"When thou hast leisure," said Constantine, "come unto me again, and come prepared to unravel these questions concerning the celebration of Easter, and concerning the Godhead, to the very last threads of them; for I earnestly desire to be perfectly informed therein." CHAPTER III. THE POLITICS OF RELIGION. A day or two afterward, Eusebius again sought audience of the emperor, and in a long interview, during which Constantine, with his own hand, kept copious and accurate memoranda of the conversation, the bishop carefully explained the nature of the church controversy respecting the observance of Easter, and also the nature of the abstract and peculiar ideas involved in the dispute concerning the Deity; and in the whole interview the emperor manifested the perfect thoroughness with which his calm, grand intelligence was accustomed to go to the very bottom of every matter which once secured his interest, grasping all possible aspects and relationships of the subject--the evidence upon which alleged facts might be founded, the authority upon which each opinion might rest--so that at the close of the long and studious interview he was as well informed upon the subjects discussed as were the most learned ecclesiastics of his generation. "I perceive," he said to Eusebius, "that thou art an advocate of the opinion of Arius the Libyan, concerning what Hosius calleth the Holy Trinity?" "Yea!" answered the bishop; "for neither do the Gospels teach me, nor can the aid of reason enable me to understand that three are one any more than that one is three; nor can I evade the fact that ’Father’ and ’Son’ are terms which of necessity imply that the Father antedates the Son; nor can I believe that God the Father lived in our flesh and died upon the cross. So that, whenever the ’Arian heresy,’ as they call it, shall be heard before a general council, I shall be numbered among the heterodox, if it is indeed possible that any council shall ever condemn the grand Libyan’s doctrines!" "I regret much," replied the emperor, "that thy conscience leadeth thee in that direction, although the fact must never become a cause of difference between thee and me. For, while I would yield cheerful acquiescence to thy superior learning about all merely religious questions, I perceive already that the political aspects of this controversy will make it politic for me to maintain the opinions of Hosius and his party." "What possible political significance can exist in such an abstract dispute about matters of theological faith and doctrine?"