Julian: Orations 6-8 (Letters to Themistius. To The Senate and People of Athens. To a Priest. The Caesars. Misopogon) [2] 9780674990326, 0674990323

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A

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY EDITED BY T. E.

PAGE,

LITT.D.

AND

W. H.

D.

ROUSE,

LiTT.D.

THE WORKS OF THE EMPEROR JULIAN II

THE WORKS OF THE

EMPEROR JULIAN WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY

WILMER CAVE WRIGHT,

PH.D.

LATE OF GIRTON COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN BRYN MAWR COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA

IN

THREE VOLUMES II

LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN CO. :

:

MCMXIII

2 3 ;35(J

CONTENTS PAGE

ORATION

VI.

ORATION

VII.

ORATION

VIII.

TO THE UNEDUCATED CYNICS

......

TO THE CYNIC HERACLEIOS

5

73

A CONSOLATION TO HIMSELF UPON THE

DEPARTURE OF THE EXCELLENT SALLUST

167

LETTER TO THEMISTIUS THE PHILOSOPHER

LETTER TO THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ATHENS

203

....

243

FRAGMENT OF A LETTER TO A PRIEST

297

THE CAESARS

345

MISOPOGON, OR, BEARD-HATER

421

INDEX

513

.

THE

ORATIONS AND SATIRES OF THE EMPEROR JULIAN ORATION

VOL.

II.

VI

THE ORATIONS OF JULIAN INTRODUCTION TO ORATION

VI

THE Sixth Oration is a sermon or rather a scolding addressed to the New Cynics, and especially to one of their number who had ventured to defame the memory of Diogenes. In the fourth Christian century the Cynic mode of life was adopted by many, but the vast majority were illiterate men who imitated the Cynic shamelessness of manners but not the genuine discipline, the self-sufficiency of Antis(avTapKtia) which had ennobled the lives To the virtues of thenes, Diogenes and Crates. these great men Julian endeavours to recall the In the two centuries worthless Cynics of his day. that had elapsed since Lucian wrote, for the edification of degenerate Cynics, 1 the Life of the Cynic Demonax, the dignified and witty friend of Epictetus, the followers of that sect had still further deterThe New Cynics may be compared with iorated. the worst type of mendicant friar of the Middle and Julian saw in their assumption of Ages the outward signs of Cynicism, the coarse cloak, the staff and wallet, and long hair, the same hypocrisy and greed that characterised certain of the Christian monks of his day. 2 The resemblances ;

1

Cf.

2

Bernays, Lukian und die Kyniker, Berlin, 1879.

224

c.

INTRODUCTION TO ORATION

VI

between the Christians and the Cynics had already been pointed out by Aristides, 1 and while in Julian's eyes they were equally impious, he has an additional grievance against the Cynics in that they brought Like the Christians they discredit on philosophy. were unlettered,, they were disrespectful to the gods whom Julian was trying to restore, they had flattered

and fawned on Constantius, and far from practising the austerities of Diogenes they were no better than parasites on society. In this as in the Seventh Oration Julian's aim but still more to is to reform the New Cynics, demonstrate the essential unity of philosophy. He sympathised profoundly with the tenets of Cynicism, and ranked Diogenes with Socrates as a moral teacher. He reminds the Cynics whom he satirises that the famous admonition of Diogenes to " counter" " mark 2 or " a new is not to be taken coinage

forge

and impudence, but like the Delphic precept "Know Thyself" warns all philosophers to accept no traditional authority, no convention that has not been examined and approved by the reason of the individual. His conviction an excuse

as

that

all

for license

philosophical

tenets

are

in

harmony

if

rightly understood, gives a peculiar earnestness to his Apologia for Diogenes. The reference in the first paragraph to the summer solstice seems to indicate that the Oration was written before Julian left Constantinople in order to prepare for the Persian

campaign.

1

Aristides, Orations 402 D. The precise meaning of the phrase is uncertain it has been suggested that it arose from the custom of altering or " ' countermarking coins so as to adapt them for the regular currency ; see 192 c, Oration 1. 208 D. 2

;

'

B 2

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