So when Constantius alone obtained the rule of the East—his brother Constantine having been killed by soldiers not far from Aquileia, by the river Alsa—Constans, the brother of both, was governing the West quite industriously. For Constantius, of royal nature and disposition, while he indulged too much those first supporters of his reign, was through the eunuchs craftily deceived into perfidy by perverse priests; and with a zeal quite intent, he complied with their depraved contentions.
But they, fearing lest perchance opportunity of approaching the king should sometime be given to Athanasius, and through him the king be taught, according to the Scriptures, concerning the truth of the faith which they were perverting, set about in every way to accuse him before the prince and to expose him as if guilty of all crimes and outrages, until they showed the emperor a human arm brought in a casket, which they affirmed had been cut off by Athanasius, for the sake of the magic art, from the body of a certain Arsenius. And they also fabricated very many other things at once criminal and shameful.