6. PALLADIUS said; ‘You have contrived, as appears by the sacred document[24] which you have brought forward, that this should not be a full and General Council: in the absence of our Colleagues we cannot answer.’
Ambrose, Bishop, said: ‘Who are your colleagues?’
Palladius said: ‘The Eastern Bishops.’
7. AMBROSE, Bishop, said: ‘Inasmuch as in former times the usage of Councils has been that the Eastern Bishops should be appointed to hold them in the East, and the Western Bishops in the West, we, having our place in the West, are come together to the city of Aquileia according to the Emperor’s command. Moreover, the Prefect of Italy has issued letters, that if the Eastern Bishops chose to meet, they should be allowed to do so; but inasmuch as they know that the custom is that the Council of the Eastern Bishops should be in the East and of the Western in the West, they have therefore thought fit not to come.’
8. PALLADIUS said: ‘Our Emperor Gratian commanded the Eastern Bishops to come: do you deny that he did so? the Emperor himself told us that he had commanded the Eastern Bishops to come.’
Ambrose, Bishop, said: ‘He certainly commanded them, in that he did not forbid them to come hither.’
Palladius said: ‘But your prayer has prevented their coming: under a pretence of benevolence you have obtained this, and so put the Council off.’
9. AMBROSE, Bishop, said: ‘There is no occasion to wander any longer from the subject: answer now. Did Arius say rightly that the Father alone is eternal? and did he say this in agreement with the Scriptures or not?’
Palladius said: ‘I do not answer you.’
Constantius, Bishop, said: ‘Do not you answer when you have so long blasphemed?’