During these proceedings, Arius the Libyan took no part whatever in the discussions or business of the council, but sat as a quiet and attentive spectator of their deliberations. Many of them, knowing his great erudition and holy character, consulted him privately, and he fully gave them the benefit of his learning and opinions. Arius was now sixty years of age, and was greatly changed from the bright and happy youth whom we knew at Baucalis; greatly changed even from the broken-hearted but ever-diligent, earnest, and eloquent presbyter of the earlier years of his ministry at Alexandria. "He is tall and thin, apparently unable to support his stature; he has an odd way of contorting and twisting himself, which his enemies compare to the wrigglings of a snake. He would be handsome, but for the emaciation and deadly pallor of his face, and a downcast look imparted by a weakness of eye-sight. At times his veins throb and swell, and his limbs tremble, as if suffering from some violent internal complaint, the same, perhaps, that will terminate one day in his sudden and frightful death. There is a wild look about him, that is at first sight startling. His dress and demeanor are those of a rigid ascetic. He wears a long coat with short sleeves, such as the monks wore to indicate that their hands were not made for injury, and a scarf of only half size, such as was the mark of an austere life; and his hair hangs in tangled masses about his head. He is usually silent, but at times breaks out into fierce excitement, such as will give the impression of madness. Yet with all this there is a sweetness in his voice, and a winning, earnest manner, which fascinate those who come across him. Among the religious ladies of Alexandria he is said to have had from the first a following of not less than seven hundred. This strange, captivating, moon-struck giant is the heretic Arius, or, as his adversaries call him, the madman of Ares, or Mars": and the description given here of him is not that of a partisan of his own, but of a Trinitarian ecclesiastic. Many sittings of the council passed, day after day, in which the paschal controversy, the Melitian schism, and other matters of a theological character, were discussed and determined, but the heretic remained utterly silent. He was ever ready to give aid, advice, counsel, and furnish references to authorities, to those who applied to him, but not once did he open his lips to speak to the assembly. But the purpose of Constantine to crush him wavered not, and the emperor had one rare quality--he knew how to wait.