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186 The reading of Basil. Cr. and Lat., and Pini Codex, epwdh for gewdh, is approved by Schulze, and may indicate a side-hit at the Magian fire-worship. But the adjectival form epwdhj for epwdoj is doubtful.
193 The imperial writer may have had in his mid Tiberius, whose miserable old age was probably ended by murder; Caius, stabbed by his own guard; Claudius, poisoned by his wife; Nero driven to shameful suicide; Vitellius, beaten to death by a brutal mob; Domitian, assassinated by his wife and freedmen; Commodus murdered by his courtiers, and Pertinax by his guards; Caracalla, murdered; Heliogabalus, murdered; Alexander Severus, Maximinus, Gordianus, murdered; Decius, killed in war; Gallus, Aemilianus, Gallienus, all murdered; Aurelianus, Probus, Carus, murdered. On the other hand Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Diocletian, who persecuted the Church with less or more severity, died peaceful deaths.
194 Valerianus, proclaimed Emperor in Rhoetia, a.d. 254, was defeated in his campaign against the Persians, and treated with indignity alive and dead. After being made to crouch as a footstool for his conqueror to tread on when mounting ou homeback, he was flayed alive, a.d. 260, and his tanned skin nailed in a Persian temple as a "memorial of his shame." Cf. Const. Orat. xxiv. Gibbon's catholic scepticism includes the humiliation of Valerianus. "The tale," he says, "is moral and pathetic, but the truth of it may very fairly be called in question." (Decline and Fall, Chap. X.). But the passage in the text, in which the allusion has not always been perceived, and the parallel reference in the Emperor's oration, indicate the belief of a time little more than half a century after the event. Lactantius (de Monte Persecutorum V.), was probably about ten years old when Valerianus was defeated, and, if so, gives the testimony of a contemporary. Orosius (vii. 22) and Agathias (iv. p. 133) would only copy earlier writers, but the latter states that for the fact of Sapor's thus treating Valerianus there is "abundant historical testimony." Cf. Tilemont, Hist. Emp. iii. pp. 314, 315.
195 "tou xorou twn diakonwn hgoumenoj." The youth of Athanasius indicates a variety in the qualifications for the archidiaconate, for he can hardly have been the senior deacon. Cf. Dict. Christian Ant., Art. "Archdeacon.'
196 In order to provide stixaria or variegated vestments. Ath. Apol. cont. Ar. V. §60. The possibility of such charges indicates the importance of the Patriarchate.
197 Philumenus. Ath. Ap. cont. Ar. V. §60.
198 to filtron to umeteron. Athanasius (Apol. cont. Ar. V. §62) quotes the phrase as hmeteron, "our love."
199 Perinthus, on the Propontis also known as Heraclea, and now Erekli, was once a flourishing town. Theodorus was deposed at Sardica. On his genuine writings, vide Fer. de Vir. Ill. c. 90, and on a Commentary on the Psalter, published in 1643, and attributed to him, vide Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 934.
200 The Council of Tyre met a.d. 335, on the date, vide Bp. Lightfoot in Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 316, note. "The scenes at the Council of Tyre form the most picturesque and the most shameful chapter in the Arian controversy." Id.
201 Athanasius (Apol. cont. Ar. VI. §72) describes him as acting with gross partiality.
202 Here comes in the famous scene of the sudden apparition of Athanasius before Constantine. "The Emperor is entering Constantinople in state. A small figure darts across his path in the middle of the square, and stops his horse. The Emperor, thunderstruck, tries to pass on; he cannot guess who the petitioner can be. It is Athanasius, who comes to resist on justice, when thought to be leagues away at the Council of Tyre." Stanley, Eastern Church, Lect. VII.
203 Bishop of Neronias, or Irenopolis. Cf. p. 44, note.
204 Marea or Maria, a town and lake of Lower Egypt, giving its name to the district: now lake Marrout.
205 Aelia Capitolina, the name given to Jerusalem on its restoration by (Aelius) Hadrianus.
206 Augusta Treverorum, Treveri, Trier, or Treves, on the Moselle, was now the official Capital of Gaul.
209 At the hand of Eusebius of Nicomedia.
210 Vide Pedigree, in the Prolegomena. Constantine II. received Gaul, Britain, Spain, and a part of Africa: Constantius the East, and Constaus Illyricum, Italy, and the rest of Africa. In 340 Constans defeated his brother, who was slain near Aquileia, and became master of the West.
211 Our Author is of the same opinion as Sir George Grove, as against Professor Blunt, on the character of Mephibosheth. Dict. Bib. ii. 326.
213 Valesius explains this allusion by quoting the Arian Philostorgius (ii. 17), who says that "the statue of Constantine, standing on its porphyry column, was honoured with sacrifices, illuminations, and incense." The accusation of idolatrous worship may be disregarded. Cf. Chron. Alex. 665, 667.
1 From Feb. 336 to June 338. The "Porta Nigra" and the ruins of the Baths still shew relics of the splendour of the imperial city. The exile was generously treated. Maximinus, the bishop of Treves, was orthodox and friendly. (Ath. ad Episc. Aegypt. §8.) On the conclusion of the term of his relegation to Treves Constantine II. took him in the imperial suite to Viminacium, a town on the Danube, not far from the modern Passarovitz. Here the three emperors met. Athanasius continued his journey to Alexandria via Constantinople and the Cappadocian Caesarea. (Ath. Hist. Ar. §8 and Apol. ad Const. §5.)
2 In Nov. 338. His clergy thought it the happiest day of their lives. Ath. Ap. Cont. Ar.§7.
3 Vide Pedigree. Philostorgius (ii. 16) said the will was given to Eusebius of Nicomedia. Valesius (on Soc. i. 25) thinks that if the story had been true Athanasius would have recorded it, with the name of the Presbyter.
5 Of Nicomedia, now tranferred to the see of Constantinople.
7 The ground of objection to the return was (i) that Athanasius had been condemned by a Council-that of Tyre, and (ii) that he was restored by the authority of the state alone. The first intention was to get the Arian Pistus advanced to the patriarchate.