Heroes of the Nations A Series of Biographical Studies presenting the lives and work of certain representative histori­ cal characters, about whom have gathered the traditions of the nations to which they belong, and who have, in the majority of instances, been accepted as types of the several national ideals. 12°, Illustrated, cloth, each, s/­ Half Leather, gilt top, each, 6/- FOR FULL LIST SE:!! END OF THIS VOLUME t,eroes of tbe 'Rations RDITED BY 't!. 'Wt. llarless lDavts, .m.:a. FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLRGE1 OXFORD FACTA. DUCIS v,vENT OPEROSAQUC: GLOFII,\ RERUM.-ovro, IN 1.IVIAM, 265. THE: HERO'S DEEDS A.~D HA.RO.WON FAME 8HA.LL LIVE., CONSTANTINE CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM PRINT ROOM, Frontispiece. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT THE REORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH BY JOHN B. FIRTH (SOMl!TIMB SCHOLAR OF QUERN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD) AUTHOR OF HAUGUSTUS C..-RSAR," uA TRANSLATION OF PLINV's LETTERS/' ETC. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK LONDON 27 WRST TWENTY-THIRD STRERT 24, BHDFORD STRHE:T, STRAND ~te Jnidmbocku Jltm 1905 COPYRIGHT 1 IQ04 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Published, January, 1905 TO MY FATHER 8604 PREFACE N the following chapters, my object has been to I tell the story of the Life and Times of Constan­ tine the Great. Whether he deserves the epithet my readers will judge for themselves; certainly his place in the select list of the immortals is not among the highest. But whether he himself was'' great'' or not, under his auspices one of the most momentous changes in the history of the world was accom­ plished, and it is the first conversion of a Roman Emperor to Christianity, with all that such conver­ sion entailed, which makes his period so important and so well worth studying. I have tried to write with impartiality-a virtue which one admires the more after a close reading of original authorities who, practically without excep­ tion, were bitter and malevolent partisans. The truth, therefore, is not always easily recognised, nor has recognition been made the easier by the polemi­ cal writers of succeeding centuries who have dealt with that side of Constantine's career which belongs more particularly to ecclesiastical history. In nar­ rating the course of the Arian Controversy and the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea I have been content to record facts-as I have seen them-and V VI Preface to explain the causes of quarrel rather than act as judge between the disputants. And though in this branch of my subject I have consulted all the origi­ nal authorities who describe the growth of the con­ troversy, I have not deemed it necessary to read, still less to add to, the endless strife of words to which the discussion of the theological and meta­ physical issues involved has given rise. On this point I am greatly indebted to, and have made liberal use of, the admirable chapters in the late Canon Bright's The Age of the Fathers. Other authorities, which have been most useful to me, are Boissier's La Fin du Paganisme, Allard's La Persecution de Dioclitien et le Triomphe de l'Eglise, Duruy's Histoire Romaine, and Grosvenor's Constan­ tinople. ]. B. FIRTH. LONDON, October, r904. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE THE EMPIRE UNDER DIOCLETIAN t CHAPTER II. THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH 12 CHAPTER III. THE ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN AND THE SUC­ CESSION OF CONSTANTINE 39 CHAPTER IV. CONSTANTINE AND HIS COLLEAGUES CHAPTER V. THE INVASION OF ITALY 73 CHAPTER VI. THE VISION OF THE CROSS AND THE EDICT OF MILAN 92 CHAPTER VII. THE DOWNFALL OF LICINIUS • vii Vlll Contents CHAPTER VIII. PAGR LAST DAYS OF PERSECUTION . 1 34 CHAPTER IX. CONSTANTINE AND THE DONATISTS 1 59 CHAPTER X. THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY 189 CHAPTER XI. tHE COUNCIL OF NIC./EA 2II CHAPTER XII. THE MURDERS OF CRISPUS AND FAUSTA. 237 CHAPTER XIII. THE FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE CHAPTER XIV. ARIUS AND ATHANASIUS 285 CHAPTER XV. CONSTANTINE'S DEATH AND CHARACTER 301 CHAPTER XVI. THE EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY 33° INDEX • 357 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE CONSTANTINE THE GREAT Frontispiece From the British Museum Print Room. BUST OF DIOCLETIAN 22 CONST AN TINE THE GREAT From Grosvenor's Constantinople. THE GOLDEN GATE OF DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE AT SALONA (SPALATO) 60 BUST OF MAXIMIAN AT ROME 62 Photograph by Alinari. FRAGMENT OF 4TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN POTTERY BOWL Showing an early portrait of Christ, with busts of the Emperor Constantine and the Empress Fansta. From the British Museum. THE BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE, BY RAPHAEL 86 In the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari. THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME. 90 Photograph by Alinari. CONSTANTINE'S VISION OF THE CROSS, BY RAPHAEL 94 In the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari. ix X Illustrations PAGE THE WESTERN SIDE OF A PEDESTAL, SHOWING THE HOMAGE OF THE VANQUISHED GOTHS 126 From Grosvenor's Constantinople. THE AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES 168 Exterior view. Present day. THE AMPHITHEATRE AT AR LES AS IT APPEARED IN 1686 172 From an old print. STATUE OF CONSTANTINE FROM THE PORCH OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, AT ROME 188 GATE OF ST. ANDREW AT AUTUN 212 ''CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HIS MOTHER, ST. HELENA, HOLY, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES" . 238 From a picture discovered 1845, in an old church of Mesembria. From Grosvenor's Constanti- nople. THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE • From the painting by Raphael in the Vatican. Photograph by Alinari. ST. HELENA'S VISION OF THE CROSS By Paul Veronese. National Gallery, London. CHART OF THE EASTERN SECTION OF MEDIJEV AL CONSTANTINOPLE • From Grosvenor's Constantinople. BAPTISTERY OF SAN GIOVANNI IN LATERAN, ROME 262 Photograph by Alinari. ST. HELEN A AND THE CROSS 268 By Cranach. Lichtenstein Gallery, Vienna. Illustrations Xl PAGE COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. From Grosvenor's Constantinople. THE THREE EXISTING MONUMENTS OF THE HIPPO­ DROME • From Grosvenor's Constantinople. PLAN OF THE HIPPODROME • From Grosvenor's Constantinople. THE SERPENT OF DELPHI From Grosvenor's Constantinople. ST. ATHANASIUS • From the British Museum Print Room. BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME 302 From Rome of To-Day and Yesterday, by John Dennie. THE SUPPOSED SARCOPHAGI OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND THEODOSIUS THE GREAT From Grosvenor's Constantinople. LIST OF COINS COPPER DENARIUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, SHOWING THE LABARUM DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTIUS II., WITH THE LABARUM 3 2 4 DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF DIOCLETIAN 3 2 4 SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIAN • 3 2 4 AUREUS OF CARAUSIUS. 332 AUREUS OF ALLECTUS 332 SOLIDUS OF HELENA 33 2 XU Illustrations PAGlt SOLIDUS OF GALERIUS 33 2 SOLIDUS OF SEVERUS II. 33 2 SOLIDUS OF MAXIMIN DAZA 34° SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS I. 34° SOLIDUS OF LICINIUS II. 34° DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 34° DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONST AN TINE THE GREAT 348 DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF FAUSTA 348 DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CRISPUS 348 DOUBLE SOLIDUS OF CONST ANTIUS II, AS ClESAR 348 CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS m. (,) Helena (2) Theodora (d. of Emperor Maximian) (t) Constantius = Helena (2) Constantius = Theodora 1 Constantine the Great m. ( r 1 1\1inervina (2) Fausta (d. of Emperor Maxirnian) (1) Constantine= Minervina (2) Constantine = P'austa Cris~us (killed in 326) I I I . I . ConstantineI II. (killed in 340) Constantius II. (d. 36r) Constans (killed m 350) Constantma HeLna I m. Julian A daughter I I Constantine (killed in 337) Dalmatius Constantius (killed, 337) Constantia An~stasia Eutropia Annibalianus m. (1) Galla m. Emperor Licinius m. Bassianus (Cresar) m. N epotianus I (2) Basilina I I Dalmatius Annibalianus Licinianus Flavius Popilius (Cresar in 335 ; (King of Pontus; ( killed in 326) Nepotianus killed in 337) killed in 337) (killed in 390) (r) Constantius = Galla (2) Constantius = Basilina I I 1. A son, Gallus Juhan (killed in 337) (killed in 354) (Emperor, 36I) Constantine CHAPTER I THE EMPIRE UNDER DIOCLETIAN HE catastrophe of the fall of Rome, with all T that its fall signified to the fifth century, came very near to accomplishment in the third. There was a long period when it seemed as though nothing could save the Empire. Her prestige sank to the vanishing point. Her armies had forgotten what it was to win a victory over a foreign enemy. Her Emperors were worthless and incapable. On every side the frontiers were being pierced and the bar­ riers were giving way. The Franks swept over Gaul and laid it waste. They penetrated into Spain; besieged Toledo; and, seizing the galleys which they found in the Span­ ish ports, boldly crossed into Mauretanian Africa. Other confederations of free barbarians from south­ ern Germany had burst through the wall of Hadrian which protected the Tithe Lands (Decumates agri), and had followed the ancient route of invasion over I 2 Constantine the Alps. Pannonia had been ravaged by the Sar­ matre and the Quadi. In successive invasions the Goths had overrun Dacia ; had poured round the Black Sea or crossed it on shipboard ; had sacked Trebizond and ·Chalcedon, and, after traversing Bi­ thynia, had reached the coast at Ephesus. Others had advanced into Greece and Macedonia and chal­ lenged the Roman navies for the possession of Crete. Not only was Armenia lost, but the Parthians had passed the Euphrates, vanquished and taken pris­ oner the Emperor Valerian, and surprised the city of Antioch while the inhabitants were idly gathered in the theatre. Valerian, chained and robed in purple, was kept alive to act as Sapor's footstool ; when he died his skin was tanned and stuffed with straw and set to grace a Parthian temple. Egypt was in the hands of a rebel who had cut off the grain supply.