49

of Alexandria.” And this, the bishops Adamantius, Anoubion, Agathammon, Arbethion, Peter, being present, heard, and the anger of the emperor also showed it. For he who had written such things and condemned their injustice, when he heard such a slander, was immediately inflamed and instead of a hearing 87.3 sent us to the Gauls. But this also shows their wickedness even more; for the blessed Constantine the Younger, when sending us to our country and remembering what his father had written, himself also wrote these things: 87.4 Constantine Caesar to the people of the Catholic Church of the city of Alexandria. I do not think it has escaped the knowledge of your sacred mind, for what reason Athanasius, the interpreter of the adorable law, was for a time sent into Gaul, so that, since the savagery of his bloodthirsty and hostile enemies persisted to the danger of his sacred person, he might not suffer some irreparable harm through the perversity of the wicked. 87.5 To escape this, therefore, he was snatched from the jaws of the men who lay in wait for him and ordered to live under my protection, in such a way that in this city, in which he stayed, he abounded in all necessities, although his renowned virtue, trusting in divine 87.6 assistance, makes light even of the burdens of a harder fortune. Accordingly, although our lord Constantine Augustus, my father, had intended to restore the same bishop to his own place for your most beloved piety, yet, since being taken away by a human lot he rested before fulfilling his wish, I thought it proper, having succeeded to the purpose of the emperor of divine memory, to fulfill 87.7 it. When he obtains your presence, you will know with how much reverence he has been treated. For it is not surprising, whatever I have done on his behalf; for both the image of your longing and the character of so great a man moved and urged my soul to this. Divine providence will preserve you, beloved brothers. Given on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of July at Trier.

88.1 This being the reason for which we were sent to the Gauls, who again does not perceive the emperor's intention on the one hand, and the murderous soul of Eusebius's party on the other, and that the emperor did this, so that they might not devise some greater plot? For he listened simply. This is the deed of Eusebius's party, this is the contrivance of the plot against us. 88.2 Who, seeing these things, would not say that nothing was done for us out of favor, but that justly and consequently so great a number of bishops wrote such things in our defense, both individually and collectively, 88.3 and condemned the slander of our enemies? Who, having considered such and so many things, would not say that Valens and Ursacius rightly condemned themselves and, repenting, wrote such things against themselves, choosing rather to be ashamed for a little while than to endure forever the punishment of slanderers?

89.1 For on this account our blessed fellow-ministers, acting justly and ecclesiastically, since some were speaking doubtfully about our affairs and were trying to annul the judgments in our favor, endured to suffer everything now and chose to be exiled rather than see the judgments of so many 89.2 bishops dissolved. If, then, the true bishops had resisted with words only those who plotted against us and wished to overturn the judgments in our favor, or if they had been ordinary men and not from prominent cities and heads of so many churches, one might suspect that perhaps they, acting out of favor, had contended again even now; 89.3 but when they also persuaded with reasoning and endured exile, and Liberius is the bishop of Rome; for even if in the end he did not endure the affliction of exile, nevertheless he remained for two years in banishment, knowing the plot against us; and since also Hosius the

49

Ἀλεξανδρείας». καὶ τοῦτο παρόντες μὲν Ἀδαμάντιος, Ἀνουβίων, Ἀγαθάμμων, Ἀρβεθίων, Πέτρος οἱ ἐπίσκοποι ἤκουσαν, ἔδειξε δὲκαὶ ὁ θυμὸς τοῦ βασιλέως. ὁ γὰρ τοιαῦτα γράψας καὶ καταγινώσκων τῆς ἀδικίας αὐτῶν, ὡς ἤκουσε τὴν τοιαύτην διαβολήν, εὐθὺς ἐπυρώθη καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς ἀκροάσεως εἰς τὰς Γαλλίας 87.3 ἡμᾶς ἀπέστειλεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο μᾶλλον αὐτῶν δείκνυσι τὴν πονηρίαν· ὁ γὰρ μακα ρίτης Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ νεώτερος ἀποστέλλων ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν πατρίδα καὶ μεμνημένος ὧν ἔγραψεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, ἔγραψε καὶ αὐτὸς ταῦτα· 87.4 Κωνσταντῖνος Καῖσαρ τῷ λαῷ τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας πόλεως Ἀλεξαν δρείας. Οὐδὲ τὴν τῆς ὑμετέρας ἱερᾶς ἐννοίας ἀποπεφευγέναι γνῶσιν οἶμαι, διὰ τοῦτο Ἀθα νάσιον τὸν τοῦ προσκυνητοῦ νόμου ὑποφήτην πρὸς καιρὸν εἰς τὰς Γαλλίας ἀπεστάλθαι, ἵν', ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀγριότης τῶν αἱμοβόρων αὐτοῦ καὶ πολεμίων ἐχθρῶν εἰς κίνδυνον τῆς ἱερᾶς αὐτοῦ κεφαλῆς ἐπέμεινε, μὴ ἄρα διὰ τῆς τῶν φαύλων διαστροφῆς ἀνήκεστα ὑποστῇ. 87.5 πρὸς τὸ διαπαῖξαι τοίνυν ταύτην ἀφαιρεθεὶς τῶν φαρύγγων τῶν ἐπικειμένων αὐτῷ ἀνδρῶν ὑπ' ἐμοὶ διάγειν κεκέλευσται, οὕτως ὡς ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ πόλει, ἐν ᾗ διέτριβε, πᾶσι τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις ἐμπλεονάζειν, εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀοίδιμος ἀρετὴ ταῖς θείαις πεποι 87.6 θυῖα βοηθείαις καὶ τὰ τῆς τραχυτέρας τύχης ἄχθη ἐξουθενεῖ. τοιγαροῦν εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα πρὸς τὴν προσφιλεστάτην ὑμῶν θεοσέβειαν ὁ δεσπότης ἡμῶν Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Σεβαστός, ὁ ἐμὸς πατήρ, τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπίσκοπον τῷ ἰδίῳ τόπῳ παρασχεῖν προῄρητο, ὅμως ἐπειδὴ ἀνθρωπίνῳ κλήρῳ προληφθεὶς πρὸ τοῦ τὴν εὐχὴν πληρῶσαι ἀνεπαύσατο, ἀκόλουθον ἡγησάμην τὴν προαίρεσιν τοῦ τῆς θείας μνήμης βασιλέως διαδεξάμενος πλη 87.7 ρῶσαι. ὅστις ἐπειδὰν τῆς ὑμετέρας τύχοι προσόψεως, ὅσης αἰδοῦς τετύχηκε, γνώ σεσθε. οὐ γὰρ θαυμαστόν, εἴ τι δ' ἂν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πεποίηκα· καὶ γὰρ τὴν ἐμὴν ψυχὴν ἥ τε τοῦ ὑμετέρου πόθου εἰκὼν καὶ τὸ τοῦ τηλικούτου ἀνδρὸς σχῆμα εἰς τοῦτο ἐκίνει καὶ προέτρεπεν. ἡ θεία πρόνοια ὑμᾶς διαφυλάξει, ἀγαπητοὶ ἀδελφοί. ἐδόθη πρὸ δεκαπέντε καλανδῶν Ἰουλίων ἐν Τριβέροις.

88.1 Ταύτης τῆς αἰτίας οὔσης δι' ἣν ἀπεστάλημεν εἰς τὰς Γαλλίας, τίς πάλιν οὐ συνορᾷ τὴν μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως προαίρεσιν, τὴν δὲ τῶν περὶ τὸν Εὐσέβιον φονικὴν ψυχήν, καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο πεποίηκε βασιλεύς, ἵνα μή τινα μείζονα συσκευὴν βουλεύσωνται; ἐπήκουσε γὰρ ἁπλῶς. αὕτη τῶν περὶ Εὐσέβιον ἡ πρᾶξις, αὕτη τῆς καθ' ἡμῶν συσκευῆς ἡ μηχανή. 88.2 τίς ταῦτα συνορῶν οὐκ ἂν εἴποι μηδὲν κατὰ χάριν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γεγενῆσθαι, ἀλλ' ὅτι δι καίως καὶ ἀκολούθως τὸ τοσοῦτον πλῆθος τῶν ἐπισκόπων καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ κοινῇ τοιαῦτα μὲν 88.3 ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἔγραψε, τῆς δὲ συκοφαντίας τῶν ἐχθρῶν κατέγνωσαν; τίς τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτα θεωρήσας οὐκ ἂν εἴποι ὅτι καὶ Οὐάλης καὶ Οὐρσάκιος εἰκότως κατέγνωσαν ἑαυτῶν καὶ μεταγινώσκοντες τοιαῦτα καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἔγραψαν, μᾶλλον ἑλόμενοι πρὸς ὀλίγον αἰσχυνθῆναι ἢ αἰωνίως τὴν τῶν συκοφαντῶν ὑπομεῖναι τιμωρίαν;

89.1 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ δικαίως καὶ ἐκκλησιαστικῶς ποιοῦντες καὶ οἱ μακάριοι συλλειτουργοὶ ἡμῶν, ἐπειδή τινες ἀμφίβολα τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἔλεγον καὶ ἀκυροῦν ἐβιάζοντο τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κριθέντα, πάντα παθεῖν ὑπέμειναν νῦν καὶ ἐξορισθῆναι εἵλοντο ἢ λυομένας ἰδεῖν τὰς τῶν 89.2 τοσούτων ἐπισκόπων κρίσεις. εἰ μὲν οὖν πρὸς τοὺς βουλευσαμένους καθ' ἡμῶν καὶ ἐθελήσαντας ἀνατρέψαι τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἄχρι λόγων ἦσαν ἐνστάντες οἱ ἀληθῶς ἐπίσκοποι ἢ οἱ τυχόντες ἦσαν ἄνδρες ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐπισήμων πόλεων καὶ κεφαλαὶ τοσούτων ἐκκλησιῶν, ἦν ἂν ὑποπτεύειν μὴ ἄρα κεχαρισμένα ποιοῦντες πάλιν ἐφιλονείκησαν καὶ νῦν αὐτοί· 89.3 ὅτε δὲ καὶ λογισμοῖς ἔπειθον καὶ ἐξορισμὸν ὑπέμειναν καὶ Λιβέριός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς Ῥώμης ἐπίσκοπος· εἰ γὰρ καὶ εἰς τέλος οὐχ ὑπέμεινε τοῦ ἐξορισμοῦ τὴν θλῖψιν, ὅμως διετίαν ἔμεινεν ἐν τῇ μετοικίᾳ γιγνώσκων τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν συσκευήν· καὶ ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ὅσιος ὁ