"Then gazing fixedly upon him, I did say: 'Surely thou mayst do so, for thou art a blood-soaked, merciless tyrant enough for any crime. But this deed would make thee contemptible; for it would prove that thou art not only a tyrant, but also a fool!'
"Then turning almost livid with suppressed wrath, he cried out, 'What dost thou mean, thou insolent?'
"'I mean that some years ago when the bold and eloquent preaching of the brave and righteous presbyter, Arius the Libyan, did operate to save for thee a large part of thy fleet, thou didst order that he should never be molested in the public discharge of the duties of his sacred office; wherefore, even the Christians, who knew thee to be a bloody tyrant, and a desecrator of the sacrament of marriage by an infamous law, and a violator of all the sanctities and decencies of life, still did give thee credit for intelligence. But if now thou shalt murder those who, even unintentionally, have given thee warning in time to save thy whole navy, all men will regard thee as an idiot.'
"'How save my whole navy?'
"'By keeping the ships thereof upon thine own side of the Mediterranean; for the words are, "when the great ships shall cross the middle sea," and perhaps it may signify not until then?'
"'By Jupiter Stator,' he answered, vehemently, 'I think that thou art right! And that accursed "when" shall never happen. For this honest saying of thine, thou mayst go hence free, and take the lad Gaius with thee!'
"And thereupon I withdrew; but I am certainly advised that his purpose holds good never to send his fleet across the Mediterranean."
"How dost thou know that?" asked Constantine, eagerly.
"We waited many weeks," replied Eusebius, "to obtain some reliable indications of his purposes; but the Emperor Licinius is a great commander, and men drilled in military services talk cautiously even when drunk, as he frequently is, so that we got nothing. Finally, a centurion came one night to mine abode, which I had caused to be publicly known, and with great courtesy informed me that the emperor had sent him to bring me into his presence. Having dismissed all others, as if the matter were most secret, he said: 'I know ye Christian bishops love not me, and that ye offer prayers for Constantine; yet I do not think that thou wouldst lie to me. I therefore tell thee that, since thou wert last before me, I sent an embassy secretly unto the oracle at Delphi, with many costly gifts, asking of the oracle what success I would have if I should send my navy against the Western Empire; and I desire thee to read and to construe the answer of the god.' Then he gave unto me a parchment on which was written, 'When the navy of the Emperor Licinius shall pass over the sea to war with the Emperor Constantine, his empire shall be overthrown.' I read the oracle, and laughed. Then said I unto him: 'Like all of the pretended oracles of the heathen, it is simply an evasion. Of course, if two great emperors engage in war, one of them must be overthrown. This oracle saith not which of them. If the Western Empire be defeated, the priests will say, "We foretold that." But if the Eastern Empire shall be subverted, they will just as truly say, "We foretold that."'
"'Art thou certain that the language bears one construction as naturally and grammatically as it does the other?'