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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 117 rejected all terms of union or toleration. The patience of the meek Theodosius was provoked, and he dissolved, in anger, this episcopal tumult, Avhich at the distance of thirteen cen- turies assumes the venerable aspect of the third a^cumenical council.'*'^ " God is my witness," said the pious prince, "that 1 am not the author of this confusion. His providence will discern and punish the guilty. Return to your provinces, and may your private virtues repair the mischief and scandal of your meeting." They returned to their ])rovinces ; but the same passions which had distracteil the synod of Ephesus were dif- fused over the Eastern world. After three obstinate and equal campaigns, John of Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria conde- scended to explain and embrace ; but their seeming re-union must be imputed rather to prudence than to reason, to the mutual lassitude rather than to the Christian chai-ity of the patriarchs. The Byzantine pontiff had instilled into the royal ear a baleful victory of prejudice against the character and conduct of his Egyptian 431-435 rival. An e})istle of menace and invective,^'' which accom- panied the summons, accused him as a busy, insolent, and envious ]n'iest, who perj)lexed the simplicity of the faith, violated the peace of the church and state, and, by liis artful and se])arate addresses to the wife and sister of Theodosius, presumed to sujipose, or to scatter, the seeds of discord in the Imperial family. At the stern command of his sovereign, Cyril had repaired to Ephesus, where he was resisted, threatened, and confined, by the magistrates in the interest of Nestorius and the Orientals ; who assembled the troops of Lydia and Ionia to su})press the fanatic and disordei'ly train of the patriarch. Without expecting the royal licence, he escaj)ed from his guards, precipitately embarked, deserted the imperfect synod, and retired to his episco])al fortress of safety and independence. But his artful emissaries, both in the court and city, successfully ^' See the Acts of the Synod of ]'2phesus, in the original Greek, and a Latin version almost contemporary (Concil. torn. iii. p. 991-1339, with the Synodicon adversus Trago^diam Iren^ei, tom. iv. p. 235-497), the Ecclesiastical Histories of (Socrates (1. vii. c. 34) and Evagrius (1. i. c. 3, 4, 5), and the Hreviary of Liberatns (in Concil. toni. vi. p. 419-459, c. 5, 6), and the AWnioires Ecclt^s. of Tillemont (torn. xiv. p. 377-487). •** Tapaxw (says the emperor in pointed language) to ye tjrl a-avT/? erepas ev&oKtp.qattu'i. I shoiild be curious to know how much Nestorius paid for these expressions so mortifying to hii, rival,