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his mouth being fettered, he was silent. Is it then right to consider, which is the greater wonder, for a man, and a philosopher at that, to be so easily deprived of speech, or to split a stone in the hand by the force of speech, which I have heard was boasted by some in the case of Julianus, the so-called Chaldean? And these things I learned in this way. 1.1.1 But the bishops, assembling continually, brought Arius into their midst and made a careful examination of his propositions, but were on their guard against casting their vote rashly for either side. But when the appointed day arrived, on which it was determined to decide the doubtful points, they assembled in the palace, since the emperor had also decided to participate in their council. When he came to the same place as the priests, he passed to the head of the assembly and sat down on a certain throne, 1.1.2 which had been prepared for him; and the synod was bidden to be seated. For on both sides many benches had been prepared, extending along the walls of the royal house; and this was very large and surpassed the others. And as they were taking their seats, Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, stood up and addressed a speech to the emperor, 1.1.3 and through him a hymn of thanksgiving to God. When he had ceased and silence fell, the emperor said, "For all things I give thanks to God, and not least for seeing your assembly, O friends. And it has turned out for me better than I could have prayed for to have brought so many priests of Christ together in one place. I would wish to see you of one mind and partakers of a harmonious judgment, since I consider it more grievous than any evil for the church of God to be in sedition. When, therefore, things were reported which I ought not to have heard, I was exceedingly vexed in my soul, learning that you were in disagreement, you whom it least becomes, being ministers of God and arbiters of peace. And for this reason I have convened your sacred synod; and being both an emperor and your fellow-servant, I ask to receive a favor pleasing to God our common master, and fitting for me to receive and for you to give. And this is to bring forward the causes of the dispute and to put a unanimous and peaceful end to them, so that I with you may raise up this trophy against the envious demon, who, when the foreigners and tyrants were out of the way, stirred up this civil strife, being indignant at our good 1.1.4 fortunes." When the emperor had said such things in the Roman tongue, someone standing by interpreted them. 1..1 After this, the discussion concerning the dogma was started by the priests. And the emperor listened at leisure and with great forbearance to the arguments from both sides; and he sided with those who spoke well, but dissuaded the contentious from their strife, speaking gently to each, as he knew how to listen, inasmuch as he was not unskilled in the Greek language either. At last, all the priests came to an agreement with one another and voted that the Son is of one substance with the Father. Only seventeen at first are said to have praised the opinion of Arius, but immediately 1..2 even the majority of these changed their minds to the commonly held opinion. And to this opinion the emperor also gave his vote, concluding that the unanimity of the assembly had been approved by divine providence. And he proclaimed that anyone who went against what had been decreed would be punished with exile, as corrupting the divine definitions. 1..3 And in order that the symbol of the faith then agreed upon might remain firm and clear for future generations, I thought it necessary, as proof of the truth, to set down the writing concerning these things itself; but when pious friends and those knowledgeable in such matters suggested that these things ought to be spoken and heard only by initiates and their instructors, I approved their counsel (for it is not unlikely that some of the uninitiated might happen upon this book), having concealed, as far as possible, those of the secret things which must be kept silent; so that <δὲ> one may not be entirely ignorant of what was decided 1.21.1 by the synod, it should be known that they declared the Son to be of one substance with the Father; and those who say "there was a time when he was not" and "before he was begotten he was not" and that "he came into being from non-existence," or from another hypostasis or ousia, or that he is mutable or alterable, they anathematized and from the catholic

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στόμα πεδηθεὶς ἐσιώπα. ἆρ' οὖν δίκαιον ἀναλογίσασθαι, πότερον μεῖζον ἐν παραδόξοις ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ταῦτα φιλόσοφον, οὕτω ῥᾳδίως ἀφελέσθαι τοῦ λόγου ἢ λίθον βίᾳ λόγου τῇ χειρὶ διελεῖν, ὃ πρός τινων ἐπὶ ᾿Ιουλιανῷ τῷ καλουμένῳ Χαλδαίῳ κεκομπολογῆσθαι ἀκήκοα; καὶ τὰ μὲν ὧδε ἐπυθόμην. 1.1.1 Οἱ δὲ ἐπίσκοποι συνεχῶς συνιόντες τὸν ῎Αρειον εἰς μέσον παρῆγον καὶ ἀκριβῆ βάσανον ἐποιοῦντο τῶν αὐτοῦ προτάσεων, προπετῶς δὲ ἐπὶ θάτερα τὴν ψῆφον ἄγειν ἐφυλάττοντο. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ κυρία παρῆν, καθ' ἣν ὥριστο τεμεῖν τὰ ἀμφίβολα, συνῆλθον εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, καθότι καὶ τῷ κρατοῦντι δέδοκτο κοινωνῆσαι αὐτοῖς τῆς βουλῆς. ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰς ταὐτὸ παρεγένετο τοῖς ἱερεῦσι, διαβὰς πρὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ συλλόγου ἐπὶ θρόνου τινὸς ἐκάθισεν, 1.1.2 ὅσπερ αὐτῷ κατεσκεύαστο· καὶ ἡ σύνοδος καθῆσθαι ἐκελεύσθη. παρεσκεύαστο γὰρ ἑκατέρωθεν βάθρα πολλὰ παρεκτεινόμενα τοῖς τοίχοις τοῦ βασιλείου οἴκου· μέγιστος δὲ ἦν οὗτος καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπερφέρων. καθεζομένων δὲ αὐτῶν ἀναστὰς Εὐσέβιος ὁ Παμφίλου λόγον τινὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ 1.1.3 προσεφώνησε καὶ δι' αὐτὸν τῷ θεῷ χαριστήριον ὕμνον. παυσαμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ σιγῆς γενομένης «πάντων μὲν ἕνεκεν», ἔφη ὁ βασιλεύς, «τῷ θεῷ τὴν χάριν ἔχω, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ τὸν ὑμέτερον σύλλογον ὁρῶν, ὦ φίλοι. καί μοι κρεῖττον εὐχῆς ἀπέβη τοσούτους ἱερέας Χριστοῦ εἰς ταὐτὸν ἀγαγεῖν. βουλοίμην δ' ἂν ὁμόφρονας ὑμᾶς θεάσασθαι καὶ συμφώνου γνώμης κοινωνούς, ἐπεὶ παντὸς κακοῦ χαλεπώτερον ἡγοῦμαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ στασιάζειν. ὅτε οὖν ἠγγέλθη ὧν οὐκ ὤφελον ἀκοῦσαι, σφόδρα τὴν ψυχὴν ἠνιάθην, διχονοεῖν ὑμᾶς πυθόμενος, οὓς ἥκιστα προσῆκε θεοῦ λειτουργοὺς ὄντας καὶ βραβευτὰς εἰρήνης. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἱερὰν ὑμῶν συνεκρότησα σύνοδον· βασιλεύς τε ὢν καὶ συνθεράπων ὑμέτερος χάριν αἰτῶ λαβεῖν ἀρεστὴν θεῷ τῷ κοινῷ δεσπότῃ ἐμοί τε λαβεῖν καὶ ὑμῖν δοῦναι πρέπουσαν. ἡ δέ ἐστι προενεγκεῖν εἰς μέσον τὰ αἴτια τῆς ἀμφισβητήσεως καὶ ὁμόφρον καὶ εἰρηναῖον αὐτοῖς ἐπιθεῖναι τέλος, ὥστε με σὺν ὑμῖν τοῦτο τὸ τρόπαιον ἀναστῆσαι κατὰ τοῦ φθονεροῦ δαίμονος, ὃς τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ τυράννων ἐκποδὼν γενομένων ταυτηνὶ τὴν ἐμφύλιον στάσιν ἤγειρε, νεμεσήσας τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἀγα1.1.4 θοῖς.» τοιαῦτα τῇ ῾Ρωμαίων φωνῇ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰπόντος παρεστώς τις ἡρμήνευεν. 1..1 ᾿Εκ τούτου δὲ ἡ περὶ τοῦ δόγματος διάλεξις ἐκινήθη τοῖς ἱερεῦσι. σχολῇ δὲ καὶ μάλα ἀνεξικάκως ἠκροᾶτο ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ἑκατέρωθεν λόγων· καὶ τοῖς μὲν εὖ λέγουσιν ἐτίθετο, τοὺς δὲ φιλονικοῦντας μετετίθει τῆς ἔριδος, πράως ἑκάστῳ διαλεγόμενος, ὡς ἀκούειν ἠπίστατο, καθότι οὐδὲ τῆς ῾Ελλήνων γλώττης ἀπείρως εἶχε. τὸ δὴ τελευταῖον συνέβησαν ἀλλήλοις πάντες οἱ ἱερεῖς καὶ ὁμοούσιον εἶναι τῷ πατρὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἐψηφίσαντο. μόνοι δὲ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα δέκα καὶ ἑπτὰ λέγονται τὴν ᾿Αρείου δόξαν ἐπαινέσαι, παρα1..2 χρῆμα δὲ καὶ τούτων οἱ πλείους πρὸς τὸ κοινῇ δόξαν μετέθεντο. ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπεψηφίσατο συμβαλὼν θειόθεν αὐτὴν δεδοκιμάσθαι τὴν συμφωνίαν τοῦ συλλόγου. ὑπερορίῳ τε φυγῇ ζημιωθήσεσθαι προηγόρευσε τὸν ἐναντίον τῶν δεδογμένων ἐρχόμενον, ὡς διαφθείροντα τοὺς θείους ὅρους. 1..3 ῞Ινα δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸν ἑξῆς χρόνον βέβαιον καὶ δῆλον τοῖς ἐσομένοις ὑπάρχῃ τὸ σύμβολον τῆς τότε συναρεσάσης πίστεως, ἀναγκαῖον ᾠήθην εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτὴν τὴν περὶ τούτων γραφὴν παραθέσθαι· εὐσεβῶν δὲ φίλων καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπιστημόνων οἷα δὴ μύσταις καὶ μυσταγωγοῖς μόνοις δέον τάδε λέγειν καὶ ἀκούειν ὑφηγουμένων ἐπῄνεσα τὴν βουλήν (οὐ γὰρ ἀπεικὸς καὶ τῶν ἀμυήτων τινὰς τῇδε τῇ βίβλῳ ἐντυχεῖν), ὡς ἔνι δὴ τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἃ χρὴ σιωπᾶν ἀποκρυψάμενος· ὡς <δὲ> μὴ πάμπαν ἀγνοεῖν τὰ δόξαντα 1.21.1 τῇ συνόδῳ, ἰστέον [δὲ] ὅτι τὸν μὲν υἱὸν ὁμοούσιον εἶναι τῷ πατρὶ ἀπεφήναντο· τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας «ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν» καὶ «πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ἦν» καὶ ὅτι «ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐγένετο» ἢ ἐξ ἑτέρας ὑποστάσεως ἢ οὐσίας, ἢ τρεπτὸν ἢ ἀλλοιωτόν, ἀπεκήρυξαν καὶ τῆς καθόλου