Julian, Emperor of Rome, Κατὰ Γαλιλαίων

Τί δὲ τοιοῦτον ἑαυτοῖς Ἑβραῖοι καυχῶνται παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ δεδόσθαι, πρὸς οὓς ὑμεῖς ἀφ̓ ἡμῶν αὐτομολήσαντες πείθεσθε; εἰ τοῖς ἐκείνων γοῦν προσείχετε λόγοις, οὐκ ἂν παντάπασιν ἐπεπράγειτε δυστυχῶς, ἀλλὰ χεῖρον μὲν ἢ πρότερον, ὁπότε σὺν ἡμῖν ἦτε, οἰστὰ δὲ ὅμως ἐπεπόνθειτε ἂν καὶ φορητά. ἕνα γὰρ ἀντὶ πολλῶν θεὸν ἐσέβεσθε ἂν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον, μᾶλλον δὲ πολλοὺς ἀνθρώπους δυστυχεῖς. καὶ νόμῳ σκληρῷ μὲν καὶ τραχεῖ καὶ πολὺ τὸ ἄγριον ἔχοντι καὶ βάρβαρον ἀντὶ τῶν παρ’ ἡμῖν ἐπιεικῶν καὶ φιλανθρώπων χρώμενοι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα χείρονες ἂν ἦτε, ἁγνότεροι δὲ καὶ καθαρώτεροι τὰς ἁγιστείας. νῦν δὲ ὑμῖν συμβέβηκεν ὥσπερ ταῖς βδέλλαις τὸ χείριστον ἕλκειν αἷμα ἐκεῖθεν, ἀφεῖναι δὲ τὸ καθαρώτερον. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἀναπείσας τὸ χείριστον τῶν παρ’ ὑμῖν, ὀλίγους πρὸς τοῖς τριακοσίοις ἐνιαυτοῖς ὀνομάζεται, ἐργασάμενος παρ’ ὃν ἔζη χρόνον οὐδὲν ἀκοῆς ἄξιον, εἰ μή τις οἴεται τοὺς κυλλοὺς καὶ τυφλοὺς ἰάσασθαι καὶ δαιμονῶντας ἐξορκίζειν ἐν Βηθσαιδᾷ καὶ ἐν Βηθανίᾳ ταῖς κώμαις τῶν μεγίστων ἔργων εἶναι. ἁγνείας μὲν οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ πεποίηται μνήμην ἐπίστασθε· ζηλοῦτε δὲ Ἰουδαίων τοὺς θυμοὺς καὶ τὴν πικρίαν, ἀνατρέποντες ἱερὰ καὶ βωμοὺς καὶ ἀπεσφάξατε οὐχ ἡμῶν μόνον τοὺς τοῖς πατρῴοις ἐμμένοντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἴσης ὑμῶν πεπλανημένων αἱρετικοὺς τοὺς μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὑμῶν τὸν νεκρὸν θρηνοῦντας. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα ὑμέτερα μᾶλλόν ἐστιν· οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ οὔτε Ἰησοῦς αὐτὰ παραδέδωκε κελεύων ὑμῖν οὔτε Παῦλος. αἴτιον δέ, ὅτι μηδὲ ἤλπισαν εἰς τοῦτο ἀφίξεσθαί ποτε δυνάμεως ὑμᾶς· ἠγάπων γάρ, εἰ θεραπαίνας ἐξαπατήσουσι καὶ δούλους καὶ διὰ τούτων τὰς γυναῖκας ἄνδρας τε, οἵους Κορνήλιος καὶ Σέργιος. ὧν εἷς ἐὰν φανῇ τῶν τηνικαῦτα γνωριζομένων ἐπιμνηθεὶς—ἐπὶ Τιβερίου γὰρ ἤτοι Κλαυδίου ταῦτα ἐγίνετο—, περὶ πάντων ὅτι ψεύδομαι νομίζετε.

What such thing do the Hebrews boast was given to them by God, the Hebrews to whom you have deserted from us and whom you obey? If you had at least paid heed to their words, you would not have fared altogether wretchedly; you would have been worse off than before, when you were with us, but still you would have suffered what is bearable and endurable. For you would be worshipping one god instead of many, not a man, or rather many wretched men. And using a law that is harsh and rough and has much that is savage and barbarous in it, instead of our mild and humane [laws], you would in other respects be worse, but holier and purer in your rites. As it is, it has happened to you as to leeches: you have drawn the worst blood from there and left the purer. And Jesus, who won over the worst element among you, has been talked of for a few years more than three hundred, having done nothing worth hearing about in the time he lived, unless someone thinks that healing the crippled and the blind and exorcising the demon-possessed in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany are among the greatest of deeds. As for purity, you do not even know whether he ever mentioned it; but you emulate the rages and bitterness of the Jews, overturning temples and altars, and you slaughtered not only those of us who remained true to the ancestral [ways], but also, among those who have gone astray just as you have, the heretics who do not mourn the corpse in the same way as you. But these things are rather your own; for nowhere did either Jesus or Paul hand them down to you as commands. The reason is that they never even hoped that you would one day reach such power; for they were content if they could deceive maidservants and slaves, and through them women and men such as Cornelius and Sergius. If one of these is shown to have been mentioned among the notable men of that time (for these things happened under Tiberius or Claudius), consider me a liar about everything.