17

counterbalances of your wisdom and virtue; but I make my proofs from your own gods and your favorite studies, so that from things familiar to you you might learn the mystery of the truth, and not think that I am adorning myself with the sayings of the Greeks; for let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head, but caring for your soul's salvation, I move every stone to persuade you. For I suppose that just as Satan blinded the ancient and first-formed Adam through disobedience and the eating of the plant, so also, O king, envying your salvation, he has stripped you of the faith of Christ; but that you call the sun and moon and the stars gods, I am ashamed of the profession of ignorance, or rather of evil counsel; Did not Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, who is indeed your teacher, say that the sun is a mass of molten rock, and the stars pumice-like bodies, and completely soulless and senseless? How then do you yourself, best and most philosophical of kings, address as gods things which are rejected and slandered by your own teachers? For I know that you belong to the Platonic sect, and Plato listened to Socrates, and Socrates to Archelaus, and Archelaus and Pericles listened to Anaxagoras; how then, O wonderful one, do you address these as gods, and above all embrace the sun, and make it a royal oath? high and low, in letters, in speeches, in addresses, is there much "By the sun"? But why must I speak at length on these things? I do not deny my Christ, may it never be! I do not embrace the abominable impiety of the Greeks; but I will remain in what I was taught, and I will persevere in the ancestral traditions, which no time will overthrow, even if wisdom has been devised by the sharpest of minds, that I may say something according to your poet Euripides. 48. At this Julian, feeling dizzy and at a loss, did not know what to do, marveling at the martyr's great learning and eloquence, and how he was ready for everything and well-spoken in his defense. And the martyr of Christ says to him: Leave, O king, the dead and swollen religion of the Greeks; for it has long since decayed, and come to Christ; for He is long-suffering and loves mankind and accepts your repentance [variant: transgression]. But it was not possible, it seems, to resist the impulses of a will that delights in evil, nor to call back a soul that with a deserter's mind was going and hastening toward destruction. For Julian, long since travailing in his soul with Hellenism, from the associations he had in Ionia with the philosopher Maximus and his circle, for as long as his brother was alive, and 96.1297 after him Constantius, he dared not reveal anything, because of the fear of them; but when they were departed from among men, and he was now master of affairs, then indeed, having thrown off his disguise in public, he burst forth all at once into Hellenism with all his zeal. 49. He answered therefore to the martyr: Since you have disparaged my words, O evil head, and have dared to try to convert me to the faith of the Christians, these things I grant you instead of the gifts which I promised. He therefore orders the martyr to be stripped, and his sides to be pierced through with red-hot iron spits, and his back to be pricked with sharp caltrops and torn apart while being dragged on his back. And when these things were inflicted on the martyr with great speed, his endurance was the same as before, and as if another's body were suffering, he was a spectator, and did not appear to be suffering any of the terrible things; and indeed, while the saint was being tortured for many hours, and uttering no sound or groan, he himself, clapping his hands as if defeated, rose from the tribunal, and orders the martyr to be led back to the prison, and neither bread nor water to him

17

σῆς σοφίας καὶ ἀρετῆς ἰσοστάσια· ἐκ τῶν σῶν δὲ θεῶν καὶ τῶν σοι προσφιλῶν μαθημάτων ποιοῦμαι τὰς ἀποδείξεις, ἵν' ἐκ τῶν σοι γνωρίμων τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας μάθοις μυστήριον, καὶ μή με δόξῃς τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐγκαλλωπίζεσθαι ῥήμασι· μὴ δὲ γὰρ ἔλαιον ἁμαρτωλοῦ τὴν ἐμὴν λιπανάτω κεφαλὴν, ἀλλὰ τῆς σῆς κηδόμενος ψυχικῆς σωτηρίας, κινῶ πάντα λίθον ὥστε πεισθῆναί σε. Ὑπολαμβάνω δὲ ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ Σατανᾶς τὸν παλαιὸν Ἀδὰμ καὶ πρωτόπλαστον ἀπετύφλωσε διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς καὶ τῆς τοῦ φυτοῦ βρώσεως, οὕτω καὶ σὲ, βασιλεῦ, φθονῶν τῆς σῆς σωτηρίας, τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀπεγύμνωσε πίστεως· ὅτι δὲ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας θεοὺς ἀποκαλεῖς, αἰσχύνομαι τὸ τῆς ἀμαθίας, μᾶλλον δὲ κακοβουλίας ἐπάγγελμα· οὐχὶ Ἀναξαγόρας ὁ Κλαζομένιος ὁ δηλαδὴ σὸς διδάσκαλος, μύδρον ἔφη τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας κισσηροειδῆ σώματα, καὶ παντελῶς ἄψυχα καὶ ἀναίσθητα; πῶς οὖν αὐτὸς, βασιλέων ἄριστε καὶ φιλοσοφώτατε, τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν σῶν διδασκάλων ἀθετούμενα καὶ διαβαλλόμενα, θεοὺς προσαγορεύεις; οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι τῆς Πλατωνικῆς ὑπάρχεις αἱρέσεως, καὶ Πλάτων μὲν Σωκράτους διήκουσε, Σωκράτης δὲ Ἀρχελάου, Ἀρχέλαος δὲ καὶ Περικλῆς Ἀναξαγόρουδιήκουσαν· πῶς οὖν, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ταῦτα προσαγορεύεις θεοὺς, ὑπὲρ δὲ πάντας ἀσπάζεις τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ὅρκον αὐτὸν βασίλειον τίθεσαι; ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω κἀν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς, κἀν τοῖς λόγοις, κἀν ταῖς προσαγορεύσεσι, πολὺ τὸ Μὰ τὸν ἥλιον; Ἀλλὰ τί δεῖ ταῦτα μακρηγορεῖν; οὐκ ἐξαρνοῦμαι τὸν Χριστόν μου, μὴ γένοιτο! οὐκ ἀσπάζομαι τὴν μυσαρὰν Ἑλλήνων ἀσέβειαν· ἀλλὰ μενῶ ἐν οἷς ἐδιδάχθην, καὶ καρτερῶ ἐπὶ ταῖς πατριαῖς παραδόσεσιν, ἃς οὐδεὶς καταβαλεῖ χρόνος, κἂν εἰ δι' ἄκρων τὸ σοφὸν ἐφεύρηται φρενῶν, ἵν' εἴπω τι κατ' Εὐριπίδην τὸν ὑμέτερον ποιητήν. μηʹ. Πρὸς ταῦτα ὁ Ἰουλιανὸς εἰλιγγιάσας καὶ ἐξαπορηθεὶς, οὐκ εἶχεν ὅ τι καὶ γένηται, τοῦ μάρτυρος θαυμάσας τὸ πολυμαθές τε καὶ εὔστομον καὶ πρὸς πᾶν οὖν ἕτοιμον καὶ εὐαπολόγητον. Καὶ φησὶν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μάρτυς· Ἄφες, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὴν νεκρὰν καὶ ἐξῳδηκυῖαν τῶν Ἑλλήνων θρησκείαν· ἤδη γὰρ καὶ πρὸ πολλοῦ σέσηπεν, καὶ πρόσελθε τῷ Χριστῷ· μακρόθυμος γάρ ἐστιν καὶ φιλάνθρωπος καὶ δέχεταί σου τὸ μεταμελές [ξοδ. πλημμελές]. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν ἄρα γνώμης ἐθελοκακούσης ἀντισχεῖν ὁρμαῖς, οὐδὲ ἀνακαλέσασθαι ψυχὴν αὐτομόλῳ διανοίᾳ πρὸς ἀπώλειαν ἐρχομένην καὶ ἐπισπεύδουσαν. Ὁ γὰρ Ἰουλιανὸς πάλαι τὸν Ἑλληνισμὸνκατὰ ψυχὴν ὠδίνων, ἐκ τῶν ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ γενομένων αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν ἀμφὶ τὸν Μάξιμον φιλόσοφον συνουσιῶν, ἐφ' ὅσον μὲν ὅτε ἀδελφὸς αὐτῷ περιῆν, καὶ 96.1297 μετ' αὐτὸν Κωνστάντιος, ὁ δὲ οὐδὲν παραγυμνοῦν ἐθάῤῥει, διὰ τὸ ἐξ ἐκείνων δέος· ἐπεὶ δὲ οὗτοι ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἦσαν, αὐτὸς δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων ἤδη κύριος ἦν, τότε δὴ εἰς τὸ φανερὸν ἀπαμφιασάμενος, πάσαις ἀθρόον εἰς τὸν Ἑλληνισμὸν ἐξεῤῥάγη ταῖς προθυμίαις. μθʹ. Ἀπεκρίνατο τοιγαροῦν πρὸς τὸν μάρτυρα· Ἐπεὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἐξεφαύλισας λόγους, ὦ κακὴ κεφαλὴ, ἐτόλμησας δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Χριστιανῶν με πίστιν μεταγαγεῖν, ταῦτά σοι ἀντὶ τῶν δωρεῶν ὧν ὑπεσχόμην χαρίζομαι. Κελεύει οὖν ἀπογυμνοῦσθαι τὸν μάρτυρα, καὶ σούβλαις σιδηραῖς πεπυρακτωμέναις τὰς πλευρὰς αὐτοῦ διαπερονᾶσθαι, καὶ τὸν νῶτον αὐτοῦ τριβόλοις ὀξέσι κατακεντᾶσθαι καὶ διαῤῥήγνυσθαι συρόμενον ὕπτιον. Τούτων δὲ μετὰ πολλοῦ τοῦ τάχους προσενεχθέντων τῷ μάρτυρι, ἡ αὐτὴ καρτερία ἦν αὐτῷ καθώσπερ καὶ πρότερον, καὶ ὥσπερ ἀλλοτρίου πάσχοντος σώματος, αὐτὸς θεατὴς, ἀλλ' οὐ πάσχειν τι τῶν δεινῶν κατεφαίνετο· καὶ δὴ ἐπὶ πολλαῖς ταῖς ὥραις τοῦ ἁγίου βασανιζομένου, καὶ μηδεμίαν φωνὴν ἢ στεναγμὸν ἀφιέντος, αὐτὸς τὼ χεῖρε κροτήσας, ὥσπερ ἡττημένος ἀνέστη τοῦ βήματος, καὶ κελεύει τὸν μάρτυρα πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν εἰρκτὴν ἀπαχθῆναι, καὶ μήτε ἄρτον μήτε ὕδωρ αὐτῷ