The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1 (Loeb)

In Misopogon 353B, Julian says that Mardonius was "of all men most responsible" for his literary tastes and austere morals.1 Julian also studied at Constantinople with the Christian sophist Hecebolius.2 During this period, he used to visit his grandmother's estate in Bithynia, which is described in Letter 25.

In 345, when Julian was fourteen, Constantius—who lived in fear of vengeance from his relatives for the twenty-four years following the murder of Julius Constantius—interned Gallus and Julian in the lonely castle of Macellum (Fundus Macelli) in Cappadocia. In his manifesto To the Athenians 271C, D, Julian speaks of their six years of solitary imprisonment at Macellum. He says that the cruelty and harshness of Gallus (who proved to be a sort of Christian CaligulaA Roman emperor notorious for his extreme cruelty and tyranny.) were increased by his life there, while his own love of philosophy saved him from being equally brutalized. From Letter 23, we learn that he was able to borrow books from George of Cappadocia, who later became Bishop of Alexandria and was murdered by the Alexandrian mob in 361. Julian wrote Letter 23 immediately to demand his library back.

1: For the influence of Mardonius see Vol. 2, Oration 8, 241C; To the Athenians 274D; Misopogon 352–353. Julian's knowledge of Latin was probably slight, though Ammianus (16. 5. 7) describes it as "sufficient" (original: "sufficiens").
2: For Hecebolius, see Letter 63, and below, p. xlvii.