2. Your excellent tribune Lausus, trusty
minister of your orders, has also reported to me that a certain woman
came as a suppliant to your serenity on the occasion of the death of
her son by poison; that it has been judged by you that poisoners are
not allowed to exist; φαρμακοὺς
μηδαμοῦ
εἶναι. The Ben. Ed. compares
with the form of expression the phrase of St. Cyprian:
“legibus vestris bene atque utiliter censuistis delatores
non esse.” cf. Letter
lv. if any there be,
that they are to be destroyed, or, only those are reserved, who are to
fight with beasts. And, this rightly decided by you, seems
strange to me, for your efforts to cure the pain of great wounds by
petty remedies are to the last degree ridiculous. After insulting
God, it is useless for you to give heed to widows and orphans.
The former is mad and dangerous; the latter the part of a merciful and
kindly man. It is a serious thing for a private individual like
myself to speak to an emperor; it will be more serious for you to speak
to God. No one will appear to mediate between God and man.
What you read you did not understand. If you had understood, you
would not have condemned. ᾽Α
ἀνέγνως οὐκ
ἔγνως·
εἰγὰρ ἔγνως,
οὐκ ἂν
κατέγνως. In
Soz. v. 18, Julian’s words, ἃ ἀνέγνων
ἔγνων καὶ
κὰτέγνων, are
stated to have been written to ‘the bishops’ in
reference to Apologies by the younger Apollinarius, bp. of the
Syrian Laodicea (afterwards the heresiarch) and others. The
reply is credited to ‘the bishops,’ with the remark that
some attribute it to Basil.