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advised him to become again of the opposite party, then, not persuading him, he ordered the law concerning the exile to be written. But 246 when he tried to confirm this with his hand, he did not draw a single tittle of a letter; for the pen was broken. And when both the second and the third pen suffered the same fate and he persisted in trying to confirm that impious law, his right hand was shaken and received a tremor; and his soul, having become full of fear, tore the paper with both his hands. And the ruler of all has persuaded that he himself had allowed the others to suffer those things, and he showed this one to be superior to the plots; through the things that happened concerning this one showing his own power, but through the other dispensation proclaiming the courage of the best men. Here, then, Valens, having attacked, was disappointed in his hope. But in Alexandria, when Athanasius the victorious, after his many contests and an equal number of crowns, had received release from his labors and had passed to the life free from labors, Peter, an excellent man, received the presidency, that blessed head having first chosen him, and all having voted together, both the clergy and those in authority and the most worthy. And all the people showed their pleasure with acclamations; for he had shared in the labors of Athanasius and was with him both at home and abroad and endured all kinds of dangers with him. For this very reason the neighboring bishops also came together, and those who lived in the ascetic training-grounds, leaving them, thought Peter worthy to inherit the throne of Athanasius. But when they had installed him on the episcopal throne, immediately the governor of the province, having gathered together the Greek and Jewish crowd, surrounded the precincts of the church, ordering 247 Peter to depart; for he threatened to drive him out against his will. And he did these things, ostensibly carrying out the wishes of the emperor and filling with calamities those who thought otherwise, but in truth being filled with impious rage. For he was attached to the worship of idols, and considered the storm of the church a most splendid festival. The admirable Peter, therefore, seeing the unexpected war, departed secretly and, embarking on a ship, set off for Rome. After a few days had passed, Euzoius arrived from Antioch, bringing Lucius, and handed over the churches to him, of whose impiety and lawlessness Samosata also had experience. But the multitude, having been nourished on the teachings of Athanasius, then seeing contrary nourishment, abstained from the ecclesiastical assemblies. But Lucius, using the worshipers of idols as bodyguards, tortured some, imprisoned others, forced others to flee, and of others, he plundered their houses like a barbarian. But the admirable Peter has related these things better in a letter; and I, after relating one unholy deed of Lucius, will insert that letter in this history. Men in Egypt, emulating the way of life of the angels, fled from the disturbances of the cities, and chose the life in the desert and made the sandy and barren land fruitful, bearing the sweetest and most beautiful fruit to God, the virtue which he ordained. Of this way of life many others also were leaders, but the best trainer of the ascetic companies was that much-hymned Antony, who showed the desert to be a wrestling-school of virtue for the ascetics. His followers, therefore, (for he himself with the greatest 248 and most beautiful cargoes had come to anchor in the calm harbors) the wretched and thrice-miserable man drove out. And the leaders of those divine choirs, both the renowned Macarius and his namesake and Isidore and the others, having led them out of their caves, he sent to a certain island inhabited by impious men and which had never yet received a teacher of piety. And when the ferry-boat approached the land of the island, the demon who was honored among them the established

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τῆς τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτὸν αὖθις γενέσθαι μερίδος παρῄνεσεν, εἶτα μὴ πείσας τὸν περὶ τῆς ἐξορίας γραφῆναι νόμον ἐκέλευσε. τοῦτον δὲ 246 τῇ χειρὶ πειραθεὶς βεβαιῶσαι οὐδεμίαν στοιχείου κεραίαν ἐξέτεινεν· ὁ γὰρ κάλαμος συνετρίβη. ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ὁ δεύτερος καὶ ὁ τρίτος κάλαμος ταὐτὸ πάθος ὑπέμεινε καὶ βεβαιῶσαι τὸν δυσσεβῆ νόμον ἐκεῖνον ἐφιλονείκει, ἐσείσθη μὲν ἡ δεξιὰ καὶ τρόμον ἐδέξατο· δείματος δὲ πλήρης ἡ ψυχὴ γενομένη ἀμφοῖν τοῖν χεροῖν τὸν χάρτην διέρρηξε. καὶ πέπεικε τῶν ὅλων ὁ πρύτανις ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αὐτὸς ἐνδέ δωκεν ἐκεῖνα παθεῖν, καὶ τοῦτον τῶν ἐπιβουλῶν ἀπέφηνε κρείττονα· διὰ μὲν τῶν περὶ τοῦτον γεγενημένων τὴν δύναμιν τὴν οἰκείαν δεικνύς, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας οἰκονομίας τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν τὴν ἀν δρείαν κηρύττων. ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ὁ Βάλης προσβαλὼν τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐψεύσθη. Ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ δέ, Ἀθανασίου τοῦ νικηφόρου μετὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ τοὺς ἰσαρίθμους στεφάνους λύσιν τῶν πόνων εἰληφότος καὶ εἰς τὴν πόνων ἐλευθέραν βιοτὴν μεταστάντος, Πέτρος ἀνὴρ ἄριστος τὴν προεδρίαν ἐδέξατο, πρώτης μὲν τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης ψηφισαμένης αὐτὸν κεφαλῆς, πάντων δὲ συμψήφων γεγενημένων, καὶ τῶν ἱερωμένων καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ ἀξιωτάτων. καὶ ὁ λαὸς δὲ ἅπας ταῖς εὐφημίαις ἐδήλου τὴν ἡδονήν· τῶν γὰρ Ἀθανασίου συμμετέ σχεν ἱδρώτων καὶ ἐνδημοῦντί τε καὶ ἀποδημοῦντι συνῆν καὶ τοὺς παντοδαποὺς σὺν ἐκείνῳ κινδύνους ὑπέμεινεν. διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων συνέδραμον οἱ πελάζοντες, καὶ τὰς ἀσκητικὰς κατα λιπόντες παλαίστρας οἱ ἐν ἐκείναις διάγοντες τὸν Ἀθανασίου θρόνον κληρονομῆσαι τὸν Πέτρον ἠξίουν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῖς ἀρχιερατικοῖς αὐτὸν ἐνίδρυσαν θώκοις, εὐθὺς ὁ τοῦ ἔθνους ἡγούμενος, τὸν Ἑλληνικὸν καὶ Ἰουδαϊκὸν ὅμιλον συναθροίσας, τοὺς τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκύκλωσε περιβόλους ἐξιέναι τῷ Πέτρῳ 247 παρεγγυῶν· καὶ γὰρ ἄκοντα ἐξελάσειν ἠπείλει. ἐποίει δὲ ταῦτα τῷ βασιλεῖ μὲν δῆθεν τὰ θυμήρη πραγματευόμενος καὶ τοὺς τἀναντία φρονοῦντας ἀναπιμπλὰς συμφορῶν, τῇ δέ γε ἀληθείᾳ τῆς δυσσεβοῦς ὀργῆς ἐμφορούμενος. τῆς γὰρ τῶν εἰδώλων θεραπείας ἐξήρτητο, καὶ λαμπροτάτην ὑπελάμβανεν ἑορτὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν ζάλην. Πέτρος μὲν οὖν ὁ θαυμάσιος, τὸν ἀδόκητον θεασάμενος πόλεμον, λαθὼν ἐξελήλυθε καὶ σκάφους ἐπιβὰς εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην ἀπῆρεν. Ὀλίγων δὲ διελθουσῶν ἡμερῶν, Εὐζώϊος ἀπὸ Ἀντιοχείας Λού κιον ἄγων ἀφίκετο καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἐκείνῳ παρέδωκεν, οὗ τῆς δυσσεβείας καὶ παρανομίας καὶ τὰ Σαμόσατα πεῖραν ἔλαβε. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ταῖς Ἀθανασίου διδασκαλίαις ἐντεθραμμένον, εἶτα ἐναντίαν τροφὴν θεασάμενον, τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἀπέστη συλλόγων. ὁ δὲ Λούκιος, δορυφόροις κεχρημένος τοῖς τῶν εἰδώλων θεραπευταῖς τοὺς μὲν ᾐκίζετο, τοὺς δὲ καθεῖργε, τοὺς δὲ δραπετεύειν ἠνάγκαζεν, ἄλλων δέ, βαρβάρων δίκην, ἐπόρθει τὰς οἰκίας. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα ἄμεινον ὁ ἀξιάγαστος Πέτρος ἐν ἐπιστολῇ διηγήσατο· ἐγὼ δὲ μίαν ἀνοσιουρ γίαν τοῦ Λουκίου διηγησάμενος ἐκείνην ἐνθήσω τῇ συγγραφῇ τὴν ἐπιστολήν. Ἄνδρες ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων πολιτείαν ζηλώσαντες τοὺς μὲν πολιτικοὺς θορύβους ἀπέδρασαν, τὴν ἐν ἐρήμῳ δὲ προεί λαντο βιοτὴν καὶ τὴν ψαμμώδη καὶ ἄκαρπον καρποφόρον ἀπέφηναν, καρπὸν τῷ θεῷ ἥδιστόν τε καὶ κάλλιστον φέροντες ἣν ἐνομοθέτησεν ἀρετήν. ταύτης πολλοὶ μὲν ἦρξαν καὶ ἄλλοι τῆς πολιτείας, παιδο τρίβης δὲ ἄριστος τῶν ἀσκητικῶν ἐγένετο συνταγμάτων Ἀντώνιος ἐκεῖνος ὁ πολυύμνητος, ἀρετῆς παλαίστραν τοῖς ἀσκηταῖς ἀποφήνας τὴν ἔρημον. τοὺς ἐκείνου οὖν θιασώτας (αὐτὸς γὰρ μετὰ τῶν με 248 γίστων τε καὶ καλλίστων φορτίων εἰς τοὺς ἀπηνέμους λιμένας καθ ώρμιστο) ὁ δύστηνος ἐξήλασεν καὶ τρισάθλιος. τοὺς δὲ τῶν θείων ἐκείνων ἡγουμένους χορῶν, Μακάριόν τε τὸν ἀοίδιμον καὶ τὸν ἐκεί νου γε ὁμώνυμον καὶ Ἰσίδωρον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐκ τῶν σπηλαίων ἐξαγαγών, εἴς τινα νῆσον ἐξέπεμψεν ὑπὸ δυσσεβῶν οἰκουμένην ἀν θρώπων καὶ μηδένα πώποτε δεξαμένην εὐσεβείας διδάσκαλον. τοῦ δὲ πορθμείου τῇ γῇ τῆς νήσου πελάσαντος, ὁ δαίμων ὁ παρ' ἐκείνοις τιμώμενος τὸ ἱδρυμένον