CHAPTER II.A NAVAL QUESTION.After the overthrow of the Christian communities which Ulfilas had founded among the Goths, Constantine called Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, unto himself, and began to make diligent inquiries concerning the churches of Syria and of Egypt; and, having obtained all of the information current among the bishops, he entered into conversation with Eusebius, apparently for the purpose of still further satisfying himself upon certain points involved in his investigations."Thou sayest," said Constantine, "that, in spite of the persecution in which many bishops and private persons have suffered martyrdom, the Church constantly increases in numbers and influence.""Yea," replied Eusebius, "but not so rapidly as in thine own dominions; for in most places their services are secretly conducted because of the heathen; yet the truth triumphs everywhere, and the churches prosper wonderfully. The cruel wrongs done unto the faithful excite the interest and compassion of all fair-minded men, and there are always many who seek for fuller information concerning our holy religion, and there are always some at hand ready to impart it.""I would that it were possible for me at this time to occupy the same relation to the Eastern Church that so happily obtains in the Empire of the West. But that seems to be impossible while the Emperor Licinius reigns over those realms.""Thou art as much beloved by the Christians of the East as by those of Europe or of Africa; and they look unto thee for deliverance, and hopefully await thy coming.""But Europe and Africa are under mine own hand, and Asia is not; the Church of the East is beyond the reach of my protection.""Stretch forth thine arm of power, thou favorite of the supreme God, and take it unto thyself. Thou alone art fitted to be emperor, and Asia, as part of the Roman Empire, is rightfully thine own."Then Constantine gave way to one of those fits of sudden, silent meditation which were not unusual to him, and continued to gaze upon his bishop long and earnestly. At last he said: "The Emperor Licinius is a brave and skillful commander, trained all his life in the discipline of the Roman army. He not only hath yet a solid foothold upon European soil, but he could call into action out of populous Asia double as many soldiers as the Western Empire could put into the field, including the hardy Goths, whom I have added to the military force of Rome. He is no merely titular emperor, but is a consummate warrior, a wise ruler, an able and valiant man, as he hath already proved against both Maximian and myself.""Thou and God art greater still!" said the bishop, solemnly."That might be so upon the land," murmured Constantine, absently, "for many of my legions are veterans, who have followed me through seventeen campaigns without defeat, and the Goths are brave and hardy. But the old emperor's vast superiority is on the sea. For, since Rome ceased to be the seat of empire, the naval establishments of Misenum and Ravenna have been greatly neglected, and the maritime cities of Greece no longer furnish those formidable fleets which made the republic of Athens so famous. But the Emperor Licinius can draw from Egypt and the adjacent coasts of Africa, from the ports of Phoenicia and the Isle of Cyprus, and from Bithynia, Ionia, and Caria, a fleet to which the rest of mankind could offer no effective opposition; so that, if I should be successful on land, the emperor's naval superiority would enable him to carry an offensive war into every sea-coast of Hispania, Gaul, and Italy, cut off all my supplies, and force me to retreat even in the face of victory. It will not do!" he cried, passionately and despondingly--"it will not do! and it requires years to prepare a navy! There must be some other way--some other way!"What dark and secret thought slumbered in the capacious deeps of that calm, unwavering spirit to which expediency was ever a sufficient justification for any crime that might advance political designs, no man can ever know; but Eusebius at once perceived that the thing which he supposed to have been a suggestion of his own--a temptation held out by him to the emperor and ventured upon because his zeal for the persecuted Christians of the Eastern Church made him earnestly desire that Constantine should conquer and protect those regions--had in truth long been a subject of profoundest meditation in the emperor's soul; a most dangerous ambition, which he had considered in every possible aspect of it. Neither of these able men spoke for some time. Then the emperor said, musingly: "Would that it were possible for me at this time to occupy the same relation to the Eastern Churches that so happily obtains in the Empire of the West! But there must be some other way--some other way!"Eusebius perceived from the repetition of these words that they in some way contained the particular matter concerning which Constantine desired him to speak; and he shuddered at the unwelcome thought of what might possibly be required at the hand of some bishop of the Church by the implacable and unscrupulous emperor; but, not fully comprehending the drift of the royal mind, he answered: "It would be easy to attach the bishops and their congregations unto thyself as thou didst those of Africa, by secret aid to the churches, and by kind messages unto those who have experienced the tyrant's cruelty; for already all Christians regard thee as divinely raised up for their succor, and they are comforted by the hope that, when thou dost rule the world, the gospel shall be as free in the East as it is in the West.""But that is a mere sentiment," answered Constantine. "The Christians are not soldiers; in the East they refuse to bear arms, or to recognize an earthly ruler. Surely thou dost remember how difficult it was to bring them over to any active support of mine empire even in the West.""Yea, verily! But thou mayst gradually assume direction of the Church there as thou hast done here: by largesses to the bishops; by calling councils in thine own name to settle clerical differences; and by training them, as thou hast done here, to regard thee alone as the real source of both ecclesiastical and political authority; and so by degrees control them as thou wilt.""I have meditated over all of that," said Constantine, "and the great difficulty in the way of its accomplishment grows out of the fact that any attempt to interfere in the trial of charges against bishops or presbyters, whether upon accusations of personal misconduct, or of erroneous doctrine, within the dominions of the Emperor Licinius, would be regarded by him, and by his subjects, as an unwarrantable interference in matters which do not concern the Empire of the West; and such a course would only inflame and consolidate those whom I prefer to divide in sentiment.""But," said Eusebius, "if the question in dispute should be one, not between the members of some particular community, or locality, but between almost the whole body of the Christians in the Western Empire on the one hand, and almost the whole body of the Eastern Church upon the other, could there be any impropriety in calling a council of the whole Church, East and West, to consider and determine it?""No," said Constantine. "If there were only such a question, the way would be laid open at least for a beginning. But how couldst thou ever create such a question?""The question, or rather the questions (for there are two of them), are already created--the East upon one side of both, and the West upon the other.""What are these questions?""One is a great dispute concerning the proper time for the celebration of Easter; and the other a most subtile controversy concerning the nature of Godhead and the relation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; a dispute in which Hosius of Cordova leads many bishops and presbyters upon one side, and Arius the Libyan as many upon the other.""Arius the Libyan!" cried Constantine, with sudden wrath. "The Libyan serpent! The ram of Baucalis! a presbyter of Alexandria! By thundering Jove, I will yet crush that hard, stubborn, fearless nature, for he hath been more in my way than even the Emperor Licinius himself! Curse the man! curse him!"Eusebius gazed upon the emperor in mute astonishment. He knew that Constantine possessed an almost supernatural knowledge of all political movements and persons, even in the remotest corner of the empire over which he reigned, but he had never even dreamed that the mighty emperor had heard so much as the name of the gaunt, unsocial, self-denying, and inflexible presbyter of the Baucalis church at Alexandria, in the dominions of Licinius."Knowest thou the man?" he asked with unconcealed astonishment.Constantine had already regained his usual calmness, and in placid tones replied: "I have never seen Arius, but have constantly and often heard of his dangerous and revolutionary teachings, and of his rugged, implacable, unyielding character. He hateth me without any cause, except that I am emperor, and scorneth every favor I was inclined to show him. I even tendered unto him the bishopric of Alexandria, which Alexander now holds, but he refused to accept it, for no other reason than that he supposed his advancement to that high place to have been procured by the influence of mine agents in that city.""I regret that he is not thy friend," answered Eusebius; "but wilt thou instruct me how a presbyter could teach dangerous and revolutionary doctrines? Perhaps such teachings might furnish matter for which the Church might suspend him from the office of presbyter, and silence his utterances.""I do not think so," answered Constantine. "He teaches that a Christian can not be an emperor, nor bear arms in war; and that to take sides in a struggle between any earthly governments is to betray the Christ. He teaches that no Christian can hold slaves, own private property, or recognize Roman and Egyptian laws and customs in reference to marriage and divorce. In a word, he still rigidly adheres to that primitive Christianity, the prevalence of which would soon render all government over the people unnecessary if not impossible, and which, as thou knowest, it was so difficult for us to guide to right and reasonable action even in Rome and in other parts of the West. But his primitive and fearless teachings have reduced to the ghostly form of a mere sentiment all the active aid I had expected to obtain from the Christians of Syria and of Egypt. The fleet, the mighty fleet, which putteth all my coasts at the mercy of Licinius, ought to have been mine own, and would have been but for that Libyan serpent who paralyzed the arms of willing Christians by his accursed teachings.""But," said Eusebius, solemnly, "these teachings were the very doctrines of our Lord, and Arius hath proclaimed nothing but the truths of the gospel, and for three hundred years no Christian man hath owned a slave or claimed private title to property, or lifted up a weapon even in defense of the faith for which he does not hesitate to die." And the bishop's fine face darkened, and his heart twitched as if some transient gleam of lightning had revealed before him a bottomless pit that opened down to perdition; and for a moment he half-way felt that he had lost his own soul by juggling with the empire in the name of Jesus and for the glory of the Church.While he stood in painful meditation, the emperor continued: "Yea! doubtless this was the primitive system; and, thoroughly permeated with its new and radical principles, Arius seeketh to enforce them. The African ram, bold, self-confident, aggressive! the Libyan serpent, agile, beautiful, tameless, and dangerous! scorning all earthly ambitions as trifles unworthy of the consideration of an immortal spirit; despising pain, and toil, and peril; almost courting martyrdom; immovable by threats of vengeance, or by hope of reward; alike inaccessible to flattery and to fear--but for that one man I would hold the East in my hand to-day! For the fleet was largely manned and officered by Christians, and all things were arranged to deliver up the ships to me, when this fierce, invincible, immovable presbyter poured out the angry torrent of his eloquence and learning, urging the Christians to obey all laws of the government under which they lived that were not contrary to conscience, and denouncing those who might engage on either side in favor of an earthly ruler as traitors to Christ and his kingdom. Their courage shriveled up before his fierce denunciation, as if it had been smitten by the wrath of God, and all the carefully prepared plans for getting possession of more than half the fleet of Licinius, and especially of the great galleys with three banks of oars, faded away before the breath of this one irreconcilable and immovable man. Then the attention of the Emperor Licinius having been called to the matter, he made a lustration of his army and navy, and dishonorably dismissed therefrom every man who refused to offer sacrifice to the gods; and also from his civil service, and from his palaces. And since that day there hath been no man in the service of Licinius that is a Christian. But the emperor sent to Arius a parchment giving to him legal authority to preach the gospel publicly in his city of Alexandria, because his gospel had saved the fleet; and the stern, uncompromising presbyter sent it back with a message that his authority to preach was from God, not from man.""For what reason did Arius so bitterly take sides against thee, the favorite of God, the protector of the Church?""It would be unjust," said Constantine, "to say that he ever did so. He did not; but his powerful influence in holding the Christians of Egypt and of Syria to strictest neutrality was the most injurious policy he could have pursued against me; but he would have pursued the same course against any other ruler in the world."Eusebius was the fast friend of Arius, whom he admired and loved beyond all living men (for Pamphilus had already suffered martyrdom); and the great ecclesiastic, rejoicing at the praises bestowed upon his friend by the greatest ruler of men, strove to call out yet more of his opinion, and accordingly said unto him, "Couldst thou not, then, attack the moral character of Arius, and call a council to condemn him for some irregularity, and so get rid of him?""Nay," answered the emperor, "the man is proof against all earthly temptations. When all arrangements had been made to confer upon him the see of Alexandria, he calmly but positively refused to accept the office, saying he would live and die presbyter of the Baucalis church. Gifts of money sent unto him anonymously he poured into the common treasury of the Church uncounted, and, in the midst of opulence, lived the life of an anchorite. Seven hundred of the noblest women of Alexandria are his communicants, and constant watchfulness never detected him in the slightest impropriety with any of them. In the pestilence which decimated and terrified the great city, by day and night he ministered unto the afflicted, when even parents abandoned their children and children their parents, and the ties of blood were disregarded, until the people believed him to be invested with a charmed life that was invulnerable to poniard, poison, or pestilence. He is the purest and the strongest soul on earth," said the emperor, with undisguised admiration, "but he hath barred my way unto the conquest of the East!"Eusebius glowed with pleasure as he listened to the language in which the emperor depicted the character of Arius, and replied: "Only the truly great are able to do justice to those whom they have strong reason to dislike, but thou hast painted the grand and lonely soul of the Libyan even as it is. He hath been purified by sorrow. He is all for Christ, and earthly hopes, fears and ambitions no more can move his chaste and lofty spirit.""But," said Constantine, sternly, "however admirable the presbyter may be, I will not forget that he hath robbed me of the fleet! He hath barred my way unto the conquest of the East."Then said Eusebius: "If the fleet of Licinius could be by some means neutralized; if that valiant tyrant could, perhaps, be induced to keep his fleet out of the war altogether, and leave the fate of the empire to be decided by the armies of the East and of the West--would that content thee?"The handsome face of Constantine glowed with a wonderful light of hope and pleasure as he answered, eagerly; "Yea, thou most wise and infallible bishop! If thou canst accomplish this thing, soon shall the churches of the East enjoy the imperial protection as fully as do those of the Western Empire; and, freed from the persecutions of Licinius and of the pagan priests, the Church shall triumph over all the world. But I have told thee that no more able warrior lives than the emperor; he will never forego the use of his right arm of power: thou canst not neutralize his navy."The greatest of ecclesiastics gazed with affectionate admiration upon the greatest of emperors, and calmly answered: "I am a man of peace, and know nothing of the conduct of a war. But I do know something of the human heart, and of the secret springs that govern the actions of men. When I did visit thee in Gaul, before the war with Maxentius, thou didst tell me that I could not cast a javelin, nor smite with a sword, nor draw out a legion in battle order, but that I knew all Italy, and showed thee how to conquer Rome. Verily I know not how to sail a ship, yet I will endeavor diligently to keep the tyrant's navy far off from thy coasts. If I should fail, thou wilt quickly know the unwelcome truth; and if I succeed thou shalt learn it immediately.""Thou hast always succeeded," answered Constantine; "no promise made by thee hath failed. Thou hast never once disappointed thine emperor and friend.""For the present," said Eusebius, "I do greatly desire of thee an indefinite leave of absence, but I trust not a protracted one, in order that I may pay a visit to my beloved brother Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia."For an instant the face of Constantine was clouded. "Within the dominions of Licinius?" he softly murmured, but in a moment he answered: "Thou hast leave to go! But tell me, bishop, why thou goest unto Nicomedia. What canst thou do there except to expose thy dear and valuable head to the fury of the emperor?""I go thither," said Eusebius, with a light and musical laugh, "seeking to prepare a problem over which the historians and warriors of all future ages shall puzzle their weary brains in vain. The question which will be, I trust, a riddle unto them, is briefly this: Why was it that, in the second war with the most Christian Emperor Constantine, the brave and competent commander Licinius, possessing so vast a superiority at sea, utterly failed to carry an offensive war into the very center of his rival's dominions, and, having moored his fleet safely in some secure strait or bay, left the issue of the war to be decided by the land-forces alone, in the conduct of which the most glorious Emperor Constantine was known to be invincible?"Then Constantine sprang from his seat, and with eager, glowing face he embraced the bishop and kissed him, saying: "Canst thou, indeed, do this thing for me? If thou canst, thou art stronger than ten legions, and deservest a reward equal to their pay!""Thou knowest well," said Eusebius, kindly but with inexpressible dignity, "that I have served thee faithfully without reward, because I love thee, Augustus, and love the Church of Christ, and know assuredly that thine own triumph will secure the triumph of the faith!""Thou speakest nothing but the truth, bishop," replied Constantine, his fine face lighting up with strong emotions, "and I have loved and honored thee in my heart accordingly. Thou knowest that, whenever thou needest me, I am all thine own. But how can this miracle that shall neutralize the emperor's maritime ascendency be wrought?""I think," answered Eusebius, gravely and sadly, "that miracles have recently ceased throughout the world, so that even the Church of Christ hath to depend upon only human agencies, which thou knowest was not formerly the case. It is well known, however, that the old Emperor Licinius doth not doubt the truth and divinity of our holy religion, although he hateth the Christians because he hath been persuaded that they offer up more prayers for thee than for himself. Now, it hath seemed probable to me that if an authentic Christian prophecy could be privately circulated through the imperial palace of Nicomedia to the purport that the Eastern Empire would be overthrown whenever it might send a hostile fleet to ravage the coasts of Europe, his fear and hatred of the Christians would influence him to retain his fleet at home in order to forestall the prophecy. Of course, the common sense of the matter would be, as thou hast said, for him to use his vast naval strength to desolate thy coasts in Greece, Italy, Africa, Hispania, and Gaul; but, perhaps, he may not do so. The matter is not very clearly wrought out in my mind, but gradually takes shape as I consider it, and I desire to see my brother, Eusebius of Nicomedia, a wise and prudent man, to converse with him concerning it.""Thou art a great and wonderful bishop," said Constantine. "Go thou, and may God prosper thee! Keep me well informed of thy movements, and of all events that happen. Thou shalt have orders for all supplies, attendance, and money, which thou canst possibly need for thy purposes. If thou fall into any trouble at Nicomedia, or elsewhere, have sure means of informing me, for I would risk the sovereignty of the world to deliver thee, thou incomparable friend and bishop. When wilt thou depart?""Within a few days, at most," said Eusebius. "And thou shalt do nothing except to grant me leave of absence. We bishops can further each other upon our journeys quite well, and I wish to go secretly and without attracting notice.""When thou hast leisure," said Constantine, "come unto me again, and come prepared to unravel these questions concerning the celebration of Easter, and concerning the Godhead, to the very last threads of them; for I earnestly desire to be perfectly informed therein."CHAPTER III.THE POLITICS OF RELIGION.A day or two afterward, Eusebius again sought audience of the emperor, and in a long interview, during which Constantine, with his own hand, kept copious and accurate memoranda of the conversation, the bishop carefully explained the nature of the church controversy respecting the observance of Easter, and also the nature of the abstract and peculiar ideas involved in the dispute concerning the Deity; and in the whole interview the emperor manifested the perfect thoroughness with which his calm, grand intelligence was accustomed to go to the very bottom of every matter which once secured his interest, grasping all possible aspects and relationships of the subject--the evidence upon which alleged facts might be founded, the authority upon which each opinion might rest--so that at the close of the long and studious interview he was as well informed upon the subjects discussed as were the most learned ecclesiastics of his generation."I perceive," he said to Eusebius, "that thou art an advocate of the opinion of Arius the Libyan, concerning what Hosius calleth the Holy Trinity?""Yea!" answered the bishop; "for neither do the Gospels teach me, nor can the aid of reason enable me to understand that three are one any more than that one is three; nor can I evade the fact that 'Father' and 'Son' are terms which of necessity imply that the Father antedates the Son; nor can I believe that God the Father lived in our flesh and died upon the cross. So that, whenever the 'Arian heresy,' as they call it, shall be heard before a general council, I shall be numbered among the heterodox, if it is indeed possible that any council shall ever condemn the grand Libyan's doctrines!""I regret much," replied the emperor, "that thy conscience leadeth thee in that direction, although the fact must never become a cause of difference between thee and me. For, while I would yield cheerful acquiescence to thy superior learning about all merely religious questions, I perceive already that the political aspects of this controversy will make it politic for me to maintain the opinions of Hosius and his party.""What possible political significance can exist in such an abstract dispute about matters of theological faith and doctrine?"Constantine laughed pleasantly, and answered: "Of course, a pious and learned bishop would sooner perceive the minutest ramifications of the theological roots of any question than to grasp its most palpable political outgrowth. I will tell thee, bishop, but the communication is for thee alone. As to the paschal controversy, it is a mere matter of sentiment or feeling between those who do not wish to follow the Jews in fixing the time of its observance, and desire to have some period assigned by the Christian authority, on the one hand; and, on the other, those who are unwilling to depart from the practice of three centuries for any reason--but these differences can be easily reconciled. But, as to this other controversy, it is of an essentially different kind. Thy statement of it revealed to me the salient fact that the doctrine of Arius is that of the Eastern Church, the doctrine of Hosius that of the Western; and a geographical line might almost be run through the faith upon this question--Arius and his party upon one side, Hosius and his upon the other--and along the line itself many who are not the partisans of either opinion. Thou seest, therefore, that it is really a question between two empires, and, whenever it shall be determined, a proper regard for the prestige of mine own empire requires me to see that the decision shall be in favor of the Western Church. Dost thou now perceive one plainest and least important point of its political bearings?""Yea, verily," answered Eusebius. "But it had not occurred to me before!""After the matter shall have been accomplished," said Constantine, "many others shall also see it, but not just yet; for it is the business of him who is fit to rule not only to see, but to foresee, whatever may concern his empire!""Thou alone hast seen it yet," replied the bishop. "But what other political significance can the controversy possibly possess?""Ah! bishop," said the emperor, "it is the great question of our age. It involves in itself the whole field of controversy between the old civilizations and the new; between paganism and Christianity; between Jesus Christ and the rulers of mankind. The doctrines of Arius are the utterances of that primitive Christianity which proclaimed the fraternity of all men, condemned war, slavery, and private-property rights. It maintaineth Jesus as the king of a kingdom established in the world; a real and actual government among the Christian communities, which may yield obedience to laws that do not fetter conscience, but does not acknowledge allegiance to any human emperor or king. Its universal prevalence would speedily render all government over the people ridiculous and unnecessary; for Christ would be the only king, and all men brethren, free and equal, as was the case in Moasia, under the apostolical Ulfilas, until I was constrained to send an army thither and force the Goths to give up their communal organization, and adopt the Roman laws and customs. The system of Arius, primitive Christianity, dear bishop, would leave no room for Constantine on earth. But the doctrine of Hosius, by elevating Jesus to actual Godhead, leaveth his earthly career a mere manifestation, or appearance, of the divine in human flesh; and, since the God hath returned to his former ineffable condition, it leaveth his kingdom to be only a pure and lofty spiritual phantasm--and leaves mankind for Constantine to govern. Thou seest that there can be no rivalry between the Christianity of Hosius and the sovereigns of this world, while the faith of Arius would soon subvert all human governments, and dethrone every prince on earth. Beyond any question, the emperors, from Nero to my own times, sought only to preserve the empire by persecuting the Christians, and properly described Christianity as 'a baleful and malignant superstition,' 'a criminal association,' 'a new society that departed from the laws and ceremonies of our fathers, inventing a new government for itself inconsistent with the imperial laws and rights.' They understood that Roman sovereignty could not maintain itself against a rapidly increasing association that proposed to abolish war, slavery, private rights of property, offices, rank, and prerogative; and they tried to stamp it out of existence. These emperors strove to defend the empire by exterminating the Christians; if they had been greater men, they would have adopted the new religion, pruned it of all doctrines that might menace the imperial authority, translating Jesus to the highest heaven, and taking for themselves his place upon the earth--as I have done. I am, therefore, the champion of the Holy Trinity, as Hosius hath defined it; and at the right time Arius must be condemned as a heretic. For I will no more suffer him to build up the churches of the East upon this basis of primitive Christianity than I would suffer Ulfilas to accomplish a similar purpose among the Gothic tribes. Dost thou now perceive the political significancy of this Arian heresy, my dear bishop?"But Eusebius stood before the emperor pale and trembling, the cold perspiration standing in great drops upon his pallid brow. For a moment an awful mist of horror enveloped his struggling soul. Had he, then, made a terrible mistake in using his own large abilities and influence to place the persecuted saints under the protection of the grand and humane emperor? Had he betrayed the Church of Christ, and lost his own soul, in bringing about that union of ecclesiastical and imperial authority which made the kingdom of heaven an appanage of the Roman emperor, and had secured safety, peace, and glory, for the Christians by giving to Constantine the place that should belong only to Jesus Christ? Had he indeed been overreached and manipulated by this most able of mankind for his own political purposes, even while he thought himself to be using Constantine for the glory of God and for the edification of the Church? Sick, doubtful, terrified, he faintly answered: "But the things which thou sayest the doctrines of Arius would accomplish are precisely the triumph which our Lord did promise to the Church, and which he pledged his divinity to achieve! Surely Arius must be right! War, slavery, and mammon-worship, must be banished out of the world! Mankind must become brethren in the Lord! The Church must triumph, and Christ must be the only king!""Not in my time!" said Constantine, with the calmness and firmness of mature and deliberate conviction; "not while I live! The empire shall be mine own. I will yield my right to no man, human or divine! Let the Church grow and prepare for future triumph over earthly sovereignty when the scepter shall be held by some more weak and nerveless hand than mine. I will govern while I live, both church and state, in spite of gods or demons!"The bishop made no answer. A terrible error into which he had gone with glad heart and exuberant hope seemed palpably revealed to him. He was utterly cowed and humbled. With a crushing sense of self-abasement, shame, mortification, repentance, almost crime, he realized the fact that, compared with that colossal man, who amused himself by playing with the loftiest emotions of the human soul as he did with his ever-victorious legions--a man who, under his calm, grand bearing, concealed a devil of ambition that was ready to mock at all that men hold sacred, and even to hurl his phalanx against Christ himself--he felt like a child, a pygmy.With ashy lips he murmured: "Almost thou hast defied the Son of God! Beware!"Then, with a singular smile that had in its beauty and light something of lofty mournfulness, the emperor answered: "And if I should do so, dear bishop, what then? Jesus hath no power against me except through thaumaturgy, and thou dost know that thaumaturgy faded out when the Church abandoned that communal system upon which Arius insisteth yet so manfully. I have made my choice, and will abide the issue, bishop. Thou knowest that I never was baptized. I might have been a Christian, but I preferred to reign over the Roman Empire; and I will reign until the end."Ah! for him, then, with all the glad assurance born of utter ignorance that such a being could exist among mankind, the bishop had carefully freighted "the old ship Zion" with the godless furniture of Roman law and custom, its statutes of slavery, its laws and usages of war and conquest, its idolatrous system of private-property rights, titles, prerogatives, political and social class distinctions between those whom God made to be brethren, out of which idolatry the sorrow of the world had grown, from all of which Jesus had died to ransom a fallen race. He had unwittingly launched the freighted ship upon the troubled sea of earthly politics. Thinking that he would win the Roman Empire for the Church, he had betrayed and sold the cause of Christ to Constantine. Thinking that he guided and controlled the emperor, he had labored with all diligence to make himself the master's slave. He knew it now only too well--he knew that Constantine had always known it; and, appalled by the vast resources of that greatest of mankind, crushed by the sense of his amazing genius, he seemed unto himself to grow small, contemptible, and weak.And the ship of the Church? Would she go down forever in the troubled waters, amid the stormy strife for worldly gains and power? Or would she yet, somehow, sometime, somewhere, outride the tempests, and in some unknown and distant clime reach into a safe haven? "Not in my time," said Constantine; "not while I live!" When, then?These bitter meditations were broken by the calm, sweet voice of Constantine: "Bishop, thou must perceive for thyself that the radical polity of the primitive Christianity to which Arius cleaves unswervingly, and which Ulfilas founded among the Goths so firmly that I had to send the legions thither to uproot it, was somewhat fanatical, or at least premature, and not suited to the every-day life of selfish and wicked men. Thou must perceive, also, with equal clearness, that the splendid ecclesiasticism which I have established throughout the Western Empire in place of the primitive religion is vastly better for mankind than any system ever before attempted, and that it should be speedily extended over all the East. What future, grander developments await the Church, no mortal can foretell. For the present, I desire of thee to seek means whereby to fan the flame of this Arian controversy: it must not die out until it can be summoned before an imperial council, and receive formal condemnation at the mouths of all the bishops called into a synod by the Emperor of the west!""And if, when the council shall have been convened, its members shall sustain Arius, what then?""A religious war, perhaps," answered Constantine, "or a return unto the pagan gods; both dreadful alternatives, which the Church and the empire should regard with equal horror. But the council will never so decide. I answer for its action; only keep thou the flame of controversy burning until the proper hour arrives!""I will contrive means that shall not fail to do so," answered Eusebius, and, bowing low, at a sign from the emperor he withdrew, overwhelmed with the perception of that calm, relentless, almost superhuman sagacity which Constantine had permitted him to see."Yea!" murmured Eusebius, "I will fan this flame of controversy! It shall blaze throughout the Church! And it may even happen that Constantine, although the greatest of the human race, is not a match for God. Who knows? Thaumaturgy may be restored to the Church, or, even if, as Constantine asserteth, the kingdom of our Lord was prematurely established, the spiritual truth of the gospel will sometime educate mankind up to the ultimate reception of its socialism and politics. And to this end it shall be my task before I die to organize within the bosom of the Church sacred brotherhoods, bound by holy ties of chastity, obedience, and poverty, to keep alive forever the memory of that communal system upon which Christ founded his kingdom. At all events, there is no possibility of going backward now; and more than ever do I desire to see Constantine obtain the sovereignty of the East. And now for Nicomedia!"That very day the bishop set out upon his dangerous mission, to concert measures by which to neutralize the naval power of the Emperor Licinius.CHAPTER IV.THE PROPHECY OF GAIUS.Proceeding, therefore, with all diligence, not very many days afterward, the Bishop of Cæsarea arrived at Nicomedia, and straightway, by the use of certain secret means of communication which were well known to all Christians, he found, and took up his abode with Eusebius of that city; and they together discussed at great length what means might be used to neutralize the naval power of the tyrant Licinius.Eusebius of Cæsarea had been absent for many months, and Constantine had begun to grow impatient at his long delay, during which he had received no tidings from the bishop personally, and had heard nothing concerning him, except that he was quietly residing in the city with the other Eusebius. And the emperor, who valued his bishop highly, and enjoyed his companionship more than that of any other man, began to fear that the revelation of his own real character and purposes, which he had made at their last memorable interview, had alienated his friend forever, and thereby deprived himself of the services which he deemed to be almost invaluable. It gave him unmingled pleasure, therefore, to receive upon a certain day a written message that "Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, sent by his brother Eusebius Pamphilus, craves audience of the emperor." Constantine eagerly ordered that he be admitted, and, having dismissed all others, he gave the bishop a very cordial greeting, and then said, with greatest interest and solicitude: "Tell me first of all of thy brother, my friend the Bishop of Cæsarea! Where now is the holy and able man? Is he well? What doeth he?"The bishop was somewhat lacking in the courtly elegance that characterized his brother, but still had a certain ease born of good sense and honesty of purpose, and he answered in a straightforward and intelligent way that pleased Constantine, and enabled him instantly to "take the measure of the man," and value him at once at his full worth, a thing he was not always able to do with the other Eusebius."The bishop, my brother, fared well when I last saw him. We parted at Nicomedia--he to go unto Alexandria, 'upon the emperor's business,' he said; I to come hither by his desire. He sendeth love and reverence unto thee, 'the greatest of mankind,' as he saith; and hath sent me hither because he thought that the things which I am requested to tell thee ought not to be committed to writing, nor intrusted to any ordinary messenger. Whenever thou desirest to hear it, I will briefly narrate what hath happened at Nicomedia.""I am alone with thee, bishop, to hear thy report. Proceed with thy narrative at once. But first be thou seated, and partake of such refreshments as thou wilt.""Nay," answered the bishop, "I need naught except thine own attention.""Then sit thou there, and count upon an eager listener.""The business upon which thy bishop came unto me having been carefully unfolded by him, the delay therein was caused by the necessity of sending far beyond Antioch for a fitting person to accomplish that upon which we had agreed as necessary for thy service; but it hath been done. The great fleet of the Emperor Licinius hath been so far neutralized that not a ship thereof will cross the sea to molest thy coasts if there should be war. On that thou mayst implicitly rely.""Tell me the means by which this most important work hath been accomplished; and spare thou no details of the business: my only wish now is to hear thee fully!""It happened more than a year ago," said the bishop, "that I received letters from a presbyter at Chalcis, far beyond Antioch in Syria, concerning a most singular youth of that village, who was an epileptic--a devout Christian, but of strange fancies and of extraordinary appearance. This lad, the presbyter informed me, during the paroxysms of his disease seemed to be possessed by some sort of a spirit of divination, and the Church there had vainly attempted to exorcise the spirit; for thaumaturgy hath recently been lost. But the presbyter himself had little faith in his prophetic powers, because he had discovered that it was possible, by strongly impressing the mind of the youth, before the paroxysms came upon him, with some peculiar and striking thought, to anticipate the subject, and often even the very words, of his supposed prophetic ravings. Now, when the bishop unfolded to me what he desired to attempt for thy service, I at once thought of this Syrian youth, and judged that he might be advantageously used therein. The sending of a messenger to Chalcis for him wrought some delay, and, when the messenger reached that place, the youth had gone elsewhere; and it was a work of time to discover him, and might, indeed, have been impossible, but for a certain notoriety bestowed upon him by the strange misfortune under which he labored. And, after we had received the youth at Nicomedia, it was a work of time, and care, and patience, to secure his entire confidence, and train him properly for the business we had undertaken. Do I state the matter too minutely for thy patience?""Nay," said Constantine; "it is wonderfully interesting. Thou need have no fear that thy narrative will weary me: I do desire to hear thee fully.""We found by frequent experiments," continued Eusebius, "that the paroxysms of the youth's disease were not strictly periodical, but that any sudden, strong emotion was liable to bring on an attack. We found that when we had made him memorize certain words beforehand, he was liable, on the increment of his disease, to repeat just those words in a sort of chanting tone, the melody and manner of which were very impressive, even when the words themselves were unmeaning. We found that he was ready to do or suffer anything if persuaded that it would be for the good of the Church. We kept the youth in safe retreat, carefully secluded, so that he might remain entirely unknown in Nicomedia. We then constantly assured him that God was able to accomplish his own designs by using even the most humble agencies, and that no man had the right to look upon himself as a being too insignificant to work for the glory of his Creator; and that even he, although sorely afflicted, by zeal and faithfulness might be able some time to perform a great service to the persecuted Church. He eagerly inquired how that might be, and was manifestly ready to seek for martyrdom if that had been the duty enjoined upon him. But we carefully impressed upon him that all that was required of him was to memorize and constantly repeat a certain form of words that we dictated to him; to meditate upon them day and night; to suffer nothing else to occupy his thoughts; and to wait in faith and hope the result of this discipline. We instructed him that, if any one should ask him about the words he might utter when the fit was on him, to say nothing, except that he was moved so to speak; if any should ask him whom he knew in Nicomedia, he was to answer, 'Eusebius the bishop'; and that in answer to every question put to him he should tell the exact truth. We soon found that, whenever he suffered under a paroxysm of his malady, he would fall to the ground and presently repeat in that sad, wailing chant that seemed to be natural to him, the very words which we had dictated to him, and no others.""What words were these?" asked Constantine."The words," replied Eusebius, "were as follows: 'Joy to the land of Syria! Joy to the holy ones of Egypt! for their deliverer cometh! When the great ships shall cross the middle sea, the tyrant's power shall fail, and a holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire! Joy to Syria and to Egypt, when the great ships shall cross the middle sea!'"Having experimented with the lad until it seemed to be morally certain that, under the influence of a paroxysm of his disease, he would chant these words only, we directed him to go daily to the gate which opened into the grounds surrounding the imperial palace at Nicomedia, until he might see the Emperor Licinius about to come forth, and that then he should boldly force his way through the gates, at any hazard, without offering salutations or explanation to any one. This the youth promised faithfully to do; and it happened that, the first time he went thither, he saw one whom he supposed to be the emperor, coming forth accompanied by a throng of attendants, and he rushed forward so impetuously that the emperor was compelled to give place to him; and then a soldier knocked down the poor lad with the pole of his pike. Licinius stopped to ascertain the meaning of an intrusion so bold and unusual, and the pain of the blow and the excitement of the situation brought upon the youth one of his strange attacks, and while he lay writhing and twisting about upon the paving-stones, in a loud, weird voice, whose unearthly melody filled all the place, he chanted the words that had been taught to him: 'Joy to the land of Syria! Joy to the holy ones of Egypt! for their deliverer cometh! When the great ships shall cross the middle sea, the tyrant's power shall fail, and a holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire! Joy to Syria and to Egypt, when the great ships shall cross the middle sea!' Then a centurion sprang forward, and would have slain the youth with his sword, but Licinius waved him off, and stood looking upon the singular lad with interest and wonder. And the youth flopped up off of the ground like a fish, and fell back heavily, and almost immediately resumed his wild, sweet chanting of the self-same words; and a profound silence obtained until his song was ended. And very soon that paroxysm passed off, and the lad arose, and looked about him, as if he knew not where he was nor how he came to be there."Constantine laughed a low, joyous, almost boyish laugh, exclaiming: "A superb performance, indeed! A masterly thing! But continue thy most welcome narrative!""Then the Emperor Licinius, whose features are bronzed, and hard, and cruel, looked steadily upon the abashed young man, saying in a stern, imperious voice, 'Who art thou?'"And the lad answered, 'I am Gaius, a poor youth of Chalcis in Syria!'"'Knowest thou to whom thou art speaking?'"'Nay, verily,' answered Gaius, 'but I suppose thee to be the emperor!'"'What is thy business in Nicomedia?'"'I have no business anywhere,' said the lad. 'I am diseased, an invalid, an epileptic, and am incapacitated for business. Verily I came unto Nicomedia hoping to be cured of this fearful malady.'"'What brought thee unto our palace-gates?'"'I came hither to look upon the emperor, having never seen so great a man; but some cowardly brute did strike me down with a pike!'"'Why didst thou chant such things as thou hast done even in mine own presence?'"'What things did I chant? I know not, for the hard blow brought upon me an attack of the epilepsy, and while it continueth I know not what I say, but speak only as I am moved to speak!'"'What, then, moveth thee to chant at all?'"'I know not, nor do I even know that I have done so, unless some one who hath heard me informeth me thereof!'"'Whom knowest thou in my city of Nicomedia?'"'None save the Bishop Eusebius!'"'Art thou, then, a Christian?'"'Yea! Thanks to the boundless mercy of our Lord!'"Then said the emperor: 'Let immediate search be made for this Eusebius, and let him be straightway brought before me. Keep ye this boy in strictest prison, but use him kindly; for it may be that he hath a demon!'"I did not choose to be found upon that day, although the city was sifted well for that purpose. And upon the next day, Licinius caused the lad Gaius to be brought before him, and he spoke kindly unto him, saying: 'Thou art a strange and interesting youth, and I desire to take thee into my service, and to attach thee unto myself, and to care for thee well. Hast thou memory good enough to keep in thy mind for me a catalogue of more than three hundred ships?'"'I know not,' said the lad. 'At school I learned rapidly and retained well all that I acquired; but I fear that the malady wherewith I am afflicted hath injured both mind and body.'"'Let me test thy memory somewhat to ascertain thy capacity for the service I would have thee render. Canst thou name the stations and distances upon the road from Chalcis unto Antioch, and thence unto the sea?'"And the boy gave the whole itinerary correctly. And the emperor asked of him a great many questions with exceeding affability, and finally said unto him: 'Thou hast a fine, retentive memory, and I will make a man of thee. See, now, how much thou canst remember of the song which thou didst twice chant on yesterday!'"But the lad said: 'I know not the words at all, and know not that I did chant at all. All that occurreth when the fit is upon me is blankness and darkness, so that I know nothing, and suffer not, and if fire were put upon me, I would not feel any pain so long as the paroxysm continueth!'"Then the emperor gave way to wrath, and shouted furiously: 'Thou liest, villain! Thou seekest to deceive me! Repeat thy chant instantly, or I will put thee to torture to extract the truth!'"Then the boy grew very pale, and trembled, but he only answered: 'Thou demandest of me that which is impossible! I do not know the words, and can not repeat them, though thou shouldst slay me!'"Then cried out the emperor, 'Bring thumb-screws hither, and torment this wretch!'"Then one put upon his thumb that cruel screw, and twisted hard upon it, and the boy shrieked with pain. Then the fit came upon him, and he fell headlong upon the floor, and the torturer removed the screw. And immediately the boy began, in a clear, sweet voice that filled the great hall with music, to chant the same words again: 'Joy to the land of Syria! Joy to the holy ones of Egypt!'--and the emperor sprang forward, and with the point of a dagger he tore up a finger-nail of the boy, watching his face intently; but the lad's countenance changed not, and he continued his chant evenly and serenely. And the emperor commanded that fire be brought to him in a brazier, and he laid a coal thereof upon the boy's naked breast, and blew upon it until the burned flesh smelled all about, but the boy showed no consciousness of pain, and continued to chant sweetly until his song was ended. And for a short space the lad lay as one dead, and then a strong convulsion contorted his limbs, and lifted him from the floor, and violently cast him down again; and then once more he chanted the same words, and the emperor listened and watched him with fear and wonder. And when the attack had passed away, Licinius said: 'Let this boy be guarded carefully, but let him be treated with the greatest kindness; for surely, beyond any doubt, he hath a demon!'"And the lictors with great astonishment and fear led the boy away."And having been fully informed of all these things on the same night, by a Christian whom we had allowed to sacrifice and so retain his place in the palace, for the good of the Church, upon the next morning went I up to the gates and boldly demanded admission, declaring to the centurion on duty who I was, and that I had been informed that the emperor was seeking me throughout the city; and speedily they brought me into the presence of Licinius, and he said, 'Art thou Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia?'"'Yea, I am he!'"'And like all of thy treasonable sect, that lurk within my city of Nicomedia, thou art still offering up prayers for the Emperor Constantine?'"'Yea, doubtless!'"'And thou dost not pray for me, nor propitiate God for me, thine own lawful emperor, at all?'"'Yea, daily I pray God for thee that he would soften thy flinty heart, and turn thee from the devices of wickedness unto the wisdom of the just!'"'But thou prayest not for my prosperity, and for the glory and perpetuity of mine empire?'"'Nay, verily. I have no faith to pray for the triumph of the cruel and of the wicked!'"Then said he, 'Dost thou know the boy Gaius of Chalcis?'"'Yea! He was with me at my house until the third day past, but he hath disappeared, and I am anxious concerning him.'"'Is there anything peculiar about the boy?'"'He hath a peculiar and terrible malady called epilepsy!'"And then attentively regarding me with his hard and searching eyes, he said, 'Doth the boy prophesy?'"'When he hath a paroxysm of his disease he customarily chanteth strange things which some esteem to be prophecies; but whether his sayings be truly prophetic or not I can not inform thee.'"'Perhaps thou dost remember the words of some of his pretended prophecies?'"'Yea, verily! For since he hath been with me he hath hardly ever chanted anything but a certain song which I have heard him repeat very often when the disease taketh him.'"'Repeat thou those words!'"Then with a certain show of exultation I chanted the same words that Gaius had uttered, and, when I had finished, Licinius cried out fiercely, 'Thou dost believe, indeed, that the words of Gaius are a sure prophecy, and thou dost rejoice at my threatened overthrow!'"I looked smilingly upon the emperor, but made no answer; and thereupon he fell into a great rage and said unto me, grimly enough: 'Thou art a tall man, bishop! Verily, I think thou art fully a head too tall, and this day I will reduce thee to a more proper stature by cutting off thy head'; and when he saw that I was unterrified by this threat, he added, 'And the boy's head also!'"Then gazing fixedly upon him, I did say: 'Surely thou mayst do so, for thou art a blood-soaked, merciless tyrant enough for any crime. But this deed would make thee contemptible; for it would prove that thou art not only a tyrant, but also a fool!'"Then turning almost livid with suppressed wrath, he cried out, 'What dost thou mean, thou insolent?'"'I mean that some years ago when the bold and eloquent preaching of the brave and righteous presbyter, Arius the Libyan, did operate to save for thee a large part of thy fleet, thou didst order that he should never be molested in the public discharge of the duties of his sacred office; wherefore, even the Christians, who knew thee to be a bloody tyrant, and a desecrator of the sacrament of marriage by an infamous law, and a violator of all the sanctities and decencies of life, still did give thee credit for intelligence. But if now thou shalt murder those who, even unintentionally, have given thee warning in time to save thy whole navy, all men will regard thee as an idiot.'"'How save my whole navy?'"'By keeping the ships thereof upon thine own side of the Mediterranean; for the words are, "whenthe great ships shall cross the middle sea," and perhaps it may signify not untilthen?'"'By Jupiter Stator,' he answered, vehemently, 'I think that thou art right! And that accursed "when" shall never happen. For this honest saying of thine, thou mayst go hence free, and take the lad Gaius with thee!'"And thereupon I withdrew; but I am certainly advised that his purpose holds good never to send his fleet across the Mediterranean.""How dost thou know that?" asked Constantine, eagerly."We waited many weeks," replied Eusebius, "to obtain some reliable indications of his purposes; but the Emperor Licinius is a great commander, and men drilled in military services talk cautiously even when drunk, as he frequently is, so that we got nothing. Finally, a centurion came one night to mine abode, which I had caused to be publicly known, and with great courtesy informed me that the emperor had sent him to bring me into his presence. Having dismissed all others, as if the matter were most secret, he said: 'I know ye Christian bishops love not me, and that ye offer prayers for Constantine; yet I do not think that thou wouldst lie to me. I therefore tell thee that, since thou wert last before me, I sent an embassy secretly unto the oracle at Delphi, with many costly gifts, asking of the oracle what success I would have if I should send my navy against the Western Empire; and I desire thee to read and to construe the answer of the god.' Then he gave unto me a parchment on which was written, 'When the navy of the Emperor Licinius shall pass over the sea to war with the Emperor Constantine, his empire shall be overthrown.' I read the oracle, and laughed. Then said I unto him: 'Like all of the pretended oracles of the heathen, it is simply an evasion. Of course, if two great emperors engage in war, one of them must be overthrown. This oracle saith not which of them. If the Western Empire be defeated, the priests will say, "We foretold that." But if the Eastern Empire shall be subverted, they will just as truly say, "We foretold that."'"'Art thou certain that the language bears one construction as naturally and grammatically as it does the other?'"'Assuredly so! The Latin infinitive mood with the accusative case possesses a wonderful facility for such a construction as may signify either one thing or the other.'"Then he gave way to sudden wrath, and cried aloud: 'Curses on the lying, cheating oracles by which so many mighty men have been lured into destruction!' And, fixing his eyes upon me, he continued, 'Was there any such ambiguity in what thy boy Gaius chanted?'"'Nay, verily,' I answered. 'He said, "A holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire." Thou canst not add the East unto anything, although thou mightest add something to the East; but canst add nothing to the Western Empire, which is not thine own, and thou art not a "holy emperor!"'"'It is only a cursed trick of the oracle to lure me on to ruin!' he exclaimed. 'The Emperor Constantine hath bribed the god to influence me so that he may invade and overthrow mine empire while my fleet is far away. I will keep mine own coasts safe with wooden walls henceforth, and not a ship shall cross the middle sea.'"Then he said unto me: 'Thou seem'st an honest and fair-minded man, and henceforth thou may'st practice thy religion publicly in my city of Nicomedia without fear or molestation. So fare thee well.'"I think that this completeth my account, except I should add that from the very beginning of this matter the Emperor Licinius hath zealously endeavored to keep it all profoundly secret, so that it is known to very few."Then said Constantine unto the bishop: "What didst thou mean by saying to the emperor, 'The Christians who knew thee to be a bloody tyrant, and the desecrator of the sacrament of marriage by an infamous law'? What law was that?"And Eusebius answered: "He hath revived the former law of Maximin, that 'no woman of rank should marry without the emperor's consent,' and for the same infamous purpose,ut ipse in omnibus nuptiis proegustator esset; and this licentiousness hath done more to set the Church against the emperor than even the murder of the bishops.""How strange," said Constantine, "that men should think themselves fit to govern an empire who can not even govern their own brutal passions!"Then the great emperor indulged in long-continued laughter, not loud nor vociferous, but quiet, hearty, joyous, and exultant. But, soon resuming his usual equanimity, he said unto the bishop: "Thou art the most welcome messenger that hath ever come unto me since thy brother of Cæsarea did first visit me in Gaul before the overthrow of Maxentius. Tell me what great favor worthy of Rome's emperor I can do for thee."Then Eusebius, with glowing countenance, bent low, and seizing the emperor's hand he kissed it fervently, exclaiming, "Stretch forth thy mighty hand, Augustus, and free the persecuted churches of the East!"Constantine was deeply moved, and answered: "It shall be done, bishop! Trust me, it shall be done! But I have given order for thy fitting entertainment, and while thou shalt rest and refresh thyself, think of some personal favor I can do for thee."Eusebius bowed gravely and withdrew.The emperor was alone, seated, buried in profoundest meditation. For a long time he was silent, and then his deep thought found utterance in murmured words: "A wonderful faith, truly, that can bind the heart and intellect of even able men like the Eusebii in absolute slavery to an idea, so that Christ and the Church are first in all their thoughts and purposes; and ease, comfort, wealth, and power, and even life and death, are trifling things compared therewith! If any God exists, these Christians surely have discovered him in Jesus. But I am sufficient for myself, and need no Deity."Then he was silent again for some time longer. But suddenly he gave way to jubilant merriment, murmuring amid his laughter: "It was a superb farce, that prophecy of Gaius! Better than theLegio Fulminea. Better even than the Labarum! Surely the fine, Grecian hand of my Eusebius hath only acquired a more delicate touch with his advancing years!" And the great emperor continued to laugh merrily.But neither pain nor pleasure ever interfered with the grand game of empire; and before midnight orders had been framed and issued by which the veteran legions of Hispania, Gaul, and Germany were to be gradually replaced by more recent levies; by which the brave and hardy Goths were put upon the most rigid military discipline; and by which all the chosen troops, upon whose skill and valor the unconquerable leader would be willing to stake the sovereignty of the world, were slowly concentrated to the eastward of Milan by a quiet, steady, unostentatious military movement that consumed months in its accomplishment and scarcely excited the suspicions of even the vigilant and intelligent agents of the Emperor Licinius.
CHAPTER II.
A NAVAL QUESTION.
After the overthrow of the Christian communities which Ulfilas had founded among the Goths, Constantine called Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, unto himself, and began to make diligent inquiries concerning the churches of Syria and of Egypt; and, having obtained all of the information current among the bishops, he entered into conversation with Eusebius, apparently for the purpose of still further satisfying himself upon certain points involved in his investigations.
"Thou sayest," said Constantine, "that, in spite of the persecution in which many bishops and private persons have suffered martyrdom, the Church constantly increases in numbers and influence."
"Yea," replied Eusebius, "but not so rapidly as in thine own dominions; for in most places their services are secretly conducted because of the heathen; yet the truth triumphs everywhere, and the churches prosper wonderfully. The cruel wrongs done unto the faithful excite the interest and compassion of all fair-minded men, and there are always many who seek for fuller information concerning our holy religion, and there are always some at hand ready to impart it."
"I would that it were possible for me at this time to occupy the same relation to the Eastern Church that so happily obtains in the Empire of the West. But that seems to be impossible while the Emperor Licinius reigns over those realms."
"Thou art as much beloved by the Christians of the East as by those of Europe or of Africa; and they look unto thee for deliverance, and hopefully await thy coming."
"But Europe and Africa are under mine own hand, and Asia is not; the Church of the East is beyond the reach of my protection."
"Stretch forth thine arm of power, thou favorite of the supreme God, and take it unto thyself. Thou alone art fitted to be emperor, and Asia, as part of the Roman Empire, is rightfully thine own."
Then Constantine gave way to one of those fits of sudden, silent meditation which were not unusual to him, and continued to gaze upon his bishop long and earnestly. At last he said: "The Emperor Licinius is a brave and skillful commander, trained all his life in the discipline of the Roman army. He not only hath yet a solid foothold upon European soil, but he could call into action out of populous Asia double as many soldiers as the Western Empire could put into the field, including the hardy Goths, whom I have added to the military force of Rome. He is no merely titular emperor, but is a consummate warrior, a wise ruler, an able and valiant man, as he hath already proved against both Maximian and myself."
"Thou and God art greater still!" said the bishop, solemnly.
"That might be so upon the land," murmured Constantine, absently, "for many of my legions are veterans, who have followed me through seventeen campaigns without defeat, and the Goths are brave and hardy. But the old emperor's vast superiority is on the sea. For, since Rome ceased to be the seat of empire, the naval establishments of Misenum and Ravenna have been greatly neglected, and the maritime cities of Greece no longer furnish those formidable fleets which made the republic of Athens so famous. But the Emperor Licinius can draw from Egypt and the adjacent coasts of Africa, from the ports of Phoenicia and the Isle of Cyprus, and from Bithynia, Ionia, and Caria, a fleet to which the rest of mankind could offer no effective opposition; so that, if I should be successful on land, the emperor's naval superiority would enable him to carry an offensive war into every sea-coast of Hispania, Gaul, and Italy, cut off all my supplies, and force me to retreat even in the face of victory. It will not do!" he cried, passionately and despondingly--"it will not do! and it requires years to prepare a navy! There must be some other way--some other way!"
What dark and secret thought slumbered in the capacious deeps of that calm, unwavering spirit to which expediency was ever a sufficient justification for any crime that might advance political designs, no man can ever know; but Eusebius at once perceived that the thing which he supposed to have been a suggestion of his own--a temptation held out by him to the emperor and ventured upon because his zeal for the persecuted Christians of the Eastern Church made him earnestly desire that Constantine should conquer and protect those regions--had in truth long been a subject of profoundest meditation in the emperor's soul; a most dangerous ambition, which he had considered in every possible aspect of it. Neither of these able men spoke for some time. Then the emperor said, musingly: "Would that it were possible for me at this time to occupy the same relation to the Eastern Churches that so happily obtains in the Empire of the West! But there must be some other way--some other way!"
Eusebius perceived from the repetition of these words that they in some way contained the particular matter concerning which Constantine desired him to speak; and he shuddered at the unwelcome thought of what might possibly be required at the hand of some bishop of the Church by the implacable and unscrupulous emperor; but, not fully comprehending the drift of the royal mind, he answered: "It would be easy to attach the bishops and their congregations unto thyself as thou didst those of Africa, by secret aid to the churches, and by kind messages unto those who have experienced the tyrant's cruelty; for already all Christians regard thee as divinely raised up for their succor, and they are comforted by the hope that, when thou dost rule the world, the gospel shall be as free in the East as it is in the West."
"But that is a mere sentiment," answered Constantine. "The Christians are not soldiers; in the East they refuse to bear arms, or to recognize an earthly ruler. Surely thou dost remember how difficult it was to bring them over to any active support of mine empire even in the West."
"Yea, verily! But thou mayst gradually assume direction of the Church there as thou hast done here: by largesses to the bishops; by calling councils in thine own name to settle clerical differences; and by training them, as thou hast done here, to regard thee alone as the real source of both ecclesiastical and political authority; and so by degrees control them as thou wilt."
"I have meditated over all of that," said Constantine, "and the great difficulty in the way of its accomplishment grows out of the fact that any attempt to interfere in the trial of charges against bishops or presbyters, whether upon accusations of personal misconduct, or of erroneous doctrine, within the dominions of the Emperor Licinius, would be regarded by him, and by his subjects, as an unwarrantable interference in matters which do not concern the Empire of the West; and such a course would only inflame and consolidate those whom I prefer to divide in sentiment."
"But," said Eusebius, "if the question in dispute should be one, not between the members of some particular community, or locality, but between almost the whole body of the Christians in the Western Empire on the one hand, and almost the whole body of the Eastern Church upon the other, could there be any impropriety in calling a council of the whole Church, East and West, to consider and determine it?"
"No," said Constantine. "If there were only such a question, the way would be laid open at least for a beginning. But how couldst thou ever create such a question?"
"The question, or rather the questions (for there are two of them), are already created--the East upon one side of both, and the West upon the other."
"What are these questions?"
"One is a great dispute concerning the proper time for the celebration of Easter; and the other a most subtile controversy concerning the nature of Godhead and the relation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; a dispute in which Hosius of Cordova leads many bishops and presbyters upon one side, and Arius the Libyan as many upon the other."
"Arius the Libyan!" cried Constantine, with sudden wrath. "The Libyan serpent! The ram of Baucalis! a presbyter of Alexandria! By thundering Jove, I will yet crush that hard, stubborn, fearless nature, for he hath been more in my way than even the Emperor Licinius himself! Curse the man! curse him!"
Eusebius gazed upon the emperor in mute astonishment. He knew that Constantine possessed an almost supernatural knowledge of all political movements and persons, even in the remotest corner of the empire over which he reigned, but he had never even dreamed that the mighty emperor had heard so much as the name of the gaunt, unsocial, self-denying, and inflexible presbyter of the Baucalis church at Alexandria, in the dominions of Licinius.
"Knowest thou the man?" he asked with unconcealed astonishment.
Constantine had already regained his usual calmness, and in placid tones replied: "I have never seen Arius, but have constantly and often heard of his dangerous and revolutionary teachings, and of his rugged, implacable, unyielding character. He hateth me without any cause, except that I am emperor, and scorneth every favor I was inclined to show him. I even tendered unto him the bishopric of Alexandria, which Alexander now holds, but he refused to accept it, for no other reason than that he supposed his advancement to that high place to have been procured by the influence of mine agents in that city."
"I regret that he is not thy friend," answered Eusebius; "but wilt thou instruct me how a presbyter could teach dangerous and revolutionary doctrines? Perhaps such teachings might furnish matter for which the Church might suspend him from the office of presbyter, and silence his utterances."
"I do not think so," answered Constantine. "He teaches that a Christian can not be an emperor, nor bear arms in war; and that to take sides in a struggle between any earthly governments is to betray the Christ. He teaches that no Christian can hold slaves, own private property, or recognize Roman and Egyptian laws and customs in reference to marriage and divorce. In a word, he still rigidly adheres to that primitive Christianity, the prevalence of which would soon render all government over the people unnecessary if not impossible, and which, as thou knowest, it was so difficult for us to guide to right and reasonable action even in Rome and in other parts of the West. But his primitive and fearless teachings have reduced to the ghostly form of a mere sentiment all the active aid I had expected to obtain from the Christians of Syria and of Egypt. The fleet, the mighty fleet, which putteth all my coasts at the mercy of Licinius, ought to have been mine own, and would have been but for that Libyan serpent who paralyzed the arms of willing Christians by his accursed teachings."
"But," said Eusebius, solemnly, "these teachings were the very doctrines of our Lord, and Arius hath proclaimed nothing but the truths of the gospel, and for three hundred years no Christian man hath owned a slave or claimed private title to property, or lifted up a weapon even in defense of the faith for which he does not hesitate to die." And the bishop's fine face darkened, and his heart twitched as if some transient gleam of lightning had revealed before him a bottomless pit that opened down to perdition; and for a moment he half-way felt that he had lost his own soul by juggling with the empire in the name of Jesus and for the glory of the Church.
While he stood in painful meditation, the emperor continued: "Yea! doubtless this was the primitive system; and, thoroughly permeated with its new and radical principles, Arius seeketh to enforce them. The African ram, bold, self-confident, aggressive! the Libyan serpent, agile, beautiful, tameless, and dangerous! scorning all earthly ambitions as trifles unworthy of the consideration of an immortal spirit; despising pain, and toil, and peril; almost courting martyrdom; immovable by threats of vengeance, or by hope of reward; alike inaccessible to flattery and to fear--but for that one man I would hold the East in my hand to-day! For the fleet was largely manned and officered by Christians, and all things were arranged to deliver up the ships to me, when this fierce, invincible, immovable presbyter poured out the angry torrent of his eloquence and learning, urging the Christians to obey all laws of the government under which they lived that were not contrary to conscience, and denouncing those who might engage on either side in favor of an earthly ruler as traitors to Christ and his kingdom. Their courage shriveled up before his fierce denunciation, as if it had been smitten by the wrath of God, and all the carefully prepared plans for getting possession of more than half the fleet of Licinius, and especially of the great galleys with three banks of oars, faded away before the breath of this one irreconcilable and immovable man. Then the attention of the Emperor Licinius having been called to the matter, he made a lustration of his army and navy, and dishonorably dismissed therefrom every man who refused to offer sacrifice to the gods; and also from his civil service, and from his palaces. And since that day there hath been no man in the service of Licinius that is a Christian. But the emperor sent to Arius a parchment giving to him legal authority to preach the gospel publicly in his city of Alexandria, because his gospel had saved the fleet; and the stern, uncompromising presbyter sent it back with a message that his authority to preach was from God, not from man."
"For what reason did Arius so bitterly take sides against thee, the favorite of God, the protector of the Church?"
"It would be unjust," said Constantine, "to say that he ever did so. He did not; but his powerful influence in holding the Christians of Egypt and of Syria to strictest neutrality was the most injurious policy he could have pursued against me; but he would have pursued the same course against any other ruler in the world."
Eusebius was the fast friend of Arius, whom he admired and loved beyond all living men (for Pamphilus had already suffered martyrdom); and the great ecclesiastic, rejoicing at the praises bestowed upon his friend by the greatest ruler of men, strove to call out yet more of his opinion, and accordingly said unto him, "Couldst thou not, then, attack the moral character of Arius, and call a council to condemn him for some irregularity, and so get rid of him?"
"Nay," answered the emperor, "the man is proof against all earthly temptations. When all arrangements had been made to confer upon him the see of Alexandria, he calmly but positively refused to accept the office, saying he would live and die presbyter of the Baucalis church. Gifts of money sent unto him anonymously he poured into the common treasury of the Church uncounted, and, in the midst of opulence, lived the life of an anchorite. Seven hundred of the noblest women of Alexandria are his communicants, and constant watchfulness never detected him in the slightest impropriety with any of them. In the pestilence which decimated and terrified the great city, by day and night he ministered unto the afflicted, when even parents abandoned their children and children their parents, and the ties of blood were disregarded, until the people believed him to be invested with a charmed life that was invulnerable to poniard, poison, or pestilence. He is the purest and the strongest soul on earth," said the emperor, with undisguised admiration, "but he hath barred my way unto the conquest of the East!"
Eusebius glowed with pleasure as he listened to the language in which the emperor depicted the character of Arius, and replied: "Only the truly great are able to do justice to those whom they have strong reason to dislike, but thou hast painted the grand and lonely soul of the Libyan even as it is. He hath been purified by sorrow. He is all for Christ, and earthly hopes, fears and ambitions no more can move his chaste and lofty spirit."
"But," said Constantine, sternly, "however admirable the presbyter may be, I will not forget that he hath robbed me of the fleet! He hath barred my way unto the conquest of the East."
Then said Eusebius: "If the fleet of Licinius could be by some means neutralized; if that valiant tyrant could, perhaps, be induced to keep his fleet out of the war altogether, and leave the fate of the empire to be decided by the armies of the East and of the West--would that content thee?"
The handsome face of Constantine glowed with a wonderful light of hope and pleasure as he answered, eagerly; "Yea, thou most wise and infallible bishop! If thou canst accomplish this thing, soon shall the churches of the East enjoy the imperial protection as fully as do those of the Western Empire; and, freed from the persecutions of Licinius and of the pagan priests, the Church shall triumph over all the world. But I have told thee that no more able warrior lives than the emperor; he will never forego the use of his right arm of power: thou canst not neutralize his navy."
The greatest of ecclesiastics gazed with affectionate admiration upon the greatest of emperors, and calmly answered: "I am a man of peace, and know nothing of the conduct of a war. But I do know something of the human heart, and of the secret springs that govern the actions of men. When I did visit thee in Gaul, before the war with Maxentius, thou didst tell me that I could not cast a javelin, nor smite with a sword, nor draw out a legion in battle order, but that I knew all Italy, and showed thee how to conquer Rome. Verily I know not how to sail a ship, yet I will endeavor diligently to keep the tyrant's navy far off from thy coasts. If I should fail, thou wilt quickly know the unwelcome truth; and if I succeed thou shalt learn it immediately."
"Thou hast always succeeded," answered Constantine; "no promise made by thee hath failed. Thou hast never once disappointed thine emperor and friend."
"For the present," said Eusebius, "I do greatly desire of thee an indefinite leave of absence, but I trust not a protracted one, in order that I may pay a visit to my beloved brother Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia."
For an instant the face of Constantine was clouded. "Within the dominions of Licinius?" he softly murmured, but in a moment he answered: "Thou hast leave to go! But tell me, bishop, why thou goest unto Nicomedia. What canst thou do there except to expose thy dear and valuable head to the fury of the emperor?"
"I go thither," said Eusebius, with a light and musical laugh, "seeking to prepare a problem over which the historians and warriors of all future ages shall puzzle their weary brains in vain. The question which will be, I trust, a riddle unto them, is briefly this: Why was it that, in the second war with the most Christian Emperor Constantine, the brave and competent commander Licinius, possessing so vast a superiority at sea, utterly failed to carry an offensive war into the very center of his rival's dominions, and, having moored his fleet safely in some secure strait or bay, left the issue of the war to be decided by the land-forces alone, in the conduct of which the most glorious Emperor Constantine was known to be invincible?"
Then Constantine sprang from his seat, and with eager, glowing face he embraced the bishop and kissed him, saying: "Canst thou, indeed, do this thing for me? If thou canst, thou art stronger than ten legions, and deservest a reward equal to their pay!"
"Thou knowest well," said Eusebius, kindly but with inexpressible dignity, "that I have served thee faithfully without reward, because I love thee, Augustus, and love the Church of Christ, and know assuredly that thine own triumph will secure the triumph of the faith!"
"Thou speakest nothing but the truth, bishop," replied Constantine, his fine face lighting up with strong emotions, "and I have loved and honored thee in my heart accordingly. Thou knowest that, whenever thou needest me, I am all thine own. But how can this miracle that shall neutralize the emperor's maritime ascendency be wrought?"
"I think," answered Eusebius, gravely and sadly, "that miracles have recently ceased throughout the world, so that even the Church of Christ hath to depend upon only human agencies, which thou knowest was not formerly the case. It is well known, however, that the old Emperor Licinius doth not doubt the truth and divinity of our holy religion, although he hateth the Christians because he hath been persuaded that they offer up more prayers for thee than for himself. Now, it hath seemed probable to me that if an authentic Christian prophecy could be privately circulated through the imperial palace of Nicomedia to the purport that the Eastern Empire would be overthrown whenever it might send a hostile fleet to ravage the coasts of Europe, his fear and hatred of the Christians would influence him to retain his fleet at home in order to forestall the prophecy. Of course, the common sense of the matter would be, as thou hast said, for him to use his vast naval strength to desolate thy coasts in Greece, Italy, Africa, Hispania, and Gaul; but, perhaps, he may not do so. The matter is not very clearly wrought out in my mind, but gradually takes shape as I consider it, and I desire to see my brother, Eusebius of Nicomedia, a wise and prudent man, to converse with him concerning it."
"Thou art a great and wonderful bishop," said Constantine. "Go thou, and may God prosper thee! Keep me well informed of thy movements, and of all events that happen. Thou shalt have orders for all supplies, attendance, and money, which thou canst possibly need for thy purposes. If thou fall into any trouble at Nicomedia, or elsewhere, have sure means of informing me, for I would risk the sovereignty of the world to deliver thee, thou incomparable friend and bishop. When wilt thou depart?"
"Within a few days, at most," said Eusebius. "And thou shalt do nothing except to grant me leave of absence. We bishops can further each other upon our journeys quite well, and I wish to go secretly and without attracting notice."
"When thou hast leisure," said Constantine, "come unto me again, and come prepared to unravel these questions concerning the celebration of Easter, and concerning the Godhead, to the very last threads of them; for I earnestly desire to be perfectly informed therein."
CHAPTER III.
THE POLITICS OF RELIGION.
A day or two afterward, Eusebius again sought audience of the emperor, and in a long interview, during which Constantine, with his own hand, kept copious and accurate memoranda of the conversation, the bishop carefully explained the nature of the church controversy respecting the observance of Easter, and also the nature of the abstract and peculiar ideas involved in the dispute concerning the Deity; and in the whole interview the emperor manifested the perfect thoroughness with which his calm, grand intelligence was accustomed to go to the very bottom of every matter which once secured his interest, grasping all possible aspects and relationships of the subject--the evidence upon which alleged facts might be founded, the authority upon which each opinion might rest--so that at the close of the long and studious interview he was as well informed upon the subjects discussed as were the most learned ecclesiastics of his generation.
"I perceive," he said to Eusebius, "that thou art an advocate of the opinion of Arius the Libyan, concerning what Hosius calleth the Holy Trinity?"
"Yea!" answered the bishop; "for neither do the Gospels teach me, nor can the aid of reason enable me to understand that three are one any more than that one is three; nor can I evade the fact that 'Father' and 'Son' are terms which of necessity imply that the Father antedates the Son; nor can I believe that God the Father lived in our flesh and died upon the cross. So that, whenever the 'Arian heresy,' as they call it, shall be heard before a general council, I shall be numbered among the heterodox, if it is indeed possible that any council shall ever condemn the grand Libyan's doctrines!"
"I regret much," replied the emperor, "that thy conscience leadeth thee in that direction, although the fact must never become a cause of difference between thee and me. For, while I would yield cheerful acquiescence to thy superior learning about all merely religious questions, I perceive already that the political aspects of this controversy will make it politic for me to maintain the opinions of Hosius and his party."
"What possible political significance can exist in such an abstract dispute about matters of theological faith and doctrine?"
Constantine laughed pleasantly, and answered: "Of course, a pious and learned bishop would sooner perceive the minutest ramifications of the theological roots of any question than to grasp its most palpable political outgrowth. I will tell thee, bishop, but the communication is for thee alone. As to the paschal controversy, it is a mere matter of sentiment or feeling between those who do not wish to follow the Jews in fixing the time of its observance, and desire to have some period assigned by the Christian authority, on the one hand; and, on the other, those who are unwilling to depart from the practice of three centuries for any reason--but these differences can be easily reconciled. But, as to this other controversy, it is of an essentially different kind. Thy statement of it revealed to me the salient fact that the doctrine of Arius is that of the Eastern Church, the doctrine of Hosius that of the Western; and a geographical line might almost be run through the faith upon this question--Arius and his party upon one side, Hosius and his upon the other--and along the line itself many who are not the partisans of either opinion. Thou seest, therefore, that it is really a question between two empires, and, whenever it shall be determined, a proper regard for the prestige of mine own empire requires me to see that the decision shall be in favor of the Western Church. Dost thou now perceive one plainest and least important point of its political bearings?"
"Yea, verily," answered Eusebius. "But it had not occurred to me before!"
"After the matter shall have been accomplished," said Constantine, "many others shall also see it, but not just yet; for it is the business of him who is fit to rule not only to see, but to foresee, whatever may concern his empire!"
"Thou alone hast seen it yet," replied the bishop. "But what other political significance can the controversy possibly possess?"
"Ah! bishop," said the emperor, "it is the great question of our age. It involves in itself the whole field of controversy between the old civilizations and the new; between paganism and Christianity; between Jesus Christ and the rulers of mankind. The doctrines of Arius are the utterances of that primitive Christianity which proclaimed the fraternity of all men, condemned war, slavery, and private-property rights. It maintaineth Jesus as the king of a kingdom established in the world; a real and actual government among the Christian communities, which may yield obedience to laws that do not fetter conscience, but does not acknowledge allegiance to any human emperor or king. Its universal prevalence would speedily render all government over the people ridiculous and unnecessary; for Christ would be the only king, and all men brethren, free and equal, as was the case in Moasia, under the apostolical Ulfilas, until I was constrained to send an army thither and force the Goths to give up their communal organization, and adopt the Roman laws and customs. The system of Arius, primitive Christianity, dear bishop, would leave no room for Constantine on earth. But the doctrine of Hosius, by elevating Jesus to actual Godhead, leaveth his earthly career a mere manifestation, or appearance, of the divine in human flesh; and, since the God hath returned to his former ineffable condition, it leaveth his kingdom to be only a pure and lofty spiritual phantasm--and leaves mankind for Constantine to govern. Thou seest that there can be no rivalry between the Christianity of Hosius and the sovereigns of this world, while the faith of Arius would soon subvert all human governments, and dethrone every prince on earth. Beyond any question, the emperors, from Nero to my own times, sought only to preserve the empire by persecuting the Christians, and properly described Christianity as 'a baleful and malignant superstition,' 'a criminal association,' 'a new society that departed from the laws and ceremonies of our fathers, inventing a new government for itself inconsistent with the imperial laws and rights.' They understood that Roman sovereignty could not maintain itself against a rapidly increasing association that proposed to abolish war, slavery, private rights of property, offices, rank, and prerogative; and they tried to stamp it out of existence. These emperors strove to defend the empire by exterminating the Christians; if they had been greater men, they would have adopted the new religion, pruned it of all doctrines that might menace the imperial authority, translating Jesus to the highest heaven, and taking for themselves his place upon the earth--as I have done. I am, therefore, the champion of the Holy Trinity, as Hosius hath defined it; and at the right time Arius must be condemned as a heretic. For I will no more suffer him to build up the churches of the East upon this basis of primitive Christianity than I would suffer Ulfilas to accomplish a similar purpose among the Gothic tribes. Dost thou now perceive the political significancy of this Arian heresy, my dear bishop?"
But Eusebius stood before the emperor pale and trembling, the cold perspiration standing in great drops upon his pallid brow. For a moment an awful mist of horror enveloped his struggling soul. Had he, then, made a terrible mistake in using his own large abilities and influence to place the persecuted saints under the protection of the grand and humane emperor? Had he betrayed the Church of Christ, and lost his own soul, in bringing about that union of ecclesiastical and imperial authority which made the kingdom of heaven an appanage of the Roman emperor, and had secured safety, peace, and glory, for the Christians by giving to Constantine the place that should belong only to Jesus Christ? Had he indeed been overreached and manipulated by this most able of mankind for his own political purposes, even while he thought himself to be using Constantine for the glory of God and for the edification of the Church? Sick, doubtful, terrified, he faintly answered: "But the things which thou sayest the doctrines of Arius would accomplish are precisely the triumph which our Lord did promise to the Church, and which he pledged his divinity to achieve! Surely Arius must be right! War, slavery, and mammon-worship, must be banished out of the world! Mankind must become brethren in the Lord! The Church must triumph, and Christ must be the only king!"
"Not in my time!" said Constantine, with the calmness and firmness of mature and deliberate conviction; "not while I live! The empire shall be mine own. I will yield my right to no man, human or divine! Let the Church grow and prepare for future triumph over earthly sovereignty when the scepter shall be held by some more weak and nerveless hand than mine. I will govern while I live, both church and state, in spite of gods or demons!"
The bishop made no answer. A terrible error into which he had gone with glad heart and exuberant hope seemed palpably revealed to him. He was utterly cowed and humbled. With a crushing sense of self-abasement, shame, mortification, repentance, almost crime, he realized the fact that, compared with that colossal man, who amused himself by playing with the loftiest emotions of the human soul as he did with his ever-victorious legions--a man who, under his calm, grand bearing, concealed a devil of ambition that was ready to mock at all that men hold sacred, and even to hurl his phalanx against Christ himself--he felt like a child, a pygmy.
With ashy lips he murmured: "Almost thou hast defied the Son of God! Beware!"
Then, with a singular smile that had in its beauty and light something of lofty mournfulness, the emperor answered: "And if I should do so, dear bishop, what then? Jesus hath no power against me except through thaumaturgy, and thou dost know that thaumaturgy faded out when the Church abandoned that communal system upon which Arius insisteth yet so manfully. I have made my choice, and will abide the issue, bishop. Thou knowest that I never was baptized. I might have been a Christian, but I preferred to reign over the Roman Empire; and I will reign until the end."
Ah! for him, then, with all the glad assurance born of utter ignorance that such a being could exist among mankind, the bishop had carefully freighted "the old ship Zion" with the godless furniture of Roman law and custom, its statutes of slavery, its laws and usages of war and conquest, its idolatrous system of private-property rights, titles, prerogatives, political and social class distinctions between those whom God made to be brethren, out of which idolatry the sorrow of the world had grown, from all of which Jesus had died to ransom a fallen race. He had unwittingly launched the freighted ship upon the troubled sea of earthly politics. Thinking that he would win the Roman Empire for the Church, he had betrayed and sold the cause of Christ to Constantine. Thinking that he guided and controlled the emperor, he had labored with all diligence to make himself the master's slave. He knew it now only too well--he knew that Constantine had always known it; and, appalled by the vast resources of that greatest of mankind, crushed by the sense of his amazing genius, he seemed unto himself to grow small, contemptible, and weak.
And the ship of the Church? Would she go down forever in the troubled waters, amid the stormy strife for worldly gains and power? Or would she yet, somehow, sometime, somewhere, outride the tempests, and in some unknown and distant clime reach into a safe haven? "Not in my time," said Constantine; "not while I live!" When, then?
These bitter meditations were broken by the calm, sweet voice of Constantine: "Bishop, thou must perceive for thyself that the radical polity of the primitive Christianity to which Arius cleaves unswervingly, and which Ulfilas founded among the Goths so firmly that I had to send the legions thither to uproot it, was somewhat fanatical, or at least premature, and not suited to the every-day life of selfish and wicked men. Thou must perceive, also, with equal clearness, that the splendid ecclesiasticism which I have established throughout the Western Empire in place of the primitive religion is vastly better for mankind than any system ever before attempted, and that it should be speedily extended over all the East. What future, grander developments await the Church, no mortal can foretell. For the present, I desire of thee to seek means whereby to fan the flame of this Arian controversy: it must not die out until it can be summoned before an imperial council, and receive formal condemnation at the mouths of all the bishops called into a synod by the Emperor of the west!"
"And if, when the council shall have been convened, its members shall sustain Arius, what then?"
"A religious war, perhaps," answered Constantine, "or a return unto the pagan gods; both dreadful alternatives, which the Church and the empire should regard with equal horror. But the council will never so decide. I answer for its action; only keep thou the flame of controversy burning until the proper hour arrives!"
"I will contrive means that shall not fail to do so," answered Eusebius, and, bowing low, at a sign from the emperor he withdrew, overwhelmed with the perception of that calm, relentless, almost superhuman sagacity which Constantine had permitted him to see.
"Yea!" murmured Eusebius, "I will fan this flame of controversy! It shall blaze throughout the Church! And it may even happen that Constantine, although the greatest of the human race, is not a match for God. Who knows? Thaumaturgy may be restored to the Church, or, even if, as Constantine asserteth, the kingdom of our Lord was prematurely established, the spiritual truth of the gospel will sometime educate mankind up to the ultimate reception of its socialism and politics. And to this end it shall be my task before I die to organize within the bosom of the Church sacred brotherhoods, bound by holy ties of chastity, obedience, and poverty, to keep alive forever the memory of that communal system upon which Christ founded his kingdom. At all events, there is no possibility of going backward now; and more than ever do I desire to see Constantine obtain the sovereignty of the East. And now for Nicomedia!"
That very day the bishop set out upon his dangerous mission, to concert measures by which to neutralize the naval power of the Emperor Licinius.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROPHECY OF GAIUS.
Proceeding, therefore, with all diligence, not very many days afterward, the Bishop of Cæsarea arrived at Nicomedia, and straightway, by the use of certain secret means of communication which were well known to all Christians, he found, and took up his abode with Eusebius of that city; and they together discussed at great length what means might be used to neutralize the naval power of the tyrant Licinius.
Eusebius of Cæsarea had been absent for many months, and Constantine had begun to grow impatient at his long delay, during which he had received no tidings from the bishop personally, and had heard nothing concerning him, except that he was quietly residing in the city with the other Eusebius. And the emperor, who valued his bishop highly, and enjoyed his companionship more than that of any other man, began to fear that the revelation of his own real character and purposes, which he had made at their last memorable interview, had alienated his friend forever, and thereby deprived himself of the services which he deemed to be almost invaluable. It gave him unmingled pleasure, therefore, to receive upon a certain day a written message that "Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, sent by his brother Eusebius Pamphilus, craves audience of the emperor." Constantine eagerly ordered that he be admitted, and, having dismissed all others, he gave the bishop a very cordial greeting, and then said, with greatest interest and solicitude: "Tell me first of all of thy brother, my friend the Bishop of Cæsarea! Where now is the holy and able man? Is he well? What doeth he?"
The bishop was somewhat lacking in the courtly elegance that characterized his brother, but still had a certain ease born of good sense and honesty of purpose, and he answered in a straightforward and intelligent way that pleased Constantine, and enabled him instantly to "take the measure of the man," and value him at once at his full worth, a thing he was not always able to do with the other Eusebius.
"The bishop, my brother, fared well when I last saw him. We parted at Nicomedia--he to go unto Alexandria, 'upon the emperor's business,' he said; I to come hither by his desire. He sendeth love and reverence unto thee, 'the greatest of mankind,' as he saith; and hath sent me hither because he thought that the things which I am requested to tell thee ought not to be committed to writing, nor intrusted to any ordinary messenger. Whenever thou desirest to hear it, I will briefly narrate what hath happened at Nicomedia."
"I am alone with thee, bishop, to hear thy report. Proceed with thy narrative at once. But first be thou seated, and partake of such refreshments as thou wilt."
"Nay," answered the bishop, "I need naught except thine own attention."
"Then sit thou there, and count upon an eager listener."
"The business upon which thy bishop came unto me having been carefully unfolded by him, the delay therein was caused by the necessity of sending far beyond Antioch for a fitting person to accomplish that upon which we had agreed as necessary for thy service; but it hath been done. The great fleet of the Emperor Licinius hath been so far neutralized that not a ship thereof will cross the sea to molest thy coasts if there should be war. On that thou mayst implicitly rely."
"Tell me the means by which this most important work hath been accomplished; and spare thou no details of the business: my only wish now is to hear thee fully!"
"It happened more than a year ago," said the bishop, "that I received letters from a presbyter at Chalcis, far beyond Antioch in Syria, concerning a most singular youth of that village, who was an epileptic--a devout Christian, but of strange fancies and of extraordinary appearance. This lad, the presbyter informed me, during the paroxysms of his disease seemed to be possessed by some sort of a spirit of divination, and the Church there had vainly attempted to exorcise the spirit; for thaumaturgy hath recently been lost. But the presbyter himself had little faith in his prophetic powers, because he had discovered that it was possible, by strongly impressing the mind of the youth, before the paroxysms came upon him, with some peculiar and striking thought, to anticipate the subject, and often even the very words, of his supposed prophetic ravings. Now, when the bishop unfolded to me what he desired to attempt for thy service, I at once thought of this Syrian youth, and judged that he might be advantageously used therein. The sending of a messenger to Chalcis for him wrought some delay, and, when the messenger reached that place, the youth had gone elsewhere; and it was a work of time to discover him, and might, indeed, have been impossible, but for a certain notoriety bestowed upon him by the strange misfortune under which he labored. And, after we had received the youth at Nicomedia, it was a work of time, and care, and patience, to secure his entire confidence, and train him properly for the business we had undertaken. Do I state the matter too minutely for thy patience?"
"Nay," said Constantine; "it is wonderfully interesting. Thou need have no fear that thy narrative will weary me: I do desire to hear thee fully."
"We found by frequent experiments," continued Eusebius, "that the paroxysms of the youth's disease were not strictly periodical, but that any sudden, strong emotion was liable to bring on an attack. We found that when we had made him memorize certain words beforehand, he was liable, on the increment of his disease, to repeat just those words in a sort of chanting tone, the melody and manner of which were very impressive, even when the words themselves were unmeaning. We found that he was ready to do or suffer anything if persuaded that it would be for the good of the Church. We kept the youth in safe retreat, carefully secluded, so that he might remain entirely unknown in Nicomedia. We then constantly assured him that God was able to accomplish his own designs by using even the most humble agencies, and that no man had the right to look upon himself as a being too insignificant to work for the glory of his Creator; and that even he, although sorely afflicted, by zeal and faithfulness might be able some time to perform a great service to the persecuted Church. He eagerly inquired how that might be, and was manifestly ready to seek for martyrdom if that had been the duty enjoined upon him. But we carefully impressed upon him that all that was required of him was to memorize and constantly repeat a certain form of words that we dictated to him; to meditate upon them day and night; to suffer nothing else to occupy his thoughts; and to wait in faith and hope the result of this discipline. We instructed him that, if any one should ask him about the words he might utter when the fit was on him, to say nothing, except that he was moved so to speak; if any should ask him whom he knew in Nicomedia, he was to answer, 'Eusebius the bishop'; and that in answer to every question put to him he should tell the exact truth. We soon found that, whenever he suffered under a paroxysm of his malady, he would fall to the ground and presently repeat in that sad, wailing chant that seemed to be natural to him, the very words which we had dictated to him, and no others."
"What words were these?" asked Constantine.
"The words," replied Eusebius, "were as follows: 'Joy to the land of Syria! Joy to the holy ones of Egypt! for their deliverer cometh! When the great ships shall cross the middle sea, the tyrant's power shall fail, and a holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire! Joy to Syria and to Egypt, when the great ships shall cross the middle sea!'
"Having experimented with the lad until it seemed to be morally certain that, under the influence of a paroxysm of his disease, he would chant these words only, we directed him to go daily to the gate which opened into the grounds surrounding the imperial palace at Nicomedia, until he might see the Emperor Licinius about to come forth, and that then he should boldly force his way through the gates, at any hazard, without offering salutations or explanation to any one. This the youth promised faithfully to do; and it happened that, the first time he went thither, he saw one whom he supposed to be the emperor, coming forth accompanied by a throng of attendants, and he rushed forward so impetuously that the emperor was compelled to give place to him; and then a soldier knocked down the poor lad with the pole of his pike. Licinius stopped to ascertain the meaning of an intrusion so bold and unusual, and the pain of the blow and the excitement of the situation brought upon the youth one of his strange attacks, and while he lay writhing and twisting about upon the paving-stones, in a loud, weird voice, whose unearthly melody filled all the place, he chanted the words that had been taught to him: 'Joy to the land of Syria! Joy to the holy ones of Egypt! for their deliverer cometh! When the great ships shall cross the middle sea, the tyrant's power shall fail, and a holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire! Joy to Syria and to Egypt, when the great ships shall cross the middle sea!' Then a centurion sprang forward, and would have slain the youth with his sword, but Licinius waved him off, and stood looking upon the singular lad with interest and wonder. And the youth flopped up off of the ground like a fish, and fell back heavily, and almost immediately resumed his wild, sweet chanting of the self-same words; and a profound silence obtained until his song was ended. And very soon that paroxysm passed off, and the lad arose, and looked about him, as if he knew not where he was nor how he came to be there."
Constantine laughed a low, joyous, almost boyish laugh, exclaiming: "A superb performance, indeed! A masterly thing! But continue thy most welcome narrative!"
"Then the Emperor Licinius, whose features are bronzed, and hard, and cruel, looked steadily upon the abashed young man, saying in a stern, imperious voice, 'Who art thou?'
"And the lad answered, 'I am Gaius, a poor youth of Chalcis in Syria!'
"'Knowest thou to whom thou art speaking?'
"'Nay, verily,' answered Gaius, 'but I suppose thee to be the emperor!'
"'What is thy business in Nicomedia?'
"'I have no business anywhere,' said the lad. 'I am diseased, an invalid, an epileptic, and am incapacitated for business. Verily I came unto Nicomedia hoping to be cured of this fearful malady.'
"'What brought thee unto our palace-gates?'
"'I came hither to look upon the emperor, having never seen so great a man; but some cowardly brute did strike me down with a pike!'
"'Why didst thou chant such things as thou hast done even in mine own presence?'
"'What things did I chant? I know not, for the hard blow brought upon me an attack of the epilepsy, and while it continueth I know not what I say, but speak only as I am moved to speak!'
"'What, then, moveth thee to chant at all?'
"'I know not, nor do I even know that I have done so, unless some one who hath heard me informeth me thereof!'
"'Whom knowest thou in my city of Nicomedia?'
"'None save the Bishop Eusebius!'
"'Art thou, then, a Christian?'
"'Yea! Thanks to the boundless mercy of our Lord!'
"Then said the emperor: 'Let immediate search be made for this Eusebius, and let him be straightway brought before me. Keep ye this boy in strictest prison, but use him kindly; for it may be that he hath a demon!'
"I did not choose to be found upon that day, although the city was sifted well for that purpose. And upon the next day, Licinius caused the lad Gaius to be brought before him, and he spoke kindly unto him, saying: 'Thou art a strange and interesting youth, and I desire to take thee into my service, and to attach thee unto myself, and to care for thee well. Hast thou memory good enough to keep in thy mind for me a catalogue of more than three hundred ships?'
"'I know not,' said the lad. 'At school I learned rapidly and retained well all that I acquired; but I fear that the malady wherewith I am afflicted hath injured both mind and body.'
"'Let me test thy memory somewhat to ascertain thy capacity for the service I would have thee render. Canst thou name the stations and distances upon the road from Chalcis unto Antioch, and thence unto the sea?'
"And the boy gave the whole itinerary correctly. And the emperor asked of him a great many questions with exceeding affability, and finally said unto him: 'Thou hast a fine, retentive memory, and I will make a man of thee. See, now, how much thou canst remember of the song which thou didst twice chant on yesterday!'
"But the lad said: 'I know not the words at all, and know not that I did chant at all. All that occurreth when the fit is upon me is blankness and darkness, so that I know nothing, and suffer not, and if fire were put upon me, I would not feel any pain so long as the paroxysm continueth!'
"Then the emperor gave way to wrath, and shouted furiously: 'Thou liest, villain! Thou seekest to deceive me! Repeat thy chant instantly, or I will put thee to torture to extract the truth!'
"Then the boy grew very pale, and trembled, but he only answered: 'Thou demandest of me that which is impossible! I do not know the words, and can not repeat them, though thou shouldst slay me!'
"Then cried out the emperor, 'Bring thumb-screws hither, and torment this wretch!'
"Then one put upon his thumb that cruel screw, and twisted hard upon it, and the boy shrieked with pain. Then the fit came upon him, and he fell headlong upon the floor, and the torturer removed the screw. And immediately the boy began, in a clear, sweet voice that filled the great hall with music, to chant the same words again: 'Joy to the land of Syria! Joy to the holy ones of Egypt!'--and the emperor sprang forward, and with the point of a dagger he tore up a finger-nail of the boy, watching his face intently; but the lad's countenance changed not, and he continued his chant evenly and serenely. And the emperor commanded that fire be brought to him in a brazier, and he laid a coal thereof upon the boy's naked breast, and blew upon it until the burned flesh smelled all about, but the boy showed no consciousness of pain, and continued to chant sweetly until his song was ended. And for a short space the lad lay as one dead, and then a strong convulsion contorted his limbs, and lifted him from the floor, and violently cast him down again; and then once more he chanted the same words, and the emperor listened and watched him with fear and wonder. And when the attack had passed away, Licinius said: 'Let this boy be guarded carefully, but let him be treated with the greatest kindness; for surely, beyond any doubt, he hath a demon!'
"And the lictors with great astonishment and fear led the boy away.
"And having been fully informed of all these things on the same night, by a Christian whom we had allowed to sacrifice and so retain his place in the palace, for the good of the Church, upon the next morning went I up to the gates and boldly demanded admission, declaring to the centurion on duty who I was, and that I had been informed that the emperor was seeking me throughout the city; and speedily they brought me into the presence of Licinius, and he said, 'Art thou Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia?'
"'Yea, I am he!'
"'And like all of thy treasonable sect, that lurk within my city of Nicomedia, thou art still offering up prayers for the Emperor Constantine?'
"'Yea, doubtless!'
"'And thou dost not pray for me, nor propitiate God for me, thine own lawful emperor, at all?'
"'Yea, daily I pray God for thee that he would soften thy flinty heart, and turn thee from the devices of wickedness unto the wisdom of the just!'
"'But thou prayest not for my prosperity, and for the glory and perpetuity of mine empire?'
"'Nay, verily. I have no faith to pray for the triumph of the cruel and of the wicked!'
"Then said he, 'Dost thou know the boy Gaius of Chalcis?'
"'Yea! He was with me at my house until the third day past, but he hath disappeared, and I am anxious concerning him.'
"'Is there anything peculiar about the boy?'
"'He hath a peculiar and terrible malady called epilepsy!'
"And then attentively regarding me with his hard and searching eyes, he said, 'Doth the boy prophesy?'
"'When he hath a paroxysm of his disease he customarily chanteth strange things which some esteem to be prophecies; but whether his sayings be truly prophetic or not I can not inform thee.'
"'Perhaps thou dost remember the words of some of his pretended prophecies?'
"'Yea, verily! For since he hath been with me he hath hardly ever chanted anything but a certain song which I have heard him repeat very often when the disease taketh him.'
"'Repeat thou those words!'
"Then with a certain show of exultation I chanted the same words that Gaius had uttered, and, when I had finished, Licinius cried out fiercely, 'Thou dost believe, indeed, that the words of Gaius are a sure prophecy, and thou dost rejoice at my threatened overthrow!'
"I looked smilingly upon the emperor, but made no answer; and thereupon he fell into a great rage and said unto me, grimly enough: 'Thou art a tall man, bishop! Verily, I think thou art fully a head too tall, and this day I will reduce thee to a more proper stature by cutting off thy head'; and when he saw that I was unterrified by this threat, he added, 'And the boy's head also!'
"Then gazing fixedly upon him, I did say: 'Surely thou mayst do so, for thou art a blood-soaked, merciless tyrant enough for any crime. But this deed would make thee contemptible; for it would prove that thou art not only a tyrant, but also a fool!'
"Then turning almost livid with suppressed wrath, he cried out, 'What dost thou mean, thou insolent?'
"'I mean that some years ago when the bold and eloquent preaching of the brave and righteous presbyter, Arius the Libyan, did operate to save for thee a large part of thy fleet, thou didst order that he should never be molested in the public discharge of the duties of his sacred office; wherefore, even the Christians, who knew thee to be a bloody tyrant, and a desecrator of the sacrament of marriage by an infamous law, and a violator of all the sanctities and decencies of life, still did give thee credit for intelligence. But if now thou shalt murder those who, even unintentionally, have given thee warning in time to save thy whole navy, all men will regard thee as an idiot.'
"'How save my whole navy?'
"'By keeping the ships thereof upon thine own side of the Mediterranean; for the words are, "whenthe great ships shall cross the middle sea," and perhaps it may signify not untilthen?'
"'By Jupiter Stator,' he answered, vehemently, 'I think that thou art right! And that accursed "when" shall never happen. For this honest saying of thine, thou mayst go hence free, and take the lad Gaius with thee!'
"And thereupon I withdrew; but I am certainly advised that his purpose holds good never to send his fleet across the Mediterranean."
"How dost thou know that?" asked Constantine, eagerly.
"We waited many weeks," replied Eusebius, "to obtain some reliable indications of his purposes; but the Emperor Licinius is a great commander, and men drilled in military services talk cautiously even when drunk, as he frequently is, so that we got nothing. Finally, a centurion came one night to mine abode, which I had caused to be publicly known, and with great courtesy informed me that the emperor had sent him to bring me into his presence. Having dismissed all others, as if the matter were most secret, he said: 'I know ye Christian bishops love not me, and that ye offer prayers for Constantine; yet I do not think that thou wouldst lie to me. I therefore tell thee that, since thou wert last before me, I sent an embassy secretly unto the oracle at Delphi, with many costly gifts, asking of the oracle what success I would have if I should send my navy against the Western Empire; and I desire thee to read and to construe the answer of the god.' Then he gave unto me a parchment on which was written, 'When the navy of the Emperor Licinius shall pass over the sea to war with the Emperor Constantine, his empire shall be overthrown.' I read the oracle, and laughed. Then said I unto him: 'Like all of the pretended oracles of the heathen, it is simply an evasion. Of course, if two great emperors engage in war, one of them must be overthrown. This oracle saith not which of them. If the Western Empire be defeated, the priests will say, "We foretold that." But if the Eastern Empire shall be subverted, they will just as truly say, "We foretold that."'
"'Art thou certain that the language bears one construction as naturally and grammatically as it does the other?'
"'Assuredly so! The Latin infinitive mood with the accusative case possesses a wonderful facility for such a construction as may signify either one thing or the other.'
"Then he gave way to sudden wrath, and cried aloud: 'Curses on the lying, cheating oracles by which so many mighty men have been lured into destruction!' And, fixing his eyes upon me, he continued, 'Was there any such ambiguity in what thy boy Gaius chanted?'
"'Nay, verily,' I answered. 'He said, "A holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire." Thou canst not add the East unto anything, although thou mightest add something to the East; but canst add nothing to the Western Empire, which is not thine own, and thou art not a "holy emperor!"'
"'It is only a cursed trick of the oracle to lure me on to ruin!' he exclaimed. 'The Emperor Constantine hath bribed the god to influence me so that he may invade and overthrow mine empire while my fleet is far away. I will keep mine own coasts safe with wooden walls henceforth, and not a ship shall cross the middle sea.'
"Then he said unto me: 'Thou seem'st an honest and fair-minded man, and henceforth thou may'st practice thy religion publicly in my city of Nicomedia without fear or molestation. So fare thee well.'
"I think that this completeth my account, except I should add that from the very beginning of this matter the Emperor Licinius hath zealously endeavored to keep it all profoundly secret, so that it is known to very few."
Then said Constantine unto the bishop: "What didst thou mean by saying to the emperor, 'The Christians who knew thee to be a bloody tyrant, and the desecrator of the sacrament of marriage by an infamous law'? What law was that?"
And Eusebius answered: "He hath revived the former law of Maximin, that 'no woman of rank should marry without the emperor's consent,' and for the same infamous purpose,ut ipse in omnibus nuptiis proegustator esset; and this licentiousness hath done more to set the Church against the emperor than even the murder of the bishops."
"How strange," said Constantine, "that men should think themselves fit to govern an empire who can not even govern their own brutal passions!"
Then the great emperor indulged in long-continued laughter, not loud nor vociferous, but quiet, hearty, joyous, and exultant. But, soon resuming his usual equanimity, he said unto the bishop: "Thou art the most welcome messenger that hath ever come unto me since thy brother of Cæsarea did first visit me in Gaul before the overthrow of Maxentius. Tell me what great favor worthy of Rome's emperor I can do for thee."
Then Eusebius, with glowing countenance, bent low, and seizing the emperor's hand he kissed it fervently, exclaiming, "Stretch forth thy mighty hand, Augustus, and free the persecuted churches of the East!"
Constantine was deeply moved, and answered: "It shall be done, bishop! Trust me, it shall be done! But I have given order for thy fitting entertainment, and while thou shalt rest and refresh thyself, think of some personal favor I can do for thee."
Eusebius bowed gravely and withdrew.
The emperor was alone, seated, buried in profoundest meditation. For a long time he was silent, and then his deep thought found utterance in murmured words: "A wonderful faith, truly, that can bind the heart and intellect of even able men like the Eusebii in absolute slavery to an idea, so that Christ and the Church are first in all their thoughts and purposes; and ease, comfort, wealth, and power, and even life and death, are trifling things compared therewith! If any God exists, these Christians surely have discovered him in Jesus. But I am sufficient for myself, and need no Deity."
Then he was silent again for some time longer. But suddenly he gave way to jubilant merriment, murmuring amid his laughter: "It was a superb farce, that prophecy of Gaius! Better than theLegio Fulminea. Better even than the Labarum! Surely the fine, Grecian hand of my Eusebius hath only acquired a more delicate touch with his advancing years!" And the great emperor continued to laugh merrily.
But neither pain nor pleasure ever interfered with the grand game of empire; and before midnight orders had been framed and issued by which the veteran legions of Hispania, Gaul, and Germany were to be gradually replaced by more recent levies; by which the brave and hardy Goths were put upon the most rigid military discipline; and by which all the chosen troops, upon whose skill and valor the unconquerable leader would be willing to stake the sovereignty of the world, were slowly concentrated to the eastward of Milan by a quiet, steady, unostentatious military movement that consumed months in its accomplishment and scarcely excited the suspicions of even the vigilant and intelligent agents of the Emperor Licinius.