PREFACE

—tion, and next it must be understood from his character. Regarding his nature, it involves his homeland and parents as well as his natural disposition of mind and body. His homeland, then, was Byzantium Byzantium, the ancient Greek city, was rebuilt and renamed Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 330 AD., a noble and wealthy city of Thrace, then the seat and residence of the empire, which was later called Constantinople and New Rome. His parents were no less noble and famous than his homeland. For his father was Constantius Julius Constantius (d. 337 AD), the half-brother of Constantine the Great., the brother of that great Constantine; his mother was named Basilina, who was noble by descent from her ancestors, as Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330–400 AD), a Roman soldier and historian who is the primary source for Julian's life and reign. says. However, he was not able to enjoy their presence for long; for his father was suppressed Martini refers here to the massacre of the imperial family members that followed the death of Constantine the Great in 337 AD, intended to secure the throne for Constantine’s sons. by the successors of the empire after the death of his brother Constantine, and his mother died a few months after bringing Julian into the light of the world.

Thus, while still a young boy, he was left destitute of all hope of comfort or protection along with his brother Gallus Constantius Gallus (c. 325–354 AD), Julian's older half-brother, who served as Caesar under Constantius II before being executed., who was his only brother on his father’s side, and who was of uncertain and nearly broken health. The same ruin that had previously struck their father would have surely overwhelmed both sons, had not the one’s youth and the other’s ill health freed them from the danger. And these were the "seeds of nature" found in the splendor of his homeland and parents.

But in both mind and body, there was a varied natural disposition. His mind was indeed very restless original: levissimus. In this context, it suggests a quick, perhaps fickle or highly active temperament that required grounding.; thus (says Marcellinus in Book 22), he permitted his prefects and those closest to him to confidently restrain his impulses with timely warnings whenever they strayed, turning them back toward what was proper. He showed from time to time that he grieved over his faults and rejoiced in being corrected. His physical constitution, of a moderate sort, is described by the same author in Book 25: "The form of his limbs," he says, "was such: he was of moderate height, with soft hair as if it had been combed, and a shaggy beard tapering to a point. He glowed with the beauty of flashing eyes, which revealed the sharpness original: angustias. Marcellinus uses this term to describe the intense, piercing quality of Julian's gaze or the "quickness" of his mental processing. of his mind, and eyebrows..."