LIBERIXTS
218
UBE&ZUS
cause of Athanasius. on condition that all would con-
demn Arianlsm. The court party accepted the com-
pact, but did not carry out their part; and the legates
were forced by violence to condemn Athanasius. with-
out gaining any concession for themselves. Lioerius,
on receiving the news, wrote to Hosius of Cordova of
his deep grief at the fall of Vincent; he himself desired
to die, lest he should incur the imputation of having
agreed to injustice and heterodoxy. Another letter in
the same strain was addressed by the pope to St. Euse-
bius, Bishop of Vercelli, who had formerly been one of
tho Roman clergjr.
Eailicr than this, a letter against Athanasius signed by many Eastern bishops had arrived at Rome. The emperor sent a special envoy named Montanus to Alex- andria, where he arrived 22 May^ 353, to inform the patriarch that the emperor was willing to grant him a personal interview; but Athanasius had never asked lor this; he recognized that a trap had been set for him, and did not move. He quitted Alexandria only in the following February, when George, an Arian, was set up as bishop in his place, amid disgraceful scenes of vio- lence. But Athanasius had already heli a council in his own defence, and a letter in his favour, signed by seventy-five (or eighty) Egyptian bishops, had ar- rived at Rome at the end of May, 353. Constantius pubhcly accused the. pope of preventing peace and of suppressing the letter of the Easterns against Athanar sius. Liberius replied with a dignified and touching letter (Obsecro, tranquillissime imperator), in which he declares that he read the letter of the Easterns to a council at Rome (probably an anniversary coun- cil, 17 May, 353), but, as the letter which ar- rived simultaneously^ from Egypt was signed by a greater number of bishops, it was impossiljle to con- demn Athanasius; he himself had never wished to be pope, but he had followed his pre lecessors in all things; he could not make peace with the East- ems, for some of them refused to condemn Arius, and they were in communion wit h George of Alexandria, who accepted the Arian priests whom Alexander had long ago excommunicated. He complains of the Council of Aries, and Ixjgs for the assemljling of an- other council, by means of which the exposition of faith to which all had agreed at Nicaea may be en- forced for the future. The letter was carried by Luci- fer, Bishop of Calaris (Cagliari), the priest Pancratius, and the deacon Hilary, to the emjx^ror at IVIilan. The pope asked St. Eusebius to assist the legates with his mnuence, and wrote again to thank him for having done so. A council was in fact convened at Milan, and met there alK>ut the spring of 355. St. Euscl)ius was persuaded to be present^ and he insisted that all should begin by signing the N icene decree. The court bishops declined. The military were called in. Con- stantius ordered the bishops to take his word for the guilt of Athanasius, and condemn him. Eusebius was banished, t<)gether with Lucifer and Dionysius of Milan. Liberius sent another letter to the emperor; and his envoj-s, the priest Eutropius and the cleacon Hilary, were also exiled, the deacon being besides cruelly beaten. The Arian Auxentius was made Bishop of Milan. The pope wrote a letter, generally known as " Quamuis sub imagine ", to the exiled bish- ops, addressing them as martyrs, and expressing his regret that he had not been the first to suffer so as to set an example to others; he asks for their prayers that he may yet oe worthy to share their exUe.
That these were not mere words was proved, not only by Liljerius's noble attitude of protest during the preceding years, but by his subsequent conduct. Con- stantius was not satisfied by the renewed condemna- tion of Athanasius by the Italian bishops who had lapsed at Milan under pressure. He knew that the pope was the only ecclesiastical superior of the Bishop of Alexandria, and he "strove with burning desire . Bays the pagan Ammianus, "that the sentence should
be confirmed by the higher authority of the bishop of
the eternal city". St. Athanasius assures us that
from the beginning the Arians did not spare Liberius,
for they calculated that, if they could but persuade
him, they would soon get hold of all the rest, Con-
stantius sent to Rome his prefect of the bed-chamber,
the eunuch Eusebius, a very powerful personage, witii
a letter and gifts. " Obey the emperor and take this "
was in fact his message, a&ys St. Athanasius, who pro-
ceeds to give the pope's reply at length: He could not
decide against Athanasius, who had been acauitted by
two general synods, and had been dismissea in peace
by the Roman Church, nor could he condemn the ab»
sent; such was not the tradition he had received from
his predecessors and from St. Peter; if the emperor
desired peace, he must annul what he had decreed
against Athanasius and have a council oelebnted
without emperor or counts or judges present, so that
the Nicene Faith might be preserved; the foUowers of
Arius must be cast out and their heresy anathema-
tized; the unorthodox must not sit in a synod; the
Faith must first be settled, and then only could other
matters be treated; let Ursacius and VaJens, the oowt
bbhops from Pannonia, be disregarded, for they had
already once disowned their bad actions, and were so
longer worthy of credit.
The eunuch was enraged, and went off with his bribes, which he laid before the confession of St. Peter. Liberius severely rebuked the guaniians of the ho^
Elace for not having prevented this unheard-of saon- }ge. He cast the gifts away, which angered the eunuch yet more, so that he wrote to the emperor that it was no lon<i:cr a question of simply getting Liberine to condemn .Vthanasius, for he went so far as formaDy to anathematize the Arians. Constantius was per- suaded by his eunuchs to send Palatine officers, nota- ries, and counts, with letters to the Prefect of Rome. Leontius, ordering that Liberius should be seized either secretly or by violence, and despatched to the court. There followed a kind of persecution at Rome. Bishops, says St. Athanasius, and pious ladies were obligcfl to hide, monks were not safe, foreigners were expelled, the gates and the port were watched. **The Ethiopian eunuch", continues the saint, "when he understood not what he read, believed St. Philip; wncreas the eunuchs of Constantius do not believe Peier when he confesses Christ, nor the Father indeed, when He reveals His Son '* — ^an allusion to the declain- tions of the popes that in condemning Arianism tb^ spoke with the voice of Peter and repeated his confes- sion, "Thou art [the] Christ, the Son of the living God ", which the Father Himself had revealed to the Apostle. Liberius was dragged l>efore the emperor at Milan. He spoke boldly, bidding Constantius cease fighting against God, and declaring his readiness to go at once into exile before his enemies had time to trump up charges against him. Theodoret has preserved the minutes of an interview between " the glorious Libe- rius" and Constantius, which were taken down by good people, he says, at the time. Lil)erius refuses to acknowledge the decision of the Council of Tyre and to renounce Athanasias; the Mareotic acts against him were false witness, and Ursacius and Valens had con- fessed as much, and had asked pardon from the Synod of Sardica. Epict'Ctus, the young intruded Bishop of CentumcelLT, interposes, saying that Liberius only wanted to be able to boast to the Roman senators that he had beaten the emperor in argument. " Who are you ", adds Constantius, " to stand up for Athanasius against the world?" Lil)erius replies: "Of old there were found but three to resist the mandate of the king." The eunuch Eusebius cried: "You compare the emperor to Nabuchodonosor." Liberius: *'No, but you condemn the innocent.** He demands that all shall su!>scribe the Nicene formula, then the exiles must be restored, and all the bishops must assemble at Alexandria to give Athanasius a fair trial on tJie spot
