The Fall of the Bishop of _Rome_, who was at the Head of the Orthodox Party, inspired the Emperor with great Hopes of succeeding in the Design he had formed of utterly abolishing the Orthodox Faith: he found there were but few Bishops whose Virtue was Proof against the Frowns and Resentment of the Court. In the Council held at _Arles_ in 353. they had all to a Man chosen rather to communicate with the _Arians_, than be driven from their Sees: in that which was convened Two Years after, at _Milan_, only Three Bishops were found, _viz._ _Dionysius_ Bishop of that City, _Lucifer_ of _Cagliari_, and _Eusebius_ of _Vercelli_, who, equally unmoved by Threats and Promises, had maintained the Truth with the Loss of their Dignity. The Example of the Bishop of _Rome_ had been followed by the far greater Part of the Bishops of _Italy_. But what above all encouraged the Emperor to pursue the Scheme he had so much at heart, was the Fall of the celebrated _Osius_ Bishop of _Cordoua_, in the Hundredth Year of his Age, and Sixty-second of his Episcopacy. As the Name of _Osius_ is one of the most famous in the Ecclesiastical History of those Times, and his Fall is alleged by the Antients as a memorable Instance of the Weakness of human Nature, however strengthened and improved by a long Practice of the most eminent Virtues, a succinct Account of so remarkable an Event will not, I hope, be unacceptable to the Reader, or thought foreign to the Subject in hand. [Sidenote: _A succinct Account of the Life of_ Osius _Bishop of_ Cordoua.]