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[18] The plain 1 and simple religion of the Christians he obscured by a dotard's superstition, and by subtle [p. 185] and involved discussions about dogma, rather than by seriously trying to make them agree, he aroused many controversies; and as these spread more and more, he fed them with contentious words. And since throngs of bishops hastened hither and thither on the public post-horses to the various synods, as they call them, while he sought to make the whole ritual conform to his own will, he cut the sinews of the courier-service.

1 Cf. absolutio, xiv. 10, 13; responsum absolutum, xxx. 1, 4; planis absolutisque decretis, xxii. 5, 2.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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