The Beard-Hater and Letters

PREFACE

...than that great things are managed by the prudence of the mind. But though he possessed such courage, what of his temperance? It was altogether admirable, both in his private and public life. And indeed, his private life regarding food, sleep, and sexual matters was exemplary. Regarding food and sleep, Marcellinus original: "Marcellinus". This refers to the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, a primary source for Julian's life. says in his sixteenth book: "He forbade pheasant, sow’s womb, and udders original: "Phasianum & vulvam, & sumen". These were considered luxury delicacies in Roman high society. to be demanded or brought to him, being content with the cheap and random food of a common soldier." From this it resulted that he divided his nights into three duties: rest, public affairs, and the Muses The "Muses" here refers to his literary and philosophical studies.. We read that Alexander the Great used to do this, but Julian did so much more vigorously. For Alexander, with a bronze basin placed beneath him, held a silver ball in his arm stretched out beyond the bed; so that when sleep relaxed the tension of his muscles, the ringing caused by the falling of the object into the basin would break his sleep. Julian, however, woke whenever he wished without any device. Rising always at midnight, he did not get up from down feathers or silk blankets shining with shifting light, but from a rug and a sisura original: "σισύρᾳ". A rough, shaggy blanket or cloak made of goat hair., which common folk call a sifurna. In the common editions of Marcellinus, this is incorrectly read as xysira and Susurna. Julian declares this same thing about himself in his Misopogon The "Misopogon" or "Beard-Hater" is a satirical essay Julian wrote to mock the people of Antioch who ridiculed his ascetic lifestyle., where he complains that he was hated by the people of Antioch for this very reason.

"For my private habits," he says,
"sleepless nights on a rough blanket, and a diet entirely lacking
in satiety, produce harsh manners that are repulsive
to a delicate city. But do not think this is done by me
for your sake: a certain grave and foolish error has
led me ever since I was a boy to wage war against my belly.
For I do not allow it to be filled with banquets."

Therefore, it has very rarely happened that I vomited, and I remember it happening to me only once since I was made Caesar—and not from an excess of food, but by chance. Thus, in this manner, he almost boasts of his temperance in food and sleep. From this, furthermore, followed his temperance in sexual matters; concerning which Marcellinus in his [twenty-fifth] book...