The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2Julian, Emperor of Rome
Philosophy
The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2
Julian, Emperor of Rome
Speeches, addresses, etc., Greek -- Translations into English
(Now truth is one and philosophy is one, and they whom I just now spoke of
are its lovers one and all; and also they whom I ought in fairness to
mention now by name, I mean the disciples of the man of Citium.(28) For
when they saw that the cities of Greece were averse to the excessive
plainness and simplicity of the Cynic’s freedom of manners, they hedged
him about with screens as it were, I mean with maxims on the management of
the household and business and intercourse with one’s wife and the rearing
of children, to the end, I believe, that they might make him the intimate
guardian of the public welfare.(29) And that they too held the maxim “Know
Thyself” to be the first principle of their philosophy you may believe, if
you will, not only from the works that they composed on this very subject,
but even more from what they made the end and aim of their philosophic
teaching. For this end of theirs was life in harmony with nature, and this
it is impossible for any man to attain who does not know who and of what
nature he is. For a man who does not know himself will certainly not know
what it is becoming for him to do; just as he who does not know the nature
of iron will not know whether it is suitable to cut with or not, and how
iron must be treated so that it may be put to its proper use. For the
moment however I have said enough to show that philosophy is one, and
that, to speak generally, all philosophers have a single aim though they
arrive at that aim by different roads. And now let us consider the Cynic
philosophy.)
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