Edict of rhetoric

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The edict of rhetoric is the law passed by the Roman Emperor Julian on June 17, 362 AD , which effectively forbade Christian teachers from teaching in public schools. It is recorded in fragments in the Codex Theodosianus (C.Th. XIII, 3, 5) and has never been officially suspended.

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The text of the edict sounds relatively harmless at first, since it regulates that the attitude of a teacher is to be judged by the Curia and the emperor. The condition for a teaching permit was that the aspirants were distinguished by an impeccable "moral attitude". The definition for it was obviously incumbent on the emperor, because the edict does not list anything. Teaching should be highly regarded.

Initially, the formal wording of the edict was not suspect of a religious partisanship, because it contained neither a reference to Christianity nor to religion in general. The emperor had already intervened in the appointment of teachers, although the task was left to the magistrates. For these reasons, the Christian successors of Julian never saw themselves compelled to withdraw the edict.

In a parallel letter, Emperor Julian specified the purpose of the edict, in which he specified the expected "moral suitability" of teachers and professors: correct and authentic educational, ethical and behavioral claims that reflect the correct views of good and bad, beautiful and ugly to be able to do justice to a role model function. For the classical poets, the gods are the beginning of all culture, so it is contradictory when teachers study the works of the ancient writers but at the same time despise the gods they worshiped. This undoubtedly meant the Christians. For them the old classics were the basis of their education ( paideia ), but they condemned belief in gods. Julian does not ask any teacher to change his mind, but gives them "free choice". Either they forego school service or they teach through action. The letter does not contain a ban on Christian children from going to school, as has long been claimed. The incomprehensible should be instructed, not punished, Julian concludes the letter. He warns that one should not do violence to Christians, but convince them with arguments.

With these implementing provisions, the unspectacular edict of rhetoric is transformed into a law clearly directed against the upswing Christians. It was primarily an attack on Christian culture, which had developed by the 4th century and which was based on the pagan classics. The inner contradiction to the Christian present remained largely unmentioned, for centuries the Hellenistic worldview of the pagan authors had been reinterpreted in the sense of the respective current trends. For the Christian rhetoricians this turned out to be an existential problem. They were given the choice of giving up their faith or their profession. It is not possible to give an exact ratio, but the number of those who gave up their offices was probably the vast majority.

Contemporary reactions

The edict, especially its accompanying letter, triggered a storm of indignation on the Christian side. The wrath of Christians is understandable when one considers that all higher education was based on the pagan classics. These were taught, so to speak, as a spiritual basis, at the same time the Christian authors polemicized against the belief in gods found there. Of the many voices that rose against the school law, that of Gregor von Nazianz was probably the loudest. He made Julian - filled with passionate hatred - the most violent accusations and used the worst insults for them. Julian is the worst and most godless of all people and is following in the footsteps of the persecutor Herod , the traitor Judas and the Christ murderer Pilate . This criticism played a major role in the development of the negative Julian image among Christians. This Christian view was largely adopted in later centuries, so that Julian appeared as a religious zealot who wanted to exterminate the Christians, which is probably at least partially not incorrect. A more pragmatic response from Christians has been to put the Bible into verse for use in teaching.

Due to the edict, among others, the rhetor Marius Victorinus , who had converted from paganism to Christianity in 355 with a sensation, in Rome and Julian's teacher in Athens, Prohairesios , resigned from their offices. In the latter case, Julian tried to intervene and wanted to make an exception for his teacher; However, Prohairesios rejected this disappointedly.

The reaction of the pagan writers was also not in Julian's favor, although one might have suspected otherwise. Only Ammianus Marcellinus explicitly addresses the edict of rhetoric. He has an undogmatic point of view. He demands tolerance from pagans and Christians, as this leads to inner peace in the kingdom. He calls it “incompatible with Julian's mildness” and would like to see it covered “with eternal silence” (XXII. 10, 7). In another place he describes it as “too hard” (XXV. 4, 20). With other pagan authors, their attitude to the edict can only be inferred indirectly, since they do not make any direct statements about it.

Interpretation in Research

The edict of rhetoric was and is the central and most clearly disapproved feature of Julian's rule in research up to the 20th century. The Christian image of the persecutor and tyrant Julian was adopted into the 19th century . The edict was branded as an act of intolerance undertaken for nothing other than the extermination of Christians. The assessment of this decree contrasts with the assessment of Julian's other government work. His reforms were praised by contemporaries (partly also Christian) and in recent research they are characterized as constructive measures implemented with internal logic. However, pagans like Ammianus Marcellinus , who was otherwise very kind to Julian, criticized the edict.

Only recently has the edict of rhetoric been assessed differently, seeing it as part of the overall reform efforts and thus placing it in a larger context. Here the emperor is portrayed as a utopian and a romantic . Julian's conservative political vision was the political and religious restoration of the Augustan Age . He had already initiated this with his reforms in finance, army and administration. It therefore only seems logical for him to extend these reforms to the school system. It was an attempt to return schools to their traditional duties. This was broad-based and included much more than just taking away Christian teachers' jobs. Public lectures were held, accommodation and high schools rebuilt, and new chairs established.

However, Julian's idea of ​​being able to return to the time before Constantine was rather illusory. However, the edict, which is still criticized by parts of modern research, was not repealed by the Christian emperors because it gave them access to education.

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