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IN the meanwhile Valens, making his residence at Antioch, was
wholly undisturbed by foreign wars; for the barbarians on every side
restrained themselves within their own boundaries. Nevertheless, he
himself waged a most cruel war against those who maintained the
'homoousian' doctrine, inflicting on them more grievous punishments
every day; until the philosopher The mistius by his Appealing
Oration somewhat moderated his severity. In this speech he tells the
emperor, 'That he ought not to be surprised at the difference of
judgment on religious questions existing among Christians; inasmuch as
that discrepancy was trifling when compared with the multitude of
conflicting opinions current among the heathen; for these amount to
above three hundred; that dissension indeed was an inevitable
consequence of this disagreement; but that God would be the more
glorified by a diversity of sentiment, and the greatness of his majesty
be more venerated, from the fact of its not being easy to have a
knowledge of Him.' The philosopher having said these and similar
things, the emperor became milder, but did not completely give up his
wrath; for although he ceased to put ecclesiastics to death, he
continued to send them into exile, until this fury of his also was
repressed by the following event.
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