Book: The Emperor Julian

The world's too big, so they can govern alone

This is the man: if you can't be first, he is willing to be content with what he last.

It is even surprising how passionately some individuals, allegedly alien to everything, eager to enlist the support of those in power. Under the feigned contempt for authority they conceal a desire to be closer to those who it is clothed.

Sometimes hatred is easily disguises itself in the clothes of love.

I hate gladiators because they reduce man to the level of animals, and I don't mean those unfortunates who are forced for the sake of fun to fight and kill each other. We are talking about the audience.

We, the residents of Athens, still proud to see things for what they really are. If we show the stone, we see the stone, not the Universe.

Poor Julian, like many of our contemporaries, wanted to believe that human life is so incomparably more than it really means. The disease is extremely characteristic of our epoch: we do not want to accept the finiteness of our existence that we are ready to go at all, believe any magic tricks, if only to delay the realization of the bitter secret truth that in the end we are waiting for oblivion.

As you can see, charming appearance not always indicative of a meek temper.

We got to talking, and then - somehow - in our conversation surfaced the name of the Dam. For me, it was nothing more than a name; the deacon began to curse his worth.
Is lieproof the last century. He was a follower of Plato, or rather, believed himself to be. He was always at odds with the Church, although among the Christians some people foolishly recognizing him high esteem. Plotinus lived in Rome and was a favorite of the Emperor Gordian. He wrote six totally obscure books that have published by his disciple porphyry.
- Porphyry? - I still clearly remember the first time I heard this name from the mouth of bony deacon, sitting in a lush Park, Macally, shrouded in the haze of a sultry summer day.
- And this is even worse than the Dam! Born in tyre, studied in Athens. Called himself a philosopher, although in reality was just an atheist. He wrote fifteen volumes full of attacks on our Church!
- And what are they based?
- How do I know? I in his book did not look, Christian is not the case.