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 146 THE DECLINE AND FALL numerous audience retired from his sermons satisfied with tht- eloquence of the preacher ^^ or dissatisfied with the manifold imperfections of their faith and practice. ^^ RuiBofArian- The CathoHcs of Constantinople were animated Avith joyful Btantinopie. Confidence by the baptism and edict of Theodosius ; and they 26 ■ ' ' impatiently waited the effects of his gracious promise. Their hopes were speedily accomplished ; and the emperor, as soon as he had finished the operations of the campaign, made hi^ [Nov. 24] public entry into the capital at the head of a victorious army. The next day after his arrival, he summoned Damophilus to his presence, and offered that Arian prelate the hard alternative of subscribing the Nicene creed, or of instantly resigning, to the orthodox believers, the use and possession of the episcopal palace, the cathedral of St. Sophia, and all the churches of Constantinople. The zeal of Damophilus, which in a Catholic saint would have been justly applauded, embraced, without hesitation, a life of poverty and exile,^^ and his removal was immediately followed by the purification of the Imperial City. The Arians might complain, with some appearance of justice, that an inconsiderable congregation of sectaries should usurp the hundred churches, which they were insufficient to fill ; whilst the far greater part of the people was cruelly excluded from every place of religious worship. Theodosius was still inexorable : but, as the angels who protected the Catholic cause were only visible to the eyes of fiiith, he prudently rein- forced those heavenly legions with the more effectual aid of temporal and carnal weapons ; and the church of St. Sophia -^"^ was occupied by a large body of the Imperial guards. If the mind of Gregory was susceptible of pride, he must have felt a very lively satisfaction, Avhen the emperor conducted him through the streets in solemn triumph ; and, with his own hand, respectfully placed him on the archiepiscopal throne of 33 Under the modest emblem of a dream, Gregory (torn. ii. carmen ix. p. 78 [ed. Migne, 3, p. 1254]) describes his own success with some human complacency. Yet it should seem, from his familiar conversation with his auditor St. Jerii.i (torn. i. Epist. ad Nepotian, p. 14 [ep. 52 ; Migne, i. p. 534]), that the preachLi" imderstood the true value of popular applause. 3^ Lachrymas auditorum, laudes tuoe sint, is the lively and judicious advice of St. Jerom [ii.]. ^^ Socrates (1. v. c. 7) and Sozomen (1. vii. c. 5) relate the evangelical words and actions of Damophilus without a word of approbation. He considered, sa>s Socrates, that it is diflicult to resis/ the powerful ; but it was easy, and would huNi: been profitable, to suimi/. [Date of entry of Theodosius, 14th Nov., Idacius, Fast. C. ; but 24th Nov., ace. to Pasch. Chron. and Socrates, v. 6, which Clinton accepts and Hodgkin supports.] 38 [Not St. Sophia, which was not yet the chief church, but the Church of the Twelve Apostles; sec Plan in vol. ii. p. 149.]