"That is a flat heresy!" he declared decisively.
"Why is it a heresy?" demanded several voices.
"Because the assizes of Paphlagonia have already so laid it down."
"The assizes of Paphlagonia?" repeated the desperate bishops; "we had clean forgotten them. What is to be done now?"
"May God have pity on us miserable sinners!" the good bishop Ozius was muttering; "I can no longer understand anything; I can't get out of the labyrinth; my head is buzzing, my ears singing with Greek words; I'm walking in a fog and don't know myself what I believe in and what I disbelieve; what is heresy and what is not.... Jesus help us!... We are falling into the snares of the Devil."
At that moment the hubbub and clamour ceased. The bishop Ursatius of Singidion, one of the Emperor's favourites, mounted the tribune. He was holding in his hand a long scroll of parchment. Two _silentiarii_, having mended their fine pens of Egyptian reed, got ready to write down the conciliar debate. Ursatius read out the message of the Emperor to the bishops--
"Constantius, the triumphant, glorious, and eternal Augustus, to all bishops assembled in this council...."
The Emperor demanded the dismissal of Athanasius, the patriarch of Alexandria, whom he called the most useless of men, the traitor, the accomplice of the insolent and abominable Magnentius.
The courtiers, Valentine, Eusebius, Axentius, hastened to sign the scroll. But a murmur arose.
"It is all a damnable device; a trick of the Arians! We will not let our patriarch suffer...."
"The Emperor calls himself _eternal_ ... nobody is eternal but God! It is a mockery of holy things."
Constantius, lurking behind the curtain, heard this last speech distinctly. Thrusting the hangings roughly by, he pushed unexpectedly into the hall. The lances of the guard surrounded him. His face expressed anger. A heavy silence fell upon the throng.
"What is it, what is it?" the blind Ozius kept whispering in restless perplexity.
"Fathers," the Emperor began, bridling his anger, "allow me, the servant of the Most High, to use my zeal under His providence to a successful issue. Athanasius is a rebel, the chief violator of universal concord and oecumenical peace."
Fresh murmurs arose. Constantius was silent and ran a surprised look over the array of bishops. A voice shouted--