Chapter Xxiii
IV. 23.]
THE LIFE OF CONSTANTINE.
OE DT Sata ea a among them who were partakers of the divine faith, leisure for attendance on the services of the Church of God, in order that they might be able, without impediment, to perform their religious worship. of the salutary trophy to be impressed on the very shields of his soldiers ; and commanded that his embattled forces should be preceded in their march, not by golden images, as heretofore,! but only by the standard of the cross.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XIX.
That he directed even his Pagan Soldiers to pray on the Lord's Day.
Wiru regard to those who were as yet ignorant of divine truth, he provided by a second statute that they should appear on each Lord's day on an open plain near the city, and there, at a given signal, offer to God with one accord a prayer which they had previously learnt.
He admonished them that their confidence should not rest in their spears, or armor, or bodily strength, but that they should acknowledge the supreme God as the giver of every good, and of victory itself; to whom they were bound to offer their prayers with due regularity, uplifting their hands toward heaven, and raising their mental vision higher still to the King of heaven, on whom they should call as the Author of victory, their Preserver, Guardian, and Helper.
The emperor himself prescribed the prayer to be used by all his troops, commanding them to pronounce the following words in the Latin tongue :
Of his Zeal in Prayer, and the Honor he pad to the Feast of Easter.
Tue emperor himself, as a sharer in the holy mysteries of our religion, would seclude himself daily at a stated hour in the innermost chambers of his palace; and there, in solitary converse with his God, would kneel in humble supplication, and entreat the blessings of which he stood in need.
But especially at the salutary feast of Easter, his religious diligence was redoubled ; he fulfilled as it were the. duties of a hierophant with every energy of his mind and body, and outvied all others in the zealous celebration of this feast.
He changed, too, the holy night vigil into a brightness like that of day, by causing waxen tapers of great length to be lighted throughout the city: besides which, torches everywhere diffused their light, so as to impart to this mystic vigil a brilliant splendor beyond that of day!
As soon as day itself returned, in imitation of our Saviour's gracious acts, he opened a liberal hand to his subjects of every nation, province, and people, and lavished
CHAPTER XX,
abundant bounties on all.
The Form of Prayer given by Constantine to his Soldiers.
"Wr acknowledge thee the only God: we own thee, as our King, and implore thy succor.
By thy favor have we gotten the victory : through thee are we mightier than our enemies.
We render thanks for thy past benefits, and trust thee for future blessings.
Together we pray to thee, and beseech thee long to preserve to us, safe and triumphant, our emperor
Constantine and his pious sons."
CHAPTER XXIII.
How he forbade Idolatrous Worship, but honored Martyrs and the Church Festivals.
Sucu were his sacred ministrations in the service of his God.
At the same time, his subjects, both civil and military, throughout the empire, found a barrier everywhere opposed against idol worship, and every kind of sacrifice forbidden.
A statute was also passed, enjoining the due 'observance of the Lord's day, and transmitted
Such was the duty to be performed on Sunday by his troops, and such the prayer they were instructed to offer up to God. to the governors of every province, who undertook, at the emperor's command, to respect the days commemorative of martyrs, and duly to honor. the festal seasons in the churches :? and all these intentions were fulfilled to the emperor's entire satisfaction.
CHAPTER XXI.
He orders the Sign of the Saviour's Cross to be engraven on his Soldiers' Shields.
AND not only so, but he also caused the sign 1 Compare for these, Yates, article Signa Militaria in Smith,
Dict. Gr. and Rom. Ant., where there is given cut of the arch of Constantine showing such stardards. day appears to have been issued A.D. 321, before which time both
"the old and new sabbath " were observed by Christians.
«€ Constantine (says Gibbon, ch. 20, note 8) styles the Lord's day Dies solis, a name which could not offend the ears of his Pagan subjects." — Bag.) This has been urged as ground for saying that Constantine did not commit himself to Christianity until the end of life, but it only shows his tact and care in treating the diverse elements of his empire.
1 Compare Venables, Easter, Ceremonies of, in Smith and Cheetham, D7ct., for account of the customs of the day.
1 [This prohibition must_be limited to private sacrifices.
See Bk. IL, ch. 45, note.
— Bag. ] 2 « S4y, rightly translates ' and honored the festal days by public gatherings,' while Vad. [and Bag.] falsely renders ' duly honored the festival seasons of the church,'"" — Hezx.
CONSTANTINE.
[IV. 24.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXIV.
That he described himself to be a Bishop, in Amendment of the Law in Force respecting Childless Persons, and of the Law of Wills.
Charge of Affairs External to the Church.
So numerous, indeed, were the benefits of this kind conferred by the emperor on every province, as to afford ample materials to any who might desire to record them.
Among these may be instanced those laws which he entirely remodelled, and established on a more equitable basis: the nature of which reform may be briefly and easily explained.
The childless were punished under the old law with the forfeiture of their hereditary property, a merciless statute, which dealt with them as positive criminals.
The emperor annulled this, and decreed that those so circumstanced should inherit.
He regulated the question on the principles of equity and justice, arguing willful transgressors should be chastised with the penalties their crimes deserve.
But nature herself denies children to many, who long, perhaps, for a numerous offspring, but are disappointed of their hope by bodily infirmity.
Others continue childless, not from any dislike of posterity, but because their ardent love of philosophy! renders them averse to the conjugal union.
Women, too, consecrated to the service of God, have maintained a pure and spotless virginity, and have devoted themselves, soul and body, to a life of entire chastity and holiness.
What then?
Should this conduct be deemed worthy of punishment, or rather of admiration and praise ; since to desire this state is in itself honorable, and to maintain it surpasses the power of unassisted nature?
Surely those whose bodily infirmity destroys their hope of offspring are worthy of pity, not of punishment: and he who devotes himself to a higher object calls not for chastisement, but especial admiration.
On such principles of sound reason did the emperor rectify the defects of this law.
Again, with regard to the wills of dying persons, the old laws had ordained that they should be expressed, even at the latest breath, as it were, in certain definite words, and had prescribed the exact form and terms to be employed.
This practice had occasioned many fraudulent attempts to hinder the intentions of the deceased from HENCE it was not without reason that once, on the occasion of his entertaining a company of bishops, he let fall the expression, "that he himself too was a bishop," addressing them in my hearing in the following words:
"You are bishops whose jurisdiction is within the Church :
I also am a bishop, ordained by God to overlook whatever is external to the Church."? And truly his measures corresponded with his words ; for he watched over his subjects with an episcopal care, and exhorted them as far as in him lay to follow a godly life.
CHAPTER XXV.
Prohibition of Sacrifices, of Mystic Rites, Combats of Gladiators, also the Licentious Worship of the Nile.
CONSISTENTLY with this zeal he issued successive laws and ordinances, forbidding any to offer sacrifice to idols, to consult diviners, to erect images, or to pollute the cities with the sanguinary combats of gladiators.'
And inasmuch as the Egyptians, especially those of Alexandria, had been accustomed to honor their river through a priesthood composed of effeminate men, a further law was passed commanding the extermination of the whole class as vicious, that no one might thenceforward be found tainted with the like impurity.
And whereas the superstitious inhabitants apprehended that the river would in consequence withhold its customary flood, God himself showed his approval of the emperor's law by ordering all things in a manner quite contrary to their expectation.
For those who had defiled the cities by their vicious conduct were indeed seen no more ; but the river, as if the country through which it flowed had been purified to receive it, rose higher than ever before, and completely overflowed the country with its fertilizing streams: thus effectually admonishing the deluded people to turn from impure men, and ascribe their prosperity to him alone who is the Giver of all good. indicates that virginity which was so highly honored in the earlier ages of Christianity, and the undue exaltation of which was productive, necessarily, of evils which it is scarcely possible to estimate at their full extent.
— Bag.] On the growing prevalence of the practice of virginity compare Hatch, Virgins, in Smith and Cheet am,
Dict.
But this note belongs rather to the paragraph below; for the author does not refer to Christian virginity, but primarily to philosophical celibacy in this instance.
The Neo-Platonic hilosophy of the times, through its doctrine of the purification of the soul by its liberation from the base or sensuous things, taught celibacy and ascetic practices generally.
So Plotinus (d. 270 A.D.) practiced and taught to a degree, and rie Sah (d. 301+) more explicitly.
Compare rich literature on Neo-Platonism, and conveniently Zeller, Outlines of Gr. Philos, Lond., 1886, p, 326-43, asszi.
1 This saying of Constantine has occasioned a deal of exegesis and conjecture.
Compare monograph of Walch mentioned under Literature in the Prolegomena for discussion and references to other older literature.
1 The most accessible reference for getting a glimpse of the legislation of Constantine in these and similar regards is the section,
The alteration in general and penal legislation in Wordsworth's Constantinus I., in Smith and Wace, Dict. 1 (1877).
This section is on p. 636-7.
Compare also the laws themselves as gathered in Migne, Patrol. /at. vol. 8. Compare also Prolegomena for general rem of the value of his legislation and his reputation as legisator.
IV. 29.]
THE LIFE OF CONSTANTINE.
being carried into full effect.
As soon as our emperor was aware of these abuses, he reformed this law likewise, declaring that a dying man ought to be permitted to indicate his last wishes in as few words as possible, and in whatever terms he pleased; and to set forth his will in any written form; or even by word of mouth, provided it were done in the presence of proper witnesses, who might be competent faithfully to discharge their trust. that the God to whom such persons devoted themselves was himself an inmate of their souls.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Of Constantine's Discourses and Declamations} For himself, he sometimes passed sleepless nights in furnishing his mind with Divine knowledge : and much of his time was spent in composing discourses, many of which he delivered in public ; for he conceived it to be incumbent on him to govern his subjects by appealing to their reason, and to secure in all respects a rational obedience to his authority.
Hence he would sometimes himself evoke an assembly, on which occasions vast multitudes attended, in the hope of hearing an emperor sustain the part of a philosopher.
And if in the course of his speech any occasion offered of touching on sacred topics, he immediately stood erect, and with a grave aspect and subdued tone of voice seemed reverently to be initiating his auditors in the mysteries of the Divine doctrine: and when they greeted him with shouts of acclamation, he would direct them by his gestures to raise their eyes to heaven, and reserve their admiration for the Supreme King alone, and honor him with adoration and praise.
He usually divided the subjects of his address, first thoroughly exposing the error of polytheism, and proving the superstition of the Gentiles to be mere fraud, and a cloak for impiety.
He then would assert the sole sovereignty of God: passing thence to his Providence, both general and particular.
Proceeding next to the dispensation of salvation, he would demonstrate its necessity, and adaptation to the nature of the case ; entering next in order on the doctrine of the Divine judgment.'
And here especiully he appealed most powerfully to the consciences of his hearers, while he denounced the rapacious and violent, and those who were slaves to an inordinate thirst of gain.
Nay, he caused some of his own acquaintance who were present to feel the severe lash of his words, and to stand with downcast eyes in the consciousness of guilt, while he testified against them in the clearest and most impressive terms that they would have an account to render of their deeds to God.
He reminded them that God himself had given him the empire of the world, portions of which he himself, acting on the same Divine principle, had intrusted to their government ; but that all would in due time be alike summoned to give account of their actions to the Supreme Sovereign of all.
Such was his constant testimony ;
CHAPTER XXVII.
Among Other Enactments, he decrees that no Christian shall slave to a Jew, and affirms the Validity of the Decisions of Councils.
HE also passed a law to the effect that no Christian should remain in servitude to a Jewish master, on the ground that it could not be right that those whom the Saviour had ransomed should be subjected to the yoke of slavery by a people who had slain the prophets and the Lord himself.
If any were found hereafter in these circumstances, the slave was to be set at liberty, and the master punished by a fine.
He likewise added the sanction of his authority to the decisions of bishops passed at their synods, and forbade the provincial governors to annul any of their decrees: for he rated the priests of God at a higher value than any judge whatever.
These and a thousand similar provisions did he enact for the benefit of his subjects ; but there is not time now to give a special description of them, such as might convey an accurate idea of his imperial wisdom in these respects: nor need I now relate at length, how, as a devoted servant of the Supreme God, he employed himself from morning until night in seeking objects for his beneficence, and how equally and universally kind he was to all.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
His Gifts to the Churches, and Bounties to Virgins and to the Poor.
His liberality, however, was most especially exercised on behalf of the churches of God.
In some cases he granted lands, in others he issued supplies of food for the support of the poor, of orphan children, and widows ; besides which, he evinced much care and forethought in fully providing the naked and destitute with clothing.
He distinguished, however, with most special honor those who had devoted their lives to the practice of Divine philosophy.
Hence his respect, little short of veneration, for God's most holy and ever virgin choir: for he felt assured
1 Compare Prolegomena, under Character and Writings.
2 Compare Prolegomena, and the Oration appended to this work.