"Yea, verily," he said, "ye know that faith in Christ and community of property constituted the liberty of the gospel wherewith Jesus sought to make man free! But ye have imported into the very bosom of the Church all of the tyrannies, injustices, class-distinctions, and wrongs which constitute mammon-worship and the sorrow of the world; and there is no difference between your system and the old religions except that ye have substituted the name of Christ for that of Jupiter and Mars in juggling with the rights of man."
And when Eusebius endeavored to arouse in the stern old man some considerations of personal prudence, by intimating the probability that Constantine might some day rule the East also, the lone and immovable man sternly answered:
"Yea, he will obtain the East! For he alone of all men hath never failed in diplomacy; hath never abandoned a purpose; hath never lost a battle, and never will! He hath sold his soul for earthly glory, and Satan will pay to him his price."
But although Eusebius loved to commune with the stern old man, whose stainless integrity of character he could love and honor, but scarcely imitate, he never forgot the object of his journey to Alexandria, and was constantly on the lookout for some one to whom he could assign the task of aiding the ancient Alexander in his controversy with the great and fearless presbyter. At last he fell in with a youth who was an archdeacon in the bishop's church, and who, although very young, was possessed of such remarkable genius and learning, and of such pre-eminent personal advantages, as at once to attract and astonish him, and seemed to render him the fittest person to engage. He sedulously cultivated the young man's friendship, and admired him more and more as he learned more of his character and abilities. Finally, he cordially invited the youth to make with him a visit to Constantine, and having with much difficulty obtained the consent of the aged Alexander, who loved the bright and accomplished youth with exceeding tenderness, they twain departed for Milan. When the long and tedious journey had been safely accomplished, Eusebius promptly waited upon the emperor, who received him with fraternal cordiality.
"Ah, thou vagabond friend," he cried, "thou runaway bishop, whom I had almost given up for lost, give some good account of thyself, or thou shalt never again have leave of absence, even for a day."
"I have indeed delayed my return beyond all expectation," said the bishop; "but I suppose that my brother of Nicomedia hath imparted all needful information of thy lost shepherd up to the time at which I set out for Alexandria."
"Yea, verily," answered Constantine. "And his narrative was most perspicuous and entertaining, and eloquent enough to draw my veteran legions from the remotest quarters of the empire; and even now they are slowly but steadily concentrating eastwardly, and they have a certain Oriental bearing in their movements which would please thee mightily if only thou wert soldier enough to perceive it."
Both of the great men indulged in a laugh at this pleasant sally of the emperor, who continued: "Ah! my beloved bishop, it was indeed most delicate and superb work! Thou must henceforth insert into all the copies of the Apocrypha 'The Prophecy of Gaius of Chalcis,' but not during the lifetime of the Emperor Licinius, else he would decapitate mankind to reach thy single head!"
And again the emperor laughed like a boy, and the bishop joined in his merriment.
"How hast thou fared in Egypt, bishop? And what good tidings hast thou brought me thence?"