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EUTROPIUS was originally the chief of the eunuchs, and was the
first and only person of that rank of whom we have known or heard who
attained the consular and patrician dignity. When he was raised to
present power, he thought not of the future, nor of the instability of
human affairs, but caused those who sought an asylum in churches to be
thrust out. He treated Pentadia, the wife of Timasius, in this
manner. Timasius was a general in the army, capable and much feared;
but Eutropius procured an edict for his banishment to Pasis in
Egypt, under the pretext that he aspired to tyranny. I have been
informed that Timasius fell a victim to thirst, or dreading lest
anything worse might be in store, he was caught in the sands there,
and was found dead. Eutropius issued a law, enacting that no one
should seek refuge in churches, and that those who had already fled
thither should be driven out. He was, however, the first to
transgress this law; for not long after its enactment, he offended the
empress, and immediately left the palace, and fled to the Church as a
suppliant. While he was lying beneath the table, John pronounced a
discourse, in which he reprehended the pride of power, and directed
the attention of the people to the instability of human greatness. The
enemies of John hence took occasion to cast reproach on him, because
he had rebuked instead of compassionating, one who was suffering under
the calamities of adverse fortunes. Eutropius soon after paid the
penalty of his impious plan, and was beheaded; and the law which he
had enacted was effaced from the public inscriptions. The wrath of
God having been thus promptly visited on the injustice that had been
perpetrated against the Church, prosperity was restored to it, and
there was an increase in the Divine worship. The people of
Constantinople were more sedulous then than before, in attendance at
the singing of the morning and evening hymns.
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