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'forbade that they should partake of human literature; lest, as he said, when they have whet their tongue, they should be more ready in answering the Greek disputants. Sozomen says, 'he would not allow the children of the christians to be instructed in the Greek poets, or orators, nor to 'frequent the schools of such as explained those writers.' To the like purpose1 Theodoret. Augustine says, that m Julian forbade the christians both to teach and learn polite literature. Gregory Nazianzen" has not failed to take notice of this restraint, and to ridicule Julian for it.

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Ammianus has twice mentioned it, and always with dislike, as a great hardship. Julian's edict is still extant; P if it had not been long I should have alleged it here, but I shall remember it hereafter. Orosius says, that when Julian published his edict, forbidding the christian professors of rhetoric to teach the liberal arts, they all in general chose rather to resign their chairs than deny the faith: and Jerom, in his Chronicle, assures us, that when Julian published his law, that no christian should teach the liberal arts, Proæresius, the Athenian sophist, shut up his school, though the emperor had granted him a special licence to teach. Augustine records the like steadiness of Victorinus, who had long taught rhetoric with great applause at Rome. But Ecebolius, a christian sophist at Constantinople, who t had been Julian's master in rhetoric, was overcome by the

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k Soz. l. v. cap. 18.

1 Theod. 1. iii. cap. 8.

m An ipse non est ecclesiam persecutus, qui christianos liberales literas docere ac discere vetuit? De Civit. Dei, l. xviii. cap. 52. Greg. Or. 3. p. 51.

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• Illud autem erat inclemens, obruendum perenni silentio, quod arcebat docere magistros rhetoricos et grammaticos, ritus christiani cultores. Ammian. 1. xxii. cap. X.

Namque et jura condidit non molesta—præter pauca. Inter quæ erat illud inclemens, quod docere vetuit magistros rhetoricos et grammaticos christianos, ni transissent ad numinum cultum. Id. 1. xxv. cap. 4. p. 463. P Ep. 42. p. 422.

9 Aperto tamen præcepit edicto, ne quis christianus docendorum liberalium studiorum professor esset. Sed tamen, sicut a majoribus compertum habemus, omnes ubique propemodum præcepti conditiones amplexati, officium quam fidem deserere maluerunt. Oros. 1. vii. cap. 30.

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* Proæresius, sophista Atheniensis, lege latâ, ne christiani liberalium artium doctores essent, et sibi specialiter Julianus concederet, ut christianos doceret, scholam sponte deseruit. Chr. p. 185.

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et illud addidit, [Simplicianus,] quod imperatoris Juliani temporibus lege datâ prohibiti sunt christiani docere literaturam et oratoriam: quam legem ille amplexus loquacem scholam deserere maluit, quam verbum tuum, quo linguas infantum facis disertas. Aug. Confess. 1. viii. cap. 5. num. 10. And see in this work, Vol. iv. p. 255, 256.

* Socr. 1. iii. cap. 1. p. 165. A. B.

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temptations of the times, and openly professed Hellenism: however, when Julian was dead he recovered himself, and with great humiliations entreated to be reconciled to the church.

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It was his fancy to call the christians Galileans it is taken notice of by divers ecclesiastical writers, who have made good remarks upon it: and some of them say, that he ordered by edicts that they should be so called. In this appellation there was no reason nor argument; but it might answer Julian's purpose, to make the christians appear contemptible in the esteem of weak people.

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That was no late thought of Julian: we find him using this style at the beginning of his sole empire, before he left Constantinople. He there offered sacrifices to the genius of that city after which, as Socrates says, Maris, the Arian bishop of Chalcedon, was brought to him, who was an old man, and had lost his sight. He reproached Julian, calling him impious, apostate, and atheist: who returning reproach for reproach, called Maris blind: nor, says he, is your Galilean God able to cure you. For he was wont to call Christ the Galilean, and the christians Galileans. Maris replied: I thank God who has made me blind, that I might not see the face of a man who has so fallen into impiety as you have done. To which Julian made no farther answer. Sozomen, who tells the same story, adds: For* he thought ' he should better advance the cause of Hellenism, by showing himself beyond expectation mild and patient toward the christians.' And I also think, that the christians would have acted more agreeably to the doctrine of the gospel, and more for its honour, if they had avoided abusive and indecent reproaches of an emperor.y

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It cannot be denied that Julian was a persecutor. Am

p. 184. D.

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επι δε Ιελιανε γοργος Έλλην εφαινετο. κ. λ. Socr. l. iii. cap. 13.

▾ Gr. Naz. Or. 3. p. 81. A. B. Theod. 1. iii. cap. 21. Chrys. Or. 2. de S. Bab. T. i. p. 783. A. et alibi. Socrat. 1. iii. cap. 12. p. 183. D.

* Πολλά τον βασιλέα προσελθων περιύβρισε, τον ασεβη καλων, τον αποςατην, και αθεον. Ο δε λόγοις τας ύβρεις ημείβετο, τυφλον καλεσας. Και εκ αν, φησιν, ὁ Γαλιλαιος σε Θεος θεραπεύσει σε Γαλιλαιον γαρ ειωφει ὁ Ιελιανος καλειν τον Χρισον, και τες χρισιανος [ Γαλιλαιος]. Socrat. 1. iii. c. 12. p. 183. D. * Και ὁ βασιλευς μηδεν αποκρινομενος παρεδραμεν μετο γαρ ταυτη μαλλον ̔Ελληνισμον κρατυναι ανεξικακον και πραον αδοκήτως τῳ πλήθει των χρισιανων ἑαυτον επιδεικνυς. Soz. l. v. cap. 599. D.

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y I am not singular in that judgment. Sueur, Hist. de l'Eglise et de l'Empire, at the year 362. T. iii. p. 235. thus delivers the last part of that discourse. Maris répondit vigoureusement, ou plutôt insolemment: "Je rends grâces à mon Dieu, dece qu'il m' a ôté la vue, afin qu'elle ne fût souillée de voir un si méchant homme que toi."

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mianus thought his prohibiting the christians to have a liberal education a rigorous proceeding. Eutropius also, another heathen, and contemporary, says, that Julian bore hard upon the christians, though without putting them to death. Socrates, as we have already seen, says he avoided. the excessive cruelty of Dioclesian's persecution: and other christian writers say, that he envied christians the honour of martyrdom. Jerom, in his Chronicle, gives this character of Julian's persecution, that it was mild, and enticing rather than compelling men to sacrifice: but he acknowledgeth, that many were drawn aside. Orosius speaks to the like purpose. Gregory Nazianzen, near the end of his second invective against Julian, remarking upon his Misopogon, or Satyr against the people of Antioch, expresseth himself after this manner: You boast mightily of d

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never eating to excess, as a wonderful thing; but say not, how you have oppressed the christians, an innocent and a numerous body of men. Not considering, that whether 'some particular person is troubled with crudities, or not, is a thing of little consequence to the public: whereas by 'the persecution which you have raised, the whole Roman 'empire has been disturbed."

No ancient christian writer, perhaps, has drawn Julian's character to greater advantage than Prudentius, who e ascribes to him great fortitude: and not only says, that he was a fine speaker and writer, but also that he made good laws, and was a good emperor; but he was an enemy to the true religion he was faithful to the interests of the state, but was unfaithful to God, and worshipped innumerable deities, which he shows largely.

And I would take this opportunity to refer curious and

2 Nimius religionis christianæ insectator, perinde tamen ut cruore abstinuerit. Eutrop. 1. x. cap. 16.

a Vide Gr. Naz. Or. 3. p. 72. &c.

b Juliano ad idolorum cultum converso, blanda persecutio fuit, illiciens magis, quam impellens ad sacrificandum : in quâ multi ex nostris voluntate propriâ corruerunt. Chr. p. 185.

-Christianam religionem arte potius quam potestate insectatus est, ut negaretur fides Christi, et idolorum cultus susciperetur, honoribus potius provocans, quam tormentis cogere studuit. Oros. 1. vii. cap. 30.

d Gregor. Or. 4. p. 133, 134.

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Principibus tamen e cunctis non defuit unus,
Me puero, ut memini, ductor fortissimus armis,
Conditor et legum, celeberrimus ore manuque,
Consultor patriæ, sed non consultor habendæ
Religionis, amans ter centum millia divûm.
Perfidus ille Deo, quamvis non perfidus orbi.

Prudent. Apoth. ver. 450, &c.

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inquisitive readers to several learned moderns, who have made remarks upon Julian's writings, and upon his conduct as an emperor, and are not unfavourable in their judgments concerning him.

And it has been observed,' thats there was such a mixture of good and bad qualities in this prince, that it is easy to praise and blame him at the same time, without 'deviating from the truth.' h

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II. It cannot be necessary, that I should take notice of all Julian's works; but there is one which cannot be omitted. For at length, in his great zeal, in the midst of his preparations for the Persian war, and when he was almost ready to set out upon that expedition, he was at the pains to compose an argument against the christian religion. Jeromi says, it consisted of seven books; and in another place he has quoted the seventh book of that work: but Cyril of Alexandria, in the preface to his confutation of it, mentions only three books, written by Julian against the holy gospels, and the venerable religion of the christians. Cyril, who dedicates this defence of our religion, in ten books, to Theodosius the younger, did not write, as is supposed, before the year 432: whether any part of Julian's work was lost between the time of Jerom and Cyril, or whether it was differently divided, I cannot say. But that Cyril mentions three books only, because he intended to answer a part only of the work, I cannot believe. When he says, that Julian had written three books against the christian religion, I suppose he intends the whole of the work which he had before him.

Philip Sidetes, who flourished about the year 418, published a confutation of Julian's work, as we learn from

f Vide Petri Cunci Præf. in Juliani Cæsares. Leunclavii Apologia pro Zosimo, p. 629. &c. Gundling. Pref. in Balduin. de Legib. Constantini M. sub in. See likewise Ez. Spanheim's French version of Julian's Cæsars, and Montaigne's Essays, B. 2. ch. 19.

8 Fluery's Ecc. Hist. Vol. 2. p. 361. English edition.

h It may not be improper to insert here a part of Julian's character, as given by Cave in his Introduction, p. xlvii. A prince truly of great virtues, prudent, considerative, impartial, strictly just, chaste, and temperate, patient of hardships, unwearied in his labours, valorous in his attempts, even to rashness and precipitancy--In short, to give him his due, had not his memory • been stained with an apostasy from the best religion that ever was, and so bitter and incurable a spleen against the christians, he might have passed for one of the best princes that ever managed the Roman empire.'

Julianus Augustus septem libros, in expeditione Parthicâ, adversus Christum vomuit; et, juxta fabulas poëtarum, suo se ense laceravit. Hieron. ep. 83. T. iv. p. 655. k In Osee, cap. 11. T. iii. p. 1311. fin. Κα, δη τρια συγγέγραφε βιβλια κατα των άγιων ευαγγελιων, και κατα της EVAYES TWV XOITIAvwv Sonorɛias. Cyril. contr. Julian. I. i. p. 3. D.

m Socrates; but it was never much valued, and has been long since lost: we therefore can have no information from him.

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Jerom seems to say, that Julian's work was composed in the Persian expedition, in expeditione Parthicâ.' But I do not think it needful to suppose, as some have done, that he intended to say, it was written after Julian was set out from Antioch, in his march toward Persia. I think, we may rely upon Libanius for the time of this work; who, as cited by Socrates, says: In" the winter season, during the long nights, the emperor set himself to confute those books 'which make the man of Palestine a God, and the Son of God and in a long and unanswerable argument he showed, how trifling and absurd those things are which are admired by them. In which work he excelled the Tyrian 'old man let the Tyrian forgive me, that I say, he was 'exceeded by his son.' But, says Socrates, I am of opinion, that if Porphyry had been an emperor, he would have preferred his work above Julian's. Cave likewise speaks very slightly of this performance. Indeed, I apprehend, there could not be much in it that was new, and had not been said before: but Julian's work might be more sprightly for the manner, and might have some satirical strokes against the followers of Jesus peculiar to himself. And I am apt to think, that he oftener quoted the writers of the New Testament by name, and more distinctly, than any of his predecessors in this argument: and therefore he will afford us good evidence of their genuineness and antiquity. Some have imagined, that P in this design Julian was assisted by Libanius, and other philosophers who accompanied him: but I believe, that he needed not their assistance, and that he was better qualified to write upon this argument than any of those sophists or philosophers. According to our account then, this work was composed by Julian near the end of the year 362, or in the beginning of the year 363.

Libanius calls it a long work indeed I believe it was prolix. Cyril transcribes many passages from it at length: afterwards he abridges, and plainly omits some tedious quotations from the scriptures, especially from the Old Tesm L. vii. cap. 27. Το χειμωνος, φησι, τας νυκτας εκτείνοντος, T8 επιθεμενος ὁ βασιλευς ταις βιβλοις, αἱ τον εκ Παλαισίνης ανθρωπον Θεον και Ɖes waida wo1801, K. λ. Socrat. 1. iii. cap. 23. p. 196. D.

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H. L. T. i. p. 345. in Libanio.

P On peut juger, que ce rhéteur, et les philosophes qui accompagnoient Julien, eurent part aux livres contre la réligion chrétienne, que ce prince composoit pendant les longues nuits de l'hiver. Bletterie, Vie de Julien, p. 383.

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