The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY: BOOK II 107
asked that his adversary should also be present. 176 When it had been
proposed that this happen, Aetius, the archdeacon and primicerius of
the notaries, stated that he had gone across to Dioscorus just as he had
done to the others, but that he had said that he was not permitted by the
men guarding him to appear. And it was proposed that Dioscorus
should be sought outside the gathering. 177 And since he was not found,
Anatolius, the bishop of Constantinople, proposed that he ought to be
summoned and appear at the Synod. 178 And when this happened those
who had been dispatched stated, after their reappearance, that he said:
‘I am under guard. Let them say if they permit me to depart.’ And those
who had been sent said to him that they had been dispatched to him, not
to the magistriani, and they recounted that he said: ‘I am ready to
appear at the holy and ecumenical Synod, but I am being prevented.’ To
this Himerius added that, 179 as they were departing from Dioscorus, the
assistant to the master of the sacred o⁄ces met them, and that with him
the bishops again went to Dioscorus, and that he had certain shorthand
notes concerning this. 180 When these were read out they revealed that
Dioscorus said as follows, word for word:
After personal re£ection and consideration of what is bene¢cial, I
give this answer. Since the most magni¢cent o⁄cials who were
conveners at the Synod before this one determined many things
after much discussion about each one, but I am now summoned
to a second Synod for the demolition of the aforementioned, I
176 Request for Dioscorus to attend: ACO II.i.2, pp. 9:33^10:9.
177 Festugie' re (278, with n. 107) translated this as ‘. . . to seek him to escort him as far as
the entrance to the assembly’, the point being to obviate Dioscorus’ excuse that he was a
prisoner and afraid to go outside. However, the acta make clear that the bishops suspected
that Dioscorus might be lurking somewhere in the complex of S. Euphemia: ACO II.i.2, pp.
9:40^10:9.
In the secular establishment the ¢rst person (primicerius) on the list of shorthand writers
or notaries was a man of considerable power and distinction (Jones, LRE 573^5); from
Aetius’ title it is clear that the religious hierarchy adopted this model.
178 First summons of Dioscorus: ACO II.i.2, pp. 10:10^12:3. Like Nestorius at First
Ephesus, and Eutyches at Constantinople in 448, Dioscorus decided that it was better to
absent himself from a meeting at which he was likely to be condemned.
179 Himerius was a notary attached to the delegation of bishops to ensure that there was
a precise record of important exchanges.
180 The magistriani (‘master’s men’), oragentes in rebus, were controlled by the magister
o⁄ciorum (‘master of the o⁄ces’), so that his assistant (adiutor: his name was Eleusinius)
could give orders to the guards; Dioscorus’ ¢rst excuse was revealed to be invalid.