wledged her marriage.]

[Footnote 10: There are three opinions with regard to the place of
Constantine's birth. 1. Our English antiquarians were used to dwell
with rapture on the words of his panegyrist, "Britannias illic oriendo
nobiles fecisti." But this celebrated passage may be referred with as
much propriety to the accession, as to the nativity of Constantine.
2. Some of the modern Greeks have ascribed the honor of his birth to
Drepanum, a town on the Gulf of Nicomedia, (Cellarius, tom. ii. p. 174,)
which Constantine dignified with the name of Helenopolis, and Justinian
adorned with many splendid buildings, (Procop. de Edificiis, v. 2.) It
is indeed probable enough, that Helena's father kept an inn at Drepanum,
and that Constantius might lodge there when he returned from a Persian
embassy, in the reign of Aurelian. But in the wandering life of a
soldier, the place of his marriage, and the places where his children
are born, have very little connection with each other. 3. The claim of
Naissus is supported by the anonymous writer, published at the end of
Ammianus, p. 710, and who in general copied very good materials; and
it is confirmed by Julius Firmicus, (de Astrologia, l. i. c. 4,) who
flourished under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objections have
been raised against the integrity of the text, and the application of
the passage of Firmicus but the former is established by the best Mss.,
and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de Magnitudine Romana,
l. iv. c. 11, et Supplement.]

[Footnote 11: Literis minus instructus. Anonym. ad Ammian. p. 710.]

[Footnote 12: Galerius, or perhaps his own courage, exposed him to
single combat with a Sarmatian, (Anonym. p. 710,) and with a monstrous
lion. See Praxagoras apud Photium, p. 63. Praxagoras, an Athenian
philosopher, had written a life of Constantine in two books, which are
now lost. He was a contemporary.]

[Footnote 13: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 78, 79. Lactantius de M. P. c. 24. The
former tells a very foolish story, that Constantine caused all the
post-horses which he had used to be hamstrung. Such a bloody execution,
without preventing a pursuit, would have scattered suspicions, and might
have stopped his journey. * Note: Zosimus is not the only writer who
tells this story. The younger Victor confirms it. Ad frustrandos
insequentes, publica jumenta, quaqua iter ageret, interficiens. Aurelius
Victor de Caesar says the same thing, G. as also the Anonymus