A. D. 361.] APOSTASY OF JULIAN. 199 pulsion. He was hated by the rulers on account of his assumption and arrogance; and the multitude detested him on account of his tyranny and power. The Pagans regarded him with even greater aversion than the Christians, because he prohibited them from offering sacrifices, and from celebrating their ancient festivals, and because he had on one occasion introduced the governor of Egypt and armed soldiery into the city, and despoiled their temples. This was, in fact, as we shall hereafter see, the cause of his death. 1 On the deposition of Cyril, Herennius obtained the bishopric of Jerusalem;2 he was succeeded by Heraclius, and to Heraclius succeeded Hilarius; but on the accession of the emperor Theodosius, Cyril was again installed in his bishopric. BOOK V. CHAP. I.-APOSTASY OF JULIAN. DEATH OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTIUS. We have now described3 the transactions which took place in the Eastern churches. About the period we have been passing under review, Julian attacked and conquered the barbarians who dwelt on the banks of the Nile; many fell in battle; and the others he took prisoners. As this victory added greatly to his fame, and as his moderation and gentleness had endeared him to the troops, they proclaimed him emperor. Far from seeking to obtain the consent of Constantius to this nomination, he displaced the officers by whom he had been elected, and industriously circulated letters wherein Constantius had solicited the barbarians to enter the Roman territories, and aid him against Magnentius. He then suddenly changed his religion; and, although he had previously professed Christianity, he declared himself high priest, frequented the Pagan temples, offered sacrifices, and invited his subjects to adopt his own 1 Namely, Artemius, who was afterwards martyred under Julian. 2 Compare Socrates, ibid. iv. 25. Epiphanius places another Cyril after Herennius. 3 With this chapter compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. last chapter, and iii. 1. form of worship. As an invasion by the Persians was expected, and as Constantius had on this account repaired to Syria, Julian conceived that he might easily render himself master of Illyria; he therefore set out on his journey to this province, under pretence that he intended to present an apology to Constantius for having, without his sanction, received the symbols of imperial power. It is said, that when he arrived on the borders of Illyria, he found the vines loaded with green grapes, although the time of the vintage was past, and the Pleiades had sunk to the West; and that there fell upon him and his followers a kind of dew, of which each drop bore the sign of the cross. He and those with him regarded the grapes as a favourable omen, and attributed the phenomenon of the dew to chance. Others thought that the green grapes signified that Julian would die prematurely after a very short reign, and that the crosses formed by the drops of dew indicated that the Christian religion is from heaven, and that all persons, whoever they may be, ought to receive the sign of the cross. I am, for my own part, convinced that those who regarded these two phenomena as unfavourable omens for Julian, were not mistaken; and events proved the accuracy of their opinion. When Constantius heard that Julian was marching against him at the head of an army, he abandoned his intended expedition against the Persians, and departed for Constantinople; but he died on the journey, when he had arrived as far as Mopsucrenes, which lies near Taurus, between Cilicia and Cappadocia. He died in the forty-fifth year of his age, after reigning thirteen years conjointly with Constantine his father, and twenty-five years after the death of that emperor. Immediately on the decease of Constantius, Julian, who had already made himself master of Thrace, entered Constantinople, and was proclaimed emperor. Pagans assert that diviners and demons had predicted the death of Constantius, and his consequent elevation, before his departure for Gaul, and had advised him to undertake the expedition. This might have been regarded as a true prediction, had not the life of Julian been terminated so shortly afterwards, and when he had only enjoyed the imperial power as in a dream. But it appears to me absurd to believe that, after he had heard the death of Constantius predicted, and had been warned that A. D. 361.] ACCESSION OF JULIAN. 201 it would be his own fate to fall in battle by the hands of the Persians, he should have marched voluntarily to meet his own death, particularly as no advantage could accrue to him, and as his name would only be handed down to posterity as that of an inexperienced emperor, utterly unacquainted with the art of war,—and who, had he lived, would probably have suffered the greater part of the Roman territories to fall under the Persian yoke. This observation, however, is only inserted lest I should be blamed for omitting it. I leave every one to form his own opinion on the subject. CHAP. II.-EDUCATION AND LIFE OF JULIAN, AND HIS IMMEDIATELY after the death of Constantius, the dread of a persecution arose in the church, and Christians suffered more anguish from the anticipation of this calamity than they would have experienced from its actual occurrence. This state of feeling proceeded from the long peace they had enjoyed, from the remembrance of the cruelties which had been exercised by the tyrants upon their fathers, and from their knowledge of the hatred with which Julian regarded their doctrines. It is said that he renounced the faith of Christ with the utmost profanity, and had recourse to sacrifices and sanguinary expiations to efface his baptism, and wipe away from himself the sacrament of the church. From that period he employed himself in auguries, and in the celebration of the Pagan rites, both publicly and privately. It is related, that one day, as he was inspecting the entrails of a victim, he beheld among them a cross encompassed with a crown. This appearance terrified those who were assisting in the ceremony; for they judged that it indicated the triumph of religion, and the eternal duration of the doctrines of Christianity; they considered that the crown is in itself the symbol of victory, and that, as it encircled the cross, and returned as it were into itself without beginning or end, it typified eternity. The chief augur, however, tried to re-assure the emperor, by insisting that no unfavourable omens were indicated by the appearance of the entrails; but that, on the contrary, it 1 1 Valesius observes that this and the following story are recorded also by Gregory Nazianzenus, in his Invective against Julian. might be thence inferred that the Christian sect would be confined within very narrow limits, beyond which all extension would be impossible. I have also heard, that one day Julian descended into a noted and terrific cavern, either for the purpose of participating in some ceremony, or of consulting an oracle, and that, by means of machinery, or of enchantment, such frightful spectres appeared before him, that, losing all reflection and presence of mind, he thoughtlessly made the sign of the cross, according to the custom of Christians in time of danger. Immediately the spectres disappeared, and the ceremony was arrested. The officiating priest was at first surprised at the disappearance of the spectres, but when apprized of the cause, he declared that it was a profanation, and after exhorting the emperor not to fear, or to have recourse to anything connected with the Christian religion, he re-commenced the ceremony. The extravagant attachment which Julian evinced towards the Pagan rites was extremely displeasing to the Christians, more especially on account of his having been himself formerly a Christian. He was born of pious parents, had been baptized in infancy according to the custom of the church, and had been brought up in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures under the guidance of priests and bishops.1. He and Gallus were the sons of Constantius, the brother of Constantine the emperor, and of Dalmatius. Dalmatius had a son of the same name, who was declared Cæsar, and was slain by the soldiery after the death of Constantius. His fate would have been shared by Gallus and Julian, who were then orphans, had not Gallus been spared on account of a disease under which he was labouring, and which appeared to be hopeless; and Julian, on account of his extreme youth, for he was but eight years of age. After this wonderful preservation, a residence was assigned to the two brothers in a palace called Macella, situated in Cappadocia, near Mount Argeus, and not far from Cæsarea; it was a magnificent edifice, and adorned with gardens, baths, and fountains. Here they were educated in a manner corresponding to the dignity of their birth; they were taught the sciences and bodily exercises be Julian was brought up at Nicomedia under Eusebius, bishop of that see, who was also nearly related to him by blood. See Amm. Marcell. xvii. p. 219. BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF JULIAN. 203 fitting their age, and had masters to instruct them in sacred and in profane literature. Such was their progress, that they were enrolled among the clergy, and permitted to read the ecclesiastical books to the people. Their habits and mode of life indicated no dereliction from piety. They respected the clergy and other good and zealous persons, they repaired regularly to church, and rendered due homage to the tombs of the martyrs. It is said that they undertook to deposit the tomb of St. Mammas1 the martyr in a large edifice, and to perform all the labour themselves, and that while they were, in emulation of the martyr, labouring to surpass him in piety, an event occurred which was so astonishing that it would indeed be utterly incredible, were it not for the testimony of many who are still among us, and who were eye-witnesses of the transaction. The part of the edifice upon which Gallus laboured advanced rapidly, as might have been expected, towards completion; but the portion upon which Julian laboured fell into ruin; in one part the stones were detached from the foundations, and in another the foundations themselves were forced from the earth, as if ejected by some secret power. This was universally regarded as a prodigy. The people, however, drew no conclusion from it till subsequent events had manifested its import. There were a few who, from that moment, doubted the reality of Julian's religion, and suspected that he only made an outward profession of religion for fear of displeasing the emperor, and that he concealed his own sentiments because it was not safe to divulge them. It is asserted that he was first led to renounce the religion of his fathers by his intimacy and intercourse with diviners; for when the resentment of Constantius against the two brothers was abated, Gallus went to Asia, and took up his residence in Ephesus, where the greater part of his property was situated, and Julian repaired to Constantinople, and frequented the schools, where his natural abilities and great acquirements did not remain concealed. He appeared in public The name of this saint is held in high repute in the Eastern church, but very little is known of the facts of his life. He is said by Gregory Nazian. (Orat. 43) and by Basil (Hom. 26) to have been a shepherd and also a martyr. The miraculous story here related is given also by Gregory Nazian. in his third Oration against Julian, though he does not mention the martyr's name. It is probable that he suffered about A. D. 274. |