Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/439

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 421 accident, which seems to deviate from the ordinary c ll A r. « V Y course of nature, has been rashly ascribed to the im- ' mediate action of the Deity ; and the astonislied fancy of the multitude has sometimes given shape and colour, language and motion, to the fleeting but uncommon meteors of the air^. Nazarius and Eusebius are the two most celebrated orators, who in studied panegyrics have laboured to exalt the glory of Constantine. Nine A.D.321. years after the Roman victory, Nazarius '^ describes an army of divine warriors, who seemed to fall from the sky : he marks their beauty, their spirit, their gigantic forms, the stream of light which beamed from their celestial armour, their patience in suffering themselves to be heard, as well as seen, by mortals ; and their de- claration that they were sent, that they flew, to the assistance of the great Constantine. For the truth of this prodigy, the pagan orator appeals to the whole Gallic nation, in whose presence he was then speaking; and seems to hope that the ancient apparitions* would now obtain credit from this recent and public event. The christian fable of Eusebius, which, in the space of A.D. 338. twenty-six years, might arise from the original dream, is cast in a much more correct and elegant mould. In one of the marches of Constantine, he is reported to have seen with his own eyes the luminous trophy of the cross, placed above the meridian sun, and inscribed with the following words : By this conquer. This amasing object in the sky astonished the whole army, as well as the emperor himself, who was yet undeter- mined in the choice of a religion ; but his astonishment > M. Freret (Memoiies de l'Acad6inie des Inscriptions, torn. iv. p. 41 1 — 437.) explains, by physical causes, many of the prodigies of antiquity; and J'abricius, who is abused by both parties, vainly tries to introduce the celes- tial cross of Constantine among the solar halos. Bibliothec. Gra;c. torn. vi. p. 8—29. ^ Nazarius inter Panegyr. Vet. x. 14, 15. It is unnecessary to name the moderns, wliose undistinguishing and ravenous appetite has swallowed even the pagan bait of Nazarius. a The apparitions of Castor and Pollux, particularly to announce the Macedonian victory, are attested by historians and public monuments. See Cicero de Natura Deorum, ii. 2. iii. 5, 6; Florus, ii. 12; Valerius Maximus, 1. i. c. 8. No. I. Yet tlie most recent of tliese miracles is omitted, and indirectly dtnied by Livy, xlv. 1.