Page:History of the First Council of Nice.djvu/23



Constantine the Great, born A. D. 274, was named Constantine, Caius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Claudius. His father was Constantius Chlorus and the mother, his wife Helena. Being the eldest son, Constantine, soon after the death of his father, in 306, was proclaimed emperor by the troops, and in 307 married Fausta, the daughter of Maximian; but Eusebius says that God, the supreme governor of the world, by his own will, appointed Constantine to be prince and sovereign.

"It is my intention," continues Eusebius, "to pass over very many of the deeds of this thrice-blessed prince, as, for example, his conflicts and engagements in the field, and his triumphs, and to speak and write of those circumstances only which refer to his religious character."

The father of Constantino had three colleagues m the government, Diocletian, Maximian and