stantine which had been erected in the parts subject to his rule. His intention was to march into Gaul and return a conqueror. With this view he assembled an army of 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse. But before he was in a position to start, Constantine was at the walls of Rome with an army of 90,000, all told.

As we have seen by his remonstrance addressed to Maximian, Constantine was already favorably disposed towards the Christians. Neither he nor his father had ever persecuted them for their religious profession. If isolated instances occurred within his jurisdiction it is to be attributed to the malevolence of the governors acting on their own. responsibility. Before entering upon his expedition, he addressed his prayers to the one Sovereign Being, the Lord and Master of all things, whom his father recognized as the only true God. His prayer was heard and as a testimony of the divine favor one day while marching at the head of his troops there appeared to him and to his army a luminous cross with this inscription, "In hoc signo vinces ""In this sign thou shalt conquer." The same night our divine Lord appeared to him in a dream with a like cross, and commanded him to make a similar one and bear it as a standard at the head of his troops. He did so, and the new, standard was named the Labarum. Several smaller ones were also formed, and took the place of the idols, which were borne by the legions. The exact locality of this miraculous occurrence is unknown, some placing it in Italy, some in Gaul, and others again on the banks of the Rhine.

While Constantine was thus marching upon Rome, under the auspices of the signs of salvation, the Christians of the East were undergoing a severe persecution at the hands of his colleagues, Alexander and Maximin. The partial and politic cessation which the latter, as we have seen, put to the sufferings of the Christians, at the instance of Constan

tine, was only ephemeral in its character. It lasted merely as long as there was fear to enforce it, and hence, Constantine being now engaged with a powerful rival, Maximin found himself at liberty to recur to his former policy and to indulge his accustomed inclination by persecuting the faithful. His tyranny in this instance was directed against the Christians of Armenia. On their refusal to renounce their religion, he declared a war of extermination against them, determining to sweep them from the land, or to make them comply with his will. But in this he miscalculated; for the hand of the Lord was against him, and, instead of victory, defeat was his portion; while at home the empire was desolated by famine and pestilence. Meantime, Constantine was moving rapidly towards Rome. At Suze, a town on the Italian side of the Alps, he met with the first opposition. That place refused to open its gates to him, but was speedily taken by assault. At Turin, he encountered a considerable army which he readily overcame. Milan, Brescia and Verona, in turn, fell into his hands. The last mentioned place offered the strongest opposition; but so little did he doubt the result, that, before it had surrendered, he intrusted its capture to one of his generals and hastened, himself, to the subjugation of Aquileia and Modena. In fine, all northern Italy, to the walls of Rome, was shortly in his possession. Maxentius, who was still in the capital, awaited the advance of his enemy. The repeated losses his troops had sustained, added to the universal discouragement, made him aware that, if a victory was to be gained, it should be by artifice or general-ship, and not by force. He accordingly attempted to accomplish by cunning what he could not by arms. To this end, in addition to an attempt at undermining, by bribery, the loyalty of the troops, he constructed a bridge spanning the Tiber, so that at his pleasure it might be made to give way

at the opportune moment. He had intended to remain in the city, and, when his adversary was crossing, to loosen the fastenings of the bridge, and thus to precipitate all into the Tiber. In this he was only preparing an instrument of ruin for himself, for being forced, by the murmurs and reproaches of the citizens, to advance against his powerful rival, and being defeated, in his flight the very ruin which he had intended for Constantine happened to himself. The bridge parted beneath his troops; he was precipitated into the Tiber with the flower of his army; and thus perished ingloriously on the 29th of October, 312.

CHAPTER XX

CONSTANTINE'S ACCESSION DOES NOT BRING UNIVERSAL PEACE TO THE CHURCH-EDICTS FAVORABLE TO THE CHRISTIANS ISSUED BY CONSTANAND LICINIUS-MAXIMIN'S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO DISPLACE HIS COLLEAGUES AND TO OBTAIN SOLE CONTROL-HIS DEFEAT-DIOCLETIAN DIES WRETCHED-MARTYRS UNDER LICINIUS.

TINE

The triumph of Constantine, though a subject of great joy to the faithful, by no means brought peace to the universal Church. Paganism had not yet received its death blow. In the East, where Maximin ruled, the sword of persecution was still unsheathed and Christian blood continued to flow as freely as ever. It was different in the West, for recognizing in the triumph over Maxentius the aid of the true God, Constantine, on taking possession of the city, promulgated an edict in concert with Licinius in favor of the Christians. He was not yet a Christian, nor did he become one for five and twenty years later, till finding himself at the point of death he was formally received into the Church, in the suburbs of Nicomedia, A. D. 337.*

The new edict of toleration in behalf of the Christians was forwarded to Maximin, together with an account of the motives that prompted it. These were the favors accorded to the conqueror by the God of the Christians. The document arrived at an opportune moment, when the tyrant was preparing for a great slaughter of the faithful. Fearing to place himself in opposition to his col league, he not only abstained from his premeditated

Although the date of Constantine's conversion is disputed, still the great bulk of writers fix it at the time of his death, A. D. 337. For a full treatment of the case, see Natalis Alexander, vol. vii., p. 615.

butchery, but even caused an edict favorable to the Christians to be published. That the document was prompted by political and personal motives, and was not the result of a settled conviction of the justice of the cause, subsequent events fully establish. In it the true character of the tyrant duly appears, for while up to that date, as we have seen, he had been unceasing in the persecution of the faithful, he had now the audacity to declare that this had not been by his orders. The only length he went in the recent edict, was to cause a cessation of the persecution, without, however, permitting the Christians to practice their religion in public. Neither was there any clause in the document ordering the restoration of the confiscated property or permitting the churches to be re-opened.

After spending a few months in Rome, Constantine repaired to Milan where he was shortly after joined by Licinius who had gone there for the pupose of espousing his daughter. It was on that occasion, while occupied about matrimonial and state affairs, that both princes promulgated a second decree more comprehensive and important than the first. This was the first really liberal document that emanated from any of the Roman emperors. It secured liberty of conscience to all to worship as they pleased, and read thus: "I, Constantine Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, being at Milan and treating of all that regarded the public safety and utility, have thought it one of our first duties to regulate all that concerned the worship of the divinity and to give the Christians and all others the liberty to follow whatever religion each may choose, in order thus to draw down upon ourselves and our subjects the favor of heaven. We have, then, resolved by salutary counsel not to deny to any one the liberty of embracing the Christian religion or any other religion that may be deemed most convenient, in order that the supreme