(We must pay especial attention to this point, and by this means effect a cure. For when it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the priests, then I think the impious Galilaeans observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy. And they have gained ascendancy in the worst of their deeds through the credit they win for such practices. For just as those who entice children with a cake, and by throwing it to them two or three times induce them to follow them, and then, when they are far away from their friends cast them on board a ship and sell them as slaves, and that which for the moment seemed sweet, proves to be bitter for all the rest of their lives—by the same method, I say, the Galilaeans also begin with their so‐called love‐feast, or hospitality, or service of tables,—for they have many ways of carrying it out and hence call it by many names,—the result is that they have led very many into atheism....(538)) THE CAESARS Introduction The Caesars, otherwise entitled in the MSS. Symposium or Kronia (Latin Saturnalia) was written at Constantinople in 361 and was probably addressed to Sallust, to whom Julian had sent his lost work the Kronia.(539) The interlocutor in the proœmium(540) is almost certainly Sallust. “Caesar” was in Julian’s time a Roman Emperor’s most splendid title, and was regularly used by the barbarians when they referred to the Emperor. The idea and the working out of the satire is Lucianic and there are echoes here and there of Lucian’s _Dialogues of the Dead_, but Julian is neither so witty nor so frivolous as Lucian. In speaking of the gods he allows himself a licence which is appropriate to the festival, but would otherwise seem inconsistent with the admonitions addressed to priests in the _Fragment of a Letter_. His conception of the State and of the ideal ruler is Greek rather than Roman. ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ (Julian, Emperor) ΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΟΝ Η ΚΡΟΝΙΑ (The Caesars) Ἐπειδὴ δίδωσιν ὁ θεὸς παίζειν· ἔστι γὰρ Κρόνια· γελοῖον δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ τερπνὸν οἶδα ἐγώ, τὸ μὴ καταγέλαστα φράσαι φροντίδος ἔοικεν εἶναι ἄξιον, ὦ φιλότης. (“It is the season of the Kronia,(541) during which the god allows us to make merry. But, my dear friend, as I have no talent for amusing or entertaining I must methinks take pains not to talk mere nonsense.”) Εἶτα τίς οὕτω παχύς ἐστι καὶ ἀρχαῖος, ὦ Καῖσαρ, ὥστε καὶ παίζειν πεφροντισμένα; ἐγὼ ᾤμην τὴν παιδιὰν ἄνεσίν τε εἶναι ψυχῆς καὶ ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν φροντίδων. (“But, Caesar, can there be anyone so dull and stupid as to take pains over his jesting? I always thought that such pleasantries were a relaxation of the mind and a relief from pains and cares.”) [B] Ὀρθῶς γε σὺ τοῦτο ὑπολαμβάνων, ἐμοὶ δὲ οὐ ταύτῃ ἔοικεν ἀπαντᾶν τὸ χρῆμα. πέφυκα γὰρ οὐδαμῶς ἐπιτήδειος οὔτε σκώπτειν οὔτε παρῳδεῖν οὔτε γελοιάζειν. ἐπεὶ δὲ χρὴ τῷ νόμῳ πείθεσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ, βούλει σοι ἐν παιδιᾶς μέρει μῦθον διεξέλθω πολλὰ ἴσως ἔχοντα ἀκονῆς ἄξια;