CHAP. XX.
mankind had condescended to suffer[1]; but the emperor had already 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[2]. The same symbol sanctified the arms of the soldiers of Constantine; the cross glittered on their helmet, was engraved on their shields, was interwoven into their banners; and the consecrated emblems which adorned the person of the emperor himself, were distinguished only by richer materials and more exquisite workmanship[3] But the principal standard which displayed the triumph of the cross was styled the 'labarum'[4], an obscure though celebrated name, which has been vainly derived from almost all the languages of the world. It is described[5] as a long pike intersected by a transversal beam. The silken veil which hung down from the beam, was curiously inwrought with the images of the reigning
- ↑ 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 defeat 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 crucis aut gemmata refulget
Aut longis solido ex auro præfertur in hastis.
Hoc signo invictus, transmissis Alpibus ultor
Servitium solvit miserabile Con'stantinus
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Christus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro
Signabat labarum, clypeorum insignia Christus
Scripserat; ardebat summis crux addita cristis.
Prudent, in Symmachum, 1. ii. 464. 486. - ↑ The derivation and meaning of the word labarum, or laborum, 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. Latinitat. 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.
