THE DECLINE AND FALL

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chap, partiality of the magistrate, and to awaken thezeal °f the proselyte. He was provoked by theHiszuii, insults which had been offered to his statues;a. d. 32 o. } ie was a l a i nied by the real, as well as the ima-ginary, magnitude of the spreading mischief;and he extinguished the hope of peace and to-leration, from the moment that he assembledthree hundred bishops within the walls of thesame palace. The presence of the monarchswelled the importance of the debate; his at-tention multiplied the arguments ; and he ex-posed his person with a patient intrepidity,which animated the valour of the combatants.Notwithstanding the applause which has beenbestowed on the eloquence and sagacity ofConstantine, * a Iloman general, whose religionmight be still a subject of doubt, and whosemind had not been enlightened either by studyor by inspiration, was indifferently qualified todiscuss, in the Greek language, a metaphysicalquestion, or an article of faith. But the creditof his favourite Osius, who appears to have pre-sided in the council of Nice, might dispose theemperor in favour of the orthodox party ; anda well-timed insinuation, that the same Eusebiusof Nicomedia , who now' protected the heretic,had lately assisted the tyrant, k might exaspe-rate him against their ad versaries. The Nicenccreed was ratified by Constantine ; and his firm

1 Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. 1 . iii, c. 13.

* Theodoret has preserved (1. i, c. 20) an epistle from Constantine tothe people of Nicomedia, in which the monarch declares himself thepublic accuser of one of his subjects; he styles Eusebius » ?«c tuptnuntifAvrr.-r^ auftftvw, and he complains of his hostile behaviour duringthe civil war.