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XXX. Julian
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254 the poor soul who was the first to begin this song. Saint Sylvester, that holy man, is standing by him full of grace ante tronum dei [before the throne of God] and may he help all those who listen to it politely, both the living and the dead. Let God the good show them his grace, here for the body, there for the soul! XXX Julian Julian (r. 361–363), who was often called “Julian the Apostate ,” was a nephew of Constantine I, “the Great.” After Constantine ’s death, however, Julian was thoroughly alienated from the family by the murders among them committed by those who thought they had a claim to more of Constantine’s territory and authority than they had received. His suspicions in the case of Constantius II seem likely enough; however, he blamed Christianity with much less justification for the massacre. An avid student of the arts and humanities, Julian came to admire both pagan philosophy and the ancient Greco-Roman culture with its traditional gods. When Constantius was killed in battle in 361, Julian, already holding power in the Western Empire, became sole emperor. Julian was the last pagan emperor of Rome. He did not actively seek Christians out for persecution, but he had some of them executed for physical destruction of statues in pagan temples and made it difficult for them to teach publicly. Sources for some of the legendary material incorporated here include a Syrian novel about Julian from around 600, a biography of Saint Basil, translated from Greek to Latin around 900, and the legend of Saint Mercurius, who was originally recorded as a victim Julian 255 of Decius. The Book of Emperors shares with other medieval works—such as Policraticus (The Statesman’s Book) by John of Salisbury—the role of Saint Mercurius as killer of tyrants. The point for medieval political theory is that tyrants deserve to be killed, but not by ordinary people. God will execute tyrants in his own good way by having the Virgin Mary rouse Saint Mercurius from his grave to carry out the divine sentence. the Book tells us that Julian held the Empire, and now we will tell you how that enemy of God actually took it over. In those days there was a lady in Rome who was a model of good conduct . She raised this same Julian as if he were her own son for the honor of God and the salvation of her soul. Later, when her husband died and she became a widow, she took all her money—that is what the book tells us—and entrusted it to Julian for safekeeping, so that he would hold it for her and let her have it whenever she might need it. This lady was a good woman. She never missed matins or a mass wherever she knew of a worship service being held. She did many good works, and when these began to require money she asked to have her property back again. The devil put the idea in Julian’s head of swearing that he never saw her money or other valuables and that she had certainly not entrusted them to him. Filled with regrets the poor lady went quickly to the pope and fell at his feet. “Milord,” she said. “I seek your grace. Judge for me what Julian has done. I entrusted all my gold to him, thinking that he was true and loyal to me and would keep it for me with devotion. Unfortunately, now I can’t get it back again.” Julian swore with increasing fervor that he did not know what all this talk was about. Spending the widow’s money at the court freely, he had become a favorite there, and the lady had to leave without a judgment and without her money. Bitterly she complained of this to Our Lord. Since the woman no longer had anything of value, she soon became poor and needy. She washed people’s clothes, cooked and baked. Yes, she [18.205.114.205] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 08:44 GMT) 256 Chapter Thirty did laundry for the Romans, letting her noble hands do work she was not accustomed to do. Faithlessly, Julian held on to her money. Late one evening the lady gathered up her laundry, planning to wash clothes in the Tiber. She found a statue in the water and hung some of the clothes on it. Some heathens had hidden the statue there...