108. Athanas. tom. i. p. 729 [tom. i. p. 104, ed. Bened.].
Eunapius has related (in Vit. Sophist. p. 36, 37 [in
Aedesio], edit. Commelin) a strange example of the cruelty
and credulity of Constantine on a similar occasion. The
eloquent Sopater, a Syrian philosopher, enjoyed his
friendship, and provoked the resentment of Ablavius, his
Praetorian praefect. The corn-fleet was detained for want of
a south wind; the people of Constantinople were
discontented; and Sopater was beheaded, on a charge that he
had bound the winds by the power of magic. Suidas adds,
that Constantine wished to prove, by this execution, that he
had absolutely renounced the superstition of the Gentiles.