XX. emperors, who refpected the example of Con. CHA P. of Con. II. In all occafions of danger or diftrefs, it was The dream dicate that it was never fhewn at the head of an army, till Constan- 37 See Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxv. Sozomen, 1. i. c. 2. Theo- 38 The Abbé du Voifin, p. 103, &c. alleges feveral of these medals, and quotes a particular differtation of a Jefuit, the Pere de Grainville, on this subject. CHAP. all the daily occurrences of life, as an infallible XX. preservative against every species of fpiritual or temporal evil 39. The authority of the church might alone have had fufficient weight to justify the devotion of Conftantine, who, in the fameprudent and gradual progrefs, acknowledged the truth, and affumed the fymbol, of Christianity. But the testimony of a contemporary writer, who in a formal treatise has avenged the caufe of religion, bestows on the piety of the emperor a more awful and fublime character. He affirms, with the moft perfect confidence, that in the night which preceded the last battle against Maxentius, Conftantine was admonished in a dream to infcribe the fhields of his foldiers with the celeftial fign of God, the facred monogram of the name of Chrift; that he executed the commands of heaven, and that his valour and obedience were rewarded by the decifive victory of the Milvian Bridge. Some confiderations might perhaps incline a fceptical mind to fufpect the judgment or the veracity of the rhetorician, whofe pen, either from zeal or intereft, was devoted to the cause of the prevailing faction 40. He appears to have published his deaths 39 Tertullian, de Corona, c. 3. Athanafius, tom. i. p. zo1. The learned Jefuit Petavius (Dogmata Theolog. I. xv. c. 9. 10.) has collected many fimilar paffages on the virtues of the cross, which in the last age embaraffed our Proteftant difputants. 40 Cæcilius, de M. P. c. 44. It is certain, that this hiftorical declamation was compofed and published, while Licinius, fovereign of the Eaft, ftill preserved the friendship of Constantine, and of the Christians. Every reader of taste mult perceive, that the ftyle is of a very different and inferior character to that of Lactantius; and fuch indeed is the judgment of Le Clerc and Lardner (Bibliotheque Ancienne 10 XX. deaths of the perfecutors at Nicomedia about CHAP. 1 Ancienne et Moderne, tom. iii. p. 438. Credibility of the Gospel, 41 Cæcilius, de M. P. c. 46. There feems to be fome reafon in CHAP. form of Chrift, and the well-known fymbol of XX. his religion, might forcibly offer themfelves to the active fancy of a prince who reverenced the name, and had perhaps fecretly implored the power, of the God of the Chriftians. As readily might a confummate ftatefman indulge himself in the use of one of thofe military ftratagems, one of thofe pious frauds, which Philip and Sertorius had employed with fuch art and effect. The præ ternatural origin of dreams was univerfally ad mitted by the nations of antiquity, and a confider, able part of the Gallic army was already prepared to place their confidence in the falutary fign of the Chriftian religion. The fecret vifion of Con ftantine could be difproved only by the event; and the intrepid hero who had paffed the Alps and the Appenine, might view with careless despair the confequences of a defeat under the walls of Rome. The fenate and people, exulting in their own deliverance from an odious tyrant, acknow, ledged that the victory of Conftantine furpaffed the powers of man, without daring to infinuate that it had been obtained by the protection of the Gods. The triumphal arch, which was erected 42 Befides these well-known examples, Tollius (Preface to Boilleau's tranДation of Longinus) has difcovered a vifion of Antigonus who affured his troops that he had feen a pentagon (the symbol of fafety) with these words, "In this conqner." But Tollips has moft inexcufably omitted to produce bis authority; and his own character, literary as well as moral, is not free from reproach (See Chauffepie Dictionnaire Critique, tom. iv. p. 460.). Without infifting on the filence of Diodorus, Plutarch, Juftin, &c. it may be obferved that Polyænus, who in a feparate chapter (1. iv. c. 6.) has collected nineteen military ftratagems of Antigonus, is totally ignorant of this remarkable vifion. about 43 about three years after the event, proclaims, in eнAP. 44 ance of a III. The philofopher, who with calm fufpicion Appearexamines the dreams and omens, the miracles and crofs in prodigies, of profane or even of ecclefiaftical the sky. history, will probably conclude, that if the eyes of the spectators have fometimes been deceived by fraud, the understanding of the readers has much more frequently been infulted by fiction, Every event, or appearance, or accident, which feems to deviate from the ordinary courfe of nature, has been rafhly ascribed to the immediate action of the Deity; and the astonished fancy of the multitude has fometimes given fhape and colour, language and motion, to the fleeting but 43 Inftin&u Divinitatis, mentis magnitudine. The infcription on the triumphal arch of Constantine, which has been copied by Baronius, Gruter, &c. may still be perused by every curious traveller. 44 Habes profecto, aliquid cum illa mente Divinâ fecretum; quæ delegatâ noftrâ Diis Minoribus curâ uni se tibi dignatur oftendere, Panegyr, Vet. ix. 2. |