against the Picts in North Britain. Constantius died at York, July 25, 306, having proclaimed his son Con- stantine his successor. The Roman soldiers, in the Praetorium at York, procbdmed Constantine emperor. He now wrote a conciliatory letter to Galerius, and re- quested to be acknowledged as Augustus. Galerius, however, would not allow him the title of Augustus, and gave him that of Cmsar only. Constantine took possession of the countries which had been subject to his father, viz., Gaul, Spain, and Britain ; and, hav- ing overcome the Franks, he turned his arms against Maxentins, who had usurped the government of Italy and AfHca. He conquered Maxentius in three bat- tles, the last at the Milvian bridge, under the walls of Rome. Constai\tine was now declared by the senate Augustus and Pontifex Maximus (Oct. 28, 812). It was in this campaign that he is said to have seen a flaming cross in the heavens, beneath the sun, bearing this inscription. In hoc signo vinces, L e. ** By this sign thou shalt conquer;" and on the same authority it is stated that Christ himself appeared to him the follow- ing night and ordered him to take for his standard an imitation of the fleiy cross which he had seen. He accordingly caused a standard to be made in this form, which was called the UAarwn (q. v.). This account rests chiefly on the testimony of Eusebius {Vita Con- stantini^ i, 29, 80), said to be founded on a communica- tion fh>m Constantine himself. ** Lactantius, the ear- liest witness (Z>s mortHnu perseeutorum, c. 44, a work which may not have been written by Lactantius, but yet was composed about A.IX 814 or 815), speaks only of a dream, in which the emperor was directed to stamp on the shields of his soldiers * the heavenly sign of God,' that is, the cross, with the name of Christ, and thus to go forth- against his enemy'' (Schaff, History of the Christian Churchy vol. ii, § 2, where this point, and indeed the whole relation of Constantine to the Church, is admirably treated). In January, 818, he published the memorable edict of toleration in favor of the Christians, by which all the property that had been taken from the Christians during the persecutions was restored to them. '* They were also made eligible to public offices. This edict has accordingly been re- garded as marking the triumph of the cross and the downfall of paganism. Having defeated Licinius, who showed a mortal hatred to the Christians, Constantine became sole head of the Eastern and Western empire in 825, the year noted for the cscumenical council which he convened at Nice, in Bithynia, and which he attend- ed in person, for the purpose of settling the Arian con- troversy. Towards the close of his life he favored the Arians, to which he was induced by Eusebius of Nico- media, in consequence of which he banished many orthodox bishops. Though he professed Christianity, he was not baptized till he fell sick in 887, in which year he died in Nicomedia'' (Buck, Theol, Diet. s. v.). The senate of Borne placed him among the gods, and
CONSTANTINE
488
CONSTAiniNOPLE
the Chiistiani of the East reckoned him among the saints: his festival is still celebrated by the Greek, Coptic, and Russian churches on the 21st of May.
''Whatever may have been the true character of Constantine^s conversion to the Christian faith, its con- sequences were of vast importance both to the empire and to the Church of Christ. It opened the way for the nnobstructed propagation of the Gospel to a wider extent than at any former period of its history. All impediments to an open profession of Christianity were removed, and it became the established religion of the empire. Numerous, however, in various points of view, as were the advantages accruing to it from this change, it soon began to suffer fh)m being brought into close contact with the fostering influence of seen- lar power. The simplicity of the Gospel was corrupt- ed; pompous rites and ceremonies were introduced; worldly honors and emoluments were conferred on the teachers of Christianity, and the kingdom of Christ in a great measure converted into a kingdom of this world. The character of Constantine has been the object of various and contradictory judgments, accord- ing to the religious and political spirit of the various writers. Eusebius, Nazarius, and other Christian con- temporaries, grateftil for the protection afforded by the emperor to the Christian religion, may be considered his panegyrists, while Zosimus and other heathen writers, animated by an opposite feeling, were his en • emies. The brief summing-up of Entropius is perhaps nearest the truth : ' In the first part of his reign he was equal to the best princes, in the latter to middling ones. He had many great qualities ; he was fond of militaiy glory, and was successful. He was also fa- vorable to civil arts and liberal studies; fond of being loved and praised, and liberal to most of his friends. He made many laws; some good and equitable, oth- ers superfluous, and some harsh and severe* " (Hend, Buck). See Gibbon, Decline and Fall^ i, 454 sq. ; Man- so, Lebm KonstantMt (Breslau, 1817) ; Keim, Ueber- triU Konttantint mm Ckristmlhum (Zurich, 1862); Bnrckbardt, Die Zeit Konttcmtin des Grotsen ; Schaff, Ch. Hist, 1. c. ; Neander, Ch. Hist, (Torrey*8 ed.), U, iii ; Stanley, Eastern Church, Lect. vL See Donation.