of the army, and the whole West, put his right beyond dispute. Besides, Maximianus Herculius, who, together with Diocletian, had some years since laid down the purple, did now again endeavour to resume it, and upon some ill success of his affairs fled into Gaul to Constantine, to whom he gave the title of Augustus, together with his daughter Fausta to wife into the bargain. Here Constantine governed with great success, till hearing from all hands of the intolerable outrages and insolencies committed by Maxentius at Rome," and solicited by an embassy sent to him for that purpose from the senate and people of that city," he took up a resolution, worthy of so great a mind, to march against him, and free the city from the tyranny and extravagancies of that usurper. No sooner was he engaged in this expedition, but like a prudent and good man, he began to think of some assistanc beyond the mere strength and courage of his army; and knowin there was great variety of deities at that time worshipped in th world, his first care was, which of these to pitch upon, an implore as his protector and tutelar guardian. He observed th fatal miscarriages of his predecessors, that had stickled hard f a multiplicity of gods, had reposed entire confidence in the assistance, and courted their favour by all the formal and fo rites of worship; notwithstanding all which, their wars h been generally unprosperous, and they themselves brought unfortunate and untimely ends: on the contrary, at father had acknowledged and adored one only God, and supreme governor of the world, who had strangely succe undertakings, and given him many illustrious instance divine power and goodness through the whole series of 1 so thereupon he grew to this resolution, to lay aside the deities, who it is plain did but pretend to divinity, and che world, and to adhere only to the God of his father; to therefore he addressed himself, beseeching him to make hi known to him, and effectually to assist him in this expedi And heaven heard his prayer, and answered it in a most n culous manner, so wonderful, that Eusebius, who report grants, it would not have been credible, if he had not ha from Constantine's own mouth, who solemnly ratified the t of it with his oath. The army was upon their march, and emperor taken up with these devout ejaculations, when the

8 Euseb. de vit. Const. 1. i. c. 27, etc.

Zonar. Annal. 1. xiii. s.

declining, (about three of the clock, as it is probable, in the
afternoon,) there suddenly appeared a pillar of light in the
heavens in the fashion of a cross, whereon (or, as others, about it)
was this inscription, (in Latin, say some, but Eusebius mentions
not that,) expressed in letters formed by a configuration of stars,
(if what Philostorgius, and some others report, be true) TOTT
NIKA," In this overcome." Constantine was not a little
startled at this sight, and so was the whole army that beheld
it; and it is plain, the commanders and officers, prompted by
their aruspices, looked upon it as an inauspicious omen, por-
tending a very unfortunate expedition, The emperor himself
knew not what to make of it, musing upon it all that evening:
at night onr Lord appeared to him in a dream with the cross in
his hand, which he had shewed him the day before, commanding
him to make a royal standard like that which he had seen in the
heavens, and cause it to be borne before him in his wars as an
ensign of victory and safety. Early the next morning he got
up, and told his friends what had happened: and sending im-
mediately for workmen, sat down by them, and described to
them the form of the thing, which he commanded them to make
with the most exquisite artifice and magnificence, and the
made it accordingly after this manner: a long spear plated o
e passed that way,
with gold, wit

fashion of

curtain of parole; eatinder

stones, which retetela EATING

top of it were metured the ente

the top of the start gold and jewels, within which

the two first etters Custame the one being stren

This device ne starts only Ensebins calls

Coins extant at this lar

was carried before

seen it. And in mutation

called 'abara,e mader

his Christian accessors.

e, nobility 1 loud ac their de

and the

set up whose

r the

most

num

the same form. It is true, the Gentile writers make no express
mention of this apparition of the cross, nor is it reasonable to
expect they should. But this they confess, which they say was
a current and uncontradicted report in the mouth of all, that
before this engagement an army in the air was seen to come
down from heaven, persons of great strength and stature, with
vigorous and cheerful looks, and bright flaming armour, who
"We seek for Constantine, we are come to
were heard to say,
assist him;" as the heathen orator tells us in that very oration,*
wherein he congratulated the victory.

k

IV. Constantine had a mighty curiosity to be farther instructed in these divine significations, and therefore calling for some Christian bishops, asked them, who this God was, and what he meant by this sign. They told him, the person that had done this was the only-begotten Son of the one only God; the sign that had appeared to him was the symbol of immortality, and the trophy of that victory, which this God, while he was upon earth, had gained over death. They explained to him the reasons of his coming down from heaven, and the state of his incarnation, and undertaking the cause of mankind. He heard their discourses with great pleasure and satisfaction, but kept himself upon the reserve, like a wary and prudent man, not giving too much way at first; he oft compared the heavenly vision with what they had discoursed to him upon that argument, and the more he did so, the more he was satisfied, not doubting but that in due time God would more perfectly discover these things to him; in order whereunto he resolved at leisure hours to peruse the holy scriptures. But herein he kept his thoughts to himself, nor indeed for the present was it safe for him to declare them. However, assured in his own mind, he marched through Italy,' against all opposition, almost to the very walls of Rome, encamping his army (consisting, says Zosimus," of ninety thousand foot and eight thousand horse) in a large plain before the city. Maxentius was a man that wholly gave up himself to ease and luxury," dividing his time between pleasure and super

k Nazar. Paneg. Constant. dict. p. 71. inter Panegyricos.

1 Euseb. de vit. Const. 1. i. c. 37, 38. Vid. Liban. Orat. iii. vol. ii. p. 105.

n Vid. Paneg. ii. Constant. dict. p. 42, etc. inter Panegyricos. Zosim. l. ii. c. 16. Lactant. de mortib. persecut. c. 44. Aur. Victor. c. 40.

stition. He never went out of the city, and seldom out of the palace; so intolerably idle, that to remove into the Salustian gardens (though to enjoy a fresh scene of pleasure) was accounted a journey, and an expedition, as the orator justly jeers him. But Constantine now approaching, he saw he must leave the city, and therefore plied the altars with numerous sacrifices, and commanded the Sibylline books to be searched; and the answer brought him was, "That that day the great enemy of Rome should perish." This he understood of Constantine, and applied the success to himself, and the rather, it is like, because it was then his birth-day. So having put all things into the best posture he could, he quitted the city, and came out against Constantine with far more numerous forces; his infantry consisting of an hundred and seventy thousand foot, and his cavalry of eighteen thousand horse, a great part whereof being Romans and Italians, and having smarted so much under his insolent tyranny, desired nothing more than to see him fall at the enemies' feet. The engagement was fierce and bloody, until victory, having hovered a while, rested on Constantine's side; for the enemies' cavalry being routed, the whole army fled, and thinking to escape the nearest way by a bridge of boats, which Maxentius had built over the Tiber, and had contrived with secret springs and engines on purpose to drown Constantine if he passed that way, were caught in their own trap, and fell into the pit which they had digged for others. For the engines giving way, the boats parted, and, overpressed with the weight of the company, sunk to the bottom of the river, and Maxentius himself along with them, whose body being found, his head was stricken off, and carried upon a pole before the army.

V. An entire victory thus obtained, Constantine made a triumphant entry into the city, being met by the senate, nobility, and infinite crowds of people, whose cheerful faces, and loud acclamations, sufficiently testified the sense they had of their deliverance, publicly styling him their saviour, redeemer, and the author of their happiness. The first thing he did was to set up a standing monument of his gratitude to that God by whose assistance he had gained the victory; which he did, or rather the senate by his direction, by erecting a statue to him in the most eminent part of the city, (and this I take to be the signum

which, the orator says, the senate had lately bestowed upon him, and which a little after he calls a "golden statue,") holding in his hand a long spear in form of a cross, with an inscription in the basis of it to this effect: P

HOC SALUTARI SIGNO, QUOD VERÆ VIRTUTIS

ARGUMENTUM EST, VESTRAM URBEM

TYRANNICE DOMINATIONIS JUGO

LIBERATAM SERVAVI

SENATUI POPULOQ. ROMANO

IN LIBERTATEM ASSERTO

PRISTINUM DECUS NOBILITATIS

SPLENDOREMQ. RESTITUI.

Intimating that, under the influence of that victorious cross, he had delivered their city from the yoke of tyrannical power, and had restored to the senate and people of Rome their ancient glory and splendour. Several other monuments with inscriptions they set up for him, remains whereof are still to be found among the antiquities of Rome, particularly at the foot of the Palatine Mount, (whereon stood the imperial palace,) they erected a triumphal arch, whereon they acknowledged the great deliverance he had wrought to be done INSTINCTU DIVINITATIS, as well as MENTIS MAGNITUDINE, by the impulse and assistance of God, no less than by his own courage and puissance.

q

VI. Having settled affairs at Rome, and endeared himself to all sorts of persons, he began by little and little more openly to declare himself in favour of the Christians, though so as not to fall presently upon the Gentiles. But that he himself was now fully settled in the Christian faith, is evident, not only from several laws which he published in favour of the clergy, and about the affairs of Christians, not long after his victory over Maxentius, (this victory was obtained about the midst of November, Ann. Chr. 312,) but also from the answer which the next year he gave to the Donatists," who petitioned him to assign them Paneg. supr. citat. p. 47. Vid. Aur. Victor. c. 40.

P Hanc Inscriptionem Latino Sermone factam, Græce exhibet Eusebius Hist. Eccl. 1. ix. c. 9.

9 Vid. Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. Tit. ii. 1. 1. not. Gothofred. ibid.

r Ap. Optat. de Schism. Donat. 1. i. p. 25.