e with the western clergy; his decent flattery swayed and
directed the haughty Julius; the Roman pontiff was persuaded to consider
his appeal as the peculiar interest of the Apostolic see: and his
innocence was unanimously declared in a council of fifty bishops of
Italy. At the end of three years, the primate was summoned to the court
of Milan by the emperor Constans, who, in the indulgence of unlawful
pleasures, still professed a lively regard for the orthodox faith. The
cause of truth and justice was promoted by the influence of gold, [114]
and the ministers of Constans advised their sovereign to require the
convocation of an ecclesiastical assembly, which might act as the
representatives of the Catholic church. Ninety-four bishops of the West,
seventy-six bishops of the East, encountered each other at Sardica, on
the verge of the two empires, but in the dominions of the protector of
Athanasius. Their debates soon degenerated into hostile altercations;
the Asiatics, apprehensive for their personal safety, retired to
Philippopolis in Thrace; and the rival synods reciprocally hurled their
spiritual thunders against their enemies, whom they piously condemned as
the enemies of the true God. Their decrees were published and ratified
in their respective provinces: and Athanasius, who in the West was
revered as a saint, was exposed as a criminal to the abhorrence of the
East. [115] The council of Sardica reveals the first symptoms of discord
and schism between the Greek and Latin churches which were separated
by the accidental difference of faith, and the permanent distinction of
language.

[Footnote 110: See Beveridge, Pandect. tom. i. p. 429-452, and tom. ii.
Annotation. p. 182. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 310-324. St.
Hilary of Poitiers has mentioned this synod of Antioch with too much
favor and respect. He reckons ninety-seven bishops.]

[Footnote 111: This magistrate, so odious to Athanasius, is praised by
Gregory Nazianzen, tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 390, 391.

Saepe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem.

For the credit of human nature, I am always pleased to discover some
good qualities in those men whom party has represented as tyrants and
monsters.]

[Footnote 112: The chronological difficulties which perplex the
residence of Athanasius at Rome, are strenuously agitated by Valesius
(Observat ad Calcem, tom. ii. Hist. Eccles. l. i. c. 1-5) and Tillemont,
(Men: Eccles. tom. viii. p. 674, &c.) I have followed the