[Gutenberg 48768] • The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2

The volume contains:

Oration VI. To the Uneducated Cynics

Oration VII. To the Cynic Heracleios

Oration VIII. Consolation upon the Departure of Sallust

Letter to Themistius the Philosopher

Letter to the Senate and People of Athens

Fragment of a Letter to a Priest

The Caesars

Misopogon, or, Beard-Hater

Index

Flavius Claudius Iulianus "Apostate," lived 331/32 to 363. Born & educated in Constantinople as a Chistian, after a precarious childhood he devoted himself to literature & philosophy & became a pagan, studying in various Greek cities. In 355 his cousin Emperor Constantius called him from Athens to the Milan court, entitled him "Caesar," & made him governor of Gaul. Julian restored Gaul to prosperity & good government after the ravages of the Alamanni (defeating them at Strassburg in 357) & other Germans. Between 357 & 361 Julian's own soldiers, refusing to serve in the East at Constantius's orders, nearly involved Julian in war with Constantius--who however died in 361 so that Julian became sole Emperor of the Roman world. He began reforms & proclaimed universal toleration in religion but pressed for the restoration of pagan worships. In 362/63 he prepared at Constantinople, then at Antioch for an expedition against Persia ruled by Shapur II. He died of a wound received in battle.

Julian's surviving works (lost are "Commentaries" on his western campaigns), all in Greek, are in the Loeb Classical Library in three volumes. The eight "Orations" (1-5 in Vol 1, 6-8 in Vol 2) include two in praise of Constantius, one praising Constantius' wife Eusebia, & two theosophical hymns (in prose) or declamations, of interest for studies in neo-Platonism, Mithraism & the cult of the Magna Mater. The satirical "Caesars" & "Misopogon," Beard-hater, are also in Vol 2. "The Letters" (over 80, Vol 3) include edicts or rescripts, mostly about Xians, encyclical or pastoral letters to priests & private letters. In Volume 3 are the fragments of the work "Against the Galilaeans", written mainly to show that evidence for the idea of Christianity isn't in the Old Testament.