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concerning the heresy of Aetius, the emperor judged 4.16.2 to hold a synod in Nicaea. But when Basil and his party declined, because the inquiry concerning the dogma had long ago taken place there, it was decided that it should be held in Nicomedia of Bithynia; and Constantius sent letters for the bishops of each nation, those who seemed more suitable to assemble and capable of understanding and speaking, to arrive with haste on a specified day, so that they might participate in the synod on behalf of all the priests of the nation and be present for the judgment. 4.16.3 And while the majority were already on their journey, the calamity of Nicomedia was announced, and that God had shaken all of it. As the report prevailed everywhere that the city was utterly destroyed, the bishops on their way stopped; for as rumor is accustomed to work, it did not report the terrors to those far off only up to the point of what had actually happened. And it was rumored that Nicaea and Perinthus and the neighboring cities shared in the disaster, and in addition, Constantinople as well. 4.16.4 The event grieved not moderately the well-disposed among the bishops, since a magnificently built church had been shaken down, and an occasion arose for those who hated the religion to report to the emperor that a multitude of bishops and men and children and women had perished, having fled to the church in the hope of being saved there. But these things were not true; for the earthquake struck at the second hour on a day when there was no service. 4.16.5 Of the bishops, only Cecropius of Nicomedia itself and another from Bosporus were caught outside the church. And as the city was shaken in an instant of time, it was not even possible for those who wished to flee elsewhere to be able to do so, but in the first trial of the danger, for the most part, wherever each one happened 4.16.6 to be standing, he was either saved or perished. It is said that before this disaster occurred, Arsacius foresaw it, who was a Persian by race, and from being a soldier who was keeper of the imperial lions, he became a distinguished confessor in the time of Licinius, and leaving the military service, he dwelt in a tower 4.16.7 of the wall in the acropolis of Nicomedia, living as a philosopher. There, indeed, a divine vision appeared to him and commanded him to depart from the city, as it was about to suffer what it later suffered. After this, having hastily gone to the church, he enjoined the clergy to supplicate God earnestly and to perform propitiatory prayers for the aversion of the threatened 4.16.8 wrath. But when he did not persuade them and seemed ridiculous for announcing unexpected sufferings, he returned to the tower and, falling prostrate, he prayed. Meanwhile, when the earthquake struck, the greater part perished, but those who survived 4.16. fled to the fields and the acropolis. For as in a prosperous and great city, in each house there happened to be fire lit in cooking-pots and ovens and furnaces of baths and for all those who work with fire-related crafts; and as the roofs were thrown down, the flame, being enclosed by the debris, and being mixed, as is likely, with kindling and all things that are oily and 4.16.10 have a ready increase for burning, was fed abundantly, and spreading everywhere and joining with itself, it made the whole city, so to speak, one funeral pyre. And on this account, as the houses were impassable, those who were saved 4.16.11 from the earthquake ran up to the acropolis. But Arsacius was found dead in the unshaken tower, lying prostrate, just as he had stretched himself out when beginning his prayer. And the story is that he had supplicated God to die beforehand and had chosen to die rather than to behold the disaster of a city in which he first came to know Christ and participated in the ecclesiastical philosophy. 4.16.12 But since our account has brought us to this man, it must be known that through his love of God he was able to drive out demons and to purify those who were troubled by them. Thus, at any rate, a certain demon-possessed man, having drawn a sword, was running through the marketplace; and while all were fleeing and a tumult held the city, meeting him he named Christ and with the word cast him down; and immediately

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᾿Αετίου αἱρέσεως ἔκρινεν ὁ βασιλεὺς 4.16.2 ἐπιτελέσαι σύνοδον ἐν Νικαίᾳ. παραιτησαμένων δὲ τῶν ἀμφὶ Βασίλειον διὰ τὸ πάλαι ἐνθάδε τὴν περὶ τοῦ δόγματος συμβῆναι ζήτησιν, ἔδοξεν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ τῆς Βιθυνίας γενέσθαι· καὶ γράμμασι Κωνστάντιος κέχρηται εἰς ῥητὴν ἡμέραν μετὰ σπουδῆς φθάσαι τῶν ἀν' ἕκαστον ἔθνος ἐπισκόπων, οἳ συνιέναι ἐπιτηδειότεροι ἐδόκουν καὶ νοεῖν καὶ λέγειν ἱκανοί, ὥστε ἀντὶ πάντων τῶν ἱερέων τοῦ ἔθνους μετασχεῖν αὐτοὺς τῆς συνόδου καὶ τῇ κρίσει 4.16.3 παρεῖναι. ἤδη δὲ καὶ τῶν πλειόνων κατὰ τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ὄντων ἀγγέλλεται τὸ Νικομηδείας πάθος καὶ ὅτι πᾶσαν ὁ θεὸς κατέσεισεν. ὡς ἐπὶ ἀπολομένῃ δὲ ἄρδην τῇ πόλει πανταχοῦ κρατοῦντος ἐπέσχον οἱ καθ' ὁδὸν ἐπίσκοποι· ὡς γὰρ φιλεῖ ἡ φήμη ἐργάζεσθαι, οὐκ ἄχρι τῶν γεγονότων τὰ δεινὰ τοῖς ἄπωθεν ἤγγελλεν. ὑπεθρυλεῖτο δὲ Νίκαιάν τε καὶ Πέρινθον καὶ τὰς πλησίον πόλεις κοινωνῆσαι τῆς συμφορᾶς, προσέτι δὲ καὶ τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν. 4.16.4 οὐ μετρίως δὲ τοὺς εὖ φρονοῦντας τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἐλύπει τὸ συμβάν, καθότι καὶ ἐκκλησία μεγαλοπρεπῶς ᾠκοδομημένη κατεσείσθη, καὶ πρόφασις ἐγένετο τοῖς ἀπεχθανομένοις πρὸς τὴν θρησκείαν ἀναγγεῖλαι τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὡς ἐπισκόπων πλῆθος καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν ἀπώλετο, προσφυγόντων τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τοῦ ἐνθάδε σωθήσεσθαι. οὐκ ἀληθῶς δὲ ταῦτα εἶχε· δευτέρᾳ γὰρ ὥρᾳ οὐ συναξίμου ἡμέρας ὁ σεισμὸς ἐνέσκηψεν. 4.16.5 ἐπισκόπων δὲ μόνος Κεκρόπιος ὁ Νικομηδείας αὐτῆς καὶ ἄλλος ἀπὸ Βοσπόρου τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἔξωθεν κατελήφθησαν. ἐν ἀκαριαίῳ τε χρόνῳ κατασεισθείσης τῆς πόλεως οὐδὲ ἐνεδέχετο δύνασθαι τοὺς θέλοντας ἀλλαχῇ καταφυγεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ πείρᾳ τοῦ κινδύνου ὡς ἐπίπαν ὅπῃ ἔτυχεν ἕκαστος 4.16.6 ἑστὼς ἢ ἐσώθη ἢ ἀπώλετο. λέγεται δὲ πρὶν γενέσθαι ταύτην τὴν συμφορὰν προϊδεῖν ᾿Αρσάκιον, ὃς τὸ μὲν γένος Πέρσης ἦν, ἀπὸ στρατιώτου δὲ θηροκόμου τῶν βασιλικῶν λεόντων, οὐκ ἄσημος τῶν ἐπὶ Λικινίου ὁμολογητὴς ἐγένετο, καὶ τὴν στρατείαν καταλιπὼν ἐν τῇ ἄκρᾳ Νικομηδείας ἐν πύργῳ 4.16.7 τοῦ τείχους κατῴκει φιλοσοφῶν. ἔνθα δὴ προφανεῖσα αὐτῷ θεία ὄψις ἐκέλευσεν ἐξιέναι τῆς πόλεως ὡς πεισομένης ἅπερ ὕστερον πέπονθεν. ἐκ τούτου τε σπουδῇ καταλαβὼν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐνετείλατο τοῖς κληρικοῖς ἐπιμελῶς ἱκετεῦσαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἱλαστηρίους ἐπιτελέσαι λιτὰς ἐπὶ λύσει τῆς ἀπει4.16.8 ληθείσης ὀργῆς. ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἔπεισε καὶ γελοῖος ἐδόκει ἀπροσδόκητα μηνύων πάθη, ἀνέστρεψεν ἐπὶ τὸν πύργον καὶ πρηνὴς καταπεσὼν ηὔχετο. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τοῦ σεισμοῦ ἐπισκήψαντος οἱ μὲν πλείους ἀπώλοντο, οἱ δὲ περι4.16. λειφθέντες εἰς τοὺς ἀγροὺς καὶ τὴν ἄκραν ἔφυγον. ὡς γὰρ ἐν εὐδαίμονι καὶ μεγάλῃ πόλει καθ' ἑκάστην οἰκίαν πῦρ ἡμμένον ἐτύγχανεν ἐν χυτροπόδοις καὶ πνιγεῦσι καὶ καμίνοις βαλανείων τε καὶ τῶν ὅσοι περὶ τὰς ἐμπύρους τέχνας πονοῦσιν· ἐπιρριπτομένων τε τῶν ὀρόφων περικλεισθεῖσα ταῖς ὕλαις ἡ φλόξ, ἀναμεμιγμένων ὡς εἰκὸς φρυγάνων καὶ τῶν ὅσα ἐλαιώδη ἐστὶ καὶ 4.16.10 πρὸς τὸ καίεσθαι ῥᾳδίαν ἔχει τὴν ἐπίδοσιν, ἀφθόνως ἐτράφη, πανταχοῦ τε ἕρπουσα καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν συναπτομένη μίαν ὡς εἰπεῖν πυρὰν τὴν πᾶσαν πόλιν ἐποίησε. καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο δὲ τῶν οἴκων ἀβάτων ὄντων οἱ περισωθέντες 4.16.11 ἐκ τοῦ σεισμοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄκραν ἀνέδραμον. ᾿Αρσάκιος δὲ ἐν ἀσείστῳ τῷ πύργῳ εὑρέθη νεκρός, πρηνὴς κείμενος, οἷον ἑαυτὸν ἐτάνυσε τῆς εὐχῆς ἀρχόμενος. λόγος δὲ περὶ τοῦ προτελευτῆσαι τότε αὐτὸν τὸν θεὸν ἱκετεῦσαι καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἑλέσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ συμφορὰν θεάσασθαι πόλεως, ἐν ᾗ τὰ πρῶτα τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπέγνω καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς φιλοσοφίας μετέσχεν. 4.16.12 ᾿Αλλ' ἐπεὶ φέρων ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον ἤγαγεν, ἰστέον ὡς ὑπὸ θεοφιλείας ἱκανὸς ἦν δαίμονας ἀπελαύνειν καὶ τοὺς ὀχλουμένους ὑπ' αὐτῶν καθαίρειν. οὕτω γοῦν δαιμονῶν τις ξίφος σπασάμενος ἀνὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἔθεε· φευγόντων δὲ πάντων καὶ θορύβου τὴν πόλιν ἔχοντος ὑπαντώμενος αὐτῷ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπωνόμασε καὶ τῷ λόγῳ κατέβαλε· καὶ αὐτίκα