CHAPTER XXVIII

ATHANASIUS’S ACCOUNT OF THE VIOLENCES COMMITTED AT ALEXANDRIA BY GEORGE THE ARIAN

WHAT cruelties were perpetrated at Alexandria by George at the same time, may be learnt from the narration of Athanasius, who was not only a spectator of the scenes he describes, but also a sufferer in them. In his “Vindication of his flight,” speaking of these transactions, he thus expresses himself:—“Moreover they came to Alexandria, again seeking to destroy me: and on this occasion their proceedings were worse than before; for the soldiery having suddenly surrounded the church, there arose the din of war, instead of the voice of prayer. Afterwards on the arrival of George during Lent, the mischief for which he had been trained by those who had sent him from Cappadocia, was greatly augmented. When Easter-week was past, the virgins were cast into prison, the bishops led in chains by the military, and the dwellings even of orphans and widows forcibly entered and pillaged. Christians were interred by night; houses were set a mark upon; and the relatives of the clergy were endangered on their account. Even these outrages were dreadful; but the persecutors soon proceeded to such as were still more so. For in the week after the holy Pentecost, the people having fasted, went forth to a cemetery to pray, because all were averse to communion with George: that brutal persecutor being informed of this, instigated against them Sebastian, an officer who was a Manichæan. He at the head of a body of troops armed with drawn swords, bows, and darts, marched out to attack the people, although it was the Lord’s day: finding but few at prayers, as the most part had retired because of the lateness of the hour, lie performed such exploits as might be expected from savage barbarians. Having kindled a fire, he set the virgins near it, in order to compel them to say that they were of the Arian faith: but seeing they were not to be overcome, and that they despised the fire, he then stript them, and so beat them on the face, that for a long time afterwards they could scarcely be, recognised. Seizing also about forty men, he flogged them in an extraordinary manner: for he so lacerated their backs with rods fresh cut from the palm-tree, which still had their thorns on, that some were obliged to procure surgical aid in order to have the thorns extracted from their flesh; while others unable to bear the agony, died under its infliction. All the survivors with one virgin he banished to the Great Oasis. The bodies of the dead were not at first suffered to be claimed by their relatives, but being denied the rites of sepulture were concealed as the authors of these barbarities thought fit, that the evidences of their cruelty might not appear. Such was the blindness with which these madmen acted: for while the friends of the deceased rejoiced on account of their confession, but mourned because of their bodies being uninterred, the impious inhumanity of these acts became more distinctly conspicuous. Soon after this they sent into exile out of Egypt and the two Libyas, the following bishops: Ammonius, Thmuïs, Caïus, Philo, Hermes, Pliny, Psenosiris, Nilammon, Agatho, Anagamphus, a second Ammonius, Mark, Dracontius, Adelphius, a third Ammonius, another Mark, and Athenodorus; and the presbyters Hierax and Discorus. And so harshly were they treated by those who had the charge of conducting them, that some expired while on their journey, and others in the very place of banishment. In this way more than thirty bishops were got rid of: for the anxious desire of the Arians, like Ahab’s, was to exterminate the truth if possible.”

Such is the statement Athanasius has given of the atrocities perpetrated by George at Alexandria. The emperor meanwhile led his army into Illyrieum, where the urgency of public affairs demanded his presence; for Vetranio had been there proclaimed emperor by the military. On arriving at Sirmium, a truce being made, he came to a conference with Vetranio; and so managed, that the soldiers who had previously declared for his rival, now deserted him, and saluted Constantius alone as Augustus and sovereign Autocrat. Vetranio perceiving himself to be abandoned, immediately threw himself at the feet of the emperor; who after taking from him his imperial crown and purple, treated him with great clemency, and recommended him to pass the rest of his days tranquilly in the condition of a private citizen: observing that a life of repose at his advanced age, was far more suitable than a dignity which entailed anxieties and care. Vetranio’s affairs having come to this issue, he was assigned a liberal provision out of the public revenue: and writing frequently to the emperor during his residence at Prusa in Bithynia, he assured him that he had conferred the greatest blessing on him, by liberating him from the disquietudes which are the inseparable concomitants of sovereign power. Adding that he himself did not act wisely in depriving himself of that happiness in retirement, which he had bestowed upon him. After these things, the emperor Constantius having created Gallus his kinsman Cæsar, and given him his own name, sent him to Antioch in Syria to guard the eastern parts. When Gallus was entering this city, the Saviour’s sign appeared in the East: for a pillar in the form of a cross was seen in the heavens, to the great amazement of the spectators. Other generals were despatched by the emperor against Magnentius with considerable forces, while he himself remained at Sirmium, awaiting the course of events.