forty-eight persons; the Greeks appeared
in person; and the consent of the Latins was expressed by the legates
of the Roman pontiff. The session, which lasted about two months, was
frequently honored by the presence of the emperor. Leaving his guards
at the door, he seated himself (with the permission of the council) on a
low stool in the midst of the hall. Constantine listened with patience,
and spoke with modesty: and while he influenced the debates, he humbly
professed that he was the minister, not the judge, of the successors
of the apostles, who had been established as priests and as gods upon
earth. Such profound reverence of an absolute monarch towards a feeble
and unarmed assembly of his own subjects, can only be compared to the
respect with which the senate had been treated by the Roman princes
who adopted the policy of Augustus. Within the space of fifty years, a
philosophic spectator of the vicissitudes of human affairs might have
contemplated Tacitus in the senate of Rome, and Constantine in the
council of Nice. The fathers of the Capitol and those of the church had
alike degenerated from the virtues of their founders; but as the bishops
were more deeply rooted in the public opinion, they sustained their
dignity with more decent pride, and sometimes opposed with a manly
spirit the wishes of their sovereign. The progress of time and
superstition erased the memory of the weakness, the passion, the
ignorance, which disgraced these ecclesiastical synods; and the Catholic
world has unanimously submitted to the infallible decrees of the general
councils.

Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part I.

Persecution Of Heresy.--The Schism Of The Donatists.--The
Arian Controversy.--Athanasius.--Distracted State Of The
Church And Empire Under Constantine And His Sons.--
Toleration Of Paganism.

The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory of
a prince who indulged their passions and promoted their interest.
Constantine gave them security, wealth, honors, and revenge; and the
support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred and
important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the great
charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the Roman
world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion. But
this inestimable privilege was soon violated; with the knowledge of
truth, the emperor imbibed the maxims of pe