HumanitiesWeb.org - Roman History Roman History - Book XXI. (II. Julian at Vienne feigns to be a Christian in order to conciliate the multitude, and on a day of festival worships God among the Christians.) by Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman History Roman History - Book XXI. II. Julian at Vienne feigns to be a Christian in order to conciliate the multitude, and on a day of festival worships God among the Christians.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
While Julian, still with the rank of Caesar only, was at Paris
one day, exercising himself in the camp-field., and moving his shield
in various directions, the joints by which it was fastened gave way,
and the handle alone remained in his hand, which he still held firmly,
and when those present were alarmed, thinking it a bad omen, he said,
"Let no one be alarmed, I still hold firmly what I had before."
And again, when one day after a slight dinner, he was
sleeping at Vienne, in the middle of the darkness of the night a figure
of unusual splendour appeared to him, and when he was all but awake,
repeated to him the following heroic verses, reciting them over and
over again; which he believed, so that he felt sure that no ill fortune
remained for him:—
"When Jove has passed the water-carrier's sign,
And Saturn's light, for five-and-twenty days
Has lightened up the maid; the king divine
Of Asia's land shall enter on the ways
That painful lead to death and Styx's gloomy maze."
Therefore in the mean time he made no change in the
existing condition of affairs, but arranged everything that occurred
with a quiet and easy mind, gradually strengthening himself, in order
to make the increase of his power correspond with the increase of his
dignity.
And in order, without any hindrance, to conciliate the
goodwill of all men, he pretended to adhere to the Christian religion,
which in fact he had long since secretly abandoned, though very few
were aware of his private opinions, giving up his whole attention to
soothsaying and divination, and the other arts which have always been
practised by the worshippers of the gods.
But to conceal this for a while, on the day of the festival
at the beginning of January, which the Christians call Epiphany, he
went into their church, and offered solemn public prayer to their God.
