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About the same time, the emperor erased Caesarea, the large and
wealthy metropolis of Cappadocia, situated near Mount Argeus, from
the catalogue of cities, and even deprived it of the name of
Caesarea, which had been conferred upon it during the reign of
Claudius Caesar, its former name having been Mazaca. He had long
regarded the inhabitants of this city with extreme aversion, because
they were zealously attached to Christianity, and had formerly
destroyed the temple of the ancestral Apollo and that of Jupiter, the
tutelar deity of the city. The temple dedicated to Fortune, the only
one remaining in the city, was overturned by the Christians after his
accession; and on hearing of the deed, he hated the entire city
intensely and could scarce endure it. He also blamed the pagans, who
were few in number, but who ought, he said, to have hastened to the
temple, and, if necessary, to have suffered cheerfully for Fortune.
He caused all possessions and money belonging to the churches of the
city and suburbs of Caesarea to be rigorously sought out and carded
away; about three hundred pounds of gold, obtained from this source,
were conveyed to the public treasury. He also commanded that all the
clergy should be enrolled among the troops under the governor of the
province, which is accounted the most arduous and least honorable
service among the Romans.
He ordered the Christian populace to be numbered, women and children
inclusive, and imposed taxes upon them as onerous as those to which
villages are subjected.
He further threatened that, unless their temples were speedily
reerected, his wrath would not be appeased, but would be visited on
the city, until none of the Galileans remained in existence; for this
was the name which, in derision, he was wont to give to the
Christians. There is no doubt but that his menaces would have been
fully executed had not death quickly intervened.
It was not from any feeling of compassion towards the Christians that
he treated them at first with greater humanity than had been evinced by
former persecutors, but because he had discovered that paganism had
derived no advantage from their tortures, while Christianity had been
especially increased, and had become more honored by the fortitude of
those who died in defense of the faith.
It was simply from envy of their glory, that instead of employing fire
and the sword against them, and maltreating their bodies like former
persecutors, and instead of casting them into the sea, or burying them
alive in order to compel them to a change of sentiment, he had recourse
to argument and persuasion, and sought by these means to reduce them to
paganism; he expected to gain his ends more easily by abandoning all
violent measures, and by the manifestation of unexpected benevolence.
It is said that on one occasion, when he was sacrificing in the temple
of Fortune at Constantinople, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon,
presented himself before him, and publicly rebuked him as an irreligous
man, an atheist, and an apostate. Julian had nothing in return to
reproach him with except his blindness, for his sight was impaired by
old age, and he was led by a child. According to his usual custom of
uttering blasphemies against Christ, Julian afterward added in
derision, "The Galilean, thy God, will not cure thee." Maris
replied, 'I thank God for my blindness, since it prevents me from
beholding one who has fallen away from our religion." Julian passed
on without giving a reply, for he considered that paganism would be
more advanced by a personal and unexpected exhibition of patience and
mildness towards Christians.
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