of seizing and carrying off
the bishop of Rome.

[Sidenote: Third exile of Athanasius (356).]

Athanasius was still at Alexandria. When the notaries tried to frighten
him away, he refused to take their word against the repeated written
promises of protection he had received from Constantius himself. Duty as
well as policy forbade him to believe that the most pious Emperor could
be guilty of any such treachery. So when Syrianus, the general in Egypt,
brought up his troops, it was agreed to refer the whole question to
Constantius. Syrianus broke the agreement. On a night of vigil (Feb. 8,
356) he surrounded the church of Theonas with a force of more than five
thousand men. The whole congregation was caught as in a net. The doors
were broken open, and the troops pressed up the church. Athanasius
fainted in the tumult; yet before they reached the bishop's throne its
occupant had somehow been safely conveyed away.

[Sidenote: George of Cappadocia.]

If the soldiers connived at the escape of Athanasius, they were all the
less disposed to spare his flock. The outrages of Philagrius and Gregory
were repeated by Syrianus and his successor, Sebastian the Manichee; and
the evil work went on apace after the arrival of the new bishop in Lent
357. George of Cappadocia is said to have been before this a
pork-contractor for the army, and is certainly no credit to Arianism.
Though Athanasius does injustice to his learning, there can be no doubt
that he was a thoroughly bad bishop. Indiscriminate oppression of
Nicenes and heathens provoked resistance from the fierce populace of
Alexandria. George escaped with difficulty from one riot in August 358,
and was fairly driven from the city by another in October.

[Sidenote: Athanasius in exile (356-362).]

Meanwhile Athanasius had disappeared from the eyes of men. A full year
after the raid of Syrianus, he was still unconvinced of the Emperor's
treachery. Outrage after outrage might turn out to be the work of
underlings. Constantine himself had not despised his cry for justice,
and if he could but stand before the son of Constantine, his presence
might even yet confound the gang of eunuchs. Even the weakness of
Athanasius is full of nobleness. Not till the work of outrage had gone
on for many months was he convinced. But then he threw off all
restraint. Even George the pork-contractor is not assailed with such a
storm of merciless invective as his holiness Constantius Augustus.
George