Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/448

 430 THE DECLINE AND FALL CIIAP. those divine missionaries, must be imputed to the ex- _____ travagance of impious flattery. But if the parallel is confined to the extent and number of their evanorelic victories, the success of Constantine might perhaps equal that of the apostles themselves. By the edicts of toleration, he removed the temporal disadvantages which had hitherto retarded the progress of Christi- anity ; and its active and numerous ministers received a free permission, a liberal encouragement, to recom- mend the salutary truths of revelation by every argu- ment which could affect the reason or piety of man- kind. The exact balance of the two religions continued but a moment ; and the piercing eye of ambition and avarice soon discovered, that the profession of Christi- anity might contribute to the interest of the present, as well as of a future life^ The hopes of wealth and honours, the -example of an emperor, his exhortations, his irresistible smiles, diffused conviction among the venal and obsequious ctowds which usually fill the apartments of a palace. The cities which signalized a forward zeal, by the voluntary destruction of their temples, were distinguished by municipal privileges, and rewarded with popular donatives ; and the new capital of the east gloried in the singular advantage, that Constantinople was never profaned by the worship of idols'*. As the lower ranks of society are governed by imitation, the conversion of those who possessed any eminence of birth, of power, or of riches, was soon followed by dependent multitudes ^ The salvation of c See the third and fourth books of his life. He was accustomed to say, that whether Christ was preached in pretence or in truth, he should still rejoice, 1. iii. c. 58. •^ M. de Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, torn. iv. p. 374. 616.) has de- fended, with strength and spirit, the viigin purity of Constantinople against some malevolent insinuations of the pagan Zosinius. « The author of the Histoire Politique et Philosophique des deux Indies, (torn. i. p. 9.) condemns a law of Constantine, which gave freedom to all the slaves who should embrace Christianity. The emperor did indeed pub- lish a law, which restrained the je«s from circumcising, perhaps from keep- ing, any christian slaves. See Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c. 27, and Cod. Theod. 1. xvi. tit. ix. with Godefroy's Commentary, torn. vi. p. 247. But this imperfect exception related only to the jews ; and the great body of slaves, who were the property of christian or pagan masters, could not