"But," said Eusebius, solemnly, "these teachings were the very doctrines of our Lord, and Arius hath proclaimed nothing but the truths of the gospel, and for three hundred years no Christian man hath owned a slave or claimed private title to property, or lifted up a weapon even in defense of the faith for which he does not hesitate to die." And the bishop’s fine face darkened, and his heart twitched as if some transient gleam of lightning had revealed before him a bottomless pit that opened down to perdition; and for a moment he half-way felt that he had lost his own soul by juggling with the empire in the name of Jesus and for the glory of the Church. While he stood in painful meditation, the emperor continued: "Yea! doubtless this was the primitive system; and, thoroughly permeated with its new and radical principles, Arius seeketh to enforce them. The African ram, bold, self-confident, aggressive! the Libyan serpent, agile, beautiful, tameless, and dangerous! scorning all earthly ambitions as trifles unworthy of the consideration of an immortal spirit; despising pain, and toil, and peril; almost courting martyrdom; immovable by threats of vengeance, or by hope of reward; alike inaccessible to flattery and to fear--but for that one man I would hold the East in my hand to-day! For the fleet was largely manned and officered by Christians, and all things were arranged to deliver up the ships to me, when this fierce, invincible, immovable presbyter poured out the angry torrent of his eloquence and learning, urging the Christians to obey all laws of the government under which they lived that were not contrary to conscience, and denouncing those who might engage on either side in favor of an earthly ruler as traitors to Christ and his kingdom. Their courage shriveled up before his fierce denunciation, as if it had been smitten by the wrath of God, and all the carefully prepared plans for getting possession of more than half the fleet of Licinius, and especially of the great galleys with three banks of oars, faded away before the breath of this one irreconcilable and immovable man. Then the attention of the Emperor Licinius having been called to the matter, he made a lustration of his army and navy, and dishonorably dismissed therefrom every man who refused to offer sacrifice to the gods; and also from his civil service, and from his palaces. And since that day there hath been no man in the service of Licinius that is a Christian. But the emperor sent to Arius a parchment giving to him legal authority to preach the gospel publicly in his city of Alexandria, because his gospel had saved the fleet; and the stern, uncompromising presbyter sent it back with a message that his authority to preach was from God, not from man." "For what reason did Arius so bitterly take sides against thee, the favorite of God, the protector of the Church?"