The Beard-Hater and Letters

ON JULIAN’S MISOPOGON The Misopogon or "Beard-Hater" was a satirical work written by Julian himself against the people of Antioch who mocked his lifestyle and appearance.

...shared by only a few companions, he was intent upon the art of divination and augury, and all the other things that worshippers of the gods have always performed. And this pretense lasted only as long as Constantius lived. But upon his death, Julian plainly changed his religion; meanwhile, he cleverly fostered discord among the people so that he might reign more securely. Indeed, as the same author Referring to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus. states in his twenty-second book, when he noticed that the things he feared were abolished and he had free time to do as he wished, he laid bare the secrets of his heart. By explicit decrees, he ordered that the temples be opened, that sacrificial victims be brought to the altars, and that the worship of the gods be restored.

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In order to strengthen the effect of his arrangements, he summoned the disagreeing Christian bishops, along with the divided commoners, into his palace. He warned them that, once their civil discords were laid to rest, each person should serve his own religion without fear or hindrance.
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He did this persistently for this reason: so that as license increased their dissensions, he would not have to fear a unified populace later.
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Therefore, this religious policy sufficiently declares the man's theology. Yet in the performance of sacred rites, he was foolishly superstitious, and ridiculous even to the pagans themselves. As Marcellinus says in his twenty-fifth book, he was "superstitious rather than a lawful observer of sacred rites," slaughtering countless cattle without restraint. It was estimated that if he had returned from his campaign against the Parthians, oxen would have soon been lacking. In this, he was like that Emperor Marcus Marcus Aurelius, who was also noted for his extensive sacrifices., regarding whom we have received this saying:

The word synikēsē is poorly read in the text of Marcellinus.

The white oxen to Marcus Caesar: If you win, we are finished. original Greek: οἱ λευκοὶ βόες μάρκῳ τῷ καίσαρι· ἂν σὺ νικήσῃς, ἡμεῖς ἀπωλόμεθα. This was a famous joke suggesting the emperor's sacrifices were so numerous they would exhaust the supply of white cattle.

How greatly he burned with hatred for the Christian religion is declared by the books he wrote and published against it. Such, then, was his theology. It is said, however, that he held an excellent view regarding the excellence of the soul.
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Hence that noble saying of his: It is shameful for a wise man, since he possesses a soul, to seek praise from...
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