Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/662

Rh 648 JULIANUS. He took the direction of the province of Corduene. The Persians now appeared: swarms of light horse were seen hovering round the army ; larger bodies followed, and ere long Sapor, with his main anny, came in sight, and harassed fearfully the rear of the Romans. Still the Romans remained victorious in many a bloody engagement, especially at Maronga ; but it was in the month of June, and the oppressive heat, and the want of water and provisions had a pernicious effect upon the troops. On the 26th of June the Roman rear was suddenly assailed by the Persians, and Julian, who com- manded the van, hastened to the relief of the rear without his cuirass, the heat making a heavy armour almost insupportable. The Persians were repulsed, and fled in confusion. Julian was pursu- ing them with the utmost bravery, Avhen in the middle of the melee he was shot by an arrow, that pierced through his liver. He fell from his horse mortally wounded, and was conveyed to his tent. Feeling his death approaching, he took leave of his friends with touching words, but certainly not with that fine and elegant speech with which Ammianus Marcellinus (xxv. 3) makes him bid farewell to the world. Jovian was chosen emperor in his stead, on the field of battle. [Jovian us.] We cannot enter into a long description of Ju- lian's character. His talents, his principles, and his deeds, were alike extraordinary. His pride was to be called by others and by himself a philosopher, yet many facts prove that he was very superstitious. Most Christian writers abused and calumniated him because he abandoned Christianity: if they had pitied him they would have acted more in ac- cordance with that sublime precept of our religion, which teaches us to forgive our enemies. It must ever be recollected that the bigotry, the hypocrisy, and the unchadtableness, of the majority of the Christians of Julian's time, were some of the prin- cipal causes that led to his apostacy. In reading the ancient authorities, the student ought to bear in mind that the heathen writers extol Julian far too high, and that the Christians debase him far too low. Julian was great as an emperor, unique as a man, and remarkable as an author. He wrote an immense number of works, consisting of orations on various subjects, historical treatises, satires, and letters : most of the latter were intended for public circulation. All these works are very ela- borately composed, so much so as to afford a fa- tiguing and monotonous reading to those who peruse them merely for their merits as specimens of Greek literature ; but they are at the same time very im- portant sources for the history and the opinions of the age on religion and philosophy. Julian also tried to write poetry, but he was no poet: he lacks imagination, and his artificial manner of em- bellishing prose shows that he had no poetical vein. He was a man of reflection and thought, but possessed no creative genius. His style is remark- ably pure for his time, and shows that he had not only studied the classical Greek historians and phi- losophers, but had so far identified himself with his models, that there is scarcely a page in his works where we do not meet with either reminiscences from the classical writers, or visible efforts to express his ideas in the same way as they did. With this painful imitation of his classical models he often unites the exaggerated and over-elaborate style of JULIANUS. his contemporaries, and we trace in his writings the influence of the Platonists no less than that of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, and so many other writers of the golden age. There is, however, one circumstance which reconciles the reader to many of the author's defects: Julian did not merely write for -writing's sake, as so many of his contem- poraries did, but he shows that he had his subjects really at heart, and that in literature as well as in business his extraordinary activity arose from the wants of a powerful mind, which desired to improve itself and the world. In this respect Julian excites our sympathy much more, for instance, than the rhetorician Libanius. The following are the editions of the entire works of Julian: — JuUani Imperatoris Opera quae extant^ with a Latin translation by P. Martinius and C. Can- toclarus, and the author's life by Martinius, Paris, 1588, 8vo. : Juliani Opera,quae quidem reperiri po- tuerunt^ omnia, Paris, 1630, 4to., by Petavius, with notes and a Latin translation. A better edition than either of the two preceding is: — Juliani Impera- toris Opera, quae supersunt omnia, Leipzig, 1 QQQ, fol., by Ezechiel Spanheim, who perused an excellent co- dex, which enabled him to publish a much purer text than Petavius, and he added the notes of Petavius and his translation, which he corrected, as well as an excellent commentary of his own. This edition contains 63 letters of Julian. Spanheim further added to it .b'. Cyrilli, Aleaandrini Archiepiscopi^ contra impium Julianum Libri Decern, which is the more valuable as Cyrillus was one of the most able adversaries of Julian, as is mentioned below. The following is a list of Julian's works, with ^e prin- cipal separate editions of each : — I. Letters. The first collection, published by Aldus, Venice, 1499, 4to., contains only 48 letters; Spanheim published 63 in his edition of the works of Julian ; others were found in later times, four of which are printed in Fabricius, BiUioth. Grace. ; the last and best edition is by L. H. Heyler, Mainz, 1828, 8vo. ; it contains 83 letters, with a Latin translation and a commentary of the editor. There are besides some fragments of lost letters. Among the letters of Julian, there is also one which was written to him by his brother Gallus, in A. D. 353, who advises him to remain faithful to the Christian religion. The authenticity of several letters is con- tested. They treat on various subjects, and are of great importance for the history of the time. One, which was addressed to the senate and people of Athens, and in which the author explains the mo- tives of his having taken up arms against the em- peror Constantius, is an interesting and most im- portant historical document. II. Orations. 1. 'EyKti/xiov izpbs rov avTOKpd- Topa Kcova-TavTiov, with a Latin translation by Petavius, Paris, 1614, 8vo. : an encomium of the emperor Constantius, in which Julian is not con- sistent with his usual feelings of contempt and hatred towards that emperor. In general Julian speaks very badly of the whole imperial family, and even Constantino the Great does not escape his severe censure. Wyttenbach, in the work quoted beIow,ha8 written some excellent observations on this work. 2. ITept Twv AiroKpaTopos Upd^ewy, ■fj Trcpt BaaiKeias^ two orations on the deeds and the reign of the em- peror Constantius, which are of great importance for the knowledge of the time: in the complete editions. Julian wrote these orations in Gaul, and betrays in many a passage his preference of pagan- I