CHAPTER XX

DEATH OF ATHANASIUS, AND ELEVATION OF PETER TO HIS SEE

WHILE Athanasius bishop of Alexandria was alive, the emperor restrained by the Providence of God, abstained from molesting Alexandria and Egypt: indeed he knew very well that Athanasius was generally beloved there, and on that account he was careful lest the public affairs should be hazarded, by the Alexandrians, who are an irritable race, being excited to sedition. But that eminent prelate, after being engaged in so many and such severe conflicts on behalf of the church, departed this life in the second consulate of Gratian and Probus, having governed that church amidst the greatest perils forty-six years. He left as his successor Peter, a devout and eloquent man.