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But he, having gathered the soldiers, was stirring them up for civil war and was advising that they should march against Constantius and not wait for him to come against them. And having already renounced his faith in Christ, he was for this reason wary of the soldiers, knowing almost all of them to be Christians. Therefore, concealing his own wickedness, he ordered each one to worship as he wished. But he himself, when the 55 birthday of the Savior had arrived, entered the temple and after worshipping, so that he might seem to be of the same opinion as the soldiers, departed. And he also appointed to offices those whom he wanted; and thus he went towards the civil war. And he said that he was not marching against Constantius, but wished for the eastern and western armies to come together into one, so that, having become one, they might select their own man to be emperor. And he boasted also to have foreknown the day on which Constantius would die, having been initiated into it in a dream through verses saying these things: When Zeus reaches the broad limit of the famed water-pourer, and Saturn steps upon the twenty-fifth degree of the virgin, King Constantius of the land of Asia will have a hateful and painful end of his dear life. And Constantius died, having left the affairs of the Persians (since their king had also withdrawn to his home), while marching against the one who had become tyrant. For being constrained by many anxieties and from there 56 seized by a continuous fever and having brought up black bile, he died at Mopsoucrenae (and this lies at the foot of the Taurus), blaming himself, as it is said, for three things: for the murder of his relatives (for he not only killed Gallus, as has already been said, but also the brothers of his own father), for the proclamation of Julian, and for the innovation in the faith. And this emperor was benevolent to his subjects, adhering to justice concerning judgments, temperate in his diet, aiming at what was proper in the distributions of governorships and of dignities, assigning no one to the senate who had not partaken of education nor was practiced in speaking and knew how to write both in meter and in prose. But concerning the faith, he was not sound; for he did not adhere to his father's piety, but attached himself to the Arians through the zeal of Eusebius, the chief of the imperial eunuchs; whence also he compelled the divine Alexander, who after the holy Metrophanes had been ordained patriarch of the new Rome, to receive Arius into communion, but he did not consent; therefore the emperor also ordered a synod to be convened. A day was therefore appointed for the synod; and 57 Alexander, on that evening, entering the sanctuary and casting himself prostrate, begged God not to permit the wolf, that is Arius, to enter his flock, "or release me first from life," he said. These things he beseeched with great feeling, with tears. In the morning, therefore, as the synod was just convening, Arius went away, thinking great things of himself. And as he was going away, he was seized with a pain in his stomach for the relief of his bowels and bladder. And turning aside from the road, he sat down to discharge the excrement; but his bowels also gushed out with the dung of the miserable man, as he violently burst forth his life. The patriarch Alexander, however, after serving as high priest for twenty-three years, departed this life, and Paul the Confessor was brought in by the orthodox to the throne of Constantinople. But when Constantius returned from Antioch, he removed him from the throne and replaced him with Eusebius of Nicomedia, who was a heretic of Arius. But the holy Paul, having gone to the pope of Rome, Julius, and having been established by him on the throne of Constantinople, was again persecuted by Constantius and, being sent into exile, was killed by the 58 Arians. And when Eusebius died, the pneumatomachian Macedonius was raised by the Arians to the throne of the new Rome, who, acting arrogantly, moved the most holy body of Constantine of blessed memory from the church of the Holy Apostles to the divine precinct of the holy martyr Acacius. Therefore Constantius was enraged

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ἐκεῖνος δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας συναγαγὼν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐμφύλιον ἠρέθιζε πόλεμον καὶ συνεβούλευε δεῖν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τοῦ Κωνσταντίου χωρῆσαι καὶ μὴ μένειν ἐκεῖνον κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπελθεῖν. ἤδη δὲ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἐξομοσάμενος πίστιν ηὐλαβεῖτο διὰ τοῦτο τοὺς στρατιώτας, εἰδὼς σχεδὸν ξύμπαντας χριστιανούς. διὸ συσκιάζων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κακίαν ἕκαστον ἐκέλευε θρησκεύειν ὡς βούλοιτο. αὐτὸς δὲ τῆς γενεθλίου τοῦ Σωτῆρος 55 ἡμέρας ἐφεστηκυίας εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν ναὸν καὶ προσκυνήσας, ἵν' ὁμόδοξος τοῖς στρατιώταις δοκῇ, ἀπῆλθεν. ἐπέστησε δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς οὓς ἐκεῖνος ἠβούλετο· καὶ οὕτως ᾔει πρὸς τὸν ἐμφύλιον πόλεμον. ἔλεγε δὲ μὴ κατὰ τοῦ Κωνσταντίου χωρεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐθέλειν εἰς ἓν συνελθεῖν τὰ ἑῷα στρατεύματα καὶ τὰ ἑσπέρια, ἵν' ὁμοῦ γενόμενα τὸν αὐτῶν ἐκλέξωνται βασιλεύσοντα. ηὔχει δὲ καὶ προεγνωκέναι τὴν ἡμέραν καθ' ἣν τεθνήξεται ὁ Κωνστάντιος, ἐν ὀνείρῳ αὐτὴν μυηθεὶς δι' ἐπῶν ταῦτα φραζόντων· Ζεὺς ὅταν εἰς πλατὺ τέρμα μόλῃ κλυτοῦ ὑδροχόοιο, παρθενικῆς δὲ Κρόνος μοίρης βαίνῃ ἐπὶ πέμπτης εἰκοστῆς, βασιλεὺς Κωνστάντιος Ἀσίδος αἴης τέρμα φίλου βιότου στυγερὸν καὶ ἐπώδυνον ἕξει. τέθνηκε δὲ ὁ Κωνστάντιος τὰ μὲν τῶν Περσῶν λιπών (ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ ἐκείνων βασιλεὺς ἐπ' οἶκον ἀνεχώρησε), κατὰ δὲ τοῦ τυραννήσαντος ἐπιών. φροντίσι γὰρ πολλαῖς συνεχόμενος κἀν56 τεῦθεν συνεχεῖ ληφθεὶς πυρετῷ χολήν τε ἀναγαγὼν μέλαιναν ἐτελεύτησεν ἐν Μόψου κρήνῃ (κεῖται δὲ αὕτη κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Ταύρου ὑπώρειαν), ἐπὶ τρισίν, ὡς λέγεται, μεμφόμενος ἑαυτῷ, τῷ φόνῳ τῶν συγγενῶν (οὐ γὰρ τὸν Γάλλον μόνον ἀπέκτεινεν, ὡς εἴρηται ἤδη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοῦ οἰκείου πατρός), τῇ ἀναρρήσει τοῦ Ἰουλιανοῦ καὶ τῇ καινοτομίᾳ τῆς πίστεως. Ἦν δὲ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ οὗτος εὐμενὴς μὲν τοῖς ὑπηκόοις, δικαιοσύνῃ δὲ περὶ τὰς κρίσεις στοιχῶν, περὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἐγκρατής, ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἡγεμονιῶν καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἀξιωμάτων διανομαῖς τοῦ προσήκοντος στοχαζόμενος, μηδένα τῇ γερουσίᾳ συντάσσων, ὃς οὐ παιδείας μετείληχεν οὐδὲ ἤσκητο πρὸς τὸ λέγειν καὶ ᾔδει γράφειν ἐμμέτρως τε καὶ πεζῶς. περὶ δὲ τὴν πίστιν ὑπῆρχεν οὐκ εὐαγής· οὐ γὰρ τῇ πατρικῇ εὐσεβείᾳ ἐστοίχησεν, ἀλλὰ προσέθετο τοῖς ἀρειανίζουσι σπουδῇ τοῦ τῶν βασιλικῶν εὐνούχων πρωτεύοντος Εὐσεβίου· ὅθεν καὶ τὸν θεῖον Ἀλέξανδρον, ὃς μετὰ τὸν ἱερὸν Μητροφάνην πατριάρχης τῆς νέας Ῥώμης κεχειροτόνητο, ἠνάγκαζεν εἰς κοινωνίαν τὸν Ἄρειον δέξασθαι, ὁ δὲ οὐ κατένευε· διὸ καὶ σύνοδον ὁ βασιλεὺς συγκροτηθῆναι προσέταξεν. ὥριστο οὖν τῇ συνόδῳ ἡμέρα· καὶ 57 ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος κατὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐκείνην εἰς τὸ θυσιαστήριον εἰσελθὼν καὶ πρηνῆ καταβαλὼν ἑαυτὸν ἐδέετο τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ παραχωρῆσαι τὸν λύκον, τὸν Ἄρειον δηλαδή, εἰς τὴν ποίμνην αὐτοῦ εἰσελθεῖν "ἢ ἐμὲ πρότερον τῆς ζωῆς ἀπόλυσον" ἔλεγε. ταῦτα περιπαθῶς ἠντιβόλει σὺν δάκρυσιν. ἕωθεν οὖν ἄρτι τῆς συνόδου συνισταμένης ὁ Ἄρειος ἀπῄει μέγα φρονῶν. καὶ ἀπιὼν νύττεται τὴν γαστέρα πρὸς ἔκκρισιν κοιλίας καὶ κύστεως. παρεκκλίνας τε τῆς ὁδοῦ κεκάθικεν ἀποσκυβαλίσασθαι τὸ περίττωμα· συνεξερρύη δὲ τῇ κόπρῳ καὶ τὰ ἔγκατα τοῦ δειλαίου, βιαίως ἀπορρήξαντος τὴν ζωήν. Ὁ μέντοι πατριάρχης Ἀλέξανδρος εἴκοσι πρὸς τρισὶν ἀρχιερατεύσας ἐνιαυτοὺς μετήλλαξε τὴν ζωήν, καὶ ἀντεισήχθη παρὰ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων εἰς τὸν θρόνον τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Παῦλος ὁ ὁμολογητής. ἐπανελθὼν δ' ὁ Κωνστάντιος ἐξ Ἀντιοχείας μεθίστησι τοῦ θρόνου αὐτὸν καὶ ἀντικαθίστησι τὸν Νικομηδείας Εὐσέβιον, αἱρεσιώτην Ἀρείου τυγχάνοντα. ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Παῦλος τῷ πάπᾳ τῆς Ῥώμης προσελθὼν Ἰουλίῳ καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν θρόνον καταστὰς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως αὖθις ὑπὸ Κωνσταντίου διώκεται καὶ σταλεὶς ὑπερόριος ὑπὸ Ἀρεια58 νῶν ἀναιρεῖται. τοῦ δ' Εὐσεβίου θανόντος ὁ πνευματομάχος παρὰ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν εἰς τὸν τῆς νέας Ῥώμης θρόνον ἀνάγεται Μακεδόνιος, ὃς ὑπερφρονήσας μετήνεγκε τὸ ἱερώτατον σῶμα τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Κωνσταντίνου ἐκ τοῦ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων ναοῦ εἰς τὸ τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Ἀκακίου θεῖον τεμένισμα. διόπερ ἐξώργιστο ὁ Κωνστάντιος