not retreat when once he had put the
disputed words into the creed. Come what might, those words were
irreversible. And if it was a dangerous policy which won the victory,
the use made of it was deplorable. Though the exile of Arius and his
friends was Constantine's work, much of the discredit must fall on the
Athanasian leaders, for we cannot find that they objected to it either
at the time or afterwards. It seriously embittered the controversy. If
the Nicenes set the example of persecution, the other side improved on
it till the whole contest threatened to degenerate into a series of
personal quarrels and retaliations. The process was only checked by the
common hatred of all parties to Julian, and by the growth of a better
spirit among the Nicenes, as shown in the later writings of Athanasius.

CHAPTER III.

_THE EUSEBIAN REACTION._

[Sidenote: The problem stated.]

At first sight the reaction which followed the Nicene council is one of
the strangest scenes in history. The decision was clear and all but
unanimous. Arianism seemed crushed for ever by the universal reprobation
of the Christian world. Yet it instantly renewed the contest, and fought
its conquerors on equal terms for more than half a century. A reaction
like this is plainly more than a court intrigue. Imperial favour could
do a good deal in the Nicene age, but no emperor could long oppose any
clear and definite belief of Christendom. Nothing could be plainer than
the issue of the council. How then could Arianism venture to renew the
contest?

[Sidenote: The reaction rather conservative than Arian.]

The answer is, that though the belief of the churches was certainly not
Arian, neither was it yet definitely Nicene. The dominant feeling both
in East and West was one of dislike to change, which we may conveniently
call conservatism. But here there was a difference. Heresies in the East
had always gathered round the person of the Lord, and more than one had
already partly occupied the ground of Arianism. Thus Eastern
conservatism inherited a doctrine from the last generation, and was
inclined to look on the Nicene decisions as questionable innovations.
The Westerns thought otherwise. Leaning on authority as they habitually
did, they cared little to discuss for themselves an unfamiliar question.
They could not even translate its technical terms into Latin without
many misunderstandings. Therefore Western conservatism simply fell back
on the augu