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AT the time when the emperor was thus occupied on his military
expedition, the Arians excited a great tumult at Constantinople by
such devices as these. Men are fond of fabricating statements
respecting matters about which they are in ignorance; and if at any
time they are given occasion they swell to a prodigious extent rumors
concerning what they wish, being ever fond of change. This was
strongly exemplified at Constantinople on the present occasion: for
each invented news concerning the war which was carrying on at a
distance, according to his own caprice, always presuming upon the most
disastrous results; and before the contest had yet commenced, they
spoke of transactions in reference to it, of which they knew nothing,
with as much assurance as if they had been spectators on the very scene
of action. Thus it was confidently affirmed that 'the usurper had
defeated the emperor's army,' even the number of men slain on both
sides being specified; and that 'the emperor himself had nearly fallen
into the usurper's hands.' Then the Arians, who had been
excessively exasperated by those being put in possession of the churches
within the city who had previously been the objects of their
persecution, began to augment these rumors by additions of their own.
But since the currency of such stories with increasing exaggeration,
in time made even the farmers themselves believe them -- for those who
had circulated them from hearsay, affirmed to the authors of these
falsehoods, that the accounts they had received from them had been
fully corroborated elsewhere; then indeed the Arians were emboldened
to commit acts of violence, and among other outrages, to set fire to
the house of Nectarius the bishop. This was done in the second
consulate of Theodosius Augustus, which he bore with Cynegius.
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