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To those ignorant of the circumstances it may be worth while to explain
how the Goths got the Arian plague. After they had crossed the
Danube, and made peace with Valens, the infamous Eudoxius, who was
on the spot, suggested to the emperor to persuade the Goths to accept
communion with him. They had indeed long since received the rays of
divine knowledge and had been nurtured in the apostolic doctrines,
"but now," said Eudoxius, "community of opinion will make the
peace all the firmer." Valens approved of this counsel and proposed
to the Gothic chieftains an agreement in doctrine, but they replied
that they would not consent to forsake the teaching of their fathers.
At the period in question their Bishop Ulphilas was implicitly obeyed
by them and they received his words as laws which none might break.
Partly by the fascination of his eloquence and partly by the bribes
with which he baited his proposals Eudoxius succeeded in inducing him
to persuade the barbarians to embrace communion with the emperor, so
Ulphilas won them over on the plea that the quarrel between the
different parties was really one of personal rivalry and involved no
difference in doctrine. The result is that up to this day the Goths
assert that the Father is greater than the Son, but they refuse to
describe the Son as a creature, although they are in communion with
those who do so. Yet they cannot be said to have altogether abandoned
their Father's teaching, since Ulphilas in his efforts to persuade
them to join m communion with Eudoxius and Valens denied that there
was any difference in doctrine and that the difference had arisen from
mere empty strife.
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