Section 23
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xvi LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. cration of the great church, which Constantine in honour of Christ had erected in that place. There our Eusebius graced the solemnity, by the several sermons he delivered. And when the emperor, by very strict letters, had summoned the bishops to his own court, that in his presence they might give an account of their fraudulent and litigious conduct towards Athanasius, our Eusebius, with five others, went to Constantinople, and furnished that prince with a developement of the whole transaction. Here also, in the palace, he delivered his tricennalian oration, which the emperor heard with the utmost joy, not so much on account of any praises to himself, as on account of the praises of God, celebrated by Eusebius throughout the whole of that oration. This oration was the second delivered by Eusebius in that palace.* For he had before made an oration there, concerning the sepulchre of our Lord, which the emperor heard standing: nor could he, though repeatedly entreated by Eusebius, be persuaded to sit in the chair placed for him,t alleging that it was fit that discourses con cerning God should be heard standing. How dear and acceptable our Eusebius was to Constantine, may be known both from the facts we have narrated, as well as from many other circumstances. For he both received many letters from him, as may be seen in the books already mentioned, and was not unfrequently sent for to the palace, where he was entertained at table, and honoured with familiar conversation. Constantine, moreover, related to our Eusebius, the vision of the cross seen by him when on his expedition against Maxentius ; and showed to him, as Eusebius in forms { us, the labarum§ that he had ordered to be made to represent the likeness of that cross. Constantine also, committed to Eusebius, since he knew him to be most skilful in Biblical knowledge, the care and superintendency of transcribing copies|| of the Scriptures, which he wanted for the accommodation of the churches he had built at Constantinople. Lastly, the book concerning the Feast of Easter, dedicated to him by our Eusebius, was a present to Constantine, so acceptable, that he ordered its immediate translation into Latin ; and by letter entreated Eusebius, that he would communicate, soon as * According to his own testimony, in his fourth Book, concerning the Life of Constantine, chap. 46. f As Eusebius relates in the 33d chapter of the Life of Constantine. $ Life of Constantine, lib. 1. c. 28 & 30. § An imperial standard, E Life of Constantine, lib. 4. c. 34 & 35.