Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 1793 Two Orations of The Emperor Julian

    Uploaded by

    j
    3 views271 pages
    amazing history book about a man fighting back against the catholic church

    Original Title

    1793 Two Orations of the Emperor Julian

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    amazing history book about a man fighting back against the catholic church

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    3 views271 pages

    1793 Two Orations of The Emperor Julian

    Uploaded by

    j
    amazing history book about a man fighting back against the catholic church

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 271
    TWO ORATIONS OF THR EMPEROR FULIAN; ONE TO THE SOVEREIGN SUN, AND THE OTHER TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS; TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK. WITH NOTES, AND A COPIOUS INTRODUCTION, IN WHICH SOME OF THE GREATEST ARCANA OF THE GRECIAN THEOLOGY ARE UNFOLDED. — == Tagadidoras 2s vwe rer agyaswr xas manasa, av vSov naraMersiupsra Toss urigor, ort @EOI re sice ovrot, (ine. ftelle) nas aagsayes ro Sesor ryv cdny Qvow- Es THs AaGos, ors @EOTE gurto ras wewras curva sivas, Sates av signee vopacrste ARISTOT, METAPHYS, LIB, 12, CAF. 8 LONDON: _ PRINTED FOR EDWARD JEFFREY, PALL MALL. 1793+ go INTRODUCTION. Tue Emperor Julian, the author of the two following Orations, is well known in the character of a Sovereign and an Apoftate which he once fuftained, but. very few are acquainted with him in the cha-. ra€ters of a Theologift and Philo- fopher, which he difplays through the whole of his works, in a man- ner by no means contemptible: or weak. It is true, indeed, that his philofophical and theological attain- ments are not to be compared with thofe of Pythagoras, Plato, and Proclus, who appear to have arrived [vi] at the fummit of human piety and wifdom, or with thofe of many of the Platonifts prior and pofterior to Proclus; but, at the fame time, they were certainly far fuperior to thofe which many celebrated antients pof- feffed, or which even fell to the fhare of fuch a man as the biogra- pher Plutarch. Indeed it is impoffible that a man burthened with the weight of a corrupt empire, fuch as that of Rome, or that the governor of any community except a republic, like that of Plato, fhould be able to phi- lofophize in the moft exquifite de- gree, and leave monuments behind him of perfeét erudition and {cience. [ vi J Julian, however, appears to have poffeffed as much of the philofo- phical genius as could poflibly be the portion of an Emperor of Rome, and was doubtlefs as much fupe- sior to any other Emperor, either prior or pofterior to him, as the philofophy and theology which he zealoufly profeffed tranfcend all ‘othersin dignity and worth. Hence, in the enfuing orations, he has hap- pily blended the majeftic diction of a Roman Emperor with the gravity of fentiment peculiar to a Platonic philofopher, and with that fcientific and manly piety which is fo confpi- cuous in the writings of antient _ theologifts. His language is, in- { vii J deed, ‘highly magnificent, and int every refpect becoming the exalted , rank which he fuftained, and the’ great importance of the fubjects of his difcourfe: in fhort, the gran- deur of his foul is fo vifible in his compofition, that we may fafely cre- dit what he afferted of himéelf,. that he was formerly Alexander the Great. And if we confider the ations of Alexander and Julian, we fhall ea- fily be induced to believe, that it ‘was one and the fame perfon who, in different periods, induced the In- dians, Baétrians, and inhabitants of Caucafus, to worfhip the Grecian deities ; took down the contemp- tible enfign of his predeceffor, and [ iz ] raifed in its ftead the majeftic Roman eagles; and every where endea- voured to reftore a religion which is coeval with the univerfe, by banifhing gigantically-daring, and barbaric belief. The firft of thefe orations, which celebrates that glorious divinity, the Sun, is not only valuable for the piety and eloquence difplayed in its compofition, but for its containing much important information from a treatife of Jamblichus on the gods, which is unfortunately loft. The name of Jamblichus mutt, indeed, be dear to every genuine lover of Pla- tonifm, and any work replete with his doétrines may certainly, with [x] juttice, lay claim to immortality. However, as the theology of Or- pheus, Pythagoras, and Plato, does not appear to have been unfolded in the moft confummate perfeétion, even by Jamblichus himfelf, this great tafk being referved for the incomparable Proclus, we fhall find in fuch books of Proclus as are fors tunately preferved, a more accurate account in fome particulars of the effence and powers of the, Sun. This account I fhall lay before the reader, (after I have premifed a few particulars concerning the exiftence and nature of the gods,) that he may: fee in what the Emperor’s difs [ i] courfe is defective, and in what it is agreeable to the truth. ‘That after the firft caufe, then, who, from the tranfcendent excele lence of his nature, was jufly confi- dered by all the pious antients as fupereffential and ineffable, there fhould be a divine multitude, or, in other words, gods fubordinate indeed to the firft, but at the fame time exquifitely. allied to him, isa doGrine fo congenial with the un- perverted conceptions of the foul, that it can only be rejected. during the moft degraded generations of mankind :, for if there be no fuch thing as a vacuum either in incor- poreal or corporeal natures, and if { xi] in every well-ordered progreffion the fimilar precedes the diffimilar, and this, fo as to caufe the whole feries to be united in the moft per- fet degree, it is neceffary that the firft progeny of the firft god fhould be no other than gods*. Indeed, thofe who are {killed in the moft {cientific dialectic of Plato, know that a unity or monad is every where the leader of a kindred mul- titude; and that, in confequence of this, there is one firft nature and many natures, one firft foul and many fouls, one firft intelle& and * See this moft important fubjeé more largely difcuffed in my Introdu¢tion to the Parmenides, { xii many intelle&s, and one firft god and a kindred multitude of gods, But as this higheft god, from the tranfcendent fimplicity of his nature, was profoundly called by the Pla- tonic philofophers the one, hence all the gods, confidered according to the charaéteriftics or fummits of their natures, will be unities ; but they will differ from the firtt caufe in this, that he is alone fupereflen- tial without any addition, and is perfectly exempt from ‘all habitude or alliance to any other nature, whereas each of the other gods is participated by fomething inferior to itfelf, viz. either by being, life, intelleé, foul, or body, from which { xiv ] participations all the divine orders are produced, and through which they become fudordinate to the higheft god, In addition, therefore, to what “I have faid concerning the firft caufe, and the gods, his immediate progeny, in my Introduétion to Plato’s Parmenides, the following obfervations, extracted from the 6th book of Proclus, on that moft the- ological dialogue, will, I doubt not, be highly acceptable to the truly-li- beral reader. ‘+ The one, then, is “* the principle of all things, fince * to be united is to every thing ** good, and the greateft of goods ; “© but that which is every way fe- [x ] #* parated’ from unity is evil, and *© the greateft of evils; fince it be- «¢ comes the caufe of diffimilitude, ‘ privation of fympathy, divifion, “and a departure froma fub- $ fiftenee according to nature. The * firft caufe, therefore, as fuvply- * ing all things with the greateft $* good, unites all things, and is, © on this account, called the one. ** And hence the gods, from their * furpaffing fimilitude to the firft * god, will be unities proceeding “ from this one principle, and yet ineffably abforbed in his nature. * a Thus, for inftance, (that we may illuftrate this doétrine by an ex- ‘* ample) we perceive many caufes 3 “cc “ “ “cc “cc ee “ “cc 6 66 ‘6 ( xvi J of light, fome of which are ce- leftial and others fublunary ; for light proceeds to our terreftrial abode from material fire, from the moon, and from the other ftars, and this, fo.as to be dif- ferent according to the difference of its caufe. But if we explore the one monad of all mundane light, from which other lucid natures and fources of. light derive their fubfiftence, we fhall find that it is no other, than the apparent orb of the Sun; for this orbicular body proceeds, as it is faid, from an_occult and fupermundane order, and diffe- { xvii ] « minates in all mundane natures “

    You might also like