Saint Martin of Tours: Soldier, Monk, and…

Wang Xizhi, a member of an eminent family and a master of all types of calligraphic scripts, gains particular renown for his running script, or "hsing-shu," and his cursive script, or "ts'ao-shu."

Born in Linyi, Shandong, Wang spent most of his life in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

He had learned the art of calligraphy from Lady Wei Shuo.

He excels in every script but particularly in semi-cursive script.

Unfortunately, none of his original works remains today.

An outstanding example of his work in “hsing-shu” is his Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion, the introduction to a collection of poems written by a number of poets during a gathering at Lanting near the town of Shaoxing for the Spring Purification Festival.

The original is lost, but the work is survived in a number of finely traced copies in existence, with the earliest and most well regarded copy being the one made between about 627 to 650 by Feng Chengsu; it is located in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Experts consider his On the Seventeenth to be the best work in “ts'ao-shu.”

Traditionally referred to as the "Sage of Calligraphy", he leaves government service in 355 in his early fifties.

Wang Xizhi is particularly remembered for one of his hobbies, that of rearing geese.

Legend has it that he learned that the key to how to turn his wrist while writing was to observe how geese moved their necks.

There is a small porcelain cup depicting Wang Xizhi "walking geese" in the China Gallery of the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore.

The other side of the cup depicts a scholar "taking a zither to a friend".

Wang Xizhi has seven children, all of whom are notable calligraphers.

The most distinguished is his youngest son, Wang Xianzhi.

A Tang reproduction of one of Wang's calligraphy scrolls on silk with four lines, will be sold in China at an auction in 2010 for an amount equivalent to forty-six million dollars.

The Huns, a confederation of Central Asian equestrian nomads or semi-nomads who are perhaps Turkic or possibly Mongol in origin, now include substantial numbers of Germanic and Indo-Iranian groups, their culture and organization a mélange of many different customs.

Heavily reliant on animal herding, the horde is sustained by the plundering of sedentary peoples.

The Huns move west, appearing in South Russia around 358 to conquer the region’s various inhabitants or, in the case of many of the Germanic tribes, such as the Greuthings, causing them to flee into the Roman Empire.

The Romans invite the Huns east of the Ukraine to settle Pannonia in 361.

Eunomius, who had studied theology at Alexandria under Aëtius, and afterwards come under the influence of Eudoxius of Antioch, who ordained him deacon, had in 360 been appointed bishop of Cyzicus, in Mysia, on the recommendation of Eudoxius.

Propounding an extreme form of Arianism that refutes the divinity of Christ and constructing his argument on a Platonist philosophical structure, Eunomius teaches that Christ was not equal to God the Father but only resembled him.

Here his free utterance of extreme Arian views have led to popular complaints, and Eudoxius is compelled, by command of Constantius, to depose him from the bishopric within a year of his elevation to it.

The orthodox Christian majority in the West consolidates its position after the death of Constantius, driving Arianist bishops from their sees.

Liberius had acceded to the papacy in 352.

However, when Liberius was banished in 353 by the Arianist emperor Constantius II for refusing to subscribe the sentence of condemnation against Athanasius of Alexandria, Felix II had been installed as antipope.

At the end of an exile of more than two years, the emperor had recalled Liberius; but, as Felix was the official occupant of the Roman See, a year had passed before Liberius was sent to Rome.

It was the emperor's intention that Liberius should govern the Church jointly with Felix, but on the arrival of Liberius, the Roman people had expelled Felix.

Neither Liberius nor Felix had taken part in the Council of Rimini in 359.

Following the death of Constantius in 361, Liberius annuls the decrees of that assembly, but, with the concurrence of bishops Athanasius and Hilary, retains the bishops who had signed and then withdrawn their adherence.

Julian's Acclamation as Augustus and the Imminent Civil War (360–361 CE)

By 360 CE, Julian had proven himself to be an extraordinarily successful military leader, having defeated and expelled both the Alemanni and the Franks, restoring Roman control over the Rhine frontier. His victories had made him immensely popular with his legions, but they also aroused the jealousy of Constantius II, the reigning Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Constantius, who had always been suspicious of Julian’s growing influence, deliberately kept him short on funds and placed him under secret surveillance.

1. Constantius’ Attempt to Weaken Julian (Late 360 CE)

• In late 360 CE, while Julian was wintering at Lutetia (modern Paris), Constantius demanded a large number of his best troops, ostensibly to be sent for service in the East against the Persians.
• In reality, this move was designed to weaken Julian’s power in Gaul, ensuring that he could not challenge Constantius’ authority.

Julian, dutifully prepared his men to depart, but his troops, loyal to their general and unwilling to leave Gaul unprotected, mutinied.

2. Julian is Acclaimed as Augustus (Early 361 CE)

• Julian’s army, refusing to leave Gaul, declared him Augustus in early 361 CE.
• Despite his initial reluctance, Julian realized that the act was irreversible—he was now in open rebellionagainst Constantius.
• The news infuriated Constantius, who immediately rejected any negotiation or accommodation, treating Julian as a usurper.

3. Julian Prepares for War Against Constantius

• Recognizing that civil war was now inevitable, Julian decided to act first, preparing to march eastward and confront Constantius before he could strike first.
• His legions in Gaul were loyal, and he sought to rally additional forces to his cause.
• His brilliant military record and charismatic leadership ensured that many Roman officers and officials secretly sympathized with him.

4. The Path to Civil War

• As Julian mobilized his forces, Constantius began preparing for a campaign against him.
• However, fate intervened: before any battle took place, Constantius suddenly fell ill and died in late 361 CE.
• On his deathbed, Constantius unexpectedly named Julian as his successor, abruptly ending the conflict before it could begin.

5. Conclusion: Julian’s Ascendancy

• Julian’s proclamation as Augustus in 361 CE marked a turning point in Roman history, as he became sole ruler of the empire.
• His rise to power demonstrated the importance of military loyalty, as his legions had been the key factor in his rebellion.
• Julian’s reign (361–363 CE) would soon become famous for:
  • His attempts to revive paganism in a now predominantly Christian empire.
  • His campaign against the Sassanid Persians, which would ultimately lead to his untimely death in 363 CE.

Though Julian had been forced into rebellion, his ascension ultimately proved bloodless, as the death of Constantius II removed his only rival. Now, the empire would witness one of its most unique rulers—a philosopher-emperor who would seek to reverse Constantine’s Christianization of Rome and return it to pagan traditions.

Julian, after accepting the acclamation by his troops as emperor, moves swiftly with his army through southern Germany to Pannonia, captures Constantius’s unresisting legate at Sirmium (present-day Sremska Mitrovika), then advances toward Constantinople.

Constantius, recalled to the West in 361 by the revolt of Julian, becomes ill on the way and, having on his deathbed accepted the inevitable by bequeathing the empire to Julian, dies on November 3 at Mopsucrenae, Honorias, near Tarsus (now in Turkey).

Having now become sole Augustus, Julian greatly simplifies the life of the palace and reduces its expenses.

He issues proclamations in which he declares his intention to rule as a philosopher, on the model of Marcus Aurelius.

All Christian bishops exiled by Constantius are allowed to return to their sees (although the purpose of this may have been to promote dissension among the Christians), and an edict of 361 proclaims freedom of worship for all religions.

He publicly announces his conversion to paganism at this time, thus acquiring the epithet “the Apostate.”

Julian's initial toleration of Christianity is coupled with a determination to revive paganism and raise it to the level of an official religion with an established hierarchy.

The new emperor, who apparently sees himself as the head of a pagan church, performs animal sacrifices and is a staunch defender of a sort of pagan orthodoxy, issuing doctrinal instructions to his clergy.

Not surprisingly, this incipient fanaticism soon leads from apparent toleration to outright suppression and persecution of Christians.

Pagans are openly preferred for high official appointments, and Christians are expelled from the army and prohibited from teaching classical literature and philosophy.

The latter action leads his contemporary and comrade-in-arms Ammianus Marcellinus, who admires Julian's virtues and is himself an adherent of the traditional religion, to censure the emperor: That was inhumane, and better committed to oblivion, that he forbade teachers of rhetoric and literature to practice their profession if they were followers of the Christian religion.

Julian writes an attack on Christianity, Against the Galileans (known today only by fragmentary citation).

“The trickery of the Galileans”—his usual term—has nothing divine in it, he argues; it appeals to rustics only, and it is made up of fables and irrational falsehoods.

Though a professed Neoplatonist and a sun worshiper, Julian himself is, according to Ammianus, an addict of superstition rather than religion.

Julian penalizes Christian cities, and burns churches in Damascus and …