Julian (emperor): Trending quotes (page 5)

“By purple death I'm seized and fate supreme.”

Julian (emperor)

Source: General sources, Lines from Homer's Iliad which Julian recited upon his elevation to Caesar by Constantius II, as recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus in book XV of his history; such elevations had often proven fatal to others.

Death , Fate

“Zeal to do all that is in one's power is, in truth, a proof of piety.”

Julian (emperor)

As quoted in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1923) by Wilmer Cave France Wright, p. 311; also in The Paganism Reader (2004) edited by Chas S. Clifton, Graham Harvey, p. 26
General sources

Truth

“In the same manner therefore as we have laid it down that the Sun holds the supremacy in the Intelligible world, having round about his own being, in one species, a vast multitude of gods (supposing him to have the same in the Sensible world), all of which move along their everlasting and most felicitous course in a circle, so do we prove him to be Leader and Lord, imparting to and filling the whole heaven, as he does, with his own splendour, likewise with infinite other blessings that be invisible to us: whilst the benefits commenced by the other deities are brought to perfection by him; nay, more, before this, these gods themselves were rendered perfect through his spontaneous and divine operation.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

God , World , Intelligence , Sun

“We must not suppose any corporeal conjunction or marriage in the case — all which are merely the sportive fables of Poetry; but must hold the father and the producer of that Being as something most divine and super-eminent. Of such a nature is He who is above all things, around whom, and by reason of whom, all things do subsist. But Homer calls him by his father's name, "Hyperion," in order to show that he is independent, and not subjected to any constraint.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

Marriage , Nature

“I feel awe of the gods, I love, I revere, I venerate them, and in short have precisely the same feelings towards them as one would have towards kind masters or teachers or fathers or guardians or any beings of that sort.”

Julian (emperor)

"To the Cynic Heracleios" in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1913) edited by W. Heinemann, Vol. II, p. 93
General sources

Love , God , Feeling , Teachers

“Is it not absurd when a human being tries to find happiness somewhere outside himself, and thinks that wealth and birth and the influence of friends… is of the utmost importance?”

Julian (emperor)

As quoted in The Works of the Emperor Julian (1923) by Wilmer Cave France Wright, p. 41
General sources

Birth , Thinking , Wealth , Happiness

“We ought to acquiesce in the reasoning of the Egyptian priests, who raise altars to the Sun conjointly with Jupiter; nay, rather we should assent to Apollo himself (long before them), who sits on the same throne with Jove, and whose words are,
: "One Jove, one Pluto, one Sun is Serapis."
From which we must conclude that the sovereignty of the Sun and of Jupiter amongst the deities that are objects of intellect is held in common, or rather is one and the same.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

Sun

“No wild beasts are so dangerous to men as Christians are to one another.”

Julian (emperor)

As quoted by Ammianus Marcellinus, as translated in Barbarians: An Alternative Roman History (2006) by Terry Jones, p. 205 ISBN 9780563539162
General sources

Men

“But why do you not cease to call Mary the mother of God, if Isaiah nowhere says that he that is born of the virgin is the "only begotten Son of God" and "the firstborn of all creation?"”

Julian (emperor)

Against the Galileans (c. 361) as translated in The Works of the Emperor Julian, http://books.google.com/books?id=ZGliAAAAMAAJ&q=%22But+why+do+you+not+cease+to+call+Mary+the+mother+of+God%22&dq=%22But+why+do+you+not+cease+to+call+Mary+the+mother+of+God%22&lr=&pgis=1 edited by Wilmer Cave Wright, London, W. Heinemann; New York, The Macmillan co., (1913 - 1923), volume 3, p. 399, ISBN 0674990145 ISBN 9780674990142 .
General sources

God

“I consider myself especially indebted to all the gods together, and more than all to the Great Mother in this particular instance (as in all others) that she did not suffer me to wander about, as it were in the dark, but firstly commanded me to cut away, not as regards my body, but as regards the irrational appetites and motions of the soul, all that was superfluous and empty, by the aid of the Cause, the object of intellect, and which presides over souls, whilst she herself enabled me to conceive certain notions perhaps not discordant with a true, and at the same time, reverential understanding of divine matters.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon The Mother Of The Gods (c. 362-363)

God , Soul , Understanding , Suffering

“The Phoenicians who from their sagacity and learning possess great insight into things divine, hold the doctrine that this universally diffused radiance is a part of the "Soul of the Stars." This opinion is consistent with sound reason: if we consider the light that is without body, we shall perceive that of such light the source cannot be a body, but rather the simple action of a mind, which spreads itself by means of illumination as far as its proper seat; to which the middle region of the heavens is contiguous, from which place it shines forth with all its vigour and fills the heavenly orbs, illuminating at the same time the whole universe with its divine and pure radiance.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

Soul , Star , Light , Learning

“But let us now dismiss these poetical fictions; because with what is divine they have mingled much of human alloy; and let us now consider what the deity has declared concerning himself and the other gods.
The region surrounding the Earth has its existence in virtue of birth. From whom then does it receive its eternity and imperishability, if not from him who holds all things together within defined limits, for it is impossible that the nature of bodies (material) should be without a limit, inasmuch as they cannot dispense with a Final Cause, nor exist through themselves.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

God , Birth , Nature

“I am not indeed ignorant that certain over-wise people will call these legends "old wives' fables," and not worth listening to; but I think, for my part, that in such matters it is better to believe the testimony of nations than of those witty individuals, whose little soul is acute indeed, but has a clear insight into no one thing.”

Julian (emperor)

Upon The Mother Of The Gods (c. 362-363)

People , Soul , Thinking , Parting

“As a general rule, all that has been hitherto advanced respecting the nature of this deity, must be understood to refer to his properties: for the nature of the god is not one thing, and his influence another: and truly, besides these two, his energy a third thing: seeing that all things which he wills, these he is, he can, and he works. For neither doth he will that which he is not; nor is he without strength to do that which he wills; nor doth he will that which he cannot effect.”

Julian (emperor)

Now this is very different in the case of men, for theirs is a double nature mixed up in one, that of soul and body; the former divine, the latter full of darkness and obscurity: hence naturally arise warfare and discord between the two.
Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

God , Nature

“Let us not admit discourses by Epicureans or Pyrrhonists – though indeed the gods have already in their wisdom destroyed their works, so that most of their books are no longer available. Nevertheless, there is no reason why I should not, by way of example, mention these works too, to show what sort of discourses priests must especially avoid; and if such discourses, then much more must they avoid such thoughts.”

Julian (emperor)

Fragmentum Epistulae 288a-305d
General sources

Way , God , Books , Wisdom

“But let us now dismiss these poetical fictions; because with what is divine they have mingled much of human alloy; and let us now consider what the deity has declared concerning himself and the other gods.
The region surrounding the Earth has its existence in virtue of birth.”

Julian (emperor)

From whom then does it receive its eternity and imperishability, if not from him who holds all things together within defined limits, for it is impossible that the nature of bodies (material) should be without a limit, inasmuch as they cannot dispense with a Final Cause, nor exist through themselves.
Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

God , Birth

“The Phoenicians who from their sagacity and learning possess great insight into things divine, hold the doctrine that this universally diffused radiance is a part of the "Soul of the Stars."”

Julian (emperor)

This opinion is consistent with sound reason: if we consider the light that is without body, we shall perceive that of such light the source cannot be a body, but rather the simple action of a mind, which spreads itself by means of illumination as far as its proper seat; to which the middle region of the heavens is contiguous, from which place it shines forth with all its vigour and fills the heavenly orbs, illuminating at the same time the whole universe with its divine and pure radiance.
Upon the Sovereign Sun (362)

Soul , Star , Learning , Universe