Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/432

 414 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, sionaries, the proselytes of the new faith must have ^^' multiphed in the court and army : the barbarians of Germany, who filled the ranks of the legions, were of a careless temper, which acquiesced without resistance in the religion of their commander; and when they passed the Alps, it may fairly be presumed, that a great number of the soldiers had already consecrated their swords to the service of Christ and of Constan- tine^ The habits of mankind, and the interest of re- ligion, gradually abated the horror of war and blood- shed which had so long prevailed among the christians; and in the councils which were assembled under the > gracious protection of Constantine, the authority of the bishops was seasonably employed to ratify the obliga- tion of the mihtary oath, and to inflict the penalty of excommunication on those soldiers who threw away their arms during the peace of the church ^. While Constantine, in his own dominions, increased the num- ber and zeal of his faithful adherents, he could depend on the support of a powerful faction in those provinces which were still possessed or usurped by his rivals. A secret disaffection was diffused among the christian subjects of Maxentius and Licinius ; and the resent- ment which the latter did not attempt to conceal, served only to engage them still more deeply in the interest of his competitor. The regular correspond- ence which connected the bishops of the most distant provinces, enabled them freely to communicate their wishes and their designs, and to transmit without danger any useful intelligence, or any pious contribu- tions, which might promote the service of Constantine, who publicly declared that he had taken up arms for the deliverance of the church ". « This careless temper of the Germans appears almost uniformly in the history of the conversion of each of the tribes. The legions of Constantine were recruited with Germans (Zosiraus, 1. ii. p. 86.) and the court even of his father had been filled with christians. See the first book of the Life of Constantine, by Eusebius. •* De his qui arma projiciunt in pace, jJlacuit eos abstinere a commu- nione. Concil. Arelat. Canon iii. The best critics apply these words to the peace of the church, ' Eusebius always considers the second civil war against Licinius as a