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7THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI:

0f Ipxme Cimes ;
WRITTEN IN GREEK,

BY

M A C A R I U S,

MERCHANT OF TUNNIES AND PALAMYDES

J byydt

mrfo translat^^ from tfo0 gile^anbrbtt

. MARY'S COLLEGE

LONDON:

JOHN HENRY AND JAMES PARKER,
377, STRAND.

PIUNTKD BV WESSKS. PAUKEE, COHNMAKKKT. OXFORD.

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.

A DINNER at the house of Theonas the merchant. — Arius
relates how his last sermon had been received. — He and
Mennas dispute. — Mennas and Macarius go down to the PAGE
Quay, and meet the Deacon Athanasius ... 1

CHAPTER II.

Macarius ig betrothed to Theodora— He angers his father.
— A Synod is summoned against Arius. — Theonas goes to
Ptolemais 18

CHAPTER III.

Arius is condemned in the Synod. — Theonas forbids his son,
while retaining his actual belief, to think further of
Theodora . 28

CHAPTER IV.

Theodora and Mennas go to Rome. — Arius is anathematized
in a National Council. — The heresy spreads everywhere.
— Hosius visits Alexandria 45

CHAPTER V.

Macarius receives directions from his father to go into
Bithynia. — A large commission is given by the Emperor
to the House at the Quay of the Dioscuri ... 50

CHAPTER VI.

Athanasius and Macarius walk through Nicaoa. — Athanasius
meets many friends 58

iv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.

Helladia is sick to death.— Faith is the gift of God.— She
begins to doubt Arius, and desires to see an orthodox PAGE
priest 66

CHAPTER VIII.

Macarius attends the opening of the great an'l oeeumenical
Council. — They authorize a symbol .... 75

CHAPTER IX.

The great misery of Helladia, who cannot believe. — One
Anthony conies from the desert. — She departs happily
in the Lord 91

CHAPTER X.

The conclusion of the Council. — Theonas consents to his
son's marriage 101

5837

THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

§, Jpist0rir of

A dinner at the "house of Theonas the merchant. —
Arius relates liow liis last sermon had been received.
— Jfe and Mennas dispute. — JMennas and Macarius
go down to the Quay, and meet the Deacon Athanasius.

YOU have requested me, my children, to re-
late to you at length the history of my
youth, which you have hitherto heard imperfectly
and in broken fragments. It is impossible that I,
now in my eighty-fourth year, can look back to
those early times without many a sad recollection,
of former sins, and many a remembrance of dear
friends who have long since been taken to their
rest. Yet, as I draw nearer to the time when I
shall also, if God's mercy only be with me, enter
into the same keeping of Sabbath, I feel more
disposed to comply with your desires, lest some
passages which are not unworthy of record should
perchance utterly perish from the memory of men.
Forgive me, then, my children, my weakness and
tediousness, if they should seem to require par-
don ; and be well assured of this, that, in all I
shall relate, I shall set down the pure, simple

AM. B

2 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

truth, as plainly and briefly as I can. In this, the
last task of my life, I put my trust in Him Who
hath guarded me all my days, that He would also
keep me from offending in this my poor endea-
vour to set forth His glory. And as he who
wrote the Maccabees saith, " If I have done well,
and as is fitting the story, it is that which I
desired : but if meanly, it is that which I could
attain unto."

I was born, then, in this same house where I
now live, towards the middle of the great perse-
cution of Diocletian. My father, Theonas, was one
of the richest citizens of Alexandria; at that time
he had not received the true faith. My mother,
Theophila, — and even now, after so long a separa-
tion, how do I long to dwell once more with her !
— was even then a Christian. She had been per-
suaded, more out of a frolic than from any other
cause, to attend the preaching of Peter, who was
then bishop. The word fell into no unfruitful
soil; she became a catechumen, and finally re-
ceived illumination at the hands of one Arius, a
notable priest. He advised her, for the present,
not to acquaint her husband with the change,
but to wait her opportunity ; and, as they lived in
perfect love together, so it was his hope that she
might in time bring her husband into the fold.
But, before she had found meet occasion, the per-
secution broke out, and from that time, being of
a timid nature, she dared not to breathe one

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 3

syllable of her dearest hopes for the next world
to him whom she loved best in this. In the per-
secution, as I said, I was born; and some two
years after, my sister Helladia. Also about the
same time, a dear friend of my father's dying,
left in charge to him an infant daughter, by name
Theodora, whose mother died in giving birth to
her. Some little property she had of her own ;
and my father brought her up as his ward, in his
house, with all the care and tenderness that my
sister herself received.

But those early years I pass over. When the
persecution ended, my father, who had long felt
well disposed towards the true faith, found out that
my mother was a Christian. In a very short time
he also believed, and was baptized; and I re-
member myself the day when I, and Helladia,
and afterwards, Theodora, were admitted to the
life-giving water, yet being quite young.

My father, as I said, was rich ; and it is written,
" How hardly shall a rich man enter into the
kingdom of heaven !" I doubt not that he is now
with God ; only this I would say, that the affairs
of this life engrossed far more of his thoughts
than they did of my sweet mother's. He was very
liberal and hospitable, and popular among the
merchants : also he had good reputation for know-
ledge of mercantile affairs. Twice he was chosen
to go to Nicomedia, when the Emperor resided
there, in order to obtain the redress of some com-

4 THE QUAY OP THE DIOSCURI I

mercial grievance; and both times he returned
with success.

As we grew up, I received my instruction with
the design that I should succeed him in his count-
ing-house ; and my sisters — for so I used to call
them both — were taught more than the majority
of ladies then usually learnt. They could speak
Latin fluently ; Coptic they could talk from their
nurse Ammonarium ; and they were well read in
all the best authors of our native Greek. As our
house, which was a general agency as well as a
bank, had dealings in Palestine and Syria, I was
also taught at an early age the language of that
country too.

I do not remember the time when I did not
love Theodora. In all our little troubles as children
we were each other's comforter ; as we grew up,
we learnt to think of each, if not quite so openly,
perhaps only the more deeply ; but I entered my
twenty-second, and she her twentieth year, and
never yet had word of love passed between us.
But my sister was betrothed, shortly after she
was nineteen, to the son of Chenouda, a rich mer-
chant and a neighbour of ours, by name Mennas.
It was his desire to enter the diaconate, and, in
process of time, the priesthood perhaps ; not for
lucre's sake, for though he was one of the youngest
among many sons, yet he was well provided for
by his father ; but because he desired to do what
he might for the Name of the 'Lord and our great

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 5

God, Jesus Christ. I perceive that now, yearly, a
stronger feeling is growing up in the West against
the marriage of the clergy ; but at that time there
was but little of such an idea prevalent anywhere,
and then, as now in Egypt, it was a matter of
every-day occurrence. Various reasons, however,
deferred the marriage, and it was determined it
should take place in the autumn. For I now
speak of a beautiful spring in the year which had
Constantine the Emperor for the fifth time and
Licinius the younger, for consuls a.

You know that this house stands in the parish
of the Baucalis, the oldest church, they say, in
Alexandria. For many years the parish priest —
one of the twelve cardinal priests of this great
city — had been an ecclesiastic, by name Arius.
He it was that baptized my mother and gave her
the advice of concealing her religion; he, too,
baptized my father, and then us. He was at this
time about fifty, tall, well-made, somewhat thin
from his repeated and rigorous fasts; a high
forehead, a bright black eye, head somewhat bald,
large lower jaw, and a smile of enchanting sweet-
ness. Whatever were the advice he gave young
converts, he had greatly exposed himself in the
time of persecution. His alms were very large,
for he was well off, though not exactly rich, in
this world's goods. Mighty he was in the Scrip-
tures, most diligent in visiting the poor, and con-
a i.e. A.D. 319.

ST. MARY'S COLLEGE

O THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

stantly to be seen in the low wretched houses that
skirted the quays. We were all deeply attached
to him, my father more especially. He had, how-
ever, been in some trouble during Peter's time,
and had been excommunicated by him., but had
been received again into communion by Achillas,
and stood so high in the reputation of all men
that, on the death of that prelate, he had all but
been elected Bishop of Alexandria, Alexander ob-
taining that dignity only by a few votes.

And now I will relate the events of the first
day that, if I may so say, began the history I am
to tell you. My father was, as I said, fond of
company, and three or four times a-week he in-
vited a few of his friends to supper. On this day
he had done so, in the very room where I now
write; I look from the window yet once more,
that I may recall the scene as it was then.

" What, you here, my little Glycerium, watch-
ing your grandfather with those great blue eyes, —
you pet ? Let me lean on your shoulder, and look
out of the window."

Close below, a garden, terraced ftp towards the
house ; small, but well stocked, and sending up its
fragrance to the morning breeze : heliotropes,
roses, Persic b apples in full blossom, figs, bal-
sams ; the bees busy at their sweet task. Below,
the crowded alleys and streets: but far below,
— for the house stands on an artificial eminence,

b Peaches.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 7

and the garden, though not large, keeps off the
close vicinity of the town : — there, amidst the tall
quay-houses, the dome of the Baucalis. Further,
the glorious Mediterranean, and the Pharos. The
harbour full of ships; the light liburna; the long
cercurus from the Archipelago ; five triremes ;
heavy laden vessels from the Port of Rome, — ah !
it is just the same as seventy years ago. Over
just such a view the sun was then setting, for it
was about Mesopentecost, as we sat down early
to supper. My father always employed the stiba-
dium c : our own family, as I have said, made five ;
the three guests were Mennas and Arius, and an
elderly lady, a diligent hearer of Arius, by name
Diphila. And thus we were placed : my father
and mother in the middle ; on her right, Arius ;
on his left, Diphila; next to Arius, Helladia;
next to her, Mennas ; next to Diphila I sat, hav-
ing Theodora on my left.

After the eggs had been removed — " What is
this," said my father, "that I hear of our ex-
cellent Pope? Euthydemus told me on Change
to-day that there had been some trouble at St.
Mark's last Sabbath, and still more on the Sun-
day."

"It is a painful subject, Sir; a very painful

e The earlier Romans used three tables, arranged thus : j 1

Under the first emperors a sigma table — so called from the
Greek letter — came into fashion : they usually had seven.
Still later, the stibadium could accommodate eigat.

8 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

subject to me," said Arius, to whom the question
was addressed. ' ' Perhaps there is a mistake : I
would willingly trust so." And he looked grave
and distressed.

" You were somehow concerned in ity if I have
rightly heard," said my father : " give us an idea
of what passed. But first let me recommend to
your notice the Thasian, — bring some, Xanthias ;
— I got it at the sale of Telesphorus's effects, —
a sudden crash, indeed."

The Thasian was done justice to, and then
Diphila made some remark about an importation
of silk, finer than had ever before been seen in
Alexandria. My father seemed to have forgotten
the question he asked ; but Arius, so it seemed to
me, did not intend that it should be hushed up.

"You were speaking, Sir, of the unfortunate oc-
currence at St. Mark's. Now, painful as it is—

"I beg your pardon, so I was, — I had for-
gotten. But I am interrupting you."

" Painful as it is," resumed the Priest, " it is as
well, perhaps, that the truth should be told. Our
Bishop, — I am sure, as excellent a man as ever
lived : I don't call him a deep theologian, I sup-
pose no one would, but a most amiable, excellent
person/' — (I saw my sister drinking in with her
whole heart the words,) — "was preaching in the
Great Vespers of the Paralytic d on that stanza —

d An explanation is necessary. The Sunday of the Paralytic —
so called from the Gospel — is the third after Easter, and conse-

A HISTOEY OF NICENE TIMES. 9

you will all remember it — 'The paralytic, un-
buried corpse, cried out when lie beheld Thee,
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for my couch is my
tomb/ — You know the passage ?"

" Perfectly," said my mother.

"Well, he spoke, naturally enough, on the
power of our Lord in healing the sick and raising
the dead ; nothing at first could be more suitable,
nothing more beautifully put ; not quite theolo-
gically, you understand, but it was a popular dis-
course. At last, I must say, he proceeded to ex-
aggerate that power to a fearful extent ; in fact, he
as good as said that our Lord was God Almighty,
and made Him to be of the same power as the
Father. I was — "

"But, Sir/' said Mennas, "you surely do
not—"

" Allow me," continued Arius. " I happened to
be there, and could not refrain from saying aloud
to those about me, ' This is not the doctrine of
the Gospel/ Perhaps I was wrong to make any
remark at the time : I should have reserved it — "

" Will you permit me," said Mennas, " to ob-
serve— "

"My dear Mennas," cried my father, "you
must allow our excellent friend to conclude what
he was saying uninterrupted."

quently that preceding Wednesday, Mesopentecost. The Great
Vespers is the festival office of Vespers (and Compline) for the
highest occasions.

10 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

" I was merely remarking," said Arius, meekly,
" that perhaps I should not at that moment have
expressed my sentiments on the subject. But, I
confess, I have always thought much of the bless-
ing pronounced on those that are valiant for the
truth ; and, weak as my testimony is, feeble as I
am altogether, I hope I shall never be wanting
when that is attacked. The Bishop, I have since
heard, was not aware that I had expressed my
sentiments; and it happened that, in order to
shew that our competition had not broken the
bonds of Christian charity between us— "

" Most generous, I am sure/' said my mother. '

" Hush, nay little heart," interrupted my father.
— " Had not broken them, Sir, you say."

" We had agreed that, last Sunday, he should
preach in the Baucalis, and I at St. Mark's. I
hear that to you he did not enter on any contro-
verted subject: I confess I could not take the
matter quite so coolly. I took for my text that
most divine passage, ' My Father is greater than
I/ and hence I shewed that, while none could be
more willing than myself that all honour short of
the highest should be paid to Jesus of Nazareth, I
neither could nor would, out of any speciousness
of religion, permit that glory to be ascribed to
Him which can be appropriate only to the Eternal
Father. I am sorry to say," he continued, in a
most gentle and sweet voice, " that my remarks
were not taken quite as I could have wished : a

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 11

considerable tumult was excited ; some of the con-
gregation called out, ' This is not the faith we
have received from our fathers ;' other some, ' Out
with the second Cerinthus!' ' Anathema to the new
Basileides I' But I bore all patiently, remember-
ing that it is written, ' Blessed are ye when men
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
the Son of Man's sake. ' "

" I beg your pardon," said Mennas, " but I
must and will speak ; I cannot sit at table and
hear these novel doctrines : I will leave it, Sir," — •
he turned to my father, — " if such be your will,
but I cannot conscientiously remain if Arius thus
speaks."

My father looked annoyed. " Arius," said he,
" is my guest, and though these matters are some-
thing too deep fora simple layman, yet liimist not
have him thus interrupted in his discourse."

" I grieve deeply to seem disrespectful to you,"
said Mennas, " but — "

" Let there be no difficulty about me," said the
Priest ; " I respect zeal wherever I find it, even
though it be not according to knowledge : and I
will not vex my young friend by — Ha ! a splen-
did mullet indeed."

At that time, my dear children, even at Chris-
tian tables, it was usual that a live mullet should
be brought in to die. Now, our holy faith has, as
in other things, so in that, much softened our
customs, and what was then highly applauded

12 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

would now be esteemed barbarous. I remember
that fish, for it was one of the last I saw : how its
glorious colours flashed from gold to living silver,
swam in liquid purple, melted into ruby, softened
into exquisite pink, till the lines of life died out,
with the convulsions of its poor fins, into a dull
flabby white. The conversation changed, and no
more was said on any theological question at that
dinner.

As the evening breeze fluttered over the bound-
less Mediterranean, some of the company took a
turn on the terrace which my grandfather had con-
structed in the upper part of the garden, and on
which you, my sweet Theophila, so often gather
flowers for your grandmother. Mennas found
himself at the side of Helladia, and began to
speak.

" I fear me, my Helladia, you were not pleased
with my expressing myself as I did at dinner
to-day."

"Why should you think so?"

" I have not studied those dear eyes so long as
not to be able to read what they mean."

" Well, Mennas, I was sorry."

" But," he said, in rather a vexed tone, " could
I do less?"

"Why needed you to interfere at all?"

" I cannot hear flat heresy spoken, and not pro-
test against it."

" I am a woman, and not versed in theology ;

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 13

but to me, what our priest said was only common
sense."

" But not the common faith, Helladia."
" Then it soon will be : I believe what he said
exactly."

" Oh my Helladia, you will break my heart !
Believe that our Lord is a creature like other
creatures ?"

" No, not so ; unlike other creatures ; more ex-
cellent than they, but a creature still."

" Now God have mercy on us both, dearest !
Him whom I worship as very God of very God,
that you — you who with me should have but one
faith and one hope — should regard Him as a
creature ! How long has this been ?"

" Till the last year, Mennas, I took my faith
on trust, vaguely and indistinctly. I was wor-
shipping I knew not what. Then Arius taught
me, — oh so gently ; oh so wisely \"
11 The cowardly rascal !"

" Mennas, you shall not : say that again, and we
had better break off our engagement. I owe him
more than I can express ; he is the holiest, wisest,
dearest — "

" Helladia, you will drive me mad."
"Then let us talk of something else."
" Talk of something else, and leave you, whom
I so dearly love, in so great an error \"

" Say another word against Arius, and I go in."
" Listen, my Helladia : will you not hear what

14 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

some other priest would say in this matter? I
don't ask you to believe me, but some one whom
you may fully trust, — our Bishop, for example."

" The Bishop ! never. It is because the Bishop
hates Arius, and has never forgiven him for having
so nearly been elected, that he persecutes him
now/'

" Why, Helladia, by the man's own account he
began the controversy himself."

" In the church, perhaps ; but the Bishop began
it long before in parties and in private conversa-
tions. No, I will not hear any one; and as I
don't want to be angry with you, I shall go in."

Mennas, in great distress, came to me. " I say,
Macarius," he cried, "I want a quarter of an
hour's talk with you, alone — can it be had ?"

" This moment," replied I, " if you don't mind
a walk : my father wants a message taken down
to the Quay, and I was just going there ?"

" Have with you then." And we were soon in
the broad, handsome street which led down to
the Quay of the Dioscuri, as it was then called,
from a temple of that name which stood close
to my father's premises. They were nearly the
same as those which at this day I occupy, only
they are now called, as you know, from the bles-
sed martyr St. Metras, him that was one of the
first to suffer in Egypt in the persecution of Dio-
cletian."

" Your sister has lost her head to that fellow,"

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 15

he began. "Were you not terrified at what he
said?"

" Surely I was."

"Well, she endorses all of it."

"Pooh, pooh! you take it too seriously. She
is naturally fond of Arius, but if he goes on in this
fashion, he will soon either be reduced to order in
the Church, or become a heretic out of it ; and
either way, so far as you are concerned, will be
the same."

As we were crossing the street of Ares, a crane,
swinging up a heavy barrel of flour into an upper
story, blocked the way for a moment, just as we
were over against a cobbler's stall.

" I say He that begot is the greater, " said
the cobbler.

"You are a heretic," said the other; " He is not."

"That is good argument, Sir," said a bystander
to the latter speaker.

" And / say that he is the ^heretic," vociferated
the cobbler.

" And there is a great deal in what you observe
also," remarked the listener.

We passed on. "There," said Mennas, "you
see the subject has already got to be discussed in
the streets. To be sure, we Alexandrians do dearly
love a theological dispute."

" Good heavens," cried I, " what wickedness in
the man, to set this stone rolling ! And who can
tell where it will stop ?"

16 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI:

As I spoke, a young deacon met us with whom
I was slightly, but Mennas intimately, acquainted.
His name was Athanasius. Though at that time
we neither of us could imagine the great work to
which God designed to call him in His Church ;
still we looked on him as one who would fill
a considerable space in the thoughts of people
wherever he might be thrown. He was tall, spare,
muscular, ascetic looking, with moral courage that
was never surpassed, but not physically bold. I
remember that day a large dog came up snuffing
and smelling at his toga, and the Deacon shuffled
uneasily about, and seemed uncomfortable till the
intruder was got rid of.

" A good evening to you, Athanasius," said
Mennas. " What ! are you pressed for time, or
will you walk with us ?"

" Nay, I came out for a stroll/' said he, turn-
ing.

"You look as if you needed the air," said I;
" over-working yourself, I fear."

" No/' he returned ; " but the Bishop has ap-
pointed me to preach at St. Mark's next Sabbath,
and bade me be more than usually painstaking,
and I would not discredit his appointment."

"What! about the disturbance that Arius
made ?" enquired Mennas.

" The same," answered the other ; " you don't
know how it spreads."

"Why, truly, we heard a cobbler discussing

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES.

theologically in the street of Ares but this mo-
ment," said I.

"And so you may in every street. The Bishop,
I assure you, is exceedingly uneasy. The poison
has been creeping on for these months. I am not
sorry for the outbreak, it will do good."

"Why did not the Bishop interfere sooner?"
enquired I.

"For two reasons/' replied Athanasius. "In
the first place, it was chiefly done by private
conversations, and principally among women ; and
though I assure you I have been told of fearful
blasphemy uttered by that man, it is not easy to
get any one who has really heard it to come for-
ward. And then, you know, the fact that Arius
was a rival candidate with our Bishop for the epi-
scopate, would make anything that Alexander did
regarded as a matter of spite, rather than of zeal
for the truth."

" I must leave you for a moment," said I, for
we were now at the entrance to the Quay. And
while I went in to give directions regarding the
unlading of a ship just arrived from Massilia, the
two friends discussed— what delicacy to me had
prevented them alluding to before — the conver-
sation which had passed between Mennas and my
sister. I remember nothing that occurred worthy
of record on our way home. We bade adieu to
Athanasius at our gate, and Mennas only just
came in to say good-night.
AM. c

18 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI!

CHAPTER II.

Macarius is betrothed to Theodora. — He angers his
father. — A synod is summoned against Arius. — Theo-
nas goes to Ptolemais.

You may imagine that all this made me very
unhappy. For some time past, without any reason
that I could, in so many words, assign to myself, I
had begun to mistrust Arius. He had a quiet way,
while seeming to speak of others with great can-
dour,— nay, more than candour, with high praise, —
of so qualifying what he said as to make you be-
lieve that the person spoken of was nothing in
himself; and that nothing but a benevolence all-
embracing as that of Arius could have discovered,
and would be willing to publish, his good qualities.
You saw how he quietly ran down the character
of our Bishop at the dinner party, while seeming
in every possible way to favour him. So it was
always.

Well, it was wonderful how the controversy
spread at Alexandria. You know what a hair-
splitting, logicising, philosophical set the citizens
are ; how they hold a logomachy dearer than any-
thing else : and the seed sown by Arius was now
bearing most deadly fruit. Merchants, lawyers,
officers, seemed as much interested in the question
as divines, and the shops at Alexandria were full

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 19

of debate on the deepest mysteries of religion.
Business seemed in abeyance; polemical reason-
ing took its place. And still the partizans of Arius
grew in strength and importance, and the worthy
Bishop seemed unable to weather the storm.

What grieved me more than aught beside was
this, that my father, from holding what he called
a philosophic medium between the two contend-
ing parties, gradually came over, heart and soul,
to that of Arius. He assisted him in every way ;
with money, — for more than one messenger was
sent to Palestine, where the priest of the Baucalis
had influential friends, — by openly taking his part,
and by constantly inviting his principal friends,
and thus giving strength and organization to the
party.

Of Mennas I saw but little. He seemed to
avoid Helladia, and she, for her part, appeared to
hang more than ever on the words of Arius, and
to treasure them up, as if they were infallible.

It happened that one day I was strolling in the
garden of which I have already spoken, and which
my father, in the heart of the city, kept up at no
small expense. It was towards sunset, and some
little past Pentecost. The days were at their
longest; but the sun had got through his long
course, had thrown a bridge of glory across the
western waters, and was, as Homer tells us, about
to loose his steeds and to sup with Oceanus.
Turning the corner where the old ash-tree now

20 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

is, — it was then in the very prime of beauty, — I
came suddenly upon Theodora : she was walking
slowly, and the tears were in her eyes.

" Don't go," I cried, for she was turning as if
to hasten into the house ; " don't let me shorten
your stroll. Dear Theodora, you are not happy.
Is there anything that I can do for you? any-
thing that I can ask my father or mother to do ?
you must know, you can hardly be in ignorance,
how gladly I would serve you with my very
life."

She seemed to smile through her tears. " I
have been making myself unhappy. I believe I
have been very foolish. But I am so weary of
these endless controversies. And it is not only
that, but it seems as if I were alone, I cannot
feel as the others do. And yet perhaps I am
wrong to talk thus. You too may be listening
to — • to — ; you may be disposed to think — "

" Listening to Arius ! never, Theodora. If that
is what you meant, never. I grieve more than I
can tell you that my father is one of his followers.
And as to Helladia— "

"I rejoice to hear you say so," returned Theo-
dora. " Rather than believe what Arius teaches,
— Oh ! Macarius, I would be in my grave I"

" And may I tell you," I said, " how anxious I
have been all this time, lest you, too, should be
led away? You seemed as if you were avoiding
ine, and I fancied, I thought, that you saw what

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 21

I thought of Arms, and held aloof from me be-
cause I did think so."

" If you did but know/5 she said, " how thank-
ful I am to hear you speak thus ! I am not alone,
then."

I could bear it 110 longer.

"Listen, Theodora," I said. "I had not in-
tended to put my all on the cast this evening;
but if I am to be miserable, as well now as at any
other time, — better; for the longer I hope the
more bitter will be my disappointment. Dearest
Theodora ! all my heart, all my love, all my hopes
for the future, have long been with you; it rests
with you what my future life shall be."
A hand is laid on my pen.
So it is not fair, — you dear wife, whom I love
tenfold as much now in our old age as I did then,
and that was no weak affection, as circumstances
shewed, — so it is not fair to write down what
you said ? Well, well ; so be it.

I will not tell you, then, how she answered my
question. But, five minutes after I had asked it,
oh into what perfect beauty that evening 'seemed
transfigured ! such a glorious hue on the sea,
such peace and softness in the sky, I never knew
before ; never before did I so well understand the
voice of the breeze among the leaves ; never before
did I feel, as well as see, the beauty of those sum-
mer flowers. We walked in the garden, saying
little, but drinking in every sight and sound, and

22 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

transforming them into our own happiness, till
the short twilight was at an end. and the stars
began to look down on the great city.

" We ought to be going in," said my Theodora.
" You will tell your father, Macarius ?"

"This very hour," said I.

" I cannot help sometimes fancying," she said,
" that he might have other views for you, but
yet—"

" But yet, (if he had, which I do not believe,)
he is too kind a father, and he loved your father
too well, to put any difficulty in the way now.
I will tell my mother first, and then go to him.
Meanwhile, good night ! if I see you again, it will
only be amidst the rest." And I gave her the
first kiss. I little thought how many weary, weary
days the remembrance of that would be all that
I had to comfort me.

My mother was in the women's apartment.
Accustomed to have no secrets from her, I very
soon told her all. She rejoiced, fully and heartily,
in my joy. It was, she said, what she had ever
wished. Theodora's mother she had known and
loved : Theodora herself had hitherto been almost
— would now be quite — as dear as her own Hel-
ladia. But yet I saw a cloud on her brow.

"I think," she said presently, " were I in your
place, I would not mention this to your father to-
night ; he has heard something which has much
annoyed him."

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 23

" Indeed I" said I. " What is it ?"

"He has just heard that a synod has been
called by the Bishop to enquire into the doctrine
of Arius, and that the feeling of the clergy is very
strong against him. Let us hope that all will be
overruled for good ; but to-night I would not
speak to him on this matter; you know that he
is sometimes a little hasty, and that, having once
said a thing, even in haste, he thinks it a point of
honour to keep to it."

"I will follow your advice, dearest mother; but
you will see Theodora at once, will you not ?"

" This very second."

" And I have to go down to the Quay for some
papers." Accordingly, I went forth. It was now
getting quite dark, and I was rather astonished,
on reaching our premises, to see a light in my
father's office, where the papers (they related to a
contract with a house at Maiuma) had been left ;
and on getting to the door heard voices within.
Arius was there with my father.

" Oh, it is you, is it ?" said the latter ; " have
you heard the news ?"

" About the synod?"

" Synod!" he vociferated; "don't call it a
synod; — clique; packed assembly; sham council.
Shame, on them ! shame on them !"

"Nay, my dear friend," began the soft voice
of the Priest.

" You may bear it quietly/ ' said my father ;

24 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

" I will not ; I will spend the last obolus I have,
sooner than permit you to be rough-ridden by a
faction like this."

Arius had his eye upon me ; I felt it.

" Do not, Sir/' he said, — " do not give way to
these strong expressions. I am bound, as a Chris-
tian priest, to remind you that to be persecuted
for righteousness' sake is the highest blessing : — is
it not ?" And he looked half doubtfully, half in-
vitingly at me.

" It is, indeed," I said. And I doubted whether
I might conscientiously leave off with that ap-
parent agreement with him. However, Arius him-
self continued :—

" But perhaps, my young friend, you think that
I have no right to so glorious a title ?"

" Nonsense, nonsense," said my father ; t( he
thinks as I do — as we all do. Speak up, man,
speak up ; don't you abominate these underhand
proceedings of our Bishop ?"

I scarcely knew how to answer. The question
would have been a delicate one at any time, and
much more now, when the dearer half of my
thoughts were with Theodora.

"Indeed, my father," I said, al have heard
nothing of the matter till I came here, except
that there was to be a synod ; and therefore have
had no opportunity of forming any judgment
on it."

« Well, then, I tell you now," said my father.

^ o-

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES.

I COLLJB

" The Bishop is going to drag our friend here be-
fore a council, as he calls it, and try to convict
him of heresy, merely to punish him for so nearly
having succeeded — as I wish to God he had quite
— in the election. Now what do you say ?"

" My dear father," I answered, " I am no theo-
logian, and I hope that if any synod is held no-
thing but justice will be done. I can hardly think
that our good Bishop would — "

"Would do as your father says? — So I am a
liar, am I ? a slanderer, am I ? a robber of men's
characters, am I? I humbly beg your pardon,
most learned Sir, for venturing to disagree with
you." Then, changing a bitterly sarcastic tone
for one of violent passion, — " What do you mean,
you rascal, to stand and contradict me thus?"

"Dear friend/' said Arius, "indeed, indeed,
we must bear unjust suspicions. It will not be
the first time by many that I have been called
to endure them."

" My dear father," I said, as soon as my sur-
prise allowed me to say anything, "indeed, in-
deed, I did not mean to annoy you ; but — "

" To annoy me, Sir ? you are speaking to me as
if I were a baby. Go home, Sir, to your mother,
and tell her that I am starting for Ptolemais this
very evening. This shall not be a hole-and-corner
meeting, if I can help it. I have some influence
with the Bishop there, and will see what can be
done."

26 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI:

We had some business at Ptolemais which re-
quired the presence of a confidential clerk, and
one was to have been despatched next morning.

"To Ptolemais!" I said: "then Neorus will
not go, I suppose ?"

"What's that to you, Sir ?— Yes, he will go
with me. Be off with you, and tell your mother
what I say ; and bid her send me down the wear-
ing apparel I shall need, at once ; I shall start
with the first break of day."

" May I not bring it down myself, Sir ?"

"I shall be obliged to you, Sir, to do what
I tell you, and nothing more."

"And when, my father, may we expect you
home ?"

" To the crows with you !" said he : " be off."
. And, shocked to the very heart, I went. I
knew that my father's temper was very hasty,
but I had never seen him so excited as he was
that evening. Just as I left our office I met
Athanasius.

"A good evening to you," said the Deacon;
" I was searching for you."

"Well met," said I; "walk to wards home with
me, for my business is urgent, and perhaps you
can explain what I cannot understand."

I told him all that had happened.

" I fear," he said, " that matters are very
serious. There is not the least doubt that Arius
will be excommunicated unless he recants, and

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 27

how little likely that is, you know better than
I do."

" Have you heard more, then ?"

" Much more of his teaching. It seems that
he plainly and in so many words says that our
ever-blessed Lord is a mere man ; excellent, in-
deed, above other men, begotten miraculously of
the Holy Ghost, and now endued with all that
the Godhead can bestow on a creature, but a
man still. And of this you may be sure, that it
is simply his rivalry with our good Bishop which
has prevented the council from being summoned
before."

I proceeded to tell Athanasius my own success
with Theodora, and received his warm congratu-
lations.

" And do not be uneasy/' said he, " about your
father. When a synod has once spoken, all those
who are in earnest sons of the Church will at
once give in ; and annoyed though he may be
at first, — very naturally, too, considering the rela-
tion in which Arms stands to your family, — he
will soon come round. I am glad that your be-
trothed one remains firm to the truth."

His words much comforted me ; and I gave the
message with which I was charged to my mother,
telling her, at the same time, something of what
I had heard.

" You see," she said, "that my advice was
good. I cannot tell what it is that thus irritates

THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI t

your father. Arius is, I know, held by him in
the highest esteem, but so was the Bishop too.
It is very strange. Call Ammon, and he shall
carry down the bundle to the Quay."

However hard I tried to keep up my spirits
during! the week that ensued, I confess it passed
very heavily. My mother thought — and poor
Theodora agreed with her — that as the latter was
my father's ward, and he had not yet approved
of her engagement, nothing further ought to pass
between her and myself till his return. I saw,
then, but little of her, and that little only in
the presence of others. On the Sabbath, Arius
preached to a large congregation in the Baucalis,
but entirely composed of his own adherents, for
the parochial division was fairly broken up in the
closer attraction of party ties. On the Lord's day,
the Lybian bishop, Theonas, preached; he had
come up for the synod, which was convened for
the Wednesday ; and his doctrine, I thought, was
even more heterodox — at all events, it was more
plainly expressed — than that of Arius himself.

CHAPTER III.

Arius is condemned in the Synod. — Theonas forbids his
son, while retaining his actual belief, to thinlc further
of Theodora.

ON the Tuesday evening, as we were waiting
for the late supper which my father had ordered to

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 29

be prepared for him, our slave Ammon ran in with
the news that he was coming up the street. Ac-
cordingly, there was the flashing of torches and
the tramp of horses, and in another minute my
father alighted at his door. He seemed in an
excellent humour, and also improved, by the
change, in his health.

" Run to the lodgings of Arius," he said ;
" quick, Ammon ! tell him that I have returned,
and ask him to do me the honour of supping with
me. Tell him I have important news. Well, my
boy, and how are you ? Well ? — That's well ;
all going on prosperously? Where is your mo-
ther ? Come in, fellows ; the servants will find
something for you."

And so chatting, he entered the house, and
sought my mother. I should at once have men-
tioned to him the subject that was uppermost in
my mind ; but, as Arius was invited, it seemed
better to defer it to the morrow. The Priest (who,
it struck me, had expected the message,) very
soon came, and presently after we all sat down
to supper.

" Great improvements at Ptolemais," said my
father, as he was eating a very fine rhombus, with
sauce of Thasian wine, — a favourite dish of his.
" That new agora they have been talking of so long
is half finished ; it will soon be a very important
place. And how wags the world here, Sir? at
what time to-morrow does the synod meet ?"

30 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

"At the fourth hour," replied Arius. "I have
been formally summoned."

My sister looked at him with those great ear-
nest eyes of hers, but said nothing.

" It is simply diocesan, still — "

" Simply diocesan," returned Arius. " My dear
friend the Bishop of Ptolemais is kind enough to
be with me, but he will neither vote nor speak
in the synod."

" And, fairly, now," asked my mother, " what
do you think will be the result ?"

Arius smiled his own beautiful smile : " I shall
be excommunicated. But God has His own instru-
ments for carrying on the spread of the truth."

" Impossible !" cried my father, striking the
table heavily.

" You will see," said the Priest, " that I am
right. Come, my child," for Helladia's tears
could no longer be restrained, " if you believe the
Gospel, there is not much to lament in that.
Truth will prevail at last."

"But if the case be so," said the poor child,
very timidly, " that you are — that you are — "

" That I am excommunicated, — well ?"

"What shall you do ?"

"My dear Helladia," said my father, "you may
ask questions that our dear friend may not think
it right to answer."

" But I can have no objection to answer this.
I shall appeal to a national council : God may

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 31

suffer His preachers to be crushed, but not" His
truth. I feel that He has called me to defend the
breach now, and here ; and if it be necessary to
appeal to a general council of all bishops, I for
one will not be found wanting to my duty."

I did not wonder, as he spoke, at the influ-
ence which this man had acquired. His words
were so gentle, and yet so firmly spoken; he
seemed so convinced that the cause of God lay on
him, and woe were to him if he maintained it not,
that it was almost impossible not to believe him.
Indeed, I feel persuaded that had it not been
for my constant association with Athanasius and
Mennas, I myself should have been carried away
with the tide.

" But we must not make the case out worse
than it is," he continued, cheerfully ; " several of
the parish priests are strongly on my side. There
is my namesake, you know ; there is Aithalas,
there is Achillas."

" You mean the cardinal priest at St. Theonas."

" The same : — Carponas and Sarmates ; that is,
we stand six and six, so far as the parish priests of
this city are concerned."

" But, you say, that is not the case in the dio-
cese generally ?"

"By no means; there we form a small mi-
nority."

" I shall surely be there to-morrow," said my
father. " Macarius, I expect you to attend me."

LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE

32 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

"With all my heart, Sir."

" And any one, my dear friend, whom you may
like to bring back to supper to-morrow when the
proceedings are over, you know how much plea-
sure it will give me to see them."

"And me too, Sir?" asked Arius, writh a smile.

"Most surely; why do you ask?"

" What ! even if I am excommunicated ?"

" By the e," said my father, (it was the nearest
approach to an oath in which he allowed himself,)
" all the more welcome in that case, because then
there will be more pleasure in standing by a per-
secuted friend."

So passed the supper on. — My Glycerium, I
see a question in that earnest little face, — what
is it?

Whether Arius was acting the hypocrite, or
defending what he believed the truth ?

I will tell you without any doubt. I am sure
that he was defending what he believed the truth.
It was impossible to be with him day by day, to
see how abstemious and holy a life he led, how
gentle he was, how kind to the poor, how earnest
in prayer, and come to any other conclusion. But
I believe that, unawares to himself, he was eaten
up with the lust of power ; it tainted and denied
everything, and brought him at length to — well,
to what he became.

When supper was over, he bade us good-night,

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES.

remarking that he should be engaged previously
to the council, and being reminded by my father
that we should sup at the second hour of the
night. Then Helladia besought and urged my
mother to -let her attend also. She was at first
very unwilling; but at length, when convinced
that other ladies would be present, and that the
women's gallery would be open to them, she con-
sented, only stipulating that Ammoriarium should
attend her.

My father proposed going to bed early, being
weary with his journey; but he bade me go down,
first thing in the morning, to the Quay, to learn
if any news had come in of the tunny fishing. A
few days before we had received intelligence from
our agent at Melita that the sea was troubled
and dark as with a whole shoal of tunnies f. And
as a great part of cur business lay in tl.e tunny
agency, the earliest information was desirable.

I was annoyed at this, for it seemed to put off
my chance of speaking to my father at a greater
distance than ever. However, there was nothing
to be done but to submit with a good grace. It
was a very lovely summer morning : Alexandria,
the lady of merchant cities, awoke to her gains
and her merchandize, but still it was evident that

1 The expression in my MS. is: (pp'tKy ffKiepav Kara ftepos
6d\aTrav aj/e/crjpuTTej/ 6 crKOTnovpyos a/s ir\7)6ovs '6Xov
Qvvvwv ^ irr)\a(j.i§wv. The Tn]Aa/*is is a sort of tunny, and
called in the Marseilles market, to this very day, palamyde,

AM. D

34 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

a great deal of excitement prevailed. The word
synod I heard repeated several times before I got
down to the wharf; and when I had satisfied my-
self that no intelligence had been received, nor
was likely to be, the wind setting from the north-
east, I was hurrying back, when the head clerk
and the chief wharfinger requested a holiday, in
order to attend the council. They were both ac-
tive partizans of Arius, and, as I had no doubt
what my father's feelings would be on the subject,
I gave them leave. This involved some conver-
sation with them, and the wharfinger was good
enough to detail at great length his sentiments
on the controversy, till I was compelled to remind
him that my presence was necessary at home.

Returning there, and determined now at last
to speak of my love to my Theodora, I found that
Arius— not the celebrated man, but his namesake
— and Carponas were with my father. I did not
know then what their business might be ; I soon
found it out, as you shall hear, to my cost. I re-
member thinking this Arius a very disagreeable
man. Stumpy and short, with a head too big for
his height, and set rather on one side, a tongue
that did not seem to fit into his mouth, a watery,
unpleasant eye, and coarse white hair, like the
locks of a rnangy 'sheep. He was said to be a
great intriguer, but not to make any pretension
to eloquence. Carponas was a young man, very
gentlemanly, and of one of the first families in

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 35

Alexandria ; more like a courtier, however, than
a priest. They did not go till the fourth hour,
and then I found that I must defer my intended
communication till the synod should be over.

My father, Helladia, and I walked together;
Ammonarium and the slave Xanthias followed be-
hind. The synod was to be held — which I think
I have not yet said — in the diocesan church of St.
Mark ; and as we drew nearer to the great square,
we observed a considerable flow of people in the
same direction. Arius had promised that good
places should be preserved for my father and for my-
self; Ammonarium and my sister would, of course,
be in the women's gallery. Leaving her at the
entrance to the staircase, we forced our way in
through the narthex, where was a motley crowd
of pagans and Christians ; several persons, whom
we knew to be Meletians, were there. Athana-
sius had already told me that the Meletians were
making common cause with Arius. On the present
occasion the holy doors were closed, and the bema
was not used. A kind of throne was erected for
the Bishop on this side the screen, and, in the
very middle of the building, was placed a kind of
desk, with a gorgeous copy of the New Testament
opened thereon, symbolizing the presence of the
Lord in the assembly of the saints. To the right
and left of the Bishop, down the nave, but within
the pillars, were benches for the priests, covered
with scarlet cloth. A kind of palisade was erected

36 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

behind these, from pier to pier, serving the double
purpose of keeping off the crowd and affording a
back for the sitters to lean against. Beyond the
benches, towards the end of the nave, was a place
for the deacons, who were to stand ; and still be-
yond them, just within the narthex, was a strong
body of parabolani, to preserve order.

There was a good deal of talking, though in a
low voice, as my father and I pushed our way
through the aisle to a place which had been re-
served for us close to the fence, and just behind
one of the benches for the cardinal priests : these
sat nearest to the Bishop, six on the left, six on
the right. It was easy to see that the feeling of
the spectators was against Arius, and observations
were once or twice made close to us, which I could
perceive nettled my father a good deal. But now
the holy doors were thrown open : deacons, priests,
and, last of all, the Bishop, take their places ; and
Alexander — I see the old man now, so gentle,
so loving, so altogether bright — recites, in his
clear, silvery voice, the prayers appointed for
the occasion.

My children, I am not about to dwell at length
on the proceedings of that synod, because I have
to speak, in process of time, of so much more
famous an assembly. Arius spoke ; and how beauti-
fully, so far as language went, he did speak ! But
he enveloped his meaning in so many and curious
expressions, threw such wordiness over all that he

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 37

taught, employed Scriptural language in so singu-
lar a way, that it was difficult even for an educated
mind to follow him. By the side of the Bishop
stood the Deacon Athanasius ; and of a verity he
was mighty in the Scriptures ! Not picking this
text, and choosing that, but, as it were, with a
glance taking in the whole teaching of the Holy
Ghost.

" You may condemn me if you will," said Arius,
" the truth has for a while been trampled down
before now ; but in condemning me you condemn
him whom other Churches beside our own have
gloried in calling the Great ; him whose name we
thankfully recite in the diptychs, and whose works
are as household words in our studies ; you will
condemn Dionysius, the blessed pope of the evan-
gelical see, all but a martyr, and the first of con-
essors."

" The memory of Dionysius is blessed !" shouted
one.

" Dionysius is with the saints !" roared another.

" Dionysius and Alexander teach alike !" ex-
claimed a third.

"The memory of Dionysius is indeed blessed,"
said Arius ; " Dionysius is indeed, if ever mortal
man were, with the saints ; but Dionysius and
Alexander do not teach the same. Alexander
says that the Begetter and the Begotten are
one."

" We all say so !" shouted the crowd.

38 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

" Alexander affirms that the Begotten is of the
same substance with the Begetter."

" We all affirm it !" vociferated the multitude.
But I thought that the Bishop looked to Athana-
sius, as if doubting whether the expression, " of
the same substance/' was to be absolutely and at
all events retained. A few words from the brave
Deacon seemed to compose him.

" Well, then, thus says Dionysius, — listen : f The
Son of God is made and produced; He is not
proper in His nature, but differing in essence from
the Father, as the vine from the husbandman, or
the boat from the builder ; for, seeing that He was
made, He was not before He was produced/ "

Then arose a clamour such as I cannot de-
scribe. " Out with the heretic !" roared the rabble
again. " Cut him in twain !" " As he divides, so let
him be divided !" " Arius is a second Noetus !" And
the speaker's friends shouted, " Bravo ! bravo !"
" Arius a second Peter !" " Arius another Paul !"
" Dionysius and Arius think alike !"

When silence was re-established, Athanasius
rose. " It is true," said he, " that Dionysius used
those expressions; but, Arius, why do you not
add that he afterwards apologized for them ?"

A second outburst of clamour ; then the Deacon
proceeded : —

" I do not defend them, though I believe him to
have been speaking of the Lord's human nature ;
but thus he expressed himself to his namesake,

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 39

Dionysius of Rome, also among the saints." And
he read the passage °.

This seemed to stir up more confusion than
before; and for two hours there was a sharp
contest between Athanasius and Arius. At length
Mennas, from among the deacons, said, " Have I
your Paternity's leave to ask Arius a question ?"

"Ask it, my son."

" Then, Arius, listen, and answer directly, yes
or no. Satan, being an archangel, was tempted
and fell : could he, if he would, have stood ?"

" Certainly he could."

"Was not our Lord tempted in the wilder-
ness?"

" He was."

"Could He have fallen?"

A dead pause. All held their breath. No reply.

"Arius, could the Lord Jesus have fallen as
Satan fell?"

In a clear, low voice, that thrilled through the
whole church, Arius said, " HE COULD."

Alexander stood up, and his standing hushed
the rising tumult.

" Men and brethren, it is enough. Is it your
will that Arius, who has said, ' The Lord Jesus
can fall, as Satan fell/ should be delivered over
to an anathema to the destruction of the flesh,

£ And would that Macarius had copied that passage ! For that
epistle has perished, and the Church never sustained a greater
loss. — TKANSLATOB.

40 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

that the spirit may be saved in the clay of the
Lord's coming ?"

A shriek in the gallery — a woman carried out.

An overpowering clamour of " Yes !"

"I demand that the numbers be taken/' said
Carponas.

" They shall be/' returned Alexander. " Euzoi'us,
you shall count them that say ' No / Athanasius,
you shall reckon such as have shouted c Aye/ "

They divided right and left of the Gospel. The
names were given in.

" Men and brethren/' said Alexander, " they
that would deliver over Arius, saying that the
Lord Jesus could fall as Satan fell, to an anathe-
ma, are thirty- six priests and forty-four deacons;
in all, eighty. They that say ' No/ are five priests
and five deacons ; in all, ten."

Though it is certain that Arius fully expected
to be condemned, and that by a large majority,
lie expected no such all but universal sentence as
this : eight voices out of nine ! I think that, for the
moment, it even staggered my father ; and I hoped
that it would lead him to see how far he had
wandered from the faith. The synod broke up,
and then we found that the disturbance in the
gallery had been occasioned by the fainting of
Helladia, just at the moment when the final sen-
tence was about to be pronounced. She had been
given into the charge of the deaconesses, and was
now able to accompany us home. Every one

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 41

attributed the immense majority to the decisive
question put by Mennas, and I thought at the
time that he could hardly have more effectually
injured his cause with my sister than in thus
prominently coming forward against Arius.

But little was spoken as we walked back. My
father merely said, " Some steps must be taken
with reference to this matter/' and then seemed
to give himself up to his own thoughts. Helladia
said nothing, but that the air was very sultry.

I now see that I should have done more wisely
had I deferred my question till a better oppor-
tunity; but I was impatient till I had got over
the necessary explanation with my father. As
soon as we had reached our house he desired me
to go down with him to the Quay, and on the
road thither I told him.

" This," he said, calmly, " is not altogether un-
expected to me, and certainly, in many respects,
not unpleasing; but before I can positively say
yes or no, several things have to be settled. I
have little doubt that I shall be able to comply
with your wishes, but the whole subject must be
deferred for three or four days."

"Oh my father!"

" For three or four days," repeated my father,
still more gravely ; " and you must give me your
promise that, till then, you will have no conversa-
tion with my ward which all the world might
not hear."

42 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

" At all events, may I not tell her what you
have now said ?"

"No," he replied; "I will do that myself."

" You will not forget ? for I know how anxious
she must be."

" I am not accustomed to have my word called
in question," was the reply. " You will remember
that the invoices to Potamirenus at Rhinocorura
have to be made out before nightfall."

So for two hours I was engaged in entries of
tunnies and palamydes, of salted rhombi, and neats'
tongues. And truly glad was I when, as old
Homer says, " The sun set, and all ways were
shaded."

The four days passed, as all four days must do.
Arius was constantly at our house, though I saw
but little of him. Once or twice the Bishop of
Ptolemais called, and Carponas and the other
Arius seemed busily employed on certain papers
and lists of names. On the fourth evening my
father sent for me into his own apartment. A
parchment lay on the table before him, of which
I could only see that the heading commenced,
" To Constantine, Emperor, Pious, Pacific, Victor,
Ever-Augustus."

" This paper," said my father, " is a representa-
tion to the Augustus of the great unfairness evinced
by the late synod, carried away by the foolish
question of an ignorant young man."

" Do you mean Meiinas, Sir ?"

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 43

"Whom else should I mean? To him I shall
have somewhat more to say presently. To you I
have but to say this, that it is my desire you sign
this document at once/'

I cast my eye over it. It besought the Augus-
tus to take pity on a man unjustly condemned,
and to give orders to Alexander to receive Arius
into his communion again; and, if he refused,
then to desire the Archbishop of Constantinople
or the Patriarch of Antioch to do so in his stead.

"Well, Sir?" said my father, seeing that I
hesitated.

" My dear father, I would do anything in my
power, and that was not against my conscience, to
please you — "

"But you will not sign this, eh? Am I right?"

" Say rather, I cannot sign it."

"Your reasons?"

" In the first place, my father, because I do not
think that he was unjustly condemned ; and if he
were, I do not think that the Emperor has any
power to reverse the decrees of a synod. And you
know, Arius himself said that he should appeal to
a national council if he were condemned by this."

"He has already done so," said my father,
"and Alexander will shortly issue his letter of
convocation for one. Much good may it do him !
I have lived long enough to see that these bishops
all tread in one and the same track ; it is tradi-
tion, tradition for ever ; no room for one word of

44 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

common sense : the Emperor will be worth a
hundred synods. — So you will not sign this ?"

"If I did, surely my name would carry no
weight : but I cannot : please, my dear father, do
not ask it of me."

"You are right enough," he returned, "your
name would carry no weight— with those that know
you, — but I had my reasons, nevertheless, for
wishing you to attach your signature. Very well.
Macarius, listen : you are aware of the power I
have by her father's will over Theodora ?"

" I am not quite sure," said I, for my heart be-
gan to misgive me terribly.

" She is not to marry till she is five-and-twenty
without my permission ; after that time, she may
marry indeed to whom she will, but her property,
if she marry contrary to my liking, goes from
her in a way pointed out by the will ; it matters
not to you how."

" I understand."

" Understand, then, this further : if you refuse
to sign the document, I refuse my sanction to
her marrying you. She is now just eighteen; for
seven years I can absolutely prevent it. If, after
that time, you choose to take her, you take a
penniless bride, and she a penniless bridegroom ;
for, by the, not an obolus shall you in that case
have from me."

You may fancy how I adjured, entreated, fell
on my knees ; what a sore trial it was to me not to

X

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 45

sign ; how Athanasius alone kept me back from
doing as my father wished. Thanks be to God, I
held firm. The document was despatched in due
time ; but my father assured me that, as number-
less more memorials of a similar nature would be
sent to Constantinople, whenever I chose to at-
tach my name to one of them he would take my
case into consideration again.

CHAPTER IV.

Theodora and hennas go to Rome. — Arizes is anathema-
tized in a National Council. — The heresy spreads
everywhere. — Hosius visits Alexandria.

I MUST now rapidly hurry over the events of
some considerable time.

Poor Theodora ! One interview we had, in the
chamber of my mother, who, though she blamed
my obstinacy, regretted my father's hard-hearted-
ness. It was a short one, but it gave me great
comfort.

( ' My word is pledged to you," she said : " if it
please God to spare us both, and you then care to
claim a poor and not a youthful bride, I am yours
at the expiration of the seven years."

" Ah, dearest ! I love you as much as Jacob did
Rachel, but they will never seem to me a few days."

"You have done your duty," she said. " Had
you bought me at the priceof that paper, what peace

46 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

could we either of us have expected? it would
have been denying Him who ought to be dearer to
each of us than we are the one to the other/'

" You are right, I know, my Theodora. But it
is a hard trial."

And so we talked, till my mother, fearful of her
husband's anger should he discover that she had
permitted the interview, hurried Theodora away.
It seemed to me as if now the battle of life were
beginning, and I was left in the world alone.

Next, Mennas received his dismissal, but not
from my father.

Helladia asked me to beg him to see her ; I
guessed why, but she would not answer a question
that I put, and I could only give her message to
my friend.

That evening he called on me at the Quay, and
seemed ten years older than he had been in the
morning.

" It is all over, Macarius," he said ; " my trial
is heavier than yours."

" Then it is so ! she has broken off your en-
gagement I"

" Yes— but so scornfully, so bitterly ! That I
was currying favour with the Bishop ; eager to in-
gratiate myself with the great majority of ecclesi-
astics ; willing to trample on one who was down ;
an admirable calculator of times and seasons! Ma-
carius, I could not have believed that she had such
bitterness in her. And the time has been that — "

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 47

And the strong man laid his head in his arms
upon the table, and sobbed aloud.

I said what I could to comfort him — but how
little was that !

" I cannot bear," he continued presently, " to
remain in Alexandria; I have requested leave
of my Bishop to continue my studies in Rome,
and he has given me a most kind systatic to the
Bishop Silvester."

" In Rome !" said I : " why, Theodora is going
there for the present also."

"Indeed!"

"Yes, she has an aunt there; and my father
sees that either she or I must leave Alexandria.
Me he cannot spare, therefore she must go."

And thus it was settled. My father had a ship
about to sail to the Port, and though the captain
was a highly respectable man, he was very glad to
be able to commit his ward to such good keeping
as that of Mennas. After his first burst of passion
was over, I think he grieved both for Mennas and
myself; and anything, except retreating from his
word, which he could do for my comfort, he was
only too glad to take in hand.

At the end of summer, then, they sailed, and
for many months — . But more of that presently.
I must now tell you how affairs went on at
Alexandria.

Of course, at the conclusion of the synod a
direct schism broke out. Arius refused to con-
sider the excommunication valid. He celebrated

48 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

the holy mysteries, and preached, before a larger
congregation than ever, at the Baucalis on the fol-
lowing Lord's day ; and the other cardinal priests
took every opportunity of communicating with
him, and making common cause with his. Alexan-
der summoned a council of all Egypt ; a hundred
bishops met. Arius was again excommunicated,
and so were those who had communicated or
should communicate with him. I had, since the
diocesan synod, told my father that I must obey
God rather than man ; and, without any great op-
position on his part, had attended at St. Theonas',
where my friend Athanasius was the proto-deacon.
By the second synod, then, my father was cut
off from the Church. A stricter prelate than
Alexander might have forbidden my residing in
his house ; but, after some conversation with me
on the subject, he advised my continuing to do
so, and watching every opportunity I could of
inducing him to listen to the truth. To do my
mother justice, she would, if left to herself, have
returned to the Church after the national council ;
but my father's will and Arius' reasonings were
too much for her. But I shall never forget how
shocked she was when at the Baucalis the ancient
doxology was altered into " Glory to the Father,
by the Son, through the Holy Ghost." My sister,
too, at first appeared frightened ; though at length
she learnt to rejoice that the truth, as she termed
it, should be so boldly displayed and unflinchingly
taught. Thus ended the first year.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 40

And now Arius began to extend his influence at
Constantinople and in Palestine : while Eusebius
of Nicomedia, all-influential with the Emperor,
openly espoused his part. My father's house be-
came the head-quarters of the sect, and the adula-
tion and flattery he received from them naturally
rendered him more opinionated and domineering.
His time was so much taken up with theological
disputes, that the business of the house well-nigh
. rested on me. With God's blessing on my endea-
vours, it had never been so flourishing. I often
heard from Mennas, my mother occasionally from
Theodora.

Then followed the interference of the Emperor ;
his letter to Alexander and Arius, which equally
irritated both. He treated the question as a mere
logomachy, and desired both parties to make
peace. My father was at first disposed to agree
with him; but Arius had the best of the argu-
ment. " I call Alexander," he said, " an idolater ;
he calls me a heretic; and each, according to
his own views, is right. The Emperor esteems this
a question of no importance, whether Jesus of
Nazareth is God of God, or pure man. Truly
I had rather teach as Alexander than as Con-
stantine."

In this same year my sister took, under Arius,
the vow of perpetual chastity, and the dress. She
joined no religious community, for such things
were 'then hardly formed for women, and lived
among us as before. The Priest had induced

AM. E

50 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

some thirty or forty to take the same vow, and
it proves how much influence he had over my
father, that no serious objection was made to
the step.

Then I remember the visit of the Spanish
Bishop, Hosius of Cordova, who was commis-
sioned to reconcile the dispute, but who became
the strongest and warmest friend of Alexander.
The whole world was now devastated by this
schism. "We heard of it from Mennas at Rome;
in Constantinople the heresy was rampant ; in
Egypt multitudes fell away. For such a disease
what could be the remedy ?

CHAPTER V.

Macarius receives directions from Ms father to go into
Bithynia. — A. large commission is given T)y the Em-
peror to the House at the Quay of the Dioscuri.

THUS passed more than four years away. My
father had aged a good deal, but still seemed
hale and happy. My mother, I could see, was
less satisfied with her position. She did not com-
plain ; but as old friends passed her in the street
without salutation ; as her parties became more
and more confined either to mere Artotrogi11,
Curculiones, and Stasimi, or to the heads of the
Arian sect, whose talk was of nothing but
h Parasites in the New Comedy.— TEANSL.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 51

memorials, and synods, and lists of bishops, and
influence, and the whole organization of a polemi-
cal partizanship, you may imagine that I had as
little to do with these parties as I possibly could,
but it was not possible entirely to avoid them.

One morning in very early spring, Paulinus and
Julianus consuls1, the swallows were gaily twitter-
ing in the eaves of our quay-houses; from the
window by which I was writing I could see the
avrjpiOpov ye\a<r/jia of the blue Mediterranean,
and the cloud-shadows that, like playful kids,
chased each other over the dimpling waves. My
father was, as he was two days out of three, en-
gaged at some meeting of the party, and I was
carrying on the business of the firm. I noticed
that a Byzantium-built cercurus had entered the
harbour, but the thing had made no impression
on my mind, when one of the wharfingers, with
a preliminary knock at my door, entered with a
large parcel.

I saw at once, from the ink and the seal, that it
was a government order, and that it was marked
11 Immediate." I therefore despatched one of the
under clerks to my father, with directions to
report what had occurred — he was then at the
Baucalis — and continued the work I had in hand.

My father soon made his appearance, opened the
package, read its contents, and then said : " This
is important in all respects. The Emperor has
1 i.e. A.-D. 325.

52 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCUEI I

resolved to convoke an assembly of all the bishops
of the Church to Nicaea in Bithynia, in order
that the question of Christ's proper divinity may
be settled for ever. We are summoned, as one
of the royal purveying firms, to send in our share
of provisions for the enormous concourse that is
expected ; and I think it will be desirable that we
should both go."

My eyes, I suppose, brightened at the in-
telligence.

" You seem delighted/' said my father, not un-
kindly.

" I am naturally pleased to have the chance of
seeing an assembly that must be so remarkable,
and of hearing the debates."

"The Emperor, too," referring to the letter
again, " means to be there. The synod is sum-
moned for the week after Pentecost ; so we shall
have enough to do/ Here is the list."

That list, my children, would not edify you ; but
it for the time entirely occupied our thoughts. The
greatest delicacies, such as assafcetida, were ordered
in the most princely profusion ; and of fish — for
our house had its chief reputation in fish purvey-
ing— the varieties were endless. My father rubbed
his hands : he was not an avaricious man, but
what merchant would not rejoice at a boundless
order with an imperial treasury for guarantee of
payment ?

As soon as I could make my escape I hurried

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 53

to Athanasius, who resided near St. Theonas'. He
had just heard the news from his Bishop, who had
received the imperial summons by the same cer-
curus that had brought us our order.

" A most important resolution," he said ; " God
only knows how important. We shall meet, then,
at Nicaea."

"You go?"

" The Bishop has commanded me to accompany
him. I have, you know, given much time to the
study of this controversy, and he thinks that I
may be useful to him."

I did indeed know that, comparatively young
though he were, he had won for himself the repu-
tation of being the first controversialist on the
Catholic, i. e. the true and orthodox side, and that
he was, and had long been, the mainspring of all
Alexander's movements.

"I have my preparations to make," he said,
smiling, "as well as you. We are continually
pressed with that passage of Dionysius which
Arius is so fond of quoting : I think you heard
it at the first council. I have been engaged in
investigating what really were the sentiments of
that ever-illustrious Bishop ; and here," he con-
tinued, laying his hand on a large number of
parchments, "is a collection which, if ever I shall
find time to publish it, will be valuable to me."

My father, as I soon found, was engaged to
travel in company with Arius himself, the Bishop

54 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

of Ptoleraais, and another Lybian Bishop,, also of
the same party. I was determined not to journey
with these persons, and, as it fortunately happened,
circumstances kept me behind. I have already
told you that one of the principal branches of our
business was the tunny agency at Melita ; and as
the house with which we corresponded there was
this year unusually late in forwarding their fish,
my father, of his own accord, proposed to me to
stay behind until that business was settled. It
was necessary that he should be at Nicsea before
the bishops could arrive, inasmuch as the officers
whom the Augustus had appointed over the gen-
eral arrangements were to meet there at the be-
ginning of May.

The last two or three years had made a wonder-
ful difference in Arius himself. His hair was now
quite grey; his forehead was wrinkled; he had
become, from the middle-aged, the elderly man.
Helladia, too, seemed anxious and unhappy; I
could not but imagine sometimes that her trust
in her guide was weakened. It was, at all events,
a miserable thing to see my family, on the Sabbath
and on the Lord's day, setting out to the house
which Arius had hired as a place of worship, when
the Baucalis had, after a long struggle, been taken
away from him. He left as his representative in
Alexandria that Euzoius, now a priest, who, as
you may remember, was one of those who counted
the numbers at the first synod. My sister was,

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 55

of course, to remain at home; my mother had
been somewhat anxious to accompany my father
into Bithynia, but her wishes were then, as they
were generally, overruled.

I have nothing particular to tell you of my
journey from Alexandria. I took the opportunity
of one of our vessels that was sailing for By-
zantium, and from thence travelled overland to
Nicsea.

It was a glorious evening, rather past the
middle of June, when I gained the top of the
hill which overlooks the now famous city of Nicsea.
High above the other buildings rose the great
dome of the Church of the Eternal Wisdom ; to
its right and left were the half- ruinous porticoes,
but yet beautiful in their ruin, of the temples of
Victory, and Juno, and Apollo. There seemed
an unusual concourse of the inhabitants of the
neighbouring country into the town itself: farmers
driving in their sheep, calves, or swine; peasants
with their cart or barrowfuls of vegetables and
fruit ; the barley harvest finishing in the fields
around, and the golden promise of the wheat
everywhere glorious.

I was riding on a mule, a guide accompanying
me on another, and a sumpter-mule carrying my
luggage. We stopped to enquire of a man who was
mending the road the way to the street of St. Irene.

" You are strangers, are you ?" said he ; "a pity
that you. were not here this time yesterday."

56 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI !

" Why, my good friend ?"

"Why? because the Augustus himself made
his entry then. The bishops, and prsetors, and
officers, and great men came out to meet him
pretty nigh as far as where you are standing
now : there was never such a crowd seen at
Nicsea before. One thing you may be sure of;
if you have not ordered your lodgings, you will
go without any."

" I am quite easy about that/' said I ; " but
what? the first turn to the right is it, when we
have passed the Great Church ?"

" Aye, aye," said the man, and continued his
work.

As we drew nearer to the gates it was very easy
to see that something unusual was going on in the
city. Venerable old men, in dresses strange to an
Egyptian eye, speaking outlandish tongues, were
strolling out by twos, threes, and fours. Here
and there we met a younger and merrier group,
apparently in attendance on the court; ever and
anon a single priest or bishop would pass us,
busily studying some document ; and as we reached
the great gate we found that the guards were
doubled, and a strict watch kept over all strangers.
Being well furnished with recommendations from
the Augustal prefect, I was not detained very
long. And then I began to see how crowded the
city was, not only with ecclesiastics, and others
immediately connected with the council, but with

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 57

the followers of the court, though Constantine,
I understood, had curtailed its numbers as far as
possible. He lodged in a palace near the episcopal
house. Theognius, the bishop of the see, was one
of those prelates on whom Arius had the fullest
dependence.

I again enquired the way to the house where I
had been directed, and was just setting out once
more, when I saw my father walking with some
ecclesiastics on the opposite side of the road. I
crossed, and instantly recognised Secundus of
Ptolemais.

" I began to fear that something had delayed
you," said my father, who seemed really delighted
to see me; " has anything been the matter ? How
are you yourself, and what news do you bring
from Alexandria?"

I satisfied him to the best of my ability, and
then, in turn, heard all the news that had to be
told. It was reported that the number of bishops
present was between three and four hundred ;
one from India, one from Gaul, and they say that
there was even a priest from that barbarous is-
land called Britain. They were all lodged at the
Emperor's expense, a table being provided for
them by six, or eight, or more, according to the
number received in each house. I heard, too,
of sermons preached everywhere; for the most
part, my father said, mere trash, utter trumpery ;
Balaam's ass, he told me, brayed much better;

58 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

whereby I gathered that here, as elsewhere, the
majority was strong against Arius.

My father's lodging was over a cutler's ; one
of our clerks was with him ; but Arius, with the
Egyptian bishops, was, to my great joy, accom-
modated some distance off. At this same cutler's
I found that Aaron was also lodged : this was the
priest of whom I just now spoke as coming from
Britain. Afterwards I saw much of him, and
he told me of that savage country. It appears
that there are in the island three bishops, one at
York, one at Caerleon, and one at a place called
London. He is in a manner commissioned by
these bishops to speak for them ; and here he, and
another priest from the borders of China, both
came to testify to the same doctrine. So widely
is the Church of God spread abroad through the
world.

CHAPTER VI.

Atnanasius and Macarius walk through Nicaa. — Atha-
nasius meets many friends.

EARLY the next morning Athanasius waited
upon me. " I rejoice," he said, " with all my
heart, that you are here. This, indeed, will be a
glorious assembly, such a synod as has not been
since that first council of the Apostles. O Ma-
carius, how comforting is it to believe in our

/ffr,W.
ft

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 59

:. : s.i • u .

Lord's own words, 'The gates of hell shall not
prevail against it !' "

To speak to Athanasius after my long and weary
calculations about palamydes, tunnies, neats'
tongues, and the like, was like rising into a purer
and nobler atmosphere. I had partly known be-
forehand how, in this great crisis of the Church,
the whole weight of her affairs pressed on the
young deacon's shoulders ; but when I now saw
for the first time how he was saluted by almost
every other stranger that he met in the street,
how with each he seemed to have his own sepa-
rate confidence, how he took and gave papers and
lists, how many appointments he made or ratified,
I could not but wonder at the physical strength,
no less than the mental power, which could go
through such continual fatigue, and bear up against
a pressure which seemed almost too much for
mortal. Thus we met an old man just as I left
the cutler's, quite stooping with age, his eye ap-
parently dim, but with a glance still remaining
that shewed what it once must have been. He
stopped, and Athanasius saluted him with great
reverence.

" Well met," he said, " my son ; I was about to
seek you at your lodgings. Here are the acts of
our own little council ; they are signed, you will
see, by three bishops besides myself. If you think
them likely to be of service to your Bishop, my
worthy brother in Christ, take them to him."

60 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

" He will be much beholden to your Holiness,"
said the Deacon ; " he had already heard some par-
ticulars of the council from his Holiness Hosius,
while he was at Alexandria."

" Ah ! Hosius is a good man, Hosius is a good
man," said the stranger. " This afternoon, I
hear, is our first session."

" It is so, Holy Father."

" God be with you, my son ;" and he passed on.

" Who is that ?" asked I, as we continued our
walk.

" That is Spiridion of Tremithus, in the island
of Cyprus : you must have heard of him ?"

" Not that I remember."

" Ah ! this time brings men out who would
otherwise have served God in their own little
sphere, and would never have been heard of till
the great day. However, they tell rather a good
story about this same synod. I had it from Ho-
sius : it had made him smile. At the opening
of the council they had requested the last made
bishop to preach. He was a young man, and had
great ideas of his own eloquence. He had occa-
sion to quote that saying of our Lord, ' Arise,
take up thy bed, and walk ;' but when he came
to the word 'bed/ — Triphyllius, as I remember,
was the man's name, — he said skimpous instead
of krabhaton. Well, this passed for once ; but
when he quoted the text again, and skimpous
came out the second time, our friend could bear

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 61

it no longer. ' What/ he called out, ' are you
better than He who said krabbaton, that you are
ashamed to use His words ?' I should fancy that
poor Triphyllius, who piqued himself on his ele-
gant language, was put to great confusion."

As we passed the ruined portico of Apollo, an
elderly man, in the philosopher's cloak which most
of the bishops wore, was looking up at the jack-
daws, which were flying round the Corinthian
capitals, where they had built their nests. He
turned round as we came up, and I observed that
he held his hands out from his sides, as if he had
no power over them.

" A pleasant sight this, good Athanasius," said
he. " Those jackdaws praise God after their
fashion, I dare say."

" I have no doubt of it, my father ; better than
He was once praised in this very place."

" Aye, indeed, it is a day I little thought, once
on a time, to see. Give me my staff, will you?
it got out of my hold a minute ago. That is it —
there. I hold it with my arm. We meet in the
afternoon."

" A glorious Bishop is that," said the Deacon.

" Who is he, and how did he lose the use of his
hands?"

" That is Paul of Neocsesarea," said my compa-
nion ; " they ran red-hot knitting-needles through
his hands in the persecution of Licinius, and in
some way it affected the tendons, so that the

LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE

62 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

physicians say he can never have the use of his
fingers again. Look, look ! here conies a very
different character."

We met a personage dressed in the height of
the fashion, and apparently about fifty, with a
handsome but somewhat bloated countenance,
a very scornful expression, and a gait as if it were
rather a condescension to walk upon the earth.
He was something above the middle height ; on
his shoes he wore a golden ornament ; his toga
was singularly rich ; behind him came two eccle-
siastics, and behind them, again, four slaves.
He cast a sort of proud glance at Athanasius,
but vouchsafed not the slightest return to his
salutation.

" Eusebius of Nicomedia," whispered he, when
he had passed. " If matters go wrong, it will be
through that man. I wish I had half the zeal for
God that he has for his own advancement. I
have no doubt that he is going to the Emperor
now ; you know how great a favourite he is."

"What a singular costume !" I observed, as we
met another ecclesiastic, who wore indeed a kind
of cloak, but different from anything I had ever
seen.

" I have not been introduced to him yet," said
the Deacon ; " but I know him by sight. He is a
Gaulish bishop, his name Nicasius. He comes
from Die, or some such place. Here, now, come
two, both most excellent."

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 63

" How are you, iny son ?" said the elder of the
two.

"What a glorious day !" cried the younger.

" I thank your Paternity, I am quite well. Her-
mogenes, my lord and father bade me to thank
you for the list of passages you gave him from
your Cappadocian writers, — some of them we have
not at Alexandria. If some time you would call
on him, he would fain ask you a question or two
regarding some of them."

"With all my heart," said the other, "if my
lord here will spare me."

" Certainly," said the Bishop.

"At noon?" suggested Athanasius.

"At noon be it, then."

" That is Leontius of Caesarea/' said my friend,
as we passed on. " I never heard a man preach
more eloquently. They call him the 'Equal of
the Angels •' — and so holy he seems to me."

" The other—"

" The other was his syncellus, and a dear friend
of mine, Hermogenes ; he is mighty in the Scrip-
tures, and in the writings of the saints also.
Look ! here is the Great Church : shall we go in ?"

It had not been built more than ten years, and
was gorgeous with all manner of marbles. The
screen was of brass of exquisite design, of open
work, especially the holy doors. But a rich silken
curtain hung within it, very massy and thick, and
embroidered with gold. The whole interior of

6-1 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

the apse, as well as of the prothesis and sacristy,
was inlaid with marble; the pillars were borrowed
from some ruined temples in the vicinity of the
city, no work of our own being equal to that.
And this reminds me of a question which has
often puzzled me, namely, why it is that we Chris-
tians, whose faith is so glorious beyond that of
the heathen, have not an art corresponding to it.
I wonder whether our buildings, and paintings,
and poems will always be barbarous, as they are
now, compared with the classical beauty which
belongs to the worshippers of false gods. As we
entered the church we noticed a bishop who was on
his knees before the holy doors. He presently
arose, and briefly saluting my companion, led the
way out.

" I have been diligently examining this church,"
said he, " for we are about to build one, which we
intend to be far superior to anything we at present
have, in my own city."

"In a town so exposed to the Persians," said
Athanasius, "I almost wonder that it should be
thought advisable to lay out any considerable sum
on an edifice which may almost any day be de-
stroyed."

"Why, God has hitherto preserved Nisibis,"
said the other, " from their armies, and we hope
that He will still continue to do so."

I perceived that he to whom we were speaking
must be James, whose name was even then famous

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 65

at Alexandria, and who has since been illustrious
through the whole world. With him Athanasius
had much talk regarding the faith in those realms
which are beyond the Roman empire. The new
doctrine, he said, was perfectly unknown there;
all the great cities, both under the Roman power,
as Nisibis itself, or the Persian, as Ctesiphon, were
firm to the old teaching. Some few bishops had
come up to the council, — not many, because both
of the great distance and of the war.

What a marvellous morning that was to me !
It seemed as if all the saints and heroes of the
Church passed before me even as in show and re-
view. And now they have all — all without any
one exception — entered into that true keeping of
Sabbath. Their battles, and toils, and persecu-
tions— well, they are over, as some day ours also
will be, and then I shall behold them again !

When it drew towards noon, Athanasius en-
quired if I had any appointed place where I could
be present at the opening of the council before
the Emperor; and when I said No, he told me
that he was well acquainted with one of the
porters of the palace, in the great hall of which
was to be the general session, and that to him
he would recommend me. "But," said he, "you
must be there by the eighth hour at the latest,
better half-an-hour sooner than later." I pro-
mised him that I would not fail, and so we
parted.

AM. F

66 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

CHAPTER VII.

Helladia is sick to death. — Faith is the gift of God. —
She begins to doubt Arius and desires to see an
orthodox priest.

BEFORE I left Alexandria I was very uneasy re-
garding poor Helladia. At first she had thrown
herself, heart and soul, wholly, earnestly, passion-
ately, into the cause of Arius, nothing doubting
that it was the cause of God. Beautiful she had
always been ; but her eagerness in devoting her-
self to the propagation of that which she thought
the truth, her self-sacrifice in the matter of Men-
nas, whom of a surety she had dearly loved ; and
afterwards, her oblation of herself and final vow, —
all these things spiritualized her beauty, till at
length, from being merely pretty, she became
strikingly lovely. For full two years she never
wavered, never faltered ; heard of anathema after
anathema, excommunication after excommunica-
tion, and seemed to rejoice and exult in each, as a
new jewel in the crown of her spiritual father.
For a moment the altered doxology seemed to
shake her, but it was only for a moment. Earnest
as she was in prayer, I often marvelled, and told
her so, that she could draw nigh to God the
Judge without God the Advocate ; that she could
believe in redemption and hope from God without

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 67

the Incarnation of God. But nothing seemed to
touch or affect her. My father would not allow
any but one-sided controversy : he was always
ready enough to detail his Arian arguments, but
any Catholic replies to them enraged him at once.
Still, occasionally Helladia and I did argue the
great question ; but, as I saw that every quotation
or argument of mine which she could not herself
answer only induced another reference to, and
conversation with, Arius, I by degrees ceased to
discuss the subject with her. My prayers were
earnest for her; those of Mennas were most fer-
vent, though he knew that she could never be his ;
and indeed, before he had been long at Rome
himself entered deacons', and was looking for-
ward to priests', orders.

The iirst thing, I think, which really shook
Helladia, was the publication of that infamous
book, the Thalia. When she saw the deepest
mysteries of religion treated in the lowest ballad
language, and in a metre till then appropriated to
subjects of disgraceful impurity, what could she
think? what could she feel when, instead of
arguments, Catholics were attacked with doggrel
like this?

" A greater set of nonsense

Was surely never heard :
Incredible and silly,

Preposterous, absurd !
Such stun0 as is rejected

By very boys at school :

68 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

Such mysteries as can only
Be handled by a fool.

" Be men, be men, Egyptians !

Or, rather than such lore,
Turn back again to Apis

And Isis as of yore.
They never in the old times

That saw King Pharaoh's court,
Bowed down before the folly

That Catholics support."

And these are some of the most innocent stanzas
I could pick out; you may imagine — or rather
you cannot imagine — the horrid blasphemy of
ridiculing the blessed doctrine of the adorable
Trinity in verses such as these. Sadly, sadly as
she had fallen, Helladia shrank from this, and she
told Arius so. He had yearly become more im-
patient of contradiction, and he was very angry.
He said that the ignorant could not learn by deep
argument; ridicule was the best method of teach-
ing them ; that what Elijah had done to the priests
of Baal, he might lawfully do to the priests of a re-
ligion every whit as absurd. In fact, he worked
himself up to such a pitch of anger, that my
father, happening to enter the room, was himself
amazed.

"My good friend," said he, "it may be true
that my daughter is not capable of arguing the
question, but I would have you to remember that
she is my daughter nevertheless, and a lady." And
so the thing passed over for that time. The visit

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 69

of Hosius, again, affected Helladia : he spoke so
calmly, he argued so convincingly, he dwelt so
forcibly on the whole consent of the universal
Church throughout every nation, that I saw my
poor sister had but little that she could reply ;
the good seed fell into soil naturally good, and
there it took root.

Then came illness. Perhaps, in consequence of
her mental sufferings, Helladia' s health began to
fail. There was a deep-seated cough that would
not be driven away ; she grew thin ; her nights
were restless and feverish, her days wearisome.
When she turned to the comfort and support of
all Christians, the sympathy of the Lord, behold,
it was only the sympathy of a man, and that was
powerless to help. True, Jesus of Nazareth was
exalted to dispense grace and comfort, but only
as the channel of God, not by His own omnipo-
tence. Prayer to Him was cold ; prayer without
Him was terrible. Poor, poor child ! she groped
on in darkness, finding none to help, none to
sympathize. She saw the grave drawing nearer
and nearer, for Eratosthenes the physician told
my mother that all he could now do was to
lengthen, not to preserve, life. This avowal of
danger was made just after my father and Arius
left Alexandria, and Helladia was therefore thrown
into the charge of Euzoius, inferior in all respects
to his master. But, even when I left — at which
time, according to the custom of that most delu-

70 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

sive disease, life seemed likely to win the day after
all — she would not take me into her confidence.
Still I could only pray for her; with her, the
Church forbade.

About a fortnight after I had left, Helladia was
lying on a skimpous drawn to the open window
of the women's apartment. The soft breeze of
the Mediterranean breathed in through myrtle,
jessamine, and heliotrope. It was a cloudless
day in the very glory and royalty of spring. My
mother sat spinning by her child, sometimes say-
ing a word about the weather, sometimes wonder-
ing where my father and I were, and how long
our absence would continue ; sometimes noticing
one of the snowy-sailed boats that darted across
the blue waves.

" Mother/' said Helladia, after a longer silence
than usual.

"Well, my child."

Another pause. — " Mother," again.

" Dearest one ?"

" You know, mother, that I have not very long
to live."

" My precious one ! don't talk so. Perhaps God
will raise you up again ; you know you have been
worse than you are now, have you not ?"

" May be, mother ; but my course is very
nearly run. The question now is, Where shall
I go when I die ?"

" Oh my own pet lamb ! oh my own darling

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 71

child !" and my poor mother began to cry and
sob bitterly.

"Mother, I am not satisfied; I want to get
back into the Church."

" O my precious pet/' said my mother, " what
will your father say ?" and she quite shuddered.

"Is that worth consideration?" asked Helladia.
" It is now a year since I had my doubts. That
vile book — for let who will have written it, it is a
vile book — began them."

Here she was interrupted by a violent fit of
coughing.

"Better not talk so much, my precious one.
There, there, lie down ; you can talk about this
at another time."

" ' When I have a more convenient season, I
will send for thee,'" quoted my sister. "No,
mother, I must speak, and I must speak now,
and you must send for some priest who is not
an Arian."

My poor mother made all the objections she
could, but at length she was forced to promise a
compliance. She hoped, however, to procrastinate
the visit till perhaps Helladia should cease to wish
it. Having no very strong religious feelings her-
self, and having been always accustomed to con-
sider her husband — so far as she was concerned
— an infallible guide, she could not understand
all this distress, and regarded it as the result of
an excited fancy acting on bodily weakness.

72 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI:

But God had provided other and better things.

I have already told you that all this while
Mennas and my Theodora were at Rome. Theo-
dora lived a retired life with an aunt, who pos-
sessed one of the island houses on the Palatine
Hill. Mennas was in lodgings of his own, but
attended the instruction provided for the theo-
logical students near the Lateran Church. Here
he heard of the convocation of the Council of
Nicaea, and was well acquainted with the sub-
deacons whom Pope Silvester appointed as his
legates there. Just after their departure, Sil-
vester laid hands on Mennas, who had been more
than three years a deacon, and raised him to the
priesthood.

It happened that a council had been summoned
in order to discuss the universal controversy, and
it had been resolved that, as soon as the synod of
Nica3a was concluded, and the legates had re-
turned, the Roman council should again meet to
receive its canons, and to look to their dispersion
through Europe. But the passage of St. Diony-
sius, which had been quoted from the very com-
mencement at Alexandria, had also been brought
forward at Rome, and as no very authentic manu-
script of that Bishop's works existed in the impe-
rial city, it was agreed to procure one from Alex-
andria. With this errand Mennas was charged
by Silvester, and he started at about the very
same time that I sailed for Byzantium.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 73

But he started not alone.

Towards the close of the preceding winter, the
aunt with whom Theodora had been staying, died.
Her property went to a distant nephew, except a
small legacy that was bequeathed to Theodora.
And as she had no relative or especial friend in
Rome, she determined to return to Alexandria.
Hearing of the commission entrusted to Hennas,
she entreated him to take charge of her a second
time. A letter was despatched to my mother, pre-
paring her for Theodora's return, and in due time
the priest and my dear betrothed one sailed from
the Port of Rome. It so happened that they had
a singularly favourable passage, while the vessel
by which the letter was sent was delayed by con-
trary winds; and thus, as it fell out, their ac-
tual arrival anticipated their intelligence.

So at the very moment at which my mother and
Helladia were discussing that question of all ques-
tions— What is death ? Theodora, wearied and ill
with her voyage, was being carried up from the
Quay in a litter, — Mennas hastening to present
himself, in the Bishop's absence, to the Arch-
deacon, together with the letters of Silvester.

After this explanation I may go on.

" Well, my child," said my mother, " if you truly
and really feel this, God forbid that I should put
any obstacle in your way. I must do what I can
at your father's return ; in the meanwhile, I will
make enquiries about a priest."

74 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

She had scarcely spoken, when Theodora entered.
I leave you to fancy the intense surprise, a sur-
prise almost too much for the weakness of poor
Helladia. But very soon it was her greatest com-
fort to tell all her doubts, all her difficulties, all
her distresses, to that loving and faithful ear.
Not that day, but the next, they had a long talk
on this matter.

"Do you not know," asked Theodora, "that
Mennas returned with me? Why not tell him
all your troubles ?"

" Oh no ! I could not," cried my poor sister,
hiding her face on her friend's shoulder.

"Yes, but I think you could," said Theodora.
" Listen : he has long prayed for you as for a sister
only : you are doubly separated from each other.
If you had never taken this vow, you could not
be his; he has been admitted to priests' orders.
But if, darling, it is as you think, and God is
about to take you to Himself, let Mennas, so true-
hearted as he is, be the one to teach you how you
may stand before His presence safely."

" I will think about it," whispered Helladia.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 75

CHAPTER VIII.

Macarius attends the opening of 'the great and oecumeni-
cal Council. — They authorize a symbol.

THANKS to the repeated and earnest warning of
Athanasius, my father (for he went with me) and
I were in ample time at the palace. The whole
square in front of it was alive with a vast multi-
tude; yet, by the exertions of the soldiers, a
broad lane was preserved for the bishops, and a
narrow passage for those who had the right of
entrance to the galleries. All, however, were not
so fortunate as we were : I saw several of the
best families in the city trying in vain to bribe
their way in k, an attempt as useless as that of the
Danaids. The hall in which the synod was to
meet l was, as I have said, in the palace. It might
be about eighteen orgyies m in length by five in
breadth, richly adorned with gold and carving ;
the ceiling, in particular, had a representation of
Morning driving forth her steeds from the palace

k The expression in the original MS. is, rb \ey6fjievov 5r) TOVTO
els Aavat8oi)v rovs a/u.(f>opeas fKxeovres iriBovs.

1 Our writer constantly speaks of this as if it were the first
session. We are bound, however, to credit the historians of the
council, that several more private sessions had been held before,
probably not in the hall, and certainly not with the same degree
of splendour. The reason why Constantino had been delayed
from visiting Nicsea earlier was that he had been celebrating the
anniversary of his victory over Licinius at Nicomedia. — TEANSL. i

ra 108 ft. by 30.— TEANSL.

76 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

of Ocean ; you almost saw the foam of the billows
under her wheels. On each side were two rows
of chairs, covered with crimson cloth, for the
bishops ; and yet a third row, below these, of
benches, for the various assessors, priests, scribes,
scholars. The chairs at the upper end of the hall
were also in two rows, four on each side of the
Emperor's throne in each row. By degrees the
hall filled. I felt a friendly touch on my shoulder :
Athanasius was there.

"The Emperor," said he, "will not be here
this half-hour; he has not yet begun to vest.
What a sight it is ! Oh how that prayer has been
in my mind, ' Gird Thee with Thy sword upon
Thy thigh, O Thou most mighty, according to
Thy worship and renown !' "

He was silent for a moment. The deep, low,
earnest hum of an expectant assembly.

" Do you see the bishop nearest the throne on
the right ?"

" Yes," said I : " a very fine-looking old man.
How upright he sits !"

"That is Eustathius of Antioch," said Atha-
nasius. "Look to the left — he that is nearest
to the throne — "

" Is Hosius, is it not ?"

" Right, as the first Roman legate. Those two
next him are Victor and Vitus, priests : I don't
think very much of them. They know Mennas
well."

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 77

"Indeed!"

" Yes ; did you know he was either at, or going
to, Alexandria ?"

"No, indeed; I had—"

All on a sudden, not a shout, — no, but an
ejaculation, as if the feelings of the assembly
could not be controlled, —

" Holy God ! Holy Mighty ! Holy Immortal !
have mercy upon us \"

It went up like a solemn hymn to heaven, and
then silence.

I saw the tears in the eyes of Athanasius. Then
he went on : — " You see, beyond Yitus, that crafty-
looking, dark man?"

" Quite well."

"That is Menophantus of Ephesus; and I wish
he were anywhere else."

"Why?"

" He is a red-hot Arian, and I like not to see
him so near the legates."

" You are safe enough with Hosius, however.
— There are one or two others by them, who are
they ?"

" The very tall man, he that is a Saul among
the rest, is — let me see — is — one confuses names
among so many — aye, is Pistus of Athens ; he an-
swers to his name". And by him is a most dear
friend of mine, one for whom I would die with joy,
one from whom I have learnt more than from any

n "Faithful."

78 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

other living person, — Alexander of Thessalonica.
There, on the other side of the throne, you see
our own Pope ; how worn he is, and well he may
be; he is just leaning over Macarius of Jeru-
salem, and he to whom he is whispering is Leon-
tius, whom we fell in with this morning."

" And that bishop who is sitting by himself, as
if he had not a very large acquaintance ?"

" I dare say he has not, — that is Csecilianus of
Carthage. Ha ! those are the trumpets ! I must
leave you : the Emperor is coming. Pray that
the right may prosper." And he hurried from
the gallery: and we presently saw him stealthily
making his way behind the chairs, and taking
his place at the back of Alexander of Alexandria.

"That is a very able young man," said my
father; "I will say that for him."

" And as good as he is able, my father, if you
would but believe it."

" Humph !" returned he.

And now, the trumpets sounding fiercely out-
side, the doors at the lower end of the hall were
thrown open, and Constantine entered. Tall, well-
made, with an eagle eye, clad in the imperial
purple, with a light crown of gold that was set
with rubies and sapphires alternately, he looked
every inch an emperor. He was accompanied by
a few friends only, all of them Christians. As
soon as he entered the hall he stopped, and made
a low obeisance to this side and to that. He then

^

- A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES.

I COLLEGE

passed slowly and modestly up, and took his place
by the throne ; but did not sit down till the bishops,
who had risen at his entrance, made a sign for
him to do so.

Now, my children, I am not writing a history
of the Church : what followed you can read in
Sozomen, if you would hear the true side; or
Philostorgius °, if you desire the Arian version.
How Eustathius of Antioch welcomed the Em-
peror, how Constantine answered him ; how Euse-
bius of Nicomedia, by his pure Arianism, excited
the indignation of the assembled Fathers ; how,
after hours of talk, the session broke up that
evening, I need not tell you here. The history
of that and the three or four next days was the
same. The session began about the fourth hour,
and lasted till the tenth, or eleventh, or twelfth,
sometimes till the first or second of night. I
heard, of course, the cream of the arguments on
both sides. My father's lodgings were filled every
evening with the heads of the Arian faction ; there,
for example, were constantly Paulinus of Tyre,
Aetius of Lydda, who seemed to me far beyond
Arius himself in bold impiety; Maris of Chalce-
don, Patrophilus of Beth-shan. Many and many
a lovely May evening, while the sun was deluging
those soft western slopes with purple light, I was

0 Would that we now had the Church History of Philostorgius !
but it has perished, excepting only the poor fragments preserved
by Photius.— TEANSL.

80 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI !

compelled to hear the long, weary, never-ending
dissertation on Consubstantial, and Pari-substan-
tial, and Diverse-substantial, till the stars came
softly out, and filled a heaven of peace above an.
earth of strife.

One evening, I remember, when (the session
having broken up somewhat sooner than usual)
Athanasius and I were taking a stroll on the open
downs to the north-east, I said something of the
kind that I have just written down.

" All very pretty, all very pretty," he replied ;
"but, Macarius, if God's work is to be done in
these hot, close rooms, amidst all that strife of
tongues, where men wrangle and bellow for the
mastery till quiet seems lost from the world, why
then there, and not on these evening hills, with
all their sunset beauty, be my place. Don't think
that I do not feel their beauty, that I could not
long to drink my full of it, that I could not
wander in the summer copse, or by the brook
side, till my soul were steeped, as it were, with
their loveliness. I have dreamed of such a life ; I
have dreamed, perhaps, of a sweet companion,
whom I should feel trembling with the beauty
and the love of the hour upon my arm, whose
cheek should rest on my shoulder, whose eyes I
might read as," he added, smiling, " I have seen
you read your Theodora's. But it is not for me.
Mine, I know it, is to be a life of strife ; the strife
of blaspheming tongues and of Gallio-like poli-

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 81

ticians; the strife of strong enemies and weak
friends. But—"

And lie looked upward, and verily his face was
as it were the face of an angel.

Five or six such walks I had with him, sometimes
alone, sometimes with one or more of his most inti-
mate friends ; oftenest, perhaps, with that Hermo-
genes whom I mentioned to you not long since, and
who, in process of time, became Bishop of Ccesarea.

But though I have said that I do not intend
to be an historian of the council, I will relate,
as well as I can, what happened on one even-
ing : that one particular evening which was, so to
speak, the keystone of the whole proceedings.
The synod had met, much as it had done on the
first day, except that the Emperor was not there.
Eustathius of Antioch was president ; he sat on a
chair placed in front of, but rather lower than,
the golden throne. By this time the principal
speakers of the council were known to all; the
strength of the Arians, reckon it as you would,
did not exceed twenty or twenty-one ; the whole
number was 318. It was a number that was
much remarked, not only as being the same with
that of the trained servants of Abraham, the
father of the faithful, but as forming the Lord's
name with the cross.

T 300.

i 10.

H 8.

AM. G

82 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

The Arian bishops usually collected together in
the front and hired benches, near the upper part
of the room, on the Emperor's left hand, and so
near the Roman legates and Menophantus of
Ephesus.

It was now wished to draw up a creed, which
should serve to express the faith of the Church,
and which should yet be accepted — if it might so
be — by all the prelates. The only difficulty was
that which concerned the Son of God, — to use
language which could not be distorted, and which
yet should be simple and short.

Alexander had been speaking, and he now con-
cluded by proposing that the Council should simply
declare the Son of God to be God.

There was a great shout of applause : " It is
the faith of Peter ! it is the faith of Paul ! Ana-
thema to him that gainsays !"

"My brother of Nicomedia," said the Presi-
dent, "has it your approbation that this sacred
Council, inspired by the Holy Ghost, should de-
clare the Son to be God ?"

" I would so declare it with pleasure," said Eu-
sebius; "but before I commit myself further, I
would, with your Brotherliness's permission, con-
sult with those with whom I usually act."

Accordingly, he, and several other of the Arian
leaders, formed a circle towards the left hand
upper corner of the hall, and seemed very eager
in debate. Arius, Theonas of Marmarica, and

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 83

Menopliantus of Ephesus appeared the most em-
phatic speakers. At the end of about a quarter
of an hour Eusebius came forward, and the others
resumed their seats.

"We are content/' said he, "that this should
be so expressed in the Creed : ' I believe in the
Son of God, God Himself.'"

There was great applause, and I really thought
that the two parties were coming to an agreement.
But Athanasius seemed very ill at ease ; he passed
behind the golden throne, and spoke hastily to
the legates. In another minute Hosius said,
" Have I your Brotherliness's leave to ask Arius
a question ?"

" Surely," replied Eustathius.

"Arius," said he, "do I understand you also to
affirm that the Son of God is God ?"

"I am ready to swear my belief in it," re-
plied he.

" And you would repeat the words as I have
repeated them?"

" Surely ; why not ? Is it not written in your
law, ( I said, Ye are gods ?' If he then called them
gods—"

Eusebius darted an indignant glance at Arius.
So this was what they meant, this the grand
truth so carefully to be embodied in the Creed,
that, as they were called gods, so was the Eternal
Word God, — so, and not otherwise !

" Out with the Egyptian ! out with the heretic !"

84 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI ;

was the cry. On the other hand — but there were
not many voices — " Arius teaches as Peter !"
" One Paul, one Arius !"

" This will not do," said Hosius ; " in the same
sense we may affirm any holy man to be God."

" Say," said Leontius of Csesarea, " that He is
always God."

" I do say so," replied Arius.

" Nothing clearer," cried Menophantus.

" Does this great and holy synod adopt that
expression?" asked the President.

" Remembering," said Arius, " that it is written,
' We which live are always/ Our Lord is, as I
have expressed it, God ; He lives God, therefore
He is always God."

" I affirm," said Alexander, " that He is very
God of very God."

" I affirm the like," retorted Eusebius ; " if He
has verily been so made, verily He so is. Why,
the majority would be satisfied with nothing less
than calling Him Cousubstantial with the Father !"

" Let us say so !" cried Athanasius.

" The Holy Ghost speaks by Athanasius !" was
the cry. " Athanasius a second Peter !" " Atha-
nasius another Paul !" " Let us worship the Con-
substantial !"

Louder cries of " Out with the second Apol-
linarius !" " Remove not the old landmarks !"
"Athanasius to exile !"

When a little quiet was re-established, Eusebius

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 85

of Nicomedia rose : "I protest against the word,"
said he, " as not Scriptural. Why do we introduce
words that are not in the Bible into our ecclesias-
tical formulae ?"

"Who ever heard such an objection?" retorted
Leontius. "How then speak we of the Trinity
itself? how of dioceses? how of provinces? how
of parishes? how of the blessed Eucharist? And
so I might add a hundred names of the like kind."

"Besides/' said the other Eusebius, he that
afterwards became the historian, " how dare we,
or can we, introduce a word which was expressly
condemned by a great council? My brother of
Antioch, I charge you to tell us, — in the acts
of the council holden against your predecessor
Paul—"

There was a shout of " Anathema to the Samo-
satene !" " He that defends Paul is a Jew !"

" — were not the Fathers unanimous in affirm-
ing that the Son of God was NOT consubstantial
with the Father, and in anathematizing such as
should say He was?"

" It is true," replied the President.

" But," said Hosius, " why ? Because that here-
tic, whom the Roman see condemns, used the
word in an earthly and carnal sense, as if the
Son were consubstantial with the Father in the
same manner in which the earthly child is con-
substantial with his parents, by way of carnal
generation. This was the impiety which the

86 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

council condemned; the other question came
riot before them/'

" If it please this holy Synod," said Athanasius,
speaking for the first time that day, " I have the
acts of that council, attested by the Archivist
of Antioch, and by the handwriting of the late
Bishop Paulinus. The President can certify, I
doubt not, to the autograph of his predecessor of
blessed memory."

" Let the book be handed in," said Eustathius.

Athanasius brought it.

" If it be the pleasure of this great Synod to
hear any portion of these acts, I can certify, by
the truth of Jesus Christ," — he laid his hand on
his heart, and looked up to heaven, — " that this is
the handwriting of my predecessor Paulinus, now
with God, whom the Lord took to Himself less
than twelve months agone. Also that this is the
handwriting of Serbonas, Archivist of the Great
Church, now living."

" Read the acts !" was vociferated in the hall.

" The whole acts are very long," said Athana-
sius, " and the greater part of them have but little
to do with the matter in hand. With the leave
of the Synod, I will read those passages which bear
on the subject now before this great Council, and
will then leave the book with my lord, the Lord
President, to the end that any who doubts whether
I read them fairly may be able to certify himself."

This was done, and the passages thus read bore

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 87

fully out what Hosius had said. When the Dea-
con laid down the volume, and while a desultory
conversation was going on, Arius beckoned for it.
Athanasius gave it to him, and received in return
from that meek, saintly face, such a scowl of deadly
hate as I never elsewhere beheld.

" Bless my soul !" cried my father, who also
noticed it.

The few Arians still continued to ring the
changes on the want of Scriptural authority, and
on the condemnation at Antioch ; but the Council
was evidently becoming impatient.

" Is it then the will of this great and oecumenical
Council that the word 'consubstantial' shall stand
a part of the Creed ?"

After the usual hubbub, Eustathius said, " I
must take your voices by numbers. First, let all
men, save the bishops, withdraw to the lower end
of the room."

This was done ; but presently there arose a
fierce shout of "Theonas! Theonas ! Secundus!
Secundus !"

My father turned hastily round, in a maze of
apprehension. One word from me made him
smile at his own mistake.

"Upon my word," said he, "one never can
say what breach of good manners he may have
been guilty of."

Hosius in the meanwhile had risen : " I appeal,"
he said, " to your Brotherliness, whether these two

THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

can be permitted to vote in the Council, seeing
that they were excommunicated in the council
holden at Alexandria."

Eustathius looked for the moment rather puzzled.
" It is true," said he, " that, according to the strict-
ness of ecclesiastical rule, they ought not ; but con-
sidering that the very reason why this synod was
convoked was to judge the dispute which brought
about that council, I do not know that we are
bound to accept its determinations as altogether
binding; or, in plain terms, if that council were
decisive, no need of this ; if it were not decisive,
Secundus and Theonas may take their place in
this."

For the first time the decision of the President
did not seem satisfactory to the Council, taken as
a whole, though the shouts of the little band of
Arians were long and loud. However, no further
opposition was made ; nor indeed, considering the
overwhelming Catholic majority, was it a point
worth much debate. As we looked down from
the galleries, those who were against the insertion
in the future Creed of the word ' consubstantiaP
stood immediately below us, to be counted by
units, while their opponents were to be numbered
by scores. It happened that about fifteen of the
Fathers were absent, and when the President had
the list of names handed in to him, there were two
hundred and eighty-six who believed in the Con-
substantial, while only seventeen opposed its inser-

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 89

tion in the Creed. The next step was the appoint-
ment of a certain number of bishops to draw up
the Creed. They chose twelve : I need not go
through the names ; but Leontius of Csesarea was
one of the principal ; Hosius was chairman. They
withdrew into one of the many apartments of the
palace, the business being suspended while they
were absent ; and then arose the great hum of a
body of men released, for the moment, from in-
tense and overwhelming interest, and allowed a
pause for mental recreation.

Athanasius again found his way to my side, as
he generally did in such intervals. "What an
afternoon this has been !" he said ; " and how
marvellously has God brought us through it."

" I almost wonder," said I, " that the minority
is not larger. Consider the influence which Meno-
phantus of Ephesus and Eusebius of Nicomedia
have. I should have thought that their own fol-
lowers would have amounted to a greater number
than their supporters can muster altogether."

" If this were a synod of priests instead of
bishops, I fear that the minority would be
very much larger. The heresy needed, indeed,
to be crushed in the egg, for the young dragon
would soon have protruded in full strength and
venom."

My father, I could see, was very much struck,
perhaps startled, by the unanimous consent of the
three hundred prelates. He was not an uncandid

90 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

man, and he was now forced to confess that the
doctrines he had been embracing — he could
scarcely tell why, at first — were henceforth to be
the tenets of a sect cut off from the Church, no
longer the opinions of a recognised body in the
Church. Several times in the long evenings I
had heard him say something of the same kind,
but this day was the first on which numbers had
been fairly tried ; and this was an argument which
had especial weight with him. However, he said
but little; only I, who was accustomed to read
his countenance, saw that he thought much.

Need I tell you how it was that the synod
spoke ? I see them now, that little band of picked
theologians, — martyrs, confessors, doctors, — as
they again entered the hall, and sat together on
chairs provided for them near the President.
Then Hermogenes, that dear friend of Athanasius,
came forward, and, receiving the orders of Eusta-
thius to read the symbol aloud, did so thus : —

" We believe in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of all things visible and invisible :

"And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-
begotten Son of God begotten of the Father,
that is, of the substance of the Father, God of
God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Fa-
ther; by whom all things were made both in
heaven and earth, who for us men and for our
salvation came down and was incarnate, and was

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 91

made man. He suffered, and rose again the third
day, and ascended into heaven; and shall come
again to judge the quick and the dead.

"And we helieve in the Holy Ghost.

" And for them that say, concerning the Son of
God, There was a time when He was not ; and,
He was not before He was produced; and, He
was produced from things that are not ; and, He
is of another substance, or essence, or creature, or
subject to conversion or mutation, the Catholic
and Apostolic Church saith, Let them be ana-
thema."

CHAPTER IX.

The great misery of Helladia, who cannot believe. —
One Anthony comes from the desert. — She departs
happily in the Lord.

WHILE the fate of the Church trembled, to
human eyes, in the balance at Nicsea, the eternal
destinies of one poor girl were hanging in uncer-
tainty at Alexandria.

Oh faith ! misery, tenfold misery, to them that
have lost it ! You may cast away the jewel with
an idle hand ; you may search for it again with
bitter tears in the wilderness of this world, and
not be able to find it. Helladia, by slow degrees,
had let her pearl be taken from her ; and now,

LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE

92

THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

sinking into the grave, eternity spreading wider
and wider before her, no daysman between the
God of infinite justice and the naked soul, trem-
bling in its infinite impurity, — what could she fly
to; whom could she hope in ?

She could not believe.

Mennas pleaded her cause in earnest prayer
with That Saviour Whom she had rejected : it
seemed all in vain.

" Try/' he would say, " to cry out, as the poor
father of old, { Lord, I believe, help Thou mine
unbelief/ "

" I cannot," she answered, with a look of set-
tled despair. " I would give all I have, I would
go through tortures like those of the martyrs,
if I might but believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is very God. Oh if I could ! oh if I could but
think that He who died on the cross in agony is
the eternal God I"

" You did believe so once, my poor, poor
child."

" I did ; and I bartered my faith for Arius.
He moulded me as he would ; he persuaded me
to cast away my trust : I see how false, how
cruel, how delusive is his doctrine, and yet I
cannot grasp yours. 0 God ! would that I had
never been born !"

So she would talk till some fearful fit of cough-
ing seemed to threaten immediate dissolution,
and the thin pale hands grew thinner and paler,

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 93

the hollow cheeks more sunken, the bright beau-
tiful eyes kindled into unnatural brightness.

"What can I, shall I do?" said Eratosthenes;
" she has a weight on her mind that no earthly
physic can reach. Remove that, Sir/' — he was
speaking to Mennas, — "and though recovery is
impossible, I might promise you lengthened life
and euthanasy."

"Ah, Sir, that is in God's hands; my poor
efforts are useless ; He must manifest His own
strength, for mortal help is in vain."

My poor mother ! she did not believe, she had
not depth of mind to feel, that the controversy
was one of salvation and damnation : she hoped
that both sides would meet in a common hea-
ven ; she was rather sorry that her husband had
thought fit to follow the newer doctrine, but she
thought, as a good obedient wife, that she could
only follow it too. And poor, poor comfort was
hers to the dying girl, straining, in the last
agony of departing existence, for that faith, once
hers, now so fondly, so madly lost.

It was about a month after Mennas's return ;
the weather was intensely hot, and increased the
dying Helladia's sufferings to a fearful extent.
It was evening ; the sun had gone down ; there
was a tremulous silver whiteness on the sea, where
an hour before had been the path of glory to the
West, and the whole Occident was like a glorious
meadow, only greener than was ever the luxuriance

94 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

of the Fortunate Isles, and one star bloomed out
upon its beauty, a glorious flower of gold.

Helladia's couch had been moved to the open
window. None in the house attempted to con-
ceal from himself or from others that she had but
a few hours to live.

"Oh how I used to long/' she said, "when I
was a child, to travel up that path to the country
where it leads ! and how I would build up to my-
self a glorious city in those clouds, with their sun-
set beauty ! The childish vision is gone, and the
real, true prospect is utter darkness \"

Mennas and my mother were sitting in the
room. There was a perfect silence, except for the
sobs of the latter. At length the Priest quoted,
very slowly and calmly : " Behold, I go forward,
but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot
perceive Him : on the left hand, where He doth
work, but I cannot behold Him : He hideth Him-
self on the right hand, that I cannot see Him :
but He knoweth the way that I take."

" And you feel this, Helladia, now."

" I do not complain : I deserve all I suffer.
Faith is the gift of God. I had it once." She
spoke in broken sentences, as if the effort of many
words together were getting beyond her power.

" And you will have it again, Helladia. You say
that you would suffer anything to win it back —

" Would I not ?" she exclaimed, with all her
poor strength. " God knows I would."

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 95

" Then, however long He may seem not to hear
you, He will hear you at last. Trust wholly to
Him ; say as the poor thief, — e And we indeed
justly P and, ' Heaviness may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning/ "

So they sat on, night darkening and darken-
ing. The window was closed ; the moon came up
from the horizon ; the Mediterranean heaved and
rippled in her golden beauty. Eratosthenes paid
his evening visit ; Mennas left the room while the
physician made his accustomed — oh how unavail-
ing ! — enquiries, but met the man of science in
the hall.

" How is she to-night, Sir ?"

" Sinking rapidly ; I doubt if she sees sun-
rise."

" So soon I" cried Mennas.

"Nature cannot support this mental struggle
much longer ; the kindest thing to wish for is her
deliverance. I assure you, if her bodily powers
protract the conflict with death much longer, I
tremble for her mind. But come, walk with me
towards my house : you are injuring yourself by
your own anxiety. A man of the world like my-
self— though I assure you I am as staunch a
Catholic as any one — cannot be supposed to feel
this matter quite so deeply as you do. Come, if
it be but for half-a-mile ; and I assure you that
she is better left alone just at present."

Mennas, hardly knowing why, consented. " Tell

URDAPY CT UAPY't COHPCF

96 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

your lady/' he said to Ammonarium, " that I shall
be back in half-an-hour." And the two went
forth together.

A marvellous sight was Alexandria at night-
fall. Great oil lamps were flaring in every
shop ; boys with torches lighting passengers on
their way ; in the middle of the squares fires
were lighted, even in the height of summer,
partly for the light they gave, partly because they
were considered preservatives against the plague,
which in the hot months always exists, more or
less, in the crowded alleys of the city. So past
jewellers' shops, past the idol-makers, who still
drove a flourishing trade, and where you might
buy a Minerva, or an Apollo, or a Juno, if you
were of the Latin religion, at a reasonable rate;
an Isis or Osiris, if you were an Egyptian, much
cheaper ; past statuaries, with which the city
abounded ; past emporiums of silk, and woven airP,
and other luxuries of the East ; past fishmongers,
who imported their oysters even from Richborough
in Britain, — Mennas and Eratosthenes walked on.
The physician lived in the most fashionable quarter
of the city, — at least, so it was then ; it is where
now the catechetical school stands; and Mennas
accompanied him from this house almost as far as
that point; then he bade him good night and
returned. But he had not gone far, when, com-
ing to the corner of the street of the Unmercenary

P i. e. gauze.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 97

Ones, which was then called the street of the
Twin Goddesses, a very, very old man, but in a
hale and bright old age, came down that street
and met him. He was clothed in a sheepskin, and,
under that, in a piece of sacking only; he wore a
kind of cap made of sacking, had sandals on his
feet, and a very sturdy staff in his hand. Mennas
saw at once that he was one of the hermits who
were then beginning to congregate round the
mountain of Nitria.

" My business is with you, my son," he said.

"With me, good father! and yet I know you
not."

" Did Philip know the Eunuch to whom he was
sent ?" replied the old man. " The Lord has given
me a commission to you, and that is enough."

" More than enough, good father," said Mennas,
who knew that, without some urgent cause, one of
these anchorites would not be found in the city.

" You have," said the old man, walking on with
him, " a very dear charge at home, even now in
the valley of the shadow of death."

" True, my father."

"And, according to that of the Psalmist, ' Fear-
fulness and trembling are come upon her, and an
horrible dread hath overwhelmed her/ "

"God only knows how truly you speak, my
father."

"I am called Anthony," said the old man, "a
miserable sinner : and my business is with her.

AM. H

LIBRARY ST. MARY'S COLLEGE

98 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

Let us be quick, for the sands of her life are run-
ning out very fast, and I would fain be back in
the desert."

Young and vigorous though Mennas were, he
had some difficulty in keeping up with the old
man's steps. Leading the way rather than follow-
ing, Anthony proceeded straight to my father's
house, but spoke no more. "When they came to
the outer door, the old man struck with his staff
on the Cave Canem written on the pavement,
and said, " What dog is that, my son ?"

Mennas looked at him without understanding.

" I say, my son/' continued Anthony, in a
louder voice, " what dog is that ?"

And as the other did not reply, he added,
answering his own question, " It is Arius. Now
follow me in."

As he spoke they knocked within «, and An-
thony, entering as if he had been acquainted with
the house all his life, passed up the long corridor,
turned to the left, and, without any ceremony,
went into the room where Helladia was lying,
followed closely by Mennas, who, as you may
suppose, was very eager to learn in what all this
would terminate.

The couch, it was a skimpous, on which the

i As the street doors of the Romans always opened outwards, it
was customary that any one wishing to come out, or to open the
door, sh mid knock on its inside, to give notice to those in the
street who might happen to be passing. — TEANSL.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 99

flying girl was lying, was still in the same place
where it had been when Mennas had left the
room, by the window ; only now the moon-path
on the sea was more golden, and had travelled a
little towards the west. My mother was seated
by the side of the skimpous ; and Ammonarium
stood by the window crying quietly. Helladia
seemed to be in greater mental agony than even
before the visit of Eratosthenes. She did not at
first see who it was that entered the room ; her
mother stood up with an expression of surprise,
and Ammonarium took one step forward, as if
doubtful whether to call assistance. Seeing Men-
nas, however, they seemed to look to him for an
explanation of so strange an intrusion.

"Peace be to this house/' said Anthony, in a
clear, calm voice. " My child, I am a miserable sin-
ner that dwells in the desert, but God has sent me
to you. You are led away by the allurements of
that wolf in sheep's clothing, who in due time
shall go" — and he shuddered as if some dreadful
vision came across him — " to his own place."
" I was so, holy father."

t( I am not holy, my child, nor yet a priest ; but
I am God's messenger still. And now that you
would fain return to the Catholic belief, you find
that you cannot; that faith is the gift of God,
and that He has not as yet bestowed it upon
you?"

The poor trembling lips said, " Yes."

100 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

" And you have cried to God with all your might
that He would remove this darkness from you?"

"Yes," again.

" And you have thought His^ help very long in
coming ?"

" Oh so long !"

"But it has come at last." He paused for a
few seconds, and then continued, " Do you believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, co-equal, and
co-eternal, and consubstantial with the Father ?
My child, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, I
command you to say Yes.

" I do, I do !" she cried, her whole face light-
ing up with joy : "I do believe with all my
heart and soul ; the darkness is quite gone." And
she raised herself on the couch, as if she would
fain have thrown herself at the feet of the an-
choret.

" Then my ' work," said Anthony, " is over
here : we shall never meet again in this world.
Mennas, remember me, a miserable sinner, in
your prayers."

He was gone before they could realize what
had happened, or what was the full meaning of
his words. But then, in an ecstacy of gladness,
Mennas turned to the bed-side. Helladia had
sunk down on the couch ; the same beautiful smile
was on her lips; but her spirit had gone to be
with that Jesus of Nazareth Whom she had con-
fessed God with her latest breath.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 101

CHAPTER X.

The conclusion of the Council. — TJieonas consents
to Ms son's marriage.

THIS happened on the same night on which, in
far-off Nicaea, the Creed was drawn up. I now
return to that place.

How can I tell you of the confusion and tumult
in which the session concluded? The small but
compact Arian minority declared that nothing
should ever induce them thus to deny the old
faith. They would raise their congregations ; they
would boldly affirm themselves to be the Church,
and the Athanasians (for that name then first
began to be used), to be the schismatics.

The whole city was filled with confusion : mul-
titudes walked the streets till far on in the depth
of night : here and there even disturbances ; some
damage was done to the lodgings of Eusebius of
Nicomedia, and Arius was hunted home by some
of the young townsmen.

My father did not conceal from me his un-
easiness. " It is difficult/' he said, " to know
what course to pursue. I will freely confess it,
I had no idea that the majority against us would
be such as it is. When I saw the numbers of the
Council, I thought that, perhaps, we might reckon
some 120 or 130 to your 200 or 190. As it is,
though I do not allow that a mere majority is

102 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

enough to settle a question of truth, I do think
that such a majority as this is a very serious
thing. I cannot see how the promise is fulfilled,
' Lo ! I am with you alway/ if, when the Church
has free* voice to speak, not one in sixteen hold
the truth. I must sleep upon this, aye, and not
to-night only, but many nights, perhaps. But I
will deal candidly with you, my son, and tell you
if any change should occur in my judgment."

On the next morning Constantiue, who had in
the meantime received warning that, if he were
not there, the session was likely to be a stormy
one, was present. At first, matters proceeded
tranquilly enough : the Creed was produced, read
over, and then the signatures were called for.
And for two hours metropolitan after metropoli-
tan, and bishop after bishop, came up to the little
table of signature, took pen in hand, and affixed
his name. The recusants held back to the last.

There were seventeen ; Eusebius of Nicomedia
was their spokesman.

After much disputing, — "I entreat you/' he
cried, " august Emperor, not to drive us to stand
at bay. We have done good service to your
throne; we have ever prayed for your life, and
that of your august family ; we have laboured
for the propagation of the true faith ; and now,
for a word, unknown to — unknown to ? — rather,
rejected by — our fathers, we are to be made
offenders."

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 103

Hosius was about to reply, but the Emperor rose.

" This great and oecumenical Synod," said he,
"has been the mouth; I am but the hand. What
it confirms with the sword of the Spirit, I will
ratify by the carnal weapon. I pronounce no theo-
logical judgment; but the bishop that signs not
this symbol is sent into exile."

The resolute manner in which he spoke shewed
that no entreaties could move him. My father,
who had always had a great idea of obeying the
constituted authorities, even in matters in Avhich
they cannot speak with any validity of judgment,
was very much shaken.

After an hour's weary discussion, twelve more
signed. And now there were but five dissentients, —
Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theognius of Nicaea, Maris
of Chalcedon, and Secundus and Theonas of Lybia.

For some time I thought that these five would
have remained firm ; but the love of the world
was too strong in Eusebius. Just as the Emperor
was about to declare the session at an end, he
advanced to the table. For a moment his hand
was held over the symbol itself, as if he were
diligently perusing it. He then signed hastily, and
Maris and Theognius followed his example.

Mean liars ! Eusebius had inserted an i, thus
turning homousios into homoiusios* ; as if thus they
could cheat the Searcher of all hearts. But the
guile answered — in this world.

r i.e. of the same substance into of like substance.

104 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

Theonas and Secundus, and I honour them for
it, stood firm. "Exile, imprisonment, tortures,
death if it needs be, but no Consubstantial \"

And perhaps the Consubstantial, rewarding
their honesty and pardoning their unbelief, has
admitted them into that kingdom where, if every
one that "maketh a lie" is excluded, Eusebius,

Maris, and Theognius can never have place.

*******

I need not dwell on the canons of that great
Council, on the concluding session and enact-
ments, nor on the final banquet with which Con-
stantine terminated the proceedings. Ten days
did not elapse from its conclusion, before the
good ship Onocentaur, bearing my father and my-
self, was bounding southward over the JEgean.

" I remain in my old belief," my father had
said ; " but you have stood the test nobly, and
I hold out no longer. Theodora shall be yours
when you both will."

We little thought of the great woe that was
to meet us at Alexandria ; and yet, for me, woe
mingled with joy. But let that pass.

If we could have soared far above this earth,
within a fortnight after the termination of the
Council, what should we have seen passing below
us for the Name and glory of the Consubstantial ?

Who is this that, day after day, is traversing
the fertile smiling plains of Galatia? The second
hay harvest is smiling around him ; the maize,

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 105

big, full- eared, waving in the breeze, spreads
measurelessly before him ; he tracks many a mile
the smiling waters of the Halys ; he sees the
ruined castles of the Macedonian dynasty, that
are reflected in its smooth bosom; the dragon-
fly sports amidst its reeds, the moor-hen cowers
amidst its banks, the bittern booms from its bul-
rushes. Now Mount Ophlimus is golden in the
sunrise ; now he leaves it behind him, and it is
purple in the sunset; now the midnight winds
make wild music in the glens of the Anti-Taurus ;
now the great Euphrates flows on before him,
exulting in its strength; now he sees the moon
in the ripples of the lake of Ooromiah ; now the
Caspian basks in the autumn sunshine before
him. It is John, Bishop of Persepolis, who pro-
claims the tidings of the Consubstantial to Persia.

Who is this that, on a glorious autumn evening,
passes the north-eastern African headland, runs
into the long bay of Carthage, sees the sun go
down behind the sandhills, — which he fires into
the hue of molten iron, — and the palm-trees wave
softly in the breeze ; that passes the ruined tem-
ples of the rival of Rome, and goes forth into the
oases of the great African desert ? It is Csecilian,
Metropolitan of Carthage.

Who is it that lands in the busy port of Barci-
none, and sees the glorious sunset on the Oros-
pedan range? who proclaims the Consubstantial
in the churches of Toledo, and skirts the banks

106 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI :

of the gold-bearing Tagus ? who lingers in the
lovely vales of Gallsecia, that earthly paradise,
where the pendent grapes festoon the roads, and
the fire-flies dart from the hedges, and the luscious
oranges hang amidst their snowy blossoms, and
myrtle and olive and heliotrope perfume the air ?
It is Hosius, Bishop of Cordova.

Who lands at busy Massilia, and hears the Greek
of Athens; ascends the Rhine to his bridal meeting
with Arar; proclaims the faith in regal Lugdunum ;
preaches to the half-civilized Sequani and Lin-
gones ; tells of the Consubstantial in Lutetia and
along the banks of the Sequana ; skirts the coasts
of the British ocean to Bononia; ventures, in-
spired by the love of Christ, to cross it to the
Portus Lemanianus, along the Watlingj Way to
Londinium, by the Ermine Street to Durolipons,
thence by the Via Devana to Mediolanum and
distant Deva? Gorgeous sunsets he saw across
the ocean of Rutuuian forests, purple loveliness
round the Welsh ridges; and everywhere he
taught that Christ was co-equal and co-eternal
with the Father, and preached the faith of Nicsea.
It is Vitus, Roman legate.

Who is this in the snow-sailed cercurus that
darts from island to island of the blue ^Egean,
to the cove beautiful with its fishing village,
and ruined temple, and rising church ; to the
vineyard, to the maize-field, to the corn-land,
to the shelly beach, to the broad white shelly

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 107

tracts of sand ? who that rambles through groves
once dedicated to the worship of idols, now,
with the " sound of the going " in their summits,
singing anthems to the one true God? Delian
Apollo, Chian Aphrodite, Methymnsean Zeus,
Lesbian Dionysus, in the ground once sacred
to you, Alexander of Byzantium preaches the
Consubstantial.

And, lastly, who is this that is drawing near
the scenes of man's redemption? Libanus with
its cedars makes a bed for the last rays of the
sun ; Mount Carmel, breasting the Mediterra-
nean, marks his base with snowy foam for many
a mile; the hills of Ebal and Gerizim are silent
in the noontide glare ; now the City of Palm-trees
is passed; now, rising on the horizon, Mount
Moriah is the pilgrim's goal ; now he passes the
excavation where the Saviour of the world was
crucified, and where they hope to find His cross ;
and now he enters the Judicial Gate, and fol-
lows the Via Dolorosa to the centre of the city.
It is Macarius of Jerusalem.

Thus, as soon as the Fathers of the Council
ceased speaking, " their sound went out into all

lands, and their words unto the ends of the world."

*******

Well, my children, need I tell you the joy
of that moment when, after six years of separa-
tion, I held Theodora to my heart, and told her
that God had given her to me ? Or need I say

108 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

that, deferring our marriage out of love to our
Helladia, we were crowned for each other after the
ensuing Pentecost by Athanasius, (for Alexander
had slept in the Lord,) then Pope of Alexandria ?

No; but I have something else to tell you still.

It was eleven years after the great "Council.
Many of that generation had been gathered to
their fathers ; among others, Constantine.

Everywhere throughout the Church was fierce
strife and contention. There was council after
council ; synods of Arians, semi-Arians and Catho-
lics ; creeds dated and undated, long-tailed creeds
and short-tailed creeds; never had the Church
been so tempest-tossed ; never had the dove found
so little rest for the sole of her foot. But with
me, through the blessing of God, things had gone
very happily. My Theodora was now the mother
of five children ; two little girls, named after her-
self and Helladia, my eldest boy, called after me,
Athanasius, and Mennas. By the bye, Mennas,
of whom I have had occasion to say so much,
and who lifted this child from the font, joined
the mission to Ethiopia, and has lately been con-
secrated bishop somewhere in Nubia.

My father still remained a firm Arian ; but he
was on the best terms with us, and even per-
mitted my mother to return to her old faith.

In the spring of the year of which I speak it
was necessary that both he and I should visit
Constantinople. There were very large dealings

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 109

between our house and the chief purveyors of that
place ; and the head partner of their firm happen-
ing to die suddenly, our accounts were thrown
into such confusion that, in order to unravel
them, the heads of the two houses resolved to
meet. I was very sorry to be forced to leave
Alexandria at all, but more especially at the
beginning of the great fast. We had a prosper-
ous voyage, and reached the imperial city about
the middle of the Forty Days. We had arrived
at a most critical season. A council had been
held, in which that extraordinary man, Marcellus
of Ancyra, had been condemned, whether justly
or unjustly God knows. The principal personages
of both parties were now at Constantinople, and
Constantius had been persuaded by that great
intriguer, Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had one
foot in the grave, to insist on the reception of
Arius to communion in the Great Church. It
was in vain that that venerable old prelate, Alex-
ander, then archbishop, besought and adjured the
Emperor not to be guilty of so great a crime.
The Arian party appeared to have all the power
on their side, and were determined to use it to
the utmost. The day fixed for this reception was
the following Sabbath, we having arrived on the
Thursday. We had lodgings at the house of
one Tarasius, a shell-fish seller, and as we sat at
dinner on the Friday my father was in unusual
spirits.

110 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

"We shall win the day, after all/' said he.
"I called on my old friend Arius this morning, —
aged he is, but he looks very well, — to congratulate
him. I have promised to join the procession to-
morrow : childish things these processions are, to
my taste, but still he wished it, and so I said yes.
Shall you be there ?"

" I am going presently to call on the bishop,"
answered I ; " I shall probably be with him."

"Well," said my father, "remember that we
have a meeting of the partners at the second hour
to-morrow ; and whatever you do, you must not
fail that."

Dinner over, I went out to call on Alexander,
with whom I had been somewhat intimate at
Nicsea. There I found James of Nisibis, and my
old friend Hermogenes.

"Ah, Macarius !" said Alexander ; "you see us
indeed in distress. This day is a day of trouble,
and rebuke, and blasphemy, as the Prophet saith.
I see no possible means of escape, unless God
Himself shall stretch forth His hand on our
behalf."

"The more reason then," said James, "have
we to cry out with holy David, ' Plead Thou my
cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me;'
and we will do it to-night."

" Yes," said Hermogenes ; " this night I, if no
one else, will spend before the altar of the Great
Church. It is time indeed for us to cry mightily

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. Ill

COX/Jui^^1

to God, for there seems no hope of assistance
from man."

"I also shall do the same," said Alexander.
"My people have fasted now seven days, being
instant in their supplications, either that God
would turn the Emperor's heart, or that Arius
might be taken out of the world."

" And I, too," said James of Nisibis, " will not
fail to be with you. Let us three bishops be
found where bishops ought to be in time of
extremity, at the altar of the universal Bishop
of souls/'

" I am but a layman," said I, " but may I be
found with you to-night ?"

" Come with us," said Alexander ; " others be-
side you will keep vigil in the church : the time
appointed is from midnight till sunrise."

Never before nor since have I passed a night
like that. The whole church was full of men
praying silently ; the galleries were, in like man-
ner, thronged with women. The holy doors were
open, and beyond them we saw the three bishops
kneeling before the holy table, and twenty-four
priests behind them. In all that great multitude
was profound silence ; but hour after hour of the
night-watches the incense of much prayer was
offered before the golden altar that is on high. By
degrees the light stole in, the lamps seemed to
grow pale, the various external sounds shewed
that the great city was awaking to life. One by

112 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI I

one the worshippers went out ; but the bishops,
though Alexander was fourscore and six years
old, still knelt on. And this, they said, was the
continual prayer of the aged man, — " Either me
or Arius, O Lord ! — take either me or Arius out
of the world!"

I transacted the business that I had to do, and
then went back to see what was going on in the
church. It was locked now, I found, to prevent
any insults from the Arians ; but the hierophylax
told me that the bishops had never come out, that
the priests had now returned, and meant to remain
there till the last moment.

About mid-day people began to wend their way
to the Emperor's palace, for from thence the pro-
cession was to start, and, taking the whole circuit
of the city, to finish at the Great Church.

Though it was in Lent, Eusebius had given a
sumptuous banquet to the principal persons of his
party, several of them being men high in station
at court. My father had been invited, but was
unable to attend; he, about the seventh hour,
went down to the appointed place, and took up
his position in the procession. For the next hour
and a-half the sound of trumpets, flutes, and haut-
boys came more clearly or more softly over the
city, as the procession wound through the nearer
or more distant streets. At length, it then wanting
about half- an- hour to the time appointed for the
reception, I went towards the church.

A HISTORY OF NICENE TIMES. 113

As I came opposite the porphyry pillar of
Constantine, in the centre of the great square,
the procession was making its entrance in the
same square from the street of St. Irene. Now
it turned to the left, expanding its full length as
its foremost ranks got further and further round
the quadrangle. Arius, Eusebius, Euzoius, and
other leaders, came almost last; my father had
gone on a little hefore. They passed close to me :
Arius, whom I had seen for a moment in the
morning, and who was then unusually flushed,
was now, I observed, deadly pale. Even as he
was at the closest to me, he took hold of the
arm of Euzoius, and said, "I must stop for a
moment."

" We are just there," said Eusebius : " are you
not well ?"

" I must go into a house," said the arch-heretic.

".Surely better push on to the church," re-
monstrated Euzoius.

" Take me in, take me in !" he said, faintly,
and leaning more heavily on his friend.

Word was passed along the procession to halt :
Arius and Euzoius went into a chemist's shop.

I thought there fell an unusual silence on the
square. In a moment the chemist darted out
and ran across the place to the house of Caius
Armentarius, the royal physician, who lived on
the opposite side : he came out at once, and with-
out replying to any of the numerous questions
i

AM.

114 THE QUAY OF THE DIOSCURI, &C.

put to him, hurriedly crossed the square and en-
tered the shop.

The silence was now quite fearful. The time,
I believe, was about three minutes, but it seemed
to me an hour. Then Caius Armentarius came out,
as pale almost as Arius had been.

"Gentlemen/' he said, to those around him,
"I think you had better disperse: Arius is dead !"

Most true, most fearful ! He had died the
death of Judas Iscariot, all his bowels having
gushed out.

On the Lord's day that followed, my father, at
the hand of Alexander, having made his profes-
sion of faith, was received to the belief, and in
the Name, of the Consubstantial.

PRINTED BY MESSRS. PARKER, CORNMARKET, OXFOKl).

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