The Emperor Julian on his predecessors

Summary

The emperor Julian's satire on the emperors that preceded him is well worth reading, though not for the jokes. Julian was an essentially humourless man, whose efforts at wit quickly degenerated into raillery or bitterness. He was aware of this weakness in himself; and when, in December 362 at Antioch, the festive season of the Saturnalia called for an appropriate entertainment, Julian had to confess he lacked the talent: γελοῖον δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ τερπνὸν οἷδα ἐγώ. To an unnamed interlocutor who objected politely, he insisted that he had no natural affinity for jest, parody, or laughter: πέϕυκα γὰρ οὐδαμῶς ἐπιτήδειος οὔτε σκώπτειν οὔτε γελοιάзειν. By introducing in this way the work which is generally known as the Caesars, Julian disarmed his readers. Despite Lucian and Menippus, whose dialogues provided the models for Julian's satire, we must not look for humour here, but rather for insight into the author himself. Of Julian and his abundant writings it may justly be said, as it once was of Lucilius: quo fit ut omnis/votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella/vita.

The title of the Caesars in the manuscript is Συμπόσιον ἤ Κρόνια, alluding by the first term to the imaginary banquet of the gods which constitutes the setting of the satire, and specifying by the second term the Saturnalia (Κρόνια), which occasioned the work. Romulus invites all the gods and all the emperors to dine with him.