"It would be unjust," said Constantine, "to say that he ever did so. He did not; but his powerful influence in holding the Christians of Egypt and of Syria to strictest neutrality was the most injurious policy he could have pursued against me; but he would have pursued the same course against any other ruler in the world." Eusebius was the fast friend of Arius, whom he admired and loved beyond all living men (for Pamphilus had already suffered martyrdom); and the great ecclesiastic, rejoicing at the praises bestowed upon his friend by the greatest ruler of men, strove to call out yet more of his opinion, and accordingly said unto him, "Couldst thou not, then, attack the moral character of Arius, and call a council to condemn him for some irregularity, and so get rid of him?" "Nay," answered the emperor, "the man is proof against all earthly temptations. When all arrangements had been made to confer upon him the see of Alexandria, he calmly but positively refused to accept the office, saying he would live and die presbyter of the Baucalis church. Gifts of money sent unto him anonymously he poured into the common treasury of the Church uncounted, and, in the midst of opulence, lived the life of an anchorite. Seven hundred of the noblest women of Alexandria are his communicants, and constant watchfulness never detected him in the slightest impropriety with any of them. In the pestilence which decimated and terrified the great city, by day and night he ministered unto the afflicted, when even parents abandoned their children and children their parents, and the ties of blood were disregarded, until the people believed him to be invested with a charmed life that was invulnerable to poniard, poison, or pestilence. He is the purest and the strongest soul on earth," said the emperor, with undisguised admiration, "but he hath barred my way unto the conquest of the East!" Eusebius glowed with pleasure as he listened to the language in which the emperor depicted the character of Arius, and replied: "Only the truly great are able to do justice to those whom they have strong reason to dislike, but thou hast painted the grand and lonely soul of the Libyan even as it is. He hath been purified by sorrow. He is all for Christ, and earthly hopes, fears and ambitions no more can move his chaste and lofty spirit." "But," said Constantine, sternly, "however admirable the presbyter may be, I will not forget that he hath robbed me of the fleet! He hath barred my way unto the conquest of the East." Then said Eusebius: "If the fleet of Licinius could be by some means neutralized; if that valiant tyrant could, perhaps, be induced to keep his fleet out of the war altogether, and leave the fate of the empire to be decided by the armies of the East and of the West--would that content thee?"