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having honored the time of his reign with three complete decades and still more, and having limited his life among men to twice that number for his whole life; and having given him the image of His own monarchical authority, He showed him to be a victor over every race of tyrants and a destroyer of the God-fighting giants, who in the madness of their soul took up the arms of impiety against the very King of all. 1.5.2 But they, having appeared for but a brief moment, so to speak, were at the same time extinguished, but the one and only God, having armed His servant as one against many with divine panoply, and having through him cleansed mortal life from the multitude of the godless, appointed him for all nations a teacher of piety in Him, testifying with a loud voice in the hearing of all to know the God who is, and to turn away from the error of those who in no way 1.6.1 exist. And he, as a faithful and good servant, did and proclaimed this, openly calling and confessing himself a slave and servant of the King of all, but God, rewarding him straightway, made him lord and master and victor, the only one of the emperors from the beginning of time to be unassailable and invincible, ever conquering, and always resplendent with trophies over enemies, a king so great as no one remembers by report to have ever existed before, so beloved of God and thrice-blessed, so pious and altogether fortunate, that with all ease he held sway over more nations than those before him, and preserved his empire untroubled to the very end of his life. Ancient story hymns Cyrus of the Persians as having proved the most illustrious of all time. But since one must not look at this, but rather at the end of a long life, they say that he suffered not a favorable death but a shameful and disgraceful one at the hands of a woman. But the sons of the Hellenes sing of Alexander of the Macedonians as having subdued countless tribes of all kinds of nations, but as having died an early 1.7.2 death before he reached full manhood, being carried off by revels and drunkenness. This man completed his whole life in thirty-two years, and of these the period of his reign comprised more than a third, and the man advanced through bloodshed like a thunderbolt, unsparingly enslaving nations and whole cities, taking men in their prime. But just as the prime of his life was budding and while he was terribly mourning his favorite, fate came upon him and made him disappear, childless, rootless, and homeless in a foreign and hostile land, so that he would not long plague the human race. And immediately his kingdom was cut to pieces, each of his attendants tearing off and snatching some portion for himself. But while he is celebrated with such 1.8.1 songs, our emperor began at the age at which the Macedonian died, and he doubled the length of that man's life, and made the length of his reign 1.8.2 three times as long. Having fortified his own army with gentle and sober precepts of piety, he overran the land of the Britons and those who dwell in the ocean itself which is bounded by the setting sun, and he brought over the whole of Scythia, which, under the very Bear, is divided among countless 1.8.3 shifting tribes of barbarians, and having already extended his rule to the farthest reaches of the south, to the Blemmyes and Ethiopians themselves, he did not consider the possession of the lands towards the rising 1.8.4 sun as alien to him, but even to the very ends of the whole inhabited world, as far as the most distant Indians and those who dwell round about the whole element of earth for their life, shining forth with the rays of the light of piety, he held them all as his subjects, with toparchs, ethnarchs, satraps, kings of all sorts of barbarian nations willingly greeting and welcoming him, sending embassies with their hospitality-gifts and presents, and valuing his acquaintance and friendship very highly, so that they even honored him among themselves with painted images and dedications of statues, and that among them all, Constantine alone of emperors was recognized and acclaimed. And he, even to those here, with royal proclamations proclaimed his own God with all boldness. 1.9.1 And he did not do this in words while failing in deeds, but proceeding through every virtue, he abounded in all kinds of the fruits of piety,

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χρόνον μὲν βασιλείας τρισὶ δεκάδων περιόδοις τελείαις καὶ προσέτι λῷον τιμήσας, τούτων δὲ διπλάσιον τοῦ παντὸς αὐτῷ βίου τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώποις περιορίσας ζωήν· τῆς δ' αὐτοῦ μοναρχικῆς ἐξουσίας τὴν εἰκόνα δούς, νικητὴν ἀπέδειξε παντὸς τυραννικοῦ γένους θεομάχων τ' ὀλετῆρα γιγάντων, οἳ ψυχῆς ἀπονοίᾳ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἤραντο τὸν παμβασιλέα τῶν ὅλων δυσσεβείας ὅπλα. 1.5.2 ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ὅσον εἰπεῖν ἐν βραχεῖ φανέντες ἅμα τε καὶ ἀπέσβησαν, τὸν δ' αὐτοῦ θεράποντα θεὸς ὁ εἷς καὶ μόνος ἕνα πρὸς πολλοὺς θεϊκῇ φραξάμενος παντευχίᾳ, τῆς τῶν ἀθέων πληθύος δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν θνητὸν ἀποκαθήρας βίον, εὐσεβείας εἰς αὐτὸν διδάσκαλον πᾶσιν ἔθνεσι κατεστήσατο, μεγάλῃ βοῇ ταῖς πάντων ἀκοαῖς μαρτυρόμενον τὸν ὄντα θεὸν εἰδέναι, τὴν δὲ τῶν οὐδαμῶς 1.6.1 ὄντων ἀποστρέφεσθαι πλάνην. καὶ ὁ μὲν οἷα πιστὸς καὶ ἀγαθὸς θεράπων τοῦτ' ἔπραττε καὶ ἐκήρυττε, δοῦλον ἄντικρυς ἀποκαλῶν καὶ θεράποντα τοῦ παμβασιλέως ὁμολογῶν ἑαυτόν, θεὸς δ' αὐτὸν ἐγγύθεν ἀμειβόμενος κύριον καθίστη καὶ δεσπότην νικητήν τε μόνον τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος αὐτοκρατόρων ἄμαχον καὶ ἀήττητον, εἰσαεὶ νικῶντα τροπαίοις τε τοῖς κατ' ἐχθρῶν διὰ παντὸς φαιδρυνόμενον, βασιλέα τοσοῦτον, ὅσον οὐδεὶς ἀκοῇ τῶν πάλαι πρότερον μνημονεύει γενέσθαι, οὕτω μὲν θεοφιλῆ καὶ τρισμακάριον, οὕτω δ' εὐσεβῆ καὶ πανευδαίμονα, ὡς μετὰ πάσης μὲν ῥᾳστώνης πλειόνων ἢ οἱ ἔμπροσθεν κατασχεῖν ἐθνῶν, ἄλυπον δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰς αὐτὴν καταλῆξαι τελευτήν. Περσῶν μὲν δὴ Κῦρον παλαιὸς ἀνυμνεῖ λόγος περιφανῆ ἀποφανθῆναι τῶν πώποτε. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ ταῦτα τέλος δ' ἐχρῆν μακροῦ βίου σκοπεῖν, φασὶν αὐτὸν οὐκ αἴσιον αἰσχρὸν δὲ καὶ ἐπονείδιστον ὑπὸ γυναικὸς θάνατον ὑποστῆναι. Μακεδόνων δ' Ἀλέξανδρον Ἑλλήνων ᾄδουσι παῖδες μυρία μὲν παντοίων ἐθνῶν γένη καταστρέψασθαι, θᾶττον δ' ἢ συντελέσαι εἰς ἄνδρας ὠκύ1.7.2 μορον ἀποβῆναι, κώμοις ἀποληφθέντα καὶ μέθαις. δύο μὲν οὗτος πρὸς τοῖς τριάκοντα τὴν πᾶσαν ζωὴν ἐνιαυτοῖς ἐπλήρου, τούτων δὲ τὴν τρίτην αὖ πλέον ὁ τῆς βασιλείας περιώριζε χρόνος, ἐχώρει δὲ δι' αἱμάτων ἀνὴρ σκηπτοῦ δίκην, ἀφειδῶς ἔθνη καὶ πόλεις ὅλας ἡβηδὸν ἐξανδραποδιζόμενος. ἄρτι δὲ μικρὸν ἀνθούσης αὐτῷ τῆς ὥρας καὶ τὰ παιδικὰ πενθοῦντι δεινῶς τὸ χρεὼν ἐπιστὰν ἄτεκνον ἄρριζον ἀνέστιον ἐπ' ἀλλοδαπῆς καὶ πολεμίας αὐτόν, ὡς ἂν μὴ εἰς μακρὸν λυμαίνοιτο τὸ θνητὸν γένος, ἠφάνιζεν. αὐτίκα δ' ἡ βασιλεία κατετέμνετο, τῶν θεραπόντων ἑκάστου μοῖράν τινα παρασπῶντος καὶ διαρπάζοντος ἑαυτῷ. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τοιούτοις ἀνυμνεῖται 1.8.1 χοροῖς, ὁ δ' ἡμέτερος βασιλεὺς ἐξ ἐκείνου μὲν ἤρχετο, ἐξ οὗπερ ὁ Μακεδὼν ἐτελεύτα, ἐδιπλασίαζε δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ τὴν ἐκείνου ζωήν, τριπλάσιον δ' ἐποι1.8.2 εῖτο τῆς βασιλείας τὸ μῆκος. ἡμέροις γέ τοι καὶ σώφροσι θεοσεβείας παραγγέλμασι τὸν αὐτοῦ φραξάμενος στρατόν, ἐπῆλθε μὲν τὴν Βρεττανῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ οἰκοῦντας ὠκεανῷ τῷ κατὰ δύοντα ἥλιον περιοριζομένῳ, τό τε Σκυθικὸν ἐπηγάγετο πᾶν, ὑπ' αὐτῇ ἄρκτῳ μυρίοις βαρβάρων ἐξαλλάτ1.8.3 τουσι γένεσι τεμνόμενον, ἤδη δὲ καὶ μεσημβρίας ἐπ' ἔσχατα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκτείνας εἰς αὐτοὺς Βλέμμυάς τε καὶ Αἰθίοπας, οὐδὲ τῶν πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα 1.8.4 ἥλιον ἀλλοτρίαν ἐποιεῖτο τὴν κτῆσιν, ἐπ' αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ τῆς ὅλης οἰκουμένης τέρματα, Ἰνδῶν μέχρι τῶν ἐξωτάτω τῶν τε ἐν κύκλῳ περιοίκων τοῦ παντὸς τῆς γῆς τῷ βίῳ στοιχείου, φωτὸς εὐσεβείας ἀκτῖσιν ἐκλάμπων, ἅπαντας εἶχεν ὑπηκόους, τοπάρχας ἐθνάρχας σατράπας βασιλέας παντοίων βαρβάρων ἐθνῶν ἐθελοντὶ ἀσπαζομένους καὶ χαίροντας τοῖς τε παρ' αὐτῶν ξενίοις τε καὶ δώροις διαπρεσβευομένους καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν γνῶσίν τε καὶ φιλίαν περὶ πλείστου ποιουμένους, ὥστε καὶ γραφαῖς εἰκόνων αὐτὸν παρ' αὐτοῖς τιμᾶν ἀνδριάντων τε ἀναθήμασι, μόνον τε αὐτοκρατόρων παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσι Κωνσταντῖνον γνωρίζεσθαί τε καὶ βοᾶσθαι. ὁ δὲ καὶ μέχρι τῶν τῇδε βασιλικοῖς προσφωνήμασι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θεὸν ἀνεκήρυττε σὺν παρρησίᾳ τῇ πάσῃ. 1.9.1 Εἶτ' οὐ λόγοις μὲν τοῦτ' ἔπραττεν ἀφυστέρει δὲ τοῖς ἔργοις, διὰ πάσης δὲ χωρῶν ἀρετῆς παντοίοις εὐσεβείας καρποῖς ἐνηβρύνετο,