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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Chap. XXIV.

Already the judgment of God approached him, and that season ensued in which his fortunes began to droop and to waste away. While occupied in the manner that I have described above, he did not set himself to subvert or expel Constantius, but waited for his death, not imagining, however, that it was so nigh. Constantius, having become exceedingly ill, wrote to Galerius, and requested that his son Constantine might be sent to see him. He had made a like request long before, but in vain; for Galerius meant nothing less than to grant it. On the contrary, he laid repeated snares for the life of that young man, because he durst not use open violence, lest he should stir up civil wars against himself, and incur that which he most dreaded, the hate and resentment of the army. Under pretence of manly exercise and recreation, he made him combat with wild beasts: but this device was frustrated; for the power of God protected Constantine, and in the very moment of jeopardy rescued him from the hands of Galerius. At length, Galerius, when he could no longer avoid complying with the request of Constantius, one evening gave Constantine a warrant to depart, and commanded him to set out next morning with the imperial despatches. Galerius meant either to find some pretext for detaining Constantine, or to forward orders to Severus for arresting him on the road. Constantine discerned his purpose; and therefore, after supper, when the emperor was gone to rest, he hasted away, carried off from the principal stages all the horses maintained at the public expense, and escaped. Next day the emperor, having purposely remained in his bed-chamber until noon, ordered Constantine to be called into his presence; but he learnt that Constantine had set out immediately after supper. Outrageous with passion, he ordered horses to be made ready, that Constantine might be pursued and dragged back; and hearing that all the horses had been carried off from the great road, he could hardly refrain from tears. Meanwhile Constantine, journeying with incredible rapidity, reached his father, who was already about to expire. Constantius recommended his son to the soldiers, delivered the sovereign authority into his hands, and then died, as his wish had long been, in peace and quiet.

Constantine Augustus, having assumed the government, made it his first care to restore the Christians to the exercise of their worship and to their God; and so began his administration by reinstating ¹ the holy religion.

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De mortibus persecutorum

24.

[1] Iam propinquavit illi iudicium dei secutumque tempus est quo res eius dilabi ac fluere coepe runt. [2] Nondum animum intenderat ad evertendum pellendumve Constantium, dum est occupa tus his rebus quas superius exposui; et expectabat obitum eius, sed tamen celeriter non putabat obiturum. [3] Qui cum graviter laboraret, miserat litteras, ut filium suum Constantinum remitteret sibi videndum, quem iam dudum ‹frustra repetierat›. [4] Ille vero nihil minus volebat. Nam et [in] insidiis saepe iuvenem adpetiverat, quia palam nihil audebat, ne contra se arma civilia et, quod maxime verebatur, odia militum concitaret, ‹et› sub obtentu exercitii ac lusus feris illum obiece rat, [5] sed frustra, quoniam dei manus hominem protegebat. Qui illum de manibus eius liberavit in ipso cardine. Namque saepius ‹rogatus› cum iam diu negare non posset, dedit illi sigillum inclinante iam die praecepitque, ut postridie mane acceptis mandatis proficisceretur, vel ipse illum occasione aliqua retentaturus vel praemissurus litteras, ut [Constantinus] a Severo teneretur. [6] Quae cum ille prospiceret, quiescente iam imperatore post cenam properavit exire sublatisque per mansiones multas omnibus equis publicis evolavit. [7] Postridie imperator eum cum consulto ad medium diem usque dormisset, vocari eum iubet. Dicitur ei post cenam statim profectus. Indignari ac fremere coepit. Poscebat equos publicos, ut eum retrahi faceret. Nudatus ei cursus publicus nuntiatur. Vix lacrimas tenebat. [8] At ille incredibili celeritate usus pervenit ad patrem iam defi cientem, qui ei militibus commendato imperium per manus tradidit. Atque ita in lecto suo requiem vitae, sicut optabat, accepit. [9] Suscepto imperio Constantinus Augustus nihil egit prius quam Christianos cultui ac deo suo reddere. Haec fuit prima eius sanctio sanctae religionis restitutae.