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RUFINUS, who wrote an Ecclesiastical History in Latin, has
erred in respect to chronology. For he supposes that what was done
against Athanasius occurred after the death of the Emperor
Constantine: he was also ignorant of his exile to the Gauls and of
various other circumstances. Now we in the first place wrote the first
two books of our history following Rufinus; but in writing our history
from the third to the seventh, some facts we collected from Rufinus,
others from different authors, and some from the narration of
individuals still living. Afterward, however, we perused the
writings of Athanasius, wherein he depicts his own sufferings and how
through the calumnies of the Eusebian fiction he was banished, and
judged that more credit was due to him who had suffered, and to those
who were witnesses of the things they describe, than to such as have
been dependent on conjecture, and had therefore erred. Moreover,
having obtained several letters of persons eminent at that period, we
have availed ourselves of their assistance also in tracing out the truth
as far as possible. On this account we were compelled to revise the
first and second books of this history, using, however, the testimony
of Rufinus where it is evident that he could not be mistaken. It
should also be observed, that in our former edition, neither the
sentence of deposition which was passed upon Arius, nor the emperor's
letters were inserted, but simply the narration or facts in order that
the history might not become bulky and weary the readers with tedious
matters of detail. But in the present edition, such alterations and
additions have been made for your sake, O sacred man of God,
Theodore, in order that you might not be ignorant what the princes
wrote in their own words, as well as the decisions of the bishops in
their various Synods, wherein they continually altered the confession
of faith. Wherefore, whatever we have deemed necessary we have
inserted in this later edition. Having adopted this course in the
first book, we shall endeavor to do the same in the consecutive portion
of our history, I mean the second. On this let us now enter.
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