OF THE HOMAN EMPIRE.

and as the glory, of his life. Amidst the stormsof persecution, the archbishop of Alexandria was patient of labour, jealous of fame, carelessof safety; and although his mind was taintedby the contagion of fanaticism, Athanasius dis-played a superiority of character and abilities,which would have qualified him, far better thanthe degenerate sons of Constantine, for the go-vernment of a great monarchy. His learningwas much less profound and extensive thanthat of Eusebius of Caesarea , and his rude elo-quence could not be compared with the polish-ed oratory of Gregory or Basil ; but wheneverthe primate of Egypt was called upon to justi-fy his sentiments or his conduct, his unpreme-ditated style, either of speaking or writing, wasclear, forcible, and persuasive. He has alwaysbeen revered, in the orthodox school, as one ofthe most accurate masters of the Christian theo-logy; and he was supposed to possess twoprofane sciences, less adapted to the episcopalcharacter, the knowledge of jurisprudence,*and that of divination/ Some fortunate con-jectures of future events, which impartial rea-soners might ascribe to the experience andjudgment of Athanasius , were attributed by hisfriends to heavenly inspiration, and imputed byhis enemies to infernal magic.

e Sulpicius Severus (Hist. Sacra, 1. ii, p. 396) calls him a lawyer, ajurisconsult. This character cannot now be discovered either in the lifeor writings of Athanasius .

f Oicebatur entm fatidicarum sortinm fid cm, qnaeve augurales porten-derent alites scientissime callens aliquoties preedixisse futura. Animia-inis, xv, 7. A prophecy, or rather a joke, is related by Sozomen , (I. iv 9c. 10) which evidently proves (if the crows speak Latin) that Athana-sius understood the language of the crows.

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