§ 120. THE CODNCIL OF NIC^A. 62B
imperial residence of ]SI"icomedia, and easily accessible by sea and land from all parts of the empire. It is now a miserable Turkish village, Is-nik,' where nothing but a rude picture in the solitary church of St. Mary remains to the memory of the event which has given the place a name in the history of the world.
Hither, in the year 325, the twentieth of his reign (therefore the festive vicennalia), the emperor summoned the bishops of the empire by a letter of invitation, putting at their service the public conveyances, and liberally defraying from the public treasury the expenses of their residence in Nicasa and of their return. Each bishop was to bring with him two presbyters and three servants.'' They travelled partly in the public post carriages, partly on horses, mules, or asses, partly on foot. Many came to bring their private disputes before the emperor, who caused all their papers, without reading them, to be burned, and exhorted the parties to reconciliation and harmony.
The whole number of bishops assembled was at most three hundred and eighteen ; ' that is, about one sixth of all the
' /. e., Eis Ni'jcaiar, like Starabul, Is-tam-bul, from eU rrjj' nSXtu. Isnik now contains only some fifteen hurdred inhabitants.
'' The imperial letter of convocation is not ertant. Eusebius says, Vita Const, iii. 6, the emperor by very respectful letters invited the bishops of all countries to come with all speed to Nicaea [ainvSety airavraxoSui' tovs e-maKoivovs ypa.fjLfj.a.ni TtjxriTi- Kois -npoKaKovixevos). Arius also was invited (Rufiuus, H. E. i. 1). In an invitation of Constantine to the bishop of Syracuse to attend the council of Aries (as given by Eusebius, H. E. x. c. 5), the emperor directs him to bring with him two priests and three servants, and promises to defray the travelling expenses. The same was no doubt done at the council of Nice. Comp. Eus. V. Const, iii. 6 and 9.
* According to Athanasius (Ad Afros, c. 2, and elsewhere), Socrates (H, E. 1. 8), Theodoret (H. E. i. V), and the usual opinion. The spirit of mystic interpretation gave to the number 318, denoted in Greek by the letters TIH, a reference to th; cross (T), and to the holy name Jesus {XWaovs). It was also (Ambrose, De fide, i 18) put in connection with the three hundred and eighteen servants oi' Abraham, the father of the faithful (Gen. xiv. 14). Eusebius, however, gives only two hundred and fifty bishops {-KfvTriKovTa Koi BiaKoaiojv apiSifxof), or a few over ; but with an indefinite number of attendant priests, deacons, and acolyths (Vit. Const, iii. 8) The later Arabic accounts of more than two thousand bishops probably arose from sonfounding bishops and clergy in general. Perhaps the number of membem increased towards the close, so that Eusebius with his 250, and Athanasius with his
624 THTED PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
bishops of tlie empire, who are estimated as at least eighteen lairidred (one tliousand for the Greek provinces, eight hundred lor the Latin), and only half as many as were at the eounci. of Chalcedon. Inchiding the presbyters and deacons and other attendants the number may have amounted to between fifteen hundred and two thousand. Most of the Eastern provinces were strongly represented ; the Latin churcli, on the contrary, had only seven delegates : from Spain Ilosius of Cordova, from France Nicasius of Dijon, from North Africa CiBcilian of Carthage, from Pannonia Domnus of Stride, from Italy Eustorgius of Milan and Marcus of Calabria, from Home the two presbyters Victor or Vitus and Vincentius as delegates of the aged pope Sylvester I. A Persian bishop John, also, and a Gothic bisliop, Theophilus, the forerunner and teacher of the Gothic Bible translator Ultilas, were present.
The formal sessions began, after preliminary disputations between Catholics, Arians, and philosophers, probably about Pentecost, or at farthest after the arrival of the emperor on the 14th of June. They closed on the 25th of Jnly, the anniversary of the accession of Constantino; though the members did not disperse till the 25th of August.' They were held, it appears, part of the time in a church or some public building, part of the time in the emperor's house.
The formal opening of the council was made by the stately entrance of the emperor, which Eusebius in his panegyrical flattery thus describes : '' " After all the bishops had entered tiie central building of the royal palace, on the sides of which very many seats were prej^ared, each took his place with becoming modesty, and silently awaited the arrival of the emperor. The court officers entered one after another, though
318, may both be right. The extant Latin lists of the subseribera contain the names of no more than two hundred and twenty-four bishops and chorepiacopi, and many of these are mutilated and distorted by the mistakes of transcribers, and varied ill the different copies. Comp. the list from an ancient Coptic cloister in Pitra's Spicileginm Solesmenso (Par. 1852), torn. i. p. 516 sqq. ; and llcfele, Conciliengesch. i. 284.
' On the varioiis dates, comp. Ilefele, 1. c. i. p. 201 .qqq. Broglie, ii. 26, pjU the arrival of the emperor earlier, on the 4th or 5th of June.
'Vita Const. iiL 10. The above translation is somewhat abridged.