This, and his profuse gifts to some who deserved them, and to others who deserved them not, obliged him to burden his people with taxes.

He built a church, and dedicated it to the twelve apostles, and intended to be buried there for the beneft of his soul. ὡς ἂν καὶ μὲτα τελευτὴν ἀξιῶτο τῶν ἐνταυθον μελλισῶν ἐπὶ τιμῇ τῶν ̓Αποσόλων (υντελεῖσθαι εὐχῶν ὠφέλειαν ψυ εὐχῶνὠφέλειαν χῆς ὀνησιφόρον τὴν τῶνδε μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι αὐτῷ πιςεύων. licet precationum quae in honorem Apostolorum ibi celebrandæ erant, etiam mortuus particeps fieret.-pro certo sibi persuadens, horum memoriam non parum utilitatis animce suce esse allaturam. Eusebius Vit. Const.

iv. 60.

quo sci

These things Eusebius mentions with approbation, and they shew how even such men as he were not free from superstition.

Constantine was perhaps the first Christian who was buried in a church, which afterwards became a common practice.

There is a story about him in Chrysostom, T. i, Orat. 20. related by Flavian, which is much to his credit, that some rioters having done outrage to one of his statues, and they who excited him to revenge and severity having told him, amongst other things, that his face had been pelted with stones, and all over bruised and battered, he put his hand to his face, and said that he did not feel it.

He was neither so good as Christian writers describe him, nor so bad as some Pagans represent him. He must have greatly offended the latter, since he not only established Christianity, but began the destruction of Paganism by various discouragements; by shutting up some temples, pulling down some, and

stripping

He

stripping others of their gods and ornaments. was indeed guilty of several faults, but upon the whole his good qualities may perhaps outweigh the bad. Fleury observes very prettily; On ne se trompera point sur Constantin, en croyant le mal qu'en dit Eusebe, et le bien qu'en dit Zosime.

Eutropius hath judged freely of him, and not amiss. Insolentia rerum secundarum aliquantum Constantinum ex illa favorabili animi docilitate mutavit. Primum necessitudines persecutus, egregium virum et sororis filium, omnimodre indolis juvenem interfecit, mox uxorem, post numerosos amicos. Vir primo imperü tempore optimis Principibus, ultimo mediis comparandus. L. x.

Excessive honours, and little short of divine, were paid by the Christians to his name, to his tomb, and to his statue, after his death. He was called a saint, and a saint equal to the apostles; and as Proculus forsware himself to make Romulus a god, so Nicephorus had the effrontery to declare that God had ended the urn and the statue of Constantine with miraculous powers, and that whosoever touched them was healed of all diseases and infirmities. The Pagans, who scorned to be less complaisant than the Christians, made him a god. Philostorg. ii. 17. Theodoret i. 34, Nicephorus viii. 55. Eutropius.

Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, a great friend of Athanasius, was deposed by the synod of Antioch, for Sabellianism, A. D. 327. Some relate, says Socrates, that it was for other faults which yet they have not mentioned; and indeed it is a custom with our spiritual rulers, when they depose a man, to load him with general accusations, and to call him irreligious and impious, but never to specify and declare particularly of what impiety he is guilty,

E 4

guilty. Ως μὲν ἦν τινες φασὶν, δὶ ἄλλας οὐκ ἀγαθὰς αἰτίας· φανερῶς γδ' οὐκ εἰρήκασι. τῦτο δὲ ἐπὶ πάντων εἰώθασι τῶν καθαιρομένων ποιῶν ο ἐπίσκοποι, κατηγοροντες μὲν καὶ ἀσεβεῖν λέγοντες, τὰς δὲ αἰτίας τῆς ἀσεβείας & προσιθεντες, i. 24.

४

Whoever sits down to examine the state of the Christian world, civil and religious, in the fourth and fifth centuries, if he be not strangely prejudiced, will find his veneration for those days to wear off apace, and, if he lives in a Protestant country, will learn perhaps to be contented with his own times, which, such as they are, deserve the preference.

Rufinus, and from him Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, give us an account of the conversion of Indian nations in the time of Constantine, of

some

which the substance is as follows.

These Indians, being at variance with the Romans, slew all the passengers in a ship which put into one of their harbours, except two boys, Frumentius and Ædesius, whom Meropius, a Christian and a philosopher, of Tyre, and a relation of theirs, had taken along with him. These boys were presented to the king of the country, who made Frumentius his secretary, and Edesius his cup-bearer. The king died, leaving a wife and a young child, and Frumentius administred the affairs of the kingdom, together with Ædesius, during the minority of the young king. Frumentius, inquiring

* Or of a people of Æthiopia, whose capital was Auxumis. Tillemont hath collected many things concerning Frumentius, H. E. vii. 284. Ludolphus in his Historia Ethiopica says, that, according to the Greek, Latin, and Æthiopic writers, the Abyssines were con verted by Frumentius, and that Cedrenus and Nicephorus were mis taken in placing the conversion of this people so low as the reign Justinian.

of

inquiring amongst the Roman merchants who traded there, found some Christians, who under his protection assembled together, and built a church, and catechized some of the Indians. Frumentius, resigning his office, which he had filled with credit and integrity, got leave to return home with Ædesius, and coming to Alexandria, exhorted Athanasius to send over some Ecclesiastics to that country. He was prevailupon to go back himself, as the most proper person, and being made a bishop, he preached the gospel there with great success, healing the sick, and working many miracles. This account Rufinus received from Ædesius, who was returned home to Tyre, and was there a presbyter of the church. Socrates i. 19. Sozomen ii. 24. Theodoret i, 23. Rufinus.

ed

About the same time the Iberi received Christianity, as we learn from Rufinus, and after him from Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. The Iberi inhabited a country between the Euxine sea and the Caspian, which is now called Georgia. A Christian woman, who was a captive, had gained the esteem and respect of the people by her good behaviour. It was a custom there to carry sick children from house to house, to ask advice of the neighbourhood. A child being brought to her, she put him upon her bed, and prayed for him, and restored him to health. The queen of the country being very ill, and hearing of this, came to her, and was healed in like manner. The king and the queen offered her great rewards, which she would not accept, but exhorted them to embrace her religion. Thus far the story has a good face, but

Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne.

For

For the present the exhortations of the female captive had no effect upon the king. Afterwards, as he was hunting in a forest, it grew quite dark on a sudden, and he knew not which way to go, and was in great distress he called upon Jesus Christ, and the daylight instantly returned. Upon this he sent for the woman, was instructed by her in Christianity, recommended it to his subjects, and sent for proper teachers to Constantine*, who received his messengers with great kindness, and appointed a bishop to go with them. In the mean time the king erected a church, at the building of which a very improbable miracle is related to have been wrought; a pillar was moved, and raised up, and suspended in the air, by the prayers of the woman. Rufinus says that he had this account from Bacurius. Bacurius was prince of the Iberi, and a general in the Roman service, under Valens and Theodosius, about forty years after the conversion of that people. Zosimus, who was a zealous pagan, commends him as a very brave and very honest man. Ελκων μὲν ἐξ' ̓Αρμενίας τὸ γένος, ἔξω δὲ πάσης κακοηθείας ἀνὴρ, μεὰ τὰ τὰ πολεμικὰ πεπαιδεύσθαι. L. iv. See Rufinus x. 10. Socrates i. 20. Sozomen ii. 7. Theodoret i. 24.

As to the facts in these two relations, which are not miraculous, there is no sufficient reason to deny them; but the preternatural part, particularly in the story of the Iberi†, calls loudly for abatements; how

ever

* To this Constantine seems to alude in his epistle to the council of Tyre. Mea certe opera divino Numini inserviente, ubique terrarum pax viget; ipsis etiam Barbaris Dei nomen sincere venerantibus, qui ad hoc usque tempus veritatem ignoraverant---Socr. i. 34. Soz. ii.

28.

† Miracles are now ceased amongst this people, by their own ac