altar which is beneath the vaulting of the said church, with
much reverence and solemnity by the said bishop and the clergy of
Florence, with all the people, both men and women, of the city of
Florence; but afterwards the said church was completed by the
commonwealth of Florence, and the stone steps were made which lead
down by the hill; and the consuls of the art of the Calimala were put
in charge of the said work of S. Miniato, and were to protect it.

Sec. 58.--_How S. Crescius and his companions suffered martyrdom in the
district of Florence._

Sec. 59.--_Of Constantine the Emperor, and his descendants, and the
changes which came thereof in Italy._

[Sidenote: Inf. xix. 115-117.]

[Sidenote: Inf. xxvii. 94, 95.]

[Sidenote: 320 A.D.]

[Sidenote: De Mon. iii. 10. Par. vi. 1-3; xx. 55-57.]

We find that our city of Florence remained under the government of the
Roman Empire for about 350 years after its first foundation, observing
pagan ways, and worshipping idols, albeit there were many Christians,
after the fashion whereof I have spoken, but they remained concealed
in divers hermitages and caverns without the city, and they which were
within did not declare themselves as Christians for fear of the
persecutions which the emperors of Rome and their vicars and ministers
brought upon the Christians, until the time of the great Constantine,
son of Constantine the Emperor, and of Helena his wife, daughter of
the king of Britain, which was the first Christian emperor, and
endowed the Church with all the possessions of Rome, and gave liberty
to the Christians in the time of the blessed Pope Sylvester, who
baptized him and made him a Christian, cleansing him from leprosy by
the power of Christ, and this was in the year of Christ about 320. The
said Constantine caused many churches to be built in Rome to the
honour of Christ, and having destroyed all the temples of paganism and
of the idols, and established Holy Church in her liberty and lordship,
and having brought the temporal affairs of the Church under due system
and order, he departed to Constantinople, which he caused to be thus
named, after his own name (for before this it was called Byzantium),
and he raised it to great state and lordship, and there he made his
seat, leaving here in command of Rome his patricians or censors, that
is, vicars, which defended Rome, and fought for her, and for the
Empire. After the said Constantine, which reigned more than thir