the obscene Maronite.[1] This production the Synod condemned at the same time.
"The emperor also wrote to the Church of the Alexandrians: 'The splendor of truth has dissipated, at the command of God, those dissensions, schisms, tumults, and, so to speak, deadly poisons of discord. I assembled, at the city of Nice, most of the bishops; with whom I, myself, also, who am but one of you, and who rejoice exceedingly in being your fellow-servant, undertook the investigation of the truth. Accordingly all points which seemed, in consequence of ambiguity, to furnish any pretext for dissension, have been discussed and
- ↑ Maronite, that is, a follower of John Maro, the monk.—See Decline and Fall, chap. 47, § 3.
"It was undoubtedly the same Sotadés, to whom Martial refers, in the following epigram upon a certain class of pretenders to the classical rank.—See Martial's Epigrams, book ii.
"As I ne'er boast the back-turned verse
Nor bawdy Sotadés rehearse,
Whom Greekish echo nowhere quotes
In all her loose, pedantic notes;
Nor have, from Attis, art so fine,
To frame the Choliambic line,
Thanks to the Galliambon sweet
For classic rank and measure meet,
Though, claiming not a perfect style,
I'm not a bard so very vile."This is my rendering from the Latin of Baronius. Sotadés was an Egyptian poet, who composed verses, which, when read backwards, had an obscene meaning. Athanasius seems to have been the first that called Arius a "Sotadeän" writer,—probably because there was a double meaning to some of his hymns, the second signification being more strongly Arian than the first appearance.
eternity upon our souls the elevation of our souls may re-mould the ineffable things even into investigable mysteries of God's volitions and operations. For he is willing to be seen, yea, even now, in respect to what kind of situation his person is in, which, of itself, is difficult to be comprehended; but, declare,—is it impossible?"
