at saint, as we shall see
hereafter. 'I dare not examine,' says the historian of St. Hilary, 'the
judgment and the conduct of two men so great, especially now that God has
called them to the possession of His glory. I confine myself to saying,
that Hilary singly opposed this great number of adversaries; that he was
not shaken by their menaces; that he laid the truth before those who would
listen to it; that he prevailed over those who would dispute with him; that
he yielded not to the powerful; in short, that he preferred running the
risk of losing his life to admitting to his communion him whom he had
deposed together with so many great Bishops.'

"Had St. Leo only required to have the affair reheard in the Gauls,
agreeably to the Canons of Sardica, the only ones which the Church had
hitherto made in favour of appeals to the Pope, St. Hilary would, perhaps,
have consented; that is, if he were better acquainted with this Council
than they were in Africa. But it is not apparent that such a rehearing was
mentioned. And as to suffering the matter to be judged at Rome, St. Hilary,
besides the other reasons which he might have, considered, doubtless, with
St. Cyprian, that the proofs of the facts on which judgment must be made
cannot be transported thither. So the Gallican Church has always maintained
itself in the right, that appeals made to Rome be referred back to the
spot. Though St. Hilary had protested that he was not come to engage in any
dispute, nevertheless he did not refuse to take part in a conference, in
which St. Leo heard him, together with Celidonius. Several Bishops were
there. Notes were made of all that was said. St. Leo says that St. Hilary
had nothing reasonable to answer; his passion carried him away to say
things that a layman would not have dared to utter, and that the Bishops
could not listen to. He adds that this haughty pride touched him to the
quick, and that, nevertheless, he had used no other remedy than patience,
not wishing to sharpen and increase the wounds which this insolent language
caused in the soul of him who held it: that moreover, having received him
at first as his brother, he only thought of soothing rather than vexing and
paining him; and that indeed he did this to himself sufficiently by the
confusion into which the weakness of his answers threw him. It is clear
that St. Hilary would not answer on the main point of Celidonius's affair,
because he maintained that St. Leo could not be