Raised like Moses in the Palaces of Kings

Ancient history tells that a cruel race of tyrants oppressed the Hebrew nation, and that God, who graciously looked on them in their affliction, arranged that the prophet Moses, then an infant, should be brought up in the very palaces and arms of the oppressors and taught all the wisdom they possessed. And when in the course of time he had grown to manhood, and the time had come for divine justice to avenge the wrongs of the afflicted people, then the prophet of God, obeying the will of a more powerful Lord, left the royal household. He separated himself in word and deed from the tyrants who had raised him, and openly acknowledged his true brothers and kinsmen. Then God raised him up to be the leader of the whole nation, set the Hebrews free from the bondage of their enemies, and through him brought divine vengeance on the race of tyrants. This ancient story, though most people reject it as a fable, has reached the ears of all. [a]

But now the same God has granted us to be eyewitnesses of miracles more wonderful than fables, and, because they are recent, more certain than any report. For the tyrants of our day have dared to make war on the supreme God and have grievously afflicted his church. And in the midst of them lived Constantine, who was soon to be their destroyer, but who was then of tender age, blooming with the down of early youth. Like that other servant of God, he lived in the very home of the tyrants. Yet young as he was, he did not share the way of life of the ungodly. For from that early time his noble nature, under the leading of the divine Spirit, inclined him to piety and to a life pleasing to God. A desire to follow his father’s example also spurred the son on to a virtuous course. His father was Constantius (and it is right that we revive his memory at this point), the most illustrious emperor of our age. It is necessary to tell briefly a few things about his life that bring honor to his son.