Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.)
2. Insincerity of this charge.
3. Outrages of the Arians against the Bishops.
4. Proceedings after the Council of Milan.
6. Outrages of George upon the Alexandrians.
8. If it is wrong to flee, it is worse to persecute.
9. The accusation shews the mind of the accusers.
10. Their real grievance is not that Athanasius is a coward, but that he is free.
11. Examples of Scripture Saints in defence of flight.
12. The Lord an example of timely flight.
14. An hour and a time for all men.
16. The Lord’s example followed by the Saints.
17. A time to flee and a time to stay.
18. The Saints who fled were no cowards.
19. The Saints courageous in their flight, and divinely favoured.
21. The Saints fled for our sakes.
23. Persecution is from the Devil.
25. Athanasius’s wonderful escape.
26. He acted according to the example of the Saints. Character of his accusers.
4. Proceedings after the Council of Milan.
Are they then satisfied with all this, and content to be quiet for the future? By no means; they have not given over yet, but like the horseleach15 Hist. Arian. §65; Prov. xxx. 15. in the Proverbs, they revel more and more in their wickedness, and fix themselves upon the larger dioceses. Who can adequately describe the enormities they have already perpetrated? who is able to recount all the deeds that they have done? Even very lately, while the Churches were at peace, and the people worshipping in their congregations, Liberius, Bishop of Rome, Paulinus16 Of Treveri., Metropolitan of Gaul, Dionysius17 Of Milan., Metropolitan of Italy, Lucifer18 Of Cagliari., Metropolitan of the Sardinian islands, and Eusebius19 Of Vercellæ. of Italy, all of them good Bishops and preachers of the truth, were seized and banished20 [Council of Milan, 355.], on no pretence whatever, except that they would not unite themselves to the Arian heresy, nor subscribe to the false accusations and calumnies which they had invented against me.
4 Ἆρ' οὖν διὰ τὰ τοσαῦτα κόρον ἔχουσι καὶ λοιπὸν ἠρέμησαν· Οὐδαμῶς. Οὔτε γὰρ ἐπαύσαντο, ἀλλά, κατὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις βδέλλαν, μᾶλλον νεανιεύονται τοῖς κακοῖς ἐπιφυόμενοι κατὰ τῶν μεγάλων παροικιῶν. Οἷα γὰρ καὶ τανῦν ἔδρασαν, τίς ἂν ἀξίως ἐξείποι; Τίς τοσοῦτον δύναται μνημονεῦσαι, ὅσον ἐκεῖνοι πεποιήκασιν; Ἄρτι γὰρ εἰρήνην ἐχουσῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, καὶ τῶν λαῶν εὐχομένων ἐν ταῖς συνάξεσιν, ὁ μὲν ἐπίσκοπος τῆς Ῥώμης Λιβέριος, καὶ Παυλῖνος ὁ τῆς μητροπόλεως τῶν Γαλλίων, καὶ ∆ιονύσιος ὁ τῆς μητροπόλεως τῆς Ἰταλίας, καὶ Λουκίφερ ὁ τῆς μητροπόλεως τῶν κατὰ Σερδινίαν νήσων, καὶ Εὐσέβιος ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας, οἱ πάντες ἐπίσκοποι ἀγαθοὶ καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας κήρυκες, ἁρπάζονται καὶ ἐξορίζονται, πρόφασιν οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντες ἢ ὅτι μὴ συνέθεντο τῇ ἀρειανῇ αἱρέσει μηδὲ ὑπέγραψαν αὐτοῖς καθ' ἡμῶν, ἐν αἷς ἐπλάσαντο διαβολαῖς καὶ συκοφαντίαις.