homilies; he presided at the councils;
he deeply meditated the mysteries of Christianity; and he struggled
against the heresiarchs with the ardour of a Christian soldier and the
grief of a profoundly convinced soul. As emperor, he submitted to the
necessities of a difficult position, and conformed, in all grave matters,
to the manners and beliefs which he did not feel sufficiently strong
openly to shock. On endowing the purple, he became the heir of that long
series of emperors who had all remained faithful to the worship of the
father-land; and he wrapt himself, so to say, in the ancient traditions
and recollections of pagan Rome; for it was an inheritance which he could
not renounce, without danger to himself as well as to the empire.

"When we observe some actions of Constantine, evidently tinged with
Paganism, we must consider less their external form than the relation in
which they stood towards the constitution of Rome, which that emperor had
no desire to destroy. We shall then become convinced that his conduct was
the result of necessity, and not that of a crooked policy. As an
individual, he was free; as an emperor, he was a slave; and his greatest
merit, according to our opinion, was to have soundly judged the
embarrassments of this situation. Animated as he was with a lively zeal
for the truths of Christianity, it was very natural that he should employ
the imperial power in order to break down all the obstacles to its
progress. But this would have involved him in an open war with a nation,
the majority of whom were composed of Pagans; and it is very likely that
he would have succumbed in such a contest. He understood this; and it
prevented him giving way to the entreaties, and even complaints, of
over-zealous Christians."--Vol. i., p. 88.

Constantine was, notwithstanding his conversion to Christianity, the
supreme pontiff of pagan Rome. The title of this dignity was given him on
the public monuments, and he performed its functions on several occasions;
as, for instance, in 321, several years after his conversion, he wrote to
Maximus, prefect of Rome, as follows:--

"If our palace or any public monument shall be struck by lightning, the
auguries are to be consulted, according to the ancient rites (_retento
more veteris observantiae_), in order to know what this event indicates;
and the accounts of these proceedings are immediately to be sent to us.
Private individuals may make similar consultations, provided