use of as the watchwords in a political struggle. Blood,
language, and geographical boundaries divided the parties; and religious
opinions seldom cross these unchanging and inflexible lines.

Every Egyptian believed in the Nicene creed and the incorruptibility
of the body of Jesus, and hated the Alexandrian Greeks; while the more
refined Greeks were as united in explaining away the Nicene creed by
the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, and in despising the ignorant
Egyptians. Christianity, which speaks so forcibly to the poor, the
unlearned, and the slave, had educated the Egyptian population,
had raised them in their own eyes; and, as the popular party gained
strength, the Arians lost ground in Alexandria. At the same time the
Greeks were falling off: in learning and in science, and in all those
arts of civilisation which had given them the superiority. Like other
great political changes, this may not have been understood at the time;
but in less than a hundred years it was found that the Egyptians were no
longer the slaves, nor the Greeks the masters.

On the death of Jovian, when Valentinian divided the Roman empire with
his brother, he took Italy and the West for his own kingdom, and gave to
Valens Egypt and the Eastern provinces, in which Greek was the language
of the government. Each emperor adopted the religion of his capital;
Valentinian held the Nicene faith, and Valens the Arian faith; and
unhappy Egypt was the only part of the empire whose religion differed
from that of its rulers. Had the creeds marked the limits of the
two empires, Egypt would have belonged to Rome; but, as geographical
boundaries and language form yet stronger ties, Egypt was given to
Constantinople, or rather to Antioch, the nearer of the two Eastern
capitals.

By Valens, Athanasius was forced for the fifth time to fly from
Alexandria, to avoid the displeasure which his disobedience again drew
down upon him. But his flock again rose in rebellion in favour of their
popular bishop; and the emperor was either persuaded or frightened
into allowing him to return to his bishopric, where he spent the few
remaining years of his life in peace. Athanasius died at an advanced
age, leaving a name more famous than that of any one of the emperors
under whom he lived. He taught the Christian world that there was a
power greater than that of kings, namely the Church. He was often beaten
in the struggle, but every victory over him was followed by th