New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
p1spAssIoNATE STUDY OF REAc-
TIONARY CAREER.

rha snec;al merit of this book Is that 1t Is devoid
~ craftsmanship though its theme is one when mas
,s,,o,,v been approached with undue Partially or
with needless animosity Christian apoiog1sts on
tho one hand and that heterogeneous cro"o
whose only common principle is hatred OF Chris
family on the other. have transferred to Julians
time their own feelings and the conditions OF
their own environment. Julian has appeared 70
them in the guise OF an cighteentn-cen'ury
scoffer or a nneteenth-century nationalist wheh
ho was great distance from being like
either. To understand his real attitude tow
ara the religious controversies Of his time 1t
would be convenient to imagine fairly just ana
enIishtered monarch in one of the countries where
the Reformation prevailed attempting. say. at
the close of the sixteenth century. to carry his
realm hack TO the Catholic Church. The case OF
Henry Of Navarro would be in point II he had
real,v been a man of religious convictions. or II
France had really formed an attachment for the
new religion But in Henry's realm the return to
the old faith was in accordance with the wish OF
the nation as a whole while with Julian, the re-
action in the mind of the ruler was shared only
by a minority Of his subjects. In so far as Henry
labored for liberation and mutual goodwill, he
might be compared to Julian, to whom persecution
was obnoxious If ne had sat like philosopher
to arbtrate subtle differences Of doctrine he woud
have resembled still more the young Roman En-
peror who tried vainly to harmonize Chrlstiah
sects In addition to the more general nope winch
he cherished OF reducing all religions each 70 us
cwn place. Julian certainly hated Christianity
but this appears to have been due mainly 10 us
claims to be the universal religion. His principle
more or less consistently advocated. was that
truth was one and philosophy was one. but that
the ways by which truth was TO be attained were
many.
Miss Gardner endeavors to show that the cpl
tibet Apostate was not deserved by Julian. she
succeeds In proving that whatever Julian may
have done in his youth by way Of accommodate
ing himself to what, since the time or Constan-
tine had been the religion or the state was
merely perfunctory But when the ceremonial
character Of religion at all times In the Mediter-
ranean world, both before the acceptance OF
Christianity and since is considered, 1t Is nara 10
see how Julian could escape the dilemma OF
being reputed either an apostate or hypocrite
His own defence, If confronted with modern ideas
on this point would probably have been that
neither in his conformity In his subsequent
opposition to Christianity was there any moral
quality Christianity stood on very different
terms with the world then to what II does now.
II had been the State religion only few years
The old religions still had their votaries It's
claims to universal dominion could still be as
puted without serious offence. II the disputant
were powerful enough to disregard public clamor.
Outwardly II wore very much the aspect Of a po-
)itical party in the Empire. and a man might
certainly change his party without being guilty
of an objectionable SIM A traitor to God. Julian
was called by Christian poet OF the time. but
not traitor to the city. The interests OF Rome
and the Empire were. therefore, not so closely IN
volved with those of the Church that they could
not be cared for by a pagan. But those were
days Of fervid rhetoric. when the expression OF
feeling was more intense than the feeling Itself.
and Julians quarrel with Christianity lost moth
ing at the hands Of the orators and writer's on
either side Possibly Juan's animus against the
new religion was exaggerated in his own argu-
ments A man capable Of philosophy on the one
side. and Of military leadership on the other must
have been coolheaded to a degree not shown In
some of the remarks on the 'Galileans" quoted
from Julians writings by Miss Gardner. He
seems TO have been carried away by the torrent
NJ his own words. How this happened can easily
be guessed when it is learned that some Of his
most important philosophical orations were writ
ten in single night. Calmness Of utterance was
not to be expected under such conditions.
In his attacks Christianity and on the
Scriptures Julian anticipated many OF the argu-
ments OF later times. But CELSIUS did the same.
The objections were such as must soon or late
occur to everybody engaged In adverse criticism.
In his philosophical writings he has the adj
vantage that most works Of the men to whom
he confessed the greatest debt have disappeared.
The wholesale plagiarizing habits Of the times
created a presumption against the originality OF
any given passage in any author. Julians youth
and the haste with which he wrote precluded
profound thinking But simply from the loss OF
those works out OF which he might have drawn
his thoughts. ne has become for modern MS
torians and modern thinkers the originator Of
some important ideas. For example. the theory
Of the evolution Of sacriicial practices main
tanned by Professor Robertson Smith. and by
others in works like 1.-The Golden Bough." is
accidental remark Of Julian 1t is not likely that
Julian vas a mere copyist. His youth and the
freshness of his memory saved him from that
fate. II was a delight to him to renew the
thoughts OF the schools, and to translate them
into his own language. The portentous learning
and foggy speculation OF the Neoplatonists were
reduced In his version to comparative simplicity.
The most vexatious parts and the least neces-
ssry escaped him. 1t Is impossible to think
otherwise In his case. Here was man porn
about 331. who at twenty-four years OF age was
taken from school to be turned almost immedi-
ately into a general Henceforward he has no
time for study except what he gains from the
early morning hourr. He Is engaged cohuhu-
ously in war In political contests or IN other
practical affairs. He sh!rks none OF these things
Indeed, he plainly has a preference for action In
spite of his literary signs for the contcmplative
life His life as a military leader and states
man. as Caesar and Emperor. is comprised In the
eight years between 355 and 1863. At the early age
of thirty-two he was dead. And yet he had left
the reputation Of great general. After some
early misadventures he was uniformly successful
against the hostile populations OF Western
Europe He rendered the enemy powerless. paci-
fed the province and restored the comfort and