"He was severe," says Sozomen, "to the adherents of Athanasius", not only forbidding the exercise of their worship, but "inflicting imprisonment and scourges on men and women after the fashion of a tyrant"; while, towards all alike, "he wielded his authority with more violence than belonged to the episcopal rank and character."
Sozomen describes the man as severe towards Athanasius's adherents. He not only prohibited their religious practices but also imprisoned and flogged them like a tyrant would; in dealing with all others, he exerted his power with greater intensity than was appropriate for an episcopal position.