[Sidenote: _Confined and racked._] Accordingly, with the Emperor’s Consent and Approbation, they caused him first to be closely confined, and afterwards to be cruelly beaten; and lastly to be put to the Rack, and most inhumanly tortured, as if he had been the worst of Criminals[837]. [Sidenote: _He yields at last._] Even against such exquisite Torments the Firmness of his Mind was proof for some time; but the Weakness of his Body obliged him in a manner to yield at last, and communicate with _Ursacius_ and _Valens_[838]. _Athanasius_ seems to insinuate in some Places, that he signed his Condemnation[839]; but in another he expresly denies it[840]. _Sulpitius Severus_ thinks he was guilty of no other Crime but that of communicating with the _Arians_[841]. _Athanasius_ only says, that he consented to communicate with _Ursacius_ and _Valens_[842]. [Sidenote: _He signs the_ Sirmian _Confession of Faith_.] However, that he did not stop there, but signed the _Arian_ Confession of _Sirmium_, is but too manifest from several unexceptionable and contemporary Writers. _Phœbadius_ Bishop of _Agen_, in _France_, in his Answer written at this very Time to the _Arians_, bragging that their Doctrine had been approved and embraced by the great _Osius_, allows the Fact; but adds, that he was induced thereunto by Force, and not Conviction[843]. _Marcellinus_ and _Faustinus_, who writ at the same time, say, that _Osius_ set his Hand, but never yielded his Heart, to the _Arian_ Impiety[844]. Nay, _Hilarius_ Bishop of _Poitiers_ supposes the _Sirmian_ Confession of Faith to have been drawn up by _Osius_ and _Potamus_; for he often calls it, _The Heresy, the Blasphemies, the wild and mad Conceits of_ Osius _and_ Potamus[845]. _Vigilius Tapsensis_ ranks _Osius_ with _Ursacius, and the other wicked Men, who composed the sacrilegious Confession of_ Sirmium[846]. _Socrates_ writes, that he signed the _Sirmian_ Symbol[847]; _Sozomen_, that he consented to the Suppression of the Words _Omoousion_, and _Omoiousion_[848]; and _Eusebius_ of _Vercelli_ bestows high Encomiums on _Gregory_ Bishop of _Elvira_, for opposing the great _Transgressor_ Osius[849]. _Potamus_, whom I have mentioned above, was Bishop of _Lisbone_, and a most sanguine Stickler for the Orthodox Party; but upon the Emperor’s yielding to him some Lands of the Imperial Demesne, that lay very convenient for him, he changed Sides, and became a most zealous Champion of the _Arian_ Doctrine[850]; insomuch that he is ranked by _Phœbadius_ with _Ursacius_ and _Valens_, the Two great Apostles of the _Arians_[851]. [Sidenote: _The_ Arians _Triumph_.]