RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Judson Julian
contemporary if not an eye-witness. Zosimus writes with unconcealed sympathy for the restorer of Hellenism. Aurelius Victor tells little. Among the orators and men of letters, Libanius is the most important; seven of his orations refer directly to Julian and offer valuable material. The statements of Eunapius in his lives of the sophists and of the panegyrist Mamertinus are to be received with caution.
As to the Christian writers, their hatred of the emperor led them sometimes into distortions of fact or malicious lies, or at least made them willing to lend an ear to calumny, except during the short period when Julian's recall of the orthodox bishops won a favorable judgment from some, such as Hilary. The two orations in which Gregory Nazianzen denounced the emperor, his contemporary and acquaintance, form a strong contrast to Eusebius' life of Constantine. Among the historians, even Socrates here lays aside his usual impartiality. Rufinus, as a contemporary, deserves most attention; then follow Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, with some fragments of Philostorgius. Isolated notices occur in most of the Fathers, and there are four poems against Julian by Ephraem Syrus written in 363 and containing legendary material mingled with valuable notes. In spite of their prejudice, the ecclesiastical writers are not to be undervalued, as they complete the material of the pagan historians in some important particulars, and demonstrably rest in not a few places upon documentary evidence. Modern historians have learned only in the last two centuries to take a broad and abstract view of Julian's career, and to see with increasing clearness that his admirable qualities were his own, while his obvious and by no means insignificant defects were the product of his education and environment.
When the sons of Constantine secured the empire in 337 by the slaughter of their male relations (see Constantine the Great and his Sons), Julian was spared on account of his
Sketch of tender age, and remained in Constan-
His Life, tinople under the charge of his distant kinsman, Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, and of the eunuch Mardonius, who was a professing Christian, though his ideals seem to have been Hellenistic. It is possible that he laid the foundation for Julian's later attitude; but he also awakened in him the enthusiasm for what was noble and good that distinguished his manhood. In 342 Eusebius died, and the suspicious Constantius confined Julian and his sickly half-brother Gallus in the fortress of Macellum in Cappadocia for the next six years, surrounded by Christian clerics. The lad read the Bible, copied religious books, built a chapel to St. Mamas, and is said to have officiated as a lector in public worship, which presupposes (unless there was some departure from the ordinary practise) that he had been baptized, as indeed Cyril positively asserts, though neither Julian nor any of his contemporaries speak of his baptism. At any rate, there is no reason to suppose that Julian's religious views were at this time hostile to the Christian Church. About 350 the brothers were allowed to leave Macellum, and Julian, re-
turning to Constantinople, devoted himself to study. The emperor objected, however, to his presence in the capital, and he went to Nicomedia, promising not to attend the lectures which Libanius was then delivering there. But he read them; and here at this time, later in Pergamum, and finally in Ephesus he was introduced by the foremost Hellenistic teachers of the day to the Neoplatonic philosophy and mysticism. In 351 he formally, though unobtrusively, became a convert to paganism. The dreams of poets and the speculations of philosophers were to him the living truth; in Neoplatonism he found the revelation of all the wealth of the highest ideals of antiquity and of Greek civilization. His feelings, principles, and aims were, however, not those of the ancient masters whom he thought to follow, but modern, and such as might nearly all have been justified from the teachings of Christian leaders of his day. The fortunes of his life, his imagination and his education inclined him to Greek mythology and learning, as similar elements had brought thousands of others to Christianity. The great task of reforming Hellenism and abolishing the system of his predecessor seems to have been put before him by his philosophic friends in Nicomedia and Ephesus. Whether he was already longing for the throne is not definitely known, but it is likely that he was; and the teachers, who never lost their hold over him, seem to have exacted promises as to his conduct in the event of his accession. In 354 Constantius put Gallus to death, and kept Julian practically in confinement at Milan for six months. Then he was allowed to return to Bithynia, and in the summer of 355 to go to Athens, where he associated with the most prominent Hellenic leaders and was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. In October he was recalled to northern Italy, where the emperor needed an heir-apparent and a leader against the Germanic inroads in Gaul. He played a valiant part for four years of military activity amid great difficulties, carrying the war into the enemy's own country and winning the respect and confidence of the army. He was in Paris in the winter of 359- 360. There he received the command to send his best soldiers to the East to Constantius. They answered by hailing Julian as Augustus, apparently without any suggestion from him, if not against his will. After some hesitation he allowed them to crown him, and notified Constantius of what had happened, without assuming the imperial title. Constantius answered with the sword; but Julian was ready to meet him. During the winter of 360- 361 he was making his preparations at Vienne. He cslebrated the feast of the Epiphany with Christian rites; then he threw off the mask, and went south by forced marches, opening the closed pagan temples wherever he passed. Constantius came from Syria to meet him, but died Nov. 3 in Cilicia; and on Dec. 11, 361, Julian entered Constantinople as undisputed emperor. He remained there the rest of that winter, occupied with plans for farreaching reforms, but at the same time making preparations for a campaign against the Persians. In the summer of 362 he went through Asia Minor, receiving discouraging reports of the results of his
Julian