fluence of the Christian religion, and to show that the number of Christians among the subjects of the Roman empire was small previous to the declaration by Constantine of his conversion. He makes the number to be only about one-twentieth, or five out of the hundred, of the total population.* But we take the liberty of drawing a very different conclusion from the account that he himself gives of the transfer of the Roman Labarum into the figure of the Christian Cross as a standard of war.

In reference to our observations on man as an objective being, we state that it is the aim and desire of all great captains to raise enthusiasm among their soldiers, to animate their courage, and to strengthen their nerves through their imagination; and most great conquerors have effected these objects by the display of some symbol or trophy which appeals to their love of country, to their religion, or to their own vanity and pride. Standards, and various sorts of ensigns, have in all wars been favourite instruments wherewith to inflame the patriotism and military ardour of armies. No leader in war, with any regard for his own reputation, or with a desire to gain the firm support of his followers, would raise a standard which in its form and appearance or associations would be offensive to them, or to the great mass of them. And let this be borne in mind in reflecting on the state of thought and opinion among the soldiers of Constantine in his war with Maxentius, and in his war with Licinius, until he established peace by the transference of the seat of government from Rome to Constantinople.

Gibbon thus introduces the cross as the standard of the Roman armies:-" An instrument of the tortures

* "Decline and Fall," chap. xv.

which were inflicted only on slaves and strangers, became an object of horror in the eyes of a Roman citizen; and the ideas of guilt, of pain, and of ignominy were closely united with the idea of the cross. The piety rather than the humanity of Constantine soon abolished in his dominions the punishment which the Saviour of mankind had condescended to suffer The same symbol sanctified the arms of the soldiers of Constantine. The cross glittered on their helmets, was engraved on their shields, was interwoven with their banners; and the consecrated emblems which adorned the person of the emperor himself were distinguished only by richer materials and more exquisite workmanship."* There is a complete contradiction in this passage; and the historian increases the contradiction by a subsequent paragraph in these remarkable words : "In the second civil war Licinius felt and dreaded the power of this consecrated banner, the sight of which, in the distress of battle, animated the soldiers of Constantine with an invincible enthusiasm, and scattered terror and dismay through the ranks of the adverse legions."†

We crave particular attention to the foregoing remarks, and to the conclusions to which they lead. Here we have the historian describing an instrument of torture as an object of horror, and associated with ideas of guilt and ignominy in the eyes of the Roman citizens; and at the same time informing us that the greatest captain of the age adorned his own person with this figure, and adopted it as the standard of his armies; and that the sight of it animated his own soldiers with courage, and struck his enemies with terror. * "Decline and Fall," chap. xx.

+ Ibid., chap. xx.

The two armies opposed to each other were strongly and mysteriously affected by the sight of this new and extraordinary ensign; but while one army fought under it with an enthusiasm that led to victory, the other fighting against it was terror-stricken and defeated. The historian in his estimate of the population says: "The most favourable calculation, however, that can be deduced from the examples of Antioch and of Rome, will not permit us to imagine that more than a twentieth part of the subjects of the empire enlisted themselves under the banner of the cross before the important conversion of Constantine."*

We have thus got from the historian's own account the elements or data for the solution of a very interesting question, and the result is quite different from what he meant to establish. The fact is, he proves too much; and as regards the proportion of five Christians out of every hundred soldiers of the Roman armies opposed in civil conflict, the probability is, that the ratio was reversed, and that the numbers of Christians. greatly predominated over the Pagans. As we have never met with any views of this subject similar to those we now take, we have not the advantage of information to guide us, and we must use our own process of reasoning on the objective qualities of men.

Taking an example from modern times in illustration, a French or English general would be considered mad were he to adopt and display, previous to a great battle, the figure of the guillotine or the gallows as an ensign to animate the soldiers and rouse their enthusiasm against their enemies. The one or the other would become an object of horror, and the soldiers would be indignant, and might be mutinous at the sight of such an ensign. Bonaparte, that egotis

• “Decline and Fall," chap. xv.

tical soldier and military plagiarist, knew the characters of men, and he flattered the vanity of his followers by uprearing the eagles of Cæsar as the standard of his legions, and he had the address to symbolize the idea of "military glory," as he called the passion for seizing lands and cattle and other booty, in the form of a classical standard to which Roman prowess had imparted a dignity. But although the bare form of an instrument of public torture and ignominious punishment would assuredly be regarded with disgust by brave men, yet a plank, taken from the scaffold stained with the blood of a great patriot who had died for his country, if upreared as a trophy in some succeeding age, might inspire a people with undying courage in defence of their national liberties and independence. From this reasoning we deduce the conclusion that the figure of the cross in the time of Constantine had acquired a sacredness in the minds of the vast majority of those large armies, and that majority consisted of Christians, who looked at the cross, not as an instrument of cruelty, but as the type of the faith in the great sacrifice on the cross.* We may believe or disbelieve that the sign of the cross was seen by Constantine in the sky, but there can be no doubt that the figure was used by him in his great battle against

* An intelligent friend who has studied this part of the Roman history, puts at this place the following note :—

"Were there not one or more legions put to death for refusing to renounce Christianity previous to the time of Constantine? "The population of the Roman empire was then undoubtedly divided into three great classes,—the bigoted Pagans, those who had lost confidence in Paganism—and the Christians, an enthusiastic and active body. Constantine declared in favour of the Christians, and thereby obtained the support of the most energetic portion of the population."

his rivals Maxentius and Licinius; and before he displayed it he must have been well aware that the figure of the cross would be reflected from the minds of the combatants. It may aid us in forming precise ideas of the relative power of the armies engaged in those terrible wars, by citing from Gibbon the numbers on the muster-rolls. The army of Maxentius, previous to his final defeat and death, was 200,000 infantry and cavalry. The army of Constantine was about 98,000, more than the half of which he left in Gaul. The civil war with Licinius was obstinate, and carried on with vast armies, and terminated by the great battles of Hadrianople and the siege and capture of Byzantium in A.D. 323. The army of Licinius consisted of 165,000 foot and horse; and that of Constantine of about 120,000 men. Constantine thus fought with about 200,000 men, under the standard of the cross, against more than 300,000, so that in those two decisive wars more than 500,000 combatants were engaged. According to Gibbon's account there were only 25,000 to 30,000 Christians out of that vast host composing the Roman armies. Admitting the correctness of the estimate of numbers, we derive an idea of the mighty influence of Christian principles, and opinions symbolized in the sign of the cross over the darkness and superstition of the heathen soldiery.

The religious enthusiasm and military ardour of Constantine himself contributed much to the success of his armies, as they did afterwards to the establishment of the hierarchy as a part of his system of civil government. Considering the age in which he lived, and the extraordinary circumstances by which he was surrounded, and the vast power which was within his reach, one is disposed to make many allowances for "Decline and Fall," chap. xiv.