CONSTANTLNA.
 

CONSTANTINUS.
 

 mister of Constantine the Great, anil also Called

 Majuma.  4. In Mesopotamia.    Vid.  Antoni-

 NOPOLrs.

   Constantina,  daughter of  Constantine  the

 Great and  Fausta,  married to  Hannibalianus,

 imd after the death of the latter to Gallus Caesar.

   Constantina, the city.  Vid. Cirta.

   Constantlnopolis (KavoTavrivov irbXig : now

 Constantinople), built on  the site of the  ancient

 Byzantium by  Constantine the  Great, who call¬

 ed it after his own name,  and made it the capi¬

 tal of the Roman empire.  It was solemnly con¬

 secrated A.D. 330.  It was built in imitation of

 Rome.  Thus  it covered  seven  hills, was di¬

 vided into fourteen  regiones, and was adorned

 with various buildings in  imitation of the capi¬

 tal of  the Western world.  Its extreme length

 was about three Roman  miles;  and its walls

 included eventually a circumference of thirteen

 or  fourteen Roman miles.   It  continued  the

 capital of the Roman empire in the East till its

 capture by the  Turks in 1453.   An account of

 its topography  and history does not fall within

 the scope of the present work.

   ConstantInus.  1. I.  Surnamed " the Great,"

 Roman emperor A.D. 306-337,  eldest  son of

 the  Emperor Constantius Chlorns  and Helena,

 was born A.D,  272, at  Naissus (now Nissa), a

 town in Upper  Moaaia.  He was early trained to

 arms,  and served with great distinction under

 Galerius in  the Persian war.  Galerius became

 jealous of him  and  detained him for some time

 in the East; but Constantine at last contrived

 to join his father in Gaul  just in time to  accom¬

 pany him to Britain on his  expedition against

 the Picts, 806;   His father died at York in  the

 same  year, and Constantine laid claim to a

 share of the empire.  Galerius, who dreaded a

 struggle  with  the brave  legions of the West,

 acknowledged   Constantine  as  master   of  the

 countries  beyond the Alps, but  with the  title

 cf  Caesar only.  The commencement  of Con-

 stantine's reign, however, is placed in this year,

 though he did not receive  the title of Augustus

 till 308.   Constantine took up  his  residence at

 Treviri (now Treves), where the remains of his

 palace are still extant  He governed with jus¬

 tice and  firmness, beloved by his subjects, and

 feared by the  neighboring barbarians.  It  was

 not long,  however,  before he became involved

 in war with his rivals  in the  empire.   In the

 same year that  he had been acknowledged Caa¬

sar (806),  Maxentius, the son of Maximian, had

seized  the imperial power at Rome.  Constan¬

tine  entered into a close  alliance with Maxen-

 ius by marrying his sister Fausta.  But in 310

Maximian formed a plot against  Constantine,

and was put to death by his  son-in-law at Mas-

silia.  Maxentius resented the  death of  his fa¬

ther, and began to make preparations to  attack

Constantine  in  Gaul.   Constantine anticipated

his movements,  and invaded  Italy  at the head

 of a large amry.  The struggle was brought to

a close by the defeat of Maxentius at the village

of Saxa Rubra, near Rome, on the 27th of Octo¬

 ber, 812.  Maxentius  tried to escape over the

 Milvian bridge  into Rome, but  perished  in the

 river.  It was  in this campaign  that Constan¬

 tine is said to have been converted to Christian¬

 ity.  On his march to Rome, either at Autuu in

 Gaul, or   near  Andeniaoh on the Rhine, or at

            220
 

 Verona, he  is said to have Been in the sky »

 luminous cross with  the  inscription  iv  rovri/,

 viica, By this, Conquer ;  and on the night be¬

 fore the last and decisive  battle with Maxen¬

 tius, a vision is said to have appeared to Con¬

 stantine in  his sleep, bidding him inscribe the

 shields of his soldiers with the saered monogram

 of the name of Christ.  The tale of  the  cross

 seems to have grown out of that of the vision,

 and even the latter is not entitled to credit.  It

 was Constantine's  interest to gam the  affections

 of his numerous Christian subjects in his  strug¬

 gle with his rivals;  and  it was probably only

 self-interest  which led him at  first  to  adopt

 Christianity.  But, whether  sincere or  not in his

 conversion,  his conduct did little credit to the

 religion  which he professed.  The  miracle of

 his conversion was  commemorated  by the im¬

 perial standard of the Labarum,  at the summit

 of which was  the monogram  of the  name of

 Christ.   Constantine, by his victory over  Max¬

 entius, became the  sole  master of the  West

 Meantime important events took place in the

 East.  On the death of Galerius  in 311, Licini¬

 us and  Maximinus had divided the  East be¬

 tween them ; but in 313 a war broke out be¬

 tween them, Maximinus was defeated,  and died

 at Tarsus.  Thus  there were only  two emper¬

 ors left, Licinius in the  East and  Constantine in

 the West;  and between them also  war broke

 out in 314, although Licinius had married in the

 preceding year Constantia,  the  half-sister of

 Constantine.  Licinius was  defeated at Cibalis

 in Pannonia and afterward at Adrianople.  Peace

 was then concluded on condition that Liciniu

 should resign to  Constantine Illyricum, Mace¬

 donia, and Achaia, 314. This peace continued

 undisturbed  for nine years, during which  time

 Constantine   was  frequently  engaged in war

 with  the barbarians on the  Danube  and the

 Rhine.  In  these  wars his  son Crispus greatly

 distinguished himself.   In 323 the war between

 Constantine  and Licinius was renewed.  Licin¬

 ius was  again defeated in  two  great battles,

 first near Adrianople, and again at  Ghalcedon.

 He surrendered himself to Constantine on con¬

 dition of having his fife spared, but he was short¬

 ly afterward put to death at Thessalonica by or¬

 der of Constantine.  Constantine  was now sole

 master of the empire.   He  resolved  to remove

 the seat of empire to  Byzantium, which he  eall¬

 ed after  his own  name Constantinople, or the

 city of Constantine.  The new city was solemn

ly dedicated in 330.   Constantine reigned in

 peace for the remainder of his life.  In 325 he

 supported the  orthodox bishops  ai  the great

 Christian council  of  Nicaaa  (Nice), whieh  con¬

 demned the  Arian  doctrine by  adopting the

word  bpooioiov.  In 324 he put to death hi

 eldest son Crispus on a charge of treason, th

truth of  which, however, seems very doultful

He died in May, 337, and was haptized shortly

before his death by Eusebius.  His  three  song

 Constantine,   Constantius,  and  Constans   suc¬

 ceeded him  in  the empire.—2. II. Roman em¬

peror 337-340, eldest of the thr.e^ sons of  Con¬

 stantine the  Great by  Fausta, received Gaul,

 Britain, Spain, and part of Africa at his father's

 death.  Dissatisfied with his share of  the  em

 pire, he  made  war  upon his  younger brothel

 Constans, who governed Italy, but was defeat