp. 40, 221, discusses the practice in magic, and especially in the ritual of Mithras, of hissing and whistling.

20. To the High-priest Theodorus¹[362, before May 12. Constantinople]

I have written you a more familiar sort of letter than to the others, because you, I believe, have more friendly feelings than others towards me. For it means much that we had the same guide,² and I am sure you remember him. A long time ago, when I was still living in the west,³ I learned that he had the highest regard for you, and for that reason I counted you my friend, and yet because of their excessive caution, I have usually thought these words well said,

"For I never met or saw him";⁴

and well said is "Before we love we must know, and before we can know we must test by experience." But it seems that after all a certain other saying has most weight with me, namely, "The Master has spoken." ¹ That is why I thought even then that I ought to count you among my friends, and now I entrust to you a task that is dear to my heart, while to all men everywhere it is of the greatest benefit. And if, as I have the right to expect, you administer the office well, be assured that you will rejoice me greatly now and give me still greater good hope for the future life. For I certainly am not one of those who believe that the soul perishes before the body or along with it, nor do I believe any human being but only the gods; since it is likely that they alone have the most perfect knowledge of these matters, if indeed we ought to use the word "likely" of what is inevitably true; since it is fitting for men to conjecture about such matters, but the gods must have complete knowledge.

What then is this office which I say I now entrust to you? It is the government of all the temples in Asia, with power to appoint the priests in every city and to assign to each what is fitting. Now the qualities that befit one in this high office are, in the first place, fairness, and next, goodness and benevolence towards those who deserve to be treated thus. For any priest who behaves unjustly to his fellow men and impiously towards the gods, or is overbearing to all, must either be admonished with plain speaking or chastised with great severity. As for the regulations which I must make more complete for the guidance of priests in general, you as well as the others will soon learn them from me, but meanwhile I wish to make a few suggestions to you. You have good reason to obey me in such matters. Indeed in such a case I very seldom act offhand, as all the gods know, and no one could be more circumspect; and I avoid innovations in all things, so to speak, but more peculiarly in what concerns the gods. For I hold that we ought to observe the laws that we have inherited from our forefathers, since it is evident that the gods gave them to us. For they would not be as perfect as they are if they had been derived from mere men. Now since it has come to pass that they have been neglected and corrupted, and wealth and luxury have become supreme, I think that I ought to consider them carefully as though from their cradle.¹ Therefore, when I saw that there is among us great indifference about the gods and that all reverence for the heavenly powers has been driven out by impure and vulgar luxury, I always secretly lamented this state of things. For I saw that those whose minds were turned to the doctrines of the Jewish religion ² are so ardent in their belief that they would choose to die for it, and to endure utter want and starvation rather than taste pork or any animal that has been strangled ³ or had the life squeezed out of it; whereas we are in such a state of apathy about religious matters that we have forgotten the customs of our forefathers, and therefore we actually do not know whether any such rule has ever been prescribed. But these Jews are in part god-fearing, seeing that they revere a god who is truly most powerful and most good and governs this world of sense, and, as I well know, is worshipped by us also under other names.¹ They act as is right and seemly, in my opinion, if they do not transgress the laws; but in this one thing they err in that, while reserving their deepest devotion for their own god, they do not conciliate the other gods also; but the other gods they think have been allotted to us Gentiles only, to such a pitch of folly have they been brought by their barbaric conceit. But those who belong to the impious sect of the Galilaeans, as if some disease...²

¹ See Introduction. Those who date this letter early in 363, following Reiske, regard it as part of the Letter to a Priest, Vol. 2, written after the burning of the temple of Apollo at Daphne in October 362. It seems more likely that that fragment contains the general instructions for priests promised by Julian in this letter.

² Maximus of Ephesus, who had initiated Julian and perhaps Theodorus also into the Mysteries of Mithras.

³ i.e. in Gaul.

4 Iliad 4. 374; Odyssey 4, 200.

¹ This Pythagorean phrase is the original of Ipse dixit.

¹ Literally "from the hearth," i.e. from their origin, a proverb.

² For Julian's tolerant attitude to the Jewish religion, cf. To the Jews, p. 177.

³ This is not directly prohibited in the Old Testament, but cf. Deuteronomy 12. 23, where it is implied; and, for the New Testament, Acts 15. 29 "That ye abstain from things strangled."

¹ Cf. Against the Galilaeans 354b, where Julian says that he always worships the God of Abraham, who is gracious to those that do him reverence, "for he is very great and powerful."

² The conclusion of the sentence is lost, and was probably deleted by a Christian because of some disrespectful reference to Christ.

21. The Emperor Julian Caesar, most Mighty Augustus, to the People of Alexandria ³[362, Jan. Constantinople]

If you do not revere the memory of Alexander, your founder, and yet more than him the great god, the most holy Serapis, how is it that you took no thought at least for the welfare of your community, for humanity, for decency? Furthermore, I will add that you took no thought for me either, though all the gods, and, above all, the great Serapis, judged it right that I should rule over the world. The proper course was for you to reserve for me the decision concerning the offenders. But perhaps your anger and rage led you astray, since it often "turns reason out of doors and then does terrible things"¹; for after you had restrained your original impulse, you later introduced lawlessness to mar the wise resolutions which you had at the first adopted, and were not ashamed, as a community, to commit the same rash acts as those for which you rightly detested your adversaries. For tell me, in the name of Serapis, what were the crimes for which you were incensed against George? You will doubtless answer: He exasperated against you Constantius of blessed memory; then he brought an army into the holy city, and the general ² in command of Egypt seized the most sacred shrine of the god and stripped it of its statues and offerings and of all the ornaments in the temples. And when you were justly provoked and tried to succour the god, or rather the treasures of the god,³ Artemius dared to send his soldiers against you, unjustly, illegally and impiously, perhaps because he was more afraid of George than of Constantius; for the former was keeping a close watch on him to prevent his behaving to you too moderately and constitutionally, but not to prevent his acting far more like a tyrant. Accordingly you will say it was because you were angered for these reasons against George, the enemy of the gods, that you once more ¹ desecrated the holy city, when you might have subjected him to the votes of the judges. For in that case the affair would not have resulted in murder ² and lawlessness but in a lawsuit in due form, which would have kept you wholly free from guilt, while it would have punished that impious man for his inexpiable crimes, and would have checked all others who neglect the gods, and who moreover lightly esteem cities like yours and flourishing communities, since they think that cruel behaviour towards these is a perquisite of their own power.

Now compare this letter of mine with the one ³ that I wrote to you a short time ago, and mark the difference well. What words of praise for you did I write then! But now, by the gods, though I wish to praise you, I cannot, because you have broken the law. Your citizens dare to tear a human being in pieces as dogs tear a wolf, and then are not ashamed to lift to the gods those hands still dripping with blood! But, you will say, George deserved to be treated in this fashion. Granted, and I might even admit that he deserved even worse and more cruel treatment. Yes, you will say, and on your account. To this I too agree; but if you say by your hands, I no longer agree. For you have laws which ought by all means to be honoured and cherished by you all, individually. Sometimes, no doubt, it happens that certain persons break one or other of these laws; but nevertheless the state as a whole ought to be well governed and you ought to obey the laws and not transgress those that from the beginning were wisely established.

It is a fortunate thing for you, men of Alexandria, that this transgression of yours occurred in my reign, since by reason of my reverence for the god and out of regard for my uncle ¹ and namesake, who governed the whole of Egypt and your city also, I preserve for you the affection of a brother. For power that would be respected and a really strict and unswerving government would never overlook an outrageous action of a people, but would rather purge it away by bitter medicine, like a serious disease. But, for the reasons I have just mentioned, I administer to you the very mildest remedy, namely admonition and arguments, by which I am very sure that you will be the more convinced if you really are, as I am told, originally Greeks, and even to this day there remains in your dispositions and habits a notable and honourable impress of that illustrious descent.

Let this be publicly proclaimed to my citizens of Alexandria.

³ Quoted entire by Socrates, History of the Church 3. 3; cited by Sozomen, 5. 7. 9; for the murder of Bishop George to which it refers, see Introduction, under Athanasius.

¹ Plutarch, On the Restraint of Anger 453; quoted from Melanthius the tragic poet; frag. 1, Nauck. This is the only extant fragment of Melanthius and is often quoted.

² Artemius, military prefect of Egypt; he was executed by Julian at the request of the Alexandrians, in the summer of 362; Ammianus 22. 11.

³ Serapis; the Serapeum according to Ammianus 22. 16, was, next to the Capitol at Rome, the most splendid temple in the world. For this incident see Sozomen 4. 30. 2.

¹ On the turbulence of the Alexandrians cf. Ammianus 22. 11. 4.

² Ammianus 22. 11. 8 describes the murder by the mob of Bishop George and two officials of the Emperor Constantius on December 24th, 361.

3 This letter is not extant.

¹ Julian, Count of the East; cf. Misopogon 365c; he had held some high office in Egypt, under Constantius.

22. To Arsacius, High-priest of Galatia [362, on his way to Antioch in June?]

The Hellenic religion does not yet prosper as I desire, and it is the fault of those who profess it; for the worship of the gods is on a splendid and magnificent scale, surpassing every prayer and every hope. May Adrasteia ² pardon my words, for indeed no one, a little while ago, would have ventured even to pray for a change of such a sort or so complete within so short a time. Why, then, do we think that this is enough, why do we not observe that it is their benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism?1 I believe that we ought really and truly to practise every one of these virtues.² And it is not enough for you alone to practise them, but so must all the priests in Galatia, without exception. Either shame or persuade them into righteousness or else remove them from their priestly office, if they do not, together with their wives, children and servants, attend the worship of the gods but allow their servants or sons or wives to show impiety towards the gods and honour atheism more than piety. In the second place, admonish them that no priest may enter a theatre or drink in a tavern or control any craft or trade that is base and not respectable. Honour those who obey you, but those who disobey, expel from office. In every city establish frequent hostels in order that strangers may profit by our benevolence; I do not mean for our own people only, but for others also who are in need of money. I have but now made a plan by which you may be well provided for this; for I have given directions that 30,000 modii of corn shall be assigned every year for the whole of Galatia, and 60,000 pints ³ of wine. I order that one-fifth of this be used for the poor who serve the priests, and the remainder be distributed by us to strangers and beggars. For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galilaeans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.¹ Teach those of the Hellenic faith to contribute to public service of this sort, and the Hellenic villages to offer their first fruits to the gods; and accustom those who love the Hellenic religion to these good works by teaching them that this was our practice of old. At any rate Homer makes Eumaeus say: "Stranger, it is not lawful for me, not even though a baser man than you should come, to dishonour a stranger. For from Zeus come all strangers and beggars. And a gift, though small, is precious." ² Then let us not, by allowing others to outdo us in good works, disgrace by such remissness, or rather, utterly abandon, the reverence due to the gods. If I hear that you are carrying out these orders I shall be filled with joy.

As for the government officials, do not interview them often at their homes, but write to them frequently. And when they enter the city no priest must go to meet them, but only meet them within the vestibule when they visit the temples of the gods. Let no soldier march before them into the temple, but any who will may follow them; for the moment that one of them passes over the threshold of the sacred precinct he becomes a private citizen. For you yourself, as you are aware, have authority over what is within, since this is the bidding of the divine ordinance. Those who obey it are in very truth god-fearing, while those who oppose it with arrogance are vainglorious and empty-headed.

I am ready to assist Pessinus¹ if her people succeed in winning the favour of the Mother of the Gods. But, if they neglect her, they are not only not free from blame, but, not to speak harshly, let them beware of reaping my enmity also. "For it is not lawful for me to cherish or to pity men who are the enemies of the immortal gods." ²Therefore persuade them, if they claim my patronage, that the whole community must become suppliants of the Mother of the Gods.

² The goddess "whom none may escape" is a variant of Nemesis, often invoked in a saving clause, cf. To Alypius, p. 17.

¹ Julian often calls Christianity "atheism."

² In the Fragment of a Letter, Vol. 2, Julian admonishes priests to imitate Christian virtues, cf. especially 289-290; it is the favourite theme of his pastoral letters; for a fuller account of his attempt to graft Christian discipline on paganism, see Gregory Nazianzen, Against Julian, Oration 3, and Sozomen 5. 16.

³ Modius, "peck," and sextarius, "pint," are Latin words.

¹ For a comparison of the charity of the Galilaeans with Pagan illiberality, cf. Vol. 2, Misopogon 363a, b.

² Odyssey 14. 56; cf. Fragment of a Letter 291b, where it is quoted in a similar context.

¹ This letter was probably written after Julian's visit to Pessinus on his way to Antioch. The probable date for his arrival at Antioch is the first half of July.

² Odyssey 10. 73; Julian alters the original which is said by Aeolus to Odysseus.

23. To Ecdicius, Prefect of Egypt ³[362 end of January, Constantinople]

Some men have a passion for horses, others for birds, others, again, for wild beasts; but I, from childhood, have been penetrated by a passionate longing⁴ to acquire books. It would therefore be absurd if I should suffer these to be appropriated by men whose inordinate desire for wealth gold alone cannot satiate, and who unscrupulously design to steal these also. Do you therefore grant me this personal favour, that all the books which belonged to George be sought out. For there were in his house many on philosophy, and many on rhetoric; many also on the teachings of the impious Galilaeans. These latter I should wish to be utterly annihilated, but for fear that along with them more useful works may be destroyed by mistake, let all these also be sought for with the greatest care. Let George's secretary ¹ take charge of this search for you, and if he hunts for them faithfully let him know that he will obtain his freedom as a reward, but that if he prove in any way whatever dishonest in the business he will be put to the test of torture. And I know what books George had, many of them, at any rate, if not all; for he lent me some of them to copy, when I was in Cappadocia,² and these he received back.

³ See Introduction, under Ecdicius.

⁴ A proverbial phrase; cf. Vol. 1, Oration 4. 130c, Vol. 2, Oration 8. 251d; Plato, Menexenus 245d. For Julian's love of books, Vol. 1, Oration 3. 123d. foll.

¹ Perhaps to be identified with Porphyrius, to whom Julian wrote the threatening Letter 38, p. 123.

² i.e. when he was interned for six years by Constantius at Macellum in Cappadocia. George was then at Caesarea near Macellum.

24. To the Alexandrians, an Edict³ [362, Constantinople]

One who had been banished by so many imperial decrees issued by many Emperors ought to have waited for at least one imperial edict, and then on the strength of that returned to his own country, and not displayed rashness and folly, and insulted the laws as though they did not exist. For we have not, even now, granted to the Galilaeans who were exiled by Constantius¹ of blessed memory to return to their churches, but only to their own countries. Yet I learn that the most audacious Athanasius, elated by his accustomed insolence, has again seized what is called among them the episcopal throne,² and that this is not a little displeasing to the God-fearing citizens ³ of Alexandria. Wherefore we publicly warn him to depart from the city forthwith, on the very day that he shall receive this letter of our clemency. But if he remain within the city, we publicly warn him that he will receive a much greater and more severe punishment.⁴

³ See Introduction, under Athanasius.

¹ Constantius was an Arian and had appointed Bishop George of Cappadocia to the see of Alexandria. Athanasius was then in exile by the decree of Constantius.

² Athanasius had installed himself in his church on February 21st, 362.

³ i.e. the Pagans.

⁴ Athanasius withdrew from Alexandria, but not from Egypt, in consequence of this edict. For a second edict banishing him from Egypt, see p. 151.

25. To Evagrius ⁵ [362, Constantinople]

A small estate of four fields, in Bithynia, was given to me by my grandmother,⁶ and this I give as an offering to your affection for me. It is too small to bring a man any great benefit on the score of wealth or to make him appear opulent, but even so it is a gift that cannot wholly fail to please you, as you will see if I describe its features to you one by one. And there is no reason why I should not write in a light vein to you who are so full of the graces and amenities of culture. It is situated not more than twenty stades from the sea, so that no trader or sailor with his chatter and insolence disturbs the place. Yet it is not wholly deprived of the favours of Nereus, for it has a constant supply of fish, fresh and still gasping; and if you walk up on to a sort of hill away from the house, you will see the sea, the Propontis and the islands, and the city that bears the name of the noble Emperor;¹ nor will you have to stand meanwhile on seaweed and brambles, or be annoyed by the filth that is always thrown out on to seabeaches and sands, which is so very unpleasant and even unmentionable; but you will stand on smilax and thyme and fragrant herbage. Very peaceful it is to lie down there and glance into some book, and then, while resting one's eyes, it is very agreeable to gaze at the ships and the sea. When I was still hardly more than a boy I thought that this was the most delightful summer place, for it has, moreover, excellent springs and a charming bath and garden and trees. When I had grown to manhood I used to long for my old manner of life there and visited it often, and our meetings there did not lack talks about literature. Moreover there is there, as a humble monument of my husbandry, a small vineyard that produces a fragrant, sweet wine, which does not have to wait for time to improve its flavour. You will have a vision of Dionysus and the Graces. The grapes on the vine, and when they are being crushed in the press, smell of roses, and the new-made wine in the jars is a "rill of nectar," if one may trust Homer.² Then why is not such a vine as this abundant and growing over very many acres?

Perhaps I was not a very industrious gardener. But since my mixing bowl of Dionysus is inclined to soberness and calls for a large proportion of the nymphs,¹ I only provided enough for myself and my friends—and they are very few. Well then, I now give this to you as a present, dear heart, and though it be small, as indeed it is, yet it is precious as coming from a friend to a friend, "from home, homeward bound," in the words of the wise poet Pindar.²I have written this letter in haste, by lamplight, so that, if I have made any mistakes, do not criticise them severely or as one rhetorician would another.

⁵ For Evagrius see above, p. 25.

⁶ Cf. Vol. 2. 290d; and 251d for his childhood's associations with this coast.

¹ Constantinople, named after Constantine.

² Odyssey 9. 359.

¹ i.e. of water.

² Olympian Ode 6. 99; 7. 5.

26. To Basil³[Early in 362. Constantinople]

"Not of war is thy report," ⁴ says the proverb, but I would add, from comedy, " Ο thou whose words bring tidings of gold! " ⁵ Come then, show it by your deeds and hasten to me, for you will come as friend to friend.⁶ It is true that continuous attention to public business is thought to be a heavy burden on men who pursue it with all their energy; but those who share the task of administration with me are, I am convinced, honest and reasonable men, intelligent and entirely capable for all they have to do. So they give me leisure and the opportunity of resting without neglecting anything. For our intercourse with one another is free from that hypocrisy of courts of which alone you have hitherto, I think, had experience, that hypocrisy which leads men to praise one another even while they hate with a hatred more deadly than they feel for their worst enemies in war. But we, though we refute and criticise one another with appropriate frankness, whenever it is necessary, love one another as much as the most devoted friends. Hence it is that I am able—if I may say so without odium— to work and yet enjoy relaxation, and when at work to be free from strain and sleep securely. For when I have kept vigil it was less on my own behalf probably than on behalf of all my subjects.

But perhaps I have been wearying you with my chatter and nonsense, displaying stupid conceit, for I have praised myself, like Astydamas.¹ However, I have despatched this letter to you to convince you that your presence, wise man that you are, will be serviceable to me rather than any waste of my time. Make haste then, as I said, and use the state post.²And when you have stayed with me as long as you desire you shall go your way whithersoever you please, with an escort furnished by me, as is proper.

³ For Basil, see Introduction.

⁴ Plato, Phaedrus 242b, Laws 102d, cf. paroles de paix.

⁵ Aristophanes, Plutus 268.

6 Plato, Menexenus 247b.

¹ A proverb derived from Philemon, frag. 190; for the whole verse, see below, p. 159.

² i.e. the cursus publicus; cf. To Eustathius, p. 139.

27. To the Thracians ³[362, Before May. Const.]

To an Emperor who had an eye solely to gain, your request would have appeared hard to grant, and he would not have thought that he ought to injure the public prosperity by granting a particular indulgence to any. But since I have not made it my aim to collect the greatest possible sums from my subjects, but rather to be the source of the greatest possible blessings to them, this fact shall for you too cancel your debts. Nevertheless it will not cancel the whole sum absolutely, but there shall be a division of the amount, and part shall be remitted to you, part shall be used for the needs of the army; since from it you yourselves assuredly gain no slight advantages, namely, peace and security. Accordingly I remit for you, down to the third assessment,¹ the whole sum that is in arrears for the period preceding. But thereafter you will contribute as usual. For the amount remitted is sufficient indulgence for you, while for my part I must not neglect the public interest. Concerning this I have sent orders to the prefects also, in order that your indulgence may be carried into effect. May the gods keep you prosperous for all time!

³ An answer to a petition. For Julian's remission of arrears of taxes at Antioch, cf. Misopogon, 365b. For his popularity with the provincials due to this liberality, cf. Ammianus 25. 4. 15.

¹ Apparently he means that the arrears are remitted down to the year 359, but they must pay what is due from that date.

28. On behalf of the Argives; unaddressed ²[362, Const.]

On behalf of the city of Argos, if one wished to recount her honours, many are the glorious deeds both old and new that one might relate. For instance, in the achievements of the Trojan War they may claim to have played the chief part even as did the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, in later times, in the Persian War. For though both wars are held to have been waged by all Greece in common, yet it is fitting that the leaders, just as they had the larger share of toils and anxiety, should have also a larger share of the praise. These events, however, may seem somewhat antiquated. But those that followed, I mean the return of the Hera-cleidae, the taking of his birthright from the eldest,¹the sending from Argos of the colony to Macedonia, and the fact that, though they were such near neighbours to the Lacedaemonians, they always preserved their city unenslaved and free, are proofs of no slight or common fortitude. But, furthermore, all those great deeds accomplished by the Macedonians against the Persians might with justice be considered to belong to this city; for this was the native land of the ancestors of Philip and Alexander,² those illustrious men. And in later days Argos obeyed the Romans, not so much because she was conquered as in the character of an ally, and, as I think, she too, like the other states, shared in the independence and the other rights which our rulers always bestow on the cities of Greece.

But now the Corinthians, since Argos has been assigned to their territory—for this is the less invidious way of expressing it—by the sovereign city,³have grown insolent in ill-doing and are compelling the Argives to pay them tribute; it is seven years, as I am told, since they began this innovation, and they were not abashed by the immunity of Delphi or of the Eleans,¹ which was granted to them so that they might administer their sacred games. For there are, as we know, four very important and splendid games in Greece; the Eleans celebrate the Olympian games, the Delphians the Pythian, the Corinthians those at the Isthmus, and the Argives the Nemean festival. How then can it be reasonable that those others should retain the immunity that was granted to them in the past, whereas the Argives, who, in consideration of a similar outlay, had their tribute remitted in the past, or perhaps were not even subject to tribute originally, should now be deprived of the privilege of which they were deemed worthy? Moreover, Elis and Delphi are accustomed to contribute only once in the course of their far-famed four-year cycles, but in that period there are two celebrations of the Nemean games among the Argives, and likewise of the Isthmian among the Corinthians. And besides, in these days two other games² of this sort have been established among the Argives, so that there are in all in four years four games. How then is it reasonable that those others who bear the burden of this function only once should be left free from the tax, whereas the Argives are obliged to contribute to yet other games in addition to their fourfold expenditure at home; especially as the contribution is for a festival that is neither Hellenic nor of ancient date? For it is not to furnish gymnastic or musical contests that the Corinthians need so much money, but they buy bears and panthers for the hunting shows which they often exhibit in their theatres. And they themselves by reason of their wealth are naturally able to support these great expenses,—especially as many other cities, as is to be expected, help by contributing for this purpose,— so that they purchase the pleasure of indulging their temperaments.¹ But the Argives are not so well off for money, and compelled as they are to slave for a foreign spectacle held in the country of others, will they not be suffering unjust and illegal treatment and moreover unworthy of the ancient power and renown of their city being, as they are, near neighbours of Corinth, who therefore ought to be the more kindly treated, if indeed the saying is true, "Not so much as an ox would perish² except through the wrongdoing of one's neighbours"? But it appears that when the Argives bring these charges against the Corinthians they are not raising a dispute about a single paltry ox, but about many heavy expenses to which they are not fairly liable.

And yet one might put this question also to the Corinthians, whether they think it right to abide by the laws and customs of ancient Greece, or rather by those which it seems they recently took over from the sovereign city? For if they respect the high authority of ancient laws and customs, it is no more fitting for the Argives to pay tribute to Corinth than for the Corinthians to pay it to Argos. If, on the other hand, in reliance on the laws they now have, they claim that their city has gained advantages since they received the colony from Rome, then we will exhort them in moderate language not to be more arrogant than their fathers and not to break up the customs which their fathers with sound judgment maintained for the cities of Greece, or remodel them to the injury and detriment of their neighbours; especially since they are relying on a recent decision, and, in their avarice, regard as a piece of luck the inefficiency of the man who was appointed to represent the case of the city of Argos. For if he had appealed and taken the suit outside of the jurisdiction of Greece, the Corinthians would have had less influence; their rights, would have been shown to be weak, when investigated by these numerous and upright advocates,¹ and, swayed by these, it is likely that the judge would have been awed into giving the proper decision, especially as the renown of Argos would also have had weight.

But as for the rights of the case with respect to the city you ² will learn them from the beginning from the orators if only you will consent to hear them and they are permitted to present their case, and then the situation will be correctly judged from their arguments. But in order to show that we ought to place confidence in those who have come on this embassy, I must add a few words concerning them. Diogenes and Lamprias³ are indeed philosophers equal to any in our time, and they have avoided the honours and lucrative offices of the state; but they are ever zealous to serve their country to the best of their ability, and whenever the city is in any great emergency, then they plead causes, assist in the government, go on embassies, and spend generously from their own resources. Thus by their actions they refute the reproaches brought against philosophy,¹ and disprove the common opinion that those who pursue philosophy are useless to the state. For their country employs them for these tasks and they are now endeavouring to aid her to obtain justice by my assistance, as I in turn by yours. For this is indeed the only hope of safety left for the oppressed, that they may obtain a judge who has both the will and ability to give a fair decision. For if either of these qualities be lacking, so that he is either imposed on or faithless to his trust, then there is no help for it—-the right must perish. But now, since we have judges who are all that we could wish, and yet are not able to plead because they did not appeal at the time, they beg that this disability may first of all be removed for them, and that the lack of energy of the man who at that time was the city's advocate and had the suit in charge may not be the cause of so great detriment to her for all time to come.

And we ought not to think it irregular that the case should again be brought to trial. For, though in the affairs of private persons it is expedient to forego a little one's advantage and the more profitable course, and thereby purchase security for the future—since in their little life it is pleasant, even for a little, to enjoy peace and quiet; moreover it is a terrible thought that one may die while one's case is on trial before the courts and hand down the lawsuit to one's heirs unsettled, so that it seems better to secure the half by any possible means than to die while struggling to gain the whole,—cities on the other hand do not die, and unless there be found someone to give a just decision that will free them from their quarrels with one another, they must inevitably maintain undying ill-will, and their hatred moreover is deep-rooted and gains strength with time.

I have said my say, as the orators express it. You must yourselves determine what is proper to do.

² If the date is correct, this was probably a private communication to the newly-appointed Proconsul of Achaia, Praetextatus. Under the Roman dominion, Greek cities to settle their disputes had recourse to lawsuits which were often long and tedious. Seven years before Julian's accession, Corinth had successfully claimed the right to tax Argos. The money was spent on wild beast shows and similar entertainments at Corinth. The Argives appealed to Julian for a revision of the case, and he now writes to the Proconsul of Achaia, leaving the decision to him, but strongly supporting the claim of Argos. As this letter is the only evidence for the Corinthian exaction or the Argive appeal, we do not know the result. Nor can we determine whether Julian is writing in 362 or 363. It seems unlikely that the Argives appealed to him when he was a student at Athens in 355, as some scholars have maintained. See Introduction.

¹ Temenus the Heraclid received Argos as his share; his descendants were expelled and colonised Macedonia; cf. Julian, Oration 3. 106d; Herodotus 8. 137.

² Alexander claimed to be an Argive. For the colonisation of Macedonia cf. Herodotus 5. 22.

³ Rome, cf. Oration 4. 131 d. Corinth had been made a Roman colony by Augustus, and claimed authority over certain other cities that were not colonies; the Roman Proconsul regularly resided at Corinth.

¹ i. e. the Corinthians ought to have allowed similar immunity to Argos.

² One of these festivals was the Heraean games.

1 I follow Heyler in interpreting φρόνημα as the pleasure-loving "temperament," genius, of the Corinthians. Others translate "pride."

² A paraphrase of Hesiod, Works and Days 348.; cf. Plautus, Mercator 4. 4. 31.

¹ i.e. the present embassy led by Diogenes and Lamprias; see below, 410b.

² Julian now addresses the Proconsul directly. If 355 is the correct date the Proconsul may be the insolent person referred to in To Theodorus, p. 37, as having slighted Julian's wishes.

3 These men are otherwise unknown.

¹ Cf. Plato, Republic 489a.

29. To his Uncle Julian [362, April. Const.]

If I set small store by your letters, "Then the gods themselves have destroyed my wits."¹ For all the virtues are displayed in them: goodwill, loyalty, truth, and what is more than all these, since without it the rest are nought, wisdom, displayed by you in all her several kinds, shrewdness, intelligence and good judgement. You reproached me for not answering them, but I have no time, heaven knows, and pray do not suppose that this is affectation or a jest. The gods of eloquence bear me witness that, except for Homer and Plato, I have with me not so much as a pamphlet ² on philosophy, rhetoric, or grammar, or any historical work of the sort that is in general use. And even these that I have are like personal ornaments or amulets,¹ for they are always tied fast to me. For the rest I do not even offer up many prayers, though naturally I need now more than ever to pray very often and very long. But I am hemmed in and choked by public business, as you will perhaps see for yourself when I arrive in Syria.²

As for the business mentioned in your letter, I approve of everything and admire everything you propose, nothing of that must be rejected. Be assured, then, that with the aid of the gods I shall leave nothing undone.

First of all set up the pillars of the temple of Daphne;³ take those that are in any palace anywhere, and convey them thence; then set up in their places others taken from the recently occupied houses.⁴And if there are not enough even from that source, let us use cheaper ones meanwhile, of baked brick and plaster, casing them with marble,⁵ for you are well aware that piety is to be preferred to splendour, and, when put in practice, secures much pleasure for the righteous in this life. Concerning the affair of Lauricius,¹ I do not think I need write you any instructions; but I give you just this word of advice: renounce all feeling of anger, trust all to justice, submitting your ears to his words with complete confidence in the right. Yet I do not deny that what he wrote to you was annoying and full of every kind of insolence and arrogance; but you must put up with it. For it becomes a good and great-souled man to make no counter charge when he is maligned. For, just as missiles that are hurled against hard, well-built walls, do not settle on them, or penetrate them, or stay where they strike, but rebound with increased force against the hand that throws them, just so every aspersion directed against an upright man, slander, calumny, or unmerited insolence, touches him not at all, but recoils on the head of him who made the aspersion. This is my advice to you, but the sequel will be for the law to decide, With regard, however, to the letters which he asserts you made public after receiving them from me, it seems to me ridiculous to bring them into court. For I call the gods to witness, I have never written to you or any other man a word that I am not willing to publish for all to see. Have I ever in my letters employed brutality or insolence, or abuse or slander, or said anything for which I need to blush? On the contrary, even when I have felt resentment against someone and my subject gave me a chance to use ribald language like a woman from a cart,² the sort of libels that Archilochus launched against Lycambes,¹I have always expressed myself with more dignity and reserve than one observes even on a sacred subject. And if my letters did give emphatic proof of the kindly feeling that you and I have towards one another, did I wish this to be unknown or concealed? For what purpose? I call all the gods and goddesses to witness that I should not have resented it, even if someone had published abroad all that I ever wrote to my wife, so temperate was it in every respect. And if this or that person has read what I wrote to my own uncle, it would be fairer to blame the man who ferreted it out with such malevolence, rather than me, the writer, or you, or any other who read it. Nevertheless, concede this to me, do not let it disturb your peace of mind, only look at the matter thus—if Lauricius is really dishonest get rid of him in a dignified way. But if he is a well-meaning person of average honesty, and has treated you badly, forgive him. For when men are honest in public life we must be on good terms with them, even though they do not behave properly to us in their private capacity. On the other hand, when men are dishonest in public affairs, even though they have won our favour, we must keep them under control; I do not mean that we must hate or avoid them, but keep careful watch on them, so that we may not fail to detect them when they misbehave, though if they are too hard to control in this way, we must not employ them at all. As for what you, as well as others, have written, that though notorious for bad conduct he masquerades as a physician, I did send for him, thinking that he was trustworthy, but before he had an interview with me his true character was detected, or rather he was denounced to me—when I meet you I will tell you by whom—and he was treated with contempt. For this too I have to thank you.

Instead of the estates that you asked for, since I have already given those away—I call to witness the gods of our family and of friendship—I will give you some that pay far better, as you shall yourself discover.

¹ Iliad 7. 360.

² Lit. " folding tablet."

¹ For the use of such amulets in the Mithraic ritual to which Asmus here sees an allusion, see Mithrasliturgie, p. 20, Dieterich.

² Julian left Constantinople soon after May 12th for Antioch, where his uncle then was.

³ The temple of Apollo at Daphne, the suburb of Antioch, which was burned on October 22nd during Julian's visit, had fallen into disrepair in the reign of Constantius, and columns had been removed by the Christians; cf. Zonaras 13. 12, who relates that at Tarsus, on his way to Persia, Julian learned that the Christians had robbed the temple of Asclepius at Aegae, on the coast, of its columns and used them to build a church. Julian ordered the columns to be restored to the temple at the expense of the Christians.

⁴ Perhaps he means the Christian church dedicated to St. Babylas, which his half-brother Gallus had erected opposite the temple.

⁵ i.e. a coat of stucco made with marble dust.

¹ Possibly to be identified with Bassidius Lauricius, governor of the province of Isauria in 359, a Christian correspondent of Libanius; Ammianus 19. 13.2; Libanius, Letter 585, Foerster. The little that we know about Lauricius gives no clue to what follows.

² A proverbial reference to the scurrilous language permitted to the women who rode in wagons in the Eleusinian processions; cf. Aristophanes, Plutus 1014.

¹ Cf. Horace, Epode 6. 13.

30. To Philip¹[362, Spring. Const.]

I call the gods to witness that, when I was still Caesar I wrote to you, and I think it was more than once. However, I started to do so many times, but there were reasons that prevented me, now of one kind, now another, and then followed that wolf's friendship that arose between myself and Constantius of blessed memory, in consequence of the proclamation.² I was exceedingly careful not to write to anyone beyond the Alps for fear of getting him into serious trouble. So consider the fact that I did not write a proof of my goodwill. For it is often impracticable to make one's language harmonise with one's real sentiments. Then, too, letters from the Emperor to private persons might well lead to their display for bragging and making false pretences when they come into the hands of persons with no sense of propriety, who carry them about like seal-rings and show them to the inexperienced. Nay, genuine friendship is produced first and foremost by similarity of disposition, but a second kind is, when one feels true and not pretended admiration, and a humane, moderate and virtuous man is cherished by one who is his superior in fortune and intelligence. Moreover letters of this sort are full of conceit and nonsense, and, for my part, I often blame myself for making mine too long, and for being too loquacious when I might discipline my tongue to Pythagorean silence.

Yes, I received the tokens, namely, a silver bowl weighing one mina and a gold coin.¹ I should be very glad to invite you to visit me as you suggest in your letter. But the first signs of spring are here already, the trees are in bud, and the swallows, which are expected almost immediately, as soon as they come drive our band of campaigners out of doors, and remind us that we ought to be over the border. We shall travel through your part of the country,²so that you would have a better chance of seeing me, if the gods so will it, in your own home. This will, I think, be soon, unless some sign from heaven should forbid it. For this same meeting I am praying to the gods.

¹ Schwarz wrongly suspects this letter on stylistic grounds. Philip was perhaps the Cappadocian to whom Libanius wrote several extant letters, e.g. Letter 1190. For his zeal in aiding Julian to restore paganism he suffered persecution after the Emperor's death.

² i.e. of himself as Augustus by the army in Gaul, early in 360; cf. Vol. 2, Letter to the Athenians 283-286; he was Caesar 355-360.

¹ Such tokens were often sent to friends; cf. To Hecebolius, p. 219.

² Julian set out for Antioch about May 12th, 362, and expected to see Philip in Cappadocia.

31. A decree concerning Physicians³ [362, May 12. Const.]

That the science of medicine is salutary for mankind is plainly testified by experience. Hence the sons of the philosophers are right in proclaiming that this science also is descended from heaven. For by its means the infirmity of our nature and the disorders that attack us are corrected. Therefore, in accordance with reason and justice, we decree what is in harmony with the acts of former Emperors, and of our benevolence ordain that for the future ye may live free from the burdens attaching to senators.

³ This edict, preserved more briefly in Codex Theodosianus 13. 3. 4, was Julian's last known legislative act before he left Constantinople. It confirmed the immunity granted to physicians by Constantine, and was probably meant to apply only to the heads of the medical faculties, archiatri, since the Latin edict is addressed to them.

32. To the priestess Theodora [362, Jan-May, Const. or Antioch in the autumn]

I have received through Mygdonius¹ the books that you sent me, and besides, all the letters of recommendation² that you forwarded to me throughout the festival. Every one of these gives me pleasure, but you may be sure that more pleasant than anything else is the news about your excellent self,³ that by the grace of the gods you are in good physical health, and are devoting yourself to the service of the gods more earnestly and energetically. As regards what you wrote to the philosopher Maximus, that my friend Seleucus⁴ is ill-disposed towards you, believe me that he neither does nor says in my presence anything that he could possibly intend as slandering. On the contrary, all that he tells me about you is favourable; and while I do not go so far as to say that he actually feels friendly to you—only he himself and the all-seeing gods can know the truth as to that—still I can say with perfect sincerity that he does refrain from any such calumny in my presence. Therefore it seems absurd to scrutinise what is thus concealed rather than what he actually does, and to search for proof of actions of which I have no shred of evidence. But since you have made so many accusations against him, and have plainly revealed to me a definite cause for your own hostility towards him, I do say this much to you frankly; if you are showing favour to any person, man or woman, slave or free, who neither worships the gods as yet, nor inspires in you any hope that you may persuade him to do so, you are wrong. For do but consider first how you would feel about your own household. Suppose that some slave for whom you feel affection should conspire with those who slandered and spoke ill of you, and showed deference to them, but abhorred and detested us who are your friends, would you not wish for his speedy destruction, or rather would you not punish him yourself? ¹Well then, are the gods to be less honoured than our friends? You must use the same argument with reference to them, you must consider that they are our masters and we their slaves. It follows, does it not, that if one of us who call ourselves servants of the gods has a favourite slave who abominates the gods and turns from their worship, we must in justice either convert him and keep him, or dismiss him from the house and sell him, in case some one does not find it easy to dispense with owning a slave? For my part I would not consent to be loved by those who do not love the gods; wherefore I now say plainly that you and all who aspire to priestly offices must bear this in mind, and engage with greater energy in the temple worship of the gods. And it is reasonable to expect that a priest should begin with his own household in showing reverence, and first of all prove that it is wholly and throughout pure of such grave distempers.

¹ For Mygdonius cf. Letter 33, and Libanius, Letters 471, 518 written in 357.

² Literally "tokens," tesserae, probably the same as the συνθήματα mentioned by Sozomen 5. 16; they were letters of recommendation for the use of Christian travellers; Sozomen says that Julian wished to establish this custom among the pagans.

³ Literally "your Goodness"; with this use cf. Oribasius.

⁴ Of Cilicia. He was an old friend of the Emperor's and accompanied him on the Persian campaign. From the letters of Libanius it seems that Julian had appointed Seleucus to some high priestly office in 362.

¹ An echo of Plato, Euthyphro 13d; cf. Vol. 2, 289b.

33. To the most reverend Theodora ¹[362, about the same date as #32]

I was glad to receive all the books that you sent me, and your letters through the excellent Mygdonius.² And since I have hardly any leisure,— as the gods know, I speak without affectation,—I have written you these few lines. And now fare- well, and may you always write me letters of the same sort!

¹ The epithet as well as the preceding letter show that she was a priestess.

² Mygdonius protected Libanius in Constantinople in 343. There is nothing to show whether Julian was at Antioch or Constantinople when he wrote these letters to Theodora.

34. To Theodora? ³³⁶²

I have received from you who are wisdom itself your letter telling me of the fair and blessed promises and gifts of the gods to us. First I acknowledged the great gratitude that I owed to the heavenly gods, and in the second place I rendered thanks to your generosity of soul, in that you are zealous, no one more so, in entreating the gods on my behalf, and moreover you lose no time but inform me without delay of the blessings that have been revealed where you are.

³ This unaddressed letter must have been written to a priestess, who was almost certainly Theodora.

35. To Aristoxenus, a Philosopher¹[362, June, on the way to Antioch]

Μust you then really wait for an invitation and never prefer to come uninvited? Nay, see to it that you and I do not introduce this tiresome convention of expecting the same ceremony from our friends as from mere chance acquaintances. At this point will somebody or other raise the question how we come to be friends when we have never seen one another? I answer: How are we the friends of those who lived a thousand, or, by Zeus, even two thousand years ago? It is because they were all virtuous, of upright and noble character. And we, likewise, desire to be such as they, even though, to speak for myself, we completely fail in that aspiration. But, at any rate, this ambition does in some degree rank us in the same category as those persons. But why do I talk at length about these trifles? For if it is right that you should come without an invitation you will certainly come; if, on the other hand, you are really waiting for an invitation, herewith you have from me an urgent summons. Therefore meet me at Tyana, in the name of Zeus the god of friendship, and show me a genuine Hellene among the Cappadocians.¹ For I observe that, as yet, some refuse to sacrifice, and that, though some few are zealous, they lack knowledge.

¹ This Hellenised Cappadocian is otherwise unknown.

36. Rescript on Christian Teachers ²[362, After June 17, from Antioch]

I hold that a proper education results, not in laboriously acquired symmetry of phrases and language, but in a healthy condition of mind, I mean a mind that has understanding and true opinions about things good and evil, honourable and base. Therefore, when a man thinks one thing and teaches his pupils another, in my opinion he fails to educate exactly in proportion as he fails to be an honest man. And if the divergence between a man's convictions and his utterances is merely in trivial matters, that can be tolerated somehow, though it is wrong. But if in matters of the greatest importance a man has certain opinions and teaches the contrary, what is that but the conduct of hucksters, and not honest but thoroughly dissolute men in that they praise most highly the things that they believe to be most worthless, thus cheating and enticing by their praises those to whom they desire to transfer their worthless wares. Now all who profess to teach anything whatever ought to be men of upright character, and ought not to harbour in their souls opinions irreconcilable with what they publicly profess; and, above all, I believe it is necessary that those who associate with the young and teach them rhetoric should be of that upright character; for they expound the writings of the ancients, whether they be rhetoricians or grammarians, and still more if they are sophists. For these claim to teach, in addition to other things, not only the use of words, but morals also, and they assert that political philosophy is their peculiar field. Let us leave aside, for the moment, the question whether this is true or not. But while I applaud them for aspiring to such high pretensions, I should applaud them still more if they did not utter falsehoods and convict themselves of thinking one thing and teaching their pupils another. What! Was it not the gods who revealed all their learning to Homer, Hesiod, Demosthenes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Isocrates and Lysias?¹ Did not these men think that they were consecrated, some to Hermes,²others to the Muses? I think it is absurd that men who expound the works of these writers should dishonour the gods whom they used to honour. Yet, though I think this absurd, I do not say that they ought to change their opinions and then instruct the young. But I give them this choice; either not to teach what they do not think admirable, or, if they wish to teach, let them first really persuade their pupils that neither Homer nor Hesiod nor any of these writers whom they expound and have declared to be guilty of impiety, folly and error in regard to the gods, is such as they declare. For since they make a livelihood and receive pay from the works of those writers, they thereby confess that they are most shamefully greedy of gain, and that, for the sake of a few drachmae, they would put up with anything. It is true that, until now, there were many excuses for not attending the temples, and the terror that threatened on all sides absolved men for concealing the truest beliefs about the gods.¹ But since the gods have granted us liberty, it seems to me absurd that men should teach what they do not believe to be sound. But if they believe that those whose interpreters they are and for whom they sit, so to speak, in the seat of the prophets, were wise men, let them be the first to emulate their piety towards the gods. If, however, they think that those writers were in error with respect to the most honoured gods, then let them betake themselves to the churches of the Galilaeans to expound Matthew and Luke, since you Galilaeans are obeying them when you ordain that men shall refrain from temple-worship. For my part, I wish that your ears and your tongues might be "born anew," as you would say, as regards these things ² in which may I ever have part, and all who think and act as is pleasing to me.

For religious ³ and secular teachers let there be a general ordinance to this effect: Any youth who wishes to attend the schools is not excluded; nor indeed would it be reasonable to shut out from the best way⁴ boys who are still too ignorant to know which way to turn, and to overawe them into being led against their will to the beliefs of their ancestors. Though indeed it might be proper to cure these, even against their will, as one cures the insane, except that we concede indulgence to all for this sort of disease.¹ For we ought, I think, to teach, but not punish, the demented.

¹ The Cappadocians were, for the most part, Christians; Julian visited Tyana in June on his way to Antioch.

² For this law see Introduction; Zonaras 13. 12; Sozomen 5. 18; Socrates 3. 16. 1; Theodoret 3. 8. This version is, no doubt, incomplete.

¹ So too in Oration 7. 236-237c. Julian compares the impiety of the Cynics, who in his opinion had much in common with the Christians, with Plato's and Aristotle's reverence for religion.

2 Hermes was the god of eloquence.

¹ i. e. under the Christian Emperors Constantine and Constantius it was dangerous to worship the gods openly.

² i. e. the beliefs of the poets about the gods.

³ [The Greek word] in Julian has this implication; cf. To Theodorus, p. 55.

4 Cf. To the Alexandrians, p. 149.

¹ For Christianity a disease cf. To Libanius, p. 207; for indulgence to be shown to persons so afflicted, cf. To the Citizens of Βostra 438b, p. 135.

37. To Atarbius ²[362, Const. or Antioch]

I affirm by the gods that I do not wish the Galilaeans to be either put to death or unjustly beaten, or to suffer any other injury; but nevertheless I do assert absolutely that the god-fearing must be preferred to them. For through the folly of the Galilaeans almost everything has been overturned, whereas through the grace of the gods are we all preserved. Wherefore we ought to honour the gods and the god-fearing, both men and cities.³

² This is probably Atarbius (so spelled in the Letters of Antioch Libanius) a native of Ancyra and at this time administrator of the district of the Euphrates. In 364 he held high office in Macedonia.

³ For other letters on the same subject cf. To the Citizens of Byzacium, p. 125, and To Hecebolius, p. 127.

38. Julian the Apostate to Porphyrius ⁴[362, after the middle of July. Antioch]

The library of George was very large and complete and contained philosophers of every school and many historians, especially, among these, numerous books of all kinds by the Galilaeans. Do you therefore make a thorough search for the whole library without exception and take care to send it to Antioch. You may be sure that you will yourself incur the severest penalty if you do not trace it with all diligence, and do not by every kind of enquiry, by every kind of sworn testimony and, further, by torture of the slaves, compel, if you cannot persuade, those who are in any way suspected of having stolen any of the books to bring them all forth. Farewell.¹

⁴ Perhaps this is George's secretary mentioned in the Letter to Ecdicius, p. 73. Geffcken thinks this letter was a Christian forgery because it seems to ignore the earlier order to Ecdicius. Probably the books had not arrived, and Julian became impatient.

¹ Cumont thinks that a scribe added this inappropriate greeting.

39. To the citizens of Byzacium ²[362, Probably from Antioch]

I have restored to you all your senators and councillors³ whether they have abandoned themselves to the superstition of the Galilaeans or have devised some other method of escaping from the senate,⁴ and have excepted only those who have filled public offices in the capital.

² Byzacium was in the district of Tunis. This is Cumont's conjecture for MS. title To the Byzantines. Julian never calls Constantinople Byzantium. Gibbon suspected the title and conjectured that it was addressed to the town Bisanthe (Rodosto) in Thrace.

³ The meaning of this word is not clear; Cumont translates "patroni" i.e. protectors, but we cannot be certain as to the functions of these local dignitaries in Africa.

⁴ On the burden of being a Senator cf. Libanius, Oration 2; Ammianus 21. 12. 23; Julian, Misopogon 367d. It was one of Julian's most widespread reforms to enrol all wealthy men in the senates of their cities. By an edict of March 362 he deprived the Christian clerics of their immunities from such public offices which had been conferred on them by Constantine (cf. Sozomen 5. 5) and in the present case his edict is directed mainly against those who had become clerics in order to escape municipal service. Philostorgius 7. 4 says that this was part of Julian's malignant policy. The Emperor Valentinian restored their privileges to the clerics in 364.

40. To Hecebolius ¹ [End of 362 or early in 363, Antioch]

I have behaved to all the Galilaeans with such kindness and benevolence that none of them has suffered violence anywhere or been dragged into a temple or threatened into anything else of the sort against his own will. But the followers of the Arian church, in the insolence bred by their wealth, have attacked the followers of Valentine² and have committed in Edessa such rash acts as could never occur in a well-ordered city. Therefore, since by their most admirable law they are bidden to sell all they have and give to the poor that so they may attain more easily to the kingdom of the skies, in order to aid those persons in that effort, I have ordered that all their funds, namely, that belong to the church of the people of Edessa, are to be taken over that they may be given to the soldiers, and that its property ³be confiscated to my private purse.⁴ This is in order that poverty may teach them to behave properly and that they may not be deprived of that heavenly kingdom for which they still hope. And I publicly command you citizens of Edessa to abstain from all feuds and rivalries, else will you provoke even my benevolence against yourselves, and being sentenced to the sword and to exile and to fire pay the penalty for disturbing the good order of the commonwealth.

¹ This can hardly be the sophist to whom Julian addressed one of his most flowery and sophistic letters, for which see p. 217. Probably he was some leading official of Edessa, the capital of Osroene in Northern Mesopotamia. Constantius had favoured the Arians there and encouraged their fanatical sectarianism by handing over to them the great basilica of St. Thomas. Sozomen 6. 1, says that on his way to Persia Julian hurried past Edessa because the city remained obstinately Christian; later he relates, 6. 18, that the Emperor Valens visited Edessa and persecuted the non-Arian Christians; cf. Socrates 4. 18.

² Valentine founded one of the sects of the Gnostics in the first century a.d.; by the fourth century the Valentinian heresy had very few adherents.

³ Probably Julian means the valuables such as Church plate belonging to the various churches in Edessa; for his spoliation of the churches cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Against Julian 3. 86 D, and Sozomen 5. 5.

⁴ Τριβάτοις=privatis; or "to lay uses."

41. To the citizens of Bostra ¹[362, August st. Antioch]

I thought that the leaders of the Galilaeans would be more grateful to me than to my predecessor in the administration of the Empire. For in his reign it happened to the majority of them to be sent into exile, prosecuted, and cast into prison, and moreover, many whole communities of those who are called "heretics" ² were actually butchered, as at Samosata and Cyzicus, in Paphlagonia, Bithynia, and Galatia, and among many other tribes also villages were sacked and completely devastated; whereas, during my reign, the contrary has happened. For those who had been exiled have had their exile remitted, and those whose property was confiscated have, by a law of mine received permission to recover all their possessions.³ Yet they have reached such a pitch of raving madness and folly that they are exasperated because they are not allowed to behave like tyrants or to persist in the conduct in which they at one time indulged against one another, and afterwards carried on towards us who revered the gods. They therefore leave no stone unturned, and have the audacity to incite the populace to disorder and revolt, whereby they both act with impiety towards the gods and disobey my edicts, humane though these are. At least I do not allow a single one of them to be dragged against his will to worship at the altars; nay, I proclaim in so many words that, if any man of his own free will choose to take part in our lustral rites and libations, he ought first of all to offer sacrifices of purification and supplicate the gods that avert evil. So far am I from ever having wished or intended that anyone of those sacrilegious men should partake in the sacrifices that we most revere, until he has purified his soul by supplications to the gods, and his body by the purifications that are customary.

It is, at any rate, evident that the populace who have been led into error by those who are called "clerics," are in revolt because this license has been taken from them. For those who have till now behaved like tyrants are not content that they are not punished for their former crimes, but, longing for the power they had before, because they are no longer allowed to sit as judges and draw up wills ¹and appropriate the inheritances of other men and assign everything to themselves, they pull every string ² of disorder, and, as the proverb says, lead fire through a pipe to fire,³ and dare to add even greater crimes to their former wickedness by leading on the populace to disunion. Therefore I have decided to proclaim to all communities of citizens, by means of this edict, and to make known to all, that they must not join in the feuds of the clerics or be induced by them to take stones in their hands or disobey those in authority; but they may hold meetings for as long as they please and may offer on their own behalf the prayers to which they are accustomed; that, on the other hand, if the clerics try to induce them to take sides on their behalf in quarrels, they must no longer consent to do so, if they would escape punishment.¹

I have been led to make this proclamation to the city of Bostra in particular, because their bishop Titus and the clerics, in the reports that they have issued, have made accusations against their own adherents, giving the impression that, when the populace were on the point of breaking the peace, they themselves admonished them not to cause sedition. Indeed, I have subjoined to this my decree the very words which he dared to write in his report: "Although the Christians are a match for the Hellenes in numbers, they are restrained by our admonition that no one disturb the peace in any place." For these are the very words of the bishop about you. You see how he says that your good behaviour was not of your own choice, since, as he at any rate alleged, you were restrained against your will by his admonitions! Therefore, of your own free will, seize your accuser and expel him from the city,² but do you, the populace, live in agreement with one another, and let no man be quarrelsome or act unjustly. Neither let those of you who have strayed from the truth outrage those who worship the gods duly and justly, according to the beliefs that have been handed down to us from time immemorial; nor let those of you who worship the gods outrage or plunder the houses of those who have strayed rather from ignorance than of set purpose. It is by reason that we ought to persuade and instruct men, not by blows, or insults, or bodily violence. Wherefore, again and often I admonish those who are zealous for the true religion not to injure the communities of the Galilaeans or attack or insult them.¹ Nay, we ought to pity rather than hate men who in matters of the greatest importance are in such evil case. (For in very truth the greatest of all blessings is reverence for the gods, as, on the other hand, irreverence is the greatest of all evils, It follows that those who have turned aside from the gods to corpses ² and relics pay this as their penalty.) ³Since we suffer in sympathy with those who are afflicted by disease,⁴ but rejoice with those who are being released and set free by the aid of the gods. Given at Antioch on the First of August.

¹ This edict is cited by Sozomen 5. 15. Bostra, or Bosra. was one of the largest fortified cities in Arabia and is described by Ammianus 14. 8. 13 as murorum firmitate cautissima.

² Constantius persecuted Christians who did not belong to the Arian sect.

3 For this see Sozomen 5. 5.

¹ i. e. for others. Julian no longer allowed legacies to be left to churches; cf. Codex Theodos. 3. 1. 3. The clergy and especially the bishops had exercised certain civil functions of which Julian deprived them, and they lost the immunity from taxation that had been granted by Christian emperors. For this cf. Sozomen 5. 5.

² Literally " cable," a proverb.

3 Cf. "add fuel to fire."

¹ So far the edict has a general character and may have been sent out broadcast. The last paragraph is apparently added as a special instruction to the citizens of Bostra, and especially to the Christians, whom he incites against their bishop.

² Julian's advice was not followed, since Socrates, History of the Church 3. 25, mentions Titus as bishop of Bostra under the Emperor Jovian in 363.

¹ Sozomen 5. 5 and 15 seems to be an echo of Julian.

² So Julian styles Christ and the martyrs; cf. Against the Galilaeans 335b; Vol. 2, Misopogon 361b.

³ i. e. that they are in evil case.

⁴ For Christianity a disease cf. Vol. 2, 229d, and below, p. 207.

42. To Callixeine ⁵[362, Antioch]

"Time alone proves the just man," ⁶ as we learn from men of old; but I would add the god-fearing and pious man also. However, you say, the love of Penelope for her husband was also witnessed to by time. Now who would rank a woman's piety second to her love for her husband without appearing to have drunk a very deep draught of mandragora?¹And if one takes into account the conditions of the times and compares Penelope, who is almost universally praised for loving her husband, with pious women who not long ago hazarded their lives; and if one considers also that the period was twice as long, which was an aggravation of their sufferings; then, I ask, is it possible to make any fair comparison between you and Penelope? Nay, do not belittle my praises. All the gods will requite you for your sufferings and for my part I shall honour you with a double priesthood. For besides that which you held before of priestess to the most venerable goddess Demeter, I entrust to you the office of priestess to the most mighty Mother of the gods in Phrygia at Pessinus, beloved of the gods.

⁵ Otherwise unknown. Julian visited Pessinus in Phrygia on his way to Antioch. See Introduction.

⁶ Sophocles, Oedipus Rex 614.

¹ To drink mandragora (mandrake), is a proverb for sluggish wits; but mandrake was used also as a stimulus to love.

43. To Eustathius the Philosopher ²[362, Antioch]

Perhaps the proverb "An honest man"³—is too hackneyed. I am sure you know the rest. More than this, you possess it; for, rhetorician and philosopher as you are, you know the words that come next, and you possess me for a friend, at least if we are both honest men. On your behalf I would strenuously maintain that you are in that category, but about myself I say nothing. I only pray that others may find by experience that I also am honest! You ask why I go round in a circle as though I were going to say something extraordinary when I ought to speak out? Come, then, lose no time; fly hither, as we say. A kindly god will speed you on your way with the aid of the Maiden of the Cross Roads and the state post¹ will be at your disposal if you wish to use a carriage; and two extra horses.

² See Introduction under Eustathius. He evidently accepted this invitation; see the next letter. He was a pagan and a friend of Libanius; cf. Ammianus 17. 5. 15; Eunapius, Lives, pp. 392 foll. (Wright).

³ Euripides frag. 902, Nauck: "An honest man, though he dwell far away and I never see him with my eyes, him I count a friend."

1 The cursus publicus was the system of posting stations where horses were kept ready for the use of the Emperor or his friends; cf. above, p. 83 To Basil, end.

44. To Eustathius ²[362, Antioch]

"Entreat kindly the guest in your house, but speed him when he would be gone." ³

Thus did wise Homer decree. But the friendship that exists between us two is stronger than that between guest and host, because it is inspired by the best education attainable and by our pious devotion to the gods. So that no one could have fairly indicted me for transgressing the law of Homer if I had insisted that you should remain still longer with us. But I see that your feeble frame needs more care, and I have therefore given you permission to go to your own country,¹ and have provided for your comfort on the journey. That is to say, you are allowed to use a state carriage, and may Asclepius and all the gods escort you on your way and grant that we may see you again!²

² Hertlein, following an error in the editions of Martin and Estienne, makes Julian address this letter to Maximus. For the answer of Eustathius see p. 291.

3 Odyssey 15. 74; this had become a proverb, cf. Libanius, Letter 130.

¹ Cappadocia.

² The premature death of Julian prevented the fulfilment of this wish.

45. To Ecdicius, Prefect of Egypt³ [362, October. From Antioch]

As the proverb says, "You told me my own dream." ⁴ And I fancy that I am relating to you your own waking vision. The Nile, they tell me, had risen in full flood, cubits high, and has inundated the whole of Egypt. If you want to hear the figures, it had risen fifteen cubits ⁵ on the twentieth of September. Theophilus, the military prefect, informs me of this. So, if you did not know it, hear it from me, and let it rejoice your heart.

³ For Ecdicius see p. 155.

⁴ Cf. "Queen Anne is dead." Ecdicius presumably knew what Julian tells him.

⁵ Pliny, Natural History 5. 9, says that a rise of 15 cubits gives Egypt security, 16 is luxury; Ammianus 22. 15 says that cultivators fear a rise of more than 16 cubits. The Egyptian cubit was about 22 inches.

46. To Ecdicius, Prefect of Egypt [362, About October, from Antioch]

Even though you do not write to me⁶ on other matters, you ought at least to have written about that enemy of the gods, Athanasius,¹ especially since, for a long time past, you have known my just decrees. I swear by mighty Serapis that, if Athanasius the enemy of the gods does not depart from that city, or rather from all Egypt, before the December Kalends, I shall fine the cohort which you command a hundred pounds ² of gold. And you know that, though I am slow to condemn, I am even much slower to remit when I have once condemned. Added with his own hand.³ It vexes me greatly that my orders are neglected. By all the gods there is nothing I should be so glad to see, or rather hear reported as achieved by you, as that Athanasius has been expelled beyond the frontiers of Egypt. Infamous man! He has had the audacity to baptise Greek women of rank ⁴during my reign! Let him be driven forth! ⁵

⁶ Egypt was the peculiar property of the Roman Emperors and reports were made by the prefect to them.

¹ Athanasius had disregarded the order to leave Alexandria, but he now, on October 24th, went into exile in Upper Egypt; Socrates 3. 14; Sozomen 5. 15; see p. 75.

² The Greek word used is the equivalent of the Latin libra = 12 ounces.

³ For similar postscripts see pp. 15, 19.

⁴ Or "wives of distinguished men."

⁵ In the Neapolitanus MS. the following has been added by a Christian: "This man is a blessed saint, O vile dog of an apostate, thrice accursed and thrice miserable! "

47. To the Alexandrians [362, Nov. or Dec. From Antioch]

If your founder had been one of the Galilaeans, men who have transgressed their own law ⁶ and have paid the penalties they deserved, since they elected to live in defiance of the law and have introduced a new doctrine and newfangled teaching, even then it would have been unreasonable for you to demand back Athanasius.¹ But as it is, though Alexander founded your city and the lord Serapis is the city's patron god, together with his consort the Maiden, the Queen of all Egypt, Isis...² not emulating the healthy part of the city; but the part that is diseased has the audacity to arrogate to itself the name of the whole.

I am overwhelmed with shame, I affirm it by the gods, Ο men of Alexandria, to think that even a single Alexandrian can admit that he is a Galilaean. The forefathers of the genuine Hebrews were the slaves of the Egyptians long ago, but in these days, men of Alexandria, you who conquered the Egyptians —for your founder was the conqueror of Egypt— submit yourselves, despite your sacred traditions, in willing slavery to men who have set at naught the teachings of their ancestors. You have then no recollection of those happy days of old when all Egypt held communion with the gods and we enjoyed many benefits therefrom. But those who have but yesterday introduced among you this new doctrine, tell me of what benefit have they been to the city? Your founder was a god-fearing man, Alexander of Macedon, in no way, by Zeus, like any of these persons, nor again did he resemble any Hebrews, though the latter have shown themselves far superior to the Galilaeans. Nay, Ptolemy³ son of Lagus proved stronger than the Jews, while Alexander, if he had had to match himself with the Romans, would have made even them fight hard for supremacy. And what about the Ptolemies who succeeded your founder and nurtured your city from her earliest years as though she were their own daughter? It was certainly not by the preachings of Jesus that they increased her renown, nor by the teaching of the Galilaeans, detested of the gods, did they perfect this administration which she enjoys and to which she owes her present good fortune. Thirdly, when we Romans became her masters and took her out of the hands of the Ptolemies who misgoverned her, Augustus visited your city and made the following speech to your citizens: "Men of Alexandria, I absolve the city of all blame, because of my reverence for the mighty god Serapis, and further for the sake of the people themselves and the great renown of the city. But there is a third reason for my goodwill towards you, and that is my comrade Areius." ¹ Now this Areius was a fellow-citizen of yours and a familiar friend of Caesar Augustus, by profession a philosopher.

These, then, to sum them up briefly, are the blessings bestowed by the Olympian gods on your city in peculiar, though I pass over very many because they would take too long to describe. But the blessings that are vouchsafed by the visible gods to all in common, every day, not merely to a few persons or a single race, or to one city, but to the whole world at the same time, how can you fail to know what they are? Are you alone insensible to the beams that descend from Helios? Are you alone ignorant that summer and winter are from him? Or that all kinds of animal and plant life proceed from him? And do you not perceive what great blessings the city derives from her who is generated from and by him, even Selene who is the creator of the whole universe? ¹ Yet you have the audacity not to adore any one of these gods; and you think that one whom neither you nor your fathers have ever seen, even Jesus, ought to rank as God the Word. But the god whom from time immemorial the whole race of mankind has beheld and looked up to and worshipped, and from that worship prospered, I mean mighty Helios, his intelligible father's living image,² endowed with soul and intelligence, cause of all good... if you heed my admonition, do ye lead yourselves even a little towards the truth. For you will not stray from the right road³ if you heed one who till his twentieth year walked in that road of yours, but for twelve years now has walked in this road I speak of, by the grace of the gods.⁴

Therefore, if it please you to obey me, you will rejoice me the more. But if you choose to persevere in the superstition and instruction of wicked men, at least agree among yourselves and do not crave for Athanasius. In any case there are many of his pupils who can comfort well enough those itching ears of yours that yearn to hear impious words. I only wish that, along with Athanasius, the wickedness of his impious school had been suppressed. But as it is you have a fine crowd of them and need have no trouble. For any man whom you elect from the crowd will be in no way inferior to him for whom you crave, at any rate for the teaching of the scriptures. But if you have made these requests because you are so fond of the general subtlety of Athanasius —for I am informed that the man is a clever rascal —then you must know that for this very reason he has been banished from the city. For a meddlesome man is unfit by nature to be leader of the people. But if this leader is not even a man but only a contemptible puppet, like this great personage who thinks he is risking his head, this surely gives the signal for disorder. Wherefore, that nothing of the sort may occur in your case, as I long ago gave orders ¹ that he depart from the city, I now say, let him depart from the whole of Egypt.

Let this be publicly proclaimed to my citizens of Alexandria.

⁶ i. e. the Hebraic law; cf. Against the Galilaeans, 238b, foll., 305e, foll.

¹ Athanasius had left Alexandria on October 24th, 362, and, not long after, the Alexandrians petitioned Julian for his return. This is his answer to them. After this edict Athanasius remained in hiding in Egypt and the Sudan till Julian's death in 363, when he recovered his see.

² After "Isis" some words are missing.

³ Ptolemy the First took Jerusalem and led many Jews captive into Egypt, Josephus 1. 12. 1.

¹ For the Alexandrine Stoic, Areius, cf. Julian, Caesars, Vol. 2, 326b; Letter to Themistius, Vol.2, 265c, where Areius is said to have refused the prefecture of Egypt; and Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, Introduction, p. xxiii (Loeb Library Edition). See Seneca, Dialogues 6. 4, where Areius consoles and exhorts the Empress Livia.

¹ For Selene as the artificer of the visible world cf. Vol. 1, Oration 4, 150a.

² Cf. Fragment of a Letter to a Priest, Vol. 2, 295a, where the stars are called "living images." Julian here refers not to the visible sun, but to the "intellectual" (νοερὸς) Helios who is in the likeness of his "intelligible" (νοητὸς) father, the transcendental Helios, for whom cf. Oration 4, Vol. 1, 133c, note.

³ For Julian's reproach against the Christians that they had taken "their own road" and abandoned the teaching of Moses, cf. Against the Galilaeans 43a.

⁴ Cf. Vol. 1, Oration 4, 131a where he also refers to the time when he was a Christian and desires that it may be forgotten,

¹ See above, To the Alexandrians, p. 75.

48. To the Alexandrians [Early 363, from Antioch]

I am informed that there is in your neighbourhood a granite obelisk¹ which, when it stood erect, reached a considerable height, but has been thrown down and lies on the beach as though it were something entirely worthless. For this obelisk Constantius of blessed memory had a freight-boat built, because he intended to convey it to my native place, Constantinople. But since by the will of heaven he has departed from this life to the next on that journey to which we are fated,² the city claims the monument from me because it is the place of my birth and more closely connected with me than with the late Emperor. For though he loved the place as a sister I love it as my mother. And I was in fact born there and brought up in the place, and I cannot ignore its claims. Well then, since I love you also, no less than my native city, I grant to you also permission to set up the bronze statue ³ in your city. A statue has lately been made of colossal size. If you set this up you will have, instead of a stone monument, a bronze statue of a man whom you say you love and long for, and a human shape instead of a quadrangular block of granite with Egyptian characters on it. Moreover the news has reached me that there are certain persons who worship there and sleep¹ at its very apex, and that convinces me beyond doubt that on account of these superstitious practices I ought to take it away. For men who see those persons sleeping there and so much filthy rubbish and careless and licentious behaviour in that place, not only do not believe that it² is sacred, but by the influence of the superstition of those who dwell there come to have less faith in the gods. Therefore, for this very reason it is the more proper for you to assist in this business and to send it to my native city, which always receives you hospitably when you sail into the Pontus, and to contribute to its external adornment, even as you contribute to its sustenance. It cannot fail to give you pleasure to have something that has belonged to you standing in their city, and as you sail towards that city you will delight in gazing at it.

¹ This granite monolith, which stands in the At Meidan (the hippodrome) in Constantinople, was originally erected by Thothmes III. (about 1515 b.c.), probably at Heliopolis. The Alexandrians obeyed Julian's orders, but the boat containing the obelisk was driven by a storm to Athens, where it remained till the Emperor Theodosius (379-395 a.d.) conveyed it to Constantinople. There, as an inscription on its base records, it took 32 days to erect; see Palatine Anthology 9. 682.

2 Plato, Phaedo, 117c.

³ Of himself (?) or of Constantius. The Emperor's permission was necessary for the erection of a statue by a city.

¹ Possibly there was a martyr's grave near, at which the Christians worshipped; more probably, Christian or Jewish ascetics who flourished at Alexandria and were called "therapeuts," "worshippers," had settled near the obelisk. Sozomen 6. 29 says that about 2000 ascetic monks lived in the neighbourhood of Alexandria. See also Sozomen 1. 12.

2 i. e. the obelisk, which was originally dedicated to the Sun.

49. To Ecdicius, Prefect of Egypt [362 or early in 363, from Antioch]

If there is anything that deserves our fostering care, it is the sacred art of music. Do you therefore select from the citizens of Alexandria³ boys of good birth, and give orders that two artabae ⁴ of corn are to be furnished every month to each of them, with olive oil also, and wine. The overseers of the Treasury will provide them with clothing. For the present let these boys be chosen for their voices, but if any of them should prove capable of attaining to the higher study of the science of music, let them be informed that very considerable rewards for their work have been set aside at my court also. For they must believe those who have expressed right opinions on these matters that they themselves rather than we will be purified in soul by divinely inspired¹ music, and benefit thereby. So much, then, for the boys. As for those who are now the pupils of Dioscorus the musician, do you urge them to apply themselves to the art with still more zeal, for I am ready to assist them to whatever they may wish.

³ For the study of music at Alexandria cf. Ammianus Marcellinus 22. 16. 17, nondumque apud eos penitus exaruit musica, nec harmonia conticuit.

⁴ The artaba, an Egyptian dry measure, was equivalent to about nine gallons.

¹ Julian does not mean sacred music in particular; cf. Vol. 1, Oration 3. 111c, where θεία is used of secular music.

50. To Nilus, surnamed Dionysius ²[362-363, Winter. From Antioch]

Your earlier silence was more creditable than your present defence; for then you did not utter abuse, though perhaps it was in your mind. But now, as though you were in travail, you have poured out your abuse of me wholesale. For must I not regard it as abuse and slander that you supposed me to be like your own friends, to each of whom you offered yourself uninvited; or rather, by the first³ you were not invited, and you obeyed the second ¹on his merely indicating that he wished to enlist you to help him. However, whether I am like Constans and Magnentius the event itself, as they say, will prove.² But as for you, from what you wrote it is very plain that, in the words of the comic poet,³

"You are praising yourself, lady, like Astydamas."

For when you write about your "fearlessness" and "great courage," and say "Would that you knew my real value and my true character!" and, in a word, all that sort of thing,—for shame! What an empty noise and display of words is this! Nay, by the Graces and Aphrodite, if you are so brave and noble, why were you "so careful to avoid incurring displeasure," if need be, "for the third time"?⁴ For when men fall under the displeasure of princes, the lightest consequence—and, as one might say, the most agreeable to a man of sense—is that they are at once relieved from the cares of business; and if they have to pay a small fine as well, their stumbling block is merely money; while the culmination of the prince's wrath, and the "fate beyond all remedy" as the saying is, is to lose their lives. Disregarding all these dangers, because, as you say, "you had come to know me in my private capacity for the man I am" ⁵—and in my common and generic capacity for the human being I am, though unknown to myself, late learner that I am!—why, in heaven's name, did you say that you were careful to avoid incurring displeasure for the third time? For surely my anger will not change you from a good man into a bad. I should be enviable indeed, and with justice, if I had the power to do that; for then, as Plato says,¹I could do the converse as well. But since virtue owns no master,² you ought not to have taken into account anything of the 'sort. However, you think it is a fine thing to speak ill of all men, and to abuse all without exception, and to convert the shrine of peace³ into a workshop of war. Or do you think in this way to excuse yourself in the sight of all for your past sins, and that your courage now is a screen to hide your cowardice of old? You have heard the fable of Babrius:⁴ "Once upon a time a weasel fell in love with a handsome youth.". The rest of the fable you may learn from the book. However much you may say, you will never convince any human being that you were not what you were, and such as many knew you to be in the past. As for your ignorance and audacity now, it was not philosophy that implanted them in you, no, by heaven! On the contrary, it was what Plato⁵calls a twofold lack of knowledge. For though you really know nothing, just as I know nothing, you think forsooth that you are the wisest of all men, not only of those who are alive now, but also of those who have ever been, and perhaps of those who ever will be. To such a pitch of ignorance has your self-conceit grown!

However, as far as you are concerned, this that I have said is more than enough; but perhaps I ought to apologise on your account to the others because I too hastily summoned you to take part in public affairs. I am not the first or the only one, Dionysius, who has had this experience. Your namesake¹ deceived even great Plato; and Callippus² the Athenian also deceived Dio. For Plato says³ that Dio knew he was a bad man but that he would never have expected in him such a degree of baseness. Why need I quote the experience of these men, when even Hippocrates,⁴ the most distinguished of the sons of Asclepius, said: "The sutures of the head baffled my judgement." Now if those famous men were deceived about persons whom they knew, and the physician was mistaken in a professional diagnosis, is it surprising that Julian was deceived when he heard that Nilus Dionysius had suddenly become brave? You have heard tell of the famous Phaedo of Elis,⁵ and you know his story. However, if you do not know it, study it more carefully, but at any rate I will tell you this part. He thought that there is nothing that cannot be cured by philosophy, and that by her all men can be purified from all their modes of life, their habits, desires, in a word from everything of the sort. If indeed she only availed those who are well born and well bred there would be nothing marvellous about philosophy; but if she can lead up to the light men so greatly depraved,¹then I consider her marvellous beyond anything. For these reasons my estimate of you, as all the gods know, inclined little 'by little to be more favourable; but even so I did not count your sort in the first or the second class of the most virtuous. Perhaps you yourself know this; but if you do not know it, enquire of the worthy Symmachus.²For I am convinced that he would never willingly tell a lie, since he is naturally disposed to be truthful in all things. And if you are aggrieved that I did not honour you before all others, I for my part reproach myself for having ranked you even among the last in merit, and I thank all the gods and goddesses who hindered us from becoming associated in public affairs and from being intimate... ³ And indeed, though the poets have often said of Rumour that she is a goddess,⁴ and let us grant, if you will, that she at least has demonic power, yet not very much attention ought to be paid to her, because a demon is not altogether pure or perfectly good, like the race of the gods, but has some share of the opposite quality. And even though it be not permissible to say this concerning the other demons, I know that when I say of Rumour that she reports many things falsely as well as many truthfully, I shall never myself be convicted of bearing false witness.¹

But as for your "freedom of speech," do you think that it is worth four obols, as the saying is? Do you not know that Thersites also spoke his mind freely among the Greeks, whereupon the most wise Odysseus beat him with his staff,² while Agamemnon paid less heed to the drunken brawling of Thersites than a tortoise does to flies, as the proverb goes? For that matter it is no great achievement to criticise others, but rather to place oneself beyond the reach of criticism. Now if you can claim to be in this category, prove it to me. Did you not, when you were young, furnish to your elders fine themes for gossip about you? However, like Electra in Euripides,³ I keep silence about happenings of this sort. But when you came to man's estate and betook yourself to the camp,⁴ how, in the name of Zeus, did you behave? You say that you left it because you gave offence in the cause of truth. From what evidence can you prove this, as though many men⁵ and of the basest sort had not been exiled by the very persons by whom you yourself were driven away? Ο most wise Dionysius, it does not happen to a virtuous and temperate man to go away obnoxious to those in power! You would have done better if you had proved to us that men from their intercourse with you were better behaved. But this was not in your power, no, by the gods, nor is it in the power of tens of thousands who emulate your way of life. For when rocks grind against rocks and stones against stones they do not benefit one another, and the stronger easily wears down the weaker.¹

I am not saying this in Laconic fashion ² and concisely, am I? Nay, I think that on your account I have shown myself even more talkative than Attic grasshoppers. However, in return for your drunken abuse of myself, I will inflict on you the appropriate punishment, by the grace of the gods and our lady Adrasteia.³ What, then, is this punishment, and what has the greatest power to hurt your tongue and your mind? It is this: I will try, by erring as little as may be in word and deed, not to provide your slanderous tongue with so much foolish talk. And yet I am well aware that it is said that even the sandal of Aphrodite was satirised by Momus. But you observe that though Momus poured forth floods ⁴ of criticism he could barely find anything to criticise in her sandal.⁵ Even so may you grow old fretting yourself over things of this sort, more decrepit than Tithonus, richer than Cinyras, more luxurious than Sardanapalus, so that in you may be fulfilled the proverb, "Old men are twice children."

But why does the divine Alexander seem to you so pre-eminent? Is it because you took to imitating him and aspired to that for which the youth Hermolaus ⁶ reproached him? Or rather, no one is so foolish as to suspect you of that. But the very opposite, that which Hermolaus lamented that he had endured, and which was the reason for his plotting, as they say, to kill Alexander—everyone believes this about you also, do they not? I call the gods to witness that I have heard many persons assert that they were very fond of you and who made many excuses for this offence of yours, but I have found just one person who did not believe it. However he is that one swallow who does not make a spring. But perhaps the reason why Alexander seemed in your eyes a great man was that he cruelly murdered Callisthenes,¹ that Cleitus² fell a victim to his drunken fury, and Philotas too, and Parmenio ³ and Parmenio's son; for that affair of Hector,⁴ who was smothered in the whirlpools of the Nile in Egypt or the Euphrates—the story is told of both rivers— I say nothing about, or of his other follies, lest I should seem to speak ill of a man who by no means maintained the ideal of rectitude but nevertheless excelled as a general in the works of war. Whereas you are less endowed with both these, namely, good principles and courage, than a fish with hair. Now listen to my advice and do not resent it too much.

"Not to thee, my child, have been given the works of war." ⁵

The verse that follows ⁶ I do not write out for you, because, by the gods, I am ashamed to do so. However I ask you to understand it as said. For it is only fair that words should follow on deeds, and that he who has never avoided deeds should not avoid the phrases that describe them.

Nay, if you revere the pious memory of Magnentius and Constans, why do you wage war against the living and abuse those who excel in any way? Is it because the dead are better able than the living to avenge themselves on those who vex them? Yet it does not become you to say this. For you are, as your letter says, "Very brave indeed." But if this is not the reason, perhaps there is a different one. Perhaps you do not wish to satirise them because they cannot feel it. But among the living is there anyone so foolish or so cowardly as to demand that you should take any notice of him at all, and who will not prefer if possible to be altogether ignored by you; but if that should be impossible, to be abused by you, as indeed I am now abused rather than honoured? May I never be so ill-advised—may I never aspire to win praise rather than blame from you!

But perhaps you will say that the very fact that I am writing to you is a proof that I am stung?¹No, I call the Saviour Gods to witness that I am but trying to check your excessive audacity and boldness, the license of your tongue and the ferocity of your soul, the madness of your wits and your perverse fury on all occasions. In any case it was in my power, if I had been stung, to chastise you with deeds and not merely with words,² and I should have been entirely within the law. For you are a citizen and of senatorial rank and you disobeyed a command of your Emperor; and such behaviour was certainly not permissible to anyone who could not furnish the excuse of real necessity. Therefore I was not satisfied with inflicting on you any sort of penalty for this conduct, but I thought I ought to write to you first, thinking that you might be cured by a short letter. But since I have discovered that you persist in the same errors, or rather how great your frenzy is which I previously did not know..,¹ lest you should be thought to be a man, when that you are not, or brimful of freedom of speech, when you are only full of insanity, or that you have had the advantage of education when you have not the smallest acquaintance with literature, as far, at any rate, as one may reasonably judge from your letters. For instance, no one of the ancients ever used φροῦδος ² to mean "manifest" as you do here,—for, as for the other blunders displayed in your letter, no one could describe them even in a long book, or that obscene and abominable character of yours that leads you to prostitute yourself. You tell me indeed that it is not those who arrive offhand or those who are hunting for public office whom we ought to choose, but those who use sound judgement and in accordance with this prefer to do their duty rather than those who are ready and eager to obey. Fair, truly, are the hopes you hold out to me though I made no appeal to you, implying that you will yield if I again summon you to take part in public business. But I am so far from doing that, that, when the others were admitted, I never even addressed you at any time. And yet I did address many who were known and unknown to me and dwell in Rome, beloved of the gods. Such was my desire for your friendship, so worthy of consideration did I think you! Therefore it is likely that my future conduct towards you will be much the same. And indeed I have written this letter now, not for your perusal alone, since I knew it was needed by many besides yourself, and I will give it to all, since all, I am convinced, will be glad to receive it. For when men see you more haughty and more insolent than befits your past life, they resent it.

You have here a complete answer from me, so that you can desire nothing more. Nor do I ask for any further communication from you. But when you have read my letters use them for whatever purpose you please. For our friendship is at an end. Farewell, and divide your time between luxurious living and abuse of me!

² For the name and personality of Nilus see Introduction, under Nilus.

³ Constans; cf. Vol. 1, Oration 1. 9d.

¹ Magnentius; cf. Oration 1 for the defeat of this usurper by Constantias. Magnentius had murdered Constans, see Oration 1. 26b, 2. 55 d.

2 Cf. Vol. 2, Caesars 307a.

³ Philemon frag. 190; cf. Letter to Basil, p. 83; this had become a proverb.

⁴ i.e. after his experiences with Constans and Magnentius.

⁵ A quotation from the other's letter.

¹ Crito 44d.

2 Plato, Republic 617e.

³ The Senate; for the phrase cf. Xenophon, Hellenica 3. 4. 17.

⁴ Fable 32, the weasel or cat, transformed into a woman, could not resist chasing a mouse.

⁵ Cf. Proclus on Cratylus 65 for this Neo-Platonic phrase; and Plato, Apology 21d. In Sophist 229b Plato defines the ignorance of those who do not even know that they are ignorant.

¹ The tyrant of Syracuse.

² Callippus, who assassinated Dio in 353 B.C., was himself put to death by the Syracusans after he had usurped the government.

³ Plato, Epistle 7. 351 d, e.

⁴ Hippocrates, 5. 3. 561 Kuhn. This candid statement of Hippocrates, who had failed to find a wound in a patient's head, was often cited as a proof of a great mind; cf. Plutarch, De profectu in virtute, 82d.

⁵ For the reformation of Phaedo by philosophy, see Aulus Gellius 2. 18 and Julian, Vol. 2, 264d (Wright). He was a disciple of Socrates and wrote several dialogues; for his Life see Diogenes Laertius, 2. 105; cf. Wilamowitz in Hermes 14.

¹ i. e. as Phaedo. Wilamowitz thinks that this sentence and the preceding are quoted or paraphrased from Phaedo.

² This was probably L. Aurelius Avianius Symmachus the Roman senator, prefect of the city in 364-5, father of the orator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus; Ammianus 21. 12. 24, describes the meeting of the elder Symmachus and Julian in 361 at Nish.

³ The lack of connection indicates a lacuna though there is none in the MSS. Probably Julian said that their intimacy existed only as a rumour.

⁴ Hesiod, Works and Days 763.

¹ Cf. Julian's reverence for it in Vol. 1, pp. 409, 423; Vol. 2, p. 347, Wright.

² Iliad 2. 265.

3 Orestes 16. Cf. Vol. 2, To Themistius, 254b, p. 204, Wright.

⁴ i. e. of Constans.

⁵ We do not know to whom Julian refers.

¹ See the similar passage on p. 101. Asmus thinks that the Laurieius there mentioned and Nilus were both Cynics and therefore obnoxious to Julian.

² A reference to the letter of Nilus, who had perhaps asked for a brief answer.

³ Cf. Misopogon 370b, vol. 2, p. 508, Wright.

⁴ Or "burst with the effort," cf. rumpi invidia.

⁵ Philostratus, Epistle 37; Momus complained that Aphrodite wore a sandal that squeaked.

⁶ For the plot of Hermolaus and Callisthenes against Alexander, cf. Quintus Curtius 8. 6; Arrian, Anabasis 4. 13. 14; Plutarch, Alexander 55.

¹ The historian who accompanied Alexander to the East.

² Cf. Vol. 2, Caesars 331c, p. 403, note, Wright.

³ The general Parmenio and his son Philotas were executed for treason; Arrian, Anabasis 3. 26.

⁴ Cf. Quintus Curtius 5. 8. 7; Hector, a son of Parmenio, was, according to Curtius, accidentally drowned, though Julian ascribes his death to Alexander.

5 Iliad 5. 428, Zeus to Aphrodite.

⁶ [Greek].

¹ Julian seems to anticipate the criticism of Nilus that he is not showing himself superior to Alexander.

² For Julian's mildness in such cases, see Ammianus. 25.4. 9.

¹ Lacuna. Some reference to the letters written by Nilus is needed here.

² [Greek]

¹ Some words have fallen out.

² In Attic the word means " vanished."

51. To the community of the Jews ¹[Late 362 or early 363, Antioch]

In times past, by far the most burdensome thing in the yoke of your slavery has been the fact that you were subjected to unauthorised ordinances and had to contribute an untold amount of money to the accounts of the treasury. Of this I used to see many instances with my own eyes, and I have learned of more, by finding the records which are preserved against you. Moreover, when a tax was about to be levied on you again I prevented it, and compelled the impiety of such obloquy to cease here; and I threw into the fire the records against you that were stored in my desks; so that it is no longer possible for anyone to aim at you such a reproach of impiety. My brother Constantius of honoured memory was not so much responsible for these wrongs of yours as were the men who used to frequent his table, barbarians in mind, godless in soul. These I seized with my own hands and put them to death by thrusting them into the pit, that not even any memory of their destruction ¹ might still linger amongst us. And since I wish that you should prosper yet more, I have admonished my brother Iulus,² your most venerable patriarch, that the levy³ which is said to exist among you should be prohibited, and that no one is any longer to have the power to oppress the masses of your people by such exactions; so that everywhere, during my reign, you may have security of mind, and in the enjoyment of peace may offer more fervid prayers⁴ for my reign to the Most High God, the Creator, who has deigned to crown me with his own immaculate right hand. For it is natural that men who are distracted by any anxiety should be hampered in spirit, and should not have so much confidence in raising their hands to pray; but that those who are in all respects free from care should rejoice with their whole hearts and offer their suppliant prayers on behalf of my imperial office to Mighty God, even to him who is able to direct my reign to the noblest ends, according to my purpose. This you ought to do, in order that, when I have successfully concluded the war with Persia, I may rebuild by my own efforts the sacred city of Jerusalem,¹ which for so many years you have longed to see inhabited, and may bring settlers there, and, together with you, may glorify the Most High God therein.

¹ For this rescript see Introduction.

¹ Or απώλεια may be active = " their wickedness."

² The Patriarch Hillel II. was at this time about seventy.

³ Literally "the apostole," paid by the Jews to maintain the Patriarchate. It was later suppressed by the Emperor Theodosius II.

⁴ Sozomen 5. 22 says that Julian wrote to the community of the Jews asking them to pray for him.

¹ For Julian's project of rebuilding the Temple, see Introduction.

52. To Libanius²[Winter 362, Antioch]

Since you have forgotten your promise—at any rate three days have gone by and the philosopher Priscus³ has not come himself but has sent a letter to say that he still delays—I remind you of your debt by demanding payment. The thing you owe is, as you know, easy for you to pay and very pleasant for me to receive. So send your discourse and your "divine counsel," and do it promptly, in the name of Hermes and the Muses, for I assure you, in these three days you have worn me out, if indeed the Sicilian poet ⁴ speaks the truth when he says, "Those who long grow old in a day." And if this be true, as in fact it is,¹ you have trebled my age, my good friend. I have dictated this to you in the midst of public business. For I was not able to write myself because my hand is lazier than my tongue.² Though indeed my tongue also has come to be somewhat lazy and inarticulate from lack of exercise. Farewell, brother, most dear and most beloved!

² Both Libanius and Julian were at this time at Antioch. We have the answer to this letter, Libanius, Letter 760 Foerster; Libanius had promised to send Julian his speech, For Aristophanes, Oration 14, for which see below, p. 183.

³ For Priscus, see above, pp. 3, 15.

⁴ Theocritus, 12. 2.

¹ Plato, Phaedrus 242E.

² Sophocles, Philoctetes 97.

53. To Libanius [362, Winter at Antioch]

You have requited Aristophanes³ for his piety towards the gods and his devotion to yourself by changing and transforming what was formerly a reproach against him so that it redounds to his honour, and not for to-day only but for the future also, since the malicious charges of Paul ⁴ and the verdict of So-and-so ⁵ have no force compared with words written by you. For their calumnies were detested even while they flourished, and perished along with their perpetrators, whereas your speeches are not only prized by genuine Hellenes to-day but will still be prized in future times, unless I am mistaken in my verdict. For the rest, you shall judge whether you have convinced, or rather converted, me on behalf of Aristophanes. I now agree not to believe that he is too weak to resist pleasure and money. What point would I not yield to the most philosophic and truth-loving of orators? Naturally you will proceed to ask me why, in that case, I do not alter his unhappy lot for the better and blot out the disgrace that attaches to him on account of his ill fortune. "Two walking together,"¹ as the proverb says, namely, you and I, must take counsel. And you have the right, not only to advise that we ought to assist a man who has honoured the gods so straightforwardly, but also as to how it ought to be done. Indeed, you did hint at this in an obscure way. But it is perhaps better not to write about such matters, but to talk it over together. Farewell, brother, most dear and most beloved!

I read yesterday almost all your speech before breakfast, and after breakfast, before resting, I gave myself up to reading the remainder. Happy man to be able to speak so well, or rather to have such ideas! Ο what a discourse! what wit! what wisdom! what analysis! what logic! what method! what openings! what diction! what symmetry! what structure! ²

³ For Aristophanes of Corinth and for the answer of Libanius, Letter 758, Foerster, see Introduction, Aristophanes.

⁴ Paul, the notary nicknamed Catena, " the chain," a tool of Constantius, was burned alive on Julian's accession, by order of the Chalcedon Commission; Ammianus 14. 5. 6; 22. 3. 11. He was a Spaniard, malevolent and inquisitorial.

⁵ The real name is suppressed, probably by a cautious editor when the letter was first published.

¹ Iliad 10. 224, cf. Plato, Symposium 174d.

² Julian may have read Marcus Aurelius, To Fronto.

54. To Eustochius³[Late in 362, from Antioch]

The wise Hesiod⁴ thinks that we ought to invite our neighbours to our feasts that they may rejoice with us, since they sorrow and mourn with us when any unexpected misfortune befals us. But I say that it is our friends that we ought to invite, rather than our neighbours; and for this reason, that it is possible to have a neighbour who is one's enemy, but that a friend should be an enemy is no more possible than for white to be black, or hot cold. And if there were no other proof that you are my friend not now only, but for a long time past, and that you have steadily maintained your regard for me, nevertheless the fact that my feeling for you has been and is what it is, would be strong evidence of that friendship. Come, therefore, that you may in person share my consulship.¹ The state post will bring you, and you may use one carriage and an extra horse. And in case we ought to pray for further aid, I have invoked for you the blessing of the goddess of the Crossroads² and the god of the Ways.³

³ This is either Eustochius of Palestine, whose knowledge of law and eloquence is praised by Libanius, Letter 699 (789 Foerster), or a sophist of Cappadocia of the same name. We do not know which of these men it was to whom Gregory Nazianzen addressed his Letters 189-191.

⁴ Works and Days 313, a favourite quotation.

¹ Julian, with Sallustius as colleague, entered on the consulship January st, 363.

² Hecate, Latin Trivia.

³ Hermes.

55. To Photinus ⁴

Moreover the Emperor Julian, faithless to Christ, in his attack on Diodorus ⁵ writes as follows to Photinus the heresiarch: ¹ Ο Photinus, you at any rate seem to maintain what is probably true, and come nearest to being saved, and do well to believe that he whom one holds to be a god can by no means be brought into the womb. But Diodorus, a charlatan priest of the Nazarene, when he tries to give point to that nonsensical theory about the womb by artifices and juggler's tricks, is clearly a sharp-witted sophist of that creed of the country-folk. A little further on he says: But if only the gods and goddesses and all the Muses and Fortune will lend me their aid, I hope to show ²that he is feeble and a corrupter of laws and customs, of pagan ³ Mysteries and Mysteries of the gods of the underworld, and that that new-fangled Galilaean god of his, whom he by a false myth styles eternal, has been stripped by his humiliating death and burial of the divinity falsely ascribed to him by Diodorus. Then, just as people who are convicted of error always begin to invent, being the slaves of artifice rather than of truth, he goes on to say: For the fellow sailed to Athens to the injury of the general welfare, then rashly took to philosophy and engaged in the study of literature, and by the devices of rhetoric armed his hateful tongue against the heavenly gods, and being utterly ignorant of the Mysteries of the pagans he so to speak imbibed most deplorably the whole mistaken folly of the base and ignorant creed-making fishermen. For this conduct he has long ago been punished by the gods themselves. For, for many years past, he has been in danger, having contracted a wasting disease of the chest, and he now suffers extreme torture. His whole body has wasted away. For his cheeks have fallen in and his body is deeply lined with wrinkles.¹ But this is no sign of philosophic habits, as he wishes it to seem to those who are deceived by him, but most certainly a sign of justice done and of punishment from the gods which has stricken him down in suitable proportion to his crime, since he must live out to the very end his painful and bitter life, his appearance that of a man pale and wasted.

⁴ These fragments of a lost letter are preserved only in the Latin version of Facundus Hermianensis, who wrote at Constantinople about 546 A.D. For a partial reconstruction of the original see Neumann, Contra Christianos, Leipzig, 1880, ρ 5. This letter may have been written at any time between Julian's arrival at Antioch in July 362 and his departure thence, in March 363. The Greek original is represented by curious and sometimes untranslatable Latin. Photinus, bishop of Sirmium, where Constantius resided in 351, was tried, deposed and banished by a synod convened there by Constantius. According to Sozomen 4. 6, he wrote many Greek and Latin works in support of his heretical views on the divinity of Christ, which were opposed by both Arians and Nicaeans. He is mentioned by Julian, Against the Galilaeans 262c.

⁵ Bishop of Tarsus, a celebrated teacher; he was at Antioch in 362.

¹ The italicised passages are the words of Facundus.

² This is a forecast of Julian's treatise Against the Galilaeans.

³ Twice in this letter Facundus translates Julian's "Hellenic" as "pagan."

¹ Here and in the last sentence I give what seems to be the general meaning.

56. Edict on Funerals ²[363, February 12. Antioch]

It was my duty, after considering with myself, to restore the ancient custom which I have now decided to confirm by a law. For when they considered the matter, the men of old, who made wise laws, believed that there is the greatest possible difference between life and death and thought that each of these two states has customs and practices peculiarly appropriate to it. For they thought that death is an unbroken rest, —and this is surely that "brazen sleep" of which the poets sing,³—but that life, on the contrary, brings many pains and many pleasures, and now adversity, now greater prosperity. Considering thus, they enjoined that expiations connected with the departed should be conducted apart, and that apart from them the daily business of life should be carried on. Moreover, they held that the gods are the beginning and end of all things, and believed that while we live we are subject to the gods, and when we depart from this life we travel back to the gods. But perhaps it is not right to speak openly about these matters or to divulge whether both are in the hands of the same gods or one set of gods has charge of the living and another set the dead. However, if, as the Sun is the cause of day and night and winter and summer by his departure and arrival, so also the most venerable one of the gods themselves, unto whom are all things and from whom all things proceed, has appointed rulers over the living and allotted lords over the dead, then we ought to assign to both of these classes in turn what is fitting for them, and to imitate in our daily life the orderly arrangement of the gods in things which exist.

As I have said, death is rest; and night harmonises with rest. Therefore I think it is fitting that business connected with the burials of the dead should be performed at night, since for many reasons we ought to forbid anything of the sort to go on by day. Throughout the city men are going to and fro each on his own business, and all the streets are full of men going to the lawcourts, or to or from the market, or sitting at work at their crafts, or visiting the temples to confirm the good hopes that the gods have vouchsafed. And then some persons or other, having laid a corpse on the bier, push their way into the midst of those who are busy about such matters. The thing is in every way intolerable. For those who meet the funeral are often filled with disgust, some because they regard it as an evil omen, while for others who are on the way to the temples it is not permitted to approach for worship till they have cleansed themselves from the pollution. For after such a sight it is not permitted to approach the gods who are the cause of life and of all things least akin to decay. And I have still to mention what is worse than this. And what is that? The sacred precincts and temples of the gods lie open; and it often happens that in one of them someone is sacrificing or pouring libations or praying, at the moment when men carrying a corpse are passing close by the temple itself, and the voice of lamentations and speech of ill omen is carried even to the altars.

Do you not understand that the functions belonging to the day and the night have been separated more than all other things? With good reason, therefore, has burial been taken out of the day and would be reserved for the night. For it is not right to deprecate the wearing of white for mourning and yet to bury the dead in the daytime and sunlight. The former was better, at least if it was not offensive to any of the gods, but the latter cannot escape being an act of impiety towards all the gods. For thereby men wrongly assign burial to the Olympian gods and wrongly alienate it from the gods of the underworld, or whatever else the guardians and lords of souls prefer to be called. And I know that those who are thoroughly versed and punctilious in sacred rites think it right to perform at night the ritual to the gods below or in any case not till after the tenth hour of the day. But if this is the better time for the worship of these gods, we will certainly not assign another time for the service of the dead.

What I have said suffices for those who are willing to obey. For now that they have learned what errors they used to commit, let them change to the better way. But if there be any man of such a character that he needs threat and penalty, let him know that he will incur the severest punishment if, before the tenth hour of the day, he shall venture to perform the offices for the corpse of any dead person and to carry it through the city. But let these things be done at sunset and before sunrise, and let the pure day be consecrated for pure deeds and the pure gods of Olympus.

² This is probably the earlier form of the Latin Edict in Codex Theodosianus 9. 17. 5 dated February 12th, 363. It is not clear whether it was aimed at the Christians, but of course they had to observe it. They buried their dead by day, and did not share the pagan fear of pollution by a corpse, for which cf. Eunapius, Life of Iamblichus, p. 367, Wright. Julian desired to suppress the Christian demonstrations at public funerals such as that of the bones of St. Babylas, at Antioch, for which see Philostorgius 7. 8, Sozomen 5. 19, Julian, Misopogon 361B, note, p. 485, Wright.

³ Iliad 11. 241; Vergil, Aeneid 10. 745 ferreus Somnus.

57. To Arsaces, Satrap of Armenia ¹[363, Antioch, just before Julian's Persian campaign]

Make haste, Arsacius,² to meet the enemy's battle line and quicker than I tell ³ you arm your right hand against the madness of the Persians. For my military preparations and my set purpose are for one of two things; either to pay the debt of nature within the Parthian ⁴ frontier, after I have won the most glorious victories and inflicted on my foes the most terrible reverses, or to defeat them under the leadership of the gods and return to my native land as a conquering hero, after I have set up trophies of the enemy's defeat. Accordingly you must discard all sloth and cheating, and the Emperor Constantine of blessed memory, and the wealth of the nobles which was lavished in vain on you and on barbarians of your character by the most luxurious and extravagant Constantius, and now I warn you, take heed of me, Julian, supreme pontiff, Caesar, Augustus, the servant of the gods and of Ares, the destroyer of the Franks and barbarians,¹ the liberator of the Gauls and of Italy. But if you form some other design,—for I learn that you are a rascal² and a coward in war and a boaster, as the present condition of affairs proves; indeed I have heard that you are secretly trying to conceal at your court a certain enemy of the public welfare,—for the present I postpone this matter because of the fortune of war; for my alliance with the gods is enough to secure the destruction of the enemy. But if Destiny should also play some part in the decision,—for the purpose of the gods is her opportunity,—I will endure it fearlessly and like a brave man. Be assured that you will be an easy victim ³ of the power of Persia when your hearth and home, your whole race and the kingdom of Armenia all blaze together. And the city of Nisibis ⁴ also will share in your misfortune, for this the heavenly gods long since foretold to me.

¹ See Introduction, under Arsaces.

² This form is given also by Sozomen 6. 1. who gives the general contents of the letter. The correct form Arsaces occurs in Ammianus.

³ Cf. To Hermogenes, p. 32, 390.

⁴ The writer seems to confuse the Persians and the Parthians: Julian, however, distinguishes them in Oration 2. 63a, Vol. 1, p. 169, Wright; Ammianus sometimes confuses them.

¹ Cf. Ammianus 22. 5, cf. Julian: saepeque dictitabat "audite me quem Alemanni audierunt et Franci."

² Arsaces was almost certainly a Christian; cf. Sozomen 6. 1.

³ For this phrase cf. Vol. 2. Caesars 326a.

⁴ After Julian's death Nisibis reverted to the Persians; their king Sapor captured and killed Arsaces; Ammianus 27. 12.

58. To Libanius, Sophist and Quaestor ¹[363, Mar. 10. From Hierapolis]

I travelled as far as Litarbae,—it is a village of Chalcis,—and came on a road that still had the remains of a winter camp of Antioch. The road, I may say, was partly swamp, partly hill, but the whole of it was rough, and in the swamp lay stones which looked as though they had been thrown there purposely, as they lay together without any art, after the fashion followed also by those who build public highways in cities and instead of cement make a deep layer of soil and then lay the stones close together as though they were making a boundary-wall. When I had passed over this with some difficulty and arrived at my first halting-place it was about the ninth hour, and then I received at my headquarters the greater part of your senate.² You have perhaps learned already what we said to one another, and, if it be the will of heaven, you shall know it from my own lips.

From Litarbae I proceeded to Beroea,³ and there Zeus by showing a manifest sign from heaven declared all things to be auspicious.⁴ I stayed there for a day and saw the Acropolis and sacrificed to Zeus in imperial fashion a white bull.¹ Also I conversed briefly with the senate about the worship of the gods. But though they all applauded my arguments very few were converted by them, and these few were men who even before I spoke seemed to me to hold sound views. But they were cautious and would not strip off and lay aside their modest reserve, as though afraid of too frank speech. For it is the prevailing habit of mankind, Ο ye gods, to blush for their noble qualities, manliness of soul and piety, and to plume themselves, as it were, on what is most depraved, sacrilege and weakness of mind and body.

Next, Batnae ² entertained me, a place like nothing that I have ever seen in your country, except Daphne ³; but that is now very like Batnae, though not long ago, while the temple and statue were still unharmed,⁴ I should not have hesitated to compare Daphne with Ossa and Pelion or the peaks of Olympus, or Thessalian Tempe, or even to have preferred it to all of them put together. But you have composed an oration⁵ on Daphne such as no other man "of such sort as mortals now are"⁶could achieve, even though he used his utmost energies on the task, yes, and I think not very many of the ancient writers either. Why then should I try to write about it now, when so brilliant a monody has been composed in its honour? Would that none had been needed! However, to return to Batnae. Its name is barbarous but the place is Hellenic;¹ I say so because through all the country round about the fumes of frankincense arose on all sides, and I saw everywhere victims ready for sacrifice. But though this gave me very great pleasure, nevertheless it looked to me like overheated zeal, and alien to proper reverence for the gods. For things that are sacred to the gods and holy ought to be away from the beaten track and performed in peace and quiet, so that men may resort thither to that end alone and not on the way to some other business. But this matter will perhaps before long receive the attention that is appropriate.

Batnae I saw to be a thickly wooded plain containing groves of young cypresses; and among these there was no old or decaying trunk, but all alike were in vigorous leafage. The imperial lodging was by no means sumptuous, for it was made only of clay and logs and had no decorations; but its garden, though inferior to that of Alcinous,² was comparable to the garden of Laertes.³ In it was a quite small grove full of cypresses and along the wall many trees of this sort have been planted in a row one after the other. Then in the middle were beds, and in these, vegetables and trees bearing fruits of all sorts. What did I do there, you ask? I sacrificed in the evening and again at early dawn, as I am in the habit of doing practically every day. And since the omens were favourable, we kept on to Hierapolis ⁴ where the inhabitants came to meet us. Here I am being entertained by a friend who, though I have only lately met him for the first time has long been dear to me. I know that you yourself are well aware of the reason, but for all that it gives me pleasure to tell you. For it is like nectar to me to hear and to speak of these things continually. Sopater,¹ the pupil of the god-like Iamblichus, was a relative by marriage of this Sopater.² Not to love even as myself all that belonged to those men is in my opinion equivalent to the lowest baseness. But there is another more powerful reason than this. Though he often entertained my cousin and my half-brother³ and was often urged by them, naturally enough, to abandon his piety towards the gods, and though this is hard to withstand, he was not infected with this disease.⁴

Thus much, then, I was able to write to you from Hierapolis about my own affairs. But as regards the military or political arrangements, you ought, I think, to have been present to observe and pay attention to them yourself. For, as you well know, the matter is too long for a letter, in fact so vast that if one considered it in detail it would not be easy to confine it to a letter even three times as long as this. But I will tell you of these matters also, summarily, and in a very few words. I sent an embassy to the Saracens⁵ and suggested that they could come if they wished. That is one affair of the sort I have mentioned. For another, I despatched men as wide-awake as I could obtain that they might guard against anyone's leaving here secretly to go to the enemy and inform them that we are on the move. After that I held a court martial and, I am convinced, showed in my decision the utmost clemency and justice. I have procured excellent horses and mules and have mustered all my forces together. The boats to be used on the river are laden with corn, or rather with baked bread and sour wine. You can understand at what length I should have to write in order to describe how every detail of this business was worked out and what discussions arose over every one of them. As for the number of letters I have signed, and papers,—for these too follow me everywhere like my shadow,— why should I take the trouble to enumerate them now? ¹

¹ Julian's march is described by Ammianus 23. 2, to the end of 24; he was a member of the expedition; cf. Zosimus 3. 12-28; Cumont, Etudes Syriennes, Paris, 1917.

² The Senators of Antioch followed Julian to plead for the city, which had offended him; see Libanius, Oration 16. 1.

³ Aleppo.

⁴ Ammianus 23. 2 records certain fatal accidents at Hierapolis and Batnae which were regarded as of ill omen for the campaign.

¹ The Emperors sacrificed white victims; cf. Ammianus 25. 4. 17.

² Julian was at Batnae March th; a few days later he halted at another Batnae, in Osroene, beyond the Euphrates.

³ A suburb of Antioch; cf. Misopogon 361; Ammianus 19. 12. 19. The temple of Apollo was burned October 22nd, 362.

⁴ Cf. Misopogon 346r.; Vol. 2, Wright.

⁵ We have the monody of Libanius, On the Temple of Apollo at Daphne, Oration 60; cf. his Oration 11. 235.

⁶ Iliad 5. 304; Julian, Oration 6. 191a.

¹ i.e. it maintained the pagan cults.

² Odyssey 7. 112 foll., a favourite commonplace; cf. Misopogon 352a.

³ Odyssey 24. 245 foll.

⁴ Hierapolis is now Membej; Julian arrived there about March 10th; it was the rendezvous for the Roman troops for this campaign; and was about twenty miles west of the Euphrates. Julian stayed there three days; Ammianus 23. 2. 6.

1 This elder Sopater was put to death by Constantine.

² For the younger Sopater, see Introduction.

³ Constantius and Gallus; cf. Misopogon 340a.

⁴ For Christianity a disease, cf. Oration 7. 229d and Against the Galilaeans 327b.

⁵ According to Ammianus 23. 3. 8, the Saracens offered themselves to Julian as allies, but they apparently deserted later to the Persians, cf. Zosimus 3. 27. 3; Ammianus 25. 6. 10.

¹ This is Julian's last extant letter. On leaving Hierapolis he marched to Carrhae, which place he left on March 25th. He crossed the Tigris in May, declined the siege of Ctesiphon, the Persian capital, burnt his fleet on the Tigris early in June, and was killed in a skirmish on June 26th, somewhere between Ctesiphon and Samarra on the Tigris. His body was carried back and buried at Tarsus in Cilicia, where he had told the people of Antioch he should spend the winter; Ammianus 25. 10. 5.

59. To Maximus the Philosopher ²

We are told in the myth that the eagle,³ when he would test which of his brood are genuine, carries them still unfledged into the upper air and exposes them to the rays of the sun, to the end that he may become, by the testimony of the god, the sire of a true nursling and disown any spurious offspring. Even so I submit my speeches¹ to you as though to Hermes the god of eloquence; and, if they can bear the test of being heard by you, it rests with you to decide concerning them whether they are fit to take flight to other men also. But if they are not, then fling them away as though disowned by the Muses, or plunge them in a river as bastards. Certainly the Rhine does not mislead the Celts,²for it sinks deep in its eddies their bastard infants, like a fitting avenger of an adulterous bed; but all those that it recognises to be of pure descent it supports on the surface of the water and gives them back to the arms of the trembling mother, thus rewarding her with the safety of her child as incorruptible evidence that her marriage is pure and without reproach.

² Letters 59-73 cannot be dated, even approximately, from their contents.

Cumont and Geffcken reject, without good grounds, Schwarz defends, the authenticity of this sophistic letter, which was probably written from Gaul.

³ A rhetorical commonplace; cf. To Iamblichus, p. 259, note; Lucian, The Fisherman 46.

¹ The allusion to Julian's writings is too vague to be used to date this letter.

² A commonplace of rhetoric; cf. Julian, Vol. 1, Oration 2. 81d; Claudian, In Rufinum 2. 112, et quos nascentes explorat gurgite Rhenus; Galen 6. 51 Kuhn, says that the ordeal was to strengthen their bodies as well as to test their legitimacy; cf. Voltaire, Essai sur les moeurs 146.

60. To Eugenius ³ the Philosopher

We are told that Daedalus dared to do violence to nature by his art, and moulded wings of wax for Icarus. But for my part, though I applaud him for his art, I cannot admire his judgement. For he is the only man who ever had the courage to entrust the safety of his son to soluble wax. But if it were granted me, in the words of the famous lyric poet of Teos,¹ to change my nature to a bird's, I should certainly not "fly to Olympus for Love," —no, not even to lodge a complaint against him— but I should fly to the very foothills of your mountains to embrace "thee, my darling," as Sappho²says. But since nature has confined me in the prison of a human body ³ and refuses to lighten and raise me aloft, I approach you with such wings as I possess,⁴the wings of words, and I write to you, and am with you in such fashion as I can. Surely for this reason and this only Homer calls words "winged," that they are able to go to and fro in every direction, darting where they will, like the swiftest of birds. But do you for your part write to me too, my friend! For you possess an equal if not a larger share of the plumage of words, with which you are able to travel to your friends and from wherever you may be, just as though you were present, to cheer them.

³ A philosopher named Eugenius was the father of the sophist and philosopher Themistius, an older contemporary of Julian, but this letter with its familiar tone cannot have been addressed to a man of advanced age. Schwarz, Cumont and Geffcken reject it on the ground of its sophistic mannerisms, but see Introduction.

¹ Anacreon frag. 22, Bergk

² Frag. 126, Bergk.

3 A Platonic commonplace; cf. Julian, Oration 6. 198b; 7. 206b.

4 Cf. Letter 76. 449d, p. 244, note.

61. To Sopater ⁵

It is an occasion to rejoice the more when one has the chance to address friends through an intimate friend. For then it is not only by what you write that you unite the image of your own soul with your readers. And this is what I myself am doing. For when I despatched the custodian of my children,¹ Antiochus, to you, I could not bear to leave you without a word of greeting. So that if you want to have news of me, you can have from him information of a more intimate sort. And if you care at all for your admirers, as I believe you do care, you will prove it by never missing an opportunity while you are able to write.

⁵ This letter is rejected by Schwarz, Cumont and Geffcken; Schwarz on the slender evidence of style classes it with the apocryphal letters to Iamblichus; Cumont also places it in that series, and thinks that this Sopater is the friend of the elder Iamblichus executed by Constantine.

¹ No forger would have referred to children of Julian's body; but the phrase may refer to his writings. Libanius, Epitaphius, says of Julian's letters.... See also To Iamblichus, p. 255.

62. To Eucleides the Philosopher ²

Nay, when did you ever leave me, so that I need to write, or when do I not behold you with the eyes of the soul as though you were here with me? For not only do I seem to be with you continually and to converse with you, but I pay attention to my duties now just as zealously as when you were here to guide me. But if you do wish me to write to you, just as though you were not here, then take care that you do not yourself create the impression of not being with me all the more by your very wish that I should write. However, if you do really find pleasure in it I am willing to obey you in this also. At any rate, by your request, you will, as the proverb says, lead a galloping horse into the plain. Come then, see that you return like for like, and in answer to my counter-summons do not grow weary of the unbroken series of letters exchanged between us. And yet I have no wish to hinder the zeal that you display on behalf of the public welfare, nevertheless, in proportion as I keep you free for the pursuit of noble studies, I shall be thought, far from injuring it, to benefit the whole body of Hellenes at once, that is to say, if I leave you like a young and well-bred dog without interference, free to give all your time to tracking down, with a mind wholly free from all else, the art of writing discourses; but if you possess such swiftness that you need neither neglect your friends nor slacken in those other pursuits, come, take both courses and run at full speed!

² Libanius often mentions a certain Eucleides, a native of Constantinople, to whom this letter may be addressed; the reference to public affairs may imply that Julian was already Emperor, but it cannot be dated with certainty. Schwarz rejects the letter on stylistic grounds, and Cumont for the same reason attributed it to the sophist Julian of Caesarea, for whom see Introduction under Iamblichus; but, though it is conventional and sophistic, there is nothing in it that the Emperor Julian might not have written.

63. To Hecebolius¹

Pindar ² thinks that the Muses are "silvery," and it is as though he likened the clearness and splendour of their art to the substance that shines most brilliantly. And the wise Homer³ calls silver "shining," and gives to water the epithet "silvery" because it gleams with the very brightness of the reflected image of the sun, as though under its direct rays. And Sappho⁴ the fair says that the moon is "silvery," and that because of this it dims the radiance of the other stars. Similarly one might imagine silver to be more appropriate to the gods than gold; but that to man, at any rate, silver is more precious than gold and more familiar to them because it is not, like gold, hidden under the earth and does not avoid their eyes, but is both beautiful to the eye and more serviceable in daily life,— this, I say, is not my own theory¹ but was held by men of old. If, therefore, in return for the gold coin sent by you I give you a piece of silver of equal value, think not that the favour is less and do not imagine that, as with Glaucus,² the exchange is to your disadvantage; for perhaps not even Diomede would have exchanged silver armour for golden, seeing that the former is far more serviceable than the latter, and like lead well fitted to turn the points of spears.³ All this I am saying in jest, and I take the cue⁴ for my freedom of speech to you from what you write yourself. But if you really wish to send me gifts more precious than gold, write, and keep on writing regularly. For even a short letter from you I hold to be more precious than any other blessing that one could name.

¹ See Introduction, under Hecebolius.

² Frag. 212, Bergk.; cf. Pythian 9. 65, Isthmian 2. 13.

³ These epithets for silver and water are not in our Homer.

⁴ Frag. 3, Bergk.; cf, Julian, Oration 3. 109c, note, Wright.

¹ For this Julianic commonplace cf. Oration 6. 197b, note.

² A sophistic commonplace; cf. Vol. 2, Letter to Themistius 260a, note. He exchanged bronze armour for golden; Iliad 6. 236.

³ Iliad 11. 237.

⁴ Literally "keynote"; cf. To Iamblichus 421a, p. 238.

64. To Lucian the Sophist ⁵

Not only do I write to you but I demand to receive payment in kind. And if I treat you ill by writing continually, then I beg you to ill-treat me in return and make me suffer in the same way.

⁵ A merely sophistic letter of compliment such as this is a conventional "type" of the sort recommended in the contemporary handbooks on epistolary style. Gesner thinks it was addressed to the Lucian who wrote the dialogue Philopatris, preserved with the works of his illustrious namesake, but there is no evidence of this.

65. To Elpidius, a Philosopher ¹

Even a short letter gives more pleasure when the writer's affection can be measured by the greatness of his soul rather than by the meagre proportions of what he writes. So that if I now address you briefly, do not even so conclude that the accompanying affection is equally slight, but since you know the full extent of my love for you, forgive the brevity of my letter and do not hesitate to answer me in one equally short. For whatever you send me, however trifling, keeps alive in my mind a remembrance of all that is good.

¹ We know from Libanius, Letter 758 Foerster, To Julian, that towards the end of 362 Elpidius was at Antioch and in Julian's confidence. This letter is purely formal and may have been written then, or earlier. There are several letters extant from Libanius to Elpidius. Cumont ascribed this letter to Julian of Caesarea.

66. To George, a Revenue Official ²

Well, let us grant that Echo is a goddess, as you say she is, and a chatterbox, and, if you like, the wife of Pan ³ also; for I shall not object. And even though nature would fain inform me that Echo is only the sound of the voice answering back when the air is struck, and bent back upon that which is opposite the ear that hears it, nevertheless, since I put my faith in the account given by men both ancient and modern,¹ and in your own account no less, I am abashed into admitting that Echo is a goddess.² What, in any case, would that matter to me, if only, in my expressions of friendship towards you, I excel Echo in a considerable degree? For she does not reply to all the sounds that she hears, but rather to the last syllables uttered by the voice, like a grudging sweetheart who returns her lover's kisses with the merest touch of her lips. I, on the other hand, in my correspondence with you, lead off sweetly, and then again, in reply to your challenge, I return you like for like as though I threw back a ball. Therefore you cannot be too quick in recognising that your letters put you in default, and that it is yourself, since you receive more and give back very little, whom you consign to the similitude of the figure, and not me, since I am eager to score off you in both ways.³ However, whether you give in just the same degree as you receive, or not, whatever I am permitted to receive from you is a boon, and is credited as sufficient to balance the whole.⁴

² Otherwise unknown. The title Catholicus (cf. our "General") was used of officials in charge of the collection of tribute, especially in Africa; it is equivalent to procurator fisci. George was probably a sophist. This and the following letter are rejected by Schwarz, Cumont and Geffcken, because of their sophistic mannerisms.

³ Moschus, Idyl 6.

¹ For this conventional phrase, often used by Julian, cf. To Hecebolius, p. 219, and To Sarapion, pp. 271, 277.

² George had evidently used the figure of Echo, and accused Julian of imitating her.

³ i. e. both in sending and receiving letters.

⁴ Perhaps the last two sentences are a playful allusion to George's profession as a financier.

67. To George, a Revenue Official ⁵

"Thou hast come, Telemachus!" ⁶ as the verse says, but in your letters I have already seen you and the image of your noble soul, and have received the impression thereof as of an imposing device on a small seal. For it is possible for much to be revealed in little. Nay even Pheidias the wise artist not only became famous for his statue at Olympia or at Athens, but he knew also how to confine a work of great art within the limits of a small piece of sculpture; for instance, they say that his grasshopper and bee, and, if you please, his fly also, were of this sort; for every one of these, though naturally composed of bronze, through his artistic skill became a living thing. In those works, however, the very smallness of the living models perhaps contributed the appearance of reality to his skilful art; and do you, please, look at his Alexander¹ hunting on horseback, for its whole measurement is no larger than a fingernail.² Yet the marvellous skill of the workmanship is so lavished on every detail that Alexander at one and the same time strikes his quarry and intimidates the spectator, scaring him by his whole bearing, while the horse, reared on the very tips of his hoofs, is about to take a step and leave the pedestal, and by creating the illusion of vigorous action is endowed with movement by the artist's skill. This is exactly the effect that you have on me, my excellent friend. For after having been crowned often, already, as victor over the whole course, so to speak, in the lists of Hermes, the God of Eloquence, you now display the highest pitch of excellence in a few written words. And in very truth you imitate Homer's Odysseus,³ who, by merely saying who he was, was able to dazzle the Phaeacians. But if even from me you require some of what you call "friendly smoke," ¹ I shall not begrudge it. Surely the mouse who saved the lion in the fable² is proof enough that something useful may come even from one's inferiors.

⁵ Geffcken and Cumont reject this letter.

⁶ Odyssey 16. 23.

¹ The ascription to Pheidias the sculptor of works in the 'microtechnique' described here, is sometimes due to the confusion, in the Roman period, of the fifth century Pheidias with a gem-cutter of the same name who lived in the third century b.c. In the Jahrbuch d.k.d. Arch. Institute, 1889, p. 210, Furtwangler, who does not quote this letter, reproduces a gem from the British Museum collection signed by this later Pheidias; it is an Alexander on foot. The anachronism here makes the letter suspect.

² See Vol. 1, Oration 3, 112a for a reference to this kind of carving.

³ Odyssey 9. 19.

¹ George had perhaps in his letter referred to the longing of Odysseus to see even the smoke of his native land, and had compared his friend's letters to that smoke.

2 Babrius, Fable 107; Aesop, Fable 256.

68. To Dositheus ³

I am almost in tears—and yet the very utterance of your name ought to have been an auspicious sound, —for I recall to mind our noble and wholly admirable father.⁴ If you make it your aim to imitate him, not only will you yourself be happy but also you will give to human life, as he did, an example of which it will be proud. But if you are indolent you will grieve me, and you will blame yourself when blaming will not avail.

³ Otherwise unknown.

⁴ If the MS. reading is retained, Julian must be referring to someone who had taught them both. This was a regular usage and the teacher of one's own teacher could be referred to as "grandfather."

69. To Himerius ⁵

I could not read without tears the letter which you wrote after your wife's death, in which you told me of your surpassing grief. For not only does the event in itself call for sorrow, when a young and virtuous wife, the joy of her husband's heart,¹ and moreover the mother of precious children, is prematurely snatched away like a torch that has been kindled and shines brightly, and in a little while its flame dies down, but over and above this, the fact that it is you to whom this sorrow has come seems to me to make it still more grievous. For least of all men did our good Himerius deserve to experience any affliction, excellent orator that he is, and of all my friends the best beloved. Moreover, if it were any other man to whom I had to write about this, I should certainly have had to use more words in dealing with it; for instance, I should have said that such an event is the common lot, that we must needs submit, that nothing is gained by excessive grief, and I should have uttered all the other commonplaces considered appropriate for the alleviation of suffering, that is if I were exhorting one who did not know them. But since I think it unbecoming to offer to a man who well knows how to instruct others the sort of argument by which one must school those who are too ignorant for self-control, see now, I will forbear all such phrases; but I will relate to you a fable, or it may be a true story, of a certain wise man, which perhaps is not new to you, though it is probably unfamiliar to most people; and if you will use this and this alone, as though it were a drug to relieve pain, you will find release from your sorrow, as surely as from that cup which the Spartan woman ² is believed to have offered to Telemachus when his need was as great as your own. Now the story is that when Darius was in great grief for the death of a beautiful wife, Democritus¹ of Abdera could not by any argument succeed in consoling him; and so he promised him that he would bring back the departed to life, if Darius were willing to undertake to supply him with everything necessary for the purpose. Darius bade him spare no expense but take whatever he needed and make good his promise. After waiting a little, Democritus said that he was provided with everything else for carrying out his task, but still needed one thing only, which he himself did not know how to obtain; Darius, however, as King of all Asia, would perhaps find it without difficulty. And when the King asked him what it might be, this great thing which it was possible for only a king to know of, they say that Democritus in reply declared that if he would inscribe on his wife's tomb the names of three persons who had never mourned for anyone, she would straightway come to life again, since she could not disobey the authority of this mystic rite. Then Darius was in a dilemma, and could not find any man who had not had to bear some great sorrow, whereupon Democritus burst out laughing,² as was his wont, and said: "Why, then, Ο most absurd of men, do you mourn without ceasing, as though you were the only man who had ever been involved in so great a grief, you who cannot discover a single person of all who have ever lived who was without his share of personal sorrow?" But though it was necessary to say these things to Darius, a barbarian and a man of no education, the slave both of pleasure and of grief, you, on the other hand, are a Greek, and honour true learning, and you must find your remedy from within; for surely it would be a disgrace to the reasoning faculty if it had not the same potency as time.

⁵ Of Hertlein's "Amerius" we know nothing. See Introduction, under Himerius.

¹ An echo of Iliad 9. 336.

² Helen, Odyssey 4. 220, a rhetorical commonplace; cf. Vol. 2, Oration 8. 240b, p. 167, note.

¹ The Atomistic philosopher, cf. Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker 2. 16. 41. This is a traditional anecdote, told of Herodes Atticus and Demonax by Lucian, Demonax 25, and only here of Darius and Democritus.

² Democritus was known as "the laughing Philosopher" cf. Oration 6. 186c, Vol. 2, p. 20, Wright.

70. To Diogenes ¹

Your son Diogenes, whom I saw after you went away, told me that you had been much irritated with him for some reason that would naturally make a father feel vexed with his child, and he implored me to act as mediator in a reconciliation between him and yourself. Now, if he has committed some error of a mild and not intolerable kind, do you yield to nature, recognise that you are a father, and again turn your thoughts to your child. But if his offence is too serious to admit of immediate forgiveness, it is right for you yourself rather than for me to decide whether you ought to bear even that with a generous spirit and overcome your son's purpose by wiser thoughts, or to entrust the offender's probation to a longer period of discipline.

¹ Diogenes is otherwise unknown. Schwarz places this letter between January and June 362, when Julian was at Constantinople. The tone seems to imply that he was already Emperor, but the note is purely conventional, a "type" of the letter of intervention.

71. To Commander Gregory ²

Even a short letter from you is enough to provide me with grounds for feeling greatly pleased. Accordingly, since I was exceedingly pleased with what you wrote to me, I in turn send you a letter of the same length, because in my judgement the friendly greetings of comrades ought to be rewarded not by length of letter so much as by magnitude of goodwill.

² A Gregorius Dux was pretorian prefect in 336, according to Codex Theodosianus 3. 1. 2, but this purely formal letter of the type that survived in epistolary handbooks and is probably addressed to a younger man.

72. To Plutarch ¹

In all respects my bodily health is fairly good, and indeed my state of mind is no less satisfactory. I fancy there can be no better prelude than this to a letter sent from one friend to another. And to what is this the prelude? To a request, of course! And what is the request? It is for letters in return, and in their sentiments may they harmonise with my own letters and bring me similar news from you, and equally auspicious.

¹ This may be the obscure Athenian philosopher, a contemporary of Julian; cf. Marinus, Proclus 12.

73. To Maximinus ²

I have given orders that there shall be ships at Cenchreae.³ The number of these you will learn from the governor of the Hellenes,⁴ but as to how you are to discharge your commission you may now hear from me. It must be without bribery and without delay. I will myself, with the help of the gods, see that you do not repent of having done your duty as I have indicated.

² Nothing is known of Maximinus or the circumstances; if the letter is genuine, as is probable, it may refer to Julian's preparations for his march against Constantius in 361.

³ A coast town S.W. of the Isthmus of Corinth.

⁴ i.e. the proconsul of Achaia who resided at Corinth.

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Julian the Apostate, Letters - apocryphal (1923) Works Vol. 3, pp.236-293

Julian the Apostate, Letters - apocryphal (1923) Works Vol. 3, pp.236-293

[Translated by W. C. Wright]

THE APOCRYPHAL LETTERS ¹

74. To Iamblichus

I ought indeed to have obeyed the Delphic inscription "Know Thyself," and not have ventured to affront the ears of so great a man as yourself; for only to look you in the face, when one meets your eye, is no easy matter, and it is much less easy to try to rival you when you wake the harmony of your unfailing wisdom, seeing that if Pan roused the echoes with his shrill song everyone would yield him place, yes, even though it were Aristaeus² himself, and when Apollo played the lyre everyone would keep silence, even though he knew the music of Orpheus. For it is right that the inferior, in so far as it is inferior, should yield to the superior, that is if it is to know what is appropriate to itself and what is not. But he who has conceived the hope of matching his mortal song with inspired music has surely never heard of the sad fate of Marsyas the Phrygian, or of the river which is named after him and bears witness to the punishment of that insane flute-player, nor has he heard of the end of Thamyris, the Thracian who, in an evil hour, strove in song against the Muses. Need I mention the Sirens, whose feathers the victorious Muses still wear on their brows?¹ But each one of those that I have named is still even now paying in the tradition the fitting penalty for his boorishness and temerity, and I, as I said, ought to have stayed within my own boundaries and held my peace while I enjoyed my fill of the music uttered by you, like those who receive in silence the oracle of Apollo when it issues from the sacred shrine. But since you yourself furnish me with the keynote of my song, and by your words, as though with the wand of Hermes, arouse and wake me from sleep, lo now, even as when Dionysus strikes his thyrsus his followers rush riotous to the dance, so let me too in response to your plectron make answering music, like those who accompany the choirmaster, keeping time to the call of the rhythm. And in the first place let me make a first-offering to you, since this is your pleasure, of the speeches which I recently composed at the Emperor's command in honour of the glorious bridging of the strait,² though what I offer you is returning small for great and in very truth bronze for gold ³; yet I am entertaining our Hermes with such fare as I have. Surely Theseus did not disdain the plain meal that Hecale ⁴ provided, but knew how to content himself with humble fare when the need arose. Nor was Pan, the god of shepherds, too proud to set to his lips the pipe of the boy neat-herd.⁵ Then do you also in your turn accept my discourse in a gracious spirit and do not refuse to lend your mighty ear to my humble strain. But if it has any cleverness at all, then not only is my discourse itself fortunate but so too is its author, in that he has obtained the testimony of Athene's vote.¹ And if it still needs a finishing touch to complete it as a whole, do not refuse to add to it yourself what it needs. Before now the god in answer to prayer has stood by the side of a bowman and set his hand to the arrow, and again, when a bard was playing the cithara and singing a high and stirring strain, the Pythian god, when the string failed, assumed the guise of a cicada and uttered a note of the same tone.

¹ Letters 74-83, with the possible exception of 81, are certainly not by Julian.

² For Aristaeus see Vergil, Georgics 4; he is a vegetation deity not usually associated with music.

¹ The Muses, having defeated the Sirens in a singing competition, tore out their feathers and wore them as a symbol of victory.

² Geffcken tries to connect this passage with the order of Constantius to Julian to send his troops across the Bosporus en route to Persia. Cumont's reading " of the river" supposes that Constantine's bridge over the Danube in 328 is meant; cf. Aurelius Victor 41. 18, pons per Danubium ductus. In my opinion the sophist who wrote this letter had composed speeches on the stock theme of Xerxes and the Hellespont.

3 See p. 218.

⁴ The tale is told in the brief epic of Callimachus, the Hecale, of which we have fragments; also in Plutarch, Theseus.

⁵ Theocritus 1. 128.

¹ The suffragium Minervae; the proverb is derived from Aeschylus, Eumenides, where Athene, by breaking a tie vote, saved Orestes.

75. To the Same

Ο Zeus, how can it be right that I should spend my time in the middle of Thrace and winter in the grain-pits ² here, while from charming Iamblichus, as though from a sort of spring in the East, letters come to me like swallows and I cannot yet go to him nor can he come to me? Who would be willing to put up with this unless he were some Thracian and as bad as Tereus? ³

"Lord Zeus do thou rescue the Achaeans from Thrace and make clear weather an grant us to see with our eyes"¹ our own Hermes some day, and salute his shrine and embrace his statue as they tell us Odysseus did when after his wandering he beheld Ithaca.² Nay, but he was still asleep when the Phaeacians unloaded him from their ship like a piece of freight and went their way; but as for me sleep can never lay hold on me till it be my lot to see you that are the benefactor of the whole world. And yet you say in jest that I and my friend Sopater have transported the whole East into Thrace. Yet, if I must speak the truth, Cimmerian gloom abides with me so long as Iamblichus is not here. And you demand one of two things, that I should go to you or that you yourself should come to me. To my mind one of these alternatives is both desirable and expedient, I mean that I should go to you and benefit by the blessings that you bestow, while the other surpasses all my prayers. But since this is impossible for you and inexpedient, do you remain at home and prosper and preserve the tranquillity that you enjoy, while I will endure with a brave spirit whatever God may send.³ For we are told that it is the proof of a good man to keep hoping for the best, to do his duty and follow his fate and the will of God.

² The phrase is borrowed from Demosthenes, On the Chersonese 45.

3 Tereus was king of Thrace.

¹ Julian paraphrases Iliad 17. 645.

² Odyssey 13. 354.

³ Cf. Oration 8. 243d for the same phrase, derived from Demosthenes, On the Crown 97.

76. To the Same

I confess that I had paid a full and sufficient penalty for leaving you, not only in the annoyances that I encountered on my journey, but far more in the very fact that I have been away from you for so long, though I have indeed endured so many and various fortunes everywhere, that I have left nothing untried. But though I have undergone the alarms of war, the rigour of a siege, the wandering of exile and all sorts of terrors, and moreover the extreme cold of winter, the dangers of disease and countless mischances of many kinds in my journey from Upper Pannonia till I crossed the Chalcedonian straits,¹ I may say that nothing so painful or so distressing has happened to me as the fact that after I left the East I have not, for so long a time, seen you, the universal blessing of the Hellenes. So do not be surprised if I say that a sort of mist and thick cloud overshadows my eyes. For only then will a clear atmosphere and the brilliant light of the sun, and, so to speak, the fairest and truest springtime of my life, encompass me when I can embrace you, the delight and glory of the whole world, and, like the true son of a noble father who when hope is given up is seen returning from war, it may be, or from the stormy billows of the sea,² can proceed to recount to you all that I have suffered and what dangers I have been through, and as I, so to speak, ride safely on a sacred anchor,³ can find at last a sufficient consolation for my misfortunes. For naturally it is a consolation and lightens the weight of sorrow when one unburdens one's experiences to others and shares with them the knowledge of one's sufferings in the intercourse of speech. Meanwhile, however, with what means I have I will, so far as I can approach you; and indeed I shall not cease, for the whole period of our separation, to conciliate you with letters by way of a token. And if I only receive the like from you, I shall be somewhat more submissive and shall hold converse with your letters, regarding them as a sort of symbol that you are safe and well. Do you, then, graciously accept what arrives from me, and show yourself still more gracious in making requital, since every noble utterance of yours, every written word, is reckoned by me as equivalent to the voice of Hermes the god of eloquence, or to the hand of Asclepius.¹

¹ The reference is probably to Constantine's march in from Pannonia to Nicomedia by way of the Dardanelles.

² For a similar idea cf. Julian, To the Athenians, Vol. 2, Wright, 285c, p. 285.

³ Cf. ancoram sacram (or ultimam) solvere, a proverb implying the use of what has been kept in reserve.

¹ See Letter 79. 406d.

77. To the Same

"Thou hast come! well hast thou done!" You have indeed come, even though absent, by means of your letter—"And I was yearning for thee, and thou didst set ablaze my heart, already aflame with longing for thee." ² Nay, I neither refuse the love-philtre nor do I ever leave you at all, but with my soul I behold you as though you were present, and am with you when absent, and nothing is enough to quench my insatiate desire. Moreover, you also never slacken, but without ceasing you benefit those who are present with you and by your letters not only cheer but even heal those who are absent. At any rate, when someone not long ago gave me the news that a friend had come and brought letters from you, it happened that for three days I had been suffering from a disorder of the stomach, and in fact I was in acute physical pain, so that I was not even free from fever. But, as I said, when I was told that the person who had the letters was at my door I jumped up like one possessed, who has lost control of himself, and rushed out before what I wanted could arrive. And the moment that I merely took the letter in my hands, I swear by the very gods and by the love that burns in me for you, that instant my pains forsook me and at once the fever let me go, as though it were abashed by some manifest saving presence. But when I broke the seal and read the letter, can you imagine what feelings took possession of my soul at that moment or with what delight I was filled, or how I praised to the skies that dearest of winds,¹ to quote your words, the lover's wind in very truth, the messenger of glad tidings—and loved it with good reason, since it had done me this service of bringing a letter from you, and like a winged thing had guided straight to me, with a fair and hurrying blast, that letter which brought me not only the pleasure of hearing good news of you but also salvation at your hands in my own illness? But how could I describe my other sensations when first I read the letter, or how could I find adequate words to betray my own passion? How often did I hark back from the middle to the beginning? How often did I fear that I should finish it before I was aware? How often, as though I were going round in a circle in the evolutions of a strophe,¹ did I try to connect the contents of the last paragraph with the first, just as though in a song set to music I were making the leading note of the beginning the same as the closing bars of the measure? Or how describe what I did next—how often I held the letter to my lips, as mothers embrace their children, how often I kissed it with those lips as though I were embracing my dearest sweetheart, how often I invoked and kissed and held to my eyes even the superscription which had been signed by your own hand as though by a clear cut seal, and how I clung to the imprint of the letters as I should to the fingers of that sacred right hand of yours! I too "wish thee joy in full measure," ² as fair Sappho says, and not only " for just so long as we have been parted from one another," but may you rejoice evermore, and write to me and remember me with kindly thoughts. For no time shall ever pass by me in which I shall forget you, in any place, at any hour, in any word I speak. "But if ever Zeus permits me to return to my native land," ³ and once more I humbly approach that sacred hearth of yours, do not spare me hereafter as you would a runaway, but fetter me, if you will, to your own beloved dwelling, making me captive like a deserter from the Muses, and then discipline me with such penalties as suffice for my punishment. Assuredly I shall submit to your jurisdiction not unwillingly, but with a good will and gladly, as to a kind father's provident and salutary correction. Moreover, if you would consent to trust me to sentence myself and allow me to suffer the penalty that I prefer, I would gladly fasten myself to your tunic, my noble friend, so that I might never for a moment leave your side but be with you always and closely attached to you wherever you are, like those two-bodied beings invented in the myths. Unless, indeed, in this case also the myths, though they tell us the story in jest, are describing in enigmatical words an extraordinary sort of friendship and by that close tie of a common being express the kinship of soul in both beings.¹

² The quotations are from an ode of Sappho and perhaps run through the whole letter; see critical note.

¹ An echo of Sophocles, Philoctetes 237.

¹ e.g. in the chorus of the drama.

² Frag. 85, Bergk.

3 Odyssey 4. 475.

¹ For Julian's allegorising interpretation of myths see Oration, 5. 170; 7. 216c, 222c; and for the illustration here Lucian, Toxaris 62.

78. To the Same.

I am sensible of the sweet-tempered manner in which you reproach me, and that you achieve two things with equal success, for you do me honour by what you write and instruct me by your criticisms. And for my part, if I were conscious of even the least failure in the attention due to you, I should certainly try by making reasonable excuses to parry your criticism, or if I were in fault I should not hesitate to ask your forgiveness, especially as I know that you are not implacable towards your friends when they have involuntarily failed in some friendly office to you. But as it is—since it was not right either for you to be neglected or for me to be careless if we were to attain that which we ever seek after and desire—come, I will plead my case before you as though by the rules of a lawsuit, and I will prove that far from having neglected any of my duties towards you I have never even ventured to postpone them.

It is now three years since I arrived from Pannonia,¹with difficulty escaping safely from the dangers and troubles that you know of. When I had crossed the Chalcedonian strait and approached the city of Nicomedia, to you first as though to the god of my fathers I paid vows as the first thank-offering for my deliverance, by sending you as a token of my arrival my salutation in place of a sacred offering. The man who took charge of my letter was one of the imperial guard named Julian, the son of Bacchylus, a native of Apamea, and to him I all the more readily entrusted the letter because he asserted that he was going in your direction and that he knew you very well. Afterwards, as though from Apollo, a sacred letter came to me from you, in which you declared that you had been pleased to hear of my arrival. This was to my mind an auspicious omen and a fount of fairest hopes,— Iamblichus the wise and the letter of Iamblichus to me. Need I say how I rejoiced or assure you how deeply I was moved by your letter? For if you had received what I wrote to you with no other purpose—and it was sent to you by one of the couriers who came from where you are,—you would certainly know from what I then said how great was the pleasure that I felt on receiving it. Again, when the custodian of my children ² was returning home, I began another letter to you in which I at the same time spoke to you of my gratitude for your previous favours and begged for a like return from you for the immediate future. After this the excellent Sopater¹ came on an embassy to our city. When I recognised him I at once started up and flew to him and when I had embraced him I wept for joy, dreaming of nothing else but you and a letter from you to me. And when I received it I kissed it and held it to my eyes and kept tight hold of it as though I were afraid that while I was in the act of reading your letter the phantom of your image might elude me and fly away. And, moreover, I at once wrote an answer, not to you only but also to the revered Sopater, that great man's son, telling him, as though giving myself airs, that I accepted our mutual friend from Apamea as a sort of hostage for your absence. This is the third letter that I have written to you since that time, but I have myself received no other letter from you save that in which you seem to reproach me.

Now if you are accusing me merely for the purpose of providing me with further motives for writing to you, and only pretend to reproach me, then I am very glad to receive your criticism, and in this very letter that has now come I take to myself the whole of the kindness implied. But if you really accuse me of being in any way remiss in my duty to you, " who could be more wretched than I " ² through the wrongdoing or negligence of letter-carriers, when I, least of all men, deserve the reproach? And yet even if I do not write oftener I may well claim indulgence from you—I do not mean because of the many affairs which I have on my hands—for may I never sink so low as not to count you more important than any business whatever, as Pindar¹ says!—but because there is more wisdom in hesitating to write more than is fitting to so great a man as yourself, whom one cannot so much as think of without awe, than in being too presumptuous. For even as those who venture to gaze steadily at the bright beams of Helios, unless indeed they be in some sort divine and like the genuine offspring of eagles ² can brave his rays, are unable to behold what is not lawful for their eyes to see, and the more they strive for this the more do they show that they have not the power to attain it, even so, I say, he who ventures to write to you shows clearly that the more he allows himself to presume the more he ought to be afraid. For you, however, my noble friend, who have been appointed as the saviour, so to speak, of the whole Hellenic world, it would have been becoming not only to write to me without stint, but also to allay as far as you could the scruples felt by me. For as Helios—if my argument may again employ in reference to you a simile from the god,— even as Helios, I say, when he shines in full splendour with his brilliant rays rejects naught of what encounters his beams, but ever performs his function, so ought you also not to shrink from bountifully pouring forth the flood of your blessings like light over the Hellenic world even when, whether from modesty, or fear of you, one is too bashful to make any return. Asclepius, again, does not heal mankind in the hope of repayment, but everywhere fulfils his own function of beneficence to mankind. This, then, you ought to do also, as though you were the physician of souls endowed with eloquence, and you ought to keep up on all occasions the preaching of virtue, like a skilled archer who, even though he have no opponent, keeps training his hand by every means in view of future need. For in truth we two have not the same ambition, since mine is to secure the wise teachings that flow from you and yours is to read letters sent by me. But as for me, though I should write ten thousand times, mine is still mere child's play, and I am like the boys in Homer who on the sea-shores model something in wet sand and then abandon it all for the sea to wash away; whereas even a short letter from you is more potent than any fertilising flood, and for my part I would rather receive one letter from Iamblichus than possess all the gold of Lydia. If, then, you care at all for your fond admirers—and you do care if I am not mistaken—do not neglect me who am like a fledgling constantly in need of sustenance from you, but write regularly, and moreover do not be reluctant to feast me on the good things that come from you. And if I prove to be remiss, do you take on yourself to provide both things, not only what you yourself give but equally what you furnish in my place. For it befits you as a pupil of Hermes, the god of eloquence, or, if you prefer, his nursling, to desire to imitate his use of the wand, not by putting men to sleep, but by rousing and awakening them.

¹ Constantine marched from Pannonia to Nicomedia in 323, so perhaps this letter can be dated 326. In Julian's authentic writings we always find Paeonia for Pannonia; see Letter 76, p. 244, for a reference to this journey.

² This phrase is perhaps metaphorical; see p. 214, note 1.

¹ This may be the Sopater whom Julian mentions in letter 58 To Libanius, p. 207. But he is more probably the elder Sopater who was executed by Constantine.

² An iambic trimeter whose source is not known; see critical note.

¹ Isthmian Odes 1. 1.

² For this allusion to the eagle's test of its offspring see Letter 59, To Maximus; Themistius 240c; Lucian, Icaromenippus 14; Claudian, On the Third Consulship of Honorius, Preface 1-14.

79. To the Same

When Odysseus was trying to remove his son's illusion about him, it was enough for him to say: "No God am I. Why then do you liken me to the immortals?"¹ But I might say that I do not exist at all among men so long as I am not with Iamblichus. Nay, I admit that I am your lover, even as Odysseus that he was the father of Telemachus. For even though someone should say that I am unworthy, not even so shall he deprive me of my longing. For I have heard that many men have fallen in love with beautiful statues² and far from injuring the art of the craftsman they have by their passion for them imparted to the workmanship the added delight in what lives and breathes. But as for the wise men of old among whom you are pleased to reckon me in jest, I should say that I fall as far short of them as I believe that you are to be ranked among them. And indeed you have succeeded in combining with yourself not only Pindar or Democritus or most ancient Orpheus, but also that whole genius of the Hellenes which is on record as having attained to the summit of philosophy, even as in a lyre by the harmonious combination of various notes the perfection of music is achieved. And just as the myths give Argus, Io's guardian, an encircling ring of ever-wakeful eyes as he keeps watch over the darling of Zeus, so too does true report endow you, the trusted guardian of virtue, with the light of the countless eyes of culture. They say that Proteus the Egyptian used to change himself into various shapes ¹ as though he feared being taken unawares and showing those who needed his aid that he was wise. But for my part, if Proteus was really wise and the sort of man to know the truth about many things, as Homer says, I applaud him for his talent, but I cannot admire his attitude of mind, since he played the part, not of one who loves mankind, but of an impostor by concealing himself in order to avoid being of service to mankind. But who, my noble friend, would not genuinely admire you, since though you are inferior in no way to wise Proteus if not even more fully initiated than he in consummate virtues, you do not begrudge mankind the blessings that you possess, but, like the bright sun, you cause the rays of your pure wisdom to shine on all men, not only by associating, as is natural, with those near you, but also as far as possible by making the absent proud through your writings. And in this way by your achievements you surpass even charming Orpheus; for he squandered on the ears of wild beasts his own peculiar musical gift, but you, as though you had been born to save the whole human race, emulate everywhere the hand of Asclepius and pervade all things with the saving power of your eloquence. Wherefore I think that Homer, too, if he were to return to life, would with far more justice allude to you in the verse:

"One is still alive and is detained in the wide world." ¹

For, in very truth, for those of us who are of the antique mould, a sacred spark, so to speak, of true and life-giving culture is kindled by your aid alone. And grant, Ο Zeus the saviour, and Hermes, god of eloquence, that this blessing which is the common property of the whole world, even the charming Iamblichus, may be preserved for the longest possible period of time! Indeed, there is no doubt that in the case of Homer and Plato and Socrates ² and others who were worthy to be of that company, the prayers of the just were successful and did avail men of old, and thus increased and prolonged the natural term of those great men's lives. So there is no reason why in our day, also, a man who in his eloquence and virtuous life is the peer of those famous men, should not by means of similar prayers be conducted to the extreme limit of old age for the happiness of mankind.

¹ Odyssey 16. 187.

² For such cases cf. Aelian, Varia Historici 9. 39.

¹ Odyssey 4. 363 foll.; Vergil, Georgics 4. 388 foll.

¹ Odyssey 4. 498. The original verse ends with "on the sea"; the verse was a rhetorical commonplace and the ending is often altered to suit the context.

2 There would be more point in the reading "Isocrates" (Cumont) since he lived to be nearly one hundred.

80. To the most illustrious Sarapion ³

People observe the public festivals in various ways. But I am sending you a hundred long-stalked, dried, homegrown figs as a sweet token of this pleasant festal season. If you measure the gift by its size, the pleasure I offer you is trifling, but if measured by its beauty it will perhaps suffice. It is the opinion of Aristophanes¹ that figs are sweeter than anything else except honey, and on second thoughts he does not allow that even honey is sweeter than figs. Herodotus² the historian also, in order to describe a really barren desert thought it enough to say: "They have no figs or anything else that is good"; as though to say that among the fruits of the earth there is none to be ranked above figs, and that where men had figs they did not wholly lack something good. Again, the wise Homer praises other fruits for their size or colour or beauty, but to the fig alone he allows the epithet "sweet." ³ And he calls honey "yellow,"⁴ for fear he should inadvertently call "sweet" what is in fact often bitter; accordingly, to the fig alone ⁵ he assigns this epithet for its own, just as he does to nectar, because alone of all things it is sweet. Indeed Hippocrates⁶ says that honey, though it is sweet to the taste, is quite bitter to the digestion, and I can believe his statement; for all agree that it produces bile and turns the juices to the very opposite of its original flavour, which fact even more surely convicts it of being in its origin naturally bitter.⁷ For it would not change to this bitterness if in the beginning this quality had not belonged to it, from which it changed to the reverse. But the fig is not only sweet to taste but it is still better for digestion. And it is so beneficial to mankind that Aristotle¹ even says that it is an antidote for every deadly poison, and that for no other reason than this is it served before other food as a first course at meals and then at the end for dessert, as though we embraced it in preference to any other sacred means of averting the injury caused by the things we eat. Moreover, that the fig is offered to the gods also, and is set on the altar in every sacrifice, and that it is better than any frankincense for making fragrant fumes, this is a statement not made by me alone,² but whoever is acquainted with its use knows that it is the statement of a wise man, a hierophant. Again, the admirable Theophrastus³ in his precepts of agriculture, when he is describing the kinds of grafted trees and what sorts admit of being grafted on one another, commends the fig tree above all other plants, if I am not mistaken, as being able to receive various and different kinds, and as the only one of them all that easily bears a growth of any other sort, if you cut out every one of its boughs and then break off and insert a different engrafted stock into each of the cleft stumps; hence to look at it is often equivalent to a complete garden, since it returns you the variegated and manifold splendours of other fruits, as happens in the loveliest orchard. And whereas the fruits of other fruit-bearing trees are short-lived and cannot last for any time, the fig alone can survive beyond the year, and is present at the birth of the fruit that is to follow it. Hence Homer ¹ also says that in the garden of Alcinous the fruits "wax old on" one another. Now in the case of other fruits this might perhaps seem to be a poetic fiction, but for the fig alone it would be consistent with the plain fact, because alone of all fruits it lasts for some time. Such, I think, is the nature of the fig in general, but the kind that grows with us is much better than others; so that in proportion as the fig is more valuable than other plants, our fig is more admirable than the fig in general; and while the latter in its kind surpasses all other fruits, it is in its turn excelled by ours, and again holds its own by comparison in both respects, first in being plainly superior, and secondly, in points where it seems to be inferior it wins on the general count. And it is quite natural that this should be so in our country alone. For it was fitting, I think, that the city which in very truth belongs to Zeus and is the eye of the whole East,—I mean sacred and most mighty Damascus,—² which in all other respects bears the palm, for instance, for the beauty of its shrines and the size of its temples and for its exquisitely tempered climate and the splendour of its fountains, the number of its rivers and the fertility of its soil— I say it is fitting that she alone should keep up her reputation by the possession of a plant of this excellence and thus excite an excess of admiration. Accordingly our tree does not brook transplanting, nor does it overstep the natural boundaries of its growth, but as though by a law that governs the indigenous plant refuses to grow in colonies abroad. The same sorts of gold and silver are, I believe, produced in many places, but our country alone gives birth to a plant that cannot be grown anywhere else. And just like the wares of India, or Persian silks, or all that is produced and collected in the country of the Ethiopians but travels everywhere by the law of commerce, so, too, our native fig does not grow anywhere else on earth, but is exported by us to all parts, and there is no city or island to which it does not travel, because it is so much admired for its sweet flavour. Moreover it even adorns the imperial table and is the boast and ornament of every feast; and there is no cake or roll or pastry ¹ or any kind of confectionery to match it as a sweetmeat wherever it comes; so far does it surpass in admirable qualities all other dainties, and moreover all figs from any other place. Again, other figs are either eaten in autumn, or are dried and go to the store-room, but the fig of our country alone can be used in both ways, and though it is good while on the tree it is far better when it has been dried. And should you see with your own eyes their beauty while they are still on the trees, and how from each one of the bi'anches they hang by long stalks like flower-buds, so to speak, or again, how with their fruit they completely encircle the tree, then you would say that by this circular series one above another they compose a splendid and varied picture even as a neck in its necklace. Then again, the manner in which they are taken from the tree and the means employed for preserving them for a long time involve quite as much outlay as the pleasure derived from their use. For they are not, like other kinds of figs, thrown together in one place, nor are they dried in the sun in heaps or promiscuously; but first they are gathered carefully by hand from the trees, then they are hung-on walls by means of sticks or thorny twigs, so that they may be bleached by exposure to the direct rays of the sun while they are also safe from the attacks of animals and small birds, since the protection of the prickles furnishes them with a sort of bodyguard. So far my letter to you deals with their origin, sweetness, beauty, confection, and use, and is in lighter vein.

Now to consider the number one hundred,¹ which is more honourable than any other and contains in itself the perfection of all numbers, as one may learn from the following considerations. I am indeed well aware that there is a saying of wise men of old that an odd number is to be preferred to an even, and they declare that the source of increase is that which does not couple. For in a pair the one term being equal to the other remains of the same quality, but when there are two numbers the third produces oddness. But for my part, even though the statement is somewhat bold, I would nevertheless say this: Numbers surely depend on a generative principle, and can carry on consecutive increase through the whole series. But I hold that it is far more just to assign the cause of that increase to the even than to the odd number. For the number one is not odd, when it has no number in respect to which it were odd. But its coupling with two produces twofold oddness,¹ and the number three, coming from the two, naturally proceeds as increase. Then again when we add two to two, the result is the higher stage of the number four, and, in a word, their conjunction, while making oddness clear in each of their two elements, is constituted in the number two. This being granted, I should say, of course, that when the first decad is revolving on itself in a circle,² the whole series progresses to the number one hundred, so that by the number one the increase amounts to ten, and the decad in turn is added each time to itself, and the total is reached in the number one hundred. And starting again from this point, with the hundreds, the whole series of numbers derive their power, by the activity of the number one, except that it is the number two ³ when combined with it that ever produces the odd and again recalls it to itself, until again it concludes with a second hundred the sum of all the numbers, and, making it complete, proceeds again from it to another and under the denomination of hundreds continually carries forward the sum to the conception of infinity. So I think that Homer too in his poems does not lightly or idly assign to Zeus the hundred-tasselled aegis,⁴ but in a lofty and obscure saying he hinted at this that to the most perfect god he attached the most perfect number, that number by which alone beyond all the others he would most fittingly be adorned, or because the whole universe which he has comprehended in the shape of an aegis, by reason of the roundness of that image, no other number than the hundred describes, and so with the round number one hundred he harmonises the conception of the intelligible world as a whole. Again, on the same principle he makes Briareus with his hundred hands the assessor of Zeus and allows him to rival his father's might, as though he expressed the perfection of his strength by means of the perfect number. Again, Pindar¹ the Theban, when he celebrates the destruction of Typhoeus in his odes of victory, and ascribes to the most mighty ruler of the gods power over this most mighty giant, rises to the highest pitch of praise simply because with one blow he was able to lay low the hundred-headed giant, as though no other giant was held worthy to fight hand to hand with Zeus than he whom, alone of all the rest, his mother had armed with a hundred heads; and as though no other of the gods save Zeus only were worthy to win a victory by the destruction of so great a giant. Simonides² also, the lyric poet, thinks it enough for his praise of Apollo that he should call the god "Hekatos" ³and adorn him with this title rather than with any other sacred symbol; for this reason, that he overcame the Python, the serpent, with a hundred shafts, as he says, and the god himself took more pleasure in being addressed as "Hekatos" than as "the Pythian," as if he were thus invoked by the symbolic expression of his complete title. Then again, the island Crete which nurtured Zeus, has received as her reward, as though it were her fee for sheltering Zeus, the honour of cities to the number of one hundred. Homer¹ too praises Thebes the hundred-gated for no other reason than this that there was a marvellous beauty in her hundred gates. I say nothing of the hecatombs of the gods and temples a hundred feet long, altars with a hundred steps, rooms that hold a hundred men, fields of a hundred acres and other things divine and human which are classed together because they have this number for their epithet. It is a number, moreover, that has the power to adorn official rank both for war and peace, and while it lends brilliance to a company of a hundred soldiers it also confers distinction on the title of judges ²when their number is one hundred. And I could say more than this, but the etiquette of letter-writing deters me. But do you be indulgent to my discourse, for what I have said already is more than enough. And if my essay has in your judgement even a mediocre elegance it shall surely go forth for others to read, after receiving the testimonial of your vote; but if it need another hand to make it fulfil its aim, who better than you should know how to polish the manuscript to the point of elegance and make it smooth so as to give pleasure to the eye?

³ Sarapion is otherwise unknown.

¹ Quoted in Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 652f; Fragg. Incert. Fab. 7.

² 1. 71.

3 Odyssey 7. 116.

4 Odyssey 10. 234.

⁵ Homer does however call honey " sweet" in Odyssey 20. 69.

⁶ De internis affectionibus 84A; Hippocrates is speaking of honey that has been cooked.

⁷ Oration 8. 241a, Julian says that honey is made from the bitterest herbs.

¹ Aristotle, Frag. 105, Rose.

² A Julianic commonplace, cf. note on Vol. 2 Fragment of a Letter 299c, and above, p. 222.

³ Enquiry into Plants 2. 5. 6.

¹ Odyssey 7. 120.

² Julian, as far as we know, never visited Damascus.

¹ An echo of Demosthenes, On the Crown 260.

¹ He was sending one hundred figs.

¹ i.e. 1 is now odd in relation to 2, and their combination results in 3, an odd number.

² i.e. when ten is multiplied by ten.

3 The writer, who probably could not have explained his cryptic language, insists on the superiority of the dyad, even and feminine, to the odd number 1, regarded as the male principle.

⁴ The epithet is not used in our Homer of the aegis of Zeus, but of the aegis of Athene and the girdle of Hera.

¹ Pindar, Olympian Ode 4. 1; Pythian 1. 16.

² Simonides, frag. 26, Bergk.

³ This epithet means "Far-Darter" and is misinterpreted by the writer of this letter to mean "Hundredth."

¹ Iliad 9. 383; Aeneid 3. 106.

² The centumviri.

81. To Basil ¹

Up to the present I have displayed the innately mild and humane temper that I have shown since childhood, and have brought under my sway all who dwell on the earth beneath the sun. For lo, every tribe of barbarians as far as the boundaries of the river of Ocean has come bringing gifts to lay at my feet! And likewise the Sagadares ² who are bred on the banks of the Danube, and the Cotti with headdresses of many shapes and colours, who are not like the rest of mankind to look at, but have a fierce and wild appearance. These at the present time are grovelling in my footprints and promise to do whatever suits my majesty's pleasure. And not only am I distracted by this, but I must with all speed occupy the country of the Persians and put to flight the great Sapor, who is the descendant of Darius, until he consents to pay me tribute and taxes. Afterwards I must also sack the settlements of the Indians and Saracens, until they too shall all take second place in my Empire and consent to pay tribute and taxes. But you have in your own person displayed a pride far exceeding the power of all these, when you say that you are clothed in pious reserve, but in fact flaunt your impudence, and spread a rumour on all sides that I am not worthy to be Emperor of the Romans. What! Do you not yourself know that I am a descendant of the most mighty Constans? And although this your conduct has come to my knowledge I have not, as concerns you, departed from my former attitude—I mean that mutual regard which you and I had when we were young men of the same age. But with no harshness of temper I decree that you shall despatch to me one thousand pounds weight of gold, as I march by Caesarea, to be paid without my leaving the high-road, since I purpose to march with all speed to carry on the war with Persia, and I am prepared, if you do not do this, to lay waste the whole district of Caesarea,¹ to tear down on the spot those fine buildings erected long ago, and to set up instead temples and images, that so I may persuade all men to submit to the Emperor of Rome and not be inflated with conceit. Accordingly, weigh the above-mentioned gold to that amount on Campanian scales, oversee it yourself and measure it carefully and despatch it safely to me by someone of your household in whom you have confidence, and first seal it with your own seal-ring, so that, if you have recognised, late though it be, that the occasion admits of no evasion, I may deal mildly with your errors of the past. For what I read, I understood and condemned.²

¹ This letter, generally recognised as spurious, is perhaps a Christian forgery, since it gives an unfavourable impression of Julian. The writer knew nothing of Julian's style and mannerisms. Julian was no boaster and avoided outlandish words. It was probably read by Sozomen, 5. 18. 7, and is of early date. Julian was in frequent correspondence with Basil, and for their friendly relations cf. To Basil, p. 81.

² This tribe cannot be identified. Julian himself always calls the Danube "Ister."

¹ Caesarea had had three fine temples destroyed by the Christians. Julian ordered their restoration, confiscated the estates of the Church, and imposed a fine of 300 lbs. of gold, cf. Sozomen 5. 9. 7. Julian's death may have prevented the enforcement of the penalty.

2 See below, frag. 14, p. 303. This last sentence was probably not in the original letter but was quoted as Julian's by Sozomen 5. 18 and added to this letter in some MSS. It occurs separately in one MS., Ambrosianus Β 4, with the title wpbs έπισχόπουε (Cumont, Recherches, p. 47).

82. Letter from Gallus Caesar to his brother Julian ¹

Gallus Caesar to his brother Julian, Greeting.

My nearness to the country, I mean to Ionia,²has brought me the greatest possible gain. For it gave me comfort when I was troubled and pained at the first reports that came to me. You will understand what I mean. It came to my ears that you had abandoned your former mode of worship which was handed down by our ancestors, and goaded by some evil kind of madness that incited you to this, had betaken yourself to that vain superstition. What pain should I not have suffered? For just as whenever I learn by public rumour of any noble quality in you I regard it as a personal gain, so too if I hear of anything disturbing, which, however, I do not think I shall, in the same way I consider it even more my personal loss. Therefore when I was troubled about these matters, the presence of our father Aetius³ cheered me, for he reported the very contrary, which was what I prayed to hear. Moreover he said that you were zealous in attendance at the houses of prayer, and that you are not being drawn away from pious remembrance of the martyrs, and he affirmed that you entirely adhere to the religion of our family. So I would say to you in the words of Homer,¹ "Shoot on in this wise," and rejoice those who love you by being spoken of in such terms, remembering that nothing is higher than religion. For supreme virtue teaches us to hate a lie as treachery and to cling to the truth, which truth is most clearly made manifest in the worship of the Divine Being. For a crowd² is wholly contentious and unstable; but the Deity, ministering alone with but one other,³ rules the universe, not by division or lot, like the sons of Cronos,⁴ but existing from the beginning and having power over all things, not having received it from another by violence, but existing before all. This is verily God, whom we must adore with the reverence that we owe to him. Farewell!

¹ Nearly all the critics reject this letter as a Christian forgery, but it is defended by Seeck, Geschichte d. Untergangs d. Antiken Welt, IV. 124, 440, 6. Philostorgius 3. 27. 53, Bidez, says that Gallus, Julian's half-brother, who was a Christian, frequently sent Aetius to instruct Julian in Christian doctrine in order to counteract the influences that inclined him to paganism. If genuine it must be dated between 351, when Gallus was made Caesar, and 354, as Gallus was put to death by Constantius in the latter year.

² Gallus Caesar resided at Antioch till 354 when he went to Constantinople. Julian, meanwhile, was studying at Pergamon and Ephesus. For his relations with Gallus, see Vol. 2, To the Athenians 273 A.

³ For Aetius see Introduction and Letter 15.

¹ Iliad 8. 282; Agamemnon to Teucer the archer.

² i. e. of the gods.

³ i.e. God the Word; but see critical note.

⁴ i. e. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, whose separate realms are defined in Iliad 15. 187 foll.

83. Eustathius ⁵ the Philosopher to Julian

What an advantage it was for me that the token ⁶came late! For instead of riding, in fear and trembling, in the public ⁷ carriage and, in encounters with drunken mule-drivers and mules made restive, as Homer⁸ says, from idleness and overfeeding, having to endure clouds of dust and a strange dialect and the cracking of whips, it was my lot to travel at leisure by a road arched over with trees and well-shaded, a road that had numerous springs and resting-places suitable to the summer season for a traveller who seeks relief from his weariness on the way; and where I always found a good place to stop, airy and shaded by plane trees or cypresses, while in my hand I held the Phaedrus or some other of Plato's dialogues. Now all this profit, Ο beloved, I gained from the freedom with which I travelled; therefore I considered that it would be unnatural not to communicate this also to you, and announce it.¹

⁵ See Introduction, under Eustathius.

⁶ The "tessera," whether ring, coin or document, served as a passport.

⁷ The epithet δημόσιος is used (1) of the public carriage, (2) of the "state," or reserved, carriage. The first is meant here.

⁸ Iliad 6. 506.

¹ The journey of Eustathius is probably that for which Julian gave his permission in Letter 44.

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Julian the Apostate, Letters - fragments (1923) Works, vol. 3, pp.294-303.

Julian the Apostate, Letters - fragments (1923) Works, vol. 3, pp.294-303.

[Translated by W. C. Wright]

THE SHORTER FRAGMENTS

1. -- From the Suda, under 'Ηρόδοτος and again under Ζηλωσαι.

Then who does not know the saying of the Ethiopians about the food that with us is held to be most nutritious? For when they first handled bread they said they wondered how we manage to live on a diet of dung, that is if one may believe the Thurian chronicler.¹ And those who write descriptions of the world relate that there are races of men who live on fish and flesh ² and have never even dreamed of our kind of diet. But if anyone in our country tries to adopt their diet, he will be no better off than those who take a dose of hemlock or aconite or hellebore.

¹ Herodotus 3. 22 describes the amazement of the Ethiopians, who lived on boiled meat, at the diet of the Persians. They said they were not surprised that men who lived on such food attained to a maximum of only eighty years. For the different temperaments and customs of different peoples cf. Against the Galilaeans, 143e.

² Cf. vol. 2, Oration 6. 191c for Julian's remarks on diet.

2. -- From the Suda, under Χρήμα.

We hastened to the Hercynian forest and it was a strange and monstrous thing that I beheld. At any rate I do not hesitate to engage that nothing of the sort has ever been seen in the Roman Empire, at least as far as we know. But if anyone considers Thessalian Tempe or Thermopylae or the great and far-flung¹ Taurus to be impassable, let me tell him that for difficulty of approach they are trivial indeed compared with the Hercynian forest.²

¹ Julian, Oration 2. 101 D. The Greek word is Platonic, cf. Theaetetus 161 D.

² For Julian's knowledge of the Hercynian forest, which in ancient Germany extended from the Black Forest on the north-east to the Hartz Mountains, cf. Vol. 2, Misopogon 359b; Ammianus, 17. 1. 8 i.e. in his German campaign in 357; Zosimus, 3. 4. 3.

3. -- From Libanius, Oration 14, 29, 30. For Aristophanes (of Corinth).

To the Corinthians ³

... My friendship with you dates from my father's ⁴ time. For indeed my father lived in your city, and embarking thence, like Odysseus from the land of the Phaeacians, had respite from his long-protracted wanderings⁵... there my father found repose.

³ This is all that remains of the manifesto sent to the Corinthians by Julian in 361, when he sought to justify his defection from Constantius.

⁴ Julius Constantius was murdered by his nephew, the Emperor Constantius, in 337.

5 Libanius says that Julian here spoke briefly about the "wicked stepmother" of Julius, the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, see Zosimus 2. 8 and 9.

4. -- Quoted by Suidas from the Kronia, under Ἐμπεδότιμος and Ἰουλιανός. This fragment is all that survives of Julian's Kronia or Saturnalia, written in 361; see Vol. 1, Oration 4. 157c. We know nothing more as to its contents.

... and the famous hierophant Iamblichus showed it to us... and we, since we believed the account of Empedotimus ⁶ and Pythagoras, as well as that of Heracleides of Pontus who derived it from them.⁷...

⁶ For this famous Syracusan, who claimed to be immortal, see Vol. 2, 295b.

⁷ Geffcken points out that Julian's statement is derived from a commentary on Plato and quotes Proclus, On Plato's Republic 2. 119. 18. "The human soul may learn the sacred truth about the affairs of the underworld and report them to mankind. This is shown by the account of Empedotimus, which Heracleides of Pontus relates." Then follows the vision of Empedotimus in Hades; cf. Rohde, Psyche, p. 385.

5. -- From Zosimus 3. 3. 2

They only knew how to pray ¹

¹ Julian said this of the soldiers who were assigned to him by Constantius when he went to Gaul in 355; cf. Libanius 18. 94, said of the soldiers who were to be left with Julian when Constantius summoned the best of the Gallic army to the East in 360.

6. -- From Socrates, History of the Church 3. 12; cf. the Suida under Μάρις. Socrates is quoting from an edict forbidding Christians to teach the classics; but in the extant edict, Letter 36, these words do not occur.

... that they² may not, by sharpening their tongues,³ be prepared to meet their Hellenic opponents in debate.

² i.e. the Christians.

³ i.e. by the study of rhetoric.

7. -- From Theodoret, History of the Church, 3. 4. Theodoret, like Socrates frag. 6, quotes Julian on the Christian teachers of the classics.

... for in the words of the proverb, we are stricken by our own arrows.⁴ For from our own writings they⁵ take the weapons wherewith they engage in the war against us.

⁴ i.e. the arrows are feathered from our plumage; cf. Aristophanes, Birds 808. The figure is used by Byron, Waller and Moore of a wounded eagle "Which on the shaft that made him die, espied a feather of his own." The original is Aeschylus, Myrmidons, frag. 139.

⁵ i.e. the Christians.

8. -- From the Suida under Ἀπόνοια.

Not to see beforehand what is possible and what impossible in practical affairs is a sign of the utmost foolishness.⁶

⁶ This is apparently a criticism of that lack of political instinct in the Christians of which Julian speaks in his treatise Against the Galilaeans, fragment 5. Hence Neumann regards the above fragment as derived from a lost part of the treatise.

9. -- From Eunapius, frag. 22, p. 226, 15, Dindorf.

Accordingly he says in a letter: At present the Scythians ¹ are not restless, but perhaps they will become restless.

¹ In 360 Constantius bribed the Scythians to aid him in his campaign against the Persians (Ammianus 20. 8. 1), and in 363 Julian employed Scythian auxiliaries for the same purpose (Ammianus 23. 2. 7). It is uncertain to which of these dates the fragment refers; Eunapius quotes this remark as evidence of Julian's foresight.

10. -- Found in Ambrosianus, Β 4, with other sayings of the Emperor; Cumont, Recherches, p. 47, thinks that they are derived from some lost historical work.

To Euthymeles the Tribune.

A king delights in war.

11. -- From John Lydus, De Mensibus. See Cumont, Recherches, p. 17, note 1.

For I am rebuilding with all zeal the temple of the Most High God.²

² Lydus says that Julian wrote this to the Jews. The letter is lost. For Julian's design of rebuilding the Temple see Letter 51 and Introduction.

12. -- First published by Muratori in Anecdota Graeca, Padua, 1709.

To the citizens who acclaimed him in the temple of Fortune ³

When I enter the theatre unannounced,⁴ acclaim me, but when I enter the temples be silent⁵ and transfer your acclamations to the gods; or rather the gods do not need acclamations.¹

³ At Constantinople there was a temple of Fortune (Τυχή) with a statue of the Goddess, cf. Socrates 3. 11. It was when Julian was sacrificing in this temple that he was denounced by the blind Bishop Maris of Chalcedon, as related by Sozomen 5. 4. But as Julian in the Μisopogon 346b speaks twice of sacrificing at Antioch in the temple of Fortune, this admonition may have been addressed to the citizens of Antioch, late in 362 or early in 363.

⁴ For Julian's rare visits to the theatre, see Misopogon 339c, 368c. For his love of applause, Ammianus 25. 4. 18 volgi plausibus laetus.

⁵ Cf. Vol. 2. Misopogon 344b,c, where Julian reproves the citizens of Antioch for applauding him in the temples.

¹ This and the following fragment, wrongly placed among the letters by Hertlein and earlier editors, are, as Cumont saw, isolated mots historiques probably quoted from some historical work. They may have occurred in an edict.

13. -- Hertlein, Letter 65.

To a Painter ²

If I did not possess it³ and you had bestowed it on me, you would have deserved to be forgiven; but if I possessed it and did not use it, I carried the gods, or rather was carried by them. Why, my friend, did you give me a form other than my own? Paint me exactly as you saw me.

² Sozomen 5. 17. says that Julian had himself painted "on the public pictures" in juxtaposition with Zeus or Ares or Hermes in order that the people might be compelled when they saluted the Emperor to salute the gods also, and that few had the courage to refuse to conform with this established custom; cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 4. 81.

³ Whether because of mutilation or lack of context, the two first sentences are unintelligible; we do not know the object of the verbs or what is meant by the reference to the gods; but evidently Julian did not like his portrait.

14. -- From Sozomen 5. 18. In some MSS. it occurs at the end of Letter 81, To Basil.

To the Bishops.

I recognised, I read, I condemned.⁴

⁴ Sozomen 5. 18 says that Julian, in order to ridicule the Christian substitutes for the Greek classics, composed chiefly by Apollinaris, after Julian had forbidden Christians to teach the originals, wrote these words to the Bishops. Their answer was as follows: "You have read, but you have not understood; for, had you understood, you would not have condemned." See Letter 81, To Basil, p. 286.

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Julian the Apostate, Letter to Themistius (1913) Works vol. 2, pp.299-237

Julian the Apostate, Letter to Themistius (1913) Works vol. 2, pp.299-237

[Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright]

INTRODUCTION

On the strength of his Aristotelian " Paraphrases " Themistius may be called a scholar, though hardly a philosopher as he himself claimed. Technically he was a Sophist: that is to say he gave public lectures (ἐπιδείξεις), wrote exercises after the Sophistic pattern and went on embassies, which were entrusted to him solely on account of his persuasive charm. But he insisted that he was no Sophist, because he took no fees¹ and styled himself a practical philosopher.² He was indifferent to the Neo-Platonic philosophy,³ and, since Constantius made him a Senator, he cannot have betrayed any zeal for the Pagan religion. From Julian's Pagan restoration he seems to have held aloof, and, though Julian had been his pupil, probably at Nicomedia, he did not appoint him to any office. Under the Christian Emperor Theodosius he held a prefecture. There is no evidence for a positive coolness, such as Zeller⁴assumes, between Themistius and Julian, and we know too little of their relations to assert with some critics that the respectful tone of this letter is ironical.⁵ It was probably written after Julian had |301 become Emperor, though there is nothing in it that would not suit an earlier date; it is sometimes assigned to 355 when Julian was still Caesar. The quotations from Aristotle are appropriately addressed to Themistius as an Aristotelian commentator.|303

¹ Themistius 260 c, 345 c.

² 245 d.

³ 33, 295 b.

⁴ Vol. 5, p. 742.

⁵ Libanius Epistle 1061 mentions an Oration by Themistius in praise of Julian, but this is not extant.

LETTER TO THEMISTIUS THE PHILOSOPHER

I earnestly desire to fulfil your hopes of me even as you express them in your letter, but I am afraid I shall fall short of them, since the expectations you have raised both in the minds of others, and still more in your own, are beyond my powers. There was a time when I believed that I ought to try to rival men who have been most distinguished for excellence, Alexander, for instance, or Marcus;¹ but I shivered at the thought and was seized with terror lest I should fail entirely to come up to the courage of the former, and should not make even the least approach to the latter's perfect virtue. With this in mind I convinced myself that I preferred a life of leisure, and I both gladly recalled the Attic manner of living, and thought myself to be in sweet accord with you who are my friends, just as those who carry heavy burdens lighten their labour by singing.² But by your recent letter you have increased my fears, and you point to an enterprise in every way more difficult. You say that God has placed me in the same position as Heracles and Dionysus of old who, being at once philosophers and |305 kings, purged almost the whole earth and sea of the evils that infested them. You bid me shake off all thought of leisure and inactivity that I may prove to be a good soldier worthy of so high a destiny. And besides those examples you go on to remind me of law-givers such as Solon, Pittacus, and Lycurgus, and you say that men have the right to expect from me now greater things than from any of these. When I read these words I was almost dumbfounded; for on the one hand I was sure that it was unlawful for you as a philosopher to flatter or deceive; on the other hand I am fully conscious that by nature there is nothing remarkable about me — there never was from the first nor has there come to be now,— but as regards philosophy I have only fallen in love with it (I say nothing of the fates that have intervened ³ to make that love so far ineffectual). I could not tell therefore how I ought to interpret such expressions, until God brought it into my mind that perhaps by your very praises you wished to exhort me, and to point out how great are those trials to which a statesman must inevitably be exposed every day of his life.

But your method is more likely to discourage than to make one eager for such an existence. Suppose that a man were navigating your strait,⁴ and were finding even that none too easy or safe, and then suppose some professional soothsayer should tell him that he would have to traverse the Aegaean and then the Ionian Sea, and finally embark on the outer sea. "Here," that prophet would say, "you see towns and harbours, |307 but when you arrive there you will see not so much as a watch-tower or a rock, but you will be thankful to descry even a ship in the distance and to hail her crew. You will often pray to God that you may, however late, touch land and reach a harbour, though that were to be the last day of your life. You will pray to be allowed to bring home your ship safe and sound and restore your crew unscathed to their friends, and then to commit your body to mother earth. And this indeed may happen, but you will not be sure of it until that final day." Do you think that such a man after being told all this would choose even to live in a sea-port town? Would he not bid adieu to money-making and all the advantages of commerce, and caring little for troops of friends and acquaintances abroad, and all that he might learn about nations and cities, would he not approve the wisdom of the son of Neocles ⁵ who bids us "Live in obscurity"? Indeed, you apparently perceived this, and by your abuse of Epicurus you tried to forestall me and to eradicate beforehand any such purpose. For you go on to say that it was to be expected that so idle a man as he should commend leisure and conversations during walks. Now for my part I have long been firmly convinced that Epicurus was mistaken in that view of his, but whether it be proper to urge into public life any and every man, both him who lacks natural abilities and him who is not yet completely equipped, is a point that deserves the most careful consideration. We are told that Socrates dissuaded from the statesman's profession⁶ many who had no great natural talent, and |309 Glaucon too, Xenophon ⁷ tells us; and that he tried to restrain the son of Cleinias ⁸ also, but could not curb the youth's impetuous ambition. Then shall we try to force into that career men who are reluctant and conscious of their deficiencies, and urge them to be self-confident about such great tasks? For in such matters not virtue alone or a wise policy is paramount, but to a far greater degree Fortune holds sway throughout and compels events to incline as she wills. Chrysippus ⁹ indeed, though in other respects he seems a wise man and to have been rightly so esteemed, yet in ignoring fortune and chance and all other such external causes that fall in to block the path of men of affairs, he uttered paradoxes wholly at variance with facts about which the past teaches us clearly by countless examples. For instance, shall we call Cato a fortunate and happy man? Or shall we say that Dio of Sicily had a happy lot? It is true that for death they probably cared nothing, but they did care greatly about not leaving unfinished the undertakings which they had originally set on foot, and to secure that end there is nothing that they would not have endured. In that they were disappointed, and I admit that they bore their lot with great dignity, as we learn, and derived no small consolation from their virtue; but happy one could not call them, seeing that they had failed in all those noble enterprises, unless perhaps according to the Stoic conception of happiness. And with regard to that same Stoic conception we must admit that to be applauded and to be counted happy are two very different |311 things, and that if every living thing naturally desires happiness,¹⁰ it is better to make it our aim to be congratulated on the score of happiness rather than to be applauded on the score of virtue. But happiness that depends on the chances of Fortune is very rarely secure. And yet men who are engaged in public life cannot, as the saying is, so much as breathe unless she is on their side... ¹¹ and they have created a merely verbal idea of a leader who is established somewhere above all the chances of Fortune in the sphere of things incorporeal and intelligible, just as men define the ideas, whether envisaging them truly or falsely imagining them. Or again they give us the ideal man, according to Diogenes "The man without a city, without a home, bereft of a fatherland," ¹² that is to say, a man who can gain nothing from Fortune, and on the other hand has nothing to lose. But one whom we are in the habit of calling, as Homer did first, "The man to whom the people have been entrusted and so many cares belong," ¹³ how I ask shall we lead him beyond the reach of Fortune and keep his position secure? Then again, if he subject himself to Fortune, how great the provision he will think he must make, how great the prudence he must display so as to sustain with equanimity her variations in either direction, as a pilot must sustain the variations of the wind!

Yet it is nothing wonderful to withstand Fortune when she is merely hostile, but much more wonderful is it to show oneself worthy of the favours she bestows. By her favours the greatest of kings, the conqueror ¹⁴ |313 of Asia was ensnared, and showed himself more cruel and more insolent than Darius and Xerxes, after he had become the master of their empire. The shafts of her favours subdued and utterly destroyed the Persians, the Macedonians, the Athenian nation, Spartan magistrates, Roman generals, and countless absolute monarchs besides. It would be an endless business to enumerate all who have fallen victims to their wealth and victories and luxury. And as for those who, submerged by the tide of their misfortunes, from free men have become slaves, who have been humbled from their high estate after all their splendour and become poor and mean in the eyes of all men, what need now to go through the list of them as though I were copying it from a written record? Would that human life afforded no such instances! But it does not nor ever will lack such, so long as the race of man endures.

And to show that I am not the only one who thinks that Fortune has the upper hand in practical affairs, I will quote to you a passage from that admirable work the Laws of Plato. You know it well and indeed taught it to me, but I have set down the speech which runs something like this, and offer it as a proof that I am not really indolent. "God governs all things and with God Fortune and Opportunity govern all human affairs: but there is a milder view that Art must needs go with them and must be their associate." ¹⁵ He then indicates what must be the character of a man who is the craftsman and artificer of noble deeds and a divinely inspired king. Then he says: "Kronos therefore, as I have already related, knew that human |315 nature when endowed with supreme authority is never in any case capable of managing human affairs without being filled with insolence and injustice; therefore, having regard to this he at that time set over our cities as kings and governors not men but beings of a more divine and higher race, I mean demons; thus doing as we do now for our flocks and domestic herds. We never appoint certain oxen to rule over other oxen or goats to rule over goats, but we are their masters, a race superior to theirs. In like manner then God, since he loves mankind, has set over us a race of beings superior to ourselves, the race of demons; and they with great ease both to themselves and us undertake the care of us and dispense peace, reverence, aye, and above all justice without stint, and thus they make the tribes of men harmonious and happy. And that account is a true one which declares that in our day all cities that are governed not by a god but by a mortal man have no relief from evils and hardships. And the lesson is that we ought by every means in our power to imitate that life which is said to have existed in the days of Kronos: and in so far as the principle of immortality is in us we ought to be guided by it in our management of public and private affairs, of our houses and cities, calling the distribution of mind 'law.'¹⁶ But whether the government be in the hands of one man or of an oligarchy or democracy, if it have a soul that hankers after pleasure and the lower appetites and demands to indulge these, and if such a one rule over a city or individual having first trampled on the laws, there is no means of salvation." ¹⁷ |317

I have purposely set down the whole of this speech for you lest you should think that I am cheating and defrauding by bringing forward ancient myths which may have some resemblance to the truth, but on the whole are not composed with regard to truth. But what is the true meaning of this narrative? You hear what it says, that even though a prince be by nature human, he must in his conduct be divine and a demi-god and must completely banish from his soul all that is mortal and brutish, except what must remain to safeguard the needs of the body. Now if, reflecting on this, one is afraid to be constrained to adopt a life from which so much is expected, do you therefore conclude that one admires the inaction recommended by Epicurus, the gardens and suburbs of Athens and its myrtles, or the humble home of Socrates? But never has anyone seen me prefer these to a life of toil. That toil of mine I would willingly recount to you, and the hazards that threatened me from my friends and kinsfolk at the time when I began to study under you, if you did not yourself know them well enough. You are well aware of what I did, in the first place, in Ionia in opposition to one who was related to me by ties of blood, but even more closely by ties of friendship, and that in behalf of a foreigner with whom I was very slightly acquainted, I mean the sophist. Did I not endure to leave the country for the sake of my friends? Indeed, you know how I took the part of Carterius when I went unsolicited to our friend Araxius to plead for him. And in behalf of the property of that admirable woman Arete and the wrongs she had suffered from her neighbours, did I |319 not journey to Phrygia for the second time within two months, though I was physically very weak from the illness that had been brought on by former fatigues? ¹⁸ Finally, before I went to Greece, while I was still with the army and running what most people would call the greatest possible risks, recall now what sort of letters I wrote to you, never filled with complaints or containing anything little or mean or servile. And when I returned to Greece, when everyone regarded me as an exile, did I not welcome my fate as though it were some high festival, and did I not say that the exchange to me was most delightful, and that, as the saying is, I had thereby gained "gold for bronze, the price of a hundred oxen for the price of nine"? ¹⁹ So great was my joy at obtaining the chance to live in Greece instead of in my own home, though I possessed there no land or garden or the humblest house.

But perhaps you think that though I can bear adversity in the proper spirit, yet I show a poor and mean spirit towards the good gifts of Fortune, seeing that I prefer Athens to the pomp that now surrounds me; because, you will doubtless say, I approve the leisure of those days and disparage my present life because of the vast amount of work that the latter involves. But perhaps you ought to judge of me more accurately, and not consider the question whether I am idle or industrious, but rather the precept, "Know thyself," and the saying, "Let every man practise the craft which he knows." ²⁰ |321

To me, at any rate, it seems that the task of reigning is beyond human powers, and that a king needs a more divine character, as indeed Plato too used to say. And now I will write out a passage from Aristotle to the same effect, not "bringing owls to the Athenians," ²¹ but in order to show you that I do not entirely neglect his writings. In his political treatises he says: "Now even if one maintain the principle that it is best for cities to be governed by a king, how will it be about his children? Ought his children to succeed him? And yet if they prove to be no better than anybody else, that would be a bad thing for the city. But you may say, though he has the power he will not leave the succession to his children? It is difficult indeed to believe that he will not; for that would be too hard for him, and demands a virtue greater than belongs to human nature."²² And later on, when he is describing a so-called king who rules according to law, and says that he is both the servant and guardian of the laws, he does not call him a king at all, nor does he consider such a king as a distinct form of government; and he goes on to say: "Now as for what is called absolute monarchy, that is to say, when a king governs all other men according to his own will, some people think that it is not in accordance with the nature of things for one man to have absolute authority over all the citizens; since those who are by nature equal must necessarily have the same rights." ²³ Again, a little later he says: "It seems, therefore, that he who bids Reason rule is really preferring the rule of God and the laws, |323 but he who bids man rule, adds an element of the beast. For desire is a wild beast, and passion which warps even the best men. It follows, therefore, that law is Reason exempt from desire." You see the philosopher seems here clearly to distrust and condemn human nature. For he says so in so many words when he asserts that human nature is in no case worthy of such an excess of fortune. For he thinks that it is too hard for one who is merely human to prefer the general weal of the citizens to his own children; he says that it is not just that one man should rule over many who are his equals; and, finally, he puts the finishing stroke ²⁴ to what he has just said when he asserts that "law is Reason exempt from desire," and that political affairs ought to be entrusted to Reason alone, and not to any individual man whatever. For the reason that is in men, however good they may be, is entangled with passion and desire, those most ferocious monsters. These opinions, it seems to me, harmonise perfectly with Plato's; first, that he who governs ought to be superior to his subjects and surpass them not only in his acquired habits but also in natural endowment; a thing which is not easy to find among men;... ²⁵ thirdly, that he ought by every means in his power to observe the laws, not those that were framed to meet some sudden emergency, or established, as now appears, by men whose lives were not wholly guided by reason; but he must observe them only in case the lawgiver, having purified his mind and soul, in enacting those laws keeps in view not merely the crimes of the moment |325 or immediate contingencies; but rather recognises the nature of government and the essential nature of justice, and has carefully observed also the essential nature of guilt, and then applies to his task all the knowledge thus derived, and frames laws which have a general application to all the citizens without regard to friend or foe, neighbour or kinsman. And it is better that such a lawgiver should frame and promulgate his laws not for his contemporaries only but for posterity also, or for strangers with whom he neither has nor expects to have any private dealings. For instance, i hear that the wise Solon, having consulted his friends about the cancelling of debts, furnished them with an opportunity to make money, but brought on himself a disgraceful accusation.²⁶ So hard is it to avoid such fatalities, even when a man brings a passionless mind to the task of governing.

And since this sort of thing is what i dread, it is natural that i should often dwell on the advantages of my previous mode of life, and i am but obeying you when i reflect that you said not only that i must emulate those famous men Solon, Lycurgus and Pittacus, but also that i must now quit the shades of philosophy for the open air. This is as though you had announced to a man who for his health's sake and by exerting himself to the utmost was able to take moderate exercise at home: "Now you have come to Olympia and have exchanged the gymnasium in your house for the stadium of Zeus, where you will have for spectators Greeks who have |327 come from all parts, and foremost among them your own fellow-citizens, on whose behalf you must enter the lists; and certain barbarians will be there also whom it is your duty to impress, showing them your fatherland in as formidable a light as lies in your power." You would have disconcerted him at once and made him nervous before the games began. You may now suppose that I have been affected in the same manner by just such words from you. And you will very soon inform me whether my present view is correct, or whether I am in part deceived as to my proper course or whether indeed I am wholly mistaken.

But I should like to make clear to you the points in your letter by which I am puzzled, my dearest friend to whom I especially am bound to pay every honour: for I am eager to be more precisely informed about them. You said that you approve a life of action rather than the philosophic life, and you called to witness the wise Aristotle who defines happiness as virtuous activity, and discussing the difference between the statesman's life and the life of contemplation, showed a certain hesitation about those lives, and though in others of his writings he preferred the contemplative life, in this place you say he approves the architects of noble actions. But it is you who assert that these are kings, whereas Aristotle does not speak in the sense of the words that you have introduced: and from what you have quoted one would rather infer the contrary. For when he says: "We most correctly use the word 'act' of those who are the architects of public affairs by virtue of their intelligence," ²⁷ we must suppose that what he |329 says applies to lawgivers and political philosophers and all whose activity consists in the use of intelligence and reason, but that it does not apply to those who do the work themselves and those who transact the business of politics. But in their case it is not enough that they should consider and devise and instruct others as to what must be done, but it is their duty to undertake and execute whatever the laws ordain and circumstances as well often force on them; unless indeed we call that man an architect who is "well versed in mighty deeds," ²⁸ a phrase which Homer in his poems usually applies to Heracles, who was indeed of all men that ever lived most given to do the work himself.

But if we conceive this to be true, or that only those are happy who administer public affairs and who are in authority and rule over many, what then are we to say about Socrates? As for Pythagoras and Democritus and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, you will perhaps say that they were happy in another sense of the word, because of their philosophic speculations. But as for Socrates who, having rejected the speculative life and embraced a life of action, had no authority over his own wife or his son, can we say of him that he governed even two or three of his fellow-citizens? Then will you assert that since he had no authority over any one he accomplished nothing? On the contrary I maintain that the son of Sophroniscus²⁹ performed greater tasks than Alexander, for to him I ascribe the wisdom of Plato, the generalship of Xenophon, the fortitude of Antisthenes, the Eretrian ³⁰ |331 and Megarian ³¹ philosophies, Cebes, Simmias,³² Phaedo and a host of others; not to mention the offshoots derived from the same source, the Lyceum, the Stoa and the Academies. Who, I ask, ever found salvation through the conquests of Alexander? What city was ever more wisely governed because of them, what individual improved? Many indeed you might find whom those conquests enriched, but not one whom they made wiser or more temperate than he was by nature, if indeed they have not made him more insolent and arrogant. Whereas all who now find their salvation in philosophy owe it to Socrates. And I am not the only person to perceive this fact and to express it, for Aristotle it seems did so before me, when he said that he had just as much right to be proud of his treatise on the gods as the conqueror ³³ of the Persian empire. And I think he was perfectly correct in that conclusion. For military success is due to courage and good fortune more than anything else or, let us say, if you wish, to intelligence as well, though of the common everyday sort. But to conceive true opinions about God is an achievement that not only requires perfect virtue, but one might well hesitate whether it be proper to call one who attains to this a man or a god. For if the saying is true that it is the nature of everything to become known to those who have an affinity with it, then he who comes to know the essential nature of God would naturally be considered divine. |333

But since I seem to have harked back to the life of contemplation and to be comparing it with the life of action, though in the beginning of your letter you declined to make the comparison, I will remind you of those very philosophers whom you mentioned, Areius,³⁴ Nicolaus,³⁵ Thrasyllus,³⁶ and Musonius.³⁷ So far from any one of these governing his own city, Areius we are told refused the governorship of Egypt when it was offered to him, and Thrasyllus by becoming intimate with the harsh and naturally cruel tyrant Tiberius would have incurred indelible disgrace for all time, had he not cleared himself in the writings that he left behind him and so shown his true character; so little did his public career benefit him. Nicolaus did not personally do any great deeds, and he is known rather by his writings about such deeds; while Musonius became famous because he bore his sufferings with courage, and, by Zeus, sustained with firmness the cruelty of tyrants; and perhaps he was not less happy than those who administered great kingdoms. As for Areius, when he declined the governorship of Egypt he deliberately deprived himself of the highest end, if he really thought that this was the most important thing. And you yourself,—may I ask, do you lead an inactive life because you are not a general or a public speaker and govern no nation or city? Nay, no one with any sense would say so. For it is in your power by producing many philosophers, or even only three or four, to confer more benefit on the lives of men than many kings put together. To no trivial province |335 is the philosopher appointed, and, as you said yourself, he does not only direct counsels or public affairs, nor is his activity confined to mere words; but if he confirm his words by deeds and show himself to be such as he wishes others to be, he may be more convincing and more effective in making men act than those who urge them to noble actions by issuing commands.

But I must go back to what I said at the beginning, and conclude this letter, which is perhaps longer already than it should be. And the main point in it is that it is not because I would avoid hard work or pursue pleasure, nor because I am in love with idleness and ease that I am averse to spending my life in administration. But, as I said when I began, it is because I am conscious that I have neither sufficient training nor natural talents above the ordinary; moreover, I am afraid of bringing reproach on philosophy, which, much as I love it, I have never attained to, and which on other accounts has no very good reputation among men of our day. For these reasons I wrote all this down some time ago, and now I have freed myself from your charges as far as I can.

May God grant me the happiest fortune possible, and wisdom to match my fortune! For now I think I need assistance from God above all, and also from you philosophers by all means in your power, since I have proved myself your leader and champion in danger. But should it be that blessings greater than of my furnishing and than the opinion that I now have of myself should be granted to men by God through my instrumentality, you must not resent my words. For being conscious of no good |337 thing in me, save this only, that I do not even think that I possess the highest talent, and indeed have naturally none, I cry aloud and testify ³⁸ that you must not expect great things of me, but must entrust everything to God. For thus I shall be free from responsibility for my shortcomings, and if everything turns out favourably I shall be discreet and moderate, not putting my name to the deeds of other men,³⁹ but by giving God the glory for all, as is right, it is to Him that I shall myself feel gratitude and I urge all of you to feel the same.

1. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

2. Apparently an echo of Dio Chrysostom, Oration 1. 9, Arnim.

3. Euripides, Orestes 16.

4. The Bosporus; Themistius was probably at Constantinople.

5. Epicurus; his advice was λαθὲ βιώσας.

6. Literally "from the βῆμα," i.e. the stone on the Pnyx from which the Athenian orator addressed the people.

7. Memorabilia 3. 6. 1.

8. Alcibiades.

9. The Stoic philosopher.

10. Cf. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1. 10. 6.

11. Note to the online edition: there is a gap in the text here.

12. Cf. Oration 6. 195b, note.

13. Iliad 2. 25.

14. Alexander.

15. Laws 709b.

16. A play on words.

17. Laws 713-714; Julian condenses and slightly alters the original.

18. We know nothing more of the events here mentioned.

19. A proverb derived from Iliad 6. 236, where Glaukos exchanges his golden armour for the bronze armour of Diomedes.

20. Aristophanes, Wasps 1431.

21. A proverb; cf. "bringing coals to Newcastle."

22. Aristotle, Politics 3. 15. 1286b.

23. Ibid 3. 16. 1287a.

24. Cf. Plato, Theaetetus 153.

25. Note to the online edition: the text that has come down to us is missing a few words here.

26. Before Solon's measure to cancel debts was generally known, some of his friends borrowed large sums, knowing that they would not have to repay them.

27. Aristotle, Politics 7. 3. 1325b.

28. Odyssey 21. 26.

29. The father of Socrates.

30. This school was founded by Phaedo in Elis and later was transferred by Menedemus to Eretria.

31. The Megarian school founded by Euclid was finally absorbed by the Cynics.

32. Simmias and Cebes were Pythagoreans; cf. Plato, Phaedo, where they discuss with Socrates.

33. Alexander; Julian seems to be misquoting Plutarch, Moralia 78d.

34. Cf. Caesars 326b note.

35. A historian under Augustus. [Note to the online edition: Nicholas of Damascus]

36. The Platonic philosopher and astrologer, cf. Tacitus, Annals 6. 21.

37. The Stoic philosopher exiled by Nero.

38. Demosthenes, De Corona 23.

39. Cf. Caesars 323 b.

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Julian the Apostate, Letter to the Athenians (1913) Works, vol. 2, pp.245-291

Julian the Apostate, Letter to the Athenians (1913) Works, vol. 2, pp.245-291

INTRODUCTION

Of the manifestoes addressed by Julian to Rome, Sparta, Corinth, and Athens, defending his acceptance of the title of Emperor and his open rupture with Constantius, the last alone survives. It was written in Illyricum in 361, when Julian was on the march against Constantius, and is the chief authority for the events that led to his elevation to the Imperial rank. Julian writes to the Athenians of the fourth Christian century as though they still possessed the influence and standards of their forefathers. He was well known at Athens, where he had studied before his elevation to the Caesarship and he was anxious to clear himself in the eyes of the citizens. For the first time he ventures to speak the truth about Constantius and to describe the latter's ruthless treatment of his family. His account of the revolution at Paris is supplemented by Ammianus 20, Zosimus 3. 9, and the Epitaph on Julian by Libanius.

LETTER TO THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ATHENS.

[Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright]

Many were the achievements of your forefathers of which you are still justly proud, even as they were of old; many were the trophies for victories raised by them, now for all Greece in common, now separately for Athens herself, in those days when she contended single-handed against all the rest of Greece as well as against the barbarian: but there was no achievement and no display of courage on your part so prodigious that other cities cannot in their turn rival it. For they too wrought some such deeds in alliance with you, and some on their own account. And that I may not by recalling these and then balancing them be thought either to pay more honour to one state than to another in the matters in which they are your rivals, or to praise less than they deserve those who proved inferior, in order to gain an advantage, after the manner of rhetoricians, I desire to bring forward on your behalf only this fact to which I can discover nothing that can be set against it on the part of the other Greek states, and which has been assigned to you by ancient tradition. When the Lacedaemonians were in power you took that power away from them not by violence but by your reputation for justice; and |245 it was your laws that nurtured Aristides the Just. Moreover, brilliant as were these proofs of your virtue, you confirmed them by still more brilliant actions. For to be reputed just might perhaps happen to any individual even though it were not true; and perhaps it would not be surprising that among many worthless citizens there should be found one virtuous man. For even among the Medes is not a certain Deioces ¹ celebrated, and Abaris ² too among the Hyperboreans, and Anacharsis ³ among the Scythians? And in their case the surprising thing was that, born as they were among nations who knew nothing of justice, they nevertheless prized justice, two of them sincerely, though the third only pretended to do so out of self-interest. But it would be hard to find a whole people and city enamoured of just deeds and just words except your own. And I wish to remind you of one out of very many such deeds done in your city. After the Persian war Themistocles ⁴ was planning to introduce a resolution to set fire secretly to the naval arsenals of the Greeks, and then did not dare to propose it to the assembly; but he agreed to confide the secret to any one man whom the people should elect by vote; and the people chose Aristides to represent them. But he when he heard the scheme did not reveal what he had been told, but reported to the people that there could be nothing more profitable or more dishonest than that advice. |247 Whereupon the city at once voted against it and rejected it, very nobly, by Zeus, and as it behoved men to do who are nurtured under the eyes of the most wise goddess.⁵

Then if this was your conduct of old, and from that day to this there is kept alive some small spark as it were of the virtue of your ancestors, it is natural that you should pay attention not to the magnitude merely of any performance, nor whether a man has travelled over the earth with incredible speed and unwearied energy as though he had flown through the air; but that you should rather consider whether one has accomplished this feat by just means, and then if he seems to act with justice, you will perhaps all praise him both in public and private; but if he have slighted justice he will naturally be scorned by you. For there is nothing so closely akin to wisdom as justice. Therefore those who slight her you will justly expel as showing impiety towards the goddess who dwells among you. For this reason I wish to report my conduct to you, though indeed you know it well, in order that if there is anything you do not know—and it is likely that some things you do not, and those in fact which it is most important for all men to be aware of—it may become known to you and through you to the rest of the Greeks. Therefore let no one think that I am trifling and wasting words if I try to give some account of things that have happened as it were before the eyes of all men, not only long ago but also just lately. For I wish none to be ignorant of anything that concerns me, and naturally everyone cannot know |249 every circumstance. First I will begin with my ancestors.

That on the father's side I am descended from the same stock as Constantius on his father's side is well known. Our fathers were brothers, sons of the same father. And close kinsmen as we were, how this most humane Emperor treated us! Six of my cousins and his, and my father who was his own uncle and also another uncle of both of us on the father's side, and my eldest brother, he put to death without a trial; and as for me and my other brother,⁶ he intended to put us to death but finally inflicted exile upon us; and from that exile he released me, but him he stripped of the title of Caesar just before he murdered him. But why should I "recount," as though from some tragedy, "all these unspeakable horrors?" ⁷ For he has repented, I am told, and is stung by remorse; and he thinks that his unhappy state of childlessness is due to those deeds, and his ill success in the Persian war he also ascribes to that cause. This at least was the gossip of the court at the time and of those who were about the person of my brother Gallus of blessed memory, who is now for the first time so styled. For after putting him to death in defiance of the laws he neither suffered him to share the tombs of his ancestors nor granted him a pious memory.

As I said, they kept telling us and tried to convince us that Constantius had acted thus, partly because he was deceived, and partly because he yielded to the violence and tumult of an |251 undisciplined and mutinous army. This was the strain they kept up to soothe us when we had been imprisoned in a certain farm ⁸ in Cappadocia; and they allowed no one to come near us after they had summoned him from exile in Tralles and had dragged me from the schools, though I was still a mere boy. How shall I describe the six years we spent there? For we lived as though on the estate of a stranger, and were watched as though we were in some Persian garrison, since no stranger came to see us and not one of our old friends was allowed to visit us; so that we lived shut off from every liberal study and from all free intercourse, in a glittering servitude, and sharing the exercises of our own slaves as though they were comrades. For no companion of our own age ever came near us or was allowed to do so.

From that place barely and by the help of the gods I was set free, and for a happier fate; but my brother was imprisoned at court and his fate was ill-starred above all men who have ever yet lived. And indeed whatever cruelty or harshness was revealed in his disposition was increased by his having been brought up among those mountains. It is therefore I think only just that the Emperor should bear the blame for this also, he who against our will allotted to us that sort of bringing-up. As for me, the gods by means of philosophy caused me to remain untouched by it and unharmed; but on my brother no one bestowed this boon. For when he had come straight from the country to the court, the moment that Constantius had invested him with |253 the purple robe he at once began to be jealous of him, nor did he cease from that feeling until, not content with stripping him of the purple, he had destroyed him. Yet surely he deserved to live, even if he seemed unfit to govern. But someone may say that it was necessary to deprive him of life also. I admit it, only on condition that he had first been allowed to speak in his own defence as criminals are. For surely it is not the case that the law forbids one who has imprisoned bandits to put them to death, but says that it is right to destroy without a trial those who have been stripped of the honours that they possessed and have become mere individuals instead of rulers. For what if my brother had been able to expose those who were responsible for his errors? For there had been handed to him the letters of certain persons, and, by Heracles, what accusations against himself they contained! And in his resentment at these he gave way in most unkingly fashion to uncontrolled anger, but he had done nothing to deserve being deprived of life itself. What! Is not this a universal law among all Greeks and barbarians alike, that one should defend oneself against those who take the initiative in doing one a wrong? I admit that he did perhaps defend himself with too great cruelty; but on the whole not more cruelly than might have been expected. For we have heard it said before ⁹ that an enemy may be expected to harm one in a fit of anger. But it was to gratify a eunuch,¹⁰ his chamberlain who was also his chief cook, that Constantius gave over to his most inveterate enemies his own cousin, |255 the Caesar, his sister's husband, the father of his niece, the man whose own sister he had himself married in earlier days,¹¹ and to whom he owed so many obligations connected with the gods of the family. As for me he reluctantly let me go, after dragging me hither and thither for seven whole months and keeping me under guard; so that had not some one of the gods desired that I should escape, and made the beautiful and virtuous Eusebia kindly disposed to me, I could not then have escaped from his hands myself. And yet I call the gods to witness that my brother had pursued his course of action without my having a sight of him even in a dream. For I was not with him, nor did I visit him or travel to his neighbourhood; and I used to write to him very seldom and on unimportant matters. Thinking therefore that I had escaped from that place, I set out for the house that had been my mother's. For of my father's estate nothing belonged to me, and I had acquired out of the great wealth that had naturally belonged to my father not the smallest clod of earth, not a slave, not a house. For the admirable Constantius had inherited in my place the whole of my father's property, and to me, as I was saying, he granted not the least trifle of it; moreover, though he gave my brother a few things that had been his father's, he robbed him of the whole of his mother's estate.

Now his whole behaviour to me before he granted me that august title ¹²—though in fact what he did was to impose on me the most galling and irksome slavery—you have heard, if not every detail, still the |257 greater part. As I was saying, I was on my way to my home and was barely getting away safely, beyond my hopes, when a certain sycophant¹³ turned up near Sirmium¹⁴ and fabricated the rumour against certain persons there that they were planning a revolt. You certainly know by hearsay Africanus ¹⁵ and Marinus: nor can you fail to have heard of Felix and what was the fate of those men. And when Constantius was informed of the matter, and Dynamius another sycophant suddenly reported from Gaul that Silvanus ¹⁶ was on the point of declaring himself his open enemy, in the utmost alarm and terror he forthwith sent to me, and first he bade me retire for a short time to Greece, then summoned me from there to the court ¹⁷ again. He had never seen me before except once in Cappadocia and once in Italy, —an interview which Eusebia had secured by her exertions so that I might feel confidence about my personal safety. And yet I lived for six months in the same city ¹⁸ as he did, and he had promised that he would see me again. But that execrable eunuch,¹⁹ his trusty chamberlain, unconsciously and involuntarily proved himself my benefactor. For he did not allow me to meet the Emperor often, nor perhaps did the latter desire it; still the eunuch was the chief reason. For what he dreaded was that if we had any intercourse with one another I might be taken into favour, and when my loyalty became evident I might be given some place of trust.

Now from the first moment of my arrival from Greece, Eusebia of blessed memory kept showing me |259 the utmost kindness through the eunuchs of her household. And a little later when the Emperor returned—for the affair of Silvanus had been concluded—at last I was given access to the court, and, in the words of the proverb, Thessalian persuasion ²⁰ was applied to me. For when I firmly declined all intercourse with the palace, some of them, as though they had come together in a barber's shop, cut off my beard and dressed me in a military cloak and transformed me into a highly ridiculous soldier, as they thought at the time. For none of the decorations of those villains suited me. And I walked not like them, staring about me and strutting along, but gazing on the ground as I had been trained to do by the preceptor ²¹ who brought me up. At the time, then, I inspired their ridicule, but a little later their suspicion, and then their jealousy was inflamed to the utmost.

But this I must not omit to tell here, how I submitted and how I consented to dwell under the same roof with those whom I knew to have ruined my whole family, and who, I suspected, would before long plot against myself also. But what floods of tears I shed and what laments I uttered when I was summoned, stretching out my hands to your Acropolis and imploring Athene to save her suppliant and not to abandon me, many of you who were eyewitnesses can attest, and the goddess herself, above all others, is my witness that I even begged for death at her hands there in Athens rather than |261 my journey to the Emperor. That the goddess accordingly did not betray her suppliant or abandon him she proved by the event. For everywhere she was my guide, and on all sides she set a watch near me, bringing guardian angels from Helios and Selene.

What happened was somewhat as follows. When I came to Milan I resided in one of the suburbs. Thither Eusebia sent me on several occasions messages of good-will, and urged me to write to her without hesitation about anything that I desired. Accordingly I wrote her a letter, or rather a petition containing vows like these: "May you have children to succeed you; may God grant you this and that, if only you send me home as quickly as possible!" But I suspected that it was not safe to send to the palace letters addressed to the Emperor's wife. Therefore I besought the gods to inform me at night whether I ought to send the letter to the Empress. And they warned me that if I sent it I should meet the most ignominious death. I call all the gods to witness that what I write here is true. For this reason, therefore, I forbore to send the letter. But from that night there kept occurring to me an argument which it is perhaps worth your while also to hear. "Now," I said to myself, "I am planning to oppose the gods, and I have imagined that I can devise wiser schemes for myself than those who know all things. And yet human wisdom, which looks only to the present moment, may be thankful if, with all its efforts, it succeed in avoiding mistakes even for a short space. That is why no man takes thought for things that are to happen thirty years hence, or for things that are already past, for the one |263 is superfluous, the other impossible, but only for what lies near at hand and has already some beginnings and germs. But the wisdom of the gods sees very far, or rather, sees the whole, and therefore it directs aright and brings to pass what is best. For they are the causes of all that now is, and so likewise of all that is to be. Wherefore it is reasonable that they should have knowledge about the present." So far, then, it seemed to me that on this reasoning my second determination was wiser than my first. And viewing the matter in the light of justice, I immediately reflected: "Would you not be provoked if one of your own beasts were to deprive you of its services,²² or were even to run away when you called it, a horse, or sheep, or calf, as the case might be? And will you, who pretended to be a man, and not even a man of the common herd or from the dregs of the people, but one belonging to the superior and reasonable class, deprive the gods of your service, and not trust yourself to them to dispose of you as they please? Beware lest you not only fall into great folly, but also neglect your proper duties towards the gods. Where is your courage, and of what sort is it? A sorry thing it seems. At any rate, you are ready to cringe and flatter from fear of death, and yet it is in your power to lay all that aside and leave it to the gods to work their will, dividing with them the care of yourself, as Socrates, for instance, chose to do: and you might, while doing such things as best you can, commit the whole to their charge; seek to possess nothing, seize nothing, but accept simply what is vouchsafed |265 to you by them." And this course I thought was not only safe but becoming to a reasonable man, since the response of the gods had suggested it. For to rush headlong into unseemly and foreseen danger while trying to avoid future plots seemed to me a topsy-turvy procedure. Accordingly I consented to yield. And immediately I was invested with the title and robe of Caesar.²³ The slavery that ensued and the fear for my very life that hung over me every day, Heracles, how great it was, and how terrible! My doors locked, warders to guard them, the hands of my servants searched lest one of them should convey to me the most trifling letter from my friends, strange servants to wait on me! Only with difficulty was I able to bring with me to court four of my own domestics for my personal service, two of them mere boys and two older men, of whom only one knew of my attitude to the gods, and, as far as he was able, secretly joined me in their worship. I had entrusted with the care of my books, since he was the only one with me of many loyal comrades and friends, a certain physician ²⁴ who had been allowed to leave home with me because it was not known that he was my friend. And this state of things caused me such alarm and I was so apprehensive about it, that though many of my friends really wished to visit me, I very reluctantly refused them admittance; for though I was most anxious to see them, I shrank from bringing disaster upon them and myself at the same time. But this is somewhat foreign to my narrative. The following relates to the actual course of events. |267

Constantius gave me three hundred and sixty soldiers, and in the middle of the winter ²⁵ despatched me into Gaul, which was then in a state of great disorder; and I was sent not as commander of the garrisons there but rather as a subordinate of the generals there stationed. For letters had been sent them and express orders given that they were to watch me as vigilantly as they did the enemy, for fear I should attempt to cause a revolt. And when all this had happened in the manner I have described, about the summer solstice he allowed me to join the army and to carry about with me his dress and image. And indeed he had both said and written that he was not giving the Gauls a king but one who should convey to them his image.

Now when, as you have heard, the first campaign was ended that year and great advantage gained, I returned to winter quarters,²⁶ and there I was exposed to the utmost danger. For I was not even allowed to assemble the troops; this power was entrusted to another, while I was quartered apart with only a few soldiers, and then, since the neighbouring towns begged for my assistance, I assigned to them the greater part of the force that I had, and so I myself was left isolated. This then was the condition of affairs at that time. And when the commander-in-chief²⁷ of the forces fell under the suspicions of Constantius and was deprived by him of his command and superseded, I in my turn was thought to be by no means capable or talented as a general, merely because I had shown myself mild and moderate. For I thought I ought not |269 to fight against my yoke or interfere with the general in command except when in some very dangerous undertaking I saw either that something was being overlooked, or that something was being attempted that ought never to have been attempted at all. But after certain persons had treated me with disrespect on one or two occasions, I decided that for the future I ought to show my own self-respect by keeping silence, and henceforth I contented myself with parading the imperial robe and the image. For I thought that to these at any rate I had been given a right.

After that, Constantius, thinking that there would be some improvement, but not that so great a transformation would take place in the affairs of Gaul, handed over to me in the beginning of spring ²⁸ the command of all the forces. And when the grain was ripe I took the field; for a great number of Germans had settled themselves with impunity near the towns they had sacked in Gaul. Now the number of the towns whose walls had been dismantled was about forty-five, without counting citadels and smaller forts. And the barbarians then controlled on our side of the Rhine the whole country that extends from its sources to the Ocean. Moreover those who were settled nearest to us were as much as three hundred stades from the banks of the Rhine, and a district three times as wide as that had been left a desert by their raids; so that the Gauls could not even pasture their cattle there. Then too there were certain cities deserted by their inhabitants, near which the barbarians were not yet encamped. This then was the condition of Gaul when I took |271 it over. I recovered the city of Agrippina ²⁹ on the Rhine which had been taken about ten months earlier, and also the neighbouring fort of Argentoratum,³⁰ near the foot-hills of the Vosges mountains, and there I engaged the enemy not ingloriously. It may be that the fame of that battle has reached even your ears. There though the gods gave into my hands as prisoner of war the king ³¹ of the enemy, I did not begrudge Constantius the glory of that success. And yet though I was not allowed to triumph for it, I had it in my power to slay my enemy, and moreover I could have led him through the whole of Gaul and exhibited him to the cities, and thus have luxuriated as it were in the misfortunes of Chnodomar. I thought it my duty to do none of these things, but sent him at once to Constantius who was returning from the country of the Quadi and the Sarmatians. So it came about that, though I had done all the fighting and he had only travelled in those parts and held friendly intercourse with the tribes who dwell on the borders of the Danube, it was not I but he who triumphed.

Then followed the second and third years of that campaign, and by that time all the barbarians had been driven out of Gaul, most of the towns had been recovered, and a whole fleet of many ships had arrived from Britain. I had collected a fleet of six hundred ships, four hundred of which I had had built in less than ten months, and I brought them all into the Rhine, no slight achievement, on account of the neighbouring barbarians who kept attacking me. At least it seemed so impossible to Florentius that he had promised to pay the barbarians a fee of two |273 thousand pounds weight of silver in return for a passage. Constantius when he learned this—for Florentius had informed him about the proposed payment—wrote to me to carry out the agreement, unless I thought it absolutely disgraceful. But how could it fail to be disgraceful when it seemed so even to Constantius, who was only too much in the habit of trying to conciliate the barbarians? However, no payment was made to them. Instead I marched against them, and since the gods protected me and were present to aid, I received the submission of part of the Salian tribe, and drove out the Chamavi and took many cattle and women and children. And I so terrified them all, and made them tremble at my approach that I immediately received hostages from them and secured a safe passage for my food supplies.

It would take too long to enumerate everything and to write down every detail of the task that I accomplished within four years. But to sum it all up: Three times, while I was still Caesar, I crossed the Rhine; twenty thousand persons who were held as captives on the further side of the Rhine I demanded and received back; in two battles and one siege I took captive ten thousand prisoners, and those not of unserviceable age but men in the prime of life; I sent to Constantius four levies of excellent infantry, three more of infantry not so good, and two very distinguished squadrons of cavalry. I have now with the help of the gods recovered all the towns, and by that time I had already recovered almost forty. I call Zeus and all the gods who protect cities and our race, to bear witness as to my behaviour towards |275 Constantius and my loyalty to him, and that I behaved to him as I would have chosen that my own son should behave to me.³² I have paid him more honour than any Caesar has paid to any Emperor in the past. Indeed, to this very day he has no accusation to bring against me on that score, though I have been entirely frank in my dealings with him, but he invents absurd pretexts for his resentment. He says, "You have detained Lupicinus and three other men." And supposing I had even put them to death after they had openly plotted against me, he ought for the sake of keeping peace to have renounced his resentment at their fate. But I did those men not the least injury, and I detained them because they are by nature quarrelsome and mischief-makers. And though I am spending large sums of the public money on them, I have robbed them of none of their property. Observe how Constantius really lays down the law that I ought to proceed to extremities with such men! For by his anger on behalf of men who are not related to him at all, does he not rebuke and ridicule me for my folly in having served so faithfully the murderer of my father, my brothers, my cousins; the executioner as it were of his and my whole family and kindred? Consider too with what deference I have continued to treat him even since I became Emperor, as is shown in my letters.

And how I behaved to him before that you shall now learn. Since I was well aware that whenever mistakes were made I alone should incur the disgrace and danger, though most of the work was carried on by others, I first of all implored him, if |277 he had made up his mind to that course and was altogether determined to proclaim me Caesar, to give me good and able men to assist me He however at first gave me the vilest wretches. And when one, the most worthless of them, had very gladly accepted and no one of the others consented, he gave me with a bad grace an officer who was indeed excellent, Sallust, who on account of his virtue has at once fallen under his suspicion. And since I was not satisfied with such an arrangement and saw how his manner to them varied, for I observed that he trusted one of them too much and paid no attention at all to the other, I clasped his right hand and his knees and said: "I have no acquaintance with any of these men nor have had in the past. But I know them by report, and since you bid me I regard them as my comrades and friends and pay them as much respect as I would to old acquaintances. Nevertheless it is not just that my affair's should be entrusted to them or that their fortunes should be hazarded with mine. What then is my petition? Give me some sort of written rules as to what I must avoid and what you entrust to me to perform. For it is clear that you will approve of him who obeys you and punish him who is disobedient, though indeed I am very sure that no one will disobey you."

Now I need not mention the innovations that Pentadius at once tried to introduce. But I kept opposing him in everything and for that reason he became my enemy. Then Constantius chose another and a second and a third and fashioned them for his purpose, I mean Paul and Gaudentius, those notorious sycophants; he hired them to attack me and |279 then took measures to remove Sallust, because he was my friend, and to appoint Lucilianus immediately, as his successor. And a little later Florentius also became my enemy on account of his avarice which I used to oppose. These men persuaded Constantius, who was perhaps already somewhat irritated by jealousy of my successes, to remove me altogether from command of the troops. And he wrote letters full of insults directed against me and threatening ruin to the Gauls. For he gave orders for the withdrawal from Gaul of, I might almost say, the whole of the most efficient troops without exception, and assigned this commission to Lupicinus and Gintonius, while to me he wrote that I must oppose them in nothing.

And now in what terms shall I describe to you the work of the gods? It was my intention, as they will bear me witness, to divest myself of all imperial splendour and state and remain in peace, taking no part whatever in affairs. But I waited for Florentius and Lupicinus to arrive; for the former was at Vienne, the latter in Britain. Meanwhile there was great excitement among the civilians and the troops, and someone wrote an anonymous letter to the town near where I was,³³ addressed to the Petulantes and the Celts—those were the names of the legions—full of invectives against Constantius and of lamentations about his betrayal of the Gauls. Moreover the author of the letter lamented bitterly the disgrace inflicted on myself. This letter when it arrived provoked all those who were most definitely on the side of Constantius to urge me in the strongest terms to send away the troops at once, before similar letters |281 could be scattered broadcast among the rest of the legions. And indeed there was no one there belonging to the party supposed to be friendly to me, but only Nebridius, Pentadius, and Decentius, the latter of whom had been despatched for this very purpose by Constantius. And when I replied that we ought to wait still longer for Lupicinus and Florentius, no one listened to me, but they all declared that we ought to do the very opposite, unless I wished to add this further proof and evidence for the suspicions that were already entertained about me. And they added this argument: "If you send away the troops now it will be regarded as your measure, but when the others come Constantius will give them not you the credit and you will be held to blame." And so they persuaded or rather compelled me to write to him. For he alone may be said to be persuaded who has the power to refuse, but those who can use force have no need to persuade as well; then again where force is used there is no persuasion, but a man is the victim of necessity. Thereupon we discussed by which road, since there were two, the troops had better march. I preferred that they should take one of these, but they immediately compelled them to take the other, for fear that the other route if chosen should give rise to mutiny among the troops and cause some disturbance, and that then, when they had once begun to mutiny, they might throw all into confusion. Indeed such apprehension on their part seemed not altogether without grounds.

The legions arrived, and I, as was customary, went to meet them and exhorted them to continue their march. For one day they halted, and till that time |283 I knew nothing whatever of what they had determined; I call to witness Zeus, Helios, Ares, Athene, and all the other gods that no such suspicion even entered my mind until that very evening. It was already late, when about sunset the news was brought to me, and suddenly the palace was surrounded and they all began to shout aloud, while I was still considering what I ought to do and feeling by no means confident. My wife was still alive and it happened, that in order to rest alone, I had gone to the upper room near hers. Then from there through an opening in the wall I prayed to Zeus. And when the shouting grew still louder and all was in a tumult in the palace I entreated the god to give me a sign; and thereupon he showed me a sign ³⁴ and bade me yield and not oppose myself to the will of the army. Nevertheless even after these tokens had been vouchsafed to me I did not yield without reluctance, but resisted as long as I could, and would not accept either the salutation ³⁵ or the diadem. But since I could not singlehanded control so many, and moreover the gods, who willed that this should happen, spurred on the soldiers and gradually softened my resolution, somewhere about the third hour some soldier or other gave me the collar and I put it on my head and returned to the palace, as the gods know groaning in my heart. And yet surely it was my duty to feel confidence and to trust in the god after he had shown me the sign; but I was terribly ashamed and ready to |285 sink into the earth at the thought of not seeming to obey Constantius faithfully to the last.

Now since there was the greatest consternation in the palace, the friends of Constantius thought they would seize the occasion to contrive a plot against me without delay, and they distributed money to the soldiers, expecting one of two things, either that they would cause dissension between me and the troops, or no doubt that the latter would attack me openly. But when a certain officer belonging to those who commanded my wife's escort perceived that this was being secretly contrived, he first reported it to me and then, when he saw that I paid no attention to him, he became frantic, and like one possessed he began to cry aloud before the people in the market-place, "Fellow soldiers, strangers, and citizens, do not abandon the Emperor!'' Then the soldiers were inspired by a frenzy of rage and they all rushed to the palace under arms. And when they found me alive, in their delight, like men who meet friends whom they had not hoped to see again, they pressed round me on this side and on that, and embraced me and carried me on their shoulders. And it was a sight worth seeing, for they were like men seized with a divine frenzy. Then after they had surrounded me on all sides they demanded that I give up to them for punishment the friends of Constantius. What fierce opposition I had to fight down in my desire to save those persons is known to all the gods.

But further, how did I behave to Constantius after this? Even to this day I have not yet used in my letters to him the title which was bestowed on me |287 by the gods, but I have always signed myself Caesar, and I have persuaded the soldiers to demand nothing more if only he would allow us to dwell peaceably in Gaul and would ratify what has been already done. All the legions with me sent letters to him praying that there might be harmony between us. But instead of this he let loose against us the barbarians, and among them proclaimed me his foe and paid them bribes so that the people of the Gauls might be laid waste; moreover he wrote to the forces in Italy and bade them be on their guard against any who should come from Gaul; and on the frontiers of Gaul in the cities near by he ordered to be got ready three million bushels of wheat which had been ground at Brigantia,³⁶ and the same amount near the Cottian Alps, with the intention of marching to oppose me. These are not mere words but deeds that speak plain. In fact the letters that he wrote I obtained from the barbarians who brought them to me; and I seized the provisions that had been made ready, and the letters of Taurus. Besides, even now in his letters he addresses me as "Caesar" and declares that he will never make terms with me: but he sent one Epictetus, a bishop of Gaul,³⁷ to offer a guarantee for my personal safety; and throughout his letters he keeps repeating that he will not take my life, but about my honour he says not a word. As for his oaths, for my part I think they should, as the proverb says, be written in ashes,³⁸ so little do they inspire belief. But my honour I will not give |289 up, partly out of regard for what is seemly and fitting, but also to secure the safety of my friends. And I have not yet described the cruelty that he is practising over the whole earth.

These then were the events that persuaded me; this was the conduct I thought just. And first I imparted it to the gods who see and hear all things. Then when I had offered sacrifices for my departure, the omens were favourable on that very day on which I was about to announce to the troops that they were to march to this place; and since it was not only on behalf of my own safety but far more for the sake of the general welfare and the freedom of all men and in particular of the people of Gaul,—for twice already he had betrayed them to the enemy and had not even spared the tombs of their ancestors, he who is so anxious to conciliate strangers!—then, I say, I thought that I ought to add to my forces certain very powerful tribes and to obtain supplies of money, which I had a perfect right to coin, both gold and silver. Moreover if even now he would welcome a reconciliation with me I would keep to what I at present possess; but if he should decide to go to war and will in no wise relent from his earlier purpose, then I ought to do and to suffer whatever is the will of the gods; seeing that it would be more disgraceful to show myself his inferior through failure of courage or lack of intelligence than in mere numbers. For if he now defeats me by force of numbers that will not be his doing, but will be due to the larger army that he has at his command. If on the other hand he had surprised me loitering in Gaul and clinging to bare life and, while I tried to avoid the danger, had attacked me on all sides, in |291 the rear and on the flanks by means of the barbarians, and in front by his own legions, I should I believe have had to face complete ruin, and moreover the disgrace of such conduct is greater than any punishment—at least in the sight of the wise.³⁹

These then are the views, men of Athens, which I have communicated to my fellow soldiers and which I am now writing to the whole body of the citizens throughout all Greece. May the gods who decide all things vouchsafe me to the end the assistance which they have promised, and may they grant to Athens all possible favours at my hands! May she always have such Emperors as will honour her and love her above and beyond all other cities! |293

1. The first King of Media; reigned 709-656 b.c.

2. A priest of Apollo whose story and date are uncertain.

3. A Scythian prince who visited Athens at the end of the sixth century b. c.; cf, Cicero, Tuseulan Disputations 5. 32; Lucian, Anacharsis.

4. The story is told in Plutarch, Themistocles.

5. Athene.

6. Gallus.

7. Euripides, Orestes 14.

8. The castle of Macellum.

9. Of. Demosthenes, Against Meidias 41.

10. Eusebius; cf. Ammianus Marcellinus 14. 11; 22. 3.

11. The sister of Gallus was the first wife of Constantius.

12. The title of Caesar.

13. Gaudentius.

14. A town in Illyricum.

15. For the account of this alleged conspiracy cf. Ammianus Marcellinus 15. 3.

16. Cf. Oration 1. 48 c; 2. 98 c, d.

17. At Milan.

18. Milan.

19. Eusebius.

20. Cf. Oration 1. 32 a. The origin of the proverb is obscure; cf. Cicero, Letter to Atticus 9. 13.

21. Mardonius.

22. An echo of Plato, Phaedo 62 c; cf. Fragment of a Letter 297 a.

23. Cf. Ammianus Marcellinus 15. 8.

24. Oreibasius; cf. Letter 17.

25. 355 A.D.

26. At Vienne.

27. Marcellus.

28. 357 A.D.

29. Cologne.

30. Strasburg.

31. Chnodomar.

32. Cf. Isocrates, To Demonicus 14

33. Julian was at Paris.

34. Odyssey 3. 173.

35. i.e. the. title of Augustus.

36. Bregentz, on Lake Constance.

37. Epictetus was bishop of Centumcellae (Civita Vecchia).

38. cf. "Write in dust" or " write in water."

39. Demosthenes, Olynthiac 1. 27.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2010. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_letter_to_a_priest.htm

Julian the Apostate, Fragment of a letter to a priest (1913) Works, vol.2, pp.297-339.

Julian the Apostate, Fragment of a letter to a priest (1913) Works, vol.2, pp.297-339.

FRAGMENT OF A LETTER TO A PRIEST

[Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright]

.....Only¹ that they chastise, then and there, any whom they see rebelling against their king. And the tribe of evil demons is appointed to punish those who do not worship the gods, and stung to madness by them many atheists are induced to court death in the belief that they will fly up to heaven when they have brought their lives to a violent end. Some men there are also who, though man is naturally a social and civilised being, seek out desert places instead of cities, since they have been given over to evil demons and are led by them into this hatred of their kind. And many of them have even devised fetters and stocks to wear; to such a degree does the evil demon to whom they have of their own accord given themselves abet them in all ways, after they have rebelled against the everlasting and saving gods. But on this subject what I have said is enough, and I will go back to the point at which I digressed. |299

Though just conduct in accordance with the laws of the state will evidently be the concern of the governors of cities, you in your turn will properly take care to exhort men not to transgress the laws of the gods, since those are sacred. Moreover, inasmuch as the life of a priest ought to be more holy than the political life, you must guide and instruct men to adopt it. And the better sort will naturally follow your guidance. Nay I pray that all men may, but at any rate I hope that those who are naturally good and upright will do so; for they will recognise that your teachings are peculiarly adapted to them.

You must above all exercise philanthropy, for from it result many other blessings, and moreover that choicest and greatest blessing of all, the good will of the gods. For just as those who are in agreement with their masters about their friendships and ambitions and loves are more kindly treated than their fellow slaves, so we must suppose that God, who naturally loves human beings, has more kindness for those men who love their fellows. Now philanthropy has many divisions and is of many kinds. For instance it is shown when men are punished in moderation with a view to the betterment of those punished, as schoolmasters punish children; and again in ministering to men's needs, even as the gods minister to our own. You see all the blessings of the earth that they have granted to us, food of all sorts, and in an abundance that they have not granted to all other creatures put together. And since we were born naked they covered us with the hair of animals, and with things that grow in the ground and on trees. Nor were they content to do this simply or off-hand, as Moses bade men take |301 coats of skins,² but you see how numerous are the gifts of Athene the Craftswoman. What other animals use wine, or olive oil? Except indeed in cases where we let them share in these things, even though we do not share them with our fellowmen. What creature of the sea uses corn, what land animal uses things that grow in the sea? And I have not yet mentioned gold and bronze and iron, though in all these the gods have made us very rich; yet not to the end that we may bring reproach on them by disregarding the poor who go about in our midst, especially when they happen to be of good character— men for instance who have inherited no paternal estate, and are poor because in the greatness of their souls they have no desire for money. Now the crowd when they see such men blame the gods. However it is not the gods who are to blame for their poverty, but rather the insatiate greed of us men of property becomes the cause of this false conception of the gods among men, and besides of unjust blame of the gods. Of what use, I ask, is it for us to pray that God will rain gold on the poor as he did on the people of Rhodes? ³ For even though this should come to pass, we should forthwith set our slaves underneath to catch it, and put out vessels everywhere, and drive off all comers so that we alone might seize upon the gifts of the gods meant for all in common. And anyone would naturally think it strange if we should ask for this, which is not in the nature of things, and is in every way unprofitable, while we do |303 not do what is in our power. Who, I ask, ever became poor by giving to his neighbours? Indeed I myself, who have often given lavishly to those in need, have recovered my gifts again many times over at the hands of the gods, though I am a poor man of business; nor have I ever repented of that lavish giving. And of the present time I will say nothing, for it would be altogether irrational of me to compare the expenditure of private persons with that of an Emperor; but when I was myself still a private person I know that this happened to me many times. My grandmother's estate for instance was kept for me untouched, though others had taken possession of it by violence, because from the little that I had I spent money on those in need and gave them a share.

We ought then to share our money with all men, but more generously with the good, and with the helpless and poor so as to suffice for their need. And I will assert, even though it be paradoxical to say so, that it would be a pious act to share our clothes and food even with the wicked. For it is to the humanity in a man that we give, and not to his moral character. Hence I think that even those who are shut up in prison have a right to the same sort of care; since this kind of philanthropy will not hinder justice. For when many have been shut up in prison to await trial, of whom some will be found guilty, while others will prove to be innocent, it would be harsh indeed if out of regard for the guiltless we should not bestow some pity on the guilty also, or again, if on account of the guilty we should behave ruthlessly and inhumanly to those also who have done no wrong. This too, when I consider it, |305 seems to me altogether wrong; I mean that we call Zeus by the title "God of Strangers," while we show ourselves more inhospitable to strangers than are the very Scythians. How, I ask, can one who wishes to sacrifice to Zeus, the God of Strangers, even approach his temple? With what conscience can he do so, when he has forgotten the saying "From Zeus come all beggars and strangers; and a gift is precious though small "? ⁴

Again, the man who worships Zeus the God of Comrades, and who, though he sees his neighbours in need of money, does not give them even so much as a drachma, how, I say, can he think that he is worshipping Zeus aright? When I observe this I am wholly amazed, since I see that these titles of the gods are from the beginning of the world their express images, yet in our practice we pay no attention to anything of the sort. The gods are called by us "gods of kindred," and Zeus the "God of Kindred," but we treat our kinsmen as though they were strangers. I say "kinsmen" because every man, whether he will or no, is akin to every other man, whether it be true, as some say, that we are all descended from one man and one woman, or whether it came about in some other way, and the gods created us all together, at the first when the world began, not one man and one woman only, but many men and many women at once. For they who had the power to create one man and one woman, were able to create many men and women at once; since the manner of creating one man and one woman is the same as that of creating many men and many women. And ⁵ |307 one must have regard to the differences in our habits and laws, or still more to that which is higher and more precious and more authoritative, I mean the sacred tradition of the gods which has been handed down to us by the theurgists of earlier days, namely that when Zeus was setting all things in order there fell from him drops of sacred blood, and from them, as they say, arose the race of men. It follows therefore that we are all kinsmen, whether, many men and women as we are, we come from two human beings, or whether, as the gods tell us, and as we ought to believe, since facts bear witness thereto, we are all descended from the gods. And that facts bear witness that many men came into the world at once, I shall maintain elsewhere, and precisely, but for the moment it will be enough to say this much, that if we were descended from one man and one woman, it is not likely that our laws would show such great divergence; nor in any case is it likely that the whole earth was filled with people by one man; nay, not even if the women used to bear many children at a time to their husbands, like swine. But when the gods all together had given birth to men, just as one man came forth, so in like manner came forth many men who had been allotted to the gods who rule over births; and they brought them forth, receiving their souls from the Demiurge from eternity.⁶

It is proper also to bear in mind how many discourses have been devoted by men in the past to show that man is by nature a social animal. And shall we, after asserting this and enjoining it, bear |309 ourselves unsociably to our neighbours? Then let everyone make the basis of his conduct moral virtues, and actions like these, namely reverence towards the gods, benevolence towards men, personal chastity; and thus let him abound in pious acts, I mean by endeavouring always to have pious thoughts about the gods, and by regarding the temples and images of the gods with due honour and veneration, and by worshipping the gods as though he saw them actually present. For our fathers established images and altars, and the maintenance of undying fire, and, generally speaking, everything of the sort, as symbols of the presence of the gods, not that we may regard such things as gods, but that we may worship the gods through them. For since being in the body it was in bodily wise that we must needs perform our service to the gods also, though they are themselves without bodies; they therefore revealed to us in the earliest images the class of gods next in rank to the first, even those that revolve in a circle about the whole heavens. But since not even to these can due worship be offered in bodily wise—for they are by nature not in need of anything⁷—another class of images was invented on the earth, and by performing our worship to them we shall make the gods propitious to ourselves. For just as those who make offerings to the statues of the emperors, who are in need of nothing, nevertheless induce goodwill towards themselves thereby, so too those who make offerings to the images of the gods, though the gods need nothing, do nevertheless thereby persuade them to help and |311 to care for them. For zeal to do all that is in one's power is, in truth, a proof of piety, and it is evident that he who abounds in such zeal thereby displays a higher degree of piety; whereas he who neglects what is possible, and then pretends to aim at what is impossible, evidently does not strive after the impossible, since he overlooks the possible. For even though God stands in need of nothing, it does not follow that on that account nothing ought to be offered to him. He does not need the reverence that is paid in words. What then? Is it rational to deprive him of this also? By no means. It follows then that one ought not to deprive him either of the honour that is paid to him through deeds, an honour which not three years or three thousand years have ordained, but all past time among all the nations of the earth.

Therefore, when we look at the images of the gods, let us not indeed think they are stones or wood, but neither let us think they are the gods themselves; and indeed we do not say that the statues of the emperors are mere wood and stone and bronze, but still less do we say they are the emperors themselves. He therefore who loves the emperor delights to see the emperor's statue, and he who loves his son delights to see his son's statue, and he who loves his father delights to see his father's statue. It follows that he who loves the gods delights to gaze on the images of the gods, and their likenesses, and he feels reverence and shudders with awe of the gods who look at him from the unseen world. Therefore if any man thinks that because they have once been called likenesses of the gods, they are incapable of being destroyed, he is, it |313 seems to me, altogether foolish; for surely in that case they were incapable of being made by men's hands. But what has been made by a wise and good man can be destroyed by a bad and ignorant man. But those beings which were fashioned by the gods as the living images of their invisible nature, I mean the gods who revolve in a circle in the heavens, abide imperishable for all time. Therefore let no man disbelieve in gods because he sees and hears that certain persons have profaned their images and temples. Have they not in many cases put good men to death, like Socrates and Dio and the great Empedotimus? ⁸ And yet I am very sure that the gods cared more for these men than for the temples. But observe that since they knew that the bodies even of these men were destructible, they allowed them to yield to nature and to submit, but later on they exacted punishment from their slayers; and this has happened in the sight of all, in our own day also, in the case of all who have profaned the temples.

Therefore let no man deceive us with his sayings or trouble our faith in a divine providence. For as for those who make such profanation a reproach against us, I mean the prophets of the Jews, what have they to say about their own temple, which was overthrown three times and even now is not being raised up again? This I mention not as a reproach against them, for I myself, after so great a lapse of time, intended to restore it, in honour of the god whose name has been associated with it. But in the present case I have used this instance because I wish to prove that nothing made by man can be |315 indestructible, and that those prophets who wrote such statements were uttering nonsense, due to their gossipping with silly old women. In my opinion there is no reason why their god should not be a mighty god, even though he does not happen to have wise prophets or interpreters. But the real reason why they are not wise is that they have not submitted their souls to be cleansed by the regular course of study, nor have they allowed those studies to open their tightly closed eyes, and to clear away the mist that hangs over them. But since these men see as it were a great light through a fog, not plainly or clearly, and since they think that what they see is not a pure light but a fire, and they fail to discern all that surrounds it, they cry with a loud voice: "Tremble, be afraid, fire, flame, death, a dagger, a broad-sword!" thus describing under many names the harmful might of fire. But on this subject it will be better to demonstrate separately how much inferior to our own poets are these teachers of tales about the gods.

It is our duty to adore not only the images of the gods, but also their temples and sacred precincts and altars. And it is reasonable to honour the priests also as officials and servants of the gods; and because they minister to us what concerns the gods, and they lend strength to the gods' gift of good things to us; for they sacrifice and pray on behalf of all men. It it therefore right that we should pay them all not less, if not indeed more, than the honours that we pay to the magistrates of the state. And if any one thinks that we ought to assign equal honours to them and to the magistrates of the state, since the latter |317 also are in some sort dedicated to the service of the gods, as being guardians of the laws, nevertheless we ought at any rate to give the priests a far greater share of our good will. The Achaeans, for instance, enjoined on their king⁹ to reverence the priest, though he was one of the enemy, whereas we do not even reverence the priests who are our friends, and who pray and sacrifice on our behalf.

But since my discourse has come back again to the beginning as I have so long wished, I think it is worth while for me to describe next in order what sort of man a priest ought to be, in order that he may justly be honoured himself and may cause the gods to be honoured. For as for us, we ought not to investigate or enquire as to his conduct, but so long as a man is called a priest we ought to honour and cherish him, but if he prove to be wicked we ought to allow his priestly office to be taken away from him, since he has shown himself unworthy of it. But so long as he sacrifices for us and makes offerings and stands in the presence of the gods, we must regard him with respect and reverence as the most highly honoured chattel¹⁰ of the gods. For it would be absurd for us to pay respect to the very stones of which the altars are made, on account of their being dedicated to the gods, because they have a certain shape and form suited to the ritual for which they have been fashioned, and then not to think that we ought to honour a man who has been dedicated to the gods. Perhaps someone will object—"But suppose he does wrong and often fails to offer to the gods their sacred |319 rites?" Then indeed I answer that we ought to convict a man of that sort, so that he may not by his wickedness offend the gods; but that we ought not to dishonour him until he has been convicted. Nor indeed is it reasonable that when we have set our hands to this business, we should take away their honour not only from these offenders but also from those who are worthy to be honoured. Then let every priest, like every magistrate, be treated with respect, since there is also an oracle to that effect from the Didymaean god:¹¹ "As for men who with reckless minds work wickedness against the priests of the deathless gods and plot against their privileges with plans that fear not the gods, never shall such men travel life's path to the end, men who have sinned against the blessed gods whose honour and holy service those priests have in charge."¹² And again in another oracle the god says: " All my servants from harmful mischief.....;" ¹³ and he says that on their behalf he will inflict punishment on the aggressors.

Now though there are many utterances of the god to the same effect, by means of which we may learn to honour and cherish priests as we ought, I shall speak on this subject elsewhere at greater length. But for the present it is enough to point out that 1 am not inventing anything offhand, since I think that the declaration made by the god and the injunction expressed in his own words are sufficient. Therefore let any man who considers that as a teacher of such matters I am worthy to be believed |321 show due respect to the god and obey him, and honour the priests of the gods above all other men. And now I will try to describe what sort of man a priest himself ought to be, though not for your especial benefit. For if I did not already know from the evidence both of the high priest and of the most mighty gods that you administer this priestly office aright—at least all matters that come under your management—I should not have ventured to confide to you a matter so important. But I do so in order that you may be able from what I say to instruct the other priests, not only in the cities but in the country districts also, more convincingly and with complete freedom; since not of your own self do you alone devise these precepts and practise them, but you have me also to give you support, who by the grace of the gods am known as sovereign pontiff, though I am indeed by no means worthy of so high an office; though I desire, and moreover constantly pray to the gods that I may be worthy. For the gods, you must know, hold out great hopes for us after death; and we must believe them absolutely. For they are always truthful, not only about the future life, but about the affairs of this life also. And since in the superabundance of their power they are able both to overcome the confusion that exists in this life and to regulate its disorders and irregularities, will they not all the more in that other life where conflicting things are reconciled, after the immortal soul has been separated from the body and the lifeless body has turned to earth, be able to bestow all those things for which they have held out hopes to mankind? Therefore since we know that the gods |323 have granted to their priests a great' recompense, let us make them responsible in all things for men's esteem of the gods, displaying their own lives as an example of what they ought to preach to the people.

The first thing we ought to preach is reverence towards the gods. For it is fitting that we should perform our service to the gods as though they were themselves present with us and beheld us, and though not seen by us could direct their gaze, which is more powerful than any light, even as far as our hidden thoughts. And this saying is not my own ¹⁴ but the god's, and has been declared in many utterances, but for me surely it is sufficient, by bringing forth one such utterance, to illustrate two things in one, namely how the gods see all things and how they rejoice in god-fearing men: "On all sides extend the far-seeing rays of Phoebus. His swift gaze pierces even through sturdy rocks, and travels through the dark blue sea, nor is he unaware of the starry multitude that passes in returning circuit through the unwearied heavens for ever by the statutes of necessity; nor of all the tribes of the dead in the underworld whom Tartarus has admitted within the misty dwelling of Hades, beneath the western darkness. And I delight in god-fearing men as much even as in Olympus." ¹⁵

Now in so far as all soul, but in a much higher degree the soul of man, is akin to and related to the gods, so much the more is it likely that the gaze of the gods should penetrate through his soul easily and |325 effectively. And observe the love of the god for mankind when he says that he delights in the disposition of god-fearing men as much as in Olympus most pure and bright. How then shall he not lead up our souls from the darkness and from Tartarus, if we approach him with pious awe? And indeed he has knowledge even of those who have been imprisoned in Tartarus—for not even that region falls outside the power of the gods,—and to the godfearing he promises Olympus instead of Tartarus. Wherefore we ought by all means to hold fast to deeds of piety, approaching the gods with reverence, and neither saying nor listening to anything base. And the priests ought to keep themselves pure not only from impure or shameful acts, but also from uttering words and hearing speeches of that character. Accordingly we must banish all offensive jests and all licentious intercourse. And that you may understand what I mean by this, let no one who has been consecrated a priest read either Archilochus or Hipponax ¹⁶ or anyone else who writes such poems as theirs. And in Old Comedy let him avoid everything of that type—for it is better so—and indeed on all accounts philosophy alone will be appropriate for us priests; and of philosophers only those who chose the gods as guides of their mental discipline, like Pythagoras and Plato and Aristotle, and the school of Chrysippus and Zeno. For we ought not to give heed to them all nor to the doctrines of all, but only to those philosophers and those of their doctrines that make |327 men god-fearing, and teach concerning the gods, first that they exist, secondly that they concern themselves with the things of this world, and further that they do no injury at all either to mankind or to one another, out of jealousy or envy or enmity. I mean the sort of thing our poets in the first place have brought themselves into disrepute by writing, and in the second place such tales as the prophets of the Jews take pains to invent, and are admired for so doing by those miserable men who have attached themselves to the Galilaeans.

But for us it will be appropriate to read such narratives as have been composed about deeds that have actually been done; but we must avoid all fictions in the form of narrative such as were circulated among men in the past, for instance tales whose theme is love, and generally speaking everything of that sort. For just as not every road is suitable for consecrated priests, but the roads they travel ought to be duly assigned, so not every sort of reading is suitable for a priest. For words breed a certain sort of disposition in the soul, and little by little it arouses desires, and then on a sudden kindles a terrible blaze, against which one ought, in my opinion, to arm oneself well in advance.

Let us not admit discourses by Epicurus or Pyrrho; but indeed the gods have already in their wisdom destroyed their works, so that most of their books have ceased to be. Nevertheless there is no reason why I should not, by way of example, mention these works too, to show what sort of discourses priests must especially avoid; and if such discourses, then much more must they avoid such thoughts. For an error of speech is, in my |329 opinion, by no means the same as an error of the mind, but we ought to give heed to the mind first of all, since the tongue sins in company with it. We ought to learn by heart the hymns in honour of the gods—and many and beautiful they are, composed by men of old and of our own time—though indeed we ought to try to know also those which are being sung in the temples. For the greater number were bestowed on us by the gods themselves, in answer to prayer, though some few also were written by men, and were composed in honour of the gods by the aid of divine inspiration and a soul inaccessible to things evil.

All this, at least, we ought to study to do, and we ought also to pray often to the gods, both in private and in public, if possible three times a day, but if not so often, certainly at dawn and in the evening. For it is not meet that a consecrated priest should pass a day or a night without sacrifice; and dawn is the beginning of the day as twilight is of the night. And it is proper to begin both periods with sacrifice to the gods, even when we happen not to be assigned to perform the service. For it is our duty to maintain all the ritual of the temples that the law of our fathers prescribes, and we ought to perform neither more nor less than that ritual; for eternal are the gods, so that we too ought to imitate their essential nature in order that thereby we may make them propitious.

Now if we were pure soul alone, and our bodies did not hinder us in any respect, it would be well to prescribe one sort of life for priests. But since what he should practise when on duty concerns the individual priest alone, not priests absolutely, what |331 should we concede to a man who has received the office of priest, on occasions when he is not actually engaged in service in the temples? I think that a priest ought to keep himself pure from all contamination, for a night and a day, and then after purifying himself for another night following on the first, with such rites of purification as the sacred laws prescribe, he should under these conditions enter the temple and remain there for as many days as the law commands. (Thirty is the number with us at Rome, but in other places the number varies.) It is proper then, I think, that he should remain throughout all these days in the sacred precincts, devoting himself to philosophy, and that he should not enter a house or a marketplace, or see even a magistrate, except in the precincts, but should concern himself with his service to the god, overseeing and arranging everything in person; and then, when he has completed the term of days, he should retire from his office in favour of another. And when he turns again to the ordinary life of mankind, he may be allowed to visit a friend's house, and, when invited, to attend a feast, but not on the invitation of all but only of persons of the highest character. And at this time there would be nothing out of the way in his going occasionally to the market-place and conversing with the governor or the chief magistrate of his tribe, and giving aid, as far as lies in his power, to those who have a good reason for needing it.

And it is in my opinion fitting for priests to wear the most magnificent dress when they are within the temple performing the services, but when they are outside the sacred precincts to wear ordinary dress, |333 without any extravagance. For it is not rational that we should misuse, in empty conceit and vain ostentation, what has been given to us for the honour of the gods. And for this reason we ought in the market place to abstain from too costly dress and from outward show, and in a word from every sort of pretentiousness. For consider how the gods, because they admired the perfect moderation of Amphiaraus,¹⁷ after they had decreed the destruction of that famous army—and he, though he knew that it would be so, went with the expedition and therefore did not escape his fated end,—the gods I say transformed him completely from what he had been, and removed him to the sphere of the gods. For all the others who were in the expedition against Thebes engraved a device on their shields before they had conquered the enemy, and erected trophies to celebrate the downfall of the Cadmeans; but he, the associate of the gods, when he went to war had arms with no device; but gentleness he had, and moderation, as even the enemy bore witness. Hence I think that we priests ought to show moderation in our dress, in order that we may win the goodwill of the gods, since it is no slight offence that we commit against them when we wear in public the sacred dress and make it public property, and in a word give all men an opportunity to stare at it as though it were something marvellous. For whenever this happens, many who are not purified come near us, and by this means the symbols of the gods are polluted. Moreover |335 what lawlessness it is, what arrogance towards the gods for us ourselves when we are not living the priestly life to wear the priestly dress! However, of this too I shall speak more particularly in another place; and what I am writing to you at the moment is only a mere outline of the subject.

No priest must anywhere be present at the licentious theatrical shows of the present day, nor introduce one into his own house; for that is altogether unfitting. Indeed if it were possible to banish such shows absolutely from the theatres so as to restore to Dionysus those theatres pure as of old, I should certainly have endeavoured with all my heart to bring this about; but as it is, since I thought that this is impossible, and that even if it should prove to be possible it would not on other accounts be expedient, I forebore entirely from this ambition. But I do demand that priests should withdraw themselves from the licentiousness of the theatres and leave them to the crowd. Therefore let no priest enter a theatre or have an actor or a chariot-driver for his friend; and let no dancer or mime even approach his door. And as for the sacred games, I permit anyone who will to attend those only in which women are forbidden not only to compete but even to be spectators. With regard to the hunting shows with dogs which are performed in the cities inside the theatres, need I say that not only priests but even the sons of priests must keep away from them?

Now it would perhaps have been well to say earlier from what class of men and by what method priests must be appointed; but it is quite appropriate that my remarks should end with this. I say |337 that the most upright men in every city, by preference those who show most love for the gods, and next those who show most love for their fellow men, must be appointed, whether they be poor or rich. And in this matter let there be no distinction whatever whether they are unknown or well known. For the man who by reason of his gentleness has not won notice ought not to be barred by reason of his want of fame. Even though he be poor and a man of the people, if he possess within himself these two things, love for God and love for his fellow men, let him be appointed priest. And a proof of his love for God is his inducing his own people to show reverence to the gods; a proof of his love for his fellows is his sharing cheerfully, even from a small store, with those in need, and his giving willingly thereof, and trying to do good to as many men as he is able.

We must pay especial attention to this point, and by this means effect a cure. For when it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the priests, then I think the impious Galilaeans observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy. And they have gained ascendancy in the worst of their deeds through the credit they win for such practices. For just as those who entice children with a cake, and by throwing it to them two or three times induce them to follow them, and then, when they are far away from their friends cast them on board a ship and sell them as slaves, and that which for the moment seemed sweet, proves to be bitter for all the rest of their lives—by the same method, I say, the Galilaeans |339 also begin with their so-called love-feast, or hospitality, or service of tables,—for they have many ways of carrying it out and hence call it by many names,—and the result is that they have led very many into atheism.....¹⁸

Julian was Supreme Pontiff, and as such felt responsible for the teachings and conduct of the priesthood. He saw that in order to offset the influence of the Christian priests which he thought was partly due to their moral teaching, partly to their charity towards the poor, the pagans must follow their example. Hitherto the preaching of morals had been left to the philosophers. Julian's admonitions as to the treatment of the poor and of those in prison, and the rules that he lays down for the private life of a priest are evidently borrowed from the Christians.

This Fragment occurs in the Vossianus MS., inserted in the middle of the Letter to Themistius,¹ and was identified and published separately by Petavius. It was probably written when Julian was at Antioch on the way to Persia.

1. The beginning is lost: Julian has apparently been describing the functions of good demons, and now passes on to the demons whose task is to punish evil-doers; cf. Oration 2. 90 b.

2. Genesis 3. 21.

3. Pindar, Olympian Ode 7. 49; this became a Sophistic commonplace. Cf. Menander (Spengel) 3. 362; Aristides 1. 807; Libanius 31. 6, Foerster; Philostratus, Imagines 2. 270.

4. Odyssey 6. 207.

5. The connection of the thought is not clear, and Petavius thinks that something has been lost.

6. Julian here prefers the Platonic account of the creation in the Timaeus to the Biblical narrative.

7. cf. St. Paul, Acts 17. 25, "neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything."

8. Empedotimus of Syracuse, whose claim to be immortal was accepted by the Sicilians.

9. Agamemnon; Iliad 1. 23.

10. cf. Plato, Phaedo 62c; Letter to the Athenians 276 b.

11. Apollo.

12. An oracle from an unknown source: these verses occur again in Epistle 62. 451 a.

13. Sc. I will protect.

14. Euripides, fr. 488 Nauck; cf. 197 c, 358 d, 387 b, 391 this phrase became a proverb; cf. Lucian, Hermotimus 789.

15. An oracle from an unknown source.

16. Hipponax of Ephesus, a scurrilous poet who wrote in choliambics (the skazon) and nourished about the middle of the sixth century b.C.; cf. Horace, Epochs 6. 12.

17. Cf. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes; Euripides, Phoenissae 1118.

18. The conclusion is lost, and may have been suppressed by Christian copyists.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2010. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_epigrams.htm

Julian the Apostate, Epigrams (1923) Works, vol. 3, pp.303-309

Julian the Apostate, Epigrams (1923) Works, vol. 3, pp.303-309

[Translated by W. C. Wright]

1. On wine made from barley ¹

Who art thou and whence, O Dionysus? By the true Bacchus I recognise thee not; I know only the son of Zeus. He smells of nectar, but you smell of goat. Truly it was in their lack of grapes that the Celts brewed thee from corn-ears. So we should call thee Demetrius,² not Dionysus, wheat-born ³ not fire-born, barley god not boisterous god.⁴

From the Palatine Anthology 9. 365, and in several MSS.

¹ i. e. beer, which Julian met with in Gaul and Germany.

² i. e. son of Demeter goddess of corn.

³ A play on words. See The Greek Anthology, Vol. 3. 368, Paton.

⁴ βρόμος means "oats"; Bromius "boisterous" was an epithet of Dionysus; it is impossible to represent the play on the words.

2. On the Organ

A strange growth of reeds do I behold. Surely they sprang on a sudden from another brazen field, so wild are they. The winds that wave them are none of ours, but a blast leaps forth from a cavern of bull's hide and beneath the well-bored pipes travels to their roots. And a dignified person, with swift moving fingers of the hand, stands there and handles the keys that pass the -word to the pipes; then the keys leap lightly, and press forth the melody.¹

From The Greek Anthology vol. 3, 365, Paton; it is found in Parisinus 690.

¹ A note in the MS. (Parisinus 690) explains that Julian composed this poem during a procession, when he was leaving the church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. He was then a mere boy, pursuing his education in Constantinople, before he was interned in Cappadocia.

3. -- Riddle on a performer with a pole

There is a tree between the lords, whose root has life and talks, and the fruits likewise. And in a single hour it grows in strange fashion, and ripens its fruit, and gets its harvest at the roots.²

From the Palatine Anthology vol. 2. p. 769.

² The performer balances on his forehead, between his temples, a pole at the end of which is a cage or bar, supporting a child or children.

4. -- On the Homeric hexameter which contains six feet of which three are dactyls

" The daughter of Icarius, prudent Penelope," appears with three fingers ³ and walks on six feet.

From the Anthology 2. 659.

³ There is a play of words on δάκτυλος — "finger" and "dactyl," a metrical foot. In the title,'' foot" and "dactyl" are metrical terms, in the riddle they are used in the original, physical sense. The hexameter quoted has three dactyls.

5. -- To a Hippocentaur

A horse has been poured from a man's mould, a man springs up from a horse. The man has no feet, the swift moving horse has no head. The horse belches forth as a man, the man breaks wind as a horse.

Assigned to Julian by Tzetzes Chiliades 959; Anthology, vol. 2, p. 659.

6. -- By Julian the Apostate

Even as Fate the Sweeper wills to sweep thee on, be thou swept. But if thou rebel, thou wilt but harm thyself, and Fate still sweeps thee on.¹

First ascribed to Julian, from Baroccianus 133, by Cumont, Revue de Philologie, 1892. Also ascribed to St. Basil; cf. a similar epigram in Palatine Anthology 10. 73, ascribed to Palladas.

¹ Perhaps there is a similar meaning in the phrase [Greek] in the puzzling frag. 13, p. 303.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2010. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_orations_01_constantius.htm

Julian the Apostate, Oration 1: Panegyric in honour of Constantius (1913) Works vol. 1, pp.2-127

Julian the Apostate, Oration 1: Panegyric in honour of Constantius (1913) Works vol. 1, pp.2-127

[Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright]

Julian's training in rhetoric left its mark on all his writings, but technically speaking his work as a Sophist is comprised in the three panegyrics (Orations 1-3) and the prose "Hymns" (Orations 4-5). Oration 1 was considered his masterpiece and was used as a model by Libanius. It was written and probably delivered in 355 A.D., before Julian went to Gaul. The excuse of being an amateur is a commonplace in this type of epideictic speech. He follows with hardly a deviation the rules for the arrangement and treatment of a speech in praise of an emperor as we find them in Menander's handbook of epideictic oratory written in the third century A.D. The speech is easily analysed. First comes the prooemium to conciliate the audience and to give the threads of the argument, then the praises of the emperor's native land, ancestors, early training, deeds in war and in peace, and the stereotyped contrasts with the Persian monarchs, the Homeric heroes, and Alcibiades. In the two last divisions the virtues of Plato's ideal king are proved to have been displayed by Constantius, his victories are exaggerated and his defeats explained away. Then comes a description of the happy state of the empire and the army under such a ruler, and the panegyric ends abruptly without the final prayer for the continuance of his reign, recommended by Menander. This peroration has evidently been lost. The arrangement closely resembles that of Oration 3, the panegyric on the Empress Eusebia, and the "Evagoras" of Isocrates, which Julian frequently echoes. Julian's praises were thoroughly insincere, a compulsory tribute to a cousin whom he hated and feared.

PANEGYRIC IN HONOUR OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTIUS

I have long desired, most mighty Emperor, to sing the praises of your valour and achievements, to recount your campaigns, and to tell how you suppressed the tyrannies; how your persuasive eloquence drew away one usurper's¹ bodyguard; how you overcame another² by force of arms. But the vast scale of your exploits deterred me, because what I had to dread was not that my words would fall somewhat short of your achievements, but that I should prove wholly unequal to my theme. That men versed in political debate, or poets, should find it easy to compose a panegyric on your career is not at all surprising. Their practice in speaking, their habit of declaiming in public supplies them abundantly with a well-warranted confidence. But those who have neglected this field and chosen another branch of literary study which devotes itself to a form of composition little adapted to win popular favour and that has not the hardihood to exhibit itself in its nakedness in every theatre, no matter what, would naturally hesitate to make speeches of the epideictic sort. As for the poets, their Muse, and the general belief that it is she who inspires their verse, obviously gives them unlimited |7 license to invent. To rhetoricians the art of rhetoric allows just as much freedom; fiction is denied them, but flattery is by no means forbidden, nor is it counted a disgrace to the orator that the object of his panegyric should not deserve it. Poets who compose and publish some legend that no one had thought of before increase their reputation, because an audience is entertained by the mere fact of novelty. Orators, again, assert³ that the advantage of their art is that it can treat a slight theme in the grand manner, and again, by the use of mere words, strip the greatness from deeds, and, in short, marshall the power of words against that of facts.

If, however, I had seen that on this occasion I should need their art, I should have maintained the silence that befits those who have had no practice in such forms of composition, and should leave your praises to be told by those whom I just now mentioned. Since, on the contrary, the speech I am to make calls for a plain narrative of the facts and needs no adventitious ornament, I thought that even I was not unfit, seeing that my predecessors had already shown that it was beyond them to produce a record worthy of your achievements. For almost all who devote themselves to literature attempt to sing your praises in verse or prose; some of them venture to cover your whole career in a brief narrative, while others devote themselves to a part only, and think that if they succeed in doing justice to that part they have proved themselves equal to the task. |9

Yet one can but admire the zeal of all who have made you the theme of a panegyric. Some did not shrink from the tremendous effort to secure every one of your achievements from the withering touch of time; others, because they foresaw that they could not compass the whole, expressed themselves only in part, and chose to consecrate to you their individual work so far as they were able. Better this, they thought, than "the reward of silence that runs no risk." ⁴

Now if I were one of those whose favourite pursuit is epideictic oratory, I should have to begin my speech by asking from you no less goodwill than I now feel towards yourself, and should beg you graciously to incline your ear to my words and not play the part of a severe and inexorable critic. But since, bred as I have been and educated in other studies, other pursuits, other conventions, I am criticised for venturing rashly into fields that belong to others, I feel that I ought to explain myself briefly on this head and begin my speech more after my own fashion.

There is an ancient maxim taught by him who first introduced philosophy to mankind, and it is as follows. All who aspire to virtue and the beautiful must study in their words, deeds, conversation, in short, in all the affairs of life, great and small, to aim in every way at beauty. Now what sensible man would deny that virtue is of all things the most beautiful? Wherefore those are bidden to lay firm hold on her who do not seek to blazon abroad her name in vain, |11 appropriating that which in no way belongs to them. Now in giving this counsel, the maxim does not prescribe any single type of discourse, nor does it proclaim to its readers, like a god from the machine in tragedy, "Ye must aspire to virtue and eschew evil." Many are the paths that it allows a man to follow to this goal, if he desire to imitate the nature of the beautiful. For example, he may give good advice, or use hortatory discourse, or he may rebuke error without malice, or applaud what is well done, or condemn, on occasion, what is ill done. It permits men also to use other types of oratory, if they please, so as to attain the best end of speech, but it enjoins on them to take thought in every word and act how they shall give account of all they utter, and to speak no word that cannot be referred to the standard of virtue and philosophy. ·That and more to the same effect is the tenour of that precept.

And now, what am I to do? What embarrasses me is the fact that, if I praise you, I shall be thought simply to curry favour, and in fact, the department of panegyric has come to incur a grave suspicion due to its misuse, and is now held to be base flattery rather than trustworthy testimony to heroic deeds. Is it not obvious that I must put my faith in the merit of him whom I undertake to praise, and with full confidence devote my energies to this panegyric? What then shall be the prelude of my speech and the most suitable arrangement? Assuredly I must begin with the virtues of your ancestors through which it was possible for you to come to be what you are. Next I think it will be proper to describe |13 your upbringing and education, since these contributed very much to the noble qualities that you possess, and when I have dealt with all these, I must recount your achievements, the signs and tokens, as it were, of the nobility of your soul, and finally, as the crown and consummation of my discourse, I shall set forth those personal qualities from which was evolved all that was noble in your projects and their execution. It is in this respect that I think my speech will surpass those of all the others. For some limit themselves to your exploits, with the idea that a description of these suffices for a perfect panegyric, but for my part I think one ought to devote the greater part of one's speech to the virtues that were the stepping-stones by which you reached the height of your achievements. Military exploits in most cases, nay in almost all, are achieved with the help of fortune, the body-guard, heavy infantry and cavalry regiments. But virtuous actions belong to the doer alone, and the praise that they inspire, if it be sincere, belongs only to the possessor of such virtue. Now, having made this distinction clear, I will begin my speech.

The rules of panegyric require that I should mention your native land no less than your ancestors. But I am at a loss what country I ought to consider peculiarly yours. For countless nations have long asserted their claim to be your country. The city⁵ that rules over them all was your mother and nurse, and in an auspicious hour delivered to you the imperial sceptre, and therefore asserts her sole title to the honour, and that not merely by resorting to the plea that has prevailed under all the emperors. |15

I mean that, even if men are born elsewhere, they all adopt her constitution and use the laws and customs that she has promulgated, and by that fact become Roman citizens. But her claim is different, namely that she gave your mother birth, rearing her royally and as befitted the offspring who were to be born to her. Then again, the city on the Bosporus which is named after the family of the Constantii, though she does not assert that she is your native place, but acknowledges that she became your adopted land by your father's act, will think she is cheated of her rights if any orator should try to deprive her of at least this claim to kinship. Thirdly, the Illyrians, on whose soil you were born, will not tolerate it if anyone assign you a different fatherland and rob them of the fairest gift of fortune. And now I hear some even of the Eastern provinces protest that it is unjust of me to rob them of the lustre they derive from you. For they say that they sent forth your grandmother to be the consort of your grandfather on the mother's side. Almost all the rest have hit on some pretension of more or less weight, and are determined, on one ground or another, to adopt you for their own. Therefore let that country⁶ have the prize which you yourself prefer and have so often praised as the mother and teacher of the virtues; as for the rest, let each one according to her deserts obtain her due. I should be glad to praise them all, worthy as they are of glory and honour, but I am |17 afraid that my compliments, however germane they may seem to my subject, might, on account of their length, be thought inappropriate to the present occasion. For this reason, then, I think it better to omit a eulogy of the others, but as for Rome, your imperial Majesty summed up her praises in two words when you called her the teacher of virtue, and, by bestowing on her the fairest of all encomiums, you have forestalled all that others might say. What praise of mine would come up to that? What indeed is left for anyone to say? So I feel that I, who naturally hold that city in reverence, shall pay her a higher honour if I leave her praise in your hands.

Now perhaps I ought at this point to say a few words about your noble ancestors. Only that here too I am at a loss where to begin. For all your ancestors, grandfathers, parents, brothers, cousins and kinsfolk were emperors, who had either acquired their power by lawful means or were adopted by the reigning house. Why should I recall ancient history or hark back to Claudius and produce proofs of his merit, which are manifest and known to all? To what end recount his campaigns against the barbarians across the Danube or how righteously and justly he won the empire? How plainly he lived while on the throne! How simple was his dress, as may be seen to this day in his statues! What I might say about your grandparents⁷ is comparatively recent, but |19 equally remarkable. Both of them acquired the imperial sceptre as the reward of conspicuous merit, and having assumed the command, they were on such good terms with each other and displayed such filial piety to him⁸ who had granted them a share in the empire, that he used to say that of all the safeguards designed by him for the realm, and they were many, this was his master-stroke. They, meanwhile, valued their mutual understanding more than undivided empire, supposing that it could have been bestowed on either of them separately. This was the temper of their souls, and nobly they played their part in action, while next to the Supreme Being they reverenced him who had placed authority in their hands. With their subjects they dealt righteously and humanely, and expelled the barbarians who had for years settled in our territory and had occupied it with impunity as though it were their own, and they built forts to hinder encroachment, which procured for those subjects such peaceful relations with the barbarians as, at that period, seemed to be beyond their dreams. This, however, is a subject that deserves more than a passing mention. Yet it would be wrong to omit the strongest proof of their unanimity, especially as it is related to my subject. Since they desired the most perfect harmony for their children, they arranged the marriage of your father and mother.⁹ On this point also I think I must say a few words to show that virtue was bequeathed to you as well as a throne. But why waste time in telling how your father, on his father's death, became emperor both by the choice Of the deceased monarch and by |21 the vote of all the armies? His military genius was made evident by his achievements and needs no words of mine. He traversed the whole civilised world suppressing tyrants, but never those who ruled by right. His subjects he inspired with such affection that his veterans still remember how generous he was with largess and other rewards, and to this day worship him as though he were a god. As for the mass of the people, in town and country alike, they prayed that your father might be victorious over the tyrants, not so much because they would be delivered from that oppression as because they would then be governed by him. But when he had made his power supreme, he found that the tyrant's¹⁰ greed had worked like a drought, with the result that money was very scarce, while there were great hoards of treasure in the recesses of the palace; so he unlocked its doors and on the instant flooded the whole country with wealth, and then, in less than ten years, he founded and gave his name to a city ¹¹ that as far surpasses all others as it is itself inferior to Rome; and to come second to Rome seems to me a much greater honour than to be counted first and foremost of all cities beside. Here it may be proper to mention Athens "the illustrious," ¹² seeing that during his whole life he honoured her in word and deed. He who was emperor and lord of all did not disdain the title of General of the Athenians, and when they gave him a statue with an inscription to that effect he felt more pride than if he had been awarded the highest honours. To repay Athens for this compliment he bestowed on her annually a gift of many tens of thousands of bushels |23 of wheat, so that while she enjoyed plenty, he won applause and reverence from the best of men.

Your father's achievements were many and brilliant. Some I have just mentioned, and others I must omit for the sake of brevity. But the most notable of all, as I make bold to say and I think all will agree, was that he begat, reared and educated you. This secured to the rest of the world the advantages of good government, and that not for a limited time but for a period beyond his own lifetime, as far as this is possible. At any rate your father seems still to be on the throne. This is more than Cyrus himself could achieve. When he died his son proved far inferior, so that while men called Cyrus "father," his successor was called "master." ¹³ But you are even less stern than your father, and surpass him in many respects, as I well know and will demonstrate in my speech as occasion shall arise. Yet, in my opinion, he should have the credit of this as well, since it was he who gave you that admirable training concerning which I shall presently speak, but not till I have described your mother and brothers. ¹⁴

Your mother's ancestry was so distinguished, her personal beauty and nobility of character were such that it would be hard to find her match among women. I have heard that saying of the Persians about Parysatis, that no other woman had been the sister, mother, wife, and daughter of kings. Parysatis, however, was own sister of her husband, since their law does not forbid a Persian to marry his sister. But your mother, while in accordance with our laws she kept pure and unsullied those ties |25 of kinship, was actually the daughter of one emperor,¹⁵ the wife of another, the sister of a third, and the mother not of one emperor but of several. Of these one aided your father in his war against the tyrants; another conquered the Getae and secured for us a lasting peace with them; the third¹⁶ kept our frontiers safe from the enemy's incursions, and often led his forces against them in person, so long at least as he was permitted by those who were so soon punished for their crimes against him. Though by the number and brilliance of their achievements they have indeed earned our homage, and though all the blessings of fortune were theirs in abundance, yet in the whole tale of their felicity one could pay them no greater compliment than merely to name their sires and grandsires. But I must not make my account of them too long, lest I should spend time that I ought to devote to your own panegyric. So in what follows I will, as indeed I ought, endeavour—or rather, since affectation is out of place, let me say I will demonstrate—that you are far more august than your ancestors.

Now as for heavenly voices and prophecies and visions in dreams and all such portents ¹⁷ as are common gossip when men like yourself have achieved brilliant and conspicuous success, Cyrus, for instance, and the founder ¹⁸ of our capital, and Alexander, Philip's son, and the like, I purposely ignore them. Indeed |27 I feel that poetic license accounts for them all. And it is foolish even to state that at the hour of your birth all the circumstances were brilliant and suited to a prince. And now the time has come for me to speak of your education as a boy. You were of course bound to have the princely nurture that should train your body to be strong, muscular, healthy, and handsome, and at the same time duly equip your soul with courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. But this cannot result from that loose indulgence which naturally pampers body and soul, weakening men's wills for facing danger and their bodies for work. Therefore your body required training by suitable gymnastics, while you adorned your mind by literary studies. But I must speak at greater length about both branches of your education, since it laid the foundation of your later career. In your physical training you did not pursue those exercises that fit one merely for public display. What professional athletes love to call the pink of condition you thought unsuitable for a king who must enter for contests that are not make-believe. Such a one must put up with very little sleep and scanty food, and that of no precise quantity or quality or served at regular hours, but such as can be had when the stress of work allows. And so you thought you ought to train yourself in athletics with a view to this, and that your exercises must be military and of many kinds, dancing and running in heavy armour, and riding. All these you have |29 continued from early youth to practise at the right time, and in every exercise you have attained to greater perfection than any other hoplite. Usually a hoplite who is a good infantryman cannot ride, or, if he is an expert horseman, he shirks marching on foot to battle. But of you alone it can be said that you can put on the cavalry uniform and be a match for the best of them, and when changed into a hoplite show yourself stronger, swifter, and lighter on your feet than all the rest. Then you practised shooting at a mark, that even your hours of leisure might not be hours of ease or be found without the exercise of arms. So by work that was voluntary you trained your body to stand the exertions that you would be compelled to undertake.

Your mind, meanwhile, was trained by practice in public speaking and other studies suitable to your years. But it was not to be wholly without the discipline of experience, nor was it for you to listen merely to lectures on the virtues as though they were ballads or saga stories, and so wait all that time without actual acquaintance with brave works and undertakings. Plato, that noble philosopher, advised ¹⁹ that boys should be furnished as it were with wings for flight by being mounted on horseback, and should then be taken into battle so that they may be spectators of the warfare in which they must soon be combatants. This, I make bold to say, was in your father's mind when he made you governor and king of the Celtic tribes while you were still a youth, or rather a mere boy in point of years, though in intelligence and endurance you could already hold your own with men of parts. |31

Your father wisely provided that your experience of war should be free from risks, having arranged that the barbarians should maintain peace with his subjects. But he instigated them to internal feuds and civil war, and so taught you strategy at the expense of their lives and fortunes. This was a safer policy than the wise Plato's. For, by his scheme, if the invading army were composed of infantry, the boys could indeed be spectators of their fathers' prowess, or, if need arose, could even take part. But supposing that the enemy won in a cavalry engagement, then, on the instant, one would have to devise some means to save the boys, which would be difficult indeed. But to inure the boys to face the enemy, while the hazard belongs to others, is to take counsel that both suffices for their need and also secures their safety.

It was in this way then that you were first trained in manliness. But as regards wisdom, that nature with which you were endowed was your self-sufficing guide. But also, I think, the wisest citizens were at your disposal and gave you lessons in statecraft. Moreover, your intercourse with the barbarian leaders in that region gave you an acquaintance at first hand with the manners, laws, and usages of foreigners. Indeed, when Homer set out to prove the consummate wisdom of Odysseus, he called him "much-travelled," and said that he had come to know the minds of many peoples and visited their cities, so that he might choose what was best in every one and be able to mix with all sorts and conditions of men. Yes, even Odysseus, who never ruled an |33 empire, needed experience of the many and divers minds of men. How much more necessary that one who was being brought up to guide an empire like this should not fit himself for the task in some modest dwelling apart; neither should he, like young Cyrus in his games, play at being emperor, nor give audiences to his playmates, as they say ²⁰ Cyrus did. Rather he ought to mix with nations and peoples, and give orders to his troops definitely indicating what is to be done, and generally he should be found wanting in none of those things which, when he comes to manhood, he must perform without fear.

Accordingly, when you had gained a thorough knowledge of the Celts, you crossed to the other continent and were given sole command against the Parthians and Medes. There were already signs that a war was smouldering and would soon burst into flame. You therefore quickly learned how to deal with it, and, as though you took as model the hardness of your weapons, steeled yourself to bear the heat of the summer season. I have heard say that Alcibiades alone, among all the Greeks, was naturally so versatile that when he cast in his lot with the Spartans he copied the self-restraint of the Lacedaemonians, then in turn Theban and Thracian manners, and finally adopted Persian luxury. But Alcibiades, when he changed his country changed his character ²¹ too, and became so tainted with perversity and so ill-conditioned that he was likely to lose utterly all that he was born to. You, however, thought it your duty to maintain your severity of |35 life wherever you might be, and by hard work inuring your constitution to change, you easily bore the march inland from Galatia to Parthia, more easily in fact than a rich man who lives now here, now there, according to the season, would bear it if he were forced to encounter unseasonable weather. I think Heaven smiled on you and willed that you should govern the whole world, and so from the first trained you in virtue, and was your guide when you journeyed to all points, and showed you the bounds and limits of the whole empire, the character of each region, the vastness of your territory, the power of every race, the number of the cities, the characteristics of the masses, and above all the vast number of things that one who is bred to so great a kingship cannot afford to neglect. But I nearly forgot to mention the most important thing of all. From a boy you were taught to govern this great empire, but a better thing you learned, to be governed, submitting, yourself to the authority that is the best in the world and the most just, that is to say nature and law. I mean that both as son and subject you obeyed your father. Indeed, had he been only your father or only your king, obedience was his due.

Now what rearing and education for a king could one find in history better than this? Consider the Greeks. Not thus did the Spartans train the Heracleidae, though they are thought to have enjoyed the best form of government, that of their kings. As for the barbarians, not even the |37 Carthaginians, though they were particularly well-governed by their kings, chose the best method of training their future rulers. The moral discipline and the studies prescribed by their laws were pursued by all alike, as though the citizens were brothers, all destined both to govern and be governed, and in the matter of education they made no difference between their princes and the rest of the citizens. Yet surely it is foolish to demand superlative excellence from one's rulers when one takes no pains to make them better than other men. Among the barbarians, indeed, no man is debarred from winning the throne, so one can excuse them for giving the same moral training to all. But that Lycurgus, who tried to make the dynasty of the Heracleidae proof against all shocks,²² should not have arranged for them a special education better than that of other Spartan youths is an omission for which he may well be criticised. He may have thought that all the Lacedaemonians ought to enter the race for virtue, and foster it, but for all that it was wrong to provide the same nurture and education for private citizens as for those who were to govern. The inevitable familiarity little by little steals into men's souls and breeds contempt for their betters. Though, for that matter, they are not in any sense one's betters unless it was their own merit that earned them the right to rule. This, in |39 my opinion, is the reason why the Spartan kings often found their subjects hard to govern. In proof of what I say one might quote the rivalry of Lysander and Agesilaus, and many other instances, if one should review the history of the Spartan kings

The Spartan polity, however, by securing a satisfactory development of the moral qualities in their kings, even if it gave them a training in no way different from that of the crowd, at least endowed them with the attributes of well-bred men. But as for the Carthaginians, there was nothing to admire even in the discipline that they all shared. The parents turned their sons out of doors and bade them win the necessaries of life by their own efforts, with the injunction to do nothing that is considered disgraceful. The effect of this was not to uproot the evil inclinations of the young, but to require them to take pains not to be caught in wrong-doing. For it is not self-indulgence only that ruins character, but the lack of mere necessaries may produce the same result. This is true at any rate in the case of those whose reason has not yet assumed the power to decide, being swayed by physical needs and persuaded by desire. It is especially true when one fails to control the passion for money-getting, if from boyhood one is accustomed to it and to the trading and bartering of the market-places. This business, unfit for a youth of gentle birth to mention, or so much as hear spoken of, whether the youth finds it out for himself |41 or learns it from those of greater experience, leaves many scars on the soul; and even a respectable citizen ought to be free from all this, not a king or general alone.

But it is not for me to criticise the Carthaginians in this place. I will only point out how different was your education, and how you profited by it and have come to excel in looks, strength, justice, and temperance. By your active life you achieved perfect health; your temperance was the result of obedience to the laws; you enjoy a body of unusual strength by reason of your self-control, and a soul of unusual rectitude because of your physical powers of endurance. You left nothing undone to improve your natural talents, but ever acquired new talents by new studies. You needed nothing yourself but gave assistance to others, and lavished such generous gifts that the recipients seemed as rich as the monarch of the Lydians.²³ Though you indulged yourself less in the good things that were yours than the most austere of the Spartans, you gave others the means of luxury in abundance, while those who preferred temperance could imitate your example. As a ruler you were mild and humane; as your father's subject you were ever as modest as any one of his people. All this was true of you in boyhood and youth, and much more about which there is now no time to speak at length. |43

When you had come to man's estate, and after fate had decreed the ending of your father's life ²⁴ and Heaven had granted that his last hours should be peculiarly blest; you adorned his tomb not only by lavishing on it splendid decorations ²⁵ and so paying the debt of gratitude for your birth and education, but still more by the fact that you alone of his sons hastened to him when he was still alive and stricken by illness, and paid him the highest possible honours after his death. But all this I need only mention in passing. For now it is your exploits that cry aloud for notice and remind me of your energy, courage, good judgment, and justice. In these qualities you are unsurpassed, unrivalled. In your dealings with your brothers,²⁶ your subjects, your father's friends, and your armies you displayed justice and moderation; except that, in some cases, forced as you were by the critical state of affairs, you could not, in spite of your own wishes, prevent others from going astray. Towards the enemy your demeanour was brave, generous, and worthy of the previous reputation of your house. While you maintained the friendly relations that already existed, kept the capital free from civil discord, and continued to cherish your brothers who were your partners in empire, you granted to your friends, among other benefits, the privilege of addressing you as an equal and full freedom of speech without stint, and perfect frankness. Not only did you share with them all whatever you possessed, but you gave to each what he seemed most to need. Anyone who wants testimony to all this might reasonably call your friends to witness, but if he does not know your friends, the facts |45 themselves are sufficient to demonstrate the policy of your whole life.

But I must postpone the description of your personal qualities and go on to speak of your achievements. The Persians in the past conquered the whole of Asia, subjugated a great part of Europe, and had embraced in their hopes I may almost say the whole inhabited world, when the Macedonians deprived them of their supremacy, and they provided Alexander's generalship with a task, or rather with a toy. But they could not endure the yoke of slavery, and no sooner was Alexander dead, than they revolted from his successors and once more opposed their power to the Macedonians, and so successfully that, when we took over what was left of the Macedonian empire, we counted them to the end as foes with whom we must reckon. I need not now remind you of ancient history, of Antony and Crassus,²⁷ who were generals with the fullest powers, or tell how after long-continued dangers we succeeded in wiping out the disgrace they incurred, and how many a prudent general retrieved their blunders. Nor need I recall the second chapter of our misfortunes and the exploits of Carus ²⁸ that followed, when after those failures he was appointed general. Among those who sat on the throne before your father's time and imposed on the Persians conditions of peace admired and welcomed by all, did not the Caesar ²⁹ incur a disgraceful defeat when he attacked them on his own account? It was not till the ruler of the whole world ³⁰ turned his attention to |47 them, directing thither all the forces of the empire, occupying all the passes with his troops and levies of hoplites, both veterans and new recruits, and employing every sort of military equipments, that fear drove them to accept terms of peace. That peace they somehow contrived to disturb and break during your father's lifetime, but they escaped punishment at his hands because he died in the midst of preparations for a campaign. It was left for you later on to punish them for their audacity. I shall often have to speak of your campaigns against them, but this one thing I ask my hearers to observe. You became master of a third of the empire,³¹ that part in fact which seemed by no means strong enough to carry on a war, since it had neither arms nor troops in the field, nor any of those military resources which ought to flow in abundantly in preparation for so important a war. Then, too, your brothers, for whatever reason, did nothing to make the war easier for you. And yet there is no sycophant so shameless and so envious as not to admit that the harmony existing between you was mainly due to you. The war in itself presented peculiar difficulties, in my opinion, and the troops were disaffected owing to the change of government; they raised the cry that they missed their old leader and they wished to control your actions. Nay, more; a thousand strange and perplexing circumstances arose on every hand to render your hopes regarding the war more difficult to realise. The Armenians, our ancient allies, revolted, and no small part of them went over to the Persians and overran and raided the country on their borders. In this crisis there seemed to be but one hope of |49 safety, that you should take charge of affairs and plan the campaign, but at the moment this was impossible, because you were in Paeonia ³² making treaties with your brothers. Thither you went in person, and so managed that you gave them no opening for criticism. Indeed, I almost forgot to mention the very first of your achievements, the noblest of all, or at any rate equal to the noblest. For there is no greater proof of your prudence and magnanimity than the fact that, in planning for interests of such importance, you thought it no disadvantage if you should, of your own free will, concede the lion's share to your brothers. Imagine, for instance, a man dividing among his brothers their father's estate of a hundred talents, or, if you prefer, twice as much. Then suppose him to have been content with fifty minae less than the others, and to raise no objection, because he secured their goodwill in exchange for that trifling sum. You would think he deserved all praise and respect as one who had a soul above money, as far-sighted, in short as a man of honour. But here is one whose policy with regard to the empire of the world seems to have been so high minded, so prudent, that, without increasing the burdens of administration, he willingly gave up some of the imperial revenues in order to secure harmony and peace among all Roman citizens. What praise such a one deserves! And certainly one cannot, in this connection, quote the saying, "Well done, but a bad bargain." Nothing, in my opinion, |51 can be called a good bargain if it be not honourable as well. In general, if anyone wish to apply the test of expediency alone, he ought not to make money his criterion or reckon up his revenues from estates, like those old misers whom writers of comedy bring on to the stage, but he should take into account the vastness of the empire and the point of honour involved. If the Emperor had disputed about the boundaries and taken a hostile attitude, he might have obtained more than he did, but he would have governed only his allotted share. But he scorned and despised such trifles, and the result was that he really governed the whole world in partnership with his brothers, but had the care of his own portion only, and, while he kept his dignity unimpaired, he had less than his share of the toil and trouble that go with such a position.

On that subject, however, I shall have a chance later to speak in more detail. This is perhaps the right moment to describe how you controlled the situation, encompassed as you were, after your father's death, by so many perils and difficulties of all sorts—confusion, an unavoidable war, numerous hostile raids, allies in revolt, lack of discipline in the garrisons, and all the other harassing conditions of the hour. You concluded in perfect harmony the negotiations with your brothers, and when the time had arrived that demanded your aid for the dangerous crisis of affairs, you made forced marches, and immediately after leaving Paeonia appeared in Syria, But to relate how you did this would tax my powers of description, and indeed for those who know the |53 facts their own experience is enough. But who in the world could describe adequately how, at the prospect of your arrival, everything was changed and improved all at once, so that we were set free from the fears that hung over us and could entertain brighter hopes than ever for the future? Even before you were actually on the spot the mutiny among the garrisons ceased and order was restored. The Armenians who had gone over to the enemy at once changed sides again, for you ejected from the country and sent to Rome those who were responsible for the governor's ³³ exile, and you secured for the exiles a safe return to their own country. You were so merciful to those who now came to Rome as exiles, and so kind in your dealings with those who returned from exile with the governor, that the former did, indeed, bewail their misfortune in having revolted, but still were better pleased with their present condition than with their previous usurpation; while the latter, who were formerly in exile, declared that the experience had been a lesson in prudence, but that now they were receiving a worthy reward for their loyalty. On the returned exiles you lavished such magnificent presents and rewards that they could not even resent the good fortune of their bitterest enemies, nor begrudge their being duly honoured. All these difficulties you quickly settled, and then by means of embassies you turned the marauding Arabs against our enemies. Then you began preparations for the war, about which I may as well say a few words. |55

The previous period of peace had relaxed the labours of the troops, and lightened the burdens of those who had to perform public services. But the war called for money, provisions, and supplies on a vast scale, and even more it demanded endurance, energy, and military experience on the part of the troops. In the almost entire absence of all these, you personally provided and organised everything, drilled those who had reached the age for military service, got together a force of cavalry to match the enemy's, and issued orders for the infantry to persevere in their training. Nor did you confine yourself to speeches and giving orders, but yourself trained and drilled with the troops, showed them their duty by actual example, and straightway made them experts in the art of war. Then you discovered ways and means, not by increasing the tribute or the extraordinary contributions, as the Athenians did in their day, when they raised these to double or even more. You were content, I understand, with the original revenues, except in cases where, for a short time, and to meet an emergency, it was necessary that the people should find their services to the state more expensive. The troops under your leadership were abundantly supplied, yet not so as to cause the satiety that leads to insolence, nor, on the other hand, were they driven to insubordination from lack of necessaries.

I shall say nothing about your great array of arms, horses, and river-boats, engines of war and the like. But when all was ready and the time had come to |57 make appropriate use of all that I have mentioned, the Tigris was bridged by rafts at many points and forts were built to guard the river. Meanwhile the enemy never once ventured to defend their country from plunder, and every useful thing that they possessed was brought in to us. This was partly because they were afraid to offer battle, partly because those who were rash enough to do so were punished on the spot. This is a mere summary of your invasions of the enemy's country. Who, indeed, in a short speech could do justice to every event, or reckon up the enemy's disasters and our successes? But this at least I have space to tell. You often crossed the Tigris with your army and spent a long time in the enemy's country, but you always returned crowned with the laurels of victory. Then you visited the cities you had freed, and bestowed on them peace and plenty, all possible blessings and all at once. Thus at your hands they received what they had so long desired, the defeat of the barbarians and the erection of trophies of victory over the treachery and cowardice of the Parthians. Treachery they had displayed when they violated the treaties and broke the peace, cowardice when they lacked the courage to fight for their country and all that they held dear.

But lest anyone should suppose that, while I delight in recalling exploits like these, I avoid mentioning occasions when luck gave the enemy the advantage—or rather it was the nature of the ground combined with opportunity that turned |59 the scale—and that I do so because they brought us no honour or glory but only disgrace, I will try to give a brief account of those incidents also, not adapting my narrative with an eye to my own interests, but preferring the truth in every case. For when a man deliberately sins against the truth he cannot escape the reproach of flattery, and moreover he inflicts on the object of his panegyric the appearance of not deserving the praise that he receives on other accounts. This is a mistake of which I shall beware. Indeed my speech will make it clear that in no case has fiction been preferred to the truth. Now I am well aware that all would say that the battle we fought before Singara ³⁴ was a most important victory for the barbarians. But I should answer and with justice that this battle inflicted equal loss on both armies, but proved also that your valour could accomplish more than their luck; and that although the legions under you were violent and reckless men, and were not accustomed, like the enemy, to the climate and the stifling heat. I will relate exactly what took place.

It was still the height of summer, and the legions mustered long before noon. Since the enemy were awestruck by the discipline, accoutrements and calm bearing of our troops, while to us they seemed amazing in numbers, neither side began the battle; for they shrank from coming to close quarters with forces so well equipped, while we waited for them to begin, so that in all respects we might seem to be acting rather in self-defence, and not to be |61 responsible for beginning hostilities after the peace. But at last the leader ³⁵ of the barbarian army, raised high on their shields, perceived the magnitude of our forces drawn up in line. What a change came over him! What exclamations he uttered! He cried out that he had been betrayed, that it was the fault of those who had persuaded him to go to war, and decided that the only thing to be done was to flee with all speed, and that one course alone would secure his safety, namely to cross, before we could reach it, the river, which is the ancient boundary-line between that country and ours. With this purpose he first gave the signal for a retreat in good order, then gradually increasing his pace he finally took to headlong flight, with only a small following of cavalry, and left his whole army to the leadership of his son and the friend in whom he had most confidence. When our men saw this they were enraged that the barbarians should escape all punishment for their audacious conduct, and clamoured to be led in pursuit, chafed at your order to halt, and ran after the enemy in full armour with their utmost energy and speed. For of your generalship they had had no experience so far, and they could not believe that you were a better judge than they of what was expedient. Moreover, under your father they had fought many battles and had always been victorious, a fact that tended to make them think themselves invincible. But they were most of all elated by the terror that the Parthians now shewed, when they thought how they had fought, not only against the enemy, but against the very nature of the ground, |63 and if any greater obstacle met them from some fresh quarter, they felt that they would overcome it as well. Accordingly they ran at full speed for about one hundred stades, and only halted when they came up with the Parthians, who had fled for shelter into a fort that they had lately built to serve as a camp. It was, by this time, evening, and they engaged battle forthwith. Our men at once took the fort and slew its defenders. Once inside the fortifications they displayed great bravery for a long time, but they were by this time fainting with thirst, and when they found cisterns of water inside, they spoiled a glorious victory and gave the enemy a chance to retrieve their defeat. This then was the issue of that battle, which caused us the loss of only three or four of our men, whilst the Parthians lost the heir to the throne ³⁶ who had previously been taken prisoner, together with all his escort. While all this was going on, of the leader of the barbarians not even the ghost was to be seen, nor did he stay his flight till he had put the river behind him. You, on the other hand, did not take off your armour for a whole day and all the night, now sharing the struggles of those who were getting the upper hand, now giving prompt and efficient aid to those who were hard-pressed. And by your bravery and fortitude you so changed the face of the battle that at break of day the enemy were glad to beat a safe retreat to their own territory, and even the wounded, escorted by you, could retire from the battle. Thus did you relieve them all from the risks of flight. Now what fort was taken |65 by the enemy? What city did they besiege? What military supplies did they capture that should give them something to boast about after the war?

But perhaps some one will say that never to come off worse than the enemy must indeed be considered good fortune and felicity, but to make a stand against fortune calls for greater vigour and is a proof of greater valour.

Is a man a skilful pilot because he can steer his ship in fair weather when the sea is absolutely calm? Would you call a charioteer an expert driver who on smooth and level ground has in harness horses that are gentle, quiet and swift, and under such conditions gives a display of his art? How much more skilful is the pilot who marks and perceives beforehand the coming storm and tries to avoid its path, and then, if for any reason he must face it, brings off his ship safe and sound, cargo and all? Just so, the skilful charioteer is he who can contend against the unevenness of the ground, and guide his horses and control them at the same time, if they grow restive. In short, it is not fair to judge of skill of any sort when it is aided by fortune, but one must examine it independently. Cleon was not a better general than Nicias because he was fortunate in the affair of Pylos, and the same may be said of all whose success is due to luck rather than to good judgment. But if I did not claim that your fortune was both better and better deserved than that of your opponents, or rather of all men, I should with reason be thought to do it an injustice, since it |67 prevented the enemy from even perceiving their advantage. For, in my opinion, an impartial judge of my narrative ought to ascribe our reverse to the extreme and insupportable heat, and the fact that you inflicted loss on the enemy equal to ours he would regard as achieved by your valour, but that, though they were aware of their losses, they took no account of their success, he would regard as brought about by your good fortune.

That I may not, however, by saying more on this subject, spend time that belongs to more important affairs, I will try to describe next the multitude of difficulties that beset us, the magnitude of our perils, and how you faced them all, and not only routed the numerous following of the usurpers, but the barbarian forces as well.

About six years had passed since the war I have just described, and the winter was nearly over, when a messenger arrived with the news³⁷ that Galatia³⁸ had gone over to the usurper, that a plot had been made to assassinate your brother and had been carried out, also that Italy and Sicily had been occupied, lastly that the Illyrian garrisons were in revolt and had proclaimed their general³⁹ emperor, though for a time he had been inclined to resist what seemed to be the irresistible onset of the usurpers.⁴⁰ Indeed, he himself kept imploring you to send money and men to his aid, as though he were terribly afraid on his own account of being overpowered by them. And for a while he kept protesting that he would do his duty, that for his part he had no pretensions to the throne, but |69 would faithfully guard and protect it for you. Such were his assertions, but it was not long before his treachery came to light and he received his punishment, tempered though it was with mercy. On learning these facts you thought you ought not to waste your time in idleness to no purpose. The cities of Syria you stocked with engines of war, garrisons, food supplies, and equipment of other kinds, considering that, by these measures, you would, though absent, sufficiently protect the inhabitants, while you were planning to set out in person against the usurpers.

But the Persians ever since the last campaign had been watching for just such an opportunity, and had planned to conquer Syria by a single invasion. So they mustered all forces, every age, sex, and condition, and marched against us, men and mere boys, old men and crowds of women and slaves, who followed not merely to assist in the war, but in vast numbers beyond what was needed. For it was their intention to reduce the cities, and once masters of the country, to bring in colonists in spite of us. But the magnitude of your preparations made it manifest that their expectations were but vanity. They began the siege and completely surrounded the city⁴¹ with dykes, and then the river Mygdonius flowed in and flooded the ground about the walls, as they say the Nile floods Egypt. The siege-engines were brought up against the ramparts on boats, and their |71 plan was that one force should sail to attack the walls while the other kept shooting on the city's defenders from the mounds. But the garrison made a stout defence of the city from the walls. The whole place was filled with corpses, wreckage, armour, and missiles, of which some were just sinking, while others, after sinking from the violence of the first shock, floated on the waters. A vast number of barbarian shields and also ship's benches, as a result of the collisions of the siege-engines on the ships, drifted on the surface. The mass of floating weapons almost covered the whole surface between the wall and the mounds. The lake was turned to gore, and all about the walls echoed the groans of the barbarians, slaying not, but being slain⁴² in manifold ways and by all manner of wounds.

Who could find suitable words to describe all that was done there? They hurled fire down on to the shields, and many of the hoplites fell half-burned, while others who fled from the flames could not escape the danger from the missiles. But some while still swimming were wounded in the back and sank to the bottom, while others who jumped from the siege-engines were hit before they touched the water, and so found not safety indeed but an easier death. As for those who knew not how to swim, and perished more obscurely than those just mentioned, who would attempt to name or number them? Time would fail me did I desire to recount all this in detail. It is enough that you |73 should hear the sum of the matter. On that day the sun beheld a battle the like of which no man had ever known before. These events exposed the historic boastings of the Medes as only empty conceit. Till then men had hardly believed that Xerxes could have had so huge an armament, seeing that for all its size its fate was so shameful and ignominious; but these events made the fact clearer to us than things long familiar and obvious. Xerxes tried to sail and to march by fighting against the laws of nature, and, as he thought, overcame the nature of the sea and of the dry land, but he proved to be no match for the wisdom and endurance of a Greek whose soldiers had not been bred in the school of luxury, nor learned to be slaves, but knew how to obey and to use their energies like free-born men. That man,⁴³ however, though he had no such vast armament as Xerxes, was even more insensate, and outdid the Aloadae in his infatuation, as if almost he had conceived the idea of overwhelming the city with the mountain⁴⁴ that was hard by. Then he turned the currents of rivers against its walls and undermined them, but even when the city had lost its walls he could not succeed in taking it, so that he had not even that triumph to boast of, as Xerxes had when he set fire to Athens. So, after spending four months, he retreated with an army that had lost many thousands, and he who had always seemed to be irresistible was glad to keep the peace, and to use as a bulwark for his own safety the fact that you had no time to spare and that our own affairs were in confusion.

Such were the trophies and victories that you |75 left behind you in Asia, and you led your troops to Europe in perfect condition, determined to fill the whole world with the monuments of your victories. Even if I had nothing more wonderful to relate about you, what I have said is enough to demonstrate that in good sense and energy you surpass all those in the past whose fortune was the same as yours. Indeed to have repulsed the whole strength of Persia and remain unscathed, not to have lost so much as a soldier from the ranks, much less a town or fort, and finally to have brought the siege to so brilliant and unprecedented a conclusion,—what achievement I ask in the past could one compare with this? The Carthaginians were famous for their daring in the face of danger, but they ended in disaster. The siege of Plataea shed lustre on its citizens, but all that their valour could do for those unhappy men was to make their misfortunes more widely known. What need to quote Messene or Pylos, since there the defeated did not make a brave defence nor was a vigorous assault necessary to subdue them? As for the Syracusans, they had their famous man of science⁴⁵ to aid them against the armaments of Rome and our illustrious general,⁴⁶ but what did he avail them in the end? Did they not fall more ignominiously than the rest, and were only spared to be a glorious monument of their conqueror's clemency? But if I wished to reckon up all the states that could not withstand armaments inferior to their own, how many volumes do you think would suffice? Rome, however, I ought perhaps to mention, because long ago she had just such a fortune, I mean when the Galatians and |77 Celts⁴⁷ conspired together, and without warning poured down on the city like a winter torrent.⁴⁸ The citizens occupied the famous hill⁴⁹ on which stands the statue of Jupiter. There they intrenched themselves with wicker barricades and such like defences, as though with a wall, while the enemy offered no hindrance nor ventured to approach to attack at close quarters, and so they won the day.

It is with this siege that the recent one may well be compared, at least in the issue of its fortunes; for the actual occurrences could not be paralleled in all history. For who ever heard of surrounding a city with water, and from without throwing hills about it like nets, then hurling at it, like a siege-engine, a river that flowed in a steady stream and broke against its walls, or of fighting like that which took place in the water and about the wall where it had fallen in? For my purpose, this is, as I said, evidence enough. But what remains to tell is far more awe-inspiring. And perhaps, since I have undertaken to record, as far as possible, all that you accomplished, it is not fair to break off my narrative at the point where you were at the very height of your activity. For even while you were occupied by the interests I have just described, you arranged your affairs in Europe, despatching embassies, spending money, and sending out the legions that were garrisoning Paeonia against the Scythians, all of which was with the intention of preventing that feeble old man⁵⁰ from being overpowered by the |79 usurper.⁵¹ But how could one, with the best will in the world, present all this in a short speech?

No sooner had you set out for the seat of war, than this very man, who had all along protested that he would loyally continue to guard your interests, though you had reinforced him with money, troops, and everything of the sort, was driven to folly and madness by I know not what evil spirit, and came to terms with the most execrable of mankind, the common enemy of all who care for peace and cherish harmony above all things, and more particularly your enemy for personal reasons. But you were undismayed by the magnitude of his preparations, nor would you admit that a conspiracy of traitors could overreach your own wise purpose. One ⁵² of the pair you justly accused of treason, the other⁵³ of infamous crimes besides, and deeds of lawless violence, and you summoned the former to trial and judgment before the legions, the latter you decided to leave to the arbitrament of war. Then he met you face to face, that honourable and prudent old man, who used to change his opinions more easily than any child, and, though he had begged for them, forgot all your favours as soon as the need had passed. He arrived with his phalanxes of hoplites and squadrons of cavalry, intending to compel, if he could not persuade you, to take no action and return the way you came. When, then, you saw this man, who had protested that he would continue to be your ally and general, playing an enemy's part and claiming an equal share of your empire, you were not at all dismayed, though his troops outnumbered |81 yours. For you had not brought your whole force with you, since you decided that to fight it out with such odds against you might be courageous but was in every way hazardous, even if you won the battle, because of that other savage usurper⁵⁴ who was lying in wait for a favourable opportunity⁵⁵ when you should be in difficulties. You therefore made a wise resolve in preferring to achieve success single-handed, and you mounted the platform with him who for the moment was your colleague in empire. He was escorted by a whole host of hoplites with glittering weapons,⁵⁶ presenting drawn swords and spears, a sight to make a coward shake with fear, though it inspired and supported one so brave and gallant as yourself. Now when first you began to speak, silence fell on the whole army and every man strained his ears to hear. Many shed tears and raised their hands to heaven, though even this they did in silence, so as to be unobserved. Some again showed their affection in their faces, but all showed it by their intense eagerness to hear your words. When your speech reached its climax, they were carried away by enthusiasm and burst into applause, then eager to miss no word they became quiet again. Finally, won by your arguments, they hailed you as their only Emperor, demanded that you alone should rule the whole empire, and bade you lead them against your adversary, promising to follow you and begging you to take back the imperial insignia. You, however, thought it beneath you to stretch out your hand for them or to take them by force. Then against his will and with reluctance, but |83 yielding at last to what is called Thessalian persuasion,⁵⁷ he took off' the purple robe and offered it to you. What a heroic figure yours was then, when, in a single day, you became master of all those races, those legions, all that wealth, when you stripped of his power and took prisoner one who, if not in fact yet in intention, had shown that he was your enemy!

Did you not behave more nobly and more generously to him than Cyrus did to his own grandfather? For you deprived your enemy's followers of nothing, but protected their privileges and, I understand, gave many of them presents besides. Who saw you despondent before your triumph or unduly elated after it? Orator, general, virtuous emperor, distinguished soldier, though men give you all these titles, how can any praise of ours be adequate? Long had the orator's platform been wholly disconnected from the general's functions⁵⁸; and it was reserved for you to combine them once more in your person, in this surely following the example of Odysseus and Nestor and the Roman generals who sacked Carthage; for these men were always even more formidable to wrong-doers whom they attacked from the platform than to the enemy in the field of battle. Indeed I pay all the homage due to the forcible eloquence of Demosthenes and his imitators, but when I consider the conditions of your harangue I can never admit that there is any comparison between your theatre and theirs. For they never had to address an audience of hoplites nor had they such great interests at stake, but only |85 money, or honour, or reputation, or friends whom they had undertaken to assist, yet when the citizens clamoured in dissent, they often, I believe, left the platform pale and trembling, like generals who prove to be cowards when they have to face the enemy in battle-line. Indeed from all history it would be impossible to cite an achievement as great as yours when you acquired control of all those races by judicial pleading alone; and moreover you had to make out your case against a man not by any means to be despised, as many people think, but one who had won distinction in many campaigns, who was full of years, who had the reputation of experience gained in a long career, and had for a considerable period been in command of the legions there present. What overwhelming eloquence that must have been! How truly did "persuasion sit on your lips"⁵⁹ and had the power to "leave a sting" in the souls of that motley crowd of men, and to win you a victory that in importance rivals any that were ever achieved by force of arms, only that yours was stainless and unalloyed, and was more like the act of a priest going to the temple of his god than of an emperor going to war. It is true indeed that the Persians have a similar instance to quote, but it falls far short of what you did, I mean that on their father's death the sons of Darius quarrelled about the succession to the throne and appealed to justice rather than to arms to arbitrate their case. But between you and your brothers there never arose any dispute, either in word or deed, nay not one, for it was in fact more |87 agreeable to you to share the responsibility with them than to be the sole ruler of the world. But your quarrel was with one who, though his actions had not so far been impious or criminal, was shown to have a treasonable purpose, and you brought proofs to make that treason manifest.

After your harangue there followed a brilliant campaign and a war truly sacred, though it was not on behalf of sacred territory, like the Phocian war, which we are told was waged⁶⁰ in the days of our ancestors, but was to avenge the laws and the constitution and the slaughter of countless citizens, some of whom the usurper ⁶¹ had put to death, while others he was just about to kill or was trying to arrest. It was really as though he was afraid that otherwise he might be considered, for all his vices, a Roman citizen instead of' a genuine barbarian. As for his crimes against your house, though they were quite as flagrant as his outrages against the state, you thought it became you to devote less attention to them. So true it is, that, then as now, you rated the common weal higher than your private interests.

I need not mention all the usurper's offences against the community and against individuals. He assassinated his own master. For he had actually been the slave of the murdered emperor's ancestors, a miserable remnant saved from the spoils of Germany. And then he aimed at ruling over us, he who had not even the right to call himself free, had you not granted him the |89 privilege. Those in command of the legions he imprisoned and put to death, while to the common soldiers he behaved with such abject servility and deference that he ruined their discipline. Then he enacted those fine laws of his, a property tax of fifty per cent., and threatened the disobedient with death, while any slave who pleased might inform against his master. Then he compelled those who did not want it to purchase the imperial property. But time would fail me were I to tell of all his crimes and of the vast proportions that his tyranny had assumed. As for the armament which he had collected to use against the barbarians but actually employed against us, who could give you an adequate report of its strength? There were Celts and Galatians⁶² who had seemed invincible even to our ancestors, and who had so often like a winter torrent that sweeps all before it,⁶³ poured down on the Italians and Illyrians, and, following up their repeated victories on the field of battle, had even invaded Asia, and then became our subjects because they had no choice. They had been enrolled in the ranks of our armies and furnished levies that won a brilliant reputation, being enlisted by your ancestors, and, later, by your father. Then, since they enjoyed the blessings of long-continued peace, and their country increased in wealth and population, they furnished your brothers with considerable levies, and finally, by compulsion, not choice, they all in a body took part in the usurper's campaign. The most enthusiastic of his followers were, in virtue of their ties of |91 kinship, the Franks and Saxons, the most warlike of the tribes who live beyond the Rhine and on the shores of the western sea. And since every city and every fortified place on the banks of the Rhine was shorn of its garrison, that whole region was left with no defence against the barbarians, and all that splendidly organised army was despatched against us. Every town in Galatia⁶⁴ was like a camp preparing for war. Nothing was to be seen but weapons of war and forces of cavalry, infantry, archers, and javelin men. When these allies of the usurper began to pour into Italy from all quarters and there joined the troops who had been enrolled long before, there was no one so bold as not to feel terror and dismay at the tempest that threatened.⁶⁵ It seemed to all as though a thunderbolt had fallen from the Alps, a bolt that no action could avert, no words describe. It struck terror into the Illyrians, the Paeonians, the Thracians, the Scythians; the dwellers in Asia believed it was directed entirely against themselves, and even the Persians began to get ready to oppose it in their country's defence. But the usurper thought his task was easy, and that he would have little difficulty in baffling your wisdom and energy, and already fixed his covetous gaze on the wealth of India and the magnificence of Persia. To such an excess of folly and rashness had he come, and after a success wholly insignificant, I mean the affair of the scouts whom, while they were unprotected by the main army, he ambushed and cut in pieces. So true it is that when fools meet with undeserved success⁶⁶ they often find it is but the prelude to greater misfortunes. And so, elated by |93 this stroke of luck, he left the fortified posts that protected the Italian frontier, and marched towards the Norici and the Paeonians, taking no precautions, because he thought that speed would serve him better than force of arms or courage.

The moment that you learned this, you led your army out of the narrow and dangerous passes, and he followed in pursuit, as he thought, unaware that he was being outgeneralled, until you both reached open country. When the plains before Myrsa⁶⁷ were in sight, the cavalry of both armies were drawn up on the wings, while the infantry formed the centre. Then your Majesty kept the river on your right, and, outflanking the enemy with your left, you at once turned and broke his phalanx, which indeed had from the first the wrong formation, since it had been drawn up by one who knew nothing of war or strategy. Then he who so far had thought he was the pursuer did not even join battle, but took to headlong flight, dismayed by the clash of weapons; he could not even listen without trembling when the legions shouted their battle-song. His ranks had been thrown into disorder, but the soldiers formed into companies and renewed the battle. For they disdained to be seen in flight, and to give an example in their own persons of what had hitherto been inconceivable to all men, I mean a Celtic or Galatian ⁶⁸ soldier turning his back to the enemy. The barbarians too, who, if defeated, could not hope to make good their retreat, were resolved either to conquer, or not to perish till they had severely punished their opponents. Just see the extraordinary daring |95 of the usurper's troops in the face of dangers and their great eagerness to come to close quarters!

Our men, on the other hand, had so far carried all before them and were anxious to retain the good opinion of their comrades and of the Emperor, and were moreover stimulated by their successes in the past and by the almost incredible brilliance of their exploits in this very engagement, and, ambitious as they were to end the day as gloriously as they had begun it, cheerfully encountered toil and danger. So they charged again as though the battle had only just begun, and gave a wonderful display of daring and heroism. For some hurled themselves full on the enemy's swords, or seized the enemy's shields, others, when their horses were wounded and the riders thrown, at once transformed themselves into hoplites. The usurper's army meanwhile did the same and pressed our infantry hard. Neither side gained the advantage, till the cuirassiers by their archery, aided by the remaining force of cavalry, who spurred on their horses to the charge, had begun to. inflict great loss on the enemy, and by main force to drive the whole army before them. Some directed their flight to the plain, and of these a few were saved just in time by the approach of night. The rest were flung into the river, crowded together like a herd of oxen or brute beasts. Thus did the usurper's army reap the fruits of his cowardice, while their valour availed him nothing.

The trophy that you set up for that victory was far more brilliant than your father's. He led an |97 army that had always proved itself invincible, and with it conquered a miserable old man.⁶⁹ But the tyranny that you suppressed was flourishing and had reached its height, partly through the crimes that had been committed, but still more because so many of the youth were on that side, and you took the field against it with legions that had been trained by yourself. What emperor can one cite in the past who first planned and then reproduced so admirable a type of cavalry, and such accoutrements? First you trained yourself to wear them, and then you taught others how to use such weapons so that none could withstand them. This is a subject on which many have ventured to speak, but they have failed to do it justice, so much so that those who heard their description, and later had the good fortune to see for themselves, decided that their eyes must accept what their ears had refused to credit. Your cavalry was almost unlimited in numbers and they all sat their horses like statues, while their limbs were fitted with armour that followed closely the outline of the human form. It covers the arms from wrist to elbow and thence to the shoulder, while a coat of mail protects the shoulders, back and breast. The head and face are covered by a metal mask which makes its wearer look like a glittering statue, for not even the thighs and legs and the very ends of the feet lack this armour. It is attached to the cuirass by fine chain-armour like a web, so that no part of the body is visible and uncovered, for this woven covering protects the hands as well, and is so flexible that the wearers can bend even their fingers.⁷⁰ All this I desire to represent in words as vividly as |99 I can, but it is beyond my powers, and I can only ask those who wish to know more about this armour to see it with their own eyes, and not merely to listen to my description.

Now that I have told the story of this first campaign, which was fought at the end of the autumn, shall I here break off my narrative? Or is it altogether unfair to withhold the end and issue of your achievements from those who are eager to hear? Winter overtook us and gave the usurper a chance to escape punishment. Then followed a splendid proclamation worthy of your imperial generosity. An amnesty was granted to those who had taken sides with the usurper, except when they bad shared the guilt of those infamous murders. Thus they who had never hoped even to see again anything that they held dear, recovered their houses, money, and native land. Then you welcomed the fleet which arrived from Italy bringing thence many citizens who, no doubt, had fled from the usurper's savage cruelty. Then when the occasion demanded that you should take the field, you again menaced the usurper. He however took cover in the fastnesses of Italy and hid his army away there in the mountains, wild-beast fashion, and never even dared to carry on the war beneath the open heavens. But he betook himself to the neighbouring town ⁷¹ which is devoted to pleasure and high living, and spent his time in public shows and sensual pleasures, believing that the impassable mountains alone would suffice for his safety. Moreover, intemperate as he was by nature, he thought it clear gain to be able to indulge his appetites at so dangerous a crisis, and |101 he evidently placed too much confidence in the safety of his position, because the town is cut off from that part of Italy by a natural rampart of mountains, except the half that is bounded by a shoaling sea, which resembles the marshes of Egypt and makes that part of the country inaccessible even to an invading fleet. It seems however as though nature herself will not devise any safeguard for the sensual and cowardly against the temperate and brave, for when prudence and courage advance hand in hand she makes everything give way before them. Long since she revealed to us those arts through which we have attained an abundance of what was once thought to be unattainable, and in the field of individual effort we see that what seemed impossible for many working together to achieve can be accomplished by a prudent man. And since by your own actions you demonstrated this fact it is only fair, Ο my Emperor, that you should accept my words to that effect.

For you conducted the campaign under the open skies, and that though there was a city of some importance near at hand, and moreover you encouraged your men to work hard and to take risks, not merely by giving orders, but by your own personal example. You discovered a path hitherto unknown to all, and you sent forward a strong detachment of hoplites chosen from your whole army; then when you had ascertained that they had come up with the enemy, you led forward your army in person, surrounded them, and defeated his whole force. This happened before dawn, and before noon the news was brought to the usurper. He was |103 attending a horse-race at a festival, and was expecting nothing of what took place. How his attitude changed, what was his decision about the crisis, how he abandoned the town and in fact all Italy, and fled, thus beginning to expiate his murders and all his earlier crimes, it is not for this speech to relate. Yet though the respite he gained was so brief, he proceeded to act no less wickedly than in the past. So true is it that by the sufferings of the body alone it is impossible for the wicked to cleanse their souls of evil. For when he reached Galatia,⁷² this ruler who was so righteous and law-abiding, so far surpassed his own former cruelty that he now bethought himself of all the ruthless and brutal modes of punishment that he had then overlooked, and derived the most exquisite pleasure from the spectacle of the sufferings of the wretched citizens. He would bind them alive to chariots and, letting the teams gallop, would order the drivers to drag them along while he stood by and gazed at their sufferings. In fact he spent his whole time in amusements of this sort, until, like an Olympic victor, you threw him in the third encounter⁷³ and forced him to pay a fitting penalty for his infamous career, namely to thrust into his own breast that very sword which he had stained with the slaughter of so many citizens.⁷⁴ Never, in my opinion, was there a punishment more suitable or more just than this, nor one that gave greater satisfaction to the whole human race, which was now really liberated from such cruelty and harshness, and at once began to exult in the good government that we enjoy to this day. |105 Long may we continue to enjoy it, Ο all-merciful Providence!

I would fain recite every single one of your achievements, but you will with reason pardon me, most mighty Emperor, if I fall short of that ambition and omit to mention the naval armament against Carthage which was equipped in Egypt and set sail from Italy to attack her, and also your conquest of the Pyrenees, against which you sent an army by sea, and your successes against the barbarians, which of late have been so frequent, and all such successes in the past as have not become a matter of common knowledge. For example, I often hear that even Antioch now calls herself by your name. Her existence she does indeed owe to her founder,⁷⁵ but her present wealth and increase in every sort of abundance she owes to you, since you provided her with harbours that offer good anchorage for those who put in there For till then it was considered a dangerous risk even to sail past Antioch; so full were all the waters of that coast, up to the very shores, of rocks and sunken reefs. I need not stop to mention the porticoes, fountains, and other things of the kind that you caused to be bestowed on Antioch by her governors. As to your benefactions to the city of your ancestors,⁷⁶ you built round it a wall that was then only begun, and all buildings that seemed to be unsound you restored and made safe for all time. But how could one reckon up all these things? Time will fail me if I try to tell everything separately. |107

The time has now come when it is proper to consider whether your career, so far as I have described it, is at every point in harmony with virtue and the promptings of a noble disposition. For to this, as I said at the beginning of my speech, I think it right to pay special attention. Let me therefore mention once more what I said some time ago, that to your father you were dutiful and affectionate, and that you constantly maintained friendly relations with your brothers, for your father you were ever willing to obey, and as the colleague of your brothers in the empire you always displayed moderation. And if anyone thinks this a trifling proof of merit, let him consider the case of Alexander the son of Philip, and Cyrus the son of Cambyses, and then let him applaud your conduct. For Alexander, while still a mere boy, showed clearly that he would no longer brook his father's control, while Cyrus dethroned his grandfather. Yet no one is so foolish as to suppose that, since you displayed such modesty and self-control towards your father and brothers, you were not fully equal to Alexander and Cyrus in greatness of soul and ambition for glory. For when fortune offered you the opportunity to claim as your right the empire of the world, you were the first to make the essay, though there were many who advised otherwise. and tried to persuade you to the contrary course. Accordingly, when you had carried through the war that you had in hand, and that with the utmost ease and so as to ensure safety for the future, you resolved to liberate that part of the empire which had been occupied by the enemy, and the reason that you assigned for going to war was most |109 just and such as had never before arisen, namely your detestation of those infamous men. Civil war one could not call it, for its leader was a barbarian who had proclaimed himself emperor and elected himself general. I dislike to speak too often of his evil deeds and the crimes that he committed against your house. But could anything be more heroic than your line of action? For should you fail in your undertaking the risk involved was obvious. But you faced it, and you were not bidding for gain, nay nor for undying renown, for whose sake brave men so often dare even to die, selling their lives for glory as though it were gold, nor was it from desire of wider or more brilliant empire, for not even in your youth were you ambitious of that, but it was because you were in love with the abstract beauty of such an achievement, and thought it your duty to endure anything rather than see a barbarian ruling over Roman citizens, making himself master of the laws and constitution and offering public prayers for the common weal, guilty as he was of so many impious crimes and murders. Who could fail to be dazzled by the splendour of your armament and the vast scale of your expenditure? And yet I am told that Xerxes, when he mustered all Asia against the Greeks, spent no less than ten years in preparing for that war. Then he set out with twelve hundred triremes, from the very spot, as I understand, where you gathered your fleet together, having built it in rather less than ten months, and yet you had more ships than Xerxes. But neither his fortune nor his achievements can properly be compared with yours. |111

I fear that it is beyond my powers to describe the magnificence of your outlay for other purposes, nor will I risk being tedious by staying now to count up the sums you bestowed on cities that had long been destitute. For whereas, in the time of your predecessors, they lacked the necessaries of life, they have all become rich through you, and the general prosperity of each city increases the welfare of every private household in it. But it is proper that I should mention your gifts to private persons, and give you the title of a generous and open-handed Emperor; for since there were many who long ago had lost their property, because, in some cases justly, in others unjustly, their ancestral estates had suffered loss, you had no sooner come into power, than like a just judge you set right in the latter cases the errors committed by men in the past, and restored them to the control of their property, while in the former cases you were a kindly arbiter, and granted that they should recover what they had lost, thinking that to have suffered so long was punishment enough. Then you lavished large sums from your privy purse, and increased the reputation for wealth of many who even in the past had prided themselves on their large incomes. But why should I remind you of all this and seem to waste time over trifles? Especially as it must be obvious to all that no king except Alexander the son of Philip was ever known to bestow such splendid presents on his friends. Indeed some kings have thought that the wealth of their friends gave more grounds for suspicion and alarm |113 than did the resources of their enemies, while others were jealous of the aristocrats among their subjects, and therefore persecuted the well-born in every possible way, or even exterminated their houses, and thus were responsible for the public disasters of their cities and, in private life, for the most infamous crimes. There were some who went so far as to envy mere physical advantages, such as health or good looks, or good condition. And as for a virtuous character among their subjects, they could not bear even to hear of it, but counted it a crime like murder or theft or treason to appear to lay claim to virtue. But perhaps someone will say, and with truth, that these were the actions and practices not of genuine kings but of base and contemptible tyrants. Nay, but that other malady which has been known to attack not only those who were irrational, but some even who were just and mild, I mean the tendency to quarrel with friends who were too prosperous and to wish to humble them and deprive them of their rightful possessions, who I ask has ever dared so much as to mention such conduct in your case? Yet such, they say, was the treatment that Cyrus the Persian, the king's son-in-law, received from his kinsman,⁷⁷ who could not brook the honour in which Cyrus was held by the common people, and Agesilaus also is well known to have resented the honours paid to Lysander by the Ionians.

All these, then, you have surpassed in merit, for you have made their wealth more secure for the rich than a father would for his own children, |115 and you take thought that your subjects shall be well-born, as though you were the founder and lawgiver of every single city. Those to whom fortune has been generous you still further enrich, and in many cases men owe all their wealth to your generosity, so that in amount your gifts clearly surpass those of other princes, while, in security of ownership of what has once been given, you cast into the shade any favours bestowed by democracies.⁷⁸ And this is, I think, very natural. For when men are conscious that they lack certain advantages, they envy those who do possess them, but when a man is more brilliantly endowed by fortune than any of his fellows, and by his own initiative has won even higher dignities than fate had assigned him, he lacks nothing, and there is none whom he need envy. And since you realise that in your case this is especially true, you rejoice at the good fortune of others and take pleasure in the successes of your subjects. You have already bestowed on them certain honours, and other honours you are on the point of bestowing, and you are making plans for the benefit of yet other persons. Nor are you content to award to your friends the government of a single city or nation, or even of many such, with the honours attaching thereto. But unless you chose a colleague ⁷⁹ to share that empire on whose behalf you had spared no pains to exterminate the brood of usurpers, you thought that no act of yours could be worthy of your former achievements. That you reached this decision not so much because it was necessary as because you |117 take pleasure in giving all that you have to give, is, I suppose, well known to all. For you chose no colleague to aid you in your contests with the usurpers, but you thought it right that one who had not shared in the toil should share in the honour and glory, and that only when all danger seemed to be over. And it is well known that from that honour you subtract not even a trifling part, though you do not demand that he should share the danger even in some small degree, except indeed when it was necessary for a short time that he should accompany you on your campaign. Does my account of this call for any further witnesses or proofs? Surely it is obvious that he who tells the tale would not be the one to introduce a fictitious account. But on this part of my subject I must not spend any more time.

A few words about your temperance, your wisdom, and the affection that you inspired in your subjects, will not, I think, be out of place. For who is there among them all who does not know that from boyhood you cultivated the virtue of temperance as no one had ever done before you? That in your youth you possessed that virtue your father is a trustworthy witness, for he entrusted to you alone the management of affairs of state and all that related to your brothers, although you were not even the eldest of his sons. And that you still display it, now that you are a man, Ave are all well aware, since you ever behave towards the people and the magistrates like a citizen who obeys the laws, not like a king who is above the laws. For who ever saw you made arrogant by prosperity? Who ever saw you |119 uplifted by those successes, so numerous and so splendid, and so quickly achieved? They say that Alexander, Philip's son, when he had broken the power of Persia, not only adopted a more ostentatious mode of life and an insolence of manner obnoxious to all, but went so far as to despise the father that begat him, and indeed the whole human race. For he claimed to be regarded as the son of Ammon instead of the son of Philip, and when some of those who had taken part in his campaigns could not learn to flatter him or to be servile, he punished them more harshly than the prisoners of war. But the honour that you paid to your father need 1 speak of in this place? Not only did you revere him in private life, but constantly, where men were gathered together in public, you sang his praises as though he were a beneficent hero-god. And as for your friends, you grant them that honour not merely in name, but by your actions you make their title sure. Can any one of them, I ask, lay to your charge the loss of any right, or any penalty or injury suffered, or any overbearing act either serious or trifling? Nay there is not one who could bring any such accusation. For your friends who were far advanced in years remained in office till the appointed end of their lives, and only laid down with life itself their control of public business, and then they handed on their possessions to their children or friends or some member of their family. Others again, when their strength failed for work or military service, received an honourable discharge, and are now spending their last days in prosperity; yet others have departed this life, and the people call them blessed. |121

In short there is no man who having once been, held worthy of the honour of your friendship, ever suffered any punishment great or small, even though later he proved to be vicious. For them all that he had to do was to depart and give no further trouble.

While this has been your character from first to last in all these relations, you always kept your soul pure of every indulgence to which the least reproach is attached. In fact I should say that you alone, of all the emperors that ever were, nay of all mankind almost, with very few exceptions, are the fairest example of modesty, not to men only but to women also in their association with men. For all that is forbidden to women by the laws that safeguard the legitimacy of offspring, your reason ever denies to your passions. But though I could say still more on this subject, I refrain.

Your wisdom it is by no means easy to praise as it deserves, but I must say a few words about it. Your actions, however, are more convincing, I think, than my words. For it is not likely that this great and mighty empire would have attained such dimensions or achieved such splendid results, had it not been directed and governed by an intelligence to match. Indeed, when it is entrusted to luck alone, unaided by wisdom, we may be thankful if it last for any length of time. It is easy by depending on luck to flourish for a brief space, but without the aid of wisdom it is very hard, or rather I might say impossible, to preserve the blessings that have been |123 bestowed. And, in short, if we need cite a convincing proof of this, we do not lack many notable instances. For by wise counsel we mean the ability to discover most successfully the measures that will be good and expedient when put into practice. It is therefore proper to consider in every case whether this wise counsel may not be counted as one of the things you have achieved. Certainly when there was need of harmony you gladly gave way, and when it was your duty to aid the community as a whole you declared for war with the utmost readiness. And when you had defeated the forces of Persia without losing a single hoplite, you made two separate campaigns against the usurpers, and after overcoming one of them ⁸⁰ by your public harangue, you added to your army his forces, which were fresh and had suffered no losses, and finally, by intelligence rather than by brute force, you completely subdued the other usurper who had inflicted so many sufferings on the community. I now desire to speak more clearly on this subject and to demonstrate to all what it was that you chiefly relied on and that secured you from failure in every one of those great enterprises to which you devoted yourself. It is your conviction that the affection of his subjects is the surest defence of an emperor. Now it is the height of absurdity to try to win that affection by giving orders, and levying it as though it were a tax or tribute. The only alternative is the policy that you have yourself pursued, I mean of doing good to all men and imitating the divine nature on earth. To show mercy even in anger, to take away their |125 harshness from acts of vengeance, to display kindness and toleration to your fallen enemies, this was your practice, this you always commended and enjoined on others to imitate, and thus, even while the usurper still controlled Italy, you transferred Rome to Paeonia by means of the Senate and inspired the cities with zeal for undertaking public services.

As for the affection of your armies, what description could do it justice? Even before the battle at Myrsa, a division of cavalry came over to your side,⁸¹ and when you had conquered Italy bodies of infantry and distinguished legions did the same. But what happened in Galatia⁸² shortly after the usurper's miserable end demonstrated the universal loyalty of the garrisons to you; for when, emboldened by his isolated position, another⁸³ dared to assume the effeminate purple, they suddenly set on him as though he were a wolf and tore him limb from limb.⁸⁴ Your behaviour after that deed, your merciful and humane treatment of all those of his friends who were not convicted of having shared his crimes, and that in spite of all the sycophants who came forward with accusations and warned you to show only suspicion against friends of his, this I count as the culmination of all virtue. What is more, I maintain that your conduct was not only humane and just, but prudent in a still higher degree. He who thinks otherwise falls short of a true understanding of both the circumstances and your policy. For that those who had not been proved guilty should be protected was |127 of course just, and you thought you ought by no means to make friendship a reason for suspicion and so cause it to be shunned, seeing that it was due to the loyal affection of your own subjects that you had attained to such power and accomplished so much. But the son of that rash usurper, who was a mere child, you did not allow to share his father's punishment. To such a degree does every act of yours incline towards clemency and is stamped with the mint-mark of perfect virtue * * * * *.⁸⁵

1. Vetranio.

2. Magnentius.

3. Isocrates, Panegyricus, 42 0.

4. Simonides fr. 66. Horace, Odes 3. 2. 25.

5. Rome.

6. Rome.

7. Constantius Chlorus and Maximianus.

8. Diocletian.

9. Constantine and Fausta.

10. Maxentius.

11. Constantinople.

12. Pindar fr. 46

13. Herodotus 3. 89.

14. Constantine II. and Constans.

15. Maximianus.

16. Constans.

17. Isocrates, Evagoras 21.

18. Romulus.

19. Republic 467 e.

20. Herodotus 1. 114.

21. Cf. Aeschines Against Ctesiphon 78. Horace Epistles 1. 11. 27.

22. cf. Xenophon Rep. Lac. 15. 7.

23. Gyges.

24. At Nicomedia 337 A.D.

25. Isocrates, Evagoras 1.

26. Constans and Constantine.

27. Defeated at Carrhae b. c. 53: the Roman standards were recovered by Augustus B.C. 20.

28. Emperor 282-283 A.D.

29. Galerius Maximianus, son-in-law of Diocletian, was defeated in Mesopotamia, 296 a. d., by Narses.

30. Diocletian.

31. The provinces of the East.

32. Regularly in Greek for Pannonia.

33. Tiranus, King of Armenia, was now, 337 A. d., deposed and imprisoned by Sapor. His son, Arsaces, succeeded him in 341. Julian is describing the interregnum. Gibbon, chap. 18, wrongly ascribes these events to the reign of Tiridates, who died 314 A.D.

34. In Mesopotamia, 348 A.D. (Bury argues for 344 A.D.)

35. Sapor.

36. Sapor's son.

37. cf. Demosthenes, De Corona 169.

38. Gaul.

39. Vetranio.

40. Demosthenes, De Corona 61.

41. Nisibis.

42. cf. Iliad, 4. 451.

43. Sapor.

44. Odyssey 8. 49.

45. Archimedes.

46. Marcellus 212 B.C.

47. The Galatians, i.e. the Gauls, and Celts are often thus incorrectly distinguished, cf. 34 c. 36 b. 124 a.

48. 390 B.C. under Brennus.

49. The Capitoline.

50. Vetranio.

51. Magnentius.

52. Vetranio.

53. Magnentius.

54. Magnentius.

55. Demosthenes, De Chersoneso 42.

56. Euripides, Andromache 1146.

57. A proverb for necessity disguised as a choice, cf. 274 c

58. Aeschines, Ctesiphon 74. 18.

59. From the description of the oratory of Pericles, Eupolis fr. 94. Cf. 426 Β.

60. Demosthenes, De Corona 230, a favourite common-place.

61. Magnentius.

62. Gauls.

63. Demosthenes, De Corona. 153.

64. Gaul.

65. 351 A.D.

66. Demosthenes, Olynthiac 1. 23.

67. In Pannonia 353 A.D.

68. Gallic.

69. Licinius.

70. cf. Oration 2. 57 0.

71. Aquileia.

72. Gaul.

73. In wrestling, the third fall secured the victory. Cf. Or. 2. 74 c.

74. 355 A.D.

75. Seleucus son of Antiochus.

76. Constantinople.

77. Cyaxares.

78. An echo of Demosthenes, Against Leptines 15.

79. Gallus 351 A.D.: then Julian 355 Α.D.

80. Vetranio.

81. Under Silvanus.

82. Gaul.

83. Silvanus.

84. 355 A.D.

85. The peroration is lost.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2010. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_0_eintro.htm

Julian the Apostate, Two Orations (1888). Introduction to the online edition

Julian the Apostate, Two Orations (1888). Introduction to the online edition

This text was included in the volume "Julian the Emperor", which was scanned in order to obtain the two invectives of Gregory Nazianzen against Julian the Apostate. It has been included here for completeness, and for its historical interest. The prefatory material, indexes, etc may be found under Gregory Nazianzen.

Roger PEARSE

th March, 2003

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2003. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_1_sun.htm

Julian the Apostate, "Julian the Emperor" (1888). Oration upon the Sovereign Sun. Addressed to Sallust.

Julian the Apostate, " Julian the Emperor" (1888). Oration upon the Sovereign Sun. Addressed to Sallust.

|219

UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN. ADDRESSED TO SALLUST.

IT is my opinion that the present subject interests all:

"Whatever breathes, and moves upon the earth,"

all that are endowed with existence, with a rational soul, and with a mind: but that above all others it interests myself, inasmuch as I am a votary (o)pado_j) of the Sun. Of which fact I possess the most certain evidences in my own case; but one instance, which it is allowable to adduce, is the following:----From my earliest infancy I was possessed with a strange longing for the solar rays, so that when, as a boy, I cast my eyes upon the ethereal splendour, my soul felt seized and carried up out of itself. And not merely was it my delight to gaze upon the solar brightness, but at night also whenever I walked out in clear weather, disregarding all else, I used to fix my eyes upon the beauty of the heavens; so that I neither paid attention to what was said to me, nor took any notice of what was going on. On this account, people used to think me too much given to such pursuits, and far too inquisitive for my age: and they even suspected me, long before my beard was grown, of practising divination by means of the heavenly bodies. And. yet at that time no book on the subject had fallen into my hands, and I was |220 utterly ignorant of what that science meant. But what use is it to quote these matters, when I have still stranger things to mention; if I should mention what I at that time thought about the gods? But let oblivion rest upon that epoch of darkness! How the radiance of heaven, diffused all round me, used to lift up my soul to its own contemplation! to such a degree that I discovered for myself that the moon's motion was in the opposite direction to that of the rest of the system, long before I met with any works giving the philosophy of such matters. What I have said must be taken as evidence of this. And truly do I envy the felicity of that man who, being endowed with a body sprung from a holy and prophetic seed, is able to unlock the treasures of philosophy: but neither do I undervalue that state and condition to which I have myself attained through the favour of heaven, in that I have drawn my birth from the family to which it has given the empire, and possession of the world.

My own belief is, if philosophers be entitled to any credit, that the Sun is the common parent of all men, to use a comprehensive term. It is a true proverb, "Man begets man, and so does the Sun:" but souls that luminary showers down upon earth, both out of himself, and out of the other gods: which souls show to what end they were propagated by the kind of life that they pursue. But well is it for that man who, from the third generation backwards, and a long succession of years, has been dedicated to the service of this god; yet neither is that person's condition to be despised who, feeling in his own nature that he is a servant of this deity, alone, or with few on his side, shall have devoted himself to his worship.¹

Come then, and let us celebrate in the best way we can the anniversary festival,² which the imperial city is |221 keeping by sacrifices, with unusual splendour. And yet I feel how difficult it is for the human mind even to form a conception of that Sun who is not visible to the sense, if our notion of Him is to be derived from the Sun that is visible; but to express the same in language, however inadequately, is, perhaps, beyond the capability of man! To fitly explain His glory, I am very well aware, is a thing impossible; in lauding it, however, mediocrity seems the highest point to which human eloquence is able to attain. Nevertheless in that attempt may Hermes, presiding over all knowledge, be our guide, together with the Muses and Apollo leader of their quire, for to him belongs my theme; and may they grant me to deliver such things concerning the immortal gods as shall be acceptable and well-pleasing to themselves. What plan, therefore, of setting forth His praises shall we pursue? shall we treat of His nature and origin, His powers and influences, both those that be manifest to all, and those occult; or of the distribution of blessings which He showers down so largely upon all worlds; and by so doing, perchance, we shall not be unsuccessful in the kind of praise that is most acceptable unto Him? From this point therefore let us start.

That divine and all-beauteous World, which from the highest vault of Heaven down to the lowest Earth is held together by the immutable providence of God, and which has existed from all eternity, without creation, and shall be eternal for all time to come, and which is not regulated by anything, except approximately by the Fifth Body ³ (of which the principle is the solar light) placed, as it were, on the second step below the world of intelligence; and finally by the means of the "Sovereign of all things, around whom all things stand."⁴ This Being, whether |222 properly to be called "That which is above comprehension," or the "Type of things existing," or "The One," (inasmuch as Unity appears to be the most ancient of all things), or "The Good," as Plato regularly designates Him, This, then, is the Single Principle of all things, and which serves to the universe as a model of indescribable beauty, perfection, unity, and power. And after the pattern of the primary substance that dwells within the Principle, He hath sent forth out of Himself, and like in all things unto Himself, the Sun, a mighty god, made up of equal parts of intelligible and creative causes. And this is the sense of the divine Plato, where he writes, "You may say (replied I) that I mean the offspring of the Good, whom the Good has produced, similar to itself; in order that, what the Good is in the region of intelligence, and as regards things only appreciable by the mind, its offspring should be the same in the region that is visible, and in the things that are appreciable by the sight." For this reason I believe that the light of the Sun bears the same relation to things visible as Truth does to things intelligible. But this Whole,⁵ inasmuch as it emanates from the Model and "Idea" of the primal and supreme Good, and exists from all eternity around his immutable being, has received sovereignty also over the gods appreciable by the intellect alone, and communicates to them the same good things, (because they belong to the world of intelligence), as are poured down from the Supreme Good upon the other objects of Intelligence. For to these latter, the Supreme Good is the source, as I believe, of beauty, perfection, existence, and union; holding them together and illuminating them by its own virtue which is the "Idea" of the Good. The same things, therefore, does the Sun communicate to things intelligible, over whom he was appointed by the Good to reign and to command: although these were |223 created and began to exist at the same moment with himself. And this, I think, was done, in order that a certain principle which possessed the "Idea" or pattern of the Good, and exercised the principle of Good towards the intelligible gods, should direct all things according to intelligence. And in the third place, this visible disk of the Sun is, in an equal degree, the source of life and preservation to things visible, the objects of sense; and everything which we have said flows down from the Great Deity upon the intelligible gods, the same doth this other visible deity communicate to the objects of sense. Of all this there are clear proofs, if you choose to investigate things non-apparent by the means of things that are visible. For example, first take his light----is it not an incorporeal and divine image of what is transparent in its action? and the very quality that we term " transparence," what else is it, to speak generally, but the property that goes with all the elements, and is their approximate form? and which is neither corporeal, nor composite, and does not destroy the natural properties of the body with which it goes. For this reason it is wrong to call heat a property of it,⁶ or cold its opposite; or to hardness, softness, or any other distinction perceptible by the touch, nor, again, must we attribute to it either scent or taste. For the quality in question is the object of the sight alone, which is brought into play by the instrumentality of light. But light is a form of this, as it were of a material substance, diffused through bodies. But of that light which is incorporeal, the most perfect part and as it were the flower,⁷ are the solar rays. The Phoenicians who from their sagacity and learning possess great insight into things divine, hold the doctrine that this universally diffused radiance is a part of the "Soul of the Stars." This opinion is consistent with sound reason: if we consider the light that is without body, we shall |224 perceive that of such light the source cannot be a body, but rather the simple action of a mind, which spreads itself by means of illumination as far as its proper seat; to which the middle region of the heavens is contiguous, from which place it shines forth with all its vigour and fills the heavenly orbs, illuminating at the same time the whole universe with its divine and pure radiance. The effects that redound from this Power upon the gods themselves, have been already slightly touched upon, and I will shortly return to the subject. When we see things, this action has the name of "Sight," but the effect is of no value unless it obtains the influence and assistance of the light. For can anything be the object of sight, unless it be first brought under it, like the raw material to the workman, that it may receive its form? In the same manner, the things that are by their nature objects of the sight, unless they be brought together with light before the instruments of seeing, cease altogether to be objects of sight. Since, therefore, both to the seers, in order that they may see, and to the objects seen, in order that they may be visible, this god gives the powers, it follows that he constitutes by his own action both sight and the objects of sight. "Perfections" consist of Form and Essence; this definition, however, may be too abstruse. But a fact patent to all, learned equally with unlearned, philosophers and uneducated, is the influence which this deity possesses in the world at his rising and at his setting; how he produces day and night, and how he manifestly transforms and regulates the state of this creation----an influence assignable to no one of the other planets. From these considerations ought we not to draw conclusions respecting matters more beyond the reach of man: that is to say, respecting the existence of those beings that are divine, and objects of the intellect alone, who exist invisible above the heavens, and derive their fulness from that "Type" of Good, Him whom all the host of the stars follow, and whose nod that whole family (of deities), whom he governs by his providence, |225 fail not to obey. For the planets round about him (the Sun), as though he were their king, lead on their dance, at appointed distances from him pursue their orbits with the utmost harmony; they make, as it were, pauses; they move backwards and forwards (terms by which those skilled in astronomy denote these properties of the stars); and then, in proportion to her distance from the Sun, how doth the Moon increase or wane!----things patent to all. And such being the case, is it not reasonable to suppose that a more ancient system, corresponding to this visible arrangement of Nature, exists in the case of the deities who are only conceivable by the mind? From all this, therefore, we must gather the powerful and perfecting truth, that the object which enables things to see that are endowed with the sense of sight, the same object renders these things perfect by means of his own light, whilst the creative and productive power arises from his changes as he moves around the universe: and that capacity for embracing all things at once is the effect of what is so apparent in his movements; namely, the harmony of all in one and the same thing. The Centre-point comes from himself ⁸ as being central; whilst the circumstance of his being placed for king amongst the objects of intellect is the result of his station amongst the planets. If we perceived these, or other similar properties, to exist in any other of the visible deities, certainly we should award him the first place amongst them. If, however, he should have nothing in common with them, except this power of doing good, which he communicates unto all, then we ought to acquiesce in the reasoning of the Egyptian priests, who raise altars to the Sun conjointly with Jupiter; nay, rather we should assent to Apollo himself (long before them), who sits on the same throne with Jove, and whose words are,

"One Jove, one Pluto, one Sun is Serapis."

From which we must conclude that the sovereignty of the |226 Sun and of Jupiter amongst the deities that are objects of intellect is held in common, or rather is one and the same. For this reason Plato seems to me to be right in calling Pluto a provident (fro&nimoj) deity. The same god we also name "Serapis," that is, 9Ai+dhj, "Invisible," clearly because he is the object of the intellect alone: up to whom (it is said) that the souls ascend of such as have led the best, and most righteous lives. We must not suppose him (Pluto) ⁹ the terrible being that Fable describes him; but a mild and benevolent one, who completely frees souls from the trammels of Birth; far from nailing them down to new bodies, and punishing and exacting retribution from souls already released from the body: but on the contrary, he directs them in their upward course, and carries them aloft to the Intelligible World. This doctrine is far from being of modern origin; those most ancient poets, Homer and Hesiod, are already possessed thereof----whether they conceived it through their own sagacity, or whether, like prophets, they derived the truth from some supernatural source, must be concluded from the fact itself. For the one in describing the genealogy of the Sun makes him out to be the offspring of Hyperion and Thea; by which account he almost directly declares that he is the son of the supernal and all-surpassing Godhead: for what else can we |227 understand by the title "Hyperion"?¹⁰ And as for "Thea," what does that imply except the most divine of all things? For we must not suppose any corporeal conjunction or marriage in the case----all which are merely the sportive fables of Poetry; but must hold the father and the producer of that Being as something most divine and super-eminent. Of such a nature is He who is above all things, around whom, and by reason of whom, all things do subsist. But Homer calls him by his father's name, "Hyperion," in order to show that he is independent, and not subjected to any constraint.¹¹ For Jupiter, as the poet tells, orders about the other gods according to his will and pleasure, as being their master; but when this deity declares that he will retire from Olympus on account of the impious deed of the companions of Ulysses, Jupiter swears:----

"I would drag thee with the sea and earth together."

Yet he does not threaten him with chains or personal violence: and promises to avenge him upon the authors of the sacrilege, and begs him to continue to give light to the gods. Now what else did Homer signify by this fable but that this deity, besides being totally independent, possesses also the power of perfecting? For wherefore do the other gods stand in need of him, unless that he, by infusing into their substance and essence the illumination of his mystic radiance, he may communicate to them the power of effecting all the good things that we have already mentioned?¹²

"Imperial Juno sent the unwearied Sun

To Ocean his unwilling course to run." |228

has no other significance than that, in consequence of darkness being spread over the earth, men supposed it to be night before its time. And of the same goddess we read in another passage of this poet:----

"Darkness profound great Juno sent before."

But let us now dismiss these poetical fictions; because with what is divine they have mingled much of human alloy; and let us now consider what the deity has declared concerning himself and the other gods.

The region surrounding the Earth has its existence in virtue of birth. From whom then does it receive its eternity and imperishability, if not from him who holds all things together within defined limits, for it is impossible that the nature of bodies (material) should be without a limit, inasmuch as they cannot dispense with a Final Cause, nor exist through themselves. For if things should be created out of what previously existed, whilst nothing is again refunded into that same source----the material for such creation would in time come to an end. But this deity, as he revolves with a defined and regular motion, by kindling this nature, stimulates and renews the same, whilst by his receding to a distance he weakens and destroys it, or else animates its nature by impressing motion upon it, and transfusing life out of himself; whilst when he deserts the same objects, and turns his influence in another direction, he occasions the destruction of the things that are destroyed----the good effects that emanate from the same source are equally diffused upon the earth. Different regions become partakers in these benefits in different ways; so that neither their production comes to an end, nor does the Deity confer his blessings upon the recipient world with any degree of variation. For where the substance is the same, so is the action thereof, in the case of Divine Powers; especially with him who is king of them all, namely, the Sun; of whom the motion is the most simple amongst all the |229 bodies that move in a contrary direction to the world, which fact that most excellent philosopher, Aristotle, adduces to prove the superiority of that luminary to the others.

But, further, the other intelligible Powers exercise a by no means imperceptible influence upon our earth----but what of that, for we do not exclude them when we give the first rank to the deity in question? In fact, we endeavour to draw conclusions from things evident concerning things that are abstruse and not apparent. For which reason, in the same way as the Sun perfects the influence and virtue which descend upon the earth from the other powers, and modifies and applies the same to himself, or rather to the universe, so have we good grounds to infer the existence of a similar arrangement and co-partnership of the same powers in the things that are not apparent to the sense----namely, that the influence of the Sun holds the chief place amongst these also, whilst the rest act in concert with him. But as we have laid it down that he holds the middle place amongst the intelligible Powers (which are themselves intermediate), I pray the Sovereign Sun himself to grant me ability to explain the nature of the station that he holds amongst those in whose middle he is placed! By the term "middle" we are to understand not what is so defined in the case of things contrary to each other, as "equi-distant from the extremes," as orange and dark brown in the case of colours; lukewarm, in that of hot and cold, and other things of the sort; but the power that collects and unites into one things dispersed, like the "Harmony" of Empedocles, from which he completely excludes all discord and contention. What, then, are the things that the Sun unites into one, and in the midst of which he holds his station, as we have defined it? The answer is, the Sensible Powers that revolve around him as their centre, and the Immaterial and Intelligible Powers that are with the "Good," whose essence also is intelligible and divine, and multiplied in a manner of their own, without either passion or accession. |230

In this manner, therefore, the intelligible and excellent substance of the sovereign Sun does not consist of any. thing made up out of extremes, but is perfect in itself, and free from all admixture with other Powers, whether visible or invisible, whether intelligible or sensible. This is my definition of the sense in which "middle station" ought to be understood; but if we are to investigate particularly this central station of his nature, in its relation to first and last, although the subject be not an easy one to explain, nevertheless let us endeavour to treat it to the best of our ability.

The one absolutely, the Intelligible, the ever Preexisting, comprehending all the universe together within the One----nay, more, is not the whole world One living thing----all and everywhere full of life and soul, perfect and made up out of parts likewise perfect? Now of this double unity the most perfect part (I mean of the Unity in the Intelligible World that comprehends all things in One, and of the Unity encompassing the Sensible World, that brings together all things into a single and perfect nature) is the perfection of the sovereign Sun, which is central and single, and placed in the middle of the intermediate Powers. But coming after this, there exists a certain connection in the Intelligible World with the Power that orders and arranges all things in one. Does not the essence of the Fifth Body, which is turned, as it were by a lathe, in a circle, move around the heavens, and is that which holds together all the parts, and binds them to one another, uniting what is naturally united ¹³ amongst them and also those parts that mutually affect each other.¹⁴ These two essences, which are the causes of mutual attraction and of union (whereof the one manifests itself in the |231 Intelligible, the other in the Sensible creation) does the Sun thus concentrate into one. Of the former he imitates this power of embracing and containing all things in the Intelligible creation, inasmuch as he proceeds from that source; whilst he governs the latter, that which is perceptible in the world of Sense. Perhaps, therefore, the self-existent principle, which existed first in the Intelligible creation, and lastly in the Visible bodies of the heavens, is owner of the intermediate, self-created essence of the sovereign Sun, from which primal creative essence there descends upon the visible world the radiance which illuminates the universe.

And again, to consider the subject in another light, One indeed is the Creator of all things, but many are the creative powers revolving in the heavens; we must, therefore, place the influence of the Sun as intermediate with respect to each single operation affecting the earth. Moreover, the principle productive of Life is vastly superabundant in the Intelligible World; our world, also, is evidently full of generative life. It is therefore clear that the life-producing power of the sovereign Sun is intermediate between these two, since the phenomena of Nature bear testimony to the fact; for some kinds of things the Sun brings to perfection, others of them he brings to pass, others he regulates, others he excites, and there exists nothing that, without the creative influence of the Sun, comes to light and is born. And, furthermore, if we consider the Sun's unpolluted, pure, and immaterial essence----where nothing from without approaches, and nothing of a different nature has part; but which is full of its own undefiled purity; and also his nature in the universe, as regards the Body that revolves in a circle about the planets which are all free from admixture, must be homogeneous in the extreme and composed of an undefiled and divine body. We shall from all these considerations lay down that the essence of the sovereign Sun, being pure and unmixed, is intermediate between the two----the |232 immaterial Purity in the Intelligible World, and that part existing in the Visible World which is undefiled and without mixture as regards birth and corruption, and of pure homogeneousness. A very weighty argument is this----namely, that neither does the light which descends from thence, chiefly upon the world, mix itself with anything, nor admit of dirtiness or pollution, but remains entirely, and in all things that are, free from defilement, admixture, and suffering. Besides, we must pay attention to the other kinds of phenomena, both to the Intelligible, and yet more to the Sensible----whatever are connected with matter, or will manifest themselves in relation to our subject. Here, again, the Intelligible is the centre of the species that lie around the mighty Sun, through whose means the species connected with Matter are benefited, inasmuch as they would be unable either to exist, or to subsist, unless they be helped by him as regards their existence. Besides, is not he the author of the separation of Species and of the combination of Matter? He not merely allows himself to be mentally conceived, but to be an object of the sight, for the distribution of his rays over the whole world, and the unity of his light, demonstrate the creative and separating powers of his mode of action. And as there are still numerous visible benefits connected with the essence of this deity, which surround that which is intermediate between the Intelligible and the Sensible powers, let. us pass on to his final and visible conclusion. The first degree of his, contains as it were the model and the substance for a pattern to the Solar Angels who are stationed around the lowest world. After this comes that which is generative of things perceptible to Sense: of which the more refined part contains the source of heaven and the stars, whilst the inferior part superintends generation, containing from all eternity within itself the ungenerated essence of generation. To explain, however, everything relating to the nature of this deity, is beyond the power of man, even though the god himself should |233 grant him the ability to understand it: in a case where it seems, to me at least, impossible even mentally to conceive all its extent. And now that we have discussed so much, we must put as it were a seal upon this subject; and to stay a while and pass on to other points no less requiring examination. What then is this seal; and what comprises everything, as it were in a summary of the conception concerning the nature of the god? May He Himself inspire our understanding when we attempt briefly to explain the source out of which he proceeded; and what he is himself; and with what effects he fills the visibla world. It must therefore be laid down that the sovereign Sun proceeded from the One God,----One out of the one Intelligible world; he is stationed in the middle of the Intelligible Powers, according to the strictest sense of "middle position;" bringing the last with the first into a union both harmonious and loving, and which fastens together the things that were divided: containing within himself the means of perfecting, of cementing together, of generative life, and of the uniform existence, and to the world of Sense, the author of all kinds of good; not merely adorning and cheering it with the radiance wherewith he himself illumines the same, but also by making subordinate to himself the existence of the Solar Angels; and containing within himself the unbegotten Cause of things begotten; and moreover, prior to this, the unfading, unchanging source of things eternal.

All, therefore, that was fitting to be said touching the nature of this deity (although very much has been passed over in silence) has now been stated at some length. But since the multitude of his qualities, and the beauty of his effects have been passed in review, it remains for us to glance at the superabundance of the theories that have been started concerning the nature of this god, because as divine objects, when they come forth into the light, are naturally multiplied, owing to the excess and the fecundity of the life that is in the same. But what, I |234 beseech you, shall we do when we strip ourselves to swim a sea without a shore, having hardly, and much, to our content, recovered our breath after the discourse already pronounced? Nevertheless let us trust in the god and take courage, and make an attempt to handle the subject.

As a general rule, all that has been hitherto advanced respecting the nature of this deity, must be understood to refer to his properties: for the nature of the god is not one thing, and his influence another: and truly, besides these two, his energy a third thing: seeing that all things which he wills, these he is, he can, and he works. For neither doth he will that which he is not; nor is he without strength to do that which he wills; nor doth he will that which he cannot effect. Now this is very different in the case of men, for theirs is a double nature mixed up in one, that of soul and body; the former divine, the latter full of darkness and obscurity: hence naturally arise warfare and discord between the two. For this reason Aristotle remarks that neither our pleasures, nor our pains harmonize with each other within us: for the one part of our nature being in opposition to the other parts, pain is the result. But with the deities there is nothing of the kind, for their essence is that which is good, and that too uninterruptedly, not sometimes one thing, sometimes another. In the first place, therefore, as we stated when attempting to describe his being, it must be borne in mind that we lay this down as regards his qualities and his effects, since in matters of this kind the discussion has a natural tendency to contradict itself. Everything, therefore, that we are going to consider under the title of qualities and energies, all these must be regarded as existence, and as effects. For there are Powers of kindred nature with the Sun, crowning the unpolluted being of that god, multiplying themselves around him in the world, though existing in uniformity. Listen, therefore, to what those say who do not look up to heaven, like so many horses or oxen, or any other irrational or |235 untaught animal, but who investigate the unseen through the medium of the visible Nature. Besides, if agreeable to you, let us consider his supra-mundane powers and energies, and as they are infinite in number, take a few of them for subjects of discussion. The first of his powers is that by which bringing together into one and the same thing the whole intelligible existence through its whole extent, that is to say, the extremities thereof, he converts it into One: a thing which is clearly discernible in the case of the visible world, how that fire and earth being wrapped together, air and water, which are in the middle, form the bond between the extremes: this fact we may reasonably take as a guide in the case of the nature of bodies that is beyond the reach of Sense. That which possesses the final cause of generation is not itself generation; so must we consider it as the law that, in the former case, the extreme causes, entirely separated from bodies,¹⁵ by means of certain intermediate agencies are by the sovereign Sun brought together, and made one around him: with him, too, concurs the creative power of Jupiter. On this account, as we have already stated, in Cyprus certain temples are founded and dedicated to them both conjointly. Nay, we call Apollo himself to bear witness to this statement (who certainly ought to know more about his own nature than anyone else), for he is co-existent with the Sun, and communicates to him both the unmixed character of things Intelligible, and the stability of his being, and the unchangeableness of his energy. Nay, more, this deity, as is evident, by no means separates from the Sun the discriminating operation of Dionysos; for he ever makes it subordinate to the latter; and, by declaring him (the Sun) "partner of his throne," he becomes to us the interpreter of the most beautiful thoughts by means of that deity. But how many are the final causes of union, the most beautiful, which this deity contains within |236 himself? The Sun, that is, Apollo, is "Leader of the Muses;" and inasmuch as he completes our life with good order, he produces in the world Aesculapius; for even before the world was, he had the latter by his side.

But were one to discuss the numerous other qualities belonging to this god, he would never arrive to the end of them. But we must content ourselves with considering his property of separation (which also is prior to all bodies and is also prior to all visible energy); whence we must conclude that the sovereign power is one and the same of the Sun and Jupiter; but that the singleness of thoughts, coupled with divinity and unchangeableness, we must adjudge to Apollo: whilst the separative power of creation together with the power that directs this separation, belongs to Dionysos, whilst the quality of the finest harmony and intelligible unification we have already defined as belonging to the power of the "Leader of the Muses;" whilst that which makes complete the harmony of all life, we suppose the prerogative of Aesculapius.¹⁶

Thus much then for his powers that are prior to the creation of the world, but his operation, which is of the same order with them, over the visible world, consists in the fully carrying out of what is good. For since he is the legitimate offspring of the Good, having received from Him the good portion entire, he distributes it amongst all the Intelligible deities, imparting to them their good-working and perfect nature. This, then, is one of his operations. And the second operation of this god is the most exact distribution of Intelligible Beauty amongst the intelligible incorporeal species. For the generative principle which is visible in Nature (that which aims at generating in the Beautiful, and at |237 bringing forth its birth), must necessarily be directed and preceded by that Being who performs the same function in the Intelligible Beauty, with full power and without intermission, that is, not to do so at one time, and at another to do the contrary; or now to be generating, and then without generation: inasmuch as all things that here below are occasionally beautiful, are so permanently in the Intelligible world. We must, therefore, hold that the generative final cause belonging to the Sun in the visible creation is preceded by the uncreated offspring existing in the intelligible and eternal Beauty, which offspring this deity contains, having also stationed it round about himself: to which likewise he imparts his perfect Intelligence, in the same manner as he imparts sight to the eyes by means of his own light: so, in the same way, by means of that Intelligible pattern which he holds out (one far more conspicuous, in truth, than his celestial radiance) doth he, as I think, furnish all the Intelligible Powers with the capacity to understand and to be understood. Another operation, equally worthy of our admiration, besides those just described, is discoverable with respect to that sovereign of the universe, the Sun----namely, that more benignant Fate which grants birth to angels, to genii, to heroes, and to those souls out of the common run, all which abide by the guidance of their Pattern and Type, without giving themselves over to the tendency of their bodies.

Now, therefore, the pre-mundane existence, the properties, the operations, in celebrating the sovereign Sun, as far as our ability extended to extol his divinity, all these we have rehearsed with the utmost care. But since, as the saying goes, the eyes are more to be trusted than the ears (although they be less to be relied on, and more feeble than the intellect), let us now make an attempt to speak concerning his visible operation, after first soliciting from him a moderate degree of success in such attempt.

The visible world has, as I have said, subsisted around |238 him from all eternity: and the Light also which surrounds the world has also its place from all eternity,¹⁷ not intermittently, nor in different degrees at different times, but constantly and in an equable manner. But whosoever will attempt to estimate, as far as thought goes, this external Nature, by the measure of Time, he will very easily discover respecting the Sun, Sovereign of all things, of how many blessings he is, from all eternity, the author to the world. I am aware that the great Plato himself, and after him, a man posterior to him in date, though not in mind, I mean Iamblichus of Chalcis (who initiated us into other branches of philosophy, and also into this by means of his discourses), did both of them as far as hypothesis goes, take for granted the fact of a Creation and assumed the universe to have been, in a certain sense, the Work of Time, in order that the most important of the effects produced by this Power, may be reduced into a shape for examination. But for myself, so far inferior in force to those philosophers, such a liberty must not be taken in any way; since it is certainly unsafe to assume, even as far as bare hypothesis, any temporal creation in the case of the world; as also the illustrious hero Iamblichus was of opinion.¹⁸ Nevertheless, as this deity himself proceeds from an Eternal Cause, or, rather, has produced all things from all eternity, by his divine volition, and with ineffable velocity, and with power not to be surpassed, having begotten all things simultaneously in Time that now is, he hath allotted to himself the middle space of heaven, as it were, for his more peculiar station, in order that he may equally from all sides distribute his |239 benefits upon the gods that come forth below him, and together with him; that he may direct the Seven,¹⁹ and also the eighth revolution of the heavens. This ninth operation I assume to be the Generation eternally revolving in an uninterrupted course of production and destruction. As for the planets as they dance around him, it is evident that they have for the law of their movement in relation to this god, some such harmony as that just described to regulate their figures; and the entire heaven, making its parts everywhere harmonize with him, is filled with spirits emanating out of the Sun. For this god is ruler of five orbits in the heavens, and whilst traversing three out of these orbits, he produces in three the Graces, themselves three in number, the remaining circles form the Scales to the Balance of supreme Necessity. I am, perhaps, speaking unintelligibly to the Greeks ²⁰ (just as if it were right only to speak of things commonplace and familiar to them), yet this point is not, as one might suppose, altogether strange to them. For what, I pray you tell me, are your Dioscuri, ye very wise people that take most things upon credit, without any examination? Are they not called "alternate day-keepers" because it is not lawful for both of them to be visible on the same day? It is clear that you hear of this both yesterday and to-day.²¹ In the next place, in the name of these same Dioscuri, let us mentally assume this very circumstance as applicable to a nature and an operation of a different kind, in order that what we are speaking about may not be unintelligible: yet, however much we investigate it, we shall not arrive at any exact result. For it is not true, what some suppose to be stated by theologians, that the two hemispheres of the universe possess a kind of Reason (lo&gon); for in what |240 way each of them is "alternate" ²² it is not easy even to conceive, inasmuch as each day the increase in their visible appearance takes place by insensible degrees. Let us now examine the points in which we shall probably be thought by some people to be introducing a novelty. Those beings may properly be designated as "alternate day-keepers,"²³ whichsoever possess an equal portion of time out of the Sun's passage over the earth, in one and the same month. Let anyone now see whether this "alternate day-keeping" does not apply to the other cycles, as well as to the tropical. Someone will reply that the case is not the same, because the former are always visible; and for those inhabiting opposite sides of the globe, the one tropical cycle is visible to the one half, the second to the other; whereas in the case of the latter (cycles) those who behold the one, do not behold the other by any manner of means. But not to waste time by dwelling too long upon the same subject; the Sun, by performing his returns (solstices) in the manner known to all, becomes the parent of the Seasons: but did he never desert the poles at all, he would be the "Oceanos," that Ruler of the double substance. Perhaps what we are saying is somewhat unintelligible? Homer has said the same thing before us:----

"Ocean, to all things made the source of life."

What, both of mortal, and (as he would say) "of the blessed gods"? Yea, verily, for of all things nothing exists that is not by its substance the offspring of ocean.²⁴ But why will you have me tell this to the vulgar? Although better to have been shrouded in silence, it |241 nevertheless has been spoken; at all events I declare it, although all men will not readily receive the same.

The solar disk moves over the space which has no stars, and is much more elevated than the fixed region; in this way he will not occupy the centre of the planets, but rather of the "Three Motions," as they are called in the hypotheses taught in the Mysteries, if, indeed, such things are rightly to be termed "hypotheses," or rather ought they not to be called "articles of faith" (do&gmata), but what relates to the spheres, "hypotheses"? For those so assert who have heard the same from the gods, or else from, some mighty daemons; whereas the others [natural philosophers] make up a theory that is plausible from its agreement with visible phenomena. The latter, indeed, it is but fair to praise; but whoso thinks it better to believe in the former [the teaching of the Mysteries] him do I both in jest and in earnest admire, and always have admired. Such therefore are their statements upon these points. Besides those I have mentioned, there exist a vast number of Powers in the confines of the heavens; they have been discovered by those persons who do not contemplate the heavens carelessly and after the manner of brute beasts; for the Sun cutting the three circles in four places, by reason of the communication with each of them of the zodiacal circle, again distributes this zodiac amongst the powers of twelve deities, and this again is subdivided into three, so as to make six-and-thirty. Hence, I think, there extends as far as ourselves downwards from heaven above, a triple descent of the Graces; that is to say, from the circles which this god intersects in his course in four places, and so sends down the fourfold splendour of the Seasons, which in truth occupy the turning-points of the times. In fact, the Graces in their representations upon earth imitate the figure of a circle,²⁵ whilst the "Giver of the Graces" |242 ( xaridothj) is Dionysos, who has been shown to reign conjointly with the Sun in the same place. Wherefore should I mention to you Horus, and the other names of gods, all of them belonging in reality to the Sun? For we men have gained our notion of the god from the works which the same god actually works----he that hath made the universal heaven perfect through his Intelligible blessings, and given to the same a share of his Intelligible beauty. And beginning from that point, himself wholly and partially by the giving of good men,²⁶..... for they superintend every motion as far as the extremest limits of the universe. And Nature and Soul, and all that at any time exists, all these, and in all places, does he bring to perfection; and after having marshalled so vast a host of deities into one governing unity, he has given to them Athene, or Providence; who, mythology says, sprung forth out of the head of Jupiter; but whom we assert to have been projected entire out of the entire Sovereign Sun, for she was contained within him, in this particular dissenting from the legend, in that we do not hold her to have sprung out of the topmost part, but all entire, and out of the entire god. For in other respects, inasmuch as we consider Jupiter to be one and the same with the Sun, we are agreed with the antique tradition. And in calling Athene "Providence," we are making no innovation, if indeed we rightly understand the line: ----

" He came to Pytho and the blue-eyed Prescience."

In this way, then, was Athene, or Providence, regarded by the ancients also, as partner of the throne with Apollo, |243 the latter considered as no other than the San. Perhaps Homer uttered this by divine command, for he was, as is commonly said, "possessed by a god," and he has actually spoken like a prophet in many places in his poem: ----

"Honours, that Phoebus and Athene gain.''

From Jupiter, that is to say, who is the same with the Sun, in the same way as the sovereign Apollo is a partner with the Sun by means of the singleness of their conceptions. So, indeed, must we believe that Athene, having received her own being from him (and who is also his perfect Intelligence), binds together the other deities, with the Sun into unity, without confusion of person with the Sun, sovereign of the universe; and that she regulates and distributes the streams of unpolluted and pure Life from the topmost vault ²⁷ of heaven, through the seven cycles, as far as the region of the Moon, which last, as being the most remote of the bodies moving in cycles, this goddess ²⁸ has filled by the agency of her thought; empowered by which the Moon not merely contemplates the Intelligible things that be above the heavens, but regulates the Matter that is below her, and eliminates therefrom whatever is brutish, turbulent, and disorderly. Unto men Athene gives good things----namely, wisdom, understanding, and the creative arts; and she dwells in their citadels, I suppose, as being the founder of civil government through the communication of her own wisdom. Now for a few words about Aphrodite, whom the Phoenician theologians agree in making co-operate in the work of creation with the last-mentioned goddess----and I |244 believe they are right. She, then, is the mingling together of the celestial deities, and of the harmony of the same, for the purposes of love and unification. For she being near to the Sun, and running her course together with him, and approaching close to him, she fills the heavens with a good temperament, she imparts to the earth the generative power, whilst she herself provides for the perpetuity of generation of animals, of which generation the Sovereign Sun contains the final efficient cause. She, however, is joint cause with him, enthralling our souls by the aid of pleasure, whilst she sheds down from the aether upon the earth her rays so delightful and pure, more lustrous than gold itself.

And yet, again, I wish to mete out a little more of the theology of the Phoenicians----whether to good purpose my argument will discover as it goes on. Those who inhabit Edessa, a place consecrated to the Sun, from time immemorial, place on the same throne with him two gods called "Monimos" and "Azizos." By these names are understood (as Iamblichus says, from whom I have borrowed these few things out of his abundance) by "Monimos" Mercury, by "Azizos" Mars, the assessor of the Sun, who also diffuses, as a channel, many blessings upon the region encompassing the earth.

The operations therefore of this deity as regards the heavens are of the number above stated, and are effected by the aforesaid agencies, reaching as far as the extremest boundaries of the earth. But all that he operates in the region above the Moon it would be too tedious to recount in full. Nevertheless, these also must be told in a summary way: I am aware that I have already alluded to them when I recommended you to view things unseen through the medium of natural phenomena, in the question of the nature of the gods. My subject now demands that in this sequence I should express my opinions upon these points.

In the same manner therefore as we have laid it down |245 that the Sun holds the supremacy in the Intelligible world, having round about his own being, in one species, a vast multitude of gods (supposing him to have the same in the Sensible world), all of which move along their everlasting and most felicitous course in a circle, so do we prove him to be Leader and Lord, imparting to and filling the whole heaven, as he does, with his own splendour, likewise with infinite other blessings that be invisible to us: whilst the benefits commenced by the other deities are brought to perfection by him; nay, more, before this, these gods themselves were rendered perfect through his spontaneous and divine operation. And similarly it is to be believed that certain deities, held together by the Sovereign Sun, are stationed about the region belonging to Birth,²⁹ who govern the fourfold nature of the elements, and dwell, in company with the three superior species, round about the souls around which these same elements are fixed. And to the disembodied souls themselves of how many blessings is not He the source! by his holding forth to them the means of examining themselves, by his correcting them with his justice, and purifying them with his brilliancy. Is it not He that stirs up and fans the flame of all Nature, by imparting unto her the faculty of generation? Nay more, to the disembodied natures also He is truly the cause of their progress towards perfection, for Man is generalled by Man and the Sun, as Aristotle hath it. The same opinion it behoves us to hold respecting the Sovereign Sun, in the case of all other things, whatever be the operations. And what! doth not this deity produce the rain, the winds, and all that takes place in the upper regions, by making use of the double effect of evaporation, as it were for his raw material? For by his heating the earth he draws up the vapour and |246 fumes; out of which are generated not only atmospheric changes, but all the effects, both small and great, that go on under the earth.

But why do I dwell upon the same things when it is in my power to advance towards the end, after having sung all the benefits that the Sun hath bestowed upon mankind? For we spring out of him, and are nourished from him. Furthermore, his more transcendental operations----all the service he renders unto souls, by releasing them from the body, and carrying them up to the Beings that are cognate to the Divinity, whilst he lends them for vehicle of their safe return to their birthplace, the subtile and elastic part of the divine light----all this may be celebrated by others as it deserves: but by us it must rather be believed in than demonstrated. Such things, however, as by their nature are patent to all people, these we must not be too lazy to set forth. Heaven, says Plato, was our first teacher of Philosophy; for from thence we got the notion of the nature of Numbers. The same Plato adds Day and Night, in the first place [to the list of teachers; and secondly we gain the same notions] from the light of the Moon, the which is lent to this deity from the Sun. After this we advance still further in this power of comprehension, everywhere having for our aim an exact agreement with the teaching of this deity. As the same philosopher somewhere observes "that our race being full of trouble, the gods out of compassion have given to us Bacchus and the Muses for allies." ³⁰ Now it has been proved by us already that the Sun is the common leader of these deities, since he is sung of as the sire of Bacchus; and likewise is the "Leader of the Muses." And the Apollo who is joint-ruler with him, hath he not given forth his Oracles in all |247 parts of the earth? He has given to men inspired wisdom; he has adorned states with religious and political institutions.

This god has civilized, by the agency of the Greek colonies, the greatest part of the habitable globe; he has prepared it the more readily to submit to the Romans----a race possessing not merely a Grecian origin, but also Greek, and who have established and maintained a creed as regards the gods that is thoroughly Greek from, beginning to end; and who, besides all this, have founded a form of government in no way inferior to that of the best regulated states----even if of all the governments that have ever been tried, it be not the very best; from all which circumstances, I think I have myself recognized the Roman state as being Greek both in its origin and in its government. Furthermore, I make known unto thee how He hath provided for the bodily health of us all, by having produced Aesculapius, the Preserver of the universe; and how he hath communicated to us virtue of every kind, by sending down Aphrodite in company with Athene for our guardian; having made it all but a law that no one should use copulation except for the end of generating his like. For this reason truly, according to his revolutions and seasons, do the various vegetable and animal races feel themselves stirred towards the generation of their kind. What need is there to magnify the glory of his rays, and of his light? A night without moon, and without stars, how terrible is it! Let anyone reflect on this, in order that he may estimate how great a blessing is the light we derive from the Sun! Although he affords the same light continuously, and not shared with Night, in the suitable regions reckoning upwards from the Moon, yet doth he grant men a respite from their toil through the intervention of the Night. But there would be no end to the discourse were one to attempt to enumerate everything of this sort, inasmuch as there is no blessing in life that we have not received |248 from this deity----either complete, and directly from him, or else indirectly coming from him, but perfected by the means of the other Powers. Our patron is he----for the Capitol in our metropolis is occupied not merely by Jupiter, conjointly with Venus and Minerva----that Jupiter, who is hymned as the "Universal Sire"----but by Apollo likewise upon the Palatine Hill, Apollo himself ----a name thus common to all, and belonging by right to them. But how we universally and everywhere belong to him, as the sons of Romulus and of Aeneas, though I have much to say, I will but mention a few, and the best-known facts. Aeneas sprung from Venus, who is the agent of and akin to, the Sun. The actual founder of our city, tradition has delivered down to be the son of Mars, confirming the improbable tale by the miracle that followed his birth; for a she-wolf gave suck to the child, according to report. That Mars, called "Azizos" by the natives of Edessa in Syria, is the harbinger of the Sun, though I am aware of the fact and have already named, I shall for the present pass it by. For what reason is the wolf the attribute of Mars, rather than of the Sun? And yet they say that his annual revolution is called "Lycobas," Wolfs-walk, after this god; and not only Homer so denominates it, but also other well-known poets; as, moreover, the god himself, for he says at the end of a response

"The twelvemonth's ancient Lycobas, in dance."

Do you wish me then to adduce to you a stronger proof that the founder of our city was not merely sent down from (the planet) Mars, but that perhaps to the creation of his body aid was lent by some martial and generous daemon----the one that, according to the legend, visited Sylvia as she was carrying the lustral water to her goddess. And to make a general observation, the soul of the god Quirinus came down from the Sun. For in the same manner as the exact conjunction of those bodies which assign sovereignty, namely, the Sun and Moon, brought him down |249 upon earth, so did it carry up again to heaven that soul which it carried back again from earth; when it eliminated the mortal part of his body by the fire of lightning. And thus manifestly, the goddess who is the creator of terrestrial phenomena, and who is in a special sense subordinate to the Sun, took back again that Quirinus who was sent down upon earth through the agency of Minerva ----Providence; for she carried him back, as he flew upwards from earth, unto the Sun, sovereign of the Universe. Do you wish me to adduce respecting the same matter the institution of King Numa? The fire derived from the Sun is preserved unextinguished by virgins, agreeing with the different Seasons in number; which latter in truth guard the fire that was produced by the Moon, around the earth, by the influence of the Sun. I have yet a stronger proof to mention of this deity's existence; the actual working of the most divine sovereign. The months, by all mankind so to speak, are reckoned from the Moon; we alone, and the Egyptians, count the days of the year according to the motions of the Sun. If after this I were to mention that we worship Mithras, and celebrate quadrennial games, I should be speaking of more recent institutions; it is better therefore to confine myself to those of more ancient date in what I am going to add. The beginning of the annual cycle different nations calculate in different ways; some taking for it the vernal equinox; others the middle point of Summer; others again the end of Autumn. In all this they celebrate the most conspicuous blessings of the deity: in the first, the opening of the favourable season for work, when the earth blossoms and rejoices, with all the crops just springing up. The seas do then become fit for navigation; and the never-smiling and sulky face of Winter is transformed into a more cheerful aspect. The second sort have done this honour to Midsummer Day, as having it then in their power to rejoice securely over the success of their crops: the seed-crops being by this time got in, and the |250 fruit-crops already ripe, and the produce still hanging on the trees now drawing to maturity. The third, yet more acute than they, have established for the end of the year the most complete maturity and decay of all productions; for this cause do they hold their annual festivals when the Autumn is now drawing to an end. But our ancestors, from the time of that most religious King Numa, paying special honour to the god in question, cast aside the common practice, and as they were of superior understanding, they recognized this deity, and settled to hold the New Year's festival in the present season, at what time the Sun returns to us, leaving the extreme distance of the meridian, and bending his course around Capricorn as his goal, moves from the South towards the North; being about to give us our share of his annual blessings. And that they have thus fixed the time of the New Year's festival out of an accurate understanding of the case, may be easily discerned from the following circumstance----they did not fix the festival upon the actual day when the Sun makes the turn [but on the day] ³¹ when it is apparent to all that he is making his progress from the South towards the North. For not yet known to them was the subtlety of those rules which the Chaldaeans and Egyptians invented, but which Hipparchus and Ptolemy brought to perfection; but they trusted to their senses, and followed the guidance of natural phenomena. And in this way, as I have said, the matter was discovered to be of such a nature by those who came after them. Immediately after the last month, which is Saturn's, and previous to the festival in question, we celebrate the most solemn of our Games, dedicating it to the honour of the "Invincible Sun," during which it is not lawful for anything cruel |251 (although necessary), which the previous month presented in its Shows, should be perpetrated on this occasion. The Saturnalia,³² being the concluding festival, are closely followed in cyclic order by the Festival of the Sun; the which I hope that the Powers above will grant me frequently to chaunt, and to celebrate; and above all others may the Sovereign Sun, lord of the universe! He who proceeding from all eternity in the generative being of the Good, stationed as the central one amidst the central intelligible deities, and replenishing them all with concord, infinite beauty, generative superabundance, and perfect intelligence, and with all blessings collectively without limit of time; and in time present illuminating his station which moves as the centre of all the heavens, his own possession from all eternity! Whilst he imparts his own beauty to every phenomenon of Nature, and fills the universal heaven with as many deities as he contains intelligibly within himself; whilst they multiply round about him without separation, and dwell together with him in unity of species! And nevertheless the region below the Moon he embraces by the agency of his perpetual generation, and the benefits flowing out of the Cyclic Body; providing for the entire family of Man, and, especially, for our commonwealth; in the same way as he hath from all eternity created our own soul, having appointed it for minister unto himself.³³ May He therefore grant unto me that which I have just now prayed for; and moreover to the whole of my empire may He with his good will supply and guard all possible continuance! And to ourselves may He grant success both in religious and secular affairs, so long as He may concede us life! |252 And grant us to live, and to govern in life, as long as it is well-pleasing to himself, best for us, and expedient to the public interests of the Romans! ³⁴

Thus much, my dear Sallust, upon the threefold operation of the deity have I ventured to write for you, in about three nights' space, having gone over the subject in my memory as far as it was possible: since what I had previously written to you "upon the Saturnalia" ³⁵ did not prove entirely labour thrown away. But on the same subject you will obtain more complete and more abstruse information by consulting the works upon it composed by the divine Iamblichus: you will find there the extreme limit of human wisdom attained. May the mighty Sun grant me to attain to no less knowledge of himself, and to teach it publicly to all, and privately to such as are worthy to receive it: and as long as the god grants this to us, let us consult in common his well-beloved Iamblichus; out of whose abundance a few things, that have come into my mind, I have here set down. That no other person will treat of this subject more perfectly than he has done, I am well aware; not even though he should expend much additional labour in making new discoveries in the research; for in all probability he will go astray from the most correct conception of the nature of the god. It were perhaps an idle attempt (if I were writing this discourse for the sake of giving instruction) for me to treat of it at all after what that philosopher has done; but inasmuch as it is my wish only to compose a hymn of thanksgiving in honour of the god, I have deemed it quite sufficient ³⁶ to discourse to the best of my ability concerning his nature. I do not think I have wasted words to no |253 purpose: the maxim, "Sacrifice to the immortal gods according to thy means," I accept as applying not merely to burnt-offerings, but also to our praises addressed unto the gods. I pray for the third time, in return for this my good intention, the Sun lord of the universe to be propitious to me, and to bestow on me a virtuous life, a more perfect understanding, and a superhuman intellect, and a very easy release from the trammels of life at the time appointed: and after that release, an ascension up to himself, and an abiding place with him, if possible, for all time to come; or if that be too great a recompense for my past life, many and long-continued³⁷ revolutions around his presence!

[Footnotes renumbered and moved to the end]

1. ¹ Julian's first care had been to erect a temple to the Sun, within the palace precincts, in which he began each day with sacrifice to that luminary.

2. ² "Natale Solis Invicti," December 25th, the origin of Christmas Day----Julian was writing at Antioch, in the middle of his preparations for the Persian campaign.

3. ¹ Apparently the same as the "Soul of the World;" intermediate between the kosmo_j nohto_j and the Supreme God, "The One."

4. ² As Plato calls Him in his celebrated Epistle to Dionysius the Younger.

5. ¹ Referring to the emanation from the Good, above described by Plato; and apparently what Julian has designated in the beginning as the "Fifth Body."

6. ¹ The light of the Sun.

7. ² Or, as we should say, "quintessence."

8. ¹ Is furnished by himself.

9. ¹ Julian seems here to have in his mind Plutarch's observation on the true nature of Osiris as identified with Pluto ("De Iside et Osiride," lxxix.): "It disturbs the mind of the vulgar when they get the notion that the sacred and truly holy Osiris dwells in the earth, and under the earth, where are hidden the corpses of such as seem to have come to an end.... But the souls of men here below, enveloped in bodies and in passions, have no participation in that deity except in as far as they grasp him by conception, like some indistinct dream, through the medium of philosophy. But when they are set free and migrate to the Formless, Invisible, Impassible, and Good, then doth this god become Leader and King to them; they hang, as it were, upon him, and contemplate without ever being satiated, and long for, that Beauty which can neither be spoken nor described."

10. ¹ Taken literally for "he that goes over, or above."

11. ² Translating u(peri/wn in a second sense of "overleaping all bounds." Of these far-fetched etymologies Julian found examples more than enough in the above-quoted treatise of Plutarch's.

12. ³ The argument only becomes intelligible by keeping in mind that "gods" here signify "Natural Causes," such as the respective influences of the planets, etc.

13. ¹ The parts having a natural affinity to each other.

14. ² A definition showing this "Fifth Body" to be the same with the Mercury to whom, says Ammian, Julian paid adoration on his first waking, as the "Soul of the World."

15. ¹ Purely immaterial.

16. ¹ The Sun and Apollo are one deity in two, but certain powers belong to him when entitled "Dionysos," others when "Musagetes," others again when "Aesculapius." This deity or Natural Power, has the same influence in the universe as the planet Jupiter.

17. ¹ Julian insists upon this proposition as being diametrically opposed to the cosmogonies of the Epicureans and the Christians.

18. ² Iamblichus, though for the convenience of discussion he assumed a temporal creation, nevertheless thought such assumption a very dangerous one, and not to be attempted by any not passed-masters in philosophy----evidently fearing the advantage such an admission would afford to the Christian side.

19. ¹ The seven spheres, moving one within the other, as fully described by Plato, at the end of his "Republick."

20. ² These astrological doctrines being of Chaldean growth.

21. ³ "This is no news to you."

22. ¹ Because they do not change places with each other day by day, but by an imperceptible movement.

23. ² e9terh&meroi----the ancient title of the Dioscuri.

24. ³ In other words the philosophical dogma that Water is the source of all things. Julian seems to allude to the Egyptian notion (often cited by Plutarch) that the Sun was born of water.

25. ¹ The Graces, clasping each other round the neck, stand in the form of a circle. Julian, after the fashion of theologians, taking words in the sense they will bear, not in that for which they are meant, makes Bacchus' old title, "joy-giver," as god of wine, take the transcendental meaning of "Giver of the Graces," supposing the god the Solar Power.

26. ¹ A lacuna here in the MS., but what follows shows it to have referred to the Sun's giving birth to angels, heroes, etc., as set forth amongst his other "Operations." at p. 237.

27. ¹ The Egyptian Neith is regularly depicted as forming, by her own body, bent from one end of the horizon to the other, the actual vault of heaven. In the primitive Nature-worship she represented the visible heavens. The Alexandrian Platonists extracted from the type the re fined doctrine set forth in the text.

28. ² Perhaps referring to Aristotle's statement that Athene was properly the lunar deity, whence her attribute, the Owl.

29. ¹ Meaning, perhaps, the Milky Way, which Macrobius describes as the road taken by souls in their downward course for union with the body.

30. ¹ Julian, like the philosophers of his day, here "sees in Plato more than Plato saw," for the ancient sage is unmistakably thinking of wine and song in their most materialistic sense.

31. ¹ a)lla_ must have dropped out of the text; for Julian argues that New Year's Day was not fixed at the real solstice, December 21, but at a later day, when the change in the Sun's motion was clearly perceptible to these simple rustics.

32. ¹ The Saturnalia lasted the three days following the 16th or 18th December, the festival of the "Sol Invictus" was held on the 25th of the same month.

33. ² w#sper ou]n kai\ th_n h(metera_n fuxhn e0c a)i+di/ou u&pe/sthj: en, o(pado_n u(po fh&naj a(utou~. A remarkable enunciation of the soul's eternal pre-existence, and derivation from the Sun.

34. ¹ A prayer most remarkably fulfilled! for what a troublous, perhaps disgraceful reign, awaited the enthusiast, had he returned alive from his unsuccessful expedition.

35. ² The book has perished; it doubtless was of the same mystic character as this and the following "Hymn."

36. ³ to_ panu&, all in all----complete success.

37. ¹ Before the same soul is again re-united with Matter, and imprisoned in the body: exemption from such thraldom being a reward doled out in measure proportioned to merit during its last probation on earth.

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: julian_apostate_2_mother.htm

Julian the Apostate, "Julian the Emperor" (1888). Oration upon the Mother of the Gods.

Julian the Apostate, " Julian the Emperor" (1888). Oration upon the Mother of the Gods.

|254

UPON THE MOTHER OF THE GODS.¹

MUST we then speak of this subject also: and shall we write concerning things that are not to be told, and shall we publish things not to be divulged, and secrets not to be spoken aloud? Who indeed is Attis or Gallos; who the Mother of the Gods; what is the reason of this rule of Chastity; moreover for what cause has such an institution been established among us from remote antiquity; handed down to us indeed from the most ancient of the Phrygians, but accepted in the first place by the Greeks ---- and those not the vulgar herd, but the Athenians ---- taught by the event that they had not done well in ridiculing him that was performing the rites of the Great Mother. For they are said to have insulted and driven off the Gallos, as one who was making innovations in religion: because they did not understand the character of the goddess, or how that she was the very "Deo," "Rhea," and "Demeter" so much honoured amongst them themselves.

Then followed vengeance on the part of the goddess, and then a remedy for that vengeance. For she that was directress unto the Greeks in all good things (namely, the prophetess of the Delphic god) ordered them to propitiate the anger of the Great Mother; and hence was |255 erected by the Athenians the Temple "of the Mother," wherein were kept all the public documents. After the Greeks, the Romans also received her; the Pythia having advised them, in their turn, to bring the goddess out of Phrygia for their helper in the war against the Carthaginians. And here there is nothing to prevent me from relating a little history. These most religious inhabitants of Rome, on the receipt of the oracle, send off an embassy to beg of the kings of Pergamus, who at that time were masters of Phrygia, and from the Phrygians themselves, the most holy statue of the goddess. They received and carried away the sacred burthen, having embarked it in a large merchant-ship, competent to traverse such mighty seas. Having crossed the Aegean and Ionian Seas, and sailed round the Sicilian and the Tyrrhene, she finally entered the mouth of the Tiber. The people streamed out of the city, together with the Senate: before them all, however, advanced to receive her the priests and priestesses, arrayed after the manner of the country, with their attention fixed upon the vessel which was coming in under full sail. They gazed at the surging of the waves as they divided themselves around the keel; and as she sailed up they welcomed her, each one kissing his hand to her, as they happened to be standing in front, from a distance. But the ship, as though desirous to prove to the people of Rome that it was not a mere lifeless wooden image ² she was bringing them from Phrygia, but that, whatever it was she was bringing them from the Phrygians, it must possess some greater and supernatural virtue of its own, as soon as the goddess touched the Tiber she made the ship stand still, as though it had suddenly taken root in the bed of the river. They towed her against the stream----she did not follow: they waded into the shallows, and endeavoured to shove off the ship---- |256 she did not yield for all their pushing: next every possible resource was tried----she none the less remained immovable. For this cause a dire and unjust suspicion was cast upon the virtue of the Virgin who was invested with the highest sacerdotal rank, and they accused Clodia (such was the name of the reverend Vestal) of not keeping herself entirely unpolluted and pure in honour of the goddess, and therefore the latter was perhaps incensed, and took her vengeance: for all thought the event to be something supernatural. The Vestal, at first, was filled with shame at the rumour, and at the suspicion; so far removed was she from the forbidden and disgraceful fact: but when she perceived the slander against herself was spreading, and every moment gaining strength, she took off her girdle, and fastening it about the figure-head of the ship, as if by a sudden inspiration she ordered the crowd to fall back, and besought the goddess not to suffer her to be without cause exposed to such accusations. Then shouting, they say, like the sailors' cry: "Mistress and Mother," she exclaimed, "if I am chaste, follow me:" and forthwith she not merely stirred the ship, but towed it after her for a considerable distance against the current. And hereby the goddess, I ween, showed unto the Romans that the freight they were bringing from Phrygia was one worth no small price, but rather worth all they had to give: not a thing human, but a thing divine: not mere soulless earth, but something possessed of life, and out of nature. Such a manifestation, therefore, of her power did the goddess make before our people: she proved also another thing, that neither the virtue nor the vice of a single one of the citizens could escape her scrutiny. The war immediately prospered with the Romans against the Carthaginians, in such sort that their third war was merely for the walls of Carthage.

If this tale of the Vestal shall be thought by some incredible, and not suitable for either a philosopher or a theologian, let it none the less be recounted, for it is |257 publicly recorded by very many historians, and its memory preserved in brazen statues in that most noble and religious ³ city, Rome. I am not indeed ignorant that certain over-wise people will call these legends "old wives' fables," and not worth listening to; but I think, for my part, that in such matters it is better to believe the testimony of nations than of those witty individuals, whose little soul is acute indeed, but has a clear insight into no one thing. As regards the theory that came into my mind lately, during the actual period wherein continence is enjoined, I am informed that Porphyry, too, has composed a philosophical treatise upon this very subject; but as I have not met with his book, I cannot tell whether he happens to agree in any way with my own explanation. For my part, by my unassisted judgment I understand by this "Gallos," or "Attis," the existence of the Generative and Formative Intelligence, which generates all things down to the very furthest limits of Matter, and which contains in itself all the reasons and causes of material species. For the species of all are not contained in all; nor are those of the farthest off and the last of all, beyond which no more exists, contained in the Causes that be highest (final) and first, or where the name of "Deprivation " is applied with the sense of "Absence of Form." Now since there are many Existences, and very many Creators, the nature of that Creator who possesses the remote reasons, and the continuous efficient causes of material species, the nature, that is to say, of the superabundance of generative faculty,⁴ which is the lowest placed, and which extends as far as our earth from the stars above---- |258 this Nature is the Attis we are seeking for. It is, however, necessary to make a clearer definition of what I am advancing. I lay it down that there is Matter, and also there are Material Species, but unless a Final Cause for them be previously assumed, we shall be, without perceiving it, introducing the doctrine of Epicurus: since if nothing be anterior to two efficient causes, a spontaneous flux and chance must have united the two together. But we see (remarks some quick-witted Peripatetician, like Xenagoras) that the cause of these things is the "Fifth ⁵ and Revolving Body:" Aristotle, also, has made himself ridiculous by his inquiry and idle curiosity in this subject, and Theophrastus has followed his example, for he did not understand his own language. For after he had got as far as the Incorporeal and Intelligible existence he stopped short, not investigating that existence, but defining in what way these things came to exist; whereas he ought, I fancy, to have assumed their coming into existence in the same way as he did in the case of the "Fifth Body," and not sought after the causes, and to have stopped at this point, without flying off into the Ideal----a thing which has no natural existence of itself, but rests upon bare mental conception. To this effect I remember having heard Xenarchus lecture, but whether he was correct or not in so speaking must be left to the most high flying |259 Peripateticians to discover, but that he (Aristotle) does not speak in every way to my satisfaction is quite clear, inasmuch as I do not accept even the hypotheses of Aristotle unless they be brought into conformity with the doctrine of Plato; and, still more, the present subject must be reconciled with the revelations given to us from the mouth of the gods. One question, however, is worth asking; In what way can the Revolving Body contain the incorporeal causes of the immaterial species? for that without these Causes it is not possible that generation can subsist is, I suppose, self-evident and certain. To what purpose, pray, exist all these things that be born? Whence come male and female? Whence the difference in kind of all things that be, amongst visible species, unless there be certain pre-existing and previously established Reasons and Causes subsisting beforehand, in the nature of a pattern? With regard to which, though we are dull of sight, yet let us strive to clear away the mist from the eyes of the soul. The proper mode of clearing them is to turn into oneself, and to contemplate how the soul, and the mind imprisoned in Matter, are, as it were, the impression in wax and the image of things Immaterial. For this one thing ⁶ is not of the number of bodies, nor of the things that exist and are contemplated, incorporeally in connection with our bodies, the conception of which the soul is unable to receive independently of the body: a thing that it (the soul) would never have done, did it not possess in its nature some certain relationship with things incorporeal. This is Aristotle's meaning when he called the soul the "Type of species, though not in activity, yet in potentiality" That a soul thus constituted, and one turned inwards upon the body, contains these qualities in potentiality, is a necessary consequence; and if this soul be unconfined and without mixture, as it were, it cannot upset the argument, but must be supposed in all respects to be in activity. |260 Let us consider the point more intelligibly, through the medium of an example which, Plato has used in his "Sophist," although applied there to a different subject. The example I do not intend adducing for a proof of my argument, for it ought not to be taken as a proof, but only as an illustration; since it is about the First Causes, or those at least which are of the same rank with the First, that is, if our Attis be (as there is good reason to think) of divine nature. But what, and what sort of thing is your example? Plato remarks somewhere in his discussion upon "Imitation," that "if one should try to imitate in such a way as to reproduce the thing imitated, the task is full of labour and difficult----nay, of a truth almost an aiming at what is impossible; whereas that of imitating reality by means of appearance is pleasant, easy, and very possible. When, therefore, we take a mirror and carry it round, we easily take the impression of real objects, and show the figures of each of them." From this example let us transfer the comparison to the subject under discussion, so that the mirror may stand for what is termed by Aristotle the "Place of Forms in potentiality" for the real forms. But these forms themselves must necessarily exist in activity before existing in potentiality, and consequently prior to our soul (which is the opinion of Aristotle) that contains these forms in potentiality. Where, therefore, are we to place these things that exist first of all in activity? Must we place them in things united with Matter? No, for these are evidently the latest in rank. The only alternative left us, is to look for the immaterial causes in activity, previously established, of things material, prior to which our soul has existed, and together with which it has emanated from its source, and out of which it receives (as do mirrors from real objects), as a necessary consequence, the reasons of Forms, and communicates them through the agency of its nature unto Matter, as well as to the material bodies. Now that Nature is the maker of these bodies, we all know, |261 inasmuch as she is, as it were, the entire Nature of the universe; that she is also the maker of each individual part is, I fancy, self-evident and certain. But Nature in activity is distinct from Imagination (fantasi/a) in us, whilst the soul, which is superior to her, has received the property of Imagination. If, then, it is allowed that Nature possesses the cause of the things whereof she does not possess the conception, why in God's Name shall we not allow the same to hold good, and in a still higher degree, in the case of the soul, where we already know by means of imagination, and discover by means of the reason? For who is there so fond of cavilling as to allow that Nature possesses the material reasons (if not all alike in activity) at least all in potentiality, and yet refuse the same to the soul? If, therefore, Forms exist in Nature in potentiality, but not in activity, they certainly do exist in the Soul potentially in a purer and more distinct manner, so as to be comprehended and be known, although by no means in activity. To what shall we fasten the cables of this continuous generation? Where shall we mentally fix ⁷ our reasonings concerning the eternal duration of the world? The circulating Body ⁸ is certainly made up out |262 of subject and form. This is a necessary consequence unless these two exist in activity, separate from each other; but, by thought at least, all the former must be regarded as existing the first,⁹ and as the more ancient. Since, therefore, a certain Cause is allowed to have preceded material forms, being itself entirely immaterial, under the "Third Creator" (who ¹⁰ is to us father and lord, not of these objects only, but also of the Visible and Fifth Body), so we separate from the former [the Third Creator] Attis as the Cause that descends as far as the region of Matter, and we regard this Attis as the generative Power and the Gallos at one and the same time----him who, as Fable tells, was exposed by the side of the streams of the river Gallos, and there grew up, and afterwards, when he had got tall and handsome, became the favourite of the Mother of the Gods, and she committed to his care all other things, and placed upon his head the star-bespangled cap. Now if the head of Attis be covered by this visible heaven,¹¹ ought we not perchance to interpret the river Gallos as signifying the span of the Milky Way, for at that point, it is said, that the body which is susceptible of passion mixes with the impassive circular orbit of the Fifth Body? As far as this limit truly hath the Mother of the Gods allowed this minion of her's to leap about and dance----namely, he that resembles the sunbeams,¹² this intelligible Power, Attis. And when the same is |263 arrived at the extremity of his limits, he is said in the fable to have descended into the Cave,¹³ and conversed with the nymph, symbolizing the duplicity of Matter, and it is not Matter itself that is here meant, but the ultimate Cause of things incorporeal, which also existed before Matter. Moreover, it is asserted by Heraclitus: "Death unto souls is but a change to liquid."¹⁴ This Attis, therefore, the intelligible Power, the holder together of things material below the Moon, having intercourse with the pre-ordained Cause of Matter, holds intercourse therewith, not as a male with a female, but as though flowing into it, since he is the same with it.

Who then is the Mother of the Gods? She is the Source of the Intelligible and Creative Powers, which direct the visible ones; she that gave birth to and copulated with the mighty Jupiter: she that exists as a great goddess next to the Great One, and in union with the Great Creator; she that is dispenser of all life; cause of all birth; most easily accomplishing all that is made; generating without passion; creating all that exists in concert with the Father; herself a virgin, without mother, sharing the throne of Jupiter, the mother in very truth of all the gods; for by receiving within herself the causes of all the intelligible deities that be above the world, she became the source to things the objects of intellect. Now this goddess, who is also the same as Providence, was seized with a love without passion for Attis. And according to her will and pleasure made not only material things, but in a still higher degree the causes of the same. Now the fable relates how that the Virginity, |264 which preserves that things that be born and those that die, became enamoured of the creative and generative cause of these things, and commanded it to conceive, in preference, within the intelligible world, and to turn itself towards her, and to consort with her; that she made an injunction it should do so with none of the other Powers; whereby it should at once preserve the unity of form that conduces to preservation, and escape all tendency towards Matter; also she commanded this Cause to look up to herself (because she is the source of the creative Powers), without being drawn down or seduced into generation. For in this way the great Attis would become more powerfully creative, inasmuch as in every case the aiming at the better is more effective than the declination towards the worse. For in fact the Fifth Body is more creative through the former, than through the latter tendency,¹⁵ and likewise more divine in consequence of its directing itself towards the gods; since the body, even though it were composed of the purest tether, no one would presume to say was superior to the soul that was both un-defiled and pure, such as was the soul of Hercules, which emanated from the Creator. And yet this soul was more effective when she had given it to a body. For unto this very Hercules the superintendence of things below had been rendered more easy now that he is returned entire to his entire Father, than was it of old time when he wore flesh and lived amongst men. Thus in all cases the going away towards the better is more productive of effect than the turning towards the worse. And this the legend aims at teaching when it makes the Mother of the Gods enjoin upon Attis to be her servant, and not to stray from her, and not fall in love with another woman. But he went forward, and descended as far as the boundaries of Matter. But when it became necessary for this |265 ignorance ¹⁶ to cease and be stopped----then Corybas,¹⁷ the mighty Sun, the colleague of the Mother of the Gods (he that creates, and contrives all things beforehand, in unison with her, and who does nothing without her), persuades the lion to turn informer. Who then is this lion? We hear him styled "blazing"----he must, therefore, I think, be the cause presiding over the hot and fiery element; that which was about to wage war against the Nymph, and to make her jealous of her intercourse with Attis; and who this Nymph is we have already stated.¹⁸ This lion, the fable tells, lent his aid to the Mother of the Gods, that is, to the creative Providence of things that be; and by his detecting the offence and turning informer, became the author of the castration of the youth. Now this "castration" signifies a check to ignorance;¹⁹ for the business of generation stood still in the ordained forms, being checked by the creative Providence of the universe, not without the intervention of the fabled madness of Attis; which madness, running wild and overleaping all bound, and therefore deprivative of all strength, and not possible to be kept under command, was a thing which it is not unreasonable to suppose is due to the Final Cause of the gods. Contemplate and consider the Fifth Body----how it remains |266 free from change during every change, in the case of the illuminations of the moon; in order that finally the world so constantly renewed, and continually destroyed, may be near to the Fifth Body. With regard to her ²⁰ illuminations we observe the occurrence of a certain change, and particular effects taking place simultaneously. It is not therefore unreasonable to suppose this Attis a sixper-natural personage (in fact the fable implies as much), or rather in all respects, a deity, seeing that he comes forth out of the Third Creator, and returns again after his castration, to the Mother of the Gods, after he has persuaded himself to incline completely ²¹ towards him, although he seemed at first to have a tendency towards Matter. One will not be wrong in taking him for the last of the gods, although the foremost of all things not human. For this reason the fable styles him a "demi-god," in order to express the difference between him and the unchangeable deities. The Corybantes, who are assigned by the Great Mother to act as his bodyguard, are the three primal Substances ²² of the superior kinds, that come next to the gods. He also rules over the lions, which together with their chief, Leo (the Zodiacal Sign), having a hot and fiery nature allotted to them, are the causes of the element Fire in the first instance, and by means of the heat resulting therefrom, are the authors of the Exciting Energy, and also of preservation to all the rest. He is crowned with the heavens instead of a tiara, coming forth as he does, so to speak, from thence unto us. This great god of ours is Attis; this is the meaning of the "Flight of King Attis" that we have just been lamenting; his "Concealments," his "Vanishings," his "Descents into the Cave." Let my evidence be the time of year when all these |267 ceremonies take place; for it is said that the Sacred Tree ²³ is cut down at the moment when the Sun arrives at the extreme point of the equinoctial arc: next in order follows the Sounding of the trumpets, and lastly is cut down the sacred and ineffable Harvest of the god Gallos: after these come, as they say, the Hilaria and festivities. Now that a "cessation of Indefinity"²⁴ is meant by the castration so much talked of by the vulgar, is self-evident from the fact that when the Sun touches the equinoctial circle, where that which is most definite is placed (for equality is definite, but inequality indefinite and inexplicable); at that very moment (according to the report), the Sacred Tree is cut down; then come the other rites in their order; whereof some are done in compliance with rules that be holy and not to be divulged; others for reasons allowable to be discussed. The "Cutting of the Tree;" this part refers to the legend about the Gallos, and has nothing to do with the rites which it accompanies; for the gods have thereby, I fancy, taught us symbolically that we ought to pluck what is most beautiful on earth, namely virtue joined with piety, and offer the same unto the goddess, for a token of good government here below. For the Tree springs up out of the earth and aspires upwards into the air; it is likewise beautiful to see and be seen, and to afford us shade in hot weather; and furthermore to produce, and regale us with its fruit; thus a large share of a generous nature resides in it. The rite, therefore, enjoins upon us who are celestial by our nature, but who have been carried down to earth, to reap virtue joined with piety from our conduct upon earth, and to aspire upwards unto the deity, the primal source of being and the fount of life. Then immediately after the cutting does the trumpet give out the invocation to Attis and |268 to those that be of heaven, whence we took our flight, and fell down to earth. And after this, when King Attis checks the Indefinity by the means of castration, the gods thereby warn us to extirpate in ourselves all incontinence, and to imitate the example,²⁵ and to run upwards unto the Definite, and the Uniform, and if it be possible, to the One itself; which being accomplished the "Hilaria" must by all means follow. For what could be more contented, what more hilarious than the soul that has escaped from uncertainty, and generation, and the tumult that reigns therein, and hastens upwards to the gods? Of whose number was this Attis, whom the Mother of the Gods would not suffer to advance farther than was proper for him, but turned him towards herself, and enjoined him to check all indefinity.

And let nobody suppose me to say that all these things were done and happened formerly without the gods themselves knowing what they meant to do; or as though they were chastising their own faults. The causes of things that be, the ancients (whether with the gods to guide them, or discovering them by their unassisted efforts, but better to say seeking them out under the guidance of the gods), when they had discovered them, wrapped up the same in strange fables, in order that the fiction, being detected through its own extravagance and obscurity, might 'draw us on to the investigation of the Truth. For the vulgar, incapable of reasoning, derive sufficient benefit from what is conveyed by means of symbols; whilst to those of superior intellect, the truth respecting the gods will then only be serviceable, when they through diligent research shall find it out and lay hold thereof: whilst they are reminded by means of dark legends that it is their duty to inquire; and that they may advance to the end, as to the summit of the thing, after they have discerned it by means of such research; not so much out of |269 respect and confidence in the judgment of others, as in the exertion of one's own understanding upon other objects. What then do we assert as the fact----to consider it, as it were, in a summary? That as far as the Fifth Body, not merely the Intelligible, but also the Visible bodies, because they belong to the impassive and divine part, the ancients believed to be gods free from all mixture: whilst through the generative activity of the gods simultaneously existing in this same region of the universe, Matter had emanated in company with these gods from all eternity. Whilst out of these gods, and through their agency (on account of the superabundance of their generative and creative faculty), the Providence of things that be, uniting itself from all eternity with the gods, became at once Colleague of the Mighty Jupiter, and Source of the Intelligible Powers; whilst what appears without life, without generative power----the refuse, and what one may call the off-scouring, dregs, and sediment of things that be----(was made) by means of the lowest in order of all the gods, that is to say, by him in whom the beings of all the gods terminate; and this maker has regulated, corrected, and; changed the same for the better. For this Attis wears the star-spangled tiara----evidently meaning that he has. ordered the visible limits of the influence of all the gods upon the Sensible world, to be the beginnings of his own kingdom. Above him was the Unmixed and Pure, extending as far upwards as the Milky Way; but round about this place (where the passive element mingles with the impassive, and Matter exists simultaneously from that same source) his intercourse with the latter is symbolized by his "Descent into the Cave": a descent not indeed made against the will of the gods and of the Mother of them all, although said to have been made against their will. For the gods being by nature in superior place, the Better Part seeks not to drag them down from thence to this condition, but rather by means of the united descending of the Better Part, to draw the latter up to the |270 superior, and what is more acceptable to the gods, the limit already mentioned. In this sense the Great Mother is described as not hating Attis after his castration; nay more, she is described as no longer wrath with him: she was wrath with him on account of the descent into the Cave, because he, being a god and superior, had given himself up to his inferior: and after he had of his own accord checked the progress of his straying out of bounds, and had reduced to order this disorder by means of his subjection to the same influences with the equinoctial circle (in order that the mighty Sun may govern that which is most perfect in measure in his appointed course),²⁶ then does the Goddess gladly recall him to herself, or rather retains him by her side. And there never was a time when these things followed another order than they do now: ever is Attis minister and charioteer to the Great Mother; ever does he stimulate generation; perpetually does he cut away from himself all extravagance ²⁷ (want of limitation) by means of the ordained Cause of Forms. And returning, as it were, out of the bowels of the earth, he is said to sway his ancestral sceptre: although never deposed therefrom, nor to be deposed; yet, as the legend goes, deposed on account of his intercourse with the passive element. One point, however, is perhaps worth discussion: how it is that, the Equinox being double, Attis has preferred that which falls in Scorpio's Claws to that falling in Aries. The reason for this preference is plain enough in my opinion. For at what time the Sun is |271 beginning to approach us from the equinoctial line, and the length of day is on the increase----this season was, I think, considered the most suitable to the subject; for besides the reason which asserts that light is the accompaniment of the gods,²⁸ they believed (the ancients) that the attractive rays of the Sun were favourable to all those who aimed at being released from the trammels of generation. Consider the matter by the light of experience: the Sun draws up all things out of the earth, he calls up to himself and causes them to spring aloft by means of his stimulating and wondrous heat, penetrating all bodies with the extremest subtilty; whilst the objects that naturally have a downward tendency he renders light. And such facts as these we ought, I think, to take for illustrations of his invisible operations; for he that forces such results in bodies by means of his corporeal heat, cannot but by means of the invisible, entirely spontaneous, divine and pure activity existing in his beams, draw up and attract to himself the blessed souls. When therefore he has displayed this light, so congenial to the gods, and to men desirous of ascending unto him, and whilst this light is on the increase, so that the day shall be longer than the night, and the Sovereign Sun is beginning to traverse the Sign of the Ram, at that time the attractive nature of the rays of this deity is manifested both by their visible operation and their invisible, whereby innumerable souls are drawn upwards, following the guidance of the most luminous and most sun-like of all the senses. For this ocular sense Plato hath extolled as not so much pleasant and useful for the purposes of daily life, as it is a guide in the acquisition of wisdom in a higher point of view. But if I should touch upon that unspeakable mystic science which the Chaldaean hath uttered through inspiration, concerning the "god of the seven rays"²⁹ making souls ascend |272 through him, I shall be speaking of things unknown; yea, altogether unknown to the vulgar, yet familiar unto the blessed ministers of the gods, wherefore I shall now pass it over in silence.

But to return to what I was saying, namely, that we must suppose the season for the festival was fixed by those of old time not without consideration, but rather with plausible, in the highest degree, and well grounded reasons, a proof of this is that the goddess in question has the equinoctial line assigned to her. For under the Sign Libra the solemn and ineffable mysteries are celebrated in honour of Ceres and her daughter, and with good cause is this done, for it was fitting that they should be held a second time in honour of the god (Sun) as he is leaving us, in order that we may suffer nothing unpleasant from that goddess and dark Power ³⁰ which then gets the upper hand. At any rate, the Athenians celebrate the Mysteries to Ceres twice a year; in the Sign Aries they celebrate, it is said, the Lesser Mysteries; the greater they hold when the Sun is in the Claws of Scorpio; for the reasons already stated. I believe them to be called "Greater" and "Lesser" Mysteries, for other reasons, but particularly as is probable for this, their being held when the Sun is receding, rather than when he is approaching us; wherefore in the latter case they are done merely as a reminder; because the preserving and sublimating deity is still present, the preliminaries of the Initiation are marked out; then, shortly after, continuous practices of religion, and purifications connected with the rites; and when the deity later is taking his departure for the zone opposite to our land, then, the crowning rite of the ceremonies is performed for the sake of our protection and preservation. |273 And observe how in this case also the final cause of generation is cut away, for amongst the Athenians also those that handle the holy things are strictly continent; and the Hierophant who presides over them shuns all generation, inasmuch as he has nothing to do with progression into indefinity, but on the contrary, is concerned with the Essence that is definite, that abides for ever, and is comprehended in the One, the which also is free from admixture, and pure. On this subject, thus much is sufficient. It now remains for us in continuation to discuss this observance of strict continence and of purity in order that we may extract them from whatever bears upon our hypothesis. And at first starting, this thing appears to everybody an absurdity, that the sacred rule allows one to touch flesh, and prohibits one's touching seeds. Are not the latter without life, the former possessing life? Are not the latter clean, the former filled with blood and much that is disagreeable both to the sight and to the hearing? Whilst the former possess the additional recommendation that no one is aggrieved by the eating of them, whereas in the other case there is the slaughtering and throat-cutting of the beasts, which feel pain in consequence, as is natural, and make a roaring noise. Thus much many superior souls may possibly say; what follows, even the most impious of mankind nowadays ridicule, namely, that the stalks of vegetables are eaten; but their roots, for example turnips, are refused; that figs are allowed to be eaten, but pomegranates by no means, and apples, besides. This I have frequently heard many people whining at; and though I have said it already, I consider myself especially indebted to all the gods together, and more than all to the Great Mother in this particular instance (as in all others) that she did not suffer me to wander about, as it were in the dark, but firstly commanded me to cut away, not as regards my body, but as regards the irrational appetites and motions of the soul, all that was superfluous and empty, by the aid of the Cause, the object of intellect, and which |274 presides over souls, whilst she herself enabled me to conceive certain notions perhaps not discordant with a true, and at the same time, reverential understanding of divine matters. But I seem to be running around in a circle, as though I had nothing that I could say. It is in my power, even by giving particulars, to adduce clear and convincing reasons why it is not allowable for us to bring to table those vegetables and fruits, which are prohibited by the sacred rule; and this I will do a little further on. At present, it is better to produce some types, as it were, and models; by following which, even though in my haste something may be left unnoticed, we may be enabled to form some judgment on these points. This is the proper place to recapitulate; first of all, whom I have stated Attis to be, and what is the meaning of his castration; what is symbolized by the things done between the castration and the Hilaria, and what the object of the observation of continence. Now, this Attiis has been defined by me as an Existing Cause, and a deity proximately creating the.material world; who, when he descends as far as the extreme limits, is checked by the Sun in his generative motion; when the latter Power arrives at the sharply defined circumference of the universe, the name whereof is the Equinoctial line by reason of its effect. His castration, we have explained to mean the checking of straying beyond bounds ----the which can only be brought about by his recall and reascension to the more ancient and original Causes. Of the continence itself, the aim we say is the reascent of the soul; therefore, in the first place, it forbids the eating of the plants that sink below the ground, forasmuch as the Earth is the lowest of things that be; for thither Plato also says that evil things return after having been driven away; and the gods also by their oracles in many places have called it the "refuse;" and frequently exhort us to make our escape therefrom. First of all, therefore, the life-giving and provident goddess doth not allow us even as far as concerns our bodily nourishment, to make use of things |275 that descend beneath the earth; thereby warning us to look up to heaven, or rather above the heavens. Some persons, it is true, eat one sort of seed, namely, kidney beans; because they look upon them as not so much seeds as green vegetables, on account of their growing in an upward direction and erect, and not being at all rooted under the earth; for the bean is rooted from the haulm, in the same way as the fruit of an ivy or of a vine hangs from the tree. This is the reason why it is forbidden us to use the seed of plants, whilst it is allowed us to use fruits and green vegetables, not such, however, as creep along the ground, but those that raise themselves aloft in air. In this way she commands us to reject as earthy the ground-loving nature of the turnip, whilst she allows us to bring to table that which grows upwards and aspires on high; inasmuch as this very action is the mark of purity. At any rate she allows us to use the stalks of vegetables, whilst she forbids their roots, most especially those that grow under, and are affected by the same influences as the ground. And truly the apples of trees, as being holy and goldlike, and the images of the mystic prizes,³¹ and of those given in the ceremonies, she permits us not to destroy nor to consume; seeing that they deserve, for the sake of the things they symbolize, to be respected and taken care of; but pomegranates she has rejected as being an earthy shrub; and the fruit of the palm tree, some one perhaps will say, in consequence of its not growing in Phrygia, where the religion was first established. It seems however to me that it was as a tree sacred to the Sun, and not subject to decay that she forbids us to consume it, during the fasts, for the nourishment of the body. In addition to the foregoing rules, she forbids us to use every sort of fish; and this question concerns us in common with the Egyptians. For my part |276 I think that for two reasons we should abstain from fish, ----best entirely; or, at any rate, during the time of fasting; and firstly because we ought not to eat of things the which it is not lawful to sacrifice unto the gods,³² and here perhaps some dainty and gluttonous persons may raise objection, as I remember to have been often served before on different occasions when they heard me explaining for what reason we do not offer sacrifice of fish to the gods. But in reality we have something to say in reply to this objection; for we do offer them up, I replied, in the sacrifices of Initiation, in the same way as the Romans to the horse; and many other beasts and living things, for example the dog to Hecate (like the Greeks and the Romans also); and there are many similar victims belonging to initiatory rites amongst other nations, offered by the community either once or twice a year; although not in the honorary sacrifices of which alone it is lawful for the gods to partake and banquet upon. Now fishes we do not offer up in the honorary sacrifices, because they are things that we do not pasture, nor do we take care of their breeding; neither have we herds of fish in the same way as we have of sheep and of oxen. For these latter animals, being fed and made to multiply through our care, may justly be applied to our other uses, and above everything else, to the purpose of the most honorific sacrifices. This is one reason why I think we are not allowed to use fish for food during the times of fasting. There is yet another, and which I fancy is more consonant with what has been already said----namely, that fishes from their habit of sinking to the bottom, are more of an earthy nature than seeds-themselves; whilst he that desires to soar upwards, and to fly aloft above the air unto the very pinnacles of heaven, will with good cause reject all things of the kind; he will emulate and run after those that aspire upwards into air, |277 that aim at ascension, and to speak poetically, that gaze at heaven. Birds, our religion allows us to eat, with the exception of a few that are held sacred by the common consent of mankind; and also the usual quadrupeds, except the swine; the latter as being earthy in all respects, in form, in habits, in the very article of its nature, (for it is full of superfluity, and bloated in body) is justly proscribed from the holy table. For this beast is believed to be an acceptable offering to the infernal gods, and not without good reason, for it is without sight of heaven, not merely never attempting, but even naturally made incapable of looking upwards. Such are the reasons that the holy institution assigns for abstinence from the things whence we are bound to abstain; and which we, who understand them, communicate to those who believe in the gods.

But as regards what we are permitted to eat, I make this observation. The holy rule does not allow all indiscriminately, but keeping in view what is within the power of human nature, allows us to make use of these common things, not in order that we should all of us necessarily consume all such things (for this perhaps were no easy matter), but that, firstly, each might use whatever his own constitution should permit: secondly, a larger supply for human wants is the consequence of such variety; and, thirdly, it is attended by the exercise of will,³³ which last it is right to strain to the utmost in matters of religion, so as to be zealous and to exert one's self, even beyond one's strength to follow the divine rules. Such conduct is the more serviceable to the soul as regards its health, supposing that one makes greater account of it, and not of the health of the body. Nay, as regards the body, it will ultimately prove to have participated unconsciously in this more estimable and still greater benefit. For when |278 the soul gives itself up completely to the gods, committing all that concerns itself entirely to its superiors, whilst purity of life is the consequence, and previous to this the divine rules lead the way where is nothing further that confines or trammels it; for all things are in the power of the gods, and all things subsist around the gods,³⁴ and all things are full of the gods; thereupon does the divine light illumine their souls, and being themselves rendered divine, they impart a tension and a strength to the spirit,³⁵ to which they are united at birth, whilst the latter, being thus sharpened and at the same time governed by the soul, becomes the source of health to the whole body. That probably all bodily diseases, or at any rate the greater number and the worst, arise from the upsetting and depravation of the animal spirits, as I fancy none of the sons of Esculapius will deny, for some say this of all diseases, others of the most numerous, the worst, and the most difficult to cure. Testimony to this fact are the oracles of the gods; I mean that not only the soul, but the body likewise, is rendered worthy of much benefit and health by means of this purity of living. For, as they say, "The mortal envelope of bitter Matter is likewise preserved," as the gods promise in encouragement to the extremely pure amongst their own ministers.

What subject then remains for us to handle----especially when we are confined within the short space of a single night, and have read nothing beforehand, or made any research into these matters, nay, without any previous intention of writing about them, before asking for these tablets; the goddess will bear witness to what I say. But as I was |279 saying, what else is left for us to do, save to commemorate the goddess conjointly with Athene and Bacchus ----the festivals of whom, in truth, the law has fixed during the time of this fast, perceiving doubtless the relationship that exists between Athene and the Mother of the Gods, because of the provident nature common to both, having also an eye to the separate creative operation of Bacchus, which power the mighty Bacchus has received from the mighty Jupiter, inasmuch as he has emanated out of him, and has communicated the same to all the visible creation, while he directs and governs the universal separate creation. It is also fitting to make mention of Hermes, entitled "Epaphroditus "----for so the god is styled by those initiated persons, who profess to kindle torches in honour of Attis "the Wise." But who is so thick-headed as not to understand that through Hermes and Aphrodite are invoked all things in all places that contain the cause ³⁶ of the universality and various forms of generation, which is the proper subject of my argument? Is not this the Attis, who at first is called insane, and then sane, in consequence of his castration? Insane because he chose for himself the realm of Matter, and superintends the work of generation; but sane because he hath modelled this refuse into Beauty, and hath wrought therein so great a transformation, that no skill or craft of man can imitate the same. But what shall be the conclusion of my theme? Verily a Hymn of praise unto the goddess. O Mother of gods and men, assister and colleague of mighty Jove! O source of the Intelligible Powers! Thou that keepest thy course in unison with the simple essences of things intelligible; thou that hast received out of all the universal Cause, and impartest it to the Intelligible world! Goddess, giver of life, Mother, Providence, and Maker of our souls! Thou that lovest the mighty Bacchus; who didst preserve Attis when he was cast forth, and didst recall him to |280 thyself after he had sunk down into the cave of the earth; thou that art the beginning of all Good unto the Intelligible Powers, and that fillest the world with all the objects of Sense, and grantest all good things, in all places, unto mankind! Grant unto all men happiness, of which the sum and substance is the knowledge of the gods; and to the Roman people universally, first and foremost to wash away from themselves the stain of atheism,³⁷ and in addition to this, grant them propitious Fortune, that shall assist them in governing the empire for many thousands of years to come! To myself grant for the fruit of my devotion to thee----Truth in belief concerning the gods, the attainment of perfection in religious rites, and in all the undertakings which we attempt as regards warlike or military ³⁸ measures, valour coupled with good luck, and the termination of my life to be without pain, and happy in the good hope of a departure for your abodes!

[Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end]

1. ¹ Written at Pessinus, in a single night (says Libanius), in the winter before his expedition into Persia (which also appears from Julian's own asseveration at p. 278), A.D. 362-3.

2. ¹ A remark worthy of notice, for her famous idol at Pessinus was a shapeless black stone, doubtless an aerolite.

3. ¹ A remark showing that the old religion was still in the ascendant there.

4. ² A fundamental principle of this philosophy, repeatedly insisted upon in the "Hymn to the Sun," is that the Natural Powers, Qeoi\, are continually replenished with their proper forces from some supreme fount, and the surplus of such force is expended by them in the creation and maintenance of material species.

5. ¹ Aristotle's pempth_ o)usi/a, afterwards so famous as the "Quintessence," the Fifth Element, superior to all the rest. But the best definition is Plutarch's (De Ei Delphico, cap. x.):---- [Greek]. This Attis of the Mysteries seems to have the same origin with the Metatron of the Kabbala, the only-begotten son of the Tetragrammaton, who, like a wheel, ophan, is continually descending and ascending, bringing down lights from the Father, and carrying up to Him the good deeds of His people. At any rate, the Ophites (says Hippolytus) discerned in Attis, "almond-branch," the "wheatear cutoff," the express type of the Saviour.

6. ¹ This impression, or image, of the immaterial world.

7. ¹ An allusion to the do_j pou~ stw~ of Archimedes.

8. ² Aristotle makes the Universe to consist of seven concentric spheres, each governed by a spirit of its own; whilst God eternally revolves in external space, and perpetually keeps up the existence of the whole ("Metaphysics," book x.). From Aristotle Dante derived the term ("Paradiso," viii. 126):----

"La Circular Natura che e suggello

Alia cera mortal, fa ben sua arte,

Ma non distingue l'un dall' altro ostello.

Quinci addivien ch' Esau si diparte

Per seme da Iacob; e vien Quirino

Da si vil padre che si rende a Marte.

Natura generata il suo cammino

Simil farebbe sempre ai generanti,

Se non vincesse il provveder divino."

9. ¹ As being the first to exist.

10. ² This notion is not to be found either in Plato or Aristotle, but comes from Iamblichus, who makes trei=j Dhmiourgoi\ connected with the three species of Being----the Intelligible, the Intellectual, the Cosmic. The "Third Creator," therefore, is the one that comes more immediately into contact with Matter, and produces the universe.

11. ³ As symbolized by his starry cap, a proof of the identity of Atti with Deus Lunus.

12. ⁴ An evident allusion to an explanation in the Phrygian Mysteries that made the mad dances of the Galli symbolize the play of the sunbeams.

13. ¹ According to the legend, Attis having vowed perpetual chastity in honour of Cybele, was afterwards seduced by a certain nymph, and being punished with madness for thus breaking his vow, castrated himself in a fit of frenzy.

14. ² This notion plays a great part in the system of the Naaseni (Ophites), who identified their serpent, Naas, with the element, Water.

15. ¹ To look up towards the Mother of the Gods.

16. ¹ a0peiri/a used here as signifying a "going out of bounds," as if derived from pe/raj. It is the "Indefiniteness" used by Plato to denote imperfection.

17. ² Here we find the true origin of the Ophite Triad, composed of the Spiritual Man (Adam Kadmon), Ennoi/a, and the Spirit; out of which proceeds the Christ, who corresponds to the Attis in his operations.

18. ³ He makes her play the same part that Matter does in all the Gnostic theories. Thus in the "Pistis-Sophia," the main plot turns upon the seduction of the Aeon so named, and her entanglement in the sticky abyss of Matter.

19. ⁴ Or "the going out of bounds," the double meaning of the word (somewhat forcibly obtained, 'tis true), which affords foundation for this esoteric doctrine, cannot be preserved in the translation. Plato himself is the author of this play upon the words. "Indefinite," is a good equivalent for a)peiri/a proposed by Dr. Jackson.

20. ¹ Probably referring to the identity of Attis with Dens Lunus.

21. ² That is, "to be completely reconciled to the Third Creator."

22. ³ The elements Air, Water, Earth; Fire being mentioned in the next sentence.

23. ¹ An almond-tree----Valentinus had before interpreted all these rites as prefiguring the history of Christ.

24. ² Or "a stop to straying."

25. ¹ tou_j h(mw~n in text, is clearly a corruption of to_ shmei=on.

26. ¹ In reference to the explanation above given of the reason for holding the festival of Attis at the time of the equinox.

27. ² "Extravagance," taken in its primary sense, expresses the meaning Julian extracts out of a)peiri/a more exactly than "ignorance." The aim of all this high-flying argument seems to be to show that Attis symbolizes the Creative Energy (the Gnostic Demeurgus) that at first wasted itself in illimitable Space, but finally ceased from such extravagance, and confined its operations within the forms or types appointed by the Supreme Being.

28. ¹ The h(lugh_ attending upon the manifestation of a deity----"rosea cervice refulsit."

29. ² The number of rays in the crown of Serapis----the e9ptagra&mmatoj Qeo_j. One account of the introduction of the Serapis-worship into Alexandria makes it brought from Babylon; and in fact Plutarch, in describing the last days of Alexander, calls the Temple of Belus that of Serapis.

30. ¹ Evidently an allusion to Ahrimanes, the Power of Darkness.

31. ¹ The regular shape of the prize-vases, ex. gr., those figured on the imperial copper of Byzantium, is that of a pomegranate.

32. ¹ This may have been the very reason why the Christians allowed fish to be eaten during their own fasts, out of the spirit of contrariety.

33. ¹ This permitted variety of diet, affording occasion for the exercise of "meritorious self-denial" in abstaining even from lawful enjoyment.

34. ¹ The gods are centres about which all things turn.

35. ² Julian here uses fu&xh and pneu~ma exactly in the sense of the Latin "animus" and "anima." But in the regular Neo-Platonism the nou~j takes the place of his first, and holds the same relation to the fu&xh that the latter holds to the body. This is fully and curiously set forth by Plutarch in his "Face in the Moon."

36. ¹ E)xonta to_ e neka ta~ panth~ ka&i pantw_j.

37. ¹ By the complete eradication of Christianity, the denial of his gods.

38. ² A hint of some important reforms he was contemplating in the constitution of the army, which was kept secret until the successful termination of the Persian War should enable him to carry it out, in defiance of all opposition from the officials interested in the existing corruption.

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Julian the Apostate, Against the Galileans (1923) pp.313-317. Introduction.

Julian the Apostate, Against the Galileans (1923) pp.313-317. Introduction.

AGAINST THE GALILAEANS

[By Wilmer Cave WRIGHT, PH.D.]

INTRODUCTION

Julian, like Epictetus, always calls the Christians Galilaeans ¹ because he wishes to emphasise that this was a local creed, "the creed of fishermen," and perhaps to remind his readers that "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet";² with the same intention he calls Christ "the Nazarene." ³ His chief aim in the treatise was to show that there is no evidence in the Old Testament for the idea of Christianity, so that the Christians have no right to regard their teaching as a development of Judaism. His attitude throughout is that of a philosopher who rejects the claims of one small sect to have set up a universal religion. He speaks with respect of the God of the Hebrews, admires the Jewish discipline, their sacrifices and their prohibition of certain foods, plays off the Jews against the Christians, and reproaches the latter for having abandoned the Mosaic law; but he contrasts the jealous, exclusive "particular" (μερικός) Hebraic God with the universal Hellenic gods who do not confine their attentions to a small and unimportant portion of the world. Throughout Julian's works |314 there are scattered references, nearly always disdainful, to the Galilaeans, but his formal attack on their creed and on the inconsistencies of the Scriptures, which he had promised in Letter 55, To Photinus, the heretic, was not given to the general public, for whom he says he intends it, till he had left Antioch on his march to Persia in the early spring of 363. He probably compiled it at Antioch in the preceding winter.¹ Perhaps it was never completed, for at the time Julian had many things on his mind. It was written in three Books, but the fragments preserved are almost entirely from Book I. In the fifth century Cyril of Alexandria regarded the treatise as peculiarly dangerous, and said that it had shaken many believers. He undertook to refute it in a polemic of which about half survives, and from the quotations of Julian in Cyril's work Neumann has skilfully reconstructed considerable portions of the treatise. Cyril had rearranged Julian's hurriedly written polemic, in order to avoid repetitions and to bring similar subjects together. Moreover, he says that he omitted invectives against Christ and such matter as might contaminate the minds of Christians. We have seen that a similar mutilation of the letters occurred for similar reasons.

Julian's arguments against the Christian doctrine do not greatly differ from those used in the second century by Celsus, and by Porphyry in the third; but |315 his tone is more like that of Celsus, for he and Celsus were alike in being embittered opponents of the Christian religion, which Porphyry was not. Those engaged in this sort of controversy use the same weapons over and over again; Origen refutes Celsus, Cyril refutes Julian, in much the same terms. Both sides have had the education of sophists, possess the learning of their time, borrow freely from Plato, attack the rules or lack of rules of diet of the opponents' party, point out the inconsistencies in the rival creed, and ignore the weaknesses of their own. ⁴

For his task Julian had been well equipped by his Christian teachers when he was interned at Macellum in Cappadocia, and he here repays them for the enforced studies of his boyhood, when his naturally pagan soul rebelled against the Christian ritual in which he had to take part. In spite of his insistence on the inconsistency of the Christians in setting up a Trinity in place of the monotheism of Moses and the prophets, he feels the need of some figure in his own pantheon to balance that of Christ the Saviour, and uses, both in this treatise and in Oration 4, about Asclepius or Dionysus or Heracles almost the language of the Christians about Christ, setting these pagan figures up one after another as manifestations of the divine beneficence in making a link between the gods and mankind.

Though Julian borrowed from Porphyry's lost polemic in fifteen Books,⁵ he does not discuss |316 questions of the chronology and authorship of the Scriptures as Porphyry is known to have done. Libanius, always a blind admirer of Julian, says ⁶ that in this treatise the Emperor made the doctrines of the Christians look ridiculous, and that he was "wiser than the Tyrian old man," that is, Porphyry. But apparently the Christians of the next two centuries did not agree with Cyril as to the peculiarly dangerous character of Julian's invective. At any rate, the Council of Ephesus, in a decree dated 431, sentenced Porphyry's books to be burned, but did not mention Julian's; and again in a law of Theodosius II. in 448, Julian was ignored while Porphyry was condemned. When in 529 Justinian decreed that anti-Christian books were to be burned, Porphyry alone was named, though probably Julian was meant to be included. Not long after Julian's death his fellow-student at Athens, Gregory Nazianzen, wrote a long invective against him, in which he attacked the treatise Against the Galilaeans without making a formal refutation of Julian's arguments. Others in the fifth century, such as Theodorus of Mopsuestia and Philip Sideta, wrote refutations which are lost. But it was reserved for Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, writing between 429 and 441, to compose a long and formal refutation of Julian's treatise; the latter seems to have been no longer in circulation, or was at least neglected, and Neumann thinks that the bishop was urged to write his polemic by his dislike of the heretical views of other and earlier antagonists of Julian, especially Theodorus of Mopsuestia. This refutation, which was dedicated to the Emperor Theodosius II, was in at least twenty |317 Books. But for Cyril's quotations we should have a very vague idea of Julian's treatise, and as it is we are compelled to see it through the eyes of a hostile apologist. Cyril's own comments, and his summaries of portions of the treatise have been omitted from the following translation,⁷ but the substance of the summaries has been given in the footnotes. The marginal numbers in the Greek text correspond with the pages of Spanheim's (1696) edition of Cyril's polemic Pro Christiana Religione, from which Neumann extracted and strung together Cyril's quotations of Julian. There is, therefore, an occasional lack of connection in Julian's arguments, taken apart from their context in Cyril's treatise.

[Footnotes moved to the end and renumbered]

1. ¹ Cf. Gregory Nazianzen, First Invective Against Julian 76 (115), Γαλιλαίους ἀντὶ Χριστιανῶν ὀνομάσας καὶ καλει-σθαι νομοθετήσας·. This was ignored by Neumann in his reconstruction of the work, which he entitled Κατα Χριστιανῶν. Cf. Socrates 3. 12.

2. ² John 7. 52.

3. ³ In the fragmentary Letter 55, To Photinus, p, 189.

4. ¹ Libanius, in his Monody on Julian, says that at Antioch there were composed by the Emperor βιβλιων συγγραφαὶ βοηθούντων θεοῖς; in the Epitaph on Julian, that the attack on Christian doctrines was composed in the long nights of winter, i. e. 362-363, at Antioch, where he spent the winter with Julian.

5. ¹ Geffcken, Zwei Griechische Apologeten, p. 259, speaks of a Chinese polemic against Christianity, composed according to the regular conventions of this type.

6. ² On Julian's debt to Porphyry, and his lack of sympathy with Porphyry's attitude to religion, see Harnack, Porphyrius, Berlin, 1916; Bidez, Vie de Porphyre, Gand, 1913.

7. ¹ Oration 18. 178.

8. ¹ For a full discussion of the work of Cyril and the other Christian apologists who attempted to refute Julian, and for an explanation of Neumann's method of reconstruction, the reader is referred to the Latin Prolegomena to Neumann's Edition of Julian's polemic.

The numerous passages or expressions in this treatise that can be paralleled in Julian's other works have been collected by Asmus in his Concordance, Julian's Galiläerschrift, 1904.

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Julian the Apostate, Against the Gallileans: remains of the 3 books, excerpted from Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum (1923) pp.319-433

Julian the Apostate, Against the Galileans: remains of the 3 books, excerpted from Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum (1923) pp.319-433

AGAINST THE GALILAEANS

[Translated by Wilmer Cave WRIGHT, PH.D.]

Book I

It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I was convinced that the fabrication of the Galilaeans is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the monstrous tale is truth. Now since I intend to treat of all their first dogmas, as they call them, I wish to say in the first place that if my readers desire to try to refute me they must proceed as if they were in a court of law and not drag in irrelevant matter, or, as the saying is, bring counter-charges until they have defended their own views. For thus it will be better and clearer if, when they wish to censure any views of mine, they undertake that as a separate task, but when they are defending themselves against my censure, they bring no counter-charges.

It is worth while to recall in a few words whence and how we first arrived at a conception of God; next to compare what is said about the divine among the Hellenes and Hebrews; and finally |321 to enquire of those who are neither Hellenes nor Jews, but belong to the sect of the Galilaeans, why they preferred the belief of the Jews to ours; and what, further, can be the reason why they do not even adhere to the Jewish beliefs but have abandoned them also and followed a way of their own. For they have not accepted a single admirable or important doctrine of those that are held either by us Hellenes or by the Hebrews who derived them from Moses; but from both religions they have gathered what has been engrafted like powers of evil, as it were, on these nations----atheism from the Jewish levity, and a sordid and slovenly way of living from our indolence and vulgarity; and they desire that this should be called the noblest worship of the gods.

Now that the human race possesses its knowledge of God by nature and not from teaching is proved to us first of all by the universal yearning for the divine that is in all men whether private persons or communities, whether considered as individuals or as races. For all of us, without being taught, have attained to a belief in some sort of divinity, though it is not easy for all men to know the precise truth about it, nor is it possible for those who do know it to tell it to all men....¹ Surely, besides this conception which is common to all men, there is another also. I mean that we are all by nature so closely dependent on the heavens and the gods that are visible therein, that even if any man conceives of another god besides these, he in every case assigns to him the heavens as his dwelling-place; not that he thereby separates him from the earth, but he so to speak establishes the King of |323 the All in the heavens ² as in the most honourable place of all, and conceives of him as overseeing from there the affairs of this world.

What need have I to summon Hellenes and Hebrews as witnesses of this? There exists no man who does not stretch out his hands towards the heavens when he prays; and whether he swears by one god or several, if he has any notion at all of the divine, he turns heavenward. And it was very natural that men should feel thus. For since they observed that in what concerns the heavenly bodies there is no increase or diminution or mutability, and that they do not suffer any unregulated influence, but their movement is harmonious and their arrangement in concert; and that the illuminations of the moon are regulated, and that the risings and settings of the sun are regularly defined, and always at regularly defined seasons, they naturally conceived that the heaven is a god and the throne of a god.³ For a being of that sort, since it is not subject to increase by addition, or to diminution by subtraction, and is stationed beyond all change due to alteration and mutability, is free from decay and generation, and inasmuch as it is immortal by nature and indestructible, it is pure from every sort of stain. Eternal and ever in movement, as we see, it travels in a circuit about the great Creator, whether it be impelled by a nobler and more divine soul that dwells therein, just as, I mean, our bodies are by the soul in us, or having received its motion from God Himself, it wheels in its boundless circuit, in an unceasing and eternal career. |325

Now it is true that the Hellenes invented their myths about the gods, incredible and monstrous stories. For they said that Kronos swallowed his children and then vomited them forth; and they even told of lawless unions, how Zeus had intercourse with his mother, and after having a child by her, married his own daughter,⁴ or rather did not even marry her, but simply had intercourse with her and then handed her over to another.⁵ Then too there is the legend that Dionysus was rent asunder and his limbs joined together again. This is the sort of thing described in the myths of the Hellenes. Compare with them the Jewish doctrine, how the garden was planted by God and Adam was fashioned by Him, and next, for Adam, woman came to be. For God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone. Let us make him an help meet like, him." ⁶ Yet so far was she from helping him at all that she deceived him, and was in part the cause of his and her own fall from their life of ease in the garden.

This is wholly fabulous. For is it probable that God did not know that the being he was creating as a help meet would prove to be not so much a blessing as a misfortune to him who received her? Again, what sort of language are we to say that the serpent used when he talked with Eve? Was it the language of human beings? And in what do such legends as these differ from the myths that were invented by the Hellenes? Moreover, is it not excessively strange that God should deny to the human beings whom he had fashioned the power to distinguish between good |327 and evil? What could be more foolish than a being unable to distinguish good from bad? For it is evident that he would not avoid the latter, I mean things evil, nor would he strive after the former, I mean things good. And, in short, God refused to let man taste of wisdom, than which there could be nothing of more value for man. For that the power to distinguish between good and less good is the property of wisdom is evident surely even to the witless; so that the serpent was a benefactor rather than a destroyer of the human race. Furthermore, their God must be called envious. For when he saw that man had attained to a share of wisdom, that he might not, God said, taste of the tree of life, he cast him out of the garden, saying in so many words, "Behold, Adam has become as one of us, because he knows good from bad; and now let him not put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and thus live forever." ⁷ Accordingly, unless every one of these legends is a myth that involves some secret interpretation, as I indeed believe, ⁸ they are filled with many blasphemous sayings about God. For in the first place to be ignorant that she who was created as a help meet would be the cause of the fall; secondly to refuse the knowledge of good and bad, which knowledge alone seems to give coherence to the mind of man; and lastly to be jealous lest man should take of the |329 tree of life and from mortal become immortal,---- this is to be grudging and envious overmuch.

Next to consider the views that are correctly held by the Jews, and also those that our fathers handed down to us from the beginning. Our account has in it the immediate creator of this universe, as the following shows....⁹ Moses indeed has said nothing whatsoever about the gods who are superior to this creator, nay, he has not even ventured to say anything about the nature of the angels. But that they serve God he has asserted in many ways and often; but whether they were generated or un-generated, or whether they were generated by one god and appointed to serve another, or in some other way, he has nowhere said definitely. But he describes fully in what manner the heavens and the earth and all that therein is were set in order. In part, he says, God ordered them to be, such as light and the firmament, and in part, he says, God made them, such as the heavens and the earth, the sun and moon, and that all things which already existed but were hidden away for the time being, he separated, such as water, I mean, and dry land. But apart from these he did not venture to say a word about the generation or the making of the Spirit, but only this, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." But whether that spirit was ungenerated or had been generated he does not make at all clear.

Now, if you please, we will compare the utterance of Plato.¹⁰ Observe then what he says about the creator, and what words he makes him speak |331 at the time of the generation of the universe, in order that we may compare Plato's account of that generation with that of Moses. For in this way it will appear who was the nobler and who was more worthy of intercourse with God, Plato who paid homage to images, or he of whom the Scripture says that God spake with him mouth to mouth.¹¹ "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And God called the firmament Heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass for fodder, and the fruit tree yielding fruit. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven that they may be for a light upon the earth. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to rule over the day and over the night." ¹²

In all this, you observe, Moses does not say that the deep was created by God, or the darkness or the waters. And yet, after saying concerning light |333 that God ordered it to be, and it was, surely he ought to have gone on to speak of night also, and the deep and the waters. But of them he says not a word to imply that they were not already existing at all, though he often mentions them. Furthermore, he does not mention the birth or creation of the angels or in what manner they were brought into being, but deals only with the heavenly and earthly bodies. It follows that, according to Moses, God is the creator of nothing that is incorporeal, but is only the disposer of matter that already existed. For the words, "And the earth was invisible and without form" can only mean that he regards the wet and dry substance as the original matter and that he introduces God as the disposer of this matter.

Now on the other hand hear what Plato says about the universe: "Now the whole heaven or the universe,----or whatever other name would be most acceptable to it, so let it be named by us,----did it exist eternally, having no beginning of generation, or has it come into being starting from some beginning? It has come into being. For it can be seen and handled and has a body; and all such things are the objects of sensation, and such objects of sensation, being apprehensible by opinion with the aid of sensation are things that came into being, as we saw, and have been generated... ¹³ It follows, therefore, according to the reasonable theory, that we ought to affirm that this universe came into being as a living creature possessing soul and intelligence in very truth, both by the providence of God." ¹⁴

Let us but compare them, point by point. What |335 and what sort of speech does the god make in the account of Moses, and what the god in the account of Plato?

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, and our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them, and said, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over all the cattle and over all the earth." ¹⁵

Now, I say, hear also the speech which Plato puts in the mouth of the Artificer of the All.

"Gods of Gods! Those works whose artificer and father I am will abide indissoluble, so long as it is my will. Lo, all that hath been fastened may be loosed, yet to will to loose that which is harmonious and in good case were the act of an evil being. Wherefore, since ye have come into being, ye are not immortal or indissoluble altogether, nevertheless ye shall by no means be loosed or meet with the doom of death, since ye have found in my will a bond more mighty and more potent than those wherewith ye were bound when ye came into being. Now therefore hearken to the saying which I proclaim unto you: Three kinds of mortal beings still remain unborn, and unless these have birth the heaven will be incomplete. For it will not have within itself all the kinds of living things. Yet if these should come into being and receive a share of life at |337 my hands they would become equal to gods. Therefore in order that they may be mortal, and that this All may be All in very truth, turn ye according to your nature to the contriving of living things, imitating my power even as I showed it in generating you. And such part of them as is fitted to receive the same name as the immortals, which is called divine and the power in them that governs all who are willing ever to follow justice and you, this part I, having sowed it and originated the same, will deliver to you. For the rest, do you, weaving the mortal with the immortal, contrive living beings and bring them to birth; then by giving them sustenance increase them, and when they perish receive them back again." ¹⁶

But since ye are about to consider whether this is only a dream, do ye learn the meaning thereof. Plato gives the name gods to those that are visible, the sun and moon, the stars and the heavens, but these are only the likenesses of the invisible gods. The sun which is visible to our eyes is the likeness of the intelligible and invisible sun,¹⁷ and again the moon which is visible to our eyes and every one of the stars are likenesses of the intelligible.¹⁸ Accordingly Plato knows of those intelligible and invisible gods which are immanent in and coexist with the creator himself and were begotten and proceeded from him. Naturally, therefore, the creator in Plato's account says "gods" when he is addressing the invisible beings, and "of gods," meaning by this, evidently, the visible gods. And the common creator of both these is he who fashioned the heavens and |339 the earth and the sea and the stars, and begat in the intelligible world the archetypes of these.

Observe then that what follows is well said also. "For," he says, "there remain three kinds of mortal things," meaning, evidently, human beings, animals and plants; for each one of these has been denned by its own peculiar definition. "Now," he goes on to say, "if each one of these also should come to exist by me, it would of necessity become immortal." And indeed, in the case of the intelligible gods and the visible universe, no other cause for their immortality exists than that they came into existence by the act of the creator. When, therefore, he says, "Such part of them as is immortal must needs be given to these by the creator," he means the reasoning soul. "For the rest," he says, "do ye weave mortal with immortal." It is therefore clear that the creative gods received from their father their creative power and so begat on earth all living things that are mortal. For if there were to be no difference between the heavens and mankind and animals too, by Zeus, and all the way down to the very tribe of creeping things and the little fish that swim in the sea, then there would have had to be one and the same creator for them all. But if there is a great gulf fixed between immortals and mortals, and this cannot become greater by addition or less by subtraction, nor can it be mixed with what is mortal and subject to fate, it follows that one set of gods were the creative cause of mortals, and another of immortals.

Accordingly, since Moses, as it seems, has failed |341 also to give a complete account of the immediate creator of this universe, let us go on and set one against another the opinion of the Hebrews and that of our fathers about these nations.

Moses says that the creator of the universe chose out the Hebrew nation, that to that nation alone did he pay heed and cared for it, and he gives him charge of it alone. But how and by what sort of gods the other nations are governed he has said not a word,----unless indeed one should concede that he did assign to them the sun and moon.¹⁹ However of this I shall speak a little later. Now I will only point out that Moses himself and the prophets who came after him and Jesus the Nazarene, yes and Paul also, who surpassed all the magicians and charlatans of every place and every time, assert that he is the God of Israel alone and of Judaea, and that the Jews are his chosen people. Listen to their own words, and first to the words of Moses: "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son, my firstborn. And I have said to thee, Let my people go that they may serve me. But thou didst refuse to let them go." ²⁰ And a little later, "And they say unto him, The God of the Hebrews hath summoned us; we will go therefore three days' journey into the desert, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God." ²¹ And soon he speaks again in the same way, "The Lord the God of the Hebrews hath sent |343 me unto thee, saying, Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness." ²²

But that from the beginning God cared only for the Jews and that He chose them out as his portion, has been clearly asserted not only by Moses and Jesus but by Paul as well; though in Paul's case this is strange. For according to circumstances he keeps changing his views about God, as the polypus changes its colours to match the rocks,²³ and now he insists that the Jews alone are God's portion, and then again, when he is trying to persuade the Hellenes to take sides with him, he says: "Do not think that he is the God of Jews only, but also of Gentiles: yea of Gentiles also." ²⁴ Therefore it is fair to ask of Paul why God, if he was not the God of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles, sent the blessed gift of prophecy to the Jews in abundance and gave them Moses and the oil of anointing, and the prophets and the law and the incredible and monstrous elements in their myths? For you hear them crying aloud: "Man did eat angels' food." ²⁵ And finally God sent unto them Jesus also, but unto us no prophet, no oil of anointing, no teacher, no herald to announce his love for man which should one day, though late, reach even unto us also. Nay he even looked on for myriads, or if you prefer, for thousands of years, while men in extreme ignorance served idols, as you call them, from where the sun rises to where he sets, yes and from North to South, save only that |345 little tribe which less than two thousand years before had settled in one part of Palestine. For if he is the God of all of us alike, and the creator of all, why did he neglect us? Wherefore it is natural to think that the God of the Hebrews was not the begetter of the whole universe with lordship over the Avhole, but rather, as I said before, that he is confined within limits, and that since his empire has bounds we must conceive of him as only one of the crowd of other gods. Then are we to pay further heed to you because you or one of your stock imagined the God of the universe, though in any case you attained only to a bare conception of Him? Is not all this partiality? God, you say, is a jealous God. But why is he so jealous, even avenging the sins of the fathers on the children? ²⁶

But now consider our teaching in comparison with this of yours. Our writers say that the creator is the common father and king of all things, but that the other functions have been assigned by him to national gods of the peoples and gods that protect the cities; every one of whom administers his own department in accordance with his own nature. For since in the father all things are complete and all things are one, while in the separate deities one quality or another predominates, therefore Ares rules over the warlike nations, Athene over those that are wise as well as warlike, Hermes over those that are more shrewd than adventurous; and in short the nations over which the gods preside follow each the essential character of their proper god. Now if experience does not bear witness to the truth of our teachings, let us grant that our traditions are a figment and a misplaced |347 attempt to convince, and then we ought to approve the doctrines held by you. If, however, quite the contrary is true, and from the remotest past experience bears witness to our account and in no case does anything appear to harmonise with your teachings, why do you persist in maintaining a pretension so enormous?

Come, tell me why it is that the Celts and the Germans are fierce,²⁷ while the Hellenes and Romans are, generally speaking, inclined to political life and humane, though at the same time unyielding and warlike? Why the Egyptians are more intelligent and more given to crafts, and the Syrians unwarlike and effeminate, but at the same time intelligent, hot-tempered, vain and quick to learn? For if there is anyone who does not discern a reason for these differences among the nations, but rather declaims that all this so befell spontaneously, how, I ask, can he still believe that the universe is administered by a providence? But if there is any man who maintains that there are reasons for these differences, let him tell me them, in the name of the creator himself, and instruct me. As for men's laws, it is evident that men have established them to correspond with their own natural dispositions; that is to say, constitutional and humane laws were established by those in whom a humane disposition had been fostered above all else, savage and inhuman laws by those in whom there lurked and was inherent the contrary disposition. For lawgivers have succeeded in adding but little by their discipline to the natural characters and aptitudes of men. Accordingly the Scythians would not receive Anacharsis ²⁸ among them when he |349 was inspired by a religious frenzy, and with very few exceptions you will not find that any men of the Western nations ²⁹ have any great inclination for philosophy or geometry or studies of that sort, although the Roman Empire has now so long been paramount. But those who are unusually talented delight only in debate and the art of rhetoric, and do not adopt any other study; so strong, it seems, is the force of nature. Whence then come these differences of character and laws among the nations? Now of the dissimilarity of language Moses has given a wholly fabulous explanation. For he said that the sons of men came together intending to build a city, and a great tower therein, but that God said that he must go down and confound their languages. And that no one may think I am falsely accusing him of this, I will read from the book of Moses what follows: "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, before we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they have begun to do; and now nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that no man may understand the speech of his neighbour. So the Lord God scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city and the tower." ³⁰ And then you demand that we should |351 believe this account, while you yourselves disbelieve Homer's narrative of the Aloadae, namely that they planned to set three mountains one on another, "that so the heavens might be scaled." ³¹ For my part I say that this tale is almost as fabulous as the other. But if you accept the former, why in the name of the gods do you discredit Homer's fable? For I suppose that to men so ignorant as you I must say nothing about the fact that, even if all men throughout the inhabited world ever employ one speech and one language, they will not be able to build a tower that will reach to the heavens, even though they should turn the whole earth into bricks. For such a tower will need countless bricks each one as large as the whole earth, if they are to succeed in reaching to the orbit of the moon. For let us assume that all mankind met together, employing but one language and speech, and that they made the whole earth into bricks and hewed out stones, when would it reach as high as the heavens, even though they spun it out and stretched it till it was finer than a thread? Then do you, who believe that this so obvious fable is true, and moreover think that God was afraid of the brutal violence of men, and for this reason came down to earth to confound their languages, do you, I say, still venture to boast of your knowledge of God?

But I will go back again to the question how God confounded their languages. The reason why he did so Moses has declared: namely, that God was afraid that if they should have one language and were of one mind, they would first construct for themselves a path to the heavens and then do some |353 mischief against him. But how he carried this out Moses does not say at all, but only that he first came down from heaven,----because he could not, as it seems, do it from on high, without coming down to earth. But with respect to the existing differences in characters and customs, neither Moses nor anyone else has enlightened us. And yet among mankind the difference between the customs and the political constitutions of the nations is in every way greater than the difference in their language. What Hellene, for instance, ever tells us that a man ought to marry his sister or his daughter or his mother? Yet in Persia this is accounted virtuous. But why need I go over their several characteristics, or describe the love of liberty and lack of discipline of the Germans, the docility and tameness of the Syrians, the Persians, the Parthians, and in short of all the barbarians in the East and the South, and of all nations who possess and are contented with a somewhat despotic form of government? Now if these differences that are greater and more important came about without the aid of a greater and more divine providence, why do we vainly trouble ourselves about and worship one who takes no thought for us? For is it fitting that he who cared nothing for our lives, our characters, our manners, our good government, our political constitution, should still claim to receive honour at our hands? Certainly not. You see to what an absurdity your doctrine comes. For of all the blessings that we behold in the life of man, those that relate to the soul come first, and those that relate to the body are secondary. If, therefore, he paid no heed to our spiritual blessings, neither took thought for our physical conditions, and moreover, |355 did not send to us teachers or lawgivers as he did for the Hebrews, such as Moses and the prophets who followed him, for what shall we properly feel gratitude to him?

But consider whether God has not given to us also gods ³² and kindly guardians of whom you have no knowledge, gods in no way inferior to him who from the beginning has been held in honour among the Hebrews of Judaea, the only land that he chose to take thought for, as Moses declared and those who came after him, down to our own time. But even if he who is honoured among the Hebrews really was the immediate creator of the universe, our beliefs about him are higher than theirs, and he has bestowed on us greater blessings than on them, with respect both to the soul and to externals. Of these, however, I shall speak a little later. Moreover, he sent to us also lawgivers not inferior to Moses, if indeed many of them were not far superior.

Therefore, as I said, unless for every nation separately some presiding national god (and under him an angel,³³ a demon, a hero, and a peculiar order of spirits which obey and work for the higher powers) established the differences in our laws and characters, you must demonstrate to me how these differences arose by some other agency. Moreover, it is not sufficient to say, "God spake and it was so." For the natures of things that are created ought to harmonise with the commands of God. I will say more clearly what I mean. Did God ordain that fire should mount upwards by chance and earth |357 sink down? Was it not necessary, in order that the ordinance of God should be fulfilled, for the former to be light and the latter to weigh heavy? And in the case of other things also this is equally true.... 34 Likewise with respect to things divine. But the reason is that the race of men is doomed to death and perishable. Therefore men's works also are naturally perishable and mutable and subject to every kind of alteration. But since God is eternal, it follows that of such sort are his ordinances also. And since they are such, they are either the natures of things or are accordant with the nature of things. For how could nature be at variance with the ordinance of God? How could it fall out of harmony therewith? Therefore, if he did ordain that even as our languages are confounded and do not harmonise with one another, so too should it be with the political constitutions of the nations, then it was not by a special, isolated decree that he gave these constitutions their essential characteristics, or framed us also to match this lack of agreement.³⁵ For different natures must first have existed in all those things that among the nations were to be differentiated. This at any rate is seen if one observes how very different in their bodies are the Germans and Scythians from the Libyans and Ethiopians. Can this also be due to a bare decree, and does not the climate or the country have a joint influence with the gods in determining what sort of complexion they have?

Furthermore, Moses also consciously drew a veil over this sort of enquiry, and did not assign the |359 confusion of dialects to God alone. For he says 36 that God did not descend alone, but that there descended with him not one but several, and he did not say who these were. But it is evident that he assumed that the beings who descended with God resembled him. If, therefore, it was not the Lord alone but his associates with him who descended for the purpose of confounding the dialects, it is very evident that for the confusion of men's characters, also, not the Lord alone but also those who together with him confounded the dialects would reasonably be considered responsible for this division.

Now why have I discussed this matter at such length, though it was my intention to speak briefly? For this reason: If the immediate creator of the universe be he who is proclaimed by Moses, then we hold nobler beliefs concerning him, inasmuch as we consider him to be the master of all things in general, but that there are besides national gods who are subordinate to him and are like viceroys of a king, each administering separately his own province; and, moreover, we do not make him the sectional rival of the gods whose station is subordinate to his. But if Moses first pays honour to a sectional god, and then makes the lordship of the whole universe contrast with his power, then it is better to believe as we do, and to recognise the God of the All, though not without apprehending also the God of Moses; this is better, I say, than to honour one who has been assigned the lordship over a very small portion, instead of the creator of all things.

That is a surprising law of Moses, I mean the |361 famous decalogue! "Thou shalt not steal." "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not bear false witness." But let me write out word for word every one of the commandments which he says were written by God himself.

"I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt." ³⁷ Then follows the second: "Thou shalt have no other gods but me." "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." ³⁸ And then he adds the reason: " For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third generation." "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." "Remember the sabbath day." "Honour thy father and thy mother." " Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not steal." "Thou shalt not bear false witness." "Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbour's." ³⁹

Now except for the command "Thou shalt not worship other gods," and "Remember the sabbath day," what nation is there, I ask in the name of the gods, which does not think that it ought to keep the other commandments? So much so that penalties have been ordained against those who transgress them, sometimes more severe, and sometimes similar to those enacted by Moses, though they are sometimes more humane.

But as for the commandment "Thou shalt not worship other gods," to this surely he adds a terrible libel upon God. "For I am a jealous God," he says, and in another place again, "Our God is a consuming fire." ⁴⁰ Then if a man is jealous and envious you think him blameworthy, whereas if God |363 is called jealous you think it a divine quality? And yet how is it reasonable to speak falsely of God in a matter that is so evident? For if he is indeed jealous, then against his will are all other gods worshipped, and against his will do all the remaining nations worship their gods. Then how is it that he did not himself restrain them, if he is so jealous and does not wish that the others should be worshipped, but only himself? Can it be that he was not able to do so, or did he not wish even from the beginning to prevent the other gods also from being worshipped? However, the first explanation is impious, to say, I mean, that he was unable; and the second is in accordance with what we do ourselves. Lay aside this nonsense and do not draw down on yourselves such terrible blasphemy. For if it is God's will that none other should be worshipped, why do you worship this spurious son of his whom he has never yet recognised or considered as his own? This I shall easily prove. You, however, I know not why, foist on him a counterfeit son....⁴¹

Nowhere ⁴² is God shown as angry, or resentful, or wroth, or taking an oath, or inclining first to this side, then suddenly to that, or as turned from his purpose, as Moses tells us happened in the case of Phinehas. If any of you has read the Book of Numbers he knows what I mean. For when Phinehas had seized with his own hand and slain the man who had dedicated himself to Baal-peor, and with him the woman who had persuaded him, striking her with a shameful and most painful wound through |365 the belly, as Moses tells us, then God is made to say: "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them; and I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.'' ⁴³ What could be more trivial than the reason for which God was falsely represented as angry by the writer of this passage? What could be more irrational, even if ten or fifteen persons, or even, let us suppose, a hundred, for they certainly will not say that there were a thousand,----however, let us assume that even as many persons as that ventured to transgress some one of the laws laid down by God; was it right that on account of this one thousand, six hundred thousand should be utterly destroyed? For my part I think it would be better in every way to preserve one bad man along with a thousand virtuous men than to destroy the thousand together with that one....⁴⁴

For if the anger of even one hero or unimportant demon is hard to bear for whole countries and cities, who could have endured the wrath of so mighty a God, whether it were directed against demons or angels or mankind? It is worth while to compare his behaviour with the mildness of Lycurgus and the forbearance of Solon, or the kindness and benevolence of the Romans towards transgressors. But observe also from what follows how far superior are our teachings to theirs. The philosophers bid us imitate the gods so far as we can, and they teach us that this imitation consists in the contemplation of realities. And that this sort of study is remote from passion and is indeed based on freedom from passion, |367 is, I suppose, evident, even without my saying it. In proportion then as we, having been assigned to the contemplation of realities, attain to freedom from passion, in so far do we become like God. But what sort of imitation of God is praised among the Hebrews? Anger and wrath and fierce jealousy. For God says: "Phinehas hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them." For God, on finding one who shared his resentment and his grief, thereupon, as it appears, laid aside his resentment. These words and others like them about God Moses is frequently made to utter in the Scripture.

Furthermore observe from what follows that God did not take thought for the Hebrews alone, but though he cared for all nations, he bestowed on the Hebrews nothing considerable or of great value, whereas on us he bestowed gifts far higher and surpassing theirs. For instance the Egyptians, as they reckon up the names of not a few wise men among themselves, can boast that they possess many successors of Hermes, I mean of Hermes who in his third manifestation visited Egypt; ⁴⁵ while the Chaldaeans and Assyrians can boast of the successors of Oannes ⁴⁶ and Belos;⁴⁷ the Hellenes can boast of countless successors of Cheiron.⁴⁸ For thenceforth all Hellenes were born with an aptitude for the mysteries and theologians, in the very way, you observe, which the Hebrews claim as their own peculiar boast....⁴⁹ |369

But has God granted to you to originate any science or any philosophical study? Why, what is it? For the theory of the heavenly bodies was perfected among the Hellenes, after the first observations had been made among the barbarians in Babylon.⁵⁰ And the study of geometry took its rise in the measurement of the land in Egypt, and from this grew to its present importance. Arithmetic began with the Phoenician merchants, and among the Hellenes in course of time acquired the aspect of a regular science. These three the Hellenes combined with music into one science, for they connected astronomy with geometry and adapted arithmetic to both, and perceived the principle of harmony in it. Hence they laid down the rules for their music, since they had discovered for the laws of harmony with reference to the sense of hearing an agreement that was infallible, or something very near to it.⁵¹

Need I tell over their names man by man, or under their professions? I mean, either the individual men, as for instance Plato, Socrates, Aristeides, Cimon, Thales, Lycurgus, Agesilaus, Archidamus,----or should I rather speak of the class of philosophers, of generals, of artificers, of lawgivers? For it will be found that even the most wicked and most brutal of the generals behaved more mildly to the greatest offenders than Moses did to those who had done no wrong. And now of what monarchy shall I report to you? Shall it be that of Perseus, or Aeacus, or Minos of Crete, who purified the sea |371 of pirates, and expelled and drove out the barbarians as far as Syria and Sicily, advancing in both directions the frontiers of his realm, and ruled not only over the islands but also over the dwellers along the coasts? And dividing with his brother Rhadamanthus, not indeed the earth, but the care of mankind, he himself laid down the laws as he received them from Zeus, but left to Rhadamanthus to fill the part of judge....⁵²

But when after her ⁵³ foundation many wars encompassed her, she won and prevailed in them all; and since she ever increased in size in proportion to her very dangers and needed greater security, then Zeus set over her the great philosopher Numa.⁵⁴ This then was the excellent and upright Numa who dwelt in deserted groves and ever communed with the gods in the pure thoughts of his own heart....⁵⁵ It was he who established most of the laws concerning temple worship. Now these blessings, derived from a divine possession and inspiration which proceeded both from the Sibyl and others who at that time uttered oracles in their native tongue, were manifestly bestowed on the city by Zeus. And the shield which fell from the clouds ⁵⁶ and the head which appeared on the hill,⁵⁷ from which, I suppose, |373 the seat of mighty Zeus received its name, are we to reckon these among the very highest or among secondary gifts? And yet, ye misguided men, though there is preserved among us that weapon which flew down from heaven, which mighty Zeus or father Ares sent down to give us a warrant, not in word but in deed, that he will forever hold his shield before our city, you have ceased to adore and reverence it, but you adore the wood of the cross and draw its likeness on your foreheads and engrave it on your housefronts.

Would not any man be justified in detesting the more intelligent among you, or pitying the more foolish, who, by following you, have sunk to such depths of ruin that they have abandoned the ever-living gods and have gone over to the corpse of the Jew.⁵⁸... For I say nothing about the Mysteries of the Mother of the Gods, and I admire Marius.... For the spirit that comes to men from the gods is present but seldom and in few, and it is not easy for every man to share in it or at every time. Thus it is that the prophetic spirit has ceased among the Hebrews also, nor is it maintained among the Egyptians, either, down to the present. And we see that the indigenous oracles ⁵⁹ of Greece have also fallen silent and yielded to the course of time. Then lo, our gracious lord and father Zeus took thought of this, and that we might not be wholly deprived of communion with the gods has granted us through the sacred arts ⁶⁰ a means of enquiry by which we may obtain the aid that suffices for our needs. |375

I had almost forgotten the greatest of the gifts of Helios and Zeus. But naturally I kept it for the last. And indeed it is not peculiar to us Romans only, but we share it, I think, with the Hellenes our kinsmen. I mean to say that Zeus engendered Asclepius from himself among the intelligible gods,⁶¹and through the life of generative Helios he revealed him to the earth. Asclepius, having made his visitation to earth from the sky, appeared at Epidaurus singly, in the shape of a man; but afterwards he multiplied himself, and by his visitations stretched out over the whole earth his saving right hand. He came to Pergamon, to Ionia, to Tarentum afterwards; and later he came to Rome. And he travelled to Cos and thence to Aegae. Next he is present everywhere on land and sea. He visits no one of us separately, and yet he raises up souls that are sinful and bodies that are sick.

But what great gift of this sort do the Hebrews boast of as bestowed on them by God, the Hebrews who have persuaded you to desert to them? If you had at any rate paid heed to their teachings, you would not have fared altogether ill, and though worse than you did before, when you were with us, still your condition would have been bearable and supportable. For you would be worshipping one god instead of many, not a man, or rather many wretched men.⁶² And though you would be following a law that is harsh and stern and contains much that is savage and barbarous, instead of our mild and humane laws, |377 and would in other respects be inferior to us, yet you would be more holy and purer than now in your forms of worship. But now it has come to pass that like leeches you have sucked the worst blood from that source and left the purer. Yet Jesus, who won over the least worthy of you, has been known by name for but little more than three hundred years: and during his lifetime he accomplished nothing worth hearing of, unless anyone thinks that to heal crooked and blind men and to exorcise those who were possessed by evil demons in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany can be classed as a mighty achievement. As for purity of life you do not know whether he so much as mentioned it; but you emulate the rages and the bitterness of the Jews, overturning temples and altars,⁶³ and you slaughtered not only those of us who remained true to the teachings of their fathers, but also men who were as much astray as yourselves, heretics,⁶⁴ because they did not wail over the corpse ⁶⁵ in the same fashion as yourselves. But these are rather your own doings; for nowhere did either Jesus or Paul hand down to you such commands. The reason for this is that they never even hoped that you would one day attain to such power as you have; for they were content if they could delude maidservants and slaves, and through them the women, and men like Cornelius ⁶⁶ and Sergius.⁶⁷ But if you can show me that one of these men is mentioned by the well-known writers of that time,----these events happened in the reign of Tiberius or Claudius,----then you may consider that I speak falsely about all matters. |379

But I know not whence I was as it were inspired to utter these remarks. However, to return to the point at which I digressed,⁶⁸ when I asked, "Why were you so ungrateful to our gods as to desert them for the Jews?" Was it because the gods granted the sovereign power to Rome, permitting the Jews to be free for a short time only, and then forever to be enslaved and aliens? Look at Abraham: was he not an alien in a strange land? And Jacob: was he not a slave, first in Syria, then after that in Palestine, and in his old age in Egypt? Does not Moses say that he led them forth from the house of bondage out of Egypt "with a stretched out arm"? ⁶⁹ And after their sojourn in Palestine did they not change their fortunes more frequently than observers say the chameleon changes its colour, now subject to the judges,⁷⁰ now enslaved to foreign races? And when they began to be governed by kings,----but let me for the present postpone asking how they were governed: for as the Scripture tells us,⁷¹ God did not willingly allow them to have kings, but only when constrained by them, and after protesting to them beforehand that they would thus be governed ill,----still they did at any rate inhabit their own country and tilled it for a little over three hundred years. After that they were enslaved first to the Assyrians, then to the Medes, later to the Persians, and now at last to ourselves. Even Jesus, who was proclaimed among you, was one of Caesar's subjects. And if you do not believe me I will prove it a little later, or rather let me simply assert it now. However, you admit that with his father and mother he registered his name in the governorship of Cyrenius.⁷² |381

But when he became man what benefits did he confer on his own kinsfolk? Nay, the Galilaeans answer, they refused to hearken unto Jesus. What? How was it then that this hardhearted ⁷³ and stubborn-necked people hearkened unto Moses; but Jesus, who commanded the spirits ⁷⁴ and walked on the sea, and drove out demons, and as you yourselves assert made the heavens and the earth,----for no one of his disciples ventured to say this concerning him, save only John, and he did not say it clearly or distinctly; still let us at any rate admit that he said it----could not this Jesus change the dispositions of his own friends and kinsfolk to the end that he might save them?

However, I will consider this again a little later when I begin to examine particularly into the miracle-working and the fabrication of the gospels. But now answer me this. Is it better to be free continuously and during two thousand whole years to rule over the greater part of the earth and the sea, or to be enslaved and to live in obedience to the will of others? No man is so lacking in self-respect as to choose the latter by preference. Again, will anyone think that victory in war is less desirable than defeat? Who is so stupid? But if this that I assert is the truth, point out to me among the Hebrews a single general like Alexander or Caesar! You have no such man. And indeed, by the gods, I am well aware that I am insulting these heroes by the question, but I mentioned them because they are well known. For the generals who are inferior to them are unknown to the multitude, and yet every one of them deserves |383 more admiration than all the generals put together whom the Jews have had.

Further, as regards the constitution of the state and the fashion of the law-courts, the administration of cities and the excellence of the laws, progress in learning and the cultivation of the liberal arts, were not all these things in a miserable and barbarous state among the Hebrews? And yet the wretched Eusebius 75 will have it that poems in hexameters are to be found even among them, and sets up a claim that the study of logic exists among the Hebrews, since he has heard among the Hellenes the word they use for logic. What kind of healing art has ever appeared among the Hebrews, like that of Hippocrates among the Hellenes, and of certain other schools that came after him? Is their "wisest" man Solomon at all comparable with Phocylides or Theognis or Isocrates among the Hellenes? Certainly not. At least, if one were to compare the exhortations of Isocrates with Solomon's proverbs, you would, I am very sure, find that the son of Theodoras is superior to their "wisest" king. "But," they answer, "Solomon was also proficient in the secret cult of God." What then? Did not this Solomon serve our gods also, deluded by his wife, as they assert? ⁷⁶ What great virtue! What wealth of wisdom! He could not rise superior to pleasure, and the arguments of a woman led him astray! Then if he was deluded by a woman, do not call this man wise. But if you are convinced that he was wise, do not believe that he was deluded by a woman, but that, trusting to his |385 own judgement and intelligence and the teaching that he received from the God who had been revealed to him, he served the other gods also. For envy and jealousy do not come even near the most virtuous men, much more are they remote from angels and gods. But you concern yourselves with incomplete and partial powers,⁷⁷ which if anyone call daemonic he does not err. For in them are pride and vanity, but in the gods there is nothing of the sort.

If the reading of your own scriptures is sufficient for you, why do you nibble at the learning of the Hellenes? And yet it were better to keep men away from that learning than from the eating of sacrificial meat. For by that, as even Paul says,⁷⁸ he who eats thereof is not harmed, but the conscience of the brother who sees him might be offended according to you, O most wise and arrogant men! But this learning of ours has caused every noble being that nature has produced among you to abandon impiety. Accordingly everyone who possessed even a small fraction of innate virtue has speedily abandoned your impiety. It were therefore better for you to keep men from learning rather than from sacrificial meats. But you yourselves know, it seems to me, the very different effect on the intelligence of your writings as compared with ours; and that from studying yours no man could attain to excellence or even to ordinary goodness, whereas from studying ours every man would become better than before, even though he were altogether without natural fitness. But when a man is naturally well endowed, and |387 moreover receives the education of our literature, he becomes actually a gift of the gods to mankind, either by kindling the light of knowledge, or by founding some kind of political constitution, or by routing numbers of his country's foes, or even by travelling far over the earth and far by sea, and thus proving himself a man of heroic mould... ⁷⁹

Now this would be a clear proof: Choose out children from among you all and train and educate them in your scriptures, and if when they come to manhood they prove to have nobler qualities than slaves, then you may believe that I am talking nonsense and am suffering from spleen. Yet you are so misguided and foolish that you regard those chronicles of yours as divinely inspired, though by their help no man could ever become wiser or braver or better than he was before; while, on the other hand, writings by whose aid men can acquire courage, wisdom and justice, these you ascribe to Satan and to those who serve Satan!

Asclepius heals our bodies, and the Muses with the aid of Asclepius and Apollo and Hermes, the god of eloquence, train our souls; Ares fights for us in war and Enyo also; Hephaistus apportions and administers the crafts, and Athene the Motherless Maiden with the aid of Zeus presides over them all. Consider therefore whether we are not superior to you in every single one of these things, I mean in the arts and in wisdom and intelligence; and this is true, whether you consider the useful arts or the imitative arts whose end is beauty, such as the statuary's art, |389 painting, or household management, and the art of healing derived from Asclepius whose oracles are found everywhere on earth, and the god grants to us a share in them perpetually. At any rate, when I have been sick, Asclepius has often cured me by prescribing remedies; and of this Zeus is witness. Therefore, if we who have not given ourselves over to the spirit of apostasy, fare better than you in soul and body and external affairs, why do you abandon these teachings of ours and go over to those others?

And why is it that you do not abide even by the traditions of the Hebrews or accept the law which God has given to them? Nay, you have forsaken their teaching even more than ours, abandoning the religion of your forefathers and giving yourselves over to the predictions of the prophets? For if any man should wish to examine into the truth concerning you, he will find that your impiety is compounded of the rashness of the Jews and the indifference and vulgarity of the Gentiles.⁸⁰ For from both sides you have drawn what is by no means their best but their inferior teaching, and so have made for yourselves a border ⁸¹ of wickedness. For the Hebrews have precise laws concerning religious worship, and countless sacred things and observances which demand the priestly life and profession. But though their lawgiver forbade them to serve all the gods save only that one, whose "portion is Jacob, and Israel an allotment of his inheritance "; ⁸² though he did not say this only, but methinks added also "Thou shalt not revile the |391 gods";⁸³ yet the shamelessness and audacity of later generations, desiring to root out all reverence from the mass of the people, has thought that blasphemy accompanies the neglect of worship. This, in fact, is the only thing that you have drawn from this source; for in all other respects you and the Jews have nothing in common. Nay, it is from the new-fangled teaching of the Hebrews that you have seized upon this blasphemy of the gods who are honoured among us; but the reverence for every higher nature, characteristic of our religious worship, combined with the love of the traditions of our forefathers, you have cast off, and have acquired only the habit of eating all things, "even as the green herb." ⁸⁴ But to tell the truth, you have taken pride in outdoing our vulgarity, (this, I think, is a thing that happens to all nations, and very naturally) and you thought that you must adapt your ways to the lives of the baser sort, shopkeepers,⁸⁵ tax-gatherers, dancers and libertines.

But that not only the Galilaeans of our day but also those of the earliest time, those who were the first to receive the teaching from Paul, were men of this sort, is evident from the testimony of Paul himself in a letter addressed to them. For unless he actually knew that they had committed all these disgraceful acts, he was not, I think, so impudent as to write to those men themselves concerning their conduct, in language for which, even though in the same letter he included as many eulogies of them, he ought to have blushed, yes, even if those |393 eulogies were deserved, while if they were false and fabricated, then he ought to have sunk into the ground to escape seeming to behave with wanton flattery and slavish adulation. But the following are the very words that Paul wrote concerning those who had heard his teaching, and were addressed to the men themselves: "Be not deceived: neither idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And of this ye are not ignorant, brethren, that such were you also; but ye washed yourselves, but ye were sanctified in the name of Jesus Christ." ⁸⁶ Do you see that he says that these men too had been of such sort, but that they "had been sanctified" and "had been washed," water being able to cleanse and winning power to purify when it shall go down into the soul? And baptism does not take away his leprosy from the leper, or scabs, or pimples, or warts, or gout, or dysentery, or dropsy, or a whitlow, in fact no disorder of the body, great or small, then shall it do away with adultery and theft and in short all the transgressions of the soul?...⁸⁷

Now since the Galilaeans say that, though they are different from the Jews, they are still, precisely speaking, Israelites in accordance with their prophets, and that they obey Moses above all and the prophets who in Judaea succeeded him, let us see in what respect they chiefly agree with those prophets. And let us begin with the teaching of Moses, who himself also, as they claim, foretold the birth of |395 Jesus that was to be. Moses, then, not once or twice or thrice but very many times says that men ought to honour one God only, and in fact names him the Highest; but that they ought to honour any other god he nowhere says. He speaks of angels and lords and moreover of several gods, but from these he chooses out the first and does not assume any god as second, either like or unlike him, such as you have invented. And if among you perchance you possess a single utterance of Moses with respect to this, you are bound to produce it. For the words "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; to him shall ye hearken," ⁸⁸ were certainly not said of the son of Mary. And even though, to please you, one should concede that they were said of him, Moses says that the prophet will be like him and not like God, a prophet like himself and bom of men, not of a god. And the words " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his loins," ⁸⁹ were most certainly not said of the son of Mary, but of the royal house of David, which, you observe, came to an end with King Zedekiah. And certainly the Scripture can be interpreted in two ways when it says "until there comes what is reserved for him "; but you have wrongly interpreted it "until he comes for whom it is reserved." ⁹⁰ But it is very clear that not one of these sayings relates to Jesus; for he is not even from Judah. How could he be when according to you he was not born of Joseph but of the Holy Spirit? For though in your genealogies you trace Joseph back to Judah, you could not invent |397 even this plausibly. For Matthew and Luke are refuted by the fact that they disagree concerning his genealogy.⁹¹ However, as I intend to examine closely into the truth of this matter in my Second Book, I leave it till then.⁹² But granted that he really is "a sceptre from Judah," then he is not "God born of God," as you are in the habit of saying, nor is it true that "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made." ⁹³ But, say you, we are told in the Book of Numbers also: "There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel." ⁹⁴ It is certainly clear that this relates to David and to his descendants; for David was a son of Jesse.

If therefore you try to prove anything from these writings, show me a single saying that you have drawn from that source whence I have drawn very many. But that Moses believed in one God, the God of Israel, he says in Deuteronomy: "So that thou mightest know that the Lord thy God he is one God; and there is none else beside him." ⁹⁵ And moreover he says besides, "And lay it to thine heart that this the Lord thy God is God in the heaven above and upon the earth beneath, and there is none else." ⁹⁶ And again, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." ⁹⁷ And again, "See that I am and there is no God save me." ⁹⁸ These then are the words of Moses when he insists that there is only one God. But perhaps the Galilaeans will reply: "But we do not assert that there are two gods or three." But I will show that they do assert this |399 also, and I call John to witness, who says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." ⁹⁹ You see that the Word is said to be with God? Now whether this is he who was born of Mary or someone else,----that I may answer Photinus ¹⁰⁰ at the same time,----this now makes no difference; indeed I leave the dispute to you; but it is enough to bring forward the evidence that he says "with God," and "in the beginning." How then does this agree with the teachings of Moses?

"But," say the Galilaeans, "it agrees with the teachings of Isaiah. For Isaiah says, 'Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' "¹⁰¹ Now granted that this is said about a god, though it is by no means so stated; for a married woman who before her conception had lain with her husband was no virgin,----but let us admit that it is said about her,---- does Isaiah anywhere say that a god will be born of the virgin? But why do you not cease to call Mary the mother of God, if Isaiah nowhere says that he that is born of the virgin is the "only begotten Son of God " ¹⁰² and "the firstborn of all creation"? ¹⁰³ But as for the saying of John, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made," ¹⁰⁴ can anyone point this out among the utterances of the prophets? But now listen to the sayings that I point out to you from those same prophets, one after another. "O Lord our God, make us thine; we know none other beside thee." 105 And Hezekiah the king has been represented by |401 them as praying as follows: "O Lord God of Israel, that sittest upon the Cherubim, thou art God, even thou alone." ¹⁰⁶ Does he leave any place for the second god? But if, as you believe, the Word is God born of God and proceeded from the substance of the Father, why do you say that the virgin is the mother of God? For how could she bear a god since she is, according to you, a human being? And moreover, when God declares plainly "I am he, and there is none that can deliver beside me," ¹⁰⁷ do you dare to call her son Saviour?

And that Moses calls the angels gods you may hear from his own words, "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." ¹⁰⁸ And a little further on: "And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the giants which were of old, the men of renown." ¹⁰⁹ Now that he means the angels is evident, and this has not been foisted on him from without, but it is clear also from his saying that not men but giants were born from them. For it is clear that if he had thought that men and not beings of some higher and more powerful nature were their fathers, he would not have said that the giants were their offspring. For it seems to me that he declared that the race of giants arose from the mixture of mortal and immortal. Again, when Moses speaks of many sons of God and calls them not men but angels, would he not then have revealed to mankind, if he had known thereof, God |403 the "only begotten Word," or a son of God or however you call him? But is it because he did not think this of great importance that he says concerning Israel, "Israel is my firstborn son?" ¹¹⁰ Why did not Moses say this about Jesus also? He taught that there was only one God, but that he had many sons who divided the nations among themselves. But the Word as firstborn son of God or as a God, or any of those fictions which have been invented by you later, he neither knew at all nor taught openly thereof. You have now heard Moses himself and the other prophets. Moses, therefore, utters many sayings to the following effect and in many places: "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve." ¹¹¹ How then has it been handed down in the Gospels that Jesus commanded: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," ¹¹² if they were not intended to serve him also? And your beliefs also are in harmony with these commands, when along with the Father you pay divine honours to the son....¹¹³

And now observe again how much Moses says about the deities that avert evil: "And he shall take two he-goats of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall bring also his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for |405 himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house. And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the covenant. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scape-goat'' ¹¹⁴ so as to send him forth, says Moses, as a scape-goat, and let him loose into the wilderness. Thus then is sent forth the goat that is sent for a scape-goat. And of the second goat Moses says: "Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering that is for the people before the Lord, and bring his blood within the vail, and shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar-step,¹¹⁵ and shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins." ¹¹⁶ Accordingly it is evident from what has been said, that Moses knew the various methods of sacrifice. And to show that he did not think them impure as you do, listen again to his own words. "But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people." ¹¹⁷ So cautious is Moses himself with regard to the eating of the flesh of sacrifice.

But now I had better remind you of what I said earlier,¹¹⁸ since on account of that I have said this also. Why is it, I repeat, that after deserting us you do not accept the law of the Jews or abide by the sayings of Moses? No doubt some sharp-sighted |407 person will answer, "The Jews too do not sacrifice." But I will convict him of being terribly dull-sighted, for in the first place I reply that neither do you also observe any one of the other customs observed by the Jews; and, secondly, that the Jews do sacrifice in their own houses, and even to this day everything that they eat is consecrated; and they pray before sacrificing, and give the right shoulder to the priests as the firstfruits; but since they have been deprived of their temple, or, as they are accustomed to call it, their holy place, they are prevented from offering the firstfruits of the sacrifice to God.¹¹⁹ But why do you not sacrifice, since you have invented your new kind of sacrifice and do not need Jerusalem at all? And yet it was superfluous to ask you this question, since I said the same thing at the beginning, when I wished to show that the Jews agree with the Gentiles, except that they believe in only one God. That is indeed peculiar to them and strange to us; since all the rest we have in a manner in common with them----temples, sanctuaries, altars, purifications, and certain precepts. For as to these we differ from one another either not at all or in trivial matters....¹²⁰

Why in your diet are you not as pure as the Jews, and why do you say that we ought to eat everything "even as the green herb," ¹²¹ putting your faith in Peter, because, as the Galilaeans say, he declared, "What God hath cleansed, that make not thou common"? ¹²² What proof is there of this, that of old |409 God held certain things abominable, but now has made them pure? For Moses, when he is laying down the law concerning four-footed things, says that whatsoever parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed and cheweth the cud ¹²³ is pure, but that which is not of this sort is impure. Now if, after the vision of Peter, the pig has now taken to chewing the cud, then let us obey Peter; for it is in very truth a miracle if, after the vision of Peter, it has taken to that habit. But if he spoke falsely when he said that he saw this revelation,----to use your own way of speaking,----in the house of the tanner, why are we so ready to believe him in such important matters? Was it so hard a thing that Moses enjoined on you when, besides the flesh of swine, he forbade you to eat winged things and things that dwell in the sea, and declared to you that besides the flesh of swine these also had been cast out by God and shown to be impure?

But why do I discuss at length these teachings of theirs,¹²⁴ when we may easily see whether they have any force? For they assert that God, after the earlier law, appointed the second. For, say they, the former arose with a view to a certain occasion and was circumscribed by definite periods of time, but this later law was revealed because the law of Moses was circumscribed by time and place. That they say this falsely I will clearly show by quoting from the books of Moses not merely ten but ten thousand passages as evidence, where he says that the law is for all time. Now listen to a passage from Exodus: "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord |411 throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever; the first day shall ye put away leaven out of your houses."...¹²⁵ Many passages to the same effect are still left, but on account of their number I refrain from citing them to prove that the law of Moses was to last for all time. But do you point out to me where there is any statement by Moses of what was later on rashly uttered by Paul, I mean that "Christ is the end of the law." ¹²⁶ Where does God announce to the Hebrews a second law besides that which was established? Nowhere does it occur, not even a revision of the established law.¹²⁷ For listen again to the words of Moses: " Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day." ¹²⁸ And "Cursed be every man who does not abide by them all." ¹²⁹ But you have thought it a slight thing to diminish and to add to the things which were written in the law; and to transgress it completely you have thought to be in every way more manly and more high-spirited, because you do not look to the truth but to that which will persuade all men ¹³⁰. |413

But you are so misguided that you have not even remained faithful to the teachings that were handed down to you by the apostles. And these also have been altered., so as to be worse and more impious, by those who came after. At any rate neither Paul nor Matthew nor Luke nor Mark ventured to call Jesus God. But the worthy John, since he perceived that a great number of people in many of the towns of Greece and Italy had already been infected by this disease,¹³¹ and because he heard, I suppose, that even the tombs of Peter and Paul were being worshipped ----secretly, it is true, but still he did hear this,----he, I say, was the first to venture to call Jesus God. And after he had spoken briefly about John the Baptist he referred again to the Word which he was proclaiming, and said, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." ¹³² But how, he does not say, because he was ashamed. Nowhere, however, does he call him either Jesus or Christ, so long as he calls him God and the Word, but as it were insensibly and secretly he steals away our ears, and says that John the Baptist bore this witness on behalf of Jesus Christ, that in very truth he it is whom we must believe to be God the Word. But that John says this concerning Jesus Christ I for my part do not deny. And yet certain of the impious think that Jesus Christ is quite distinct from the Word that was proclaimed by John. That however is not the case. For he whom John himself calls God the Word, this is he who, says he, was recognised by John the Baptist to be Jesus Christ. Observe accordingly how cautiously, how quietly and |415 insensibly he introduces into the drama the crowning word of his impiety; and he is so rascally and deceitful that he rears his head once more to add, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." ¹³³ Then is this only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father the God who is the Word and became flesh? And if, as I think, it is indeed he, you also have certainly beheld God. For "He dwelt among you, and ye beheld his glory." ¹³⁴ Why then do you add to this that "No man hath seen God at any time"? For ye have indeed seen, if not God the Father, still God who is the Word.¹³⁵ But if the only begotten Son is one person and the God who is the Word another, as I have heard from certain of your sect, then it appears that not even John made that rash statement.¹³⁶

However this evil doctrine did originate with John; but who could detest as they deserve all those doctrines that you have invented as a sequel, while you keep adding many corpses newly dead to the corpse of long ago? ¹³⁷ You have filled the whole world with tombs and sepulchres, and yet in your scriptures it is nowhere said that you must grovel among tombs ¹³⁸ and pay them honour. But you have gone so far in iniquity that you think you need not listen even to the words of Jesus of Nazareth on this |417 matter. Listen then to what he says about sepulchres: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres; outward the tomb appears beautiful, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." ¹³⁹If, then, Jesus said that sepulchres are full of uncleanness, how can you invoke God at them?...¹⁴⁰

Therefore, since this is so, why do you grovel among tombs? Do you wish to hear the reason? It is not I who will tell you, but the prophet Isaiah: "They lodge among tombs and in caves for the sake of dream visions." ¹⁴¹ You observe, then, how ancient among the Jews was this work of witchcraft, namely, sleeping among tombs for the sake of dream visions. And indeed it is likely that your apostles, after their teacher's death, practised this and handed it down to you from the beginning, I mean to those who first adopted your faith, and that they themselves performed their spells more skilfully than you do, and displayed openly to those who came after them the places in which they performed this witchcraft and abomination.

But you, though you practise that which God from the first abhorred, as he showed through Moses and the prophets, have refused nevertheless to offer victims at the altar, and to sacrifice. "Yes,'' say the Galilaeans, "because fire will not descend to consume the sacrifices as in the case of Moses." Only once, I answer, did this happen in the case of |419 Moses;¹⁴² and again after many years in the case of Elijah the Tishbite.¹⁴³ For I will prove in a few words that Moses himself thought that it was necessary to bring fire from outside for the sacrifice, and even before him, Abraham the patriarch as well... ¹⁴⁴

And this is not the only instance, but when the sons of Adam also offered firstfruits to God, the Scripture says, "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offerings; but unto Cain and to his offerings he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord God said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? Is it not so----if thou offerest rightly, but dost not cut in pieces rightly, thou hast sinned?" ¹⁴⁵ Do you then desire to hear also what were their offerings? "And at the end of days it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruits of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof." ¹⁴⁶ You see, say the Galilaeans, it was not the sacrifice but the division thereof that God disapproved when he said to Cain, "If thou offerest rightly, but dost not cut in pieces rightly, hast thou not sinned?" This is what one of your most learned bishops ¹⁴⁷ told me. But in the first place he was deceiving himself and then other men also. For when I asked him in what way the division was blameworthy he did not know how to get out of it, or how to make me even a frigid explanation. And when I saw that he was greatly |421 embarrassed, I said; "God rightly disapproved the thing you speak of. For the zeal of the two men was equal, in that they both thought that they ought to offer up gifts and sacrifices to God. But in the matter of their division one of them hit the mark and the other fell short of it. How, and in what manner? Why, since of things on the earth some have life and others are lifeless, and those that have life are more precious than those that are lifeless to the living God who is also the cause of life, inasmuch as they also have a share of life and have a soul more akin to his----for this reason God was more graciously inclined to him who offered a perfect sacrifice."

Now I must take up this other point and ask them, Why, pray, do you not practise circumcision? "Paul," they answer, "said that circumcision of the heart but not of the flesh was granted unto Abraham because he believed.¹⁴⁸ Nay it was not now of the flesh that he spoke, and we ought to believe the pious words that were proclaimed by him and by Peter." On the other hand hear again that God is said to have given circumcision of the flesh to Abraham for a covenant and a sign: "This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations. Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be in token of a covenant betwixt me and thee and betwixt me and thy seed."...¹⁴⁹ Therefore when He ¹⁵⁰ has undoubtedly taught that it is proper |423 to observe the law, and threatened with punishment those who transgress one commandment, what manner of defending yourselves will you devise, you who have transgressed them all without exception? For either Jesus will be found to speak falsely, or rather you will be found in all respects and in every way to have failed to preserve the law. " The circumcision shall be of thy flesh," says Moses.¹⁵¹ But the Galilaeans do not heed him, and they say: "We circumcise our hearts." By all means. For there is among you no evildoer, no sinner; so thoroughly do you circumcise your hearts.¹⁵² They say: "We cannot observe the rule of unleavened bread or keep the Passover; for on our behalf Christ was sacrificed once and for all." Very well! Then did he forbid you to eat unleavened bread? And yet, I call the gods to witness, I am one of those who avoid keeping their festivals with the Jews; but nevertheless I revere always the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob;¹⁵³ who being themselves Chaldaeans, of a sacred race, skilled in theurgy, had learned the practice of circumcision while they sojourned as strangers with the Egyptians. And they revered a God who was ever gracious to me and to those who worshipped him as Abraham did, for he is a very great and powerful God, but he has nothing to do with you. For you do not imitate Abraham by erecting altars to him, or building altars of sacrifice and worshipping him as Abraham did, with sacrificial offerings. For Abraham used to sacrifice even as we Hellenes do, always and continually. And he used the method of divination from shooting stars. Probably this also is an Hellenic custom. But for higher things he augured from the flight of birds. |425

And he possessed also a steward of his house who set signs for himself.¹⁵⁴ And if one of you doubts this, the very words which were uttered by Moses concerning it will show him clearly: "After these sayings the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision of the night, sayings Fear not, Abraham: I am thy shield. Thy reward shall be exceeding great. And Abraham said. Lord God what wilt thou give me? For I go childless, and the son of Masek the slave woman will be my heir. And straightway the word of the Lord came unto him saying, This man shall not be thine heir: but he that shall come forth from thee shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth and said unto him, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And Abraham believed in the Lord: and it was counted to him for righteousness." ¹⁵⁵

Tell me now why he who dealt with him, whether angel or God, brought him forth and showed him the stars? For while still within the house did he not know how great is the multitude of the stars that at night are always visible and shining? But I think it was because he wished to show him the shooting stars, so that as a visible pledge of his words he might offer to Abraham the decision of the heavens that fulfills and sanctions all things. And lest any man should think that such an |427 interpretation is forced, I will convince him by adding what comes next to the above passage. For it is written next: "And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the land of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove and a pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds divided he not. And the fowls came down upon the divided carcases, and Abraham sat down among them."

You see how the announcement of the angel or god who had appeared was strengthened by means of the augury from birds, and how the prophecy was completed, not at haphazard as happens with you, but with the accompaniment of sacrifices? Moreover he says that by the flocking together of the birds he showed that his message was true. And Abraham accepted the pledge, and moreover declared that a pledge that lacked truth seemed to be mere folly and imbecility. But it is not possible to behold the truth from speech alone, but some clear sign must follow on what has been said, a sign that by its appearance shall guarantee the prophecy that has been made concerning the future....¹⁵⁶

However, for your indolence in this matter there remains for you one single excuse, namely, that you are not permitted to sacrifice if you are outside Jerusalem, though for that matter Elijah sacrificed on Mount Carmel, and not in the holy city.¹⁵⁷ |429

FRAGMENTS FROM OTHER SOURCES 158

1. Such things ¹⁵⁹ have often happened and still happen, and how can these be signs of the end of the world? ¹⁶⁰

(Neumann frag. 3; from Julian, Book 2, derived from Cyril, Book 12. Quoted by Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, in his Commentary on the New Testament. Neumann thinks that Theodorus probably wrote a refutation of Julian at Antioch about 378 A.D.)

2. Moses after fasting forty days received the law,¹⁶¹and Elijah, after fasting for the same period, was granted to see God face to face.¹⁶² But what did Jesus receive, after a fast of the same length? ¹⁶³

(Neumann frag. 4; from the same source as 1.)

3. And how could he lead Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple when Jesus was in the wilderness? ¹⁶⁴ |431

(Neumann frag. 6. From the same source as 1 and 2.)

4. Furthermore, Jesus prays in such language as would be used by a pitiful wretch who cannot bear misfortune with serenity, and though he is a god is reassured by an angel. And who told you, Luke, the story of the angel, if indeed this ever happened? For those who were there when he prayed could not see the angel; for they were asleep. Therefore when Jesus came from his prayer he found them fallen asleep from their grief and he said: "Why do ye sleep? Arise and pray," and so forth. And then, "And while he was yet speaking, behold a multitude and Judas." ¹⁶⁵ That is why John did not write about the angel, for neither did he see it.

(Neumann frag. 7. From the same source as 3.)

5. Listen to a fine statesmanlike piece of advice: "Sell that ye have and give to the poor; provide yourselves with bags which wax not old." ¹⁶⁶ Can anyone quote a more statesmanlike ordinance than this? For if all men were to obey you who would there be to buy? Can anyone praise this teaching when, if it be carried out, no city, no nation, not a single family will hold together? For, if everything has been sold, how can any house or family be of any value? Moreover the fact that if everything in the city were being sold at once there would be no one to trade is obvious, without being mentioned. |433

(Neumann, frag. 12. From Cyril, Book 18, quoted by Photius.)

6. How did the Word of God take away sin,¹⁶⁷ when it caused many to commit the sin of killing their fathers, and many their children? ¹⁶⁸ And mankind are compelled either to uphold their ancestral customs and to cling to the pious tradition that they have inherited from the ages ¹⁶⁹ or to accept this innovation. Is not this true of Moses also, who came to take away sin, but has been detected increasing the number of sins? ¹⁷⁰

(Not in Neumann; reconstructed by him from the polemical writings of Archbishop Arethas of Caesarea who wrote in refutation of Julian in the tenth century. First published by Cuinont, Recherches sur la tradition manuscrite de l'empereur Julien, Brussels, 1898. Neumann's reconstruction is in Theologische Litteraturzeitung, 10. 1899.)

7. The words that were written concerning Israel ¹⁷¹ Matthew the Evangelist transferred to Christ,¹⁷² that he might mock the simplicity of those of the Gentiles who believed.

(Neumann frag. 15. Preserved by the fifth century writer Hieronymus in his Latin Commentary on Hosea 3. 11.)

[Footnotes moved to end and renumbered]

1. ¹ Some words are lost.

2. ¹ Cf. Oration 6. 183C, Vol. 2.

3. ² Cyril 70a ridicules Julian for confusing here a god with a throne; but καὶ can be interpreted "or."

4. ¹ Persephone.

5. ² Hades.

6. ³ Genesis 2. 18.

7. ¹ Genesis 3. 22.

8. ² For Julian's belief that myths need allegorical interpretation cf. Oration 5. 169-170, Vol. 1, p. 475, note; see also Caesars 306C, Oration 7. 206C, 220, for myths as emblematic of the truth. This is the regular method of Neo-Platonic writers, such as Sallustius, in dealing with the unpleasant or incongruous elements in Greek mythology.

9. ¹ The pagan theory is missing and also part of the Jewish, according to Asmus.

10. ² In his Letter to a Priest 292, Vol. 2, Julian contrasts the Platonic account of the Creation with the Mosaic.

11. ¹ Numbers 12. 8: "With him will I speak mouth to mouth."

12. ² Genesis 1-17, with certain omissions.

13. ¹ Timaeus 28B, C.

14. ² Timaeus 30B; cf. Julian, Oration 5. 170D.

15. ¹ Genesis 26. 27, 28.

16. ¹ Timaeus 41a,b,c. Julian may have been quoting from memory, as there are omissions and slight variations from our text of the Timaeus.

17. ² Cf. Julian, Vol. 1, Oration 4. 149a, 156d.

18. ³ Julian's Fourth Oration, Vol. 1. is an exposition of this theory held by the late Neo-Platonists; in the present treatise he does not, as in the Fourth and Fifth Orations, distinguish the intelligible (νοητοί) gods from the intellectual (νοεροί).

19. ¹ Deuteronomy 4. 19: "And lest... when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all the peoples under the whole heaven."

20. ² Exodus 4. 22.

21. ³ Exodus 4. 23.

22. ¹ Exodus 5. 3: the sayings of Jesus and the prophets, which Julian said he would quote, are missing.

23. ² For this proverb, derived from Theognis, cf. Misopogon 349d, Vol. 2.

24. ³ Romans 3. 29; Galatians 3. 28.

25. ⁴ Psalms 78. 25.

26. ¹ Exodus 20. 5.

27. ¹ In Misopogon 359b Julian speaks of the fierceness of the Celts compared with the Romans.

28. ² A Scythian prince who travelled in search of knowledge and was counted by some among the seven sages. On his return to Thrace he is said to have been killed while celebrating the rites of Cybele, which were new to the Scythians; Herodotus 4. 76, tells the tale to illustrate the Scythian hatred of foreign, and especially of Greek, customs; cf. Lucian, Anacharsis.

29. ¹ He means the Gauls and Iberians, since the Germans at that time were distinguished only in warfare.

30. ² Genesis 11. 4-8.

31. ¹ Odyssey 11. 316.

32. ¹ Cf. Oration 4, 140a, Vol. 1, on the creative gods.

33. ² Cf. Oration 4. 141b, note, and 145c, note; Plato, Laws 713d.

34. ¹ A few words are lost.

35. ² i.e. if there were to be differences of speech and political constitution, they must have been adapted to pre-existing differences of nature in human beings.

36. ¹ Genesis 11. 7. "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language."... The word "us" has been variously interpreted.

37. ¹ Exodus 20. 2-3.

38. ² Exodus 20. 4.

39. ³ Exodus 20. 13-17.

40. ⁴ Deuteronomy 4. 24; Hebrews 12. 29.

41. ¹ According to Cyril's summary, Julian next reproaches the Christians for having forsaken the Greek doctrines about God.

42. ² i. e. in the Greek accounts of the gods; probably Julian refers to Plato and a phrase to this effect may have dropped out at the beginning of the sentence.

43. ¹ Numbers 25. 11.

44. ² According to Cyril, Julian then argued that the Creator ought not to have given way so often to violent anger against and even wished to destroy, the whole Jewish people.

45. ¹ A reference to Hermes Trismegistus, "thrice greatest Hermes," whom the Greeks identified with the Egyptian god Thoth. The Neo-Platonists ascribed certain mystic writings to this legendary being and regarded him as a sage.

46. ² A Babylonian fish-god described by Berosus in his History of Babylonia. He was supposed to have taught the Chaldaeans the arts of civilisation and has some analogy with the serpent of Genesis.

47. ³ This is the Greek version of the Assyrian bil, "lord" or "god," the Baal of the Bible.

48. ⁴ The Centaur who taught Achilles.

49. ⁵ According to Cyril's summary, Julian then ridicules David and Samson and says that they were not really brave warriors, but far inferior to the Hellenes and Egyptians, and their dominion was very limited.

50. ¹ Cf. Oration 4. 156c, the Hellenes perfected the astronomy of the Chaldaeans and Egyptians.

51. ² They had discovered the laws of musical intervals.

52. ¹ According to Cyril, Julian then related stories about Minos, and the myth of Dardanus, the account of the flight of Aeneas, his emigration to Italy and the founding of Rome.

53. ² i. e. Rome.

54. ³ Numa Pompilius, a legendary king who is supposed to have succeeded Romulus; various portents manifested the favour of the gods towards Numa. Cf. Julian, Oration 4. 155a, note, Vol. 1.

55. ⁴ A few words are missing.

56. ⁵ A small shield, ancile, on whose preservation the power of Rome was supposed to depend, was said to have fallen from the sky in Numa's reign. Livy 1. 20 refers to it in the plural, caelestia arma quae ancilia appellantur; cf. also Aeneid 8. 664, lapsa ancilia coelo.

57. ⁶ When the foundations were dug for the temple of Jupiter a human head, caput, was found; this was regarded as an omen, and hence the Capitoline Hill received its name; cf. Livy 1. 55. For Julian's belief in such traditions cf. Oration 5. Vol. 1, 161b on the legend of Claudia and the image of Cybele.

58. ¹ Here Cyril retorts that Julian admired what others condemn, e.g. the cruel and superstitious Marius, who, said he, was given to the Romans by the gods. The worship of Cybele was another gift from heaven to Rome. Julian then referred to various kinds of divination.

59. ² Julian is thinking of the oracle of Delphi which he had in vain endeavoured to restore.

60. ³ i. e. of divination by entrails and other omens.

61. ¹ See Vol. 1, Introduction to Oration 4, p. 349; and for Asclepius, Oration 4. 144b, where Julian, as here, opposes Asclepius to Christ; and 153b for Asclepius the saviour.

62. ² The martyrs.

63. ¹ Cf. Misopogon 361b, Vol. 2.

64. ² For the massacres of heretics by the Christians cf. Julian's letter To the Citizens of Bostra, p. 129.

65. ³ Jesus Christ; cf. above, 194d.

66. ⁴ Acts 10, the story of Cornelius the centurion.

67. ⁵ Acts 13. 6-12; Sergius was the proconsul.

68. ¹ See above 201 e.

69. ² Exodus 6. 6.

70. ³ Judges 2. 16.

71. ⁴ 1 Samuel 8.

72. ⁵ Luke 2. 2.

73. ¹ Ezekiel 3, 7.

74. ² Mark 1. 27.

75. ¹ Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 11. 5. 5 says that Mose and David wrote in " the heroic metre."

76. ² 1 Kings 11. 4: "His wives turned away his heart after other gods." Julian may allude to Pharaoh's daughter, see 1 Kings, 3. 1.

77. ¹ Julian seems to refer to the saints

78. ² 1 Corinthians 8. 7-13.

79. ¹ Some words are missing. The summary of Cyril shows that Julian next attacked the Old Testament and ridiculed it because it is written in Hebrew.

80. ¹ Cf. 43b.

81. ² παρυφή, Latin clavus, is the woven border of a garment.

82. ³ Cf. Deuteronomy 32. 9.

83. ¹ Exodus 22. 28.

84. ² Cf. 314c and Oration 6. 192d, Vol. 2, where he quotes with a sneer " these words of the Galilaeans," from Genesis 9. 3.

85. ³ Cf. Letter 36 for Julian's reproach against the Christian rhetoricians that they behave like hucksters.

86. ¹ 1 Corinthians 6. 9-11.

87. ² In Cyril's summary, Julian next compares the Christian converts with slaves who run away from their masters in the belief that, even if they do not succeed in escaping, their state will be no worse than before.

88. ¹ Acts 3. 22; Deuteronomy 18. 18.

89. ² Genesis 49. 10.

90. ³ Or "whose it is"; Julian follows the Septuagint. The version "until Shiloh come" was not then current; cf. Skinner, Genesis, p. 522. It is still debated whether these words refer to the Davidic kingdom or to a future Messiah, and there is no universally accepted rendering of the Hebrew original.

91. ¹ Cf. Matthew 1. 1-17 with Luke 3. 23-38.

92. ² Cyril's reply to this part of Julian's Second Book is lost, so that the Emperor's more detailed discussion cannot be reconstructed.

93. ³ John 1.3.

94. ⁴ Numbers 24. 17.

95. ⁵ Deuteronomy 4. 35.

96. ⁶ Deuteronomy 4. 39.

97. ⁷ Deuteronomy 6. 4.

98. ⁸ Deuteronomy 32. 39.

99. ¹ John 1. 1.

100. ² The heretical bishop Photinus of Sirmium was tried under Constantius before the synod at Milan in 351 for denying the divinity of Christ; see Julian's letter to him, p. 187.

101. ³ Isaiah 7. 14.

102. ⁴ John 1. 18.

103. ⁵ Colossians 1. 15.

104. ⁶ John 1. 3.

105. ⁷ A paraphrase of Isaiah 26. 13.

106. ¹ Isaiah 37. 16.

107. ² Apparently a paraphrase of Deuteronomy 32. 39.

108. ³ Genesis 6. 2.

109. ⁴ Genesis 6. 4.

110. ¹ Exodus 4. 22.

111. ² Deuteronomy 6. 13.

112. ³ Matthew 28. 19.

113. ⁴ According to Cyril's summary, Julian says that the Hellenes, unlike the Christians, observe the same laws and customs as the Jews, except that they worship more than one god and practise soothsaying. Circumcision is approved by the temple priests of Egypt, the Chaldaeans and Saracens. All alike offer the various sorts of sacrifice, including those for atonement and purification. Moses sacrificed to the abominable deities who avert evil, the di averrunci.

114. ¹ A paraphrase of Leviticus 16. 5-8.

115. ² "Mercy-seat" is the usual version.

116. ³ Leviticus 16. 15.

117. ⁴ Leviticus 7. 20.

118. ⁵ Cf. 43a.

119. ¹ Sozomen 5. 22, Socrates 3. 20 and Theodoret 3. 15 relate that Julian summoned the leading Jews and exhorted them to resume their sacrifices. Their reply that they could lawfully sacrifice only in the Temple led him to order its restoration.

120. ² According to Cyril, Julian then says that the Christians in worshipping not one or many gods, but three, have strayed from both Jewish and Hellenic teaching.

121. ³ Cf. 238d, note.

122. ⁴ Acts 10. 15.

123. ¹ Leviticus 11. 3.

124. ² i.e. of the Galilaeans.

125. ¹ Exodus 12. 14-15; Julian went on to quote several similar passages from the Old Testament, but these are missing.

126. ² Romans 10. 4.

127. ³ "The gods, not being ignorant of their future intentions, do not have to correct their errors," says Julian, Oration 5. 170a,

128. ⁴ Deuteronomy 4. 2.

129. ⁵ Deuteronomy 27, 26, "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." Cf. Galatians 3. 10.

130. ⁶ According to Cyril, Julian next discussed the letter of the Apostles to the Christian converts, and, quoting Acts 15. 28, 29, which forbid the eating of meats offered to idols and things strangled, says that this does not mean that the Holy Ghost willed that the Mosaic law should be disregarded. He ridicules Peter and calls him a hypocrite, convicted by Paul of living now according to Greek, now Hebrew, customs.

131. ¹ For Christianity a disease cf. Oration 7. 229d, and Letter 58 To Libanius 401c.

132. ² John 1. 14.

133. ¹ John 1. 18.

134. ² John 1. 19.

135. ³ Yet in Letter 47. 434c, Julian reproaches the Alexandrians with worshipping as God the Word "one whom neither you nor your fathers have ever seen, even Jesus."

136. ⁴ i.e. that Jesus was God.

137. ⁵ For the collection of the "bones and skulls of criminals," and the apotheosis of the martyrs as it struck a contemporary pagan, see Eunapius, Lives p. 424 (Loeb edition). Julian, in Letter 22. 429d, commends the Christian care of graves; here he ridicules the veneration of the relics of the martyrs, which was peculiarly Christian and offensive to pagans.

138. ⁶ For this phrase, derived from Plato, Phaedo 81d, cf. Misopogon 344a. Eunapius, Lives p. 424 prosekalindou=nto toi=j mnh&masi, of the Christian worship at the graves of the martyrs.

139. ¹ Matthew 23. 27.

140. ² According to Cyril, Julian quoted Matthew 8. 21, 22: "Let the dead bury their dead," to prove that Christ had no respect for graves.

[Note to the online edition. This comment appears a little misleading. The text that we have just read is in book 10 of Contra Julianum, which can be found in PG 76 col. 1015-6, and the footnote 46 on that page reads "Matth. VIII, 21, 22". (The Loeb uses the Aubert column numbers; Migne prints these in bold in the middle of his text).

The text is in chunks headed alternately CYRILLUS and JULIANUS. Here is the relevant section from the Latin side:

JULIANUS Verum istud quidem mali a Joanne cepit initium. Quaecunque autem vos deinceps adinvenistis, additis ad priscum illum mortuum novis mortuis, quis pro dignitate satis exsecretur? Sepulcris ac monumentis implestis omnia, licet apud vos nusquam dictum sit circa sepulcra versandum esse eaque colenda? Eo vero progressi estis nequitiae, ut putetis ne Jesu quidem illius Nazareni ea de re verba audienda. Audite ergo quae de monumentis ille dicit: "Vae vobis, Scribae et Pharisaei hypocritae, quia similes estis sepulchris dealbitis; foris sepulchrum apparet formosum, intus autem plenum est ossibus mortuorum, et omnia immunditia." 45 Si ergo sepulchra Jesus immunditia plena esse dixit, quomodo vos super iis Deum invocatis?

As we see this is just the text given in translation:

However this evil doctrine did originate with John; but who could detest as they deserve all those doctrines that you have invented as a sequel, while you keep adding many corpses newly dead to the corpse of long ago? You have filled the whole world with tombs and sepulchres, and yet in your scriptures it is nowhere said that you must grovel among tombs and pay them honour. But you have gone so far in iniquity that you think you need not listen even to the words of Jesus of Nazareth on this matter. Listen then to what he says about sepulchres: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres; outward the tomb appears beautiful, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." If, then, Jesus said that sepulchres are full of uncleanness, how can you invoke God at them?...140

Cyril responds with a quotation from the Iliad, and pagan history, to show that reverence for the tombs of dead heroes is also a characteristic of paganism, and that Jesus comments were intended as an attack on the Pharisees, not as a comment on the veneration of the martyrs.

In Cyril's reply we find this in col. 1019/1020 A (or 337A using Aubert):

Atenim, inquit, fugienda sunt sepulchra, quae Christus etiam ipse immunditiei plena esse dixit. Sciebat etiam ipse mortuum sic abominandum esse, ut ne discipulo quidem permiserit patrem sepelire. Atqui nos illum sensum eorum, quae a Salvatore dicta sunt, penitus ignorasse nullo negotio videmus.

Nevertheless, he says, tombs must be avoided, which Christ also himself said were full of uncleanness. Also he knew himself that death must be abominated thus, as he did not permit a certain disciple to bury his father. And we ourselves in no business seem to have been thoroughly ignorant of (?) that sense of those things, which were said by the Saviour.

This must be the real reference to the passage. But I think that the translator has written too hastily. Julian, after all, is attacking the Christians for paying too much reverence to graves, not too little.] 141. ³ In part from Isaiah 65. 4; the literal meaning of the Hebrew is ''that sit in graves and pass the night in secret places," a reference to incubation for the sake of dream oracles, a Hellenic custom. Julian professes to believe that this practice, which Isaiah abhorred, was kept up by the Christians.

142. ¹ Leviticus 9. 24.

143. ² I Kings 18. 38.

144. ³ Cyril says that Julian told the story of the interrupted sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham from Genesis 22.

145. ⁴ Genesis 4. 4-7. The Hebrew text of the last sentence is corrupt, and its meaning is disputed. Skinner, Genesis, p. 106, calls the Septuagint version, followed by Julian, fantastic.

146. ⁵ Genesis 4. 3-4.

147. ⁶ This was, perhaps, Aetius, for whom see p. 289.

148. ¹ An allusion to Romans 4. 11-12 and 2. 29.

149. ² A paraphrase of Genesis 17. 10-11; according to Cyril, Julian quoted Matthew 5. 17, 19, to prove that Christ did not come to destroy the law.

150. ³ i. e. Christ.

151. ¹ Cf. Genesis 17. 13.

152. ² This is a sneer rather than an argument.

153. ³ Cf. Letter 20, To Theodorus, 454a, where Julian says that the Jewish god "is worshipped by us under other names."

154. ¹ Genesis 24. 2, 10, 43, foll. This was Eleazar. Maimonides the Jewish jurist, writing in the twelfth century, says, "One who sets signs for himself... like Eleazar the servant of Abraham," with reference to Genesis 24. 14. The epithet συμβολικὸς is probably a translation of the Hebrew. I am indebted for this note to Professor Margoliouth.

155. ² Partly paraphrased from Genesis 15. 1-6.

156. ¹ Cyril says that Julian then asserted that he himself had been instructed by omens from birds that he would sit on the throne.

157. ² 1 Kings 18. 19.

158. ¹ Only the fragments which preserve the actual words of Julian are here given; several of Neumann's are therefore omitted.

159. ¹ i. e. wars, famines, etc.

160. ² Cf. Matthew 24. 3-14.

161. ³ Exodus 31. 18.

162. ⁴ 1 Kings 19. 9.

163. ⁵ Matthew 4. 2, foll.

164. ⁶ Matthew 4. 5.

165. ¹ Luke 22. 42-47.

166. ² Luke 12. 33.

167. ¹ Julian is criticising St. John's Gospel, as he criticised its prologue in Against the Galilaeans, Book 1. He attacks John 1. 29; cf. John 1. 3. 5.

168. ² Matthew 10. 21. "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death."

169. ³ He means that in this case too their sins have not been taken away by the Word, since they remain heathens.

170. ⁴ In Leviticus 16. Aaron is to make atonement for the sins of Israel, but the severe Mosaic law increased the opportunities for transgression.

171. ⁵ Hosea 11. 1. "When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt."

172. ⁶ Matthew 2. 15. "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, ' Out of Egypt have I called my son.'"

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: libanius_02_16_letters_to_julian.htm

Libanius, Sixteen letters to Julian the Apostate (1784) pp.303-332.

Libanius, Sixteen letters to Julian the Apostate (1784) pp.303-332.

Letter 33

Letter 224

Letter 372

Letter 525

Letter 586

Letter 591

Letter 602

Letter 670

Letter 712

Letter 622

Letter 1035

Letter 1125

Letter 1392

Letter 1490

(3 of book 2)

(14 of book 2)

XVI Letters of Libanius to Julian

[Translated by John Duncombe, M.A.]

1784.

1. Letter 33 (358 AD) ¹

May the present health and strength that you say you possess be your constant portion! For your grief may God supply a remedy! Or rather your grief requires in part only the assistance of God, for some part of it you yourself can alleviate. You are able, if you please, to re-build the city ²; but for your concern on account of the dead, may Heaven afford you consolation! Nicomedia, ruined as she is, I deem most happy. Her safety indeed would have been most desirable; but even thus she is honoured by your tears. Nor are these inferior to the lamentations which the Muses are said to have uttered for Achilles ³, or to the drops of blood which Jupiter, in honour of his dearest son, poured down at the approaching death of Sarpedon. ⁴ That she therefore, who was lately a city, may again be a city, will be your concern. Elphidius ⁵, always a man of distinguished probity, has now made wonderful improvements. Thus it is not only true, as Sophocles says, that

"Wise kings are form'd by converse with the wise," ⁶

but the wisdom of a king improves also his friends in virtue. So serviceable have you been to Elphidius, making him not only richer but better. Though younger than he, you have been his instructor in these laudable pursuits, in equity, in an eager desire to assist his friends, to treat courageously those whom he knows not, and by so treating them, always to retain their friendship. For all who have approached and conversed with him have first admired and then instantly loved him, or rather have discovered your ideas in all that you have entrusted to him. I often discourse with him, and all our discourses turn on you, on the understanding that you possess, and the important affairs in which you are engaged. The manner in which you will complete them, and how you will ward some impending dangers, we have sagely discussed. I seemed, as it were, conversing with yourself. With particular pleasure I received the intelligence of your having defeated the barbarians ⁷, and that you had related your victories in a commentary ⁸, thus acting at once as an orator and a general. Achilles required a Homer, and Alexander many such, but your trophies, your own voice, which has erected them, will transmit to posterity. Thus you surpass the sophists by proposing to them not only actions for them to celebrate but the orations, which you have composed on your actions, for their emulation.

To these your trophies I wish you to add that of restoring Pompeianus ⁹ to his rights; and think not this an unworthy contention. For this is the man whom formerly in Bithynia, when he was ambassador from hence, you saw with pleasure, and on being informed of what he had been defrauded gave him hopes of recovering his property. Of this promise, O prince ¹⁰, I entreat you to be mindful.

Nearly 2000 of his letters exist. In his life, he says, his letters were innumerable.

¹ This letter is one of the three first published by Fabricius with a Latin translation in his Bibliotheca Graeca, vol. 7, p. 397. In the edition of Wolfius it is the 33rd.

² Nicomedia the capital of Bithynia which, from the beauty of its situation, the magnificence of its buildings, its grandeur and its riches, had been looked on as the fifth city in the work, was destroyed by an earthquake Aug. 24, 358, followed by a fire which lasted five days. A monody, by Libanius, I have inserted in vol. 2. Julian was then only Caesar but he visited the city; and gave orders for re-building it on his way from Constantinople to Antioch, May 15, 362, after his accession to the empire. Another earthquake, which was also felt at Constantinople and Nice, swallowed up the remains of Nicomedia on January 1, 363.

³ Homer, Odyssey 24.60

⁴ Iliad 16.459.

⁵ A philosopher to whom Julian addressed his 57th letter. Libanius also wrote several letters to him and mentions him in several others.

⁶ I have been unable to locate these words in Sophocles. WOLFIUS.

⁷ Probably his victories over the Salian Franks and Chamarians. See Julian's Letter to the Athenians.

⁸ Now lost.

⁹ He had been prefect of Bithynia. Libanius praises him in many other letters, and some are addressed to him.

¹⁰ Ὁ Βασιλευ. Although Julian was only Caesar, as appears from some passages above, both Fabricius and Wolfius have translated this imperator. But Βασιλευς was often applied to the Caesars.

2. Letter 224 (AD 362)

Are you then forgetful of us? But Phoenicia does not suffer us to be forgetful of you, as she celebrates your reign in immortal hymns. From your Asia ¹ also flows the fame of your actions, increasing our expectations. For nothing that we have heard, great as all these actions are, is so great as to exceed the hopes that we have formed. We, on account of our relation to the Ionians ², rejoice, trusting that you will proceed in the right road and that your authority both over them and us will be more firmly established. But this must be left to the providence of God.

Andragathius, in requesting to be the bearer of this, has rather conferred than asked a favour of me. For he will not be more gratified by the pleasure of seeing you than I am by thus being enabled to address you. This youth will have these three recommendations to you; an energy of speech, which he has displayed before the prefects; a courtesy of behaviour, which endears him to all with whom he converses; and such an intimacy with me as, in that respect, to exceed all the friends that I have had since my childhood.

¹ Julian was then in Ionia, in the province of Asia.

2 The scholiast says, "The Ionians near Smyrna formerly sent a colony to Antioch, and therefore he styles them relations."

3. Letter 372 (AD 358) ¹

You have gained a double victory ², one by your arms, the other by your eloquence. One trophy is erected to you by the barbarians, and the other by me your friend; a trophy this most pleasing even to a conqueror. For all parents wish to be excelled by their children ³, and you, who by me have been instructed in writing, have in that excelled your instructor. But now for the brevity of my letter ⁴, I, the orator, must account to you, the general, or rather to one no less consummate in the art of oratory than in that of war. After the emperor ⁵ had given you a share in the government, I thought myself bound to lay some restraint on my freedom and not to indulge it, as I had been accustomed, to a man so exalted. For knowing, as we do, in our declamatory skirmishes, how to address Pericles, Cimon and Miltiades, it would have been shameful in real life to neglect those laws. And as you yourself say, that the letters of generals, on account of their avocations, should be short, this induced me to contract my letters, aware that he whose business prevents him from writing long letters must be much interrupted by one who sends him long letters. But now, as you order me to be diffuse, I will obey.

And first I congratulate you that with arms in your hands you have not suspended your application to oratory, but wage war as if war were your only study and attend to books as if you were a stranger to arms. And next, that he ⁶ who has given you a share in the empire has had no cause to repent of his having given it, but considering him as your cousin and colleague and lord and master, in all your actions you promote his glory and exclaim to your falling enemies, "what would be your fate, if the emperor were present?" All this I applaud, and also your not having changed your manners with your dress, nor lost, by gaining power, the remembrance of your friends. Many blessing attend you for showing that when I celebrated your talents I was not a liar, or rather for having shown that I was a liar in promising nothing equal to what you have performed! This is all your own, and copied from no model. For though some, together with the empire, have assumed the love of money, contracting desires to which before they were strangers, and others have given more indulgence to their former inclinations, you alone, when raised to the throne, have shared your fortune ⁷ among your friends, giving one a house, another slaves, land to this, money to that, and, when a subject, were more wealthy than now when you are prince. Nor do you exclude me from the number of your friends, though I am not one of those who have shared your favours. For I can assign a reason of my alone having received nothing. As you would have cities abound with every thing that can promote their happiness, you deem nothing more essential to this than oratory, knowing that if that were extinct we should resemble the barbarians. Apprehending therefore that if I abounded with riches I should neglect my art, you thought it right for me to remain poor, that I might not be tempted to desert my station: such, at least, is my solution. Not that you have said, "Amphiaraus and Capaneus are something ⁸; but this man has neither name nor place ⁹." But your not having given me anything is owing to your regard for the public. Therefore though we are indigent of money, we abound with words. This is your concern; may we not disgrace the part that is allotted to us, nor you your illustrious rank!

¹ The Barroci manuscript adds to the name Ιουλιανος the epithet Καισαρος ("Caesar") but the Medicean B. Κάλαραλω ("execrable"). WOLFIUS.

² In his 394th letter, Libanius writes "The excellent Anatolius has gained two victories over us".

³ Sophists would style their students their 'sons'. See Eunapius on Julian.

⁴ Julian liked long letters, as appears from his second to Prohaeresius.

⁵ The gloomy and suspicious Constantius II, who had put to death all his other male relations but now needed a figurehead Caesar in Gaul.

⁶ Constantius.

⁷ Libanius in his Life writes that "Libanius loved [Julian] himself, but others loved his riches."

⁸ A proverb. Amphiarus and Capaneus were two of the seven chiefs against Thebes. Capaneus is applied elsewhere in antiquity as a symbol of friendship, because Capaneus, amid great wealth, living with frugality and economy, was most attentive to his friends.

⁹ This oracle of Apollo to the inhabitants of Aegina is quoted by the scholiast on Theocritus. They had asked the oracle who was the bravest of the Greeks, after gaining a naval victory, to which they got a depreciating answer concluding as above.

4. Letter 525 ¹

I sent you a short oration on an important subject. You can add to its length by supplying what is essential to that purpose. If you give that, you will show that you think that I have a talent for encomiums. If you do not give it, I shall be induced to entertain some other suspicions.

¹ To what oration is referred is not known.

5. Letter 586

Unless you were well apprised how long ago my friendship with the excellent Macedonius ¹ was contracted, and for what reasons it has been since improved, of these I would first apprise you; but knowing as you do its foundation, you will not wonder that I, who would decline no danger for my friends, should devote to his service this letter. He has indeed prevailed with me to ask a favour of you, not that you grant favours easily or grant all that are asked; but such as are just and right you willingly confer. And in truth whoever does not oblige his friends in matters thus irreproachable blames the daughter ² of Jove for retaining the graces in her vestibule. But that you favour those who ask nothing unreasonable is evident to all. Now observe whether my request is such as can be censured.

Macedonius married a wife who had a son by a former husband. That son is now dead. I wish therefore that the mother ³, in preference to the grandfather, may succeed to his estate, if a regard to honour can induce the grandfather to wave his right and to prefer praise to a compliance with the law. Be it therefore your endeavour to convince him that it is more creditable for him to decline than to take the effects. You will be doubly persuasive as, besides the powers of oratory, you possess supreme dominion. And I hear that this old man is vain of a good reputation and had rather accumulate fame than wealth. Delay not, therefore, to send for and confer with him, and thus perform an action more humane than any law. Nor think that we will admit, as an excuse, your alleging that the discussion of such matters does not belong to you, or, by way of subterfuge, that you are unable to persuade him. To be the instrument of conferring wealth on the mother and fame on her father will do you no dishonour. Every word from you makes a strong impression on the hearers.

¹ The son of Pelagius of Cyrus, a city in Syria, an orator and a philosopher. Libanius praises him several times in other letters, and addresses three to him, one of which is a congratulation on his marriage.

² Δικε, i.e. justice.

³ Under Roman law mothers had no legal right to any of their childrens' possessions.

6. Letter 591

The laws and myself will take care that that most abandoned servant shall be punished for what he has said and done. But you, together with the empire, show that you possess also such benevolence as the excellent Priscian ¹ displayed to Seleucus ². Acting thus, you will induce the preceptors of Arrhabius -- I mean Calliopus ³ -- and his father to treat him with more indulgence. For Seleucus married the daughter of one, and the sister of the other. Him therefore, whom in your letters you so highly honour as to style him your son, assist, I entreat you, in his literary improvements.

¹ Priscian was an excellent orator, and on that account was invited by Julian to Constantinople. Libanius wrote several letters to him.

² Selecus is mentioned as a friend of Libanius in many of his letters, and many are addressed to him.

³ Calliopus, from some of the letters to him, seems to have been an orator.

7. Letter 602

Would you have me believe that you do not take the least concern in the affairs of Ulpian and Palladius ¹, that you neither regard them as friends nor esteem them as orators nor recollect that they may assist you with their friendly offices? Such reports, which it does not become me to repeat, are circulated by many. On the contrary, I contend that none of them, as far as you are concerned, are true. Write, therefore, and confute them. You will thus confer a favour on yourself as well as on me.

¹ Two orators frequently mentioned by Libanius.

8. Letter 670 (A.D.362)

I have discharged my obligations to Aristophanes ¹, but you, in return, have given me such splendid tokens of a vehement affection as are conspicuous both to gods and men. So that now I seem almost to soar into the sky, elevated by your letter, which has inspired me with such hopes and has so decorated my oration ² that all things else -- the wealth of Midas, the beauty of Nireus ³, the swiftness of Crison ⁴, the strength of Polydamas ⁵, the sword of Peleus ⁶ -- seem little in my sight. Even the nectar of the gods, were I allowed to enjoy it, could not give me greater delight than I now feel, when my prince, such a one as Plato formerly sought and could scarcely find, has commended my sentiments, admired my oration, and has not only promised that he will give something but, which is much greater honour, that he will consult with me what to give. They who observe the rising of the celestial goat ⁷ do not always obtain their wishes, but I, though I have not attended to this, have been most successful. And if I want any other favour, the emperor, imitating the deity, is ever gracious. Your letter therefore shall be prefixed to my oration to inform all the Greeks that my dart has not been launched in vain, for by what I have written Aristophanes will be honoured, as I am by what you have returned; or rather both of us shall glory in what has been written and will be given by you, for each of us is honoured by each of these.

But now it may amuse you to hear how Aristophanes has been terrified. One of your usual attendants informed us that on coming to your door he was refused admittance because, he was told, you were busy in composing an oration. This immediately occasioned an apprehension that you had determined to controvert my oration ⁸ and confute your preceptor and would thus overwhelm Aristophanes like the Nile. ⁹ We hastened therefore to the excellent Elphidius who, on hearing the cause of our alarm, burst into loud laughter. Thus we recovered our spirits and soon after I received your elegant letter.

¹ This oration for Aristophanes, a Corinthian, the son of Menander, who had been severely fined by the prefect of Egypt on account of his consulting astrologers, is preserved in the works of Libanius, vol. 2, p. 210 ff. WOLFIUS.

It is said in this oration that he had been fined, flogged and imprisoned.

² Julian's letter, to which this is a reply, is the 68th.

³ See Iliad ii. 671.

⁴ Crison was a native of Himera who gained three victories in the Olympic games.

⁵ A famous Thessalian wrestler who strangled a lion on Mt. Olympus, tamed a wild bull, and stopped a chariot drawn by the strongest horses. He was crushed to death by a rock under which he took shelter from a storm, after flattering himself that he could hold up the rock, which was starting to fall, when his companions fled. MORERI.

Libanius mentions him also in his 16th declamation.

⁶ Peleus received a sword from Vulcan with which he could defend himself against all attacks, as we learn from the scholiast on the th Nemean of Pindar, verse 88. WOLFIUS.

⁷ A proverbial expression for those who got everything they wanted, based on the fable that those who saw that goat, who was the nurse of Jupiter and then was made a constellation, obtained whatever they desired. ERASMUS.

⁸ The one on Aristophanes' behalf.

⁹ I.e. in floods of eloquence.

9. Letter 712 (A.D. 361)

However much I condemned that journey, fatiguing as it was ¹, I no less, or rather more, condemned myself for returning so soon instead of going to the place appointed and there indulging my eyes the next morning at sun-rising, with the sight of his divine visage. And so unfortunate is the city that she could not afford me the least consolation. I style her unfortunate not on account of the dearth of provisions but because she has been and is adjudged wicked, invidious and ungrateful ² by him whose prudence surpasses his dominions, extensive as they are. While Alcimus ³ was with me, I had one who would hear with indulgence my self-reproaches and my boasts of the distinction shown me by you. But after his departure, considering the ceiling as my only friend, I lookup up to it as I lay in my bed and said, "Now the emperor sent for me; now I entered and sat down (for that he allowed me); now I pleaded for the city, as I was permitted to intercede with him for those who had offended him. But he prevailed, so just was his charge and so powerful his elocution. And though I opposed him, I was neither disliked nor ejected." With this banquet I regale myself, and I entreat the gods, first that they will give you the superiority over your enemies, and secondly that they will render you as propitious to us as you were formerly. I have also a third petition which they have heard but I will not here mention. I ought not, however, even to have said that I will not mention it. For you are ingenious enough to conjecture this third article from my wishing to conceal what I wish. And, indeed, I apprehend that the contrary will be your choice. ⁴

Now then pass the rivers; rush on the archers ⁵ more impetuously than a torrent; and afterwards think on what you said you would think. But fail not to solace me in your absence as much as you can. I for my part will send letters to extort your answers from the midst of the battle, as I am convinced that you have a genius that can at once command an army, fight an enemy, and correspond with a friend. I am so inform that I am obliged to hear what I ought to see. Happy is Seleucus ⁶ in this glorious sight, and in preferring the honour of serving such a prince to that which he derives from a good wife and a most beloved daughter!

¹ The journey is unknown. Perhaps it was to Mount Cassius (cf. the Misopogon, p. 282) where Jupiter had a temple, 15 miles (a day's journey) from Antioch, which, however, Julian performed several times during his residence in the city. For "from thence" says Ammianus (22.14) "at the second cock-crowing, is first seen the rising of the sun."

² Meaning Antioch, then afflicted with famine and exposed to the resentment of the emperor for disregarding his edict lowering the price of provisions and not abstaining from sarcasms on himself. This appears from the embassy that our author sent to Julian for the Antiochians, which is in the second volume of his works, p. 151, and also from his oration to the Antiochians de Imperatoris ira which, before unpublished, our learned Fabricius has inserted in his Bibliotheca Graeca, vol. 7, p 207. WOLFIUS.

³ A native of Nicomedia and a man of learning, as appears from several letters addressed to him by Libanius.

⁴ I should understand this of marriage, to which Julian was averse. WOLFIUS.

⁵ The Persians.

⁶ Mentioned above.

10. Letter 622 (A.D. 363)

That Alexander ¹ was appointed to the government at first, I confess, gave me some concern, as the principal persons among us were dissatisfied. I thought it dishonourable, injurious, and unbecoming a prince; and that repeated fines would rather weaken than improve the city. But now the good effects of this severity are so manifest that I recant. ² For they who formerly bathed and slept at noon now, imitating the manners of the Lacedaemonians, labour indefatigably not only in the day-time but no small part of the night, nailed, as it were, to the gate of Alexander. And when he clamours from within, everything is instantly in motion. Thus the sword will never be wanted since his threats alone are sufficient to render the impudent modest and the slothful industrious. Calliope is also honoured, agreeable to your wishes, not only by horse-races but theatrical exhibitions; and sacrifices are offered to the gods in the theatre without our making the least alteration. Loud applause is given and amidst this applause the gods are invoked. With this applause the governor seems do delighted that he urges many more to add to it. Of such importance, O prince, to mankind is divination ³ as it teaches everyone the best manner of governing a family, a city, a nation and a kingdom.

¹ This is the Alexander of whom Ammianus says (23.2), "When Julian was going to leave Antioch, he made one Alexander of Heliopolis, governor of Syria, a turbulent and severe man, saying that 'undeserving as he was, such a ruler suited the avaricious and contumellious Antiochians'." As the letter makes clear, Julian handed the city over to be looted by a man he himself regarded as unworthy, and the Christian inhabitants, who had dared to oppose his attempt to restore paganism, to be forced to attend and applaud pagan ceremonies at sword-point; and be 'urged' to cheer more loudly.

² The proverb is taken from a transaction of Stesichorus, the lyric poet, mentioned by Plato in his Phaedrus.

³ Libanius here flatters Julian, as if he had learned by divination that Alexander was such a one as ought to govern Syria and the Antiochenes. WOLFIUS.

11. Letter 1035

On all accounts I was pleased to see Ablavius ¹ but principally because he brought me a letter from you. For sooner than blame you I should detest myself; such has been your attention to the promotion of my interest, amidst this tedious war, which you could not have been if anyone had spoken to my disadvantage. In seeming to laugh, and pardoning those who, in order to flatter one, calumniate another, you acted like yourself. Flattery is their trade and as necessary to their livelihood as rowing is to that of sailors. That sage, with whose morals Ablavius acquainted me, though he would not disclose his name, gave me no concern on any account, this only excepted, that in mentioning me he was guilty of a solecism; and I, though guilty of no offence, was sent by him among the barbarians ². Inform him of this and caution him to avoid such mistakes for the future; he may then, if he pleases, speak evil of me, for then at least he will not speak ill. ³ But this man is unalterable. If however by his calumnies he should still offend you and you wish to punish him, you easily may by confining him to his house for an afternoon and obliging him to sup at home; and when he again grows insolent, through repletion, and drinks your own wine against you ⁴, you need only repeat the punishment; you cannot inflict a greater. This will effectually curb his licentious tongue; but whatever be his name, let me know it so that when I write his elogium, it may not be anonymous.

¹ Libanius has two letters to Ablavius.

² Libanius ridicules the man who made himself a barbarian by speaking barbarously of Libanius.

³ The translator has tried to retain Libanius' pun between speaking evil and speaking badly.

⁴ Drinking a toast against the one whose money paid for the wine.

12. Letter 1125 (A.D. 358)

Alas! alas! how insatiable is your desire of further attainments! You possess the palm of eloquence, snatched from others, at once

"A matchless prince and a most potent sage" ¹

Other princes have acted and we applauded, but you excell in both those capacities. For how can we speak so highly in commendation of your actions as you do of that short letter? ² Hence I conjecture what you will do, when you have subdued Phoenicia ³, as already you administer justice to your subjects, wage war with the barbarians, and in the composition of orations far exceed the common rank. Though I am not solicitous as to the future, I shall be as much pleased with this slaughter as with a victory. For when the vanquished and the victor are friends, the vanquished has a share in the triumph; as friends, it is said, have all things in common. ⁴

¹ An allusion to Iliad III.178.

² As his letters witness, Julian also commended highly other orations of Libanius.

³ I would understand this of the orators of Phoenicia.

⁴ The proverb is quoted by Euripides in his Orestes, in the same words. See Gregory Nazianzen, Letter 64.

13. Letter 1392 ¹

Gemellus ² is my relation and my friend and by his manners is no disgrace to his family. If he had been possessed of money and a large estate, he would long ago have been employed on some public function. But as his fortune is small he has, by my advice, taken a method which may exempt him from tears and chains, the usual attendants of those whom public employments have reduced to poverty.

Happy he is in discharging this office under your inspection; as you never fail to reprobate injustice and to honour what is just and equitable. Many there are who look upon justice and equity as meanness and accordingly despise them. But far different is your conduct; for you were well born, and well instructed, and therefore glory more in being virtuous than in the numerous nations which you govern. Of this Gemellus has proofs; and, that he may have more, let him be obliged for those to you, but for these to me. For if he should receive any greater favours in consequence of my letter, he will certainly be indebted for them to my advice.

¹ In the edition of Wolfius this is the 1392th.

² To this Gemellus Libanius has several letters.

14. Letter 1490 ¹

We have made a mutual agreement, that I should write to you on behalf of my friends, and that if their requests are reasonable you will assist them. Of your assistance let this Hyperechius ² first reap the advantage. He has long been harassed and oppressed by those whose chief study is unjust gain. He was one of my scholars in my former prosperity. Such I deem the time of my residence at Nicomedia ³; not on account of the wealth but of the excellent friends that it procured me, many of whom are no more. This man, whose hopes now rest on you, then came from Ancyra ⁴. In eloquence none excelled him; in manners none equalled him. I love him therefore with a parental affection. I cannot see him injured without assisting him myself and urging others to assist him also. And if in this you think that I act no bad part, show by your deeds that you approve my conduct.

¹ In the edition of Wolfius this is the 1490th.

² An orator, the son of Maximus, a native of Galatia. Libanius has addressed several letters to him.

³ Our author affirms in his Life, p. 21, that he spent five years with pleasure at Nicomedia and calls that time "the spring of his life". WOLFIUS.

⁴ The same city which Libanius, in his 26th oration, p. 599, styles "the principal and largest city in Galatia."

15. Letter 3 of book 2 (A.D.363) ¹

The oration ², which contains some account of your glorious actions, you honour not only with praise but admiration. And as you are ranked among the learned, you maintain, I am told, that Demosthenes could not have written more forcibly, Socrates more agreeably or Plato more copiously on the occasion. You affirm also that greater glory will redound to you from my writings than from the fortunate event of your actions. My opinion is far different. For though, with my most studious and elaborate endeavours, I strove to exalt your name, yet as my strength was unequal to such a weight, what I performed I performed with great pleasure. But so brilliant are your praises that the rudest genius may seem sufficiently decorated by the dignity of the subject. Your actions therefore were the noblest ornaments of my oration. And though I attempted to illustrate those actions which in their own nature were most splendid, I rather illustrated myself. So that you have no cause to return me thanks, or to think that they are due to me. But that I may acquire such a splendour by recording your exploits, whatever success may attend you in future do not fail to communicate to me by a letter.

¹ This is the rd of the nd book of the letters of Libanius, collected in Greek by Francisco Zambicari of Bologna and published in his Latin translation only by John Somerfeld at Cracow, 1504. It is also inserted by Fabricius in his Bibliotheca Graeca, vol. 7, p.390.

² His panegyrical address to Julian, when he was at Antioch, just before he set out on his Persian expedition. It is the th in the nd volume of the works of this sophist, published by Morell. How agreeable it was to the emperor Libanius mentioned in a letter to Celsus [the 648th] as well as in the above. FABRICIUS.

16. Letter 14 of book 2 ¹

I can scarce believe that, than which nothing can be more certain. Departing from you, in obedience to your order, and on an urgent occasion, I am both willingly and unwillingly absent from you. For I think that I could be sooner negligent of my life than of your commands. Any labours, however great, seem trifles; however small, when desired to undertake them for you, I have been accustomed to think them sweeter than ambrosia. To this it is owing that, were you to command me, I would depart not only from you but from myself. But as I consider you as my deity, without you nothing seems pleasing. You constantly occur to my mind: whatever I hear repeats the voice of Julian; whatever I see reflects the image of my venerable deity. And when a sweet slumber refreshes my languid limbs, you seem so present to me that by the kindness of the immortal gods, separated and loosed from my body, my mind seems to fly to you, to embrace, address, in short to worship you; so that if I were to be deprived of life I would wish that to be my last day. Farther, that I may no longer be thus tormented, I entreat you to give me your permission to return to you, and in your presence to adore your deity, which absent I at once admire and venerate. If not, as by your indulgence it may be effected, I could easily be content to be banished not only from the city I so much love but also from the world.

¹ This also is published only in Latin by Zambicari. It is the 14th of his nd book.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

The text comes from "Select works of Julian", vol. 1. This is available for download at Google Books, so I have not felt it necessary to reproduce page numbers etc. The letter numbering is from Wolfius except where specified. Comments have been abbreviated or rephrased. Commas have been omitted where unnecessary. A few words have been modified where confusion would have been involved to a modern reader -- e.g. accosted becomes addressed, etc. The last two letters are forgeries by Zambicari, I understand.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: libanius_monody_eintro.htm

Libanius, Monody (1888). Introduction to the online edition

Libanius, Monody (1888). Introduction to the online edition

This text was included in the volume "Julian the Emperor", which was scanned in order to obtain the two invectives of Gregory Nazianzen against Julian the Apostate. It has been included here for completeness, and for its historical interest. The prefatory material, indexes, etc may be found under Gregory Nazianzen.

Roger PEARSE

th March, 2003

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2003. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: libanius_monody.htm

Libanius, "Julian the Emperor" (1888). Monody: Funeral Oration for Julian

Libanius, " Julian the Emperor" (1888). Monody: Funeral Oration for Julian

|122

LIBANIUS' FUNERAL ORATION UPON THE EMPEROR JULIAN.

RIGHT were it, my friends, that the thing for which I and all mankind were praying, had been accomplished----that the power of the Persians had ere this been overthrown; that Romans, in the place of Satraps, were governing and administering their country according to our laws; that our temples at home should be decorated with the trophies brought from thence, whilst he that had achieved this success, seated on his imperial throne, should be receiving our panegyrics upon his victory; for so were it, I ween, but just and proper, and a fit return for the numerous sacrifices which he had offered. But since envious Fortune hath proved stronger than our well-founded hopes, and he has been carried back from the confines of Babylon a corpse, who had come so near to the accomplishment of his enterprise, whilst all the tears it was natural to drop have been shed by every eye, and it is not in our power to prevent the end----let us do what is left for us, and, at the same time, the most acceptable service to him who is no more; before a different kind of audience¹ let us discourse upon his achievements, since he himself has been debarred upon hearing our |123 eulogy upon the deeds he has performed. For, in the first place, we should be unjust if, after he had braved every danger for the sake of gaining praise, we on our side should defraud him of the prize of his exploits; and secondly, it were the basest of conduct, that he, when dead, should not receive the same homage wherewith we honoured him when living, besides its being an act of the lowest sycophancy to pay court to those who survive, but to forget those who are departed. As for the living, though one should not gain their favour by means of speech, yet one can do so in many other ways; but with respect to those who are gone, one way only is left to us, namely, eulogies and speeches handing down their virtuous actions to all time to come. Though it has been my constant endeavour to sing the praises of this hero, yet have I ever found niy words fall far short of the greatness of his performances; and most certainly I was never vexed if the merit of my sovereign and friend went beyond the range of the ability of one who loved him, for I regarded this as the common gain of the public, that he who had succeeded to the government for the salvation of the community, should not leave it possible to any speech to be commensurate with his own actions. And when it is not in my power to extol as they deserve only his exploits upon the shores of the Western Ocean, what figure shall I make to-day when obliged to comprise both them and his expedition against the Persians in a single discourse! Nay, I believe that even shovild he obtain leave to return from the gods below, for the purpose of aiding me in the labour of this discourse, and unseen by all take part in my task, not even so would due measure be exactly meted to his actions; but they would be described in a better manner than is now possible, and yet, in all likelihood, not even then fully described.

What then must I expect to suffer in undertaking so great a task, without such powerful help! But were I not assured beforehand that you all are not ignorant that |124 victory belongs to actions, and at the same time yon take pleasure in their description, it had been better for me to hold my tongue; but since on the former occasion you applauded me, and listened with satisfaction to my words, I do not think there is any just pretext for silence, and therefore will endeavour to pay my debt to my sovereign and friend.

There have been several emperors not deficient in the art of government, though not distinguished by birth, knowing how to protect their empire, yet ashamed to declare from what parents they sprung,² to such a degree that it was a hard job for those who lauded them to salve that sore; but in the present case there is nothing that I cannot parade for his glorification; for at starting, as regards his family, his grandfather ³ was an emperor, one who above all others held riches in contempt, and in a special degree won the affections of his subjects; whilst his father was the son of an emperor and the brother of an emperor, and one who had better right to the throne than he who got it;⁴ but nevertheless he did not assert his claim, but wished success to him who seized the power, and continued to the last to live with him in sincerity and affection; he married the daughter of a prefect (a worthy and sensible man, whom even the foe that had vanquished him respected, and exhorted his own friends to take him for a pattern in the exercise of power),⁵ and he became the sire of this |125 admirable person now lying before us, and complimented his father-in-law by giving his name to his son. Constantine bad no sooner ended his life, than the sword passed through almost his whole house, fathers and children alike; but this one escaped the general massacre, as well as an elder brother by the same father; the latter having been rescued from destruction by an illness which it was supposed would result in death; the other by his tender age for he had only just been weaned. That brother devoted himself to different pursuits than literature, thinking that in this way he should less expose himself to the malice of his enemies;⁶ but this one his appointed destiny stimulated to the love of learning, and he spent his life in that pursuit in the greatest of cities after Rome, going regularly to school----he the grandson of an emperor, the nepliew of an emperor, the cousin of an emperor! not strutting arrogantly, nor annoying people, nor claiming public attention by the multitude of his attendants, and the bustle they produced; but an eunuch,⁷ an excellent guardian of his modesty, and another tutor not without some tincture of learning, accompanied him; his dress of the ordinary kind; his looks not contemptuous towards others; salutations to whomsoever came in his way; no rude repulsing of the beggar; and when invited entering a house; and stopping still even before he was called; and taking his place where it was the rule for the rest to stand; and being addressed in the same way as the other scholars; and taking his departure in company with the rest; and seeking for no precedence over them; so that anyone coming upon them from outside, and looking at a class, and not knowing who and whose children they were, would not have discovered in any outward circumstances the superiority of his rank. Not |126 however that he was on a level with those schoolfellows of his in all respects, for in the understanding and catching of what was said, and in retaining what he had caught and in repeating the same without difficulty, he made a vast difference between the others and himself, which, when I perceived, I was grieved that I myself had not the cultivation of so fine a mind; because a certain good-for-nothing sophist ⁸ had received the youth in charge as a payment for speaking evil of the gods; for the youth was brought up in the same notions about religion, and had to put up with the silliness of his teacher's discourses, in consequence of the war waged by his guardian against our altars: for now he was nearly grown up, and manifested the princeliness of his character by many striking instances. All this troubled the repose of Constantius; and he being afraid lest the vast capital (that possessed such influence in determining the choice of sovereigns, and was in point of strength a match for all the rest put together), should be attracted by the eminence of the boy's character, and that some trouble to himself might be the consequence, he sends him away to the city of Nicomedia, as a place that did not inspire equal apprehensions, and yet offered facilities for his education. He however did not come to my lectures, although I had for some time been holding classes there, and had exchanged one city for another, choosing that which offered tranquillity in the place of one that swarmed with dangers; but by purchasing copies of my lectures he kept up a constant conversation with me. But the cause of his taking so much pleasure in my discourses, and yet avoiding their author, was that the wonderful sophist above-mentioned had bound him by many strong promises neither to become, nor to be called my visitor, nor be entered in the list of my pupils; for which thing the youth being angry with him that had so tied him down, and yet not wishing; |127 to break his word (although desirous of my acquaintance), he found out how he might without perjuring himself have the benefit of my lectures, by procuring through heavy bribes one to be the communicator of what had been said by me day by day.

On which occasion he displayed in the highest degree the force of his natural abilities; for though never in my company, he was superior to those constantly with me in the imitation of my style, and through this circuitous course he outstripped their plain and straightforward one in the production of the fruits of study; from which circumstance, I believe, there is in his works composed after this time a certain family likeness to my own, and he was thought to be one of those that come nearest to me in this respect. Now his occupation lay in pursuits of this kind; meantime his brother obtained a share in the empire, that is to say, in the secondary rank; for as a double war was upon Constantius' hands, namely, the first one with the Persians, and that which came on top of it against the usurper (Magnentius), he stood in need, assuredly, of a colleague; and Gallus is despatched from Italy on the road to the East----and the same circumstance that had happened to his father before, now became the case with him-----that is, he was now brother of a reigning prince. The latter marched through Bithynia attended by his bodyguard, and the two brothers had an interview; but the change of fortune of the one did not pervert the disposition of the other; neither did he take his brother's elevation to empire as a motive for indolence; on the contrary it increased the desire he felt for learning; he augmented the labours he took in its pursuit; for he thought that should he have to continue in a private station he would possess wisdom in the place of imperial power----a more noble treasure! whilst should he ever be raised to the sceptre, he would adorn his dignity by his wisdom. For this reason he employed the light of day for his studies, and when night overtook him, the light of |128 fire; he did not make his wealth any greater, though he had every opportunity for so doing, but his mind more accomplished; and at last having got into company with those who were full of Plato, and hearing from them about the gods and genii, and those that had really created, and do maintain the universe, and what the soul is, and whence it came, and whither it goes, and by what things it is submerged, and by what is it captured, and by what it is weighed down, and by what it is elevated; also what are its bonds, and what its liberation; and in what way he might succeed in escaping from the one and attaining to the other----"he washed away the brackish tale with a drinkable story;" and having cast out of his mind the whole of the nonsense that previously occupied it, he supplied its place with the beauty of the Truth; as though replacing in some grand temple the statues of the gods previously prostrate in the mud. Now, he was another man in these respects, yet he kept up his former profession, for it is clear he had no liberty of conscience. Aesop would have written a fable on the subject, not the hiding of the ass under the lion's skin, but the lion under the hide of the ass, because he had learnt that which was better worth knowing, yet pretended to what was the safer to hold.

His reputation being spread abroad in all directions, all persons in the service of the Muses (and even of the other deities) flocked to him, some by land, others by sea, anxious to see and to converse with him, to say something of their own, and to hear him talk. But when they were come they found it not easy to depart; for the syren detained them not only by his words, but by his natural power to enchant; whilst, by his knowing how to love sincerely, he taught others also how to do so well; so that they being cemented together fittingly were not separable without difficulty. He possessed, then, universal knowledge, gathered up and put to use----poetry, rhetoric, the systems of various philosophers, much acquaintance |129 with the Greek language, and not a little of the other [Latin]; for he cultivated both; and 'twas the prayer from every mouth (of sensible people), that the youth had been made the manager of affairs,⁹ to put a stop to the ruin of the state, and that one had been appointed to tend the sick who understood how to treat maladies of the kind. I would not indeed say that he blamed these wishes, neither make this boast on his account, I say that he also desired it, but that he desired it not out of love of luxury, or riches, or the purple, but for the sake of restoring, through his own labours to mankind the blessings whence they had fallen, both others and particularly the worship of the gods----a desire with which he was especially filled, seeing, as he did, the temples lying desolate, and the ceremonies of religion put a stop to, and altars overturned, and sacrifices suppressed, and priests expelled, and the revenues of the temples divided amongst the most licentious of men;¹⁰ to such a degree did he feel all this, that I believe had one of the gods promised him their restoration by other hands, he would have shunned the imperial dignity with all his might. Thus he did not. aspire to the possession of power, but to the means of doing good to his states. Now, as the wish was growing strong in the bosoms of all educated men, that the world should be cured of its distresses through this man's prudence, against his brother Gallus there came a false accusation, and letters were discovered containing the blackest treachery; and when the culprits were punished ¹¹ |130 for this (for he was not a likely person to reward them for it, after having been thus provoked), it was decided at Court that he who had inflicted punishment was guilty for what he had done----so he was destroyed in silence, the sword having anticipated his defence of his conduct. Upon this our hero was arrested and kept a prisoner in the midst of armed men of fierce look and rough voice, and, by their actions, making imprisonment appear a trifle;¹² to this was added his not being stationary in one place of confinement, but having to change one prison for another for the mere purpose of annoying him. And this treatment he suffered though no charge was brought against him, either small or great----for how could that be, because he had lived at a distance, from his brother, of more than three hundred posts?¹³ and even letters he only sent to his brother rarely, and those confined to mere compliments; in consequence of which no one came forward to accuse him, even falsely; but nevertheless, he was tormented, as I have said, for no other reason than because the two had one father. On this occasion again, he deserves to be admired for not having courted favour with the murderer by declarations against him that was dead, nor yet exasperating the living by speeches in defence of the same; but whilst he honoured the memory of the one by secret grief, he gave the other no occasion for a second murder, strongly as he desired it. So well and honourably did he bridle his own tongue, and this, too, though the annoyances that surrounded him rendered it no easy task; so that by his patience he gagged the mouths of the wickedest of men. Nevertheless, not even this |131 would have sufficed for his preservation, nor have checked the malice of those enraged against him without a cause; but an "Ino daughter of Cadmus," looked down upon him, so tempest-tossed, in the person of the wife of Constantius----the one she pitied, the other she softened, and, by dint of many prayers, obtained his liberty, longing, as lie was, for Greek, and, above all, for that "Bye of Greece," Athens, to send him to the desired place. Assuredly this marks a soul come down from the gods, that when he set about the choice of a residence, did not look out for gardens, or palaces, or forests, or ¹⁴ lands situated upon arms of the sea, or the pleasure arising from other sources, numerous as they are, all of which were before him, if he remained in Ionia----but he esteemed as trifles what others esteem important in comparison with the City of Minerva, the birthplace of Plato and of Demosthenes, and of every other variety of wisdom. He came thither in all haste, with the view of adding to what he already knew, and to meet with teachers able to furnish him with something more than he already possessed. But when he held intercourse with them and afforded them the opportunity of testing him, whilst he got the same opportunity for trying them, he filled them with astonishment, rather than experiencing the same feeling himself; and he was the only one of the young men who came to Athens that went away having rather imparted than received instruction. On this account there was always to be seen around him, like a swarm of bees, a crowd of young and old, philosophers and rhetoricians; the deities, too, kept an eye upon him, being well aware that it was he who should restore to them, their hereditary rights. He was equally to be admired for his eloquence and his modesty, for there was no subject he ever discoursed upon without blushing: |132 all persons enjoyed his affability, the best men his confidence also; and first among them all was He, our fellow-citizen, the only man without reproach, that had subdued envy by his merit.

Now, it was the youth's intention to spend his life and end his days at Athens, and this he had judged the height of happiness; but the state of affairs demanding a second emperor because the provinces upon the Rhine were being ravaged, and the generals sent there were aspiring to more than their due,¹⁵ the man is summoned to rule who was studying philosophy at Athens, because, from this very pursuit of philosophy, he inspired with confidence in him that person who had injured him most deeply----for though he had been the murderer of his father and his brothers, some of them long before, but one recently, nevertheless he hoped that his pledges of fidelity would be faithfully kept, and that his good disposition would prove stronger than his causes for complaint. The one party, in truth, was not wrong in his confidence in the virtue of the other; but there was nothing in his own conduct to induce the latter to believe that the honour done him would not turn out a snare, for the blood already spilt gave him cause to suspect it; but there being no way to decline the offer, he, with tears in his eyes, invokes the goddess, and having prayed her to defend him, took his departure.

Being made colleague in power, he is sent off forthwith to face labours that demand the hands of a Hercules, for the affairs of the Gauls, who dwell most remote upon the ocean, were then in the following condition. Constantius being at war with Magnentius, who had usurped another man's empire, though he governed it in accordance with the laws,¹⁶ thought himself justified in trying every |133 expedient to upset his enemy, and actually by means of letters opens to the barbarians the Roman territories, giving them leave to take possession of as much as they were able, When this impunity was given to them, and the treaties binding the barbarians were annulled by these instructions, they overran the country, in the complete absence of anyone to prevent (because Magnentius had got all his troops in Italy),¹⁷ they make booty of the flourishing towns of Maesia; villages are destroyed, walls battered down, property carried off, women and children, and magistrates followed the train carrying, poor wretches! their own goods upon their shoulders; whilst he that would not submit to be a slave, seeing his wife and daughter a prey to violence, wept and slew himself; and after our goods had been transported to the enemies' country, the conquerors cultivated our land with their own hands, but their own territory by the hands of their captives. And again, those towns that had escaped sacking through the strength of their walls, had no land except an extremely small portion left for their support, and therefore were consumed by famine, and were driven to every possible resource for food, until they were reduced to so small a number of souls that their towns served them both for towns and fields, and the uninhabited part within the fortifications was sufficient to be cultivated; for the ox was yoked, the plough was dragged, the seed was cast, and the wheat-ear sprung up, and the reaper, the thresher, and all suchlike occupations were seen within the city gates; so that one would not have said that those carried away captive were any more to be pitied than those left at home.¹⁸ And the person that had bought his victory at so |134 dear a rate, at first indeed rejoiced and boasted himself, but when his treason had come to light, and Rome was all but crying out against him on account of being thus dismembered, he had not the courage to drive away the insolent spoilers by running any danger of his own; but obliged the youth to turn soldier, who had just been dragged from the schools into the din of arms; and, strangest thing of all, he was anxious that one and the same person should prove at once stronger and weaker than the enemy, doing the former out of his desire to recover his territories, the other out of envy to his colleague. And that he had sent him off quite as much to perish as to conquer, he immediately made evident: for though he possessed a military force as great as had previously kept these empires in order, and numerous foot soldiers, numerous cavalry, whose invulnerability, by reason of their armour, is, I think, most formidable,¹⁹ he gave orders that he should be followed by no more than three hundred of the very worst of his infantry,²⁰ pretending that he would find soldiers in those long before stationed whither he was bound, these being men who had long been taught how to be beaten, and whose trade it was to be blockaded.

Nothing of all this disturbed our hero, or rendered him timid; but though he then tasted arms and war for the first time in his life, and was about to command cowardly troops against foes invariably victorious, he wore his armour as though he had from the beginning handled the shield instead of books; he marched as boldly as though |135 at the head of ten thousand Ajaxes. Two things made him such as he was----the one his philosophy, and his knowing that good counsel is stronger than force of hands;²¹ the other, his confidence that the gods were on his side. For he had learnt how that Hercules had escaped from the Styx through Minerva's interposition. Of the good will of Heaven towards him, the tokens were from the first as plain as he could wish; for though he was summoned out of Italy in the dead of winter, when it was a very possible thing for anyone not having the shelter of a roof to perish through the frost and the snowfalls, he enjoyed so cheerful a sunshine in his journey that they all marched along calling the season spring, and the cold was vanquished before the enemy was beaten. And again, the following was a presage of better fortune: as he was passing through a little town, the first he came to in the province committed to him, a crown of branches (for the townsfolk tie many such on high from strings stretched from the house-walls to the pillars), one of these crowns wherewith we decorate our cities getting loose from its fastening, dropped upon the head of the prince and fitted it exactly----a shout arose on all sides. By the crown, I fancy, were foreshown his future trophies, and that he came to conquer. And if the sender had allowed him to set to work immediately, and carry out his own plans, he would have had at once all the benefit of the change; but, as it was, he was master of no one thing beyond his general's uniform----his officers were his masters; for such had been the determination of the person who had sent him that the latter should direct and he obey.²² But he remembering Ulysses, and the deeds of Ulysses, put up with all this. Now it so happened that it pleased the commanders to |136 remain inactive ("to sleep on"), and this conduct made the enemy bold, seeing that they retained, now that the prince was come, the same superiority as they possessed before. But nevertheless, though he was thus hampered in the beginning, and went around the provinces merely for the purpose of inspection (for this was the only authority granted him), yet his name and presence had such influence that forthwith one of those towns that had been long blockaded, and cooped up,²³ sallied forth and cut off the barbarian that was occupying their land close up to the walls, and another town did the same to another horde, and so on; whilst a daring night escalade was repulsed by a handful of old men, long discharged the service on account of age. For the enemy had brought ladders and set them up against an unguarded gate (a plan through which they had surprised many towns); but the others, so soon as they discovered the attempt, making a weapon out of whatever came in their way, ran with their decrepit feet, shouting aloud the name of the prince. So the old fellows got the better of them (just like those of Myronides); some of the enemy they slew, others threw themselves down from the wall and were killed. From another quarter was made a sally against the barbarians by young men never used to such things in the time before. So the one party turned and fled, whilst the others revelled in their slaughter----not that they saw the prince, but had been encouraged by the fact that he was near them. Others again, who were intending to desert their habitations, cast away their fears and remained there. And when the barbarians, sallying out of a thick wood, had attacked the rear of his line df march, the whole affair took such a turn that those who had hoped to harm him were themselves cut to pieces, and he that slew an enemy brought in as a proof the head of the slain; for a certain price was set on every head, and the great eagerness for cutting off heads |137 was its natural result----for that most clever of men purged their souls of cowardice by means of the lust of gain, and the wish to get something incited them to be courageous. Such of the barbarians who had taken refuge in the islands formed by the Rhine, fell a prey to those of our men that reached them either by swimming or in boats, and our towns were provisioned with their flocks and herds. And of the two largest cities of the province, the prince having found the one reduced to distress through the innumerable attacks of the barbarians, the other totally depopulated and lying in ruins from its recent sack, he lent a helping hand to the latter for the purpose of its rebuilding, and stationed a strong garrison within it. The other, so utterly destitute of all things, that the people were forced by necessity to feed upon things contrary to all custom,²⁴ he encouraged to better hopes. Seeing this, a king of no inconsiderable part of the enemy's country, came over to make his excuses, on the ground that he had done no great harm, and to solicit his alliance; and because there seemed some justice in what he said, a truce is agreed upon for a short time, for he made the barbarian more submissive through the fear of what was to follow. In this manner, and to a yet greater extent than this, he inspected the province, and grew strong, although he had not yet attained to the full authority of doing what he had in his mind.

And when that fellow ²⁵ was got rid off that was so afraid of the enemy, and so insolent to his friends, and there came as his successor (Sallustius Secundus), a man of the highest character in other respects, and not without experience in military affairs, and most of the obstacles in his way had been removed----then, truly then, the time had come to the prince for the full display of his |138 ability. To take a review of the facts: when it appeared to the elder one (the Prefect) to be advisable to make an inroad across the river upon the enemy, a thing which his junior had long been wishing for, and chafing against the restraint by which he was bound----then Constantius perceiving that his forces were but small, and not equal to his courage, despatched to his aid a double number of his own troops----that is to say, thirty thousand foot soldiers, appointing for their commander a person (Barbatio) that was supposed to know how to use his power. It was fixed that the two armies should be joined in one, but when there was no great distance between both as they drew together, the elder general being afraid his junior should get a share in the victory, and at the same time thinking his own force sufficient for the purpose, gives orders not to unite with the other army, and crosses the river alone. But whilst he is throwing a bridge of boats over the river, the barbarians cut down a wood higher up, and let great trunks of trees float down the stream, which striking against the boats, scatter some, tear loose others, and sink others to the bottom. His first attempt being thus frustrated, the general went off precipitately, and his thirty thousand troops with him, whilst the enemy were not content with the having suffered no loss, but thought it was now their turn to inflict some; they crossed the river in pursuit, caught him up, slew some of his men, and returned home with songs of triumph; they also followed up one action with another, and from words they proceeded to what comes next.

Now when they were all got home again, and the prince felt his strength, he provisioned with corn both castles and towns out of the spoils made upon the enemy, employing for this purpose, as far as was possible, the labour of his own soldiers. The ruined places, too, were rebuilt; and the prince, though in winter quarters a long way from the Rhine, was able to get early intelligence of the movements of the enemy by means of couriers |139 receiving the message in succession: for previously the large extent of country lying desolate had precluded him from the discovery of their designs. In this way, indeed, when they (the Germans) learnt that the Romans, on Roman land, were reaping the crops that belonged to them, they were indignant, as though their paternal fields were being cut by strangers, they sent a herald, and by his hands they exhibited the letters (of Constantius) which made the land their own, and declared "that he was contravening the determinations of his senior colleague, and must confess as much; that he must either abide by the written orders, or, if he wished for more, must expect to fight for it." But the prince said that the man had been sent merely as a spy, otherwise their chief would not have been so audacious as to send such a message, and therefore detained him; and remembering himself the exhortations which he had heard the generals of old delivering in history, and well aware that speech of the sort preceding action renders the soldier more courageous for the struggle, he delivered a harangue which I would very gladly have inserted in the present oration, but as the rule in such cases does not allow it, I will only say that it at once made fighting more to the taste of his hearers than doing nothing was before.²⁶ It was determined that the cavalry should form either wing, the legionaries occupy the centre; the best men of these two arms to be in the right wing around the prince. This order ought to have been concealed from the enemy; it did not, however, escape them, owing to the treachery of some deserters. And when the enemy had effected a crossing of the Rhine, the prince, though it was in his power to prevent it, would do nothing of the sort, nor even fall upon a small detachment of them, but as soon as there were thirty thousand of them over, he came down before that |140 several times as many should reinforce them, for they had resolved, as was afterwards ascertained, that not one of their fighting-men should be left at home. Both things, therefore, are worthy of admiration in his conduct----that he did not attack the first force, nor wait for that which was on the move. The first would have been trifling, the second a matter of the greatest danger; the one would have been the conduct of a timid, the other of a rash commander. For this reason he did not prevent their passing over to a larger number, and by a great deal too, than his own force, whilst by his attack he checked what was flocking in to their aid.

And as for the barbarians, who were well informed of his arrangements, the braver part of their men were set against the better troops on the Roman side, whilst they had strengthened their own right wing with a reserve which they concealed behind an elevated water-course, overgrown with reeds, that country being marshy, that concealed them sitting down. Nevertheless, they did not thus escape the eyes of the Romans upon the extreme left; but these as soon as they discovered them ran down with a shout, and starting them out of their cover, began the chase, and threw into confusion by their means as much as half their army, flight causing flight, that of the first occasioning that of the second, and in this engagement there is something similar to the sea-fight between the Corinthians and the Corcyrseans, for in that one also it was the fate of either side to be beaten and to beat; for in reality each side gained the day; for when the right wing of the Romans, surrounding the prince, was hard pressed (being the picked men of one side, and assailed by the picked men of the other), then not even those who carried the standards, soldiers the most practised in keeping their place, any longer preserved their order, and were giving way, the prince shouting aloud and copying the words of the Son of Telamon (for the one said, "that were the ships destroyed no escape remained for the |141 Greeks," whilst the other declared "that if they were beaten the towns would close their gates against them, and no one would give them food"), added at last "that if they had determined to fly they must first kill him, and then run away, for that so long as he was living he would not suffer them;" and at the same time pointed out to them those barbarians who had been worsted by those who had put them to flight; and when our men partly heard, partly saw this, and were shamed by the one, and inspirited by the other, they turned again and renewed the combat, and the disgrace was cancelled, and everybody engaged in the pursuit to such a degree that the guards of the baggage train, left on the top of the hill, were seized with a desire to take part in what was going on; and as they hurried down, and their running became visible, they presented to the barbarians the appearance of a larger force than they really were----there was no longer one of them that chose to stand his ground, so that the place was strewed with eight thousand corpses, the Rhine hidden by the bodies of those drowned through their want of knowing how to swim; the islands of the river were full of the dead lying about, whilst the victors went after those that had concealed themselves in the woods, whilst to the most remote barbarians corpses and arms carried down by the stream told the tale of the battle. But----greatest luck of all----when netting the fugitives on the islands, in this chase they caught the chief along with his subjects, and carried him off by catching hold of his hands, without stripping him of his armour, being a man very tall and very handsome, attracting all eyes both by his personal appearance and by his equipment. The sun after beholding all this came to his setting. The barbarian chief our prince questioned concerning his audacious attempt----he admired him so long as he used language that displayed courage; but when he followed up his spirited beginning with a base conclusion, showing fear for his life, and begging for |142 safety----much as he was disgusted with his behaviour, yet he did him no harm, nor deposed him, out of respect for his previous high fortune, and the consideration of the mighty change brought about by a single day. Which of the festivals amongst the Greeks could one compare to that evening, when the leaders were drinking with one another, and counting up to each other all those they had borne down in the battle, whilst some were laughing, others singing, and others bragging of their exploits! He that was debarred from food on account of his wounds, found a sufficient consolation in the wounds themselves; even in their dreams those warriors were conquering the barbarians, and during the night again they were reaping the pleasure of what they had toiled for in the day; for it was after a long, a very long, interval of misfortune that they had erected this trophy over the barbarians, and were the more greatly rejoiced by the unexpectedness of the event. And yet----whether it was that they were naturally cowards, but that Julian had made them heroes, like some god inspiring them with courage, and the strength to do what was greater even than too great for man. Nay rather, they were brave souls whom badness of their former leaders had paralyzed. And what is more glorious than to lead the good to the opportunity of exhibiting their virtues? But it was some deity, I believe, that, working unseen, had rendered their actions more splendid; and truly 'tis more respectable to fight with heaven on one's side, for in my opinion it is more to the glory of the Athenians to have performed what history tells at Marathon with the aid of Hercules and Pan, than had they achieved the same victory without the help of the gods.

Now any other man, after so great a victory, would have disbanded his army, and returned to his capital to feast his eyes with circus races and theatrical amusements, and have reposed himself----not so Julian. The bearers of the standards, who had given way, he punished in order |143 to teach them to keep their post; yet spared their lives, granting to their victory the remission of the capital sentence: but the Giant, the king, his prisoner, he sends to Constantius ²⁷ as the news-bearer of his own fall; considering it to be his own duty to labour, but to give up all prizes of the sort to his superior----like Achilles conceding his booty to Agamemnon. The latter held a triumph upon the occasion, and plumed himself, and was glorious through another man's dangers; inasmuch as the German chief also, who had crossed over in company with the one in question, but had advised not fighting, Julian so terrified by what had happened, that he made him run off, and throw himself into the hands of Constantius. In this way the latter became master of both the kings, the one giving himself up, the other taken prisoner.

But I will repeat what was said above, Julian did not fall into the same weakness as those conquerors, whom a victory dismisses into amusements and idleness: he did not allow his soldiers, desirous as they were of it, to lay down their arms; but holding that what had been done was the act of men defending only their own, whereas it behoves the brave to exact vengeance also for what they have suffered, he led them into the enemy's land, instructing and telling them that what remained to be done was short, and rather an amusement than a labour, as the barbarians were like a wild beast that had been hit and was waiting for the finishing stroke. And he was not in the wrong; for when they crossed over, the natives that were of age to bear arms deposited their women and children in the woods, and saved themselves by flight. But Julian wasted their villages with fire, and brought out all that was concealed; the trees did not hinder him: |144 forthwith there came an embassy using humble languaage, suited to their present evil case. The proposals were these, that the Romans should stop where they were, and desist from ravaging the country, and hold them in future for friends. He makes a truce, in fact, and the term of the truce was the present winter only; from which, even without a truce, the natives would perhaps have gained a respite. Thus much, then, did he concede to the vanquished; but he himself accepted not of it; for a thousand Franks,²⁸ to whom snow and flowers are equally pleasant, who were pillaging some villages in the middle of which was a deserted castle, he shut up in this castle, surrounded them with a palisade, and forced them, by famine to surrender, whom he then sent off to his superior in chains,----a most unheard-of thing, for it is a law with those warriors either to conquer or to perish: and nevertheless they were made prisoners, having suffered the same fate with the Lacedaemonians at Sphacteria. Now the emperor, who received these prisoners, styled them a gift, and incorporated them with his own legions, believing that he was placing amidst the latter towers of strength: so much was each of these Franks a match for many ordinary mortals!

Now this was one exploit of such importance in the winter: another followed not inferior to it. A whole tribe having unexpectedly run down upon the country, he hastened off himself for the purpose of expelling them, with the aid of the troops stationed to guard the part in danger: the latter, however had discovered the incursion, and before his arrival had repulsed the enemy with no small loss of men. Thus the prince, both when present and when coming, was alike victorious: and these things he achieved just starting up from amidst his books; or rather, in marching against the adversary, he marched with his books, for he had always in his hands either |145 bodies or arms, believing that war was wonderfully assisted by philosophy, and that a prince competent to give counsel threw more weight into the scale than a fighting one. For example, the two following things were assuredly of the greatest advantage to the public, and display a certain ingenuity of invention----his augmenting the zeal of the brave by the rewards that he obtained for them from him who awarded things of the sort; and his making those that plundered the possessions of the enemy masters of all that they should seize: for this very thing was clearly of a piece with the order, that whoever brought in the head of an enemy should receive a piece of gold for his bravery.

His reputation spreading at once over the world, every soldier loved the man that was a lover of action; men of letters loved him also; and of those residing at Athens, such as were conscious of their merit, flocked to him, as of old the philosophers to Lydia, to the court of Croesus. But Croesus exhibited to Solon his treasures of money, because he possessed nothing more precious than them----whereas Julian unlocked to the comers the treasures of his soul, wherein ²⁹ lay the gifts of the Muses: the prince also composed verses with which to compliment his visitors; and even now you may meet with and read the same. Thus, then, did he hold revels with the servants of Mercury and of Jove: but when the season gave the signal, he forthwith marches out, and upsetting everything in the neighbourhood of the river (the Rhine), he so terrified the natives that they begged leave to change their residence and become a part of the Roman dominion, thinking it more desirable to live under him than in their own country: they asked for lands and they received |146 some: and he employed barbarians against barbarians, deeming it a much finer thing to pursue with such means, than to fly in company with his own side. So much indeed was achieved without fighting: but having determined to cross the river a second time, and in the absence of boats having obliged his horse and foot to swim the river, he advanced, laying waste and taking booty, for there was no one to hinder him: late at last did the unhappy natives sue for mercy, just before the fire touched. But he, thinking that the day had now come which should heal all the wounds of the Gauls, at first dismissed the suppliants with contempt; but when they returned again, bringing their chiefs in person as suppliants, and they who bore the sceptre humbled themselves to the ground, then, reminding them of their long-continued insolence and their innumerable offences, he bade them purchase peace by healing the mischief they had done, by rebuilding towns, and bringing back persons. They promised, and did not fail: timber and iron were brought in for the rebuilding of the houses; and every one of the captives was set at liberty, and caressed by the man that just before flogged him, in order that they should bear no malice: whilst they had to give proof of the death of all whom they did not restore amongst those they had carried off; and the truth, in such cases, was judged of by the released captives. From the Ten Thousand soldiers of Xenophon, verily the first sight of the sea, after such a multitude of mountains crossed and toils endured, drew forth a shout and tears mingled with joy; and they embraced one another, the partners in so many dangers; but these men did the same, not when they saw the sea, but when they saw each other; some of them beholding relatives escaped out of slavery; the latter recovering again family and home: and all wept with them who, though not sharing in the relationship, yet beheld their em-bracings; and tears flowed, far sweeter than the former tears; some of which were shed for those long separated |147 from home, some for those now once more united. Thus, on that occasion, did the war both tear asunder and bring together the natives of Gaul; the first part being brought about by the cowardice of the leaders, the second part by their bravery. Now the town halls were filled, and population, and trades, and revenues of money grew apace, and the betrothals of daughters, and marriages of young men, and journeys from home, and feasts and solemn assemblies, resumed their former order; so that were one to style this prince the founder of those cities, he would not be far wrong. For some towns he gathered together again after they were dispersed, to others that were all but emptied he restored the inhabitants; and the fact of no one's fearing his neighbour inspired fear into others. No longer therefore on the approach of winter did any of the barbarians sail out on their accustomed piratical expeditions; but they stayed at home, and fed on their own things, not so much truly out of respect for treaties as out of fear of war; since even those that had not obtained a truce, the terror hanging over them warned to keep quiet. That greatest of all islands under the sun, and which the ocean encompasses, he viewed in his deliberations, and sends ³⁰ (to Constantius) the accounts of the expenditure, which by name was military, but in reality was the perquisite of the governors; and those who committed this fraud he compelled to be honest. A second thing he did much more important than this, and extremely beneficial to the Gauls. The corn that was brought formerly from that island, after the sea-passage, |148 by way of the Rhine, the barbarians, after they had got the upper hand, did not allow to pass; so the merchant-ships were drawn up on the shore and left to rot, and but few put to sea; and of these the cargo was discharged in the seaports (on the Gallic coast), and waggons served instead of the river [for its conveyance inland];³¹ and the business was one of the greatest expense. Endeavouring, therefore, to change this, and thinking it grievous if he could not put the corn-trade upon its old footing, in the first place he appointed sailing ³² ships of war (which had not been done before), and planned in what way the river should receive the corn for him.

Whilst he was engaged in these matters, a subordinate prosecuted his superior for peculation. For Florentius used to sit in judgment as Prefect, and being trained to robbery, and having, too, on the present occasion been bribed by the defendant, vented his rage upon the plaintiff out of goodwill towards a brother in the trade. But as his rascality did not escape detection, and people were talking to each other of it, and the whispering annoyed even his own ears, he begged the prince to try the case himself. The latter, however, refused, on the ground that this power had not been given to him. And this Florentius did, not for the sake of obtaining a just sentence, but from supposing that Julian would side with him, even though he were proved guilty. But when he perceived that the truth had more influence than his favour with the prince, he was grieved to the soul, and calumniated by letters [to Constantius] the person ³³ with whom he [Julian] was most intimate, for egging on the young prince, and he caused his |149 expulsion from the palace, though he stood in the place of a father to the Caesar. In return therefore the latter did honour to his friend by a composition which to the present day testifies to his grief upon their separation, but whilst he smarted under the wrong, he at the same time stuck fast to what was left him; nor did he become any the worse disposed though so greatly injured, nor did he think it right to exact vengeance from the Roman empire for the ill-treatment he had suffered: on the contrary, he went down to the very Ocean and rebuilt a city called Heraclea,³⁴ the work of Hercules, and he brought the corn-ships into the Rhine, whilst those who were expecting to prevent their entrance were ready to choke with rage, but yet unable to hinder him. He then marched along, skirting the land of those under truce, in order that he might not in spite of himself do them any damage by marching through them against the enemy. And so at once the transports sailed along, and the army of the enemy moved in line with them with the object of preventing them from throwing a bridge across the stream. On this occasion let each contemplate this consummate general, and how there was no impossibility that he did not at once contrive to meet! For when as he advanced and reconnoitred the opposite bank he espied a suitable place, such that if occupied it would afford security to the occupiers, having left behind some vessels and a small body of his own troops in a hollow place of his own bank, he advanced himself and obliged the enemy to move on an equal distance: but when he pitched his camp at night he gives the signal to those left behind to cross over and seize the place. These obeyed orders, and took possession of it, whilst the others returned and made a bridge, commencing from their own side and terminating in the place that had been occupied. This |150 inspired the barbarians with the idea of more than one bridge having been made, and they supposed that there were not a few of the dangers surrounding them that they were not aware of. Therefore they thought better of such as had already come to terms, and came themselves begging for the same treatment and upon the same conditions. But Julian after burning and spoiling their land, when at last he was satiated, comes to terms with them; and again occur the restoration of captives and many tear-moving scenes, similar to the first.

Now when the Gauls and the surrounding Barbarians had thus resumed their original conditions, the former blooming once more, the latter drooping; the former engaged in festivals, the latter lying in lamentations; the one having lost the power which they thought they should hold for ever, the others having recovered the force to which they never hoped to return again; and every voice was singing his praises, not so much for his success in arms as for his sagacity; there fell upon him envy on the part of the man that owed him triumphal wreaths: and the part of the army that was in fine condition and ready for all service,³⁵ this person summoned and sent for, whilst that which was invalided and formed a cypher instead of a reality he allowed to remain, his pretext being the Persian War, and that the peaceful state of Gaul did not require an army; just as though oaths were not easily trampled upon by the faithlessness of barbarians, and it were not needful that the security of arms should be added to that of treaties of peace. I think, however, that Constantius did not require any larger force against the Persians than what was already with him, for a part was sufficient; and after having assembled so great a host he would never |151 have come to blows with the Persians, because he had resolved to defer ib for ever. Far different, however, was his motive: he wished to blast the prince's actions and growing reputation; nay, rather to ruin that which he had gained, by bringing again upon him and his few worn-out soldiers the flower of the barbarians, for he was desirous that a contrary report to the then prevailing one should be everywhere spread abroad, namely, "that Julian himself is shut up and besieged, that nothing checks the enemy, but they are again taking towns, and pulling down cities, and seizing upon and cultivating the land of others." For he was well aware that however good a general that prince might be, he would suffer the same fate with the pilot of a great ship deprived of sailors, for not even his skill would compensate for the want of the whole crew to the vessel. Thus did that most excellent sovereign begrudge the power he had himself bestowed to him that had shaken off the yoke of the barbarians.

The high-minded prince, therefore, being reduced to desperation, and seeing that his ruin would be the consequence both of obedience and of disobedience (for the stripping himself of his forces involved his slaughter by the enemy, but his retaining them by his friends), he preferred to be left alone and meet his fate rather than seem to be disloyal; deeming more tolerable the blow from the enemy than that which his kinsman was about to strike him. Thus he gave permission to the sycophants of his elder colleague to do what they wished; and these, beginning with his very guardsmen and those whom he most trusted, rushed through the whole army picking out men until they left him soldiers fit for nothing but to say their prayers. And he put up with this, not indeed without tears, yet he thought proper to suffer it. But when the dispersed cohorts were set in motion from all quarters, a lamentation was raised to heaven from every side, from poor and rich, slaves and free men, farmers, townsfolk, men and women, young and old, thinking they |152 were all but cast for a prey to their enemies, and that the evils long since ³⁶ eradicated were about to spring up once more. But above all, those women that had had children by the soldiers point to their infants, especially those at the breast, and shaking these on high instead of supplicatory boughs, besought the prince not to betray them.³⁷ When the latter heard all this, he advised those who were come from Italy to lead the soldiers off by a different route, and keep them far away from the city in which he was stationed and was then residing, for he was afraid, I suppose, lest they should do what they actually did well in doing. But as those fellows (the imperial commissioners) paid no attention to his advice, but led into the city the flower of the legions, of whom he was henceforth despoiled, the entire population began to entreat them to remain, and save all for whose sake they had laboured. They, on their part, felt pity for the petitioners, and were averse to the journey. The prince perceiving this, addressed them from the usual tribunal in front of the city, to the effect that there was no debating about what had been already settled by his superior. They for a long while received his address in silence, and made no response; but when it became evening, or rather about midnight, they put on their armour and surrounded the palace; they shouted out and gave him the supreme dignity and title. He was indignant at what happened; but nothing was to be done, except to forbid anyone indoors to touch a bolt. But when day showed itself they broke open a door and dragged him out, brandishing their swords, to the same tribunal; and then came a long strife between expostulation and clamour, whilst the one was speechifying in order to prevent the step into which he was being drawn,³⁸ the others |153 endeavouring to vanquish him by their noise. But when he declined the fillet of gold, and sheltered himself under the excuse ³⁹ of the ancient custom, a certain man, tall and superior in other respects, standing behind him, put round his head the torques he was himself wearing, and invested him with the higher dignity.

Vanquished, therefore, by necessity, and unable to repress the ungovernable passion boiling in them, he made his first display of high spirit in the case of the very men who had bestowed this power upon him, for instead of seeking means to find them pay, and courting them with large donatives, he made proclamation that they must take his will for law; and therefore it was his pleasure that no one of such as had opposed what had taken place should be molested, nor the sword be drawn against them, nor to terrify them by a look, nor annoy them by a word, but to treat in the same manner those that had fought against their purpose as those who had shared in it. And yet, what other man in his place would not have stimulated them, to vengeance? Not so he----he wished not to pollute his accession to empire with bloodshed or the charge of treason. For this reason he issued orders moderating their zeal; and forthwith those who had trembled made their appearance cheerful and bold, and stood around his throne, grateful for escaping death; for which escape they did not make a fitting return; but "in payment for a benefit they were not bound" ⁴⁰ (according to the proverb), on the contrary, they plotted how to kill the prince by stimulating by great promises to the deed the eunuchs highest in office in the bedchamber. But when the murder was on the point of |154 accomplishment, a certain soldier was inspired by Apollo, and sang aloud what was about to happen, and called together the multitude to help, and traced out the conspiracy; and, wonderful to say, not even the creature who served as their instrument was put to death. But when he (Julian) perceived that those who favoured the other party, were conspiring close to him, and even had the impudence to say on one occasion that perhaps it were better for him to descend to his former station, and quit that which he now held; he taking ihe gods for the only competent advisers in such great emergencies, consulted them, and received answer that he must remain in the post he held. And having thus received the vote of heaven in his favour, as well as the unanimous sanction of the army, he despatches governors to all the cities; in place of bad ones, good men; in place of dunces, men of education. He also formed an army out of those who had been forced to turn banditti, the men who having joined Magnentius in his enterprise and been unsuccessful, had taken to the highways, and maintained themselves by unlawful means. These men he called to arms, giving them impunity to show themselves, and thus freed them from the necessity of crime, and travellers from the fear of them. Then marching to the Rhine, and having shown the Barbarians his head [with the imperial diadem], and having bound them with strong oaths, he hastened away to the contest sorely against his will,----or rather to the succession to the sceptre, without war against his kinsman: for he had learnt from the gods, and knew what was about to happen. But stop! I have omitted a circumstance well worthy of mention, and this must be related. When envoys were passing to and fro on both sides, and those from that part of the world (Julian's side) petitioning that he might continue in his present dignity [of Augustus] but to enjoy nothing more in reality ----those from this quarter insisting that he should descend entirely from that title, and return in all points to his |155 original condition;⁴¹ which meant for himself to perish, with the greater part, that was attached to him, of the army, and his friends to boot; for his own death he cared but little, but held it atrocious to turn traitor to those most dear, when these things were going on and Constantius was again having recourse to his old device of calling in the barbarians by letter, in the same way as before, and begging them as a personal favour to enslave the Roman territory----he allows but one only out of many to break their engagements. This one both plundered the country, and at the same time kept up a revel in the lands which he had gotten for his reward; and just as though he were doing no wrong, he used to go and feast with the generals of our side; and kept at his potations the very person who winked at his breaking the truce. Julian, however, crossed over into his country and inflicted on him a punishment that no one can blame: for when all those chiefs flocked together in great alarm who had kept their faith, and were grievously ashamed of this one's transgressions, and added oaths upon oaths of fidelity----he mounted upon a lofty tribunal in the middle of the Barbarian country, and looking from above upon their chiefs standing together with the multitude in the attitude of subjects, after partly reminding them of his benefits, partly threatening them in case of disobedience, he took his departure. And by this time a certain force had been got together, of which not so much the amount as the zeal was to be admired, who bound each other by promises and pledges that full surely they would do everything, endure everything for the sake of victory; and would fear nothing save the disgrace arising from the not keeping their word. But as the oath was going the round of all, |156 a certain man, or rather hermaphrodite,⁴² Nebridius, who was Prefect, having received this appointment from the elder emperor, found fault with what was being done, and condemned the oath, and refused it, giving those that had sworn it the name of Barbarians;⁴³ such a sycophant was he. And having thus drawn down upon himself universal indignation, he would deservedly have been cut to pieces by the man who had already wounded him, naturally enough, but was saved by being as it were "enveloped in a cloud;" ⁴⁴ and this mercifulness of Julian's some may with reason censure; so great, however, was the humanity of this our own sovereign.

Rushing thence like a torrent, mastering all that come in his way, ever growing in numbers, seizing upon the bridges, surprising his opponents in their sleep, feigning to attack them in a different quarter, but approaching them in the rear, making them expect something different and attempt things in vain; making use of the land, but when the rivers were not watched, sailing down them with a small party whenever it was possible; leaving the guards on the frontiers undisturbed, but taking possession of the towns; effecting all he had proposed through persuasion, through force, through stratagem. Such, for instance, was the following fact:----Having equipped his men in the armour of the soldiers whom he had captured, he sent them against a certain well fortified town; the people thought those approaching to be their own men, and opening their gates admitted the enemy. But the most pleasing thing of all was that----having seized beforehand on the beautiful Italy, and having also possessed himself in advance of the Italians, those excellent soldiers, |157 and their numerous and strong cities, and a territory sufficient for a great empire----on no one occasion was he laid under the necessity of fighting and bloodshed, but the mere opinion of him sufficed, with the news of the coming of the sovereign. Of mighty service also to his cause were the letters of that coward and traitor, with which he called on the Barbarians. Thus making his way by water and by land, through cities opened to him, and through opened camps; enumerating his labours in those noble manifestoes ⁴⁵ which exasperated the hearer against the one emperor, and gained him over to the other, and this too when he was bringing a very inconsiderable part of his army with him. Yet the Macedonians revolted in his favour, as did also Greece, which hailed the moment for which she was praying in silence and without an altar----for there was none. Opened was the temple of Minerva and the temples of the other gods, the emperor in person opening them, and honouring them with gifts, and himself offering sacrifice and exhorting others to do the like. And knowing that the gods had been brought to judgment before the Athenians, he condescended to give in a justification of his own conduct; and he, the sovereign, appointed the people of Erechtheus for his judges----sending them his defence in writing. For he held it to be the privilege of a tyrant not to be judged, but of a lawful sovereign to give the reasons for his actions.

In the course of his expedition, also, he pacified by means of letters a quarrel which had broken out between the consecrated families, and which was splitting the city into factions. So the Athenians offered sacrifice after long intermission, and prayed the gods for what they meant to give though no one should pray for it. Now he still advanced, having divided his forces into three |158 bodies; and this, too, although Thrace was occupied by the opposite party; for he hoped speedily to get the better of them. And when he arrived at the Bosporus with the intention of seizing the passage, posts brought him news from Cilicia announcing the death of his senior at the Springs; whom, whilst talking bigger than Xerxes of old, and deliberating how he should treat the person of his opponent (for he fancied he had him in his power before he caught him), Jove, that (as Sophocles hath it) "hateth the vauntings of the boastful tongue," had hampered with disease and carried him off. Now to others the news looked like a fiction, a contrivance, and a stratagem----a thing that ought to be distrusted; but Julian sent for a book out of his trunk, and showed them certain oracles, much older than the intelligence, and verified by that intelligence; and how that the messengers were come by the sending of God; who had promised them a victory unstained by bloodshed, and warned him to make haste, lest in his absence someone else might seize the empire. Reading this, therefore, and seeing that the war had met with an issue so good and so much to be desired, and hearing of the death of a man that had entertained the feelings of a savage beast towards himself, he did not turn to feasting and carousing, and the amusements of the theatre; but now that the oracles were fulfilled, and land and sea were subject to him, and no one dared to look him in the face, and all were agreed that all should belong to one; no longer constrained to anything that he did not please; and when all the palaces were unlocked to him, he burst into lamentation, and his tears dropped upon the prophecies, and everything gave way to natural feeling; his first inquiry was about the deceased, and "Where is the corpse, and has he received the honours due?" So kind was he towards the man that would have imitated the conduct of Creon ⁴⁶ towards himself! And his |159 attentions to the departed emperor did not stop here; he went down to the harbour of the capital, having assembled all the population, and whilst the corpse was carried across the water, he uttered lamentations; and held the coffin with his own hands, having laid aside all the marks of royalty except the robes----not deeming it right to blame the body for the things plotted by the soul. And after that personage had been honoured with the marks of respect befitting his station, the emperor made a beginning with the gods----that is, with the religion of the capital----by offering libation in the sight of all, taking pleasure in all its accompaniments; laughing at such as followed not his example; endeavouring to persuade, but not presuming to force their conscience. And yet terror was hanging over the corrupt; there was amongst them an expectation that they would have their eyes put out, have their heads cut off, and that rivers of blood would flow in massacres: "for the new sovereign will invent novel modes of compulsion, compared to which trifling will seem fire and sword, and throwing in the sea, and burying alive, and mutilation, and cutting to pieces:" for all these things had been done by those before him; and far more grievous than these did they expect. But he blamed such as did these things, as not effecting the object they aimed at; and had discovered there was no use in compulsion in matters of their sort: for though those that be sick in body one may cure by chaining them up, yet a false belief in matters of religion you cannot eradicate by cutting and burning: but even though the hand burns incense, the conscience blames and accuses the weakness of the body, and holds to the same things as at first; and 'tis an empty show of conversion, not a change of opinions: and the end is that part of them obtain toleration, and those put to death receive divine honours. Disapproving, therefore, of such measures, and seeing that the strength of the other party had been augmented by their slaughter, he avoided what he blamed in others; and such as were susceptible of |160 being reformed he led into the Truth, whilst those that preferred the worse part he did not drag there. He did not, however, cease exclaiming, "Whither are ye rushing, you fellows; and are ye not ashamed of considering Darkness brighter than the Light? Do ye not perceive that ye are affected by the same disease with the impious Giants, whose stature did not really differ from those of other men, so that they should throw their fabled weapons; but it was their contemning the power of the gods that gave rise to the fable!" For he well knew that he who handles this religion with understanding, will care for his soul above all things else, and of all the good things of the soul, for piety in the first place: for this has the same, the very same effect in human life as the keel in a ship, and the foundation in a house: for were he to make all men richer than Midas, every city greater than Babylon of old, and overlay with gold the walls of each city, yet should reform none of their errors in religion, he would be acting like a physician, who, having taken charge of a person full of maladies in every part of his body, should doctor everything except the eyes. For this reason he proceeded to the curing, in the first place, of men's souls, becoming their guide to the knowledge of those who in reality govern heaven, and holding dearer than his own kinsmen such as were instructed in these matters; esteeming as his friend him that was a friend to Jupiter, and as his enemy him that was hostile; or rather, as a friend to himself whosoever was a friend to Him, yet not as an enemy every one that was not yet a friend to Jove. For such as he hoped to convert in time, he did not chase away, but he enchanted and led them on, and the very men who at first refused, he finally showed dancing around his altars. But in the first place, as I have observed, he brought Piety, like a fugitive, home again; erecting some temples, restoring others, into others introducing seats.⁴⁷ Fines were |161 paid by such as had used the materials of temples for building their own houses: and one might behold columns carried back some in ships, others on waggons, to the plundered gods; and in all quarters were to be seen altars, and fire, and blood, and burning fat, and smoke, and ceremonies, and diviners released from fear: and on the tops of mountains were pipings, and processions, and the ox that sufficed at once for the worship of the gods and the banquet of men. And because it was not easy for the emperor to go out of his palace every day to a temple, whilst constant intercourse with heaven was a thing of the utmost importance, a temple was built in the centre of the palace to Him who rules the day; and he himself took his part of the Mysteries and communicated thereof to others; being both initiated and initiating. He erected also altars to all the gods separately. And his first action ever on leaving his bed was to converse by means of sacrifice with the upper powers, in this respect to surpass Nicias of old, so far did he stretch the limits of his zeal in these matters; bringing together the things lost, and adding new to the old. His chastity gave him a claim to have this confidence; and he that contemned all sensual pleasures was allowed to have his divinity close to his temple: ⁴⁸ for nothing was done there by night unworthy of such neighbours.

What, therefore, he had promised to gods and men before his accession, he thus brilliantly performed after it; such of the cities as kept their temples yet standing he was delighted with, even before this event, and declared them worthy of receiving the greatest favours; but those that had pulled down either all, or the greater part of them, he regarded as polluted; and though he gave them a share in his benefits, because they were his subjects, it was not without grudging. In doing this, and establishing and reconciling the gods to the earth, he resembled a |162 ship-builder who again equips a great ship, that has lost her rudders, with new ones----with this difference, that he was restoring the same defenders to the world.

After having made these regulations about the first and most important affairs, on looking into the state of the imperial court, and seeing a useless multitude kept for no purpose, a thousand cooks, and hairdressers no fewer, cup-bearers yet more numerous, swarms of waiters, eunuchs in number beyond the flies around the flocks in spring, and of all other descriptions an indescribable lot of drones, ----for the grand resource for the lazy and clever at eating, was to get themselves called and enrolled of the imperial household; and the piece of gold quickly produced the enrolment----these persons, then, whom the imperial treasury maintained to no purpose, he looked upon as an injury and not as servants----he expelled them forthwith. He also expelled along with them those numerous secretaries, who though holding the rank of domestic servants, yet pretended to make the prefects their subordinates; and it was not possible to live near them, nor to salute them at meeting, but they cheated, they robbed, they forced people to sell; some paying no price at all, others not the fair one; whilst some put off paying; some reckoned to orphans the fact of not hurting them for an equivalent of the money due to them; and they went about like the common enemies of all possessing anything fine, such as a horse, a slave, a tree, a piece of land, or a garden; for they considered that these things were rather their own property than that of the owners. And he that gave up his paternal inheritance to the stronger party, was an excellent fellow, and went off bearing this title in return for his property; whereas he who thought it hard to be thus treated was a murderer, a cheat, loaded with crimes, liable to punishment on many accounts. Thus making other men poor from rich, and themselves rich from poor, and growing wealthy through the poverty of those before opulent, and stretching forth their greediness to the |163 furthest limits of the world: they promised whatever they pleased on the part of the sovereign, and it was impossible to say them nay; but ancient cities were plundered, and beautiful things that had vanquished Time were brought across the seas, in order to make the houses of fullers' sons more gay than the imperial palace. And whilst these creatures were thus intolerable, there were many followers in each case, like lap-dogs, as the saying is, mimicking their mistresses, for there was not a servant of theirs that was not insolent, imprisoning people, pulling down, and embezzling, beating, ejecting, driving off, requiring forced labour on his land, to drive a pair of horses in his chariot, to be a master, nay, as great a one as his own lord----persons that were not satisfied with being rich, but were indignant if they did not participate in their master's dignity, as though by this means they could cloak, forsooth, their servile condition; and they, in league with their owners, had a purse that forced to tremble both street, prison, and city. These Cerberi, these many-headed monsters, he reduced to a private station, telling them to consider it clear gain that they were not put to death. A third band of rascals, officers that filched and picked pockets, and said and did everything with a view to gain, and who had defrauded their native countries of all due service from themselves, and had run away to wait upon the councils and law-courts, and culminating into imperial messenger, had bought for themselves the appointment of AGENTES IN REBUS,⁴⁹ and their pretence was of being watchmen, in order that the emperor might be apprised of whatever was plotted against him, bat in reality they were shopkeepers. For just as these open their doors of a morning, and look out for custom, so did they talk about jobs to the brokers of such matters, who |164 used to bring the working-men, although silent, on the pretence of speaking ill of the government, under the lash of those fellows----not in order that they might be lacerated, but that they should pay for the not-suffering such treatment. And no one was beyond their range; neither citizen, nor sojourner, nor foreigner, but even he that did no harm was destroyed if he did not pay; whereas the very great culprit, by sacrificing something, got off clear. Now their greatest resource for getting money was any offence against the government; for instead of giving up the person convicted to the fury of those that were aggrieved, they took the part of the conspirators, instead of those who had put them in places of trust, for the sake of a bribe. Furthermore, by sending youthful beauties to visit persons that made profession of chastity,⁵⁰ and thereby bringing them under the apprehension of loss of character, they stuck upon people entirely guiltless the evidence of liars; and had these two plans for very great sources of profit. And yet again, a third----more lucrative than both put together: by giving license to debase the coin to such as had the audacity to do so----out of the caves ⁵¹ where that business was carried on, they drew good |165 money in return for the forged, and revelled in luxury. In short, of the two sources of profit, the one lay in the unseen and clandestine; the other in what was public and open, and which received the colour of legality----being not much less productive than the first; so that on mentioning any province, they at once added the amount of money it was possible to draw from thence. These "Eyes," therefore, of the emperor, that pretended to bring all to light, and to make the bad virtuous through the impossibility of concealment, opened every road to villainy, and all but made proclamation of impunity, inasmuch as the preventers of crime, themselves sheltered the offenders ----like dogs turning confederates with the wolves. For this reason, it was as good as finding a treasure to have a share in these mines; for he that came an Irus, in a short time became a Callias. When, therefore, one "pumped away" after another, and the cities grew poorer, and those who carried on the trade grew richer, our emperor was long indignant at it, and declared he would stop it when he had the power, and having attained to power he did stop it; by dispersing the whole of that fraternity and abolishing the title and office in virtue of which they wasted and pulled down everything, employing his own men for the conveyance of letters, and not giving them authority to do things of the kind. This was, in fact, making the cities free in the strictest sense of the word (a)kribw~j); for so long as the man stood by, that had the power to do these things, it was impossible to breathe freely. One person was hit, another was on the point of it, and even to him that suffered no hurt, the expectation of being struck became equivalent to suffering the blow. Again, because the post-mules were worn out by unremitting employment, and because the lately mentioned persons killed them by starvation, whilst they provided |166 themselves with a Sybaris through their starvation (for what made the work excessive, and as it were hamstrung the beasts, was the fact that it was in the power of anyone that pleased to yoke a pair and drive off, and that the order of the emperor and of the imperial visitor (agens in rebus), were of equal force in this particular; so that the animals were never allowed to halt, or enjoy a feed; whilst the whip was never lifted off their backs to make them run, and twenty or even more were required for a single carriage; whilst as to most of them, some as soon as unyoked, dropped down dead; and others in the harness even before they were unfastened). From such a state of things, business that required despatch was impeded; and further, the cities incurred loss as far as money is concerned. That this department was in a miserable condition, the winter season particularly proved, the service of the post-mules being then interrupted in many places; so that the muleteers ran off and kept in the mountain fastnesses, whilst the hurrying travellers had no remedy save crying out and smiting upon the thigh; and not a few opportunities for business over-slipped their execution through the delays thus occasioned. I omit mentioning the horses that suffered the same treatment, and the asses still worse; the result being that the persons who carried on these services were completely ruined. This disorder, also, Julian put a stop to, by prohibiting all posting that was not absolutely necessary, and by declaring licences of this kind equally dangerous to grant and to receive; as well as by instructing his officers, some to keep beasts of their own, others to hire them when wanted. And a thing not to be believed was to be seen, that is, car-drivers exercising mules, and grooms horses; for, just as previously the animals had been spoilt by over-work, so now it was to be feared they would come to the same state through the long continuance of want of work.

In the next place he rendered the houses of his subjects |167 more opulent, for he exercised the same forethought with respect to the Councils [Curiae] in the towns, which of old used to nourish both with numbers and with wealthy persons, but these were reduced to nothing, all the members [Curiales] except a very few, having slunk off, part into the catalogue of the soldiery,⁵² part into the Great Senate; for others there was some other subterfuge to shelter them, so that they took their ease, and gratified their bodily wants, and laughed at such as walked not the same way with themselves: whilst those left in the Council, being a mere handful, were eaten up with expenses, and the holding of office ended to the greater part of them in their begging their bread. And yet who does not know that healthiness of the Council is the soul of the city? But Constantius, though curing men's souls with his "Word," ⁵³ was their enemy by his actions, by transferring to other places such as evaded that duty, and by granting illegal exemptions. The Councils, therefore, were like so many old women, wrinkled, half dead, all rags: and those that administered justice [the Prefects] agreed with them that they had been and were hardly used, and though disposed to help them, were nevertheless unable to give them any assistance. But it was fated that these also should recover their pristine vigour: and deserving of all praise is that Rescript that every man must be called before the Council, and whoever had no valid ground for exemption should be enrolled in it. In this way he set the matter to rights, so much so that the halls proved too small for the number |168 of those entering the Council, for there was no more getting a substitute; nor an eunuch to let one off for a bribe; but the latter, as is the place for ennuchs, discharged servile duties, without giving themselves airs on the strength of their court liveries, whilst the other servants discharged whatever duties require writing, ink, and pen; and knew how to be modest in other matters----for that they had been taught by a master like this, to be content to labour honestly.

Even now, therefore, you will meet with many who in consequence of that intimacy with him, are better than any philosophers, and it is my opinion that all the rest, even the common rank and file, were then far from making gain their object, but coveted glory above all things else. And you remember that those very personages at whose approach we formerly fell down prostrate, as we do in thunderstorms, now, with these very same persons, when they dismount from, their horses in the public square, we shake hands and converse; and they hold it a greater mark of honour to be prouder than other people, rather than to inspire them with terror.

Law is an easy thing for princes to make (because that is their prerogative), but to do so to the benefit of the people, is no such easy matter, seeing that wisdom is required for that purpose; but this emperor made such laws, in addition to those he found in force, that men who lived prior to these laws of his suffered a great loss. The laws of like nature with those of his, amongst those that were in force in old times, but which had been repealed by the caprice of the sovereign, he declared to be again valid; regarding it as a more honourable object of ambition to acquiesce in things well done already, than to lay hands to no purpose upon things already settled. Next, let us consider the case of the persons who were punished [on Julian's coming to the throne]. Of the three who had enriched themselves through murders, the first [Paulus "Catena"] had gone over the whole world, accusing |169 people falsely,⁵⁴ and owed ten thousand deaths to both Europe and Asia; so that all who knew the fellow were sorry that it was not possible to slay the slain, and to do so thrice over, and yet oftener: the second [Eusebius] besides having enslaved Constantius----being himself a slave, and what makes it still more shameful, a eunuch----had been the prime cause of the most cruel death of Gallus. The third man [Ursulus] fell a victim to the resentment of the army, for having defrauded them, as was reported, of the imperial donatives; nevertheless after his decease he met with some amends, for the emperor conceded to his daughter no small part of her father's property.⁵⁵ Those, however, who had done injury to him personally (for there were, persons who incited others to seize the sceptre), and who had spared no terms, in any point against him, did not meet with the punishment they deserved; they were not put to death, but confined in islands, where they were taught how to bridle the tongue. Thus did he know how to avenge well others that had been wronged, but in matters against himself, he displayed this greatness of soul! He also went into the Senate, and made the supreme council sit down around him, which had for a long time been deprived of that honour; for previously it used to be summoned into the Palace, in order to stand stock-still, and hear a few words; for the emperor never went into the Senate, because from his inability to speak, he shunned a place that required an orator; whereas he, as Homer says of the good speaker, "haranguing without a stumble," sought after assemblies of the kind, and gave everyone that chose full freedom of speech towards |170 himself, delivering, now, a few words and sweetly, now pouring forth "like to the wintry snow flakes;" at one time imitating those Homeric speechifiers, at another, in that he was their superior in dignity, surpassing them all. Once while he was speaking, and praising some things, censuring others, and advising others, a message is brought that his preceptor was arrived, an Ionian (Maximus of Ephesus), a philosopher invited from Ionia; the prince springing down from the midst of the senators, runs to the door to meet him, inspired by the same feelings as Chaerephon towards Socrates; but the latter did so, being only Chaerephon, and in the palaestra of Taureas; whereas Julian was lord of all, and in the middle of the most dignified assembly; showing to the world, and proclaiming by his actions, that Wisdom is a thing more to be honoured than Royalty, and that whatever good was in him, this was the gift of Philosophy. He embraced and saluted him, as is the manner of private men to each other, or of princes to each other, and brought him in, although not a member of the Senate, thinking that he was not honouring the man by the place, but the place by the presence of the man; and having made a speech before them all, setting forth what he had been, and what he was become through his means, he retired with him holding him by the right had. What did he mean by this conduct? He was not merely, as one might suppose, paying the debt of his own education, but was encouraging youth all over the world, nay I would add old age also, to the pursuit of learning; for old men have ere this been stirred up by the love of knowledge; since everything that is slighted by the great is neglected by all; whereas whatever is held in honour by them is studied. Now he believing that literature and the worship of the gods are twin sisters, and seeing that the one was entirely extinguished, and the other in great part, in order that everything relating to these subjects should be set to rights, he brought it about, firstly by the honours bestowed upon the learned, and secondly by |171 composing treaties of his own, for he then immediately published two books, the work each of a single day, or rather a single night; of which the one ⁵⁶ knocked down a fellow, a spurious imitator of Antisthenes, impudent without consideration by laying down the laws of the sect; the other contains many fine things upon "The Mother of the Gods." Part of the same plan was to render the cities intelligent by means of treatises; and to discard the barbarians at the helm of the provinces, who by writing ⁵⁷ all in a hurry, and being devoid of common sense, upset the ship; but seeing those men had been pushed aside whose minds were well stored with the poets, historians, and writers whence the duty of a ruler might be learnt, he appointed them to govern the provinces. For this reason, when he was marching into Syria, each one welcomed him on the frontiers with a speech, a gift far more acceptable than the wild boars, fowl, and stags, that used to be offered to emperors;⁵⁸ but instead of such things came speeches; whilst rhetoricians, as officers, took their place in the imperial train; amongst whom the governor of Cilicia [Celsus], a pupil of mine, and a very great friend of his, delivered the complimentary oration to the emperor, after he had offered sacrifice, and was standing by the altar, and the perspiration flowed in streams from both parties, from the speaker himself, and from him that loved the speaker. In consequence of all this, great was the blossoming of philosophy and high the hopes of advancement to such as had gone over to the pursuit of learning, and the trade of |172 the sophists improved when some persons commenced their education under them, and others, though late in life, frequented their schools, going to them with beards on their chins, whilst the work of their fingers thus once more made the business of the Muses flourish; and what was really best, once more began to be accounted most honourable; and things that are only suitable to slaves ceased to be more highly esteemed than what beseem free men.⁵⁹ And yet what greater action can one name than his raising the gods, and that noblest gift of the gods, literature, into estimation out of the estremest neglect, giving free admission to sophists along the whole line of his march, providing for the right way as regards the holy gods, enduring cheerfully the length of the journey, its hardships, and the heat. He did not indeed accept the idle story about the piety of the Magi, for he was warned by the local deities, both that a plot was forming against him, and what were the means of escape. For this reason he altered the order of his march, and advanced more quickly than before, and so avoided the ambuscade. Entering Syria, he remitted the arrears of the cities, and when he had shown himself in the consecrated places, and conversed with town councillors on their seats, he hastened off to his vengeance on the Persians. He did not think proper to delay, nor to waste the season in his chair. But as both foot and horse soldiers were worn out, and begged for a little respite, he yielded to them, against his will again, for his soul was boiling over with indignation, but nevertheless he did yield to the necessity, after only uttering the exclamation, "that there would be many a one to let fly the taunt at him that he was in good sooth the kinsman of him who went before."

Let us now contemplate the emperor in his quarters, and see whether every season of his life does not offer actions deserving of our laudations. There came a letter from |173 the Persian court begging him to receive an embassy, and to settle differences by discussion. Now we others were overjoyed, we clapped our hands at it, and shouted out to accept the offer. He on the contrary ordered the letter to be thrown down with contempt, saying it were the most grievous thing possible that the cities ⁶⁰ should lie in ruins whilst they were conferring together. He therefore sent the message back that there was no need for ambassadors, since they would very soon see him in person. Was hot this a victory before the conflict, and trophies before the battle! The very thing that we see occur in athletic contests, when it is enough for him who is greatly an overmatch for the others merely to show himself. And the fact that monarchs felt thus upon the mere appearof our emperor, is not too much to be wondered at (although it is certainly a wonderful thing to rout him that used to terrify one); but that after Constantius had denuded this country of troops, and Julian, who had succeeded to his powers, was still at a distance from those parts, the Persian made no attempt upon a single town, but remained quiet at the very sound of his name. This assuredly eclipses every prodigy! And thus was he minded with respect to the embassy, that what had taken place before demanded arms, not words. As for the soldiers, those that he had previously commanded ⁶¹ he knew were first-rate men in all respects, for they were vigorous in body, took pleasure in fighting, their weapons were of no bad make, and they went into battle calling upon the gods, whilst those soldiers whom he had succeeded to were indeed to look at both fine and tall men, equipped with their national arms, but in consequence of having often run away from the enemy they felt the same at the sight of the Persians as does, as Homer says, a man |174 in the mountains at the sight of a dragon; or, if you like it better, a stag at the view.of the hounds. But being of opinion that they had been cowed in spirit not merely through the incapacity of the commanders, but also through their going into battle without the aid of the gods, he remained in quarters for nine months, engaged in procuring for them this preponderance, for he believed that neither multitude of men, force of steel, strength of shields, all things, in a word, to be mere trifling when the gods fight not on one's side. And in what way he made them to be on our side was by persuading the hand that grasped the spear to touch likewise libation and incense, so that when darts were flying about they might have those to pray to that were able to prevent all mischief. And when words did not suffice, gold also and silver co-operated for persuasion, and through a trifling gain the soldier got a greater gain, that is through a piece of gold the favour of the gods, the lords of battles. For the emperor did not think proper to call in Scythians to help him, nor a multitude that would do harm through its own numbers, and would multiply the difficulties of the undertaking, but the far heavier hand of the celestial Powers; for these did he offer for helpers to such as sacrifice, namely, Mars, and Strife, and Fury, and Terror, and Fear; those of whom the will gives victory. Wherefore if one should say that he shot and cut at the Persians, whilst he was still tarrying upon the Orontes, he would say so with truth.

In this enterprise much treasure was expended; yet this expenditure is certainly more honourable than upon theatres, and chariot-drivers, and such as combat with "pickled" ⁶² wild beasts----none of which amusements had any attraction for this man. For even when the constraint of custom obliged him to take his seat in the Hippodrome, he kept his eyes fixed upon other things, paying honour at once to the day and to his own affairs---- |175 the former by his presence, the latter by continuing his attention to them; for no quarrelling, nor contention, nor shouting of the spectators diverted his mind from his meditations: nay, even when he was giving a feast, according to custom, to a motley throng, leaving the others to drink, he mingled words with their cups, only so far taking part in the banquet as not to seem to stand aloof from it. For what man ever did so strictly bridle his appetite, even of such as practise philosophy in a humble dwelling? What man has abstained so much from different eatables at different seasons,⁶³ whilst doing homage to various deities at their various times; for example, to Pan, to Mercury, to Hecate, to Isis, and the rest severally? What man else has cheerfully kept so many fasts, engaged in converse with the gods? For truly in his case the story of the poets was a reality, and "one of those that came down from heaven grasped him by the hair," and departed after having told him something and received his answer. His other colloquies with the gods it were tedious to enumerate, but once, having gone up into Mount Casias, to the Casian Jupiter, upon an appointed noontide, he saw the god visibly, and on beholding him rose to his feet, and received from him a warning through which he a second time escaped an ambuscade. If therefore it were possible that a man should share heaven with the gods, he would have been their fellow partner, the gods themselves conceding to him their own abode. Bat inasmuch as his material body did not permit such a thing, they came in person to visit him, becoming his instructors as to what he ought to do, and not to do. Now, Agamemnon had Nestor the Pylian for adviser, a very aged man truly, but yet a mortal; but this prince had no need of men for such purposes, for of all mankind he was |176 "by a long shot" (e9k be/louj) the most sharp-sighted, since his fore-knowledge came from those who know all things. By these guardians was he watched over, and with them he often held intercourse; fasting frequently, and never burdening his stomach with these superfluous loads; so that he went through his business like a winged thing, giving answers to embassies one after the other, in the same day; writing letters to cities, to commanders of armies, to absent friends, and to those visiting him; listening to despatches read, examining petitions, making the hands of secretaries appear slow through the quickness of his tongue. For this prince alone had brought about the union of three different occupations, namely, of hearing, of speaking, and of writing: for to the reader he lent his ear, to the writer his voice, and to such as required his signature his right hand, and he had the gift never to make mistakes in anything. Rest was for his ministers; for himself it was to skip from one kind of work to another, for whenever a cessation of business occurred, after breakfasting just sufficient to support life, he was not beaten by the cigale, but throwing himself upon piles of books he sung away,⁶⁴ until at eventide the cares of the empire again called for him; and the supper was yet more frugal than the first meal, and his sleep just so much as was consistent with such a moderation in food.

Afterwards again came another set of secretaries that had passed the day in bed; for his servants stood in need of relays, and they got their rest from one another: but he only changed his kinds of labour, and alone laboured at everything----going through the transformations of Proteus in the palace; being at once priest, book-maker, diviner, judge, general, soldier----everywhere a saviour! Neptune was shaking down the principal city in Thrace; messages came one after the other that unless someone |177 would propitiate the god the ruin of the place would be consummated. He no sooner heard it than, standing in the middle of the garden, he caught some rain-drops in his cup,⁶⁵ whilst the others stood under shelter, looking on and wondering; but the wondrous man, standing patiently thus until late in the evening, pacified the god, and put a stop to the danger. And after that day news was brought [that so it was], when they counted to the day on which the earthquake ceased; neither did the rain occasion him any personal inconvenience.

But when the winter lengthened the nights (besides many other beautiful works) he set himself to attack ⁶⁶ the books that set up the god of the fellows from Palestine, and their god's son, by long controversy and by force of argument showing their stories to be ridiculous nonsense (ye/lwta kai flh&nofon), and showed himself more knowing than the old man of Tyre upon the same subject. I hope this same old man (Porphyry) will pardon me, and take kindly what I have said, as being "a father surpassed by his own son."

This was the pleasure our emperor reaped from the length of the nights, whilst others were following the business of Venus. But he was so far from inquiring where there was a fair daughter, or wife, that had he not once been tied by Juno with the bond of marriage, he would have ended his days knowing nothing of sexual intercourse but by name. But as it was he regretted his wife, ⁶⁷ yet did not touch another woman, either before or after her; being by his constitution enabled to be continent, and his constant occupation in the art of soothsaying concurring to require this restraint; in which occupation |178 he spent his time, employing the most eminent diviners, and himself inferior to none in that science, so that it was not possible for any soothsayers to impose upon him, when his own eyes helped to examine what appeared in the victim; and on some occasions he came off superior to those who studied that one art alone, so wide and universal was this prince's genius. Some things he discovered through his own sense, on others he held communication with the Powers above. Hence it was that he gave office to persons whom he was not expected to prefer, and did not give to those whom it was supposed he would----both giving and withholding preferment by the counsel of the gods.

But, again, how genuine a guardian he was of the empire, and how greatly he preferred its interests to his own, he has shown in many instances, and will appear more plainly for the following circumstance. Being exhorted by his relations to marry, that he might get children for heirs to his power, "It was out of fear of this very thing," replied he, "that I have neglected to do so, lest they, succeeding by hereditary right, should turn out bad and ruin the state, experiencing the same fate with Phaethon."⁶⁸ Thus did he regard his own want of children as a lighter calamity than the chance of mischief to the provinces. On that account he did not shun the labour attending upon the administration of justice, as though he were dividing his mind into so many parts, though he had it in his power to leave this fatigue to the most learned and incorruptible of judges, he nevertheless |179 offered himself for one of those that try causes, and stripped himself for the combat----unless anyone objects to the word, and says that law cases were no "combat" for him, but rather a diversion and a rest; so easily did he repel the deceptions of the advocates, and seize upon the right thing in each affair, testing false arguments by true ones with incredible quickness of wit, refuting and baffling quibbles by means of laws; he did not, however, set himself against the rich, even when they had right on their side, and take the part of the poor and shameless, as one would do that envied the former their fortune, and was biassed by a feeling of compassion totally out of place; but he separated his mind from the contending parties, and he applied his judgment to the nature of the cases, so that occasionally the rich man came off the gainer and the poor man the loser of his suit; and yet he had it in his power, if he chose, to override the laws, and ran no risk of being brought to justice and paying the penalty of the transgression. So much more strictly than the most petty judges did he think it his duty to adhere to the rales laid down in the case of trials, that when one of those persons detested by him on account of their other offences against law was pushing his cause by means of forged papers, he himself detected it, but inasmuch as the injured party was unable to show that the document was forged, he decided that the wrong-doer gained his cause, adding at the same time, "That he was not ignorant of the cheat, but as the person aggrieved had kept silence, he himself, being a slave to the law, must give his vote in favour of the criminal." ⁶⁹ For which reason the gainer went off with greater grief than the loser, the one being damaged in pocket, the other in reputation. In this way he contrived how not to infringe the law, and yet to punish the |180 culprit. And when the court of justice of the emperor was opened, and all had full liberty to fly for refuge thither, as many ⁷⁰ as had got possession of the goods of the weaker party by means of illegal violence----some through barefaced robbery, others under pretence of purchase, came and made restitution to such as accused them; nay, even to such as remained quiet, anticipating complaint out of fear of judgment, so that each one of the oppressors became his own judge, and consequently, as they tell us happened in the case of Hercules, that such as suffered wrong anywhere, either by land or sea, used to invoke him, though absent, and his mere name sufficed for their deliverance; of the same force do we know was the calling upon the name of this prince. And cities, and villages, and markets, and houses, and continents and islands, and young and old, and men and women, by the saying that such a one was reigning, used to repel all aggressors; and the hand raised to strike, the sound of this name full often checked. That court often received cities that were disputing about precedence, the greatest in Syria next to our own. One of the two possessed superior beauty, as having the enjoyment of the sea. And after long arguments had been gone through, and the one party enumerated the particulars of its beauty, and the wisdom of one of its citizens, whilst those on the mainland (Apamea) vaunted the wisdom of an alien (Iamblichus) and of a native (Sopater), one of whom had persuaded her to cultivate philosophy, and the other had received with welcome the emperor and those that followed him from all sides; he left out of the question the splendour of the buildings in both, but comparing the inhabitants together, pronounced that city to hold the first place which was the superior in the excellence of the latter. By making a decree of such a sort did he not |181 incite the cities to cultivate virtue, when he made no account of the beauty of things inanimate, as not competent to give preponderance to a cause with a judge who was good for anything. His impartiality in matters of religion I have already mentioned. I will now produce something still greater: that he showed this quality in the strongest light when administering justice, both towards the advocates and those for whom they were labouring, by giving full liberty to the raising of the voice, the lifting up of the hand, and other gestures, to their jokes upon each other, and, in fine, to whatever expedients they trusted in for gaining their cause; and very much in his mouth was "My good fellow" to each and every one.⁷¹ This term he used not only towards the advocates, but to all alike----an appellation now for the first time given to subjects by their ruler, and more potent than a talisman for the breeding of goodwill, for he did not hold fear, and silence, and the keeping the hand in the robe, and bending to the ground, and looking at his shoe rather than into his face, and to show themselves slaves instead of free men in all that was said and done----it was not this, he thought, that magnified royalty, but the fact that no one of such as conversed with him should have more reason to admire those ceremonies than the emperor himself; since even the purple robe, that the reigning prince could not avoid wearing, he used to wear as though it differed nothing from ordinary attire. Consequently, he did not look at himself when he wore it, nor did he test the dye, nor think that by putting on a better sort he became a better man, and best of all when he put on his best; neither did he measure the happiness of sovereignty by the excellence of the colour, but left that for dyers and weavers to deal with as they chose. On the contrary, he believed that he was making his reign magnificent by the |182 exercise of wisdom, and the safety of the state accruing from the same, and through these means to grow more brilliant. The gold, it is true, upon his head continued there, the gods having so decreed, and this fact I believe he was informed of through the gods themselves, for he had frequently had the intention to divest his head of gold----but He that prevented it was the stronger party.⁷² This gold reminds me of the crowns of gold that the several cities were sending to him, vying with each other in their weight----this one weighing a thousand gold-pieces, that one two thousand, one from another place more than both at once. But he, disapproving of the magnitude of the offering, being well aware that contributions of the sort are not collected without occasioning distress, notified to them that not above the weight of seventy ⁷³ gold-pieces was the regular thing (foita~n), for he thought the honour from one and the other to be of equal value, whereas it showed covetousness to seek after gain in the shape of compliments. And the persons who carried round these laws and epistles, part of them not inferior, part even superior to the above, were so far from demanding a fee upon their receipt that even when people offered it spontaneously they would not accept it: so much danger was attached to all irregular gains, and it was well known that it was impossible for a receiver to escape detection, and that he needs must be punished for it. In this way the reputation of a good superior was not disgraced by the villainy of those that served him.

Now he was thus occupied, when all of a sudden there arose a cry in the Hippodrome of the starving population |183 [of Antioch], on the ground that the earth had been ill-treated by the weather, and the city by the land-owners not bringing into market the stores of the annual harvest, but forcing up the prices of corn. He called together husbandmen, artizans, retailers----in fine, all people of that sort----and compelled them by law to keep order; then he was himself the first to follow the regulation and bring his own wheat into the market; but when he discovered that the Town Council were fighting against the law, and making use of his supplies, but hoarding up their own, anyone, not acquainted with the events of that time, thinks he is going to hear of spear and sword, and burning and drowning----for such things seem the due of such as war against their lords. For truly this is a war without arms, to be disobedient deliberately; and when it is in one's power to join in the song, to interrupt it by discord; and what things he was bent upon establishing, to make the same null and void by every possible art. Now the right of power allowed of such proceedings (summary punishment), and yet more severe ones, and full surely anyone else would have come down upon these insolent fellows like a thunderbolt: he, however, was accustomed to bridle his anger on every occasion, then especially did he vanquish himself, and let them off the punishment that was their due, making them to suffer rather the name of imprisonment, than actual bonds:⁷⁴ not a single one, therefore, of his opposers came inside the gates of the prison; not even a night closed upon this brief and mild imprisonment; but short was the interval between the two sets of guards; the one party conducted them into custody, the other brought the order for their release. They on their part went to supper and to bed, but he to neither one nor the other; for they rejoiced for what they had not suffered, whilst he was grieved at what they had: and he said this |184 was the greatest insult he had received from the city, the being compelled to inflict such a punishment upon it. In such a way did this event, though very trifling in itself, affect him as a very serious one, and as one totally at variance with his own disposition: nor did he wait for any friends to censure it, but was his own accuser----not because it had befallen people that were without offence, but on the grounds that it was becoming in him not even on account of crimes to treat a Town Council in such a manner. For shortly after, when even more audacious measures had been taken by the city (although these terms are used of my native place, Truth before all things), he passed over the punishment of the men in power, and though he had full right to rack and put to death,⁷⁵ yet he had recourse to the arms of an orator, and avenged himself upon the city with a book----a thing that he had done before to a certain Roman who had audaciously committed an offence of such sort that he would justly, at the very least, have been deprived of his estates: the prince, however, did not deprive him of his wealth, but struck at him with the weapon of an epistle. But, nevertheless, the man so loath to shed blood, ten soldiers laid a plot to murder: they only waited for the day of the practice of manoeuvres, but their drunkenness fortunately anticipated the proper time, and brought all to light; and the secret was blabbed in song.⁷⁶ Perhaps someone is astonished that a prince so mild and gentle----one that either inflicted no |185 punishment at all, or else one lighter than the culprit's deserts----should have had enemies amongst his subjects: the cause of this I will explain when I come to mention his end----an end so full of sorrow for me!

At present it is the place to speak about his intimate friends----that is, of those who lived intimately with him. Some were very good men, and had that reputation of it; but others had the reputation and were not so: the former nothing at all ever changed, whilst the latter, time unmasked. For when he had taken possession manifestly of the empire, and was become lord of the treasures and of all else that constitutes imperial power, then some of their number attended him without fee or reward; they did not attempt to make their own wealth greater by means of his revenues; they deemed it ample (R. 590) gain to love and to be loved, and to see the same man attached to them who was ruling so vast an empire; and to receive with discretion----yea, often by his express command----an estate, a cavalry troop,⁷⁷ a house, silver, gold: but they saying they were rich enough, declined his largesses. Thus acted the best amongst them: but others who had long been thirsting for money (though pretending to despise it), having bided their time, made the most of it when it dawned upon them----they begged, and when they received they begged again; neither did they cease from pocketing, and there was nothing that could appease their greediness. He, on his part, through generosity lavished his money on them, but thought all the worse of them for the future: he was vexed to have been deceived in them, but nevertheless put up with their conduct out of regard to the length of time [of their intimacy], and he esteemed the reputation of being constant in friendship as preferable to the ridding himself of people of such a character: since |186 he was not ignorant of the disposition of any one amongst his intimates, taking pleasure in such of them as were men of merit, and annoyed with those of different sort, he clung fast to the one, whilst he did not drive away the others: nay more, a sophist who displayed a soul superior to his title he would respect, whilst a philosopher that fell below his profession he used to contemn: but through his wish not to appear forgetful of old friendship, when arrived at the imperial dignity, he put up with and winked at everything.

But I see you are longing for the recital of the latest and greatest of his performances, the way in which he handled the Persians and their country in his expedition against them: and this is not to be wondered at, since you have long had your attention fixed upon that quarter of the world, and are acquainted with the main fact----that he fell in the midst of victory; though as to the particulars, some you have not heard at all, and others not correctly. What makes you so eager for the story (R. 591) is the thought of the might of the Persians, and how great was the power of Constantius whom they used to vanquish, and against what pride and audacity the hero of my speech did so fearlessly advance. The fact is that Constantius, besides the possession of the islands and the regions lying upon the Atlantic, was master of the land from the very shores up to the streams of the Euphrates ----a region producing other things of all sorts, and tall men and courageous souls, wherewith to form an army invincible. Nevertheless this prince, so abounding in resources, the possessor of innumerable and splendid cities, in receipt of those vast tributes, he that was drawing that immense amount of gold from his mines,⁷⁸ he who clad the bodies of his cavalry in steel with greater care |187 than the Persians themselves, who protected from wounds the very horses by means of armour ⁷⁹----this prince, having inherited a war from his father that called for courage befitting an emperor, and a soul knowing how to employ his forces to the best advantage, he, just as though he had determined to assist his adversaries, never took thought how he might wrest anything from them, or defend his own from falling into their hands, but leading an army, year by year, at the beginning of summer, whilst they were laying siege to places with the opening of spring, crossing the Euphrates and halting his mighty armament in its vicinity, with the intention of beating a retreat if the enemy should show themselves, almost within hearing of the lamentations of his besieged subjects, he thought it better generalship to avoid fighting and not to succour his own people! What, therefore, was the result of his camping there? The one monarch battered down walls, demolished towns, and returned home carrying away goods and captives; the other sent out persons to view the desolation, and was grateful to Fortune that no greater mischief had been done, and made his return through the middle of the cities in broad daylight, welcomed by the population with the cries that are appropriated to victory! (R. 592.) And this was the programme of each successive year. The Persian king crossed the frontier, the other intended so doing; he attacked the fortifications, the other began to move; he was on the point of taking them, the other made inquiries about the matter; he took them, the other was well satisfied at not having come to blows; the one exulted in the multitudes of his captives, the other in his horse-races; the one received crowns from the cities, the other was giving them to charioteers. Is not such a man rightly to be styled an ally of the Persians? for when it is in one's power to hinder mischief, to permit it, is next |188 door to assisting in it with your own hands. And let not anyone suppose me ignorant of that nocturnal battle (of Singara), in which both sides with mutual gall and loss separated; nor yet that sea-fight ⁸⁰ upon dry land (at Nisibis), in which they with difficulty saved the town that had endured so much; for this is the very hardship of the case, that he who had received by inheritance spirits knowing how to strike fear into the enemy, trained them into feeling fear, and by a bad education unnerved courageous dispositions. What the force of training is in all matters philosophers point out, and the fable too declares; for it can change the better and the worse into the opposite to their former selves, if given to the former, of a worse kind than his natural disposition, and to the latter, superior to the same (R. 593). It (practice) has made women ride on horseback and rendered them more than a match for men in arms; and if it has forced the man endued by nature with virtue to live in the midst of revelling and drunkenness, his virtue forsakes him, and when he has learned this way of living instead of an honourable one, his former course grows hateful to him, and habit has distorted his natural character. Something of this sort do I say that prince's soldiers experienced through his fault, when they took up arms but were forbidden to come to blows, and were taught to slumber under their tents whilst their countrymen were taken captive, and not to dread disgrace, but to fear death; at which lessons they were at first impatient, as was natural for courageous men; then, less so; next they assented to, and finally they approved of them. Consequently, a dust rising in the distance, such as would be made by cavalry, did not stir them up to the conflict, but made them turn to flee. But when a squadron, and that only a small one, showed itself, |189 they prayed earth to swallow them up, preferring to suffer any fate rather than look a Persian in the face. And when their manhood had been thus extirpated their confidence was equally destroyed, to such a degree that in the houses where they were billeted whenever they demanded to be served by their hosts the word "Persian" put a stop to their being troublesome; and everyone used to say, jeering at them, "Here comes a Persian soldier!" and they forthwith turned red in the face and jumped away. Nevertheless, when led against their own countrymen they knew how to strike and to suffer blows, but the Persian terror, growing in the course of long years, had become so fixed in them that somebody said they even would have trembled at the Persians in a picture. (R. 594.) These troops, so spoilt as they were, this admirable man led against the Persians, as they little by little regained the courage they had of old, and grew confident that they could pass through fire unscathed by means of his good counsel. What then were these measures? He knew the mighty force that lies in secresy (for nothing that is divulged is of any avail, though if kept secret it may be of great utility), and therefore never made public either the time of his invasion, the route of his expedition, the nature of his contrivances----in short, any of the things he was revolving in his mind, well knowing that whatever is spoken aloud immediately gets into the ears of spies; but orders were given to the Prefect to cover the Euphrates with boats, and to load these same boats with provisions; and before the winter had expired, outstripping the hopes of all, and rapidly crossing the river, he did not move upon the near-lying great and populous town called Samosata, in order that he might see and be seen, and receive the honours usually paid to sovereigns, but knowing that the occasion required despatch, he marched to a city possessing a grand ancient temple of Jupiter (Hierapolis), which having admired and offered up vows that the god would grant him power to ruin the Persians, he detaches |190 from his army twenty thousand men,⁸¹ whom he sends off to the river Tigris in order to guard the country in case any danger should approach in that quarter, and to join him when he should summon them at the fitting time. It was arranged that the Armenian King should act in a similar manner; for the enemy was expected to march through the best of his territory with fire and sword, to give battle to the emperor; and when they (Romans and Armenians) had united their forces, either to put the enemy to flight out of his boundaries, or come to battle with them if they stood their ground.

Having given these commands, he advanced, hugging the Euphrates, which both allowed of navigation and conveyed his provisions by his side in the boats. (R. 595.) And seeing a great number of camels, tied camel to camel, and loaded with baggage, this load being the choicest wines from different countries and everything else that has been invented by man to make the use of wine more delicious, he inquired what they were carrying, and when he learnt what it was, he ordered the fountains of luxury to be left behind, saying, "That it behoves good soldiers only to drink the wine that their sword hath won; that he was himself one of the soldiers, and would have the same diet as the rest." Having thus cut off all that had luxury in it, he marched along, retaining no more than what actual necessity most required, the country itself feeding his baggage animals with excellent herbage, for spring had already set in over that region. And in their advance they espied a castle placed on an island of the river Cherbonesus, the first seen and the first taken, not by force of arms, but by terror; for when the garrison beheld the opposite hills covered with the legions, not being able to endure the flashing of their armour, they opened their gates, and giving themselves up, went |191 off to settle in our territory. The abundance of provisions,⁸² sufficient for several days' consumption, was to the benefit of each man, so that as they marched through the desert that came next, they had as much to eat as when living in the towns. There was another castle in a precipitous island, and a wall carried around the entire island, leaving nothing outside of it, not even room for the foot. (R. 596.) Thinking the occupants lucky in the nature of their post, and being well aware that if he should attempt what could not be accomplished he would only be pleasing the enemy, and that it shows equal want of sense to pass by the things one can take, and to wrestle with what cannot be conquered----saying that he would come back for them shortly, and striking no small fear into their souls thereby, and unsettling their determination by his words, he touches the land of the Assyrians: that land which renders its inhabitants blessed, partly through the plentifulness and fineness of the crops that grow from little seed sown, partly by reason of the produce of the vines and palm trees, and all other good things that are the productions of a fertile soil. All these our soldiers saw and partook of, abundant as they were in every village (for the villages were numerous and large, and like towns not very big, situated all over Assyria); our army, therefore, meeting with these comforts, did not grumble at the hardships of the march, for the prize was worth the toils they had endured, to gain the fertile land through the desert. Here they cut down the palm trees, rooted up the vines, beat down the barns, pulled down the houses with fury; they ate and they drank, not indeed to intoxication, for they were restrained by the example made of one that was executed for drunkenness; but they kept up their strength, and yet took care to keep sober. The unfortunate Assyrians, afar off from the mountain-tops, beheld their own calamities; fleeing away, |192 and leaving the flat country, so unfavourable to them, they (R. 597) made an ally of the River instead. In what way, then, did the River assist one side, but oppose the other? The Euphrates is the greatest of rivers, and equal to many rivers put together; inconsiderable in no part of its course, it grows to its largest size when the spring showers have melted the snow piled up by winter on the Armenian hills. The farmers dwelling about it, by cutting canals from thence inland, derive as much utility from the Euphrates as do the Egyptians from the Nile, and of both the cultivator is master as to whether the water shall flow in or not (into his canals). On the approach, therefore, of our army, by opening all the entrances for the stream, they flooded all the canals, and by these means the whole of the country. This, then, was the hardest of all our soldiers' labours, for the water spreading like a lake, gave trouble to them all, whilst that in the canals in some places reached breast high, in others up to the chin, in others even over the head. It became, therefore, a struggle of the utmost difficulty to save one's self, one's arms, provisions, and beast; whilst those who knew how to swim had a resource in their knowledge, but those ignorant of the art had all the greater labour; so that the latter were making bridges, whilst the former boldly ventured on. And those who advanced along a causeway both high and narrow succeeded in escaping a wetting, yet the narrowness of the way was a source of danger, which those who shunned, going inside of it, were drenched in the waters, and here the servant was holding out his hand to his master, there the master pulling his servant out of a hole. And though passing through perils thus great, they neither groaned nor shed tears nor grumbled at the expedition; they uttered no cross words, nor thought them to themselves; but just as though walking through the gardens of Alcinous they found amusement in the actual state of things, a better hope being, I ween, in the background |193 (R. 598); and, above all, their emperor sharing in the fatigue with the common men; for he did not lay boards upon the heads of soldiers, as another would have done, and so walked along without fatigue----the only one so amongst sufferers----but with his own person he was foremost to pierce through the mud, slime, and water; he encouraged the others by actions, not by words, showing to soldiers and baggage-bearers his imperial robes soaked with water. Now the Assyrians, who had caused the vast inundation, were in hopes this device would either divert the march, or wear out the strength of our troops, but they, as though endowed with wings, or as though Neptune had cleft the waters before them, continued their advance. In this way escaping with small loss, they no longer laid siege to castles, but there was a great city of the Assyrians called after the name of the king then reigning (Pyrisapor), and having within its wall a second enclosure, so as to form a town within a town, a smaller within a larger, after the manner of bowls put within bowls. And on the assault being given their alarm made the inhabitants draw together within the smaller fortification, as being the stronger of the two. Our men, having thus possession of the one wall, and making their approaches to the other, are plied with shot from the archers above, and a considerable number were killed, but by raising mounds that overtopped the wall, they reduced the besieged to surrender. The terms were that they should not be given back to the Persian, even upon the declaration of peace ⁸³----for they well knew their custom of flaying defaulters alive----which is a plain proof that it was not through their own cowardice that they were captured, but fighting with all their might. Thus all things proved weaker than our emperor, and |194 nothing could stand against the hero. But he was severe to the enemy, severe also to such of his own men as knew not how to conquer or to fall. Thus, when the cavalry appointed to protect the advance had behaved so badly in fight as to lose their captain (after they had thrice demanded to receive a gratuity in preference to the whole army), he handed them over to the executioners, not sending their punishment behind the scenes, but walking boldly into the midst of them as they returned, and ordering (R. 599) several of them to dismount, though they were all armed and he himself had not three of his guards with him. To such a point had he trained his soldiers to obey, and to submit to whatever seemed good to their master. Having therefore met these horsemen when they were seeking with loud cries for their lost commander, and having inflicted deserved punishment, upon those who had failed to defend him, and shown to all the rest of his army what fate awaited the cowardly, he returned into his tent, having made himself more to be admired than ever. And being desirous to damage as much of the enemy's country as possible, he made his halts frequent, in order that part of the army might remain stationary within the stockade,⁸⁴ whilst it should be for the light troops and the more active to pillage the country, dispersing themselves in different directions. And these discovered subterraneous habitations, and brought back to us children of the Assyrians, together with their mothers, so that the number of captives was greater than that of the captors, yet not even so was there a scarcity of food. From thence he moves on to encounter the same difficulty----the flooded canals, or |195 rather to the most difficult part of that obstruction, for now more numerous were the cuttings in the soil, and much greater their depth----on which occasion he showed himself yet more clearly as the father of the whole army. For when another line of march was recommended by some others, longer indeed, but beyond the reach of the inundation, he said this was the very thing he was afraid of in the march----to suffer thirst, and at the same time to be deprived of any sort of water----adding that in the one case (R. 600) there was annoyance, but in the other destruction, and that it was far better to march on incommoded by the waters than to seek for water and not get any. And remembering the fate of a certain Roman general who through similar want of reflection had destroyed himself and all he led, and having shown them directly in a book ⁸⁵ the account of his utter ruin, he obliged those who proposed this inexpedient course to blush for what they had said, and persuaded the rest to fear nothing. Directly after this the palm trees on the land grew more plentiful, numerous bridges were made out of them, and the crossing over became an amusement to the generality, for there was a contest who should outstrip him that was going over a bridge, by plunging one's self into the water; and in this way the last expedient of the enemy was baffled, and the water vanquished, and high was the hope of success. Yet another defence remained for the natives, and this, too, was destined to be proved of no avail. It was a strong castle, also situated on an island, and rearing itself aloft into the middle of the sky with precipice and wall combined, such was the height of both. The space below, except exceedingly little, was girt with a thicket of reeds that covered from view the people drawing water, who, by means of a stair, unperceived by those outside, with full security under cover |196 of the reeds, had the use of the river. The wall also was too strong for the battering-engines; firstly, as being constructed upon an island, the whole of which it enclosed within itself; and, secondly, being upon an island of such steepness; and, added to all this, the burnt brick of which it was built was cemented together with asphalte. The strength of the castle was a reason for not attempt-it, but the fact that some of the garrison had sallied out upon the advanced guard of the army, and had very nearly succeeded in wounding the emperor himself, induced the sufferers, through resentment, to lay siege to the place. So they sat down before it, whilst the Persians upon the walls laughed, jeered at, and insulted them, shot arrows and hit them, and thought they were doing the same as though they should attempt to scale the skies. Now our general at the outset did himself attack the enemy on the walls by means of stone shot and dart, and one or two fell down with the dart sticking in his body; but afterwards he connected the island with the bank by means of a bridge. Our men at this work had for protection their boats of hide, for by turning these upside down, and creeping under them, and using the bottoms of the boats for a penthouse, they were as well off for shelter as the enemy inside the walls,⁸⁶ for the Persians found fire and every sort of missile of no avail against this cover, which it was not possible to pierce with arrowheads, nor to crash with stones, nor to burn with fire; yet they were not struck with consternation at all this; but though they knew that the enemy was driving mines, though they saw they were using every kind of art, yet they kept up a revel night and day, in the belief that they were labouring to no result. Our men, however, plied the work, and fainted not, and pushing on made their way towards the upper parts. The width of the mine was the |197 width of a man, and the first that emerged from the opened ground penetrated unperceived at midnight into the middle of a tower; him followed a second, and then a third, and everyone was eager to be amongst those who came up. An old woman whom they found sleeping there alone along with a little child they silenced; they occupied the doors of the towers, and gave a signal to their friends below to shout; and upon a loud shout being raised, the garrison leaping out of their beds with the alarm, nothing more was wanted than to kill them all as they came in their way, for in truth the greater part destroyed themselves by throwing themselves down off the wall; there was also much hunting after such as were endeavouring to hide, and no one wished to take prisoner rather than kill, so that they flung them from above, and from below the spears welcomed the living, the half dead, and the dead. In so many ways, therefore, did they hold festival unto the hostile gods, and display the same to the Solar Deity as he rose, in this thing alone disobeying the orders of their emperor, for he had ordered to spare life and to make prisoners of whom they caught, but they, remembering the shots, and knowing who had been hit, whilst fury impelled the hand, assuaged in slaughter their vexation at the labours they had endured, and they begged to be pardoned if they inflicted the same evils as they had suffered. And upon the slaughtered men the castle also was destroyed, for it was razed to the ground more effectually than any other of the captured forts in that country, for in the same measure as that castle was superior to all the rest, by so much the more did it draw down on itself the sentence of utter demolition, for the loss affected the Persians in two ways, whether they rebuilt the place or not.

So brilliant and so far surpassing human capability was their exploit, that the one side now believed that nothing in the world could resist them, whilst the spirit of their adversaries sank along with the fall of the castle, and they |198 began to think that all their resources were no better than rotten. The emperor too, always doing great things, and always thinking them trifles, could not help regarding this as something very great; for he exclaimed, what he had never done before, "that he had given the Syrian (meaning myself) a theme for an oration." The theme, indeed, was admirable, thou dearest to me of men, but now that I have lost thee, what pleasure is there in life! But I must return to the point----the fate of the castle, in the manner I have related, produced a great bruit of what had happened, when reported to a great distance amongst those who were preparing to oppose him; so that even the baggage-bearers went up to the villages and took them, which the inhabitants had deserted without destroying them; or rather they took some things, and what they were unable to carry off they committed to the river or to the flames; as, for instance, a palace of the Persian king, situated upon the river, and containing all kinds of Persian magnificence, whatever lies in buildings, whatever in gardens, in the luxuriance of shrubs, and in the fragrance of flowers; and a herd of wild swine were kept in a walled park (xwri/on) opposite, in hunting which the Persian prince used to take his exercise. These furnished a feast to all the Romans. This palace was burnt, with less honour ⁸⁷ than the one at Susa, as they say; and a second after this, and then a third, inferior indeed to the other in splendour (R. 604), but yet not deficient in beauty.

Doing things of this sort, they at length arrive at the cities, so long objects of their desire, the which, in place of Babylon, ⁸⁸ adorn the land of the Babylonians. Through |199 the midst of these runs the river Tigris, and after passing by them some little distance, unites with the Euphrates. At this point, what was to be done could not be discovered; for if the soldiers should pass along in the flotilla it was impossible to approach the towns; whilst if they attacked the towns, their boats would be useless to them, and if they should sail up the Tigris,⁸⁹ the labour would be excessive, and they would have to pass in the middle between the cities. Who then solved the difficulty? It was not a Calchas, nor a Teiresias, nor any one of the diviners; the emperor seized some prisoners out of those dwelling in the neighbourhood, and made inquiry about a navigable canal (this too from his books) constructed by the ancient kings, and leading from the Tigris into the Euphrates, at some distance from the two cities (Ctesiphon and Seleucia). Of these prisoners, the youthfulness of the one was entirely unsuspicious of his design in putting the question, whilst the one of advanced age told the truth because there was no help for it (for he perceived that the emperor was as exactly informed about the locality as anyone of the natives, so much had he, though distant, got a view of the place in books). The elder prisoner therefore tells, both where the canal is, and in what way it is closed up, and that it had been filled up with earth, and sowed over with corn at the part next its opening. At the nod of the commander all the obstruction was taken out (R. 605), and of the two streams the one is seen drained dry; the other bore along the flotilla which kept side by side with the army; whilst the Tigris coming down upon those in the cities greater than before, inasmuch as it had received the waters of the Euphrates, occasioned them great alarm, in the belief that it would |200 not spare their walls. At last the choicest force of the Persians shows itself, and covers the river-bank with shining shields, with neighing horses, with bent bows, and with the huge bodies of elephants, to which it is the same thing to walk through stalks of corn and the midst of legions in battle array. These troops were opposite to us: a river ran on each side, the one close at hand, the other forced by art, and some other river at a little distance, and a second army of Persians; the country behind was cruelly laid waste, and allowed us no return by the way we came. The situation stood in need of superhuman courage for men that did not mean to perish by famine, and all looked up to One. He on his part acted like a person full of confidence; levelling a racecourse, he invited the horsemen to the contest, and assigned prizes for the racehorses. Spectators of these doings, in addition to his own men, were the enemy, part looking at the contests from below, part from their own battlements; whilst they felicitated him as being in the midst of the revel-lings of victors, but bewailed their own fate, being unable to hinder these proceedings. In the meantime, whilst the army was diverting itself with the horse-races, the boats were emptied of their guards, under the pretext that the rowing gear might be examined to ascertain whether it were in any way worn out; but in reality the emperor wished suddenly to embark the soldiers without previous notice (R. 606), having called together those in command after they had feasted, and proved to them there was only one way left for escape----namely, for them to cross the Tigris, and so be enabled again to have the use of an undevastated country. The other officers he found kept silence, but the one under whose command was the bulk of the army spoke in opposition, being discouraged by the height of the bank and the multitude of the enemy. To this the emperor replied that the nature of the locality would be the same however long they delayed, whilst the enemy would grow more numerous, and bad another |201 officer [direct the operation]. He also predicted that this officer would be successful, though not without a wound, and this wound he would get in the hand, nay, more, he added in what part of the hand, and this again----that it would stand in need of but little doctoring! Now the boats had already taken the combatants on board; but he stood looking up to heaven, and when he had received the sign from thence, he gives the signal to the tribunes, and they to the rest with all possible secrecy; they sailed, and landed, though discovered by those close at hand, and plied with shot; but nevertheless a steep bank that even in time of peace, with no one to hinder them, men without incumbrance would not have dared attempt by daylight, this same bank they at night and having the enemy above their heads, and loaded with armour, succeeded in mounting; but how they did it, not even now can they tell when asked. In reality this exploit was not so much due to man as to some god that lifted him with his own hands. Our soldiers therefore followed up their crossing with slaughter, and beat down such as opposed them, whilst they came upon others like an evil dream, and slew them in their sleep; and those aroused from their slumber had thus much the advantage over the sleepers that they knew what they were suffering, for even these had no power to defend themselves; and, as was likely in night and darkness, many swords fell upon men's bodies, many upon the trees; the latter the sound betrayed, a groan was heard when men were hit, had been hit, expected to be so, were begging quarter, were expiring; the others advanced slaughtering as they went, and the ground was covered with the bodies of the fallen, as far as six thousand corpses could cover it; and if our men had not through greediness after spoils wasted their time over the slain, but had rushed to the gates, and either torn them open or cut them down, they would have gained the famous Ctesiphon; as it was, they got the gold, silver, and horses of the slain. But with dawn of day they had to fight with |202 cavalry, which at first gave them some trouble; but these, afterwards, having received some loss from a single soldier who ran up to them from behind a stone fence, they took to flight. Then the rest of the camp passed over; and, whilst the latter were turning their eyes in all directions with astonishment, the slayers were washing themselves in the river, and the Persian Tigris flowed dyed with the blood of Persians. Let anyone consider their incursions into our territory, and each exploit one by one, and compare this single invasion with their numerous inroads, and he will find the latter performances to be indeed glorious, but the present superior to any one of them all; for those exploits of theirs were done when there was nobody to oppose them, but this was carried out fully in the face of fighting men; so that were one to ask the Persians whether they would choose rather not to have done what they had done, and not suffer what they did suffer, they would doubtless reply, beginning with the king (R. 608) himself, that they had bought their former successes very dear. Anyone may see it from the following fact----Constantius in none of the invasions was forced to descend to the begging for a truce, but after the aforesaid things had been done, the king sent to pray that Julian would end the war then and there, and that the victor, abstaining from further violence, should have the other's empire for friend and ally. Nay more, the Persian, one of the nobles who had come on this mission, went into the tent to the brother ⁹⁰ of the sender, but who was marching against him with us, and embracing his knees, besought him to take part in his petition to the emperor. He then in haste and with joy, as though announcing some good news, entered the emperor's presence with a smile on his face, and looked for a reward for his tidings, but the other commanded him to keep silence on the affair, to send away his |203 visitor without his saying a word to anyone, and to pretend that their relationship was the only reason for the interview; for neither did he think it expedient to end the war, and he considered that mere name of peace was a dangerous thing to blunt the courage of the soldier; for he that is persuaded that it is at his own option not to fight at all, will fight but badly if compelled. For this reason he ordered the sweet name of truce "to bide within his teeth," and yet who else would not, in order to display to his men how great was his merit as a commander (R. 609), have held an assembly of the troops for the purpose of hearing these proposals? Nevertheless this man, though invited to peace, went up to the walls (of Ctesiphon) and challenged the besieged to battle, saying that what they were doing was fit for women, but what they shunned for men. On their replying that he must seek out the king, and show himself to him, he was anxious to see and pass through Arbela, either without a battle, or after fighting a battle; so that in company with Alexander's victory at that place his own might become the theme of song. His intention was to traverse all the land which the Persian empire comprises; nay more, the adjacent regions also; but he retreated because no reinforcements came to him, neither of his own side, nor from his ally: the latter through the false play of the prince of that nation; ⁹¹ whilst the second army, according to report, because some of their men had been shot at the very beginning whilst bathing in the Tigris, had thought it better worth their while to wage war on the natives. Add to this, the quarrelling of the generals with one another had bred cowardice in those under their command; for whenever the one leader was gaining victories, the other, by recommending inaction, gave advice that pleased his men. |204

(R. 609) This state of things, however, did not discourage the emperor; he did not approve of their being absent, yet he proceeded as he had planned to do if they had joined him, and extended his views as far as Hyrcania and the rivers of India. But when the army was already on the move in that direction, and part was actually marching off, the other part collecting the baggage, some god diverts him from his first scheme, and, as the poet hath it, "warned him to think of his return." The flotilla, according to his original design, had been given for prey to the flames----for better so than to the enemy. The same thing would probably have been done, even though the former plan (of advancing) had never been contemplated; but that of returning had carried the day; because the Tigris, swift and strong, running counter to the prows of the boats, forced them to require a vast number of hands (to tow them up the stream); and it was necessary for those engaged in towing to be more than half the army; this meant that the fighting men were to be beaten, and after them everything else was gained by the enemy without fighting for it. Besides all this, the burning of the fleet removed every encouragement to laziness, for whoever wished to do nothing, by feigning sickness obtained conveyance in a boat; but when there were no vessels, every man was under arms. Since therefore it was impossible, however much they wished it, to keep so many vessels, it was decided not to be expedient even to retain those that had been saved (they were fifteen in number, reserved for making bridges); for the stream being too violent for the skill of the boatmen, and the multitude (R. 611) of hands, used to carry the boat with those embarked therein into the hands of the enemy; so that if it behoves the side that is injured to complain of the conflagration, it will be the Persian that has to grumble; and full often, they say, he did complain. In this way they marched on, drinking of the waters of the Tigris, and keeping that river on the left |205 hand, whilst they were passing through a country more fertile than the former, so that they added to the captives whom they already had,⁹² with all confidence. But when they were at the end of the planted land, and in the middle of that bare of trees, though no less fertile, proclamation is made that they must load themselves with provisions for twenty days; for thus long was the march to the noble city which, at the same time, is the boundary of our empire. Then for the first time is beheld the battle-array of the Persians----no disorderly multitude; abundance of gold upon their armour. But when one or two of our vanguard had fallen, and when all had joined battle, neither horseman nor foot-soldier stood the shields on our side, but turned and fled, being inferior in this one branch of warfare. And thenceforward there was no pitched battle, but only ambuscades and cowardly attacks of a few horsemen at a time, jumping upon the hindmost out of ditches, and not even then doing them so much hurt as they received; for the legionary getting under the lance of the horseman, and ripping up his horse with his sword (R. 612), got them both on the ground, and, truly, ready for slaughter the man in his iron shirt.⁹³ Now, those who came close were treated in this manner; but those that are efficient from a distance----namely, the archers----by discharging their shafts at the unprotected right sides of the soldiers, obliged us to look to them, and to advance with caution. They did advance, however, and the cloud of arrows did not check them entirely; for the emperor spurring his horse to all parts, brought help to the hard-pressed, carrying reinforcements from those out of danger to those in need, and sending the best of his officers to the rearguard.

Up to this point he was advancing in his career of |206 victory, and it is a pleasure to me to speak----but thenceforth, O ye gods and genii and vicissitudes of fortune! to what a tale am I compelled! Do you wish that I should hold my tongue, and end the history with its more auspicious part? It would be to you much comfort, instead of a source of lamentation. What, then, is your decision----must we shut up, or proceed? You appear to me to be sorrow-stricken by the fact, but to crave the account of it. It is indeed necessary I should speak out, and put an end to the false reports current concerning his end. For when the Persian was already reduced to despair, having been manifestly conquered, and in fear lest our troops should occupy the best places in his kingdom, and winter there----when he was choosing envoys, was counting out presents (amongst which was a crown ⁹⁴), and intending, it is said, to send them on the following day, together with a supplication for peace, and to leave him (Julian) the arbiter of the terms----a part of the army is separated from the rest, from some troops having to resist an attack, and the others going on without perceiving it----and a brisk breeze at the same time stirring up the dust and producing a cloud, and giving cover to those who wished to commit the crime----the (R. 613) emperor hastened up with one attendant for the purpose of uniting the broken line, when a horseman's spear cast at him, being without armour (for he, on account, I suppose, of his being so much the stronger, did not even arm himself), passed through his arm and entered into his side. The hero fell, and seeing the blood pouring forth, but wishing to conceal the disaster, remounted his horse, when, as the blood betrayed the wound, he kept crying out to those he successively met "not to be alarmed at his hurt, for that it was not mortal." He said this, but at the same time was sinking under the danger; and is carried to the tent, |207 to the black bed, the lion's hide, and mattress----for such was his couch. And when the surgeons pronounced there was no hope of life, the army receiving the news of his death all set up a wail, all beat the breast, by all was the around moistened with tears; their weapons escaped from their hands, and were thrown away; for they thought that not even one to carry the tidings would return from thence home. The Persian king dedicated to the gods his saviours, those gifts which he ought to have sent to him; and had customary table set up before him, having before that made the earth serve in its place; he decorated his head according to custom, which had been neglected all the time of his danger; and all things that he would have done if his adversaries had been swallowed up root and branch by the earth opening her mouth, the same way did he behave because a single young man was come to his end. Both sides, therefore, gave their vote that the existence of the Romans was locked up in him (R. 614), the one as they mourned, the other as they exulted; the one as they deemed they were lost, the other as they believed they had already conquered. One may discern his excellence even from his dying words; for when all who stood round him had fallen a-weeping, and not even the masters of philosophy could master their feelings, he rebuked the others, and especially the latter persons, because "when his past life was bringing him to the islands of the Blest, they wept for him as though he had spent his life so as to deserve Tartarus." The scene was like the prison that contained Socrates; those present resembled those that were present with that philosopher; the wound the cup of poison; the words his words; whilst the circumstance that Socrates shed not a tear was paralleled by our hero's doing the same. But when his friends besought him to name a successor to the empire, inasmuch as he saw nobody like himself at hand, he referred the election to the army; and him he urges to do his best to save the troops, for that he in preserving them had endured every toil. |208

Who was the one that killed him, does anyone desire to hear? His name I know not, but that he who killed him was not an enemy there is a clear proof, namely, that none of the opposite side received rewards for the fatal blow, although the Persian king summoned by public proclamation the slayer to come forward and receive reward, and it was in his power if he did come forward to gain great things. And yet no one from desire of the rewards boasted of the deed; and, truly, we ought to be very thankful to the enemy that they did not arrogate to themselves the glory of things they had not done, but gave it to us to look for the murderer amongst ourselves. For those persons to whom his being in life was no advantage (these were they who lived not according to the laws ⁹⁵) had previously plotted against him, and then, profiting by the occasion, effected their purpose; their natural wickedness compelling them to it, which had no liberty to exert itself under his government; and, above all (R. 615), the fact that the gods were receiving due honour, the very opposite thing to what they strove for. And what Thucydides remarks concerning Pericles, that he showed, by his death, how important a man he was to the state; the same thing, one may say, with respect to this emperor; for though all other things remained the same as they had been before----the men, the arms, the officers, the legions, the captives, the pay, the rations----yet in a single change, that regarding the sovereign, everything was shipwrecked. For, in the first place, they did not stand against the very foes whom, up to then, they drove before them; in the next, being unmanned by the name of peace (for the enemy brought the same device again to play upon them), and all cried out to accept terms and be glad to get them----nay, the new prince himself was the first drawn in. And the |209 Mede having found them thus eager for quiet, trifled with them, wasted time in asking questions, and giving answers: accepting this, rejecting that, wearing out their stock of provisions by a succession of embassies; and when they were in want of bread, and of everything else, and were begging mercy, and stern necessity to concede everything had beset them----then he demanded as the easiest price, cities, and provinces, and nations, the bulwarks of the safety of the Romans.⁹⁶ The other assented, and gave up everything, and thought it no hardship; so that I have often wondered at the Mede, because when it was in his power to get more, he did not choose it (R. 616); for who would have said him nay, had he extended his demands as far as the Euphrates? or as far as the Orontes? or as far as the Cydnus? or as far as the Sangarios? or as far as the Bosporus itself? For there was many a one at hand to persuade the Roman prince that what was left would be ample for ruling over, for luxury, for drunkenness, and for gluttony: ⁹⁷ wherefore, if anybody rejoices that all this was not done, let him be thankful to the Persians who exacted ever so small a part of what it was in their power to obtain. So that these men of ours, having thrown away their arms for the enemy to keep, returned home as out of a shipwreck, naked, begging their bread the most of them, whilst he that carried a half of his shield, or a third of his spear, or one of his boots upon his shoulders, such a man was a hero; but all had one and the same apology for |210 their unseemly flight----the death of him that would have cast all these disgraces upon the adversaries' heads.

(R. 617.) For what reason, then, ye gods and genii! have ye not ratified these vows of his? Wherefore is the race, that knows you not, made happy? Wherefore did ye not ordain this prince to be the author of happiness to them? What fault had ye to find with his intentions? which of his actions did ye not approve of? Did he not raise up your fallen altars, did he not erect new ones to your honour? Did he not worship magnificently, gods, heroes, aether, the heavens, the earth, the sea, fountains, rivers? Did he not wage war against those who warred against you? Was he not chaster than Hippolytus himself, a cultivator of justice after the model of Rhadamanthus? Was he not more sagacious than Pericles, more courageous than Brasedas? Did he not restore the world to health when almost at the last gasp? Was he not a hater of bad men, mild towards the honest, an enemy not even to the lawless; to the virtuous a friend? O, what a vast army, what numerous razings of castles; what repeated trophies, what an end so unworthy of his enterprise! We, indeed, were thinking that the whole Persian land would become a part of the Roman empire, and be administered by our laws, and receive magistrates from hence, and pay tributes, and change their language, and reform their costume, and cut their hair, and sophists should at Susa train up the Persian boys into orators, whilst the temples amongst ourselves, decorated with the spoils from thence, should teach those that came after the greatness of the victory; whilst he who had achieved all this should establish prizes for such as delivered panegyrics upon his exploits, admiring some of the speakers, and not driving out the others, being pleased with the former, but not exasperated at the latter, and the speeches, then if ever, be most delightful to the crowd; whilst the tomb-houses ⁹⁸ |211 should give place to the temples, with everybody consenting to come to the altars; whilst those who had formerly upset them, should set them up of themselves, and those who formerly shunned the blood of victims, should be offering sacrifice of their own accord; and that the private houses of each would grow in opulence through a thousand various sources, as well as by the lightness of taxation. For this again is reported (R. 618), that he prayed to the gods in the midst of his distresses, "that the war might be so concluded that it should be in his power to reduce the capitation tax to its original figure." ⁹⁹ All these, and yet more expected blessings, a band of envious demons has robbed us of, and the champion just on the point of grasping the crown, they have carried back to us hidden in his coffin! with good reason therefore did lamentation spread over land and sea; with good reason then did those die with joy who fell after him, and others grieve at not having died; deeming the times before him one perpetual night, and one perpetual night those to come after him; the period of his reign one of truly bright sunbeams! Alas for the cities that thou wouldest have built! Alas for the corruptions that thou wouldest have corrected! Alas for learning that thou wouldest have raised into honour! Alas for all virtue, how greatly would it have nourished under thee! Alas for Justice, which once more descended upon earth, but is gone back to heaven from hence. Alas for the rapid change of fortune! alas for the public happiness that begun, and that ended with him! For we are in the same condition as though when a man were athirst and raising to his lips a bowl of cool and clear water, and taking the first sip, someone should snatch it away and run off with it; |212 for if it were fated that we should be robbed of it directly, it were better not to have had part of it at first, than to be deprived thereof before one was satisfied. But as it is, He that gave us the taste took away the cup, that we might not enjoy it, but rather groan from knowing what kind of things we shall no more enjoy; (R. 619) just as if Jove, after having shown the Sun to mortals, had detained him at his court, and prevented his giving the daylight any more. And yet, although the Sun does this, and traverses the usual course, yet the favour is no longer the same as far as good men are concerned; for this affliction, depressing the soul, darkening the mind, casts, as it were, a mist over the eyes, and we differ but little from men living in darkness: for what a darkness has returned through the murder of our emperor! exultant are they that preach against the gods; the priests are involved in vexatious lawsuits; for what things the Deity was worshipped with, and what things the fire received, for these a fine is imposed upon them----or rather ¹⁰⁰ he that has the means pays it out of his own pocket at home, whilst he that has not the means is thrown into chains and put to death: ¹⁰¹ of the temples some have been pulled down, those which are half finished stand for a laughing stock to the Christian little ones. Of the philosophers, the bodies are put to the torture, and the fact of having received anything as a present from the sovereign is put down as a debt to the treasury; the charge of embezzlement is thrown in to boot, and the man must stand stripped naked (R. 620) in the height of summer, at midday, tortured by the sunbeams; and over and above |213 what he is not proved to have taken, and which, he cannot refund, he is compelled to pay still more----not in order that he may pay (for how can he do what is impossible?) but in order that he may be killed by reeking and burning.¹⁰² The professors of rhetoric, who previously lived on friendly terms with people holding offi.ce, are driven away from their doors like so many cut-throats; the flocks of youths that formerly surrounded them, seeing all this, fly from learning as a useless thing, and look out for some other means of living. The town-councillors (members of the curia) evade the rightful service of their native places, and hunt after immunities contrary to all justice, for there is no one to check him that does wrong. All places are full of extortioners----continents, islands, villages, towns, harbours, allies; they are selling house and slaves, nurse and nursling, schools of children, and ancestral tombs: everywhere there are poverty and beggary and tears, whilst the husbandmen think it better to go a begging than to till the ground; and he that is able to give assistance, to-morrow stands in need of one to give it to himself. Scythians, Sarmatians, Celts, all the other barbarians whom He, when living, had brought to keep the peace (R. 621) have again sharpened their swords, and are marching on, sailing about, are threatening, are up and doing, pursue and take, when pursued, beat their pursuers; just like bad servants when their master is dead, rising up against his orphans.

At all this, what man that has sense would not cast himself prostrate on the ground, and pour ashes upon his head, and tearing, if young his curls, if old his grey hairs, bewail both himself and the inhabited world, if indeed it be rightly so called any longer! Earth truly has been fully sensible of her loss, and has honoured the hero by an |214 appropriate shearing off of her tresses, shaking off, as a horse doth his rider, so many and such great cities.¹⁰³ In Palestine several; of the Libyans all and every one. Prostrate lie the largest towns of Sicily, prostrate all of Greece save one; the fair Nicaea lies in ruins; the city, pre-eminent in beauty, totters to her fall, and has no confidence for the time to come! These are the honours paid to him by Earth, or if you choose, by Neptune himself; but on the part of the Seasons, famines and pestilences, destroying alike man and beast, just as though it were not lawful for creatures upon earth to enjoy health now that he has departed! What wonder then is it, if such being the state of things, many a one, like myself, deems it a loss not to have died before! and yet I for my part had begged the gods not to honour this admirable man after such fashion, but rather with a progeny of children, advanced old age, and length of reign. But of that Lydian king, O

Jove, with bloodstained hands, one of his race reigned for nine-and-thirty years, another for fifty-seven (R. 622); and the murderous guardsman ¹⁰⁴ himself for forty all but two: but to this prince thou hast granted only to touch upon his third year ¹⁰⁵ on the higher throne----a man whom thou oughtest to have thought worthy of a longer, or at any rate, no shorter life than the great Cyrus; for like him he had preserved for his subjects the institutions of their fathers.

But stop, for when I reflect upon the reproof which he administered to his weeping friends in his tent, I see him disapproving of this complaining part of my oration, and I fancy that he, descending hither, were it allowed, would use to us language such as this: "Ye that are lamenting the fatal blow, and my death in the flower of youth, if ye |215 deem it a worse thing to dwell with the gods than to dwell with men, ye are not in your right senses: but if ye suppose that I have not been admitted to that region, ye are entirely in the dark, and appear to me to be in a most unreasonable condition of mind, for ye are entirely unacquainted with the very person whom ye believe you know most intimately. Neither let my falling in battle, and by the steel, be accounted by you a bad end----so fell Leonidas, so fell Sarpedon, so Epaminondas, so Memnon, children of the gods. If my time on earth grieves you by its shortness, let Alexander, the son of Jove himself, bring you consolation." Thus would he speak----but I, what shall I have to add to his words? One thing only, the first and greatest (R. 623). The decrees of the Pates are not to be controverted; and perhaps a Fate governs the Roman empire, of the same kind as ruled the Egyptian of old: and since it was ordained that this of ours should come to a bad end, and this man stood in the way by his bringing in prosperity, he has made way for the career of worse men in order that they should not escape faring as badly as they deserve.¹⁰⁶ Secondly, let us consider with ourselves another point, that although he hath departed young, yet it is after having surpassed in his performances the longest length of reigns, for whom does history record as having done so many, and such great things, though he lived thrice as long? It behoves us therefore, having his glory in place of himself, to bear his loss, and not to grieve on account of his end, more than we were rejoiced before that loss. This is he who at once is absent from the Roman world, and yet presides over it; who has left his corpse on hostile ground, and yet his own land under his sovereignty, and equally powerful to insure universal tranquillity now that he is absent as when he was with us. For neither hath the barbarian grasped his weapons |216 without his willing it; nor has a single tumult broken out at home, such as has frequently been made by daring spirits, even when emperors have been present. And yet, it is either love or fear that causes this; or more properly speaking, if fear checks the enemy, and love the subject, assuredly there is good cause to admire the hero on either account----his striking terror into his adversaries, and his inspiring affection into his friends; or rather, if you please, his filling both parties with both feelings at once.

Let this reflection, therefore, remove some of your grief; and in addition to it, this other,----that none of those of old time is able to say to himself that he had been ruled over by a better sovereign. For what other ever had a better right to reign? that is, if it be right that he who excels the rest in prudence, in ability to speak, and all other virtues, should command those less accomplished than himself (R. 624). The man in person we shall no more be able to see, but we can peruse his books, so numerous, and all written with skill. And yet the greatest part of those who have grown old in writing, have shunned more branches of literature than just so many as they have ventured to treat upon; whence they have reaped less credit for what they have done, than blame for what they have not written about. But He, at one and the same time, carrying on wars and composing books, hath left behind him works in every descriptions of literature: in all of them surpassing all competitors, but his own works in that of "Epistles." Taking up these books I procure myself some consolation; by the aid of these, his offspring, you will be able to bear your sorrow; for these has he left behind him to the world in the place of children, and which time will not be able to obliterate along with the colours in his portraits. And since I have alluded to portraits----many cities have placed him by the side of the statues of the gods ¹⁰⁷ and do honour to him with the gods, and |217 already many a one has asked in prayer for some blessing from him, and has not been disappointed: so evidently hath he ascended up unto them, and received a share in the powers of those above (R. 625). Very much in the right, therefore, were they who were near upon stoning the first who brought news of his death, as one that slandered a god. Consolation, too, comes to me from the Persians representing, in pictures, the events of his invasion; for they are said to have likened him to a thunderbolt, and to paint a thunderbolt with his name written below; thereby intimating that he had inflicted upon them calamities beyond the power of mere human nature.

Earth, in the suburbs of Tarsus in Cilicia, has received his corpse----the place ought rather to have been the garden of the Academy by the side of the tomb of Plato, so that the same rites might be paid to him by youths and teachers as are paid to Plato himself; to make in his honour songs, in his honour odes, and every species of commemorative discourse: in setting out to war to invoke as helper against the barbarians Him, who, being able to discover all the future by means of divination, made it his business to discover whether he should do harm to the Persians, but did not trouble himself to know whether he should himself return home in safety----thereby proving that he was anxious for glory, not for life. To be governed by such virtue as his was indeed the greatest of all happiness; but since we are bereft of it, we must make his glory the medicine of our grief, and must swear boldly and with the gods to back us, laying our hands upon his tombstone, that he is more to be blessed ¹⁰⁸ than by any of the barbarians are those reputed the most just amongst them. |218

"O offspring of deities, disciple of deities, associate of deities! O thou that dost fill but a little spot of earth by thy tomb, but the whole inhabited world with admiration! (R. 626.) O thou who hast conquered foreigners by thy battles, thy countrymen without fighting! O thou that art more to be regretted by fathers than their own lost sons, by sons than their own fathers, by brothers than their own brethren! O thou who hast done great things, but wert about to do still greater! O thou defender of gods, and converser with gods! O thou that didst spurn all pleasures save those of literature! this offering do I make to thee out of my eloquence, mean as it is, although thou didst once esteem it great!"

[Footnotes renumbered and moved to the end]

1. ¹ A mourning instead of a triumphant one.

2. ¹ Alluding to Diocletian and his very plebeian colleagues and successors.

3. ² Constantius Chlorus, who, moreover, was great-nephew to that best of emperors, Claudius Gothicus.

4. ³ A very curious remark, for Julius Constantius was a younger brother of Constantine's. Perhaps he means to impugn the legitimacy of the latter; there was actually a rumour that Helena was only a concubine of Constantius Chlorus.

5. ⁴ This Julianus was, therefore, Prefect of Rome under Maxentius, when Constantine took the city.

6. ¹ A very far-fetched excuse for the brutality and debauchery of Gallus Caesar.

7. ² Mardonius, highly praised by his pupil in the "Misopogon."

8. ¹ Ecdiceus, a convert.

9. ¹ Instead of his brother Gallus.

10. ² Reiske has on this so truly Protestant a note that I cannot avoid transcribing it for the benefit of the admirers of the primitive Church: "Clericos et monachos Christianos quos ubique impudicitiae atque salacitatis flagitiosis simse arguit: id quod nemo mirabitur qui suam reputet homines coelibes, nulli arti de ditos, seques, otio diffluentes, opipare pastos, stimulis illicitae veneris puniri esse prorsus consentaneum."

11. ³ Domitian, the imperial commissioner sent to investigate the conduct of Gall us, and murdered by the populace at his instigation. Constantius, however, is not to be blamed for the destruction of Gallus; besides his abominable misgovernment of the East, there was good proof that he was preparing to dispute the empire with his benefactor.

12. ¹ Compared to the worse fate apparently in store for him.

13. ² The distance between Nicomedia and Antioch, the capital of Gallus.

14. ¹ The text has a)ula~n, which makes no sense; u(lw~n was probably what Libanius wrote: alluding to facilities for the chase----an amusement to which Constantius was much addicted.

15. ¹ Julian, in his "Epistle to the Athenians," assigns the usurpation of Sylvanus as the true cause of his own elevation to the rank of Csesar.

16. ² Impartial testimony to the good government of the Gallic usurper, which is confirmed by the enthusiasm the natives had displayed in his support.

17. ¹ After the great battle of Myrsa, his colleague, Decentius, was blockaded by the Germans, at Constantius' instigation, in the city of Sens, and thus prevented from bringing up reinforcements.

18. ² This picture of the desolation of Gaul after its recovery by Con stantius, was probably derived from Julian's "Commentaries upon his Gallic and German Wars," unfortunately lost.

19. ¹ The "Clibanarii," armed cap-a-pic in the Persian style, of whom Constantius had no less than 30,000 in his pay.

20. ² Not a fair cause of complaint, these 350 men were merely a guard of honour. Julian found that the troops actually stationed in his province were fully sufficient, under proper management, for its defence; and in its exhausted condition anything more would have been but a cruel burden to the natives.

21. ¹ Alluding to the dictum, w(j e n sofo_n bou&leuma ta_j polla_j xe\raj ---- nika~ ----

22. ² In the case of a young man going direct from college to manage a most difficult war, this precaution shows more prudence than malignity on the part of the sender.

23. ¹ tearixeumenwn, " like herrings in a barrel," as we should say.

24. ¹ These two places were Treves, which had managed to keep out the German invaders; and Cologne, which had been sacked by them.

25. ² Florentius, whom Julian sufficiently abuses in his letters, calling him among other names miaro_n andro&gunon.

26. ¹ Ammian gives this speech, evidently extracted from Julian's "Commentaries," and it certainly is very much to the purpose.

27. ¹ Who made him Duke of Mesopotamia, in accordance with the wise policy of the empire to utilize such restless spirits, by occupying them where they could do no harm.

28. ¹ srakto_uj in the text, which makes no sense.

29. ¹ w)j in text, corruption from o{ij: e ph seems out of its proper place, and h)|den written for h)|dei. These corrections would give a good sense, thus: "Wherein were stored the verses that came from the Muses; and the prince knew how to compliment with these verses all who visited him."

30. ¹ Some word has evidently dropped out here, the sense requiring that Julian should send for the statement of the expenses of the military establishment in Britain (or else a commissioner to investigate) without farther application to his superior, for Libanius adds that Julian himself corrected the abuses. Perhaps Alypius of Antioch was the person sent to examine into the affairs of Britain, for he is mentioned by Ammian as having governed the island "pro praefectis," i.e., superseding them.

31. ¹ A most curious revelation of the high cultivation of Britain in the fourth century----that it should have become the granary of Northern and Eastern Gaul.

32. ² This "sailing" was the novelty----the Roman war-ships being gallies moved by oars only. Julian probably took the idea from the sailing pirate craft of the Saxons and Jutes.

33. ³ Probably Sallust.

34. ¹ Which therefore must have been situated near the navigable entrance of the Rhine. There was a temple to Hercules at some place in that vicinity, named Deuson, for which the Gallic emperor, Postumus, professed particular veneration.

35. ¹ The intended draft was of no more than 4,000 men----a strong proof of the smallness of the military establishment maintained in the West. The same thing appears from Eumenius' remark that Britain was held by a single legion when surprised by Carausius occupata legione." The legion at this period was reduced to 1,000 strong.

36. ¹ pu&lij in text, certainly for pa&lai.

37. ² Ammian says these soldiers had enlisted on the express condition of not being sent out of their country on foreign service.

38. ³ oi[j h(gei=to in the text, makes no sense, "soldiers under his command," but must read h geto.

39. ¹ Probably, that the diadem was a modern innovation, but the laurel wreath, the proper ancient distinction of the Eoman imperator. This view is supported by Ammian's statement that for some months after this election he did not assume the diadem, but contented himself "vili corona."----See p. 182.

40. ² "Payment for kindness is not a debt recoverable at law."

41. ¹ Constantius actually proposed to him to quit Gaul, and return to a private station on condition that his life should be spared! To comply, was to renew, in a worse form than before, the cruel political executions and proscriptions that had followed the fall of Magnentius.

42. ¹ Nebridius hardly deserves this name for his courage in retaining his allegiance to the sovereign whose officer he was, under such trying circumstances.

43. ² i.e. enemies of their country.

44. ³ By Julian's throwing his robe over him.

45. ¹ Of which the most important, "The Epistle to the Athenians," has alone survived----a statement of his government in Gaul, his provocations, and reasons for moving against Constantius----a masterpiece in its way.

46. ¹ Who ordered the corpse of Polynices to be thrown to the dogs.

47. ¹ e dh in text, I suspect, should be the similarly-sounding a# dei=---- all that was wanting."

48. ¹ That is, to the palace, inside of which the temple stood.

49. ¹ Officers appointed to inspect the provinces, and keep an eye over the conduct of the governors----a service giving them great power, which they very naturally abused to the fullest extent.

50. ¹ Evidently meaning the Christian clergy, who from their vow of celibacy, were peculiarly open to this stratagem; and whether guilty or innocent, were forced to pay hush-money to the inspector.

51. ² Evidently alluding to the immense fabrication of billon then carried on by private speculators "in caves," whose manufactories still come frequently to light. The gold and silver of Constantius was never forged; but the currency of the people was the billon denarii of the middle empire, which was reproduced by casting in moulds to an incredible extent. The truth of these remarks of Libanius is attested by a discovery, placing in the clearest light these malpractices of the Roman mint-master: "In the ruins of a mint at Damary, excavated in the year 1830, was found a vase containing 4,000 billon denarii from Philip down to Postumus, 1,500 being of the latter. Also many clay moulds for denarii of Caracalla, Philip, and Postumus. But what gives value to the discovery by fixing the date of the fabrication of the billon, was the finding of a second vase filled with 2,600 small brass of Constantine, Junia, and Constans, all struck with a die, evidently meant for contemporaneous issue.

52. ¹ Ammian with an unreasonable esprit de corps is very bitter upon Julian's not allowing military rank for an exemption from serving in the Curia. Julian in his Misopogon enumerates amongst his other benefits to Antioch, that he did not exempt from such service even his own mint-masters. As the Curiales were responsible for the taxes paid by their towns, the honour was necessarily a burdensome one.

53. ² Or, "as far as talking went." A pagan joke upon the then logical use of the term, so much in the mouth of the devout emperor and his advisers.

54. ¹ He was employed to hunt up the partisans of Magnentius in Gaul-and Britain. Ammnian describes his proceedings as fully justifying these remarks of our author.

55. ² "Justice herself deplored the death of Ursulus," says Ammian, who allows, however, that he fell a victim to the vengeance of the military court of inquiry, without the knowledge of Julian.

56. ¹ "Against ignorant Cynics."

57. ² This word is inapplicable, stre9fontej "steering the ship at random," suits the simile better. It appears that Constantius had appointed foreigners, probably Franks, who, says Ammian, were all-powerful at his court, to the civil governments of the provinces, instead of Italians or Greeks.

58. ³ By a singular analogy the Venetian officials received annually from the State a present of game, "osella," which in later times was commuted for coins of the same name struck for the purpose.

59. ¹ A glance at the theological questions so much in vogue under his predecessor.

60. ¹ Which Sapor had lately destroyed, Amida, &c.

61. ² The Gauls and Germans whom he had brought with him, and whoappear, from the last words of the passage, to have been all Pagans.

62. ¹ That is, cooped up in confinement until wanted for the amphitheatre.

63. ¹ In the "Hymn to the Mother of the Gods" Julian discusses at some length the reasons for the prohibition of different meats, vegetables, and fruits at certain holy seasons.

64. ¹ This shows that the ancients always chanted aloud whatever they were reading, just as the Arabs of our time.

65. ¹ No doubt "My Lord's cup whereby he divineth."

66. ² By his treatise "Against the Christians and their God," now lost, but partly preserved in Cyril's Reply.

67. ³ Helena, sister of Constantius, who had died the previous winter at Paris, immediately before he assumed the diadem. What is singular, Julian never once alludes to her in one of his numerous letters.

68. ¹ He had a warning in his own family, the conduct of the three sons of Constantine; and, indeed, in that of every emperor----Domitian, Commodus, Caracalla, Gallienus, Carinus----who had succeeded by right of birth. Where the sovereign has absolute power, elective sovereignty remedies many evils in that state of things, and the only objection to it is the risk of a disputed succession. In Julian's case, even Jovian----certainly Valentinian----was infinitely better for the empire than his own son would have proved.

69. ¹ Julian, like Lord Mansfield, thought "he did not sit there to administer justice, but to administer law, which is a very different thing." But an emperor bound by the rules of a lawyer makes himself ridiculous.

70. ¹ The courtiers of Constantius, whose peculations and extortions hare been already detailed.

71. ¹ Julian had got the word out of Plato's Dialogues. No wonder it sounded strangely affable to Roman subjects.

72. ¹ This wish to lay aside the diadem (Constantine's innovation in the imperial costume) is of a piece with Julian's dislike to the title "Dominus," alluded to in the Misopogon. It is a significant fact that the Emperor Magnentius, who set up for the restorer of public liberty, never wears the diadem on his coinage.

73. ² Put roughly for 72 = one Roman pound, for 6 solidi of his times went to the ounce (avoirdupois), each weighing 3 dwts. troy.

74. ¹ Julian ordered the whole Senate of Antioch into prison, but, revoked the order before they were actually locked up.

75. ¹ Those suspected, with very good reason, of firing the temple of Apollo.

76. ² Out of this plot Nazianzen makes his fine episode of the soldier-confessor (cap. 83). The circumstances as told by saint and sophist tally too exactly to permit doubt of their having the same event in view. Both give the occasion as the time of a grand review, and the denouement as brought about at a drinking-party. According to the Christian version of the facts, these soldiers were exasperated at having been seduced into burning incense, and rushed upon the emperor to upbraid him for the deception.

77. ¹ A sinecure colonelcy; the tribunatus alluded to by Juvenal's

"Semestri vatum digitos circumligat auro."

Libanius is here singing his own praises to an intelligent audience.

78. ¹ Probably those then worked in Thrace; for a few years later Ammian mentions the miners joining the Gothic invaders, because they could not endure the weight of their taxation.

79. ¹ Also a Persian invention: three centuries before, Propertius has, "Barbaras armato nec cataphractus equo."

80. ¹ Sapor had dammed up the river with the view of drowning the city, thereby converting the suburbs into one huge lake, and placing his battering train upon boats to approach the walls.

81. ¹ This was the force under Procopius and Sebastian, whose failure to join him before Ctesiphon occasioned the ruin of the whole scheme.

82. ¹ Captured in this castle.

83. ¹ The same stipulation we have seen in the case of the garrison of Cherbonesus. It appears that Sapor's rule was to flay alive the Persians who had surrendered their towns, "pour encourager les autres."

84. ¹ Coins of Licinius and of Constantine, legend VIRTUS EXERCITUS, show an immense chevaux-de-frise, its horizontal beam of sufficient width for soldiers to stand on and defend. Its being thought worthy of this monetary record, makes one suspect it an invention of the time, probably a portable defence available at short notice. Perhaps such fortification is alluded to here.

85. ¹ Doubtless Plutarch's "Life of Crassus;" that writer was certainly much studied by Julian.

86. ¹ The text has oi9me\n ei sw tw~n tei/xwn, which must be an error for toi=j.

87. ¹ Because that was burnt by Alexander's own hand, but this by the common soldiers.

88. ² Distant forty-five miles. Both towns lie on the Tigris; Seleucia founded by the Macedonians, Ctesiphon by the Parthians as its counterpoise, at three miles distance. Seleucia had been destroyed by L. Verus, and only its suburb, Coche, was at this time standing.

89. ¹ If the army were forced to descend the Euphrates, along which they were moving, down to its natural confluence with the Tigris, and then to reascend the latter river, and run the gauntlet between the two great cities built upon its opposite banks.

90. ¹ Hormisdas, who had taken refuge at the court of Constantius, and turned Christian.

91. ¹ Arsaces, the Armenian, who as the former protege of Constantius, and a zealous Christian, was very lukewarm in Julian's cause, for which treachery Nazianzen duly praises him.

92. ¹ proseti/qesan, which Reiske translates, "increased the allowance of provisions," which seems to me very far-fetched.

93. ² Being prevented from rising by its enormous weight.

94. ¹ An extraordinary mark of homage, an acknowledgment of his inferiority.

95. ¹ An euphemism for the Christians. But the absence of all such fanaticism from his troops signally appears from his highest officers, many of whom were Christians, immediately offering the empire to Sallust, that column of paganism.

96. ¹ Under the circumstances, Sapor's terms were very reasonable, for he only demanded restitution of the territory taken by Galerius from his grandfather, Narses, some seventy years before, and yet in his letters to Constantius, he had actually (but evidently only out of bravado) claimed possession of the entire inheritance of his pretended ancestor Xerxes, i.e., the whole of Asia Minor.

97. ² Bold language this for Libanius to use----for these were the notorious vices of Jovian; although his brother-in-arms, Ammian, expresses a charitable hope that respect for his new dignity would have produced a reform, had his life been prolonged.

98. ¹ The Christian churches dedicated to relic-worship, the grand staple of the religion in that age.

99. ¹ Which seems to have been a single aureus per head, to judge from the proceeding of Severus Alexander in the coinage of smaller denominations of gold with the view of reducing the caput. In Julian's five years' government of Gaul, he had reduced the caput from twenty-three solidi to seven----a proof of what might be effected by proper management of the finances.

100. ¹ It appears from this that the Christians now having the upper hand in the Curiae, were suing the pagan priest for the value of the victims supplied by their towns under the late reign.

101. ² te/qhke seems the true reading in the sense, "the poorer pagan is thrown into prison until he pays the fine;" this sense is demanded by the "at home" in the first member of the sentence, "the rich pagan pays his fine and is no more troubled, the poorer one is cast into gaol until he finds the money."

102. ¹ An allusion to the treatment Maximus was receiving at the moment. As he had made himself specially obnoxious to the Christians, these charges of embezzlement were brought against him in order to furnish a pretext for torturing him to death.

103. ¹ In the middle of June, 365.

104. ² Gyges, who had been captain of the guard to King Candaules, whom he murdered, and usurped his throne.

105. ³ Reckoning from the death of Constantius in the spring of 361, to his own in the summer of 363.

106. ¹ He has made way for the innovators, in order that they may eat the fruits of their own devices.

107. ¹ This fact may be connected with the issue of the little medals bear-

ing Julian's head in the character of Serapis, the god of the Shades, and therefore an appropriate type for a memento-piece.

108. ¹ ma~llon e ulogon, something seems lost here----the sense may, however, be "we can safely swear that he is more worthy of praise, than any prince amongst foreigners most celebrated for his justice," i.e., Cyrus, Dejoces, Solomon, Zamolxis, &c.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2003. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: libanius_monody_on_daphne_02_text.htm

Libanius, A monody on the temple of Apollo at Daphne, destroyed by fire (1784). Select works of Julian, vol. 2, pp. 243-251.

Libanius, A monody on the temple of Apollo at Daphne, destroyed by fire (1784). Select works of Julian, vol. 2, pp. 243-251.

A monody on the Daphnean temple of Apollo, destroyed by Fire, or, as it is said, by Lightning.¹

[Translated by John Duncombe]

Fellow-citizens, whose eyes like mine are now involved in darkness, this city we shall no longer style beautiful or great. ²... [A king of Persia, one of the ancestors of him who is now at war with us, having by treachery taken and burnt the city, as he was preparing the same fate for Daphne, was so thoroughly diverted from his purpose by the deity that, throwing away the torch which he brandished, he prostrated himself and adored Apollo: so appeased was his resentment, so checked was his fury ³]. He, though he led an army against us, thought proper to preserve this temple, and the beauty of the image restrained his barbaric fury. But now, O heaven and earth, who and whence is that traitor, who wanting neither light- nor heavy-armed foot, nor horse, has consumed the whole with a small spark? Nor was our temple destroyed by a violent storm, but in a serene and cloudless sky. Hitherto, Apollo, your altars thirsting for blood, you have remained the constant and careful guardian of Daphne; and though neglected and so far despised as to be stripped of your outward ornaments, you aquiesced. But now, when many sheep, many oxen, have been offered to you; when the sacred lips of an Emperor have impressed your feet; seen by him whom you have exalted, seeing him whom you have proclaimed, and delivered from the hateful neighbourhood of a certain dead body which disturbed you, you have withdrawn from the midst of your worship.

How can we now expect to be honoured, in future, by those who have a veneration for temples and images! When fatigued in our mind, of what a relief, O Jupiter, are we deprived! How pure, how free from all tumults, was the region of Daphne! how much still purer was the shrine! like a haven formed by nature within a haven; both being tranquil, but the inner affording the most tranquility. Who did not there lose his diseases, his fears, his sorrows? Who there wished for the island of the blessed? Ere long will be the Olympic games ⁴; that annual festival will convene the cities; these cities too will come, bringing oxen as victims to Apollo. What then shall we do? Where shall we hide ourselves? Which of the gods will open the earth for us? What herald, what trumpet, will excite anything but tears? Who now will style the Olympic games a festival, as this late misfortune suggests so dire a lamentation?

Bring me my bow of horn, ⁵

says the tragedy. I add, a little in the spirit of the prophecy,

That thus I may attack, and thus destroy,

The vile incendiary.

O impious deed! O sacrilegious soul! O daring hand! Surely this was another Tityus or Idas, ⁶ the brother of Lynceus, not an archer, indeed, like the one or a giant like the other, but one proficient in nothing except frenzy against the gods. The sons of Aloeus ⁷, while they meditated mischief against the gods, you, Apollo, quieted by death; but him, bringing far from afar, your arrow did not arrest, transfixing his heart. O wicked hand of Telchin! ⁸ O injurious fire! What did it first catch? Where did the evil begin? Seizing the roof, did it descend to the interior parts, to the head, the face, the cup, the tiara, or the flowing robe? ⁹ Vulcan, the dispenser of fire, though indebted to the god for his former obliging discovery, did not rebuke this wasting flame. Nor did Jupiter, who has the command of rain, pour water on it, though for the unfortunate king of Lydia he extinguished the funeral pile. ¹⁰

What was the first suggestion of him who undertook this enterprise? whence this rashness? how could he restrain his fury? how could he avoid abandoning his purpose through reverence for the beauty of the god? My fancy, O my countrymen, presents me with the form of the god, and sets before my eyes his image, the complacency of his aspect, the tenderness of the skin expressed in the marble, the sash over his breast confining the golden robe, so that some parts of it subsided and others rose. What mind had such fervour that the whole appearance of the statue could not calm? For the god seemed in the act of singing; or as when he was once heard playing on his harp at noon. The sing was in praise of the Earth, on whom, gaping to receive the virgin, and then contracting to conceal her, he seemed to pour a libation from the golden cup.

At the eruption of the flames the traveller exclaimed, the guardian of Daphne, the domestic priestess of the god, was alarmed; the beating of bosoms and shrill shrieks, echoing through the spacious groves, soon reached the city, diffusing universal grief and horror. The prince, whose eye had scarce yielded to sleep, at the dreadful news sprung from his bed. Transported with fury, and wishing for the wings of Mercury, he rushed forth to investigate the cause. Inwardly he burnt no less than the temple. The rafters now fell, scattering the fire below, which destroyed all that was within its reach: [the statue of] Apollo immediately, being near to the roof; then other ornaments of the temple, the muses, the statues of the founders, the splendid marbles, the beautiful pillars. Crowds of spectators stood by lamenting, but unable to assist, like those who from land beholding a shipwreck can afford no relief but their tears. The nymphs, leaving their fountains, loudly exclaimed; so did Jupiter who sat not far distant, lamenting, as became him, the tarnished honours of his son; so did also an innumerable throng of daemons who inhabit the forest. Nor less was the lamentations of Calliope, in the middle of the city ¹¹, when the high-priest of the muses was injured by the flames... ¹².

As propitious may you now be to me, Apollo, as Chryses rendered you when he imprecated vengeance on the Greeks, full of indignation, and "dark as night." ¹³ Since while we were offering sacrifices to you, and were restoring whatever had been purloined from your temple, the object of our worship has been snatched away from us; like a bridegroom who, while the garlands are weaving for his nuptials, dies.

[Abbreviated notes moved to the end and numbered. I have slightly modernised the text to improve readability, and pruned or rewritten the footnotes, since a PDF of the whole thing is available online.]

1. Written in A.D. 362. The Greek title of this Monody is more perfect in the Royal Ms., which I have followed, than in the Bavarian; in which it is only styled, "A monody on the Daphnaean temple of Apollo." The temple of Apollo at Daphne, just outside Antioch, was destroyed in 362 AD after the body of St. Babylas was brought to Antioch and interred there.

Chrysostom writes in his st discourse on the martyr St. Babylas (p.735 in the edition used by Duncombe), "As soon as the bier was brought to the city, lightning fell from heaven on the head of the image and consumed everything." The emperor Julian knew this also; "he knew that the blow came from heaven;" though he asserts in the Misopogon that "the temple was destroyed by the negligence of the keepers and the presumption of the impious." -- Morell.

After the interment of St. Babylas, the oracle of Apollo continued to give oracles, and Julian caused a superb colonnade to be built around the temple. But on the night of 22nd of October, 362, a fire consumed the wood work of the ancient edifice, and the statue itself; nor could Julian, who hastened to the scene supply any remedy. The fire was ascribed by the Christians to the divine vengeance; by Julian to the resentment and jealousy of the Christians. He suspected that the sacrist and the ministers who kept the temple of being in a plot with them. But these idolaters, put to the torture, accused no-one. On the contrary they constantly affirmed that the fire came from above; and some peasants, who were on the road that night on their way to the city said that they saw fire fall from heaven on the temple, though the weather was very calm and there was no appearance of a storm. Julian however, either by way of reprisal or to prevent the Christians from triumphing, ordered the great church of Antioch to be shut and its riches to be carried to the imperial treasury. -- La Bleterie

2. On the beauty and extent of Antioch, see Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, book 1, ch. 12: "Apollonius came to Antioch the great" and makes Apollonius visit the temple at Daphne.

3. This I have not published in the Greek, because it was not in our Royal or Bavarian Ms. And John Chrysostom himself, although he did not insert it in its proper place, hurried away by the eddy of his discourse, yet afterwards quotes the passage with the introduction, "You read this in the beginning of the Monody, 'A king of Persia...(etc as above)'" -- Morell.

4. Of Antioch. In the adjacent fields a stadium was built by a special privilege which had been purchased from Elis. -- Gibbon.

5. Euripedes, Orestes 268.

6. Tityus was struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter for attempting to ravish Latona. See Odyssey 11, 575 and Aeneid 6,595. Idas in the Iliad 9,672 bent his bow against Apollo.

7. The giants Othus and Ephialtes. Aen. vi. 582.

8. The Telchines, who lived in Rhodes, are listed as inventors and men of ingenuity but bad reputation by Diodorus Siculus

9. The colossal figure of the deity almost filled the capacious sanctuary. He was represented in a bending attitude, with a golden cup in his hand, pouring out a libation on the earth; as if he supplicated the venerable mother to give to his arms the cold and beautiful Daphne. -- Gibbon.

10. Herodotus I, 87, where Croesus is praying to Apollo; Julian ascribes the miracle to Jupiter.

11. This seems to refer to a statue of Calliope, the chief of the muses, in the middle of Antioch, to which Libanius also alludes in one of his letters, the 737th, where it seems that it was erected by the great-great-grandfather of Rufinus, to whom the letter was addressed.

12. Something is missing here.

13. Iliad 1, 47.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. From John Duncombe, Select Works of the Emperor Julian and Some Pieces of the Sophist Libanius (1784), in 2 vols. This work is from vol.2. Both volumes are available for download complete at Google Books. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: libanius_monody_on_nicomedia_02_text.htm

Libanius, A monody on Nicomedia, destroyed by an earthquake (1784). Select works of Julian, vol. 2, pp. 227-242.

Libanius, A monody on Nicomedia, destroyed by an earthquake (1784). Select works of Julian, vol. 2, pp. 227-242.

A Monody on Nicomedia destroyed by an earthquake.¹

[Translated by John Duncombe]

Homer never suffers even a tree to perish without commiseration; but, as if he himself had been the planter or gardener, when he sees it stretched on the ground, he sings a lamentation over it. And can I permit Nicomedia, where I increased my knowledge of the liberal arts and acquired besides a degree of reputation which I had not before, to be destroyed? Can I see such a city, a city no longer, reduced to ashes, unmourned, unwept? This concern I share in common with the vulgar; let her also participate of the oratory which she cherished. As, if I had been a musician, and had gained many victories there in musical contests, could I have suffered others to lament without joining in the lamentation?

Let me now address the gods, supposing them present, and thus endeavour to estimate our calamity.

When, sitting in the palace of Jupiter, with the other gods, you, O Neptune, were enraged on account of the wall which the Grecians had built at Troy to cover their ships, was not their neglect of the gods, when they laid the foundation, the principal subject of your complaint? And therefore when Troy was taken you judged it right in thinking it necessary to destroy that wall; which you easily accomplished by turning against it the rivers that rushed from Ida. But in the foundation of this city, what was the offence that induced you to treat it in the same manner? Did not its first founder, designing to build a city on the shore opposite to that where it now stands, or rather where it once stood, begin his work from you? Were not the altars covered with victims, and surrounded by a crowd of worshippers? But by an eagle and a prodigious snake you diverted their attention to the hill; of these, the former with her talons snatched the head of the victim from the fire; and the latter, large and resembling those which are bred in India, issued from the earth. The one cleaving the sea and the other the air repaired to the brow of the hill. The people followed, led, as they thought, by the guidance of the gods. These omens were all deceitful. The city was at first overwhelmed by the torrent of war ². Be it so. Your own Corinth also, and the land of Cecrops ³, your best beloved, have experienced the same fate ⁴. Another founder came, who, making the gods his principal leaders, and, by the superior magnitude of his offering, rendering your minds more propitious, restored the city. How then, like the land of Aeolia, for the offence of Oeneus ⁵, did she deserve to be punished with contempt? Is it right, has it been usual, for the gods to destroy with their own hands works like these, in which they have co-operated with mortals, and to imitate the pastime of children, who are accustomed to pull down what the have erected? ⁶ Or did it become you, O Neptune, to enter into a contest with your niece for an Attic city not then in being, and to overflow a citadel so distant from the sea ⁷, yet to display no regard for such a great and important city as this, but even to subvert it from the foundations? What city was more beautiful? I will not say larger, for in size it was exceeded by four ⁸, but despised all that increase of extent which would have wearied the feet of its citizens. In beauty also it yielded to these, and was equaled, not excelled, by some others. For stretching forth its promontories with its arms it embraced the sea. It then ascended the hill by four colonnades extending the whole length. Its public buildings were splendid, its private contiguous, rising from the lowest parts to the citadel, like the branches of a cypress, one house above another, watered by rivulets and surrounded by gardens. Its council-chambers, its schools of oratory, the multitude of its temples, the magnificence of its baths, and the commodiousness of its harbour I have seen, but cannot describe. This only I can say, that frequently travelling there from Nicaea ⁹, we used on the road to discourse on the trees, and the soil, abundant in all productions, and also of our families, our friends and ancient wisdom. But after we had passed through the intricate windings of the hills, when the city appeared, at a distance of a hundred and fifty stadia ¹⁰, on all other subjects a profound silence instantly ensued, and, no longer engaged either by the towering branches of the gardens, or by the fruitfulness of the soil, or by the traffic of the sea, our whole conversation turned on Nicomedia. And yet mariners, or those who labour at the oar, and ensnare the fish with nets or hooks, naturally attract the observation of travellers.But the form of the city, much more fascinating, by its beauty tyrannised over our eyes, and fixed their whole attention on itself. Similar were the sensations of him who had never seen it before, and of him who had grown old within its walls. One showed to his companion the palace, glittering over the bay: another the theatre embellishing the whole city: other various other rays darting from various objects: which surpassed, it was difficult to determine. Revering it as a sacred image, we proceeded; on our way to Chalcedon it was necessary to turn, until the nature of the road deprived us of the sight. This seemed like the cessation of a feast.

A city so great, so renowned, ought not the whole choir of the gods have surrounded and protected, exhorting each other to decree that it should never be subjected to any calamity? But now some of you have deceived, others have deserted, and none assisted her. And all these particulars which I have mentioned, once were, but remain no longer. What a beautiful lock has Fortune now severed from the world! How has she blinded the other continent, by thus bereaving it of its illustrious eye! What a deplorable deformity has she diffused over Asia, as if her most spacious grove had been felled, as if her most conspicuous feature had been lopped off! O most injurious earthquake, which did you perpetrate this? O departed city! O name of it in vain remaining! O grief dispersed over land and sea! O dire intelligence, distressful to the hearts of all ranks, of all ages! for what heart is so stony, what heart is so adamantine, as not to be wounded by this relation? who is so destitute of tears as now to withhold them? O dreadful misfortune, which has reduced the innumerable ornaments of the city to one ruinous heap! O unpropitious ray, what a city did you smite at your rising, what a city sank with you! The day had almost advanced to noon ¹¹; the tutelary deities of the city abandoned the temples, and she was left like a ship deserted by its crew. The lord of the trident shook the earth and convulsed the ocean; the foundations of the city were disunited; walls were thrown on walls, pillars on pillars, and roofs fell headlong. What was hidden was revealed, and what had appeared was hidden. Statues, perfect in beauty and complete in every part, were blended by the concussion into one confused mass. Artificers, working at their traders, were tossed out of their shops and houses. In the harbour there was much destruction, and also of many worthy chosen men collected about the Prefect. ¹² The theatre involved in its ruins all who were in it. Some buildings, which had long stood tottering and others which had yet escaped, with all who were in them, shared at last the general fate. The sea, violently agitated, deluged the land. Fire, which abounded everywhere, catching on the rafters, added to the concussion a conflagration; and some wind, it is said, fanned the flames. Much of the city, much of the ramparts, still remains. Of those who have escaped, a few still wander about wounded.

O all-seeing sun, what were your sensations on seeing this? Why did you not prevent such a city as this from leaving the earth? For the oxen profaned by the famished mariners, such was your resentment as to threaten the celestial powers that you would give yourself up to Pluto ¹³; but for the glory of the earth, for the fruit of prodigious cost, destroyed in the day-time, you have no compassion.

O fairest of cities, on what a faithless and froward hill did you fix your seat; which, like a vicious horse, has dismounted its excellent rider? Where now are your winding walks? where are your porticos? where are your courses, your fountains, your courts of judicature, your libraries, your temples? Where is all that profusion of wealth? Where are the young, and the old? Where are the baths of the Graces and the Nymphs? of which the largest, named after the prince, at whose expense it was built, was equal in value to the whole city ¹⁴. Where is now the senate? Where are the people? Where the women? the children? where is the palace? where is the circus, stronger than the walls of Babylon? Nothing is left standing; nothing has escaped; all are involved in one common ruin.

O numerous streams, where now do you flow? what mansions do you water? from what springs do you issue? The various aqueducts and reservoirs are broken. The plentiful supply of the fountains runs to waste, either forming whirlpools or stagnating in morasses; but drawn and quaffed by no-one, neither by men nor birds. These are terrified by the fire which rages everywhere below, and where it has a vent, flames into the air. This city, once so populous, now in the day time is deserted and desolate, but at night is possessed by such a multitude of spectres as I think must crowed the inhabitants of the infernal regions after they have passed Acheron.

Celebrated of old were the disasters of Lemnos ¹⁵, and the Iliad sings the woes of Troy. Their remembrance will be slighted, but the excess of our calamities anyone may hence determine. Former earthquakes, though they destroyed some parts of the city, spared others; but this has overwhelmed the whole. Other cities have also perished, but never one of such a magnitude. If it has been deprived only of bodies infected with the plague, or of those persons who, contrary to the laws, were celebrating a general sacrifice outside the city, and had not itself fallen, the stroke might have been supportable. The whole would not have been desolated; now both lie prostrate and the form of the city is confused with the slaughter of the citizens.Lament, therefore, every island and every continent, peasants and mariners, cities, villages, cottages, everything that is connected with human nature; and let tears prevail over all the world, as in Egypt, whenever Apis dies ¹⁶. Even rocks should now be indulged with tears, and birds with reason, to join in an elegiac song. O harbour, which ships now carefully avoiding, rather steer into the ocean, their cables slipped, which formerly were filled with loaded vessels, but now cannot boast even a pleasure-boat, and are more dreaded by mariners than even the mansion of Scylla! O disappointment to travellers, who no longer frequent the road, which, gloomy and in the form of a crescent, beautifully winded round the dykes of the haven, but embarking sail towards the hill, to which they formerly hastened [by land], trembling as at Charybdis, and unable to conjecture in what part of the sea they used to stand on the shore! O dearest of cities! in your ruin, you have involved your inhabitants; you have destroyed them by your fall; so that all mankind apply themselves to supplications, thinking the extinction of their whole race determined. After the loss of this most valuable possession, nothing hearafter, they believe, will be spared. Who will supply me with wings to waft me thither? Who will place me on an eminence to view the distressful sight? For a lover has some consolation in being surrounded by the objects of his affection, though in ruins.

[Abbreviated notes moved to the end and numbered. I have slightly modernised the text to improve readability, and pruned or rewritten the footnotes, since a PDF of the whole thing is available online.]

1. A mournful song, recited by one only on the stage, without a chorus, was called Μονοδία.

2. This most probably refers to the reign of Nicomedes III who was twice driven from his throne by Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus.

3. Athens 4. Corinth was surprised by Antigonus and Aratus, taken and burnt by the Romans, etc. Athens was destroyed by Mardonius, taken by the Lacedaemonians and Sulla, etc.

5. Oeneus, king of Aetolia, or Calydon (its chief city) sacrificing to the rest of the deities neglected his duty to Diana who in consequence sent a wild boar to ravage and destroy the country, which was killed by his son Meleager and his company. See Hom. Il. ix. 530.

6. Libanius had here in view no doubt that passage in the Iliad to which Julian also refers in his 11th letter.

7. Cecrops not knowing what name to give to his new-built city, an olive-tree and a fountain of water (or as others say, a horse) appeared. The oracle being consulted answered that "Neptune and Minerva were contending for the honour of naming it, that the olive was the gift of Minerva and the fountain (or horse) that of Neptune: and that that which they esteemed most beneficial to mankind should adjudge the prize to the giver." The men and women being assembled to give their judgement, the former gave it for the god: but the women, who were more numerous, gave it for the goddess, and the city was named from her Athena. Neptune in revenge of the affront overflowed their territories. Apollodorus.

8. Rome, Byzantium, Antioch and Alexandria.

9. 32 miles.

10. 19 miles.

11. Literally, "it was near high market". But Ammianus says that it happened at daybreak, and George Cedrenus, in the night.

12. Aristaenetus, the great friend and patron of Libanius, to whom the latter addresses several letters. He was later buried at Nicaea, of which he was a native.

13. Alluding to what Apollo says in the Odyssey book 12.

14. According to Lactantius Diocletian embellished Nicomedia with a great number of stately buildings, including a circus; possibly a set of baths might be among these, and take his name, as at Rome.

15. Great disasters were proverbially known as 'Lemnian'. Libanius mentions this passage of the Monody in his 24th letter.

16. So Diodorus Siculus.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. From John Duncombe, Select Works of the Emperor Julian and Some Pieces of the Sophist Libanius (1784), in 2 vols. This work is from vol.2. Both volumes are available for download complete at Google Books. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: libanius_pro_templis_02_trans.htm

Libanius, Oration 30: For the temples (Pro templis) (1830) pp.72-96.

Libanius, Oration 30: For the temples (Pro templis) (1830) pp.72-96.

[From Dr. Lardner's Heathen Testimonies]

[The occasion of the oration was this. In the reign of Theodosius several heathen temples, some of them very magnificent, were pulled down and destroyed in the cities, and especially in country-places, by the monks, with the consent and connivance, as Libanius intimates, of the bishops, and without express order of the Emperor to that purpose. Of this Libanius complains, and implores the Emperor's protection, that the temples may be preserved.]

Having already, O Emperor, often offered advice which has been approved by you, even when others have advised contrary things, I come to you now upon the same design, and with the same hopes, that now especially you will be persuaded by me. But if not, do not judge the speaker an |73 enemy to your interests, considering, beside other things, the great honour ¹ which you have conferred upon me, and that it is not likely that he who is under so great obligations should not love his benefactor. And, for that very reason, I think it my duty to advise, where I apprehend I have somewhat to offer which may be of advantage; for I have no other way of showing my gratitude to the Emperor but by orations, and the counsel delivered in them.

I shall, indeed, appear to many to undertake a matter full of danger in pleading with you for the temples, that they may suffer no injury, as they now do. But they who have such apprehensions seem to me to be very ignorant of your true character. For I esteem it the part of an angry and severe disposition, for any one to resent the proposal of counsel which he does not approve of: but the part of a mild and gentle and equitable disposition, such as yours is, barely to reject counsel not approved of, For when it is in the power of him to whom the address is made to embrace any counsel or not, it is not reasonable to refuse a hearing which can do no harm; nor yet to resent and punish the proposal of counsel, if it appear contrary to his own judgment; |74 when the only thing that induced the adviser to mention it, was a persuasion of its usefulness.

I entreat you, therefore, O Emperor, to turn your countenance to me while I am speaking, and not to cast your eyes upon those who in many things aim to molest both you and me; forasmuch as oftentimes a look is of greater effect than all the force of truth. I would further insist, that they ought to permit me to deliver my discourse quietly and with. out interruption; and then, afterwards, they may do their best to confute us by what they have to say,...

[Here is a small breach in the Oration. But he seems to have begun his argument with an account of the origin of temples, that they were first of all erected in country places.]

Men then having at first secured themselves in dens and cottages, and having there experienced the protection of the gods, they soon perceived how beneficial to mankind their favour must be: they therefore, as may be supposed, erected to them statues and temples, such as they could in those early times. And when they began to build cities, upon the increase of arts and sciences, there were many temples on the sides of mountains and in plains: and in every city [as they built it] next to the walls were temples and sacred edifices raised, as the beginning of the rest of the body. For from such governors they expected the |75 greatest security: and, if you survey the whole Roman empire, you will find this to be the case every where. For in the city next to the greatest ² there are still some temples ³, though they are deprived of their honours, a few indeed out of many, but yet it is not quite destitute. And with the aid of these gods the Romans fought and conquered their enemies; and having conquered them, they improved their condition, and made them happier than they were, before their defeat; lessening their fears and making them partners in the privileges of the commonwealth. And when I was a child, he ⁴ who led the Gallic army overthrew him that had affronted him; they having first prayed to the gods for success before they engaged. But having prevailed over him who at that time gave prosperity to the cities, judging it for his advantage to have another deity, for the building of the city which he then designed he made use of the sacred money, but made no alteration in the legal worship. The temples indeed were impoverished, but the rites were still performed there. But when the empire came to his son ⁵, or rather the form of empire, for the government was really in the hands of others, who |76 from the beginning had been his masters, and to whom he vouchsafed equal power with himself: he therefore being governed by them, even when he was Emperor, was led into many wrong actions, and among others to forbid sacrifices. These his cousin ⁶, possessed of every virtue, restored: what he did otherwise, or intended to do, I omit at present. After his death in Persia, the liberty of sacrificing remained for some time: but at the instigation of some innovators, sacrifices were forbidden by the two brothers ⁷, but not incense;----which state of things your law has ratified. So that we have not more reason to be uneasy for what is denied us, than to be thankful for what is allowed. You, therefore, have not ordered the temples to be shut up, nor forbidden any to frequent them: nor have you driven from the temples or the altars, fire or frankincense, or other honours of incense. But those black-garbed people ⁸, who eat more than elephants, and demand a large quantity of liquor from the people who send them drink for their chantings, but who hide their luxury by their pale artificial countenances,----these men, O Emperor, even whilst your law is in force, run to the temples, bringing with them wood, and stones, and iron, and |77 when they have not these, hands and feet. Then follows a Mysian prey ⁹, the roofs are uncovered, walls are pulled down, images are carried off, and altars are overturned: the priests all the while must be silent upon pain of death. When they have destroyed one temple they run to another, and a third, and trophies are erected upon trophies: which are all contrary to [your] law. This is the practice in cities, but especially in the countries. And there are many enemies every where. After innumerable mischiefs have been perpetrated, the scattered multitude unites and comes together, and they require of each other an account of what they have done; and he is ashamed who cannot tell of some great injury which he has been guilty of. They, therefore, spread themselves over the country like torrents, wasting the countries together with the temples: for wherever they demolish the temple of a country, at the same time the country itself is blinded, declines, and dies. For, O Emperor, the temples are the soul of the country; they have been the first original of the buildings in the country, and they have subsisted for many ages to this time; and in |78 them are all the husbandman's hopes, concerning men, and women, and children, and oxen, and the seeds and the plants of the ground. Wherever any country has lost its temples, that country is lost, and the hopes of the husbandmen, and with them all their alacrity: for they suppose they shall labour in vain, when they are deprived of the gods who should bless their labours; and the country not being cultivated as usual, the tribute is diminished. This being the state of things, the husbandman is impoverished, and the revenue suffers. For, be the will ever so good, impossibilities are not to be surmounted. Of such mischievous consequence are the arbitrary proceedings of those persons in the country, who say, 'they fight with the temples.' But that war is the gain of those who oppress the inhabitants: and robbing these miserable people of their goods, and what they had laid up of the fruits of the earth for their sustenance, they go off as with the spoils of those whom they have conquered. Nor are they satisfied with this, for they also seize the lands of some, saying it is sacred: and many are deprived of their paternal inheritance upon a false pretence. Thus these men riot upon other people's misfortunes, who say they worship God with fasting. And if they who are abused come to the pastor in the city, (for so they call a man who is not one of the meekest,) complaining of the injustice that has been done |79 them, this pastor commends these, but rejects the others, as if they ought to think themselves happy that they have suffered no more. Although, O Emperor, these also are your subjects, and so much more profitable than those who injure them, as laborious men are than the idle: for they are like bees, these like drones. Moreover, if they hear of any land which has any thing that can be plundered, they cry presently, 'Such an one sacrificeth, and does abominable things, and an army ought to be sent against him.' And presently the reformers are there: for by this name they call their depredators, if I have not used too soft a word. Some of these strive to conceal themselves and deny their proceedings; and if you call them robbers, you affront them. Others glory and boast, and tell their exploits to those who are ignorant of them, and say they are more deserving than the husbandmen. Nevertheless, what is this but in time of peace to wage war with the husbandmen? For it by no means lessens these evils that they suffer from their countrymen. But it is really more grievous to suffer the things which I have mentioned in a time of quiet, from those who ought to assist them in a time of trouble. For you, O Emperor, in case of a war collect an army, give out orders, and do everything suitable to the emergency. And the new works which you now carry on are designed as a further |80 security against our enemies, that all may be safe in their habitations, both in the cities and in the country: and then if any enemies should attempt inroads, they may be sensible they roust suffer loss rather than gain any advantage. How is it, then, that some under your government disturb others equally under your government, and permit then not to enjoy the common benefits of it? How do they not defeat your own care and providence and labours, O Emperor? How do they not fight against your law by what they do?

But they say, 'We have only punished those who sacrifice, and thereby transgress the law, which forbids sacrifices.' O Emperor, when they say this they lie. For no one is so audacious, and so ignorant of the proceedings of the courts, as to think himself more powerful than the law. When I say the law, I mean the law against sacrificers. Can it be thought, that they who are not able to bear the sight of a collector's cloak, should despise the power of your government? This is what they say for themselves. And they have been often alleged to Flavian ¹⁰ himself, and never have been confuted, no not yet. For I appeal to the guardians of this law: Who has known any of those whom you have |81 plundered to have sacrificed upon the altars, so as the law does not permit? What young or old person, what man, what woman? Who of those inhabiting the same country, and not agreeing with the sacrificers in the worship of the gods? Who of their neighbours? For envy and jealousy are common in neighbourhoods. Whence some would gladly come as an evidence if any such thing had been done: and yet no one has appeared, neither from the one nor from the other: [that is, neither from the country, nor from the neighbourhood.] Nor will there ever appear, for fear of perjury, not to say the punishment of it. Where then is the truth of this charge, when they accuse those men of sacrificing contrary to law?

But this shall not suffice for an excuse to the Emperor. Some one therefore may say: 'They have not sacrificed.' Let it be granted. But oxen have been killed at feasts and entertainments and merry meetings. Still there is no altar to receive the blood, nor a part burned, nor do salt-cakes precede, nor any libation follow. But if some persons meeting together in some pleasant field kill a calf, or a sheep, or both, and roasting part and broiling the rest, have eat it under a shade upon the ground, I do not know that they have acted contrary to any laws. For neither have you, O Emperor, forbid |82 these things by your law; but mentioning one thing, which ought not to be done, you have permitted every thing else. So that though they should have feasted together with all sorts of incense, they have not transgressed the law, even though in that feast they should all have sung and invoked the gods. Unless you think fit to accuse even their private method of eating, by which it has been customary for the inhabitants of several places in the country to assemble together in those [places] which are the more considerable, on holidays, and having sacrificed, to feast together. This they did whilst the law permitted them to do it. Since that, the liberty has continued for all the rest except sacrificing. When, therefore, a festival day invited them, they accepted the invitation, and with those things which might be done without offence or danger, they have honoured both the day and the place. But that they ventured to sacrifice, no one has said, nor heard, nor proved, nor been credited: nor have any of their enemies pretended to affirm it upon the ground of his own sight, nor any credible account he has received of it.

They will further say: 'By this means some have been converted, and brought to embrace the same religious sentiments with themselves.' Be not deceived by what they say; they only pretend it, but are not convinced: for they are averse to |83 nothing more than this, though they say the contrary. For the truth is, they have not changed the objects of their worship, but only appear to have done so. They join themselves with them in appearance, and outwardly perform the same things that they do: but when they are in a praying posture, they address to no one, or else they invoke the gods; not rightly indeed in such a place, but yet they invoke them. Wherefore as in a tragedy he who acts the part of a king is not a king, but the same person he was before he assumed the character, so every one of these keeps himself the same he was, though he seems to them to be changed. And what advantage have they by this, when the profession only is the same with theirs, but a real agreement with them is wanting? for these are things to which men ought to be persuaded, not compelled. And when a man cannot accomplish that, and yet will practise this, nothing is effected, and he may perceive the weakness of the attempt. It is said that this is not permitted by their own laws, which commend persuasion, and condemn compulsion. Why then do you run mad against the temples? When you cannot persuade, you use force. In this you evidently transgress your own laws.

But they say: 'It is for the good of the world, and the men in it, that there should be no temples.' |84 Here, O Emperor, I need freedom of speech; for I fear lest I should offend. Let then any of them tell me, who have left the tongs and the hammer and the anvil, and pretend to talk of the heavens, and of them that dwell there, what rites the Romans followed, who arose from small and mean beginnings, and went on prevailing, and grew great; theirs, or these, whose are the temples and the altars, from whom they knew by the soothsayers, what they ought to do, or not to do?

[Here Libanius instances the successes of Agamemnon against Troy; and of Hercules before, against the same place; and some other things.]

And many other wars might be mentioned, which have been successfully conducted, and after that peace obtained, by the favour and under the direction of the gods. But, what is the most considerable of all, they who seemed to despise this way of worship, have honoured it against their will. Who are they? They who have not ventured to forbid sacrifices at Rome. But if all this affair of sacrifices be a vain thing, why has not this vain thing been prohibited? And if it be hurtful likewise, why not much more? But if in the sacrifices there performed consists the stability of the empire, it ought to be reckoned beneficial to sacrifice every where; and to be allowed that the daemons at Rome confer greater benefits, these in the country and other cities less. This is |85 what may be reasonably granted: for in an army all are not equal; yet in a battle the help of each one is of use: the like may be said of rowers in a vessel. So one [daemon] defends the sceptre of Rome, another protects a city subject to it, another preserves the country and gives it felicity. Let there then be temples every where. Or let those men confess, that you are not well affected to Rome in permitting her to do things by which she suffers damage. But neither is it at Rome only that the liberty of sacrificing remains, but also in the city of Serapis ¹¹, that great and populous city, which has a multitude of temples, by which it renders the plenty of Egypt common to all men. This [plenty] is the work of the Nile. It therefore celebrates the Nile, and persuades him to rise and overflow the fields. If those rites were not performed, when and by whom they ought, he would not do so. Which they themselves seem to be sensible of, who willingly enough abolish such things, but do not abolish these; but permit the river to enjoy his ancient rites, for the sake of the benefit he affords.

'What then,' some will say: 'Since there is not in every country a river to do what the Nile does |86 for the earth, there is no reason for temples in those places. Let them therefore suffer what these good people think fit.' Whom I would willingly ask this question: Whether, changing their mind, they will dare to say, Let there be an end of these things done by [or for] the Nile: let not the earth partake of his waters: let nothing be sown nor reaped: let him afford no corn, nor any other product, nor let the mud overflow the whole land, as at present. If they dare not own this, by what they forbear to say they confute what they do say: for they who do not affirm that the Nile ought to be deprived of his honours, confess that the honours paid to the temples are useful.

And since they mention him ¹² who spoiled the temples [of their revenues and gifts], we shall omit observing that he did not proceed to the taking away the sacrifices. But who ever suffered a greater punishment for taking away the sacred money [out of the temples], partly in what he brought upon himself; partly in what he suffered after his death, insomuch that his family destroyed one another, till there were none left? And it had been much better for him that some of his posterity should reign, than to enlarge with buildings a city of |87 his own name: for the sake of which city itself all men still curse his memory, except those who live there in wicked luxury, because by their poverty these have their abundance.

And since next to him they mention his son ¹³, and how he destroyed the temples, when they who pulled them down took no less pains in destroying them, than the builders had done in raising them,----so laborious a work was it to separate the stones cemented by the strongest bands;----since, I say, they mention these things I will mention somewhat yet more considerable. That he indeed made presents of the temples to those who were about him, just as he might give a horse, or a slave, or a dog, or a golden cup; but they were unhappy presents to both the giver and the receivers of them: for he spent all his life in fear of the Persians, dreading all their motions as children do bugbears. Of whom, some were childless, and died miserably intestate; and others had better never have had children: with such infamy and mutual discord do they live together who descend from them, whilst they dwell among sacred pillars taken from the temples. To whom I think these things are owing, who knowing how to enrich themselves, have taught |88 their children this way to happiness! And at this time their distempers carry some of them to Cilicia, needing the help of Aesculapius. But instead of obtaining relief, they meet with affronts only for the injury done to the place. How can such return without cursing the author of these evils? But let the conduct of this Emperor be such as to deserve praises living and dead; such as we know he ¹⁴ was who succeeded him; who had overturned the Persian empire if treachery had not prevented it. Nevertheless he was great in his death, for he was killed by treachery, as Achilles also was; and is applauded for that, as well as for what he did before his death. This has he from the gods, to whom he restored their rites, and honours, and temples, and altars, and blood: from whom having heard, 'that he should humble the pride of Persia, and then die,' he purchased the glory of his life, taking many cities, subduing a large tract of land, teaching his pursuers to fly; and was about to receive, as all know, an embassy which would have brought the submission of the enemy. Wherefore he was pleased with his wound, and looking upon it rejoiced, and without any tears rebuked those who wept, for not thinking that a wound was better to him than any old age. So that the embassies sent after his death were all |89 his right. And the reason why the Achemenidae ¹⁵ for the future made use of entreaties instead of arms, was that the fear of him still possessed their minds. Such an one was he who restored to us the temples of the gods, who did things too good to be forgotten, himself above all oblivion.

But I thought that he ¹⁶ who reigned lately would pull down and burn the temples of those who were of the opposite sentiment, as he knew how to despise the gods. But he was better than expectation, sparing the temples of the enemies, and not disdaining to run some hazards for preserving those of his own dominions, which had long since been erected with much labour and at vast expense. For if cities are to be preserved every where, and some cities outshine others by means of their temples, and these are their chief ornaments, next to the Emperor's palaces,----how is it that no care must be taken of these, nor any endeavours used to preserve them in the body of the cities?

But it is said: 'There will be other edifices, though there should be no temples.' But I think tribute to be of importance to the treasury. Let |90 these stand then, and be taxed. Do we think it a cruel thing to cut off a man's hand, and a small matter to pluck out the eyes of cities? And do we not lament the ruins made by earthquakes? and when there are no earthquakes, nor other accidents, shall we ourselves do what they are wont to effect? Are not the temples the possession of the Emperors as well as other things? Is it the part of wise men to sink their own goods? Does not every one suppose him to be distracted, who throws his purse into the sea? Or if the master of the ship was to cut those ropes which are of use to the ship; or if any one should order a mariner to throw away his oar,----would you think it an absurdity? and yet think it proper for a magistrate to deprive a city of such a part of it? What reason is there for destroying that, the use of which may be changed? Would it not be shameful for an army to fight against its own walls? and for a general to excite them against what they have raised with great labour; the finishing of which was a festival for those who then reigned? Let no man think, Emperor, that this is a charge brought against you. For there lies in ruins, in the Persian borders, a temple ¹⁷, to which there is none like, as may be learned from those who saw it, so magnificent the stone work, and in |91 compass equal to the city. Therefore in time of war the citizens thought their enemies would gain nothing by taking the town, since they could not take that likewise, as the strength of its fortifications bid defiance to all their attacks. At length, however, it was attacked, and with a fury equal to the greatest enemies, animated by the hopes of the richest plunder. I have heard it disputed by some, in which state it was the greatest wonder;: whether now that it is no more, or when it had suffered nothing of this kind, like the temple of Serapis. But that temple, so magnificent and so large, not to mention the wonderful structure of the roof, and the many brass statues, now hid in darkness out of the light of the sun, is quite perished; a lamentation to them who have seen it, a pleasure to them who never saw it. For the eyes and ears are not alike affected with these things. Or rather to those who have not seen it, it is both sorrow and pleasure: the one because of its fall, the other because their eyes never saw it. Nevertheless, if it be rightly considered, this work is not yours, but the work of a man ¹⁸ who has deceived you; a profane wretch, an enemy of the gods, base, covetous, ungrateful to the earth that received him when born, advanced without merit, and abusing his greatness, when advanced; |92 a slave to his wife, gratifying her in any thing, and esteeming her all things, in perfect subjection to them ¹⁹ who direct these things, whose only virtue lies in wearing the habit of mourners; but especially to those of them who also weave coarse garments. This workhouse ²⁰ deluded, imposed upon him, and misled him; [and it is said that many gods have been deceived by gods;] for they gave out, 'that the priests sacrificed, and so near them that the smoke reached their noses:' and after the manner of some simple people, they enlarge and heighten matters, and vaunt themselves as if they thought nothing was above their power. By such fiction, and contrivance, and artful stories, proper to excite displeasure, they persuaded the mildest father [of his people] among the Emperors ²¹. For these were really his virtues, humanity, tenderness, compassion, mildness, equity, who had rather save than destroy. But there were those who gave juster counsel; that if such a thing had been done, the attempt should be punished, and care taken to prevent the like for time to come. Yet he who thought he ought to have a Cadmean victory, carried on his conquest. But after he had taken his own pleasures, he should have provided for his |93 people, and not have desired to appear great to those who shun the labours of the country, and converse in the mountains ²², as they say, with the Maker of all things. But let your actions appear excellent and praiseworthy to all men. There are at this time many, so far friends as to receive and empty your treasures, and to whom your empire is dearer than their own souls; but when the time comes that good counsel and real services are wanted, they have no concern upon them but to take care of themselves; and if any one comes to them, and inquires what this means, they excuse themselves as free from all fault. They disown what they have done, or pretend 'that they have obeyed the Emperor's order; and if there is any blame, he must see to it.' Such things they say, when it is they who are found guilty, who can give no account of their actions. For what account can be given of such mischiefs? These men before others deny this to be their own work. But when they address you alone, without witnesses, they say, 'they have been in this war serving your family.' They would deliver your house from those who by land and sea endeavour to defend your person; than which there is nothing greater you can receive from them. For these men, under the name of friends and protectors, |94 telling stories of those by whom they say they have been injured, improve your credulity into an occasion of doing more mischief.

But I return to them, to demonstrate their injustice by what they have said: Say then, for what reason you destroyed that great temple? Not because the Emperor approved the doing it. They who pull down a temple have done no wrong if the Emperor has ordered it to be done. Therefore they who pulled it down did not do wrong by doing what the Emperor approved of. But he who does that which is not approved by the Emperor, does Wrong; does he not? You, then, are the men who have nothing of this to say for what you have done. Tell me why this temple of Fortune is safe? and the temple of Jupiter, and of Minerva, and of Bacchus? Is it because you would have them remain? No, but because no one has given you power over them; which, nevertheless, you have assumed against those which you have destroyed. How, then, are you not liable to punishment? or how can you pretend that what you have done is right, when the sufferers have done no wrong? Of which charge there would have been some appearance, if you, O Emperor, had published an edict to this purpose: 'Let no man within my empire believe in the gods, nor worship them, nor ask any |95 good thing of them, neither for himself, nor for his children, unless it be done in silence and privately; but let all present themselves at the places where I worship, and join in the rites there performed. And let them offer the same prayers which they do, and bow the head at the hand of him who directs the multitude. Whoever transgresses this law, shall be put to death.' It was easy for you to publish such a law as this; but you have not done it; nor have you in this matter laid a yoke upon the souls of men. But though you think one way better than the other, yet you do not judge that other to be an impiety, for which a man may be justly punished. Nor have you excluded those of that sentiment from honours, but have conferred upon them the highest offices, and have given them access to your table, to eat and drink with you. This you have done formerly, and at this time; beside others, you have associated to yourself (thinking it advantageous to your government) a man, who swears by the gods, both before others, and before yourself: and you are not offended at it; nor do you think yourself injured by those oaths: nor do you account him a wicked man who places his best hopes in the gods. When, therefore, you do not reject us, as neither did he who subdued the Persians by arms reject those of his subjects who differed from him in this matter, what pretence have these to reject us? |96

How can these men reject their fellow-subjects, differing from them in this matter? By what right do they make these incursions? How do they seize other men's goods with the indignation of the countries? How do they destroy some things, and carry off others? adding to the injury of their actions the insolence of glorying in them. We, O Emperor, if you approve and permit these things, will bear them; not without grief indeed; but yet we will show that we have learned to obey. But if you give them no power, and yet they come and invade our small remaining substance, or our walls: Know, that the owners of the countries will defend themselves.

[Footnotes moved to the end and renumbered]

1. * The office of Praefectus Praetorio.

2. * He means Constantinople.

3. † He alludes to the ancient temples of Byzantium.

4. ‡ Constantine.

5. § Constantius.

6. * Julian.

7. † Valentinian and Valens.

8. ‡ The monks.

9. * This proverbial expression took its rise from the Mysians, who, in the absence of their king Telepbus, being plundered by their neighbours, made no resistance. Hence it came to be applied to any persons who were passive under injuries.

10. * Bishop of Antioch.

11. * i. e. Alexandria. The temple of Serapis was destroyed in 391.

12. * Constantine.

13. * Constantius.

14. * Julian.

15. * Another name for the Persians.

16. † Valens.

17. * Probably the temple at Odessa.

18. * Probably Cynegius, the Emperor's lieutenant.

19. * The monks.

20. † The monastery.

21. ‡ Probably Valens.

22. * He refers to the monks near Antioch.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

This text comes from the anonymous Arguments of Celsus, Porphyry and the Emperor Julian Against the Christians... published by Thomas Rodd in London, 1830. It may be found complete at Google books.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

SOURCE SECTION: eutropius_breviarium_0_eintro.htm

Eutropius: Breviarium. Preface to the online edition

Eutropius: Historiae Romanae Breviarium (Abridgment of Roman History) -- Preface to the online edition.

The Breviarium is a very short history of Rome from its foundation down to the death of Jovian. The work was written around 369AD, and dedicated to Valens. In the late empire, even emperors were often uneducated men with little knowledge of the history of Rome. Eutropius condensed this history into ten short books.

The Breviarium gives only two facts about its author. It tells us that he was an imperial bureaucrat who held the post of Magister memoriae (Secretary of State for General Petitions) under Valens, and had accompanied Julian the Apostate on his Persian campaign.

Eutropius used two sources, themselves abbreviations. He used a lost epitome of Livy, together with a set of imperial lives. This latter work is now lost, but several late epitomes have sections of text which are verbally identical, indicating the existence of a common source. The unknown source is known as the History of the Emperors / Kaisergeschichte and its existence was first postulated by A. Enmann in 1883.

The Breviarium proved popular and was quickly translated into Greek. The first version was made around 379 by Paeanius, and is still extant. Another was made by Capito of Lycia, probably early in the th century, of which fragments survive.

The Breviarium became a standard handbook, both in the Latin west and Byzantine east. Around 800 AD, Paul the Deacon, a well-educated Lombard at the court of Charlemagne made a revised and extended version. He had given a copy of the Breviarum to his friend Adelperga, Duchess of Benevento. She complained that it was too short, and hardly mentioned Christianity at all. In response he compiled the Historia Romana, which extended Eutropius to the collapse of Gothic power in Italy in 552. He added material from Orosius, Jerome and others, together with six books of his own. Paul's work is extant in very many manuscripts, and was plainly popular, but fortunately did not supercede Eutropius entirely. Eutropius was well-known to Bede, for instance.

Around 1000 AD, the Historia Romana was revised itself by Landolfo Sagax, who added more books and brought the story down to the 9th century. This is the Historia Miscella. Both derivative works use Eutropius verbatim in large chunks, and so are of value for correcting his text.

Some 80 manuscripts have survived, of which 6 are important. The variants in the text divide them into two families A and B.

Family A contains the codex Gotha Membr. I. 101 (9th century), from Murbach (G), and F, a lost manuscript from Fulda collated by F. Sylburg. F is like G, but better. Further manuscripts of this family also exist, although of questionable independent value.

Family B contains codex Vaticanus latinus 1981 (11th century), codex Leidensis BPL 141 (10th century), codex Saint-Omer 697 (11th century) and codex Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 129 (13th century), as well as a host of inferior manuscripts.

There may also have been a superior Italian family of the text, now lost. Codex Bamberg Class. 31 (E.III.22) was written in Italy in the early 10th century. It contains such excellent texts of Florus and Festus as to suggest a very good original. Sadly only the dedication of Eutropius was copied into this volume, but this is the only manuscript to give us the author's title: Eutropius v.c. magister memoriae.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Eutropius was used as a school text, and some very literal translations with notes were made for the purpose, and constantly reprinted.

The online translation is that made by the Rev. John Selby Watson for the Bohn's Classical Library, and reprinted throughout the later 19th century. My copy was an 1886 reprint. I have made two changes to the translation. Watson renders 'Sulla', the republican general, as 'Sylla', and uses both 'Hadrian' and 'Adrian' for the emperor. I have normalised these as 'Sulla' and 'Hadrian'.

A modern translation with copious notes has been made by H.W.Bird, from whom I have taken many of these details. The reader is referred to it for all the historical details of the period covered by Eutropius. In particular Bird's notes give the ancient sources available for the history in each chapter of Eutropius, which makes it very useful.

Watson's notes seem to be rather dull, but I have transcribed them anyway. In a couple of places where Watson indicates a difficulty I have added a note based on H.W. Bird's version.

Roger PEARSE

28th March 2003

Bibliography

J.S. WATSON, Justin, Cornelius Nepos and Eutropius. Literally translated with notes and a general index. London: George Bell and sons (1886).

L.D. REYNOLDS, Texts and Transmissions: a survey of the Latin classics. Oxford: Clarendon (1983). ISBN: 0-19-814456-3.

H.W. BIRD, Eutropius: Breviarium. Translated with an introduction and commentary by H.W.Bird. Liverpool University Press (1993). ISBN 0-85323-208-3.

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2003. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Eutropius, Breviarium. Translator's Prefaces

Justin, Cornelius Nepos, and Eutropius. Literally translated... by the Rev. John Selby WATSON. London: George Bell and Sons (1886). -- Translators prefaces

PREFACE.

THIS volume contains Versions of Justin, Cornelius Nepos, and Eutropius.

Justin has been translated from the text of Wetzel; Cornelius Nepos from that of Bos, as re-edited by Fischer; and Eutropius from that of Tszchucke.

Each of the authors has been rendered in a style as easy as was consistent with a faithful adherence to the sense.

Notes on points of history, and on peculiarities in the text, have been given wherever they seemed to be required. Remarks on the authors are prefixed, and a copious Index added

J. S. W.

NOTICE OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

EUTROPIUS.

FROM Eutropius ¹ himself we learn that he served under Julian, and attended him in his expedition to the east. From Georgius Codinus, de Originibus Constantinopolitanis,² we find that he had previously been secretary, e0pistologra&foj, to Constantine the Great. He was alive in the age of Valentinian and Valens; to the latter of whom he dedicates his book. This is all that is known of his personal history.

When or where he was born, it is useless to attempt to discover. Suidas calls him 'Italo&j sofisth&j, which we may translate, an Italian eminent writer; but Suidas, as Fabricius and others have observed, may merely have called him so because he wrote in Latin. The authors of the Histoire Littéraire de la France ³ wished to prove, from Symmachus, that he was the countryman of Ausonius, and born near Bourdeaux; and Vinetus, from his name and other suppositions, would make him a Greek; but none of the arguments in favour of either hypothesis deserve the least regard. Like Justin, he has but one name; for though he is called Flavius |xv Eutropius by Sigonius and Boniface, the Flavius rests on no sufficient authority.⁴

Some, as Vossius observes, have sought to demonstrate from Gennadius ⁵ that he was a disciple of Augustin. But Augustin did not flourish till the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century, at which period Eutropius must either have been dead or extremely old. Others have endeavoured to make him a Christian from what is said of Julian, nimius insectator religionis Christianae,⁶ but the word nimius is wanting in the best manuscripts, and, if it were found in all, would be of little weight

It seems, indeed, tolerably evident, that Eutropius must have been, not a Christian, but a heathen. "He takes no notice," says Vossius, "of the ten persecutions, and in his notice of Jovian ⁷ plainly advocates dishonest dealings." But direct evidence of his heathenism is given by Nicephorus Gregoras,⁸ one of the Byzantine historians, in an oration on the character of Constantine the Great, in which it is observed, that what Eutropius says in favour of Constantine is peculiarly deserving of attention, as proceeding from a writer who must have had some feeling against him in consequence of being of a different religion, dia& te to_ th~j qrhskei/aj a)koinw&nhton, and also of being a contemporary and partizan of Julian, dia_ to_ h(likiw&thn kai\ ai(resiw&thn 'Ioulia&nou ge/nswai. Nicephorus also calls him a Greek or Gentile, #Ellhn kai\ a)llofu&lou qrhskei/aj tro&fimoj, and speaks in such a way as to leave no doubt that the historian Eutropius is meant.

According to Suidas, he wrote other things besides his epitome, but what they were is unknown. A Eutropius is cited by Priscian as an authority for the sound of the letter x, |xvi but no intimation is given that he was the compiler of the history. Whether he executed the work in a loftier style, which he promises at the end of his epitome, is uncertain.

As a historian, he is guilty of some errors as to facts and chronology, which are minutely particularized by Tzschucke,* but is faithful on the whole, except that he omits, or colours too favourably, some of the transactions that are dishonourable to Rome.

His style is correct and sufficiently polished, but exhibits some words, as medietas, dubietas, and some expressions, that are of the lower age of the Latin language. But when we consider how late he lived, we may rather commend him for having so few of such peculiarities, than blame him for those that occur.

His text was in a very corrupt state, until Ignatius, in 1516, and Schonhovius, in 1546, exerted themselves to clear it from the foreign matter that had been attached to it by Paulus Diaconus and others. The best editions now are those of Havercamp, 1729; Verheyk, 1762, 1793; and Tzschucke, 1796, 1804. Grosse also has since published a useful edition.

Eutropius was twice translated into Greek, by Capito Lycius,+ whose version is lost, and by Paeanius, whose performance survives in a nearly complete state, and is printed in the editions of Cellarius and Verheyk. Who Paeanius was, we do not know; Sylburgius first gave the translation to the press in 1590. It sometimes deviates from the sense, but is in general faithful.

Eutropius has been translated into English by Nicolas Hayward, 1564; by Clarke, 1722, a version that has been several times reprinted, and by Thomas, 1760. None of these performances deserve any particular notice.

[Footnotes moved to end and numbered]

1. * Lib. x. c. 16.

2. + Ed. Par. fol. p. 9; Test. Vet. apud Verheyk,

3. ++ Tom. i. p. 226; Tzschucke, Prolegom. in Eutrop. p. iii, v.

4. * Tzschucke, p. viii.

5. + De Illustribus Ecclesiae Scriptoribus.

6. ++ Eutrop. x. 16.

7. § Eutrop. x. 17.

8. || Test. Vet. apud Verheyk.

9. * P. xx vi seqq.

10. + Suidas v. Kapi/twn.

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Greek text is rendered using the Scholars Press SPIonic font, free from here.

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Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History (Historiae Romanae Breviarium)

Justin, Cornelius Nepos, and Eutropius. Literally translated... by the Rev. John Selby WATSON. London: George Bell and Sons (1886). pp. 401-505: Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History.

EUTROPIUS'S

ABRIDGMENT OF ROMAN HISTORY.

--------------------------------

TO THE EMPEROR VALENS, MAXIMUS, PERPETUUS, AUGUSTUS.¹

ACCORDING to the pleasure of your Clemency,² I have arranged in a brief narrative, in the order of time, such particulars in the history of Rome as seemed most worthy of notice, in transactions either of war or peace, from the foundation of the city to our own days; adding concisely, also, such matters as were remarkable in the lives of the emperors; that your Serenity's divine mind may rejoice to learn that it has followed the actions of illustrious men in governing the empire, before it became acquainted with them by reading.³ |452

--------------------------------

BOOK I.

Origin of Rome, I.----Characters and acts of the seven kings of Rome, II.----VIII.----Appointment of consuls on the expulsion of Tarquin the Proud, IX.----War raised by Tarquin; he is supported by Porsena, X. XI.----First dictator, XII.---- Sedition of the people, and origin of the tribunitial power, XIII.----A victory over the Volsci, XIV. ---- Coriolanus, being banished, makes war on his country with the aid of the Volsci; is softened by the entreaties of his wife and mother. XV.----War of the Fabii with the Vejentes; the census, XVI.----Dictatorship of Cincinnatus, XVII. The Decemviri, XVIII.----War with the Fidenates, Vejeutes, and Volsci, XIX. ----Destruction of Rome by the Gauls, XX.

I. THE Roman empire, than which the memory of man can recall scarcely any one smaller in its commencement, or greater in its progress throughout the world, had its origin from Romulus; who, being the son of a vestal virgin, and, as was supposed, of Mars, was brought forth at one birth with his brother Remus. While leading a predatory life among the shepherds, he founded, when he was eighteen years of age, a small city on the Palatine Hill, on the 21st day of April, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad, and the three hundred and ninety-fourth after the destruction of Troy.⁴ |453

II. After founding the city, which he called Rome, from his own name, he proceeded principally as follows. He took a great number of the neighbouring inhabitants into the city; he chose a hundred of the older men, by whose advice he might manage all his affairs, and whom, from their age, he named senators. Next, as both himself and his people were in want of wives, he invited the tribes contiguous to the city to an exhibition of games, and seized upon their young women. Wars having arisen in consequence of this outrage in capturing the females, he conquered the Caeninenses, the Antemnates, the Crustumini, the Sabines, the Fidenates, and the Vejentes; all whose towns lay around the city. And since, after a tempest that suddenly arose, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, he was no longer to be seen, he was believed to have been translated to the gods, and was accordingly deified. The senators then ruled at Rome by periods of five days; and under their government a year was passed.

III. Afterwards Numa Pompilius was elected king, who engaged indeed in no wars, but was of no less service to the state than Romulus; for he established both laws and customs among the Romans, who, by the frequency of their wars, were now regarded as robbers and semi-barbarians. He divided the year, before unregulated by any computation, into ten months, and founded numerous sacred rites and temples at Rome. He died a natural death in the forty-third year of his reign.

IV. To him succeeded Tullus Hostilius, who re-commenced war. He conquered the Albans, who lay twelve miles distant from Rome. He overcame also in battle the Vejentes and Fidenates, the one six, the other eighteen miles from Rome: and increased the dimensions of the city by the addition of the Coelian hill. After reigning thirty-two years, he was struck by lightning, and consumed together with his house.

V. After him, Ancus Martius, the grandson of Numa by a daughter, succeeded to the government. He fought against the Latins, added the Aventine and Janiculan hills to the city, and founded Ostia, a city on the sea-coast, sixteen miles from Rome. He died a natural death in the twenty-fourth year of his reign.

VI. Priscus Tarquinius was next invested with the government. He doubled the number of the senators, built a Circus at Rome, and instituted the Roman games which continue |454 even to our time. He also conquered the Sabines, and added a considerable extent of territory, which he took from that people, to the lands of Rome; he was also the first that entered the city in triumph. He built the walls and sewers, and commenced the Capitol. He was killed in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, by the sons of Ancus, the king whom he had succeeded.

VII. After him Servius Tullius was placed on the throne, the son of a woman of noble origin, but who was, nevertheless, a captive and a slave. He also defeated the Sabines; annexed three hills, the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline, to the city; and formed trenches round the city walls. He was the first to institute the census, which till that time was unknown throughout the world. The people being all subjected to a census during his reign, Rome was found to contain eighty-four thousand citizens, including those in the country. He was cut off in the forty-fifth year of his reign, by the criminal machinations of his son-in-law Tarquin the Proud, the son of the king to whom he had succeeded, and of his own daughter, whom Tarquin had married.

VIII. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last of the kings, overcame the Volsci, a nation not far from Rome, on the road to Campania; reduced the towns of Gabii and Suessa Pometia; made peace with the Tuscans; and built a temple to Jupiter in the Capitol. Afterwards, while he was besieging Ardea, a town that lay about eighteen miles from the city, he was deprived of his throne; for, as his younger son, who was also named Tarquin, offered violence to Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, a most noble and chaste woman; and as she, after complaining to her husband, her father, and her friends, of the injury that she had suffered, slew herself in the sight of them all; Brutus, in consequence, who was a kinsman of Tarquinius,⁵ excited an insurrection among the people, and deprived Tarquin of his regal authority. The army, also, which was engaged with the king in besieging |455 Ardea, soon after deserted him; and the king himself, on going to the city, found the gates closed against him; and, after having reigned five-and-twenty years, was forced to take flight with his wife and children.

Thus a regal form of government continued at Rome, under seven kings, for the space of two hundred and forty-three years, while as yet the dominion of the city, where its extent was greatest, hardly reached fifteen miles.

IX. Henceforth, instead of one king, two consuls were chosen, with this view, that, if one should be disposed to act unjustly, the other, having equal authority, might exercise a control over him. It was determined also that they should not hold their office longer than a year; in order that they might not, by continued possession of power, grow too overbearing; but, knowing that in a year they would return to the level of private persons, might constantly conduct themselves with moderation.

In the first year, then, after the expulsion of the king and his family, the consuls were Lucius Junius Brutus, who had been the chief agent in the banishment of Tarquin, and Tarquinius Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia. But that dignity was soon taken from Tarquinius Collatinus; for it was enacted that no one who bore the name of Tarquin should remain in the city. Having collected, therefore, all his private property, he removed from the city, and Valerius Publicola was made consul in his stead. King Tarquin, however, after his expulsion, stirred up war against Rome, and, having collected a large force from all quarters, in order that he might be reinstated on the throne, took the field.

X. In the first encounter, Brutus and Aruns, Tarquin's son, killed each other; but the Romans left the field conquerors. The Roman matrons mourned for Brutus, the guardian of their honour, as if he had been their common father, for the space of a year. Valerius Publicola fixed upon Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, the father of Lucretia, for his colleague; and he dying of some disease, he next chose Horatius Pulvillus for his fellow consul.

Thus the first year had five consuls; Tarquinius Collatinus having left the city on account of his name, Brutus having fallen in battle, and Spurius Lucretius having died a natural death. |456

XI. In the second year also, Tarquin, with a view to being re-established on the throne, again made war on the Romans, and, as Porsena, king of Tuscany, afforded him aid, almost took Rome. But he was also defeated on that occasion.

In the third year after the expulsion of the royal family, Tarquin, as he could not get himself re-admitted into the kingdom, and as Porsena, who had made peace with the Romans, gave him no support, retired to Tusculum, a town which is not far from Rome; where he and his wife lived for fourteen years in a private station, and reached an advanced age.

In the fourth year after the abolition of the kingly power, the Sabines, having made war on the Romans, were conquered; and a triumph was celebrated over them.

In the fifth year, Lucius Valerius, the colleague of Brutus, and consul for the fourth time, died a natural death, and in such extreme poverty, that the expenses of his funeral were defrayed by a public subscription.⁶ The matrons mourned for him, as for Brutus, during a year.

XII. In the ninth year after the overthrow of the kingly power, the son-in-law of Tarquin, having assembled a vast army, in order to avenge the wrongs of his father-in-law, a new office was introduced at Rome, which was called the dictatorship, and which was more absolute than the consulate. In the same year also a master of the horse was appointed to be an officer under the dictator. Nor can anything be named more like to the imperial authority, which your Serenity ⁷ now enjoys, than the ancient dictatorship, especially since Caesar Octavianus, also, of whom we shall speak hereafter, and Caius Caesar before him, ruled with the title and rank of dictator. The first dictator at Rome was Lartius; the first master of the horse, Spurius Cassius.

XIII. In the sixteenth year after the termination of the regal power, the people at Rome, thinking themselves oppressed by the senate and consuls, broke out into a sedition. On this occasion they created for themselves tribunes of the people, as their own peculiar judges and defenders, by whom they might be protected against the senateand the consuls.

XIV. In the following year the Volsci recommenced |457 hostilities against the Romans; and being overcome in the field, lost also Corioli, the best city that they had.

XV. In the eighteenth year after the banishment of the royal family, Quintius Marcius, the Roman general who had taken Corioli, the city of the Volsci, being compelled to flee from Rome, directed his course, in resentment, to the Volsci themselves, and received from them support against the Romans. He obtained several victories over the Romans; he made his way even to the fifth mile-stone from the city; and, refusing to hear a deputation that came to sue for peace, would have laid siege even to the place of his birth, had not his mother Veturia and his wife Volumnia gone out from the city to meet him, by whose tears and supplications he was prevailed on to withdraw his army. He was the next after Tarquin that acted as general against his country.

XVI. In the consulate of Caeso Fabius and Titus Virginius, three hundred noblemen, members of the Fabian family, undertook alone a war against the Vejentes, assuring the senate and the people that the whole contest should be brought to an end by themselves. These illustrious men, therefore, each of whom was capable of commanding a large army, setting out on their expedition, all fell in battle One only remained out of so numerous a family, who, from his extreme youth, could not be taken with them to the field. After these events a census was held in the city, in which the number of the citizens was found to be a hundred and nineteen thousand three hundred and nineteen.

XVII. In the following year, in consequence of the blockade of a Roman army on Mount Algidus, about twelve miles from the city, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus was appointed dictator; a man who, possessing only four acres of land, cultivated it with his own hands. He, being found at his work, and engaged in ploughing, assumed, after wiping the sweat from his brow, the toga praetexta; and set free the army with great slaughter among the enemy.

XVIII. In the three hundred and second ⁸ year from the founding of the city, the consular government ceased; and, instead of two consuls, ten magistrates were appointed to hold the supreme authority, under the title of decemviri. These during the first year conducted themselves with honour; but |458 in the second, one of them, Appius Claudius, proceeded to offer violence to the maiden daughter of a certain Virginius, who was at that time filling an honourable post on military service against the Latins on Mount Algidus; but the father slew her with his own hand, that she might not suffer violation from the decemvir, and, returning to the army, raised an insurrection among the soldiers. Their power was in consequence taken from the decemviri, and they themselves received sentences of condemnation.⁹

XIX. In the three hundred and fifteenth year from the founding of the city, the Fidenates rebelled against the Romans. The Vejentes and their king Tolumnius gave them assistance. These two states are so near to Rome, that Fidenae is only seven, Veii only eighteen miles distant. The Volsci also joined them; but they were defeated by Marcus Aemilius the dictator, and Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus the master of the horse, and lost also their king. Fidenae was taken, and utterly destroyed.

XX. Twenty years afterwards, the people of Veii resumed hostilities. Furius Camillus was sent as dictator against them, who first defeated them in battle, and then, after a long siege, took their city, the oldest and richest in Italy. He next took Falisci, a city of no less note. But popular odium was excited against him, on the ground that he had made an unfair division of the booty, and he was condemned on that charge and banished.

Soon after the Galli Senones marched towards Rome; and, pursuing the Romans, whom they defeated at the river Allia, eleven miles from the city, possessed themselves of the city itself, no part of which could be defended against them, except the Capitol. After they had besieged it a long time, and the Romans were suffering from famine, Camillus, who was in exile in a neighbouring city, attacked the Gauls unexpectedly, and gave them a severe defeat. Afterwards,¹⁰ on receiving a sum |459 in gold, to desist from the siege of the Capitol, they retreated; Camillus, however, pursued them, and routed them with such a slaughter, that he recovered both the gold which had been given to them, and all the military standards which they had taken. Thus he entered the city for the third time in triumph, and received the appellation of a second Romulus, as if he also had been a founder of the city.

--------------------------------

BOOK II.

Military tribunes created instead of consuls; Camillus overcomes the Volsci, Aequi, and Sutrini, Cincinnatus the Praenestini, I, II ----Consular government restored, III.----Death and eulogy of Camillus, IV.----Flight of the Gauls, V ----The census, VI.----Combat of Valerius Corvus with a Gaul, VII.----The Latin war, VIII.----Various defeats of the Samnites, IX.----The Gauls, Etrurians, and Samnites defeated, X.----The war with Pyrrhus, XI.-XIV.----Ptolemy, king of Egypt, sends ambassadors to Rome, XV.----The Picenians and Sallentines subdued, XVI. XVII.----Another census: the first Punic war, XVIII.----XXVIII.

I. IN the three hundred and sixty-fifth year after the foundation of the city, and the first after its capture by the Gauls, the form of government was changed; and, instead of two consuls, military tribunes, invested with consular power, were created. From this time the power of Rome began to increase; for that very year Camillus reduced the state of the Volsci, which had persisted to make war for seventy years; also the cities of the Aequi and Sutrini; and, overthrowing their armies, took possession of them all; and thus enjoyed three triumphs at the same time.

II. Titus Quintius Cincinnatus, also, having pursued the Praenestini, who had advanced in a hostile manner to the very gates of Rome, defeated them on the river Allia, annexing eight cities that were under their dominion to the Roman empire; and, attacking Praeneste itself, forced it to surrender; all which acts were accomplished by him in the space of twenty days; and a triumph was decreed him.

III. But the office of military tribunes did not last long; for, after a short time, it was enacted that no more should be created; and four years passed in the state in such a manner |460 that none of the superior magistrates were appointed. The military tribunes, however, were re-instated in their office with consular authority, and continued for three years, when consuls were again elected.

IV. In the consulship of Lucius Genucius and Quintus Servilius, Camillus died, and honour next to that of Romulus was paid him.

V. Titus Quintius was sent out as dictator against the Gauls, who had marched into Italy; and had encamped about four miles from the city, on the other side of the river Anio, Titus Manlius, one of the noblest of the senators, encountering a Gaul who had challenged him to single combat, slew him; and, having taken from his neck a chain of gold, and put it on his own, secured the appellation of Torquatus to himself and his posterity for ever. The Gauls were repulsed, and soon afterwards entirely defeated by Caius Sulpicius the dictator. Shortly after, the Tuscans were defeated by Caius Marcius, and eight thousand of them were taken prisoners and led in triumph.

VI. A census was again taken; and as the Latins, who had been subdued by the Romans, refused to furnish troops, recruits were levied from among the Romans only, and ten legions were raised, making sixty thousand fighting men, or upwards; so great was the power of the Romans in war, while their territory was as yet but small. These troops having marched out against the Gauls, under the conduct of Lucius Furius Camillus, one of the Gauls challenged the most valiant among the Romans to single combat; when Marcus Valerius, a tribune of the soldiers, came forward to accept the challenge; and, as he advanced in full armour, a crow settled upon his right shoulder. Afterwards, too, when he commenced the encounter with the Gaul, the same crow, with his wings and talons, furiously assailed the Gaul's eyes, so that he was not able to see before him, and thus, being slain by the tribune Valerius, he gave him not only a victory, but a name; for he was afterwards called Corvus. For the same service also, at the age of three and twenty, he was made consul.

VII. The Latins, who had refused to furnish troops, proceeded also to demand of the Romans, that one of the consuls should be elected from their own people, the other from the Romans; this demand having been rejected, war was |461 commenced against them, and they were overcome in a great battle; and a triumph was celebrated on account of their defeat. Statues were erected to the consuls in the Rostra, for their service in gaining this victory.

VIII. The Romans had now begun to be powerful; for a war was carried on by them against the Samnites, who hold a middle situation between Picenum, Campania, and Apulia, at the distance of nearly a hundred and thirty miles from the city. Lucius Papirius Cursor went to conduct that war with the rank of dictator, and, on returning to Rome, gave orders to Quintus Fabius Maximus, his master of the horse, whom he left in charge of the army, not to fight during his absence. He, however, seeing a favourable opportunity, commenced an engagement with great success, and utterly defeated the Samnites; he was accordingly condemned to death by the dictator, for fighting contrary to his orders, but was saved by the powerful interposition of the soldiers and people, so great a tumult having been excited against Papirius, that he was almost slain.

IX. The Samnites subsequently, in the consulate of Titus Veturius and Spurius Posthumius, defeated the Romans with signal ignominy, and compelled them to pass under the yoke. The peace, however, which had been concluded with them through mere necessity, was broken by the senate and people. After this the Samnites were defeated by Lucius Papirius the consul, and seven thousand of them made to pass under the yoke. Papirius was granted a triumph over the Samnites. About the same time Appius Claudius the censor brought the Claudian water into the city, and made the Appian way.

The Samnites, renewing the war, defeated Quintus Fabius Maximus, with the slaughter of three thousand of his troops; but afterwards, his father, Fabius Maximus, being appointed his lieutenant, he both defeated the Samnites, and took several of their towns. Subsequently, Publius Cornelius Rufinus and Manius Curius Dentatus, the two consuls, being sent against the Samnites, reduced their strength in some considerable battles. Thus they brought the war with the Samnites to an end; a war which had lasted for forty-nine years. Nor was there any enemy in Italy that put the valour of the Romans more to the test.

X. After an interval of a few years, the forces of the Gauls |462 united with the Tuscans and Samnites against the Romans; but, as they were marching to Rome, were cut off by the consul Cnaeus Cornelius Dolabella.

XI. War was at the same time proclaimed against the Tarentines (who are still a people at the extremity of Italy), because they had offered violence to some Roman ambassadors. These people asked aid against the Romans of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who derived his origin from the family of Achilles. He soon after passed over into Italy, and it was then that the Romans fought for the first time with an enemy from beyond sea. The consul Publius Valerius Laevinus was sent against him; who, having seized some spies of Pyrrhus, ordered them to be led through the camp, and the whole army to be exhibited to them, and then to be dismissed, that they might tell Pyrrhus whatever was going on among the Romans. An engagement taking place soon after, Pyrrhus, when on the point of fleeing, got the victory by means of his elephants, at the sight of which the Romans, to whom they were strange, were greatly terrified; but night put an end to the battle. Laevinus however fled during the night. Pyrrhus took a thousand eight hundred Romans prisoners, and treated them with the greatest honour; the slain he buried. On observing those lying dead, with their wounds in front, and with stern countenances, he is said to have lifted up his hands to heaven, exclaiming that "he might himself have been master of the whole world, if such soldiers had fallen to his lot."

XII. Pyrrhus afterwards, having united to him the Samnites, the Lucanians, and the Bruttii, proceeded towards Rome. He laid all waste with fire and sword, depopulated Campania, and advanced to Praeneste, eighteen miles from Rome. Soon after, through fear of an army which was pursuing him with a consul at its head, he fell back upon Campania. Ambassadors, who were sent to treat with Pyrrhus respecting the ransom of the captives, were honourably entertained by him; and he sent the captives back to Rome without payment. Fabricius, one of the Roman ambassadors, he admired so much, that, finding he was poor, he endeavoured to draw him over to his side with the promise of a fourth part of his kingdom, but he was repulsed with disdain by Fabricius. Pyrrhus, therefore, being struck with admiration at the character of the Romans, sent an eminent man. Cineas by name, as ambassador, to ask |463 for peace on reasonable terms, provided that he might retain possession of that part of Italy, of which he had already become master in the war.

XIII. Such terms of peace were not satisfactory, and an answer was returned by the senate to Pyrrhus, that "he could have no peace with the Romans, unless he retired from Italy." The Romans then ordered that all the prisoners whom Pyrrhus had sent back should be considered infamous ¹¹ because they had suffered themselves to be taken with arms in their hands; and not to be restored to their former rank, until they had each produced the spoils of two slain enemies. Thus the ambassador of Pyrrhus returned; and, when Pyrrhus asked him "what kind of a place he had found Rome to be," Cineas replied, that "he had seen a country of kings, for that all there were such, as Pyrrhus alone was thought to be in Epirus and the rest of Greece."

The consuls Publius Sulpicius and Decius Mus were sent out as generals against Pyrrhus. A battle being commenced, Pyrrhus was wounded, his elephants killed, twenty thousand of the enemy slain, and of the Romans only five thousand. Pyrrhus was forced to retire to Tarentum.

XIV. After the lapse of a year, Fabricius was sent out against Pyrrhus, the same who, when he was before among the ambassadors, could not be won with a promise of the fourth part of his kingdom. As Fabricius and the king had their camps near to each other, the physician of Pyrrhus came to Fabricius by night, offering to despatch Pyrrhus by poison, if he would promise him some remuneration; upon which Fabricius ordered that he should be taken back in chains to his master, and that information should be given to Pyrrhus of the proposals which the physician had made against his life. The king, struck with admiration of his conduct, is reported to have exclaimed on the occasion, "That excellent Fabricius is a man who can less easily be diverted from the path of honour, than the sun from its course." Pyrrhus then departed for Sicily. Fabricius, after defeating the Samnites and Lucanians, obtained a triumph. |464

The consuls Manius Curius Dentatus and Cornelius Lentulus were next sent against Pyrrhus; and Curius came to an engagement with him, cut off his army, drove him back to Tarentum. and took his camp. On that day were slain twenty-three thousand of the enemy. Curius Dentatus triumphed in his consulate. He was the first that brought elephants to Rome, in number, four. Pyrrhus also soon after quitted Tarentum, and was killed at Argos, a city of Greece.

XV. In the consulship of Caius Fabricius Licinus and Caius Claudius Canina, in the four hundred and sixty-first year from the foundation of the city, ambassadors, from Alexandria, despatched by Ptolemy, arrived at Rome, and obtained from the Romans the friendship which they solicited.

XVI, In the consulate of Quintus Ogulnius and Caius Fabius Pictor, the Picenians commenced a war, and were conquered by the succeeding consuls Publius Sempronius and Appius Claudius, and a triumph was celebrated over them. Two cities were founded by the Romans, Ariminum in Gaul, and Beneventum in Samnium.

XVII. When Marcus Attilius Regulus and Lucius Junius Libo were consuls, war was declared against the Sallentines in Apulia; and the Brundusians and their city were taken, and a triumph granted on their subjugation.

XVIII. In the four hundred and seventy-seventh year of the city, although the Roman name had now become famous, yet their arms had not been carried out of Italy. That it might be ascertained, therefore, what the forces of the Romans were, a census was taken. On this occasion the number of citizens was found to be two hundred and ninety-two thousand, three hundred and thirty-four, although from the founding of the city wars had never ceased. It was then that the first war was undertaken against the Africans, in the consulate of Appius Claudius and Quintus Fulvius. A battle was fought with them in Sicily; and Appius Claudius obtained a triumph for a victory over the Africans and Hiero king of Sicily.

XIX. In the year following, Valerius Marcus and Otacilius being consuls, great deeds were achieved by the Romans in Sicily. The Tauromenitani, Catanians, and fifty cities more, were received into alliance. In the third year the war against Hiero in Sicily was brought to an end. He, with all the Syracusan nobility, prevailed upon the Romans to grant them |465 peace, paying down two hundred talents of silver. The Africans were defeated in Sicily, and a triumph over them granted at Rome a second time.

XX. In the fifth year of the Punic war, which was carried on against the Africans, the Romans first fought by sea, in the consulate of Caius Duilius and Cnaeus Cornelius Asina, having provided themselves with vessels armed with beaks, which they term Liburnian galleys. The consul Cornelius fell a victim to treachery.¹² Duilius, joining battle, defeated the commander of the Carthaginians, took thirty-one of their ships, sunk fourteen, took seven thousand of the enemy prisoners, and slew three thousand; nor was there ever a victory more gratifying to the Romans, for they were now not only invincible by land, but eminently powerful at sea.

In the consulship of Caius Aquilius Florus and Lucius Scipio, Scipio laid waste Corsica and Sardinia, carried away several thousand captives from thence, and obtained a triumph.

XXI. When Lucius Manlius Vulso and Marcus Attilius Regulus were consuls, war was carried over into Africa against Hamilcar the general of the Carthaginians. A naval engagement was fought, and the Carthaginian utterly defeated, for he retired with the loss of sixty four of his ships. The Romans lost only twenty-two; and, having then crossed over into Africa, they compelled Clypea, the first city at which they arrived in Africa, to surrender. The consuls then advanced as far as Carthage; and, having laid waste many places, Manlius returned victorious to Rome, and brought with him twenty-seven thousand prisoners. Attilius Regulus remained in Africa. He drew up his army against the Africans; and, fighting at the same time against three Carthaginian generals, came off victorious, killed eighteen thousand of the enemy, took five thousand prisoners, with eighteen elephants, and received seventy-four cities into alliance. The vanquished Carthaginians then sued to the Romans for peace, which Regulus refusing to grant, except upon the hardest conditions, the Africans sought aid from the Lacedaemonians, and, under a leader named Xantippus, who had been sent them by the Lacedaemonians, Regulus, the Roman general, was overthrown |466 with a desperate slaughter; for two thousand men only escaped of all the Roman army; five hundred, with their commander Regulus, were taken prisoners, thirty thousand slain, and Regulus himself thrown into prison.

XXII. In the consulship of Marcus Aemilius Paulus and Servius Fulvius Nobilior, both the Roman consuls set sail for Africa, with a fleet of three hundred ships. They first overcame the Africans in a sea-fight; Aemilius the consul sunk a hundred and four of the enemy's ships, took thirty, with the soldiers in them, killed or took prisoners fifteen thousand of the enemy, and enriched his own army with much plunder; and Africa would then have been subdued, but that so great a famine took place that the army could not continue there any longer. The consuls, as they were returning with their victorious fleet, suffered shipwreck on the coast of Sicily, and so violent was the storm, that out of four hundred and sixty-four ships, eighty could scarcely be saved; nor was so great a tempest at sea ever heard of at any period. The Romans, notwithstanding, soon refitted two hundred ships, nor was their spirit at all broken by their loss.

XXIII. Cnaeus Servilius Caepio and Caius Sempronius Blaesus, when consuls, set out for Africa with two hundred and sixty ships, and took several cities. As they were returning with a great booty, they suffered shipwreck; and, as these successive calamities annoyed the Romans, the senate in consequence decreed that wars by sea should be given up, and that only sixty ships should be kept for the defence of Italy.

XXIV. In the consulship of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Caius Furius Pacilus, Metellus defeated a general of the Africans in Sicily, who came against him with a hundred and thirty elephants and a numerous army, slew twenty thousand of the enemy, took six and twenty elephants, collected the rest, which were dispersed, with the aid of the Numidians whom he had to assist him, and brought them to Rome in a vast procession, filling all the roads with elephants, to the number of a hundred and thirty.

After these misfortunes, the Carthaginians entreated Regulus, the Roman general whom they had taken, to go to Rome, procure them peace from the Romans, and effect an exchange of prisoners. |467

XXV. Regulus, on arriving at Rome, and being conducted into the senate, would do nothing in the character of a Roman, declaring that, "from the day when he fell into the hands of the Africans, he had ceased to be a Roman." For this reason he both repelled his wife from embracing him, and gave his advice to the Romans, that "peace should not be made with the Carthaginians; for that they, dispirited by so many losses, had no hope left; and that, with respect to himself, he was not of such importance, that so many thousand captives should be restored on his account alone, old as he was, and for the sake of the few Romans who had been taken prisoners." He accordingly carried his point, for no one would listen to the Carthaginians, when they applied for peace. He himself returned to Carthage, telling the Romans, when they offered to detain him at Rome, that he would not stay in a city, in which, after living in captivity among the Africans, it was impossible for him to retain the dignity of an honourable citizen. Returning therefore to Africa, he was put to death with torture of every description,

XXVI. When Publius Claudius Pulcher and Caius Junius were consuls, Claudius fought in opposition to the auspices. and was defeated by the Carthaginians; for, out of two hundred and twenty ships, he escaped with only thirty; ninety, together with their men, were taken, the rest sunk, and twenty thousand men made prisoners. The other consul also lost his fleet by shipwreck, but was able to save his troops, as the shore was close at hand.

XXVII. In the consulate of Caius Lutatius Catulus and Aulus Posthumius Albinus, in the twenty-third year of the Punic war, the conduct of the war against the Africans was committed to Catulus. He set sail for Sicily with three hundred ships. The Africans fitted out four hundred against him. Lutatius Catulus embarked in an infirm state of health, having been wounded in a previous battle. An encounter took place opposite Lilybaeum, a city of Sicily, with the greatest valour on the part of the Romans, for seventy-three of the Carthaginian ships were taken, and a hundred and twenty-five sunk; thirty-two thousand of the enemy were made prisoners, and thirteen thousand slain; and a vast sum in gold and silver fell into the hands of the Romans. Of the Roman fleet twelve ships were sunk The battle was fought on the 10th of |468 of March. The Carthaginians immediately sued for peace, and peace was granted them. The Roman prisoners who were in the hands of the Carthaginians were restored; the Carthaginians also requested permission to redeem such of the Africans as the Romans kept in captivity. The senate decided that those who were state prisoners should be restored without ransom; but that those who were in the hands of private persons should return to Carthage on the payment of a sum to their owners; and that such payment should be made from the public treasury, rather than by the Carthaginians.

XXVIII. Quintus Lutatius and Aulius Manlius, being created consuls, made war upon the Falisci, formerly a powerful people of Italy, which war the consuls in conjunction brought to a termination within six days after they took the field; fifteen thousand of the enemy were slain, and peace was granted to the rest, but half their land was taken from them.

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BOOK III.

Ptolemy, king of Egypt, declines the aid offered him by the Romans against Antiochus; Hiero, king of Sicily, comes to see the games at Rome, I.----War with the Ligurians; the Carthaginians think of resuming hostilities, but are pacified, II.----Peace throughout the dominions of Rome, III.----The Illyrian war, IV.----Disasters of the Gauls that invaded Italy, V. VI.----The second Punic war, VII.-XXIII.

I. THE Punic war being now ended, after having been protracted though three and twenty years, the Romans, who were now distinguished by transcendent glory, sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, with offers of assistance; for Antiochus, king of Syria, had made war upon him. He returned thanks to the Romans, but declined their aid, the struggle being now over. About the same time. Hiero, the most powerful king of Sicily, visited Rome to witness the games, and distributed two hundred thousand modii ¹³ of wheat among the people.

II. In the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Fulvius Flaccus, in whose time Hiero came to Rome, war was carried on, within the limits of Italy, against the Ligurians, |469 and a triumph obtained over them. The Carthaginians, too, at the same time, attempted to renew the war, soliciting the Sardinians, who, by an article of the peace, were bound to submit to the Romans, to rebel. A deputation, however, of the Carthaginians came to Rome, and obtained peace.

III. Under the consulate of Titus Manlius Torquatus and Caius Attilius Bulbus, a triumph was obtained over the Sardinians; and, peace being concluded on all sides, the Romans had now no war on their hands, a circumstance which had happened to them but once before since the building of the city, in the reign of Numa Pompilius.

IV. Lucius Posthumius Albinus and Cnaeus Fulvius Centumalus, when consuls, conducted a war against the Illyrians; and, having taken many of their towns, reduced their kings to a surrender, and it was then for the first time that a triumph was celebrated over the Illyrians.

V. When Lucius Aemilius was consul, a vast force of the Gauls crossed the Alps; but all Italy united in favour of the Romans; and it is recorded by Fabius the historian, who was present in that war, that there were eight hundred thousand men ready for the contest. Affairs, however, were brought to a successful termination by the consul alone; forty thousand of the enemy were killed, and a triumph decreed to Aemilius.

VI. A few years after, a battle was fought with the Gauls within the borders of Italy, and an end put to the war, in the consulship of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Cnaeus Cornelius Scipio. Marcellus took the field with a small body of horse, and slew the king of the Gauls, Viridomarus, with his own hand. Afterwards, in conjunction with his colleague, he cut to pieces a numerous army of the Gauls, stormed Milan, and carried off a vast booty to Rome. Marcellus, at his triumph, bore the spoils of the Gaul, fixed upon a pole on his shoulders.

VII. In the consulate of Marcus Minucius Rufus and Publius Cornelius, war was made upon the Istrians, because they had plundered some ships of the Romans, which were bringing a supply of corn, and they were entirely subdued.

In the same year the second Punic war was commenced against the Romans by Hannibal, general of the Carthaginians, who, in the twentieth year of his age, proceeded to besiege Saguntum, a city of Spain, in alliance with the |470 Romans, having assembled for that purpose an army of fifty thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. The Romans warned him, by deputies sent for the purpose, to desist from hostilities, but he refused them audience. The Romans sent also to Carthage, requiring that orders should be sent to Hannibal, not to make war on the allies of the Roman people; but the reply made by the Carthaginians promised no compliance. The Saguntines in the meantime, worn out with famine, were taken by Hannibal, and put to death with the utmost cruelty.

VIII. Publius Cornelius Scipio then went with an army into Spain, and Tiberius Sempronius into Sicily. War was declared against the Carthaginians. Hannibal, leaving his brother Hasdrubal in Spain, passed the Pyrenees, and made a way over the Alps, which, in that part, were previously impassable. He is said to have brought into Italy eighty thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, and thirty-seven elephants. Numbers of the Ligurians and Gauls joined him on his march. Sempronius Gracchus, hearing of Hannibal's arrival in Italy, conveyed over his army from Sicily to Ariminum.

IX. The first to meet Hannibal was Publius Cornelius Scipio; a battle being commenced, and his troops put to flight, he retired wounded into his camp. Sempronius Gracchus also came to an engagement with him near the river Trebia, and he too was defeated. Numbers in Italy submitted to Hannibal; who, marching from thence into Tuscany, encountered the consul Flaminius. Flaminius himself he cut off; and twenty-five thousand of the Romans were slain; the rest saved themselves by flight. Quintus Fabius Maximus was afterwards sent by the Romans to oppose Hannibal. This general, by avoiding an engagement, checked his impetuosity; and soon after, finding a favourable opportunity, defeated him.

X. In the five hundredand fortieth year from the foundation of the city, Lucius Aemilius and Publius Terentius Varro were sent against Hannibal, and took the place of Fabius, who forewarned both the consuls, that they could conquer Hannibal, who was a bold and energetic leader, only by declining a pitched battle with him. But an engagement being brought on, through the impetuosity of the consul Varro, in opposition to his colleague, near a village called Cannae, in Apulia, both the consuls were defeated by Hannibal. In this battle three |471 thousand of the Africans fell, and a great part of Hannibal's army were wounded. The Romans, however, never received so severe a blow at any period of the Punic wars; for the consul Aemilius Paulus was killed; twenty officers of consular and praetorian rank, thirty senators, and three hundred others of noble descent, were taken or slain, as well as forty thousand foot-soldiers, and three thousand five hundred horse. During all these calamities, however, not one of the Romans deigned to speak of peace. A number of slaves were set free and made soldiers, a measure never before adopted.

XI. After this battle, several cities of Italy, which had been subject to the Romans, went over to Hannibal. Hannibal made proposals to the Romans concerning the redemption of the prisoners, but the senate replied, that "such citizens as would suffer themselves to be taken with arms in their hands were of no value to them." Hannibal then put them all to death with various tortures, and sent three modii ¹⁴ of gold rings to Carthage, which he had taken from the fingers of Roman knights, senators, and soldiers. In the meantime, Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, who had remained in Spain with a numerous army, in order to reduce all that country under the dominion of the Africans, was defeated there by the two Scipios, the Roman generals, and lost thirty-five thousand men in the battle; of these ten thousand were made prisoners, and twenty-five thousand slain. Upon this, twelve thousand foot, four thousand horse, and twenty elephants were sent to him by the Carthaginians to reinforce his army.

XII. In the fourth year after Hannibal's arrival in Italy, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of the consuls, engaged him with success at Nola, a city of Campania. But Hannibal possessed himself of several of the Roman cities in Apulia, Calabria, and the country of the Bruttii. About this time also Philip, king of Macedonia, sent ambassadors to him, offering him assistance against the Romans, on condition that, when he had subdued them, he, in turn, should receive assistance from Hannibal against the Greeks. But Philip's ambassadors being taken, and the affair thus discovered, the Romans ordered Marcus Valerius Laevinus to proceed to Macedonia, and Titus Manlius, as proconsul, into Sardinia; for that island also, at the solicitation of Hannibal, had revolted from the Romans |472

XIII. Thus war was carried on at the same time in four different places; in Italy, against Hannibal; in Spain, against Hasdrubal his brother; in Macedonia, against Philip; in Sardinia, against the Sardinians and another Hasdrubal, also a Carthaginian. Hasdrubal was taken alive by Titus Manlius the proconsul, who had been sent into Sardinia; twelve thousand of his men were slain, fifteen hundred made prisoners, and Sardinia brought under subjection to the Romans. Manlius, being thus successful, brought Hasdrubal and his other prisoners to Rome. In the meantime, Philip also was defeated by Laevinus in Macedonia, and Hasdrubal and Mago, a third brother of Hannibal, by the Scipios in Spain.

XIV. In the tenth year after Hannibal's arrival in Italy, in the consulship of Publius Sulpicius and Cnaeus Fulvius, Hannibal advanced within four miles of Rome, and his cavalry rode up to the very gates; but soon after, through fear of the consuls, who were coming upon him with an army, he withdrew into Campania. In Spain, the two Scipios, who had been victorious for many years, were killed by his brother Hasdrubal; the army however remained in full strength, for the generals had been ensnared rather by accident than the valour of the enemy. About this time, also, a great part of Sicily, which the Africans had begun to appropriate, was recovered by the consul Marcellus, and vast spoil brought to Rome from the celebrated city of Syracuse. In Macedonia, Laevinus made an alliance with Philip, and several of the Grecian states, as well as with Attalus, king of Asia; and. proceeding afterwards to Sicily, took Hanno, a general of the Carthaginians, at the city of Agrigentum, together with the town itself, and sent him with other noble prisoners to Rome. Forty cities he obliged to surrender; twenty-six he carried by storm. Thus all Sicily being recovered, and Macedonia humbled, he returned with great glory to Rome. In Italy, Hannibal, attacking Cnaeus Fulvius, one of the consuls, by surprise, cut him off, together with eight thousand of his men.

XV. In the meantime, Publius Cornelius Scipio, a man almost the very first of all the Romans, both in his own and succeeding ages, son of that Publius Scipio who had carried on the war there before, was despatched, at the age of twenty-four, into Spain, where, after the death of the two Scipios, no |473 Roman general was now left. He took Carthage, in Spain, in which the Africans kept all their gold, and silver, and warlike stores; he took also a number of hostages, whom the Carthaginians had received from the Spaniards, as well as Mago, the brother of Hannibal, whom he sent with others to Rome. The rejoicing at Rome on this intelligence was very great. Scipio restored the Spanish hostages to their parents; and in consequence almost all the Spaniards unanimously joined him. Soon after, he put to flight Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, and took a great quantity of spoil.

XVI. In Italy, meanwhile, Quintus Fabius Maximus, one of the consuls, recovered Tarentum, where a great body of Hannibal's troops were quartered, and cut off there also Carthalo, one of Hannibal's generals; twenty-five thousand of the prisoners he sold for slaves; the spoil he divided among the soldiers; and the money arising from the sale of the prisoners, he paid into the public treasury. At this time, several of the Roman cities, which had gone over to Hannibal, submitted themselves again to Fabius Maximus.

In the following year Scipio performed extraordinary exploits in Spain, and, by his own exertions and those of his brother Lucius Scipio, recovered seventy cities. In Italy, however, the war went on unsuccessfully, for Claudius Marcellus the consul was cut off by Hannibal.

XVII. In the third year after Scipio's departure for Spain, he again greatly distinguished himself. A king of Spain, whom he had conquered in a great battle, he received into alliance; and was the first that refrained from demanding hostages of a vanquished enemy.

XVIII. Hannibal, having no hope that Spain could be held longer against Scipio, summoned from it Hasdrubal his brother, with all his troops, to join him in Italy. Hasdrubal, pursuing the same route by which Hannibal had gone, fell into an ambush laid for him by the consuls Appius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius Salinator, near Sena, a city of Picenum, but fell fighting valiantly; his numerous forces were either taken or put to the sword; and a great quantity of gold and silver carried off to Rome. Hannibal now began to despair of the issue of the war, and an accession of courage was felt by the Romans. They, therefore, also recalled Publius Cornelius Scipio out of Spain; who arrived at Rome with great glory. |474

XIX. In the consulate of Quintus Caecilius and Lucius Valerius, all the cities in the territory of the Bruttii, which were in the possession of Hannibal, surrendered to the Romans.

XX. In the fourteenth year after Hannibal s invasion of Italy, Scipio, who had achieved such successes in Spain, was created consul, and sent into Africa; a man in whom there was thought to be something divine, so that he was even imagined to hold converse with the gods. He encountered Hanno, the general of the Carthaginians in Africa, and destroyed his army. In a second battle he took his camp, with four thousand five hundred of his soldiers, eleven thousand being killed. Syphax, king of Numidia, who had joined the Africans, he took prisoner, and became master of his camp. Syphax himself, with the noblest of the Numidians, and a vast quantity of spoil, was sent by Scipio to Rome; on the news of which event, almost all Italy forsook Hannibal, who was desired by the Carthaginians to return to Africa, which Scipio was now laying waste.

XXI. Thus, in the seventeenth year after his arrival, Italy was delivered from Hannibal, and he is said to have quitted it with tears. Ambassadors from the Carthaginians applied to Scipio for peace, by whom they were sent to the senate, a truce of forty-five days being allowed for their journey to and from Rome; thirty thousand pounds of silver were accepted from them. The senate directed that a peace should be concluded with the Carthaginians at the discretion of Scipio. Scipio granted it on these conditions: "that they should retain, no more than thirty ships, that they should pay to the Romans five hundred thousand pounds of silver, and restore all the prisoners and deserters."

XXII. Hannibal in the meantime landing in Africa, the treaty was interrupted. Many hostilities were committed by the Carthaginians; yet when their ambassadors, as they were returning from Rome, were made prisoners by some Roman troops, they were by Scipio's orders set at liberty. Hannibal too, being defeated by Scipio in several battles,¹⁵ expressed also himself a desire for peace. A conference being held, peace |475 was offered on the same terms as before, only a hundred thousand pounds of silver were added to the former five hundred thousand, on account of their late perfidy.¹⁶ The terms were, unsatisfactory to the Carthaginians, and they ordered Hannibal to continue the war.

The war was carried by Scipio, and Masinissa, another king of the Numidians, who had made an alliance with Scipio, to the very walls of Carthage. Hannibal sent three spies into Scipio's camp, who were captured, and Scipio ordered them to be led round the camp, the whole army to be shown them, and themselves to be entertained and dismissed, that they might report to Hannibal all that they had seen among the Romans.

XXIII. In the meantime preparations were made by both generals for a battle, such as scarce ever occurred in any age, since they were the ablest commanders that ever led forces into the field. Scipio came off victorious, having almost captured Hannibal himself, who escaped at first with several horse, then with twenty, and at last with only four. There were found in Hannibal's camp twenty thousand pounds of silver, and eight hundred of gold, with plenty of stores. After this battle, peace was concluded with the Carthaginians. Scipio returned to Rome, and triumphed with the greatest glory, receiving from that period the appellation of Africanus. Thus the second Punic war was brought to an end in the nineteenth year after it began. |476

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BOOK IV.

War with Philip, king of Macedonia, I. II.----War with Antiochus, king of Syria, III. IV.----Triumph of Fulvius over the Aetolians; death of Hannibal, V.----War with Perseus, king of Macedonia, and with Gentius, king of Illyria, VI.----VIII.----Successes of Mummius in Spain, IX.----Third Punic war, and destruction of Carthage, X. ----XII.----War in Macedonia with Pseudo Philip, XIII.----The Achaean war, and destruction of Corinth, XIV.----War in Macedonia with Pseudo Perseus, XV.----War in Spain with Viriatus, XVI.----Numantine war ended by Scipio, XVII.----Attains bequeaths his kingdom to the Roman people, XVIII.----Triumphs of Junius Brutus and Scipio, XIX.----War in Asia with Aristonicus, XX.----Carthage becomes a Roman colony, XXI.----War with the Transalpine Gauls, and Bituitus, king of the Arverni, XXII.----A colony settled at Narbonne; a triumph over Dalmatia, XXIII.----Unsuccessful war with the Scordisci, XXIV.----Triumphs over Sardinia and Thrace, XXV.----War with Jugurtha, XXVI. XXVII.

I. AFTER the Punic was terminated, the Macedonian war, against King Philip, succeeded.

II. In the five hundred and fifty-first year from the building of the city, Titus Quintius Flamininus was sent against King Philip. He was successful in his undertaking; and peace was granted to Philip on these conditions, that "he should not make war on those states of Greece which the Romans had defended against him; that he should restore the prisoners and deserters; that he should retain only fifty vessels, and deliver up the rest to the Romans; that he should pay, for ten years, a tribute of four thousand pounds weight of silver; and give his own son Demetrius as a hostage." Titus Quintius made war also on the Lacedaemonians; defeated their general Nabis, and admitted them into alliance on such terms as he thought proper. He led with great pride before his chariot hostages of most noble rank, Demetrius the son of Philip, and Armenes the son of Nabis.

III. The Macedonian war being thus terminated, the Syrian war, against King Antiochus, succeeded, in the consulship of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Manius Acilius Glabrio, To this Antiochus Hannibal had joined himself, abandoning his native country, Carthage, to escape being delivered up to the Romans. Manius Acilius Glabrio fought successfully in Achaia. The camp of King Antiochus was taken by an attack in the night, and he himself obliged to flee. To Philip his |477 son Demetrius was restored, for having assisted the Romans in their contest with Antiochus.

IV. In the consulate of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Caius Laelius, Scipio Africanus went out as lieutenant to his brother Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the consul, against Antiochus. Hannibal, who was with Antiochus, was defeated in a battle by sea. Antiochus himself was afterwards routed by Cornelius Scipio, the consul, in a great battle at Magnesia, a city of Asia, near mount Sipylus. Eumenes, who founded the city of Eumenia in Phrygia, the brother of king Attalus, assisted the Romans in that engagement. Fifty thousand foot, and three thousand horse were killed in that battle on the side of the king. In consequence, King Antiochus sued for peace, which was granted to him, though vanquished, by the senate, on the same conditions as it had been offered before: "that he should withdraw from Europe and Asia, and confine himself within mount Taurus; that he should pay ten thousand talents, and give twenty hostages, and surrender Hannibal, the author of the war." All the cities of Asia, which Antiochus had lost in this war, were given to Eumenes; many cities also were granted to the Rhodians, who had assisted the Romans against Antiochus. Scipio returned to Rome, and celebrated his triumph with great pomp; and he also, after the example of his brother, received the name of Asiaticus, from his conquest of Asia; as his brother, from the subjugation of Africa, had been surnamed Africanus.

V. Under the consuls Spurius Posthumius Albinus and Quintus Marcius Philippus, Marcus Fulvius triumphed for conquering the Aetolians. Hannibal, who, on the defeat of Antiochus, had fled to Prusias, king of Bithynia, that he might not be surrendered to the Romans, was demanded also at his hands by Titus Quintius Flamininus; and, as he seemed likely to be surrendered, he drank poison, and was buried at Libyssa, in the territory of the Nicomedians.

VI. On the death of Philip, king of Macedonia, who had both waged war with the Romans, and afterwards given aid to the Romans against Antiochus, his son Perseus took up arms again in Macedonia, having levied great forces for the war, and having as allies Cotys, king of Thrace, and the king of Illyricum, whose name was Gentius. On the side of the Romans were Eumenes, king of Asia, Ariarathes of |478 Cappadocia, Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemy of Egypt, Masinissa of Numidia. Prusias, the king of Bithynia, although he had married the sister of Perseus, remained neutral. The general of the Romans, the consul Publius Licinius, was defeated by Perseus in a severe engagement; yet the Romans, although vanquished, refused peace to the king when he solicited it, except on condition that he should surrender himself and his people to the senate and the people of Rome. The consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus was afterwards sent against him, and the praetor Caius Anicius into Illyricum against Gentius: but Gentius, being defeated with ease in a single battle, soon surrendered; and his mother, his wife, his two sons, and his brother, fell at the same time into the power of the Romans. Thus the war was terminated within thirty days, and the news of Gentius's defeat arrived before it was announced that the war had been begun.

VII. The consul Aemilius Paulus came to a battle with Perseus on the rd of September, and defeated him, killing twenty thousand of his infantry; the cavalry which remained with the king was unbroken; on the side of the Romans only a hundred men were missing. All the cities of Macedonia, that Perseus had under his sway, submitted to the Romans. The king himself, deserted by his friends, fell into the hands of Paulus; but Paulus treated him with respect, and not as a vanquished enemy, for, when he desired to prostrate himself at his feet, he would not permit him, but placed him in a seat by his side. The terms granted to the Macedonians and Illyrians were these, "that they might remain free, on paying half the tribute which they had been accustomed to pay to their kings;" that it might be seen that the Roman people contended with a view to equity and not to covetousness: and these terms Paulus proclaimed in an assembly of a vast concourse of people, entertaining the ambassadors of several states, who had come to pay their respects to him, with a most sumptuous feast; saying that "it ought to be possible for the same individual to be victorious in war and elegant in his entertainments."

VIII. Shortly after he took seventy cities of Epirus, which had resumed hostilities; the booty he distributed among his soldiers. He then returned to Rome with great display, in a vessel belonging to Perseus, which is recorded to have been of |479 such extraordinary magnitude, that it contained sixteen banks of oars. He celebrated his triumph most magnificently in a golden car, with his two sons standing on each side of him; the two sons of Perseus, and Perseus himself, then forty-five years of age, were led in procession before the car. After Aemilius, Caius Anicius also celebrated a triumph on account of the Illyrians; in which Gentius, with his brother and sons, were led before his car. To witness this spectacle the kings of several nations came to Rome; among others, even Attains and Eumenes, kings of Asia, and Prusias, king of Bithynia; who were entertained with great consideration, and, by permission of the senate, deposited the presents which they had brought in the Capitol. Prusias also entrusted his son Nicomedes to the senate.

IX. In the year following Lucius Memmius was successful in the war in Spain. Marcellus the consul afterwards met with success in the same country.

X. A third war was then undertaken against Carthage, in the six hundred and second ¹⁷ year from the building of the city, in the consulship of Lucius Manlius Censorinus and Marcus Manilius, and in the fifty-first year after the termination of the second Punic war. The consuls in consequence proceeded to attack Carthage. Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general, engaged them; Phamea, another general, had the command of the Carthaginian cavalry. At that time, Scipio, the grandson of Scipio Africanus, served in the army in the capacity of tribune, for whom great fear and respect was felt by all; for he was regarded as eminently brave and skilful in the field. Many enterprises were accordingly conducted with success by his agency; nor did Hasdrubal or Phamea shrink from anything more than engaging with that part of the army in which Scipio commanded.

XI. About the same time, Masinissa, king of Numidia, who had been an ally of the Roman people for nearly sixty years, died in the ninety-seventh year of his age, leaving behind him |480 forty-four sons. He appointed Scipio to divide his kingdom amongst his sons

XII. As the name of Scipio had already become famous, he was created consul, although but a young man, and sent against Carthage. He took it and demolished it: the spoils found there, which had been amassed by Carthage from the ruins of various cities, and the ornaments of towns, he restored to such cities of Sicily, Italy, and Africa, as recognized their own. Thus Carthage, in the seven hundredth year after its foundation, was destroyed. Scipio earned the same title which his grandfather had gained, being, on account of his valour, called Africanus Junior.

XIII. In the meantime a certain Pseudo-Philip took up arms in Macedonia, and defeated Publius Juvencius, a Roman prsstor, who had been sent out against him, with a terrible slaughter. After him Quintus Caecilius Metellus was sent by the Romans as general against this pretended Philip, and, having slain twenty-five thousand of his soldiers, recovered Macedonia, and took the impostor himself prisoner,

XIV. War was also declared against Corinth, the noblest city of Greece, on account of an affront offered to a Roman embassy. That city Mummius the consul took and demolished. Three most remarkable triumphs therefore were celebrated at Rome at the same time, that of Scipio for Africa, before whose chariot Hasdrubal was led; that of Metellus for Macedonia, before whose chariot walked Andriscus, also called Pseudo-Philip; and that of Mummius for Corinth, before whom brazen statues, pictures, and other ornaments of that celebrated city, were carried.

XV. In Macedonia, meanwhile, a Pseudo-Perseus, who called himself the son of Perseus, collecting the slaves, took up arms, and, when he was at the head of a force of seventeen thousand fighting men, was defeated by Tremellius the quaestor. [At this time a hermaphrodite was discovered at Rome, and drowned in the sea by order of the soothsayers.] ¹⁸

XVI. About the same time Metellus had singular success |481 against the Spaniards in Celtiberia. Quintus Pompeius succeeded him. Not long after Quintus Caepio was also sent to the same war, which a leader named Viriathus was still keeping up against the Romans in Lusitania; through fear of whom Viriathus was killed by his own men. after he had kept Spain in a state of excitement against the Romans for fourteen years. He was at first a shepherd, then captain of a band of robbers, and at last he stirred up so many powerful nations to war, that he was considered as the protector of Spain against the Romans. When his assassins asked a reward of the consul Caepio, they received for answer, that "it was never pleasing to the Romans, that a general should be killed by his own soldiers."

XVII. The consul Quintus Pompeius being afterwards defeated by the Numantines, the most powerful nation of Spain, made an ignominious peace with them. After him. the consul Caius Hostilius Mancinus again concluded a dishonourable peace with the Numantines, which the people and senate ordered to be annulled, and Mancinus himself to be given up to the enemy, that they might avenge themselves for the dissolution of the treaty on him with whom they had made it.¹⁹ After such signal disgrace, therefore, with which the Roman armies had been twice defeated by the Numantines, Publius Scipio Africanus was made consul a second time, and sent to Numantia. He reformed, in the first place, the dissolute and idle soldiery, rather by inuring them to labour than by punishment, and without any great severity. He then took several cities of Spain, some by force, and allowing others to surrender. At last he reduced Numantia itself by famine, after it had been long besieged, and razed it to the ground, and received the rest of the province into alliance.

XVIII. About this time Attalus, king of Asia, the brother of Eumenes, died, and left the Roman people his heir. Thus Asia was added to the Roman empire by will.

XIX. Shortly after, also, Decimus Junius Brutus triumphed with great glory over the Gallaeciansand Lusitanians; and Publius Scipio Africanus had a second triumph over the Numantines. in the fourteenth year after his first triumph for his exploits in Africa.

XX. A war in the meantime was kindled in Asia by |482 Aristonicus, the son of Eumenes by a concubine: this Eumenes was the brother of Attalus. Against him was sent out Publius Licinius Crassus, who had ample assistance from several kings, for not only Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia, supported the Romans, but also Mithridates king of Pontus, with whom they had afterwards a very great war, as well as Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, and Pylaemenes of Paphlagonia. Crassus notwithstanding was defeated, and killed in battle; his head was carried to Aristonicus, and his body buried at Smyrna. Soon after Perperna, the Roman consul, who was appointed successor to Grassus, hearing of the event of the war, hastened to Asia; and defeating Aristonicus in battle, near the city Stratonice to which he had fled, reduced him by famine to surrender. Aristonicus, by command of the senate, was strangled in prison at Rome; for a triumph could not be celebrated on his account, because Perperna had died at Pergamus on his return.

XXI. In the consulate of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Titus Quintius Flamininus, Carthage in Africa, which still exists, was rebuilt by order of the senate, two and twenty years after it had been destroyed by Scipio. A colony of Roman citizens was sent out thither.

XXII. In the six hundred and twenty-seventh year from the founding of the city, Caius Cassius Longinus and Sextus Domitius Calvinus, the consuls, made war upon the Trans alpine Gauls, and the city of the Arverni, at that time very distinguished, and their king, Bituitus; and slew a vast number of men near the river Rhone. A great booty, consisting of the golden collars of the Gauls, was brought to Rome. Bituitus surrendered himself to Domitius, and was conveyed by him to Rome; and both consuls triumphed with great glory.

XXIII. In the consulship of Marcus Porcius Cato and Quintus Marcius Rex, in the six hundred and thirty-third year from the building of the city, a colony was led out to Narbonne in Gaul. Afterwards a triumph was obtained over Dalmatia by the consuls Lucius Metellus and Quintus Mucius Scaevola.

XXIV. In the six hundred and thirty-fifth year from the building of the city, the consul Caius Cato made war upon the Scordisci, and fought with them to his dishonour.

XXV. When Caius Caecilius Metellus and Cnaeus Carbo |483 were consuls, the Metelli, two brothers, had triumphs on the same day, one for Sardinia, the other for Thrace; and news was brought to Rome, that the Cimbri had crossed from Gaul into Italy.

XXVI. In the consulship of Publius Scipio Nasica and Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, war was made upon Jugurtha, king of Numidia, because he had murdered Adherbal and Hiempsal, the sons of Micipsa, his cousins, princes, and allies of the Roman people. The consul Calpumius Bestia being sent against him, was corrupted by the king's money, and concluded a most ignominious treaty of peace with him, which was afterwards repudiated by the senate. Spurius Albinus Postumius proceeded against him in the following year: he also, through the agency of his brother, fought against the Numidians to his disgrace.

XXVII. In the third place, the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus being sent out against him, brought back the army, which he reformed with great severity and judgment, without exercising cruelty on any one, to the ancient Roman discipline. He defeated Jugurtha in various battles, killed or captured his elephants, and obliged many of his towns to surrender; and, when on the point of putting an end to the war, was succeeded by Caius Marius. Marius overthrew both Jugurtha and Bocchus, the king of Mauritania, who had undertaken to afford assistance to Jugurtha; he also took several towns in Numidia, and put an end to the war, having, through the instrumentality of his quaestor Cornelius Sulla, a distinguished man, taken Jugurtha prisoner, whom Bocchus, who had before fought for him, betrayed.

In Gaul, the Cimbri were defeated by Marcus Junius Silanus, the colleague of Quintus Metellus, the Scordisci and Triballi in Macedonia by Minutius Rufus, and the Lusitani in Spain by Servilius Caepio; and two triumphs were celebrated on account of Jugurtha; the first by Metellus, the second by Marius. It was before the chariot of Marius, however, that Jugurtha, with his two sons, was led in chains; and he waa soon after, by order of the consul, strangled in prison. |484

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BOOK V.

The war with the Cimbri, Teutones, and their allies, I. II.----The Social war, III.----The Civil war between Marius and Sulla, IV.----The Mithridatic war; the Thracian; continuation and conclusion of the Civil war, V.----IX.

I. WHILE the war was going on in Numidia against Jugurtha, the Roman consuls, Marcus Manlius and Quintus Caepio, were defeated by the Cimbri, Teutones, Tigurini, and Ambrones, nations of Germany and Gaul, near the river Rhone; and, being reduced by a terrible slaughter, lost their very camp, as well as the greater part of their army. Great was the consternation at Rome, such as was scarcely experienced during the Punic wars in the time of Hannibal, from dread that the Gauls might again march to the city. Marius, in consequence, after his victory over Jugurtha, was created consul the second time, and the war against the Cimbri and Teutones was committed to his management. The consulship was also conferred on him a third and fourth time, in consequence of the war with the Cimbri being protracted; but in his fourth consulship he had for his colleague Quintus Lutatius Catulus. He came to battle, accordingly,²⁰ with the Cimbri, and in two engagements killed two hundred thousand of the enemy, and took eighty thousand prisoners, with their general Teutobodus; for which service he was elected consul a fifth time during his absence.

II. In the meantime the Cimbri and Teutones, whose force was still innumerable, passed over into Italy. Another battle was fought with them, by Caius Marius and Quintus Catulus, though with greater success on the part of Catulus, for in that battle, in which they both commanded, a hundred and forty thousand were either slain in the field or in the pursuit, and sixty thousand taken prisoners. Of the Roman soldiers in the two armies three hundred fell. Thirty-three standards were taken from the Cimbri; of which the army of Marius captured two, that of Catulus thirty-one. This was the end of the war: a triumph was decreed to both the consuls.

III. In the consulship of Sextus Julius Caesar and Lucius |485 Marcius Philippus, in the six hundred and fifty-ninth year from the building of the city, when almost all other wars were at an end, the Piceni, Marsi, and Peligni, excited a most dangerous war in Italy; for after they had lived for many years in subjection to the Roman people, they now began to assert their claim to equal privileges. This was a very destructive war. Publius Rutilius, one of the consuls, Caepio, a nobleman in the flower of his age, and Porcius Cato, another consul, were killed in it. The generals against the Romans on the part of the Piceni and Marsi were Titus Vettius, Hierius Asinius, Titus Herennius, and Aulus Cluentius. The Romans fought against them successfully under the conduct of Caius Marius, who had now been made consul for the sixth time, also under Cnaeus Pompey, but particularly under Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who, among other signal exploits, so completely routed Cluentius, one of the enemy's generals, with his numerous forces, that he lost only one man of his own army. The war, however, was protracted for four years, with great havoc; at length, in the fifth, it was terminated by Lucius Cornelius Sulla when consul, who had greatly distinguished himself on many occasions when praetor in the same war.

IV. In the six hundred and sixty-second year from the foundation of the city, the first civil war began at Rome; and in the same year also the Mithridatic war. Marius, when in his sixth consulship, gave rise to the Civil war; for when Sulla. the consul, was sent to conduct the war against Mithridates, who had possessed himself of Asia and Achaia, and delayed his army for a short time in Campania, in order that the remains of the Social war, of which we have just spoken, and which had been carried on within the limits of Italy, might be extinguished, Marius showed himself ambitious to be appointed to the Mithridatic war. Sulla, being incensed at this conduct, marched to Rome with his army. There he fought with Marius and Sulpicius; he was the first to enter the city in arms; Sulpicius he killed; Marius he put to flight; and then, having appointed Cnaeus Octavius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna the consuls for the year ensuing, set out for Asia.

V. For Mithridates, who was king of Pontus, and possessed Armenia Minor and the entire circuit of the Pontic sea with |486 the Bosphorus, first attempted to expel Nicomedes, an ally of the Romans, from Bithynia; sending word to the senate, that he was going to make war upon him on account of the injuries which he had received. Answer was returned by the senate to Mithridates, that if he did so he himself should feel the weight of a war from the Romans. Incensed at this reply, he immediately invaded Cappadocia, and expelled from thence Ariobarzanes the king, an ally of the Roman people. He next marched into Bithynia and Paphlagonia, driving out the kings, Pylaemenes and Nicomedes, who were also in alliance with the Romans. He then hastened to Ephesus, and sent letters into all parts of Asia, with directions that wherever any Roman citizens should be found, they should all be put to death the same day.

VI. In the meantime Athens also, a city of Achaia, was delivered up to Mithridates by Aristion an Athenian. For Mithridates had previously sent Archelaus, his general, into Achaia, with a hundred and twenty thousand horse and foot, by whom the rest of Greece was also occupied. Sulla besieged Archelaus at the Piraeeus near Athens, and took the city itself. Engaging afterwards in battle with Archelaus, he gave him such a defeat, that out of a hundred and twenty thousand of the army of Archelaus scarce ten remained; while of that of Sulla only fourteen were killed. Mithridates, on receiving intelligence of this battle, sent seventy thousand chosen troops out of Asia to Archelaus, with whom Sulla came again to an engagement. In the first battle twenty thousand of the enemy were slain, and Diogenes, the son of Archelaus; in the second the entire forces of Mithridates were cut off. Archelaus himself lay hid for three days, stript of his armour, in the marshes. On the news of this state of things, Mithridates sent orders to treat with Sulla concerning peace.

VII. In the meantime Sulla also reduced part of the Dardanians, Scordisci, Dalmatians, and Maedians, and granted terms of. alliance to the rest. But when ambassadors arrived from King Mithridates to treat about peace, Sulla replied that he would grant it on no other condition than that he should quit the countries on which he had seized, and withdraw into his own dominions. Afterwards, however, the two came to a conference, and peace was settled between them, in order that Sulla, who was in haste to proceed to the Civil war, |487 might leave no danger in his rear; for while Sulla was victorious over Mithridates in Achaia and Asia, Marius, who had been driven from the city, and Cornelius Cinna, one of the consuls, had recommenced hostilities in Italy, and entering Rome, put to death the noblest of the senators and others of consular rank, proscribed many, and pulling down the house of Sulla himself, forced his sons and wife to seek safety by flight; while all the rest of the senate, hastily quitting the city, fled to Sulla in Greece, entreating him to come to the support of his country. He accordingly crossed over into Italy, to conduct the Civil war against the consuls Norbanus and Scipio. In the first battle he engaged with Norbanus not far from Capua, when he killed seven thousand of his men, and took six thousand prisoners, losing only a hundred and twenty-four of his own army. From thence he directed his efforts against Scipio, and before a battle was fought, or any blood shed, he received the surrender of his whole army.

VIII. But on a change of consuls at Rome, and the election of Marius, the son of Marius, and Papirius Carbo to the consulate, Sulla again came to battle with Marius the younger, and killed fifteen thousand men, with the loss of only four hundred. Immediately afterwards also he entered the city. He then pursued Marius, the younger, to Praeneste, besieged him there, and drove him even to self-destruction. He afterwards fought a terrible battle with Lamponius and Carinas, the leaders of the Marian faction, near the Colline gate. The number of the enemy in that battle against Sulla is said to have been seventy thousand; twelve thousand surrendered themselves to Sulla: the rest were cut off in the field, in the camp, or in the pursuit, by the insatiable resentment of the conqueror. Cnaeus Carbo also, the other consul, fled from Ariminum into Sicily, and was there slain by Cnaeus Pompey; to whom, although but a young man, being only one-and-twenty years of age, Sulla, perceiving his activity, had committed the management of his troops, so that he was accounted second only to Sulla himself.

IX. Carbo. then, being killed, Pompey recovered Sicily. Crossing next over into Africa, he put to death Domitius, a leader on the side of Marius, and Hiarbas the king of Mauritania, who had given assistance to Domitius. After these events, Sulla celebrated a triumph with great pomp for his |488 success against Mithridates. Cnaeus Pompey also, while only in his twenty-fourth year, was allowed a triumph for his victories in Africa, a privilege which had been granted to no Roman before him. Such was the termination of two most lamentable wars, the Italian, also called the Social, and the Civil, which lasted for ten years, and occasioned the destruction of more than a hundred and fifty thousand men; twenty-four of consular rank, seven of praetorian, sixty of that of aedile, and nearly three hundred senators.

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BOOK VI.

War with Sertorius in Spain; wars in Macedonia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Dalmatia, I.----IV-----Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, makes the Romans his heirs; continuation of the war with Mithridates; wars with the slaves, pirates, and Macedonians, V.----XII.---- Acts of Pompey against Tigranes, and in other parts of Asia, XIII. XIV.----Conspiracy of Catiline, XV.----Triumphs of Pompey and Metellus, XVI.----Wars of Caesar in Gaul, XVII. ---- Proceedings of Crassus in Parthia, XVIII.----Civil war between Caesar and Pompey, XIX.----XXV.

I. IN the consulate of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Quintus Catulus, after Sulla had composed the troubles of the state, new wars broke out; one in Spain, another in Pamphylia and Cilicia, a third in Macedonia, a fourth in Dalmatia. Sertorius. who had taken the side of Marius, dreading the fate of others who had been cut off, excited the Spaniards to a war. The generals sent against him were Quintus Caecilius Metellus, the son of that Metellus who had subdued Jugurtha, and the praetor Lucius Domitius. Domitius was killed by Hirtuleius, Sertorius's general. Metellus contended against Sertorius with various success. At length, as Metellus was thought singly unequal to the war, Cnaeus Pompey was sent into Spain. Thus, two generals being opposed to him, Sertorius often fought with very uncertain fortune. At last, in the eighth year of the war, he was put to death by his own soldiers, and an end made of the war by Cnaeus Pompey, at that time but a young man, and Quintus Metellus Pius; and nearly the whole of Spain was brought under the dominion of the Roman people. |489

II. Appius Claudius, on the expiration of his consulate was sent into Macedonia. He had some skirmishes with different tribes that inhabited the province of Rhodopa,²¹ and there fell ill and died. Cnaeus Scribonius Curio, on the termination of his consulship, was sent to succeed him. He conquered the Dardanians, penetrated as far as the Danube, and obtained the honour of a triumph, putting an end to the war within three years.

III. Publius Servilius, an energetic man, was sent, after his consulate, into Cilicia and Pamphilia. He reduced Cilicia, besieged and took the most eminent cities of Lycia, amongst them Phaselis, Olympus, and Corycus. The Isauri he also attacked, and compelled to surrender, and, within three years, put an end to the war. He was the first of the Romans that marched over Mount Taurus. On his return, he was granted a triumph, and acquired the surname of Isauricus.

IV. Cnaeus Cosconius was sent into Illyricum as proconsul. He reduced a great part of Dalmatia, took Salonae, and, having made an end of the war, returned to Rome after an absence of two years.

V. About the same time, the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the colleague of Catulus, attempted to kindle a civil war; but in one summer that commotion was suppressed. Thus there were several triumphs at the same time, that of Metellus for Spain, a second for Spain obtained by Pompey, one of Curio for Macedonia, and one of Servilius for Isauria.

VI. In the six hundred and seventy-sixth year from the building of the city, in the consulate of Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta. Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, died, appointing by his will the Roman people his heir.

Mithridates, breaking the peace, again proceeded to invade Bithynia and Asia. Both the consuls being sent out against him, met with various success. Cotta, being defeated by him in a battle near Chalcedon, was even forced into the town, and besieged there. But Mithridates, having marched from thence to Cyzicus, that, after capturing that city, he might overrun all Asia, Lucullus, the other consul, met him; and, whilst Mithridates was detained at the siege of Cyzicus, besieged him in |490 the rear, exhausted him with famine, defeated him in several battles, and at last pursued him to Byzantium, now called Constantinople. Lucullus also vanquished his commanders in a sea-fight. Thus, in a single winter and summer, almost a hundred thousand men on the king's side were cut off by Lucullus.

VII. In the six hundred and seventy-eighth year of Rome, Marcus Licinius Lucullus, the cousin of that Lucullus who had carried on the war against Mithridates, obtained the province of Macedonia. A new war, too, suddenly sprung up in Italy; for eighty-four gladiators, led by Spartacus, Crixus, and Oenomaus, having broken out of a school at Capua, made their escape; and, wandering over Italy, kindled a war in it, not much less serious than that which Hannibal had raised; for, after defeating several generals and two consuls of the Romans, they collected an army of nearly sixty thousand men. They were, however, defeated in Apulia by the proconsul Marcus Licinius Crassus; and, after much calamity to Italy, the war was terminated in its third year.

VIII. In the six hundred and eighty-first year from the founding of the city, in the consulate of Publius Cornelius Lentulus and Cnaeus Aufidius Orestes, there were but two wars of any importance throughout the Roman empire, the Mithridatic and the Macedonian. Of these the two Luculli, Lucius and Marcus, had the direction. Lucius Lucullus, after the battle at Cyzicus, in which he had conquered Mithridates, and the sea-fight, in which he had overcome his generals, pursued him; and, recovering Paphlagonia and Bithynia, invaded his very kingdom. He took Sinope and Amisus, two most eminent cities of Pontus. In a second battle, near the city Cabira, where Mithridates had assembled a vast army from all parts of his kingdom, thirty thousand of the king's chosen troops were cut in pieces by five thousand of the Romans, and Mithridates was put to flight and his camp plundered. Armenia Minor, also, of which he had taken possession, was wrested from him. Mithridates was, however, received after his flight by Tigranes, the king of Armenia, who at that time reigned in great glory; for he had frequently defeated the Persians, and had made himself master of Mesopotamia, Syria, and part of Phoenicia.

IX. Lucullus, therefore, still pursuing his routed enemy, |491 entered even the kingdom of Tigranes, who ruled over both the Armenias. Tigranocerta, the most noble city of Armenia, he succeeded in taking; the king himself, who advanced against him with six hundred thousand cuirassiers, and a hundred thousand archers and other troops, he so completely defeated with a force of only eighteen thousand, that he annihilated a great part of the Armenians. Marching from thence to Nisibis, he took that city also, and made the king's brother prisoner. But as those whom Lucullus had left in Pontus with part of the army in order to defend the conquered countries belonging to the Romans, grew negligent and avaricious in their conduct, they gave Mithridates an opportunity of again making an irruption into Pontus, and thus the war was renewed. While Lucullus, after the reduction of Nisibis, was preparing for an expedition against the Persians, a successor was sent out to take his place.

X. The other Lucullus, who had the management of affairs in Macedonia, was the first of the Romans that made war upon the Bessi, defeating them in a great battle on Mount Haemus; he reduced the town of Uscudama, which the Bessi inhabited, on the same day in which he attacked it; he also took Cabyle, and penetrated as far as the river Danube. He then besieged several cities lying above Pontus, where he destroyed Apollonia, Calatis, Parthenopolis, Tomi, Histros, and Burziaone,²² and, putting an end to the war, returned to Rome. Both the Luculli however triumphed, but the Lucullus, who had fought against Mithridates, with the greater glory, because he had returned victorious over such powerful nations.

XI. After the Macedonian war was ended, but while that with Mithridates still continued (which, on the departure of Lucullus, that king had renewed, collecting all his forces for the purpose), the Cretan war arose, and Caecilius Metellus being sent to conduct it, secured the whole province, by a succession of great battles, within three years, and received the appellation of Creticus, and a triumph on account of the island. About this time Libya also, by the will of Apion, the |492 king of the country, was added to the Roman empire; in it were the celebrated cities, Berenice, Ptolemais, and Cyrene.

XII. During these transactions, pirates infested all the seas, so that navigation, and that alone, was unsafe to the Romans, who were now victorious throughout the world. The war against these pirates, therefore, was committed to Cnaeus Pompey, who, with surprising success and celerity, finished it in the course of a few months. Soon after, the war against Mithridates and Tigranes was entrusted to him; in the conduct of which, he overcame Mithridates in Armenia Minor in a battle by night, and plundered his camp, killing at the same time forty thousand of his troops, while he lost only twenty of his own men, and two centurions. Mithridates fled with his wife and two attendants; and not long after, in consequence of his cruelty to his own family, he was reduced, through a sedition excited among his soldiers by his son Pharnaces, to the necessity of putting an end to his existence, and swallowed poison. Such was the end of Mithridates, a man of singular energy and ability; his death happened near the Bosporus. He reigned sixty years, lived seventy-two, and maintained a war against the Romans for forty.

XIII. Pompey next made war upon Tigranes, who surrendered himself, coming to Pompey's camp at sixteen miles distance from Artaxata; and, throwing himself at his feet, pla,ced in his hands his diadem, which Pompey returned to him, and treated him with great respect, but obliged him to give up part of his dominions and to pay a large sum of money: Syria, Phoenicia, and Sophene, were taken from him, and six thousand talents of silver, which he had to pay to the Roman people because he had raised a war against them without cause.

XIV. Pompey soon after made war also upon the Albani;²³ and defeated their king Orodes three times; at length, being prevailed upon by letters and presents, he granted him pardon and peace. He also defeated Artoces, king of Iberia,²⁴ in battle, and reduced him to surrender. Armenia Minor he conferred upon Deiotarus, the king of Galatia, because he had acted as his ally in the Mithridatic war. To Attalus and |493 Pylaemenes he restored Paphlagonia; and appointed Aristarchus king of the Colchians. Shortly after he subdued the Itureans and Arabians; and, on entering Syria, rewarded Seleucia, a city near Antioch, with independence, because it had not admitted King Tigranes. To the inhabitants of Antioch he restored their hostages. On those of Daphne, being charmed with the beauty of the spot and the abundance of water, he bestowed a portion of land, in order that their grove might be enlarged. Marching from thence to Judea, he took Jerusalem, the capital, in the third month; twelve thousand of the Jews being slain, and the rest allowed to surrender on terms. After these achievements, he returned into Asia, and put an end to this most tedious war.

XV. In the consulate of Marcus Tullius Cicero, the orator, and Caius Antonius, in the six hundred and eighty-ninth year from the foundation of the city, Lucius Sergius Catiline, a man of very noble family, but of a most corrupt disposition, conspired to destroy his country, in conjunction with some other eminent but desperate characters. He was expelled from the city by Cicero; his accomplices were apprehended and strangled in prison; and he himself was defeated and killed in battle by Antonius, the other consul.

XVI. In the six hundred and ninetieth year from the building of the city, in the consulate of Decimus Junius Silanus and Lucius Muraena, Metellus triumphed on account of Crete, Pompey for the Piratic and Mithridatic wars. No triumphal procession was ever equal to this; the sons of Mithridates, the son of Tigranes, and Aristobulus, king of the Jews, were led before his car; a vast sum of money, an immense mass of gold and silver, was carried in front. At this time there was no war of any importance throughout the world.

XVII. In the six hundred and ninety-third year from the founding of the city, Caius Julius Caesar, who was afterwards emperor, was made consul with Lucius Bibulus; and Gaul and Illyricum, with ten legions, were decreed to him. He first subdued the Helvetii, who are now called Sequani;²⁵ and |494 afterwards, by conquering in most formidable wars, pro ceeded as far as the British ocean. In about nine years he subdued all that part of Gaul which lies between the Alps, the river Rhone, the Rhine, and the Ocean, and extends in circumference nearly three thousand two hundred miles. He next made war upon the Britons, to whom not even the name of the Romans was known before his time; and having subdued them, and received hostages, sentenced them to pay a tribute. On Gaul, under the name of tribute, he imposed the yearly sum of forty thousand sestertia;²⁶ and invading the Germans on the other side of the Rhine, defeated them in several most sanguinary engagements. Among so many successes, he met with three defeats, once in person among the Arverni, and twice in Germany during his absence; for two of his lieutenant-generals, Titurius and Aurunculeius, were cut off by ambuscades.

XVIII. About the same time, in the six hundred and ninety-seventh year from the foundation of the city, Marcus Licinius Crassus, the colleague of Cnaeus Pompey the Great in his second consulship, was sent against the Parthians; and having engaged the enemy near Carrae, contrary to the omens and auspices, was defeated by Surena, the general of king Orodes, and at last killed, together with his son, a most noble and excellent young man. The remains of the army were saved by Caius Cassius the quaestor, who, with singular courage, so ably retrieved the ruined fortune of the Romans, that, in his retreat over the Euphrates, he defeated the Persians in several battles.

XIX. Soon after followed the Civil war, a war truly execrable and deplorable, in which, besides the havoc that occurred in the several battles, the fortune of the Roman people was changed.²⁷ For Caesar, on returning victorious from Gaul, proceeded to demand another consulship, and in such a manner, that it was granted him without hesitation; yet opposition was made to it by Marcellus the consul, Bibulus, Pompey, and Cato, and he was in consequence ordered to disband his army |495 and return to Rome; in revenge for which insult, he marched with his army from Ariminum, where he kept his forces assembled, against his country. The consuls, together with Pompey, the whole senate, and all the nobility, fled from the city, and crossed over into Greece; and in Epirus, Macedonia, and Achaia, the senate, under Pompey as their general, prepared war against Caesar.

XX. Caesar, having marched into the deserted city, made himself dictator. Soon after he set out for Spain, where he defeated the armies of Pompey, which were very powerful and brave, with their three generals, Lucius Afranius, Marcus Petreius, and Marcus Varro. Returning from thence, he went over into Greece. He took the field against Pompey, but in the first battle was defeated and put to flight; he escaped, however, because Pompey declined to pursue him, as the night was coming on; when Caesar remarked, that Pompey knew not how to conquer, and that that was the only day on which he himself might have been vanquished. They next fought at Palaeopharsalus,²⁸ in Thessaly, leading great forces into the field on both sides. The army of Pompey consisted of forty thousand foot, six hundred horse on the left wing, and five hundred on the right, besides auxiliary troops from the whole east, and all the nobility, senators without number, men of praetorian and consular rank, and some who had already been conquerors of powerful nations. Caesar had not quite thirty thousand infantry in his army, and but one thousand horse.

XXI. Never before had a greater number of Roman forces assembled in one place, or under better generals, forces which would easily have subdued the whole world, had they been led against barbarians. They fought with great eagerness, but Pompey was at last overcome, and his camp plundered. Pompey himself, when put to flight, sought refuge at Alexandria, with the hope of receiving aid from the king of Egypt, to whom, on account of his youth, he had been appointed guardian by the senate; he, however, regarding fortune rather than friendship, caused Pompey to be killed, and sent his head and ring to Caesar; at sight of which even Caesar is said to |496 have shed tears, as he viewed the head of so great a man, once his own son-in law.

XXII. Caesar soon after went to Alexandria. Ptolemy attempted to form a plot against his life also; for which reason war was made upon him, and, being defeated, he perished in the Nile, and his body was found covered with a golden coat of mail. Caesar, having made himself master of Alexandria, conferred the kingdom on Cleopatra, the sister of Ptolemy, with whom he himself had an illicit connexion. On his return from thence, Caesar defeated in battle Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates the Great, who had assisted Pompey in Thessaly, taken up arms in Pontus, and seized upon several provinces of the Roman people; and at last drove him to self-destruction.

XXIII. Returning from thence to Rome, he created himself a third time consul with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been his master of the horse when dictator the year before. Next he went into Africa, where a great number of the nobility, in conjunction with Juba, king of Mauritania, had resumed hostilities. The Roman leaders were Publius Cornelius Scipio, of the most ancient family of Scipio Africanus (who had also been the father-in-law of the great Pompey) Marcus Petreius, Quintus Varus, Marcus Porcius Cato, and Lucius Cornelius Faustus, the son of Sulla the dictator. In a pitched battle fought against them, Caesar, after many struggles, was victorious. Cato, Scipio, Petreius, Juba, killed themselves; Faustus, Pompey's son-in-law, was slain by Caesar.

XXIV. On his return to Rome the year after, Caesar made himself a fourth time consul, and immediately proceeded to Spain, where the sons of Pompey, Cnaeus, and Sextus, had again raised a formidable war. Many engagements took place, the last near the city of Munda, in which Caesar was so nearly defeated, that, upon his forces giving way, he felt inclined to kill himself, lest, after such great glory in war, he should fall, at the age of fifty-six, into the hands of young men. At length, having rallied his troops, he gained the victory; the elder son of Pompey was slain, the younger fled.

XXV. The civil wars throughout the world being now terminated, Caesar returned to Rome, and began to conduct himself with too great arrogance, contrary to the usages of Roman liberty. As he disposed, therefore, at his own pleasure, |497 of those honours, which were before conferred by the people and did not even rise up when the senate approached him, an d exercised regal, or almost tyrannical power, in other respects, a conspiracy was formed against him by sixty or more Roman senators and knights. The chief among the conspirators were the two Bruti, (of the family of that Brutus who had been made first consul of Rome, and who had expelled the kings) Caius Cassius, and Servilius Casca. Caesar, in consequence, having entered the senate house with the rest, on a certain day appointed for a meeting of the senate, was stabbed with three and twenty wounds.

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BOOK VII.

Wars that followed on the death of Julius Caesar, I.----Antony flees to Lepidus, and is reconciled to Octavianus; their triumvirate, II.----Proceedings and deaths of Brutus and Cassius; division of the empire between Antony and Octavianus, III.----War with Sextus Pompey, IV.----Successes of Agrippa in Aquitania; Ventidius Bassus conquers the Parthians, V.----Death of Sextus Pompey; marriage of Antony and Cleopatra; unsuccessful expedition of Antony into Parthia, VI.----War between Octavianus and Antony; deaths of Antony and Cleopatra; Egypt added to the Roman empire, VII.----Octavianus becomes sole ruler under the name of Augustus, VIII.----His wars and victories, IX. X.----Character and acts of Tiberius, XI.----Of Caligula, XII.----Of Claudius, who subjugates Britain, XIII.----Of Nero, under whom two new provinces are made, Pontus Polemoniacus and Alpes Cottiae, XIV. XV.----Of Galba, XVI.----Of Otho, XVII. ---- Of Vitellius, XVIII. ---- Of Vespasian, under whom Judaea was added to the Roman dominions, with the provinces Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Samos, Thracia, Cilicia, Comagena, XIX. XX. ----- Of Titus, XXI. XXII.----Of Domitian, XXIII.

I. AFTER the assassination of Caesar, in about the seven hundred and ninth year of the city, the civil wars were renewed; for the senate favoured the assassins of Caesar; and Antony, the consul, being of Caesar's party, endeavoured to crush them in a civil war. The state therefore being thrown into confusion, Antony, perpetrating many acts of violence, was declared an enemy by the senate. The two consuls, Pansa and Hirtius, were sent in pursuit of him, together with Octavianus, a youth of eighteen years of age, the nephew of |498 Caesar,²⁹ whom by his will he had appointed his heir, directing him to bear his name; this is the same who was afterwards called Augustus, and obtained the imperial dignity. These three generals therefore marching against Antony, defeated him. It happened, however, that the two victorious consuls lost their lives; and the three armies in consequence became subject to Caesar only.

II. Antony, being routed, and having lost his army, fled to Lepidus, who had been master of the horse to Caesar, and was at that time in possession of a strong body of forces, by whom he was well received. By the mediation of Lepidus, Caesar shortly after made peace with Antony, and, as if with intent to avenge the death of his father, by whom he had been adopted in his will, marched to Rome at the head of an army, and forcibly procured his appointment to the consulship in his twentieth year. In conjunction with Antony and Lepidus he proscribed the senate, and proceeded to make himself master of the state by arms. By their acts, Cicero the orator, and many others of the nobility, were put to death.

III. In the meantime Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Caesar, raised a great war; for there were several armies in Macedonia and the East, of which they took the command. Caesar Octavianus Augustus, therefore, and Mark Antony, proceeding against them (for Lepidus remained for the defence of Italy), came to an engagement at Philippi, a city of Macedonia. In the first battle Antony and Caesar were defeated, but Cassius, the leader of the nobility, fell; in the second they defeated and killed Brutus, and very many of the nobility who had joined them in the war; and the republic was divided among the conquerors, so that Augustus had Spain, the Gauls, and Italy; Antony, Asia, Pontus, and the East. But the consul Lucius Antonius, the brother of him who had fought with Caesar against Brutus and Cassius, kindled a civil war in Italy; and being defeated near Perusia, a city of Tuscany, was taken prisoner, but not put to death.

IV. In the meantime a war of a serious nature was excited in Sicily by Sextus Pompey, the son of Cnaeus Pompey the Great, those that survived of the party of Brutus and Cassius flocking |499 to join him from all parts. The war against Sextus Pompey was carried on by Gassar Augustus Octavianus and Mark Antony. A peace was at length concluded.

V. About that time Marcus Agrippa met with great success in Aquitania; also Lucius Ventidius Bassus defeated the Persians, who were making incursions into Syria, in three engagements. He killed Pacorus, the son of king Orodes, on that very day on which Orodes, the king of the Persians, had before put Crassus to death by the hands of his general Surena. He was the first who celebrated a most legitimate triumph at Rome over the Parthians.

VI. In the meantime Sextus Pompey violated the peace, and, being defeated in a sea-fight, fled to Asia, and was there put to death.

Antony, who was master of Asia and the East, having divorced the sister of Caesar Augustus Octavianus, married Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. He also fought in person against the Persians, and defeated them in the first encounters; but on his return suffered greatly from famine and pestilence; and as the Parthians pressed on him in his retreat, he retired from before them just as if he had been defeated.

VII. He also excited a great civil war, at the instigation of his wife Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, who aspired with a womanish ambition to reign at Rome. He was defeated by Augustus in the remarkable and celebrated sea-fight at Actium, a place in Epirus; whence he fled into Egypt, and there, as his circumstances grew desperate, since all went over to Augustus, committed suicide. Cleopatra applied to herself an asp, and perished by its venom. Egypt was added to, the Roman empire by Octavianus Augustus, and Cnaeus Cornelius Gallus appointed governor of it; he was the first Roman judge that Egypt had.

VIII. Having thus brought wars to an end throughout the world, OCTAVIANUS AUGUSTUS returned to Rome in the twelfth year after he had been elected consul. From that period he held the government as sole ruler for forty-four years, for during the twelve previous years he had held it in conjunction with Antony and Lepidus. Thus from the beginning of his reign to the end were fifty-six years. He died a natural death in his eighty-sixth year, at the town of Atella in Campania. and his remains are interred at Rome in the Campus Martius. |500 He was a man who was considered in most respects, and not without reason, to resemble a divinity, for scarcely ever was there any one more successful than he in war, or more prudent in peace. During the forty-four years that he held the government alone, he conducted himself with the greatest courtesy, being most liberal to all, and most faithful to his friends, whom he raised to such honours, that he placed them almost on a level with his own dignity.

IX. At no period was the Roman state more flourishing; for, to say nothing of the civil wars, in which he was unconquered, he added to the Roman empire Egypt, Cantabria, Dalmatia, often before conquered but only then entirely subdued, Pannonia, Aquitania, Illyricum, Rhaetia, the Vindelici and Salassi on the Alps, and all the maritime cities of Pontus, among which the two most noble were Bosporus and Panticapaeon. He also conquered the Dacians in battle; put to the sword numerous forces of the Germans; and drove them beyond the river Elbe, which is in the country of the barbarians far beyond the Rhine. This war however he carried on by the agency of his step-son Drusus, as he had conducted the Pannonian war by that of his other step-son Tiberius, in which he transplanted forty thousand prisoners from Germany, and settled them in Gaul on the bank of the Rhine. He recovered Armenia from the Parthians; the Persians gave him hostages, which they had given to no one before; and also restored the Roman standards, which they had taken from Crassus when he was defeated.

X. The Scythians and Indians, to whom the Roman name was before unknown, sent him presents and ambassadors. Galatia also was made a province under his reign, having before been an independent kingdom, and Marcus Lollius was the first that governed it, in quality of praetor. So much was he beloved even by the barbarians, that kings, allies of the Roman people, founded cities in his honour, to which they gave the name of Caesarea, as one in Mauritania, built by King Juba, and another in Palestine, which is now a very celebrated city. Many kings, moreover, left their own dominions, and, assuming the Roman dress, that is, the toga, ran by the side of his carriage or his horse. At his death he was styled a divinity. He left the state in a most prosperous condition to his successor Tiberius, who had been his step-son, afterwards his son-in-law, and lastly his son by adoption. |501

XI. TIBERIUS distinguished his reign by great indolence, excessive cruelty, unprincipled avarice, and abandoned licentiousness. He fought on no occasion in person; the wars were carried on by his generals. Some kings, whom he induced to visit him by seducing allurements, he never sent back; among them was Archelaus of Cappadocia, whose kingdom also he reduced to the form of a province, and directed that its principal city should be called after his own name; and, having been before called Mazaca, it is now termed Caesarea. He died in Campania, in the three and twentieth year of his reign, and the eighty-third of his age, to the great joy of all men.

XII. To him succeeded CAIUS CAESAR, surnamed CALIGULA, the grandson of Drusus, the step-son of Augustus, and grand-nephew ³⁰ of Tiberius himself, a most wicked and cruel prince, who effaced even the memory of Tiberius's enormities. He undertook a war against the Germans; but, after entering Suevia, made no effort to do anything. He committed incest with his sisters, and acknowledged a daughter that he had by one of them. While tyrannizing over all with the utmost avarice, licentiousness, and cruelty, he was assassinated in the palace, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, in the third year, tenth month, and eighth day of his reign.

XIII. After him reigned CLAUDIUS, the uncle of Caligula, and son of that Drusus who has a monument at Moguntiacum, whose grandson Caligula also was. His reign was of no striking character; he acted, in many respects, with gentleness and moderation, in some with cruelty and folly. He made war upon Britain, which no Roman since Julius Caesar had visited; and, having reduced it through the agency of Cnaeus Sentius and Aulus Plautius, illustrious and noble men, he celebrated a magnificent triumph. Certain islands also, called the Orcades, situated in the ocean, beyond Britain, he added to the Roman empire, and gave his son the name of Britannicus. So condescending, too, was he towards some of his friends, that he even attended Plautius, a man of noble birth, who had obtained many signal successes in the expedition to Britain, in his triumph, and walked at his left hand when |502 he went up to the Capitol. He lived to the age of sixty-four, and reigned fourteen years; and after his death was consecrated ³¹ and deified.

To him succeeded NERO, who greatly resembled his uncle Caligula, and both disgraced and weakened the Roman empire; he indulged in such extraordinary luxury and extravagance, that, after the example of Caius Caligula, he even bathed in hot and cold perfumes, and fished with golden nets, which he drew up with cords of purple silk. He put to death a very great number of the senate. To all good men he was an enemy. At last he exposed himself in so disgraceful a manner, that he danced and sung upon the stage in the dress of a harp-player and tragedian. He was guilty of many murders, his brother, wife, and mother, being put to death by him. He set on fire the city of Rome, that he might enjoy the sight of a spectacle such as Troy formerly presented when taken and burned.

In military affairs he attempted nothing. Britain he almost lost; for two of its most noble towns ³² were taken and levelled to the ground under his reign. The Parthian's took from him Armenia, and compelled the Roman legions to pass under the yoke. Two provinces however were formed under him; Pontus Polemoniacus, by the concession of King Polemon; and the Cottian Alps, on the death of King Cottius.

XV. When, having become detestable by such conduct to the city of Rome, and being deserted at the same time by every one, and declared an enemy by the senate, he was sought for to be led to punishment (the punishment being, that he should be dragged naked through the streets, with a fork placed under his head, ³³ be beaten to death with rods, and |503 then hurled from the Tarpeian rock), he fled from the palace, and killed himself in a suburban villa of one of his freed-men, between the Salarian and Nomentane roads, at the fourth milestone from the city. He built those hot baths at Rome, which were formerly called the Neronian, but now the Alexandrian. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, and the fourteenth year of his reign; and in him all the family of Augustus became extinct.

XVI. To Nero succeeded SERVIUS GALBA, a senator of a very ancient and noble family, elected emperor when in his seventy-third year by the Spaniards and Gauls, and soon after readily acknowledged by the whole army; for his life, though but that of a private person,³⁴ had been distinguished by many military and civil exploits, having been often consul, often proconsul, and frequently general in most important wars. His reign was short, but had a promising commencement, except that he seemed to incline too much to severity. He was killed however by the treachery of Otho, in the seventh month of his reign, in the forum at Rome, and buried in his gardens, which are situated in the Aurelian way, not far from the city.

XVII. OTHO, after Galba was killed, took possession of the government, a man of a nobler descent on the mother's than the father's side, but obscure on neither. In private life he was effeminate, and an intimate of Nero; in his government he could give no evidence of his disposition; for Vitellius, about the same time that Otho had slain Galba, having been also chosen emperor by the German armies, Otho, having commenced a war against him, and having sustained a defeat in a slight skirmish near Bebriacum in Italy, voluntarily, though he had still powerful forces remaining, put an end to his life, in spite of the entreaties of his soldiers that he would not so soon despair of the issue of the war; saying, "that he was not of sufficient importance that a civil war should be raised on |504 his account." He perished thus voluntarily in the thirty-eighth year of his age, and on the ninety-fifth day of his reign.

XVIII. VITELLIUS next obtained the imperial dignity, of a family rather honourable than noble, for his father was not of very high birth, though he had filled three regular consulships. He reigned most disgracefully, being distinguished by the greatest cruelty, but especially by gluttony and voraciousness, since he is reported to have often feasted four or five times a day. A most remarkable supper at least has been recorded, which his brother Vitellius set before him, and in which, besides other expensive dainties, two thousand fishes and seven thousand birds are said to have been placed on the table.

Being anxious to resemble Nero, and aiming so openly at this that he even paid respect to his remains, which had been meanly buried, he was slain by the generals of the emperor Vespasian, Vitellius having previously put to death Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, and burned his corpse at the same time with the Capitol. When killed, he was dragged naked, with great ignominy, through the public streets of the city, with his hair erect, and his head raised by means of a sword placed under his chin, and pelted with dung on the face and breast by all that came in the way; at last his throat was cut, and he was thrown into the Tiber, and had not even the common rites of burial. He perished in the fifty-seventh year of his age, in the eighth month and first day of his reign.

XIX. To him succeeded VESPASIAN, who had been chosen emperor in Palestine, a prince indeed of obscure birth, but worthy to be compared with the best emperors, and in private life ³⁵ greatly distinguished, as he had been sent by Claudius into Germany, and afterwards into Britain, and had contended two and thirty times with the enemy; he had also added to the Roman empire two very powerful nations, ³⁶ twenty towns, and the Isle of Wight on the coast of Britain. At Rome he acted with the greatest forbearance during his government; though he was rather too eager after money; not however that he deprived any one of it unjustly, and even when he had |505 collected it with the greatest diligence and anxiety, he was in the habit of distributing it most readily, especially to the indigent; nor was the liberality of any prince before him greater or more judicious: he was also of a most mild and amiable disposition, insomuch that he never willingly inflicted a severer penalty than banishment, even on persons convicted of treason against himself.

Under this prince Judaea was added to the Roman empire, and Jerusalem, the most celebrated city of Palestine. He also reduced to the form of provinces Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, Samos, which had been free till this period; together with Thrace, Cilicia, and Comagena, which had been governed by their respective kings in alliance with the Romans.

XX. Offences and animosities he never bore in mind; reproaches uttered against himself by lawyers and philosophers he bore with indulgence, but was a strenuous enforcer of military discipline. He triumphed, together with his son Titus, on account of the taking of Jerusalem.

After having thus become an object of love and favour with the senate and the people, and indeed with all men, he died of a diarrhoea, in his own villa in the Sabine country, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, the ninth year and seventh day of his reign; and was enrolled among the gods.

To him succeeded his son TITUS, who was also called Vespasian, a man remarkable for every species of virtue, so that he was styled the favourite and delight of mankind. He was extremely eloquent, warlike, and temperate; he pleaded causes in Latin, and composed poems and tragedies in Greek. At the siege of Jerusalem, while serving under his father, he killed twelve of the besieged with wounds from as many arrows. During his government at Rome, such was his lenity towards the citizens, that he did not punish a single person; and even some that were convicted of a conspiracy against himself he released, and treated them on the same terms of intimacy as before. Such was his good-nature and generosity, that he never refused any thing to any one, and being blamed by his friends on this account, replied, that no one ought to leave an emperor in discontent. Hence, having recollected once at supper, that he had conferred no obligation on any one that day, he exclaimed: "O, my friends! I have lost this day!" |506 He built an amphitheatre at Rome, and slaughtered five thousand wild beasts at the dedication of it.

XXII. While beloved for such conduct, with extraordinary affection, he fell ill and died in the same villa as his father, two years, eight months, and twenty days after he became emperor, and in the forty-second year of his age. So great was the public lamentation on his death, that all mourned as for a loss in their own families. The senate, having received intelligence of his death about the evening, hurried into the senate-house in the night, and heaped upon him after his death even more expressions of good will and commendation, than they had uttered when he was alive and present among them. He was enrolled among the gods.

XXIII. DOMITIAN next received the imperial dignity, the younger brother of Titus, but more like Nero, or Caligula, or Tiberius, than his father or brother. In the commencement however of his reign he used his power with moderation; but, soon proceeding to the greatest excesses of licentiousness, rage, cruelty, and avarice, he provoked such universal detestation, that he effaced the remembrance of his father's and his brother's merits. He put to death the most distinguished of the senate. He was the first that required to be addressed as Lord and God; and he suffered no statue to be erected to him in the Capitol except of gold or silver. He put his own cousins to death. His pride also was execrable.

He made four expeditions, one against the Sarmatians, another against the Catti, and two against the Dacians. On account of the Dacians and the Catti he celebrated a double triumph; for the Sarmatians, he assumed only the laurel. He suffered many disasters however in these wars, for in Sarmatia one of his legions was cut off together with its captain, and by the Dacians Oppius Sabinus, a person of consular dignity, and Cornelius Fuscus, the prefect of the praetorian cohort, were slain, with numerous armies. At Rome he also erected several public buildings, among which were the Capitol, the Forum Transitorium, the Odeum, the Porticus Divorum, the temples of Isis and Serapis, and the Stadium.

But, becoming universally odious on account of his crimes, he was put to death by a conspiracy of his own servants within the palace, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign. His corpse was carried out with extreme insult by common bearers, and buried ignominiously. |507

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BOOK VIII.

Justice and mildness of Nerva, I.----Merits of Trajan; he extends the limits of the Roman empire, II.-V.----Hadrian, envying the glory of Trajan, contracts the bounds of the empire, and promotes the arts and occupations of peace, VI. VII.----Virtues of Antoninus Pius, VIII.----After his reign the commonwealth had two emperors with equal power, Marcus and Lucius Antoninus Verus; the studies and character of Marcus; his wars in Parthia, Germany, and with the Marcomanni, which he conducted alone or in conjunction with Lucius, IX.-XIV.----Antoninus Commodus, who resembles his father only in fighting successfully against the Germans, XV.----Helvius Pertinax, XVI.----Salvius Julianus, XVII.----Septimius Severus, an African, overthrows his rivals for the throne, and conquers the Parthians, Arabians, and Adiabeni, XVIII.----His learning; his war and death in Britain, XIX.----Antoninus Caracalla, XX.----Opilius Macrinus and Diadumenus, XXI.----Heliogabalus, XXII.----Alexander Severus; his victory over the Persians; his enforcement of military discipline; in his reign lived Ulpian, XXIII.

I. IN the eight hundred and fiftieth year from the foundation of the city, in the consulship of Vetus and Valens, the empire was restored to a most prosperous condition, being committed, with great good fortune, to the rule of meritorious princes. To Domitian, a most murderous tyrant, succeeded NERVA, a man of moderation and activity in private life, and of noble descent, though not of the very highest rank. He was made emperor at an advanced age, Petronius Secundus, the praefect of the praetorian guards, and Parthenius, one of the assassins of Domitian, giving him their support, and conducted himself with great justice and public spirit.³⁷ He provided for the good of the state by a divine foresight, in his adoption of Trajan. He died at Rome, after a reign of one year, four months, and eight days, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was enrolled among the gods.

II. To him succeeded ULPIUS CRINITUS TRAJANUS, born at |508 Italica ³⁸ in Spain, of a family rather ancient than eminent for his father was the first consul in it. He was chosen emperor at Agrippina, a city of Gaul. He exercised the government in such a manner, that he is deservedly preferred to all the other emperors. He was a man of extraordinary skill in managing affairs of state, and of remarkable courage. The limits of the Roman empire, which, since the reign of Augustus, had been rather defended than honourably enlarged, he extended far and wide. He rebuilt some cities in Germany; he subdued Dacia by the overthrow of Decebalus, and formed a province beyond the Danube, in that territory which the Thaiphali, Victoali, and Theruingi now occupy. This province was a thousand miles in circumference.

III. He recovered Armenia, which the Parthians had seized, putting to death Parthamasires who held the government of it. He gave a king to the Albani. He received into alliance the king of the Iberians, Sarmatians, Bosporani, Arabians, Osdroeni, and Colchians. He obtained the mastery over the Cordueni and Marcomedi, as well as over Anthemusia, an extensive region of Persia. He conquered and kept possession of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Babylon, and the country of the Messenii. He advanced as far as the boundaries of India, and the Red Sea, where he formed three provinces, Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, including the tribes which border on Madena.³⁹ He afterwards, too, reduced Arabia into the form of a province. He also fitted out a fleet for the Red Sea, that he might use it to lay waste the coasts of India.

IV. Yet he went beyond his glory in war, in ability and judgment as a ruler, conducting himself as an equal towards all, going often to his friends as a visitor, ⁴⁰ either when they were ill, or when they were celebrating feast days, and entertaining them in his turn at banquets where there was no distinction of rank, and sitting frequently with them in their chariots; doing nothing unjust towards any of the senators, nor being guilty of |509 any dishonesty to fill his treasury; exercising liberality to all, enriching with offices of trust, publicly and privately, every body whom he had known even with the least familiarity; building towns throughout the world, granting many immunities to states, and doing every thing with gentleness and kindness; so that during his whole reign, there was but one senator condemned, and he was sentenced by the senate without Trajan's knowledge. Hence, being regarded throughout the world as next to a god, he deservedly obtained the highest veneration both living and dead.

V. Among other sayings of his, the following remarkable one is mentioned. When his friends found fault with him, for being too courteous to every body, he replied, that "he was such an emperor to his subjects, as he had wished, when a subject, that emperors should be to him."

After having gained the greatest glory both in the field and at home, he was cut off, as he was returning from Persia, by a diarrhoea, at Seleucia in Isauria. He died in the sixty-third year, ninth month, and fourth day of his age, and in the nineteenth year, sixth month, and fifteenth day of his reign. He was enrolled among the gods, and was the only one of all the emperors that was buried within the city. His bones, contained in a golden urn, lie in the forum which he himself built, under a pillar whose height is a hundred and forty-four feet. So much respect has been paid to his memory, that, even to our own times, they shout in acclamations to the emperors, "More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan!" So much has the fame of his goodness prevailed, that it affords ground for most noble illustration in the hands either of such as flatter, or of such as praise with sincerity.

VI. After the death of Trajan, Aelius HADRIAN was made emperor, not from any wish to that effect having been expressed by Trajan himself, but through the influence of Plotina, Trajan's wife; for Trajan in his life-time had refused to adopt him, though he was the son of his cousin.⁴¹ He also was born at Italica in Spain. Envying Trajan's glory, he immediately gave up three of the provinces which Trajan had added to the empire, withdrawing the armies from Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, and deciding that the Euphrates should be the boundary of the empire. When he was |510 proceeding, to act similarly with regard to Dacia, his friends dissuaded him, lest many Roman citizens should be left in the hands of the barbarians, because Trajan, after he had subdued Dacia, had transplanted thither an infinite number of men from the whole Roman world, to people the country and the cities; as the land had been exhausted of inhabitants in the long war maintained by Decebalus.

VII. He enjoyed peace, however, through the whole course of his reign; the only war that he had, he committed to the conduct of a governor of a province. He went about through the Roman empire, and founded many edifices. He spoke with great eloquence in the Latin language, and was very learned in the Greek. He had no great reputation for clemency, but was very attentive to the state of the treasury and the discipline of the soldiers. He died in Compania, more than sixty years old, in the twenty-first year, tenth month, and twenty-ninth day of his reign. The senate was unwilling to allow him divine honours; but his successor Titus Aurelius Fulvius Antonius, earnestly insisting on it, carried his point, though all the senators were openly opposed to him.

VIII. To Hadrian, then, succeeded TITUS ANTONINUS FULVIUS BOIONIUS,⁴² who was also named Pius, sprung from an eminent, though not very ancient, family: a man of high character, who may justly be compared to Numa Pompilius, as Trajan may be paralleled with Romulus. He lived, before he came to the throne, in great honour, but in greater still during his reign. He was cruel to none, but indulgent to all. His reputation in military affairs was but moderate; he studied rather to defend the provinces than to enlarge them. He sought out the most just men to fill political offices. He paid respect to the good; for the bad he showed dislike without treating them with harshness. By kings in alliance with Rome he was not less venerated than feared, so that many nations among the barbarians, laying aside their arms, referred their controversies and disputes to him, and submitted to his decision. He was very rich before he began to reign, but diminished his wealth by pay to the soldiers and |511 bounties to his friends; he left the treasury, however, well stored. It was for his clemency that he was surnamed Pius. He died at his country seat called Lorium, twelve miles from the city, in the seventy-third year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign. He was enrolled among the gods, and was deservedly an object of veneration.⁴³

IX. After him reigned MARCUS ANTONINUS VERUS, a man indisputably of noble birth; for his descent, on the father's side, was from Numa Pompilius, and on the mother's from a king of the Sallentines,⁴⁴ and jointly with him reigned Lucius ANTONINUS VERUS. Then it was that the commonwealth of Rome was first subject to two sovereigns, ruling with equal power, when, till their days, it had always had but one emperor at a time.

X. These two were connected both by relationship ⁴⁵ and affinity; for Verus Antoninus had married the daughter of Marcus Antoninus; and Marcus Antoninus was the son-in-law of Antoninus Pius, having married Galeria Faustina the younger, his own cousin. They carried on a war against the Parthians, who then rebelled for the first time since their subjugation by Trajan. Verus Antoninus went out to conduct that war, and, remaining at Antioch and about Armenia, effected many important achievements by the agency of his generals; he took Seleucia, the most eminent city of Assyria, with forty thousand prisoners; he brought off materials for a triumph over the Parthians, and celebrated it in conjunction with his brother, who was also his father-in-law. He died in Venetia,⁴⁶ as he was going from the city of Concordia to Altinum. While he was sitting in his chariot with his brother, he was suddenly struck with a rush of blood, a disease ⁴⁷ which |512 the Greeks call apoplexis. He was a man who had little control over his passions, but who never ventured to do anything outrageous, from respect for his brother. After his death, which took place in the eleventh year of his reign, he was enrolled among the gods.

XI. After him MARCUS ANTONINUS held the government alone, a man whom any one may more easily admire than sufficiently commend. He was, from his earliest years, of a most tranquil disposition; so that even in his infancy he changed countenance neither for joy nor for sorrow. He was devoted to the Stoic philosophy, and was himself a philosopher, not only in his way of life, but in learning. He was the object of so much admiration, while yet a youth, that Hadrian intended to make him his successor; but having adopted Titus Antoninus Pius, he wished Marcus to become Titus's son-in-law, that he might by that means come to the throne.

XII. He was trained in philosophy by Apollonius of Chalcedon; in the study of the Greek language by Sextus of Chseronea, the grandson of Plutarch; while the eminent orator Fronto instructed him in Latin literature. He conducted himself towards all men at Rome as if he had been their equal, being moved to no arrogance by his elevation to empire. He exercised the most prompt liberality, and managed the provinces with the utmost kindness and indulgence. Under his rule affairs were successfully conducted against the Germans. He himself carried on one war with the Marcomanni, but this was greater than any in the memory of man,⁴⁸ so that it is compared to the Punic wars; for it became so much the more formidable, as whole armies had been lost; since, under the emperor, after the victory over the Parthians,⁴⁹ there occurred so destructive a pestilence, that at Rome, and throughout Italy and the provinces, the greater part of the inhabitants, and almost all the troops, sunk under the disease.

XIII. Having persevered, therefore, with the greatest |513 labour and patience, for three whole years at Carnuntum,⁵⁰ he brought the Marcomannic war to an end; a war which the Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Suevi, and all the barbarians in that quarter, had joined with the Marcomanui in raising; he killed several thousand men, and, having delivered the Pannonians from slavery, triumphed a second time at Rome with his son Commodus Antoninus, whom he had previously made Caesar.⁵¹ As he had no money to give his soldiers, in consequence of the treasury having been exhausted for the support of the war, and as he was unwilling to lay any tax on the provinces or the senate, he sold off all his imperial furniture and decorations, by an auction held in the forum of the emperor Trajan, consisting of vessels of gold, cups of crystal and murrha,⁵² silk garments belonging to his wife and himself, embroidered with gold, and numbers of jewelled ornaments. This sale was continued through two successive months, and a great quantity of money was raised from it. After his victory, however, he gave back the money to such of the purchasers as were willing to restore what they had bought, but was by no means troublesome to any one who preferred to keep their purchases.

XIV. He allowed the more eminent men to give entertainments with the same magnificence, and the same number of attendants, as himself. In the display of games after his victory, he was so munificent, that he is said to have exhibited a hundred lions at once. Having, then, rendered the state happy, both by his excellent management and gentleness of disposition, he died in the eighteenth year of his reign and the sixty-first of his life, and was enrolled among the gods, all unanimously voting that such honour should be paid him.

XV. His successor, LUCIUS ANTONINUS COMMODUS, had no resemblance to his father, except that he fought successfully the Germans. He endeavoured to alter the name of |514 the month of September ⁵³ to his own, so that it should he called Commodus. But he was corrupted with luxury and licentiousness. He often fought, with gladiator's arms, in the fencing school, and afterwards with men of that class in the amphitheatre. He died so sudden a death, that he was thought to have been strangled or despatched by poison, after he had reigned twelve years and eight months after his father, and in the midst of such execration from all men, that even after his death he was styled "the enemy of the human race."

XVI. To him succeeded PERTINAX, at a very advanced age, having reached his seventieth year; he was appointed to be emperor by a decree of the senate, when he was holding the office of prefect of the city. He was killed in a mutiny of the praetorian soldiers, by the villany of Julianus, on the eightieth day of his reign.

XVII. After his death SALVIUS JULIANUS seized the government, a man of noble birth, and eminently skilled in the law; he was the grandson of that Salvius Julianus who composed the perpetual edict ⁵⁴ in the reign of the emperor Hadrian. He was defeated by Severus at the Milvian bridge, and killed in the palace. He lived only eight months after he began to reign.

XVIII. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS then assumed the government of the Roman empire; a native of Africa, born in the province of Tripolis, and town of Leptis. He was the only African, in all the time before or after him, that became emperor. He was first praefect of the treasury, afterwards military tribune, and then rose, through several offices and posts of honour, to the government of the whole state. He had an inclination to be called Pertinax, in honour of that Pertinax who had been killed by Julian. He was very parsimonious, and naturally cruel. He conducted many wars, and with success. He killed Pescennius Niger, who had raised a rebellion in Egypt and Syria, at Cyzicus. He overcame the Parthians, the interior Arabians, and the Adiabeni. The Arabians he so |515 effectually reduced, that he made them a province; hence he was called Parthicus, Arabicus, and Adiabenicus. He rebuilt many edifices throughout the whole Roman world. In his reign, too, Clodius Albinus, who had been an accomplice of Julianus in killing Pertinax, set himself up for Caesar in Gaul, and was overthrown and killed at Lyons.

XIX. Severus, in addition to his glory in war, was also distinguished in the pursuits of peace, being not only accomplished in literature, but having acquired a complete knowledge of philosophy. The last war that he had was in Britain; and that he might preserve, with all possible security, the provinces which he had acquired, he built a rampart of thirty-two miles long from one sea to the other. He died at an advanced age at York, in the eighteenth year and fourth month of his reign, and was honoured with the title of god. He left his two sons, Bassianus and Geta, to be his successors, but desired that the name of Antoninus should be given by the senate to Bassianus only, who, accordingly, was named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, and was his father's successor. As for Geta, he was declared a public enemy, and soon after put to death.

XX. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS BASSIANUS, then, who. was also called CARACALLA, was a man very much of his father's disposition, but somewhat more rough and vindictive. He erected a bath of excellent construction at Rome, which is called the bath of Antoninus,⁵⁵ but did nothing else worthy of record. He wanted ability to control his passions; for he married his own step-mother Julia. He died in Osdroene,⁵⁶ near Edessa, while he was planning an expedition against the Parthians, in the sixth year and second month of his reign, having scarcely passed the forty-second year of his age. He was buried with a public funeral.

XXI. OPILIUS MACRINUS, who was captain of the praetorian guards, and his son DIADUMENUS, were then made emperors, but did nothing memorable, in consequence of the shortness of their reign; for it lasted but a year and two months. They were both killed together in a mutiny of the soldiers. |516

XXII. After these, MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS was made emperor, who was thought to be the son of Antoninus Caracalla. He was however priest of the temple of Heliogabalus.⁵⁷ Having come to Rome with high expectations on the part of the army and the senate, he polluted himself with every kind of impurity. He led a life of the utmost shamelessness and obscenity, and was killed at the end of two years and eight months in a tumult of the soldiers. His mother So mia, a native of Syria, perished with him.

XXIII. To him succeeded AURELIUS ALEXANDER, a very young man, who was named Caesar by the army, and Augustus by the senate. Having undertaken a war with the Persians, he defeated their king Xerxes with great glory. He enforced military discipline with much severity, and disbanded whole legions that raised a disturbance. He had for his adviser, or secretary of state, Ulpian, the compiler of the law. He was also in great favour at Rome. He lost his life in Gaul, in a tumult of the soldiery, in the thirteenth year and eighth day of his reign. He testified great affection for his mother Mammaea. |517

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BOOK IX.

Maximin successful in his wars in Germany, I.----Three emperors at once, Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian; Gordian becomes sole emperor, and goes to war with Persia, II.----The two Philips, father and son; the thousandth year of Rome, III.----Decius suppresses an insurrection in Gaul, IV.----Gallus Hostilianus and his son Volusianus, V.----Short reign of Aemilianus, VI.----Disadvantageous reign of Valerian and Gallienus; several aspirants assume the purple, VII.-X.----Claudius defeats the Goths; his honours, XI.----Quintillus, XII.----Aurelian defeats the Goths, Tetricus, Zenobia; suppresses a rebellion at Rome; his character, XIII.-XV.----Tacitus, Florianus, XVI.----Probus; his acts in Gaul and Pannonia, XVIII.----Carus; his successes in Persia; death of him and Numerianus, XVIII. XIX.----Diocletian made emperor; overthrows Carinus; suppresses an insurrection in Gaul, XX.----Makes Herculius emperor, and Constantius and Maximian Caesars; proceedings in Britain, Egypt, Africa, and among the Alemanni, XXI.-XXIII. ---- Varied fortune of Maximian in Persia; subjugation of the Carpi, Bastarnae, and Sarmatians, XXIV. XXV.----Character of Diocletian and Maximian; their abdication of the imperial power, XXVI.-XXVIII.

I. AFTER him MAXIMIN came to the throne, the first emperor that was elected from the army by the will of the soldiers, no approbation of the senate being given, and he himself not being a senator. After conducting a successful war against the Germans, and being on that account saluted Imperator ⁵⁸ by his troops, he was slain by Pupienus at Aquileia,⁵⁹ together with his son who was then but a boy, his soldiers forsaking him. He had reigned, with his son, three years and a few days.

II. There were then three emperors at the same time, PUPIENUS, BALBINUS, and GORDIAN, the two former of very obscure origin, the last of noble birth; for the elder Gordian, his father, had been chosen prince by the consent of the soldiery in the reign of Maximin, when he held the proconsulship of Africa. When Balbinus and Pupienus came to Rome, they were killed in the palace; and the empire was given to Gordian alone.

After Gordian, when quite a boy, had married Tranquillina at Rome, he opened the temple of Janus, and, setting out for the |518 east, made war upon the Parthians, who were then proceeding to make an irruption. This war he soon conducted with success, and made havoc of the Persians in great battles. As he was returning, he was killed, not far from the Roman boundaries, by the treachery of Philip who reigned after him. The Roman soldiers raised a monument for him, twenty miles from Circessus, which is now a fortress of the Romans, overlooking the Euphrates. His relics they brought to Rome, and gave him the title of god.

III. When Gordian was killed, the two PHILIPS, father and son, seized on the government, and, having brought off the army safe, set out from Syria for Italy. In their reign the thousandth year of the city of Rome was celebrated with games and spectacles of vast magnificence. Soon after, both of them were put to death by the soldiery; the elder Philip at Verona, the younger at Rome. They reigned but five years. They were however ranked among the gods.

IV. After these, DECIUS, a native of Lower Pannonia, born at Budalia, assumed the government. He suppressed a civil war which had been raised in Gaul. He created his son Caesar. He built a bath at Rome. When he and his son had reigned two years, they were both killed in the country of the Barbarians, and enrolled among the gods.

V. Immediately after, GALLUS, HOSTILIANUS, and VOLUSIANUS the son of Gallus, were created emperors. In their reign Aemilianus attempted an insurrection in Moesia; and both ⁶⁰ of them, setting out to stop his progress, were slain at Interamna, when they had not quite completed a reign of two years. They did nothing of any account. Their reign was remarkable only for a pestilence, and for other diseases and afflictions.

VI. AEMILIANUS was little distinguished by birth, and less distinguished by his reign, in the third month of which he was cut off. ⁶¹

VII. LICINIUS VALERIAN, who was then employed in Rhaetia and Noricum, was next made general by the army, and soon after emperor. GALLIENUS also received the title of Caesar from the senate at Rome. The reign of these princes was |519 injurious, and almost fatal, to the Roman name, either through their ill-fortune or want of energy. The Germans advanced as far as Ravenna. Valerian, while he was occupied in a war in Mesopotamia, was overthrown by Sapor king of Persia, and being soon after made prisoner, grew old in ignominious slavery among the Parthians.

VIII. Gallienus, who was made emperor when quite a young man, exercised his power at first happily, afterwards fairly, and at last mischievously. In his youth he performed many gallant acts in Gaul and Illyricum, killing Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple, at Mursa,⁶² and Regalianus. He was then for a long time quiet and gentle; afterwards, abandoning himself to all manner of licentiousness, he relaxed the reins of government with disgraceful inactivity and carelesness. The Alemanni, having laid waste Gaul, penetrated into Italy. Dacia, which had been added to the empire beyond the Danube, was lost. Greece, Macedonia, Pontus, Asia, were devastated by the Goths. Pannonia was depopulated by the Sarmatians and Quadi. The Germans made their way as far as Spain, and took the noble city of Tarraco. The Parthians, after taking possession of Mesopotamia, began to bring Syria under their power.

IX. When affairs were in this desperate condition, and the Roman empire almost ruined, POSTUMUS, a man of very obscure birth, assumed the purple in Gaul, and held the government with such ability for ten years, that he recruited the provinces, which had been almost ruined, by his great energy and judgment; but he was killed in a mutiny of the army, because he would not deliver up Moguntiacum, which had rebelled against him, to be plundered by the soldiers, at the time when Lucius Aelianus was endeavouring to effect a change of government.

After him Marius, a contemptible mechanic,⁶³ assumed the purple, and was killed two days after. Victorinus then took on himself the government of Gaul; a man of great energy; but, as he was abandoned to excessive licentiousness, and corrupted other men's wives, he was assassinated at |520 Agrippina,⁶⁴ in the second year of his reign, one of his secretaries having contrived a plot against him.

X. To him succeeded Tetricus, a senator, who, when he was governing Aquitania with the title of prefect, was chosen emperor in his absence, and assumed the purple at Bourdeaux. He had to endure many insurrections among the soldiery. But while these transactions were passing in Gaul, the Persians, in the east, were overthrown by Odenathus, who, having defended Syria and recovered Mesopotamia, penetrated into the country as far as Ctesiphon.

XI. Thus, while Gallienus abandoned the government, the Roman empire was saved in the west by Posthumus, and in the east by Odenathus. Meanwhile Gallienus was killed at Milan, together with his brother, in the ninth year of his reign, and CLAUDIUS succeeded him, being chosen by the soldiers, and declared emperor by the senate. Claudius defeated the Goths, who were laying waste Illyricum and Macedonia, in a great battle. He was a frugal and modest man, strictly observant of justice, and well qualified for governing the empire. He was however carried off by disease within two years after he began to reign, and had the title of a god. The senate honoured him with extraordinary distinctions, insomuch that a golden shield was hung up to him in the senate house, and a golden statue erected to him in the Capitol.

XII. After him QUINTILLUS, the brother of Claudius, was elected emperor by agreement among the soldiers, a man of singular moderation and aptitude for governing, comparable, or perhaps superior, to his brother. He received the title of emperor with the consent of the senate, and was killed on the seventeenth day of his reign.

XIII. After his death AURELIAN succeeded to the throne. He was born in Dacia Ripensis, and was a man of ability in war, but of an ungovernable temper, and too much inclined to cruelty. He defeated the Goths with great vigour, and extended the Roman empire, by various successes in the field, to its former limits. He overthrew Tetricus at Catalauni ⁶⁵ |521 in Gaul, Tetricus himself, indeed, betraying his own army, whose constant mutinies he was unable to bear; and he had even by secret letters entreated Aurelian to march towards him, using, among other solicitations, the verse of Virgil:----

Eripe me his, invicte, malis.

Unconquer'd hero, free me from these ills.

He also took prisoner Zenobia, who, having killed her husband Odenathus, was mistress of the east, in a battle of no great importance near Antioch, and, entering Rome, celebrated a magnificent triumph, as recoverer of the east and the west, Tetricus ⁶⁶ and Zenobia going before his chariot. This Tetricus was afterwards governor of Lucania, and lived long after he was divested of the purple. Zenobia left descendants, who still live at Rome.

XIV. In his reign, the people of the mint raised a rebellion in the city, after having adulterated the money, and put to death Felicissimus the commissioner of the treasury. Aurelian suppressed them with the utmost severity; several noblemen he condemned to death. He was indeed cruel and sanguinary, and rather an emperor necessary for the times in some respects than an amiable one in any. He was always severe, and put to death even the son of his own sister. He was however a reformer, in a great degree, of military discipline and dissoluteness of manners.

XV. He surrounded the city of Rome with stronger walls. He built a temple to the Sun, in which he put a vast quantity of gold and precious stones. The province of Dacia, which Trajan had formed beyond the Danube, he gave up, despairing, after all Illyricum and Moesia had been depopulated, of being able to retain it. The Roman citizens, removed from the town and lands of Dacia, he settled in the interior of Moesia, calling that Dacia which now divides the two Moesiae, and which is on the right hand of the Danube as it runs to the sea, whereas Dacia was previously on the left. He was killed through the treachery of one of his own slaves, who carried to certain military men, the friends of Aurelian, their own names entered upon a list, having counterfeited the hand of Aurelian, and making it appear that he intended to put them to death. That he might be prevented from doing so, he was assassinated |522 by them in the middle of the road, the old paved way, which is between Constantinople and Heraclea. The place is called Caenophrurium. But his death was not unavenged.⁶⁷ He also gained the honour of being enrolled among the gods. He reigned five years and six months.

XVI. After him TACITUS succeeded to the throne; a man of excellent morals, and well qualified to govern the empire. He was unable, however, to show the world anything remarkable, being cut off by death in the sixth mouth of his reign. FLORIANUS, who succeeded Tacitus, was on the throne only two mouths and twenty days, and did nothing worthy of mention.

XVII. PROBUS then succeeded to the government, a man rendered illustrious by the distinction which he obtained in war. He recovered Gaul, which had been seized by the Barbarians, by remarkable successes in the field. He also suppressed, in several battles, some persons that attempted to seize the throne, as Saturninus in the east, and Proculus and Bonosus at Agrippina. He allowed the Gauls and Cannonians to have vineyards. By obliging his soldiers to work, too, he planted vineyards on Mount Alma in Sirmium, and on Mount Aureus in Upper Moesia, and left them to the people of the provinces to cultivate. After he had gone through a great number of wars, and had at last obtained peace, he observed, that "in a short time soldiers would not be wanted." He was a man of spirit, activity, and justice, equalling Aurelian in military glory, and surpassing him in affability of manners. He was killed, however, at Sirmium, in an iron turret, during an insurrection of the soldiery. He reigned six years and four months.

XVIII. After the death of Probus, CARUS was created emperor, a native of Narbo in Gaul, who immediately made his sons, Carinus and Numerianus, Caesars, and reigned, in conjunction with them, two years. News being brought, while he was engaged in a war with the Sarmatians, of an insurrection among the Persians, he set out for the east, and achieved some noble exploits against that people; he routed them in the field, and took Seleucia and Ctesiphon, their noblest cities, but, while he was encamped on the Tigris, he was killed by lightning. His son NUMERIANUS, too, whom he had taken |523 with him to Persia, a young man of very great ability, while, from being affected with a disease in his eyes, he was carried in a litter, was cut off by a plot of which Aper, his father-in-law, was the promoter; and his death, though attempted craftily to be concealed until Aper could seize the throne, was made known by the odour of his dead body; for the soldiers, who attended him, being struck by the smell, and opening the curtains of his litter, discovered his death some days after it had taken place.

XIX. In the meantime CARINUS, whom Carus, when he set out to the war with Parthia, had left, with the authority of Caesar, to command in Illyricum, Gaul, and Italy, disgraced himself by all manner of crimes; he put to death many innocent persons on false accusations, formed illicit connexions with the wives of noblemen, and wrought the ruin of several of his school-fellows, who happened to have offended him at school by some slight provocation. Incurring the hatred of all men. by such proceedings, he not long after met with deserved punishment.

The victorious army, on returning from Persia, as they had lost their emperor Carus by lightning, and the Caesar Numerianus by a plot, conferred the imperial dignity on DIOCLETIAN, a native of Dalmatia, of such extremely obscure birth, that he is said by most writers to have been the son of a clerk, but by some to have been a freedman of a senator named Anulinus.

XX, Diocletian, in the first assembly of the army that was held, took an oath that Numerian was not killed by any treachery on his part; and while Aper, who had laid the plot for Numerian's life, was standing by, he was killed, in the sight of the army, with a sword by the hand of Diocletian. He soon after overthrew Carinus, who was living under the utmost hatred and detestation, in a great battle at Margum,⁶⁸ Carinus being betrayed by his own troops, for though he had a greater number of men than the enemy, he was altogether abandoned by them between Viminacium and mount Aureus. He thus became master of the Roman empire; and when the peasants in Gaul made an insurrection, giving their faction the name of Bagaudae,⁶⁹ and having for leaders Amandus and Aelianus, |524 he despatched Maximian Herculius, with the authority of Caesar, to suppress them. Maximian, in a few battles of little importance, subdued the rustic multitude, and restored peace to Gaul.

XXI, During this period, Carausius, who, though of very mean birth, had gained extraordinary reputation by a course of active service in war, having received a commission in his post at Bononia, to clear the sea, which the Franks and Saxons infested, along the coast of Belgica and Armorica, and having captured numbers of the barbarians on several occasions, but having never given back the entire booty to the people of the province or sent it to the emperors, and there being a suspicion, in consequence, that the barbarians were intentionally allowed by him to congregate there, that he might seize them and their booty as they passed, and by that means enrich himself, assumed, on being sentenced by Maximian to be put to death, the imperial purple, and took on him the government of Britain.

XXII. While disorder thus prevailed throughout the world, while Carausius was taking arms in Britain and Achilleus in Egypt, while the Quinquegentiani ⁷⁰ were harassing Africa, and Narseus ⁷¹ was making war upon the east, Diocletian promoted MAXIMIAN HERCULIUS from the dignity of Caesar to that "of emperor, and created Constantius and Maximian Galerius Caesars, of whom Constantius is said to have been the grand-nephew of Claudius ⁷² by a daughter, and Maximian Galerius to have been born in Dacia not far from Sardica.⁷³ That he might also unite them by affinity, Constantius married Theodora the step-daughter of Herculius, by whom he had afterwards six children, brothers to Constantine; while Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian; both being obliged to divorce the wives that they had before. With Carausius, however, as hostilities were found vain against a man eminently skilled in war, a peace was at last arranged. |525 At the end of seven years, Allectus, one of his supporters, put him to death, and held Britain himself for three years subsequently, but was cut off by the efforts of Asclepiodotus, praefect of the praetorian guard.

XXIII. At the same period a battle was fought by Constantius Caesar in Gaul, at Lingonae,⁷⁴ where he experienced both good and had fortune in one day; for though he was driven into the city by a sudden onset of the barbarians, with such haste and precipitation that after the gates were shut he was drawn up the wall by ropes, yet, when his army came up, after the lapse of scarcely six hours, he cut to pieces about sixty thousand of the Alemanni. Maximian the emperor, too, brought the war to an end in Africa, by subduing the Quinquegentiani, and compelling them to make peace. Diocletian, meanwhile, besieging Achilleus in Alexandria, obliged him to surrender about eight months after, and put him. to death. He used his victory, indeed, cruelly, and distressed all Egypt with severe proscriptions and massacres. Yet at the same time he made many judicious arrangements and regulations, which continue to our own days.

XXIV. Galerius Maximian, in acting against Narseus, fought, on the first occasion, a battle far from successful, meeting him between Callinicus and Carrae, and engaging in the combat rather with rashness than want of courage; for he contended with a small army against a very numerous enemy. Being in consequence defeated, and going to join Diocletian, he was received by him, when he met him on the road, with such extreme haughtiness, that he is said to have run by his chariot for several miles in his scarlet robes.

XXV. But having soon after collected forces in Illyricum and Moesia, he fought a second time with Narseus (the grandfather of Hormisdas and Sapor), in Greater Armenia, with extraordinary success, and with no less caution and spirit, for he undertook, with one or two of the cavalry, the office of a speculator.⁷⁵ After putting Narseus to flight, he captured his |526 wives, sisters, and children, with a vast number of the Persian nobility besides, and a great quantity of treasure; the king himself he forced to take refuge in the remotest deserts in his dominions. Returning therefore in triumph to Diocletian, who was then encamped with some troops in Mesopotamia, he was welcomed by him with great honour. Subsequently, they conducted several wars both in conjunction and separately, subduing the Carpi and Bastarntae, and defeating the Sarmatians, from which nations he settled a great number of captives in the Roman territories.

XXVI. Diocletian was of a crafty disposition, with much sagacity, and keen penetration. He was willing to gratify his own disposition to cruelty in such a way as to throw the odium upon others; he was however a very active and able prince. He was the first that introduced into the Roman empire a ceremony suited rather to royal usages than to Roman liberty, giving orders that he should be adored,⁷⁶ whereas all emperors before him were only saluted. He put ornaments of precious stones on his dress and shoes, when the imperial distinction had previously been only in the purple robe, the rest of the habit being the same as that of other men.

XXVII. But Herculius was undisguisedly cruel, and of a violent temper, and showed his severity of disposition in the sternness of his looks. Gratifying his own inclination, he joined with Diocletian in even the most cruel of his proceedings. But when Diocletian, as age bore heavily upon him, felt himself unable to sustain the government of the empire, he suggested to Herculius that they should both retire into private life, and commit the duty of upholding the state to more vigorous and youthful hands. With this suggestion his colleague reluctantly complied. Both of them, in the same day, exchanged the robe of empire for an ordinary dress, Diocletian at Nicomedia, Herculius at Milan, soon after a magnificent triumph which they celebrated at Rome over several nations, with a noble succession of pictures, ⁷⁷ and in |527 which the wives, sisters, and children of Narseus were led before their chariots. The one then retired to Salonae, and the other into Lucania.

XXVIII. Diocletian lived to an old age in a private station, at a villa which is not far from Salonae, in honourable retirement, exercising extraordinary philosophy, inasmuch as he alone of all men, since the foundation of the Roman empire, voluntarily returned from so high a dignity to the condition of private life, and to an equality with the other citizens. That happened to him, therefore, which had happened to no one since men were created, that, though he died in a private condition, he was enrolled among the gods.

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BOOK X.

Division of the empire between Constantius and Galerius, Maximin and Severus being Caesars, I.----Constantine made emperor in Britain, and Maxentius, son of Maximian, at Rome; Maximian attempts to regain the throne; failure of Severus against Maxentius, II. ---- Subsequent efforts of Maximian; his death and character, III.----Four emperors at once, Constantine, Maxentius, Licinius, and Maximin, Maxentius overthrown by Constantine; death of Maximin, IV.-----Licinius defeated by Constantine, who becomes sole emperor, and makes three Caesars, V. VI.----Character and death of Constantine, VII. VIII.----He is succeeded by three sons and a nephew, Constantine, Constantine, Constans, and Dalmatius; Constantius survives them all, and becomes sole emperor, suppressing Veteranio and Nepotian, IX.-XI.----Overthrow and death of Magnentius; Gallus made Caesar, XII. ----Deaths of Gallus and Sylvanus, XIII.----Julian sent to Gaul by Constantius with the authority of Caesar; his successes, XIV.----Julian made emperor; death and character of Constantius, XV.----Julian's expedition to the east; his death and character, XVI.----Jovian made emperor in the east; his ill-fortune; he cedes a portion of the Roman territory to Sapor; his death, and the supposed causes of it, XVII. XVIII.

I. THESE emperors, then, having retired from the government of the state, CONSTANTIUS and GALERIUS were made emperors; and the Roman world was divided between them in such a manner, that Constantius had Gaul, Italy, and Africa; Galerius Illyricum, Asia, and the East; two Caesars being joined with them. Constantius, however, content with the dignity of emperor, declined the care of governing Africa. |528 He was an excellent man, of extreme benevolence, who studied to increase the resources of the provinces and of private persons, cared but little for the improvement of the public treasury, and used to say that "it was better for the national wealth to be in the hands of individuals than to be laid up in one place of confinement." So moderate was the furniture of his house, too, that if, on holidays, he had to entertain a greater number of friends than ordinary, his dining-rooms were set out with the plate of private persons, borrowed from their several houses. By the Gauls ⁷⁸ he was not only beloved but venerated, especially because, under his government, they had escaped the suspicious prudence of Diocletian, and the sanguinary rashness of Maximian. He died in Britain, at York, in the thirteenth year of his reign, and was enrolled among the gods.

II. Galerius, a man of excellent moral character, and skilful in military affairs, finding that Italy, by Constantius's permission, was put under his government, created two Caesars, MAXIMIN, whom he appointed over the east, and SEVERUS, to whom he committed Italy. He himself resided in Illyricum. But after the death of Constantius, CONSTANTINE, his son by a wife of obscure birth, was made emperor in Britain, and succeeded his father as a most desirable ruler. In the meantime the praetorian guards at Rome, having risen in insurrection, declared MAXENTIUS, the son of Maximian Herculius, who lived in the Villa Publica ⁷⁹ not far from the city, emperor. At the news of this proceeding, Maximian, filled with hopes of regaining the imperial dignity, which he had not willingly resigned, hurried to Rome from Lucania, (which, on retiring into private life, he had chosen for his place of residence, spending his old age in a most delightful country), and stimulated Diocletian by letters to resume the authority that he had laid down, letters which Diocletian utterly disregarded. Severus Caesar, being despatched to Rome by Galerius to suppress the rising of the guards and Maxentius, arrived there with his army, but, as he was laying siege to the city, was deserted through the treachery of his soldiers. |529

III. The power of Maxentius was thus increased, and his government established. Severus, taking to flight, was killed at Eavenna. Maximian Herculius, attempting afterwards, in an assembly of the army, to divest his son Maxentius of his power, met with nothing but mutiny and reproaches from the soldiery. He then set out for Gaul, on a planned stratagem, as if he had been driven away by his son, that he might join his son-in-law Constantine,⁸⁰ designing, however, if he could find an opportunity, to cut off Constantine, who was ruling in Gaul with great approbation both of the soldiers and the people of the province, having overthrown the Franks and Alemanni with great slaughter, and captured their kings, whom, on exhibiting a magnificent show of games, he exposed to wild beasts. But the plot being made known by Maximian's daughter Fausta, who communicated the design to her husband, Maximian was cut off at Marseilles, whence he was preparing to sail to join his son, and died a well-deserved death; for he was a man inclined to every kind of cruelty and severity, faithless, perverse, and utterly void of consideration for others.

IV. At this time LICINIUS, a native of Dacia, was made emperor by Galerius, to whom he was known by old companionship, and recommended by his vigorous efforts and services in the war which he had conducted against Narseus. The death of Galerius followed immediately afterwards. The empire was then held by the four new emperors, Constantine and Maxentius, sons of emperors, Licinius and Maximian, sons of undistinguished men. Constantine, however, in the fifth year of his reign, commenced a civil war with Maxentius, routed his forces in several battles, and at last overthrew Maxentius himself (when he was spreading death among the nobility by every possible kind of cruelty,⁸¹) at the Milvian bridge, and made himself master of Italy. Not long after, too, Maximin, after commencing hostilities against Licinius in the east, anticipated the destruction that was falling upon him by an accidental death at Tarsus.

V. CONSTANTINE, being a man of great energy, bent upon effecting whatever he had settled in his mind, and aspiring to |530 the sovereignty of the whole world, proceeded to make war on Licinius, although he had formed a connexion with him by marriage,⁸² for his sister Constantia was married to Licinius. And first of all be overthrew him, by a sudden attack, at Cibalae in Pannonia, where he was making vast preparations for war; and after becoming master of Dardania, Maesia, and Macedonia, took possession also of several other provinces.

VI. There were then various contests between them, and peace made and broken. At last Licinius, defeated in a battle at Nicomedia by sea and land, surrendered himself, and, in violation of an oath taken by Constantine, was put to death, after being divested of the purple, at Thessalonica.

At this time the Roman empire fell under the sway of one emperor and three Caesars, a state of things which had never existed before; the sons of Constantine ruling over Gaul, the east, and Italy. But the pride of prosperity caused Constantine greatly to depart from his former agreeable mildness of temper. Falling first upon his own relatives, he put to death his son, an excellent man; his sister's son, a youth of amiable disposition; soon afterwards his wife, and subsequently many of his friends.

VII. He was a man, who, in the beginning of his reign, might have been compared to the best princes; in the latter part of it, only to those of a middling character. Innumerable good qualities of mind and body were apparent in him; he was exceedingly ambitious of military glory, and had great success in his wars; a success, however, not more than proportioned to his exertions. After he had terminated the Civil war, he also overthrew the Goths on various occasions, granting them at last peace, and leaving on the minds of the barbarians a strong remembrance of his kindness. He was attached to the arts of peace and to liberal studies, and was ambitious of honourable popularity, which he, indeed, sought by every kind of liberality and obligingness. Though he was slow, from suspicion, to serve some of his friends,⁸³ yet he was exceedingly |531 generous towards others, neglecting no opportunity to add to their riches and honours.

VIII. He enacted many laws, some good and equitable, but most of them superfluous, and some severe. He was the first that endeavoured to raise the city named after him ⁸⁴ to such a height as to make it a rival to Rome. As he was preparing for war against the Parthians, who were then disturbing Mesopotamia, he died in the Villa Publica,⁸⁵ at Nicomedia, in the thirty-first year of his reign, and the sixty-sixth of his age. His death was foretold by a star with a tail, which shone for a long time, of extraordinary size, and which the Greeks call a

komh&thj. He was deservedly enrolled among the gods.

IX. He left for his successors three sons and one nephew, the son of his brother. But DALMATIUS CAESAR, a man of happy genius, and not unlike his brother, was soon after cut off by a mutiny among the soldiers, Constantius, his cousin, sanctioning the act, rather than commanding it. The officers of Constans also put to death CONSTANTINE, when he was making war upon his brother, and had rashly commenced an engagement at Aquileia. Thus the government was left in the hands of two emperors. The rule of CONSTANS was for some time energetic and just, but afterwards, falling into ill-health, and being swayed by ill-designing friends, he indulged in great vices; and, becoming intolerable to the people of the provinces, and unpopular with the soldiery, was killed by a party headed by Magnentius. He died not far from the borders of Spain, in a fortress named Helena, in the seventeenth year of his reign, and the thirtieth of his age; yet not till he had performed many gallant actions in the field, and had made himself feared by the army through the whole course of his life, though without exercising any extraordinary severity.

X. The fortune of CONSTANTIUS was different; for he suffered many grievous calamities at the hands of the Persians, his towns being often taken, his walled cities besieged, and his troops cut off. Nor had he a single successful engagement with Sapor, except that, at Singara, when victory might certainly have been his, he lost it, through the irrepressible eagerness of his men, who, contrary to the practice of war, |532 mutinously and foolishly called for battle when the day was declining. After the death of Constans, when MAGNENTIUS held the government of Italy, Africa, and Gaul, Illyricum also felt some new commotions, VETRANIO being elected to the throne by a combination of the soldiery, whom they made emperor when he was very old and universally popular from the length and success of his service in the field; an upright man, of morality severe as that of the ancients, and of an agreeable unassumingness of manner, but so ignorant of all polite learning, that he did not even acquire the first rudiments of literature until he was old and had become emperor.

XI. But the imperial authority was snatched from Vetranio by Constantius, who stirred up a civil war to avenge his brother's death; Vetranio being compelled, with the consent of the soldiers, and, by a new and extraordinary proceeding, to divest himself of the purple. There was at the same time an insurrection at Rome, Nepotianus, a son of Constantine's sister, endeavouring to secure the throne with the aid of a body of gladiators; but he met with an end such as his savage attempts merited, for he was cut off on the twenty-eighth day of his usurpation by the officers of Magnentius, and paid the penalty of his rashness. His head was carried through the city on a lance; and dreadful proscriptions and massacres of the nobility ensued.

XII. Not long afterwards Magnentius was overthrown in a battle at Mursa,⁸⁶ and nearly taken prisoner. Vast forces of the Roman empire were cut off in that struggle, sufficient for any foreign wars, and for procuring many triumphs, and a lasting peace. Soon after, GALLUS, his uncle's son, was appointed by Constantius, as Caesar, over the east; and Magnentius, being defeated in several battles, put an end to his life at Lyons, in the third year and seventh month of his reign, as did also his brother at Sens,⁸⁷ whom he had sent as Caesar to defend Gaul.

XIII. About this time the Caesar Gallus, after committing many tyrannical acts, was put to death by Constantius. Gallus was a man naturally cruel, and too much inclined to tyranny, if he could but have reigned in his own right |533 Silvanus also, who attempted an insurrection in Gaul, was cut off before the end of thirty days; and Constantius then remained sole ruler and emperor over the Roman dominions.

XIV. He then sent into Gaul, with the authority of Caesar, his cousin Julian, the brother of Gallus, giving him his sister in marriage, at a time when the barbarians had stormed many towns and were besieging others, when there was every where direful devastation, and when the Roman empire was tottering in evident distress. But by Julian, with but a moderate force, vast numbers of the Alemanni were cut off at Strasburg, a city of Gaul; their distinguished king was taken prisoner, and Gaul recovered. Many other honourable achievements, too, were afterwards performed by Julian against the barbarians, the Germans being driven beyond the Rhine, and the Roman empire extended to its former limits.

XV. Not long after, when the German armies were withdrawing from the defence of Gaul, JULIAN was made emperor by the unanimous consent of the army, and, after the lapse of a year, went to take the government of Illyricum, while Constantius was engaged in the war with Parthia. Constantius, hearing what had occurred, and returning to the civil strife, died on his march between Cilicia and Cappadocia, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, and the forty-fifth of his age, and was deservedly enrolled among the gods. He was a man of a remarkably tranquil disposition, good-natured, trusting too much to his friends and courtiers, and at last too much in the power of his wives. He conducted himself with great moderation in the commencement of his reign; he enriched his friends, and suffered none, whose active services he had experienced, to go unrewarded. He was however somewhat inclined to severity, whenever any suspicion of an attempt on the government was excited in him; otherwise he was gentle. His fortune is more to be praised in civil than in foreign wars.

XVI. Julian then became sole emperor, and made war, with a vast force, upon the Parthians; in which expedition I was also present. Several towns and fortresses of the Persians he induced to surrender, or took them by storm; and, having laid waste Assyria, fixed his camp for some time at Ctesiphon. As he was returning victorious, and mingling rashly in the thick of a battle, he was killed by the hand of an enemy, on |534 the 26th of June, in the seventh year of his reign, and the thirty-second of his age, and was enrolled among the gods. He was a remarkable man, and one that would have governed the empire with honour, if he had but been permitted by the fates. He was eminently accomplished in liberal branches of knowledge, but better read in the literature of the Greeks, so much so indeed that his Latin was by no means comparable to his Greek learning. He was possessed of great and ready eloquence, and of a most tenacious memory. In some respects he was more like a philosopher than a prince. Towards his friends he was liberal, yet less discriminating as to the objects of his generosity than became so great an emperor; for there were some of them that cast a stain on his glory. To the people of the provinces he was most just, and remitted the taxes on them as far as was possible. He was indulgent towards all men; he felt no great anxiety about the public treasury; but of glory he was a great lover, and manifested even an intemperate desire for the attainment of it. He was a persecutor of the Christian religion, yet so that he abstained from shedding blood. He was not unlike Marcus Antoninus, whom he even studied to rival.

XVII. After him JOVIAN, who attended him in the expedition as one of his body-guard, was chosen by the suffrages of the soldiers to fill the throne; a man better known to the army by the fame of his father than by his own. As affairs were now in confusion, and the army distressed for want of provisions, Jovian, after being defeated in one or two battles by the Persians, made peace with Sapor, a peace which was necessary indeed, but ignominious, for he was obliged to contract his boundaries, a portion of the Roman dominions being ceded to the enemy; a disgrace which had never occurred, before his time, since the Roman empire had been founded, during a space of one thousand one hundred and eighteen years. And though our legions were made to pass under the yoke, both at Caudium by Pontus Telesinus,⁸⁸ at Numantia in Spain, and in Numidia, yet no part of the Roman territory was given up on any of those occasions. Such terms would not have been altogether reprehensible, if he had been |535 resolved, when it should be in his power, to throw off the obligation of the treaty, as was done by the Romans in all the wars that I have mentioned; for war was immediately after made upon the Samnites, Numantines, and Numidians, and the peace was never ratified. But being in dread, as long as he remained in the east, of a rival for the imperial dignity, he thought too little of his glory. After marching from thence, accordingly, and directing bis course towards Illyricum, he died suddenly on the borders of Galatia. He was a man, in other parts of his conduct, deficient neither in energy nor understanding,

XVIII. Many think that he was carried off by a violent fit of indigestion, for he had indulged in delicacies at supper; others suppose that he died of the odour of his chamber, which, from a recent plastering of lime, was dangerous to such as slept in it; others imagine that he fell a victim to the overpowering effects of charcoal, which he had ordered to be burnt in great abundance on account of the extreme cold. He died in the seventh month of his reign, on the 18th of April, in the thirty-third year of his age,⁸⁹ and, by the kindness of the emperors that succeeded him, was enrolled among the gods; for he was inclined to equity, and liberal by nature.

Such was the state of the Roman empire in the consulship of the Emperor Jovian and Varronianus, in the year one thousand, one hundred and nineteen from the foundation of the city. But as we have now come to illustrious and venerable princes, we shall here fix a limit to the present part of our work; for the things that remain must be told in a more elevated style; and we do not, for the present, so much omit them, as reserve them for higher efforts in writing.

[Notes moved to the end and numbered. At one or two places, a note in square brackets has been added where the text was unclear. These are all derived from H.W.Bird, Eutropius, Breviarium. Liverpool (1993) -- RP]

1. * The title stands thus: DOMINO VALENTI MAXIMO PERPETUO AUGUSTO. On the last two words Tzschucke has this note: "For Perpetuo Augusto Sextus Rufus" (who wrote a Breviarum de Victoriis et Provinciis Populi Romani, dedicated to Valens), "has in his dedication Semper Augusto. The Germans would say Allzeit Mehrer des Reichs. See P tman De Titulo Semper Augustus, p. 60." Tzschucke, apparently, took perpetua as an adverb, equivalent to semper. But Cellarius and others consider it as an adjective. Cellarius cites, in comparison with it, from Gruter, Inscript. p. 285, n. 8, D. N. Valentiniano Perpetuo ac Felici Semper Augusto, and p 279, n. 4, Aeterno Imperatori Nostro Maxima Optimoque Principi Aurelio Valeriano Diocletiano; adding, also, that Theodosius is called perennis princeps in Reines. Class. Inscr. iii. 62. I have accordingly given Perpetua as an adjective. Sextus Rufus's dedication, too, as edited by Cellarius, Verheyk, and others, has Perpetuo Semper Augusto.

2. + Mansuetudinis tuae] Similarly, a few lines below, he says Tranquillitatis tu mens divina, "your Serenity's divine mind." The use of such titles gradually became common in the lower age of Roman literature, commencing soon after the reign of Tiberius. They were the parents of our highness, majesty, excellency, &c,

3. ++ However Eutropius meant to flatter Valens, he could not assuredly have shown him better, than by addressing him thus, to be such as he is described by Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxix., subrusticus homo, and xxxi. 41, Subagrestis ingenu, nec liberalibus studiis eruditus.---- Vinetus. Some have doubted the genuineness of this dedication to Valens, because the Greek translator has not included it in his version; but the authority of manuscripts, and the resemblance of its style to that of Eutropius, have induced Cellarius, Verheyk, Tzschucke, and most other commentators, to believe it genuine.

4. * The words ut, qui plurimum minimumque, tradunt, which occur in all editions before the date, are not translated; for nothing satisfactory has yet been said as to their grammatical construction. Madame Dacier suggested that we should supply ut eos praeteream qui. But praeteream is not to the purpose. Hausius's explanation is ut ego inter eos tradam qui plurimum minimumque tradunt. The Berlin edition of 1791 interprets better: ut medium inter eos qui----tradunt, ego tradam. There is no doubt that Eutropius meant that he would take a middle point between those who give the highest and those who give the lowest date; but the words to be supplied for the construction seem not to have been yet discovered. Perhaps the sense is "as those say who give the highest and lowest dates, and take a middle point between them," something equivalent to the words in italics being intended to bo understood. The same words occur in b. x. c. 18, with the construction equally uncertain.

5. * Parens et ipse Tarquinii.] This passage perplexed the commentators, until it was discovered that parens was used by writers of the lower ages for cognatus; for which sense of the word Tzschucke refers to Lampridius in Alex. c. 67, and to Casaubon on Capitolinus in M. Philosoph, c. 5. The Greek translator has Brou~toj ge/nei prosh&kwn tw|~ Tarkuni/w|. See Scheller's Lexicon, s. v. Parens.

6. * Ut collatis populo nummis, sumptum habuerit sepulturae.] "He had the expense of his funeral from money contributed by the people.

7. + Tranquillitas vestra.] See note on the dedication.

8. * See note on iv. 10.

9. * Damnati sunt.] Appius and Oppius, before the day for their trial came, committed suicide. Their colleagues went into banishment voluntarily, as appears from Livy. Claudius was sentenced to death, but allowed to go into exile through the intercession of Virginius. See Liv. iii. 58.

10. + Postea tamen.] The word tamen, which disturbs the drift of the passage, is not translated. The text seems hardly sound. Livy tells the story differently.

11. * Infames.] They all suffered some sort of degradation. Those who had been in the cavalry were made to serve in the infantry, and those who had been in the infantry were sent among the slingers. See Val. Max. ii. 7, 15.

12. * He was deceived and made prisoner by one of Hannibal's officers, Polyb. i. 23; Oros. iv. 7; Polyaen. vi. 16, 5.

13. * See note on Corn. Nep. Life of Atticus, c. 2. [Which says, inter alia, that the modius was 1 gallon 7.8576 pints English -- RP]

14. * See note on C. Nep. Life of Atticus, c. 2.

15. * Frequentibus praeliis.] Livy does not seem to think that any battle took place before the conference; he, however, mentions that Valerius Antias speaks of one having occurred before it, b. xxx. 29.

16. * Propter novam perfidiam.] Eutropius, at the beginning of the chapter, speaks of "many hostilities" having been committed by the Carthaginians. "Before the arrival of Hannibal, and while their ambassadors were on their way from Rome, the Carthaginians had plundered a convoy of Scipio's driven into their harbour by stress of weather, and had ill-treated some deputies whom Scipio had sent to Carthage to complain of their conduct. See Polyb. xv. 1; Liv xxx. 24.; Appian. de Reb. Pun. c, 34."-----Tzschucke.

17. * Altero.] The Greek translator gives e9ni\, in which signification he seems to have taken altero; as also in i. 18. On this point the learned are constantly disputing, and especially on the 49th epitome of Livy, where Duker does not decide whether alter signifies first or second.----Tzschucke. I consider that alter, used as in this passage, and as in i. 18, always signifies second. In such phrases as alter ab undecimo, Virg Ecl. viii. 39, it of course has a different signification.

18. * The sentence in brackets is not found in all manuscripts; nor is it acknowledged by the Greek translator. Verheyk, Cellarius, and Tzschucke omit it. "Some say that this hermaphrodite was born in the following year, and that a great pestilence ensued."----Madame Dacier. See Livy, xxvii. 11, 37; xxxi. 12.

19. * See Florus, ii. 18; Vell. Pat. ii 1, 90, Bohn's Cl. Library.

20. * Itaque.] Eutropius seems to intimate that it was because Marius had Catulus for his colleague that he proceeded to engage the Cimbri.

21. * Lying on the river Melas, above the Hellespont, near the Propontis.----Madame Dacier.

22. * Burziaonem.] Thus stands the word in the editions of Havercamp, Verheyk, and Tzschucke; but none of them think it right. Cellarius conjectured Bizonen,

Bizw&nh being mentioned by Strabo, lib. vii. as a city between Apollonia and Calatis; and no other critic has found anything better to offer.

23. * See Justin, xlii. 3.

24. + The Iberians are mentioned as a people bordering on the Albani by Plutarch, Lucull. c. 26, and by Florus, iii. 5.

25. * Qui nunc Sequani appellantur.] Between the Sequani and Helvetii was the lofty mount Jura, according to the description given of their position by Caesar, B. G. i. 2. If what Eutropius says is true, the change of name must have arisen from the intercourse of the two people. See Cellarius Geog. Ant. ii. 3, 50.----Tzschucke.

26. * Something more than £320,000. [Note that H.W.Bird gives a figure of forty million sesterces -- RP]

27. + Romani populi fortuna mutata est.] The fortune of the Roman people is their condition and state. The phrase fortuna, mutari, or immutari, is used chiefly when the state of things is changed for the worse. See Call. Cat. c. 2; Jug. c. 17; Vell. Pat. ii. 57, 118. ---- Grunerus,

28. * Generally called Pharsalus; but the name Palaeopharsalus, that is, Old Pharsalus, is used by Orosius, vi. 15, by Strabo, lib. xvii., and by the Greek translator of Eutropius.

29. * Caesaris nepos.] Grand nephew. Attia, the mother of Octavianus, was the daughter of Julia, Julius Caesar's sister. Thus Julius Caesas was great uncle to Octavianus.----Glareanus.

30. * Drusi privigni Augusti, et ipsius Tiberii nepos.] Either something is wanting in the text, as Madame Daeier observes, or nepos is used in a double sense, for a grandson and grand-nephew; for Drusus, the grandfather of Caligula, was the brother of Tiberius. I have translated nepos in this double sense.

31. * Consecratus est.] This word seems properly to signify "was made au object of worship."

32. + Duo nobilissima oppida.] Three are named, as Grunerus observes, by Tacitus, Annal. XIV. Camelodunum, c. 31, and Londinium and Verulamium, c. 33. Suetonius, however, Nero, c. 39, and Orosius, vii. 7, say two. Camelodunum is said by Camden to be Maiden in Essex; Verulamium was near St. Alban's.

33. ++ Furca capiti ejus inserta.] Thus these words are uniformly written in all the manuscripts and editions that I have seen. But what furcam capiti inserere means, I confess that I do not understand, unless that it be possible to explain it by hypallage. Barthius ad Briton. (Philipp, 6, 572) p. 458, judiciously proposes to read furcae capite inserto, a correction also made by Oudendorpius in the margin of his copy. Suetonius, Nero, c. 49, has cervicem inseri furcae,---- Verheyk. Tzschucke fancies that it may be explained by hypallage, for capite furcae inserto, and therefore makes no alteration. I have given what is evidently the sense. ["His head inserted in a wooden fork" is H.W.Bird's reading -- RP]

34. * Privata, ejus vita.] Privata vita is opposed to Imperium, as in c. 19; for under the emperors, even from the time of Augustus, it had become customary to call all privati except the emperor himself, even such as held the highest offices of state. See Jani ad Hor. Od. iii. 8, 26. So

i0diw&thj is opposed to basileu_j in Zosimus, ii. 7.----Tzsckucke.

35. * Privata vita.] See note on c. 16.

36. + Duas validissimas gentes.] The Greek translator thinks that the Britons and Germans are meant. Vespasian is said to have recovered Britain, by Tacitus, Agric. c. 17. What other nation is intended is not clear.

37. * Se civilissimum praebuit.] Civilis, applied to a person, properly signifies that he "behaves as a citizen ought to behave towards his fellow citizens," and may often be rendered "polite, affable, courteous." Civilitas has two senses; one derived from this sense of civilis, and the other "the art of governing, or directing affairs in a civitas, or free state." Both these words occur frequently in Eutropius; I have endeavoured always to give them that sense which the passages where they are found seemed to require.

38. * A town on the Baetis or Guadalquivir, not far from Seville. It was also the birth-place of Hadrian.

39. + So Tzschucke writes the word. As it was a later name of Media, it should rather, it would appear, be written Medena, as Cellarius gives it in his edition of Sextus Rufus, c. 16.

40. ++ Gratia salutandi.] "For the sake of saluting or paying his respects to them."

41. * Domitia Paullina----Glarcanus.

42. * Boionius.] This name is supposed by Casaubon ad Capitolin. Vit. T. Auton. c. 1 and by Mad. Dacier ad Aurel. Vict. de Caes. c. 16, to be derived from Boionia Pro illa, Titus Antoninus's grandmother, who had made him her heir.

43. * Consecratus.] See note on vii. 13.

44. + The Sallentines were a people of Calabria in Italy; the name of this king was Malennius, according to Capitolinus, Vit. M. Anton. c. 1.

45. ++ Genere.] Both having been adopted by Antoninus Pius; see Capitolinus, Vit. Ant. P. c. 4. Hence Verus is called the brother of Marcus by Aurelius Victor de Caes. c. 16; by Jamblichus ap. Photium, p. 242; by Capitolinus Vit. Veri, c. 4 and 11; and by Orosius, vii. 15. ----Tzschucke.

46. § The territory inhabited by the Veneti, in which both Concordia and Altinum were situate, distant from each other about thirty-one miles.

47. || Casu morbi.] Glareanus interprets casu by eventu. Casus morbi seems to be much the same as the simple morbus, or morbus subitus. In c. 12 occurs casus pestilentiae.

48. * Quantum null memori fuit.] The same words are used by Capitolinus, c. 17. The meaning seems to be, that there had been no war with the Germans equally formidable.

49. + See c. 10.

50. * A town in Upper Pannonia, on the Danube, where Haimburg or Petronel now stands. See Mannert, T. iii. p. 740; also Cluverius and Cellarius.

51. + The title of Caesar was now given to the person next in dignity to the emperor, and who was intended to succeed him.

52. ++ Murrhina.] What substance murrha, was is unknown. It has been thought to be porcelain, but is now generally supposed to have been some kind of stone. [H.W.Bird: "wine flavoured with myrrh" -- RP]

53. * He wished, as Tzschucke observes, to have the month of August called Commodus, and that of September, Herculius. See Lamprid. Vit. Comm. c. 11.

54. + The praetors had been accustomed to publish each his own edict, as to the method in which he intended to administer justice for his year. The edicts were of course often very different; but by this perpetual edict a uniform course of proceedin was laid down. See note on C. Nep. Life of Cato, c. 2.

55. * Opus lavacri, quae Antoninianae appellantur.] The change of gender and number, as Tzschucke observes, makes the reader suspect that something must be wrong. Cellarius supplies thermae.

56. + More frequently written Osrhoene.

57. * A Syrophoenician deity at Emesa; hence he himself was called Heliogabalus. He was made emperor through the artifices of his grandmother. Julia Moesa, who pretended that he was the son of Caracalla.

58. * In the old sense of the word, as Tzschucke thinks, on account of his victory. He had been made emperor before, as appears from Herodian, vii. 2.

59. + A city of Gallia Transpadana, at the top of the Adriatic.

60. * Ambo.] Both Gallus and Volusianus.----Tzschucke.

61. + Extinctus est.] He was killed by the soldiery, according to Zosimus,. i 29, and Zonaras, xii. 22.

62. * A town of Lower Pannonia, on the river Drave. Cellar. Geog. Ant. ii. 8, 27.

63. + Vilissimus opifex.] Victor de Caes. 33, 9, calls him ferri opifex, a worker in iron.

64. * A town of the Ubii, so called because Agrippina was born there. It is now Cologne.

65. + In Gallia Belgica, Amm. Marcell. xv. 11, now, as Tzschucke thinks, Chalons sur Marne.

66. * See c. 10.

67. * Tacitus made it his care to put the assassins to death. Vopisc. Vit. Tacit, c. 13; Aurel. Vict. Epit. c. 36.

68. * A town in Upper Moesia, between the Danube and the Margus or Morava.

69. + A name of uncertain signification, but supposed, says Tzschucke, to mean rebels or robbers.

70. * Cellarius thinks that they may be the same as the Pentapolitani, that is, the Cyrenaeans, Cyrenaica comprising five cities, Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemais, Apollonia, and Cyrene.

71. + King of Persia; more frequently written Narses.

72. ++ The emperor mentioned in c. 11. Constantius was the grandson of Crispus, Claudius's brother.

73. § The metropolis of Dacia Mediterranea; thought to be the same as the present Sofia in Bulgaria.

74. * Apud Lingonas.] Lingonae, or Lingones, the chief town of the Lingones in Gaul, previously called Andomatunum; now Langres.

75. + The speculatores, under the emperors, were a body of troops attached to the praetorian cohorts, or perhaps forming part of them, and having the care of the emperor's person. Ipsum Othonem comitabantur speculatorum lecta corpora, cum caeleris praetoriis cohortibus. Tac. Hist, ii 11.

76. * Adorari.] See C. Nep. life of Conon, c. 3.

77. + Pompa ferculorum illustri.] Fercula are representations of cities, rivers, and other objects in the conquered countries, carried in procession at a triumph, in imitation of Romulus, who carried the spoils of a slain enemy suspensa ferculo, Liv. i. 10.----Tzschucke. Ferculum was a kind of frame in which anything might be carried or suspended.

78. * He had reserved Gaul for his own peculiar province.----Tzschucke.

79. + A building in the Campus Martius, intended chiefly as a lodging-house or hotel for ambassadors from foreign nations.

80. * Who was married to Maximian's daughter Fausta.

81. + Adversus nobiles omnibus exitiis saevientem.] "Raging against the nobles with every kind of destruction."

82. * Necessitudo illi et affinitas cum eo esset.] He had a necessitudo or relationship with him, which relationship was an affinitas, or alliance by marriage. Affinitas is added, as Tzschucke observes, to explain necessitudo, which, consequently, might very well be omitted.

83. + In nonnullus amicos dubius.] I have translated this phrase in conformity with the explanation of the old interpreter in Io. Antiochenus, cited by Tzschucke:

pro&j tinaj tw~n gnwri/mwn u(pou&lwj ti kai\ ou)k u(gi/wj e sxe.

84. * Constantinople.

85. + A building similar to the one at Rome mentioned in c. 2.

86. * See ix. 8.

87. + Senonis.] The ablative case of Senoni, -orum, previously called Agendicum, now Sens.

88. * This Pontius is not generally called Telesinus; the other Pontius, who was distinguished as leader of the Samnites in the Social war, had that name. See Florus, iii. 18.

89. *. The words ut qui plurimum minimumque tradunt, which occur here, are not translated. See note on i. 1. [H.W.Bird includes it here, translating it: "according to those who give the upper or lower limits" -- RP]

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists (1921) pp.319-341. Introduction

Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists (1921) pp.319-341. Introduction

INTRODUCTION

[By Wilmer Cave WRIGHT]

For the main facts of the life of Eunapius we depend on the allusions to himself in the following Lives. He was born in 346 at Sardis, and was related by marriage to Chrysanthius. In his sixteenth year he went to Athens and studied with a Christian sophist, the Armenian Prohaeresius. To him Eunapius gave a loyalty that was unaffected by his teacher's religion, though otherwise he is consistent in hating and fearing the steadily growing influence of Christianity. After five years in Athens, Eunapius was preparing to go to Egypt, but his parents recalled him to Lydia in 367, and for the rest of his life, for all we know to the contrary, he taught at Sardis. There, as he tells us, he devoted himself to the venerable Chrysanthius until the latter's death. His own death occurred about 414. He lived to see the decline of Greek studies so lamented by Libanius; the proscription of sacrifices to the gods, and the official abolition of paganism in 391; the invasion of Greece by Alaric, and the destruction of Eleusis in 395. His forebodings and his distress at all this colour the Lives.

His chief work was a Universal History, in which he continued the Chronicle of Dexippus, taking up the narrative at the year A.D. 270. In fourteen |320 Books he brought it down to the reign of Arcadius at the opening of the fifth century, when it was probably cut short by his own death. Some fragments of this chronicle have been preserved in the Lexicon of Suidas, and from these and from his own frequent references to it we can see that it was written in considerable detail. It would be a valuable document for the times, for though Eunapius was a bitter partisan and the book was partly a polemic against Christianity, he knew personally the leading men of the Eastern Empire, and was an eyewitness of much that he related. The real hero of the work, however, seems to have been the Emperor Julian, and Photius says that it amounts as a whole to an encomium on that last hope of the pagan world. For his career Eunapius could derive much information from his friend the physician Oribasius, who had been with Julian in Gaul. In the fifth century Zosimus the pagan historian borrowed from Eunapius for his account of Julian's life.

In the Lives Eunapius refers to himself modestly in the third person, and never by name. Though he regarded the title of sophist as the most honourable possible, he actually devotes more space to those who were philosophers rather than sophists, such as Iamblichus and Maximus. The Life of Libanius, who was a typical sophist, is short and superficial, and he gives only a few lines to Himerius. At the beginning of the work there are strange omissions, for example of Diogenes Laertius, when he is speaking of the historians of philosophy and cites only Sotion and Porphyry. But no less capricious is his avoidance of any mention of the sophist and philosopher Themistius, his own |321 contemporary and one of the most distinguished. In describing the intellectual life of the fourth Christian century he is naturally one-sided. His interests all centre in the East, and he has nothing to say about Rome or the men for whom Rome was still the capital of the world. Nor is it likely that in his History he wrote of certain fourth-century men, whose names are household words, where Libanius, Prohaeresius, and Himerius are unknown. Augustine, Jerome, Basil, and Gregory, the poets Prudentius and Ausonius are but a few of his celebrated contemporaries; but he ignores them, along with the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, to whom we must so often turn to supplement the Lives. Yet Ammianus went with the "divine Julian" to Persia, and we have no better guide for the history of that time.

Eunapius admires even absurd charlatans, such as Zeno and his successors the "iatrosophists," healing sophists,¹ partly because anything that could be called a sophist was sacred to him, partly because he was something of an iatrosophist himself, since he boasts of the knowledge of medicine that enabled him to treat Chrysanthius. Success in declamation is in his eyes the highest possible achievement, and in this he is akin to Philostratus. But intellectually he is greatly his inferior; he was not so well educated, and his Greek is less crowded with reminiscences of the classical authors. One author at least he knew well, and frequently echoes; this is Plutarch, but he does not always quote him correctly.

His style is difficult and often obscure, and he was |322 by no means an Atticist. He exaggerates on all occasions, and uses poetical and grandiloquent words for the simplest actions, such as eating and drinking. At every step one has to discount his passion for superlatives. He was, as far as we can judge, among the least erudite of the fourth-century sophists. During his lifetime Nicomedia, Antioch, Smyrna, and Caesarea had almost superseded Athens, Alexandria, and Constantinople as intellectual centres, and Libanius of Antioch could boast that his school had supplied with rhetoricians "three continents and all the islands as far as the Pillars of Heracles." But, on the whole, the fourth-century sophists lack the distinction and brilliance of their predecessors in the second century, probably because they were allowed less brilliant opportunities under the Christian Emperors. The renaissance of Hellenism under Julian lasted less than two years, and his death in 363 blasted the hopes of the whole tribe of pagan sophists, philosophers, and theurgists. It is true that Christian Emperors such as Constantius had to some extent patronized Sophistic, but they gave it a divided attention, and under less cultured Emperors, such as Theodosius, the study of Latin, and, still more, of Roman law replaced Hellenic studies, so that professors of law had a better standing than professors of rhetoric.

The following notices in the order of the Lives are intended to supplement Eunapius with dates and certain facts omitted by him. He takes more interest in the historical background and gives more dates than Philostratus, but is so discursive that, by contrast, Philostratus seems systematic. |323

PLOTINUS OF LYCOPOLIS in Egypt (A.D. 204-270) may be called the founder of Neo-Platonism. For the facts of his life we depend on Porphyry's biography of him and the meagre notice by Eunapius. He studied at Alexandria with Ammonius, of whom little is known, and accompanied the Emperor Gordian on his disastrous expedition against Ctesiphon in 243. Then he came to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life in teaching; he died at his villa in Campania in 270. We have his Enneads (Nines), so called because each of the six sections contains nine discussions, fifty-four in all. They are the written monument of Neo-Platonism. He cared nothing for style and never revised, but left to his pupil Porphyry the arrangement of the work and even the correction of the spelling, which was a weak point in his acquired Greek. In the Enneads he expounded one by one, as they arose in his school, questions of ethics, psychology, metaphysics, cosmology, and aesthetics. In spite of Porphyry's editing there is no regular sequence in the work. The discipline of Plotinus is meant to detach the soul from material things and to enable it to attain to spiritual ecstasy, "the flight of the Alone to the Alone." ² Plotinus himself is said to have achieved a vision of the Absolute four times in the five years of his association with Porphyry. Mystical asceticism has never been carried further, but it is usually more sombre and self-tormenting. Contemplation, rather than the worship of the gods, was the means by which Plotinus himself attained to union with the Absolute as he conceived it. But he accepted the theory of daemons and thus accounted for the existence of evil in the world. Thus he |324 opened the door to superstition and imposture, and his followers were frequently mere theurgists and charlatans, like the fourth-century Maximus. Perhaps Eunapius, when he says that in his time Plotinus was more read than Plato, exaggerates after his fashion, but the influence of the Enneads can be clearly traced in the religion and ethics of the fourth century, especially in the teaching of the popular "Syrian" school of Neo-Platonism. In fact, the terminology of mysticism and ascetism has always been derived from Plotinus. Porphyry received from a fellow-disciple, Amelius, and preserved in his Life of Plotinus, an oracle of Apollo which described the blessed state of the soul of Plotinus. ³

PORPHYRY (233-301?), called "the Tyrian," was brought up at Tyre, though that was not certainly his birthplace. He studied at Athens with several professors, but especially with Longinus. Rome was still the centre of philosophic activity, and he left Athens in 263 to become the disciple of Plotinus at Rome, wrote his Life, and many years after his master's death, probably later than 298, edited and published the Enneads; but for him Plotinus might now be little more than a name. After he had spent six years in Rome he withdrew to Sicily, as Eunapius relates, but there is no evidence that Plotinus followed him thither. After the death of Plotinus he returned to Rome, married Marcella, the widow of a friend, and became the head of the Neo-Platonic school. He was a prolific writer on a great variety of subjects----grammar, chronology, history, mathematics, Homeric criticism, vegetarianism, psychology, and metaphysics; he is the savant |325 among the Neo-Platonists. His treatise, Against the Christians, in fifteen Books, of which fragments survive, was the most serious and thorough document, as well as the fairest, in which Christianity has ever been attacked, and was free from the scorn and bitterness of Julian's work of the same name. It was burned in 448 by the edict of the Emperors Valentinian III. and Theodosius II. In his Letter to Anebo, the Egyptian priest, on divination, he speaks with astonishing frankness of the frauds of polytheism as it was practised in his day in the Mysteries, and appeals to all intellectuals to turn to philosophy; hence he has been called the Modernist of Paganism. As Plotinus had been the metaphysician, Porphyry was the moralist of the Neo-Platonic school. Several of his works, including the Letter to Marcella and the Life of Plotinus, survive. Of himself we have no such trustworthy biography as he wrote of Plotinus. Eunapius, however, though incorrect in minor details, is a fairly good authority, and he had access to reliable documents, such as the lost works of Porphyry himself.

The notice of Porphyry in Suidas is hardly more than a bibliography, and that not complete, of his writings.

IAMBLICHUS was the leading figure of the Syrian school of Neo-Platonism in the early fourth Christian century. He would have called himself a philosopher of all the schools, but his eclecticism was arbitrary and superficial. His metaphysics followed and developed the teaching of Plotinus. But his final appeal was to divination, and in his practice of theurgy he represents the decadence of Neo-Platonism. His disciples Maximus and Chrysanthius |326 were professed miracle-workers, and the Emperor Julian's fanatical admiration for him and constant reference to him as inspired is the most striking evidence of the Apostate's easy credulity. The writings of Iamblichus are full of allegorical interpretations and intermediary gods, and Julian's attempt to co-ordinate all the cults and to bring the Oriental deities into the Hellenic Pantheon is due to the influence of Iamblichus.

He died in the reign of Constantine, about 330, so that Julian cannot have known him personally, and the six Letters addressed to Iamblichus and once ascribed to Julian are now generally recognized as spurious. Iamblichus studied at Athens and returned to teach at his native Chalcis, where Eunapius describes him as surrounded by adoring and exacting disciples. The treatise On the Mysteries, an answer to Porphyry's Letter to Anebo and a defence of theurgy, is no longer ascribed by the majority of scholars to Iamblichus, but it reflects the teachings of his school. We have his works on Pythagoreanism and his mathematical treatises, but the treatise On the Gods, which Julian in his Hymns seems to have followed closely, is lost. For him, as for Julian, Mithras was the central deity. He was indifferent to style, and his writings, though useful to the historian of Neo-Platonism, have small literary merit.

AEDESIUS is badly treated by Eunapius, who in the so-called Life soon digresses from him to Sopater the pupil of Iamblichus. Sopater was put to death by Constantine, and must not be confused with the younger man of the same name, the correspondent of Libanius whom Julian met in Syria. Then comes an account of the corrupt official, Ablabius, of |327 Eustathius, and his more distinguished wife Sosipatra, and her career as a philosopher, theurgist, and clairvoyant, an amazing tale which illustrates the decadence of philosophy in the fourth century, and the strange things that were done in its name. Aedesius himself, to whom his biographer returns at the close of the Life, was about seventy and teaching at Pergamon, when, as Eunapius relates in his Life of Maximus, he kept at arm's length the future Emperor Julian, a dangerous and exacting pupil, and finally got rid of him by hints of more complete revelations to be had from his pupils and especially from Maximus the theurgist, at Ephesus. This must have occurred about 350. Perhaps Aedesius, who carried on the teachings of the Syrian school of his master Iamblichus, was more intelligent or more honest than his younger contemporaries. He died before the Hellenic reaction under Julian.

MAXIMUS OF EPHESUS, the most famous theurgist or miracle-working philosopher of the century, was said by Theodoret to look like a philosopher, though he was really a magician. From all sources we gather that he was unworthy to be called a Neo-Platonist, and that he was the most unscrupulous as well as the most successful of the followers of Iamblichus. His chief title to fame is the influence, plainly mischievous, that he gained over the Emperor Julian. When the latter became Emperor he summoned Maximus to Constantinople, and Ammianus describes how Julian interrupted a sitting of the Senate in order to greet and publicly embrace the newly arrived Maximus. According to Ammianus, Julian on his deathbed in Persia discussed the immortality of the soul with |328 Maximus and Priscus. The Romans, for political rather than religious reasons, feared the influence of the practice of magic, and, under Valens, Maximus was executed in 871. Libanius was no theurgist, but he congratulates Maximus in Letter 606 on his influence over Julian.

PRISCUS THE THESPROTIAN or MOLOSSIAN, was the last of a long line of professors who made the reputation of the school at Athens in the fourth century. He was the friend and adviser of the Emperor Julian whom he accompanied to Persia. We know very little about him apart from the Life of Eunapius, in which he appears as morose and aloof, sceptical and disdainful of popularity. In an extant letter Julian invites him to Gaul and calls him a genuine philosopher, but the Etnperor would have said as much of Maximus the charlatan. After Julian's death Priscus returned to Antioch, and was there in the autumn of 363. Both he and Maximus were arrested by the Emperors Valens and Valentinian on a charge of magic which was supposed to have been employed to give them a fever from which they suffered. But Priscus was allowed to go to Greece, where he taught for many years. He survived as late as the invasion of Alaric, and died in 395, aged over ninety. He was a frequent correspondent of Libanius. Priscus was probably a Neo-Platonist, and less devoted to theurgy than was Maximus; hence he was regarded as less dangerous to the imperial government. His wife was named Hippia, and he had several children as we learn from a letter of the Emperor Julian.

JULIAN OF CAESAREA in Cappadocia was born about 275, and was a successful teacher of rhetoric at 328 |329 Athens about 330. There he died about 340, and the succession to his chair was hotly contested by his pupils. Photius says that he wrote on the vocabulary of the Ten Attic Orators, but no work of his survives.⁴ Eunapius does not make it clear why Julian and his contemporaries were obliged to teach in private, but probably this was due, not to the opposition of the Christians, since there were famous Christian sophists, notably Prohaeresius, but rather to the factions of the rival sophists, which had never been so violent as when Julian was at the height of his fame. We do not know how it happened that he had more than one official successor, but it is possible that the chair of philosophy was suppressed in favour of rhetoric, which was held to be less antagonistic to Christianity. In his later years the supremacy of Julian was challenged by the success of his pupils, Prohaeresius and Diophantus the Arab. Prohaeresius the Christian sophist, when other Christian professors were hastening to enrol themselves as pagans and true Hellenes to win favour with the new Emperor Julian, seems to have said to himself, like the great bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, "It is but a little cloud, and will pass." Eunapius says that in 362, when he went to Athens to study with Prohaeresius, the latter was eighty; but as this would make him about the same age as the sophist Julian whose chair he inherited, it seems |330 likely that Eunapius exaggerated his age by about ten years. At any rate he was a well established rival of Julian when in 340 the latter died, and Prohaeresius succeeded to his position as leading sophist at Athens, though perhaps not to all the official emoluments, as Julian seems to have had no less than six nominal successors. In 345 Anatolius of Berytus came to Athens, and confirmed Prohaeresius in his office of "stratopedarch," which had been bestowed on him by Constans when he visited Gaul, so that he, like Lolhanus in the second century, was a Food Controller.

After Julian's accession in 361 he enacted that the Christian sophists should no longer be allowed to teach Hellenic literature, a decree that shut them out of the field of education. He exempted Prohaeresius, but the sophist resigned his chair. Eunapius says only that Prohaeresius was barred from teaching because he was reputed to be a Christian, yet he was teaching at Athens when Eunapius came there as a student in 362, and it is unlikely that the decree was ever carried out with any thoroughness in the few months that elapsed before the Emperor's death. Prohaeresius died in 367 and his epitaph was written by Gregory Nazianzen. It is to be observed that all the rivals of Prohaeresius at Athens were foreigners, and that the city had ceased to produce great sophists. Prohaeresius himself was an Armenian, which perhaps accounts for his religion; for Armenia was early converted to Christianity. There was a certain coolness between the Emperor Julian and Prohaeresius, apart from the incident of the exemption, for the sophist resented the Emperor's admiration of Libanius. However, in an extant letter 330 |331 Julian writes in a friendly tone to suggest that Prohaeresius may intend to write an account of the Emperor's return from Gaul, in which case he will provide him with documents. Prohaeresius was then, according to Eunapius, eighty-seven! It is possible that Julian in his student days at Athens had attended the lectures of Prohaeresius. Anatolius of Berytus, the Phoenician of whom Eunapius speaks in the Life of Prohaeresius, was a frequent correspondent of Libanius, and we have a number of letters addressed to him by that sophist. Though Anatolius was a devout pagan and Hellene, he held many offices under the Christian Emperors, and was a distinguished prefect of Egypt and also of Illyricum, entering on the latter office in 356. His relations with Libanius were somewhat strained by his refusal to give to Libanius one of the many offices at his disposal. Anatolius died in 360.⁵

EPIPHANIUS OF SYRIA, sometimes called the Arab, was a poet as well as a sophist. He taught rhetoric at Laodicea before he moved to Athens. He is mentioned by Sozomenus, and was a correspondent of Libanius. Though he died young he left several technical treatises on rhetoric, which are all lost.

DIOPHANTUS THE ARAB was a pupil and one of the successors of the sophist Julian, and was teaching at Athens when Libanius came there as a student in 336. Libanius was forcibly enrolled as a pupil of Diophantus by the sophist's pupils, but avoided his lectures; he himself does not mention the name of Diophantus though he relates the incident. Students who came from Arabia were expected to study with |332 a sophist of their nationality, but the pupils of Diophantus had no right to kidnap Libanius of Antioch. Eunapius, in his Life of Diophantus, expresses the dislike that he would naturally feel for a successor to his admired Prohaeresius.

SOPOLIS was teaching at Athens when Eunapius lived there (362-367). In the Life of Prohaeresius he is referred to with scorn as only nominally a professor of rhetoric. He was one of the most insignificant successors of Julian the sophist, and secured his election by some manoeuvre that Eunapius leaves obscure.

HIMERIUS in a speech delivered in 362 says that his hair is turning grey, so his birth may be dated about 315. Like other Bithynians he studied at Athens with Prohaeresius, and there he taught for about fifteen years, until the patronage of the Emperor Julian drew him into the main current of the life of the Empire in the East. He joined Julian at Antioch in 362, after delivering declamations at every important town on the way. Whether, like Maximus and Priscus, he went with Julian on the expedition against Persia we do not know, but after its disastrous ending he seems to have stayed at Antioch or in Bithynia until the death of Prohaeresius. He returned to Greece about 368, and for the rest of his life taught rhetoric at Athens. Probably he died before the Goths invaded Greece in 395. He had married an Athenian of noble family and acquired Athenian citizenship. In his Oration 23, a monody, he boasts of the ancestry, on the maternal side, of his only son Rufinus, who died, aged fourteen, at the time when his father was in temporary exile in Boeotia, driven away by the intrigues of rival sophists. |333 Himerius was wounded in an encounter with the pupils of a rival sophist, and thereafter lectured in his own house. In Oration 22 he announces his recovery and the beginning of a new course of lectures.

Eunapius in his Life gives us no idea of the importance for our knowledge of the fourth century of this sophist, whose works have in great part survived. No doubt professional jealousy explains this neglect. In his Orations, of which thirty-four are extant, nine in a very imperfect and mutilated condition, are all the marks of Asianic oratory. He calls himself a swan, a cicada, a swallow, and his speeches hymns, odes, and songs. In fact it was only fashion that kept him from writing verse. We have the analyses by Photius of thirty-six other Orations which have survived as Eclogues or Extracts. Some of these are not only fictitious but falsely conceived; for example Eclogue 5, in which Themistocles spurns the peace terms offered by Xerxes. Himerius is all allegory, poetical allusion, and flowers of speech. In his work may be conveniently surveyed the characteristic weaknesses of fourth-century rhetoric, its lack of logical argument and of a literary or historical conscience, its dependence on commonplaces from the past, its shameless adulation of the great,⁶ and even its occasional, surprising charm. With Priscus he represents the last days of the Athenian school of sophistic eloquence.

LIBANIUS OF ANTIOCH was born in 314, so that |334 he was nearly fifty when Julian became Emperor and raised high hopes in the breasts of all the Hellenic sophists. Though formally enrolled as a pupil of Diophantus when he arrived at Athens in 336, Libanius had already educated himself at Antioch, and so he continued to do at Athens for some years. Then, for about a decade, he taught, first at Constantinople, where his success aroused such enmity that he was driven to migrate to Nicaea, then at Nicomedia where he was contented and popular. Eunapius, who is inclined to disparage Libanius, omits to say that, as his fame increased, the citizens of Constantinople demanded his return, and he was recalled by an Imperial edict. But in 354 he was once more in Antioch, and on the plea of ill-health was allowed to remain in his native city. There for the next forty years his school was the most famous and the most frequented of the day. We are peculiarly well-informed as to this school, thanks to his autobiography and the numerous Orations in which he describes the conditions of teaching rhetoric in the fourth century. Though he openly mourned the Emperor, he weathered the storms that followed naturally on the death of Julian and the restoration of Christianity as the State religion. He was the official orator and mediator for Antioch on important occasions, such as the bakers' strike, or the revolt of the city under Theodosius. His last years were saddened by the fact that Greek studies were being neglected in favour of Latin, and that the Emperors had ceased to patronize Hellenism; moreover he was constantly embroiled with oppressive officials and jealous rivals. He became partly blind, and lost his only son, and, one by one, his friends. It is possible |335 that he lived as late as 395, but the date of his death is uncertain.

Of all this Eunapius relates little, and he gives no account of the numerous works of Libanius with which he must have been familiar. His criticism of his style is not borne out by anything in the extant works, and this makes us hesitate to accept the judgements of Eunapius on sophists whose writings do not survive. Like Aristeides, Libanius repels the reader by the very mass of what remains of his eloquence. The new edition of his works by Foerster already amounts to eight Teubner volumes, and the Letters, of which we have more than 1600, are still to come. The 65 Orations are a valuable document for the life, manners, and education of the time; when Libanius narrates, his style is spirited and clear. He admired Aristeides the imitator of Demosthenes, but it would be unjust to Libanius to imply that his knowledge of Greek letters was at second hand. His pages are crowded with illustrations and echoes, rather than quotations, from Greek authors. He had a talent for declamation, and his formal sophistic compositions are strictly conventional, according to the types prescribed by the theorists. His Monodies, for instance that on Nicomedia when the city was destroyed by an earthquake, are in the most florid style. In Oration 25 he draws a gloomy picture of the slavery of a sophist to his pupils and their parents, a companion piece to Lucian's Dependent Scholar in the second century. It is interesting to see that in the later days of Libanius a sophist is no longer sure of his position and a tyrant in society, as Philostratus describes him. Eunapius is both spiteful and untrustworthy for |336 Libanius, but the latter has been more fortunate in his biographer Sievers ⁷ whose book is a valuable guide to the whole period; he has done more than any other writer to keep the name of Libanius alive.

ACACIUS OF CAESAREA was a frequent correspondent of Libanius, and from the Letters of that sophist we learn far more about him than Eunapius tells us in his Life. He was rather older than Libanius, and came of a family in which the sophistic profession was hereditary. He taught first in his native Phoenicia, then at Antioch, and finally settled in Palestine. At Antioch he was the rival of Libanius and not so friendly with him as the account of Eunapius makes him appear. Libanius triumphed, and Acacius left Antioch about 361 when the correspondence begins. There was a sort of reconciliation, and Libanius writes to Acacius sympathetically on the death of a son. It is hard to reconcile the statement of Eunapius that Acacius died young with the evidence that we can glean from Libanius as to the duration of the other's activities.

ZENO OF CYPRUS is identified by Boissonade with the physician and teacher of medicine at Alexandria to whom the Emperor Julian addressed an extant letter. If Eunapius is right in saying, in his Life of Oribasius, that Oribasius had been a pupil of Zeno, the latter must have been very old in 362, when Julian's letter To Zeno was written. It seems more likely that had Julian been addressing a talented orator, he would have mentioned this in his complimentary letter, whereas he only speaks of Zeno's teaching of medicine. At any rate the Zeno of Eunapius is an |337 "iatrosophist," a healing sophist. This seems to us a most unhappy combination of professions, and that the name inevitably became a synonym for charlatan we might assume, even if Eunapius had not, in his biography, shown us the absurd figure of Magnus talking down his fellow-practitioners and using his rhetorical talent for his own ends.

Magnus, the healing sophist, born at Nisibis, was a pupil of Zeno and taught medicine at Alexandria, that centre of the medical profession. Libanius mentions him in a letter written in 364. On his death Palladas wrote the well-known epigram in the Palatine Anthology:

"When Magnus went down to Hades, Aïdoneus trembled, and said: 'Here comes one who will raise up even the dead.'" ⁸

This was not intended as a satire, nor did Eunapius think Magnus absurd, and it is clear that, though visibly declining, rhetoric could still charm the Graeco-Roman world. Magnus was alive in 388, when Libanius wrote to him Letter 763.⁹

ORIBASIUS according to Suidas was born at Sardis, but we may suppose that his friend Eunapius when he gave Pergamon as his birthplace was better informed. Julian evidently refers to Oribasius in his Letter to the Athenians 277 c where he speaks of a "certain physician" who had been allowed by Constantius to accompany him to Milan when he was summoned there to be made Caesar. Oribasius went with Julian to Gaul, and there is preserved by Photius a letter from him to Julian mentioning their sojourn |338 there together; but we do not know whether he went on the expedition to Persia. When Eunapius says that Oribasius "made Julian Emperor," he probably means not so much that Oribasius was an accomplice in the plot to put Julian on the throne, though he does in fact, in his Life of Maximus, speak of Oribasius as the Caesar's "accomplice," but rather that the physician, by his virtuous teachings, had fitted Julian for the position. The historians at any rate are silent as to the connivance of Oribasius. It was probably in 358 that Julian wrote his extant letter to Oribasius, when the latter was editing an epitome of Galen. Oribasius was with him in Antioch on the way to Persia, and is no doubt one of the seven persons whom Julian mentions in Misopogon 354 c as newcomers to Antioch, and out of sympathy with its frivolous and ungodly citizens.

CHRYSANTHIUS, the pupil of Aedesius, whom he seems to have closely resembled in character, is the only rival of Prohaeresius in the affection and loyalty of Eunapius. But apart from this biography he is practically unknown. Julian, who must have been offended by his refusal of his pressing invitation to the court, never mentions him, and Libanius, who corresponded with nearly all the leading pagans of his day, ignores Chrysanthius. His refusal to join the Emperor Julian was perhaps due to a conviction, which must have been shared by many persons more cautious and better balanced than the headlong Maximus, that the pagan renaissance would be shortlived. His tolerant and tactful dealings with the Christians during Julian's brief reign may have preserved him from the harsh treatment that was suffered by Maximus. |339

HELLESPONTIUS, the aged pupil of Chrysanthius in Sardis, whose sudden death is here described, was a native of Galatia, a sophist and philosopher. We have a letter ¹⁰ addressed to him by Libanius as early as 355, in which his son is mentioned. |340

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manuscripts.

These are few and very corrupt. All are derived from Laurentianus lxxxvi. 7, fourteenth century, which was not collated by Boissonade or Wyttenbach, and was first recognized as the most reliable codex by Jordan in De Eunapii codice Laurentiano, Lemgo, 1888, followed by Lundstrom, Prolegomena in Eunapii vitas, Upsala, 1897; Vaticanus 140 (contains also Philostratus, Lives). There are inferior mss. at Naples (Borbonici) and Paris.

Cobet's emendations are in Mnemosyne, vols. vi. and viii. De Boor in Rheinisches Museum, xlvii. maintains that the new edition of the Universal History mentioned by Photius contained also the Lives and was made later than the time of Eunapius; whereas Lundstrom thinks that Eunapius himself revised his works and omitted many passages that were offensive to the Christians. This would account for the fact that we have two recensions of the Life of Libanius, the Laurentianus and the Lacapenianus; the latter, according to Lundstrom, is the modified version.

Editions.

Junius Hornanus, Antwerp, 1568 (with very incorrect Latin version). Commelinus, Heidelberg, 1596. Boissonade, Amsterdam, 1822 (Wyttenbach's notes are in vol. ii.). Boissonade, Didot, Paris, 1849, 1878 ¹¹ (a reprint of the edition of 1822, with Latin version of Junius, partly |341 revised; contains also the works of Philostratus and Himerius). Iamblichus, Protrepticus, Pistelli, Leipzig, 1893. De communi mathematica, Festa, Leipzig, 1891. Theologumena arithmeticae, Ast, Leipzig, 1817. De mysteriis, Partey, Berlin, 1857. Libanius, Opera, Foerster, Leipzig, 1903-1915. Eunapius, Eunapii historiarum quae supersunt, Bekker and Niebuhr, Bonn, 1829. Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum, Müller, Paris, vol. iv., 1885. Oribasius, Opera, Bussemaker-Daremberg, Paris, 1851.

Literature.

Sievers, Das Leben des Libanius, Berlin, 1868. Petit de Julleville, L'Ecole d'Athenes au quatrieme siecle, Paris, 1868. Capes, University Life in Ancient Athens, London, 1877. France (Wright), Julians Relation to the New Sophistic, London, 1896. Seeck, Die Briefe des Libanius, Leipzig, 1906; Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Welt, Berlin, 1901-1910. Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century, Cambridge, 1901. Bidez, Vie de Porphyre, Gand, 1913. Ammianus Marcellinus (330-400 A.D.) the Latin historian is the best authority for the period with which Eunapius deals.

1. ¹ For these sophists, who professed an art of healing, had sometimes studied medicine, and competed with regular physicians, see below, Life of Magnus, p. 498.

2. ¹ Ennead vi. 9.

3. ¹ Well translated by Myers in his Classical Essays.

4. ¹ Cumont believes that Julian of Caesarea wrote the six fulsome and foolish Letters to Iamblichus which the ms. tradition assigns to the Emperor Julian. They are certainly not the Emperor's, but there is no evidence that Julian the sophist had the slightest interest in Iamblichus and his doctrines; on the contrary he seems to have been wholly devoted to rhetoric.

5. ¹ Ammianus Marcellinus xxi. 6.

6. ¹ Himerius seized on every chance, and they were many, to deliver a flattering address of welcome to a new proconsul.

7. ¹ Das Leben des Libanius, Berlin, 1868.

8. ¹ xi. 281. Magnus is mentioned by Philostorgius viii. 10.

9. ² So Seeck, Die Briefe des Libanius; but Sievers thinks that this is another Magnus.

10. ¹ Letter 1259.

11. ¹ The text of the present edition is that of Boissonade, revised; the marginal numbers refer to his pages.

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Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts

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Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists (1921) pp.343-565. English translation

Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists (1921) pp.343-565. English translation

Plotinus

Porphyry

Iamblichus

Alypius

Aedesius the Cappadocian

Sopater

Ablabius

Eustathius

Maximus

Priscus

Julian of Cappadocia

Prohaeresius

Epiphanius

Diophantus

Sopolis

Himerius

Parnasius

Libanius

Acacius

Nymphidianus

Zeno of Cyprus

Magnus

Oribasius

Ionicus

Chrysanthius

LIVES OF THE PHILOSOPHERS AND SOPHISTS

[Translated by Wilmer Cave WRIGHT]

INTRODUCTION

Xenophon the philosopher, who is unique among all philosophers in that he adorned philosophy not only with words but with deeds as well (for on the one hand he writes of the moral virtues both in discourses and historical commentaries, while he excelled also in actual achievement; nay more, by means of the examples that he gave he begat leaders of armies; for instance great Alexander never would have become great had Xenophon never been)----he, I say, asserts that we ought to record even the casual doings of distinguished men. But the aim of my narrative is not to write of the casual doings of distinguished men, but their main achievements. For if even the playful moods of virtue are worth recording, then it would be absolutely impious to be silent about her serious aims. To those who desire to read this narrative it will tell its tale, not indeed with complete certainty as to all matters----for it was impossible to collect all the evidence with accuracy----nor shall I separate out from the rest the most illustrious philosophers and orators, but I shall |345 set down for each one his profession and mode of life. That in every case he whom this narrative describes attained to real distinction, the author----for that is what he aims at----leaves to the judgement of any who may please to decide from the proofs here presented. He has read precise and detailed commentaries, and therefore, if he misses the truth, he may refer his error to others, like a diligent pupil who has fallen into the hands of inferior teachers; or, if he does go right, may have the truth on his side when he utters criticisms and be guided by those who are worthy of respect; that thus his own work may be perfectly blameless and secure from criticism, seeing that he followed those in whose steps it was his duty to follow. And inasmuch as there were few, or to say the truth, hardly any writers on this subject, nothing that has been composed by earlier authors will be concealed from my readers, nor what has come down by oral tradition to the present day, but the proper weight will be assigned to both sources; I mean that in written documents nothing has been altered, while what depends on hearsay, and hence is liable to become chaotic and confused by the lapse of time, has now been fixed and given stability by being written down, so that it is for the future a settled and abiding tradition.

THE WRITERS WHO HAVE COMPILED A HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHERS

Porphyry and Sotion ¹ compiled a history of philosophy and the Lives of the philosophers. But Porphyry, as it happened, ended with Plato and his |347 times, while Sotion, though he lived before Porphyry, carried on his narrative, as we see, to later times also. But the crop of philosophers and sophists who came between Sotion and Porphyry was not described as their importance and many-sidedness deserved; and therefore Philostratus of Lemnos in a superficial and agreeable style spat forth ² the Lives of the most distinguished sophists; but the lives of the philosophers no one has recorded accurately. Among these latter were Ammonius of Egypt, who was the teacher of the divine Plutarch, and Plutarch himself, the charm and lyre of all philosophy; Euphrates ³ of Egypt and Dio of Bithynia, whom men surnamed the "Golden-mouthed"; and Apollonius of Tyana, who was not merely a philosopher but a demigod, half god, half man. For he was a follower of the Pythagorean doctrine, and he did much to publish to the world the divine and vivifying character of that philosophy. But Philostratus of Lemnos wrote a full account of Apollonius, and entitled his book The Life of Apollonius, though he ought to have called it The Visit of God to Mankind. Carneades also lived about this time, a celebrated figure among the Cynics, if indeed we ought to take any account of the Cynic school,⁴ among whom were Musonius, Demetrius, and Menippus, and several others also; but these were the more celebrated. Clear and accurate accounts of the lives of these men it was impossible to discover, since, so far as I know, no one has written them. But their own writings were and |349 still are sufficient records of their lives, filled as they are with such erudition and thorough research in the field of ethics and also that research which aspires to investigate the nature of things and disperses like a mist the ignorance of such as are able to follow. Thus, for example, the inspired Plutarch records in statements scattered here and there in his books, both his own life and that of his teacher; and he says that Ammonius died at Athens. But he does not entitle these records a Life, though he might well have done so, since his most successful work is that entitled The Parallel Lives of men most celebrated for their deeds and achievements. But his own life and that of his teacher he scattered piecemeal throughout every one of his books; so that if one should keep a sharp look-out for these references and track them as they occur and appear, and read them intelligently one after another, one would know most of the events of their lives. Lucian of Samosata, who usually took serious pains to raise a laugh, wrote a life of Demonax, a philosopher of his own time, and in that book and a very few others was wholly serious throughout.

This much, then, I place on record, and am aware that some things have perhaps escaped me, but other things have not. And in that, after expending much thought and pains so that the result might be a continuous and definite account of the lives of the most celebrated philosophers and rhetoricians, I fell short of my ambition, I have had the same experience as those who are madly and feverishly in love. For they, when they behold the beloved and the adored beauty of her visible countenance, bow |351 their heads, too weak to fix their gaze on that which they desire, and dazzled by its rays. But if they see her sandal or chain or ear-ring, they take heart from these and pour their souls into the sight and melt at the vision, since they can endure to see and love the symbols of beauty more easily than the beauty itself; thus too I have set out to write this narrative in such a way as not to omit in silence and through envy anything that I learned by hearsay, or by reading, or by inquiry from men of my own time, but, as far as in me lay, I reverenced the entrance and gates of truth and have handed it down to future generations who may either wish to hear thereof or have power to follow with a view to the fairest achievement. Now the period I describe is somewhat interrupted and broken up by reason of the calamities of the State. Still a third crop of men began with the days of Claudius and Nero (for the second which came next after Plato has been commemorated and made clear to all). As for those unlucky Emperors who lasted for a year only, they are not worthy of record; I mean, for example, Galba, Vitellius, Otho, and, following them, Vespasian, Titus and those who ruled after these men; and no one must suppose that I pay serious attention to them. Anyhow, to speak cursorily and in brief, the tribe of the best philosophers lasted on even into the reign of Severus.⁵ And surely this is part of the felicity that belongs to emperors, that in history the date which marks the superlative virtue of a philosopher is that which dates the superlative luck of an emperor.⁶ Therefore let no |353 one take it amiss if I, recording as I do the period for which it was possible for me to obtain evidence, or with which I could make an appropriate beginning, embark on my narrative at this point.

PLOTINUS was a philosopher of Egyptian birth. But though I just now called him an Egyptian, I will add his native place also; Lyco they call it. Yet the divine philosopher Porphyry did not record this, though he said that he was his pupil and studied with him during the whole of his life, or the greater part of it. Altars in honour of Plotinus are still warm, and his books are in the hands of educated men, more so than the dialogues of Plato. Nay, even great numbers of the vulgar herd, though they in part fail to understand his doctrines, nevertheless are swayed by them. Porphyry set forth his whole life so fully that no one could bring forward more evidence. Moreover, he is known to have interpreted many of his books. But a life of Porphyry himself no one has written, so far as I know. However, from what I have gathered in my reading of the evidence that has been handed down, I have learned the following facts concerning him.

Tyre was PORPHYRY's birthplace, the capital city of the ancient Phoenicians, and his ancestors were distinguished men. He was given a liberal education, and advanced so rapidly and made such progress that he became a pupil of Longinus, and in a short time was an ornament to his teacher. At that time Longinus was a living library and a walking museum; and moreover he had been entrusted with the function of critic of the ancient writers, like many |355 others before him, such as the most famous of them all, Dionysius of Caria. Porphyry's name in the Syrian town was originally Malchus (this word means "king"), but Longinus gave him the name of Porphyry, thus making it indicate the colour of imperial attire.⁷ With Longinus he attained to the highest culture, and like him advanced to a perfect knowledge of grammar and rhetoric, though he did not incline to that study exclusively, since he took on the impress from every type of philosophy. For Longinus was in all branches of study by far the most distinguished of the men of his time, and a great number of his books are in circulation and are greatly admired. Whenever any critic condemned some ancient author, his opinion did not win approval until the verdict of Longinus wholly confirmed it. After Porphyry's early education had thus been carried on and he was looked up to by all, he longed to see Rome, the mistress of the world, so that he might enchain the city by his wisdom. But directly he arrived there and became intimate with that great man Plotinus, he forgot all else and devoted himself wholly to him. And since with an insatiable appetite he devoured his teaching and his original and inspired discourses, for some time he was content to be his pupil, as he himself says. Then overcome by the force of his teachings he conceived a hatred of his own body and of being human, and sailed to Sicily across the straits and Charybdis, along the route where Odysseus is said to have sailed;⁸ and he would not endure either to see a city or to hear |357 the voice of man, thus putting away from himself both pain and pleasure, but kept on to Lilybaeum; this is that one of Sicily's three promontories that stretches out and looks towards Libya. There he lay groaning and mortifying the flesh, and he would take no nourishment and "avoided the path of men." ⁹ But great Plotinus "kept no vain watch" ¹⁰ on these things, and either followed in his footsteps or inquired for the youth who had fled, and so found him lying there; then he found abundance of words that recalled to life his soul, as it was just about to speed forth from the body. Moreover he gave strength to his body so that it might contain his soul. ¹¹

So Porphyry breathed again and arose, but Plotinus in one of the books ¹² that he wrote recorded the arguments then uttered by him. And while some philosophers hide their esoteric teachings in obscurity, as poets conceal theirs in myths,¹³ Porphyry praised clear knowledge as a sovereign remedy, and since he had tasted it by experience he recorded this in writing and brought it to the light of day.

Now Porphyry returned to Rome and continued to study philosophical disputation, so that he even appeared in public to make a display of his powers; but every forum and every crowd attributed to Plotinus the credit of Porphyry's renown. For |359 Plotinus, because of the celestial quality of his soul and the oblique and enigmatic character of his discourses, seemed austere and hard to listen to. But Porphyry, like a chain of Hermes let down to mortals,¹⁴ by reason of his many-sided culture expounded all subjects so as to be clear and easy of comprehension. He himself says (but perhaps as seems likely he wrote this while he was still young), that he was granted an oracle different from the vulgar sort; and in the same book he wrote it down, and then went on to expound at considerable length how men ought to pay attention to these oracles. And he says too that he cast out and expelled some sort of daemon from a certain bath; the inhabitants called this daemon Kausatha.¹⁵ As he himself records, he had for fellow-disciples certain very famous men, Origen, Amerius, and Aquilinus,¹⁶ whose writings are still preserved, though not one of their discourses; for though their doctrines are admirable, their style is wholly unpleasing, and it pervades their discourses. Nevertheless Porphyry praises these men for their oratorical talent, though he himself runs through the whole scale of charm, and alone advertises and celebrates his teacher, inasmuch as there was no branch of learning that he neglected. One may well be at a loss and wonder within oneself which branch he studied more than another; whether it was that which concerns the subject matter of rhetoric, or that which tends to |361 precise accuracy in grammar, or that which depends on numbers, or inclines to geometry, or leans to music. As for philosophy, I cannot describe in words his genius for discourse, or for moral philosophy. As for natural philosophy and the art of divination, let that be left to sacred rites and mysteries. So true is it that the man was a being who combined in himself all the talents for every sort of excellence. One who cares most for this would naturally praise the beauty of the style of his discourse more than his doctrines, or again would prefer his doctrines, if one paid closer attention to these than to the force of his oratory. It seems that he entered the married state, and a book of his is extant addressed to his wife Marcella; he says that he married her, although she was already the mother of five ¹⁷ children, and this was not that he might have children by her, but that those she had might be educated; for the father of his wife's children had been a friend of his own. It seems that he attained to an advanced old age. At any rate he left behind him many speculations that conflict with the books that he had previously published; with regard to which we can only suppQse that he changed his opinions as he grew older. He is said to have departed this life in Rome.

At this time those who were most distinguished for rhetoric at Athens were Paulus and the Syrian Andromachus. But Porphyry actually was at the height of his powers as late as the time of Gallienus, |363 Claudius, Tacitus, Aurelian, and Probus. In those days there lived also Dexippus,¹⁸ who composed historical annals, a man overflowing with erudition and logical power.

After these men comes a very celebrated philosopher, IAMBLICHUS, who was of illustrious ancestry and belonged to an opulent and prosperous family. His birthplace was. Chalcis, a city in the region called Coele Syria.¹⁹ As a pupil of Anatolius, who ranks next after Porphyry, he made great progress and attained to the highest distinction in philosophy. Then leaving Anatolius he attached himself to Porphyry, and in no respect was he inferior to Porphyry except in harmonious structure and force of style. For his utterances are not imbued with charm and grace, they are not lucid, and they lack the beauty of simplicity. Nevertheless they are not altogether obscure, nor have they faults of diction, but as Plato used to say of Xenocrates, "he has not sacrificed to the Graces" of Hermes.²⁰ Therefore he does not hold and enchant the reader into continuing to read, but is more likely to repel him and irritate his ears. But because he practised justice he gained an easy access to the ears of the gods; so much so that he had a multitude of disciples, and those who desired learning flocked to him from all parts. And it is hard to decide who among them |365 was the most distinguished, for Sopater ²¹ the Syrian was of their number, a man who was most eloquent both in his speeches and writings; and Aedesius and Eustathius from Cappadocia; while from Greece came Theodorus ²² and Euphrasius, men of superlative virtue, and a crowd of other men not inferior in their powers of oratory, so that it seemed marvellous that he could satisfy them all; and indeed in his devotion to them all he never spared himself. Occasionally, however, he did perform certain rites alone, apart from his friends and disciples, when he worshipped the Divine Being. But for the most part he conversed with his pupils and was unexacting in his mode of life and of an ancient simplicity. As they drank their wine he used to charm those present by his conversation and filled them as with nectar. And they never ceased to desire this pleasure and never could have too much of it, so that they never gave him any peace; and they appointed the most eloquent among them to represent them, and asked: "O master, most inspired, why do you thus occupy yourself in solitude, instead of sharing with us your more perfect wisdom? Nevertheless a rumour has reached us through your slaves that when you pray to the gods you soar aloft from the earth more than ten cubits to all appearance;²³ that your body and your garments change to a beautiful golden hue; and presently when your prayer is ended your body becomes as it was before you prayed, and then you come down to earth and associate with us." Iamblichus was not at all inclined |367 to laughter, but he laughed at these remarks.²⁴ And he answered them thus: "He who thus deluded you was a witty fellow; but the facts are otherwise. For the future however you shall be present at all that goes on." This was the sort of display that he made; and the report of it reached the author of this work from his teacher Chrysanthius of Sardis. He was a pupil of Aedesius, and Aedesius was one of the leading disciples of Iamblichus, and one of those who spoke to him as I have said. He said that there occurred the following sure manifestations of his divine nature. The sun was travelling towards the limits of the Lion at the time when it rises along with the constellation called the Dog. It was the hour for sacrifice, and this had been made ready in one of the suburban villas belonging to Iamblichus. Presently when the rites had been duly performed and they were returning to the city, walking slowly and at their leisure,----for indeed their conversation was about the gods as was in keeping with the sacrifice----suddenly Iamblichus even while conversing was lost in thought, as though his voice were cut off, and for some moments he fixed his eyes steadily on the ground ²⁵ and then looked up at his friends and called to them in a loud voice: "Let us go by another road, for a dead body has lately been carried along this way." After saying this he turned into another road which seemed to be less impure,²⁶ and some of them turned aside with him, who thought it was a shame to desert their teacher. But the greater number and the more obstinate of his disciples, among |369 whom was Aedesius, stayed where they were, ascribing the occurrence to a portent and scenting like hounds for the proof.²⁷ And very soon those who had buried the dead man came back. But even so the disciples did not desist but inquired whether they had passed along this road. "We had to," they replied, for there was no other road.

But they testified also to a still more marvellous incident. When they kept pestering Iamblichus and saying that this that I have just related was a trifle, and perhaps due to a superior sense of smell, and that they wished to test him in something more important, his reply to them was: "Nay, that does not rest with me, but wait for the appointed hour." Some time after, they decided to go to Gadara, a place which has warm baths in Syria, inferior only to those at Baiae in Italy, with which no other baths can be compared.²⁸ So they set out in the summer season. Now he happened to be bathing and the others were bathing with him, and they were using the same insistence, whereupon Iamblichus smiled and said: "It is irreverent to the gods to give you this demonstration, but for your sakes it shall be done." There were two hot springs smaller than the others but prettier, and he bade his disciples ask the natives of the place by what names they used to be called in former times. When they had done his bidding they said: "There is no pretence about it, this spring is called Eros, and the name of the one next to it is Anteros." He at once touched the |371 water with his hand----he happened to be sitting on the ledge of the spring where the overflow runs off----and uttering a brief summons ²⁹ he called forth a boy from the depth of the spring. He was white-skinned and of medium height, his locks were golden and his back and breast shone; and he exactly resembled one who was bathing or had just bathed. His disciples were overwhelmed with amazement, but Iamblichus said, "Let us go to the next spring," and he rose and led the way, with a thoughtful air. Then he went through the same performance there also, and summoned another Eros like the first in all respects, except that his hair was darker and fell loose in the sun. Both the boys embraced Iamblichus and clung to him as though he were genuinely their father. He restored them to their proper places and went away after his bath, reverenced by his pupils. After this the crowd of his disciples sought no further evidence, but believed everything from the proofs that had been revealed to them, and hung on to him as though by an unbreakable chain. Even more astonishing and marvellous things were related of him, but I wrote down none of these since I thought it a hazardous and sacrilegious thing to introduce a spurious and fluid tradition into a stable and well-founded narrative. Nay even this I record not without hesitation, as being mere hearsay, except that I follow the lead of men who, though they distrusted other signs, were converted by the experience of the actual revelation. Yet no one of his followers recorded it, as far as I |373 know. And this I say with good reason, since Aedesius himself asserted that he had not written about it, nor had any other ventured to do so.

At the same time as Iamblichus, lived ALYPIUS, who was especially skilled in dialectic. He was of very small stature and his body was very little larger than a pigmy's, but even the body that he seemed to have was really all soul and intelligence; to such a degree did the corruptible element in him fail to increase, since it was absorbed into his diviner nature. Therefore, just as the great Plato says,³⁰ that in contradistinction to human bodies, divine bodies dwell within souls, thus also of him one might say that he had migrated into a soul, and that he was confined and dominated there by some supernatural power. Now Alypius had many followers, but his teaching was limited to conversation, and no one ever published a book by him. On this account they very eagerly betook themselves to Iamblichus, to fill themselves full as though from a spring that bubbles over and does not stay within its limits. Now as the renown of both men increased and kept pace they encountered one another by chance or met in their courses like planets, and round them in a circle sat an audience as though in some great seat of the Muses. Now Iamblichus was waiting to have questions put to him rather than to ask them, but Alypius, contrary to all expectation, postponed all questioning about philosophy and giving himself up to making an effect with his audience ³¹ said to Iamblichus: "Tell me, philosopher, is a rich man either unjust or the heir of the unjust, yes or no? For there is no middle course." |375

Iamblichus disliked the catch in the question and replied, "Nay, most admired of men, this is not our method, to discuss anyone who more than other men possesses external things, but rather only one who excels in the virtue that is peculiar and appropriate to a philosopher." So saying he went away, and after he had risen the meeting broke up. But after he had left them and collected his thoughts, he admired the acuteness of the question, and often met Alypius privately; and he was so profoundly impressed by the subtlety and sagacity of the man, that when he died he wrote his biography. Indeed the author of this work once saw the book. The narrative was obscured by its style and it was hidden by a thick cloud, though not because of any lack of clearness in the subject matter, for his authority was a long discourse of Alypius; moreover, there was no mention of discourses that maintained an argument. The book told of journeys to Rome for which no reason was given, and it did not make manifest the greatness of his soul on those occasions, and though he insinuates that Alypius had many admiring followers it is not shown that he either did or said anything remarkable. No, the renowned Iamblichus seems to have made the same error as painters who are painting youths in their bloom and wish to add to the painting some charm of their own invention, whereby they destroy the whole character of the likeness, so that they fail to achieve either a resemblance or the beauty at which they aim. So it was with Iamblichus when he set out to praise by telling the exact truth; for though he clearly shows how severe were the punishments and sufferings in the law courts in his day, yet the causes of these things and their purposes he was |377 neither fitted by nature to expound like one versed in politics, nor was that his purpose; hence he confused the whole outline and significance of the man's life, and he hardly even left it open to the most keen-sighted to grasp the fact that he admired Alypius, and above ail reverenced his fortitude and constancy amid dangers, and the keenness and daring of his style in his discourses. Alypius was by birth an Alexandrian. This is all I have to say about him. He died an old man, in Alexandria, and after him died Iamblichus after putting forth many roots and springs of philosophy. The author of this narrative had the good fortune to benefit by the crop that sprang therefrom. For others of his disciples who have been mentioned were scattered in all directions over the whole Roman Empire, but Aedesius chose to settle at Pergamon in Mysia.

AEDESIUS THE CAPPADOCIAN succeeded to the school of Iamblichus and his circle of disciples. He was extremely well born, but his family was not possessed of great wealth, and therefore his father sent him away from Cappadocia to Greece to educate himself with a view to making money, thinking that he would find a treasure in his son. But on his return, when he discovered that he was inclined to philosophy he drove him out of his house as useless.³² And as he drove him forth he asked: "Why, what good does philosophy do you?" Whereupon his son turned round and replied: "It is no small thing, father, to have learned to revere one's father even when he is driving one forth." When his father heard this, he called his son back and expressed his approval of his virtuous character. And for the future Aedesius devoted himself entirely to finishing his interrupted |379 education. Moreover his father eagerly encouraged his son to go, and rejoiced exceedingly as though he were the father of a god rather than of a mere man.

When Aedesius had outstripped all the more notable men of his time, and all who had taught him, and by experience had gathered a store of wisdom, he made and completed a long journey from Cappadocia to Syria, to see the far-famed Iamblichus. And when he beheld the man and heard him discourse, he hung on his words and never could have enough of hearing him, till finally Aedesius himself became renowned and little inferior to Iamblichus, except as regards the latter's divine inspiration. On this head I had nothing to record, partly perhaps because Aedesius himself kept it secret owing to the times (for Constantine was emperor and was pulling down the most celebrated temples and building Christian churches); but perhaps it was partly because all his most distinguished disciples leaned towards and inclined to a silence appropriate to the mysteries, and a reserve worthy of a hierophant. At any rate, the present writer, though he became a pupil of Chrysanthius from boyhood, was scarcely in the twentieth year [of pupilage] deemed worthy of a share in the truer doctrines, so wondrous a thing was the philosophy of Iamblichus, extending and reaching down from that time even to our own day.³³

When Iamblichus had departed from this world, his disciples were dispersed in different directions, and not one of them failed to win fame and reputation.

SOPATER,³⁴ more eloquent than the rest because of his lofty nature and greatness of soul, would not |381 condescend to associate with ordinary men and went in haste to the imperial court, hoping to dominate and convert by his arguments the purpose and headlong policy of Constantine. And he attained to such wisdom and power that the emperor was captivated by him and publicly made him his assessor, giving him a seat at his right hand, a thing incredible to hear and see. The courtiers, bursting with jealous malice against a court so lately converted to the study of philosophy, lay in wait for their opportunity, like the Cercopes,³⁵ to catch not only Heracles asleep but also irrational unsleeping Fortune, and they held secret meetings and neglected no detail of their unhallowed plot. So it was just as in the time of the renowned Socrates, when no one of all the Athenians, even though they were a democracy, would have ventured on that accusation and indictment of one whom all the Athenians regarded as a walking image of wisdom, had it not been that in the drunkenness, insanity, and licence of the Dionysia and the night festival, when light laughter and careless and dangerous emotions are discovered among men, Aristophanes first introduced ridicule into their corrupted minds, and by setting dances upon the stage won over the audience to his views; for he made mock of that profound wisdom by describing the jumps of fleas,³⁶ and depicting the shapes and forms of clouds, and all those other absurd devices to which comedy resorts in order to raise a laugh. When they saw that the audience in the theatre was inclined to such indulgence, certain men set up an accusation and ventured on that impious indictment |383 against him; and so the death of one man brought misfortune on the whole state. For if one reckons from the date of Socrates' violent death, we may conclude that after it nothing brilliant was ever again achieved by the Athenians, but the city gradually decayed and because of her decay the whole of Greece was ruined along with her. So, too, in the time I speak of one could observe what happened in the affair of the plot against Sopater. For Constantinople, originally called Byzantium, in distant times used to furnish the Athenians with a regular supply of corn,³⁷ and an enormous quantity was imported thence. But in our times neither the great fleet of merchant vessels from Egypt and from all Asia, nor the abundance of corn that is contributed from Syria and Phoenicia and the other nations as the payment of tribute, can suffice to satisfy the intoxicated multitude which Constantine transported to Byzantium by emptying other cities, and established near him because he loved to be applauded in the theatres by men so drunk that they could not hold their liquor. For he desired to be praised by the unstable populace and that his name should be in their mouths, though so stupid were they that they could hardly pronounce the word. It happens, moreover, that the site of Byzantium is not adapted for the approach of ships that touch there, except when a strong wind is blowing due from the south. At that time, then, there happened what often used to happen according to the nature of the seasons; and the citizens were assembled in the theatre, worn out by hunger. The applause from |385 the drunken populace was scanty, and the Emperor was greatly discouraged. Then those who had long been envious thought that they had found an excellent occasion, and said: "It is Sopater, he whom you honour, who has fettered the winds ³⁸ by that excessive cleverness which you yourself praise, and through which he even sits on the Imperial throne." When Constantine heard this he was won over, and ordered Sopater's head to be cut off; and those envious persons took care that this was no sooner said than done. Ablabius was responsible for all these evils, for, though he was pretorian prefect, he felt stifled with envy of Sopater, who received more consideration than himself. And since I am, as I have already said, recording the lives of men who were trained in every kind of learning, so much, that is, as is preserved and has come to my ears, it will not be amiss if I also touch briefly on those who wrongfully injured them.

ABLABIUS who brought about the murder came of a very obscure family, and on his father's side did not even attain to the humble middle class. The following anecdote about him survives, and no one contradicted the facts alleged. A certain Egyptian of the class devoted to the study called astrology,³⁹ who was visiting the City ⁴⁰ (and when they are on their travels Egyptians are capable of behaving even in public with a lack of decorum, so that they are probably trained at home to manners of that sort); as I say, he came on a visit, pushed his way into one of the more expensive wineshops, and called out that he was parched after finishing a long journey, and that he would choke in a moment with thirst, |387 and ordered them to prepare and pour for him some sweet spiced wine, and the money for it was produced. The hostess of the wineshop, seeing her profits actually under her eyes, made ready to serve him and began bustling about. But she happened to be skilled in midwifery also. And when she had just set the goblet before the Egyptian and was in the act of pouring out the wine that she had prepared, one of her neighbours ran in and whispered in her ear: "Your friend and kinswoman," as indeed she actually was, "is in mortal danger in child-birth, unless you come quickly." When she heard this she then and there left the Egyptian open-mouthed, and did not stay to pour in the hot water. When she had relieved the woman in her travail and done all that is usual in case of child-birth, she washed her hands and came back at once to her customer. When she found him in deep chagrin and boiling over with rage, the woman explained the reason for her tardiness. On hearing it, the excellent Egyptian noted the time and season, and straightway felt more thirst to utter the message that had come to him from the gods than to cure his own thirst; and he cried out in a loud voice: "Go, woman, tell the mother that she has given birth to one only second to an emperor." After this revelation he drank his fill of the cup and spared not; and he left his name for the information of the woman. The infant's name was Ablabius, and he proved to be so much the darling of Fortune who delights in novelties, that he became even more powerful than the emperor. So much more powerful was he that he even put Sopater to death, after bringing against him a charge more foolish even than that against |389 Socrates, and in those days he influenced the emperor as though the latter were an undisciplined mob. Constantine, however, was punished for the honour that he paid to Ablabius, and the manner of his death I have described in my account of his life. He bequeathed to Ablabius his son Constantius who had been his consort in the Empire and succeeded to the throne of his father together with his brothers Constantine and Constans. But in my account of the sainted Julian I have related these matters more fully. When Constantius had succeeded to the throne and had been allotted his proper portion of the Empire, that is to say the countries that extend from Illyricum to the East, he at once relieved Ablabius of his authority, and gathered about himself a different set of favourites. Ablabius spent his time in luxury on an estate that he had long before made ready in Bithynia, which provided him a safe retreat of regal splendour and complete idleness; meanwhile all men marvelled that he did not aspire to be emperor. Then Constantius, from his father's city hard by, dispatched certain swordsmen to him in considerable numbers, and to the leaders he gave orders that they should hand him a letter. Those who delivered the letter into his hands prostrated themselves before him, as Romans are accustomed to prostrate themselves before the emperor. He received the document with great arrogance, and, freed from all apprehension, he demanded the imperial purple from those who had come, while his expression became more stern, and he inspired terror in the spectators. They replied that their task had only been to bring the letter, but that those who had been entrusted with this other |391 mission were at the door. Thereupon he insolently summoned them within, and was inflated with pride. But those who were then admitted were more in number and all carried swords, and instead of the purple robe they brought him "purple death," ⁴¹ and hacked him to pieces like some animal cut up at a public feast. Thus did the shade of Sopater avenge itself on Ablabius "the fortunate."

When these events had happened and Providence had shown that she had not deserted mankind, there remained AEDESIUS, the most renowned of those that survived. Once when he resorted with prayer to a form of oracle in which he placed most trust (it came in a dream), the god appeared in answer to his prayer and gave him the following response in hexameter verse. And just after he had opened his eyelids, while he was still spellbound with awe, he remembered the verbal sense of what had been said, though the supernatural and prodigious element in the verses escaped him and was slipping from his mind. So he called a slave, since he wished to cleanse his eyes and face with water,⁴² and the servant said to him: "Look, the back of your left hand is covered with writing." He looked, and concluded that the thing was a divine portent, and after reverently saluting his hand and the letters, he found that the following oracle was written on his hand: "On the warp of the two Fates' spinning lie the threads ot thy life's web. If thy choice is the cities and towns of men, thy renown shall be deathless, shepherding |393 the god-given impulse of youth. But if thou shalt be a shepherd of sheep and bulls, then hope that thou thyself shalt one day be the associate of the blessed immortals. Thus has thy thread been woven."

Thus ran the oracle. In obedience to it, as it was his duty to obey, he set out with all speed in pursuit of the better way, and looked about for a small estate and devoted his energies to the life of a goat-herd or neat-herd. But so great was his previous renown and so widespread that this purpose could not be hidden from those who longed for training in eloquence, or for learning. They tracked him down and beset him like hounds baying before his doors, and threatened to tear him in pieces if he should devote wisdom so great and so rare to hills and rocks and trees, as though he were not born a man or with knowledge of human life. He was forced by speeches and actions of this sort to return to the life and converse of ordinary men; and now he applied his talents to the inferior of the two ways. He left Cappadocia, and handed over to Eustathius the charge of his property there----they were indeed kinsmen----while he himself passed into the province of Asia; for all Asia was holding out her arms in welcome. He settled in ancient Pergamon, and his school was attended by Greeks and by the neighbouring people, so that his fame touched the stars.

With regard to EUSTATHIUS, it would be sacrilegious to leave out what would convey the truth. All men were agreed that he was not only observed to be a most noble character, but also most gifted with eloquence when put to the test, while the charm that sat on his tongue and lips seemed to be nothing |395 less than witchcraft. His mildness and amiability so blossomed out in what he said and gushed forth with his words, that those who heard his voice and speeches surrendered themselves like men who had tasted the lotus, and they hung on that voice and those speeches. So closely did he resemble the musical Sirens, that the emperor,⁴³ for all that he was wrapped up in the books of the Christians, sent for him at the time when he was alarmed by the state of affairs, and was hard pressed by impending danger from the king of the Persians, who had once already laid siege to Antioch and raided it with his bowmen. For unexpectedly and on a sudden he seized the height that commanded the theatre, and with his arrows shot and massacred that great crowd of spectators. In this similar crisis all men were so held captive and enchanted by Eustathius, that they did not hesitate to commend a man of the Hellenic faith to the ears of the emperor; although the earlier emperors had been accustomed to elect for embassies men who had won distinction in the army, or military prefects, or men who were next in rank to these and had been selected for office. But at that time, at the imperious call of necessity, Eustathius was sought out and admitted by general consent to be the most prudent of all men. Accordingly he was summoned by the emperor, and came forthwith, and so potent was the charm on his lips ⁴⁴ that those who had advised that the embassy should be dispatched in charge of Eustathius won greater consideration than |397 before from the emperor, and he inclined more favourably towards them. Moreover, some of these men set out of their own accord to accompany the embassy, because they wished to employ a still greater test, whether in his encounter with the barbarians Eustathius should prove to possess the same power to enchant and persuade. When they arrived in Persia, Sapor was reported to be and actually was tyrannical and savage towards those who approached him; nevertheless, when Eustathius, for the embassy in general, was allowed access to the king, the latter could not but admire the expression of his eyes which was at once amiable and proudly indifferent, in spite of the many preparations that the king had devised in order to dazzle and overawe the man. And when he heard his voice conversing so equably and with no effort, when he heard him run over his arguments so modestly and good-naturedly, he bade him withdraw; and Eustathius went out, leaving the tyrant a captive to his eloquence. Presently he sent a message by his household officials to invite him to his table, and when he obeyed the summons, since the king seemed to him to have a natural bent for virtue, Sapor joined him at the banquet. Thus Eustathius became his companion at table, and by his eloquence won such influence over him that the king of Persia came within an ace of renouncing his upright tiara, laying aside his purple and bejewelled attire, and putting on instead the philosopher's cloak of Eustathius; so successfully did the latter run down the life of luxury and the pomps and vanities of the flesh, to such depths of misery did he seem to bring down those who loved their bodies. But this was prevented by certain magi who |399 happened to be at the court, and kept asserting that the man was nothing but a mere conjuror; and they persuaded the king to reply to the Roman emperor by asking him why, when Fortune had bestowed on them so many distinguished men, they sent persons no better than slaves who had enriched themselves. And the whole result of the embassy was contrary to men's expectations.⁴⁵

In my researches concerning this man, I have come upon evidence of the following, namely that the whole of Greece prayed to see him and implored the gods that he might visit them. Moreover, the omens and those who were skilled to interpret them agreed that this would come to pass. But when they proved to be mistaken, for he did not visit Greece, the Greeks sent an embassy to him and chose for this embassy their most famous wise men. The purpose of their mission was to discuss with the renowned Eustathius this question: "Why did not the facts accord with these omens?" He listened to them, and then investigated and sifted the evidence of men who were famed in this science and had a wide renown, and cross-examined them, asking what was the size, colour, and shape of the omens. Then, as his manner was, he smiled at them, on hearing the true facts (for as falsehood has no place in the choir of the gods,⁴⁶ so too it has none in their utterance), and said: "Nay, these omens did not foretell this visit from me." Then he said something that in my judgement was too high for a mere mortal, for this was his reply: "The omens revealed were too trivial and too tardy for such dignity as mine." After this the renowned Eustathius married |401 Sosipatra, who by her surpassing wisdom made her own husband seem inferior and insignificant. So far did the fame of this woman travel that it is fitting for me to speak of her at greater length, even in this catalogue of wise men. She was born in Asia, near Ephesus, in that district which the river Cayster traverses and flows through, and hence gives its name to the plain. She came of a prosperous family, blessed with wealth, and while she was still a small child she seemed to bring a blessing on everything, such beauty and decorum illumined her infant years. Now she had just reached the age of five, when two old men (both were past the prime of life, but one was rather older than the other), carrying ample wallets and dressed in garments of skins, made their way to a country estate belonging to Sosipatra's parents, and persuaded the steward, as they were easily able to do, to entrust to them the care of the vines. When a harvest beyond all expectation was the result----the owner himself was there, and with him was the little girl Sosipatra----men's amazement was boundless, and they went so far as to suspect the intervention of the gods. The owner of the estate invited them to his table, and treated them with the highest consideration; and he reproached the other labourers on the estate with not obtaining the same results. The old men, on receiving Greek hospitality and a place at a Greek table, were smitten and captivated by the exceeding beauty and charm of the little girl Sosipatra, and they said: "Our other powers we keep to ourselves hidden and |403 unrevealed, and this abundant vintage that you so highly approve is laughable and mere child's-play which takes no account of our superhuman abilities. But if you desire from us a fitting return for this maintenance and hospitality, not in money or perishable and corruptible benefits, but one far above you and your way of life, a gift whereof the fame shall reach the skies and touch the stars, hand over this child Sosipatra to us who are more truly her parents and guardians, and until the fifth year from now fear no disease for the little girl, nor death, but remain calm and steadfast. But take care not to set your feet on this soil till the fifth year come with the annual revolutions of the sun. And of its own accord wealth shall spring up for you and shall blossom forth from the soil. Moreover, your daughter shall have a mind not like a woman's or a mere human being's. Nay, you yourself also shall have higher than mortal thoughts concerning the child. Now if you have good courage accept our words with outspread hands, but if any suspicions awake in your mind consider that we have said nothing." Hearing this the father bit his tongue, and humble and awestruck put the child into their hands and gave her over to them. Then he summoned his steward and said to him: "Supply the old men with all that they need, and ask no questions." Thus he spoke, and before the light of dawn began to appear he departed as though fleeing from his daughter and his estate.

Then those others----whether they were heroes or demons or of some race still more divine----took |405 charge of the child, and into what mysteries they initiated her no one knew, and with what religious rite they consecrated the girl was not revealed even to those who were most eager to learn. And now approached the appointed time when all the accounts of the revenue of the estate were due. The girl's father came to the farm and hardly recognized his daughter, so tall was she and her beauty seemed to him to have changed its character; and she too hardly knew her father. He even saluted her reverently, so different did she appear to his eyes. When her teachers were there and the table was spread, they said: "Ask the maiden whatever you please." But she interposed: "Nay, father, ask me what happened to you on your journey." He agreed that she should tell him. Now since he was so wealthy he travelled in a four-wheeled carriage, and with this sort of carriage many accidents are liable to happen. But she related every event, not only what had been said, but his very threats and fears, as though she had been driving with him. Her father was roused to such a pitch of admiration that he did not merely admire her but was dumb with amazement, and was convinced that his daughter was a goddess. Then he fell on his knees before those men and implored them to tell him who they were. Slowly and reluctantly, for such was perhaps the will of heaven, they revealed to him that they were initiates in the lore called Chaldean, and even this they told enigmatically and with bent heads. And when Sosipatra's father clung to their knees and supplicated them, adjuring them to become masters of the estate and to keep his daughter under their influence and initiate her into |407 still more sacred things, they nodded their assent to this, but spoke no word more. Then he took courage as though he had received some sacred promise or oracle, but could not grasp its meaning. In his heart he applauded Homer above all poets for having sung of such a manifestation as this, so marvellous and divine:

Yea, and the gods in the likeness of strangers from far countries put on all manner of shapes and wander through the cities.⁴⁷

He did indeed believe that he had fallen in with gods in the likeness of strangers. While his mind was full of this lie was overcome by sleep, and the others left the table, and taking the girl with them they very tenderly and scrupulously handed over to her the whole array of garments in which she had been initiated, and added certain mystic symbols thereto; and they also put some books into Sosipatra's chest, and gave orders that she should have it sealed. And she, no less than her father, took the greatest delight in those men. When the day began to break and the doors were opened, and people began to go to their work, the men also, according to their custom, went forth with the rest. Then the girl ran to her father bearing the good news, and one of the servants went with her to carry the chest. Her father asked for all the money belonging to him that happened to be available, and from his stewards all that they had for their necessary expenses, and sent to call those men, but they were nowhere to be seen. Then he said to Sosipatra: "What is the meaning of this, my child? " After a brief pause she replied: "Now at last I understand |409 what they said. For when they wept and put these things into my hands, they said: 'Child, take care of them; for we are travelling to the Western Ocean,⁴⁸ but presently we shall return.' " This proved very clearly that they who had appeared were blessed spirits. They then departed and went whithersoever it was; but her father took charge of the girl, now fully initiated, and though without pride, filled with divine breath, and he permitted her to live as she pleased and did not interfere in any of her affairs, except that sometimes he was ill pleased with her silence. And as she grew to the full measure of her youthful vigour, she had no other teachers, but ever on her lips were the works of the poets, philosophers, and orators; and those works that others comprehend but incompletely and dimly, and then only by hard work and painful drudgery, she could expound with careless ease, serenely and painlessly, and with her light swift touch would make their meaning clear. Then she decided to marry. Now beyond dispute Eustathius of all living men was alone worthy to wed her. So she said to him and to those who were present: "Do you listen to me, Eustathius, and let those who are here bear me witness: I shall bear you three children, and all of them will fail to win what is considered to be human happiness, but as to the happiness that the gods bestow, not one of them will fail therein. But you will go hence before me, and be allotted a fair and fitting place of abode, though I perhaps shall attain to one even higher. For your station will be in the orbit of the moon,⁴⁹ and only five years longer will you devote your |411 services to philosophy----for so your phantom tells me----but you shall traverse the region below the moon with a blessed and easily guided motion. Fain would I tell you my own fate also." Then after keeping silence for a short time, she cried aloud: "No, my god prevents me!" Immediately after this prophecy----for such was the will of the Fates----she married Eustathius, and her words had the same force as an immutable oracle, so absolutely did it come to pass and transpire as had been foretold by her.

I must relate also what happened after these events. After the passing of Eustathius, Sosipatra returned to her own estate, and dwelt in Asia in the ancient city of Pergamon, and the famous Aedesius loved and cared for her and educated her sons. In her own home Sosipatra held a chair of philosophy that rivalled his, and after attending the lectures of Aedesius, the students would go to hear hers; and though there was none that did not greatly appreciate and admire the accurate learning of Aedesius, they positively adored and revered the woman's inspired teaching.

Now there was one Philometor, a kinsman of hers, who, overcome by her beauty and eloquence, and recognizing the divinity of her nature, fell in love with her; and his passion possessed him and completely overmastered him. Not. only was he completely conquered by it but she also felt its onslaught. So she said to Maximus, who was one of the most distinguished pupils of Aedesius and was moreover his kinsman: "Maximus, pray find out |413 what ailment I have, that I may not be troubled by it." When he inquired: "Why what ails you?" she replied: "When Philometor is with me he is simply Philometor, and in no way different from the crowd. But when I see that he is going away my heart within me is wounded and tortured till it tries to escape from my breast. Do you exert yourself on my behalf," she added, "and so display your piety." When he had heard this, Maximus went away puffed up with pride as though he were now associating with the gods, because so wonderful a woman had put such faith in him. Meanwhile Philometor pursued his purpose, but Maximus having discovered by his sacrificial lore what was the power that Philometor possessed, strove to counteract and nullify the weaker spell by one more potent and efficacious. When Maximus had completed this rite he hastened to Sosipatra, and bade her observe carefully whether she had the same sensations in future. But she replied that she no longer felt them, and described to Maximus his own prayer and the whole ceremony; she also told him the hour at which it took place, as though she had been present, and revealed to him the omens that had appeared. And when he fell to the earth in amazement and proclaimed Sosipatra visibly a goddess, she said: "Rise, my son. The gods love you if you raise your eyes to them and do not lean towards earthly and perishable riches." On hearing this he went away more uplifted than before with pride, seeing that he now had clear and certain proof of the woman's divine nature. Near the door he was met by Philometor who was coming in in |415 high spirits with many of his friends, and with a loud voice Maximus called out to him from some distance: "Friend Philometor, I adjure you in Heaven's name, cease to burn wood to no purpose." Perhaps he said this with some inner knowledge of the malpractices in which the other was engaged. Thereupon Philometor was overawed by Maximus, believed him to be divine, and ceased his plotting, even ridiculing the course of action that he had entered on before. And for the future Sosipatra beheld Philometor with pure and changed eyes, though she admired him for so greatly admiring herself. Once, for example, when they were all met at her house----Philometor however was not present but was staying in the country----the theme under discussion and their inquiry was concerning the soul. Several theories were propounded, and then Sosipatra began to speak, and gradually by her proofs disposed of their arguments; then she fell to discoursing on the descent of the soul, and what part of it is subject to punishment, what part immortal, when in the midst of her bacchie and frenzied flow of speech she became silent, as though her voice had been cut off, and after letting a short interval pass she cried aloud in their midst: "What is this? Behold my kinsman Philometor riding in a carriage! The carriage has been overturned in a rough place in the road and both his legs are in danger! However, his servants have dragged him out unharmed, except that he has received wounds on his elbows and hands, though even these are not dangerous. He is being carried home on a stretcher, groaning loudly." These were her words, and they were the truth, for so it actually was. By this all were convinced that Sosipatra was |417 omnipresent, and that, even as the philosophers assert concerning the gods, nothing happened without her being there to see. She died leaving the three sons of whom she had spoken. The names of two of them I need not record. But Antoninus was worthy of his parents, for he settled at the Canobic mouth of the Nile and devoted himself wholly to the religious rites of that place, and strove with all his powers to fulfil his mother's prophecy. To him resorted all the youth whose souls were sane and sound, and who hungered for philosophy, and the temple was filled with young men acting as priests. Though he himself still appeared to be human and he associated with human beings, he foretold to all his followers that after his death ⁵⁰ the temple would cease to be, and even the great and holy temples of Serapis would pass into formless darkness and be transformed, and that a fabulous and unseemly gloom would hold sway over the fairest things on earth. To all these prophecies time bore witness, and in the end his prediction gained the force of an oracle. From this family----for it is not my purpose to write an Eoiae,⁵¹ as Hesiod's poem is called----there survived certain effluences as though from the stars, and these were dispersed and distributed among various classes of professed philosophers who made a profit out of their affinity with genuine philosophy, and they spent most of their time running risks in the law courts, like Socrates in the porch of the King Archon.⁵² Such was their contempt for money and their detestation of gold! In fact their philosophy consisted in wearing the philosopher's cloak |419 and constantly alluding to Sosipatra, while Eustathius was ever on their lips; moreover they carried other obvious and external signs, big wallets so crammed with books that they would have laden several camels. They had learned these very carefully by heart. And these books of theirs anyhow bore upon none of the ancient philosophers, but were wills and copies of wills, contracts of sales and suchlike documents, which are highly esteemed in that life which is prone to dissolute folly and licence. Thus it proved that Sosipatra could also divine correctly what should happen after these events. But I need not write down even the names of these men, for my narrative is eager to lead on to those that are not unworthy but worthy. An exception must be made of one of her sons; his name was Antoninus, and I mentioned him just now; he crossed to Alexandria, and then so greatly admired and preferred the mouth of the Nile at Canobus, that he wholly dedicated and applied himself to the worship of the gods there, and to their secret rites. He made rapid progress towards affinity with the divine, despised his body, freed himself from its pleasures, and embraced a wisdom that was hidden from the crowd. On this matter I may well speak at greater length. He displayed no tendency to theurgy and that which is at variance with sensible appearances, perhaps because he kept a wary eye on the imperial views and policy which were opposed to these practices.⁵³ But all admired his fortitude and his unswerving and inflexible character, and those who were then pursuing their studies at |421 Alexandria used to go down to him to the seashore. For, on account of its temple of Serapis, Alexandria was a world in itself, a world consecrated by religion: at any rate those who resorted to it from all parts were a multitude equal in number to its own citizens, and these, after they had worshipped the god, used to hasten to Antoninus, some, who were in haste, by land, while others were content with boats that plied on the river, gliding in a leisurely way to their studies. On being granted an interview with him, some would propound a logical problem, and were forthwith abundantly fed with the philosophy of Plato; but others, who raised questions as to things divine, encountered a statue. For he would utter not a word to any one of them, but fixing his eyes and gazing up at the sky he would lie there speechless and unrelenting, nor did anyone ever see him lightly enter into converse with any man on such themes as these.

Now, not long after, an unmistakable sign was given that there was in him some diviner element. For no sooner had he left the world of men than the cult of the temples in Alexandria and at the shrine of Serapis was scattered to the winds, and not only the ceremonies of the cult but the buildings as well, and everything happened as in the myths of the poets when the Giants gained the upper hand. The temples at Canobus also suffered the same fate in the reign of Theodosius, when Theophilus ⁵⁴ presided over the abominable ones like a sort of Eurymedon

Who ruled over the proud Giants,⁵⁵ |423

and Evagrius was prefect of the city, and Romanus in command of the legions in Egypt.⁵⁶ For these men, girding themselves in their wrath against our sacred places as though against stones and stone-masons, made a raid on the temples, and though they could not allege even a rumour of war to justify them, they demolished the temple of Serapis and made war against the temple offerings, whereby they won a victory without meeting a foe or fighting a battle. In this fashion they fought so strenuously against the statues and votive offerings that they not only conquered but stole them as well, and their only military tactics were to ensure that the thief should escape detection. Only the floor of the temple of Serapis they did not take, simply because of the weight of the stones which were not easy to move from their place. Then these warlike and honourable men, after they, had thrown everything into confusion and disorder and had thrust out hands, unstained indeed by blood but not pure from greed, boasted that they had overcome the gods, and reckoned their sacrilege and impiety a thing to glory in.

Next, into the sacred places they imported monks, as they called them, who were men in appearance but led the lives of swine, and openly did and allowed countless unspeakable crimes. But this they accounted piety, to show contempt for things divine. For in those days every man who wore a black robe and consented to behave in unseemly fashion in public,⁵⁷ possessed the power of a tyrant, to such a pitch of virtue had the human race advanced! All this however I have described in my Universal |425 History. They settled these monks at Canobus also, and thus they fettered the human race to the worship of slaves, and those not even honest slaves, instead of the true gods. For they collected the bones and skulls of criminals who had been put to death for numerous crimes, men whom the law courts of the city had condemned to punishment, made them out to be gods, haunted their sepulchres,⁵⁸ and thought that they became better by defiling themselves at their graves. "Martyrs" the dead men were called, and "ministers" of a sort, and "ambassadors" from the gods to carry men's prayers,----these slaves in vilest servitude, who had been consumed by stripes and carried on their phantom forms the scars of their villainy.⁵⁹ However these are the gods that earth produces! This, then, greatly increased the reputation of Antoninus also for foresight, in that he had foretold to all that the temples would become tombs.⁶⁰ Likewise the famous Iamblichus, as I have handed down in my account of his life, when a certain Egyptian invoked Apollo, and to the great amazement of those who saw the vision, Apollo came: "My friends," said he, "cease to wonder; this is only the ghost of a gladiator." So great a difference does it make whether one beholds a thing with the intelligence or with the deceitful eyes of the flesh. But Iamblichus saw through marvels that were present, whereas Antoninus foresaw future events. This fact of itself argues his superior powers. His end came painlessly, when he had attained to a ripe old |427 age free from sickness. And to all intelligent men the end of the temples which he had prognosticated was painful indeed.

Of MAXIMUS I have spoken earlier, and indeed the author of this narrative did not fail to see the man with his own eyes, but while still a youth met him in his old age and heard his voice, which was such as one might have heard from Homer's Athene or Apollo. The very pupils of his eyes were, so to speak, winged; he had a long grey beard, and his glance revealed the agile impulses of his soul. There was a wonderful harmony in his person, both to the eye and ear, and all who conversed with him were amazed as to both these faculties, since one could hardly endure the swift movements of his eyes or his rapid flow of words. In discussion with him no one ventured to contradict him, not even the most experienced and most eloquent, but they yielded to him in silence and acquiesced in what he said as though it came from the tripod of an oracle; such a charm sat on his lips.⁶¹ He came of an honourable family and possessed ample means; and he had two lawful brothers whom he kept from holding the very highest rank because he held it himself. They were Claudianus ⁶² who settled in Alexandria and taught there, and Nymphidianus who became very distinguished as a sophist at Smyrna.

Maximus was one of those who had been saturated with the wisdom of Aedesius; moreover he received the honour of being the teacher of the Emperor Julian. After all his relatives had been put to death by Constantius, as I have recorded with more details in my account of Julian, and the whole |429 family had been stripped bare, Julian alone was left alive, being despised on the score of his tender years and his mild disposition. Nevertheless, eunuchs from the palace took charge of him, and were assigned to keep watch so that he might not waver from the Christian faith. But even in the face of these difficulties he displayed the greatness of his genius. For he had their books so thoroughly by heart that they fretted at the scantiness of their erudition, since there was nothing that they could teach the boy. Now since they had nothing to teach him and Julian had nothing to learn from them, he begged his cousin's permission to attend the schools of the sophists and lectures on philosophy. He, as the gods so willed, permitted this, because he wished Julian to browse among books and to have leisure for them, rather than leave him to reflect on his own family and his claim to empire. After he had obtained this permission, since ample and abundant wealth from many sources was at his disposal,⁶³ he used to travel about accompanied by the emperor's suspicions and a bodyguard, and went where he pleased. Thus it was that he came to Pergamon, following on the report of the wisdom of Aedesius. But the latter was by this time far on in years, and his bodily strength was failing. First and foremost of all his students were Maximus, about whom I am now writing, Chrysanthius of Sardis, Priscus the Thesprotian or Molossian, and Eusebius who came from Myndus, a city of Caria. On being allowed to study under Aedesius, Julian, who was old for his boyish years, in amazement and admiration of his vigour and the divine qualities of his soul, refused to leave him, but like those who had |431 been bitten by the snake ⁶⁴ in the story he longed to drink down learning open-mouthed and at a gulp, and to win his end used to send Aedesius gifts worthy of an emperor. But Aedesius would not accept these, and having summoned the youth he said: "Well, thou also knowest my soul, for thou hast listened many a time to my teachings; but thou seest how its instrument is affected now that that whereby it is connected and held together is dissolving into that from which it was composed. But if thou dost desire to accomplish aught, beloved child of wisdom as thou art, such signs and tokens of thy soul do I discern, go to those who are true sons of mine. From their store fill thyself to overflowing with every kind of wisdom and learning. Once admitted to their mysteries thou shalt be utterly ashamed to have been born and to be called a man. I could have wished that Maximus also were here, but he has been dispatched to Ephesus. Of Priscus ⁶⁵ too I should have said the same, but he also has sailed to Greece. But there remain of my disciples Eusebius and Chrysanthius, and if thou wilt study with them thou wilt cease to harass my old age."

On hearing this, Julian did not even then leave the philosopher, but for the greater part of his time he devoted his attention to Eusebius and Chrysanthius. Now Chrysanthius had a soul akin to that of Maximus, and like him was passionately absorbed in working marvels, and he withdrew himself in the study of the science of divination, and in other respects also had a very similar |433 character. But Eusebius, at least when Maximus was present, used to avoid precise and exact divisions of a disputation and dialectical devices and subtleties; though when Maximus was not there he would shine out like a bright star, with a light like the sun's; such was the facility and charm that flowered in his discourses. Chrysanthius too was there to applaud and assent, while Julian actually reverenced Eusebius. At the close of his exposition Eusebius would add that these ⁶⁶ are the only true realities, whereas the impostures of witchcraft and magic that cheat the senses are the works of conjurors who are insane men led astray into the exercise of earthly and material powers. The sainted Julian frequently heard the closing words, and at last took Chrysanthius aside, and said: "If the truth is in you, dear Chrysanthius, tell me plainly what is the meaning of this epilogue that follows his exposition? " Having reflected deeply and with prudence, he said: "The wise thing for you to do will be to inquire this not of me but of himself." Julian listened, took the hint and acted on it, and regarded Chrysanthius as little short of divine on account of what he had said. Then when the next lecture took place, Eusebius ended with the same words as before, and Julian boldly asked him what was the meaning of the epilogue that he perpetually recited. Thereupon Eusebius spread the sails of the eloquence that was his by nature, and giving free rein to his powers of speech said: "Maximus is one of the older and more learned students, who, because of his lofty genius and superabundant eloquence scorned all logical proof in these subjects and |435 impetuously resorted to the acts of a madman. Not long since, he invited us to the temple of Hecate and summoned many witnesses of his folly. When we had arrived there and had saluted the goddess: 'Be seated,' said he, 'my well-beloved friends, and observe what shall come to pass, and how greatly I surpass the common herd.' When he had said this, and we had all sat down, he burned a grain of incense and recited to himself the whole of some hymn or other, and was so highly successful in his demonstration that the image of the goddess first began to smile, then even seemed to laugh aloud. We were all much disturbed by this sight, but he said: 'Let none of you be terrified by these things, for presently even the torches which the goddess holds in her hands shall kindle into flame.' And before he could finish speaking the torches burst into a blaze of light. Now for the moment we came away amazed by that theatrical miracle-worker. But you must not marvel at any of these things, even as I marvel not, but rather believe that the thing of the highest importance is that purification of the soul which is attained by reason." However, when the sainted Julian heard this, he said: "Nay, farewell and devote yourself to your books. You have shown me the man I was in search of." After saying this he kissed the head of Chrysanthius and started for Ephesus. There he had converse with Maximus, and hung on to him and laid fast hold on all that he had to teach. Maximus persuaded him to summon thither the divine Chrysanthius also, and when this had been done the two of them barely sufficed to satisfy the boy's great capacity for acquiring this kind of lore. |437

Now when his studies with them were prospering, he heard that there was a higher wisdom in Greece, possessed by the hierophant of the goddesses,⁶⁷ and hastened to him with all speed. The name of him who was at that time hierophant it is not lawful for me to tell ⁶⁸; for he initiated the author of this narrative. By birth he was descended from the Eumolpidae. ⁶⁹ He it was who in the presence of the author of this book foretold the overthrow of the temples and the ruin of the whole of Greece, and he clearly testified that after his death there would be a hierophant who would have no right to touch the hierophant's high seat, because he had been consecrated to the service of other gods and had sworn oaths of the uttermost sanctity that he would not preside over temples other than theirs. Nevertheless he foretold that this man would so preside, though he was not even an Athenian. To such prophetic power did he attain that he prophesied that in his own lifetime the sacred temples would be razed to the ground and laid waste, and that that other would live to see their ruin and would be despised for his overweening ambition; that the worship of the Goddesses would come to an end before his own death, and that deprived of his honour his life would no longer be that of a hierophant, and that he would not reach old age. Thus indeed it came to pass. For no sooner was the citizen of Thespiae made hierophant, he who fathered the ritual of Mithras,⁷⁰ than without delay many inexplicable disasters came on in a flood. Some of these have been described in the more detailed narrative of my History, others, if it be permitted by the powers above, I shall |439 relate. It was the time when Alaric with his barbarians invaded Greece by the pass of Thermopylae, as easily as though he were traversing an open stadium or a plain suitable for cavalry. For this gateway of Greece was thrown open to him by the impiety of the men clad in black raiment,⁷¹ who entered Greece unhindered along with him, and by the fact that the laws and restrictions of the hierophantic ordinances had been rescinded. But all this happened in later days, and my narrative digressed because I mentioned the prophecy.

At the time I now speak of, Julian had no sooner become intimate with that most holy of hierophants and greedily absorbed his wisdom, than he was forcibly removed by Constantius to be his consort in the Empire and elevated to the rank of Caesar,⁷² while Maximus remained in Asia (Aedesius had now passed away), and progressed by leaps and bounds in every kind of wisdom. Thus did Julian obtain what he did not desire, but had thrust upon him. As Caesar he was dispatched to Gaul, not so much to rule there as with the intention that he should perish by violent means, while holding his imperial office; but contrary to all expectation, by the providence of the gods he emerged alive, concealing from all men his pious devotion to the gods, but overcoming all men by reason of that very devotion. He crossed the Rhine and defeated and subjugated all the barbarian tribes beyond that river, and this in spite of numerous plots and schemes that were woven against him, as I have related in full in his Life. Then he summoned the hierophant from Greece, and having with his aid |441 performed certain rites known to them alone, he mustered up courage to abolish the tyranny of Constantius. His accomplices were Oribasius ⁷³ of Pergamon and a certain Euhemerus, a native of Libya, which the Romans in their native tongue call Africa. But all this has been described in fuller detail in my work on Julian. When he had abolished the tyranny of Constantius,⁷⁴ and had sent back the hierophant to Greece as though he were sending back some god who had revealed himself and bestowed on him what he desired, and had sent with,him also gifts worthy of an emperor, and attendants to take care of the temples of Greece, he at once sent for Maximus and Chrysanthius. One summons came for them both. They decided to have recourse to the aid of the gods, and energetic and experienced as they both were, they combined their experience for this common purpose, and summoned and brought to bear all their keen sight in such matters and all their mental perspicacity; but they encountered forbidding and hostile omens. Well did they know the meaning of the omens then revealed. Now Chrysanthius was overwhelmed and awestruck by what he saw, and biting his tongue he said: "Not only must I stay here, beloved Maximus, I must also hide myself from all men." But Maximus asserted the force of his will, and replied: "Nay, Chrysanthius, I think that you have forgotten that we have been educated to believe that it is the duty of genuine Hellenes, especially if they are learned men, not to yield absolutely to the first obstacles they meet; but rather to wrestle with the heavenly powers till you make them incline to their servant." But Chrysanthius |443 retorted: "Perhaps you have the skill and the daring to do this, but I refuse to contend against these omens." With these words he went away, but Maximus remained and tried every method till he obtained the results that he wished and desired. Chrysanthius, however, remained more immovable than a statue, resolved not to alter in the least the conclusions that had originally been firmly fixed in his mind. Thereupon all the people of Asia flocked in haste to Maximus, not only those who at the time held office or had been relieved of their offices, but also the leading men in the various senates. The common people too blocked the streets before the house of Maximus, leaping and uttering shouts, as is from of old the custom of the mob whenever it would win someone's favour. Meanwhile the women poured in by the back door to see his wife, marvelled at her felicity, and begged her not to forget them: and so profound was her knowledge of philosophy that she made Maximus seem not to know how to swim or even know his alphabet. Thus, then, Maximus, adored by all Asia, went his way to meet the emperor, but Chrysanthius stayed where he was, since a god had appeared to him in a dream, and, as he later on told the author of this narrative, recited the following verse:

If a man obeys the gods, they in turn hearken to his prayer.⁷⁵

Maximus with a numerous escort set out for Constantinople, and on arriving there he very soon shone out in all his glory. For both ruler and ruled were entirely devoted to Maximus. Whether it were day or night made no difference to them, |445 so incessantly did they refer to the gods all questions that arose in their daily life. The result was that at the imperial court Maximus began to grow insolent, wore flowing raiment of a stuff too luxurious for a philosopher, and became more and more difficult of access and unapproachable; but the emperor knew nothing of what was going on. Then they decided, according to the urgent wishes of the emperor, to send for Priscus also; and Maximus persisted in his demand that Chrysanthius should come as well. Both men were accordingly summoned, Priscus from Greece, and Chrysanthius from Sardis in Lydia. The divine Julian was so dependent on the latter's society that he wrote to both men as though they were his intimate friends, and implored them as though they were gods to come and live with him. But in the case of Chrysanthius, on hearing that he had a wife named Melite to whom he was devotedly attached (she was a cousin of the present author), Julian retired in private and, unknown to all, he wrote with his own hand to this woman and expended every possible argument to induce her to persuade her husband not to refuse to make the journey. Then he asked for the letter that had been written to Chrysanthius, enclosed his own, set his seal on both, and dispatched messengers to take what seemed to be only one letter.⁷⁶ Moreover, he sent many verbal messages which he thought would be useful

To persuade with ease the mighty soul of the grandson of Aeacus.⁷⁷

Priscus accordingly came,⁷⁸ and when there he |447 behaved with great modesty. And though there were just as many who sought his favour, he nevertheless remained unmoved, and was not puffed up by the emperor's court, but rather endeavoured to lower the pride of the court and to bring it to a more philosophic level.

Chrysanthius, however, could not be caught even by such snares and devices as these, but he consulted the gods, and since the will of heaven was unchanged, he for his part obeyed the gods, and wrote to the emperor that it was in the latter's interest that he should stay in Lydia, and that the gods had informed him of this. The emperor was suspicious about the refusal of his invitation, but he appointed Chrysanthius high priest of Lydia, along with his wife, and entrusted to them the selection of other priests. Meanwhile he himself was setting out in haste for the war against Persia. Both Maximus and Priscus accompanied him,⁷⁹ and certain other sophists joined the expedition, so that they amounted to a considerable number; they were, in fact, a mob of men who sang their own praises and were inflated with pride because the emperor said that he had associated with them. But when the enterprise which began with such great and splendid hopes had fallen with a crash to a vague and shapeless ruin and had slipped through his fingers, as I have described more fully in my Life of Julian, Jovian ⁸⁰ was made emperor, and he continued to award honours to these men. Then too swiftly and violently he passed away to join his predecessor in Empire (if, indeed, we can say of that predecessor that he merely joined the majority ⁸¹!), and then |449 Valentinian and Valens succeeded to the Imperial throne. Thereupon Maximus and Priscus were carried off in custody, and this time their summons was very different from the time when Julian invited them. For then the summons was, as it were, to some public festival and it lit up the path to ample honours; but in that second summons, instead of bright hopes, danger was clearly visible, for the fear of public and overwhelming disgrace, veiled for them the whole prospect. Priscus, however, suffered no harm, and since evidence was produced that he was a righteous man and had behaved virtuously at the time I speak of, he returned to Greece. It was at the time when the author of this narrative was being educated, and was still a boy just arrived at adolescence. But Maximus, though many clamoured against him, both in public in the theatres and privately to the emperor, in spite of this won admiration because he bore up against such great misfortunes. Nevertheless they inflicted on him the severest possible punishment; for they fined him a sum of money so large that a philosopher could hardly even have heard of such an amount (this was because they suspected that he possessed the property of all the others); and then they regretted it on the ground that they had made his fine too small. He was sent into Asia to make payment of the money, and what he suffered there was beyond any tragedy, and none could have the power of utterance or take such pleasure in the misfortunes of others as to report fully the terrible sufferings of this great man. For even the Persian torture called "The Boat," ⁸² or the painful toil of the women with the hoe among |451 the Artabri ⁸³ is not to be compared with the agonies inflicted on the body of Maxim us. His wonderful wife was ever by his side and grieve'd over his sufferings. But when there seemed to be no limit to them and they even grew more intense, he said to her: "My wife, buy poison, give it to me and set me free." Accordingly she bought it and came with it in her hand. Thereupon he asked for it to drink but she insisted on drinking first, and when she had straightway died her relatives buried her: but after that Maximus did not drink.

And now all my eloquence and all the praises that the tribe of poets might sing would prove unequal to describe the conduct of Clearchus.⁸⁴ Clearchus came of a rich family in Thesprotis and had himself won a distinguished reputation when the whole course of events was changed. For Valentinian withdrew to the empire of the West,⁸⁵ while the Emperor Valens became involved in the utmost dangers, and had to enter a contest not only for empire but for his very life. For Procopius had revolted against him with unlimited forces and was harassing him from all sides to bring about his capture. Now Clearchus was at that time governor of all Asia, that is to say of the domain that extends from the Hellespont through Lydia and Pisidia as far as the boundaries of Pamphylia. And he displayed great kindness in his government and exposed his own person to the greatest risks, and openly carried on a quarrel with the pretorian prefect, so that not even the emperor could ignore |453 their quarrel. The prefect's name was Sallust,⁸⁶ and in the reign of the Emperor Julian he had perfected and adorned his own mind. Nevertheless Clearchus exposed his slothfulness due to old age, and nicknamed him Nicias.⁸⁷ And in fact in those days he thought only of nurturing and strengthening his mind by reading and by inquiry into the facts of history.

Now when he saw that things went so well, Valens felt unbounded admiration for Clearchus, and far from removing him from his office he transferred him to a post of greater importance and appointed him proconsul of all that is to-day properly called Asia. This province embraces the sea coast from Pergamon and includes the hinterland of that coast as far as Caria, while Mount Tmolos circumscribes its limits in the direction of Lydia. It is the most illustrious of all the provinces and is outside the jurisdiction of the pretorian prefect, save in so far as everything has been thrown into confusion and disorder in these later troubles.⁸⁸ But, at the time I speak of, Asia was still free from sedition when Clearchus took over the government; and there he discovered Maximus racked by tortures and barely able to endure them. I must now relate a supernatural occurrence; for none could justly ascribe to any other than a god a thing so amazing. For all the soldiers who had been assigned to punish Maximus |455 without respite, by superior force he compelled to flee, released him from his fetters, charged himself with the cure of his body, and made him sit at his own table. Moreover he spoke so boldly and frankly to the emperor that the latter not only relaxed his wrath but conceded everything that Clearchus advised. Thus he relieved Sallust of his office and appointed Auxonius ⁸⁹ to the duties of pretorian prefect. Then Clearchus proceeded to punish the soldiers who had tortured Maximus, from all who in that unhappy time had stolen anything from him he exacted repayment, and punished those who had insulted him; so that this saying was in the mouths of all that he was a second Julian to Maximus. Thereupon Maximus even delivered public declamations, but since he was not naturally fitted to speak to a sophistic audience he increased his reputation little thereby, until at last he began to lift up his head again and resumed his lectures on philosophy. Thus he recovered much of his wealth and of what had been stolen from him in various ways, and very speedily he became prosperous and as well off as when he first arrived at Julian's court. Next he actually visited Constantinople as a distinguished personage, and all men regarded him with awe when they found that his fortunes were restored. He even risked a test of his innocence in the matter of theurgy, and still further increased his reputation.⁹⁰ Thereupon once more his widespread renown gave birth to harsh feelings against him. For the courtiers framed |457 a conspiracy against the emperors and put forward some private oracle of their own (it is not everyone who can understand what I mean), and when some obscure oracular utterance was given they referred it to Maximus, without admitting to him their real aim, but as though he himself had given forth and reported the oracle, and they desired to learn its meaning more clearly. For it had been made manifest at that time that Maximus alone knew the purposes of the gods, however obscurely they might be conveyed to other men. Accordingly, by putting his mind on the oracle and closely observing what it said, he quickly saw the hidden sense of the words, that is, the truth itself, and he revealed it more truly than an oracle, namely that they had ruined both him who published it, meaning himself, and all men besides, added he, not only those who knew of their plot; but he declared that many more would be unjustly chastised. Moreover from the inmost shrine, as it were, he announced: "After the general and multiform slaughter of all men, in which we shall be the victims of the massacre, the emperor will die a strange death, and will not be given burial or the honour of a tomb." Thus indeed it came to pass, as I have described more fully in my Universal History. For presently the conspirators who had banded together were arrested, and while they were being dragged to prison from all directions and beheaded, like hens at some festival or banquet to entertain the whole populace, Maximus too was dragged away with them, and so came to Antioch where the emperor ⁹¹ was staying at the time. But they were ashamed to put him to |459 death, both because he had refuted every charge at the trial and convicted of falsehood those who had laid hands on him, and because he had so precisely foretold all that was happening; therefore just as though in the person of Maximus they were punishing some god, they sent away with him into Asia a certain Festus,⁹² a man of a murderous disposition with the soul of a butcher, judging Asia to be a worthy abode for such a man. When he arrived he carried out his orders, and of his own accord even went beyond them and indulged to the top of his bent his beastlike and rabid temperament. For first he cut off the heads of many, guilty and innocent alike, and next he slaughtered Maximus, that great man. So the oracle was fulfilled, and the rest of it also came to pass. For the emperor in a fierce battle with the Scythians was done away with in a strange fashion,⁹³ so that not even a bone was found to bury. The will of Heaven added to all this a still more wonderful occurrence. For that same Festus (and this the author learned accurately as an eyewitness), was deprived of his office, and first he went to visit Theodosius who had lately been made emperor; then he returned to Asia (for he had there contracted a marriage splendid enough for a tyrant), and to make a display of his luxurious living and his escape from all the charges against him, he announced that he would give a magnificent banquet to those who held the most distinguished offices or were of the highest nobility. Now it was the third day after the January Calends, as the Romans call them, and they all saluted him and promised to come to the banquet. Then Festus |461 entered the temple of the Goddesses Nemesis,⁹⁴ though he had never professed any reverence for the gods, nay it was for their worship of the gods that he punished all his victims with death; still he did enter, and related to those present a vision he had had, and as he told the tale his face was bathed in tears. Now the dream was as follows: he said that Maximus threw a noose round his neck, seized him, and dragged him down to Hades to have his case tried before Pluto. All present were terrified when they recalled the whole life of the man, but they each of them dried their tears, and bade him pray to the Goddesses. He obeyed them and offered up his prayers. But as he came forth from the temple both his feet slipped from under him, and he fell on his back and lay there speechless. He was carried home and at once expired, an event that was considered to be a most admirable dispensation of Providence.

Concerning PRISCUS I have already related many facts, for I had to do so now and then, as it fell out, and so I have spoken of his birthplace. But of his character the following account is separately recorded. He was of a too secretive disposition, and his learning was recondite and abstruse; moreover, his memory was extraordinarily good, and he had collected all the teachings of the ancients and had them ever on his tongue. In appearance he was very handsome and tall, and he might have been thought uneducated, because it was so hard to induce him to engage in disputation, and he kept his own convictions hidden as though he were guarding a treasure, and used to term prodigals those who too lightly gave out their views on these matters. For he used to say that one who is beaten in philosophical |463 argument does not thereby become milder, but rather, as he fights against the might of the truth and suffers the pains of thwarted ambition, he becomes more savage, and ends by hating both letters and philosophy equally, and by being thoroughly confused in his mind. For this reason, therefore, he usually maintained his reserve. His bearing was deliberate and lofty, and he preserved this bearing not only when he was with his friends and disciples, but the authority of his manner remained with him from youth to old age. Hence Chrysanthius used to say to the author of this work that the manners of Aedesius were sociable and democratic, and after their competitions in literature and disputations, he would go for a walk in Pergamon accompanied by the more distinguished of his pupils. And their teacher used to implant in his pupils a feeling of harmony, and of responsibility towards mankind when he observed that they were intolerant and overbearing because of their pride in their own opinions; and when they spread their wings further than those of Icarus, though they were even more fragile, he would lead them gently down, not into the sea, but to the land and to human life. While he thus instructed them, he himself, if he met a woman selling vegetables, was pleased to see her and would stop in his walk to speak to her and discuss the price she charged, and say that her shop was making a good profit; and at the same time he used to talk with her about the cultivation of vegetables. He would behave in the same fashion to a weaver, or a smith, or a carpenter. Thus the more diligent of his pupils were trained in this affability, especially Chrysanthius and all who in that school resembled Chrysanthius. |465

But Priscus alone did not spare the feelings of their teacher, but to his face would call him a traitor to the dignity of philosophy, a man versed in petty maxims,⁹⁵ which, while they might be useful for elevating the soul, were never observed in practical life. Nevertheless, in spite of his disposition, even after the reign of Julian, Priscus remained exempt from criticism; and after introducing many innovations among his disciples, who, like Corybants, were intoxicated with the desire for wisdom, and while still maintaining on all occasions his secretive manners and sneering at human weakness, he at last died, having reached a great age (for he was over ninety), at the time of the destruction of the temples of Greece. And, in those days, there were many who in their grief threw away their lives, while others were slaughtered by the barbarians, among whom was Proterius, a native of the island Cephallenia, as to whose worth and probity there is good evidence. Hilarius too was known to the author; he was by birth a Bithynian, but he grew old at Athens, and, besides the whole range of learning, he had so mastered the art of painting that it seemed as though in his hands Euphranor was still alive. The author of this narrative used to admire and love him beyond other men, because of the beauty of his portraits. Nevertheless, even Hilarius could not escape his share in the general disasters, for he was captured outside Athens (he was staying somewhere near Corinth), and together with his slaves was beheaded by the barbarians.⁹⁶ These events, if it be the will of heaven, |467 I shall relate more fully in my Universal History, since there they will be told more clearly, not with reference to the individual, but as they concerned the interests of all. For the present, however, their bearing on individuals has been set forth as far as is suitable to my narrative.

JULIAN OF CAPPADOCIA, the sophist, flourished in the time of Aedesius, and was a sort of tyrant at Athens. For all the youths from all parts flocked to him, and revered the man for his eloquence and his noble disposition. For there were indeed certain other men, his contemporaries, who in some degree attained to the comprehension of true beauty and reached the heights of his renown, namely Apsines of Lacedaemon who won fame as a writer on rhetoric, and Epagathus, and a whole host of names of that sort. But Julian surpassed them all by his great genius, and he who was second to him was a bad second. He had numerous pupils who came, so to speak, from all parts of the world, and when dispersed in every country were admired wherever and whenever they established themselves. But most distinguished of them all were the inspired Prohaeresius, Hephaestion, Epiphanius of Syria, and Diophantus the Arab. It is fitting that I should also mention Tuscianus, since he too was one of Julian's pupils, but I have already spoken of him in my account of the reign of the Emperor Julian.⁹⁷ The author himself saw Julian's house at Athens; poor and humble as it was, nevertheless from it breathed the fragrance of Hermes and the Muses, so closely did it resemble a holy temple. This house he had bequeathed to Prohaeresius. There, too, |469 were erected statues of the pupils whom he had most admired; and he had a theatre of polished marble made after the model of a public theatre, but smaller and of a size suitable to a house. For in those days, so bitter was the feud at Athens between the citizens and the young students,⁹⁸ as though the city after those ancient wars of hers was fostering within her walls the peril of discord, that not one of the sophists ventured to go down into the city and discourse in public, but they confined their utterances to their private lecture theatres and there discoursed to their students. Thus they ran no risk of their lives, but there competed for applause and fame for eloquence.

Though I leave much unsaid, I must set down and introduce into this narrative the following sample of all Julian's learning and prudence. It so happened that the boldest of the pupils of Apsines had, in a fierce encounter, got the upper hand of Julian's pupils in the course of the war of factions ⁹⁹ that they kept up. After laying violent hands on them in Spartan fashion,¹⁰⁰ though the victims of their ill-treatment had been in danger of their lives, they prosecuted them as though they themselves were the injured parties. The case was referred to the proconsul, who, showing himself stern and implacable, ordered that their teacher also be arrested, and that all the accused be thrown into chains, like men imprisoned on a charge of murder. It seems, however, that, for |471 a Roman, he was not uneducated or bred in a boorish and illiberal fashion. Accordingly Julian was in court, as he had been ordered, and Apsines was there also, not in obedience to orders but to help the case of the plaintiffs. Now all was ready for the hearing of the case, and the plaintiffs were permitted to enter. The leader of the disorderly Spartan faction was one Themistocles, an Athenian, who was in fact responsible for all the trouble, for he was a rash and headstrong youth and a disgrace to his famous name. The proconsul at once glared fiercely at Apsines, and said: "Who ordered you to come here?" He replied that he had come because he was anxious about his children. The magistrate concealed his real opinion and said no more; and then the prisoners who had been so unfairly treated again came before the court, and with them their teacher. Their hair was uncut and they were in great physical affliction, so that even to the judge they were a pitiful sight. Then the plaintiffs were permitted to speak, and Apsines began to make a speech, but the proconsul interrupted him and said: "This procedure is not approved by the Romans. He who delivered the speech for the prosecution at the first hearing must try his luck at the second also." There was then no time for preparation because of the suddenness of the decision. Now Themistocles had made the speech for the prosecution before, but now on being compelled to speak he changed colour, bit his lips in great embarrassment, looked furtively towards his comrades, and consulted them in whispers as to what they had better do. For they had come into court prepared only to shout and applaud vociferously their teacher's speech in their behalf. Therefore |473 profound silence and confusion reigned, a general silence in the court and confusion in the ranks of the accusers. Then Julian, in a low and pitiful voice said: "Nay, then, give me leave to speak." Whereupon, the proconsul exclaimed: "No, not one of you shall plead, you teachers who have come with your speeches prepared, nor shall anyone of your pupils applaud the speaker; but you shall learn forthwith how perfect and how pure is the justice that the Romans dispense. First let Themistocles finish his speech for the prosecution, and then he whom you think best fitted shall speak in defence." But no one spoke up for the plaintiffs, and Themistocles was a scandal and a disgrace to his great name. When, thereupon, the proconsul ordered that anyone who could should reply to the earlier speech of the prosecution, Julian the sophist said: "Proconsul, in your superlative justice you have transformed Apsines into a Pythagoras, who tardily but very properly has learned how to maintain silence; for Pythagoras long ago (as you are well aware) taught his pupils the Pythagorean manner. But, if you allow one of my pupils to make our defence, give orders for Prohaeresius to be released from his bonds, and you shall judge for yourself whether I have taught him the Attic manner or the Pythagorean." The proconsul granted this request very graciously, as Tuscianus,¹⁰¹ who was present at the trial, reported to the author, and Prohaeresius came forward from the ranks of the defendants without his fetters before them all, after his master had called out to him not in a loud and piercing voice, such as |475 is used by those who exhort and incite athletes contending for a garland, but still in penetrating accents: "Speak, Prohaeresius! Now is the time to make a speech!" He then first delivered a prooemium of some sort. Tuscianus could not exactly recall it, though he told me its purport. It launched out and soon slid into a pitiable account of their sufferings and he inserted an encomium of their teacher. In this prooemium he let fall only one allusion to a grievance, when he pointed out how headlong the proconsular authority had been, since not even after sufficient proof of their guilt was it proper for them to undergo and suffer such treatment. At this the proconsul bowed his head and was overcome with admiration of the force of his arguments, his weighty style, his facility and sonorous eloquence. Meanwhile they all longed to applaud, but sat cowering as though forbidden to do so by a sign from heaven, and a mystic silence pervaded the place. Then he lengthened his speech into a second prooemium as follows (for this part Tuscianus remembered): "If, then, men may with impunity commit any injustice and bring accusations and win belief for what they say, before the defence is heard, so be it! Let our city be enslaved to Themistocles! " Then up jumped the proconsul, and shaking his purple-edged cloak (the Romans call it a "tebennos ¹⁰² "), that austere and inexorable judge applauded Prohaeresius like a schoolboy. Even Apsines joined in the applause, not of his own free will, but because there is no fighting against necessity. Julian his teacher could only weep. The proconsul ordered all |477 the accused, but of the accusers their teacher only, to withdraw, and then, taking aside Themistocles and his Spartans, he reminded them forcibly of the floggings of Lacedaemon, and added besides the kind of flogging in vogue at Athens. Julian himself won a great reputation by his own eloquence, and also through the fame of his disciples, and when he died at Athens he left to his pupils a great occasion for competing over his funeral oration.¹⁰³

Of PROHAERESIUS I have said enough in the above narrative, and have set forth his life still more fully in my historical commentaries. Yet it is convenient here and now to go over the facts in more precise detail, seeing that I had unerring knowledge of him and was admitted to his conversation and teaching. And that is a very great privilege, and has immense power to excite the gratitude due to a teacher; but even this great and inexpressible gratitude falls very far short of what the author owes to Prohaeresius for his intimate friendship. The compiler of this book had crossed over from Asia to Europe and to Athens in the sixteenth year of his age. Now Prohaeresius had reached his eighty-seventh year, as he himself stated. At this advanced age his hair was curly and very thick, and because of the number of grey hairs it was silvered over and resembled sea foam. His powers of oratory were so vigorous, and he so sustained his worn body by the youthfulness of his soul, that the present writer regarded him as an ageless and immortal being, and heeded him as he might some god who had revealed himself unsummoned |479 and without ceremony. Now it happened that the writer arrived at the Piraeus about the first watch, and on the voyage had been attacked by a raging fever; and several other persons, his relatives, had sailed over with him. At that time of night, before any of the usual proceedings could take place ¹⁰⁴ (for the ship belonged to Athens and many used to lie in wait for her arrival at the dock, mad enthusiasts each for his own particular school), the captain went straight on to Athens. The rest of the passengers walked, and the writer, too feeble to walk, was nevertheless supported by them in relays, and so was conveyed to the city. It was by then deepest midnight, at the season when the sun makes the nights longer by retiring farther to the South; for he had entered the sign of Libra,¹⁰⁵ and the night watches ¹⁰⁶ were long. The captain, who was an old-time friend and guest of Prohaeresius, knocked at his door and ushered in all this crowd of disciples, so many in fact that, at a time when battles were being fought to win only one or two pupils, the newcomers seemed enough in themselves to man all the schools of the sophists. Some of these youths were distinguished for physical strength, some had more bulky purses, while the rest were only moderately endowed. The author, who was in a pitiable state, had most of the works of the ancient writers by heart, his sole possession.¹⁰⁷ Forthwith there was great rejoicing in the house, and men and women alike ran to and fro, some |481 laughing, others bandying jests. Prohaeresius at that time of night sent for some of his own relatives and directed them to take in the newcomers. He was himself a native of Armenia, that is to say he came from that part of Armenia which borders most closely on Persia, and these kinsmen of his were named Anatolius and Maximus. They welcomed the new arrivals, and led them to the houses of neighbours and to the baths, and showed them off in every way; and the other students made the usual demonstrations with jokes and laughter at their expense.¹⁰⁸ The rest, once they had been to the baths, were let off and went their way, but the writer, as his sickness grew more severe, was wasting away without seeing Prohaeresius or Athens, and all that he so desired seemed to have been only a dream. Meanwhile his own relatives and those who had come from Lydia were greatly concerned; and as all men are prone to attribute greater talent to those who are leaving us in the flower of their youth, they told many surprising falsehoods about him, and conspired to invent prodigious fictions, so that the whole city was overwhelmed by extraordinary grief, as though for some great calamity. But a certain Aeschines, not an Athenian, for Chios was his birthplace, who had slain many, not only those whom he had undertaken to cure but also those whom he had merely looked at, called out in the midst of my sorrowing friends, as became known later: "Come, allow me to give medicine to the corpse." And so they gave Aeschines permission to murder those too who were already dead. Then he held my lips apart with certain instruments and poured in a drug; what it was he revealed afterwards, and the god |483 many years later bore witness thereto; at any rate he poured it in, and the patient's stomach was at once expurged,¹⁰⁹ he opened his eyes to the light and recognized his own people. Thus Aeschines by this single act buried his past errors and won reverence both from him who had been delivered from death and from those who rejoiced at his deliverance. For so great an achievement he was worshipped by all, and he then crossed over to Chios, only waiting long enough to give the patient more of that strong medicine, that he might recover his strength; and thus he who had been preserved became the intimate friend of his preserver.

Now the divine Prohaeresius had not yet beheld the author, but he too had mourned for him almost as though he were dead, and when he was told of this unexpected and unheard-of recovery he sent for the best and most distinguished of his pupils and those who had proved the strength of their muscles, and said to them: "I was anxious for this boy who has recovered, though I have not yet seen him; nevertheless I grieved when he was on the point of death. Now if you wish to do me a favour, initiate him in the public bath, but refrain from all teasing and joking, and scrub him gently as though he were my own son." Thus then it came about, and a fuller account will be given when the author describes the times in which Prohaeresius lived. Yet though the author asserts that all that happened to Prohaeresius was under the direction of some divine providence, he will not in his zeal for the man depart in any way whatsoever from the truth about him, seeing that Plato's saying |485 is fixed and sure, that truth for gods and men alike is the guide to all good.¹¹⁰

The physical beauty of Prohaeresius (for my narrative must now return to him) was so striking, even though he was then an old man, that one may well doubt whether anyone had ever been so handsome, even in the flower of youth, and one may marvel also that in a body so tall as his the power of beauty sufficed to model a shape so admirable in all respects. His height was greater than anyone would be inclined to believe, in fact one would hardly guess it correctly. For he seemed to stand nine feet high, so that he looked like a colossus when one saw him near the tallest men of his own time. When he was a young man, fate forced him to leave Armenia and transferred him to Antioch. He did not desire to visit Athens immediately, since he was embarrassed by lack of means; for he was unlucky in this respect, though he was well born. At Antioch he hastened to Ulpian,¹¹¹ who was the principal teacher of rhetoric there, and on his arrival he at once ranked with the foremost pupils. When he had studied with Ulpian for a long time, he held on his way to Athens and to Julian with the greatest determination, and again at Athens he gained the first place. Hephaestion accompanied him, and these two were devoted friends and rivalled one another in their poverty, just as they were rivals for the highest honours in rhetoric. For instance they had between them only one cloak and one threadbare mantle and nothing more, and, say, three or four rugs which in the course of time had lost their original dye and their thickness as well. Their only resource therefore was |487 to be two men in one, just as the myths say that Geryon was made up of three bodies; so these students were two men in one. For when Prohaeresius appeared in public Hephaestion remained invisible and lay under the rugs in bed while he studied the art of rhetoric. Prohaeresius did the same when Hephaestion appeared abroad; in such poverty did they both live.

Nevertheless Julian's soul leaned towards Prohaeresius, his ears were on the alert to listen to him, and he was awed by the nobility of his genius. And when Julian had departed this life, and Athens desired to choose a successor of equal ability to teach rhetoric, many others gave in their names for this influential sophistic chair, so many that it would be tedious even to write them down. But by the votes of all there were approved and selected Prohaeresius, Hephaestion, Epiphanius, and Diophantus. Sopolis also was added, from a class of men that was of no account but was merely supplementary and despised; and also a certain Parnasius who was of still humbler rank. For in accordance with the Roman law there had to be at Athens many to lecture and many to hear them. Now when these had been elected, the humbler men were sophists only in name, and their power was limited to the walls of their lecture rooms and the platform on which they appeared. But the city at once took sides with the more influential, and not only the city but all the nations under the rule of Rome, and their quarrels did not concern oratory alone, for they strove to maintain the credit of whole nations for oratorical talent. Thus the East ¹¹² manifestly fell to the lot of Epiphanius, Diophantus was |489 awarded Arabia, while Hephaestion, overawed by Prohaeresius, forsook Athens and the society of men; but the whole Pontus and its neighbouring peoples sent pupils to Prohaeresius, admiring the man as a marvel that their own country had produced. So, too, did all Bithynia and the Hellespont, and all the region that extends beyond Lydia through what is now called Asia as far as Caria and Lycia, and is bounded by Pamphylia and the Taurus. Nay the whole of Egypt also came into his exclusive possession and under his sway as a teacher of rhetoric, and also the country that stretches beyond Egypt towards Libya and is the limit to known and inhabited parts. All this, however, I have stated in the most general terms, for, to speak precisely, there were a few students who were exceptions in these national divisions, because they had either migrated from one teacher to another, or sometimes one had originally been deceived and gone to a teacher other than he had intended. Now a great and violent quarrel arose on account of the extraordinary genius of Prohaeresius, and the faction of all the other sophists so gained the upper hand that they drove him from Athens into exile by bribing the proconsul; and so they themselves held sway over the domain of oratory. But after being driven into exile, and that in the utmost poverty, like Peisistratus he came back again. But the latter had wealth to aid him, while for Prohaeresius his eloquence sufficed, even as Hermes in Homer escorted Priam to the hut of Achilles, though it was in the midst of his foes. Good luck also came to his aid by placing at the |491 head of affairs a younger proconsul who was indignant at the report of what had taken place. So, as the proverb says, "heads became tails," ¹¹³ and with the emperor's permission he returned to Athens from exile; whereupon his enemies for the second time coiled and twisted themselves and reared their heads to attack him, framing other devices against him to suit any future emergencies. They busied themselves with these plots, but meanwhile his friends were beforehand and were smoothing the path of his return, and when Prohaeresius came back (a precise account of all this was given me by an eyewitness, Tuscianus of Lydia, who would have been a Prohaeresius, had not Prohaeresius existed); when, I say, he did return, like some Odysseus arriving home after a long absence, he found a few of his friends safe and sound (among whom was Tuscianus), and these looked to him for aid after this incredible miracle. Filled with good hopes on finding them there, he said: "Wait for the proconsul to come." The latter came sooner than could have been believed possible. On his arrival at Athens he called a meeting of the sophists, and by this means threw all their plans into confusion. They assembled slowly and reluctantly, and since they had to obey the voice of necessity they discussed, each according to his ability, certain questions that were proposed to them, while they were provided with applause by persons who had received their instructions and had been invited for the purpose. Then the meeting broke up, and the friends of Prohaeresius felt discouraged. But the proconsul summoned them a second time, as though to award them honours, ordered them all to be |493 detained, and suddenly he called in Prohaeresius. So they arrived, not knowing what was going to happen. But the proconsul called out: "I wish to propose a theme for you all, and to hear you all declaim on it this very day. Prohaeresius also will speak, either after you or in what order you please." When they openly demurred and, after much consideration and effort, quoted the saying of Aristeides (for it would never do for them to utter anything original); when after all they did produce it, saying that their custom was "not to vomit but to elaborate every theme," ¹¹⁴ the proconsul exclaimed again with a loud voice: "Speak, Prohaeresius.''' Then from his chair the sophist first delivered a graceful prelude by way of preliminary speech, in which he extolled the greatness of extempore eloquence, then with the fullest confidence he rose for his formal discussion. The proconsul was ready to propose a definition for the theme, but Prohaeresius threw back his head and gazed all round the theatre. And when he saw that his enemies were many while his friends were few, and were trying to escape notice, he was naturally somewhat discouraged. But as his guardian deity began to warm to the work and to aid him by playing its part, he again surveyed the scene, and beheld in the farthest row of the audience, hiding themselves in their cloaks, two men, veterans in the service of rhetoric, at whose hands he had received the worst treatment of all, and he cried out: "Ye gods! There are those honourable and wise men! Proconsul, order them to propose a theme for me. Then perhaps they will be convinced that they have behaved impiously." Now the men, on hearing this, slunk away into the crowd that was |495 seated there and did their best to avoid detection. But the proconsul sent some of his soldiers and brought them into full view. After a brief sort of exhortation he appointed them to propose a theme involving the precise definition of terms.¹¹⁵ Whereupon, after considering for a short time and consulting together, they produced the hardest and most disagreeable theme that they knew of, a vulgar one, moreover, that gave no opening for the display of fine rhetoric. Prohaeresius glared at them fiercely, and said to the proconsul: "I implore you to grant me the just demands that I make before this contest." On his replying that Prohaeresius should not fail to have what was just and fair, the latter said: "I ask to have shorthand writers ¹¹⁶ assigned to me, and that they take their place in the centre of the theatre; I mean men who every day take down the words of Themis,¹¹⁷ but who to-day shall devote themselves to what I have to say." The proconsul gave his permission for the most expert of the scribes to come forward, and they stood on either side of Prohaeresius ready to write, but no one knew what he meant to do. Then he said: "I shall ask for something even more difficult to grant." He was told to name it, and said: "There must be no applause whatever." When the proconsul had given all present an order to this effect under pain of the severest penalties, Prohaeresius began his speech with a flood of eloquence, rounding every period with a sonorous phrase, while the audience, which perforce kept a Pythagorean silence, in their amazed admiration broke through their restraint, and overflowed into murmurs and sighs. As the speech grew more |497 vehement and the orator soared to heights which the mind of man could not describe or conceive of, he passed on to the second part of the speech and completed the exposition of the theme. But then, suddenly leaping in the air like one inspired, he abandoned the remaining part, left it undefended, and turned the flood of his eloquence to defend the contrary hypothesis. The scribes could hardly keep pace with him, the audience could hardly endure to remain silent, while the mighty stream of words flowed on. Then, turning his face towards the scribes, he said: "Observe carefully whether I remember all the arguments that I used earlier." And, without faltering over a single word, he began to declaim the same speech for the second time. At this the proconsul did not observe his own rules, nor did the audience observe the threats of the magistrate. For all who were present licked the sophist's breast as though it were the statue of some god; some kissed his feet, some his hands, others declared him to be a god or the very model of Hermes, the god of eloquence.¹¹⁸ His adversaries, on the other hand, lay in the dust eaten up with envy, though some of them even from where they lay could not refrain from applauding; but the proconsul with his whole bodyguard and the notables escorted him from the theatre. After this no one dared to speak against him, but as though they had been stricken by a thunderbolt they all admitted that he was their superior. However, some time after, they recovered themselves, like the heads of the Hydra, and were restored to their natural dispositions and reared up their heads; so they tempted certain of the most powerful men |499 in the city by means of costly banquets and smart maidservants, just as kings do when they have been defeated in a regular pitched battle, and in their difficulties are driven to extreme measures, so that they have recourse to light-armed forces and slingers, troops without heavy armour and their inferior reserves; for if they valued these not at all before they are forced to do so now. Just so those sophists, fleeing in their panic to such allies as they could muster, framed their plots, which were base indeed but the men were not to be envied, nor are any who love themselves fatuously. At any rate they had a crowd of adherents, and the plot proceeded so that they could reckon on success. However, the genius of Prohaeresius seemed to possess a sort of tyranny over men's minds, and the power of his eloquence to have extraordinary good fortune. For either all intelligent men chose him as their teacher, or those who had attended his school forthwith became intelligent, because they had chosen Prohaeresius.

Now in these days the throng at the imperial court produced a man who passionately desired both fame and eloquence. He came from the city of Berytus and was called Anatolius.¹¹⁹ Those who envied him nicknamed him Azutrion,¹²⁰ and what that name means I leave to that miserable band of mummers to decide! But Anatolius who desired fame and eloquence achieved both these things. For first he won the highest distinction in what is called the science of law, as was natural since his |501 birthplace was Berytus, the foster-mother of all such studies.¹²¹ Then he sailed to Rome where, since his wisdom and eloquence were elevated and weighty, he made his way to court. There he soon obtained the highest rank, and after holding every high office and winning a great reputation in many official positions (and indeed even his enemies admired him), he finally attained to the rank of pretorian prefect, a magistracy which, though it lacks the imperial purple, exercises imperial power. He had now attained to a fortune in accord with his lofty ambition (for the district called Illyricum had been assigned to him), and since he was devout in offering sacrifices to the gods and peculiarly fond of Greek studies, in spite of the fact that the main current was setting in other directions, instead of choosing as he might have done to visit the most important places in his dominion and administer everything according to his pleasure, he was overcome by a sort of golden madness of desire to behold Greece, and, supported by his distinguished reputation, to turn into realities the mere images of eloquence derived from his learning, and to see for himself what had been an intellectual concept received from such presentation of eloquence as ancient writings could give. He therefore hastened to Greece. Moreover, he sent to the sophists beforehand a certain problem ¹²² for them to consider, and bade them all practise declaiming on this same problem. All the Greeks marvelled at him when they heard of his wisdom and learning and that he was unswervingly upright and incorruptible. Then they set themselves to consider his problem and plotted every day to outwit one another. |503 Nevertheless, since necessity constrained them, they did meet together, and after bringing forward many opposing theories among themselves as to what is called the constitution of the problem (the author never knew of anything so ridiculous as this problem), they were in complete disagreement one with another, since each man in his vanity lauded his own theory and jealously maintained it in the presence of the students. But since Anatolius descending on Greece was more formidable than the famous Persian expedition, that oft-told tale, and the danger stared not indeed all the Greeks but the sophists in the face, all the others (among whom was included a certain Himerius, a sophist from Bithynia; the author knew him only from his writings) toiled and spared no pains or effort, as each one studied the constitution of the theme that he approved. In this crisis Prohaeresius, who trusted in his genius, offended them deeply because he neither showed ambition nor published his secret theory. But now Anatolius was at hand and had made his entry into Athens. When he had with great courage offered sacrifices ¹²³ and formally visited all the temples, as the divine ordinance commanded, he summoned the sophists to the competition. When they were in his presence they one and all strove to be the first to declaim; so prone to self-love is man! But Anatolius laughed at the boy pupils who were applauding them, and commiserated the fathers whose sons were being educated by such men. Then he called on Prohaeresius who alone was left. Now he had cultivated the acquaintance of one of the friends of Anatolius who knew all the circumstances, and had learned from him the constitution of the |505 theme that Anatolius approved. (This is what the author called ridiculous in what he said above.) And even though the theme was unworthy of consideration, and it was not right that the view of Anatolius should prevail, nevertheless Prohaeresius, when his name was called, obeyed the summons promptly, and modelled his disputation on the constitution of the theme that I have mentioned, and his argument was so able and so elegant that Anatolius jumped up from his seat, the audience shouted applause till they burst, and every man there regarded him as a divine being. Accordingly Anatolius openly showed him peculiar honour, though he would hardly admit the others to his table. He himself was an accomplished sophist in table-talk and themes suited to a symposium; hence his symposium was a feast of reason and of learned conversation. But all this happened many years ago, and therefore the author has been very careful in his report of what he learned from hearsay. Now Anatolius felt great admiration for Milesius also, a man who came from Smyrna in Ionia. Though fortune had endowed him with the greatest talents, he abandoned himself to an unambitious and leisurely life, frequented the temples, neglected to marry, and cultivated every sort of poetry and lyric and every kind of composition that is favoured by the Graces. By this means, then, he won the favour of Anatolius so that he actually called the man a "Muse." But he used to call the problems raised by Epiphanius the sophist "Analyses," ¹²⁴ making fan in this way of that teacher's triviality and pedantic accuracy. He satirized all the sophists for their disagreements over the constitution ¹²⁵ of a theme, and said: "If there had been |507 more than thirteen of these professional sophists, they would no doubt have invented still more 'constitutions' in order to declaim on a single problem from every different angle possible." Prohaeresius was the one and only sophist of them all whom he genuinely admired. Now it happened that Prohaeresius had not long before been summoned to the Gallic provinces by Constans, who then held imperial sway, and he had so won over Constans that he sat at his table along with those whom he most honoured. And all the inhabitants of that country who could not attain to a thorough understanding of his lectures and thus admire the inmost secrets of his soul, transferred their wonder and admiration to what they could see plainly before their eyes, and marvelled at his physical beauty and great stature, while they gazed up at him with an effort as though to behold some statue or colossus, so much beyond the measure of man was he in all respects.¹²⁶ Moreover, when they observed his abstinence and self-denial they believed him to be passionless and made of iron; for clad in a threadbare cloak and barefooted ¹²⁷ he regarded the winters of Gaul as the height of luxury, and he would drink the water of the Rhine when it was nearly freezing. Indeed he passed his whole life in this fashion, and was never known to touch a hot drink. Accordingly Constans dispatched him to mighty Rome, because he was ambitious to show them there what great men he ruled over. But so entirely did he surpass the ordinary human type that they could select no one peculiarity to admire. So they admired his many great qualities one after another, and were in turn approved by him, and they made and set |509 up in his honour a bronze statue life size with this inscription: "Rome the Queen of cities to the King of Eloquence." ¹²⁸

When he was about to return to Athens, Constans permitted him to ask for a present. Thereupon he asked for something worthy of his character, namely several considerable islands that should pay tribute to Athens to provide it with a corn supply. Constans not only gave him these, but added the highest possible distinction by bestowing on him the title of "stratopedarch," ¹²⁹ lest any should resent his acquisition of so great a fortune from the public funds. It was necessary for the pretorian prefect to confirm this gift; for the prefect had lately arrived from Gaul. Accordingly, after the competitions in eloquence that I have described, Prohaeresius approached Anatolius and begged him to confirm the favour, and summoned not only professional advocates for his cause but almost all the educated men of Greece; for on account of the prefect's visit they were all at Athens. When the theatre was crowded, and Prohaeresius called on his advocates to speak, the prefect ran counter to the expectation of all present, because he wished to test the extempore eloquence of Prohaeresius, and he said: "Speak, Prohaeresius! For it is unbecoming for any other man to speak and to praise the emperor when you are present." Then Prohaeresius, like a war-horse summoned to the plain,¹³⁰ made a speech about the imperial gift, and cited Celeus and Triptolemus and how Demeter sojourned among men that she might |511 bestow on them the gift of corn. With that famous narrative he combined the tale of the generosity of Constans, and very speedily he invested the occurrence with the splendour and dignity of ancient legend. Then, as he declaimed, his gestures became more lively, and he displayed all his sophistic art in handling the theme. The fact that he obtained the honour that he asked for shows what his eloquence must have been.

His wife came from Asia, from the city of Tralles, and her name was Amphiclea. They had two little girls, between whose ages there was only so much difference as the time necessary for their conception and birth. But no sooner had they reached that time of life when a child is a wholly lovely and charming thing, and made their father's heart tremble with joy, than they left their parents desolate, both within a few days; so that his grief almost shook Prohaeresius from the reflections that become a philosopher. However, the Muse of Milesius ¹³¹ proved able to meet this crisis, and by composing lovely harmonies and expending all his gifts of charm and gaiety he recalled him to reason. When the Romans asked him to send them one of his own pupils, Prohaeresius sent forth Eusebius who was a native of Alexandria. He seemed to be peculiarly suited to Rome, because he knew how to flatter and fawn on the great; while in Athens he was regarded as a seditious person. At the same time Prohaeresius wished to increase his own reputation by sending a man who had been initiated into the sharp practices of political oratory. As for his talent for rhetoric, it is enough to say that he was an Egyptian; for this |513 race passionately loves the poetic arts, whereas the Hermes who inspires serious study has departed from them. He had for an adversary Musonius, who had been his pupil in the sophistic art. (I have for other reasons written about him at length in my Universal History.) When Musonius reared his head to oppose him, Eusebius knew well against what sort of man he had to contend, so he very speedily deserted to take up political oratory.

In the reign of the Emperor Julian, Prohaeresius was shut out of the field of education because he was reputed to be a Christian; and since he observed that the hierophant, like a sort of Delphic tripod, was open to all who had need of him to foretell future events, by strange and wonderful arts he fraudulently intercepted that foreknowledge. For the emperor was having the land measured for the benefit of the Hellenes,¹³² to relieve them from oppression in respect of taxes. Thereupon Prohaeresius requested the hierophant ¹³³ to find out from the god whether this benevolence would be permanent. And when he declared that it would not, Prohaeresius learned in this way what the future would bring, and took courage. The author, who had attained at this time to about his sixteenth year, arrived at Athens and was enrolled among his pupils, and Prohaeresius loved him like his own son.¹³⁴ Five years later the author was preparing to go to Egypt, but his parents summoned him and compelled him to return to Lydia. To become a sophist was the obvious course to which all urged him. Now a few days later Prohaeresius departed this life. He was a great and gifted man, even as I have described, and |515 he filled the whole known world with the fame of his discourses, and with those who had been his pupils.

EPIPHANIUS was a native of Syria, and he was reputed to be very skilful in distinguishing and defining controversial themes, but as an orator he was slack and nerveless. Nevertheless, as the rival of Prohaeresius in the sophistic profession he actually attained to great fame. For human beings are not content to admire one man only, but so prone are they to envy, so completely its slave, that when a man excels and towers above the rest they set up another as his rival; and thus derive their controlling principles from opposites just as in the science of physics. Epiphanius did not live to be old, but died of blood-poisoning, and his wife also, who was an exceedingly handsome woman, met the same fate. They left no children. Epiphanius was not personally known to the author, for he died long before the latter's sojourn in Athens.

DIOPHANTUS was a native of Arabia who forced his way into the ranks of the professors of rhetoric. That same envious opinion of mankind of which I have just spoken set him up as another rival of Prohaeresius, as though one should oppose Callimachus to Homer. But Prohaeresius laughed all this to scorn, and he refused to give serious thought to human beings and their foibles. The writer knew Diophantus and often heard him declaim in public. But he has not thought fit to quote in this work any of his speeches or what he remembers of them. For this document is a record of noteworthy men; it is not a satire. However it is said that he delivered a funeral oration in honour |517 of Prohaeresius (for the latter died before he did), and they relate that he concluded with these words about Salamis and the war against the Medes: "O Marathon and Salamis, now are ye buried in silence! What a trumpet of your glorious victories have ye lost!" ¹³⁵ He left two sons who devoted themselves to a luxurious life and money-making.

The author of this work often heard SOPOLIS lecture. He was a man who tried with all his might to reproduce the style of the ancients in his oratory, and did his utmost to reach the level of a saner Muse. But though he knocked diligently at her door, it was seldom opened. Nay, if ever it did creak open a little, it was but a thin and feeble spark of the divine afflatus that slipped forth from within. But at this his audience would grow frenzied with enthusiasm, unable as they were to receive calmly even a single drop squeezed from the fount of Castalia. Sopolis had a son, and they say that he too ascended the professorial chair.

HIMERIUS was a native of Bithynia, yet the author never knew him, though he lived in the same period. He travelled to the court of the Emperor Julian to declaim before him, in the hope that he would be regarded with favour on account of the emperor's dislike of Prohaeresius; and when Julian left this world, Himerius spent his time abroad. Then, on the death of Prohaeresius, he hastened to Athens. He was an agreeable and harmonious speaker. His style of composition has the ring and assonance of political oratory. Sometimes, though rarely, he rises as high as the godlike Aristeides. He left a daughter, |519 when he died of epilepsy, a disease which attacked him in extreme old age.

PARNASIUS ¹³⁶ also lived in those days and filled a teacher's chair. His pupils were soon counted, but for all that he did not fail to win a certain reputation.

LIBANIUS was born at Antioch, the capital of Coele Syria as it is called. This city was founded by Seleucus surnamed Nicator. Libanius came of a noble family and ranked among the first citizens. While he was still a youth and his own master, since his parents were dead, he came to Athens,¹³⁷ and there, though he too came from Syria, he did not attach himself to Epiphanius, who enjoyed the very highest reputation, nor did he attend the school of Prohaeresius. This would have been to run the risk of being obscured, partly by so great a crowd of fellow-pupils, partly by the celebrity of his teachers. But he fell into a trap that was set for him by the pupils of Diophantus, and therefore attached himself to that sophist. It is asserted by those who knew the man intimately that, when he learned what had happened to him, he very seldom attended the lectures and meetings of the school, and gave his master very little trouble. But by himself he devoted his time to the study of rhetoric, and worked very hard to acquire the style of the ancient writers, moulding to that end both his mind and his speech. And even as those who aim at a mark sometimes succeed in hitting it, and their constant practice and regular exercise with their weapons usually begets dexterity in shooting straight rather than scientific knowledge; even so Libanius in his zeal to compare and imitate them was inseparable from the ancient |521 authors, and so to speak rubbed shoulders with those most excellent guides; and by following the right leaders he trod in the footsteps of the best and reaped the fruits of that course. As he gained confidence in his eloquence and convinced himself that he could rival any that prided themselves on theirs, he resolved not to bury himself in a small town and sink in the esteem of the world to that city's level. Therefore he crossed over to Constantinople,¹³⁸ a city which had recently attained to greatness, and, being at the height of her prosperity, needed both deeds and words to adorn her as she deserved. There he very soon became a shining light, since he proved to be an admirable and delightful teacher and his public declamations were full of charm. But a scandalous charge was brought against him in connexion with his pupils. I cannot allow myself to write about it, because I am determined to record in this document only what is worthy to be recorded. For this reason, then, he was expelled from Constantinople, and settled at Nicomedia. When the scandalous tale followed him there and obstinately pursued him, he was soon ¹³⁹ thrust out of that city also, and after a time ¹⁴⁰ he returned to his native land and the city of his birth, and there he spent his whole life, which proved to be long and long drawn out.

Though I have composed in my annals of the reign of Julian a fitting account of the career of Libanius, I will now run over it in detail. Not one of all those who associated with him and were |523 admitted to his teaching left him without being-smitten by his charm. For he knew at first sight every man's character for what it was, and understood the propensities of his soul, whether to vice or virtue. And indeed he was so clever in adapting and assimilating himself to all sorts of men that he made the very polypus look foolish ¹⁴¹; and everyone who talked with him thought to behold in him a second self. At any rate those who had had this experience used to declare that he was a sort of picture or wax impression of all the manifold and various characters of mankind. In a gathering of many men of various sorts one could never have detected who it was that he preferred. Hence those who pursued modes of life directly opposed to one another would applaud in him qualities that were directly opposed, and everyone without exception was convinced that it was his views that Libanius admired; so multiform was he, so completely all things to all men. He too avoided marriage, though in fact a woman lived with him, a person of a social position inferior to his own.

His style of eloquence in his declamations was altogether feeble, lifeless, and uninspired, and it is very evident that he had not had the advantage of a teacher; indeed he was ignorant of most of the ordinary rules of declamation, things that even a schoolboy knows.¹⁴² But in his Letters and other familiar addresses he succeeds in rousing himself and rises to the level of the ancient models. His writings are full of charm and facetious wit, while a refined elegance pervades the whole and is at the service of his eloquence. Moreover the peculiar |525 charm and sweetness that all Syro-Phoenicians display in general intercourse one may safely look for in him, over and above his erudition. I mean that quality which the people of Attica call a keen scent, or urbane wit. This he cultivated as the very flower and crown of true culture; indeed he drew wholly on ancient comedy for his style of expression, and was master of all that shows a pleasing surface and enchants the ear. In his orations you will find the most profound erudition and the widest possible reading. You will meet also with unusual Attic forms and phrases.¹⁴³ For example he would not have omitted those "trees " of Eupolis,¹⁴⁴ Laispodias, and Damasias, if he had known the names by which men call the trees nowadays. Whenever he discovered some strange expression which because of its great antiquity had fallen into disuse, he cleansed it as though it were a sacred relic of the past, and when he had brushed off the dust and adorned it afresh he would bring it forth to the light, draped with a whole new theme and appropriate sentiments, like the dainty slaves and handmaids of a mistress who has just come into a fortune and has smoothed and polished away the signs of old age. For these reasons the sainted Julian ¹⁴⁵ also admired him, and indeed every man alive admired the charm of his oratory. Very many of his works are in circulation, and any intelligent man who reads them one by one will appreciate that charm. He had also a talent for administering public affairs, and in addition to his formal orations he would confidently undertake and |527 easily compose certain other works more suited to please an audience in the theatre. When the later emperors offered him the very highest of all honours ----for they bade him use the honorary title of pretorian prefect----he refused, saving that the title of sophist was more distinguished. And this is indeed not a little to his credit, that though he was a man who longed most ardently for renown, he enslaved himself only to that renown which an orator can win, and held that any other sort is vulgar and sordid. He, too, when he died, had attained to a very great age, and he left in the minds of all men the profoundest admiration for his talents. The present author was not personally acquainted with him, inasmuch as an unkind fate on every occasion put one obstacle or another in the way.

ACACIUS was born at Caesarea in Palestine and he dawned on the world about the same time as Libanius. No man was more abundantly endowed with sophistic force and inspiration, and his diction was sonorous and tended to the imitation of the ancient classical models. Having risen to eminence at the same time as Libanius, he overthrew his rival's supremacy, and maintained his superiority by sheer strength. Libanius accordingly wrote an essay On Genius,¹⁴⁶ entirely devoted and dedicated to Acacius, in which he clearly ascribes his defeat by him to the man's great natural talents, while at the same time he gives evidence of his own position and exactitude in the use of erudite words; as though he did not know that Homer did not take pains about every single foot of his verses, but tried rather to secure beauty of expression and melody throughout; that Pheidias never thought of |529 displaying a finger or a foot to win praise for his goddess; that they exercised their tyranny the one over the ears of men, the other over their eyes; and that the cause of their success is undiscoverable or hard to define, just as in fair and lovely bodies not all admire the same points, and the captive of that beauty knows not what it was that took him captive. Thus, then, Acacius quickly rose to the first rank in his profession, and after winning a great reputation as one who would prove to have excelled Libanius, he passed away while still a young man. Yet all men, at least all who truly loved learning, revered him no less than if he had attained to old age.

NYMPHIDIANUS ¹⁴⁷ was a native of Smyrna, whose own brother was Maximus the philosopher, while Claudianus, himself a very distinguished philosopher, was another brother. He was a man who, though he never shared in the education and training enjoyed at Athens, nevertheless in the art of rhetoric proved himself worthy of the reputation of the sophists. The Emperor Julian entrusted him with the task of expressing the imperial utterances, and made him Imperial Secretary for such letters as were composed in the Greek tongue.¹⁴⁸ He had the greatest skill in the composition of "Meletai," as they are called, and in handling problems; but he was not so skilful with "Proagones" ¹⁴⁹ and philosophical disputations. When he died he was an old man, and he outlived his brother Maximus.

In those days many famous physicians flourished, among whom was ZENO OF CYPRUS, who established a celebrated school of medicine. Nay, he survived down to the time of Julian the sophist, and after him there were contemporaries of Prohaeresius who |531 were the successors of Zeno. He had trained himself in oratory as well as in the practice of medicine. Of his famous pupils some took up one or other of these professions, thus dividing among them what they had learned from him; others again took up both; but whether they inherited his medical practice or his oratory, every one of them prospered mightily.

MAGNUS was a native of that Antioch which lies beyond the Euphrates and is now called Nisibis. He had been a pupil of Zeno, and, in order to give force to his rhetoric, he dragged in Aristotle in connexion with the nature of bodies endowed with volition,¹⁵⁰ and so compelled the doctors to keep silence in the matter of rhetoric, but he was thought to be less able as a healer than as an orator. The ancient writers relate that when Archidamus was asked whether he was stronger than Pericles, he replied: "Nay, even when I throw Pericles a fall, he still carries off the victory by declaring that he has not been thrown at all." ¹⁵¹ In the same way Magnus used to demonstrate that those whom other doctors had cured were still ill. And when those who had been restored to health were endeavouring to express their gratitude to those who had healed them, Magnus still got the better of the doctors in the matter of talking and putting |533 questions. At Alexandria a public school was especially assigned for him to teach in, and everyone sailed thither and attended his lectures, either merely in order to see and admire him or to enjoy the advantages of his teaching. This they never failed to do, for they either acquired the power of facile and fluent speech, or the ability to do and achieve some practical work by their own industry.

Pergamon was the birthplace of ORIBASIUS, and in fact this contributed to his renown, just as is the case with those who are born at Athens; for whenever such men win a name for eloquence, the report spreads far and wide that their Muse is Attic and that this paragon is a home product. Oribasius came of a good family on both sides, and from his boyhood he was distinguished because he acquired every kind of learning that conduces to virtue and perfects it. When he reached early manhood he became a pupil of the great Zeno and a fellow-disciple of Magnus. But he outstripped Magnus, and left him wrestling with the task of expressing his ideas, an art in which he himself excelled; and he lost no time in attaining to the first rank in medicine, thereby imitating the patron god ¹⁵² of his country, so far as it is possible for a mortal to progress towards the imitation of the divine. Since he won fame even from his earliest youth, Julian, when he was promoted to the rank of Caesar, carried him away with him to practise his art; but he so excelled in every other excellence that he actually made Julian emperor.¹⁵³ However, these matters have been more fully described in my account of Julian's reign. Nevertheless, as the proverb says, "No lark is |535 without a crest," and so too Oribasius was not without envious enemies. For it was because of his extraordinary celebrity that the emperors who followed Julian deprived him of his property, and they desired to take his life also but shrank from the deed. However, by other means they carried out the crime which they were ashamed to commit openly. For they exposed his person to the barbarians, just as the Athenians ostracized from Athens men whose virtue was above the average. However, in their case the law allowed them to exile men from the state, and there was no further penalty; whereas the emperors added to his exile this abandonment to the most savage barbarians, thus giving them absolute power to carry out their imperial purpose. But Oribasius, after being thrust out into the enemy's country, showed the greatness of his virtue, which could not be limited to this place or that, or circumscribed by the mariners of the people about him, but ever displayed its stability and constancy in independent activity whenever and wherever it showed itself; just as we are told is the case with numbers and mathematical truths. For he forthwith rose to great renown at the courts of the rulers of the barbarians, and held the first rank there; and while throughout the Roman empire he was highly regarded, among the barbarians he was worshipped like a god; since some he restored from chronic diseases and snatched others from death's door. Indeed that which men had reckoned his misfortune proved to be the occasion of nothing but good fortune; so that even the emperors gave up fighting against the man's power so universally displayed, and permitted him to return from exile. |537

After he had gained permission to return, lord of himself though not of wealth, for the only riches that he had to show were the virtues, he married a wife who came of a family illustrious both for wealth and noble blood. By her he had four children who are still alive; long life to them! He himself, at this time of writing, is alive; long life to him! Nay more, he recovered his original fortune from the public treasury with the consent of the later emperors, on the ground of the injustice of the earlier verdict. Thus and in this wise it stands with him. And any man who is a genuine philosopher can meet and converse with Oribasius, that so he may learn what above all else he ought to admire. Such harmony, such charm radiates from Oribasius and attends on all intercourse with him.

IONICUS was a native of Sardis, and his father was a celebrated physician. As a pupil of Zeno he attained to the highest degree of industry and diligence and won the admiration of Oribasius. While he acquired the greatest skill in the theory and practice of medicine in all its branches, he showed peculiar ability in every kind of experiment, was thoroughly acquainted with the anatomy of the body, and also made researches into the nature of man. Thus he understood the composition and mixture of every kind of drug that exists; he knew every sort of plaster and dressing that the most skilful healers apply to wounds, whether to stop a haemorrhage or to disperse what has gathered there. Also he was most inventive and expert in bandaging an injured limb, and in amputating or dissecting. He was so thoroughly versed in the theory and practice of all these arts that even those who prided |539 themselves on their ability as healers were amazed at his accurate knowledge, and openly admitted that by conversing with Ionicus they really understood the precepts that had been uttered by the physicians of earlier times and could now apply them to their use, though before they had been like words whose meaning is completely obscured, save only that they had been written down.

Such were his attainments in the science of his profession, but he was also well equipped in every branch of philosophy and both kinds of divination; for there is one kind that has been bestowed on man for the benefit of the science of medicine, so that doctors may diagnose cases of sickness; and another that derives its inspiration from philosophy and is limited to and disseminated among those who have the power to receive and preserve it. He also studied the art of rhetoric with exact thoroughness, and the complete art of oratory; and was an initiate in the art of poetry. But he died not long before this work was written, and left two sons who deserve all honourable mention and remembrance.

There was also one Theon who about this time acquired a great reputation ¹⁵⁴ in Gaul.

But I must return once more to the philosophers from whom I have digressed.

It was CHRYSANTHIUS who caused this commentary to be written, for he educated the author of this work from boyhood, and to the last maintained his kindness towards him as though it were some legal obligation. Nevertheless, I shall not on that account say anything merely to show my gratitude. For above all else he honoured the truth, and taught me this first of all, so that I shall not corrupt that gift |541 which I received at his hands, save as perhaps I may somewhat moderate my statements and say less than the truth, since this was the agreement that we made.

Chrysanthius was of senatorial rank and was rated among the most nobly born in his city. His grandfather was one Innocentius, who had made a considerable fortune and had acquired greater celebrity than is the lot of the average private citizen, inasmuch as the emperors who reigned at that time entrusted to him the task of compiling the legal statutes. Indeed certain of his works still survive, and they deal partly with the language of the Romans, partly with Greece, and bear witness to the judicial and profound character of his mind; they contain a comprehensive treatment of these subjects for the benefit of those who are disposed to be interested in them. Chrysanthius himself, having been bereaved of his father while he was still a youth, was inflamed with the love of philosophy because of the divine qualities of his nature, and therefore betook himself to Pergamon and to the famous Aedesius. The latter was at the very height of his teaching powers when Chrysanthius encountered him thirsty for knowledge, submitted himself open-mouthed to his influence, feasted on his great and singular wisdom, was untiring in his attendance at lectures, and in his devotion to study showed himself second to none. Indeed he possessed an untiring and even adamantine frame, inured to undergo every kind of severe exercise. When he had been sufficiently imbued with the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, he turned his attention to every other school of philosophy and read |543 deeply in every branch. Then when he had a sure and firm hold on the science of oratory, and by constant practice was fully equipped to exercise instant judgement in this field, he confidently displayed in public his well-trained talents, since he knew what to say and what to leave unsaid, while he was endowed with splendid and impressive rhetoric which helped him to win when he was hard pressed. Next he applied himself wholly to comprehending the nature of the gods and that wisdom to which Pythagoras devoted his mind, as did the disciples of Pythagoras such as Archytas of old, and Apollonius of Tyana, and those who worshipped Apollonius as a god, all of them beings who only seemed to possess a body and to be mortal men. Chrysanthius lost no time in devoting himself to these studies also, and seized hold of the first handle that offered itself in every case, taking first principles as his guide. Thus he was so marvellously enlightened and uplifted by the plumage of his soul, as Plato says, that he arrived at equal perfection in every branch of every type of wisdom, and was an adept in every branch of divination. Hence one might have said of him that he rather saw than foretold future events, so accurately did he discern and comprehend everything, as though he dwelt with and were in the presence of the gods.

After spending a considerable time in these studies and collaborating with Maximus in the most arduous tasks, he left this partner of his. For Maximus had in his nature a tendency to be jealous and obstinate, and in direct opposition to the omens revealed by the gods he would keep demanding further omens and trying to extort them. Chrysanthius, on the |545 contrary, would use the first omens that appeared, then, by gradual divergence from these, would proceed to alter the signs that had been vouchsafed; then, if he got the omens he wanted, he had the best of it, but if he failed he adapted his human counsel to fit whatever came to light. For instance, on the occasion when the Emperor Julian by a single summons invited them both together to his court, and the soldiers who had been sent to escort them were applying with all due respect the Thessalian way of "forcible persuasion," ¹⁵⁵ they resolved to communicate with the gods on this matter; and when the god warned them against the journey so plainly that any private person, even a tradesman, could have judged the omens, Maximus could not tear himself away from the sacrificial victims, and after the rites had been duly completed he persisted in wailing and lamentations, beseeching the gods to vouchsafe him different omens and to alter the course of destiny. And since he stubbornly persisted in many attempts, one after another, and always perverted the explanation that Chrysanthius gave, in the end his own will and pleasure interpreted the divine revelation, and the victims gave only the signs that he would accept, since he would not accept the signs they gave.¹⁵⁶ So he set out on that ill-fated journey and the travels that were the cause of all his troubles; whereas Chrysanthius stayed at home. And at first the emperor was vexed at his tardiness, and moreover, I think he even guessed something of the truth, that Chrysanthius would not have refused the invitation if he had not observed something ill-omened in events to come. Accordingly, he wrote and summoned him |547 a second time, and his invitations were not addressed to Chrysanthius only. For in a special letter he urged his wife to help him to persuade her husband. Once more, then, Chrysanthius referred the matter to the divine will, and the gods continued to give a response to the same effect. When this had happened several times, even the emperor was convinced; but Chrysanthius having been appointed high priest of the whole country, since he knew clearly what was about to happen, was not oppressive in the exercise of his office. He built no temples, as all other men in their hot haste and perfervid zeal hastened to do, nor was he excessively harsh to any of the Christians. But such was the mildness of his character that throughout Lydia the restoration of the temples almost escaped notice. At any rate, when the powers that be pursued a different policy, there proved to have been no serious innovation, nor did there seem to be any great and universal change, but everything calmed down in a friendly spirit and became smooth and tranquil; by which means he alone won admiration when all the rest were tossed to and fro as though by tempest; since on a sudden some cowered in consternation, while they that were humbled before were once more exalted. For all this, then, he won admiration as one who was not only skilled in forecasting the future, but also in rightly using his foreknowledge.

Such was the man's whole disposition, whether it was that in him the Platonic Socrates had come to life again, or in his ambition to imitate him he carefully formed himself from boyhood on his pattern. For an unaffected and indescribable |549 simplicity was manifest in him and dwelt in his speech, and moreover there was about every word of his a charm that enchanted the hearer. In intercourse he was amiable to all men, so that everyone went away from him with the conviction that he was especially beloved. And just as the most charming and sweetest songs flow gently and smoothly, as they insinuate themselves into all men's ears and reach even irrational animals, as they tell of Orpheus, even so the eloquence of Chrysanthius was modulated to suit all ears and was in harmony with and adapted to all those diverse temperaments. But it was not easy to rouse him to philosophical discussions or competitions, because he perceived that it is especially in such contests that men become embittered. Nor would anyone readily have heard him showing off his own erudition or inflated because of it, or insolent and arrogant towards others; rather he used to admire whatever they said, even though their remarks were worthless, and he would applaud even incorrect conclusions, just as though he had not even heard the premises, but was naturally inclined to assent, lest he should inflict pain on anyone. And if in an assembly of those most distinguished for learning any dissension arose, and he thought fit to take part in the discussion, the place became hushed in silence as though no one were there. So unwilling were they to face his questions and definitions and power of quoting from memory, but they would retire into the background and carefully refrain from discussion or contradiction, lest their failure should be too evident. Many of those who knew him only slightly, and therefore had not sounded the depths of his soul, accused him of |551 lack of intelligence and would praise only his mild disposition; but when they heard him maintaining a philosophical theme and unfolding his opinions and arguments, they decided that this was a very different person from the man they thought they knew. So transformed did he seem by the excitement of dialectical debate, with his hair standing on end, and his eyes testifying that the soul within him was leaping and dancing around the opinions that he expressed. He survived to an advanced old age, and during the whole of his long life he took thought for none of the ordinary affairs of human life, except the care of his own household and agriculture and just so much money as may be honestly acquired. Poverty he bore more easily than other men wealth, and moreover his diet was plain and whatever came to hand. He never ate pork, and other kinds of meat but seldom. He worshipped the gods with the utmost devotion and assiduity, and never slackened in his reading of the ancient authors. In old age he was still the same as he had been in youth, and when he was over eighty he wrote more books with his own hand than others, even in youth, find time to read. Hence the ends of the fingers with which he wrote became curved and crooked with constant work and use. When his work was done he would rise and amuse himself by walking in the public streets with the author of this narrative to keep him company; and he would take very long but leisurely walks. Meanwhile he would tell such charming and agreeable stories that one might have been terribly footsore without being aware of it. He very seldom went to the baths, and yet he always seemed fresh from a bath. In his intercourse with those in |553 authority, if he seemed to use excessive freedom of manner this was not due to arrogance or pride, but must rather be regarded as the perfect simplicity of one who was wholly ignorant of the nature of power and authority; so familiar and so witty was his language when he talked with such persons. He had taught the author of this work, then still a youth, and when the latter returned from Athens Chrysanthius showed him no less kindness, but day by day he even multiplied the signs of his peculiar goodwill; and he gained such influence over him that the author in the early morning used to give his time to his own pupils and instruct any who so desired in the art of rhetoric, but soon after midday he betook himself to his old master and was by him instructed in the teachings of religion and philosophy. And in this period the teacher never grew weary of instructing his devoted admirer, while the task was like a holiday festival for him who received his teaching.

Now when the practice of Christianity was gaining ground and usurping all men's minds, there arrived from Rome after a long interval a prefect of Asia named Justus, already well on in years, a man of noble and beautiful character, who had not cast aside the time-honoured ritual of his ancestors, for he was an ardent disciple of that happy and blessed form of worship. He was constant in his attendance at the temples, wholly under the sway of every kind of divination, and took great pride in his zeal for these things and his success in restoring them. He crossed from Asia to Constantinople, and when he found that the chief man of the country (his name was Hilarius) was as enthusiastic as himself in |555 his zeal, he built altars offhand at Sardis where there were none, and wherever a vestige was to be found he set his hand to the remains of the temples with the ambition of rebuilding them. After offering sacrifices in public, he sent to summon from all sides the men who had a reputation for learning. They were no sooner summoned than they came, partly because they admired the man himself, partly because they thought this was an opportunity to show off their own abilities, while some of them put their trust in their power to flatter quite as much as in their erudition, and hoped by this means to gain honour or glory or wealth. Therefore when a public sacrifice was announced they were all present, and the author of this work was present also. Then Justus set himself to the task, and fixing the steady gaze of his eyes on the victim, which lay in any sort of posture, he asked the bystanders: "What is portended by the posture in which the victim has fallen?" Thereupon the flatterers were warm in their admiration, because he was able to divine even from postures, and they deferred to him as alone possessed of this knowledge. But the more dignified stroked their beards with the tips of their fingers, and put on a serious expression of face, and shook their heads solemnly and slowly while they gazed at the victim lying there, and each one offered a different solution. But Justus, who could hardly contain his laughter, turned to Chrysanthius and cried: "And what do you say about this, reverend sir? " Chrysanthius replied with equanimity that he rejected the whole proceeding. "But," said he "if you wish me also to give an opinion about this, first, if you really understand the modes of |557 divination, tell me what mode of divination this is, to what type it belongs, what you seek to learn, and what method you followed in your inquiry. If you will tell me all this, I will tell you what is the bearing on the future of this thing that we see. But until you tell me these things, since the gods themselves reveal the future, it would be unworthy on my part, in answer to your question, at the same time to answer your inquiry and to speak of the future, thus connecting the future with what has just happened. For thus would arise two different questions at once; but no one asks two or more questions at the same time. For when things have two separate definitions, one explanation does not suit both." Then Justus exclaimed that he had learned something that he never knew before, and for the future he consulted him constantly in private and drank deep from that fount of knowledge. There were others also in those days, renowned for wisdom, who were attracted by the fame of Chrysanthius and entered into discussions with him, but whenever this happened they went away convinced that they could not approach his oratorical genius. This is what happened to Hellespontius of Galatia, an unusually gifted man in every way, who, if Chrysanthius had not existed, would have shown himself worthy of the first place. For he was so ardent a lover of learning that he travelled almost to the uninhabited parts of the world in the desire of finding out whether he could meet anyone who knew more than himself. Thus, then, crowned with noble words and deeds he came to ancient Sardis to enjoy the society of Chrysanthius. But all this happened later.

Chrysanthius had a son whom he named after |559 Aedesius of whom I have written above, formerly his teacher at Pergamon. From his childhood this boy was a creature winged for every excellence, and of the two horses as Plato ¹⁵⁷ describes them, his soul possessed only the good steed, nor did his intellect ever sink; but he was a devoted student, keenwitted, and assiduous in the worship of the gods; and so completely was he emancipated from human weaknesses, that though a mortal man he was all soul. At any rate his body was so light in its movements that it would seem incredible and would take a genuine poet to describe to what a height it rose aloft. His kinship and affinity with the gods was so unceremonious and familiar that he had only to place the garland on this head and turn his gaze upwards to the sun, and immediately deliver oracles which, moreover, were always infallible and were composed after the fairest models of divine inspiration. Yet he neither knew the art of writing verse nor was trained in the science of grammar; but for him the god took the place of all else. Though he had never been ill during his allotted span of life, he died when he was about twenty years of age. On this occasion also his father showed himself a true philosopher. For whether it was that the greatness of the calamity reduced him to a state of apathy, or whether he rejoiced with his son in the latter's blessed portion, the fact is that he remained unshaken. The youth's mother also, observing her husband, rose above the |561 ordinary feminine nature and put away from her all loud lamentation, that her grief might have its due dignity.

After these events had taken place, Chrysanthius pursued his accustomed studies. And when many great public and universal calamities and disturbances befell, which shook all men's souls with terror, he alone remained unshaken by the storm; so much so that one would have thought that he was really elsewhere than on earth. About this time Hellespontius came to see him, and they met and conversed, though only after some delay. When, however, they did actually meet, Hellespontius was so captivated that he abandoned all else and was ready to live under the same roof as Chrysanthius and to renew his youth by studying with him. For he regretted that he had so long wandered in error, and had arrived at old age before learning anything useful. Accordingly he bent his whole mind to this task. But it chanced that Chrysanthius had to have a vein cut open as was his custom, and the author was present in obedience to his orders; and when the doctors prescribed that the blood should be allowed to flow freely, the author in his anxiety to apply the right treatment declared that the bloodletting was beyond all reason, and gave orders that it should be stopped then and there; for the author of this work had considerable knowledge of medicine. Hellespontius hearing what had happened came at once, indignant and loudly lamenting that it was a great calamity that a man of so great an age should lose so much blood from his arm. But when he heard Chrysanthius talking and saw that he was unharmed, he directed his remarks to |563 the author and said: "The whole city is accusing you of having done a terrible thing; but now they will all be silenced, when they see that he is unharmed." The author replied that he knew what was the proper treatment, whereupon Hellespontius made as though he would collect his books and go to Chrysanthius for a lesson; but he really left the city. Presently he began to suffer from a pain in his stomach, and he turned aside to Apamea in Bithynia and there departed this life, after laying the strictest injunctions on his comrade Procopius, who was present, to admire none but Chrysanthius. Procopius went to Sardis and did as he said, and reported these facts.

Now Chrysanthius, at the same season in the following year, that is at the beginning of summer, had recourse to the same remedy, and though the author of this work had given instructions to the doctors beforehand that they must wait for him as usual, they arrived without his knowledge. Chrysanthius offered his arm to them, and there was an excessive flux of blood, the result of which was that his limbs relaxed and he suffered acute pain in his joints, so that he had to stay in bed. Oribasius was immediately called in, and for the sake of Chrysanthius he almost succeeded, so extraordinary was his professional skill, in doing violence to the laws of nature, and by means of hot and soothing fomentations he almost restored the vigour of youth to those rigid limbs. Nevertheless old age gained the victory; for his eightieth year was now approaching, and the influence of his age was doubly felt when his temperature was so greatly changed by the excessive application of heat. After an illness |565 of four days he departed to a destiny that was worthy of him.

The successors of Chrysanthius in the profession of philosophy are Epigonus of Lacedaemon and Beronicianus of Sardis, men well worthy of the title of philosopher. But Beronicianus has sacrificed more generously to the Graces and has a peculiar talent for associating with his fellows. Long may he live to do so!

[Most of the footnotes renumbered and placed at the end]

1. ¹ Eunapius ignores Diogenes Laertius. Sotion, the Peripatetic philosopher at the close of the third century b.c., wrote an account of the successive heads of the schools of philosophy; he was used by Diogenes Laertius.

2. ¹ For this metaphor cf. Philostratus, Aristeides, p. 585.

3. ² For Euphrates sec Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, p. 488, note.

4. ³ The philosophers of other schools in the fourth century, especially the Neo-Platonists, despised and disliked the Cynics, partly because in some respects their mode of life resembled that of the Christians. This later Carneades is not otherwise known; some identify him with Carneius (Cynulcus) in Athenaeus, Deipnosophists.

5. ¹Eunapius seems to distinguish three groups of philosophers, i.e. those up to Plato, those after Plato, and those from Claudius A.D. 41 to Severus, died a.d. 211. He deals with none of these, and begins his own narrative with a brief mention of the Neoplatonist Plotinus who was born not long before the death of Severus.

6. ² i. e. the lives of philosophers are dated by the reigns of emperors.

7. ¹ i.e. purple; for Porphyry's account of this cf. his Life of Plotinus xvii.

8. ² An echo of Thucydides iv. 24.

9. ¹ Iliad vi. 202.

10. ² Illiad x. 515.

11. ³ Eunapius quotes incorrectly the account of this incident given by Porphyry himself in his Life of Plotinus xi. 113. When Plotinus found that he was contemplating suicide, he persuaded him that his depression was due to ill-health, and sent him to Sicily to rest; Plotinus did not follow him, and later Porphyry returned to Rome, after the death of Plotinus.

12. ⁴ This is not extant. Eunapius may refer to the advice given by Plotinus, Enneads iii. 2, against succumbing to adversity, but possibly his source is a commentary on the Enneads by Porphyry himself, not now extant.

13. ⁵ Cf. Julian, Orations, v. 170, vii. 217 c.

14. ¹ Iliad viii. 19. The golden chain there described symbolized for the Neo-Platonists the succession of the philosophers of their school as in Marinus, Life of Proclus xxvi. 53, though here Eunapius strangely applies it to one philosopher; cf. Eunapius, Fragments of History, xxii. 71.

15. ² Dr. G. A. Barton suggests that this word may be the Syriac Kenesthā, which means both "cleansing" and "filth"; in any case the incident probably occurred in Syria rather than at Rome.

16. ³ Porphyry, Life of Plotinus, xvi., does not call him a fellow-disciple, but says he was a Christian Gnostic who led others astray by his doctrines. The Origen here mentioned is not the famous Christian teacher.

17. ¹ Marcella had five daughters and two sons.

18. ¹ We have a few fragments of the Universal History of Dexippus, which came down to Probus A.D. 269 and was continued by Eunapius; he was a famous general who when the Goths occupied Athens in 267 collected a small force and inflicted severe losses on the invaders.

19. ² The district between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon was called "Syria in the Hollow."

20. ³ Quoted from Diogenes Laertius iv. 6, or more probably from Plutarch, Conjugal Precepts 141 F. Eunapius adds the words "of Hermes " to the original passage; Hermes was the god of eloquence.

21. ¹ This is the elder Sopater who was put to death by Constantine; his son and namesake was a correspondent of Libanius and a friend of the Emperor Julian.

22. ² Theodorus of Asine wrote a commentary on the Timaeus of Plato; it is possible that he is to be identified with the Theodorus who in a letter of Julian (Papadopulos 4*) is said to have attacked the doctrines of Iamblichus.

23. ³ Cf. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius iii. 15, where the same powers of levitation are ascribed to the Brahmans.

24. ¹ An echo of Plato, Phaedo 64 b.

25. ² This seems to imitate Plutarch, On the Familiar Spirit of Socrates 580.

26. ³ It was a Pythagorean doctrine that a funeral contaminates the bystander.

27. ¹ A favourite Platonic simile, frequently echoed by the sophists.

28. ² Cf. Horace, Epistles i. i. 8.5 "nullus in orbe locus Baiis praelucet amoenis."

29. ¹ No doubt a magic formula. Note the use of δρᾶν below, a verb regularly used for magic rites. For the fable of Eros and Anteros cf. Themistius 304 d.

30. ¹ This seems to be a rather confused reference to Timaeus 36 where the world-soul is said to envelop the body of the universe.

31. ² Perhaps an echo of Plato, Symposium 194 B.

32. ¹ A similar story is told of an unnamed youth by Aelian, Frag. 1038, and it may be imitated here by Eunapius.

33. ¹ Iamblichus died in the reign of Constantine the Great, and probably before A.D. 333; Eunapius is writing about fifty years later.

34. ² See above, p. 458.

35. ¹ A fabulous, monkey-like race who caught Heracles asleep.

36. ² An allusion to Aristophanes, Clouds 144.

37. ¹ Of. Demosthenes, On the Grown 87, for the dependence of Athens on corn from Byzantium.

38. ¹ An echo of Odyssey x. 20.

39. ² Μάθημα is often used technically of the science of drawing horoscopes.

40. ³ Rome.

41. ¹ Iliad v. 83; this is the verse that Julian quoted when he was invested with the purple as Caesar, and distrusted the intentions of Constantius; Ammianus Marcellinus xv. 8.

42. ² The regular procedure after such a vision; cf. Aristophanes, Frogs 137 f.; Aeschylus, Persae 201.

43. ¹ Constantius sent Eustathius on this embassy, but the incident at Antioch here described occurred much earlier, in the reign of Gallienus, about A.D. 258; cf. Ammianus Marcellinus xxiii. 5.

44. ² A sophistic commonplace derived from the famous saying of Eupolis about the oratory of Pericles; cf. Julian 33 a, 426 B.

45. ¹ Ammianus Marcellinus xvii. 5 mentions this embassy, which was sent to Ctesiphon in 358.

46. ² An echo of Plato, Phaedrus 247 a; a rhetorical commonplace.

47. ¹ Odyssey xvii. 185.

48. ¹ Homer's ζόφος, "darkness of the West," has always been regarded as consecrated to the heroic dead and to supernatural powers.

49. ² The moon was the home of good daemons, heroes, and so on. But Sosipatra will attain as high as the sun.

50. ¹ Antoninus died about 390; the Serapeum was destroyed in 391.

51. ² Eunapius means that his work is not a genealogical catalogue like the lost Hesiodic poem.

52. ³ Plato, Euthyphro init. Socrates, charged with impiety, is found in the porch of the archon who investigated such charges; these sham philosophers frequented the courts whereas Socrates, as a rule, avoided them.

53. ¹ For the wholesale persecution of those suspected of sorcery see Ammianus xxviii. 1.

54. ¹ Theophilus was the Christian bishop of Alexandria; cf. Zosimus v. 28; Theodoret v. 22.

55. ² Odyssey vii. 59.

56. ¹ Sozomenus vii. 15 gives the Christian account of the conversion of the Serapeum into a church.

57. ² Cf. Libanius, On the Temples, 474.

58. ¹ An echo of Phaedo 81 d; cf. Julian, Misopogon 344 a; Against the Galilaeans 335 C. Christian churches were built over the graves of martyrs.

59. ² An echo of Gorgias 524e.

60. ³ Cf. Julian, Or. vii. 228C.

61. ¹ See note, p. 395.

62. ² Some scholars think that Claudianus was the father of the Latin poet Claudianus (floruit 400 A.D.), but there is no sure evidence for this.

63. ¹ Cf., however, Julian, Letter to the Athenians 273 b.

64. ¹ The bite of this snake, as its Greek name implies, caused insatiable thirst.

65. ³ For Priscus see below, p. 481, Ammianus Marcellinus xxv. 3, and Julian, vol. iii. Letters.

66. ¹ i.e. dialectical discussions. Eusebius was devoted to philosophical rhetoric, whereas Chrysanthius and Maximus were thaumaturgists, or miracle-workers. Julian from this time fell under the baleful influence of Maximus.

67. ¹ i.e. Demeter and Persephone worshipped at Eleusis.

68. ² Lucian, Lexiphanes 10, alludes to the crime of naming the hierophant and torch-bearers of the Mysteries.

69. ³ The hereditary priests of Demeter at Eleusis.

70. ⁴ i.e. he had been the priest of Mithras.

71. ¹ i.e. the Christian monks. This invasion of the Goths in 395 is mentioned again in the Life of Priscus.

72. ² These incidents are related by Julian himself in his Letter to the Athenians and by Ammianus Marcellinus.

73. ¹ For Oribasius see his Life, pp. 498-499.

74. ² Constantius died in November 361 and Julian entered Constantinople in triumph in December.

75. ¹ Iliad i. 218.

76. ¹ None of these letters by the emperor is extant.

77. ² Iliad ix. 184.

78. ³ Cf. Julian, Letter to Libanius (55 Wright), written at Antioch early in 363, in which he complains that Priscus delays his coming.

79. ¹ They were both present at Julian's death (Ammianus Marcellinus xxv. 3).

80. ² On Julian's death in Persia in June 363, the general Jovian was elected emperor by the army.

81. ³ Eunapius means that Julian became a god.

82. ¹ Or " The Trough"; for this torture see Plutarch, Artaxerxes 16, where it is fully described.

83. ¹ Strabo iii. 220 describes the toilsome gold-digging of the women of this tribe in Lusitania. Tzetzes, Chiliad x. 885, echoes Eunapius.

84. ² Clearchus was a frequent correspondent of Libanius. He was prefect of Constantinople 398-402.

85. ³ In 363. The revolt of Procopius was in 365.

86. ¹ This is not the prefect of Gaul to whom Julian addressed his Orations iv. and viii. The spelling in the Greek text, " Salutius," is often used instead of Sallustius. I give the more usual form. His official name, e.g. in inscriptions, was Secundus. After Julian's death he was offered and refused the throne, and again on the death of Jovian, in 364, refused it for himself and his son. He seems to have been prefect of the East in 365, but resigned because of the hostility of the proconsul of Asia, Clearchus.

87. ² Nicias, the Athenian general, pursued a policy of "watchful waiting " in the Peloponnesian War.

88. ³ Perhaps he refers to the supremacy of the Goths about 398, or the sedition of Antioch in 387.

89. ¹ Zosimus iv. 10.

90. ² The text is mutilated and the meaning obscure.

91. ¹ Valens. For the execution of Maximus at Ephesus in 371 cf. Ammianus Marcellinus xxix. 1; Zosimus iv. 1.5.

92. ¹ For Festus cf. Ammianus xxix. 2.

93. ² Ammianus xxxi. 13 "nec postea repertus est usquam." The battle was at Adrianople in 378, against the Goths; late writers often confuse them with the Scythians.

94. ¹ Two deities called Nemesis were worshipped in;Asia, and especially at Smyrna.

95. ¹ For this phrase see Demosthenes, On the False Embassy 421, echoed by Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, p. 623.

96. ² i.e. by the Goths in 395.

97. ¹ i.e. in his Universal History.

98. ¹ The undying antagonism of " Town " and " Gown " was probably intensified by religious differences, since most of the students were opposed to Christianity.

99. ² The faction fights of the sophists and their pupils are often mentioned by Libanius; cf. Himerius, Oration iv. 9, and his Oration xix., which is addressed to those pupils who are so occupied with these encounters that they neglect their lectures. The incident here described with lively interest by Eunapius had occurred seventy years before he wrote the Lives.

100. ³ Spartan violence, Laconica manus, was apparently a proverb, but here there is a further allusion to the nationality of Apsines.

101. ¹ Tuscianus, who must have been very old when Eunapius knew him, was a correspondent of Libanius; he held various offices in the East and was for a time a colleague of Anatolius in the government of Illyricum.

102. ¹ Eunapius gives the Greek word used by the Romans for the toga or trabea. For the gesture as a sign of approval cf. Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists (Heliodorus) 626.

103. ¹ Perhaps an echo of Alexander's dying speech, which became a proverb; Diodorus Siculus xvii. 117; Arrian vii. 26; Plutarch, Apophthegmata 181 E.

104. ¹ A reference to the competition of the pupils who lay in wait for new arrivals and kidnapped them for their own sophists. Here the captain kidnaps them all for Prohaeresius.

105. ² i.e. it was the autumnal equinox.

106. ³ The exact meaning is doubtful. Νυκτερεῖον is found only here and may mean "a lodging for the night." Then the sentence would mean that to stay at an inn at the Piraeus would cause delay.

107. ⁴ Others understand μόνον to be self-depreciatory, i.e. Eunapius could recite, but did not understand them. But nearly always when he uses the phrase ἐπὶ στόματος it implies praise.

108. ¹ This was part of the regular " hazing " or " ragging " of the novices by the older pupils, described by Libanius and others; cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration xix. 328B.

109. ¹ Eunapius uses a grandiloquent word from Iliad i. 313.

110. ¹ Plato, Laws 730 b, quoted by Julian, Oration vi. 188 b.

111. ² Not the famous jurist, but a sophist who lived under Constantine.

112. ¹ i.e. Mesopotamia and Syria.

113. ¹ A proverb used by Plato, Phaedrus 241 B, and derived from the game ὀστρακίνδα.

114. ¹ This saying of Aristeides is quoted by Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 583; it became a proverb.

115. ¹ Hermogenes, On Invention iii. 13, gives five kinds of ὅρος, "definition"; the kind of argumentation required for each kind was elaborate and technical; it was part of the exposition of the case, the constitutio definitiva; cf. Quintilian vii. 3.

116. ² Literally "rapid scribes," sometimes called ταχυγράφοι.

117. ³ The goddess of the law courts.

118. ¹ This phrase, first used by Aristeides to describe Demosthenes, became a sophistic commonplace; cf. Julian, Oration vii. 237 c.

119. ¹ Himerius addresses a speech, Eclogue 32, to this Anatolius, the prefect of Illyricum; he visited Athens about 345.

120. ² No explanation of this word is to be found. Such nicknames were common in the fourth century, and the fashion flourished till by the sixth century they are almost surnames and in regular use.

121. ¹ Berytus (Beirut) was, as Libanius describes, famous for its school of Roman law. When the youths began to flock thither instead of to the Greek sophists the decay of Greek letters was inevitable.

122. ² Or " proposition," Latin quaestio.

123. ¹ This was a courageous act because Christian emperors, Constantius and Constans, were on the throne.

124. ¹ Or " Subdivisions," partitioned, arrangement of the speech under headings.

125. ² For the rhetorical term see Glossary.

126. ¹ Here Eunapius seems to imitate Philostratus, Life of Adrian 589, where that sophist makes a similar effect on audiences that knew no Greek.

127. ² This may echo Plato's description or Socrates in Symposium 220 a, b.

128. ¹ Libanius, Letter 278, mentions this statue at Rome and another at Athens.

129. ² This office, originally military, had become that of a Food Controller, cf. Julian, Oration i. 8 c, where he says that Constantine did not disdain it for himself.

130. ³ A proverb; cf. Plato, Theaetetus 183d. It is used by Lucian and Julian.

131. ¹ For Milesius see above, p. 491.

132. ¹ Probably "those of the Hellenic faith."

133. ² i.e. of Eleusis; cf. pp. 475, 476.

134. ³ See above, p. 486.

135. ¹ i.e. Prohaeresius had used these commonplaces effectively.

136. ¹ For Parnasius see Life of Prohaeresius, p. 487: he is otherwise unknown.

137. ² In A.D. 336.

138. ¹ In 340; he left Constantinople in 343. There is no other evidence for the scandalous charge mentioned later.

139. ² Libanius himself says that he was in Nicomedia five years, the happiest of his life.

140. ³ Eunapius ignores the second sojourn of Libanius at Constantinople; see Introduction, p. 334.

141. ¹ The adaptability of the polypus is a favourite commonplace; cf. Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea-Gods 4; Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 487, note.

142. ² This criticism is inconsistent with the reputation of Libanius as a declaimer; cf. Introduction, p. 335.

143. ¹ Eunapius unjustly accuses Libanius of the "precious" Atticism derided by Lucian, Lexiphanes.

144. ² Quoted from the Demoi by the scholiast on Aristophanes, Birds 1569,... " they go with me knots and all." κνήμη used of a tree is the part between two knots. In Thucydides viii. 86 Laispodias is an Athenian general. Both men were ridiculed by the comic poets because of their thin legs. Plutarch, Quaestiones 712 a, says the passage in Eupolis is a crux for commentators.

145. ³ i.e. the emperor.

146. ¹ This essay is lost; see Introduction, p. 336.

147. ¹ We know nothing more about this sophist; cf. p. 427.

148. ² See Philostratus, Life of Antipater, 607 note.

149. ³ The proagon is the preliminary statement of proofs in a rhetorical argument.

150. ¹ Or " enlisted Aristotle to aid nature "? Magnus seems to have been a sort of Christian Scientist who borrowed from Aristotle, Ethics iii. 2, on the exercise of deliberate purpose, to persuade patients that they could decide as to whether to be well or ill.

151. ² An echo of Plutarch, Pericles 8. Eunapius, though so well read in Plutarch, misquotes this familiar anecdote, which is told of Pericles and Thucydides. Archidamus asked the question of Thucydides who made the answer quoted here.

152. ¹ Asclepius; cf. Lucian, Icaromenippus 24.

153. ² See, however, Introduction, p. 338.

154. ¹ i.e. as a physician.

155. ¹ For the tyrannical manners of the Thessalians cf. Philostratus, Life of Critias above, p. 501.... was a proverb; cf. Julian 31 d, 274c.

156. ² For these incidents see the Life of Aedesius, pp. 476, 477.

157. ¹ Plato, Phaedrus 246 B. The human soul is represented as borne along by two horses, of which one represents the appetites, the other, reason and sobriety.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Preface to the online edition

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Preface to the online edition

Some years ago I noticed the absence of an English translation of Ammianus Marcellinus from the internet. I therefore obtained a photocopy of the 1862 edition -- how, I no longer recall. This sat on the shelf, an inch and a half thick, for a long time. But this Easter, while busy with other things, I found that the work still had not been transcribed. In a moment of enthusiasm I resolved to scan it. I started at 9pm, for 3 hours, and then to midday for another 3. This created bitmap images of the pages, at 400 dots-per-inch. I then ran Finereader 8.0 over these files, and then sat down to proof the results. By 9pm all had been proofed, although only by ignoring all the footnotes. Books 14 and 15 were laid out by 11pm. The following day I laid out all the rest, starting at pm, by dint of not creating anchors for every verse. The whole exercise was complete by pm on Easter Saturday, th April, 2007.

I give these times to point out to others what may be achieved in a short time. If I can scan, proof and layout a 650-page history in two days, there can be little excuse not to place online the largest works.

I regret greatly that I was unable, for pressure of time, to scan the footnotes. These were few, and many of interest. Likewise the quality of the proofing is probably not as good as usual, again under time pressure and with other tasks pressing on me. But I realised that if I did not scan Ammianus, no-one would, or not soon. This is regrettable, for he is a fine historian and the tale he tells is of very great relevance to our own day. It is greatly to be regretted that books 1-13 are lost. Where there are dots in the text, these mark gaps (lacunae) in the extant text.

A modern Penguin translation exists, which unfortunately omits all the digressions. The Loeb Classical Library translation by J. Rolfe may or may not be out of copyright, but I would prefer not to scan Loeb volumes which are in print. Scanning them can only hurt their scanty sales, and we have no other parallel-language series of texts in English available to the ordinary man.

The following notes about the manuscripts are summarised from L.D.Reynolds, Texts and Transmissions (1983) pp.6-8.

The text reaches us in sixteen handwritten copies. Fourteen of these belong to the renaissance, and the other two are 9th century:

V -- Vatican. lat. 1873. 9th century, written at the great Carolingian Abbey of Fulda.

M -- The fragmenta Marburgensis are 6 surviving leaves of a 9th century manuscript once at the Abbey of Hersfeld. They were rediscovered in 1875 and are now at Kassel, Landesbibliothek Philol. 2° 27.

All the renaissance copies are copies of V. This was discovered at Fulda in 1417 by the book-hunter Poggio Bracciolini, and 'liberated' by him from there in circumstances that are unclear, and probably because they involved dubious methods. Sadly the keepers of rare manuscripts, then and now, have often been neglectful but greedy, and obtaining copies is still a task requiring patience, politics and determination.

Poggio describes his find in letter IX.12 (p.375 of de Tonellis edition) to Francesco d'Arezzo: "I have restored Ammianus Marcellinus to the Muses, when I had extracted it from the libraries -- or rather dungeons -- of the Germans. Cardinal Colonna has that codex which I carried off, in ancient letters, but so badly written that nothing could be more corrupt." The codex first belonged to Odo Colonna (who became Pope Martin V at the Council of Constance), and then to his nephew Prospero. By 1423 it was in the hands of Niccolo Niccoli in Florence, who made a copy himself (F: Bibl. Naz. Conv. Soppr. J. v. 43) from which ten of the renaissance manuscripts descend; the other 3 are direct copies (D: Vatican lat. 1874; E: Vatican lat. 2969, written in Rome in 1445; N: Paris lat. 6120).

Poggio also knew of the Hersfeld codex (Letter III, 12, p.208), which featured in the famous search-list made by Niccolo Niccoli for Heinrich von Grebenstein, and sought to obtain it, but in vain. The Abbot of Hersfeld lent M to the Froben press in 1533. By then it already lacked the last chapter of book 30 and all of book 31. Around 1584-5 it was dismembered at the village of Friedewald, seven miles from Hersfeld, to provide covers for account books, and its fate remained unknown until 1875. In 1936 it was demonstrated that V was copied from M, which is therefore the ancestor of all extant modern texts. In M there are symptoms that it had been copied in turn from an Insular manuscript, from Britain or Ireland. Reynolds considers a report of a possible majuscule manuscript at Lorsch to be highly suspect. There seems to be no such volume listed in the 10th century catalogue of the enormous library at Lorsch, listing some 590 volumes and printed by G. Becker in Catalogi Bibliothecarum Antiqui.

Roger Pearse

Easter, 2007

Bibliography

J. C. Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus: Roman History. Vol. 1: Books 14-19; Vol. 2: Books 20-26; Vol. 3: Books 27-31, Excerpta Valesiana. (1935-39)

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill and Walter Hamilton, Ammianus Marcellinus: The Later Roman Empire: A.D. 354-378 (Penguin Classics). (1986)

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Preface pp.v-vii

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Preface pp.v-vii

Preface

[by Charles Duke YONGE]

Of Ammianus Marcellinus, the writer of the following History, we know very little more than what can be collected from that portion of it which remains to us. From that source we learn that he was a native of Antioch, and a soldier; being one of the 'prefectores domestici—the body-guard of the emperor, into which none but men of noble birth were admitted. He was on the staff of Ursicinus, whom he attended in several of his expeditions; and he bore a share in the campaigns which Julian made against the Persians. After that time he never mentions himself, and we are ignorant when he quitted the service and retired to Rome, in which city he composed his History. We know not when he was born, or when he died, except that from one or two incidental passages in his work it is plain that he lived nearly to the end of the fourth century: and it is even uncertain whether he was a Christian or a Pagan; though the general belief is, that he adhered to the religion of the ancient Romans, without, however, permitting it to lead him even to speak disrespectfully of Christians or Christianity.

His History, which he divided into thirty-one books (of which the first thirteen are lost, while the text of those which remain is in some places imperfect), began with the accession of Nerva, A.D. 96, where Tacitus and Suetonius |vi end, and was continued to the death of Valens, A.D. 378, a period of 282 years. And there is probably no work as to the intrinsic value of which there is so little difference of opinion. Gibbon bears repeated testimony to his accuracy, fidelity, and impartiality, and quotes him extensively. In losing his aid after AD. 378, he says, "It is not without sincere regret that I must now take leave of an accurate and faithful guide, who has composed the histoiy of his own times without indulging the prejudices and passions which usually affect the mind of a contemporary." Professor Ramsay (in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography) says, "We are indebted to him for a knowledge of many important facts not elsewhere recorded, and for much valuable insight into the modes of thought and the general tone of public feeling prevalent in his day. Nearly all the statements admitted appear to be founded upon his own observations, or upon the information derived from trustworthy eye-witnesses. A considerable number of dissertations and digressions are introduced, many of them highly interesting and valuable. Such are his notices of the institutions and manners of the Saracens (xiv. 4), of the Scythians and Sarmatians (xvii. 12), of the Huns and Alani (xxxi. 2), of the Egyptians and their country (xxii. 6, 14-16), and his geographical discussions upon Gaul (xv. 9), the Pontus (xxii. 8), and Thrace (xxvii. 4). Less legitimate and less judicious are his geological speculations upon earthquakes (xvii. 7), his astronomical inquiries into eclipses (xx. 3), comets (xxv. 10), and the regulation of the calendar (xxvi. 1); his medical researches into the origin of epidemics (xix. 4); his zoological theory on the destruction of lions by mosquitos (xviii. 7), and his horticultural essay on the impregnation of palms (xxiv. 3). In addition to industry in research and honesty of purpose, he was gifted with a large measure of strong common sense, which enabled him in many points to rise superior to the prejudices of his day, and with a clear-sighted independence |vii of spirit which prevented him from being dazzled or overawed by the brilliancy and the terrors which enveloped the imperial throne. But although sufficiently acute in detecting and exposing the follies of others, and especially in ridiculing the absurdities of popular superstition, Ammianus did not entirely escape the contagion. The general and deep-seated belief in magic spells, omens, prodigies, and oracles, which appears to have gained additional strength upon the first introduction of Christianity, evidently exercised no small influence over his mind. The old legends and doctrines of the pagan creed, and the subtle mysticism which philosophers pretended to discover lurking below, when mixed up with the pure and simple but startling tenets of the new faith, formed a confused mass which few intellects could reduce to order and harmony."

The vices of our author's style, and his ambitious affectation of ornament, are condemned by most critics; but some of the points which strike a modern reader as defects evidently arise from the alteration which the Latin language had already undergone since the days of Livy. His great value, however, consists in the facts he has made known to us, and is quite independent of the style or language in which he has conveyed that knowledge, of which without him we should have been nearly destitute.

The present translation has been made from Wagner and Erfurdt's edition, published at Leipzig in 1808, and their division of chapters into short paragraphs has been followed.

Feb. 1802.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 14. pp.1-45.

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 14. pp.1-45.

THE FIRST THIRTEEN BOOKS ARE LOST.

I. The cruelty of the Caesar Gallus.

II. The incursions of the Isaurians.

III. The unsuccessful plans of the Persians.

IV. The invasion of the Saracens, and the manners of that people.

V. The punishment of the adherents of Magnentius.

VI. The vices of the senate and people of Rome.

VII. The ferocity and inhumanity of the Caesar Gallus.

VIII. A description of the provinces of the East.

IX. About the Caesar Constantius Gallus.

X. The Emperor Constantius grants the Allemanni peace at their request.

XI. The Caesar Constantius Gallus is sent for by the Emperor Constantius, and beheaded.

BOOK XIV.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

A.D. 353.

1. After the events of an expedition full of almost insuperable difficulties, while the spirits of all parties in the state, broken by the variety of their dangers and toils, were still enfeebled; while the clang of trumpets was ringing in men's ears, and the troops were still distributed in their winter quarters, the storms of angry fortune surrounded the commonwealth with fresh dangers through the manifold and terrible atrocities of Caesar Gallus: who, when just entering into the prime of life, having been raised with |2 unexpected honour from the lowest depth of misery to the highest rank, exceeded all the legitimate bounds of the power conferred on him, and with preposterous violence threw everything into confusion. For by his near relationship to the royal family, and his connection with the name of Constantine, he was so inflated with pride, that if he had had more power, he would, as it seemed, have ventured to attack even the author of his prosperity.

2. His wife added fuel to his natural ferocity; she was a woman immoderately proud of her sisterly relationship to Augustus, and had been formerly given in marriage by the elder Constantine to King Hannibalianus, his brother's son. She was an incarnate fury: never weary of inflaming his savage temper, thirsting for human blood as insatiably as her husband. The pair, in process of time, becoming more skilful in the infliction of suffering, employed a gang of underhand and crafty talebearers, accustomed in their wickedness to make random additions to their discoveries, which consisted in general of such falsehoods as they themselves delighted in; and these men loaded the innocent with calumnies, charging them with aiming at kingly power, or with practising infamous acts of magic.

3. And among his less remarkable atrocities, when his power had gone beyond the bounds of moderate crimes, was conspicuous the horrible and sudden death of a certain noble citizen of Alexandria, named Clematius. His mother-in-law, having conceived a passion for him, could not prevail on him to gratify it; and in consequence, as |3 was reported, she, having obtained an introduction by a secret door into the palace, won over the queen by the present of a costly necklace, and procured a fatal warrant to be sent to Honoratus, at that time count-governor of the East, in compliance with which Clematius was put to death, a man wholly innocent of any kind of wickedness, without being permitted to say a word in his defence.

4. After this iniquitous transaction, which struck others also with fear lest they should meet with similar treatment, as if cruelty had now obtained a licence, many were condemned on mere vague suspicion; of whom some were put to death, others were punished by the confiscation of their property, and driven forth as exiles from their homes, so that having nothing left but their tears and complaints, they were reduced to live on the contributions of their friends; and many opulent and famous houses were shut up, the old constitutional and just authority being changed into a government at the will of a bloodthirsty tyrant.

5. Nor amid these manifold atrocities was any testimony of an accuser, not even of a suborned one, sought for, in order to give at least an appearance of these crimes being committed according to law and statute, as very commonly even the most cruel princes have done: but whatever suited the implacable temper of Caesar was instantly accomplished in haste, as if its accordance with human and divine law had been well considered.

6. After these deeds a fresh device was adopted, and a body of obscure men, such as, by reason of the meanness of their condition, were little likely to excite suspicion, were sent, through all the districts of Antioch, to collect reports, and to bring news of whatever they might hear. They, travelling about, and concealing their object, joined clandestinely in the conversational circles of honourable men, and also in disguise obtained entrance into the houses of the rich. When they returned they were secretly admitted by back doors into the palace, and then reported all that they had been able to hear or to collect; taking care with an unanimous kind of conspiracy to invent many things, and to exaggerate for the worse all they really knew; at the same time suppressing any praises of Caesar which had come to their ears, although these were wrung |4 from many, against their consciences, by the dread of impending evils.

7. And it had happened sometimes that, if in his secret chamber, when no domestic servant was by, the master of the house had whispered anything into his wife's ear, the very next day, as if those renowned seers of old, Amphiaraus or Marcius, had been at hand to report it, the emperor was informed of what had been said; so that even the walls of a man's secret chamber, the only witnesses to his language, were viewed with apprehension.

8. And Caesar's fixed resolution to inquire into these and other similar occurrences was increased by the queen, who constantly stimulated his desire, and was driving on the fortunes of her husband to headlong destruction, while she ought rather, by giving him useful advice, to have led him back into the paths of truth and mercy, by feminine gentleness, as, in recounting the acts of the Gordiani, we have related to have been done by the wife of that truculent emperor Maximinus.

9. At last, by an unsurpassed and most pernicious baseness, Gallus ventured on adopting a course of fearful wickedness, which indeed Gallienus, to his own exceeding infamy, is said formerly to have tried at Rome; and, taking with him a few followers secretly armed, he used to rove in the evening through the streets and among the shops, making inquiries in the Greek language, in which he was well skilled, what were the feelings of individuals towards Caesar. And he used to do this boldly in the city, where the brillancy of the lamps at night often equalled the light of day. At last, being often recognized, and considering that if he went out in this way he should be known, he took care never to go out except openly in broad daylight, to transact whatever business which he thought of serious importance. And these things caused bitter though secret lamentation, and discontent to many.

10. But at that time Thalassius was the present prefect of the palace, a man of an arrogant temper; and he, |5 perceiving that the hasty fury of Gallus gradually increased to the danger of many of the citizens, did not mollify it by either delay or wise counsels, as men in high office have very often pacified the anger of their princes; but by untimely opposition and reproof, did often excite him the more to frenzy; often also informing Augustus of his actions, and that too with exaggeration, and taking care, I know not with what intention, that what he did should not be unknown to the emperor. And at this Caesar soon became more vehemently exasperated, and, as if raising more on high than ever the standard of his contumacy, without any regard to the safety of others or of himself, he bore himself onwards like a rapid torrent, with an impetuosity which would listen to no reason, to sweep away all the obstacles which opposed his will.

II.

1. Nor indeed was the East the only quarter which this plague affected with its various disasters. For the Isaurians also, a people who were accustomed to frequent alternations of peace, and of turbulence which threw everything into confusion with sudden outbreaks—impunity having fostered their growing audacity and encouraged it to evil — broke out in a formidable war. Being especially excited, as they gave out by this indignity, that some of their allies, having been taken prisoners, were in an unprecedented manner exposed to wild beasts, and in the games of the amphitheatre, at Iconium, a town of Pisidia.

2. And as Cicero says, that "even wild beasts, when reminded by hunger, generally return to that place where they have been fed before." So they all, descending like a whirlwind from their high and pathless mountains, came into the districts bordering on the sea: in which hiding themselves in roads full of lurking-places, and in defiles, when the long nights were approaching, the moon being at that time new, and so not yet giving her full light, they lay wait for the sailors; and when they perceived that they were wrapped in sleep, they, crawling on their hands and feet along the cables which held the anchors, and raising themselves up by them, swung themselves into the boats, |6 and so came upon the crews unexpectedly, and, their natural ferocity being inflamed by covetousness, they spared not even those who offered no resistance, but slew them all, and carried off a splendid booty with no more trouble than if it had been valueless.

3. This conduct did not last long, for when the deaths of the crews thus plundered and slaughtered became known, no one afterwards brought a vessel to the stations on that coast; but, avoiding them as they would have avoided the deadly precipices of Sciron, they sailed on, without halting, to the shores of Cyprus, which lie opposite to the rocks of Isauria.

4. Therefore as time went on, and no foreign vessels went there any more, they quitted the sea coast, and betook themselves to Lycaonia, a country which lies on the borders of Isauria. And there, occupying the roads with thick barricades, they sought a living by plundering the inhabitants of the district, as well as travellers. These outrages aroused the soldiers who were dispersed among the many municipal towns and forts which lie on the borders. And they, endeavouring to the utmost of their strength to repel these banditti, who were spreading every day more widely, sometimes in solid bodies, at others in small straggling parties, were overcome by their vast numbers.

5. Since the Isaurians, having been born and brought up amid the entangled defiles of lofty mountains, could bound over them as over plain and easy paths, and attacked all who came in their way with missiles from a distance, terrifying them at the same time with savage yells.

6. And very often our infantry were compelled in pursuit of them to climb lofty crags, and, when their feet slipped, to catch hold of the shrubs and briars to raise themselves to the summits; without ever being able to deploy into battle array, by reason of the narrow and difficult nature of the ground, nor even to stand firm; while their enemy running round in every direction hurled down upon them fragments of rock from above till they retired down the declivities with great danger. |7 Or else, sometimes, in the last necessity fighting bravely, they were overwhelmed with fragments of immense bulk and weight.

7. On this account they subsequently were forced to observe more caution, and whenever the plunderers began to retire to the high ground, our soldiers yielded to the unfavourable character of the country and retired. But whenever they could be met with in the plain, which often happened, then charging them without giving them time to combine their strength, or even to brandish the javelins of which they always carried two or three, they slaughtered them like defenceless sheep.

8. So that these banditti, conceiving a fear of Lycaonia, which is for the most part a champaign country, since they had learnt by repeated proofs that they were unequal to our troops in a pitched battle, betook themselves by unfrequented tracks to Pamphylia. This district had long been free from the evils of war, but nevertheless had been fortified in all quarters by strong forts and garrisons, from the dread entertained by the people of rapine and slaughter, since soldiers were scattered over all the neighbouring districts.

9. Therefore hastening with all speed, in order by their exceeding celerity of movement to anticipate all rumour of their motions, trusting to their strength and activity of body, they travelled by winding roads until they reached the high ground on the tops of the mountains, the steepness of which delayed their march more than they had expected. And when at last, having surmounted all the difficulties of the mountains, they came to the precipitous banks of the Melas, a deep river and one full of dangerous currents, which winds round the district, protecting the inhabitants like a wall, the night which had overtaken them increased their fears, so that they halted for a while awaiting the daylight. For they expected to be able to cross without hindrance, and then, in consequence of the suddenness of their inroad, to be able to ravage all the country around; but they had incurred great toil to no purpose.

10. For when the sun rose they were prevented from crossing by the size of the river, which though narrow was very deep. And while they were searching for some fishing-boats, or preparing to commit themselves to the |8 stream on rafts hastily put together, the legions which at that time were wintering about Side, came down upon them with great speed and impetuosity; and having pitched their standards close to the bank with a view to an immediate battle, they packed their shields together before them in a most skilful manner, and without any difficulty slew some of the banditti, who either trusted to their swimming, or who tried to cross the river unperceived in barks made of the trunks of trees hollowed out.

11. And the Isaurians having tried many devices to obtain success in a regular battle, and having failed in everything, being repulsed in great consternation, and with great vigour on the part of the legions, and being uncertain which way to go, came near the town of Laranda. And there, after they had refreshed themselves with food and rest, and recovered from their fears, they attacked several wealthy towns; but being presently scared by the support given to the citizens by some squadrons of horse which happened to be at hand, and which they would not venture to resist in the extensive plains, they retreated, and retracing their steps summoned all the flower of their youth which had been left at home to join them.

12. And as they were oppressed with severe famine, they made for a place called Palea, standing on the sea-shore, and fortified with a strong wall; where even to this day supplies are usually kept in store, to be distributed to the armies which defend the frontier of Isauria.

13. Therefore they encamped around this fortress for three days and three nights, and as the steepness of the ground on which it stood prevented any attempt to storm it without the most deadly peril, and as it was impossible to effect anything by mines, and no other manoeuvres such as are employed in sieges availed anything, they retired much dejected, being compelled by the necessities of their situation to undertake some enterprise, even if it should be greater than their strength was equal to.

14. Then giving way to greater fury than ever, being inflamed both by despair and hunger, and their strength increased by their unrestrainable ardour, they directed their efforts to destroy the city of Seleucia, the metropolis of the province, which was defended by Count Castucius, whose legions were inured to every kind of military service. |9

15. The commanders of the garrison being forewarned of their approach by their own trusty scouts, having, according to custom, given out the watchword to the troops, led forth all their forces in a rapid sally, and having with great activity passed the bridge over the river Calicadnus, the mighty waters of which wash the turrets of the walls, they drew out their men as if prepared for battle. But as yet no man left the ranks, and the army was not allowed to engage; for the band of the Isaurians was dreaded, inasmuch as they were desperate with rage, and superior in number, and likely to rush upon the arms of the legions without any regard to their lives. Therefore as soon as the army was beheld at a distance, and the music of the trumpeters was heard, the banditti halted and stood still for a while, brandishing their threatening swords, and after a time they marched on slowly. And when the steady Roman soldiery began to deploy, preparing to encounter them, beating their shields with their spears (a custom which rouses the fury of the combatants, and strikes terror into their enemies), they filled the front ranks of the Isaurians with consternation. But as the troops were pressing forward eagerly to the combat their generals recalled them, thinking it inopportune to enter upon a contest of doubtful issue, when their walls were not far distant, under protection of which the safety of the whole army could be placed on a solid foundation.

16. Therefore the soldiers were brought back inside the walls in accordance with this resolution, and all the approaches and gales were strongly barred; and the men were placed on the battlements and bulwarks, having vast stones and weapons of all kinds piled close at hand, so that if any one forced his way inside be might be overwhelmed with a multitude of missiles and stones.

17. But those who were shut up in the walls were at the same time greatly afflicted, because the Isaurians having taken some vessels which were conveying grain down the river, were well provided with abundance of food, while they themselves, having almost consumed the usual stores of food, were in a state of alarm dreading the fatal agonies of approaching famine. When the news of this distress got abroad, and when repeated messages |10 to this effect had moved Gallus Caesar, because the master of the horse was kept away longer than usual at that season, Nebridius the count of the East was ordered to collect a military force from all quarters, and hastened forward with exceeding zeal to deliver the city, so wealthy and important, from such a peril. And when this was known the banditti retired, without having performed any memorable exploit, and dispersing, according to their wont, they sought the trackless recesses of the lofty mountains.

III.

1. While affairs were in this state in Isauria, and while the king of Persia was involved in wars upon his frontier, repulsing from his borders a set of ferocious tribes which, being full of fickleness, were continually either attacking him in a hostile manner, or, as often happens, aiding him when he turned his arms against us, a certain noble, by name Nohodares, having been appointed to invade Mesopotamia, whenever occasion might serve, was anxiously exploring our territories with a view to some sudden incursion, if he could anywhere find an opportunity.

2. And because since every part of Mesopotamia is accustomed to be disturbed continually, the lands were protected by frequent barriers, and military stations in the rural districts, Nohodares, having directed his march to the left, had occupied the most remote parts of the Osdroene, having devised a novel plan of operations which had never hitherto been tried. And if he had succeeded he would have laid waste the whole country like a thunderbolt.

3. Now the plan which he had conceived was of this kind. There is a town in Anthemusia called Batne, built by the ancient Macedonians, a short distance from the river Euphrates, thickly peopled by wealthy merchants. To this city, about the beginning of the month of September, a great multitude of all ranks throng to a fair, in order to buy the wares which the Indians and Chinese send thither, and many other articles which are usually brought to this fair by land and sea.

4. The leader before named, preparing to invade this district on the days set apart for this solemnity, marching through the deserts and along the grassy banks of the |11 river Abora, was betrayed by information given by some of his own men, who being alarmed at the discovery of certain crimes which they had committed, deserted to the Roman garrisons, and accordingly he retired again without having accomplished anything; and after that remained quiet without undertaking any further enterprise.

IV.

1. At this time also the Saracens, a race whom it is never desirable to have either for friends or enemies, ranging up and down the country, if ever they found anything, plundered it in a moment, like rapacious hawks who, if from on high they behold any prey, carry it off with rapid swoop, or, if they fail in their attempt, do not tarry.

2. And although, in recounting the career of the Prince Marcus, and once or twice subsequently, I remember having discussed the manners of this people, nevertheless I will now briefly enumerate a few more particulars concerning them.

3. Among these tribes, whose primary origin is derived from the cataracts of the Nile and the borders of the Blemmyae, all the men are warriors of equal rank; half naked, clad in coloured cloaks down to the waist, overrunning different countries, with the aid of swift and active horses and speedy camels, alike in times of peace and war. Nor does any member of their tribes ever take plough in hand or cultivate a tree, or seek food by the tillage of the land; but they are perpetually wandering over various and extensive districts, having no home, no fixed abode or laws; nor can they endure to remain long in the same climate, no one district or country pleasing them for a continuance.

4. Their life is one continued wandering; their wives are hired, on special covenant, for a fixed time; and that there may be some appearance of marriage in the business, the intended wife, under the name of a dowry, offers a spear and a tent to her husband, with a right to quit him after a fixed day, if she should choose to do so. And it is inconceivable with what eagerness the individuals of both sexes give themselves up to matrimonial pleasures. |12

5. But as long as they live they wander about with such extensive and perpetual migrations, that the woman is married in one place, brings forth her children in another, and rears them at a distance from either place, no opportunity of remaining quiet being ever granted to her.

6. They all live on venison, and are further supported on a great abundance of milk, and on many kinds of herbs, and on whatever birds they can catch by fowling. And we have seen a great many of them wholly ignorant of the use of either corn or wine.

7. So much for this most mischievous nation. Now let us return to the subject we originally proposed to our selves.

V.

1. While these events were taking place in the East, Constantius was passing the winter at Arles; and after an exhibition of games in the theatre and in the circus, which were displayed with most sumptuous magnificence, on the tenth of October, the day which completed the thirtieth year of his reign, he began to give the reins more freely to his insolence, believing every information which was laid before him as proved, however doubtful or false it might be; and among other acts of cruelty, he put Gerontius, a count of the party of Magnentius, to the torture, and then condemned him to banishment.

2. And as the body of a sick man is apt to be agitated by even trifling grievances, so his narrow and sensitive mind, thinking every sound that stirred something either done or planned to the injury of his safety, made his victory mournful by the slaughter of innocent men.

3. For if any one of his military officers, or of those who had ever received marks of honour, or if any one of high rank was accused, on the barest rumour, of having favoured the faction of his enemy, he was loaded with chains and dragged about like a beast. And whether any enemy of the accused man pressed him or not, as if the |13 mere fact that his name had heen mentioned was sufficient, every one who was informed against or in any way called in question, was condemned either to death, or to confiscation of his property, or to confinement in a desert island.

4. For his ferocity was excited to a still further degree when any mention was made of treason or sedition; and the bloodthirsty insinuations of those around him, exaggerating everything that happened, and pretending great concern at any danger which might threaten the life of the emperor, on whose safety, as on a thread, they hypocritically exclaimed the whole world depended, added daily to his suspicions and watchful anger.

5. And therefore it is reported he gave orders that no one who was at any time sentenced to punishment for these or similar offences should be readmitted to his presence for the purpose of offering the usual testimonies to his character, a thing which the most implacable princes have been wont to permit. And thus deadly cruelty, which in all other men at times grows cool, in him only became more violent as he advanced in years, because the court of flatterers which attended on him added continual fuel to his stern obstinacy.

6. Of this court a most conspicuous member was Paulus, the secretary, a native of Spain, a man keeping his objectives hidden beneath a smooth countenance, and acute beyond all men in smelling out secret ways to bring others into danger. He, having been sent into Britain to arrest some military officers who had dared to favour the conspiracy of Magnentius, as they could not resist, licentiously exceeded his commands, and like a flood poured with sudden violence upon the fortunes of a great number of people, making his path through manifold slaughter and destruction, loading the bodies of free-born men with chains, and crushing some with fetters, while patching up all kinds of accusations far removed from the truth. And to this man is owing one especial atrocity which has branded the time of Constantius with indelible infamy.

7. Martinus, who at that time governed these provinces as deputy, being greatly concerned for the sufferings inflicted on innocent men, and making frequent entreaties |14 that those who were free from all guilt might be spared, when he found that he could not prevail, threatened to withdraw from the province, in the hope that this malevolent inquisitor, Paulus, might be afraid of his doing so, and so give over exposing to open danger men who had combined only in a wish for tranquillity.

8. Paulus, thinking that this conduct of Martinus was a hindrance to his own zeal, being, as he was, a formidable artist in involving matters, from which people gave him the nickname of "the Chain," attacked the deputy himself while still engaged in defending the people whom he was set to govern, and involved him in the dangers which surrounded every one else, threatening that he would carry him, with his tribunes and many other persons, as a prisoner to the emperor's court. Martinus, alarmed at this threat, and seeing the imminent danger in which his life was, drew his sword and attacked Paulus. But because from want of strength in his hand he was unable to give him a mortal wound, he then plunged his drawn sword into his own side. And by this unseemly kind of death that most just man departed from life, merely for having dared to interpose some delay to the miserable calamities of many citizens.

9. And when these wicked deeds had been perpetrated, Paulus, covered with blood, returned to the emperor's camp, bringing with him a crowd of prisoners almost covered with chains, in the lowest condition of squalor and misery; on whose arrival the racks were prepared, and the executioner began to prepare his hooks and other engines of torture. Of these prisoners, many of them had their property confiscated, others were sentenced to banishment, some were given over to the sword of the executioner. Nor is it easy to cite the acquittal of a single person in the time of Constantius, where the slightest whisper of accusation had been brought against him.

VI.

1. At this time Orfitus was the governor of the Eternal City, with the rank of prefect; and he behaved with a degree of insolence beyond the proper limits of the dignity thus conferred upon him. A man of prudence indeed, and |15 well skilled in all the forensic business of the city, but less accomplished in general literature and in the fine arts than was becoming in a nobleman. Under his administration some very formidable seditions broke out in consequence of the scarcity of wine, as the people, being exceedingly eager for an abundant use of that article, were easily excited to frequent and violent disorders.

2. And since I think it likely that foreigners who may read this account (if, indeed, any such should meet with it) are likely to wonder how it is that, when my history has reached the point of narrating what was done at Rome, nothing is spoken of but seditions, and shops, and cheapness, and other similarly inconsiderable matters, I will briefly touch upon the causes of this, never intentionally departing from the strict truth.

3. At the time when Rome first rose into mundane brilliancy—that Rome which was fated to last as long as mankind shall endure, and to be increased with a sublime progress and growth—virtue and fortune, though commonly at variance, agreed upon a treaty of eternal peace, as far as she was concerned. For if either of them had been wanting to her, she would never have reached her perfect and complete supremacy.

4. Her people, from its very earliest infancy to the latest moment of its youth, a period which extends over about three hundred years, carried on a variety of wars with the natives around its walls. Then, when it arrived at its full-grown manhood, after many and various labours in war, it crossed the Alps and the sea, till, as youth and man, it had carried the triumphs of victory into every country in the world.

5. And now that it is declining into old age, and often owes its victories to its mere name, it has come to a more tranquil time of life. Therefore the venerable city, after having bowed down the haughty necks of fierce nations, and given laws to the world, to be the foundations and eternal anchors of liberty, like a thrifty parent, prudent and rich, intrusted to the Caesars, as to its own children, the right of governing their ancestral inheritance.

6. And although the tribes are indolent, and the countries peaceful, and although there are no contests for votes, but the tranquillity of the age of Numa has returned, |16 nevertheless, in every quarter of the world Rome is still looked up to as the mistress and the queen of the earth, and the name of the Roman people is respected and venerated.

7. But this magnificent splendour of the assemblies and councils of the Roman people is defaced by the inconsiderate levity of a few, who never recollect where they have been born, but who fall away into error and licentiousness, as if a perfect impunity were granted to vice. For as the lyric poet Simonides teaches us, the man who would live happily in accordance with perfect reason, ought above all things to have a glorious country.

8. Of these men, some thinking that they can be handed down to immortality by means of statues, are eagerly desirous of them, as if they would obtain a higher reward from brazen figures unendowed with sense than from a consciousness of upright and honourable actions; and they even are anxious to have them plated over with gold, a thing which is reported to have been first done in the instance of Acilius Glabrio, who by his wisdom and valour had subdued King Antiochus. But how really noble a thing it is to despise all these inconsiderable and trifling things, and to bend one's attention to the long and toilsome steps of true glory, as the poet of Ascrea has sung, and Cato the Censor has shown by his example. For when he was asked how it was that while many other nobles had statues he had none, replied: "I had rather that good men should marvel how it was that I did not earn one, than (what would be a much heavier misfortune) inquire how it was that I had obtained one."

9. Others place the height of glory in having a coach higher than usual, or splendid apparel; and so toil and sweat under a vast burden of cloaks, which are fastened to their necks by many clasps, and blow about from the excessive fineness of the material; showing a desire, by the continual wriggling of their bodies, and especially by the waving of the left hand, to make their long fringes and tunics, embroidered in multiform figures of animals with threads of various colours, more conspicuous.

10. Others, with not any one asking them, put on a |17 feigned severity of countenance, and extol their patrimonial estates in a boundless degree, exaggerating the yearly produce of their fruitful fields, which they boast of possessing in numbers from east to west, being forsooth ignorant that their ancestors, by whom the greatness of Rome was so widely extended, were not eminent for riches; but through a course of dreadful wars overpowered by their valour all who were opposed to them, though differing but little from the common soldiers either in riches, or in their mode of life, or in the costliness of their garments.

11. This is how it happened that Valerius Publicola was buried by the contributions of his friends, and that the destitute wife of Regulus was, with her children, supported by the aid of the friends of her husband, and that the daughter of Scipio had a dowry provided for her out of the public treasury, the other nobles being ashamed to see the beauty of this full-grown maiden, while her moneyless father was so long absent on the service of his country.

12. But now if you, as an honourable stranger, should enter the house of any one well off, and on that account full of pride, for the purpose of saluting him, at first, indeed, you will be hospitably received, as though your presence had been desired; and after having had many questions put to you, and having been forced to tell a number of lies, you will wonder, since the man had never seen you before, that one of high rank should pay such attention to you who are but an unimportant individual; so that by reason of this as a principal source of happiness, you begin to repent of not having come to Rome ten years ago.

13. And when relying on this affability you do the same thing the next day, you will stand waiting as one utterly unknown and unexpected, while he who yesterday encouraged you to repeat your visit, counts upon his fingers who you can be, marvelling, for a long time, whence you come, and what you want. But when at length you are recognized and admitted to his acquaintance, if you should devote yourself to the attention of saluting him for three years consecutively, and after this intermit your visits for an equal length of time, then if you return to repeat a similar course, you will never be questioned about your absence any more than if you had |18 been dead, and you will waste your whole life in submitting to court the humours of this blockhead.

14. But when those long and unwholesome banquets, which are indulged in at certain intervals, begin to be prepared, or the distribution of the usual dole-baskets takes place, then it is discussed with anxious deliberation whether when those to whom a return is due are to be entertained, it is proper to invite also a stranger; and if, after the matter has been thoroughly sifted, it is determined that it may be done, that person is preferred who waits all night before the houses of charioteers, or who professes a skill in dice, or pretends to be acquainted with some peculiar secrets.

15. For such entertainers avoid all learned and sober men as unprofitable and useless; with this addition, that the nomenclators also, who are accustomed to make a market of these invitations and of similar favours, selling them for bribes, do for gain thrust in mean and obscure men at these dinners.

16. The whirlpools of banquets, and the various allurements of luxury, I omit, that I may not be too prolix, and with the object of passing on to this fact, that some people, hastening on without fear of danger, drive their horses, as if they were post-horses, with a regular licence, as the saying is, through the wide streets of the city, over the roads paved with flint, dragging behind them large bodies of slaves like bands of robbers; not leaving at home even Sannio, as the comic poet says.

17. And many matrons, imitating these men, gallop over every quarter of the city with their heads covered, and in close carriages. And as skilful conductors of battles place in the van their densest and strongest battalions, then their light-armed troops, behind them the darters, and in the extreme rear troops of reserve, ready to join in the attack if necessity should arise; so, according to the careful arrangements of the stewards of those city households, who are conspicuous by wands fastened to their right hands, as if a regular watchword had been issued from the camp, first of all, near |19 the front of the carriage march all the slaves concerned in spinning and working; next to them come the blackened crew employed in the kitchen; then the whole body of slaves promiscuously mixed up with a gang of idle plebeians from the neighbourhood; last of all, the multitude of eunuchs, beginning with the old men and ending with the boys, pale and unsightly from the distorted deformity of their features; so that whichever way any one goes, seeing troops of mutilated men, he will detest the memory of Semiramis, that ancient queen who was the first person to castrate male youths of tender age; doing as it were a violence to nature, and forcing it back from its appointed course, which at the very first beginning and birth of the child, by a kind of secret law revealing the primitive fountains of seed, points out the way of propagating posterity.

18. And as this is the case, those few houses which were formerly celebrated for the serious cultivation of becoming studies, are now filled with the ridiculous amusements of torpid indolence, re-echoing with the sound of vocal music and the tinkle of flutes and lyres. Lastly, instead of a philosopher, you find a singer; instead of an orator, some teacher of ridiculous arts is summoned; and the libraries closed for ever, like so many graves; organs to be played by water-power are made; and lyres of so vast a size, that they look like waggons; and flutes, and ponderous machines suited for the exhibitions of actors.

19. Last of all, they have arrived at such a depth of unworthiness, that when, no very long time ago, on account of an apprehended scarcity of food, the foreigners were driven in haste from the city; those who practised liberal accomplishments, the number of whom was exceedingly small, were expelled without a moment's breathing-time; yet the followers of actresses, and all who at that time pretended to be of such a class, were allowed to remain; and three thousand dancing-girls had not even a question put to them, but stayed unmolested with the members of their choruses, and a corresponding number of dancing masters.

20. And wherever you turn your eyes, you may see a multitude of women with their hair curled, who, as far as their age goes, might, if they had married, been by this time the mothers of three children, sweeping the pavements with their feet till they are weary, whirling round in rapid |20 gyrations, while representing innumerable groups and figures which the theatrical plays contain.

21. It is a truth beyond all question, that, when at one time Rome was the abode of all the virtues, many of the nobles, like the Lotophagi, celebrated in Homer, who detained men by the deliciousness of their fruit, allured foreigners of free birth by manifold attentions of courtesy and kindness.

22. But now, in their empty arrogance, some persons look upon everything as worthless which is born outside of the walls of the city, except only the childless and the unmarried. Nor can it be conceived with what a variety of obsequious observance men without children are courted at Rome.

23. And since among them, as is natural in a city so great as to be the metropolis of the world, diseases attain to such an insurmountable degree of violence, that all the skill of the physician is ineffectual even to mitigate them; a certain assistance and means of safety has been devised, in the rule that no one should go to see a friend in such a condition, and to a few precautionary measures a further remedy of sufficient potency has been added, that men should not readmit into their houses servants who have been sent to inquire how a man's friends who may have been seized with an illness of this kind are, until they have cleansed and purified their persons in the bath. So that a taint is feared, even when it has only been seen with the eyes of another.

24. But nevertheless, when these rules are observed thus stringently, some persons, if they be invited to a wedding, though the vigour of their limbs be much diminished, yet, when gold is offered in the hollow palm of the right hand, will go actively as far as Spoletum. These are the customs of the nobles.

25. But of the lower and most indigent class of the populace some spend the whole night in the wine shops. Some lie concealed in the shady arcades of the theatres; which Catulus was in his aedileship the first person to |21 raise, in imitation of the lascivious manners of Campania, or else they play at dice so eagerly as to quarrel over them; snuffing up their nostrils and making unseemly noises by drawing back their breath, into their noses; or (and this is their favourite pursuit of all others) from sunrise to evening they stay gaping through sunshine or rain, examining in the most careful manner the most sterling good or bad qualities of the charioteers and horses.

26. And it is very wonderful to see an innumerable multitude of people with great eagerness of mind intent upon the event of the contests in the chariot race. These pursuits, and others of like character, prevent anything worth mentioning or important from being done at Rome. Therefore we must return to our original subject.

VII.

1. His licentiousness having now become more unbounded, the Caesar began to be burdensome to all virtuous men; and discarding all moderation, he harassed every part of the East, sparing neither those who had received public honours, nor the chief citizens of the different cities; nor the common people.

2. At last by one single sentence he ordered all the principal persons at Antioch to be put to death; being exasperated because when he recommended that a low price should be established in the market at an unseasonable time, when the city was threatened with a scarcity, they answered him with objections, urged with more force than he approved; and they would all have been put to death to a man, if Honoratus, who was at that time count of the East, had not resisted him with pertinacious constancy.

3. This circumstance was also a proof, and that no doubtful or concealed one, of the cruelty of his nature, that he took delight in cruel sports, and in the circus he would rejoice as if he had made some great gain, to see six or seven gladiators killing one another in combats which have often been forbidden.

4. In addition to these things a certain worthless woman inflamed his purpose of inflicting misery; for she, having obtained admission to the palace, as she had requested, gave |22 him information that a plot was secretly laid against him by a few soldiers of the lowest rank. And Constantina, in her exultation, thinking that her husband's safety was now fully secured, rewarded and placed this woman, in a carriage, and in this way sent her out into the public street through the great gate of the palace, in order, by such a temptation, to allure others also to give similar or more important information.

5. After these events, Gallus being about to set out for Hierapolis, in order, as far as appearance went, to take part in the expedition, the common people of Antioch entreated him in a suppliant manner to remove their fear of a famine which for many reasons (some of them difficult to explain) it was believed was impending; Gallus, however, did not, as is the custom of princes whose power, by the great extent of country over which it is diffused, is able continually to remedy local distresses, order any distribution of food to be made, or any supplies to be brought from the neighbouring countries; but he pointed out to them a man of consular rank, named Theophilus, the governor of Syria, who happened to be standing by, replying to the repeated appeals of the multitude, who were trembling with apprehensions of the last extremities, that no one could possibly want food if the governor were not willing that they should be in want of it.

6. These words increased the audacity of the lower classes, and when the scarcity of provisions became more severe, urged by hunger and frenzy, they set fire to and burnt down the splendid house of a man of the name of Eubulus, a man of great reputation among his fellow-citizens; and they attacked the governor himself with blows and kicks as one especially made over to them by the judgment of the emperor, kicking him till he was half dead, and then tearing him to pieces in a miserable manner. And after his wretched death every one saw in the destruction of this single individual a type of the danger to which he was himself exposed, and, taught by this recent example, feared a similar fate.

7. About the same time Serenianus, who had previously been duke of Phoenicia, to whose inactivity it was owing, |23 as we have already related, that Celse in Phoenicia was laid waste, was deservedly and legally accused of treason, and no one saw how he could possibly be acquitted. He was also manifestly proved to have sent an intimate friend with a cap (with which he used to cover his own head) which had been enchanted by forbidden acts to the temple of prophecy, on purpose to ask expressly whether, according to his wish, a firm enjoyment of the whole empire was portended for him.

8. And in these days a twofold misfortune occurred: first, that a heavy penalty had fallen upon Theophilus who was innocent; and, secondly, that Serenianus who deserved universal execration, was acquitted without the general feeling being able to offer any effectual remonstrance.

9. Constantius then hearing from time to time of these transactions, and having been further informed of some particular occurrences by Thalassius, who however had now died by the ordinary course of nature, wrote courteous letters to the Caesar, but at the same time gradually withdrew from him his support, pretending to be uneasy, least as the leisure of soldiers is usually a disorderly time, the troops might be conspiring to his injury: and he desired him to content himself with the schools of the Palatine, and with those of the Protectors, with the Scutarii, and Gentiles. And he ordered Domitianus, who had formerly been the Superintendent of the Treasury, but who was now promoted to be a prefect, as soon as he arrived in Syria, to address Gallus in persuasive and respectful language, exhorting him to repair with all speed to Italy, to which province the emperor had repeatedly summoned him. |24

10. And when, with this object, Domitianus had reached Antioch, having travelled express, he passed by the gates of the palace, in contempt of the Caesar, whom, however, he ought to have visited, and proceeded to the general's camp with ostentatious pomp, and there pretended to be sick; he neither visited the palace, nor ever appeared in public, but keeping himself private, he devised many things to bring about the destruction of the Caesar, adding many superfluous circumstances to the relations which he was continually sending to the emperor.

11. At last, being expressly invited by the Caesar, and being admitted into the prince's council-chamber, without making the slightest preface he began in this inconsiderate and light-minded manner: "Depart," said he, "as you have been commanded, O Caesar, and know this, that if you make any delay I shall at once order all the provisions allotted for the support of yourself and your court to be carried away." And then, having said nothing more than these insolent words, he departed with every appearance of rage; and would never afterwards come into his sight though frequently sent for.

12. The Caesar being indignant at this, as thinking he had been unworthily and unjustly treated, ordered his faithful protectors to take the prefect into custody; and when this became known, Montius, who at that time was quaestor, a man of deep craft indeed, but still inclined to moderate measures, taking counsel for the common good, sent for the principal members of the Palatine schools and addressed them in pacific words, pointing out that it was neither proper nor expedient that such things should be done; and adding also in a reproving tone of voice, that if such conduct as this were approved of, then, after throwing down the statues of Constantius the prefect would begin to think how he might also with the greater security take his life also.

13. When this was known Gallus, like a serpent attacked with stones or darts, being now reduced to the extremity of despair, and eager to insure his safety by any possible |25 means, ordered all his troops to be collected in arms, and when they stood around him in amazement he gnashed his teeth, and hissing with rage, said,—

14. "You are present here as brave men, come to the aid of me who am in one common danger with you. Montius, with a novel and unprecedented arrogance, accuses us of rebellion and resistance to the majesty of the emperor, by roaring out all these charges against us. Being offended forsooth that, as a matter of precaution, I ordered a contumacious prefect, who pretended not to know what the state of affairs required, to be arrested and kept in custody."

15. On hearing these words the soldiers immediately, being always on the watch to raise disturbances, first of all attacked Montius, who happened to be living close at hand, an old man of no great bodily strength, and enfeebled by disease; and having bound his legs with coarse ropes, they dragged him straddling, without giving him a moment to take breath, as far as the general's camp.

16. And with the same violence they also bound Domitianus, dragging him head first down the stairs; and then having fastened the two men together, they dragged them through all the spacious streets of the city at full speed. And, all their limbs and joints being thus dislocated, they trampled on their corpses after they were dead, and mutilated them in the most unseemly manner; and at last, having glutted their rage, they threw them into the river.

17. But there was a certain man named Luscus, the governor of the city, who, suddenly appearing among the soldiers, had inflamed them, always ready for mischief, to the nefarious actions which they had thus committed; exciting them with repeated cries, like the musician who gives the tune to the mourners at funerals, to finish what they had begun: and for this deed he was, not long after, burnt alive.

18. And because Montius, when just about to expire under the hands of those who were tearing him to pieces, repeatedly named Epigonius and Eusebius, without indicating either their rank or their profession, a great deal of trouble was taken to find out who they were; and, lest the search should have time to cool, they sent for a philosopher named Epigonius, from Lycia, and for Eusebius the orator, surnamed Pittacos, from Emissa; though they were |26 not those whom Montius had meant, but some tribunes, superintendents of the manufactures of arms, who had promised him information if they heard of any revolutionary measures being agitated.

19. About the same time Apollinaris, the son-in-law of Domitianus, who a short time before had been the chief steward of the Caesar's palace, being sent to Mesopotamia by his father-in-law, took exceeding pains to inquire among the soldiers whether they had received any secret despatches from the Caesar, indicating his having meditated any deeper designs than usual. And as soon as he heard of the events which had taken place at Antioch, he passed through the lesser Armenia and took the road to Constantinople; but he was seized on his journey by the Protectors, and brought back to Antioch, and there kept in close confinement.

20. And while these things were taking place there was discovered at Tyre a royal robe, which had been secretly made, though it was quite uncertain who had placed it where it was, or for whose use it had been made. And on that account the governor of the province, who was at that time the father of Apollinaris, and bore the same name, was arrested as an accomplice in his guilt; and great numbers of other persons were collected from different cities, who were all involved in serious accusations.

21. And now, when the trumpets of internal war and slaughter began to sound, the turbulent disposition of the Caesar, indifferent to any consideration of the truth, began also to break forth, and that not secretly as before. And without making any solemn investigation into the truth of the charges brought against the citizens, and without separating the innocent from the guilty, he discarded all ideas of right or justice, as if they had been expelled from the seat of judgment. And while all lawful defence on trials was silent, the torturer, and plunderer, and the executioner, and every kind of confiscation of property, raged unrestrained throughout the eastern provinces of the empire, which I think it now a favourable moment to enumerate, with the exception of Mesopotamia, which I have already described when I was relating the Parthian wars; and also with the exception of Egypt, which I am forced to postpone to another opportunity. |27

VIII.

1. After passing over the summit of Mount Taurus, which towards the east rises up to a vast height, Cilicia spreads itself out for a very great distance—a land rich in all valuable productions. It is bordered on its right by Isauria, which is equally fertile in vines and in many kinds of grain. The Calycadnus, a navigable river, flows through the middle of Isaurus.

2. This province, besides other towns, is particularly adorned by two cities, Seleucia, founded by King Seleucus, and Claudiopolis, which the Emperor Claudius Caesar established as a colony. For the city of Isauria, which was formerly too powerful, was in ancient times overthrown as an incurable and dangerous rebel, and so completely destroyed that it is not easy to discover any traces of its pristine splendour.

3. The province of Cilicia, which exults in the river Cydnus, is ornamented by Tarsus, a city of great magnificence. This city is said to have been founded by Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Danae; or else, and more probably, by a certain emigrant who came from Ethiopia, by name Sandan, a man of great wealth and of noble birth. It is also adorned by the city of Anazarbus, which bears the name of its founder; and by Mopsuestia, the abode of the celebrated seer Mopsus, who wandered from his comrades the Argonauts when they were returning after having carried off the Golden Fleece, and strayed to the African coast, where he died a sudden death. His heroic remains, though covered by Punic turf, have ever since that time cured a great variety of diseases, and have generally restored men to sound health.

4. Those two provinces being full of banditti were formerly subdued by the pro-consul Servilius, in a piratical war, and were passed under the yoke, and made tributary to the empire. These districts being placed, as it were, on a prominent tongue of land, are cut off from the main continent by Mount Amanus.

5. The frontier of the East stretching straight forward for a great distance, reached from the banks of the river Euphrates to those of the Nile, being bounded on the |28 left by the tribes of the Saracens and on the right by the sea.

6. Nicator Seleucus, after he had occupied that district, increased its prosperity to a wonderful degree, when, after the death of Alexander, king of Macedonia, he took possession of the kingdom of Persia by right of succession; being a mighty and victorious king, as his surname indicates. And making free use of his numerous subjects, whom he governed for a long time in tranquillity, he changed groups of rustic habitations into regular cities, important for their great wealth and power, the greater part of which at the present day, although they are called, by Greek names which were given them by the choice of their founder, have nevertheless not lost their original appellations which the original settlers of the villages gave them in the Assyrian language.

7. After Osdroene, which, as I have already said, I intend to omit from this description, the first province to be mentioned is Commagena, now called Euphratensis, which has arisen into importance by slow degrees, and is remarkable for the splendid cities of Hierapolis, the ancient Ninus, and Samosata.

8. The next province is Syria, which is spread over a beautiful champaign country. This province is ennobled by Antioch, a city known over the whole world, with which no other can vie in respect of its riches, whether imported or natural: and by Laodicea and Apameia, and also by Seleucia, all cities which have ever been most prosperous from their earliest foundation.

9. After this comes Phoenicia, a province lying under Mount Lebanon, full of beauty and elegance, and decorated with cities of great size and splendour, among which Tyre excels all in the beauty of its situation and in its renown. And next come Sidon and Berytus, and on a par with them Emissa and Damascus, cities founded in remote ages.

10. These provinces, which the river Orontes borders, a river which passes by the foot of the celebrated and lofty mountain Cassius, and at last falls into the Levant near the Gulf of Issus, were added to the Roman dominion by Cnaeus Pompey, who, after he had conquered Tigranes, separated them from the kingdom of Armenia. |29

11. The last province of the Syrias is Palestine, a district of great extent, abounding in well-cultivated and beautiful land, and having several magnificent cities, all of equal importance, and rivalling one another as it were, in parallel lines. For instance, Caesarea, which Herod built in honour of the Prince Octavianus, and Eleutheropolis, and Neapolis, and also Ascalon, and Gaza, cities built in bygone ages.

12. In these districts no navigable river is seen: in many places, too, waters naturally hot rise out of the ground well suited for the cure of various diseases. These regions also Pompey formed into a Roman province after he had subdued the Jews and taken Jerusalem: and he made over their government to a local governor.

13. Contiguous to Palestine is Arabia, a country which on its other side joins the Nabathaei—a land full of the most plenteous variety of merchandize, and studded with strong forts and castles, which the watchful solicitude of its ancient inhabitants has erected in suitable defiles, in order to repress the inroads of the neighbouring nations. This province, too, besides several towns, has some mighty cities, such as Bostra, Gerasa, and Philadelphia, fortified with very strong walls. It was the Emperor Trajan who first gave this country the name of a Roman province, and appointed a governor over it, and compelled it to obey our laws, after having by repeated victories crushed the arrogance of the inhabitants, when he was carrying his glorious arms into Media and Parthia.

14. There is also the island of Cyprus, not very far from the continent, and abounding in excellent harbours, which, besides its many municipal towns, is especially famous for two renowned cities, Salamis and Paphos, the one celebrated for its temple of Jupiter, the other for its temple of Venus. This same Cyprus is so fertile, and so abounding in riches of every kind, that without requiring any external assistance, it can by its own native resources build a merchant ship from the very foundation of the keel up to the top sails, and send it to sea fully equipped with stores.

15. It is not to be denied that the Roman people invaded this island with more covetousness than justice. For when Ptolemy, the king, who was connected with us by |30 treaty, and was also our ally, was without any fault of his own proscribed, merely on account of the necessities of our treasury, and slew himself by taking poison, the island was made tributary to us, and its spoils placed on board our fleet, as if taken from an enemy, and carried to Rome by Cato. We will now return to the actions of Constantius in their due order.

IX.

1. Amid all these various disasters, Ursicinus, who was the governor of Nisibis, an officer to whom the command of the emperor had particularly attached me as a servant, was summoned from that city, and in spite of his reluctance, and of the opposition which he made to the clamorous bands of flatterers, was forced to investigate the origin of the pernicious strife which had arisen. He was indeed a soldier of great skill in war, and an approved leader of troops; but a man who had always kept himself aloof from the strife of the forum. He, alarmed at his own danger when he saw the corrupt accusers and judges who were associated with him, all emerging out of the same lurking-places, wrote secret letters to Constantius informing him of what was going on, both publicly and in secret; and imploring such assistance as, by striking fear into Gallus, should somewhat curb his notorious arrogance.

2. But through excessive caution he had fallen into a worse snare, as we shall relate hereafter, since his enemies got the opportunity of laying numerous snares for him, to poison the mind of Constantius against him; Constantius, in other respects a prince of moderation, was severe and implacable if any person, however mean and unknown, whispered suspicion of danger into his ears, and in such matters was wholly unlike himself.

3. On the day appointed for this fatal examination, the master of the horse took his seat under the pretence of being the judge; others being also set as his assessors, who were instructed beforehand what was to be done: and there were present also notaries on each side of him, who kept the Caesar rapidly and continually informed of all the questions which were put and all the answers which were given; and by his pitiless orders, urged as he was by |31 the persuasions of the queen, who kept her ear at the curtain, many were put to death without being permitted to soften the accusations brought against them, or to say a word in their own defence.

4. The first persons who were brought before them were Epigonius and Eusebius, who were ruined because of the similarity of their names to those of other people; for we have already mentioned that Montius, when just at the point of death, had intended to inculpate the tribunes of manufactures, who were called by these names, as men who had promised to be his supports in some future enterprise.

5. Epigonius was only a philosopher as far as his dress went, as was evident, when, having tried entreaties in vain, his sides having been torn with blows, and the fear of instant death being presented to him, he affirmed by a base confession that his companion was privy to his plans, though in fact he had no plans; nor had he ever seen or heard anything, being wholly unconnected with forensic affairs. But Eusebius, confidently denying what he was accused of, continued firm in unshaken constancy, loudly declaring that it was a band of robbers before whom he was brought, and not a court of justice.

6. And when, like a man well acquainted with the law, he demanded that his accuser should be produced, and claimed the usual rights of a prisoner; the Caesar, having heard of his conduct, and looking on his freedom as pride, ordered him to be put to the torture as an audacious calumniator; and when Eusebius had been tortured so severely that he had no longer any limbs left for torments, imploring heaven for justice, and still smiling disdainfully, he remained immovable, with a firm heart, not permitting his tongue to accuse himself or any one else. And so at length, without having either made any confession, or being convicted of anything, he was condemned to death with the spiritless partner of his sufferings. He was then led away to death, protesting against the iniquity of the times; imitating in his conduct the celebrated Stoic of old, Zeno, who, after he had been long subjected to torture in order to extract from him some false confession, tore out his tongue by the roots and threw it, bloody as it was, into the face of the king of Cyprus, who was examining him. |32

7. After these events the affair of the royal robe was examined into. And when those who were employed in dyeing purple had been put to the torture, and had confessed that they had woven a short tunic to cover the chest, without sleeves, a certain person, by name Maras, was brought in, a deacon, as the Christians call him; letters from whom were produced, written in the Greek language to the superintendent of the weaving manufactory at Tyre, which pressed him to have the beautiful work finished speedily; of which work, however, these letters gave no further description. And at last this man also was tortured, to the danger of his life, but could not be made to confess anything.

8. After the investigation had been carried on with the examination, under torture of many persons, when some things appeared doubtful, and others it was plain were of a very unimportant character, and after many persons had been put to death, the two Apollinares, father and son, were condemned to banishment; and when they had come to a place which is called Craterae, a country house of their own, which is four-and-twenty miles from Antioch, there, according to the order which had been given, their legs were broken, and they were put to death.

9. After their death Gallus was not at all less ferocious than before, but rather like a lion which has once tasted blood, he made many similar investigations, all of which it is not worth while to relate, lest I should exceed the bounds which I have laid down for myself; an error which is to be avoided

X.

1. While the East was thus for a long time suffering under these calamities, at the first approach of open weather, Constantius being in his seventh consulship, and the Caesar in his third, the emperor quitted Arles and went to Valentia, with the intention of making war upon the brothers Gundomadus and Vadomarius, chiefs of the Allemanni; by whose repeated inroads the territories of the Gauls, which lay upon their frontier, were continually laid waste.

2. And while he was staying in that district, as he did |33 for some time while waiting for supplies, the importation of which from Aquitania was prevented by the spring rains, which were this year more severe than usual, so that the rivers were flooded by them, Herculanus arrived, a principal officer of the guard, son of Hermogenes, who had formerly been master of the horse at Constantinople, and had been torn to pieces in a popular tumult as we have mentioned before. And as he brought a faithful account of what Gallus had done, the emperor, sorrowing over the miseries that were passed, and full of anxious fear for the future, for a time stilled the grief of his mind as well as he could.

3. But in the mean time all the soldiery being assembled at Cabillon, began to be impatient of delay, and to get furious, being so much the more exasperated because they had not sufficient means of living, the usual supplies not yet having arrived.

4. And in consequence of this state of things, Rufinus, at that time prefect of the camp, was exposed to the most imminent danger. For he himself was compelled to go among the soldiers, whose natural ferocity was inflamed by their want of food, and who on other occasions are by nature generally inclined to be savage and bitter against men of civil dignities. He was compelled, I say, to go among them to appease them and explain on what account the arrival of their corn was delayed.

5. And the task thus imposed on him was very cunningly contrived, in order that he, the uncle of Gallus, might perish in the snare; lest he, being a man of great power and energy, should rouse his nephew to confidence, and lead him to undertake enterprises which might be mischievous. Great caution, however, was used to escape this; and, when the danger was got rid of for a while, Eusebius, the high chamberlain, was sent to Cabillon with a large sum of money, which he distributed secretly among the chief leaders of sedition: and so the turbulent and arrogant disposition of the soldiers was pacified, and the safety of the prefect secured. Afterwards food having arrived in abundance the camp was struck on the day appointed.

6. After great difficulties had been surmounted, many |34 of the roads being buried in snow, the army came near to Rauracum on the banks of the Rhine, where the multitude of the Allemanni offered great resistance, so that by their fierceness the Romans were prevented from fixing their bridge of boats, darts being poured upon them from all sides like hail; and, when it seemed impossible to succeed in that attempt, the emperor being taken by surprise, and full of anxious thoughts, began to consider what to do.

7. When suddenly a guide well acquainted with the country arrived, and for a reward pointed out a ford by night, where the river could be crossed; and the army crossing at that point, while the enemy had their attention directed elsewhere, might without any one expecting such a step, have and waste the whole country, if a few men of the same nation to whom the higher posts in the Roman army were intrusted had not (as some people believe) informed their fellow-countrymen of the design by secret messengers.

8. The disgrace of this suspicion fell chiefly on Latinus, a commander of the domestic guard, and on Agilo, an equerry, and on Scudilo, the commander of the Scutarii, men who at that time were looked up to as those who supported the republic with their right hands.

9. But the barbarians, though taking instant counsel on such an emergency, yet either because the auspices turned out unfavourable, or because the authority of the sacrifices prohibited an instant engagement, abated their energy, and the confidence with which they had hitherto resisted; and sent some of their chiefs to beg pardon for their offences, and sue for peace.

10. Therefore, having detained for some time the envoys of both the kings, and having long deliberated over the affair in secret, the emperor, when he had decided that it was expedient to grant peace on the terms proposed, summoned his army to an assembly with the intention of making them a short speech, and mounting the tribunal, surrounded with a staff of officers of high rank, spoke in the following manner:

11. "I hope no one will wonder, after the long and toilsome marches we have made, and the vast supplies and magazines which have been provided, from the |35 confidence which I felt in you, that now although we are close to the villages of the barbarians, I have, as if I had suddenly changed my plans, adopted more peaceful counsels.

12. "For if every one of you, having regard to his own position and his own feelings, considers the case, he will find this to be the truth: that the individual soldier in all cases, however strong and vigorous he may be, regards and defends nothing but himself and his own life; while the general, looking on all with impartiality as the guardian of their general safety, is aware that the common interest of the people cannot be separated from his own safety; and he is bound to seize with alacrity every remedy of which the condition of affairs admits, as being put into his hand by the favour of the gods.

13. "That therefore I may in a few words set before you and explain on what account I wished all of you, my most faithful comrades, to assemble here, I entreat you to listen attentively to what I will state with all the brevity possible. For the language of truth is always concise and simple.

14. "The kings and people of the Allemanni, viewing with apprehension the lofty steps of your glory (which fame, increasing in magnificence, has diffused throughout the most distant countries), now by their ambassadors humbly implore pardon for their past offences, and peace. And this indulgence I, as a cautious and prudent adviser of what is useful, think expedient to grant them, if your consent be not wanting: being led to this opinion by many considerations, in the first place that so we may avoid the doubtful issues of war; in the second place, that instead of enemies we may have allies, as they promise we shall find them; further, that without bloodshed we may pacify their haughty ferocity, a feeling which is often mischievous in our provinces; and last of all, recollecting that the man who falls in battle, overwhelmed by superior weapons or strength, is not the only enemy who has to be subdued; and that with much greater safety to the state, even while the trumpet of war is silent, he is subdued who makes voluntary submission, having learnt by experience that we lack neither courage against rebels, nor mercy towards suppliants.

15. "To sum up, making you as it were the arbitrators, I |36 wait to see what you determine; having no doubt myself, as an emperor always desirous of peace, that it is best to employ moderation while prosperity descends upon us. For, believe me, this conduct which I recommend, and which is wisely chosen, will not be imputed to want of courage on your part, but to your moderation and humanity."

16. As soon as he had finished speaking, the whole assembly being ready to agree to what the emperor desired, and praising his advice, gave their votes for peace; being principally influenced by this consideration, that they had already learnt by frequent expeditions that the fortune of the emperor was only propitious in times of civil troubles; but that when foreign wars were undertaken they had often proved disastrous. On this, therefore, a treaty being made according to the customs of the Allemanni, and all the solemnities being completed, the emperor retired to Milan for the winter.

XI.

1. At Milan, having discarded the weight of other cares, the emperor took into his consideration that most difficult gordian knot, how by a mighty effort to uproot the Caesar. And while he was deliberating on this matter with his friends in secret conference by night, and considering what force, and what contrivances might be employed for the purpose, before Gallus in his audacity should more resolutely set himself to plunging affairs into confusion, it seemed best that Gallus should be invited by civil letters, under pretence of some public affairs of an urgent nature requiring his advice, so that, being deprived of all support, he might be put to death without any hindrance.

2. But as several knots of light-minded flatterers opposed this opinion, among whom was Arbetio, a man of keen wit and always inclined to treachery, and Eusebius, a man always disposed to mischief, at that time the principal chamberlain, they suggested that if the Caesar were to quit those countries it would be dangerous to leave Ursicinus in the East, with no one to check his designs, if he should cherish ambitious notions.

3. And these counsels were supported by the rest of the |37 royal eunuchs, whose avarice and covetousness at that period had risen to excess. These men, while performing their private duties about the court, by secret whispers supplied food for false accusations; and by raising bitter suspicions of Ursicinus, ruined a most gallant man, creating by underhand means a belief that his grown-up sons began to aim at supreme power; intimating that they were youths in the flower of their age and of admirable personal beauty, skilful in the use of every kind of weapon, well trained in all athletic and military exercises, and favourably known for prudence and wisdom. They insinuated also that Gallus himself, being by nature fierce and unmanageable, had been excited to acts of additional cruelty and ferocity by persons placed about him for that purpose, to the end that, when he had brought upon himself universal detestation, the ensigns of power might be transferred to the children of the master of the horse.

4. When these and simliar suspicions were poured into the ears of Constantius, which were always open to reports of this kind, the emperor, revolving different plans in his mind, at last chose the following as the most advisable course. He commanded Ursicinus in a most complimentary manner to come to him, on the pretence that the urgent state of certain affairs required to be arranged by the aid of his counsel and concurrence, and that he had need of such additional support in order to crush the power of the Parthian tribes, who were threatening war.

5. And that he who was thus invited might not suspect anything unfriendly, the Count Prosper was sent to act as his deputy till he returned. Accordingly, when Ursicinus had received the letters, and had obtained a sufficient supply of carriages, and means of travelling, we hastened to Milan with all speed.

6. The next thing was to contrive to summon the Caesar, and to induce him to make the like haste. And to remove all suspicion in his mind, Constantius used many hypocritical endearments to persuade his own sister, Gallus's wife, whom he pretended he had long been wishing to see, to accompany him. And although she hesitated |38 from fear of her brother's habitual cruelty, yet, from a hope that, as he was her brother, she might be able to pacify him, she set out; but when she reached Bithynia, at the station named Caeni Gallici, she was seized with a sudden fever and died. And after her death, her husband, considering that he had lost his greatest security and the chief support on which he relied, hesitated, taking anxious thought what he should do.

7. For amid the multiplicity of embarrassing affairs which distracted his attention, this point especially filled his mind with apprehension, that Constantius, determining everything according to his own sole judgment, was not a man to admit of any excuse, or to pardon any error; but being, as he was, more inclined to severity towards his kinsmen than towards others, would be sure to put him to death if he could get him into his power.

8. Being therefore in this critical situation, and feeling that he had to expect the worst unless he took vigilant care, he embraced the idea of seizing on the supreme power if he could find any opportunity: but for two reasons he distrusted the good faith of his most intimate councillors; both because they dreaded him as at once cruel and fickle, and also because amid civil dissensions they looked with awe upon the loftier fortune of Constantius.

9. While perplexed with these vast and weighty anxieties he received continual letters from the emperor, advising and entreating him to come to him; and giving him hints that the republic neither could nor ought to be divided; but that every one was bound to the utmost of his power to bring aid to it when it was tottering; alluding in this to the devastations of the Gauls.

10. And to this suggestion he added an example of no great antiquity, that in the time of Diocletian and his colleague, the Caesars obeyed them as their officers, not remaining stationary, but hastening to execute their orders in every direction. And that even Galerius went in his purple robe on foot for nearly a mile before the chariot of Augustus when he was offended with him.

11. After many other messengers had been despatched to him, Scudilo the tribune of the Scutarii arrived, a very cunning master of persuasion under the cloak of a rude, blunt |39 disposition. He, by mixing flattering language with his serious conversation, induced him to proceed, when no one else could do so, continually assuring him, with a hypocritical countenance, that his cousin was extremely desirous to see him; that, like a clement and merciful prince, he would pardon whatever errors had been committed through thoughtlessness; that he would make him a partner in his own royal rank, and take him for his associate in those toils which the northern provinces, long in a disturbed state, imposed upon him.

12. And as when the Fates lay their hand upon a man his senses are wont to be blunted and dimmed, so Gallus, being led on by these alluring persuasions to the expectation of a better fortune, quitted Antioch under the guidance of an unfriendly star, and hurried, as the old proverb has it, out of the smoke into the flame; and having arrived at Constantinople as if in great prosperity and security, at the celebration of the equestrian games, he with his own hand placed the crown on the head of the charioteer Corax, when he obtained the victory.

13. When Constantius heard this he became exasperated beyond all bounds of moderation; and lest by any chance Gallus, feeling uncertain of the future, should attempt to consult his safety by flight, all the garrisons stationed in the towns which lay in his road were carefully removed.

14. And at the same time Taurus, who was sent as quaestor into Armenia, passed by without visiting or seeing him. Some persons, however, by the command of the emperor, arrived under the pretence of one duty or another, in order to take care that he should not be able to move, or make any secret attempt of any kind. Among whom was Leontius, afterwards prefect of the city, who was sent as qusestor; and Lucillianus, as count of the domestic guards, and a tribune of the Scutarii named Bainobaudes.

15. Therefore after a long journey through the level country, when he had reached Hadrianopolis, a city in the district of Mount Haemus, which had been formerly called Uscudama, where he stayed twelve days to recover from his fatigue, he found that the Theban legions, who were in winter quarters in the neighbouring towns of those parts, |40 had sent some of their comrades to exhort him by trustworthy and sure promises to remain there relying upon them, since they were posted in great force among the neighbouring stations; but those about him watched him with such diligent care that he could get no opportunity of seeing them, or of hearing their message.

16. Then, as letter after letter from the emperor urged, him to quit that city, he took ten public carriages, as he was desired to do, and leaving behind him all his retinue, except a few of his chamberlains and domestic officers, whom he had brought with him, he was in this poor manner compelled to hasten his journey, his guards forcing him to use all speed; while he from time to time, with many regrets, bewailed the rashness which had placed him in a mean and despised condition at the mercy of men of the lowest class.

17. And amid all these circumstances, in moments when exhausted nature sought repose in sleep, his senses were kept in a state of agitation by dreadful spectres making unseemly noises about him; and crowds of those whom he had slain, led on by Domitianus and Montius, seemed to seize and torture him with all the torments of the Furies.

18. For the mind, when freed by sleep from its connection with the body, is nevertheless active, and being full of the thoughts, and anxieties of mortal pursuits, engenders mighty visions which we call phantoms.

19. Therefore his melancholy fate, by which it was destined he should be deprived of empire and life, leading the way, he proceodod on his journey by continual relays of horses, till he arrived at Petobio, a town in Noricum. Here all disguise was thrown off, and the Count Barbatio suddenly made his appearance, with Apodemius, the secretary for the provinces, and an escort of soldiers whom the emperor had picked out as men bound to him by especial favours, feeling sure that they could not be turned from their obedience either by bribes or pity.

20. And now the affair was conducted to its conclusion without further disguise or deceit, and the whole portion of the palace which is outside the walls was surrounded by |41 armed men. Barbatio, entering the palace before daybreak, stripped the Caesar of his royal robes, and clothed him with a tunic and an ordinary soldier's garment, assuring him with many protestations, as if by the especial command of the emperor, that he should be exposed to no further suffering; and then said to him, "Stand up at once." And having suddenly placed him in a private carriage, he conducted him into Istria, near to the town of Pola, where it is reported that Crispus, the son of Constantine, was formerly put to death.

21. And while he was there kept in strict confinement, being already terrified with apprehensions of his approaching destruction, Eusebius, at that time the high chamberlain, arrived in haste, and with him Pentadius the secretary, and Mallobaudes the tribune of the guard, who had the emperor's orders to compel him to explain, case by case, on what accounts he had ordered each of the individuals whom he had executed at Antioch to be put to death.

22. He being struck with a paleness like that of Adrastus at these questions, was only able to reply that he had put most of them to death at the instigation of his wife Constantina; being forsooth ignorant that when the mother of Alexander the Great urged him to put to death some one who was innocent, and in the hope of prevailing with him, repeated to him over and over again that she had borne him nine months in her womb, and was his mother, that emperor made her this prudent answer, "My excellent mother, ask for some other reward; for the life of a man cannot be put in the balance with any kind of service."

23. When this was known, the emperor, giving way to unchangeable indignation and anger, saw that his only hope of establishing security firmly lay in putting the Caesar to death. And having sent Serenianus, whom we have already spoken of as having been accused of treason, but acquitted by intrigue, and Pentadius the secretary, and Apodemius the secretary for the provinces, he commanded that they should put him to death. And |42 accordingly his hands were bound like those of some convicted thief, and he was beheaded, and his carcass, which but a little while ago had been the object of dread to cities and provinces, deprived of head and defaced: it was then left on the ground.

24. In this the supervision of the supreme Deity manifested itself to be everywhere vigilant. For not only did the cruelties of Gallus bring about his own destruction, but they also who, by their pernicious flattery and instigation, and charges supported by perjury, had led him to the perpetration of many murders, not long afterwards died miserably. Scudilo, being afflicted with a liver complaint which penetrated to his lungs, died vomiting; while Barbatio, who had long busied himself in inventing false accusations against Gallus, was accused by secret information of aiming at some post higher than his command of infantry, and being condemned, though unjustly, was put to death, and so by his melancholy end made atonement to the shade of the Caesar.

25. These, and innumerable other actions of the same kind, Adrastea, who is also called Nemesis, the avenger of wicked and the rewarder of good deeds, is continually bringing to pass: would that she could always do so! She is a kind of sublime agent of the powerful Deity, dwelling, according to common belief, above the human circle; or, as others define her, she is a substantial protection, presiding over the particular destinies of individuals, and feigned by the ancient theologians to be the daughter of Justice, looking down from a certain inscrutable eternity upon all terrestrial and mundane affairs.

26. She, as queen of all causes of events, and arbitress and umpire in all affairs of life, regulates the urn which contains the lots of men, and directs the alternations of fortune which we behold in the world, frequently bringing our undertakings to an issue different from what we intended, and involving and changing great numbers of actions. She also, binding the vainly swelling pride of mankind by the indissoluble fetters of necessity, and swaying the inclination of progress and decay according to her will, sometimes bows down and enfeebles the stiff neck of arrogance, and sometimes raises virtuous men from the |43 lowest depth, leading them to a prosperous and happy life. And it is on this account that the fables of antiquity have represented her with wings, that she may be supposed to be present at all events with prompt celerity. And they have also placed a rudder in her hand and given her a wheel under her feet, that mankind may be aware that she governs the universe, running at will through all the elements.

27. In this untimely manner did the Caesar, being himself also already weary of life, die, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, having reigned four years. He was born in the country of the Etrurians, in the district of Veternum, being the son of Constantius, the brother of the Emperor Constantine; his mother was Galla, the sister of Rufinus and Cerealis, men who had been ennobled by the offices of consul and prefect.

28. He was a man of splendid stature and great beauty of person and figure, with soft hair of a golden colour, his newly sprouting beard covering his cheeks with a tender down, and in spite of his youth his countenance showed dignity and authority. He differed as much from the temperate habits of his brother Julian, as the sons of Vespasian, Domitian and Titus, differed from each other.

29. After he had been taken by the emperor as his colleague, and raised to the highest eminence of power, he experienced the fickle changeableness of fortune which mocks mortality, sometimes raising individuals to the |44 stars, at others sinking them to the lowest depths of hell.

30. And though the examples of such vicissitudes are beyond number, nevertheless I will only enumerable a few in a cursory manner. This changeable and fickle fortune made Agathocles, the Sicilian, a king from being a potter, and reduced Dionysius, formerly the terror of all nations, to be the master of a grammar school. This same fortune emboldened Andriscus of Adramyttium, who had been born in a fuller's shop, to assume the name of Philip, and compelled the legitimate son of Perseus to descend to the trade of a blacksmith to obtain a livelihood. Again, fortune surrendered Mancinus to the people of Numantia, after he had enjoyed the supreme command, exposed Veturius to the cruelty of the Samnites, Claudius to that of the Corsicans, and made Regulus a victim to the ferocity of the Carthaginians. Through the injustice of fortune, Pompey, after he had acquired the surname of the Great by the grandeur of his exploits, was murdered in Egypt at the pleasure of some eunuchs, while a fellow named Eunus, a slave who had escaped from a house of correction, commanded an army of runaway slaves in Sicily. How many men of the highest birth, through the connivance of this same fortune, submitted to the authority of Viriathus and of Spartacus! How many heads at which nations once trembled have fallen under the deadly hand of the executioner! One man is thrown into prison, another is promoted to unexpected power, |45 a third is hurled down from the highest rank and dignity. But he who would endeavour to enumerate all the various and frequent instances of the caprice of fortune, might as well undertake to number the sands or ascertain the weight of mountains.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 15. pp.45-82.

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 15. pp.45-82.

I. The death of the Caesar Gallus is announced to the emperor.

II. Ursicinus, the commander of the cavalry in the East; Julian, the brother of the Caesar Gallus; and Gorgonius, the high chamberlain, are accused of treason.

III. The adherents and servants of the Caesar Gallus are punished.

IV. The Allemanni of the district of Lintz are defeated by the Emperor Constantius with great loss.

V. Silvanus, a Frank, the commander of the infantry in Gaul, is saluted as emperor at Cologne; and on the twenty-eighth day of his reign is destroyed by stratagem.

VI. The friends and adherents of Silvanus are put to death.

VII. Seditions of the Roman people are repressed by Leontius, the prefect of the city; Liberius, the bishop, is driven from his see.

VIII. Julian, the brother of Gallus, is created Caesar by the Emperor Constantius, his uncle; and is appointed to command.

IX. On the origin of the Gauls, and from whence they derive the names of Celts and Gauls; and of their treaties.

X. Of the Gallic Alps, and of the various passes over them.

XI. A brief description of Gaul, and of the course of the River Rhone.

XII. Of the manners of the Gauls.

XIII. Of Musonianus, prefect of the Praetorium in the East.

BOOK XV.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

A.D. 354.

1. Having investigated the truth to the best of our power we have hitherto related all the transactions which either our age permitted us to witness, or which we could learn from careful examination of those who were concerned in them, in the order in which the several events took place. The remaining facts, which the succeeding books will set forth, we will, as far as our talent permits, explain with the greatest accuracy, without fearing those who may be inclined to cavil at our work as too long; |46 for brevity is only to be praised when, while it puts an end to unreasonable delays, it suppresses nothing which is well authenticated.

2. Gallus had hardly breathed his last in Noricum, when Apodemius, who as long as he lived had been a fiery instigator of disturbances, caught up his shoes and carried them off, journeying, with frequent relays of horses, so rapidly as even to kill some of them by excess of speed, and so brought the first news of what had occurred to Milan. And having made his way into the palace, he threw down the shoes before the feet of Constantius, as if he were bringing the spoils of a king of the Parthians who had been slain. And when this sudden news arrived that an affair so unexpected and difficult had been executed with entire facility in complete accordance with the wish of the emperor, the principal courtiers, according to their custom, exerting all their zeal in the path of flattery, extolled to the skies the virtue and good fortune of the emperor, at whose nod, as if they had been mere common soldiers, two princes had thus been deprived of their power, namely, Veteranio and Gallus.

3. And Constantius being exceedingly elated at the exquisite taste of this adulation, and thinking that he himself for the future should be free from all the ordinary inconveniences of mortality, now began to depart from the path of justice so evidently that he even at times laid claim to immortality; and in writing letters with his own hand, would style himself lord of the whole world; a thing which, if others had said, any one ought to have been indignant at, who laboured with proper diligence to form his life and habits in emulation of the constitutional princes who had preceded him, as he professed to do.

4. For even if he had under his power the infinities of worlds fancied by Democritus, as Alexander the Great, under the promptings of Anaxarchus, did fancy, yet either by reading, or by hearing others speak, he might have considered that (as mathematicians unanimously agree) the circumference of the whole earth, immense as it seems to us, is nevertheless not bigger than a pin's point as compared with the greatness of the universe. |47

II.

1. And now, after the pitiable death of the Caesar, the trumpet of judicial dangers sounded the alarm, and Ursicinus was impeached of treason, envy gaining more and more strength every day to attack his safety; envy which is inimical to all powerful men.

2. For he was overcome by this difficulty, that, while the ears of the emperor were shut against all defences which were reasonable and easy of proof, they were open to all the secret whispers of calumniators, who pretended that his name was almost disused among all the districts of the East, and that Ursicinus was urged by them both privately and publicly to be their commander, as one who could be formidable to the Persian nation.

3. But this magnanimous man stood his ground immovably against whatever might happen, only taking care not to throw himself away in an abject manner, and grieving from his heart that innocence had no safe foundation on which to stand. And the more sad also for this consideration, that before these events took place many of his friends had gone over to other more powerful persons, as in cases of official dignity the lictors go over to the successors of former officers.

4. His colleague Arbetio was attacking him by cajoling words of feigned good-will, often publicly speaking of him as a virtuous and brave man; Arbetio being a man of great cunning in laying snares for men of simple life, and one who at that season enjoyed too much power. For as a serpent that his its hole underground and hidden from the sight of man observes the different passers-by, and attacks whom it will with a sudden spring, so this man, having been raised from being a common soldier of the lowest class to the highest military dignities, without having received any injury or any provocation, polluted his conscience from an insatiable desire of doing mischief.

5. Therefore, having a few partners in his secrets for accomplices, he had secretly arranged with the emperor when he asked his opinion, that on the next night Ursicinus should be seized and carried away from the sight of the soldiers, and so be put to death uncondemned, just as |48 formerly Domitius Corbulo, that faithful and wise defender of our provinces, is said to have been slain in the miserable period of Nero's cruelty.

6. And after the matter had been thus arranged, while the men destined for the service of seizing Ursicinus were waiting for the appointed time, the emperor's mind changed to mercy, and so this impious deed was put off for further consideration.

7. Then the engine of calumny was directed against Julian, who had lately been brought to court; a prince who afterwards became memorable, but who was now attacked with a two-fold accusation, as the iniquity of his enemies thought requisite. First, that he had gone from the Park of Macellum, which lies in Cappadocia, into Asia, from a desire of acquiring polite learning. Secondly, that he had seen his brother as he passed through Constantinople.

8. And when he had explained away the charges thus brought against him, and had proved that he had not done either of these things without being ordered, he would still have perished through the intrigues of the abandoned court of flatterers, if he had not been saved by the favour of the supreme Deity, with the assistance of Queen Eusebia. By her intercession he obtained leave to be conducted to the town of Como, in the neighbourhood of Milan; and after he had remained there a short time he was permitted to go to Greece for the purpose of cultivating his literary tastes, as he was very eager to do.

9. Nor were there wanting other incidents arising out of these occurrences, which might be looked upon as events under the direction of Providence, as some of them were rightly punished, while others failed of their design, proving vain and ineffective. But it occasionally happened that rich men, relying on the protection of those in office, and clinging to them as the ivy clings to lofty trees, bought acquittals at immense prices; and that poor men who had little or no means of purchasing safety were condemned out of hand. And therefore truth was overshadowed by falsehood, and sometimes falsehood obtained the authority of truth.

10. In these days Gorgonius also was summoned to court, the man who had been the Caesar's principal |49 chamberlain. And though it was made plain by his own confession that he had been a partner in his undertakings, and sometimes a chief instigator of them, yet through the conspiracy of the eunuchs justice was overpowered by dexterously arranged falsehoods, and he was acquitted and so escaped the danger.

III.

1. While these events were taking place at Milan, battalions of soldiers were brought from the East to Aquileia, with a number of members of the court, who, being broken in spirit, while their limbs were enfeebled by the weight of their chains, cursed the protraction of their lives which were surrounded with every variety of misery. For they were accused of having been the ministers of the ferocity of Gallus, and it was believed to be owing to them that Domitian had been torn to pieces, and that Montius and others had been brought to destruction.

2. Arboreus, and Eusebius, at that time high chamberlain, both men of insane arrogance, and equally unjust and cruel, were appointed to try these men. And they, without any careful examination, or making any distinction between the innocent and the guilty, condemned some to scourgings, others to torture and exile, some they adjudged to serve in the lowest ranks of the army, and the rest they condemned to death. And when they had this filled the sepulchres with dead bodies, they returned as if in triumph, and brought an account of their exploits to the emperor, who was notoriously severe and implacable against all offences of the kind.

3. After this, throughout the rest of his reign, Constantius, as if resolved to reverse the prescribed arrangement of the Fates, behaved with greater violence than ever, and opened his heart to numbers of designing plotters. And owing to this conduct, many men arose who watched for all kinds of reports, at first attacking, as with the appetite of wild beasts, those in the enjoyment of the highest honours and rank, and afterwards both poor and rich indiscriminately. Not like those Cibyratae in the time of Verres, fawning on the tribunal of a single lieutenant, |50 but harassing the limbs of the whole republic by means of all the evils that arose anywhere.

4. Among these men Paulus and Mercurius were especially conspicuous, the first a Dacian born, the latter a Persian. Mercurius was a notary, and Paulus had been promoted from being a steward of the emperor's table to a receivership in the provinces. Paulus, as I have already mentioned, had been nicknamed The Chain, because in weaving knots of calumnies he was invincible, scattering around foul poisons and destroying people by various means, as some skilful wrestlers are wont in their contests to catch hold of their antagonists by the heel.

5. Mercurius was nicknamed Count of Dreams, because (as a dog fond of biting secretly fawns and wags his tail while full of inward spite) he forced his way into feasts and companies, and if any one in his sleep (when nature roves about with an extraordinary degree of freedom) communicated to a friend that he had seen anything, exaggerated it, colouring it for the most part with envenomed arts, and bore it to the open ears of the emperor. And for such speeches men were attacked with formidable accusations, as if they had committed inexpiable crimes.

6. The news of these events having got abroad, men were so cautious of even relating nocturnal dreams, that, in the presence of a stranger, they would scarcely confess they had slept at all. And some accomplished men lamented that they had not been born in the country of Mount Atlas, where it is said that dreams never occur, though what the cause of such a fact is, we must leave to those who are learned in such matters to decide.

7. Amid all these terrible investigations and punishments, another disaster took place in Illyricum, which from some empty words involved many in danger. At an entertainment given by Africanus, the governor of the second Pannonia, at Sirmium, some men having drunk rather too much, and thinking there was no witness of their proceedings, spoke freely of the existing imperial government, accusing it as most vexatious to the people. And some of them expressed a hope that a change, such as was wished for by all, might be at hand, affirming that |51 this was portended by omens, while some, with incredible rashness, affirmed that the auguries of their ancestral house promised the same thing.

8. Among those present at the banquet was Gaudentius, one of the secretaries, a stupid man, and of a hasty disposition. And he looking upon the matter as serious, reported it to Rufinus, who was at that time the chief commander of the guard of the praetorian prefecture, a man always eager for the most cruel measures, and infamous for every kind of wickedness.

9. He immediately, as if borne on wings, flew to the court of the emperor, and so bitterly inflamed him, always easy of access and susceptible of impressions from suspicious circumstances of this kind, that without a moment's deliberation he ordered Africanus and all who had been partakers of his fatal banquet to be seized. And when this was done, the wicked informer, always fond of whatever is contrary to popular manners, obtained what he most coveted, a continuation of his existing office for two years.

10. To arrest these men, Teutomeres, the chief of the Protectores, was sent with his colleague; and he loaded them all with chains, and conducted them, as he had been ordered, to the emperor's court. But when they arrived at Aquileia, Marinus, who from having been a drillmaster had been promoted to a tribuneship, but who at that time had had no particular duty, being a man who had held dangerous language, and who was in other respects of an intemperate disposition, being left in an inn while things necessary for the journey were being prepared, stabbed himself with a knife which he accidentally found, and his bowels gushed out, so that he died. The rest were conducted to Milan, and subjected to torture; and having been forced by their agony to confess that while at the banquet they had used some petulant expressions, were ordered to be kept in penal confinement, with some hope, though an uncertain one, of eventual release. But Teutomeres and his colleague, being accused of having allowed Marinus to kill himself, were condemned to banishment, though they were afterwards pardoned through the intercession of Arbetio. |52

IV.

1. Soon after this transaction had been thus terminated, war was declared against the tribes of the Allemanni around Lentia, who had often made extensive incursions into the contiguous Roman territories. The emperor himself set out on the expedition, and went as far as Rhaetia, and the district of the Canini. And there, after long and careful deliberation, it was decided to be both honourable and expedient that Arbetio, the master of the horse, should march with a division of the troops, in fact with the greater part of the army, along the borders of the lake of Brigantia, with the object of coming to an immediate engagement with the barbarians. And I will here describe the character of the ground briefly, as well as I can.

2. The Rhine rising among the defiles of lofty mountains, and forcing its way with immense violence through steep rocks, stretches its onward course without receiving any foreign waters, in the same manner as the Nile pours down with headlong descent through the cataracts. And it is so abundantly full by its own natural riches that it would be navigable up to its very source were it not like a torrent rather than a stream.

3. And soon after it has disentangled itself from its defiles, rolling onward between high banks, it outers a vast lake of circular form, which the Rhaetian natives call Brigantia, being four hundred and sixty furlongs in length, and of nearly equal extent in breadth, unapproachable on account of a vast mass of dark woods, except where the energy of the Romans has made a wide road through them, in spite of the hostility of the barbarians, and the unfavourable character both of the ground and the climate.

4. The Rhine forcing its way into this pool, and roaring with its foaming eddies, pierces the sluggish quiet of the waters, and rushes through the middle from one end to the other. And like an element separated from some other element by eternal discord, without any increase or diminution of the volume of water which it has brought into the lake, it comes forth from it again with its old |53 name and its unalloyed power, never having suffered from the contact, and so proceeds till it mingles with the waves of the sea.

5. And what is exceedingly strange, the lake is not moved at all by this rapid passage of the river through it, nor is it affected by the muddy soil beneath the waters of the lake; the two bodies of water being incapable of mingling with each other. A thing which would be supposed impossible, did not the very sight of the lake prove the fact.

6. In a similar manner, the Alpheus, rising in Arcadia, being seized with a love for the fountain Arethusa, passing through the Ionian sea, as is related by the poets, proceeds onward till it arrives at the neighbourhood of its beloved fountain...................

7. Arbetio not choosing to wait till messengers arrived to announce the approach of the barbarians, although he knew the fierce way in which they begin their wars, allowed himself to be betrayed into a hidden ambush, where he stood without the power of moving, being bewildered by the suddenness of his disaster.

8. In the mean time the enemy, showing themselves, sprang forth from their hiding-places and spared not one who came in their way, but overwhelmed them with every kind of weapon. For none of our men could offer the smallest resistance, nor was there any hope of any of them being able to save their lives except by a speedy flight. Therefore, being intent only on avoiding wounds, our soldiers, losing all order, ran almost at random in every direction, exposing their backs to the blows of the enemy. Nevertheless the greater part of them, scattering themselves among narrow paths, were saved from danger by the protecting darkness of the night, and at the return of day recovered their courage and rejoined their different legions. But still by this sad and unexpected disaster a vast number of common soldiers and ten tribunes were slain.

9. The Allemanni were greatly elated at this event, and advanced with increased boldness, every day coming up to the fortifications of the Romans while the morning mists obscured the light; and drawing their swords roamed about |54 in every direction, gnashing their teeth, and threatening us with haughty shouts. Then with a sudden sally our Scutarii would rush forth, and after being stopped for a moment by the resistance of the hostile squadrons, would call out all their comrades to join them in the engagement.

10. But the greater part of our men were alarmed by the recollection of their recent disaster, and Arbetio hesitated, thinking everything pregnant with danger. Upon this three tribunes at once sallied forth, Arintheus who was a lieutenant commander of the heavy troops, Seniauchus who commanded the cavalry of the Comites, and Bappo who had the command of the Promoti and of those troops who had been particularly intrusted to his charge by the emperor.

11. These men, looking on the common cause as their own, resolved to repel the violence of the enemy according to the example of their ancient comrades. And pouring down upon the foe like a torrent, not in a regular line of battle, but in desultory attacks like those of banditti, they put them all to flight in a disgraceful manner. Since they, being in loose order and straggling, and hampered by their endeavours to escape, exposed their unprotected bodies to our weapons, and were slain by repeated blows of sword and spear.

12. Many too were slain with their horses, and seemed as they lay on their backs to be so entangled as still to be sitting on them. And when this was seen, all our men who had previously hesitated to engage in battle with their comrades, poured forth out of the camp; and now, forgetful of all precautions, they drove before them the mob of barbarians, except such as flight had saved from destruction, trampling on the heaps of slain, and covered with gore.

13. When the battle was thus terminated the emperor in triumph and joy returned to Milan to winter quarters. |55

V.

A.D. 355.

1. After these unhappy circumstances, accompanied as they were with equal calamities in the provinces, a whirlwind of new misfortunes arose which seemed likely to destroy the whole state at once, if Fortune, which regulates the events of human life, had not terminated a state of affairs which all regarded with great apprehension, by bringing the dangers to a speedy issue.

2. From the long neglect with which these provinces had been treated, the Gauls, having no assistance on which to rely, had borne cruel massacres, with plunder and conflagration, from barbarians who raged throughout their land with impunity. Silvanus, the commander of the infantry, being a man well suited to correct these evils, went thither at the command of the emperor, Arbetio at the same time urging with all his power that this task should be undertaken without delay, with the object of imposing the dangerous burden of this duty on his absent rival, whom he was vexed to see still in prosperity.....

3. There was a certain man named Dynamius, the superintendent of the emperor's beasts of burden, who had begged of Silvanus recommendatory letters to his friends as of one who was admitted to his most intimate friendship. Having obtained this favour, as Silvanus, having no suspicion of any evil intention, had with great simplicity granted what he was asked, Dynamius kept the letters, in order at a future time to plan something to his injury.

4. Therefore, when the aforesaid commander had gone to the Gauls in the service of the republic, and while he was engaged in repelling the barbarians, who already began to distrust their own power, and to be filled with alarm, Dynamius, being restless, like a man of cunning and practised deccitfulness, devised a wicked plot; and in this it is said he had for his accomplices Lampadius, the prefect of the praetorian guard, Eusebius, who had been the superintendent of the emperor's privy purse, and was known by the nickname of Mattyocopa, and |56 Aedesius, formerly keeper of the records, whom this prefect had contrived to have elected consul, as being his dearest friend. He then with a sponge effaced the contents of the letters, leaving nothing but the address, and inserted a text materially differing from the original writing, as if Silvanus had asked, by indirect hints, and entreated his friends who were within the palace and those who had no office (among whom was Albinus of Etruria, and many others), to aid him in projects of loftier ambition, as one who would soon attain the imperial throne. This bundle of letters he thus made up, inventing at his leisure, in order with them to endanger the life of this innocent man.

5. Dynamius was appointed to investigate these charges on behalf of the emperor; and while he was artfully weaving these and similar plans, he contrived to enter alone into the imperial chamber, choosing his opportunity, and hoping to entangle firmly in his meshes the most vigilant guardian of the emperor's safety. And being full of wicked cunning, after he had read the forged packet of letters in the council chamber, the tribunes were ordered to be committed to custody, and also several private individuals were commanded to be arrested and brought up from the provinces, whose names were mentioned in those letters.

6. But presently Malarichus, the commander of the Gentiles, being struck with the iniquity of the business, and taking his colleagues to his counsel, spoke out loudly that men devoted to the preservation of the emperor ought not to be circumvented by factions and treachery. He accordingly demanded that he himself, his nearest relations being left as hostages, and Mallobaudes, the tribune of the heavy-armed soldiers, giving bail that he would return, might be commissioned to go with speed to bring back Silvanus, who he was certain had never entertained the idea of any such attempt as these bitter plotters had imputed to him. Or, as an alternative, he entreated that he might become security for Mallobaudes, and that their officers might be permitted to go and do what he had proposed to take upon himself.

7. For he affirmed that he knew beyond all question that, if any stranger wore sent, Silvanus, who was inclined to be somewhat apprehensive of danger, even when no |57 circumstances were really calculated to alarm him, would very likely throw matters into confusion.

8. But, although the advice which he gave was useful and necessary, he spoke as to the winds, to no purpose. For by the counsels of Arbetio, Apodemius, who was a persevering and bitter enemy to all good men, was sent with letters to summon Silvanus to the presence. When he had arrived in Gaul, taking no heed of the commission with which he was charged, and caring but little for anything that might happen, he remained inactive, without either seeing Silvanus, or delivering the letters which commanded him to appear at court. And having taken the receiver of the province into his counsels, he began with arrogance and malevolence to harass the clients and servants of the master of the horse, as if that officer had been already condemned and was on the point of being executed.

9. In the mean time, while the arrival of Silvanus was looked for, and while Apodemius was throwing everything, though quiet before, into commotion, Dynamius, that he might by still more convincing proofs establish belief in his wicked plots, had sent other forged letters (agreeing with the previous ones which he had brought under the emperor's notice by the agency of the prefect) to the tribune of the factory at Cremona: these were written in the names of Silvanus and Malarichus, in which the tribune, as one privy to their secrets, was warned to lose no time in having everything in readiness.

10. But when this tribune had read the whole of the letters, he was for some time in doubt and perplexity as to what they could mean (for he did not recollect that those persons whose letters he had thus received had ever spoken with him upon private transactions of any kind); and accordingly he sent the letters themselves, by the courier who had brought them, to Malarichus, sending a soldier also with him; and entreated Malarichus to explain in intelligible language what he wanted, and not to use such obscure terms. For he declared that he, being but a plain and somewhat rude man, had not in the least understood what was intimated so obscurely.

11. Malarichus the moment he received the letters, being already in sorrow and anxiety, and alarmed for his own |58 fate and that of his countryman Silvanus, called around him the Franks, of whom at that time there was a great multitude in the palace, and in resolute language laid open and proved the falsehood of the machinations by which their lives were threatened, and was loud in his complaints.

12. When these things became known to the emperor, he appointed the members of his secret council and the chief officers of his army to make further investigation of the matter. And when the judges appeared to make light of it, Florentius the son of Nigridianus, who at that time filled the post of master of the offices, having examined the writings carefully, and detecting beneath them some vestiges of the tops of the former words which had been effaced, perceived, as was indeed the case, that by interpolations of the original letter, matters very different from any of which Silvanus was author had been written over them, according to the fancy of the contriver of this forgery.

13. On this the cloud of treachery was dispersed, and the emperor, informed of the truth by a faithful report, recalled the powers granted to the prefect, and ordered him to be submitted to an examination. Nevertheless he was acquitted through the active combination of many of his friends; while Eusebius, the former treasurer of the emperor's secret purse, being put to the torture, confessed that these things had been done with his privity.

14. Aedesius, affirming with obstinate denial that he had never known anything which had been done in the matter, escaped, being adjudged innocent. And thus the transaction was brought to an end, and all those who had been accused in the original information were acquitted; and Dynamius, as a man of exceeding accomplishments and prudence, was appointed to govern Etruria with the rank of corrector.

15. While these affairs were proceeding, Silvanus was living at Agrippina, and having learnt by continual |59 information sent to him by his friends what Apodemius was doing with the hope of effecting his ruin; and knowing also how impressible the mind of the feeble emperor was; began to fear lest in his absence, and without being convicted of any crime, he might still be treated as a criminal. And so, being placed in a situation of the greatest difficulty, he began to think of trusting himself to the good faith of the barbarians.

16. But being dissuaded from this by Laniogaisus, at that time a tribune, whom we have already spoken of as the only person who was present with Constans when he was dying, himself serving at that time as a volunteer; and being assured by Laniogaisus that the Franks, of whom he himself was a countryman, would put him to death, or else betray him for a bribe, he saw no safety anywhere in the present emergency, and so was driven to extreme counsels. And by degrees, having secretly conferred with the chiefs of the principal legions, and having excited them by the magnitude of promised rewards, he tore for use on this occasion the purple silk from the insignia of the dragons and standards, and so assumed the title of emperor.

17. And while these events are passing in Gaul, one day, a little before sunset, an unexpected messenger arrived at Milan, relating fully that Silvanus, being ambitious to rise above his place as commander of the infantry, had tampered with the army, and assumed the imperial dignity.

18. Constantius, at this amazing and unexpected event, seemed as if struck by a thunderbolt of fate, and having at once summoned a council to meet at the second watch, all the nobles hastened to the palace. No one had either mind to conceive or tongue to recommend what was best to be done; but in suppressed tones they mentioned the name of Ursicinus as a man eminent for skill in affairs of war, and one who had been undeservedly exposed to most injurious treatment. He was immediately sent for by the principal chamberlain, which is the most honourable kind of summons, and as soon as he entered the council-chamber he was offered the purple to salute much more graciously than at any former time. Diocletian was the first who introduced the custom of offering reverence to the emperor |60 after this foreign manner and royal pretension; whereas all former princes, as we read, had been saluted like judges.

19. And so the man who a little while before, through the malevolent persecution of certain of the courtiers, had been termed the whirlpool of the East, and who had been accused of a design to aim at the supreme power for his sons, was now recommended as one who was a most skilful general, who had been the comrade of the great Constantine, and as the only man capable of extinguishing the threatened conflagration. And though the reasons for which he was sent for were honest, they were not wholly free from underhand motives. For while great anxiety was felt that Silvanus should be destroyed as a most formidable rebel, yet, if that object miscarried, it was thought that Ursicinus, being damaged by the failure, would himself easily be ruined; so that no scruple, which else was to be feared, would interpose to save him from destruction.

20. While arrangements were being made for accelerating his journey, the general was preparing to repel the charges which had been brought against him; but the emperor prevented him, forbidding him in conciliatory language, saying that this was not an opportunity suitable for undertaking any controversy in defence of his cause, when the imminent necessity of affairs rather prompted that no delay should be interposed to the restoration of parties to their pristine concord before the disunion got worse.

21. Therefore, after a long deliberation about many things, the first and most important matter in which consultation was held, was by what means Silvanus could be led to think the emperor still ignorant of his conduct. And the most likely manner to confirm him in his confidence appeared to be that he should be informed, in a complimentary despatch, that Ursicinus was appointed his successor, and that he was invited to return to court with undiminished power.

22. After this affair was arranged, the officer who had brought the news to Milan was ordered to depart with some tribunes and ten of the Protectores and domestic guard as an escort, given to him at his own request, to aid him in the discharge of his public duty. And of these I myself was one, with my colleague Verrinianus; and all the rest were either friends or relations of mine. |61

23. And now all of us, fearing mainly for ourselves, accompanied him a long distance on his journey; and although we seemed as exposed to danger as gladiators about to fight with wild beasts, yet considering in our minds that evils are often the forerunners of good, we recollected with admiration that expression of Cicero's, uttered by him in accordance with the eternal maxims of truth, which runs in these words:—"And although it is a thing most desirable that one's fortune should always continue in a most flourishing condition; still that general level state of life brings not so much sensation of joy as we feel when, after having been surrounded by disasters or by dangers, fortune returns into a happier condition."

24. Accordingly we hastened onwards by forced journeys, in order that the master of the horse, who was eager to acquire the honour of suppressing the revolt, might make his appearance in the suspected district before any rumour of the usurpation of Silvanus had spread among the Italians. But rapidly as we hastened, fame, like the wind, had outstripped us, and had revealed some part of the facts; and when we reached Agrippina we found matters quite out of the reach of our attempts.

25. For a vast multitude of people, assembled from all quarters, were, with a mixture of haste and alarm, strengthening the foundations of Silvanus's enterprise, and a numerous military force was collected; so that it seemed more advisable, on the existing emergency, for our unfortunate general to await the intentions and pleasure of the new emperor, who was assuring himself by ridiculous omens and signs that he was gaining accessions of strength. By permitting his feelings of security to increase, by different |62 pretences of agreement and flattery, Silvanus, it was thought, might be relieved from all fear of hostility, and so be the more easily deceived.

26. But the accomplishment of such a design appeared difficult. For it was necessary to use great care and watchfulness to make our desires subordinate to our opportunities, and to prevent their either outrunning them, or falling behind them; since if our wishes were allowed to become known unseasonably, it was plain we should all be involved in one sentence of death.

27. However our general was kindly received, and (the very business itself forcing us to bend our necks), having been compelled to prostrate himself with all solemnity before the newly robed prince, still aiming at higher power, was treated as a highly favoured and eminent friend; having freedom of access and the honour of a seat at the royal table granted to him in preference to every one else, in order that he might be consulted with the more secrecy about the principal affairs of state.

28. Silvanus expressed his indignation that, while unworthy persons had been raised to the consulship and to other high dignities, he and Ursicinus alone, after the frequent and great toils which they had endured for the sake of the republic, had been so despised that he himself had been accused of treason in consequence of the examination of some slaves, and had been exposed to an ignoble trial; while Ursicinus had been brought over from the East, and placed at the mercy of his enemies; and these were the subjects of his incessant complaints both in public and in private.

29. While, however, he was holding this kind of language, we were alarmed at the murmurs of our soldiers who were now suffering from want, which surrounded us on all sides; the troops showing every eagerness to make a rapid march through the defiles of the Cottian Alps.

30. In this state of anxiety and agitation, we occupied ourselves in secretly deliberating on the means of arriving at our object; and at length, after our plans had been repeatedly changed out of fear, it was determined to use great industry in seeking out prudent agents, binding them to secrecy by solemn oaths, in order to tamper |63 with the Gallic soldiers whom we knew to be men of doubtful fidelity, and at any time open to change for a sufficient reward.

31. Therefore, after we had secured our success by the address of some agents among the common soldiers, men by their very obscurity fitted for the accomplishment of such a task, and now excited by the expectation of reward, at sunrise, as soon as the east began to redden, a band of armed men suddenly sallied forth, and, as is common in critical moments, behaving with more than usual audacity. They slew the sentinels and penetrated into the palace, and so having dragged Silvanus out of a little chapel in which, in his terror, he had taken refuge on his way to a conventicle devoted to the ceremonies of the Christian worship, they slew him with repeated strokes of their swords.

32. In this way did a general of no slight merit perish, through fear of false accusations heaped on him in his absence by a faction of wicked men, and which drove him to the utmost extremities in order to preserve his safety.

33. For although he had acquired strong claims on the gratitude of Constantius by his seasonable sally with his troops before the battle of Mursa, and although he could boast the valorous exploits of his father Bonitus, a man of Frankish extraction, but who had espoused the party of Constantine, and often in the civil wrar had exhibited great prowess against the troops of Licinius, still he always feared him as a prince of wavering and fickle character.

34. Now before any of these events had taken place in Gaul, it happened that one day in the Circus Maximus at Rome, the populace cried out with a loud voice, "Silvanus is conquered." Whether influenced by instinct or by some prophetic spirit, cannot be decided.

35. Silvanus having been slain, as I have narrated, at Agrippina, the emperor was seized with inconceivable joy when he heard the news, and gave way to exceeding insolence and arrogance, attributing this event also to the prosperous course of his good fortune; giving the reins to his habitual disposition which always led him to hate men of brave conduct, as Domitian in former times had done, |64 and desiring at all times to destroy them by every act of opposition.

36. And he was so far from praising even his act of diligence and fidelity, that he recorded in writing a charge that Ursicinus had embezzled a part of the Gallic treasures, which no one had ever touched. And he ordered strict inquiry to be made into the fact, by an examination of Remigius, who was at that time accountant-general to Ursicinus in his capacity of commander of the heavy troops. And long afterwards, in the time of Valentinian, this Remigius hanged himself on account of the trouble into which he fell in the matter of his appointment as legate in Tripolis.

37. And after this business was terminated, Constantius, thinking his prosperity had now raised him to an equality with the gods, and had bestowed on him entire sovereignty over human affairs, gave himself up to elation at the praises of his flatterers, whom he himself encouraged, despising and trampling under foot all who were unskilled in that kind of court. As we read that Croesus, when he was king, drove Solon headlong from his court because he would not fawn on him; and that Dionysius threatened the poet Philoxenus with death because, when the king recited his absurd and unrhythmical verses, he alone refused to fall into an ecstasy while all the rest of the courtiers praised them.

38. And this mischievous taste is the nurse of vices; for praise ought only to be acceptable in high places, where blame also is permitted when things are not sufficiently performed.

VI.

1. And now, after the re-establishment of security, investigations as usual were set on foot, and many persons were put in prison as guilty. For that infernal informer Paulus, boiling over with delight, arose to exercise his poisonous employment with increased freedom, and while the members of the emperor's council and the military officers were employed in the investigation of these affairs, as they were commanded, Proculus was put to the torture, who had been a servant of Silvanus, a man of weak body and of ill health; so that every one was afraid lest the |65 exceeding violence of his torture should prove too much for his feeble limbs, so that he would expose numbers to be implicated in the accusations of atrocious crimes. But the result proved quite different to what had been expected.

2. For remembering a dream in which he had been forbidden, while asleep, as he affirmed, to accuse any innocent person, though he should be tortured till he was brought to the very point of death, he neither informed against, nor even named any one; but, with reference to the usurpation of Silvanus, he invariably asserted that he had been driven to contemplate that act, not out of ambition, but from sheer necessity; and he proved this assertion by evident arguments.

3. For he adduced one important excuse, which was established by the testimony of many persons, that, five days before he assumed the ensigns of imperial authority, he addressed the soldiers, while distributing their pay to them, in the name of Constantius, exhorting them to prove always brave and loyal. From which it was plain that if he had then been thinking of seizing on a loftier fortune, he would have given them this money as if it had proceeded from himself.

4. After Proculus, Poemenius was condemned and put to death; he who, as we have mentioned before, when the Treveri had shut their gates against Caesar Decentius, was chosen to defend that people. After him, Asclepiodotus, and Luto, and Maudio, all Counts, were put to death, and many others also, the obdurate cruelty of the times seeking for these and similar punishments with avidity.

VII.

1. While the fatal disturbances of the state multiplied these general slaughters, Leontius, who was the governor of Rome itself, gave many proofs of his deserving the character of an admirable judge; being prompt in hearing cases, rigidly just in deciding them, and merciful by nature, although, for the sake of maintaining lawful authority, he appeared to some people to be severe. He was also of a somewhat amorous temperament.

2. The first pretext for exciting any sedition against him |66 was a most slight and trumpery one. For when an order had been issued to arrest a charioteer, named Philoromus, the whole populace followed him, as if resolved to defend something of their own, and with terrible violence assailed the prefect, presuming him to be timorous. But he remained unmoved and upright, and sending his officers among the crowd, arrested some and punished them, and then, without any one venturing to oppose him, or even to murmur, condemned them to banishment.

3. A few days later the populace again became excited to its customary frenzy, and alleging as a grievance the scarcity of wine, assembled at the well-known place called Septemzodium, where the Emperor Marcus built the Nymphaeum, an edifice of great magnificence. To that place the prefect went forthwith, although he was earnestly entreated by all his household and civil officers not to trust himself among an arrogant and threatening multitude, now in a state of fury equal to any of their former commotions; but he, unsusceptible of fear, went right onwards, though many of his attendants deserted him, when they saw him hastening into imminent danger.

4. Therefore, sitting in a carriage, with every appearance of confidence, he looked with fierce eyes at the countenance of the tumultuous mobs thronging towards him from all quarters, and agitating themselves like serpents. And after suffering many bitter insults, at last, when he had recognized one man who was conspicuous among all the rest by his vast size and red hair, he asked him whether his name was Petrus Valvomeres, as he had heard it was; and when the man replied in a defiant tone that it was so, Leontius, in spite of the outcries of many around, ordered him to be seized as one who had long since been a notorious ringleader of the disaffected, and having his hands bound behind him, commanded him to be suspended on a rack.

5. And when he was seen in the air, in vain imploring |67 the aid of his fellow-tribesmen, the whole mob, which a little while before was so closely packed, dispersed at once over the different quarters of the city, so as to offer no hindrance to the punishment of this seditious leader, who after having been thus tortured—with as little resistance as if he had been in a secret dungeon of the court —was transported to Picenum, where, on a subsequent occasion, having offered violence to a virgin of high rank, he was condemned to death by the judgment of Patruinus, a noble of consular dignity.

6. While Leontius governed the city in this manner, Liberius, a priest of the Christian law, was ordered by Constantius to be brought before the council, as one who had resisted the commands of the emperor, and the decrees of many of his own colleagues, in an affair which I will explain briefly.

7. Athanasius was at that time bishop of Alexandria; and as he was a man who sought to magnify himself above his profession, and to mix himself up with affairs which did not belong to his province, as continual reports made known, an assembly of many of his sect met together —a synod, as they call it—and deprived him of the right of administering the sacraments, which he previously enjoyed.

8. For it was said that he, being very deeply skilled in the arts of prophecy and the interpretation of auguries and omens, had very often predicted coming events. And to these charges were added others very inconsistent with the laws of the religion over which he presided.

9. So Liberius, being of the same opinion with those who condemned these practices, was ordered, by the sentence of the emperor, to expel Athanasius from his priestly seat; but this he firmly refused to do, reiterating the assertion that it was the extremity of wickedness to condemn a man who had neither been brought before any court nor been heard in his defence, in this openly resisting the commands of the emperor.

10. For that prince, being always unfavourable to Athanasius, although he knew that what he ordered had in fact taken effect, yet was exceedingly desirous that it should be confirmed by that authority which the bishops of the Eternal City enjoy, as being of higher rank. And as he did not succeed in this, Liberius was removed by |68 night; a measure which was not effected without great difficulty, through the fear which his enemies had of the people, among whom he was exceedingly popular.

VIII.

1. These events, then, took place at Rome, as I have already mentioned. But Constantius was agitated by frequent intelligence which assured him that the Gauls were in a lamentable condition, since no adequate resistance could be made to the barbarians who were now carrying their devastations with fire and sword over the whole country. And after deliberating a long time, in great anxiety, what force he could employ to repel these dangers (himself remaining in Italy, as he thought it very dangerous to remove into so remote a country), he at last determined on a wise plan, which was this: to associate with himself in the cares of the empire his cousin Julian, whom he had some time before summoned to court, and who still retained the robe he had worn in the Greek schools.

2. And when, oppressed by the heavy weight of impending calamities, he had confessed to his dearest friends that by himself he was unequal to the burden of such weighty and numerous difficulties—a thing which he had never felt before—they, being trained to excessive flattery, tried to fill him with foolish ideas, affirming that there was nothing in the world so difficult but what his preeminent virtue and his good fortune, equal to that of the gods, would be able to overcome, as it always hitherto had done. And many of them added further, being stung by their consciousness of guilt, that henceforth he ought to beware of conferring the title of Caesar on any one, enumerating the deeds which had been done in the time of Gallus.

3. They therefore opposed his design resolutely, and it was supported by no one but the queen, who, whether it was that she feared a journey to a distant country, or that, from her own natural wisdom, she saw the best course for the common good, urged him that a relation like Julian ought to be preferred to every one else. Accordingly, |69 after many undecided deliberations and long discussions, his resolution was at last taken decidedly, and having discarded all further vain debate, he resolved on associating Julian with him in the empire.

4. He was therefore summoned; and when he had arrived, on a fixed day, the whole of his fellow-comrades who were in the city were ordered to attend, and a tribunal was erected on a lofty scaffolding, surrounded by the eagles and standards. And Augustus, mounting it, and holding Julian by the right hand, made this conciliatory speech:—

5. "We stand here before you, most excellent defenders of the republic, to avenge with one unanimous spirit the common dangers of the state. And how I propose to provide for it I will briefly explain to yon, as impartial judges.

6. "After the death of those rebellious tyrants whom rage and madness prompted to engage in the enterprises which they undertook, the barbarians, as if they meant to sacrifice unto their wicked manes with Roman blood, having violated the peace and invaded the territories of the Gauls, are encouraged by this consideration, that our empire, being spread over very remote countries, causes us to be beset with great difficulties.

7. "If, then, your decision and mine are mutual to encounter this evil, already progressing beyond the barriers which were opposed to it, while there is still time to check it, the necks of these haughty nations will learn to humble their pride, and the holders of the empire will remain inviolate. It remains for you to give, by your strength, prosperous effect to the hopes which I entertain.

8. "You all know my cousin Julian, whom I here present to you; a youth endeared to us by his modesty as well as by his relationship; a youth of virtue already proved, and of conspicuous industry and energy. Him I have determined to raise to the rank of Caesar, and hope, if this seems expedient to you, to have my decision confirmed by your consent."

9. He was proceeding to say more, but was prevented by the whole assembly interrupting him with friendly shouts, declaring that his decision was the judgment of the Supreme Deity, and not of any human mind; with |70 such certainty that one might have thought them inspired with the spirit of prophecy.

10. The emperor stood without moving till they resumed silence, and then with greater confidence proceeded to explain what he had to say further.

"Because, therefore, your joyful acclamations show that you look favourably on the design I have announced, let this youth, of tranquil strength, whose temperate disposition it will be better to imitate than merely to praise, rise up now to receive the honours prepared for him. His excellent disposition, increased as it has been by all liberal accomplishments, I will say no more of than is seen in the fact that I have chosen him. Therefore, now, with the manifest consent of the Deity, I will clothe him with the imperial robe."

11. This was his speech. And then, having immediately clothed Julian with the purple robe of his ancestors, and having pronounced him Caesar, to the great joy of the army, he thus addressed him, though Julian himself appeared by his grave countenance to be somewhat melancholy.

12. "Most beloved of all my brothers, you thus in early youth have received the splendid honour belonging to your birth, not, I confess, without some addition to my own glory; who thus show myself as just in conferring supreme power on a noble character nearly related to me, as I appear also sublime by virtue of my own power. Come thou, therefore, to be a partner in my labours and dangers, and undertake the defence of the government of the Gauls, devoting thyself with all beneficence to alleviate the calamities of those afflicted countries.

13. "And if it should be necessary to engage with the enemy in battle, do thou take thy place steadily among the standard-bearers themselves, as a prudent encourager of daring at the proper opportunity; exciting the warriors by leading them on with caution, supporting any troops which may be thrown into disorder by reserves, gently reproving those who hang back, and being present as a trustworthy witness of the actions of all, whether brave or timid.

14. "Think that a serious crisis is upon us, and so show yourself a great man, worthy to command brave men. We ourselves will stand by you in the energetic constancy |71 of affection, or will join you in the labours of war, so that we may govern together the whole world in peace, if only God will giant us, as we pray he may, to govern with equal moderation and piety. You will everywhere represent me, and I also will never desert you in whatever task you may be engaged. To sum up: Go forth; go forth supported by the friendly prayers of men of all ranks, to defend with watchful care the station assigned to you, it may be said, by the republic itself."

15. After the emperor had thus ended his speech, no one held his peace, but all the soldiers, with a tremendous crash, rattled their shields against their knees (which is an abundant indication of applause; while on the other hand to strike the shield with the spear is a testimony of anger and indignation), and it was marvellous with what excessive joy they all, except a very few, showed their approbation of the judgment of Augustus: and they received the Caesar with well-deserved admiration, brilliant as he was with the splendour of the imperial purple.

16. And while they gazed earnestly on his eyes, terrible in their beauty, and his countenance more attractive than ever by reason of his present excitement, they augured from his looks what kind of ruler he was likely to prove, as if they had been searching into those ancient volumes which teach how to judge of a man's moral disposition by the external signs on his person. And that he might be regarded with the greater reverence, they neither praised him above measure, nor yet below his desert. And so the voices raised in his favour were looked upon as the judgment of censors, not of soldiers.

17. After the ceremony was over, Julian was taken up into the imperial chariot and received into the palace, and was heard to whisper to himself this verse of Homer—

"Now purple death hath seized on me,

And powerful strength of destiny."

These transactions took place on the sixth of November, in the year of the consulship of Arbetio and Lollianus.

18. A few days afterwards, Helen, the maiden sister of Constantius, was also given in marriage to the Caesar. And everything being got ready which the journey required, he started on the first of December with a small retinue; |72 and having been escorted on his way by Augustus himself as far as the spot, marked by two pillars, which lies between Laumellum and Ticinum, he proceeded straight on to the country of the Taurini, where he received disastrous intelligence, which had recently reached the emperor's court, but still had been intentionally kept back, lest all the preparations made for his journey should be wasted.

19. And this intelligence was that Colonia Agrippina, a city of great renown in lower Germany, had been carried by a vigorous siege of the barbarians, who appeared before it in great force, and had utterly destroyed it.

20. Julian being greatly distressed at this news, looking on it as a kind of omen of misfortunes to come, was often heard to murmur in querulous tones, "that he had gained nothing except the fate of dying amid greater trouble and employment than before."

21. But when he arrived at Vienne, people of every age and class went forth to meet him on his entrance to the city, with a view to do him honour by their reception of him as one who had been long wished for, and was now granted to their prayers. And when he was seen in the distance the whole population of the city and of the adjacent neighbourhood, going before his chariot, celebrated his praises, saluting him as Emperor, clement and prosperous, greeting with eager joy this royal procession in honour of a lawful prince. And they placed all their hopes of a remedy for the evils which affected the whole province on his arrival, thinking that now, when their affairs were in a most desperate condition, some friendly genius had come to shine upon them.

22. And a blind old woman, when in reply to her question "Who was entering the city?" she received for answer "Julian the Caesar," cried out that "He would restore the temples of the gods."

IX.

1. Now then, since, as the sublime poet of Mantua has sung, "A greater series of incident rises to my view; in a more arduous task I engage,"— I think it a proper |73 opportunity to describe the situation and different countries of the Gauls, lest, among the narration of fiery preparations and the various chances of battles, I should seem, while speaking of matters not understood by every one, to resemble those negligent sailors, who, when tossed about by dangerous waves and storms, begin to repair their sails and ropes which they might have attended to in calm weather.

2. Ancient writers, pursuing their investigations into the earliest origin of the Gauls, left our knowledge of the truth very imperfect; but at a later period, Timagenes, a thorough Greek both in diligence and language, collected from various writings facts which had been long unknown, and guided by his faithful statements, we, dispelling all obscurity, will now give a plain and intelligible relation of them.

3. Some persons affirm that the first inhabitants ever seen in these regions were called Celts, after the name of their king, who was very popular among them, and sometimes also Galatae, after the name of his mother. For Galatae is the Greek translation of the Roman term Galli. Others affirm that they are Dorians, who, following a more ancient Hercules, selected for their home the districts bordering on the ocean.

4. The Druids affirm that a portion of the people was really indigenous to the soil, but that other inhabitants poured in from the islands on the coast, and from the districts across the Rhine, having been driven from their former abodes by frequent wars, and sometimes by inroads of the tempestuous sea.

5. Some again maintain that after the destruction of Troy, a few Trojans fleeing from the Greeks, who were then scattered over the whole world, occupied these districts, which at that time had no inhabitants at all.

6. But the natives of these countries affirm this more positively than any other fact (and, indeed, we ourselves have read it engraved on their monuments), that Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, hastening to the destruction of those cruel tyrants, Geryon and Tauriscus, one of whom was oppressing the Gauls, and the other Spain, after he had conquered both of them, took to wife some women of noble birth in those countries, and became the father of |74 many children; and that his sons called the districts of which they became the kings after their own names.

7. Also an Asiatic tribe coming from Phocaea in order to escape the cruelty of Harpalus, the lieutenant of Cyrus the king, sought to sail to Italy. And a part of them founded Velia, in Lucania, others settled a colony at Marseilles, in the territory of Vienne; and then, in subsequent ages, these towns increasing in strength and importance, founded other cities. But we must avoid a variety of details which are commonly apt to weary.

8. Throughout these provinces, the people gradually becoming civilized, the study of liberal accomplishments flourished, having been first introduced by the Bards, the Eubages, and the Druids. The Bards were accustomed to employ themselves in celebrating the brave achievements of their illustrious men, in epic verso, accompanied with sweet airs on the lyre. The Eubages investigated the system and sublime secrets of nature, and sought to explain them to their followers. Between these two came the Druids, men of loftier genius, bound in brotherhoods according to the precepts and example of Pythagoras; and their minds were elevated by investigations into secret and sublime matters, and from the contempt which they entertained for human affairs they pronounced the soul immortal.

X.

1. This country then of the Gauls was by reason of its lofty mountain ranges perpetually covered with terrible snows, almost unknown to the inhabitants of the rest of the world, except where it borders on the ocean; vast fortresses raised by nature, in the place of art, surrounding it on all sides.

2. On the southern side it is washed by the Etruscan and Gallic sea: where it looks towards the north it is separated from the tribes of the barbarians by the river Rhine; where it is placed under the western star it is bounded by the ocean, and the lofty chain of the Pyrenees; |75 where it has an eastern aspect it is bounded by the Cottian Alps. In these mountains King Cottius, afier the Gauls had been subdued, lying by himself in their defiles, and relying on the rugged and pathless character of the country, long maintained his independence; though afterwards he abated his pride, and was admitted to the friendship of the Emperor Octavianus. And subsequently he constructed immense works to serve as a splendid gift to the emperor, making roads over them, short, and convenient for travellers, between other ancient passes of the Alps; on which subject we will presently set forth what discoveries have been made.

3. In these Cottian Alps, which begin at the town of Susa, one vast ridge rises up, scarcely passable by any one without danger.

4. For to travellers who reach it from the side of Gaul it descends with a steepness almost precipitous, being terrible to behold, in consequence of the bulk of its overhanging rocks. In the spring, when the ice is melting, and the snow beginning to give way from the warm spring breezes, if any one seeks to descend along the mountain, men and beasts and wagons all fall together through the fissures and clefts in the rocks, which yawn in every direction, though previously hidden by the frost. And the only remedy ever found to ward off entire destruction is to have many vehicles bound together with enormous ropes, with men or oxen hanging on behind, to hold them back with great efforts; and so with a crouching step they get down with some degree of safety. And this, as I have said, is what happens in the spring.

5. But in winter, the ground being covered over with a smooth crust of ice, and therefore slippery under foot, the traveller is often plunged headlong; and the valleys, which seem to open here and there into wide plains, which are merely a covering of treacherous ice, sometimes swallow up those who try to pass over them. On account of which danger those who are acquainted with the country fix projecting wooden piles over the safest spots, in order that a series of them may conduct the |76 traveller unhurt to his destination; though if these piles get covered with snow and hidden, or thrown down by melting torrents descending from the mountains, then it is difficult for any one to pass, even if natives of the district lead the way.

6. But on the summit of this Italian mountain there is a plain, seven miles in extent, reaching as far as the station known by the name of Mars; and after that comes another ridge, still more steep, and scarcely possible to be climbed, which stretches on to the summit of Mons Matrona, named so from an event which happened to a noble lady.

7. From this point a path, steep indeed, but easily passable, leads to the fortress of Virgantia. The sepulchre of this petty prince whom we have spoken of as the maker of these roads is at Susa, close to the walls; and his remains are honoured with religious veneration for two reasons: first of all, because he governed his people with equitable moderation; and secondly, because, by becoming an ally of the Roman republic, he procured lasting tranquillity for his subjects.

8. And although this road which I have been speaking of runs through the centre of the district, and is shorter and more frequented now than any other, yet other roads also were made at much earlier periods, on different occasions.

9. The first of them, near the maritime alps, was made by the Theban Hercules, when he was proceeding in a leisurely manner to destroy Geryon and Tauriscus, as has already been mentioned; and he it was who gave to these alps the name of the Grecian Alps. In the same way he consecrated the citadel and port of Monaecus to keep alive the recollection of his name for ever. And this was the reason why, many ages afterwards, those alps were called the Penine Alps.

10. Publius Cornelius Scipio, the father of the elder Africanus, when about to go to the assistance of the citizens |77 of Saguntum—celebrated for the distresses which they endured, and for their loyalty to Rome, at the time when they were besieged with great resolution by the Carthaginians—led to the Spanish coast a fleet having on board a numerous army. But after the city had been destroyed by the valour of the Carthaginians, he, being unable to overtake Hannibal, who had crossed the Rhone, and had obtained three days' start of him in the march towards Italy, crossed the sea, which at that point was not wide, making a rapid voyage; and taking his station near Genoa, a town of the Ligures, awaited his descent from the mountains, so that, if chance should afford him an opportunity, he might attack him in the plain while still fatigued with the ruggedness of the way by which he had come.

11. But still, having regard to the interests of the republic, he ordered Cnaeus Scipio, his brother, to go into Spain, to prevent Hasdrubal from making a similar expedition from that country. But Hannibal, having received information of their design by some deserters, being also a man of great shrewdness and readiness of resources, obtained some guides from the Taurini who inhabited those districts, and passing through the Tricastini and through the district of the Vocontii, he thus reached the defiles of the Tricorii. Then starting from this point, he made another march over a line previously impassable. And having cut through a rock of immense height, which he melted by means of mighty fires, and pouring over it a quantity of vinegar, he proceeded along the Druentia, a river full of danger from its eddies and currents, until he reached the district of Etruria. This is enough to say of the Alps; now let us return to our original subject.

XI.

1. In former times, when these provinces were little known, as being barbarous, they were considered to be divided into three races: namely, the Celtae, the same |78 who are also called Galli; the Aquitani, and the Belgae: all differing from each other in language, manners, and laws.

2. The Galli, who, as I have said, are the same as the Celtae, are divided from the Aquitani by the river Garonne, which rises in the mountains of the Pyrenees; and after passing through many towns, loses itself in the ocean.

3. On the other side they are separated from the Belgians by the Manio and the Seine, both rivers of considerable size, which flowing through the tribe of the Lugdunenses, after surrounding the stronghold of the Parisii named Lutetia, so as to make an island of it, proceed onwards together, and fall into the sea near the camp of Constantius.

4. Of all these people the Belgians are said by ancient writers to be the most warlike, because, being more remote from civilization, and not having been rendered effeminate by foreign luxuries, they have been engaged in continual wars with the Germans on the other side of the Rhine.

5. For the Aquitanians, to whose shores, as being nearest and also pacific, foreign merchandise is abundantly imported, were easily brought under the dominion of the Romans, because their character had become enervated.

6. But from the time when the Gauls, after long and repeated wars, submitted to the dictator Julius, all their provinces were governed by Roman officers, the country being divided into four portions; one of which was the province of Narbonne; containing the districts of Vienne and Lyons: a second province comprehended all the tribes of the Aquitanians; upper and lower Germany formed a third jurisdiction, and the Belgians a fourth at that period.

7. But now the whole extent of the country is portioned out into many provinces. The second (or lower) Germany is the first, if you begin on the western side, fortified by Cologne and Tongres, both cities of great wealth and importance.

8. Next comes the first (or high) Germany, in which, besides other municipal towns, there is Mayence, and Worms, and Spiers, and Strasburg, a city celebrated for the defeats sustained by the barbarians in its neighbourhood.

9. After these the first Belgic province stretches as far |79 as Metz and Treves, which city is the splendid abode of the chief governor of the country.

10. Next to that comes the second Belgic province, where we find Amiens, a city of conspicuous magnificence, and Chalons, and Rheims.

11. In the province of the Sequani, the finest cities are Besancon and Basle. The first Lyonnese province contains Lyons, Chalons, Sens, Bourges, and Autun, the walls of which are very extensive and of great antiquity.

12. In the second Lyonnese province are Tours, and Rouen, Evreux, and Troyes. The Grecian and Penine Alps have, besides other towns of less note, Avenche, a city which indeed is now deserted, but which was formerly one of no small importance, as even now is proved by its half-ruinous edifices. These are the most important provinces, and most splendid cities of the Galli.

13. In Aquitania, which looks towards the Pyrenees, and that part of the ocean which belongs to the Spaniards, the first province is Aquitanica, very rich in large and populous cities; passing over others, I may mention as pre-eminent, Bordeaux, Clermont, Saintes, and Poictiers.

14. The province called the Nine Nations is enriched by Ausch and Bazas. In the province of Narborme, the cities of Narbonne, Euses, and Toulouse are the principal places of importance. The Viennese exults in the magnificence of many cities, the chief of which are Vienne itself, and Arles, and Valence; to which may be added Marseilles, by the alliance with and power of which, we read that Rome itself was more than once supported in moments of danger.

15. And near to these cities is also Aix, Nice, Antibes, and the islands of Ilieres.

16. And since we have come in the progress of our work to this district, it would be inconsistent and absurd to omit all mention of the Rhone, a river of the greatest celebrity. The Rhone rises in the Penine Alps, from sources of great abundance, and descending with headlong impetuosity into the more champaign districts, it often overruns its banks with its own waters, and then plunges into a lake called Lake Leman, and though it passes through it, yet it never mingles with any foreign waters, but, rushing over the top of those which flow with less |80 rapidity, in its search for an exit, it forces its own way by the violence of its stream.

17. And thus passing through that lake without any damage, it runs through Savoy and the district of Tranche Comté; and, after a long course, it forms the boundary between the Viennese on its left, and the Lyonnese on its right. Then after many windings it receives the Saone, a river which rises in the first Germany, and this latter river here merges its name in the Rhone. At this point is the beginning of the Gauls. And from this spot the distances are measured not by miles but by leagues.

18. From this point also, the Rhone, being now enriched by other rivers, becomes navigable for large vessels, which are often tossed about in it by gales of wind; and at last, having finished the course which nature has marked out for it, foaming on it joins the Gallic Sea in the wide gulf which they call the Gulf of Lyons, about eighteen miles from Arles. This is enough to say of the situation of the province; I will now proceed to describe the appearance and character of the inhabitants.

XII.

1. Nearly all the Gauls are of a lofty stature, fair, and of ruddy complexion; terrible from the sternness of their eyes, very quarrelsome, and of great pride and insolence. A whole troop of foreigners would not be able to withstand a single Gaul if he called his wife to his assistance, who is usually very strong, and with blue eyes; especially when, swelling her neck, gnashing her teeth, and brandishing her sallow arms of enormous size, she begins to strike blows mingled with kicks, as if they were so many missiles sent from the string of a catapult.

2. The voices of the generality are formidable and threatening, whether they are in good humour or angry: they are all exceedingly careful of cleanliness and neatness, nor in all the country, and most especially in Aquitania, could any man or woman, however poor, be seen either dirty or ragged.

3. The men of every age are equally inclined to war, and the old man and the man in the prime of life answer with equal zeal the call to arms, their bodies being |81 hardened by their cold weather and by constant exercise, so that they are all inclined to despise dangers and terrors. Nor has any one of this nation ever mutilated his thumb from fear of the toils of war, as men have done in Italy, whom in their district are called Murci.

4. The nation is fond of wine, and of several kinds of liquor which resemble wine. And many individuals of the lower orders, whose senses have become impaired by continual intoxication, which the apophthegm of Cato defined to be a kind of voluntary madness, run about in all directions at random; so that there appears to be some point in that saying which is found in Cicero's oration in defence of Fonteius, "that henceforth the Gauls will drink their wine less strong than formerly," because forsooth they thought there was poison in it.

5. These countries, and especially such parts of them as border on Italy, fell gradually under the dominion of the Romans without much trouble to their conquerors, having been first attacked by Fulvius, afterwards weakened in many trifling combats by Sextius, and at last entirely subdued by Fabius Maximus; who gained an additional surname from the complete accomplishment of this task, after he had brought into subjection the fierce tribe of the Allobroges.

6. Caesar finally subdued all the Gauls, except where their country was absolutely inaccessible from its morasses, as we learn from Sallust, after a war of ten years, in which both nations suffered many disasters; and at last he united them to us in eternal alliance by formal treaties. I have digressed further than I had intended, but now I will return to my original subject.

XIII.

1. After Domitianus had perished by a cruel death, Musonianus his successor governed the East with the rank of praetorian prefect; a man celebrated for his eloquence and thorough knowledge of both the Greek and Latin languages; from which he reaped a loftier glory than he expected.

2. For when Constantine was desirous of obtaining a |82 more accurate knowledge of the different sects in the empire, the Manicheans and other similar bodies, and no one could be found able sufficiently to explain them, Musonianus was chosen for the task, having been recommended as competent; and when he had discharged this duty with skill, the emperor gave him the name of Musonianus, for he had been previously called Strategius. After that he ran through many degrees of rank and honour, and soon reached the dignity of prefect; being in other matters also a man of wisdom, popular in the provinces, and of a mild and courteous disposition. But at the same time, whenever he could find an opportunity, especially in any controversies or lawsuits (which is most shameful and wicked), he was greatly devoted to sordid gain. Not to mention many other instances, this was especially exemplified in the investigations which were made into the death of Theophilus, the governor of Syria, a man of consular rank, who gave information against the Caesar Gallus, and who was torn to pieces in a tumult of the people; for which several poor men were condemned, who, it was clearly proved, were at a distance at the time of the transaction, while certain rich men who were the real authors of the crime were spared from all punishment, except the confiscation of their property.

3. In this he was equalled by Prosper, at that time master of the horse in Gaul; a man of abject spirit and great inactivity; and, as the comic poet has it, despising the acts of secret robbing he plundered openly.

4. And, while these two officers were conniving together, and reciprocally helping each other to many means of acquiring riches, the chiefs of the Persian nation who lived nearest to the river, profiting by the fact that the king was occupied in the most distant parts of his dominions, and that these commanders were occupied in plundering the people placed under their authority, began to harass our territories with predatory bands, making audacious inroads, sometimes into Armenia, often also into Mesopotamia.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 16. pp. 83-122.

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 16. pp. 83-122.

I. A panegyric of Julian the Caesar.

II. Julian attacks and defeats the Allemanni.

III. He recovers Cologne, which had been taken by the Franks, and concludes a peace with the king of the Franks.

IV. He is besieged in the city of Sens by the Allemanni.

V. His virtues.

VI. The prosecution and acquittal of Arbetio.

VII. The Caesar Julian is defended before the emperor by his chamberlain Eutherius against the accusations of Marcellus.

VIII. Calumnies are rife in the camp of the Emperor Constantius, and the courtiers are rapacious.

IX. The question of peace with the Persians.

X. The triumphal entry of Constantius into Rome.

XI. Julian attacks the Allemanni in the islands of the Rhine in which they had taken refuge, and repairs the fort of Saverne.

XII. He attacks the kings of the Allemanni on the borders of Gaul, and defeats them at Strasburg.

BOOK XVI.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

A.D. 356.

1. While the chain of destiny was bringing these events to pass in the Roman world, Julian, being at Vienne, was taken by the emperor, then in his own eighth consulship, as a partner in that dignity; and, under the promptings of his own innate energy, dreamt of nothing but the crash of battles and the slaughter of the barbarians; preparing without delay to re-establish the province, and to reunite the fragments that had been broken from it, if only fortune should be favourable to him.

2. And because the great achievements which by his valour and good fortune Julian performed in the Gauls, surpass many of the most gallant exploits of the ancients, I will relate them in order as they occurred, employing all the resources of my talents, moderate as they are, in the hope that they may suffice for the narrative.

3. But what I am about to relate, though not emblazoned by craftily devised falsehood, and being simply a plain statement of facts, supported by evident proofs, will have all the effect of a studied panegyric.

4. For it would seem that some principle of a more than commonly virtuous life guided this young prince from his |84 very cradle to his last breath. Increasing rapidly in every desirable quality, he soon became so conspicuous both at home and abroad, that in respect to his prudence he was looked upon as a second Titus: in his glorious deeds of war he was accounted equal to Trajan; in mercy he was the prototype of Antoninus; and in the pursuit and discovery of true and perfect wisdom, he resembled Marcus Aurelius, in imitation of whom he formed all his actions and character.

5. And since, as we are taught by Cicero, that the loftiness of great virtues delights us, as does that of high trees, while we are not equally interested in the roots and trunks; so, also, the first beginnings of his admirable disposition were kept concealed by many circumstances which threw a cloud over them; though in fact they ought to be preferred to many of his most marvellous actions of later life, in that he, who in his early youth had been brought up like Erectheus in the retirement sacred to Minerva, nevertheless when he was drawn forth from the quiet shades of the academy (and not from any military tent) into the labours of war, subdued Germany, tranquillized the districts of the frozen Rhine, routed the barbarian kings breathing nothing but bloodshed and slaughter, and forced them to submission.

II.

1. Therefore while passing a toilsome winter in the city aforesaid, he learnt, among the numerous reports which were flying about, that the ancient city of Autun, the walls of which, though of vast extent, were in a state of great decay from age, was now besieged by the barbarians, who had suddenly appeared before it in great force; and while the garrison remained panic-stricken and inactive, the town was defended by a body of veterans who were behaving with great courage and vigilance; as it often happens that extreme despair repulses dangers which appear destructive of all hope or safety.

2. Therefore, without relaxing his anxiety about other matters, and putting aside all the adulation of the courtiers with which they sought to divert his mind towards voluptuousness and luxury, he hastened his preparations, and when everything was ready he set out, and on the 24th of |85 June arrived at Autun; behaving like a veteran general conspicuous alike for skill and prowess, and prepared to fall upon the barbarians, who were straggling in every direction over the country, the moment fortune afforded him an opportunity.

3. Therefore having deliberated on his plans, and consulted those who were acquainted with the country as to what would be the safest line of march for him to adopt, after having received much information in favour of different routes, some recommending Arbois, others insisting on it that the best way was by Saulieu and Cure.

4. But as some persons affirmed that Silvanus, in command of a body of infantry, had, a short time before, made his way with 8,000 men by a road shorter than either, but dangerous as lying through many dark woods and defiles suitable for ambuscades, Julian became exceedingly eager to imitate the audacity of this brave man.

5. And to prevent any delay, taking with him only his cuirassiers and archers, who would not have been sufficient to defend his person had he been attacked, he took the same route as Silvanus; and so came to Auxerre.

6. And there, having, according to his custom, devoted a short time to rest, for the purpose of refreshing his men, he proceeded onwards towards Troyes; and strengthened his flanks that he might with the greater effect watch the barbarians, who attacked him in numerous bodies, which he avoided as well as he could, thinking them more numerous than they really were. Presently, however, having occupied some favourable ground, he descended upon one body of them, and routed it, and took some prisoners whom their own fears delivered to him; and then he allowed the rest, who now devoted all their energies to flying with what speed they could, to escape unattacked, as his men could not pursue them by reason of the weight of their armour.

7. This occurrence gave him more hope of being able to resist any attack which they might make, and marching forwards with this confidence, after many dangers he reached Troyes so unexpectedly, that when he arrived at the gates, the inhabitants for some time hesitated to give him entrance into the city, so great was their fear of the straggling multitudes of the barbarians.

8. After a little delay, devoted to again refreshing his weary troops, thinking that there was no time to waste, he |86 proceeded to the city of Rheims, where he had ordered his whole army, carrying... to assemble, and there to await his presence. The army at Rheims was under the command of Marcellus, the successor of Ursicinus; and Ursicinus himself was ordered to remain there till the termination of the expedition.

9. Again Julian took counsel, and after many opinions of different purport had been delivered, it was determined to attack the host of the Allemanni in the neighbourhood of Dieuse; and to that quarter the army now marched in dense order, and with more than usual alacrity.

10. And because the weather, being damp and misty, prevented even what was near from being seen, the enemy, availing themselves of their knowledge of the country, came by an oblique road upon the Caesar's rear, and attacked two legions while they were piling their arms; and they would almost have destroyed them if the uproar which suddenly arose had not brought the auxiliary troops of the allies to their support.

11. From this time forth Julian, thinking it impossible to find any roads or any rivers free from ambuscades, proceeded with consummate prudence and caution; qualities which above all others in great generals usually bring safety and success to armies.

12. Hearing therefore that Strasburg, Brumat, Saverne, Spiers, Worms, and Mayence, were all in the hands of the barbarians, who were established in their suburbs, for the barbarians shunned fixing themselves in the towns themselves, looking upon them like graves surrounded with nets, he first of all entered Brumat, and just as he readied that place he was encountered by a body of Germans prepared for battle.

13. Having arranged his own army in the form of a crescent, the engagement began, and the enemy were speedily surrounded and utterly defeated. Some were taken prisoners, others were slain in the heat of the battle, the rest sought safety by rapid flight.

III.

1. After this, meeting with no resistance, he determined to proceed to recover Cologne, which had been destroyed |87 before his arrival in Gaul. In that district there is no city or fortress to be seen except that near Confluentes; a place so named because there the river Moselle becomes mingled with the Rhine; there is also the village of Rheinmagen, and likewise a single tower near Cologne.

2. After having taken possession of Cologne he did not leave it till the Frank kings began, through fear of him, to abate of their fury, when he contracted a peace with them likely to be of future advantage to the republic. In the mean time he put the whole city into a state of complete defence.

3. Then, auguring well from these first-fruits of victory, he departed, passing through the district of Treves, with the intention of wintering at Sens, which was a town very suitable for that purpose. When bearing, so to say, the weight of a world of wars upon his shoulders, he was occupied by perplexities of various kinds, and among them how to provide for establishing in places most exposed to danger the soldiers who had quitted their former posts; how to defeat the enemies who had conspired together to injure the Roman cause; and further, how to provide supplies for the army while employed in so many different quarters.

IV.

1. While he was anxiously revolving these things in his mind, he was attacked by a numerous force of the enemy, who had conceived a hope of being able to take the town. And they were the more confident of success because, from the information of deserters, they had learnt that he neither had with him his Scutarii nor his Gentiles, both of which bodies of troops had been distributed among the different municipal towns in order that they might be the more easily supplied with provisions.

2. Therefore after the gates of the city had been barricaded, and the weakest portions of the walls carefully strengthened, Julian was seen night and day on the battlements and ramparts, attended by a band of armed men, boiling over with anger and gnashing his teeth, because, often as he wished to sally forth, he was |88 prevented from taking such a step by the scantiness of the force which he had with him.

3. At last, after thirty days, the barbarians retired disappointed, murmuring that they had been so vain and weak as to attempt the siege of such a city. It deserves however to be remarked, as a most unworthy circumstance, that when Julian was in great personal danger, Marcellus, the master of the horse, who was posted in the immediate neighbourhood, omitted to bring him any assistance, though the danger of the city itself, even if the prince had not been there, ought to have excited his endeavours to relieve it from the peril of a siege by so formidable an enemy.

4. Being now delivered from this fear, Julian, ever prudent and active, directed his anxious thoughts incessantly to the care of providing that, after their long labours, his soldiers should have rest, which, however brief, might be sufficient to recruit their strength. In addition to the exhaustion consequent on their toils, they were distressed by the deficiency of crops on the land, which through the frequent devastations to which they had been exposed afforded but little suitable for human food.

5. But these difficulties he likewise surmounted by his ever wakeful diligence, and a more confident hope of future success opening itself to his mind, he rose with higher spirits to accomplish his other designs.

V.

1. In the first place (and this is a most difficult task for every one), he imposed on himself a rigid temperance, and maintained it as if he had been living under the obligation of the sumptuary laws. These were originally brought to Rome from the edicts of Lycurgus and the tables of laws compiled by Solon, and were for a long time strictly observed. When they had become somewhat obsolete, they were re-established by Sulla, who, guided by the apophthegms of Democritus, agreed with him that it, is Fortune which spreads an ambitious table, but that Virtue is content with a sparing one.

2. And likewise Cato of Tusculum, who from his pure and temperate way of life obtained the surname of the |89 Censor, said with profound wisdom on the same subject, "When there is great care about food, there is very little care about virtue."

3. Lastly, though he was continually reading the little treatise which Constantius, when sending him as his stepson to prosecute his studies, had written for him with his own hand, in which he made extravagant provision for the dinner-expenses of the Caesar, Julian now forbade pheasants, or sausages, or even sow's udder to be served up to him, contenting himself with the cheap and ordinary food of the common soldiers.

4. Hereupon arose his custom of dividing his nights into three portions, one of which he allotted to rest, one to the affairs of the state, and one to the study of literature; and we read that Alexander the Great had been accustomed to do the same, though he practised the rule with less self-reliance. For Alexander, having placed a brazen shell on the ground beneath him, used to hold a silver ball in his hand, which he kept stretched outside his bed, so that when sleep pervading his whole body had relaxed the rigour of his muscles, the rattling of the ball falling might banish slumber from his eyes.

5. But Julian, without any instrument, awoke whenever he pleased; and always rising when the night was but half spent, and that not from a bed of feathers, or silken cover-lots shining with varied brilliancy, but from a rough blanket or rug, would secretly offer his supplications to Mercury, who, as the theological lessons which he had received had taught him, was the swift intelligence of the world, exciting the different emotions of the mind. And thus removed from all external circumstances calculated to distract his attention, he gave his whole attention to the affairs of the republic.

6. Then, after having ended this arduous and important business, he turned and applied himself to the cultivation of his intellect. And it was marvellous with what excessive ardour he investigated and attained to the sublime knowledge of the loftiest matters, and how, seeking as it were some food for his mind which might give it strength to climb up to the sublimest truths, he ran through every branch of philosophy in profound and subtle discussions. |90

7. Nevertheless, while engaged in amassing knowledge of this kind in all its fullness and power, he did not despise the humbler accomplishments. He was tolerably fond of poetry and rhetoric, as is shown by the invariable and pure elegance, mingled with dignity, of all his speeches and letters. And he likewise studied the varied history of our own state and of foreign countries. To all these accomplishments was added a very tolerable degree of eloquence in the Latin language.

8. Therefore, if it be true, as many writers affirm, that Cyrus the king, and Simonides the lyric poet, and Hippias of Elis, the most acute of the Sophists, excelled as they did in memory because they had obtained that faculty through drinking a particular medicine, we must also believe that Julian in his early manhood had drunk the whole cask of memory, if such a thing could ever be found. And these are the nocturnal signs of his chastity and virtue.

9. But as for the manner in which he passed his days, whether in conversing with eloquence and wit, or in making preparations for war, or in actual conflict of battle, or in his administration of affairs of the state, correcting all defects with magnanimity and liberality, these things shall all be set forth in their proper place.

10. When he was compelled, as being a prince, to apply himself to the study of military discipline, having been previously confined to lessons of philosophy, and when he was learning the art of marching in time while the pipes were playing the Pyrrhic air, he often, calling upon the name of Plato, ironically quoted that old proverb, "A pack-saddle is placed on an ox; this is clearly a burden which does not belong to me."

11. On one occasion, when some secretaries were introduced into the council-chamber, with solemn ceremony, to receive some gold, one of their company did not, as is the usual custom, open his robe to receive it, but took it in the hollow of both his hands joined together; on which Julian said, secretaries only know how to seize things, not how to accept them.

12. Having been approached by the parents of a virgin who had been ravished, seeking for justice, he gave sentence that the ravisher, on conviction, should be banished; and when the parents complained of this sentence as |91 unequal to the crime, because the criminal had not been condemned to death, he replied, "Let the laws blame my clemency; but it is fitting that an emperor of a most merciful disposition should be superior to all other laws."

13. Once when he was about to set forth on an expedition, he was interrupted by several people complaining of injuries which they had received, whom he referred for a hearing to the governors of their respective provinces. And after he had returned, he inquired what had been done in each case, and with genuine clemency mitigated the punishments which had been assigned to the offences.

14. Last of all, without here making any mention of the victories in which he repeatedly defeated the barbarians, and the vigilance with which he protected his army from all harm, the benefits which he conferred on the Galli, previously exhausted by extreme want, are most especially evident from this fact, that when he first entered the country he found that four-and-twenty pieces of gold were exacted, under the name of tribute, in the way of poll-tax, from each individual. But when he quitted the country seven pieces only were required, which made up all the payments due from them to the state. On which account they rejoiced with festivals and dances, looking upon him as a serene sun which had shone upon them after melancholy darkness.

15. Moreover we know that up to the very end of his reign and of his life, he carefully and with great benefit observed this rule, not to remit the arrears of tribute by edicts which they call indulgences. For he knew that by such conduct he should be giving something to the rich, whilst it is notorious everywhere that, the moment that taxes are imposed, the poor are compelled to pay them all at once without any relief.

16. But while he was thus regulating and governing the country in a manner deserving the imitation of all virtuous princes, the rage of the barbarians again broke out more violently than ever.

17. And as wild beasts, which, owing to the carelessness of the shepherds, have been wont to plunder their flocks, even when these careless keepers are exchanged for more watchful ones, still cling to their habit, and being furious with hunger, will, without any regard for their own safety, |92 again attack the flocks and herds; so also the barbarians, having consumed all their plunder, continued, under the pressure of hunger, repeatedly to make inroads for the sake of booty, though sometimes they died of want before they could obtain any.

VI.

1. These were the events which took place in Gaul during this year; at first of doubtful issue, but in the end successful. Meanwhile in the emperor's court envy constantly assailed Arbetio, accusing him of having already assumed the ensigns of imperial rank, as if designing soon to attain the supreme dignity itself. And especially was he attacked by a count named Verissimus, who with great vehemence brought forth terrible charges against him, openly alleging that although he had been raised from the rank of a common soldier to high military office, he was not contented, thinking little of what he had obtained, and aiming at the highest place.

2. And he was also vigorously attacked by a man named Dorus, who had formerly been surgeon of the Scutarii, and of whom we have spoken, when promoted in the time of Magnentius to be inspector of the works of art at Rome, as having brought accusations against Adelphius, the prefect of the city, as forming ambitions designs.

3. And when the matter was brought forward for judicial inquiry, and all preliminary arrangements were made, proof of the accusations which had been confidently looked for was still delated; when suddenly, as if the business had been meant as a satire on the administration of justice, through the interposition of the chamberlains, as rumour affirmed, the persons who had been imprisoned as accomplices were released from their confinement: Dorus disappeared, and Verissimus kept silence for the future, as if the curtain had dropped and the scene had been suddenly changed.

VII.

1. About the same time, Constantius having learnt, from common report, that Marcellus had omitted to carry assistance to the Caesar when he was besieged at Sens, cashiered him, and ordered him to retire to his own house. And he, |93 as if he had received a great injury, began to plot against Julian, relying upon the disposition of the emperor to open his ears to every accusation.

2. Therefore, when he departed, Eutherius, the chief chamberlain, was immediately sent after him, that he might convict him before the emperor if he propagated any falsehoods. But Marcellus, unaware of this, as soon as he arrived at Milan, began talking loudly, and seeking to create alarm, like a vain chatterer half mad as he was. And when he was admitted into the council-chamber, he began to accuse Julian of being insolent, and of preparing for himself stronger wings in order to soar to a greater height. For this was his expression, agitating his body violently as he uttered it.

3. While he was thus uttering his imaginary charges with great freedom, Eutherius being, at his own request, introduced into the presence, and being commanded to say what he wished, speaking with great respect and moderation showed the emperor that the truth was being overlaid with falsehood. For that, while the commander of the heavy-armed troops had, as it was believed, held back on purpose, the Caesar having been long besieged at Sens, had by his vigilance and energy repelled the barbarians. And he pledged his own life that the Caesar would, as long as he lived, be faithful to the author of his greatness.

4. The opportunity reminds me here to mention a few facts concerning this same Eutherius, which perhaps will hardly be believed; because if Numa Pompilius or Socrates were to say anything good of a eunuch, and wore to confirm what they said by an oath, they would be accused of having departed from the truth. But roses grow up among thorns, and among wild beasts some are of gentle disposition. And therefore I will briefly mention a few of his most important acts which are well ascertained.

5. He was born in Armenia, of a respectable family, and having while a very little child been taken prisoner by the enemies on the border, he was castrated and sold to some Roman merchants, and by them conducted to the palace of Constantine, where, while growing up to manhood, he began to display good principles and good talents, becoming accomplished in literature to a degree quite sufficient for his fortune, displaying extraordinary acuteness in |94 discovering matters of a doubtful and difficult complexion; being remarkable also for a marvellous memory, always eager to do good, and full of wise and honest counsel. A man, in short, who, if the Emperor Constantius had listened to his advice, which, whether he gave it in youth or manhood, was always honourable and upright, would have been prevented from committing any errors, or at least any that were not pardonable.

6. When he became high chamberlain he sometimes also found fault even with Julian, who, as being tainted with Asiatic manners, was apt to be capricious. Finally, when he quitted office for private life, and again when he was recalled to court, he was always sober and consistent, cultivating those excellent virtues of good faith and constancy to such a degree that he never betrayed any secret, except for the purpose of securing another's safety; nor was he ever accused of covetous or grasping conduct, as the other courtiers were.

7. From which it arose that, when at a late period he retired to Rome, and fixed there the abode of his old age, bearing with him the company of a good conscience, he was loved and respected by men of all ranks, though men of that class generally, after having amassed riches by iniquity, love to seek secret places of retirement, just as owls or moths, and avoid the sight of the multitude whom they have injured.

8. Though I have often ransacked the accounts of antiquity, I do not find any ancient eunuch to whom I can compare him. There were indeed among the ancients some, though very few, faithful and economical, but still they were stained by some vice or other; and among the chief faults which they had either by nature or habit, they were apt to be either rapacious or else boorish, and on that account contemptible; or else ill-natured and mischievous; or fawning too much on the powerful; or too elated with power, and therefore arrogant. But of any one so universally accomplished and prudent, I confess I have neither ever read nor heard, relying for the truth of this judgment on the general testimony of the age.

9. But if any careful reader of ancient histories should oppose to us Menophilus, the eunuch of King Mithridates, I would warn him to recollect that nothing is really known |95 of him except this single fact, that he behaved gloriously in a moment of extreme danger.

10. When the king above mentioned, having been defeated by the Romans under the command of Pompey, and fleeing to his kingdom of Colchis, left a grown-up daughter, named Drypctina, who at the time was dangerously ill, in the castle of Synhorium, under the care of this Menophilus, he completely cured the maiden by a variety of remedies, and preserved her in safety for her father; and when the fortress in which they were enclosed began to be besieged by Manlius Priscus, the lieutenant of the general, and when he became aware that the garrison were proposing to surrender, he, fearing that, to the dishonour of her father, this noble damsel might be made a prisoner and be ravished, slew her, and then fell upon his sword himself. Now I will return to the point from which I digressed.

VIII.

1. After Marcellus had been foiled, as I have mentioned, and had returned to Serdica, which was his native place, many great crimes were perpetrated in the camp of Augustus, under pretence of upholding the majesty of the emperor.

2. For if any one had consulted any cunning soothsayer about the squeak of a mouse, or the appearance of a weasel, or any other similar portent, or had used any old woman's chants to assuage any pain—a practice which the authority of medicine does not always prohibit—such a man was at once informed against, without being able to conceive by whom, and was brought before a court of law, and at once condemned to death.

3. About the same time an individual named Dames was accused by his wife of certain trifling acts, of which, whether he was innocent or not is uncertain; but Rufinus was his enemy, who, as we have mentioned, had given information of some matters which had been communicated to him by Gaudentius, the emperor's secretary, causing Africanus, then governing Pannonia with the rank of a consul, to be put to death, with all his friends. This Rufinus was now, for his devotion to the interests of the emperor, the chief commander of the praetorian guard. |96

4. He, being given to talking in a boastful manner, after having seduced that easily deluded woman (the wife of Dames) into an illicit connection with him, allured her into a perilous fraud, and persuaded her by an accumulation of lies to accuse her innocent husband of treason, and to invent a story that he had stolen a purple garment from the sepulchre of Diocletian, and, by the help of some accomplices, still kept it concealed.

5. When this story had been thus devised in a way to cause the destruction of many persons, Rufinus himself, full of hopes of some advantage, hastened to the camp of the emperor, to spread his customary calumnies. And when the transaction had been divulged, Manlius, at that time the commander of the praetorian camp, a man of admirable integrity, received orders to make a strict inquiry into the charge, having united to him, as a colleague in the examination, Ursulus, the chief paymaster, a man likewise of praiseworthy equity and strictness.

6. There, after the matter had been rigorously investigated according to the fashion of that period, and when, after many persons had been put to the torture, nothing was found out, and the judges were in doubt and perplexity; at length truth, long suppressed, found a respite, and, under the compulsion of a rigorous examination, the woman confessed that Rufinus was the author of the whole plot, nor did she even conceal the fact of her adultery with him. Reference was immediately made to the law, and as order and justice required, the judges condemned them both to death.

7. But as soon as this was known, Constantius became greatly enraged, and lamenting Rufinus as if the champion of his safety had been destroyed, he sent couriers on horseback express, with threatening orders to Ursulus, commanding him to return to court. Ursulus, disregarding the remonstrances of those who advised him to disobey, hastened fearlessly to the presence; and having entered the emperor's council-chambers, with undaunted heart and voice related the whole transaction; and this confident behaviour of his shut the mouths of the flatterers, and delivered both the prefect and himself from serious danger.

8. It was at this time also that an event took place in |97 Aquitania which was more extensively talked about. A certain cunning person being invited to a splendid and sumptuous banquet, which are frequent in that province, having seen a pair of coverlets, with two purple borders of such width, that by the skill of those who waited they seemed to be but one; and beholding the table also covered with a similar cloth, he took up one in each hand, and arranged them so as to resemble the front of a cloak, representing them as having formed the ornament of the imperial robe; and then searching over the whole house in order to find the robe which he affirmed must be hidden there, he thus caused the ruin of a wealthy estate.

9. With similar malignity, a certain secretary in Spain, who was likewise invited to a supper, hearing the servants, while bringing in the evening candles, cry "let us conquer," affixing a malignant interpretation to that common exclamation, in like manner ruined a noble family.

10. These and other evils increasing more and more, because Constantius, being a man of a very timorous disposition, was always thinking that blows were being aimed at him, like the celebrated tyrant of Sicily, Dionysius, who, because of this vice of his, taught his daughters to shave him, in order that he might not have to put his face in a stranger's power; and surrounded the small chamber in which he was accustomed to sleep with a deep ditch, so placed that it could only be entered by a drawbridge; the loose beams and axles of which when he went to bed he removed into his own chamber, replacing them when about to go forth at daybreak.

11. Moreover, those who had influence in the court promoted the spread of these evils, with the hope of joining to their own estates the forfeited possessions of those who should be condemned; and thus becoming rich by the ruin of their neighbours.

12. For, as clear evidence has shown, if Constantine was the first to excite the appetites of his followers, Constantius was the prince who fattened them on the marrow of the provinces.

13. For under him the principal persons of every rank burnt with an insatiable desire of riches, without any regard for justice or right. And among the ordinary judges, Rufinus, the chief prefect of the praetorium, was |98 conspicuous for this avarice. And among the military officers Arbetio, the master of the horse, and Eusebius, the high chamberlain,... Ard... anus, the quaestor, and in the city, the two Anicii, whose posterity, treading in the steps of their fathers, could not be satisfied even with possessions much larger than they themselves had enjoyed.

IX.

1. But in the East, the Persians now practising predatory inroads and forays, in preference to engaging in pitched battles, as they had been wont to do before, carried off continually great numbers of men and cattle: sometimes making great booty, owing to the unexpectedness of their incursions, but at other times being overpowered by superior numbers, they suffered losses. Sometimes, also, the inhabitants of the districts which they had invaded had removed everything which could be carried off.

2. But Musonianus, the prefect of the praetorium, a man, as we have already said, of many liberal accomplishments but corrupt, and a person easily turned from the truth by a bribe, acquired, by means of some emissaries who were skilful in deceiving and obtaining information, a knowledge of the plans of the Persians; taking to his counsels on this subject Cassianus, duke of Mesopotamia, a veteran who had served many campaigns, and had become hardened by all kinds of dangers.

3. And when, by the concurrent report of spies, these officers had become certain that Sapor was occupied in the most remote frontier of his kingdom in repelling the hostilities of the bordering tribes, which he could not accomplish without great difficulty and bloodshed, they sought to tamper with Tamsapor, the general in command in the district nearest our border. Accordingly they sent soldiers of no renown to confer with him secretly, to engage him, if opportunity served, to write to the king to persuade him to make peace with the Roman emperor; whereby he, being then secure on every side, might be the better able to subdue the rebels who were never weary of exciting disturbances.

4. Tamsapor coincided with these wishes, and, trusting to them, reported to the king that Constantius, |99 being involved in very formidable wars, was a suppliant for peace. But it took a long time for these letters to reach the country of the Chionites and the Euseni, on whose borders Sapor had taken up his winter quarters.

X.

1. While matters were thus proceeding in the eastern regions and in the Gauls, Constantius, as if the temple of Janus were now shut and hostilities everywhere at an end, became desirous of visiting Rome, with the intention of celebrating his triumph over Magnentius, to which he could give no name, since the blood that he had spilt was that of Roman foes.

2. For indeed, neither by his own exertions, nor by those of his generals did he ever conquer any nation that made war upon him; nor did he make any additions to the empire; nor at critical moments was he ever seen to be the foremost or even among the foremost; but still he was eager to exhibit to the people, now in the enjoyment of peace, a vast procession, and standards heavy with gold, and a splendid train of guards and followers, though the citizens themselves neither expected nor desired any such spectacle.

3. He was ignorant, probably, that some of the ancient emperors were, in time of peace, contented with their lictors, and that when the ardour of war forbade all inactivity, one, in a violent storm, had trusted himself to a fisherman's boat; another, following the example of the Decii, had sacrificed his life for the safety of the republic; another had by himself, accompanied by only a few soldiers of the lowest rank, gone as a spy into the camp of the enemy: in short, that many of them had rendered themselves illustrious by splendid exploits, in order to hand down to posterity a glorious memory of themselves, earned by their achievements. |100

4. Accordingly, after long and sumptuous preparation,.... in the second prefecture of Orfitus, Constantius, elated with his great honours, and escorted by a formidable array of troops, marching in order of battle, passed through Ocricoli, attracting towards himself the astonished gaze of all the citizens.

5. And when he drew near to the city, contemplating the salutations offered him by the senators, and the whole body of fathers venerable from their likeness to their ancestors, he thought, not like Cineas, the ambassador of Pyrrhus, that a multitude of kings was here assembled together, but that the city was the asylum of the whole world.

6. And when from them he had turned his eyes upon the citizens, he marvelled to think with what rapidity the whole race of mankind upon earth had come from all quarters to Rome; and, as if he would have terrified the Euphrates or the Rhine with a show of armed men, he himself came on, preceded by standards on both sides, sitting alone in a golden chariot, shining with all kinds of brilliant precious stones, which seemed to spread a flickering light all around.

7. Numbers also of the chief officers who went before him were surrounded by dragons embroidered on various kinds of tissue, fastened to the golden or jewelled points of spears, the mouths of the dragons being open so as to catch the wind, which made them hiss as though they were inflamed with anger; while the coils of their tails were also contrived to be agitated by the breeze.

8. After these marched a double row of heavy-armed soldiers, with shields and crested helmets, glittering with brilliant light, and clad in radiant breast-plates; and among these were scattered cavalry with cuirasses, whom the Persians call Clibanarii, protected by coverings of iron breast-plates, and girdled with belts of iron, so that you would fancy them statues polished by the hand of Praxiteles, rather than men. And the light circular plates of iron which surrounded their bodies, and covered all their limbs, were so well fitted to all their motions, that in whatever direction they had occasion to move, the joints |101 of their iron clothing adapted themselves equally to any position.

9. The emperor as he proceeded was saluted as Augustus by voices of good omen, the mountains and shores re-echoing the shouts of the people, amid which he preserved the same immovable countenance which he was accustomed to display in his provinces.

10. For though he was very short, yet he bowed down when entering high gates, and looking straight before him, as though he had had his neck in a vice, he turned his eyes neither to the right nor to the left, as if he had been a statue: nor when the carriage shook him did he nod his head, or spit, or rub his face or his nose; nor was he ever seen even to move a hand.

11. And although this calmness was affectation, yet these and other portions of his inner life were indicative of a most extraordinary patience, as it may be thought, granted to him alone.

12. I pass over the circumstance that during the whole of his reign he never either took up any one to sit with him in his chariot, or admitted any private person to be his partner in the consulship, as other emperors had done; also many other things which he, being filled with elation and pride, prescribed to himself as the justest of all rules of conduct, recollecting that I mentioned those facts before, as occasion served.

13. As he went on, having entered Rome, that home of sovereignty and of all virtues, when he arrived at the rostra, he gazed with amazed awe on the Forum, the most renowned monument of ancient power; and, being bewildered with the number of wonders on every side to which he turned his eyes, having addressed the nobles in the senate-house, and harangued the populace from the tribune, he retired, with the good-will of all, into his palace, where he enjoyed the luxury he had wished for. And often, when celebrating the equestrian games, was he delighted with the talkativeness of the common people, who were neither proud, nor, on the other hand, inclined to become rebellious from too much liberty, while he himself also reverently observed a proper moderation.

14. For he did not, as was usually done in other cities, allow the length of the gladiatorial contests to depend on |102 his caprice; but left it to be decided by various occurrences. Then, traversing the summits of the seven hills, and the different quarters of the city, whether placed on the slopes of the hills or on the level ground, and visiting, too, the suburban divisions, he was so delighted that whatever he saw first he thought the most excellent of all. Admiring the temple of the Tarpeian Jupiter, which is as much superior to other temples as divine things are superior to those of men; and the baths of the size of provinces; and the vast mass of the amphitheatre, so solidly erected of Tibertine stone, to the top of which human vision can scarcely reach; and the Pantheon with its vast extent, its imposing height, and the solid magnificence of its arches, and the lofty niches rising one above another like stairs, adorned with the images of former emperors; and the temple of the city, and the forum of peace, and the theatre of Pompey, and the odeum, and the racecourse, and the other ornaments of the Eternal City.

15. But when he came to the forum of Trajan, the most exquisite structure, in my opinion, under the canopy of heaven, and admired even by the deities themselves, he stood transfixed with wonder, casting his mind over the gigantic proportions of the place, beyond the power of mortal to describe, and beyond the reasonable desire of mortals to rival. Therefore giving up all hopes of attempting anything of this kind, he contented himself with saying that he should wish to imitate, and could imitate the horse of Trajan, which stands by itself in the middle of the hall, bearing the emperor himself on his back.

16. And the royal prince Hormisda, whose departure from Persia we have already mentioned, standing by answered, with the refinement of his nature, "But first, O emperor, command such a stable to be built for him, if you can, that the horse which you purpose to make may have as fair a domain as this which we see." And when he was asked what he thought of Rome, he said that "he was particularly delighted with it because he had learnt that men died also there."

17. Now after he had beheld all these various objects with awful admiration, the emperor complained of fame, as either deficient in power, or else spiteful, because, though it usually exaggerates everything, it fell very |103 short in its praises of the things which are at Rome; and having deliberated for some time what he should do, he determined to add to the ornaments of the city by erecting an obelisk in the Circus Maximus, the origin and form of which I will describe when I come to the proper place.

18. At this time Eusebia, the queen, who herself was barren all her life, began to plot against Helena, the sister of Constantius, and wife of the Caesar Julian, whom she had induced to come to Rome under a pretence of affection, and by wicked machinations she induced her to drink a poison which she had procured, which should have the effect, whenever Helena conceived, of producing abortion.

19. For already, when in Gaul, she had borne a male child, but that also had been dishonestly destroyed because the midwife, having been bribed, killed it as soon as it was born, by cutting through the navel-string too deeply; such exceeding care was taken that this most gallant man should have no offspring.

20. But the emperor, while wishing to remain longer in this most august spot of the whole world, in order to enjoy a purer tranquillity and higher degree of pleasure, was alarmed by repeated intelligence on which he could rely, which informed him that the Suevi were invading the Tyrol, that the Quadi were ravaging Valeria, and that the Sarmatians, a tribe most skilful in plunder, were laying waste the upper Moesia, and the second Pannonia. And roused by these news, on the thirtieth day after he had entered Rome, he again quitted it, leaving it on the 29th of May, and passing through Trent he proceeded with all haste towards Illyricum.

21. And from that city he sent Severus to succeed Marcellus, a man of great experience and ripe skill in war, and summoned Ursicinus to himself. He, having gladly received the letter of summons, came to Sirmium, with a large retinue, and after a long deliberation on the peace which Musonianus had reported as possible to be made with the Persians, he was sent back to the East with the authority of commander-in-chief, and the older officers of our company having been promoted to commands over the |104 soldiers, we younger men were ordered to follow him to perform whatever he commanded us for the service of the republic.

XI.

A.D. 357.

1. But Julian, having passed his winter at Sens, amid continual disturbance, in the ninth consulship of the emperor, and his own second, while the threats of the Germans were raging on all sides, being roused by favourable omens, marched with speed to Rheims, with the greater alacrity and joy because Severus was in command of the army there; a man inclined to agree with him, void of arrogance, but of proved propriety of conduct and experience in war, and likely to follow his lawful authority, obeying his general like a well-disciplined soldier.

2. In another quarter, Barbatio, who after the death of Silvanus had been promoted to the command of the infantry, came from Italy by the emperor's orders, to Augst, with 25,000 heavy-armed soldiers.

3. For the plan proposed and very anxiously prepared was, that the Allemanni, who were in a state of greater rage than ever, and were extending their incursions more widely, should be caught between our two armies, as if between the arms of a pair of pincers, and so driven into a corner and destroyed.

4. But while these well-devised plans were being pressed forward, the barbarians, in joy at some success which they had obtained, and skilful in seizing every opportunity for plunder, passed secretly between the camps of the armies, and attacked Lyons unexpectedly. And having plundered the district around, they would have stormed and burnt the city itself, if they had not found the gates so strongly defended that they wore repulsed; so that they only destroyed all they could find outside the city.

5. When this disaster was known, Caesar, with great alacrity, despatched three squadrons of light cavalry, of approved valour, to watch three lines of road, knowing that beyond all question the invaders must quit the district by one of them. |105

6. Nor was he mistaken; for all who came by these roads were slaughtered by our men, and the whole of the booty which they were carrying off was recovered unhurt. Those alone escaped in safety who passed by the camp of Barbatio, who were suffered to escape in that direction because Bainobaudes the tribune, and Valentinian (afterwards emperor), who had been appointed to watch that pass with the squadrons of cavalry under their orders, were forbidden by Cella (the tribune of the Scutarii, who had been sent as colleague to Barbatio) to occupy that road, though they were sure that by that the Germans would return to their own country.

7. The cowardly master of the horse, being also an obstinate enemy to the glory of Julian, was not contented with this, but being conscious that he had given orders inconsistent with the interests of Rome (for when he was accused of it Cella confessed what he had done), he made a false report to Constantius, and told him that these same tribunes had, under a pretence of the business of the state, came thither for the purpose of tampering with the soldiers whom he commanded. And owing to this statement they were deprived of their commands, and returned home as private individuals.

8. In these days, also, the barbarians, alarmed at the approach of our armies, which had established their stations on the left bank of the Rhine, employed some part of their force in skilfully barricading the roads, naturally difficult of access, and full of hills, by abattis constructed of large trees cut down; others occupied the numerous islands scattered up and down the Rhone, and with horrid howls poured forth constant reproaches against the Romans and the Caesar; who, being now more than ever resolved to crush some of their armies, demanded from Barbatio seven of those boats which he had collected, for the purpose of constructing a bridge with them, with the intention of crossing the river. But Barbatio, determined that no assistance should be got from him, burnt them all.

9. Julian, therefore, having learnt from the report of some spies whom he had lately taken prisoners, that, when the drought of summer arrived, the river was fordable, addressed a speech of encouragement to his light-armed auxiliary troops, and sent them forward with Bainobaudes, |106 the tribune of the Cornuti, to try and perform some gallant exploit, if they could find an opportunity. And they, entering the shallow of the river, and sometimes, when there was occasion for swimming, putting their shields under them like canoes, reached a neighbouring island, and having landed, killed every one they found on it, men and women, without distinction of ago, like so many sheep. And having found some empty boats, though they were not very safe, they crossed in them, forcing their way into many places of the same land. When they were weary of slaughter, and loaded with a rich booty, some of which, however, they lost through the violence of the river, they returned back to the camp without losing a man.

10. And when this was known, the rest of the Germans, thinking they could no longer trust the garrisons left in the islands, removed their relations, and their magazines, and their barbaric treasures, into the inland parts.

11. After this Julian turned his attention to repair the fortress known by the name of Saverne, which had a little time before been destroyed by a violent attack of the enemy, but which, while it stood, manifestly prevented the Germans from forcing their way into the interior of the Gauls, as they had been accustomed to do; and he executed this work with greater rapidity than he expected, and he laid up for the garrison which he intended to post there sufficient magazines for a whole year's consumption, which his army collected from the crops of the barbarians, not without occasional contests with the owners.

12. Nor indeed was he contented with this, but he also collected provisions for himself and his army sufficient for twenty days. For the soldiers delighted in using the food which they had won with their own right hands, being especially indignant because, out of all the supplies which had been recently sent them, they were not able to obtain anything, inasmuch as Barbatio, when they were passing near his camp, had with great insolence seized on a portion of them, and had collected all the rest into a heap and burnt them. Whether he acted thus out of his own vanity and insane folly, or whether others were really the authors of this wickedness, relying on the command of the emperor himself, has never been known. |107

13. However, as far as report went, the story commonly was, that Julian had been elected Caesar, not for the object of relieving the distresses of the Gauls, but rather of being himself destroyed by the formidable wars in which he was sure to be involved; being at that time, as was supposed, inexperienced in war, and not likely to endure even the sound of arms.

14. While the works of the camp were steadily rising, and while a portion of the army was being distributed among the stations in the country districts, Julian occupied himself in other quarters with collecting supplies, operating with great caution, from the fear of ambuscades. And in the mean time, a vast host of the barbarians, outstripping all report of their approach by the celerity of their movements, came down with a sudden attack upon Barbatio, and the army which (as I have already mentioned) he had under his command, separated from the Gallic army of Severus only by a rampart; and having put him to flight, pursued him as far as Augst, and beyond that town too, as far as they could; and, having made booty of the greater part of his baggage and beasts of burden, and having carried off many of the sutlers as prisoners, they returned to their main army.

15. And Barbatio, as if he had brought his expectations to a prosperous issue, now distributed his soldiers into winter quarters, and returned to the emperor's court, to forge new accusations against the Caesar, according to his custom.

XII.

1. When this disgraceful disaster had become known, Chnodomarius and Vestralpus, the kings of the Allemanni, and Urius and Ursicinus, with Serapion, and Suomarius, and Hortarius, having collected all their forces into one body, encamped near the city of Strasburg, thinking that the Caesar, from fear of imminent danger, had retreated at the very time that he was wholly occupied with completing a fortress to enable him to make a permanent stand.

2. Their confidence and assurance of success was increased by one of the Scutarii who deserted to them, who, |108 fearing punishment for some offence which he had committed, crossed over to them after the departure of Barbatio, and assured them that Julian had now only 13,000 men remaining with him. For that was the number of troops that he had now with him, while the ferocious barbarians were stirring up attacks upon him from all sides.

3. And as he constantly adhered to the same story, they were excited to more haughty attempts by the confidence with which he inspired them, and sent ambassadors in an imperious tone to Caesar, demanding that he should retire from the territory which they had acquired by their own valour in arms. But he, a stranger to fear, and not liable to be swayed either by anger or by disappointment, despised the arrogance of the barbarians, and detaining the ambassadors till he had completed the works of his camp, remained immovable on his ground with admirable constancy.

4. But King Chnodomarius, moving about in every direction, and being always the first to undertake dangerous enterprises, kept everything in continual agitation and confusion, being full of arrogance and pride, as one whose head was turned by repeated success.

5. For he had defeated the Caesar Decentius in a pitched battle, and he had plundered and destroyed many wealthy cities, and he had long ravaged all Gaul at his own pleasure without meeting with any resistance. And his confidence was now increased by the recent retreat of a general superior to him in the number and strength of his forces.

6. For the Allemanni, beholding the emblems on their shields, saw that a few predatory bands of their men had wrested those districts from those soldiers whom they had formerly never engaged but with fear, and by whom they had often been routed with much loss. And these circumstances made Julian very anxious, because, after the defection of Barbatio, he himself under the pressure of absolute necessity was compelled to encounter very populous tribes, with but very few, though brave troops.

7. And now, the sun being fully risen, the trumpets sounded, and the infantry were led forth from the camp in slow march, and on their flanks were arrayed the |109 squadrons of cavalry, among which were both the cuirassiers and the archers, troops whose equipment was very formidable.

8. And since from the spot from which the Roman standards had first advanced to the rampart of the barbarian camp were fourteen leagues, that is to say one-and-twenty miles, Caesar, carefully providing for the advantage and safety of his army, called in the skirmishers who had gone out in front, and having ordered silence in his usual voice, while they all stood in battalions around him, addressed them in his natural tranquillity of voice.

9. "The necessity of providing for our common safety, to say the least of it, compels me, and I am no prince of abject spirit, to exhort you, my comrades, to rely so much on your own mature and vigorous valour, as to follow my counsels in adopting a prudent manner of enduring or repelling the evils which we anticipate, rather than resort to an overhasty mode of action which must be doubtful in its issue.

10. "For though amid dangers youth ought to be energetic and bold, so also in cases of necessity it should show itself manageable and prudent. Now what I think best to be done, if your opinion accords with mine, and if your just indignation will endure it, I will briefly explain.

11. "Already noon is approaching, we are weary with our march, and if we advance we shall enter upon rugged paths where we can hardly see our way. As the moon is waning the night will not be lighted up by any stars. The earth is burnt up with the heat, and will afford us no supplies of water. And even if by any contrivance we could get over these difficulties comfortably, still, when the swarms of the enemy fall upon us, refreshed as they will be with rest, meat, and drink, what will become of us? What strength will there be in our weary limbs, exhausted as we shall be with hunger, thirst, and toil, to encounter them?

12. "Therefore, since the most critical difficulties are often overcome by skilful arrangements, and since, after good counsel has been taken in good part, divine-looking remedies have often re-established affairs which seemed to be tottering; I entreat you to let us here, surrounded as |110 we are with fosse and rampart, take our repose, after first parcelling out our regular watches, and then, having refreshed ourselves with sleep and food as well as the time will allow, let us, under the protection of God, with the earliest dawn move forth our conquering eagles and standards to reap a certain triumph."

13. The soldiers would hardly allow him to finish his speech, gnashing their teeth, and showing their eagerness for combat by beating their shields with their spears; and entreating at once to be led against the enemy already in their sight, relying on the favour of the God of heaven, and on their own valour, and on the proved courage of their fortunate general. And, as the result proved, it was a certain kind genius that was present with them thus prompting them to fight while still under his inspiration.

14. And this eagerness of theirs was further stimulated by the full approval of the officers of high rank, and especially of Florentius the prefect of the praetorian guard, who openly gave his opinion for fighting at once, while the enemy were in the solid mass in which they were now arranged; admitting the danger indeed, but still thinking it the wisest plan, because, if the enemy once dispersed, it would be impossible to restrain the soldiers, at all times inclined by their natural vehemence of disposition towards sedition; and they were likely to be, as he thought, so indignant at being denied the victory they sought, as to be easily tempted to the most lawless violence.

15. Two other considerations also added to the confidence of our men. First, because they recollected that in the previous year, when the Romans spread themselves in every direction over the countries on the other side of the Rhine, not one of the barbarians stood to defend his home, nor ventured to encounter them; but they contented themselves with blockading the roads in every direction with vast abattis, throughout the whole winter retiring into the remote districts, and willingly endured the greatest hardships rather than fight; recollecting also that, after the emperor actually invaded their territories, the barbarians neither ventured to make any resistance, nor even to show themselves at all, but implored peace in the most suppliant manner, till they obtained it.

16. But no one considered that the times were changed, |111 because the barbarians were at that time pressed with a threefold danger. The emperor hastening against them through the Tyrol, the Caesar who was actually in their country cutting off all possibility of retreat, while the neighbouring tribes, whom recent quarrels had converted into enemies, were all but treading on their heels; and thus they were surrounded on all sides. But since that time the emperor, having granted them peace, had returned to Italy, and the neighbouring tribes, having all cause of quarrel removed, were again in alliance with them; and the disgraceful retreat of one of the Roman generals had increased their natural confidence and boldness.

17. Moreover there was another circumstance which at this crisis added weight to the difficulties which pressed upon the Romans. The two royal brothers, who had obtained peace from Constantius in the preceding year, being bound by the obligations of that treaty, neither ventured to raise any disturbance, nor indeed to put themselves in motion at all. But a little after the conclusion of that peace one of them whose name was Gundomadus, and who was the most loyal and the most faithful to his word, was slain by treachery, and then all his tribe joined our enemies; and on this the tribe of Vadomarius also, against his will, as he affirmed, ranged itself on the side of the barbarians who were arming for war.

18. Therefore, since all the soldiers of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, approved of engaging instantly, and would not relax the least from the rigour of their determination, on a sudden the standard-bearer shouted out, "Go forth, O Caesar, most fortunate of all princes. Go whither thy better fortune leads thee. At least we have learnt by your example the power of valour and military skill. Go on and lead us, as a fortunate and gallant champion. You shall see what a soldier under the eye of a warlike general, a witness of the exploits of each individual, can do, and how little, with the favour of the Deity, any obstacle can avail against him."

19. When these words were heard, without a moment's delay, the whole army advanced and approached a hill of moderate height, covered with ripe corn, at no great distance from the banks of the Rhine. On its summit were posted three cavalry soldiers of the enemy as scouts, |112 who at once hastened back to their comrades to announce that the Roman army was at hand; but one infantry soldier who was with them, not being able to keep up with them, was taken prisoner by the activity of some of our soldiers, and informed us that the Germans had been passing over the river for three days and three nights.

20. And when our generals beheld them now at no great distance forming their men into solid columns, they halted, and formed all the first ranks of their troops into a similarly solid body, and with equal caution the enemy likewise halted.

21. And when in consequence of this halt, the enemy saw (as the deserter I mentioned above had informed them) that all our cavalry was ranged against them in our right wing, then they posted all their own cavalry in close order on their left wing. And with them they mingled every here and there a few infantry, skirmishers and light-armed soldiers, which indeed was a very wise manoeuvre.

22. For they knew that a cavalry soldier, however skilful, if fighting with one of our men in complete armour, while his hands were occupied with shield and bridle, so that he could use no offensive weapon but the spear which he brandished in his right hand, could never injure an enemy wholly covered with iron mail; but that an infantry soldier, amid the actual struggles of personal conflict, when nothing is usually guarded against by a combatant except that which is straight before him, may crawl unperceivedly along the ground, and piercing the side of the Roman soldier's horse, throw the rider down headlong, rendering him thus an easy victim.

23. When these dispositions had been thus made, the barbarians also protected their right flank with secret ambuscades and snares. Now the whole of these warlike and savage tribes were on this day under the command of Chnodomarius and Serapio, monarchs of more power than any of their former kings.

24. Chnodomarius was indeed the wicked instigator of the whole war, and bearing on his head a helmet blazing like fire, he led on the left wing with great boldness, confiding much on his vast personal strength. And now with great eagerness for the impending battle he mounted |113 a spirited horse, that by the increased height he might be more conspicuous, leaning upon a spear of most formidable size, and remarkable for the splendour of his arms. Being indeed a prince who had on former occasions shown himself brave as a warrior and a general, eminent for skill above his fellows.

25. The right wing was led by Serapio, a youth whose beard had hardly grown, but who was beyond his years in courage and strength. He was the son of Mederichus the brother of Chnodomarius, a man throughout his whole life of the greatest perfidy; and he had received the name of Serapio because his father, having been given as a hostage, had been detained in Gaul for a long time, and had there learnt some of the mysteries of the Greeks, in consequence of which he had changed the name of his son, who at his birth was named Agenarichus, into that of Serapio.

26. These two leaders were followed by five other kings who were but little inferior in power to themselves, by ten petty princes, a vast number of nobles, and thirty-five thousand armed men, collected from various nations partly by pay, and partly by a promise of requiting their service by similar assistance on a future day.

27. The trumpets now gave forth a terrible sound; Severus, the Roman general in command of the left wing, when he came near the ditches filled with armed men, from which the enemy had arranged that those who were there concealed should suddenly rise up, and throw the Roman line into confusion, halted boldly, and suspecting some yet hidden ambuscade, neither attempted to retreat nor advance.

28. Seeing this, Julian, always full of courage at the moment of the greatest difficulty, galloped with an escort of two hundred cavalry through the ranks of the infantry at full speed, addressing them with words of encouragement, as the critical circumstances in which they were placed required.

29. And as the extent of the space over which they were spread and the denseness of the multitude thus collected into one body, would not allow him to address the whole army (and also because on other accounts he wished to avoid exposing himself to malice and envy, as well as not |114 to affect that which Augustus thought belonged exclusively to himself), he, while taking care of himself as he passed within reach of the darts of the enemy, encouraged all whom his voice could reach, whether known or unknown to him, to fight bravely, with these and similar words:—

30. "Now, my comrades, the fit time for fighting has arrived; the time which I, as well as you, have long desired, and which you just now invited when, with gestures of impatience, you demanded to be led on." Again, when he came to those in the rear rank, who were posted in reserve: "Behold," said he, "my comrades, the long-wished-for day is at hand, which incites us all to wash out former stains, and to restore to its proper brightness the Roman majesty. These men before you are barbarians, whom their own rage and intemperate madness have urged forward to meet with the destruction of their fortunes, defeated as they will now be by our might."

31. Presently, when making better dispositions for the array of some troops who, by long experience in war, had attained to greater skill, he aided his arrangements by these exhortations. "Let us rise up like brave men; let us by our native valour repel the disgrace which has at one time been brought upon our arms, from contemplating which it was that after much delay I consented to take the name of Caesar."

32. But to any whom he saw inconsiderately demanding the signal to be given for instant battle, and likely by their rash movements to be inattentive to orders, he said, "I entreat you not to be too eager in your pursuit of the flying enemy, so as to risk losing the glory of the victory which awaits us, and also never to retreat, except under the last necessity.

33. "For I shall certainly take no care of those who flee. But among those who press on to the slaughter of the enemy I shall be present, and share with you indiscriminately, provided only that your charge be made with moderation and prudence."

34. While repeatedly addressing these and similar exhortations to the troops, he drew up the principal part of his army opposite to the front rank of the barbarians. And suddenly there arose from the Allemanni a great shout, mingled with indignant cries, all exclaiming with one |115 voice that the princes ought to leave their horses and fight in the ranks on equal terms with their men, lest if any mischance should occur they should avail themselves of the facility of escaping, and leave the mass of the army in miserable plight.

35. When this was known, Chnodomarius immediately leapt down from his horse, and the rest of the princes followed his example without hesitation. For indeed none of them doubted but that their side would be victorious.

36. Then the signal for battle being given as usual by the sound of trumpets, the armies rushed to the combat with all their force. First of all javelins were hurled, and the Germans, hastening on with the utmost impetuosity, brandishing their javelins in their right hands, dashed among the squadrons of our cavalry, uttering fearful cries. They had excited themselves to more than usual rage; their flowing hair bristling with their eagerness, and fury blazing from their eyes. While in opposition to them our soldiers, standing steadily, protecting their heads with the bulwark of their shields, and drawing their swords or brandishing their javelins, equally threatened death to their assailants.

37. And while in the very conflict of battle, the cavalry kept their gallant squadrons in close order, and the infantry strengthened their flanks, standing shoulder to shoulder with closely-locked shields, clouds of thick dust arose, and the battle rocked to and fro, our men sometimes advancing, sometimes receding. Some of the most powerful warriors among the barbarians pressed upon their antagonists with their knees, trying to throw them down; and in the general excitement men fought hand to hand, shield pressing upon shield; while the heaven resounded with the loud cries of the conquerors and of the dying. Presently, when our left wing, advancing forward, had driven back with superior strength the vast bands of German assailants, and was itself advancing with loud cries against the enemy, our cavalry on the right wing unexpectedly retreated in disorder; but when the leading fugitives came upon those in the rear, they halted, perceiving themselves covered by the legions, and renewed the battle.

38. This disaster had arisen from the cuirassiers seeing their commander slightly wounded, and one of their |116 comrades crushed under the weight of his own arms, and of his horse, which fell upon him while they were changing their position, on which they all fled as each could, and would have trampled down the infantry, and thrown everything into confusion, if the infantry had not steadily kept their ranks and stood immovable, supporting each other. Julian, when from a distance he saw his cavalry thus seeking safety in flight, spurred his horse towards them, and himself stopped them like a barrier.

39. For as he was at once recognized by his purple standard of the dragon, which was fixed to the top of a long spear, waving its fringe as a real dragon sheds its skin, the tribune of one squadron halted, and turning pale with alarm, hastened back to renew the battle.

40. Then, as is customary in critical moments, Julian gently reproached his men: "Whither," said he, "gallant comrades, are ye retreating? Are ye ignorant that flight, which never insures safety, proves the folly of having made a vain attempt? Let us return to our army, to be partakers of their glory, and not rashly desert those who are fighting for the republic."

41. Saying these words in a dignified tone, he led them all back to discharge their duties in the fight, imitating in this the ancient hero Sulla, if we make allowances for the difference of situation. For when Sulla, having led his army against Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, became exhausted by the violence of the conflict, and was deserted by all his soldiers, he ran to the foremost rank, and seizing a standard he turned it against the enemy, exclaiming, "Go! ye once chosen companions of my dangers; and when you are asked where I, your general, was left, tell them this truth,—alone in Boeotia, fighting for us all, to his own destruction."

42. The Allemanni, when our cavalry had been thus driven back and thrown into confusion, attacked the first line of our infantry, expecting to find their spirit abated, and to be able to rout them without much resistance.

43. But when they came to close quarters with them, they found they had met an equal match. The conflict lasted long; for the Cornuti and Braccati, veterans of |117 great experience in war, frightening even by their gestures, shouted their battle cry, and the uproar, through the heat of the conflict, rising up from a gentle murmur, and becoming gradually louder and louder, grew fierce as that of waves dashing against the rocks; the javelins hissed as they flew hither and thither through the air; the dust rose to the sky in one vast cloud, preventing all possibility of seeing, and causing arms to fall upon arms, man upon man.

44. But the barbarians, in their undisciplined anger and fury, raged like the flames; and with ceaseless blows of their swords sought to pierce through the compact mass of the shields with which our soldiers defended themselves, as with the testudo.

45. And when this was seen, the Batavi, with the royal legion, hastened to the support of their comrades, a formidable band, well able, if fortune aided them, to save even those who were in the extremest danger. And amid the fierce notes of their trumpets, the battle again raged with undiminished ferocity.

46. But the Allemanni, still charging forward impetuously, strove more and more vigorously, hoping to bear down all opposition by the violence of their fury. Darts, spears, and javelins never ceased; arrows pointed with iron were shot; while at the same time, in hand-to-hand conflict, sword struck sword, breastplates were cloven, and even the wounded, if not quite exhausted with loss of blood, rose up still to deeds of greater daring.

47. In some sense it may be said that the combatants were equal. The Allemanni were the stronger and the taller men; our soldiers by great practice were the more skilful. The one were fierce and savage, the others composed and wary; the one trusted to their courage, the others to their physical strength.

48. Often, indeed, the Roman soldier was beaten down by the weight of his enemy's arms, but he constantly rose again; and then, on the other hand, the barbarian, finding his knees fail under him with fatigue, would rest his left |118 knee on the ground, and even in that position attack his enemy, an act of extreme obstinacy.

49. Presently there sprang forward with sudden vigour a fiery band of nobles, among whom also were the princes of the petty tribes, and, as the common soldiers followed them in great numbers, they burst through our lines, and forced a path for themselves up to the principal legion of the reserve, which was stationed in the centre, in a position called the praetorian camp; and there the soldiery, being in closer array, and in densely serried ranks, stood firm as so many towers, and renewed the battle with increased spirit. And intent upon parrying the blows of the enemy, and covering themselves with their shields as the Mirmillos do, with their drawn swords wounded their antagonists in the sides, which their too vehement impetuosity left unprotected.

50. And thus the barbarians threw away their lives in their struggles for victory, while toiling to break the compact array of our battalions. But still, in spite of the ceaseless slaughter made among them by the Romans, whose courage rose with their success, fresh barbarians succeeded those who fell; and as the frequent groans of the dying were heard, many became panic-stricken, and lost all strength.

51. At last, exhausted by their losses, and having no strength for anything but flight, they sought to escape with all speed by different roads, like as sailors and traders, when the sea rages in a storm, are glad to flee wherever the wind carries them. But any one then present will confess that escape was a matter rather to be wished than hoped for.

52. And the merciful protection of a favourable deity was present on our side, so that our soldiers, now slashing at the backs of the fugitives, and finding their swords so battered that they were insufficient to wound, used the enemy's own javelins, and so slew them. Nor could any one of the pursuers satiate himself enough with their blood, nor allow his hand to weary with slaughter, nor did any one spare a suppliant out of pity.

53. Numbers, therefore, lay on the ground, mortally |119 wounded, imploring instant death as a relief; others, half dead, with failing breath turned their dying eyes to the last enjoyment of the light. Of some the heads were almost cut off by the huge weapons, and merely hung by small strips to their necks; others, again, who had fallen because the ground had been rendered slippery by the blood of their comrades, without themselves receiving any wound, were killed by being smothered in the mass of those who fell over them.

54. While these events were proceeding thus prosperously for us, the conquerors pressed on vigorously, though the edges of their weapons were blunted by frequent use, and shining helmets and shields were trampled under foot. At last, in the extremity of their distress, the barbarians, finding the heaps of corpses block up all the paths, sought the aid of the river, which was the only hope left to them, and which they had now reached.

55. And because our soldiers unweariedly and with great speed pressed, with arms in their hands, upon the fleeing bands, many, hoping to be able to deliver themselves from danger by their skill in swimming, trusted their lives to the waves. And Julian, with prompt apprehension, seeing what would be the result, strictly forbade the tribunes and captains to allow any of our men to pursue them so eagerly as to trust themselves to the dangerous currents of the river.

56. In consequence of which order they halted on the brink, and from it wounded the Germans with every kind of missile; while, if any of them escaped from death of that kind by the celerity of their movements, they still sunk to the bottom from the weight of their own arms.

57. And as sometimes in a theatrical spectacle the curtain exhibits marvellous figures, so here- one could see many strange things in that danger; some unconsciously clinging to others who were good swimmers, others who were floating were pushed off by those less encumbered as so many logs, others again, as if the violence of the stream itself fought against them, were swallowed up in the eddies. Some supported themselves on their shields, avoiding the heaviest attacks of the opposing waves by crossing them in an oblique direction, and so, after many dangers, reached the opposite brink, till at last the foaming |120 river, discoloured with barbarian blood, was itself amazed at the unusual increase it had received.

58. And while this was going on, Chnodomarius, the king, finding an opportunity of escaping, making his way over the heaps of dead with a small escort, hastened with exceeding speed towards the camp which he had made near the two Roman fortresses of Alstatt and Lauterbourg, in the country of the Tribocci, that he might embark in some boats which had already been prepared in case of any emergency, and so escape to some secret hiding-place in which he might conceal himself.

59. And because it was impossible for him to reach his camp without crossing the Rhine, he hid his face that he might not be recognized, and after that retreated slowly. And when he got near the bank of the river, as he was feeling his way round a marsh, partly overflowed, seeking some path by which to cross it, his horse suddenly stumbled in some soft and sticky place, and he was thrown down, but though he was fat and heavy, he without delay reached the shelter of a hill in the neighbourhood; there he was recognized (for indeed he could not conceal who he was, being betrayed by the greatness of his former fortune): and immediately a squadron of cavalry came up at full gallop with its tribune, and cautiously surrounded the wooded mound; though they feared to enter the thicket lest they should fall into any ambuscade concealed among the trees.

60. But when he saw them he was seized with extreme terror, and of his own accord came forth by himself and surrendered; and his companions, two hundred in number, and his three most intimate friends, thinking it would be a crime in them to survive their king, or not to die for him if occasion required, gave themselves up also as prisoners.

61. And, as barbarians are naturally low spirited in adverse fortune, and very much the reverse in moments of prosperity, so now that he was in the power of another he became pale and confused, his consciousness of guilt closing his mouth; widely different from him who lately, insulting the ashes of the Gauls with ferocious and lamentable violence, poured forth savage threats against the whole empire.

62. Now after these affairs were thus by the favour of the deity brought to an end, the victorious soldiers were |121 recalled at the close of the day to their camp by the signal of the trumpeter, and marched towards the bank of the Rhine, and there erecting a rampart of shields piled together in several rows, they refreshed themselves with food and sleep.

63. There fell in this battle, of Romans 243, and four generals: Bainobaudes, the tribune of the Cornuti, and with him Laipso, and Innocentius, who commanded the cuirassiers, and one tribune who had no particular command, and whose name I forget. But of the Allemanni, there were found 6000 corpses on the field, and incalculable numbers were carried down by the waves of the river.

64. Then Julian, as one who was now manifestly approved by fortune, and was also greater in his merit than even in his authority, was by unanimous acclamation hailed as Augustus by the soldiers; but he sharply reproved them for so doing, affirming with an oath that he neither wished for such an honour, nor would accept it.

65. In order to increase the joy at his recent success, Julian ordered Chnodomarius to be brought before him at his council; who at first bowing, and then like a suppliant, prostrating himself on the ground, and imploring pardon with entreaties framed after the fashion of his nation, was bidden to take courage.

66. A few days afterwards he was conducted to the court of the emperor, and thence he was sent to Rome, where he died of a lethargy in the foreign camp which is stationed on Mons Caelius.

67. Notwithstanding that these numerous and important events were brought to so happy an issue, some persons in the palace of Constantius, disparaging Julian in order to give pleasure to the emperor, in a tone of derision called him Victorinus, because he, modestly relating how often he had been employed in leading the army, at the same time related that the Germans had received many defeats.

68. They at the same time, by loading the emperor with empty praises, of which the extravagance was glaringly conspicuous, so inflated an inherent pride, already beyond all natural bounds, that he was led to believe that, whatever took place in the whole circumference of the earth was owing to his fortunate auspices.

69. So that, being inflated by the pompous language of |122 his flatterers, he then, and at all subsequent periods, became accustomed in all the edicts which he published to advance many unfounded statements; assuming, that he by himself had fought and conquered, when in fact he had not been present at anything that had happened; often also asserting that he had raised up the suppliant kings of conquered nations. For instance, if while he was still in Italy any of his generals had fought a brilliant campaign against the Persians, the emperor would write triumphant letters to the provinces without the slightest mention of the general throughout its whole length, relating with odious self-praise how he himself had fought in the front ranks.

70. Lastly, edicts of his are still extant, laid up among the public records of the empire.... relating.... and extolling himself to the skies. A letter also is to be found, though he was forty days' journey from Strasburg when the battle was fought, describing the engagement, saying that he marshalled the army, stood among the standard-bearers, and put the barbarians to the rout; and with amazing falsehood asserting that Chnodomarius was brought before him, without (oh shameful indignity!) saying a single word about the exploits of Julian; which he would have utterly buried in oblivion if fame had not refused to let great deeds die, however many people may try to keep them in the shade.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 17. pp. 123-159.

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 17. pp. 123-159.

I. Julian crosses the Rhine and plunders and burns the towns of the Allemanni, repairs the fortress of Trajan, and grants the barbarians a truce for ten months.

II. He hems in six hundred Franks who are devastating the second Germania, and starves them into surrender.

III. He endeavours to relieve the Gauls from some of the tribute which weighs them down.

IV. By order of the Emperor Constantius an obelisk is erected at Rome in the Circus Maximus;—some observations on obelisks and on hieroglyphics.

V. Constantius and Sapor, king of the Persians, by means of ambassadors and letters, enter into a vain negotiation for peace.

VI. The Nethargi, an Alleman tribe, are defeated in the Tyrol, which they were laying waste.

VII. Nicomedia is destroyed by an earthquake; some observations on earthquakes

VIII. Julian receives the surrender of the Salii, a Frankish tribe. He defeats one body of the Chamari, takes another body prisoners, and grants peace to the rest.

IX. He repairs three forts on the Meuse that had been destroyed by the barbarians. His soldiers suffer from want, and become discontented and reproachful.

X. Surmarius and Hortarius, kings of the Allemanni, surrender their prisoners and obtain peace from Julian.

XI. Julian, after his successes in Gaul, is disparaged at the court of Constantius by enviers of his fame, and is spoken of as inactive and cowardly.

XII. The Emperor Constantius compels the Sarmatians to give hostage, and to restore their prisoners; and imposes a king on the Sarmatian exiles, whom he restores to their country and to freedom.

XIII. He compels the Limigantes, after defeating them with great slaughter, to emigrate, and harangues his own soldiers.

XIV. The Roman ambassadors, who had been sent to treat for peace, return from Persia; and Sapor returns into Armenia and Mesopotamia.

BOOK XVII.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

A.D. 357.

§ 1. After the various affairs which we have described were brought to a conclusion, the warlike young prince, now that the battle of Strasburg had secured him the navigation of the Rhine, felt anxious that the ill-omened |124 birds should not feed on the corpses of the slain, and so ordered them all to be buried without distinction. And having dismissed the ambassadors whom we have mentioned as having come with some arrogant messages before the battle, he returned to Saverne.

2. From this place he ordered all the booty and the prisoners to be brought to Metz, to be left there till his return. Then departing for Mayence, to lay down a bridge at that city and to seek the barbarians in their own territories, since he had left none of them in arms, he was at first met by great opposition on the part of his army; but addressing them with eloquence and persuasion he soon won them to his opinion. For their affection for him, becoming strengthened by repeated experience, induced them to follow one who shared in all their toils, and who, while never surrendering his authority, was still accustomed, as every one saw, to impose more labour on himself than on his men. They soon arrived at the appointed spot, and, crossing the river by a bridge they laid down, occupied the territory of the enemy.

3. The barbarians, amazed at the greatness of his enterprise, inasmuch as they had fancied they were situated in a position in which they could hardly be disturbed, were now led by the destruction of their countrymen to think anxiously of their own future fate, and accordingly, pretending to implore peace that they might escape from the violence of his first invasion, they sent ambassadors to him with a set message, offering a lasting treaty of agreement; but (though it is not known what design or change of circumstances altered their purpose) they immediately afterwards sent off some others with all speed, to threaten our troops with implacable war if they did not at once quit their territories.

4. And when this was known, the Caesar, as soon as all was quiet, at the beginning of night embarked 800 men in some small swift boats, with the intention that they should row with all their strength up stream for some distance, and then land and destroy all they could find with fire and sword.

5. After he had made this arrangement, the barbarians were seen at daybreak on the tops of the mountains, on |125 which our soldiers were led with speed to the higher ground; and when no enemy was found there (since the barbarians, divining their plan, immediately retreated to a distance), presently large volumes of smoke were seen, which indicated that our men had broken into the enemy's territory, and were laying it waste.

6. This event broke the spirit of the Germans, who, deserting the ambuscades which they had laid for our men in narrow defiles full of lurking-places, they fled across the river Maine to carry aid to their countrymen.

7. For, as is often the case in times of uncertainty and difficulty, they were panic-stricken by the incursion of our cavalry on the one side, and the sudden attacks of our infantry, conveyed in boats, on the other; and therefore, relying on their knowledge of the country, they sought safety in the rapidity of their flight; and, as their retreat left the motions of our troops free, we plundered the wealthy farms of their crops and their cattle, sparing no one. And having carried off a number of prisoners, we set fire to, and burnt to the ground all their houses, which in that district were built more carefully than usual, in the Roman fashion.

8. And when we had penetrated a distance of ten miles, till we came near a wood terrible from the denseness of its shade, our army halted for a while, and stayed its advance, having learnt from information given by a deserter that a number of enemies were concealed in some subterranean passages and caverns with many entrances in the neighbourhood, ready to sally forth when a favourable opportunity should appear.

9. Nevertheless our men presently ventured to advance in full confidence, and found the roads blockaded by oaks, ashes, and pines, of great size, cut down and laid together. And so they retreated with caution, perceiving that it was impossible to advance except by long and rugged defiles; though they could hardly restrain their indignation at being compelled to do so.

10. The weather too became very severe, so that they were enveloped in all kinds of toil and danger to no purpose (forasmuch as it was now past the autumnal equinox, and the snow, which had already fallen in those regions, covered the mountains and the plains), and so, instead of |126 proceeding, Julian undertook a work worthy of being related.

11. He repaired with great expedition, while there was no one to hinder him, the fortress which Trajan had constructed in the territory of the Allemanni, and to which he had given his own name, and which had lately been attacked with great violence and almost destroyed. And he placed there a temporary garrison, and also some magazines, which he had collected from the barbarians.

12. But when the Allemanni saw these preparations made for their destruction, they assembled rapidly in great consternation at what had already been done, and sent ambassadors to implore peace, with prayers of extreme humility. And the Caesar, now that he had fully matured and secured the success of all his designs, taking into consideration all probabilities, granted them a truce for ten months. In reality he was especially influenced by this prudent consideration, that the camp which he had thus occupied without hindrance, in a way that could hardly have been hoped for, required, nevertheless, to be fortified with mural engines and other adequate equipments.

13. Trusting to this truce, three of the most ferocious of those kings who had sent reinforcements to their countrymen when defeated at Strasburg, came to him, though still in some degree of alarm, and took the oaths according to the formula in use in their country, that they would create no further disturbance, but that they would keep the truce faithfully up to the appointed day, because that had been the decision of our generals; and that they would not attack the fortress; and that they would even bring supplies to it on their shoulders if the garrison informed them that they were in want; all which they promised, because their fear bridled their treachery.

14. In this memorable war, which deserves to be compared with those against the Carthaginians or the Gauls, yet was accompanied, with very little loss to the republic, Julian triumphed as a fortunate and successful leader. The very smallness of his losses might have given some colour to the assertions of his detractors, who declared that he had only fought bravely on all occasions, because he preferred dying gloriously to being put to death like his brother Gallus, as a condemned malefactor, as they had |127 expected he would be, if he had not, after the death of Constantius, continued to distinguish himself equally by splendid exploits.

II.

§ 1. Now when everything was settled in that country as fairly as the case permitted, Julian, returning to his winter quarters, found some trouble still left for him. Severus, the master of the horse, being on the way to Rheims through Cologne and Juliers, fell in with some strong battalions of Franks, consisting of six hundred light-armed soldiers, who were laying waste those places which were not defended by garrisons. They had been encouraged to this audacious wickedness by the opportunity afforded them when the Caesar was occupied in the remote districts of the Allemanni, thinking to obtain a rich booty without any hindrance. But in fear of the army which had now returned, they occupied two fortresses which had been abandoned for some time, and defended themselves there as long as they could.

2. Julian, amazed at the novelty of such an attempt, and thinking it impossible to say how far such a spirit would spread if he allowed it to pass without a check, halted his soldiers, and gave orders to blockade the forts. The Meuse passes beneath them; and the blockade was protracted for fifty-four days, through nearly the entire months of December and January, the barbarians resisting with incredible obstinacy and courage.

3. Then the Caesar, like an experienced general, fearing that the barbarians might take advantage of some moonless night to cross over the river, which was now thoroughly frozen, ordered soldiers to go up and down the stream every day in light boats, from sunset till daybreak, so as to break the crust of ice and prevent any one from escaping in that manner. Owing to this manoeuvre, the barbarians were so exhausted by hunger, watching, and the extremity of despair, that at last they voluntarily surrendered, and were immediately sent to the court of the emperor.

4. And a vast multitude of Franks, who had come to their assistance, hearing that they were taken prisoners and sent off, would not venture on any further enterprise, but returned to their own country. And when this affair |128 was finished, the Caesar retired to Paris to pass the winter there.

III.

§ 1. It was now expected that a number of tribes would unite in greater force, and therefore the prudent Julian, bearing in mind the uncertainties of war, became very anxious and full of care. And as he thought that the truce lately made, though not free from trouble, and not of long duration, still gave him opportunity to remedy some things which were faulty, he began to remodel the arrangements about tribute.

2. And when Florentius, the prefect of the praetorium, having taken an estimate of everything, affirmed that whatever deficiency there might be in the produce of a capitation tax he should be able to make good from what he could levy by force, Julian, deprecating this practice, determined to lose his own life rather than permit it.

3. For he knew that the wounds inflicted by such extortions, or, as I should rather call them, confiscations, are incurable, and have often reduced provinces to extreme destitution. Indeed, such conduct, as will be related hereafter, utterly lost us Illyricum.

4. And when, owing to this resolution of his, the praetorian prefect exclaimed that it could not be endured that he, to whom the emperor had intrusted the chief authority in this matter, should be thus distrusted, Julian attempted to appease him, showing by exact and accurate calculations that the capitation tax was not only enough, but more than enough to provide all the necessary supplies.

5. And when some time afterwards an edict for a supplementary tax was nevertheless presented to him by Florentius, he refused to sign or even to read it; and threw it on the ground; and when warned by letters from the emperor (written on receiving the prefect's report) not to act in so embarrassing a manner, lest he should seem to be diminishing the authority of Florentius, Julian wrote in answer, that it was a matter to be thankful for, if a province that had been devastated in every direction could still pay its regular taxes, without |129 demanding from it any extraordinary contributions, which indeed no punishments could extort from men in a state of destitution: and then, and from that time forward, owing to the firmness of one man, no one ever attempted to extort anything illegal in Gaul beyond the regular taxes.

6. The Caesar had also in another affair set an example wholly unprecedented, entreating the prefect to intrust to him the government of the second Belgic province, which was oppressed by manifold evils; on the especial and single condition that no officer, either belonging to the prefect or to the garrison, should force any one to pay anything. And the whole people whom he thus took under his care, comforted and relieved by this mildness, paid all the taxes due from them before the appointed day, without any demand being made upon them.

IV.

§ 1. While Julian was thus beginning to put Gaul into a better condition, and while Orfitus was still governor of the second province, an obelisk was erected at Rome, in the Circus Maximus, concerning which, as this seems a convenient opportunity, I will mention a few particulars.

2. The city of Thebes, in Egypt, built in remote ages, with enormous walls, and celebrated also for entrances by a hundred gates, was from this circumstance called by its founders ἑκατόμπυλος (Hecatompylos); and from the name of this city the whole district is known as Thebais.

3. When Carthage began to rise in greatness, the Carthaginian generals conquered and destroyed Thebes by a sudden attack. And after it was rebuilt, Cambyses, the celebrated king of Persia, who throughout his whole life was covetous and ferocious, overran Egypt, and again attacked this city that he might plunder it of its wealth, which was enough to excite his envy; and he spared not even the offerings which had been made to the gods.

4. And while he was in his savage manner moving to and fro among his plunderers, he got entangled in his own flowing robes, and fell on his face, and by the fall his dagger, which he wore close to his thigh, got loose from the scabbard, and he was mortally wounded and died.

5. And long afterwards, Cornelius Gallus, who was |130 governor of Egypt at the time when Octavianus was emperor of Rome, impoverished the city by plundering it of most of its treasuries; and returning to Rome on being accused of theft and of laying waste the province, he, from fear of the nobles, who were bitterly indignant against him, as one to whom the emperor had committed a most honourable task, fell on his own sword and so died. If I mistake not, he is the same person as Gallus the poet, whose loss Virgil deplores at the end of his Bucolics, celebrating his memory in sweet verses.

6. In this city of Thebes, among many works of art and different structures recording the tales relating to the Egyptian deities, we saw several obelisks in their places, and others which had been thrown down and broken; which the ancient kings, when elated at some victory or at the general prosperity of their affairs, had caused to be hewn out of mountains in distant parts of the world, and erected in honour of the gods, to whom they solemnly consecrated them.

7. Now an obelisk is a rough stone, rising to a great height, shaped like a pillar in the stadium; and it tapers upwards in imitation of a sunbeam, keeping its quadrilateral shape, till it rises almost to a point, being made smooth by the hand of a sculptor.

8. On these obelisks the ancient authority of elementary wisdom has caused innumerable marks of strange forms all over them, which are called hieroglyphics.

9. For the workmen, carving many kinds of birds and beasts, some even such as must belong to another world, in order that the recollection of the exploits which the obelisk was designed to commemorate might reach to subsequent ages, showed by them the accomplishment of vows which the kings had made.

10. For it was not the case then as it is now, that the established number of letters can distinctly express whatever the human mind conceives; nor did the ancient Egyptians write in such a manner; but each separate character served for a separate noun or verb, and sometimes even for an entire sense.

11. Of which fact the two following may for the present be sufficient instances: by the figure of a vulture they indicate the name of nature; because naturalists declare |131 that no males are found in this class of bird. And by the figure of a bee making honey they indicate a king; showing by such a sign that stings as well as sweetness are the characteristics of a ruler; and there are many similar emblems.

12. And because the flatterers, who were continually whispering into the ear of Constantius, kept always affirming that when Augustus Octavianus had brought two obelisks from Heliopolis, a city of Egypt, one of which was placed in the Circus Maximus, and the other in the Campus Martius, he yet did not venture to touch or move this one which has just been brought to Rome, being alarmed at the greatness of such a task; I would have those, who do not know the truth, learn that the ancient emperor, though he moved several obelisks, left this one untouched, because it was especially dedicated to the Sun-god, and was set up within the precincts of his magnificent temple, which it was impious to profane; and of which it was the most conspicuous ornament.

13. But Constantine deeming that a consideration of no importance, had it torn up from its place, and thinking rightly that he should not be offering any insult to religion if he removed a splendid work from some other temple to dedicate it to the gods at Rome, which is the temple of the whole world, let it lie on the ground for some time while arrangements for its removal were being prepared. And when it had been carried down the Nile, and landed at Alexandria, a ship of a burden hitherto unexampled, requiring three hundred rowers to propel it, was built to receive it.

14. And when these preparations were made, and after the aforenamed emperor had died, the enterprise began to cool. However, after a time it was at last put on board ship, and conveyed over sea, and up the stream of the Tiber, which seemed as it were frightened, lest its own winding waters should hardly be equal to conveying a present from the almost unknown Nile to the walls which itself cherished. At last the obelisk reached the village of Alexandria, three miles from the city; and then it was placed in a cradle, and drawn slowly on, and brought through the Ostran gate and the public fish-market to the Circus Maximus. |132

15. The only work remaining to be done was to raise it, which was generally believed to be hardly, if at all, practicable. And vast beams having been raised on end in a most dangerous manner, so that they looked like a grove of machines, long ropes of huge size were fastened to them, darkening the very sky with their density, as they formed a web of innumerable threads; and into them the great stone itself, covered over as it was with elements of writing, was bound, and gradually raised into the empty air, and long suspended, many thousands of men turning it round and round like a millstone, till it was at last placed in the middle of the square; and on it was placed a brazen sphere, made brighter with plates of gold: and as that was immediately afterwards struck by lightning, and destroyed, a brazen figure like a torch was placed on it, also plated with gold—to look as if the torch were fully alight.

16. Subsequent ages also removed other obelisks; one of which is in the Vatican, a second in the garden of Sallust; and two in the monument of Augustus.

17. But the writing which is engraven on the old obelisk in the Circus, we have set forth below in Greek characters, following in this the work of Hermapion:—

ΑΡΧΗΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΝΟΤΙΟΝ ΔΙΕΡΜΗΝΕΓΜΕΝΑ

ΕΧΕΙ

ΣΤΙΧ̓Σ ΠΡΩΤ̓Σ ΤΑΔΕ.

18. The first line, beginning on the south side, bears this interpretation—"The Sun to Ramestes the king—I have given to thee to reign with joy over the whole earth; to thee whom the Sun and Apollo love—to thee, the mighty truth-loving son of Heron—the god-born ruler of the habitable earth; whom the Sun has chosen above all men, the valiant warlike King Ramestes. Under whose power, by his valour and might, the whole world is placed. The King Ramestes, the immortal son of the Sun."

19. The second line is—"The mighty Apollo, who takes his stand upon truth, the lord of the diadem, he who has honoured Egypt by becoming its master, adorning Heliopolis, and having created the rest of the world, and having greatly honoured the gods who have their shrines in the city of the Sun; whom the son loves." |133

20. The third line—"The mighty Apollo, the all-brilliant son of the Sun, whom the Sun chose above all others, and to whom the valiant Mars gave gifts. Thou whose good fortune abideth for ever. Thou whom Ammon loves. Thou who hast filled the temple of the Phoenix with good things. Thou to whom the gods have given long life. Apollo the mighty son of Heron, Ramestes the king of the world. Who has defended Egypt, having subdued the foreign enemy. Whom the Sun loves. To whom the gods have given long life—the master of the world—the immortal Ramestes."

21. Another second line—"The Sun, the great God, the master of heaven. I have given unto thee a life free from satiety. Apollo, the mighty master of the diadem; to whom nothing is comparable. To whom the lord of Egypt has erected many statues in this kingdom. And has made the city of Heliopolis as brilliant as the Sun himself, the master of heaven. The son of the Sun, the king living for ever, has co-operated in the completion of this work."

22. A third line—"I, the Sun, the god, the master of heaven, have given to Ramestes the king might and authority over all. Whom Apollo the truth-lover, the master of time, and Vulcan the father of the gods hath chosen above others by reason of his courage. The all-rejoicing king, the son of the Sun, and beloved by the Sun."

23. The first line, looking towards the east—"The great God of Heliopolis, the mighty Apollo who dwelleth in Heaven, the son of Heron whom the Sun hath guided. Whom the gods have honoured. He who ruleth over all the earth: whom the Sun has chosen before all others. The king valiant by the favour of Mars. Whom Ammon loveth, and the all-shining god, who hath chosen him as a king for everlasting." And so on.

V.

A.D. 358.

§ 1. In the consulship of Datianus and Cerealis, when all arrangements in Gaul were made with more careful zeal than before, and while the terror caused by past events |134 still checked the outbreaks of the barbarians, the king of the Persians, being still on the frontiers of those nations which border on his dominions, and having made a treaty of alliance with the Chionitae and the Gelani, the most warlike and indefatigable of all tribes, being about to return to his own country, received the letters of Tamsapor which announced to him that the Roman emperor was a suppliant for peace.

2. And he, suspecting that Constantius would never have done so if the empire had not been weakened all over, raised his own pretensions, and embracing the name indeed of peace, offered very unwelcome conditions. And having sent a man of the name of Narses as ambassador with many presents, he gave him letters to Constantius, in which he in no respect abated of his natural pride. The purport of these letters we have understood to be this:—

3. "I, Sapor, king of kings, partner of the stars, brother of the sun and moon, to Constantius Caesar my brother send much greeting. I am glad and am well pleased that at last thou hast returned to the right way, and hast acknowledged the incorruptible decree of equity, having gained experience by facts, and having learnt what disasters an obstinate covetousness of the property of others has often caused.

4. "Because therefore the language of truth ought to be unrestrained and free, and because men in the highest rank ought only to say what they mean, I will reduce my propositions into a few words; remembering that I have already often repeated what I am now about to say.

5. "Even your own ancient records bear witness that my ancestors possessed all the country up to the Strymon and the frontier of Macedonia. And these lands it is fitting that I who (not to speak arrogantly) am superior to those ancient kings in magnificence, and in all eminent virtues, should now reclaim. But I am at all times thoughtful to remember that, from my earliest youth, I have never done anything to repent of.

6. "And therefore it is a duty in me to recover Armenia and Mesopotamia, which were wrested from my ancestor by deliberate treachery. That principle was never admitted by us which you with exultation assert, that all successes in war deserve praise, without |135 considering whether they were achieved by valour or by treachery.

7. "Lastly, if you are willing to be guided by one who gives you good advice, I would bid you despise a small part of your dominions which is ever the parent of sorrow and bloodshed, in order to reign in safety over the rest. Wisely considering that physicians also sometimes apply cautery or amputation, and cut off portions of the body that the patient may have good use of the rest of his limbs. Nay, that even beasts do the same: since when they observe on what account they are most especially hunted, they will of their own accord deprive themselves of that, in order henceforth to be able to live in security.

8. "This, in short, I declare, that should my present embassy return without having succeeded in its object, after giving the winter season to rest I will gird myself up with all my strength, and while fortune and justice give me a well-founded hope of ultimate success, I will hasten my march as much as Providence will permit."

9. Having given long consideration to this letter, the emperor with upright and wise heart, as the saying is, made answer in this manner:—

10. "Constantius, always august, conqueror by land and sea, to my brother Sapor much health. I congratulate thee on thy safety, as one who is willing to be a friend to thee if thou wilt. But I greatly blame thy insatiable covetousness, now more grasping than ever.

11. "Thou demandest Mesopotamia as thine own, and then Armenia. And thou biddest me cut off some members from my sound body in older to place its health on a sound footing: a demand which is to be rejected at once rather than to be encouraged by any consent. Receive therefore the truth, not covered with any pretences, but clear, and not to be shaken by any threats.

12. "The prefect of my praetorian guard, thinking to undertake an affair which might be beneficial to the state, without my knowledge discoursed about peace with thy generals, by the agency of some low persons. Peace we should neither regret nor refuse—let it only come with credit and honour, in such a way as to impair neither our self-respect nor our dignity. |136

13. "For it would be an unbecoming and shameful thing when all men's ears are filled with our exploits, so as to have shut even the mouth of envy; when after the destruction of tyrants the whole Roman world obeys us, to give up those territories which even when limited to the narrow boundaries of the east we preserved undiminished.

14. "But I pray thee make an end of the threats which thou utterest against me, in obedience to thy national habit, when it cannot be doubted that it is not from inactivity, but from moderation, that we have at times endured attacks instead of being the assailants ourselves: and know that, whenever we are attacked, we defend our own with bravery and good will: being assured both by thy reading and thy personal experience that in battle it has been rare for Romans to meet with disaster; and that in the final issue of a war we have never come off the worst."

15. The embassy was therefore dismissed without gaining any of its objects; and indeed no other reply could be given to the unbridled covetousness of the king. And a few days afterwards, Count Prosper followed, and Spectatus the tribune and secretary; and also, by the suggestion of Musonianus, Eustathius the philosopher, as one skilful in persuading, bearing a letter from the emperor, and presents, with a view to induce Sapor to suspend his preparations, so that all our attention might be turned to fortifying the northern provinces in the most effective manner.

VI.

§ 1. Now while these affairs, of so doubtful a complexion, were proceeding, that portion of the Allemanni which borders on the regions of Italy, forgetful of the peace and of the treaties which they only obtained by abject entreaty, laid waste the Tyrol with such fury that they even went beyond their usual habit in undertaking the siege of some walled towns.

2. And when a strong force had been sent to repel them under the command of Barbatio, who had been promoted to the command of the infantry in the room of Silvanus, |137 a man of not much activity, but a fluent talker, he, as his troops were in a high state of indignation at the invaders, gave them so terrible a defeat, that only a very few, who took to flight in their panic, escaped to carry back their tears and lamentations to their homes.

3. In this battle Nevita, who afterwards became consul, was present as commander of a squadron of cavalry, and displayed great gallantry.

VII.

§ 1. This year also some terrible earthquakes took place in Macedonia, Asia Minor, and Pontus, and their repeated shocks overthrew many towns, and even mountains. But the most remarkable of all the manifold disasters which they caused was the entire ruin of Nicomedia, the metropolis of Bithynia; which I will here relate with truth and brevity.

2. On the 23rd of August, at daybreak, some heavy black clouds suddenly obscured the sky, which just before was quite fair. And the sun was so wholly concealed that it was impossible to see what was near or even quite close, so completely did a thick lurid darkness settle on the ground, preventing the least use of the eyes.

3. Presently, as if the supreme deity were himself letting loose his fatal wrath, and stirring up the winds from their hinges, a violent raging storm descended, by the fury of which the groaning mountains were struck, and the crash of the waves on the shore was heard to a vast distance. And then followed typhoons and whirlwinds with a horrid trembling of the earth, throwing down the whole city and its suburbs.

4. And as most of the houses were built on the slopes of the hills, they now fell down one over the other, while all around resounded with the vast crash of their fall. In the mean time the tops of the hills re-echoed all sorts of noises, as well as outcries of men seeking their wives and children, and other relations.

5. At last, after two hours, or at least within three, the air became again clear and serene, and disclosed the destruction which till then was unseen. Some, overwhelmed by the enormous masses of ruins which had fallen upon them, were crushed to death. Some were |138 buried up to the neck, and might have been saved if there had been any timely help at hand, but perished for want of assistance; others were transfixed by the points of beams projecting forth, on which they hung suspended.

6. Here was seen a crowd of persons slain by one blow; there a promiscuous heap of corpses piled in various ways —some were buried beneath the roofs of falling houses, which leant over so as to protect them from any actual blows, but reserved them for an agonizing death by starvation. Among whom was Aristaenetus, who, with the authority of deputy, governed Bithynia, which had been recently erected into a province; and to which Constantius had given the name of Piety, in honour of his wife Eusebia, (a Greek word, equivalent to Pietas in Latin); and he perished thus by a lingering death.

7. Others who were overwhelmed by the sudden fall of vast buildings, are still lying entombed beneath the immovable masses. Some with their skulls fractured, or their shoulders or legs cut through, lay between life and death, imploring aid from others suffering equally with themselves; but in spite of their entreaties they were abandoned.

8. Not but what the greater part of the temples and buildings and of the citizens also would have escaped unhurt, if a fire had not suddenly broken out, which raged with great violence for fifty days and nights, and destroyed all that remained.

9. 1 think this a good opportunity to enumerate a few of the conjectures which the ancients have formed about earthquakes. For as to any accurate knowledge of their causes, not only has that never been attained by the ignorance of the common people, but they have equally eluded the long lucubrations and subtle researches of natural philosophers.

10. And on this account in all priestly ceremonies, whether ritual or pontifical, care is taken not at such times to name one god more than another, for fear of impiety, since it is quite uncertain which god causes these visitations.

11. But as the various opinions, among which Aristotle wavers and hesitates, suggest, earthquakes are engendered either in small caverns under the earth, which the Greeks |139 call σύριγγες because of the waters pouring through them with a more rapid motion than usual, or, as Anaxagoras affirms, they arise from the force of the wind penetrating the lower parts of the earth, which, when they have got down to the encrusted solid mass, finding no vent-holes, shake those portions in their solid state, into which they have got entrance when in a state of solution. And this is corroborated by the observation that at such times no breezes of wind are felt by us above ground, because the winds are occupied in the lowest recesses of the earth.

12. Anaximander says that the earth when burnt up by excessive heat and drought, and also after excessive rains, opens larger fissures than usual, which the upper air penetrates with great force and in excessive quantities, and the earth, shaken by the furious blasts which penetrate those fissures, is disturbed to its very foundations; for which reason these fearful events occur either at times of great evaporation or else at those of an extravagant fall of rain from heaven. And therefore the ancient poets and theologians gave Neptune the name of Earthshaker, as being the power of moist substance.

13. Now earthquakes take place in four manners: either they are brasmatiae which raise up the ground in a terrible manner, and throw vast masses up to the surface, as in Asia, Delos arose, and Hiera; and also Anaphe and Rhodes, which has at different times been called Ophiusa and Pelagia, and was once watered with a shower of gold; and Eleusis in Boeotia, and the Hellenian islands in the Tyrrhenian sea, and many other islands. Or they are climatiae, which, with a slanting and oblique blow, level cities, edifices, and mountains. Or chasmatiae which suddenly, by a violent motion, open huge mouths, and so swallow up portions of the earth, as in the Atlantic sea, |140 on the coast of Europe, a large island was swallowed up, and in the Crissaean Gulf, Helice and Bura, and in Italy, in the Ciminian district, the town of Saccumum was swallowed up in a deep gulf and hidden in everlasting darkness. And among these three kinds of earthquakes, myaemotiae are heard with a threatening roar, when the elements either spring apart, their joints being broken, or again resettle in their former places, when the earth also settles back; for then it cannot be but that crashes and roars of the earth should resound with bull-like bellowings. Let us now return to our original subject.

VIII.

§ 1. Caesar, passing his winter among the Parisii, was eagerly preparing to anticipate the Allemanni, who were not yet assembled in one body, but who, since the battle of Strasburg, were working themselves up to a pitch of insane audacity and ferocity. And he was waiting with great impatience for the month of July, when the Gallic campaigns usually begin. For indeed he could not march before the summer had banished the frost and cold, and allowed him to receive supplies from Aquitania.

2. But as diligence overcomes almost all difficulties, he, revolving many plans of all kinds in his mind, at last conceived the idea of not waiting till the crops were ripe, but falling on the barbarians before they expected him. And having resolved on that plan, he caused his men to take corn for twenty days' consumption from what they had in store, and to make it into biscuit, so that it might keep longer; and this enabled the soldiers to carry it, which they did willingly. And relying on this provision, and setting out as before, with favourable auspices, he reckoned that in the course of five or six months he might finish two urgent and indispensable expeditions.

3. And when all his preparations were made, he first |141 marched against the Franks, that is against that tribe of them usually called Salii, who some time before had ventured with great boldness to fix their habitations on the Roman soil near Toxandria. But when he had reached Tongres, he was met by an embassy from this tribe, who expected still to find him in his winter quarters, offering him peace on condition of his leaving them unattacked and unmolested, as if the ground they had seized were rightfully their own. Julian comprehended the whole affair, and having given the ambassadors an ambiguous reply, and also some presents, sent them back again, leaving them to suppose he would remain in the same place till they returned.

4. But the moment they had departed he followed them, sending Severus along the bank of the river, and suddenly came upon the whole settlement like a thunderbolt; and availing himself of his victory to make a reasonable exhibition of clemency, as indeed they met him with entreaties rather than with resistance, he received the submission of them and their children.

5. He then attacked the Chamavi, who had been guilty of similar audacity, and through the same celerity of movement he slew one portion of them, and another who made a vigorous resistance he took prisoners, while others who fled precipitately he allowed to escape unhurt to their own territories, to avoid exhausting his soldiers with a long campaign. And when ambassadors were afterwards sent by them to implore his pardon, and generally to do what they could for them, when they prostrated themselves before him, he granted them peace on condition of retiring to their own districts without doing any mischief.

IX.

§ 1. Everything thus succeeding according to his wish, Julian, always on the watch to establish by every means in his power the security of the provinces on a solid foundation, determined to put in as good repair as the time permitted those fortresses erected in a line on the banks of the Meuse, which some time before had been destroyed by |142 an attack of the barbarians. And accordingly he desisted for a while from all other operations, and restored them.

2. And that he might by a prudent rapidity insure their safety, he took a part of the seventeen days' provisions, which troops, when going on an expedition, carry on their backs, and stored in those forts, hoping to replace what he thus took from the soldiers by seizing the crops of the Chamavi.

3. But he was greatly disappointed. For as the crops were not yet ripe, the soldiers when they had consumed what they had with them were unable to find food, and began to utter violent threats against Julian, mingled with fierce cries and reproaches, calling him Asiatic, Greek, a cheat, and a fool pretending to be wise. And as it is commonly the case among soldiers that some men are found of remarkable fluency of speech, they poured forth such harangues as this:—

4. "Whither are we being dragged, having lost all hope of good fortune? We formerly, indeed, suffered terrible hardships in the snow, and cruel biting frost; but now (oh, shame!), when we have the fate of the enemy in our hands, we are wasting away with famine, the most miserable of all deaths. Let no one think that we are stirrers up of tumults; we declare that we are speaking for our very lives. We do not ask for gold or silver, which it is long since we have touched or seen, and which are as much denied to us as if we had been convicted of having encountered all our toils and perils in the service of the enemies of the republic."

5. And their complaints were just. For after all his gallant exploits and all his doubtful changes and dangers, the soldiers were exhausted by his Gallic campaigns, without even receiving either donation or pay from the time that Julian was sent to take the command; because he himself had nothing to give, nor would Constantius permit anything to be drawn for that purpose from the treasury, as had been the custom.

6. And at a later period it was manifest that this was owing more to ill-will than to parsimony, because when Julian had given some small coin to one of the common soldiers, who, as was the custom, had asked for some to get shaved with, he was attacked for it with most insulting |143 calumnies by Gaudentius, the secretary, who had long remained in Gaul as a spy upon his actions, and whom he himself subsequently ordered to be put to death, as will be related in its fitting place.

X.

§ 1. When at length their discontent was appeased by various kinds of caresses, and when the Rhine had been crossed by a bridge of boats, which was thrown over it, Severus, the master of the horse, up to that time a brave and energetic soldier, suddenly lost all his vigour.

2. And he who had frequently been used to exhort the troops, both in bodies and as individuals, to gallant acts, now seemed a base and timid skulker from battle, as if he feared the approach of death. As we read in the books of Tages that those who are fated to be soon struck by lightning, so lose their senses that they cannot hear thunder, or even greater noises. And he marched on in a lazy way, not natural to him, and even threatened with death the guides, who were leading on the army with a brisk step, if they would not agree to say that they were wholly ignorant of the road any further. So they, fearing his power, and being forbidden to show the way any more, advanced no further.

3. But amid this delay, Suomarius, king of the Allemanni, arrived unexpectedly with his suite; and he who had formerly been fierce and eager for any injury to the Romans, was now inclined to regard it as an unexpected gain to be permitted to retain his former possessions. And because his looks and his gait showed him to be a suppliant, he was received as a friend, and desired to be of good cheer. But still he submitted himself to Julian's discretion, and implored peace on his bended knees. And peace was granted him, with pardon for the past, on condition of giving up our prisoners and of supplying our soldiers with food, whenever it was required, receiving, like any ordinary purveyor, security for payment of what |144 he provided. But he was at the same time warned, that if he did not furnish the required supplies in time he would he liable to he called in question for his former hostility.

5. And that which had heen discreetly planned was carried out without hindrance. Julian desiring to reach a town belonging to another chieftain, named Hortarius, towards which object nothing seemed wanting but guides, gave orders to Nestica, a tribune of the Scutarii, and to Chariettoa, a man of marvellous courage, to take great pains to capture a prisoner and to bring him to him. A youth of the Allemanni was speedily caught and brought before him, who, on condition of obtaining his freedom, promised to show the road. The army, following him as its guide, was soon obstructed by an abattis of lofty trees, which had been cut down; but by taking long and circuitous paths, they at last came to the desired spot, and the soldiers in their rage laid waste the fields with fire, carried off the cattle and the inhabitants, and slew all who resisted without mercy.

6. The king, bewildered at this disaster, seeing the numerous legions, and the remains of his burnt villages, and looking upon the last calamities of fortune as impending over him, of his own accord implored pardon, promising to do all that should be commanded him, and binding himself on oath to restore all his prisoners. For that was the object about which Julian was the most anxious. But still he restored only a few, and detained the greater part of them.

7. When Julian knew this, he was filled with just indignation, and when the king came to receive the customary presents, the Caesar refused to release his four companions, on whose support and fidelity the king principally relied, till all the prisoners were restored.

8. But when the king was summoned by the Caesar to a conference, looking up at him with trembling eyes, he was overcome by the aspect of the conqueror, and overwhelmed by a sense of his own embarrassing condition, and especially by the compulsion under which he was now (since it was reasonable that after so many successes of the Romans that the cities which had been destroyed by the violence of the barbarians should be rebuilt) to supply waggons and materials from his own stores and those of his subjects.

9. And after he had promised to do so, and had bound |145 himself with an oath to consent to die if be were guilty of any treachery, he was permitted to return to his own country. For he could not be compelled to furnish provisions like Suomarius, because his land had been so utterly laid waste that nothing could be found on it for him to give.

10. Thus those kings who were formerly so proud and accustomed to grow rich by the plunder of our citizens, were now brought under the Roman yoke; and as if they had been born and brought up among our tributaries, they submitted to our commands, though with reluctance. And when these events were thus brought to a conclusion, the Caesar distributed his army among its usual stations, and returned to his winter quarters.

XI.

§ 1. When these transactions presently became known in the court of Constantius—for the knowledge of them could not be concealed, since the Caesar, as if he had been merely an officer of the emperor's, referred to him on all occasions—those who had the greatest influence in the palace, being skilful professors of flattery, turned all Julian's well-arranged plans and their successful accomplishment into ridicule; continually uttering such malicious sayings as this, "We have had enough of the goat and his victories;" sneering at Julian because of his beard, and calling him a chattering mole, a purple-robed ape, and a Greek pedant. And pouring forth numbers of sneers of the same kind, acceptable to the emperor, who liked to hear them, they endeavoured with shameless speeches to overwhelm Julian's virtues, slandering him as a lazy, timid, carpet-knight, and one whose chief care was to set off his exploits by fine descriptions; it not being the first time that such a thing had been done.

2. For the greatest glory is always exposed to envy. So we read in respect of the illustrious generals of old, that, though no fault could be found in them, still the malignity which found offence in their greatest actions was constantly inventing false charges and accusations against them.

3. In the same manner Cimon the son of Miltiades, who destroyed a vast host of the Persians on the Eurymedon, a |146 river in Pamphylia, and compelled a nation always insolent and arrogant to beg for peace most humbly, was accused of intemperance; and again Scipio Aemilianus, by whose indomitable vigilance two most powerful cities, which had made great efforts to injure Rome, were both destroyed, was disparaged as a mere drone.

4. Moreover, wicked detractors, scrutinizing the character of Pompey, when no pretext for finding fault with him could be discovered, remarked two qualities in which they could raise a laugh against him; one that he had a sort of natural trick of scratching his head with one finger: another that for the purpose of concealing an unsightly sore, he used to bind one of his legs with a white bandage. Of which habits, the first they said showed a dissolute man; the second, one eager for a change of government; contending, with a somewhat meagre argument, that it did not signify what part of his body he clothed with a badge of royal dignity; so snarling at that man of whom the most glorious proofs show that no braver and truer patriot ever lived.

5. During these transactions, Artemius, the deputy governor of Rome, succeeded Bassus in the prefecture also; for Bassus, who had lately been promoted to be prefect of the city, had since died. His administration had been marked by turbulent sedition, but by no other events sufficiently memorable to deserve mention.

XII.

§ 1. In the mean time, while the emperor was passing the winter quietly at Sirmium, he received frequent and trustworthy intelligence that the Sarmatians and the Quadi, two tribes contiguous to each other, and similar in manners and mode of warfare, were conjointly overrunning Pannonia and the second province of Moesia, in straggling detachments.

2. These tribes are more suited to predatory incursions than to regular war; they carry long spears, and wear breastplates made of horn scraped and polished, let into linen jackets, so that the layers of horn are like the feathers |147 of a bird. Their horses are chiefly geldings, lest at the sight of mares they should be excited and run away, or, when held back in reserve, should betray their riders by their fierce neighing.

3. They cover vast spaces in their movements, whether in pursuit or in retreat, their horses being swift and very manageable; and they lead with them one or sometimes two spare chargers apiece, in order that the change may keep up the strength of their cattle, and that their vigour may be preserved by alternations of rest.

4. Therefore, after the venial equinox was past, the emperor, having collected a strong body of soldiers, marched forth under the guidance of propitious fortune. Having arrived at a suitable place, he crossed the Danube, which was now flooded from the melting of the snow, by a bridge of boats, and descended on the lands of the barbarians, which he began to lay waste. They, being taken by surprise through the rapidity of his march, and seeing that the battalions of his warlike army were at their throats, when they had not supposed it possible that such a force could be collected for a year, had no courage to make a stand, but, as the only means of escaping unexpected destruction, took to flight.

5. When many had been slain, fear fettering their steps, those whose speed had saved them from death hid themselves among the secret defiles of the mountains, and from thence beheld their country destroyed by the sword, which they might have delivered if they had resisted with as much vigour as they fled.

6. These events took place in that part of Sarmatia which looks towards the second Pannonia. Another military expedition, conducted with equal courage, routed the troops of the barbarians in Valeria, who were plundering and destroying everything within their reach.

7. Terrified at the greatness of this disaster, the Sarmatians, under pretext of imploring peace, planned to divide their force into three bodies, and to attack our army while in a state of fancied security; so that they should neither be able to prepare their weapons, nor avoid wounds, nor (which is the last resource in a desperate case) take to flight.

8. There were with the Sarmatians likewise on this |148 occasion, as partners in their danger, the Quadi, who had often before taken part in the injuries inflicted on us; but their prompt boldness did not help them on this occasion, rushing as they did into open danger.

9. For many of them were slain, and the survivors escaped among the hills, with which they were familiar. And as this event raised the spirits and courage of our army, they united in solid columns, and marched with speed into the territories of the Quadi; who, having learnt by the past to dread the evils which impended over them, came boldly into the emperor's presence to implore peace as suppliants, since he was inclined to be merciful in such cases. On the day appointed for settling the conditions, one of their princes named Zizais, a young man of great stature, marshalled the ranks of the Sarmatians to offer their entreaties of peace in the fashion of an army; and as soon as they came within sight, he threw away his arms, and fell like one dead, prostrating himself on his breast before the emperor; his very voice from fear refusing its office, when he ought to have uttered his entreaties, he awakened the more pity, making many attempts, and being scarcely able from the violence of his sobs to give utterance to his wishes.

10. At last, having recovered himself, and being bidden to rise up, he knelt, and having regained the use of his tongue, he implored pardon for his offences. His followers also, whose mouths had been closed by fear while the fate of their leader was still doubtful, were admitted to offer the same petition, and when he, being commanded to rise, gave them the signal which they had been long expecting, to present their petition, they all threw away their javelins and their shields, and held out their hands in an attitude of supplication, striving to surpass their prince in the humility of their entreaties.

11. Among the other Sarmatians the prince had brought with him three chiefs of tribes, Rumo, Zinafer, and Fragiledus, and many nobles who came to offer the same petition with earnest hope of success. And they, being elated at the promise of safety, undertook to make amends for their former deeds of hostility by performing the conditions now imposed on them; giving up willingly into the power |149 of the Romans themselves, their wives and children, and all their possessions. The kindness of the emperor, united with justice, subdued them; and he bidding them be of good cheer and return to their homes, they restored our prisoners. They also brought the hostages who were demanded of them, and promised prompt obedience to all the emperor's commands.

12. Then, encouraged by this example of our clemency, other chieftains came with all their tribe, by name Araharius and Usafer, men of distinction among the nobles, and at the head of a great force of their countrymen; one of them being chief of a portion of the Quadi who dwelt beyond the mountains, and the other of a division of the Sarmatians: the two being united by the proximity of their territories, and their natural ferocity. But the emperor, fearing the number of their followers, lest, while pretending to make a treaty, they should suddenly rise up in arms, separated them; ordering those who were acting for the Sarmatians to retire for a while, while he was examining into the affairs of Araharius and the Quadi.

13. And when they presented themselves before him, bowing according to their national custom, as they were not able to clear themselves of heavy charges, so, fearing extreme punishment, they gave the hostages which were demanded, though they had never before been compelled to give pledges for their fidelity.

14. These matters being thus equitably and successfully settled, Usafer was admitted to offer his petition, though Araharius loudly protested against this, and maintained that the peace ratified with him ought to comprehend Usafer also, as an ally of his though of inferior rank, and subject to his command.

15. But when the question was discussed, the Sarmatians were pronounced independent of any other power, as having been always vassals of the Roman empire; and they willingly embraced the proposal of giving hostages as a pledge of the maintenance of tranquillity.

16. After this there came a vast number of nations and princes, flocking in crowds, when they heard that Araharius had been allowed to depart in safety, imploring us to withdraw the sword which was at their throats; and |150 they also obtained the peace which they requested on similar terms, and without any delay gave as hostages the sons of their nobles whom they brought from the interior of the country; and they also surrendered, as we insisted, all their prisoners, from whom they parted as unwillingly as from their own relations.

17. When these arrangements were completed, the emperor's anxiety was transferred to the Sarmatians, who were objects of pity rather than of anger. It is incredible how much prosperity our connection with their affairs had brought them, so as to give grounds for really believing, what some persons do imagine, that Fate may be either overcome or created at the will of the emperor.

18. There were formerly many natives of this kingdom, of high birth and great power, but a secret conspiracy armed their slaves against them; and as among barbarians all right consists in might, they, as they were equal to their masters in ferocity, and superior in number, completely overcame them.

19. And these native chiefs, losing all their wisdom in their fear, fled to the Victohali, whose settlements were at a great distance, thinking it better in the choice of evils to become subject to their protectors than slaves to their own slaves. But afterwards, when they had obtained pardon from us, and had been received as faithful allies, they deplored their hard fate, and invoked our direct protection. Moved by the undeserved hardship of their lot, the emperor, when they were assembled before him, addressed them with kind words in the presence of his army, and commanded them for the future to own no master but himself and the Roman generals.

20. And that the restoration of their liberty might carry with it additional dignity, he made Zizais their king, a man, as the event proved, deserving the rewards of eminent fortune, and faithful. After these glorious transactions, none of the Sarmatians were allowed to depart till all our prisoners had returned, as we had before insisted.

21. When these matters had been concluded in the territories of the barbarians, the camp was moved to Szoeni, that there also the emperor might, by subjugation |151 or slaughter, terminate the war with the Quadi, who were keeping that district in a state of agitation. Their prince Vitrodorus, the son of king Viduarius, and Agilimundus, an inferior chieftain, with the other nobles and judges who governed the different tribes, as soon as they saw the imperial army in the bosom of their kingdom and of their native land, threw themselves at the feet of the soldiers, and having obtained pardon, promised obedience; and gave their children as hostages for the performance of the conditions imposed upon them; and drawing their swords, which they worship as deities, they swore to remain faithful.

XIII.

§ 1. These matters then, as has been related, having been thus successfully terminated, the public interests required that the army should at once march against the Limigantes, the revolted slaves of the Sarmatians, who had perpetrated many atrocities with impunity. For, as soon as the countrymen of free blood had attacked us, they also, forgetful of their former condition, thinking to take advantage of a favourable opportunity, burst through the Roman frontier, in this wickedness alone agreeing with their masters and enemies.

2. But on deliberation we determined that their offence also should be punished with more moderation than its greatness deserved; and that vengeance should limit itself to removing them to a distance where they could no longer harass our territories. The consciousness of a long series of crimes made them fearful of danger.

3. And therefore, suspecting that the weight of war was about to fall upon them, they were prepared, as exigency might require, to resort to stratagem, arms, or entreaties. But at the first sight of our army they became as it were panic-stricken; and being reduced to despair, they begged their lives, offering a yearly tribute, and a body of their chosen youths for our army, and promising perpetual obedience. But they were prepared to refuse if they were ordered to emigrate (as they showed by their gestures and countenances), trusting to the strength of the place where, after they had expelled their masters, they had fixed their abode. |152

4. For the Parthiscus waters this land, proceeding with oblique windings till it falls into the Danube. But while it flows unmixed, it passes through a vast extent of country, which, near its junction with the Danube, it narrows into a very small corner, so that over on the side of the Danube those who live in that district are protected from the attack of the Romans, and on the side of the Parthiscus they are secured from any irruptions of the barbarians. Since along its course the greater part of the ground is frequently under water from the floods, and always swampy and full of osiers, so as to be quite impassable to strangers; and besides the mainland there is an island close to the mouth of the river, which the stream itself seems to have separated into its present state.

5. Accordingly, at the desire of the emperor, they came with native arrogance to our bank of the river, not, as the result showed, with the intention of obeying his commands, but that they might not seem alarmed at the presence of his soldiers. And there they stood, stubbornly showing that they had come bent on resistance.

6. And as the emperor had foreseen that this might happen, he secretly divided his army into several squadrons, and by the rapidity of their movements hemmed in the barbarians between his own lines. And then, standing on a mound, with a few of his officers and a small body-guard, he gently admonished them not to give way to ferocity.

7. But they, wavering and in doubt, were agitated by various feelings, and mingling craft with their fury, they had recourse to arms and to prayers at the same time. And meditating to make a sudden attack on those of our men who were nearest, they threw their shields some distance before them, with the intent that while they made some steps forward to recover them, they might thus steal a little ground without giving any indication of their purpose.

8. And as it was now nearly evening, and the departing light warned us to avoid further delay, our soldiers raised their standards and fell upon them with a fiery onset. And they, in close order, directed all their force against the mound on which (as has been already said) the |153 emperor himself was standing, fixing their eyes on him, and uttering fierce outcries against him.

9. Our army was indignant at such insane audacity, and forming into a triangle, to which military simplicity has given the name of "the boar's head," with a violent charge they scattered the barbarians now pressing vigorously upon the emperor; on the right our infantry slew their infantry, and on the left our cavalry dashed among their squadrons of light horsemen.

10. The praetorian cohort, carefully guarding the emperor, spared neither the breasts of those who attacked nor the backs of those who fled, and the barbarians, yielding in their stubbornness to death alone, showed by their horrid cries that they grieved not so much at their own death as at the triumph of our army. And, beside the dead, many lay with their legs cut off, and so deprived of the resource of flight, others had lost their hands; some who had received no wound were crushed by the weight of those who fell upon them, and bore their torments in profound silence.

11. Nor, amid all their sufferings, did any one of them ask for mercy, or throw away his sword, or implore a speedy death, but clinging resolutely to their arms, wounded as they were, they thought it a lesser evil to be subdued by the strength of another than by their own consciences, and at times they were heard to grumble that what had happened was the work of fortune, not of their deserts. And so this whole battle was brought to an end in half an hour, in which such numbers of barbarians fell that nothing but the fact of our victory proved that there had been any battle at all.

12. Those in arms had scarcely been routed when the relations of the dead, of every age and sex, were brought forward in crowds, having been dragged from their humble dwellings. And all their former pride being now gone, they descended to the lowest depths of servile obedience, and after a very short time nothing but barrows of the dead and bands of captives were beheld.

13. So, the heat of strife and the excitement of victory stimulating our men, they rose up to destroy all who had escaped the battle, or who were lying hidden in their dwellings. And when, eager for the blood of the |154 barbarians, our soldiers had reached the spot, they tore to pieces the slight straw-thatched huts; nor could even the strongest-built cottages, or the stoutest beams save any one from death.

14. At last, when everything was set on fire, and when no one could be concealed any longer, since every protection for their lives was destroyed, they either perished obstinately in the flames, or else, if they avoided the fire and sallied out, they only escaped that destruction to fall beneath the sword of their enemies.

15. Some, however, did escape from the weapons of the enemy and from the spreading flames, and committed themselves to the stream, trusting to their skill in swimming to enable them to reach the further bank; but many of them were drowned, and others were transfixed by our javelins, so that the winding stream of the vast river was discoloured with blood, and thus, by the agency of both elements, did the indignation and valour of the conquerors destroy the Sarmatians.

16. After these events it was determined to leave the barbarians no hope nor comfort of life; and after burning their houses and carrying off their families, an order was given to collect boats in order to hunt out those who, being on the opposite bank of the river, had escaped the attack of our men.

17. And immediately, that the alacrity of our warriors might have no time to cool, some light-armed troops were embarked in boats, and led by secret paths to occupy the retreats of the Sarmatians. The barbarians at first were deceived by seeing only the boats of their own country, and crews with whom they were acquainted.

18. But when the weapons glittered in the distance, and they perceived that what they feared was upon them, they sought refuge in their accustomed marshes. And our soldiers pursuing them with great animosity, slew numbers of them, and gained a victory in a place where it had not been supposed that any soldier could find a footing, much less do any bold action.

19. After the Anicenses had thus been routed and almost destroyed, we proceeded at once to attack the Ticenses, who are so called from the regions which they |155 inhabit, which border on one another; and these tribes had fancied themselves the more secure from the disasters of their allies, which they had heard of by frequent rumours. To crush them (for it was an arduous task for those who did not know the country to follow men scattered in many directions as they were) the aid of Taifali and of the free-born Sarmatians was sought.

20. And as the nature of the ground separated the auxiliary battalions from each other, our own troops took the ground nearest Moesia, the Taifali that nearest to their own settlements, while the free Sarmatians occupied that in front of their original position.

21. The Limigantes, alarmed at the still fresh examples of nations subdued and crushed by us, for a long time hesitated and wavered whether they should attack us or ask for peace, having arguments of no small weight for either line of conduct. But at last, through the influence of the council of the elders, the idea of surrender prevailed; and the submission also of those who had dared to attack their free-born masters was added to our numerous victories; and the rest of them, who had previously despised their masters, thinking them unwarlike and easily subdued, now finding them stronger than themselves, submitted to them.

22. Accordingly, having received pledges of their safety, and having quitted the defence of their mountains, the greater portion of them came with speed to the Roman camp, and they spread over a vast extent of ground, bringing with them their parents, their children, their wives, and all the movable treasures which their rapid motions had allowed them to carry off.

23. And those who it had been supposed would rather lose their lives than quit their country, while they mistook their mad licentiousness for liberty, now submitted to obey our orders, and to take up another abode in peace and good faith, so as to be undisturbed for the future by wars or seditions. And having been thus accepted as subjects, in accordance with their own wish as it was believed, they remained quiet for a time; but afterwards they broke out in destructive wickedness, as shall be related at the proper time. |156

24. While our affairs were thus prospering, Illyricum was put in a state of twofold security, since the emperor, in endeavouring by two means to accomplish this object, succeeded in both. He brought back and established in their ancient homes the people who had been banished, whom, although they were objects of suspicion from their natural fickleness, he believed would go on more moderately than of old. And to crown this kindness, he set over them as a king, not one of low birth, but the very man whom they themselves had formerly chosen, as eminent for all the virtues of mind and body.

25. After such a wise action, Constantius, being now raised above all fear, and having received from the unanimous consent of his soldiers the title of Sarmaticus, from the name of the nation which he had subdued; and being now about to leave the army, summoned all his cohorts and centuries and maniples, and mounting the tribune, surrounded by the standards and eagles, and by a great number of soldiers of all ranks, he addressed the troops in these words, choosing his topics as usual so as to gain the favour of all.

26. "The recollection of our glorious exploits, the dearest of all feelings to brave men, encourages me to repeat, though with great moderation, what, in our heaven-granted victories, and before battle, and in the very heat of the strife, we, the most faithful champions of the Roman state, have conducted to a deservedly prosperous issue. For what can be so honourable or so justly worthy to be handed down to the recollection of posterity as the exultation of the soldier in his brave deeds, and of the general in his wise plans?

27. "The rage of our enemies, in their arrogant pride thinking to profit by our absence, while we were protecting Italy and Gaul, was overrunning Illyricum, and with continual sallies they were ravaging even the districts beyond our frontiers; crossing the rivers, sometimes in boats made of hollow trees, sometimes on foot; not relying on combats, nor on their arms and strength, but being accustomed to secret forays, and having been from the very earliest era of their nation an object of fear to our ancestors, from their cunning and the variety of their manoeuvres, which we indeed, being at a great distance, |157 bore as long as we could, thinking that the vigour of our generals would be able to protect us from even slight injury.

28. "But when their licentiousness led them on to bolder attempts, and to inflict great and frequent injury on our provinces, we, having first fortified the passes of the Tyrol, and having secured the safety of the Gauls by watchful care, leaving no danger behind us, have marched into Pannonia, in order, with the favour of the everlasting deity, to strengthen our tottering interests in that country. And after everything was prepared, we set forth, as you know, at the end of the spring, and undertook a great enterprise; first of all taking care that the countless darts of the enemy should not prevent us from making a bridge. And when, with no great trouble, this had been accomplished, after we had set our foot upon the enemy's territories, we defeated, with very little loss to ourselves, the Sarmatians, who with obstinate courage set themselves to resist us to the death. And we also crushed the Quadi, who were bringing reinforcements to the Sarmatians, and who with similar courage attacked our noble legions.

29. "These tribes, after heavy losses sustained in their attacks, and their stubborn and toilsome resistance, have at length learnt the power of our valour, and throwing away their arms, have allowed their hands, prepared for fighting, to be bound behind their backs; and seeing that their only hope of safety is in prayer, have fallen at the feet of your merciful emperor, whose wars they found are usually successful. Having got rid of these enemies, we with equal courage defeated the Limigantes, and after we had put numbers of them to the sword, the rest found their only means of escaping danger lay in fleeing to their hiding-places in the marshes.

30. "And when these things were successfully terminated, it seemed to be a seasonable opportunity for mercy. So we compelled the Limigantes to remove to very distant lands, that they might not be able any more to move to our injury; and we spared the greatest part of them. And we made Zizais king over the free-born portion of them, sure that he would be faithful to us, and thinking it more honour to create a king for the barbarians than to take one from them, the dignity being increased by |158 this honourable consideration, that the ruler whom we thus gave them had before been elected and accepted by them.

31. "So we and the republic have in one campaign obtained a fourfold reward: first, vengeance on our guilty assailants; next, abundance of captive slaves from the enemy, for valour is entitled to those rewards which it has earned with its toil and prowess.

32. "Thirdly, we have ample resources and great treasures of wealth; our labour and courage having preserved the patrimony of each of us undiminished. This, in the mind of a good sovereign, is the best fruit of prosperity.

33. "Lastly, I myself have the well-won spoil of a surname derived from the enemy—the title of Sarmaticus —which you unanimously have (if I may say so without arrogance) deservedly conferred on me."

34. After he had made an end of speaking, the whole assembly, with more alacrity than usual, since its hope of booty and gain was increased, rose up with joyful voices in praise of the emperor; and, as usual, calling God to witness that Constantius was invincible, returned with joy to their tents. And the emperor was conducted back to his palace, and having rested two days, re-entered Sirmium with a triumphal procession; and the troops returned to their appointed stations.

XIV.

§ 1. About this time Prosper and Spectatus and Eustathius, who, as has been mentioned above, had been sent as ambassadors to the Persians, found the Persian king at Ctesiphon, on his return from his campaign, and they delivered the emperor's letters and presents, and requested peace while affairs were still in their existing state. And mindful of what had been enjoined them, they never forgot the interests nor the dignity of the Roman empire, maintaining that the peace ought to be made on the condition that no alteration should be made in the state of Armenia or Mesopotamia.

2. And having remained for some time, when they saw |159 that the king was obstinate, and resolute not to admit of peace unless the absolute dominion of those regions was assigned to him, they returned without having completed their business.

3. After which, Lucillianus, a count, and Procopius, at that time secretary, were sent to obtain the same conditions, with equal powers. Procopius being the same man who afterwards, under the pressure of violent necessity, committed himself to a revolutionary movement.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 18. pp. 159-184

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 18. pp. 159-184

I. The Caesar Julian consults the welfare of the Gauls, and provides for the general observance of justice.

II. He repairs the walls of the castles on the Rhine which he had recovered; crosses the Rhine, and having conquered those of the Alemanni who remained hostile, he compels their kings to sue for peace, and to restore their prisoners.

III. Why Barbatio, the commander of the infantry, and his wife, were beheaded by command of Constantius.

IV. Sapor, king of Persia, prepares to attack the Romans with all his power.

V. Antoninus, the protector, deserts to Sapor, with all his men; and increases his eagerness to engage in war with the Romans.

VI. Ursicinus, the commander of the legions, being summoned from the East, when he had reached Thrace was sent back to Mesopotamia, and having arrived there he hears from Marcellinus of Sapor's approach.

VII. Sapor, with the kings of the Chionitae and Albani, invades Mesopotamia—The Romans of their own accord lay waste their lands with fire; compelled the countrymen to come into the towns, and fortify the western bank of the Euphrates with castles and garrisons.

VIII. Seven hundred Illyrian cavalry are surprised by the Persians, and put to flight— Ursicinus escapes in one direction, and Marcellinus in another.

IX. A description of Amida; and how many legions and squadrons were there in garrison.

X. Sapor receives the surrender of two Roman fortresses.

BOOK XVIII.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

A.D. 359.

§ 1. These events took place in the different parts of the world in one and the same year. But while the affairs in Gaul were in a better state; and while titles of consul |160 were ennobling the brothers Eusebius and Hypatius, Julian, illustrious for his uninterrupted successes, now in his winter quarters, being relieved for a while from his warlike anxieties, was devoting equal care to many points connected with the welfare of the provinces. Taking anxious care that no one should be oppressed by the burden of taxation; that the power of the officers should not be stretched into extortion; that those who increase their property by the public distresses, should have no sanction, and that no judge should violate justice with impunity.

2. And he found it easy to correct what was wrong on this head, because he himself decided all causes in which the persons concerned were of any great importance; and showed himself a most impartial discerner of right and wrong.

3. And although there are many acts of his in deciding, these disputes worthy of praise; it will be sufficient to mention one, on the model of which all his other words and actions were framed.

4. Numerius, a native of Narbonne, had a little time before been accused before the governor as a thief, and Julian, by an unusual exercise of the censor's power, heard his cause in public; admitting into the court all who sought entrance. And when Numerius denied all that was charged against him, and could not be convicted on any point, Delphidius the orator, who was assailing him with great bitterness, being enraged at the failure of his charges, exclaimed, "But, great Caesar, will any one ever be found guilty if it be enough to deny the charge?" To whom Julian, with seasonable wisdom, replied, "Can any one be judged innocent if it be enough to make a charge?" And he did many similar actions in his civil capacity.

II.

§ 1. But when he was about to set out on an important expedition against some tribes of the Allemanni whom he considered hostile, and likely to proceed to acts of atrocious daring if they were not defeated in a way to be an example to the rest, he hesitated in great anxiety, since a report of his intentions had gone before him, what force he could |161 employ, and how he could be quick enough to take them by surprise the first moment that circumstances should afford him an opportunity.

2. But after he had meditated on many different plans, he decided on trying one, which the result proved to be good, without any one being aware of it. He had sent Hariobaudes, a tribune who at that time had no particular command, a man of honour, loyalty, and courage, under pretext of an embassy, to Hortarius the king who was now in a state of friendship with us; in order that from his court Hariobaudes might easily proceed to the frontiers of the enemy whom he was proposing to attack; and so ascertain what they were about, being thoroughly skilled in the language of the barbarians.

3. And when he had gone boldly on this commission, Julian himself, as it was now a favourable time of the year, assembled his soldiers from all quarters for the expedition, and set out; thinking it above all things desirable, before the war had got warm, to effect his entrance into the cities which had been destroyed some time before, and having recovered them to put them in a state of defence; and also to establish granaries in the place of those which had been burnt, in which to store the corn usually imported from Britain.

4. Both these objects were accomplished, and that more speedily than could have been looked for. For the storehouses wore rapidly built, and abundance of provisions laid up in them; and seven cities were occupied. The camp of Hercules, Quadriburgium, Kellen, Nuys, Bonn, Andernach, and Bingen. At which last city, by exceedingly good fortune, Florentius the prefect also arrived unexpectedly, bringing with him a division of soldiers, and a supply of provisions sufficient to last a long time.

5. After this, the next measure of urgent necessity was to repair the walls of the recovered cities, while as yet no one raised any hindrance; and it is abundantly plain that at that time the barbarians did out of fear what was commanded them for the public interests, while the Romans did it for love of their ruler.

6. According to the treaty made in the preceding year, |162 the kings sent their own waggons with many articles useful for building. And the auxiliary soldiers who always hold themselves above employments of this kind, being won over by Julian's caresses to diligent obedience, now carried beams fifty feet long and more on their shoulders, and gave the greatest aid to the labours of the architect.

7. And while all this was being done with diligence and speed, Hariobaudes, having learnt all he wanted, returned and related what he had ascertained. And after his arrival the army marched with all speed, and soon reached Mayence, where, though Florentius and Lupicinus, who succeeded Severus, insisted vehemently that they might cross by the bridge laid down at that town, the Caesar strenuously objected, maintaining that it was not well to trample on the lands of those who were brought into a state of tranquillity and friendship; lest the treaty made with them should be brought to an abrupt end, as had often happened through the discourtesy of the soldiers ravaging everything that came in their way.

8. But all the Allemanni who were the objects of our attack, seeing the danger now on their borders, with many threats urged Surmarius their king, who by a previous treaty was on friendly terms with us, to prevent the Romans from crossing the river. For their villages were on the eastern bank of the Rhine. But when Surmarius affirmed that he by himself was unable to offer effectual resistance, the barbarian host assembled in a body, and came up to Mayence, intending by main force to prevent our army from crossing the river.

9. So that Caesar's advice now seemed best in two points, both not to ravage the lands of our friends; and also, not in the teeth of the opposition, of a most warlike people, to risk the loss of many lives in order to make a bridge, even in a spot the most favourable for such a work.

10. And the enemy, watching his movements with great skill, marched slowly along the opposite bank, and when they saw our men pitching their tents at a distance, they still watched all night, exerting the most sleepless vigilance to prevent the passage of the river from being attempted.

11. But when our men reached the spot intended, they |163 surrounded their camp with a rampart and ditch, and took their rest; and the Caesar, having taken counsel with Lupicinus, ordered some of the tribunes to get ready three hundred light-armed soldiers with stakes, without letting them know what was to he done, or whither they were going.

12. They being collected, when the night was well advanced, and being all embarked on board of forty light hoats, which were all that were at hand, were ordered to go down the stream so silently as not to use even their oars, lest the noise should rouse the barbarians, and then using all activity both of mind and body, to force a landing on the opposite bank, within the frontier of the enemy, while they were still watching the camp-fires of our men.

13. While these orders were being performed with great promptness, King Hortarius, who had been previously bound to us by treaties, and was without any intention of revolting, kept on friendly terms with the bordering tribes, having invited all their kings, princes, and chieftains to a banquet, detained them to the third watch, the banquet being prolonged so late according to the custom of his nation. And as they were departing, our men chanced to come upon them suddenly, but could neither stay nor capture any of them owing to the darkness of the night and the fleetness of their horses, on which they fled at random in all directions. A number of sutlers and slaves, however, who were following them on foot, our men slew; the few who escaped being likewise protected by the darkness of the hour.

14. When it became known that the Romans had crossed the river (and they then as well as in all former expeditions accounted it a great relief to their labours when they could find the enemy), the kings and their people, who were watching zealously to prevent the bridge from being made, were alarmed, and being panic-stricken fled in all directions, and their violent fury being thus cooled, they hastened to remove their relations and their treasures to a distance. And as all difficulties were now surmounted, the bridge was at once made, and before the barbarians could expect it, the Roman army appeared in their territories, and passed through the dominions of Hortarius without doing any injury. |164

15. But when they reached the lands of those kings who were still hostile, they went on invincibly through the midst of their rebellious country, laying waste with fire and sword, and plundering everything. And after their frail houses were destroyed by fire, and a vast number of men had been slain, and the army, having nothing to face but corpses and suppliants, had arrived in the region called Capellatum, or Palas, where there are boundary stones marking the frontiers of the Allemanni and the Burgundians; the army pitched its camp, in order that Macrianus and Hariobaudus, brothers, and both kings, might be received by us, and delivered from their fears. Since they, thinking their destruction imminent, were coming with great anxiety to sue for peace.

16. And immediately after them King Vadomarius also came, whose abode was opposite Augst: and having produced some letters of the Emperor Constantius, in which he was strictly recommended to the protection of the Romans, he was courteously received, as became one who had been admitted by the emperor as a client of the Roman empire.

17. And Macrianus and his brother, being admitted among our eagles and standards, marvelled at the imposing appearance of our arms, and various resources which they had never seen before. And they offered up petitions on behalf of their people. But Vadomarius, who had met us before, since he was close to our frontier, admired indeed the appointments of our daring expedition, but remembered that he had often seen such before, ever since his childhood.

18. At last, after long deliberation, with the unanimous consent of all, peace was granted to Macrianus and Hariobaudus; but an answer could not be given to Vadomarius, who had come to secure his own safety, and also as an ambassador to intercede for the kings Urius, Ursicinus, and Vestralpus, imploring peace for them also; lest, as the barbarians are men of wavering faith, they might recover their spirits when our army was withdrawn, and refuse adherence to conditions procured by the agency of others.

19. But when they also, after their crops and houses had been burnt, and many of their soldiers had been slain |165 or taken prisoners, sent ambassadors of their own, and sued for mercy as if they had been guilty of similar violence to our subjects, they obtained peace on similar terms; of which that most rigorously insisted on was that they should restore all the prisoners which they had taken in their frequent incursions.

III.

§ 1. While the god-like wisdom of the Caesar was thus successful in Gaul, great disturbances arose in the court of the emperor, which from slight beginnings increased to grief and lamentations. Some bees swarmed on the house of Barbatio, at that time the commander of the infantry. And when he consulted the interpreters of prodigies on this event, he received for an answer, that it was an omen of great danger; the answer being founded on the idea that these animals, after they have fixed their abode, and laid up their stores, are usually expelled by smoke and the noisy din of cymbals.

2. Barbatio's wife was a woman called Assyria, neither silent nor prudent. And when he had gone on an expedition which caused her much alarm, she, because of the predictions which she recollected to have been given her, and being full of female vanity, having summoned a handmaid who was skilful in writing, and of whom she had become possessed by inheritance from her father Silvanus, sent an unseasonable letter to her husband, full of lamentations, and of entreaties that after the approaching death of Constantius, if he himself, as she hoped, was admitted to a share in the empire, he would not despise her, and prefer to marry Eusebia, who was Constantius's empress, and who was of a beauty equalled by few women.

3. She sent this letter as secretly as she could; but the maid, when the troops had returned from their expedition at the beginning of the night, took a copy of the letter which she had written at the dictation of her mistress, to Arbetio, and being eagerly admitted by him, she gave him the paper.

4. He, relying on this evidence, being at all times a man eager to bring forward accusations, conveyed it to the |166 emperor. As was usual, no delay was allowed, and Barbatio, who confessed that he had received the letter, and his wife, who was distinctly proved to have written it, were both beheaded.

5. After this execution, investigations were carried further, and many persons, innocent as well as guilty, were brought into question. Among whom was Valentinus, who having lately been an officer of the protectores, had been promoted to be a tribune; and he with many others was put to the torture as having been privy to the affair, though he was wholly ignorant of it. But he survived his sufferings; and as some compensation for the injury done to him, and for his danger, he received the rank of duke of Illyricum.

6. This same Barbatio was a man of rude and arrogant manners, and very unpopular, because while captain of the protectores of the household, in the time of Gallus Caesar, he was a false and treacherous man; and after he had attained the higher rank he became so elated that he invented calumnies against the Caesar Julian, and, though all good men hated him, whispered many wicked lies into the ever-ready ears of the emperor.

7. Being forsooth ignorant of the wise old saying of Aristotle, who when he sent Callisthenes, his pupil and relation, to the king Alexander, warned him to say as little as he could, and that only of a pleasant kind, before a man who carried the power of life and death on the tip of his tongue.

8. We should not wonder that mankind, whose minds we look upon as akin to those of the gods, can sometimes discern what is likely to be beneficial or hurtful to them, when even animals devoid of reason sometimes secure their own safety by profound silence, of which the following is a notorious instance:—

9. When the wild geese leave the East because of the heat, and seek a western climate, as soon as they reach Mount Taurus, which is full of eagles, fearing those warlike birds, they stop up their own beaks with stones, that not even the hardest necessity may draw a cry from them; they fly more rapidly than usual across that range, and when they have passed it they throw away the stones, and then proceed more securely. |167

IV.

§ 1. While these investigations were being carried on with great diligence at Sirmium, the fortune of the East sounded the terrible trumpet of danger. For the king of Persia, being strengthened by the aid of the fierce nations whom he had lately subdued, and being above all men ambitious of extending his territories, began to prepare men and arms and supplies, mingling hellish wisdom with his human counsels, and consulting all kinds of soothsayers about futurity. And when he had collected everything, he proposed to invade our territories at the first opening of the spring.

2. And when the emperor learnt this, at first by report, but subsequently by certain intelligence, and while all were in suspense from dread of the impending danger, the dependents of the court, hammering on the same anvil day and night (as the saying is), at the prompting of the eunuchs, held up Ursicinus as a Gorgon's head before the suspicious and timid emperor, continually repeating that, because on the death of Silvanus, in a dearth of better men, he had been sent to defend the eastern districts, he had become ambitions of still greater power.

3. And by this base compliance many tried to purchase the favour of Eusebius, at that time the principal chamberlain, with whom (if we are to say the real truth) Constantius had great influence, and who was now a bitter enemy of the safety of the master of the horse, Ursicinus, on two accounts; first, because he was the only person who did not need his assistance, as others did; and secondly, because he would not give up his house at Antioch, which Eusebius greatly coveted.

4. So this latter, like a snake abounding in poison, and exciting its offspring as soon as they can crawl to do mischief, stirred up the other chamberlains, that they, while performing their more private duties about the prince's person, with their thin and boyish voices, might damage the reputation of a brave man by pouring into the too open ears of the emperor accusations of great odium. And they soon did what they were commanded.

5. Disgust at this and similar events leads one to praise |168 Domitian, who although, by the unalterable detestation he incurred, has ever stained the memory of his father and his brother, still deserved credit for a most excellent law, by which he forbade with severe threats any one to castrate any boy within the limits of the Roman jurisdiction. For if there were no such edict, who could endure the swarms of such creatures as would exist, when it is so difficult to bear even a few of them?

6. However, they proceeded with caution, lest, as Eusebius suggested, if Ursicinus were again sent for, he should take alarm and throw everything into confusion; but it was proposed that on the first casual opportunity he should be put to death.

7. While they were waiting for this chance, and full of doubt and anxiety; and while we were tarrying a short time at Samosata, the greatest city of what had formerly been the kingdom of Commagene, we suddenly received frequent and consistent reports of some new commotions, which I will now proceed to relate.

V.

§ 1. A certain man named Antoninus, who from having been a wealthy merchant had become superintendent of the accounts of the duke of Mesopotamia, and after that entered the corps of the protectores, a man of experience and wisdom, and very well known in all that country. Being through the avarice of certain persons involved in heavy losses, and perceiving that while defending actions against men of influence he was being sunk lower and lower through injustice, since the judges who had to decide on his affairs sought, to gratify people in power, he, not wishing to kick against the pricks, bent himself to obsequious caresses; and confessing that he owed what was claimed of him, the claim, by collusion, was transferred to the treasury. He now, having resolved on a flagitious plan, began secretly to look into the secrets of the whole republic; and being acquainted with both languages, he devoted his attention to the accounts; |169 remarking the amount, quality, and situation of the different divisions of the army, and the employment of them on any expeditions; inquiring also with unwearied diligence into the extent of the supplies of arms and provisions, and other things likely to be needful in war.

2. And when he had made himself acquainted with all the internal circumstances of the East, and had learnt that a great portion of the troops and of the money for their pay was distributed in Illyricum, where the emperor himself was detained by serious business; as the day was now approaching which had been fixed for the payment of the money for which he had been constrained by fear to give an acknowledgment of his bond; and as he saw that he must be overwhelmed by disasters on all sides, since the chief treasurer was devoted to the interests of his adversary; he conceived the audacious design of crossing over to the Persians with his wife and children, and his whole numerous family of relations.

3. And to elude the observation of the soldiers at their different stations, he bought for a small price a farm in Hiaspis, a district on the banks of the Tigris. And, relying on this pretext, since no one would venture to ask why a landed proprietor should go to the extreme frontier of the Roman territory, as many others did the same, by the agency of some trusty friends who were skilful swimmers, he carried on frequent secret negotiations with Tamsapor, who was at that time governing the country on the other side of the river with the rank of duke, and with whom he was already acquainted. And at last, having received from the Persian camp an escort of well-mounted men, he embarked in some boats, and crossed over at night with all his family, in the same manner as Zopyrus, the betrayer of Babylon, had formerly done, only with an opposite object.

4. While affairs in Mesopotamia were in this state, the hangers-on of the palace, always singing the same song for our destruction, at last found a handle to injure the gallant Ursicinus; the gang of eunuchs being still the contrivers and promoters of the plot; since they are always sour tempered and savage, and having no relations, cling to riches as their dearest kindred.

5. The design now adopted was to send Sabinianus, a withered old man of great wealth, but infirm and timid |170 and from the lowness of his birth far removed from any office of command, to govern the districts of the East; while Ursicinus should be recalled to court, to command the infantry, as successor to Barbatio. And then he, this greedy promoter of revolution, as they called him, being within their reach, could easily be attacked by his bitter and formidable enemies.

6. While these things were going on in the camp of Constantius, as at a festival or a theatre, and while the dispensers of rank which was bought and sold were distributing the price agreed upon among the influential houses, Antoninus, having reached Sapor's winter quarters, was received with gladness; and being ennobled by the grant of a turban, an honour which gives admission to the royal table, and also that of assisting at and delivering one's opinion in the councils of the Persians, went onwards, not with a punt pole or a tar rope, as the proverb is (that is to say, not by any tedious or circuitous path), but with flowing sails into the conduct of state affairs, and stirring up Sapor, as formerly Maharbal roused the sluggish Hannibal, was always telling him that he knew how to conquer, but not how to use a victory.

7. For having been bred up in active life, and being a thorough man of business, he got possession of the feelings of his hearers, who like what tickles their ears, and who do not utter their praises aloud, but, like the Phaeacians in Homer, admire in silence, while he recounted the events of the last forty years; urging that, after all these continual wars, and especially the battles of Hileia and Singara, where that fierce combat by night took place, in which we lost a vast number of our men, as if some fecial had interposed to stop them, the Persians, though victorious, had never advanced as far as Edessa or the bridges over the Euphrates. Though with their warlike power |171 and splendid success, they might have pushed their advantages, especially at that moment, when in consequence of the protracted troubles of their civil wars the blood of the Romans was being poured out on all sides.

8. By these and similar speeches the deserter, preserving his sobriety at the banquets, where, after the fashion of the ancient Greeks, the Persians deliberate on war and other important affairs, stimulated the fiery monarch, and persuaded him to rely upon the greatness of his fortune, and to take up arms the moment that the winter was over, and he himself boldly promised his assistance in many important matters.

VI.

§ 1. About this time Sabinianus, being elated at the power which he had suddenly acquired, and having arrived in Cilicia, gave his predecessor letters from the emperor, desiring him to hasten to court to be invested with higher dignities. In fact the affairs of Asia were in such a state that, even if Ursicinus had been at Ultima Thule their urgency would have required him to be summoned thence to set them right, since he was a man of the ancient discipline, and from long experience especially skilful in the Persian manner of conducting war.

2. But when the report of this reached the provinces, all ranks of the citizens and agricultural population, by formal edicts and by unanimous outcries, endeavoured to detain him, almost forcibly, as the public defender of their country, remembering that though for ten years he had been left to his own resources with a scanty and unwarlike force, he had yet incurred no loss; and fearing for their safety if at so critical a time he should be removed and a man of utter inactivity assume the rule in his stead.

3. We believe, and indeed there is no doubt of it, that fame flies on wings through the paths of the air; and she it was who now gave information of these events to the Persians while deliberating on the entire aspect of affairs. At last, after marry arguments pro and con, they determined, on the advice of Antoninus, that as Ursicinus was removed, and as the new governor was contemptible, they might |172 venture to neglect laying siege to cities, an operation which would cause a mischievous loss of time, and at once cross the Euphrates, and advance further, in order, outstripping all rumour of their march, to occupy those provinces which, throughout all our wars, had always been safe (except in the time of Gallienus), and which, from their long enjoyment of peace, were very wealthy. And in this enterprise, with the favour of God, Antoninus offered himself as a most desirable guide.

4. His advice, therefore, being unanimously praised and adopted, and the attention of the whole nation being directed to the speedy collection of those things which were required, supplies, soldiers, arms, and equipments, the preparation of everything for the coming campaign was continued the whole winter.

5. In the mean time, we, hastening at the emperor's command towards Italy, after having been detained a short time on the western side of Mount Taurus, reached the river Hebrus, which descends from the mountains of the Odrysae, and there we received letters from the emperor, ordering us, without the least delay, to return to Mesopotamia, without any officers, and having, indeed, no important duty to discharge, since all the power had been transferred to another.

6. And this had been arranged by those mischievous meddlers in the government, in order that if the Persians failed and returned to their own country, our success might be attributed to the valour of the new governor; while, if our affairs turned out ill, Ursicinus might be impeached as a traitor to the republic.

7. Accordingly we, being tossed about without any reason, after much time had been lost, returned, and found Sabinianus, a man full of pride, of small stature, and of a petty and narrow mind, scarcely able without fear to encounter the slight noise of a beast, much less to face the crash of battle.

8. Nevertheless, since our spies brought positive and consistent intelligence that all kind of preparations were going on among the enemy, and since their report was confirmed by that of the deserters, while this manikin was in a state of perplexity, we hastened to Nisibis to |173 make such preparation as seemed requisite, lest the Persians, while concealing their intention to besiege it, should come upon it by surprise.

9. And while all things necessary were being pressed forward within the walls, continued fires and columns of smoke being seen on the other side of the Tigris, near the town called the Camp of the Moors, and Sisara, and the other districts on the Persian frontier, and spreading up to the city itself, showed that the predatory bands of the enemy had crossed the river, and entered our territories.

10. And therefore we hastened forwards with a forced march, to prevent the roads from being occupied; and when we had advanced two miles, we saw a fine boy of about eight years old, as we guessed, wearing a necklace, of noble appearance, standing on the top of a small hillock, and crying out, stating himself to be the son of a man of noble birth, whom his mother, while fleeing in her alarm at the approach of the enemy, had left in her panic in order to be less encumbered. We pitied him, and at the command of our general, I put him on my horse, in front of me, and took him back to the city, while the predatory bands of the enemy, having blockaded the city, were ravaging all around.

11. And because I was alarmed at the difficulties in which we should be placed by a blockade, I put the child in at a half open postern gate, and hastened back with all speed to my troop. And I was very nearly taken prisoner; for a tribune named Ahdigidus, accompanied by a groom, was fleeing, pursued by a squadron of cavalry, and though the master escaped the servant was taken. And as I was passing by rapidly, they, examining the servant, inquired of him who was the chief who had advanced against them; and when they heard that Ursicinus had a little while before entered the city, and was on his way to Mount Izala, they put their informant to death, and then, forming into one body, pursued us with ceaseless speed.

12. But I outstripped them by the speed of my horse, and finding my comrades reposing securely under the walls of a slight fort, called Amudis, with their horses dispersed over the grass, I waved my hand, and raising the hem of my cloak: by this usual signal I gave notice that the |174 enemy was at hand, and then joining them we retreated together, though my horse was greatly fatigued.

13. Our alarm was increased by the brightness of the night, as the moon was full, and by the even level of the plain, which, if our danger should become worse, afforded no possible hiding-place, as having neither trees, nor bushes, nor anything hut low herbage.

14. According we adopted the following plan: we lit a lamp and fastened it tightly on a horse, which we turned loose without a rider, and let go where it pleased to our left, while we marched towards the high ground on our right, in order that the Persians might fancy the light a torch held before the general as he proceeded slowly forwards, and so keep on in that direction. And unless we had adopted this precaution we should have been circumvented, and have fallen as prisoners into the power of the enemy.

15. Being delivered from this danger, when we had come to a woody spot, full of vines and fruit-bearing trees, called Meiacarire, a name derived from the cool springs found there, we found that the inhabitants had all fled, and there was only a single soldier remaining behind, concealed in a remote corner. And when he was brought, before our general, and through fear told all kinds of different stories, and so became an object of suspicion; at last, under the compulsion of our threats, he told the real truth, that he was a native of Gaul, and had been bom among the Parisii, that he had served in our cavalry, but that fearing punishment for some offence he had deserted to the Persians; that he had since married a wife of excellent character, and had a family, and that having been frequently sent as a spy to our camp, he had always brought the Persians true intelligence. And now he said he had been sent by the nobles Tamsapor and Nohodares, who were in command of the predatory bands, to bring them such intelligence as he could collect. After telling us this, and also that he know of the operations of the enemy, he was put to death.

16. Afterwards, as our anxiety increased, we proceeded from thence with as much speed as we could make to Amida, a city celebrated at a later period for the disaster which befel it. And when our scouts had rejoined us there |175 we found in one of their scabbards a scrap of parchment written in cipher, which they had been ordered to convey to us by Procopius, whom I have already spoken of as ambassador to the Persians with the Count Lucillianus; its terms were purposely obscure, lest if the bearers should be taken prisoners, and the sense of the writing understood, materials should be found for fatal mischief.

17. The purport was, "The ambassadors of the Greeks, having been rejected, and being perhaps to be put to death, the aged king, not contented with the Hellespont, will throw bridges over the Granicus and the Rhyndacus, and invade Asia Minor with a numerous host, being by his own natural disposition irritable and fierce; and being now prompted and inflamed by him who was formerly the successor of the Roman emperor Hadrian, it is all over with the Greeks if they do not take care."

18. The meaning of this was that the Persian king, having crossed the rivers Anzaba and Tigris, at the prompting of Antoninus was aiming at the sovereignty of the entire East. When it had been interpreted with difficulty, from its great obscurity, a wise plan was decided on.

19. The satrap of Corduena, a province under the authority of the Persians, was a man named Jovinianus, who had grown up to manhood in the Roman territories, and was secretly friendly to us, because he had been detained as a hostage in Syria, and being now allured by the love of liberal studies, he was exceedingly desirous to return among us.

20. To this man I, being sent with a faithful centurion, for the purpose of learning with greater certainty what was being done, reached him by travelling over pathless mountains, and dangerous defiles. And when he saw and recognized me, he received me courteously, and I avowed to him alone the reason of my coming; and having received from him a silent guide, well acquainted with the country, I was sent to some lofty rocks at a distance, from which, if one's eyes did not fail, one could see even the most minute object fifty miles off.

21. There we remained two whole days; and on the morning of the third day we saw all the circuit of the |176 earth, which we call the horizon, filled with countless hosts of men, and the king marching before them glittering with the brilliancy of his robes. And next to him on his left hand marched Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, a man of middle age, and wrinkled limbs, but of a grand spirit, and already distinguished for many victories. On his right hand was the king of the Albani, of equal rank and spendour. After them came various generals, renowned for their rank and power, who were followed by a multitude of all classes, picked from the flower of the neighbouring nations, and trained by long hardship to endure any toil or danger.

22. How long, O mendacious Greece, wilt thou tell us of Doriscus, the Thracian town, and of the army counted there in battalions in a fenced space, when we careful, or to speak more truly, cautious historians, exaggerate nothing, and merely record what is established by evidence neither doubtful nor uncertain!

VII.

§ 1. After the kings had passed by Nineveh, an important city of the province of Adiabena, they offered a sacrifice in the middle of the bridge over the Anzaba, and as the omens were favourable, they advanced with great joy; while we, calculating that the rest of their host could hardly pass over in three days, returned with speed to the satrap, and rested, refreshing ourselves by his hospitable kindness.

2. And returning from thence through a deserted and solitary country, under the pressure of great necessity, and reaching our army more rapidly than could have been expected, we brought to those who were hesitating the certain intelligence that the kings had crossed over the river by a bridge of boats, and were marching straight towards us.

3. Without delay, therefore, horsemen with horses of picked speed were sent to Cassianus, duke of Mesopotamia, and to Euphronius, at that time the governor of the province, to compel the residents in the country to retire |177 with their families and all their flocks to a safer place; and to quit at once the town of Carrae, which was defended by very slight walls; and further, to burn all the standing crops, that the enemy might get no supplies from the land.

4. And when these orders had been executed, as they were without delay, and when the fire was kindled, the violence of the raging element so completely destroyed all the corn, which was just beginning to swell and turn yellow, and all the young herbage, that from the Euphrates to the Tigris nothing green was to be seen. And many wild beasts were burnt, and especially lions, who infest these districts terribly, but who are often destroyed or blinded in this manner.

5. They wander in countless droves among the beds of rushes on the banks of the rivers of Mesopotamia, and in the jungles; and lie quiet all the winter, which is very mild in that country. But when the warm weather returns, as these regions are exposed to great heat, they are forced out by the vapours, and by the size of the gnats, with swarms of which every part of that country is filled. And these winged insects attack the eyes, as being both moist and sparkling, sitting on and biting the eyelids; the lions, unable to bear the torture, are either drowned in the rivers, to which they flee for refuge, or else by frequent scratchings tear their eyes out themselves with their claws, and then become mad. And if this did |178 not happen the whole of the East would he overrun with beasts of this kind.

6. While the plains were thus being laid waste by fire, as I have described, the tribunes, who were sent with a body of protectores, fortified all the western bank of the Euphrates with castles and sharp palisades and every kind of defence, fixing also large engines for hurling missiles on those spots where the more tranquil condition of the river made it likely that the enemy might attempt to cross.

7. While these things were being expeditiously done, Sabinianus, chosen in the hurried moment of general danger as the fittest conductor of an internecine war, was living luxuriously, according to his custom, at the tombs of Edessa, as if he had established peace with the dead, and had nothing to fear: and he took especial pleasure in breaking the silence of the place with the sounding measures of the martial pyathicari, instead of the usual theatrical exhibitions; a fancy, considering the place, pregnant with omens. Since these and similar gloomy scenes foreshow future commotions, as we learn in the progress of time, all good men ought to avoid them.

8. In the mean time, passing by Nisibis as of no importance, while the conflagration increased through the dryness of the crops, the kings, dreading a scarcity of food, marched through the grassy valleys at the foot of the mountains.

9. When they had arrived at a small place called Bebase (from which place to the town of Constantina, which is one hundred miles distant, the whole country is an arid desert, except where a little water is found in some wells), they hesitated for some time, doubting what to do; and at last resolving to proceed in reliance on the endurance of their men, they learnt from a trusty spy that the Euphrates was swollen by the melting of the snow, and was now extensively inundating the adjacent lands, and so could not possibly be forded.

10. Therefore they turned to see what opportunities chance might afford them, being now cut off unexpectedly from the hope which they had conceived. And in the |179 present emergency a council was held, at which Antoninus was requested to give his advice: and he counselled them to direct their march to the right, so that by a longer circuit they might reach the two strong forts of Barzala and Laudias, to which he could guide them through a region fertile in everything, and still undestroyed, since the march of the army was expected to be made in a straight line. And the only river on their road was one small and narrow, to be passed near its source, before it was increased by any other streams, and easily fordable.

11. When they had heard this, they praised their adviser, and bidding him lead the way, the whole army turned from its previously appointed line, and followed his guidance.

VIII.

§ 1. When our generals received intelligence of this from their spies, we settled to march in haste to Samosata, in order to cross the river at that point, and destroying the bridges at Zeugma and Capersana, to check the invasion of the enemy if we could find a favourable chance for attacking them.

2. But we met with a sad disaster, worthy to be buried in profound silence. For two squadrons of cavalry, of about seven hundred men, who had just been sent from Illyricum to Mesopotamia as a reinforcement, and who were guarding the passes, becoming enervated and timid, and fearing a surprise by night, withdrew from the public causeways in the evening, a time above all others when they most required watching.

3. And when it was remarked that they were all sunk in wine and sleep, about twenty thousand Persians, under the command of Tamsapor and Nohodares, passed without any one perceiving them, and fully armed as they were, concealed themselves behind the high ground in the neighbourhood of Amida.

4. Presently, when (as has been said) we started before daybreak on our march to Samosata, our advanced guard, on reaching a high spot which commanded a more distant view, was suddenly alarmed by the glitter of shining arms; and cried out in a hurried manner that the enemy |180 were at hand. Upon this the signal for battle was given, and we halted in a solid column, never thinking of fleeing, since, indeed, those who would have pursued us were in sight; nor to engage in battle with an enemy superior to us in numbers, and especially in cavalry; but seeing the necessity for caution in the danger of certain death which lay before us.

5. At last, when it seemed clear that a battle could not be avoided, and while we were still hesitating what to do, some of our men rashly advanced as skirmishers, and were slain. And then, as each side pressed onwards, Antoninus, ambitiously marching in front of the enemy, was recognized by Ursicinus, and addressed by him in a tone of reproach, and called a traitor and a scoundrel; till at last, taking off the tiara which he wore on his head as a badge of honour, he dismounted from his horse, and bending down till his face nearly touched the ground, he saluted the Roman general, calling him patron and master; and holding his hands behind his back, which among the Assyrians is a gesture of supplication, he said, "Pardon me, most noble count, who have been driven to this guilt by necessity, not by my own will. My creditors, as you know, drove me headlong into it: men whose avarice even your high authority, which tried to support me in my distress, could not overcome." Having said this, he withdrew without turning his back upon him, but retiring backwards in a respectful manner, with his face towards him.

6. And while this was taking place, which did not occupy above half an hour, our second rank, which occupied the higher ground, cried out that another body of cuirassiers appeared behind, and was coming on with great speed.

7. And then, as is often the case at critical moments, doubting which enemy we ought, or even could resist, and being pressed on all sides by an overwhelming mass, we dispersed in every direction, each fleeing where he could. And while every one was trying to extricate himself from the danger, we were brought, without any order, face to face with the enemy.

8. And so struggling vigorously while giving up all desire of saving our lives, we were driven back to the high banks of the Tigris. Some of our men, driven into |181 the water where it was shallow, locked their arms, and so made a stand; others were carried off by the current and drowned; some, still fighting with the enemy, met with various fortune, or, panic-stricken at the numbers of the barbarians, sought the nearest defiles of Mount Taurus. Among these was the general himself, who was recognized and surrounded by a vast body of the enemy; but he escaped with the tribune Aiadalthes and one groom, being saved by the swiftness of his horse.

9. I myself was separated from my comrades, and while looking round to see what to do, I met with one of the protectores named Verennianus, whose thigh was pierced through by an arrow, and while at his entreaty I was trying to pull it out, I found myself surrounded on all sides by Persians, some of whom had passed beyond me. I therefore hastened back with all speed towards the city, which, being placed on high ground, is only accessible by one very narrow path on the side on which we were attacked; and that path is made narrower still by escarpments of the rocks, and barriers built on purpose to make the approach more difficult.

10. Here we became mingled with the Persians, who were hastening with a run, racing with us, to make themselves masters of the higher ground: and till the dawn of the next day we stood without moving, so closely packed, that the bodies of those who were slain were so propped up by the mass that they could not find room to fall to the ground; and a soldier in front of me, whose head was cloven asunder into equal portions by a mighty sword-blow, still stood upright like a log, being pressed upon all sides.

11. And although javelins were incessantly hurled from the battlements by every kind of engine, yet we were protected from that danger by the proximity of the walls. And at last I got in at the postern gate, which I found thronged by a multitude of both sexes flocking in from the neighbouring districts. For it happened by chance on these very days that it was the time of a great animal fair which was held in the suburbs, and which was visited by multitudes of the country people.

12. In the mean time all was in disorder with every kind of noise; some bewailing those whom they had lost; |182 others being mortally wounded; and many calling on their different relations whom the crowd prevented them from discovering.

IX.

§ 1. This city had formerly been a very small one, till Constantius while Caesar, at the same time that he built another town called Antinopolis, surrounded Amida also with strong towers and stout walls, that the people in the neighbourhood might have a safe place of refuge. And he placed there a store of mural engines, making it formidable to the enemy, as he wished it to be called by his own name.

2. On the southern side it is watered by the Tigris, which passes close to it, making a kind of elbow: on the east it looks towards the plains of Mesopotamia, on the north it is close to the river Nymphaeus, and is overshadowed by the chain of Mount Taurus, which separates the nations on the other side of the Tigris from Armenia. On the west it borders on the province of Gumathena, a fertile and well cultivated district, in which is a village known as Abarne, celebrated for the healing properties of its hot springs. But in the very centre of Amida, under the citadel, there rises a rich spring of water, drinkable indeed, but often tainted with hot vapours.

3. In the garrison of this town, the fifth or Parthian legion was always located with a considerable squadron of native cavalry. But at that time six legions, by forced marches, had outstripped the Persian host in its advance, and greatly strengthened the garrison: they were the Magnentian and Decentian legions whom, after the end of the civil war, the emperor had sent as mutinous and discontented to the East, since there the only danger was from foreign wars: the tenth, and the thirteenth legion called the Fretensian: and two legions of light infantry called praeventores and superventores, with Aelian, who was now a count. Of these latter, when only new recruits, |183 we have already spoken, as sallying out from Singara at the instigation of this same Aelian, then only one of the guard, and slaying a great number of Persians whom they had surprised in their sleep.

4. There was also the greater part of the force called companion archers, being squadrons of cavalry so named, in which all the freeborn barbarians serve, and who are conspicuous among all others for the splendour of their arms and for their prowess.

X.

§ 1. While the first onset of the Persians was by its unexpected vehemence throwing these troops into disorder, the king, with his native and foreign troops, having after leaving Bebase turned his march to the right, according to the advice of Antoninus, passed by Horre and Meiacarire and Charcha, as if he meant also to pass by Amida. And when he had come near the Roman forts, one of which is called Reman, and the other Busan, he learnt from some deserters that many persons had removed their treasures there for protection, trusting to their lofty and strong walls; and it was also added that there was there, with a great many valuables, a woman of exquisite beauty, the wife of a citizen of Nisibis named Craugasius, of great consideration by birth, character, and influence; with her little daughter.

2. Sapor, eager to seize what belonged to another, hastened on, and attacked the castle with force; and the garrison, being seized with a sudden panic at the variety of arms of the assailants, surrendered themselves, and all who had fled to them for protection; and at the first summons gave up the keys of the gates. Possession being taken, all that was stored there was ransacked; women bewildered with fear were dragged forth; and children clinging to their mothers were taught bitter suffering at the very beginning of their infancy.

3. And when Sapor, by asking each whose wife she was, had found that of Craugasius trembling with fear of violence, he allowed her to come in safety to him, and when he saw her, veiled as she was with a black veil to her lips, he kindly encouraged her with a promise that |184 she should recover her husband, and that her honour should be preserved inviolate. For hearing that her husband was exceedingly devoted to her, he thought that by this bribe he might win him over to betray Nisibis.

4. And he also extended his protection to other virgins who, according to Christian rites, had been formally consecrated to the service of God, ordering that they should be kept uninjured, and be allowed to perform the offices of religion as they had been accustomed. Affecting clemency for a time, in order that those who were alarmed at his former ferocity and cruelty might now discard their fears, and come to him of their own accord, learning from these recent examples that he tempered the greatness of his success with humanity and courtesy.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 19. pp. 184-211.

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 19. pp. 184-211.

I. Sapor, while exhorting the citizens of Amida to surrender, is assailed with arrows and javelins by the garrison—And when king Grumbates makes a similar attempt, his son is slain.

II. Amida is blockaded, and within two days is twice assaulted by the Persians.

III. Ursicinus makes a vain proposal to sally out by night, and surprise the besiegers, being resisted by Sabinianus, the commander of the forces.

IV. A pestilence, which breaks out in Amida, is checked within ten days by a little rain. A discussion of the causes, and different kinds of pestilences.

V. Amida, betrayed by a deserter, is assailed both by assaults on the walls and by underground mines.

VI. A sally of the Gallic legions does great harm to the Persians.

VII. Towers and other engines are brought close to the walls of the city, but they are burnt by the Romans.

VIII. Attempts are made to raise lofty mounds close to the walls of Amida, and by these means it is entered— After the fall of the city, Marcellinus escapes by night, and flees to Antioch.

IX. Of the Roman generals at Amida, some are put to death, and others are kept as prisoners—Craugasius of Nisibis deserts to the Persians from love of his wife, who is their prisoner.

X. The people of Rome, fearing a scarcity, become seditious.

XI. The Limigantes of Sarmatia, under pretence of suing for peace, attack Constantius, who is deceived by their trick; but are driven back with heavy loss.

XII. Many are prosecuted for treason, and condemned.

XIII. Lauricius, of the Isaurians, checks the hordes of banditti. |185

BOOK XIX.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

§ 1. The king, rejoicing at this our disaster and captivity, and expecting other successes, advanced from this castle, and marching slowly, on the third day came to Amida.

2. And at daybreak, everything, as far as we could see, glittered with shining arms; and an iron cavalry filled the plains and the hills.

3. And he himself, mounted on his charger, and being taller than the rest, led his whole army, wearing instead of a crown a golden figure of a ram's head inlaid with jewels; being also splendid from the retinue of men of high rank and of different nations which followed him. And it was evident that his purpose was merely to try the garrison of the walls with a parley, as, in following out the counsel of Antoninus, he was hastening to another quarter.

4. But the deity of heaven, mercifully limiting the disasters of the empire within the compass of one region, led on this king to such an extravagant degree of elation, that he seemed to believe that the moment he made his appearance the besieged would be suddenly panic-stricken, and have recourse to supplication and entreaty.

5. He rode up to the gates, escorted by the cohort of his royal guard; and while pushing on more boldly, so that his very features might be plainly recognized, his ornaments made him such a mark for arrows and other missiles, that he would have been slain, if the dust had not hindered the sight of those who were shooting at him; so that after a part of his robe had been cut off by a blow of a javelin, he escaped to cause vast slaughter at a future time.

6. After this, raging as if against sacrilegious men who had violated a temple, he cried out that the lord of so many monarchs and nations had been insulted, and resolved to use all his efforts to destroy the city. But at the entreaty of his choicest generals not to break the example of mercy which he had so gloriously set, by indulging in anger, he was pacified, and the next day ordered the garrison to be summoned to surrender.

7. Therefore, at daybreak, Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, went boldly up to the walls to effect that object, |186 with a brave body of guards; and when a skilful reconnoitrer had noticed him coming within shot, he let fly his balista, and struck down his son in the flower of his youth, who was at his father's side, piercing through his breastplate, breast and all; and he was a prince who in stature and beauty was superior to all his comrades.

8. At his death all his countrymen took to flight, but presently returning in order to prevent his body from being carried off, and having roused with their dissonant clamours various tribes to their aid, a stern conflict arose, the arrows flying on both sides like hail.

9. The deadly struggle having been continued till the close of day, it was nightfall before the corpse of the young prince, which had been so stubbornly defended, was extricated from the heap of dead and streams of blood, amid the thick darkness; as formerly at Troy, the armies fought in furious combat for the comrade of the Thessalian chieftain.

10. At his death the count was sad, and all the nobles as well as his father were distressed at his sudden loss; and a cessation of arms having been ordered, the youth, so noble and beloved, was mourned after the fashion of his nation. He was carried out in the arms he was wont to wear, and placed on a spacious and lofty pile; around him ten couches were dressed, bearing effigies of dead men, so carefully laid out, that they resembled corpses already buried; and for seven days all the men in the companies and battalions celebrated a funeral feast, dancing, and singing melancholy kinds of dirges in lamentation for the royal youth.

11. And the women, with pitiable wailing, deplored with their customary weepings the hope of their nation thus cut off in the early bloom of youth; as the worshippers of Venus are often seen to do in the solemn festival of Adonis, which the mystical doctrines of religion show to be some sort of image of the ripened fruits of the earth.

II.

§ 1. When the body was burnt and the bones collected in a silver urn, which his father had ordered to be carried |187 back to his native land, to be there buried beneath the earth, Sapor, after taking counsel, determined to propitiate the shade of the deceased prince by making the destroyed city of Amida his monument. Nor indeed was Grumbates willing to move onward while the shade of his only son remained unavenged.

2. And having given two days to rest, and sent out large bodies of troops to ravage the fertile and well-cultivated fields which were as heavy with crops as in the time of peace, the enemy surrounded the city with a line of heavy-armed soldiers five deep; and at the beginning of the third day the brilliant squadrons filled every spot as far as the eye could see in every direction, and the ranks marching slowly, took up the positions appointed to each by lot.

3. All the Persians were employed in surrounding the walls; that part which looked eastward, where that youth so fatal to us was slain, fell to the Chionitae. The Vertae were appointed to the south; the Albani watched the north; while opposite to the western gate were posted the Segestani, the fiercest warriors of all, with whom were trains of tall elephants, horrid with their wrinkled skins, which marched on slowly, loaded with armed men, terrible beyond the savageness of any other frightful sight, as we have often said.

4. When we saw these countless hosts thus deliberately collected for the conflagration of the Roman world, and directed to our own immediate destruction, we despaired of safety, and sought only how to end our lives gloriously, as we all desired.

5. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the enemy's lines stood immovable, as if rooted to the ground, without changing a step or uttering a sound; nor was even the neigh of a horse heard; and the men having withdrawn in the same order as they had advanced, after refreshing themselves with food and sleep, even before the dawn, returned, led by the clang of brazen trumpets, to surround the city, as if fated to fall with their terrible ring.

6. And scarcely had Grumbates, like a Roman fecial, hurled at us a spear stained with blood, according to his native fashion, than the whole army, rattling their arms, mounted up to the walls, and instantly the tumult of |188 war grew fierce, while all the squadrons hastened with speed and alacrity to the attack, and our men on their side opposed them with equal fierceness and resolution.

7. Soon many of the enemy fell with their heads crushed by vast stones hurled from scorpions, some were pierced with arrows, others were transfixed with javelins, and strewed the ground with their bodies; others, wounded, fled back in haste to their comrades.

8. Nor was there less grief or less slaughter in the city, where the cloud of arrows obscured the air, and the vast engines, of which the Persians had got possession when they took Singara, scattered wounds everywhere.

9. For the garrison, collecting all their forces, returning in constant reliefs to the combat, in their eagerness to defend the city, fell wounded, to the hindrance of their comrades, or, being sadly torn as they fell, threw down those who stood near them, or if still alive, sought the aid of those skilful in extracting darts which had become fixed in their bodies.

10. So slaughter was met by slaughter, and lasted till the close of day, being scarcely stopped by the darkness of evening, so great was the obstinacy with which both sides fought.

11. And the watches of the night were passed under arms, and the hills resounded with the shouts raised on both sides, while our men extolled the valour of Constantius Caesar as lord of the empire and of the world, and the Persians styled Sapor Saansas and Pyroses, which appellations mean king of kings, and conqueror in wars.

12. The next morning, before daybreak, the trumpet gave the signal, and countless numbers from all sides flocked like birds to a contest of similar violence; and in every direction, as far as the eye could reach, nothing could be seen in the plains and valleys but the glittering arms of these savage nations.

13. And presently a shout was raised, and as the enemy rushed forward all at once, they were met by a dense shower of missiles from the walls; and as may be conjectured, none were hurled in vain, falling as they did among so dense a crowd. For while so many evils surrounded us, we fought as I have said before, with the hope, not of procuring safety, but of dying bravely; and from |189 dawn to eventide the battle was evenly balanced, both fighting with more ferocity than method, and there arose the shouts of men striking and falling, so that from the eagerness of both parties there was scarcely any one who did not give or receive wounds.

14. At last, night put an end to the slaughter, and the losses on both sides caused a longer truce. For when the time intended for rest was allowed to us, continual sleepless toil still exhausted our little remaining strength, in spite of the dread caused by the bloodshed and the pallid faces of the dying, whom the scantiness of our room did not permit us even the last solace of burying; since within the circuit of a moderate city there were seven legions, and a vast promiscuous multitude of citizens and strangers of both sexes, and other soldiers, so that at least twenty thousand men were shut up within the walls.

15. So each attended to his own wounds as well as he could, availing himself of whatever assistance or remedies came in his way. While some, being severely wounded, died of loss of blood; and some, pierced through by swords, lay on the ground, and breathed their last in the open air; others who were pierced through and through the skilful refused to touch, in order not to pain them further by inflicting useless sufferings; some, seeking the doubtful remedy of extracting the arrows, only incurred agonies worse than death.

III.

§ 1. While the war was going on in this manner around Amida, Ursicinus, vexed at being dependent on the will of another, gave continual warning to Sabinianus, who had superior authority over the soldiers, and who still remained in the quarter of the tombs, to collect all his light-armed troops, and hasten by secret paths along the foot of the mountain chain, with the idea that by the aid of this light force, if chance should aid them, they might surprise some of the enemy's outposts, and attack with success the night watches of the army, which, with its vast circuit, was surrounding the walls, or else by incessant attacks might harass those who clung resolutely to the blockade.

2. But Sabinianus rejected this proposal as mischievous, |190 and produced some letters from the emperor, expressly enjoining that all that could be done was to be done without exposing the troops to any danger; but his own secret motive he kept in his own bosom, namely, that he had been constantly recommended while at court to refuse his predecessor, who was very eager for glory, every opportunity of acquiring renown, however much it might be for the interest of the republic.

3. Extreme pains were taken, even to the ruin of the provinces, to prevent the gallant Ursicinus from being spoken of as the author of or partner in any memorable exploit. Therefore, bewildered with these misfortunes, Ursicinus, seeing that, though constantly sending spies to us (although from the strict watch that was set it was not easy for any one to enter the city), and proposing many advantageous plans, he did no good, seemed like a lion, terrible for his size and fierceness, but with his claws cut and his teeth drawn, so that he could not dare to save from danger his cubs entangled in the nets of the hunters.

IV.

§ 1. But in the city, where the number of the corpses which lay scattered over the streets was too great for any one to perform the funeral rites over them, a pestilence was soon added to the other calamities of the citizens; the carcases becoming full of worms and corruption, from the evaporation caused by the heat, and the various diseases of the people; and here I will briefly explain whence diseases of this kind arise.

2. Both philosophers and skilful physicians agree that excess of cold, or of heat, or of moisture, or of drought, all cause pestilences; on which account those who dwell in marshy or wet districts are subject to coughs and complaints in the eyes, and other similar maladies: on the other hand, those who dwell in hot climates are liable to fevers and inflammations. But since fire is the most powerful of all elements, so drought is the quickest at killing.

3. On this account it is that when the Greeks were toiling at the ten years' war, to prevent a foreigner from |191 profiting by his violation of a royal marriage, a pestilence broke out among them, and numbers died by the darts of Apollo, who is the same as the Sun.

4. Again, as Thucydides relates, that pestilence which at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war harassed the Athenians with a most cruel kind of sickness, came by slow steps from the burning plains of Ethiopia to Attica.

5. Others maintain that the air and the water, becoming tainted by the smell of corpses, and similar things, takes away the healthiness of a place, or at all events that the sudden change of temperature brings forth slighter sicknesses.

6. Some again affirm that the air becomes heavier by emanations from the earth, and kills some individuals by checking the perspiration of the body, for which reason we learn from Homer, that, besides men, the other living creatures also died; and we know by many instances, that in such plagues this does occur.

7. Now the first species of pestilence is called pandemic; this causes those who live in dry places to be attacked by frequent heats. The second is called epidemic, which gets gradually more violent, dims the sight of the eyes, and awakens dangerous humours. The third is called loemodes, which is also temporary, but still often kills with great rapidity.

8. We were attacked by this deadly pestilence from the excessive heat, which our numbers aggravated, though but few died: and at last, on the night after the tenth day from the first attack, the heavy and dense air was softened by a little rain, and the health of the garrison was restored and preserved.

V.

§ 1. In the mean time the restless Persians were surrounding the city with a fence of wicker-work, and mounds were commenced; lofty towers also were constructed with iron fronts, in the top of each of which a balista was placed, in order to drive down the |192 garrison from the battlements; but during the whole time the shower of missiles from the archers and slingers never ceased for a moment.

2. We had with us two of the legions which had served under Magnentius, and which, as we have said, had lately been brought from Gaul, composed of brave and active men well adapted for conflicts in the plain; but not only useless for such a kind of war as that by which we were now pressed, but actually in the way. For as they had no skill either in working the engines, or in constructing works, but wore continually making foolish sallies, and fighting bravely, they always returned with diminished numbers; doing just as much good, as the saying is, as a bucket of water brought by a single hand to a general conflagration.

3. At last, when the gates were completely blocked, and they were utterly unable to get out, in spite of the entreaties of their tribunes, they became furious as wild beasts. But on subsequent occasions their services became conspicuous, as we shall show.

4. In a remote part of the walls on the southern side, which looks down on the Tigris, there was a high tower, below which yawned an abrupt precipice, which it was impossible to look over without giddiness. From this by a hollow subterranean passage along the foot of the mountain some steps were cut with great skill, which led up to the level of the city, by which water was secretly obtained from the river, as we have seen to be the case in all the fortresses in that district which are situated on any river.

5. This passage was dark, and because of the precipitous character of the rock was neglected by the besiegers, till, under the guidance of a deserter who went over to them, seventy Persian archers of the royal battalion, men of eminent skill and courage, being protected by the remoteness of the spot which prevented their being heard, climbed up by the steps one by one at midnight, and reached the third story of the tower. There they concealed themselves till daybreak, when they held out a scarlet cloak as a signal for commencing an assault, when they saw that the city was entirely surrounded by the multitude of their comrades; and then they emptied their quivers and threw them down |193 at their feet, and with loud cries shot their arrows among the citizens with prodigious skill.

6. And presently the whole of the mighty host of the enemy assaulted the city with more ferocity than ever. And while we stood hesitating and perplexed to know which danger to oppose first, whether to make head against the foe above us, or against the multitude who were scaling the battlements with ladders, our force was divided; and five of the lighter balistae were brought round and placed so as to attack our tower. They shot out heavy wooden javelins with great rapidity, sometimes transfixing two of our men at one blow, so that many of them fell to the ground severely wounded, and some jumped down in haste from fear of the creaking engines, and being terribly lacerated by the fall, died.

7. But by measures promptly taken, the walls were again secured on that side, and the engines replaced in their former situation.

8. And since the crime of desertion had increased the labours of our soldiers, they, full of indignation, moved along the battlements as if on level ground, hurling missiles of all kinds, and exerting themselves so strenuously that the Virtae, who were attacking on the south side, were repulsed covered by wounds, and retired in consternation to their tents, having to lament the fall of many of their number.

VI.

§ 1. Thus fortune showed us a ray of safety, granting us one day in which we suffered but little, while the enemy sustained a heavy loss; the remainder of the day was given to rest in order to recruit our strength; and at the dawn of the next morning we saw from the citadel an innumerable multitude, which, after the capture of the fort called Ziata, was being led to the enemy's camp. For a promiscuous multitude had taken refuge in Ziata on account of its size and strength; it being a place ten furlongs in circumference.

2. In those days many other fortresses also were stormed and burnt, and many thousands of men and women carried off from them into slavery; among whom were many men |194 and women, enfeebled by age, who, fainting from different causes, broke down under the length of the journey, gave up all desire of life, and were hamstrung and left behind.

3. The Gallic soldiers beholding these wretched crowds, demanded by a natural but unseasonable impulse to be led against the forces of the enemy, threatening their tribunes and principal centurions with death if they refused them leave.

4. And as wild beasts kept in cages, being rendered more savage by the smell of blood, dash themselves against their movable bars in the hope of escaping, so these men smote the gates, which we have already spoken of as being blockaded, with their swords; being very anxious not to be involved in the destruction of the city till they had done some gallant exploit; or, if they ultimately escaped from their dangers, not to be spoken of as having done nothing worth speaking of, or worthy of their Gallic courage. Although when they had sallied out before, as they had often done, and had inflicted some loss on the raisers of the mounds, they had always experienced equal loss themselves.

5. We, at a loss what to do, and not knowing what resistance to oppose to these furious men, at length, having with some difficulty won their consent thereto, decided, since the evil could be endured no longer, to allow them to attack the Persian advanced guard, which was not much beyond bow-shot; and then, if they could force their line, they might push their advance further. For it was plain that if they succeeded in this, they would cause a great slaughter of the enemy.

6. And while the preparations for this sally were being made, the walls were still gallantly defended with unmitigated labour and watching, and planting engines for shooting stones and darts in every direction. But two high mounds had been raised by the Persian infantry, and the blockade of the city was still pressed forward by gradual operations; against which our men, exerting themselves still more vigorously, raised also immense structures, topping the highest works of the enemy; and sufficiently strong to support the immense weight of their defenders.

7. In the mean time the Gallic troops, impatient of delay, |195 armed with their axes and swords, went forth from the open postern gate, taking advantage of a dark and moonless night. And imploring the Deity to be propitious, and repressing even their breath when they got near the enemy, they advanced with quick step and in close order, slew some of the watch at the outposts, and the outer sentinels of the camp (who were asleep, fearing no such event), and entertained secret hopes of penetrating even to the king's tent if fortune assisted them.

8. But some noise, though slight, was made by them in their march, and the groans of the slain aroused many from sleep; and while each separately raised the cry "to arms," our soldiers halted and stood firm, not venturing to move any further forward. For it would not have been prudent, now that those whom they sought to surprise were awakened, to hasten into open danger, while the bands of Persians were now heard to be flocking to battle from all quarters.

9. Nevertheless the Gallic troops, with undiminished strength and boldness, continued to hew down their foes with their swords, though some of their own men were also slain, pierced by the arrows which were flying from all quarters; and they still stood firm, when they saw the whole danger collected into one point, and the bands of the enemy coming on with speed; yet no one turned his back: and they withdrew, retiring slowly as if in time to music, and gradually fell behind the pales of the camp, being unable to sustain the weight of the battalions pressing close upon them, and being deafened by the clang of the Persian trumpets.

10. And while many trumpets in turn poured out their clang from the city, the gates were opened to receive our men, if they should be able to reach them: and the engines for missiles creaked, though no javelins were shot from them, in order that the captains of the advanced guard of the Persians, ignorant of the slaughter of their comrades, might be terrified by the noise into falling back, and so allowing our gallant troops to be admitted in safety.

11. And owing to this manoeuvre, the Gauls about daybreak entered the gate although with diminished numbers; many of them severely and others slightly wounded. They lost four hundred men this night, when if they had |196 not been hindered by more formidable obstacles, they would have slain in his very tent not Rhesus nor Thracians sleeping before the walls of Troy, but the king of Persia, surrounded by one hundred thousand armed men.

12. To their leaders, as champions of valiant actions, the emperor, after the fall of the city, ordered statues in armour to be erected at Edessa in a frequented spot. And those statues are preserved up to the present time unhurt.

13. When the next day showed the slaughter which had been made, nobles and satraps were found lying amongst the corpses, and all kinds of dissonant cries and tears indicated the changed posture of the Persian host: everywhere was heard wailing; and great indignation was expressed by the princes, who thought that the Romans had forced their way through the sentries in front of the walls. A truce was made for three days by the common consent of both armies, and we gladly accepted a little respite in which to take breath.

VII.

§ 1. Now the nations of the barbarians, being amazed at the novelty of this attempt, and rendered by it more savage than ever, discarding all delay, determined to proceed with their works, since open assaults availed them but little. And with extreme warlike eagerness they all now hastened to die gloriously, or else to propitiate the souls of the dead by the ruin of the city.

2. And now, the necessary preparations having been completed by the universal alacrity, at the rising of the day-star all kinds of structures and iron towers were brought up to the walls; on the lofty summits of which balistae were fitted, which beat down the garrison who were placed on lower ground.

3. And when day broke the iron coverings of the bodies of the foe darkened the whole heaven, and the dense lines advanced without any skirmishers in front, and not in an irregular manner as before, but to the regular and soft music of trumpets; protected by the roofs of the engines, and holding before them wicker shields.

4. And when they came within reach of our missiles, the |197 Persian infantry, holding their shields in front of them, and even then having difficulty in avoiding the arrows which were shot from the engines on the walls, for scarcely any kind of weapon found an empty space, they broke their line a little; and even the cuirassiers were checked and began to retreat, which raised the spirits of our men.

5. Still the balistae of the enemy, placed on their iron towers, and pouring down missiles with great power from their high ground on those in a lower position, spread a great deal of slaughter in our ranks. At last, when evening came on, both sides retired to rest, and the greater part of the night was spent by us in considering what device could be adopted to resist the formidable engines of the enemy.

6. At length, after we had considered many plans, we determined on one which the rapidity with which it could be executed made the safest—to oppose four scorpions to the four balistae; which were carefully moved (a very difficult operation) from the place in which they were; but before this work was finished, day arrived, bringing us a mournful sight, inasmuch as it showed us the formidable battalions of the Persians, with their trains of elephants, the noise and size of which animals are such that nothing more terrible can be presented to the mind of man.

7. And while we were pressed on all sides with the vast masses of arms, and works, and beasts, still our scorpions were kept at work with their iron slings, hurling huge round stones from the battlements, by which the towers of the enemy were crushed and the balistae and those who worked them were dashed to the ground, so that many were desperately injured, and many crushed by the weight of the falling structures. And the elephants were driven back with violence, and surrounded by the flames which we poured forth against them, the moment that they were wounded retired, and could not be restrained by their riders. The works were all burnt, but still there was no cessation from the conflict.

8. For the king of the Persians himself, who is never expected to mingle in the fight, being indignant at those disasters, adopting a new and unprecedented mode of action, sprang forth like a common soldier among his own dense columns; and as the very number of his guards made him the more conspicuous to us who looked from afar on the |198 scene, he was assailed by numerous missiles, and was forced to retire after he had lost many of his escort, while his troops fell back by echellons; and at the end of the day, though frightened neither by the sad sight of the slaughter nor of the wounds, he at length allowed a short period to be given to rest.

VIII.

§ 1. Night had put an end to the combat; and when a slight rest had been procured from sleep, the moment that the dawn, looked for as the harbinger of better fortune, appeared, Sapor, full of rage and indignation, and perfectly reckless, called forth his people to attack us. And as his works were all burnt, as we have related, and the attack had to be conducted by means of their lofty mounds raised close to our walls, we also from mounds within the walls, as fast as we could raise them, struggled in spite of all our difficulties, with all our might, and with equal courage, against our assailants.

2. And long did the bloody conflict last, nor was any one of the garrison driven by fear of death from his resolution to defend the city. The conflict was prolonged, till at last, while the fortune of the two sides was still undecided, the structure raised by our men, having been long assailed and shaken, at last fell, as if by an earthquake.

3. And the whole space which was between the wall and the external mound being made level as if by a causeway or a bridge, opened a passage to the enemy, which was no longer embarrassed by any obstacles; and numbers of our men, being crushed or enfeebled by their wounds, gave up the struggle. Still men flocked from all quarters to repel so imminent a danger, but from their eager haste they got in one another's way, while the boldness of the enemy increased with their success.

4. By the command of the king all his troops now hastened into action, and a hand-to-hand engagement ensued. Blood ran down from the vast slaughter on both sides: the ditches were filled with corpses, and thus a wider path was opened for the besiegers. And the city, being now filled with the eager crowd which forced its way in, all hope of defence or of escape was cut off, and armed and unarmed |199 without any distinction of age or sex were slaughtered like sheep.

5. It was full evening, when, though fortune had proved adverse, the bulk of our troops was still fighting in good order; and I, having concealed myself with two companions in an obscure corner of the city, now under cover of darkness, made my escape by a postern gate where there was no guard; and aided by my own knowledge of the country and by the speed of my companions, I at last reached the tenth milestone from the city.

6. Here, having lightly refreshed ourselves, I tried to proceed, but found myself, as a noble unaccustomed to such toil, overcome by fatigue of the march. I happened to fall in, however, with what, though a most unsightly object, was to me, completely tired out, a most seasonable relief.

7. A groom riding a runaway horse, barebacked and without a bridle, in order to prevent his falling had knotted the halter by which he was guiding him tightly to his left hand, and presently, being thrown, and unable to break the knot, he was torn to pieces as he was dragged over the rough ground and through the bushes, till at last the weight of his dead body stopped the tired beast; I caught him, and mounting him, availed myself of his services at a most seasonable moment, and after much suffering arrived with my companions at some sulphurous springs of naturally hot water.

8. On account of the heat we had suffered greatly from thirst, and had been crawling about for some time in search of water; and now when we came to this well it was so deep that we could not descend into it, nor had we any ropes; but, taught by extreme necessity, we tore up the linen clothes which we wore into long rags, which we made into one great rope, and fastened to the end of it a cap which one of us wore beneath his helmet; and letting that down by the rope, and drawing up water in it like a sponge, we easily quenched our thirst.

9. From hence we proceeded rapidly to the Euphrates, intending to cross to the other side in the boat which long custom had stationed in that quarter, to convey men and cattle across.

10. When lo! we see at a distance a Roman force with |200 cavalry standards, scattered and pursued by a division of Persians, though we did not know from what quarter it had come so suddenly on them in their march.

11. This example showed us that what men call indigenous people are not sprung from the bowels of the earth, but merely appear unexpectedly by reason of the speed of their movements: and because they were seen unexpectedly in various places, they got the name of Sparti, and were believed to have sprung from the ground, antiquity exaggerating their renown in a fabulous manner, as it does that of other things.

12. Roused by this sight, since our only hope of safety lay in our speed, we drew off through the thickets and woods to the high mountains; and from thence we went to Melitina, a town of the Lesser Armenia, where we found our chief just on the point of setting off, in whose company we went on to Antioch.

IX.

§ 1. In the mean time Sapor and the Persians began to think of returning home, because they feared to penetrate more inland with their prisoners and booty, now that the autumn was nearly over, and the unhealthy star of the Kids had arisen.

2. But amid the massacres and plunder of the destroyed city, Aelian the count, and the tribunes by whose vigour the walls of Amida had been defended, and the losses of the Persians multiplied, were wickedly crucified; and Jacobus and Cassias, the treasurers of the commander of the cavalry, and others of the band of protectores, were led as prisoners, with their hands bound behind their backs; and the people of the district beyond the Tigris, who were diligently sought for, were all slain without distinction of rank or dignity.

3. But the wife of Craugasius, who, preserving her chastity inviolate, was treated with the respect due to a high-born matron, was mourning as if she were to be carried to another world without her husband, although |201 she had indications afforded her that she might hope for a higher future.

4. Therefore, thinking of her own interests, and having a wise forecast of the future, she was torn with a twofold anxiety, loathing both widowhood and the marriage she saw before her. Accordingly, she secretly sent off a friend of sure fidelity, and well acquainted with Mesopotamia, to pass by Mount Izala, between the two forts called Maride and Lorne, and so to effect his entrance into Nisibis, calling upon her husband, with urgent entreaties and the revelation of many secrets of her own private condition, after hearing what the messenger could tell him, to come to Persia and live happily with her there.

5. The messenger, travelling with great speed through jungle roads and thickets, reached Nisibis, pretending that he had never seen his mistress, and that, as in all likelihood she was slain, he had availed himself of an accidental opportunity to make his escape from the enemy's camp. And so, being neglected as one of no importance, he got access to Craugasius, and told him what had happened. And having received from him an assurance that, as soon as he could do so with safety, he would gladly rejoin his wife, he departed, bearing the wished-for intelligence to the lady. She, when she received it, addressed herself, through the medium of Tamsapor, to the king, entreating him that, if the opportunity offered before he quitted the Roman territories, he would order her husband to be restored to her.

6. But, the fact of this stranger having departed thus unexpectedly, without any one suspecting it, after his secret return, raised suspicions in the mind of Duke Cassianus and the other nobles who had authority in the city, who addressed severe menaces to Craugasius, insisting that the man could neither have come nor have gone without his privity.

7. And he, fearing the charge of treason, and being very anxious lest the flight of the deserter should cause a suspicion that his wife was still alive and was well treated by the enemy, feigned to court a marriage with another virgin of high rank. And having gone out to a villa which he had eight miles from the city, as if with the object of making the necessary preparations for the |202 wedding feast, he mounted a horse, and fled at full speed to a predatory troop of Persians which he had learnt was in the neighbourhood, and being cordially received, when it was seen from what he said who he was, he was delivered over to Tamsapor on the fifth day, and by him he was introduced to the king, and recovered not only his wife, but his family and all his treasures, though he lost his wife only a few months afterwards. And he was esteemed only second to Antoninus, though as a great poet has said,

"Longo proximus intervallo." (Vergil. Aen. v.320)

8. For Antoninus was eminent both for genius and experience in affairs, and had useful counsels for every enterprise that could be proposed, while Craugasius was of a less subtle nature, though also very celebrated. And all these events took place within a short time after the fall of Amida.

9. But the king, though showing no marks of anxiety on his countenance, and though he appeared full of exultation at the fall of the city, still in the depths of his heart was greatly perplexed, recollecting that in the siege he had frequently sustained severe losses, and that he had lost more men, and those too of more importance than any prisoners whom he had taken from us, or than we had lost in all the battles that had taken place; as indeed had also been the case at Singara, and at Nisibis. In the seventy-three days during which he had been blockading Amida, he had lost thirty thousand soldiers, as was reckoned a few days later by Discenes, a tribune and secretary; the calculation being the more easily made because the corpses of our men very soon shrink and lose their colour, so that their faces can never be recognized after four days; but the bodies of the Persians dry up like the trunks of trees, so that nothing exudes from them, nor do they suffer from any suffusion of blood, which is caused by their more sparing diet, and by the dryness and heat of their native land.

X.

§ 1. While these events and troubles were proceeding rapidly in the remote districts of the East, the Eternal |203 City was fearing distress from an impending scarcity of corn; and the violence of the common people, infuriated by the expectation of that worst of all evils, was vented upon Tertullus, who at that time was prefect of the city. This was unreasonable, since it did not depend upon him that the provisions were embarked in a stormy season in ships which, through the unusually tempestuous state of the sea, and the violence of contrary winds, were driven into any ports they could make, and were unable to reach the port of Augustus, from the greatness of the dangers which threatened them.

2. Nevertheless, Tertullus was continually troubled by the seditious movements of the people, who worked themselves up to great rage, being excited by the imminent danger of a famine; till, having no hope of preserving his own safety, he wisely brought his little boys out to the people, who, though in a state of tumultuous disorder, were often influenced by sudden accidents, and with tears addressed them thus:—

3. "Behold your fellow-citizens, who (may the gods avert the omen), unless fortune should take a more favourable turn, will be exposed to the same sufferings as yourselves. If then you think that by destroying them you will be saved from all suffering, they are in your power." The people, of their own nature inclined to mercy, were propitiated by this sad address, and made no answer, but awaited their impending fate with resignation.

4. And soon, by the favour of the deity who has watched over the growth of Rome from its first origin, and who promised that it should last for ever, while Tertullus was at Ostia, sacrificing in the temple of Castor and Pollux, the sea became calm, the wind changed to a gentle south-east breeze, and the ships in full sail entered the port, laden with corn to fill the granaries.

XI.

§ 1. While these perplexing transactions were taking place, intelligence full of importance and danger reached Constantius who was reposing in winter quarters at Sirmium, informing him (as he had already greatly feared) that the Sarmatian Limigantes, who, as we have before related, had |204 expelled their masters from their hereditary homes, had learnt to despise the lands which had been generously allotted to them in the preceding year, in order to prevent so fickle a class from undertaking any mischievous enterprise, and had seized on the districts over the border; that they were straggling, according to their national custom, with great licence over the whole country, and would throw everything into disorder if they were not put down.

2. The emperor, judging that any delay would increase their insolence, collected from all quarters a strong force of veteran soldiers, and before the spring was much advanced, set forth on an expedition against them, being urged to greater activity by two considerations; first, because the army, having acquired great booty during the last summer, was likely to be encouraged to successful exertion in the hope of similar reward; and secondly, because, as Anatolius was at that time prefect of Illyricum, everything necessary for such an expedition could be readily provided without recourse to any stringent measures.

3. For under no other prefect's government (as is agreed by all), up to the present time, had the northern provinces ever been so nourishing in every point of view; all abuses being corrected with a kind and prudent hand, while the people were relieved from the burden of transporting the public stores (which often caused such losses as to ruin many families), and also from the heavy income tax. So that the natives of those districts would have been free from all damage and cause of complaint, if at a later period some detestable collectors had not come among them, extorting money, and exaggerating accusations, in order to build up wealth and influence for themselves, and to procure their own safety and prosperity by draining the natives; carrying their severities to the proscription and even execution of many of them.

4. To apply a remedy to this insurrection, the emperor set out, as I have said, with a splendid staff, and reached Valeria, which was formerly a part of Pannonia, but which had been established as a separate province, and received its new name in honour of Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. And having encamped his army on the banks of the Danube, he watched the movements of the barbarians, who, before his arrival, had been proposing, under friendly |205 pretences, to enter Pannonia, meaning to lay it waste during the severity of the winter season, before the snow had been melted by the warmth of spring and the river had become passable, and while our people were unable from the cold to bear bivouacking in the open air.

5. He at once therefore sent two tribunes, each accompanied by an interpreter, to the Limigantes, to inquire mildly why they had quitted the homes which at their own request had been assigned to them after the conclusion of the treaty of peace, and why they were now straggling in various directions, and passing their boundaries in contempt of his prohibitions.

6. They made vain and frivolous excuses, fear compelling them to have recourse to lies, and implored the emperor's pardon, beseeching him to discard his displeasure, and to allow them to cross the river and come to him to explain the hardships under which they were labouring; alleging their willingness, if required, to retire to remoter lands, only within the Roman frontier, where, enjoying lasting peace and worshipping tranquillity as their tutelary deity, they would submit to the name and discharge the duties of tributary subjects.

7. When the tribunes returned and related this, the emperor, exulting that an affair which appeared full of inextricable difficulties was likely to be brought to a conclusion without any trouble, and being eager to add to his acquisitions, admitted them all to his presence. His eagerness for acquiring territory was fanned by a swarm of flatterers, who were incessantly saying that when all distant districts were at peace, and when tranquillity was established everywhere, he would gain many subjects, and would be able to enlist powerful bodies of recruits, thereby relieving the provinces, which would often rather give money than personal service (though this expectation has more than once proved very mischievous to the state).

8. Presently he pitched his camp near Acimincum, where a lofty mound was raised to serve for a tribune; and some boats, loaded with soldiers of the legions, without their baggage, under command of Innocentius, an engineer who had suggested the measure, were sent to watch the |206 channel of the river, keeping close under the bank; so that, if they perceived the barbarians in disorder, they might come upon them and surprise their rear, while their attention was directed elsewhere.

9. The Limigantes became aware of the measures thus promptly taken, but still employed no other means of defence than humility and entreaty; though secretly they cherished designs very different from those indicated by their words and gestures.

10. But when they saw the emperor on his high mound preparing a mild harangue, and about to address them as men who would prove obedient in future, one of them, seized with a sudden fury, hurled his shoe at the tribune, and cried out, "Marha, Marha!" which in their language is a signal of war; and a disorderly mob following him, suddenly raised their barbaric standard, and with fierce howls rushed upon the emperor himself.

11. And when he, looking down from his high position, saw the whole place filled with thousands of men running to and fro, and their drawn swords and rapiers threatening him with immediate destruction, he descended, and mingling both with the barbarians and his own men, without any one perceiving him or knowing whether he was an officer or a common soldier; and since there was no time for delay or inaction, he mounted a speedy horse, and galloped away, and so escaped.

12. But his few guards, while endeavouring to keep back the mutineers, who rushed on with the fierceness of fire, were all killed, either by wounds, or by being crushed beneath the weight of others who fell upon them; and the royal throne, with its golden cushion, was torn to pieces without any one making an effort to save it.

13. But presently, when it became known that the emperor, after having been in the most imminent danger of his life, was still in peril, the army, feeling it to be the most important of all objects to assist him, for they did not yet think him safe, and confiding in their prowess, though from the suddenness of the attack they were only half formed, threw themselves, with loud and warlike cries upon the bands of the barbarians, fearlessly braving death.

14. And because in their fiery valour our men were resolved to wipe out disgrace by glory, and were full of |207 anger at the treachery of the foe, they slew every one whom they met without mercy, trampling all under foot, living, wounded, and dead alike; so that heaps of dead were piled up before their hands were weary of the slaughter. For the rebels were completely overwhelmed, some being slain, and others fleeing in fear, many of whom implored their lives with various entreaties, but were slaughtered with repeated wounds. And when, after they were all destroyed, the trumpets sounded a retreat, it was found that only a very few of our men were killed, and these had either been trampled down at first, or had perished from the insufficiency of their armour to resist the violence of the enemy.

15. But the most glorious death was that of Cella, the tribune of the Scutarii, who at the beginning of the uproar set the example of plunging first into the middle of the Sarmatian host.

16. After these blood-stained transactions, Constantius took what precautions prudence suggested for the security of his frontiers, and then returned to Sirmium, having avenged himself on the perfidity of his enemies. And having there settled everything which the occasion required, he quitted Sirmium and went to Constantinople, that by being nearer to the East, he might remedy the disasters which had been sustained at Amida, and having reinforced his army with new levies, he might check the attempts of the king of Persia with equal vigour; as it was clear that Sapor, if Providence and some more pressing occupation did not prevent him, would leave Mesopotamia and bring the war over the plains on this side of that country.

XII.

§ 1. But amid these causes of anxiety, as if in accordance with old-established custom, instead of the signal for civil war, the trumpet sounded groundless charges of treason, and a secretary, whom we shall often have to speak of, named Paulus, was sent to inquire into these charges. He was a man skilful in all the contrivances of cruelty, making gain and profit of tortures and executions, as a master of gladiators does of his fatal games.

2. For as he was firm and resolute in his purpose of |208 injuring people, he did not abstain even from theft, and invented all kinds of causes for the destruction of innocent men, while engaged in this miserable campaign.

3. A slight and trivial circumstance afforded infinite material for extending his investigations. There is a town called Abydum in the most remote corner of the Egyptian Thebais, where an oracle of the god, known in that region by the name of Besa, had formerly enjoyed some celebrity for its prophecies, and had sacred rites performed at it with all the ceremonies anciently in use in the neighbouring districts.

4. Some used to go themselves to consult this oracle, some to send by others documents containing their wishes, and with prayers couched in explicit language inquired the will of the deities; and the paper or parchment on which their wants were written, after the answer had been given, was sometimes left in the temple.

5. Some of these were spitefully sent to the emperor, and he, narrow minded as he was, though often deaf to other matters of serious consequence, had, as the proverb says, a soft place in his ear for this kind of information; and being of a suspicious and petty temper, became full of gall and fury; and immediately ordered Paulus to repair with all speed to the East, giving him authority, as to a chief of great eminence and experience, to try all the causes as he pleased.

6. And Modestus also, at that time count of the East, a man well suited for such a business, was joined with him in this commission. For Hermogenes of Pontus, at that time prefect of the praetorium, was passed over as of too gentle a disposition.

7. Paulus proceeded, as he was ordered, full of deadly eagerness and rage; inviting all kinds of calumnies, so that numbers from every part of the empire were brought before him, noble and low born alike; some of whom were condemned to imprisonment, others to instant death.

8. The city which was chosen to witness these fatal scenes was Scythopolis in Palestine, which for two reasons seemed the most suitable of all places; first, because it was little frequented and secondly, because it was halfway between Antioch and Alexandria, from which city many of those brought before this tribunal came. |209

9. One of the first persons accused was Simplicius, the son of Philip; a man who, after having been prefect and consul, was now impeached on the ground that he was said to have consulted the oracle how to obtain the empire. He was sentenced to the torture by the express command of the emperor, who in these cases never erred on the side of mercy; but by some special fate he was saved from it, and with uninjured body was condemned to distant banishment.

10. The next victim was Parnasius, who had been prefect of Egypt, a man of simple manners, but now in danger of being condemned to death, and glad to escape with exile; because long ago he had been heard to say that when he left Patrae in Achaia, the place of his birth, with the view of procuring some high office, he had in a dream seen himself conducted on his road by several figures in tragic robes.

11. The next was Andronicus, subsequently celebrated for his liberal accomplishments and his poetry; he was brought before the court without having given any real ground for suspicion of any kind, and defended himself so vigorously that he was acquitted.

12. There was also Demetrius, surnamed Chytras, a philosopher, of great age, but still firm in mind and body; he, when charged with having frequently offered sacrifices in the temple of his oracle, could not deny it; but affirmed that, for the sake of propitiating the deity, he had constantly done so from his early youth, and not with any idea of aiming at any higher fortune by his questions; nor had he known any one who had aimed at such. And though he was long on the rack he supported it with great constancy, never varying in his statement, till at length he was acquitted and allowed to retire to Alexandria, where he was born.

13. These and a few others, justice, coming to the aid of truth, delivered from their imminent dangers. But as accusations extended more widely, involving numbers without end in their snares, many perished; some with their bodies mangled on the rack; others were condemned to death and confiscation of their goods; while Paulus kept on inventing groundless accusations, as if he had a store of lies on which to draw, and suggesting various pretences |210 for injuring people, so that on his nod, it may he said, the safety of every one in the place depended.

14. For if any one wore on his neck a charm against the quartan ague or any other disease, or if by any information laid by his ill-wishers he was accused of having passed by a sepulchre at nightfall, and therefore of being a sorcerer, and one who dealt in the horrors of tombs and the vain mockeries of the shades which haunt them, he was found guilty and condemned to death.

15. And the affairs went on as if people had been consulting Claros, or the oaks at Dodona, or the Delphic oracles of old fame, with a view to the destruction of the emperor.

16. Meantime, the crowd of courtiers, inventing every kind of deceitful flattery, affirmed that he would be free from all common misfortunes, asserting that his fate had always shone forth with vigour and power in destroying all who attempted anything injurious to him.

17. That indeed strict investigation should be made into such matters, no one in his senses will deny; nor do we question that the safety of our lawful prince, the champion and defender of the good, and on whom the safety of all other people depends, ought to be watched over by the combined zeal of all men; and for the sake of insuring this more completely, when any treasonable enterprise is discovered, the Cornelian laws have provided that no rank shall be exempted even from torture if necessary for the investigation.

18. But it is not decent to exult unrestrainedly in melancholy events, lest the subjects should seem to be governed by tyranny, not by authority. It is better to imitate Cicero, who, when he had it in his power either to spare or to strike, preferred, as he tells us himself, to seek occasions for pardoning rather than for punishing, which is characteristic of a prudent and wise judge.

19. At that time a monster, horrible both to see and to describe, was produced at Daphne, a beautiful and celebrated suburb of Antioch; namely, an infant with two mouths, two sets of teeth, two heads, four eyes, and only two very short ears. And such a mis-shapen offspring was an omen that the republic would become deformed.

20. Prodigies of this kind are often produced, presaging |211 events of various kinds; but as they are not now publicly expiated, as they were among the ancients, they are unheard of and unknown to people in general.

XIII.

§ 1. During this period the Isaurians, who had been tranquil for some time after the transactions already mentioned, and the attempt to take the city of Seleucia, gradually reviving, as serpents come out of their holes in the warmth of spring, descended from their rocky and pathless jungles, and forming into large troops, harassed their neighbours with predatory incursions; escaping, from their activity as mountaineers, all attempts of the soldiers to take them, and from long use moving easily over rocks and through thickets.

2. So Lauricius was sent among them as governor, with the additional title of count, to reduce them to order by fair means or foul. He was a man of sound civil wisdom, correcting things in general by threats rather than by severity, so that while he governed the province, which he did for some time, nothing happened deserving of particular notice.

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Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 20. pp. 211-242.

Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 20. pp. 211-242.

I. Lupicinus is sent as commander-in-chief into Britain with an army to check the incursions of the Picts and Scots.

II. Ursicinus, commander of the infantry, is attacked by calumnies, and dismissed.

III. An eclipse of the sun—A discussion on the two suns, and on the causes of solar and lunar eclipses, and the various chancres and shapes of the moon.

IV. The Caesar Julian, against his will, is saluted as emperor at Paris, where he was wintering, by his Gallican soldiers, whom Constantius had ordered to be taken from him, and sent to the East to act against the Persians.

V. He harangues his soldiers.

VI. Singara is besieged and taken by Sapor: the citizens, with the auxiliary cavalry and two legions in garrison, are carried off to Persia—The town is razed to the ground.

VII. Sapor storms the town of Bezabde, which is defended by three legions; repairs it, and places in it a garrison and magazines; he also attacks the fortress of Victa, without success.

VIII. Julian writes to Constantius to inform him of what had taken place at Paris.

IX. Constantius desires Julian to be content with the title of Caesar; but the Gallican legions unanimously refuse to allow him to be so.

X. The Emperor Julian unexpectedly attacks a Frank tribe, known as the Attuarii, on the other side of the Rhine; slays some, takes others prisoners, and grants peace to the rest, on their petition.

XI. Constantius attacks Bezabde with his whole force, but fails—A discussion on the rainbow. |212

BOOK XX.

[Translated by C.D.YONGE]

I.

A.D. 360.

§ 1. These were the events which took place in Illyricum and in the East. But the next year, that of Constantius's tenth and Julian's third consulship, the affairs of Britain became troubled, in consequence of the incursions of the savage nations of Picts and Scots, who breaking the peace to which they had agreed, were plundering the districts on their borders, and keeping in constant alarm the provinces exhausted by former disasters, Caesar, who was wintering at Paris, having his mind divided by various cares, feared to go to the aid of his subjects across the channel (as we have related Constans to have done), lest he should leave the Gauls without a governor, while the Allemanni were still full of fierce and warlike inclinations.

2. Therefore, to tranquillize these districts by reason or by force, it was decided to send Lupicinus, who was at that time commander of the forces; a man of talent in war, and especially skilful in all that related to camps, but very haughty, and smelling, as one may say, of the tragic buskin, while parts of his conduct made it a question which predominated—his avarice or his cruelty.

3. Accordingly, an auxiliary force of light-armed troops, Heruli and Batavi, with two legions from Moesia, were in the very depth of winter put under the command of this general, with which he marched to Boulogne, and having procured some vessels and embarked his soldiers on them, he sailed with a fair wind, and reached Richborough on the opposite coast, from which place he proceeded to London, that he might there deliberate on the aspect of affairs, and take immediate measures for his campaign. |213

II.

§ 1. In the mean time, after the fall of Amida, and after Ursicinus had returned as commander of the infantry to the emperor's camp (for we have already mentioned that he had been appointed to succeed Barbatio), he was at once attacked by slanderers, who at first tried to whisper his character away, but presently openly brought forward false charges against him.

2. And the emperor, listening to them, since he commonly formed his opinions on vain conjecture, and was always ready to yield his judgment to crafty persons, appointed Arbetio and Florentius, the chief steward, as judges to inquire how it was that the town was destroyed. They rejected the plain and easily proved causes of the disaster, fearing that Eusebius, at that time high chamberlain, would be offended if they admitted proofs which showed undeniably that what had happened was owing to the obstinate inactivity of Sabinianus; and so distorting the truth, they examined only some points of no consequence, and having no bearing on the transaction.

3. Ursicinus felt the iniquity of this proceeding; and said, "Although the emperor despises me, still the importance of this affair is such that it cannot be judged of and punished by any decision lower than that of the emperor. Nevertheless, let him know what I venture to prophesy, that while he is concerning himself about this disaster at Amida, of which he has received a faithful account; and while he gives himself up to the influence of the eunuchs, he will not in the ensuing spring, even if he himself should come with the entire strength of his army, be able to prevent the dismemberment of Mesopotamia." This speech having been related to the emperor with many additions, and a malignant interpretation, Constantius became enraged beyond measure; and without allowing |214 the affair to be discussed, or those things to he explained to him of which he was ignorant, he believed all the calumnies against Ursicinus, and deposing him from his office, ordered him into retirement; promoting Agilo, by a vast leap, to take his place, he having been before only a tribune of a native troop of Scutarii.

III.

§ 1. At the same time one day the sky in the east was perceived to be covered with a thick darkness, and from daybreak to noon the stars were visible throughout; and, as an addition to these terrors, while the light of heaven was thus withdrawn, and the world almost buried in clouds, men, from the length of the eclipse, began to believe that the sun had wholly disappeared. Presently, however, it was seen again like a new moon, then like a half-moon, and at last it was restored entire.

2. A thing which on other occasions did not happen so visibly except when after several unequal revolutions, the moon returns to exactly the same point at fixed intervals; that is to say, when the moon is found in the same sign of the zodiac, exactly opposite to the rays of the sun, and stops there a few minutes, which in geometry are called parts of parts.

3. And although the changes and motions of both sun and moon, as the inquiries into intelligible causes have remarked, perpetually return to the same conjunction at the end of each lunar month, still the sun is not always eclipsed on these occasions, but only when the moon, as by a kind of balance, is in the exact centre between the sun and our sight.

4. In short, the sun is eclipsed, and his brilliancy removed from our sight, when he and the moon, which of all the constellations of heaven is the lowest, proceeding with equal pace in their orbits, are placed in conjunction in spite of the height which separates them (as Ptolemy learnedly explains it), and afterwards return to the dimensions which are called ascending or descending points of the ecliptic conjunctions: or, as the Greeks call them, defective conjunctions. And if these great lights find themselves in the neighbourhood of these points or knots, the eclipse is small. |215

5. But if they are exactly in the knots which form the points of intersection between the ascending and descending path of the moon, then the sky will be covered with denser darkness, and the whole atmosphere becomes so thick that we cannot see what is close to us.

6. Again, the sun is conceived to appear double when a cloud is raised higher than usual, which from its proximity to the eternal fires, shines in such a manner that it forms the brightness of a second orb as from a purer mirror.

7. Now let us come to the moon. The moon sustains a clear and visible eclipse when, being at the full, and exactly opposite to the sun, she is distant from his orb one hundred and eighty degrees, that is, is in the seventh sign; and although this happens at every full moon, still there is not always one eclipse.

8. But since she is always nearest to the earth as it revolves, and the most distant from the rest of the other stars, and sometimes exposes itself to the light which strikes it, and sometimes also is partially obscured by the intervention of the shade of night, which comes over it in the form of a cone; and then she is involved in thick darkness, when the sun, being surrounded by the centre of the lowest sphere, cannot illuminate her with his rays, because the mass of the earth is in the way; for opinions agree that the moon has no light of her own.

9. And when she returns to the same sign of the zodiac which the sun occupies, she is obscured (as has been said), her brightness being wholly dimmed, and this is called a conjunction of the moon.

10. Again the moon is said to be new when she has the sun above her with a slight variation from the perpendicular, and then she appears very thin to mankind, even when leaving the sun she reaches the second sign. Then, when she has advanced further, and shines brilliantly with a sort of horned figure, she is said to be crescent shaped; but when she begins to be a long way distant from the sun, and reaches the fourth sign, she gets a greater light, the sun's rays being turned upon her, and then she is of the shape of a semicircle.

11. As she goes on still further, and reaches the fifth sign, she assumes a convex shape, a sort of hump appearing from each side. And when she is exactly opposite the |216 sun, she shines with a full light, having arrived at the seventh sign; and even while she is there, having advanced but a very little further, she begins to diminish, which we call waning; and as she gets older, she resumes the same shapes that she had while increasing. But it is established by unanimous consent that she is never seen to be eclipsed except in the middle of her course.

12. But when we said that the sun moves sometimes in the ether, sometimes in the lower world, it must be understood that the starry bodies, considered in relation to the universe, neither set nor rise; but only appear to do so to our sight on earth, which is suspended by the motion of some interior spirit, and compared with the immensity of things is but a little point, which causes the stars in their eternal order to appear sometimes fixed in heaven, and at others, from the imperfection of human vision, moving from their places. Let us now return to our original subject.

IV.

§ 1. Even while he was hastening to lead succours to the East, which, as the concurrent testimony of both spies and deserters assured him, was on the point of being invaded by the Persians, Constantius was greatly disturbed by the virtues of Julian, which were now becoming renowned among all nations, so highly did fame extol his great labours, achievements, and victories, in having conquered several kingdoms of the Allemanni, and recovered several towns in Gaul which had been plundered and destroyed by the barbarians, and having compelled the barbarians themselves to become subjects and tributaries of the empire.

2. Influenced by these considerations, and fearing lest Julian's influence should become greater, at the instigation, as it is said, of the prefect Florentius, he sent Decentius, the tribune and secretary, to bring away at once the auxiliary troops of the Heruli and Batavi, and the Celtae, and the legion called Petulantes, and three hundred picked men from the other forces; enjoining him to make all speed on the plea that their presence was required with the |217 army which it was intended to march at the beginning of spring against the Parthians.

3. Also, Lupicinus was directed to come as commander of these auxiliary troops with the three hundred picked men, and to lose no time, as it was not known that he had crossed over to Britain; and Sintula, at that time the superintendent of Julian's stables, was ordered to select the best men of the Scutarii and Gentiles, and to bring them also to join the emperor.

4. Julian made no remonstrance, but obeyed these orders, yielding in all respects to the will of the emperor. But on one point he could not conceal his feelings nor keep silence: but entreated that those men might be spared from this hardship who had left their homes on the other side of the Rhine, and had joined his army on condition of never being moved into any country beyond the Alps, urging that if this were known, it might be feared that other volunteers of the barbarian nations, who had often enlisted in our service on similar conditions, would be prevented from doing so in future. But he argued in vain.

5. For the tribune, disregarding his complaints, carried out the commands of the emperor, and having chosen out a band suited for forced marches, of pre-eminent vigour and activity, set out with them full of hope of promotion.

6. And as Julian, being in doubt what to do about the rest of the troops whom he was ordered to send, and revolving all kinds of plans in his mind, considered that the matter ought to be managed with great care, as there was on one side the fierceness of the barbarians, and on the other the authority of the orders he had received (his perplexity being further increased by the absence of the commander of the cavalry), he urged the prefect, who had gone some time before to Vienne under the pretence of procuring corn, but in reality to escape from military troubles, to return to him.

7. For the prefect bore in mind the substance of a report which he was suspected to have sent some time before, and which recommended the withdrawing from the defence of Gaul those troops so renowned for their valour, and already objects of dread to the barbarians. |218

8. The prefect, as soon as he had received Julian's letters, informing him of what had happened, and entreating him to come speedily to him to aid the republic with his counsels, positively refused, being alarmed because the letters expressly declared that in any crisis of danger the prefect ought never to be absent from the general. And it was added that if he declined to give his aid, Julian himself would, of his own accord, renounce the emblems of authority, thinking it better to die, if so it was fated, than to have the ruin of the provinces attributed to him. But the obstinacy of the prefect prevailed, and he resolutely refused to comply with the wishes thus reasonably expressed and enforced.

9. But during the delay which arose from the absence of Lupicinus and of any military movement on the part of the alarmed prefect, Julian, deprived of all assistance in the way of advice, and being greatly perplexed, thought it best to hasten the departure of all his troops from the stations in which they were passing the winter, and to let them begin their march.

10. When this was known, some one privily threw down a bitter libel near the standard of the Petulantes legion, which, among other things, contained these words,—"We are being driven to the farthest parts of the earth like condemned criminals, and our relations will become slaves to the Allemanni after we have delivered them from that first captivity by desperate battles."

11. When this writing was taken to headquarters and read, Julian, considering the reasonableness of the complaint, ordered that their families should go to the East with them, and allowed them the use of the public wagons for the purpose of moving them. And as it was for some time doubted which road they should take, he decided, at the suggestion of the secretary Decentius, that they should go by Paris, where he himself still was, not having moved.

12. And so it was done. And when they arrived in the suburbs, the prince, according to his custom, met them, praising those whom he recognized, and reminding individuals of their gallant deeds, he congratulated them with courteous words, encouraging them to go cheerfully to join the emperor, as they would reap the most worthy rewards |219 of their exertions where power was the greatest and most extensive.

13. And to do them the more honour, as they were going to a great distance, he invited their chiefs to a supper, when he hade them ask whatever they desired. And they, having been treated with such liberality, departed, anxious and sorrowful on two accounts, because cruel fortune was separating them at once from so kind a ruler and from their native land. And with this sorrowful feeling they retired to their camp.

14. But when night came on they broke out into open discontent, and their minds being excited, as his own griefs pressed upon each individual, they had recourse to force, and took up arms, and with a great outcry thronged to the palace, and surrounding it so as to prevent any one from escaping, they saluted Julian as emperor with loud vociferations, insisting vehemently on his coming forth to them; and though they were compelled to wait till daylight, still, as they would not depart, at last he did come forth. And when he appeared, they saluted him emperor with redoubled and unanimous cheers.

15. But he steadily resisted them individually and collectively, at one time showing himself indignant, at another holding out his hands and entreating and beseeching them not to sully their numerous victories with anything unbecoming, and not to let unseasonable rashness and precipitation awaken materials for discord. At last he appeased them, and having addressed them mildly, he added—

16. "I beseech you let your anger depart for a while: without any dissension or attempt at revolution what you wish will easily be obtained. Since you are so strongly bound by love of your country, and fear strange lands to which you are unaccustomed, return now to your homes, certain that you shall not cross the Alps, since you dislike it. And I will explain the matter to the full satisfaction of the emperor, who is a man of great wisdom, and will listen to reason."

17. Nevertheless, after his speech was ended, the cries were repeated with as much vigour and unanimity as ever; and so vehement was the uproar and zeal, which did not even spare reproaches and threats, that Julian was compelled to consent. And being lifted up on the shield of an |220 infantry soldier, and raised up in sight of all, he was saluted as Augustus with one universal acclamation, and was ordered to produce a diadem. And when he said that he had never had one, his wife's coronet or necklace was demanded.

18. And when he protested that it was not fitting for him at his first accession to be adorned with female ornaments, the frontlet of a horse was sought for, so that being crowned therewith, he might have some badge, however obscure, of supreme power. But when he insisted that that also would be unbecoming, a man named Maurus, afterwards a count, the same who was defeated in the defile or the Succi, but who was then only one of the front-rank men of the Petulantes, tore a chain off his own neck, which he wore in his quality of standard-bearer, and placed it boldly on Julian's head, who, being thus brought under extreme compulsion, and seeing that he could not escape the most imminent danger to his life if he persisted in his resistance, consented to their wishes, and promised a largesse of five pieces of gold and a pound of silver to every man.

19. After this Julian felt more anxiety than ever; and keenly alive to the future consequences, neither wore his diadem or appeared in public, nor would he even transact the serious business which pressed upon his attention, but sought retirement, being full of consternation at the strangeness of the recent events. This continued till one of the decurions of the palace (which is an office of dignity) came in great haste to the standards of the Petulantes and of the Celtic legion, and in a violent manner exclaimed that it was a monstrous thing that he who had the day before been by their will declared emperor should have been privily assassinated,

20. When this was heard, the soldiers, as readily excited by what they did not know as by what they did, began to brandish their javelins, and draw their swords, and (as is usual at times of sudden tumult) to flock from every quarter in haste and disorder to the palace. The sentinels were alarmed at the uproar, as were the tribunes and the captain of the guard, and suspecting some treachery from the fickle soldiery, they fled, fearing sudden death to themselves. |221

21. When all before them seemed tranquil, the soldiers stood quietly awhile; and on being asked what was the cause of their sudden and precipitate movement, they at first hesitated, and then avowing their alarm for the safety of the emperor, declared they would not retire till they had been admitted into the council-chamber, and had seen him safe in his imperial robes.

V.

§ 1. When the news of these events reached the troops, whom we have spoken of as having already marched under the command of Sintula, they returned with him quietly to Paris. And an order having been issued that the next morning they should all assemble in the open space in front of the camp, Julian advanced among them, and ascended a tribunal more splendid than usual, surrounded with the eagles, standards, and banners, and guarded by a strong band of armed soldiers.

2. And after a moment's quiet, while he looked down from his height on the countenances of those before him, and saw them all full of joy and alacrity, he kindled their loyalty with a few simple words, as with a trumpet.

3. "The difficulty of my situation, O brave and faithful champions of myself and of the republic, who have often with me exposed your lives for the welfare of the provinces, requires that, since you have now by your resolute decision raised me, your Caesar, to the highest of all dignities, I should briefly set before you the state of affairs, in order that safe and prudent remedies for their new condition may be devised.

4. "While little more than a youth, as you well know, I was for form's sake invested with the purple, and by the decision of the emperor was intrusted to your protection. Since that time I have never forgotten my resolution of a virtuous life: I have been seen with you as the partner of all your labours, when, in consequence of the diminution of the confidence felt in us by the barbarians, terrible disasters fell upon the empire, our cities being stormed, and countless thousands of men being slain, and even the little that was left to us being in a very tottering condition. I think it superfluous to recapitulate how often, in the depth |222 of winter, beneath a frozen sky, at a season when there is usually a cessation from war both by land and sea, we have defeated with heavy loss the Allemanni, previously unconquered.

5. "One circumstance may neither be passed over nor suppressed. On that glorious day which we saw at Strasburg, which brought perpetual liberty to Gaul, we together, I throwing myself among the thickly falling darts, and you being invincible by your vigour and experience, repelled the enemy who poured upon us like a torrent; slaying them as we did with the sword, or driving them to be drowned in the river, with very little loss of our own men, whose funerals we celebrated with glorious panegyrics rather than with mourning.

6. "It is my belief that after such mighty achievements posterity will not be silent respecting your services to the republic, in every country, if you now, in case of any danger or misfortune, vigorously support with your valour and resolution me whom you have raised to the lofty dignity of emperor.

7. "But to maintain things in their due order, so as to preserve to brave men their well-merited rewards and prevent underhand ambition from forestalling your honours, I make this rule in the honourable presence of your counsel, That no civil or military officer shall be promoted from any other consideration than that of his own merits; and he shall be disgraced who solicits promotion for any one on any other ground."

8. The lower class of soldiers, who had long been deprived of rank or reward, were encouraged by this speech to entertain better hopes, and now rising up with a great noise, and beating their shields with their spears, they with unanimous shouts showed their approbation of his language and purpose.

9. And that no opportunity, however brief, might be afforded to disturb so wise an arrangement, the Petulantes and Celtic legion immediately besought him, on behalf of their commissaries, to give them the government of any provinces he pleased, and when he refused them, they retired without being either offended or out of humour.

10. But the very night before the day on which he was |223 thus proclaimed emperor, Julian had mentioned to his most intimate friends that during his slumbers some one had appeared to him in a dream, in the form and habit of the genius of the empire, who uttered these words in a tone of reproach: "For some time, Julian, have I been secretly watching the door of thy palace, wishing to increase thy dignity, and I have often retired as one rejected; but if I am not now admitted, when the opinion of the many is unanimous, I shall retire discouraged and sorrowful. But lay this up in the depth of thy heart, that I will dwell with thee no longer."

VI.

§ 1. While these transactions were proceeding in Gaul, to the great anxiety of many, the fierce king of Persia (the advice of Antoninus being now seconded by the arrival of Craugasius), burning with eagerness to obtain Mesopotamia, while Constantius with his army was at a distance, crossed the Tigris in due form with a vast army, and laid siege to Singara with a thoroughly equipped force, sufficient for the siege of a town which, in the opinion of the chief commanders of those regions, was abundantly fortified and supplied.

2. The garrison, as soon as they saw the enemy, while still at a distance, at once closed their gates, and with great spirit thronged to the towers and battlements, collecting on them stones and warlike engines. And then, having made all their preparations, they stood prepared to repel the advancing host if they should venture to approach the walls.

3. Therefore the king, when he arrived and found that, though they would admit some of his nobles near enough to confer with them, he could not, by any conciliatory language, bend the garrison to his wishes, he gave one entire day to rest, and then, at daybreak, on a signal made by the raising of a scarlet flag, the whole city was surrounded by men carrying ladders, while others began to raise engines; all being protected by fences and penthouses while seeking a way to assail the foundation of the walls.

4. Against these attempts the citizens, standing on the lofty battlements, drove back with stones and every kind |224 of missile the assailants who were seeking with great ferocity to find an entrance.

5. For many days the struggle continued without any decided result, many being wounded and killed on both sides. At last, the struggle growing fiercer, one day on the approach of evening a very heavy battering-ram was brought forward among other engines, which battered a round tower with repeated blows, at a point where we mentioned that the city had been laid open in a former siege.

6. The citizens at once repaired to this point, and a violent conflict arose in this small space; torches and firebrands wore brought from all quarters to consume this formidable engine, while arrows and bullets were showered down without cessation on the assailants. But the keenness of the ram prevailed over every means of defence, digging through the mortar of the recently cemented stones, which was still moist and unsettled.

7. And while the contest was thus proceeding with fire and sword, the tower fell, and a path was opened into the city, the place being stripped of its defenders, whom the magnitude of the danger had scattered. The Persian bands raised a wild shout, and without hindrance filled every quarter of the city. A very few of the inhabitants were slain, and all the rest, by command of Sapor, wore taken alive and transported to the most distant regions of Persia.

8. There had been assigned for the protection of this city two legions, the first Flavian and the first Parthian, and a great body of native troops, as well as a division of auxiliary cavalry which had been shut up in it through the suddenness of the attack made upon it. All of these, as I have said, were taken prisoners, without receiving any assistance from our armies.

9. For the greater part of our army was in tents taking care of Nisibis, which was at a considerable distance. But even if it had not been so, no one even in ancient times could easily bring aid to Singara when in danger, since the whole country around laboured under a scarcity of water. And although a former generation had placed this fort very advisedly, to check sudden movements of hostility, yet it was a great burden to the state, having been several times taken, and always involving the loss of its garrison. |225

VII.

§ 1. After Singara had fallen, Sapor prudently avoided Nisibis, recollecting the losses which he had several times sustained before it, and turned to the right by a circuitous path, hoping either to subdue by force or to win by bribes the garrison of Bezabde, which its founders also called Phoenice, and to make himself master of that town, which is an exceedingly strong fortress, placed on a hill of moderate height, and close to the banks of the Tigris, having a double wall, as many places have which from their situation are thought to be especially exposed. For its defence three legions had been assigned; the second Flavian, the second Armenian, and the second Parthian, with a large body of archers of the Zabdiceni, a tribe subject to us, in whose territory this town was situated.

2. At the beginning of the siege, the king, with an escort of glittering cuirassiers, himself taller than any of them, rode entirely round the camp, coming up boldly to the very edge of the fosse, where he was at once a mark for the unerring bullets of the balistae, and arrows; but he was so completely covered with thick scale armour that he retired unhurt.

3. Then laying aside his anger, he sent some heralds with all due solemnity, courteously inviting the besieged to consult the safety of their lives, and seeing the desperateness of their situation, to put an end to the siege by a timely surrender; to open their gates and come forth, presenting themselves as suppliants before the conqueror of nations.

4. When these messengers approached the walls, the garrison spared them because they had with them some men of noble birth, who had been made prisoners at Singara, and were well known to the citizens; and out of pity to them no one shot an arrow, though they would give no reply to the proposal of peace.

5. Then a truce being made for a day and night, before dawn on the second day the entire force of the Persians attacked the palisade with ferocious threats and cries, coming up boldly to the walls, where a fierce contest ensued, the citizens resisting with great vigour. |226

6. So that many of the Parthians were wounded, because some of them carrying ladders, and others wicker screens, advanced as it were blindfold, and were not spared by our men. For the clouds of arrows flew thickly, piercing the enemy packed in close order. At last, after sunset the two sides separated, having suffered about equal loss: and the next day before dawn the combat was renewed with greater vehemence than before, the trumpets cheering the men on both sides, and again a terrible slaughter of each took place, both armies struggling with the most determined obstinacy.

7. But on the following day both armies by common consent rested from their terrible exertions, the defenders of the walls and the Persians being equally dismayed. When a Christian priest made sign by gestures that he desired to go forth, and having received a promise that he should be allowed to return in safety, he advanced to the king's tent.

8. When he was permitted to speak, he, with gentle language, urged the Persians to depart to their own country, affirming that after the losses each side had sustained they had reason perhaps to fear even greater disasters in future. But these and other similar arguments were uttered to no purpose. The fierce madness of the king robbing them of their effect, as Sapor swore positively that he would never retire till he had destroyed our camp.

9. Nevertheless a groundless suspicion was whispered against the bishop, wholly false in my opinion, though supported by the assertions of many, that he had secretly informed Sapor what part of the wall to attack, as being internally slight and weak. Though the suspicion derived some corroboration from the fact that afterwards the engines of the enemy were carefully and with great exultation directed against the places which were weakest, or most decayed, as if these who worked them were acquainted with what parts were most easily penetrable.

10. And although the narrowness of the causeway made the approach to the walls hard, and though the battering-rams when equipped were brought forward with great difficulty, from fear of the stones and arrows hurled upon |227 the assailants by the besieged, still neither the balistae nor the scorpions rested a moment, the first shooting javelins, and the latter hurling showers of stones, and baskets on fire, smeared with pitch and tar; and as these were perpetually rolled down, the engines halted as if rooted to the ground, and fiery darts and firebrands well-aimed set them on fire.

11. Still while this was going on, and numbers were falling on both sides, the besiegers were the more eager to destroy a town, strong both by its natural situation and its powerful defences, before the arrival of winter, thinking it impossible to appease the fury of their king if they should fail. Therefore neither abundant bloodshed nor the sight of numbers of their comrades pierced with deadly wounds could deter the rest from similar audacity.

12. But for a long time, fighting with absolute desperation, they exposed themselves to imminent danger; while those who worked the battering-rams were prevented from advancing by the vast weight of millstones, and all kinds of fiery missiles hurled against them.

13. One battering-ram was higher than the rest, and was covered with bull's hides wetted, and being therefore safer from any accident of fire, or from lighted javelins, it led the way in the attacks on the wall with mighty blows, and with its terrible point it dug into the joints of the stones till it overthrew the tower. The tower fell with a mighty crash, and those in it were thrown down with a sudden jerk, and breaking their limbs, or being buried beneath the ruins, perished by various and unexpected kinds of death; then, a safer entrance having been thus found, the multitude of the enemy poured in with their arms.

14. While the war-cry of the Persians sounded in the trembling ears of the defeated garrison, a fierce battle within the narrower bounds raged within the walls, while bands of our men and of the enemy fought hand to hand, being jammed together, with swords drawn on both sides, and no quarter given.

15. At last the besieged, after making head with mighty exertion against the destruction which long seemed doubtful, were overwhelmed with the weight of the countless host which pressed upon them. And the swords |228 of the furious foe cut down all they could find; children were torn from their mother's bosom, and the mothers were slain, no one regarding what he did. Among these mournful scenes the Persians, devoted to plunder, loaded with every kind of booty, and driving before them a vast multitude of prisoners, returned in triumph to their tents.

16. But the king, elated with insolence and triumph, having long been desirous to obtain possession of Phoenice, as a most important fortress, did not retire till he had repaired in the strongest manner that portion of the walls which had been shaken, and till he had stocked it with ample magazines of provisions, and placed in it a garrison of men noble by birth and eminent for their skill in war. For he feared (what indeed happened) that the Romans, being indignant at the loss of this their grand camp, would exert themselves with all their might to recover it.

17. Then, being full of exultation, and cherishing greater hopes than ever of gaining whatever he desired, after taking a few forts of small importance, he prepared to attack Victa, a very ancient fortress, believed to have been founded by Alexander, the Macedonian, situated on the most distant border of Mesopotamia, and surrounded with winding walls full of projecting angles, and so well furnished at all points as to be almost unassailable.

18. And when he had tried every expedient against it, at one time trying to bribe the garrison with promises, at another to terrify them with threats of torture, and employing all kinds of engines such as are used in sieges, after sustaining more injury than he inflicted, he at last retired from his unsuccessful enterprise.

VIII.

§ 1. These were the events of this year between the Tigris and the Euphrates. And when frequent intelligence of them had reached Constantius, who was in continual dread of Parthian expeditions, and was passing the winter at Constantinople, he devoted greater care than ever to strengthening his frontiers with every kind of warlike equipment. He collected veterans, and enlisted recruits, and increased the legions with reinforcements of vigorous |229 youths, who had already repeatedly signalized their valour in the battles of the eastern campaigns: and beside these he collected auxiliary forces from among the Scythians by urgent requests and promises of pay, in order to set out from Thrace in the spring, and at once march to the disturbed provinces.

2. During the same time Julian, who was wintering at Paris, alarmed at the prospect of the ultimate issue of the events in that district, became full of anxiety, feeling sure, after deep consideration, that Constantius would never give his consent to what had been done in his case, since he had always disdained him as a person of no importance.

3. Therefore, after much reflection on the somewhat disturbed beginning which the present novel state of affairs showed, he determined to send envoys to him to relate all that had taken place; and he gave them letters setting forth fully what had been done, and what ought to be done next, supporting his recommendations by proofs.

4. Although in reality he believed that the emperor was already informed of all, from the report of Decentius, who had returned to him some time before; and of the chamberlains who had recently gone back from Gaul, after having brought him some formal orders. And although he was not in reality vexed at his promotion, still he avoided all arrogant language in his letters, that he might not appear to have suddenly shaken off his authority. Now the following was the purport of his letters.