the flexible
and indulgent temper of a prudent leader. The election of Athanasius has
not escaped the reproach of irregularity and precipitation; [99] but the
propriety of his behavior conciliated the affections both of the clergy
and of the people. The Alexandrians were impatient to rise in arms for
the defence of an eloquent and liberal pastor. In his distress he always
derived support, or at least consolation, from the faithful attachment
of his parochial clergy; and the hundred bishops of Egypt adhered, with
unshaken zeal, to the cause of Athanasius. In the modest equipage which
pride and policy would affect, he frequently performed the episcopal
visitation of his provinces, from the mouth of the Nile to the confines
of Aethiopia; familiarly conversing with the meanest of the populace,
and humbly saluting the saints and hermits of the desert. [100] Nor
was it only in ecclesiastical assemblies, among men whose education
and manners were similar to his own, that Athanasius displayed the
ascendancy of his genius. He appeared with easy and respectful firmness
in the courts of princes; and in the various turns of his prosperous
and adverse fortune he never lost the confidence of his friends, or the
esteem of his enemies.

[Footnote 99: The irregular ordination of Athanasius was slightly
mentioned in the councils which were held against him. See Philostorg.
l. ii. c. 11, and Godefroy, p. 71; but it can scarcely be supposed that
the assembly of the bishops of Egypt would solemnly attest a public
falsehood. Athanas. tom. i. p. 726.]

[Footnote 100: See the history of the Fathers of the Desert, published
by Rosweide; and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii., in the lives of
Antony, Pachomius, &c. Athanasius himself, who did not disdain to
compose the life of his friend Antony, has carefully observed how often
the holy monk deplored and prophesied the mischiefs of the Arian heresy
Athanas. tom. ii. p. 492, 498, &c.]

In his youth, the primate of Egypt resisted the great Constantine, who
had repeatedly signified his will, that Arius should be restored to the
Catholic communion. [101] The emperor respected, and might forgive,
this inflexible resolution; and the faction who considered Athanasius as
their most formidable enemy, was constrained to dissemble their hatred,
and silently to prepare an indirect and distant assault. They scattered
rumors and suspicions, represented the archbishop as a proud and
oppressive tyrant, and b