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

INTRODUCTION

In 351, Constantius, who had once visited the brothers at Macellum, released them, raised Gallus to the rank of Caesar, and gave him his sister Constantia in marriage. Constantius had been married previously to Galla, the sister of Gallus, but she had recently died. Gallus was sent to Antioch to govern the provinces of the East. There, he and Constantia—whose cruel and suspicious temperament matched his own—embarked on a four-year reign of terror described by Ammianus.Book XIV. Meanwhile, Constantius was in Arles (where he spent the winter of 353) and later in Milan; he was equally suspicious and ruthless. However, Gallus Caesar’s tyrannical conduct appeared to his cousin as a prelude to usurpation. Consequently, Gallus was recalled to Milan in 354. Constantia died of a fever on the journey. Gallus, escorted by the Emperor’s agents as a virtual prisoner, was taken by way of Constantinople to Pola—where, in 326, Crispus, the son of Constantine, had been put to death by his father—and was beheaded there toward the end of 354. Julian later took vengeance on those he believed had been accessories to his brother's death.

Meanwhile, Julian had devoted four years to study, first at Pergamon with Aedesius and Chrysanthius, the disciples of Iamblichus. However, upon hearing from Aedesius of the marvels performed by his pupil, the theurgistA practitioner of religious rituals intended to invoke the appearance or action of gods or spirits. Maximus of Ephesus, he hastened to Ephesus.See the account of his studies at Pergamon and Ephesus in Eunapius, Lives, pp. 429–435, Wright. Julian had been under Christian influences from his childhood, but he was an ardent admirer of Greek literature and philosophy and...