ered Asia, and the Huns several other provinces. Eudoxia
ended her life and crimes in childbed on the 6th of October following,
five days after a furious hail-storm had made a dreadful havoc in the
city. The emperor wrote to St. Nilus, to recommend himself and his
empire to his prayers. The hermit answered him with a liberty of speech
which became one who neither hoped nor feared any thing from the world.
"How do you hope," said he, "to see Constantinople delivered from the
destroying angel of God, after such enormities authorized by laws? after
having banished the most blessed John, the pillar of the church, the
lamp of truth, the trumpet of Jesus Christ!"[34] And again: "You have
banished John, the greatest light of the earth:--At least, {249} do not
persevere in your crime."[35] His brother, the emperor Honorius, wrote
still in stronger terms,[36] and several others. But in vain; for
certain implacable court ladies and sycophants, hardened against all
admonitions and remorse, had much too powerful an ascendant over the
unhappy emperor, for these efforts of the saint's friends to meet with
success. Arsacius, his enemy and persecutor, though naturally a soft and
weak man, was by the emperor's authority intruded into his see. The
saint enjoyed himself comfortably at Nice: but Cucusus was pitched upon
by Eudoxia for the place of his banishment. He set out from Nice in
July, 404, and suffered incredible hardships from heats, fatigues,
severity of guards, almost perpetual watchings, and a fever which soon
seized him with pains in his breast. He was forced to travel almost all
night, deprived of every necessary of life, and was wonderfully
refreshed if he got a little clear water to drink, fresh bread to eat,
or a bed to take a little rest upon. All he lamented was the impenitence
of his enemies, for their own sake: calling impunity in sin, and honor
conferred by men on that account, the most dreadful of all
judgments.[37] About the end of August, after a seventy days' journey,
he arrived at Cucusus, a poor town in Armenia, in the deserts of Mount
Taurus. The good bishop of the place vied with his people in showing the
man of God the greatest marks of veneration and civility, and many
friends met him there, both from Constantinople and Antioch. In this
place, by sending missionaries and succors, he promoted the conversion
of many heathen countries, especially among the Goths, in Persia and
Phoenicia. He appointed Constantius,