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PLATO'S PILOT IN THE POLITICAL STRATEGY OF JULIAN AND LIBANIUS*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2017
Extract
The rhetorical career of Libanius of Antioch (a.d. 314–c.393) spanned the reigns of a number of fourth-century emperors. Like many orators, he used the trope of the emperor as a pilot, steering the ship of state. He did this for his imperial exemplar Julian and in fact for his predecessor Constantius II as well. Julian sought to craft an identity for himself as a theocratic king. He and his supporters cast him as an earthly parallel to the Christ-like versions of Heracles and Asclepius he constructed, which was arguably a co-opting of Christian and particularly Constantinian themes. In a public oration, Julian even placed himself in the role of Christ in the Temptation in the Wilderness. This kind of overtly Christian metaphor was not Libanius’ preferred idiom, however, and he wrote of Julian as another kind of chosen and divine saviour-figure, one with its roots in the golden age of Greek philosophy. The figure of the κυβερνήτης, the ‘pilot’ or ‘helmsman’, is a philosophical concept with roots in the thought of the pre-Socratics but most familiar from Plato. The uses of this metaphor by Julian and Libanius highlight the rhetorical strategy and self-presentation the emperor employed during his reign.
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Footnotes
*
The text of Plato's Politicus is from the edition of J. Burnet (Oxford, 1903); the text of Libanius’ Orations is from the edition of R. Foerster (Leipzig, 1904); the text and the numbering of Julian's works are from the Budé edition (Paris, 1924–1964), and the text of Synesius’ De Providentia is that of the Budé edition (Paris, 1978–2008). All translations are my own unless otherwise noted.
References
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25 Wiemer (n. 6), 101.
26 Although Libanius used this term elsewhere in a different sense, his use in this context and in parallel with Julian's turns as the son of God, respectively Heracles, Asclepius and Christ (see nn. 1 and 2), strengthens the Platonic connection.
27 Described similarly in Plato's myth, which Kahn, C.H., ‘The myth of the Statesman’, in Partenie, C. (ed.), Plato's Myths (Cambridge, 2009), 206–38Google Scholar describes as the true statesman being more divine than human.
28 Wiemer (n. 6), 111.
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31 While admittedly Synesius post-dates Julian (born 370), this highlights the trend in Neoplatonic thought.
32 Cf. Or. 7 To the Cynic Heracleios; Or. 8 Hymn to the Mother of the Gods; Or. 11 Hymn to King Helios.
33 Dillon (n. 21), 103–15; Smith, A., ‘Julian's hymn to King Helios: the economical use of complex Neoplatonic concepts’, in Baker-Brian, N. and Tougher, S. (edd.), Emperor and Author: The Writings of Julian the Apostate (Swansea, 2012), 229–35CrossRefGoogle Scholar. de Vita, M. Carmen, ‘ Philosophiae magister: Giuliano interprete di Platone’, Atti Accademia Pontaniana, Napoli 51 (2012), 97–109, at 106Google Scholar cautions that, although Julian was unique as a ‘philosopher militant’, he was not, properly speaking, a philosopher.
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40 Julian, Or. 6.259a, 6.260d (To Themistius).
41 E.g. Bouffartigue (n. 35), 127–8, 136–7.
42 Themistius, Risāla 1.82.2–2.84.15; cf. Croissant, J., ‘Un nouveau discours de Thémistius’, in Serta Leodiensia (Bibliothèque de la faculté de philosophie et lettres de l'université de Liège 44) (Liège and Paris, 1930), 7–30 Google Scholar; Watt, J., ‘Julian's Letter to Themistius – and Themistius’ response?’, in Baker-Brian, N. and Tougher, S. (edd.), Emperor and Author: The Writings of Julian the Apostate (Swansea, 2012), 91–103, at 97CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and see now the edition of Swain (n. 39).
43 Drake, H., ‘“But I digress …”: rhetoric and propaganda in Julian's second oration to Constantius’, in Baker-Brian, N. and Tougher, S. (edd.), Emperor and Author: The Writings of Julian the Apostate (Swansea, 2012), 35–46, at 41–2Google Scholar; cf. Athanassiadi-Fowden (n. 38), 66, who describes Julian's work as a ‘panegyric of his own deeds’. It must be dated after the lowland campaigns mentioned, but probably before the end of the peace with Persia (56b, 66d), suggesting to me summer 358; cf. Drake (this note), 39. Curta, F., ‘Atticism, Homer, Neoplatonism, and Fürstenspiegel: Julian's second panegyric on Constantius’, GRBS 36 (1995), 177–211, at 196Google Scholar argues for a date as late as 360.
44 Or. 3 97d, 100d (The Heroic Deeds of Constantius, or On Kingship).
45 While some might see this epithet as too ubiquitous to be significant, it is surely important that Julian's uncle Constantine, whom Julian reacted against so resolutely, was written about so much in this vein: e.g. ‘the sovereign dear to God, in imitation of the higher power, directs the helm and sets straight all things on earth’, Euseb. De laudibus Constantini 1.6 (transl. Drake); cf. Euseb. Vit. Const. 1.1.6, 3.1.8, 3.49.
46 For analysis of the manipulated acclamation, see Müller-Seidl, I., ‘Die Usurpation Julians des Abtrünnigen im Lichte seiner Germanenpolitik’, HZ 180 (1955), 225–44, at 241–4Google Scholar; Rosen, K., ‘Beobachtungen zur Ehrebung Julians 360–361 n. Chr.’, AClass 12 (1969), 121–49Google Scholar.
47 Lib. Or. 18.157 (Funeral Oration over Julian) places the composition of Julian's Or. 7 at the same time as his Or. 8 To the Mother of the Gods, in which Julian's statement at 161c dates that work to the festival of Cybele in March 362.
48 Julian, Or. 7.219d–220a, 7.228d–229a, 7.229c–230a (To the Cynic Heracleios). For dating, see Rochefort, G. (ed.), L'empereur Julien. Œuvres complètes, vol. 2.1 (Paris, 1963), 36 Google Scholar; Smith, R.B.E., Julian's Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate (London, 1995), 89 Google Scholar; Guido, R. (ed.), Giuliano l'Apostate: al cinico Eraclio (Galatina, 2000), viii Google Scholar.
49 Julian, Or. 7.234a–b (To the Cynic Heracleios); cf. Athanassiadi-Fowden (n. 38), 172, 174; Glazov, G., The Bridling of the Tongue and the Opening of the Mouth in Biblical Prophecy (Sheffield, 2001), 107–8Google Scholar.
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51 ‘Those at anchor’ is, of course, literally ‘those not sailing’, but that makes for a rather confusing translation.
52 Athanassiadi-Fowden (n. 38), 185; Bidez, J., La vie de l'empereur Julien (Paris, 1930), 267 Google Scholar. As Christianity had offered an alternate respectable career, so Julian took the opportunity to offer the same patronage to Neoplatonists.
53 Julian, Ep. 30, 89a.452d, 89a.452a, 89b.298b; cf. Jones et al. (n. 6), 897 s.v. Theodorus 8.
54 Julian, Or. 7.229c, 7.232d (To the Cynic Heracleios); Or. 10.336a (Caesares); Or. 11.157a (Hymn to King Helios).
55 Lib. Or. 13.11, 12.28, 18.87; Eunapius, frr. 28.5, 28.6 Blockley; cf. Athanassiadi-Fowden (n. 38), 168.
56 Julian, Or. 11.144b, 11.153b (Hymn to King Helios); Against the Galilaeans 200a–b; a concept that Libanius reflected back in his language of Julian as ‘healer’, Or. 15.69, 17.36, 18.124–5, 18.281; cf. Greenwood (n. 1 [forthcoming]).