1

XXI.

Athanafius, to restore their privileges, to pro- c H A P.
claim their innocence, and to eraze from the
public registers the illegal proceedings which had
been obtained during the prevalence of the Euse-
bian faction. After every fatisfaction and fecurity
had been given, which juftice or even delicacy
could require, the primate proceeded, by flow
journies, through the provinces of Thrace, Afia,
and Syria; and his progrefs was marked by the
abject homage of the Oriental bishops, who ex-
cited his contempt without deceiving his penetra-
tion 118. At Antioch he faw the emperor Con-
ftantius; fuftained, with modeft firmnefs, the
embraces and proteftations of his master, and
eluded the propofal of allowing the Arians a
fingle church at Alexandria, by claiming, in the
other cities of the empire, a fimilar toleration for
his own party; a reply which might have appeared
just and moderate in the mouth of an independent
prince. The entrance of the, archbishop into his
capital was a triumphal proceffion; abfence and
perfecution had endeared him to the Alexandrians;
his authority, which he exercised with rigour, was
more firmly established; and his fame was diffused
from Æthiopia to Britain, over the whole extent of
the Chriftian world "19.

But

118 I have always entertained fome doubts concerning the retractation of Urfacius and Valens (Athanaf. tom. i. p. 776.). Their epiftles to Julius bishop of Rome, and to Athanafius himself, are of a different a caft from each other, that they cannot both be genuine. The one fpeaks the language of criminals who confefs their guilt and infamy; the other of enemies, who folicit on equal terms an honourable reconciliation.

119 The circumftances of his fecond return may be collected from Athanafius himfelf, tom. i. p. 769 and 822. 843. Socrates, 1. ii. VOL. III.

B b

C: 18.

CHAP.

XXI.

Refent

But the fubject who has reduced his prince to the neceffity of diffembling, can never expect a fincere and lafting forgivenefs; and the tragic fate of Conftans foon deprived Athanafius of a powerful and generous protector. The civil war A. D. 351. between the affaffin and the only furviving bro

ment of Conftantius.

ther of Conftans, which afflicted the empire above three years, fecured an interval of repofe to the Catholic church; and the two contending parties were defirous to conciliate the friendship of a bishop, who, by the weight of his perfonal authority, might determine the fluctuating refolutions of an important province. He gave audience to the ambaffadors of the tyrant, with whom he was afterwards accused of holding a fecret correfpondence 120; and the emperor Conftantius repeatedly affured his dearest father, the most reverend Athanafius, that, notwithstanding the malicious ru mours which were circulated by their common enemies, he had inherited the fentiments, as well as the throne, of his deceafed brother Gratitude and humanity would have disposed the primate of Egypt to deplore the untimely fate of Conftans, and to abhor the guilt of Magnentius; but as he clearly understood that the apprehenfions of Conftantius were his only fafeguard, the

c. 18.

121

Sozomen, 1. iii. c. 19. Theodoret, l. ii. c. 11, 12. Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 12.

He

120 Athanafius (tom. i. p. 677, 678,) defends his innocence by pathetic complaints, folemn affertions, and fpecious arguments. admits that letters had been forged in his name, but he requests that 'his own secretaries, and thofe of the tyrant, may be examined whether thofe letters had been written by the former or received by the latter.

121 Athanaf, tom. i. p. 825–844.

fervour

XXI.

fervour of his prayers for the fuccefs of the righte- CH A-P. ous caufe might perhaps be fomewhat abated. The ruin of Athanafius was no longer contrived by the obfcure malice of a few bigoted or angry bishops, who abufed the authority of a credulous monarch. The monarch himself avowed the refolution, which he had fo long fuppreffed, of avenging his private injuries 22; and the firft winter after his victory, which he paffed at Arles, was employed against an enemy more odious to him than the vanquished tyrant of Gaul.

Arles and

A. D.

353-355

If the emperor had capriciously decreed the Councils of death of the most eminent and virtuous citizen of Milan, the republic, the cruel order would have been executed without hesitation, by the minifters of open violence or of fpecious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop, difcovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already revived a fense of order and freedom in the Roman government. The fentence which was pronounced in the fynod of Tyre, and fubfcribed by a large majority of the eastern bishops, had never been exprefsly repealed; and as Athanafius had been once degraded from his epifcopal dignity by the judgment of his brethren, every subsequent act might be confidered as irregular, and even criminal. But the memory of the firm and effectual support which the primate of Egypt had derived

122 Athanaf. tom. i. p. 861. Theodoret, 1. ii. c. 16. The emperor declared, that he was more defirous to fubdue Athanafius, than he had been to vanquisli Magnentius or Sylvanus.

CHA P. from the attachment of the western church, enXXI. gaged Conftantius to fufpend the execution of the

fentence, till he had obtained the concurrence of the Latin bishops. Two years were confumed in ecclefiaftical negociations; and the important cause between the emperor and one of his fubjects was folemnly debated, firft in the fynod of Arles, and afterwards in the great council of Milan 123, which confifted of above three hundred bishops. Their integrity was gradually undermined by the arguments of the Arians, the dexterity of the eunuchs, and the preffing folicitations of a prince, who gratified his revenge at the expence of his dignity; and expofed his own paffions, whilft he influenced thofe of the clergy. Corruption, the moft infallible fymptom of conftitutional liberty, was fuccessfully practifed: honours, gifts, and immunities, were offered and accepted as the price of an epifcopal vote 124; and the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully reprefented as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of the Catholic church. The friends of Athanafius were not, however, wanting to their

123 The affairs of the council of Milan are so imperfe&ly and erroneously related by the Greek writers, that we muft rejoice in the fupply of fome letters of Enfebius, extracted by Baronius, from the archives of the church of Vercella, and of an old life of Dionyfius of Milan, published by Bollandus. See Baronius, A. D. 355. and Tillemont, tom. vii. p. J415.

124 The honours, prefents, ftafts, which feduced fo many bishops, are mentioned with indignation by thofe who are too pure or too proud to accept them. "We combat (fays Hilary of Poitiers) against Con

ftantius the antichrift; who firokes the belly inftead of fcourging the "back;" qui nor dorfa cædit; fcd ventrem palpat. Hilarius contra Conftant. c. 5. p. 124

leader,

leader, or to their cause. With a manly fpirit, C H A P. which the fanctity of their character rendered less XXI. dangerous, they maintained, in public debate, and in private conference with the emperor, the eternal obligation of religion and juftice. They declared, that neither the hope of his favour, nor the fear of his displeasure, fhould prevail on them to join in the condemnation of an abfent, an innocent, a refpectable brothers. They affirmed, with apparent reafon, that the illegal and obfolete decrees of the council of Tyre had long fince been tacitly abolished by the Imperial edicts, the honourable re-establishment of the archbishop of Alexandria, and the filence or recantation of his most clamorous adverfaries. They alleged, that his innocence had been attefted by the unanimous bishops of Egypt, and had been acknowledged in the councils of Rome and Sardica 126, by the impartial judgment of the Latin church. They deplored the hard condition of Athanafius, who, after enjoying so many years his feat, his reputation, and the feeming confidence of his fovereign, was again called upon to confute the moft ground

125 Something of this oppofition is mentioned by Ammianus (xv. 7.), who had a very dark and fuperficial knowledge of ecclefiaftical history. Liberius perfeveranter renitebatur, nec vifum hominem, nec auditum damnare nefas ultimum fæpe exclamans; aperte fcilicet recalcitrans Imperatoris arbitrio. Id enim ille Athanafio femper infeitus,

cc.

...

126 More properly by the orthodox part of the council of Sardica. If the bishops of both parties had fairly voted, the divifion would have been 94 to 76. M. de Tillemont (fee tom. viii, p. 1147-11.) is juftly furprifed that fo fmall a majority fhould have proceeded fo vigorously against their adverfaries, the principal of whom they immediately depofed.