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| Chapter XII.
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Chapter XII.
“In the meantime,
those bishops with whom Martin would not hold communion went in terror
to the king, complaining that they had been condemned beforehand; that
it was all over with them as respected the status of every one
of them, if the authority of Martin was now to uphold the pertinacity
of Theognitus, who alone had as yet condemned them by a sentence
publicly pronounced; that the man ought not to have been received
within the walls; that he was now not merely the defender of heretics,
but their vindicator; and that nothing had really been accomplished by
the death of Priscillian, if Martin were to act the part of his
avenger. Finally, prostrating themselves with weeping and lamentation,
they implored the emperor136
to put forth his
power against this one man. And the emperor was not far from being
compelled to assign to Martin, too, the doom of heretics. But after
all, although he was disposed to look upon the bishops with too great
favor, he was not ignorant that Martin excelled all other mortals in
faith, sanctity, and excellence: he therefore tries another way of
getting the better of the holy man. And first he sends for him
privately, and addresses him in the kindest fashion, assuring him that
the heretics were condemned in the regular course of public trials,
rather than by the persecutions of the priests; and that there was no
reason why he should think that communion with Ithacius and the rest of
that party was a thing to be condemned. He added that Theognitus had
created disunion, rather by personal hatred, than by the cause he
supported; and that, in fact, he was the only person who, in the
meantime, had separated himself from communion: while no innovation had
been made by the rest. He remarked further that a synod, held a few
days previously, had decreed that Ithacius was not chargeable with any
fault. When Martin was but little impressed by these statements, the
king then became inflamed with anger, and hurried out of his presence;
while, without delay, executioners are appointed for those in whose
behalf Martin had made supplication.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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