A. D. dignity. Nothing could persuade him to submit to Licinius, and he rendered himself independent in the East. 307 310 312 There remained scarce any thing to Galerius but Illyria, whither he had retired, when driven out of Italy. The rest of the West obeyed Maximian, his son Maxentius, and his son-in-law Constantine. But he did not choose his own children, any more than strangers, for partners in the empire. He endeavoured to drive his son Maxentius out of Rome, but was expelled by him. Constantine, who received him into the Gauls, found him no less perfidious. After various attempts, Maximian formed a final plot, in which he thought to have engaged his daughter Fausta against her husband*. She deceived him; and Maximian, who fancied he had killed Constantine, by killing the eunuch they had put in his bed, was forced to lay violent hands on himself. A new war breaks out; and Maxentius, under pretext of revenging his father, declares against Constantine, who marches to Rome with his troops. At the same time he causes the statues of Maximian to be thrown down; those of Dioclesian, which stood next to them, shared the same fate. Dioclesian's repose was disturbed by this piece of contempt, and he died some time after as much of vexation as of old age. In those times Rome†, a constant enemy to Christianity, made a last effort to extin *Lact. de Mort. Pers. c. 42, 43. + Euseb. viii. Hist. Eccl. 16. de vit. Const. i. 57. 312 302 guish it, by which she completed its esta- A. D. blishment. Galerius, marked by historians as the author of the last persecution, two years before he had obliged Dioclesian to quit the empire, forced him to make that bloody edict, which commanded the Christians to be persecuted more violently than ever. Maximian*, who hated them, and had never ceased to torment them, spirited up the magistrates and executioners: but his violence, however excessive, did not equal that of Maximian and Galerius. New punishments were daily invented. The modesty of the Christian virgins was no less attacked than their faith. Search was made after the sacred books with extraordinary care, in order to abolish the very memory of them, and the Christians did not dare to have them in their houses, nor hardly to read them. Thus, after three hundred years persecution, the malice of the persecutors became still more violent. The Christians wearied them out by their patience. The people, touched with their holy life, were converted in great numbers. Galerius despaired of being able to overcome them. Struck with an extraordinary disease, he revoked his edicts, and died the death of Antiochus, with as false a repent ance. Maximian continued the persecution but Constantine the Great, a wise and victorious. prince, publicly embraced Christianity. * Lact. de Mort. Pers. 9 & seq. 311 312 A. D. 312 313 315 324 525 XI. Epoch. Constantine, or the Peace of the Church. THIS CELEBRATED DECLARATION OF CONSTANTINE happened in the S12th year of our Lord. While he was besieging Maxentius in Rome, a flaming cross appeared to him in the air, before all the people, with an inscription that promised him victory: the same thing is confirmed to him in a dream. Next day he gained that celebrated battle, which freed Rome from a tyrant, and the church from a persecutor. The cross was displayed as the defence of the Roman people, and of the whole empire. A little after Maximin was vanquished by Licinius, who was then on good terms with Constantine, and made an exit like that of Galerius. Peace was given to the church. Constantine loaded her with honours and riches. Victory followed him every where, and the Barbarians were quelled, both by himself and his children. Meantime Licinius falls out with him, and renews the persecution. Beaten by sea and land, he is forced to quit the empire, and at last to lose his life. About this time Constantine assembled at Nice in Bithynia the first general council, where 311 bishops, who represented the whole church, condemned Arius the priest, and opposer of the divinity of the Son of God; and drew up the creed, in which the consubstantiality of the Father and Son is maintained. The priests of the Roman 325 320 church, sent by the pope St. Sylvester, took A. D. place of all the bishops in that assembly *, and an ancient Greek author reckons among the legates of the holy see, the celebrated Osius bishop of Cordova, who presided at the council. Constantine took his seat in it, and received its decisions as an oracle from Heaven. The Arians concealed their errors, and recovered his good graces by dissimulation. Whilst his valour maintained the empire in profound tranquillity, the peace of his own family was disturbed by the artifices of Fausta his wife. Crispus, son of Constantine by another marriage, being accused by this stepmother, of having attempted to seduce her, found his father inflexible. His death was quickly revenged. Fausta, convicted, was suffocated in the bath. But Constantine, dishonoured by the wickedness of his wife, derived at the same time a great deal of honour from the piety of his mother. She discovered in the ruins of ancient Jerusalem, the true cross, fruitful in miracles. The holy sepulchre was also found. The new city of Jerusalem which Hadrian had built, the grotto where the Saviour of the world was born, and all the holy places, were adorned with stately temples by Helen and Constantine. Four years after, the emperor rebuilt Byzantium, which he called Constantinople, and made it the second see of the empire. The church, peaceful under Constantine, was cruelly afflicted in Persia. An infinite number of * Gel. Syric. Hist. Con. Nic. lib. ii. 6, 27. 330 336 337 340 A. D. martyrs signalized their faith. The emperor endeavoured in vain to pacify Sapor, and bring him over to Christianity. Constantine's protection afforded the persecuted Christians only a favourable retreat. This prince, blessed by the whole church, died full of joy and hope, after dividing the empire amongst his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. Their unity was soon disturbed. Constantine perished in the war he had with his brother Constans, about the limits of their empire. Constantius and Constans agreed but little better. Constans maintained the Nicene faith, which Constantius as strenuously opposed. Then did the church admire the long sufferings of St. Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, and defender of the council of Nice. Thrust out of his see by Constantius, he was canonically reinvested by pope St. Julius I. and whose decree was ratified by Constans. This good prince did not live long. The tyrant Magnentius treacherously murdered him: but soon after being vanquished by Constantius, he killed himself. In the battle, by which his affairs were ruined, Valens, an Arian bishop, having had private intelligence from his friends, assured Constantius, that the tyrant's army was put to flight, and made the weak emperor believe that he knew it by revelation. Upon this forged revelation, Constantius delivers himself over to the Arians. The orthodox bishops are expelled their sees: the 341 350 351 353 *Soc. Hist. Eccl. ii. 15. Sozom. iii. 8. |