CHAPTER XIII

OF CONSTANTIUS HIS FATHER, WHO REFUSED TO IMITATE DIOCLETIAN, MAXIMIAN, AND MAXENTIUS, IN THEIR PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS

AT a time when four princes shared the administration of the Roman empire, Constantius alone adopted a course of conduct different from that pursued by his colleagues, and avowed himself the friend of the Supreme God.

For while they besieged and wasted the churches of God, levelling them to the ground, and obliterating the very foundations of the houses of prayer, he kept his hands pure from their abominable impiety, and never in any respect resembled them. They polluted their provinces by the indiscriminate slaughter of holy men and women; but he preserved himself free from the stain of this fearful crime: they, involved in the mazes of impious idolatry, enthralled first themselves, and then all under their authority, in bondage to the errors of evil demons; while he at the same time originated the profoundest peace throughout his dominions, and secured to his subjects the privilege of celebrating without hindrance the worship of God. In short, while his colleagues oppressed all men by the most grievous exactions, and rendered their lives intolerable, and even worse than death, Constantius alone governed his people with a mild and tranquil sway, and exhibited towards them a truly parental and fostering care.

Numberless indeed are the excellences of his character, which are the theme of praise to all; of these I will record one or two instances, as specimens of the quality of those which I must pass by in silence, and then I will proceed to the proposed course of my narrative.