words of the sophist Libanius. But I say that he became an excellent sophist; and I know that if he were not of the same religion as the emperor, he would have said everything that the Christians say, and as is likely, being a sophist, would have magnified what was said. Since even for Constantius, while he was living, he wrote praises; but when he died, he poured out insults full of accusations. So that if Porphyry had been emperor, he would have preferred his books to Julian's; and if Julian had been a sophist, he would have called him too a bad sophist, just as he did Hecebolius in his eulogy of Julian. Since therefore that man, both as being of the same religion, and as a sophist, and a friend to the emperor, has gone through whatever seemed good to him, let us also, according to our ability, reply to what was written by him. For first he says that he "attacked" the books, when winter was lengthening the nights. But "to attack" signifies that he made it his work to write a censure, as is the custom for sophists to do in the instruction of the young; for he had long known the books, but then he attacked them. And having engaged in a long battle, not, as Libanius says, refuting by strength, but by the weakness of his argument against the truth, he, as a scoffer, disparaged the things that were well secured for them. For everyone who fights against someone, now perverting, now concealing the truth, lies against the one with whom the fight is joined. And he who is hostile toward someone has been eager to do and also to say everything as an enemy; and he is accustomed to turn his own faults upon him toward whom he has enmity. That both Julian and Porphyry, whom he calls the "Tyrian old man," were both mockers, is proved by their own words. For Porphyry disparaged the life of Socrates, the chief of philosophers, in his "Philosophical History." And he wrote and left behind such things about him, as neither Meletus nor Anytus, who prosecuted Socrates, would have attempted to say; Socrates, I say, who among the Greeks is admired for his self-control and justice and his other virtues; whom Plato, their admirable philosopher, and Xenophon, and the whole company of philosophers, not only honor as beloved by the gods, but indeed have considered him to be wise beyond human measure. And Julian, emulating his "father," exposed his own failing in his "Caesars," having blamed all the emperors before him, and not even sparing the philosopher Marcus. And that they are both mockers, they have the proof from themselves; and I have no need of many or clever words, but these are sufficient for a presentation of their character. I, therefore, inferring these things from the words of both about their character, write these things. But as to the sorts of things Gregory of Nazianzus has said about Julian, listen to his words; for he says in his second oration against the Greeks, word for word, the following: These things experience demonstrated to others, and his rule when it took on authority; but to me they were seen in a way even from afar, from the time when I associated with the man in Athens. For he came there too, just after the revolutionary acts concerning his brother, having begged this very thing from the emperor. But the reason for his visit was twofold: the one more specious, for an inquiry into Greece and the schools there; the other more secret and not known to many, so that he might associate with the sacrificers and deceivers there concerning his own affairs, since his impiety did not yet have free expression. At that time, then, I know I became no mean conjecturer of the man, although I am not one of those naturally gifted in these matters. But the inconsistency of his character made me prophetic, and the excessiveness of his frenzy, if indeed "the best prophet is he who conjectures well." For to me these seemed a sign of nothing good: a neck not fixed, shoulders twitching and jerking, an eye darting and rolling and looking madly, feet unsteady and stumbling, a nose breathing insolence and contempt, ridiculous facial expressions signifying the same thing, immoderate and boisterous laughter, nods and shakes of the head for no reason, speech halting and cut short by his breath, questions disorderly and unintelligible, answers

ῥήματα τοῦ σοφιστοῦ Λιβανίου. Ἐγὼ δὲ σοφιστὴν μὲν αὐτὸν ἄριστον γενέσθαι φημί· ἐπίσταμαί τε ὡς εἰ μὴ εἴη τῷ βασιλεῖ κατὰ τὴν θρησκείαν ὁμόδοξος, πάντα ἂν αὐτὸν εἶπεν ὅσα οἱ Χριστιανοὶ λέγουσι, καὶ ὡς εἰκὸς, ἅτε σοφιστὴν ὄντα, μεγαλύναι τὰ λεγόμενα. Ἐπεὶ καὶ εἰς Κωνστάντιον ζῶντα μὲν ἐπαίνους ἔγραφεν· τελευτήσαντος δὲ ὕβρεις μεστὰς ἐγκλημάτων κατέχεεν. Ὥστε εἰ καὶ Πορφύριος ἦν βασιλεὺς, προκρίνειν τὰ ἐκείνου βιβλία τῶν Ἰουλιανοῦ· καὶ εἰ Ἰουλιανὸς ἦν σοφιστὴς, εἶπεν ἂν καὶ αὐτὸν κακὸν σοφιστὴν, ὡς καὶ Ἑκηβόλιον ἐν τῷ ἐπιταφίῳ Ἰουλιανοῦ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐκεῖνος καὶ ὡς ὁμόδοξος, καὶ ὡς σοφιστὴς, καὶ φίλος τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὅσα ἐδόκει αὐτῷ διεξῆλθε, καὶ ἡμεῖς πρὸς τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γραφέντα κατὰ δύναμιν ἀπαντήσωμεν. Πρῶτον μὲν γάρ φησιν αὐτὸν «ἐπιθέσθαι» ταῖς βίβλοις, τοῦ χειμῶνος τὰς νύκτας ἐκτείνοντος. Τὸ δὲ «ἐπιθέσθαι» σημαίνει, ὅτι ἔργον ἔθετο ψόγον γράψαι, ὡς ἔθος τοῖς σοφισταῖς ποιεῖν ἐν τῇ τῶν νέων εἰσαγωγῇ· πάλαι μὲν γὰρ τὰς βίβλους ἐπίστατο, τότε δὲ ἐπέθετο. Καὶ μάχῃ μακρᾷ σχολάσας οὐχ, ὡς φησὶ Λιβάνιος, ἐλέγχων ἰσχύϊ, ἀλλὰ ἀσθενείᾳ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς τὰ καλῶς ἑαυτοῖς ἠσφαλισμένα ὡς φιλοσκώπτης διέσυρε. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ μαχόμενος τινι νῦν μὲν παρατρέπων, νῦν δὲ ἐπικρύπτων τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καταψεύδεται τοῦ πρὸς ὃν ἡ μάχη συνίσταται. Καὶ ὁ ἀπεχθῶς ἔχων πρός τινα πάντα ὡς πολέμιος οὐ μόνον πράττειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λέγειν ἐσπούδακε· καὶ τὰ αὐτῷ προσόντα φαῦλα τῷ πρὸς ὃν ἡ ἔχθρα περιτρέπειν φιλεῖ. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἰουλιανὸς καὶ Πορφύριος, ὃν «Τύριον» καλεῖ «γέροντα,» ἄμφω φιλοσκῶπται ἦσαν, ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων λόγων ἐλέγχονται. Πορφύριος μὲν γὰρ τοῦ κορυφαιοτάτου τῶν φιλοσόφων Σωκράτους τὸν βίον διέσυρεν ἐν τῇ γεγραμμένῃ αὐτῷ «Φιλοσόφῳ Ἱστορίᾳ.» Καὶ τοιαῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ γράψας κατέλειπεν, οἷα ἂν μήτε Μέλιτος, μήτε Ἄνυτος, οἱ γραψάμενοι Σωκράτην, εἰπεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν· Σωκράτους, φημὶ, τοῦ παρ' Ἕλλησι θαυμαζομένου ἐπί τε σωφροσύνῃ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς· ὃν Πλάτων ὁ θαυμαστὸς παρ' αὐτοῖς φιλόσοφος, καὶ Ξενοφῶν, καὶ ὁ ἄλλος τῶν φιλοσόφων θίασος, οὐ μόνον ὡς θεοφιλῆ τιμῶσιν, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον φρονεῖν νενομίκασιν. Ἰουλιανὸς δὲ τὸν «πατέρα» ζηλῶν, τὸ ἴδιον πάθος εἰς τοὺς Καίσαρας ἤλεγξε, πάντας μωμησάμενος τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεῖς, καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦ φιλοσόφου Μάρκου φεισάμενος. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν φιλοσκῶπται ἄμφω, ἐξ ἑαυτῶν τὸν ἔλεγχον ἔχουσι· καὶ οὐ δεῖ μοι πολλῶν ἢ δεινῶν λόγων, ἀλλὰ ἀπόχρη ταῦτα εἰς παράστασιν τοῦ ἤθους αὐτῶν. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ἐκ τῶν ἑκατέρων λόγων περὶ ἤθους αὐτῶν τεκμαιρόμενος ταῦτα γράφω. Οἷα δὲ περὶ Ἰουλιανοῦ ὁ Ναζιανζηνὸς Γρηγόριος εἴρηκε, τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων ἐπάκουε· φησὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ λόγῳ πρὸς Ἕλληνας κατὰ λέξιν τάδε· Ταῦτα τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἡ πεῖρα παρέστησε, καὶ ἡ δυναστεία προσλαβοῦσα τὴν ἐξουσίαν· ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ πόρρωθεν τρόπον τινα ἑωρᾶτο, ἐξ οὗ τῷ ἀνδρὶ συνεγενόμην Ἀθήνῃσιν. Ἦλθε γὰρ κἀκεῖσε, ἄρτι τῶν κατὰ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ νεωτερισθέντων, τὸν βασιλέα τοῦτο αὐτὸ παραιτησάμενος. ∆ιττὸς δὲ αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐπιδημίας ὁ λόγος· ὁ μὲν εὐπρεπέστερος, καθ' ἱστορίαν τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖσε παιδευτηρίων· ὁ δὲ ἀπορρητότερος καὶ οὐ πολλοῖς γνώριμος, ὥστε τοῖς ἐκεῖ θύταις καὶ ἀπατεῶσι περὶ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν συγγενέσθαι, οὔπω παρρησίαν ἐχούσης τῆς ἀσεβείας. Τότε τοίνυν οὐ φαῦλος ἐγὼ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς εἰκαστὴς οἶδα γενόμενος, καίτοι γε οὐ τῶν εὖ πεφυκότων περὶ ταῦτα εἷς ὤν. Ἀλλ' ἐποίει με μαντικὸν ἡ τοῦ ἤθους ἀνωμαλία, καὶ τὸ περιττὸν τῆς ἐκστάσεως, εἴπερ «μάντις ἄριστος ὅστις εἰκάζει καλῶς.» Οὐδενὸς γὰρ ἐδόκει μοι σημεῖον εἶναι χρηστοῦ αὐχὴν ἀπαγὴς, ὦμοι παλλόμενοι καὶ ἀνακοπτόμενοι, ὀφθαλμὸς σοβούμενος καὶ περιφερόμενος καὶ μανικὸν βλέπων, πόδες ἀστατοῦντες καὶ μετοκλάζοντες, μυκτὴρ ὕβριν πνέων καὶ περιφρόνησιν, προσώπου σχηματισμοὶ καταγέλαστοι, τὸ αὐτὸ φρονοῦντες γέλωτες ἀκρατεῖς καὶ βρασματώδεις, νεύσεις καὶ ἀνανεύσεις σὺν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ, λόγος ἱστάμενος καὶ κοπτόμενος πνεύματι, ἐρωτήσεις ἄτακτοι καὶ ἀσύνετοι, ἀποκρίσεις