Crispus Cæsar boldly declared that he indorsed the opinions of Arius, and regarded the great heretic with larger love and reverence than any other man had ever gained from him; and the emperor heard this declaration with gloom and hatred, but in ominous silence. And one by one, under the influence of the threats of Constantine, who still held the bishops together, determined to extort the unanimous consent of all to the acts of the council, under the specious and continuous arguments and forced interpretations of the creed, used by his partisans both lay and clerical, and under the benumbing and stupefying effects of protracted weariness and hopelessness all of them finally subscribed the creed, except Arius and six others--Eusebius of Cæsarea, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theonas, Bishop of Marmarica, Secundus, Bishop of Theuchira, Euzoius the deacon, Achillas the reader, and Saras, a presbyter--against all of whom the emperor made a decree of perpetual banishment, but gave not orders for the enforcement thereof. He was not satisfied; especially he was dissatisfied because he was unable to extort the signatures of the Eusebii; and he still waited, determined in some way to obtain these signatures. Finally, he caused Eusebius of Cæsarea to be brought before him, and, assuming an air of great friendliness and concern toward him, he said: "Dear bishop, I did tell thee long ago that our differences about the Arian heresy must never be a cause of quarrel between thee and me. I wish to know what difficulty thou hast (and thy brother) in subscribing the creed?" And Eusebius answered: "The difficulty truly is not a very large one; it is just the size and shape of an ’iota’ of the Greek alphabet." "If it is as insignificant as that," answered the emperor, "let us quietly remove it and be friends again. Tell me, therefore, what thou dost mean." "Hast thou here the creed?" asked Eusebius. Constantine handed the parchment to him, and Eusebius said: "This word [Greek: _homoousios_] is one which Arius condemneth as implying the identity of Father and Son, and my conscience suffereth not me to sign it; but the word [Greek: _homoiousios_], which differeth therefrom only by the one small [Greek: _iota_] therein, expresses exactly what I believe, that Father and Son are of like divine nature." "And wouldst thou sign it if this letter had been written therein? and thy brother? and the others who are sentenced to banishment?" "Assuredly!" "It shall never be said," laughed Constantine, "that I have lost my friend and bishop for such a trifle!" Then he pointed out the fact that a small "[Greek: _i_]" had been dexterously inserted between "[Greek: _homo_]" and "[Greek: _ousios_]" in both the places where the word occurred in the creed, making it the Arian [Greek: _homoiousios_], instead of the Trinitarian [Greek: _homoousios_].