Προσεκτέον γὰρ μάλιστα τῷ μέρει τούτῳ, καὶ τὴν ἰατρείαν ἐντεῦθεν ποιητέον. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἶμαι συνέβη τοὺς πένητας ἀμελεῖσθαι παρορωμένους ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων, [C] οἱ δυσσεβεῖς Γαλιλαῖοι κατανοήσαντες ἐπέθεντο ταύτῃ τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, καὶ τὸ χείριστον τῶν ἔργων διὰ τοῦ εὐδοκιμοῦντος[536] τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐκράτυναν. ὥσπερ γὰρ[537] οἱ τὰ παιδία διὰ τοῦ πλακοῦντος ἐξαπατῶντες τῷ καὶ δὶς καὶ τρὶς προέσθαι πείθουσιν ἀκολουθεῖν ἑαυτοῖς, εἶθ᾽, ὅταν ἀποστήσωσι πόρρω τῶν οἰκείων, ἐμβάλλοντες εἰς ναῦν ἀπέδοντο, καὶ γέγονεν εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν ἑξῆς βίον πικρὸν τὸ δόξαν πρὸς ὀλίγον [pg 338] γλυκύ, [D] τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ αὐτοὶ τρόπον ἀρξάμενοι διὰ τῆς λεγομένης παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἀγάπης καὶ ὑποδοχῆς καὶ διακονίας τραπεζῶν· ἔστι γὰρ ὥσπερ τὸ ἔργον, οὕτω δὲ καὶ τοὔνομα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς πολύ· πλείστους ἐνήγαγον εἰς τὴν ἀθεότητα....
(We must pay especial attention to this point, and by this means effect a cure. For when it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the priests, then I think the impious Galilaeans observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy. And they have gained ascendancy in the worst of their deeds through the credit they win for such practices. For just as those who entice children with a cake, and by throwing it to them two or three times induce them to follow them, and then, when they are far away from their friends cast them on board a ship and sell them as slaves, and that which for the moment seemed sweet, proves to be bitter for all the rest of their lives—by the same method, I say, the Galilaeans also begin with their so-called love-feast, or hospitality, or service of tables,—for they have many ways of carrying it out and hence call it by many names,—the result is that they have led very many into atheism....[538])
The Caesars
Introduction
The Caesars, otherwise entitled in the MSS. Symposium or Kronia (Latin Saturnalia) was written at Constantinople in 361 and was probably addressed to Sallust, to whom Julian had sent his lost work the Kronia.[539] The interlocutor in the proœmium[540] is almost certainly Sallust.
“Caesar” was in Julian's time a Roman Emperor's most splendid title, and was regularly used by the barbarians when they referred to the Emperor. The idea and the working out of the satire is Lucianic and there are echoes here and there of Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead, but Julian is neither so witty nor so frivolous as Lucian. In speaking of the gods he allows himself a licence which is appropriate to the festival, but would otherwise seem inconsistent with the admonitions addressed to priests in the Fragment of a Letter. His conception of the State and of the ideal ruler is Greek rather than Roman.