OF THE ROMAN F.MPIRF..

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riously enwrought with the images of the reign-ing monarch and his children. The summit ofthe pike supported a crown of gold which in-closed the mysterious monogram, at once ex-pressive of the figure of the cross, and the ini-tial letters of the name of Christ . 1 The safetyof the labarum was entrusted to fifty guards, ofapproved valour and fidelity; their station wasmarked by honours and emoluments; and somefortunate accidents soon introduced an opinion,that as long as the guards of the labarum wereengaged in the execution of their office, theywere secure and invulnerable amidst the dartsof the enemy. In the second civil war Licinius felt and dreaded the power of this consecratedbanner, the sight of which, in the distress ofbattle, animated the soldiers of Constantine with an invincible enthusiasm, and scatteredterror and dismay through the ranks of the ad-verse legions."' The Christian emperors, whorespected the example of Constantine , display-ed in all their military expeditions the standardof the cross; but when the degenerate succes-sors of Theodosius had ceased to appear in per-

1 Transverse X litera, nimmo capite circumttexo, Christum in scutisnotat. Cascilius de m. p. c. 44. Cuper (ad M. P. in edit. Lacfant.tom. ii, p. 500) and Baronius (a. d. 312, No. 25) have engraved from

ancient monuments several specimens ^as thus p. or ^ of these

monograms, which became extremely fashionable in the Christian world.

m Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. I. ii, c. 7, 8, 9. He introduces the laba-rum before the Italian expedition ; but his narrative seems to indicatethat it was never shewn at the head of an army, till Constantine , aboveten years afterwards, declared himself the enemy of Licinius , and thedeliverer of the church.

VOL. III. S

CHAP.

XX.