11. Suddenly, in the summer of that year, the Church was startled by the
issue of an edict which revived the reign of terror and threw her into a
state of persecution which lasted for more than three years. This
unexpected change of treatment is attributed by Dionysius to the
influence of Macrianus, who at one time held the office of _Rationalis_
(Treasurer or Accountant-General) to the Emperor. This man was apparently
a cripple in body, but mentally and otherwise a person of considerable
ability and force of character: but he seems to have associated himself
in some way with the soothsayers of Egypt,[5] and to have conceived a
violent hatred against the Christians. Quite early in the proceedings
which were instituted against them at Alexandria in consequence of the
edict, Dionysius, with several of his clergy, was brought before
Æmilianus the Prefect,[6] and after examination--chiefly as to his
loyalty to the Emperors, which his refusal to pay them divine honours
rendered doubtful--was banished first to a place called Cephro (probably
not far from Taposiris, where he had been sent before), and then
somewhere on the high road in the district called Colluthion. Dionysius's
own account of the circumstances which led to and attended this second
exile is given on pp. 46 ff., an account which is valuable, among other
reasons, because it is largely drawn from the official memoranda of the
Prefect's court, and because it shows how both sides did their
ineffectual best to understand each other's position.