Other Natural Religions

[Husky]

But I already pasted that once before, didn't I? OK, I see, it was not in this thread. Well done, you're right, it should be here.

(BTW, there is also the Letter to Arsacius that is linked off JulianSociety. IIRC that was for priests.)



Note that in the following, his stress is actually on the *second* half of the statement.

Bharatvarsh2

Posted Today, 07:07 AM

Letter to Atarbius



I affirm by the gods that I do not wish the Galilaeans to be either put to death or unjustly beaten, or to suffer any other injury; but nevertheless I do assert absolutely that the god-fearing must be preferred to them. For through the folly of the Galilaeans almost everything has been overturned, whereas through the grace of the gods are we all preserved. Wherefore we ought to honor the gods and the god-fearing, both men and cities.



http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/sterk/Docu...Julian.htm

The first half is the preliminary statement, the "given". The second half is his explanation of his full position - it is no mere qualifier.



Also, the translation of the same that can be found in Smith is better ("god-fearing" is christian <- and the non-existent demon "gawd"'s character is very much an object deserving of fear for those who believe in it: it is so highly volatile and brutal in temper. Whereas the line "those who revere the Gods" characterises the Hellenes - as well as other traditionalists such as the Hindooos):

'I swear by the gods', a letter runs, 'that I do not wish Galilaeans either put to death or unjustly beaten'. 127 But the [color="#0000FF"]sentence that follows[/color] reveals the author's [color="#0000FF"]principal[/color] assumption: 'None the less·, I insist that those who revere the gods should be given absolute preference to them; for by their folly almost everything has been destroyed.' [...]