History of the Arians

 a wild beast has come forth upon the earth, this heresy. For not only does it harm the innocent with its words as with teeth, but it has also hired ex

 Nevertheless, since Eusebius was lusting after and wanting to seize the episcopate of the city (for thus also he had moved from Berytus to Nicomedia),

 seeing themselves, who happened to be suspected in all things, not prevailing in an ecclesiastical judgment, they approach Constantius alone and then

 you deemed them worthy to have communion from them, they were not worthy of blows but if you were beating them as wicked men, why were you summoning

 of the accusers, as they themselves had suborned everything and contrived such things. Seeing these things, although they had come with haste, thinkin

 deeds to be revealed. For since those in Adrianople did not wish to have communion with them, as men who had fled from the Synod and had become liable

 wonderful and daring in all things, as they have seen them in Antioch, they plotted together, but Stephen alone undertook the drama as being well-suit

 the people of Alexandria. Making our aim your good order in all things ... (This too was likewise written in the same 65th oration and because it vari

 having received letters from him. And having gone up also to Rome, they were repenting, confessing that everything whatsoever they had done and said a

 present, not with palace officials or notaries having been sent, such as they themselves now do, but not even when the emperor was present, nor having

 the emperor commanded.” How many were harassed by them in every city, so that they might not 31.6 condemn them as friends of the bishops. For letters

 Lucifer the bishop from the metropolis of Sardinia, and Eusebius from Vercelli in Italy, and Dionysius 33.7 from Milan, which is also a metropolis of

 Accept these things.” 36.1 But the bishop, persuading by speech, was teaching: “How is it possible for this to happen against Athanasius? For how can

 of the gates, so that no orthodox person, entering, might see Liberius? Rome also had experience of the Christ-fighters and knew at last what it had n

 with 40.3 Constantius’ soldiers. Truly, wickedness is blind for in that by which they thought to vex the confessors by separating them from one anoth

 he might write against us, but hold communion with the Arians. 43.2 But the old man, finding the hearing of it unpleasant and being grieved that he sh

 What courtier of his compelled him to subscribe against anyone, that Valens and his party should say such things? Cease, I beseech you, and remember t

 (for he was now a hundred years old) the heartless one was put to shame. For the new Ahab, another Belshazzar who had arisen among us, overlooked all

 he writes evil things again to the council and the people of Alexandria, inciting the younger men, so that they all might come together and either exp

 to Felicissimus, the then duke, and to Nestorius the prefect, so that if either Philip the prefect or anyone else should dare to plot against Athanasi

 ordered the church to be handed over.” And while all were marveling at this and nodding to one another and saying, “Has Constantius become a heretic?”

 the miracle had a more manifest proof. For a certain licentious young man, running in and daring to do so, sat upon the throne. And sitting down, the

 And to their women they have given authority to abuse whomever they wish. And the respectable and faithful women would turn aside and yield the way to

 And they, seeing the man blind from birth now seeing, and the man who had been a paralytic for a long time made well, they accused the Lord who had do

 the evils that have come to pass, after the persecution which occurred through Heraclius, they again do not cease slandering to the emperor. For they

 the antichrist himself? For he himself, because of his heresy, was the first to hasten to rival Saul in cruelty. For that one, when the priests had gi

 writing, he repents, and repenting, he is provoked, and again he laments and not having what he should do, he shows the desolation of his soul's mind.

 For they did not even pity them when they were sick, but even drove them on when they were bearing up with difficulty on account of their weakness, so

 he is, such as that one might become. For he speaks words against the most high, being the head of the impious heresy, and he makes war against the sa

 to the man. But if you speak having heard from these men, it is just for you to believe also the things said by him, but if you do not believe him, bu

 having caused the Arian heresy to be so much as 78.5 named in it. For still only in the whole of Egypt was there freedom of speech for orthodoxy, and

 It is good to be content with the divine scripture and for all to be persuaded by it as it commands, both because of the other heresies and especially

 as the soldiers were coming on, and men were being shot with arrows and killed. And some of the soldiers also turned to plundering and stood the virgi

For they did not even pity them when they were sick, but even drove them on when they were bearing up with difficulty on account of their weakness, so that they were carried on litters and their burial shrouds followed them because of their illness. 72.4 For one of them died, and they did not even permit his body to be carried away by his own people. For this reason they exiled the bishop Dracontius to the desert regions around Clysma, and Philo to Babylon and Adelphius to Psinabla of the Thebaid; and they exiled the presbyters Hierax and Dioscorus to Soene. And Ammonius and Agathus and Agathodaemon and Apollonius and Eulogius and Apollo and Paphnutius and Gaius and Flavius, aged bishops, and Dioscorus and Ammonius and Heracleides and Psais,72.5 again bishops, they banished. And some they handed over for public service, and others they persecuted, wishing to kill them; and many others they seized. And forty laymen and virgins they first made to stand by a fire, and then exiled them. having beaten them so with blows from palm-rods, that after five days some of them died, and others had to be treated by surgeons because of the splinters embedded in their limbs, and endured torments worse than death; and what is more terrible to anyone who has strength, but characteristic of the impious. Since, while being beaten, they called upon Christ, they gnashed their teeth at them the more fiercely. 72.6 Of course, they did not even give back the bodies of the dead to their own people for burial, but hid them, so that they might seem to be concealing the murder. But they were not unnoticed, for the whole city saw, and all turned away from them as from executioners, as from evildoers and robbers. For they also destroyed monasteries and tried to throw monks into the fire and plundered houses, and entering the house of free persons, they seized and took away deposits left by the bishop, they beat the widows on the soles of their feet and prevented the giving of alms. 73.1 Such then were the wicked acts of the Arians. And what sort of godless undertakings were theirs, who having heard would not shudder? For they have caused such great old men and aged bishops to be exiled, and in their place younger, licentious Greeks who had not even been catechized, seeming to accomplish it immediately, and others who had been twice married and accused of greater crimes because of the wealth about them and their power from the state, giving gold, as from a market they sent them out, calling them 73.2 bishops. And so for the people the calamity became more terrible. For turning away from those hirelings and strangers to themselves, they were scourged, their property was confiscated, they were locked up in prisons by the general. For he did this eagerly, being a Manichaean, so that they might not seek their own, but might receive those whom they turned away from, men doing such things as they had previously performed in the service of idols. 74.1 Who then, seeing or hearing these things, who, beholding the arrogance of the impious and so great an injustice, if he is righteous, would not groan? "For in the places of the impious, the righteous groan." While these things are happening and impiety has assumed such shamelessness, who still dares to call Costyllius a Christian and not rather the image of antichrist? For what of his characteristics has he left out? Or how will he not from every side be thought to be that one, 74.2 and that one be suspected of being such as this one is? Have not Arians and Greeks performed the sacrifices that take place in the great church in the Caesareum and the blasphemies against Christ as if by his command? Does not the vision of Daniel thus signify the antichrist, that "he will make war against the saints and will prevail against them" and will surpass in evils all those before him "and will humble three kings and will speak words 74.3 against the Most High and will think to change the time and the law"? Who else then has ever attempted to do such things except Constantius alone? For this man is such

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καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ νο σοῦντας αὐτοὺς ἠλέησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βαρέως διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν ἀποφέροντας ἤλαυνον, ὥστε φορείοις αὐτοὺς ἀποφέρεσθαι καὶ διὰ τὴν νόσον ἐπακολουθεῖν αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐντάφια. ἀπέθανε 72.4 γοῦν εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐδὲ τὸ σῶμα συνεχώρησαν ἀποφέρεσθαι τοῖς ἰδίοις. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ∆ρακόντιον μὲν ἐπίσκοπον εἰς τὰ ἔρημα περὶ τὸ Κλύσμα ἐξώρισαν, Φίλωνα δὲ εἰς Βαβυλῶνα καὶ Ἀδέλφιον εἰς Ψίναβλα τῆς Θηβαίδος Ἱέρακά τε καὶ ∆ιόσκορον τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους εἰς Σοήνην ἐξώρισαν. καὶ Ἀμμώνιον μὲν καὶ Ἀγαθὸν καὶ Ἀγαθοδαίμονα καὶ Ἀπολλώνιον καὶ Εὐλόγιον καὶ Ἀπολλὼ καὶ Παφνούτιον καὶ Γάιον καὶ Φλάβιον, ἀρχαίους ἐπισκόπους, καὶ ∆ιόσκορον καὶ Ἀμμώνιον καὶ Ἡρακλείδην καὶ Ψάιν,72.5 πάλιν ἐπισκόπους, ἐφυγάδευσαν. καὶ τοὺς μὲν εἰς λειτουργίαν παραδεδώκασι, τοὺς δὲ ἐδίωξαν ἀναιρῆσαι θέλοντες ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς διήρπασαν. καὶ λαικοὺς μὲν μʹ καὶ παρθένους πρότερον παρὰ πῦρ στήσαντες αὐτὰς ἐξώρισαν. οὕτω κόψαντες πληγαῖς ταῖς ἀπὸ φοινίκων ῥάβδοις, ὡς μετὰ ἡμέρας πέντε τὰς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀποθανεῖν, τὰς δὲ χειρουργεῖσθαι διὰ τοὺς ἐμπαγέντας ἐν τοῖς μέλεσι σκόλοπας καὶ μείζονας θανάτου τὰς βασάνους ὑπομένειν· καὶ τό γε δεινότερον παντὶ μὲν ἰσχύοντι, οἰκεῖον δὲ τῶν ἀσεβῶν. ἐπειδὴ κοπτόμεναι τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπεκαλοῦντο, μειζόνως ἔτριζον κατ' αὐτῶν τοὺς ὀδόντας. 72.6 ἀμέλει οὐδὲ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀπογιγνομένων ἀπεδίδουν τοῖς ἰδίοις εἰς ταφήν, ἀλλ' ἔκρυ πτον, ἵνα δόξωσι λανθάνειν τὴν ἀνδροφονίαν. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔλαθον, πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ πόλις ἑώρακε καὶ πάντες ὡς δημίους, ὡς κακούργους καὶ λῃστὰς ἀπεστρέφοντο. καὶ γὰρ καὶ μοναστήρια κατέστρεψαν καὶ εἰς πῦρ ἐμβαλεῖν μοναχοὺς ἐπείρασαν καὶ διήρπασαν οἴκους καὶ παραθήκας τεθείσας παρὰ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου εἰς οἶκον ἐλευθέρων ἐπεισελθόντες ἥρπασαν καὶ ἀπεστέρησαν, τὰς χήρας κατὰ πελμάτων ἔκοπτον καὶ τὰς ἐλεημοσύνας ἐκώλυον. 73.1 Τοιαῦτα μὲν οὖν τὰ πονηρεύματα τῶν Ἀρειανῶν. οἷα δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀθεό τητος ἐπιχειρήματα, τίς ἀκούσας οὐ φρίξειε; τοὺς μὲν γὰρ τηλικούτους γέροντας καὶ πολυετεῖς ἐπισκόπους ἐξορισθῆναι πεποιήκασιν, ἀντὶ δὲ τούτων νεωτέρους ἀσελγεῖς Ἕλληνας μήτε κατηχηθέντας, δόξαντες εὐθὺς περαίνειν, καὶ ἄλλους διγυναίους καὶ ἐπὶ μείζοσιν αἰτίαις ἐγκαλουμένους διὰ τὸν περὶ αὐτοὺς πλοῦτον καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς πολιτείας δυναστείαν, χρυσίον διδόντας, ὡς ἀπὸ πωλητηρίου ἀπέστελλον αὐτοὺς ὀνομάσαντες 73.2 ἐπισκόπους. καὶ λοιπὸν τοῖς λαοῖς δεινοτέρα ἐγίγνετο ἡ συμφορά. ἀποστρεφόμενοι γὰρ τοὺς μισθωτοὺς ἐκείνων καὶ ἀλλοτρίους ἑαυτῶν ἐμαστίζοντο, ἐδημεύοντο, εἰς τὰ δεσμωτήρια κατεκλείοντο παρὰ τοῦ στρατηλάτου. ἐποίει γὰρ τοῦτο προθύμως Μανι χαῖος ὤν, ἵνα τοὺς μὲν ἰδίους μὴ ἐπιζητῶσιν, οὓς δὲ ἀπεστρέφοντο δέχωνται ἀνθρώπους τοιαῦτα πράττοντας, οἷα καὶ πρὸ τούτου ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἔπαιζον. 74.1 Τίς οὖν ταῦτα βλέπων ἢ ἀκούων, τίς ὁρῶν τὴν ἀλαζονείαν τῶν ἀσεβῶν καὶ τοσαύτην ἀδικίαν, εἰ δίκαιός ἐστιν, οὐ στενάξειεν; «ἐν τόποις γὰρ ἀσεβῶν στένουσι δίκαιοι». τίς τούτων γιγνομένων καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας τοσαύτην ἀναισχυντίαν λαβούσης ἔτι τολμᾷ λέγειν Κοστύλλιον Χριστιανὸν καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον ἀντιχρίστου τὴν εἰκόνα; τί γὰρ τῶν τούτου γνωρισμάτων παραλέλοιπεν; ἢ πῶς οὐ πανταχόθεν οὗτος ἐκεῖνος εἶναι νομισθή 74.2 σεται, κἀκεῖνος τοιοῦτος ἂν ὑπονοηθείη, οἷός ἐστιν οὗτος; οὐ τὰς ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ ἐν τῷ Καισαρείῳ γινομένας θυσίας καὶ κατὰ Χριστοῦ βλασφημίας ὡς ἐξ ἐντολῆς αὐτοῦ πεποιήκασιν Ἀρειανοί τε καὶ Ἕλληνες; οὐχ ἡ ὅρασις τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ οὕτως σημαίνει τὸν ἀντίχριστον ὅτι «ποιήσει πόλεμον μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἰσχύσει πρὸς αὐτοὺς» καὶ ὑπεροίσει ἐν κακοῖς πάντας τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν «καὶ τρεῖς βασιλεῖς ταπεινώσει καὶ λόγους 74.3 πρὸς τὸν ὕψιστον λαλήσει καὶ ὑπονοήσει τοῦ ἀλλοιῶσαι καιρὸν καὶ νόμον»; τίς οὖν ἄλλος πώποτε τοιαῦτα ἐπεχείρησε πρᾶξαι ἢ μόνος Κωνστάντιος; οὗτος γὰρ τοιοῦτός

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