THE DECLINE AND FALL

382

chap, their dark retreats were invaded bv a military

_force, which it was impossible to resist, they

silently stretched out their necks to the execu-tioner; and supported their national character,that tortures could never wrest from an Egyp -! tian the confession of a secret which he was

; resolved not to disclose.* The archbishop of

Alexandria, for whose safety they eagerly de-voted their lives, was lost among a uniform andwell-disciplined multitude; and on the nearerapproach of danger, he was swiftly removed, bytheir officious hands, from one place of conceal-ment to another, till he reached the formidabledeserts, which the gloomy and credulous tem-per of superstition had peopled with daemonsand savage monsters. The retirement of Atha-nasius , which ended only with the life of Con-stantius, was spent for the most part, in thesociety of the monks, who faithfully served himas guards, as secretaries, and as messengers;but the importance of maintaining a more inti-mate connection W'ith the catholic party tempt-ed him, whenever the diligence of the pursuitwas abated, to emerge from the desert, to intro-duce himself into Alexandria, and to trust hisperson to the discretion of his friends and ad-herents. His various adVentures might havefurnished the subject of a very entertaining ro-mance. He was once secreted in a dry cistern,which he had scarcely left before he was be-

* Et nulla tormentorum vis inveniri adliuc potuit , qtisc obduiato•Ilius tractus latroni invito elicere potuit; ut nomen proprium dicat.Ammian. xxii, 16 , and Valcsius ad locum.