OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
If the emperor had capriciously decreed thedeath of the most eminent and virtuous citizenof the republic, the cruel order would have beenexecuted without hesitation, by the ministers ofopen violence or of specious injustice. The cau-tion, the delay, the difficulty with which he pro-ceeded in the condemnation and punishment of apopular bishop, discovered to the world that theprivileges of the church had already revived asense of order and freedom in the Roman govern-ment. The sentence which was pronounced inthe synod of Tyre, and subscribed by a largemajority of the eastern bishops, had never beenexpressly repealed; and as Athanasius had beenonce degraded from his episcopal dignity by thejudgment of his brethren, every subsequent actmight be considered as irregular, and even cri-minal. But the memory of the firm and effectualsupport which the primate of Egypt had derivedfrom the attachment of the western church, en-gaged Constantins to suspend the execution ofthe sentence, till he had obtained the concur-rence of the Latin bishops. Two years wereconsumed in ecclesiastical negociations; and theimportant cause between the emperor and oneof his subjects was solemnly debated, first inthe synod of Arles , and afterwards in the greatcouncil of Milan, 1 * which consisted of above
dared, that he was more desirous to subdue Athanasius , than he hadbeen to vanquish Magnentins or Sylvanus.
* The affairs of the council of Milan are so imperfectly and errone-ously related by the Greek writers, that we must rejoice in the supplyof some letters of Eusebius , extracted by Baronins, from the archive*
of
B b
309
CHAP.
XXI.
VOL. III.