o him was only a monotheistic
heathenism. Thus Arianism came up to his idea of it, and the whole
controversy seemed a mere affair of words.

[Sidenote: His view of the controversy.]

But if he had no theological interest in the question, he could not
overlook its political importance. Egypt was always a difficult province
to manage; and if these Arian songs caused a bloody tumult in
Alexandria, he could not let the Christians fight out their quarrels in
the streets, as the Jews were used to do. The Donatists had given him
trouble enough over a disputed election in Africa, and he did not want a
worse than Donatist quarrel in Egypt. Nor was the danger confined to
Egypt; it had already spread through the East. The unity of Christendom
was at peril, and with it the support which the shattered Empire looked
for from an undivided church. The state could treat with a definite
organisation of churches, but not with miscellaneous gatherings of
sectaries. The question must therefore be settled one way or the other,
and settled at once. Which way it was decided mattered little, so that
an end was made of the disturbance.

[Sidenote: His first attempt to settle it.]

In this temper Constantine approached the difficulty. His first step was
to send Hosius of Cordova to Alexandria with a letter to Alexander and
Arius representing the question as a battle of words about mysteries
beyond our reach. In the words of a modern writer, 'It was the excess of
dogmatism founded upon the most abstract words in the most abstract
region of human thought.' It had all arisen out of an over-curious
question asked by Alexander, and a rash answer given by Arius. It was a
childish quarrel and unworthy of sensible men like them, besides being
very distressing to himself. Had the dispute been really trifling, such
a letter might have had a chance of quieting it. Instead of this, the
excitement grew worse.

[Sidenote: Summons of the council.]

Constantine enlarged his plans. If Arian doctrine disturbed Alexandria,
Meletius of Lycopolis was giving quite as much trouble about discipline
farther up the Nile, and the old disputes about the time of Easter had
never been effectually settled. There were also minor questions about
the validity of baptism administered by the followers of Novatian and
Paul of Samosata, and about the treatment of those who had denied the
faith during the persecution of Licinius. Constantine, therefore,
invited all Christian bi