In the first months of his reign Julian courted the Christians with assurances of toleration and an ostentatious regard for the deceased emperor. But a man with a strong faith in what he believed to be the only true religion was not likely to do much to advance the cause of those he considered ungodly. For Julian the ungodly were the Christians. The asceticism and inflexibility of Julian's style of life were integral to his practice of paganism. Under Constantius luxury had grown up in the Arian court and spread among the clergy and citizens of the Christian world. Bishops grew fat from the revenue of ecclesiastical property and spent in cultivated reading the leisure to which they were entitled by civic immunities. At Syrian Antioch a largely Christian city passed its time in the excitement of the theatre and chariot-racing. There was nothing romantic or colourful about the paganism which Julian proposed to establish in the place of the religion of Constantine. Its austerity and the fanatical zeal of its advocate portended the end of the way of live which had not only replaced the old paganism but actually absorbed its joie de vivre. The deadly earnestness of Julian was manifest and unwelcome.
G.W. Bowersock. Julian the Apostate. Harvard University Press (1978).
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