It must have been a rare sight for these polished and satirical Christians of Antioch to behold Julian celebrating the festivals of the pagan gods.  To view the procession of Venus—­a long line of all the dissolute women in the town, singing loose songs—­followed by the lean, uncouth Roman Emperor, with his shaggy beard, and terminated by a military train.  No wonder they hooted him, and wrote lampoons upon him.  But Julian thought he was performing a solemn duty; he by no means intended to countenance immorality.  “Far from us,” he says, “be all licentious jests and scurrilous discourse—­let no priest read Archilochus or Hipponax.”  He gives an amusing account of his reception at the celebrated grove of Daphnae, near Antioch, which he visited at the time of the annual festival.  He expected to see a profusion of wealth and splendour.  He pictured to himself the solemn pomp, the victims, the libations, the dancers, the incense, the children in white robes.  When he entered the temple, full of such elevated thoughts, he found there neither incense, cake, nor victims.  Much surprised, he could only suppose that the people were waiting at the gate, by way of respect, for a signal from the sovereign Pontiff.  He therefore asked the priest what offering the city was about to make on this great anniversary; to which he replied, “The city has furnished nothing, but I have brought the god a goose from my own house.”

Julian says the people of Antioch had transfixed him with sarcasms, as with arrows.  In accordance, however, with his peaceful disposition, he only retaliated by writing the Misopogon or “Beard-hater.”  “No law,” he says, “forbids me to satirise myself.”  He begins with his face and says,

“Although naturally good-looking, moroseness and bad manners have led me to wear a long beard for no apparent reason but that nature has not made it handsome.  Therefore, I allow lice to run about in it like wild beasts in a wood, nor have I the power of eating or drinking much, for I must be cautious, lest I eat hairs along with bread.  About being kissed, or kissing, I do not much care; still a beard has this inconvenience among others, that it does not allow us to join pure lips to those that are pure, and, therefore, the sweeter.  You say that ropes should be twisted out of it, and I would willingly grant this, if only you were able to draw out the bristles, so that your soft and delicate hands should not suffer from their roughness.”

He says that he never goes to the theatre, and hates horse-races.  As to domestic matters, “I pass sleepless nights upon a bed of straw, and insufficient food makes my manners severe and offensive to a luxurious city.  Do not think that I do this on your account—­a great and senseless mistake has led me from my childhood to wage war with my stomach.”  He is not at all surprised that they should follow the dissolute habits of the founder of their city, Antiochus, and that they think of nothing but dressing, bathing,