5.
In praise of Hosius.
Of the great Hosius
1409
,
who answers to his name, that confessor of a happy old age, it is
superfluous for me to speak, for I suppose it is known unto all men
that they caused him also to be banished; for he is not an obscure
person, but of all men the most illustrious, and more than this. When
was there a Council held, in which he did not take the lead
1410
, and by right counsel convince every one?
Where is there a Church that does not possess some glorious monuments
of his patronage? Who has ever come to him in sorrow, and has not gone
away rejoicing? What needy person ever asked his aid, and did not
obtain what he desired? And yet even on this man they made their
assault, because knowing the calumnies which they invent in behalf of
their iniquity, he would not subscribe to their designs against us. And
if afterwards, upon the repeated stripes above measure that were
inflicted upon him, and the conspiracies that were formed against his
kinsfolk, he yielded
1411
to them for a
time
1412
, as being old and infirm in body, yet at
least their wickedness is shewn even in this circumstance; so zealously
did they endeavour by all means to prove that they were not truly
Christians.
1409
Hist. Ar.
42.
1410
[Nicæa and Sardica are specially referred to, but see
Prolegg. ch. ii. §3 (1) note 5,
sub. fin.
]
1411
[
Apol. Ar.
89,
Hist. Ar.
45, 357
a.d.
]
1412
Gal. ii. 5
.