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to hope that he would be baptized in the Jordan. For what was to hinder him, while warring against Galerius in the east and entering Persia again for a second time, from going away and being baptized in the Jordan? But also to slander him as illegitimate is of every wickedness. For his lineage was royal even before Diocletian. For his father Constantius was the grandson of Claudius the emperor, and from Helen his first wife he had Constantine the Great, as has been said.

Therefore, when he was baptized, God performed great wonders through Sylvester, who is among the saints. But leaving all else aside, I will speak of one thing only. On the Capitol of Rome, which has three hundred and sixty-five steps, at the bottom of the steps and the foundations lived a huge dragon, to which the Greeks sacrificed daily. And if not, it would suddenly fall upon and harm many. Sylvester went down there, and finding a small house with bronze gates where the 1.477 dragon was, he shut the doors and killed it by the invocation of Jesus Christ. In the 9th year of the reign of Constantine, Metrophanes became the 4th bishop of Byzantium. So when Maximinus Galerius of the east heard these things, he initiated the war against the Christians. In the 10th year of his reign, Constantine the Great with Licinius Caesar gathers a war against Galerius, and having put him to flight, slaughters everyone. But Galerius himself, casting away his diadem and escaping with a few of his most devoted men, went from village to village, and he slaughtered the priests of the idols and initiates and prophets and soothsayers as deceivers. But in the 11th year, when Maximinus was about to be defeated by Constantine the Great, divine wrath seized him beforehand; for a flame, kindled from his entrails and limbs, caused both of his eyes to leap out, and his flesh, having putrefied, fell from his bones, and being thus disposed, he gave up his God-fighting soul. And in the same way also Maximinus, the most polluted son of the polluted one, having devised countless and unspeakable things against the Christians, was subjected to innumerable evils, and being punished by unnatural diseases and extraordinary plagues, he expired. In the 12th year, having required covenants from Licinius to do no evil against the Christians, he proclaims him emperor and setting aside a portion of the Roman land, gives it to him. From that point the persecution against the Christians 1.478 ceased by the grace of God. During the time of this Licinius, Saint Theodore was martyred. In the 14th year, Constantine the Great, having become sole ruler of all the Roman land, turned all his thought to divine concerns, raising up churches and lavishly enriching them. And he writes a first law, that the temples of the idols be given over to the temples dedicated to Christ; second, that Christians alone are to serve in the army and to rule over peoples and military camps, and that those persisting in idolatry are to be punished capitally; third, to keep the two weeks of Easter free from business, both the one before Easter and the one after it. And he decreed by law that the cubits of the rising of the Nile be reported in the church, and not in the Serapeum, as was customary for the Greeks. But it is necessary to say a few things about the disputation of Saint Sylvester. In the 4th year of the reign of the most pious and great Constantine, a disputation took place in Rome between Christians and Jews. And the great Sylvester, being pope of Rome, led the Christians, while of the Jews, along with many other legal experts, was Zambres the magician, a Hebrew and a sorcerer, in whom the Jews placed all their confidence. The Jews therefore say, "Choose twelve Christians, who must justify themselves to us." But Saint Sylvester said, "We look to the power of God. For he is one to whom we say, 'Arise, O God, judge your own cause.'" 1.479 For as much as of men

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ἐλπίζειν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ βαπτισθῆναι. τί γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐμποδών, τὸν Γαλλέριον ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ καταπολεμοῦντι καὶ εἰς Περσίαν πά λιν ἐκ δευτέρου εἰσελθόντι, μὴ ἀπελθεῖν καὶ βαπτισθῆναι ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ; ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὡς νόθον διαβάλλειν αὐτὸν πάσης κακίας ἐστίν. ἡ γὰρ γενεὰ αὐτοῦ βασιλικὴ ὑπῆρχε καὶ πρὸ ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ. καὶ γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Κωνστάντιος θυγατριδὸς ἦν Κλαυδίου τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἑλένης τῆς πρώτης αὐτοῦ γυναικὸς ἔσχε τὸν μέγαν Κωνσταντῖνον, καθὼς λέλεκται.

Τούτου οὖν βαπτισθέντος μεγάλα θαυμάσια ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Σιλβέστρου. πάντα δὲ παρεὶς ἓν μόνον φράσω. ἐν τῷ Καπιτωλίῳ Ῥώμης, βαθμοὺς ἔχοντι τριακοσίους ἑξηκοντα πέντε, ἐν τῇ καταδύσει τῶν βαθμῶν καὶ τῶν θεμελίων δράκων ᾤκει παμμεγέθης, ᾧ ἐθυσίαζον καθ' ἡμέραν Ἕλληνες. εἰ δ' οὔ, ἀλλὰ ἐξαίφνης ἐπιπίπτων πολλοὺς ἐλυμαίνετο. ἐκεῖσε Σίλβεστρος καταβάς, καὶ οἰκίσκον μικρὸν ἔχοντα πύλας χαλκᾶς εὑρὼν οὗ ἦν 1.477 ὁ δράκων, κλείσας τὰς θύρας τῇ ἐπικλήσει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦτον ἀπέκτεινε. Τῷ θʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Κωνσταντίνου Μητροφάνης ἐπί σκοπος Βυζαντίου δʹ γέγονε. ταῦτα τοίνυν ὁ τῆς ἑῴας Μαξιμια νὸς ὁ Γαλλέριος ἀκούσας τὸν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ἀνῆκε πόλεμον. ἐν τῷ ιʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ὁ μέγας Κωνσταντῖνος σὺν Λι κινίῳ Καίσαρι κατὰ τοῦ Γαλλερίου ἀθροίζει πόλεμον, καὶ τοῦτον τρεψάμενος πάντας κατασφάττει. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Γαλλέριος τὸ διά δημα ῥίψας καὶ μετ' ὀλίγων εὐνουστάτων διαδρὰς ἀπὸ κώμης εἰς κώμην ᾤχετο, καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ μύστας καὶ προ φήτας καὶ μάντεις ὡς ἀπατεῶνας κατέσφαξεν. ἐν δὲ τῷ ιαʹ ἔτει μέλλοντος κρατηθῆναι τοῦ Μαξιμιανοῦ ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου Κων σταντίνου, προλαβοῦσα θεία ὀργὴ κατέλαβεν αὐτόν· φλὸξ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν σπλάγχνων αὐτοῦ καὶ μελῶν ἀναφθεῖσα ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ ἐκπηδῆσαι πεποίηκεν, αἱ δὲ σάρκες αὐτοῦ σα πεῖσαι τῶν ὀστέων ἐξέπεσον, καὶ οὕτω διατεθεὶς τὴν θεομάχον αὐτοῦ ἀπέρρηξε ψυχήν. τῷ αὐτῷ δὲ τρόπῳ καὶ Μαξιμῖνος ὁ τοῦ μιαροῦ μιαρώτατος υἱός, μυρία ὅσα καὶ ἄρρητα κατὰ τῶν Χρι στιανῶν ἐπινοήσας, ἀναριθμήτοις κακοῖς ὑπεβλήθη, καὶ νόσοις παρὰ φύσιν καὶ πληγαῖς ἐξαισίαις ποινηλατούμενος ἐξέψυξε. Τῷ ιβʹ ἔτει Λικίνιον διαθήκας ἀπαιτήσας τοῦ μηδὲν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν πράττειν κακόν, βασιλέα ἀναγορεύει καὶ ἀφορίσας μοῖραν τῆς Ῥωμαίων γῆς δίδωσιν. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ κατὰ Χριστιανῶν 1.478 χάριτι θεοῦ πέπαυται διωγμός. ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ Λικινίου ἐμαρ τύρησεν ὁ ἅγιος Θεόδωρος. Τῷ ιδʹ ἔτει μονοκράτωρ ὁ μέγας Κωνσταντῖνος πάσης τῆς Ῥωμαίων γῆς γενόμενος πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔννοιαν εἰς θείας φρον τίδας μετήγαγεν, ἐκκλησίας ἀνεγείρων καὶ φιλοτίμως ταύτας πλου τίζων. γράφει δὲ καὶ πρῶτον νόμον, τοὺς τῶν εἰδώλων ναοὺς ἀποδίδοσθαι τοῖς τῷ Χριστῷ ἀφιερωμένοις ναοῖς, δεύτερον Χρι στιανοὺς μόνους στρατεύεσθαι ἐθνῶν τε καὶ στρατοπέδων ἄρχειν, τοὺς δὲ ἐπιμένοντας τῇ εἰδωλολατρείᾳ κεφαλικῶς τιμωρεῖσθαι, τρίτον τὰς πασχαλίας δύο ἑβδομάδας ἀπράκτους τελεῖν, τήν τε πρὸ τοῦ πάσχα καὶ τὴν μετ' αὐτήν. τὰ δὲ τῶν πηχῶν τῆς ἀνα βάσεως τοῦ Νείλου ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐνομοθέτησεν ἀναφέρεσθαι, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ Σαράπιδι, ὡς εἴθιστο τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. ἀλλὰ δέον ἐστὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Σιλβέστρου διαλέξεως ὀλίγα τινὰ εἰπεῖν. Τῷ δʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου καὶ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου διάλεξις γέγονεν ἐν Ῥώμῃ Χριστιανῶν καὶ Ἰουδαίων.καὶ τῶν μὲν Χριστιανῶν ὁ μέγας ἡγεῖτο Σίλβεστρος πάπας ὢν τῆς Ῥώμης, Ἰουδαίων δὲ σὺν ἄλλοις πλείστοις νομομαθέσι καὶ Ζαμβρῆς ὁ μάγος, Ἑβραῖος καὶ γόης, ἐν ᾧ πᾶσαν τὴν πεποίθησιν εἶχον οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. λέγουσι τοίνυν Ἰουδαῖοι "ἐκλέξασθε δώδεκα Χριστιανούς, οἵτινες ὀφείλουσι δικαιολογηθῆναι ἡμῖν." ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Σίλβεστρος ἔφη "ἡμεῖς εἰς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν ἀφορῶμεν. εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ᾧ λέγομεν «ἀνάστα ὁ θεός, δίκασον τὴν δίκην σου.» 1.479 ὅσον γὰρ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων