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IN the document above quoted, Libanius clearly states that the
emperor fell by the hand of a Christian; and this, probably, was the
truth. It is not unlikely that some of the soldiers who then served in
the Roman army might have conceived the idea, since Greeks and all
men until this day have praised tyrannicides for exposing themselves to
death in the cause of liberty, and spiritedly standing by their
country, their families, and their friends. Still less is he
deserving of blame, who, for the sake of God and of religion,
performed so bold a deed. Beyond this I know nothing accurately
concerning the men who committed this murder besides what I have
narrated. All men, however, concur in receiving the account which
has been handed down to us, and which evidences his death to have been
the result of Divine wrath. A proof of this is the Divine vision
which one of his friends had, which I will now proceed to describe.
He had, it is related, traveled into Persia, with the intention of
joining the emperor. While on the road, he found himself so far from
any habitation that he was obliged, on one night, to sleep in a
church. He saw, during that night, either in a dream or a vision,
all the apostles and prophets assembled together, and complaining of
the injuries which the emperor had inflicted on the Church, and
consulting concerning the best measures to be adopted. After much
deliberation and embarrassment two individuals arose in the midst of the
assembly, desired the others to be of good cheer, and left the company
hastily, as if to deprive Julian of the imperial power. He who was
the spectator of this marvel did not attempt to pursue his journey, but
awaited, in horrible suspense, the conclusion of this revelation. He
laid himself down to sleep again, in the same place, and again, he
saw the same assembly; the two individuals who had appeared to depart
the preceding night to effect their purpose against Julian, suddenly
returned and announced his death to the others.
On the same day a vision was sent to Didymus, an ecclesiastical
philosopher, who dwelt at Alexandria; and, who, being deeply
grieved at the errors of Julian and his persecution of the churches,
fasted and offered up supplications to God continually on this
account. From the effects of anxiety and want of food during the
previous night, he fell asleep while sitting in his chair. Then
being, as it were, in an ecstasy, he beheld white horses traversing
the air, and heard a voice saying to those who were riding thereon,
"Go and tell Didymus that Julian has been slain just at this hour;
let him communicate this intelligence to Athanasius, the bishop, and
let him arise and eat." I have been credibly informed that the friend
of Julian and the philosopher beheld those things. Results proved
that neither of them were far from having witnessed the truth. But if
these instances do not suffice to prove that the death of Julian was
the effect of Divine wrath on account of his persecution of the
Church, let the prediction of one of the ecclesiastics be called to
mind. When Julian was preparing to enter upon the war against the
Persians, he threatened that on the termination of the war he would
treat the Christians with severity, and boasted that the Son of the
Carpenter would be unable to aid them; the ecclesiastic above
mentioned thereupon rejoined, that the Son of the Carpenter was then
preparing him a wooden coffin in view of his leath.
Julian himself was well aware whence the mortal stroke proceeded, and
what was the cause of its infliction; for, it is said, when he was
wounded, he took some of the blood that flowed from the wound, and
threw it up into the air, as if he had seen Jesus Christ appearing,
and intended to throw it at him, in order to reproach him with his
slaughter. Others say that he was angry with the sun because it had
favored the Persians, and had not rescued him, although, according
to the doctrine of the astronomers, it had presided at his birth; and
that it was to express his indignation against this luminary that he
took blood in his hand and flung it upwards in the air.
I know not whether, on the approach of death, as is wont to be the
case when the soul is in the act of being separated from the body and
when it is enabled to behold diviner spectacles than are allotted to
men, and so Julian might have beheld Christ. Few allusions have
been made to this subject, and yet I dare not reject this hypothesis
as absolutely false; for God often suffers still more improbable and
astonishing events to take place in order to prove that the religion
named after Christ is not sustained by human energy. It is,
however, very obvious that, throughout the reign of this emperor,
God gave manifest tokens of His displeasure, and i permitted many
calamities to befall several of the provinces of the Roman Empire.
He visited the earth with such fearful earthquakes, that the buildings
were shaken, and no more safety could be found within the houses than
in the open air. From what I have heard, I conjecture that it was
during the reign of this emperor, or, at least, when he occupied the
second place in the government, that a great calamity occurred near
Alexandria in Egypt, when the sea receded and again passed beyond its
boundaries from the reflux waves, and deluged a great deal of the
land, so that on the retreat of the waters, the sea-skiffs were found
lodged on the roofs of the houses. The anniversary of this
inundation, which they call the birthday of an earthquake, is still
commemorated at Alexandria by a yearly festival; a general
illumination is made throughout the city; they offer thankful prayers
to God, and celebrate the day very brilliantly and piously. An
excessive drought also occurred during this reign; the plants perished
and the air was corrupted; and for want of proper sustenance, men were
obliged to have recourse to the food usually eaten by other animals.
The famine introduced peculiar diseases, by which many lives were
lost. Such was the state of the empire during the administration of
Julian.
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