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Contra Julianum imperatorem ii

ORATION V.

Against Julian the Emperor, second invective. 1. This first contest of my discourses has been completed and finished; for 35.665 I have sufficiently demonstrated the man's malevolence in what he did against us, and in what he was about to do, always devising something more grievous than the present things. Now in turn we will set forth another aim for our discourse, one which I do not know if anyone has hit upon, more sacred to God, more pleasant for us, and more useful for posterity; to add to what has been said the just weights of God, and how wickedness is counterbalanced, meeting some immediately, and others a little later; as it seems good, I believe, to the skillful Word, and the steward of our affairs; who knows how to cut short misfortune with mercy, and to chasten insolence with dishonor and scourges, by whatever measures of discipline he himself understands.

2. The just diseases of the impious, and ruptures not unseen, and other manifold plagues and scourges similar to what they had dared, and deaths that did not proceed in the usual way, and the confessions in the midst of their sufferings, and useless repentances, and the chastisements through dreams, and visions in waking hours—who could worthily describe them in tragic style; and all that befell those who acted lawlessly concerning the divine houses, or acted insolently concerning the sacred tables, or raged against the mystic chalices, or feasted unrestrainedly on our bodies, or all the other things they dared in their recklessness, clear and manifest signs of the wrath of God against such people? These things, then, I will willingly pass over, not because I disbelieve what is seen and said, nor attributing the events to some automatic impulse and chance, as do those who suppose such things happen at random, but so that I may not seem to dwell on small matters, while passing over those that are greater and more famous. I come, therefore, to speak of the wonder renowned to all, and disbelieved not even by the atheists themselves.

3. He raged against us ever more, as one raising waves upon waves, who first 35.668 raged against himself and trampled upon the holy things, and insulted the Spirit of grace. It would be more fitting to call him Jeroboam, or Ahab the Israelite, those most lawless ones, or Pharaoh the Egyptian, or Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian, or rather, combining all these, we shall name him as one and the same; since he seems to have gathered into himself the wickedness of all: from Jeroboam the apostasy, from Ahab the bloodthirstiness, from Pharaoh the hardness of heart, from Nebuchadnezzar the sacrilege, from all together their impiety. And when he had gone through all other things, and every form of tyranny against us, despising them as something small and ignoble (for no nature was ever more resourceful than his in finding and devising evils), at last he let loose upon us the tribe of the Jews as well, taking as an accomplice for his scheme both their ancient levity and the hatred against us that had long smoldered in them, and feigning inspiration from their books and secrets, as though it were now appointed for them to return to their own land, and to rebuild the temple, and to renew the power of their ancestral ways, while concealing his plot under a pretense of goodwill.

4. When he had both devised and persuaded them of these things (for anything that gives pleasure is easy to use for deception), they for their part set their minds to raising up the temple, and with a great force and zeal they labored at the work; Indeed, they say that their women also...

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Contra Julianum imperatorem ii

ΛΟΓΟΣ Εʹ.

Κατὰ Ἰουλιανοῦ βασιλέως στηλιτευτικὸς δεύτερος. Αʹ. Οὗτος μὲν δὴ τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων ὁ πρῶτος ἄεθλος ἐκτετέλεσται καὶ διήνυσται· καὶ γὰρ 35.665 ἐπεδειξάμην ἱκανῶς τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κακοήθειαν ἐν οἷς ἔδρασέ τε καθ' ἡμῶν, καὶ οἷς ἔμελλεν, ἀεί τι τῶν παρόντων ἐπινοῶν βαρύτερον. Νῦν αὖτε σκοπὸν ἄλλον, ὃν οὐκ οἶδ' εἴ τις βέβληκεν, ἤδη τοῦ λόγου προστησόμεθα, Θεῷ τε ἱερώτερον, καὶ ἡμῖν ἡδίω, καὶ τοῖς ἔπειτα χρησιμώτερον· τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσθεῖναι τὰ δίκαια τοῦ Θεοῦ σταθμία, καὶ οἷς ἀντιταλαντεύεται πονηρία, τοῖς μὲν αὐτόθεν ἀπαντῶσα, τοῖς δὲ καὶ μικρὸν ὕστε ρον· ὅπως ἂν, οἶμαι, τῷ τεχνίτῃ Λόγῳ δοκῇ, καὶ ταμίᾳ τῶν ἡμετέρων· ὃς οἶδε συμφορὰν μὲν ἐπικόπτειν ἐλέῳ, θράσος δὲ ἀτιμίᾳ σωφρονίζειν καὶ μάστιξιν, οἷς αὐτὸς ἐπίσταται μέτροις παι δεύσεως.

Βʹ. Νόσους μὲν δὴ τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἐνδίκους, καὶ ῥήξεις οὐκ ἀφανεῖς, καὶ πολυτρόπους ἄλλας πληγὰς καὶ μάστιγας οἷς τετολμήκασι παραπλησίας, καὶ θανάτους οὐ κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς χωρήσαντας, καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐξαγορεύσεις, καὶ ἀνονή τους μεταμελείας, τάς τε δι' ὀνειράτων παι δεύσεις, καὶ τὰ καθ' ὕπαρ φαντάσματα, τίς ἂν ἀξίως ἐκτραγῳδήσειεν· ὅσα τε ἢ περὶ τοὺς θείους οἴκους παρανομήσασιν, ἢ περὶ τὰς ἱερὰς τραπέζας ἐξυβρίσασιν, ἢ περὶ τοὺς μυστικοὺς κρατῆ ρας μανεῖσιν, ἢ τῶν σωμάτων ἡμῶν ἀνέδην ἐμφορουμένοις, ἢ τἄλλα πάντα ὅσα τετολμήκασι, νεανιευσαμένοις αὐτοῖς ἀπήντησε, τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων ὀργῆς ἐναργῆ καὶ φανερὰ γνωρίσματα; Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἑκὼν ὑπερβήσομαι, οὐκ ἀπιστῶν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις, καὶ λεγομένοις, οὐδὲ αὐτομάτῳ τινὶ φορᾷ καὶ συντυχίᾳ διδοὺς τὰ συμ βαίνοντα, κατὰ τοὺς εἰκῆ τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑπολαμβάνον τας, ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ περὶ τὰ μικρὰ διατρίβειν δόξω, παρεὶς τὰ μείζω καὶ ὀνομαστότερα· τὸ δ' οὖν περιβόητον πᾶσι θαῦμα, καὶ οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀθέοις αὐτοῖς ἀπιστούμενον λέξων ἔρχομαι.

Γʹ. Ἐμαίνετο καθ' ἡμῶν ἀεί τι πλέον, ὥσπερ κύμασιν ἐπεγείρων κύματα, ὁ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ πρῶ 35.668 τον μανεὶς καὶ πατήσας τὰ ἅγια, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἐνυβρίσας. Ἱεροβοὰμ εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον, ἢ Ἀχαὰβ τὸν Ἰσραηλίτην, τοὺς παρανομωτάτους, ἢ Φαραὼ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον, ἢ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὸν Ἀσ σύριον, ἢ ταῦτα πάντα συνελόντες, ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ὀνομάσομεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰς πάντων κακίας εἰς ἑαυτὸν συλλεξάμενος φαίνεται, Ἱεροβοὰμ τὴν ἀποστασίαν, Ἀχαὰβ τὴν μιαιφονίαν, Φαραὼ τὴν σκληρότητα, Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὴν ἱεροσυλίαν, πάντων ὁμοῦ τὴν ἀσέβειαν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντα διεξελθὼν τἆλλα, καὶ πᾶν εἶδος τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν τυραννίδος, ὡς μικρόν τι καὶ ἀγεννὲς ἀτιμάσας (οὐ γὰρ ἐγένετο ποριμωτέρα φύσις ἐκείνης εἰς κακῶν εὕρεσιν καὶ ἐπίνοιαν), τέλος ἐπαφῆκε καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίων φῦλον ἡμῖν τὴν παλαιάν τε αὐτῶν κουφότητα, καὶ τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν ἄνωθεν ὑποσμυχόμενον ἐν αὐτοῖς μῖσος συνερ γὸν λαβὼν τοῦ τεχνάσματος, ἐπιθειάζων τε δῆ θεν ἐκ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς βίβλων καὶ ἀποῤῥήτων, ὡς νῦν αὐτοῖς ἀποκείμενον εἴη κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ἑαυ τῶν, καὶ τὸν νεὼν ἀναδείμασθαι, καὶ τῶν πατρίων τὸ κράτος ἀνανεώσασθαι, καὶ ἀποκρυπτόμενος εὐ νοίας πλάσματι τὴν ἐπίνοιαν.

∆ʹ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ διενοήθη καὶ ἔπεισεν (εὔκο λον γὰρ εἰς ἀπάτην τὸ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἅπαν), οἱ μὲν ὡς ἀναστήσοντες διενοοῦντο τὸ ἱερὸν, καὶ χειρὶ πολλῇ καὶ προθυμίᾳ περὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐταλαιπώρουν· φασί γέ τοι καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας αὐτῶν οἱ τὰ