Letter 40: While showing up to the present time the gentleness and benevolence which have been natural to me from my boyhood, I have reduced all who dwell beneath the sun to obedience. For lo! every tribe of barbarians to the shores of ocean has come to lay its gifts before my feet.

Julian to Basil. Showing up at the present time is not the way to deal with me. If you want to enjoy a friendship that will last, you should know that what wins me over is not public gestures but private affection. Put another way: I am not impressed by the man who courts me now that I hold power. I was far more grateful to those who stood by me before, when fortune was less kind. But never mind all that. You are a man of learning and eloquence, and you have chosen, I hear, the retired life. Good for you. The crowd of flatterers who surround me now tire me. I would rather have one honest friend than a thousand sycophants. So if you ever feel inclined to visit, you will find my door open — not as emperor to subject, but as one old schoolfellow to another.

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA Julian to Basil. While showing up to the present time the gentleness and benevolence which have been natural to me from my boyhood, I have reduced all who dwell beneath the sun to obedience. For lo! every tribe of barbarians to the shores of ocean has come to lay its gifts before my feet. So too the Sagadares who dwell beyond the Danube, wondrous with their bright tattooing, and hardly like human beings, so wild and strange are they, now grovel at my feet, and pledge themselves to obey all the behests my sovereignty imposes on them. I have a further object. I must as soon as possible march to Persia and rout and make a tributary of that Sapor, descendant of Darius. I mean too to devastate the country of the Indians and the Saracens until they all acknowledge my superiority and become my tributaries. You, however, profess a wisdom above and beyond these things; you call yourself clad with piety, but your clothing is really impudence and everywhere you slander me as one unworthy of the imperial dignity. Do you not know that I am the grandson of the illustrious Constantius? I know this of you, and yet I do not change the old feelings which I had to you, and you to me in the days when we were both young. But of my merciful will I command that a thousand pounds of gold be sent me from you, when I pass by Cæsarea; for I am still on the march, and with all possible dispatch am hurrying to the Persian campaign. If you refuse I am prepared to destroy Cæsarea, to overthrow the buildings that have long adorned it; to erect in their place temples and statues; and so to induce all men to submit to the Emperor of the Romans and not exalt themselves. Wherefore I charge you to send me without fail by the hands of some trusty messenger the stipulated gold, after duly counting and weighing it, and sealing it with your ring. In this way I may show mercy to you for your errors, if you acknowledge, however late, that no excuses will avail. I have learned to know, and to condemn, what once I read.

[Πρός: Ἰουλιανὸς Βασιλείῳ] Τὸ ἔμφυτόν μοι ἐκ παιδόθεν γαληνὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ἐπιδεικνύμενος, πάντας ὑπηκόους ἐκομίσαμεν τοὺς οἰκοῦντας τὴν ὑφʼ ἥλιον. ἰδοὺ γὰρ πᾶν γένος βαρβάρων μέχρις ὁρίων Ὠκεανοῦ δῶρά μοι κόμιζον ἧκε παρὰ ποσὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Σαγάδαρες οἱ παρὰ τὸν Δάνουβιν ἐκτραφέντες, οἱ εὐμορφοποικιλοκανθαρόμορφοι , οἷς οὐκ ἔστι θέα ὁμοιοειδὴς ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ μορφὴ ἀγριαίνουσα, οὗτοι κατὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν προκαλινδοῦνται ἴχνεσι τοῖς ἐμοῖς, ὑπισχνούμενοί μοι ποιεῖν ἐκεῖνα ἅπερ τῇ ἐμῇ πρέπειβασιλείᾳ. οὐχὶ δὲ ἐν τούτῳ μόνῳ ἕλκομαι, ἀλλὰ δεῖ με σὺν πολλῷ τῷ τάχει καταλαβεῖν τὴν Περσῶν καὶ τροπώσασθαι Σάπωριν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀπόγονον Δαρείου γεγονότα, ἄχρις οὗ ὑπόφορος καὶ ὑποτελής μοι γένηται· ἐν ταὐτῷ δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἰνδῶν καὶ τὴν Σαρακηνῶν περιοικίδα ἐκπορθῆσαι, ἄχρις οὗτοι πάντες ἐν δευτέρᾳ τάξει τῆς ἐμῆς γένωνται ὑπόφοροι καὶ ὑποτελεῖς. Ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἐπέκεινα τῆς τούτων δυνάμεως πεφρόνηκας, εὐλάβειαν λέγων ἐνδεδύσθαι, ἀναίδειαν δὲ προβαλλόμενος· καὶ πανταχοῦ διαφημίζων ἀνάξιόν με τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας γεγονέναι. ἦ οὐκ οἶσθα αὐτὸς ὡς Κωνσταντίου τοῦ κρατίστου ἀπόγονος γέγονα; καὶ τούτων οὕτω γνωσθέντων ἡμῖν σοῦ εἵνεκα, οὐδὲ τῆς προτέρας ἐξέστημεν διαθέσεως, ἧς ἔτι νέοι ὄντες τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ἐγώ τε καὶ σὺ μετεσχήκαμεν. ἀλλὰ γαληνῷ τῷ φρονήματι θεσπίζω δέκα ἑκατοντάδας χρυσίου λιτρῶν ἐξαποσταλῆναί μοι παρὰ σοῦ ἐν τῇ παρόδῳ μου τῇ κατὰ τὴν Καίσαρος, ἔτι μου κατὰ τὴν λεωφόρον ὑπάρχοντος, σὺν πολλῷ τῷ τάχει ἀφικνουμένου μου ἐπὶ τὸν Περσικὸν πόλεμον· ἑτοίμου ὄντος μου, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο ποιήσεις, πάντα τόπον ἀνασκευάσαι τῆςΚαίσαρος, καὶ τὰ πάλαι αὐτῆς ἐγηγερμένα καλλιουργήματα καταστρέψαι, καὶ κατὰ τόπον ναούς τε καὶ ἀγάλματα ἀναστῆσαι, ὥστε με πείσειν πάντας εἴκειν βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ μὴ ὑπεραίρεσθαι. τὸ οὖν ἐξονομασθὲν χρυσίον ἐξαριθμοζυγοκαμπανοτρυτανίσας καὶ διαμετρήσας, ἀσφαλῶς ἐξαπόστειλόν μοι δι’ οἰκείου πιστοῦ σοι ὄντος, δακτυλίῳ τῷ σῷ σφραγισάμενος, ὥστε με ἐπεγνωκότα κἂν ὀψέ ποτε τοῦ καιροῦ τὸ ἀπαραίτητον, γαληνόν σοι γενέσθαι περὶ τὰ ἐπταισμένα. ἃ δὲ ἀνέγνων, ἔγνων καὶ κατέγνων.