14 THIKD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
among the barbarians themselves, the representatives of the future. Ilis personal policy thus coincided with the interests of the state, Christianity appeared to him, as it proved in fact, the only efficient power for a ])olitical reformation of the empire, from which the ancient spirit of Rome was fast departing, w^liile internal, civil, and religious dissensions and the outward pressure of the barbarians threatened a gradual disso> lution of society.
But with the political he united also a religious motive, not clear and deep, indeed, yet honest, and strongly infused with the superstitious disposition to judge of a religion by its outward success and to ascribe a magical virtue to signs and ceremonies. His whole family was swayed bj^ religious sentiment, which manifested itself in very different forms, in the devout pilgrimages of Helena, the fanatical Arianism of Constantia, and Constantivis, and the fanatical jDaganism of Julian. Con stautine adopted Cliristianity first as a superstition, and put it by the side of his heathen superstition, till finally in his conviction the Cliristian vanquished the pagan, though without itself developing into a pure and enlightened faith.'
At first Constantine, like his father, in the spirit of the Neo-Platonic syncretism of dying lieathendom, reverenced all the gods as mysterious powers ; especially Apollo, the god of the sun, to whom in the year 308 he pi-esented munificent gifts. ISTay, so late as the year 321 he enjoined regular consultation of the soothsayers ^ in public misfortunes, according to ancient heathen usage ; even later, he placed his new^ residence, Byzantium, under the protection of the God of the Martyrs and the
* A similar view is substantially expressed by the great historian Niebuhr, Vortrage iiber Riim. Gescbichte, 1848. iii. 302. Mosbeim, in his work on the Firet Three Centuries, p. 9G5 sqq. (Murdock's Transl. ii. 460 sqq.) labors to prove at length that Constantine was no hypocrite, but sincerely believed, during the greater part of his life, that the Christian religion was the only true religion. Burckhardt, the most recent biographer of Cor.stantine, represents him as a great politician of decided genius, but destitute of moral principle and religious interest. So also Dr. Baur.
'The haruKpices, or interpreters of sacrifices, who foretold future »vent3 from th« entrails of victims.
§ 2. CONSTAlfTINE THE GKEAT. 15
heathen goddess of Fortune ; ' and down to the end of I'is lift- he retained the title and the dignity of a Pontifex Ifanimtis, or high-priest of the heathen hierarchy/ llis coins bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the Sun-god, and the inscription " Sol invictus." Of course these inconsistencies may be referred also to policy and accommodation to the toleration edict of 313. 'Nov is it difficult tc adduce parallels of persons who, in passing from Judaism tc Christianity, or from Romanism to Protestantism, have so wavered between their old and their new position that they might be claimed by both. With his every victory over his pagan rivals, Galerius, Maxentius, and Licinius, his personal leaning to Christianity and his confidence in the magic power of the sign of the cross increased ; yet he did not formally renounce heathenism, and did not receive baptism until, in 337, he w^as laid upon the bed of death.
He had an imposing and winning person, and was compared by flatterers with Apollo. He was tall, broad-shouldered, handsome, and of a remarkably vigorous and healthy constitution, but given to excessive vanity in his dress and outward demeanor, always wearing an oriental diadem, a helmet studded with jewels, and a purple mantle of silk richly embroidered with pearls and flowers worked in gold. His mind was not highly cultivated, but naturally clear, strong, and shrewd, and seldom thrown off its guard. He is said to have combined a cynical contempt of mankind with an inordinate love of praise. He possessed a good knowledge of human nature and administrative energy and tact.
His moral character was not without noble traits, among which a chastity rare for the time,^ and a liberality and boneti-
' According to Eusebius (Vit. Const. 1. iii. c. 48) he dedicated Constantinople to " the God of the martyrs," but, according to Zosimus (Hist. ii. c. 31), to two femal« deities, probably Mary and Fortuna. Subsequently the city stood under the special protection of the Virgin Mary.
' His successors also did the same, down to Gratian, 375, who renounced the title, then become quite empty.
* Euseb. Laud. Const, c. 5.
* All Christian accounts speak of his continence, but Julian insinuates the contra^ ry, and charges him with the old Roman vice of voracious gluttony (Caes. 329, S85)