Julian followed Plotinus and Iamblichus in making the supreme principle the One (ἓν) or the Good (τὸ ἀγαθὸν) which presides over the intelligible world (νοητὸς κόσμος), where rule Plato's Ideas, now called the intelligible gods (νοητοὶ θεοί). Iamblichus had imported into the Neo-Platonic system the intermediary world of intellectual gods (νοεροὶ θεοί). On them Helios-Mithras, their supreme god and centre, bestows the intelligence and creative and unifying forces that he has received from his transcendental counterpart among the intelligible gods. The third member of the triad is the world of sense-perception governed by the sun, the visible counterpart of Helios. What distinguishes Julian's [pg 350] triad[610] from other Neo-Platonic triads is this hierarchy of three suns in the three worlds: and further, the importance that he gives to the intermediary world, the abode of Helios-Mithras. He pays little attention to the remote intelligible world and devotes his exposition to Helios, the intellectual god, and the visible sun. Helios is the link that relates the three members of the triad. His “middleness” (μεσότης) is not only local: he is in every possible sense the mediator and unifier. μεσότης is the Aristotelian word for the “mean,” but there is no evidence that it was used with the active sense of mediation before Julian. A passage in Plutarch however seems to indicate that the “middleness” of the sun was a Persian doctrine: “The principle of good most nearly resembles light, and the principle of evil darkness, and between both is Mithras; therefore the Persians called Mithras the Mediator” (μεσίτης).[611] Naville has pointed out the resemblance between the sun as mediator and the Christian Logos, which Julian may have had in mind. Julian's system results in a practically monotheistic worship of Helios, and here he probably parts company with Iamblichus.
But though deeply influenced by Mithraism, Julian was attempting to revive the pagan gods, and if he could not, in the fourth century, restore the ancient faith in the gods of Homer he nevertheless could not omit from his creed the numerous deities whose temples and altars he had rebuilt. Here he took advantage of the identification of Greek, [pg 351] Roman, and Oriental deities which had been going on for centuries. The old names, endeared by the associations of literature, could be retained without endangering the supremacy of Helios. Julian identifies Zeus, Helios, Hades, Oceanus and the Egyptian Serapis. But the omnipotent Zeus of Greek mythology is now a creative force which works with Helios and has no separate existence. Tradition had made Athene the child of Zeus, but Julian regards her as the manifestation of the intelligent forethought of Helios. Dionysus is the vehicle of his fairest thoughts, and Aphrodite a principle that emanates from him. He contrives that all the more important gods of Greece, Egypt and Persia shall play their parts as manifestations of Helios. The lesser gods are mediating demons as well as forces. His aim was to provide the Hellenic counterpart of the positive revealed religion of Christianity. Hence his insistence on the inspiration of Homer, Hesiod, and Plato, and his statement[612] that the allegorical interpretations of the mysteries are not mere hypotheses, whereas the doctrines of the astronomers deserve no higher title.
The Oration is dedicated to his friend and comrade in arms Sallust who is probably identical with the Neo-Platonic philosopher, of the school of Iamblichus, who wrote about 360 the treatise On the Gods and the World. Cumont calls this “the official catechism of the Pagan empire,” and Wilamowitz regards it as the positive complement of Julian's pamphlet Against the Christians. Julian's Eighth Oration is a discourse of consolation, παραμυθητικὸς, for the departure of Sallust when Constantius recalled him from Gaul in 358.
ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ
(Julian, Caesar)
ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΑ ΗΛΙΟΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΣΑΛΟΥΣΤΙΟΝ
(Hymn To King Helios. Dedicated To Sallust)
[B] Προσήκειν ὑπολαμβάνω τοῦ λόγου τοῦδε μάλιστα μὲν ἅπασιν,
(What I am now about to say I consider to be of the greatest importance for all things)
ὅσσα τε γαῖαν ἔπι πνείει τε καὶ ἕρπει,[613]