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his, having stoned him, they killed him, and thus the righteous one was perfected. And taking his remains, they brought it to the village called Mariamme, whence he was, which was outside the city of Damascus by one and a half miles. And a house of prayer was built for him. But the emperor Licinianus Maximinus, having been operated upon, died, being 46 years old. THIRTEENTH NARRATIVE. THE TIMES OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE. And after the reign of Maximinus Licinius, the most divine and most faithful son of Constantius Chlorus, Constantine the Great, became emperor on the eighth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Severus and Maximianus; and he remained reigning for 32 years. He was tall, reddish-haired, magnanimous, quiet, and God-loving. And in the time of his reign a great war occurred in the west; and the most divine Constantine went out against them, and having been defeated, he was besieged by the barbarians. And being distressed as he was about to sleep, he prayed to be delivered from them; and having been drawn into sleep, he saw in a dream in the sky a cross, on which was inscribed, “In this, conquer.” And having read what was inscribed on the cross, he was awakened; and rising up he made a standard 317 of the cross, as he had seen it in the sky, and it went before him. And urging his own army on, saying, “We conquer,” and attacking and engaging the barbarians, he won the war by force, so that none of the barbarians was saved, but all were destroyed. And he returned to Rome with victory and great joy, having the standard of the cross before him. And he explained to everyone the power of the vision and of the standard of the cross, saying, “This is the sign of the God of the Galileans who are called Christians.” And immediately he destroyed the sanctuaries and all the temples of the Hellenes and opened the churches of the Christians, sending sacred edicts everywhere so that the churches of the Christians would be opened. And having fasted and been catechized, he was baptized by Sylvester, bishop of Rome, he and his mother Helen and all his relatives and his friends and a great crowd of many other Romans. And the same emperor Constantine became a Christian. And he campaigned against the Persians and was victorious and made pacts of peace with Sarabarus, king of the Persians, as the Persian had requested to have peace with the Romans. And the same emperor Constantine 318 also made Euphratensis a province, having divided it from Syria and Osroene and having given the right of a city to Hierapolis. and returning, he came to Antioch the Great; and he built there the great church, a very great building, having demolished what was called the public bath of the emperor Philip; for it was an old bath and worn by time and not in use. He also built a guesthouse nearby; likewise he also built the so-called basilica of Rufinus; for this was a temple of Hermes and Rufinus, the praetorian prefect, demolished it. But having gone with the emperor into the war, he was ordered by him to remain in Antioch the Great; and he completed the same basilica, upon the return of the same emperor to Rome. And when the emperor Constantine was about to depart from the same Antioch, he first made a Christian named Plutarchus ruler of Antioch of Syria; who was also ordered to supervise the work on the building of the church and the basilica. But the same Plutarchus, while building the guesthouse, having found the bronze statue of Poseidon standing consecrated for the purpose of the city not suffering from being shaken, lifted it up and melted it down and made it into a column for the same Constantine the

101

αὐτοῦ, λιθοβολήσαντες ἐφόνευσαν αὐτόν, καὶ οὕτως ἐτελειώθη ὁ δίκαιος. καὶ λαβόντες τὸ λείψανον αὐτοῦ ἀπήγαγον αὐτὸ εἰς τὴν κώμην τὴν λεγομένην Μαριάμμην, ὅθεν ὑπῆρχεν, ἔξω οὖσαν ∆αμασκοῦ τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ἡμίσεος μιλίου. καὶ ἐκτίσθη αὐτῷ εὐκτήριος οἶκος. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Λικιννιανὸς Μάξιμος χειρουργηθεὶς τελευτᾷ, ὢν ἐνιαυτῶν μςʹ. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΓʹ ΧΡΟΝΩΝ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν Μαξίμου Λικιννίου ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θειότατος καὶ πιστότατος, ὁ υἱὸς Κωνσταντίου τοῦ Χλωροῦ, Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ μέγας τῇ πρὸ ὀκτὼ καλανδῶν αὐγούστων ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπατείας Σεβήρου καὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ· καὶ ἔμεινε βασιλεύων ἔτη λβʹ. ἦν δὲ μακρός, πυῤῥός, μεγαλόψυχος, ἥσυχος, θεοφιλής. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ πόλεμος ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ δύσει μέγας· καὶ ἐξῆλθε κατ' αὐτῶν ὁ θειότατος Κωνσταντῖνος, καὶ ἡττηθεὶς ἐφοσσεύετο ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων. καὶ θλιβόμενος ἐν τῷ μέλλειν αὐτὸν καθεύδειν ηὔχετο ῥυσθῆναι ἀπ' αὐτῶν· καὶ ἑλκυσθεὶς εἰς ὕπνον εἶδε κατ' ὄναρ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ σταυρόν, ἐν ᾧ ἐπεγέγραπτο, Ἐν τούτω νίκα. καὶ ἀναγνοὺς τὸ ἐπιγεγραμμένον ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ διυπνίσθη· καὶ ἀναστὰς ἐποίησε σίγνον 317 σταυροῦ, ὡς εἶδεν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ προηγεῖτο αὐτοῦ. καὶ προτρεψάμενος τὸν ἴδιον στρατόν, λέγων ὅτι Νικῶμεν, καὶ ὁρμήσας καὶ συμβαλὼν τοῖς βαρβάροις, ἐνίκησε τὸν πόλεμον κατὰ κράτος, ὥστε μηδένα τῶν βαρβάρων σωθῆναι ἀλλὰ πάντας ἀπολέσθαι. καὶ ἐπανῆλθεν ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ μετὰ νίκης καὶ χαρᾶς μεγάλης, ἔχων ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ τὸν σίγνον τοῦ σταυροῦ. ἐξηγεῖτο δὲ πᾶσι τὴν τοῦ ὁράματος καὶ τοῦ σίγνου τοῦ σταυροῦ δύναμιν, λέγων ὅτι Τοῦτο τὸ σημεῖόν ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν Γαλιλαίων τῶν λεγομένων χριστιανῶν. καὶ εὐθέως τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς ναοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων κατέστρεψε καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας τῶν χριστιανῶν ἀνέῳξε, πανταχοῦ σάκρας καταπέμψας ὥστε τὰς ἐκκλησίας τῶν χριστιανῶν ἀνοιχθῆναι. καὶ νηστεύσας καὶ κατηχηθεὶς ἐβαπτίσθη ὑπὸ Σιλβέστρου, ἐπισκόπου Ῥώμης, αὐτὸς καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ Ἑλένηκαὶ πάντες οἱ συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ φίλοι αὐτοῦ καὶ πλῆθος ἄλλων πολλῶν Ῥωμαίων. καὶ ἐγένετο χριστιανὸς ὁ αὐτὸς Κωνσταντῖνος βασιλεύς. Καὶ ἐπεστράτευσε κατὰ Περσῶν καὶ ἐνίκησεν καὶ ἐποίησε πάκτα εἰρήνης μετὰ Σαραβάρου, βασιλέως Περσῶν, τοῦ Πέρσου αἰτήσαντος εἰρήνην ἔχειν μετὰ Ῥωμαίων. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Κωνσταντῖ 318 νος βασιλεὺς καὶ τὴν Εὐφρατησίαν ἐποίησεν ἐπαρχίαν, ἀπὸ Συρίας καὶ Ὀσροηνῆς μερίσας καὶ δοὺς δίκαιον πόλεως ἐν Ἱεραπόλει. καὶ ὑποστρέψας ἦλθεν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ· καὶ ἔκτισεν ἐκεῖ τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν, μέγιστον κτίσμα, λύσας τὸ λεγόμενον Φιλίππου βασιλέως δημόσιον· λουτρὸν γὰρ παλαιὸν ἦν καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ φθαρὲν καὶ μὴ λοῦον. ἔκτισε δὲ καὶ ξενῶνα πλησίον· ὁμοίως δὲ ἔκτισε καὶ τὴν λεγομένην Ῥουφίνου βασιλικήν· ἦν γὰρ τοῦτο ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ καὶ ἔλυσεν αὐτὸ Ῥουφῖνος ὁ ἔπαρχος τῶν ἱερῶν πραιτωρίων. ἀπελθὼν δὲ μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ἐκελεύσθη ὑπ' αὐτοῦ περιμεῖναι ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ· καὶ ἐπλήρωσε τὴν αὐτὴν βασιλικήν, ἐπανερχομένου τοῦ αὐτοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ Ῥώμην. ἐν τῷ δὲ μέλλειν ἐξέρχεσθαι τὸν βασιλέα Κωνσταντῖνον ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς Ἀντιοχείας, ἐποίησε πρῶτος αὐτὸς ἄρχοντα Ἀντιοχείας τῆς Συρίας Πλούταρχον ὀνόματι χριστιανόν· ὅστις καὶ εἰς τὸ κτίσμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐκελεύσθη ἐργοδιωκτεῖν. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Πλούταρχος ἐν τῷ κτίζειν τὸν ξενῶνα εὑρηκὼς τὸ χαλκούργημα τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος τὸ ἑστὼς τετελεσμένον ἕνεκεν τοῦ μὴ πάσχειν σειομένην τὴν πόλιν, ἐπάρας τοῦτο ἐχώνευσε καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ στήλην τῷ αὐτῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ τῷ