The Libyan turned his head slightly, and, fixing his sad eyes upon Marcellus, gazed upon him steadily, quietly, compassionately, but did not utter a word; and immediately there was a clamor throughout the assembly, some condemning the intemperate words and manner of the Bishop of Ancyra, and some the seeming insolence of Arius. Then the Emperor Constantine arose, and forthwith the clamor subsided, and the emperor said: "I have often and earnestly desired that peace and Christian charity might characterize our deliberations. The remarks and the manner of the Bishop of Ancyra are hasty and uncalled for; but the obstinate silence of the presbyter indicateth a proud and scornful mind--for it is known to all that the young archdeacon speaketh for the holy Bishop Alexander because of his age and feebleness; and if thou dost decline to notice the brilliant Athanasius because of his youth, thou must not despise thy venerable superior who speaketh through him. I command thee, therefore, to answer as if Alexander himself had addressed thee." The emperor sat down, and a murmur of admiration and applause ran through the entire assembly. Then the mighty heretic arose, and in his sweet, incisive, penetrating voice, answered: "By command of Augustus, the emperor, whose legal subject I have become by the defeat and death of the late Emperor Licinius, I arise to declare that if any one supposeth I did fail to notice the remarks of the young, learned, and eloquent archdeacon, because of any feeling of scorn for his youth, or for his office, or because of any uncharity toward him, or any one else in this assembly, he doeth me much injustice. This, it seemeth to me, is well proved by the fact, which ye all do know, that during the weeks that ye have been assembled, I have taken no part in any discussion, ecclesiastical or political, in which ye have engaged. Because I am not an officer of the Roman government, civil, military, or judicial, and have not thought it to be consistent with the position and duties of a presbyter of the Church of Jesus Christ to assume the right to take part in the business of a royal council, seeing that my life hath been devoted to religious affairs which belong to our Lord, and not to civil, military, or judicial functions which pertain unto the emperor, I supposed that it would be as indecent and presumptuous for me to meddle with the business of the empire, by virtue of my office, as it would be for a Roman judge, or centurion, to intrude into my church and preach the gospel by virtue of his judicial or military rank. If it had been otherwise, I might have had something to say when I perceived that the royal authority offered a gross insult to Christ and to his Church by making _Elia Capitolina_, the ancient Jerusalem, the oldest and most honored see in Christendom, secondary to new Nicomedia, in order to accommodate ecclesiastical departments to the other political divisions