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CHA P. tribution of public offices, he had the advantage

XX.

of ftrengthening his government, by the choice of minifters or generals, in whofe fidelity he could repose a just and unreserved confidence. By the influence of thefe dignified miffionaries, the profelytes of the new faith must have multiplied in the court and army; the Barbarians of Germany, who filled the ranks of the legions, were of a careless temper, which acquiefced without refistance in the religion of their commander; and when they paffed the Alps, it may fairly be prefumed, that a great number of the foldiers had already confecrated their fwords to the fervice of Chrift and of Conftantine 26. The habits of mankind, and the interest of religion, gradually abated the horror of war and bloodshed, which had fo long prevailed among the Christians; and in the councils which were affembled under the gracious protection of Conftantine, the authority of the bishops was feasonably employed to ratify the obligation of the military oath, and to inflict the penalty of excommunication on thofe foldiers who threw away their arms during the peace of the church 27. While Conftantine, in his own dominions, increafed the number and zeal of his faithful adherents, he could depend on the fupport of a

26 This careless temper of the Germans appears almost uniformly in the history of the converfion of each of the tribes. The legions of Conftantine were recruited with Germans (Zofiinus, l. ii. p. and the court even of his father had been filled with Chriftians. See 86.) i the first book of the life of Constantine, by Eusebius.

27 De his qui arma projiciunt in pace, placuit eos abstinere a com, munione. Concil. Arelat. Canon iii. The best critics apply thefe words to the peace of the church.

powerful

12

E

XX.

powerful faction in those provinces, which were CHA P.
still poffeffed or ufurped by his rivals, A fecret
difaffection was diffused among the Christian
fubjects of Maxentius and Licinius; and the re-
fentment which the latter did not attempt to con-
ceal, ferved only to engage them still more deeply
in the interest of his competitor.
The regular
correfpondence which connected the bishops of
the most diftant provinces, enabled them freely
to communicate their wifhes and their designs,
and to transmit without danger any useful intelli-
gence, or any pious contributions, which might
promote the service of Conftantine, who publicly
declared that he had taken up arms for the deli-
verance of the church 28,

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belief of

The enthusiasm which infpired the troops, and Expectaperhaps the emperor himself, had fharpened their tion and fwords while it fatisfied their confcience. They a miracle. marched to battle with the full affurance, that the fame God, who had formerly opened a paffage to the Ifraelites through the waters of Jordan, and had thrown down the walls of Jericho at the found of the trumpets of Joshua, would display his vifible majesty and power in the victory of Conftantine. The evidence of ecclefiaftical history is pre

28 Eufebius always confiders the fecond civil war against Licinius
as a fort of religious crufade. At the invitation of the tyrant, fome
Chriftian officers had refumed their zones; or, in other words, had
returned to the military service.
cenfured by the 12th canon of the
lar application may be received,
fenfe of the Greek interpreters, Baltamon, Zonaras, and Alexis
Ariftenus. See Beveridge, Pandect. Eccles, Græc. tom. i. p. 72.
tom. ij. p. 78. Annotation.

Their conduct was afterwards
Council of Nice; if this particu-
instead of the loose and general

pared

CHA P. pared to affirm, that their expectations were jufti XX. fied by the confpicuous miracle to which the converfion of the first Christian emperor has been almost unanimously afcribed. The real or ima ginary cause of fo important an event, deferves and demands the attention of pofterity; and I fhall endeavour to form a just estimate of the famous vifion of Conftantine, by a diftinct confideration of the standard, the dream, and the celestial fign; by feparating the hiftorical, the natural, and the marvellous parts of this extraordinary story, which, in the compofition of a fpecious argument, have been artfully confounded in one fplendid and brittle mass.

The Laba rum, or

ftandard of

I. An inftrument of the tortures which were inflicted only on flaves and ftrangers, became an the cross. object of horror in the eyes of a Roman citizen; and the ideas of guilt, of pain, and of ignominy, were clofely united with the idea of the cross 29. The piety rather than the humanity, of Conftantine, foon abolished in his dominions the punishment which the Saviour of mankind had condefcended to fuffer 30; but the emperor had already

29 Nomen ipfum crucis abfit non modo a corpore civium Roma. norum, fed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus. Cicero pro Raberio, c. 5. The Chriftian writers Juttin, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, Jerom, and Maximus of Turin, have investigated with tolerable fuccefs the figure or likenefs of a crofs in almost every object of nature or art; in the interfection of the meridian and equator, the human face, a bird flying, a man fwimming, a mast and yard, a plough. a ftandard, &c. &c. &c. See Lipfius de Cruce, l. i. c. 9.

30 See Aurelius Victor, who confiders this law as one of the examples of Conftantine's piety. An edict so honourable to Christianity delerved a place in the Theodofian Code, inftead of the indirect mention of it, which feems to refult from the comparifon of the vth and viiith titles of the ixth book.

learned

XX.

learned to defpife the prejudices of his education, c HA P. and of his people, before he could erect in the midst of Rome his own ftatue, bearing a crofs in its right hand; with an infcription, which referred the victory of his arms, and the deliverance of Rome, to the virtue of that falutary fign, the true fymbol of force and courage ". The fame fymbol fanctified the arms of the foldiers of Conftantine; the cross glittered on their helmets, was engraved on their fhields, was interwoven into their banners; and the confecrated emblems which adorned the perfon of the emperor himself, were distinguished only by richer materials and more exquifite workmanship 32. But the principal ftandard which displayed the triumph of the cross was ftiled the Labarum 33, an obfcure, though

31 Eufebius, in Vit. Conftantin. 1.i. c.40. The statue, or at least the cross and infcription, may be afcribed with more probabi lity to the fecond, or even the third, vifit of Conftantine to Rome. Inmediately after the defeat of Maxentius, the minds of the senate and people were scarcely ripe for this public monument.

32 Agnofcas regina libens mea figna neceffe eft ;
In quibus effigies crucis aut gemmata refulget
Aut longis folido ex auro præfertur in haftis.
Hoc figno invictus, tranfmiffis Alpibus Ültor
Servitium folvit miferabile Conftantinus

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Chriftus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro
Signabat Labarum, clypeorum infignia Chriftus
Scripferat; ardebat fummis crux addita criftis.

Prudent. in Syinmachum, 1. ii. 464. 486.
33 The derivation and meaning of the word Labarum, or Laborum,
which is employed by Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrofe, Prudentius,
&c. ftill remain totally unknown; in spite of the efforts of the critics,
who have ineffectually tortured the Latin, Greek, Spanish, Celtic,
Teutonic, Illyric, Armenian, &c. in fearch of an etymology. See
Ducange, in Gloff. Med. & infim. Latinitat. fub voce Labarum, and
Godefroy, ad Cod. Theodof. tom. ii, p. 143.
S

VOL. III.

celebrated

XX.

CHA P. celebrated name, which has been vainly derived from almost all the languages of the world. It is defcribed 34 as a long pike interfected by a tranfverfal beam. The filken veil which hung down from the beam, was curioufly enwrought with the images of the reigning monarch and his children. The fummit of the pike fupported a crown of gold which enclofed the myfterious monogram, at once expreffive of the figure of the crofs, and the initial letters of the name of Chrift 35. The fafety of the labarum was entrusted to fifty guards, of approved valour and fidelity; their station was marked by honours and emoluments; and fome fortunate accidents foon introduced an opinion, that as long as the guards of the labarum were engaged in the execution of their office, they were fecure and invulnerable amidst the darts of the enemy. In the fecond civil war Licinius felt and dreaded the power of this confecrated banner, the fight of which, in the diftrefs of battle, animated the foldiers of Conftantine with an invincible enthufiafm, and scattered terror and difmay through the ranks of the adverfe legions "6. The Chriftian

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Baronius (Annal.

34 Eufeb. in Vit. Conftantin. 1. i. c. 30, 31. Ecclef. A.D. 312, No 26.) has engraved a reprefentation of the

Labarum.

35 Tranfversâ X literâ, fummo capite fcutis notat. Cæcilius de M. P. c. 44.

circumflexo, Chriftum in Cuper (ad M. P. in edit. Lactant. tom. ii. p. 500.) and Baronius (A.D. 312. No. 25.) have engraved from ancient monuments feveral fpecimens (as thus of thefe monograms, which became extremely fashi onable in the Chriftian world.

fork) of

16 Eufeb. in Vit. Conftantin. l. ii. c. 7, 8, 9. He introduces the Labarum before the Italian expedition; but his narrative feems to in

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