into their own territory. penetrated into Dacia, and inflicted upon them a signal punishment, he condescended to make peace with the suppliants on condition that they should supply the Roman army with a body of 40,000 men as often as they were required (A.D. 322).

Having crossed the Danube,

7. The next great achievement of his reign took place about a year afterwards, or A.D. 323. This was his victory over Licinius, whom he defeated, with the assistance of his eldest son, Crispus, first at Hadrianople, then at Byzantium, and lastly at Chrysopolis, or Scrutari, as it is now called. On the death of this, his only remaining rival, at the end of a short interval of confinement, the Roman world was again peaceably united under one Emperor, thirtyseven years after Diocletian had divided his power with Maximian (A.D. 324).

8. When Constantine had thus secured the safety and glory of his throne, he purposed to add additional splendour to his reign, and to give strength to the empire by laying the foundations of a new city in the East (A.D. 324). This city still perpetuates his name, and in beauty of situation and natural position as a place of defence has, perhaps, nothing equal to it throughout the world. The chief motive which led the mind of the Conqueror to fix upon Byzantium, and to make it the seat of the empire of the East, was to enable its rulers with a more ready and powerful arm to curb the barbarians who dwell between the rivers Danube and Tanais; and thus also they might hope to watch with a more jealous eye the Persian monarch, who indignantly supported the yoke which had been placed upon him by an ignominious treaty with Diocletian.

9. In building this great capital, Constantine, the master of the Roman world, aspired to erect a lasting monument of the glories of his reign, and in the prosecution of this great work he employed the wealth, the labour and all that yet remained of the genius of obedient millions. The expenses bestowed upon its walls, its porticoes, and its aqueducts amounted to 60,000 lbs. weight of gold, or as it is computed in the modern reckoning to 2,500,000l. sterling. Whatever could adorn the dignity of a great metropolis, or contribute to the benefit or pleasure of its inhabitants, was to be found within the walls of Constantinople. It

contained a capitol or school of learning, a circus, 2 theatres, 8 public, and 153 private baths; 52 porticoes, 5 granaries, 8 aqueducts or reservoirs of water, 4 spacious halls for meetings of the senate or courts of justice; 14 churches, the same number of palaces, and more than 4000 houses, which in size and beauty were distinguished from the multitude of plebeian habitations. The dedication of this city took place A.D. 330 or 334. The games and largesses which crowned the ceremony of this festival may easily be supposed to have been on a magnificent scale. At this festival an edict was engraved on a column of marble, which bestowed the title of Second, or New Rome, on the city of Constantine. The name of the founder, however, was permanently affixed to it, as the more honourable epithet, and from that time it became the resort of many of the noble families of Rome; and the latter being no longer the court of the Emperor, the new capital gradually usurped the place of the first city of the Roman Empire.

10. A greater change than even this removal of the seat of the empire was speedily to be effected in the Roman world, by a revolution in matters of religion. From the period of his becoming Emperor in conjunction with Licinius (A.D. 312), Constantine had shewn a favourable disposition towards Christianity. His father Constantius had always acted with much forbearance towards the Christians, sparing their persons, if not their churches, during the Diocletian persecution, and one of the son's first acts after inheriting his office was to publish an edict of toleration (A.D. 313). After the victory over Maxentius, the mind of Constantine was still more strongly inclined to Christianity. Its bishops were treated with great respect, and every privilege was conceded to this religion, that was consistent with the mere existence of Paganism, and the exemption of the latter from persecution. This politic Emperor was too wise to attempt the overturning of an old system of superstition by hasty movements. But as soon as he was possessed of the sole power of the empire, he issued letters to all his subjects, exhorting them without delay, to imitate the example of their sovereign, and to embrace the divine truths of Christianity.

11. His general conduct, in other respects, accorded with

this declaration. He received the Christian bishops with all honour and due respect, taking them with him in his journeys, and entertaining them often at his table. He exempted the clergy from all civil and secular employments, and freed their churches from the taxes and tributes ordinarily assessed upon all other persons and societies. He also abolished the

punishment of crucifixion out of reverence to our Saviour's passion, and from a wish to do honour to that heavenly vision of the cross which had so lately appeared to him as the forerunner of a happy victory.

12. Many proofs are left, besides these, of the sincerity of his conversion. Some years before his death he proclaimed to the world that neither his person, nor his image should ever more be seen within the walls of an idolatrous temple. In the midst of his incessant labours, he found time to read and study the holy Scriptures, and even to compose theological discourses, which he afterwards delivered to numerous and applauding audiences. In his own example, as well as by precept, he endeavoured to secure the sacred observance of the Lord's day. For his army he expressly composed a form of prayer, to be offered up when they were encamped in the open fields, and directed that the courts of justice should be shut for public business on Fridays, and on the great festival of the Resurrection. He built also many noble churches and oratories in his own city, and its neighbourhood; and shewed the same care for the advancement of the Christian faith in that country from whence it sprung. At Jerusalem, and in Palestine, where his mother Helena chiefly dwelt, and exerted her piety in discovering the holy places which were consecrated by the memory of the great author of our religion, Constantine is said to have erected three churches, one on the supposed site of the Nativity, another at the place of the Ascension, and a third (now known as the church of the Holy Sepulchre), over the spot where Christ was entombed (A.D. 327).

13. To show, however, a strong determination to set up Christianity in opposition to Paganism, this Emperor gave orders that some of the heathen temples should be demolished. Their statues of gold, in certain instances, were melted down and coined into money; or if made of baser materials were dragged about the streets for public derision. At Aphaca, in Phoenicia, where there stood a temple which

had been the scene of many unholy rites, the worship of Venus was put a stop to, by the edifice being pulled down, and its rich gifts and ornaments disposed of. And a similar proceeding took place at Heliopolis in that country, a church being built there in the room of its idolatrous temple, and supplied with a bishop and other ministers of religion. More instances are recorded to the same effect, as the destruction of the temple of Esculapius at Ega in Cilicia, and the dispersion of the Androgyni or priests of the Nile, who were accustomed to perform ridiculous ceremonies in honour of that river. In short, by several laws he forbad the offering of any sacrifices to the pagan gods (A.D. 332); and though their temples were still left standing in Rome and Alexandria, the practice of the heathen ceremonies there or elsewhere was only permitted by an act of forbearance and connivance, and no longer formed a necessary part of the religion of the empire. The priests were not universally, as appears by one of his edicts directed to Felix, prefect of Africa (A.D. 335), deprived of their honours or revenues; for this would have been too dangerous an experiment in all cases, and might have defeated the object that the Emperor had in view, which was to undermine the old superstition, and to make it gradually contemptible, rather than to pluck it up at once by the roots. Of this we have an example in the portico erected before his palace, where he caused himself to be represented at full length, with the cross over his head, and a dragon under his feet struck through with darts, and falling into the sea, to denote by what assistance he had routed and intended to destroy pagan superstition, the old enemy of mankind.

14. As the friend and patron of the Christian religion, one of the greatest acts of the life of Constantine was his endeavour to act the part of an umpire or judge in those religious disputes which were, at this period, beginning to divide the church. At an early period of his reign he called together an assembly of the clergy at Arles (A.D. 314), to determine a controversy affecting the welfare of their community in Africa. Eleven years afterwards (A.D. 325) he convened a more numerous and celebrated assembly at Nice, in Bithynia, to extinguish, by their final sentence, the disputes which had arisen in Egypt on the doctrine of the Trinity. Three hundred and eighteen bishops obeyed the

summons, and the clergy of every rank and sect present, have been computed at two thousand and forty-eight persons. The session which lasted about two months, was frequently honoured by the presence of the Emperor himself, who leaving his guards at the door, took his seat in the midst of the hall, clothed in his most splendid robes. Constantine, great as he was, listened with patience and spoke with modesty; professing himself to be the minister, and not the judge of those venerable councillors. He exhorted them to peace and unanimity; and a number of mutual accusations having been presented to him he threw them all into the fire, protesting that he had not read one of them. Although the decisions of this synod did not put a stop to the Arian controversy, yet its results were upon the whole highly important, as showing what were the opinions of the great majority there assembled, in opposition to Arius and his party. Their opinions were expressed, and embodied in that profession of faith which has been adopted in all subsequent ages of the Catholic Church, under the name of the Nicene Creed, the greatest part of it having been drawn up on this occasion, and subscribed to, as a standard of sound doctrine. A crowd of martyrs and confessors joined in the sentence against Arius and his opinions. Some of these had suffered by the application of hot iron to both hands. Others appeared who had been deprived of a right eye, an arm, or a leg. All, with the exception of twenty-two, united in condemning Arius to be deposed from his office, to be excommunicated, and to be forbidden to enter Alexandria, where he had hitherto officiated as a priest. Three months after the dissolution of the council, Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theogius of Nice were banished by the Emperor's command, for attempting still to support the Arian cause.

15. The reign of an Emperor, so well disposed to lend all his aid to promote the success and welfare of the Christian religion, afforded peculiar advantages for its extension to the remotest limits of the Roman Empire, and even beyond it. The Iberi, since called the Georgians, and the Indians, and Abyssinians, are said to have been now taught the doctrines of Christianity. An embassy being sent from the king of the first of these countries, to desire that bishops and preachers might be sent among his people, Constantine honoured it with peculiar respect, and readily complied with