[N14]. Thus the very Letter of Liberius is put in the Place where the Letter of the Council of Sardica to the Emperor Constantius ought to have been, as is manifest from what is said immediately before it. A few Lines after, instead of the Letter from the Council of Egypt to Liberius, which Hilarius promises, we find one from Liberius to the Bishops of Italy, written after the Death of Constantius upon a quite different Subject. What comes immediately after the Letter of Liberius to the Eusebians, ought, in all Likelihood, to have been placed after the above-mentioned Letter of the Council of Sardica to Constantius: for to me it appears no less improbable than it does or can do to Baronius[[1]], that Hilarius, a most zealous Stickler for the Orthodox Faith, should approve of the Pope’s scandalous Letter, tending utterly to subvert it, and express his Approbation in these Terms; What is there in this Letter that is not holy? What is there that does not proceed from the Fear of God? However, I cannot conclude, and much less demonstratively, with the Annalist, that the Letter has been forged by the Arians. All I think can be inferred from thence is, that the Letters, like most other Pieces there, have been misplaced; and that the above-mentioned Words of Hilarius ought to be put after the Letter of the Council to Constantius, and not after that of Liberius to the Arians.
[1]. Bar. ad ann. 352. n. 13.
The Council of Arles.
In the mean time Constantius, now in quiet Possession of the whole Empire by the Death of Magnentius, who, after his Defeat, had laid violent Hands on himself, summoned a Council to meet at Arles. At this Council Liberius did not assist in Person, but by his Legates, Vincentius Bishop of Capua, and Marcellus Bishop of Campania, who, together with some others, had been sent by Liberius some time before to meet the Emperor at Arles, and beg him in the Pope’s Name to assemble a Council at Aquileia[[726]]. As the Bishop of Capua was a Man of great Parts, and long Experience, Liberius reposed an intire Confidence in him, not doubting but he would maintain the Dignity of his Legation, and support the Innocency of Athanasius with that Firmness which he had shewn on several other Occasions [[N15]].
[N15]. For Liberius, ashamed of what he had done against Athanasius, not only readmitted him soon after to his own Communion, but with great Zeal undertook his Defence.
As the Council consisted chiefly of Arians, their great Point in view was, to extort from the Italian Bishops a solemn Condemnation of Athanasius. |The Emperor’s Edict.| This therefore was in the first place proposed in the Council; and, because the orthodox Bishops would not consent to it, an Edict was issued by the Emperor, sentencing all those to Exile who should refuse to sign the Condemnation of Athanasius[[727]]. |The Pope’s Legates
sign the Condem-
nation of Athanasius.| The boasted Firmness and Constancy of Vincentius were not Proof against such a Trial. He did all that lay in his Power to divert the Emperor from the Execution of a Decree utterly inconsistent with the Liberty of a Council; but finding him deaf to all Remonstrances, he began to capitulate, offering to sign the Condemnation of Athanasius, on condition the Eusebians signed that of Arius, and publicly abjured his Doctrine. This he thought would be some Alleviation of his Guilt, and therefore the Proposal which he had made by Word of Mouth he gave in Writing to the Heads of the Arian Faction, signed by himself and his Fellow-legates. But the Arians, too well acquainted with their Weakness to grant them any Terms, peremptorily insisted upon their condemning Athanasius, and referring the Cause and Doctrine of Arius to a more proper Juncture. Vincentius and his Collegues, finding the Enemies of Athanasius thus inflexible, and, on the other hand, determined at all Events to keep their Bishopricks, and avoid the Hardships of a painful Exile, complied at last, and yielded to the troublesome Times, to use their softening Expression[[728]]. They were the more inexcuseable, as they had before their Eyes the Example of a great Prelate, whose Constancy was proof against all the Threats and Menaces of a provoked Prince. This was the celebrated Paulinus Bishop of Treves, who, after perusing the Formulary, drawn up by the Eusebians, to be signed by him and the other Bishops, rejected it with the utmost Indignation, declaring that nothing they could do should ever induce him to betray the Truth, and his own Conscience, by setting his Hand to such a scandalous Piece. The Eusebians left no Art unattempted to gain him, as they had done the Pope’s Legates, but finding he was a Man of a quite different Disposition, and despairing of being ever able to prevail upon him either by Hopes or Fear, they at last had recourse to the Emperor, who, putting his Decree in Execution, sent him into Exile; and in order to tire out his Patience, ordered him to be constantly conveyed from one inhospitable Place to another. |The glorious Behaviour
of Paulinus.| But in every Place Paulinus was the same, the Conscience of his suffering for the sake of Justice enabling him to bear, not only with Patience, but Chearfulness, the inexpressible Hardships he underwent[[729]]. He died in Phrygia in the Fifth Year of his Exile[[730]], that is, in 358. But his Body is supposed to have been discovered in a Church of his Name at Treves, in the Year 1071[[731]]. How and when it was conveyed thither, let those inquire who adore it.