ON JULIAN’S MISOPOGON. 15

...nevertheless, a certain empty talkativeness and unseemly behavior were noted in him. When one day (says Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330–400 AD), a Roman soldier and historian who is the primary source for Julian's reign. Though he admired Julian, he was often critical of his lack of imperial "gravitas.") it was announced to him while he was hearing legal cases that the philosopher Maximus Maximus of Ephesus, a Neoplatonist philosopher and theurgist who became Julian's most influential spiritual mentor. had arrived from Asia, he leaped up in an unseemly manner. Forgetting who he was, he ran headlong far out from the entrance hall, and having kissed and received the man with reverence, he led him back inside with him. Through this ill-timed display, he appeared to be an excessive seeker of empty glory. This lightness of character was natural and innate to him, as was shown previously, nor could any amount of education remove it.

But since we have examined his self-restraint, let us now look at his wisdom in every branch of learning. That his mind was most eager for learning
Ecdicius, Prefect of Egypt

is proven by a letter to a certain Ecdicius, the Prefect of Egypt, in which he demands the books of Bishop George of Alexandria Julian ordered the seizure of this library after George was murdered by a mob; Julian wanted the collection for himself, despite his hatred for the Christian bishop.. “Some,” Julian says, “delight in horses, others in birds, some in wild beasts. But I, indeed, have burned with a desire for books since I was a child.” Isocrates says, “If you are a lover of learning, you will be very learned” original Greek: ἐὰν ᾖς φιλομαθὴς, ἔσῃ πολυμαθὴς. Therefore, this love of learning produced great learning in Julian.

What, then, of the liberal arts—Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic—how did they fare in him? We have already seen his masters of the arts of Grammar and Rhetoric, within which Logic was also contained; but let us seek a clearer and more certain proof of his learning from his own writings. It is likely that during that period of leisure in schools and studies, before he attained the honor of the title of Caesar, many things were written by him that have perished through the ravages of time. Of these, only a few orations sent to Iamblichus A famous Neoplatonist philosopher whom Julian deeply admired, though they were not contemporaries. are mentioned, as is clear from a certain letter to him. But after he entered public life, he handled and cultivated these studies even more diligently. From these sleepless nights, Suidas The Suda, a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the Mediterranean world. commemorates the work titled The Caesars (namely, the lives of the Caesars from Augustus onward) and the work On the Three Figures original: περὶ τριῶν σχημάτων, likely a grammatical or rhetorical treatise on the forms of logic or speech....