7 GRE et, vid. Apol. ad Consé § 19. 8 Infr. § 7x fin. Sozom. ii. 25.
9 orixapva, ecclesiastical. [See D.C.A. p. 1933.] t They are lost.
2 Suburb of Nicomedia, infr. § 65.
driven from the presence; and, as I returned, he wrote the following letter to the people.
Constantine, Maximus, Augustus, to the people of the Catholic Church at Alexandria.
61. Beloved brethren, I greet you well, calling upon God, Who is the chief wit- ness of my intention, and on the Only- begotten, the Author of our Law, Who is Sovereign over the lives of all men, and Who hates dissensions. But what shall I say to you? That I am in good health? Nay, but I should be able to enjoy better health and strength, if you were possessed with mutual love one towards another, and had rid yourselves of your enmities, through which, in consequence of the storms excited by con- tentious men, we have left the haven of brotherly love. Alas! what perverseness is this! What evil consequences are produced every day by the tumult of envy which has been stirred up among you! Hence it is that evil reports have settled upon the people of God. Whither has the faith of righteousness departed? For we are so involved in the mists of darkness, not only through manifold errors, but through the faults of ungrateful men, that we bear with those who favour folly, and though we are aware of them, take no heed of those who set aside goodness and truth. What strange inconsistency is this! We do not convict our enemies, but we follow the example of robbery which they set. us, whereby the most pernicious errors, finding no one to oppose them, easily, if I may so speak, make a way for themselves. Is there no understanding among us, for the credit of our common nature, since we are thus neglectful of the injunctions of the law?
But some one will say, that love is a thing brought out by nature. But, I ask, how is it that we who have got the law of God for our guide in addition to our natural advantages, thus tolerate the disturbances and disorders raised by our enemies, who seem inflamed, as it were, with firebrands? How is it, that hay- ing eyes, we see not, neither understand, though we are surrounded by the intelligence of the law? What a stupor has seized upon our life, that we are thus neglectful of ourselves, and that although God admonishes us! Is it not an intolerable evil? and ought we not to esteem such men as our ene- mies, and not the household and people of God? For they are infuriated against us, abandoned as they are: they lay grievous crimes to our charge, and make attacks upon us as enemies.
62. And I would have you yourselves to consider with what exceeding madness they do DEFENCE AGAINST THE ARIANS.
this. The foolish men carry their malicious- ness at their tongues’ end. They carry about with them a sort of leaden anger, so that they reciprocally smite one another, and in- volve us by way of increasing their own punishment. The good teacher is accounted an enemy, while he who clothes himself with the vice of envy, contrary to all jus- tice makes his gain of the gentle temper of the people; he ravages, and consumes, he decks himself out, and recommends himself with false praises; he subverts the truth, and corrupts the faith, until he finds out a hole and hiding-place for his conscience. Thus their) very perverseness makes them wretched, while they impudently prefer themselves to places of honour, however unworthy they may be. Ah! what a mischief is this! they say “Such an one is too old; such an one is a mere boy; the office belongs to me; it is due to me, since it is taken away from him. I will gain over all men to my side, and then I will endeavour with my power to ruin him.” Plain indeed is this proclamation of their madness to all the world; the sight of companies, and gatherings, and rowers under command3 in their offensive cabals. Alas! what preposte- rous conduct is ours, if I may say it! Do they make an exhibition of their folly in the Church of God? And are they not yet ashamed of themselves? Do they not yet blame them- selves? Are they not smitten in their con- sciences, so that they now at length shew that they entertain a proper sense of their deceit and contentiousness? Theirs is the mere force of envy, supported by those baneful influences which naturally belong to it. But those wretches have no power against your Bishop. Believe me, brethren, their endeavours will have no other effect than this, after they have worn down our days, to leave to them- selves no place of repentance in this life. Wherefore I beseech you, lend help to your- selves; receive kindly our love, and with all your strength drive away those who desire to obliterate from among us the grace of unanimity; and looking unto God, love one another. I received gladly your Bishop Atha- nasius, and addressed him in such a manner, as being persuaded that he was a man of God. It is for you to understand these things, not for me to judge of them. I thought it becom- ing that the most reverend Athanasius him- self should convey my salutation to you, knowing his kind care of you, which, in a manner worthy of that peaceable faith which I myself profess, is continually engaged in the good work of declaring saving knowledge, and 3 apxtepeciav.
will be able to exhort you as is suitable, May God preserve you, beloved brethren.
Such was the letter of Constantine.
63. After these occurrences the Meletians remained quiet for a little time, but after- wards shewed their hostility again, and con- trived the following plot, with the aim of pleasing those who had hired their services. The Mareotis is a country district of Alex- andria, in which Meletius was not able to make a schism. Now while the Churches still existed within their appointed limits, and all the Presbyters had congregations in them, and while the people were living in peace, a certain person named Ischyras 4, who was not a clergyman, but of a worthless dis- position, endeavoured to lead astray the people of his own village, declaring himself to be a clergyman. Upon learning this, the Presbyter of the place informed me of it when I was going through my visitation of the Churches, and I sent Macarius the Presbyter with him to summon Ischyras. They found him sick and lying in a cell, and charged his father to admonish his son not to continue any such practices as had been reported against him. But when he recovered from his sick- ness, being prevented by his friends and his father from pursuing the same course, he fled over to the Meletians; and they com- municate with Eusebius and his fellows, and at last that calumny is invented by them, that Macarius had broken a cup, and that a certain Bishop named Arsenius had been murdered by me. Arsenius they placed in concealment, in order that he might seem made away with, when he did not make his appearance; and they carried about a hand, pretending that he had been cut to pieces. As for Ischyras, whom they did not even know, they began to spread a report that he was a Presbyter, in order that what he said about the cup might mislead the people. Ischyras, however, being censured by his friends, came to me weeping, and said that no such thing as they had reported had been done by Macarius, and that himself had been suborned by the Meletians to invent this calumny. And he wrote the following letter.
To the Blessed pope > Athanasius, Ischyras sends health in the Lord.
64. As when I came to you, my Lord Bishop, desiring to be received into the Church, you reproved me for what I formerly said, as though I had proceeded to such lengths of my own free choice, I therefore 4 Cf. $§ 46, 72, 77. 5 Cf. de Syx. 16, (and Fest. Ind, passim].
APOLOGIA CONTRA ARIANOS.
submit to you this my apology in writing, in order that you may understand, that violence was used towards me, and blows inflicted on me by Isaac and Heraclides, and Isaac of Letopolis, and those of their party. And I declare, and take God as my witness in this matter, that of none of the things which they have stated, do I know you to be guilty. For no breaking of a cup or overturning of the Holy Table ever took place, but they compelled me by violent usage to assert all this. And this defence I make and submit to you in writing, desiring and claiming for myself to be admitted among the members of your congregation. I pray that you may have health in the Lord.
I submit this my handwriting to you the Bishop Athanasius in the presence of the Presbyters, Ammonas of Dicella, Heraclius of Phascos, Boccon of Chenebri, Achillas of Myrsine, Didymus of Taphosiris, and Justus from Bomotheus®; and of the Deacons, Paul, Peter, and Olympius, of Alexandria, and Am- monius, Pistus, Demetrius, and Gaius, of the Mareotis.
65. Notwithstanding this statement of Ischy- ras, they again spread abroad the same charges against me everywhere, and also reported them to the Emperor Constantine. He too had heard before of the affair of the cup in Psam- mathia 7, when I was there, and had detected the falsehood of my enemies. But now he wrote to Antioch to Dalmatius*® the Censor requiring him to institute a judicial enquiry respecting the murder. Accordingly the Cen- sor sent me notice to prepare for my defence against the charge. Upen receiving his letters, although at first I paid no regard to the thing because I knew that nothing of what they said was true, yet seeing that the Emperor was moved, I wrote to my fellow-ministers into Egypt, and sent a deacon, desiring to learn something of Arsenius, for I had not seen the man for five or six years. Well, not to relate the matter at length, Arsenius was found in con- cealment, in the first instance in Egypt, and afterwards my friends discovered him again in concealment in Tyre also, And what was most remarkable, even when he was dis- covered he would not confess that he was Ar- senius, until he was convicted in court before © [Cf. the list of Mareotic clergy sufr., p. 72. The three deacons of Alexandria are in the list, p. 71].
® Dalmatius was the name of father and son, the brother and nephew of Constantine. Socrates, Hist. i. 27. gives the title of Censor to the son; but the Chron. Pasch. p. 531 (Dind.) gives it to the father. Valesius, and apparently Tillemont (27ze- veurs, vol. 4. p. 657) think Socrates mistaken. The younger Dalmatius was created Cesar by Constantine a few year before his death; and as well as his brother Hannibalian, and a number of other relatiyes, was put to death by the soldiery, on the death of Constantine. vid, His¢. Av. 69. [Gwatkin, p. 108 note].
Paul, who was then Bishop of Tyre, and at last out of very shame could not deny it.
This he did in order to fulfil his contract with Eusebius and his fellows, lest, if he were discovered, the game they were playing should at length be broken up; which in fact came to pass. For when I wrote the Emperor word, that Arsenius was discovered, and reminded him of what he had heard in Psammathia con- cerning Macarius the Presbyter, he stopped the proceedings of the Censor’s court, and wrote condemning the proceedings against me as calumnious, and commanded Eusebius and his fellows, who were coming into the East to appear against me, to return. Now in order to shew that they accused me of having murdered Arsenius (not to bring forward the letters of many persons on the subject), it shall be sufficient only to produce one from Alexander the Bishop of Thessalonica, from which the tenor of the rest may be inferred. He then being acquainted with the reports which Ar- chaph, who is also called John, circulated against me on the subject of the murder, and having heard that Arsenius was alive, wrote as follows.
Letter of Alexander.
To his dearly beloved son and fellow-minis- ter like-minded, the lord Athanasius, Alex- ander the Bishop sends health in the Lord.
66. I congratulate the most excellent Sara- pion, that he is striving so earnestly to adorn himself with holy habits, and is thus advancing to higher praise the memory of his father. For, as the Holy Scripture somewhere says, ‘though his father die, yet he is as though he were not dead?:’ for he has left behind him a memorial of his life. What my feelings were towards the ever memorable Sozon, you yourself, my lord*, are not ignorant, for you know the sacredness of his memory, as well as the goodness of the young man. I have received only one letter from your reverence, which I had by the hands of this youth. I mention this to you, my lord, in order that you may know. Our dearly beloved brother and deacon Macarius, afforded me great pleasure by writing to me from Con- stantinople, that the false accuser Archaph had met with disgrace, for having given out before all men that a live man had been murdered. That he will receive from the righteous Judge, together with all the tribe of his associates, that punishment, which his crimes deserve, the unerring Scriptures assure us. May the Lord of all preserve you for DEFENCE AGAINST THE ARIANS.
== very many years, my lord, in every way most kind.
67. And they who lived with Arsenius bear witness, that he was kept in concealment for this purpose, that they might pretend his death; for in searching after him we found the person [who had done so], and he in consequence wrote the following letter to John, who played the chief part in this false accusation.
To his dearly beloved brother John, Pinnes, Presbyter of the Monastery" of Ptemen- cyrcis, in the nome of Anteopolis, sends greeting.
I wish you to know, that Athanasius sent, his deacon into the Thebais, to search every- where for Arsenius; and Pecysius the Pres- byter, and Silvanus the brother of Helias, and Tapenacerameus, and Paul monk of Hypsele, whom he first fell in with, confessed that Ar- senius was with us. Upon learning this we caused him to be put on board a vessel, and to sail to the lower countries with Helias the monk. Afterwards the deacon returned again suddenly with certain others, and entered our monastery, in search of the same Arsenius, and him they found not, because, as I said before, we had sent him away to the lower countries; but they conveyed me together with Helias the monk, who took him out of the way, to Alex- andria, and brought us before the Duke'; when I was unable to deny, but confessed that he was alive, and had not been murdered: the monk also who took him out of the way con- fessed the same. Wherefore I acquaint you with these things, Father, lest you should determine to accuse Athanasius; for I said that he was alive, and had been concealed with us, and all this is become known in Egypt, and it cannot any longer be kept secret.
I, Paphnutius, monk of the same monastery, who wrote this letter, heartily salute you. I pray for your health.
The following also is the letter which the Emperor wrote when he learnt that Arsenius was found to be alive.
Constantine, Victor, Maximus, Augustus, to the pope Athanasius.
68. Having read the letters of your wisdom, I felt the inclination to write in return to your 11 [The jovy here is not a monastery in the later sense, but a village or cluster of cells. This intercepted letter demonstrates the existence of MWe/etian monks, of which there is other evidence also: (see below, Introd. to Vit. Ant. The objection of Wein- garten to the genuineness of this letter is purely arbitrary)]. p I According to the system of government introduced by Dio- cletian and Constantine, there were thirty-five military commanders of the troops, under the Magistri militum, and all of these bore the name of duces or dukes; the comites, or counts, were ten out of the number, who were distinguished as companions of the Emperor. vid. Gibbon, ch. 17. Three of these dukes were stationed in Egypt [i.e. in the whole prefecture; one only in the province of Egypt in the narrower sense].
fortitude, and to exhort you that you would endeavour to restore the people of God to tranquillity, and to merciful feelings. For in my own mind I hold these things to be of the greatest importance, that we should cultivate truth, and ever keep righteousness in our thoughts, and have pleasure especially in those who walk in the right way of life. But as concerning those who are deserving of all execration, I mean the most perverse and ungodly Meletians, who have at last stultified themselves by their folly, and are now raising unreasonable commotions by envy, uproar, and tumult, thus making manifest their own un- godly dispositions, I will say thus much. You see that those who they pretended had been slain with the sword, are still amongst us, and in the enjoyment of life. Now what could be a stronger presumption against them, and one so manifestly and clearly tending to their con- demnation, as that those whom they declared to have been murdered, are yet in the enjoy- ment of life, and accordingly will be able to speak for themselves?
But this further accusation was advanced by these same Meletians. They positively affirmed that you, rushing in with lawless violence, had seized upon and broken a cup, which was deposited in the most Holy Place; than which there certainly could not be a more serious charge, nor a more grievous offence, had such a crime actually been perpetrated. But what manner of accu- sation is this? What is the meaning of this change and variation and difference in the circumstances of it, insomuch that they now transfer this same accusation to another per- son *, a fact which makes it clearer, so to speak, than the light itself, that they designed to lay a plot for your wisdom? After this, who can be willing to follow them, men that have fabricated such charges to the injury of an- other, seeing too that they are hurrying them- selves on to ruin, and are conscious that they are accusing you of false and feigned crimes? Who then, as I said, will follow after them, and thus go headlong in the way of destruc- tion; in that way in which it seems they alone suppose that they have hope of safety and of help? But if they were willing to walk accord- ing to a pure conscience, and to be directed by the best wisdom, and to go in the way of a sound mind, they would easily perceive that no help can come to them from Divine Providence, while they are given up to such doings, and tempt their own destruction. [I should not call this a harsh judgment of them, but the simple truth.
“APOLOGIA CONTRA ARIANOS.
SS i a ee ee And finally, I will add, that I wish this letter to be read frequently by your wisdom in public, that it may thereby come to the knowledge of all men, and especially reach the ears of those who thus act, and thus raise disturbances; for the judgment which is ex- pressed by me according to the dictates of equity is confirmed also by real facts. Where- fore, seeing that in such conduct there is so great an offence, let them understand that I have thus judged; and that I have come to this determination, that if they excite any further commotion of this kind, I will myself in person take cognizance of the matter, and that not according to the ecclesiastical, but according to the civil laws, and so I will in future find them out, because they clearly are robbers, so to speak, not only against human kind, but against the divine doctrine itself. May God ever preserve you, beloved brother!
69. But that the wickedness of the calum- niators might be more fully displayed, behold Arsenius also wrote to me after he was dis- covered in his place of concealment; and as the letter which Ischyras had written confessed the falsehood of their accusation, so that of Arsenius proved their maliciousness still more completely.
To the blessed Pope Athanasius, Arsenius, Bishop of those who were heretofore under Meletius in the city of the Hypselites, to- gether with the Presbyters and Deacons, wishes much health in the Lord.
Being earnestly desirous of peace and union with the Catholic Church, over which by the grace of God you preside, and wish- ing to submit ourselves to the Canon of the Church, according to the ancient rule3, we write unto you, dearly beloved Pope, and de- clare in the name of the Lord, that we will not for the future hold communion with those who continue in schism, and are not yet at peace with the Catholic Church, whether Bishops, Presbyters, or Deacons. Neither will we take part with them if they wish to establish any- thing in a Council; neither will we send letters of peace 3* unto them nor receive such from them; neither yet without the consent of you, the bishop of the metropolis, will we publish any determination concerning Bishops, or on any other general ecclesiastical question; but we will yield obedience to all the canons that have heretofore been ordained, after the example of the Bishops¢ Ammonian, Ty- 3 Vid. sugr. p. 92, note 3; the (so-called) Apostolical Canon apparently referred to here, is Can. 27. according to Beveridge.
4 i,e. Meletian Bishops who had conformed; or, since they are not in the list, § 71. Catholic Bishops with whom the conforming party were familiar; or Meletians after the return of Meletius. vid. Tillemont, JZem. vol. 8. p. 658 rannus, Plusian, and the rest. Wherefore we beseech your goodness to write to us speedily in answer, and likewise to our fellow- ministers concerning us, informing them that we will henceforth abide by the fore-mentioned resolution and will be at peace with the Catholic Church, and at unity with our fellow- ministers in the [various] districts. And we are persuaded that your prayers, being ac- ceptable unto God, will so prevail with Him, that this peace shall be firm and indissoluble unto the end, according to the will of God the Lord of all, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The sacred Ministry that is under you, we and those that are with us salute. Very shortly, if God permit, we will come to visit your goodness, I, Arsenius, pray for your health in the Lord for many years, most blessed Pope.
70. But a stronger and clearer proof of the calumny against us is the recantation of John, of which the most God-beloved Emperor Con- stantine of blessed memory is a witness, for knowing how John had accused himself, and having received letters from him expressing his repentance, he wrote to him as follows.
Constantine, Maximus, Augustus to John.
The letters which I have received from your prudence were extremely pleasing to me, because I learned from them what I very much longed to hear, that you had laid aside every petty feeling, had joined the Com- munion of the Church as became you, and were now in perfect concord with the most reverend Bishop Athanasius. Be assured therefore that so far I entirely approve of your conduct; because, giving up all skir- mishing, you have done that which is pleasing to God, and have embraced the unity of His Church. In order therefore that you may obtain the accomplishment of your wishes, I have thought it right to grant you permission to enter the public conveyance 5, and to come 5 On the “cursus publicus,” vid. Gothofred. 7% Cod. Theod. vill. tit. 5. It was provided for the journeys of the Emperor, for persons whom he summoned, for magistrates, ambassadors, and for such private persons as the Emperor indulged in the use of it, which was gratis. The use was granted by Constantine to the Bishops who were summoned to Nicza, as far as it went, in ad- dition (though aliter Valesius in loc.) to other means of travelling. Euseb. v. Const. iii. 6. The cursus publicus brought the Bishops to the Council of Tyre. zbzd. iv. 43. In the conference between Liberius and Constantius, Theod. 7zs¢. ii. 13. it is objected that the cursus publicus is not ‘sufficient to convey Bishops to the Council which Liberius proposes; he answers that the Churches are rich enough to convey their Bishops as far as the sea. Thus S. Hilary was compelled (data evectionis copia, Sulp. Sev. Wzs¢. li. 57.) to attend at Seleucia, as Athan. at Tyre. Julian complains of the abuse of the cursus publicus, perhaps with an allusion to these Councils of Constantius. vid. Cod. Theod. viii. tit. 5. 1. 12. where Gothofred quotes Liban. Zfitaph. in Julian. (vol. i. p. 569. ed. Reiske.) Vid. the well-known passage of Ammianus, who speaks of the Councils being the ruin of the res vehicularia Wzs¢. xxi. 16. The Eusebians at Philippopolis say the same thing, Hilar. rag. iii. 25. The Emperor provided board and perhaps DEFENCE AGAINST THE ARIANS.
to the court® of my clemency. Let it then be your care to make no delay; but as this letter gives you authority to use the public conveyance, come to me immediately, that you may have your desires fulfilled, and by appearing in my presence may enjoy that pleasure which it is fit for you to receive. May God preserve you continually, dearly beloved brother.
CHAPTER -VI.
Documents connected with the Council of Tyre.
_ 71. Thus ended the conspiracy. The Mele- tians were repulsed and covered with shame; but notwithstanding this Eusebius and_ his fellows still did not remain quiet, for it was not for the Meletians but for Arius and his fel- lows, that they cared, and they were afraid lest, if the proceedings of the former should be stopped, they should no longer find persons to play the parts, by whose assistance they might bring in that heresy. They therefore again stirred up the Meletians, and persuaded the Emperor to give orders that a Council should be held afresh at Tyre, and Count Dionysius was despatched thither, and a mili- tary guard was given to Eusebius and his fellows. Macarius also was sent as a prisoner to Tyre under a guard of soldiers; and the Emperor wrote to me, and laid a peremptory command upon me, so that, how- ever unwilling, I set out. The whole con- spiracy may be understood from the letters which the Bishops of Egypt wrote; but it will be necessary to relate how it was con- trived by them in the outset, that so may be perceived the malice and _ wickedness that was exercised against me. ‘There are in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, nearly one hundred Bishops; none of whom laid anything to my charge; none of the Pres- byters found any fault with me; none of the people spoke aught against me; but it was the Meletians who were ejected by Peter, and the Arians, that divided the plot between them, while the one party claimed to themselves the right of accusing me, the other of lodging for the Bishops at Ariminum; which the Bishops of Aqui- taine, Gaul, and Britain, declined, except three British from poverty. Sulp. Hzst. ii. 56. Hunneric in Africa, after assembling 466 Bishops at Carthage, dismissed them without modes of con- veyance, provision, or baggage. Victor Utic. 7st. iii. init. In the Emperor's letter previous to the assembling of the sixth Ecu- menical Council, a.p. 678, (Harduin, Conc. t. 3. p. 1048 fin.) he says he has given orders for the conveyance and maintenance of its members. Pope John VIII. reminds Ursus, Duke of Venice (a.p. 876.), of the same duty of providing for the members of a Council, “‘secundum pios principes, qui in talibus munifice semper erant intenti.” Colet. Concil. (Ven. 1730,) t. Xl. Pp. 14.
© gtpatémedov: vid. Chrys. on the Statues, p. 382, note 6. Gothofr. in Cod. Theod. vi. 32, 1. x. Castra sunt ubi Princeps est. ibid. 35, 1. 15. also Kiesling. de Discipd. Cler. 1. 5. p- 16. Beveridge in Can. Afpost. 83. interprets o7pareta of any civil engagement as opposed to clerical. t Cf. § 17, note 1.
sitting in judgment on the case. I objected to Eusebius and his fellows as being my enemies on account of the heresy; next, I shewed in the following manner that the person who was called my accuser was not a Presbyter at all. When Meletius was admitted into communion (would that he had never been so admitted?!) the blessed Alexander who knew his craftiness required of him a schedule of the Bishops whom he said he had in Egypt, and of the presbyters and deacons that were in Alex- andria itself, and if he had any in the country district. This the Pope Alexander has done, est Meletius, having received the freedom of the Church, should tender3 many, and thus continually, by a fraudulent procedure, foist upon us whomsoever he pleased. Accordingly he has made out the following schedule of those in Egypt.
A schedule presented by Meletius to the Bishop Alexander.
I, Meletius of Lycopolis, Lucius of Antino- polis, Phasileus of Hermopolis, Achilles of Cusze, Ammonius of Diospolis.
In Ptolemais, Pachymes of Tentyree.
In Maximianopolis, Theodorus of Coptus.
In Thebais, Cales of Hermethes, Colluthus of Upper Cynopolis, Pelagius of Oxyrynchus, Peter of Heracleopolis, Theon of Nilopolis, Isaac 4 of Letopolis, Heraclides of Niciopolis +4, Isaac of Cleopatris, Melas of Arsenoitis.
In Heliopolis, Amos of Leontopolis, Ision of Athribis.
In Pharbethus, Harpocration of Bubastus, Moses of Phacuse, Callinicus5 of Pelusium, Eudemon of Tanis 5, Ephraim of Thmuis.
In Sais, Hermzon of Cynopolis and Busiris, Soterichus of Sebennytus, Pininuthes of Phthe- negys, Cronius of Metelis, Agathammon of the district of Alexandria.
In Memphis, John who was ordered by the Emperor to be with the Archbishop ® These are those of Egypt.
And the Clergy that he had in Alexandria were Apollonius Presbyter, Jrenzeus Presbyter, Dioscorus Presbyter, Tyrannus Presbyter. And Deacons; Timotheus Deacon, Antinous Deacon, Hephestion Deacon. And Macarius Presbyter of Parembole 7.
72. These Meletius presented actually in per- son ® to the Bishop Alexander, but he made no mention of the person called Ischyras, nor ever 3 [wwAjon: i.e. palm them off on the church. Cf. Lai. ven- 6 [The ‘archbishop’ is Meletius; this is the first occurrence of the word; it evidently has not its later fixed sense. The his- torical allusion is obscure.] ‘ 7 A village on the Mareotic lake, vid. Socr. iv. 23. Athan 8 [Prolegg. ch. ii. § 3 (1) sub. fim. and ch. v. § 3a.)
APOLOGIA CONTRA ARIANOS.
professed at all that he had any Clergy in the Mareotis. Notwithstanding our enemies did not desist from their attempts, but still he that was. no Presbyter was feigned to be one, for there was the Count ready to use compulsion towards us, and soldiers were hurrying us about. But even then the grace of God prevailed: for they could not convict Macarius in the matter of the cup; and Arsenius, whom they re- ported to have been murdered by me, stood before them alive and shewed the falseness of their accusation. When therefore they were unable to convict Macarius, Eusebius and his fellows, who became enraged that they had lost the prey of which they had been in pursuit, per- suaded the Count Dionysius, who is one of them, to send to the Mareotis, in order to see whether they could not find out something there against the Presbyter, or rather that they might at a distance patch up their plot as they pleased in our absence: for this was their aim. However,—when we represented that the jour- ney to the Mareotis was a superfluous under- taking (for that they ought not to pretend that statements were defective which they had been employed upon so long, and ought not now to defer the matter; for they had said whatever they thought they could say, and now being at a loss what to do, they were making pretences); or if they must needs go to the Mareotis, that at least the suspected parties should not be sent,—the Count was convinced by my reason-