Ju'lius ('loiiXioc, for the Latin Julins,the name of an honorable Roman family), the centurion of the im- perial cohort who had the charge of conducting Paul as a prisoner to Rome, and who treated him with much consideration and kindness on the way (Acts xxvii, 1, 3, 43; comp. ver. 11, 31). A.D. 55. — Kitto. "Augus- tus's band," to which Julius belonged, has been identified by some commentators with the Italian band (Acts x, 1); by others, less probably, with the body of cavalry denominated Sebasteni by Josephus (A nf. xix, 9, 2, etc.). Conybeare and Howson {Life of St. Paul, ch. xxi) adopt in the main Wieseler's opinion, that the Augustan co- hort was a detachment of the Praetorian Guards attach- ed to the person of the Roman governor at Csesarea; and that this Julius may be the same as Julius Priscus (Tacitus, IJisf. ii, 92; iv, 11\ sometime centurion, after- wards pra'fect of the Pn-etorians.— Smith. See IrsLr- lAx; Paul.
Julius, a Christian martyr, was a Roman senator in the 2d century. A convert to Christianity, he -was or- dered by the emperor to sacrifice to him as Hercules. This Julius absolutely refused to do, and he was impris- oned, and finally beaten to death with clubs. — Fox, Book of Martyrs, p. 22.
Julius Africanus, an ecclesiastical writer who flourished ni the beginning of the 3d centurj-, was, ac- cording to Suidas (s. v. Africanus), a native of Libya, but resided generally at Emmaus (afterwards Nicopo- lis), in Palestine. The same writer calls him also Sex- tiis. Little is known of his personal history. Eusebius (I/ist. Bed. vi, 31) relates that he undertook a journey to Alexandria to listen to Ileraclas, the teacher of the
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catechumens in that city, as also that he was sent by the inhabitants of Eramaus to ask of the emperor HeHo- gabalus the restoration of their city, which was granted (see Jerome, De vir. illusir. c. C3). He was a friend of Origen ; and as, in letters addressed to him when the latter was already some fifty years old, he styles him "son," it is to be supposed that he was much advanced in years in 238, while the expression " colleague" seems to imply that he was also a priest. He was, accorduig to Jerome, in the full vigor of life during the reign of Heliogabalus and Alexander Severus. We have no in- formation concerning the precise date of his death ; it occurred, in all probability, near the middle of the 3d century — some say about A.D. 232. He enjoyed great reputation for learning among the ancients. He is the author of the oldest Christian history of the world, the C/iTO/M)^rrt7;/ii«, or Z*efew;jo/-i6HS, which Eusebius consid- ered very trustworthy : it extended from the creation to the third year of the reign of Heliogabalus (221). Un- fortunately, the complete work is not in our possession ; a pottion, however, was preserved to us by copious ex- tracts, which subsequent Church historians made from it, and these (fifty-six fragments) have been collected by Galland {Bibliotheca, vol. ii). Julius also wrote a letter to Origen concerning the authenticity of the his- tory of Susannah and the Elders, and another to Aristi- des on the differences between the genealogies of Christ by Matthew and Luke. In this last letter, speaking against the opinion of a J'ruus jna having been perpe- trated by the Church in order to prove the rights of Jesus as high-priest and king, he says, " Far be it that such a thought should govern the Church of Christ as to invent a falsehood to glorify Christ." Eusebius, Photius, and Suidas ascribe to him also the author- ship of another -work in twenty-four books, a sort of compendium of information on medicine and natural philosophy. According to Suidas, it was a collection of empiric formulas for curing diseases by sorcery, etc. But, as this does not seem to agree with what we know of the general character of the man, Dupin thinks that there must be some mistake, and that there probably existed both a Julius Africanus and a Julius Sextus, who have been confounded one with the other. Final- ly, he has also been considered the author of several treatises — De trinitate, Be circumcisione, De Attalo, De Pasc/ia, De Sabbate — which are evidently not his, but belong to the Roman presbyter Novatian. See Moh- ler, Patrologie, i, 577-580 ; liouth, Rel. Sacr. ii, 108 sq. ; Herzog, Keal-Enqiklop. vii, 155.
Julius Cesar, the first emperor of the Romans, deserves a place in our work on account of his connec- tion with Jewish history. He was born at Rome B. C. 100, and was educated in Greece, whither the Ro- man youths of his day were wont to resort for instruc- tion. After having successively held the offices of trib- une, qurestor, redile, high-priest, and prfetor or governor of Spain, Crosar was one of the three parties who con- stituted the triumvirate of Rome, B.C. GO. He now set out for Gaul, ostensibly aiming at the subjugation of the Gauls, but actually to form and discipline an army that might enable him to force his coadjutors to leave to him alone the government of the Romans. The suc- cess with which his efforts, both as a soldier and a poli- tician, were re\varded, arc known to us from the historj' of the Gallic War that flowed from his own pen, as well as from other distinguished classic historians. When he went to Gaul he was to remain there five years, but the expiration of that time finding him involved in wars with the barbarians, five years more were added. Germany, Britain, and other countries also were invaded in turn; and when, at the death of Crassus, Cresar and Pompey alone were left to contend for supremacy, a quarrel naturally enough arose between the two rivals. Pompey was the favorite of the peoiile. and therefore easily controlled the senate ; if only once Ciesar could be obliged to disband the army, as whose hero the victorious general of the Gallic wars Avas worshipped, there could