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beholds the blessed one dwelling with it in the kingdom. 1.1.3 For it beholds his children on earth, like some new lamps of his own splendors, filling the whole world, and him living in power and governing the whole of life better than before, having been multiplied in the succession of his children; who, though they had previously partaken of the honor of Caesars, now, having clothed themselves entirely in him through the virtue of piety, have been shown forth as autocrats, augusti, venerables, emperors, resplendent in their father's ornaments. 1.2.1 And seeing him who was seen a short time before in a mortal body and was most paradoxically with us even after the end of his life, when nature exposes the superfluous as something alien, deemed worthy of the same royal houses and possessions 1.2.2 and honors and hymns, my discourse is utterly astonished; and now, stretching itself even to the very vaults of heaven, there too it imagines his thrice-blessed soul dwelling with God himself, released from every mortal and earthly covering, and illumined with a robe of dazzling 1.2.3 light. Then, conceiving of it no longer involved in long periods of time in mortal pursuits, but honored with an ever-blooming diadem of unending life and with the immortality of a blessed age, it stands speechless as a mortal discourse, uttering no sound, having convicted itself of its own weakness, and indeed, having decreed silence upon itself, it yields to the better and universal Word to attain the worthiness of fitting hymns; by whom alone it is possible 1.3.1, as an immortal Word and the Word of God, to confirm his own utterances. By which, having decreed that those who glorify and honor him will be surpassed with reciprocal gifts, but that those who have made themselves his enemies and foes will bring upon themselves the destruction of souls, he thereupon established the promises of his words as not false, showing the ends of the lives of godless and God-fighting tyrants to be abominable, but declaring the death, as well as the life, of his own servant to be enviable and much-hymned, so that this too became worthy of remembrance and of monuments not mortal but immortal. 1.3.2 For mortal nature, having found a consolation for a mortal and perishable end, has seen fit to honor the memories of those who have gone before with immortal honors through the dedication of images, and some with the brilliant colors of encaustic painting, others by carving manlike forms from inanimate material, and others by engraving deep letters on tablets and pillars, supposed that they were consigning the virtues of those honored to eternal memory. But all these things were mortal, consumed by the length of time, being images of perishable bodies, and not imprinting the forms of the immortal soul. Nevertheless, these things seemed to suffice for those who placed no other hope of good things after 1.3.3 the end of mortal life. But God, God the common Savior of all, having stored up with himself goods greater than mortal reasonings for the lovers of piety, from here offers the firstfruits of the prizes as a down payment, in some way making the 1.3.4 immortal hopes credible to mortal eyes. Ancient oracles of prophets handed down in writing declare these things, these things the lives of God-loving men, who shone forth long ago with all kinds of virtues, being remembered by posterity, bear witness to, these things our own time has also proven to be true, in which Constantine, alone of all who have ever led the Roman empire having become a friend to God the King of all, became a clear example of a pious life to all men. 1.4.1 And these things God himself, whom Constantine honored, standing at his right hand at the beginning, middle, and end of his reign, confirmed with clear decrees, having set forth the man as an instruction of a pious example to the mortal race; having indeed appointed him alone of the emperors famed from of old as a kind of very great luminary and a most loud-voiced herald of unerring piety, to him alone He showed the pledges of his piety through all manner of goods bestowed upon him,

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τὸν μακάριον αὐτῇ συνόντα βασιλείᾳ θεωρεῖ. 1.1.3 γῆς μὲν γὰρ τοὺς αὐτοῦ παῖδας οἷά τινας νέους λαμπτῆρας τῶν αὐτοῦ μαρμαρυγῶν συνορᾷ πληροῦντας τὸ πᾶν, αὐτόν τε ζῶντα δυνάμει καὶ τὸν σύμπαντα διακυβερνῶντα βίον κρειττόνως ἢ πρόσθεν τῇ τῶν παίδων πολυπλασιασθέντα διαδοχῇ· οἳ καισάρων μὲν ἔτι πρότερον μετεῖχον τιμῆς, νυνὶ δ' ὅλον αὐτὸν ἐνδυσάμενοι θεοσεβείας ἀρετῇ, αὐτοκράτορες αὔγουστοι σεβαστοὶ βασιλεῖς τοῖς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐμπρέποντες καλλωπίσμασιν ἀνεδείχθησαν. 1.2.1 καὶ τὸν ἐν σώματι δὲ θνητῷ μικρῷ πρόσθεν ὁρώμενον αὐτοῖς θ' ἡμῖν συνόντα παραδοξότατα καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτήν, ὅτε ἡ φύσις ὡς ἀλλότριον τὸ περιττὸν ἐλέγχει, τῶν αὐτῶν βασιλικῶν οἴκων τε καὶ κτημάτων 1.2.2 καὶ τιμῶν καὶ ὕμνων ἠξιωμένον θεώμενος ὁ λόγος ὑπερεκπλήττεται· ἤδη δὲ καὶ πρὸς αὐταῖς οὐρανίαις ἁψῖσιν ἑαυτὸν ἐκτείνας, κἀνταῦθα τὴν τρισμακαρίαν ψυχὴν αὐτῷ θεῷ συνοῦσαν φαντάζεται, θνητοῦ μὲν καὶ γεώδους παντὸς ἀφειμένην περιβλήματος, φωτὸς δ' ἐξαστραπτούσῃ στολῇ καταλαμ1.2.3 πομένην. εἶτ' οὐκέτι μὲν μακραῖς χρόνων περιόδοις ἐν θνητῶν διατριβαῖς εἰλουμένην αὐτήν, αἰωνοθαλεῖ δὲ διαδήματι ζωῆς ἀτελευτήτου καὶ μακαρίου αἰῶνος ἀθανασίᾳ τετιμημένην ἐννοῶν, ἀχανὴς ἕστηκεν οἷα θνητὸς λόγος, μηδεμίαν μὲν ἀφιεὶς φωνὴν τῆς δ' αὐτὸς αὐτοῦ κατεγνωκὼς ἀσθενείας, καὶ δὴ σιωπὴν καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ψηφισάμενος τῷ κρείττονι καὶ καθόλου λόγῳ παραχωρεῖ τυγχάνειν τῆς τῶν ἐφαμίλλων ὕμνων ἀξίας· ᾧ δὴ καὶ μόνῳ δυνατὸν 1.3.1 ἀθανάτῳ καὶ θεοῦ ὄντι λόγῳ τὰς οἰκείας πιστοῦσθαι φωνάς. δι' ὧν τοὺς μὲν αὐτὸν δοξάζοντάς τε καὶ τιμῶντας ἀμοιβαίοις ὑπερβάλλεσθαι χαρίσμασι, τοὺς δ' ἐχθροὺς καὶ πολεμίους σφᾶς αὐτοὺς αὐτῷ καταστήσαντας τὸν ψυχῶν ὄλεθρον ἑαυτοῖς περιποιήσειν θεσπίσας, ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἀψευδεῖς παρεστήσατο, ἀθέων μὲν καὶ θεομάχων τυράννων ἀπευκτὰ δείξας τοῦ βίου τὰ τέλη, τοῦ δ' αὐτοῦ θεράποντος ζηλωτὸν καὶ πολυύμνητον πρὸς τῇ ζωῇ καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀποφήνας, ὡς ἀξιομνημόνευτον καὶ τοῦτον τε στηλῶν τε οὐ θνητῶν ἀλλ' ἀθανάτων ἐπάξιον γενέσθαι. 1.3.2 θνητῶν μὲν γὰρ φύσις, θνητοῦ καὶ ἐπικήρου τέλους παραμύθιον εὑραμένη, εἰκόνων ἀναθήμασι τὰς τῶν προτέρων μνήμας ἀθανάτοις ἔδοξε γεραίρειν τιμαῖς, καὶ οἱ μὲν σκιαγραφίας κηροχύτου γραφῆς ἄνθεσιν, οἱ δὲ γλυφαῖς ὕλης ἀψύχου ἀνδρείκελα σχήματα τεκτηνάμενοι, οἱ δὲ κύρβεσι καὶ στήλαις βαθείας γραμμὰς ἐγχαράξαντες, μνήμαις ὑπέλαβον αἰωνίαις τὰς τῶν τιμωμένων ἀρετὰς παραδιδόναι. τὰ δ' ἦν ἄρα πάντα θνητὰ χρόνου μήκει δαπανώμενα, φθαρτῶν ἅτε σωμάτων ἰνδάλματα, οὐ μὴν ἀθανάτου ψυχῆς ἀποτυποῦντα ἰδέας. ὅμως δ' οὖν ἀπαρκεῖν ἐδόκει ταῦτα τοῖς μηδὲν ἕτερον μετὰ 1.3.3 τὴν τοῦ θνητοῦ βίου καταστροφὴν ἐν ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίσι τιθεμένοις. θεὸς δ' ἄρα, θεὸς ὁ κοινὸς τῶν ὅλων σωτήρ, μείζονα ἢ κατὰ θνητοὺς λογισμοὺς τοῖς εὐσεβείας ἐρασταῖς ἀγαθὰ παρ' ἑαυτῷ ταμιευσάμενος, τὰ πρωτόλεια τῶν ἐπάθλων ἐνθένδε προαρραβωνίζεται, θνητοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἁμωσγέπως τὰς 1.3.4 ἀθανάτους πιστούμενος ἐλπίδας. παλαιοὶ ταῦτα χρησμοὶ προφητῶν γραφῇ παραδοθέντες θεσπίζουσι, ταῦτα βίοι θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν παντοίαις ἀρεταῖς πρόπαλαι διαλαμψάντων τοῖς ὀψιγόνοις μνημονευόμενοι μαρτύρονται, ταῦτα καὶ ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀληθῆ εἶναι διήλεγξε χρόνος, καθ' ὃν Κωνσταντῖνος θεῷ τῷ παμβασιλεῖ μόνος τῶν πώποτε τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς καθηγησαμένων γεγονὼς φίλος, ἐναργὲς ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις παράδειγμα θεοσεβοῦς κατέστη βίου. 1.4.1 Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ θεὸς αὐτός, ὃν Κωνσταντῖνος ἐγέραιρεν, ἀρχομένῳ καὶ μεσάζοντι καὶ τελευτῶντι τῆς βασιλείας αὐτῷ δεξιὸς παραστάς, ἐναργέσι ψήφοις ἐπιστώσατο, διδασκαλίαν θεοσεβοῦς ὑποδείγματος τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ θνητῷ γένει προβεβλημένος· μόνον γοῦν αὐτὸν τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀκοῇ βοηθέντων αὐτοκρατόρων οἷόν τινα μέγιστον φωστῆρα καὶ κήρυκα μεγαλοφωνότατον τῆς ἀπλανοῦς θεοσεβείας προστησάμενος, μόνῳ τὰ ἐχέγγυα τῆς αὐτοῦ θεοσεβείας διὰ παντοίων τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν κεχορηγημένων ἀγαθῶν ἐνεδείξατο,