45. p. 445 n. 1 It was the custom for all Christians who were present at the solemn mysteries of the church, to stand with their heads bare, and their staves on the ground, while the Gospel was read aloud. We learn from Augustine, (Hom. b. v. serm. 26,) that the same custom prevailed in Africa. Compare Eusebius, Life of Constantine, chap. 33; Augustine, serm. 2, 'de SS . Martyribus,' Tract. 112, on the Gospel of St.. John, and serm. 112, delvered in the Basilica of Faustus
46. p. 446 n. 1 Philostorgius states that these Auxumitae were converted to Christianity by Theophilus the Arian, in the time of Constantine: but it is quite clear that their conversion is in reality to be ascribed to Frumentius, who was ordained by Athanasius in the commencement of his episcopate, about A. D. 337, and soon after sent among them. See above note on chap. 4 and compare the epistle addressed by Constantine to the church of the Auxumitae, as given by Baronius (Annals A. D. 356). Lowth .
47. p. 446 n. 2 Just as the other gulf is termed the Elanitic gulf, from the town of Elana (or Aila) which is situated at its head.
48. That is, Assyria. The two names are frequently interchanged in classical writers. See Herodotus, b. vii. ch. 63, and the notes of Baehr in loco.
49. Curtius, however, (b. vi.) Strabo, (b. viii.) and Pliny, (b. vi. ch. 27.) state that the river Tigris is so called from the arrow-like rapidity of its course, Tigris being the Median word for a " dart."
50. Ps. xxiv. 2. Comp. Ps. cxxxvi. 6.
51. " Ad aequinoctium Orientis." kata_ ta_j i0shmeri/aj th~j n0ou~j .
52. o1rgnia , an Eastern measure, containing about six feet; it is said to hare been nearly equal to the Latin " ulna."
53. The classical author will remember here, among a crowd of other passages, the " Quicquid Graecia mendax audet in historia" of Juvenal, and the character given by Thucydides of the early legends of Greece, ta_ polla_ au0twn dia_ to_ muqw~dej ei0j a0pistia&n e/knenikhko&ta , (b. i. ch. 21).
54. Concerning the threatening letters of Constans to his brother Constantius, see Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 22, 23; and Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. iii. ch. 20.
55. This is beyond a doubt the real meaning of the Greek text, though it has been misunderstood by several interpreters. The assertion, however, of Philostorgius, is proved to be false by the letter of the synod of bishops of Palestine held by the bishop of Jerusalem, of which an account is given by Athanasius in his Apology.
56. The learned Gothofred shows reasons for believing that this is a calumny of Philostorgius, and that Aetius, at all events at this period, was untainted with heresy.
57. Concerning the conduct of this Maximus towards Athanasius, see Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 24.
58. Compare Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 24.
59. h9 o9mo&docoj sunagwgh& . These words cannot possibly refer, as Gothofrod would have it, to the orthodox or consubstantial party.
60. The account of Aetius as given by Fleury, on the authority of Gregory Nyssenus, (lib. i. Cone.) is, that upon the death of his father in a staff of insolvency, he became slave to a woman; and having recovered his liberty, by what means is not known, he applied himself to the trade of a common tinker, and gained his livelihood by mending brass vessels. He adds that on one occasion he was punished by the magistrates for giving back a bracelet or collar of brass gilded over to a lady who had intrusted to him a gold one to mend. Being obliged on oath to renounce his trade for this deceit, he put himself under an empiric named Sopolus, and having found an Armenian simple enough to believe him to be really skilful, he got from him abundance of money, with which he set up as a physician. He is said afterwards to have composed 300 Syllogisms against the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. See Fleury, Eccl. Hist. b. xii. ch. 47.
61. This Paulinus is mentioned by Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. b. x. ch. 1. The reader will do well to consult the valuable annotations of Valesius on the passage. This Paulinus, who was afterwards translated from Tyre to Antioch, is to be carefully distinguished from another Paulinus, bishop of the same see after the death of Philogonius, a little previous to the council of Nicaea, of whom Valesius gives a lengthened detail in his Annotations to Sozomen. The learned Cave, however, denies that the former Paulinus was ever bishop of Antioch, and asserts that the passage cited by Valesius from the tenth book of Eusebius, need be understood to imply that he was ever bishop of Antioch; and if so, the fact rests on the authority of Philostorgius alone.
62. There is considerable doubt as to the succession of the bishops of Antioch, and especially as to the place held by Eulalius, as to whom it is uncertain whether he was twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth in the line.
63. The same thing is asserted by Gregory of Nyssa, Contra Eunomium, b. i. p. 293.
64. Compare, however, Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 24.
65. Valesius and Gothofredus understand this to refer to Leontius, not to Eustathius.
66. These were two Arian bishops, Secundus of Ptolemais, Serras of Paratonius in Libya.
67. Socrates (Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 22) bears witness that at this time communion was not entirely broken off between the Arian and orthodox party.
68. Eunomius was not only the pupil, but also the amanuensis and secretary of Aetius. See Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. ch. 35..
69. Compare Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. iv. ch. 1.