The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1Julian, Emperor of Rome
Religion
The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1
Julian, Emperor of Rome
Speeches, addresses, etc., Greek -- Translations into English
(Therefore, immediately after the castration, the trumpet sounds the
recall for Attis and for all of us who once flew down from heaven and fell
to earth. And after this signal, when King Attis stays his limitless
course by his castration, the god bids us also root out the unlimited in
ourselves and imitate the gods our leaders and hasten back to the defined
and uniform, and, if it be possible, to the One itself. After this, the
Hilaria must by all means follow. For what could be more blessed, what
more joyful than a soul which has escaped from limitlessness and
generation and inward storm, and has been translated up to the very gods?
And Attis himself was such a one, and the Mother of the Gods by no means
allowed him to advance unregarded further than was permitted: nay, she
made him turn towards herself, and commanded him to set a limit to his
limitless course.)
Καὶ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ με λέγειν, ὡς ταῦτα ἐπράχθη ποτέ καὶ γέγονεν, [170]
ὥσπερ οὐκ εἰδότων τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν, ὅ, τι ποιήσουσιν, ἢ τὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν
ἁμαρτήματα διορθουμένων. ἀλλὰ οἱ παλαιοὶ τῶν ὄντων ἀεὶ τὰς αἰτίας, ἤτοι
τῶν θεῶν ὑφηγουμένων ἢ κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς διερευνώμενοι, βέλτιον δὲ ἴσως
εἰπεῖν ζητοῦντες ὑφ᾽ ἡγεμόσι τοῖς θεοῖς, ἔπειτα εὑρόντες ἐσκέπασαν
αὐτὰς(855) μύθοις παραδόξοις, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ παραδόξου καὶ ἀπεμφαίνοντος τὸ
πλάσμα φωραθὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ζήτησιν ἡμᾶς τῆς [B] ἀληθείας προτρέψῃ, τοῖς μὲν
ἰδιώταις ἀρκούσης οἶμαι τῆς ἀλόγου καὶ διὰ τῶν συμβόλων μόνων ὠφελείας,
τοῖς δὲ περιττοῖς κατὰ τὴν φρόνησιν οὕτως μόνως ἐσομένης ὠφελίμου τῆς περὶ
θεῶν ἀληθείας, εἴ τις ἐξετάζων αὐτὴν ὑφ᾽ ἡγεμόσι τοῖς θεοῖς εὕροι καὶ
λάβοι, διὰ μὲν τῶν αἰνιγμάτων ὑπομνησθείς, ὅτι χρή τι περὶ αὐτῶν ζητεῖν,
ἐς τέλος δὲ καὶ ὥσπερ κορυφὴν τοῦ πράγματος διὰ τῆς σκέψεως εὑρὼν
πορευθείη, [C] οὐκ αἰδοῖ καὶ πίστει μᾶλλον ἀλλοτρίας δόξης ἢ τῆς σφετέρᾳ
κατὰ νοῦν ἐνεργείᾳ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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