ould be
ascribed only to the inclination or policy of the sovereign of Gaul.
His liberality restored and enriched the temples of the gods; the medals
which issued from his Imperial mint are impressed with the figures and
attributes of Jupiter and Apollo, of Mars and Hercules; and his filial
piety increased the council of Olympus by the solemn apotheosis of his
father Constantius. But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly
directed to the genius of the Sun, the Apollo of Greek and Roman
mythology; and he was pleased to be represented with the symbols of
the God of Light and Poetry. The unerring shafts of that deity, the
brightness of his eyes, his laurel wreath, immortal beauty, and elegant
accomplishments, seem to point him out as the patron of a young
hero. The altars of Apollo were crowned with the votive offerings of
Constantine; and the credulous multitude were taught to believe, that
the emperor was permitted to behold with mortal eyes the visible majesty
of their tutelar deity; and that, either walking or in a vision, he was
blessed with the auspicious omens of a long and victorious reign. The
Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of
Constantine; and the Pagans might reasonably expect that the insulted
god would pursue with unrelenting vengeance the impiety of his
ungrateful favorite.

As long as Constantine exercised a limited sovereignty over the
provinces of Gaul, his Christian subjects were protected by the
authority, and perhaps by the laws, of a prince, who wisely left to
the gods the care of vindicating their own honor. If we may credit the
assertion of Constantine himself, he had been an indignant spectator
of the savage cruelties which were inflicted, by the hands of Roman
soldiers, on those citizens whose religion was their only crime. In the
East and in the West, he had seen the different effects of severity
and indulgence; and as the former was rendered still more odious by the
example of Galerius, his implacable enemy, the latter was recommended to
his imitation by the authority and advice of a dying father. The son of
Constantius immediately suspended or repealed the edicts of persecution,
and granted the free exercise of their religious ceremonies to all those
who had already professed themselves members of the church. They were
soon encouraged to depend on the favor as well as on the justice of
their sovereign, who had imbibed a secret and sincere reverence f