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CHAP. fleet of Alexandria, which fupplied the fubfift ence of the new capital 108.

XXI.

The emperor was fatisfied that the peace of Egypt would be fecured by the abfence of a popular leader; but he refused to fill the vacancy of the archiepifcopal throne; and the fentence, which after a long hefitation, he pronounced, was that of a jealous oftracifim, rather than of an ignominious exile. In the remote province of Gaul, but in the hofpitable court of Treves, Athanafius paffed about twenty-eight months. The death of the emperor changed the face of public affairs; and amidst the geneand reftor- ral indulgence of a young reign, the primate was reftored to his country by an honourable edict of the younger Conftantine, who expreffed a deep fenfe of the innocence and merit of his venerable gueft 9.

ation,

A. D. 338.

His fecond

exile,

The death of that prince expofed Athanafius to A. D. 341. a fecond perfecation; and the feeble Constantius, the fovereign of the Eaft foon

accomplice of the Eufebians.

became the fecret

Ninety bishops of

Ninety

that fect or faction affembled at Antioch, under

108 Athanaf, tom. I. p. 729. Eunapius bas related (in Vit. Sophift. p. 36, 37. edit. Comnilin) a frange example of the cruelty and credulity of Conftantine on a fimilar occafion. The eloquent Sopater, 2 Syrian philofopher, enjoyed his friendship, and provoked the resentment of Ablavius, his Praetorian prefect. The corn-fleet was detained for want of a fouth wind; the people of Conftantinople were difcontented; and Sopater was beheaded, on a charge that he had bound the winds by the power of magic. Suidas adds, that Conftantine wifhed to prove, by this execution, that he had abfolutely renounced the fuperftition of the

Gentiles. T

1 In his return he faw Conflantius twice, at iminiacum and at Cæfarea in Cappadocia. (Athanaf. tom. i. p. 676,) Tillemont fuppofes that Cor antine, introduced him to the meeting of the three royal brothers in Pannonia. (Memoires Becke), tom vijl. p. 69.)

the

the fpecious pretence of dedicating the cathedral. c H a p. They compofed an ambiguous creed, which is XXI. faintly tinged with the colours of Semi-Arianifm, and twenty-five canons, which ftill regulate the difcipline of the orthodox Greeks. It was decided, with fome appearance of equity, that a bishop, deprived by a fynod, fhould not refume his epifcopal functions, till he had been abfolved by the judgment of an equal fynod; the law was immediately applied to the cafe of Athanafius; the council of Antioch pronounced, or rather confirmed his degradation: a ftranger named Gregory, was feated on his throne; and Philagrius, the præfect of Egypt, was inftructed to fupport the new primate with the civil and military powers of the province. Oppreffed by the confpiracy of the Afiatic prelates, Athanafius withdrew from Alexandria, and paffed three "2 years as an exile and a fuppliant on the holy threshold

110 See Peveridge Pande&t. tom. i. p. 429-452. and tom. ii. Annotation. p. 182. Tillemont, Mém. Ecclef. tom. vi. p. 31C-324. St. Hilary

of Poitiers has mentioned this fynod of Antioch with too much favour and refpect. He reckons ninety-feven bishops.

This magiftrate, fo edious to Athanafius, is praised by Gregory Nazianzen, tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 390, 391.

Sæpe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem.

For the credit of human nature, I am always pleafed to discover some good qualities in thofe men whom party has reprefented as tyrants and monsters.

9

112 The chronological difficulties which perplex the refidence of Athanafus at Rome, are ftrenuously agitated by Valefius (Obfervat s ad Calcem, tom. ii. Hift. Ecclef. 1. i. c 1—5.) and Tillemont (Mem. Ecclef. tom. viii. p. 674, &c.). I have followed the fimple hypothefis of Valefius, who allows only one journey, after the intrusion of Gre

gory.

of

113

CHA P. of the Vatican "3. By the affiduous ftudy of the XXI. Latin language, he foon qualified himself to negotiate with the western clergy; his decent flattery fwayed and directed the haughty Julius: the Roman pontiff was perfuaded to confider his appeal as the peculiar intereft of the Apoftolic fee; and his innocence was unanimoufy declared in a council of fifty bishops of Italy. At the end of three years, the primate was fummoned to the court of Milan by the emperor Conftans, who, in the indulgence of unlawful pleasures, ftill profeffed a lively regard for the orthodox faith. The caufe of truth and justice was promoted by the influence of gold 4, and the minifters of Conftans advised their fovereign to require the convocation of an ecclefiaftical affembly, which might act as the A. D. 346. reprefentatives of the Catholic church. Ninetyfour bishops of the Weft, feventy-fix bishops of the Eaft encountered each other at Sardica, on

the

verge of the two empires, but in the domi

113 I cannot forbear transcribing a judicious obfervation of Wetstein (Prolegomen. N. T. p. 19.): Si tamen Hiftoriam Ecclefiafticam velimus confulere patebit jam inde a feculo quarto, cum, ortis controverfiis, ecclefiæ Græciæ doctores in duas partes fcinderentur, ingenio, eloquentiâ, numero, tantum non æquales, eam partem quæ vincere cupiebat Romam confugiffe, majeftatemque pontificis comiter coluiffe, eoque pacto oppreffis per pontificem et epifcopos Latinos adverfariis prævaluiffe, atque orthodoxiam in confiliis ftabiliviffe. Eam ob caufam Athanafius, non fine comitatu, Romam petiit, plurefque annos ibi hæfit.

114 Philoftorgius, 1. iii. c. 12. If any corruption was used to promote the intereft of religion, an advocate of Athanafius might juftify or excufe this questionable conduct, by the example of Cato and Sidney; the former of whom is faid to have given, and the latter to have received, a bribe, in the cause of liberty.

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nions of the protector of Athanafius.

Their de- c H A P.

bates foon degenerated into hoftile altercations;
the Afiatics, apprehenfive for their personal safety,
retired to Philippopolis in Thrace; and the rival
fynods reciprocally hurled their spiritual thunders
against their enemies, whom they pioufly con-
demned as the enemies of the true God. Their
decrees were published and ratified in their refpec-
tive provinces and Athanafius, who in the Weft
was revered as a faint, was expofed as a criminal
to the abhorrence of the East "s. The council
of Sardica reveals the firft fymptoms of difcord
and fchifm between the Greek and Latin churches,
which were feparated by the accidental difference
of faith, and the permanent diftinction of lan-

guage.

XXI.

ration.

During his fecond exile in the west, Athanafius and restowas frequently admitted to the Imperial prefence; A. D. 349at Capua, Lodi, Milan, Verona, Padua, Aquileia, and Treves. The bishop of the diocefe ufually affifted at these interviews; the mafter of the offices ftood before the veil or curtain of the facred apartment; and the uniform moderation of the primate might be attested by these respectable witneffes, to whofe evidence he folemnly appeals". Prudence would undoubtedly fuggest

115 The Canon, which allows appeals to the Roman pontiffs, has almost raifed the council of Sardica to the dignity of a general council; and its acts have been ignorantly or artfully confounded with thofe of the Nicene fynod. See Tillemont, tom. viii. p. 689. and Geddes's Tracts, vol. ii. p. 419-460.

116 As Athanafius difperfed fecret invectives against Conftantius (fee the Epiftle to the Monks), at the fame time that he affured him of his profound refpe&, we might distrust the professions of the archbishop. Tom. i. p. 677.

the

CHAP. the mild and refpectful tone that became a fub XXI. ject and a bishop. In these familiar conferences`

with the fovereign of the Weft, Athanafius might lament the error of Conftantius; but he boldly arraigned the guilt of his eunuchs and his Arian prelates; deplored the diftrefs and danger of the Catholic church; and excited Conftans to emulate the zeal and glory of his father. The emperor declared his refòlution of employing the troops and treasures of Europe in the orthodox caufe; and fignified, by a concife and peremptory epistle to his brother Conftantius, that unless he confented to the immediate restoration of Athanafius, he himself, with a fleet and army, would feat the archbishop on the throne of Alexandria 7. But this religious war, fo horrible to nature, was prevented by the timely compliance of Constantius; and the emperor of the Eaft condefcended to folicit a reconciliation with a fubject whom he had injured. Athanafius waited with decent pride, till he had received three fucceffive epiftles full of the strongest affurances of the protection, the favour, and the esteem of his fovereign; who invited him to refume his epifcopal feat, and who added the humiliating precaution of engaging his principal ministers to atteft the fincerity of his intentions. They were manifefted in a still more public manner, by the ftrict orders which were difpatched into Egypt to recal the adherents of

.

117 Notwithstanding the difcreet filence of Athanafius, and the manifeft forgery of a letter infeited by Socrates, thefe menaces are proved by the unquestionable evidence of Lucifer of Cagliari, and even of Conftantius himfelf. See Tillemont, tom. viii. p. 693.

Athanafius,

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