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be shown. Having proclaimed such things and gone through countless others, by which he thought to lead his subjects to the religion, he decreed to be invalid the things that had been decided or done against the religion under those who persecuted the church; and he enacted that all should have release, as many as had been condemned on account of their confession of Christ to change their residence or to live on islands or elsewhere against their will, or to labor in mines, or in public works, or to serve in the women's apartments or linen-factories, or to be enrolled in the city councils without having previously been councillors; and for those who had been deprived of their civil rights, he removed their dishonor 1.8.4; and to those who had been deprived of any military rank, he left it to their judgment either to remain in the same rank they held, or with an honorable discharge to lead a life of freedom and leisure. And since he recalled all to their former liberty and customary honors, he also restored their property to them. And if any, having been condemned to death, were deprived of their possessions, he commanded that their inheritances should pass to their nearest of kin, and if none of these existed, that the local church in each place should inherit, and whether a private person or the public treasury held anything from such property, they were to restore it. And for those who had purchased or received as a gift from the treasury, he promised to make provision in a possible and fitting manner. 1.8.5 These things, as has been said, were decided by the emperor and were ratified by law, and they met with their proper fulfillment without delay. And for the most part, Christians administered the Roman provinces; and for the future it was forbidden for all to sacrifice, or to use divinations and rites, or to set up wooden images, or to celebrate Hellenic festivals. And many of the customs of antiquity in the cities were changed. For instance, among the Egyptians, the cubit, by which the rise of the waters of the Nile is signified, was no longer brought to the customary Hellenic temples, but from that time on is brought to the churches; 1.8.6 and among the Romans, the spectacle of the gladiators was then first forbidden; and among the Phoenicians, who inhabit Lebanon and Heliopolis, it was no longer lawful for maidens to be prostituted before cohabiting with the men with whom they were accustomed to live by the law of marriage after the first experience of illicit 1.8.7 intercourse. Of the houses of prayer, those that were of sufficient size were repaired, while others were magnificently furnished with an increase in height and width, and elsewhere those not existing from the beginning were built from the foundations. The emperor supplied the funds from the imperial treasuries, writing to the bishops in each city and to the governors of the provinces, that the former should command whatever they wished, and the latter should obey and diligently serve the priests. 1.8.8 And as his rule prospered, the religion grew with it. And to such a degree, even after the war against Licinius, did he become successful in the battles against the foreign peoples, that he both conquered the Sauromatae and those called Goths, and finally made a treaty with them as a matter of grace. 1.8. This nation at that time lived beyond the Ister river, and being most warlike and numerous and large in body, always prepared in arms, it conquered the other barbarians, and had only the Romans as antagonists. And not least is it said that this war also showed to Constantine through signs and dreams how great was the providence from God of which he was deemed worthy. And having been victorious in all the wars that occurred in his time, as if vying with Christ in return, he repaid Him with his zeal for the religion, urging his subjects to honor this alone 1.8.10 and to consider it salutary. And from the existing tributary land in each city, he set aside a fixed tax from the public revenue and assigned it to the local churches and clergy, and he legislated that this grant should be valid for all time. And accustoming the soldiers to worship God just as he did, he marked their weapons with the symbol of the cross and he prepared a house of prayer in the palace and carried about a tent made in the likeness of a church, whenever he marched against enemies, so that neither he nor his army, while passing through a wilderness,

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ἀναδειχθῶσι. τοιαῦτα ἀναγορεύσας καὶ ἄλλα μυρία διεξελθών, δι' ὧν ᾤετο τὸ ὑπήκοον πρὸς τὴν θρησκείαν ἐπάγεσθαι, ἄκυρα εἶναι ἐψηφίσατο τὰ κατὰ τῆς θρησκείας δόξαντα ἢ πεπραγμένα ἐπὶ τῶν διωξάντων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν· ἄφεσίν τε πάντας ἔχειν ἐνομοθέτησεν, ὅσοι διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ὁμολογίαν κατεδικάσθησαν μετοικεῖν ἢ ἐν νήσοις ἢ ἀλλαχόσε παρὰ γνώμην διατρίβειν ἢ μετάλλοις ἐμπονεῖν ἢ δημοσίοις ἔργοις ἢ γυναικείοις ἢ λινυφίοις ὑπηρετεῖν ἢ βουλευτηρίοις συναριθμεῖσθαι μὴ βουλευταὶ ὄντες πρότερον· ἀτίμοις δὲ γενομένοις τὴν ἀτιμίαν 1.8.4 ἔλυσε· τοῖς δὲ στρατείας τινὸς ἀφαιρεθεῖσιν ἐν γνώμῃ εἴασεν ἢ ἐφ' οὗπερ ἦσαν σχήματος εἶναι, ἢ μετὰ ἀφέσεως ἐντίμου ἐλευθέραν ἄγειν σχολήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντας εἰς τὴν προτέραν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὰς συνήθεις τιμὰς ἀνεκαλέσατο, καὶ τὰς οὐσίας αὐτοῖς ἀπέδωκεν. εἰ δέ τινες θάνατον καταδικασθέντες τῶν ὄντων ἀφῃρέθησαν, προσέταξε τοῖς ἐγγυτέρω γένους διαφέρειν τοὺς κλήρους, μηδενὸς δὲ τούτων ὄντος τὴν καθέκαστον ἐπιχώριον ἐκκλησίαν κληρονομεῖν, εἴτε δὲ ἰδιώτης εἴτε τὸ δημόσιον ἐκ τοιαύτης οὐσίας ἔχοι τι, ἀποδιδόναι. τῶν δὲ παρὰ τοῦ ταμείου πριαμένων ἢ δωρεὰν λαβόντων εἰς τὸν δυνατὸν καὶ πρέποντα τρόπον προνοεῖν ὑπέσχετο. 1.8.5 Τάδε μέν, ὡς εἴρηται, τῷ βασιλεῖ ἔδοξε καὶ νόμῳ ἐκυρώθη, ἀμελλητί τε τοῦ προσήκοντος τέλους ἐτύγχανε. Χριστιανοὶ δὲ ὡς ἐπίπαν τὰς ῾Ρωμαίων ἀρχὰς ἐπετρόπευον· καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ θύειν ἀπείρητο πᾶσιν ἢ μαντείαις καὶ τελεταῖς κεχρῆσθαι ἢ ξόανα ἀνατιθέναι ἢ ῾Ελληνικὰς ἄγειν ἑορτάς. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεις ἐθῶν ἠμείβετο τῆς ἀρχαιότητος. ἀμέλει τοι παρὰ μὲν Αἰγυπτίοις οὐκέτι εἰς τοὺς εἰωθότας ῾Ελληνικοὺς ναούς, εἰς δὲ τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἐξ ἐκείνου προσφέρεται ὁ πῆχυς, ᾧ σημαίνεται τῶν τοῦ Νείλου ὑδάτων 1.8.6 ἡ ἐπίδοσις· παρὰ δὲ ῾Ρωμαίοις τότε πρῶτον ἡ τῶν μονομάχων ἐκωλύθη θέα· παρὰ δὲ Φοίνιξιν, οἳ τὸν Λίβανον καὶ τὴν ῾Ηλιούπολιν οἰκοῦσιν, οὐκέτι θέμις ἦν ἐκπορνεύεσθαι τὰς παρθένους πρὶν τοῖς ἀνδράσι συνελθεῖν, οἷς νόμῳ γάμου συνοικεῖν εἰώθασι μετὰ τὴν πρώτην πεῖραν τῆς ἀθεμίτου 1.8.7 μίξεως. τῶν δὲ εὐκτηρίων οἴκων οἱ μὲν ἀρκούντως μεγέθους ἔχοντες ἐπανωρθοῦντο, οἱ δὲ εἰς ἐπίδοσιν ὕψους καὶ πλάτους λαμπρῶς ἐπεσκευάζοντο, ἑτέρωθι δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ ὄντες ἐκ θεμελίων ἐδημιουργοῦντο. τὰ δὲ χρήματα ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν θησαυρῶν ἐχορήγει ὁ βασιλεὺς γράψας τοῖς κατὰ πόλιν ἐπισκόποις καὶ τοῖς ἡγουμένοις τῶν ἐθνῶν, τοῖς μὲν ἐπιτάττειν ὅ τι βούλοιντο, τοὺς δὲ πειθαρχεῖν καὶ σπουδαίως ὑπηρετεῖσθαι τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν. 1.8.8 εὐημερούσης δὲ αὐτῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς συνεπεδίδου ἡ θρησκεία. ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὸν πρὸς Λικίνιον πόλεμον ἐπιτευκτικὸς ἐγένετο ἐν ταῖς κατὰ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων μάχαις, ὡς καὶ Σαυροματῶν κρατῆσαι καὶ τῶν καλουμένων Γότθων καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον ἐν μέρει χάριτος σπείσασθαι πρὸς αὐτούς. 1.8. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἔθνος ᾤκει μὲν τότε πέραν τοῦ ῎Ιστρου ποταμοῦ, μαχιμώτατον δὲ τυγχάνον καὶ πλήθει καὶ μεγέθει σωμάτων ἐν ὅπλοις ἀεὶ παρεσκευασμένον τῶν μὲν ἄλλων βαρβάρων ἐκράτει, μόνους δὲ ῾Ρωμαίους ἀνταγωνιστὰς εἶχεν. οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ λέγεται καὶ τοῦτον τὸν πόλεμον ἐπιδεῖξαι Κωνσταντίνῳ διὰ σημείων καὶ ὀνειράτων ὅσης θειόθεν ἠξίωτο προνοίας. κρατήσας δὲ πάντων τῶν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ συμβάντων πολέμων καθάπερ ἀντιφιλοτιμούμενος τὸν Χριστὸν ἠμείβετο τῇ περὶ τὴν θρησκείαν σπουδῇ, ταύτην μόνην πρεσβεύειν 1.8.10 καὶ σωτήριον ἡγεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀρχομένους προτρέπων. ἐκ δὲ τῆς οὔσης ὑποφόρου γῆς καθ' ἑκάστην πόλιν ἐξελὼν τοῦ δημοσίου ῥητὸν τέλος ταῖς κατὰ τόπον ἐκκλησίαις καὶ κλήροις ἀπένειμε καὶ τὴν δωρεὰν κυρίαν εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον εἶναι ἐνομοθέτησε. προσεθίζων δὲ τοὺς στρατιώτας ὁμοίως αὐτῷ τὸν θεὸν σέβειν, τὰ τούτων ὅπλα τῷ συμβόλῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ κατεσήμαινε καὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις εὐκτήριον οἶκον κατεσκεύασε καὶ σκηνὴν εἰς ἐκκλησίαν εἰκασμένην περιέφερεν, ἡνίκα πολεμίοις ἐπεστράτευεν, ὥστε μηδὲ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ διάγοντα αὐτὸν ἢ τὴν στρατιὰν