Saturninius Secundus Salutius
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Saturninius Secundus Salutius ( 355–367) was a Roman official and
Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
author. A native of
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, he had a successful career as a provincial governor and officer at the imperial court, becoming a close friend and adviser of the Emperor Julian. Salutius was well versed in Greek philosophy and rhetoric, and had a reputation for competence and incorruptibility in office. He authored a Neoplatonic religious treatise titled ''On the Gods and the Cosmos'', in support of Julian's pagan reaction against Christianity.


Life

Salutius's official name was Saturninius Secundus, as he is called in inscriptions and official documents. The , or informal name, 'Salutius', sometimes 'Salustius', was otherwise the main way to refer to him. He was born to a non- senatorial family in
Roman Gaul Roman Gaul refers to GaulThe territory of Gaul roughly corresponds to modern-day France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and adjacient parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. under provincial rule in the Roman Empire from the 1st century ...
, and was a pagan.'' Brill's New Pauly'',
Secundus
His career included governorships of Gallia Aquitania and
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, as well as the position of ''magister memoriae'' at the imperial court. He probably held these offices under the emperor
Constans Flavius Julius Constans ( 323 – 350), sometimes called Constans I, was Roman emperor from 337 to 350. He held the imperial rank of '' caesar'' from 333, and was the youngest son of Constantine the Great. After his father's death, he was mad ...
, as he was already an old man by the time he was assigned to the staff of Julian Caesar in Gaul. It was probably through his counsel that Julian developed the skills of administration he displayed in Gaul. In 359 AD,
Constantius II Constantius II (Latin: ''Flavius Julius Constantius''; grc-gre, Κωνστάντιος; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic ...
removed him from Gaul. When Julian became sole emperor, he raised Salutius to praetorian prefect of the Orient late in 361. One of Salutius' early tasks was to oversee the
Chalcedon tribunal Shortly after the death of Roman emperor Constantius II, his successor Julian held a tribunal at the city of Chalcedon, which was then a suburb of Constantinople. Saturninius Secundus Salutius, who was raised to the rank of Praetorian Prefect was g ...
. Salutius accompanied his emperor on the Persian campaign, during which Julian was killed. As a sign of their great respect for him, the military command first nominated him to become their emperor, but Salutius refused the honor, pleading illness and old age, and the purple then fell to Jovian. After the return from Persia, Salutius continued in the office of praetorian prefect during the reign of Valentinian until he was replaced by Nebridius.


''On the Gods and the Cosmos''

Salutius, and not his contemporary Flavius Sallustius, is almost certainly to be identified as the ( grc-gre, Σαλούστιος) who, according to
Photios Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
, wrote the theological pamphlet ''On the Gods and the Cosmos'' ( ''Peri theōn kai kosmou''). The work, a kind of catechism of 4th-century Hellenic paganism, owes much to that of
Iamblichus of Chalcis Iamblichus (; grc-gre, Ἰάμβλιχος ; Aramaic: 𐡉𐡌𐡋𐡊𐡅 ''Yamlīḵū''; ) was a Syrian neoplatonic philosopher of Arabic origin. He determined a direction later taken by neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of ...
, who synthesized
Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at l ...
with
Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton, ...
and
theurgy Theurgy (; ) describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more deities, especially with the goal of achieving henosis (uniting w ...
, and also to Julian's own philosophical writings. The treatise is quite concise, and generally free of the lengthy metaphysical theorizing of the more detailed Neoplatonic texts. Its aim is in part "to parry the usual onslaughts of Christian polemic" in the face of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
's growing preeminence, and "me theology with theology".Nock 1926:cii


Editions

*
Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...
. 1925 "On the Gods and the World," appended to Murray's ''Five Stages of Greek Religion'', first published in 1912 as ''Four Stages of Greek Religion.'' * Arthur Darby Nock (ed/trans.). 1926. ''Sallustius concerning the gods and the universe. Edited with prolegomena and translation.'' Available in various reprints, for example and . * Gabriel Rochefort. 1960. ''Des dieux et du monde''. Edition of the Greek text, with French translation and notes, in the
Collection Budé The ''Collection Budé'', or the ''Collection des Universités de France'', is an editorial collection comprising the Greek and Latin classics up to the middle of the 6th century (before Emperor Justinian). It is published by Les Belles Lettres, ...
. * Thomas Taylor (ed/trans.). 1793. ''Sallust, On the gods and the world; and the Pythagoric sentences of Demophilus, translated from the Greek; and five hymns by Proclus, in the original Greek, with a poetical version. To which are added five hymns by the translator.'' Reprinted many times, for example .


Citations


References

* * * * * * {{Julian (emperor) 4th-century Gallo-Roman people Comites Late-Roman-era pagans Neoplatonists Praetorian prefects of the East Roman governors of Africa Roman governors of Gallia Aquitania Julian (emperor)