OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

263

army of divine warriors, who seemed to fall chap.

from the sky : he marks their beauty, their spi-__

rit, their gigantic forms, the stream of lightwhich beamed from their celestial armour, theirpatience in suffering themselves to be heard, aswell as seen, by mortals ; and their declarationthat they were sent, that they flew, to the as-sistance of the great Constantine . For the truthof this prodigy, the pagan orator appeals to thewhole Gallic nation, in whose presence he wasthen speaking; and seems to hope that the an-cient apparitions 1 would now obtain credit fromthis recent and public event.

The Christian fable of Eusebius , which, inthe space of twenty-six years, might arise from a.d. S 38 .the original dream, is cast in a much more cor-rect and elegant mould. In one of the marchesof Constantine , he is reported to have seen withhis own eyes the luminous trophy of the cross,placed above the meridian sun, and inscribedwith the following- words: Jiy this, conquer.

This amazing object in the sky astonished thewhole army, as well as the emperor himself,who was yet undetermined in the choice of areligion: but his astonishment was convertedinto faith by the vision of the ensuing night.

Christ appeared before his eyes; and display-ing the same celestial sign of the cross, he di-rected Constantine to frame a similar standard,and to march, with an assurance of victory,

1 The apparitions of Castor and Pollux , particularly to announce theMacedonian victory, are attested hy historians and public monuments.

See Cicero dc Natura Deorum, ii, 2, iii, 5, 6. Florus, ii, 12. ValeriusMaximus , I. i, c. 8, No. 1. l'ct the most recent of these miracles isomitted, and indirectly denied by Livy (Ixv, 1).