ressly commanded; but the praefect of
Egypt understood that it was safer for him to exceed, than to neglect,
the orders of an irritated master. The archbishop prudently retired to
the monasteries of the Desert; eluded, with his usual dexterity, the
snares of the enemy; and lived to triumph over the ashes of a prince,
who, in words of formidable import, had declared his wish that the whole
venom of the Galilaean school were contained in the single person of
Athanasius. [134] [134a]

[Footnote 132: Tillemont, who supposes that George was massacred in
August crowds the actions of Athanasius into a narrow space, (Mem.
Eccles. tom. viii. p. 360.) An original fragment, published by the
Marquis Maffei, from the old Chapter library of Verona, (Osservazioni
Letterarie, tom. iii. p. 60-92,) affords many important dates, which are
authenticated by the computation of Egyptian months.]

[Footnote 133: I have preserved the ambiguous sense of the last word,
the ambiguity of a tyrant who wished to find, or to create, guilt.]

[Footnote 134: The three epistles of Julian, which explain his
intentions and conduct with regard to Athanasius, should be disposed in
the following chronological order, xxvi. x. vi. * See likewise, Greg.
Nazianzen xxi. p. 393. Sozomen, l. v. c. 15. Socrates, l. iii. c.
14. Theodoret, l iii. c. 9, and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p.
361-368, who has used some materials prepared by the Bollandists.]

[Footnote 134a: The sentence in the text is from Epist. li. addressed to
the people of Alexandria.--M.]

I have endeavored faithfully to represent the artful system by which
Julian proposed to obtain the effects, without incurring the guilt,
or reproach, of persecution. But if the deadly spirit of fanaticism
perverted the heart and understanding of a virtuous prince, it must, at
the same time, be confessed that the real sufferings of the Christians
were inflamed and magnified by human passions and religious enthusiasm.
The meekness and resignation which had distinguished the primitive
disciples of the gospel, was the object of the applause, rather than of
the imitation of their successors. The Christians, who had now possessed
above forty years the civil and ecclesiastical government of the empire,
had contracted the insolent vices of prosperity, [135] and the habit of
believing that the saints alone were entitled to reign over the earth.
As soon as the enmity of Julian deprived the clergy of the privileges