Even His Pagan Soldiers Pray on the Lord’s Day

For those who did not yet know the divine truth, he provided by a second law that on every Lord’s day they should appear on an open plain near the city, and there, at a given signal, all together offer to God a prayer they had learned beforehand. He warned them that their confidence should not rest in their spears, or armor, or bodily strength. They should acknowledge the supreme God as the giver of every good, and of victory itself. To him they were bound to offer their prayers at the proper times, lifting up their hands toward heaven and raising the eyes of the mind still higher, to the King of heaven, on whom they should call as the author of victory, their Preserver, Guardian, and Helper. The emperor himself laid down the prayer to be used by all his troops, commanding them to say the following words in Latin: