First, they produce no witnesses but Christians5, the deposition7 of whom may be suspected in the treatment of a fact which tended to prove the divinity of their religion. How is it that no Pagan author has made mention of this miracle, which was seen equally by all the army of Constantine? That Zosimus, who seems to have endeavored to diminish the glory of Constantine, has said nothing of it, is not surprising; but the silence appears very strange in the author of the panegyric8 of Constantine, pronounced in his presence at Trier; in which oration9 the panegyrist expresses himself in magnificent terms on all the war against Maxentius, whom this emperor had conquered.
Another orator10, who, in his panegyric, treats so eloquently11 of the war against Maxentius, of the clemency12 which Constantine showed after the victory, and of the deliverance of Rome, says not a word on this apparition13; while he assures us, that celestial14 armies were seen by all the Gauls, which armies, it was pretended, were sent to aid Constantine.
This surprising vision has not only been unknown to Pagan authors, but to three Christian6 writers, who had the finest occasion to speak of them. Optatianus Porphyrius mentions more than once the monogram15 of Christ, which he calls the celestial sign, in the panegyric of Constantine which he wrote in Latin verse, but not a word on the appearance of the cross in the sky.
Lactantius says nothing of it in his treatise16 on the “Death of Persecutors,” which he composed towards the year 314, two years after the vision of which we speak; yet he must have been perfectly17 informed of all that regards Constantine, having been tutor to Crispus, the son of this prince. He merely relates, that Constantine was commanded, in a dream, to put the divine image of the cross on the bucklers of his soldiers, and to give up war: but in relating a dream, the truth of which had no other support than the evidence of the emperor, he passes in silence over a prodigy18 to which all the army were witnesses.
Further, Eusebius of C?sarea himself, who has given the example to all other Christian historians on the subject, speaks not of this wonder, in the whole course of his “Ecclesiastical History,” though he enlarges much on the exploits of Constantine against Maxentius. It is only in his life of this emperor that he expresses himself in these terms: “Constantine resolved to adore the god of Constantius; his father implored19 the protection of this god against Maxentius. Whilst he was praying, he had a wonderful vision, which would appear incredible, if related by another; but since the victorious20 emperor has himself related it to us, who wrote this history; and that, after having been long known to this prince, and enjoying a share in his good graces, the emperor confirming what he said by oath — who could doubt it? particularly since the event has confirmed the truth of it.
“He affirmed, that in the afternoon, when the sun set, he saw a luminous21 cross above it, with this inscription22 in Greek —‘By this sign, conquer:’ that this appearance astonished him extremely, as well as all the soldiers who followed him, who were witnesses of the miracle; that while his mind was fully23 occupied with this vision, and he sought to penetrate24 the sense of it, the night being come, Jesus Christ appeared to him during his sleep, with the same sign which He had shown to him in the air in the day-time, and commanded him to make a standard of the same form, and to bear it in his battles, to secure him from danger. Constantine, rising at break of day, related to his friends the vision which he had beheld25; and, sending for goldsmiths and lapidaries26, he sat in the midst of them, explained to them the figure of the sign which he had seen, and commanded them to make a similar one of gold and jewels; and we remember having sometimes seen it.”
Eusebius afterwards adds, that Constantine, astonished at so admirable a vision, sent for Christian priests; and that, instructed by them, he applied27 himself to reading our sacred books, and concluded that he ought to adore with a profound respect the God who appeared to him.
How can we conceive that so admirable a vision, seen by so many millions of people, and so calculated to justify28 the truth of the Christian religion, could be unknown to Eusebius, an historian so careful in seeking all that could contribute to do honor to Christianity, as even to quote profane29 monuments falsely, as we have seen in the article on “Eclipse?” And how can we persuade ourselves that he was not informed of it, until several years after, by the sole evidence of Constantine? Were there no Christians in the army, who publicly made a glory of having seen such a prodigy? Had they so little interest in their cause as to keep silence on so great a miracle? Ought we to be astonished, after that, that Gelasius, one of the successors of Eusebius, in the siege of C?sarea in the fifth century, has said that many people suspected that it was only a fable30, invented in favor of the Christian religion?
This suspicion will become much stronger, if we take notice how little the witnesses agree on the circumstances of this marvellous appearance. Almost all affirm, that the cross was seen by Constantine and all his army; and Gelasius speaks of Constantine alone. They differ on the time of the vision. Philostorgius, in his “Ecclesiastical History,” of which Photius has preserved us the extract, says, that it was when Constantine gained the victory over Maxentius; others pretend that it was before, when Constantine was making preparations for attacking the tyrant31, and was on his march with his army. Arthemius, quoted by Metaphrastus and Surius, mentions the 20th of October, and says that it was at noon; others speak of the afternoon at sunset.
Authors do not agree better even on the vision: the greatest number acknowledged but one, and that in a dream. There is only Eusebius, followed by Philostorgius and Socrates, who speaks of two; the one that Constantine saw in the day-time, and the other which he saw in a dream, tending to confirm the first. Nicephorus Callistus reckons three.
The inscription offers new differences: Eusebius says that it was in Greek characters, while others do not speak of it. According to Philostorgius and Nicephorus, it was in Latin characters; others say nothing about it, and seem by their relation to suppose that the characters were Greek. Philostorgius affirms, that the inscription was formed by an assemblage of stars; Arthemius says that the letters were golden. The author quoted by Photius, represents them as composed of the same luminous matter as the cross; and according to Sosomenes, it had no inscription, and they were angels who said to Constantine: “By this sign, gain the victory.”
Finally, the relation of historians is opposed on the consequences of this vision. If we take that of Eusebius, Constantine, aided by God, easily gained the victory over Maxentius; but according to Lactantius, the victory was much disputed. He even says that the troops of Maxentius had some advantage, before Constantine made his army approach the gates of Rome. If we may believe Eusebius and Sosomenes, from this epoch32 Constantine was always victorious, and opposed the salutary sign of the cross to his enemies, as an impenetrable rampart. However, a Christian author, of whom M. de Valois has collected some fragments, at the end of Ammianus Marcellinus — relates, that in the two battles given to Licinius by Constantine, the victory was doubtful, and that Constantine was even slightly wounded in the thigh33; and Nicephorus says, that after the first apparition, he twice combated the Byzantines, without opposing the cross to them, and would not even have remembered it, if he had not lost nine thousand men, and had the same vision twice more. In the first, the stars were so arranged that they formed these words of a psalm34: “Call on me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify35 me;” and the last, much clearer and more brilliant still, bore: “By this sign, thou shalt vanquish36 all thy enemies.”
Philostorgius affirms, that the vision of the cross, and the victory gained over Maxentius, determined37 Constantine to embrace the Christian faith; but Rufinus, who has translated the “Ecclesiastical History” of Eusebius into Latin, says that he already favored Christianity, and honored the true God. It is however known, that he did not receive baptism until a few days before his death, as is expressly said by Philostorgius, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Socrates, Theodoret, and the author of the Chronicle of Alexandria. This custom, then common, was founded on the belief that, baptism effacing38 all the sins of him who received it, he died certain of his salvation39.
We might confine ourselves to these general reflections, but by superabundance of right we will discuss the authority of Eusebius, as an historian, and that of Constantine and Arthemius, as ocular witnesses.
As to Arthemius, we think that he ought not to be placed in the rank of ocular witnesses; his discourse40 being founded only on his “Acts,” related by Metaphrastus, a fabulous41 author: “Acts” which Baronius pretends it was wrong to impeach42, at the same time that he confesses that they are interpolated.
As to the speech of Constantine, related by Eusebius, it is indisputably an astonishing thing, that this emperor feared that he should not be believed unless he made oath; and that Eusebius has not supported his evidence by that of any of the officers or soldiers of the army. But without here adopting the opinion of some scholars, who doubt whether Eusebius is the author of the life of Constantine, is he not an author who, in this work, bears throughout the character of a panegyrist, rather than that of a historian? Is he not a writer who has carefully suppressed all which could be disadvantageous to his hero? In a word, does he not show his partiality, when he says, in his “Ecclesiastical History,” speaking of Maxentius, that having usurped43 the sovereign power at Rome, to flatter the people he feigned44 at first to profess45 the Christian religion? As if it was impossible for Constantine to make use of such a feint, and to pretend this vision, just as Licinius, some time after, to encourage his soldiers against Maximin, pretended that an angel in a dream had dictated46 a prayer to him, which he must repeat with his army.
How could Eusebius really have the effrontery47 to call a prince a Christian who caused the temple of Concord48 to be rebuilt at his own expense, as is proved by an inscription, which was read in the time of Lelio Geraldi, in the temple of Latran? A prince who caused his son Crispus, already honored with the title of C?sar, to perish on a slight suspicion of having commerce with Fausta, his stepmother; who caused this same Fausta, to whom he was indebted for the preservation49 of his life, to be suffocated50 in an overheated bath; who caused the emperor Maximian Hercules, his adopted father, to be strangled; who took away the life of the young Licinius, his nephew, who had already displayed very good qualities; and, in short, who dishonored himself by so many murders, that the consul51 Ablavius called his times Neronian? We might add, that much dependence52 should not be placed on the oath of Constantine, since he had not the least scruple53 in perjuring54 himself, by causing Licinius to be strangled, to whom he had promised his life on oath. Eusebius passes in silence over all the actions of Constantine which are related by Eutropius, Zosimus, Orosius, St. Jerome, and Aurelius Victor.
After this, have we not reason to conclude that the pretended appearance of the cross in the sky is only a fraud which Constantine imagined to favor the success of his ambitious enterprises? The medals of this prince and of his family, which are found in Banduri, and in the work entitled, “Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum”; the triumphal arch of which Baronius speaks, in the inscription of which the senate and the Roman people said that Constantine, by the direction of the Divinity, had rid the republic of the tyrant Maxentius, and of all his faction55; finally, the statue which Constantine himself caused to be erected56 at Rome, holding a lance terminating in the form of a cross, with this inscription — as related by Eusebius: “By this saving sign, I have delivered your city from the yoke57 of tyranny”— all this, I say, only proves the immoderate pride of this artificial prince, who would everywhere spread the noise of his pretended dream, and perpetuate58 the recollection of it.
Yet, to excuse Eusebius, we must compare him to a bishop59 of the seventeenth century, whom La Bruyère hesitated not to call a father of the Church. Bossuet, at the same time that he fell so unmercifully on the visions of the elegant and sensible Fénelon, commented himself, in the funeral oration of Anne of Gonzaga of Cleves, on the two visions which worked the conversion60 of the Princess Palatine. It was an admirable dream, says this prelate; she thought that, walking alone in a forest, she met with a blind man in a small cell. She comprehended that a sense is wanting to the incredulous as well as to the blind; and at the same time, in the midst of so mysterious a dream, she applied the fine comparison of the blind man to the truths of religion and of the other life.
In the second vision, God continued to instruct her, as He did Joseph and Solomon; and during the drowsiness61 which the trouble caused her, He put this parable62 into her mind, so similar to that in the gospel: She saw that appear which Jesus Christ has not disdained63 to give us as an image of His tenderness — a hen become a mother, anxious round the little ones which she conducted. One of them having strayed, our invalid64 saw it swallowed by a hungry dog. She ran and tore the innocent animal away from him. At the same time, a voice cried from the other side that she must give it back to the ravisher. “No,” said she, “I will never give it back.” At this moment she awakened65, and the explanation of the figure which had been shown to her presented itself to her mind in an instant.
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1
allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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5
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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deposition
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| n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物 | |
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panegyric
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| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
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oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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12
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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14
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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monogram
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| n.字母组合 | |
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treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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prodigy
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| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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lapidaries
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| n.宝石匠，玉石雕刻师( lapidary的名词复数 ) | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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glorify
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| vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化 | |
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vanquish
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| v.征服，战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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effacing
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| 谦逊的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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41
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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42
impeach
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| v.弹劾；检举 | |
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43
usurped
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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44
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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45
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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46
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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47
effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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48
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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49
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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50
suffocated
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| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的过去式和过去分词 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
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51
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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52
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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53
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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54
perjuring
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| v.发假誓，作伪证( perjure的现在分词 ) | |
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55
faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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56
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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57
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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58
perpetuate
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| v.使永存，使永记不忘 | |
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59
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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60
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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61
drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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62
parable
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| n.寓言，比喻 | |
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63
disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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64
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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65
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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