Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/434

 416 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, mankind had condescended to suffer^; but the em- ' ])eror had ah'eady learned to despise the prejudices of his education, and of his people, before he could erect in the midst of Rome his own statue, bearing a cross in its right hand ; with an inscription, which referred the victory of his arms, and the deliverance of Rome, to the virtue of that salutary sign, the true symbol of force and courage *". The same symbol sanctified the arms of the soldiers of Constantine ; the cross glittered on their helmet, was engraved on their shields, was in- terwoven into their banners ; and the consecrated em- blems which adorned the person of the emperor him- self, were distinguished only by richer materials and more exquisite workmanship '. But the principal standard which displayed the triumph of the cross was styled the ' labarum' '', an obscure though cele- brated name, which has been vainly derived from al- most all the languages of the world. It is described ' as a long pike intersected by a transversal beam. The silken veil which hung down from the beam, was cu- riously inwrought with the images of the reigning i? See Aurelius Victor, who considers this law as one of the examples of Constantine's piety. An edict so honourable to Christianity deserved a place in the Theodosian Code, instead of the indirect mention of it, which seems to result from the comparison of the fifth and eighteenth titles of the ninth book. '' Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 40. This statue, or at least the cross and inscription, may be ascribed with more probability to the second, or even the third visit of Constantine to Rome. Immediately after the de- feat of Maxentius, the minds of the senate and people were scarcely ripe for this public monument. ' Agnoscas, regina, libens mea signa necesse est ; In quibus effigies cmcis aut gemmata refulget Aut longis solido ex auro praefertur in hastis. Hoc signo invictus, transmissis Alpibus ultor Servitium solvit miserabile Con'stantinus Christus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro Signabat labarum, clypeorum insignia Christus Scripserat; ardebat summis cj-kt addita cristis. Prudent, in Symmachum, 1. ii. 464. 486. ^ The derivation and meaning of the word lahamm, or laboruvi, which is employed by Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, Prudentius, etc. still remain totally unknown ; in spite of the efforts of the critics, who have ineffectually tortured the Latin, Greek, Spanish, Celtic, Teutonic, Illyric, Armenian, etc. in search of an etymology. See Ducange in Gloss. Wed. et Infim. Latini- tat. sub voce Labarum, and Godefroy, ad Cod. Theodos. torn. ii. p. 143. ' Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 30, 31. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 312, No. 26.) has engraved a representation of the labarum.