that he threatened to depose and banish him, unless he submitted to his order;[126] which he shortly after did, by sending him into France, upon an accusation of several bishops, who, as Socrates intimates, were worthy of credit, that he had said he would stop the corn that was yearly sent to Constantinople from the city of Alexandria. To such an height of pride was this bishop now arrived, as even to threaten the sequestration of the revenues of the empire. Constantine also apprehended, that this step was necessary to the peace of the church, because Athanasius absolutely refused to communicate with Arius and his followers. ----- Footnote 122: Soz. l. 2. c. 18. Footnote 123: Vol. I. p. 951. Footnote 124: p. 291. Footnote 125: Soc. l. 1. c. 27. Footnote 126: Id. ibid. c. 35. ----- Soon after these transactions Arius died,[127] and the manner of his death, as it was reported by the orthodox, Athanasius thinks of itself sufficient fully to condemn the Arian heresy, and an evident proof that it was hateful to God. Nor did Constantine himself long survive him; he was succeeded by his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. Constantine the eldest recalled Athanasius from banishment,[128] and restored him to his bishopric; upon which account[129] there arose most grievous quarrels and seditions, many being killed, and many publicly whipped by Athanasius’s order, according to the accusations of his enemies. Constantius, after his elder brother’s death, convened a synod at Antioch in Syria, where Athanasius was again deposed for these crimes, and Gregory put into the see of Alexandria. In this council a new creed was drawn up,[130] in which the word “consubstantial” was wholly omitted,[131] and the expressions made use of so general, as that they might have been equally agreed to by the orthodox and Arians. In the close of it several anathemas were added, and particularly upon all who should teach or preach otherwise than what this council had received, because, as they themselves say, “they did really believe and follow all things delivered by the holy scriptures, both prophets and apostles.” So that now the whole Christian world was under a synodical curse, the opposite councils having damned one another, and all that differed from them. And if councils, as such, have any authority to anathematize all who will not submit to them, this authority equally belongs to every council; and therefore it was but a natural piece of revenge, that as the council of Nice had sent all the Arians to the devil, the Arians, in their turn, should take the orthodox along with them for company, and thus repay one anathema with another. ----- Footnote 127: Ad Solit. Vit. Agen. Epist. p. 809, 810. Footnote 128: Soc. l. 2. c. 8. Footnote 129: Soz. l. 3. c. 5. Footnote 130: Soz. l. 3. c. 5. Footnote 131: Soc. l. 2. c. 10. -----