ce appealed to the Emperor, "so as not to be judged by the
bishops," as Sulpicius Severus tells us, a fatal mistake which cost
him his life.

[1] Cf. Sulp. Sev. _Chronicon_, ii. P.L., vol. xx, col. 155-159;
_Dialogi_, iii. 11-23, ibid., col. 217-219.

He was then conducted to the Emperor at Treves, where he was tried
before a secular court, bishops Idacius and Ithacius appearing as his
accusers. St. Martin, who was in Treves at the time, was scandalized
that a purely ecclesiastical matter should be tried before a secular
judge. His biographer, Sulpicius Severus, tells us "that he kept
urging Ithacius to withdraw his accusation." He also entreated
Maximus not to shed the blood of these unfortunates, for the bishops
could meet the difficulty by driving the heretics from the churches.
He asserted that to make the State judge in a matter of doctrine was
a cruel, unheard-of violation of the divine law.

As long as St. Martin remained in Treves, the trial was put off, and
before he left the city, he made Maximus promise not to shed the
blood of Priscillian and his companions. But soon after St. Martin's
departure, the Emperor, instigated by the relentless bishops Rufus
and Magnus, forgot his promise of mercy, and entrusted the case to
the prefect Evodius, a cruel and hard-hearted official. Priscillian
appeared before him twice, _and was convicted of the crime of magic_.
He was made to confess under torture that he had given himself up to
magical arts, and that he had prayed naked before women in midnight
assemblies. Evodius declared him guilty, and placed him under guard
until the evidence had been presented to the Emperor. After reading
the records of the trial, Maximus declared that Priscillian and his
companions deserved death. Ithacius, perceiving how unpopular he
would make himself with his fellow-bishops, if he continued to play
the part of prosecutor in a capital case, withdrew. A new trial was
therefore ordered. This subterfuge of the Bishop did not change
matters at all, because by this time the case had been practically
settled. Patricius, the imperial treasurer, presided at the second
trial. On his findings, Priscillian and some of his followers were
condemned to death. Others of the sect were exiled.

This deplorable trial is often brought forward as an argument against
the Church. It is important, therefore, for us to ascertain its
precise character, and to discover who was to blame for it.

The real cause