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No sooner had the Persians heard of the death of Constantius, than
they took heart, proclaimed war, and marched over the frontier of the
Roman empire. Julian therefore determined to muster his forces,
though they were a host without a God to guard them. First he sent to
Delphi, to Delos and to Dodona, and to the other oracles and
enquired of the seers if he should march. They bade him march and
promised him victory. One of these oracles I subjoin in proof of
their falsehood. It was as follows. "Now we gods all started to get
trophies of victory by the river beast and of them I Ares, bold
raiser of the din of war, will be leader." Let them that style the
Pythian a God wise in word and prince of the muses ridicule the
absurdity of the utterance. I who have found out its falsehood will
rather pity him who was cheated by it. The oracle called the Tigris
"beast" because the river and the animal bear the same name. Rising
in the mountains of Armenia, and flowing through Assyria it
discharges itself into the Persian gulf. Beguiled by these oracles
the unhappy man indulged in dreams of victory, and after fighting with
the Persians had visions of a campaign against the Galileans, for so
he called the Christians, thinking thus to bring discredit on them.
But, man of education as he was, he ought to have bethought him that
no mischief is done to reputation by change of name, for even had
Socrates been called Critias and Pythagoras Phalaris they would have
incurred no disgrace from the change of name, nor yet would Nireus if
he had been named Thersites have lost the comeliness with which nature
had gifted him. Julian had learned about these things, but laid none
of them to heart, and supposed that he could wrong us by using an
inappropriate title. He believed the lies of the oracles and
threatened to set up in our churches the statue of the goddess of lust.
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