FATHER AND SON. 247 



obstetrics. They not only said that 3 was 1, and 

 that 1 was 3 : they professed to explain how that 

 curious arithmetic combination had been brought 

 about. The indivisible had been divided, and yet 

 was not divided : it was divisible, and yet it was indi- 

 visible ; black was white, and white was black ; and 

 yet there were not two colours but one colour ; and 

 whoever did not believe it would be damned. In the 

 midst of all this subtle stuff, the dregs and rinsings of 

 the Platonic school, Arius thundered out the common- 

 sense but heretical assertion, that the Father had 

 existed before the Son. Two great parties were at 

 once formed. A council of bishops was convened at 

 Nice to consult the Holy Ghost. The chair was taken 

 by a man who wore a wig of many colours, and a 

 silken robe embroidered with golden thread. This 

 was Constantine the Great, Patron of Christianity, 

 Nero of the Bosphorus, murderer of his wife and son. 

 The discussion was noisy and abusive, and the Arians 

 lost the day. Yet the matter did not end there. 

 Constantius took up the Arian side. Arian mission- 

 aries converted the Vandals and the Goths. Other 

 emperors took up the Catholics, and they converted 

 the Franks. The court was divided by spiritual 

 eunuchs and theological intrigues : the provinces were 

 laid waste by theological wars, which lasted three hun- 

 dred years. What a world of woe and desolation : 

 what a deluge of blood, because the Greeks had a 

 taste for metaphysics ! 



The Arian difference did not stand alone ; every 

 province had its own schism. Caste sympathy induced 

 the Emperors to protect the pagan aristocracy from the 

 fury of the bishops ; but the heretics belonged chiefly 

 to the subject nationalities. The Nestorians were 



