83. We derive the original story from Athanasius (tom. i. p.
670), who expresses some reluctance to stigmatise the memory
of the dead. He might exaggerate; but the perpetual commerce
of Alexandria and Constantinople would have rendered it
dangerous to invent. Those who press the literal narrative
of the death of Arius (his bowels suddenly burst out in a
privy) must make their option between poison and miracle.