nihilated its antagonist, and
spread its own doctrines without adulteration.

Constantine continually showed by his acts that he felt he must be the
impartial sovereign of all his people, not merely the representative
of a successful faction. Hence, if he built Christian churches, he also
restored pagan temples; if he listened to the clergy, he also consulted
the haruspices; if he summoned the Council of Nicea, he also honored the
statue of Fortune; if he accepted the rite of baptism, he also struck
a medal bearing his title of "God." His statue, on the top of the great
porphyry pillar at Constantinople, consisted of an ancient image of
Apollo, whose features were replaced by those of the emperor, and
its head surrounded by the nails feigned to have been used at the
crucifixion of Christ, arranged so as to form a crown of glory.

Feeling that there must be concessions to the defeated pagan party,
in accordance with its ideas, he looked with favor on the idolatrous
movements of his court. In fact, the leaders of these movements were
persons of his own family.

CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE. 2. To the emperor--a mere worldling--a
man without any religious convictions, doubtless it appeared best for
himself, best for the empire, and best for the contending parties,
Christian and pagan, to promote their union or amalgamation as much as
possible. Even sincere Christians do not seem to have been averse to
this; perhaps they believed that the new doctrines would diffuse most
thoroughly by incorporating in themselves ideas borrowed from the old,
that Truth would assert her self in the end, and the impurity be cast
off. In accomplishing this amalgamation, Helena, the empress-mother,
aided by the court ladies, led the way. For her gratification there were
discovered, in a cavern at Jerusalem, wherein they had lain buried for
more than three centuries, the Savior's cross, and those of the two
thieves, the inscription, and the nails that had been used. They were
identified by miracle. A true relic-worship set in. The superstition of
the old Greek times reappeared; the times when the tools with which the
Trojan horse was made might still be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of
Pelops at Chaeroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, the sword
of Memnon at Nicomedia, when the Tegeates could show the hide of the
Calydonian boar and very many cities boasted their possession of the
true palladium of Troy; when there were statues of Min