the Respect and Veneration he had for the Catholic Church, declares, he had nothing so much at Heart as to see her Members happily united: he therefore earnestly intreats him to examine the Affair with the utmost Attention, and, jointly with the Bishops of _Gaul_, to judge it according to the strictest Laws of Justice and Equity[550]. In this Letter _Constantine_ names no other Judges but the Three Bishops of _Gaul_, _Melchiades_, and one _Mark_, supposed to have been Bishop of _Milan_, whom he joins with _Melchiades_; but afterwards he ordered Seven more to be added to the Number, and as many as could soon and conveniently assemble; so that they were at last 19 in all[551]. [Sidenote: _The Council of_ Rome.] They met, for the first time, on _Friday_ the Second of _October_ 313. _Constantine_ and _Licinius_ being the third time Consuls[552]. The Place they met in was the Apartment of _Fausta_, in the _Lateran_ Palace[553], she being then, in all Likelihood, absent in _Gaul_, with the Emperor her Husband. Before this Assembly _Cæcilianus_ appeared as the Person accused, and _Donatus_ of _Casænigræ_ as the Accuser. [Sidenote: Cæcilianus _absolved, and_ Donatus _condemned_.] They had but Three Meetings: in the First the Characters of the Accusers and Witnesses were strictly inquired into, and their Depositions heard; in the Second the Acts of the Council of _Carthage_, which had condemned _Cæcilianus_, as I have related above, were examined; and in the last _Cæcilianus_, against whom nothing had been proved, was absolved, and _Donatus_ condemned as a Slanderer, and the chief Author of the Schism[554]. An Account of the Whole, together with the Acts of the Council, was immediately transmitted to _Constantine_, who began to flatter himself, that he had put an End to the Dispute; for he could not imagine, that the _Donatists_ would appeal from the Judgment of such unexceptionable Judges, of Judges whom they themselves had demanded. But the good Prince was yet a Stranger to the Nature of religious Disputes, to the Heat, Animosity, and enthusiastic Rancour, with which they are commonly carried on. Notwithstanding the Pains he took, and his Successors after him, and no Pains they spared, to heal these unhappy Divisions, they continued, to the great Scandal of the Pagans, rending the Church into most furious Parties and Factions, for the Space of near 300 Years. [Sidenote: Melchiades _dies_.] The Council of _Rome_ was held in the Month of _October_ 313, and _Melchiades_ died on the Tenth of _January_ ensuing, _Volusianus_ and _Anienus_ being Consuls, having presided for the Space of Two Years, Six Months, and Eight Days[555]. About an hundred Years after, the _Donatists_ charged him with having delivered up the sacred Books, and offered Incense to the Pagan Gods; but this St. _Austin_ calls a groundless Charge, a mere Calumny, a malicious Invention of the _Donatists_ of his Time to justify the Conduct of their Predecessors, in