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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6958aac --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68703 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68703) diff --git a/old/68703-0.txt b/old/68703-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1253b31..0000000 --- a/old/68703-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11727 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Constantine the Great, by John -Benjamin Firth - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Constantine the Great - The reorganization of the Empire and the triumph of the Church - -Author: John Benjamin Firth - -Release Date: August 6, 2022 [eBook #68703] - -Language: English - -Produced by: KD Weeks, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINE THE GREAT *** - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. -Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. - -Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are -referenced. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -Heroes of the Nations - - EDITED BY - - =H. W. Carless Davis, M.A.= -FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD - - - - FACTA DUCIS VIVENT OPEROSAQUE - GLORIA RERUM.—OVID, IN LIVIAM, 265. - - THE HERO’S DEEDS AND HARD-WON - FAME SHALL LIVE. - - - - - - - - - CONSTANTINE - - - - -[Illustration: - - CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. - FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM PRINT ROOM. _Frontispiece._ -] - - CONSTANTINE - THE GREAT - - THE REORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE AND - THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH - - - - - - - - - BY - - JOHN B. FIRTH - - (SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF QUEEN’S COLLEGE, OXFORD) - - AUTHOR OF “AUGUSTUS CÆSAR,” “A TRANSLATION OF PLINY’S LETTERS,” ETC. - - - - - --- - - - - - G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS - -NEW YORK -27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET - -LONDON -24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND - - - =The Knickerbocker Press= - - 1905 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - COPYRIGHT, 1904 - - BY - - G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS - - ---------- - - Published, January, 1905 - - - - - - - - - =The Knickerbocker Press, New York= - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration] - - PREFACE - - -In the following chapters, my object has been to tell the story of the -Life and Times of Constantine the Great. Whether he deserves the epithet -my readers will judge for themselves; certainly his place in the select -list of the immortals is not among the highest. But whether he himself -was “great” or not, under his auspices one of the most momentous changes -in the history of the world was accomplished, and it is the first -conversion of a Roman Emperor to Christianity, with all that such -conversion entailed, which makes his period so important and so well -worth studying. - -I have tried to write with impartiality—a virtue which one admires the -more after a close reading of original authorities who, practically -without exception, were bitter and malevolent partisans. The truth, -therefore, is not always easily recognised, nor has recognition been -made the easier by the polemical writers of succeeding centuries who -have dealt with that side of Constantine’s career which belongs more -particularly to ecclesiastical history. In narrating the course of the -Arian Controversy and the proceedings of the Council of Nicæa I have -been content to record facts—as I have seen them—and to explain the -causes of quarrel rather than act as judge between the disputants. And -though in this branch of my subject I have consulted all the original -authorities who describe the growth of the controversy, I have not -deemed it necessary to read, still less to add to, the endless strife of -words to which the discussion of the theological and metaphysical issues -involved has given rise. On this point I am greatly indebted to, and -have made liberal use of, the admirable chapters in the late Canon -Bright’s _The Age of the Fathers_. - -Other authorities, which have been most useful to me, are Boissier’s _La -Fin du Paganisme_, Allard’s _La Persécution de Dioclétien et le Triomphe -de l’Eglise_, Duruy’s _Histoire Romaine_, and Grosvenor’s -_Constantinople_. - - J. B. FIRTH. - - LONDON, October, 1904. - -[Illustration] - - CONTENTS - - CHAPTER I. - - PAGE - - THE EMPIRE UNDER DIOCLETIAN 1 - - CHAPTER II. - - THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH 12 - - CHAPTER III. - - THE ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN AND THE SUCCESSION OF 39 - CONSTANTINE - - CHAPTER IV. - - CONSTANTINE AND HIS COLLEAGUES 56 - - CHAPTER V. - - THE INVASION OF ITALY 73 - - CHAPTER VI. - - THE VISION OF THE CROSS AND THE EDICT OF MILAN 92 - - CHAPTER VII. - - THE DOWNFALL OF LICINIUS 115 - - CHAPTER VIII. - - LAST DAYS OF PERSECUTION 134 - - CHAPTER IX. - - CONSTANTINE AND THE DONATISTS 159 - - CHAPTER X. - - THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY 189 - - CHAPTER XI. - - THE COUNCIL OF NICÆA 211 - - CHAPTER XII. - - THE MURDERS OF CRISPUS AND FAUSTA 237 - - CHAPTER XIII. - - THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE 257 - - CHAPTER XIV. - - ARIUS AND ATHANASIUS 285 - - CHAPTER XV. - - CONSTANTINE’S DEATH AND CHARACTER 301 - - CHAPTER XVI. - - THE EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY 330 - - INDEX 357 - -[Illustration] - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - CONSTANTINE THE GREAT _Frontispiece_ - - From the British Museum Print Room. - - BUST OF DIOCLETIAN 22 - - CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 40 - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - THE GOLDEN GATE OF DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE AT SALONA 60 - (SPALATO) - - BUST OF MAXIMIAN AT ROME 62 - - Photograph by Alinari. - - FRAGMENT OF 4TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN POTTERY BOWL 70 - - Showing an early portrait of Christ, with - busts of the Emperor Constantine and the - Empress Fausta. From the British Museum. - - THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE, BY RAPHAEL 86 - - In the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari. - - THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME 90 - - Photograph by Alinari. - - CONSTANTINE’S VISION OF THE CROSS, BY RAPHAEL 94 - - In the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari. - - THE WESTERN SIDE OF A PEDESTAL, SHOWING THE HOMAGE OF 126 - THE VANQUISHED GOTHS - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES 168 - - Exterior view. Present day. - - THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES AS IT APPEARED IN 1686 172 - - From an old print. - - STATUE OF CONSTANTINE FROM THE PORCH OF SAN GIOVANNI 188 - IN LATERAN, AT ROME - - GATE OF ST. ANDREW AT AUTUN 212 - - “CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HIS MOTHER, ST. HELENA, 238 - HOLY, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES” - - From a picture discovered 1845, in an old - church of Mesembria. From Grosvenor’s - _Constantinople_. - - THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE 248 - - From the painting by Raphael in the Vatican. - Photograph by Alinari. - - ST. HELENA’S VISION OF THE CROSS 250 - - By Paul Veronese. National Gallery, London. - - CHART OF THE EASTERN SECTION OF MEDIÆVAL 258 - CONSTANTINOPLE - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, ROME 262 - - Photograph by Alinari. - - ST. HELENA AND THE CROSS 268 - - By Cranach. Lichtenstein Gallery, Vienna. - - COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 270 - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - THE THREE EXISTING MONUMENTS OF THE HIPPODROME 276 - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - PLAN OF THE HIPPODROME 278 - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - THE SERPENT OF DELPHI 280 - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - ST. ATHANASIUS 288 - - From the British Museum Print Room. - - BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME 302 - - From _Rome of To-Day and Yesterday_, by John - Dennie. - - THE SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND 314 - THEODOSIUS THE GREAT - - From Grosvenor’s _Constantinople_. - - - LIST OF COINS - - COPPER DENARIUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, SHOWING THE 324 - LABARUM - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II., WITH THE LABARUM 324 - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF DIOCLETIAN 324 - - SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIAN 324 - - AUREUS OF CARAUSIUS 332 - - AUREUS OF ALLECTUS 332 - - SOLIDUS OF HELENA 332 - - SOLIDUS OF GALERIUS 332 - - SOLIDUS OF SEVERUS II. 332 - - SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIN DAZA 340 - - SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS I. 340 - - SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS II. 340 - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 340 - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 348 - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF FAUSTA 348 - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CRISPUS 348 - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II. AS CÆSAR 348 - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS - m. (1) Helena - (2) Theodora (d. of Emperor Maximian) - -(1) Constantius = Helena (2) Constantius = Theodora - | | - Constantine the Great | - m. (1) Minervina | - (2) Fausta (d. of Emperor Maximian) | - | -(1) Constantine = Minervina (2) Constantine = Fausta | - | | | - Crispus | | - (killed in 326) | | - | | - +--------------+-------------+----------+--------+ | - | | | | | | - | Constantius II. | Constantina | | - Constantine II. (d. 361) Constans Helena | - (killed in 340) | (killed in 350) m. | - A daughter Julian | - | - +---------+----------+---------------+---------+-------+ - | | | | | | - Constantine | Constantius | | | -(killed in 337) | (killed, 337) | Anastasia | - Dalmatius m. (1) Galla Constantia m. Eutropia - Annibalianus (2) Basilina m. Bassianus m. - | | Emperor (Cæsar) Nepotianus - +--------+------+ | Licinius | - | | | | - Dalmatius Annibalianus | Licinianus Flavius Popilius - (Cæsar in 335; (King of Pontus; | killed in 326) Nepotianus - killed in 337) killed in 337) | (killed in 390) - | - (1) Constantius = Galla (2) Constantius = Basilina - | | - +--------+-------+ | - | | | - A son, Gallus Julian - (killed in 337) (killed in 354) (Emperor, 361) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration] - - Constantine - - - ---------- - - - - - CHAPTER I - THE EMPIRE UNDER DIOCLETIAN - - -The catastrophe of the fall of Rome, with all that its fall signified to -the fifth century, came very near to accomplishment in the third. There -was a long period when it seemed as though nothing could save the -Empire. Her prestige sank to the vanishing point. Her armies had -forgotten what it was to win a victory over a foreign enemy. Her -Emperors were worthless and incapable. On every side the frontiers were -being pierced and the barriers were giving way. - -The Franks swept over Gaul and laid it waste. They penetrated into -Spain; besieged Toledo; and, seizing the galleys which they found in the -Spanish ports, boldly crossed into Mauretanian Africa. Other -confederations of free barbarians from southern Germany had burst -through the wall of Hadrian which protected the Tithe Lands (_Decumates -agri_), and had followed the ancient route of invasion over the Alps. -Pannonia had been ravaged by the Sarmatæ and the Quadi. In successive -invasions the Goths had overrun Dacia; had poured round the Black Sea or -crossed it on shipboard; had sacked Trebizond and Chalcedon, and, after -traversing Bithynia, had reached the coast at Ephesus. Others had -advanced into Greece and Macedonia and challenged the Roman navies for -the possession of Crete. - -Not only was Armenia lost, but the Parthians had passed the Euphrates, -vanquished and taken prisoner the Emperor Valerian, and surprised the -city of Antioch while the inhabitants were idly gathered in the theatre. -Valerian, chained and robed in purple, was kept alive to act as Sapor’s -footstool; when he died his skin was tanned and stuffed with straw and -set to grace a Parthian temple. Egypt was in the hands of a rebel who -had cut off the grain supply. And as if such misfortunes were not -enough, there was a succession of terrifying and destructive -earthquakes, which wrought their worst havoc in Asia, though they were -felt in Rome and Egypt. These too were followed by a pestilence which -raged for fifteen years and, according to Eutropius, claimed, when at -its height, as many as five thousand victims in a single day. - -It looked, indeed, as though the Roman Empire were past praying for and -its destruction certain.[1] The armies were in wide-spread revolt. Rebel -usurpers succeeded one another so fast that the period came to be known -as that of the Thirty Tyrants, many of whom were elected, worshipped, -and murdered by their soldiers within the space of a few weeks or -months. “You little know, my friends,” said Saturninus, one of the more -candid of these phantom monarchs, when his troops a few years later -insisted that he should pit himself against Aurelian, “you little know -what a poor thing it is to be an Emperor. Swords hang over our necks; on -every side is the menace of spear and dart. We go in fear of our guards, -in terror of our household troops. We cannot eat what we like, fight -when we would, or take up arms for our pleasure. Moreover, whatever an -Emperor’s age, it is never what it should be. Is he a grey beard? Then -he is past his prime. Is he young? He has the mad recklessness of youth. -You insist on making me Emperor; you are dragging me to inevitable -death. But I have at least this consolation in dying, that I shall not -be able to die alone.”[2] In that celebrated speech, vibrating with -bitter irony, we have the middle of the third century in epitome. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - _Jam desperatis rebus et deleto pæne imperio Romano_ (Eutropius, iv., - c. 9). - -Footnote 2: - - _Nescitis, amici, quid mali sit imperare_ (Vopiscus, Saturninus, c. - 10). - ------ - -But then the usual miracle of good fortune intervened to save Rome from -herself. The Empire fell into the strong hands of Claudius, who in two -years smote the Goths by land and sea, and of Aurelian, who recovered -Britain and Gaul, restored the northern frontiers, and threw to the -ground the kingdom over which Zenobia ruled from Palmyra. The Empire was -thus restored once more by the genius of two Pannonian peasants, who had -found in the army a career open to talent. The murder of Aurelian, in -275, was followed by an interregnum of seven months, during which the -army seemed to repent of having slain its general and paid to the Senate -a deference which effectually turned the head—never strong—of that -assembly. Vopiscus quotes a letter written by one senator to another at -this period, begging him to return to Rome and tear himself away from -the amusements of Baiæ and Puteoli. “The Senate,” he says,[3] “has -returned to its ancient status. It is we who make Emperors; it is our -order which has the distribution of offices. Come back to the city and -the Senate House. Rome is flourishing; the whole State is flourishing. -We give Emperors; we make Princes; and we who have begun to create, can -also restrain.” The pleasant delusion was soon dispelled. The legions -speedily re-assumed the rôle of king-makers. Tacitus, the senatorial -nominee, ruled only for a year, and another series of soldier Emperors -succeeded. Probus, in six years of incessant fighting, repeated the -triumphs of Aurelian, and carried his successful arms east, west, and -north. Carus, despite his sixty years, crossed the Tigris and made -good—at any rate in part—his threat to render Persia as naked of trees -as his own bald head was bare of hairs. But Carus’s reign was brief, and -at his death the Empire was divided between his two sons, Carinus and -Numerian. The former was a voluptuary; the latter, a youth of retiring -and scholarly disposition, quite unfitted for a soldier’s life, was soon -slain by his Prætorian præfect, Arrius Aper. But the choice of the army -fell upon Diocletian, and he, after stabbing to the heart the man who -had cleared his way to the throne, gathered up into his strong hands the -reins of power in the autumn of 284. He met in battle the army of -Carinus at Margus, in Moesia, during the spring of 285. Carinus was -slain by his officers and Diocletian reigned alone. - ------ - -Footnote 3: - - Vopiscus, Florianus, c. 6. - ------ - -But he soon found that he needed a colleague to halve with him the -dangers and the responsibilities of empire. He, therefore, raised his -lieutenant, Maximian, to the purple, with the title of Cæsar, and a -twelvemonth later gave him the full name and honours of Augustus. There -were thus two armies, two sets of court officials, and two palaces, but -the edicts ran in the joint name of both Augusti. Then, when still -further division seemed advisable, the principle of imperial partnership -was extended, and it was decided that each Augustus should have a Cæsar -attached to him. Galerius was promoted to be the Cæsar of Diocletian; -Constantius to be the Cæsar of Maximian. Each married the daughter of -his patron, and looked forward to becoming Augustus as soon as his -superior should die. The plan was by no means perfect, but there was -much to be said in its favour. An Emperor like Diocletian, the nominee -of the eastern army alone and the son of a Dalmatian slave, had few, if -any, claims upon the natural loyalty of his subjects. Himself a -successful adventurer, he knew that other adventurers would rise to -challenge his position, if they could find an army to back them. By -entrusting Maximian with the sovereignty of the West, he forestalled -Maximian’s almost certain rivalry, and the four great frontiers each -required the presence of a powerful army and an able commander-in-chief. -By having three colleagues, each of whom might hope in time to become -the senior Augustus, Diocletian secured himself, so far as security was -possible, against military rebellion. - -Unquestionably, too, this decentralisation tended towards general -efficiency. It was more than one man’s task, whatever his capacity, to -hold together the Empire as Diocletian found it. Gaul was ablaze from -end to end with a peasants’ war. Carausius ruled for eight years in -Britain, which he temporarily detached from the Empire, and, secure in -his naval strength, forced Diocletian and Maximian, much to their -disgust, to recognise him as a brother Augustus. This archpirate, as -they called him, was crushed at last, but whenever Constantius crossed -into Britain it was necessary for Maximian to move up to the vacant -frontier of the Rhine and mount guard in his place. We hear, too, of -Maximian fighting the Moors in Mauretania. War was thus incessant in the -West. In the East, Diocletian recovered Armenia for Roman influence in -287 by placing his nominee, Tiridates, on the throne. This was done -without a breach with Parthia, but in 296 Tiridates was expelled and war -ensued. Diocletian summoned Galerius from the Danube and entrusted him -with the command. But Galerius committed the same blunder which Crassus -had made three centuries and a half before. He led his troops into the -wastes of the Mesopotamian desert and suffered the inevitable disaster. -When he returned with the survivors of his army to Antioch, Diocletian, -it is said, rode forth to meet him; received him with cold displeasure; -and, instead of taking him up into his chariot, compelled him to march -alongside on foot, in spite of his purple robe. However, in the -following year, 297, Galerius faced the Parthian with a new army, took -the longer but less hazardous route through Armenia, and utterly -overwhelmed the enemy in a night attack. The victory was so complete -that Narses sued for peace, paying for the boon no less a price than the -whole of Mesopotamia and five provinces in the valley of the Tigris, and -renouncing all claim to the sovereignty of Armenia. - -This was the greatest victory which Rome had won in the East since the -campaigns of Trajan and Vespasian. It was followed by fifty years of -profound peace; and the ancient feud between Rome and Parthia was not -renewed until the closing days of the reign of Constantine. Lactantius, -of whose credibility as a historian we shall speak later on, sneers at -the victory of Galerius, which he says was “easily won”[4] over an enemy -encumbered by baggage, and he represents him as being so elated with his -success that when Diocletian addressed him in a letter of congratulation -by the name of Cæsar, he exclaimed,[5] with glowing eyes and a voice of -thunder, “How long shall I be merely Cæsar?” But there is no word of -corroboration from any other source. On the contrary, we can see that -Diocletian, whose forte was diplomacy rather than generalship, was on -the best of terms with his son-in-law, Galerius, who regarded him not -with contempt, but with the most profound respect. Diocletian and -Galerius, for their lifetime at any rate, had settled the Eastern -question on a footing entirely satisfactory and honourable to Rome. A -long line of fortresses was established on the new frontier, within -which there was perfect security for trade and commerce, and the result -was a rapid recovery from the havoc caused by the Gothic and Parthian -irruptions. - ------ - -Footnote 4: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 9: _Non difficiliter oppressit._ - -Footnote 5: - - _Truci vultu ac voce terribili, Quousque tandem Cæsar?_ - ------ - -Though Diocletian had divided the supreme power, he was still the moving -and controlling spirit, by whose nod all things were governed.[6] He had -chosen for his own special domain Asia, Syria, and Egypt, fixing his -capital at Nicomedia, which he had filled with stately palaces, temples, -and public buildings, for he indulged the dream of making his city the -rival of Rome. Galerius ruled the Danubian provinces with Greece and -Illyricum from his capital at Sirmium. Maximian, the Augustus of the -West, ruled over Italy, Africa, and Spain from Milan; Constantius -watched over Gaul and Britain, with headquarters at Treves and at York. -But everywhere the writ of Diocletian ran. He took the majestic name of -Jovius, while Maximian styled himself Herculius; and it stands as a -marvellous tribute to his commanding influence that we hear of no -friction between the four masters of the world. - ------ - -Footnote 6: - - _Cujus nutu omnia gubernabantur._ - ------ - -Diocletian profoundly modified the character of the Roman Principate. He -orientalised it, adopting frankly and openly the symbols and -paraphernalia of royalty which had been so repugnant to the Roman -temper. Hitherto the Roman Emperors had been, first and foremost, -Imperators, heads of the army, soldiers in the purple. Diocletian became -a King, clad in sumptuous robes, stiff with embroidery and jewels. -Instead of approaching with the old military salute, those who came into -his presence bent the knee and prostrated themselves in adoration. The -monarch surrounded himself, not with military præfects, but with -chamberlains and court officials, the hierarchy of the palace, not of -the camp. We cannot wholly impute this change to vanity or to that -littleness of mind which is pleased with pomp and elaborate ceremonial. -Diocletian was too great a man to be swayed by paltry motives. It was -rather that his subjects had abdicated their old claim to be called a -free and sovereign people, and were ready to be slaves. The whole -senatorial order had been debarred by Gallienus from entering the army, -and had acquiesced without apparent protest in an edict which closed to -its members the profession of arms. Diocletian thought that his throne -would be safer by removing it from the ken of the outside world, by -screening it from vulgar approach, by deepening the mystery and -impressiveness attaching to palaces, by elaborating the court -ceremonial, and exalting even the simplest of domestic services into the -dignity of a liturgy. It may be that these changes intensified the -servility of the subject, and sapped still further the manhood and -self-respect of the race. Let it not be forgotten, however, that the -ceremonial of the modern courts of Europe may be traced directly back to -the changes introduced by Diocletian, and also that the ceremonial, -which the older school of Romans would have thought degrading and -effeminate, was, perhaps, calculated to impress by its stateliness, -beauty, and dignity the barbarous nations which were supplying the Roman -armies with troops. - -We will reserve to a later chapter some account of the remodelled -administration, which Constantine for the most part accepted without -demur. Here we may briefly mention the decentralisation which Diocletian -carried out in the provinces. Lactantius[7] says that “he carved the -provinces up into little fragments that he might fill the earth with -terror,” and suggests that he multiplied officials in order to wring -more money out of his subjects. That is an enemy’s perversion of a wise -statesman’s plan for securing efficiency by lessening the administrative -areas, and bringing them within working limits. Diocletian split up the -Empire into twelve great dioceses. Each diocese again was subdivided -into provinces. There were fifty-seven of these when he came to the -throne; when he quitted it there were ninety-six. The system had grave -faults, for the principles on which the finances of the Empire rested -were thoroughly mischievous and unsound. But the reign of Diocletian was -one of rapid recuperation and great prosperity, such as the Roman world -had not enjoyed since the days of the Antonines. - ------ - -Footnote 7: - - _Et, ut omnia terrore complerentur, provinciæ quoque in frusta - concisæ_ (_De Mort. Persec._, c. 7). - ------ - -[Illustration] - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER II - THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH - - -Unfortunately for the fame of Diocletian there is one indelible blot -upon the record of his reign. He attached his name to the edicts whereby -was let loose upon the Christian Church the last and—in certain -provinces—the fiercest of the persecutions. Inasmuch as the affairs of -the Christian Church will demand so large a share of our attention in -dealing with the religious policy of Constantine, it will be well here -to describe, as briefly as possible, its condition in the reign of -Diocletian. It has been computed that towards the end of the third -century the population of the Roman Empire numbered about a hundred -millions. What proportion were Christians? No one can say with -certainty, but they were far more numerous in the East than in the West, -among the Greek-speaking peoples of Asia than among the Latin-speaking -peoples of Europe. Perhaps if we reckon them at a twelfth of the whole -we shall rather underestimate than overestimate their number, while in -certain portions of Asia and Syria they were probably at least one in -five. Christianity had spread with amazing rapidity since the days of -Domitian. There had been spasmodic outbreaks of fierce persecution under -Decius,—“that execrable beast,” as Lactantius calls him,—under Valerian, -and under Aurelian. But Aurelian’s reign was short and he had been too -busy fighting to spare much time for religious persecution. The tempest -quickly blew over. For fully half a century, with brief interludes of -terror, the Church had been gathering strength and boldness. - -The policy of the State towards it was one of indifference. Gallienus, -indeed, the worthless son of Valerian, had issued edicts of toleration, -which might be considered cancelled by the later edicts of Aurelian or -might not. If the State wished to be savage, it could invoke the one -set; if to be mild, it could invoke the other. There was, therefore, no -absolute security for the Church, but the general feeling was one of -confidence. The army contained a large number of Christians, of all -ranks and conditions, officers, centurions, and private soldiers. Many -of the officials of the civil service were Christians. The court and the -palace were full of them. Diocletian’s wife, Prisca, was a Christian; so -was Valeria, his daughter. So, too, were many of his chamberlains, -secretaries, and eunuchs. If Christianity had been a proscribed -religion, if the Christians had anticipated another storm, is it -conceivable that they would have dared to erect at Nicomedia, within -full view of the palace windows, a large church situated upon an -eminence in the centre of the city, and evidently one of its most -conspicuous structures? No, Christianity in the East felt tolerably safe -and was advancing from strength to strength, conscious of its increasing -powers and of the benevolent neutrality of Diocletian. Christians who -took office were relieved from the necessity of offering incense or -presiding at the games. The State looked the other way; the Church was -inclined to let them off with the infliction of some nominal penance. -Nor was there much difficulty about service in the army. Probably few -enlisted in the legions after they had become Christians; against this -the Church set her face. But she permitted the converted soldier to -remain true to his military oath, for she did not wish to become -embroiled with the State. In a word, there was deep religious peace, at -any rate in Diocletian’s special sphere of influence, Asia, Egypt, and -Syria. - -It is to be remembered, however, that there were four rulers, men of -very different characters and each, therefore, certain to regard -Christianity from a different standpoint. Thus there might be religious -peace in Asia and persecution in the West, as, indeed, there was—partial -and spasmodic, but still persecution. Maximian was cruel and ambitious, -an able soldier of the hard Roman type, no respecter of persons, and -careless of human life. Very few modern historians have accepted the -story of the massacre of the Theban Legion at Agauna, near Lake Leman, -for refusal to offer sacrifice and take the oath to the Emperor. -According to the legend, the legion was twice decimated and then cut to -pieces. But it is impossible to believe that there could have been a -legion or even a company of troops from Thebes in Egypt, wholly composed -of Christians, and, even supposing the facts to have been as stated, -their refusal to march in obedience to the Emperor’s orders and rejoin -the main army at a moment when an active campaign was in progress, -simply invited the stroke of doom. Maximian was not the man to tolerate -mutiny in the face of the enemy. - -But still there were many Christian victims of Maximian wherever he took -up his quarters—at Rome, Aquileia, Marseilles—mostly soldiers whose -refusal to sacrifice brought down upon them the arm of the law. Maximian -is described in the “Passion of St. Victor” as “a great dragon,” but the -story, even as told by the hagiologist, scarcely justifies the epithet. -Just as the military præfects, before whom Victor was first taken, -begged him to reconsider his position, so Maximian, after ordering a -priest to bring an altar of Jupiter, turned to Victor and said[8]: “Just -offer a few grains of incense; placate Jupiter and be our friend.” -Victor’s answer was to dash the altar to the ground from the hands of -the priest and place his foot triumphantly upon it. We may admire the -fortitude of the martyr, but the martyrdom was self-inflicted, and the -anger of the Emperor not wholly unwarranted. “Be our friend,” he had -said, and his overtures were spurned with contempt. - ------ - -Footnote 8: - - _Pone thura: placa Jovem et noster amicus esto._ - ------ - -We may suspect, indeed, that this partial persecution was due rather to -the insistence of the martyrs themselves than to deliberate policy on -the part of Maximian. When enthusiastic Christians thrust their -Christianity upon the official notice of the authorities, insulted the -Emperor or the gods, and refused to take the oath or sacrifice on -ceremonial occasions, then martyrdom was the result, and little notice -was taken, for life was cheap. Diocletian, as we have seen, rather -patronised than persecuted Christianity. Maximian’s inclinations towards -cruelty were kept in check by the known wishes of his senior colleague. -Constantius, the Cæsar of Gaul, was one of those refined characters, -tolerant and sympathetic by nature, to whom the idea of persecution for -the sake of religion was intensely repugnant; and Galerius, the Cæsar of -Pannonia, the most fanatical pagan of the group, was not likely, at any -rate during the first few years after his elevation, to run counter to -the wishes of his patron. - -What was it, then, that wrought the fatal change in the mind of -Diocletian and turned him from benevolent neutrality to fierce -antagonism? Lactantius attributes it solely to the baleful influence of -Galerius, whom he paints in the very blackest colours. He was a wild -beast, a savage barbarian of alien blood, tall in stature, a mountain of -flesh, abnormally bloated, terrifying to look at, and with a voice that -made men shiver.[9] Behind this monster stood his mother, a barbarian -woman from beyond the Danube, priestess of some wild deity of the -mountains, imbued with a fanatical hatred of the Christians, which she -was for ever instilling into her son. When we have stripped away the -obvious exaggeration of this onslaught we may still accept the main -statement and admit that Galerius was the most active and unsparing -enemy of the Christians in the Imperial circle. This rough soldier, -trained in the school of two such martinets as Aurelian and Probus, who -enforced military discipline by the most pitiless methods, would not -stay to reason with a soldier’s religious prejudices. Unhesitating -obedience or death—that was the only choice he gave to those who served -under him, and when, after his great victory over the Parthians, his -position and prestige in the East were beyond challenge, we find -Christian martyrdoms in the track of his armies, in the Anti-Taurus, in -Cœle-Syria, in Samosata. - ------ - -Footnote 9: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 9. - ------ - -Galerius began to purge his army of Christians. Unless they would -sacrifice, officers were to lose their rank and private soldiers to be -dismissed ignominiously without the privileges of long service. Several -were put to death in Moesia, where a certain Maximus was Governor. Among -them was a veteran named Julius, who had served in the legion for -twenty-six years, and fought in seven campaigns, without a single black -mark having been entered against his name for any military offence. -Maximus did his best to get him off. “Julius,” he said, “I see that you -are a man of sense and wisdom. Suffer yourself to be persuaded and -sacrifice to the gods.” “I will not,” was the reply, “do what you ask. I -will not incur by an act of sin eternal punishment.” “But,” said the -Governor, “I take the sin upon myself. I will use compulsion so that you -may not seem to act voluntarily. Then you will be able to return in -peace to your house. You will receive the bounty of ten denarii and no -one will molest you.” Evidently, Maximus was heartily sorry that such a -fine old soldier should take up a position which seemed to him so -grotesquely indefensible. But what was Julius’s reply? “Neither this -Devil’s money nor your specious words shall cause me to lose eternal -God. I cannot deny Him. Condemn me as a Christian.” After the -interrogation had gone on for some time, Maximus said: “I pity you, and -I beg you to sacrifice, so that you may live with us.” “To live with you -would be death for me,” rejoined Julius, “but if I die, I shall live.” -“Listen to me and sacrifice; if not, I shall have to keep my word and -order you to death.” “I have often prayed that I might merit such an -end.” “Then you have chosen to die?” “I have chosen a temporary death, -but an eternal life.” Maximus then passed sentence, and the law took its -course. - -On another occasion the Governor said to two Christians, named Nicander -and Marcian, who had proved themselves equally resolute, “It is not I -whom you resist; it is not I who persecute you. My hands are unstained -by your blood. If you know that you will fare well on your journey, I -congratulate you.[10] Let your desire be accomplished.” “Peace be with -you, merciful judge,” cried both the martyrs as the sentence was -pronounced. - ------ - -Footnote 10: - - _Si autem scitis vos bene ituros, gratulor vobis._ - ------ - -The movement seems gradually to have spread from the provinces of -Galerius to those of Maximian. At Tangiers, Marcellus, a centurion of -the Legion of Trajan, threw down his centurion’s staff and belt and -refused to serve any longer. He did so in the face of the whole army -assembled to sacrifice in honour of Maximian’s birthday. A similar scene -took place in Spain at Calahorra, near Tarraco, where two soldiers cast -off their arms exclaiming, “We are called to serve in the shining -company of angels. There Christ commands His cohorts, clothed in white, -and from His lofty throne condemns your infamous gods, and you, who are -the creatures of these gods, or, we should say, these ridiculous -monsters.” Death followed as a matter of course. Looking at the evidence -with absolute impartiality, one begins to suspect that the process of -clearing the Christians out of the army was due quite as much to the -fanaticism of certain Christian soldiers eager for martyrdom, as to any -lust for blood on the part even of Galerius and Maximian. - -But what we have to account for is the rise of a fierce anti-Christian -spirit which induced Diocletian—for even Lactantius admits that he was -not easily persuaded—to take active measures against the Christians. It -is certainly noteworthy that about this time the only school of -philosophy which was alive, active, and at all original, was definitely -anti-Christian. We refer, of course, to the Neo-Platonists of -Alexandria. Their principal exponent was the philosopher Porphyry, who -carried on a violent anti-Christian propaganda, though he seems to have -borrowed from Christianity, and more especially from the rigorously -ascetic form which Christianity had assumed in Egypt, many of his -leading tenets. The morality which Porphyry inculcated was elevated and -pure; his religion was mystical to such a degree that none but an expert -philosopher could follow him into the refinements of his abstractions; -but he had for the Christian Church a “theological hatred” of -extraordinary bitterness. The treatise—in fifteen books—in which he -assailed the Divinity of Christ apparently set a fashion in -anti-Christian literature. We hear, for example, of another unnamed -philosopher who “vomited three books against the Christian religion,” -and the violence with which Lactantius denounces him as “an accomplished -hypocrite” makes one suspect that his work had a considerable success. -Still better known was Hierocles, Governor at one time of Palmyra, and -then transferred to the royal province of Bithynia, who wrote a book to -which he gave the name of _The Friend of Truth_, and addressed it, “To -the Christians.” Its interest lies chiefly in the fact that its author -compares with the miracles wrought by Christ those attributed to -Apollonius of Tyana, and denies divinity to both. Lactantius tells us -that this Hierocles was “author and counsellor of the persecution,”[11] -and we may judge, therefore, that there existed among the pagans a -powerful party bitterly opposed to Christianity, carrying on a vigorous -campaign against it, and urging upon the Emperors the advisability of a -sharp repressive policy. - ------ - -Footnote 11: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 16. - ------ - -They would have no difficulty in making out a case against the -Christians which on the face of it seemed plausible and overwhelming. -They would point to the fanatical spirit manifested, as we have seen, by -a large number of Christian soldiers in the army, which led them to -throw down their arms, blaspheme the gods, and deny the Emperors. They -would point to the anti-social movement, which was especially marked in -Egypt, where the example of St. Antony was drawing crowds of men and -women away into the desert to live out their lives, either in solitary -cells as hermits, or as members of religious communities equally -ascetic, and almost equally solitary. They would point to the aloofness -even of the ordinary Christian in city or in town from its common life, -and to his avoidance of office and public duties. They would point to -the extraordinary closeness of the ties which bound Christians together, -to their elaborate organisation, to the implicit and ready obedience -they paid to their bishops, and would ask whether so powerful a secret -society, with ramifications everywhere throughout the Empire, was not -inevitably a menace to the established authorities. The Christians were -peaceable enough. To accuse them of plotting rebellion was hardly -possible, though the most outrageous calumnies against them and their -rites were sedulously fostered in order to inflame the minds of the -rabble, just as they were against the Jews in the Middle Ages, and are, -even at the present day, in certain parts of the Continent of Europe. -But, at bottom, the real strength of the case against the Christians lay -in the fact that the more enlightened pagans saw that Christianity was -the solvent which was bound to loosen all that held pagan society -together. They instinctively felt what was coming, and were sensible of -approaching doom. Christianity was the enemy, the proclaimed enemy, of -their religion, of their point of view of this life as well as of the -next, of their customs, of their pleasures, of their arts. Paganism was -fighting for existence. What wonder that it snatched at any weapon -wherewith to strike? - -[Illustration: BUST OF DIOCLETIAN.] - -The personal attitude of Diocletian towards religion in general is best -seen in the edict which he issued against the Manichæans. The date is -somewhat uncertain, but it undoubtedly preceded the anti-Christian -edicts. Manichæanism took its rise in Persia, its principal -characteristic being the practice of thaumaturgy, and it spread fast -throughout the East. Diocletian ordered the chiefs of the sect to be -burned to death; their followers were to have their goods confiscated -and to suffer capital punishment unless they recanted; while persons of -rank who had disgraced themselves by joining such a shameful and -infamous set of men were to lose their patrimony and be sent to the -mines. These were savage enactments, and it is important to see how the -Emperor justified them. Fortunately his language is most explicit. “The -gods,” he says, “have determined what is just and true; the wisest of -mankind, by counsel and by deed, have proved and firmly established -their principles. It is not, therefore, lawful to oppose their divine -and human wisdom, or to pretend that a new religion can correct the old -one. To wish to change the institutions of our ancestors is the greatest -of crimes.” Nothing could be clearer. It is the old official defence of -the State religion, that men are not wiser than their fathers, and that -innovation in worship is likely to bring down the wrath of the gods. -Moreover, as the edict points out, this Manichæanism came from Persia, -the traditional enemy of Rome, and threatened to corrupt the “modest and -tranquil Roman people” with the detestable manners and infamous laws of -the Orient. “Modest and tranquil” are not the epithets which posterity -has chosen to apply to the Roman people of the Empire, but Diocletian’s -point is obvious. Manichæanism was a device of the enemy; it must be -poison, therefore, to the good Roman. Such an argument was born of -prejudice rather than of reason; we shall see it applied yet again to -the Christians, and applied even by the Christian Church to its own -schismatics and heretics. - -It was during the winter of 302 that the question was carefully debated -by Diocletian and Galerius—the latter was staying with the senior -Augustus at Nicomedia—whether it was advisable to take repressive -measures against the Christians. According to Lactantius, Galerius -clamoured for blood, while Diocletian represented how mischievous it -would be to throw the whole world into a ferment, and how the Christians -were wont to welcome martyrdom. He argued, therefore, that it would be -quite enough if they purged the court and the army. Then, as neither -would give way, a Council was called, which sided with Galerius rather -than with Diocletian, and it was decided to consult the oracle of Apollo -at Miletus. Apollo returned the strange answer that there were just men -on the earth who prevented him from speaking the truth, and gave that as -the reason why the oracles which proceeded from his tripods were false. -The “just men” were, of course, the Christians. Diocletian yielded, only -stipulating that there should be no bloodshed, while Galerius was for -burning all Christians alive. Such is Lactantius’s story, and it does -credit to Diocletian, inasmuch as it shews his profound reluctance to -disturb the internal peace which his own wise policy had established. As -a propitious day, the Festival of the Terminalia, February 23, 303, was -chosen for the inauguration of the anti-Christian campaign. The church -at Nicomedia was levelled to the ground by the Imperial troops and, on -the following day, an edict was issued depriving Christians of their -privileges as full Roman citizens. They were to be deprived of all their -honours and distinctions, whatever their rank; they were to be liable to -torture; they were to be penalised in the courts by not being allowed to -prosecute for assault, adultery, and theft. Lactantius well says[12] -that they were to lose their liberty and their right of speech. The -penalties extended even to slaves. If a Christian slave refused to -renounce his religion he was never to receive his freedom. The churches, -moreover, were to be destroyed and Christians were forbidden to meet -together. No bloodshed was threatened, as Diocletian had stipulated, but -the Christian was reduced to the condition of a pariah. The edict was no -sooner posted up than, with a bitter jibe at the Emperors, some bold, -indignant Christian tore it down. He was immediately arrested, tortured, -racked, and burnt at the stake. Diocletian had been right. The -Christians made willing martyrs. - ------ - -Footnote 12: - - _Libertatem denique ac vocem non haberent_ (_De Mort. Persec._, c. - 13). - ------ - -Soon afterwards there was an outbreak of fire at the palace. Lactantius -accuses Galerius of having contrived it himself so that he might throw -the odium upon the Christians, and he adds that Galerius so worked upon -the fears of Diocletian that he gave leave to every official in the -palace to use the rack in the hope of getting at the truth. Nothing was -discovered, but fifteen days later there was another mysterious -outbreak. Galerius, protesting that he would stay no longer to be burnt -alive, quitted the palace at once, though it was bad weather for -travelling. Then, says Lactantius, Diocletian allowed his blind terrors -to get the better of him, and the persecution began in earnest. He -forced his wife and daughter to recant; he purged the palace, and put to -death some of his most powerful eunuchs, while the Bishop of Nicomedia -was beheaded, and crowds of less distinguished victims were thrown into -prison. Whether there was incendiarism or not, no one can say. Eusebius, -indeed, tells us that Constantine, who was living in the palace at the -time, declared years afterwards to the bishops at the Council of Nicæa -that he had seen with his own eyes the lightning descend and set fire to -the abode of the godless Emperor. But neither Constantine nor Eusebius -was to be believed implicitly when it was a question of some -supernatural occurrence between earth and heaven. The double -conflagration is certainly suspicious, but tyrants do not, as a rule, -set fire to their own palaces when they themselves are in residence, -however strong may be their animus against some obnoxious party in the -State. - -A few months passed and Diocletian published a second edict ordering the -arrest of all bishops and clergy who refused to surrender their “holy -books” to the civil officers. Then, in the following year, came a third, -offering freedom to all in prison if they consented to sacrifice, and -instructing magistrates to use every possible means to compel the -obstinate to abandon their faith. These edicts provoked a frenzy of -persecution, and Gaul and Britain alone enjoyed comparative immunity. -Constantius could not, indeed, entirely disregard an order which bore -the joint names of the two Augusti, but he took care that there was no -over-zealousness, and, according to a well-known passage of Lactantius, -he allowed the meeting-places of the Christians, the buildings of wood -and stone which could easily be restored, to be torn down, but preserved -in safety the true temple of God, viz., the bodies of His -worshippers.[13] Elsewhere the persecution may be traced from province -to province and from city to city in the mournful and poignant documents -known as the _Passions of the Martyrs_. Naturally it varied in intensity -according to local conditions and according to the personal -predilections of the magistrates. Where the populace was fiercely -anti-Christian or where the pagan priests were zealous, there the -Christians suffered severely. Their churches would be razed to the -ground and the prisons would be full. Some of the weaker brethren would -recant; others would hide themselves or quit the district; others again -would suffer martyrdom. In more fortunate districts, where public -opinion was with the Christians, the churches might not be destroyed, -though they stood empty and silent. - ------ - -Footnote 13: - - _Verum autem Dei templum, quod est in hominibus, incolume servavit._ - (_De Mort. Persec._, c. 15). - ------ - -The fiercest persecution seems to have taken place in Asia Minor. There -had been a partial revolt of the troops at Antioch, easily suppressed by -the Antiochenes themselves, but Diocletian apparently connected it in -some way with the Christians and let his hand fall heavily upon them. -Just at this time, moreover, in the neighbouring kingdom of Armenia, -Saint Gregory the Illuminator was preaching the gospel with marvellous -success, and the Christians of Cappadocia, just over the border, paid -the penalty for the uneasiness which this ferment caused to their -rulers. We hear, for example, in Phrygia of a whole Christian community -being extirpated. Magistrates, senators, and people—Christians all—had -taken refuge in their principal church, to which the troops set fire. -Eusebius, in his _History of the Church_, paints a lamentable picture of -the persecution which he himself witnessed in Palestine and Syria, and, -in his _Life of Constantine_, he says[14] that even the barbarians -across the frontier were so touched by the sufferings of the Christian -fugitives that they gave them shelter. Athanasius, too, declares that he -often heard survivors of the persecution say that many pagans risked the -loss of their goods and the chance of imprisonment in order to hide -Christians from the officers of the law. There is no question of -exaggeration. The most horrible tortures were invented; the most -barbarous and degrading punishments were devised. The victim who was -simply ordered to be decapitated or drowned was highly favoured. In a -very large number of cases death was delayed as long as possible. The -sufferer, after being tortured on the rack, or having eyes or tongue -torn out, or foot or hand struck off, was taken back to prison to -recover for a second examination. - -Footnote 14: - - _Vita Const._, ii., 53. - ------ - -Even when the victim was dead the law frequently pursued the corpse with -its futile vengeance. It was no uncommon thing for a body to be thrown -to the dogs, or to be chopped into fragments and cast into the sea, or -to be burnt and the ashes flung upon running water. He was counted a -merciful judge who allowed the friends of the martyr to bear away the -body to decent burial and lay it in the grave. At Augsburg, when the -magistrate heard that the mother and three servants of a converted -courtesan, named Afra, had placed her body in a tomb, he ordered all -four to be enclosed in one grave with the corpse and burnt alive. - -It is, of course, quite impossible to compute the number of the victims, -but it was unquestionably very large. We do not, perhaps, hear of as -many bishops and priests being put to death as might have been expected, -but if the extreme rigour of the law had been enforced the Empire would -have been turned into a shambles. The fact is, as we have said, that -very much depended upon the personal character of the Governors and the -local magistrates. In some places altars were put up in the law courts -and no one was allowed either to bring or defend a suit without offering -sacrifice. In other towns they were erected in the market squares and by -the side of the public fountains, so that one could neither buy nor -sell, nor even draw water, without being challenged to do homage to the -gods. Some Governors, such as Datianus in Spain, Theotecnus in Galatia, -Urbanus of Palestine, and Hierocles of Bithynia and Egypt, were noted -for the ferocity with which they carried out the edicts; others—and, -when the evidence is carefully examined, the humane judges seem to have -formed the majority—presided with reluctance at these lamentable trials. -Many exhausted every means in their power to convert the prisoners back -to the old religion, partly from motives of humanity, and partly, no -doubt, because their success in this respect gained them the notice and -favour of their superiors. - -We hear of magistrates who ordered the attendants of the court to place -by force a few grains of incense in the hands of the prisoner and make -him sprinkle it upon the altar, or to thrust into his mouth a portion of -the sacrificial meat. The victim would protest against his involuntary -defilement, but the magistrate would declare that the offering had been -made. Often, the judge sought to bribe the accused into apostasy. “If -you obey the Governor,” St. Victor of Galatia was told, “you shall have -the title of ‘Friend of Cæsar’ and a post in the palace.” Theotecnus -promised Theodotus of Ancyra “the favour of the Emperors, the highest -municipal dignities, and the priesthood of Apollo.” The bribe was great, -but it was withstood. The steadfast confessor gloried in replying to -every fresh taunt, entreaty, or bribe, “I am a Christian.” It was to him -the only, as well as the highest argument. - -Sometimes the kindest-hearted judges were driven to exasperation by -their total inability to make the slightest impression upon the -Christians. “Do abandon your foolish boasting,” said Maximus, the -Governor of Cilicia, to Andronicus, “and listen to me as you would -listen to your father. Those who have played the madman before you have -gained nothing by it. Pay honour to our Princes and our fathers and -submit yourself to the gods.” “You do well,” came the reply, “to call -them your fathers, for you are the sons of Satan, the sons of the Devil, -whose works you perform.” A few more remarks passed between judge and -prisoner and then Maximus lost his temper. “I will make you die by -inches,” he exclaimed. “I despise,” retorted Andronicus, “your threats -and your menaces.” While an old man of sixty-five was being led to the -torture, a friendly centurion said to him, “Have pity on yourself and -sacrifice.” “Get thee from me, minister of Satan,” was the reply. The -main feeling uppermost in the mind of the confessor was one of -exultation that he had been found worthy to suffer. Such a spirit could -neither be bent nor broken. - -Of active disloyalty to the Emperor there is absolutely no trace. Many -Christian soldiers boasted of their long and honourable service in the -army; civilians were willing to pay unto Cæsar the things that were -Cæsar’s. But Christ was their King. “There is but one God,” cried -Alphæus and Zachæus at Cæsarea, “and only one King and Lord, who is -Jesus Christ.” To the pagan judge this was not merely blasphemy against -the gods, but treason against the Emperor. Sometimes, but not often, the -martyr’s feelings got the better of him and he cursed the Emperor. “May -you be punished,” cried the dauntless Andronicus to Maximus, when the -officers of the court had thrust between his lips the bread and meat of -sacrifice, “may you be punished, bloody tyrant, you and they who have -given you the power to defile me with your impious sacrifices. One day -you will know what you have done to the servants of God.” “Accursed -scoundrel,” said the judge, “dare you curse the Emperors who have given -the world such long and profound peace?” “I have cursed them and I will -curse them,” replied Andronicus, “these public scourges, these drinkers -of blood, who have turned the world upside down. May the immortal hand -of God tolerate them no longer and punish their cruel amusements, that -they may learn and know the evil they have done to God’s servants.” No -doubt, most Christians agreed with the sentiments expressed by -Andronicus, but they rarely gave expression to them. “I have obeyed the -Emperors all the years of my life,” said Bishop Philippus of Heraclea, -“and, when their commands are just, I hasten to obey. For the Holy -Scripture has ordered me to render to God what is due to God and to -Cæsar what is due to Cæsar. I have kept this commandment without flaw -down to the present time, and it only remains for me to give preference -to the things of heaven over the attractions of this world. Remember -what I have already said several times, that I am a Christian and that I -refuse to sacrifice to your gods.” Nothing could be more dignified or -explicit. It is the Emperor-God and his fellow deities of Olympus, not -the Emperor, to whom the Christian refuses homage. During a trial at -Catania in Sicily the judge, Calvisianus, said to a Christian, “Unhappy -man, adore the gods, render homage to Mars, Apollo, and Æsculapius.” The -answer came without a second’s hesitation: “I adore the Father, Son, and -Holy Ghost—the Holy Trinity—beyond whom there is no God. Perish the gods -who have not made heaven and earth and all that they contain. I am a -Christian.” From first to last, in Spain as in Africa, in Italy as in -Sicily, this is the alpha and the omega of the Christian position, -“_Christianus sum_.” - -To what extent was the martyrdom self-inflicted? How far did the -Christians pile with their own hands the faggots round the stakes to -which they were tied? It is significant that some churches found it -necessary to condemn the extraordinary exaltation of spirit which drove -men and women to force themselves upon the notice of the authorities and -led them to regard flight from danger as culpable weakness. They not -only did not encourage but strictly forbade the overthrowing of pagan -statues or altars by zealous Christians anxious to testify to their -faith. They did not wish, that is to say, to provoke certain reprisals. -Yet, in spite of all their efforts, martyrdom was constantly courted by -rash and excitable natures in the frenzy of religious fanaticism, like -that which impelled Theodorus of Amasia in Pontus to set fire to a -temple of Cybele in the middle of the city and then boast openly of the -deed. Often, however, such martyrs were mere children. Such was Eulalia -of Merida, a girl of twelve, whose parents, suspecting her intention, -had taken her into the country to be out of harm’s way. She escaped -their vigilance, returned to the city, and, standing before the tribunal -of the judge, proclaimed herself a Christian. - - ”_Mane superba tribunal adit, - Fascibus adstat et in mediis._“ - -The judge, instead of bidding the officials remove the child, began to -argue with her, and the argument ended in Eulalia spitting in his face -and overturning the statue which had been brought for her to worship. -Then came torture and the stake, a martyred saint, and in later -centuries a stately church, flower festivals, and a charming poem from -the Christian poet, Prudentius. But even his graceful verses do not -reconcile us to the pitiful futility of such child-martyrdom as that of -Eulalia of Merida or Agnes of Rome. - -Or take, again, the pathetic inscription found at Testur, in Northern -Africa; - - “_Sanctæ Tres; - Maxima, - Donatilla - Et Secunda, - Bona Puella._” - -These were three martyrs of Thuburbo. Two of them, Maxima and Donatilla, -had been denounced to the judge by another woman. Secunda, a child of -twelve, saw her friends from a window in her father’s house, as they -were being dragged off to prison. “Do not abandon me, my sisters,” she -cried. They tried to wave her back. She insisted. They warned her of the -cruel fate which was certain to await her; Secunda declared her -confidence in Him who comforts and consoles the little ones. In the end -they let her accompany them. All three were sentenced to be torn by the -wild beasts of the amphitheatre, but when they stood up to face that -cruel death, a wild bear came and lay at their feet. The judge, -Anulinus, then ordered them to be decapitated. Such is the story that -lies behind those simple and touching words, “_Secunda, Bona Puella_.” - -Nor were young men backward in their zeal for the martyr’s crown. -Eusebius tells us of a band of eight Christian youths at Cæsarea, who -confronted the Governor, Urbanus, in a body shouting, “We are -Christians,” and of another youth named Aphianus, who, while reading the -Scriptures, heard the voice of the heralds summoning the people to -sacrifice. He at once made his way to the Governor’s house, and, just as -Urbanus was in the act of offering libation, Aphianus caught his arm and -upbraided him for his idolatry. He simply flung his life away. - -In this connection may be mentioned the five martyred statuary workers -belonging to a Pannonian marble quarry. They had been converted by the -exhortations of Bishop Cyril, of Antioch, who had been condemned to -labour in their quarry, and, once having become Christians, their -calling gave them great searching of heart. Did not the Scriptures -forbid them to make idols or graven images of false gods? When, -therefore, they refused to undertake a statue of Æsculapius, they were -challenged as Christians, and sentenced to death. Yet they had not -thought it wrong to carve figures of Victory and Cupid, and they seem to -have executed without scruple a marble group showing the sun in a -chariot, doubtless satisfying themselves that these were merely -decorative pieces, which did not necessarily involve the idea of -worship. But they preferred to die rather than make a god for a temple, -even though that god were the gentle Æsculapius, the Healer. - -We might dwell at much greater length upon this absorbing subject of the -persecution of Diocletian, and draw upon the _Passions of the Saints_ -for further examples of the marvellous fortitude with which so many of -the Christians endured the most fiendish tortures for the sake of their -faith. “I only ask one favour,” said the intrepid Asterius: “it is that -you will not leave unlacerated a single part of my body.” In the -presence of such splendid fidelity and such unswerving faith, which made -even the weakest strong and able to endure, one sees why the eventual -triumph of the Church was certain and assured. One can also understand -why the memory and the relics of the martyrs were preserved with such -passionate devotion; why their graves were considered holy and credited -with powers of healing; and why, too, the names of their persecutors -were remembered with such furious hatred. It may be too much to expect -the early chroniclers of the Church to be fair to those who framed and -those who put into execution the edicts of persecution, but we, at -least, after so many centuries, and after so many persecutions framed -and directed by the Churches themselves, must try to look at the -question from both sides and take note of the absolute refusal of the -Christian Church to consent to the slightest compromise in its attitude -of hostility to the religious system which it had already dangerously -undermined. - -It is not easy from a study of the _Passions of the Saints_ to draw any -sweeping generalisations as to what the public at large thought of the -torture and execution of Christians. We get a glimpse, indeed, of the -ferocity of the populace at Rome when Maximian went thither to celebrate -the Ludi Cereales in 304. The “Passion of St. Savinus” shews an excited -crowd gathered in the Circus Maximus, roaring for blood and repeating -twelve times over the savage cry, “Away with the Christians and our -happiness is complete. By the head of Augustus let not a Christian -survive.”[15] Then, when they caught sight of Hermogenianus, the city -præfect, they called ten times over to the Emperor, “May you conquer, -Augustus! Ask the præfect what it is we are shouting.” Such a scene was -natural enough in the Circus of Rome; was it typical of the Empire? -Doubtless in all the great cities, such as Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, -Carthage, the “baser sort” would be quite ready to shout, “Away with the -Christians.” But it is to be remembered that we find no trace anywhere -in this persecution of a massacre on the scale of that of St. -Bartholomew or the Sicilian Vespers. On the contrary, we see that though -the prisons were full, the relations of the Christians were usually -allowed to visit them, take them food, and listen to their exhortations. -Pamphilus of Cæsarea, who was in jail for two years, not only received -his friends during that period, but was able to go on making copies of -the Scriptures! - ------ - -Footnote 15: - - _Christiani tollantur et voluptas constat; Per caput Augusti - Christiani non sint._ - ------ - -We rarely hear of the courts being packed with anti-Christian crowds, or -of the judges being incited by popular clamour to pass the death -sentence. The reports of the trials shew us silent, orderly courts, with -the judges anxious not so much to condemn to death as to make a convert. -If Diocletian had wanted blood he could have had it in rivers, not in -streams. But he did not. He wished to eradicate what he believed to be -an impious, mischievous, and, from the point of view of the State’s -security, a dangerous superstition. There was no talk of persecuting for -the sake of saving the souls of heretics; that lamentable theory was -reserved for a later day. Diocletian persecuted for what he considered -to be the good of the State. He lived to witness the full extent of his -failure, and to realise the appalling crime which he had committed -against humanity, amid the general overthrow of the political system -which he had so laboriously set up. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER III - THE ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN AND THE SUCCESSION - OF CONSTANTINE - - -On the 1st of May, in the year 305, Diocletian, by an act of unexampled -abnegation, resigned the purple and retired into private life. The -renunciation was publicly performed, not in Rome, for Rome had ceased to -be the centre of the political world, but on a broad plain in Bithynia, -three miles from Nicomedia, which long had been the Emperor’s favourite -residence. In the centre of the plain rose a little hill, upon which -stood a column surmounted by a statue of Jupiter. There, years before, -Diocletian had with his own hands invested Galerius with the symbols of -power; there he was now to perform the last act of a ruler by nominating -those whom he thought most fit to succeed him. A large platform had been -constructed; the soldiers of the legions had been ordered to assemble in -soldier’s meeting and listen to their chief’s farewell. Diocletian took -leave of them in few words. He was old, he said, and infirm. He craved -for rest after a life of toil. The Empire needed stronger and more -youthful hands than his. His work was done. It was time for him to go. - -The two Augusti were laying down their powers simultaneously, for -Maximian was performing a similar act of renunciation at Milan. The two -Cæsars, Constantius and Galerius, would thus automatically move up into -the empty places and become Augusti in their stead. It had been -necessary, therefore, to select two new Cæsars, and these Diocletian was -about to present to the loyalty of the legions. We are told that the -secret had been well kept, and that the soldiers waited with suppressed -excitement until Diocletian suddenly announced that his choice had -fallen upon Severus, one of his trusted generals, and upon Maximin Daza, -a nephew of Galerius. Severus had already been sent to Milan to be -invested by Maximian; Maximin was present on the tribunal and was then -and there robed in the purple. The ceremony over, Diocletian—a private -citizen once more, though he still retained the title of Augustus—drove -back to Nicomedia and at once set out for Salona, on the Adriatic, where -he had built a sumptuous palace for his retirement. - -[Illustration: - - CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -The scene which we have depicted is described most fully and most -graphically by a historian whose testimony, unfortunately, is entirely -suspect in matters of detail. The author of _The Deaths of the -Persecutors_—it is very doubtful whether Lactantius, to whom the work -has long been attributed, really wrote it, but for the sake of -convenience of reference we may credit him with it—is at once the most -untrustworthy and the most vigorous and attractive writer of the period. -His object throughout is to blacken the characters of the Emperors who -persecuted the Christian Church, and he does not scruple to distort -their actions, pervert their motives, and even invent, with well -calculated malice, stories to their discredit. Lactantius knows, or -pretends to know, all that takes place even in the most secret recesses -of the palace; he recounts all that passes at the most confidential -conferences; and with consummate artistry he throws in circumstantial -details and touches of local colour which give an appearance of truth, -but are really the most convincing proofs of falsehood. Lactantius -represents the abdication of Diocletian as the act of an old man, -shattered in health, and even in mind, by a distressing malady sent by -Heaven as the just punishment of his crimes. He depicts him cowering in -tears before the impatient insolence of Galerius, now peremptorily -clamouring for the succession with threats of civil war. They discuss -who shall be the new Cæsars. “Whom shall we appoint?” asks Diocletian. -“Severus,” says Galerius. “What?” says the other, “that drunken sot of a -dancer who turns night into day and day into night?” “He is worthy,” -replies Galerius, “for he has proved a faithful general, and I have sent -him to Maximian to be invested.” “Well, well,” says the old man, “who is -the second choice?” “He is here,” says Galerius, indicating his nephew, -a young semi-barbarian named Maximin Daza. “Why, who is this you offer -me?” “He is my kinsman,” is the reply. Then said Diocletian, with a -groan, “These are not fit men to whom to entrust the care of the State.” -“I have proved them,” said Galerius. “Well, you must look to it,” -rejoins Diocletian, “you who are about to assume the reins of the -Empire. I have toiled enough. While I ruled, I took care that the State -stood safe. If any harm now befalls, the fault is not mine.”[16] - ------ - -Footnote 16: - - Lactant., _De Mort. Persec._, c. 18. - ------ - -Such is a characteristic specimen of Lactantius’s history, and so, when -he comes to describe the ceremony of abdication, he makes Galerius draw -Maximin Daza to the front of the group of imperial officials by whom -Diocletian is surrounded, and represents the soldiers as staring in -surprise at their new Cæsar, as at one whom they had never seen before. -Yet a favourite nephew of Galerius can scarcely have been a stranger to -the troops of Nicomedia. Galerius not only—according to Lactantius—drew -forward Maximin Daza, but at the same time rudely thrust back into the -throng the son of Constantius, the senior of the two new Augusti. This -was young Constantine, the future Emperor, who for some years past had -been living at the Court of Diocletian. - -But it was no broken down Emperor in his dotage, passing, according to -the spasms of his malady, from sanity to insanity, who resigned the -throne on the plain of Nicomedia. Diocletian was but fifty-nine years of -age. He had just recovered, it is true, from a very severe illness, -which, even on the testimony of Lactantius, had caused “grief in the -palace, sadness and tears among his guards, and anxious suspense -throughout the whole State.”[17] But his brain was never clearer than -when he took final leave of his troops. His abdication was the -culminating point of his policy. He had planned it twenty years before. -He had kept it before his eyes throughout a long and busy reign. It was -the completion of, the finishing touch to his great political system. It -would have been perfectly easy for Diocletian to forswear himself. -Probably very few of his contemporaries believed that he would fulfil -his promise to abdicate after twenty years of reign. Kings talk of the -allurements of retirement, but they usually cling to power as -tenaciously as to life. The first Augustus had delighted to mystify his -Ministers of State by speaking of restoring the Republic. He died an -Emperor. Diocletian, alone of the Roman Emperors, laid down the sceptre -when he was at the height of his glory. It was a hazardous experiment, -but he was faithful to his principles. He thought it best for the world -that its master should not grow old and feeble on the throne. - ------ - -Footnote 17: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 17. - ------ - -Constantine, of whom we have just caught a glimpse at the abdication of -Diocletian, was born either in 273 or 274. The uncertainty attaching to -the year of his birth attaches even more to its place. No one now -believes that he was born in Britain—a pleasing fiction which was -invented by English monks, who delighted to represent his mother Helena -as the daughter of a British King, though they were quite at a loss -where to locate his kingdom. The only foundation for this was a passage -in one of the Panegyrists, who said that Constantine had bestowed lustre -upon Britain “_illic oriundo_.” But the words are now taken as referring -to his accession and not to his birth. He was certainly proclaimed -Emperor in Britain, and might thus be said to have “sprung thence.” -Constantine’s birth-place seems to have been either Naissus, a city in -Upper Moesia, or Drepanum, a city near Nicomedia. The balance of -evidence, though none of it is very trustworthy, inclines to the former. - -His father was Constantius Chlorus, afterwards Cæsar and Augustus, but -at the time of Constantine’s birth merely a promising officer in the -Roman army. Constantius belonged to one of the leading families of -Moesia and his mother was a niece of the capable and soldierly Claudius, -the conqueror of the Goths. Claudius had only been dead four years when -Constantine was born, and we may suppose that it was his influence which -had set Constantius in the way of rapid promotion. He had formed one of -those secondary marriages which were recognised by Roman law, when the -wife was not of the same social standing as the husband. Helena is said -to have been the daughter of an innkeeper of Drepanum, and Constantine’s -enemies lost no opportunity of dwelling upon the obscurity of his -ancestry upon his mother’s side. But that he was born in wedlock is -beyond question. Had the relationship between Constantius and Helena -been an irregular one, there would have been no need for Maximian to -insist on a divorce when he ratified Constantius’s elevation to the -purple by giving him the hand of his daughter, Theodora. - -Of Constantine’s early years we know nothing, though we may suppose that -they were spent in the eastern half of the Empire. Constantius served -with the eastern legions in the campaigns which preceded the accession -of Diocletian in 284, and it is as a young officer in the entourage of -that Emperor that Constantine makes his earliest appearance in history. -Eusebius tells us[18] that he first saw the future champion of -Christianity in the train of Diocletian during one of the latter’s -visits to Palestine. He recalls his vivid remembrance of the young -Prince standing at the Emperor’s right hand and attracting the gaze of -all beholders by the beauty of his person and the imposing air which -betokened his consciousness of having been born to rule. Eusebius adds -that while Constantine’s physical strength extorted the respectful -admiration of his younger associates, his remarkable qualities of -prudence and wisdom aroused the jealousy and excited the apprehensions -of his chiefs. However, the recollections of the Bishop of Cæsarea, with -half a century of interval, are somewhat suspect, and we need see no -more than a high-spirited, handsome, and keen-witted Prince in -Eusebius’s “paragon of bodily strength, physical beauty, and mental -distinction.” As for Diocletian’s jealous fears, they are best refuted -by the fact that Constantine was promoted to be a tribune of the first -rank and saw considerable military service. The foolish stories that his -superiors set him to fight a gigantic Sarmatian in single combat, and -dared him to contend against ferocious wild beasts, in the hope that his -pride and courage might be his undoing, may be dismissed as childish. If -Diocletian had feared Constantine, Constantine would never have survived -his residence in the palace. - ------ - -Footnote 18: - - _De Vita Const._, i., 19. - ------ - -It is certainly remarkable that we should know so little, not only of -the youth but of the early manhood of Constantine, who was at least in -his thirty-first year when Diocletian retired into private life. Why had -he spent all those years in the East instead of sharing with his father -the dangers and glories of his Gallic and British campaigns? The answer -is doubtless to be found in the fact that it was no part of Diocletian’s -system for the son to succeed the father. Constantius’s loyalty was -never in doubt, but Constantine, if Zosimus[19] can be trusted, had -already given evidence of consuming ambition to rule. However that may -be, it is obvious that his position became much more hazardous when -Galerius succeeded Diocletian as supreme ruler in the palace of -Nicomedia. One can understand Galerius wondering whether the capable -young Prince, who slept under his roof, was destined to cross his path, -and the anxiety of Constantius, conscious of declining strength, that -his long-absent son should join him. Constantine himself might well be -uneasy, and scheme to quit a place where he could not hope to satisfy -his natural ambitions. We need not doubt, therefore, that Constantius -repeatedly sent messages to Galerius asking that his son might come to -him, or that the son was eager to comply. - ------ - -Footnote 19: - - Zosimus, ii., 8. περιφανὴς γὰρ ἦν ἤδη πολλοῖς ὁ κατέχων ὰυτὸυ ἔρως τῆς - βασιλέιας. - ------ - -Lactantius,[20] who does his best to make history romantic and exciting, -describes the eventual escape of Constantine in one of his most graphic -chapters. He shows us Galerius in his palace reluctantly signing an -order which authorised Constantine to travel post across the Continent -of Europe. He only consented to do so, we are told, because he could -find no pretext for further delay, and he gave the order to Constantine -late in the afternoon, on the understanding that he should see him again -in the morning to receive his final instructions. Yet all the time, says -Lactantius, Galerius was scheming to find some excuse for keeping him in -Nicomedia, or contemplated sending a message to Severus, asking him to -delay Constantine when he reached the border of northern Italy. Galerius -then took dinner, retired for the night, and slept so well and -deliberately that he did not wake until the following midday (_Cum -consulto ad medium diem usque dormisset_). He then sent for Constantine -to come to his apartment. But Constantine was already gone, scouring the -roads as fast as the post horses could carry him, and so anxious to -increase the distance between himself and Galerius that he caused the -tired beasts to be hamstrung at every stage. He had waited for Galerius -to retire and had then slipped away, lest the Emperor should change his -mind. Galerius was furious when he found that he had been outwitted. He -ordered pursuit. His servants came back to tell him that the fugitive -had swept the stables clear of horses. And then Galerius could scarce -restrain his tears (_Vix lacrimas tenebat_). - ------ - -Footnote 20: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 24. - ------ - -It is a story which does infinite credit to Lactanius’s feeling for -strong melodramatic situation. No picturesque detail is omitted—the -setting sun, the tyrant plotting vengeance over dinner, his resolve to -sleep long, his baffled triumph, the escaping hero, and the butchery of -the horses. Yet we question if there is more than a shred of truth in -the whole story. Galerius would not have given Constantine the sealed -order overnight had he intended to take it back the next morning. A word -to the officer of the watch in the palace and to the officer on duty at -the city gate would have prevented Constantine from quitting Nicomedia. -The imperial post service must have been very much underhorsed if the -Emperor’s servants could not find mounts for the effective pursuit of a -single fugitive. Galerius may very well have been unwilling for -Constantine to go, and Constantine doubtless covered the early stages of -his long journey at express speed, in order to minimise the chance of -recall, but the lurid details of Lactantius are probably simply the -outcome of his own lively imagination. - -Constantine seems to have found his father at the port of Gessoriacum -(Boulogne), just waiting for a favourable wind to carry him across the -Channel into Britain. Constantius was ill, and welcomed with great joy -the son whom he had not seen for many years. We do not know what time -elapsed before Constantius died at York,—apparently it was after the -conclusion of a campaign in Scotland,—but before he died he commended to -Constantine the welfare of his young half-brothers and half-sisters, the -eldest of whom was no more than thirteen years of age, and he also -evidently commended Constantine himself to the loyalty of his legions. -The Emperor, we are informed both by Lactantius and by the author of the -Seventh Panegyric, died with a mind at rest because he was sure of his -heir and successor—Jupiter himself, says the pagan orator,[21] stretched -out his right hand and welcomed him among the gods. Clearly, the ground -had been well prepared, for no sooner was the breath out of -Constantius’s body than the troops saluted Constantine with the title of -Augustus. Aurelius Victor adds the interesting detail that he had no -stouter supporter than Erocus, a Germanic King, who was serving as an -auxiliary in the Roman army. Constantine was nothing loth, though, as -usual in such circumstances, he may have feigned a reluctance which he -did not feel. His panegyrist, indeed, represents him as putting spurs to -his horse to enable him to shake off the robe which the soldiers sought -to throw over his shoulders, and suggests that it had been Constantine’s -intention to write “to the senior Princes” and consult their wishes as -to the choice of a successor. Had he done so, he knew very well that -Galerius would have sent over to Britain some trusted lieutenant of his -own to take command and Constantine would have received peremptory -orders to return. Instead of that, Constantine assumed the insignia of -an Emperor, and wrote to Galerius announcing his elevation. Galerius, it -is said, hesitated long as to the course he should adopt. That the news -angered him we may be sure. Apart from all personal considerations, this -choice of an Emperor by an army on active service was a return to the -bad old days of military rule, from which Diocletian had rescued the -Empire, and was a clear warning that the new system had not been -established on a permanent basis. The only alternative, however, before -Galerius was acceptance or war. For the latter he was hardly prepared, -and moreover, there was no reply to the argument that Constantius had -been senior Augustus, and, therefore, had been fully entitled to have -his word in the appointment of a successor. Galerius gave way. He -accepted the laurelled bust which Constantine had sent to him and, -instead of throwing it into the fire with the officer who had brought -it—which, according to Lactantius, had been his first impulse,--he sent -the messenger back with a purple robe to his master as a sign that he -frankly admitted his claims to partnership in the Empire. - ------ - -Footnote 21: - - _Pan. Vet._, vii., 7. - ------ - -But while he acknowledged Constantine as Cæsar, he refused him the full -title of Augustus, which he bestowed upon the Cæsar Severus. This has -been represented as an act of petty spite. In reality, it was simply the -automatic working of the system of Diocletian. The latest winner of -imperial dignity naturally took the fourth place. Constantine accepted -the check without demur. He had not spent so many years by the side of -Diocletian and Galerius without discovering that if it came to war, it -was the master of the best army who was sure to be the winner and -survivor, whether his title were Cæsar or Augustus. Thus, in July, 306, -Constantine commenced his eventful reign as the Cæsar of the West, -overlord of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, and commander of the Army of the -Rhine, and, for the next six years, down to his invasion of Italy in -312, he spent most of his time in the Gallic provinces, where he gained -the reputation of being a capable soldier and a generous Prince. - -Gaul was slowly recovering from chaos and ruin. During the anarchy which -had preceded the accession of Diocletian, she had lain at the mercy of -the Germanic tribes across the Rhine. The Roman watch on the river had -been almost abandoned; the legions and the garrisons had been so -weakened as to be powerless to keep the invader in check. The Gallic -provinces were, in the striking words of the Panegyrist, “maddened by -their injuries of the years gone by.”[22] The result had been the -peasant rising of the Bagaudæ, ruthlessly suppressed by Maximian in 285, -but the desperate condition of the country may be inferred from the fact -that Diocletian and Maximian felt compelled to recognise the pretensions -of Carausius in the province of Britain, which, for some years, was -practically severed from the Empire. And, moreover, the peace of Gaul, -which Maximian laboriously restored, was punctuated by invasion from the -Germans across the Rhine. In the Panegyric of Mamertinus there occurs a -curious passage, which shows with what eyes the Romans regarded that -river. The orator is eulogising Maximian in his most fulsome strain for -restoring tranquillity, and then says: “Was there ever an Emperor before -our day who did not congratulate himself that the Gallic provinces were -protected by the Rhine? When did the Rhine shrink in its channel after a -long spell of fine weather without making us shiver with fear? When did -it ever swell to a flood without giving us an extra sense of -security?”[23] In other words, the danger of invasion rose and fell with -the rising and falling of the Rhine. But now, continues the Panegyrist, -“thanks thanks to Maximian, all our fears are gone. The Rhine may dry up -and shrink until it can scarce roll the smooth pebbles in its limpid -shallows, and none will be afraid. As far as I can see beyond the Rhine, -all is Roman” (_Quicquid ultra Rhenum prospicio, Romanum est_). Rarely -has a court rhetorician uttered a more audacious lie. - ------ - -Footnote 22: - - _Gallias priorum temporum injuriis efferatas_, _Pan._, vi., 8. - -Footnote 23: - - _Pan. Vet._, ii., 7. - ------ - -There was no quality of permanence in the Gallic peace. Constantius took -advantage of a temporary lull to recover Britain, but in 301 he was -again fighting the invading Germans and Franks, winning victories which -had to be repeated in the following summer, and making good the dearth -of labourers on the devastated lands of Gaul by the captives he had -taken in battle. There is a remarkable passage in the Fifth Panegyric in -which the author refers to the long columns of captives which he had -seen on the march in Gaul, men, women, and children on their way to the -desert regions assigned to them, there to bring back to fertility by -their labour as slaves the very countryside which in their freedom they -had pillaged and laid waste. He recalled the familiar sight of these -savage barbarians tamed to surprising quiescence, and waiting in the -public places of the Æduan cities until they were told off to their new -masters. Gaul had suffered so long from these roving ruffians from over -the Rhine that the orator broke out into a pæan of exultation at the -thought that the once dreaded Chamavan or Frisian now tilled his estates -for him, and that the vagabond freebooter had become an agricultural -labourer, who drove his stock to the Gallic markets and cheapened the -price of commodities by increasing the sources of supply. - -Full allowance must be made for exaggeration. The tribes, which are -described as having been extirpated, reappear later on in the same -numbers as before, and there was security only so long as the Emperor -and his legions were on the spot. When Constantius crossed to Britain on -the expedition which terminated with his death, the Franks took -advantage of his absence to “violate the peace.”[24] The words would -seem to imply that there had been a treaty between Constantius and the -Kings Ascaricus and Regaisus. They crossed the Rhine and Constantine, -the new Cæsar, hastened back from Britain to confront them. Where the -battle took place is not known, but both Kings were captured and, -together with a multitude of their followers, flung to the wild beasts -in the amphitheatre at Treves. Constantine, who prided himself upon his -clemency to a Roman foe, whose sensitive soul was harrowed when even a -wicked enemy perished,[25] inflicted a fearful punishment. - - “Those slain in battle were beyond numbers; very many more were taken - prisoners. All their flocks were carried off or butchered; all their - villages burnt with fire; all their young men, who were too - treacherous to be admitted into the Roman army, and too brutal to act - as slaves, were thrown to the wild beasts, and fatigued the ravening - creatures because there were so many of them to kill.”[26] - ------ - -Footnote 24: - - _Pan._, vii., 10. - -Footnote 25: - - _Gravate apud animum tuum etiam mali pereunt._—_Pan._, x., 8. - -Footnote 26: - - _Pan._, vii., 12. - ------ - -Those atrocious sentences—written in praise, not in -condemnation—assuredly throw some light upon the “perpetual hatreds and -inextinguishable rage”[27] of the Franks. The common herd, says the -rhetorician, may be slaughtered by the hundred without their becoming -aware of the slaughter; it saves time and trouble to slay the leaders of -an enemy whom you wish to conquer.[28] The effect for the moment was -decisive, even if we refuse to believe that the castles and strong -places, set at intervals along the banks of the Rhine, were henceforth -regarded rather as ornaments to the frontier than as a source of -protection. The bridge, too, which Constantine built at Cologne, was -likewise built for business and not, as the orator suggests, for the -glory of the Empire and the beauty of the landscape. When we read of the -war galleys, which ceaselessly patrolled the waters of the Rhine, and of -the soldiery stationed along its banks from source to mouth,[29] we may -judge how anxiously the watch was kept, how nervously alert the Cæsar or -Augustus of the West required to be to guard the frontier, and how -profound a respect he entertained for the free German whom he called -barbarian. - ------ - -Footnote 27: - - _Odia perpetua et inexpiabiles iras._ - -Footnote 28: - - _Compendium est devincendorum hostium duces sustulisse._—_Pan._, vii., - 11. - -Footnote 29: - - _Pan._, vii., 13. - ------ - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER IV - CONSTANTINE AND HIS COLLEAGUES - - -While Constantine thus peacefully succeeded his father in the command of -Gaul, Spain, and Britain, Italy was the scene of continued disturbance -and of a successful usurpation. We have seen how Severus, an officer of -the eastern army and a trusted friend of Galerius, had been chosen to -take over the command which Maximian so unwillingly laid down at Milan. -He was proclaimed Cæsar, with Italy and Africa for his portion, and the -administration passed into his hands. But he preferred, apparently, to -remain on the Illyrian border rather than shew himself in Rome, and, in -his absence, Maxentius, a son of Maximian, took the opportunity of -claiming the heritage of which he considered himself to have been -robbed. - -No single historian has had a good word to say for Maxentius, who is -described by Lactantius as “a man of depraved mind, so consumed with -pride and stubbornness that he paid no deference or respect either to -his father or his father-in-law and was in consequence hated by -both.”[30] He had married a daughter of Galerius, but had been thrust on -one side at the choosing of the new Cæsars, and Severus and Maximin Daza -had been preferred to him. He owed his elevation to the purple to a -successful mutiny on the part of the Prætorians at Rome, and to the -general discontent of the Roman population. It is evident that Rome -watched with anger and jealousy the loss of her old exclusive and -imperial position. The Emperors no longer resided on the Palatine, and -ignored and disdained the city on the Tiber. Diocletian had preferred -Nicomedia; Maximian had fixed his Court at Milan. The imperial trappings -at Rome were becoming a mockery. When, in addition to neglect, it was -ordered that Italy should no longer be exempt from the census, and that -the sacred Saturnian soil should submit to the exactions of the -tax-gatherer, public opinion was ripe for revolt. - ------ - -Footnote 30: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 18. - ------ - -Lactantius affects to see in the extension of the census to Rome a -crowning example of Galerius’s rapacity. He speaks of the Emperor -“devouring the whole world,” and declares that his madness carried him -to such outrageous lengths that he would not suffer even the Roman -people to escape bondage. But Galerius was thoroughly justified in the -step he took. The immunity of Rome from taxation had been a monstrous -piece of fiscal injustice to the rest of the world, designed merely to -flatter the pride and purse of the Roman citizen. Galerius, moreover, -had disbanded some of the Prætorians—who were at once the Household -Troops and the permanent garrison of the capital; but now that the -Emperor and the Court had quitted Rome, their _raison d’être_ was gone. -The vast expenditure on their pay and their barracks was money thrown -away. Galerius, therefore, abolished the Prætorian camps. Such an act -would give clear warning that the absence of the Emperors was not merely -temporary, but permanent, that the shifting of the capital had been due -not merely to personal predilections, but to abiding political reasons. - -That the Prætorians themselves received the order with sullen anger may -well be understood. For three centuries they had been the _corps -d’élite_ of the Roman army, enjoying special pay and special advantages. -They had made and unmade Emperors. They had repeatedly held the fortunes -of the Empire in their hands. The traditions of their regiments fostered -pride and arrogance, for they had seen little active service in their -long history, and the severest conflicts they had had to face were -tumults in the imperial city. Now their privileges were destroyed by a -stroke of the pen, and needing but little instigation to rebellion, they -offered the purple to Maxentius, who gladly accepted it. Nor, it is -said, were the people unfavourable to his cause, for Maxentius’s agents -had already been busy among them, and so, after Abellius, the præfect of -the city, had been murdered, Maxentius made himself master of Rome -without a struggle. His position, however, was very precarious. He had -practically no army and he knew that neither Galerius nor Severus would -recognise his pretensions. The latter had already taken over the command -of the armies of Maximian, and was the nominee of Galerius, who at once -incited his colleague to march upon Rome. Maxentius saw that his only -chance of success was to corrupt his father’s old legions, and with this -object in view he sent a purple robe to Maximian, urging him to resume -his place and title of Augustus. Maximian agreed with alacrity. He had -been spending his enforced leisure not in amateur gardening and -contentment, like his colleague at Salona, but in his Campanian villa, -chafing at his lost dignity. Hence he eagerly responded to the summons -of his son and resumed the purple, not so much as Maxentius’s supporter, -but as the senior acting Augustus. - -Severus marched straight down the Italian peninsula and laid siege to -Rome, only to find himself deserted by his soldiers. According to -Zosimus, the troops which first played him false were a Moorish -contingent fresh from Africa. Then, when the treachery spread, Severus -hastily retired on Ravenna, where he could maintain touch with Galerius -in Illyria, and was there besieged by Maximian and Maxentius. Doubtless, -if he had waited, Galerius would have sent him reinforcements or come in -person to his assistance, for his own prestige was deeply involved in -that of Severus. But the latter seems to have allowed himself to be -enticed out of his strong refuge by the plausible overtures of his -rivals. He set out for Rome, prepared to resign the throne on condition -of receiving honourable treatment, but on reaching a spot named “The -Three Taverns,” on the Appian Road, he was seized and thrown into -chains. The only consideration he received from his captors was that -they allowed him to choose his own way of relieving them of his -presence. He opened his veins. So gentle a death in those violent times -was considered “good.”[31] - ------ - -Footnote 31: - - _Nihil aliud impetravit nisi bonam mortem._—_De Mort. Persec._, c. 26. - ------ - -This victory over Severus, gained with such astonishing ease, speaks -well for the popularity of Maximian with his old soldiers. Galerius -prepared to avenge the defeat and murder of his friend and invaded Italy -at the head of a large army. He too, like Severus, marched down the -peninsula, but he got no nearer to Rome than Narnia, sixty miles -distant. There he halted, despite the fact that no opposition was being -offered to his advance. Why? The reason is undoubtedly to be found in -the attitude of Constantine, who had mobilised his army upon the Gallic -frontier and was waiting on events. There was no love lost between -Constantine and Galerius. If Constantine crossed the Alps and followed -down on the track of Galerius, the latter would find himself between two -fires. Galerius is represented by Zosimus as being suspicious of the -loyalty of his troops; it is more probable that he decided to retreat as -soon as he heard that Constantine had thrown in his lot with Maximian -and Maxentius. Maximian had been sedulously trying to secure alliances -for himself and his son. He had made overtures to the recluse of Salona. -But Diocletian had turned a deaf ear. Even if he had hankered after -power again, he would hardly have declared himself in opposition to the -ruler of Illyria, while he was dwelling within reach of Galerius. With -Constantine, however, Maximian had better success. He gave him his -daughter Fausta in marriage and incited him to attack Galerius, who at -once drew his troops off into Illyria, after laying waste the -Transpadane region with fire and sword. - -[Illustration: THE GOLDEN GATE OF DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE AT SALONA -(SPALATO).] - -Some very curious stories are told in connection with this expedition of -Galerius. Lactantius declares that he invaded Italy with the intention -of extinguishing the Senate and butchering the people of Rome; that he -found the gates of all the cities shut against him; and discovered that -he had not brought sufficient troops with him to attempt a siege of the -capital. “He had never seen Rome,” says Lactantius naïvely, “and thought -it was not much bigger than the cities with which he was familiar.” -Galerius was, it is true, a rough soldier of the camp, but it is -ludicrous to suppose that he was not fully cognisant of the topography -and the fortifications of Rome. Then we are told that some of the -legions were afflicted with scruples at the idea of being called to -fight for a father-in-law against his son-in-law—as though there were -prohibited degrees in hatreds—and shrank as Roman soldiers from the -thought of moving to the assault of Rome. And, as a finishing touch to -this most extraordinary canvas, Lactantius paints into it the figure of -Galerius kneeling at the feet of his soldiers, praying them not to -betray him, and offering them large rewards. We do not recognise -Galerius in such a guise. Again, an unknown historian, of whose work -only a few fragments survive, says that when Galerius reached Narnia he -opened communications with Maximian and proposed to treat for peace, but -that his overtures were contemptuously spurned. This does not violate -the probabilities like the reckless malevolence of Lactantius, but, -after all, the simplest explanation is the one which we have given -above. Galerius halted and then retired when he heard that Constantine -had come to an understanding with Maximian, had married his daughter, -and was waiting and watching on the Gallic border. No pursuit seems to -have been attempted. - -Maximian and Maxentius were thus left in undisputed possession of Italy. -They were clearly in alliance with Constantine, but their relations with -one another were exceedingly anomalous. Both are represented in equally -odious colours. Eutropius describes the father as “embittered and -brutal, faithless, troublesome, and utterly devoid of good manners”; -Aurelius Victor says of the son that no one ever liked him, not even his -own father. Indeed, the scandal-mongers of the day denied the parentage -of Maxentius and said that he was the son of some low-born Syrian and -had been foisted upon Maximian by his wife as her own child. Public -opinion, however, was inclined to throw the blame of the rupture, which -speedily took place between Maximian and Maxentius, upon the older man, -who is depicted as a restless and mischievous intriguer. In Rome, at any -rate, the army looked to the son as its chief, and as there was but one -army, there was no room for two Emperors. Lactantius tells the story -that Maximian called a great mass meeting of citizens and soldiers, -dilated at length upon the evils of the situation, and then, turning to -his son, declared that he was the cause of all the trouble and snatched -the purple from his shoulders. But Maximian had the mortification of -seeing Maxentius sheltered instead of slaughtered by the soldiers, and -it was he himself who was driven with ignominy from the city, like a -second Tarquin the Proud. - -[Illustration: - - BUST OF MAXIMIAN AT ROME. - PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI. -] - -Whether these circumstantial details are to be accepted or not, there is -no doubt as to the sequel. Maximian was expelled from Rome and Italy, -and began a series of wanderings which were only to end with his death. -He seems first of all to have fled into Gaul and thrown himself upon the -protection of his son-in-law, Constantine, and then to have opened up -negotiations with Galerius, who must naturally have desired to establish -some _modus vivendi_ between all the rival Emperors. Galerius called a -conference at Carnuntum on the Danube and invited the presence of -Diocletian. Maximian was there; so too was Licinius, an old -companion-in-arms of Galerius and his most trusted lieutenant. Of the -debates which took place no word has survived. But the fact that -Diocletian was invited to attend is clear proof that Galerius regarded -him with the profound respect that was due to the senior Augustus and -the founder of the system which had broken down so badly. Galerius -wished the old man to suggest a way out of the _impasse_ which had been -reached, to devise some plan whereby his dilapidated fabric might still -be patched up. Even in his retirement the practical wisdom of Diocletian -was gladly recognised, and three years later we find one of the -Panegyrists sounding his praises in the presence of Constantine. This -shews that Diocletian and Constantine were on friendly terms, else -Diocletian would only have been mentioned with abuse, or would have been -passed over in significant silence. The passage deserves quotation: - - “That divine statesman, who was the first to share his Empire with - others and the first to lay it down, does not regret the step he took, - nor thinks that he has lost what he voluntarily resigned; nay, he is - truly blessed and happy, since, even in his retirement, such mighty - Princes as you offer him the protection of your deep respect. He is - upheld by a multiplicity of Empires; he rejoices in the cover of your - shade.”[32] - ------ - -Footnote 32: - - _Sed et ille multijugo fultus imperio et vestro lætus tegitur - umbraculo._—_Pan. Vet._, vii., 15. - ------ - -Diocletian would not have been called to Carnuntum, or, if called, he -would scarcely have undertaken so tedious a journey, had there not been -affairs of the highest moment to be discussed. We know of only one -certain result of this strange council of Emperors. It is that a new -Augustus was created by Galerius without passing through the -intermediate stage of being a Cæsar. He was found in Licinius, to whom -was assigned the administration of Illyria with the command of the -Danubian legions, and the status of second rank in the hierarchy of the -Augusti, or rather of the Augusti in active life. Galerius, we may -infer, was sensible of the approaching breakdown of his health and -wished his friend Licinius to be ready to step into his place. -Apparently, a genuine attempt was made to restore to something like its -old position the system of Diocletian. Perhaps as reasonable a -supposition as any is that it was decided at the conference that -Diocletian and Maximian should again be relegated to the ranks of -retired Augusti, that Galerius and Licinius should be the two active -Augusti, and Constantine and Maximin the two Cæsars. Maximian had -unquestionably gone to Carnuntum with the hope of fishing in troubled -waters and Lactantius[33] even attributes to him a wild scheme for -assassinating Galerius. It is, at any rate, certain that he left the -conference in a fury of disappointment. The ambitious and restless old -man had received no encouragement to his hopes of again being supreme -over part of the Empire. - ------ - -Footnote 33: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 29. - ------ - -But what then of Maxentius, who was in possession of Italy and Africa? -If the theory we have propounded be right, he must have been studiously -ignored and treated as a usurper, to be thrown out—just as Carausius had -been—at a favourable opportunity. There is a passage in Lactantius which -seems to corroborate this suggestion. That author says that Maximin -Daza, the Cæsar of Egypt and Syria and the old protégé of Galerius, -heard with anger that Licinius had been promoted over his head to be -Augustus and hold the second place in the charmed circle of Emperors. He -sent angry remonstrances; Galerius returned a soft answer. Maximin an -even more aggressive bearing (_tollit audacius cornua_), urged more -peremptorily than ever his superior right, and spurned Galerius’s -entreaties and commands. Then,—Lactantius goes on to say,—overborne by -Maximin’s stubborn obstinacy, Galerius offered a compromise, by naming -himself and Licinius as Augusti and Maximin and Constantine as Sons of -the Augusti, instead of simple Cæsars. - -But Maximin was obdurate and wrote saying that his soldiers had taken -the law into their own hands and had already saluted him as Augustus. -Galerius therefore, in the face of the accomplished fact, gave way and -recognised not only Maximin but Constantine also as full Augusti. Such -is the story of Lactantius. It will be noted that the name of Maxentius -is not mentioned. He is treated as non-existent. There need be no -surprise that nothing is said of Diocletian and Maximian, for they were -ex-Augusti, so to speak, though still bearing the courtesy title. But if -Maxentius had been recognised as one of the “Imperial Brothers” at the -conference of Carnuntum, the omission of his name by Lactantius is -exceedingly strange. From his account we should judge that the policy -decided upon at Carnuntum was to restore the fourfold system of -Diocletian in the persons of Galerius, Licinius, Maximin, and -Constantine, taking precedence in the order named. When Maximin refused -to be content with his old title of Cæsar or to accept the new one of -Son of Augustus, and insisted on being acknowledged as Augustus, the -system broke down anew. At the beginning of 308, there were no fewer -than seven who bore the name of Augustus. And of these Diocletian alone -had outlived his ambitions. - -Maximian returned to Gaul, where he received cordial welcome from -Constantine. He had resigned his pretensions not—as says Lactantius, -cognisant as ever of the secret motives of his enemies—that he might the -more easily deceive Constantine, but because it had been so decided at -Carnuntum. He was thus a private citizen once more; he had neither army, -nor official status, nothing beyond the prestige attaching to one who -had, so to speak, “passed the chair.” There can be little doubt that his -second resignation was as reluctant as the first, but as he was at open -enmity with his son, Maxentius, he had only Constantine to look to for -protection and the means of livelihood. And Constantine, according to -the author of the Seventh Panegyric, gave him all the honours due to his -exalted rank. He assigned to him the place of honour on his right hand; -put at his disposal the stables of the palace; and ordered his servants -to pay to Maximian the same deference that they paid to himself. The -orator declares that the gossip of the day spoke of Constantine as -wearing the robe of office, while Maximian wielded its powers. Evidently -Constantine had no fear that Maximian would play him false. - -His confidence, however, soon received a rude shock. The Franks were -restless and threatened invasion. Constantine marched north with his -army, leaving Maximian at Arles. He did not take his entire forces with -him, for a considerable number remained in the south of Gaul—no doubt to -guard the frontier against danger from Maxentius, though Lactantius -explains it otherwise. Maximian waited till sufficient time had elapsed -for Constantine to be well across the Rhine, and then began to spread -rumours of his having been defeated and slain in battle. For the third -time, therefore, he assumed the purple, seized the State treasuries, and -took command of the legions, offering them a large donative, and -appealing to their old loyalty. The usurpation was entirely successful -for the moment, but when Constantine heard of the treachery he hurried -back, leaving the affairs of the frontier to settle themselves. - -Constantine knew the military value of mobility, and his soldiers -eagerly made his quarrel their own. There is an amusing passage in the -Seventh Panegyric[34] in which the orator says that the troops shewed -their devotion by refusing the offer of special travelling-money -(_viatica_) on the ground that it would hamper them on the march. Their -generous pay, they said, was more than sufficient, though no Roman army -before this time had ever been known to refuse money. Then he describes -how they marched from the Rhine to the Aar without rest, yet with -unwearied bodies; how at Chalons (Cabillonum) they were placed on board -river boats, but found the current too sluggish for their impetuous -eagerness to come to conclusions with the traitor, and cried out that -they were standing still; and how, even when they entered the rapid -current of the Rhone, its pace scarcely satisfied their ardour. Such, -according to the Court rhetorician, was the enthusiasm of the soldiers -for their young leader. When, at length, Arles was reached, it was found -that Maximian had fled to Marseilles and had shut himself up within that -strongly fortified town. His power had crumbled away. The legions, which -had sworn allegiance to him, withdrew it again as soon as they found -that he had lied to them of Constantine’s death; even the soldiers he -had with him in Marseilles only waited for the appearance of Constantine -before the walls to open the gates. The picture which Lactantius draws -of Constantine reproaching Maximian for his ingratitude while the -latter—from the summit of the wall—heaps curses on his head (_ingerebat -maledicta de muris_), or the companion picture of the anonymous -rhetorician, who shews us the scaling ladders falling short of the top -of the battlements and the devoted soldiers climbing up on their -comrades’ backs, are vivid but unconvincing. What emerges from their -doubtful narratives is that Marseilles was captured without a siege, and -that Maximian fell into the hands of his justly angry son-in-law, who -stripped him of his titles but vouchsafed to him his life. - ------ - -Footnote 34: - - C. 18. - ------ - -Was Maximian in league with his son, Maxentius, in this usurpation? Had -they made up their old quarrel in order to turn their united weapons -against Constantine? There were those who thought so at the time, as -Lactantius says,[35] the theory being that the old man only pretended -violent enmity towards his son in order to carry out his treacherous -designs against Constantine and the other Emperors. - ------ - -Footnote 35: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 43. - ------ - -Lactantius himself denies this supposition bluntly (_Sed id falsum -fuit_) and then goes on to say[36] that Maximian’s real motive was to -get rid both of Maxentius and the rest, and restore Diocletian and -himself to power. Even for Lactantius, this is an extraordinarily wild -theory. It runs counter to all that we know of Diocletian’s wishes -during his retirement, and it speaks of the “extinction of Maxentius and -the rest” as though it only needed an order to a centurion and the deed -was done. It is much more probable that Maximian had actually re-entered -into negotiations with Maxentius and had offered, as the price of -reconciliation, the support of the legions which he had treacherously -won from Constantine. The impetuous haste with which Constantine flew -back from the Rhine indicates that the crisis was one of extreme -gravity. - ------ - -Footnote 36: - - _Nam id propositi habebat, ut et filio et ceteris extinctis se ac - Diocletianum restitueret in regnum._ - ------ - -Maximian did not long survive his degradation. That he died a violent -death is certain; the circumstances attending it are in doubt. -Lactantius gives a minute narrative which would carry greater conviction -if the details had not been so manifestly borrowed from the chronicles -of the East. He says that Maximian, tiring of his humiliating position, -engaged in new plots against Constantine, and tempted Fausta, his -daughter, to betray her husband by the promise of a worthier spouse. Her -part in the conspiracy was to secure the removal of the guards from -Constantine’s sleeping apartment. Fausta laid the whole scheme before -her husband, who ordered one of his eunuchs to sleep in the royal -chamber. Maximian, rising in the dead of night, told the sentries that -he had dreamed an important dream which he wished at once to communicate -to his son-in-law and thus gained entrance to the room. Drawing his -sword, he cut off the eunuch’s head and rushed out boasting that he had -slain Constantine—only to be confronted by Constantine himself at the -head of a troop of armed men. The corpse was brought out; the -self-convicted murderer stood “speechless as Marpesian flint.” -Constantine upbraided him with his treachery, gave him permission to -choose his own mode of dying, and Maximian hanged himself, “drawing”—as -Virgil had said—“from the lofty beam the noose of shameful death.” - -[Illustration: - - FRAGMENT OF 4TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN POTTERY BOWL - SHOWING AN EARLY PORTRAIT OF CHRIST, WITH BUSTS OF THE EMPEROR - CONSTANTINE - AND THE EMPRESS FAUSTA. (FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM.) -] - -Such is the story of Lactantius; it could scarcely be more -circumstantial. But if this had been the manner of Maximian’s death, it -is hardly possible that the other historians would have passed it by in -silence. Eusebius, in his _Ecclesiastical History_, simply says that -Maximian strangled himself; Aurelius Victor that he justly perished -(_jure perierat_). The author of the Seventh Panegyric declares that, -though Constantine offered him his life, Maximian deemed himself -unworthy of the boon and committed suicide.[37] Eutropius, evidently -borrowing from Lactantius, remarks that Maximian paid the penalty for -his crimes. There is little doubt, therefore, that Constantine ordered -his execution and gave him choice of death, just as Maxentius had given -similar choice to Severus. Officially it would be announced that -Maximian had committed suicide. At the time, public opinion was shocked -by the manner of his death, though it was generally conceded that his -life was justly forfeit. - ------ - -Footnote 37: - - _Nec se dignum vita judicavit, cum per te liceret ut viveret._—_Pan. - Vet._, vii., 20. - ------ - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER V - THE INVASION OF ITALY - - -The tragic end of his old colleague must have raised many disquieting -thoughts in the mind of Diocletian, already beginning to be anxious lest -his successors should think that he was living too long. While Galerius -flourished he was sure of a protector, but Galerius died in 311. In the -eighteenth year of his rule he had been stricken with an incurable and -loathsome malady, into the details of which Lactantius enters with a -morbid but lively enjoyment, affecting to see in the torture of the -dying Emperor the visitation of an angry Providence. He describes -minutely the progress of the cancer and the “appalling odour of the -festering wound which spread not only through the palace but through the -city.” He shews us the unhappy patient raising piercing cries and -calling for mercy from the God of the Christians whom he had persecuted, -vowing under the stress of physical anguish that he would make -reparation; and, finally, when at the very point of death (_jam -deficiens_), dictating the edict which stayed the persecution and gave -the Christians full liberty to worship in their own way. It will be more -convenient to discuss in another place this remarkable document, the -forerunner, so to speak, of the famous Edict of Milan. It was -promulgated at Nicomedia on the thirtieth of April, 311, and a few days -later Galerius’s torments were mercifully ended by death. - -The death of Galerius gave another blow to the already tottering system -of Diocletian. It had been his intention to retire, as Diocletian had -done, at the end of his twentieth year of sovereignty, and make way for -a younger man, and there can be little doubt that he would have been as -good as his word. Galerius has not received fair treatment at the hands -of posterity. Lactantius, his bitter enemy, describes him as a violent -ruffian and a hectoring bully, an object of terror and fear to all -around him in word, deed, and aspect. Lactantius belittles the -importance of his victory over Narses, the Persian King, by saying that -the Persian army marched encumbered with baggage and that victory was -easily won. He makes Galerius the leading spirit of the Persecution; -represents him as having goaded Diocletian into signing the fatal -edicts; accuses him of having fired the palace at Nicomedia in order to -work on the terrors of his chief; charges him with having invented new -and horrible tortures; and declares that he never dined or supped -without whetting his appetite with the sight of human blood. No one -would gather from Lactantius that Galerius was a fine soldier, a -hard-working and capable Emperor, and a loyal successor to a great -political chief. Eutropius does him no more than justice when he -describes him as a man of high principle and a consummate general.[38] -Aurelius Victor fills in the light and shade. Galerius was, he says, a -Prince worthy of all praise; just if unpolished and untutored; of -handsome presence; and an accomplished and fortunate general. He had -risen from the ranks; in his young days he had been a herd boy, and the -name of _Armentarius_ clung to him through life. This rough and ready -Pannonian spent too energetic and busy a career to have time for -culture. He came from a province where, in the forceful phrase of one of -the Panegyrists, “life was all hard knocks and fighting.”[39] - ------ - -Footnote 38: - - _Vir et probe moratus et egregius re militari._ - -Footnote 39: - - _In quibus omnis vita militia est._ - ------ - -Galerius had already nominated Licinius as his successor, but Licinius -was far away in Pannonia and did not cross over at once into Asia to -take command of Galerius’s army—no doubt because it was not safe for him -to leave his post. In the meantime, Maximin Daza, the Augustus of Syria -and Egypt, had been preparing to march on Nicomedia as soon as Galerius -breathed his last, for he claimed, as we have seen, that by seniority of -rule he had a better right than Licinius to the title of senior -Augustus. While, therefore, Licinius remained in Europe, Maximin Daza -advanced from Syria across the Taurus and entered Bithynia, where, to -curry favour with the people, he abolished the census. It was expected -that the two Emperors would fight out their quarrel, but an -accommodation was arrived at, and they agreed that the Hellespont should -form the boundary between them. Maximin, by his promptitude, had thus -materially increased his sovereignty, and, at the beginning of 312, the -eastern half of the Empire was divided between Licinius and Maximin -Daza, while Constantine ruled in Great Britain, Spain, and Gaul, and -Maxentius was master of Italy and Africa. - -Whether or not his position had been recognised by the other Emperors at -the conference of Carnuntum, Maxentius had remained in undisturbed -possession of Italy since the hurried retreat of the invading army of -Galerius. In Africa, indeed, a general named Alexander, who, according -to Zosimus, was a Phrygian by descent, and timid and advanced in years, -raised the standard of revolt. Maxentius commissioned one of his -lieutenants to attack the usurper and Alexander was captured and -strangled. There would have been nothing to distinguish this -insurrection from any other, had it not been for the ruthless severity -with which the African cities were treated by the conqueror. Carthage -and Cirta were pillaged and sacked; the countryside was laid desolate; -many of the leading citizens were executed; still more were reduced to -beggary. The ruin of Africa was so complete that it excited against -Maxentius the public opinion of the Roman world. He had begun his reign, -as will be remembered, as the special champion of the Prætorians and of -the privileges of Rome, but he soon lost his early popularity, and -rapidly developed into a cruel and bloodthirsty tyrant. His profligacy -was shameless and excessive, even for those licentious times. Eusebius -tells the story of how Sophronia, the Christian wife of the city -præfect, stabbed herself in order to escape his embraces, when the -imperial messengers came to summon her to the palace. - -If Maxentius had been accused of all the vices only on the authority of -the Christian authors and the official panegyrists of Constantine, their -statements might have been received with some suspicion—for a fallen -Roman Emperor had no friends. Zosimus, however, is almost as severe upon -him as Lactantius, and Julian, in the _Banquet of the Cæsars_, excludes -him from the feast as one utterly unworthy of a place in honourable -society. According to Aurelius Victor, he was the first to start the -practice of exacting from the senators large sums of money in the guise -of free gifts (_munerum specie_) on the flimsiest pretexts of public -necessity, or as payment for the bestowal of office or civil -distinction. Moreover, knowing that, sooner or later, he would find -himself at war with one or other of his brother Augusti, Maxentius -amassed great stores of corn and wealth and took no heed of a morrow -which he knew that he might not live to witness. He despoiled the -temples,—says the author of the Ninth Panegyric,—butchered the Senate, -and starved the people of Rome. The Praetorians—who had placed and kept -him on the throne—ruled the city. Zosimus tells the curious story of -how, in the course of a great fire in Rome, the Temple of Fortune was -burned down and one of the soldiers looking on spoke blasphemous and -disrespectful words of the goddess. Immediately the mob attacked him. -His comrades went to his assistance and a serious riot ensued, during -which the Prætorians would have massacred the citizens had they not been -with difficulty restrained. All the authorities, indeed, agree that a -perfect reign of terror prevailed at Rome after Maxentius’s victory over -Alexander in Africa, while Maxentius himself is depicted as a second -Commodus or Nero. - -One of the most vivid pictures of the tyrant is given in the Panegyric -already quoted. The orator speaks of Maxentius as a “stupid and -worthless wild-beast” (_stultumet nequam animal_) skulking for ever -within the walls of the palace and not daring to leave the precincts. -Fancy, he exclaims, an indoor Emperor, who considers that he has made a -journey and achieved an expedition if he has so much as visited the -Gardens of Sallust! Whenever he addressed his soldiers, he would boast -that, though he had colleagues in the Empire, he alone was the real -Emperor; for he ruled while they kept the frontiers safe and did his -fighting for him. And then he would dismiss them with the three words: -“_Fruimini! Dissipate! Prodigite!_” Such an invitation to drunkenness, -riot, and debauch would not be unwelcome to the swaggering Prætorians -and to the numerous bands of mercenaries which Maxentius had collected -from all parts of the world. - -We ought not, perhaps, to take this scathing invective quite literally. -For all his vices, Maxentius was probably not quite the hopeless -debauchee he is represented to have been. It is at least worth remark -that it was this Emperor, of whom no one has a charitable word to say, -who restored to the Christians at Rome the church buildings and property -which had been confiscated to the State by the edicts of Diocletian and -Galerius. Neither Eusebius nor Lactantius mentions this, but the fact is -clear from a passage in St. Augustine, who says that the first act of -the Roman Christians on regaining possession of their cemetery was to -bring back the body of Bishop Eusebius, who had died in exile in Sicily. -Nor did Maxentius’s political attitude towards the other Augusti betray -indications of incompetence or want of will. He was ambitious—a trait -common to most Roman Emperors and certainly shared by all his -colleagues. There was no cohesion among the four Augusti; there was no -one much superior to the others in influence and prestige. Constantine -and Maxentius feared and suspected each other in the West, just as -Licinius and Maximin Daza feared and suspected each other in the East. -When the two latter agreed that the Hellespont should divide their -territories, Licinius, who had lost Asia Minor by the bargain, made -overtures of alliance to Constantine. It was arranged that Licinius -should marry Constantia, the sister of the Augustus of Gaul. Naturally, -therefore, Maximin Daza turned towards Maxentius and sent envoys asking -for alliance and friendship. Lactantius adds the curious phrase that -Maximin’s letter was couched in a tone of familiarity[40] and says that -Maxentius was as eager to accept as Maximin had been to offer. He hailed -it, we are told, as a god-sent help, for he had already declared war -against Constantine on the pretext of avenging his father’s murder. - ------ - -Footnote 40: - - _Scribit etiam familiariter._ - ------ - -The outbreak of this war, which was fraught with such momentous -consequences to the whole course of civilisation, found the Empire -strangely divided. The Emperor of Italy and Africa was allied with the -Emperor of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, against the rulers of the -armies of the Danube and the Rhine. We shall see that the alliance -was—at any rate, in result—defensive rather than offensive. Licinius and -Maximin never moved; they simply neutralised one another, though the -advantage clearly lay with Constantine and Licinius, for Maxentius was -absolutely isolated, so far as receiving help on the landward side was -concerned. We need not look far to find the real cause of quarrel -between Constantine and Maxentius, whatever pretexts were assigned. -Maxentius would never have risked his Empire for the sake of a father -whom he detested; nor would Constantine have jeopardised his throne in -order to avenge an insult. Each aspired to rule over the entire West; -neither would acquiesce in the pretensions of the other. Both had been -actively preparing for a struggle which became inevitable when neither -took any radical steps to avoid it. We have already seen that -Constantine kept the larger part of the army of Gaul stationed in the -south near Arelate and Lugdunum, in order to watch the Alpine passes; we -shall find that Maxentius had also posted his main armies in the north -of Italy from Susa on the one side, where he was threatened by -Constantine, to Venice on the other, where he was on guard against -Licinius. There is a curious reference in one of the authorities to a -plan formed by Maxentius of invading Gaul through Rhaetia,—no doubt -because Constantine had made the Alpine passes practically -unassailable,—while Lactantius tells us that he had drawn every -available man from Africa to swell his armies in Italy. - -Constantine acted with the extreme rapidity for which he was already -famous. He hurried his army down from the Rhine, and was through the -passes and attacking the walled city of Susa before Maxentius had -certain knowledge of his movements. That he was embarking on an -exceedingly hazardous expedition seems to have been recognised by -himself and his captains. The author of the Ninth Panegyric says quite -bluntly that his principal officers not only muttered their fears in -secret, but expressed them openly,[41] and adds that his councillors and -haruspices warned him to desist. A similar campaign had cost Severus his -life and had been found too hazardous even by Galerius. Superiority of -numbers lay not with him, but with his rival. Constantine was gravely -handicapped by the fact that he had to safeguard the Rhine behind him -against the Germanic tribes, which he knew would seize the first -opportunity to pass the river. Zosimus gives a detailed account[42] of -the numbers which the rivals placed in the field. Maxentius, he says, -had 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse under his command, including 80,000 -levies from Rome and Italy, and 40,000 from Carthage and Africa. -Constantine, on the other hand, even after vigorous recruiting in -Britain and Gaul, could only muster 90,000 foot and 8000 horse. The -author of the Ninth Panegyric, in a casual phrase, says that Constantine -could hardly employ a fourth of his Gallic army against the 100,000 men -in the ranks of Maxentius, on account of the dangers of the Rhine. -Ancient authorities, however, are never trustworthy where numbers are -concerned; we only know that Maxentius had by far the larger force, and -that Constantine’s army of invasion was probably under 40,000 strong. -Whether the numerical supremacy of the former was not counterbalanced by -the necessity under which Maxentius laboured of guarding against -Licinius, is a question to which the historians have paid no heed. - ------ - -Footnote 41: - - _Non solum tacite mussantibus sed eteiam aperte timentibus._—_Pan. - Vet._, ix., 2. - -Footnote 42: - - Zosimus, ii., 15. - ------ - -Marching along the chief military highroad from Lugdunum to Italy, which -crossed the Alps at Mont Cenis, Constantine suddenly appeared before the -walls of Susa, a strongly garrisoned post, and took it by storm, -escalading the walls and burning the gates. The town caught fire; -Constantine set his soldiers to put out the flames, a more difficult -task, says Nazarius, than had been the actual assault. From Susa the -victor advanced to Turin, which opened its gates to him after the -cavalry of Maxentius had been routed in the plains. These were troops -clad in ponderous but cleverly jointed armour, and the weight of their -onslaught was calculated to crush either horse or foot upon which it was -directed. But Constantine disposed his forces so as to avoid their -charge and render their weight useless, and when these horsemen fled for -shelter to Turin they found the gates closed against them and perished -almost to a man. Milan, by far the most important city in the -Transpadane region, next received Constantine, who entered amid the -plaudits of the citizens, and charmed the eyes of the Milanese ladies, -says the Panegyrist, without causing them anxieties for their virtue. -Milan, indeed, welcomed him with open arms; other cities sent -deputations similar to the one which, according to the epitomist -Zonaras, had already reached him from Rome itself, praying him to come -as its liberator. It seemed, indeed, that he had already won not only -the Transpadane region, but Rome itself.[43] - ------ - -Footnote 43: - - _Pan. Vet._, ix., 7. - ------ - -Constantine, however, had still to meet and overthrow the chief armies -of Maxentius in the north of Italy. These were under the command of -Ruricius Pompeianus, a general as stubborn as he was loyal, and of -well-tried capacity. Pompeianus held Verona in force. He had thrown out -a large body of cavalry towards Brescia to reconnoitre and check -Constantine’s advance, but these were routed with some slaughter and -retired in confusion. If we may interpret the presence of Pompeianus at -Verona as indicating that Maxentius had feared attack by Licinius more -than by Constantine, this would explain the comparative absence of -troops in Lombardy and the concentration in Venetia, though it is -strange that we do not hear of Licinius taking any steps to assist his -ally. Verona was a strongly fortified city resting upon the Adige, which -encircled its walls for three-quarters of their circumference. -Constantine managed to effect a crossing at some distance from the city -and laid siege in regular fashion. Pompeianus tried several ineffectual -sorties, and then, secretly escaping through the lines, he brought up -the rest of his army to offer pitched battle or compel Constantine to -raise the siege. A fierce engagement followed. We are told[44] that -Constantine had drawn up his men in double lines, when, noticing that -the enemy outnumbered him and threatened to overlap either flank, he -ordered his troops to extend and present a wider front. He distinguished -himself that day by pressing into the thickest of the fight, “like a -mountain torrent in spate that tears away by their roots the trees on -its banks and rolls down rocks and stones.” The orator depicts for us -the scene as Constantine’s lieutenants and captains receive him on his -return from the fray, panting with his exertion and with blood dripping -from his hands. With tears in their eyes, they chide him for his -rashness in imperilling the hopes of the world. “It does not beseem an -Emperor,” they say, “to strike down an enemy with his own sword. It does -not become him to sweat with the toil of battle.[45]” In simpler -language, Constantine fought bravely at the head of his men and won the -day. Pompeianus was slain; Verona opened her gates, and so many -prisoners fell into the hands of the conqueror that Constantine made his -armourers forge chains and manacles from the iron of the captives’ -swords. In accordance with his usual policy, he conciliated the favour -of those whom he had defeated by sparing the city from pillage, and -shewed an equal clemency to Aquileia and the other cities of Venetia, -all of which speedily submitted on the capitulation of Verona. - ------ - -Footnote 44: - - _Pan. Vet._, ix., 9. - -Footnote 45: - - _Immo non decet laborare._ - ------ - -With the entire north of Italy thus wrested from Maxentius, Constantine -could turn his face towards Rome. He encountered no opposition on the -march. Maxentius did not even contest the passage of the Apennines; the -Umbrian passes were left open; and if the historians are to be -trusted—and they speak with unanimity on the point—the Italian Emperor -simply waited for his doom to come upon him, as Nero had done, and made -no really serious effort to defend his throne. This slave in the purple -(_vernula purpuratus_), as the author of the Ninth Panegyric calls him, -cowered trembling in his palace, paralysed with fear because he had been -deserted by the Divine Intelligence and the Eternal Majesty of Rome, -which had transferred themselves from the tyrant to the side of his -rival. We are told, indeed, that a few days before the appearance of -Constantine, Maxentius quitted the palace with his wife and son and took -up his abode in a private house, not being able to endure the terrible -dreams that came to him by night and the spectres of the victims which -haunted his crime-stained halls. Constantine moved swiftly down from the -north of Italy along the Flaminian Way, and in less than two months -after the fall of Verona, he was at Saxa Rubra, only nine miles from -Rome, with an army eager for battle and confident of victory. There he -found the troops of Maxentius drawn up in battle array, but posted in a -position which none but a fool or a madman would have selected. The -probabilities are that Maxentius could not trust the citizens of Rome -and therefore dared not stand a siege within the ramparts of Aurelian. -Then, having decided to offer battle, he allowed his army to cross the -Tiber and take up ground whence, if defeated, their only roads of escape -lay over the narrow Milvian Bridge and a flimsy bridge of boats, one -probably on either flank. - -It is said that Maxentius had not intended to be present in person when -the issue was decided. He was holding festival within the city, -celebrating his birthday with the usual games and pretending that the -proximity of Constantine caused him no alarm. The populace began to -taunt him with cowardice, and uttered the ominous shout that Constantine -was invincible. Maxentius’s fears grew as the clamour swelled in volume. -He hurriedly called for the Sibylline Books and ordered them to be -consulted. These gave answer that on that very day the enemy of the -Romans should perish—a characteristically safe reply. Such ambiguity of -diction had usually portended the death of the consulting Prince, but -Lactantius says that the hopes with which the words inspired Maxentius -led him to put on his armour and ride out of Rome. - -[Illustration: - - THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE, BY RAPHAEL. - IN THE VATICAN. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI. -] - -The issue was decided at the first encounter. Constantine charged at the -head of his Gallic horse—now accustomed to and certain of victory—into -the cavalry of Maxentius, which broke and ran in disorder from the -field. Only the Prætorians made a gallant and stubborn resistance and -fell where they had stood, knowing that it was they who had raised -Maxentius to the throne and that their destruction was involved in his. -While these fought valiantly with the courage of despair, their comrades -were crowding in panic towards the already choked bridges. At the -Milvian Bridge the passage was jammed, and the pursuers wrought great -execution. The pontoon bridge collapsed, owing to the treachery of those -who had cut or loosened its supports. All the reports agree that there -was a sickening slaughter, and that hundreds were drowned in the Tiber -in their vain effort to escape. Among the victims was Maxentius himself. -He was either thrust into the river by the press of frenzied fugitives -or was drowned in trying to scale the high bank on the opposite shore, -when weighed down by his heavy armour. His corpse was recovered later -from the stream, which the Panegyrists hailed in ecstatic terms as the -co-saviour of Rome with Constantine and the partner of his triumph.[46] - ------ - -Footnote 46: - - _Pan. Vet._, ix., 18. - ------ - -The victor entered Rome. He had won the prize which he sought—the -mastery of the West—and, like scores of Roman conquerors before him, he -marched through the famous streets. His triumphal procession was graced, -says Nazarius, not by captive chiefs or barbarians in chains, but by -senators who now tasted the joy of freedom again, and by consulars whose -prison doors had been opened by Constantine’s victory—in a word, by a -Free Rome.[47] Only the head of Maxentius, whose features still wore the -savage, threatening look which even death itself had not been able to -obliterate, was carried on the point of a spear behind Constantine amid -the jeers and insults of the crowd. Another Panegyrist gives us a very -lively picture of the throngs as they waited for the Emperor to pass, -describing how they crowded at the rear of the procession and swept up -to the palace, almost venturing to cross the sacred threshold itself, -and how, when Constantine appeared in the streets on the succeeding -days, they sought to unhorse his carriage and draw it along with their -hands. One of the conqueror’s first acts was to extirpate the family of -his fallen rival. Maxentius’s elder son, Romulus, who for a short time -had borne the name of Cæsar, was already dead; the younger son, and -probably the wife too, were now quietly removed. There were other -victims, who had committed themselves too deeply to Maxentius’ fortunes -to escape. Rome, says Nazarius,[48] was reconstituted afresh on a -lasting basis by the complete destruction of those who might have given -trouble. But still the victims were comparatively few, so few, in the -estimation of public opinion, that the victory was regarded as a -bloodless one, and Constantine’s clemency was the theme and admiration -of all. When the people clamoured for more victims—doubtless the most -hated instruments of Maxentius’s tyranny—and when the informer pressed -forward to offer his deadly services, Constantine refused to listen. He -was resolved to let bygones be bygones. The laws of the period -immediately succeeding his victory, as they appear in the Theodosian -Code, amply confirm what might otherwise be the suspect eulogies of the -Panegyrists. A general act of amnesty was passed, and the ghastly head -of Maxentius was sent to Africa to allay the terrors of the population -and convince them that their oppressor would trouble them no more. -There, it is to be supposed, it found a final burial-place. - ------ - -Footnote 47: - - _Pan. Vet._, x., 31. - -Footnote 48: - - _Ibid._, x., 6. - ------ - -Another early act of Constantine was to disband the Prætorians, thus -carrying out the intention and decrees of Galerius. The survivors of -these long-famous regiments were marched out of Rome away from the -Circus, the Theatre of Pompeius, and the Baths, and were set to do their -share in the guarding of the Rhine and the Danube. Whether they bore the -change as voluntarily as the Panegyrist suggests[49] is doubtful, and we -may question whether they so soon forgot in their rude cantonments the -fleshpots and “_deliciæ_” of the capital. But the expulsion was final. -The Prætorians ceased to exist. Rome may have been glad to see the empty -barracks, for the Prætorians had been hated and feared. But the vacant -quarters also spoke eloquently of the fact that Rome was no longer the -mistress of the world. The “_domina gentium_,” the “_regina terrarum_” -without her Prætorians, was a thing unthinkable. - ------ - -Footnote 49: - - _Pan. Vet._, ix., 21. - ------ - -Constantine only stayed two months in Rome, but in that short time, says -Nazarius, he cured all the maladies which the six years’ savage tyranny -of Maxentius had brought upon the city. He restored to their confiscated -estates all who had been exiled or deprived of their property during the -recent reign of terror. He shewed himself easy of approach; his ears -were the most patient of listeners; he charmed all by his kindliness, -dignity, and good humour. To the Senate he shewed unwonted deference. -Diocletian, during his solitary visit to Rome just prior to his -retirement, had treated the senators with brusqueness, and hardly -concealed his contempt for their mouldy dignities. Constantine preferred -to conciliate them. According to Nazarius, he invested with senatorial -rank a number of representative provincials, so that the Senate once -more became a dignified body in reality as well as in name, now that it -consisted of the flower of the whole world.[50] Probably this signifies -little more than that Constantine filled up the vacancies with -respectable nominees, spoke the Senate fair, and swore to maintain its -ancient rights and privileges. The Emperor certainly entertained no such -quixotic idea as that of giving the Senate a vestige of real governing -power or a share in the administration of the Empire. In return for his -consideration, the Senate bestowed upon him the title of Senior -Augustus, and a golden statue, adorned, according to the Ninth -Panegyrist (c. 25), with the attributes of a god, while all Italy -subscribed for the shield and the crown. - ------ - -Footnote 50: - - _Cum ex totius orbis flore constaret._ - ------ - -[Illustration: - - THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME. - PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI. -] - -The Senate also instituted games and festivals in honour of -Constantine’s victory, and voted him the triumphal arch which still -survives as one of the most imposing ruins of Imperial Rome and a -lasting monument to the outrageous vandalism which stripped the Arch of -Titus of its sculptures to grace the memorial of his successor. Under -the central arch on the one side is the dedication, “To the Liberator of -the City,” on the other, “To the Founder of Our Repose” (_Fundatori -quietis_). Above stands the famous inscription[51] in which the Senate -and people of Rome dedicate this triumphal arch to Constantine “because, -at the suggestion of the divinity (_instinctu divinitatis_), and at the -prompting of his own magnanimity, he and his army had vindicated the -Republic by striking down the tyrant and all his satellites at a single -blow.” “At the suggestion of the divinity!” The words lead us naturally -to discuss the conversion of Constantine and the Vision of the Cross. - ------ - -Footnote 51: - - The inscription on the Arch of Constantine runs as follows: - - “_Imp. Cæs. Fl. Constantino Maximo - P. F. Augusto S. P. Q. R. - Quod instinctu divinitatis mentis - Magnitudine cum exercitu suo - Tam de tyranno quam de omni ejus - Factione uno tempore justis - Rempublicam ultus est armis - Arcum triumphis insignem dicavit._” - ------ - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE VISION OF THE CROSS AND THE EDICT OF - MILAN - - -It was during the course of the successful invasion of Italy, which -culminated in the battle of the Milvian Bridge and the capture of Rome, -that there took place—or was said to have taken place—the famous vision -of the cross, surrounded by the words, “Conquer by This,” which -accompanied the triumph of Constantine’s arms. There are two main -authorities for the legend, Eusebius and Lactantius, both, of course, -Christians and uncompromising champions of Constantine, with whom they -were in close personal contact. A third, though he makes no mention of -the cross, is Nazarius, the author of the Tenth Panegyric. The -variations which subsequent writers introduce into the story relate -merely to details, or are obvious embroideries upon an original legend, -such, for example, as the statement of Philostorgius that the words of -promise around the cross were written in stars. We need not trouble, -therefore, with the much later versions of Sozomen, Socrates, Gregory of -Nazianzen, and Nicephorus; it will be enough to study the more or less -contemporary statements of Eusebius, Lactantius, and Nazarius. And of -these by far the fullest and most important is that of Eusebius, Bishop -of Cæsarea, who explicitly declares that he is repeating the story as it -was told to him by Constantine himself. - -Eusebius shews us the Emperor of Gaul anxiously debating within his own -mind whether his forces were equal to the dangerous enterprise upon -which he had embarked. Maxentius had a formidable army. He had also -laboured to bring over to his side the powers of heaven and hell. -Constantine’s information from Rome apprised him that Maxentius was -assiduously employing all the black arts of magic and wizardry to gain -the favour of the gods. And Constantine grew uneasy and apprehensive, -for no one then disbelieved in the efficacy of magic, and he considered -whether he might not counterbalance this undue advantage which Maxentius -was obtaining by securing the protecting services of some equally potent -deity. Such is the only possible meaning of Eusebius’s words, ἐννοεῖ -δῆτα ὁποῖον δέοι θέον ἐπιγράψασθαι βοηθὸν—words which seem strange in -the twentieth century, but were natural enough in the fourth. “He -thought in his own mind what sort of god he ought to secure as ally.” -And then, says his biographer, the idea occurred to him that though his -predecessors in the purple had believed in a multiplicity of gods, the -great majority of them had perished miserably. The gods, at whose altars -they had offered rich sacrifice and plenteous libation, had deserted -them in their hour of trouble, and had looked on unmoved while they and -their families were exterminated from off the face of the earth, leaving -scarcely so much as a name or a recollection behind them. The gods had -cheated them and lured them to their doom with suave promises of -treacherous oracles. Whereas, on the other hand, his father, -Constantius, had believed in but one god, and had marvellously prospered -throughout his life, helped and protected by this single deity who had -showered every blessing upon his head. From such a contrast, what other -deduction could be drawn than that the god of Constantius was the deity -for Constantius’s son to honour? Constantine resolved that it would be -folly to waste time or thought upon deities who were of no account (περὶ -τούς μηδὲν ὄντας θεοὺς). He would worship no other god than the god of -his father. - -Such, according to Eusebius, is the first phase of the Emperor’s -conversion, a conviction not of sin, but of the folly of worshipping -gods who cannot or will not do anything for their votaries. But this god -of his father, this single unnamed divinity, who was it? Was it one of -the gods of the Roman Pantheon, Jupiter, or Apollo, or Hercules, whose -special protection Constantine had claimed for himself, as Augustus had -claimed that of Apollo, and Diocletian that of Jupiter? Or was it the -vague spirit of deity itself, the τὸ θειον of the Greek philosophers, -the _divinitas_ of the cultured Roman, whose delicacy was offended by -the grossness of the exceedingly human passions of the Roman gods and -goddesses? Obviously, it must be the latter, and Eusebius tells us that -Constantine offered up a prayer to this god of his father, beseeching -him, “to declare himself who he was,” and to stretch forth his right -hand to help. “To declare himself who he was!” (φῆναι αὐτῷ ἑαυτόν ὅστις -εἴη). That had ever been the stumbling-block in the way of the -acceptance by the masses of the immaterial principles propounded by the -philosophers. Constantine must have a god with a name, and he must have -a sign from heaven in visible proof. Many have asked for such a sign -just as importunately (λιπαρῶς ἱκετεύοντι) as Constantine, but without -success. To him it was vouchsafed. - -[Illustration: - - CONSTANTINE’S VISION OF THE CROSS, BY RAPHAEL. - IN THE VATICAN. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI. -] - -The answer came one afternoon, when the sun had just passed its zenith -and was beginning to decline. Lifting his eyes, the Emperor saw in the -heavens just above the sun the figure of a cross, a cross of radiant -light, and attached to it was the inscription, “Conquer by This” (τούτῳ -νίκα). Eusebius admits that if any one else had told the story it would -not have been easy to believe it, but it was told to him by the Emperor -himself, who had confirmed his words with a royal oath. How then was it -possible to doubt? Constantine was awe-struck at the vision, which -Eusebius expressly declares was seen also by the entire army. All that -afternoon the Emperor pondered long upon the significance of the words, -and night fell while he was still asking himself what they could mean. -Then, as he slept, Christ appeared to him in a dream, bearing with Him -the sign that had flamed in the sky, and bade the sleeper make a copy of -it and use it as a talisman whenever he gave battle. As soon as dawn -broke, Constantine summoned his friends and told them of the message he -had received. Workers in gold and precious stones were hastily sent for, -and, sitting in the midst of them, Constantine carefully described the -outline of the vision and bade them execute a replica of it in their -most precious materials. This was the famous Labarum, fashioned from a -long gilded spear and a transverse bar. Above was a crown of gold, with -jewels encircling the monogram of Christ, and from the bar depended a -rich purple cloth, heavily embroidered with gold, blazing with jewels, -and bearing the busts of Constantine and his sons. It suggested the -Cross just as much but no more than did the ordinary cavalry standards -of the Roman armies; the sacred monogram alone indicated the supreme -change which had come over the Emperor, who, in answer to his prayer, -had thus found that the single Deity which his father, Constantius, had -worshipped was none other than Christ, the God of the Christians. For -the Emperor, desiring to know more of the Cross and the Christ, summoned -certain Christian teachers in his camp to explain these things more -fully to him, and they told him that “Christ was God, the only begotten -Son of the one true God, and that the vision he had seen was the symbol -of immortality and of the victory which Christ had won over death.” -Such, according to Eusebius, was the conversion of Constantine, and such -was the Emperor’s own account of the circumstances which led up to it. -This was the official story, as it might have appeared in a Roman Court -Circular at the time when Eusebius wrote. - -But when did Eusebius write _The Life of Constantine_, from which we -have taken this narrative? Not until Constantine himself was dead, not, -that is to say, until after 337, fully a quarter of a century after the -event described. The date is important. In twenty-five years a story may -be transfigured out of all knowledge through constant repetition by the -narrator, to say nothing of the changes it suffers if it passes in -active circulation from mouth to mouth. Has this been the fate of the -story of the Vision of the Cross? _The Life of Constantine_ was not the -first volume of contemporary history published by Eusebius. He had -already written a _History of the Church_, which he issued to the world -in 326. What, then, had the author to say in that year about this -marvellous vision? Nothing. There is not a word about the flaming cross, -or the coming of Christ to Constantine in a dream, or the fashioning of -the Labarum. All Eusebius says, in his _History_, of the conversion of -Constantine, is that the Emperor “piously called to his aid the God of -Heaven and his son Jesus Christ.” It is a strange silence. If the -heavenly cross had been seen by the whole army; if the current version -of the story had been the same in 326 as it was in 337, it is at least -difficult to understand why Eusebius omitted all mention of an event -which must have been the talk of the whole Roman world and must have -made the heart of every Christian exult. Such manifest signs from Heaven -were scarcely so common in the opening of the fourth century that an -ecclesiastical historian would think any allusion to it unnecessary. The -argument from silence is never absolutely conclusive, but the reticence -of Eusebius in 326 at least warrants a strong suspicion that the legend -had not then crystallised itself into its final shape. - -Of even greater importance are the extraordinary discrepancies between -the versions of Eusebius and Lactantius. Lactantius wrote his treatise -_On the Deaths of the Persecutors_ very shortly after the battle of the -Milvian Bridge, and it has a special value, therefore, as containing the -earliest account of the vision. The author, who was the tutor of the -Emperor’s son, Crispus, must have known all there was to be known of the -incident, for he lived in the closest intimacy with the court circle. We -should confidently expect, therefore, that the author who retails -verbatim the conversation of Diocletian and Galerius in the penetralia -of the palace of Nicomedia would be fully aware of what took place in -full view of Constantine’s army. - -What then is the version of Lactantius? It is that just before the -battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine was warned in a dream to have -the divine sign of the cross (_cœleste signum_) inscribed on the shields -of his soldiers before leading them to the attack. He did as he was -bidden, and the letter ASTERISK, with one of the bars slightly -bent—thus, ASTERISK—to form the sacred monogram, was placed upon his -legionaries’ shields. Such is the legend in its earliest guise. There is -not a word about Constantine’s anxiety and searching of soul. The event -is placed, not at the opening of the campaign, as Eusebius would seem to -suggest though he does not expressly say so, but on the eve of the -decisive battle. There is nothing about the cross flaming in the -afternoon sky, nothing of the inscription, “Conquer by This,” nothing of -the entire army being witness of the portent. Constantine simply has a -dream and is warned (_commonitus_) to place the initial of Christ on his -soldiers’ shields. It is not even said who gave the warning; there is -not a hint that it was Christ Himself—as in the story of Eusebius—who -appeared to Constantine; there is no mention of the Labarum. Obviously, -Lactantius was aware of no triumphant answer to Constantine’s prayer for -a sign. According to him, the Emperor was merely warned in a dream that -victory would reward him if he dedicated his weapons to the honour and -service of Christ. - -We come back, therefore, to the official version of Eusebius somewhat -shaken in our belief of its literal accuracy. Let us note, too, the -extreme vagueness of the time and the place where the incident is -reported to have taken place, and remember that one who had dwelt with -Diocletian and Galerius when they signed the edicts of persecution could -not possibly have been ignorant of the principles of Christianity, which -was no longer the religion of an obscure sect. We need not, indeed, find -any difficulty in accepting the first part of the story of Eusebius in -so far as it represents Constantine anxiously enquiring after divine -protection. It has been urged, very shrewdly, that the story would have -been idealised if it had been altogether invented. Constantine was -afraid that he had rashly committed himself and that Maxentius had -already secured the favour of the Roman gods. His objective, too, was -Rome, still regarded with superstitious dread and reverence throughout -the world, and reverenced all the more, no doubt, in proportion as -distance lent enchantment to the view. What then more natural than that -he should take for granted that, if ever the gods of Rome had interfered -in mortal affairs, they would do so now on behalf of Maxentius, who had -been raised to empire as Rome’s champion? Constantine was not one of -those rarer and choicer spirits, who seek truth for its own sake without -regard for material advantage. Conversion in his case did not mean some -sudden or even gradual change permanently altering his outlook upon -life, and refining and transmuting personal character. It merely meant -worshipping at another shrine, entering another temple, reciting another -formula. His ruling motive was ambition. He would worship the god who -should bring victory to his arms. The intensity of his conviction was to -be measured by the extent of his success and by the height to which he -carried his fortunes. - -But what of the second part of the story—the vision of the cross flaming -in the sky in full view of Constantine and his army? Even those who -admit miracles into critical history allow that the evidence for this -one is exceedingly inconclusive. We need not doubt that Eusebius related -the story just as it was told to him by Constantine, though the Bishop, -if there were choice of versions, would unhesitatingly accept the one -which contained most of the miraculous and the abnormal. Nor does the -oath which Constantine swore in support of his story add anything to its -credibility. It was his habit to swear an oath when he wished to be -emphatic. Are we, then, to consider that the whole legend was an -invention of the Emperor’s from beginning to end? In this connection it -is important to take into account the narrative of Nazarius, a -rhetorician who delivered a formal panegyric upon Constantine on the -anniversary of his tenth year of rule, and took the opportunity of -reviewing the whole campaign against Maxentius. Nazarius was a pagan; -what then was the pagan version, if any, of the miracle described by -Eusebius and the Emperor? Did the pagans attribute divine assistance to -Constantine throughout this critical campaign? The answer is -unmistakable. They did so most unequivocally. Nazarius tells us[52] that -all Gaul was talking with awe and wonder of the marvels which had taken -place, how the soldiers of Constantine had seen in the sky celestial -armies marching in battle array and had been dazzled by their flashing -shields and glittering armour. Not only had the dull eyes of earthly men -for once availed to look upon heavenly brightness; Constantine’s -soldiery had also heard the shouts of these armies in the sky, “We seek -Constantine; we are marching to the aid of Constantine.”[53] Clearly the -pagan as well as the Christian world insisted upon attributing divine -assistance to Constantine and had its own version of how that succour -came. Nazarius’s explanation was simple. According to him, it was -Constantius Chlorus, the deified Emperor, who was leading up the hosts -of heaven, and such miraculous intervention was due to the supreme -virtue of the father, which had descended to the son. - ------ - -Footnote 52: - - _Pan. Vet._, x., 14. - -Footnote 53: - - _Constantinum petimus: Constantino imus auxilio._ - ------ - -The question at once arises whether this is merely a pagan version of -the Christian legend. Unable to deny the miracle, did the pagans, in -order to rob the Christians of this wonderful testimony to the truth of -their religion, invent the story of Constantius and the heavenly hosts? -Such a theory is absolutely untenable. It leaves out of sight the -all-important fact that public opinion in the fourth century—as indeed -for many centuries both before and after—was not only willing to believe -in supernatural intervention at moments of great crisis, but actually -insisted that there should be such intervention. The greater the crisis, -the more entirely reasonable it was that some deity or deities should -make their influence especially felt and turn the scale to one side or -the other. Every Roman believed that Castor and Pollux had fought for -Rome in the supreme struggle against Hannibal. Julius believed that the -favour of Venus Genetrix, the special patroness of the Julian House, had -helped him to win the battle of Pharsalus. Augustus was just as certain -that Apollo had fought on his side at Philippi and at Actium. It was -easy—and modest—for the winner to believe in his protecting deity’s -strength of arm. - -One curious phrase employed by Nazarius is worth noting. It is that in -which he claims that the special interference of Heaven on behalf of -Constantine was not merely an extraordinary and gratifying tribute to -the Emperor’s virtues, but that it was no more than his due. In short, -the crisis was so tremendous that Heaven would have stood convicted of a -strange failure to see events in their just proportion if it had not -done “some great thing,” and wrought some corresponding wonder. Such was -the idea at the back of Nazarius’s mind; we suspect that it was not -wanting in the mind of Eusebius or of Constantine. We may put the matter -paradoxically and say that a miracle in those days was not much -considered unless it was a very great one. People who were accustomed to -see—or to think that they saw—statues sweating blood, and to hear words -proceeding from lips of bronze or marble, and were accustomed to treat -such untoward events merely as portents denoting that something unusual -was about to happen, must have been difficult people to surprise. -Naturally, therefore, legends grew more and more marvellous with -repetition after the event. The oftener a man told such a story the less -appeal it would make to his own wonder, unless he fortified it with some -new incident. But to impress one’s auditors it is above all things -necessary to be impressed oneself. Hence the well-garnished narrative of -Nazarius. The idea of armies marching along the sky was common enough. -Any one can imagine he sees the glint of weapons as the sun strikes the -clouds. But this does not satisfy the professional rhetorician. He bids -us see the proud look in the faces of the heavenly hosts, and -distinguish the cries with which they move to battle. But if Nazarius is -suspect, why not Eusebius and Constantine? Unless, indeed, there is to -be one standard for pagan and another for Christian miracles! - -But was there some unusual manifestation in the sky which was the common -basis of the stories of Eusebius and Nazarius? It is not unreasonable to -suppose so. Scientists say that the natural phenomenon known as the -parhelion not infrequently assumes the shape of a cross, and Dean -Stanley, while discussing this possible explanation in his _Lectures on -the Eastern Church_, instanced the extraordinary impression made upon -the minds of the vulgar by the aurora borealis of November, 1848. He -recalled how, throughout France, the people thought they saw in the sky -the letters L. N.—the initials of Louis Napoleon—and took them as a -clear indication from Heaven of how they ought to vote at the impending -Presidential election, and as an omen of the result. That was the -interpretation in France. In Rome—where the people knew and cared -nothing for Louis Napoleon—no one saw the Napoleonic initials. The lurid -gleam in the sky was there thought to be the blood of the murdered -Rossi, which had risen to heaven and was calling for vengeance. In -Oporto, on the other hand, the conscience-stricken populace thought the -fire was coming down from heaven to punish them for their profligacy. If -such varying interpretations of a natural if rare phenomenon were -possible in the middle of the nineteenth century, what interpretation -was not possible in the fourth? The world was profoundly superstitious. -When people believe in manifest signs they usually see them. Some -Polonius, gifted either with better vision or livelier imagination than -his fellows, declares that he can distinguish clear and definite shapes -amid the vague outline of the clouds; the report spreads; the legend -grows. And when legends are found to serve a useful purpose the -authorities lend them countenance, guarantee their accuracy, and even -take to themselves the credit of their authorship. At the outbreak of -the Russo-Japanese war a strange story came from St. Petersburg that the -Russian moujiks were passing on from village to village the legend that -St. George had been seen in the skies leading his hosts to the Far East -against the infidel Japanese. Had Russian victories followed, what -better “proof” of celestial aid could have been desired? But as disaster -ensued, it is to be supposed that St. George remembered midway that he -also had interests in the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and remained strictly -neutral. - -But though we may be justly sceptical of the circumstances attending the -conversion of Constantine, there is no room to doubt the conversion -itself. We do not believe that he fought the battle of the Milvian -Bridge as the avowed champion of Christianity, but the probabilities are -that he had made up his mind to become a Christian when he fought it. -The miraculous vision in the heavens, the dream in the quiet of the -night, the appearance of Christ by the bedside of the Emperor—as to -these things we may keep an open mind, but the fashioning of the -Labarum—the sacred standard which was preserved for so many centuries as -the most precious of imperial heirlooms and was seen and described as -late as the ninth century—this was the outward and visible proof of the -change which had come over the Emperor. He had abandoned Apollo for -Christ. The sun-god had been the favourite deity of his youth and early -manhood, as it had been of Augustus Cæsar, the founder of the Empire, -and the originator of the close association between the worship of -Apollo and the worship of the reigning Cæsar. Constantine would not fail -to note that many of the most gracious attributes of Apollo belonged -also to Christ. - -He soon manifested the sincerity of his conversion. After a short stay -in Rome, he went north to Milan, where he gave the hand of his sister, -Constantia, to his ally, Licinius. Diocletian was invited, but declined -to make the journey. The two Emperors, no doubt, desired to secure the -prestige of his moral support in their mutual hostility to the Emperor -of the East, and the benefit of his counsel in their deliberations upon -the state of the Empire. But even if Diocletian had been tempted to -leave his cabbages to join in the marriage festivities and the political -conference at Milan, we imagine that he would still have declined if he -had been given any hint of the intentions of Constantine and Licinius -with respect to the great question of religious toleration or -persecution. He might have been candid enough to admit the failure of -his policy, but he would still have shrunk from proclaiming it with his -own lips. For, before the festivities at Milan were interrupted by the -news that Maximin had thrown down the gage of battle, Constantine and -Licinius issued in their joint names the famous Edict of Milan, which -proclaimed for the first time in its absolute entirety the noble -principle of complete religious toleration. Despite their length, it -will be well to give in full the more important clauses. They are found -in the text which has been happily preserved by Lactantius[54] in the -original Latin, while we also have the edict in Greek in the -_Ecclesiastical History_ of Eusebius (x. 5). It runs as follows: - - “Inasmuch as we, Constantine Augustus and Licinius Augustus, have met - together at Milan on a joyful occasion, and have discussed all that - appertains to the public advantage and safety, we have come to the - conclusion that, among the steps likely to profit the majority of - mankind and demanding immediate attention, nothing is more necessary - than to regulate the worship of the Divinity. - - “We have decided, therefore, to grant both to the Christians and to - all others perfect freedom to practise the religion which each has - thought best for himself, that so whatever Divinity resides in heaven - may be placated, and rendered propitious to us and to all who have - been placed under our authority. Consequently, we have thought this to - be the policy demanded alike by healthy and sound reason—that no one, - on any pretext whatever, should be denied freedom to choose his - religion, whether he prefers the Christian religion or any other that - seems most suited to him, in order that the Supreme Divinity, whose - observance we obey with free minds, may in all things vouchsafe to us - its usual favours and benevolences. - - “Wherefore, it is expedient for your Excellency to know that we have - resolved to abolish every one of the stipulations contained in all - previous edicts sent to you with respect to the Christians, on the - ground that they now seem to us to be unjust and alien from the spirit - of our clemency. - - “Henceforth, in perfect and absolute freedom, each and every person - who chooses to belong to and practise the Christian religion shall be - at liberty to do so without let or hindrance in any shape or form. - - “We have thought it best to explain this to your Excellency in the - fullest possible manner that you may know that we have accorded to - these same Christians a free and absolutely unrestricted right to - practise their own religion. - - “And inasmuch as you see that we have granted this indulgence to the - Christians, your Excellency will understand that a similarly free and - unrestricted right, conformable to the peace of our times, is granted - to all others equally to practise the religion of their choice. We - have resolved upon this course that no one and no religion may seem to - be robbed of the honour that is their due.” - ------ - -Footnote 54: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 48. - ------ - -Then follow the most explicit instructions for the restoration to the -Christians of the properties of which they had been robbed during the -persecutions, though the robbery had been committed in accordance with -imperial command. Whether a property had been simply confiscated, or -sold, or given away, it was to be handed back without the slightest cost -and without any delays or ambiguities (_Postposita omni frustratione -atque ambiguitate_). Purchasers who had bought such properties in good -faith were to be indemnified from the public treasury by grace of the -Emperor. - -But the abiding interest of this celebrated edict lies in the general -principles there clearly enunciated. Every man, without distinction of -rank or nationality, is to have absolute freedom to choose and practise -the religion which he deems most suited to his needs (_Libera atque -absoluta colendæ religionis suæ facultas_). The phrase is repeated with -almost wearisome iteration, but the principle was novel and strange, and -one can see the anxiety of the framers of this edict that there shall be -no possible loophole for misunderstanding. Everybody is to have free -choice; all previous anti-Christian enactments are annulled; not only is -no compulsion to be employed against the Christian, he is not even to be -troubled or annoyed (_Citra ullam inquietudinem ac molestiam_). The -novelty lay not so much in the toleration of the existence of -Christianity,—both Constantine and Licinius had two years before signed -the edict whereby Galerius put an end to the persecution,—but in its -formal official recognition by the State. - -What motives, then, are assigned by the Emperors for this notable change -of policy? Certainly not humanity. Nothing is said of the terrors of the -late persecutions and the horrible sufferings of the Christians—there is -merely a bald reference to previous edicts which the Emperors consider -“unjust and alien from the spirit of our clemency” (_Sinistra et a -nostra clementia aliena esse_). There is no appeal to political -necessity, such as the exhaustion of the world and its palpable need of -rest. The motives assigned are purely religious. The Emperors proclaim -religious toleration in order that they and their subjects may continue -to receive the blessings of Heaven. One of them at least had just -emerged victoriously from the manifold hazards of an invasion of Italy. -Surely we can trace a reference to the battle of the Milvian Bridge and -the overthrow of Maxentius in the mention of “the Divine favour towards -us, which we have experienced in affairs of the highest moment” -(_Divinus juxta nos favor quem in tantis sumus rebus experti_). What -Constantine and Licinius hope to secure is a continuance of the favour -and benevolence of the Supreme Divinity, the patronage of the ruling -powers of the sky. The phraseology is important. The name of God is not -mentioned—only the vague “_Summa Divinitas_,“ ”_Divinus favor_,” and the -still more curious and non-committal phrase, “_Quicquid est Divinitatis -in sede cœlesti_.” In Eusebius the same phrase appears in a form still -more nebulous (ὅτι ποτέ ἐστι θειότης καὶ οὐρανίου πράγματος). A pagan -philosopher, more than half sceptical as to the existence of a personal -God, might well employ such language, but it reads strangely in an -official edict. - -But then this edict was to bear the joint names of Constantine and -Licinius. Constantine might be a Christian, but Licinius was still a -pagan, and Licinius was not his vassal, but his equal. He would -certainly not have been prepared to set his name to an edict which -pledged him to personal adherence to the Christian faith. Constantine, -in the flush of triumph, would insist that the persecution of the -Christians should cease, and that the Christian religion should be -officially recognised. Licinius would raise no objection. But they would -speedily find, when it came to drafting a joint edict, that the only -religious ground common to them both was very limited in extent, and -that the only way to preserve a semblance of unity was to employ the -vaguest phraseology which each might interpret in his own fashion. If we -can imagine the Pope and the Caliph drafting a joint appeal to mankind -which necessitated the mention of the Higher Power, they would find -themselves driven to use words as cloudy and indistinct as the “Whatever -Divinity there is and heavenly substance” of Eusebius. No, it was not -that Constantine’s mind was in the transitional stage; it was rather -that he had to find a common platform for himself and Licinius. - -But to have converted Licinius at all to an official recognition of the -Christians and complete toleration was a great achievement, for the -principle, as we have said, was entirely new. M. Gaston Boissier, in -discussing this point, recalls how even the broad-minded Plato had found -no place in his ideal republic for those who disbelieved in the gods of -their fatherland and of the city of their birth. Even if they kept their -opinions to themselves and did not seek to disturb the faith of others, -Plato insisted upon their being placed in a House of Correction—it is -true he calls it a Sophronisterion, or House of Wisdom—for five years, -where they were to listen to a sermon every day; while, if they were -zealous propagandists of their pernicious doctrines, he proposed to keep -them all their lives in horrible dungeons and deny their bodies after -death the right of sepulture. How, one wonders, would Socrates have -fared in such a state? No better, we fancy, than he fared in his own -city of Athens. But, throughout antiquity, every lawgiver took the same -view, that a good citizen must accept without question the gods of his -native place who had been the gods of his fathers; and it was a simple -step from that position to the stern refusal to allow a man, in the -vigorous words of the Old Testament, to go a-whoring after other gods. -“For I, thy God, am a jealous God.” The God of the Jews was not more -jealous than the gods of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, or -the Romans would like to have been, had they had the same power of -concise expression. - -What was the theory of the State religion in Rome? Cicero tells us in a -well-known passage in his treatise _On the Laws_, where he quotes the -ancient formula, “Let no man have separate gods of his own: nor let -people privately worship new gods or alien gods, unless they have been -publicly admitted.”[55] Nothing could be more explicit. But theory and -practice in Rome had a habit of becoming divorced from one another. It -is a notorious fact that, as Rome’s conquering eagles flew farther -afield, the legions and the merchants who followed in their track -brought all manner of strange gods back to the city, where every -wandering Chaldæan thaumaturgist, magician, or soothsayer found welcome -and profit, and every stray goddess—especially if her rites had -mysteries attached to them—received a comfortable home. In a word, Rome -found new religions just as fascinating—for a season or two—as do the -capitals of the modern world, and these new religions were certainly not -“publicly admitted” by the _Pontifex Maximus_ and the representatives of -the State religion. Occasionally, usually after some outbreak of -pestilence or because an Emperor was nervous at the presence of so many -swarthy charlatans devoting themselves to the Black Arts, an order of -expulsion would be issued and there would be a fluttering of the -dove-cotes. But they came creeping back one by one, as the storm blew -over. While, therefore, in theory the gods of Rome were jealous, in -practice they were not so. The easy scepticism or eclecticism of the -cultured Roman was conducive to tolerance. Cicero’s famous sentence in -the _Pro Flacco_, “Each state has its own religion, Lælius: we have -ours,” shews how little of the religious fanatic there was in the -average Roman, who stole the gods of the people he conquered and made -them his own, so that they might acquiesce in the Roman domination. The -Roman was tolerant enough in private life towards other people’s -religious convictions: all he asked was reciprocity, and that was -precisely what the Christian would not and could not give him. If the -Christian would have sacrificed at the altars of the State gods, the -Roman would never have objected to his worship of Christ for his own -private satisfaction. There lies the secret of the persecutions, and of -the fierce anti-Christian hatreds. - -Constantine and Licinius, by their edict of recognition and toleration, -“publicly admitted” into the Roman worship the God of the Christians. - ------ - -Footnote 55: - - _Separatim nemo habessit deos: neve novos, sive advenas, nisi publice - adscitos privatim colunto._—_De Leg._, ii., 8. - ------ - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - CHAPTER VII - THE DOWNFALL OF LICINIUS - - -It will be convenient in this chapter to present a connected narrative -of the course of political events from the Edict of Milan in 313 down to -the overthrow of Licinius by Constantine in 324. We have seen that -Maximin Daza never moved a single soldier to help his ally, Maxentius, -during Constantine’s invasion of Italy, though he soon gave practical -proof that his hostility had not abated by invading the territory of -Licinius. The attack was clearly not expected. Licinius was still at -Milan, and his troops had probably been drawn off into winter quarters, -when the news came that Maximin had collected a powerful army in Syria, -had marched through to Bithynia regardless of the sufferings of his -legions and the havoc caused in the ranks by the severity of the season, -and had succeeded in crossing the Bosphorus. Apparently, Maximin was -besieging Byzantium before Licinius was ready to move from Italy to -confront him. - -Byzantium capitulated after a siege of eleven days and Heraclea did not -offer a prolonged resistance. By this time, however, Licinius was -getting within touch of the invader and preparations were made on both -sides for a pitched battle. The numbers of Licinius’s army were scarcely -half those of his rival, but Maximin was completely routed on a plain -called Serenus, near the city of Adrianople, and fled for his life, -leaving his broken battalions to shift for themselves. Lactantius, in -describing the engagement,[56] represents it as having been a duel to -the death between Christianity and paganism. He says that Maximin had -vowed to eradicate the very name of the Christians if Jupiter favoured -his arms; while Licinius had been warned by an angel of God in a dream -that, if he wished to make infallibly sure of victory, he and his army -had only to recite a prayer to Almighty God which the angel would -dictate to him. Licinius at once sent for a secretary and the prayer was -taken down. It ran as follows: - - “God most High, we call upon Thee; Holy God, we call upon Thee. We - commend to Thee all justice; we commend to Thee our safety; we commend - to Thee our sovereignty. Through Thee we live; through Thee we gain - victory and happiness. Most High and Holy God, hear our prayers. We - stretch out our arms to Thee. Hear us, Most High and Holy God.” - ------ - -Footnote 56: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 46. - ------ - -Such was the talismanic prayer of which the Emperor’s secretary made -hurried copies, distributing them to the general officers and the -tribunes of the legions, with instructions that the troops were at once -to get the words off by heart. When the armies moved against one another -in battle array, the legions of Licinius at a given signal laid down -their shields, removed their helmets, and, lifting their hands to -heaven, recited in unison these rhythmic sentences with their strangely -effective repetitions. Lactantius tells us that the murmur of the prayer -was borne upon the ears of the doomed army of the enemy. Then, after a -brief colloquy between the rivals, in which Maximin refused to offer or -agree to any concession, because he believed that the soldiers of -Licinius would come over to him in a body, the armies charged and the -standard of Maximin went down. - -It is a striking story, and we may easily understand that Licinius, -fresh from his meeting with Constantine and with vivid recollection of -how valiantly this _Summus Deus_ had fought for his ally against -Maxentius, would be ready to believe beforehand in the efficacy of any -supernatural warning conveyed by any supernatural “minister of grace.” -We may note, too, the splendid vagueness of the Deity invoked in the -prayer. Lactantius, of course, claims that this Most High and Holy God -is none other than the God of the Christians, but there was nothing to -prevent the votary of Jupiter, of Apollo, of Mithra, of Baal, or of -Balenus, from thinking that he was imploring the aid of his own familiar -deity. - -Maximin fled from the scene of carnage as though he had been pursued by -all the Cabiri. Throwing aside his purple and assuming the garb of a -slave—it is Lactantius, however, who is speaking—he crossed the -Bosphorus, and, within twenty-four hours of quitting the field, reached -once more the palace of Nicomedia—a distance of a hundred and sixty -miles. Taking his wife and children with him, he hurried through the -defiles of the Taurus, summoned to his side whatever troops he had left -behind in Syria and Egypt, and awaited the oncoming of Licinius, who -followed at leisure in his tracks. The end was not long delayed. -Maximin’s soldiers regarded his cause as lost, and despairing of -clemency, he took his own life at Tarsus. His provinces passed without a -struggle into the hands of Licinius, who butchered every surviving -member of Maximin’s family. - -Nor had the victor pity even for two ladies of imperial rank, whose -misfortunes and sufferings excited the deepest compassion in that -stony-hearted age. These were Prisca, the wife of Diocletian, and her -daughter Valeria, the widow of the Emperor Galerius. On his death-bed -Galerius had entrusted his wife to the care and the gratitude of -Maximin, whom he had raised from obscurity to a throne. Maximin repaid -his confidence by pressing Valeria to marry him and offering to divorce -his own wife. Valeria returned an indignant and high-spirited refusal. -She would never think of marriage, she said,[57] while still wearing -mourning for a husband whose ashes were not yet cold. It was monstrous -that Maximin should seek to divorce a faithful wife, and, even if she -assented to his proposal, she had clear warning of what was likely to be -her own fate. Finally, it was not becoming that the daughter of -Diocletian and the widow of Galerius should stoop to a second marriage. -Maximin took a bitter revenge. He reduced Valeria to penury, marked down -all her friends for ruin, and finally drove her into exile with her -mother, Prisca, who nobly shared the sufferings of the daughter whom she -could not shield. Lactantius tells us that the two imperial ladies -wandered miserably through the Syrian wastes, while Maximin took delight -in spurning the overtures of the aged Diocletian, who sent repeated -messages begging that his daughter might be allowed to go and live with -him at Salona. Maximin refused even when Diocletian sent one of his -relatives to remind him of past benefits, and the two unfortunate ladies -knew no alleviation of their troubles. When the tyrant fell, they -probably thought that the implacable hatred with which Maximin had -pursued them would be their best recommendation to the favour of -Licinius. Again, however, they were disappointed, for Licinius, in his -jealous anxiety to spare no one connected with the families of his -predecessors in the purple, ordered the execution of Candidianus, a -natural son of Galerius, who had been brought up by Valeria as her own -child. In despair, therefore, the two ladies, who had boldly gone to -Nicomedia, fled from the scene and “wandered for fifteen months, -disguised as plebeians, through various provinces,”[58] until they had -the misfortune to be recognised at Thessalonica. They were at once -beheaded and their bodies thrown into the sea, amid the pitying sympathy -of a vast throng which dared not lift a hand to save them. - ------ - -Footnote 57: - - _De Mort. Persec._, c. 39. - -Footnote 58: - - _De Mort Persec._, c. 51. - ------ - -Constantine and Licinius now shared between them the whole of the Roman -Empire. They were allies, but their alliance did not long stand the -strain of their respective ambitions. Each had won an easy victory over -his antagonist, and each was confident that his legions would suffice to -win him undivided empire. We know very little of the pretexts assigned -for the quarrel which culminated in the war of 316. Zosimus throws the -blame upon Constantine, whom he accuses of not keeping faith and of -trying to filch from Licinius some of his provinces. But as the -sympathies of Zosimus were strongly pagan and as he invariably imputed -the worst possible motive to Constantine, it is fairest and most -reasonable to suppose that the two Emperors simply quarrelled over the -division of the Empire. Constantine had given the hand of his -half-sister Anastasia to one of his generals, named Bassianus, whom he -had raised to the dignity of a Cæsar. But for some reason left -unexplained—possibly because Constantine granted only the title, without -the legions and the provinces, of a Cæsar—Bassianus became discontented -with his position and entered into an intrigue with Licinius. -Constantine discovered the plot, put Bassianus to death, and demanded -from Licinius the surrender of Senecio, a brother of the victim and a -relative of Licinius. The demand was refused; some statues of -Constantine were demolished by Licinius’s orders at Æmona (Laybach) and -war ensued. - -The armies met in the autumn of 316 near Cibalis, in Pannonia, between -the rivers Drave and Save. Neither Emperor led into the field anything -approaching the full strength he was able to muster; Licinius is said to -have had only 35,000 men and Constantine no more than 20,000. From -Zosimus’s highly rhetorical account of the battle[59] we gather that -Constantine chose a position between a steep hill and an impassable -morass, and repulsed the charge of the legions of Licinius. Then as he -advanced into the plain in pursuit of the enemy, he was checked by some -fresh troops which Licinius brought up, and a long and stubborn contest -lasted until nightfall, when Constantine decided the fortunes of the day -by an irresistible charge. Licinius is said to have lost 20,000 men in -this encounter, more than fifty per cent. of his entire force, and he -beat a hurried retreat, leaving his camp to be plundered by the victor, -whose own losses must also have been severe. - ------ - -Footnote 59: - - Zosimus, ii., 19. - ------ - -A few weeks later the battle was renewed on the plain of Mardia in -Thrace. Licinius had evidently been strongly reinforced from Asia, for, -though he was again defeated after a hotly contested battle, he was able -to effect an orderly retreat and draw off his beaten troops without -disorder—a rare thing in the annals of Roman warfare, where defeat -usually involved destruction. Constantine is said to have owed his -victory to his superior generalship and to the skill with which he timed -a surprise attack of five thousand of his men upon the rear of the -enemy. Yet we may be certain that he would not have consented to treat -with Licinius for peace had he not had considerable cause for anxiety -about the final issue of the campaign. However, his two victories, while -not sufficiently decisive to enable him to dictate any terms he chose, -at least gave him the authoritative word in the negotiations which -ensued, and sealed the doom of the unfortunate Valens, whom Licinius had -just appointed Cæsar. When Licinius’s envoy spoke of his two imperial -masters, Licinius and Valens, Constantine retorted that he recognised -but one, and bluntly stated that he had not endured tedious marches and -won a succession of victories, only to share the prize with a -contemptible slave. Licinius sacrificed his lieutenant without -compunction and consented to hand over to Constantine Illyria and its -legions, with the important provinces of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Moesia, and -Dacia. The only foothold left him on the Continent of Europe, out of all -that had previously been included in the eastern half of the Empire, was -the province of Thrace. - -At the same time, the two Emperors agreed to elevate their sons to the -rank of Cæsar. Constantine bestowed the dignity upon Crispus, the son of -his first marriage with Minervina. Crispus was now in the promise of -early manhood, and had proved his valour, and won his spurs in the -recent campaign. Licinius gave the title to his son Licinianus, an -infant no more than twenty months old. These appointments are important, -for they shew how completely the system of Diocletian had broken down. -The Emperors appointed Cæsars out of deference to the letter of that -constitution, but they outrageously violated its spirit by appointing -their own sons, and when the choice fell on an infant, insult was added -to injury. It was plain warning to all the world that Constantine and -Licinius meant to keep power in their own hands. When, a few years -later, three sons were born to Constantine and Fausta in quick -succession, the eldest, who was given the name of his father, was -created Cæsar shortly after his birth. No doubt the Empress—herself an -Emperor’s daughter—demanded that her son should enjoy equal rank with -the son of the low-born Minervina, and the probabilities are that -Constantine already looked forward to providing the young Princes with -patrimonies carved out of the territory of Licinius. However, there was -no actual rupture between the two Emperors until 323, though relations -had long been strained. - -We know comparatively little of what took place in the intervening -years. They were not, however, years of unbroken peace. There was -fighting both on the Danube and the Rhine. The Goths and the Sarmatæ, -who had been taught such a severe lesson by Claudius and Aurelian that -they had left the Danubian frontier undisturbed for half a century, -again surged forward and swept over Moesia and Pannonia. We hear of -several hard-fought battles along the course of the river, and then, -when Constantine, at the head of his legions, had driven out the -invader, he himself crossed the Danube and compelled the barbarians to -assent to a peace whereby they pledged themselves to supply the Roman -armies, when required, with forty thousand auxiliaries. The details of -this campaign are exceedingly obscure and untrustworthy. The Panegyrists -of the Emperor claimed that he had repeated the triumphs of Trajan. -Constantine himself is represented by the mocking Julian as boasting -that he was a greater general than Trajan, because it is a finer thing -to win back what you have lost than to conquer something which was not -yours before. The probabilities are that there took place one of those -alarming barbarian movements from which the Roman Empire was never long -secure, that Constantine beat it back successfully, and gained victories -which were decisive enough at the moment, but in which there was no real -finality, because no finality was possible. Probably it was the -seriousness of these Gothic and Sarmatian campaigns which was chiefly -responsible for the years of peace between Constantine and Licinius. -Until the barbarian danger had been repelled, Constantine was perforce -obliged to remain on tolerable terms with the Emperor of the East. - -While the father was thus engaged on the Danube, the son was similarly -employed on the Rhine. The young Cæsar, Crispus, already entrusted with -the administration of Gaul and Britain and the command of the Rhine -legions, won a victory over the Alemanni in a winter campaign and -distinguished himself by the skill and rapidity with which he executed a -long forced march despite the icy rigours of a severe season. It is -Nazarius, the Panegyrist, who refers[60] in glowing sentences to this -admirable performance—carried through, he says, with “incredibly -youthful verve” (_incredibili juvenilitate confecit_),—and praises -Crispus to the skies as “the most noble Cæsar of his august father.” -When that speech was delivered on the day of the Quinquennalia of the -Cæsars in 321, Constantine’s ears did not yet grudge to listen to the -eulogies of his gallant son. - ------ - -Footnote 60: - - _Pan. Vet._, x., 36. - ------ - -But there is one omission from the speech which is exceedingly -significant. It contains no mention of Licinius, and no one reading the -oration would gather that there were two Emperors or that the Empire was -divided. Evidently, Constantine and Licinius were no longer on good -terms, and none knew better than the Panegyrists of the Court the art of -suppressing the slightest word or reference that might bring a frown to -the brow of their imperial auditor. But even two years before, in 319, -the names of Licinius and the boy, Cæsar Licinianus, had ceased to -figure on the consular Fasti—a straw which pointed very clearly in which -direction the wind was blowing. - -Zosimus attributes the war to the ambition of Constantine; Eutropius -roundly accuses[61] him of having set his heart upon acquiring the -sovereignty of the whole world. On the other hand, Eusebius[62] depicts -Constantine as a magnanimous monarch, the very pattern of humanity, long -suffering of injury, and forgiving to the point of seventy times seven -the ungrateful intrigues of the black-hearted Licinius. According to the -Bishop of Cæsarea, Constantine had been the benefactor of Licinius, who, -conscious of his inferiority, plotted in secret until he was driven into -open enmity. But it is very evident that the reason of Eusebius’s enmity -to Licinius was the anti-Christian policy into which the Emperor had -drifted, as soon as he became estranged from Constantine. A more -detailed description of Licinius’s religious policy and of the new -persecution which broke out in his provinces will be found in another -chapter; here we need only point out Eusebius’s anxiety to represent the -cause of the quarrel between the Emperors as being in the main a -religious one. He tells us[63] that Licinius regarded as traitors to -himself those who were friendly to his rival, and savagely attacked the -bishops, who, as he judged, were his most bitter opponents. The phrase, -not without reason, has given rise to the suspicion that the Christian -bishops of the East were regarded as head centres of political -disaffection, and Licinius evidently suspected them of preaching treason -and acting as the agents of Constantine. We have not sufficient data to -enable us to draw any sure inference, but the bishops could not help -contrasting the liberality of Constantine to the Church, of which he was -the open champion, with the reactionary policy of Licinius, which had at -length culminated in active persecution. - ------ - -Footnote 61: - - Eutropius, x., 5: _Principatum totius orbis adfectans._ - -Footnote 62: - - Euseb., _De Vita Const._, i., 50. - -Footnote 63: - - _Ibid._, i., 56. - ------ - -[Illustration: - - THE WESTERN SIDE OF A PEDESTAL, SHOWING THE HOMAGE OF THE VANQUISHED - GOTHS. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -But the dominant cause of this war is to be found in political ambitions -rather than in religious passions, and if we must declare who of the two -was the aggressor, it is difficult to escape throwing the blame upon -Constantine. Licinius was advancing in years. Even if he had not -outlived his ambitions, he can at least have had little taste for a -campaign in which he put all to the venture. Constantine, on the other -hand, was in the prime of life, and the master of a well tried, -disciplined, and victorious army. The odds were on his side. He had all -the legions which could be spared from the Rhine and the Danube, and all -the auxiliaries from the Illyrian and Pannonian provinces—the best -recruiting grounds in the Empire—to oppose to the legions of Syria and -Egypt. Constantine doubtless seemed to the bishops to be entering the -field as the champion of the Church, but the real prize which drew him -on was universal dominion. - -This time both Emperors exerted themselves to make tremendous -preparations for the struggle. Zosimus describes how Constantine began a -new naval harbour at Thessalonica to accommodate the two hundred war -galleys and two thousand transports which he had ordered to be built in -his dock-yards. He mobilised, if Zosimus is to be trusted, 120,000 -infantry and 10,000 marines and cavalry. Licinius, on the other hand, is -said to have collected 150,000 foot and 15,000 horse. Whether these -numbers are trustworthy or not, it is evident that the two Emperors did -their best to throw every available man into the plain of Adrianople, -where the two hosts were separated by the river Hebrus. Some days were -spent in skirmishing and manœuvring; then on July 3, 323, a decisive -action was brought on, which ended in the rout of the army of Licinius. -Constantine, whose tactical dispositions seem to have been more skilful -than those of Licinius, secretly detached a force of 5000 archers to -occupy a position in the rear of the enemy, and these used their bows -with overwhelming effect at a critical moment of the action, when -Constantine himself, at the head of another detachment, succeeded in -forcing a passage of the river. Constantine received a slight wound in -the thigh, but he had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy driven from -their fortified camp and betake themselves in hurried flight to the -sheltering walls of Byzantium, leaving 34,000 dead and wounded on the -field of battle. - -Byzantium was a stronghold which had fallen before Maximin after a siege -of eleven days, but we may suppose that Licinius had looked well to its -fortifications with a view to such an emergency as that in which he now -found himself. He placed, however, his chief reliance in his fleet, -which was nearly twice as numerous as that of Constantine. Licinius had -assembled 350 ships of war, levied, in accordance with the practice of -Rome, from the maritime countries of Asia and Egypt. No fewer than 130 -came from Egypt and Libya, 110 from Phœnicia and Cyprus, and a similar -quota from the ports of Cilicia, Ionia, and Bithynia. The galleys were -probably in good fighting trim, but the service was not a willing one, -and the fleet was as badly handled as it was badly stationed. Amandus, -the admiral of Licinius, had kept his ships cooped up in the narrow -Hellespont, thus acting weakly on the defensive instead of boldly -seeking out the enemy. Constantine entrusted the chief command of his -various squadrons to his son Crispus, whose only experience of naval -matters had probably been obtained from the manœuvres of the war galleys -on the Rhine. But a Roman general was supposed to be able to take -command on either element as circumstances required. In the present case -Crispus more than justified his father’s choice. He was ordered to -attack and destroy Amandus, and the peremptoriness of the order was -doubtless due to the difficulty of obtaining supplies for so large an -army by land transport only. Two actions were fought on two successive -days. In the first Amandus had both wind and current in his favour and -made a drawn battle of it. The next day the wind had veered round to the -south, and Crispus, closing with the enemy, destroyed 130 of their -vessels and 5000 of their crews. The passage of the Hellespont was -forced; Amandus with the remainder of his fleet fled back to the shelter -of Byzantium, and the straits were open for the passage of Constantine’s -transports. - -The Emperor pushed the siege with energy, and plied the walls so -vigorously with his engines that Licinius, aware that the capitulation -of Byzantium could not long be postponed, crossed over into Asia to -escape being involved in its fate. Even then he was not utterly -despondent of success, for he raised one of his lieutenants, -Martinianus, to the dignity of Cæsar or Augustus—a perilous distinction -for any recipient with the short shrift of Valens before his eyes—and, -collecting what troops he could, he set his fleet and army to oppose the -crossing of Constantine when Byzantium had fallen. But holding as he did -the command of the sea, the victor found no difficulty in effecting a -landing at Chrysopolis, and Licinius’s last gallant effort to drive back -the invader was repulsed with a loss of 25,000 men. Eusebius, in an -exceptionally foolish chapter, declares that Licinius harangued his -troops before the battle, bidding them carefully keep out of the way of -the sacred Labarum, under which Constantine moved to never-failing -victory, or, if they had the mischance to come near it in the press of -battle, not to look heedlessly upon it. He then goes on to ascribe the -victory not to the superior tactical dispositions of his chief or to the -valour of his men, but simply and solely to the fact that Constantine -was “clad in the breastplate of reverence and had ranged over against -the numbers of the enemy the salutary and life-giving sign, to inspire -his foes with terror and shield himself from harm.”[64] We suspect, -indeed, that far too little justice has been done to the good -generalship of Constantine, who, by his latest victory, brought to a -close a brilliant and entirely successful campaign over an Emperor whose -stubborn powers of resistance and dauntless energy even in defeat -rendered him a most formidable opponent. - ------ - -Footnote 64: - - _De Vita Const._, ii., 16. τὸ σωτήριον καὶ ζωοποιὸν σημεῖον, ὥσπερ τι - φόβητρον καὶ κακῶν ἀμυντήριον. - ------ - -Licinius fell back upon Nicomedia. His army was gone. There was no time -to beat up new recruits, for the conqueror was hard upon his heels. He -had to choose, therefore, between suicide, submission, and flight. He -would perhaps have best consulted his fame had he chosen the proud Roman -way out of irreparable disaster and taken his life. Instead he begged -that life might be spared him. The request would have been hopeless, and -would probably never have been made, had he not possessed in his wife, -Constantia, a very powerful advocate with her brother. Constantia’s -pleadings were effectual: Constantine consented to see his beaten -antagonist, who came humbly into his presence, laid his purple at the -victor’s feet, and sued for life from the compassion of his master. It -was a humiliating and an un-Roman scene. Constantine promised -forgiveness, admitted the suppliant to the Imperial table, and then -relegated him to Thessalonica to spend the remainder of his days in -obscurity. Licinius did not long survive. Later historians, anxious to -clear Constantine’s character of every stain, accused Licinius of -plotting against the generous Emperor who had spared him. Others -declared that he fell in a soldiers’ brawl: one even says that the -Senate passed a decree devoting him to death. It is infinitely more -probable that Constantine repented of his clemency. No Roman Emperor -seems to have been able to endure for long the existence of a discrowned -rival, however impotent to harm. Eutropius expressly states that -Licinius was put to death in violation of the oath which Constantine had -sworn to him.[65] Eusebius says not a word of Licinius’s life having -been promised him; he only remarks, “Then Constantine, dealing with the -accursed of GOD and his associates according to the rules of war, handed -them over to fitting punishment.”[66] A pretty euphemism for an act of -assassination! - ------ - -Footnote 65: - - _Contra religionem sacramenti occisus est_, x., 6. - -Footnote 66: - - _De Vita Const._, ii., 18. - ------ - -So died Licinius, unregretted by any save the zealous advocates of -paganism, in the city where he himself had put to death those two -hapless ladies, Prisca and Valeria. The best character sketch of him is -found in Aurelius Victor, who describes him as grasping and avaricious, -rough in manners and of excessively hasty temper, and a sworn foe to -culture, which he used to say was a public poison and pest (_virus et -pestem publicum_), notably the culture associated with the study and -practice of the law. Himself of the humblest origin, he was a good -friend to the small farmers’ interests; while he was a martinet of the -strictest type in all that related to the army. He detested the -paraphernalia of a court, in which Constantine delighted, and Aurelius -Victor says that he made a clean sweep (_vehemens domitor_) of all -eunuchs and chamberlains, whom he described as the moths and shrew-mice -of the palace (_tineas soricesque palatii_). Of his religious policy we -shall speak elsewhere; of his reign there is little to be said. It has -left no impress upon history, and Licinius is only remembered as the -Emperor whose misfortune it was to stand in the way of Constantine and -his ambitions. Constantine threw down his statues; revoked his edicts; -and if he spared his young son, the Cæsar Licinianus, the clemency was -due to affection for the mother, not to pity for the child. Martinianus, -the Emperor at most of a few weeks, had been put to death after the -defeat of Chrysopolis, and Constantine reigned alone with his sons. The -Roman Empire was united once more. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - LAST DAYS OF PERSECUTION - - -In a previous chapter we gave a brief account of the terrible sufferings -inflicted upon the Church during the persecution which followed the -edicts of Diocletian. They continued for many years almost without -interruption, but with varying intensity. When, for example, Diocletian -celebrated his Vicennalia a general amnesty was proclaimed which must -have opened the prison doors to many thousands of Christians. Eusebius -expressly states that the amnesty was for “all who were in prison the -world over,” and there is no hint that liberty was made conditional upon -apostasy. None the less, it is certain that a great number of Christians -were still kept in the cells—on the pretext that they were specially -obnoxious to the civil power—by governors of strong anti-Christian bias. -The sword of persecution was speedily resumed and wielded as vigorously -as before down to the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian. - -Then came another lull. With Constantius as the senior Augustus the -persecution came to an end in the West, and even in the East there was -an interval of peace. For Maximin, who was soon to develop into the most -ferocious of all the persecutors,—so St. Jerome speaks of him in -comparison with Decius and Diocletian,—gave a brief respite to the -Christians in his provinces of Egypt, Cilicia, Palestine, and Syria. - - “When I first visited the East,” Maximin wrote,[67] some years later, - in referring to his accession, “I found that a great number of persons - who might have been useful to the State had been exiled to various - places by the judges. I ordered each one of these judges no longer to - press hardly upon the provincials, but rather to exhort them by kindly - words to return to the worship of the gods. While my orders were - obeyed by the magistrates, no one in the countries of the East was - exiled or ill-treated, but the provincials, won over by kindness, - returned to the worship of the gods.” - ------ - -Footnote 67: - - Eusebius, _Hist. Eccles._, ix., 9. - ------ - -Direct contradiction is given to this boast as to the number of -Christian apostates by the fact that, within a twelvemonth, the new -Cæsar grew tired of seeking to kill Christianity by kindness and revoked -his recent rescript of leniency. Maximin developed into a furious bigot. -He fell wholly under the influence of the more fanatical priests and -became increasingly devoted to magic, divination, and the black arts. -Lactantius declares that not a joint appeared at his table which had not -been taken from some victim sacrificed by a priest at an altar and -drenched with the wine of libation. Edict followed edict in rapid -succession, until, in the middle of 306, what Eusebius describes as “a -second declaration of war” was issued, which ordered every magistrate to -compel all who lived within his jurisdiction to sacrifice to the gods on -pain of being burnt alive. House to house visitations were set on foot -that no creature might escape, and the common informer was encouraged by -large rewards to be active in his detestable occupation. It would seem -indeed as if the Christians in the provinces of Maximin suffered far -more severely than any of their brethren. The most frightful bodily -mutilations were practised. Batches of Christians were sentenced to work -in the porphyry mines of Egypt or the copper mines of Phænos in -Palestine, after being hamstrung and having their right eyes burnt out -with hot irons. The evidence of Lactantius, who says that the confessors -had their eyes dug out, their hands and feet amputated, and their -nostrils and ears cut off, is corroborated by Eusebius and the authors -of the _Passions_. - -Palestine seems to have had two peculiarly brutal governors, Urbanus and -Firmilianus. The latter in a single day presided at the execution of -twelve Christians, pilgrims from Egypt on their way to succour the -unfortunate convicts in the copper mines of Palestine, whose deplorable -condition had awakened the active sympathy of the Christian East. These -bands of pilgrims had to pass through Cæsarea, where the officers of -Firmilianus were on the watch for them, and as soon as they confessed -that they were Christians they were haled before the tribunal, where -their doom was certain. A distinguishing feature of the persecution in -the provinces of Maximin was the frequency of outrages upon Christian -women and the fortitude with which many of the victims committed suicide -rather than suffer pollution. The story of St. Pelagia of Antioch is -typical. Maximin sent some soldiers to conduct her to his palace. They -found her alone in her house and announced their errand. With perfect -composure this girl of fifteen asked permission to retire in order to -change her dress, and then, mounting to the roof, threw herself down -into the street below. Eusebius, himself an eye-witness of this -persecution, gives many a vivid story of the fury of Maximin and his -officials, and of the cold-blooded calculation with which he sought to -draw new victims into the net of the law. In 308 he issued an edict -ordering every city and village thoroughly to repair any temple which, -for whatever reason, had been allowed to fall into ruins. He increased -tenfold the number of priesthoods, and insisted upon daily sacrifices. -The magistrates were again strictly enjoined to compel men, women, -children, and slaves alike to offer sacrifice and partake of the -sacrificial food. All goods exposed for sale in the public markets were -to be sprinkled with lustral water, and even at the entrance to the -public baths, officials were to be placed to see that no one passed -through the doors without throwing a few grains of incense on the altar. -Maximin, in short, was a religious bigot, who combined with a zealous -observance of pagan ritual a consuming hatred of Christianity. - -There are not many records of what was taking place in the provinces of -Galerius, while Maximin was thus terrorising Syria and Egypt. But the -Emperor had begun to see that the persecution, upon which he had entered -with such zest some years before, was bound to end in failure. The -terrible malady which attacked him in 310 would tend to confirm his -forebodings. Like Antiochus Epiphanius, Herod the Great, and Herod -Agrippa, Galerius became, before death released him from his agony, a -putrescent and loathsome spectacle. His physicians could do nothing for -him. Imploring deputations were sent to beg the aid of Apollo and -Æsculapius. Apollo prescribed a remedy, but the application only left -the patient worse, and Lactantius quotes with powerful effect the lines -from Virgil which describe Laocoon in the toils of the serpents, raising -horror-stricken cries to Heaven, like some wounded bull as it flies -bellowing from the altar. Was it when broken by a year’s constant -anguish that Galerius exclaimed that he would restore the temple of God -and make amends for his sin? Was he, as Lactantius says, “compelled to -confess GOD”? Whether that be so or not, here is the remarkable edict -which the shattered Emperor found strength to dictate. It deserves to be -given in full: - - “Among the measures which we have constantly taken for the well-being - and advantage of the State, we had wished to regulate everything - according to the ancient laws and public discipline of the Romans, and - especially to provide that the Christians, who had abandoned the - religion of their ancestors, should return to a better frame of mind. - - “For, from whatever reason, these Christians were the victims of such - wilfulness and folly that they not only refused to follow the ancient - customs, which very likely their own forefathers had instituted, but - they made laws for themselves according to their fancy and caprice, - and gathered together all kinds of people in different places. - - “Eventually, when our commands had been published that they should - conform to long established custom, many submitted from fear, and many - more under the compulsion of punishment. - - “But since the majority have obstinately held out and we see that they - neither give the gods their worship and due, nor yet adore the God of - the Christians, we have taken into consideration our unexampled - clemency and followed the dictation of the invariable mercifulness, - which we shew to all men. - - “We have, therefore, thought it best to extend even to these people - our fullest indulgence and to give[68] them leave once more to be - Christians, and rebuild their meeting places, provided that they do - nothing contrary to discipline. - - “In another letter we shall make clear to the magistrates the course - which they should pursue. - - “In return for our indulgence the Christians will, in duty bound, pray - to their God for our safety, for their own, and for that of the State, - that so the State may everywhere be safe and prosperous, and that they - themselves may dwell in security in their homes.” - -This extraordinary edict was issued at Nicomedia on the last day of -April, 311. It is as abject a confession of failure as could be expected -from an Emperor. Galerius admits that the majority of Christians have -stubbornly held to their faith in spite of bitter persecution, and now, -as they are determined to sin against the light and follow their own -caprice, more in sorrow than in anger, he will recognise their status as -Christians and give them the right of assembly, provided they do not -offend against public discipline. But the special interest of this edict -lies in the Emperor’s request that the Christians will pray for him, in -the despairing hope that Christ may succeed, where Apollo has failed, in -finding a remedy for his grievous case. Galerius was ready to clutch at -any passing straw. - ------ - -Footnote 68: - - _Ut denuo sint Christiani et conventicula componant, ita ut ne quid - contra disciplinam agant._ - ------ - -The edict bore the names of Galerius, of Constantine, and of Licinius. -Maxentius, who at this time ruled Italy, was not recognised by Galerius, -so the absence of his name causes no surprise. Maximin’s name is also -absent, but we find one of his præfects, Sabinus, addressing shortly -afterwards a circular letter to all the Governors of Cilicia, Syria, and -Egypt, in which the signal was given to stop the persecution. Like -Galerius, Maximin declared that the sole object of the Emperors had been -to lead all men back to a pious and regular life, and to restore to the -gods those who had embraced alien rites contrary to the spirit of the -institutions of Rome. Then the letter continued: - - “But since the mad obstinacy of certain people has reached such a - pitch that they are not to be shaken in their resolution either by the - justice of the imperial command or by the fear of imminent punishment, - and since, actuated by these motives, a very large number have brought - themselves into positions of extreme peril, it has pleased their - Majesties in their great pity and compassion to send this letter to - your Excellency. - - “Their instructions are that if any Christian has been apprehended, - while observing the religion of his sect, you are to deliver him from - all molestation and annoyance and not to inflict any penalty upon him, - for a very long experience has convinced the Emperors that there is no - method of turning these people from their madness. - - “Your Excellency will therefore write to the magistrates, to the - commander of the forces, and to the town provosts, in each city, that - they may know for the future that they are not to interfere with the - Christians any more.” - -In other words, the prisons were to be emptied and the mad sectaries to -be let alone. The bigot was obliged to bow, however reluctantly, to the -wishes and commands of the senior Augustus, even though Galerius was a -broken and dying man. - -Nevertheless, within six months we find Maximin devising new schemes for -troubling the Christians. Eusebius tells us with what joy the edict of -toleration had been welcomed, with what triumph the Christians had -quitted their prisons, and with what enthusiastic exultation the bands -of Christian confessors, returning from the mines to their own towns and -villages, were received by the Christian communities in the places -through which they passed. Those whose testimony to their faith had not -been so sure and clear, those who had bowed the knee to Baal under the -shadow of torture and death, humbly approached their stouter-hearted -brethren and implored their intercession. The Church rose from the -persecution proudly and confidently, and with incredible speed renewed -its suspended services and repaired its broken organisation. Maximin -issued an order forbidding Christians to assemble after dark in their -cemeteries, as they had been in the habit of doing, in order to -celebrate the victory of their martyrs over death. Such assemblies, the -Emperor said, were subversive of morality: they were to be allowed no -more. This must have warned the Christians how little reliance was to be -placed in the promises of Maximin, and shortly afterwards they had -another warning. Maximin made a tour through his provinces and in -several cities received petitions in which he was urged to give an order -for the absolute expulsion of all Christians. No doubt it was known that -such a request would be well pleasing to Maximin, but at the same time -it undoubtedly points to the existence of a strong anti-Christian -feeling. At Antioch, which was under the governorship of Theotecnus, the -petitioners, according to Eusebius, said that the expulsion of the -Christians would be the greatest boon the Emperor could confer upon -them, but the full text of one of these petitions has been found among -the ruins of a small Lycian township of the name of Aricanda. It runs as -follows: - - “To the Saviours of the entire human race, to the august Cæsars, - Galerius Valerius Maximinus, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, Valerius - Licinianus Licinius, this petition is addressed by the people of the - Lycians and the Pamphylians. - - “Inasmuch as the gods, your congeners, O divine Emperor, have always - crowned with their manifest favours those who have their religion at - heart and offer prayers to them for the perpetual safety of our - invincible masters, we have thought it well to approach your immortal - Majesty and to ask that the Christians, who for years have been - impious and do not cease to be so, may be finally suppressed and - transgress no longer, by their wicked and innovating cult, the respect - that is owing to the gods. - - “This result would be attained if their impious rites were forbidden - and suppressed by your divine and eternal decree, and if they were - compelled to practise the cult of the gods, your congeners, and pray - to them on behalf of your eternal and incorruptible Majesty. This - would clearly be to the advantage and profit of all your subjects.” - -Eusebius records two replies of the Emperor to petitions of this -character. One is contained in a letter to his præfect, Sabinus, and -relates to Nicomedia. The other is a document copied by Eusebius from a -bronze tablet set up on a column in Tyre. Maximin expatiates at great -length on the debt, which men owe to the gods, and especially to -Jupiter, the presiding deity of Tyre, for the ordered succession of the -seasons, and for keeping within their appointed bounds the overwhelming -forces of Nature. If there have been calamities and cataclysms, to what -else, he asks, can they be attributed than to the “vain and pestilential -errors of the villainous Christians?” Those who have apostatised and -have been delivered from their blindness are like people who have -escaped from a furious storm or have been cured of some deadly malady. -To them life offers once more its bounteous blessings. Then the Emperor -continues: - - “But if they still persist in their detestable errors, they shall be - banished, in accordance with your petition, far from your city and - your territory, that so this city of Tyre, completely purified, as you - most properly desire it to be, may yield itself wholly to the worship - of the gods. - - “But that you may know how agreeable your petition has been to us, and - how, even without petition on your part, we are disposed to heap - favours upon you, we grant you in advance any favour you shall ask, - however great, in reward for your piety. - - “Ask, therefore, and receive, and do so without hesitation. The - benefit which shall accrue to your city will be a perpetual witness of - your devotion to the gods.” - -Evidently the Christians had not yet come to the end of their troubles. -Those who read this circular letter, for it seems to have been sent -round from city to city, must have expected the persecution to break out -anew at any moment. We do not know to what extent the edict was -observed. If it had been generally acted upon, we should certainly have -heard more of it, inasmuch as it must have entailed a widespread exodus -from the provinces of Maximin. But of this there is no evidence. We -imagine rather that this circular was merely a preliminary sharpening of -the sword in order to keep the Christians in a due state of -apprehension. - -Maximin, however, continued his anti-Christian propaganda with unabated -zeal, and with greater cunning and better devised system than before. -His court at Antioch was the gathering place of all the priests, -magicians, and thaumaturgists of the East, who found in him a generous -patron. We hear of a new deity being invented by Theotecnus, or rather -of an old deity being invested with new attributes. Zeus Philios, or -Jupiter the Friendly was the name of this god, to whom a splendid statue -was erected in Antioch, and to whose shrine a new priesthood, with new -rites, was solemnly dedicated. The god was provided with an attendant -oracle to speak in his name; what more natural than that the first -response should order the banishment of all Christians from the city? -Very noteworthy, too, was the re-appearance of a vigorous anti-Christian -literature. Maximin set on his pamphleteers to write libellous parodies -of the Christian doctrines and encouraged the more serious -controversialists on the pagan side to attack the Christian religion -wherever it was most vulnerable. The most famous of these productions -was one which bore the name of _The Acts of Pilate_ and purported to be -a relation by Pilate himself of the life and conduct of Christ. It was -really an old pamphlet rewritten and brought up to date, full, as -Eusebius says, of all conceivable blasphemy against Christ and reducing -Him to the level of a common malefactor. Maximin welcomed it with -delight. He had thousands of copies written and distributed; extracts -were cut on brass and stone and posted up in conspicuous places; the -work was appointed to be read frequently in public, and—what shews most -of all the fury and cunning of Maximin—it was appointed to be used as a -text-book in schools throughout Asia and Egypt. There was no more subtle -method of training bigots and poisoning the minds of the younger -generation amongst Christianity. Some of the Emperor’s devices, however, -were much more crude. For example, the military commandant of Damascus -arrested half a dozen notorious women of the town and threatened them -with torture if they did not confess that they were Christians, and that -they had been present at ceremonies of the grossest impurity in the -Christian assemblies. Maximin ordered the precious confession thus -extorted to be set up in a prominent place in every township. - -But the Emperor was not merely a furious bigot. There is evidence that -he fully recognised the wonderful strength of the Christian -ecclesiastical organisation and contrasted it with the essential -weakness of the pagan system. In this he anticipated the Emperor Julian. -Paganism was anything but a church. Its framework was loose and -disconnected. There were various colleges of priests, some of which were -powerful and had branches throughout the Empire, but there was little -connection between them save that of a common ritual. There was also -little doctrine save in the special mysteries, where membership was -preceded by formal initiation. Maximin sought to institute a pagan -clergy based upon the Christian model, with a definite hierarchy from -the highest to the lowest. There were already chief priests of the -various provinces, who had borne for long the titles of Asiarch, -Pontarch, Galatarch, and Ciliciarch in their respective provinces. -Maximin developed their powers on the model of those of the Christian -bishops, giving them authority over subordinates and entrusting them -with the duty of seeing that the sacrifices were duly and regularly -offered. He tried to raise the standard of the priesthood by choosing -its members from the best families, by insisting on the priests wearing -white flowing robes, by giving them a guard of soldiers and full powers -of search and arrest. - -Evidently, Maximin was something more than the lustful, bloodthirsty -tyrant who appears in the pages of Lactantius and the ecclesiastical -historians. He dealt the Church much shrewder—though not less -ineffectual—blows than his colleagues in persecution. With such an -Emperor another appeal to the faggot and the sword was inevitable, and -the death of Galerius was the signal for a renewal of the persecution. -This time Maximin struck directly at the most conspicuous figures in the -Christian Church and counted among his victims Peter, the Patriarch of -Alexandria, and three other Egyptian bishops—Methodus, Bishop of Tyre, -Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana in Bithynia, and Silvanus, Bishop of Emesa -in Phœnicia. In Egypt the persecution was so sharp that it drew Saint -Antony from his hermit’s cell in the desert to succour the unfortunate -in Alexandria. He escaped with his life, probably because he was -overlooked or disdained, or because the mighty influence which he was to -exercise upon the Church had not yet declared itself. This persecution -was followed by a terrible drought, famine, and pestilence. -Eusebius,[69] in a vigorous chapter, describes how parents were driven -by hunger to sell not only their lands but also their children, how -whole families were wiped out, how the pestilence seemed to mark down -the rich for its special vengeance, and how in certain townships the -inhabitants were driven to kill all the dogs within their walls that -they might not feed on the bodies of the unburied dead. Amid these -horrors the Christians alone remained calm. They alone displayed the -supreme virtue of charity in tending the suffering and ministering to -the dying. From the pagans themselves, says Eusebius, was wrung the -unwilling admission that none but the Christians, in the sharp test of -adversity, shewed real piety and genuine worship of God.[70] - ------ - -Footnote 69: - - _Hist. Eccles._, ix., 8. - -Footnote 70: - - Εὐσεβεῖς τε καὶ μόνους θεοσεβεῖς τούτους ἀληθῶς, πρὸς αυτῶν - ἐλεγχθέντας τῶν πραγμάτων, ὁμολογεῖν. - ------ - -Maximin’s reign, however, was fast drawing to a close. After becoming -involved in a war with Tiridates of Armenia, from which he emerged with -little credit to himself, he entered into an alliance with Maxentius, -the ruler of Italy, against Constantine and Licinius, but did not invade -the territory of the latter until Maxentius had already been overthrown. -As we have seen, Maximin was utterly routed and, after a hurried flight -to beyond the Taurus, he there, according to Eusebius,[71] gathered -together his erstwhile trusted priests, thaumaturgists, and soothsayers, -and slew them for the proved falsehood of their prophecy. More -significant still, when he found that his doom was certain, he issued a -last religious edict in the vain hope of appeasing the resentment of the -Christians and their God. The document is worth giving in full: - - “The Emperor Cæsar Caius Valerius Maximinus, Germanicus, Sarmaticus, - pious, happy, invincible, august. - - “We have always endeavoured by all means in our power to secure the - advantage of those who dwell in our provinces, and to contribute by - our benefits at once to the prosperity of the State and to the - well-being of every citizen. Nobody can be ignorant of this, and we - are confident that each one who puts his memory to the test, is - persuaded of its truth. - - “We found, however, some time ago that, in virtue of the edict - published by our divine parents, Diocletian and Maximian, ordering the - destruction of the places where the Christians were in the habit of - assembling, many excesses and acts of violence had been committed by - our public servants and that the evil was being increasingly felt by - our subjects every day, inasmuch as their goods were, under this - pretext, unwarrantably seized. - - “Consequently, we declared last year by letters addressed to the - Governors of the Provinces that if any one wished to attach himself to - this sect and practise this religion, he should be allowed to please - himself without interference and no one should say him nay, and the - Christians should enjoy complete liberty and be sheltered from all - fear and all suspicion. - - “However, we have not been able entirely to shut our eyes to the fact - that certain of the magistrates misunderstood our instructions, with - the result that our subjects distrusted our words and were nervous - about resuming the religion of their choice. That is why, in order to - do away with all disquietude and equivocation for the future, we have - resolved to publish this edict, by which all are to understand that - those who wish to follow this sect have full liberty to do so, and - that, by the indulgence of our Majesty, each man may practise the - religion he prefers or that to which he is accustomed. - - “It is also permitted to them to rebuild the houses of the LORD. - Moreover, so that there may be no mistake about the scope of our - indulgence, we have been pleased to order that all houses and places, - formerly belonging to the Christians, which have either been - confiscated by the order of our divine parents, or occupied by any - municipality, or sold or given away, shall return to their original - ownership, so that all men may recognise our piety and our - solicitude.” - ------ - -Footnote 71: - - _Hist. Eccles._, ix., 10. - ------ - -The bigot must have been brought very low and reduced to the last depths -of despair before he set his seal to such a document as this. One can -see that it was drawn up by Maximin with a copy of the Edict of Milan -before him, and that he hoped, by this tardy and clumsy recognition of -the principle of absolute liberty of conscience for all men, to make the -Christians forget his brutalities. Doubtless, the Christians of Cilicia -and Syria looked to Constantine in far off Gaul as a model prince and -emperor, and heard with joy of the steady advance of Constantine’s ally, -Licinius. The latter would come in their eyes in the guise of a -liberator, and prayers for his success would be offered up in every -Christian church of the persecuted East. Maximin sought to repurchase -their loyalty: it was too late. His absurd pretext that his orders had -been misunderstood by his provincial governors would deceive no one. He -had been the shrewdest enemy with whom the Church had had to cope; his -edict of recantation was read with chilly suspicion or cold contempt, -which was changed into hymns of rejoicing when the Christians heard that -the tyrant had poisoned himself and died in agony, while his conqueror, -Licinius, had drowned the fallen Empress in the Orontes and put to death -her children, a boy of eight and a girl of seven. Those who had suffered -persecution for ten years may be pardoned their exultation that there -was no one left alive to perpetuate the names of their persecutors.[72] - ------ - -Footnote 72: - - _Hoc modo deus universos persecutores nominis sui debellavit, ut eorum - nec stirps nec radix ulla remaneret._—_De Mort. Persec._, c. 49. - ------ - -Throughout this time the West had escaped very lightly. Even Maxentius -had begun his reign by seeking to secure the good-will of the -Christians. Eusebius, indeed, makes the incredible statement[73] that in -order to please and flatter the Roman people he pretended to embrace the -Christian faith and “assumed the mask of piety.” Probably all he did was -to leave the Christians of Rome in peace. The chair of St. Peter had -remained empty for four years after the death of Bishop Marcellinus. In -308 Marcellus was elected to fill it and the Church was organised -afresh. But it was rent with internal dissensions. There was a large -section which insisted that the brethren who had been found weak during -the recent persecution should be received back into the fold without -penance and reproach. Marcellus stood out for discipline; the quarrel -became so exacerbated that Maxentius exiled the Bishop, who shortly -afterwards died. A priest named Eusebius was then chosen Pontiff, but -the schismatics elected a Pontiff of their own, Heraclius by name, and -the rival partisans quarrelled and fought in the streets. Maxentius, -with strict impartiality, exiled both. The record of this schism is -preserved in the curious epitaph composed by Pope Damasus for the tomb -of Eusebius: - - “Heraclius forbade the lapsed to bewail their sins; Eusebius taught - them to repent and weep for their wrong-doing. The people were divided - into factions, raging and furious: then came sedition, bloodshed, war, - discord, strife.[74] Forthwith both were driven away by the cruelty of - the tyrant. While the Bishop preserved intact the bonds of peace, he - endured his exile gladly on the Trinacrian shores, knowing that God - was his judge, and so passed from this world and from life.” - ------ - -Footnote 73: - - _Hist. Eccles._, viii., 14. - -Footnote 74: - - _Scinditur in partes populus gliscente furore; Seditio, cædes, bellum, - discordia, lites._ - ------ - -On the confession of Damasus himself, the state of the Roman Church -warranted the interference of Maxentius if it resulted in “sedition, -bloodshed, war, discord, and strife,” and the “cruelty of the tyrant” in -this particular case is not proven. Eusebius died in Sicily in 310; in -the following year Miltiades was elected Bishop, and Maxentius restored -to the Roman Christians their churches and cemeteries, which for eight -years had been in the hands of the civil authorities. - -The overthrow of Maxentius by Constantine, the destruction of Maximin by -Licinius, the publication of the Edict of Milan, and the apparent -sincerity of the two Emperors in their anxiety to restore peace and -security, were naturally hailed by the Christians throughout the Empire -with the liveliest joy. On every side stately churches began to rise -from the ground, and as the triumph of Christianity over its enemies was -incontestable, converts came flocking in by the thousand to receive what -Eusebius calls “the mysterious signs of the Saviour’s Passion.” The only -troublers of the Church were members of the Church herself, like the -extravagant Donatists in Africa. The canons of the Council of Ancyra, -which was held soon after the death of Maximin, shew how the -ecclesiastical authorities imposed varying penances upon those who had -shrunk from their duty as soldiers of Christ in the recent persecution, -varying, that is to say, according to the extent of their shortcomings. -Some had apostatised and themselves turned persecutors; some had -sacrificed at the first command; some had endured prison, but had shrunk -from torture; some had suffered torture, but quailed before the stake; -some had bribed the executioners only to make a show of torturing them; -some had attended the sacrificial feasts, but had substituted other -meats. The punishments range from ten years of probation and every -degree of penance, down to a few months’ deprivation of the comforts and -communions of the Church. - -New dangers, however, speedily threatened. Constantine and Licinius -quarrelled between themselves and, after two stubborn battles, agreed -upon a fresh division of the world. For eight years, from 315 to 323, -this partition lasted, but, as the Emperors again drifted apart, -Licinius became more and more anti-Christian. His rivalry with -Constantine accounts for the change. Licinius suspected Constantine of -intriguing with his Christian subjects just as Constantine regarded the -pagan element in his own provinces as the natural focus of disaffection -against his rule. Licinius had no definite Christian beliefs; he had -been the friend and nominee of Galerius; and, like Galerius, he never -got rid of the suspicion that the Christian assemblies were a danger to -the public security. The Christians had aided him against Maximin: he -thought they would do the same for Constantine against himself. -Eusebius[75] likens him to a twisted snake, wriggling along and -concealing its poisoned fangs, not daring to attack the Church openly -for fear of Constantine, but dealing it constant and insidious blows. - ------ - -Footnote 75: - - _De Vita Constant._, ii., 1. - ------ - -The simile was well chosen. Licinius seems to have opened his campaign -against the Christians by forbidding the bishops in his provinces to -leave their dioceses and take part in their usual synods and councils. -They were to remain at home, he said, and mind their own business and -not plot treason against their Emperor under the pretext of perfecting -the discipline of the Church. Another edict, which came with poor grace -from a man whose own excesses were notorious, forbade Christian men and -women to meet for common worship in their churches: they were to worship -apart, so that their morals might not be exposed to danger. On the same -pretext, bishops and priests were only allowed to give teaching and -consolation to their own sex; Christian women must find women teachers -and advisers. Eusebius tells us[76] that these edicts excited universal -ridicule. It was too late to revive the old stories of gross immorality -taking place at the communion services, and there was fresh cause for -mocking laughter when Licinius forbade the Christians to assemble in -their churches within the towns and ordered them to go outside the gates -and meet, if they must meet, in the open air. This was necessary, he -said, on the grounds of public health; the atmosphere beyond the gates -was purer. Licinius’s theory of hygiene was perfectly sound; its -application was ludicrous. - ------ - -Footnote 76: - - _De Vita Constant._, i., 53. - ------ - -These were the first steps leading, as his subjects must have known only -too well, straight to persecution. After a time Licinius threw over -bodily the Edict of Milan. He purged his court and his army in the old -way. The choice was sacrifice or dismissal, and some pretext was usually -made to tack on to official dismissal a confiscation of goods. Licinius, -says Eusebius, thirsted for gold like a very Tantalus. Aurelius Victor -says[77] he had all the mean, sordid avarice of a peasant. And the -Christians, of course, were fair game. He pillaged their churches, -robbed them of their goods, sentenced them to exile and to the mines, or -ruined them just as effectually by insisting on their becoming -magistrates. Bloodshed followed, and Licinius aimed his severest blows -at the bishops. He accused them of omitting his name in their prayers -for the welfare of the Emperor and the State, though they carefully -remembered that of Constantine; and, if none were actually put to death, -many suffered imprisonment, torture, and mutilation. The story of the -martyrs and confessors in the Licinian persecution is very like that of -those who suffered under Diocletian and Maximin. But the fate of the -forty soldier martyrs of the Twelfth Legion (_Fulminata_) deserves -special mention. They had refused to sacrifice, and, by order of their -general, were stripped naked and ordered to remain throughout a winter’s -night upon a frozen pond, exposed to the elements. At the side of the -pond was a building, where the water for the town baths was heated. -Apparently no guard was kept. The martyrs were free to make their way to -the warmth and shelter if they wished it, but only at the price of -apostasy. One of them, after enduring bravely for many hours, crawled -towards the warmth, but died of exhaustion as soon as he had crossed the -threshold. The sight so affected the pagan attendant of the bath that he -flung off his clothes in uncontrollable emotion, and with the shout, “I -too am a Christian,” took the place of the weak brother who had just -lost the martyr’s crown. In the morning the forty were found dead and -their bodies were burnt at the stake. It was said that one of them was -found to be still breathing, and the executioners put him apart from the -rest. His mother, afraid lest he should miss entering heaven by the side -of his brave companions in glory, herself placed him in the cart to be -borne to the stake. - ------ - -Footnote 77: - - _Huic parcimonia et ea quidem agrestis._ - ------ - -Another moving story of the Licinian persecution is that of Gordius of -Cæsarea, in Cappadocia. He had fled from his home to live the life of a -hermit among the mountains, when suddenly an impulse came upon him to -return and testify to the truth. The people were all assembled in the -Circus, intent upon some public spectacle, when an uncouth figure was -seen to move slowly down the marble steps and then pass out into the -centre of the arena. A hush fell upon the multitude, as the hermit was -recognised and dragged before the tribunal of the Governor. “I have -come,” he said, “to shew how little I think of your edicts and to -confess my faith in Jesus Christ, and I have chosen this moment, O -Governor, because I know your cruelty, which surpasses that of all other -men.” They put him to the torture: he delighted in his pain. “The more -you torture me,” he said, “the greater will be my reward. There is a -bargain between God and us. Each pang and torment that we suffer here -will be rewarded there by increased glory and happiness.” - -Licinius had thus, like Maximin, made himself the champion of the old -religion and the religious reactionaries. When in 323 war again broke -out between himself and Constantine, it was as the professed enemy of -Christianity and its God that he took the field. The war was a war of -ambition on both sides, but it was also a war between the two religions. -We have mentioned elsewhere the oath which Licinius took before the -battle, when he vowed that if the gods gave him the victory he would -extirpate root and branch the Christian religion. Fate gave him no -opportunity to fulfil his promise. Defeated at Adrianople and at -Chrysopolis, and then exiled to Thessalonica, Licinius had not many -months to live. Before he died he saw his pagan councillors pay for -their folly with their lives and heard the rejoicings of the Christians -of the East at the fall of the last of their pagan persecutors. The -Church at last had won her freedom and was to suffer at the hands of the -State no more. Eusebius has fortunately preserved for us the text of the -edict addressed by Constantine after his victory to the inhabitants of -Palestine, recalling from exile, from the mines, and from servitude the -Christian victims of the recent persecution, restoring their property to -those who had suffered confiscation, offering to soldiers who had been -expelled in disgrace from the army either a return to their old rank or -the certificate of honourable discharge, and giving back to the churches -without diminution the corporate possessions of which they had been -robbed. Constantine not merely passed the sponge over the administrative -acts of Licinius: he granted large subsidies to the bishops who had -suffered at the hands of “the dragon,” and himself wrote to “his dearest -beloved brother,” Eusebius of Cæsarea, urging him to see that the -bishops, elders, and deacons in his neighbourhood were “active and -enthusiastic in the work of the Church.”[78] - ------ - -Footnote 78: - - σπουδάζειν περὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν.—_De Vita Const._, ii., 46. - ------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER IX - CONSTANTINE AND THE DONATISTS - - -If Constantine hoped that by the Edict of Milan he had stilled the voice -of religious controversy, he was speedily disillusioned. He was now to -find the peace of the Church violently disturbed by those belonging to -her communions, and the hatreds of Christians against one another almost -as menacing to the tranquillity of the imperial rule as had been the -bitter strife of pagan and Christian. In the same year (313) he received -an appeal from certain African bishops imploring him to appoint a -commission of Gallican bishops to settle certain difficulties which had -arisen in Africa. The Donatist schism, which was destined to last for -more than a century, had begun. - -Its rise may be traced in a few words. Northern Africa had long been the -home of a perfervid religious fanaticism. Montanism and Novatianism had -found there their most violent adherents, to whom there was something -peculiarly attractive in extravagant protest against the laxity or the -liberalism of the Church elsewhere, and in emphatic insistence on the -narrowness of the way which leads to salvation. Those who set up the -most impossible standard of attainment; those who demanded from the -Christian the most absolute spotlessness of life; those who insisted -most strenuously on the enormity of sin and made fewest allowances for -the weakness of humanity—these were surest of being heard most gladly in -northern Africa. During the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian many -of the African Christians had ostentatiously courted martyrdom. -According to Catholic authors, such martyrdom had been sought not only -by saints, but by men of immoral and dissolute life, who thought to -purge the stains of a sinful career by dying in the odour of sanctity. -Others, again, while not prepared to die for the faith, were not -unwilling to suffer imprisonment for it, inasmuch as their -fellow-Christians looked well after the creature comforts of those who -languished in gaol. Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa, -strongly disapproved of these proceedings. He discountenanced the -fanaticism, which he knew to be the besetting weakness of his people; -refused to recognise as martyrs those who had provoked death; and -checked, as far as possible, the indiscriminate charity of his flock. If -his critics are to be believed, Mensurius had resort to a trick in order -to save the Holy Books of his own cathedral and thus escape the choice -of being a _traditor_ or of suffering for conscience’ sake. It was said -that when the officers of the civil power demanded the Holy Books in his -keeping, he handed over to them a number of heretical volumes, which -were at once burnt, while the Sacred Scriptures were carefully -concealed. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Mensurius was -charged with actual persecution of those Christians who had a sterner -sense of duty than himself. - -It is manifest, however, from what took place at a synod of bishops held -in Cirta in 305 that many of the natural leaders of the African Church -had quailed before the persecution of Diocletian. They had assembled, -under the presidency of Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis and Primate of -Numidia, in order to fill the vacant see of Cirta. Secundus opened the -proceedings by inviting all present to clear themselves of the charge of -having surrendered their Holy Books, and began to put the question -directly to each in turn. Donatus of Mascula returned an evasive answer, -and said that he was responsible only to God. Many pleaded that they had -substituted other books for the Scriptures; Victor of Russicas alone -confessed that he had handed over the Four Gospels. “Valentinianus, the -Curator, himself compelled me to send them,” he said; “pardon me this -fault, even as God pardons me.” Then came the turn of Purpurius, Bishop -of Limata. Secundus accused him not of being a _traditor_, but of the -murder of two of his nephews. Purpurius stormed with rage. He vowed that -he would not be browbeaten, and declared that Secundus was no better -than his fellows and had purchased his own immunity, like the rest of -them, by surrendering the Scriptures. As for murdering his nephews, the -charge was true. “I did kill them,” he said, “and I kill all who stand -in my way.” This candid avowal seems to have occasioned no surprise -among the members of this extraordinary synod; they were all too -indignant with Secundus for raising inconvenient questions and -pretending to a sanctity beyond his colleagues. Eventually, another -nephew of Secundus threatened that they would all withdraw from his -communion and make a schism (_recedere et schisma facere_), unless he -let the matter drop. “What business is it of yours what each has done?” -asked the outspoken nephew. “It is to God that each must tender his -account.” The president thereupon drew in his horns, pronounced the -acquittal of the accused, and with a general murmur of “_Deo gratias_,” -they proceeded to the election of a bishop. Their choice fell upon -Sylvanus, himself a _traditor_, much, it is said, to the indignation of -the people of Cirta, who raised cries of, “He is a _traditor_: let -another be elected. We want our bishop to be pure and upright.” Sylvanus -had surrendered, without even a show of compulsion, one of the sacred -silver lamps from the altar of his church. It is more than possible that -the report of the proceedings at this synod, which is found only in -works written specifically—but by episcopal hands—against the Donatists, -is highly exaggerated. Among the bishops present at Cirta were those -who, a few years later, were the principal leaders of the Donatist -schism. But, even when all allowances are made for party colouring, the -picture it gives of the Numidian Church is far from flattering. - -During the life of Mensurius overt schism was avoided, though the Church -of Carthage was by no means untroubled. For even before the persecution -broke out, a certain lady named Lucilla had fallen under the censure of -the ecclesiastical authorities, and had left the fold in high dudgeon. -She became the lady patroness of the malcontent Christians of Carthage -and the prime mover in any ecclesiastical intrigue that was afoot. She -had been wont, before taking the Eucharist, to kiss the doubtful relic -of a martyr, and she had set greater store on the efficacy of this -unregistered bone than on the virtues of the sacred chalice. It was not, -of course, for relic worship that Cæcilianus, the Archdeacon, rebuked -her, for the early Church everywhere acknowledged its intercessional -value, and it was the usual practice for an officiating priest, before -celebrating, to kiss the relics that were placed on the high altar. -Lucilla was reproved because her relic was not recognised by the -Church.[79] It was doubtful whether it had belonged to a martyr at all, -and, in any case, its identity had not been duly authenticated. But -before Mensurius could deal with this revolted daughter the tempest of -persecution broke over Africa. The angry and insulting epithets with -which the Catholic historians have loaded Lucilla are perhaps the best -testimony to her ability and influence. She was very rich and a born -intriguante (_pecuniosissima et factiosissima_), and as she had what she -considered to be a personal insult to avenge, she was as willing as she -was competent to cause trouble and mischief. - ------ - -Footnote 79: - - _Os nescio cujus hominis mortui, et si martyris, sed necdum - vindicati._ - ------ - -Shortly before the overthrow of Maxentius, one of Mensurius’s deacons -issued a defamatory libel against the Emperor and then took sanctuary at -Carthage. The Bishop refused to surrender him and was peremptorily -summoned to Rome. Evidently expecting that the Emperor would condemn him -and order the confiscation of the holy vessels of his church, Mensurius -secretly handed them over to the custody of certain elders in whose -honesty he thought he could place implicit reliance. But he took the -precaution—a wise one, as it subsequently proved—to make an inventory, -which he gave to an old woman, with instructions that if he did not -return she was to hand it to his lawfully appointed successor. Mensurius -then went to Rome, succeeded in convincing Maxentius of his innocence, -but died on the way home, in 311 A.D. As soon as the news of his death -reached Carthage, the round of intrigue began. According to Optatus, two -deacons named Botrus and Celestius, each hoping to secure his own -elevation, hurried on the election, in which the Numidian bishops were -not invited to take part. The passage is obscure, for Optatus goes on to -say that the choice fell upon Cæcilianus, who was elected “by the -suffrages of the whole people,” and was consecrated in due form by -Felix, Bishop of Aptunga. When Cæcilianus called upon the elders to -restore the Church ornaments, they quitted the Church—the suggestion of -the Catholic historian is that they had hoped to steal them—and attached -themselves to the faction of Lucilla, together with Botrus and -Celestius, whom St. Augustine roundly denounces as “impious and -sacrilegious thieves.” The schism was now complete. It had its origin, -says Optatus,[80] in the fury of a headstrong woman; it was nurtured by -intrigue and drew its strength from jealous greed. - ------ - -Footnote 80: - - _Schisma igitur illo tempore confusæ mulieris iracundia peperit, - ambitus nutrivit, avaritia roboravit._ - ------ - -Cæcilianus’ position was speedily challenged. The malcontents appealed -to the Numidian bishops, urging them to declare in synod whether the -election was valid. Accordingly, the Numidian Primate, Secundus of -Tigisis, came with seventy other bishops to the capital, where they were -received with open arms by the opposition party. Cæcilianus seated -himself on his throne in the cathedral and waited for the bishops to -appear. When they did not come he sent a message saying, “If any one has -any accusation to bring against me, let him come to make good the -charge.”, But the Numidian bishops preferred to meet elsewhere within -closed doors and finally declared the election of Cæcilianus invalid on -the ground that he had been consecrated by a _traditor_. To this -Cæcilianus replied that, if they thought Felix of Aptunga had been a -_traditor_, they had better consecrate him themselves, as though he were -still a simple deacon—a sarcasm which roused the violent Purpurius to -exclaim: “Let him come here to receive the laying on of hands, and we -will strike off his head by way of penance.” They then elected -Majorinus, who had been one of Cæcilianus’ readers and was now a member -of Lucilla’s household. There were thus two rival bishops of Carthage. -Those who supported Cæcilianus called themselves the Catholic party; -their rivals, until the death of Majorinus in 315, were known as the -party of Majorinus, though their moving spirit seems to have been, -first, Donatus, the Bishop of Casæ Nigræ, and, afterwards, Donatus, -surnamed Magnus, who gave his name to the schism. - -Though Africa was thus split into two camps, there is no evidence that -Majorinus was recognised by any of the churches of Europe, Egypt, or -Asia. These all looked to Cæcilianus as the rightful bishop, and so, -when Constantine, fresh from his victory over Maxentius, wrote to the -African churches in 312 to announce his intention of making a handsome -present of money to their clergy, it was to Cæcilianus that the letter -was addressed, and the schismatics were rebuked in the sharpest terms. -The letter ran as follows: - - “CONSTANTINE AUGUSTUS TO CÆCILIANUS, BISHOP OF - CARTHAGE. - - “Inasmuch as it has pleased us to contribute something towards the - necessary expenses of certain ministers of the lawful and most holy - Catholic religion throughout all the provinces of Africa, Numidia, and - both Mauretanias, I have sent letters to Ursus, the most noble - governor of Africa, and have instructed him to see that three thousand - purses are paid over to your Reverence. When, therefore, you have - received the above mentioned sum, you will take care that the money is - divided among the clergy already spoken of according to the - instructions sent to you by Hosius. - - “If you consider this amount insufficient for the purpose of - testifying my regard for all of you in Africa, you are to ask without - delay Heraclidas, the procurator of the imperial domains, for whatever - you may think necessary. For I have personally instructed him that - whatever sum your Reverence asks for is to be paid without hesitation. - - “And since I have heard that certain persons of ill-balanced mind - (_quosdam non satis compositæ mentis_) are acting in such a manner as - to corrupt the people of the most holy and Catholic Church with wicked - and adulterous falsehoods (_improba et adulterina falsitate_), I would - have you know that I have given verbal instructions to Anulinus, the - proconsul, and to Patricius, the vicar of the præfects, to include - among their other duties a sharp lookout in this matter, and, if this - movement continues, not to neglect or ignore it. - - “Consequently, if you find persons of this character persevering in - their mad folly (_in hac amentia perseverare_) you will at once - approach the above mentioned judges and lay the matter before them, - that they may punish the culprits (_in eos animadvertant_) in - accordance with my personal instructions. - - “May the divinity of the Supreme God (_Divinitas summi Dei_) preserve - you for many years.” - -In conjunction with this must be taken the letter addressed by -Constantine to Anulinus, the proconsul of Africa: - - “Greetings to our best beloved Anulinus! Inasmuch as it is abundantly - proven that the neglect of the religion which preserves the greatest - reverence for divine majesty has reduced the State to the direst - peril, while its careful and due observance has brought the most - splendid prosperity to the Roman name and unspeakable felicity to all - things mortal, thanks to divine goodness, we have resolved, best - beloved Anulinus, that those, who with due righteousness of life and - continual observance of the law, perform their ministry in this divine - religion shall reap the reward of their labours. - - “Wherefore, it is our wish that all who, in the province under your - care and in the Catholic Church over which Cæcilianus presides, - minister to this most holy religion—those, viz., whom people are wont - to call the clergy—shall be absolved[81] from all public duties of any - kind, lest, by some slip or grave mischance, they may be distracted - from the duties they owe to the Supreme Divinity, and that they may do - the better service to their own ritual without any disturbing - influences. - - “Inasmuch as these people display the deepest reverence for the Divine - Will, it seems to me that they ought to receive the greatest reward - the State can bestow.” - ------ - -Footnote 81: - - _Ab omnibus omnino publicis functionibus immunes volumus conservari._ - ------ - -[Illustration: - - THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES. - EXTERIOR VIEW. PRESENT DAY. -] - -These are two remarkable letters. They clearly prove that the schism in -the African Church was making a stir outside Africa, and that the -Emperor had been instructed in the main points at issue. The new convert -had cast his all-powerful influence upon the Catholic side—an Emperor -would naturally be biassed against schism—and he was prepared to utilise -the civil power in order to compel the return of the schismatics to -obedience. So little observant was he of his own edict of toleration -that he was prepared to use force to secure uniformity within the -Church! Constantine, indeed, reveals himself not merely as a Christian, -but as a Catholic Christian; his bounty is reserved for the Catholic -clergy, and the immunity from public duties involving heavy expense is -reserved similarly for them alone. Nevertheless, the party of Majorinus -petitioned the Emperor to appoint a commission of Gallican bishops to -enquire into and report upon their quarrel with the Bishop of Carthage. - - “We appeal to you, Constantine, best of Emperors, since you come of a - just stock, for your father was alone among his colleagues in not - putting the persecution into force, and Gaul was thus spared that - frightful crime. Strife has arisen between us and other African - bishops, and we pray that your piety may lead you to grant us judges - from Gaul.” - - (Signed by Lucianus, Dignus, Nasutius, Capito, Fidentius, and other - bishops of the party of Majorinus.) - -This petition was forwarded by Anulinus, the proconsul, whose covering -letter, dated April, 313, describes the opponents of Cæcilianus as being -resolute in refusing obedience. The Emperor, who was in Gaul when the -petition reached him, granted the desired commission and instructed the -bishops of Cologne, Autun, and Arles to repair to Rome. Cæcilianus was -instructed to attend with the bishops belonging to his party; ten of the -rival bishops attached to Majorinus were to appear in the character of -accusers, and for judges there were to be Miltiades, Bishop of Rome, the -three Gallican bishops, and fifteen other Italian bishops selected by -Miltiades from all parts of the peninsula. They met in October in the -palace of the Empress Fausta, on the Lateran. Constantine had already -written a letter to Miltiades, in which he deplored the existence of -such serious schism in the populous African provinces, which, he said, -had spontaneously surrendered to him, under the influence of divine -Providence, as a reward for his devotion to religion. He, therefore, -looked to the bishops to find a reasonable solution. - -At the first sitting the credentials of the accusers of Cæcilianus were -examined, and some were disqualified on the score of bad character. -Then, when the witnesses were called, those who had been brought to Rome -by Majorinus and Donatus avowed that they had nothing to say against -Cæcilianus. The case of the petitioners practically collapsed, for the -judges refused to listen to unsubstantiated gossip and scandal, and -Donatus in the end declined to attend the enquiry, fearing lest he -should be condemned on his own admissions. Later on, a second list of -charges was handed in, but was not supported by a single witness, and -then finally the commission passed on to enquire into the proceedings of -the Council of the seventy bishops who had declared the election of -Cæcilianus invalid. They had no difficulty in reaching a general -decision. - -The accusations against Cæcilianus had clearly broken down and the -verdict of Miltiades began in the following terms: “Inasmuch as it is -shewn that Cæcilianus is not accused by those who came with Donatus, as -they had promised to do, and Donatus has in no particular established -his charges against him, I find that Cæcilianus should be maintained in -the communion of his church with all his privileges intact.” St. -Augustine warmly eulogises the admirable moderation displayed by -Miltiades, who, in the hope of restoring unity, offered to send letters -of communion to all who had been consecrated by Majorinus, proposing -that where there were two rival bishops, the senior in time of -consecration should be confirmed in the appointment, while another see -should be found for the other. But the Donatists would listen to no -compromise. They appealed again to the Emperor, who, with a very -pardonable outburst of wrath, denounced the rabid and implacable hatreds -of these turbulent Africans. - -Knowing that the quarrel would be resumed in full blast if Cæcilianus -and Donatus returned to Africa, Constantine detained them both in Italy. -Two Italian bishops, Eunomius and Olympius, were meanwhile sent to -Carthage to act as peacemakers and explain to the African congregations -which was the true Catholic Church. It was none other, they said, than -the Church which was diffused throughout the whole world, and they -insisted that the judgment of the nineteen bishops was one from which -there could be no appeal. The Donatists, however, retorted that if the -verdict of nineteen bishops was sacred, a verdict of seventy must be -even more so. They resisted the overtures of their visitors, and thus, -when Donatus and Cæcilianus in turn reappeared on the scene, the fires -of partisanship did not lack for fuel. It was no longer possible for the -Donatists to press for a rehearing on the ground of the personal -character of Cæcilianus. They had had their chance in Rome to impugn the -Primate’s character, and had failed. They now shifted their ground and -based their claim upon the fact that Felix of Aptunga, who had -consecrated Cæcilianus, was a _traditor_, and the consecration was, -therefore, invalid. - -But was Felix a _traditor_? This was a plain, straightforward question, -involving no disputed point of doctrine. Constantine, therefore, wrote -to Ælianus, Anulinus’s successor as proconsul of Africa, instructing him -to hold a public enquiry into the life and character of Felix of -Aptunga. Part of the official report has come down to us. Among the -witnesses were those who had been the chief magistrates of Aptunga at -the time of the persecution. These must all have been acutely conscious -of the curiously anomalous position in which they stood. If they found -that Felix had delivered up the Holy Books and utensils of the church, -their verdict would acquit him of having broken the law of Diocletian, -but would convict him of being a _traditor_, and would, therefore, be -most unwelcome to the reigning sovereign. If they decided that Felix was -not a _traditor_, they would convict him of having broken the law of -Diocletian and convict themselves of having been lax administrators. The -favour of a living Prince, however, outweighed consideration for the -edicts of the dead, and the finding of the court was that “no volumes of -Holy Scripture had been discovered at Aptunga, or had been defiled, or -burnt.” It went on to say that Felix was not present in the city at the -time and that he had not temporised with his conscience (_neque -conscientiam accommodaverit_). He had been, in short, a godly bishop -(_religiosum episcopum_). The character of Felix was, therefore, -entirely rehabilitated and the validity of the consecration of -Cæcilianus was unimpaired. - -[Illustration: - - THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES AS IT APPEARED IN 1686. - FROM AN OLD PRINT. -] - -Then follows the Council of Arles in 314. With a forbearance rarely -displayed by a Roman emperor to inveterate and unreasoning opposition, -Constantine yielded to the clamour of the Donatists for a new council on -a broader and more authoritative scale than the commission of Italian -and Gallic bishops. But his disappointment and disgust are plainly to be -seen in his letter to the proconsul of Africa. Constantine began by -saying that he had fully expected that the decision of a commission of -bishops “of the very highest probity and competence” would have -commanded universal respect. He found, however, that the enemies of -Cæcilianus were as dogged and obstinate as ever, for they declared that -the bishops had simply shut themselves up in a room and judged the case -according to their personal predilections. They clamoured for another -council: he would grant them one which was to meet at Arles. Ælianus, -therefore, was to see that the public posting service throughout Africa -and Mauretania was placed at the disposal of Cæcilianus and his party -and of Donatus and his party, that they might travel with despatch and -cross into Spain by the quickest passage. Then the letter continued: - - “You will provide each separate Bishop with imperial letters entitling - him to necessaries _en route_ (_tractorias litteras_) that he may - arrive at Arles by the first of August, and you will also give all the - bishops to understand that, before they leave their dioceses, they - must make arrangements whereby, during their absence, reasonable - discipline may be preserved and no chance revolt against authority or - private altercations arise, for these bring the Church into great - disgrace. - - “On the other matters at issue, I wish the enquiry to be full and - complete, and an end to be reached,[82] as I hope it may be, when all - those who are known to be at variance meet together in person. The - quarrel may thus come to its natural and timely conclusion. - - “For as I am well assured that you are a worshipper of the supreme - God, I confess to your Excellency that I consider it by no means - lawful for me to ignore disputes and quarrels of such a nature as may - excite the supreme Divinity to wrath, not only against the human race - but against myself personally, into whose charge the Divinity by its - Divine will has committed the governance of all that is on earth. In - its just indignation, it might decree some ill against me. - - “And then only can I feel really and absolutely secure, and hope for - an unfailing supply of all the richest blessings that flow from the - instant goodness of Almighty God, when I shall see all mankind - reverencing most Holy God in brotherly singleness of worship and in - the lawful rites of our Catholic religion.”[83] - ------ - -Footnote 82: - - _De cætero plena cognitione suscepta finis adhibeatur._ - -Footnote 83: - - _Tunc enim revera et plenissime securus potero esse, cum universos - sensero debito cultu catholicæ religionis sanctissimum Deum concordi - observantiæ fraternitate venerari._ - ------ - -Not only did Constantine write in this evidently sincere strain to the -proconsul of Africa; he also sent personal letters to the bishops whose -presence he desired. Eusebius has preserved the text of one of these, -which was addressed to Chrestus, Bishop of Syracuse, in which the -Emperor instructs him not to fail to reach Arles by August 1st, and bids -him secure a public vehicle from Latronianus, the Governor of Sicily, -and bring with him two presbyters of the second rank and three personal -servants. In obedience to Constantine’s wishes the bishops assembled at -Arles by the appointed day. It is not known how many were present. On -the fullest list of those who signed the canons there agreed to are -found the names of thirty-three bishops, thirteen presbyters, -twenty-three deacons, two readers, seven exorcists, and four -representatives of the Bishop of Rome. But from the extreme importance -attached to the council in later times it is certain that many more -attended, and the numbers have been variously estimated at from two to -six hundred. Not a single Eastern bishop was present. It was a council -of the West, representing the various provinces of Africa and Gaul, -Spain, Britain, Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. From Britain came Eborius -of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelfius, the Bishop of a diocese -which has been variously interpreted as that of Colchester, Lincoln, and -Caerleon on Usk, with a presbyter named Sacerdos and a deacon called -Arminius. The Bishop of Rome, Sylvester, sent two presbyters and two -deacons. - -The Council investigated with great minuteness the points raised by the -Donatists, but it is clear from the report sent to Sylvester that the -Donatists were no better supplied with evidence than they had been at -Rome. They simply repeated the old, unsubstantiated charge against -Cæcilianus that, as deacon, he had forcibly prevented the members of the -Church of Carthage from succouring their brethren in prison during the -persecution of Diocletian, and the disproved accusation against the -bishop who consecrated him that he had been a _traditor_. In a word, -they had absolutely no case and the Council of Arles endorsed the -verdict of the Council of Rome. The synodal letter to Sylvester began as -follows: - - “We, assembled in the city of Arles at the bidding of our most pious - Emperor, in the common bonds of charity and unity, and knitted - together by the ties of the mother Catholic Church, salute you, most - holy Pope, with all due reverence. We have endured to listen to the - accusations of desperate men, who have wrought grave injury to our law - and tradition, men whom the present authority of our God and the rule - of truth have so utterly disowned that there was no reason in their - speeches, no bounds to the charges they brought, and no evidence or - proof. And so, in the judgment of God and the Mother Church, which has - known and attests them, they stand either condemned or rejected. Would - that you, dearest brother, had found it possible to take part in such - a gathering. We verily believe that in that case a more severe - sentence would have been passed upon them, while if your judgment had - coincided with ours, the joy of our assembly would have been - intensified. But since you found it impossible to leave the chosen - place where the Apostles make their daily home, and where their blood - testifies ceaselessly to the glory of God, we thought, dearest - brother, that we ought not simply to take in hand the subject for the - discussion of which we had been called together, but also to consider - other matters on our own account, and, as we have come from diverse - provinces, diverse are the topics on which it seemed good to us to - take counsel.” - -The letter then enumerates the canons to which the signatories had -agreed and transmits them with the remark that as the Bishop of Rome’s -dioceses were wider than those of any other bishop, he was the most -suitable person to press the acceptance of these canons upon the Church. - -It does not fall within the province of this book to discuss these -twenty-two canons; it will suffice to indicate the more important in the -briefest outline. The first suggested that Easter should be celebrated -on the same day throughout the whole world; the second insisted on the -clergy residing in the places to which they were ordained; the third -threatened with excommunication deserters from the army in times of -peace (_qui arma projiciunt in pace_). Of special importance in -connection with the questions raised by the Donatists were the canons -which prohibited the rebaptism of heretics if they had been baptised in -the name of the Holy Trinity; which recognised the validity of baptism -conferred by heretics, if conferred in the proper form; which ordered -that a new bishop should be consecrated by seven, or at least three, -bishops and never by a single one; which removed from the ministry all -those who were clearly proved to have been _traditores_ or to have -denounced their brother clergy, though, if these had ordained any others -to the ministry, the validity of the ordination was not to be -challenged. Worthy also of note is the canon removing from the communion -of the faithful all those engaged in any calling connected with the -arena or the stage, such as charioteers, jockeys, actors, pantomimists, -and the like, as long as they continue in professions which, in the eyes -of the Church, tend to the subversion of public morals; the canon which -excommunicated those of the clergy who practised usury, and the canon -exhorting those whose wives had been unfaithful not to marry again, as -they were legally entitled to do, during the lifetime of their guilty -partners. - -If the Council of Arles was exceptionally fruitful in respect of new -rules passed for the improvement of ecclesiastical discipline, it proved -an entire failure in its primary object, that of putting an end to the -Donatist schism. The African malcontents still refused to acknowledge -Cæcilianus and had the effrontery to appeal to Constantine for yet -another investigation. As the bishops of the West were obstinately -prejudiced against them, they desired the Emperor to be gracious enough -to take charge of the enquiry himself. Constantine did not conceal his -anger in the important letter which he addressed to the bishops at -Arles, thanking them for their labours and giving them leave to return -to their homes. He wrote: - - “Certainly I cannot describe or enumerate the blessings which God in - His heavenly bounty has bestowed upon me, His servant. I rejoice - exceedingly, therefore, that after this most just enquiry you have - recalled to better hope and future those whom the malignity of the - Devil seemed to have seduced away by his miserable persuasion from the - clearest light of the Catholic law. O truly conquering Providence of - Christ, our Saviour, solicitous even for these who have deserted and - turned their weapons against the truth, and joined themselves to the - heathen. Yet even now, if they will truly believe and obey His most - holy law, they will be able to see what forethought has been taken in - their behalf by the will of God. - - “And I hoped, most holy brethren, to find such a disposition even in - the stubbornest breasts. For not without just cause will the clemency - of Christ depart from those, in whom it shines with a light so clear - that we may perceive they are regarded with loathing by the Divine - Providence. Such men must be bereft of reason, since with incredible - arrogance they persuade themselves of the truth of things, of which it - is neither meet to speak nor hear others speak, abandoning the - righteous decisions which have been laid down. So persistent and - ineradicable is their malignity. How often already have they - shamelessly approached me, only to be crushed with the fitting - response! Now they clamour for a judgment from me, who myself await - the judgment of Christ. For I say that, as far as the truth is - concerned, a judgment delivered by priests ought to be considered as - valid as though Christ Himself were present and delivering - judgment.[84] For priests can form no thought or judgment, unless what - they are taught to utter by the admonitory voice of Christ. - - “What, then, can these malignant creatures be thinking of, creatures - of the Devil, as I have truly said? They seek the things of this - world, abandoning the things of Heaven. What sheer, rabid madness - possesses them, that they have entered an appeal, as is wont to be - done in mundane lawsuits?... What do these detractors of the law think - of Christ their Saviour, if they refuse to acknowledge the judgment of - Heaven and demand judgment from me? They are proven traitors; they - have themselves convicted themselves of their crimes, without need of - closer enquiry into them.... Do you, however, dearest brothers, return - to your own homes, and be ye mindful of me that our Saviour may ever - have mercy upon me.” - ------ - -Footnote 84: - - _Meum judicium postulant qui judicium Christi expecto. Dico enim, ut - se veritas habet, sacerdotum judicium ita debet haberi ac si ipse - Dominus residens judicet._ - ------ - -It is not a little difficult to understand why an Emperor who wrote such -a letter as the above should have again acceded to the Donatist demand -for a rehearing. Possibly the Donatists had powerful friends at court of -whom we know nothing, some member, it may be, of the Imperial Family, or -perhaps the case against them was not so one-sided as the Catholic -authorities agree in representing. At any rate, Constantine summoned -Cæcilianus to appear before him in Rome. Here is the letter which he -wrote to the Donatist bishops to apprise them of his determination: - - “A few days ago I had decided to accede to your request and permit you - to return to Africa, that the case which you think you have - established against Cæcilianus might be fully investigated and brought - to a proper conclusion. But, after long and careful consideration, I - have deemed the following arrangement best. Knowing, as I do, that - certain of you are of a decidedly turbulent nature and obstinately - reject a right verdict and the reasoning of absolute truth, it might - conceivably happen, if the case were heard in Africa, that the - conclusion reached would not be a fitting one, or in accordance with - the dictates of truth. In that event, owing to your exceeding - obstinacy, something might occur which would greatly displease the - Heavenly Divinity and do serious injury to my reputation, which I - desire ever to maintain unimpaired. I have decided therefore, as I - have said, that it is better for Cæcilianus to come here and I think - he will speedily arrive. - - “But I pledge you my word that if, in his presence, you shall succeed - in proving a single one of the crimes and misdeeds which you lay to - his charge, it shall have as much weight with me as if you had proved - every accusation you bring forward. May God Almighty keep you safe for - ever.” - -At the same time Constantine wrote to Probianus, the successor of -Ælianus in the governorship of Africa, instructing him to send under -guard to Italy certain witnesses who had been imprisoned for forging -documents purporting to shew that Felix of Aptunga was a _traditor_. -Cæcilianus failed to appear at the appointed time, for some reason which -is unknown to St. Augustine, who gives a brief account of the sequence -of events.[85] The Donatists demanded that judgment should be given -against the absent bishop by default, but Constantine refused and -ordered them to follow him to Milan, where affairs of state necessitated -his presence. If Augustine is to be trusted, the Emperor secured the -attendance of the Donatists by clapping them under guard (_ab -officialibus custoditos_). This time Cæcilianus did not fail his patron. -Constantine, who was strongly averse from taking upon himself to revise, -as it were, the judgments passed by so many bishops in council, -deprecated their possible resentment by assuring them that his sole -desire was to close the mouths of the Donatists. - ------ - -Footnote 85: - - _Epist._, 43. - ------ - -After hearing the case all over again, Constantine pronounced judgment -on Nov. 16, 316. St. Augustine says that the Emperor’s letters prove his -diligence, caution, and forethought. The praise may be deserved, but it -is evident that he had made up his mind beforehand. He re-affirmed the -absolute innocence of Cæcilianus and the shamelessness of his accusers. -In an interesting fragment of a letter written by the Emperor to -Eumalius, one of his vicars, occurs this sentence: “I saw in Cæcilianus -a man of spotless innocence, one who observed the proper duties of -religion and served it as he ought, nor did it appear that guilt could -be found in him, as had been charged against him in his absence by the -malice of his enemies.” The publication of the Emperor’s verdict was -followed by an edict prescribing penalties against the schismatics. St. -Augustine speaks of a “most severe law against the party of -Donatus,”[86] and, from other scattered references, we learn that their -churches were confiscated and that they were fined for non-obedience. -The author of the Edict of Milan, who had promised absolute freedom of -conscience to all, was so soon obliged to invoke the arm of the temporal -authority for the correction of religious disunion! - ------ - -Footnote 86: - - _Epist._, 105. - ------ - -But the Donatists, whose only _raison d’être_ was their passionate -insistence upon the obligation of the Christian to make no compromise -with conscience, however sharp the edge of the persecutor’s sword, were -obviously not the kind of people to be overawed by so mild a punishment -as confiscation of property. The Emperor’s edicts were fruitless, and in -320, only four years later, we find Constantine trying a change of -policy and recommending the African bishops to see once more what -toleration would do. Active repression only made martyrs, and martyrdom -was the goal of the fanatical Donatist’s ambition. Hence the terms in -which the Emperor addresses the Catholic Church of Africa. After -enumerating the repeated efforts he has made in order to restore unity, -and dwelling upon the deliberate and abandoned wickedness of those who -have rendered his intervention nugatory, he continues: - - “We must hope, therefore, that Almighty God may shew pity and - gentleness to his people, as this schism is the work of a few. For it - is to God that we should look for a remedy, since all good vows and - deeds are requited. But until the healing comes from above, it behoves - us to moderate our councils, to practise patience, and to bear with - the virtue of calmness any assault or attack which the depravity of - these people prompts them to deliver. - - “Let there be no paying back injury with injury: for it is only the - fool who takes into his usurping hands the vengeance which he ought to - reserve for God.[87] Our faith should be strong enough to feel full - confidence that, whatever we have to endure from the fury of men like - these, will avail with God with all the grace of martyrdom. For what - is it in this world to conquer in the name of God, unless it be to - bear with fortitude the disordered attack of men who trouble the - peaceful followers of the law! - - “If you observe my will, you will speedily find that, thanks to the - supreme power, the designs of the presumptuous standard-bearers of - this wretched faction will languish, and all men will recognise that - they ought not to listen to the persuasion of a few and perish - everlastingly, when, by the grace of penitence, they may correct their - errors and be restored to eternal life.” - ------ - -Footnote 87: - - _Nihil ex reciproco reponatur injuriæ: Vindictam enim, quam Deo - servare debemus, insipientis est manibus usurpare._ - ------ - -Patience, leniency, and toleration, however, were as futile as force in -dealing with the Donatists, who bluntly told the Emperor that his -protégé, Cæcilianus, was a “worthless rascal” (_antistiti ejus -nebuloni_), and refused to obey his injunctions. Donatus, surnamed the -Great in order to distinguish him from the other Donatus, who had been -Bishop of Casæ Nigræ, had by this time succeeded to the leadership of -the schism on the death of Majorinus, and the extraordinary ascendency -which he obtained over his followers, in spite of the powerful Imperial -influence which was always at the support of Cæcilianus, warrants the -belief that he was a man of marked ability. Learned, eloquent, and -irreproachable in private life, he is said to have ruled his party with -an imperious hand, and to have treated his bishops like lackeys. Yet his -authority was so unbounded and unquestioned that his followers swore by -his name and grey hairs, and, at his death, ascribed to him the honours -paid only to martyrs. - -Under his leadership the Donatists rapidly increased in numbers. They -were schismatics rather than heretics. They had no great distinctive -tenet; what they seem to have insisted upon chiefly was absolute purity -within the Church and freedom from worldly taint. That was their ideal, -as it has been the ideal of many other wild sectaries since their day. -They claimed special revelations of the Divine Will; they insisted upon -rebaptising their converts, compelling even holy virgins to take fresh -vows on joining their communion, which they boasted was that of the one -true Church. Such a sect naturally attracted to itself all the fanatical -extremists of Africa and all those who had any grievance against the -Catholic authorities. It became the refuge of the revolutionary, the -bankrupt, and the criminal, and thus, inside the Donatist movement -proper, there grew up a kind of anarchist movement against property, -which had little or no connection with religious principles. - -Constantine, during the remainder of his reign, practically ignored the -African Church. He had done what he could and he wiped his hands of it. -There soon arose an extravagant sect which took the name of -Circumcelliones, from their practice of begging food from cell to cell, -or cottage to cottage. They renounced the ordinary routine of daily -life. Forming themselves into bands, and styling themselves the -Champions of the Lord (ἀγωνιστικόι), they roamed through the -countryside, which they kept in a state of abject terror. St. Augustine, -in a well-known passage, declares that when their shout of “Praise be to -God!” was heard, it was more dreaded than the roar of a lion. They were -armed with wooden clubs, which they named “Israels,” and these they did -not scruple to use upon the Catholics, whose churches they entered and -plundered, committing the most violent excesses, though they were -pledged to celibacy. Gibbon justly compares them to the Camisards of -Languedoc at the commencement of the 18th century, and others have -likened them to the Syrian Assassins at the time of the Crusades and the -Jewish Sicarii of Palestine during the first century of the Christian -era. They formed, it seems, a sort of Christian Jacquerie, possessed in -their wilder moments with a frantic passion for martyrdom and imploring -those whom they met to kill them. The best of them were fit only for a -madhouse; the worst were fit only for a gaol. Probably they had little -connection with the respectable Donatists in the cities, whose -organisation was precisely the same as that of the Catholics, and their -operations were mainly restricted to the thinly populated districts on -the borders of the desert. - -On one occasion, however, Constantine was obliged to interfere. The -Donatists in Cirta,—the capital of Numidia,—which had been renamed -Constantina in honour of the Emperor, had forcibly seized the church of -the Catholics, that had been built at Constantine’s command. The -Catholics, therefore, appealed to the Emperor, and knowing that he was -pledged to a policy of non-interference, they did not ask for punishment -against the Donatists, or even for the restoration of the church in -question, but simply that a new site might be given them out of public -moneys. The Emperor granted their request, ordering that the building as -well as the site should be paid for by the State, and granting immunity -from all public offices to the Catholic clergy of the town. In his -letter Constantine does not mince his language with respect to the -Donatists. - - “They are adherents,” he says, “of the Devil, who is their father; - they are insane, traitors, irreligious, profane, ranged against God - and enemies of the Holy Church. Would to Heaven!” he concludes, “that - these heretics or schismatics might have regard even now for their own - salvation, and, brushing aside the darkness, turn their eyes to see - the true light, leaving the Devil, and flying for refuge, late though - it be, to the one and true God, who is the judge of all! But since - they are set upon remaining in their wickedness and wish to die in - their iniquities, our warning and our previous long continued - exhortations must suffice. For if they had been willing to obey our - commandments, they would now be free from all evil.” - -Evidently the Emperor was thoroughly weary of the whole controversy, and -disgusted at such unreasoning contumacy. The same feelings find powerful -expression in the letters and manifestoes of St. Augustine, a century -later, when the great Bishop of Hippo constituted himself the champion -of the Catholic Church and played the foremost part in the stormy -debates which preceded the final disappearance of the Donatist schism, -after the Council of Carthage in 410. Then the momentous decision was -reached that all bishops who, after three appeals to them to return to -the Church, still refused submission, should be brought back to the -Catholic fold by force. The point in dispute was still just what it had -been in the days of Constantine, whether a Christian Church could be -considered worthy of the name if it had admitted faithless and unworthy -members, or if the ministers had been ordained by bishops who had -temporised with their consciences and fallen short of the loftiest ideal -of duty. That was the great underlying principle at stake in the -Donatist controversy, though, as in all such controversies, the personal -element was paramount when the schism began, and was still the cause of -the bitterness and fury with which the quarrel was conducted long after -the intrigues of Lucilla and the personal animosities between Cæcilianus -and the Numidian bishops had ceased to be of interest or moment to the -living Church. And it is interesting to note that while it was the -Donatists themselves who had made the first appeal unto Cæsar by asking -Constantine to judge between them and Cæcilianus, in St. Augustine’s day -the Donatists hotly denied the capacity of the State to take cognisance -of spiritual things. What, they asked, has an Emperor to do with the -Church? _Quid est Imperatori cum Ecclesia?_ - -[Illustration: STATUE OF CONSTANTINE FROM THE PORCH OF SAN GIOVANNI IN -LATERAN, AT ROME.] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER X - THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY - - -If Constantine beheld with impatience the irreconcilable fury of the -Donatists, who refused either to respect his wishes for Christian unity -or to obey the bishops of the Western Church; if he angrily washed his -hands of their stubborn factiousness and committed them in despair to -the judgment of God, we may imagine with what bitterness of soul he -beheld the gathering of the storm of violent controversy which is -associated with the two great names of Arius and Athanasius. This was a -controversy, and Arianism was a heresy, which, unlike the Donatist -schism, were confined to no single province of the Empire, but spread -like a flood over the Eastern Church, raising issues of tremendous -importance, vital to the very existence of Christianity. It started in -Alexandria. No birthplace could have been more appropriate to a system -of theology which was professedly based upon pure reason than the great -university city where East and West met, the home of Neo-Platonism, the -inheritor of the Hellenic tradition, and the chief exponent of -Hellenism, as understood and professed by Greeks who for centuries had -been subject to and profoundly modified by Oriental ideas and thought. - -We must deal very briefly with its origin. Arius was born in the third -quarter of the third century, according to some accounts in Libya, -according to others in Alexandria. He was ordained deacon by the -Patriarch Peter and presbyter by Achillas, who appointed him to the -church called Baucalis, the oldest and one of the most important of the -city churches of Alexandria. Arius had been in schism in his earlier -years. He had joined the party of Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, who was -condemned by a synod of Egyptian bishops in 306 for insubordination and -irregularity of conduct; but he had made submission to Achillas, and -during the latter’s short tenure of the see, Arius became a power in -Alexandria. We are told, indeed, that on the death of Achillas in 312 or -313 Arius was a candidate for the vacant throne, and Theodoretus states -that he was greatly mortified at being passed over in favour of -Alexander. But there is no indication of personal animosity or quarrel -between the bishop and the parish priest until five or six years later. -On the contrary, Alexander is said to have held Arius in high esteem, -and the fame of the priest of Baucalis spread abroad through the city as -that of an earnest worker, a strict and ascetic liver, and a powerful -preacher who dealt boldly and frankly with the great principles of the -faith. In person, Arius was of tall and striking presence, conspicuous -wherever he moved by his sleeveless tunic and narrow cloak, and gifted -with great conversational powers and charm of manner. He was also -capable of infecting others with the enthusiasm which he felt himself. -Arius has been described for us mainly by his enemies, who considered -him a very anti-Christ, and attributed his remarkable success to the -direct help of the Evil One. We may be sure that, like all the great -religious leaders of the world,—among whom, heretic though he was, he -deserves a place,—he was fanatically sincere and the doctrine which he -preached was vital and fecund, even though the vitality and fecundity -were those of error. - -It was not, apparently, until the year 319 that serious disturbance -began in the Christian circles of Alexandria. There would first of all -be whispers that Arius was preaching strange doctrine and handling the -great mysteries somewhat boldly and dogmatically. Many would doubt the -wisdom of such outspokenness, quite apart from the question whether the -doctrine taught was sound; others would exhibit the ordinary distrust of -innovation; others would welcome this new kindling of theological -interest from the mere pleasure of debate and controversy. We do not -suppose that any one, not even Arius himself, foresaw—at any rate, at -first—the extraordinary and lamentable consequences that were to follow -from his teaching. The Patriarch Alexander has been blamed for not -crushing the infant heresy at its birth, for not stopping the mouth of -Arius before the mischief was done. It is easy to be wise after the -event. Doubtless Alexander did not appreciate the danger; possibly also -he thought that if he waited, the movement would subside of itself. He -may very well have believed that this popular preacher would lose his -hold, that some one else would take his place as the fashionable -clergyman of the hour, that the extravagance of his doctrines would -speedily be forgotten. Moreover, Arius was a zealous priest, doing good -work in his own way, and long experience has shewn that it is wise for -ecclesiastical superiors to give able men of marked power and -originality considerable latitude in the expression of their views. - -As time went on, however, it became clear that Alexander must intervene. -Arius was now the enthusiastic advocate of theories which aimed at the -very root of the Christian religion, inasmuch as they denied the -essential Godhead of Christ. It was no longer a case of a daring thinker -tentatively hinting at doctrines which were hardly in accord with -established belief. Arius was devoting himself just to those points -where he was at variance with his fellows, was insisting upon them in -season and out of season, and was treating them as the very essence of -Christianity. He had issued his challenge; Alexander was compelled to -take it up. The Patriarch sent for him privately. He wished either to -convince him of his error or to induce him to be silent. But the -interview was of no avail. Arius simply preached the more. Alexander -then summoned a meeting of the clergy of Alexandria, and brought forward -for discussion the accepted doctrine of the Holy Trinity which Arius had -challenged. Arius and his sympathisers were present and the controversy -was so prolonged that the meeting had to be adjourned; when it -reassembled, the Patriarch endeavoured to bring the debate to a close by -restating the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in a form which he hoped -would be unanimously approved. But this merely precipitated an open -rupture. For Arius immediately rose and denounced Alexander for falling -into the heresy of Sabellianism and reducing the Second Person in the -Trinity to a mere manifestation of the First. - -It is to be remembered that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity—difficult -as it is even now, after centuries of discussion, to state in terms that -are free from all equivocation—must have been far more difficult to -state then, before the Arian controversy had, so to speak, crystallised -the exact meaning of the terms employed. It seems quite clear, moreover, -from what subsequently took place, that Alexander was no match for Arius -in dialectical subtlety and that Arius found it easy to twist his -chief’s unskilful arguments and expressions into bearing an -interpretation which Alexander had not intended. At any rate the -inevitable result of the conference was that both sides parted in anger, -and Arius continued as before to preach the doctrine that the Son of God -was a creature. For this was the leading tenet of Arianism and the basis -of the whole heresy, that the Son of God was a creature, the first of -all creatures, it is true, and created before the angels and archangels, -ineffably superior to all other creatures, yet still a creature and, as -such, ineffably inferior to the Creator, God the Father Himself. - -It does not fall within the scope of this book to discuss in detail the -theological conceptions of Arius and the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. -But it is necessary to say a few words about this new doctrine which was -to shake the world, and to shew how it came into being. Arius started -from the Sonship of Christ, and argued thus: If Christ be really, and -not simply metaphorically, the Son of God, and if the Divine Sonship is -to be interpreted in the same way as the relationship between human -father and son, then the Divine Father must have existed before the -Divine Son. Therefore, there must have been a time when the Son did not -exist. Therefore, the Son was a creature composed of an essence or being -which had previously not been existent. And inasmuch as the Father was -in essence eternal and ever existent, the Son could not be of the same -essence as the Father. Such was the Arian theory stated in the fewest -possible words. “Its essential propositions,” as Canon Bright has -said,[88] “were these two, that the Son had not existed from eternity -and that he differed from other creatures in degree and not in kind.” -There can be nothing more misleading than to represent the Arian -controversy as a futile logomachy, a mere quarrel about words, about a -single vowel even, as Gibbon has done in a famous passage. It was a -vital controversy upon a vital dogma of the Christian Church. - ------ - -Footnote 88: - - _The Age of the Fathers_, chap. v. - ------ - -Two years seem to have passed before Bishop Alexander, finding that -Arius was growing bolder in declared opposition, felt compelled to make -an attempt to enforce discipline within his diocese. The insubordinate -priest of Baucalis had rejected the personal appeal of his bishop and -disregarded the wishes of a majority of the Alexandrian clergy, and we -may reasonably suppose that his polemics would grow all the more bitter -as he became aware of the rapidly deepening estrangement. He would -sharpen the edge of his sarcasm upon the logical obtuseness of his -nominal superiors, for his appeal was always to reason and to logic. -Given my premises, he would say, where is the flaw in my deductions, and -wherein do my syllogisms break down? By the year 321 Arius was the -typical rebellious priest, profoundly self-confident, rejoicing in -controversy, dealing hard blows all around him, and prepared to stoop to -any artifice in order to gain adherents. To win over the mob, he was -ready to degrade his principles to the mob’s understanding. - -Alexander summoned a provincial synod of a hundred Egyptian and Libyan -bishops to pronounce judgment upon the doctrines and the person of -Arius. Attended by his principal supporters, Arius appeared before the -synod and boldly stood to his guns. He maintained, that is to say, that -God had not always been Father; that the Word was the creature and -handiwork of the Father; that the Son was not like the Father according -to substance and was neither the true Word nor the true Wisdom, having -been created by the Word and Wisdom which are in God; that by His nature -He was subject to change like all other rational creatures; that the Son -does not perfectly know either the Father or His own essence, and that -Jesus Christ is not true God. The majority of the bishops listened with -horror as Arius thus unfolded his daring and, in their ears, blasphemous -creed. One of them at length put a searching test question. “If,” he -asked, “the Word of God is subject to change, would it have been -possible for the Word to change, as Satan had changed, from goodness to -wickedness?” “Yes,” came the answer. Thereupon the synod promptly -excommunicated Arius and his friends, including two bishops, Secundus of -Ptolemais in the Pentapolis and Theonas of Marmorica, together with six -priests and six deacons. The synod also anathematised his doctrines. The -Arian heresy had formally begun. - -Arius quitted Alexandria and betook himself to Palestine, where he and -his companions received hospitable treatment at the hands of some of the -bishops, notably Eusebius of Cæsarea and Paulinus of Tyre. He bore -himself very modestly, assuming the rôle not of a rebel against -authority, but of one who had been deeply wronged, because he had been -grievously misunderstood. He was no longer the turbulent priest, strong -in the knowledge of his intellectual superiority over his bishop, but a -minister of the Church who had been cast out from among the faithful and -whose one absorbing desire was to be restored to communion. He did not -ask his kindly hosts to associate themselves with him. He merely begged -that they should use their good offices with Alexander to effect a -reconciliation, and that they should not refuse to treat him as a true -member of the Church. A few, like Macarius of Jerusalem, rejected his -overtures, but a large number of bishops in the Province—if we may so -term it—of the Patriarch Antioch acceded to his wishes. No doubt Arius -presented his case, when he was suing for recognition and favour, in a -very different form from that in which he had presented it from the -rostrum of his church at Baucalis. He was as subtle in his knowledge of -the ways of the world as in his knowledge of the processes of logic. -Nevertheless, he cannot possibly have disguised the main doctrine which -he had preached for years—the doctrine, that is to say, that the Son was -inferior to the Father and had been created by the Father out of a -substance other than His own—and the fact that the champion of such a -doctrine received recognition at the hands of so many bishops seems to -prove that the Church had not yet formulated her belief in respect of -this mystery with anything like precision; that theories similar to -those advocated by Arius were rife throughout the East and were by no -means repugnant to the general tendency of its thought. - -Arianism would naturally, and did actually, make a most potent appeal to -minds of very varying quality and calibre. It appealed, for example, to -those Christians who had not quite succeeded in throwing off the -influences of the paganism around them, a class obviously large and -comprising within it alike the educated who were under the spell of the -religious philosophy of the Neo-Platonists, and the uneducated and -illiterate who believed, or at any rate spoke as if they believed, in a -multiplicity of gods. To minds, therefore, still insensibly thinking in -terms of polytheism one can understand the attraction of the leading -thought of Arianism, viz., one supreme, eternal, omnipotent God, God the -Father, and a secondary God, God the Son, God and creature in one, and -therefore the better fitted to be intermediary between the -unapproachable God and fallen humanity. For how many long centuries had -not the world believed in demi-gods as it had believed in gods? -Arianism, on one side of its character, enabled men to cast a lingering -look behind on an outworn creed which had not been wholly gross and -which had not been too exacting for human frailty. Moreover, there were -many texts in Holy Scripture which seemed in the most explicit language -to corroborate the truth of Arius’s teaching. “My Father is greater than -I,” so Christ had Himself said, and the obvious and literal meaning of -the words seemed entirely inconsistent with any essential co-equality of -Son and Father. The text, of course, is subject to another—if more -recondite—interpretation, but the history of religion has shewn that the -origin of most sects has been due to people fastening upon individual -texts and founding upon them doctrines both great and small. - -Again,—and perhaps this was the strongest claim that Arianism could put -forward,—it appealed to men’s pride and belief in the adequacy of their -reason. Mankind has always hungered after a religious system based on -reason, founded in reason; secure against all objectors, something -four-square and solid against all possible assailants. Arianism claimed -to provide such a system, and it unquestionably had the greater -appearance—at any rate to a superficial view—of being based upon -irrefutable argument. Canon Bright put the case very well where he -wrote[89]: - - “Arianism would appeal to not a few minds by adopting a position - virtually rationalistic, and by promising to secure a Christianity - which should stand clear of philosophical objections, and Catholics - would answer by insisting that the truths pertaining to the Divine - Nature must be pre-eminently matter of adoring faith, that it was rash - to speculate beyond the limit of revelation, and that the Arian - position was itself open to criticism from reason’s own point of view. - Arians would call on Catholics to ‘be logical’; to admit the prior - existence of the Father as involved in the very primary notion of - fatherhood; to halt no more between a premiss and a conclusion, to - exchange their sentimental pietism for convictions sustainable by - argument. And Catholics would bid them in turn remember the inevitably - limited scope of human logic in regard to things divine and would - point out the sublime uniqueness of the divine relation called - Fatherhood.” - ------ - -Footnote 89: - - _The Age of the Fathers_, chap. vi. - ------ - -If we consider the subsequent history of the Arian doctrine, its -continual rebirth, the permanent appeal which, in at least some of its -phases, it makes to certain types of intellect including some of the -loftiest and shrewdest, there can be no reason for surprise that Arius -met with so much recognition and sympathy, even among those who refused -him their active and definite support. Alexander was both troubled and -annoyed to find that so many of the Eastern bishops took Arius’s part, -and he sent round a circular letter of remonstrance which had the effect -of arousing some of these kindly ecclesiastics to a sense of the danger -which lurked in the Arian doctrine. But Arius was soon to find his -ablest and most influential champion in the person of another Eusebius, -Bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia. This Eusebius had been Bishop of -Berytus (Beyrout), and it has been thought that he owed his translation -from that see to the more important one of Nicomedia to the influence of -Constantia, sister of Constantine and wife of Licinius. He had, at any -rate, been sufficiently astute to obtain the good-will of Constantine on -the fall of his old patron and he stood well with the court circle. - -He and Arius were old friends, for they had been fellow-pupils of the -famous Lucian of Antioch. It has been suggested that Eusebius was rather -the teacher than the pupil of Arius, but probably neither word expresses -the true relationship. They were simply old friends who thought very -much alike. Arius’s letter to Eusebius asking for his help is one of the -most interesting documents of the period. Arius writes with hot -indignation of the persecution to which he has been subjected by -Alexander, who, he says, had expelled him and his friends from -Alexandria as impious atheists because they had refused to subscribe to -the outrageous doctrines which the Bishop professed. He then gives in -brief his version of Alexander’s teaching and of his own, which he -declares is that of Eusebius of Cæsarea and all the Eastern bishops, -with the exception of a few. “We are persecuted,” he continues, “because -we have said, ‘the Son has a beginning, but God is without a beginning,’ -and ‘the Son is made of that which is not,’ and ‘the Son is not part of -God nor is he of any substance.’” It is the letter of a man angry at -what he conceives to be the harsh treatment meted out to him, and it has -the ring of honesty about it, for even though it distorts the views put -forward by Alexander, there never yet was a convinced theologian who -stated his opponent’s case precisely as that opponent would state it for -himself. - -We have not Eusebius’s answer to this letter, the closing sentence of -which begged him as “a true fellow-pupil of Lucian” not to fail him. But -we know at least that it was favourable, for we next find Arius at -Nicomedia itself, under the wing of the popular and powerful Bishop, who -vigorously stood up for his friend. Eusebius wrote more than once to -Alexander pleading the cause of the banished presbyter, and Arius -himself also wrote to his old Bishop, restating his convictions and -reopening the entire question in a temperate form. The tone of that -letter certainly compares most favourably with that of the famous -document which Alexander addressed to his namesake at Byzantium, warning -him to be on guard against Arius and his friends. He can find no -epithets strong enough in which to describe them. They are possessed of -the Devil, who dwells in them and goads them to fury; they are jugglers -and tricksters, clever conjurors with seductive words; they are brigands -who have built lairs for themselves wherein day and night they curse -Christ and the faithful; they are no better than the Jews or Greeks or -pagans, whose good opinion they eagerly covet, joining them in scoffing -at the Catholic doctrine and stirring up faction and persecution. The -Bishop in his fury even declares that the Arians are threatening -lawsuits against the Church at the instance of disorderly women whom -they have led astray, and accuses them of seeking to make proselytes -through the agency of the loose young women of the town. In short, they -have torn the unbroken tunic of Christ. And so on throughout the letter. - -The historians of the Church have done the cause of truth a poor service -in concealing or glossing over the outrageous language employed by the -Patriarch, whose violence raises the suspicion that he must have been -conscious of the weakness of his own dialectical power in thus -disqualifying his opponents and ruling them out of court as a set of -frantic madmen. “What impious arrogance,” he exclaims. “What measureless -madness! What vainglorious melancholy! What a devilish spirit it is that -indurates their unholy souls!” Even when every allowance is made, this -method of conducting a controversy creates prejudice against the person -employing it. It is, moreover, in the very sharpest contrast with the -method employed by Arius, and with the tenor of the letter written by -Eusebius of Nicomedia to Paulinus of Tyre, praying him to write to “My -lord, Alexander.” Eusebius hotly resented the tone of the Patriarch’s -letter, and, summoning a synod of Bithynian bishops, laid the whole -matter before them for discussion. Sympathising with Arius, these -bishops addressed a circular letter “to all the bishops throughout the -Empire,” begging them not to deny communion to the Arians and also to -seek to induce Alexander to do the same. Alexander, however, stood out -for unconditional surrender. - -Arius returned to Palestine, where three bishops permitted him to hold -services for his followers, and the wordy war continued. Alexander drew -up a long encyclical which he addressed “to all his fellow-workers of -the universal Catholic Church,” couched in language not quite so violent -as that which he had employed in writing to the Bishop of Byzantium, yet -denouncing the Arians in no measured terms as “lawless men and fighters -against Christ, teaching an apostasy which one may rightly describe as -preparing the way for anti-Christ.” In it he attacks Eusebius of -Nicomedia by name, accusing him of “believing that the welfare of the -Church depended upon his nod,” and of championing the cause of Arius not -because he sincerely believed the Arian doctrine so much as in order to -further his own ambitious interests. Evidently, this was not the first -time that the two prelates had been at variance, and private animosities -accentuated their doctrinal differences. The more closely the original -authorities are studied, the more evident is the need for caution in -accepting the traditional character sketches of Arius and Eusebius of -Nicomedia. Alexander declares that he is prostrated with sorrow at the -thought that Arius and his friends are eternally lost, after having once -known the truth and denied it. But he adds, “I am not surprised. Did not -Judas betray his Master after being a disciple?” We are sceptical of -Alexander’s sorrow. He closes his letter with a plea for the absolute -excommunication of the Arians. Christians must have nothing to do with -the enemies of Christ and the destroyers of souls. They must not even -offer them the compliment of a morning salutation. To say “Good-morning” -to an Arian was to hold communication with the lost. Such a manifesto -merely added fuel to the fire, and the two parties drew farther and -farther apart. - -Nor was Arius idle. It must have been about this time that he composed -the notorious poem, _Thalia_, in which he embodied his doctrines. He -selected the metre of a pagan poet, Sotades of Crete, of whom we know -nothing save that his verses had the reputation of being exceedingly -licentious. Arius did this of deliberate purpose. His object was to -popularise his doctrines. Sotades had a vogue; Arius desired one. What -he did was precisely similar to what in our own time the Salvation Army -has done in setting its hymns to the popular tunes and music-hall -ditties of the day. This was at first a cause of scandal to many worthy -people, who now admit the cleverness and admire the shrewdness of the -idea. Similarly, Arius got people to sing his doctrines to the very -tunes to which they had previously sung the indecencies of Sotades. He -wrote ballads, so we are told by Philostorgius—the one Arian historian -who has survived—for sailors, millers, and travellers. But it is -certainly difficult to understand their popularity, judging from the -isolated fragments which are quoted by Athanasius in his _First -Discourse Against the Arians_ (chap. xi.). According to Athanasius, the -_Thalia_ opened as follows: - - “According to faith of God’s elect, God’s prudent ones, - Holy children, rightly dividing, God’s Holy Spirit receiving, - Have I learned this from the partakers of wisdom, - Accomplished, divinely taught, and wise in all things. - Along their track have I been walking, with like opinions. - I am very famous, the much suffering for God’s glory, - And taught of God, I have acquired wisdom and knowledge.” - -It is rather the unspeakable tediousness and frigidity of this exordium -than its arrogant impiety that strike the modern reader. Athanasius then -proceeds to quote examples of Arius’s “repulsive and most impious -mockeries.” For example, “God was not always a Father; there was once a -time when God was alone and was not yet a Father. But afterwards He -became a Father.” Or, “the Son was not always,” or “the Word is not very -God, but by participation in Grace, He, as all others, is God only in -name.” If these are good specimens of what Athanasius calls “the fables -to be found in Arius’s jocose composition,” the standard of the jocose -or the ridiculous must have altered greatly. Why such a poem should have -been called the _Thalia_ or “Merrymaking,” it is hard to conceive. - -Yet, one can understand how the ribald wits of Alexandria gladly seized -upon this portentous controversy and twisted its prominent phrases into -the catch-words of the day. There is a passage in Gregory of Nyssa -bearing on this subject which has frequently been quoted. - - “Every corner of Constantinople,” he says, “was full of their - discussions, the streets, the market-place, the shops of the - money-changers and the victuallers. Ask a tradesman how many obols he - wants for some article in his shop, and he replies with a disquisition - on generated and ungenerated being. Ask the price of bread to-day, and - the baker tells you, ‘The Son is subordinate to the Father.’ Ask your - servant if the bath is ready and he makes answer, ‘The Son arose out - of nothing.’ ‘Great is the only Begotten,’ declared the Catholics, and - the Arians rejoined, ‘But greater is He that begot.’” - -It was a subject that lent itself to irreverent jesting and cheap -profanity. The baser sort of Arians appealed to boys to tell them -whether there were one or two Ingenerates, and to women to say whether a -son could exist before he was born. Even in the present day, any -theological doctrine which has the misfortune to become the subject of -excited popular debate is inevitably dragged through the mire by the -ignorant partisanship and gross scurrilities of the contending factions. -We may be sure that the “Ariomaniacs”—as they are called—were neither -worse nor better than the champions of the Catholic side, and the result -was tumult and disorder. In fact, says Eusebius of Cæsarea, - - “in every city bishops were engaged in obstinate conflict with - bishops, people rose against people, and almost, like the fabled - Symplegades, came into violent collision with each other. Nay, some - were so far transported beyond the bounds of reason as to be guilty of - reckless and outrageous conduct and even to insult the statues of the - Emperor.” - -Constantine felt obliged to intervene and addressed a long letter to -Alexander and Arius, which he confided to the care of his spiritual -adviser, Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, bidding him go to Alexandria in -person and do what he could to mediate between the disputants. We need -not give the text in full. Constantine began with his usual exordium. -His consuming passion, he said, was for unity of religious opinion, as -the precursor and best guarantee of peace. Deeply disappointed by -Africa, he had hoped for better things from “the bosom of the East,” -whence had arisen the dawn of divine light. Then he continues: - - “But Ah! glorious and Divine Providence, what a wound was inflicted - not alone on my ears but on my heart, when I heard that divisions - existed among yourselves, even more grievous than those of Africa, so - that you, through whose agency I hoped to bring healing to others, - need a remedy worse than they. And yet, after making careful enquiry - into the origin of these discussions, I find that the cause is quite - insignificant and entirely disproportionate to such a quarrel.[90]... - I gather then that the present controversy originated as follows. For - when you, Alexander, asked each of the presbyters what he thought - about a certain passage in the Scriptures, or rather what he thought - about a certain aspect of a foolish question, and you, Arius, without - due consideration laid down propositions which never ought to have - been conceived at all, or, if conceived, ought to have been buried in - silence, dissension arose between you; communion was forbidden; and - the most holy people, torn in twain, no longer preserved the unity of - a common body.” - ------ - -Footnote 90: - - ἄγαν εὐτελὴς καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἀξία της τοιαύτης φιλονεικίας ἡ πρόφασις. - ------ - -The Emperor then exhorts them to let both the unguarded question and the -inconsiderate answer be forgotten and forgiven. The subject, he says, -never ought to have been broached, but there is always mischief found -for idle hands to do and idle brains to think. The difference between -you, he insists, has not arisen on any cardinal doctrine laid down in -the Scriptures, nor has any new doctrine been introduced. “You hold one -and the same view”;[91] reunion, therefore, is easily possible. So -little does the Emperor appreciate the importance of the questions at -issue, that he goes on to quote the example of the pagan philosophers -who agree to disagree on details, while holding the same general -principles. How then, he asks, can it be right for brethren to behave -towards one another like enemies because of mere trifling and verbal -differences?[92] “Such conduct is vulgar, childish, and petulant, -ill-befitting priests of God and men of sense. It is a wile and -temptation of the Devil. Let us have done with it. If we cannot all -think alike on all topics, we can at least all be united on the great -essentials. As far as regards divine Providence, let there be one faith -and one understanding, one united opinion in reference to God.” And then -the letter concludes with the passionate outburst: - - “Restore me then my quiet days and untroubled nights, that I may - retain my joy in the pure light and, for the rest of my days, enjoy - the gladness of a peaceful life. Else I needs must groan and be - diffused wholly in tears, and know no comfort of mind till I die. For - while the people of God, my fellow-servants, are thus torn asunder in - unlawful and pernicious controversy, how can I be of tranquil mind?” - ------ - -Footnote 91: - - άλλ’ ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἕχετε λογισμὸν. - -Footnote 92: - - δι’ ολίγας καὶ ματαίας ῥημάτων ἐν ἡμῖν φιλονεικίας. - ------ - -Some have seen in this letter proof of the Emperor’s consummate wisdom, -and have described its language as golden and the triumph of common -sense. It seems to us a complete exposure of his profound ignorance of -the subject in which he had interfered. It was easy to say that the -question should not have been raised. “_Quieta non movere_” is an -excellent motto in theology as in politics. But this was precisely one -of those questions which, when once raised, are bound to go forward to -an issue. The time was ripe for it. It suited the taste and temper of -the age, and the resultant storm of controversy, so easily stirred up, -was not easily allayed. For Constantine to tell Alexander and Arius that -theirs was merely a verbal quarrel on an insignificant and non-essential -point, or that they were really of one and the same mind, and held one -and the same view on all essentials, was grotesquely absurd. The -question at issue was none other than the Divine Nature of the Son of -God. If theology is of any value or importance at all, it is impossible -to conceive a more essential problem. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XI - THE COUNCIL OF NICÆA - - -Constantine’s letter was fruitless. Hosius sought to play the peacemaker -in vain. Neither Alexander nor Arius desired peace except at the price -of the other’s submission, and neither was prepared to submit. Hosius, -therefore, did not remain long in Alexandria, and, returning to -Constantine, recommended him to summon a Council of the Church. The -advice pleased the Emperor, who at once issued letters calling upon the -bishops to assemble at Nicæa, in Bithynia, in the month of June, 325. -The invitations were accepted with alacrity, for Constantine placed at -the disposal of the bishops the posting system of the Empire, thus -enabling them to travel comfortably, expeditiously, and at no cost to -themselves. - - “They were impelled,” says Eusebius,[93] “by the anticipation of a - happy result to the conference, by the hope of enjoying present peace, - and by the desire of beholding something new and strange in the person - of so admirable an Emperor. And when they were all assembled, it - appeared evident that the proceeding was the work of God, inasmuch as - men, who had been most widely separated not merely in sentiment but by - differences of country, place, and nation, were here brought together - within the walls of a single city, forming as it were a vast garland - of priests, composed of a variety of the choicest flowers.” - ------ - -Footnote 93: - - _De Vita Constant._, iii., 6. - ------ - -The Council of Nicæa was the first of the great Œcumenical Councils of -the Church. There had been nothing like it before; nor could there have -been, for no pagan Emperor would have tolerated such an assembly. The -exact number of those present is not known. Eusebius, with irritating -and unnecessary vagueness, says that “the bishops exceeded two hundred -and fifty, while the number of the presbyters and deacons in their train -and the crowd of acolytes and other attendants was altogether beyond -computation.” There are sundry lists of names recorded by the -ecclesiastical historians, but unfortunately all are incomplete. -However, as a confident legend grew up within fifty years of the Council -that the bishops were 318 in number, and as the Council itself became -known as “The Council of the 318,” we may accept that figure without -much demur. Very few came from the West. Hosius of Cordova seems to have -been the only representative of the Spanish Church, and Nacasius of -Divio the only representative of Gaul. The Bishops of Arles, Autun, -Lyons, Treves, Narbonne, Marseilles, Toulouse—all cities of first-class -importance—were absent. Eustorgius came from Milan; Marcus from -Calabria; Capito from Sicily. The aged Sylvester of Rome would have -attended, had his physical infirmities permitted, but he sent two -presbyters to speak for him, Vito and Vincentius. Bishop Domnus of -Stridon represented Pannonia, and Theophilus the Goth came on behalf of -the northern barbarians—probably to listen rather than to speak. -Evidently, then, the composition of the Council was overwhelmingly -Eastern. Greek, not Latin, was the language spoken, and certainly Greek, -not Latin, was the heresy under discussion, for the Arian controversy -could not have arisen in the western half of the Empire. For all -practical purposes the Council of Nicæa was a well-attended synod of the -Syrian and Egyptian Churches. The opinions there expounded were the -opinions of the Christian schools of Antioch and Alexandria. - -[Illustration: GATE OF ST. ANDREW AT AUTUN.] - -We may take the names of a few of the bishops as they pass through the -gates of Nicæa, each accompanied by at least two presbyters and three -slaves, riding on horseback or in carriages, with a train of baggage -animals following. Alexander was there, bringing with him fourteen -bishops from the valley of the Nile and five from Libya. The most -conspicuous of these were Potammon of Heracleopolis and Paphnutius from -the Thebaid, both of whom had lost an eye in the late persecution, while -Paphnutius limped painfully, for he had been hamstrung. Eustathius, the -Patriarch of Antioch, came at the head of the Syrian and Palestinian -bishops, some of whom, like Eusebius of Cæsarea, were gravely suspected -of being unsound in the Faith and of having been influenced by the -seductions of Arianism, while others, like Macarius of Jerusalem, were -staunch supporters of Alexander. Another group hailed from the far -Euphrates and Armenia—John of Persia, James of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, -Aitallaha of Edessa, and Paul of Neo-Cæsarea, the tendons of whose -wrists had been seared with hot irons. Another group came from near at -hand, the bishops of what we now call Asia Minor, within the sphere of -influence of the imperial city of Nicomedia and of its Bishop, Eusebius. -He, too, was there with his friends, Theognis of Nicæa, Menophantus of -Ephesus, and Maris of Chalcedon, all committed to the cause and to the -doctrines of Arius. Then there were a group of Thracian, Macedonian, and -Greek bishops, a few from the islands, and Cæcilianus from Carthage. - -Arius, too, was present with his few faithful henchmen from Egypt, -proudly self-confident as ever, but trusting mainly to the advocacy of -Eusebius of Nicomedia and to the influence of the moderates, like -Eusebius of Cæsarea. But during the years that he had been absent from -Alexandria a new protagonist had arisen among the ranks of his -opponents. Alexander, so runs the legend, had one day seen from the -windows of his house a group of boys playing at “church.” Thinking that -the imitation was too close to the reality and that the lads were -carrying the game too far, the Bishop went out to check them and got -into conversation with the boy who was taking the lead in their serious -sport. Impressed by his earnestness, he took him into his house and -trained him for the ministry. It was Athanasius, who now, as a young -deacon of twenty-five, accompanied Alexander to Nicæa, having already by -his cleverness and zeal gained a remarkable ascendency over the mind of -his superior. This slip of a man—for he was of very slender build and -insignificant stature—was to lay at Nicæa the sure foundations of his -extraordinary and unparalleled fame as the champion of the Catholic -Faith. - -So the Council assembled in the June of 325 in the charming city of -Nicæa, on the shores of the Ascanian lake. The intense interest which it -aroused was not confined to those who were to take part in it, or even -to the Christian population of the city and district. It spread, so we -are expressly told, to those who still clung to the old religion. -Debates on the nature of the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of Christ -would be almost as welcome and absorbing to a Neo-Platonist philosopher -as to a Christian bishop. His pleasure in the intellectual exercise was -marred by no anxiety lest it should result in disturbance of happy and -settled belief. When Greek met Greek they began forthwith to argue, and -so, without waiting for the Council formally to open, the early arrivals -at Nicæa commenced their discussions with all comers on the question of -the hour. - -The story of one of these informal encounters is told by most of the -ecclesiastical writers. A certain pagan philosopher was holding forth -with great fluency and making mock of the Christian mysteries, to the -amusement of a number of bystanders. Finally, his challenge of -contradiction was accepted by “a simple old man, one of the confessors -of the persecution,” who knew nothing of dialectics. As he moved forward -to answer the scoffer there was a burst of laughter from some of those -present, while the Christians trembled lest their unskilled champion -should be turned to ridicule by his practised opponent. Their anxiety, -however, was soon set at rest. “In the name of Jesus Christ, O -philosopher, listen!” Such was the old man’s exordium, and the burden of -his few unstudied words was to restate his “artless, unquestioning -belief”[94] in the cardinal truths of Christianity. There was no -argument. “If you believe,” he said, “tell me so.” “I believe,” said the -philosopher, compelled, as he afterwards explained it, to become a -Christian by some marvellous power. Such is the version of Sozomen; -according to Socrates the old man said, “Christ and the apostles -committed to us no dialectical art and no vain deception, but plain, -bare doctrine, which is guarded by faith and good works.”[95] When we -consider the endless floods of dialectical subtlety which were poured -out during and after the Council of Nicæa by those engaged in the Arian -controversy, it seems rather biting irony that a pagan philosopher -should have been thus easily and rapidly converted from darkness to -light. - ------ - -Footnote 94: - - ἀπεριέργως πιστείομεν. - -Footnote 95: - - γυμνὴν γνώμην, πίστει καὶ καλοῖς ἔργοις φυλαττομένην.—Socrates, i., 8. - ------ - -It is certain, however, that many of the bishops collected at Nicæa -belonged to the same class as this “simple old man,” peasants who had -had no theological training and owed their elevation—by the suffrages of -their congregations—to the conspicuous uprightness of their lives. Such -a one was Spyridion, of Cyprus, a shepherd in mind, speech, and dress, -but with a turn for rustic humour. Around his name many legends have -gathered, and none is more delightful than that which tells how he and -his deacon set out for Nicæa mounted on two mules, a white and a -chestnut. On the journey they came to an inn where they found a number -of other bishops bound on the same errand. These prelates feared that so -rustic a figure as Spyridion would bring discredit on their religion and -appear in grotesque contrast with the splendour of the Imperial Court. -So during the night they caused the two mules to be decapitated, -thinking that they would thus prevent Spyridion from resuming his -journey. The good Bishop was aroused before daybreak by his deacon, who -told him of the disaster. Spyridion simply bade him attach the heads to -the dead bodies, and, on this being done, the mules rose to their feet -as though nothing unusual had happened. When day broke, it was found -that the deacon had attached the heads to the wrong shoulders; the white -mule now sported a chestnut head and the chestnut a white. Still, it was -not thought necessary to repeat the miracle and change the heads, for -the mules apparently suffered no inconvenience. - -The preliminary meetings of the Council were held in the principal -church of Nicæa and continued until the arrival of the Emperor, which -was not until after July 3rd, the anniversary of his victory over -Licinius. Then the state opening took place in the great hall of the -palace. Eusebius gives us a graphic account of the memorable scene.[96] -Special invitations had been sent to all whose presence was desired, and -these had entered and taken their places in grave and orderly fashion on -either side of the hall. Then expectant silence fell upon the company. -As the moment for the Emperor’s entry approached, some of the members of -his immediate entourage began to arrive, but Eusebius is careful to -mention that there were no guards or officers in armour, “only friends -who avowed the faith of Christ.” At the signal that Constantine was at -hand, the whole assembly swept to its feet, and the Emperor passed -through their midst like “some heavenly angel of God, clad in glittering -raiment that seemed to gleam and flash with bright effulgent rays of -light, encrusted as it was with gold and precious stones.” Yet, though -Constantine was thus dazzling in externals, it was evident—at-least to -the penetrating eye of the courtier bishop—that his mind was “beautified -by pity and godly fear.” For was not this revealed by his downcast eyes, -his heightened colour, and his modest bearing? Advancing to the upper -end of the hall, Constantine stood facing the assembly, while a low -golden stool was brought for him, and then, when the bishops motioned to -him to be seated, he took his seat, and the whole audience followed his -example. Beyond doubt, most of the bishops then gazed for the first time -upon the Emperor to whom they could not be sufficiently grateful for all -he had done for the Church, and Constantine himself might well be -flattered and pleased at the homage, evidently sincere, that was being -offered to him, as well as a little nervous at the thought that these -were the principal ministers and representatives of the God to whom he -had tendered allegiance. There would have been no downcast eye, no -blush, no marked modesty of carriage, we may suspect, if it had been a -council of augurs and flamens that Constantine had summoned. In that -case the Emperor would have been perfectly at his ease as he advanced up -the hall, conscious that he was the supreme head of all the priesthoods -represented in his presence, and that he was not only worshipper but -worshipped. - ------ - -Footnote 96: - - _De Vita Constant._, iii., 10. - ------ - -Then, says Eusebius, after a few introductory words of welcome had been -spoken, the Emperor rose and delivered a brief address in Latin which -was presently translated into Greek. He expressed his delight at finding -himself in the presence of such a Council, “united in a common harmony -of sentiment,” and prayed that no malignant enemy might avail to disturb -it, for “internal dissensions in the Church of God were far more to be -feared than any battle or war.” In well chosen language he explained the -overwhelming importance of unity and implored his hearers as “dear -friends, as ministers of God, and as faithful servants of their common -Lord and Saviour,” to begin from that moment to “discard the causes of -dissension which had existed among them and loosen the knots of -controversy by the laws of peace.” The excellent impression created by -this speech was intensified by the next act of the Emperor. On his -arrival at Nicæa he had found awaiting him a great number of petitions -addressed to him by the bishops accusing one another of heresy, or -political intrigue, or too strenuous activity on behalf of the fallen -Licinius. Socrates, indeed, says that “the majority of the Bishops” were -levelling charges against one another. But they received no -encouragement from Constantine. Seated there among them he produced the -incriminatory documents from the folds of his toga, called for a -brazier, and threw the rolls upon the fire, protesting with an oath that -not one of them had been opened or read. “Christ,” he said, “bids him -who hopes for forgiveness forgive an erring brother.” It was a dignified -and noble rebuke. The story reads best in this, its simplest form. -Theodoretus amplifies the Emperor’s rebuke and puts into his mouth the -dangerous doctrine that, if bishops sin, their offences ought to be -hushed up, lest their flock be scandalised or be encouraged to follow -their example. He would even, he said, throw his own purple over an -offending bishop to avoid the evils and contagion of publicity. - -Such was the opening of the Council. The Emperor had scored a great -personal triumph and had set the bishops a notable example of -magnanimity. But it was not imitated. No sooner had the actual business -of the Council begun than the flood-gates of controversy were opened. -According to Eusebius, the Emperor remained to listen to their mutual -recriminations, giving ear patiently to all sides, and doing what he -could to assuage animosities by making the most of everything that -seemed to tend towards compromise. Unfortunately, the reports of the -Council are strangely incomplete. It is not even explicitly stated who -presided. The presidency of the Emperor was one only of honour; the -actual presidents were probably the legates of Pope Sylvester, viz., -Hosius of Cordova and the two presbyters, Vito and Vincentius. But into -the controversy which rages round this point we need not enter. - -The general feeling of the Council was not long in declaring itself. -Arius, who was regarded as a defendant on his trial, made his position -absolutely clear. He did not envelop himself, as he might have done, in -a cloud of metaphysics from which it would have been difficult to gather -his precise meaning. On the contrary, he seems to have come prepared -with a résumé of his doctrines, and to have been ready to defend his -outposts as resolutely as his citadel. Immediately, therefore, the -Council became split up into contending parties. There were the -out-and-out Arians, few but formidable, and the out-and-out -Trinitarians, led with great ability by the young Athanasius, whose -reputation steadily rose as the days passed by. There was also a middle -party, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia and supported by Eusebius of -Cæsarea, whose intellectual and personal sympathies lay with Arius -rather than with Athanasius, though they saw that the great majority of -the Council were against them, and that Arius and his opinions were sure -of excommunication. Theirs was what we may call the “cross-bench mind.” -They doubtless felt, what many who approach this controversy at the -present day feel, that if once appeal is made to Reason, there must be -no further appeal beyond that to Faith, as to a higher Court. Those who -invoke Reason must not turn round, when they find themselves driven into -an ugly corner, and condemn “the Pride of Reason.” In our view, Eusebius -of Nicomedia was not the malignant, self-seeking, and entirely worldly -prelate he is so often represented as having been, but a Bishop who -honestly regretted that this question had been raised at all, inasmuch -as he foresaw that it must rend the Church in twain. He would have -preferred, that is to say, that the exact nature of the Sonship of -Christ should not be made a matter of close definition, should not be -made a point of doctrine whereon salvation depended, should not be -inserted in a creed, but left rather to the individual conscience or to -the individual intellect. Once the question was raised, his intellectual -honesty led him to side with Arius, but he considered that to tear the -indivisible garment of Christ was a crime to be avoided at any cost. -Eusebius was bent upon a compromise. Arius was his old friend, and his -patron, the Emperor, passionately desired unity. The personal wish of -the monarch would be sure to have some, though we cannot say precisely -how much, weight with him in determining his policy. - -Some of the sessions of the Council were marked by uproar and violence. -Athanasius declares that when the bishops heard extracts read from the -_Thalia_ of Arius, they raised the cry of “impious,” and closed their -eyes and shut their ears tight against the admission of such appalling -blasphemy. There is a legend, indeed, that St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, -was so carried away by his indignation that he smote Arius a terrific -blow upon the jaw for daring to give utterance to words so vile. -Theodoretus declares that the Arians drew up the draft of a creed which -they were willing to subscribe and had it read before the Council. But -it was at once denounced as a “bastard and vile-begotten document” and -torn to pieces. Then a praiseworthy attempt was made to begin at the -beginning. The proposition was put forward that the Son was from God. -“Agreed,” said the Trinitarians; “Agreed,” said the Arians, on the -authority of such texts as “There is but one God, the Father, of whom -are all things,” and “All things are become new and all things are of -God.” “But will you agree,” asked the Trinitarians, “that the Son is the -true Power and Image of the Father, like to Him in all things, His -eternal Image, undivided from Him and unalterable?” “Yes,” said the -Arians after some discussion among themselves, and they quoted the -texts: “Man is the glory and image of God,” “For we which live are -always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake,” and “In him we live and -move and have our being.” “But will you admit,” continued the -Trinitarians, “that the Son is Very God?” “Yes,” replied the Arians, -“for he is Very God if he has been made so.” Athanasius tells us that -while these strange questions and answers were being tossed from one -side of the Council to the other, he saw the Arians “whispering and -making signals one to the other with their eyes.” It is to be regretted -that we have no independent account. The savage abuse with which -Athanasius attacks the Arians in his “Letter to the African Bishops” -makes his version of what took place at the Council exceedingly suspect. -He speaks of their “wiliness,” and delivers himself of the sarcasm that -as they were cradled in ordure their arguments also partook of a similar -character.[97] Most of the vilification in the opening stages of the -Arian controversy—at any rate most of that which has survived—seems to -have been on the Trinitarian side. - ------ - -Footnote 97: - - αὐτὸι μὲν ὥς ἐκ κοπρίας ὄντες ἐλαλησαν ἀληθῶς ἀπο γῆς. - ------ - -The word “Homoousion” had at length been uttered and, strangely enough, -by Eusebius of Nicomedia, though it was soon to become the rallying cry -of his opponents. He had employed it, apparently, to clinch the argument -against the Trinitarians, for, he said, if they declared the Son to be -Very God, that was tantamount to declaring that the Son was of one -substance with the Father. Greatly, no doubt, to his surprise, it was -seized upon by his opponents as the word which, of all others, precisely -crystallised their position and their objections to Arianism. But before -the fight began to rage round this word, the moderates came forward with -another suggestion of compromise. Eusebius of Cæsarea read before the -Council the confession of faith which was in use in his diocese, after -having been handed down from bishop to bishop. The Emperor had read it -and approved; perhaps, he urged, it might similarly commend itself to -the acceptance of all parties in the Council. The creed began as -follows: - - “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things both - visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, - God of God, Light of Light, Life of Life, the only-begotten Son, the - First-born of every creature, begotten of the Father before all - worlds, by whom also all things were made. Who for our salvation was - made flesh and lived amongst men, and suffered, and rose again on the - third day, and ascended to the Father, and shall come in glory to - judge the quick and the dead. And I believe in the Holy Ghost.” - -Eusebius, in writing later to the people of his diocese, said that when -this creed was read out, - - “no room for contradiction appeared; but our most pious Emperor, - before any one else, testified that it comprised most orthodox - statements. He confessed, moreover, that such were his sentiments, and - he advised all present to agree to it, and subscribe to its articles - with the insertion of the single word ‘one in substance.’” - -Indeed, little objection could be taken to the creed of Eusebius, which -might have been subscribed to with equal sincerity by Arius and -Alexander. But the great problem, which had brought the Council -together, would have remained entirely unsettled. The creed was not -sufficiently precise. It left openings for all kinds of heresies. The -Trinitarians, therefore, insisted upon inserting a few words which -should more precisely define the relationship between the Father and the -Son and their real nature and substance, and should retain undiminished -the majesty and Godhead of the Son. They put forward the simple -antithesis “begotten not made” in reference to the Son, whereby the -Arian doctrine that the Son was a creature was effectually negatived. -And they also adopted as their own the word which has made the Council -famous alike with believers and with sceptics—the word “Homoousion.” - -Dean Stanley, in his _History of the Eastern Church_,[98] has well said -that this is “one of those remarkable words which creep into the -language of philosophy and theology and then suddenly acquire a -permanent hold on the minds of men.” It was a word with a notable, if -not a very remote past. It had been orthodox and heretical by turns, a -fact which is not surprising when we consider the vagueness of the term -“ousia” and the looseness with which it had been employed by -philosophical writers. - - “It first distinctly appeared,” says Dean Stanley, “in the statement, - given by Irenæus, of the doctrines of Valentius; then for a moment it - acquired a more orthodox reputation in the writings of Dionysius and - Theognostus of Alexandria; then it was coloured with a dark shade by - association with the teaching of Manes; next proposed as a test of - orthodoxy at the Council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, and then - by that same Council was condemned as Sabellian.” - -Obviously, therefore, it was not a word to command instantaneous -acceptance; its old associations lent a certain specious weight to the -repeated accusation of the Arians that the Trinitarians were importing -into the Church fantastic subtleties borrowed from Greek philosophy, and -were encrusting the simple faith and the simple language of Christ and -the apostles with alien thoughts and formulæ. Athanasius meets that -argument with a “_tu quoque_,” asking where in Scripture one can find -the phrases which Arius had made his own. Modern theologians have -replied with much greater force that this importation of philosophy into -the Christian religion was inevitable. - ------ - -Footnote 98: - - Lecture iv. - ------ - - “The Church,” says Canon Bright,[99] “had come out into the open, had - been obliged to construct a theological position against the - tremendous attacks of Gnosticism and to provide for educated enquirers - in the great centres of Greek learning. She had become conscious of - her debt to the wise.” - -Elsewhere, in the same chapter, he says: “It would, indeed, have been -childish to attempt to banish metaphysics from theology. Any religion -with a doctrine about God or man must, as such, be metaphysical.” And -for the Arians to complain of the borrowing of technical terms from -philosophy by their opponents was palpably absurd. The whole _raison -d’être_ of the Arian movement was its professed rationalism, its appeal -to reason and logic, its consciousness, in other words, “of its debt to -the wise,” and its desire to be able to debate boldly with the enemy in -the gate. Really, therefore, the adoption of such a term was of great -practical convenience, especially when once its meaning was rigidly -defined. The Homoousion, whereby the Word or the Son was declared to be -of one essence or substance with the Father, asserted the undiminished -Divinity of the Son of God, through whom salvation came into the world. - ------ - -Footnote 99: - - _Age of the Fathers_, chap. vi. - ------ - -It is for theologians to expand upon such a text, but it needs no -theologian to point out the obvious truth that any diminution of the -majesty of the Son of God must have impaired the vitality and converting -power of Christianity. The word, therefore, was eagerly adopted by those -who had been commissioned to draw up a creed to meet the views of the -orthodox majority of the Council. That creed was at length decided upon; -Hosius of Cordova announced its completion; and it was read aloud for -the first time to the Council, apparently by Hermogenes, subsequently -Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. It ran as follows: - - “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things both - visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, - begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is from the substance of - the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten - not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things - were made, both in heaven and earth. Who for us men and for our - salvation came down and was made flesh, and was made man, suffered and - rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens and will come again - to judge the quick and the dead. And we believe in the Holy Ghost.” - -Such was the text of the famous document which ever since has borne the -title of the Nicene Creed. It has been added to during the centuries. It -has even lost one or two of its qualifying and explanatory sentences. -But these modifications have not touched its central theses, and, above -all, the Homoousion remains. - -In order to make the position absolutely clear and preclude even the -most subtle from placing an heretical interpretation upon the words -employed, there was added a special anathema of the Arian doctrines. - - “But those who say, ‘Once He was not,’ and ‘Before He was begotten, He - was not,’ and ‘He came into existence out of what was not,’ or those - who profess that the Son of God is of a different ‘person’ or - ‘substance,’ or that He was ‘made,’ or is ‘changeable’ or - ‘mutable’—all these are anathematised by the Catholic Church.” - -This was the formal condemnation of Arianism in all the Protean shapes -it was capable of assuming, and the vast majority of the bishops -cordially approved. - -But what of Arius and his friends, and what of the Eusebian party? -Interest centred in the action of the latter. Would they accept the text -and sign? Or would they hold fast to the condemned doctrines? They -loudly protested, of course, against the anathema, and the Homoousion in -the creed itself was repugnant to their intellect. Eusebius of Cæsarea -asked for a day in which to consider the matter. Then he signed, and -wrote a letter to his flock at Cæsarea excusing and justifying his -conduct, and explaining in what sense he could conscientiously subscribe -to the Homoousion. He bowed to the clear verdict of the majority and to -the passionate wish of the Emperor. Constantine insisted that the creed -should be accepted as the final expression of Catholic belief, though he -would have been just as ready to accept the creed of Eusebius himself. -The presence or absence of the Homoousion was of little consequence to -him. What he wanted was unity, and he was determined to have it, for he -was already threatening recalcitrants with banishment. Eusebius of -Cæsarea signed. He submitted, in other words, when the Church, meeting -in Council, had spoken. The Palestinian and Syrian bishops who had -supported him in the debates followed his example, complying, we are -told, with eagerness and alacrity. - -Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theognis of Nicæa, and Maris of Chalcedon made a -rather more resolute stand. According to one account, they consulted -Constantia, the Emperor’s sister, and she persuaded them to sign on the -ground that they ought to merge their individual scruples in the will of -the majority, lest the Emperor should throw over Christianity in disgust -at the dissension among the Christians. According to another story, -Constantia recommended them to insert an “iota” into the text of the -creed, and thus change the Homoousion into the Homoiousion, to which -they could subscribe without violence to their consciences. They could -admit, that is to say, that the Son was of “like” substance to the -Father when they could not admit that He was of the “same” substance. -The story is obviously a fiction and part of the campaign of calumny -against Eusebius of Nicomedia. He and his two friends signed the -creed—not fraudulently or with mental reservations as the story -suggests—but for precisely the same reason that Eusebius of Cæsarea had -signed it. It was the Emperor’s wish and they were willing to accept the -decision of the Council, but they still stood out against signing the -anathema. Two of them, Eusebius and Theognis, were deprived of their -sees and sent into exile. Whether their degradation and exile were due -wholly to this refusal is doubtful, though as an interesting parallel it -may be pointed out that Eusebius, Bishop of Vercellæ, and Dionysius, -Bishop of Milan, were exiled by the Emperor Valens in 355 because they -refused to subscribe the condemnation of Athanasius at the Third Council -of Milan. Arius and his two most faithful supporters were excommunicated -and banished and their writings, notably the _Thalia_, were burnt with -ignominy. - -The labours of the Council were not yet concluded. The Bishops decided -that Easter should be observed simultaneously throughout the Church, and -that the Judaic time should give way to the Christian. They then drew up -what are known as the Canons of Nicæa. We may indicate some of the more -important, as, for example, the fifth, which provided that all questions -of excommunication should be discussed in provincial councils to be held -twice a year; the fourth, that there should be no less than three -bishops present at the consecration of every bishop, and the fifteenth, -which prohibited absolutely the translation of any bishop, presbyter, or -deacon from one city to another. Some of the canons, such as the -twentieth, which prohibited kneeling during church worship on Sundays -and between Easter and Pentecost; and the eighteenth, which rebuked the -presumption of deacons, have merely an antiquarian interest. The -seventeenth forbade all usury on the part of the clergy; the third -enacted that no minister of the Church, whatever his rank, should have -with him in his house a woman of any kind, unless it were a mother, a -sister, or an aunt, or some one quite beyond suspicion. While this canon -was under discussion, one of the most exciting debates of the Council -took place. The proposal was made that all the married clergy should be -required to separate from their wives, and this received a considerable -measure of support. But the opposition was led by the confessor -Paphnutius, whose words carried the more weight from the fact that he -himself had been a lifelong celibate. He debated the subject with great -warmth, maintaining at the top of his shrill voice that marriage was -honourable and the bed undefiled,[100] and so brought a majority of the -assembly round to his way of thinking. - ------ - -Footnote 100: - - τίμιον εἵναι καὶ τὴν κόιτην καὶ αὐτὸν ἀμίαντον τὸν γάμον. - ------ - -Then at last this historic Council was ready to break up. But before the -bishops separated, the Emperor celebrated the completion of his -twentieth year of reign by inviting them all to a great banquet. - - “Not one of them,” says Eusebius,[101] “was missing and the scene was - of great splendour. Detachments of the bodyguard and other troops - surrounded the entrance of the palace with drawn swords and through - their midst the men of God proceeded without fear into the innermost - apartments, in which were some of the Emperor’s own companions at - table, while others reclined on couches laid on either side.” - -He gave gifts to each according to his rank, singling out a few for -special favour. Among these was Paphnutius. Socrates says that the -Emperor had often sent for him to the palace and kissed the vacant eye -socket of the maimed and crippled confessor. Acesius the Novatian was -another, though he steadily refused to abate one jot or tittle of his -old convictions. Constantine listened without offence, as the old man -declared his passionate belief that those who after baptism had -committed a sin were unworthy to participate in the divine mysteries, -and merely remarked, with sportive irony, “Plant a ladder, then, -Acesius, and climb up to Heaven alone!”[102] - ------ - -Footnote 101: - - _De Vita Constant._, iii., 15. - -Footnote 102: - - θὲς, ὦ Ἀκέσιε, κλίμακα καὶ μόνος ἀνάβηθι εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. - ------ - -At the closing session the Emperor delivered a short farewell speech, in -which his theme was again the urgent need of unity and uniformity within -the Christian Church. He implored the bishops to forget and forgive past -offences and live in peace, not envying one another’s excellencies, but -regarding the special merit of each as contributing to the total merit -of all. They should leave judgment to God; when they quarrelled among -themselves they simply gave their enemies an opportunity to blaspheme. -How were they to convert the world, he asked, if not by the force of -their example? And then he went on to speak plain common sense. Men do -not become converts, he said, from their zeal for the truth. Some join -for what they can get, some for preferment, some to secure charitable -help, some for friendship’s sake. “But the true lovers of true argument -are very few: scarce, indeed, is the friend of truth.”[103] Therefore, -he concluded, Christians should be like physicians, and prescribe for -each according to his ailments. They must not be fanatics: they must be -accommodating. Constantine could not possibly have given sounder advice -to a body of men whose besetting sin was likely to be fanaticism and not -laxity of doctrine. The passage, therefore, is not without significance. -The Church had already begun to act upon the State; here was the State -palpably beginning to react upon the Church—in the direction of -reasonableness, compromise, and an accommodating temper. Then, after -begging the bishops to remember him in their prayers, he dismissed them -to their homes, and they left Nicæa, says Eusebius, glad at heart and -rejoicing in the conviction that, in the presence of their Emperor, the -Church, after long division, had been united once more. - ------ - -Footnote 103: - - καὶ σπάνιος αὖ τῆς ἀληθείας φίλος. - ------ - -Constantine evidently shared the same conviction. He had no doubt -whatever that the Arian heresy was finally silenced. So we find him -writing to the church at Alexandria, declaring that all points which -seemed to be open to different interpretations have been thoroughly -discussed and settled. All must abide by the _chose jugée_. Arius had -been proved to be a servant of the Devil. Three hundred bishops had said -it, and “that which has commended itself to the judgment of three -hundred bishops cannot be other than the doctrine of God, seeing that -the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the minds of so many honourable men, must -have thoroughly enlightened them as to the will of God.”[104] He took -for granted, therefore, that, those who had been led away by Arius would -return at once to the Catholic fold. The Emperor also wrote another -letter, which he addressed “To the Churches,” in which he declared that -each question at issue had been discussed until a decision was arrived -at “acceptable to Him who is the inspector of all things,” and added -that nothing was henceforth left for dissension or controversy in -matters of faith.[105] Most of the letter, indeed, consists of argument -shewing the desirability of a uniform celebration of Easter, but one can -see that the leading thought in the writer’s mind is that the last word -had at length been uttered on the cardinal doctrines of the Christian -Faith. The Council had been a brilliant success. The three hundred -bishops announced to the Catholic Church the decisions of their “great -and holy Synod,” with the explicit declaration that “all heresy has been -cut out of the Church.”[106] Arius was banished and Eusebius of -Nicomedia with him. The triumph of orthodoxy seemed finally assured. - ------ - -Footnote 104: - - ὅ γὰρ τοῖς τριακοσίοις ἐπισκόποις ἤρεσεν οὔδεν ἔστιν ἕτερον ἤ τοῦ θεοῦ - γνώμη (Soc., i., 9). - -Footnote 105: - - ὡς μηδὲν ἔτι πρὸς διχόνοιαν ἢ πίστεως αμφισβητησιν ὑπολείπεσθαι - (_ibidem_). - -Footnote 106: - - ἐπὶ τὸ πὰσαν αἵρεσιν ἐκκοπῆναι (Soc., i., 9). - ------ - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE MURDERS OF CRISPUS AND FAUSTA - - -We saw in the last chapter how Constantine presided over the -deliberations of the bishops at Nicæa, mild, benignant, gracious, and -condescending. It is a very different being whom we see at Rome in 326, -suspicious, morose, and striking down in blind fury his own gallant son. -The contrast is startling, the cause obscure and mysterious, but if the -secret is to be discovered at all, it is probably to be found in the -jealousies which raged in the Imperial House. - -We must look a little closer at the family of Constantine. The Emperor -himself was in the very prime of middle age, just turning his fiftieth -year. His eldest son, by his first marriage with Minervina, was the hope -of the Empire. Crispus, as we have seen, had won distinction on the -Rhine, and had just given signal proof of his capacity by his victories -over the navy of Licinius in the Hellespont, which had facilitated the -capture of Byzantium. He was immensely popular, and the Empire looked to -him, as it had looked to Tiberius and Drusus three centuries before, as -to a strong pillar of the Imperial throne. But Crispus—if the usually -accepted theory be right—had a bitter and implacable enemy in the -Empress Fausta, who regarded him as standing in the path of her own -children, and menacing their interests by his proved merit and -abilities. The eldest of her sons, who bore his father’s name, was not -yet in his teens; the second, Constantius, had been born in 319; the -third, Constans, was a year younger. Her three daughters were infants or -not yet born. These three young princes, like Caius and Lucius,—to -pursue the Augustan parallel,—threatened rivalry to Crispus as they grew -up, the more so, perhaps, because Constantine had always possessed the -domestic virtues which were rare in a Roman Emperor. In his young days -one of the court Panegyrists had eulogised him as a latter-day miracle—a -prince who had never sowed any wild oats, who had actually had a taste -for matrimony while still young, and, following the example of his -father, Constantius, had displayed true piety by consenting to become a -father.[107] Another Panegyrist praised him for “yielding himself to the -laws of matrimony as soon as he ceased to be a boy,” and Eusebius, more -than once, emphasises his virtues as a husband and parent. Constantine, -we suspect, was a man easily swayed by a strong-minded woman, ambitious -to oust a step-son from his father’s favour. - ------ - -Footnote 107: - - _Novum jam tum miraculum juvenis uxorius_ (_Pan. Vet._, vi., c. 2 et - 4). - ------ - -[Illustration: - - “CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HIS MOTHER, ST. - HELENA, HOLY, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES.” - - FROM A PICTURE DISCOVERED 1845, IN AN OLD CHURCH OF MESEMBRIA. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -There was yet another great lady of the reigning house whose influence -upon the Emperor has to be taken into account. This was his mother, -Helena, now nearly eighty years of age, but still vigorous and active -enough in mind and body to undergo the fatigues of a journey to -Jerusalem. Eusebius[108] dwells upon the estimation in which Constantine -held his mother, to whom full Imperial honours were paid. Golden coins -were struck in her honour, bearing her effigy and the inscription, -“Flavia Helena Augusta.” She amassed great riches, and although it is -impossible directly to trace her influence upon State affairs, there is -reason to believe that Helena, who owed her conversion, according to -Eusebius, to the persuasion of her son, was a woman of pronounced and -decided character and a great power at court. - ------ - -Footnote 108: - - _De Vita Const._, iii., p. 47. - ------ - -There was also Constantine’s half-sister, Constantia, the widow of -Licinius, whose intercession with her brother had secured for her -defeated husband an ill-kept promise of pardon and protection. -Constantia was to exhibit even more striking proof of her influence a -little later on by her skilful advocacy of the cause of Arius and -Eusebius of Nicomedia, and her share in procuring the banishment of -Athanasius. These great ladies move in shadowy outline across the stage; -we can scarcely distinguish their features or their form; but we think -we can see their handiwork most unmistakably in the appalling tragedies -which we now have to narrate. - -In 326 Constantine went to Rome to celebrate the completion of his -twentieth year of reign. Diocletian had done the same—the only occasion -upon which that great Emperor had ever set foot in the ancient capital, -and even then he made all possible haste to quit it. But whereas -Diocletian had travelled thither with the intention of abdicating -immediately afterwards, Constantine had no such act of self-abnegation -in his mind. Yet he was in no festival mood. Not long after his arrival, -there took place the ancient ceremony known as the Procession of the -Knights, who rode to the Capitol to pay their vows to Jupiter—the -religious ceremony which attended the annual revision of the equestrian -lists. Constantine contemptuously stayed within his palace on the day -and disdained to watch the Knights ride by. His absence was made the -pretext for some street rioting, which, we can hardly doubt, had been -carefully engineered beforehand. Rome, still overwhelmingly pagan in its -sympathies, had doubtless heard with bitter anger how the Emperor, the -head of the old national religion, had been taking part in a General -Council of the Christian Church, had admitted bishops and confessors to -the intimacy of his table, and had boldly declared himself the champion -of Christianity. Constantine’s pointed refusal to countenance a -time-honoured ceremony which, while itself of no extraordinary -importance, might yet be taken as typical of the ancient order of -things, would easily serve as pretext for a hostile demonstration. -Demonstrations in Rome no longer menaced the throne now that the -barracks of the Prætorians were empty, but the incident would serve to -confirm the suspicions already clouding the mind of the Emperor. - -We can read those suspicions most plainly in an edict which he had -issued at Nicomedia a few months before. It was addressed to his -subjects in every province (_Ad Universos Provinciales_), and in it the -Emperor invited all and sundry to come forward boldly and keep him well -informed of any secret plotting of which they happened to be cognisant. -No matter how lofty the station of the conspirator might be, whether -governor of a province, officer of the army, or even friend and -associate of the Emperor, if any one discovered anything he was to tell -what he knew, and the Emperor would not be lacking either in gratitude -or substantial reward. “Let him come without fear,” ran the edict, “and -let him address himself to me! I will listen to all: I will myself -conduct the investigation[109]: and if the accuser does but prove his -charge, I will vindicate my wrongs. Only let him speak boldly and be -sure of his case!” - ------ - -Footnote 109: - - _Intrepidus et securus accedat: interpellet me. Ipse audiam omnia, - ipse cognoscam._ - ------ - -The hand which wrote this was the hand which had flung unread into the -brazier at Nicæa the incriminating petitions of the bishops. What had -taken place in the interval that he should issue an edict worthy of a -Domitian? The authorities give not the slightest hint. Was there some -great conspiracy afoot, in the meshes of which Constantine feared to -become entangled, but so cunningly contrived that the Emperor could only -be sensible of its existence, without being able to lay hands on the -intriguers? Was paganism restless in the East as we have seen it -restless in Rome, at the triumph of its once-despised and always -detested rival? We do not know. Quite possibly it was, though with the -downfall of Licinius its prospects seemed hopeless. Unless, indeed, -there was some member of the Imperial Family upon whom paganism rested -its hopes and to whom it looked as its future deliverer! Was Crispus -such a prince? Again we do not know. There is not a scrap of evidence to -bear out a theory which has only been framed as a possible explanation -of the dark mystery of his fate. - -Eutropius, whose character sketches, for all their brevity, usually -tally well with known facts, calls Crispus a prince of the highest merit -(_virum egregium_). Why then did Constantine turn against him? We may, -perhaps, see the first sign of the changed relationship in the fact that -in 323 the Cæsarship of Gaul was taken from Crispus and given to the -young Constantius, then a child of seven. So far as is known, no -compensating title or command was offered in exchange, which looks as -though Constantine was disinclined to trust his eldest son any longer -and preferred to keep him in surveillance by his side. The father may -have been jealous of the prowess and popularity of the son; the son may -have been ambitious, as Constantine himself had been in his young days, -and have deemed that his services merited elevation to the rank of an -Augustus. According to the system of Diocletian, twenty years of -sovereignty were held to be long enough for the welfare alike of -sovereign and of the Empire. Constantine’s term was running out. The -system was not yet formally abandoned; is it unreasonable to suppose -that Crispus considered he had claims to rule, or that Constantine, -resolved to keep what he had won, became estranged from one whom he knew -he was not treating with generosity or with justice? - -As we have said, there is no evidence of any disloyalty on the part of -Crispus, but he may have let incautious expressions fall from his lips -which would be carried to the ears of his father, and he may have chafed -to see himself supplanted by the young princes, his half-brothers. The -boy Cæsar, Constantius, was named consul with his father for the -festival year 326, a distinction which Crispus may justly have thought -to belong by right to himself, and he may have seen in this another -proof of the ill-will of the Empress Fausta, and of her influence over -the Emperor. Possibly Crispus was goaded by anger into some indiscreet -action, which confirmed Constantine’s suspicions; possibly even he -committed some act of disobedience which gave Constantine the excuse he -sought for. At any rate, in the July or August of 326, Crispus was -arrested in Rome and summarily banished to Pola in Istria. Tidings of -his death soon followed. Whatever the manner of his death, whether he -was beheaded or was poisoned or committed suicide, all the authorities -agree that he came to a violent end and that the responsibility rests -upon his father, Constantine. Nor was Crispus the only victim. With him -fell Licinianus, the son of Licinius and Constantia. He was a promising -lad (_commodæ indolis_, says Eutropius) who could not have been more -than twelve years of age and could not, therefore, have been guilty of -any crime or intrigue against his uncle. - -One cannot pass by altogether without mention the story of Zosimus that -the reason of Fausta’s implacable hatred of Crispus was not ambition for -her own children, but a still more ungovernable and much less pardonable -passion. Zosimus declares that Fausta was enamoured of her step-son, who -rejected her overtures, and so fell a victim, like another Hippolytus, -to the vengeance of this Roman Phædra. Most modern historians have -rejected the story, as emanating from the lively imagination of a Greek -at a loss for a plausible explanation of a mysterious crime, and we may, -with tolerable certainty, acquit Fausta of so disgraceful a passion. If, -as we suppose, she was the untiring enemy of Crispus, it is at once more -charitable and more probable to suppose that the motive of her hate was -her fierce ambition for her own sons. For the moment the Empress -conquered. But her triumph did not last long. Eutropius tells us that -soon afterwards—_mox_—a vague word equally applicable to a period of -days, weeks, or even months—Fausta herself was put to death by -Constantine. What was her offence? Philostorgius[110] declares that she -was discovered in an intrigue with a groom of the stables—an amour -worthy of Messalina herself. But the story stands suspect, especially -when taken in conjunction with the legend of her passion for Crispus. -The one seems invented to bolster up the other and add to its -verisimilitude. The truth is that nothing is known for certain; and the -whole episode was probably kept as a profound palace secret. One -circumstance, however, mentioned by Aurelius Victor and by Zosimus, -merits attention. Both declare that the Empress-mother, Helena, was -furious at the murder of Crispus. Zosimus says that she was greatly -distressed at her grandson’s suffering, and could hardly contain herself -at the news of his death (ἀσχέτως τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ νέου φερούσης). -Aurelius Victor adds that the aged Empress bitterly reproached her son -for his cruelty (_Cum eum mater Helena nimio dolore nepotis -increparet_). Evidently, Helena favoured Crispus, the son of -Minervina—who, like herself, had been forced by the exigencies of State -to quit her husband’s house, and make room for an Emperor’s daughter,—in -preference to the children of Constantine and Fausta; evidently -therefore, Helena and Fausta were rival influences at court, each -striving for ascendency. If Crispus’s death betokened that Fausta had -gained the upper hand, the death of Fausta shewed that Helena had -succeeded in turning the tables. When Helena violently reproached her -son for slaying Crispus, we may be sure that she was aiming her shafts -through Constantine at Fausta, and that when she succeeded in rousing -the Emperor to remorse she succeeded also in kindling his resentment -against his wife. It is said that Fausta was suffocated in a hot bath, -but every detail is open to challenge. Eusebius passes over the entire -episode without a word. He is not only silent as to the death of Fausta -but also as to the death of Crispus. The courtly Bishop refuses to turn -even a single look towards the crime-stained Palatine, on whose gates -some lampoon writer had set a paper with the bitter epigram: - - _Saturni aurea sæcula quis requiret? - Sunt hæc gemmea, sed Neroniana._ - -(“Who will care to seek the golden age of Saturn? Ours is the age of -jewels, but jewels of Nero’s setting.”) If Constantine, like Saturn, had -devoured his children and had lapsed for the moment into a savage tyrant -of Nero’s pattern, it was not for Eusebius to judge him. He was writing -for edification. Constantine had averred his willingness to cast his -cloak over a sinning bishop lest scandal should arise; ought not an -ecclesiastical historian to cast the cloak of charitable silence over -the crimes of a most Christian Emperor? When, therefore, Eusebius -describes[111] how, after the death of Licinius, men cast aside all -their former fears, and dared to raise their long-downcast eyes and look -up with a smile on their faces and brightness in their glance; how they -honoured the Emperor in all the beauty of victory and “his most orderly -sons and Heaven-beloved Cæsars”; and how they straightway forgot their -old troubles and all unrighteousness, and gave themselves up to an -enjoyment of their present good things and their hope of others to come; -it is a healthy corrective to recall the murderous outbreak of -ungovernable wrath which made Rome shudder as it listened to the -whispered tale of what was taking place in the recesses of the Palatine. -The entire subject is one on which it is as fascinating as it is easy to -speculate. On the whole, it seems most likely that Constantine’s fears -had been worked upon to such an extent that he believed himself -surrounded by traitors in his own family, that the Empress Fausta had -been the leading spirit in the plot to ruin Crispus, and that when the -Emperor discovered his mistake he turned in fury upon his wife. It may -be, as Eutropius suggests, that his mental balance had been upset by his -extraordinary success, that his prosperity and the adulation of the -world had been too much for him.[112] That is a charitable theory which, -in default of a better, we, too, may as well adopt. - ------ - -Footnote 110: - - ii., c. 4. - -Footnote 111: - - _De Vita Const._, ii., p. 19. - -Footnote 112: - - _Verum insolentia rerum secundarum aliquantum Constantinus ex illa - favorabili animi docilitate mutavit_ (x., p. 6). - ------ - -We need not doubt the sincerity of his repentance. Zosimus depicts the -Emperor remorsefully begging the priests of the old religion to purify -him from his crime, and says that when they sternly refused, Constantine -turned to accept the soothing offices of a wandering Egyptian from -Spain. Another account, current among pagans, was that he applied for -comfort to the philosopher, Sopater, who would have nothing to say to so -heinous a sinner, and that he then fell in with certain Christian -bishops, who promised him full forgiveness at the price of repentance -and baptism. The motive of these legends is as obvious as their falsity. -The pagans, in defiance of chronology, sought to explain the Emperor’s -conversion to Christianity as a result of the murders that lay heavy -upon his soul, murders so revolting as only to admit of pardon in the -eyes of Christians. Among the late legends of the Byzantine writer -Codinus, we find the story that Constantine raised to the memory of -Crispus a golden statue, which bore the inscription, “To the son whom I -unjustly condemned,” and that he fasted and refused the comforts of life -for forty days. Of even greater interest is the legend that Constantine -was baptised by Sylvester, the Bishop of Rome, and, in gratitude for the -promise of pardon, bestowed upon the see of Rome the _damnosa hæreditas_ -of the Temporal Power. - -There is no necessity to discuss at length the once famous, but now -simply notorious, Donation of Constantine. The legend is so grotesque -that one wonders it ever imposed on the credulity even of the most -ignorant. For it represented Constantine as being smitten with leprosy -for having persecuted the Church and for having driven the good Pope -Sylvester into exile. The Emperor consulted soothsayers, priests, and -physicians in turn, and was at last informed that his only chance of -cure lay in bathing in the blood of little children. Forthwith, a number -of children were collected for this dreadful purpose, but their cries -awoke the pity of Constantine and he gave them respite. Then, as he -slept, Peter and Paul appeared to him in a dream and bade him let the -children go free, recall Sylvester from exile, and submit at his hands -to the rite of baptism. This was done; the baptism was administered; -Constantine was cured of the leprosy, and in return he made over to -Sylvester and his successors full temporal dominion over the city of -Rome, the greater part of Italy, and certain other provinces. Such is -the story, which was long accepted without demur and confidently -appealed to as the origin of the Temporal Power. It is now universally -admitted that the whole legend is a fraud and the letter of Constantine -to Sylvester announcing the Donation a forgery of the eighth century. -Constantine never persecuted the Church; he never had leprosy; he never -contemplated bathing in infants’ blood; he did not receive the rite of -baptism until he was on his death-bed, and he did not hand over to the -Pope the fee simple and title deeds of Rome and Italy. The Donation of -Constantine belongs to the museum of historical forgeries.[113] - ------ - -Footnote 113: - - We may quote the most striking sentence in the document: _Ecce tam - palatium nostrum quam urbem Romam, et omnes totius Italiæ et - occidentalium regionum provincias, loca et civitates, præfato - beatissimo Pontifici nostra Sylvestro, universali papæ, concedimus - atque relinquimus._ The forger forged boldly, and then went on to add - that Constantine withdrew to Constantinople, because it was not just - that an earthly monarch (_terrenus imperator_) should exercise - sovereignty in the city where the Head of the Christian religion had - been installed by the Lord of Heaven (_ab imperatore cælesti_). - ------ - -[Illustration: - - THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE. - FROM THE PAINTING BY RAPHAEL IN THE VATICAN. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI. -] - -But if the repentance of Constantine did not take the form of stupendous -endowments for the Bishop of Rome, we may be tolerably sure that it did -manifest itself in the increased zeal of the Emperor for the building of -churches, and especially in his munificence to the Christians of Rome. -It is tempting, also, to connect with Constantine’s remorse and his -mother’s sorrow for the murder of her grandson the pilgrimage of Helena -to Palestine and Jerusalem, which followed almost immediately. Around -that visit there clustered many legends which, as time went on, -multiplied amazingly. Of these the most famous is that which is known as -the Invention of the Cross. This, in its fullest form many centuries -after the event, ran something as follows: When Helena reached Jerusalem -she asked to be shown the Holy Sepulchre. But no one could tell her -where the exact spot was. Buildings had been erected upon Mount Calvary -and the adjoining land; a temple of Venus was still standing near the -place where the body of Christ must have been laid. Helena instituted a -careful search, and the authority of the Emperor’s mother would be -warrant sufficient for the disturbance of the occupiers. At first their -toil met with no success. Then a very clever Jew came forward with a -story that he had heard of an old tradition that the site of the -Sepulchre lay in such and such a spot; the direction of the excavation -was entrusted to him; and the searchers were soon rewarded by finding -not only the cave where Christ had lain, but also three crosses. These, -it was at once determined, must have been the crosses on which Christ -and the two malefactors had suffered. But which had borne the Saviour? -There was nothing to show, but so sacred an object was sure to be -invested with wonder-working powers, and the test was, therefore, easy. -So they brought to the spot a dying woman—according to one version, she -was already dead—and touched her with the wood of the three crosses. At -contact with the first two no change was visible; but the touch of the -third recalled her to sensibility and perfect health, and the true Cross -stood at once revealed to the adoring worship of all believers. In the -wood were two nails. Helena had them carefully sent to Constantine, and -he, we are told, had one of them inserted—as something far more precious -than rubies—in the Imperial crown, while from the other he fashioned a -bit for his horse. - -[Illustration: - - ST. HELENA’S VISION OF THE CROSS. - BY CALIARI (PAOLO VERONESE). - NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. -] - -Such is the legend in its most complete form. It directly associates the -finding of the Cross with Helena’s visit to Jerusalem, and attributes -also to her the magnificent church which was raised in the latter part -of the reign of Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulchre. But it -must also be added that the first historical mention of the “Invention” -is seventy years after the discovery was supposed to have taken place. -Eusebius, in describing Helena’s pilgrimage,[114] knows nothing of the -finding of the Cross, and, while he speaks of the discovery of the -Sepulchre, he does not associate it with Helena, though he attributes to -her piety the new church at Bethlehem. It was Constantine, according to -Eusebius, who built the church on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, and -beautified the cave of Bethlehem and the site of the Ascension, but of -the finding of the Cross there is not a word—a significant silence, -which can only mean that the legend was not yet current when Eusebius -composed his “Life” of Constantine. What cannot well be doubted is that -the site of the Sepulchre was discovered and cleared in Constantine’s -reign. The Emperor built upon it one of his finest churches, but popular -tradition, with a sure eye for the romantic and the extraordinary, -preferred to attribute the origin of the noblest shrine in Palestine to -the pious enthusiasm of the aged Helena. Her pilgrimage over, Helena -died not long afterwards, and was buried by Constantine with full -military honours “in the royal tombs of the reigning city.” The phrase -points clearly to Constantinople as the place of burial, though Rome -also claims this honour. - ------ - -Footnote 114: - - _De Vita Const._, iii., p. 44, _seq._ - ------ - -History is silent as to the events of the next few years. But as the -Empire had been free both from civil and foreign war since the downfall -of Licinius, we may accept the general statement of Eusebius “that all -men enjoyed quiet and untroubled days.”[115] Peace was always the -greatest interest of the Roman Empire, but it was rarely of long -continuance, and in 330 and the two following years we find the Emperor -campaigning in person against the Goths and the Sarmatæ. The account of -these wars in the authorities of the period is so confused and -contradictory that it is impossible to obtain a connected narrative. - ------ - -Footnote 115: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., c. 14. - ------ - -It was the old familiar story over again. The barbarians had come -raiding over the borders. There seems to have been fighting along the -entire north-eastern frontier, from the great bend of the Danube to the -Tauric Chersonese. Constantine and the legions drove the enemy back, won -victories chequered by minor reverses, and finally the Emperor was glad -enough in 332 to come to terms with the chiefs of the Gothic nation. -Mention is made of a handsome subsidy paid by Constantine to the Gothic -kings, which certainly does not suggest the overwhelming triumph of the -Roman arms of which Eusebius speaks when he says that the Emperor was -the first to bring them under the yoke and taught them to acknowledge -the Romans as their masters.[116] As for the Sarmatæ, Eusebius -declares[117] that they had been obliged to arm their slaves for their -assistance against the attacks of the Scythians, that the slaves had -revolted against their old masters, and that in despair the Sarmatæ -turned to Constantine and asked for shelter on Roman territory. Some of -them, says Eusebius, were received into the legions; others were -distributed as farmers and tillers of the soil throughout the frontier -provinces; and all, he declares, confessed that their misfortunes had -really been a blessing in disguise, inasmuch as it had enabled them to -exchange their old state of barbarian savagery for the Roman freedom. -Probably we shall not be far wrong if we place a different -interpretation on the words of Eusebius, and see in the transference of -these Sarmatians to the Roman provinces a confession of weakness on the -part of Constantine. They were not captives of war. They were rather -invited over the borders to keep their kinsmen out, and the Roman -Emperor paid for his new subjects in the shape of a handsome subsidy. -There can be no other meaning of the curious words of Eutropius that -Constantine left behind him a tremendous reputation for generosity with -the barbaric nations (_Ingentemque apud barbaras gentes memoriæ gratiam -collocavit._—x., 7). Money was not so plentiful in Constantine’s -exchequer that he gave subsidies for nothing. The suggestion is not that -he suffered defeat and bought off hostility; it is rather that he -thought it worth while, after vindicating the honour of the Roman arms, -to pay for the friendship of the vanquished. - ------ - -Footnote 116: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., p. 5. - -Footnote 117: - - _Ibid._, iv., p. 6. - ------ - -On the Eastern frontier peace had remained unbroken throughout -Constantine’s long reign. Persia had been so shattered by Galerius that -King Narses made no attempt to renounce the humiliating treaty which had -been imposed upon him. His son, Hormisdas, had likewise acquiesced in -the loss of Armenia and what were known as the five provinces beyond the -Tigris, and when Hormisdas died, leaving a son still unborn, there was a -long regency during which no aggressive movement was made from the -Persian side. However, this son, Sapor, proved to be a high-spirited, -patriotic, and capable monarch, who was determined to uphold and assert -the rights of Persia. It is not known how the peaceful relationship, -which had so long subsisted between his country and Rome, came to be -broken. According to Eusebius,[118] Sapor sent an embassy to the -Emperor, which was received with the utmost cordiality, and Constantine, -we are told, took the opportunity of sending back by these same envoys a -letter commending to his favourable regard the Christians of Persia. The -document contained a very tedious and involved confession of faith by -the Emperor, who affirmed his devotion to God and declared his horror at -the sight and smell of the blood of sacrifice. “The God I serve,” said -Constantine, “demands from His worshippers nothing but a pure mind and a -spirit undefiled.” Then he reminded Sapor how the persecutors of the -Church had been destroyed root and branch, and how one of them, -Valerian, had graced the triumph of a Persian king. He, therefore, -confidently committed the Christians, who “honoured by their presence -some of the fairest regions of Persia,” to the generosity and protection -of their sovereign. - ------ - -Footnote 118: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., p. 8. - ------ - -This remarkable letter suggests that Sapor had been alarmed at the -growth of Christianity in his dominions, and by no means looked upon his -Christian subjects as lending lustre and distinction to his realm. -Whether he replied to what he may well have regarded as a veiled threat, -we do not know, but in 335 we hear of what Eusebius calls “an -insurrection of barbarians in the East,”[119] and Constantine prepared -for war against Persia. In other words, Sapor had fomented an -insurrection in the provinces beyond the Tigris and was claiming his -lost heritage. Constantine laid his military plans before the bishops of -his court. These declared their intention of accompanying him into the -field, to the great delight, we are assured, of the Emperor, who ordered -a tent to be made for his service in the shape of a church, while Sapor, -in alarm, sent envoys to sue for a peace which the most peaceful-minded -of kings (ἐιρηνικώτατος βασιλὲυς) was only too ready to grant. Such is -the story of Eusebius, but it is evident that the Eastern legions had -been carefully mobilised, and, whether such a peace was granted or not, -the death of Constantine in 337 was the signal for a renewal of the old -conflict between the two great empires of the world, and for a war which -lasted without intermission through the reigns of Constantine’s sons and -that of his nephew Julian. - ------ - -Footnote 119: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., p. 56. - ------ - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE - - -We come now to the greatest political achievement of Constantine’s -reign—the foundation of a new Rome. Let us ask at the outset what led -him to take a step so decisive as the transference of the world’s -metropolis from the Italian peninsula to the borders of Europe and Asia. -The assignation of merely personal motives will not suffice. We are told -by Zosimus that Rome was distasteful to Constantine, because it reminded -him of the son and the wife who had fallen victims to his savage -resentment. He was uneasy in the palace on the Palatine, whose very -stones suggested murder and sudden death, and whose walls were cognisant -of unnumbered treasons. What Zosimus says may very well be true. -Constantine’s conscience was likely to give him less peace in Rome than -elsewhere. But the personal wishes of even the greatest men cannot bind -the generations which come after them. There have been cities founded by -the caprice of royal tyrants which have flourished for a season and then -vanished. Seleucia is perhaps the most striking example, and scarcely a -mound remains to mark its site. But most of the historic cities of the -world owe their greatness and their permanence not to the whims of royal -founders, but to geographical and strategic position. Rome was not -uncrowned by Constantine because he could not forget within its walls -the crimes which had stained his hands with blood. - -It is also to be remembered that others had already set the example of -despoiling of her dignities the ancient Queen of the Nations. We have -seen how in the western half of the Empire great Imperial cities had -been rising within easy reach of the frontiers. In far-off Britain -London might be the most opulent city, but York was the chief residence -of the Cæsar of the West when he visited the island. In Gaul Treves had -outstripped Lyons in dignity and wealth, and was now the centre of -military and administrative power. Even in Italy Milan had grown at the -expense of Rome; it was nearer to the frontier and, therefore, nearer to -the armies. Rome lay out of the way. Diocletian, again, had favoured -Nicomedia in Bithynia. In other words, Rome was ceasing to be the one -centre of gravity of the ancient world, or, to express the same truth in -another form, the Roman world was ceasing to be one. Diocletian had -practically acknowledged this when he founded his system of Augusti and -Cæsars. With the subdivision of administrative and executive power there -naturally ceases to be one supreme metropolis. It would be a mistake to -suppose that Constantine, in founding a new Rome, deliberately hastened -the rapid tendency towards separation. The very name of “New Rome” which -he gave his city indicates his belief that he was merely moving Rome -from the Tiber to the Bosphorus—merely changing to a more convenient -site. But the fact that this name dropped out of use almost at once, and -that the city was called after him, not in Latin but in Greek, shews how -strongly the current was flowing towards political division. - -[Illustration: - - THE GOLDEN HORN - THE BOSPHORUS - THE MARMORA - - CHART OF THE EASTERN SECTION OF MEDIÆVAL CONSTANTINOPLE. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -But what attracted Constantine towards Byzantium? Precisely, of course, -those advantages of situation which have attracted modern statesmen. -Every one knows the story of how, after the Peace of Tilsit, the Tsar -Alexander constantly pressed Napoleon to allow him to take -Constantinople. Napoleon at length told his secretary, M. de Méneval, to -bring him the largest map of Europe which he could procure, and, after -poring over it for some time, he looked up and exclaimed, -“Constantinople! Never! It is the Empire of the world.” Was Napoleon -right? The publicists of to-day return different answers. The -Mediterranean is not the all-important sea it once was, and the -strategical importance of Constantinople has been greatly modified by -the Suez Canal and the British occupation of Egypt. But if Napoleon’s -exclamation seems rather theatrical to us, it would not have seemed so -to Constantine, whose world was so much smaller than ours and presented -such different strategical problems calling for solution. Constantine -had won the world when he defeated Licinius and captured Byzantium: he -determined to keep it where he had won it. - -It is said by some of the late historians that he was long in coming to -a decision, and that he carefully weighed the rival claims of other -cities. There was his birthplace, Naissus, in Pannonia, though we cannot -suppose that Constantine seriously thought of making this his -metropolis. There was Sardica on the Danube, the modern Belgrade and -capital of Servia, a city well adapted by its position for playing an -important rôle in history, and conveniently near the most dangerous -frontier of the Empire. “My Rome is at Sardica,” Constantine was fond of -declaring at one period of his career, according to a tradition which -was perpetuated by the Byzantine historians. Another possible choice was -Nicomedia, which had commended itself to Diocletian, and, finally, there -was Salonica, which even now has only to fall into capable hands to -become one of the most prosperous cities of eastern Europe. - -According to Zosimus, even when Constantine had determined to found his -new city at the point where Europe and Asia are divided by the narrow -straits, he selected first the Asiatic side. The historian says that he -actually began to build and that the foundations of the abandoned city -were still to be seen in his day between Troy and Pergamum. But the -story is more than doubtful. Legend has naturally been busy with the -circumstances attending the Emperor’s final choice of Byzantium. Was it -inspired, as some say, by the flight of an eagle from Chrysopolis -towards Byzantium? Or, while Constantine slept in Byzantium, did the -aged tutelar genius of the place appear to him in a dream and then -become transformed into a beautiful maiden, to whom he offered the -insignia of royalty? Interesting as these legends are, we need seek no -further explanation of Constantine’s choice than his own good judgment -and experience. He was fully aware of the extraordinary natural strength -of Byzantium, for his armies had found great difficulty in taking it by -assault; the supreme beauty of the site and its many other -qualifications for becoming a great capital were manifest to his eyes -every time he approached it. Byzantium had long been one of the most -renowned cities of antiquity. Even in the remotest times the imagination -of the Greeks had been powerfully affected by the stormy Euxine that lay -in what was to them the far north-east, guarding the Golden Fleece and -the Apples of the Hesperidæ, a wild region of big rivers, savage lands, -and boisterous seas. Daring seamen of Megara, in the seventh century -B.C., had effected a landing at the mouth of the Bosphorus, where Io had -fled across from Europe to Asia, turning their galleys up the smooth -estuary that still bears its ancient name of the Golden Horn. Apollo had -told them to fix their habitation “over against the city of the blind,” -and this they had rightly judged could be no other than Chalcedon, for -men must needs have been blind to choose the Asiatic in preference to -the European shore. - -The little colony founded by Byzas, the Megarian, had prospered -marvellously, though it had experienced to the full all the vicissitudes -of fortune. It had fallen before the Persian King Darius; it had been -wrested from him after a long siege by Pausanias, the hero of Platæa, -when the Greeks rolled back the tide of invasion. In turn the subject -and successful rival of Athens, Byzantium gained new glory by -withstanding for two years the assaults of Philip of Macedon. Thanks to -the eloquence of Demosthenes, Athens sent help in the shape of ships and -men, and, in commemoration of a night attack of the Macedonians -successfully foiled by the opportune rising of the moon, Byzantium -placed upon her coins the crescent and the star, which for four -centuries and a half have been the familiar symbols of Turkish -sovereignty. Byzantium grew rich on commerce. It was the port of call at -which every ship entering or leaving the Bosphorus was bound to touch; -no craft sailed the Euxine without paying dues to the city at its mouth. -Polybius, in a very interesting passage,[120] points out how Byzantium -occupied “the most secure and advantageous position of any city in our -quarter of the world, as far as the sea is concerned.” Then he -continues: - - “The Pontus, therefore, being rich in what the rest of the world - requires to support life, the Byzantines are absolute masters in this - respect. For the first necessaries of existence, cattle and slaves, - are admittedly supplied by the region of the Pontus in better quality - and greater profusion than elsewhere. In the matter of luxuries, they - supply us with honey, wax, and salt fish, while they take our - superfluous olive oil and wines.” - ------ - -Footnote 120: - - Bk. IV., c. 38, _seq._ - ------ - -It was Byzantium, therefore, which kept open the straits, and Polybius -speaks of the city as a common benefactor of the Greeks. When the Romans -began to appear on the scene as a world-power, Byzantium made terms with -the Senate. It well suited the Roman policy to have a powerful ally on -the Bosphorus, strong in the ships in which Rome was usually deficient. -As a _libera et fœderata civitas_, Byzantium enjoyed a more or less -prosperous history until the days of Vespasian, who stripped it of its -privileges. These were restored, but a shattering blow overtook the city -at the close of the second century, when Septimus Severus took it by -storm. Angry at its long resistance, Severus levelled its fortifications -to the ground,—a work of endless toil, for the stones and blocks had -been so clamped together that the walls were one solid mass. However, -before he died, he repented him of the destruction which he had wrought -and gave orders for the walls to be built anew. It was the Byzantium as -rebuilt by Severus that Constantine determined to refound on a far more -splendid scale. - -[Illustration: - - BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, ROME. - PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI. -] - -No subsequent historian has improved upon the glowing passage in which -Gibbon summarises the incomparable advantages of its site, which -appears, as he well says, to have been “founded by Nature for the centre -and capital of a great monarchy.” We may quote the passage in full from -his seventeenth chapter: - - “Situated in the forty-first degree of latitude—practically the same, - it may be noted, as that of Rome, Madrid, and New York—the imperial - city commanded from her seven hills the opposite shores of Europe and - Asia; the climate was healthy and temperate; the soil fertile; the - harbour secure and capacious; and the approach on the side of the - continent was of small extent and easy of defence. The Bosphorus and - Hellespont may be considered as the two gates of Constantinople; and - the prince who procured those important passages could always shut - them against a naval enemy and open them to the fleets of commerce. - The preservation of the Eastern provinces may, in some degree, be - ascribed to the policy of Constantine, as the barbarians of the - Euxine, who, in the preceding age, had poured down their armaments - into the heart of the Mediterranean, soon desisted from the exercise - of piracy and despaired of facing this insurmountable barrier. When - the gates of the Hellespont and Bosphorus were shut, the capital still - enjoyed, within their spacious inclosure, every production which could - supply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its numerous inhabitants. - The seacoasts of Thrace and Bithynia, which languish under the weight - of Turkish oppression, still exhibit a rich prospect of vineyards, of - gardens and plentiful harvests; and the Propontis has ever been - renowned for an inexhaustible store of the most exquisite fish, that - are taken in their stated seasons without skill and almost without - labour. But, when the passages of the Straits were thrown open for - trade, they alternately admitted the natural and artificial riches of - the North and South, of the Euxine and the Mediterranean. Whatever - rude commodities were collected in the forests of Germany and Scythia, - as far as the sources of the Tanais and the Borysthenes, whatever was - manufactured by the skill of Europe and of Asia, the corn of Egypt and - the gems and spices of the farthest India, were brought by the varying - winds into the port of Constantinople, which, for many ages, attracted - the commerce of the ancient world.” - -From a strategical point of view, it was of inestimable advantage that -the capital and military centre of the Empire should be within striking -distance of the route taken by the nomad populations of the East as they -pressed towards the West, at the head of the Euxine. The Scythians, the -Goths, and the Sarmatæ had all crossed that great region; the Huns were -to cross it in the coming centuries. Placed on shipboard at -Constantinople, the legions of the Empire could be swiftly conveyed into -the Euxine, and could penetrate up the Danube, Tanais, or Borysthenes to -confront the invaders where the danger threatened most. - -The story of how Constantine marked out the boundaries of his new -capital is well known. Not content with the narrow limits of the ancient -city—which included little more than the district now known as Seraglio -Point—Constantine crossed the old boundary, spear in hand, and walked -with his attendants along the shores of the Propontis, tracing the line -as he went. His companions expressed astonishment that he continued so -far afield, and respectfully drew the Emperor’s attention to the -enormous circuit which the walls would have to enclose. Constantine -rebuked them. “I shall still advance,” he said, “until He, the invisible -guide who marches before me, thinks it right to stop.” The legend is -first found in Philostorgius, and it is not of much importance. But -Constantine, as usual, took care to foster the belief that his will was -God’s will, even in the matter of founding Constantinople, and that he -had but obeyed the clearly expressed command of Heaven. In one of his -edicts he incidentally refers to Constantinople as the city which he -founded in obedience to the mandate of God (_Jubente Deo_). It is a -phrase which has meant much or little according to the character of the -kings who have employed it. With Constantine it meant much, and, above -all, he wished it to mean much to his subjects. - -Archæologists have not found it an easy task to trace the line of the -walls of Constantine, especially on the landward side. It followed the -coast of the Propontis from Seraglio Point, the Emperor adding height -and strength to the wall of Severus and extending it to the gate of St. -Æmilianus, which formed the south-west limit of his city. This section -was thrown down by an earthquake and had to be rebuilt by Arcadius and -Theodosius II. From St. Æmilianus the landward wall, with seven gates -and ninety-five towers, stretched across from the waters of the -Propontis to those of the Golden Horn, which was reached, it is -supposed, at a point near the modern Djubali Kapou. This was demolished -when the city had outgrown it, and Theodosius erected the new great wall -which still stands almost unimpaired. The course of the old one can -hardly be traced, but it is generally assumed that it did not include -all the seven hills of Constantinople, though New Rome, like Old Rome, -delighted in the epithet of Septicollis—the Seven-Hilled. Along the -Golden Horn no wall was built until five centuries had elapsed. On this -side Constantine considered that the city was adequately protected by -the waters of the estuary, closed against the attack of an enemy by a -huge iron chain, supported on floats, which stretched from the Acropolis -of St. Demetrius across to the modern Galata. Confidence in the -chain—some links of which are still preserved in the Turkish -arsenal—seems to have been thoroughly justified. Only once in all the -many sieges of Constantinople was it successfully pierced, when, in -1203, the Crusading Latins burst in upon the capital of the East. - -Within the area we have described, great if compared with the original -Byzantium, but small in comparison with the size to which it grew by the -reign of Theodosius II., Constantine planned his city. Probably no great -capital has ever been built so rapidly. It was finished, or so nearly -finished that it was possible to hold a solemn service of dedication, by -May, 330—that is to say, within four years. Throughout that period -Constantine seems to have had no thought for anything else. He urged on -the work with an enthusiasm equal to that which Dido had manifested in -encouraging her Tyrians to raise the walls of Carthage,—_Instans operi -regnisque futuris._ - -The passion for bricks and mortar consumed him. Like Augustus, he -thought that a great imperial city could not be too lavishly adorned as -a visible proof of present magnificence and a guarantee of future -permanence. Nor was it in Constantinople alone that he built. Throughout -his reign new public buildings kept rising in Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, -and the cities of Gaul. His impatience manifested itself in his letters -to his provincial governors. “Send me word,” he wrote imperiously to one -of them, “not that work has been started on your buildings, but that the -buildings are finished.” To build Constantinople he ransacked the entire -world, first for architects and builders, and then for art treasures. -With such impetuous haste there was sure to be scamped work. Some of the -buildings crumbled at the first slight tremor of earthquake or did not -even require that impulse from without to collapse into ruin. It is by -no means impossible that the havoc which seems to have been wrought in -Constantinople by earthquakes during the next two or three centuries was -largely due, not to the violence of the seismic disturbances but to -insecure foundations and bad materials. The cynical Julian compared the -city of Constantine to the fabled gardens of Adonis, which were planted -afresh each morning and withered anew each night. Doubtless there was a -substantial basis of fact for that bitter jibe. - -Yet, when all allowances are made, it was a marvellous city which -Constantine watched as it rose from its foundation. Those who study the -archæology of Constantinople in the rich remains which have survived in -spite of Time and the Turk, are surprised to find how constantly the -history of the particular spot which they are studying takes them -straight back to Constantine. Despite the multitude of Emperors and -Sultans who have succeeded him, each anxious to leave his mark behind -him in stone, or brick, or marble, Constantinople is still the city of -Constantine. In the centre, he laid out the Augustæum, the ancient -equivalent, as it has well been pointed out, of the modern “Place -Imperiale.” It was a large open space, paved throughout in marble, but -of unknown shape, and historians have disagreed upon the probability of -its having been circular, square, or of the shape of a narrow rectangle. -It was full of noble statuary, and was surrounded by an imposing pile of -stately buildings. To the north lay the great church of Sancta Sophia; -on the east the Senate House of the Augustæum, so called to distinguish -it from the Senate House of the Forum; on the south lay the palace, -entered by an enormous brazen gate, called Chalce, the palace end of the -Hippodrome, and the Baths of Zeuxippus. The street connecting the -Augustæum with the Forum of Constantine was known as Μέση, or -Middle-street, and was entered on the western side. In the Augustæum, -which later Emperors filled with famous statues, there stood in -Constantine’s day a single marble column known as the Milion—from which -were measured distances throughout the Empire,—a marble group -representing Constantine and Helena standing on either side of a -gigantic cross, and a second statue of Helena upon a pedestal of -porphyry. It was in this Augustæum, moreover, that was to stand for a -thousand years the huge equestrian statue of Justinian, known through -all the world and described by many a traveller before the capture of -the city by the Turks, who broke it into a thousand pieces. - -[Illustration: - - ST. HELENA AND THE CROSS. - BY CRANACH. LICHTENSTEIN GALLERY, VIENNA. -] - -To the west of the Augustæum lay the Forum of Constantine, elliptical in -form and surrounded by noble colonnades, which terminated at either end -in a spacious portico in the shape of a triumphal arch. In the centre, -which, according to an old tradition, marked the very spot on which -Constantine had pitched his camp when besieging Licinius, stood, and -still stands, though in sadly mutilated and shattered guise, the Column -of Constantine, which has long been known either as the Burnt Pillar, -owing to the damage which it has suffered by fire, or as the Porphyry -Pillar, because of the material of which it was composed. There were -eight drums of porphyry in all, brought specially from Rome, each about -ten feet in height, bound with wide bands of brass wrought into the -shape of laurel wreaths. These rested upon a stylobate of white marble, -some nineteen feet high, which in turn stood upon a stereobate of -similar height composed of four spacious steps. Sacred relics were -enclosed—or are said to have been enclosed—within this pediment, -including things so precious as Mary Magdalene’s alabaster box, the -crosses of the two thieves who had suffered with Christ upon Mount -Calvary, the adze with which Noah had fashioned the Ark out of rough, -primeval timber, and—in strange company—the very Palladium of ancient -Rome, transported from the Capitol to an alien and a rival soil. At the -foot of the column there was placed the following inscription: “O -Christ, Ruler and Master of the world, to Thee have I now consecrated -this obedient city and this sceptre and the power of Rome. Guard and -deliver it from every harm.” - -[Illustration: - - COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -At the summit of the column was a colossal statue of Apollo in bronze, -filched from Athens, where it was believed to be a genuine example of -Pheidias. But before the statue had been raised into position, it -suffered unworthy mutilation. The head of Apollo was removed and -replaced by a head of Constantine. This may be interpreted as a -confession of the sculptors of the day that they were unable to produce -a statue worthy of their great Emperor; but the fact that a statue of -Apollo was chosen for this doubtful honour of mutilation is worth at -least passing remark, when we remember that before his conversion -Constantine had selected Apollo for special reverence. It is certainly -strange that the first Christian Emperor should have been willing to be -represented, on the site which was ever afterwards to be associated with -his name, by a statue round which clustered so many pagan associations. -He did not even disdain the pagan inscription, “To Constantine shining -like the Sun”; nor did he reject the pagan attribute of a radiated crown -around the head. In the right hand of Apollo the old Greek artist had -placed a lance; in the left a globe. That globe was now surmounted by a -cross and lo! Apollo had become Constantine; the most radiant of the -gods of Olympus had become the champion of Christ upon earth. The fate -of this statue—which was held in such superstitious reverence that for -centuries all horsemen dismounted before passing it, while below it, on -every first day of September, Emperor, Patriarch, and clergy assembled -to chant hymns of prayer and praise—may be briefly told. In 477 the -globe was thrown down by an earthquake. The lance suffered a like fate -in 541, while the statue itself came crashing to earth in 1105, killing -a number of persons in its fall. The column was then surmounted by a -cross, and fire and time have reduced it to its present almost shapeless -and unrecognisable mass. - -Close to the Augustæum there began to rise the stately magnificence of -the Imperial Palace, the Great Palace, τὸ μέγα παλάτιον, as it was -called to distinguish it from all others. This was really a cluster of -palaces spread over an enormous area, a self-contained city within -itself, strongly protected with towers and walls. Here were the Imperial -residences, gardens, churches, barracks, and baths, and for eight -hundred years, until this quarter was forsaken for the palace of -Blachernæ in another region of the city, Emperors continued to build and -rebuild on this favoured site. In later years the Great Palace consisted -of an interconnected group of buildings bearing such names as -Chrysotriklinon, Trikonchon, Daphne,—so called from a diviner’s column -brought to Constantinople from the Grove of Daphne near Antioch,—Chalce, -Boucoleon, and Manavra. One at least of these dated back to Constantine. -This was the Porphyry Palace, with a high pyramidal roof, constructed of -porphyry brought especially from Rome. It was dedicated to the service -of the ladies of the Imperial Family, who retired thither to be away -from the vexations, intrigues, and anxieties of every-day life during -the time of their pregnancy. In the seclusion of this Porphyry Palace -they were undisturbed and secure, and the children born within walls -thus sacred to Imperial maternity were distinguished by the title of -“Porphyrogeniti,” which plays so prominent a part in Byzantine history. - -Constantine built below ground as well as above. One of the principal -drawbacks—perhaps the only one—to the perfect suitability of the site of -Constantinople was that it contained very few natural springs. Water, -therefore, had to be brought into the town by gigantic aqueducts and -stored in cisterns, some small, some of enormous size, which must have -cost fabulous sums. The two greatest of these are still in good -preservation after nearly sixteen centuries of use. One is the Cistern -of Philoxenos, called by the Turks Bin Bir Derek, or the Thousand and -One Columns. The columns stand in sixteen rows of fourteen columns each, -each column consisting of three shafts, and each shaft being eighteen -feet in height, though all the lower and most of the middle tiers have -long been hidden by masses of impacted earth. Philoxenos, whose name is -thus immortalised in this stupendous work, came to Constantinople from -Rome at the request of the Emperor, and lavished his fortune upon the -construction of this cistern in proof of his public spirit and in order -to please his master. Assistance was also invited from the public. And -just as in our own day subscriptions are often coaxed out of reluctant -purses by deft appeal to the harmless vanity which delights to see one’s -own name inscribed upon a foundation stone, so in this Cistern of -Philoxenos there are still to be deciphered upon the columns the names -of the donors, names, as Mr. Grosvenor points out in his most -interesting account of these cisterns, which are wholly Greek. “It is a -striking evidence,” he says, “how little Roman was the Romanised -capital, that every inscription is in Greek.” The second great cistern -is the Royal or Basilike Cistern, begun by Constantine and restored by -Justinian, which is called by the Turks Yeri Batan Serai, or the -Underground Palace. This is supported by three hundred and thirty-six -columns, standing twelve feet apart in twenty-eight symmetrical rows. -The cistern is three hundred and ninety feet long and a hundred and -seventy-four feet wide, and still supplies water from the Aqueduct of -Valens as fresh as when its first stone was laid. - -The chief glories of Constantinople, however, were the Hippodrome and -the churches. With the latter we may deal very briefly, the more so -because the world-renowned St. Sophia is not the St. Sophia which -Constantine built, but the work of Justinian. Constantine’s church, on -which he and many of his successors lavished their treasures, was burnt -to the ground and utterly consumed in the tumult of the Nika which laid -half the city in ashes. Nor had St. Sophia been intended to be the -metropolitan church. That distinction belonged to the church which -Constantine had dedicated not to the Wisdom but to the Peace of God, to -St. Irene. It, too, shared the fate of the sister church in the tumult -of the Nika, and was similarly rebuilt by Justinian. This was regarded -as the Patriarchal church and called by that name, for here the -Patriarch conducted the daily services, since the church had no clergy -of its own. It was at the high altar of St. Irene that the Patriarch -Alexander in 335 prayed day and night that God would choose between -himself and Arius; while the answer—or what was taken for the answer—was -delivered at the foot of Constantine’s Column. It was in this church -nearly half a century later that the great Arian controversy was ended -in 381, and here that the Holy Spirit was declared equal to the Father -and the Son. Since the Ottoman conquest this church—the sole survivor of -all that in Byzantine times once stood in the region of what is now the -Seraglio—has been used as an arsenal and military museum. On its walls -hang suits of armour, helmets, maces, spears, and swords of a bygone -age, while the ground floor is stacked with modern rifles. The temple of -“the Peace that Passeth Understanding” has been transformed into a -temple of war. Mr. Grosvenor well sums up its history in the fine -phrase, “Saint Irene is a prodigious hearthstone, on which all the ashes -of religion and of triumph and surrender have grown cold.” - -There is yet another church in Constantinople which calls for notice. It -is the one which Constantine dedicated to the Holy Trinity, though its -name was soon afterwards changed to that of the Holy Apostles, in honour -of the remains of Timothy, Andrew, and Luke, the body of St. Mathias, -the head of James, the brother of Jesus, and the head of St. Euphemia, -which were enshrined under the great High Altar. So rich a store of -relics was held to justify the change of name. It was from the pulpit of -this Church of the Holy Apostles that John Chrysostom denounced the -Empress Eudoxia, but the chief title of the building to remembrance is -that it was for centuries the Mausoleum of Constantinople’s Emperors and -Patriarchs. None but members of the reigning house, or the supreme Heads -of the Eastern Church, were accorded burial within its walls. -Constantine built a splendid Heroon at the entrance, just as Augustus -had built a magnificent Mausoleum on the Field of Mars. When it could -hold no more, Justinian built another. Each monarch, robed and crowned -in death as in life, had a marble sarcophagus of his own; no one church -in the world’s history can ever have contained the dust of so much -royalty, sanctity, and orthodoxy. Apart from the rest lay the tombs of -Julian the Apostate and the four Arian Emperors, as though cut off from -communion with their fellows, and removed as far outside the pale as the -respect due to an anointed Emperor would permit. It was not the -conquering Ottoman but the Latin Crusaders, the robbers of the West, who -pillaged the sacred tombs, stole their golden ornaments, and flung aside -the bones which had reposed there during the centuries. - -[Illustration: - - THE THREE EXISTING MONUMENTS OF THE HIPPODROME. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -We pass from the churches to the Hippodrome, a Campus Martius and -Coliseum combined, which now bears the Turkish name of Atmeidan, a -translation of its ancient Greek name. Its glories have passed away. It -has shrunk to little more than a third of its original proportions, and -is merely a rough exercise ground surrounded by houses. But it preserves -within its attenuated frame three of the most famous monuments of -antiquity, around which it is possible to recreate its ancient -splendours. These three monuments are the Egyptian obelisk, the Serpent -Pillar, and a crumbling column that looks as though it must snap and -fall in the first storm that blows. They preserve for us the exact line -of the old spina, round which the charioteers used to drive their steeds -in furious rivalry. The obelisk stood exactly in the centre of the -building, which was shaped like a narrow magnet with long arms. From the -obelisk to the middle of the sphendone—that is to say, the curving top -of a magnet, or the loop of a sling—was 691 feet, while the width was -395 feet. The Hippodrome, therefore, was nearly 1400 feet long by 400 -wide, the proportions of three and a half to one being those of the -Circus Maximus at Rome. It lay north-north-east, conforming in shape to -the Augustæum. The Hippodrome had been begun in 203 by Severus, to whom -belongs the credit of having conceived its stupendous plan, but it had -remained uncompleted for a century and a quarter. - -At the northern end, reaching straight across from side to side, was a -lofty structure, raised upon pillars and enclosed within gates. Here -were the stables and storehouses, known to the Romans by the name of -Carceres and to the Greeks as Mangana. Above was a broad tribunal, in -the centre of which, and supported by marble pillars, stood the -Kathisma, with the throne of the Emperor well in front. This, in modern -parlance, was the Royal Box, and, when the Emperor was present, the -tribunal below was thronged with the high dignitaries of State and the -Imperial Bodyguard, while, in front of the throne, but at a rather lower -level, was the pillared platform, called the Pi, where stood the royal -standard-bearers. Behind this entire structure, fully three hundred feet -wide and so spacious that it was dignified with the name of palace and -contained long suites of royal apartments, was the Church of St. -Stephen, through which, by means of a spiral stairway, access was -obtained to the Kathisma. It was always used by the Emperor on his -visits to the Hippodrome, and was considered to be profaned if trodden -by meaner mortals. The palace, raised as it was over the stables of the -Hippodrome and looking down the entire length of the arena, had no -communication with the body of the building, and on either side the long -arms of the Hippodrome terminated in blank walls. The first tier of -seats, known as the Bouleutikon or Podium, was raised thirteen feet -above the arena. This was the place of distinction. At the back rose -tier upon tier, broken half-way by a wide passage, while at the very top -of all was a broad promenade running right round the building from pole -to pole of the magnet. This was forty feet above the ground, and the -benches and promenades were composed of gleaming marble raised upon -arches of brick. There was room here for eighty thousand spectators to -assemble in comfort, and one seems to hear ringing down the ages the -frenzied shouts of the multitudes which for centuries continued to -throng this mighty building, of which now scarce one stone stands upon -another. Mr. Grosvenor very justly says that - - “no theatre, no palace, no public building has to-day a promenade so - magnificent.... Within was all the pomp and pageantry of all possible - imperial and popular contest and display; without, piled high around, - were the countless imposing structures ‘of that city which for more - than half a thousand years was the most elegant, the most civilised, - almost the only civilised and polished city in the world.’ Beyond was - the Golden Horn, crowded with shipping; the Bosphorus in its winding - beauty; the Marmora, studded with islands and fringing the Asiatic - coast, the long line of the Arganthonius Mountains and the peaks of - the Bithynian Olympus, glittering with eternal snow—all combining in a - panorama which even now no other city of mankind can rival.” - -[Illustration: - - PLAN OF THE HIPPODROME. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -In the middle of the arena stood the spina, a marble wall, four feet -high and six hundred feet long, with the Goal of the Blues at the -northern end facing the throne, and that of the Greens facing the -sphendone. The spina was decorated with the choicest statuary, including -the three surviving monuments. Of these the Egyptian obelisk, belonging -to the reign of Thotmes III., had already stood for more centuries in -Egypt than have elapsed since Constantine transported it to his new -capital. When it arrived, the engineers could not raise it into position -and it remained prone until, in 381, one Proclus, a præfect of the city, -succeeded in erecting it upon copper cubes. The shattered column belongs -to a much later epoch than that of Constantine. It was set up by -Constantine VIII. Porphyrogenitus, and once glittered in the sun, for it -was covered with plates of burnished brass. The third, and by far the -most interesting monument of the three, is the famous column of twisted -serpents from Delphi. Its romantic history never grows dull by -repetition. For this is that serpent column of Corinthian brass which -was dedicated to Apollo by the thankful and exultant Greeks after the -battle of Platæa, when the hosts of the Persian Xerxes were thrust back -from the soil of Greece never to return. It bears upon its coils the -names of the thirty-one Greek cities which fought for freedom, and there -is still to be seen, inscribed in slightly larger characters than the -rest, the name of the Tenians, who, as Herodotus tells us, succeeded in -proving to the satisfaction of their sister states that they deserved -inclusion in so honourable a memorial. The history of this column from -the fifth century before the Christian era down to the present time is -to be read in a long succession of Greek, Roman, mediæval, and modern -historians; and as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century the -three heads of the serpents were still in their place. But even in its -mutilated state there is perhaps no relic of antiquity which can vie in -interest with this column, associated as it was in the day of its -fashioning with Pausanias and Themistocles, with Xerxes and with -Mardonius. We have then to think of it standing for seven centuries in -the holiest place of all Hellas, the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. There -it was surmounted by a golden tripod, on which sat the priestess who -uttered the oracles which, in important crises, prompted the policy and -guided the development of the cities of Greece. The column is hollow, -and it is possible that the mephitic exhalations, which are supposed to -have stupefied the priestess when she was possessed by the god, mounted -up the interior of the spiral. The golden tripod was stolen during the -wars with Philip of Macedon; Constantine replaced it by another when he -brought the column from Delphi to Constantinople. And there, surviving -all the vicissitudes through which the city has passed, still stands the -column, still fixed to the pedestal upon which Constantine mounted it, -many feet below the present level of the Atmeidan, still an object of -superstition to Christian as well as to the Turk, and owing, no doubt, -its marvellous preservation to the indefinable awe which clings, even in -ruin, to the sacred relics of a discredited religion. - -[Illustration: - - THE SERPENT OF DELPHI. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.” -] - -To the Hippodrome itself there were four principal entrances. The gate -of the Blues was close by the Carceres or Mangana, on the western side, -with the gate of the Greens facing it. At the other end, just where the -long straight line was broken and the building began to curve into the -sphendone, was a gate on the eastern side which bore the ill-omened name -of the Gate of the Dead, opposite another, the name of which is not -known. The gate of the Blues—the royal faction—was the grand entrance -for all state processions. - -Such was the outward form of the famous Hippodrome, and Mr. Grosvenor -justly dwells on the imposing vastness and beauty of its external -appearance. - - “The walls were of brick, laid in arches and faced by a row of - Corinthian pillars. What confronted the spectator’s eye was a wall in - superposed and continuous arches, seen through an endless colonnade. - Seventeen columns were still erect upon their bases in 1529. Gyllius, - who saw them, says that their diameter was three and eleven-twelfths - feet. Each was twenty-eight feet high, and pedestal and capital added - seven feet more. They stood eleven feet apart. Hence, deducting for - the gates, towers, and palace, at least two hundred and sixty columns - would be required in the circuit. If one, with the curiosity of a - traveller, wished to journey round the entire perimeter, he must - continue on through a distance of three thousand and fifteen feet, - before his pilgrimage ended at the spot where it had begun; and ever, - as he toiled along, there loomed into the air that prodigious mass, - forty feet above his head. No wonder that there remained, even in the - time of the Sultan Souleiman, enough to construct that most superb of - mosques, the Souleimanieh, from the fallen columns, the splintered - marbles, the brick and stone of the Hippodrome.” - -But it was not merely the shell of the Hippodrome that was imposing by -reason of its size and magnificence. It was filled with the choicest art -treasures of the ancient world. Constantine stole masterpieces with the -catholicity of taste, the excellence of artistic judgment, and the -callous indifference to the rights of ownership which characterised -Napoleon. He stripped the world naked of its treasures, as St. Jerome -neatly remarked.[121] Rome and its conquering proconsuls and proprætors -had done the same. Constantine now robbed Rome and took whatever Rome -had left. Greece was still a fruitful quarry. We have already spoken of -the Serpent Column, which was torn from Delphi. The historians have -preserved for us the names of a number of other famous works of art -which adorned the spina and the promenade of the Hippodrome. There was a -Brazen Eagle, clutching a withing snake in its talons and rising in the -air with wings outspread; the Hercules of Lysippus, of a size so heroic -that it measured six feet from the foot to the knee; the Brazen Ass and -its driver, a mere copy of which Augustus had offered to his own city of -Nicopolis founded on the shores of Actium; the Poisoned Bull; the Angry -Elephant; the gigantic figure of a woman holding in her hand a horse and -its rider of life size; the Calydonian Boar; eight Sphinxes, and last, -but by no means least, the Horses of Lysippus. These horses have a -history with which no other specimens of equine statuary can compare. -They first adorned a temple at Corinth. Taken to Rome by Memmius when he -laid Corinth in ashes, they were placed before the Senate House. Nero -removed them that they might grace his triumphal arch; Trajan, with -juster excuse, did the same. Constantine had them sent to -Constantinople. Then, after nearly nine centuries had passed, they were -again packed up and transported back to Italy. The aged Dandolo had -claimed them as part of his share of the booty and sent them to Venice. -There they remained for almost six centuries more until Napoleon cast -covetous eyes upon them and had them taken to Paris to adorn his Arc de -Triomphe. On his downfall Paris was compelled to restore them to Venice -and the horses of Lysippus paw the air once more above the roof of St. -Mark’s Cathedral. - ------ - -Footnote 121: - - _Constantinopolis dedicatur pæne omnium urbium nuditate._ - ------ - -We have thus briefly enumerated the most magnificent public buildings -with which Constantine adorned his new capital, and the choicest works -of art with which these were further embellished. The Emperor pressed on -the work with extraordinary activity. No one believes the story of -Codinus that only nine months elapsed between the laying of the first -stone and the formal dedication which took place in the Hippodrome on -May 11th, 330, but it is only less wonderful that so much should have -been done in four years. The same untrustworthy author also tells a -strange story of how Constantine took advantage of the absence of some -of his officers on public business to build exact models of their Roman -mansions in Constantinople, and transport all their household -belongings, families, and households to be ready for them on their -return as a pleasant surprise. What is beyond doubt is that the Emperor -did offer the very greatest inducements to the leading men of Rome to -leave Rome for good and make Constantinople their home. He even -published an edict that no one dwelling in Asia Minor should be allowed -to enter the Imperial service unless he built himself a house in -Constantinople. Peter the Great issued a like order when he founded St. -Petersburg and opened a window looking on Europe. The Emperor changed -the destination of the corn ships of Egypt from Rome to Constantinople, -established a lavish system of distributions of wheat and oil and even -of money and wine, and created at the cost of the treasury an idle and -corrupt proletariate. He thus transported to his new capital all the -luxuries and vices of the old. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - ARIUS AND ATHANASIUS - - -We have seen how, at the conclusion of the Council of Nicæa, it looked -as if the Church had entered into her rest. The day of persecution was -over; Christianity had found in the Emperor an ardent and impetuous -champion; a creed had been framed which seemed to establish upon a sure -foundation the deepest mysteries of the faith; heresy not only lay under -anathema, but had been reduced to silence. Throughout the East—the West -had remained practically untroubled—the feeling was one of confidence -and joy. Constantine rejoiced as though he had won a personal victory; -his subjects, we are told,[122] thought the kingdom of Christ had -already begun. When Gregory, the Illuminator of Armenia, met his son, -Aristaces, returning from Nicæa and heard from his lips the text of the -new creed, he at once exclaimed: “Yea, we glorify Him who was before the -ages, by adoring the Holy Trinity and the one Godhead of the Father, and -of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, now and for ever, through ages and -ages.” - ------ - -Footnote 122: - - _De Vita Const._, iii., c. 14. - ------ - -Moreover, the Emperor’s violent edicts against the Arians, and the -banishment of Eusebius and Theognis, all indicated a settled and rooted -conviction which nothing could shake, while the death of the Patriarch -Alexander of Alexandria and the election of Athanasius in his stead must -have strengthened enormously the Catholic party in Egypt and, indeed, -throughout the East. Alexander had died within a few months of his -return from Nicæa, in the early part of 326. He is said, when on his -death-bed, to have foretold the elevation of Athanasius and the trials -which lay before him. He had called for Athanasius—who at the moment was -away from Egypt—and another Athanasius, who was present in the room, -answered for the absent one. The dying man, however, was not deceived -and said: “Athanasius, you think you have escaped, but you will not; you -cannot.” We need not recount the stories which the malignity of his -enemies invented in order to cast discredit upon Athanasius’ election. -There is no reason to doubt either its validity or its overwhelming -popularity in Alexandria, where, while the Egyptian bishops were in -session, the Catholics outside the building kept up the unceasing cry: -“Give us Athanasius, the good, the holy, the ascetic.” The election was -not unanimous. Evidently some thought the situation required a -conciliatory demeanour towards the beaten Arians. But that was not the -view of the majority, who, by choosing Athanasius, set the best fighting -man on their side upon the throne of St. Mark. They did wisely. -Tolerance was not properly understood in the fourth century. - -The outward peace lasted little more than two years. Unfortunately, we -are almost entirely in the dark as to what took place during that time, -beyond the certain fact of the recall of Arius, Eusebius, and Theognis. -Arius had been banished to Galatia; then we read of the sentence being -partially revoked, and the only embargo placed upon his freedom of -movement was that he was forbidden to return to Alexandria. Did this -take place before the recall of Eusebius and Theognis? Socrates gives -the text of a strange letter written by these two prelates to the -principal bishops of the Church, in which they definitely say that, -inasmuch as Arius has been recalled from exile, they hope the bishops -will use their influence with the Emperor on their behalf. - - “After closely studying the question of the Homoousion,” they say, “we - are wholly intent on preserving peace and we have been seduced by no - heresy. We subscribed to the Creed, after suggesting what we thought - best for the Church, but we refused to sign the anathema, not because - we had any fault to find with the Creed, but because we did not - consider Arius to be what he was represented as being. The letters we - had received from him and the discourses we had heard him deliver - compelled us to form a totally different estimate of his character.” - -The authenticity of this letter has been sharply called in question, for -there is no other scrap of evidence confirming the statement that Arius -was recalled before Eusebius and Theognis—in itself a most improbable -step. Constantine had issued an edict that any one concealing a copy of -the writings of Arius and not instantly handing it over to the -authorities to be burnt, should be put to death, and it is much more -probable that Arius was recalled after, rather than before, Eusebius of -Nicomedia. The “History” of Socrates contains many letters of doubtful -authenticity and some which are, beyond dispute, forgeries. Among the -latter we may certainly include the portentously long document in which -Constantine is represented as making a grossly personal attack on the -banished Arius. We will content ourselves with quoting the most -vituperative passage: - - “Look! Look all of you! See what wretched cries he utters, writhing in - pain from the bite of the serpent’s tooth! See how his veins and flesh - are poison-tainted and what agonised convulsions they excite! See how - his body is wasted away with disease and squalor, with dirt and - lamentation, with pallor and horror! See how he is withered up with a - thousand evils! See how horrible to look upon is his filthy tangled - head of hair; how he is half dead from top to toe; how languid is the - aspect of his haggard, bloodless face; how madness, fury, and vanity, - swooping down upon him together, have reduced him to what he is—a - savage and wild beast! He does not even recognise the horrible - situation he is in. ‘I am beside myself with joy’; he says, ‘I dance - and leap with glee; I fly; I am a happy boy again.’” - -[Illustration: - - ST. ATHANASIUS. - FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM PRINT ROOM. -] - -Assuredly this raving production never came from the pen of Constantine, -and it bears no resemblance to his ordinary style. The resounding -platitude with which it opens, “An evil interpreter is really the image -and counterpart of the Devil,” leads us confidently to acquit the -Emperor of its authorship and ascribe it to some anonymous and unknown -ecclesiastic desirous at once of edifying and terrifying the faithful. - -We can only surmise the circumstances which worked upon the Emperor’s -mind and caused his complete change of front with respect to Arianism -and its exponents. Sozomen, indeed, attributes it wholly to the -influence of his sister, Constantia. According to an Arian legend quoted -by that historian, it was revealed to the Princess in “a vision from -God” that it was the exiled bishops who held the true orthodox doctrine -and, therefore, that they had been unjustly banished. She worked upon -the impressionable mind of her brother, and the two bishops were -recalled. When Constantine asked whether they still held the Nicene -doctrines to which they had subscribed, they replied that they had -assented, not from conviction, but from the fear lest the Emperor should -be disgusted at the dissensions among the Christians, and revert to -paganism. This curious story certainly tends to confirm the tradition -that it was Constantia who was the court patroness of the Arians. She -had been for years Empress in the palace of Nicomedia, and it is easy to -suppose that the very able Bishop of that city had established a strong -ascendency over her mind, long before the Arian controversy arose. - -The upshot of the whole matter—however the change was brought about—was -that in the year 329, the Arian and Eusebian party was paramount at the -Imperial Court. They had persuaded the Emperor that theirs was the party -of reason, and that those who persisted in troubling the peace of the -Church by holding extreme views and seeking to impose rigorous tests -were the followers of the new Patriarch of Alexandria. They had -subscribed to the Nicene Creed or to a Creed which—so they persuaded the -Emperor—was practically indistinguishable from it, and they now plotted, -with great skill and adroitness, to undermine the position of -Athanasius. How they conducted the intrigue we do not know, but it is -significant that after the break up of the Council of Nicæa we hear no -more, during Constantine’s lifetime, of his long-trusted adviser Hosius, -Bishop of Cordova. The dreadful tragedies in the Imperial Family had -taken place at Rome in the summer of 326. It is possible that Hosius -made no secret of his horror at these monstrous crimes and retired to -his Spanish bishopric, and that Eusebius of Nicomedia, when brought into -communication with Constantine, was not so exacting in his demand for a -show of penitence and proved more skilful in allaying the Emperor’s -remorse. Be that as it may, as soon as Eusebius felt assured of his -position, he lost no time in prosecuting a vigorous campaign against -those who had triumphed over him at Nicæa. The first blow was directed -against Eustathius, the Bishop of Antioch, who was charged with heresy, -profligacy, and tyranny by the two Eusebii and a number of other -bishops, then on their way to Jerusalem. Whether the charges were well -founded or not, the tribunal was a prejudiced one and the sentence of -deprivation and banishment passed upon Eustathius was bitterly resented -in Antioch. - -After certain other bishops had met with a like fate, the Eusebii flew -at higher game and attacked Athanasius. They had already entered into an -understanding with the Meletian faction in Egypt, who carefully kept -alive the charges against Athanasius, and now they again took up the -cudgels on behalf of Arius. Eusebius wrote to the Patriarch asking him -to restore Arius to communion on the ground that he had been grievously -misrepresented. Athanasius bluntly refused. Arius, he said, had started -a deadly heresy: he had been anathematised by an Œcumenical Council: -how, then, could he be restored to communion? Eusebius and Arius -appealed to the Emperor. Constantine, who had previously ordered Arius -to attend at court and promised him signal proof of his regard and -permission to return to Alexandria, sent a peremptory message to -Athanasius bidding him admit Arius. When Athanasius, on the score of -conscience, returned a steady refusal, the Emperor angrily threatened -that, if he did not throw open his church doors to all who desired to -enter, he would send an officer to turn him out of his church and expel -him from Alexandria. “Now that you have full knowledge of my will,” he -added, “see that you provide uninterrupted entry to all who wish to -enter the church. If I hear that you have prevented any one from joining -the services, or have shut the doors in their faces, I will at once -despatch some one to deport you from Alexandria.” The threat did not -terrify Athanasius, who declared that there could be no fellowship -between heretics and true believers. Nor was the Imperial officer sent. - -Then began an extraordinary campaign of calumny against the Patriarch, -who was accused of taxing Egypt in order to buy a supply of linen -garments, called “sticharia,” for his church; of instigating one -Macarius to upset a communion table and break a sacred chalice; of -murdering a Meletian bishop named Arsenius, who was presently found -alive and well; and of other crimes equally preposterous and unfounded. -It was the Meletian irreconcilables in Egypt who brought these calumnies -forward, but Athanasius had no doubt that the moving spirit was none -other than Eusebius himself. And his enemies, whoever they were, were -untiring and implacable. As soon as one calumny was refuted, they were -ready with another, and all this time there was Eusebius at the -Emperor’s side, continually suggesting that with so much smoke there -needs must be some fire, and that Athanasius ought to be called upon to -clear himself, lest the scandal should do injury to the Church. -Constantine summoned a council to try Athanasius in 333, and fixed the -place of meeting in Cæsarea,—a tolerably certain proof that the two -Eusebii were acting in concert. For some reason not stated the bishops -did not assemble until the following year, and then Athanasius refused -to attend. Not until 335 did Athanasius stand before his episcopal -judges at Tyre. - -Accompanied by some fifty of his suffragans, Athanasius had made the -journey, only to find himself confronted by a packed council. All his -bitterest enemies were there; all the old unsubstantiated charges were -resuscitated. His election was said to be uncanonical; he was charged -with personal unchastity and with cruelty towards certain Meletian -bishops and priests; and, most curious of all, the ancient calumnies of -“The Broken Chalice” and “The Dead Man’s Hand” were revived and pressed, -as though they had never been confuted. With respect to the latter -charge, Athanasius enjoyed one moment of signal triumph. After his -accusers had caused a thrill of horror to pass through the Council by -producing a blackened and withered hand, which they declared to belong -to the missing Bishop Arsenius, who was supposed to have suffered foul -play, Athanasius asked whether any of those present had known Arsenius -personally. A number of bishops claimed acquaintance, and then -Athanasius gave the signal for a man, who was standing by closely -muffled in a cloak, to come forward. “Lift up your head!” said -Athanasius. The unknown did so, and lo! it was none other than Arsenius -himself. Athanasius drew aside the cloak, first from one hand and then -from the other. “Has God given to any man,” he asked quietly, “more -hands than two?” His enemies were silenced, but only for the moment. One -of them, cleverer than the rest, immediately exclaimed that this was -mere sorcery and devil’s work; the man was not Arsenius; in fact, he was -not even a man at all, but a mere counterfeit, an illusion of the senses -produced by Athanasius’ horrible proficiency in the black art. And we -are told that this ingenious explanation proved so convincing to the -assembly, and created such a fury of resentment against Athanasius, that -Dionysius, the Imperial officer who had been deputed by Constantine to -represent him at the Council, had to hurry Athanasius on shipboard to -save him from personal violence. - -There was clearly so little corroborative evidence against Athanasius -that the Council dared not convict him. But, as they were equally -determined not to acquit him, they appointed a commission of enquiry to -collect testimony on the spot in the Mareotis district of Egypt with -respect to the story of the Broken Chalice. The six commissioners were -chosen in secret session by the anti-Athanasian faction. Athanasius -protested without avail against the selection: they were all, he said, -his private enemies. The commission sailed for Egypt, and Athanasius -determined, with characteristic boldness, to go to Constantinople, -confront the Emperor, and appeal for justice and a fair trial at the -fountainhead. Athanasius met the Emperor as he was riding into the city, -and stood before him in his path. What followed is best told by -Constantine himself in a letter which he wrote to the Bishop of -Tyre.[123] Here are his own words: - - “As I was returning on horseback to the city which bears my name, - Athanasius, the Bishop, presented himself so unexpectedly in the - middle of the highway, with certain individuals who accompanied him, - that I felt exceedingly surprised on beholding him. God, who sees all, - is my witness that at first I did not know who he was, but some of my - attendants, having ascertained this and the subject of his complaint, - gave me the necessary information. I did not accord him an interview, - but he persevered in requesting an audience, and, although I refused - him and was on the point of ordering that he should be removed from my - presence, he told me, with greater boldness than he had previously - manifested, that he sought no other favour of me than that I should - summon you hither, in order that he might, in your presence, complain - of the injustice that had been done to him.” - ------ - -Footnote 123: - - Sozomen II., 28. - ------ - -Such boldness had the success it deserved. Constantine evidently made -enquires from Count Dionysius, and, discovering that the Council at Tyre -was a mere travesty of justice, ordered the bishops to come forthwith to -Constantinople. But before these instructions reached them they had -received the report of the Egyptian commissioners, and, on the strength -of it, had condemned Athanasius by a majority of votes, recognised the -Meletians as orthodox, and, adjourning to Jerusalem for the dedication -of the new church, had there pronounced Arius to be a true Catholic and -in full communion with the Church. The Emperor’s letter, which began -with a reference to the “tumults and disorders” which had marked their -sessions, was a plain intimation that he disapproved of their -proceedings, and only six bishops, the two Eusebii and four others, -travelled up to Constantinople. Arrived there, they changed their -tactics, and recognising that the old charges against Athanasius had -fallen helplessly to the ground, they invented another which was much -more likely to have weight with the Emperor. They accused him of seeking -to prevent the Alexandrian corn ships from sailing to Constantinople. -Egypt was the granary of the new Rome as well as of the old, and upon -the regular arrival of the Egyptian wheat cargoes the tranquillity of -Constantinople largely depended. Athanasius protested that he had -entertained no such designs. He was, he said, simply a bishop of the -Church, a poor man with no political ambition or taste for intrigue. His -enemies retorted that he was not poor, but wealthy, and that he had -gained a dangerous ascendency over the turbulent people of Alexandria. -Constantine abruptly ended the dispute by banishing Athanasius to -Treves, and the Patriarch had no choice but to obey. He arrived at his -city of exile in 336, and was received with all honour by the Emperor’s -son Constantine, then installed in the Gallic capital as the Cæsar of -the West. This is tolerably certain proof that the Emperor did not -regard him as a very dangerous political opponent, but banished him -rather for the sake of religious peace. Constantine was weary of such -interminable disputations and such intractable disputants. - -The exile of Athanasius was of course a signal victory for the Eusebians -and for Arius. With the Patriarch of Alexandria thus safely out of the -way, they might look forward with confidence to gaining the entire court -over to their side and still further consolidating their position in the -East. Arius returned in triumph to Alexandria, where he had not set foot -for many years. But his presence was the signal for renewed popular -disturbance. The Catholics remained faithful to their Bishop in -exile—St. Antony repeatedly wrote to Constantine, praying for -Athanasius’ recall—and Alexandria was in tumult. Constantine refused to -reconsider the sentence of banishment on Athanasius, but he checked the -violence of the Meletian schismatics by banishing John Arcaph from -Alexandria, and he hurriedly recalled Arius to Constantinople. The -heresiarch was summoned into the presence of the Emperor, who by this -time was once more uneasy in his mind. Constantine asked him point blank -whether he held the Faith of the Catholic Church. “Can I trust you?” he -said; “are you really of the true Faith?” Arius solemnly affirmed that -he was and recited his profession of belief. “Have you abjured the -errors you used to hold in Alexandria?” continued the Emperor; “will you -swear it before God?” Arius took the required oath, and the Emperor was -satisfied. “Go,” said he, “and if your Faith be not sound, may God -punish you for your perjury.” - -This strange scene is described by Athanasius himself, who had been told -the details by an eyewitness, a priest called Macarius. According to -Socrates, Arius subscribed the declaration of the Faith in Constantine’s -presence, and the historian goes on to recount the foolish legend that -Arius wrote down his real opinions on paper, which he carried under his -arm, and so could truly swear that he “held” the sentiments he had -written. Arius then demanded to be admitted to communion with the Church -at Constantinople, as public testimony to his orthodoxy, and the -Patriarch Alexander was ordered to receive him. Alexander was a feeble -old man of ninety-eight but he did not lack moral courage. He told the -Emperor that his conscience would not allow him to offer the sacraments -to one whom, in spite of the recent declarations of the bishops at -Jerusalem, he still regarded as an arch-heretic. He was not troubled, -says Socrates,[124] at the thought of his own deposition; what he feared -was the subversion of the principles of the Faith, of which he regarded -himself as the constituted guardian. Locking himself up within his -church—the Church of St. Eirene—he lay prostrate before the high altar -and remained there in earnest supplication for many days and nights. And -the burden of his prayer was that if Arius’s opinions were right he -(Alexander) might not live to see him enter the church to receive the -sacrament, but that, if he himself held the true Faith, Arius the -impious might be punished for his impiety. - ------ - -Footnote 124: - - Socrates, i., 37. - ------ - -The aged Bishop was still calling upon Heaven to judge between Arius and -himself and declare the truth by some manifest sign, when the time -appointed for Arius to be received into communion was at hand. Arius was -on his way to St. Eirene. He had quitted the palace—says -Socrates—attended by a crowd of Eusebian partisans, and was passing -through the centre of the city, the observed of all observers.[125] He -was in high spirits—as well he might be, for it was the hour of his -supreme triumph. Then the blow fell. As he drew near the Porphyry Pillar -in the Forum of Constantine he was suddenly taken ill. There was a -public lavatory close by and he withdrew to it. When he did not return -his friends became alarmed. Entering the place, they found him dead of a -violent hæmorrhage, with bowels protruding and burst asunder, like the -traitor Judas in the Field of Blood. One can imagine the extraordinary -sensation which the news must have caused in Constantinople as it flew -from mouth to mouth. Not only the Patriarch Alexander, but all the -orthodox, attributed Arius’ sudden and awful end to the direct -interposition of Providence in answer to their prayers. In an instant, -we are told, the churches were crowded with excited worshippers and were -ablaze with lights as for some happy festival. - ------ - -Footnote 125: - - περίοπτος. - ------ - -On the superstitious mind of the Emperor so tragic a death naturally -made a deep impression. He was, says Athanasius, amazed. Doubtless he -believed that Arius had deceived him and that God had answered his -prayer to punish the perjurer. The Eusebians were “greatly confounded.” -Some hinted at poison, others at magic; others were content to look no -further than natural causes. The general verdict of antiquity, however, -was almost unanimous in ascribing the death of Arius to the anger of an -offended Deity. It is a view which still finds adherents. Cardinal -Newman, for example, declares: - - “Under the circumstances a thoughtful mind cannot but account this as - one of those remarkable interpositions of power by which Divine - Providence urges on the consciences of men in the natural course of - things, what their reason from the first acknowledges, that He is not - indifferent to human conduct. To say that these do not fall within the - ordinary course of His governance is merely to say that they are - judgments, which in the common meaning of the word stand for events - extraordinary and unexpected.” - -But that is a matter which need not be discussed here. What is more -important to our purpose is to point out that the death of Arius does -not seem to have affected the state of religious parties at -Constantinople. It did not shake the position of Eusebius of Nicomedia, -who continued to enjoy the confidence of the Emperor and to act as the -keeper of his conscience. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XV - CONSTANTINE’S DEATH AND CHARACTER - -It seems incontestable that Constantine degenerated as he grew older. -Certainly his popularity tended to decrease. This, however, is the usual -penalty of length of reign, and in itself would not count for much. But -one cannot overlook the cumulative evidence which is to be found in the -authorities of the period. Eusebius himself admits[126] that -unscrupulous men often took advantage of the piety and generosity of the -Emperor, and many of the stories which he tells in Constantine’s praise -prepare us for the charges which were brought against him by the pagan -historians. For example, Eusebius declares that whenever the Emperor -heard a civil appeal, he used to make up out of his private purse the -amount in which the losing party was mulcted, on the extraordinary -principle that both the winner and the loser ought to leave their -sovereign’s presence equally satisfied. Such a theory would speedily -beggar the richest treasury. Aurelius Victor preserves a popular saying -which shews the general estimation in which Constantine’s memory was -held. Men used to say that for the first ten years of his reign he was a -model sovereign (_præstantissimus_), for the next twelve he was a -brigand (_latro_), and for the last ten a spendthrift heir, so called -because of his preposterous extravagance (_pupillus ob profusiones -immodicas_). He was nicknamed _Trachala_, the obvious reference of which -would be to his short, thick neck; but Aurelius Victor appears to -associate it in some way with the meaning of “scoffer” (_irrisor_). - ------ - -Footnote 126: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., 54. - ------ - -[Illustration: - - BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME. - FROM “ROME OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY,” BY JOHN DENNIE. -] - -In greater detail Zosimus[127] accuses Constantine of wasting the public -money on useless buildings. As a pagan, he would naturally regard -expenditure upon the construction of sumptuous Christian churches as -money thrown away, but it is perfectly certain that the state of the -Imperial resources did not justify the Emperor in lavishing vast sums -upon churches in all parts of the Empire. If we consider what must have -been the capital cost of his churches in Rome, Constantinople, -Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Mamre, and Antioch,—to mention only a few -places,—and remember that he was constantly urging the bishops to keep -building and constantly sending instructions to his vicars to make -handsome subsidies out of the State funds, we cannot but conclude that -the grumbling of the pagan tax payer was thoroughly well justified. -Constantine, indeed, seems to have been as _entêté_ in the matter of -building churches as was in our day the mad King Ludwig of Bavaria in -the building of royal castles. Nor was this the only form in which the -passion for bricks and mortar—_il mal di pietra_—seized him. He built a -new basilica even in Rome—though he rarely set foot in the city. In -Constantinople he must have sunk millions of unproductive capital, which -were far more urgently required for the development of agriculture and -commerce. In one epigrammatic sentence Zosimus sums up his indictment by -saying that Constantine thought to gain distinction by lavish -outlay.[128] He also wasted the public revenue on unworthy and useless -favourites,[129] whom he taught, in the phrase of Ammianus Marcellinus, -to open their greedy jaws (_fauces aperuit_). Zosimus says bluntly that -in his opinion it was Constantine who sowed the seeds of the ruinous -waste and destruction that prevailed when he wrote his history, and he -roundly declares that the Emperor devoted his life to his own selfish -pleasures.[130] - ------ - -Footnote 127: - - ii., 32, 35. - -Footnote 128: - - τὴν γὰρ ἀσωτίαν ἡγεῖτο φιλοτιμίαν (ii., 38). - -Footnote 129: - - εἰς ἀναξίους καὶ ἀνωφελεῖς ἀνθρώπονς τοὺς φορους ἐκδαπανῶν. - -Footnote 130: - - καὶ τρυφῇ τὸν βίον ἐκδοίς (ii., 32). - ------ - -There is another character sketch of Constantine which has survived for -us, drawn by an even more bitter enemy than the historian Zosimus. It is -to be found in that amusing and extraordinary _jeu d’esprit_ which bears -the name of _The Cæsars_, from the pen of the Emperor Julian. Julian -detested the very memory of Constantine the Great, whom he regarded as -the arch-apostate from the ancient religion, and, thus, when he -introduced him into the presence of the deities of Olympus, it was -really to pour ridicule and contempt upon his pretensions. Julian -describes him, at the first mention of his name, as a man who has seen -considerable fighting, but has become soft through self-indulgence and -luxury.[131] The deities of heaven are represented as sitting in -conclave, while the deified Emperors approach to join in their councils. -Julian runs over the list of the great Emperors, introducing them one by -one and making each sit by the side of the god whom he most resembles in -character. But when Constantine’s turn comes, it is found that he has no -such archetype. No god will own him as his protégé or pupil, and so, -after some hesitation, Constantine runs up to the Goddess of Luxury -(Τρύφη), who embraces him as her own darling, dresses him up in fine -clothes, and, when she has made him smart, hands him over to her sister, -the Goddess of Extravagance (Ἀσώτια). The irony was bitter, and the -shaft sped home. - ------ - -Footnote 131: - - ἄνδρα ουκ ἀπόλεμον μὲν, ἡδονῇ δε καὶ ἀπολαύσει χειροηθέστερον (c. 15). - ------ - -The ascetic Julian does not spare his august relative, whose title to -the epithet of “Great” he would have laughed to scorn. He declares that -Constantine’s victories over the barbarians were victories _pour rire_; -he represents him as a crazy being in love with the moon, like that -half-witted Emperor of the Claudian house, who used to stand at night in -the colonnades of his palace and beg the gracious Queen of the Sky to -come down to him as she had come down to Endymion. Julian puts into his -mouth a grotesque speech in which he makes Constantine claim to have -been a greater general than Alexander because he fought with Romans, -Germans, and Scythians and not with mere Asiatics; greater than Julius -Cæsar or than Augustus because he fought not with bad men but with good; -and greater even than Trajan, because it is a finer thing to win back -what you have lost than merely to acquire something new. The speech was -received with ridicule by the gods, and then Hermes pointedly asked -Constantine in the Socratic manner, “How would you define your ideal?” -(τὶ καλὸν ἐνόμισας;) “To have great riches,” was Constantine’s reply, -“and to be able to give away lavishly, and satisfy all one’s own desires -and those of one’s friends.” The answer is significant. Julian, like -Constantine’s other critics, keeps harping on the same string. It is the -luxury, extravagance, and self-indulgence of the Emperor that he singles -out as the most glaring defect of his character and his squandering of -the Imperial resources upon effeminate and un-Roman pomps, useless -buildings, and greedy and unworthy favourites. Silenus, the bibulous -buffoon of Olympus, a moral rebuke from whose lips would be received -with shouts of laughter, tells Constantine with mock gravity that he has -led a life fit only for a cook or a lady’s-maid (ὀψοποίος καὶ -κομμώτρια), and so the episode ends. We cannot doubt that there was -quite sufficient of truth in these accusations to make the sharp-witted -Greeks of the Empire, for whom Julian principally wrote, thoroughly -enjoy his biting sarcasms. - -But we must be careful not to push too far any argument based upon this -lampoon of Julian or upon the obvious bias of Zosimus. They disclose to -us, undoubtedly, the least worthy side of Constantine’s character, viz., -a tendency to effeminacy and luxury, and it is morally certain that no -one who had given way to his worst passions, as Constantine had done in -Rome in the year 326, could ever be quite the same man again. He had on -his conscience the assassination of his son and wife. These were but two -out of a terribly long list of victims, which included his -father-in-law, Maximian; his brother-in-law, Licinius, and Licinius’s -young son, Licinianus; another brother-in-law, the Cæsar Bassus; and -many more besides. Some fell for reasons of State—“it is only the -winner,” as Marcus Antonius had said three centuries before, “who sees -length of days”—but there was also the memory, even in the case of some -of these, of broken promises and ill-kept faith. Constantine’s -Christianity was not of the kind which permeates a man’s every action -and influences his entire life; or, if that be claimed for him, it must -at least be admitted that there were periods in his career when he -suffered most desperate lapses from grace. - -On the whole perhaps the general statement of Eutropius, which we have -already quoted, that Constantine degenerated somewhat (_aliquantum -mutavit_) as he grew older, fairly meets the case. It is worth while, -indeed, to quote the reasoned estimate which this excellent epitomist -gives of the Emperor’s character. He says[132]: - - “At the opening of his reign Constantine was a man who challenged - comparison with the best of Princes; at its close he merited - comparison with those of average merit and demerit. Both mentally and - physically his good points were beyond computation and conspicuous to - all. He was passionately set on winning military glory; and in his - campaigns good fortune attended him, though not more than his zealous - industry deserved.... He was devoted to the arts of peace and to the - humanities, and he sought to win from all men their sincere affection - by his generosity and his tractability, never losing an opportunity of - enriching his friends and adding to their dignity.” - ------ - -Footnote 132: - - Eutropius, x., 7. - ------ - -This estimate agrees in its main particulars with that of Aurelius -Victor, who, after speaking of his wonderful good luck in war (_mira -bellorum felicitate_) and his avidity for praise, eulogises his -exceptional versatility (_commodissimus rebus multis_), his zeal for -literature and the arts, and the patient ear which he was always ready -to lend to any provincial deputation or complaint. - -We have spoken of a marked degeneracy observable in Constantine as his -life drew to a close. Perhaps the clearest proof of this is to be found -in a momentous step taken by him in 335, when he divided the sovereignty -of the world among his heirs. Such a partition meant the stultification -of his political career, for he thus destroyed at a blow the political -unity which he had so laboriously restored out of the wreck of the -system of Diocletian. - -Eusebius gives us the truth in a single sentence when he says that -Constantine treated the Empire for the purposes of this division as -though he were apportioning his private patrimony among members of his -own family.[133] He was much more concerned to make handsome provision -for his sons and nephews than to secure the peace and well-being of his -subjects. Crispus had now been dead nine years, and the three sons of -Constantine and Fausta were still young, the eldest being only just -twenty-one. Eusebius tells us how carefully they had been trained. They -had been instructed in all martial exercises, and special professors had -been engaged to make them proficient in political affairs and a -knowledge of the laws. Their religious education had been personally -supervised by their father, who zealously sowed “the seeds of godly -reverence” and impressed upon them that “a knowledge of God, who is the -king of all things, and true piety were more deserving of honour than -riches or even than sovereignty itself.” Admirable precepts and Eusebius -declares again and again that this “Trinity of Princes”—so he calls them -in one place—were models of deportment, modesty, and piety. -Unfortunately, we know how emphatically their future careers belied -their early promise and the eulogies of the Bishop of Cæsarea. We do not -doubt his statement that Constantine spared no effort to educate them -aright, but it was most unfortunate that the remarkable success of their -father’s political career bore testimony rather to the efficacy of -ambition without scruple than of “godly reverence and true piety.” - ------ - -Footnote 133: - - οἷα τινα πατρώαν οὐσίαν τοὶς αὐτõυ κληροδοτῶν φιλτάτοις. - ------ - -In this new partition of the Empire the Cæsarship of the West, including -Gaul, Britain, and Spain, fell to Constantine, the eldest of the three -princes. To the second, Constantius, were assigned the rich provinces of -the East, including the seaboard provinces of Asia Minor, together with -Syria and Egypt. Constans, the youngest, received as his share Italy, -Illyria, and Africa. But there was still a goodly heritage left over, -sufficient to make a handsome dowry for a favourite daughter. This was -Constantina, eldest of the three daughters of Constantine and Fausta, -and she had been married to her half-cousin, Annibalianus, whose father -had been the second son of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora. To support -worthily the dignity of his new position as son-in-law of Constantine, -the new title of _Nobilissimus_ was created in his honour, and a kingdom -was made for him out of the provinces of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Lesser -Armenia. Gibbon expresses surprise that Annibalianus, “of the whole -series of Roman Princes in any age of the Empire,” should have been the -only one to bear the name of _Rex_, and says that he can scarcely admit -its accuracy even on the joint authority of Imperial medals and -contemporary writers. The explanation is surely to be found in the fact -that Pontus, Cappadocia, and Lesser Armenia had for centuries been -accustomed to be ruled by a king and that, in creating a new kingdom, -Constantine simply retained the title which would be most familiar to -the subjects over whom Annibalianus was to rule. Annibalianus was -himself a second son: his elder brother, Dalmatius, was raised to the -full title of Cæsar and given command over the important provinces of -Thrace and Macedonia, with Greece thrown in as a make-weight. The -position was a very important one, for it fell to the Cæsar of Thrace to -guard the frontier chiefly threatened by the Goths, and we may suppose, -therefore, with some probability that Dalmatius—who had been consul in -333—had given proof of military talent. - -But to what extent, we may ask, was this a real partition? In what -sense were the Cæsars independent of Constantine himself? Eusebius -expressly tells us[134] that each was provided with a complete -establishment—βασιλικὴ παρασκευὴ,—with a court, that is to say, which -was in every respect a miniature copy of the court at Constantinople. -Each had his own legions, bodyguards, and auxiliaries, with their due -complement of officers chosen, we are told, by the Emperor for their -knowledge of war and for their loyalty to their chiefs. It is hardly -to be supposed that Constantine contemplated retirement: had he done -so, he would have retired at the Tricennalia which he celebrated in -the following year. In all probability, he did not intend that his -supreme power should be one whit abated, though he was content to -delegate his administrative authority to others acting under his -strict supervision. His Cæsars, in short, were really viceroys, though -it is difficult to understand how such an arrangement can have worked -harmoniously without some modification of the powers of the four -Prætorian præfects. But the division, as we have said, was not made in -the interests of the Empire but in the interests of the Princes of the -Blood, and it was one which could not possibly endure. As soon as -Constantine died chaos and civil war were bound to ensue, and, as a -matter of fact, did ensue. For there is no evidence that the Emperor -made any arrangement as to who should succeed him on the throne. -Constantinople itself lay in the territory assigned to Dalmatius; yet -it was entirely unreasonable to suppose that the three sons of -Constantine would acquiesce in leaving the capital to the quiet -possession of their cousin. The division of the Empire, therefore, in -335 carried with it the early ripening seeds of civil war, bloodshed, -and anarchy. If the system of Diocletian had proved unworkable, -because it took no account of the natural desire of a son to succeed -his father, the system of Constantine was even worse. It was -absolutely certain that of the five heirs the three sons would combine -against the two cousins, whom they would regard as interlopers, and -that then the three brothers would quarrel among themselves, until -only one was left. - ------ - -Footnote 134: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., 51. - ------ - -Constantine’s reign was now hastening to its end. In 336 he celebrated -his Tricennalia, and his courtiers would not fail to remind him that he -alone, of all the successors of the great Augustus, had borne such -length of days in his left hand and such glory in his right. The -principal event of the festival seems to have been the dedication at -Jerusalem of the sumptuous Church of the Anastasis on the site of the -Holy Sepulchre. As we have seen in another chapter, the year was one of -acute religious contention, rendered specially memorable by the -awe-inspiring death of Arius, and the Emperor’s last months of life must -have been embittered by the thought that, despite all his efforts, -religious unity within the Church seemed as far as ever from -realisation. - -Eusebius tells us[135] that Constantine sought to find a remedy in the -hot baths of Constantinople for the disorder from which he was -suffering, and then, obtaining no relief, crossed the straits to -Drepanum, or Helenopolis, as it was now called in honour of the -Emperor’s mother. There his malady grew worse and special prayers were -offered for his recovery in the Church of Lucian the Martyr. - ------ - -Footnote 135: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., 61. - ------ - -But Constantine had a presentiment that the end was near, and he -determined, therefore, that the time had come for him formally to become -a member of the Christian Church and so obtain purification for the sins -which he had committed in life. Falling upon his knees on the church -floor, he confessed his sins, received the laying-on of hands, and so -became a catechumen. Then, travelling down to the palace which stood on -the outskirts of Nicomedia, the now dying Emperor summoned to his side a -number of bishops and made confession of his faith. He told them that -the moment for which he had thirsted and prayed had come at last, the -moment when he might receive “the seal which confers immortality.” He -had hoped, he said, to be baptised in Jordan: God had willed otherwise -and he bowed to His will. But he assured them that his resolve was not -due to any passing whim. He had fully made up his mind, that even if -recovery were vouchsafed him, he would set before himself such rules and -conduct of life[136] as would be becoming to God. - ------ - -Footnote 136: - - θεσμὸυς ἤδη βίου θεῷ πρέποντας ἐμαυτῷ διατετάξομαι. - ------ - -Eusebius of Nicomedia then performed the rite of baptism. Constantine, -clad in garments of shining white, lay upon a white bed, and, down to -the hour of his death, refused to touch the purple robes he had worn in -life. “Now,” he exclaimed, with all the fervour of a neophyte, “now I -know in very truth that I am blessed; now I have confidence that I am a -partaker of divine light.” When his captains came to take leave of him -and wept at the thought of losing their chief, he told them that he had -the assurance of having been found worthy of eternal life, and that his -only anxiety was to hasten his journey to God. He wished to die, and the -wish was soon granted. Constantine drew his last breath on May 22d, 337. - -They bore the body, enclosed in a golden coffin covered by a purple -pall, from Nicomedia to Constantinople and placed it with great pomp in -the throne room of the palace. There the dead Emperor lay in state, -guarded night and day by the chief officers of the army and the highest -officials of the court. Even in death, says Eusebius, he still was king, -and all the elaborate bowings and genuflexions with which men had -entered his presence in his lifetime were still observed. Constantine’s -illness had declared itself very suddenly, and had run its course so -quickly that not one of his sons was at hand to take up the reins of -administration. It looks too as though the Emperor had made no -preparations with a view to his demise, but had left his three sons and -his two nephews to determine among themselves who should be supreme. His -second son, Constantius, was the first to arrive at Constantinople, and -it was he who arranged the obsequies of his father. We are told that the -Roman Senate earnestly desired the body of the Emperor to be laid to -rest in the old capital and sent deputations begging that this last -honour should not be denied them. But it had been Constantine’s express -wish to be buried in the Church of the Apostles, at Constantinople, -where he had prepared a splendid sarcophagus, and there can have been no -hesitation as to the choice of a resting-place. The body was borne with -an imposing military pageant to the Church. Constantius was the chief -mourner, but he and his soldiers quitted the sanctuary before a word of -the burial-service was spoken or a note of music sounded. He was not a -baptised Christian and, therefore, could not be present as the last -rites were performed. The great Emperor was buried by the bishops, -priests, and Christian populace, whose zealous champion he had been and -to whose undying gratitude he had established an overwhelming title. -Coins were struck bearing on one side the figure of the Emperor with his -head closely veiled, and, on the other, representing Constantine seated -in a four-horse chariot, and being drawn up to heaven by a celestial -hand stretched out to him from the clouds. It was a device which could -offend neither Christian nor pagan. To the former it would recall the -triumphant ascent of Elijah; the latter would regard it as the token of -a natural apotheosis. The hand might equally well be the hand of God or -of Jupiter. - -[Illustration: - - THE SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND THEODOSIUS - THE GREAT. - FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”] -] - -Such is the story of the Emperor’s baptism, death, and burial as -recounted by Eusebius. There is, however, one important detail to be -added and one important question to be asked. Constantine was baptised -by an Arian bishop. To the Athanasian party and to the ecclesiastical -historians of succeeding ages this was a lamentable circumstance which -greatly exercised and troubled their minds. It sorely grieved them to -think that their patron Constantine should have been admitted into the -communion of the faithful by the dangerous heretic who had been the -bitterest enemy of their idol, Athanasius. But with a forbearance to -which they were usually strangers, they agreed to pass over the episode -in comparative silence and remember not the shortcomings but the virtues -of the first Christian Emperor. - -It still remains to be asked why Constantine did not formally enter the -Church until he was on his death-bed. There had been no lukewarmness -about his Christianity. He was not one to be afflicted with doubts. -There had never been any danger of his reverting to paganism. In the -last few years, indeed, he had been distracted by the clamour of Arians -and Athanasians, and his was a mind upon which a clever and acute -ecclesiastic, who enjoyed his confidence, could play at will. When -Hosius of Cordova stood by his side he was the champion of the Catholic -party; when Hosius fell from favour and Eusebius of Nicomedia took his -place Constantine strongly inclined to the Arian side. But in neither -case was there any doubt of his Christianity. Why then did he not become -a member of the Church? Was it because the rite of baptism conferred -immediate forgiveness of sin and therefore a death-bed baptism -infallibly opened the gate of Heaven? By putting off entrance into the -Church until the hour had come after which it was hardly possible to -commit sin, did Constantine count upon making sure of eternal happiness? -Such is the motive assigned by some historians. It certainly is not a -lofty one. Yet the idea may very well have presented itself to -Constantine’s mind and the impression left by Eusebius’s narrative is -that Constantine only determined to receive the rite because he felt his -end to be near and dared not put it off any longer. On the other hand, -Constantine’s statement that his ambition had been to be baptised in -Jordan is rather against this theory. Possibly, too, he was to some -degree influenced by the wish not to alienate entirely the support of -his pagan subjects, especially the more fanatical of them, who would -bitterly resent their Chief Pontiff becoming a baptised member of the -Christian Church. No one can say, but we shall be the better able to -form an opinion if we look a little more closely at the religious life -and policy of Constantine. - -Eusebius represents the daily life of the Emperor on its religious side -to have been almost that of a monk or of a saint. Every day, we are -told, he used to retire for private meditation and prayer. He delighted -in delivering sermons and addresses to his courtiers, Bible in hand. He -would begin by exposing the errors of polytheism and by proving the -superstition of the Gentiles to be a mere fraud and cloak for impiety, -and would then expound his theory of the sole sovereignty of God, the -workings of Providence, and the sureness of the Judgment, invariably -concluding with his favourite moral that God had given to him the -sovereignty of the whole world. Such a discourse could not possibly be -short, but Constantine liked his religious exercises long. He once -insisted on standing throughout the reading of an elaborate disquisition -by Eusebius himself, who evidently tired of the exertion and begged that -the Emperor would not fatigue himself further. But Constantine was -resolved to hear it out, and the courtier Bishop, while profoundly -flattered at the compliment, ruefully admitted that the thesis was very -long. Probably the courtiers found it interminable. But it was their -duty to listen, applaud, and appear duly impressed when, for example, -Constantine traced on the ground the dimensions of a coffin, and -solemnly warned them against covetousness by the reminder that six feet -of earth was the utmost they could hope to enjoy after death, and they -might not even get so much as that if burial were refused them or they -were burnt or lost at sea. No one ever accused Constantine of -covetousness; his failing was reckless extravagance, and we fear he is -to be numbered among those who - - “Compound for sins they are inclined to - By damning those they have no mind to.” - -Constantine ordered all the bishops throughout the Empire to offer up -daily prayers for him; he had coins struck at the Imperial mints which -depicted him with eyes uplifted to heaven, and he had pictures of -himself—probably in mosaic—set over the gates of his palaces, in which -he was seen standing erect with hands in the attitude of prayer. For our -part we like better the chapters in which Eusebius describes the -Emperor’s open-handed generosity to the poor and needy and to the orphan -and the widow, extols the kind-heartedness which was carried to such a -length as to raise the question whether such clemency was not excessive, -and claims that his most distinctive and characteristic virtue was the -love of his fellow-men, his φιλανθρώπια, a virtue which the typical -Roman rarely developed to his full capacity. - -Constantine’s whole career testified to the zeal with which he had -embraced Christianity. We have seen the enthusiasm with which he set to -work to build churches throughout the Empire. In Rome there are ascribed -to him the Church of Saint Agnes, the Church of St. John Lateran, and -another which stood on part of the site of the present St. Peter’s. In -Constantinople he built the Churches of the Apostles, St. Eirene, and -St. Sophia. In Jerusalem he built the Church of the Anastasis as the -crowning memorial of his thirty years of reign, and in Antioch, -Nicomedia, and a score of other cities his purse was constantly at the -service of the Faith. The building of churches was a passion with him, -and he also took care that they were provided with the Scriptures. -Eusebius[137] gives the text of a letter written to him by the Emperor -ordering fifty copies of the Scriptures to be executed without delay. -Constantine published an edict commanding that the Lord’s day should be -scrupulously observed and honoured, and that every facility should be -given to Christian soldiers to enable them to attend the services. Even -his pagan soldiers were to keep that day holy by offering up a prayer to -the “King of Heaven,” in which they addressed him as the “Giver of -Victory, their Preserver, Guardian, and Helper.” - - “Thee alone we know to be God; Thee alone we recognise as King; Thee - we invoke as Helper; from Thee we have gained our victories; through - Thee we are superior to our enemies. To Thee we give thanks for the - benefits we now enjoy; from Thee we look for our benefits to come. All - of us are Thy suppliants: and we pray that Thou wilt guard our King - Constantine and his pious sons long, long to reign over us in safety - and victory.” - ------ - -Footnote 137: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., 36. - ------ - -No pagan soldier could be offended at being required to offer this -prayer to the King of Heaven. If he were sincere in his faith he would -hope that it might reach the throne of Jupiter; Constantine evidently -expected that, as it was addressed to the King of Heaven, it would be -intercepted in midcourse and wafted to the throne of God. He was at any -rate determined that no soldier of his, whether pagan or Christian, -should wear on his shield any other sign than that of the Cross—“the -salutary trophy.” - -But what was Constantine’s policy towards the old religion? Let us look -first at the explicit statements of Eusebius. He says in one place[138] -that “the doors of idolatry were shut throughout the whole Roman Empire -for both laity and military alike, and every form of sacrifice was -forbidden.” In another passage[139] he says that edicts were issued -“forbidding sacrifice to idols, the mischievous practice of divination, -the putting up of wooden images, the observance of secret rites, and the -pollution of cities by the sanguinary combats of gladiators.” In a third -passage[140] he speaks of Constantine’s having “utterly destroyed -polytheism in all its variety of foolishness.” Eusebius also tells us -that Constantine was careful to choose, whenever possible, Christian -governors for the provinces, while he forbade those with Hellenistic, -_i. e._, pagan, sympathies to offer sacrifice. He also ordered that the -synodal decrees of bishops should not be interfered with by the -provincial authorities, for, adds Eusebius, he considered a priest of -God to be more entitled to honour than a judge. The same authority -expressly states[141] that Constantinople was kept perfectly free from -idolatry in every shape and form, and was never polluted with the blood -or smoke of sacrifice, and the general impression which he leaves upon -the reader’s mind is that paganism was proscribed and the practice of -the old religion declared to be a crime. - ------ - -Footnote 138: - - _De Vita Const._, iv., 23. - -Footnote 139: - - _Ibid._, c. 25. - -Footnote 140: - - μόνου τε πᾶδαν πολίθεον πλάνην καθελόντος (_ibid._, c. 75). - -Footnote 141: - - _Ibid._, c. 27. - ------ - -It is evident, however, that this was not the case. Eusebius, as usual, -supplies the corrective to his own exaggerations. He quotes, for -example, in full the text of an edict which Constantine addressed to the -governors of the East, wherein it is unequivocally laid down that -complete religious freedom is to be the standing rule throughout the -Empire. He beseeches all his subjects to become Christians, but he will -not compel them. “Let no one interfere with his neighbour. Let each man -do what his soul desires.”[142] This edict was issued after the -overthrow of Licinius and is remarkable chiefly for the fervent -profession of Christianity which the Emperor makes in it. “I am most -firmly convinced,” he says, “that I owe to the most High God my whole -soul, my every breath, my most secret and inmost thoughts.” And then he -continues: “Therefore, I have dedicated my soul to Thee, in pure blend -of love and fear.[143] For I truly adore Thy name, while I reverence Thy -power which Thou hast manifested by many proofs and made my faith the -surer.” - ------ - -Footnote 142: - - μηδεὶς τὸν ἕτερον παρενοχλεὶτω: ἕκαστος ὅπερ ἠ ψυχὴ βούλεται τοῦτο καὶ - πραττέτω (_De Vita Const._, ii., 56). - -Footnote 143: - - διὰ ταῦτά τοι ἀνέθηκα σοί τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ψύχην ἔρωτι καὶ φόβῳ καθαρῶς - ἀνακραθεῖσαν (_ibid._, c. 55). - ------ - -But did Constantine maintain this attitude of strict neutrality, only -tempered by ardent prayer that his pagan subjects might be brought to a -knowledge of the truth? In its entirety he certainly did not, and it was -impossible that so zealous a convert should. When the smiles of Imperial -favour were withdrawn from the old religion it was inevitable that the -Imperial arm which protected it should grow slack in its defence. Yet, -throughout his reign Constantine never forgot that the majority of his -subjects were still pagan, despite the hosts of conversions which -followed his own, and he took care not to press too hardly upon them and -not to goad the more fanatical upholders of the old régime to the -recklessness of despair. We have seen how the Emperor refused to witness -the procession of the Knights in Rome at the time of his Vicennalia. He -also forbade his statue or image to be placed in a pagan temple. But he, -nevertheless, retained through life the office of _Pontifex Maximus_, -and as such continued to be supreme head of the pagan religion. Nor was -it until the time of Gratian fifty years afterwards that this title—no -doubt in deference to the repeated representations of the bishops—was -dropped by the Christian Emperors. Some historians have expressed -surprise that so enthusiastic a convert to Christianity should have been -willing to remain Chief Pontiff; a few have even been genuinely -concerned to explain and excuse his conduct. But Constantine was -statesman as well as convert. If he had resigned the Chief Pontificate -that office might conceivably have passed into dangerous hands. By -holding it as an absolute sinecure, by never performing its ceremonial -duties or wearing its distinctive robes, Constantine did far more to -destroy its influence than if he had resigned it. Imperial titles, -moreover, sometimes signify very little. Every one knows the gibe of -Voltaire at the Holy Roman Empire which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor -an Empire. For centuries after the loss of Calais the lilies of France -were quartered on the Royal arms of Great Britain, and the coins of our -Protestant monarch still bear the F. D. bestowed by the Pope upon the -eighth Henry. The King of Portugal is still Lord of All the Indies. It -is not titles that count but actions. Whether or not Constantine’s -ecclesiastical friends were troubled by his retaining the title, we may -be sure the question never troubled the Emperor himself, as the title of -“Supreme Head of the English Church” is said to have troubled the -scrupulous conscience of James II. after he became a convert to Rome. -But in the latter case the practical advantages of retention outweighed -the shock to consistency in the eyes of those whom James consulted. - -Constantine helped forward the conversion of the Empire with true -statesmanlike caution, desirous above all things to avoid political -disturbance. He abolished outright, we are told, certain of the more -offensive and degraded pagan rites, to which it was possible to take -grave exception on the score of decency and morality. For example, some -Phœnician temples at Heliopolis and Aphaca, where the worship of Venus -was attended with shameless prostitution, were ordered to be pulled -down. The same fate befell a temple of Æsculapius at Ægææ, and a college -of effeminate priests in Egypt, associated with the worship of the Nile, -was disbanded and its members, according to Eusebius, were all put to -death. But these are the only specific examples of repression instanced -by Eusebius,[144] and they assuredly do not suggest any general -proscription of paganism. Eusebius is notoriously untrustworthy. He -distinctly says that Constantine determined to purify his new capital of -all idolatry, so that there should not be found within its walls either -statue or altar of any false god. Yet we know that the philosopher -Sopater was present at the ceremony of dedication and that he enjoyed -for a time the high favour of the Emperor, though he was subsequently -put to death on the accusation of the præfect Ablavius, who charged him -with delaying the arrival of the Egyptian corn ships by his magical -arts. We know too that there were temples of Cybele and Fortuna in the -city, and Zosimus expressly declares that the Emperor constructed a -temple and precincts for the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. At Rome the -temple of Concord was rebuilt towards the close of his reign, and -inscriptions shew that the consuls of the year still dedicated without -hindrance altars to their favourite deities. The famous altar of -Victory, around which a furious controversy was to rage in the reign of -Valentinian, at the close of the fourth century, still stood in the -Roman Curia, and in the two great centres of Eastern Christianity, -Antioch and Alexandria, the worship of Apollo and Serapis continued -without intermission in their world-renowned temples. - ------ - -Footnote 144: - - _De Vita Const._, iii., 48, iv., 25. - ------ - -[Illustration: - - COPPER DENARIUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. - SHOWING THE LABARUM. -] - -[Illustration: - - DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II. - WITH THE LABARUM. -] - -[Illustration: DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF DIOCLETIAN.] - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIAN.] - -No doubt in districts where the Christians were in a marked majority and -paganism found only lukewarm adherents, there was occasional violence -shewn to the old temples and statues, especially if the governor -happened to be a Christian. Ornaments might be stolen, treasures -ransacked, and probably few questions were asked. Christianity had been -persecuted so long and so savagely that when the day of revenge came, -the temptation was too strong for human frailty to resist, and as long -as there was no serious civil disturbance the authorities probably made -light of the occurrence. Paganism was a dying creed; where it had to -struggle hard to keep its head above water, the end was not long -delayed. The case would be different where the temples were possessed of -great wealth and where there were powerful priestly corporations to -defend their vested interests. There can be no greater mistake than to -suppose that Constantine declared war on the old religion. He did -nothing of the kind. When he showered favours on the Christian clergy, -what he did in effect was merely to raise them to the same status as -that already enjoyed by the pagan priesthood. He did not take away the -privileges of the colleges: and inscriptions have been found which tend -to shew that, he allowed new colleges to be founded which bore his name. -In short, to the old State-established and State-endowed religion he -added another, that of Christianity, reserving his special favour for -the new but not actively repressing the ancient. He had hoped to convert -the world by his own example; but, though he failed in this, he never -contemplated a resort to violence. His religious policy, throughout his -reign, may fairly be described as one of toleration. That is what -Symmachus meant when he said, half a century later, that Constantine had -belonged to both religions. - -There was one exception to this rule. Constantine came down with a heavy -hand on secret divination and the practice of magic and the black arts. -But other Emperors before him had done the same, Emperors whose loyalty -to the Roman religion had never been questioned—for these mysterious -rites formed no part of the established worship. They might be employed -to the harm of the State; they might portend danger to the Emperor’s -life and throne. It was not for private individuals to experiment with -and let loose the powers of darkness, for, as a rule, beneficent deities -had no part or lot in these dark mysteries. As a Christian, Constantine -would have a double satisfaction in issuing edicts against the -wonder-working charlatans who abounded in the great cities; but the -point is that in attacking them he was not technically attacking the old -State religion. The public and official haruspices were not interfered -with; if any devout pagan still desired to consult an oracle, no -obstacle was placed in his way; and, as a tribute to the universal -superstition of the age from which he himself was not free, even private -divination was permitted when the object was a good one, such as the -restoration of a sick person to health or the protection of crops -against hail. But it is evident that Constantine and his bishops were -far more apprehensive of evil from the unchaining of the Devil than -expectant of good from the favour of the ministers of grace. They were -terrified of the one: they indulged but a pious hope of the other. Nor -was the Emperor successful in stamping out the private thaumaturgist. -Human nature was too strong for him. _Sileat perpetuo divinandi -curiositas_, ordered one of his successors in 358. But the curiosity to -divine the future continued to defy both civil and ecclesiastical law. - -A much bolder act, however, than the closing of a few temples on the -score of public decency or the forbidding of private divination was the -edict of 325, in which Constantine ordered the abolition of the -gladiatorial shows. “Such blood-stained spectacles,” he said, “in the -midst of civil peace and domestic quiet are repugnant to our taste.” He -ordained, therefore, that in future all criminals who were usually -condemned to be gladiators should be sent to work in the mines, that -they might expiate their offences without shedding of blood. But it was -one thing to issue an edict and another to enforce it. Whether -Constantine insisted on the observance of this particular edict, we -cannot say, but his successors certainly did not, for the gladiatorial -spectacles at Rome were in full swing in the days of Symmachus, who -ransacked the world for good swordsmen and strange animals. The -“_cruenta spectacula_” as Constantine called them, were not finally -abolished until the reign of Honorius. - -To sum up. The only reasonable view to take of the religious character -of Constantine is that he was a sincere and convinced Christian. This is -borne out alike by his passionate professions of faith and by the clear -testimony of his actions. There are, it is true, many historians who -hold that he was really indifferent to religion, and others who credit -him with an easy capacity for finding truth in all religions alike. -Professor Bury, for example, says that “the evidence seems to shew that -his religion was a syncretistic monotheism; that he was content to see -the deity in the Sun, in Mithras, or in the God of the Hebrews.” Such a -description would suit the character of Constantius Chlorus perfectly, -and it may very well have suited Constantine himself before the -overthrow of Maxentius. There is a passage in the Ninth Panegyric which -seems to have been uttered by one holding these views, and it is worth -quotation, for it is an invocation to the supreme deity to bless the -Emperor Constantine. It runs as follows: - - Wherefore we pray and beseech thee to keep our Prince safe for all - eternity, thee, the supreme creator of all things, whose names are as - manifold as it has been thy will that nations should have tongues. We - cannot tell by what title it is thy pleasure that we should address - thee, whether thou art a divine force and mind permeating the whole - world and mingled with all the elements, and moving of thine own - motive power without impulse from without, or whether thou art some - Power above all Heaven who lookest down upon this thy handiwork from - some loftier arch of Nature. - -Such a deity may have satisfied the philosophers, but it certainly was -not the deity whom Constantine worshipped throughout his reign. Had he -been indifferent to religion, or indifferent to Christianity, had he -even been anxious only to hold the balance between the rival creeds, he -would never have surrounded himself by episcopal advisers; never have -set his hand to such edicts as those we have quoted; never have -abolished the use of the cross for the execution of criminals or have -forbidden Jews to own Christian slaves; never have called the whole -world time and again to witness his zeal for Christ; never have lavished -the resources of the Empire upon the building of sumptuous churches; -never have listened with such extraordinary forbearance to the -wranglings of the Donatists and the subtleties of Arians and -Athanasians; never have summoned or presided at the Council of Nicæa; -and certainly never have made the welfare of non-Roman Christians the -subject of entreaty with the King of Persia. Constantine was prone to -superstition. He was grossly material in his religious views, and his -own worldly success remained still in his eyes the crowning proof of the -Christian verities. But the sincerity of his convictions is none the -less apparent, and even the atrocious crimes with which he sullied his -fair fame cannot rob him of the name of Christian. It was a name, says -St. Augustine,[145] in which he manifestly delighted to boast, mindful -of the hope which he reposed in Christ (_Plane Christiano nomine -gloriosus, memor spei quam gerebat in Christo_). - ------ - -Footnote 145: - - _Contra Lit. Petil._, ii., 205. - ------ - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - THE EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY - - -The reorganisation of the Empire, begun by Diocletian, had been -continued along the same lines by Constantine the Great. There were -still further developments under their successors, but these two were -the real founders of the Imperial system which was to subsist in the -eastern half of the Empire for more than eleven hundred years. In other -words, Diocletian and Constantine gave the Empire, if not a new lease of -life, at least a new impetus and a new start, and we may here present a -brief sketch of the reforms which they introduced into practically every -sphere of governmental activity. - -We have already seen how profoundly changed was the position of the -Emperor himself. He was no longer essentially a Roman Imperator, a -supreme War-Lord, a soldier Chief of State. He had become a King in a -palace, secluded from the gaze of the vulgar, surrounded with all the -attributes and ornaments of an eastern monarch, and robed in gorgeous -vestments stiff with gold and jewels. Men were taught to speak and think -of him as superhuman and sacrosanct, to approach him with genuflexion -and adoration, to regard every office, however menial, attached to his -person, as sacred. In speaking of the Emperor language was strained to -the pitch of the ridiculous; flattery became so grotesque that it must -have ceased to flatter. When Nazarius, for example, speaks of the -Emperor’s heart as “the stupendous shrine of mighty virtues” (_ingentium -virtutum stupenda penetralia_), and such language as this became the -recognised mode of addressing the reigning Sovereign, we see how far we -have travelled not only from Republican simplicity, but even from the -times of Domitian. The Emperor, in brief, was absolute monarch, autocrat -of the entire Roman world, and his will and nod were law. - -He stood at the head of a hierarchy of court and administrative -officials, most minutely organised from the highest to the lowest. For -purposes of Imperial administration, those next to the throne were the -four Prætorian præfects, each one supreme, under the Emperor, in his -quarter of the world. The Empire had been divided by Diocletian into -twelve dioceses and these again into ninety-six provinces; Constantine -accepted this division but apportioned the twelve dioceses into four -præfectures, those of the Orient, Illyria, Italy, and Gaul. The four -Prætorian præfects stood in relation to the Emperor—so Eusebius tells -us—as God the Son stood in relation to God the Father. They wore—though -not perhaps in the days of Constantine—robes of purple reaching to the -knee; they rode in lofty chariots, and among the insignia of their -office were a colossal silver inkstand and gold pen-cases of a hundred -pounds in weight. Their functions were practically unlimited, save for -the all-important exception that they exercised no military command. -They had an exchequer of their own, through which passed all the -Imperial taxes from their provinces; they had absolute control over the -vicars of the dioceses beneath them, whom, if they did not actually -appoint they at least recommended for appointment to the Emperor. In -their own præfectures they formed the final court of appeal, and -Constantine expressly enacted that there should be no appeal from them -to the throne. They even had a limited power of issuing edicts. Thus in -all administrative, financial, and judicial matters the four Prætorian -præfects were supreme, occupying a position very similar to that of the -Viceroys of the great provinces of China, save that they had no control -over the troops within their territories. - -Below these four præfects came the vicars of the twelve dioceses of the -Oriens, Pontica, Asiana, Thracia, Mœsia, Pannonia, Britanniæ, Galliæ, -Viennenses, Italia, Hispaniæ, and Africa. Egypt continued to hold an -unique position; its governor was almost independent of the præfect of -the Orient, and was always a direct nominee of the Emperor. Then, below -the twelve vicars came the governors of the provinces, the number of -which constantly tended to increase, but by further subdivision rather -than by conquest of new territory. Various names were given to these -governors; they were _rectores_ and _correctores_ in some provinces, -_præsides_ in many more, _consulares_ in a few of the more important -ones, such as Africa and Italia. Each had his own entourage of minor -officials, and the hierarchical principle was observed as rigidly on the -lowest rungs of the ladder as on the topmost. Autocrats are obliged to -rule through a bureaucracy, a broad-based pyramid of officialdom which -usually weighs heavily upon the unfortunate taxpayer who has to support -the entire structure. - -[Illustration: AUREUS OF CARAUSIUS.] - -[Illustration: AUREUS OF ALLECTUS.] - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF HELENA.] - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF GALERIUS.] - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF SEVERUS II.] - -A similar hierarchy of officials prevailed in the palace and the court, -from the grand chamberlain down through a host of Imperial secretaries -to the head scullion. The tendency of each was to magnify his office -into a department, and to be the master of a set of underlings. And it -was the policy of Constantine, as it had been the policy of Augustus, to -invent new offices in order to increase the number of officials who -looked to the Emperor as their benefactor.[146] - ------ - -Footnote 146: - - εἰς γὰρ τὸ πλείονας τιμᾶν διαφόρους ἐπενόει βασιλεὺς αξιάς (_De Vita - Const._, iv., 1). - ------ - -In the conduct of State affairs the Emperor was assisted by an Imperial -council, known as the _consistorium principis_. It included the four -Prætorian præfects of whom we have spoken; the quæstor of the palace, a -kind of general secretary of state; the master of the offices (_magister -officiorum_), one of whose principal duties was to act as minister of -police; the grand chamberlain (_præpositus sacri cubiculi_); two -ministers of finance, and two ministers for war. One of the finance -ministers was dignified with the title of count of the sacred largesses -(_comes sacrarum largitionum_); the other was count of the private purse -(_comes rerum privatarum_). The distinction was similar to the old one -between the _ærarium_ and the _fiscus_, between, that is to say, the -State treasury and the Emperor’s privy purse. One of the two ministers -for war had supreme charge of the infantry of the Empire; the other was -responsible for the cavalry. Both also exercised judicial functions and -sat as a court of appeal in all military cases wherein the State was -interested, either as plaintiff or defendant. - -There were still consuls in Rome, who continued to give their names to -the year. All their political power had vanished, but their dignity -remained unimpaired, though it was now derived not from the intrinsic -importance of their office so much as from its extrinsic ornaments. To -be consul had become the ambition not of the boldest but of the vainest. -(_In consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur._) The prætorship had -similarly fallen, but it still entailed upon the holder the expensive -and sometimes ruinous privilege of providing shows for the amusement of -the Roman populace. The number of prætors had fallen to two in -Constantine’s day: he raised it to eight, in accordance with his general -regardlessness of expense, so long as there was outward magnificence. It -is doubtful whether, during the reign of Constantine, there were consuls -and prætors in Constantinople. Certainly there was no urban præfect -appointed in that city until twenty years after his death, and it seems -probable that the Emperor did not set up in his new capital quite such a -pedantically perfect imitation of the official machinery of Rome as has -sometimes been supposed. His successors, however, were not long in -completing what he had begun. - -We pass to the senate and the senatorial order, with their various -degrees of dignity, which Constantine and those who came after him -delighted to elaborate. Every member of the senate was naturally a -member of the senatorial order, but it by no means followed that every -member of the order had a seat in the senate. The new senate of -Constantinople, like its prototype at Rome, had little or no political -power. It merely registered the decrees of the Emperor, and its function -seems to have been one principally of dignity and ceremony. Membership -of the senatorial order was a social distinction that might be held by a -man living in any part of the Empire and was gained by virtue of having -held office. The order was an aristocracy of officials and ex-officials, -distinguished by resplendent titles, involving additional burdens in the -way of taxation—the price of added dignity. A few of these titles are -worth brief consideration. To the Emperor there were reserved the -grandiloquent names of Your Majesty, Your Eternity, Your Divinity. -Members of the reigning house were Most Noble (_Nobilissimi_). To the -members of the senate, including the officials of the very highest rank, -viz., the consuls, proconsuls, and præfects, there was reserved the -title of Most Distinguished (_Clarissimi_), while officers of lower -rank, members of the senatorial order but not of the senate, were Most -Perfect (_Perfectissimi_) and Egregious (_Egregii_), the former being of -a higher class than the latter. Such was the order of precedence in -Constantine’s reign, but there was a constant tendency for these -honourable orders to expand, due, no doubt, entirely to the exigencies -of the treasury. Thus the high rank of _Clarissimi_ was bestowed on -those who previously had been only _Perfectissimi_ and _Egregii_, and -two still higher orders of _Illustres_ and _Spectabiles_ were created -for the old _Clarissimi_ and _Perfectissimi_. The two topmost classes -were thus given an upward step. - -Such was the new official aristocracy, while a rigid line of division, -quite unknown to Republican and early Imperial Rome, was drawn between -the civil and the military officers of the Empire. The military forces -themselves were organised into two great divisions, (1) the troops -kept permanently upon the frontiers, and (2) the soldiers of the line. -The first were known as _Limitanei_ (Borderers) or _Riparienses_ -(Guardians of the Shore), the second name being specially applied to -the soldiers of the Rhine and the Danube. All these troops were -stationed in permanent camps and forts, which often developed into -townships, and it was a rare thing for a legion to be moved to another -quarter of the Empire. Boys grew up and followed their fathers in the -profession of arms in the same camp, and were themselves succeeded by -their own sons. The term of service was twenty-four years, and these -_Limitanei_ were not only soldiers but tillers of the soil, playing a -part precisely similar to the soldier colonists of Russia in her Far -Eastern provinces. The soldiers of the line (_Numeri_), on the other -hand, served for the shorter period of twenty years. They included the -_Palatini_,—practically the successors of the old Prætorian Guard,—the -crack corps of the army, who were divided into regiments bearing such -titles as _Scholares_, _Protectores_, and _Domestici_, and enjoyed the -privilege of guarding the Emperor’s person. Most of the legions of the -line were known as the _Comitatenses_. These were employed in the -interior garrisons of the Empire, and Zosimus—whether justly or not, -it is impossible to say—accuses Constantine of having dangerously -weakened the frontier garrisons and withdrawn too many troops into the -interior. The control of the army, under the Emperor and his two -ministers for war, was vested by the end of the fourth century in -thirty-five commanders bearing the titles of dukes and counts,—the -latter being the higher of the two. Three of these were stationed in -Britain, six in Gaul, one each in Spain and Italy, four in Africa, -three in Egypt, eight in Asia and Syria, and nine along the upper and -lower reaches of the Danube. - -Such was the structure which rested upon the purse of the taxpayer and -upon a system of finance inherently vicious and wasteful. The main -support of the treasury was still, as it had always been, the land tax, -known as the _capitatio terrena_, the old _tributum soli_. It was the -landed proprietor (_possessor_) who found the wherewithal to keep the -Empire on its feet. Diocletian had reorganised the census, and, in the -interests of the treasury, had caused a new survey and inventory to be -made of practically every acre of land in every province. By an -ingenious device he had established a system of taxable units (_jugum_ -or _caput_), each of which paid the round sum of 100,000 sesterces or -1000 aurei. The unit might be made up of all sorts of land—arable, -pasture, or forest—the value of each being estimated on a regular scale. -Thus five acres of vineyard constituted a unit and were held to be -equivalent to twenty acres of the best arable land, forty acres of -second-class land, and sixty of third-class. Nothing escaped: even the -roughest woodland or moorland was assessed at the rate of four hundred -and fifty acres to the unit. The Emperor and his finance ministers -estimated every year how much was required for the current expenses of -the Empire. When the amount was fixed, they sent word throughout the -provinces, and the various municipal curiæ, or town senates, knew what -their share would be, for each town and district was assessed at so many -thousand units, and each curia or senate was responsible for the money -being raised. The curia was composed of a number of the richest -landowners, who had to collect the tax from themselves and their -neighbours as best they could. If, therefore, any _possessor_ became -bankrupt, the others had to make up the shortage between them. Those who -were solvent had to pay for the insolvent. All loopholes of evasion were -carefully closed. Landowners were not permitted to quit their district -without special leave from the governor; they could not join the army or -enter the civil service. When it was found that large numbers were -becoming ordained in the Christian Church to escape their obligations, -an edict was issued forbidding it. Once a decurion always a decurion. - -The provincial country landowner and the small farmer were almost taxed -out of existence by this monstrous system. Every ten or fifteen years, -it is true, a revision of the assessments took place, and there were -certain officials, with the significant name of _defensores_, whose duty -it was to prevent the provincials from being fleeced too flagrantly. But -a man might easily be reduced to beggary by a succession of bad harvests -before the year of revision came round, and the _defensor’s_ office was -a sinecure except in the rare occasions when he knew that he would be -backed at the headquarters of the diocese. During Constantine’s reign, -or at least during its closing years, there is overpowering evidence -that the provincial governors were allowed to plunder at discretion. -They imitated the reckless prodigality of their sovereign, who, in 331, -was compelled to issue an edict to restrain the peculation of his -officers. There is a very striking phrase in Ammianus Marcellinus who -says that while Constantine started the practice of opening the greedy -jaws of his favourites, his son, Constantius, fattened them up on the -very marrow of the provinces.[147] Evidently, the incidence of this land -tax inflicted great hardships and had the mischievous result of draining -the province of capital, and of dragging down to ruin the independent -cultivator of the land. Hence districts were constantly in arrears of -payment, and the remission of outstanding debt to the treasury was -usually the first step taken by an Emperor to court popularity with his -subjects. - ------ - -Footnote 147: - - _Proximorum fauces aperuit primus omnium Consiantinus sed eos medullis - provinciarum saginavit Constantius_ (xvi., c. 8, 12). - ------ - -In short, the fiscal system of the Empire, so far as its most important -item, the land tax, was concerned, seemed expressly designed to exhaust -the wealth of the provinces. It helped to introduce a system of caste, -which became more rigid and cramping as the years passed by and the -necessities of the treasury became more urgent. It also powerfully -contributed to crush out of existence the yeoman farmer, whose -insolvency was followed, if not by slavery, at any rate by a serfdom -which just as effectually robbed him of freedom of movement. The -_colonus_ having lost the title-deeds of his own land became the -hireling of another, paying in kind a fixed proportion of his stock and -crops, and obliged to give personal service for so many days on that -part of the estate where his master resided. The position of the poor -_colonus_, in fact, became precisely similar to that of a slave who had -not obtained full freedom but had reached the intermediate state of -serfdom, in which he was permanently attached to a certain estate as, so -to speak, part of the fixtures. He was said to be “ascribed to the land” -(_ascripticius_), and he had no opportunity of bettering his social -position or enabling his sons to better theirs, unless they were -recruited for the legions. - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIN DAZA.] - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS I.] - -[Illustration: SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS II.] - -[Illustration: DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.] - -The land tax, of course, was not the only one, for the theory of -Imperial finance was that everybody and everything should pay. -Constantine did not spare his new aristocracy. Every member of the -senatorial order paid a property tax known as “the senatorial purse” -(_follis senatoria_), and another imposition bearing the name of _aurum -oblaticium_, which was none the more palatable because it was supposed -to be a voluntary offering. Any senator, moreover, might be summoned to -the capital to serve as prætor and provide a costly entertainment—a -convenient weapon in the hands of autocracy to clip the wings of an -obnoxious ex-official. Another ostensibly voluntary contribution to the -Emperor was the _aurum coronarium_, or its equivalent of a thousand or -two thousand pieces of gold, which each city of importance was obliged -to offer to the sovereign on festival occasions, such as the celebration -of five or ten complete years of rule. Every five years, also, there was -a _lustralis collatio_ to be paid by all shopkeepers and usurers, -according to their means. This was usually spoken of as “the -gold-silver” (_chrysargyrum_), and, like “the senatorial purse,” is said -by some authorities to have been the invention of Constantine himself. -Zosimus, in a very bitter attack on the fiscal measures of the Emperor, -declares that even the courtesans and the beggars were not exempt from -the extortion of the treasury officials, and that whenever the tribute -had to be paid, nothing was heard but groaning and lamentation. The -scourge was brought into play for the persuasion of reluctant taxpayers; -women were driven to sell their sons, and fathers their daughters. Then -there were the _capitatio humana_, a sort of poll-tax on all labourers; -the old five per cent. succession duty; an elaborate system of octroi -(_portoria_), and many other indirect taxes. We need not, perhaps, -believe the very worst pictures of human misery drawn by the historians, -for, in fairness to the Emperors, we must take some note of the roseate -accounts of the official rhetoricians. Nazarius, for example, explicitly -declares that Constantine had given the Empire “peace abroad, prosperity -at home, abundant harvests, and cheap food.”[148] Eusebius again and -again conjures up a vision of prosperous and contented peoples, living -not in fear of the tax-collector, but in the enjoyment of their -sovereign’s bounty. But we fear that the sombre view is nearer the truth -than the radiant one, and that the subsequent financial ruin, which -overtook the western even more than the eastern provinces, was largely -due to the oppressive and wasteful fiscal system introduced and -developed by Diocletian and Constantine, and to the old standing defect -of Roman administration, that the civil governor was also the judge, and -thus administrative and judicial functions were combined in the same -hands. - ------ - -Footnote 148: - - _Omnia foris placida, domi prospera; annonæ ubertas, fructuum copia_ - (_Pan. Vet._, x., 38). - ------ - -Here, indeed, lay one of the strongest elements of disintegration in the -reorganised Empire, but there were other powerful solvents at work, at -which we may briefly glance. One was slavery, the evil results of which -had been steadily accumulating for centuries, and if these were -mitigated to some extent by the increasing scarcity of slaves, the -degradation of the poor freeman to the position of a _colonus_ more than -counterbalanced the resultant good. Population, so far from increasing, -was going back, and, in order to fill the gaps, the authorities had -recourse to the dangerous expedient of inviting in the barbarian. The -land was starving for want of capital and labour, and the barbarian -_colonus_ was introduced, as we have seen in an earlier chapter, not, if -the authorities are to be trusted, by tens, but by hundreds of -thousands, “to lighten the tribute by the fruits of his toil and to -relieve the Roman citizens of military service.” This was the principal -and certainly the original reason why recourse was had to the barbarian; -the idea that the German or the Goth was less dangerous inside than -outside the frontier, and would help to bear the brunt of the pressure -from his kinsmen, came later. The result, however, of importing a strong -Germanic and Gothic element into the Empire was one of active -disintegration. Though they occupied but a humble position industrially, -as tillers of the soil, they formed the best troops in the Imperial -armies. The boast which Tacitus put into the mouth of a Gallic soldier -in the first century, that the alien trooper was the backbone of the -Roman army,[149] was now an undoubted truth, and the spirit which these -strangers brought with them was that of freedom, quite antagonistic to -the absolutism of the Empire. - ------ - -Footnote 149: - - _Nihil in exercitibus validum nisi externum._ - ------ - -There was yet another great solvent at work,—in its cumulative effects -the greatest of them all,—the solvent of Christianity, dissociating, as -it did, spiritual from temporal authority, and introducing the -absolutely novel idea of a divine law that in every particular took -precedence of mundane law. The growth of the power of the Church, as a -body entirely distinct from the State and claiming a superior moral -sanction, was a new force introduced into the Roman Empire, which, -beyond question, weakened its powers of resistance to outside enemies, -inasmuch as it caused internal dissensions and divisions. The furious -hatreds between Christianity and paganism which lasted in the West down -to the fall of Rome, and the equally furious hatreds within the Church -which continued both in East and West for long centuries, can only be -considered a source of serious weakness. No one disputes that the -desperate and murderous struggle between Catholic and Huguenot retarded -the development of France and weakened her in the face of the enemy, and -it stands to reason that a nation which is torn by intestinal quarrel -cannot present an effective front to foreign aggression. It wastes -against members of its own household part of the energy which should be -infused into the blows which it delivers at its foe. - -Christianity has always tended to break down distinctions and prejudices -of race. It has never done so wholly and never will, but the tendency is -forever at work, and, as such, in the days of the Empire, it was opposed -both to the Roman and to the Greek spirit. For though there had already -sprung up a feeling of cosmopolitanism within the Empire, it cannot be -said to have extended to those without the Empire, who were still -barbarians in the eyes not only of Greek or Roman, but of the Romanised -Celt and Iberian, whose civilisation was no longer a thin veneer. When -we say that Christianity was a disintegrating element in this respect, -the term is by no means wholly one of reproach. For it also implies that -Christianity assisted the partial fusion which took place when at length -the frontier barriers gave way and the West was rushed by the Germanic -races. These races were themselves Christianised to a certain extent. -They, too, worshipped the Cross and the Christ, and this circumstance -alone must, to a very considerable degree, have mitigated for the Roman -provinces the terrors and disasters of invasion. It is true that the -invaders were for the most part Arians,—though it is a manifest -absurdity to suppose that the free Germans from beyond the Rhine -understood even the elements of a controversy so metaphysical and so -purely Greek,—and, when Arian and Catholic fought, they tipped their -barbs with poison. “I never yet,” said Ammianus Marcellinus, “found wild -beasts so savagely hostile to men, as most of the Christians are to one -another.”[150] But the fact remains that the German and Gothic -conquerors, who settled where they had conquered, accepted the -civilisation of the vanquished even though they modified it to their own -needs; they did not wipe it out and substitute their own, as did the -Turk and the Moor when they appeared, later on, at the head of their -devastating hordes. If, therefore, Christianity tended to weaken, it -also tended to assimilate, and we are not sure that the latter process -was not fully as important as the former. The Roman Empire, as a -universal power, had long been doomed; Christianity, in this respect, -simply accelerated its pace down the slippery slope. - ------ - -Footnote 150: - - _Nullas infestas hominibus bestias ut sunt sibi ferales plerique - Christianorum expertus_ (xxii., 5). - ------ - -But other and more specific charges have been brought against -Christianity. One is that it contributed largely to the depopulation of -the Empire, which, from the point of view of the State, was an evil of -the very greatest magnitude. The indictment cannot be refuted wholly. In -the name of Christianity extravagant and pernicious doctrines were -preached of which it would be difficult to speak with patience, did we -not remember that violent disorders need violent remedies. No one can -doubt the unutterable depravity and viciousness which were rampant and -unashamed in the Roman Empire, especially in the East. If there was a -public conscience at all, it was silent. Decent, clean-living people -held fastidiously aloof and tolerated the existence of evils which they -did nothing to combat. A strong protest was needed; it was supplied by -Christianity. But many of those who took upon themselves to denounce the -sins of the age felt compelled to school themselves to a rigid -asceticism which made few allowances not only for the weaknesses but -even for the natural instincts of human nature. The more fanatical among -them grudgingly admitted that marriage was honourable, but rose to -enthusiastic frenzy in the contemplation of virginity, which, if they -dared not command, they could and did commend with all the eloquence of -which they were capable. One cannot think without pity of all the -self-torture and agonising which this new asceticism—new, at least, in -this aggravated form—brought upon hundreds and thousands of men and -women, whose services the State needed and would have done well to -possess, but who cut themselves off from mundane affairs, and withdrew -into solitudes, not to learn there how to help their fellowmen but -consumed only with a selfish anxiety to escape from the wrath to come. -They thought of nothing but the salvation of their own souls. It is -impossible to see how these wild hermits, who peopled the Libyan -deserts, were acceptable in the sight either of themselves, their -fellows, or their God. Simon Stylites, starving sleepless on his pillar -in the posture of prayer for weeks, remains for all time as a monument -of grotesque futility. If charity regards him with pity, it can only -regard with contempt those who imputed his insane endurance unto him for -righteousness. No one can estimate the amount of unnecessary misery and -sufferings caused by these extreme fanatics, who broke up homes without -remorse, played on the fears and harrowed the minds of impressionable -men and women, and debased the human soul in their frantic endeavour to -fit it for the presence of its Maker. They stand in the same category as -the gaunt skeletons who drag themselves on their knees from end to end -of India in the hope of placating a mild but irresponsive god. Man’s -first duty may be towards God; but not to the exclusion of his duty -towards the State. - -It is not to be supposed, of course, that the majority of Christians -were led to renounce the world and family life. The weaker brethren are -always in a majority, and we do not doubt that most of the Christian -priests were of like mind with their flock in taking a less heroic but -far more common-sense view. It is also to be noted that the practical -Roman temper speedily modified the extravagances of the eastern -fanatics, and the asceticism of monks and nuns living in religious -communities in the midst of their fellow-citizens, and working to heal -their bodies as well as to save their souls, stands on a very different -plane from the entirely self-centred eremitism associated with Egypt. By -doing the work of good Samaritans the members of these communities acted -the part of good citizens. Succeeding Emperors, whose Christianity was -unimpeachable, looked with cold suspicion on the recluses of the -deserts. Valens, for example, regarding their retirement as an evasion -of their civic duties, published an edict ordering that they should be -brought back; Theodosius with cynical wisdom said that as they had -deliberately chosen to dwell in the desert, he would take care that they -stopped there. But it is easy to exaggerate the influence wielded by -extreme men, whose doctrines and professions only emerge from obscurity -because of their extravagances. We must not, therefore, lay too much -stress on the constant exhortations to celibacy and virginity which we -find even in the writings of such men as Jerome and Ambrose. However -zealously they plied the pitchfork, human nature just as persistently -came back, and the extraordinary outspokenness of Jerome, for example, -in his letters to girls who had pledged themselves to virginity—an -outspokenness based on the confident assumption that human, and more -especially womanly, nature is weak and liable to err—shews that he was -profoundly diffident of the success of his preaching. Nevertheless, when -the counsel of perfection offered by the Church was the avoidance of -marriage, it is a just charge against Christianity that it was in this -respect anti-civic and anti-social. - -[Illustration: DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.] - -[Illustration: DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF FAUSTA.] - -[Illustration: DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CRISPUS.] - -[Illustration: DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II. AS CÆSAR.] - -On the other hand, it is to be remembered that this avoidance of -marriage and its responsibilities was no new thing in the Roman Empire. -For centuries the State had been alarmed at the growth of an -unwillingness, manifested especially in the higher orders of society, to -undertake the duties of parentage. Special bounties and immunities from -taxation were offered to the fathers even of three children; checks were -placed upon divorce; taxes were levied upon the obstinate bachelor and -widower who clung to what he called the blessings of detached -irresponsibility (_præmia orbitatis_). These laws were all based on the -theory that it is a man’s civic duty to marry and give sons and -daughters to the service of his country, and we find one of the -Panegyrists declaring them to be the very foundation of the State, -because they supply a nursery of youth and a constant flow of manly -vigour to the Roman armies.[151] Yet so powerful were the attractions of -a childless life (_prævalida orbitate_—_Tac._, _Ann._, iii., 25) that -the whole series of Julian laws on this subject had proved of little -value, and Tacitus had declared that the remedy was worse than the -disease. The motives of the luxurious voluptuary or the fastidious cynic -were widely different from those of the Christian enthusiast for bodily -purity, but by a curious irony they were directed towards the same -object—the avoidance of matrimony. - ------ - -Footnote 151: - - _Vere dicuntar esse fundamenta rei publicæ, quia seminarium juventutis - et quasi fontem humani roboris semper Romanis exercitibus - ministrarunt_ (_Pan. Vet._, vi., 2). - ------ - -There was also brought against Christianity the charge that it -discouraged military service and looked askance upon the profession of -arms. The accusation is true within certain limits. Christianity was and -is a gospel of peace. Ideally, therefore, it is always antagonistic to -war as a general principle, and there is always a considerable section -of Christian opinion which is opposed, irrespective of the justice of -the quarrel, to an appeal to arms. That section of Christian opinion was -naturally at its strongest when the Roman Empire was pagan, and when it -was practically impossible for a Christian to be a soldier without -finding himself compelled to worship, at the altars of Rome, the Roman -Emperor and the Roman gods. _Omnis militia est religio_, Seneca had said -most truly. There was a permanent altar fixed before the _prætorium_ of -every camp. That being the case, one can understand that the army was -regarded with abhorrence by every Christian at a time when Christianity -was a proscribed, or barely tolerated, religion, and hence the violent -denunciations of the army and military service to be found in some of -the early Fathers. Hence too the number of Christian soldier martyrs, -who had been converted while serving in the ranks. But the whole case -was changed when the Roman Emperor was a Christian, and the army took -its oath to a champion and no longer to an enemy of the Church. The -bishops at once changed front—they could not help themselves—and at the -Council of Arles we have seen the Gallican bishops passing a canon -anathematising any Christian who flung down his arms in time of peace. -There were still extremists, as there are to-day, who denounced war with -indiscriminate censure; there must have been a much larger number who -acquiesced in standing armies as a necessary evil, but themselves -carefully kept aloof from service; the majority, as to-day, would -recognise that the security of a State rests ultimately upon force, and -would pray that their cause might be just whenever that force had to be -put into operation. It is not Tertullian with his dangerous doctrine -that politics have no interest for the Christian (_nec ulla magis res -aliena quam publica_), that the Christian has no country but the world, -and that Christ had bidden the nations disarm when he bade Peter put up -his sword—it is not Tertullian who is the typical representative of the -Church in its relations with the State and mundane affairs, but the -broad-minded Augustine who, when nervous Christians appealed to him to -say whether a Christian could serve God as a soldier, said that a man -might do his duty to his God and his Emperor as well in a camp as -elsewhere. - -God-fearing men could spend their days in the legions without peril to -their souls, but the atmosphere of a Roman camp, full as it was of -barbarians and semi-barbarians, naturally cannot have been congenial to -the Christian religion. In spite of the Labarum, service in the army was -discountenanced by the more zealous Christian bishops. Yet nothing could -be more unfair than to charge Christianity with having introduced into -the Roman world the reluctance to carry arms. That reluctance dated back -to the latter days of the Republic. Christianity merely intensified it. - -Christianity, again, may be acquitted of having caused the decadence of -literature and the arts. That decadence was of long standing. There had -been a steady decline from the brilliant circle of Augustan poets and -prose writers to the days of the Antonines. The third century had been -utterly barren of great names. Literature had become imitation; -originality was lost. Society was literary in tone; grammarians and -rhetoricians flourished; learning was not dead but active; yet the -results, so far as creative work was concerned, were miserably small. -But if Christianity cannot be held responsible for the poverty of -imagination in the ranks of pagan society, it must be held responsible -for its own shortcomings. It often assumed an attitude of open hostility -to the ancient literature, which was to be explained—and, so long as -paganism was a living force, might be justified—by the fact that the -poetry of Rome was steeped in pagan associations. Men to whom Jupiter -was a false deity or demon; to whom the radiance of Apollo was hateful -because it was a snare to the unwary; to whom the purity of Diana, the -cold stateliness of Minerva, the beauty of Venus, and the bountifulness -of Ceres, were all treacherous delusions and masks of sin, and all -equally pernicious to the soul, found in the very charm of style and the -seductiveness of language of the old poetry another reason for keeping -it out of the hands of their children and for themselves eschewing its -dangerous delights. It is difficult to blame them. Protestants and -Catholics even of the present day are studiously ignorant of the special -literatures of the other, and if the Christian eschewed the classical -poets, the educated pagan was grotesquely ignorant of the Christian’s -“Holy Books.” - -But this point must not be pursued too far. Education itself was based -on the ancient literature of Greece and Rome—there was, indeed, nothing -else on which to base it—and in the ablest and most cultured of the -Christian writers the influence of the classical authors is evident on -every page. Jerome dreamt that an angel came to rebuke him for his love -of the rounded periods of Cicero—_Ciceronianus es, non Christianus_. -Augustine bewails the tears he had wasted on the moving story of the -Fall of Troy, while his heart was insensible to the sufferings of the -Son of God. Lines and half lines from Virgil, or the choice of a -Virgilian epithet, betray the ineradicable influence of the Mantuan over -Ambrose. Even the author of the _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, despite his -ferocious hatred of paganism, takes evident pleasure in the Ciceronian -flavour of his maledictions. Do what he would, the cultured and educated -Christian could not escape from the spell of the poets of antiquity. -There were, of course, narrow-minded fanatics in plenty who would -cheerfully have burned the contents of every pagan library and have -imagined that they were offering an acceptable sacrifice, and there were -doubtless many more who, without vindictiveness towards the classics, -were quite content with want of culture, deeming that ignorance was more -becoming to Christian simplicity (_Simplex sermo veritatis._) The -tendencies of Christianity, as compared with paganism, were not towards -what we call the humanities and a liberal education, for the dominant -feeling was that there was only one book in the world which really -mattered, and that was the Bible. There was, it is true, a slight -literary renaissance starting at the close of the fourth century, with -which we associate the names of Ausonius, Paulinus of Nola, Prudentius, -and Claudian. This was mainly Christian. Ausonius strictly followed -classical models; the graceful yet vigorous hymns of Prudentius were an -original and valuable contribution to literature; Claudian stands -neutral. “The last of the classics,” as Mr. Mackail has well said,[152] -“he is, at the same time, the earliest and one of the most distinguished -of the classicists. It might seem a mere chance whether his poetry -belonged to the fourth or to the sixteenth century.” This literary -renaissance, however, was a last flicker, and while we have to thank the -Church for preserving the Latin tongue, we owe it little thanks—compared -with the paganism it had overthrown—for its services to culture and the -humanities. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the classics had to -be rediscovered and relearnt: the dead spirit of humanism had to be -quickened to a new birth. - ------ - -Footnote 152: - - _History of Latin Literature_, Bk. III., c. 7. - ------ - -Hard things have been said of Christianity and its influence upon the -Roman Empire, harder perhaps than the facts warrant, though the -bitterness of many of the critics has been directly provoked by the -boundless assumptions of the Christian apologists. Looking back -dispassionately upon the period with which we have been dealing, it is -not difficult to see why the Church triumphed and why the nations -acquiesced as readily as they did in the downfall of paganism. The -reason is that the world had grown stale. It had outlived all its old -ideals. It was sick of doubt, weary of bloodshed and strife, and -nervously apprehensive, we can hardly question, of the cataclysm that -was to burst upon the West and submerge it before another century was -over. The philosophies were worn out. The gods themselves had grown -grey. There was a general atmosphere of numbness and decrepitude. Men -wanted consolation and hope. Christianity alone could supply it, and -though Christianity itself had lost its early joyousness, freshness, and -simplicity, it retained unimpaired its marvellous powers to console. To -a world tired of questioning and search it returned an answer for which -it claimed the sanction of absolute Truth. The old spirit was not wholly -dead. One may see it revive from time to time in the various heresies -which split the Church. But it was ruthlessly suppressed, and humanity -had to purchase back its liberty of thought at a great price, ten or -more centuries later, when the world realised that her ancient deliverer -had herself become a tyrant. Nevertheless, few can seriously doubt that -the triumph of the Christian Church was an unspeakable boon to mankind. -The Roman Empire was doomed. Its downfall was certain and, on the whole, -was even to be desired, so long as its civilisation was not wholly wiped -out and the genius of past generations was not wholly destroyed. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -[Illustration] - - - - INDEX - - - A - - Achillas, 190 - _Acts of Pilate, The_, anti-Christian pamphlet, 145, 146 - Adrianople, battle of, 128, 158 - Ælianus, Proconsul of Africa, 172, 173 - Alemanni defeated by Crispus, 124 - Alexander, a Phrygian, leads revolt in Africa, 76 - Alexander of Alexandria, holds Arius in high esteem, 190; - becomes involved in controversy with Arius, 192 _ff._; - summons provincial synod, 195; - denounces Arians, 201 _ff._; - attacks Eusebius of Nicomedia, 203; - at Council of Nicæa, 214; - influenced by Athanasius, 215; - prayer for the truth in regard to Arius, 274, 298; - death, 286; - refuses to admit Arius to communion, 298 - Amandus, Admiral, defeated by Crispus, 129 - Ambrose, St., exhortations to avoid marriage, 348; - influenced by Virgil, 353. - Ammianus Marcellinus, quoted, 345 - Anastasia, half-sister to Constantine, 120 - Anastasis, Church of, dedicated,3 11 - Ancyra, Council of, canons, 153 - Annibalianus, son-in-law of Constantine, 309 - Antony, Saint, 147, 297 - Anulinus, proconsul of Africa, letter from Constantine to, 167, 168 - Apollo, statue of, 270, 271 - Arcadius, rebuilds walls of Constantinople, 266 - Arch of Constantine, 91 - Arian controversy, 189 _ff._, 223 _ff._; - Canon Bright on, 194; - Gibbon on, 194 - Arianism, origin, 189 _ff._; - leading tenet, 193 _ff._, 198, 223, 224; - Canon Bright on, 194; - class to which it appealed, 197 _ff._; - claims, 198 _ff._; - formal condemnation of, 229 - - Arians, edicts against, 286; - and Constantia, 289; - paramount at Imperial Court, 290; - plot against Athanasius, 290 - - “Ariomaniacs,” 206 - - Aristaces repeats Nicene Creed to his father, 285 - - Arius, a power in Alexandria, 190; - character, 190, 191; - preaching strange doctrine, 191; - starts controversy, 192 _ff._; - denounces Alexander, 193; - defends his doctrine before synod, 195 _ff._; - excommunicated, 196, 231, 236; - finds champion in Eusebius of Nicomedia, 200 _ff._; - synod of Bithynian bishops sympathises with, 202 _ff._; - _Thalia_, 204 _ff._, 222, 231; - Constantine intervenes between Alexander and, 207 _ff._; - at Council of Nicæa, 214, 221, 231, 236; - and Eusebian party, 229 _ff._; - recalled from exile, 287, 288; - Constantine’s attack on, 288; - pronounced a true Catholic by Council of Tyre, 295; - returns to Alexandria, 297; - questioned as to his faith, by Constantine, 297; - seeks admission to Church at Constantinople, 298, 299; - death, 299, 300 - - Arles, Council of, 173-176; - canons of, 177, 178, 351 - - Armenia, recovered for Rome, 6; - Saint Gregory in, 27 - - Arsenius, legend of withered hand, 293 - - Athanasians and baptism of Constantine, 315 - - Athanasius, Saint, on help given to persecuted Christians, 28; - _First Discourse against the Arians_, quoted, 204, 205; - influence on Alexander, 214, 215; - leader of Trinitarians, 221; - on Council of Nicæa, 222-224; - in Arian controversy, 227; - condemnation of, 231, 295; - banished, 239, 296; - elected bishop, 286; - plot against, 290; - refuses to restore Arius to communion, 291; - Constantine threatens, 291, 292; - campaign of calumny against, 292; - refuses to attend trial at Cæsarea, 293; - trial at Council of Tyre, 293-295; - appeals to Constantine, 294, 295 - - Augustæum, the, 268, 269 - - Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, on Botrus and Celestius, 164; - on Donatists, 181, 182; - on the Circumcelliones, 186; - and the Donatist schism, 187; - on Constantine, 329; - on Christian duty, 351; - and ancient literature, 353 - - Aurelian, Emperor, recovers Britain and Gaul, 3; - murdered, 4; - persecution of Christians, 13; - influence on Galerius, 17; - subdues Goths and Sarmatæ, 123 - - Ausonius, 354 - - B - - Bassianus, 120 - - Botrus, deacon, 164 - - Bright, Canon, quoted, on Arianism, 194, 199; - on philosophy and the Church, 227 - - Britain, Carausius ruler of, 6; - Constantius ruler of, 8; - Constantine ruler of, 51, 56, 76, 82; - Constantius recovers, 52, 53; - Crispus ruler of, 124 - - Burnt Pillar, the, 270 - - Bury, Professor, quoted, on Constantine, 328 - - Byzantium, capitulation of, 115, 128; - naval battle at, 129, 259; - advantages of position, 259, 261; - chosen by Constantine as site for a new city, 259, 260; - renowned, 2 61; - withstandsPhilip of Macedon, 262; - Polybius on, 262; - prosperity, 262, 263 - - Byzas, the Megarian, founder of Byzantium, 261 - - C - - Cæcilianus, rebukes Lucilla, 163; - elected bishop, 164; - position challenged, 165, 166, 170, 171, 173, 178; - letter from Constantine to, 166, 167; - summoned to Rome, 180, 181; - Constantine’s verdict on, 182; - Donatists refuse to obey, 184 - - Cæsarea, Council of, 292, 293 - - Caius, 238 - - Candidianus executed, 119 - - Carausius, 6, 65 - - Carinus, son of Carus, Empire divided between Numerian and, 4; - death, 5 - - Carnuntum, conference at, 63, 64 - - Carthage sacked, 76 - - Carthage, Council of, 188 - - Carus devastates Persia, 4 - - Catholic Party, 165 _ff._; 297 - - Celestius, deacon, 164 - - “Champions of the Lord,” the, 185 - - Chrestus, Bishop of Syracuse, 175 - - Christian martyrs, 15, 17 _ff._, 28, 30 _ff._, 136 _ff._, 147, 157 - - Christian schools of Antioch and Alexandria, 213 - - Christianity, rapid spread, 12; - embraced by Constantine, 93 _ff._, 306, 312 _ff._; - element in disintegration of Empire, 343, 344, 346; - element of assimilation, 345; - tendency to depopulate Empire, 346-350; - and asceticism, 346-348; - and military service, 350-352; - and literature and art, 352-354; - influence upon Roman Empire, 355, 356 - - Christians, persecution of, 12 _ff._, 27, 134 _ff._; - erect church at Nicomedia, 13; - and Neo-Platonists, 19, 20 - - Chrysopolis, battle of, 130, 158 - - Church, the, condition in reign of Diocletian, 12-14, 16; - persecution of, 12 _ff._, 134 _ff._; - and State, 13, 14, 158, 234, 343, 344; - schisms in, 153, 159 _ff._, 189; 211 _ff._; - triumph of, 236, 355, 356; - persecution ended, 285; - and marriage, 349 - - Cibalis, battle of, 121 - - Circumcelliones, a religious sect, 185, 186 - - Cirta, capital of Numidia, sacked, 76; - renamed, 186 - - Cirta, synod of, 161, 162 - - Cistern of Philoxenos, 273 - - Claudian, 354 - - Claudius subdues Goths and Sarmatæ, 3, 123 - - Coins, 239, 314, 318 - - _Colonus_, the, condition, 340, 342, 343 - - Column of Constantine, 270 - - Constans, son of Constantine, 238, 309 - - Constantia, wife of Licinius, pleads for his life 131; - influence, 200, 230, 239, 289 - - Constantina, daughter of Constantine, 309 - - Constantina, new name of Cirta, 186 - - Constantine, Emperor, birth and parentage, 43, 44; - birthplace, 44, 260; - early life and characteristics, 45; - ambitions, 46; - escape from Galerius, 47; - joins his father, 48; - saluted as Augustus by the troops, 49; - declares himself Emperor, 50; - acknowledged as Cæsar by Galerius, 50; - Cæsar of the West, 51; - victory over the Franks, 53-55; - attitude toward Galerius, 60; - marriage, 61; - alliance of Maximian and Maxentius with, 62; - relations with Diocletian, 64; - acknowledged as Augustus by Galerius, 66; - recognises Maximian, 67; - expedition against the Franks, 67, 68; - quells Maximian, 69; - plots against, 70, 71; - his domain, 76; - alliance of Licinius with, 79; - war with Maxentius, 80 _ff._; - battle of Milvian Bridge, 86, 87; - triumphal procession in Rome, 88; - disbands Prætorians, 89; - acts of conciliation, 90; - games and festivals in honour of, 91; - vision of the Cross and conversion, 92, 95 _ff._; - issues Edict of Milan, 107 _ff._; - and Licinius share Roman Empire, 120; - war with Licinius, 120 _ff._; - defeats Licinius at Cibalis, 121; - defeats Licinius at Mardia, 121; - treaty with Licinius, 122; - appoints Crispus as Cæsar,1 22; - his sons, 123; - rupture with Licinius, 123 _ff._, 154; - triumphs of, 124; - champion of the Church, 126, 127; - defeats Licinius at Adrianople, 128; - victory at Byzantium, 129; - generalship of, 130; - victory at Chrysopolis, 130; - treatment of Licinius, 131, 132; - signs edict of toleration, 140; - overthrow of Maxentius, 153; - recalls exiled Christians, 158; - and the Donatists, 159 _ff._; - African bishops appeal to, 159; - presents money to African clergy, 166; - letter to Cæcilianus, 166; - letter to Anulinus, 167; - party of Majorinus appeal to, 169; - letter to Miltiades, 169; - letter to Ælianus, 172-174; - letter to Chrestus, 175; - letter to Council of Arles, 178-180; - summons Cæcilianus to Rome, 180; - letter to Donatist bishops, 180; - letter to Probianus, 181; - passes judgment on Cæcilianus, 182; - change of policy, 183; - ignores African Church, 185; - letter to the Catholics and his opinion of the Donatists, 187; - and Arian controversy, 189, 207-210, 285-297; - calls Council of Nicæa, 211; - opens the Council, 217-219; - and Nicene Creed, 230; - celebrates his Vicennalia, 232, 233, 239, 322; - farewell speech to Council of Nicæa, 233, 234; - letter “To the Churches,” 235; - family, 237; - mother’s influence upon, 238, 239; - and Procession of the Knights, 240; - edict to his subjects, 241; - turns against Crispus, 242; - murder of Crispus, Licinianus, and Fausta, 243-247; - repentance, 247, 249; - donation of, 248, 249; - baptism, 248, 249; - builds churches, 249, 251, 318, 319; - campaigns against the Goths and Sarmatæ, 252, 253; - confession of faith, 254, 255; - relations with Persia, 254-256; - founder of Constantinople, 257 _ff._; - edicts against the Arians, 286; - character, 301 _ff._; - passion for building, 302, 303; - division of the Empire, 307-311; - education of his sons, 308; - celebrates Tricennalia, 311; - fatal malady, 312, 313; - death and burial, 256, 313, 314; - and religious parties, 316; - daily religious life, 317; - edict for observance of Lord’s day, 319; - prayer, 319; - policy toward old religion, 320 _ff._; - edict giving religious freedom, 321; - Pontifex Maximus, 322 _ff._; - and divination, 326; - edict to abolish gladiatorial shows, 327; - reforms, 330; - attitude of subjects to, 331; - organisation of Empire, 331; - fiscal system of, 339-342 - - Constantine, son of the Emperor Constantine, 296, 309 - - Constantinople, foundation of, 257 _ff._; - called “New Rome,” 258; - and Napoleon, 259; - part rebuilt, 266; - called Septicollis, 266; - dedication, 267; - plan and buildings, 269; - forum, 269; - palaces, 272; - aqueducts, 273; - Hippodrome, 274, 276; - churches, 274-276 - - Constantinus, son of Constantine, 309, 314 - - Constantius, son of Constantine, persecution of Christians, 134; - birth, 238; - appointed Cæsar of Gaul, 242; - named consul, 243 - - Constantius Chlorus, Cæsar, 5; - goes to Britain, 6; - domain, 8; - character, 16, 328; - attitude toward Christians, 16, 26; - becomes emperor, 40; - ancestry, 44; - marriage, 44; - loyalty, 46; - death, 49 - - Consuls, 334 - - “Council of the 318,” the, 212 - - Crispus, son of Constantine, becomes Cæsar, 122; - victory over Alemanni, 124, 125; - victory over Amandus, 129; - heir to throne, 237; - victories, 237; - and Fausta, 238; - Constantine turns against, 242, 243; - death, 243 - - Curia, the, 338 - - D - - Dalmatius, 310 - - Damasus, Pope, 152 - - Datianus, 29 - - Decius, Emperor, persecution of the Christians, 13 - - Diocletian, Emperor, accession, 5, 45; - chooses colleagues, 5; - recovers Armenia for Rome 6; - attitude toward Galerius, 7, 8; - controlling spirit in the Empire, 8; - locates his capital, 8, 57; - domain, 8; - changes introduced by, 9; - decentralisation in the provinces, 10; - prosperous reign, 11; - persecution of the Christians, 12, 24 _ff._, 79, 160; - wife and daughters, 13; - neutrality toward the Church, 14; - neutralitychanged to antagonism, 16, 19; - influenced by Galerius, 16, 25, 70, 74; - edict against the Manichæans, 22, 23; - and Galerius, 23; - edicts against the Christians, 26, 99, 134; - motive for persecution, 38; - abdication, 39, 41, 43; - chooses new Cæsars, 40, 41; - retires to private life, 40, 46; - system of organisation, 50, 65, 66, 74, 123, 242, 311, 330, 331, 337; - recognises Carausius, 51; - invited to conference at Carnuntum, 63, 64; - relations with Constantine, 64; - treatment of the Senate, 90; - declinesin vitation to wedding of Constantine’s sister, 106; - wife and daughter, 118, 119; - wishes daughter to live with him, 119; - celebrates Vicennalia, 134, 239, 240; - proclaims amnesty, 134 - - Donatist schism, 159-188 - - Donatists, 159-188; - Constantine’s letter to, 180; - _raison d’etre_, 183; - increase in numbers, 185 - - Donatus Magnus, leader of Donatist schism, 166, 173, 184, 185 - - Donatus of Casæ Nigræ, 165 - - Donatus of Mascula, 161 - - E - - Easter, celebration, 231, 232 - - Education, basis of, 353; - and Christianity, 354 - - Eusebian party, rise, 221; - and Nicene Creed, 229, 230; - in favour at Imperial Court, 290; - confounded at Arius’s death, 299 - - Eusebius of Cæsarea, on Constantine’s conversion, 93 _ff._; - letter of Constantine to, 158; - friend of Arius, 196, 214; - teachings, 200; - on Arian controversy, 206; - supports middle party at Council of Nicæa, 221; - creed of, 224, 225; - signs Nicene Creed, 229, 230; - on Constantine’s baptism, death, and burial, 312, 315; - on Constantine’s daily life, 317; - on Constantine’s religious policy, 320 _ff._ - - Eusebius of Nicomedia, as historian, 25; - _History of the Church_, 27, 71, 97; - _Life of Constantine_, 27, 97; - champion of Arius, 200 _ff._, 214; - calls a synod of Bithynian bishops, 202; - attacked by Alexander, 203; - leader of middle party at Council of Nicæa, 221; - character, 222; - and the word “Homoousion,” 224; - signs Nicene Creed, 231; - exiled, 231, 236; - recalled, 287, 288; - succeeds Hosius as adviser to Constantine, 290, 300, 316; - attack on Athanasius, 291 _ff._; - attempt to restore Arius, 291; - baptises Constantine, 313 - - Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, charges against, 291 - - Eutropius, on Constantine’s character, 306, 307 - - F - - Fausta, wife of Constantine, reveals conspiracy against Constantine, - 71; - sons, 123; - attitude toward Crispus, 238, 243, 244; - death, 244, 245, 247 - - Felix, Bishop of Aptunga, 164, 165, 173 - - Finance, system of, under Diocletian, 337-339, 342; - under Constantine, 339-342 - - Firmilianus, Governor of Palestine, persecution of Christians, 136 - - Franks, 1, 5, 54, 253 - - G - - Galerius, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, 5, 39; - entrusted with command of Parthia, 6; - victory over Parthians, 7, 74; - and Diocletian, 8; - domain, 8; - capital at Sirmium, 8; - character and influence, 16, 25; - mother’s influence, 16; - persecution of Christians, 17-19, 23-25, 74; - becomes Augustus, 40; - nominates new Cæsars, 41, 42; - attitude toward Constantine, 42, 46, 60; - sends Constantine to his father, 47, 48; - acknowledges Constantine as Cæsar, 50; - extends the census, 57; - relations with Severus, 59; - invasion of Italy, 60-62, 76, 81; - calls a conference at Carnuntum, 63; - and Diocletian, 63; - appoints Licinius as Augustus, 64, 65; - relations with Maximin Daza, 65, 66; - recognises Maximin as Augustus, 66; - death, 73, 74, 138; - estimate of the man, 74, 75; - nominates his successor, 75; - edicts, 79, 99; - aims carried out, 89; - leaves wife to care of Maximin, 118; - edict of toleration, 138-140 - - Gallienus, and senatorial order, 9; - issues edicts of toleration, 13 - - Gaul, devastated by Franks, 1; - recovered by Aurelian, 3; - at Diocletian’s accession, 6; - Constantius ruler of, 8, 52; - Constantine in, 51, 56, 76, 82; - Crispus in, 124, 242 - - Gibbon on the Circumcelliones, 186; - on the Arian controversy, 194; - on Constantinople, 263, 264; - on Annibalianus, 309 - - Goths, invade Roman Empire, 123, 124; - war with Constantine, 252 - - Gregory of Nyssa on Arian controversy, 206 - - Gregory, Saint, in Armenia, 27 - - Gregory, the Illuminator of Armenia, and the Nicene Creed, 285 - - Grosvenor, Mr., quoted on Constantinople, 273, 275, 278, 281 - - H - - Helena, mother of Constantine, ancestry, 43, 44; - honoured by Constantine, 239; - and death of Crispus, 245; - pilgrimage, 249-251; - legend of finding of the Cross, 250, 251; - death, 252 - - Heraclea, siege of, 115 - - Heraclius, elected bishop, 152 - - Herculius, 8 - - Hermogenes, 228 - - Hierocles, author of _The Friend of Truth_, 20 - - Holy Apostles, Church of, 275 - - Holy Trinity, Church of, 275 - - Horses of Lysippus, 283 - - Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, commissioned to mediate between Alexander - and Arius, 207; - advises Constantine, 211; - at Council of Nicæa, 212, 221, 228; - falls from favour, 290, 316 - - I - - Imperial Council, 333 - - Italy, invasion of, 73 _ff._ - - J - - Jerome, Saint, exhortations against marriage, 348, 349; - dream of, 353 - - Jovius, adopted name of Diocletian, 8 - - Julian, _Banquet of the Cæsars_, 77 - - Julian, Emperor, on Constantine, 124, 303-305; - on Constantinople, 268 - - Julian laws on marriage, 350 - - Justinian, statue of, 269; - builds Church of St. Sophia, 274, 276 - - L - - Lactantius, estimate of, as historian, 40-42, 47 - - Land tax, 337 _ff._ - - Licinianus, becomes Cæsar, 122; - attitude of Constantine toward, 125; - life spared, 133; - death, 243 - - Licinius, Emperor, at conference of Carnuntum, 63; - becomes Augustus, 64-66; - successor of Galerius, 75; - and Maximin Daza in eastern half of Empire, 76; - attitude to Maximin Daza, 79, 80; - alliance with Constantine, 79; - marriage, 79, 106; - and Edict of Milan, 107 _ff._; - other edicts, 109; - downfall, 115 _ff._; - at Milan, 115; - victory over Maximin Daza, 116, 117; - angel’s revelation to, 116; - execution of Maximin Daza’s family, 118, 119; - execution of Candidianus, 119; - and Constantine share Empire, 120; - war with Constantine, 120; - defeated at Cibalis, 121; - defeated at Mardia, 121; - treaty with Constantine, 122; - appoints Licinianus as Cæsar, 122; - gives up important provinces, 122; - rupture with Constantine, 123, 125-127, 154, 157; - religious policy, 126, 127; - defeated at Adrianople, 128; - defeated at Chrysopolis, 130; - pleads for his life, 131; - death, 132; - character, 132; - edict of toleration, 138-140; - defeats Maximin, 153; - anti-Christian campaign, 154, 155, 157; - throws over Edict of Milan, 155; - exile, 158 - - Literature, anti-Christian, 145; - decadence of, 352; - character of pagan, 352; - basis of education, 353; - renaissance of, 354 - - Lucian of Antioch, famous teacher, 200, 201 - - Lucilla, censured by Church of Carthage, 162-164; - intrigues of, 188 - - Ludi Cereales, 36 - - Lycians, petition of, 142, 143 - - M - - Mackail, Mr., _History of Latin Literature_, quoted, 354 - - Majorinus, elected bishop, 165; - death, 165; - not recognised by the churches, 166 - - Mamertinus, eulogy on Maximian, 52 - - Manichæanism, rise, 22, 23; - chief characteristic, 22 - - Marcellus, elected bishop, 151; - exile and death, 152 - - Mardia, battle of, 121 - - Maris of Chalcedon, and Nicene Creed, 230, 231; - exiled, 231 - - Marriage, Jerome exhorts against, 348, 349; - and the State and Church, 349 - - Martinianus, becomes Cæsar, 130; - death, 133 - - Maxentius, Emperor, son of Maximian, claims heritage of Cæsar, 56; - character, 56, 77-79; - marriage, 57; - master of Rome, 57, 58; - resumes title of Augustus, 59; - and Maximian besiege Severus, 59, 60; - and Maximian in alliance with Constantine, 60; - and Maximian in possession of Italy, 62; - rupture with Maximian, 62, 63, 67, 70; - domain, 76; - treatment of African cities, 76; - loss of popularity, 76; - restores property to Christians, 79, 152; - attitude to other Augusti, 79; - alliance with Maximin Daza, 80; - war with Constantine, 80 _ff._; - overthrow, 82 _ff._, 110, 154; - Italy wrested from, 85; - death, 87; - head carried in triumphal procession, 88; - seeks good-will of Christians, 151; - exiles bishops, 152; - libel against, 163 - - Maximian, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, 5; - becomes Augustus, 5; - ruler of the West, 6, 8; - fights the Moors, 6; - recognises Carausius, 6, 51; - styles himself Herculius, 8; - character, 14, 15; - persecution of the Christians, 15-19, 160; - celebrates the Ludi Cereales, 36; - abdication, 40, 56; - restores peace to Gaul, 51; - eulogised by Mamertinus, 52; - locates his Court at Milan, 57; - resumes title of Augustus, 59; - victory over Severus, 59, 60; - and Maxentius in alliance with Constantine, 60, 62; - gives his daughter in marriage to Constantine, 61, 62; - and Maxentius in possession of Italy, 62; - rupture with Maxentius, 62, 63, 67, 70; - expelled from Italy, 63; - at conference of Carnuntum, 63, 65; - ex-Augustus, 65, 66; - returns to Gaul, 67; - plots against Constantine, 68, 69; - stripped of his titles, 69; - further plots against Constantine, 70, 71; - death, 71, 72 - - Maximin Daza, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, 40, 57; - nominated by Galerius, 41, 42; - domain, 65, 75; - claims title of Augustus, 66; - claims title of senior Augustus, 75; - and Licinius in eastern half of Empire, 76; - alliance with Maxentius, 79, 80, 148; - in opposition to Licinius, 80, 107; - invades territory of Licinius, 115, 148; - defeated, 116, 117, 148, 153; - flight, 117, 118, 148; - commits suicide, 118, 151; - province falls into hands of Licinius, 118; - family slain, 118; - treatment of Prisca and Valeria, 118, 119; - persecution of Christians, 135-137, 141-143, 145-147; - act of toleration, 137, 149-151; - restores privileges to Christians, 140, 149, 150; - character, 146, 147; - eminent victims of, 147; - war with Tiridates, 148; - final edict, 149, 150 - - Maximus, Governor of Cilicia, 30 - - Maximus, Governor of Moesia, 17, 18 - - Meletian schismatics checked, 297 - - Meletians recognised as orthodox, 295 - - Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, condemned by Egyptian bishops, 190 - - Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa, trick to save Holy - Books, 160; - summoned to Rome, 164; - death, 164 - - Milan, conference at, 106 - - Milan, Edict of, issued, 107, 115; - important clauses, 107, 108; - principles and motives of, 109, 110 _ff._; - hailed by the Christians, 153; - thrown over by Licinius, 155 - - Military forces, organisation of, 336, 337 - - Miltiades elected bishop, 152 - - Milvian Bridge, battle of, 86, 87, 92 - - Minervina, first wife of Constantine, son of, 122, 123 - - Moesia, given over to Constantine, 122; - invaded by Goths and Sarmatæ, 123 - - Montanism, in Northern Africa, 159 - - N - - Naissus, birthplace of Constantine, 44, 260 - - Narses sues for peace, 7 - - Neo-Platonists, influence, 19, 197; - discussions of interest to, 216 - - “New Rome,” 259 - - Newman, Cardinal, quoted, on death of Arius, 300 - - Nicæa, Canons of, 231, 232 - - Nicæa, Council of, called by Constantine, 211; - members, 212-214; - language, 213; - great interest aroused in, 215; - Constantine opens the Council, 217-220; - splits up into parties, 221 _ff._; - proceedings, 221 _ff._; - adopts Nicene Creed, 228; - excommunicates Arius, 231; - decision in regard to Easter, 231; - draws up Canons of Nicæa, 231; - farewell address by Constantine, 233; - dismissed, 234 - - Nicene Creed adopted, 228 _ff._ - - Nicomedia, capital of Diocletian, 8, 39, 258, 260; - Christian church erected at, 13; - church at, razed, 24 - - Novatianism in Northern Africa, 159 - - Numerian, son of Carus, Empire divided between Carinus and, 4; - death, 5 - - P - - Pagan clergy, 146 - - Pamphylians, petition of, 142, 143 - - Pannonia, given over to Constantine, 122; - invaded by Goths and Sarmatæ, 123 - - Paphnutius, 232, 233 - - Parthia, war with Rome, 7 - - Parthians, 2 - - “Passion of the Saints,” 35, 36 - - Paulinus of Nola, 354 - - Paulinus of Tyre, treatment of Arius, 196; - letter from Eusebius of Nicomedia, 202 - - Persia, relations with Constantine, 254-256 - - Philostorgius, on Fausta, 244 - - Philoxenos, 273 - - Polybius, quoted, on Byzantium, 262 - - Porphyry, Neo-Platonist philosopher, 19 - - Porphyry Pillar, the, 270 - - Prætorian præfects, 331, 332 - - Prætorians, mutiny at Rome, 57; - camps abolished, 58; - rule Rome, 77, 78; - disbanded, 89 - - Prætors, 334 - - Prisca, wife of Diocletian, a Christian, 13; - exiled, 118, 119; - death, 120, 132 - - Probus, 4, 17 - - Prudentius, 354 - - Purpurius, Bishop of Limata, 161 - - R - - Roman Empire, threatened fall in third century, 1 _ff._; - turn of fortune, 3; - under Diocletian, 5 _ff._, 330; - divided into twelve dioceses, 10, 331; - prosperity, 11; - population, 12; - shared by Constantine and Licinius, 120; - invaded by Goths and Sarmatæ, 123, 124; - united, 133; - peace, 252; - war with Goths and Sarmatæ, 252; - reorganisation under Constantine, 330 _ff._; - disintegration, 342 _ff._ - - Rome, 57, 258 - - Rome, Council of, 176 - - Ruricius Pompeianus, holds Verona, 83; - killed, 85 - - S - - Sabinus, præfect, 140, 143 - - St. Irene, Church of, description of, 274, 275 - - St. Sophia, Church of, 274 - - St. Stephen, Church of, 278 - - Sapor, king of Persia, relations with Constantine, 254-256 - - Sarmatæ, invade Roman Empire, 123; - turn to Constantine for help, 253 - - Saturninus, speech of, 3 - - Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis, president of synod at Cirta, 161, 162, 165 - - Secundus of Ptolemais, Bishop, friend of Arius, 196 - - Senate, 335, 336 - - Seneca, quoted, 350 - - Senecio, 120 - - Severus, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, 40, 56, 57; - nominated by Galerius, 41, 59; - domain, 56; - besieges Rome, 59; - besieged by Maximian and Maxentius, 59-60; - is given choice of death, 72 - - Simon Stylites, 347 - - Sirmium, capital of Galerius, 8 - - Slavery, 342 - - Socrates, quoted, 216, 220, 287, 288, 298, 299 - - Sopater, pagan philosopher, in favour with Constantine, 324 - - Sotades of Crete, pagan poet, 204 - - Sozomen, quoted, 216 - - Stanley, Dean, _History of the Eastern Church_, quoted, 226 - - Sylvanus, Bishop, 162 - - Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, sends representatives to Council of Arles, - 175; - letter to, from Council of Arles, 176, 177; - absent from Council of Nicæa, 212, 213; - baptises Constantine, 248; - legends concerning Constantine and, 248, 249 - - T - - Tacitus, rule of, 4; - on childless life, 349 - - Taxation, 337-342 - - Temporal Power, legend of origin, 248, 249 - - Terminalia, Festival of, 24 - - Tertullian and his doctrine, 351 - - Theban Legion, legend of its massacre, 14, 15 - - Theodora, wife of Constantius Chlorus, 44 - - Theodoretus, rival of Arius, 190; - on the Council of Nicæa, 220, 223 - - Theodosius II., rebuilds walls of Constantinople, 266; - attitude toward recluses, 348 - - Theodotus of Ancyra, 30 - - Theognis of Nicæa, and Nicene Creed, 230, 231; - exiled, 231; - recalled, 287, 288 - - Theonas, Bishop of Marmorica, friend of Arius, 196 - - Theotecnus, Governor of Antioch, 142; - invented new deity, 145 - - Thessalonica, naval harbour, 127 - - Tiridates, ruler of Armenia, 6 - - Tithe lands, 1 - - Trinitarians _vs._ Arians, 221, 223-226 - - Twelfth Legion, soldiers of, martyrs, 156 - - Tyre, Council of, trial of Athanasius, 293-295 - - U - - Urbanus, Governor of Palestine, 136 - - V - - Valens, appointed Cæsar, 122; - recalls recluses from the desert, 348 - - Valentinianus, the Curator, 161 - - Valeria, daughter of Diocletian, a Christian, 13; - widow of Galerius, 118; - Maximin proposes marriage to, 118; - exiled, 119 - - Valerian, Emperor, taken prisoner, 2; - persecution of the Christians, 13 - - Victor of Russicas, 161 - - Z - - Zosimus on Constantine’s character, 303 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -Lapses of punctuation in the Index have been resolved without further -notice. - -Where possible, Greek passages have been checked against Winkelmann's -edition at http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/books/eusebius/vc/gr/index.htm#. - -As noted below, a typesetting error in the footnotes, over a few pages, -resulted in the Greek ‘καὶ’ as ‘κὰι’. - -The Greek passage in footnote #f136# has been corrected to eliminate a -wide spacing, supplying the first two characters of ‘[πρ]έποντας’ (_De -Vit. Const._, iv., 62.) - -The final two words of a Greek passage (‘ἐννοεῖ δῆτα ὁποῖον, δέοι θέον -ἐπιγράψασθαι βοηθὸν’) have been reversed, but are retained. - -Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, -and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the -original or to the page, (renumbered) note, and line. - - 8.10 A long line of fortresses was Inserted. - estab[l]ished - 11.6 since the days of the Antonines[,/.] Replaced. - 19.9 from [h/H]is lofty throne Replaced for - consistency. - 21.21 a menace to the established Replaced. - authorities[,/.] - 33.1 culpable w[ake/eak]ness. Transposed. - 45.23 high-spir[i]ted Inserted. - 52.16 [“]thanks to Maximian, Added. - 110.25 ἐστι θειότης κ[ὰι\αὶ] οὐρανίου πράγματος Replaced. - 130.n64.1 τὸ σωτήριον κ[ὰι\αὶ] ζωοποιὸν Replaced. - 130.n64.2 ὥσπερ τι φόβητρον κ[ὰι\αὶ] κακῶν Replaced. - ἀμυντήριον. - 148.n70.1 Εὐσεβεῖς τε κ[ὰι\αὶ] μόνους θεοσεβεῖς Replaced. - 216.n95.1 πίστει κ[ὰι\αὶ] καλοῖς ἔργοις Replaced. - φυλαττομένην. - 227.15 of her debt to the wise.[”] Added. - 232.n100.1 τίμιον εἵναι κ[ὰι\αὶ] τὴν κόιτην Replaced. - κ[ὰι\αὶ] αὐτὸν - 233.n102.1 κλίμακα κ[ὰι/αὶ] μόνος ἀνάβηθι εἰς τὸν Replaced. - οὐρανόν - 234.n103.1 κ[ὰι/αὶ] σπάνιος αὖ τῆς ἀληθείας φίλος. Replaced. - 274.14 the world-renow[n]ed St. Sophia Inserted. - 307.12 adding to their dignity.[”] Added. - 313.136.1 θεσμὸυς ἤδη βίου θεῷ [πρ]έποντας Inserted. - 359.33 Christian marty[r]s Inserted. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINE THE GREAT *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Constantine the Great</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>The reorganization of the Empire and the triumph of the Church</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: John Benjamin Firth</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 6, 2022 [eBook #68703]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: KD Weeks, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINE THE GREAT ***</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Transcriber’s Note:</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Footnotes have been collected at the end of each chapter, and are -linked for ease of reference.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s <a href='#endnote'>note</a> at the end of this text -for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered -during its preparation.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The cover image has been constructed using title page information and is -added to the public domain.</p> - -<div class='htmlonly'> - -<p class='c001'>Any corrections are indicated using an <ins class='correction' title='original'>underline</ins> -highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the -original text in a small popup.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='epubonly'> - -<p class='c001'>Any corrections are indicated as hyperlinks, which will navigate the -reader to the corresponding entry in the corrections table in the -note at the end of the text.</p> - -</div> - -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='underline'>Heroes of the Nations</span></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>EDITED BY</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'><span class="blackletter">H. W. Carless Davis, M.A.</span></div> - <div class='line'>FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in7'>FACTA DUCIS VIVENT OPEROSAQUE</div> - <div class='line'>GLORIA RERUM.—OVID, IN LIVIAM, 265.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>THE HERO’S DEEDS AND HARD-WON</div> - <div class='line'>FAME SHALL LIVE.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='xxlarge'>CONSTANTINE</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='front' class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/frontispiece.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.<br /><span class='small'><span class='fss'>FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM PRINT ROOM.</span> <i>Frontispiece.</i></span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c004'><span class='xxlarge'>CONSTANTINE</span> <br /> <span class='xxlarge'>THE GREAT</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='large'>THE REORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE AND</span></div> - <div><span class='large'>THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='small'>BY</span></div> - <div class='c000'>JOHN B. FIRTH</div> - <div class='c000'><span class='small'>(SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF QUEEN’S COLLEGE, OXFORD)</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF “AUGUSTUS CÆSAR,” “A TRANSLATION OF PLINY’S LETTERS,” ETC.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c005' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c006'> - <div><span class='large'>G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='column-container'> - -<div class='column'> - -<p class='c001'>NEW YORK<br /> -27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET</p> - -</div> -<div class='column'> - -<p class='c001'>LONDON<br /> -24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND</p> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class="blackletter">The Knickerbocker Press</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='large'>1905</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_I'>I</span><span class='sc'>Copyright</span>, 1904</div> - <div class='c000'>BY</div> - <div class='c000'><span class='large'>G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c007' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Published, January, 1905</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class="blackletter">The Knickerbocker Press, New York</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> -<img src='images/i_pv.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'>PREFACE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>In the following chapters, my object has been to -tell the story of the Life and Times of Constantine -the Great. Whether he deserves the epithet -my readers will judge for themselves; certainly his -place in the select list of the immortals is not among -the highest. But whether he himself was “great” or -not, under his auspices one of the most momentous -changes in the history of the world was accomplished, -and it is the first conversion of a Roman -Emperor to Christianity, with all that such conversion -entailed, which makes his period so important -and so well worth studying.</p> - -<p class='c001'>I have tried to write with impartiality—a virtue -which one admires the more after a close reading of -original authorities who, practically without exception, -were bitter and malevolent partisans. The -truth, therefore, is not always easily recognised, nor -has recognition been made the easier by the polemical -writers of succeeding centuries who have dealt -with that side of Constantine’s career which belongs -more particularly to ecclesiastical history. In narrating -the course of the Arian Controversy and the -proceedings of the Council of Nicæa I have been -content to record facts—as I have seen them—and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>to explain the causes of quarrel rather than act as -judge between the disputants. And though in this -branch of my subject I have consulted all the original -authorities who describe the growth of the controversy, -I have not deemed it necessary to read, -still less to add to, the endless strife of words to -which the discussion of the theological and metaphysical -issues involved has given rise. On this -point I am greatly indebted to, and have made liberal -use of, the admirable chapters in the late Canon -Bright’s <cite>The Age of the Fathers</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Other authorities, which have been most useful -to me, are Boissier’s <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>La Fin du Paganisme</cite></span>, Allard’s -<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>La Persécution de Dioclétien et le Triomphe de l’Eglise</cite></span>, -Duruy’s <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>Histoire Romaine</cite></span>, and Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</p> - -<div class='c010'><span class='sc'>J. B. Firth.</span></div> - -<p class='c011'><span class='sc'>London</span>, October, 1904.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span> -<img src='images/i_p357.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='92%' /> -<col width='7%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE EMPIRE UNDER DIOCLETIAN</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN AND THE SUCCESSION OF CONSTANTINE</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>CONSTANTINE AND HIS COLLEAGUES</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_56'>56</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE INVASION OF ITALY</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_73'>73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE VISION OF THE CROSS AND THE EDICT OF MILAN</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE DOWNFALL OF LICINIUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_115'>115</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>CHAPTER VIII.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>LAST DAYS OF PERSECUTION</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IX.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>CONSTANTINE AND THE DONATISTS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER X.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XI.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE COUNCIL OF NICÆA</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XII.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE MURDERS OF CRISPUS AND FAUSTA</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIII.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIV.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>ARIUS AND ATHANASIUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_285'>285</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XV.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>CONSTANTINE’S DEATH AND CHARACTER</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_301'>301</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XVI.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>THE EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_330'>330</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'>INDEX</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#Page_357'>357</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span> -<img src='images/i_pix.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='10%' /> -<col width='67%' /> -<col width='22%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c014'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>CONSTANTINE THE GREAT</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#front'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From the British Museum Print Room.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>BUST OF DIOCLETIAN</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i022'>22</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>CONSTANTINE THE GREAT</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i040'>40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE GOLDEN GATE OF DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE AT SALONA (SPALATO)</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i060'>60</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>BUST OF MAXIMIAN AT ROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i062'>62</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>Photograph by Alinari.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>FRAGMENT OF 4TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN POTTERY BOWL</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i070'>70</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>Showing an early portrait of Christ, with busts of the Emperor Constantine and the Empress Fausta. From the British Museum.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE, BY RAPHAEL</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i086'>86</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>In the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i090'>90</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>Photograph by Alinari.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>CONSTANTINE’S VISION OF THE CROSS, BY RAPHAEL</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i094'>94</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>In the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>THE WESTERN SIDE OF A PEDESTAL, SHOWING THE HOMAGE OF THE VANQUISHED GOTHS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i126'>126</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i168'>168</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>Exterior view. Present day.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES AS IT APPEARED IN 1686</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i172'>172</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From an old print.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>STATUE OF CONSTANTINE FROM THE PORCH OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, AT ROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i188'>188</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>GATE OF ST. ANDREW AT AUTUN</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i212'>212</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>“CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HIS MOTHER, ST. HELENA, HOLY, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES”</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i238'>238</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From a picture discovered 1845, in an old church of Mesembria. From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i248'>248</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From the painting by Raphael in the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>ST. HELENA’S VISION OF THE CROSS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i250'>250</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>By Paul Veronese. National Gallery, London.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>CHART OF THE EASTERN SECTION OF MEDIÆVAL CONSTANTINOPLE</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i258'>258</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, ROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i262'>262</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>Photograph by Alinari.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>ST. HELENA AND THE CROSS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i268'>268</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>By Cranach. Lichtenstein Gallery, Vienna.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span>COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i270'>270</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE THREE EXISTING MONUMENTS OF THE HIPPODROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i276'>276</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>PLAN OF THE HIPPODROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i278'>278</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE SERPENT OF DELPHI</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i280'>280</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>ST. ATHANASIUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i288'>288</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From the British Museum Print Room.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i302'>302</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From <cite>Rome of To-Day and Yesterday</cite>, by John Dennie.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>THE SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND THEODOSIUS THE GREAT</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i314'>314</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013'> </td> - <td class='c013'>From Grosvenor’s <cite>Constantinople</cite>.</td> - <td class='c014'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c012' colspan='3'>LIST OF COINS</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>COPPER DENARIUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, SHOWING THE LABARUM</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i324a'>324</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II., WITH THE LABARUM</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i324b'>324</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF DIOCLETIAN</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i324c'>324</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIAN</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i324d'>324</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>AUREUS OF CARAUSIUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i332a'>332</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>AUREUS OF ALLECTUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i332b'>332</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>SOLIDUS OF HELENA</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i332c'>332</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>SOLIDUS OF GALERIUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i332d'>332</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>SOLIDUS OF SEVERUS II.</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i332e'>332</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIN DAZA</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i340a'>340</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS I.</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i340b'>340</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS II.</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i340c'>340</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i340d'>340</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i348a'>348</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF FAUSTA</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i348b'>348</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CRISPUS</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i348c'>348</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c013' colspan='2'>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II. AS CÆSAR</td> - <td class='c014'><a href='#i348d'>348</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/i_pxii.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span></div> -<div class='epubonly'> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/family.jpg' alt='Constantine Genealogy' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='family htmlonly'> - -<p class='c001'> CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS - m. (1) Helena - (2) Theodora (d. of Emperor Maximian)</p> - -<p class='c001'>(1) Constantius = Helena (2) Constantius = Theodora - | | - Constantine the Great | - m. (1) Minervina | - (2) Fausta (d. of Emperor Maximian) | - | -(1) Constantine = Minervina (2) Constantine = Fausta | - | | | - Crispus | | - (killed in 326) | | - | | - +--------------+-------------+----------+--------+ | - | | | | | | - | Constantius II. | Constantina | | - Constantine II. (d. 361) Constans Helena | - (killed in 340) | (killed in 350) m. | - A daughter Julian | - | - +---------+----------+---------------+---------+-------+ - | | | | | | - Constantine | Constantius | | | -(killed in 337) | (killed, 337) | Anastasia | - Dalmatius m. (1) Galla Constantia m. Eutropia - Annibalianus (2) Basilina m. Bassianus m. - | | Emperor (Cæsar) Nepotianus - +--------+------+ | Licinius | - | | | | - Dalmatius Annibalianus | Licinianus Flavius Popilius - (Cæsar in 335; (King of Pontus; | killed in 326) Nepotianus - killed in 337) killed in 337) | (killed in 390) - | - (1) Constantius = Galla (2) Constantius = Basilina - | | - +--------+-------+ | - | | | - A son, Gallus Julian - (killed in 337) (killed in 354) (Emperor, 361)</p> - -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> -<img src='images/i_p001.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='xxlarge'>Constantine</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c015' /> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER I</span> <br />THE EMPIRE UNDER DIOCLETIAN</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The catastrophe of the fall of Rome, with all -that its fall signified to the fifth century, came -very near to accomplishment in the third. There -was a long period when it seemed as though nothing -could save the Empire. Her prestige sank to the -vanishing point. Her armies had forgotten what it -was to win a victory over a foreign enemy. Her -Emperors were worthless and incapable. On every -side the frontiers were being pierced and the barriers -were giving way.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The Franks swept over Gaul and laid it waste. -They penetrated into Spain; besieged Toledo; and, -seizing the galleys which they found in the Spanish -ports, boldly crossed into Mauretanian Africa. -Other confederations of free barbarians from southern -Germany had burst through the wall of Hadrian -which protected the Tithe Lands (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Decumates agri</i></span>), -and had followed the ancient route of invasion over -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>the Alps. Pannonia had been ravaged by the Sarmatæ -and the Quadi. In successive invasions the -Goths had overrun Dacia; had poured round the -Black Sea or crossed it on shipboard; had sacked -Trebizond and Chalcedon, and, after traversing Bithynia, -had reached the coast at Ephesus. Others -had advanced into Greece and Macedonia and challenged -the Roman navies for the possession of Crete.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Not only was Armenia lost, but the Parthians had -passed the Euphrates, vanquished and taken prisoner -the Emperor Valerian, and surprised the city of -Antioch while the inhabitants were idly gathered in -the theatre. Valerian, chained and robed in purple, -was kept alive to act as Sapor’s footstool; when he -died his skin was tanned and stuffed with straw and -set to grace a Parthian temple. Egypt was in the -hands of a rebel who had cut off the grain supply. -And as if such misfortunes were not enough, there -was a succession of terrifying and destructive earthquakes, -which wrought their worst havoc in Asia, -though they were felt in Rome and Egypt. These -too were followed by a pestilence which raged for -fifteen years and, according to Eutropius, claimed, -when at its height, as many as five thousand victims -in a single day.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It looked, indeed, as though the Roman Empire -were past praying for and its destruction certain.<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c016'><sup>[1]</sup></a> -The armies were in wide-spread revolt. Rebel usurpers -succeeded one another so fast that the period -came to be known as that of the Thirty Tyrants, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>many of whom were elected, worshipped, and murdered -by their soldiers within the space of a few weeks -or months. “You little know, my friends,” said Saturninus, -one of the more candid of these phantom -monarchs, when his troops a few years later insisted -that he should pit himself against Aurelian, “you -little know what a poor thing it is to be an Emperor. -Swords hang over our necks; on every side is the -menace of spear and dart. We go in fear of our -guards, in terror of our household troops. We cannot -eat what we like, fight when we would, or take -up arms for our pleasure. Moreover, whatever an -Emperor’s age, it is never what it should be. Is he -a grey beard? Then he is past his prime. Is he -young? He has the mad recklessness of youth. -You insist on making me Emperor; you are dragging -me to inevitable death. But I have at least -this consolation in dying, that I shall not be able -to die alone.”<a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c016'><sup>[2]</sup></a> In that celebrated speech, vibrating -with bitter irony, we have the middle of the -third century in epitome.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But then the usual miracle of good fortune intervened -to save Rome from herself. The Empire -fell into the strong hands of Claudius, who in two -years smote the Goths by land and sea, and of -Aurelian, who recovered Britain and Gaul, restored -the northern frontiers, and threw to the ground the -kingdom over which Zenobia ruled from Palmyra. -The Empire was thus restored once more by the -genius of two Pannonian peasants, who had found -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>in the army a career open to talent. The murder -of Aurelian, in 275, was followed by an interregnum -of seven months, during which the army -seemed to repent of having slain its general and -paid to the Senate a deference which effectually -turned the head—never strong—of that assembly. -Vopiscus quotes a letter written by one senator to -another at this period, begging him to return to -Rome and tear himself away from the amusements -of Baiæ and Puteoli. “The Senate,” he says,<a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c016'><sup>[3]</sup></a> “has -returned to its ancient status. It is we who make -Emperors; it is our order which has the distribution -of offices. Come back to the city and the -Senate House. Rome is flourishing; the whole -State is flourishing. We give Emperors; we make -Princes; and we who have begun to create, can -also restrain.” The pleasant delusion was soon dispelled. -The legions speedily re-assumed the rôle of -king-makers. Tacitus, the senatorial nominee, ruled -only for a year, and another series of soldier Emperors -succeeded. Probus, in six years of incessant -fighting, repeated the triumphs of Aurelian, -and carried his successful arms east, west, and north. -Carus, despite his sixty years, crossed the Tigris -and made good—at any rate in part—his threat -to render Persia as naked of trees as his own bald -head was bare of hairs. But Carus’s reign was -brief, and at his death the Empire was divided -between his two sons, Carinus and Numerian. -The former was a voluptuary; the latter, a youth -of retiring and scholarly disposition, quite unfitted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>for a soldier’s life, was soon slain by his Prætorian -præfect, Arrius Aper. But the choice of the army -fell upon Diocletian, and he, after stabbing to the -heart the man who had cleared his way to the throne, -gathered up into his strong hands the reins of power -in the autumn of 284. He met in battle the army -of Carinus at Margus, in Moesia, during the spring -of 285. Carinus was slain by his officers and Diocletian -reigned alone.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But he soon found that he needed a colleague to -halve with him the dangers and the responsibilities of -empire. He, therefore, raised his lieutenant, Maximian, -to the purple, with the title of Cæsar, and a -twelvemonth later gave him the full name and -honours of Augustus. There were thus two armies, -two sets of court officials, and two palaces, but the -edicts ran in the joint name of both Augusti. Then, -when still further division seemed advisable, the -principle of imperial partnership was extended, and -it was decided that each Augustus should have a -Cæsar attached to him. Galerius was promoted to -be the Cæsar of Diocletian; Constantius to be the -Cæsar of Maximian. Each married the daughter of -his patron, and looked forward to becoming Augustus -as soon as his superior should die. The plan -was by no means perfect, but there was much to be -said in its favour. An Emperor like Diocletian, -the nominee of the eastern army alone and the son -of a Dalmatian slave, had few, if any, claims upon -the natural loyalty of his subjects. Himself a successful -adventurer, he knew that other adventurers -would rise to challenge his position, if they could -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>find an army to back them. By entrusting Maximian -with the sovereignty of the West, he forestalled -Maximian’s almost certain rivalry, and the four -great frontiers each required the presence of a powerful -army and an able commander-in-chief. By having -three colleagues, each of whom might hope in -time to become the senior Augustus, Diocletian -secured himself, so far as security was possible, -against military rebellion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Unquestionably, too, this decentralisation tended -towards general efficiency. It was more than one -man’s task, whatever his capacity, to hold together -the Empire as Diocletian found it. Gaul was ablaze -from end to end with a peasants’ war. Carausius -ruled for eight years in Britain, which he temporarily -detached from the Empire, and, secure in his -naval strength, forced Diocletian and Maximian, -much to their disgust, to recognise him as a brother -Augustus. This archpirate, as they called him, was -crushed at last, but whenever Constantius crossed -into Britain it was necessary for Maximian to move -up to the vacant frontier of the Rhine and mount -guard in his place. We hear, too, of Maximian fighting -the Moors in Mauretania. War was thus incessant -in the West. In the East, Diocletian recovered -Armenia for Roman influence in 287 by placing his -nominee, Tiridates, on the throne. This was done -without a breach with Parthia, but in 296 Tiridates -was expelled and war ensued. Diocletian summoned -Galerius from the Danube and entrusted him with -the command. But Galerius committed the same -blunder which Crassus had made three centuries and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>a half before. He led his troops into the wastes of -the Mesopotamian desert and suffered the inevitable -disaster. When he returned with the survivors of -his army to Antioch, Diocletian, it is said, rode forth -to meet him; received him with cold displeasure; -and, instead of taking him up into his chariot, compelled -him to march alongside on foot, in spite of -his purple robe. However, in the following year, -297, Galerius faced the Parthian with a new army, -took the longer but less hazardous route through -Armenia, and utterly overwhelmed the enemy in a -night attack. The victory was so complete that -Narses sued for peace, paying for the boon no less -a price than the whole of Mesopotamia and five provinces -in the valley of the Tigris, and renouncing -all claim to the sovereignty of Armenia.</p> - -<p class='c001'>This was the greatest victory which Rome had won -in the East since the campaigns of Trajan and -Vespasian. It was followed by fifty years of profound -peace; and the ancient feud between Rome -and Parthia was not renewed until the closing -days of the reign of Constantine. Lactantius, of -whose credibility as a historian we shall speak -later on, sneers at the victory of Galerius, which -he says was “easily won”<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c016'><sup>[4]</sup></a> over an enemy encumbered -by baggage, and he represents him as being -so elated with his success that when Diocletian -addressed him in a letter of congratulation by the -name of Cæsar, he exclaimed,<a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c016'><sup>[5]</sup></a> with glowing eyes -and a voice of thunder, “How long shall I be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>merely Cæsar?” But there is no word of corroboration -from any other source. On the contrary, -we can see that Diocletian, whose forte was diplomacy -rather than generalship, was on the best -of terms with his son-in-law, Galerius, who regarded -him not with contempt, but with the most profound -respect. Diocletian and Galerius, for their -lifetime at any rate, had settled the Eastern question -on a footing entirely satisfactory and honourable -to Rome. A long line of fortresses was <a id='corr8.10'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='estabished'>established</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_8.10'><ins class='correction' title='estabished'>established</ins></a></span> -on the new frontier, within which there was -perfect security for trade and commerce, and the result -was a rapid recovery from the havoc caused by -the Gothic and Parthian irruptions.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Though Diocletian had divided the supreme -power, he was still the moving and controlling -spirit, by whose nod all things were governed.<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c016'><sup>[6]</sup></a> He -had chosen for his own special domain Asia, Syria, -and Egypt, fixing his capital at Nicomedia, which he -had filled with stately palaces, temples, and public -buildings, for he indulged the dream of making his -city the rival of Rome. Galerius ruled the Danubian -provinces with Greece and Illyricum from his capital -at Sirmium. Maximian, the Augustus of the West, -ruled over Italy, Africa, and Spain from Milan; -Constantius watched over Gaul and Britain, with -headquarters at Treves and at York. But everywhere -the writ of Diocletian ran. He took the -majestic name of Jovius, while Maximian styled -himself Herculius; and it stands as a marvellous -tribute to his commanding influence that we hear -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>of no friction between the four masters of the -world.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Diocletian profoundly modified the character of -the Roman Principate. He orientalised it, adopting -frankly and openly the symbols and paraphernalia -of royalty which had been so repugnant to the -Roman temper. Hitherto the Roman Emperors -had been, first and foremost, Imperators, heads of -the army, soldiers in the purple. Diocletian became -a King, clad in sumptuous robes, stiff with embroidery -and jewels. Instead of approaching with the -old military salute, those who came into his presence -bent the knee and prostrated themselves in adoration. -The monarch surrounded himself, not with -military præfects, but with chamberlains and court -officials, the hierarchy of the palace, not of the camp. -We cannot wholly impute this change to vanity -or to that littleness of mind which is pleased with -pomp and elaborate ceremonial. Diocletian was -too great a man to be swayed by paltry motives. -It was rather that his subjects had abdicated their -old claim to be called a free and sovereign people, -and were ready to be slaves. The whole senatorial -order had been debarred by Gallienus from entering -the army, and had acquiesced without apparent -protest in an edict which closed to its members -the profession of arms. Diocletian thought that -his throne would be safer by removing it from the -ken of the outside world, by screening it from vulgar -approach, by deepening the mystery and impressiveness -attaching to palaces, by elaborating the -court ceremonial, and exalting even the simplest of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>domestic services into the dignity of a liturgy. It -may be that these changes intensified the servility -of the subject, and sapped still further the manhood -and self-respect of the race. Let it not be -forgotten, however, that the ceremonial of the modern -courts of Europe may be traced directly back -to the changes introduced by Diocletian, and also -that the ceremonial, which the older school of -Romans would have thought degrading and effeminate, -was, perhaps, calculated to impress by its -stateliness, beauty, and dignity the barbarous nations -which were supplying the Roman armies with -troops.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We will reserve to a later chapter some account -of the remodelled administration, which Constantine -for the most part accepted without demur. -Here we may briefly mention the decentralisation -which Diocletian carried out in the provinces. -Lactantius<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c016'><sup>[7]</sup></a> says that “he carved the provinces up -into little fragments that he might fill the earth -with terror,” and suggests that he multiplied officials -in order to wring more money out of his -subjects. That is an enemy’s perversion of a wise -statesman’s plan for securing efficiency by lessening -the administrative areas, and bringing them within -working limits. Diocletian split up the Empire into -twelve great dioceses. Each diocese again was subdivided -into provinces. There were fifty-seven of -these when he came to the throne; when he quitted -it there were ninety-six. The system had grave -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>faults, for the principles on which the finances of the -Empire rested were thoroughly mischievous and unsound. -But the reign of Diocletian was one of rapid -recuperation and great prosperity, such as the Roman -world had not enjoyed since the days of the -<a id='corr11.6'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Antonines,'>Antonines.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_11.6'><ins class='correction' title='Antonines,'>Antonines.</ins></a></span></p> - -<div class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/i_pxii.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span> -<img src='images/i_p012.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER II</span> <br /> THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Unfortunately for the fame of Diocletian -there is one indelible blot upon the record of -his reign. He attached his name to the edicts -whereby was let loose upon the Christian Church -the last and—in certain provinces—the fiercest of -the persecutions. Inasmuch as the affairs of the -Christian Church will demand so large a share of our -attention in dealing with the religious policy of Constantine, -it will be well here to describe, as briefly as -possible, its condition in the reign of Diocletian. -It has been computed that towards the end of the -third century the population of the Roman Empire -numbered about a hundred millions. What proportion -were Christians? No one can say with certainty, -but they were far more numerous in the East than -in the West, among the Greek-speaking peoples -of Asia than among the Latin-speaking peoples of -Europe. Perhaps if we reckon them at a twelfth of -the whole we shall rather underestimate than overestimate -their number, while in certain portions of -Asia and Syria they were probably at least one in -five. Christianity had spread with amazing rapidity -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>since the days of Domitian. There had been spasmodic -outbreaks of fierce persecution under Decius,—“that -execrable beast,” as Lactantius calls him,—under -Valerian, and under Aurelian. But Aurelian’s -reign was short and he had been too busy fighting -to spare much time for religious persecution. The -tempest quickly blew over. For fully half a century, -with brief interludes of terror, the Church had -been gathering strength and boldness.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The policy of the State towards it was one of indifference. -Gallienus, indeed, the worthless son of -Valerian, had issued edicts of toleration, which -might be considered cancelled by the later edicts of -Aurelian or might not. If the State wished to be -savage, it could invoke the one set; if to be mild, it -could invoke the other. There was, therefore, no -absolute security for the Church, but the general -feeling was one of confidence. The army contained -a large number of Christians, of all ranks and conditions, -officers, centurions, and private soldiers. Many -of the officials of the civil service were Christians. -The court and the palace were full of them. Diocletian’s -wife, Prisca, was a Christian; so was Valeria, -his daughter. So, too, were many of his chamberlains, -secretaries, and eunuchs. If Christianity had -been a proscribed religion, if the Christians had anticipated -another storm, is it conceivable that they -would have dared to erect at Nicomedia, within full -view of the palace windows, a large church situated -upon an eminence in the centre of the city, and evidently -one of its most conspicuous structures? No, -Christianity in the East felt tolerably safe and was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>advancing from strength to strength, conscious of its -increasing powers and of the benevolent neutrality -of Diocletian. Christians who took office were relieved -from the necessity of offering incense or presiding -at the games. The State looked the other -way; the Church was inclined to let them off with -the infliction of some nominal penance. Nor was -there much difficulty about service in the army. -Probably few enlisted in the legions after they had -become Christians; against this the Church set her -face. But she permitted the converted soldier to remain -true to his military oath, for she did not wish -to become embroiled with the State. In a word, -there was deep religious peace, at any rate in Diocletian’s -special sphere of influence, Asia, Egypt, -and Syria.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is to be remembered, however, that there were -four rulers, men of very different characters and each, -therefore, certain to regard Christianity from a different -standpoint. Thus there might be religious -peace in Asia and persecution in the West, as, indeed, -there was—partial and spasmodic, but still -persecution. Maximian was cruel and ambitious, an -able soldier of the hard Roman type, no respecter of -persons, and careless of human life. Very few modern -historians have accepted the story of the massacre -of the Theban Legion at Agauna, near Lake Leman, -for refusal to offer sacrifice and take the oath to the -Emperor. According to the legend, the legion was -twice decimated and then cut to pieces. But it is -impossible to believe that there could have been a -legion or even a company of troops from Thebes in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>Egypt, wholly composed of Christians, and, even -supposing the facts to have been as stated, their -refusal to march in obedience to the Emperor’s -orders and rejoin the main army at a moment when -an active campaign was in progress, simply invited -the stroke of doom. Maximian was not the man to -tolerate mutiny in the face of the enemy.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But still there were many Christian victims of -Maximian wherever he took up his quarters—at -Rome, Aquileia, Marseilles—mostly soldiers whose -refusal to sacrifice brought down upon them the -arm of the law. Maximian is described in the -“Passion of St. Victor” as “a great dragon,” but -the story, even as told by the hagiologist, scarcely -justifies the epithet. Just as the military præfects, -before whom Victor was first taken, begged him to -reconsider his position, so Maximian, after ordering -a priest to bring an altar of Jupiter, turned to Victor -and said<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c016'><sup>[8]</sup></a>: “Just offer a few grains of incense; -placate Jupiter and be our friend.” Victor’s answer -was to dash the altar to the ground from the hands -of the priest and place his foot triumphantly upon -it. We may admire the fortitude of the martyr, -but the martyrdom was self-inflicted, and the anger -of the Emperor not wholly unwarranted. “Be our -friend,” he had said, and his overtures were spurned -with contempt.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We may suspect, indeed, that this partial persecution -was due rather to the insistence of the martyrs -themselves than to deliberate policy on the part of -Maximian. When enthusiastic Christians thrust -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>their Christianity upon the official notice of the authorities, -insulted the Emperor or the gods, and refused -to take the oath or sacrifice on ceremonial -occasions, then martyrdom was the result, and little -notice was taken, for life was cheap. Diocletian, as we -have seen, rather patronised than persecuted Christianity. -Maximian’s inclinations towards cruelty -were kept in check by the known wishes of his senior -colleague. Constantius, the Cæsar of Gaul, was one -of those refined characters, tolerant and sympathetic -by nature, to whom the idea of persecution for the -sake of religion was intensely repugnant; and Galerius, -the Cæsar of Pannonia, the most fanatical -pagan of the group, was not likely, at any rate during -the first few years after his elevation, to run -counter to the wishes of his patron.</p> - -<p class='c001'>What was it, then, that wrought the fatal change -in the mind of Diocletian and turned him from -benevolent neutrality to fierce antagonism? Lactantius -attributes it solely to the baleful influence -of Galerius, whom he paints in the very blackest -colours. He was a wild beast, a savage barbarian -of alien blood, tall in stature, a mountain of flesh, -abnormally bloated, terrifying to look at, and with -a voice that made men shiver.<a id='r9' /><a href='#f9' class='c016'><sup>[9]</sup></a> Behind this monster -stood his mother, a barbarian woman from beyond -the Danube, priestess of some wild deity of -the mountains, imbued with a fanatical hatred of -the Christians, which she was for ever instilling into -her son. When we have stripped away the obvious -exaggeration of this onslaught we may still accept -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>the main statement and admit that Galerius was -the most active and unsparing enemy of the Christians -in the Imperial circle. This rough soldier, -trained in the school of two such martinets as Aurelian -and Probus, who enforced military discipline -by the most pitiless methods, would not stay to -reason with a soldier’s religious prejudices. Unhesitating -obedience or death—that was the only -choice he gave to those who served under him, and -when, after his great victory over the Parthians, -his position and prestige in the East were beyond -challenge, we find Christian martyrdoms in the track -of his armies, in the Anti-Taurus, in Cœle-Syria, in -Samosata.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Galerius began to purge his army of Christians. -Unless they would sacrifice, officers were to lose -their rank and private soldiers to be dismissed ignominiously -without the privileges of long service. -Several were put to death in Moesia, where a certain -Maximus was Governor. Among them was a -veteran named Julius, who had served in the legion -for twenty-six years, and fought in seven campaigns, -without a single black mark having been entered -against his name for any military offence. Maximus -did his best to get him off. “Julius,” he said, -“I see that you are a man of sense and wisdom. -Suffer yourself to be persuaded and sacrifice to the -gods.” “I will not,” was the reply, “do what you -ask. I will not incur by an act of sin eternal punishment.” -“But,” said the Governor, “I take the sin -upon myself. I will use compulsion so that you may -not seem to act voluntarily. Then you will be able -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>to return in peace to your house. You will receive -the bounty of ten denarii and no one will molest -you.” Evidently, Maximus was heartily sorry that -such a fine old soldier should take up a position -which seemed to him so grotesquely indefensible. -But what was Julius’s reply? “Neither this -Devil’s money nor your specious words shall cause -me to lose eternal God. I cannot deny Him. Condemn -me as a Christian.” After the interrogation -had gone on for some time, Maximus said: “I pity -you, and I beg you to sacrifice, so that you may -live with us.” “To live with you would be death -for me,” rejoined Julius, “but if I die, I shall live.” -“Listen to me and sacrifice; if not, I shall have to -keep my word and order you to death.” “I have -often prayed that I might merit such an end.” -“Then you have chosen to die?” “I have chosen a -temporary death, but an eternal life.” Maximus -then passed sentence, and the law took its course.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On another occasion the Governor said to two -Christians, named Nicander and Marcian, who had -proved themselves equally resolute, “It is not I -whom you resist; it is not I who persecute you. -My hands are unstained by your blood. If you -know that you will fare well on your journey, I congratulate -you.<a id='r10' /><a href='#f10' class='c016'><sup>[10]</sup></a> Let your desire be accomplished.” -“Peace be with you, merciful judge,” cried both the -martyrs as the sentence was pronounced.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The movement seems gradually to have spread -from the provinces of Galerius to those of Maximian. -At Tangiers, Marcellus, a centurion of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>Legion of Trajan, threw down his centurion’s staff -and belt and refused to serve any longer. He did -so in the face of the whole army assembled to sacrifice -in honour of Maximian’s birthday. A similar -scene took place in Spain at Calahorra, near Tarraco, -where two soldiers cast off their arms exclaiming, -“We are called to serve in the shining company -of angels. There Christ commands His cohorts, -clothed in white, and from <a id='corr19.9'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='his'>His</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_19.9'><ins class='correction' title='his'>His</ins></a></span> lofty throne condemns -your infamous gods, and you, who are the -creatures of these gods, or, we should say, these -ridiculous monsters.” Death followed as a matter -of course. Looking at the evidence with absolute -impartiality, one begins to suspect that the process -of clearing the Christians out of the army was due -quite as much to the fanaticism of certain Christian -soldiers eager for martyrdom, as to any lust for blood -on the part even of Galerius and Maximian.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But what we have to account for is the rise of a -fierce anti-Christian spirit which induced Diocletian—for -even Lactantius admits that he was not easily -persuaded—to take active measures against the -Christians. It is certainly noteworthy that about -this time the only school of philosophy which was -alive, active, and at all original, was definitely anti-Christian. -We refer, of course, to the Neo-Platonists -of Alexandria. Their principal exponent was -the philosopher Porphyry, who carried on a violent -anti-Christian propaganda, though he seems to have -borrowed from Christianity, and more especially -from the rigorously ascetic form which Christianity -had assumed in Egypt, many of his leading tenets. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>The morality which Porphyry inculcated was elevated -and pure; his religion was mystical to such a -degree that none but an expert philosopher could -follow him into the refinements of his abstractions; -but he had for the Christian Church a “theological -hatred” of extraordinary bitterness. The treatise—in -fifteen books—in which he assailed the Divinity -of Christ apparently set a fashion in anti-Christian -literature. We hear, for example, of -another unnamed philosopher who “vomited three -books against the Christian religion,” and the violence -with which Lactantius denounces him as “an -accomplished hypocrite” makes one suspect that -his work had a considerable success. Still better -known was Hierocles, Governor at one time of -Palmyra, and then transferred to the royal province -of Bithynia, who wrote a book to which he gave -the name of <cite>The Friend of Truth</cite>, and addressed -it, “To the Christians.” Its interest lies chiefly in -the fact that its author compares with the miracles -wrought by Christ those attributed to Apollonius -of Tyana, and denies divinity to both. Lactantius -tells us that this Hierocles was “author and counsellor -of the persecution,”<a id='r11' /><a href='#f11' class='c016'><sup>[11]</sup></a> and we may judge, -therefore, that there existed among the pagans a -powerful party bitterly opposed to Christianity, -carrying on a vigorous campaign against it, and -urging upon the Emperors the advisability of a -sharp repressive policy.</p> - -<p class='c001'>They would have no difficulty in making out a -case against the Christians which on the face of it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>seemed plausible and overwhelming. They would -point to the fanatical spirit manifested, as we have -seen, by a large number of Christian soldiers in the -army, which led them to throw down their arms, -blaspheme the gods, and deny the Emperors. They -would point to the anti-social movement, which was -especially marked in Egypt, where the example of -St. Antony was drawing crowds of men and women -away into the desert to live out their lives, either in -solitary cells as hermits, or as members of religious -communities equally ascetic, and almost equally solitary. -They would point to the aloofness even of the -ordinary Christian in city or in town from its common -life, and to his avoidance of office and public duties. -They would point to the extraordinary closeness of -the ties which bound Christians together, to their -elaborate organisation, to the implicit and ready -obedience they paid to their bishops, and would ask -whether so powerful a secret society, with ramifications -everywhere throughout the Empire, was not -inevitably a menace to the established <a id='corr21.21'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='authorities,'>authorities.</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_21.21'><ins class='correction' title='authorities,'>authorities.</ins></a></span> -The Christians were peaceable enough. To accuse -them of plotting rebellion was hardly possible, -though the most outrageous calumnies against them -and their rites were sedulously fostered in order to -inflame the minds of the rabble, just as they were -against the Jews in the Middle Ages, and are, even at -the present day, in certain parts of the Continent of -Europe. But, at bottom, the real strength of the -case against the Christians lay in the fact that the more -enlightened pagans saw that Christianity was the -solvent which was bound to loosen all that held -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>pagan society together. They instinctively felt -what was coming, and were sensible of approaching -doom. Christianity was the enemy, the proclaimed -enemy, of their religion, of their point of view of this -life as well as of the next, of their customs, of their -pleasures, of their arts. Paganism was fighting for -existence. What wonder that it snatched at any -weapon wherewith to strike?</p> - -<div id='i022' class='figcenter id006'> -<img src='images/i_fp022.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>BUST OF DIOCLETIAN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The personal attitude of Diocletian towards religion -in general is best seen in the edict which he -issued against the Manichæans. The date is somewhat -uncertain, but it undoubtedly preceded the -anti-Christian edicts. Manichæanism took its rise -in Persia, its principal characteristic being the practice -of thaumaturgy, and it spread fast throughout -the East. Diocletian ordered the chiefs of the sect -to be burned to death; their followers were to have -their goods confiscated and to suffer capital punishment -unless they recanted; while persons of rank -who had disgraced themselves by joining such a -shameful and infamous set of men were to lose their -patrimony and be sent to the mines. These were -savage enactments, and it is important to see how -the Emperor justified them. Fortunately his language -is most explicit. “The gods,” he says, “have -determined what is just and true; the wisest of -mankind, by counsel and by deed, have proved and -firmly established their principles. It is not, therefore, -lawful to oppose their divine and human wisdom, -or to pretend that a new religion can correct -the old one. To wish to change the institutions of -our ancestors is the greatest of crimes.” Nothing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>could be clearer. It is the old official defence of the -State religion, that men are not wiser than their -fathers, and that innovation in worship is likely to -bring down the wrath of the gods. Moreover, as -the edict points out, this Manichæanism came from -Persia, the traditional enemy of Rome, and threatened -to corrupt the “modest and tranquil Roman -people” with the detestable manners and infamous -laws of the Orient. “Modest and tranquil” are not -the epithets which posterity has chosen to apply to -the Roman people of the Empire, but Diocletian’s -point is obvious. Manichæanism was a device of -the enemy; it must be poison, therefore, to the good -Roman. Such an argument was born of prejudice -rather than of reason; we shall see it applied yet -again to the Christians, and applied even by the -Christian Church to its own schismatics and heretics.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was during the winter of 302 that the question -was carefully debated by Diocletian and Galerius—the -latter was staying with the senior Augustus -at Nicomedia—whether it was advisable to take -repressive measures against the Christians. According -to Lactantius, Galerius clamoured for blood, -while Diocletian represented how mischievous it -would be to throw the whole world into a ferment, -and how the Christians were wont to welcome martyrdom. -He argued, therefore, that it would be quite -enough if they purged the court and the army. -Then, as neither would give way, a Council was -called, which sided with Galerius rather than with -Diocletian, and it was decided to consult the oracle -of Apollo at Miletus. Apollo returned the strange -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>answer that there were just men on the earth who -prevented him from speaking the truth, and gave -that as the reason why the oracles which proceeded -from his tripods were false. The “just men” were, -of course, the Christians. Diocletian yielded, only -stipulating that there should be no bloodshed, while -Galerius was for burning all Christians alive. Such -is Lactantius’s story, and it does credit to Diocletian, -inasmuch as it shews his profound reluctance to disturb -the internal peace which his own wise policy -had established. As a propitious day, the Festival -of the Terminalia, February 23, 303, was chosen for -the inauguration of the anti-Christian campaign. -The church at Nicomedia was levelled to the ground -by the Imperial troops and, on the following day, an -edict was issued depriving Christians of their privileges -as full Roman citizens. They were to be deprived -of all their honours and distinctions, whatever -their rank; they were to be liable to torture; they -were to be penalised in the courts by not being -allowed to prosecute for assault, adultery, and theft. -Lactantius well says<a id='r12' /><a href='#f12' class='c016'><sup>[12]</sup></a> that they were to lose their -liberty and their right of speech. The penalties extended -even to slaves. If a Christian slave refused -to renounce his religion he was never to receive his -freedom. The churches, moreover, were to be destroyed -and Christians were forbidden to meet together. -No bloodshed was threatened, as Diocletian -had stipulated, but the Christian was reduced to the -condition of a pariah. The edict was no sooner -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>posted up than, with a bitter jibe at the Emperors, -some bold, indignant Christian tore it down. He -was immediately arrested, tortured, racked, and -burnt at the stake. Diocletian had been right. -The Christians made willing martyrs.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Soon afterwards there was an outbreak of fire at -the palace. Lactantius accuses Galerius of having -contrived it himself so that he might throw the -odium upon the Christians, and he adds that Galerius -so worked upon the fears of Diocletian that -he gave leave to every official in the palace to use -the rack in the hope of getting at the truth. Nothing -was discovered, but fifteen days later there -was another mysterious outbreak. Galerius, protesting -that he would stay no longer to be burnt -alive, quitted the palace at once, though it was bad -weather for travelling. Then, says Lactantius, Diocletian -allowed his blind terrors to get the better of -him, and the persecution began in earnest. He -forced his wife and daughter to recant; he purged -the palace, and put to death some of his most powerful -eunuchs, while the Bishop of Nicomedia was -beheaded, and crowds of less distinguished victims -were thrown into prison. Whether there was incendiarism -or not, no one can say. Eusebius, indeed, -tells us that Constantine, who was living in the -palace at the time, declared years afterwards to the -bishops at the Council of Nicæa that he had seen -with his own eyes the lightning descend and set fire -to the abode of the godless Emperor. But neither -Constantine nor Eusebius was to be believed implicitly -when it was a question of some supernatural -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>occurrence between earth and heaven. The double -conflagration is certainly suspicious, but tyrants -do not, as a rule, set fire to their own palaces when -they themselves are in residence, however strong -may be their animus against some obnoxious party -in the State.</p> - -<p class='c001'>A few months passed and Diocletian published a -second edict ordering the arrest of all bishops and -clergy who refused to surrender their “holy books” -to the civil officers. Then, in the following year, -came a third, offering freedom to all in prison if they -consented to sacrifice, and instructing magistrates to -use every possible means to compel the obstinate -to abandon their faith. These edicts provoked a -frenzy of persecution, and Gaul and Britain alone -enjoyed comparative immunity. Constantius could -not, indeed, entirely disregard an order which bore -the joint names of the two Augusti, but he took -care that there was no over-zealousness, and, according -to a well-known passage of Lactantius, he -allowed the meeting-places of the Christians, the -buildings of wood and stone which could easily be -restored, to be torn down, but preserved in safety -the true temple of God, viz., the bodies of His -worshippers.<a id='r13' /><a href='#f13' class='c016'><sup>[13]</sup></a> Elsewhere the persecution may be -traced from province to province and from city to -city in the mournful and poignant documents known -as the <cite>Passions of the Martyrs</cite>. Naturally it varied -in intensity according to local conditions and according -to the personal predilections of the magistrates. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>Where the populace was fiercely anti-Christian or -where the pagan priests were zealous, there the -Christians suffered severely. Their churches would -be razed to the ground and the prisons would be -full. Some of the weaker brethren would recant; -others would hide themselves or quit the district; -others again would suffer martyrdom. In more fortunate -districts, where public opinion was with the -Christians, the churches might not be destroyed, -though they stood empty and silent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The fiercest persecution seems to have taken -place in Asia Minor. There had been a partial revolt -of the troops at Antioch, easily suppressed by -the Antiochenes themselves, but Diocletian apparently -connected it in some way with the Christians -and let his hand fall heavily upon them. Just at -this time, moreover, in the neighbouring kingdom of -Armenia, Saint Gregory the Illuminator was preaching -the gospel with marvellous success, and the -Christians of Cappadocia, just over the border, paid -the penalty for the uneasiness which this ferment -caused to their rulers. We hear, for example, in -Phrygia of a whole Christian community being -extirpated. Magistrates, senators, and people—Christians -all—had taken refuge in their principal -church, to which the troops set fire. Eusebius, in -his <cite>History of the Church</cite>, paints a lamentable -picture of the persecution which he himself witnessed -in Palestine and Syria, and, in his <cite>Life of Constantine</cite>, -he says<a id='r14' /><a href='#f14' class='c016'><sup>[14]</sup></a> that even the barbarians across the -frontier were so touched by the sufferings of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>Christian fugitives that they gave them shelter. -Athanasius, too, declares that he often heard survivors -of the persecution say that many pagans -risked the loss of their goods and the chance of -imprisonment in order to hide Christians from the -officers of the law. There is no question of exaggeration. -The most horrible tortures were invented; -the most barbarous and degrading punishments -were devised. The victim who was simply -ordered to be decapitated or drowned was highly -favoured. In a very large number of cases death -was delayed as long as possible. The sufferer, after -being tortured on the rack, or having eyes or tongue -torn out, or foot or hand struck off, was taken back -to prison to recover for a second examination.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Even when the victim was dead the law frequently -pursued the corpse with its futile vengeance. It -was no uncommon thing for a body to be thrown to -the dogs, or to be chopped into fragments and cast -into the sea, or to be burnt and the ashes flung upon -running water. He was counted a merciful judge -who allowed the friends of the martyr to bear away -the body to decent burial and lay it in the grave. -At Augsburg, when the magistrate heard that the -mother and three servants of a converted courtesan, -named Afra, had placed her body in a tomb, he -ordered all four to be enclosed in one grave with -the corpse and burnt alive.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is, of course, quite impossible to compute the -number of the victims, but it was unquestionably -very large. We do not, perhaps, hear of as many -bishops and priests being put to death as might -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>have been expected, but if the extreme rigour of -the law had been enforced the Empire would have -been turned into a shambles. The fact is, as we -have said, that very much depended upon the personal -character of the Governors and the local magistrates. -In some places altars were put up in the -law courts and no one was allowed either to bring -or defend a suit without offering sacrifice. In other -towns they were erected in the market squares and -by the side of the public fountains, so that one could -neither buy nor sell, nor even draw water, without -being challenged to do homage to the gods. Some -Governors, such as Datianus in Spain, Theotecnus -in Galatia, Urbanus of Palestine, and Hierocles of -Bithynia and Egypt, were noted for the ferocity with -which they carried out the edicts; others—and, -when the evidence is carefully examined, the humane -judges seem to have formed the majority—presided -with reluctance at these lamentable trials. -Many exhausted every means in their power to convert -the prisoners back to the old religion, partly -from motives of humanity, and partly, no doubt, -because their success in this respect gained them -the notice and favour of their superiors.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We hear of magistrates who ordered the attendants -of the court to place by force a few grains of -incense in the hands of the prisoner and make him -sprinkle it upon the altar, or to thrust into his -mouth a portion of the sacrificial meat. The victim -would protest against his involuntary defilement, -but the magistrate would declare that the offering -had been made. Often, the judge sought to bribe -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>the accused into apostasy. “If you obey the Governor,” -St. Victor of Galatia was told, “you shall -have the title of ‘Friend of Cæsar’ and a post in -the palace.” Theotecnus promised Theodotus of -Ancyra “the favour of the Emperors, the highest -municipal dignities, and the priesthood of Apollo.” -The bribe was great, but it was withstood. The -steadfast confessor gloried in replying to every fresh -taunt, entreaty, or bribe, “I am a Christian.” It -was to him the only, as well as the highest argument.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Sometimes the kindest-hearted judges were driven -to exasperation by their total inability to make the -slightest impression upon the Christians. “Do -abandon your foolish boasting,” said Maximus, the -Governor of Cilicia, to Andronicus, “and listen to -me as you would listen to your father. Those who -have played the madman before you have gained -nothing by it. Pay honour to our Princes and our -fathers and submit yourself to the gods.” “You -do well,” came the reply, “to call them your fathers, -for you are the sons of Satan, the sons of the Devil, -whose works you perform.” A few more remarks -passed between judge and prisoner and then Maximus -lost his temper. “I will make you die by -inches,” he exclaimed. “I despise,” retorted Andronicus, -“your threats and your menaces.” While -an old man of sixty-five was being led to the torture, -a friendly centurion said to him, “Have pity -on yourself and sacrifice.” “Get thee from me, -minister of Satan,” was the reply. The main feeling -uppermost in the mind of the confessor was one -of exultation that he had been found worthy to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>suffer. Such a spirit could neither be bent nor -broken.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Of active disloyalty to the Emperor there is absolutely -no trace. Many Christian soldiers boasted of -their long and honourable service in the army; civilians -were willing to pay unto Cæsar the things that -were Cæsar’s. But Christ was their King. “There -is but one God,” cried Alphæus and Zachæus at -Cæsarea, “and only one King and Lord, who is -Jesus Christ.” To the pagan judge this was not -merely blasphemy against the gods, but treason -against the Emperor. Sometimes, but not often, -the martyr’s feelings got the better of him and he -cursed the Emperor. “May you be punished,” cried -the dauntless Andronicus to Maximus, when the -officers of the court had thrust between his lips the -bread and meat of sacrifice, “may you be punished, -bloody tyrant, you and they who have given you the -power to defile me with your impious sacrifices. -One day you will know what you have done to the -servants of God.” “Accursed scoundrel,” said the -judge, “dare you curse the Emperors who have -given the world such long and profound peace?” -“I have cursed them and I will curse them,” replied -Andronicus, “these public scourges, these drinkers -of blood, who have turned the world upside down. -May the immortal hand of God tolerate them no -longer and punish their cruel amusements, that they -may learn and know the evil they have done to -God’s servants.” No doubt, most Christians agreed -with the sentiments expressed by Andronicus, but -they rarely gave expression to them. “I have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>obeyed the Emperors all the years of my life,” said -Bishop Philippus of Heraclea, “and, when their commands -are just, I hasten to obey. For the Holy -Scripture has ordered me to render to God what is -due to God and to Cæsar what is due to Cæsar. I -have kept this commandment without flaw down to -the present time, and it only remains for me to give -preference to the things of heaven over the attractions -of this world. Remember what I have already -said several times, that I am a Christian and that I -refuse to sacrifice to your gods.” Nothing could be -more dignified or explicit. It is the Emperor-God -and his fellow deities of Olympus, not the Emperor, -to whom the Christian refuses homage. During a -trial at Catania in Sicily the judge, Calvisianus, said -to a Christian, “Unhappy man, adore the gods, -render homage to Mars, Apollo, and Æsculapius.” -The answer came without a second’s hesitation: “I -adore the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—the Holy -Trinity—beyond whom there is no God. Perish the -gods who have not made heaven and earth and all -that they contain. I am a Christian.” From first to -last, in Spain as in Africa, in Italy as in Sicily, this is -the alpha and the omega of the Christian position, -“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Christianus sum</i></span>.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>To what extent was the martyrdom self-inflicted? -How far did the Christians pile with their own hands -the faggots round the stakes to which they were -tied? It is significant that some churches found it -necessary to condemn the extraordinary exaltation -of spirit which drove men and women to force themselves -upon the notice of the authorities and led -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>them to regard flight from danger as culpable <a id='corr33.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='wakeness'>weakness</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_33.1'><ins class='correction' title='wakeness'>weakness</ins></a></span>. -They not only did not encourage but strictly -forbade the overthrowing of pagan statues or altars -by zealous Christians anxious to testify to their -faith. They did not wish, that is to say, to provoke -certain reprisals. Yet, in spite of all their efforts, -martyrdom was constantly courted by rash and excitable -natures in the frenzy of religious fanaticism, -like that which impelled Theodorus of Amasia in -Pontus to set fire to a temple of Cybele in the middle -of the city and then boast openly of the deed. -Often, however, such martyrs were mere children. -Such was Eulalia of Merida, a girl of twelve, whose -parents, suspecting her intention, had taken her -into the country to be out of harm’s way. She escaped -their vigilance, returned to the city, and, -standing before the tribunal of the judge, proclaimed -herself a Christian.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>”<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Mane superba tribunal adit,</i></span></div> - <div class='line'><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Fascibus adstat et in mediis.</i></span>“</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'>The judge, instead of bidding the officials remove -the child, began to argue with her, and the argument -ended in Eulalia spitting in his face and overturning -the statue which had been brought for her -to worship. Then came torture and the stake, a -martyred saint, and in later centuries a stately -church, flower festivals, and a charming poem from -the Christian poet, Prudentius. But even his graceful -verses do not reconcile us to the pitiful futility of -such child-martyrdom as that of Eulalia of Merida -or Agnes of Rome.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>Or take, again, the pathetic inscription found at -Testur, in Northern Africa;</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Sanctæ Tres;</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Maxima,</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Donatilla</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Et Secunda,</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Bona Puella.</i></span>”</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>These were three martyrs of Thuburbo. Two of -them, Maxima and Donatilla, had been denounced -to the judge by another woman. Secunda, a child -of twelve, saw her friends from a window in her -father’s house, as they were being dragged off to -prison. “Do not abandon me, my sisters,” she -cried. They tried to wave her back. She insisted. -They warned her of the cruel fate which was certain -to await her; Secunda declared her confidence in -Him who comforts and consoles the little ones. In -the end they let her accompany them. All three -were sentenced to be torn by the wild beasts of the -amphitheatre, but when they stood up to face that -cruel death, a wild bear came and lay at their feet. -The judge, Anulinus, then ordered them to be -decapitated. Such is the story that lies behind -those simple and touching words, “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Secunda, Bona -Puella</i></span>.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Nor were young men backward in their zeal for -the martyr’s crown. Eusebius tells us of a band of -eight Christian youths at Cæsarea, who confronted -the Governor, Urbanus, in a body shouting, “We are -Christians,” and of another youth named Aphianus, -who, while reading the Scriptures, heard the voice -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>of the heralds summoning the people to sacrifice. -He at once made his way to the Governor’s house, -and, just as Urbanus was in the act of offering libation, -Aphianus caught his arm and upbraided him -for his idolatry. He simply flung his life away.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In this connection may be mentioned the five -martyred statuary workers belonging to a Pannonian -marble quarry. They had been converted by the -exhortations of Bishop Cyril, of Antioch, who had -been condemned to labour in their quarry, and, once -having become Christians, their calling gave them -great searching of heart. Did not the Scriptures -forbid them to make idols or graven images of false -gods? When, therefore, they refused to undertake -a statue of Æsculapius, they were challenged -as Christians, and sentenced to death. Yet they -had not thought it wrong to carve figures of Victory -and Cupid, and they seem to have executed without -scruple a marble group showing the sun in a chariot, -doubtless satisfying themselves that these were -merely decorative pieces, which did not necessarily -involve the idea of worship. But they preferred to -die rather than make a god for a temple, even -though that god were the gentle Æsculapius, the -Healer.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We might dwell at much greater length upon this -absorbing subject of the persecution of Diocletian, -and draw upon the <cite>Passions of the Saints</cite> for further -examples of the marvellous fortitude with which so -many of the Christians endured the most fiendish -tortures for the sake of their faith. “I only ask one -favour,” said the intrepid Asterius: “it is that you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>will not leave unlacerated a single part of my body.” -In the presence of such splendid fidelity and such -unswerving faith, which made even the weakest -strong and able to endure, one sees why the eventual -triumph of the Church was certain and assured. -One can also understand why the memory and the -relics of the martyrs were preserved with such passionate -devotion; why their graves were considered -holy and credited with powers of healing; and why, -too, the names of their persecutors were remembered -with such furious hatred. It may be too much to -expect the early chroniclers of the Church to be fair -to those who framed and those who put into execution -the edicts of persecution, but we, at least, after -so many centuries, and after so many persecutions -framed and directed by the Churches themselves, -must try to look at the question from both sides and -take note of the absolute refusal of the Christian -Church to consent to the slightest compromise in its -attitude of hostility to the religious system which it -had already dangerously undermined.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is not easy from a study of the <cite>Passions of the -Saints</cite> to draw any sweeping generalisations as to -what the public at large thought of the torture and -execution of Christians. We get a glimpse, indeed, -of the ferocity of the populace at Rome when Maximian -went thither to celebrate the Ludi Cereales in -304. The “Passion of St. Savinus” shews an excited -crowd gathered in the Circus Maximus, roaring for -blood and repeating twelve times over the savage -cry, “Away with the Christians and our happiness is -complete. By the head of Augustus let not a Christian -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>survive.”<a id='r15' /><a href='#f15' class='c016'><sup>[15]</sup></a> Then, when they caught sight of -Hermogenianus, the city præfect, they called ten -times over to the Emperor, “May you conquer, -Augustus! Ask the præfect what it is we are -shouting.” Such a scene was natural enough in the -Circus of Rome; was it typical of the Empire? -Doubtless in all the great cities, such as Alexandria, -Antioch, Ephesus, Carthage, the “baser sort” would -be quite ready to shout, “Away with the Christians.” -But it is to be remembered that we find no trace anywhere -in this persecution of a massacre on the scale -of that of St. Bartholomew or the Sicilian Vespers. -On the contrary, we see that though the prisons -were full, the relations of the Christians were usually -allowed to visit them, take them food, and listen to -their exhortations. Pamphilus of Cæsarea, who was -in jail for two years, not only received his friends -during that period, but was able to go on making -copies of the Scriptures!</p> - -<p class='c001'>We rarely hear of the courts being packed with -anti-Christian crowds, or of the judges being incited -by popular clamour to pass the death sentence. The -reports of the trials shew us silent, orderly courts, -with the judges anxious not so much to condemn to -death as to make a convert. If Diocletian had -wanted blood he could have had it in rivers, not in -streams. But he did not. He wished to eradicate -what he believed to be an impious, mischievous, and, -from the point of view of the State’s security, a -dangerous superstition. There was no talk of persecuting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>for the sake of saving the souls of heretics; -that lamentable theory was reserved for a later day. -Diocletian persecuted for what he considered to be -the good of the State. He lived to witness the full -extent of his failure, and to realise the appalling -crime which he had committed against humanity, -amid the general overthrow of the political system -which he had so laboriously set up.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p038.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span> -<img src='images/i_p039.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER III</span> <br /> THE ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN AND THE SUCCESSION <br /> OF CONSTANTINE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>On the 1st of May, in the year 305, Diocletian, -by an act of unexampled abnegation, resigned -the purple and retired into private life. The -renunciation was publicly performed, not in Rome, -for Rome had ceased to be the centre of the political -world, but on a broad plain in Bithynia, three -miles from Nicomedia, which long had been the -Emperor’s favourite residence. In the centre of the -plain rose a little hill, upon which stood a column -surmounted by a statue of Jupiter. There, years -before, Diocletian had with his own hands invested -Galerius with the symbols of power; there he was -now to perform the last act of a ruler by nominating -those whom he thought most fit to succeed him. -A large platform had been constructed; the soldiers -of the legions had been ordered to assemble in soldier’s -meeting and listen to their chief’s farewell. -Diocletian took leave of them in few words. He -was old, he said, and infirm. He craved for rest -after a life of toil. The Empire needed stronger -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>and more youthful hands than his. His work was -done. It was time for him to go.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The two Augusti were laying down their powers -simultaneously, for Maximian was performing a similar -act of renunciation at Milan. The two Cæsars, -Constantius and Galerius, would thus automatically -move up into the empty places and become Augusti -in their stead. It had been necessary, therefore, to -select two new Cæsars, and these Diocletian was -about to present to the loyalty of the legions. We -are told that the secret had been well kept, and -that the soldiers waited with suppressed excitement -until Diocletian suddenly announced that his choice -had fallen upon Severus, one of his trusted generals, -and upon Maximin Daza, a nephew of Galerius. -Severus had already been sent to Milan to be invested -by Maximian; Maximin was present on the -tribunal and was then and there robed in the purple. -The ceremony over, Diocletian—a private citizen -once more, though he still retained the title of Augustus—drove -back to Nicomedia and at once set -out for Salona, on the Adriatic, where he had built -a sumptuous palace for his retirement.</p> - -<div id='i040' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_fp040.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The scene which we have depicted is described -most fully and most graphically by a historian whose -testimony, unfortunately, is entirely suspect in matters -of detail. The author of <cite>The Deaths of the -Persecutors</cite>—it is very doubtful whether Lactantius, -to whom the work has long been attributed, -really wrote it, but for the sake of convenience of -reference we may credit him with it—is at once -the most untrustworthy and the most vigorous and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>attractive writer of the period. His object throughout -is to blacken the characters of the Emperors -who persecuted the Christian Church, and he does -not scruple to distort their actions, pervert their -motives, and even invent, with well calculated malice, -stories to their discredit. Lactantius knows, or pretends -to know, all that takes place even in the most -secret recesses of the palace; he recounts all that -passes at the most confidential conferences; and -with consummate artistry he throws in circumstantial -details and touches of local colour which give an -appearance of truth, but are really the most convincing -proofs of falsehood. Lactantius represents the -abdication of Diocletian as the act of an old man, -shattered in health, and even in mind, by a distressing -malady sent by Heaven as the just punishment -of his crimes. He depicts him cowering in tears before -the impatient insolence of Galerius, now peremptorily -clamouring for the succession with threats of -civil war. They discuss who shall be the new Cæsars. -“Whom shall we appoint?” asks Diocletian. -“Severus,” says Galerius. “What?” says the other, -“that drunken sot of a dancer who turns night into -day and day into night?” “He is worthy,” replies -Galerius, “for he has proved a faithful general, -and I have sent him to Maximian to be invested.” -“Well, well,” says the old man, “who is the second -choice?” “He is here,” says Galerius, indicating -his nephew, a young semi-barbarian named Maximin -Daza. “Why, who is this you offer me?” “He is -my kinsman,” is the reply. Then said Diocletian, -with a groan, “These are not fit men to whom to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>entrust the care of the State.” “I have proved -them,” said Galerius. “Well, you must look to -it,” rejoins Diocletian, “you who are about to assume -the reins of the Empire. I have toiled enough. -While I ruled, I took care that the State stood -safe. If any harm now befalls, the fault is not -mine.”<a id='r16' /><a href='#f16' class='c016'><sup>[16]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Such is a characteristic specimen of Lactantius’s -history, and so, when he comes to describe the ceremony -of abdication, he makes Galerius draw Maximin -Daza to the front of the group of imperial -officials by whom Diocletian is surrounded, and represents -the soldiers as staring in surprise at their -new Cæsar, as at one whom they had never seen -before. Yet a favourite nephew of Galerius can -scarcely have been a stranger to the troops of Nicomedia. -Galerius not only—according to Lactantius—drew -forward Maximin Daza, but at the same time -rudely thrust back into the throng the son of Constantius, -the senior of the two new Augusti. This -was young Constantine, the future Emperor, who -for some years past had been living at the Court of -Diocletian.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But it was no broken down Emperor in his dotage, -passing, according to the spasms of his malady, -from sanity to insanity, who resigned the throne -on the plain of Nicomedia. Diocletian was but -fifty-nine years of age. He had just recovered, it -is true, from a very severe illness, which, even on -the testimony of Lactantius, had caused “grief in -the palace, sadness and tears among his guards, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>anxious suspense throughout the whole State.”<a id='r17' /><a href='#f17' class='c016'><sup>[17]</sup></a> But -his brain was never clearer than when he took final -leave of his troops. His abdication was the culminating -point of his policy. He had planned it twenty -years before. He had kept it before his eyes throughout -a long and busy reign. It was the completion -of, the finishing touch to his great political system. -It would have been perfectly easy for Diocletian -to forswear himself. Probably very few of his contemporaries -believed that he would fulfil his promise -to abdicate after twenty years of reign. Kings talk -of the allurements of retirement, but they usually -cling to power as tenaciously as to life. The first -Augustus had delighted to mystify his Ministers of -State by speaking of restoring the Republic. He -died an Emperor. Diocletian, alone of the Roman -Emperors, laid down the sceptre when he was at the -height of his glory. It was a hazardous experiment, -but he was faithful to his principles. He thought it -best for the world that its master should not grow -old and feeble on the throne.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine, of whom we have just caught a -glimpse at the abdication of Diocletian, was born -either in 273 or 274. The uncertainty attaching to -the year of his birth attaches even more to its place. -No one now believes that he was born in Britain—a -pleasing fiction which was invented by English -monks, who delighted to represent his mother -Helena as the daughter of a British King, though -they were quite at a loss where to locate his kingdom. -The only foundation for this was a passage -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>in one of the Panegyrists, who said that Constantine -had bestowed lustre upon Britain “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>illic oriundo</i></span>.” -But the words are now taken as referring to -his accession and not to his birth. He was certainly -proclaimed Emperor in Britain, and might thus be -said to have “sprung thence.” Constantine’s birth-place -seems to have been either Naissus, a city in -Upper Moesia, or Drepanum, a city near Nicomedia. -The balance of evidence, though none of it is very -trustworthy, inclines to the former.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His father was Constantius Chlorus, afterwards -Cæsar and Augustus, but at the time of Constantine’s -birth merely a promising officer in the Roman -army. Constantius belonged to one of the leading -families of Moesia and his mother was a niece of -the capable and soldierly Claudius, the conqueror of -the Goths. Claudius had only been dead four years -when Constantine was born, and we may suppose -that it was his influence which had set Constantius -in the way of rapid promotion. He had formed one -of those secondary marriages which were recognised -by Roman law, when the wife was not of the same -social standing as the husband. Helena is said to -have been the daughter of an innkeeper of Drepanum, -and Constantine’s enemies lost no opportunity of -dwelling upon the obscurity of his ancestry upon his -mother’s side. But that he was born in wedlock is beyond -question. Had the relationship between Constantius -and Helena been an irregular one, there would -have been no need for Maximian to insist on a divorce -when he ratified Constantius’s elevation to the purple -by giving him the hand of his daughter, Theodora.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>Of Constantine’s early years we know nothing, -though we may suppose that they were spent in the -eastern half of the Empire. Constantius served with -the eastern legions in the campaigns which preceded -the accession of Diocletian in 284, and it is as a -young officer in the entourage of that Emperor that -Constantine makes his earliest appearance in history. -Eusebius tells us<a id='r18' /><a href='#f18' class='c016'><sup>[18]</sup></a> that he first saw the future -champion of Christianity in the train of Diocletian -during one of the latter’s visits to Palestine. He -recalls his vivid remembrance of the young Prince -standing at the Emperor’s right hand and attracting -the gaze of all beholders by the beauty of his person -and the imposing air which betokened his consciousness -of having been born to rule. Eusebius -adds that while Constantine’s physical strength -extorted the respectful admiration of his younger -associates, his remarkable qualities of prudence and -wisdom aroused the jealousy and excited the apprehensions -of his chiefs. However, the recollections -of the Bishop of Cæsarea, with half a century of -interval, are somewhat suspect, and we need see no -more than a <a id='corr45.23'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='high-spirted'>high-spirited</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_45.23'><ins class='correction' title='high-spirted'>high-spirited</ins></a></span>, handsome, and keen-witted -Prince in Eusebius’s “paragon of bodily strength, -physical beauty, and mental distinction.” As for -Diocletian’s jealous fears, they are best refuted by -the fact that Constantine was promoted to be a -tribune of the first rank and saw considerable military -service. The foolish stories that his superiors set -him to fight a gigantic Sarmatian in single combat, -and dared him to contend against ferocious wild -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>beasts, in the hope that his pride and courage might -be his undoing, may be dismissed as childish. If -Diocletian had feared Constantine, Constantine -would never have survived his residence in the -palace.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is certainly remarkable that we should know so -little, not only of the youth but of the early manhood -of Constantine, who was at least in his thirty-first -year when Diocletian retired into private life. -Why had he spent all those years in the East instead -of sharing with his father the dangers and -glories of his Gallic and British campaigns? The -answer is doubtless to be found in the fact that it -was no part of Diocletian’s system for the son -to succeed the father. Constantius’s loyalty was -never in doubt, but Constantine, if Zosimus<a id='r19' /><a href='#f19' class='c016'><sup>[19]</sup></a> can -be trusted, had already given evidence of consuming -ambition to rule. However that may be, it is -obvious that his position became much more hazardous -when Galerius succeeded Diocletian as -supreme ruler in the palace of Nicomedia. One -can understand Galerius wondering whether the -capable young Prince, who slept under his roof, -was destined to cross his path, and the anxiety -of Constantius, conscious of declining strength, that -his long-absent son should join him. Constantine -himself might well be uneasy, and scheme to quit -a place where he could not hope to satisfy his -natural ambitions. We need not doubt, therefore, -that Constantius repeatedly sent messages to Galerius -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>asking that his son might come to him, or that -the son was eager to comply.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Lactantius,<a id='r20' /><a href='#f20' class='c016'><sup>[20]</sup></a> who does his best to make history -romantic and exciting, describes the eventual escape -of Constantine in one of his most graphic chapters. -He shows us Galerius in his palace reluctantly -signing an order which authorised Constantine to -travel post across the Continent of Europe. He -only consented to do so, we are told, because he -could find no pretext for further delay, and he gave -the order to Constantine late in the afternoon, on -the understanding that he should see him again -in the morning to receive his final instructions. -Yet all the time, says Lactantius, Galerius was -scheming to find some excuse for keeping him in -Nicomedia, or contemplated sending a message to -Severus, asking him to delay Constantine when he -reached the border of northern Italy. Galerius then -took dinner, retired for the night, and slept so well -and deliberately that he did not wake until the -following midday (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Cum consulto ad medium diem -usque dormisset</i></span>). He then sent for Constantine to -come to his apartment. But Constantine was -already gone, scouring the roads as fast as the post -horses could carry him, and so anxious to increase -the distance between himself and Galerius that he -caused the tired beasts to be hamstrung at every -stage. He had waited for Galerius to retire and -had then slipped away, lest the Emperor should -change his mind. Galerius was furious when he -found that he had been outwitted. He ordered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>pursuit. His servants came back to tell him that -the fugitive had swept the stables clear of horses. -And then Galerius could scarce restrain his tears -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Vix lacrimas tenebat</i></span>).</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is a story which does infinite credit to Lactanius’s -feeling for strong melodramatic situation. No -picturesque detail is omitted—the setting sun, the -tyrant plotting vengeance over dinner, his resolve to -sleep long, his baffled triumph, the escaping hero, -and the butchery of the horses. Yet we question -if there is more than a shred of truth in the whole -story. Galerius would not have given Constantine -the sealed order overnight had he intended to take -it back the next morning. A word to the officer of -the watch in the palace and to the officer on duty at -the city gate would have prevented Constantine -from quitting Nicomedia. The imperial post service -must have been very much underhorsed if the Emperor’s -servants could not find mounts for the effective -pursuit of a single fugitive. Galerius may very -well have been unwilling for Constantine to go, and -Constantine doubtless covered the early stages of -his long journey at express speed, in order to minimise -the chance of recall, but the lurid details of -Lactantius are probably simply the outcome of his -own lively imagination.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine seems to have found his father at the -port of Gessoriacum (Boulogne), just waiting for a -favourable wind to carry him across the Channel -into Britain. Constantius was ill, and welcomed -with great joy the son whom he had not seen for -many years. We do not know what time elapsed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>before Constantius died at York,—apparently it was -after the conclusion of a campaign in Scotland,—but -before he died he commended to Constantine the -welfare of his young half-brothers and half-sisters, -the eldest of whom was no more than thirteen years -of age, and he also evidently commended Constantine -himself to the loyalty of his legions. The -Emperor, we are informed both by Lactantius and -by the author of the Seventh Panegyric, died with a -mind at rest because he was sure of his heir and successor—Jupiter -himself, says the pagan orator,<a id='r21' /><a href='#f21' class='c016'><sup>[21]</sup></a> -stretched out his right hand and welcomed him -among the gods. Clearly, the ground had been -well prepared, for no sooner was the breath out of -Constantius’s body than the troops saluted Constantine -with the title of Augustus. Aurelius Victor -adds the interesting detail that he had no stouter -supporter than Erocus, a Germanic King, who was -serving as an auxiliary in the Roman army. Constantine -was nothing loth, though, as usual in such -circumstances, he may have feigned a reluctance -which he did not feel. His panegyrist, indeed, -represents him as putting spurs to his horse to -enable him to shake off the robe which the soldiers -sought to throw over his shoulders, and suggests -that it had been Constantine’s intention to write “to -the senior Princes” and consult their wishes as to -the choice of a successor. Had he done so, he knew -very well that Galerius would have sent over to Britain -some trusted lieutenant of his own to take command -and Constantine would have received peremptory -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>orders to return. Instead of that, Constantine -assumed the insignia of an Emperor, and wrote to -Galerius announcing his elevation. Galerius, it is -said, hesitated long as to the course he should -adopt. That the news angered him we may be sure. -Apart from all personal considerations, this choice -of an Emperor by an army on active service was a -return to the bad old days of military rule, from -which Diocletian had rescued the Empire, and was -a clear warning that the new system had not been -established on a permanent basis. The only alternative, -however, before Galerius was acceptance or -war. For the latter he was hardly prepared, and -moreover, there was no reply to the argument that -Constantius had been senior Augustus, and, therefore, -had been fully entitled to have his word in the -appointment of a successor. Galerius gave way. -He accepted the laurelled bust which Constantine -had sent to him and, instead of throwing it into the -fire with the officer who had brought it—which, -according to Lactantius, had been his first impulse,--he -sent the messenger back with a purple robe to -his master as a sign that he frankly admitted his -claims to partnership in the Empire.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But while he acknowledged Constantine as Cæsar, -he refused him the full title of Augustus, which he -bestowed upon the Cæsar Severus. This has been -represented as an act of petty spite. In reality, it was -simply the automatic working of the system of Diocletian. -The latest winner of imperial dignity naturally -took the fourth place. Constantine accepted -the check without demur. He had not spent so many -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>years by the side of Diocletian and Galerius without -discovering that if it came to war, it was the master -of the best army who was sure to be the winner and -survivor, whether his title were Cæsar or Augustus. -Thus, in July, 306, Constantine commenced his -eventful reign as the Cæsar of the West, overlord of -Gaul, Spain, and Britain, and commander of the -Army of the Rhine, and, for the next six years, -down to his invasion of Italy in 312, he spent most -of his time in the Gallic provinces, where he gained -the reputation of being a capable soldier and a -generous Prince.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Gaul was slowly recovering from chaos and ruin. -During the anarchy which had preceded the accession -of Diocletian, she had lain at the mercy of the -Germanic tribes across the Rhine. The Roman -watch on the river had been almost abandoned; the -legions and the garrisons had been so weakened as -to be powerless to keep the invader in check. The -Gallic provinces were, in the striking words of the -Panegyrist, “maddened by their injuries of the years -gone by.”<a id='r22' /><a href='#f22' class='c016'><sup>[22]</sup></a> The result had been the peasant rising -of the Bagaudæ, ruthlessly suppressed by Maximian -in 285, but the desperate condition of the country -may be inferred from the fact that Diocletian and -Maximian felt compelled to recognise the pretensions -of Carausius in the province of Britain, which, for -some years, was practically severed from the Empire. -And, moreover, the peace of Gaul, which Maximian -laboriously restored, was punctuated by invasion -from the Germans across the Rhine. In the Panegyric -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>of Mamertinus there occurs a curious passage, -which shows with what eyes the Romans regarded -that river. The orator is eulogising Maximian in his -most fulsome strain for restoring tranquillity, and then -says: “Was there ever an Emperor before our day -who did not congratulate himself that the Gallic -provinces were protected by the Rhine? When did -the Rhine shrink in its channel after a long spell of -fine weather without making us shiver with fear? -When did it ever swell to a flood without giving us -an extra sense of security?”<a id='r23' /><a href='#f23' class='c016'><sup>[23]</sup></a> In other words, the -danger of invasion rose and fell with the rising and -falling of the Rhine. But now, continues the Panegyrist, -<a id='corr52.16'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='thanks'>“thanks</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_52.16'><ins class='correction' title='thanks'>“thanks</ins></a></span> thanks to Maximian, all our fears are gone. -The Rhine may dry up and shrink until it can -scarce roll the smooth pebbles in its limpid shallows, -and none will be afraid. As far as I can see beyond -the Rhine, all is Roman” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Quicquid ultra -Rhenum prospicio, Romanum est</i></span>). Rarely has a -court rhetorician uttered a more audacious lie.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was no quality of permanence in the Gallic -peace. Constantius took advantage of a temporary -lull to recover Britain, but in 301 he was again -fighting the invading Germans and Franks, winning -victories which had to be repeated in the following -summer, and making good the dearth of labourers on -the devastated lands of Gaul by the captives he had -taken in battle. There is a remarkable passage -in the Fifth Panegyric in which the author refers -to the long columns of captives which he had seen on -the march in Gaul, men, women, and children on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>their way to the desert regions assigned to them, -there to bring back to fertility by their labour as -slaves the very countryside which in their freedom -they had pillaged and laid waste. He recalled the -familiar sight of these savage barbarians tamed to -surprising quiescence, and waiting in the public -places of the Æduan cities until they were told off -to their new masters. Gaul had suffered so long -from these roving ruffians from over the Rhine that -the orator broke out into a pæan of exultation at -the thought that the once dreaded Chamavan or -Frisian now tilled his estates for him, and that the -vagabond freebooter had become an agricultural -labourer, who drove his stock to the Gallic markets -and cheapened the price of commodities by increasing -the sources of supply.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Full allowance must be made for exaggeration. -The tribes, which are described as having been extirpated, -reappear later on in the same numbers as -before, and there was security only so long as the Emperor -and his legions were on the spot. When Constantius -crossed to Britain on the expedition which -terminated with his death, the Franks took advantage -of his absence to “violate the peace.”<a id='r24' /><a href='#f24' class='c016'><sup>[24]</sup></a> The words -would seem to imply that there had been a treaty -between Constantius and the Kings Ascaricus and -Regaisus. They crossed the Rhine and Constantine, -the new Cæsar, hastened back from Britain to confront -them. Where the battle took place is not -known, but both Kings were captured and, together -with a multitude of their followers, flung to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>wild beasts in the amphitheatre at Treves. Constantine, -who prided himself upon his clemency to a -Roman foe, whose sensitive soul was harrowed -when even a wicked enemy perished,<a id='r25' /><a href='#f25' class='c016'><sup>[25]</sup></a> inflicted a fearful -punishment.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Those slain in battle were beyond numbers; very -many more were taken prisoners. All their flocks were -carried off or butchered; all their villages burnt with -fire; all their young men, who were too treacherous to -be admitted into the Roman army, and too brutal to -act as slaves, were thrown to the wild beasts, and -fatigued the ravening creatures because there were so -many of them to kill.”<a id='r26' /><a href='#f26' class='c016'><sup>[26]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Those atrocious sentences—written in praise, -not in condemnation—assuredly throw some light -upon the “perpetual hatreds and inextinguishable -rage”<a id='r27' /><a href='#f27' class='c016'><sup>[27]</sup></a> of the Franks. The common herd, says the -rhetorician, may be slaughtered by the hundred -without their becoming aware of the slaughter; it -saves time and trouble to slay the leaders of an -enemy whom you wish to conquer.<a id='r28' /><a href='#f28' class='c016'><sup>[28]</sup></a> The effect for -the moment was decisive, even if we refuse to believe -that the castles and strong places, set at intervals -along the banks of the Rhine, were henceforth -regarded rather as ornaments to the frontier than as -a source of protection. The bridge, too, which -Constantine built at Cologne, was likewise built for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>business and not, as the orator suggests, for the -glory of the Empire and the beauty of the landscape. -When we read of the war galleys, which -ceaselessly patrolled the waters of the Rhine, and -of the soldiery stationed along its banks from source -to mouth,<a id='r29' /><a href='#f29' class='c016'><sup>[29]</sup></a> we may judge how anxiously the watch -was kept, how nervously alert the Cæsar or Augustus -of the West required to be to guard the frontier, -and how profound a respect he entertained for the -free German whom he called barbarian.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_pxii.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span> -<img src='images/i_p056.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER IV</span> <br /> CONSTANTINE AND HIS COLLEAGUES</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>While Constantine thus peacefully succeeded -his father in the command of Gaul, Spain, -and Britain, Italy was the scene of continued disturbance -and of a successful usurpation. We have -seen how Severus, an officer of the eastern army -and a trusted friend of Galerius, had been chosen to -take over the command which Maximian so unwillingly -laid down at Milan. He was proclaimed Cæsar, -with Italy and Africa for his portion, and the administration -passed into his hands. But he preferred, -apparently, to remain on the Illyrian border rather -than shew himself in Rome, and, in his absence, -Maxentius, a son of Maximian, took the opportunity -of claiming the heritage of which he considered himself -to have been robbed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>No single historian has had a good word to say for -Maxentius, who is described by Lactantius as “a -man of depraved mind, so consumed with pride -and stubbornness that he paid no deference or respect -either to his father or his father-in-law and was -in consequence hated by both.”<a id='r30' /><a href='#f30' class='c016'><sup>[30]</sup></a> He had married -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>a daughter of Galerius, but had been thrust on one -side at the choosing of the new Cæsars, and Severus -and Maximin Daza had been preferred to him. He -owed his elevation to the purple to a successful mutiny -on the part of the Prætorians at Rome, and to -the general discontent of the Roman population. -It is evident that Rome watched with anger and -jealousy the loss of her old exclusive and imperial -position. The Emperors no longer resided on the -Palatine, and ignored and disdained the city on the -Tiber. Diocletian had preferred Nicomedia; Maximian -had fixed his Court at Milan. The imperial -trappings at Rome were becoming a mockery. -When, in addition to neglect, it was ordered that -Italy should no longer be exempt from the census, -and that the sacred Saturnian soil should submit to -the exactions of the tax-gatherer, public opinion was -ripe for revolt.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Lactantius affects to see in the extension of the -census to Rome a crowning example of Galerius’s -rapacity. He speaks of the Emperor “devouring -the whole world,” and declares that his madness -carried him to such outrageous lengths that he -would not suffer even the Roman people to escape -bondage. But Galerius was thoroughly justified in -the step he took. The immunity of Rome from -taxation had been a monstrous piece of fiscal injustice -to the rest of the world, designed merely to -flatter the pride and purse of the Roman citizen. -Galerius, moreover, had disbanded some of the Prætorians—who -were at once the Household Troops -and the permanent garrison of the capital; but now -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>that the Emperor and the Court had quitted Rome, -their <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>raison d’être</i></span> was gone. The vast expenditure -on their pay and their barracks was money thrown -away. Galerius, therefore, abolished the Prætorian -camps. Such an act would give clear warning that -the absence of the Emperors was not merely temporary, -but permanent, that the shifting of the capital -had been due not merely to personal predilections, -but to abiding political reasons.</p> - -<p class='c001'>That the Prætorians themselves received the order -with sullen anger may well be understood. For three -centuries they had been the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>corps d’élite</i></span> of the -Roman army, enjoying special pay and special advantages. -They had made and unmade Emperors. -They had repeatedly held the fortunes of the Empire -in their hands. The traditions of their regiments -fostered pride and arrogance, for they had seen little -active service in their long history, and the severest -conflicts they had had to face were tumults in the imperial -city. Now their privileges were destroyed by -a stroke of the pen, and needing but little instigation -to rebellion, they offered the purple to Maxentius, -who gladly accepted it. Nor, it is said, were -the people unfavourable to his cause, for Maxentius’s -agents had already been busy among them, and so, -after Abellius, the præfect of the city, had been murdered, -Maxentius made himself master of Rome -without a struggle. His position, however, was -very precarious. He had practically no army and -he knew that neither Galerius nor Severus would -recognise his pretensions. The latter had already -taken over the command of the armies of Maximian, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>and was the nominee of Galerius, who at once incited -his colleague to march upon Rome. Maxentius saw -that his only chance of success was to corrupt his -father’s old legions, and with this object in view he -sent a purple robe to Maximian, urging him to -resume his place and title of Augustus. Maximian -agreed with alacrity. He had been spending his -enforced leisure not in amateur gardening and contentment, -like his colleague at Salona, but in his -Campanian villa, chafing at his lost dignity. Hence -he eagerly responded to the summons of his son and -resumed the purple, not so much as Maxentius’s supporter, -but as the senior acting Augustus.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Severus marched straight down the Italian peninsula -and laid siege to Rome, only to find himself -deserted by his soldiers. According to Zosimus, the -troops which first played him false were a Moorish -contingent fresh from Africa. Then, when the -treachery spread, Severus hastily retired on Ravenna, -where he could maintain touch with Galerius -in Illyria, and was there besieged by Maximian and -Maxentius. Doubtless, if he had waited, Galerius -would have sent him reinforcements or come in -person to his assistance, for his own prestige was -deeply involved in that of Severus. But the latter -seems to have allowed himself to be enticed out of -his strong refuge by the plausible overtures of his -rivals. He set out for Rome, prepared to resign -the throne on condition of receiving honourable -treatment, but on reaching a spot named “The -Three Taverns,” on the Appian Road, he was seized -and thrown into chains. The only consideration he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>received from his captors was that they allowed him -to choose his own way of relieving them of his -presence. He opened his veins. So gentle a death -in those violent times was considered “good.”<a id='r31' /><a href='#f31' class='c016'><sup>[31]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>This victory over Severus, gained with such astonishing -ease, speaks well for the popularity of -Maximian with his old soldiers. Galerius prepared -to avenge the defeat and murder of his friend and -invaded Italy at the head of a large army. He -too, like Severus, marched down the peninsula, but -he got no nearer to Rome than Narnia, sixty miles -distant. There he halted, despite the fact that no -opposition was being offered to his advance. Why? -The reason is undoubtedly to be found in the attitude -of Constantine, who had mobilised his army -upon the Gallic frontier and was waiting on events. -There was no love lost between Constantine and -Galerius. If Constantine crossed the Alps and -followed down on the track of Galerius, the latter -would find himself between two fires. Galerius is -represented by Zosimus as being suspicious of the -loyalty of his troops; it is more probable that he -decided to retreat as soon as he heard that Constantine -had thrown in his lot with Maximian and -Maxentius. Maximian had been sedulously trying -to secure alliances for himself and his son. He had -made overtures to the recluse of Salona. But -Diocletian had turned a deaf ear. Even if he had -hankered after power again, he would hardly have -declared himself in opposition to the ruler of Illyria, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>while he was dwelling within reach of Galerius. -With Constantine, however, Maximian had better -success. He gave him his daughter Fausta in marriage -and incited him to attack Galerius, who at once -drew his troops off into Illyria, after laying waste -the Transpadane region with fire and sword.</p> - -<div id='i060' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_fp060.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE GOLDEN GATE OF DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE AT SALONA (SPALATO).</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Some very curious stories are told in connection -with this expedition of Galerius. Lactantius declares -that he invaded Italy with the intention of -extinguishing the Senate and butchering the people -of Rome; that he found the gates of all the cities -shut against him; and discovered that he had not -brought sufficient troops with him to attempt a -siege of the capital. “He had never seen Rome,” -says Lactantius naïvely, “and thought it was not -much bigger than the cities with which he was familiar.” -Galerius was, it is true, a rough soldier of -the camp, but it is ludicrous to suppose that he was -not fully cognisant of the topography and the fortifications -of Rome. Then we are told that some -of the legions were afflicted with scruples at the -idea of being called to fight for a father-in-law -against his son-in-law—as though there were prohibited -degrees in hatreds—and shrank as Roman -soldiers from the thought of moving to the assault -of Rome. And, as a finishing touch to this most -extraordinary canvas, Lactantius paints into it the -figure of Galerius kneeling at the feet of his soldiers, -praying them not to betray him, and offering them -large rewards. We do not recognise Galerius in -such a guise. Again, an unknown historian, of -whose work only a few fragments survive, says that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>when Galerius reached Narnia he opened communications -with Maximian and proposed to treat for -peace, but that his overtures were contemptuously -spurned. This does not violate the probabilities -like the reckless malevolence of Lactantius, but, -after all, the simplest explanation is the one which -we have given above. Galerius halted and then -retired when he heard that Constantine had come to -an understanding with Maximian, had married his -daughter, and was waiting and watching on the -Gallic border. No pursuit seems to have been -attempted.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Maximian and Maxentius were thus left in undisputed -possession of Italy. They were clearly in -alliance with Constantine, but their relations with -one another were exceedingly anomalous. Both are -represented in equally odious colours. Eutropius -describes the father as “embittered and brutal, faithless, -troublesome, and utterly devoid of good manners”; -Aurelius Victor says of the son that no one -ever liked him, not even his own father. Indeed, -the scandal-mongers of the day denied the parentage -of Maxentius and said that he was the son of some -low-born Syrian and had been foisted upon Maximian -by his wife as her own child. Public opinion, -however, was inclined to throw the blame of the -rupture, which speedily took place between Maximian -and Maxentius, upon the older man, who is -depicted as a restless and mischievous intriguer. -In Rome, at any rate, the army looked to the son -as its chief, and as there was but one army, there -was no room for two Emperors. Lactantius tells -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>the story that Maximian called a great mass meeting -of citizens and soldiers, dilated at length upon the -evils of the situation, and then, turning to his son, -declared that he was the cause of all the trouble and -snatched the purple from his shoulders. But Maximian -had the mortification of seeing Maxentius sheltered -instead of slaughtered by the soldiers, and it -was he himself who was driven with ignominy from -the city, like a second Tarquin the Proud.</p> - -<div id='i062' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_fp062.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>BUST OF MAXIMIAN AT ROME.<br /><span class='small'>PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Whether these circumstantial details are to be accepted -or not, there is no doubt as to the sequel. -Maximian was expelled from Rome and Italy, and -began a series of wanderings which were only to end -with his death. He seems first of all to have fled -into Gaul and thrown himself upon the protection of -his son-in-law, Constantine, and then to have opened -up negotiations with Galerius, who must naturally -have desired to establish some <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>modus vivendi</i></span> between -all the rival Emperors. Galerius called a -conference at Carnuntum on the Danube and invited -the presence of Diocletian. Maximian was there; -so too was Licinius, an old companion-in-arms of -Galerius and his most trusted lieutenant. Of the -debates which took place no word has survived. -But the fact that Diocletian was invited to attend is -clear proof that Galerius regarded him with the profound -respect that was due to the senior Augustus -and the founder of the system which had broken -down so badly. Galerius wished the old man to -suggest a way out of the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>impasse</i></span> which had been -reached, to devise some plan whereby his dilapidated -fabric might still be patched up. Even in his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>retirement the practical wisdom of Diocletian was -gladly recognised, and three years later we find one -of the Panegyrists sounding his praises in the presence -of Constantine. This shews that Diocletian -and Constantine were on friendly terms, else Diocletian -would only have been mentioned with abuse, -or would have been passed over in significant silence. -The passage deserves quotation:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“That divine statesman, who was the first to share his -Empire with others and the first to lay it down, does not -regret the step he took, nor thinks that he has lost what -he voluntarily resigned; nay, he is truly blessed and -happy, since, even in his retirement, such mighty Princes -as you offer him the protection of your deep respect. -He is upheld by a multiplicity of Empires; he rejoices -in the cover of your shade.”<a id='r32' /><a href='#f32' class='c016'><sup>[32]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Diocletian would not have been called to Carnuntum, -or, if called, he would scarcely have undertaken -so tedious a journey, had there not been affairs of -the highest moment to be discussed. We know of -only one certain result of this strange council of Emperors. -It is that a new Augustus was created by -Galerius without passing through the intermediate -stage of being a Cæsar. He was found in Licinius, -to whom was assigned the administration of Illyria -with the command of the Danubian legions, and the -status of second rank in the hierarchy of the Augusti, -or rather of the Augusti in active life. Galerius, we -may infer, was sensible of the approaching breakdown -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>of his health and wished his friend Licinius to -be ready to step into his place. Apparently, a genuine -attempt was made to restore to something like -its old position the system of Diocletian. Perhaps -as reasonable a supposition as any is that it was -decided at the conference that Diocletian and Maximian -should again be relegated to the ranks of -retired Augusti, that Galerius and Licinius should -be the two active Augusti, and Constantine and -Maximin the two Cæsars. Maximian had unquestionably -gone to Carnuntum with the hope of fishing -in troubled waters and Lactantius<a id='r33' /><a href='#f33' class='c016'><sup>[33]</sup></a> even attributes -to him a wild scheme for assassinating Galerius. It -is, at any rate, certain that he left the conference in -a fury of disappointment. The ambitious and restless -old man had received no encouragement to his -hopes of again being supreme over part of the -Empire.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But what then of Maxentius, who was in possession -of Italy and Africa? If the theory we have propounded -be right, he must have been studiously -ignored and treated as a usurper, to be thrown out—just -as Carausius had been—at a favourable opportunity. -There is a passage in Lactantius which -seems to corroborate this suggestion. That author -says that Maximin Daza, the Cæsar of Egypt and -Syria and the old protégé of Galerius, heard with -anger that Licinius had been promoted over his -head to be Augustus and hold the second place in -the charmed circle of Emperors. He sent angry remonstrances; -Galerius returned a soft answer. Maximin -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span> an even more aggressive bearing (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>tollit -audacius cornua</i></span>), urged more peremptorily than ever -his superior right, and spurned Galerius’s entreaties -and commands. Then,—Lactantius goes on to say,—overborne -by Maximin’s stubborn obstinacy, Galerius -offered a compromise, by naming himself and -Licinius as Augusti and Maximin and Constantine -as Sons of the Augusti, instead of simple Cæsars.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But Maximin was obdurate and wrote saying that -his soldiers had taken the law into their own hands -and had already saluted him as Augustus. Galerius -therefore, in the face of the accomplished fact, gave -way and recognised not only Maximin but Constantine -also as full Augusti. Such is the story of Lactantius. -It will be noted that the name of Maxentius -is not mentioned. He is treated as non-existent. -There need be no surprise that nothing is said of Diocletian -and Maximian, for they were ex-Augusti, so to -speak, though still bearing the courtesy title. But -if Maxentius had been recognised as one of the -“Imperial Brothers” at the conference of Carnuntum, -the omission of his name by Lactantius is exceedingly -strange. From his account we should -judge that the policy decided upon at Carnuntum -was to restore the fourfold system of Diocletian in -the persons of Galerius, Licinius, Maximin, and Constantine, -taking precedence in the order named. -When Maximin refused to be content with his old -title of Cæsar or to accept the new one of Son -of Augustus, and insisted on being acknowledged -as Augustus, the system broke down anew. At the -beginning of 308, there were no fewer than seven -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>who bore the name of Augustus. And of these -Diocletian alone had outlived his ambitions.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Maximian returned to Gaul, where he received -cordial welcome from Constantine. He had resigned -his pretensions not—as says Lactantius, cognisant as -ever of the secret motives of his enemies—that he -might the more easily deceive Constantine, but because -it had been so decided at Carnuntum. He -was thus a private citizen once more; he had neither -army, nor official status, nothing beyond the prestige -attaching to one who had, so to speak, “passed the -chair.” There can be little doubt that his second -resignation was as reluctant as the first, but as he -was at open enmity with his son, Maxentius, he had -only Constantine to look to for protection and the -means of livelihood. And Constantine, according -to the author of the Seventh Panegyric, gave him all -the honours due to his exalted rank. He assigned -to him the place of honour on his right hand; put at -his disposal the stables of the palace; and ordered -his servants to pay to Maximian the same deference -that they paid to himself. The orator declares that -the gossip of the day spoke of Constantine as wearing -the robe of office, while Maximian wielded its -powers. Evidently Constantine had no fear that -Maximian would play him false.</p> - -<p class='c001'>His confidence, however, soon received a rude -shock. The Franks were restless and threatened -invasion. Constantine marched north with his -army, leaving Maximian at Arles. He did not take -his entire forces with him, for a considerable number -remained in the south of Gaul—no doubt to guard -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>the frontier against danger from Maxentius, though -Lactantius explains it otherwise. Maximian waited -till sufficient time had elapsed for Constantine to -be well across the Rhine, and then began to spread -rumours of his having been defeated and slain in -battle. For the third time, therefore, he assumed -the purple, seized the State treasuries, and took -command of the legions, offering them a large donative, -and appealing to their old loyalty. The usurpation -was entirely successful for the moment, but -when Constantine heard of the treachery he hurried -back, leaving the affairs of the frontier to settle -themselves.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine knew the military value of mobility, -and his soldiers eagerly made his quarrel their own. -There is an amusing passage in the Seventh Panegyric<a id='r34' /><a href='#f34' class='c016'><sup>[34]</sup></a> -in which the orator says that the troops -shewed their devotion by refusing the offer of special -travelling-money (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>viatica</i></span>) on the ground that it -would hamper them on the march. Their generous -pay, they said, was more than sufficient, though no -Roman army before this time had ever been known -to refuse money. Then he describes how they -marched from the Rhine to the Aar without rest, -yet with unwearied bodies; how at Chalons (Cabillonum) -they were placed on board river boats, but -found the current too sluggish for their impetuous -eagerness to come to conclusions with the traitor, -and cried out that they were standing still; and -how, even when they entered the rapid current of -the Rhone, its pace scarcely satisfied their ardour. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Such, according to the Court rhetorician, was the -enthusiasm of the soldiers for their young leader. -When, at length, Arles was reached, it was found -that Maximian had fled to Marseilles and had shut -himself up within that strongly fortified town. His -power had crumbled away. The legions, which had -sworn allegiance to him, withdrew it again as soon as -they found that he had lied to them of Constantine’s -death; even the soldiers he had with him in Marseilles -only waited for the appearance of Constantine -before the walls to open the gates. The picture -which Lactantius draws of Constantine reproaching -Maximian for his ingratitude while the latter—from -the summit of the wall—heaps curses on his head -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ingerebat maledicta de muris</i></span>), or the companion -picture of the anonymous rhetorician, who shews us -the scaling ladders falling short of the top of the -battlements and the devoted soldiers climbing up on -their comrades’ backs, are vivid but unconvincing. -What emerges from their doubtful narratives is that -Marseilles was captured without a siege, and that -Maximian fell into the hands of his justly angry -son-in-law, who stripped him of his titles but vouchsafed -to him his life.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Was Maximian in league with his son, Maxentius, -in this usurpation? Had they made up their old -quarrel in order to turn their united weapons -against Constantine? There were those who -thought so at the time, as Lactantius says,<a id='r35' /><a href='#f35' class='c016'><sup>[35]</sup></a> the -theory being that the old man only pretended -violent enmity towards his son in order to carry out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>his treacherous designs against Constantine and the -other Emperors.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Lactantius himself denies this supposition bluntly -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Sed id falsum fuit</i></span>) and then goes on to say<a id='r36' /><a href='#f36' class='c016'><sup>[36]</sup></a> that -Maximian’s real motive was to get rid both of -Maxentius and the rest, and restore Diocletian and -himself to power. Even for Lactantius, this is an -extraordinarily wild theory. It runs counter to all -that we know of Diocletian’s wishes during his -retirement, and it speaks of the “extinction of -Maxentius and the rest” as though it only needed -an order to a centurion and the deed was done. It -is much more probable that Maximian had actually -re-entered into negotiations with Maxentius and -had offered, as the price of reconciliation, the support -of the legions which he had treacherously won -from Constantine. The impetuous haste with which -Constantine flew back from the Rhine indicates -that the crisis was one of extreme gravity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Maximian did not long survive his degradation. -That he died a violent death is certain; the circumstances -attending it are in doubt. Lactantius gives -a minute narrative which would carry greater conviction -if the details had not been so manifestly -borrowed from the chronicles of the East. He says -that Maximian, tiring of his humiliating position, -engaged in new plots against Constantine, and -tempted Fausta, his daughter, to betray her husband -by the promise of a worthier spouse. Her -part in the conspiracy was to secure the removal of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>the guards from Constantine’s sleeping apartment. -Fausta laid the whole scheme before her husband, -who ordered one of his eunuchs to sleep in the royal -chamber. Maximian, rising in the dead of night, -told the sentries that he had dreamed an important -dream which he wished at once to communicate to -his son-in-law and thus gained entrance to the room. -Drawing his sword, he cut off the eunuch’s head -and rushed out boasting that he had slain Constantine—only -to be confronted by Constantine himself -at the head of a troop of armed men. The -corpse was brought out; the self-convicted murderer -stood “speechless as Marpesian flint.” Constantine -upbraided him with his treachery, gave him -permission to choose his own mode of dying, and -Maximian hanged himself, “drawing”—as Virgil -had said—“from the lofty beam the noose of -shameful death.”</p> - -<div id='i070' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp070.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>FRAGMENT OF 4TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN POTTERY BOWL<br /><span class='small'>SHOWING AN EARLY PORTRAIT OF CHRIST, WITH BUSTS OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE</span><br /><span class='small'>AND THE EMPRESS FAUSTA. (FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM.)</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Such is the story of Lactantius; it could scarcely -be more circumstantial. But if this had been the -manner of Maximian’s death, it is hardly possible -that the other historians would have passed it by -in silence. Eusebius, in his <cite>Ecclesiastical History</cite>, -simply says that Maximian strangled himself; Aurelius -Victor that he justly perished (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>jure perierat</i></span>). -The author of the Seventh Panegyric declares that, -though Constantine offered him his life, Maximian -deemed himself unworthy of the boon and committed -suicide.<a id='r37' /><a href='#f37' class='c016'><sup>[37]</sup></a> Eutropius, evidently borrowing -from Lactantius, remarks that Maximian paid the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>penalty for his crimes. There is little doubt, therefore, -that Constantine ordered his execution and -gave him choice of death, just as Maxentius had -given similar choice to Severus. Officially it would -be announced that Maximian had committed suicide. -At the time, public opinion was shocked by -the manner of his death, though it was generally -conceded that his life was justly forfeit.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p072.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span> -<img src='images/i_p073.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER V</span> <br /> THE INVASION OF ITALY</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The tragic end of his old colleague must have -raised many disquieting thoughts in the mind -of Diocletian, already beginning to be anxious lest -his successors should think that he was living too -long. While Galerius flourished he was sure of a -protector, but Galerius died in 311. In the eighteenth -year of his rule he had been stricken with -an incurable and loathsome malady, into the details -of which Lactantius enters with a morbid but -lively enjoyment, affecting to see in the torture -of the dying Emperor the visitation of an angry -Providence. He describes minutely the progress -of the cancer and the “appalling odour of the festering -wound which spread not only through the -palace but through the city.” He shews us the -unhappy patient raising piercing cries and calling -for mercy from the God of the Christians whom he -had persecuted, vowing under the stress of physical -anguish that he would make reparation; and, -finally, when at the very point of death (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>jam -deficiens</i></span>), dictating the edict which stayed the persecution -and gave the Christians full liberty to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>worship in their own way. It will be more convenient -to discuss in another place this remarkable -document, the forerunner, so to speak, of the -famous Edict of Milan. It was promulgated at -Nicomedia on the thirtieth of April, 311, and a -few days later Galerius’s torments were mercifully -ended by death.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The death of Galerius gave another blow to the -already tottering system of Diocletian. It had been -his intention to retire, as Diocletian had done, at -the end of his twentieth year of sovereignty, and -make way for a younger man, and there can be -little doubt that he would have been as good as his -word. Galerius has not received fair treatment at -the hands of posterity. Lactantius, his bitter enemy, -describes him as a violent ruffian and a hectoring -bully, an object of terror and fear to all around -him in word, deed, and aspect. Lactantius belittles -the importance of his victory over Narses, the -Persian King, by saying that the Persian army -marched encumbered with baggage and that victory -was easily won. He makes Galerius the leading -spirit of the Persecution; represents him as having -goaded Diocletian into signing the fatal edicts; -accuses him of having fired the palace at Nicomedia -in order to work on the terrors of his chief; charges -him with having invented new and horrible tortures; -and declares that he never dined or supped without -whetting his appetite with the sight of human blood. -No one would gather from Lactantius that Galerius -was a fine soldier, a hard-working and capable -Emperor, and a loyal successor to a great political -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>chief. Eutropius does him no more than justice -when he describes him as a man of high principle -and a consummate general.<a id='r38' /><a href='#f38' class='c016'><sup>[38]</sup></a> Aurelius Victor fills in -the light and shade. Galerius was, he says, a Prince -worthy of all praise; just if unpolished and untutored; -of handsome presence; and an accomplished -and fortunate general. He had risen from -the ranks; in his young days he had been a herd -boy, and the name of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Armentarius</i></span> clung to him -through life. This rough and ready Pannonian -spent too energetic and busy a career to have time -for culture. He came from a province where, in the -forceful phrase of one of the Panegyrists, “life was -all hard knocks and fighting.”<a id='r39' /><a href='#f39' class='c016'><sup>[39]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Galerius had already nominated Licinius as his -successor, but Licinius was far away in Pannonia -and did not cross over at once into Asia to take -command of Galerius’s army—no doubt because it -was not safe for him to leave his post. In the -meantime, Maximin Daza, the Augustus of Syria -and Egypt, had been preparing to march on Nicomedia -as soon as Galerius breathed his last, for he -claimed, as we have seen, that by seniority of rule -he had a better right than Licinius to the title -of senior Augustus. While, therefore, Licinius remained -in Europe, Maximin Daza advanced from -Syria across the Taurus and entered Bithynia, -where, to curry favour with the people, he abolished -the census. It was expected that the two Emperors -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>would fight out their quarrel, but an accommodation -was arrived at, and they agreed that the Hellespont -should form the boundary between them. -Maximin, by his promptitude, had thus materially -increased his sovereignty, and, at the beginning of -312, the eastern half of the Empire was divided -between Licinius and Maximin Daza, while Constantine -ruled in Great Britain, Spain, and Gaul, and -Maxentius was master of Italy and Africa.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Whether or not his position had been recognised -by the other Emperors at the conference of Carnuntum, -Maxentius had remained in undisturbed possession -of Italy since the hurried retreat of the invading -army of Galerius. In Africa, indeed, a general named -Alexander, who, according to Zosimus, was a Phrygian -by descent, and timid and advanced in years, -raised the standard of revolt. Maxentius commissioned -one of his lieutenants to attack the usurper -and Alexander was captured and strangled. There -would have been nothing to distinguish this insurrection -from any other, had it not been for the ruthless -severity with which the African cities were -treated by the conqueror. Carthage and Cirta were -pillaged and sacked; the countryside was laid desolate; -many of the leading citizens were executed; -still more were reduced to beggary. The ruin of -Africa was so complete that it excited against Maxentius -the public opinion of the Roman world. He -had begun his reign, as will be remembered, as the -special champion of the Prætorians and of the privileges -of Rome, but he soon lost his early popularity, -and rapidly developed into a cruel and bloodthirsty -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>tyrant. His profligacy was shameless and excessive, -even for those licentious times. Eusebius tells the -story of how Sophronia, the Christian wife of the -city præfect, stabbed herself in order to escape his -embraces, when the imperial messengers came to -summon her to the palace.</p> - -<p class='c001'>If Maxentius had been accused of all the vices only -on the authority of the Christian authors and the -official panegyrists of Constantine, their statements -might have been received with some suspicion—for -a fallen Roman Emperor had no friends. Zosimus, -however, is almost as severe upon him as Lactantius, -and Julian, in the <cite>Banquet of the Cæsars</cite>, excludes -him from the feast as one utterly unworthy of a -place in honourable society. According to Aurelius -Victor, he was the first to start the practice of exacting -from the senators large sums of money in the -guise of free gifts (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>munerum specie</i></span>) on the flimsiest -pretexts of public necessity, or as payment for the -bestowal of office or civil distinction. Moreover, -knowing that, sooner or later, he would find himself -at war with one or other of his brother Augusti, -Maxentius amassed great stores of corn and wealth -and took no heed of a morrow which he knew that -he might not live to witness. He despoiled the -temples,—says the author of the Ninth Panegyric,—butchered -the Senate, and starved the people of -Rome. The Praetorians—who had placed and kept -him on the throne—ruled the city. Zosimus tells -the curious story of how, in the course of a great fire -in Rome, the Temple of Fortune was burned down -and one of the soldiers looking on spoke blasphemous -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>and disrespectful words of the goddess. Immediately -the mob attacked him. His comrades went to -his assistance and a serious riot ensued, during which -the Prætorians would have massacred the citizens -had they not been with difficulty restrained. All -the authorities, indeed, agree that a perfect reign of -terror prevailed at Rome after Maxentius’s victory -over Alexander in Africa, while Maxentius himself is -depicted as a second Commodus or Nero.</p> - -<p class='c001'>One of the most vivid pictures of the tyrant is -given in the Panegyric already quoted. The orator -speaks of Maxentius as a “stupid and worthless -wild-beast” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>stultumet nequam animal</i></span>) skulking for -ever within the walls of the palace and not daring to -leave the precincts. Fancy, he exclaims, an indoor -Emperor, who considers that he has made a journey -and achieved an expedition if he has so much as visited -the Gardens of Sallust! Whenever he addressed -his soldiers, he would boast that, though he had colleagues -in the Empire, he alone was the real Emperor; -for he ruled while they kept the frontiers -safe and did his fighting for him. And then he -would dismiss them with the three words: “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Fruimini! -Dissipate! Prodigite!</i></span>” Such an invitation -to drunkenness, riot, and debauch would not be unwelcome -to the swaggering Prætorians and to the -numerous bands of mercenaries which Maxentius -had collected from all parts of the world.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We ought not, perhaps, to take this scathing invective -quite literally. For all his vices, Maxentius -was probably not quite the hopeless debauchee he -is represented to have been. It is at least worth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>remark that it was this Emperor, of whom no one has -a charitable word to say, who restored to the Christians -at Rome the church buildings and property -which had been confiscated to the State by the -edicts of Diocletian and Galerius. Neither Eusebius -nor Lactantius mentions this, but the fact is clear -from a passage in St. Augustine, who says that the -first act of the Roman Christians on regaining possession -of their cemetery was to bring back the body -of Bishop Eusebius, who had died in exile in Sicily. -Nor did Maxentius’s political attitude towards the -other Augusti betray indications of incompetence or -want of will. He was ambitious—a trait common -to most Roman Emperors and certainly shared by -all his colleagues. There was no cohesion among -the four Augusti; there was no one much superior -to the others in influence and prestige. Constantine -and Maxentius feared and suspected each other -in the West, just as Licinius and Maximin Daza -feared and suspected each other in the East. When -the two latter agreed that the Hellespont should divide -their territories, Licinius, who had lost Asia -Minor by the bargain, made overtures of alliance to -Constantine. It was arranged that Licinius should -marry Constantia, the sister of the Augustus of -Gaul. Naturally, therefore, Maximin Daza turned -towards Maxentius and sent envoys asking for alliance -and friendship. Lactantius adds the curious -phrase that Maximin’s letter was couched in a tone -of familiarity<a id='r40' /><a href='#f40' class='c016'><sup>[40]</sup></a> and says that Maxentius was as eager -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>to accept as Maximin had been to offer. He hailed -it, we are told, as a god-sent help, for he had already -declared war against Constantine on the pretext of -avenging his father’s murder.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The outbreak of this war, which was fraught with -such momentous consequences to the whole course -of civilisation, found the Empire strangely divided. -The Emperor of Italy and Africa was allied with the -Emperor of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, against -the rulers of the armies of the Danube and the -Rhine. We shall see that the alliance was—at any -rate, in result—defensive rather than offensive. -Licinius and Maximin never moved; they simply -neutralised one another, though the advantage clearly -lay with Constantine and Licinius, for Maxentius -was absolutely isolated, so far as receiving help on -the landward side was concerned. We need not -look far to find the real cause of quarrel between -Constantine and Maxentius, whatever pretexts were -assigned. Maxentius would never have risked his -Empire for the sake of a father whom he detested; -nor would Constantine have jeopardised his throne -in order to avenge an insult. Each aspired to rule -over the entire West; neither would acquiesce in -the pretensions of the other. Both had been actively -preparing for a struggle which became inevitable -when neither took any radical steps to avoid it. -We have already seen that Constantine kept the -larger part of the army of Gaul stationed in the -south near Arelate and Lugdunum, in order to -watch the Alpine passes; we shall find that Maxentius -had also posted his main armies in the north -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>of Italy from Susa on the one side, where he was -threatened by Constantine, to Venice on the other, -where he was on guard against Licinius. There is -a curious reference in one of the authorities to a -plan formed by Maxentius of invading Gaul through -Rhaetia,—no doubt because Constantine had made -the Alpine passes practically unassailable,—while -Lactantius tells us that he had drawn every available -man from Africa to swell his armies in Italy.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine acted with the extreme rapidity for -which he was already famous. He hurried his army -down from the Rhine, and was through the passes -and attacking the walled city of Susa before Maxentius -had certain knowledge of his movements. -That he was embarking on an exceedingly hazardous -expedition seems to have been recognised by himself -and his captains. The author of the Ninth -Panegyric says quite bluntly that his principal officers -not only muttered their fears in secret, but expressed -them openly,<a id='r41' /><a href='#f41' class='c016'><sup>[41]</sup></a> and adds that his councillors -and haruspices warned him to desist. A similar -campaign had cost Severus his life and had been -found too hazardous even by Galerius. Superiority -of numbers lay not with him, but with his rival. -Constantine was gravely handicapped by the fact -that he had to safeguard the Rhine behind him -against the Germanic tribes, which he knew would -seize the first opportunity to pass the river. Zosimus -gives a detailed account<a id='r42' /><a href='#f42' class='c016'><sup>[42]</sup></a> of the numbers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>which the rivals placed in the field. Maxentius, he -says, had 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse under his -command, including 80,000 levies from Rome and -Italy, and 40,000 from Carthage and Africa. Constantine, -on the other hand, even after vigorous recruiting -in Britain and Gaul, could only muster -90,000 foot and 8000 horse. The author of the -Ninth Panegyric, in a casual phrase, says that Constantine -could hardly employ a fourth of his Gallic -army against the 100,000 men in the ranks of Maxentius, -on account of the dangers of the Rhine. -Ancient authorities, however, are never trustworthy -where numbers are concerned; we only know that -Maxentius had by far the larger force, and that -Constantine’s army of invasion was probably under -40,000 strong. Whether the numerical supremacy -of the former was not counterbalanced by the necessity -under which Maxentius laboured of guarding -against Licinius, is a question to which the historians -have paid no heed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Marching along the chief military highroad from -Lugdunum to Italy, which crossed the Alps at Mont -Cenis, Constantine suddenly appeared before the -walls of Susa, a strongly garrisoned post, and took -it by storm, escalading the walls and burning the -gates. The town caught fire; Constantine set his -soldiers to put out the flames, a more difficult task, -says Nazarius, than had been the actual assault. -From Susa the victor advanced to Turin, which -opened its gates to him after the cavalry of Maxentius -had been routed in the plains. These were -troops clad in ponderous but cleverly jointed armour, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>and the weight of their onslaught was calculated -to crush either horse or foot upon which it -was directed. But Constantine disposed his forces -so as to avoid their charge and render their weight -useless, and when these horsemen fled for shelter to -Turin they found the gates closed against them and -perished almost to a man. Milan, by far the most -important city in the Transpadane region, next received -Constantine, who entered amid the plaudits -of the citizens, and charmed the eyes of the Milanese -ladies, says the Panegyrist, without causing them -anxieties for their virtue. Milan, indeed, welcomed -him with open arms; other cities sent deputations -similar to the one which, according to the epitomist -Zonaras, had already reached him from Rome itself, -praying him to come as its liberator. It seemed, -indeed, that he had already won not only the Transpadane -region, but Rome itself.<a id='r43' /><a href='#f43' class='c016'><sup>[43]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine, however, had still to meet and overthrow -the chief armies of Maxentius in the north of -Italy. These were under the command of Ruricius -Pompeianus, a general as stubborn as he was loyal, -and of well-tried capacity. Pompeianus held Verona -in force. He had thrown out a large body of cavalry -towards Brescia to reconnoitre and check Constantine’s -advance, but these were routed with some -slaughter and retired in confusion. If we may interpret -the presence of Pompeianus at Verona as -indicating that Maxentius had feared attack by -Licinius more than by Constantine, this would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>explain the comparative absence of troops in Lombardy -and the concentration in Venetia, though it is -strange that we do not hear of Licinius taking any -steps to assist his ally. Verona was a strongly fortified -city resting upon the Adige, which encircled its -walls for three-quarters of their circumference. Constantine -managed to effect a crossing at some -distance from the city and laid siege in regular -fashion. Pompeianus tried several ineffectual sorties, -and then, secretly escaping through the lines, -he brought up the rest of his army to offer pitched -battle or compel Constantine to raise the siege. A -fierce engagement followed. We are told<a id='r44' /><a href='#f44' class='c016'><sup>[44]</sup></a> that -Constantine had drawn up his men in double lines, -when, noticing that the enemy outnumbered him -and threatened to overlap either flank, he ordered -his troops to extend and present a wider front. He -distinguished himself that day by pressing into the -thickest of the fight, “like a mountain torrent in -spate that tears away by their roots the trees on its -banks and rolls down rocks and stones.” The orator -depicts for us the scene as Constantine’s lieutenants -and captains receive him on his return from the fray, -panting with his exertion and with blood dripping -from his hands. With tears in their eyes, they chide -him for his rashness in imperilling the hopes of the -world. “It does not beseem an Emperor,” they -say, “to strike down an enemy with his own -sword. It does not become him to sweat with the -toil of battle.<a id='r45' /><a href='#f45' class='c016'><sup>[45]</sup></a>” In simpler language, Constantine -fought bravely at the head of his men and won the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>day. Pompeianus was slain; Verona opened her -gates, and so many prisoners fell into the hands of -the conqueror that Constantine made his armourers -forge chains and manacles from the iron of the captives’ -swords. In accordance with his usual policy, -he conciliated the favour of those whom he had defeated -by sparing the city from pillage, and shewed -an equal clemency to Aquileia and the other cities -of Venetia, all of which speedily submitted on the -capitulation of Verona.</p> - -<p class='c001'>With the entire north of Italy thus wrested from -Maxentius, Constantine could turn his face towards -Rome. He encountered no opposition on the march. -Maxentius did not even contest the passage of the -Apennines; the Umbrian passes were left open; and -if the historians are to be trusted—and they speak -with unanimity on the point—the Italian Emperor -simply waited for his doom to come upon him, as -Nero had done, and made no really serious effort to -defend his throne. This slave in the purple (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>vernula -purpuratus</i></span>), as the author of the Ninth Panegyric -calls him, cowered trembling in his palace, paralysed -with fear because he had been deserted by the Divine -Intelligence and the Eternal Majesty of Rome, -which had transferred themselves from the tyrant -to the side of his rival. We are told, indeed, that a -few days before the appearance of Constantine, Maxentius -quitted the palace with his wife and son and -took up his abode in a private house, not being able -to endure the terrible dreams that came to him by -night and the spectres of the victims which haunted -his crime-stained halls. Constantine moved swiftly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>down from the north of Italy along the Flaminian -Way, and in less than two months after the fall of -Verona, he was at Saxa Rubra, only nine miles from -Rome, with an army eager for battle and confident -of victory. There he found the troops of Maxentius -drawn up in battle array, but posted in a position -which none but a fool or a madman would have selected. -The probabilities are that Maxentius could -not trust the citizens of Rome and therefore dared -not stand a siege within the ramparts of Aurelian. -Then, having decided to offer battle, he allowed his -army to cross the Tiber and take up ground whence, -if defeated, their only roads of escape lay over the -narrow Milvian Bridge and a flimsy bridge of boats, -one probably on either flank.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is said that Maxentius had not intended to be -present in person when the issue was decided. He -was holding festival within the city, celebrating his -birthday with the usual games and pretending that -the proximity of Constantine caused him no alarm. -The populace began to taunt him with cowardice, -and uttered the ominous shout that Constantine was -invincible. Maxentius’s fears grew as the clamour -swelled in volume. He hurriedly called for the -Sibylline Books and ordered them to be consulted. -These gave answer that on that very day the enemy -of the Romans should perish—a characteristically -safe reply. Such ambiguity of diction had usually -portended the death of the consulting Prince, but -Lactantius says that the hopes with which the -words inspired Maxentius led him to put on his -armour and ride out of Rome.</p> - -<div id='i086' class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span> -<img src='images/i_fp086.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE, BY RAPHAEL.<br /><span class='small'>IN THE VATICAN. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The issue was decided at the first encounter. -Constantine charged at the head of his Gallic horse—now -accustomed to and certain of victory—into -the cavalry of Maxentius, which broke and ran -in disorder from the field. Only the Prætorians -made a gallant and stubborn resistance and fell -where they had stood, knowing that it was they -who had raised Maxentius to the throne and that -their destruction was involved in his. While these -fought valiantly with the courage of despair, their -comrades were crowding in panic towards the already -choked bridges. At the Milvian Bridge the -passage was jammed, and the pursuers wrought great -execution. The pontoon bridge collapsed, owing to -the treachery of those who had cut or loosened its -supports. All the reports agree that there was a -sickening slaughter, and that hundreds were drowned -in the Tiber in their vain effort to escape. Among -the victims was Maxentius himself. He was either -thrust into the river by the press of frenzied fugitives -or was drowned in trying to scale the high -bank on the opposite shore, when weighed down by -his heavy armour. His corpse was recovered later -from the stream, which the Panegyrists hailed in -ecstatic terms as the co-saviour of Rome with Constantine -and the partner of his triumph.<a id='r46' /><a href='#f46' class='c016'><sup>[46]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>The victor entered Rome. He had won the prize -which he sought—the mastery of the West—and, -like scores of Roman conquerors before him, he -marched through the famous streets. His triumphal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>procession was graced, says Nazarius, not -by captive chiefs or barbarians in chains, but by -senators who now tasted the joy of freedom again, -and by consulars whose prison doors had been -opened by Constantine’s victory—in a word, by a -Free Rome.<a id='r47' /><a href='#f47' class='c016'><sup>[47]</sup></a> Only the head of Maxentius, whose -features still wore the savage, threatening look which -even death itself had not been able to obliterate, -was carried on the point of a spear behind Constantine -amid the jeers and insults of the crowd. Another -Panegyrist gives us a very lively picture of the -throngs as they waited for the Emperor to pass, -describing how they crowded at the rear of the procession -and swept up to the palace, almost venturing -to cross the sacred threshold itself, and how, when -Constantine appeared in the streets on the succeeding -days, they sought to unhorse his carriage and -draw it along with their hands. One of the conqueror’s -first acts was to extirpate the family of his -fallen rival. Maxentius’s elder son, Romulus, who -for a short time had borne the name of Cæsar, was -already dead; the younger son, and probably the wife -too, were now quietly removed. There were other -victims, who had committed themselves too deeply to -Maxentius’ fortunes to escape. Rome, says Nazarius,<a id='r48' /><a href='#f48' class='c016'><sup>[48]</sup></a> -was reconstituted afresh on a lasting basis by -the complete destruction of those who might have -given trouble. But still the victims were comparatively -few, so few, in the estimation of public opinion, -that the victory was regarded as a bloodless one, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>Constantine’s clemency was the theme and admiration -of all. When the people clamoured for more -victims—doubtless the most hated instruments of -Maxentius’s tyranny—and when the informer pressed -forward to offer his deadly services, Constantine refused -to listen. He was resolved to let bygones be -bygones. The laws of the period immediately succeeding -his victory, as they appear in the Theodosian -Code, amply confirm what might otherwise be the -suspect eulogies of the Panegyrists. A general act -of amnesty was passed, and the ghastly head of -Maxentius was sent to Africa to allay the terrors of -the population and convince them that their oppressor -would trouble them no more. There, it is -to be supposed, it found a final burial-place.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Another early act of Constantine was to disband -the Prætorians, thus carrying out the intention and -decrees of Galerius. The survivors of these long-famous -regiments were marched out of Rome away -from the Circus, the Theatre of Pompeius, and the -Baths, and were set to do their share in the guarding -of the Rhine and the Danube. Whether they bore -the change as voluntarily as the Panegyrist suggests<a id='r49' /><a href='#f49' class='c016'><sup>[49]</sup></a> -is doubtful, and we may question whether they so -soon forgot in their rude cantonments the fleshpots -and “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>deliciæ</i></span>” of the capital. But the expulsion was -final. The Prætorians ceased to exist. Rome may -have been glad to see the empty barracks, for the -Prætorians had been hated and feared. But the -vacant quarters also spoke eloquently of the fact -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>that Rome was no longer the mistress of the world. -The “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>domina gentium</i></span>,” the “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>regina terrarum</i></span>” without -her Prætorians, was a thing unthinkable.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine only stayed two months in Rome, -but in that short time, says Nazarius, he cured all -the maladies which the six years’ savage tyranny of -Maxentius had brought upon the city. He restored -to their confiscated estates all who had been exiled -or deprived of their property during the recent reign -of terror. He shewed himself easy of approach; his -ears were the most patient of listeners; he charmed -all by his kindliness, dignity, and good humour. -To the Senate he shewed unwonted deference. -Diocletian, during his solitary visit to Rome just -prior to his retirement, had treated the senators -with brusqueness, and hardly concealed his contempt -for their mouldy dignities. Constantine preferred to -conciliate them. According to Nazarius, he invested -with senatorial rank a number of representative provincials, -so that the Senate once more became a -dignified body in reality as well as in name, now -that it consisted of the flower of the whole world.<a id='r50' /><a href='#f50' class='c016'><sup>[50]</sup></a> -Probably this signifies little more than that Constantine -filled up the vacancies with respectable nominees, -spoke the Senate fair, and swore to maintain -its ancient rights and privileges. The Emperor -certainly entertained no such quixotic idea as that -of giving the Senate a vestige of real governing -power or a share in the administration of the Empire. -In return for his consideration, the Senate -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>bestowed upon him the title of Senior Augustus, -and a golden statue, adorned, according to the Ninth -Panegyrist (c. 25), with the attributes of a god, while -all Italy subscribed for the shield and the crown.</p> - -<div id='i090' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp090.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME.<br /><span class='small'>PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The Senate also instituted games and festivals in -honour of Constantine’s victory, and voted him the -triumphal arch which still survives as one of the -most imposing ruins of Imperial Rome and a lasting -monument to the outrageous vandalism which -stripped the Arch of Titus of its sculptures to grace -the memorial of his successor. Under the central arch -on the one side is the dedication, “To the Liberator -of the City,” on the other, “To the Founder of -Our Repose” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Fundatori quietis</i></span>). Above stands the -famous inscription<a id='r51' /><a href='#f51' class='c016'><sup>[51]</sup></a> in which the Senate and people -of Rome dedicate this triumphal arch to Constantine -“because, at the suggestion of the divinity -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>instinctu divinitatis</i></span>), and at the prompting of his -own magnanimity, he and his army had vindicated -the Republic by striking down the tyrant and all his -satellites at a single blow.” “At the suggestion of -the divinity!” The words lead us naturally to discuss -the conversion of Constantine and the Vision of -the Cross.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span> -<img src='images/i_p237.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER VI</span> <br /> THE VISION OF THE CROSS AND THE EDICT OF <br /> MILAN</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>It was during the course of the successful invasion -of Italy, which culminated in the battle of the -Milvian Bridge and the capture of Rome, that there -took place—or was said to have taken place—the -famous vision of the cross, surrounded by the -words, “Conquer by This,” which accompanied the -triumph of Constantine’s arms. There are two main -authorities for the legend, Eusebius and Lactantius, -both, of course, Christians and uncompromising -champions of Constantine, with whom they were in -close personal contact. A third, though he makes -no mention of the cross, is Nazarius, the author of -the Tenth Panegyric. The variations which subsequent -writers introduce into the story relate merely -to details, or are obvious embroideries upon an -original legend, such, for example, as the statement -of Philostorgius that the words of promise around -the cross were written in stars. We need not -trouble, therefore, with the much later versions of -Sozomen, Socrates, Gregory of Nazianzen, and Nicephorus; -it will be enough to study the more or less -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>contemporary statements of Eusebius, Lactantius, -and Nazarius. And of these by far the fullest and -most important is that of Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, -who explicitly declares that he is repeating -the story as it was told to him by Constantine -himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius shews us the Emperor of Gaul anxiously -debating within his own mind whether his forces -were equal to the dangerous enterprise upon which -he had embarked. Maxentius had a formidable -army. He had also laboured to bring over to his -side the powers of heaven and hell. Constantine’s -information from Rome apprised him that Maxentius -was assiduously employing all the black arts of -magic and wizardry to gain the favour of the gods. -And Constantine grew uneasy and apprehensive, for -no one then disbelieved in the efficacy of magic, and -he considered whether he might not counterbalance -this undue advantage which Maxentius was obtaining -by securing the protecting services of some -equally potent deity. Such is the only possible -meaning of Eusebius’s words, ἐννοεῖ δῆτα ὁποῖον -δέοι θέον ἐπιγράψασθαι βοηθὸν—words which seem -strange in the twentieth century, but were natural -enough in the fourth. “He thought in his own -mind what sort of god he ought to secure as ally.” -And then, says his biographer, the idea occurred to -him that though his predecessors in the purple had -believed in a multiplicity of gods, the great majority -of them had perished miserably. The gods, at -whose altars they had offered rich sacrifice and -plenteous libation, had deserted them in their hour -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>of trouble, and had looked on unmoved while they -and their families were exterminated from off the -face of the earth, leaving scarcely so much as a -name or a recollection behind them. The gods had -cheated them and lured them to their doom with -suave promises of treacherous oracles. Whereas, on -the other hand, his father, Constantius, had believed -in but one god, and had marvellously prospered -throughout his life, helped and protected by this -single deity who had showered every blessing upon -his head. From such a contrast, what other deduction -could be drawn than that the god of Constantius -was the deity for Constantius’s son to honour? -Constantine resolved that it would be folly to waste -time or thought upon deities who were of no account -(περὶ τούς μηδὲν ὄντας θεοὺς). He would worship -no other god than the god of his father.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Such, according to Eusebius, is the first phase of -the Emperor’s conversion, a conviction not of sin, -but of the folly of worshipping gods who cannot or -will not do anything for their votaries. But this -god of his father, this single unnamed divinity, who -was it? Was it one of the gods of the Roman Pantheon, -Jupiter, or Apollo, or Hercules, whose special -protection Constantine had claimed for himself, as -Augustus had claimed that of Apollo, and Diocletian -that of Jupiter? Or was it the vague spirit of -deity itself, the τὸ θειον of the Greek philosophers, -the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>divinitas</i></span> of the cultured Roman, whose delicacy -was offended by the grossness of the exceedingly -human passions of the Roman gods and goddesses? -Obviously, it must be the latter, and Eusebius tells -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>us that Constantine offered up a prayer to this god -of his father, beseeching him, “to declare himself who -he was,” and to stretch forth his right hand to help. -“To declare himself who he was!” (φῆναι αὐτῷ -ἑαυτόν ὅστις εἴη). That had ever been the stumbling-block -in the way of the acceptance by the -masses of the immaterial principles propounded by -the philosophers. Constantine must have a god with -a name, and he must have a sign from heaven in -visible proof. Many have asked for such a sign -just as importunately (λιπαρῶς ἱκετεύοντι) as Constantine, -but without success. To him it was -vouchsafed.</p> - -<div id='i094' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp094.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>CONSTANTINE’S VISION OF THE CROSS, BY RAPHAEL.<br /><span class='small'>IN THE VATICAN. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The answer came one afternoon, when the sun -had just passed its zenith and was beginning to decline. -Lifting his eyes, the Emperor saw in the -heavens just above the sun the figure of a cross, a -cross of radiant light, and attached to it was the inscription, -“Conquer by This” (τούτῳ νίκα). Eusebius -admits that if any one else had told the story it -would not have been easy to believe it, but it was told -to him by the Emperor himself, who had confirmed -his words with a royal oath. How then was it possible -to doubt? Constantine was awe-struck at the -vision, which Eusebius expressly declares was seen -also by the entire army. All that afternoon the -Emperor pondered long upon the significance of -the words, and night fell while he was still asking -himself what they could mean. Then, as he slept, -Christ appeared to him in a dream, bearing with -Him the sign that had flamed in the sky, and bade -the sleeper make a copy of it and use it as a talisman -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>whenever he gave battle. As soon as dawn -broke, Constantine summoned his friends and told -them of the message he had received. Workers in -gold and precious stones were hastily sent for, and, -sitting in the midst of them, Constantine carefully -described the outline of the vision and bade them -execute a replica of it in their most precious materials. -This was the famous Labarum, fashioned -from a long gilded spear and a transverse bar. -Above was a crown of gold, with jewels encircling -the monogram of Christ, and from the bar depended -a rich purple cloth, heavily embroidered with gold, -blazing with jewels, and bearing the busts of Constantine -and his sons. It suggested the Cross just -as much but no more than did the ordinary cavalry -standards of the Roman armies; the sacred monogram -alone indicated the supreme change which -had come over the Emperor, who, in answer to his -prayer, had thus found that the single Deity which -his father, Constantius, had worshipped was none -other than Christ, the God of the Christians. For -the Emperor, desiring to know more of the Cross -and the Christ, summoned certain Christian teachers -in his camp to explain these things more fully to -him, and they told him that “Christ was God, the -only begotten Son of the one true God, and that -the vision he had seen was the symbol of immortality -and of the victory which Christ had won over -death.” Such, according to Eusebius, was the conversion -of Constantine, and such was the Emperor’s -own account of the circumstances which led up to -it. This was the official story, as it might have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>appeared in a Roman Court Circular at the time -when Eusebius wrote.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But when did Eusebius write <cite>The Life of Constantine</cite>, -from which we have taken this narrative? Not -until Constantine himself was dead, not, that is to -say, until after 337, fully a quarter of a century after -the event described. The date is important. In -twenty-five years a story may be transfigured out of -all knowledge through constant repetition by the -narrator, to say nothing of the changes it suffers if -it passes in active circulation from mouth to mouth. -Has this been the fate of the story of the Vision of -the Cross? <cite>The Life of Constantine</cite> was not the -first volume of contemporary history published by -Eusebius. He had already written a <cite>History of the -Church</cite>, which he issued to the world in 326. What, -then, had the author to say in that year about this -marvellous vision? Nothing. There is not a word -about the flaming cross, or the coming of Christ to -Constantine in a dream, or the fashioning of the Labarum. -All Eusebius says, in his <cite>History</cite>, of the -conversion of Constantine, is that the Emperor -“piously called to his aid the God of Heaven and -his son Jesus Christ.” It is a strange silence. -If the heavenly cross had been seen by the whole -army; if the current version of the story had been -the same in 326 as it was in 337, it is at least difficult -to understand why Eusebius omitted all mention -of an event which must have been the talk of -the whole Roman world and must have made the -heart of every Christian exult. Such manifest signs -from Heaven were scarcely so common in the opening -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>of the fourth century that an ecclesiastical historian -would think any allusion to it unnecessary. -The argument from silence is never absolutely conclusive, -but the reticence of Eusebius in 326 at least -warrants a strong suspicion that the legend had not -then crystallised itself into its final shape.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Of even greater importance are the extraordinary -discrepancies between the versions of Eusebius and -Lactantius. Lactantius wrote his treatise <cite>On the -Deaths of the Persecutors</cite> very shortly after the battle -of the Milvian Bridge, and it has a special value, -therefore, as containing the earliest account of the -vision. The author, who was the tutor of the Emperor’s -son, Crispus, must have known all there was -to be known of the incident, for he lived in the closest -intimacy with the court circle. We should confidently -expect, therefore, that the author who retails -verbatim the conversation of Diocletian and Galerius -in the penetralia of the palace of Nicomedia would -be fully aware of what took place in full view of -Constantine’s army.</p> - -<p class='c001'>What then is the version of Lactantius? It is -that just before the battle of the Milvian Bridge, -Constantine was warned in a dream to have the -divine sign of the cross (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>cœleste signum</i></span>) inscribed on -the shields of his soldiers before leading them to the -attack. He did as he was bidden, and the letter <img class="inline" src="images/x.jpg" width="16" alt="x" />, -with one of the bars slightly bent—thus, <img class="inline" src="images/signum.jpg" width="16" alt="signum" />—to -form the sacred monogram, was placed upon his -legionaries’ shields. Such is the legend in its earliest -guise. There is not a word about Constantine’s -anxiety and searching of soul. The event is placed, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>not at the opening of the campaign, as Eusebius -would seem to suggest though he does not expressly -say so, but on the eve of the decisive battle. There -is nothing about the cross flaming in the afternoon -sky, nothing of the inscription, “Conquer by This,” -nothing of the entire army being witness of the portent. -Constantine simply has a dream and is -warned (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>commonitus</i></span>) to place the initial of Christ on -his soldiers’ shields. It is not even said who gave -the warning; there is not a hint that it was Christ -Himself—as in the story of Eusebius—who appeared -to Constantine; there is no mention of the -Labarum. Obviously, Lactantius was aware of -no triumphant answer to Constantine’s prayer for -a sign. According to him, the Emperor was merely -warned in a dream that victory would reward him -if he dedicated his weapons to the honour and -service of Christ.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We come back, therefore, to the official version -of Eusebius somewhat shaken in our belief of its literal -accuracy. Let us note, too, the extreme vagueness -of the time and the place where the incident is -reported to have taken place, and remember that one -who had dwelt with Diocletian and Galerius when -they signed the edicts of persecution could not -possibly have been ignorant of the principles of -Christianity, which was no longer the religion of -an obscure sect. We need not, indeed, find any -difficulty in accepting the first part of the story -of Eusebius in so far as it represents Constantine -anxiously enquiring after divine protection. It -has been urged, very shrewdly, that the story would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>have been idealised if it had been altogether invented. -Constantine was afraid that he had rashly -committed himself and that Maxentius had already -secured the favour of the Roman gods. His objective, -too, was Rome, still regarded with superstitious -dread and reverence throughout the world, -and reverenced all the more, no doubt, in proportion -as distance lent enchantment to the view. What -then more natural than that he should take for -granted that, if ever the gods of Rome had interfered -in mortal affairs, they would do so now on -behalf of Maxentius, who had been raised to empire -as Rome’s champion? Constantine was not one of -those rarer and choicer spirits, who seek truth for -its own sake without regard for material advantage. -Conversion in his case did not mean some sudden -or even gradual change permanently altering his -outlook upon life, and refining and transmuting -personal character. It merely meant worshipping -at another shrine, entering another temple, reciting -another formula. His ruling motive was ambition. -He would worship the god who should bring victory -to his arms. The intensity of his conviction -was to be measured by the extent of his success -and by the height to which he carried his fortunes.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But what of the second part of the story—the vision -of the cross flaming in the sky in full view of -Constantine and his army? Even those who admit -miracles into critical history allow that the evidence -for this one is exceedingly inconclusive. We need -not doubt that Eusebius related the story just as it -was told to him by Constantine, though the Bishop, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>if there were choice of versions, would unhesitatingly -accept the one which contained most of the -miraculous and the abnormal. Nor does the oath -which Constantine swore in support of his story add -anything to its credibility. It was his habit to swear -an oath when he wished to be emphatic. Are we, -then, to consider that the whole legend was an invention -of the Emperor’s from beginning to end? In -this connection it is important to take into account -the narrative of Nazarius, a rhetorician who delivered -a formal panegyric upon Constantine on the anniversary -of his tenth year of rule, and took the opportunity -of reviewing the whole campaign against -Maxentius. Nazarius was a pagan; what then was -the pagan version, if any, of the miracle described -by Eusebius and the Emperor? Did the pagans attribute -divine assistance to Constantine throughout -this critical campaign? The answer is unmistakable. -They did so most unequivocally. Nazarius -tells us<a id='r52' /><a href='#f52' class='c016'><sup>[52]</sup></a> that all Gaul was talking with awe -and wonder of the marvels which had taken place, -how the soldiers of Constantine had seen in the sky -celestial armies marching in battle array and had -been dazzled by their flashing shields and glittering -armour. Not only had the dull eyes of earthly men -for once availed to look upon heavenly brightness; -Constantine’s soldiery had also heard the shouts of -these armies in the sky, “We seek Constantine; we -are marching to the aid of Constantine.”<a id='r53' /><a href='#f53' class='c016'><sup>[53]</sup></a> Clearly -the pagan as well as the Christian world insisted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>upon attributing divine assistance to Constantine -and had its own version of how that succour came. -Nazarius’s explanation was simple. According to -him, it was Constantius Chlorus, the deified Emperor, -who was leading up the hosts of heaven, and such -miraculous intervention was due to the supreme -virtue of the father, which had descended to the son.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The question at once arises whether this is merely -a pagan version of the Christian legend. Unable to -deny the miracle, did the pagans, in order to rob -the Christians of this wonderful testimony to the -truth of their religion, invent the story of Constantius -and the heavenly hosts? Such a theory is -absolutely untenable. It leaves out of sight the all-important -fact that public opinion in the fourth century—as -indeed for many centuries both before and -after—was not only willing to believe in supernatural -intervention at moments of great crisis, but -actually insisted that there should be such intervention. -The greater the crisis, the more entirely reasonable -it was that some deity or deities should -make their influence especially felt and turn the -scale to one side or the other. Every Roman believed -that Castor and Pollux had fought for Rome -in the supreme struggle against Hannibal. Julius -believed that the favour of Venus Genetrix, the -special patroness of the Julian House, had helped -him to win the battle of Pharsalus. Augustus was -just as certain that Apollo had fought on his side at -Philippi and at Actium. It was easy—and modest—for -the winner to believe in his protecting deity’s -strength of arm.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>One curious phrase employed by Nazarius is worth -noting. It is that in which he claims that the special -interference of Heaven on behalf of Constantine was -not merely an extraordinary and gratifying tribute to -the Emperor’s virtues, but that it was no more than -his due. In short, the crisis was so tremendous that -Heaven would have stood convicted of a strange -failure to see events in their just proportion if it had -not done “some great thing,” and wrought some -corresponding wonder. Such was the idea at the -back of Nazarius’s mind; we suspect that it was not -wanting in the mind of Eusebius or of Constantine. -We may put the matter paradoxically and say that -a miracle in those days was not much considered unless -it was a very great one. People who were accustomed -to see—or to think that they saw—statues -sweating blood, and to hear words proceeding from -lips of bronze or marble, and were accustomed to -treat such untoward events merely as portents denoting -that something unusual was about to happen, -must have been difficult people to surprise. Naturally, -therefore, legends grew more and more marvellous -with repetition after the event. The oftener a -man told such a story the less appeal it would make -to his own wonder, unless he fortified it with some -new incident. But to impress one’s auditors it is -above all things necessary to be impressed oneself. -Hence the well-garnished narrative of Nazarius. The -idea of armies marching along the sky was common -enough. Any one can imagine he sees the glint of -weapons as the sun strikes the clouds. But this does -not satisfy the professional rhetorician. He bids us -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>see the proud look in the faces of the heavenly hosts, -and distinguish the cries with which they move to -battle. But if Nazarius is suspect, why not Eusebius -and Constantine? Unless, indeed, there is to -be one standard for pagan and another for Christian -miracles!</p> - -<p class='c001'>But was there some unusual manifestation in the -sky which was the common basis of the stories of -Eusebius and Nazarius? It is not unreasonable to -suppose so. Scientists say that the natural phenomenon -known as the parhelion not infrequently assumes -the shape of a cross, and Dean Stanley, while -discussing this possible explanation in his <cite>Lectures -on the Eastern Church</cite>, instanced the extraordinary -impression made upon the minds of the vulgar by -the aurora borealis of November, 1848. He recalled -how, throughout France, the people thought they -saw in the sky the letters L. N.—the initials of -Louis Napoleon—and took them as a clear indication -from Heaven of how they ought to vote at the impending -Presidential election, and as an omen of the -result. That was the interpretation in France. In -Rome—where the people knew and cared nothing -for Louis Napoleon—no one saw the Napoleonic initials. -The lurid gleam in the sky was there thought -to be the blood of the murdered Rossi, which had -risen to heaven and was calling for vengeance. In -Oporto, on the other hand, the conscience-stricken -populace thought the fire was coming down from -heaven to punish them for their profligacy. If such -varying interpretations of a natural if rare phenomenon -were possible in the middle of the nineteenth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>century, what interpretation was not possible in the -fourth? The world was profoundly superstitious. -When people believe in manifest signs they usually -see them. Some Polonius, gifted either with better -vision or livelier imagination than his fellows, declares -that he can distinguish clear and definite shapes -amid the vague outline of the clouds; the report -spreads; the legend grows. And when legends are -found to serve a useful purpose the authorities lend -them countenance, guarantee their accuracy, and -even take to themselves the credit of their authorship. -At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war a strange -story came from St. Petersburg that the Russian -moujiks were passing on from village to village the -legend that St. George had been seen in the skies -leading his hosts to the Far East against the infidel -Japanese. Had Russian victories followed, what -better “proof” of celestial aid could have been desired? -But as disaster ensued, it is to be supposed -that St. George remembered midway that he also -had interests in the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and -remained strictly neutral.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But though we may be justly sceptical of the circumstances -attending the conversion of Constantine, -there is no room to doubt the conversion itself. -We do not believe that he fought the battle of the -Milvian Bridge as the avowed champion of Christianity, -but the probabilities are that he had made -up his mind to become a Christian when he fought -it. The miraculous vision in the heavens, the -dream in the quiet of the night, the appearance of -Christ by the bedside of the Emperor—as to these -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>things we may keep an open mind, but the fashioning -of the Labarum—the sacred standard which -was preserved for so many centuries as the most -precious of imperial heirlooms and was seen and -described as late as the ninth century—this was the -outward and visible proof of the change which had -come over the Emperor. He had abandoned Apollo -for Christ. The sun-god had been the favourite -deity of his youth and early manhood, as it had been -of Augustus Cæsar, the founder of the Empire, and -the originator of the close association between the -worship of Apollo and the worship of the reigning -Cæsar. Constantine would not fail to note that many -of the most gracious attributes of Apollo belonged -also to Christ.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He soon manifested the sincerity of his conversion. -After a short stay in Rome, he went north to -Milan, where he gave the hand of his sister, Constantia, -to his ally, Licinius. Diocletian was invited, but -declined to make the journey. The two Emperors, -no doubt, desired to secure the prestige of his moral -support in their mutual hostility to the Emperor of -the East, and the benefit of his counsel in their deliberations -upon the state of the Empire. But even -if Diocletian had been tempted to leave his cabbages -to join in the marriage festivities and the political -conference at Milan, we imagine that he would still -have declined if he had been given any hint of the -intentions of Constantine and Licinius with respect -to the great question of religious toleration or persecution. -He might have been candid enough to -admit the failure of his policy, but he would still -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>have shrunk from proclaiming it with his own lips. -For, before the festivities at Milan were interrupted -by the news that Maximin had thrown down the -gage of battle, Constantine and Licinius issued in -their joint names the famous Edict of Milan, which -proclaimed for the first time in its absolute entirety -the noble principle of complete religious toleration. -Despite their length, it will be well to give in full -the more important clauses. They are found in the -text which has been happily preserved by Lactantius<a id='r54' /><a href='#f54' class='c016'><sup>[54]</sup></a> -in the original Latin, while we also have the -edict in Greek in the <cite>Ecclesiastical History</cite> of Eusebius -(x. 5). It runs as follows:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Inasmuch as we, Constantine Augustus and Licinius -Augustus, have met together at Milan on a joyful occasion, -and have discussed all that appertains to the -public advantage and safety, we have come to the conclusion -that, among the steps likely to profit the majority -of mankind and demanding immediate attention, nothing -is more necessary than to regulate the worship of the -Divinity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We have decided, therefore, to grant both to the -Christians and to all others perfect freedom to practise -the religion which each has thought best for himself, -that so whatever Divinity resides in heaven may be placated, -and rendered propitious to us and to all who have -been placed under our authority. Consequently, we -have thought this to be the policy demanded alike by -healthy and sound reason—that no one, on any pretext -whatever, should be denied freedom to choose his religion, -whether he prefers the Christian religion or any -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>other that seems most suited to him, in order that the -Supreme Divinity, whose observance we obey with free -minds, may in all things vouchsafe to us its usual favours -and benevolences.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Wherefore, it is expedient for your Excellency to know -that we have resolved to abolish every one of the stipulations -contained in all previous edicts sent to you with -respect to the Christians, on the ground that they now -seem to us to be unjust and alien from the spirit of our -clemency.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Henceforth, in perfect and absolute freedom, each and -every person who chooses to belong to and practise -the Christian religion shall be at liberty to do so without -let or hindrance in any shape or form.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We have thought it best to explain this to your Excellency -in the fullest possible manner that you may -know that we have accorded to these same Christians -a free and absolutely unrestricted right to practise their -own religion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And inasmuch as you see that we have granted this -indulgence to the Christians, your Excellency will understand -that a similarly free and unrestricted right, conformable -to the peace of our times, is granted to all -others equally to practise the religion of their choice. -We have resolved upon this course that no one and no -religion may seem to be robbed of the honour that is -their due.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Then follow the most explicit instructions for the -restoration to the Christians of the properties of -which they had been robbed during the persecutions, -though the robbery had been committed in accordance -with imperial command. Whether a property -had been simply confiscated, or sold, or given away, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>it was to be handed back without the slightest cost -and without any delays or ambiguities (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Postposita -omni frustratione atque ambiguitate</i></span>). Purchasers -who had bought such properties in good faith were -to be indemnified from the public treasury by grace -of the Emperor.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But the abiding interest of this celebrated edict -lies in the general principles there clearly enunciated. -Every man, without distinction of rank or nationality, -is to have absolute freedom to choose and practise -the religion which he deems most suited to his -needs (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Libera atque absoluta colendæ religionis suæ -facultas</i></span>). The phrase is repeated with almost wearisome -iteration, but the principle was novel and -strange, and one can see the anxiety of the framers -of this edict that there shall be no possible loophole -for misunderstanding. Everybody is to have free -choice; all previous anti-Christian enactments are -annulled; not only is no compulsion to be employed -against the Christian, he is not even to be troubled -or annoyed (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Citra ullam inquietudinem ac molestiam</i></span>). -The novelty lay not so much in the toleration of the -existence of Christianity,—both Constantine and -Licinius had two years before signed the edict -whereby Galerius put an end to the persecution,—but -in its formal official recognition by the State.</p> - -<p class='c001'>What motives, then, are assigned by the Emperors -for this notable change of policy? Certainly not -humanity. Nothing is said of the terrors of the late -persecutions and the horrible sufferings of the Christians—there -is merely a bald reference to previous -edicts which the Emperors consider “unjust and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>alien from the spirit of our clemency” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Sinistra et -a nostra clementia aliena esse</i></span>). There is no appeal -to political necessity, such as the exhaustion of the -world and its palpable need of rest. The motives -assigned are purely religious. The Emperors proclaim -religious toleration in order that they and -their subjects may continue to receive the blessings -of Heaven. One of them at least had just emerged -victoriously from the manifold hazards of an invasion -of Italy. Surely we can trace a reference to the -battle of the Milvian Bridge and the overthrow of -Maxentius in the mention of “the Divine favour -towards us, which we have experienced in affairs of -the highest moment” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Divinus juxta nos favor quem -in tantis sumus rebus experti</i></span>). What Constantine -and Licinius hope to secure is a continuance of the -favour and benevolence of the Supreme Divinity, -the patronage of the ruling powers of the sky. The -phraseology is important. The name of God is not -mentioned—only the vague “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Summa Divinitas</cite></span>,“ -”<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Divinus favor</i></span>,” and the still more curious and -non-committal phrase, “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Quicquid est Divinitatis in -sede cœlesti</i></span>.” In Eusebius the same phrase appears -in a form still more nebulous (ὅτι ποτέ ἐστι θειότης -<a id='corr110.25'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_110.25'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> οὐρανίου πράγματος). A pagan philosopher, -more than half sceptical as to the existence of a personal -God, might well employ such language, but it -reads strangely in an official edict.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But then this edict was to bear the joint names -of Constantine and Licinius. Constantine might be -a Christian, but Licinius was still a pagan, and Licinius -was not his vassal, but his equal. He would certainly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>not have been prepared to set his name to an -edict which pledged him to personal adherence to the -Christian faith. Constantine, in the flush of triumph, -would insist that the persecution of the Christians -should cease, and that the Christian religion should -be officially recognised. Licinius would raise no -objection. But they would speedily find, when it -came to drafting a joint edict, that the only religious -ground common to them both was very limited in -extent, and that the only way to preserve a semblance -of unity was to employ the vaguest phraseology -which each might interpret in his own fashion. -If we can imagine the Pope and the Caliph drafting -a joint appeal to mankind which necessitated the -mention of the Higher Power, they would find themselves -driven to use words as cloudy and indistinct -as the “Whatever Divinity there is and heavenly -substance” of Eusebius. No, it was not that Constantine’s -mind was in the transitional stage; it was -rather that he had to find a common platform for -himself and Licinius.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But to have converted Licinius at all to an -official recognition of the Christians and complete -toleration was a great achievement, for the principle, -as we have said, was entirely new. M. Gaston -Boissier, in discussing this point, recalls how even -the broad-minded Plato had found no place in his -ideal republic for those who disbelieved in the gods -of their fatherland and of the city of their birth. -Even if they kept their opinions to themselves and -did not seek to disturb the faith of others, Plato -insisted upon their being placed in a House of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>Correction—it is true he calls it a Sophronisterion, or -House of Wisdom—for five years, where they were -to listen to a sermon every day; while, if they were -zealous propagandists of their pernicious doctrines, -he proposed to keep them all their lives in horrible -dungeons and deny their bodies after death the -right of sepulture. How, one wonders, would Socrates -have fared in such a state? No better, we -fancy, than he fared in his own city of Athens. -But, throughout antiquity, every lawgiver took the -same view, that a good citizen must accept without -question the gods of his native place who had been -the gods of his fathers; and it was a simple step -from that position to the stern refusal to allow a -man, in the vigorous words of the Old Testament, -to go a-whoring after other gods. “For I, thy God, -am a jealous God.” The God of the Jews was not -more jealous than the gods of the Assyrians, the -Egyptians, the Greeks, or the Romans would like -to have been, had they had the same power of -concise expression.</p> - -<p class='c001'>What was the theory of the State religion in -Rome? Cicero tells us in a well-known passage in -his treatise <cite>On the Laws</cite>, where he quotes the -ancient formula, “Let no man have separate gods of -his own: nor let people privately worship new gods -or alien gods, unless they have been publicly admitted.”<a id='r55' /><a href='#f55' class='c016'><sup>[55]</sup></a> -Nothing could be more explicit. But -theory and practice in Rome had a habit of becoming -divorced from one another. It is a notorious -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>fact that, as Rome’s conquering eagles flew -farther afield, the legions and the merchants who followed -in their track brought all manner of strange gods -back to the city, where every wandering Chaldæan -thaumaturgist, magician, or soothsayer found welcome -and profit, and every stray goddess—especially -if her rites had mysteries attached to them—received -a comfortable home. In a word, Rome -found new religions just as fascinating—for a season -or two—as do the capitals of the modern world, -and these new religions were certainly not “publicly -admitted” by the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Pontifex Maximus</i></span> and the representatives -of the State religion. Occasionally, -usually after some outbreak of pestilence or because -an Emperor was nervous at the presence of so many -swarthy charlatans devoting themselves to the -Black Arts, an order of expulsion would be issued -and there would be a fluttering of the dove-cotes. -But they came creeping back one by one, as the -storm blew over. While, therefore, in theory the -gods of Rome were jealous, in practice they were -not so. The easy scepticism or eclecticism of the -cultured Roman was conducive to tolerance. -Cicero’s famous sentence in the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pro Flacco</cite></span>, “Each -state has its own religion, Lælius: we have ours,” -shews how little of the religious fanatic there was -in the average Roman, who stole the gods of the -people he conquered and made them his own, so -that they might acquiesce in the Roman domination. -The Roman was tolerant enough in private life -towards other people’s religious convictions: all he -asked was reciprocity, and that was precisely what -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>the Christian would not and could not give him. -If the Christian would have sacrificed at the altars -of the State gods, the Roman would never have -objected to his worship of Christ for his own private -satisfaction. There lies the secret of the persecutions, -and of the fierce anti-Christian hatreds.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine and Licinius, by their edict of recognition -and toleration, “publicly admitted” into the -Roman worship the God of the Christians.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p114.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span> -<img src='images/i_p115.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c019'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER VII</span> <br /> THE DOWNFALL OF LICINIUS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>It will be convenient in this chapter to present a -connected narrative of the course of political -events from the Edict of Milan in 313 down to the -overthrow of Licinius by Constantine in 324. We -have seen that Maximin Daza never moved a single -soldier to help his ally, Maxentius, during Constantine’s -invasion of Italy, though he soon gave practical -proof that his hostility had not abated by -invading the territory of Licinius. The attack was -clearly not expected. Licinius was still at Milan, and -his troops had probably been drawn off into winter -quarters, when the news came that Maximin had -collected a powerful army in Syria, had marched -through to Bithynia regardless of the sufferings of -his legions and the havoc caused in the ranks by the -severity of the season, and had succeeded in crossing -the Bosphorus. Apparently, Maximin was besieging -Byzantium before Licinius was ready to -move from Italy to confront him.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Byzantium capitulated after a siege of eleven -days and Heraclea did not offer a prolonged resistance. -By this time, however, Licinius was getting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>within touch of the invader and preparations were -made on both sides for a pitched battle. The numbers -of Licinius’s army were scarcely half those -of his rival, but Maximin was completely routed on -a plain called Serenus, near the city of Adrianople, -and fled for his life, leaving his broken battalions to -shift for themselves. Lactantius, in describing the -engagement,<a id='r56' /><a href='#f56' class='c016'><sup>[56]</sup></a> represents it as having been a duel -to the death between Christianity and paganism. -He says that Maximin had vowed to eradicate the -very name of the Christians if Jupiter favoured his -arms; while Licinius had been warned by an angel -of God in a dream that, if he wished to make infallibly -sure of victory, he and his army had only to -recite a prayer to Almighty God which the angel -would dictate to him. Licinius at once sent for -a secretary and the prayer was taken down. It ran -as follows:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“God most High, we call upon Thee; Holy God, we -call upon Thee. We commend to Thee all justice; we -commend to Thee our safety; we commend to Thee our -sovereignty. Through Thee we live; through Thee we -gain victory and happiness. Most High and Holy God, -hear our prayers. We stretch out our arms to Thee. -Hear us, Most High and Holy God.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Such was the talismanic prayer of which the -Emperor’s secretary made hurried copies, distributing -them to the general officers and the tribunes of -the legions, with instructions that the troops were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>at once to get the words off by heart. When the -armies moved against one another in battle array, -the legions of Licinius at a given signal laid down -their shields, removed their helmets, and, lifting their -hands to heaven, recited in unison these rhythmic -sentences with their strangely effective repetitions. -Lactantius tells us that the murmur of the prayer -was borne upon the ears of the doomed army of the -enemy. Then, after a brief colloquy between the -rivals, in which Maximin refused to offer or agree to -any concession, because he believed that the soldiers -of Licinius would come over to him in a body, the -armies charged and the standard of Maximin went -down.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is a striking story, and we may easily understand -that Licinius, fresh from his meeting with Constantine -and with vivid recollection of how valiantly -this <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Summus Deus</i></span> had fought for his ally against -Maxentius, would be ready to believe beforehand -in the efficacy of any supernatural warning conveyed -by any supernatural “minister of grace.” -We may note, too, the splendid vagueness of the -Deity invoked in the prayer. Lactantius, of course, -claims that this Most High and Holy God is none -other than the God of the Christians, but there was -nothing to prevent the votary of Jupiter, of Apollo, -of Mithra, of Baal, or of Balenus, from thinking that -he was imploring the aid of his own familiar deity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Maximin fled from the scene of carnage as though -he had been pursued by all the Cabiri. Throwing -aside his purple and assuming the garb of a slave—it -is Lactantius, however, who is speaking—he crossed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>the Bosphorus, and, within twenty-four hours of quitting -the field, reached once more the palace of Nicomedia—a -distance of a hundred and sixty miles. -Taking his wife and children with him, he hurried -through the defiles of the Taurus, summoned to -his side whatever troops he had left behind in Syria -and Egypt, and awaited the oncoming of Licinius, -who followed at leisure in his tracks. The end was -not long delayed. Maximin’s soldiers regarded his -cause as lost, and despairing of clemency, he took -his own life at Tarsus. His provinces passed without -a struggle into the hands of Licinius, who butchered -every surviving member of Maximin’s family.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Nor had the victor pity even for two ladies of -imperial rank, whose misfortunes and sufferings excited -the deepest compassion in that stony-hearted -age. These were Prisca, the wife of Diocletian, and -her daughter Valeria, the widow of the Emperor -Galerius. On his death-bed Galerius had entrusted -his wife to the care and the gratitude of Maximin, -whom he had raised from obscurity to a throne. -Maximin repaid his confidence by pressing Valeria -to marry him and offering to divorce his own wife. -Valeria returned an indignant and high-spirited refusal. -She would never think of marriage, she said,<a id='r57' /><a href='#f57' class='c016'><sup>[57]</sup></a> -while still wearing mourning for a husband whose -ashes were not yet cold. It was monstrous that -Maximin should seek to divorce a faithful wife, and, -even if she assented to his proposal, she had clear -warning of what was likely to be her own fate. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>Finally, it was not becoming that the daughter of -Diocletian and the widow of Galerius should stoop -to a second marriage. Maximin took a bitter revenge. -He reduced Valeria to penury, marked -down all her friends for ruin, and finally drove her -into exile with her mother, Prisca, who nobly shared -the sufferings of the daughter whom she could not -shield. Lactantius tells us that the two imperial -ladies wandered miserably through the Syrian -wastes, while Maximin took delight in spurning the -overtures of the aged Diocletian, who sent repeated -messages begging that his daughter might be allowed -to go and live with him at Salona. Maximin refused -even when Diocletian sent one of his relatives -to remind him of past benefits, and the two -unfortunate ladies knew no alleviation of their -troubles. When the tyrant fell, they probably -thought that the implacable hatred with which -Maximin had pursued them would be their best -recommendation to the favour of Licinius. Again, -however, they were disappointed, for Licinius, in -his jealous anxiety to spare no one connected with -the families of his predecessors in the purple, ordered -the execution of Candidianus, a natural son -of Galerius, who had been brought up by Valeria as -her own child. In despair, therefore, the two ladies, -who had boldly gone to Nicomedia, fled from the -scene and “wandered for fifteen months, disguised as -plebeians, through various provinces,”<a id='r58' /><a href='#f58' class='c016'><sup>[58]</sup></a> until they -had the misfortune to be recognised at Thessalonica. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>They were at once beheaded and their bodies -thrown into the sea, amid the pitying sympathy of a -vast throng which dared not lift a hand to save -them.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine and Licinius now shared between -them the whole of the Roman Empire. They were -allies, but their alliance did not long stand the strain -of their respective ambitions. Each had won an easy -victory over his antagonist, and each was confident -that his legions would suffice to win him undivided -empire. We know very little of the pretexts assigned -for the quarrel which culminated in the war -of 316. Zosimus throws the blame upon Constantine, -whom he accuses of not keeping faith and of -trying to filch from Licinius some of his provinces. -But as the sympathies of Zosimus were strongly -pagan and as he invariably imputed the worst possible -motive to Constantine, it is fairest and most reasonable -to suppose that the two Emperors simply quarrelled -over the division of the Empire. Constantine -had given the hand of his half-sister Anastasia to -one of his generals, named Bassianus, whom he had -raised to the dignity of a Cæsar. But for some -reason left unexplained—possibly because Constantine -granted only the title, without the legions and -the provinces, of a Cæsar—Bassianus became discontented -with his position and entered into an -intrigue with Licinius. Constantine discovered the -plot, put Bassianus to death, and demanded from -Licinius the surrender of Senecio, a brother of the -victim and a relative of Licinius. The demand was -refused; some statues of Constantine were demolished -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>by Licinius’s orders at Æmona (Laybach) -and war ensued.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The armies met in the autumn of 316 near Cibalis, -in Pannonia, between the rivers Drave and Save. -Neither Emperor led into the field anything approaching -the full strength he was able to muster; -Licinius is said to have had only 35,000 men and -Constantine no more than 20,000. From Zosimus’s -highly rhetorical account of the battle<a id='r59' /><a href='#f59' class='c016'><sup>[59]</sup></a> we gather -that Constantine chose a position between a steep -hill and an impassable morass, and repulsed the -charge of the legions of Licinius. Then as he -advanced into the plain in pursuit of the enemy, he -was checked by some fresh troops which Licinius -brought up, and a long and stubborn contest lasted -until nightfall, when Constantine decided the fortunes -of the day by an irresistible charge. Licinius -is said to have lost 20,000 men in this encounter, -more than fifty per cent. of his entire force, and he -beat a hurried retreat, leaving his camp to be plundered -by the victor, whose own losses must also -have been severe.</p> - -<p class='c001'>A few weeks later the battle was renewed on the -plain of Mardia in Thrace. Licinius had evidently -been strongly reinforced from Asia, for, though he -was again defeated after a hotly contested battle, -he was able to effect an orderly retreat and draw off -his beaten troops without disorder—a rare thing in -the annals of Roman warfare, where defeat usually -involved destruction. Constantine is said to have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>owed his victory to his superior generalship and to -the skill with which he timed a surprise attack of -five thousand of his men upon the rear of the -enemy. Yet we may be certain that he would not -have consented to treat with Licinius for peace had -he not had considerable cause for anxiety about the -final issue of the campaign. However, his two -victories, while not sufficiently decisive to enable -him to dictate any terms he chose, at least gave him -the authoritative word in the negotiations which -ensued, and sealed the doom of the unfortunate -Valens, whom Licinius had just appointed Cæsar. -When Licinius’s envoy spoke of his two imperial -masters, Licinius and Valens, Constantine retorted -that he recognised but one, and bluntly stated that -he had not endured tedious marches and won a -succession of victories, only to share the prize with -a contemptible slave. Licinius sacrificed his lieutenant -without compunction and consented to hand -over to Constantine Illyria and its legions, with the -important provinces of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Moesia, -and Dacia. The only foothold left him on the Continent -of Europe, out of all that had previously been -included in the eastern half of the Empire, was the -province of Thrace.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At the same time, the two Emperors agreed to -elevate their sons to the rank of Cæsar. Constantine -bestowed the dignity upon Crispus, the son of -his first marriage with Minervina. Crispus was now -in the promise of early manhood, and had proved -his valour, and won his spurs in the recent campaign. -Licinius gave the title to his son Licinianus, an infant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>no more than twenty months old. These appointments -are important, for they shew how completely -the system of Diocletian had broken down. The Emperors -appointed Cæsars out of deference to the -letter of that constitution, but they outrageously -violated its spirit by appointing their own sons, and -when the choice fell on an infant, insult was added -to injury. It was plain warning to all the world -that Constantine and Licinius meant to keep power -in their own hands. When, a few years later, three -sons were born to Constantine and Fausta in quick -succession, the eldest, who was given the name of -his father, was created Cæsar shortly after his birth. -No doubt the Empress—herself an Emperor’s -daughter—demanded that her son should enjoy -equal rank with the son of the low-born Minervina, -and the probabilities are that Constantine already -looked forward to providing the young Princes with -patrimonies carved out of the territory of Licinius. -However, there was no actual rupture between the -two Emperors until 323, though relations had long -been strained.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We know comparatively little of what took place -in the intervening years. They were not, however, -years of unbroken peace. There was fighting both -on the Danube and the Rhine. The Goths and -the Sarmatæ, who had been taught such a severe -lesson by Claudius and Aurelian that they had left -the Danubian frontier undisturbed for half a century, -again surged forward and swept over Moesia and -Pannonia. We hear of several hard-fought battles -along the course of the river, and then, when Constantine, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>at the head of his legions, had driven out -the invader, he himself crossed the Danube and -compelled the barbarians to assent to a peace -whereby they pledged themselves to supply the -Roman armies, when required, with forty thousand -auxiliaries. The details of this campaign are exceedingly -obscure and untrustworthy. The Panegyrists -of the Emperor claimed that he had repeated -the triumphs of Trajan. Constantine himself is -represented by the mocking Julian as boasting that -he was a greater general than Trajan, because it is -a finer thing to win back what you have lost than -to conquer something which was not yours before. -The probabilities are that there took place one of -those alarming barbarian movements from which -the Roman Empire was never long secure, that Constantine -beat it back successfully, and gained victories -which were decisive enough at the moment, -but in which there was no real finality, because -no finality was possible. Probably it was the seriousness -of these Gothic and Sarmatian campaigns -which was chiefly responsible for the years of peace -between Constantine and Licinius. Until the barbarian -danger had been repelled, Constantine was -perforce obliged to remain on tolerable terms with -the Emperor of the East.</p> - -<p class='c001'>While the father was thus engaged on the Danube, -the son was similarly employed on the Rhine. The -young Cæsar, Crispus, already entrusted with the -administration of Gaul and Britain and the command -of the Rhine legions, won a victory over the Alemanni -in a winter campaign and distinguished -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>himself by the skill and rapidity with which he executed -a long forced march despite the icy rigours -of a severe season. It is Nazarius, the Panegyrist, -who refers<a id='r60' /><a href='#f60' class='c016'><sup>[60]</sup></a> in glowing sentences to this admirable -performance—carried through, he says, with “incredibly -youthful verve” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>incredibili juvenilitate -confecit</i></span>),—and praises Crispus to the skies as “the -most noble Cæsar of his august father.” When -that speech was delivered on the day of the Quinquennalia -of the Cæsars in 321, Constantine’s ears -did not yet grudge to listen to the eulogies of his -gallant son.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But there is one omission from the speech which -is exceedingly significant. It contains no mention -of Licinius, and no one reading the oration would -gather that there were two Emperors or that the -Empire was divided. Evidently, Constantine and -Licinius were no longer on good terms, and none -knew better than the Panegyrists of the Court the -art of suppressing the slightest word or reference -that might bring a frown to the brow of their imperial -auditor. But even two years before, in 319, -the names of Licinius and the boy, Cæsar Licinianus, -had ceased to figure on the consular Fasti—a -straw which pointed very clearly in which direction -the wind was blowing.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Zosimus attributes the war to the ambition of -Constantine; Eutropius roundly accuses<a id='r61' /><a href='#f61' class='c016'><sup>[61]</sup></a> him of -having set his heart upon acquiring the sovereignty -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>of the whole world. On the other hand, Eusebius<a id='r62' /><a href='#f62' class='c016'><sup>[62]</sup></a> -depicts Constantine as a magnanimous monarch, the -very pattern of humanity, long suffering of injury, -and forgiving to the point of seventy times seven -the ungrateful intrigues of the black-hearted Licinius. -According to the Bishop of Cæsarea, Constantine -had been the benefactor of Licinius, who, conscious -of his inferiority, plotted in secret until he -was driven into open enmity. But it is very evident -that the reason of Eusebius’s enmity to Licinius was -the anti-Christian policy into which the Emperor -had drifted, as soon as he became estranged from -Constantine. A more detailed description of Licinius’s -religious policy and of the new persecution -which broke out in his provinces will be found in -another chapter; here we need only point out -Eusebius’s anxiety to represent the cause of the -quarrel between the Emperors as being in the main -a religious one. He tells us<a id='r63' /><a href='#f63' class='c016'><sup>[63]</sup></a> that Licinius regarded -as traitors to himself those who were friendly -to his rival, and savagely attacked the bishops, who, -as he judged, were his most bitter opponents. The -phrase, not without reason, has given rise to the -suspicion that the Christian bishops of the East -were regarded as head centres of political disaffection, -and Licinius evidently suspected them of -preaching treason and acting as the agents of Constantine. -We have not sufficient data to enable us -to draw any sure inference, but the bishops could -not help contrasting the liberality of Constantine to -the Church, of which he was the open champion, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>with the reactionary policy of Licinius, which had at -length culminated in active persecution.</p> - -<div id='i126' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp126.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE WESTERN SIDE OF A PEDESTAL, SHOWING THE HOMAGE OF THE VANQUISHED GOTHS.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>But the dominant cause of this war is to be found -in political ambitions rather than in religious passions, -and if we must declare who of the two was -the aggressor, it is difficult to escape throwing the -blame upon Constantine. Licinius was advancing -in years. Even if he had not outlived his ambitions, -he can at least have had little taste for a -campaign in which he put all to the venture. Constantine, -on the other hand, was in the prime of life, -and the master of a well tried, disciplined, and -victorious army. The odds were on his side. He -had all the legions which could be spared from the -Rhine and the Danube, and all the auxiliaries from -the Illyrian and Pannonian provinces—the best -recruiting grounds in the Empire—to oppose to the -legions of Syria and Egypt. Constantine doubtless -seemed to the bishops to be entering the field as the -champion of the Church, but the real prize which -drew him on was universal dominion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>This time both Emperors exerted themselves to -make tremendous preparations for the struggle. -Zosimus describes how Constantine began a new -naval harbour at Thessalonica to accommodate the -two hundred war galleys and two thousand transports -which he had ordered to be built in his dock-yards. -He mobilised, if Zosimus is to be trusted, -120,000 infantry and 10,000 marines and cavalry. -Licinius, on the other hand, is said to have collected -150,000 foot and 15,000 horse. Whether these -numbers are trustworthy or not, it is evident that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>the two Emperors did their best to throw every -available man into the plain of Adrianople, where -the two hosts were separated by the river Hebrus. -Some days were spent in skirmishing and manœuvring; -then on July 3, 323, a decisive action was -brought on, which ended in the rout of the army of -Licinius. Constantine, whose tactical dispositions -seem to have been more skilful than those of Licinius, -secretly detached a force of 5000 archers to -occupy a position in the rear of the enemy, and -these used their bows with overwhelming effect at a -critical moment of the action, when Constantine -himself, at the head of another detachment, succeeded -in forcing a passage of the river. Constantine -received a slight wound in the thigh, but he -had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy driven from -their fortified camp and betake themselves in hurried -flight to the sheltering walls of Byzantium, -leaving 34,000 dead and wounded on the field -of battle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Byzantium was a stronghold which had fallen before -Maximin after a siege of eleven days, but we -may suppose that Licinius had looked well to its -fortifications with a view to such an emergency as -that in which he now found himself. He placed, -however, his chief reliance in his fleet, which was -nearly twice as numerous as that of Constantine. -Licinius had assembled 350 ships of war, levied, in -accordance with the practice of Rome, from the maritime -countries of Asia and Egypt. No fewer than -130 came from Egypt and Libya, 110 from Phœnicia -and Cyprus, and a similar quota from the ports of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>Cilicia, Ionia, and Bithynia. The galleys were probably -in good fighting trim, but the service was not a -willing one, and the fleet was as badly handled as -it was badly stationed. Amandus, the admiral of -Licinius, had kept his ships cooped up in the -narrow Hellespont, thus acting weakly on the defensive -instead of boldly seeking out the enemy. Constantine -entrusted the chief command of his various -squadrons to his son Crispus, whose only experience -of naval matters had probably been obtained from -the manœuvres of the war galleys on the Rhine. But -a Roman general was supposed to be able to take -command on either element as circumstances required. -In the present case Crispus more than justified -his father’s choice. He was ordered to attack -and destroy Amandus, and the peremptoriness of -the order was doubtless due to the difficulty of obtaining -supplies for so large an army by land transport -only. Two actions were fought on two successive -days. In the first Amandus had both wind and current -in his favour and made a drawn battle of it. -The next day the wind had veered round to the -south, and Crispus, closing with the enemy, destroyed -130 of their vessels and 5000 of their crews. The -passage of the Hellespont was forced; Amandus -with the remainder of his fleet fled back to the shelter -of Byzantium, and the straits were open for the -passage of Constantine’s transports.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The Emperor pushed the siege with energy, and -plied the walls so vigorously with his engines that -Licinius, aware that the capitulation of Byzantium -could not long be postponed, crossed over into Asia -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>to escape being involved in its fate. Even then he -was not utterly despondent of success, for he raised -one of his lieutenants, Martinianus, to the dignity of -Cæsar or Augustus—a perilous distinction for any -recipient with the short shrift of Valens before his -eyes—and, collecting what troops he could, he set -his fleet and army to oppose the crossing of Constantine -when Byzantium had fallen. But holding -as he did the command of the sea, the victor found -no difficulty in effecting a landing at Chrysopolis, -and Licinius’s last gallant effort to drive back the invader -was repulsed with a loss of 25,000 men. Eusebius, -in an exceptionally foolish chapter, declares -that Licinius harangued his troops before the battle, -bidding them carefully keep out of the way of the -sacred Labarum, under which Constantine moved to -never-failing victory, or, if they had the mischance -to come near it in the press of battle, not to look -heedlessly upon it. He then goes on to ascribe the -victory not to the superior tactical dispositions of his -chief or to the valour of his men, but simply and solely -to the fact that Constantine was “clad in the breastplate -of reverence and had ranged over against the -numbers of the enemy the salutary and life-giving -sign, to inspire his foes with terror and shield himself -from harm.”<a id='r64' /><a href='#f64' class='c016'><sup>[64]</sup></a> We suspect, indeed, that far too little -justice has been done to the good generalship of -Constantine, who, by his latest victory, brought to -a close a brilliant and entirely successful campaign -over an Emperor whose stubborn powers of resistance -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>and dauntless energy even in defeat rendered -him a most formidable opponent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Licinius fell back upon Nicomedia. His army -was gone. There was no time to beat up new recruits, -for the conqueror was hard upon his heels. -He had to choose, therefore, between suicide, submission, -and flight. He would perhaps have best -consulted his fame had he chosen the proud Roman -way out of irreparable disaster and taken his life. -Instead he begged that life might be spared him. -The request would have been hopeless, and would -probably never have been made, had he not possessed -in his wife, Constantia, a very powerful advocate -with her brother. Constantia’s pleadings were -effectual: Constantine consented to see his beaten -antagonist, who came humbly into his presence, laid -his purple at the victor’s feet, and sued for life from -the compassion of his master. It was a humiliating -and an un-Roman scene. Constantine promised -forgiveness, admitted the suppliant to the Imperial -table, and then relegated him to Thessalonica to -spend the remainder of his days in obscurity. Licinius -did not long survive. Later historians, anxious -to clear Constantine’s character of every stain, -accused Licinius of plotting against the generous -Emperor who had spared him. Others declared -that he fell in a soldiers’ brawl: one even says that -the Senate passed a decree devoting him to death. -It is infinitely more probable that Constantine -repented of his clemency. No Roman Emperor -seems to have been able to endure for long the -existence of a discrowned rival, however impotent -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>to harm. Eutropius expressly states that Licinius -was put to death in violation of the oath which Constantine -had sworn to him.<a id='r65' /><a href='#f65' class='c016'><sup>[65]</sup></a> Eusebius says not a -word of Licinius’s life having been promised him; -he only remarks, “Then Constantine, dealing with -the accursed of <span class='fss'>GOD</span> and his associates according to -the rules of war, handed them over to fitting punishment.”<a id='r66' /><a href='#f66' class='c016'><sup>[66]</sup></a> -A pretty euphemism for an act of -assassination!</p> - -<p class='c001'>So died Licinius, unregretted by any save the -zealous advocates of paganism, in the city where he -himself had put to death those two hapless ladies, -Prisca and Valeria. The best character sketch of -him is found in Aurelius Victor, who describes him -as grasping and avaricious, rough in manners and of -excessively hasty temper, and a sworn foe to culture, -which he used to say was a public poison and pest -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>virus et pestem publicum</i></span>), notably the culture -associated with the study and practice of the law. -Himself of the humblest origin, he was a good friend -to the small farmers’ interests; while he was a martinet -of the strictest type in all that related to the -army. He detested the paraphernalia of a court, in -which Constantine delighted, and Aurelius Victor -says that he made a clean sweep (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>vehemens domitor</i></span>) -of all eunuchs and chamberlains, whom he described -as the moths and shrew-mice of the palace (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>tineas -soricesque palatii</i></span>). Of his religious policy we shall -speak elsewhere; of his reign there is little to be -said. It has left no impress upon history, and Licinius -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>is only remembered as the Emperor whose -misfortune it was to stand in the way of Constantine -and his ambitions. Constantine threw down his -statues; revoked his edicts; and if he spared his -young son, the Cæsar Licinianus, the clemency was -due to affection for the mother, not to pity for the -child. Martinianus, the Emperor at most of a few -weeks, had been put to death after the defeat of -Chrysopolis, and Constantine reigned alone with his -sons. The Roman Empire was united once more.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p133.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span> -<img src='images/i_p134.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER VIII</span> <br /> LAST DAYS OF PERSECUTION</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>In a previous chapter we gave a brief account of -the terrible sufferings inflicted upon the Church -during the persecution which followed the edicts of -Diocletian. They continued for many years almost -without interruption, but with varying intensity. -When, for example, Diocletian celebrated his Vicennalia -a general amnesty was proclaimed which must -have opened the prison doors to many thousands of -Christians. Eusebius expressly states that the amnesty -was for “all who were in prison the world -over,” and there is no hint that liberty was made conditional -upon apostasy. None the less, it is certain -that a great number of Christians were still kept in -the cells—on the pretext that they were specially -obnoxious to the civil power—by governors of strong -anti-Christian bias. The sword of persecution was -speedily resumed and wielded as vigorously as before -down to the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then came another lull. With Constantius as the -senior Augustus the persecution came to an end in -the West, and even in the East there was an interval -of peace. For Maximin, who was soon to develop -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>into the most ferocious of all the persecutors,—so St. -Jerome speaks of him in comparison with Decius and -Diocletian,—gave a brief respite to the Christians in -his provinces of Egypt, Cilicia, Palestine, and Syria.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“When I first visited the East,” Maximin wrote,<a id='r67' /><a href='#f67' class='c016'><sup>[67]</sup></a> -some years later, in referring to his accession, “I found -that a great number of persons who might have been useful -to the State had been exiled to various places by the -judges. I ordered each one of these judges no longer to -press hardly upon the provincials, but rather to exhort -them by kindly words to return to the worship of the -gods. While my orders were obeyed by the magistrates, -no one in the countries of the East was exiled or ill-treated, -but the provincials, won over by kindness, returned -to the worship of the gods.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Direct contradiction is given to this boast as to -the number of Christian apostates by the fact that, -within a twelvemonth, the new Cæsar grew tired of -seeking to kill Christianity by kindness and revoked -his recent rescript of leniency. Maximin developed -into a furious bigot. He fell wholly under the influence -of the more fanatical priests and became increasingly -devoted to magic, divination, and the black -arts. Lactantius declares that not a joint appeared -at his table which had not been taken from some -victim sacrificed by a priest at an altar and drenched -with the wine of libation. Edict followed edict in -rapid succession, until, in the middle of 306, what -Eusebius describes as “a second declaration of war” -was issued, which ordered every magistrate to compel -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>all who lived within his jurisdiction to sacrifice to -the gods on pain of being burnt alive. House to -house visitations were set on foot that no creature -might escape, and the common informer was encouraged -by large rewards to be active in his detestable -occupation. It would seem indeed as if the Christians -in the provinces of Maximin suffered far more -severely than any of their brethren. The most -frightful bodily mutilations were practised. Batches -of Christians were sentenced to work in the porphyry -mines of Egypt or the copper mines of Phænos in -Palestine, after being hamstrung and having their -right eyes burnt out with hot irons. The evidence -of Lactantius, who says that the confessors had their -eyes dug out, their hands and feet amputated, and -their nostrils and ears cut off, is corroborated by -Eusebius and the authors of the <cite>Passions</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Palestine seems to have had two peculiarly brutal -governors, Urbanus and Firmilianus. The latter in -a single day presided at the execution of twelve -Christians, pilgrims from Egypt on their way to succour -the unfortunate convicts in the copper mines -of Palestine, whose deplorable condition had awakened -the active sympathy of the Christian East. -These bands of pilgrims had to pass through Cæsarea, -where the officers of Firmilianus were on the -watch for them, and as soon as they confessed that -they were Christians they were haled before the -tribunal, where their doom was certain. A distinguishing -feature of the persecution in the provinces -of Maximin was the frequency of outrages upon -Christian women and the fortitude with which many -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>of the victims committed suicide rather than suffer -pollution. The story of St. Pelagia of Antioch is -typical. Maximin sent some soldiers to conduct -her to his palace. They found her alone in her -house and announced their errand. With perfect -composure this girl of fifteen asked permission to retire -in order to change her dress, and then, mounting -to the roof, threw herself down into the street -below. Eusebius, himself an eye-witness of this persecution, -gives many a vivid story of the fury of -Maximin and his officials, and of the cold-blooded -calculation with which he sought to draw new victims -into the net of the law. In 308 he issued an -edict ordering every city and village thoroughly to -repair any temple which, for whatever reason, had -been allowed to fall into ruins. He increased tenfold -the number of priesthoods, and insisted upon -daily sacrifices. The magistrates were again strictly -enjoined to compel men, women, children, and slaves -alike to offer sacrifice and partake of the sacrificial -food. All goods exposed for sale in the public -markets were to be sprinkled with lustral water, and -even at the entrance to the public baths, officials -were to be placed to see that no one passed through -the doors without throwing a few grains of incense -on the altar. Maximin, in short, was a religious -bigot, who combined with a zealous observance of -pagan ritual a consuming hatred of Christianity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There are not many records of what was taking -place in the provinces of Galerius, while Maximin -was thus terrorising Syria and Egypt. But the -Emperor had begun to see that the persecution, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>upon which he had entered with such zest some -years before, was bound to end in failure. The -terrible malady which attacked him in 310 would tend -to confirm his forebodings. Like Antiochus Epiphanius, -Herod the Great, and Herod Agrippa, -Galerius became, before death released him from his -agony, a putrescent and loathsome spectacle. His -physicians could do nothing for him. Imploring -deputations were sent to beg the aid of Apollo and -Æsculapius. Apollo prescribed a remedy, but the -application only left the patient worse, and Lactantius -quotes with powerful effect the lines from Virgil -which describe Laocoon in the toils of the serpents, -raising horror-stricken cries to Heaven, like -some wounded bull as it flies bellowing from the -altar. Was it when broken by a year’s constant anguish -that Galerius exclaimed that he would restore -the temple of God and make amends for his sin? -Was he, as Lactantius says, “compelled to confess -GOD”? Whether that be so or not, here is the remarkable -edict which the shattered Emperor found -strength to dictate. It deserves to be given in full:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Among the measures which we have constantly taken -for the well-being and advantage of the State, we had -wished to regulate everything according to the ancient -laws and public discipline of the Romans, and especially -to provide that the Christians, who had abandoned the -religion of their ancestors, should return to a better frame -of mind.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“For, from whatever reason, these Christians were the -victims of such wilfulness and folly that they not only -refused to follow the ancient customs, which very likely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>their own forefathers had instituted, but they made laws -for themselves according to their fancy and caprice, -and gathered together all kinds of people in different -places.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Eventually, when our commands had been published -that they should conform to long established custom, -many submitted from fear, and many more under the -compulsion of punishment.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But since the majority have obstinately held out and -we see that they neither give the gods their worship and -due, nor yet adore the God of the Christians, we have -taken into consideration our unexampled clemency and -followed the dictation of the invariable mercifulness, -which we shew to all men.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We have, therefore, thought it best to extend even to -these people our fullest indulgence and to give<a id='r68' /><a href='#f68' class='c016'><sup>[68]</sup></a> them -leave once more to be Christians, and rebuild their -meeting places, provided that they do nothing contrary -to discipline.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In another letter we shall make clear to the magistrates -the course which they should pursue.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“In return for our indulgence the Christians will, in -duty bound, pray to their God for our safety, for their -own, and for that of the State, that so the State may -everywhere be safe and prosperous, and that they themselves -may dwell in security in their homes.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>This extraordinary edict was issued at Nicomedia -on the last day of April, 311. It is as abject a -confession of failure as could be expected from an -Emperor. Galerius admits that the majority of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>Christians have stubbornly held to their faith in spite -of bitter persecution, and now, as they are determined -to sin against the light and follow their own -caprice, more in sorrow than in anger, he will -recognise their status as Christians and give them -the right of assembly, provided they do not offend -against public discipline. But the special interest -of this edict lies in the Emperor’s request that the -Christians will pray for him, in the despairing hope -that Christ may succeed, where Apollo has failed, -in finding a remedy for his grievous case. Galerius -was ready to clutch at any passing straw.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The edict bore the names of Galerius, of Constantine, -and of Licinius. Maxentius, who at this time -ruled Italy, was not recognised by Galerius, so the -absence of his name causes no surprise. Maximin’s -name is also absent, but we find one of his præfects, -Sabinus, addressing shortly afterwards a circular -letter to all the Governors of Cilicia, Syria, and -Egypt, in which the signal was given to stop the -persecution. Like Galerius, Maximin declared that -the sole object of the Emperors had been to lead all -men back to a pious and regular life, and to restore -to the gods those who had embraced alien rites contrary -to the spirit of the institutions of Rome. Then -the letter continued:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“But since the mad obstinacy of certain people has -reached such a pitch that they are not to be shaken -in their resolution either by the justice of the imperial -command or by the fear of imminent punishment, and -since, actuated by these motives, a very large number -have brought themselves into positions of extreme peril, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>it has pleased their Majesties in their great pity and -compassion to send this letter to your Excellency.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Their instructions are that if any Christian has been -apprehended, while observing the religion of his sect, -you are to deliver him from all molestation and annoyance -and not to inflict any penalty upon him, for a very -long experience has convinced the Emperors that there -is no method of turning these people from their madness.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Your Excellency will therefore write to the magistrates, -to the commander of the forces, and to the town -provosts, in each city, that they may know for the future -that they are not to interfere with the Christians any -more.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>In other words, the prisons were to be emptied -and the mad sectaries to be let alone. The bigot -was obliged to bow, however reluctantly, to the -wishes and commands of the senior Augustus, even -though Galerius was a broken and dying man.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Nevertheless, within six months we find Maximin -devising new schemes for troubling the Christians. -Eusebius tells us with what joy the edict of toleration -had been welcomed, with what triumph the -Christians had quitted their prisons, and with what -enthusiastic exultation the bands of Christian confessors, -returning from the mines to their own towns -and villages, were received by the Christian communities -in the places through which they passed. -Those whose testimony to their faith had not been so -sure and clear, those who had bowed the knee to Baal -under the shadow of torture and death, humbly approached -their stouter-hearted brethren and implored -their intercession. The Church rose from the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>persecution proudly and confidently, and with incredible -speed renewed its suspended services and -repaired its broken organisation. Maximin issued an -order forbidding Christians to assemble after dark in -their cemeteries, as they had been in the habit of -doing, in order to celebrate the victory of their martyrs -over death. Such assemblies, the Emperor -said, were subversive of morality: they were to be -allowed no more. This must have warned the Christians -how little reliance was to be placed in the -promises of Maximin, and shortly afterwards they had -another warning. Maximin made a tour through his -provinces and in several cities received petitions in -which he was urged to give an order for the absolute -expulsion of all Christians. No doubt it was known -that such a request would be well pleasing to Maximin, -but at the same time it undoubtedly points to the existence -of a strong anti-Christian feeling. At Antioch, -which was under the governorship of Theotecnus, the -petitioners, according to Eusebius, said that the expulsion -of the Christians would be the greatest boon -the Emperor could confer upon them, but the full -text of one of these petitions has been found among -the ruins of a small Lycian township of the name of -Aricanda. It runs as follows:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“To the Saviours of the entire human race, to the august -Cæsars, Galerius Valerius Maximinus, Flavius -Valerius Constantinus, Valerius Licinianus Licinius, this -petition is addressed by the people of the Lycians and -the Pamphylians.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Inasmuch as the gods, your congeners, O divine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>Emperor, have always crowned with their manifest -favours those who have their religion at heart and -offer prayers to them for the perpetual safety of our -invincible masters, we have thought it well to approach -your immortal Majesty and to ask that the Christians, -who for years have been impious and do not cease to be -so, may be finally suppressed and transgress no longer, -by their wicked and innovating cult, the respect that is -owing to the gods.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“This result would be attained if their impious rites -were forbidden and suppressed by your divine and eternal -decree, and if they were compelled to practise the -cult of the gods, your congeners, and pray to them on -behalf of your eternal and incorruptible Majesty. This -would clearly be to the advantage and profit of all your -subjects.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius records two replies of the Emperor to -petitions of this character. One is contained in a -letter to his præfect, Sabinus, and relates to Nicomedia. -The other is a document copied by Eusebius -from a bronze tablet set up on a column in Tyre. -Maximin expatiates at great length on the debt, -which men owe to the gods, and especially to Jupiter, -the presiding deity of Tyre, for the ordered succession -of the seasons, and for keeping within their appointed -bounds the overwhelming forces of Nature. -If there have been calamities and cataclysms, to -what else, he asks, can they be attributed than to -the “vain and pestilential errors of the villainous -Christians?” Those who have apostatised and have -been delivered from their blindness are like people -who have escaped from a furious storm or have been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>cured of some deadly malady. To them life offers -once more its bounteous blessings. Then the Emperor -continues:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“But if they still persist in their detestable errors, they -shall be banished, in accordance with your petition, far -from your city and your territory, that so this city of -Tyre, completely purified, as you most properly desire it -to be, may yield itself wholly to the worship of the gods.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But that you may know how agreeable your petition -has been to us, and how, even without petition on your -part, we are disposed to heap favours upon you, we grant -you in advance any favour you shall ask, however great, -in reward for your piety.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Ask, therefore, and receive, and do so without hesitation. -The benefit which shall accrue to your city will -be a perpetual witness of your devotion to the gods.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Evidently the Christians had not yet come to the -end of their troubles. Those who read this circular -letter, for it seems to have been sent round from city -to city, must have expected the persecution to break -out anew at any moment. We do not know to what -extent the edict was observed. If it had been -generally acted upon, we should certainly have heard -more of it, inasmuch as it must have entailed a widespread -exodus from the provinces of Maximin. But -of this there is no evidence. We imagine rather that -this circular was merely a preliminary sharpening of -the sword in order to keep the Christians in a due -state of apprehension.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Maximin, however, continued his anti-Christian -propaganda with unabated zeal, and with greater -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>cunning and better devised system than before. His -court at Antioch was the gathering place of all the -priests, magicians, and thaumaturgists of the East, -who found in him a generous patron. We hear of a -new deity being invented by Theotecnus, or rather -of an old deity being invested with new attributes. -Zeus Philios, or Jupiter the Friendly was the name -of this god, to whom a splendid statue was erected -in Antioch, and to whose shrine a new priesthood, -with new rites, was solemnly dedicated. The god -was provided with an attendant oracle to speak in -his name; what more natural than that the first response -should order the banishment of all Christians -from the city? Very noteworthy, too, was the re-appearance -of a vigorous anti-Christian literature. -Maximin set on his pamphleteers to write libellous -parodies of the Christian doctrines and encouraged -the more serious controversialists on the pagan -side to attack the Christian religion wherever it was -most vulnerable. The most famous of these productions -was one which bore the name of <cite>The Acts of -Pilate</cite> and purported to be a relation by Pilate -himself of the life and conduct of Christ. It was -really an old pamphlet rewritten and brought up to -date, full, as Eusebius says, of all conceivable blasphemy -against Christ and reducing Him to the level -of a common malefactor. Maximin welcomed it -with delight. He had thousands of copies written -and distributed; extracts were cut on brass and -stone and posted up in conspicuous places; the work -was appointed to be read frequently in public, and—what -shews most of all the fury and cunning of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>Maximin—it was appointed to be used as a text-book -in schools throughout Asia and Egypt. There was -no more subtle method of training bigots and poisoning -the minds of the younger generation amongst -Christianity. Some of the Emperor’s devices, however, -were much more crude. For example, the -military commandant of Damascus arrested half a -dozen notorious women of the town and threatened -them with torture if they did not confess that they -were Christians, and that they had been present at -ceremonies of the grossest impurity in the Christian -assemblies. Maximin ordered the precious confession -thus extorted to be set up in a prominent place -in every township.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But the Emperor was not merely a furious bigot. -There is evidence that he fully recognised the wonderful -strength of the Christian ecclesiastical organisation -and contrasted it with the essential weakness -of the pagan system. In this he anticipated the -Emperor Julian. Paganism was anything but a -church. Its framework was loose and disconnected. -There were various colleges of priests, some of -which were powerful and had branches throughout -the Empire, but there was little connection between -them save that of a common ritual. There was also -little doctrine save in the special mysteries, where -membership was preceded by formal initiation. -Maximin sought to institute a pagan clergy based -upon the Christian model, with a definite hierarchy -from the highest to the lowest. There were already -chief priests of the various provinces, who had borne -for long the titles of Asiarch, Pontarch, Galatarch, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>and Ciliciarch in their respective provinces. Maximin -developed their powers on the model of those of the -Christian bishops, giving them authority over subordinates -and entrusting them with the duty of -seeing that the sacrifices were duly and regularly -offered. He tried to raise the standard of the priesthood -by choosing its members from the best families, -by insisting on the priests wearing white flowing -robes, by giving them a guard of soldiers and full -powers of search and arrest.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Evidently, Maximin was something more than -the lustful, bloodthirsty tyrant who appears in -the pages of Lactantius and the ecclesiastical historians. -He dealt the Church much shrewder—though -not less ineffectual—blows than his colleagues -in persecution. With such an Emperor -another appeal to the faggot and the sword was -inevitable, and the death of Galerius was the -signal for a renewal of the persecution. This time -Maximin struck directly at the most conspicuous -figures in the Christian Church and counted among -his victims Peter, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and -three other Egyptian bishops—Methodus, Bishop of -Tyre, Basiliscus, Bishop of Comana in Bithynia, and -Silvanus, Bishop of Emesa in Phœnicia. In Egypt -the persecution was so sharp that it drew Saint -Antony from his hermit’s cell in the desert to succour -the unfortunate in Alexandria. He escaped -with his life, probably because he was overlooked or -disdained, or because the mighty influence which he -was to exercise upon the Church had not yet declared -itself. This persecution was followed by a terrible -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>drought, famine, and pestilence. Eusebius,<a id='r69' /><a href='#f69' class='c016'><sup>[69]</sup></a> in a -vigorous chapter, describes how parents were driven -by hunger to sell not only their lands but also their -children, how whole families were wiped out, how -the pestilence seemed to mark down the rich for its -special vengeance, and how in certain townships the -inhabitants were driven to kill all the dogs within -their walls that they might not feed on the bodies of -the unburied dead. Amid these horrors the Christians -alone remained calm. They alone displayed the -supreme virtue of charity in tending the suffering and -ministering to the dying. From the pagans themselves, -says Eusebius, was wrung the unwilling admission -that none but the Christians, in the sharp test -of adversity, shewed real piety and genuine worship -of God.<a id='r70' /><a href='#f70' class='c016'><sup>[70]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Maximin’s reign, however, was fast drawing to a -close. After becoming involved in a war with Tiridates -of Armenia, from which he emerged with little -credit to himself, he entered into an alliance with -Maxentius, the ruler of Italy, against Constantine -and Licinius, but did not invade the territory -of the latter until Maxentius had already been overthrown. -As we have seen, Maximin was utterly -routed and, after a hurried flight to beyond the -Taurus, he there, according to Eusebius,<a id='r71' /><a href='#f71' class='c016'><sup>[71]</sup></a> gathered -together his erstwhile trusted priests, thaumaturgists, -and soothsayers, and slew them for the proved falsehood -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>of their prophecy. More significant still, when -he found that his doom was certain, he issued a last -religious edict in the vain hope of appeasing the -resentment of the Christians and their God. The -document is worth giving in full:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“The Emperor Cæsar Caius Valerius Maximinus, Germanicus, -Sarmaticus, pious, happy, invincible, august.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We have always endeavoured by all means in our -power to secure the advantage of those who dwell in our -provinces, and to contribute by our benefits at once to -the prosperity of the State and to the well-being of every -citizen. Nobody can be ignorant of this, and we are -confident that each one who puts his memory to the test, -is persuaded of its truth.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“We found, however, some time ago that, in virtue of -the edict published by our divine parents, Diocletian and -Maximian, ordering the destruction of the places where -the Christians were in the habit of assembling, many -excesses and acts of violence had been committed by our -public servants and that the evil was being increasingly -felt by our subjects every day, inasmuch as their goods -were, under this pretext, unwarrantably seized.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Consequently, we declared last year by letters addressed -to the Governors of the Provinces that if any one wished -to attach himself to this sect and practise this religion, he -should be allowed to please himself without interference -and no one should say him nay, and the Christians -should enjoy complete liberty and be sheltered from all -fear and all suspicion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“However, we have not been able entirely to shut our -eyes to the fact that certain of the magistrates misunderstood -our instructions, with the result that our subjects -distrusted our words and were nervous about resuming -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>the religion of their choice. That is why, in order to do -away with all disquietude and equivocation for the future, -we have resolved to publish this edict, by which all are -to understand that those who wish to follow this sect -have full liberty to do so, and that, by the indulgence of -our Majesty, each man may practise the religion he prefers -or that to which he is accustomed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“It is also permitted to them to rebuild the houses of -the <span class='fss'>LORD</span>. Moreover, so that there may be no mistake -about the scope of our indulgence, we have been pleased -to order that all houses and places, formerly belonging -to the Christians, which have either been confiscated by -the order of our divine parents, or occupied by any -municipality, or sold or given away, shall return to their -original ownership, so that all men may recognise our -piety and our solicitude.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The bigot must have been brought very low and -reduced to the last depths of despair before he set -his seal to such a document as this. One can see -that it was drawn up by Maximin with a copy of the -Edict of Milan before him, and that he hoped, by -this tardy and clumsy recognition of the principle of -absolute liberty of conscience for all men, to make -the Christians forget his brutalities. Doubtless, the -Christians of Cilicia and Syria looked to Constantine -in far off Gaul as a model prince and emperor, and -heard with joy of the steady advance of Constantine’s -ally, Licinius. The latter would come in their eyes -in the guise of a liberator, and prayers for his success -would be offered up in every Christian church of the -persecuted East. Maximin sought to repurchase their -loyalty: it was too late. His absurd pretext that his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>orders had been misunderstood by his provincial -governors would deceive no one. He had been the -shrewdest enemy with whom the Church had had to -cope; his edict of recantation was read with chilly -suspicion or cold contempt, which was changed into -hymns of rejoicing when the Christians heard that -the tyrant had poisoned himself and died in agony, -while his conqueror, Licinius, had drowned the fallen -Empress in the Orontes and put to death her children, -a boy of eight and a girl of seven. Those who -had suffered persecution for ten years may be pardoned -their exultation that there was no one left -alive to perpetuate the names of their persecutors.<a id='r72' /><a href='#f72' class='c016'><sup>[72]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>Throughout this time the West had escaped very -lightly. Even Maxentius had begun his reign by -seeking to secure the good-will of the Christians. -Eusebius, indeed, makes the incredible statement<a id='r73' /><a href='#f73' class='c016'><sup>[73]</sup></a> -that in order to please and flatter the Roman people -he pretended to embrace the Christian faith and -“assumed the mask of piety.” Probably all he did -was to leave the Christians of Rome in peace. The -chair of St. Peter had remained empty for four years -after the death of Bishop Marcellinus. In 308 Marcellus -was elected to fill it and the Church was -organised afresh. But it was rent with internal dissensions. -There was a large section which insisted -that the brethren who had been found weak during -the recent persecution should be received back into -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>the fold without penance and reproach. Marcellus -stood out for discipline; the quarrel became so exacerbated -that Maxentius exiled the Bishop, who -shortly afterwards died. A priest named Eusebius -was then chosen Pontiff, but the schismatics elected -a Pontiff of their own, Heraclius by name, and the -rival partisans quarrelled and fought in the streets. -Maxentius, with strict impartiality, exiled both. -The record of this schism is preserved in the curious -epitaph composed by Pope Damasus for the tomb -of Eusebius:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Heraclius forbade the lapsed to bewail their sins; -Eusebius taught them to repent and weep for their -wrong-doing. The people were divided into factions, -raging and furious: then came sedition, bloodshed, war, -discord, strife.<a id='r74' /><a href='#f74' class='c016'><sup>[74]</sup></a> Forthwith both were driven away by -the cruelty of the tyrant. While the Bishop preserved -intact the bonds of peace, he endured his exile gladly -on the Trinacrian shores, knowing that God was his -judge, and so passed from this world and from life.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>On the confession of Damasus himself, the state -of the Roman Church warranted the interference of -Maxentius if it resulted in “sedition, bloodshed, -war, discord, and strife,” and the “cruelty of the tyrant” -in this particular case is not proven. Eusebius -died in Sicily in 310; in the following year -Miltiades was elected Bishop, and Maxentius restored -to the Roman Christians their churches and -cemeteries, which for eight years had been in the -hands of the civil authorities.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>The overthrow of Maxentius by Constantine, the -destruction of Maximin by Licinius, the publication -of the Edict of Milan, and the apparent sincerity of -the two Emperors in their anxiety to restore peace -and security, were naturally hailed by the Christians -throughout the Empire with the liveliest joy. -On every side stately churches began to rise from -the ground, and as the triumph of Christianity over -its enemies was incontestable, converts came flocking -in by the thousand to receive what Eusebius calls -“the mysterious signs of the Saviour’s Passion.” The -only troublers of the Church were members of the -Church herself, like the extravagant Donatists in -Africa. The canons of the Council of Ancyra, which -was held soon after the death of Maximin, shew -how the ecclesiastical authorities imposed varying -penances upon those who had shrunk from their -duty as soldiers of Christ in the recent persecution, -varying, that is to say, according to the extent -of their shortcomings. Some had apostatised and -themselves turned persecutors; some had sacrificed -at the first command; some had endured prison, but -had shrunk from torture; some had suffered torture, -but quailed before the stake; some had bribed the -executioners only to make a show of torturing them; -some had attended the sacrificial feasts, but had substituted -other meats. The punishments range from -ten years of probation and every degree of penance, -down to a few months’ deprivation of the comforts -and communions of the Church.</p> - -<p class='c001'>New dangers, however, speedily threatened. Constantine -and Licinius quarrelled between themselves -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>and, after two stubborn battles, agreed upon a fresh -division of the world. For eight years, from 315 to -323, this partition lasted, but, as the Emperors again -drifted apart, Licinius became more and more anti-Christian. -His rivalry with Constantine accounts for -the change. Licinius suspected Constantine of intriguing -with his Christian subjects just as Constantine -regarded the pagan element in his own provinces -as the natural focus of disaffection against his rule. -Licinius had no definite Christian beliefs; he had -been the friend and nominee of Galerius; and, like -Galerius, he never got rid of the suspicion that the -Christian assemblies were a danger to the public -security. The Christians had aided him against -Maximin: he thought they would do the same for -Constantine against himself. Eusebius<a id='r75' /><a href='#f75' class='c016'><sup>[75]</sup></a> likens him -to a twisted snake, wriggling along and concealing -its poisoned fangs, not daring to attack the Church -openly for fear of Constantine, but dealing it constant -and insidious blows.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The simile was well chosen. Licinius seems to -have opened his campaign against the Christians by -forbidding the bishops in his provinces to leave their -dioceses and take part in their usual synods and -councils. They were to remain at home, he said, -and mind their own business and not plot treason -against their Emperor under the pretext of perfecting -the discipline of the Church. Another edict, which -came with poor grace from a man whose own -excesses were notorious, forbade Christian men and -women to meet for common worship in their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>churches: they were to worship apart, so that their -morals might not be exposed to danger. On the same -pretext, bishops and priests were only allowed to give -teaching and consolation to their own sex; Christian -women must find women teachers and advisers. Eusebius -tells us<a id='r76' /><a href='#f76' class='c016'><sup>[76]</sup></a> that these edicts excited universal -ridicule. It was too late to revive the old stories of -gross immorality taking place at the communion -services, and there was fresh cause for mocking laughter -when Licinius forbade the Christians to assemble -in their churches within the towns and ordered them -to go outside the gates and meet, if they must meet, -in the open air. This was necessary, he said, on the -grounds of public health; the atmosphere beyond -the gates was purer. Licinius’s theory of hygiene was -perfectly sound; its application was ludicrous.</p> - -<p class='c001'>These were the first steps leading, as his subjects -must have known only too well, straight to persecution. -After a time Licinius threw over bodily the -Edict of Milan. He purged his court and his army -in the old way. The choice was sacrifice or dismissal, -and some pretext was usually made to tack on to -official dismissal a confiscation of goods. Licinius, -says Eusebius, thirsted for gold like a very Tantalus. -Aurelius Victor says<a id='r77' /><a href='#f77' class='c016'><sup>[77]</sup></a> he had all the mean, -sordid avarice of a peasant. And the Christians, of -course, were fair game. He pillaged their churches, -robbed them of their goods, sentenced them to exile -and to the mines, or ruined them just as effectually -by insisting on their becoming magistrates. Bloodshed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>followed, and Licinius aimed his severest -blows at the bishops. He accused them of omitting -his name in their prayers for the welfare of the Emperor -and the State, though they carefully remembered -that of Constantine; and, if none were actually -put to death, many suffered imprisonment, torture, -and mutilation. The story of the martyrs and confessors -in the Licinian persecution is very like that -of those who suffered under Diocletian and Maximin. -But the fate of the forty soldier martyrs of the -Twelfth Legion (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Fulminata</i></span>) deserves special mention. -They had refused to sacrifice, and, by order of -their general, were stripped naked and ordered to -remain throughout a winter’s night upon a frozen -pond, exposed to the elements. At the side of the -pond was a building, where the water for the town -baths was heated. Apparently no guard was kept. -The martyrs were free to make their way to the -warmth and shelter if they wished it, but only at -the price of apostasy. One of them, after enduring -bravely for many hours, crawled towards the warmth, -but died of exhaustion as soon as he had crossed the -threshold. The sight so affected the pagan attendant -of the bath that he flung off his clothes in uncontrollable -emotion, and with the shout, “I too am a -Christian,” took the place of the weak brother who -had just lost the martyr’s crown. In the morning -the forty were found dead and their bodies were -burnt at the stake. It was said that one of them -was found to be still breathing, and the executioners -put him apart from the rest. His mother, afraid lest -he should miss entering heaven by the side of his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>brave companions in glory, herself placed him in the -cart to be borne to the stake.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Another moving story of the Licinian persecution -is that of Gordius of Cæsarea, in Cappadocia. He -had fled from his home to live the life of a hermit -among the mountains, when suddenly an impulse -came upon him to return and testify to the truth. -The people were all assembled in the Circus, intent -upon some public spectacle, when an uncouth figure -was seen to move slowly down the marble steps and -then pass out into the centre of the arena. A hush -fell upon the multitude, as the hermit was recognised -and dragged before the tribunal of the Governor. “I -have come,” he said, “to shew how little I think of -your edicts and to confess my faith in Jesus Christ, -and I have chosen this moment, O Governor, because -I know your cruelty, which surpasses that of -all other men.” They put him to the torture: he -delighted in his pain. “The more you torture me,” -he said, “the greater will be my reward. There is a -bargain between God and us. Each pang and torment -that we suffer here will be rewarded there by -increased glory and happiness.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Licinius had thus, like Maximin, made himself the -champion of the old religion and the religious reactionaries. -When in 323 war again broke out between -himself and Constantine, it was as the professed enemy -of Christianity and its God that he took the -field. The war was a war of ambition on both sides, -but it was also a war between the two religions. We -have mentioned elsewhere the oath which Licinius -took before the battle, when he vowed that if the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>gods gave him the victory he would extirpate root -and branch the Christian religion. Fate gave him -no opportunity to fulfil his promise. Defeated at -Adrianople and at Chrysopolis, and then exiled to -Thessalonica, Licinius had not many months to -live. Before he died he saw his pagan councillors -pay for their folly with their lives and heard the rejoicings -of the Christians of the East at the fall of -the last of their pagan persecutors. The Church at -last had won her freedom and was to suffer at the -hands of the State no more. Eusebius has fortunately -preserved for us the text of the edict addressed -by Constantine after his victory to the inhabitants -of Palestine, recalling from exile, from the mines, -and from servitude the Christian victims of the -recent persecution, restoring their property to those -who had suffered confiscation, offering to soldiers -who had been expelled in disgrace from the army -either a return to their old rank or the certificate -of honourable discharge, and giving back to the -churches without diminution the corporate possessions -of which they had been robbed. Constantine -not merely passed the sponge over the administrative -acts of Licinius: he granted large subsidies to the -bishops who had suffered at the hands of “the dragon,” -and himself wrote to “his dearest beloved -brother,” Eusebius of Cæsarea, urging him to see -that the bishops, elders, and deacons in his neighbourhood -were “active and enthusiastic in the work -of the Church.”<a id='r78' /><a href='#f78' class='c016'><sup>[78]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span> -<img src='images/i_p012.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER IX</span><br /> CONSTANTINE AND THE DONATISTS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>If Constantine hoped that by the Edict of Milan -he had stilled the voice of religious controversy, -he was speedily disillusioned. He was now to find -the peace of the Church violently disturbed by those -belonging to her communions, and the hatreds of -Christians against one another almost as menacing -to the tranquillity of the imperial rule as had been -the bitter strife of pagan and Christian. In the same -year (313) he received an appeal from certain African -bishops imploring him to appoint a commission of -Gallican bishops to settle certain difficulties which -had arisen in Africa. The Donatist schism, which was -destined to last for more than a century, had begun.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Its rise may be traced in a few words. Northern -Africa had long been the home of a perfervid religious -fanaticism. Montanism and Novatianism had found -there their most violent adherents, to whom there -was something peculiarly attractive in extravagant -protest against the laxity or the liberalism of the -Church elsewhere, and in emphatic insistence on the -narrowness of the way which leads to salvation. -Those who set up the most impossible standard of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>attainment; those who demanded from the Christian -the most absolute spotlessness of life; those who -insisted most strenuously on the enormity of sin and -made fewest allowances for the weakness of humanity—these -were surest of being heard most gladly in -northern Africa. During the persecution of Diocletian -and Maximian many of the African Christians -had ostentatiously courted martyrdom. According -to Catholic authors, such martyrdom had been sought -not only by saints, but by men of immoral and dissolute -life, who thought to purge the stains of a sinful -career by dying in the odour of sanctity. Others, -again, while not prepared to die for the faith, were -not unwilling to suffer imprisonment for it, inasmuch -as their fellow-Christians looked well after the -creature comforts of those who languished in gaol. -Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa, -strongly disapproved of these proceedings. He discountenanced -the fanaticism, which he knew to be -the besetting weakness of his people; refused to -recognise as martyrs those who had provoked death; -and checked, as far as possible, the indiscriminate -charity of his flock. If his critics are to be believed, -Mensurius had resort to a trick in order to save the -Holy Books of his own cathedral and thus escape -the choice of being a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span> or of suffering for conscience’ -sake. It was said that when the officers of -the civil power demanded the Holy Books in his -keeping, he handed over to them a number of heretical -volumes, which were at once burnt, while the Sacred -Scriptures were carefully concealed. It is not surprising, -therefore, to find that Mensurius was charged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>with actual persecution of those Christians who had -a sterner sense of duty than himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is manifest, however, from what took place at a -synod of bishops held in Cirta in 305 that many of -the natural leaders of the African Church had quailed -before the persecution of Diocletian. They had -assembled, under the presidency of Secundus, Bishop -of Tigisis and Primate of Numidia, in order to fill -the vacant see of Cirta. Secundus opened the proceedings -by inviting all present to clear themselves -of the charge of having surrendered their Holy -Books, and began to put the question directly to -each in turn. Donatus of Mascula returned an -evasive answer, and said that he was responsible only -to God. Many pleaded that they had substituted -other books for the Scriptures; Victor of Russicas -alone confessed that he had handed over the Four -Gospels. “Valentinianus, the Curator, himself compelled -me to send them,” he said; “pardon me this -fault, even as God pardons me.” Then came the -turn of Purpurius, Bishop of Limata. Secundus -accused him not of being a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>, but of the murder -of two of his nephews. Purpurius stormed with rage. -He vowed that he would not be browbeaten, and -declared that Secundus was no better than his fellows -and had purchased his own immunity, like the -rest of them, by surrendering the Scriptures. As for -murdering his nephews, the charge was true. “I did -kill them,” he said, “and I kill all who stand in my -way.” This candid avowal seems to have occasioned -no surprise among the members of this extraordinary -synod; they were all too indignant with Secundus -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>for raising inconvenient questions and pretending to -a sanctity beyond his colleagues. Eventually, another -nephew of Secundus threatened that they would all -withdraw from his communion and make a schism -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>recedere et schisma facere</i></span>), unless he let the matter -drop. “What business is it of yours what each has -done?” asked the outspoken nephew. “It is to God -that each must tender his account.” The president -thereupon drew in his horns, pronounced the acquittal -of the accused, and with a general murmur of -“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Deo gratias</i></span>,” they proceeded to the election of a -bishop. Their choice fell upon Sylvanus, himself a -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>, much, it is said, to the indignation of the -people of Cirta, who raised cries of, “He is a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>: -let another be elected. We want our bishop to be -pure and upright.” Sylvanus had surrendered, without -even a show of compulsion, one of the sacred -silver lamps from the altar of his church. It is more -than possible that the report of the proceedings at -this synod, which is found only in works written -specifically—but by episcopal hands—against the -Donatists, is highly exaggerated. Among the bishops -present at Cirta were those who, a few years later, -were the principal leaders of the Donatist schism. -But, even when all allowances are made for party -colouring, the picture it gives of the Numidian -Church is far from flattering.</p> - -<p class='c001'>During the life of Mensurius overt schism was -avoided, though the Church of Carthage was by no -means untroubled. For even before the persecution -broke out, a certain lady named Lucilla had fallen -under the censure of the ecclesiastical authorities, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>and had left the fold in high dudgeon. She became -the lady patroness of the malcontent Christians of -Carthage and the prime mover in any ecclesiastical -intrigue that was afoot. She had been wont, before -taking the Eucharist, to kiss the doubtful relic of a -martyr, and she had set greater store on the efficacy -of this unregistered bone than on the virtues of the -sacred chalice. It was not, of course, for relic worship -that Cæcilianus, the Archdeacon, rebuked her, -for the early Church everywhere acknowledged its -intercessional value, and it was the usual practice for -an officiating priest, before celebrating, to kiss the -relics that were placed on the high altar. Lucilla -was reproved because her relic was not recognised -by the Church.<a id='r79' /><a href='#f79' class='c016'><sup>[79]</sup></a> It was doubtful whether it had belonged -to a martyr at all, and, in any case, its identity -had not been duly authenticated. But before -Mensurius could deal with this revolted daughter -the tempest of persecution broke over Africa. The -angry and insulting epithets with which the Catholic -historians have loaded Lucilla are perhaps the best -testimony to her ability and influence. She was very -rich and a born intriguante (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>pecuniosissima et factiosissima</i></span>), -and as she had what she considered to be -a personal insult to avenge, she was as willing as she -was competent to cause trouble and mischief.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Shortly before the overthrow of Maxentius, one of -Mensurius’s deacons issued a defamatory libel against -the Emperor and then took sanctuary at Carthage. -The Bishop refused to surrender him and was peremptorily -<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>summoned to Rome. Evidently expecting -that the Emperor would condemn him and order -the confiscation of the holy vessels of his church, -Mensurius secretly handed them over to the custody -of certain elders in whose honesty he thought he -could place implicit reliance. But he took the precaution—a -wise one, as it subsequently proved—to -make an inventory, which he gave to an old woman, -with instructions that if he did not return she was to -hand it to his lawfully appointed successor. Mensurius -then went to Rome, succeeded in convincing -Maxentius of his innocence, but died on the way -home, in 311 <span class='fss'>A.D.</span> As soon as the news of his death -reached Carthage, the round of intrigue began. According -to Optatus, two deacons named Botrus and -Celestius, each hoping to secure his own elevation, -hurried on the election, in which the Numidian -bishops were not invited to take part. The passage -is obscure, for Optatus goes on to say that the choice -fell upon Cæcilianus, who was elected “by the suffrages -of the whole people,” and was consecrated in -due form by Felix, Bishop of Aptunga. When -Cæcilianus called upon the elders to restore the -Church ornaments, they quitted the Church—the -suggestion of the Catholic historian is that they had -hoped to steal them—and attached themselves to -the faction of Lucilla, together with Botrus and -Celestius, whom St. Augustine roundly denounces -as “impious and sacrilegious thieves.” The schism -was now complete. It had its origin, says Optatus,<a id='r80' /><a href='#f80' class='c016'><sup>[80]</sup></a> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>in the fury of a headstrong woman; it was nurtured -by intrigue and drew its strength from jealous greed.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Cæcilianus’ position was speedily challenged. The -malcontents appealed to the Numidian bishops, -urging them to declare in synod whether the election -was valid. Accordingly, the Numidian Primate, -Secundus of Tigisis, came with seventy other bishops -to the capital, where they were received with open -arms by the opposition party. Cæcilianus seated -himself on his throne in the cathedral and waited for -the bishops to appear. When they did not come he -sent a message saying, “If any one has any accusation -to bring against me, let him come to make good -the charge.”, But the Numidian bishops preferred -to meet elsewhere within closed doors and finally -declared the election of Cæcilianus invalid on the -ground that he had been consecrated by a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>. -To this Cæcilianus replied that, if they thought Felix -of Aptunga had been a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>, they had better -consecrate him themselves, as though he were still a -simple deacon—a sarcasm which roused the violent -Purpurius to exclaim: “Let him come here to receive -the laying on of hands, and we will strike off -his head by way of penance.” They then elected -Majorinus, who had been one of Cæcilianus’ readers -and was now a member of Lucilla’s household. -There were thus two rival bishops of Carthage. -Those who supported Cæcilianus called themselves -the Catholic party; their rivals, until the death of -Majorinus in 315, were known as the party of Majorinus, -though their moving spirit seems to have been, -first, Donatus, the Bishop of Casæ Nigræ, and, afterwards, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>Donatus, surnamed Magnus, who gave his -name to the schism.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Though Africa was thus split into two camps, there -is no evidence that Majorinus was recognised by any -of the churches of Europe, Egypt, or Asia. These -all looked to Cæcilianus as the rightful bishop, and -so, when Constantine, fresh from his victory over -Maxentius, wrote to the African churches in 312 to -announce his intention of making a handsome present -of money to their clergy, it was to Cæcilianus -that the letter was addressed, and the schismatics -were rebuked in the sharpest terms. The letter ran -as follows:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>“<span class='sc'>Constantine Augustus to Cæcilianus, Bishop of</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>Carthage.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Inasmuch as it has pleased us to contribute something -towards the necessary expenses of certain ministers of -the lawful and most holy Catholic religion throughout -all the provinces of Africa, Numidia, and both Mauretanias, -I have sent letters to Ursus, the most noble governor -of Africa, and have instructed him to see that -three thousand purses are paid over to your Reverence. -When, therefore, you have received the above mentioned -sum, you will take care that the money is divided among -the clergy already spoken of according to the instructions -sent to you by Hosius.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If you consider this amount insufficient for the purpose -of testifying my regard for all of you in Africa, you -are to ask without delay Heraclidas, the procurator of -the imperial domains, for whatever you may think necessary. -For I have personally instructed him that whatever -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>sum your Reverence asks for is to be paid without -hesitation.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And since I have heard that certain persons of ill-balanced -mind (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>quosdam non satis compositæ mentis</i></span>) -are acting in such a manner as to corrupt the people of -the most holy and Catholic Church with wicked and -adulterous falsehoods (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>improba et adulterina falsitate</i></span>), -I would have you know that I have given verbal instructions -to Anulinus, the proconsul, and to Patricius, the -vicar of the præfects, to include among their other duties -a sharp lookout in this matter, and, if this movement continues, -not to neglect or ignore it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Consequently, if you find persons of this character -persevering in their mad folly (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>in hac amentia perseverare</i></span>) -you will at once approach the above mentioned -judges and lay the matter before them, that they may -punish the culprits (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>in eos animadvertant</i></span>) in accordance -with my personal instructions.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“May the divinity of the Supreme God (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Divinitas -summi Dei</i></span>) preserve you for many years.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>In conjunction with this must be taken the letter -addressed by Constantine to Anulinus, the proconsul -of Africa:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Greetings to our best beloved Anulinus! Inasmuch -as it is abundantly proven that the neglect of the religion -which preserves the greatest reverence for divine majesty -has reduced the State to the direst peril, while its careful -and due observance has brought the most splendid -prosperity to the Roman name and unspeakable felicity -to all things mortal, thanks to divine goodness, we have -resolved, best beloved Anulinus, that those, who with -due righteousness of life and continual observance of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>the law, perform their ministry in this divine religion -shall reap the reward of their labours.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Wherefore, it is our wish that all who, in the province -under your care and in the Catholic Church over which -Cæcilianus presides, minister to this most holy religion—those, -viz., whom people are wont to call the clergy—shall -be absolved<a id='r81' /><a href='#f81' class='c016'><sup>[81]</sup></a> from all public duties of any kind, lest, -by some slip or grave mischance, they may be distracted -from the duties they owe to the Supreme Divinity, and -that they may do the better service to their own ritual -without any disturbing influences.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Inasmuch as these people display the deepest reverence -for the Divine Will, it seems to me that they ought -to receive the greatest reward the State can bestow.”</p> - -</div> - -<div id='i168' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp168.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES.<br /><span class='small'>EXTERIOR VIEW. PRESENT DAY.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>These are two remarkable letters. They clearly -prove that the schism in the African Church was -making a stir outside Africa, and that the Emperor -had been instructed in the main points at issue. The -new convert had cast his all-powerful influence upon -the Catholic side—an Emperor would naturally be -biassed against schism—and he was prepared to -utilise the civil power in order to compel the return of -the schismatics to obedience. So little observant -was he of his own edict of toleration that he was -prepared to use force to secure uniformity within -the Church! Constantine, indeed, reveals himself -not merely as a Christian, but as a Catholic Christian; -his bounty is reserved for the Catholic clergy, -and the immunity from public duties involving -heavy expense is reserved similarly for them alone. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>Nevertheless, the party of Majorinus petitioned the -Emperor to appoint a commission of Gallican bishops -to enquire into and report upon their quarrel -with the Bishop of Carthage.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“We appeal to you, Constantine, best of Emperors, -since you come of a just stock, for your father was alone -among his colleagues in not putting the persecution into -force, and Gaul was thus spared that frightful crime. -Strife has arisen between us and other African bishops, -and we pray that your piety may lead you to grant us -judges from Gaul.”</p> - -<p class='c020'>(Signed by Lucianus, Dignus, Nasutius, Capito, -Fidentius, and other bishops of the party of -Majorinus.)</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>This petition was forwarded by Anulinus, the proconsul, -whose covering letter, dated April, 313, -describes the opponents of Cæcilianus as being -resolute in refusing obedience. The Emperor, who -was in Gaul when the petition reached him, granted -the desired commission and instructed the bishops -of Cologne, Autun, and Arles to repair to Rome. -Cæcilianus was instructed to attend with the bishops -belonging to his party; ten of the rival bishops -attached to Majorinus were to appear in the character -of accusers, and for judges there were to be Miltiades, -Bishop of Rome, the three Gallican bishops, and fifteen -other Italian bishops selected by Miltiades from -all parts of the peninsula. They met in October in -the palace of the Empress Fausta, on the Lateran. -Constantine had already written a letter to Miltiades, -in which he deplored the existence of such -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>serious schism in the populous African provinces, -which, he said, had spontaneously surrendered to -him, under the influence of divine Providence, as a -reward for his devotion to religion. He, therefore, -looked to the bishops to find a reasonable solution.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At the first sitting the credentials of the accusers -of Cæcilianus were examined, and some were disqualified -on the score of bad character. Then, when -the witnesses were called, those who had been brought -to Rome by Majorinus and Donatus avowed that -they had nothing to say against Cæcilianus. The -case of the petitioners practically collapsed, for the -judges refused to listen to unsubstantiated gossip -and scandal, and Donatus in the end declined to -attend the enquiry, fearing lest he should be condemned -on his own admissions. Later on, a second -list of charges was handed in, but was not supported -by a single witness, and then finally the commission -passed on to enquire into the proceedings of the -Council of the seventy bishops who had declared the -election of Cæcilianus invalid. They had no difficulty -in reaching a general decision.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The accusations against Cæcilianus had clearly -broken down and the verdict of Miltiades began in -the following terms: “Inasmuch as it is shewn that -Cæcilianus is not accused by those who came with -Donatus, as they had promised to do, and Donatus -has in no particular established his charges against -him, I find that Cæcilianus should be maintained in -the communion of his church with all his privileges -intact.” St. Augustine warmly eulogises the admirable -moderation displayed by Miltiades, who, in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>hope of restoring unity, offered to send letters of -communion to all who had been consecrated by -Majorinus, proposing that where there were two rival -bishops, the senior in time of consecration should be -confirmed in the appointment, while another see -should be found for the other. But the Donatists -would listen to no compromise. They appealed again -to the Emperor, who, with a very pardonable outburst -of wrath, denounced the rabid and implacable -hatreds of these turbulent Africans.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Knowing that the quarrel would be resumed in -full blast if Cæcilianus and Donatus returned to -Africa, Constantine detained them both in Italy. -Two Italian bishops, Eunomius and Olympius, were -meanwhile sent to Carthage to act as peacemakers -and explain to the African congregations which was -the true Catholic Church. It was none other, they -said, than the Church which was diffused throughout -the whole world, and they insisted that the judgment -of the nineteen bishops was one from which -there could be no appeal. The Donatists, however, -retorted that if the verdict of nineteen bishops was -sacred, a verdict of seventy must be even more so. -They resisted the overtures of their visitors, and -thus, when Donatus and Cæcilianus in turn reappeared -on the scene, the fires of partisanship did not -lack for fuel. It was no longer possible for the -Donatists to press for a rehearing on the ground of -the personal character of Cæcilianus. They had had -their chance in Rome to impugn the Primate’s -character, and had failed. They now shifted their -ground and based their claim upon the fact that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>Felix of Aptunga, who had consecrated Cæcilianus, -was a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>, and the consecration was, therefore, -invalid.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But was Felix a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>? This was a plain, -straightforward question, involving no disputed -point of doctrine. Constantine, therefore, wrote to -Ælianus, Anulinus’s successor as proconsul of Africa, -instructing him to hold a public enquiry into the life -and character of Felix of Aptunga. Part of the -official report has come down to us. Among the -witnesses were those who had been the chief -magistrates of Aptunga at the time of the persecution. -These must all have been acutely conscious of -the curiously anomalous position in which they -stood. If they found that Felix had delivered up -the Holy Books and utensils of the church, their -verdict would acquit him of having broken the law -of Diocletian, but would convict him of being a -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>, and would, therefore, be most unwelcome -to the reigning sovereign. If they decided that -Felix was not a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>, they would convict him of -having broken the law of Diocletian and convict -themselves of having been lax administrators. The -favour of a living Prince, however, outweighed consideration -for the edicts of the dead, and the finding -of the court was that “no volumes of Holy Scripture -had been discovered at Aptunga, or had been defiled, -or burnt.” It went on to say that Felix was not -present in the city at the time and that he had not -temporised with his conscience (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>neque conscientiam -accommodaverit</i></span>). He had been, in short, a godly -bishop (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>religiosum episcopum</i></span>). The character of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>Felix was, therefore, entirely rehabilitated and the -validity of the consecration of Cæcilianus was -unimpaired.</p> - -<div id='i172' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp172.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES AS IT APPEARED IN 1686.<br /><span class='small'>FROM AN OLD PRINT.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Then follows the Council of Arles in 314. With a -forbearance rarely displayed by a Roman emperor to -inveterate and unreasoning opposition, Constantine -yielded to the clamour of the Donatists for a new council -on a broader and more authoritative scale than the -commission of Italian and Gallic bishops. But his disappointment -and disgust are plainly to be seen in -his letter to the proconsul of Africa. Constantine -began by saying that he had fully expected that the -decision of a commission of bishops “of the very -highest probity and competence” would have commanded -universal respect. He found, however, that -the enemies of Cæcilianus were as dogged and -obstinate as ever, for they declared that the bishops -had simply shut themselves up in a room and judged -the case according to their personal predilections. -They clamoured for another council: he would grant -them one which was to meet at Arles. Ælianus, therefore, -was to see that the public posting service -throughout Africa and Mauretania was placed at the -disposal of Cæcilianus and his party and of Donatus -and his party, that they might travel with despatch -and cross into Spain by the quickest passage. Then -the letter continued:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“You will provide each separate Bishop with imperial -letters entitling him to necessaries <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>en route</i></span> (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>tractorias -litteras</i></span>) that he may arrive at Arles by the first of -August, and you will also give all the bishops to understand -that, before they leave their dioceses, they must -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>make arrangements whereby, during their absence, -reasonable discipline may be preserved and no chance -revolt against authority or private altercations arise, for -these bring the Church into great disgrace.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“On the other matters at issue, I wish the enquiry to -be full and complete, and an end to be reached,<a id='r82' /><a href='#f82' class='c016'><sup>[82]</sup></a> as I -hope it may be, when all those who are known to be at -variance meet together in person. The quarrel may -thus come to its natural and timely conclusion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“For as I am well assured that you are a worshipper -of the supreme God, I confess to your Excellency that I -consider it by no means lawful for me to ignore disputes -and quarrels of such a nature as may excite the supreme -Divinity to wrath, not only against the human race but -against myself personally, into whose charge the Divinity -by its Divine will has committed the governance of all -that is on earth. In its just indignation, it might decree -some ill against me.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And then only can I feel really and absolutely -secure, and hope for an unfailing supply of all the -richest blessings that flow from the instant goodness of -Almighty God, when I shall see all mankind reverencing -most Holy God in brotherly singleness of worship and in -the lawful rites of our Catholic religion.”<a id='r83' /><a href='#f83' class='c016'><sup>[83]</sup></a></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Not only did Constantine write in this evidently -sincere strain to the proconsul of Africa; he also -sent personal letters to the bishops whose presence -he desired. Eusebius has preserved the -text of one of these, which was addressed to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>Chrestus, Bishop of Syracuse, in which the Emperor -instructs him not to fail to reach Arles by August -1st, and bids him secure a public vehicle from -Latronianus, the Governor of Sicily, and bring with -him two presbyters of the second rank and three -personal servants. In obedience to Constantine’s -wishes the bishops assembled at Arles by the -appointed day. It is not known how many were -present. On the fullest list of those who signed the -canons there agreed to are found the names of -thirty-three bishops, thirteen presbyters, twenty-three -deacons, two readers, seven exorcists, and four -representatives of the Bishop of Rome. But from -the extreme importance attached to the council in -later times it is certain that many more attended, -and the numbers have been variously estimated at -from two to six hundred. Not a single Eastern -bishop was present. It was a council of the West, -representing the various provinces of Africa and -Gaul, Spain, Britain, Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. -From Britain came Eborius of York, Restitutus of -London, and Adelfius, the Bishop of a diocese which -has been variously interpreted as that of Colchester, -Lincoln, and Caerleon on Usk, with a presbyter -named Sacerdos and a deacon called Arminius. The -Bishop of Rome, Sylvester, sent two presbyters and -two deacons.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The Council investigated with great minuteness -the points raised by the Donatists, but it is clear -from the report sent to Sylvester that the Donatists -were no better supplied with evidence than they -had been at Rome. They simply repeated the old, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>unsubstantiated charge against Cæcilianus that, as -deacon, he had forcibly prevented the members of -the Church of Carthage from succouring their brethren -in prison during the persecution of Diocletian, and -the disproved accusation against the bishop who consecrated -him that he had been a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>. In a -word, they had absolutely no case and the Council -of Arles endorsed the verdict of the Council of -Rome. The synodal letter to Sylvester began as -follows:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“We, assembled in the city of Arles at the bidding of -our most pious Emperor, in the common bonds of charity -and unity, and knitted together by the ties of the mother -Catholic Church, salute you, most holy Pope, with all due -reverence. We have endured to listen to the accusations -of desperate men, who have wrought grave injury to our -law and tradition, men whom the present authority of -our God and the rule of truth have so utterly disowned -that there was no reason in their speeches, no bounds to -the charges they brought, and no evidence or proof. -And so, in the judgment of God and the Mother Church, -which has known and attests them, they stand either -condemned or rejected. Would that you, dearest brother, -had found it possible to take part in such a gathering. -We verily believe that in that case a more severe sentence -would have been passed upon them, while if your judgment -had coincided with ours, the joy of our assembly -would have been intensified. But since you found it -impossible to leave the chosen place where the Apostles -make their daily home, and where their blood testifies -ceaselessly to the glory of God, we thought, dearest brother, -that we ought not simply to take in hand the subject -for the discussion of which we had been called together, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>but also to consider other matters on our own account, -and, as we have come from diverse provinces, diverse are -the topics on which it seemed good to us to take -counsel.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The letter then enumerates the canons to which -the signatories had agreed and transmits them with -the remark that as the Bishop of Rome’s dioceses -were wider than those of any other bishop, he was -the most suitable person to press the acceptance of -these canons upon the Church.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It does not fall within the province of this book to -discuss these twenty-two canons; it will suffice to -indicate the more important in the briefest outline. -The first suggested that Easter should be celebrated -on the same day throughout the whole world; -the second insisted on the clergy residing in the -places to which they were ordained; the third -threatened with excommunication deserters from the -army in times of peace (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>qui arma projiciunt in pace</i></span>). -Of special importance in connection with the questions -raised by the Donatists were the canons which -prohibited the rebaptism of heretics if they had -been baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity; -which recognised the validity of baptism conferred -by heretics, if conferred in the proper form; which -ordered that a new bishop should be consecrated by -seven, or at least three, bishops and never by a single -one; which removed from the ministry all those -who were clearly proved to have been <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditores</i></span> or to -have denounced their brother clergy, though, if these -had ordained any others to the ministry, the validity -of the ordination was not to be challenged. Worthy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>also of note is the canon removing from the communion -of the faithful all those engaged in any -calling connected with the arena or the stage, such -as charioteers, jockeys, actors, pantomimists, and the -like, as long as they continue in professions which, in -the eyes of the Church, tend to the subversion of -public morals; the canon which excommunicated -those of the clergy who practised usury, and the -canon exhorting those whose wives had been unfaithful -not to marry again, as they were legally entitled -to do, during the lifetime of their guilty partners.</p> - -<p class='c001'>If the Council of Arles was exceptionally fruitful -in respect of new rules passed for the improvement -of ecclesiastical discipline, it proved an entire failure -in its primary object, that of putting an end to the -Donatist schism. The African malcontents still refused -to acknowledge Cæcilianus and had the effrontery -to appeal to Constantine for yet another -investigation. As the bishops of the West were -obstinately prejudiced against them, they desired -the Emperor to be gracious enough to take charge -of the enquiry himself. Constantine did not conceal -his anger in the important letter which he addressed -to the bishops at Arles, thanking them for -their labours and giving them leave to return to -their homes. He wrote:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Certainly I cannot describe or enumerate the blessings -which God in His heavenly bounty has bestowed upon -me, His servant. I rejoice exceedingly, therefore, that -after this most just enquiry you have recalled to better -hope and future those whom the malignity of the Devil -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>seemed to have seduced away by his miserable persuasion -from the clearest light of the Catholic law. O truly -conquering Providence of Christ, our Saviour, solicitous -even for these who have deserted and turned their -weapons against the truth, and joined themselves to the -heathen. Yet even now, if they will truly believe and -obey His most holy law, they will be able to see what -forethought has been taken in their behalf by the will of -God.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“And I hoped, most holy brethren, to find such a disposition -even in the stubbornest breasts. For not without -just cause will the clemency of Christ depart from -those, in whom it shines with a light so clear that we -may perceive they are regarded with loathing by the -Divine Providence. Such men must be bereft of reason, -since with incredible arrogance they persuade themselves -of the truth of things, of which it is neither meet -to speak nor hear others speak, abandoning the righteous -decisions which have been laid down. So persistent and -ineradicable is their malignity. How often already have -they shamelessly approached me, only to be crushed -with the fitting response! Now they clamour for a -judgment from me, who myself await the judgment of -Christ. For I say that, as far as the truth is concerned, -a judgment delivered by priests ought to be considered -as valid as though Christ Himself were present and delivering -judgment.<a id='r84' /><a href='#f84' class='c016'><sup>[84]</sup></a> For priests can form no thought or -judgment, unless what they are taught to utter by the admonitory -voice of Christ.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“What, then, can these malignant creatures be thinking -of, creatures of the Devil, as I have truly said? -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>They seek the things of this world, abandoning the -things of Heaven. What sheer, rabid madness possesses -them, that they have entered an appeal, as is wont to be -done in mundane lawsuits?... What do these -detractors of the law think of Christ their Saviour, if -they refuse to acknowledge the judgment of Heaven -and demand judgment from me? They are proven -traitors; they have themselves convicted themselves of -their crimes, without need of closer enquiry into them.... -Do you, however, dearest brothers, return to -your own homes, and be ye mindful of me that our -Saviour may ever have mercy upon me.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>It is not a little difficult to understand why an -Emperor who wrote such a letter as the above should -have again acceded to the Donatist demand for -a rehearing. Possibly the Donatists had powerful -friends at court of whom we know nothing, some -member, it may be, of the Imperial Family, or perhaps -the case against them was not so one-sided as -the Catholic authorities agree in representing. At -any rate, Constantine summoned Cæcilianus to appear -before him in Rome. Here is the letter which -he wrote to the Donatist bishops to apprise them of -his determination:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“A few days ago I had decided to accede to your request -and permit you to return to Africa, that the case -which you think you have established against Cæcilianus -might be fully investigated and brought to a proper conclusion. -But, after long and careful consideration, I -have deemed the following arrangement best. Knowing, -as I do, that certain of you are of a decidedly turbulent -nature and obstinately reject a right verdict and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>the reasoning of absolute truth, it might conceivably -happen, if the case were heard in Africa, that the conclusion -reached would not be a fitting one, or in accordance -with the dictates of truth. In that event, owing to -your exceeding obstinacy, something might occur which -would greatly displease the Heavenly Divinity and do -serious injury to my reputation, which I desire ever to -maintain unimpaired. I have decided therefore, as I -have said, that it is better for Cæcilianus to come here -and I think he will speedily arrive.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“But I pledge you my word that if, in his presence, -you shall succeed in proving a single one of the crimes -and misdeeds which you lay to his charge, it shall have -as much weight with me as if you had proved every accusation -you bring forward. May God Almighty keep -you safe for ever.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>At the same time Constantine wrote to Probianus, -the successor of Ælianus in the governorship of -Africa, instructing him to send under guard to Italy -certain witnesses who had been imprisoned for forging -documents purporting to shew that Felix of Aptunga -was a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>traditor</i></span>. Cæcilianus failed to appear at the -appointed time, for some reason which is unknown -to St. Augustine, who gives a brief account of the -sequence of events.<a id='r85' /><a href='#f85' class='c016'><sup>[85]</sup></a> The Donatists demanded that -judgment should be given against the absent bishop -by default, but Constantine refused and ordered them -to follow him to Milan, where affairs of state necessitated -his presence. If Augustine is to be trusted, -the Emperor secured the attendance of the Donatists -by clapping them under guard (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ab officialibus -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>custoditos</i></span>). This time Cæcilianus did not fail his patron. -Constantine, who was strongly averse from taking -upon himself to revise, as it were, the judgments -passed by so many bishops in council, deprecated -their possible resentment by assuring them that his -sole desire was to close the mouths of the Donatists.</p> - -<p class='c001'>After hearing the case all over again, Constantine -pronounced judgment on Nov. 16, 316. St. Augustine -says that the Emperor’s letters prove his -diligence, caution, and forethought. The praise may -be deserved, but it is evident that he had made up -his mind beforehand. He re-affirmed the absolute -innocence of Cæcilianus and the shamelessness of his -accusers. In an interesting fragment of a letter written -by the Emperor to Eumalius, one of his vicars, -occurs this sentence: “I saw in Cæcilianus a man of -spotless innocence, one who observed the proper duties -of religion and served it as he ought, nor did it -appear that guilt could be found in him, as had been -charged against him in his absence by the malice of -his enemies.” The publication of the Emperor’s -verdict was followed by an edict prescribing penalties -against the schismatics. St. Augustine speaks of -a “most severe law against the party of Donatus,”<a id='r86' /><a href='#f86' class='c016'><sup>[86]</sup></a> -and, from other scattered references, we learn that -their churches were confiscated and that they were -fined for non-obedience. The author of the Edict -of Milan, who had promised absolute freedom of -conscience to all, was so soon obliged to invoke the -arm of the temporal authority for the correction of -religious disunion!</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>But the Donatists, whose only <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>raison d’être</i></span> was -their passionate insistence upon the obligation of the -Christian to make no compromise with conscience, -however sharp the edge of the persecutor’s sword, -were obviously not the kind of people to be overawed -by so mild a punishment as confiscation of -property. The Emperor’s edicts were fruitless, -and in 320, only four years later, we find Constantine -trying a change of policy and recommending -the African bishops to see once more what toleration -would do. Active repression only made martyrs, and -martyrdom was the goal of the fanatical Donatist’s -ambition. Hence the terms in which the Emperor -addresses the Catholic Church of Africa. After -enumerating the repeated efforts he has made in -order to restore unity, and dwelling upon the deliberate -and abandoned wickedness of those who have -rendered his intervention nugatory, he continues:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“We must hope, therefore, that Almighty God may -shew pity and gentleness to his people, as this schism is -the work of a few. For it is to God that we should look -for a remedy, since all good vows and deeds are requited. -But until the healing comes from above, it behoves us to -moderate our councils, to practise patience, and to bear -with the virtue of calmness any assault or attack which -the depravity of these people prompts them to deliver.</p> - -<p class='c001'>“Let there be no paying back injury with injury: for it -is only the fool who takes into his usurping hands the -vengeance which he ought to reserve for God.<a id='r87' /><a href='#f87' class='c016'><sup>[87]</sup></a> Our -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>faith should be strong enough to feel full confidence -that, whatever we have to endure from the fury of men -like these, will avail with God with all the grace of martyrdom. -For what is it in this world to conquer in the -name of God, unless it be to bear with fortitude the disordered -attack of men who trouble the peaceful followers -of the law!</p> - -<p class='c001'>“If you observe my will, you will speedily find that, -thanks to the supreme power, the designs of the presumptuous -standard-bearers of this wretched faction will -languish, and all men will recognise that they ought not -to listen to the persuasion of a few and perish everlastingly, -when, by the grace of penitence, they may correct -their errors and be restored to eternal life.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Patience, leniency, and toleration, however, were -as futile as force in dealing with the Donatists, who -bluntly told the Emperor that his protégé, Cæcilianus, -was a “worthless rascal” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>antistiti ejus nebuloni</i></span>), -and refused to obey his injunctions. Donatus, -surnamed the Great in order to distinguish him from -the other Donatus, who had been Bishop of Casæ -Nigræ, had by this time succeeded to the leadership -of the schism on the death of Majorinus, and the extraordinary -ascendency which he obtained over his -followers, in spite of the powerful Imperial influence -which was always at the support of Cæcilianus, warrants -the belief that he was a man of marked ability. -Learned, eloquent, and irreproachable in private life, -he is said to have ruled his party with an imperious -hand, and to have treated his bishops like lackeys. -Yet his authority was so unbounded and unquestioned -that his followers swore by his name and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>grey hairs, and, at his death, ascribed to him the -honours paid only to martyrs.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Under his leadership the Donatists rapidly increased -in numbers. They were schismatics rather -than heretics. They had no great distinctive tenet; -what they seem to have insisted upon chiefly was -absolute purity within the Church and freedom from -worldly taint. That was their ideal, as it has been -the ideal of many other wild sectaries since their -day. They claimed special revelations of the Divine -Will; they insisted upon rebaptising their converts, -compelling even holy virgins to take fresh vows on -joining their communion, which they boasted was -that of the one true Church. Such a sect naturally -attracted to itself all the fanatical extremists of -Africa and all those who had any grievance against -the Catholic authorities. It became the refuge of -the revolutionary, the bankrupt, and the criminal, -and thus, inside the Donatist movement proper, -there grew up a kind of anarchist movement against -property, which had little or no connection with religious -principles.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine, during the remainder of his reign, -practically ignored the African Church. He had -done what he could and he wiped his hands of it. -There soon arose an extravagant sect which took -the name of Circumcelliones, from their practice of -begging food from cell to cell, or cottage to cottage. -They renounced the ordinary routine of daily life. -Forming themselves into bands, and styling themselves -the Champions of the Lord (ἀγωνιστικόι), -they roamed through the countryside, which they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>kept in a state of abject terror. St. Augustine, in a -well-known passage, declares that when their shout -of “Praise be to God!” was heard, it was more -dreaded than the roar of a lion. They were armed -with wooden clubs, which they named “Israels,” -and these they did not scruple to use upon the -Catholics, whose churches they entered and plundered, -committing the most violent excesses, though -they were pledged to celibacy. Gibbon justly compares -them to the Camisards of Languedoc at the -commencement of the 18th century, and others have -likened them to the Syrian Assassins at the time of -the Crusades and the Jewish Sicarii of Palestine during -the first century of the Christian era. They -formed, it seems, a sort of Christian Jacquerie, possessed -in their wilder moments with a frantic passion -for martyrdom and imploring those whom they met -to kill them. The best of them were fit only for a -madhouse; the worst were fit only for a gaol. Probably -they had little connection with the respectable -Donatists in the cities, whose organisation was precisely -the same as that of the Catholics, and their -operations were mainly restricted to the thinly populated -districts on the borders of the desert.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On one occasion, however, Constantine was obliged -to interfere. The Donatists in Cirta,—the capital of -Numidia,—which had been renamed Constantina in -honour of the Emperor, had forcibly seized the -church of the Catholics, that had been built at Constantine’s -command. The Catholics, therefore, appealed -to the Emperor, and knowing that he was -pledged to a policy of non-interference, they did not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>ask for punishment against the Donatists, or even -for the restoration of the church in question, but -simply that a new site might be given them out of -public moneys. The Emperor granted their request, -ordering that the building as well as the site should be -paid for by the State, and granting immunity from -all public offices to the Catholic clergy of the town. -In his letter Constantine does not mince his language -with respect to the Donatists.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“They are adherents,” he says, “of the Devil, who is -their father; they are insane, traitors, irreligious, profane, -ranged against God and enemies of the Holy -Church. Would to Heaven!” he concludes, “that -these heretics or schismatics might have regard even -now for their own salvation, and, brushing aside the -darkness, turn their eyes to see the true light, leaving -the Devil, and flying for refuge, late though it be, to the -one and true God, who is the judge of all! But since they -are set upon remaining in their wickedness and wish to -die in their iniquities, our warning and our previous -long continued exhortations must suffice. For if they -had been willing to obey our commandments, they -would now be free from all evil.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Evidently the Emperor was thoroughly weary of -the whole controversy, and disgusted at such unreasoning -contumacy. The same feelings find powerful -expression in the letters and manifestoes of St. -Augustine, a century later, when the great Bishop -of Hippo constituted himself the champion of the -Catholic Church and played the foremost part in -the stormy debates which preceded the final disappearance -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>of the Donatist schism, after the Council of -Carthage in 410. Then the momentous decision -was reached that all bishops who, after three appeals -to them to return to the Church, still refused submission, -should be brought back to the Catholic fold -by force. The point in dispute was still just what -it had been in the days of Constantine, whether a -Christian Church could be considered worthy of the -name if it had admitted faithless and unworthy -members, or if the ministers had been ordained by -bishops who had temporised with their consciences -and fallen short of the loftiest ideal of duty. That -was the great underlying principle at stake in the -Donatist controversy, though, as in all such controversies, -the personal element was paramount when -the schism began, and was still the cause of the bitterness -and fury with which the quarrel was conducted -long after the intrigues of Lucilla and the -personal animosities between Cæcilianus and the Numidian -bishops had ceased to be of interest or moment -to the living Church. And it is interesting to -note that while it was the Donatists themselves who -had made the first appeal unto Cæsar by asking -Constantine to judge between them and Cæcilianus, -in St. Augustine’s day the Donatists hotly denied -the capacity of the State to take cognisance of spiritual -things. What, they asked, has an Emperor to do -with the Church? <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Quid est Imperatori cum Ecclesia?</i></span></p> - -<div id='i188' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_fp188.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>STATUE OF CONSTANTINE FROM THE PORCH OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, AT ROME.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span> -<img src='images/i_p039.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER X</span><br />THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>If Constantine beheld with impatience the irreconcilable -fury of the Donatists, who refused either -to respect his wishes for Christian unity or to obey -the bishops of the Western Church; if he angrily -washed his hands of their stubborn factiousness and -committed them in despair to the judgment of God, -we may imagine with what bitterness of soul he beheld -the gathering of the storm of violent controversy -which is associated with the two great names -of Arius and Athanasius. This was a controversy, -and Arianism was a heresy, which, unlike the Donatist -schism, were confined to no single province of the -Empire, but spread like a flood over the Eastern -Church, raising issues of tremendous importance, -vital to the very existence of Christianity. It started -in Alexandria. No birthplace could have been more -appropriate to a system of theology which was professedly -based upon pure reason than the great university -city where East and West met, the home of -Neo-Platonism, the inheritor of the Hellenic tradition, -and the chief exponent of Hellenism, as understood -and professed by Greeks who for centuries -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>had been subject to and profoundly modified by -Oriental ideas and thought.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We must deal very briefly with its origin. Arius -was born in the third quarter of the third century, -according to some accounts in Libya, according to -others in Alexandria. He was ordained deacon by the -Patriarch Peter and presbyter by Achillas, who appointed -him to the church called Baucalis, the oldest -and one of the most important of the city churches -of Alexandria. Arius had been in schism in his earlier -years. He had joined the party of Meletius, Bishop -of Lycopolis, who was condemned by a synod of -Egyptian bishops in 306 for insubordination and irregularity -of conduct; but he had made submission to -Achillas, and during the latter’s short tenure of the -see, Arius became a power in Alexandria. We are -told, indeed, that on the death of Achillas in 312 or -313 Arius was a candidate for the vacant throne, and -Theodoretus states that he was greatly mortified at -being passed over in favour of Alexander. But there -is no indication of personal animosity or quarrel between -the bishop and the parish priest until five or -six years later. On the contrary, Alexander is said -to have held Arius in high esteem, and the fame of -the priest of Baucalis spread abroad through the city -as that of an earnest worker, a strict and ascetic -liver, and a powerful preacher who dealt boldly and -frankly with the great principles of the faith. In -person, Arius was of tall and striking presence, conspicuous -wherever he moved by his sleeveless tunic -and narrow cloak, and gifted with great conversational -powers and charm of manner. He was also -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>capable of infecting others with the enthusiasm -which he felt himself. Arius has been described for -us mainly by his enemies, who considered him a very -anti-Christ, and attributed his remarkable success to -the direct help of the Evil One. We may be sure -that, like all the great religious leaders of the world,—among -whom, heretic though he was, he deserves -a place,—he was fanatically sincere and the doctrine -which he preached was vital and fecund, even though -the vitality and fecundity were those of error.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was not, apparently, until the year 319 that -serious disturbance began in the Christian circles of -Alexandria. There would first of all be whispers -that Arius was preaching strange doctrine and handling -the great mysteries somewhat boldly and dogmatically. -Many would doubt the wisdom of such -outspokenness, quite apart from the question whether -the doctrine taught was sound; others would exhibit -the ordinary distrust of innovation; others would -welcome this new kindling of theological interest -from the mere pleasure of debate and controversy. -We do not suppose that any one, not even Arius -himself, foresaw—at any rate, at first—the extraordinary -and lamentable consequences that were to -follow from his teaching. The Patriarch Alexander -has been blamed for not crushing the infant heresy -at its birth, for not stopping the mouth of Arius before -the mischief was done. It is easy to be wise -after the event. Doubtless Alexander did not appreciate -the danger; possibly also he thought that -if he waited, the movement would subside of itself. -He may very well have believed that this popular -<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>preacher would lose his hold, that some one else -would take his place as the fashionable clergyman -of the hour, that the extravagance of his doctrines -would speedily be forgotten. Moreover, Arius was -a zealous priest, doing good work in his own way, -and long experience has shewn that it is wise for -ecclesiastical superiors to give able men of marked -power and originality considerable latitude in the -expression of their views.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As time went on, however, it became clear that -Alexander must intervene. Arius was now the enthusiastic -advocate of theories which aimed at the -very root of the Christian religion, inasmuch as they -denied the essential Godhead of Christ. It was no -longer a case of a daring thinker tentatively hinting -at doctrines which were hardly in accord with established -belief. Arius was devoting himself just to -those points where he was at variance with his fellows, -was insisting upon them in season and out of -season, and was treating them as the very essence -of Christianity. He had issued his challenge; Alexander -was compelled to take it up. The Patriarch -sent for him privately. He wished either to convince -him of his error or to induce him to be silent. -But the interview was of no avail. Arius simply -preached the more. Alexander then summoned a -meeting of the clergy of Alexandria, and brought -forward for discussion the accepted doctrine of the -Holy Trinity which Arius had challenged. Arius and -his sympathisers were present and the controversy -was so prolonged that the meeting had to be adjourned; -when it reassembled, the Patriarch endeavoured -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>to bring the debate to a close by restating the -doctrine of the Holy Trinity in a form which he hoped -would be unanimously approved. But this merely -precipitated an open rupture. For Arius immediately -rose and denounced Alexander for falling into the -heresy of Sabellianism and reducing the Second -Person in the Trinity to a mere manifestation of the -First.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is to be remembered that the doctrine of the -Holy Trinity—difficult as it is even now, after centuries -of discussion, to state in terms that are free -from all equivocation—must have been far more difficult -to state then, before the Arian controversy -had, so to speak, crystallised the exact meaning of -the terms employed. It seems quite clear, moreover, -from what subsequently took place, that Alexander -was no match for Arius in dialectical subtlety -and that Arius found it easy to twist his chief’s unskilful -arguments and expressions into bearing an -interpretation which Alexander had not intended. -At any rate the inevitable result of the conference -was that both sides parted in anger, and Arius continued -as before to preach the doctrine that the Son -of God was a creature. For this was the leading -tenet of Arianism and the basis of the whole heresy, -that the Son of God was a creature, the first of all -creatures, it is true, and created before the angels -and archangels, ineffably superior to all other creatures, -yet still a creature and, as such, ineffably inferior -to the Creator, God the Father Himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It does not fall within the scope of this book to -discuss in detail the theological conceptions of Arius -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>and the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. But it is -necessary to say a few words about this new doctrine -which was to shake the world, and to shew how it -came into being. Arius started from the Sonship of -Christ, and argued thus: If Christ be really, and not -simply metaphorically, the Son of God, and if the -Divine Sonship is to be interpreted in the same way -as the relationship between human father and son, -then the Divine Father must have existed before the -Divine Son. Therefore, there must have been a -time when the Son did not exist. Therefore, the -Son was a creature composed of an essence or being -which had previously not been existent. And inasmuch -as the Father was in essence eternal and ever -existent, the Son could not be of the same essence -as the Father. Such was the Arian theory stated in -the fewest possible words. “Its essential propositions,” -as Canon Bright has said,<a id='r88' /><a href='#f88' class='c016'><sup>[88]</sup></a> “were these two, -that the Son had not existed from eternity and that -he differed from other creatures in degree and not in -kind.” There can be nothing more misleading than -to represent the Arian controversy as a futile logomachy, -a mere quarrel about words, about a single -vowel even, as Gibbon has done in a famous passage. -It was a vital controversy upon a vital dogma of the -Christian Church.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Two years seem to have passed before Bishop -Alexander, finding that Arius was growing bolder in -declared opposition, felt compelled to make an attempt -to enforce discipline within his diocese. The -insubordinate priest of Baucalis had rejected the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>personal appeal of his bishop and disregarded the -wishes of a majority of the Alexandrian clergy, and -we may reasonably suppose that his polemics would -grow all the more bitter as he became aware of the -rapidly deepening estrangement. He would sharpen -the edge of his sarcasm upon the logical obtuseness -of his nominal superiors, for his appeal was always to -reason and to logic. Given my premises, he would -say, where is the flaw in my deductions, and wherein -do my syllogisms break down? By the year 321 -Arius was the typical rebellious priest, profoundly -self-confident, rejoicing in controversy, dealing hard -blows all around him, and prepared to stoop to any -artifice in order to gain adherents. To win over the -mob, he was ready to degrade his principles to the -mob’s understanding.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Alexander summoned a provincial synod of a -hundred Egyptian and Libyan bishops to pronounce -judgment upon the doctrines and the person of -Arius. Attended by his principal supporters, Arius -appeared before the synod and boldly stood to his -guns. He maintained, that is to say, that God had -not always been Father; that the Word was the creature -and handiwork of the Father; that the Son was -not like the Father according to substance and was -neither the true Word nor the true Wisdom, having -been created by the Word and Wisdom which are in -God; that by His nature He was subject to change -like all other rational creatures; that the Son does -not perfectly know either the Father or His own essence, -and that Jesus Christ is not true God. The -majority of the bishops listened with horror as Arius -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>thus unfolded his daring and, in their ears, blasphemous -creed. One of them at length put a -searching test question. “If,” he asked, “the Word -of God is subject to change, would it have been possible -for the Word to change, as Satan had changed, -from goodness to wickedness?” “Yes,” came the -answer. Thereupon the synod promptly excommunicated -Arius and his friends, including two -bishops, Secundus of Ptolemais in the Pentapolis -and Theonas of Marmorica, together with six priests -and six deacons. The synod also anathematised his -doctrines. The Arian heresy had formally begun.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Arius quitted Alexandria and betook himself to -Palestine, where he and his companions received -hospitable treatment at the hands of some of the -bishops, notably Eusebius of Cæsarea and Paulinus -of Tyre. He bore himself very modestly, assuming -the rôle not of a rebel against authority, but of one -who had been deeply wronged, because he had been -grievously misunderstood. He was no longer the -turbulent priest, strong in the knowledge of his intellectual -superiority over his bishop, but a minister of -the Church who had been cast out from among the -faithful and whose one absorbing desire was to be -restored to communion. He did not ask his kindly -hosts to associate themselves with him. He merely -begged that they should use their good offices with -Alexander to effect a reconciliation, and that they -should not refuse to treat him as a true member -of the Church. A few, like Macarius of Jerusalem, -rejected his overtures, but a large number of bishops -in the Province—if we may so term it—of the Patriarch -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span> Antioch acceded to his wishes. No doubt -Arius presented his case, when he was suing for -recognition and favour, in a very different form from -that in which he had presented it from the rostrum -of his church at Baucalis. He was as subtle in his -knowledge of the ways of the world as in his knowledge -of the processes of logic. Nevertheless, he cannot -possibly have disguised the main doctrine which -he had preached for years—the doctrine, that is to -say, that the Son was inferior to the Father and had -been created by the Father out of a substance other -than His own—and the fact that the champion of such -a doctrine received recognition at the hands of so -many bishops seems to prove that the Church had not -yet formulated her belief in respect of this mystery -with anything like precision; that theories similar to -those advocated by Arius were rife throughout the -East and were by no means repugnant to the general -tendency of its thought.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Arianism would naturally, and did actually, make -a most potent appeal to minds of very varying -quality and calibre. It appealed, for example, to -those Christians who had not quite succeeded in -throwing off the influences of the paganism around -them, a class obviously large and comprising -within it alike the educated who were under -the spell of the religious philosophy of the Neo-Platonists, -and the uneducated and illiterate who -believed, or at any rate spoke as if they believed, -in a multiplicity of gods. To minds, therefore, -still insensibly thinking in terms of polytheism -one can understand the attraction of the leading -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>thought of Arianism, viz., one supreme, eternal, -omnipotent God, God the Father, and a secondary -God, God the Son, God and creature in one, and -therefore the better fitted to be intermediary between -the unapproachable God and fallen humanity. For -how many long centuries had not the world -believed in demi-gods as it had believed in -gods? Arianism, on one side of its character, -enabled men to cast a lingering look behind on an -outworn creed which had not been wholly gross and -which had not been too exacting for human frailty. -Moreover, there were many texts in Holy Scripture -which seemed in the most explicit language to corroborate -the truth of Arius’s teaching. “My Father -is greater than I,” so Christ had Himself said, and -the obvious and literal meaning of the words seemed -entirely inconsistent with any essential co-equality -of Son and Father. The text, of course, is subject -to another—if more recondite—interpretation, but -the history of religion has shewn that the origin of -most sects has been due to people fastening upon -individual texts and founding upon them doctrines -both great and small.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Again,—and perhaps this was the strongest claim -that Arianism could put forward,—it appealed to -men’s pride and belief in the adequacy of their -reason. Mankind has always hungered after a religious -system based on reason, founded in reason; -secure against all objectors, something four-square -and solid against all possible assailants. Arianism -claimed to provide such a system, and it unquestionably -had the greater appearance—at any rate to a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>superficial view—of being based upon irrefutable argument. -Canon Bright put the case very well where -he wrote<a id='r89' /><a href='#f89' class='c016'><sup>[89]</sup></a>:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Arianism would appeal to not a few minds by adopting -a position virtually rationalistic, and by promising to -secure a Christianity which should stand clear of philosophical -objections, and Catholics would answer by -insisting that the truths pertaining to the Divine Nature -must be pre-eminently matter of adoring faith, that it -was rash to speculate beyond the limit of revelation, and -that the Arian position was itself open to criticism from -reason’s own point of view. Arians would call on -Catholics to ‘be logical’; to admit the prior existence -of the Father as involved in the very primary notion of -fatherhood; to halt no more between a premiss and a -conclusion, to exchange their sentimental pietism for -convictions sustainable by argument. And Catholics -would bid them in turn remember the inevitably limited -scope of human logic in regard to things divine and -would point out the sublime uniqueness of the divine -relation called Fatherhood.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>If we consider the subsequent history of the Arian -doctrine, its continual rebirth, the permanent appeal -which, in at least some of its phases, it makes to -certain types of intellect including some of the -loftiest and shrewdest, there can be no reason for -surprise that Arius met with so much recognition -and sympathy, even among those who refused him -their active and definite support. Alexander was -both troubled and annoyed to find that so many of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>the Eastern bishops took Arius’s part, and he sent -round a circular letter of remonstrance which had -the effect of arousing some of these kindly ecclesiastics -to a sense of the danger which lurked in the -Arian doctrine. But Arius was soon to find his -ablest and most influential champion in the person of -another Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia in Bithynia. -This Eusebius had been Bishop of Berytus (Beyrout), -and it has been thought that he owed his translation -from that see to the more important one of Nicomedia -to the influence of Constantia, sister of -Constantine and wife of Licinius. He had, at any -rate, been sufficiently astute to obtain the good-will -of Constantine on the fall of his old patron and he -stood well with the court circle.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He and Arius were old friends, for they had been -fellow-pupils of the famous Lucian of Antioch. It -has been suggested that Eusebius was rather the -teacher than the pupil of Arius, but probably neither -word expresses the true relationship. They were -simply old friends who thought very much alike. -Arius’s letter to Eusebius asking for his help is one -of the most interesting documents of the period. -Arius writes with hot indignation of the persecution -to which he has been subjected by Alexander, who, -he says, had expelled him and his friends from Alexandria -as impious atheists because they had refused -to subscribe to the outrageous doctrines which the -Bishop professed. He then gives in brief his version -of Alexander’s teaching and of his own, which he declares -is that of Eusebius of Cæsarea and all the -Eastern bishops, with the exception of a few. “We -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>are persecuted,” he continues, “because we have said, -‘the Son has a beginning, but God is without a beginning,’ -and ‘the Son is made of that which is not,’ -and ‘the Son is not part of God nor is he of any -substance.’” It is the letter of a man angry at what -he conceives to be the harsh treatment meted out to -him, and it has the ring of honesty about it, for even -though it distorts the views put forward by Alexander, -there never yet was a convinced theologian -who stated his opponent’s case precisely as that opponent -would state it for himself.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We have not Eusebius’s answer to this letter, the -closing sentence of which begged him as “a true fellow-pupil -of Lucian” not to fail him. But we know at -least that it was favourable, for we next find Arius -at Nicomedia itself, under the wing of the popular -and powerful Bishop, who vigorously stood up for -his friend. Eusebius wrote more than once to Alexander -pleading the cause of the banished presbyter, -and Arius himself also wrote to his old Bishop, restating -his convictions and reopening the entire question -in a temperate form. The tone of that letter -certainly compares most favourably with that of the -famous document which Alexander addressed to his -namesake at Byzantium, warning him to be on guard -against Arius and his friends. He can find no epithets -strong enough in which to describe them. -They are possessed of the Devil, who dwells in them -and goads them to fury; they are jugglers and tricksters, -clever conjurors with seductive words; they -are brigands who have built lairs for themselves -wherein day and night they curse Christ and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>faithful; they are no better than the Jews or Greeks -or pagans, whose good opinion they eagerly covet, -joining them in scoffing at the Catholic doctrine and -stirring up faction and persecution. The Bishop in -his fury even declares that the Arians are threatening -lawsuits against the Church at the instance of -disorderly women whom they have led astray, and -accuses them of seeking to make proselytes through -the agency of the loose young women of the town. -In short, they have torn the unbroken tunic of -Christ. And so on throughout the letter.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The historians of the Church have done the cause -of truth a poor service in concealing or glossing over -the outrageous language employed by the Patriarch, -whose violence raises the suspicion that he must -have been conscious of the weakness of his own dialectical -power in thus disqualifying his opponents -and ruling them out of court as a set of frantic -madmen. “What impious arrogance,” he exclaims. -“What measureless madness! What vainglorious -melancholy! What a devilish spirit it is that -indurates their unholy souls!” Even when every allowance -is made, this method of conducting a controversy -creates prejudice against the person employing -it. It is, moreover, in the very sharpest contrast with -the method employed by Arius, and with the tenor -of the letter written by Eusebius of Nicomedia to -Paulinus of Tyre, praying him to write to “My lord, -Alexander.” Eusebius hotly resented the tone of -the Patriarch’s letter, and, summoning a synod of -Bithynian bishops, laid the whole matter before -them for discussion. Sympathising with Arius, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>these bishops addressed a circular letter “to all the -bishops throughout the Empire,” begging them not -to deny communion to the Arians and also to seek -to induce Alexander to do the same. Alexander, -however, stood out for unconditional surrender.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Arius returned to Palestine, where three bishops -permitted him to hold services for his followers, and -the wordy war continued. Alexander drew up a -long encyclical which he addressed “to all his fellow-workers -of the universal Catholic Church,” couched -in language not quite so violent as that which he -had employed in writing to the Bishop of Byzantium, -yet denouncing the Arians in no measured terms as -“lawless men and fighters against Christ, teaching -an apostasy which one may rightly describe as preparing -the way for anti-Christ.” In it he attacks -Eusebius of Nicomedia by name, accusing him of -“believing that the welfare of the Church depended -upon his nod,” and of championing the cause of Arius -not because he sincerely believed the Arian doctrine -so much as in order to further his own ambitious -interests. Evidently, this was not the first time that -the two prelates had been at variance, and private -animosities accentuated their doctrinal differences. -The more closely the original authorities are studied, -the more evident is the need for caution in accepting -the traditional character sketches of Arius and -Eusebius of Nicomedia. Alexander declares that -he is prostrated with sorrow at the thought that -Arius and his friends are eternally lost, after having -once known the truth and denied it. But he adds, -“I am not surprised. Did not Judas betray his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>Master after being a disciple?” We are sceptical -of Alexander’s sorrow. He closes his letter with a -plea for the absolute excommunication of the Arians. -Christians must have nothing to do with the enemies -of Christ and the destroyers of souls. They must -not even offer them the compliment of a morning -salutation. To say “Good-morning” to an Arian -was to hold communication with the lost. Such a -manifesto merely added fuel to the fire, and the two -parties drew farther and farther apart.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Nor was Arius idle. It must have been about this -time that he composed the notorious poem, <cite>Thalia</cite>, -in which he embodied his doctrines. He selected -the metre of a pagan poet, Sotades of Crete, of whom -we know nothing save that his verses had the reputation -of being exceedingly licentious. Arius did -this of deliberate purpose. His object was to popularise -his doctrines. Sotades had a vogue; Arius -desired one. What he did was precisely similar to -what in our own time the Salvation Army has done -in setting its hymns to the popular tunes and music-hall -ditties of the day. This was at first a cause of -scandal to many worthy people, who now admit the -cleverness and admire the shrewdness of the idea. -Similarly, Arius got people to sing his doctrines to -the very tunes to which they had previously sung -the indecencies of Sotades. He wrote ballads, so we -are told by Philostorgius—the one Arian historian -who has survived—for sailors, millers, and travellers. -But it is certainly difficult to understand their popularity, -judging from the isolated fragments which -are quoted by Athanasius in his <cite>First Discourse -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>Against the Arians</cite> (chap. xi.). According to Athanasius, -the <cite>Thalia</cite> opened as follows:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“According to faith of God’s elect, God’s prudent ones,</div> - <div class='line'>Holy children, rightly dividing, God’s Holy Spirit receiving,</div> - <div class='line'>Have I learned this from the partakers of wisdom,</div> - <div class='line'>Accomplished, divinely taught, and wise in all things.</div> - <div class='line'>Along their track have I been walking, with like opinions.</div> - <div class='line'>I am very famous, the much suffering for God’s glory,</div> - <div class='line'>And taught of God, I have acquired wisdom and knowledge.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'>It is rather the unspeakable tediousness and frigidity -of this exordium than its arrogant impiety that -strike the modern reader. Athanasius then proceeds -to quote examples of Arius’s “repulsive and most -impious mockeries.” For example, “God was not always -a Father; there was once a time when God was -alone and was not yet a Father. But afterwards He -became a Father.” Or, “the Son was not always,” -or “the Word is not very God, but by participation -in Grace, He, as all others, is God only in name.” If -these are good specimens of what Athanasius -calls “the fables to be found in Arius’s jocose composition,” -the standard of the jocose or the ridiculous -must have altered greatly. Why such a poem -should have been called the <cite>Thalia</cite> or “Merrymaking,” -it is hard to conceive.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Yet, one can understand how the ribald wits of -Alexandria gladly seized upon this portentous controversy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>and twisted its prominent phrases into the -catch-words of the day. There is a passage in -Gregory of Nyssa bearing on this subject which has -frequently been quoted.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Every corner of Constantinople,” he says, “was full -of their discussions, the streets, the market-place, the -shops of the money-changers and the victuallers. Ask a -tradesman how many obols he wants for some article in -his shop, and he replies with a disquisition on generated -and ungenerated being. Ask the price of bread to-day, -and the baker tells you, ‘The Son is subordinate to the -Father.’ Ask your servant if the bath is ready and he -makes answer, ‘The Son arose out of nothing.’ ‘Great -is the only Begotten,’ declared the Catholics, and the -Arians rejoined, ‘But greater is He that begot.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>It was a subject that lent itself to irreverent -jesting and cheap profanity. The baser sort of -Arians appealed to boys to tell them whether there -were one or two Ingenerates, and to women to say -whether a son could exist before he was born. Even -in the present day, any theological doctrine which -has the misfortune to become the subject of excited -popular debate is inevitably dragged through the -mire by the ignorant partisanship and gross scurrilities -of the contending factions. We may be sure -that the “Ariomaniacs”—as they are called—were -neither worse nor better than the champions of the -Catholic side, and the result was tumult and disorder. -In fact, says Eusebius of Cæsarea,</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“in every city bishops were engaged in obstinate conflict -with bishops, people rose against people, and almost, like -<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>the fabled Symplegades, came into violent collision with -each other. Nay, some were so far transported beyond -the bounds of reason as to be guilty of reckless and outrageous -conduct and even to insult the statues of the -Emperor.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine felt obliged to intervene and addressed -a long letter to Alexander and Arius, which he confided -to the care of his spiritual adviser, Hosius, -Bishop of Cordova, bidding him go to Alexandria -in person and do what he could to mediate between -the disputants. We need not give the text in full. -Constantine began with his usual exordium. His -consuming passion, he said, was for unity of religious -opinion, as the precursor and best guarantee of -peace. Deeply disappointed by Africa, he had -hoped for better things from “the bosom of the -East,” whence had arisen the dawn of divine light. -Then he continues:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“But Ah! glorious and Divine Providence, what a -wound was inflicted not alone on my ears but on my -heart, when I heard that divisions existed among yourselves, -even more grievous than those of Africa, so that -you, through whose agency I hoped to bring healing -to others, need a remedy worse than they. And yet, -after making careful enquiry into the origin of these -discussions, I find that the cause is quite insignificant and -entirely disproportionate to such a quarrel.<a id='r90' /><a href='#f90' class='c016'><sup>[90]</sup></a>... I -gather then that the present controversy originated as -follows. For when you, Alexander, asked each of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>presbyters what he thought about a certain passage in -the Scriptures, or rather what he thought about a certain -aspect of a foolish question, and you, Arius, without due -consideration laid down propositions which never ought -to have been conceived at all, or, if conceived, ought to -have been buried in silence, dissension arose between -you; communion was forbidden; and the most holy -people, torn in twain, no longer preserved the unity of a -common body.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The Emperor then exhorts them to let both the -unguarded question and the inconsiderate answer -be forgotten and forgiven. The subject, he says, -never ought to have been broached, but there is -always mischief found for idle hands to do and idle -brains to think. The difference between you, he -insists, has not arisen on any cardinal doctrine laid -down in the Scriptures, nor has any new doctrine -been introduced. “You hold one and the same -view”;<a id='r91' /><a href='#f91' class='c016'><sup>[91]</sup></a> reunion, therefore, is easily possible. So -little does the Emperor appreciate the importance of -the questions at issue, that he goes on to quote the -example of the pagan philosophers who agree to -disagree on details, while holding the same general -principles. How then, he asks, can it be right for -brethren to behave towards one another like enemies -because of mere trifling and verbal differences?<a id='r92' /><a href='#f92' class='c016'><sup>[92]</sup></a> -“Such conduct is vulgar, childish, and petulant, ill-befitting -priests of God and men of sense. It is a -wile and temptation of the Devil. Let us have done -<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>with it. If we cannot all think alike on all topics, -we can at least all be united on the great essentials. -As far as regards divine Providence, let there be -one faith and one understanding, one united opinion -in reference to God.” And then the letter concludes -with the passionate outburst:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Restore me then my quiet days and untroubled -nights, that I may retain my joy in the pure light and, -for the rest of my days, enjoy the gladness of a peaceful -life. Else I needs must groan and be diffused wholly in -tears, and know no comfort of mind till I die. For -while the people of God, my fellow-servants, are thus -torn asunder in unlawful and pernicious controversy, how -can I be of tranquil mind?”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Some have seen in this letter proof of the -Emperor’s consummate wisdom, and have described -its language as golden and the triumph of common -sense. It seems to us a complete exposure of his -profound ignorance of the subject in which he had -interfered. It was easy to say that the question -should not have been raised. “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Quieta non movere</i></span>” -is an excellent motto in theology as in politics. But -this was precisely one of those questions which, -when once raised, are bound to go forward to an -issue. The time was ripe for it. It suited the taste -and temper of the age, and the resultant storm of -controversy, so easily stirred up, was not easily -allayed. For Constantine to tell Alexander and -Arius that theirs was merely a verbal quarrel on an -insignificant and non-essential point, or that they -were really of one and the same mind, and held one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>and the same view on all essentials, was grotesquely -absurd. The question at issue was none other than -the Divine Nature of the Son of God. If theology -is of any value or importance at all, it is impossible -to conceive a more essential problem.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p256.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span> -<img src='images/i_pix.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER XI</span><br />THE COUNCIL OF NICÆA</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Constantine’s letter was fruitless. Hosius -sought to play the peacemaker in vain. -Neither Alexander nor Arius desired peace except -at the price of the other’s submission, and neither -was prepared to submit. Hosius, therefore, did not -remain long in Alexandria, and, returning to Constantine, -recommended him to summon a Council of -the Church. The advice pleased the Emperor, who -at once issued letters calling upon the bishops to assemble -at Nicæa, in Bithynia, in the month of June, -325. The invitations were accepted with alacrity, -for Constantine placed at the disposal of the bishops -the posting system of the Empire, thus enabling -them to travel comfortably, expeditiously, and at no -cost to themselves.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“They were impelled,” says Eusebius,<a id='r93' /><a href='#f93' class='c016'><sup>[93]</sup></a> “by the anticipation -of a happy result to the conference, by the -hope of enjoying present peace, and by the desire of -beholding something new and strange in the person of so -admirable an Emperor. And when they were all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>assembled, it appeared evident that the proceeding was -the work of God, inasmuch as men, who had been -most widely separated not merely in sentiment but by -differences of country, place, and nation, were here -brought together within the walls of a single city, forming -as it were a vast garland of priests, composed of a variety -of the choicest flowers.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The Council of Nicæa was the first of the great -Œcumenical Councils of the Church. There had -been nothing like it before; nor could there have -been, for no pagan Emperor would have tolerated -such an assembly. The exact number of those present -is not known. Eusebius, with irritating and unnecessary -vagueness, says that “the bishops exceeded -two hundred and fifty, while the number of the presbyters -and deacons in their train and the crowd of -acolytes and other attendants was altogether beyond -computation.” There are sundry lists of names recorded -by the ecclesiastical historians, but unfortunately -all are incomplete. However, as a confident -legend grew up within fifty years of the Council that -the bishops were 318 in number, and as the Council -itself became known as “The Council of the 318,” -we may accept that figure without much demur. -Very few came from the West. Hosius of Cordova -seems to have been the only representative of the -Spanish Church, and Nacasius of Divio the only representative -of Gaul. The Bishops of Arles, Autun, -Lyons, Treves, Narbonne, Marseilles, Toulouse—all -cities of first-class importance—were absent. Eustorgius -came from Milan; Marcus from Calabria; -Capito from Sicily. The aged Sylvester of Rome -<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>would have attended, had his physical infirmities -permitted, but he sent two presbyters to speak for -him, Vito and Vincentius. Bishop Domnus of -Stridon represented Pannonia, and Theophilus the -Goth came on behalf of the northern barbarians—probably -to listen rather than to speak. Evidently, -then, the composition of the Council was overwhelmingly -Eastern. Greek, not Latin, was the language -spoken, and certainly Greek, not Latin, was the heresy -under discussion, for the Arian controversy could not -have arisen in the western half of the Empire. For -all practical purposes the Council of Nicæa was a well-attended -synod of the Syrian and Egyptian Churches. -The opinions there expounded were the opinions of -the Christian schools of Antioch and Alexandria.</p> - -<div id='i212' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp212.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>GATE OF ST. ANDREW AT AUTUN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>We may take the names of a few of the bishops -as they pass through the gates of Nicæa, each accompanied -by at least two presbyters and three slaves, -riding on horseback or in carriages, with a train of -baggage animals following. Alexander was there, -bringing with him fourteen bishops from the valley -of the Nile and five from Libya. The most conspicuous -of these were Potammon of Heracleopolis -and Paphnutius from the Thebaid, both of whom -had lost an eye in the late persecution, while Paphnutius -limped painfully, for he had been hamstrung. -Eustathius, the Patriarch of Antioch, came at the -head of the Syrian and Palestinian bishops, some of -whom, like Eusebius of Cæsarea, were gravely suspected -of being unsound in the Faith and of having -been influenced by the seductions of Arianism, while -others, like Macarius of Jerusalem, were staunch -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>supporters of Alexander. Another group hailed from -the far Euphrates and Armenia—John of Persia, -James of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, Aitallaha of Edessa, -and Paul of Neo-Cæsarea, the tendons of whose wrists -had been seared with hot irons. Another group -came from near at hand, the bishops of what we -now call Asia Minor, within the sphere of influence -of the imperial city of Nicomedia and of its Bishop, -Eusebius. He, too, was there with his friends, Theognis -of Nicæa, Menophantus of Ephesus, and Maris -of Chalcedon, all committed to the cause and to the -doctrines of Arius. Then there were a group of -Thracian, Macedonian, and Greek bishops, a few -from the islands, and Cæcilianus from Carthage.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Arius, too, was present with his few faithful henchmen -from Egypt, proudly self-confident as ever, but -trusting mainly to the advocacy of Eusebius of Nicomedia -and to the influence of the moderates, like -Eusebius of Cæsarea. But during the years that he -had been absent from Alexandria a new protagonist -had arisen among the ranks of his opponents. Alexander, -so runs the legend, had one day seen from the -windows of his house a group of boys playing at -“church.” Thinking that the imitation was too close -to the reality and that the lads were carrying the game -too far, the Bishop went out to check them and got -into conversation with the boy who was taking the -lead in their serious sport. Impressed by his earnestness, -he took him into his house and trained him for -the ministry. It was Athanasius, who now, as a -young deacon of twenty-five, accompanied Alexander -to Nicæa, having already by his cleverness and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>zeal gained a remarkable ascendency over the mind -of his superior. This slip of a man—for he was of -very slender build and insignificant stature—was to -lay at Nicæa the sure foundations of his extraordinary -and unparalleled fame as the champion of the -Catholic Faith.</p> - -<p class='c001'>So the Council assembled in the June of 325 in -the charming city of Nicæa, on the shores of the -Ascanian lake. The intense interest which it aroused -was not confined to those who were to take part in -it, or even to the Christian population of the city and -district. It spread, so we are expressly told, to those -who still clung to the old religion. Debates on the -nature of the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of -Christ would be almost as welcome and absorbing to -a Neo-Platonist philosopher as to a Christian bishop. -His pleasure in the intellectual exercise was marred -by no anxiety lest it should result in disturbance of -happy and settled belief. When Greek met Greek -they began forthwith to argue, and so, without waiting -for the Council formally to open, the early arrivals -at Nicæa commenced their discussions with all -comers on the question of the hour.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The story of one of these informal encounters is -told by most of the ecclesiastical writers. A certain -pagan philosopher was holding forth with great fluency -and making mock of the Christian mysteries, to -the amusement of a number of bystanders. Finally, -his challenge of contradiction was accepted by “a -simple old man, one of the confessors of the persecution,” -who knew nothing of dialectics. As he moved -forward to answer the scoffer there was a burst of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>laughter from some of those present, while the Christians -trembled lest their unskilled champion should -be turned to ridicule by his practised opponent. Their -anxiety, however, was soon set at rest. “In the name -of Jesus Christ, O philosopher, listen!” Such was the -old man’s exordium, and the burden of his few unstudied -words was to restate his “artless, unquestioning -belief”<a id='r94' /><a href='#f94' class='c016'><sup>[94]</sup></a> in the cardinal truths of Christianity. -There was no argument. “If you believe,” he said, -“tell me so.” “I believe,” said the philosopher, -compelled, as he afterwards explained it, to become -a Christian by some marvellous power. Such is the -version of Sozomen; according to Socrates the old -man said, “Christ and the apostles committed to us -no dialectical art and no vain deception, but plain, -bare doctrine, which is guarded by faith and good -works.”<a id='r95' /><a href='#f95' class='c016'><sup>[95]</sup></a> When we consider the endless floods of -dialectical subtlety which were poured out during -and after the Council of Nicæa by those engaged in -the Arian controversy, it seems rather biting irony -that a pagan philosopher should have been thus -easily and rapidly converted from darkness to light.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is certain, however, that many of the bishops -collected at Nicæa belonged to the same class as this -“simple old man,” peasants who had had no theological -training and owed their elevation—by the -suffrages of their congregations—to the conspicuous -uprightness of their lives. Such a one was Spyridion, -of Cyprus, a shepherd in mind, speech, and dress, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>with a turn for rustic humour. Around his name -many legends have gathered, and none is more delightful -than that which tells how he and his deacon -set out for Nicæa mounted on two mules, a white -and a chestnut. On the journey they came to an -inn where they found a number of other bishops -bound on the same errand. These prelates feared -that so rustic a figure as Spyridion would bring discredit -on their religion and appear in grotesque contrast -with the splendour of the Imperial Court. So -during the night they caused the two mules to be -decapitated, thinking that they would thus prevent -Spyridion from resuming his journey. The good -Bishop was aroused before daybreak by his deacon, -who told him of the disaster. Spyridion simply -bade him attach the heads to the dead bodies, and, -on this being done, the mules rose to their feet as -though nothing unusual had happened. When day -broke, it was found that the deacon had attached -the heads to the wrong shoulders; the white mule -now sported a chestnut head and the chestnut a -white. Still, it was not thought necessary to repeat -the miracle and change the heads, for the mules apparently -suffered no inconvenience.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The preliminary meetings of the Council were held -in the principal church of Nicæa and continued until -the arrival of the Emperor, which was not until after -July 3rd, the anniversary of his victory over Licinius. -Then the state opening took place in the great hall -of the palace. Eusebius gives us a graphic account -of the memorable scene.<a id='r96' /><a href='#f96' class='c016'><sup>[96]</sup></a> Special invitations had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>been sent to all whose presence was desired, and -these had entered and taken their places in grave -and orderly fashion on either side of the hall. Then -expectant silence fell upon the company. As the -moment for the Emperor’s entry approached, some -of the members of his immediate entourage began to -arrive, but Eusebius is careful to mention that there -were no guards or officers in armour, “only friends -who avowed the faith of Christ.” At the signal that -Constantine was at hand, the whole assembly swept -to its feet, and the Emperor passed through their -midst like “some heavenly angel of God, clad in -glittering raiment that seemed to gleam and flash -with bright effulgent rays of light, encrusted as it -was with gold and precious stones.” Yet, though -Constantine was thus dazzling in externals, it was -evident—at-least to the penetrating eye of the -courtier bishop—that his mind was “beautified by -pity and godly fear.” For was not this revealed by -his downcast eyes, his heightened colour, and his -modest bearing? Advancing to the upper end of -the hall, Constantine stood facing the assembly, -while a low golden stool was brought for him, and -then, when the bishops motioned to him to be -seated, he took his seat, and the whole audience followed -his example. Beyond doubt, most of the -bishops then gazed for the first time upon the Emperor -to whom they could not be sufficiently grateful -for all he had done for the Church, and Constantine -himself might well be flattered and pleased at the -homage, evidently sincere, that was being offered to -him, as well as a little nervous at the thought that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>these were the principal ministers and representatives -of the God to whom he had tendered allegiance. -There would have been no downcast eye, no blush, -no marked modesty of carriage, we may suspect, if -it had been a council of augurs and flamens that -Constantine had summoned. In that case the Emperor -would have been perfectly at his ease as he -advanced up the hall, conscious that he was the -supreme head of all the priesthoods represented in -his presence, and that he was not only worshipper -but worshipped.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then, says Eusebius, after a few introductory -words of welcome had been spoken, the Emperor -rose and delivered a brief address in Latin which -was presently translated into Greek. He expressed -his delight at finding himself in the presence of such -a Council, “united in a common harmony of sentiment,” -and prayed that no malignant enemy might -avail to disturb it, for “internal dissensions in the -Church of God were far more to be feared than any -battle or war.” In well chosen language he explained -the overwhelming importance of unity and -implored his hearers as “dear friends, as ministers -of God, and as faithful servants of their common -Lord and Saviour,” to begin from that moment to -“discard the causes of dissension which had existed -among them and loosen the knots of controversy -by the laws of peace.” The excellent impression -created by this speech was intensified by the next -act of the Emperor. On his arrival at Nicæa he -had found awaiting him a great number of petitions -addressed to him by the bishops accusing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>one another of heresy, or political intrigue, or too -strenuous activity on behalf of the fallen Licinius. -Socrates, indeed, says that “the majority of the -Bishops” were levelling charges against one another. -But they received no encouragement from Constantine. -Seated there among them he produced the -incriminatory documents from the folds of his toga, -called for a brazier, and threw the rolls upon the fire, -protesting with an oath that not one of them had -been opened or read. “Christ,” he said, “bids him -who hopes for forgiveness forgive an erring brother.” -It was a dignified and noble rebuke. The story -reads best in this, its simplest form. Theodoretus -amplifies the Emperor’s rebuke and puts into his -mouth the dangerous doctrine that, if bishops sin, -their offences ought to be hushed up, lest their -flock be scandalised or be encouraged to follow -their example. He would even, he said, throw his -own purple over an offending bishop to avoid the -evils and contagion of publicity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Such was the opening of the Council. The Emperor -had scored a great personal triumph and had -set the bishops a notable example of magnanimity. -But it was not imitated. No sooner had the actual -business of the Council begun than the flood-gates -of controversy were opened. According to Eusebius, -the Emperor remained to listen to their mutual -recriminations, giving ear patiently to all sides, -and doing what he could to assuage animosities by -making the most of everything that seemed to -tend towards compromise. Unfortunately, the reports -of the Council are strangely incomplete. It -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>is not even explicitly stated who presided. The -presidency of the Emperor was one only of honour; -the actual presidents were probably the legates of -Pope Sylvester, viz., Hosius of Cordova and the -two presbyters, Vito and Vincentius. But into the -controversy which rages round this point we need -not enter.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The general feeling of the Council was not long in -declaring itself. Arius, who was regarded as a defendant -on his trial, made his position absolutely -clear. He did not envelop himself, as he might -have done, in a cloud of metaphysics from which it -would have been difficult to gather his precise meaning. -On the contrary, he seems to have come prepared -with a résumé of his doctrines, and to have -been ready to defend his outposts as resolutely as -his citadel. Immediately, therefore, the Council -became split up into contending parties. There were -the out-and-out Arians, few but formidable, and the -out-and-out Trinitarians, led with great ability by -the young Athanasius, whose reputation steadily -rose as the days passed by. There was also a middle -party, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia and supported -by Eusebius of Cæsarea, whose intellectual -and personal sympathies lay with Arius rather than -with Athanasius, though they saw that the great -majority of the Council were against them, and that -Arius and his opinions were sure of excommunication. -Theirs was what we may call the “cross-bench -mind.” They doubtless felt, what many who approach -this controversy at the present day feel, that -if once appeal is made to Reason, there must be no -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>further appeal beyond that to Faith, as to a higher -Court. Those who invoke Reason must not turn -round, when they find themselves driven into an -ugly corner, and condemn “the Pride of Reason.” -In our view, Eusebius of Nicomedia was not the malignant, -self-seeking, and entirely worldly prelate he -is so often represented as having been, but a Bishop -who honestly regretted that this question had been -raised at all, inasmuch as he foresaw that it must -rend the Church in twain. He would have preferred, -that is to say, that the exact nature of the Sonship -of Christ should not be made a matter of close definition, -should not be made a point of doctrine whereon -salvation depended, should not be inserted in a creed, -but left rather to the individual conscience or to the -individual intellect. Once the question was raised, -his intellectual honesty led him to side with Arius, -but he considered that to tear the indivisible garment -of Christ was a crime to be avoided at any -cost. Eusebius was bent upon a compromise. Arius -was his old friend, and his patron, the Emperor, passionately -desired unity. The personal wish of the -monarch would be sure to have some, though we -cannot say precisely how much, weight with him in -determining his policy.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Some of the sessions of the Council were marked -by uproar and violence. Athanasius declares that -when the bishops heard extracts read from the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Thalia</cite></span> -of Arius, they raised the cry of “impious,” and -closed their eyes and shut their ears tight against -the admission of such appalling blasphemy. There -is a legend, indeed, that St. Nicholas, Bishop of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>Myra, was so carried away by his indignation that he -smote Arius a terrific blow upon the jaw for daring -to give utterance to words so vile. Theodoretus -declares that the Arians drew up the draft of a creed -which they were willing to subscribe and had it read -before the Council. But it was at once denounced -as a “bastard and vile-begotten document” and -torn to pieces. Then a praiseworthy attempt was -made to begin at the beginning. The proposition -was put forward that the Son was from God. -“Agreed,” said the Trinitarians; “Agreed,” said -the Arians, on the authority of such texts as “There -is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,” -and “All things are become new and all things -are of God.” “But will you agree,” asked the Trinitarians, -“that the Son is the true Power and Image -of the Father, like to Him in all things, His eternal -Image, undivided from Him and unalterable?” -“Yes,” said the Arians after some discussion among -themselves, and they quoted the texts: “Man is the -glory and image of God,” “For we which live are -always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake,” and -“In him we live and move and have our being.” -“But will you admit,” continued the Trinitarians, -“that the Son is Very God?” “Yes,” replied the -Arians, “for he is Very God if he has been made -so.” Athanasius tells us that while these strange -questions and answers were being tossed from one -side of the Council to the other, he saw the Arians -“whispering and making signals one to the other -with their eyes.” It is to be regretted that we -have no independent account. The savage abuse -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>with which Athanasius attacks the Arians in his -“Letter to the African Bishops” makes his version -of what took place at the Council exceedingly suspect. -He speaks of their “wiliness,” and delivers -himself of the sarcasm that as they were cradled in -ordure their arguments also partook of a similar -character.<a id='r97' /><a href='#f97' class='c016'><sup>[97]</sup></a> Most of the vilification in the opening -stages of the Arian controversy—at any rate most of -that which has survived—seems to have been on the -Trinitarian side.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The word “Homoousion” had at length been -uttered and, strangely enough, by Eusebius of Nicomedia, -though it was soon to become the rallying -cry of his opponents. He had employed it, apparently, -to clinch the argument against the Trinitarians, -for, he said, if they declared the Son to be -Very God, that was tantamount to declaring that -the Son was of one substance with the Father. -Greatly, no doubt, to his surprise, it was seized upon -by his opponents as the word which, of all others, -precisely crystallised their position and their objections -to Arianism. But before the fight began to -rage round this word, the moderates came forward -with another suggestion of compromise. Eusebius -of Cæsarea read before the Council the confession of -faith which was in use in his diocese, after having -been handed down from bishop to bishop. The -Emperor had read it and approved; perhaps, he -urged, it might similarly commend itself to the acceptance -of all parties in the Council. The creed -began as follows:</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span></div> -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of -all things both visible and invisible, and in one Lord -Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, Light of -Light, Life of Life, the only-begotten Son, the First-born -of every creature, begotten of the Father before all -worlds, by whom also all things were made. Who for -our salvation was made flesh and lived amongst men, -and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended -to the Father, and shall come in glory to judge -the quick and the dead. And I believe in the Holy -Ghost.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius, in writing later to the people of his diocese, -said that when this creed was read out,</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“no room for contradiction appeared; but our most -pious Emperor, before any one else, testified that it comprised -most orthodox statements. He confessed, moreover, -that such were his sentiments, and he advised all -present to agree to it, and subscribe to its articles with -the insertion of the single word ‘one in substance.’”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Indeed, little objection could be taken to the creed -of Eusebius, which might have been subscribed to -with equal sincerity by Arius and Alexander. But -the great problem, which had brought the Council -together, would have remained entirely unsettled. -The creed was not sufficiently precise. It left openings -for all kinds of heresies. The Trinitarians, -therefore, insisted upon inserting a few words which -should more precisely define the relationship between -the Father and the Son and their real nature and -substance, and should retain undiminished the majesty -and Godhead of the Son. They put forward -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>the simple antithesis “begotten not made” in reference -to the Son, whereby the Arian doctrine that the -Son was a creature was effectually negatived. And -they also adopted as their own the word which has -made the Council famous alike with believers and -with sceptics—the word “Homoousion.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>Dean Stanley, in his <cite>History of the Eastern -Church</cite>,<a id='r98' /><a href='#f98' class='c016'><sup>[98]</sup></a> has well said that this is “one of those -remarkable words which creep into the language of -philosophy and theology and then suddenly acquire -a permanent hold on the minds of men.” It was -a word with a notable, if not a very remote past. It -had been orthodox and heretical by turns, a fact -which is not surprising when we consider the vagueness -of the term “ousia” and the looseness with -which it had been employed by philosophical writers.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“It first distinctly appeared,” says Dean Stanley, -“in the statement, given by Irenæus, of the doctrines -of Valentius; then for a moment it acquired a more -orthodox reputation in the writings of Dionysius and -Theognostus of Alexandria; then it was coloured with a -dark shade by association with the teaching of Manes; -next proposed as a test of orthodoxy at the Council -of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, and then by that -same Council was condemned as Sabellian.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Obviously, therefore, it was not a word to command -instantaneous acceptance; its old associations -lent a certain specious weight to the repeated accusation -of the Arians that the Trinitarians were -importing into the Church fantastic subtleties borrowed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>from Greek philosophy, and were encrusting -the simple faith and the simple language of Christ -and the apostles with alien thoughts and formulæ. -Athanasius meets that argument with a “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>tu quoque</i></span>,” -asking where in Scripture one can find the phrases -which Arius had made his own. Modern theologians -have replied with much greater force that this importation -of philosophy into the Christian religion -was inevitable.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“The Church,” says Canon Bright,<a id='r99' /><a href='#f99' class='c016'><sup>[99]</sup></a> “had come out -into the open, had been obliged to construct a theological -position against the tremendous attacks of Gnosticism -and to provide for educated enquirers in the great -centres of Greek learning. She had become conscious -of her debt to the <a id='corr227.15'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='wise.'>wise.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_227.15'><ins class='correction' title='wise.'>wise.”</ins></a></span></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Elsewhere, in the same chapter, he says: “It -would, indeed, have been childish to attempt to -banish metaphysics from theology. Any religion -with a doctrine about God or man must, as such, be -metaphysical.” And for the Arians to complain of -the borrowing of technical terms from philosophy by -their opponents was palpably absurd. The whole <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>raison -d’être</i></span> of the Arian movement was its professed -rationalism, its appeal to reason and logic, its consciousness, -in other words, “of its debt to the wise,” -and its desire to be able to debate boldly with the -enemy in the gate. Really, therefore, the adoption -of such a term was of great practical convenience, -especially when once its meaning was rigidly defined. -The Homoousion, whereby the Word or the Son was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>declared to be of one essence or substance with the -Father, asserted the undiminished Divinity of the -Son of God, through whom salvation came into -the world.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is for theologians to expand upon such a -text, but it needs no theologian to point out the -obvious truth that any diminution of the majesty of -the Son of God must have impaired the vitality and -converting power of Christianity. The word, therefore, -was eagerly adopted by those who had been -commissioned to draw up a creed to meet the views -of the orthodox majority of the Council. That -creed was at length decided upon; Hosius of Cordova -announced its completion; and it was read -aloud for the first time to the Council, apparently -by Hermogenes, subsequently Bishop of Cæsarea in -Cappadocia. It ran as follows:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker -of all things both visible and invisible. And in one -Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the -Father, only begotten, that is from the substance of the -Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very -God, begotten not made, being of one substance with -the Father, by whom all things were made, both in -heaven and earth. Who for us men and for our salvation -came down and was made flesh, and was made man, suffered -and rose on the third day, ascended into the -heavens and will come again to judge the quick and -the dead. And we believe in the Holy Ghost.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Such was the text of the famous document which -ever since has borne the title of the Nicene Creed. -It has been added to during the centuries. It has -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>even lost one or two of its qualifying and explanatory -sentences. But these modifications have not -touched its central theses, and, above all, the Homoousion -remains.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In order to make the position absolutely clear -and preclude even the most subtle from placing an -heretical interpretation upon the words employed, -there was added a special anathema of the Arian -doctrines.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“But those who say, ‘Once He was not,’ and ‘Before -He was begotten, He was not,’ and ‘He came into existence -out of what was not,’ or those who profess -that the Son of God is of a different ‘person’ or ‘substance,’ -or that He was ‘made,’ or is ‘changeable’ or -‘mutable’—all these are anathematised by the Catholic -Church.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c021'>This was the formal condemnation of Arianism in -all the Protean shapes it was capable of assuming, -and the vast majority of the bishops cordially -approved.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But what of Arius and his friends, and what of -the Eusebian party? Interest centred in the action -of the latter. Would they accept the text and -sign? Or would they hold fast to the condemned -doctrines? They loudly protested, of course, against -the anathema, and the Homoousion in the creed -itself was repugnant to their intellect. Eusebius -of Cæsarea asked for a day in which to consider -the matter. Then he signed, and wrote a letter -to his flock at Cæsarea excusing and justifying -his conduct, and explaining in what sense he could -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>conscientiously subscribe to the Homoousion. He -bowed to the clear verdict of the majority and to -the passionate wish of the Emperor. Constantine -insisted that the creed should be accepted as the -final expression of Catholic belief, though he would -have been just as ready to accept the creed of -Eusebius himself. The presence or absence of the -Homoousion was of little consequence to him. -What he wanted was unity, and he was determined -to have it, for he was already threatening recalcitrants -with banishment. Eusebius of Cæsarea -signed. He submitted, in other words, when the -Church, meeting in Council, had spoken. The -Palestinian and Syrian bishops who had supported -him in the debates followed his example, complying, -we are told, with eagerness and alacrity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theognis of Nicæa, and -Maris of Chalcedon made a rather more resolute -stand. According to one account, they consulted -Constantia, the Emperor’s sister, and she persuaded -them to sign on the ground that they ought to -merge their individual scruples in the will of the -majority, lest the Emperor should throw over -Christianity in disgust at the dissension among the -Christians. According to another story, Constantia -recommended them to insert an “iota” into the text -of the creed, and thus change the Homoousion -into the Homoiousion, to which they could subscribe -without violence to their consciences. They -could admit, that is to say, that the Son was of -“like” substance to the Father when they could -not admit that He was of the “same” substance. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>The story is obviously a fiction and part -of the campaign of calumny against Eusebius of -Nicomedia. He and his two friends signed the -creed—not fraudulently or with mental reservations -as the story suggests—but for precisely the same -reason that Eusebius of Cæsarea had signed it. -It was the Emperor’s wish and they were willing -to accept the decision of the Council, but they still -stood out against signing the anathema. Two of -them, Eusebius and Theognis, were deprived of -their sees and sent into exile. Whether their -degradation and exile were due wholly to this refusal -is doubtful, though as an interesting parallel -it may be pointed out that Eusebius, Bishop of -Vercellæ, and Dionysius, Bishop of Milan, were -exiled by the Emperor Valens in 355 because -they refused to subscribe the condemnation of -Athanasius at the Third Council of Milan. Arius -and his two most faithful supporters were excommunicated -and banished and their writings, notably -the <cite>Thalia</cite>, were burnt with ignominy.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The labours of the Council were not yet concluded. -The Bishops decided that Easter should be observed -simultaneously throughout the Church, and that the -Judaic time should give way to the Christian. They -then drew up what are known as the Canons of -Nicæa. We may indicate some of the more important, -as, for example, the fifth, which provided that -all questions of excommunication should be discussed -in provincial councils to be held twice a year; -the fourth, that there should be no less than three -bishops present at the consecration of every bishop, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>and the fifteenth, which prohibited absolutely the -translation of any bishop, presbyter, or deacon from -one city to another. Some of the canons, such as -the twentieth, which prohibited kneeling during -church worship on Sundays and between Easter -and Pentecost; and the eighteenth, which rebuked -the presumption of deacons, have merely an antiquarian -interest. The seventeenth forbade all -usury on the part of the clergy; the third enacted -that no minister of the Church, whatever -his rank, should have with him in his house a -woman of any kind, unless it were a mother, a sister, -or an aunt, or some one quite beyond suspicion. -While this canon was under discussion, one of the -most exciting debates of the Council took place. -The proposal was made that all the married clergy -should be required to separate from their wives, and -this received a considerable measure of support. -But the opposition was led by the confessor Paphnutius, -whose words carried the more weight from -the fact that he himself had been a lifelong celibate. -He debated the subject with great warmth, maintaining -at the top of his shrill voice that marriage was -honourable and the bed undefiled,<a id='r100' /><a href='#f100' class='c016'><sup>[100]</sup></a> and so brought -a majority of the assembly round to his way of -thinking.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then at last this historic Council was ready to -break up. But before the bishops separated, the -Emperor celebrated the completion of his twentieth -year of reign by inviting them all to a great banquet.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span></div> -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Not one of them,” says Eusebius,<a id='r101' /><a href='#f101' class='c016'><sup>[101]</sup></a> “was missing and -the scene was of great splendour. Detachments of the -bodyguard and other troops surrounded the entrance of -the palace with drawn swords and through their midst the -men of God proceeded without fear into the innermost -apartments, in which were some of the Emperor’s own -companions at table, while others reclined on couches -laid on either side.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c021'>He gave gifts to each according to his rank, singling -out a few for special favour. Among these was -Paphnutius. Socrates says that the Emperor had -often sent for him to the palace and kissed the vacant -eye socket of the maimed and crippled confessor. -Acesius the Novatian was another, though he steadily -refused to abate one jot or tittle of his old convictions. -Constantine listened without offence, as -the old man declared his passionate belief that those -who after baptism had committed a sin were unworthy -to participate in the divine mysteries, and -merely remarked, with sportive irony, “Plant a ladder, -then, Acesius, and climb up to Heaven alone!”<a id='r102' /><a href='#f102' class='c016'><sup>[102]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>At the closing session the Emperor delivered a -short farewell speech, in which his theme was again -the urgent need of unity and uniformity within the -Christian Church. He implored the bishops to forget -and forgive past offences and live in peace, not -envying one another’s excellencies, but regarding -the special merit of each as contributing to the total -merit of all. They should leave judgment to God; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>when they quarrelled among themselves they simply -gave their enemies an opportunity to blaspheme. -How were they to convert the world, he asked, if -not by the force of their example? And then he -went on to speak plain common sense. Men do -not become converts, he said, from their zeal for -the truth. Some join for what they can get, some -for preferment, some to secure charitable help, some -for friendship’s sake. “But the true lovers of true -argument are very few: scarce, indeed, is the friend -of truth.”<a id='r103' /><a href='#f103' class='c016'><sup>[103]</sup></a> Therefore, he concluded, Christians -should be like physicians, and prescribe for each -according to his ailments. They must not be fanatics: -they must be accommodating. Constantine -could not possibly have given sounder advice to a -body of men whose besetting sin was likely to be -fanaticism and not laxity of doctrine. The passage, -therefore, is not without significance. The Church -had already begun to act upon the State; here was -the State palpably beginning to react upon the -Church—in the direction of reasonableness, compromise, -and an accommodating temper. Then, -after begging the bishops to remember him in their -prayers, he dismissed them to their homes, and they -left Nicæa, says Eusebius, glad at heart and rejoicing -in the conviction that, in the presence of their Emperor, -the Church, after long division, had been -united once more.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine evidently shared the same conviction. -He had no doubt whatever that the Arian heresy -was finally silenced. So we find him writing to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>the church at Alexandria, declaring that all points -which seemed to be open to different interpretations -have been thoroughly discussed and settled. All -must abide by the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>chose jugée</i></span>. Arius had been -proved to be a servant of the Devil. Three hundred -bishops had said it, and “that which has -commended itself to the judgment of three hundred -bishops cannot be other than the doctrine of -God, seeing that the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the -minds of so many honourable men, must have thoroughly -enlightened them as to the will of God.”<a id='r104' /><a href='#f104' class='c016'><sup>[104]</sup></a> -He took for granted, therefore, that, those who had -been led away by Arius would return at once to the -Catholic fold. The Emperor also wrote another letter, -which he addressed “To the Churches,” in which -he declared that each question at issue had been discussed -until a decision was arrived at “acceptable to -Him who is the inspector of all things,” and added -that nothing was henceforth left for dissension or -controversy in matters of faith.<a id='r105' /><a href='#f105' class='c016'><sup>[105]</sup></a> Most of the letter, -indeed, consists of argument shewing the desirability -of a uniform celebration of Easter, but one can see -that the leading thought in the writer’s mind is that -the last word had at length been uttered on the cardinal -doctrines of the Christian Faith. The Council -had been a brilliant success. The three hundred -bishops announced to the Catholic Church the decisions -of their “great and holy Synod,” with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>explicit declaration that “all heresy has been cut -out of the Church.”<a id='r106' /><a href='#f106' class='c016'><sup>[106]</sup></a> Arius was banished and -Eusebius of Nicomedia with him. The triumph -of orthodoxy seemed finally assured.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id008'> -<img src='images/i_p236.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span> -<img src='images/i_p237.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER XII</span> <br /> THE MURDERS OF CRISPUS AND FAUSTA</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>We saw in the last chapter how Constantine -presided over the deliberations of the bishops -at Nicæa, mild, benignant, gracious, and condescending. -It is a very different being whom we see -at Rome in 326, suspicious, morose, and striking -down in blind fury his own gallant son. The contrast -is startling, the cause obscure and mysterious, -but if the secret is to be discovered at all, it is probably -to be found in the jealousies which raged in -the Imperial House.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We must look a little closer at the family of Constantine. -The Emperor himself was in the very prime -of middle age, just turning his fiftieth year. His -eldest son, by his first marriage with Minervina, was -the hope of the Empire. Crispus, as we have seen, -had won distinction on the Rhine, and had just -given signal proof of his capacity by his victories over -the navy of Licinius in the Hellespont, which had -facilitated the capture of Byzantium. He was immensely -popular, and the Empire looked to him, as -it had looked to Tiberius and Drusus three centuries -before, as to a strong pillar of the Imperial throne. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>But Crispus—if the usually accepted theory be right—had -a bitter and implacable enemy in the Empress -Fausta, who regarded him as standing in the -path of her own children, and menacing their interests -by his proved merit and abilities. The eldest -of her sons, who bore his father’s name, was not yet -in his teens; the second, Constantius, had been born -in 319; the third, Constans, was a year younger. -Her three daughters were infants or not yet born. -These three young princes, like Caius and Lucius,—to -pursue the Augustan parallel,—threatened rivalry -to Crispus as they grew up, the more so, perhaps, -because Constantine had always possessed the domestic -virtues which were rare in a Roman Emperor. -In his young days one of the court Panegyrists -had eulogised him as a latter-day miracle—a prince -who had never sowed any wild oats, who had actually -had a taste for matrimony while still young, -and, following the example of his father, Constantius, -had displayed true piety by consenting to become -a father.<a id='r107' /><a href='#f107' class='c016'><sup>[107]</sup></a> Another Panegyrist praised him -for “yielding himself to the laws of matrimony as -soon as he ceased to be a boy,” and Eusebius, more -than once, emphasises his virtues as a husband and -parent. Constantine, we suspect, was a man easily -swayed by a strong-minded woman, ambitious to -oust a step-son from his father’s favour.</p> - -<div id='i238' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_fp238.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='large'>“CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HIS MOTHER, ST.<br />HELENA, HOLY, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES.”</span><br /><br />FROM A PICTURE DISCOVERED 1845, IN AN OLD CHURCH OF MESEMBRIA.<br />FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>There was yet another great lady of the reigning -house whose influence upon the Emperor has to be -taken into account. This was his mother, Helena, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>now nearly eighty years of age, but still vigorous -and active enough in mind and body to undergo -the fatigues of a journey to Jerusalem. Eusebius<a id='r108' /><a href='#f108' class='c016'><sup>[108]</sup></a> -dwells upon the estimation in which Constantine -held his mother, to whom full Imperial honours were -paid. Golden coins were struck in her honour, bearing -her effigy and the inscription, “Flavia Helena -Augusta.” She amassed great riches, and although -it is impossible directly to trace her influence upon -State affairs, there is reason to believe that Helena, -who owed her conversion, according to Eusebius, to -the persuasion of her son, was a woman of pronounced -and decided character and a great power at -court.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was also Constantine’s half-sister, Constantia, -the widow of Licinius, whose intercession with -her brother had secured for her defeated husband -an ill-kept promise of pardon and protection. Constantia -was to exhibit even more striking proof of -her influence a little later on by her skilful advocacy -of the cause of Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia, -and her share in procuring the banishment of Athanasius. -These great ladies move in shadowy outline -across the stage; we can scarcely distinguish their -features or their form; but we think we can see their -handiwork most unmistakably in the appalling tragedies -which we now have to narrate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>In 326 Constantine went to Rome to celebrate the -completion of his twentieth year of reign. Diocletian -had done the same—the only occasion upon -which that great Emperor had ever set foot in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>ancient capital, and even then he made all possible -haste to quit it. But whereas Diocletian had travelled -thither with the intention of abdicating immediately -afterwards, Constantine had no such act of self-abnegation -in his mind. Yet he was in no festival mood. -Not long after his arrival, there took place the ancient -ceremony known as the Procession of the Knights, -who rode to the Capitol to pay their vows to Jupiter—the -religious ceremony which attended the annual -revision of the equestrian lists. Constantine contemptuously -stayed within his palace on the day and -disdained to watch the Knights ride by. His absence -was made the pretext for some street rioting, which, -we can hardly doubt, had been carefully engineered -beforehand. Rome, still overwhelmingly pagan in -its sympathies, had doubtless heard with bitter anger -how the Emperor, the head of the old national -religion, had been taking part in a General Council -of the Christian Church, had admitted bishops and -confessors to the intimacy of his table, and had -boldly declared himself the champion of Christianity. -Constantine’s pointed refusal to countenance a time-honoured -ceremony which, while itself of no extraordinary -importance, might yet be taken as typical -of the ancient order of things, would easily serve as -pretext for a hostile demonstration. Demonstrations -in Rome no longer menaced the throne now that the -barracks of the Prætorians were empty, but the incident -would serve to confirm the suspicions already -clouding the mind of the Emperor.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We can read those suspicions most plainly in an -edict which he had issued at Nicomedia a few months -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>before. It was addressed to his subjects in every -province (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Ad Universos Provinciales</i></span>), and in it the -Emperor invited all and sundry to come forward -boldly and keep him well informed of any secret -plotting of which they happened to be cognisant. -No matter how lofty the station of the conspirator -might be, whether governor of a province, officer of -the army, or even friend and associate of the Emperor, -if any one discovered anything he was to tell -what he knew, and the Emperor would not be lacking -either in gratitude or substantial reward. “Let -him come without fear,” ran the edict, “and let him -address himself to me! I will listen to all: I will -myself conduct the investigation<a id='r109' /><a href='#f109' class='c016'><sup>[109]</sup></a>: and if the accuser -does but prove his charge, I will vindicate my wrongs. -Only let him speak boldly and be sure of his case!”</p> - -<p class='c001'>The hand which wrote this was the hand which -had flung unread into the brazier at Nicæa the incriminating -petitions of the bishops. What had taken -place in the interval that he should issue an edict -worthy of a Domitian? The authorities give not the -slightest hint. Was there some great conspiracy -afoot, in the meshes of which Constantine feared to -become entangled, but so cunningly contrived that -the Emperor could only be sensible of its existence, -without being able to lay hands on the intriguers? -Was paganism restless in the East as we have seen it -restless in Rome, at the triumph of its once-despised -and always detested rival? We do not know. Quite -possibly it was, though with the downfall of Licinius -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>its prospects seemed hopeless. Unless, indeed, there -was some member of the Imperial Family upon -whom paganism rested its hopes and to whom it -looked as its future deliverer! Was Crispus such a -prince? Again we do not know. There is not a -scrap of evidence to bear out a theory which has -only been framed as a possible explanation of the -dark mystery of his fate.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eutropius, whose character sketches, for all their -brevity, usually tally well with known facts, calls -Crispus a prince of the highest merit (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>virum egregium</i></span>). -Why then did Constantine turn against him? -We may, perhaps, see the first sign of the changed -relationship in the fact that in 323 the Cæsarship of -Gaul was taken from Crispus and given to the young -Constantius, then a child of seven. So far as is -known, no compensating title or command was offered -in exchange, which looks as though Constantine -was disinclined to trust his eldest son any longer -and preferred to keep him in surveillance by his side. -The father may have been jealous of the prowess -and popularity of the son; the son may have been -ambitious, as Constantine himself had been in his -young days, and have deemed that his services -merited elevation to the rank of an Augustus. According -to the system of Diocletian, twenty years of -sovereignty were held to be long enough for the -welfare alike of sovereign and of the Empire. Constantine’s -term was running out. The system was -not yet formally abandoned; is it unreasonable to -suppose that Crispus considered he had claims to -rule, or that Constantine, resolved to keep what he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>had won, became estranged from one whom he knew -he was not treating with generosity or with justice?</p> - -<p class='c001'>As we have said, there is no evidence of any -disloyalty on the part of Crispus, but he may have -let incautious expressions fall from his lips which -would be carried to the ears of his father, and he -may have chafed to see himself supplanted by the -young princes, his half-brothers. The boy Cæsar, -Constantius, was named consul with his father for -the festival year 326, a distinction which Crispus -may justly have thought to belong by right to himself, -and he may have seen in this another proof of -the ill-will of the Empress Fausta, and of her influence -over the Emperor. Possibly Crispus was -goaded by anger into some indiscreet action, which -confirmed Constantine’s suspicions; possibly even -he committed some act of disobedience which -gave Constantine the excuse he sought for. At -any rate, in the July or August of 326, Crispus -was arrested in Rome and summarily banished to -Pola in Istria. Tidings of his death soon followed. -Whatever the manner of his death, whether he -was beheaded or was poisoned or committed -suicide, all the authorities agree that he came to a -violent end and that the responsibility rests upon -his father, Constantine. Nor was Crispus the only -victim. With him fell Licinianus, the son of Licinius -and Constantia. He was a promising lad (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>commodæ -indolis</i></span>, says Eutropius) who could not have -been more than twelve years of age and could not, -therefore, have been guilty of any crime or intrigue -against his uncle.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>One cannot pass by altogether without mention -the story of Zosimus that the reason of Fausta’s -implacable hatred of Crispus was not ambition -for her own children, but a still more ungovernable -and much less pardonable passion. Zosimus declares -that Fausta was enamoured of her step-son, -who rejected her overtures, and so fell a victim, -like another Hippolytus, to the vengeance of this -Roman Phædra. Most modern historians have rejected -the story, as emanating from the lively imagination -of a Greek at a loss for a plausible explanation -of a mysterious crime, and we may, with tolerable certainty, -acquit Fausta of so disgraceful a passion. -If, as we suppose, she was the untiring enemy of -Crispus, it is at once more charitable and more -probable to suppose that the motive of her hate -was her fierce ambition for her own sons. For the -moment the Empress conquered. But her triumph -did not last long. Eutropius tells us that soon -afterwards—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>mox</i></span>—a vague word equally applicable -to a period of days, weeks, or even months—Fausta -herself was put to death by Constantine. What -was her offence? Philostorgius<a id='r110' /><a href='#f110' class='c016'><sup>[110]</sup></a> declares that she -was discovered in an intrigue with a groom of the -stables—an amour worthy of Messalina herself. But -the story stands suspect, especially when taken in -conjunction with the legend of her passion for Crispus. -The one seems invented to bolster up the -other and add to its verisimilitude. The truth is -that nothing is known for certain; and the whole -episode was probably kept as a profound palace -<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>secret. One circumstance, however, mentioned by -Aurelius Victor and by Zosimus, merits attention. -Both declare that the Empress-mother, Helena, -was furious at the murder of Crispus. Zosimus -says that she was greatly distressed at her grandson’s -suffering, and could hardly contain herself at -the news of his death (ἀσχέτως τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ -νέου φερούσης). Aurelius Victor adds that the -aged Empress bitterly reproached her son for his -cruelty (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Cum eum mater Helena nimio dolore nepotis -increparet</i></span>). Evidently, Helena favoured Crispus, -the son of Minervina—who, like herself, had been -forced by the exigencies of State to quit her husband’s -house, and make room for an Emperor’s -daughter,—in preference to the children of Constantine -and Fausta; evidently therefore, Helena and -Fausta were rival influences at court, each striving -for ascendency. If Crispus’s death betokened that -Fausta had gained the upper hand, the death of -Fausta shewed that Helena had succeeded in turning -the tables. When Helena violently reproached her -son for slaying Crispus, we may be sure that she was -aiming her shafts through Constantine at Fausta, and -that when she succeeded in rousing the Emperor -to remorse she succeeded also in kindling his resentment -against his wife. It is said that Fausta -was suffocated in a hot bath, but every detail is -open to challenge. Eusebius passes over the entire -episode without a word. He is not only silent as -to the death of Fausta but also as to the death of -Crispus. The courtly Bishop refuses to turn even -a single look towards the crime-stained Palatine, on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>whose gates some lampoon writer had set a paper -with the bitter epigram:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Saturni aurea sæcula quis requiret?</i></span></div> - <div class='line'><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Sunt hæc gemmea, sed Neroniana.</i></span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'>(“Who will care to seek the golden age of Saturn? -Ours is the age of jewels, but jewels of Nero’s -setting.”) If Constantine, like Saturn, had devoured -his children and had lapsed for the moment into a -savage tyrant of Nero’s pattern, it was not for -Eusebius to judge him. He was writing for edification. -Constantine had averred his willingness -to cast his cloak over a sinning bishop lest scandal -should arise; ought not an ecclesiastical historian -to cast the cloak of charitable silence over the -crimes of a most Christian Emperor? When, therefore, -Eusebius describes<a id='r111' /><a href='#f111' class='c016'><sup>[111]</sup></a> how, after the death of -Licinius, men cast aside all their former fears, and -dared to raise their long-downcast eyes and look -up with a smile on their faces and brightness in -their glance; how they honoured the Emperor in -all the beauty of victory and “his most orderly -sons and Heaven-beloved Cæsars”; and how they -straightway forgot their old troubles and all unrighteousness, -and gave themselves up to an enjoyment -of their present good things and their -hope of others to come; it is a healthy corrective -to recall the murderous outbreak of ungovernable -wrath which made Rome shudder as it listened to -the whispered tale of what was taking place in the -recesses of the Palatine. The entire subject is one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>on which it is as fascinating as it is easy to speculate. -On the whole, it seems most likely that Constantine’s -fears had been worked upon to such an extent -that he believed himself surrounded by traitors in -his own family, that the Empress Fausta had been -the leading spirit in the plot to ruin Crispus, and -that when the Emperor discovered his mistake he -turned in fury upon his wife. It may be, as Eutropius -suggests, that his mental balance had been -upset by his extraordinary success, that his prosperity -and the adulation of the world had been too -much for him.<a id='r112' /><a href='#f112' class='c016'><sup>[112]</sup></a> That is a charitable theory which, in -default of a better, we, too, may as well adopt.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We need not doubt the sincerity of his repentance. -Zosimus depicts the Emperor remorsefully -begging the priests of the old religion to purify -him from his crime, and says that when they sternly -refused, Constantine turned to accept the soothing -offices of a wandering Egyptian from Spain. -Another account, current among pagans, was that -he applied for comfort to the philosopher, Sopater, -who would have nothing to say to so heinous a -sinner, and that he then fell in with certain Christian -bishops, who promised him full forgiveness at -the price of repentance and baptism. The motive -of these legends is as obvious as their falsity. The -pagans, in defiance of chronology, sought to explain -the Emperor’s conversion to Christianity as a result -of the murders that lay heavy upon his soul, murders -so revolting as only to admit of pardon in the eyes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>of Christians. Among the late legends of the Byzantine -writer Codinus, we find the story that Constantine -raised to the memory of Crispus a golden -statue, which bore the inscription, “To the son -whom I unjustly condemned,” and that he fasted -and refused the comforts of life for forty days. Of -even greater interest is the legend that Constantine -was baptised by Sylvester, the Bishop of Rome, -and, in gratitude for the promise of pardon, bestowed -upon the see of Rome the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>damnosa hæreditas</i></span> -of the Temporal Power.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There is no necessity to discuss at length the -once famous, but now simply notorious, Donation -of Constantine. The legend is so grotesque that -one wonders it ever imposed on the credulity even -of the most ignorant. For it represented Constantine -as being smitten with leprosy for having persecuted -the Church and for having driven the good -Pope Sylvester into exile. The Emperor consulted -soothsayers, priests, and physicians in turn, and was -at last informed that his only chance of cure lay in -bathing in the blood of little children. Forthwith, a -number of children were collected for this dreadful -purpose, but their cries awoke the pity of Constantine -and he gave them respite. Then, as he slept, -Peter and Paul appeared to him in a dream and -bade him let the children go free, recall Sylvester -from exile, and submit at his hands to the rite of -baptism. This was done; the baptism was administered; -Constantine was cured of the leprosy, and -in return he made over to Sylvester and his successors -full temporal dominion over the city of Rome, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>the greater part of Italy, and certain other provinces. -Such is the story, which was long accepted without -demur and confidently appealed to as the origin of -the Temporal Power. It is now universally admitted -that the whole legend is a fraud and the -letter of Constantine to Sylvester announcing the -Donation a forgery of the eighth century. Constantine -never persecuted the Church; he never had -leprosy; he never contemplated bathing in infants’ -blood; he did not receive the rite of baptism until -he was on his death-bed, and he did not hand over -to the Pope the fee simple and title deeds of Rome -and Italy. The Donation of Constantine belongs to -the museum of historical forgeries.<a id='r113' /><a href='#f113' class='c016'><sup>[113]</sup></a></p> - -<div id='i248' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp248.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE.<br /><span class='small'>FROM THE PAINTING BY RAPHAEL IN THE VATICAN. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>But if the repentance of Constantine did not take -the form of stupendous endowments for the Bishop -of Rome, we may be tolerably sure that it did manifest -itself in the increased zeal of the Emperor for -the building of churches, and especially in his munificence -to the Christians of Rome. It is tempting, -also, to connect with Constantine’s remorse and his -mother’s sorrow for the murder of her grandson the -pilgrimage of Helena to Palestine and Jerusalem, -which followed almost immediately. Around that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>visit there clustered many legends which, as time -went on, multiplied amazingly. Of these the most -famous is that which is known as the Invention of the -Cross. This, in its fullest form many centuries after -the event, ran something as follows: When Helena -reached Jerusalem she asked to be shown the -Holy Sepulchre. But no one could tell her where -the exact spot was. Buildings had been erected -upon Mount Calvary and the adjoining land; a -temple of Venus was still standing near the place -where the body of Christ must have been laid. -Helena instituted a careful search, and the authority -of the Emperor’s mother would be warrant sufficient -for the disturbance of the occupiers. At first their -toil met with no success. Then a very clever Jew -came forward with a story that he had heard of an -old tradition that the site of the Sepulchre lay -in such and such a spot; the direction of the excavation -was entrusted to him; and the searchers were -soon rewarded by finding not only the cave where -Christ had lain, but also three crosses. These, it -was at once determined, must have been the crosses -on which Christ and the two malefactors had suffered. -But which had borne the Saviour? There -was nothing to show, but so sacred an object was -sure to be invested with wonder-working powers, -and the test was, therefore, easy. So they brought -to the spot a dying woman—according to one version, -she was already dead—and touched her with -the wood of the three crosses. At contact with the -first two no change was visible; but the touch of the -third recalled her to sensibility and perfect health, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>and the true Cross stood at once revealed to the -adoring worship of all believers. In the wood were -two nails. Helena had them carefully sent to Constantine, -and he, we are told, had one of them inserted—as -something far more precious than rubies—in -the Imperial crown, while from the other he -fashioned a bit for his horse.</p> - -<div id='i250' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_fp250.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>ST. HELENA’S VISION OF THE CROSS.<br /><span class='small'>BY CALIARI (PAOLO VERONESE).</span><br /><span class='small'>NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Such is the legend in its most complete form. It -directly associates the finding of the Cross with -Helena’s visit to Jerusalem, and attributes also to -her the magnificent church which was raised in the -latter part of the reign of Constantine on the site -of the Holy Sepulchre. But it must also be added -that the first historical mention of the “Invention” -is seventy years after the discovery was supposed -to have taken place. Eusebius, in describing Helena’s -pilgrimage,<a id='r114' /><a href='#f114' class='c016'><sup>[114]</sup></a> knows nothing of the finding of -the Cross, and, while he speaks of the discovery -of the Sepulchre, he does not associate it with Helena, -though he attributes to her piety the new -church at Bethlehem. It was Constantine, according -to Eusebius, who built the church on the site of the -Holy Sepulchre, and beautified the cave of Bethlehem -and the site of the Ascension, but of the finding -of the Cross there is not a word—a significant silence, -which can only mean that the legend was not yet -current when Eusebius composed his “Life” of -Constantine. What cannot well be doubted is that -the site of the Sepulchre was discovered and cleared -in Constantine’s reign. The Emperor built upon -it one of his finest churches, but popular tradition, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>with a sure eye for the romantic and the extraordinary, -preferred to attribute the origin of the -noblest shrine in Palestine to the pious enthusiasm -of the aged Helena. Her pilgrimage over, Helena -died not long afterwards, and was buried by Constantine -with full military honours “in the royal -tombs of the reigning city.” The phrase points -clearly to Constantinople as the place of burial, -though Rome also claims this honour.</p> - -<p class='c001'>History is silent as to the events of the next few -years. But as the Empire had been free both from -civil and foreign war since the downfall of Licinius, -we may accept the general statement of Eusebius -“that all men enjoyed quiet and untroubled days.”<a id='r115' /><a href='#f115' class='c016'><sup>[115]</sup></a> -Peace was always the greatest interest of the Roman -Empire, but it was rarely of long continuance, and -in 330 and the two following years we find the Emperor -campaigning in person against the Goths and -the Sarmatæ. The account of these wars in the -authorities of the period is so confused and contradictory -that it is impossible to obtain a connected -narrative.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It was the old familiar story over again. The -barbarians had come raiding over the borders. -There seems to have been fighting along the entire -north-eastern frontier, from the great bend of the -Danube to the Tauric Chersonese. Constantine and -the legions drove the enemy back, won victories -chequered by minor reverses, and finally the Emperor -was glad enough in 332 to come to terms with -the chiefs of the Gothic nation. Mention is made -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>of a handsome subsidy paid by Constantine to -the Gothic kings, which certainly does not suggest -the overwhelming triumph of the Roman arms of -which Eusebius speaks when he says that the Emperor -was the first to bring them under the yoke -and taught them to acknowledge the Romans as their -masters.<a id='r116' /><a href='#f116' class='c016'><sup>[116]</sup></a> As for the Sarmatæ, Eusebius declares<a id='r117' /><a href='#f117' class='c016'><sup>[117]</sup></a> -that they had been obliged to arm their slaves for -their assistance against the attacks of the Scythians, -that the slaves had revolted against their old masters, -and that in despair the Sarmatæ turned to -Constantine and asked for shelter on Roman territory. -Some of them, says Eusebius, were received -into the legions; others were distributed as farmers -and tillers of the soil throughout the frontier provinces; -and all, he declares, confessed that their -misfortunes had really been a blessing in disguise, -inasmuch as it had enabled them to exchange their -old state of barbarian savagery for the Roman freedom. -Probably we shall not be far wrong if we -place a different interpretation on the words of Eusebius, -and see in the transference of these Sarmatians -to the Roman provinces a confession of weakness -on the part of Constantine. They were not captives -of war. They were rather invited over the borders -to keep their kinsmen out, and the Roman Emperor -paid for his new subjects in the shape of a handsome -subsidy. There can be no other meaning of the curious -words of Eutropius that Constantine left behind -him a tremendous reputation for generosity with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>the barbaric nations (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Ingentemque apud barbaras -gentes memoriæ gratiam collocavit.</i></span>—x., 7). Money -was not so plentiful in Constantine’s exchequer that -he gave subsidies for nothing. The suggestion is -not that he suffered defeat and bought off hostility; -it is rather that he thought it worth while, after -vindicating the honour of the Roman arms, to pay -for the friendship of the vanquished.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On the Eastern frontier peace had remained unbroken -throughout Constantine’s long reign. Persia -had been so shattered by Galerius that King Narses -made no attempt to renounce the humiliating treaty -which had been imposed upon him. His son, Hormisdas, -had likewise acquiesced in the loss of Armenia -and what were known as the five provinces -beyond the Tigris, and when Hormisdas died, leaving -a son still unborn, there was a long regency during -which no aggressive movement was made from -the Persian side. However, this son, Sapor, proved -to be a high-spirited, patriotic, and capable monarch, -who was determined to uphold and assert the rights -of Persia. It is not known how the peaceful relationship, -which had so long subsisted between his country -and Rome, came to be broken. According to -Eusebius,<a id='r118' /><a href='#f118' class='c016'><sup>[118]</sup></a> Sapor sent an embassy to the Emperor, -which was received with the utmost cordiality, and -Constantine, we are told, took the opportunity of -sending back by these same envoys a letter commending -to his favourable regard the Christians of -Persia. The document contained a very tedious -and involved confession of faith by the Emperor, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>who affirmed his devotion to God and declared his -horror at the sight and smell of the blood of sacrifice. -“The God I serve,” said Constantine, “demands -from His worshippers nothing but a pure -mind and a spirit undefiled.” Then he reminded -Sapor how the persecutors of the Church had been -destroyed root and branch, and how one of them, -Valerian, had graced the triumph of a Persian king. -He, therefore, confidently committed the Christians, -who “honoured by their presence some of the fairest -regions of Persia,” to the generosity and protection -of their sovereign.</p> - -<p class='c001'>This remarkable letter suggests that Sapor had -been alarmed at the growth of Christianity in his -dominions, and by no means looked upon his Christian -subjects as lending lustre and distinction to his -realm. Whether he replied to what he may well -have regarded as a veiled threat, we do not know, -but in 335 we hear of what Eusebius calls “an insurrection -of barbarians in the East,”<a id='r119' /><a href='#f119' class='c016'><sup>[119]</sup></a> and Constantine -prepared for war against Persia. In other words, -Sapor had fomented an insurrection in the provinces -beyond the Tigris and was claiming his lost heritage. -Constantine laid his military plans before the bishops -of his court. These declared their intention of accompanying -him into the field, to the great delight, we -are assured, of the Emperor, who ordered a tent to -be made for his service in the shape of a church, -while Sapor, in alarm, sent envoys to sue for a peace -which the most peaceful-minded of kings (ἐιρηνικώτατος -βασιλὲυς) was only too ready to grant. Such -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>is the story of Eusebius, but it is evident that the -Eastern legions had been carefully mobilised, and, -whether such a peace was granted or not, the death -of Constantine in 337 was the signal for a renewal of -the old conflict between the two great empires of -the world, and for a war which lasted without intermission -through the reigns of Constantine’s sons -and that of his nephew Julian.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p256.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span> -<img src='images/i_p257.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER XIII</span><br />THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>We come now to the greatest political achievement -of Constantine’s reign—the foundation -of a new Rome. Let us ask at the outset what -led him to take a step so decisive as the transference -of the world’s metropolis from the Italian -peninsula to the borders of Europe and Asia. The -assignation of merely personal motives will not suffice. -We are told by Zosimus that Rome was distasteful -to Constantine, because it reminded him of -the son and the wife who had fallen victims to his -savage resentment. He was uneasy in the palace on -the Palatine, whose very stones suggested murder -and sudden death, and whose walls were cognisant -of unnumbered treasons. What Zosimus says may -very well be true. Constantine’s conscience was -likely to give him less peace in Rome than elsewhere. -But the personal wishes of even the greatest men -cannot bind the generations which come after them. -There have been cities founded by the caprice of -royal tyrants which have flourished for a season and -then vanished. Seleucia is perhaps the most striking -example, and scarcely a mound remains to mark its -<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>site. But most of the historic cities of the world owe -their greatness and their permanence not to the -whims of royal founders, but to geographical and -strategic position. Rome was not uncrowned by -Constantine because he could not forget within its -walls the crimes which had stained his hands with -blood.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is also to be remembered that others had already -set the example of despoiling of her dignities the -ancient Queen of the Nations. We have seen how in -the western half of the Empire great Imperial cities -had been rising within easy reach of the frontiers. In -far-off Britain London might be the most opulent -city, but York was the chief residence of the Cæsar -of the West when he visited the island. In Gaul -Treves had outstripped Lyons in dignity and wealth, -and was now the centre of military and administrative -power. Even in Italy Milan had grown at the expense -of Rome; it was nearer to the frontier and, -therefore, nearer to the armies. Rome lay out of the -way. Diocletian, again, had favoured Nicomedia in -Bithynia. In other words, Rome was ceasing to be -the one centre of gravity of the ancient world, or, to -express the same truth in another form, the Roman -world was ceasing to be one. Diocletian had practically -acknowledged this when he founded his system -of Augusti and Cæsars. With the subdivision -of administrative and executive power there naturally -ceases to be one supreme metropolis. It would -be a mistake to suppose that Constantine, in founding -a new Rome, deliberately hastened the rapid tendency -towards separation. The very name of “New Rome” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>which he gave his city indicates his belief that he -was merely moving Rome from the Tiber to the -Bosphorus—merely changing to a more convenient -site. But the fact that this name dropped out of use -almost at once, and that the city was called after -him, not in Latin but in Greek, shews how strongly -the current was flowing towards political division.</p> - -<div id='i258' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp259.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>CHART OF THE EASTERN SECTION OF MEDIÆVAL CONSTANTINOPLE.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>But what attracted Constantine towards Byzantium? -Precisely, of course, those advantages of -situation which have attracted modern statesmen. -Every one knows the story of how, after the Peace of -Tilsit, the Tsar Alexander constantly pressed Napoleon -to allow him to take Constantinople. Napoleon -at length told his secretary, M. de Méneval, to bring -him the largest map of Europe which he could procure, -and, after poring over it for some time, he looked -up and exclaimed, “Constantinople! Never! It is -the Empire of the world.” Was Napoleon right? -The publicists of to-day return different answers. -The Mediterranean is not the all-important sea it -once was, and the strategical importance of Constantinople -has been greatly modified by the Suez Canal -and the British occupation of Egypt. But if Napoleon’s -exclamation seems rather theatrical to us, it -would not have seemed so to Constantine, whose -world was so much smaller than ours and presented -such different strategical problems calling for solution. -Constantine had won the world when he defeated -Licinius and captured Byzantium: he determined to -keep it where he had won it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is said by some of the late historians that he was -long in coming to a decision, and that he carefully -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>weighed the rival claims of other cities. There was -his birthplace, Naissus, in Pannonia, though we cannot -suppose that Constantine seriously thought of -making this his metropolis. There was Sardica on the -Danube, the modern Belgrade and capital of Servia, -a city well adapted by its position for playing an important -rôle in history, and conveniently near the -most dangerous frontier of the Empire. “My Rome -is at Sardica,” Constantine was fond of declaring at -one period of his career, according to a tradition -which was perpetuated by the Byzantine historians. -Another possible choice was Nicomedia, which had -commended itself to Diocletian, and, finally, there -was Salonica, which even now has only to fall into -capable hands to become one of the most prosperous -cities of eastern Europe.</p> - -<p class='c001'>According to Zosimus, even when Constantine -had determined to found his new city at the point -where Europe and Asia are divided by the narrow -straits, he selected first the Asiatic side. The historian -says that he actually began to build and that -the foundations of the abandoned city were still to -be seen in his day between Troy and Pergamum. -But the story is more than doubtful. Legend has -naturally been busy with the circumstances attending -the Emperor’s final choice of Byzantium. Was -it inspired, as some say, by the flight of an eagle -from Chrysopolis towards Byzantium? Or, while -Constantine slept in Byzantium, did the aged tutelar -genius of the place appear to him in a dream and -then become transformed into a beautiful maiden, -to whom he offered the insignia of royalty? Interesting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>as these legends are, we need seek no further -explanation of Constantine’s choice than his own -good judgment and experience. He was fully aware -of the extraordinary natural strength of Byzantium, -for his armies had found great difficulty in taking it -by assault; the supreme beauty of the site and its -many other qualifications for becoming a great capital -were manifest to his eyes every time he approached -it. Byzantium had long been one of the -most renowned cities of antiquity. Even in the remotest -times the imagination of the Greeks had -been powerfully affected by the stormy Euxine that -lay in what was to them the far north-east, guarding -the Golden Fleece and the Apples of the Hesperidæ, -a wild region of big rivers, savage lands, and boisterous -seas. Daring seamen of Megara, in the seventh -century <span class='fss'>B.C.</span>, had effected a landing at the mouth of -the Bosphorus, where Io had fled across from Europe -to Asia, turning their galleys up the smooth estuary -that still bears its ancient name of the Golden Horn. -Apollo had told them to fix their habitation “over -against the city of the blind,” and this they had -rightly judged could be no other than Chalcedon, -for men must needs have been blind to choose the -Asiatic in preference to the European shore.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The little colony founded by Byzas, the Megarian, -had prospered marvellously, though it had experienced -to the full all the vicissitudes of fortune. It -had fallen before the Persian King Darius; it had -been wrested from him after a long siege by Pausanias, -the hero of Platæa, when the Greeks rolled -back the tide of invasion. In turn the subject and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>successful rival of Athens, Byzantium gained new -glory by withstanding for two years the assaults of -Philip of Macedon. Thanks to the eloquence of Demosthenes, -Athens sent help in the shape of ships -and men, and, in commemoration of a night attack -of the Macedonians successfully foiled by the opportune -rising of the moon, Byzantium placed upon -her coins the crescent and the star, which for four -centuries and a half have been the familiar symbols -of Turkish sovereignty. Byzantium grew rich on -commerce. It was the port of call at which every -ship entering or leaving the Bosphorus was bound to -touch; no craft sailed the Euxine without paying -dues to the city at its mouth. Polybius, in a very -interesting passage,<a id='r120' /><a href='#f120' class='c016'><sup>[120]</sup></a> points out how Byzantium occupied -“the most secure and advantageous position -of any city in our quarter of the world, as far as the -sea is concerned.” Then he continues:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“The Pontus, therefore, being rich in what the rest of -the world requires to support life, the Byzantines are -absolute masters in this respect. For the first necessaries -of existence, cattle and slaves, are admittedly supplied -by the region of the Pontus in better quality and greater -profusion than elsewhere. In the matter of luxuries, -they supply us with honey, wax, and salt fish, while they -take our superfluous olive oil and wines.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>It was Byzantium, therefore, which kept open the -straits, and Polybius speaks of the city as a common -benefactor of the Greeks. When the Romans began -to appear on the scene as a world-power, Byzantium -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>made terms with the Senate. It well suited the -Roman policy to have a powerful ally on the Bosphorus, -strong in the ships in which Rome was -usually deficient. As a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>libera et fœderata civitas</i></span>, Byzantium -enjoyed a more or less prosperous history -until the days of Vespasian, who stripped it of its -privileges. These were restored, but a shattering -blow overtook the city at the close of the second -century, when Septimus Severus took it by storm. -Angry at its long resistance, Severus levelled its -fortifications to the ground,—a work of endless toil, -for the stones and blocks had been so clamped together -that the walls were one solid mass. However, -before he died, he repented him of the destruction -which he had wrought and gave orders for the -walls to be built anew. It was the Byzantium as -rebuilt by Severus that Constantine determined to -refound on a far more splendid scale.</p> - -<div id='i262' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_fp262.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, ROME.<br /><span class='small'>PHOTOGRAPH BY ALINARI.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>No subsequent historian has improved upon the -glowing passage in which Gibbon summarises the -incomparable advantages of its site, which appears, -as he well says, to have been “founded by Nature -for the centre and capital of a great monarchy.” -We may quote the passage in full from his seventeenth -chapter:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Situated in the forty-first degree of latitude—practically -the same, it may be noted, as that of Rome, Madrid, -and New York—the imperial city commanded from -her seven hills the opposite shores of Europe and Asia; -the climate was healthy and temperate; the soil fertile; -the harbour secure and capacious; and the approach -on the side of the continent was of small extent and easy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>of defence. The Bosphorus and Hellespont may be considered -as the two gates of Constantinople; and the prince -who procured those important passages could always -shut them against a naval enemy and open them to the -fleets of commerce. The preservation of the Eastern -provinces may, in some degree, be ascribed to the policy -of Constantine, as the barbarians of the Euxine, who, in -the preceding age, had poured down their armaments -into the heart of the Mediterranean, soon desisted from -the exercise of piracy and despaired of facing this insurmountable -barrier. When the gates of the Hellespont -and Bosphorus were shut, the capital still enjoyed, within -their spacious inclosure, every production which could -supply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its numerous -inhabitants. The seacoasts of Thrace and Bithynia, -which languish under the weight of Turkish oppression, -still exhibit a rich prospect of vineyards, of gardens and -plentiful harvests; and the Propontis has ever been renowned -for an inexhaustible store of the most exquisite -fish, that are taken in their stated seasons without skill -and almost without labour. But, when the passages of -the Straits were thrown open for trade, they alternately -admitted the natural and artificial riches of the North -and South, of the Euxine and the Mediterranean. Whatever -rude commodities were collected in the forests of -Germany and Scythia, as far as the sources of the Tanais -and the Borysthenes, whatever was manufactured by -the skill of Europe and of Asia, the corn of Egypt and the -gems and spices of the farthest India, were brought by the -varying winds into the port of Constantinople, which, for -many ages, attracted the commerce of the ancient world.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>From a strategical point of view, it was of inestimable -advantage that the capital and military centre -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>of the Empire should be within striking distance of -the route taken by the nomad populations of the -East as they pressed towards the West, at the head -of the Euxine. The Scythians, the Goths, and the -Sarmatæ had all crossed that great region; the Huns -were to cross it in the coming centuries. Placed on -shipboard at Constantinople, the legions of the Empire -could be swiftly conveyed into the Euxine, and -could penetrate up the Danube, Tanais, or Borysthenes -to confront the invaders where the danger -threatened most.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The story of how Constantine marked out the -boundaries of his new capital is well known. Not -content with the narrow limits of the ancient city—which -included little more than the district now -known as Seraglio Point—Constantine crossed the -old boundary, spear in hand, and walked with -his attendants along the shores of the Propontis, -tracing the line as he went. His companions -expressed astonishment that he continued so far -afield, and respectfully drew the Emperor’s attention -to the enormous circuit which the walls would have -to enclose. Constantine rebuked them. “I shall -still advance,” he said, “until He, the invisible guide -who marches before me, thinks it right to stop.” -The legend is first found in Philostorgius, and it is -not of much importance. But Constantine, as usual, -took care to foster the belief that his will was God’s -will, even in the matter of founding Constantinople, -and that he had but obeyed the clearly expressed -command of Heaven. In one of his edicts he incidentally -refers to Constantinople as the city which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>he founded in obedience to the mandate of God -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Jubente Deo</i></span>). It is a phrase which has meant much -or little according to the character of the kings who -have employed it. With Constantine it meant much, -and, above all, he wished it to mean much to his -subjects.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Archæologists have not found it an easy task to -trace the line of the walls of Constantine, especially -on the landward side. It followed the coast of the -Propontis from Seraglio Point, the Emperor adding -height and strength to the wall of Severus and extending -it to the gate of St. Æmilianus, which -formed the south-west limit of his city. This section -was thrown down by an earthquake and had to be -rebuilt by Arcadius and Theodosius II. From St. -Æmilianus the landward wall, with seven gates and -ninety-five towers, stretched across from the waters -of the Propontis to those of the Golden Horn, which -was reached, it is supposed, at a point near the modern -Djubali Kapou. This was demolished when the -city had outgrown it, and Theodosius erected the -new great wall which still stands almost unimpaired. -The course of the old one can hardly be traced, but -it is generally assumed that it did not include all the -seven hills of Constantinople, though New Rome, like -Old Rome, delighted in the epithet of Septicollis—the -Seven-Hilled. Along the Golden Horn no wall -was built until five centuries had elapsed. On this -side Constantine considered that the city was adequately -protected by the waters of the estuary, -closed against the attack of an enemy by a huge iron -chain, supported on floats, which stretched from the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>Acropolis of St. Demetrius across to the modern -Galata. Confidence in the chain—some links of -which are still preserved in the Turkish arsenal—seems -to have been thoroughly justified. Only once -in all the many sieges of Constantinople was it successfully -pierced, when, in 1203, the Crusading Latins -burst in upon the capital of the East.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Within the area we have described, great if compared -with the original Byzantium, but small in -comparison with the size to which it grew by the -reign of Theodosius II., Constantine planned his -city. Probably no great capital has ever been built -so rapidly. It was finished, or so nearly finished -that it was possible to hold a solemn service of dedication, -by May, 330—that is to say, within four years. -Throughout that period Constantine seems to have -had no thought for anything else. He urged on the -work with an enthusiasm equal to that which Dido -had manifested in encouraging her Tyrians to raise -the walls of Carthage,—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Instans operi regnisque futuris.</i></span></p> - -<p class='c001'>The passion for bricks and mortar consumed him. -Like Augustus, he thought that a great imperial city -could not be too lavishly adorned as a visible proof -of present magnificence and a guarantee of future -permanence. Nor was it in Constantinople alone -that he built. Throughout his reign new public -buildings kept rising in Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, -and the cities of Gaul. His impatience manifested -itself in his letters to his provincial governors. “Send -me word,” he wrote imperiously to one of them, “not -that work has been started on your buildings, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>that the buildings are finished.” To build Constantinople -he ransacked the entire world, first for architects -and builders, and then for art treasures. With -such impetuous haste there was sure to be scamped -work. Some of the buildings crumbled at the first -slight tremor of earthquake or did not even require -that impulse from without to collapse into ruin. It -is by no means impossible that the havoc which -seems to have been wrought in Constantinople by -earthquakes during the next two or three centuries -was largely due, not to the violence of the seismic -disturbances but to insecure foundations and bad -materials. The cynical Julian compared the city of -Constantine to the fabled gardens of Adonis, which -were planted afresh each morning and withered anew -each night. Doubtless there was a substantial basis -of fact for that bitter jibe.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Yet, when all allowances are made, it was a marvellous -city which Constantine watched as it rose -from its foundation. Those who study the archæology -of Constantinople in the rich remains which -have survived in spite of Time and the Turk, are -surprised to find how constantly the history of the -particular spot which they are studying takes them -straight back to Constantine. Despite the multitude -of Emperors and Sultans who have succeeded -him, each anxious to leave his mark behind him in -stone, or brick, or marble, Constantinople is still the -city of Constantine. In the centre, he laid out the -Augustæum, the ancient equivalent, as it has well -been pointed out, of the modern “Place Imperiale.” -It was a large open space, paved throughout in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>marble, but of unknown shape, and historians have -disagreed upon the probability of its having been -circular, square, or of the shape of a narrow rectangle. -It was full of noble statuary, and was surrounded -by an imposing pile of stately buildings. -To the north lay the great church of Sancta Sophia; -on the east the Senate House of the Augustæum, -so called to distinguish it from the Senate House of -the Forum; on the south lay the palace, entered by -an enormous brazen gate, called Chalce, the palace -end of the Hippodrome, and the Baths of Zeuxippus. -The street connecting the Augustæum with -the Forum of Constantine was known as Μέση, or -Middle-street, and was entered on the western side. -In the Augustæum, which later Emperors filled with -famous statues, there stood in Constantine’s day a -single marble column known as the Milion—from -which were measured distances throughout the Empire,—a -marble group representing Constantine and -Helena standing on either side of a gigantic cross, -and a second statue of Helena upon a pedestal of -porphyry. It was in this Augustæum, moreover, -that was to stand for a thousand years the huge -equestrian statue of Justinian, known through all -the world and described by many a traveller before -the capture of the city by the Turks, who broke -it into a thousand pieces.</p> - -<div id='i268' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_fp268.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>ST. HELENA AND THE CROSS.<br /><span class='small'>BY CRANACH. LICHTENSTEIN GALLERY, VIENNA.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>To the west of the Augustæum lay the Forum of -Constantine, elliptical in form and surrounded by -noble colonnades, which terminated at either end in -a spacious portico in the shape of a triumphal arch. -In the centre, which, according to an old tradition, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>marked the very spot on which Constantine had -pitched his camp when besieging Licinius, stood, -and still stands, though in sadly mutilated and shattered -guise, the Column of Constantine, which has -long been known either as the Burnt Pillar, owing -to the damage which it has suffered by fire, or as the -Porphyry Pillar, because of the material of which it -was composed. There were eight drums of porphyry -in all, brought specially from Rome, each -about ten feet in height, bound with wide bands -of brass wrought into the shape of laurel wreaths. -These rested upon a stylobate of white marble, -some nineteen feet high, which in turn stood upon a -stereobate of similar height composed of four spacious -steps. Sacred relics were enclosed—or are -said to have been enclosed—within this pediment, -including things so precious as Mary Magdalene’s -alabaster box, the crosses of the two thieves who -had suffered with Christ upon Mount Calvary, the -adze with which Noah had fashioned the Ark out of -rough, primeval timber, and—in strange company—the -very Palladium of ancient Rome, transported -from the Capitol to an alien and a rival soil. At -the foot of the column there was placed the following -inscription: “O Christ, Ruler and Master of the -world, to Thee have I now consecrated this obedient -city and this sceptre and the power of Rome. -Guard and deliver it from every harm.”</p> - -<div id='i270' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_fp270.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>At the summit of the column was a colossal statue -of Apollo in bronze, filched from Athens, where it -was believed to be a genuine example of Pheidias. -But before the statue had been raised into position, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>it suffered unworthy mutilation. The head of Apollo -was removed and replaced by a head of Constantine. -This may be interpreted as a confession of the sculptors -of the day that they were unable to produce a -statue worthy of their great Emperor; but the fact -that a statue of Apollo was chosen for this doubtful -honour of mutilation is worth at least passing remark, -when we remember that before his conversion Constantine -had selected Apollo for special reverence. -It is certainly strange that the first Christian Emperor -should have been willing to be represented, -on the site which was ever afterwards to be associated -with his name, by a statue round which clustered so -many pagan associations. He did not even disdain -the pagan inscription, “To Constantine shining like -the Sun”; nor did he reject the pagan attribute of a -radiated crown around the head. In the right hand -of Apollo the old Greek artist had placed a lance; -in the left a globe. That globe was now surmounted -by a cross and lo! Apollo had become Constantine; -the most radiant of the gods of Olympus had become -the champion of Christ upon earth. The fate of -this statue—which was held in such superstitious -reverence that for centuries all horsemen dismounted -before passing it, while below it, on every first day -of September, Emperor, Patriarch, and clergy assembled -to chant hymns of prayer and praise—may -be briefly told. In 477 the globe was thrown down -by an earthquake. The lance suffered a like fate in -541, while the statue itself came crashing to earth in -1105, killing a number of persons in its fall. The -column was then surmounted by a cross, and fire and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>time have reduced it to its present almost shapeless -and unrecognisable mass.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Close to the Augustæum there began to rise the -stately magnificence of the Imperial Palace, the Great -Palace, τὸ μέγα παλάτιον, as it was called to distinguish -it from all others. This was really a cluster -of palaces spread over an enormous area, a self-contained -city within itself, strongly protected with -towers and walls. Here were the Imperial residences, -gardens, churches, barracks, and baths, and for eight -hundred years, until this quarter was forsaken for the -palace of Blachernæ in another region of the city, -Emperors continued to build and rebuild on this -favoured site. In later years the Great Palace consisted -of an interconnected group of buildings bearing -such names as Chrysotriklinon, Trikonchon, Daphne,—so -called from a diviner’s column brought to Constantinople -from the Grove of Daphne near Antioch,—Chalce, -Boucoleon, and Manavra. One at least of -these dated back to Constantine. This was the Porphyry -Palace, with a high pyramidal roof, constructed -of porphyry brought especially from Rome. It was -dedicated to the service of the ladies of the Imperial -Family, who retired thither to be away from the -vexations, intrigues, and anxieties of every-day life -during the time of their pregnancy. In the seclusion -of this Porphyry Palace they were undisturbed and -secure, and the children born within walls thus sacred -to Imperial maternity were distinguished by the title -of “Porphyrogeniti,” which plays so prominent a -part in Byzantine history.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine built below ground as well as above. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>One of the principal drawbacks—perhaps the only -one—to the perfect suitability of the site of Constantinople -was that it contained very few natural springs. -Water, therefore, had to be brought into the town -by gigantic aqueducts and stored in cisterns, some -small, some of enormous size, which must have cost -fabulous sums. The two greatest of these are still -in good preservation after nearly sixteen centuries of -use. One is the Cistern of Philoxenos, called by the -Turks Bin Bir Derek, or the Thousand and One -Columns. The columns stand in sixteen rows of -fourteen columns each, each column consisting of -three shafts, and each shaft being eighteen feet in -height, though all the lower and most of the middle -tiers have long been hidden by masses of impacted -earth. Philoxenos, whose name is thus immortalised -in this stupendous work, came to Constantinople -from Rome at the request of the Emperor, and -lavished his fortune upon the construction of this -cistern in proof of his public spirit and in order to -please his master. Assistance was also invited from -the public. And just as in our own day subscriptions -are often coaxed out of reluctant purses by deft appeal -to the harmless vanity which delights to see -one’s own name inscribed upon a foundation stone, -so in this Cistern of Philoxenos there are still to be -deciphered upon the columns the names of the -donors, names, as Mr. Grosvenor points out in his -most interesting account of these cisterns, which are -wholly Greek. “It is a striking evidence,” he says, -“how little Roman was the Romanised capital, that -every inscription is in Greek.” The second great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>cistern is the Royal or Basilike Cistern, begun by -Constantine and restored by Justinian, which is called -by the Turks Yeri Batan Serai, or the Underground -Palace. This is supported by three hundred and -thirty-six columns, standing twelve feet apart in -twenty-eight symmetrical rows. The cistern is three -hundred and ninety feet long and a hundred and -seventy-four feet wide, and still supplies water from -the Aqueduct of Valens as fresh as when its first -stone was laid.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The chief glories of Constantinople, however, were -the Hippodrome and the churches. With the latter -we may deal very briefly, the more so because the -<a id='corr274.14'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='world-renowed'>world-renowned</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_274.14'><ins class='correction' title='world-renowed'>world-renowned</ins></a></span> St. Sophia is not the St. Sophia which -Constantine built, but the work of Justinian. Constantine’s -church, on which he and many of his successors -lavished their treasures, was burnt to the -ground and utterly consumed in the tumult of the -Nika which laid half the city in ashes. Nor had St. -Sophia been intended to be the metropolitan church. -That distinction belonged to the church which Constantine -had dedicated not to the Wisdom but to the -Peace of God, to St. Irene. It, too, shared the fate -of the sister church in the tumult of the Nika, and -was similarly rebuilt by Justinian. This was regarded -as the Patriarchal church and called by that name, -for here the Patriarch conducted the daily services, -since the church had no clergy of its own. It was at -the high altar of St. Irene that the Patriarch Alexander -in 335 prayed day and night that God would -choose between himself and Arius; while the answer—or -what was taken for the answer—was delivered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>at the foot of Constantine’s Column. It was in this -church nearly half a century later that the great -Arian controversy was ended in 381, and here that -the Holy Spirit was declared equal to the Father -and the Son. Since the Ottoman conquest this -church—the sole survivor of all that in Byzantine -times once stood in the region of what is now the -Seraglio—has been used as an arsenal and military -museum. On its walls hang suits of armour, helmets, -maces, spears, and swords of a bygone age, while -the ground floor is stacked with modern rifles. -The temple of “the Peace that Passeth Understanding” -has been transformed into a temple of war. -Mr. Grosvenor well sums up its history in the fine -phrase, “Saint Irene is a prodigious hearthstone, -on which all the ashes of religion and of triumph and -surrender have grown cold.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>There is yet another church in Constantinople -which calls for notice. It is the one which Constantine -dedicated to the Holy Trinity, though its name -was soon afterwards changed to that of the Holy -Apostles, in honour of the remains of Timothy, Andrew, -and Luke, the body of St. Mathias, the head of -James, the brother of Jesus, and the head of St. -Euphemia, which were enshrined under the great -High Altar. So rich a store of relics was held to -justify the change of name. It was from the pulpit -of this Church of the Holy Apostles that John Chrysostom -denounced the Empress Eudoxia, but the -chief title of the building to remembrance is that it -was for centuries the Mausoleum of Constantinople’s -Emperors and Patriarchs. None but members of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>the reigning house, or the supreme Heads of the -Eastern Church, were accorded burial within its -walls. Constantine built a splendid Heroon at the -entrance, just as Augustus had built a magnificent -Mausoleum on the Field of Mars. When it could -hold no more, Justinian built another. Each monarch, -robed and crowned in death as in life, had a marble -sarcophagus of his own; no one church in the world’s -history can ever have contained the dust of so much -royalty, sanctity, and orthodoxy. Apart from the -rest lay the tombs of Julian the Apostate and the -four Arian Emperors, as though cut off from communion -with their fellows, and removed as far outside -the pale as the respect due to an anointed Emperor -would permit. It was not the conquering Ottoman -but the Latin Crusaders, the robbers of the West, -who pillaged the sacred tombs, stole their golden -ornaments, and flung aside the bones which had reposed -there during the centuries.</p> - -<div id='i276' class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_fp276.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE THREE EXISTING MONUMENTS OF THE HIPPODROME.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>We pass from the churches to the Hippodrome, -a Campus Martius and Coliseum combined, which -now bears the Turkish name of Atmeidan, a translation -of its ancient Greek name. Its glories have -passed away. It has shrunk to little more than -a third of its original proportions, and is merely a -rough exercise ground surrounded by houses. But -it preserves within its attenuated frame three of the -most famous monuments of antiquity, around which -it is possible to recreate its ancient splendours. -These three monuments are the Egyptian obelisk, -the Serpent Pillar, and a crumbling column that -looks as though it must snap and fall in the first -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>storm that blows. They preserve for us the exact -line of the old spina, round which the charioteers -used to drive their steeds in furious rivalry. The -obelisk stood exactly in the centre of the building, -which was shaped like a narrow magnet with long -arms. From the obelisk to the middle of the sphendone—that -is to say, the curving top of a magnet, -or the loop of a sling—was 691 feet, while the width -was 395 feet. The Hippodrome, therefore, was nearly -1400 feet long by 400 wide, the proportions of three -and a half to one being those of the Circus Maximus -at Rome. It lay north-north-east, conforming in -shape to the Augustæum. The Hippodrome had -been begun in 203 by Severus, to whom belongs the -credit of having conceived its stupendous plan, but -it had remained uncompleted for a century and a -quarter.</p> - -<p class='c001'>At the northern end, reaching straight across from -side to side, was a lofty structure, raised upon pillars -and enclosed within gates. Here were the stables and -storehouses, known to the Romans by the name of -Carceres and to the Greeks as Mangana. Above -was a broad tribunal, in the centre of which, and -supported by marble pillars, stood the Kathisma, -with the throne of the Emperor well in front. This, -in modern parlance, was the Royal Box, and, when -the Emperor was present, the tribunal below was -thronged with the high dignitaries of State and the -Imperial Bodyguard, while, in front of the throne, -but at a rather lower level, was the pillared platform, -called the Pi, where stood the royal standard-bearers. -Behind this entire structure, fully -<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>three hundred feet wide and so spacious that it -was dignified with the name of palace and contained -long suites of royal apartments, was the -Church of St. Stephen, through which, by means -of a spiral stairway, access was obtained to the -Kathisma. It was always used by the Emperor on -his visits to the Hippodrome, and was considered to -be profaned if trodden by meaner mortals. The -palace, raised as it was over the stables of the -Hippodrome and looking down the entire length of -the arena, had no communication with the body of -the building, and on either side the long arms of the -Hippodrome terminated in blank walls. The first -tier of seats, known as the Bouleutikon or Podium, -was raised thirteen feet above the arena. This was -the place of distinction. At the back rose tier upon -tier, broken half-way by a wide passage, while at the -very top of all was a broad promenade running right -round the building from pole to pole of the magnet. -This was forty feet above the ground, and the -benches and promenades were composed of gleaming -marble raised upon arches of brick. There was -room here for eighty thousand spectators to assemble -in comfort, and one seems to hear ringing -down the ages the frenzied shouts of the multitudes -which for centuries continued to throng this mighty -building, of which now scarce one stone stands upon -another. Mr. Grosvenor very justly says that</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“no theatre, no palace, no public building has to-day a -promenade so magnificent.... Within was all the -pomp and pageantry of all possible imperial and popular -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>contest and display; without, piled high around, were -the countless imposing structures ‘of that city which for -more than half a thousand years was the most elegant, -the most civilised, almost the only civilised and polished -city in the world.’ Beyond was the Golden Horn, -crowded with shipping; the Bosphorus in its winding -beauty; the Marmora, studded with islands and fringing -the Asiatic coast, the long line of the Arganthonius -Mountains and the peaks of the Bithynian Olympus, -glittering with eternal snow—all combining in a panorama -which even now no other city of mankind can -rival.”</p> - -</div> - -<div id='i278' class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_fp278.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>PLAN OF THE HIPPODROME.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>In the middle of the arena stood the spina, a marble -wall, four feet high and six hundred feet long, -with the Goal of the Blues at the northern end -facing the throne, and that of the Greens facing the -sphendone. The spina was decorated with the -choicest statuary, including the three surviving monuments. -Of these the Egyptian obelisk, belonging to -the reign of Thotmes III., had already stood for -more centuries in Egypt than have elapsed since -Constantine transported it to his new capital. When -it arrived, the engineers could not raise it into position -and it remained prone until, in 381, one Proclus, -a præfect of the city, succeeded in erecting it upon -copper cubes. The shattered column belongs to a -much later epoch than that of Constantine. It was -set up by Constantine VIII. Porphyrogenitus, and -once glittered in the sun, for it was covered with -plates of burnished brass. The third, and by far -the most interesting monument of the three, is the -famous column of twisted serpents from Delphi. Its -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>romantic history never grows dull by repetition. -For this is that serpent column of Corinthian brass -which was dedicated to Apollo by the thankful and -exultant Greeks after the battle of Platæa, when the -hosts of the Persian Xerxes were thrust back from -the soil of Greece never to return. It bears upon its -coils the names of the thirty-one Greek cities which -fought for freedom, and there is still to be seen, inscribed -in slightly larger characters than the rest, the -name of the Tenians, who, as Herodotus tells us, -succeeded in proving to the satisfaction of their sister -states that they deserved inclusion in so honourable -a memorial. The history of this column from -the fifth century before the Christian era down to -the present time is to be read in a long succession of -Greek, Roman, mediæval, and modern historians; and -as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century -the three heads of the serpents were still in their -place. But even in its mutilated state there is perhaps -no relic of antiquity which can vie in interest -with this column, associated as it was in the day of -its fashioning with Pausanias and Themistocles, with -Xerxes and with Mardonius. We have then to think -of it standing for seven centuries in the holiest place -of all Hellas, the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. There it -was surmounted by a golden tripod, on which sat the -priestess who uttered the oracles which, in important -crises, prompted the policy and guided the development -of the cities of Greece. The column is hollow, -and it is possible that the mephitic exhalations, -which are supposed to have stupefied the priestess -when she was possessed by the god, mounted up -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>the interior of the spiral. The golden tripod was -stolen during the wars with Philip of Macedon; Constantine -replaced it by another when he brought the -column from Delphi to Constantinople. And there, -surviving all the vicissitudes through which the city -has passed, still stands the column, still fixed to the -pedestal upon which Constantine mounted it, many -feet below the present level of the Atmeidan, still an -object of superstition to Christian as well as to the -Turk, and owing, no doubt, its marvellous preservation -to the indefinable awe which clings, even in ruin, -to the sacred relics of a discredited religion.</p> - -<div id='i280' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp280.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE SERPENT OF DELPHI.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>To the Hippodrome itself there were four principal -entrances. The gate of the Blues was close by -the Carceres or Mangana, on the western side, with -the gate of the Greens facing it. At the other end, -just where the long straight line was broken and -the building began to curve into the sphendone, was -a gate on the eastern side which bore the ill-omened -name of the Gate of the Dead, opposite another, -the name of which is not known. The gate of the -Blues—the royal faction—was the grand entrance for -all state processions.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Such was the outward form of the famous Hippodrome, -and Mr. Grosvenor justly dwells on the imposing -vastness and beauty of its external appearance.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“The walls were of brick, laid in arches and faced by -a row of Corinthian pillars. What confronted the spectator’s -eye was a wall in superposed and continuous -arches, seen through an endless colonnade. Seventeen -columns were still erect upon their bases in 1529. Gyllius, -who saw them, says that their diameter was three -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>and eleven-twelfths feet. Each was twenty-eight feet -high, and pedestal and capital added seven feet more. -They stood eleven feet apart. Hence, deducting for -the gates, towers, and palace, at least two hundred and -sixty columns would be required in the circuit. If one, -with the curiosity of a traveller, wished to journey round -the entire perimeter, he must continue on through a distance -of three thousand and fifteen feet, before his pilgrimage -ended at the spot where it had begun; and ever, -as he toiled along, there loomed into the air that prodigious -mass, forty feet above his head. No wonder that -there remained, even in the time of the Sultan Souleiman, -enough to construct that most superb of mosques, -the Souleimanieh, from the fallen columns, the splintered -marbles, the brick and stone of the Hippodrome.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>But it was not merely the shell of the Hippodrome -that was imposing by reason of its size and magnificence. -It was filled with the choicest art treasures -of the ancient world. Constantine stole masterpieces -with the catholicity of taste, the excellence of artistic -judgment, and the callous indifference to the rights -of ownership which characterised Napoleon. He -stripped the world naked of its treasures, as St. -Jerome neatly remarked.<a id='r121' /><a href='#f121' class='c016'><sup>[121]</sup></a> Rome and its conquering -proconsuls and proprætors had done the same. -Constantine now robbed Rome and took whatever -Rome had left. Greece was still a fruitful quarry. -We have already spoken of the Serpent Column, -which was torn from Delphi. The historians have -preserved for us the names of a number of other -famous works of art which adorned the spina and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>the promenade of the Hippodrome. There was a -Brazen Eagle, clutching a withing snake in its talons -and rising in the air with wings outspread; the Hercules -of Lysippus, of a size so heroic that it measured -six feet from the foot to the knee; the Brazen Ass -and its driver, a mere copy of which Augustus had -offered to his own city of Nicopolis founded on the -shores of Actium; the Poisoned Bull; the Angry Elephant; -the gigantic figure of a woman holding in her -hand a horse and its rider of life size; the Calydonian -Boar; eight Sphinxes, and last, but by no means -least, the Horses of Lysippus. These horses have -a history with which no other specimens of equine -statuary can compare. They first adorned a temple -at Corinth. Taken to Rome by Memmius when he -laid Corinth in ashes, they were placed before the -Senate House. Nero removed them that they might -grace his triumphal arch; Trajan, with juster excuse, -did the same. Constantine had them sent to Constantinople. -Then, after nearly nine centuries had -passed, they were again packed up and transported -back to Italy. The aged Dandolo had claimed them -as part of his share of the booty and sent them to -Venice. There they remained for almost six centuries -more until Napoleon cast covetous eyes upon -them and had them taken to Paris to adorn his Arc -de Triomphe. On his downfall Paris was compelled -to restore them to Venice and the horses of Lysippus -paw the air once more above the roof of St. Mark’s -Cathedral.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We have thus briefly enumerated the most magnificent -public buildings with which Constantine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>adorned his new capital, and the choicest works of -art with which these were further embellished. The -Emperor pressed on the work with extraordinary -activity. No one believes the story of Codinus -that only nine months elapsed between the laying -of the first stone and the formal dedication which -took place in the Hippodrome on May 11th, 330, -but it is only less wonderful that so much should -have been done in four years. The same untrustworthy -author also tells a strange story of -how Constantine took advantage of the absence of -some of his officers on public business to build exact -models of their Roman mansions in Constantinople, -and transport all their household belongings, families, -and households to be ready for them on their return -as a pleasant surprise. What is beyond doubt is -that the Emperor did offer the very greatest inducements -to the leading men of Rome to leave Rome -for good and make Constantinople their home. He -even published an edict that no one dwelling in Asia -Minor should be allowed to enter the Imperial service -unless he built himself a house in Constantinople. -Peter the Great issued a like order when he founded -St. Petersburg and opened a window looking on -Europe. The Emperor changed the destination of -the corn ships of Egypt from Rome to Constantinople, -established a lavish system of distributions of -wheat and oil and even of money and wine, and -created at the cost of the treasury an idle and corrupt -proletariate. He thus transported to his new -capital all the luxuries and vices of the old.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span> -<img src='images/i_pix.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER XIV</span><br />ARIUS AND ATHANASIUS</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>We have seen how, at the conclusion of the -Council of Nicæa, it looked as if the Church -had entered into her rest. The day of persecution -was over; Christianity had found in the Emperor -an ardent and impetuous champion; a creed had -been framed which seemed to establish upon a sure -foundation the deepest mysteries of the faith; heresy -not only lay under anathema, but had been reduced -to silence. Throughout the East—the West had -remained practically untroubled—the feeling was one -of confidence and joy. Constantine rejoiced as -though he had won a personal victory; his subjects, -we are told,<a id='r122' /><a href='#f122' class='c016'><sup>[122]</sup></a> thought the kingdom of Christ had -already begun. When Gregory, the Illuminator of -Armenia, met his son, Aristaces, returning from -Nicæa and heard from his lips the text of the new -creed, he at once exclaimed: “Yea, we glorify Him -who was before the ages, by adoring the Holy Trinity -and the one Godhead of the Father, and of the -Son and of the Holy Ghost, now and for ever, -through ages and ages.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>Moreover, the Emperor’s violent edicts against -the Arians, and the banishment of Eusebius and -Theognis, all indicated a settled and rooted conviction -which nothing could shake, while the death -of the Patriarch Alexander of Alexandria and the -election of Athanasius in his stead must have -strengthened enormously the Catholic party in -Egypt and, indeed, throughout the East. Alexander -had died within a few months of his return -from Nicæa, in the early part of 326. He is said, -when on his death-bed, to have foretold the elevation -of Athanasius and the trials which lay before -him. He had called for Athanasius—who at the -moment was away from Egypt—and another Athanasius, -who was present in the room, answered for the -absent one. The dying man, however, was not -deceived and said: “Athanasius, you think you -have escaped, but you will not; you cannot.” We -need not recount the stories which the malignity -of his enemies invented in order to cast discredit -upon Athanasius’ election. There is no reason to -doubt either its validity or its overwhelming popularity -in Alexandria, where, while the Egyptian -bishops were in session, the Catholics outside the -building kept up the unceasing cry: “Give us -Athanasius, the good, the holy, the ascetic.” The -election was not unanimous. Evidently some -thought the situation required a conciliatory demeanour -towards the beaten Arians. But that -was not the view of the majority, who, by choosing -Athanasius, set the best fighting man on -their side upon the throne of St. Mark. They -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>did wisely. Tolerance was not properly understood -in the fourth century.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The outward peace lasted little more than two -years. Unfortunately, we are almost entirely in the -dark as to what took place during that time, beyond -the certain fact of the recall of Arius, Eusebius, and -Theognis. Arius had been banished to Galatia; -then we read of the sentence being partially revoked, -and the only embargo placed upon his freedom -of movement was that he was forbidden to -return to Alexandria. Did this take place before -the recall of Eusebius and Theognis? Socrates -gives the text of a strange letter written by these -two prelates to the principal bishops of the Church, -in which they definitely say that, inasmuch as Arius -has been recalled from exile, they hope the bishops -will use their influence with the Emperor on their -behalf.</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“After closely studying the question of the Homoousion,” -they say, “we are wholly intent on preserving -peace and we have been seduced by no heresy. We subscribed -to the Creed, after suggesting what we thought -best for the Church, but we refused to sign the anathema, -not because we had any fault to find with the Creed, -but because we did not consider Arius to be what he -was represented as being. The letters we had received -from him and the discourses we had heard him deliver -compelled us to form a totally different estimate of -his character.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The authenticity of this letter has been sharply -called in question, for there is no other scrap of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>evidence confirming the statement that Arius was -recalled before Eusebius and Theognis—in itself a -most improbable step. Constantine had issued an -edict that any one concealing a copy of the writings -of Arius and not instantly handing it over to the -authorities to be burnt, should be put to death, and -it is much more probable that Arius was recalled -after, rather than before, Eusebius of Nicomedia. -The “History” of Socrates contains many letters of -doubtful authenticity and some which are, beyond -dispute, forgeries. Among the latter we may certainly -include the portentously long document in -which Constantine is represented as making a grossly -personal attack on the banished Arius. We will content -ourselves with quoting the most vituperative -passage:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Look! Look all of you! See what wretched cries -he utters, writhing in pain from the bite of the serpent’s -tooth! See how his veins and flesh are poison-tainted -and what agonised convulsions they excite! See how -his body is wasted away with disease and squalor, with -dirt and lamentation, with pallor and horror! See how -he is withered up with a thousand evils! See how -horrible to look upon is his filthy tangled head of hair; -how he is half dead from top to toe; how languid is the -aspect of his haggard, bloodless face; how madness, -fury, and vanity, swooping down upon him together, -have reduced him to what he is—a savage and wild -beast! He does not even recognise the horrible -situation he is in. ‘I am beside myself with joy’; he -says, ‘I dance and leap with glee; I fly; I am a happy -boy again.’”</p> - -</div> - -<div id='i288' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp288.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>ST. ATHANASIUS.<br /><span class='small'>FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM PRINT ROOM.</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>Assuredly this raving production never came -from the pen of Constantine, and it bears no resemblance -to his ordinary style. The resounding platitude -with which it opens, “An evil interpreter is -really the image and counterpart of the Devil,” -leads us confidently to acquit the Emperor of its -authorship and ascribe it to some anonymous and -unknown ecclesiastic desirous at once of edifying -and terrifying the faithful.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We can only surmise the circumstances which -worked upon the Emperor’s mind and caused his -complete change of front with respect to Arianism -and its exponents. Sozomen, indeed, attributes it -wholly to the influence of his sister, Constantia. -According to an Arian legend quoted by that -historian, it was revealed to the Princess in “a -vision from God” that it was the exiled bishops -who held the true orthodox doctrine and, therefore, -that they had been unjustly banished. She worked -upon the impressionable mind of her brother, and the -two bishops were recalled. When Constantine asked -whether they still held the Nicene doctrines to -which they had subscribed, they replied that they -had assented, not from conviction, but from the -fear lest the Emperor should be disgusted at the -dissensions among the Christians, and revert to paganism. -This curious story certainly tends to confirm -the tradition that it was Constantia who was -the court patroness of the Arians. She had been -for years Empress in the palace of Nicomedia, and -it is easy to suppose that the very able Bishop -of that city had established a strong ascendency -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>over her mind, long before the Arian controversy -arose.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The upshot of the whole matter—however the -change was brought about—was that in the year -329, the Arian and Eusebian party was paramount -at the Imperial Court. They had persuaded the -Emperor that theirs was the party of reason, and -that those who persisted in troubling the peace of -the Church by holding extreme views and seeking -to impose rigorous tests were the followers of the -new Patriarch of Alexandria. They had subscribed -to the Nicene Creed or to a Creed which—so they -persuaded the Emperor—was practically indistinguishable -from it, and they now plotted, with great -skill and adroitness, to undermine the position of -Athanasius. How they conducted the intrigue we -do not know, but it is significant that after the -break up of the Council of Nicæa we hear no more, -during Constantine’s lifetime, of his long-trusted -adviser Hosius, Bishop of Cordova. The dreadful -tragedies in the Imperial Family had taken place at -Rome in the summer of 326. It is possible that -Hosius made no secret of his horror at these -monstrous crimes and retired to his Spanish bishopric, -and that Eusebius of Nicomedia, when brought -into communication with Constantine, was not so -exacting in his demand for a show of penitence and -proved more skilful in allaying the Emperor’s -remorse. Be that as it may, as soon as Eusebius -felt assured of his position, he lost no time in prosecuting -a vigorous campaign against those who had -triumphed over him at Nicæa. The first blow was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>directed against Eustathius, the Bishop of Antioch, -who was charged with heresy, profligacy, and -tyranny by the two Eusebii and a number of other -bishops, then on their way to Jerusalem. Whether -the charges were well founded or not, the tribunal -was a prejudiced one and the sentence of deprivation -and banishment passed upon Eustathius -was bitterly resented in Antioch.</p> - -<p class='c001'>After certain other bishops had met with a like fate, -the Eusebii flew at higher game and attacked Athanasius. -They had already entered into an understanding -with the Meletian faction in Egypt, who -carefully kept alive the charges against Athanasius, -and now they again took up the cudgels on behalf -of Arius. Eusebius wrote to the Patriarch asking him -to restore Arius to communion on the ground that -he had been grievously misrepresented. Athanasius -bluntly refused. Arius, he said, had started a deadly -heresy: he had been anathematised by an Œcumenical -Council: how, then, could he be restored to -communion? Eusebius and Arius appealed to the -Emperor. Constantine, who had previously ordered -Arius to attend at court and promised him signal -proof of his regard and permission to return to Alexandria, -sent a peremptory message to Athanasius -bidding him admit Arius. When Athanasius, on the -score of conscience, returned a steady refusal, the -Emperor angrily threatened that, if he did not throw -open his church doors to all who desired to enter, he -would send an officer to turn him out of his church -and expel him from Alexandria. “Now that you -have full knowledge of my will,” he added, “see that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>you provide uninterrupted entry to all who wish to -enter the church. If I hear that you have prevented -any one from joining the services, or have shut the -doors in their faces, I will at once despatch some one -to deport you from Alexandria.” The threat did -not terrify Athanasius, who declared that there could -be no fellowship between heretics and true believers. -Nor was the Imperial officer sent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Then began an extraordinary campaign of calumny -against the Patriarch, who was accused of taxing -Egypt in order to buy a supply of linen garments, -called “sticharia,” for his church; of instigating one -Macarius to upset a communion table and break a -sacred chalice; of murdering a Meletian bishop -named Arsenius, who was presently found alive and -well; and of other crimes equally preposterous and -unfounded. It was the Meletian irreconcilables in -Egypt who brought these calumnies forward, but -Athanasius had no doubt that the moving spirit was -none other than Eusebius himself. And his enemies, -whoever they were, were untiring and implacable. -As soon as one calumny was refuted, they were -ready with another, and all this time there was -Eusebius at the Emperor’s side, continually suggesting -that with so much smoke there needs must be -some fire, and that Athanasius ought to be called -upon to clear himself, lest the scandal should do injury -to the Church. Constantine summoned a council -to try Athanasius in 333, and fixed the place of -meeting in Cæsarea,—a tolerably certain proof that -the two Eusebii were acting in concert. For some -reason not stated the bishops did not assemble until -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>the following year, and then Athanasius refused to -attend. Not until 335 did Athanasius stand before -his episcopal judges at Tyre.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Accompanied by some fifty of his suffragans, -Athanasius had made the journey, only to find himself -confronted by a packed council. All his bitterest -enemies were there; all the old unsubstantiated -charges were resuscitated. His election was said to -be uncanonical; he was charged with personal unchastity -and with cruelty towards certain Meletian -bishops and priests; and, most curious of all, the ancient -calumnies of “The Broken Chalice” and “The -Dead Man’s Hand” were revived and pressed, as -though they had never been confuted. With respect -to the latter charge, Athanasius enjoyed one -moment of signal triumph. After his accusers had -caused a thrill of horror to pass through the Council -by producing a blackened and withered hand, which -they declared to belong to the missing Bishop Arsenius, -who was supposed to have suffered foul play, -Athanasius asked whether any of those present had -known Arsenius personally. A number of bishops -claimed acquaintance, and then Athanasius gave the -signal for a man, who was standing by closely -muffled in a cloak, to come forward. “Lift up your -head!” said Athanasius. The unknown did so, and -lo! it was none other than Arsenius himself. Athanasius -drew aside the cloak, first from one hand and -then from the other. “Has God given to any man,” -he asked quietly, “more hands than two?” His -enemies were silenced, but only for the moment. -One of them, cleverer than the rest, immediately -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>exclaimed that this was mere sorcery and devil’s work; -the man was not Arsenius; in fact, he was not even -a man at all, but a mere counterfeit, an illusion of -the senses produced by Athanasius’ horrible proficiency -in the black art. And we are told that this -ingenious explanation proved so convincing to the -assembly, and created such a fury of resentment -against Athanasius, that Dionysius, the Imperial officer -who had been deputed by Constantine to represent -him at the Council, had to hurry Athanasius on -shipboard to save him from personal violence.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was clearly so little corroborative evidence -against Athanasius that the Council dared not convict -him. But, as they were equally determined not -to acquit him, they appointed a commission of enquiry -to collect testimony on the spot in the Mareotis -district of Egypt with respect to the story of -the Broken Chalice. The six commissioners were -chosen in secret session by the anti-Athanasian faction. -Athanasius protested without avail against -the selection: they were all, he said, his private enemies. -The commission sailed for Egypt, and Athanasius -determined, with characteristic boldness, to -go to Constantinople, confront the Emperor, and -appeal for justice and a fair trial at the fountainhead. -Athanasius met the Emperor as he was riding -into the city, and stood before him in his path. -What followed is best told by Constantine himself -in a letter which he wrote to the Bishop of Tyre.<a id='r123' /><a href='#f123' class='c016'><sup>[123]</sup></a> -Here are his own words:</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span></div> -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“As I was returning on horseback to the city which -bears my name, Athanasius, the Bishop, presented himself -so unexpectedly in the middle of the highway, with -certain individuals who accompanied him, that I felt exceedingly -surprised on beholding him. God, who sees -all, is my witness that at first I did not know who he was, -but some of my attendants, having ascertained this and -the subject of his complaint, gave me the necessary information. -I did not accord him an interview, but he -persevered in requesting an audience, and, although I -refused him and was on the point of ordering that he -should be removed from my presence, he told me, with -greater boldness than he had previously manifested, that -he sought no other favour of me than that I should summon -you hither, in order that he might, in your presence, -complain of the injustice that had been done to him.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Such boldness had the success it deserved. Constantine -evidently made enquires from Count Dionysius, -and, discovering that the Council at Tyre was -a mere travesty of justice, ordered the bishops to -come forthwith to Constantinople. But before these -instructions reached them they had received the report -of the Egyptian commissioners, and, on the -strength of it, had condemned Athanasius by a majority -of votes, recognised the Meletians as orthodox, -and, adjourning to Jerusalem for the dedication of -the new church, had there pronounced Arius to be -a true Catholic and in full communion with the -Church. The Emperor’s letter, which began with a -reference to the “tumults and disorders” which had -marked their sessions, was a plain intimation that -he disapproved of their proceedings, and only six -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>bishops, the two Eusebii and four others, travelled -up to Constantinople. Arrived there, they changed -their tactics, and recognising that the old charges -against Athanasius had fallen helplessly to the -ground, they invented another which was much -more likely to have weight with the Emperor. -They accused him of seeking to prevent the Alexandrian -corn ships from sailing to Constantinople. -Egypt was the granary of the new Rome as well as -of the old, and upon the regular arrival of the Egyptian -wheat cargoes the tranquillity of Constantinople -largely depended. Athanasius protested that he -had entertained no such designs. He was, he said, -simply a bishop of the Church, a poor man with no -political ambition or taste for intrigue. His enemies -retorted that he was not poor, but wealthy, and that -he had gained a dangerous ascendency over the turbulent -people of Alexandria. Constantine abruptly -ended the dispute by banishing Athanasius to Treves, -and the Patriarch had no choice but to obey. He -arrived at his city of exile in 336, and was received -with all honour by the Emperor’s son Constantine, -then installed in the Gallic capital as the Cæsar of -the West. This is tolerably certain proof that the -Emperor did not regard him as a very dangerous -political opponent, but banished him rather for the -sake of religious peace. Constantine was weary of -such interminable disputations and such intractable -disputants.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The exile of Athanasius was of course a signal -victory for the Eusebians and for Arius. With the -Patriarch of Alexandria thus safely out of the way, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>they might look forward with confidence to gaining -the entire court over to their side and still further -consolidating their position in the East. Arius -returned in triumph to Alexandria, where he had -not set foot for many years. But his presence was -the signal for renewed popular disturbance. The -Catholics remained faithful to their Bishop in exile—St. -Antony repeatedly wrote to Constantine, -praying for Athanasius’ recall—and Alexandria was -in tumult. Constantine refused to reconsider the -sentence of banishment on Athanasius, but he -checked the violence of the Meletian schismatics by -banishing John Arcaph from Alexandria, and he -hurriedly recalled Arius to Constantinople. The -heresiarch was summoned into the presence of the -Emperor, who by this time was once more uneasy -in his mind. Constantine asked him point blank -whether he held the Faith of the Catholic Church. -“Can I trust you?” he said; “are you really of the -true Faith?” Arius solemnly affirmed that he was -and recited his profession of belief. “Have you abjured -the errors you used to hold in Alexandria?” -continued the Emperor; “will you swear it before -God?” Arius took the required oath, and the Emperor -was satisfied. “Go,” said he, “and if your -Faith be not sound, may God punish you for your -perjury.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>This strange scene is described by Athanasius -himself, who had been told the details by an eyewitness, -a priest called Macarius. According to Socrates, -Arius subscribed the declaration of the Faith -in Constantine’s presence, and the historian goes on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>to recount the foolish legend that Arius wrote down -his real opinions on paper, which he carried under -his arm, and so could truly swear that he “held” the -sentiments he had written. Arius then demanded -to be admitted to communion with the Church at -Constantinople, as public testimony to his orthodoxy, -and the Patriarch Alexander was ordered to -receive him. Alexander was a feeble old man of -ninety-eight but he did not lack moral courage. -He told the Emperor that his conscience would not -allow him to offer the sacraments to one whom, in -spite of the recent declarations of the bishops at Jerusalem, -he still regarded as an arch-heretic. He -was not troubled, says Socrates,<a id='r124' /><a href='#f124' class='c016'><sup>[124]</sup></a> at the thought of -his own deposition; what he feared was the subversion -of the principles of the Faith, of which he -regarded himself as the constituted guardian. Locking -himself up within his church—the Church of St. -Eirene—he lay prostrate before the high altar and -remained there in earnest supplication for many days -and nights. And the burden of his prayer was that -if Arius’s opinions were right he (Alexander) might -not live to see him enter the church to receive the -sacrament, but that, if he himself held the true Faith, -Arius the impious might be punished for his impiety.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The aged Bishop was still calling upon Heaven to -judge between Arius and himself and declare the -truth by some manifest sign, when the time appointed -for Arius to be received into communion -was at hand. Arius was on his way to St. Eirene. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>He had quitted the palace—says Socrates—attended -by a crowd of Eusebian partisans, and was passing -through the centre of the city, the observed of all -observers.<a id='r125' /><a href='#f125' class='c016'><sup>[125]</sup></a> He was in high spirits—as well he -might be, for it was the hour of his supreme triumph. -Then the blow fell. As he drew near the Porphyry -Pillar in the Forum of Constantine he was suddenly -taken ill. There was a public lavatory close by and -he withdrew to it. When he did not return his -friends became alarmed. Entering the place, they -found him dead of a violent hæmorrhage, with bowels -protruding and burst asunder, like the traitor -Judas in the Field of Blood. One can imagine the -extraordinary sensation which the news must have -caused in Constantinople as it flew from mouth to -mouth. Not only the Patriarch Alexander, but all -the orthodox, attributed Arius’ sudden and awful end -to the direct interposition of Providence in answer -to their prayers. In an instant, we are told, the -churches were crowded with excited worshippers -and were ablaze with lights as for some happy -festival.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On the superstitious mind of the Emperor so -tragic a death naturally made a deep impression. -He was, says Athanasius, amazed. Doubtless he believed -that Arius had deceived him and that God -had answered his prayer to punish the perjurer. -The Eusebians were “greatly confounded.” Some -hinted at poison, others at magic; others were content -to look no further than natural causes. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>general verdict of antiquity, however, was almost -unanimous in ascribing the death of Arius to the -anger of an offended Deity. It is a view which still -finds adherents. Cardinal Newman, for example, -declares:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Under the circumstances a thoughtful mind cannot -but account this as one of those remarkable interpositions -of power by which Divine Providence urges on the -consciences of men in the natural course of things, what -their reason from the first acknowledges, that He is not -indifferent to human conduct. To say that these do not -fall within the ordinary course of His governance is -merely to say that they are judgments, which in the common -meaning of the word stand for events extraordinary -and unexpected.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>But that is a matter which need not be discussed -here. What is more important to our purpose is to -point out that the death of Arius does not seem to -have affected the state of religious parties at Constantinople. -It did not shake the position of Eusebius -of Nicomedia, who continued to enjoy the -confidence of the Emperor and to act as the -keeper of his conscience.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id007'> -<img src='images/i_p256.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span> -<img src='images/i_p301.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER XV</span><br />CONSTANTINE’S DEATH AND CHARACTER</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>It seems incontestable that Constantine degenerated -as he grew older. Certainly his popularity -tended to decrease. This, however, is the usual -penalty of length of reign, and in itself would not -count for much. But one cannot overlook the -cumulative evidence which is to be found in the -authorities of the period. Eusebius himself admits<a id='r126' /><a href='#f126' class='c016'><sup>[126]</sup></a> -that unscrupulous men often took advantage of the -piety and generosity of the Emperor, and many -of the stories which he tells in Constantine’s praise -prepare us for the charges which were brought -against him by the pagan historians. For example, -Eusebius declares that whenever the Emperor heard -a civil appeal, he used to make up out of his private -purse the amount in which the losing party was -mulcted, on the extraordinary principle that both -the winner and the loser ought to leave their sovereign’s -presence equally satisfied. Such a theory -would speedily beggar the richest treasury. Aurelius -Victor preserves a popular saying which shews the -general estimation in which Constantine’s memory -<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>was held. Men used to say that for the first ten -years of his reign he was a model sovereign (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>præstantissimus</i></span>), -for the next twelve he was a brigand -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>latro</i></span>), and for the last ten a spendthrift heir, so -called because of his preposterous extravagance -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>pupillus ob profusiones immodicas</i></span>). He was nicknamed -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Trachala</i></span>, the obvious reference of which -would be to his short, thick neck; but Aurelius -Victor appears to associate it in some way with the -meaning of “scoffer” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>irrisor</i></span>).</p> - -<div id='i302' class='figcenter id010'> -<img src='images/i_fp302.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><span class='large'>BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME.</span><br />FROM “ROME OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY,” BY JOHN DENNIE.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>In greater detail Zosimus<a id='r127' /><a href='#f127' class='c016'><sup>[127]</sup></a> accuses Constantine -of wasting the public money on useless buildings. -As a pagan, he would naturally regard expenditure -upon the construction of sumptuous Christian -churches as money thrown away, but it is perfectly -certain that the state of the Imperial resources did -not justify the Emperor in lavishing vast sums upon -churches in all parts of the Empire. If we consider -what must have been the capital cost of his churches -in Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, -Mamre, and Antioch,—to mention only a few places,—and -remember that he was constantly urging the -bishops to keep building and constantly sending instructions -to his vicars to make handsome subsidies -out of the State funds, we cannot but conclude that -the grumbling of the pagan tax payer was thoroughly -well justified. Constantine, indeed, seems to have -been as <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>entêté</cite></span> in the matter of building churches as -was in our day the mad King Ludwig of Bavaria in -the building of royal castles. Nor was this the only -form in which the passion for bricks and mortar—<span lang="it" xml:lang="it"><i>il -<span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>mal di pietra</i></span>—seized him. He built a new basilica -even in Rome—though he rarely set foot in the -city. In Constantinople he must have sunk millions -of unproductive capital, which were far more urgently -required for the development of agriculture and -commerce. In one epigrammatic sentence Zosimus -sums up his indictment by saying that Constantine -thought to gain distinction by lavish outlay.<a id='r128' /><a href='#f128' class='c016'><sup>[128]</sup></a> -He also wasted the public revenue on unworthy and -useless favourites,<a id='r129' /><a href='#f129' class='c016'><sup>[129]</sup></a> whom he taught, in the phrase of -Ammianus Marcellinus, to open their greedy jaws -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>fauces aperuit</i></span>). Zosimus says bluntly that in his -opinion it was Constantine who sowed the seeds of -the ruinous waste and destruction that prevailed -when he wrote his history, and he roundly declares -that the Emperor devoted his life to his own selfish -pleasures.<a id='r130' /><a href='#f130' class='c016'><sup>[130]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>There is another character sketch of Constantine -which has survived for us, drawn by an even more bitter -enemy than the historian Zosimus. It is to be -found in that amusing and extraordinary <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>jeu d’esprit</i></span> -which bears the name of <i>The Cæsars</i>, from the -pen of the Emperor Julian. Julian detested the -very memory of Constantine the Great, whom he -regarded as the arch-apostate from the ancient religion, -and, thus, when he introduced him into the -presence of the deities of Olympus, it was really to -pour ridicule and contempt upon his pretensions. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>Julian describes him, at the first mention of his -name, as a man who has seen considerable fighting, -but has become soft through self-indulgence and -luxury.<a id='r131' /><a href='#f131' class='c016'><sup>[131]</sup></a> The deities of heaven are represented as -sitting in conclave, while the deified Emperors approach -to join in their councils. Julian runs over -the list of the great Emperors, introducing them one -by one and making each sit by the side of the god -whom he most resembles in character. But when -Constantine’s turn comes, it is found that he has no -such archetype. No god will own him as his protégé -or pupil, and so, after some hesitation, Constantine -runs up to the Goddess of Luxury (Τρύφη), who embraces -him as her own darling, dresses him up in fine -clothes, and, when she has made him smart, hands -him over to her sister, the Goddess of Extravagance -(Ἀσώτια). The irony was bitter, and the shaft sped -home.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The ascetic Julian does not spare his august relative, -whose title to the epithet of “Great” he would -have laughed to scorn. He declares that Constantine’s -victories over the barbarians were victories -<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><i>pour rire</i></span>; he represents him as a crazy being in love -with the moon, like that half-witted Emperor of the -Claudian house, who used to stand at night in the -colonnades of his palace and beg the gracious -Queen of the Sky to come down to him as she had -come down to Endymion. Julian puts into his -mouth a grotesque speech in which he makes Constantine -claim to have been a greater general than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>Alexander because he fought with Romans, Germans, -and Scythians and not with mere Asiatics; -greater than Julius Cæsar or than Augustus because -he fought not with bad men but with good; -and greater even than Trajan, because it is a finer -thing to win back what you have lost than merely -to acquire something new. The speech was received -with ridicule by the gods, and then Hermes pointedly -asked Constantine in the Socratic manner, -“How would you define your ideal?” (τὶ καλὸν -ἐνόμισας;) “To have great riches,” was Constantine’s -reply, “and to be able to give away lavishly, -and satisfy all one’s own desires and those of one’s -friends.” The answer is significant. Julian, like -Constantine’s other critics, keeps harping on the -same string. It is the luxury, extravagance, and -self-indulgence of the Emperor that he singles out -as the most glaring defect of his character and his -squandering of the Imperial resources upon effeminate -and un-Roman pomps, useless buildings, and -greedy and unworthy favourites. Silenus, the bibulous -buffoon of Olympus, a moral rebuke from -whose lips would be received with shouts of laughter, -tells Constantine with mock gravity that he has led -a life fit only for a cook or a lady’s-maid (ὀψοποίος -καὶ κομμώτρια), and so the episode ends. We cannot -doubt that there was quite sufficient of truth in -these accusations to make the sharp-witted Greeks -of the Empire, for whom Julian principally wrote, -thoroughly enjoy his biting sarcasms.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But we must be careful not to push too far any -argument based upon this lampoon of Julian or -<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>upon the obvious bias of Zosimus. They disclose -to us, undoubtedly, the least worthy side of Constantine’s -character, viz., a tendency to effeminacy -and luxury, and it is morally certain that no one -who had given way to his worst passions, as Constantine -had done in Rome in the year 326, could -ever be quite the same man again. He had on his -conscience the assassination of his son and wife. -These were but two out of a terribly long list -of victims, which included his father-in-law, Maximian; -his brother-in-law, Licinius, and Licinius’s -young son, Licinianus; another brother-in-law, the -Cæsar Bassus; and many more besides. Some fell -for reasons of State—“it is only the winner,” as -Marcus Antonius had said three centuries before, -“who sees length of days”—but there was also the -memory, even in the case of some of these, of -broken promises and ill-kept faith. Constantine’s -Christianity was not of the kind which permeates -a man’s every action and influences his entire life; -or, if that be claimed for him, it must at least be -admitted that there were periods in his career when -he suffered most desperate lapses from grace.</p> - -<p class='c001'>On the whole perhaps the general statement of -Eutropius, which we have already quoted, that Constantine -degenerated somewhat (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>aliquantum mutavit</i></span>) -as he grew older, fairly meets the case. It is worth -while, indeed, to quote the reasoned estimate which -this excellent epitomist gives of the Emperor’s -character. He says<a id='r132' /><a href='#f132' class='c016'><sup>[132]</sup></a>:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“At the opening of his reign Constantine was a man -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>who challenged comparison with the best of Princes; at -its close he merited comparison with those of average -merit and demerit. Both mentally and physically his -good points were beyond computation and conspicuous -to all. He was passionately set on winning military -glory; and in his campaigns good fortune attended -him, though not more than his zealous industry deserved.... -He was devoted to the arts of peace -and to the humanities, and he sought to win from all -men their sincere affection by his generosity and his -tractability, never losing an opportunity of enriching -his friends and adding to their <a id='corr307.12'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='dignity.'>dignity.”</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_307.12'><ins class='correction' title='dignity.'>dignity.”</ins></a></span></p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>This estimate agrees in its main particulars with -that of Aurelius Victor, who, after speaking of his -wonderful good luck in war (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>mira bellorum felicitate</i></span>) -and his avidity for praise, eulogises his exceptional -versatility (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>commodissimus rebus multis</i></span>), his zeal -for literature and the arts, and the patient ear -which he was always ready to lend to any provincial -deputation or complaint.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We have spoken of a marked degeneracy observable -in Constantine as his life drew to a close. -Perhaps the clearest proof of this is to be found -in a momentous step taken by him in 335, when -he divided the sovereignty of the world among his -heirs. Such a partition meant the stultification of his -political career, for he thus destroyed at a blow the -political unity which he had so laboriously restored -out of the wreck of the system of Diocletian.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius gives us the truth in a single sentence -when he says that Constantine treated the Empire -for the purposes of this division as though he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>were apportioning his private patrimony among -members of his own family.<a id='r133' /><a href='#f133' class='c016'><sup>[133]</sup></a> He was much more -concerned to make handsome provision for his sons -and nephews than to secure the peace and well-being -of his subjects. Crispus had now been dead -nine years, and the three sons of Constantine and -Fausta were still young, the eldest being only just -twenty-one. Eusebius tells us how carefully they -had been trained. They had been instructed in -all martial exercises, and special professors had -been engaged to make them proficient in political -affairs and a knowledge of the laws. Their religious -education had been personally supervised by their -father, who zealously sowed “the seeds of godly -reverence” and impressed upon them that “a knowledge -of God, who is the king of all things, and -true piety were more deserving of honour than -riches or even than sovereignty itself.” Admirable -precepts and Eusebius declares again and again -that this “Trinity of Princes”—so he calls them -in one place—were models of deportment, modesty, -and piety. Unfortunately, we know how emphatically -their future careers belied their early promise -and the eulogies of the Bishop of Cæsarea. We do -not doubt his statement that Constantine spared no -effort to educate them aright, but it was most unfortunate -that the remarkable success of their father’s -political career bore testimony rather to the efficacy -of ambition without scruple than of “godly reverence -and true piety.”</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>In this new partition of the Empire the Cæsarship -of the West, including Gaul, Britain, and Spain, -fell to Constantine, the eldest of the three princes. -To the second, Constantius, were assigned the rich -provinces of the East, including the seaboard provinces -of Asia Minor, together with Syria and Egypt. -Constans, the youngest, received as his share Italy, -Illyria, and Africa. But there was still a goodly -heritage left over, sufficient to make a handsome -dowry for a favourite daughter. This was Constantina, -eldest of the three daughters of Constantine -and Fausta, and she had been married to her -half-cousin, Annibalianus, whose father had been -the second son of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora. -To support worthily the dignity of his new -position as son-in-law of Constantine, the new title -of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nobilissimus</i></span> was created in his honour, and a -kingdom was made for him out of the provinces of -Pontus, Cappadocia, and Lesser Armenia. Gibbon -expresses surprise that Annibalianus, “of the whole -series of Roman Princes in any age of the Empire,” -should have been the only one to bear the name of -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Rex</i></span>, and says that he can scarcely admit its accuracy -even on the joint authority of Imperial medals -and contemporary writers. The explanation is -surely to be found in the fact that Pontus, Cappadocia, -and Lesser Armenia had for centuries -been accustomed to be ruled by a king and that, -in creating a new kingdom, Constantine simply -retained the title which would be most familiar -to the subjects over whom Annibalianus was to -rule. Annibalianus was himself a second son: his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>elder brother, Dalmatius, was raised to the full title -of Cæsar and given command over the important -provinces of Thrace and Macedonia, with Greece -thrown in as a make-weight. The position was a -very important one, for it fell to the Cæsar of -Thrace to guard the frontier chiefly threatened by -the Goths, and we may suppose, therefore, with -some probability that Dalmatius—who had been -consul in 333—had given proof of military talent.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But to what extent, we may ask, was this a real -partition? In what sense were the Cæsars independent -of Constantine himself? Eusebius expressly -tells us<a id='r134' /><a href='#f134' class='c016'><sup>[134]</sup></a> that each was provided with a -complete establishment—βασιλικὴ παρασκευὴ,—with -a court, that is to say, which was in every -respect a miniature copy of the court at Constantinople. -Each had his own legions, bodyguards, -and auxiliaries, with their due complement of officers -chosen, we are told, by the Emperor for their -knowledge of war and for their loyalty to their -chiefs. It is hardly to be supposed that Constantine -contemplated retirement: had he done so, he -would have retired at the Tricennalia which he -celebrated in the following year. In all probability, -he did not intend that his supreme power should -be one whit abated, though he was content to delegate -his administrative authority to others acting -under his strict supervision. His Cæsars, in short, -were really viceroys, though it is difficult to understand -how such an arrangement can have worked -harmoniously without some modification of the powers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>of the four Prætorian præfects. But the division, -as we have said, was not made in the interests of the -Empire but in the interests of the Princes of the -Blood, and it was one which could not possibly -endure. As soon as Constantine died chaos and -civil war were bound to ensue, and, as a matter of -fact, did ensue. For there is no evidence that the -Emperor made any arrangement as to who should -succeed him on the throne. Constantinople itself -lay in the territory assigned to Dalmatius; yet it -was entirely unreasonable to suppose that the three -sons of Constantine would acquiesce in leaving the -capital to the quiet possession of their cousin. The -division of the Empire, therefore, in 335 carried -with it the early ripening seeds of civil war, bloodshed, -and anarchy. If the system of Diocletian -had proved unworkable, because it took no account -of the natural desire of a son to succeed his father, -the system of Constantine was even worse. It was -absolutely certain that of the five heirs the three -sons would combine against the two cousins, whom -they would regard as interlopers, and that then the -three brothers would quarrel among themselves, -until only one was left.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine’s reign was now hastening to its end. -In 336 he celebrated his Tricennalia, and his courtiers -would not fail to remind him that he alone, of -all the successors of the great Augustus, had borne -such length of days in his left hand and such glory -in his right. The principal event of the festival -seems to have been the dedication at Jerusalem of -the sumptuous Church of the Anastasis on the site -<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>of the Holy Sepulchre. As we have seen in another -chapter, the year was one of acute religious -contention, rendered specially memorable by the -awe-inspiring death of Arius, and the Emperor’s -last months of life must have been embittered by -the thought that, despite all his efforts, religious -unity within the Church seemed as far as ever from -realisation.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius tells us<a id='r135' /><a href='#f135' class='c016'><sup>[135]</sup></a> that Constantine sought to find -a remedy in the hot baths of Constantinople for the -disorder from which he was suffering, and then, -obtaining no relief, crossed the straits to Drepanum, -or Helenopolis, as it was now called in honour of the -Emperor’s mother. There his malady grew worse -and special prayers were offered for his recovery in -the Church of Lucian the Martyr.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But Constantine had a presentiment that the end -was near, and he determined, therefore, that the -time had come for him formally to become a -member of the Christian Church and so obtain -purification for the sins which he had committed in -life. Falling upon his knees on the church floor, -he confessed his sins, received the laying-on of -hands, and so became a catechumen. Then, travelling -down to the palace which stood on the outskirts -of Nicomedia, the now dying Emperor summoned -to his side a number of bishops and made confession -of his faith. He told them that the moment for -which he had thirsted and prayed had come at last, -the moment when he might receive “the seal which -confers immortality.” He had hoped, he said, to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>be baptised in Jordan: God had willed otherwise -and he bowed to His will. But he assured them -that his resolve was not due to any passing whim. -He had fully made up his mind, that even if recovery -were vouchsafed him, he would set before himself -such rules and conduct of life<a id='r136' /><a href='#f136' class='c016'><sup>[136]</sup></a> as would be becoming -to God.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius of Nicomedia then performed the rite -of baptism. Constantine, clad in garments of -shining white, lay upon a white bed, and, down -to the hour of his death, refused to touch the -purple robes he had worn in life. “Now,” he -exclaimed, with all the fervour of a neophyte, “now -I know in very truth that I am blessed; now I have -confidence that I am a partaker of divine light.” -When his captains came to take leave of him and -wept at the thought of losing their chief, he told -them that he had the assurance of having been found -worthy of eternal life, and that his only anxiety was -to hasten his journey to God. He wished to die, -and the wish was soon granted. Constantine drew -his last breath on May 22d, 337.</p> - -<p class='c001'>They bore the body, enclosed in a golden coffin -covered by a purple pall, from Nicomedia to Constantinople -and placed it with great pomp in the -throne room of the palace. There the dead Emperor -lay in state, guarded night and day by the -chief officers of the army and the highest officials of -the court. Even in death, says Eusebius, he still -was king, and all the elaborate bowings and genuflexions -with which men had entered his presence -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>in his lifetime were still observed. Constantine’s -illness had declared itself very suddenly, and had -run its course so quickly that not one of his sons -was at hand to take up the reins of administration. -It looks too as though the Emperor had made no -preparations with a view to his demise, but had left -his three sons and his two nephews to determine -among themselves who should be supreme. His -second son, Constantius, was the first to arrive -at Constantinople, and it was he who arranged -the obsequies of his father. We are told that the -Roman Senate earnestly desired the body of the -Emperor to be laid to rest in the old capital and -sent deputations begging that this last honour -should not be denied them. But it had been Constantine’s -express wish to be buried in the Church -of the Apostles, at Constantinople, where he had -prepared a splendid sarcophagus, and there can have -been no hesitation as to the choice of a resting-place. -The body was borne with an imposing military -pageant to the Church. Constantius was the chief -mourner, but he and his soldiers quitted the -sanctuary before a word of the burial-service was -spoken or a note of music sounded. He was not a -baptised Christian and, therefore, could not be -present as the last rites were performed. The great -Emperor was buried by the bishops, priests, and -Christian populace, whose zealous champion he had -been and to whose undying gratitude he had established -an overwhelming title. Coins were struck -bearing on one side the figure of the Emperor with -his head closely veiled, and, on the other, representing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>Constantine seated in a four-horse chariot, and -being drawn up to heaven by a celestial hand -stretched out to him from the clouds. It was a -device which could offend neither Christian nor -pagan. To the former it would recall the triumphant -ascent of Elijah; the latter would regard it -as the token of a natural apotheosis. The hand -might equally well be the hand of God or of -Jupiter.</p> - -<div id='i314' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/i_fp314.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND THEODOSIUS<br />THE GREAT.<br /><span class='small'>FROM GROSVENOR’S “CONSTANTINOPLE.”]</span></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Such is the story of the Emperor’s baptism, -death, and burial as recounted by Eusebius. There -is, however, one important detail to be added and -one important question to be asked. Constantine -was baptised by an Arian bishop. To the Athanasian -party and to the ecclesiastical historians of -succeeding ages this was a lamentable circumstance -which greatly exercised and troubled their minds. -It sorely grieved them to think that their patron -Constantine should have been admitted into the -communion of the faithful by the dangerous heretic -who had been the bitterest enemy of their idol, -Athanasius. But with a forbearance to which they -were usually strangers, they agreed to pass over the -episode in comparative silence and remember not -the shortcomings but the virtues of the first Christian -Emperor.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It still remains to be asked why Constantine did -not formally enter the Church until he was on his -death-bed. There had been no lukewarmness about -his Christianity. He was not one to be afflicted -with doubts. There had never been any danger of -his reverting to paganism. In the last few years, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>indeed, he had been distracted by the clamour of -Arians and Athanasians, and his was a mind upon -which a clever and acute ecclesiastic, who enjoyed -his confidence, could play at will. When Hosius of -Cordova stood by his side he was the champion of -the Catholic party; when Hosius fell from favour -and Eusebius of Nicomedia took his place Constantine -strongly inclined to the Arian side. But in -neither case was there any doubt of his Christianity. -Why then did he not become a member of the -Church? Was it because the rite of baptism -conferred immediate forgiveness of sin and therefore -a death-bed baptism infallibly opened the gate of -Heaven? By putting off entrance into the Church -until the hour had come after which it was hardly -possible to commit sin, did Constantine count upon -making sure of eternal happiness? Such is the -motive assigned by some historians. It certainly is -not a lofty one. Yet the idea may very well have -presented itself to Constantine’s mind and the -impression left by Eusebius’s narrative is that Constantine -only determined to receive the rite because -he felt his end to be near and dared not put it off -any longer. On the other hand, Constantine’s -statement that his ambition had been to be baptised -in Jordan is rather against this theory. Possibly, -too, he was to some degree influenced by the wish -not to alienate entirely the support of his pagan -subjects, especially the more fanatical of them, who -would bitterly resent their Chief Pontiff becoming a -baptised member of the Christian Church. No one -can say, but we shall be the better able to form an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>opinion if we look a little more closely at the -religious life and policy of Constantine.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Eusebius represents the daily life of the Emperor -on its religious side to have been almost that of a -monk or of a saint. Every day, we are told, he used -to retire for private meditation and prayer. He delighted -in delivering sermons and addresses to his -courtiers, Bible in hand. He would begin by exposing -the errors of polytheism and by proving the -superstition of the Gentiles to be a mere fraud and -cloak for impiety, and would then expound his -theory of the sole sovereignty of God, the workings -of Providence, and the sureness of the Judgment, invariably -concluding with his favourite moral that -God had given to him the sovereignty of the whole -world. Such a discourse could not possibly be short, -but Constantine liked his religious exercises long. -He once insisted on standing throughout the reading -of an elaborate disquisition by Eusebius himself, -who evidently tired of the exertion and begged that -the Emperor would not fatigue himself further. But -Constantine was resolved to hear it out, and the courtier -Bishop, while profoundly flattered at the compliment, -ruefully admitted that the thesis was very -long. Probably the courtiers found it interminable. -But it was their duty to listen, applaud, and appear -duly impressed when, for example, Constantine -traced on the ground the dimensions of a coffin, -and solemnly warned them against covetousness by -the reminder that six feet of earth was the utmost -they could hope to enjoy after death, and they might -not even get so much as that if burial were refused -<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>them or they were burnt or lost at sea. No one ever -accused Constantine of covetousness; his failing was -reckless extravagance, and we fear he is to be numbered -among those who</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c017'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Compound for sins they are inclined to</div> - <div class='line'>By damning those they have no mind to.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c018'>Constantine ordered all the bishops throughout -the Empire to offer up daily prayers for him; he had -coins struck at the Imperial mints which depicted -him with eyes uplifted to heaven, and he had pictures -of himself—probably in mosaic—set over the gates -of his palaces, in which he was seen standing erect -with hands in the attitude of prayer. For our part -we like better the chapters in which Eusebius describes -the Emperor’s open-handed generosity to the -poor and needy and to the orphan and the widow, -extols the kind-heartedness which was carried to such -a length as to raise the question whether such clemency -was not excessive, and claims that his most -distinctive and characteristic virtue was the love of -his fellow-men, his φιλανθρώπια, a virtue which the -typical Roman rarely developed to his full capacity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine’s whole career testified to the zeal -with which he had embraced Christianity. We have -seen the enthusiasm with which he set to work to -build churches throughout the Empire. In Rome -there are ascribed to him the Church of Saint Agnes, -the Church of St. John Lateran, and another which -stood on part of the site of the present St. Peter’s. -In Constantinople he built the Churches of the -Apostles, St. Eirene, and St. Sophia. In Jerusalem -<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>he built the Church of the Anastasis as the crowning -memorial of his thirty years of reign, and in Antioch, -Nicomedia, and a score of other cities his purse was -constantly at the service of the Faith. The building of -churches was a passion with him, and he also took care -that they were provided with the Scriptures. Eusebius<a id='r137' /><a href='#f137' class='c016'><sup>[137]</sup></a> -gives the text of a letter written to him by the -Emperor ordering fifty copies of the Scriptures to be -executed without delay. Constantine published an -edict commanding that the Lord’s day should be -scrupulously observed and honoured, and that every -facility should be given to Christian soldiers to enable -them to attend the services. Even his pagan soldiers -were to keep that day holy by offering up a prayer -to the “King of Heaven,” in which they addressed -him as the “Giver of Victory, their Preserver, Guardian, -and Helper.”</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>“Thee alone we know to be God; Thee alone we -recognise as King; Thee we invoke as Helper; from -Thee we have gained our victories; through Thee we -are superior to our enemies. To Thee we give thanks -for the benefits we now enjoy; from Thee we look for -our benefits to come. All of us are Thy suppliants: and -we pray that Thou wilt guard our King Constantine -and his pious sons long, long to reign over us in safety -and victory.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'>No pagan soldier could be offended at being -required to offer this prayer to the King of Heaven. -If he were sincere in his faith he would hope that -it might reach the throne of Jupiter; Constantine -<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>evidently expected that, as it was addressed to the -King of Heaven, it would be intercepted in midcourse -and wafted to the throne of God. He was -at any rate determined that no soldier of his, whether -pagan or Christian, should wear on his shield any other -sign than that of the Cross—“the salutary trophy.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>But what was Constantine’s policy towards the -old religion? Let us look first at the explicit statements -of Eusebius. He says in one place<a id='r138' /><a href='#f138' class='c016'><sup>[138]</sup></a> that -“the doors of idolatry were shut throughout the -whole Roman Empire for both laity and military -alike, and every form of sacrifice was forbidden.” -In another passage<a id='r139' /><a href='#f139' class='c016'><sup>[139]</sup></a> he says that edicts were issued -“forbidding sacrifice to idols, the mischievous -practice of divination, the putting up of wooden -images, the observance of secret rites, and the pollution -of cities by the sanguinary combats of gladiators.” -In a third passage<a id='r140' /><a href='#f140' class='c016'><sup>[140]</sup></a> he speaks of Constantine’s -having “utterly destroyed polytheism in all its -variety of foolishness.” Eusebius also tells us that -Constantine was careful to choose, whenever possible, -Christian governors for the provinces, while he -forbade those with Hellenistic, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>i. e.</i></span>, pagan, sympathies -to offer sacrifice. He also ordered that the -synodal decrees of bishops should not be interfered -with by the provincial authorities, for, adds Eusebius, -he considered a priest of God to be more entitled -to honour than a judge. The same authority expressly -states<a id='r141' /><a href='#f141' class='c016'><sup>[141]</sup></a> that Constantinople was kept perfectly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>free from idolatry in every shape and form, -and was never polluted with the blood or smoke -of sacrifice, and the general impression which he -leaves upon the reader’s mind is that paganism was -proscribed and the practice of the old religion declared -to be a crime.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is evident, however, that this was not the case. -Eusebius, as usual, supplies the corrective to his -own exaggerations. He quotes, for example, in full -the text of an edict which Constantine addressed to -the governors of the East, wherein it is unequivocally -laid down that complete religious freedom is -to be the standing rule throughout the Empire. -He beseeches all his subjects to become Christians, -but he will not compel them. “Let no one interfere -with his neighbour. Let each man do what his -soul desires.”<a id='r142' /><a href='#f142' class='c016'><sup>[142]</sup></a> This edict was issued after the overthrow -of Licinius and is remarkable chiefly for the -fervent profession of Christianity which the Emperor -makes in it. “I am most firmly convinced,” he -says, “that I owe to the most High God my whole -soul, my every breath, my most secret and inmost -thoughts.” And then he continues: “Therefore, I -have dedicated my soul to Thee, in pure blend of -love and fear.<a id='r143' /><a href='#f143' class='c016'><sup>[143]</sup></a> For I truly adore Thy name, while -I reverence Thy power which Thou hast manifested -by many proofs and made my faith the surer.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>But did Constantine maintain this attitude of strict -<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>neutrality, only tempered by ardent prayer that his -pagan subjects might be brought to a knowledge of -the truth? In its entirety he certainly did not, and -it was impossible that so zealous a convert should. -When the smiles of Imperial favour were withdrawn -from the old religion it was inevitable that the Imperial -arm which protected it should grow slack in -its defence. Yet, throughout his reign Constantine -never forgot that the majority of his subjects were -still pagan, despite the hosts of conversions which -followed his own, and he took care not to press too -hardly upon them and not to goad the more fanatical -upholders of the old régime to the recklessness of -despair. We have seen how the Emperor refused -to witness the procession of the Knights in Rome -at the time of his Vicennalia. He also forbade his -statue or image to be placed in a pagan temple. -But he, nevertheless, retained through life the office -of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Pontifex Maximus</i></span>, and as such continued to be -supreme head of the pagan religion. Nor was it -until the time of Gratian fifty years afterwards that -this title—no doubt in deference to the repeated -representations of the bishops—was dropped by -the Christian Emperors. Some historians have expressed -surprise that so enthusiastic a convert to -Christianity should have been willing to remain -Chief Pontiff; a few have even been genuinely concerned -to explain and excuse his conduct. But Constantine -was statesman as well as convert. If he -had resigned the Chief Pontificate that office might -conceivably have passed into dangerous hands. By -holding it as an absolute sinecure, by never performing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>its ceremonial duties or wearing its distinctive -robes, Constantine did far more to destroy -its influence than if he had resigned it. Imperial -titles, moreover, sometimes signify very little. -Every one knows the gibe of Voltaire at the Holy -Roman Empire which was neither holy, nor Roman, -nor an Empire. For centuries after the loss of -Calais the lilies of France were quartered on the -Royal arms of Great Britain, and the coins of our -Protestant monarch still bear the F. D. bestowed -by the Pope upon the eighth Henry. The King of -Portugal is still Lord of All the Indies. It is not -titles that count but actions. Whether or not Constantine’s -ecclesiastical friends were troubled by his -retaining the title, we may be sure the question -never troubled the Emperor himself, as the title -of “Supreme Head of the English Church” is -said to have troubled the scrupulous conscience of -James II. after he became a convert to Rome. But -in the latter case the practical advantages of retention -outweighed the shock to consistency in the -eyes of those whom James consulted.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Constantine helped forward the conversion of the -Empire with true statesmanlike caution, desirous -above all things to avoid political disturbance. He -abolished outright, we are told, certain of the more -offensive and degraded pagan rites, to which it was -possible to take grave exception on the score of -decency and morality. For example, some Phœnician -temples at Heliopolis and Aphaca, where the -worship of Venus was attended with shameless -prostitution, were ordered to be pulled down. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>same fate befell a temple of Æsculapius at Ægææ, -and a college of effeminate priests in Egypt, associated -with the worship of the Nile, was disbanded -and its members, according to Eusebius, were all put -to death. But these are the only specific examples -of repression instanced by Eusebius,<a id='r144' /><a href='#f144' class='c016'><sup>[144]</sup></a> and they -assuredly do not suggest any general proscription of -paganism. Eusebius is notoriously untrustworthy. -He distinctly says that Constantine determined to -purify his new capital of all idolatry, so that there -should not be found within its walls either statue or -altar of any false god. Yet we know that the philosopher -Sopater was present at the ceremony of -dedication and that he enjoyed for a time the high -favour of the Emperor, though he was subsequently -put to death on the accusation of the præfect Ablavius, -who charged him with delaying the arrival -of the Egyptian corn ships by his magical arts. We -know too that there were temples of Cybele and -Fortuna in the city, and Zosimus expressly declares -that the Emperor constructed a temple and precincts -for the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. At Rome the -temple of Concord was rebuilt towards the close of -his reign, and inscriptions shew that the consuls of -the year still dedicated without hindrance altars to -their favourite deities. The famous altar of Victory, -around which a furious controversy was to rage in -the reign of Valentinian, at the close of the fourth -century, still stood in the Roman Curia, and in the -two great centres of Eastern Christianity, Antioch -and Alexandria, the worship of Apollo and Serapis -<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>continued without intermission in their world-renowned -temples.</p> - -<div id='i324a' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp324a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>COPPER DENARIUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.<br />SHOWING THE LABARUM.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i324b' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp324b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II.<br />WITH THE LABARUM.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i324c' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp324c.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF DIOCLETIAN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i324d' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp324d.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIAN.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>No doubt in districts where the Christians were -in a marked majority and paganism found only -lukewarm adherents, there was occasional violence -shewn to the old temples and statues, especially -if the governor happened to be a Christian. Ornaments -might be stolen, treasures ransacked, and probably -few questions were asked. Christianity had -been persecuted so long and so savagely that when -the day of revenge came, the temptation was too -strong for human frailty to resist, and as long as there -was no serious civil disturbance the authorities probably -made light of the occurrence. Paganism was a -dying creed; where it had to struggle hard to keep -its head above water, the end was not long delayed. -The case would be different where the temples were -possessed of great wealth and where there were -powerful priestly corporations to defend their -vested interests. There can be no greater mistake -than to suppose that Constantine declared war on -the old religion. He did nothing of the kind. -When he showered favours on the Christian clergy, -what he did in effect was merely to raise them to -the same status as that already enjoyed by the -pagan priesthood. He did not take away the privileges -of the colleges: and inscriptions have been -found which tend to shew that, he allowed new colleges -to be founded which bore his name. In short, -to the old State-established and State-endowed religion -he added another, that of Christianity, reserving -his special favour for the new but not actively -<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>repressing the ancient. He had hoped to convert -the world by his own example; but, though he failed -in this, he never contemplated a resort to violence. -His religious policy, throughout his reign, may fairly -be described as one of toleration. That is what -Symmachus meant when he said, half a century -later, that Constantine had belonged to both religions.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was one exception to this rule. Constantine -came down with a heavy hand on secret divination -and the practice of magic and the black arts. -But other Emperors before him had done the same, -Emperors whose loyalty to the Roman religion had -never been questioned—for these mysterious rites -formed no part of the established worship. They -might be employed to the harm of the State; they -might portend danger to the Emperor’s life and -throne. It was not for private individuals to experiment -with and let loose the powers of darkness, for, as -a rule, beneficent deities had no part or lot in these -dark mysteries. As a Christian, Constantine would -have a double satisfaction in issuing edicts against -the wonder-working charlatans who abounded in the -great cities; but the point is that in attacking -them he was not technically attacking the old State -religion. The public and official haruspices were -not interfered with; if any devout pagan still desired -to consult an oracle, no obstacle was placed in -his way; and, as a tribute to the universal superstition -of the age from which he himself was not free, -even private divination was permitted when the object -was a good one, such as the restoration of a sick -<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>person to health or the protection of crops against -hail. But it is evident that Constantine and his -bishops were far more apprehensive of evil from the -unchaining of the Devil than expectant of good from -the favour of the ministers of grace. They were -terrified of the one: they indulged but a pious hope -of the other. Nor was the Emperor successful in -stamping out the private thaumaturgist. Human -nature was too strong for him. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Sileat perpetuo divinandi -curiositas</i></span>, ordered one of his successors in -358. But the curiosity to divine the future continued -to defy both civil and ecclesiastical law.</p> - -<p class='c001'>A much bolder act, however, than the closing of a -few temples on the score of public decency or the -forbidding of private divination was the edict of 325, -in which Constantine ordered the abolition of the -gladiatorial shows. “Such blood-stained spectacles,” -he said, “in the midst of civil peace and domestic -quiet are repugnant to our taste.” He -ordained, therefore, that in future all criminals who -were usually condemned to be gladiators should be -sent to work in the mines, that they might expiate -their offences without shedding of blood. But it -was one thing to issue an edict and another to -enforce it. Whether Constantine insisted on the -observance of this particular edict, we cannot say, -but his successors certainly did not, for the gladiatorial -spectacles at Rome were in full swing in the -days of Symmachus, who ransacked the world for -good swordsmen and strange animals. The “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>cruenta -spectacula</i></span>” as Constantine called them, were not -finally abolished until the reign of Honorius.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>To sum up. The only reasonable view to take of -the religious character of Constantine is that he was -a sincere and convinced Christian. This is borne -out alike by his passionate professions of faith and -by the clear testimony of his actions. There are, it -is true, many historians who hold that he was really -indifferent to religion, and others who credit him -with an easy capacity for finding truth in all religions -alike. Professor Bury, for example, says that “the -evidence seems to shew that his religion was a -syncretistic monotheism; that he was content to see -the deity in the Sun, in Mithras, or in the God of -the Hebrews.” Such a description would suit the -character of Constantius Chlorus perfectly, and -it may very well have suited Constantine himself -before the overthrow of Maxentius. There is a -passage in the Ninth Panegyric which seems to have -been uttered by one holding these views, and it is -worth quotation, for it is an invocation to the supreme -deity to bless the Emperor Constantine. It -runs as follows:</p> - -<div class='quote'> - -<p class='c001'>Wherefore we pray and beseech thee to keep our -Prince safe for all eternity, thee, the supreme creator of -all things, whose names are as manifold as it has been -thy will that nations should have tongues. We cannot -tell by what title it is thy pleasure that we should address -thee, whether thou art a divine force and mind permeating -the whole world and mingled with all the elements, -and moving of thine own motive power without impulse -from without, or whether thou art some Power above all -Heaven who lookest down upon this thy handiwork from -some loftier arch of Nature.</p> - -</div> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>Such a deity may have satisfied the philosophers, -but it certainly was not the deity whom Constantine -worshipped throughout his reign. Had he been indifferent -to religion, or indifferent to Christianity, -had he even been anxious only to hold the balance -between the rival creeds, he would never have surrounded -himself by episcopal advisers; never have -set his hand to such edicts as those we have quoted; -never have abolished the use of the cross for the -execution of criminals or have forbidden Jews to -own Christian slaves; never have called the whole -world time and again to witness his zeal for Christ; -never have lavished the resources of the Empire -upon the building of sumptuous churches; never -have listened with such extraordinary forbearance -to the wranglings of the Donatists and the subtleties -of Arians and Athanasians; never have summoned -or presided at the Council of Nicæa; and certainly -never have made the welfare of non-Roman Christians -the subject of entreaty with the King of Persia. -Constantine was prone to superstition. He was -grossly material in his religious views, and his own -worldly success remained still in his eyes the crowning -proof of the Christian verities. But the sincerity -of his convictions is none the less apparent, and -even the atrocious crimes with which he sullied his -fair fame cannot rob him of the name of Christian. -It was a name, says St. Augustine,<a id='r145' /><a href='#f145' class='c016'><sup>[145]</sup></a> in which he -manifestly delighted to boast, mindful of the hope -which he reposed in Christ (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Plane Christiano nomine -gloriosus, memor spei quam gerebat in Christo</i></span>).</p> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span> -<img src='images/i_p320.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'><span class='xlarge'>CHAPTER XVI</span><br />THE EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>The reorganisation of the Empire, begun by Diocletian, -had been continued along the same -lines by Constantine the Great. There were still -further developments under their successors, but -these two were the real founders of the Imperial -system which was to subsist in the eastern half of -the Empire for more than eleven hundred years. -In other words, Diocletian and Constantine gave the -Empire, if not a new lease of life, at least a new impetus -and a new start, and we may here present a -brief sketch of the reforms which they introduced -into practically every sphere of governmental activity.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We have already seen how profoundly changed -was the position of the Emperor himself. He was -no longer essentially a Roman Imperator, a supreme -War-Lord, a soldier Chief of State. He had become -a King in a palace, secluded from the gaze of the -vulgar, surrounded with all the attributes and ornaments -of an eastern monarch, and robed in gorgeous -vestments stiff with gold and jewels. Men were -taught to speak and think of him as superhuman -and sacrosanct, to approach him with genuflexion -<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>and adoration, to regard every office, however -menial, attached to his person, as sacred. In speaking -of the Emperor language was strained to the -pitch of the ridiculous; flattery became so grotesque -that it must have ceased to flatter. When Nazarius, -for example, speaks of the Emperor’s heart as “the -stupendous shrine of mighty virtues” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ingentium -virtutum stupenda penetralia</i></span>), and such language as -this became the recognised mode of addressing the -reigning Sovereign, we see how far we have travelled -not only from Republican simplicity, but even from -the times of Domitian. The Emperor, in brief, was -absolute monarch, autocrat of the entire Roman -world, and his will and nod were law.</p> - -<p class='c001'>He stood at the head of a hierarchy of court and -administrative officials, most minutely organised -from the highest to the lowest. For purposes of -Imperial administration, those next to the throne -were the four Prætorian præfects, each one supreme, -under the Emperor, in his quarter of the world. -The Empire had been divided by Diocletian into -twelve dioceses and these again into ninety-six -provinces; Constantine accepted this division but -apportioned the twelve dioceses into four præfectures, -those of the Orient, Illyria, Italy, and Gaul. -The four Prætorian præfects stood in relation to the -Emperor—so Eusebius tells us—as God the Son -stood in relation to God the Father. They wore—though -not perhaps in the days of Constantine—robes -of purple reaching to the knee; they rode in -lofty chariots, and among the insignia of their office -were a colossal silver inkstand and gold pen-cases of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>a hundred pounds in weight. Their functions were -practically unlimited, save for the all-important exception -that they exercised no military command. They -had an exchequer of their own, through which passed -all the Imperial taxes from their provinces; they had -absolute control over the vicars of the dioceses beneath -them, whom, if they did not actually appoint -they at least recommended for appointment to the -Emperor. In their own præfectures they formed -the final court of appeal, and Constantine expressly -enacted that there should be no appeal from them -to the throne. They even had a limited power of -issuing edicts. Thus in all administrative, financial, -and judicial matters the four Prætorian præfects were -supreme, occupying a position very similar to that -of the Viceroys of the great provinces of China, save -that they had no control over the troops within their -territories.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Below these four præfects came the vicars of the -twelve dioceses of the Oriens, Pontica, Asiana, Thracia, -Mœsia, Pannonia, Britanniæ, Galliæ, Viennenses, -Italia, Hispaniæ, and Africa. Egypt continued to -hold an unique position; its governor was almost -independent of the præfect of the Orient, and was -always a direct nominee of the Emperor. Then, -below the twelve vicars came the governors of the -provinces, the number of which constantly tended -to increase, but by further subdivision rather than -by conquest of new territory. Various names were -given to these governors; they were <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>rectores</i></span> and <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>correctores</i></span> -in some provinces, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>præsides</i></span> in many more, -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>consulares</i></span> in a few of the more important ones, such -<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>as Africa and Italia. Each had his own entourage -of minor officials, and the hierarchical principle was -observed as rigidly on the lowest rungs of the ladder -as on the topmost. Autocrats are obliged to rule -through a bureaucracy, a broad-based pyramid of -officialdom which usually weighs heavily upon the -unfortunate taxpayer who has to support the entire -structure.</p> - -<div id='i332a' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp332a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>AUREUS OF CARAUSIUS.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i332b' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp332b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>AUREUS OF ALLECTUS.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i332c' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp332c.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF HELENA.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i332d' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp332d.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF GALERIUS.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i332e' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp332e.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF SEVERUS II.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>A similar hierarchy of officials prevailed in the -palace and the court, from the grand chamberlain -down through a host of Imperial secretaries to the -head scullion. The tendency of each was to magnify -his office into a department, and to be the master of -a set of underlings. And it was the policy of Constantine, -as it had been the policy of Augustus, to -invent new offices in order to increase the number -of officials who looked to the Emperor as their -benefactor.<a id='r146' /><a href='#f146' class='c016'><sup>[146]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c001'>In the conduct of State affairs the Emperor was -assisted by an Imperial council, known as the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>consistorium -principis</i></span>. It included the four Prætorian -præfects of whom we have spoken; the quæstor of -the palace, a kind of general secretary of state; the -master of the offices (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>magister officiorum</i></span>), one of -whose principal duties was to act as minister of police; -the grand chamberlain (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>præpositus sacri cubiculi</i></span>); -two ministers of finance, and two ministers for war. -One of the finance ministers was dignified with the -title of count of the sacred largesses (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>comes sacrarum -largitionum</i></span>); the other was count of the private -<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>purse (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>comes rerum privatarum</i></span>). The distinction -was similar to the old one between the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ærarium</i></span> and -the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>fiscus</i></span>, between, that is to say, the State treasury -and the Emperor’s privy purse. One of the two -ministers for war had supreme charge of the infantry -of the Empire; the other was responsible for the -cavalry. Both also exercised judicial functions and sat -as a court of appeal in all military cases wherein the -State was interested, either as plaintiff or defendant.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There were still consuls in Rome, who continued -to give their names to the year. All their political -power had vanished, but their dignity remained unimpaired, -though it was now derived not from the -intrinsic importance of their office so much as from -its extrinsic ornaments. To be consul had become -the ambition not of the boldest but of the vainest. -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>In consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur.</i></span>) The prætorship -had similarly fallen, but it still entailed upon -the holder the expensive and sometimes ruinous -privilege of providing shows for the amusement of -the Roman populace. The number of prætors had -fallen to two in Constantine’s day: he raised it to -eight, in accordance with his general regardlessness -of expense, so long as there was outward magnificence. -It is doubtful whether, during the reign of -Constantine, there were consuls and prætors in Constantinople. -Certainly there was no urban præfect -appointed in that city until twenty years after his -death, and it seems probable that the Emperor did -not set up in his new capital quite such a pedantically -perfect imitation of the official machinery of Rome -as has sometimes been supposed. His successors, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>however, were not long in completing what he had -begun.</p> - -<p class='c001'>We pass to the senate and the senatorial order, -with their various degrees of dignity, which Constantine -and those who came after him delighted to -elaborate. Every member of the senate was naturally -a member of the senatorial order, but it by no -means followed that every member of the order had -a seat in the senate. The new senate of Constantinople, -like its prototype at Rome, had little or no -political power. It merely registered the decrees of -the Emperor, and its function seems to have been -one principally of dignity and ceremony. Membership -of the senatorial order was a social distinction -that might be held by a man living in any part of the -Empire and was gained by virtue of having held -office. The order was an aristocracy of officials and -ex-officials, distinguished by resplendent titles, involving -additional burdens in the way of taxation—the -price of added dignity. A few of these titles are -worth brief consideration. To the Emperor there -were reserved the grandiloquent names of Your Majesty, -Your Eternity, Your Divinity. Members of -the reigning house were Most Noble (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nobilissimi</i></span>). -To the members of the senate, including the officials -of the very highest rank, viz., the consuls, proconsuls, -and præfects, there was reserved the title of Most -Distinguished (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Clarissimi</i></span>), while officers of lower -rank, members of the senatorial order but not of the -senate, were Most Perfect (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Perfectissimi</i></span>) and Egregious -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Egregii</i></span>), the former being of a higher class -than the latter. Such was the order of precedence -<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>in Constantine’s reign, but there was a constant tendency -for these honourable orders to expand, due, -no doubt, entirely to the exigencies of the treasury. -Thus the high rank of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Clarissimi</i></span> was bestowed on -those who previously had been only <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Perfectissimi</i></span> -and <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Egregii</i></span>, and two still higher orders of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Illustres</i></span> -and <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Spectabiles</i></span> were created for the old <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Clarissimi</i></span> -and <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Perfectissimi</i></span>. The two topmost classes -were thus given an upward step.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Such was the new official aristocracy, while a rigid -line of division, quite unknown to Republican and -early Imperial Rome, was drawn between the civil and -the military officers of the Empire. The military -forces themselves were organised into two great divisions, -(1) the troops kept permanently upon the -frontiers, and (2) the soldiers of the line. The first -were known as <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Limitanei</i></span> (Borderers) or <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Riparienses</i></span> -(Guardians of the Shore), the second name being -specially applied to the soldiers of the Rhine and -the Danube. All these troops were stationed in permanent -camps and forts, which often developed into -townships, and it was a rare thing for a legion to be -moved to another quarter of the Empire. Boys -grew up and followed their fathers in the profession -of arms in the same camp, and were themselves succeeded -by their own sons. The term of service was -twenty-four years, and these <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Limitanei</i></span> were not only -soldiers but tillers of the soil, playing a part precisely -similar to the soldier colonists of Russia in her Far -Eastern provinces. The soldiers of the line (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Numeri</i></span>), -on the other hand, served for the shorter period of -twenty years. They included the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Palatini</i></span>,—practically -<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>the successors of the old Prætorian Guard,—the -crack corps of the army, who were divided into -regiments bearing such titles as <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Scholares</i></span>, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Protectores</i></span>, -and <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Domestici</i></span>, and enjoyed the privilege of guarding -the Emperor’s person. Most of the legions of the -line were known as the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Comitatenses</i></span>. These were -employed in the interior garrisons of the Empire, -and Zosimus—whether justly or not, it is impossible -to say—accuses Constantine of having dangerously -weakened the frontier garrisons and withdrawn too -many troops into the interior. The control of the -army, under the Emperor and his two ministers for -war, was vested by the end of the fourth century in -thirty-five commanders bearing the titles of dukes and -counts,—the latter being the higher of the two. -Three of these were stationed in Britain, six in Gaul, -one each in Spain and Italy, four in Africa, three in -Egypt, eight in Asia and Syria, and nine along the -upper and lower reaches of the Danube.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Such was the structure which rested upon the purse -of the taxpayer and upon a system of finance inherently -vicious and wasteful. The main support of -the treasury was still, as it had always been, the land -tax, known as the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>capitatio terrena</i></span>, the old <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>tributum -soli</i></span>. It was the landed proprietor (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>possessor</i></span>) who -found the wherewithal to keep the Empire on its -feet. Diocletian had reorganised the census, and, in -the interests of the treasury, had caused a new survey -and inventory to be made of practically every acre -of land in every province. By an ingenious device -he had established a system of taxable units (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>jugum</i></span> -or <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>caput</i></span>), each of which paid the round sum of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>100,000 sesterces or 1000 aurei. The unit might be -made up of all sorts of land—arable, pasture, or forest—the -value of each being estimated on a regular -scale. Thus five acres of vineyard constituted a unit -and were held to be equivalent to twenty acres of the -best arable land, forty acres of second-class land, and -sixty of third-class. Nothing escaped: even the roughest -woodland or moorland was assessed at the rate of -four hundred and fifty acres to the unit. The Emperor -and his finance ministers estimated every year -how much was required for the current expenses of -the Empire. When the amount was fixed, they sent -word throughout the provinces, and the various -municipal curiæ, or town senates, knew what their -share would be, for each town and district was assessed -at so many thousand units, and each curia or -senate was responsible for the money being raised. -The curia was composed of a number of the richest -landowners, who had to collect the tax from themselves -and their neighbours as best they could. If, -therefore, any <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>possessor</i></span> became bankrupt, the others -had to make up the shortage between them. Those -who were solvent had to pay for the insolvent. All -loopholes of evasion were carefully closed. Landowners -were not permitted to quit their district -without special leave from the governor; they could -not join the army or enter the civil service. When -it was found that large numbers were becoming -ordained in the Christian Church to escape their -obligations, an edict was issued forbidding it. Once -a decurion always a decurion.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The provincial country landowner and the small -<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>farmer were almost taxed out of existence by this -monstrous system. Every ten or fifteen years, it is -true, a revision of the assessments took place, and -there were certain officials, with the significant name -of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>defensores</i></span>, whose duty it was to prevent the provincials -from being fleeced too flagrantly. But a -man might easily be reduced to beggary by a succession -of bad harvests before the year of revision -came round, and the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>defensor’s</i></span> office was a sinecure -except in the rare occasions when he knew that he -would be backed at the headquarters of the diocese. -During Constantine’s reign, or at least during its -closing years, there is overpowering evidence that -the provincial governors were allowed to plunder at -discretion. They imitated the reckless prodigality -of their sovereign, who, in 331, was compelled to issue -an edict to restrain the peculation of his officers. -There is a very striking phrase in Ammianus Marcellinus -who says that while Constantine started the -practice of opening the greedy jaws of his favourites, -his son, Constantius, fattened them up on the very -marrow of the provinces.<a id='r147' /><a href='#f147' class='c016'><sup>[147]</sup></a> Evidently, the incidence -of this land tax inflicted great hardships and -had the mischievous result of draining the province -of capital, and of dragging down to ruin the independent -cultivator of the land. Hence districts -were constantly in arrears of payment, and the remission -of outstanding debt to the treasury was -usually the first step taken by an Emperor to court -popularity with his subjects.</p> - -<p class='c001'><span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>In short, the fiscal system of the Empire, so far as -its most important item, the land tax, was concerned, -seemed expressly designed to exhaust the wealth of -the provinces. It helped to introduce a system of -caste, which became more rigid and cramping as the -years passed by and the necessities of the treasury -became more urgent. It also powerfully contributed -to crush out of existence the yeoman farmer, whose -insolvency was followed, if not by slavery, at any -rate by a serfdom which just as effectually robbed -him of freedom of movement. The <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>colonus</i></span> having -lost the title-deeds of his own land became the hireling -of another, paying in kind a fixed proportion of -his stock and crops, and obliged to give personal service -for so many days on that part of the estate -where his master resided. The position of the poor -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>colonus</i></span>, in fact, became precisely similar to that of -a slave who had not obtained full freedom but -had reached the intermediate state of serfdom, in -which he was permanently attached to a certain -estate as, so to speak, part of the fixtures. He -was said to be “ascribed to the land” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ascripticius</i></span>), -and he had no opportunity of bettering his social -position or enabling his sons to better theirs, unless -they were recruited for the legions.</p> - -<div id='i340a' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp340a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIN DAZA.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i340b' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp340b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS I.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i340c' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp340c.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS II.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i340d' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp340d.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The land tax, of course, was not the only one, for -the theory of Imperial finance was that everybody -and everything should pay. Constantine did not -spare his new aristocracy. Every member of the -senatorial order paid a property tax known as “the -senatorial purse” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>follis senatoria</i></span>), and another imposition -bearing the name of <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>aurum oblaticium</i></span>, which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>was none the more palatable because it was supposed -to be a voluntary offering. Any senator, -moreover, might be summoned to the capital to -serve as prætor and provide a costly entertainment—a -convenient weapon in the hands of -autocracy to clip the wings of an obnoxious ex-official. -Another ostensibly voluntary contribution -to the Emperor was the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>aurum coronarium</i></span>, or its -equivalent of a thousand or two thousand pieces -of gold, which each city of importance was obliged -to offer to the sovereign on festival occasions, such -as the celebration of five or ten complete years of -rule. Every five years, also, there was a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>lustralis -collatio</i></span> to be paid by all shopkeepers and usurers, -according to their means. This was usually spoken -of as “the gold-silver” (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>chrysargyrum</i></span>), and, like -“the senatorial purse,” is said by some authorities -to have been the invention of Constantine himself. -Zosimus, in a very bitter attack on the fiscal measures -of the Emperor, declares that even the courtesans -and the beggars were not exempt from the -extortion of the treasury officials, and that whenever -the tribute had to be paid, nothing was heard -but groaning and lamentation. The scourge was -brought into play for the persuasion of reluctant taxpayers; -women were driven to sell their sons, and -fathers their daughters. Then there were the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>capitatio -humana</i></span>, a sort of poll-tax on all labourers; the -old five per cent. succession duty; an elaborate system -of octroi (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>portoria</i></span>), and many other indirect -taxes. We need not, perhaps, believe the very worst -pictures of human misery drawn by the historians, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>for, in fairness to the Emperors, we must take some -note of the roseate accounts of the official rhetoricians. -Nazarius, for example, explicitly declares -that Constantine had given the Empire “peace -abroad, prosperity at home, abundant harvests, and -cheap food.”<a id='r148' /><a href='#f148' class='c016'><sup>[148]</sup></a> Eusebius again and again conjures up -a vision of prosperous and contented peoples, living -not in fear of the tax-collector, but in the enjoyment -of their sovereign’s bounty. But we fear that the -sombre view is nearer the truth than the radiant one, -and that the subsequent financial ruin, which overtook -the western even more than the eastern provinces, -was largely due to the oppressive and wasteful -fiscal system introduced and developed by Diocletian -and Constantine, and to the old standing -defect of Roman administration, that the civil governor -was also the judge, and thus administrative -and judicial functions were combined in the same -hands.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Here, indeed, lay one of the strongest elements of -disintegration in the reorganised Empire, but there -were other powerful solvents at work, at which we -may briefly glance. One was slavery, the evil results -of which had been steadily accumulating for -centuries, and if these were mitigated to some extent -by the increasing scarcity of slaves, the degradation -of the poor freeman to the position of a <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>colonus</i></span> -more than counterbalanced the resultant good. -Population, so far from increasing, was going back, -and, in order to fill the gaps, the authorities had recourse -<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>to the dangerous expedient of inviting in the -barbarian. The land was starving for want of capital -and labour, and the barbarian <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>colonus</i></span> was introduced, -as we have seen in an earlier chapter, not, if -the authorities are to be trusted, by tens, but by -hundreds of thousands, “to lighten the tribute by -the fruits of his toil and to relieve the Roman citizens -of military service.” This was the principal -and certainly the original reason why recourse was -had to the barbarian; the idea that the German or -the Goth was less dangerous inside than outside the -frontier, and would help to bear the brunt of the -pressure from his kinsmen, came later. The result, -however, of importing a strong Germanic and Gothic -element into the Empire was one of active disintegration. -Though they occupied but a humble position -industrially, as tillers of the soil, they formed -the best troops in the Imperial armies. The boast -which Tacitus put into the mouth of a Gallic soldier -in the first century, that the alien trooper was -the backbone of the Roman army,<a id='r149' /><a href='#f149' class='c016'><sup>[149]</sup></a> was now an undoubted -truth, and the spirit which these strangers -brought with them was that of freedom, quite antagonistic -to the absolutism of the Empire.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was yet another great solvent at work,—in -its cumulative effects the greatest of them all,—the -solvent of Christianity, dissociating, as it did, spiritual -from temporal authority, and introducing the -absolutely novel idea of a divine law that in every -particular took precedence of mundane law. The -growth of the power of the Church, as a body entirely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>distinct from the State and claiming a superior -moral sanction, was a new force introduced into the -Roman Empire, which, beyond question, weakened -its powers of resistance to outside enemies, inasmuch -as it caused internal dissensions and divisions. The -furious hatreds between Christianity and paganism -which lasted in the West down to the fall of Rome, -and the equally furious hatreds within the Church -which continued both in East and West for long -centuries, can only be considered a source of serious -weakness. No one disputes that the desperate and -murderous struggle between Catholic and Huguenot -retarded the development of France and weakened -her in the face of the enemy, and it stands to reason -that a nation which is torn by intestinal quarrel cannot -present an effective front to foreign aggression. -It wastes against members of its own household part -of the energy which should be infused into the blows -which it delivers at its foe.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Christianity has always tended to break down distinctions -and prejudices of race. It has never done -so wholly and never will, but the tendency is forever -at work, and, as such, in the days of the Empire, -it was opposed both to the Roman and to the -Greek spirit. For though there had already sprung -up a feeling of cosmopolitanism within the Empire, -it cannot be said to have extended to those without -the Empire, who were still barbarians in the eyes -not only of Greek or Roman, but of the Romanised -Celt and Iberian, whose civilisation was no longer a -thin veneer. When we say that Christianity was -a disintegrating element in this respect, the term is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>by no means wholly one of reproach. For it also -implies that Christianity assisted the partial fusion -which took place when at length the frontier barriers -gave way and the West was rushed by the Germanic -races. These races were themselves Christianised to -a certain extent. They, too, worshipped the Cross -and the Christ, and this circumstance alone must, to -a very considerable degree, have mitigated for the -Roman provinces the terrors and disasters of invasion. -It is true that the invaders were for the -most part Arians,—though it is a manifest absurdity -to suppose that the free Germans from beyond the -Rhine understood even the elements of a controversy -so metaphysical and so purely Greek,—and, -when Arian and Catholic fought, they tipped their -barbs with poison. “I never yet,” said Ammianus -Marcellinus, “found wild beasts so savagely hostile -to men, as most of the Christians are to one another.”<a id='r150' /><a href='#f150' class='c016'><sup>[150]</sup></a> -But the fact remains that the German -and Gothic conquerors, who settled where they had -conquered, accepted the civilisation of the vanquished -even though they modified it to their own -needs; they did not wipe it out and substitute -their own, as did the Turk and the Moor when they -appeared, later on, at the head of their devastating -hordes. If, therefore, Christianity tended to -weaken, it also tended to assimilate, and we are not -sure that the latter process was not fully as important -as the former. The Roman Empire, as a universal -power, had long been doomed; Christianity, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>in this respect, simply accelerated its pace down the -slippery slope.</p> - -<p class='c001'>But other and more specific charges have been -brought against Christianity. One is that it contributed -largely to the depopulation of the Empire, -which, from the point of view of the State, was an -evil of the very greatest magnitude. The indictment -cannot be refuted wholly. In the name of -Christianity extravagant and pernicious doctrines -were preached of which it would be difficult to speak -with patience, did we not remember that violent -disorders need violent remedies. No one can doubt -the unutterable depravity and viciousness which -were rampant and unashamed in the Roman Empire, -especially in the East. If there was a public conscience -at all, it was silent. Decent, clean-living -people held fastidiously aloof and tolerated the -existence of evils which they did nothing to combat. -A strong protest was needed; it was supplied by -Christianity. But many of those who took upon -themselves to denounce the sins of the age felt -compelled to school themselves to a rigid asceticism -which made few allowances not only for the weaknesses -but even for the natural instincts of human -nature. The more fanatical among them grudgingly -admitted that marriage was honourable, but rose to -enthusiastic frenzy in the contemplation of virginity, -which, if they dared not command, they could and -did commend with all the eloquence of which they -were capable. One cannot think without pity of -all the self-torture and agonising which this new -asceticism—new, at least, in this aggravated form—brought -<span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>upon hundreds and thousands of men and -women, whose services the State needed and would -have done well to possess, but who cut themselves -off from mundane affairs, and withdrew into -solitudes, not to learn there how to help their fellowmen -but consumed only with a selfish anxiety to -escape from the wrath to come. They thought of -nothing but the salvation of their own souls. It is -impossible to see how these wild hermits, who -peopled the Libyan deserts, were acceptable in the -sight either of themselves, their fellows, or their -God. Simon Stylites, starving sleepless on his pillar -in the posture of prayer for weeks, remains for all -time as a monument of grotesque futility. If charity -regards him with pity, it can only regard with -contempt those who imputed his insane endurance -unto him for righteousness. No one can estimate -the amount of unnecessary misery and sufferings -caused by these extreme fanatics, who broke up -homes without remorse, played on the fears and -harrowed the minds of impressionable men and -women, and debased the human soul in their frantic -endeavour to fit it for the presence of its Maker. -They stand in the same category as the gaunt -skeletons who drag themselves on their knees from -end to end of India in the hope of placating a mild -but irresponsive god. Man’s first duty may be -towards God; but not to the exclusion of his duty -towards the State.</p> - -<p class='c001'>It is not to be supposed, of course, that the -majority of Christians were led to renounce the -world and family life. The weaker brethren are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>always in a majority, and we do not doubt that -most of the Christian priests were of like mind with -their flock in taking a less heroic but far more -common-sense view. It is also to be noted that -the practical Roman temper speedily modified the -extravagances of the eastern fanatics, and the asceticism -of monks and nuns living in religious -communities in the midst of their fellow-citizens, -and working to heal their bodies as well as to save -their souls, stands on a very different plane from -the entirely self-centred eremitism associated with -Egypt. By doing the work of good Samaritans -the members of these communities acted the part -of good citizens. Succeeding Emperors, whose -Christianity was unimpeachable, looked with cold -suspicion on the recluses of the deserts. Valens, -for example, regarding their retirement as an evasion -of their civic duties, published an edict ordering -that they should be brought back; Theodosius with -cynical wisdom said that as they had deliberately -chosen to dwell in the desert, he would take care that -they stopped there. But it is easy to exaggerate -the influence wielded by extreme men, whose doctrines -and professions only emerge from obscurity -because of their extravagances. We must not, -therefore, lay too much stress on the constant exhortations -to celibacy and virginity which we find -even in the writings of such men as Jerome and -Ambrose. However zealously they plied the pitchfork, -human nature just as persistently came back, -and the extraordinary outspokenness of Jerome, for -example, in his letters to girls who had pledged -<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>themselves to virginity—an outspokenness based on -the confident assumption that human, and more -especially womanly, nature is weak and liable to -err—shews that he was profoundly diffident of the -success of his preaching. Nevertheless, when the -counsel of perfection offered by the Church was -the avoidance of marriage, it is a just charge against -Christianity that it was in this respect anti-civic and -anti-social.</p> - -<div id='i348a' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp348a.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i348b' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp348b.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF FAUSTA.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i348c' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp348c.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CRISPUS.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div id='i348d' class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/i_fp348d.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II. AS CÆSAR.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>On the other hand, it is to be remembered that -this avoidance of marriage and its responsibilities -was no new thing in the Roman Empire. For centuries -the State had been alarmed at the growth of -an unwillingness, manifested especially in the higher -orders of society, to undertake the duties of parentage. -Special bounties and immunities from taxation -were offered to the fathers even of three children; -checks were placed upon divorce; taxes were levied -upon the obstinate bachelor and widower who clung -to what he called the blessings of detached irresponsibility -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>præmia orbitatis</i></span>). These laws were all based -on the theory that it is a man’s civic duty to marry -and give sons and daughters to the service of his -country, and we find one of the Panegyrists declaring -them to be the very foundation of the State, -because they supply a nursery of youth and a constant -flow of manly vigour to the Roman armies.<a id='r151' /><a href='#f151' class='c016'><sup>[151]</sup></a> -Yet so powerful were the attractions of a childless -life (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>prævalida orbitate</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Tac.</cite></span>, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Ann.</cite></span>, iii., 25) that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>the whole series of Julian laws on this subject had -proved of little value, and Tacitus had declared that -the remedy was worse than the disease. The motives -of the luxurious voluptuary or the fastidious cynic -were widely different from those of the Christian -enthusiast for bodily purity, but by a curious irony -they were directed towards the same object—the -avoidance of matrimony.</p> - -<p class='c001'>There was also brought against Christianity the -charge that it discouraged military service and looked -askance upon the profession of arms. The accusation -is true within certain limits. Christianity was -and is a gospel of peace. Ideally, therefore, it is -always antagonistic to war as a general principle, and -there is always a considerable section of Christian -opinion which is opposed, irrespective of the justice -of the quarrel, to an appeal to arms. That section -of Christian opinion was naturally at its strongest -when the Roman Empire was pagan, and when it -was practically impossible for a Christian to be a -soldier without finding himself compelled to worship, -at the altars of Rome, the Roman Emperor and the -Roman gods. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Omnis militia est religio</i></span>, Seneca had -said most truly. There was a permanent altar fixed -before the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>prætorium</i></span> of every camp. That being -the case, one can understand that the army was regarded -with abhorrence by every Christian at a time -when Christianity was a proscribed, or barely tolerated, -religion, and hence the violent denunciations of -the army and military service to be found in some of -the early Fathers. Hence too the number of Christian -soldier martyrs, who had been converted while serving -<span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>in the ranks. But the whole case was changed -when the Roman Emperor was a Christian, and the -army took its oath to a champion and no longer to -an enemy of the Church. The bishops at once -changed front—they could not help themselves—and -at the Council of Arles we have seen the Gallican -bishops passing a canon anathematising any -Christian who flung down his arms in time of peace. -There were still extremists, as there are to-day, who -denounced war with indiscriminate censure; there -must have been a much larger number who acquiesced -in standing armies as a necessary evil, but -themselves carefully kept aloof from service; the -majority, as to-day, would recognise that the security -of a State rests ultimately upon force, and would -pray that their cause might be just whenever that -force had to be put into operation. It is not Tertullian -with his dangerous doctrine that politics -have no interest for the Christian (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>nec ulla magis res -aliena quam publica</i></span>), that the Christian has no country -but the world, and that Christ had bidden the -nations disarm when he bade Peter put up his -sword—it is not Tertullian who is the typical representative -of the Church in its relations with the State -and mundane affairs, but the broad-minded Augustine -who, when nervous Christians appealed to him to -say whether a Christian could serve God as a soldier, -said that a man might do his duty to his God and -his Emperor as well in a camp as elsewhere.</p> - -<p class='c001'>God-fearing men could spend their days in the -legions without peril to their souls, but the atmosphere -of a Roman camp, full as it was of barbarians -<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>and semi-barbarians, naturally cannot have been -congenial to the Christian religion. In spite of the -Labarum, service in the army was discountenanced -by the more zealous Christian bishops. Yet nothing -could be more unfair than to charge Christianity -with having introduced into the Roman world the -reluctance to carry arms. That reluctance dated -back to the latter days of the Republic. Christianity -merely intensified it.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Christianity, again, may be acquitted of having -caused the decadence of literature and the arts. -That decadence was of long standing. There had -been a steady decline from the brilliant circle of -Augustan poets and prose writers to the days of the -Antonines. The third century had been utterly -barren of great names. Literature had become -imitation; originality was lost. Society was literary -in tone; grammarians and rhetoricians flourished; -learning was not dead but active; yet the results, -so far as creative work was concerned, were miserably -small. But if Christianity cannot be held responsible -for the poverty of imagination in the -ranks of pagan society, it must be held responsible -for its own shortcomings. It often assumed an -attitude of open hostility to the ancient literature, -which was to be explained—and, so long as paganism -was a living force, might be justified—by the -fact that the poetry of Rome was steeped in -pagan associations. Men to whom Jupiter was a -false deity or demon; to whom the radiance of -Apollo was hateful because it was a snare to the -unwary; to whom the purity of Diana, the cold -<span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>stateliness of Minerva, the beauty of Venus, and -the bountifulness of Ceres, were all treacherous -delusions and masks of sin, and all equally pernicious -to the soul, found in the very charm of -style and the seductiveness of language of the old -poetry another reason for keeping it out of the -hands of their children and for themselves eschewing -its dangerous delights. It is difficult to blame them. -Protestants and Catholics even of the present day -are studiously ignorant of the special literatures of -the other, and if the Christian eschewed the classical -poets, the educated pagan was grotesquely -ignorant of the Christian’s “Holy Books.”</p> - -<p class='c001'>But this point must not be pursued too far. -Education itself was based on the ancient literature -of Greece and Rome—there was, indeed, nothing -else on which to base it—and in the ablest -and most cultured of the Christian writers the -influence of the classical authors is evident on every -page. Jerome dreamt that an angel came to -rebuke him for his love of the rounded periods of -Cicero—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Ciceronianus es, non Christianus</i></span>. Augustine -bewails the tears he had wasted on the moving -story of the Fall of Troy, while his heart was insensible -to the sufferings of the Son of God. -Lines and half lines from Virgil, or the choice of a -Virgilian epithet, betray the ineradicable influence -of the Mantuan over Ambrose. Even the author -of the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mortibus Persecutorum</cite></span>, despite his ferocious -hatred of paganism, takes evident pleasure -in the Ciceronian flavour of his maledictions. Do -what he would, the cultured and educated Christian -<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>could not escape from the spell of the poets of -antiquity. There were, of course, narrow-minded -fanatics in plenty who would cheerfully have burned -the contents of every pagan library and have -imagined that they were offering an acceptable -sacrifice, and there were doubtless many more who, -without vindictiveness towards the classics, were -quite content with want of culture, deeming that -ignorance was more becoming to Christian simplicity -(<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Simplex sermo veritatis.</i></span>) The tendencies of -Christianity, as compared with paganism, were not -towards what we call the humanities and a liberal -education, for the dominant feeling was that there -was only one book in the world which really mattered, -and that was the Bible. There was, it is true, -a slight literary renaissance starting at the close of -the fourth century, with which we associate the -names of Ausonius, Paulinus of Nola, Prudentius, -and Claudian. This was mainly Christian. Ausonius -strictly followed classical models; the graceful yet -vigorous hymns of Prudentius were an original and -valuable contribution to literature; Claudian stands -neutral. “The last of the classics,” as Mr. Mackail -has well said,<a id='r152' /><a href='#f152' class='c016'><sup>[152]</sup></a> “he is, at the same time, the earliest -and one of the most distinguished of the classicists. -It might seem a mere chance whether his poetry -belonged to the fourth or to the sixteenth century.” -This literary renaissance, however, was a last flicker, -and while we have to thank the Church for preserving -the Latin tongue, we owe it little thanks—compared -with the paganism it had overthrown—for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>its services to culture and the humanities. In the -fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the classics had -to be rediscovered and relearnt: the dead spirit of -humanism had to be quickened to a new birth.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Hard things have been said of Christianity and -its influence upon the Roman Empire, harder perhaps -than the facts warrant, though the bitterness -of many of the critics has been directly provoked -by the boundless assumptions of the Christian -apologists. Looking back dispassionately upon the -period with which we have been dealing, it is not -difficult to see why the Church triumphed and -why the nations acquiesced as readily as they did in -the downfall of paganism. The reason is that the -world had grown stale. It had outlived all its -old ideals. It was sick of doubt, weary of bloodshed -and strife, and nervously apprehensive, we can -hardly question, of the cataclysm that was to burst -upon the West and submerge it before another -century was over. The philosophies were worn out. -The gods themselves had grown grey. There was -a general atmosphere of numbness and decrepitude. -Men wanted consolation and hope. Christianity -alone could supply it, and though Christianity itself -had lost its early joyousness, freshness, and simplicity, -it retained unimpaired its marvellous powers to console. -To a world tired of questioning and search it -returned an answer for which it claimed the sanction -of absolute Truth. The old spirit was not wholly -dead. One may see it revive from time to time in -the various heresies which split the Church. But it -was ruthlessly suppressed, and humanity had to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>purchase back its liberty of thought at a great price, -ten or more centuries later, when the world realised -that her ancient deliverer had herself become a -tyrant. Nevertheless, few can seriously doubt -that the triumph of the Christian Church was an -unspeakable boon to mankind. The Roman Empire -was doomed. Its downfall was certain and, on the -whole, was even to be desired, so long as its civilisation -was not wholly wiped out and the genius of -past generations was not wholly destroyed.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_p236.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span> -<img src='images/i_p357.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c022'>INDEX</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c023'>A</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Achillas, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a></li> - <li class='c024'><i>Acts of Pilate, The</i>, anti-Christian pamphlet, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Adrianople, battle of, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Ælianus, Proconsul of Africa, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Alemanni defeated by Crispus, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Alexander, a Phrygian, leads revolt in Africa, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Alexander of Alexandria, holds Arius in high esteem, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>; - <ul> - <li>becomes involved in controversy with Arius, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>summons provincial synod, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>;</li> - <li>denounces Arians, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>attacks Eusebius of Nicomedia, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>;</li> - <li>at Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>;</li> - <li>influenced by Athanasius, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> - <li>prayer for the truth in regard to Arius, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</li> - <li>refuses to admit Arius to communion, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Amandus, Admiral, defeated by Crispus, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Ambrose, St., exhortations to avoid marriage, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>; - <ul> - <li>influenced by Virgil, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>.</li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Ammianus Marcellinus, quoted, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Anastasia, half-sister to Constantine, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>Anastasis, Church of, dedicated,3 11</li> - <li class='c024'>Ancyra, Council of, canons, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Annibalianus, son-in-law of Constantine, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Antony, Saint, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Anulinus, proconsul of Africa, letter from Constantine to, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Apollo, statue of, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Arcadius, rebuilds walls of Constantinople, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Arch of Constantine, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Arian controversy, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a> <i>ff.</i>; - <ul> - <li>Canon Bright on, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li> - <li>Gibbon on, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Arianism, origin, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a> <i>ff.</i>; - <ul> - <li>leading tenet, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>;</li> - <li>Canon Bright on, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li> - <li>class to which it appealed, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>claims, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>formal condemnation of, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Arians, edicts against, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>; - <ul> - <li>and Constantia, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>;</li> - <li>paramount at Imperial Court, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>;</li> - <li>plot against Athanasius, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>“Ariomaniacs,” 206</li> - <li class='c024'>Aristaces repeats Nicene Creed to his father, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Arius, a power in Alexandria, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>; - <ul> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>;</li> - <li>preaching strange doctrine, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>;</li> - <li>starts controversy, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>denounces Alexander, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>;</li> - <li>defends his doctrine before synod, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>excommunicated, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>;</li> - <li>finds champion in Eusebius of Nicomedia, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>synod of Bithynian bishops sympathises with, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li><i>Thalia</i>, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine intervenes between Alexander and, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>at Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>;</li> - <li>and Eusebian party, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>recalled from exile, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine’s attack on, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</li> - <li>pronounced a true Catholic by Council of Tyre, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>;</li> - <li>returns to Alexandria, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>;</li> - <li>questioned as to his faith, by Constantine, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>;</li> - <li>seeks admission to Church at Constantinople, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Arles, Council of, <a href='#Page_173'>173-176</a>; - <ul> - <li>canons of, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Armenia, recovered for Rome, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>; - <ul> - <li>Saint Gregory in, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Arsenius, legend of withered hand, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Athanasians and baptism of Constantine, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Athanasius, Saint, on help given to persecuted Christians, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>; - <ul> - <li><i>First Discourse against the Arians</i>, quoted, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>;</li> - <li>influence on Alexander, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> - <li>leader of Trinitarians, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>;</li> - <li>on Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_222'>222-224</a>;</li> - <li>in Arian controversy, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>;</li> - <li>condemnation of, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>;</li> - <li>banished, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>;</li> - <li>elected bishop, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</li> - <li>plot against, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>;</li> - <li>refuses to restore Arius to communion, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine threatens, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>;</li> - <li>campaign of calumny against, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>refuses to attend trial at Cæsarea, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>;</li> - <li>trial at Council of Tyre, <a href='#Page_293'>293-295</a>;</li> - <li>appeals to Constantine, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Augustæum, the, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo, on Botrus and Celestius, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>; - <ul> - <li>on Donatists, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>;</li> - <li>on the Circumcelliones, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>;</li> - <li>and the Donatist schism, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>;</li> - <li>on Constantine, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>;</li> - <li>on Christian duty, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>;</li> - <li>and ancient literature, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Aurelian, Emperor, recovers Britain and Gaul, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>; - <ul> - <li>murdered, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>;</li> - <li>persecution of Christians, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li> - <li>influence on Galerius, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>;</li> - <li>subdues Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Ausonius, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>B</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Bassianus, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Botrus, deacon, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Bright, Canon, quoted, on Arianism, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>; - <ul> - <li>on philosophy and the Church, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Britain, Carausius ruler of, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>; - <ul> - <li>Constantius ruler of, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine ruler of, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>;</li> - <li>Constantius recovers, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>;</li> - <li>Crispus ruler of, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Burnt Pillar, the, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Bury, Professor, quoted, on Constantine, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Byzantium, capitulation of, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>; - <ul> - <li>naval battle at, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</li> - <li>advantages of position, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>;</li> - <li>chosen by Constantine as site for a new city, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>;</li> - <li>renowned, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a> 61;</li> - <li>withstandsPhilip of Macedon, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>Polybius on, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>;</li> - <li>prosperity, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Byzas, the Megarian, founder of Byzantium, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>C</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Cæcilianus, rebukes Lucilla, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>; - <ul> - <li>elected bishop, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</li> - <li>position challenged, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>;</li> - <li>letter from Constantine to, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>;</li> - <li>summoned to Rome, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine’s verdict on, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>;</li> - <li>Donatists refuse to obey, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Cæsarea, Council of, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Caius, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Candidianus executed, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Carausius, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Carinus, son of Carus, Empire divided between Numerian and, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>; - <ul> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Carnuntum, conference at, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Carthage sacked, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Carthage, Council of, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Carus devastates Persia, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Catholic Party, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a> <i>ff.</i>; 297</li> - <li class='c024'>Celestius, deacon, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></li> - <li class='c024'>“Champions of the Lord,” the, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Chrestus, Bishop of Syracuse, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Christian <a id='corr359.33'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='martys'>martyrs</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_359.33'><ins class='correction' title='martys'>martyrs</ins></a></span>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Christian schools of Antioch and Alexandria, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Christianity, rapid spread, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>; - <ul> - <li>embraced by Constantine, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>element in disintegration of Empire, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>;</li> - <li>element of assimilation, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>;</li> - <li>tendency to depopulate Empire, <a href='#Page_346'>346-350</a>;</li> - <li>and asceticism, <a href='#Page_346'>346-348</a>;</li> - <li>and military service, <a href='#Page_350'>350-352</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>and literature and art, <a href='#Page_352'>352-354</a>;</li> - <li>influence upon Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Christians, persecution of, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a> <i>ff.</i>; - <ul> - <li>erect church at Nicomedia, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li> - <li>and Neo-Platonists, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Chrysopolis, battle of, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Church, the, condition in reign of Diocletian, <a href='#Page_12'>12-14</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>; - <ul> - <li>persecution of, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>and State, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>;</li> - <li>schisms in, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>; 211 <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>triumph of, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>;</li> - <li>persecution ended, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>;</li> - <li>and marriage, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Cibalis, battle of, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Circumcelliones, a religious sect, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Cirta, capital of Numidia, sacked, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>; - <ul> - <li>renamed, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Cirta, synod of, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Cistern of Philoxenos, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Claudian, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Claudius subdues Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Coins, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li> - <li class='c024'><i>Colonus</i>, the, condition, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Column of Constantine, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Constans, son of Constantine, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Constantia, wife of Licinius, pleads for his life 131; - <ul> - <li>influence, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Constantina, daughter of Constantine, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Constantina, new name of Cirta, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Constantine, Emperor, birth and parentage, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>; - <ul> - <li>birthplace, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>;</li> - <li>early life and characteristics, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>;</li> - <li>ambitions, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>;</li> - <li>escape from Galerius, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>;</li> - <li>joins his father, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li> - <li>saluted as Augustus by the troops, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>declares himself Emperor, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li> - <li>acknowledged as Cæsar by Galerius, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li> - <li>Cæsar of the West, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>;</li> - <li>victory over the Franks, <a href='#Page_53'>53-55</a>;</li> - <li>attitude toward Galerius, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>;</li> - <li>alliance of Maximian and Maxentius with, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> - <li>relations with Diocletian, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>;</li> - <li>acknowledged as Augustus by Galerius, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li> - <li>recognises Maximian, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>;</li> - <li>expedition against the Franks, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>;</li> - <li>quells Maximian, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>;</li> - <li>plots against, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>;</li> - <li>his domain, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>alliance of Licinius with, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>;</li> - <li>war with Maxentius, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>battle of Milvian Bridge, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>;</li> - <li>triumphal procession in Rome, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>;</li> - <li>disbands Prætorians, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>;</li> - <li>acts of conciliation, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li> - <li>games and festivals in honour of, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>;</li> - <li>vision of the Cross and conversion, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>issues Edict of Milan, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>and Licinius share Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>war with Licinius, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>defeats Licinius at Cibalis, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li> - <li>defeats Licinius at Mardia, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li> - <li>treaty with Licinius, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>;</li> - <li>appoints Crispus as Cæsar,1 22;</li> - <li>his sons, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>;</li> - <li>rupture with Licinius, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>;</li> - <li>triumphs of, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li> - <li>champion of the Church, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>;</li> - <li>defeats Licinius at Adrianople, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>;</li> - <li>victory at Byzantium, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>;</li> - <li>generalship of, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>victory at Chrysopolis, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>treatment of Licinius, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</li> - <li>signs edict of toleration, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>overthrow of Maxentius, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>;</li> - <li>recalls exiled Christians, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li> - <li>and the Donatists, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>African bishops appeal to, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>;</li> - <li>presents money to African clergy, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Cæcilianus, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Anulinus, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>;</li> - <li>party of Majorinus appeal to, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Miltiades, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Ælianus, <a href='#Page_172'>172-174</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Chrestus, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Council of Arles, <a href='#Page_178'>178-180</a>;</li> - <li>summons Cæcilianus to Rome, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Donatist bishops, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>;</li> - <li>letter to Probianus, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>;</li> - <li>passes judgment on Cæcilianus, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>;</li> - <li>change of policy, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>;</li> - <li>ignores African Church, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>;</li> - <li>letter to the Catholics and his opinion of the Donatists, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>;</li> - <li>and Arian controversy, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207-210</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285-297</a>;</li> - <li>calls Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>;</li> - <li>opens the Council, <a href='#Page_217'>217-219</a>;</li> - <li>and Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>;</li> - <li>celebrates his Vicennalia, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>;</li> - <li>farewell speech to Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>;</li> - <li>letter “To the Churches,” 235;</li> - <li>family, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>;</li> - <li>mother’s influence upon, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>;</li> - <li>and Procession of the Knights, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>;</li> - <li>edict to his subjects, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>;</li> - <li>turns against Crispus, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>;</li> - <li>murder of Crispus, Licinianus, and Fausta, <a href='#Page_243'>243-247</a>;</li> - <li>repentance, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> - <li>donation of, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> - <li>baptism, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>;</li> - <li>builds churches, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>;</li> - <li>campaigns against the Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>;</li> - <li>confession of faith, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>;</li> - <li>relations with Persia, <a href='#Page_254'>254-256</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>founder of Constantinople, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>edicts against the Arians, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>;</li> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>passion for building, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>;</li> - <li>division of the Empire, <a href='#Page_307'>307-311</a>;</li> - <li>education of his sons, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>;</li> - <li>celebrates Tricennalia, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>;</li> - <li>fatal malady, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>;</li> - <li>death and burial, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a>;</li> - <li>and religious parties, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>;</li> - <li>daily religious life, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> - <li>edict for observance of Lord’s day, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>;</li> - <li>prayer, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>;</li> - <li>policy toward old religion, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>edict giving religious freedom, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>;</li> - <li>Pontifex Maximus, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>and divination, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>;</li> - <li>edict to abolish gladiatorial shows, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>;</li> - <li>reforms, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>;</li> - <li>attitude of subjects to, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>;</li> - <li>organisation of Empire, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>;</li> - <li>fiscal system of, <a href='#Page_339'>339-342</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Constantine, son of the Emperor Constantine, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Constantinople, foundation of, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a> <i>ff.</i>; - <ul> - <li>called “New Rome,” 258;</li> - <li>and Napoleon, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>;</li> - <li>part rebuilt, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li> - <li>called Septicollis, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>;</li> - <li>dedication, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>;</li> - <li>plan and buildings, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</li> - <li>forum, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>;</li> - <li>palaces, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>;</li> - <li>aqueducts, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>;</li> - <li>Hippodrome, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>;</li> - <li>churches, <a href='#Page_274'>274-276</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Constantinus, son of Constantine, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Constantius, son of Constantine, persecution of Christians, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>; - <ul> - <li>birth, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>;</li> - <li>appointed Cæsar of Gaul, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>;</li> - <li>named consul, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Constantius Chlorus, Cæsar, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>; - <ul> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>goes to Britain, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>;</li> - <li>domain, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>;</li> - <li>attitude toward Christians, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>;</li> - <li>becomes emperor, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>;</li> - <li>ancestry, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</li> - <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>;</li> - <li>loyalty, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Consuls, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a></li> - <li class='c024'>“Council of the 318,” the, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Crispus, son of Constantine, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; - <ul> - <li>victory over Alemanni, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li> - <li>victory over Amandus, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>;</li> - <li>heir to throne, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>;</li> - <li>victories, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>;</li> - <li>and Fausta, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine turns against, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Curia, the, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>D</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Dalmatius, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Damasus, Pope, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Datianus, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Decius, Emperor, persecution of the Christians, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Diocletian, Emperor, accession, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>; - <ul> - <li>chooses colleagues, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> - <li>recovers Armenia for Rome 6;</li> - <li>attitude toward Galerius, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>controlling spirit in the Empire, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>locates his capital, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> - <li>domain, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>changes introduced by, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>;</li> - <li>decentralisation in the provinces, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>;</li> - <li>prosperous reign, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>;</li> - <li>persecution of the Christians, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>;</li> - <li>wife and daughters, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li> - <li>neutrality toward the Church, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>;</li> - <li>neutralitychanged to antagonism, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>;</li> - <li>influenced by Galerius, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li> - <li>edict against the Manichæans, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>and Galerius, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>;</li> - <li>edicts against the Christians, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>;</li> - <li>motive for persecution, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>;</li> - <li>abdication, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>;</li> - <li>chooses new Cæsars, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>;</li> - <li>retires to private life, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>;</li> - <li>system of organisation, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>;</li> - <li>recognises Carausius, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>;</li> - <li>invited to conference at Carnuntum, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>;</li> - <li>relations with Constantine, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>;</li> - <li>treatment of the Senate, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>;</li> - <li>declinesin vitation to wedding of Constantine’s sister, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>;</li> - <li>wife and daughter, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>;</li> - <li>wishes daughter to live with him, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>;</li> - <li>celebrates Vicennalia, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>;</li> - <li>proclaims amnesty, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Donatist schism, <a href='#Page_159'>159-188</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Donatists, <a href='#Page_159'>159-188</a>; - <ul> - <li>Constantine’s letter to, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>;</li> - <li><i>raison d’etre</i>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>;</li> - <li>increase in numbers, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Donatus Magnus, leader of Donatist schism, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Donatus of Casæ Nigræ, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Donatus of Mascula, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>E</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Easter, celebration, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Education, basis of, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>; - <ul> - <li>and Christianity, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Eusebian party, rise, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>; - <ul> - <li>and Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>;</li> - <li>in favour at Imperial Court, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>;</li> - <li>confounded at Arius’s death, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Eusebius of Cæsarea, on Constantine’s conversion, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a> <i>ff.</i>; - <ul> - <li>letter of Constantine to, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>friend of Arius, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>;</li> - <li>teachings, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>;</li> - <li>on Arian controversy, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>;</li> - <li>supports middle party at Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>;</li> - <li>creed of, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>;</li> - <li>signs Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>;</li> - <li>on Constantine’s baptism, death, and burial, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>;</li> - <li>on Constantine’s daily life, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>;</li> - <li>on Constantine’s religious policy, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a> <i>ff.</i></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Eusebius of Nicomedia, as historian, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>; - <ul> - <li><i>History of the Church</i>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>;</li> - <li><i>Life of Constantine</i>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>;</li> - <li>champion of Arius, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>;</li> - <li>calls a synod of Bithynian bishops, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>;</li> - <li>attacked by Alexander, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>;</li> - <li>leader of middle party at Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>;</li> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>;</li> - <li>and the word “Homoousion,” 224;</li> - <li>signs Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>exiled, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>;</li> - <li>recalled, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>;</li> - <li>succeeds Hosius as adviser to Constantine, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>;</li> - <li>attack on Athanasius, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>attempt to restore Arius, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>;</li> - <li>baptises Constantine, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch, charges against, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Eutropius, on Constantine’s character, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li> -</ul> -<p class='c025'>F</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Fausta, wife of Constantine, reveals conspiracy against Constantine, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>; - <ul> - <li>sons, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>;</li> - <li>attitude toward Crispus, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Felix, Bishop of Aptunga, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>Finance, system of, under Diocletian, <a href='#Page_337'>337-339</a>, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>; - <ul> - <li>under Constantine, <a href='#Page_339'>339-342</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Firmilianus, Governor of Palestine, persecution of Christians, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Franks, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>G</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Galerius, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>; - <ul> - <li>entrusted with command of Parthia, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>;</li> - <li>victory over Parthians, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li> - <li>and Diocletian, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>domain, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>capital at Sirmium, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>character and influence, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>;</li> - <li>mother’s influence, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>;</li> - <li>persecution of Christians, <a href='#Page_17'>17-19</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23-25</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>;</li> - <li>becomes Augustus, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>;</li> - <li>nominates new Cæsars, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>;</li> - <li>attitude toward Constantine, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>sends Constantine to his father, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>;</li> - <li>acknowledges Constantine as Cæsar, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>;</li> - <li>extends the census, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> - <li>relations with Severus, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>invasion of Italy, <a href='#Page_60'>60-62</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>;</li> - <li>calls a conference at Carnuntum, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>;</li> - <li>and Diocletian, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>;</li> - <li>appoints Licinius as Augustus, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>;</li> - <li>relations with Maximin Daza, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li> - <li>recognises Maximin as Augustus, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>;</li> - <li>estimate of the man, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>nominates his successor, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>edicts, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>;</li> - <li>aims carried out, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>;</li> - <li>leaves wife to care of Maximin, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li> - <li>edict of toleration, <a href='#Page_138'>138-140</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Gallienus, and senatorial order, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>; - <ul> - <li>issues edicts of toleration, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>Gaul, devastated by Franks, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>; - <ul> - <li>recovered by Aurelian, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>;</li> - <li>at Diocletian’s accession, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>;</li> - <li>Constantius ruler of, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine in, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>;</li> - <li>Crispus in, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Gibbon on the Circumcelliones, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>; - <ul> - <li>on the Arian controversy, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>;</li> - <li>on Constantinople, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>;</li> - <li>on Annibalianus, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Goths, invade Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>; - <ul> - <li>war with Constantine, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Gregory of Nyssa on Arian controversy, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Gregory, Saint, in Armenia, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Gregory, the Illuminator of Armenia, and the Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Grosvenor, Mr., quoted on Constantinople, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>H</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Helena, mother of Constantine, ancestry, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>; - <ul> - <li>honoured by Constantine, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>;</li> - <li>and death of Crispus, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>;</li> - <li>pilgrimage, <a href='#Page_249'>249-251</a>;</li> - <li>legend of finding of the Cross, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Heraclea, siege of, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Heraclius, elected bishop, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Herculius, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Hermogenes, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Hierocles, author of <i>The Friend of Truth</i>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Holy Apostles, Church of, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Holy Trinity, Church of, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Horses of Lysippus, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, commissioned to mediate between Alexander and Arius, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>; - <ul> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>advises Constantine, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>;</li> - <li>at Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> - <li>falls from favour, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a></li> - </ul> - </li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>I</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Imperial Council, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Italy, invasion of, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a> <i>ff.</i></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>J</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Jerome, Saint, exhortations against marriage, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>; - <ul> - <li>dream of, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Jovius, adopted name of Diocletian, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Julian, <i>Banquet of the Cæsars</i>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Julian, Emperor, on Constantine, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303-305</a>; - <ul> - <li>on Constantinople, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Julian laws on marriage, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Justinian, statue of, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>; - <ul> - <li>builds Church of St. Sophia, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a></li> - </ul> - </li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>L</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Lactantius, estimate of, as historian, <a href='#Page_40'>40-42</a>, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Land tax, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a> <i>ff.</i></li> - <li class='c024'>Licinianus, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; - <ul> - <li>attitude of Constantine toward, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>;</li> - <li>life spared, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Licinius, Emperor, at conference of Carnuntum, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>; - <ul> - <li>becomes Augustus, <a href='#Page_64'>64-66</a>;</li> - <li>successor of Galerius, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>and Maximin Daza in eastern half of Empire, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>attitude to Maximin Daza, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;</li> - <li>alliance with Constantine, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>marriage, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>;</li> - <li>and Edict of Milan, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>other edicts, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>;</li> - <li>downfall, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>at Milan, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>;</li> - <li>victory over Maximin Daza, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>;</li> - <li>angel’s revelation to, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>;</li> - <li>execution of Maximin Daza’s family, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>;</li> - <li>execution of Candidianus, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>;</li> - <li>and Constantine share Empire, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>war with Constantine, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>defeated at Cibalis, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li> - <li>defeated at Mardia, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>;</li> - <li>treaty with Constantine, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>;</li> - <li>appoints Licinianus as Cæsar, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>;</li> - <li>gives up important provinces, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>;</li> - <li>rupture with Constantine, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125-127</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> - <li>religious policy, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>;</li> - <li>defeated at Adrianople, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>;</li> - <li>defeated at Chrysopolis, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>;</li> - <li>pleads for his life, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</li> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>;</li> - <li>edict of toleration, <a href='#Page_138'>138-140</a>;</li> - <li>defeats Maximin, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>;</li> - <li>anti-Christian campaign, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>;</li> - <li>throws over Edict of Milan, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>;</li> - <li>exile, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Literature, anti-Christian, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>; - <ul> - <li>decadence of, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>;</li> - <li>character of pagan, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>;</li> - <li>basis of education, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>;</li> - <li>renaissance of, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Lucian of Antioch, famous teacher, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Lucilla, censured by Church of Carthage, <a href='#Page_162'>162-164</a>; - <ul> - <li>intrigues of, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Ludi Cereales, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Lycians, petition of, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>M</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Mackail, Mr., <i>History of Latin Literature</i>, quoted, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>Majorinus, elected bishop, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>; - <ul> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>;</li> - <li>not recognised by the churches, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Mamertinus, eulogy on Maximian, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Manichæanism, rise, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>; - <ul> - <li>chief characteristic, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Marcellus, elected bishop, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>; - <ul> - <li>exile and death, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Mardia, battle of, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Maris of Chalcedon, and Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>; - <ul> - <li>exiled, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Marriage, Jerome exhorts against, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>; - <ul> - <li>and the State and Church, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Martinianus, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>; - <ul> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Maxentius, Emperor, son of Maximian, claims heritage of Cæsar, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>; - <ul> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_77'>77-79</a>;</li> - <li>marriage, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> - <li>master of Rome, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li> - <li>resumes title of Augustus, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>and Maximian besiege Severus, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>and Maximian in alliance with Constantine, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>and Maximian in possession of Italy, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> - <li>rupture with Maximian, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>;</li> - <li>domain, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>treatment of African cities, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>loss of popularity, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>restores property to Christians, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>;</li> - <li>attitude to other Augusti, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>;</li> - <li>alliance with Maximin Daza, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>;</li> - <li>war with Constantine, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>overthrow, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>;</li> - <li>Italy wrested from, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>;</li> - <li>head carried in triumphal procession, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>;</li> - <li>seeks good-will of Christians, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>;</li> - <li>exiles bishops, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>;</li> - <li>libel against, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Maximian, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>; - <ul> - <li>becomes Augustus, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>ruler of the West, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>fights the Moors, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>;</li> - <li>recognises Carausius, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>;</li> - <li>styles himself Herculius, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>;</li> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>;</li> - <li>persecution of the Christians, <a href='#Page_15'>15-19</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>;</li> - <li>celebrates the Ludi Cereales, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>;</li> - <li>abdication, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>;</li> - <li>restores peace to Gaul, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>;</li> - <li>eulogised by Mamertinus, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>;</li> - <li>locates his Court at Milan, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>;</li> - <li>resumes title of Augustus, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>victory over Severus, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>;</li> - <li>and Maxentius in alliance with Constantine, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> - <li>gives his daughter in marriage to Constantine, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> - <li>and Maxentius in possession of Italy, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>;</li> - <li>rupture with Maxentius, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>;</li> - <li>expelled from Italy, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>;</li> - <li>at conference of Carnuntum, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>;</li> - <li>ex-Augustus, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li> - <li>returns to Gaul, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>;</li> - <li>plots against Constantine, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>;</li> - <li>stripped of his titles, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>;</li> - <li>further plots against Constantine, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Maximin Daza, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>; - <ul> - <li>nominated by Galerius, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>;</li> - <li>domain, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>claims title of Augustus, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>;</li> - <li>claims title of senior Augustus, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>;</li> - <li>and Licinius in eastern half of Empire, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>;</li> - <li>alliance with Maxentius, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>;</li> - <li>in opposition to Licinius, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>;</li> - <li>invades territory of Licinius, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>;</li> - <li>defeated, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>;</li> - <li>flight, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>;</li> - <li>commits suicide, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>;</li> - <li>province falls into hands of Licinius, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li> - <li>family slain, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li> - <li><span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>treatment of Prisca and Valeria, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>;</li> - <li>persecution of Christians, <a href='#Page_135'>135-137</a>, <a href='#Page_141'>141-143</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145-147</a>;</li> - <li>act of toleration, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149-151</a>;</li> - <li>restores privileges to Christians, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>;</li> - <li>character, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>;</li> - <li>eminent victims of, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>;</li> - <li>war with Tiridates, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>;</li> - <li>final edict, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Maximus, Governor of Cilicia, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Maximus, Governor of Moesia, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Meletian schismatics checked, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Meletians recognised as orthodox, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, condemned by Egyptian bishops, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa, trick to save Holy Books, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>; - <ul> - <li>summoned to Rome, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Milan, conference at, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Milan, Edict of, issued, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>; - <ul> - <li>important clauses, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>;</li> - <li>principles and motives of, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>hailed by the Christians, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>;</li> - <li>thrown over by Licinius, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Military forces, organisation of, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Miltiades elected bishop, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Milvian Bridge, battle of, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Minervina, first wife of Constantine, son of, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Moesia, given over to Constantine, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; - <ul> - <li>invaded by Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Montanism, in Northern Africa, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'><span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>N</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Naissus, birthplace of Constantine, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Narses sues for peace, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Neo-Platonists, influence, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>; - <ul> - <li>discussions of interest to, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>“New Rome,” 259</li> - <li class='c024'>Newman, Cardinal, quoted, on death of Arius, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Nicæa, Canons of, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Nicæa, Council of, called by Constantine, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>; - <ul> - <li>members, <a href='#Page_212'>212-214</a>;</li> - <li>language, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>;</li> - <li>great interest aroused in, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>;</li> - <li>Constantine opens the Council, <a href='#Page_217'>217-220</a>;</li> - <li>splits up into parties, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>proceedings, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>adopts Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>;</li> - <li>excommunicates Arius, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>decision in regard to Easter, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>draws up Canons of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>farewell address by Constantine, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>;</li> - <li>dismissed, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Nicene Creed adopted, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a> <i>ff.</i></li> - <li class='c024'>Nicomedia, capital of Diocletian, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>; - <ul> - <li>Christian church erected at, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>;</li> - <li>church at, razed, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Novatianism in Northern Africa, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Numerian, son of Carus, Empire divided between Carinus and, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>; - <ul> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a></li> - </ul> - </li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>P</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Pagan clergy, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Pamphylians, petition of, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Pannonia, given over to Constantine, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; - <ul> - <li>invaded by Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Paphnutius, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>Parthia, war with Rome, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Parthians, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a></li> - <li class='c024'>“Passion of the Saints,” 35, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Paulinus of Nola, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Paulinus of Tyre, treatment of Arius, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>; - <ul> - <li>letter from Eusebius of Nicomedia, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Persia, relations with Constantine, <a href='#Page_254'>254-256</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Philostorgius, on Fausta, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Philoxenos, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Polybius, quoted, on Byzantium, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Porphyry, Neo-Platonist philosopher, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Porphyry Pillar, the, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Prætorian præfects, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Prætorians, mutiny at Rome, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>; - <ul> - <li>camps abolished, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>;</li> - <li>rule Rome, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>;</li> - <li>disbanded, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Prætors, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Prisca, wife of Diocletian, a Christian, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>; - <ul> - <li>exiled, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>;</li> - <li>death, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Probus, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Prudentius, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Purpurius, Bishop of Limata, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>R</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Roman Empire, threatened fall in third century, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a> <i>ff.</i>; - <ul> - <li>turn of fortune, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>;</li> - <li>under Diocletian, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>;</li> - <li>divided into twelve dioceses, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_331'>331</a>;</li> - <li>prosperity, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>;</li> - <li>population, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>;</li> - <li>shared by Constantine and Licinius, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>;</li> - <li>invaded by Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>;</li> - <li>united, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>;</li> - <li>peace, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</li> - <li>war with Goths and Sarmatæ, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>;</li> - <li>reorganisation under Constantine, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li> - <li>disintegration, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a> <i>ff.</i></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>Rome, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Rome, Council of, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Ruricius Pompeianus, holds Verona, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>; - <ul> - <li>killed, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li> - </ul> - </li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>S</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Sabinus, præfect, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a></li> - <li class='c024'>St. Irene, Church of, description of, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a></li> - <li class='c024'>St. Sophia, Church of, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li> - <li class='c024'>St. Stephen, Church of, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sapor, king of Persia, relations with Constantine, <a href='#Page_254'>254-256</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sarmatæ, invade Roman Empire, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>; - <ul> - <li>turn to Constantine for help, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Saturninus, speech of, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis, president of synod at Cirta, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Secundus of Ptolemais, Bishop, friend of Arius, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Senate, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Seneca, quoted, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Senecio, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Severus, Emperor, becomes Cæsar, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>; - <ul> - <li>nominated by Galerius, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>domain, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>;</li> - <li>besieges Rome, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>;</li> - <li>besieged by Maximian and Maxentius, <a href='#Page_59'>59-60</a>;</li> - <li>is given choice of death, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Simon Stylites, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sirmium, capital of Galerius, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Slavery, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Socrates, quoted, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sopater, pagan philosopher, in favour with Constantine, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sotades of Crete, pagan poet, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sozomen, quoted, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Stanley, Dean, <i>History of the Eastern Church</i>, quoted, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a></li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>Sylvanus, Bishop, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, sends representatives to Council of Arles, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>; - <ul> - <li>letter to, from Council of Arles, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>;</li> - <li>absent from Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>;</li> - <li>baptises Constantine, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>;</li> - <li>legends concerning Constantine and, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li> - </ul> - </li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>T</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Tacitus, rule of, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>; - <ul> - <li>on childless life, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Taxation, <a href='#Page_337'>337-342</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Temporal Power, legend of origin, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Terminalia, Festival of, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Tertullian and his doctrine, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Theban Legion, legend of its massacre, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Theodora, wife of Constantius Chlorus, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Theodoretus, rival of Arius, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>; - <ul> - <li>on the Council of Nicæa, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Theodosius II., rebuilds walls of Constantinople, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>; - <ul> - <li>attitude toward recluses, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Theodotus of Ancyra, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Theognis of Nicæa, and Nicene Creed, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>; - <ul> - <li>exiled, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>;</li> - <li>recalled, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Theonas, Bishop of Marmorica, friend of Arius, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Theotecnus, Governor of Antioch, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>; - <ul> - <li>invented new deity, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>Thessalonica, naval harbour, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a></li> - <li class='c024'><span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>Tiridates, ruler of Armenia, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Tithe lands, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Trinitarians <i>vs.</i> Arians, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223-226</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Twelfth Legion, soldiers of, martyrs, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Tyre, Council of, trial of Athanasius, <a href='#Page_293'>293-295</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>U</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Urbanus, Governor of Palestine, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>V</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Valens, appointed Cæsar, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; - <ul> - <li>recalls recluses from the desert, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Valentinianus, the Curator, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> - <li class='c024'>Valeria, daughter of Diocletian, a Christian, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>; - <ul> - <li>widow of Galerius, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li> - <li>Maximin proposes marriage to, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>;</li> - <li>exiled, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Valerian, Emperor, taken prisoner, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>; - <ul> - <li>persecution of the Christians, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li class='c024'>Victor of Russicas, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a></li> -</ul> - -<p class='c025'>Z</p> - -<ul class='index'> - <li class='c024'>Zosimus on Constantine’s character, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a></li> -</ul> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c008'>Footnotes:</h2> -</div> -<hr class='c026' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Jam desperatis rebus et deleto pæne imperio Romano</i></span> (Eutropius, -iv., c. 9).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nescitis, amici, quid mali sit imperare</i></span> (Vopiscus, Saturninus, -c. 10).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f3'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. Vopiscus, Florianus, c. 6.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f4'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 9: <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Non difficiliter oppressit.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f5'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Truci vultu ac voce terribili, Quousque tandem Cæsar?</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f6'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Cujus nutu omnia gubernabantur.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f7'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Et, ut omnia terrore complerentur, provinciæ quoque in frusta -concisæ</i></span> (<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 7).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f8'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Pone thura: placa Jovem et noster amicus esto.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f9'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 9.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f10'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Si autem scitis vos bene ituros, gratulor vobis.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f11'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>De Mort. Persec.</i></span>, c. 16.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f12'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Libertatem denique ac vocem non haberent</i></span> (<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, -c. 13).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f13'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Verum autem Dei templum, quod est in hominibus, incolume -servavit.</i></span> (<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 15).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f14'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Vita Const.</cite></span>, ii., 53.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f15'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Christiani tollantur et voluptas constat; Per caput Augusti Christiani -non sint.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f16'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. Lactant., <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f17'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 17.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f18'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, i., 19.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f19'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. Zosimus, ii., 8. περιφανὴς γὰρ ἦν ἤδη πολλοῖς ὁ κατέχων -ὰυτὸυ ἔρως τῆς βασιλέιας.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f20'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 24.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f21'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, vii., 7.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f22'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Gallias priorum temporum injuriis efferatas</i></span>, <cite>Pan.</cite>, vi., 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f23'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. <cite>Pan. Vet.</cite>, ii., 7.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f24'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r24'>24</a>. <cite>Pan.</cite>, vii., 10.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f25'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r25'>25</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Gravate apud animum tuum etiam mali pereunt.</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan.</cite></span>, x., 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f26'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r26'>26</a>. <cite>Pan.</cite>, vii., 12.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f27'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r27'>27</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Odia perpetua et inexpiabiles iras.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f28'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r28'>28</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Compendium est devincendorum hostium duces sustulisse.</i></span>—<cite>Pan.</cite>, -vii., 11.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f29'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r29'>29</a>. <cite>Pan.</cite>, vii., 13.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f30'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r30'>30</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f31'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r31'>31</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nihil aliud impetravit nisi bonam mortem.</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, -c. 26.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f32'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r32'>32</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Sed et ille multijugo fultus imperio et vestro lætus tegitur umbraculo.</i></span>—<cite>Pan. -Vet.</cite>, vii., 15.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f33'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r33'>33</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 29.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f34'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r34'>34</a>. C. 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f35'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r35'>35</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 43.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f36'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r36'>36</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nam id propositi habebat, ut et filio et ceteris extinctis se ac Diocletianum -restitueret in regnum.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f37'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r37'>37</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nec se dignum vita judicavit, cum per te liceret ut viveret.</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. -Vet.</cite></span>, vii., 20.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f38'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r38'>38</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Vir et probe moratus et egregius re militari.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f39'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r39'>39</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>In quibus omnis vita militia est.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f40'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r40'>40</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Scribit etiam familiariter.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f41'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r41'>41</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Non solum tacite mussantibus sed eteiam aperte timentibus.</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. -Vet.</cite></span>, ix., 2.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f42'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r42'>42</a>. Zosimus, ii., 15.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f43'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r43'>43</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, ix., 7.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f44'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r44'>44</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, ix., 9.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f45'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r45'>45</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Immo non decet laborare.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f46'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r46'>46</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, ix., 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f47'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r47'>47</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, x., 31.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f48'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r48'>48</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Ibid.</cite></span>, x., 6.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f49'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r49'>49</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, ix., 21.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f50'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r50'>50</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Cum ex totius orbis flore constaret.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f51'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r51'>51</a>. The inscription on the Arch of Constantine runs as follows:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Imp. Cæs. Fl. Constantino Maximo</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>P. F. Augusto S. P. Q. R.</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Quod instinctu divinitatis mentis</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Magnitudine cum exercitu suo</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Tam de tyranno quam de omni ejus</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Factione uno tempore justis</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Rempublicam ultus est armis</i></span></div> - <div><span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Arcum triumphis insignem dicavit.</i></span>”</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f52'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r52'>52</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, x., 14.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f53'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r53'>53</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Constantinum petimus: Constantino imus auxilio.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f54'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r54'>54</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 48.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f55'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r55'>55</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Separatim nemo habessit deos: neve novos, sive advenas, nisi -publice adscitos privatim colunto.</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Leg.</cite></span>, ii., 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f56'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r56'>56</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 46.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f57'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r57'>57</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, c. 39.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f58'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r58'>58</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort Persec.</cite></span>, c. 51.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f59'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r59'>59</a>. Zosimus, ii., 19.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f60'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r60'>60</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, x., 36.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f61'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r61'>61</a>. Eutropius, x., 5: <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Principatum totius orbis adfectans.</cite></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f62'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r62'>62</a>. Euseb., <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, i., 50.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f63'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r63'>63</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Ibid.</cite></span>, i., 56.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f64'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r64'>64</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, ii., 16. τὸ σωτήριον <a id='corr130.n64.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_130.n64.1'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> ζωοποιὸν σημεῖον, -ὥσπερ τι φόβητρον <a id='corr130.n64.2'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_130.n64.2'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> κακῶν ἀμυντήριον.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f65'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r65'>65</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Contra religionem sacramenti occisus est</i></span>, x., 6.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f66'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r66'>66</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, ii., 18.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f67'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r67'>67</a>. Eusebius, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Hist. Eccles.</cite></span>, ix., 9.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f68'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r68'>68</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Ut denuo sint Christiani et conventicula componant, ita ut ne -quid contra disciplinam agant.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f69'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r69'>69</a>. <cite>Hist. Eccles.</cite>, ix., 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f70'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r70'>70</a>. Εὐσεβεῖς τε <a id='corr148.n70.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_148.n70.1'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> μόνους θεοσεβεῖς τούτους ἀληθῶς, πρὸς -αυτῶν ἐλεγχθέντας τῶν πραγμάτων, ὁμολογεῖν.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f71'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r71'>71</a>. <cite>Hist. Eccles.</cite>, ix., 10.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f72'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r72'>72</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Hoc modo deus universos persecutores nominis sui debellavit, ut -eorum nec stirps nec radix ulla remaneret.</i></span>—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Mort. Persec.</cite></span>, -c. 49.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f73'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r73'>73</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Hist. Eccles.</cite></span>, viii., 14.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f74'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r74'>74</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Scinditur in partes populus gliscente furore; Seditio, cædes, bellum, -discordia, lites.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f75'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r75'>75</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Constant.</cite></span>, ii., 1.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f76'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r76'>76</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Constant.</cite></span>, i., 53.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f77'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r77'>77</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Huic parcimonia et ea quidem agrestis.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f78'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r78'>78</a>. σπουδάζειν περὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν.—<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, -ii., 46.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f79'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r79'>79</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Os nescio cujus hominis mortui, et si martyris, sed necdum vindicati.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f80'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r80'>80</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Schisma igitur illo tempore confusæ mulieris iracundia peperit, -ambitus nutrivit, avaritia roboravit.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f81'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r81'>81</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Ab omnibus omnino publicis functionibus immunes volumus conservari.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f82'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r82'>82</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>De cætero plena cognitione suscepta finis adhibeatur.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f83'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r83'>83</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Tunc enim revera et plenissime securus potero esse, cum universos -sensero debito cultu catholicæ religionis sanctissimum Deum concordi -observantiæ fraternitate venerari.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f84'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r84'>84</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Meum judicium postulant qui judicium Christi expecto. Dico -enim, ut se veritas habet, sacerdotum judicium ita debet haberi ac -si ipse Dominus residens judicet.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f85'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r85'>85</a>. <cite>Epist.</cite>, 43.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f86'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r86'>86</a>. <cite>Epist.</cite>, 105.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f87'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r87'>87</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nihil ex reciproco reponatur injuriæ: Vindictam enim, quam -Deo servare debemus, insipientis est manibus usurpare.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f88'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r88'>88</a>. <cite>The Age of the Fathers</cite>, chap. v.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f89'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r89'>89</a>. <cite>The Age of the Fathers</cite>, chap. vi.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f90'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r90'>90</a>. ἄγαν εὐτελὴς καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἀξία της τοιαύτης φιλονεικίας -ἡ πρόφασις.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f91'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r91'>91</a>. άλλ’ ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἕχετε λογισμὸν.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f92'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r92'>92</a>. δι’ ολίγας καὶ ματαίας ῥημάτων ἐν ἡμῖν φιλονεικίας.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f93'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r93'>93</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Constant.</cite></span>, iii., 6.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f94'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r94'>94</a>. ἀπεριέργως πιστείομεν.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f95'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r95'>95</a>. γυμνὴν γνώμην, πίστει <a id='corr216.n95.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_216.n95.1'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> καλοῖς ἔργοις φυλαττομένην.—Socrates, -i., 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f96'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r96'>96</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Constant.</cite></span>, iii., 10.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f97'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r97'>97</a>. αὐτὸι μὲν ὥς ἐκ κοπρίας ὄντες ἐλαλησαν ἀληθῶς ἀπο γῆς.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f98'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r98'>98</a>. Lecture iv.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f99'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r99'>99</a>. <cite>Age of the Fathers</cite>, chap. vi.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f100'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r100'>100</a>. τίμιον εἵναι <a id='corr232.n100.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι τὴν κόιτην κὰι αὐτὸν'>καὶ τὴν κόιτην καὶ αὐτὸν</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_232.n100.1'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι τὴν κόιτην κὰι αὐτὸν'>καὶ τὴν κόιτην καὶ αὐτὸν</ins></a></span> ἀμίαντον τὸν -γάμον.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f101'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r101'>101</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Constant.</cite></span>, iii., 15.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f102'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r102'>102</a>. θὲς, ὦ Ἀκέσιε, κλίμακα <a id='corr233.n102.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_233.n102.1'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> μόνος ἀνάβηθι εἰς τὸν -οὐρανόν.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f103'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r103'>103</a>. <a id='corr234.n103.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_234.n103.1'><ins class='correction' title='κὰι'>καὶ</ins></a></span> σπάνιος αὖ τῆς ἀληθείας φίλος.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f104'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r104'>104</a>. ὅ γὰρ τοῖς τριακοσίοις ἐπισκόποις ἤρεσεν οὔδεν ἔστιν -ἕτερον ἤ τοῦ θεοῦ γνώμη (Soc., i., 9).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f105'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r105'>105</a>. ὡς μηδὲν ἔτι πρὸς διχόνοιαν ἢ πίστεως αμφισβητησιν -ὑπολείπεσθαι (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ibidem</i></span>).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f106'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r106'>106</a>. ἐπὶ τὸ πὰσαν αἵρεσιν ἐκκοπῆναι (Soc., i., 9).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f107'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r107'>107</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Novum jam tum miraculum juvenis uxorius</i></span> (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, vi., -c. 2 et 4).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f108'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r108'>108</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iii., p. 47.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f109'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r109'>109</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Intrepidus et securus accedat: interpellet me. Ipse audiam -omnia, ipse cognoscam.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f110'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r110'>110</a>. ii., c. 4.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f111'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r111'>111</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, ii., p. 19.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f112'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r112'>112</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Verum insolentia rerum secundarum aliquantum Constantinus -ex illa favorabili animi docilitate mutavit</i></span> (x., p. 6).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f113'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r113'>113</a>. We may quote the most striking sentence in the document: -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Ecce tam palatium nostrum quam urbem Romam, et omnes totius -Italiæ et occidentalium regionum provincias, loca et civitates, præfato -beatissimo Pontifici nostra Sylvestro, universali papæ, concedimus -atque relinquimus.</i></span> The forger forged boldly, and then went on to -add that Constantine withdrew to Constantinople, because it was not -just that an earthly monarch (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>terrenus imperator</i></span>) should exercise -sovereignty in the city where the Head of the Christian religion had -been installed by the Lord of Heaven (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>ab imperatore cælesti</i></span>).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f114'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r114'>114</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iii., p. 44, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>seq.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f115'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r115'>115</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., c. 14.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f116'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r116'>116</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., p. 5.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f117'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r117'>117</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Ibid.</cite></span>, iv., p. 6.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f118'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r118'>118</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., p. 8.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f119'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r119'>119</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., p. 56.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f120'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r120'>120</a>. Bk. IV., c. 38, <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>seq.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f121'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r121'>121</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Constantinopolis dedicatur pæne omnium urbium nuditate.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f122'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r122'>122</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iii., c. 14.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f123'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r123'>123</a>. Sozomen II., 28.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f124'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r124'>124</a>. Socrates, i., 37.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f125'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r125'>125</a>. περίοπτος.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f126'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r126'>126</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., 54.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f127'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r127'>127</a>. ii., 32, 35.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f128'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r128'>128</a>. τὴν γὰρ ἀσωτίαν ἡγεῖτο φιλοτιμίαν (ii., 38).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f129'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r129'>129</a>. εἰς ἀναξίους καὶ ἀνωφελεῖς ἀνθρώπονς τοὺς φορους -ἐκδαπανῶν.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f130'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r130'>130</a>. καὶ τρυφῇ τὸν βίον ἐκδοίς (ii., 32).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f131'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r131'>131</a>. ἄνδρα ουκ ἀπόλεμον μὲν, ἡδονῇ δε καὶ ἀπολαύσει -χειροηθέστερον (c. 15).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f132'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r132'>132</a>. Eutropius, x., 7.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f133'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r133'>133</a>. οἷα τινα πατρώαν οὐσίαν τοὶς αὐτõυ κληροδοτῶν φιλτάτοις.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f134'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r134'>134</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., 51.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f135'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r135'>135</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., 61.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f136'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r136'>136</a>. θεσμὸυς ἤδη βίου <a id='corr313.136.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='θεῷ έποντας'>θεῷ πρέποντας</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_313.136.1'><ins class='correction' title='θεῷ έποντας'>θεῷ πρέποντας</ins></a></span> ἐμαυτῷ διατετάξομαι.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f137'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r137'>137</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., 36.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f138'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r138'>138</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., 23.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f139'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r139'>139</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Ibid.</cite></span>, c. 25.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f140'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r140'>140</a>. μόνου τε πᾶδαν πολίθεον πλάνην καθελόντος (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>ibid.</cite></span>, c. -75).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f141'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r141'>141</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Ibid.</cite></span>, c. 27.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f142'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r142'>142</a>. μηδεὶς τὸν ἕτερον παρενοχλεὶτω: ἕκαστος ὅπερ ἠ ψυχὴ -βούλεται τοῦτο καὶ πραττέτω (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, ii., 56).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f143'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r143'>143</a>. διὰ ταῦτά τοι ἀνέθηκα σοί τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ψύχην ἔρωτι -καὶ φόβῳ καθαρῶς ἀνακραθεῖσαν (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>ibid.</cite></span>, c. 55).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f144'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r144'>144</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iii., 48, iv., 25.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f145'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r145'>145</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Contra Lit. Petil.</cite></span>, ii., 205.</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f146'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r146'>146</a>. εἰς γὰρ τὸ πλείονας τιμᾶν διαφόρους ἐπενόει βασιλεὺς -αξιάς (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>De Vita Const.</cite></span>, iv., 1).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f147'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r147'>147</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Proximorum fauces aperuit primus omnium Consiantinus sed eos -medullis provinciarum saginavit Constantius</i></span> (xvi., c. 8, 12).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f148'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r148'>148</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Omnia foris placida, domi prospera; annonæ ubertas, fructuum -copia</i></span> (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, x., 38).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f149'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r149'>149</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nihil in exercitibus validum nisi externum.</i></span></p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f150'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r150'>150</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Nullas infestas hominibus bestias ut sunt sibi ferales plerique -Christianorum expertus</i></span> (xxii., 5).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f151'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r151'>151</a>. <span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><i>Vere dicuntar esse fundamenta rei publicæ, quia seminarium -juventutis et quasi fontem humani roboris semper Romanis exercitibus -ministrarunt</i></span> (<span lang="la" xml:lang="la"><cite>Pan. Vet.</cite></span>, vi., 2).</p> -</div> -<div class='footnote' id='f152'> -<p class='c001'><a href='#r152'>152</a>. <cite>History of Latin Literature</cite>, Bk. III., c. 7.</p> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<p class='c001'><a id='endnote'></a></p> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>Lapses of punctuation in the Index have been resolved without further -notice.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Where possible, Greek passages have been checked against Winkelmann's -edition: <a href='http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/books/eusebius/vc/gr/index.htm'>here</a>.</p> - -<p class='c001'>As noted below, a typesetting error in the footnotes, over a few pages, -resulted in the Greek ‘καὶ’ as ‘κὰι’.</p> - -<p class='c001'>The Greek passage in footnote #f136# has been corrected -to eliminate a wide spacing, supplying the first two -characters of ‘[πρ]έποντας’ (<cite>De Vit. Const.</cite>, iv., 62.)</p> - -<p class='c001'>The final two words of a Greek passage (‘ἐννοεῖ δῆτα ὁποῖον, -δέοι θέον ἐπιγράψασθαι βοηθὸν’) have been reversed, but are retained.</p> - -<p class='c001'>Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and -are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original -or to the page, (renumbered) note, and line.</p> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='15%' /> -<col width='57%' /> -<col width='26%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_8.10'></a><a href='#corr8.10'>8.10</a></td> - <td class='c027'>A long line of fortresses was estab[l]ished</td> - <td class='c028'>Inserted.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_11.6'></a><a href='#corr11.6'>11.6</a></td> - <td class='c027'>since the days of the Antonines[,/.]</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_19.9'></a><a href='#corr19.9'>19.9</a></td> - <td class='c027'>from [h/H]is lofty throne</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced for consistency.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_21.21'></a><a href='#corr21.21'>21.21</a></td> - <td class='c027'>a menace to the established authorities[,/.]</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_33.1'></a><a href='#corr33.1'>33.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>culpable w[ake/eak]ness.</td> - <td class='c028'>Transposed.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_45.23'></a><a href='#corr45.23'>45.23</a></td> - <td class='c027'>high-spir[i]ted</td> - <td class='c028'>Inserted.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_52.16'></a><a href='#corr52.16'>52.16</a></td> - <td class='c027'>[“]thanks to Maximian,</td> - <td class='c028'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_110.25'></a><a href='#corr110.25'>110.25</a></td> - <td class='c027'>ἐστι θειότης κ[ὰι\αὶ] οὐρανίου πράγματος</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_130.n64.1'></a><a href='#corr130.n64.1'>130.n64.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>τὸ σωτήριον κ[ὰι\αὶ] ζωοποιὸν</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_130.n64.2'></a><a href='#corr130.n64.2'>130.n64.2</a></td> - <td class='c027'>ὥσπερ τι φόβητρον κ[ὰι\αὶ] κακῶν ἀμυντήριον.</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_148.n70.1'></a><a href='#corr148.n70.1'>148.n70.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>Εὐσεβεῖς τε κ[ὰι\αὶ] μόνους θεοσεβεῖς</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_216.n95.1'></a><a href='#corr216.n95.1'>216.n95.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>πίστει κ[ὰι\αὶ] καλοῖς ἔργοις φυλαττομένην.</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_227.15'></a><a href='#corr227.15'>227.15</a></td> - <td class='c027'>of her debt to the wise.[”]</td> - <td class='c028'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_232.n100.1'></a><a href='#corr232.n100.1'>232.n100.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>τίμιον εἵναι κ[ὰι\αὶ] τὴν κόιτην κ[ὰι\αὶ] αὐτὸν</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_233.n102.1'></a><a href='#corr233.n102.1'>233.n102.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>κλίμακα κ[ὰι/αὶ] μόνος ἀνάβηθι εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_234.n103.1'></a><a href='#corr234.n103.1'>234.n103.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>κ[ὰι/αὶ] σπάνιος αὖ τῆς ἀληθείας φίλος.</td> - <td class='c028'>Replaced.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_274.14'></a><a href='#corr274.14'>274.14</a></td> - <td class='c027'>the world-renow[n]ed St. Sophia</td> - <td class='c028'>Inserted.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_307.12'></a><a href='#corr307.12'>307.12</a></td> - <td class='c027'>adding to their dignity.[”]</td> - <td class='c028'>Added.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_313.136.1'></a><a href='#corr313.136.1'>313.136.1</a></td> - <td class='c027'>θεσμὸυς ἤδη βίου θεῷ [πρ]έποντας</td> - <td class='c028'>Inserted.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c027'><a id='c_359.33'></a><a href='#corr359.33'>359.33</a></td> - <td class='c027'>Christian marty[r]s</td> - <td class='c028'>Inserted.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSTANTINE THE GREAT ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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