sendeth greetinge. Although it falleth out amongest you that there is no reuerence geuen vnto Alexander the founder of your citie, or (that vvhich is greater) if ye stand in no avve of the great and moste holie God Serapis: yet doe I greately maruell that you vvere so voyde of common reason, naturall affection, and honest ciuilitie and that (vvhich with modestie I may add there∣vnto) you had so little consideration of our person, vvhome not onely the greate God Serapis but also all the other godds haue thought vvorthie to be Emperour of the vvhole vvorlde, vnto vvhome it shoulde haue bene your parte to haue had recourse, and to haue geuen vs the hea∣ringe of all such iniuries vvhatsoeuer you had sustayned at the handes of levvde and disobedi∣ent persons. But peraduenture the boylinge heate of anger, and the furious motion of the mynde, ouershadovved your vvytts, and blynded your eyes, the vvhich most commonly be∣ynge remoued from the seate of reason, is vvont to committe such cruell and haynous actes. And though the fonde humour of sedition feedinge on malice, vvas hyndered a little: yet for all that it brake out to the contempt and ouerthrovve of the lavves. You therefore seynge ye are numbred amonge the people and inhabitants of Alexandria, vvhome neyther rea∣son coulde persvvade, neyther shame vvithdravve from attemptinge the thynges, for the vvhich you myght haue iustly detested them: I charge you in the name of Serapis tell mee, vvhat vvicked fiende hath thus furiously prouoked you to seeke the death of Georgius? you vvyll saye peraduenture he incensed agaynste you the most blessed Emperour Constantius: that he procured a bande of armed souldiers to be brought into your sacred citie: that the Liuetenant of Aegypt ransacked and kept from you the most holie temple of God, caryed avvay thence the images, the monuments, & glorious ornature prouided for the solemnitie of seruice: and also that vvhen you not digestinge those haynous acts, endeuoured (and that not vvithout iust cause) to maynetayne the quarell of your god, yea rather to retayne the glorious ornaments of your greate god, the same Liuetenant contrarie to all reason both vn∣iustly and vvyckedly sett vpon you vvith armed souldiers, vvho fearing more the displeasure of Georgius the byshop, then of Constantius the Emperour, thought best in such sorte to saue him selfe. For novve of a longe vvhyle he had behaued him selfe more orderly and ciuilly then tyrannically disposed tovvardes you. For the vvhich causes you vvere incensed agaynste Georgius the open aduersarie of the godds, and haue thus defyled vvith conspiracie and slaughter your holie citie, vvhen as you myght haue sued him in the lavve, and brought him to his tryall, and the sentence of the Iudges. In so doinge this haynous offence had not broken out into bloodshedinge and horrible murther: but vvoulde haue pacified the matter in aequall ballaunce and preserued you vvithout harme or domage: it vvoulde haue sharpely punished the authour of such levvde practises, and kept vnder all them vvhich not onely despise the gods, but also sette at nought such noble cities and famous assemblies, supposinge the crueltie they exercise vpon them to be a furtherance vnto their povver and authoritie. Conferre this my epi∣stle vvith that vvhich of late I sent vnto you, and weye diligently the difference betvvene them. In the former I haue highly commended you, but novve in the later I take the immortall godds to vvitnesse, vvhen that I endeuour (as duetie requireth) to prayse you, the horrible offence vvhich you committed, stoppeth my mouth, and stayeth my penne. VVhat? dareth the subiect as a madde dogge pull man in peeces vvith his teeth? ought not he be ashamed of so haynous an offence? Is this to purifie and clense the handes, and to holde them vp streat∣ched vvide vnto the gods, as if they vvere not polluted vvith the blemishe and infamie of mur∣ther? But Georgius had no other then vvas devve vnto his desert, and peraduenture I my selfe might iustly haue affirmed that by all ryght he shoulde haue suffered farre vvorse. But you vvill say, that he deserued it for his dealinge tovvards you: and therein I am of your opinion. But if you say that it behoued you to punishe him, that vvill I in no vvyse graunte. You haue lavves, the vvhich ought greatly to be honored and embraced of all men both publiquely and pri∣uately. But notvvithstandinge though it commonly fall out, that manie be founde faultie and seuerall trespassors, yet ought vve to fauour the publique state of the common vveale, to o∣bey the lavves, and in no vvyse to violate the auncient and godlie decrees. Thinke your selues happie (O ye people of Alexandria) that this haynous offence vvas committed by you in my tyme, for I can not in maner chuse but embrace you vvith brotherly affection, partly for the reuerence I ovve vnto God, and the affection I beare vnto my graundfather of the same title vvith me, vvho sometyme gouerned both Aegypt and your citie. For the prince