The Persian Campaign
[…] On June 16, 363 AD, Sapor’s army finally appeared on the horizon, but he refused open combat with short cavalry raids. On the 21st the Roman Army stopped at Maranga and in the night of June 25th Julian saw in the dark the Genius Publicus, the one who had appeared to him at Lutetia, but now with his head veiled in mourning, he looked at him in silence, turned around and slowly vanished .
The next morning, despite the contrary opinion of the haruspices, he had the tents broken up to resume his retreat towards Samarra. During the march, fighting broke out in the rearguard: Julian ran up without wearing armour, rushed into the fray and a javelin struck him at his side. He tried to pull it out but fell off his horse and passed out. Carried into the tent, he perked up. He asked for the name of the locality: ” It’s Phrygia ,” they answered. Giuliano had once dreamed of a blond man who predicted his death in a place with that name.
The prefect Salustio rushed to his bedside: he informed him of the death of Anatolius, one of his closest friends. Giuliano wept but recovered himself:
It is a humiliation for us all to mourn a prince whose soul will soon be in heaven to mingle with the fire of the stars .
That night he took stock of his life:
I must neither repent nor feel remorse for any deed, both when I was an obscure man and when I had the care of the Empire. The gods paternally granted him to me and I kept him immaculate for the happiness and salvation of my subjects, equanimous in his conduct, contrary to the license that corrupts things and customs.
Then he spoke with Priscus and Maximus about the nature of the soul. These reminded him of his fate, fixed by the oracle of Helios:
When you have subjected the Persian race to your scepter,
pursuing them as far as Seleucia with sword blows,
then you will ascend to Olympus in a fiery chariot
through the dizzying orbits of the cosmos.
Freed from the aching pain of your mortal limbs,
you will reach the timeless abode of ethereal light,
which you left to enter the body of a mortal.
The Death of Claudius Flavius Julianus by Ammianus Marcellinus (XXIV.3)
[…] Julianus, who was lying under the tent, said to those who, dejected and sad, surrounded him:
Now comes, comrades, the most suitable time to get away from life, which is claimed by the nature. I rejoice, as one who is about to repay a debt in good faith. I am not afflicted and grieved. I am guided by the general opinion of the philosophers may the soul be happier than the body. And I observe that, whenever a better condition is separated from a worse one, one should rejoice rather than grieve. I also note that the celestial gods bestowed upon some very religious death as a high prize.
But I know well that that task was entrusted to me not to succumb to the arduous difficulties, or to humiliate or humiliate me. I have learned from experience that all pains strike those without energy, but give way to those who persist. I don’t have to repent of what I have done, nor does the memory of some grave crime torment me. Both in the time when I was relegated to shadows and poverty, both after assuming the principality, I kept my soul immaculate, which descends from the celestial gods by kinship. I handled civil affairs with moderation and, with justified reasons, made and warded off war. However, the success and usefulness of decisions do not always agree, as the supernal Gods claim the results of actions for themselves.
I believe that the purpose of a just empire is the welfare and safety of its subjects. I was always inclined, as you know, to peace. I have removed from my actions any arbitrariness, corrupter of acts and customs. I walk away happy, knowing that whenever the republic, as an imperious parent, it exposed me to pre-established dangers, I remained stationary, used to dominating the whirlwinds of fortuitous events. It will not be shameful to acknowledge that I have long since learned from a prophetic prediction that I would die by a sword.
Therefore I venerate the everlasting deity, because I do not die from clandestine pitfalls, or among the pains of illnesses, nor do I suffer the end of the condemned, but in the midst of splendid glories, I have deserved an illustrious departure from the world. The person who wishes to die when the time is not right and the one who tries to escape death when the time is right is judged pusillanimous and ignorant. Talking was enough, now the vigor of strength is leaving me.
As for the appointment of the new emperor, I have cautiously decided not to comment. I do not want to omit anyone worthy through imprudence. Nor do I wish to threaten the life of anyone whom I deem fit to be nominated should another be preferred. But like a good son of the republic, I wish that a good emperor should be found after me .
… They were silent, and he discussed deeply with the philosophers Maximus and Priscus on the sublimity of souls. The wound in his side where he had been pierced widened. The swelling of the veins prevented him from breathing. Feeling suffocated, Giuliano asked for water: as soon as he had finished drinking, he lost consciousness. He was 32 years old and had reigned less than twenty months. The pagan world died with him.
Source: Romano Impero
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