Preface: The Death of Constantine

All humankind has already joined in joyful festivities to celebrate the completion of the second and third decades of this great emperor’s reign. We ourselves have already welcomed him as a triumphant conqueror in the assembly of God’s ministers, and greeted him with the praise he deserved on the twentieth anniversary of his reign. And more recently still we wove garlands of words, as it were, and crowned his sacred head with them in his own palace on his thirtieth anniversary. [a]

But now, though I long to say some of the things customary on such an occasion, I stand at a loss, unsure which way to turn, wholly lost in wonder at the extraordinary sight before me. For wherever I direct my gaze, whether to the east or to the west, over the whole world or toward heaven itself, everywhere and always I see the blessed one still governing the very same empire. On earth I see his sons, like new mirrors of his brightness, spreading the luster of their father’s character everywhere. And I see him still living and powerful, governing all human affairs more completely than ever before, multiplied in the succession of his children. They had already held the rank of Caesars. But now, clothed as it were with his very self and adorned with his accomplishments, they are proclaimed, for the excellence of their piety, by the titles of Sovereign, Augustus, Worshipful, and Emperor. [c]