| Show X X x x O i I I No OF HISTORY I Ir 1 j I T r fur for the Sc levee by I 1 1 I E c C 0 the Hero Who Made the Cross ills banner i ih t h S s r 4 r x 1 ati IM K fan A D 11 Nye lu III th the rather t r havill nn R lees I than Ihn emperors ruling II II a I II fitly ly one m of this s I any ny special 11 a I WithIn II h he hoI had rv him hie ft flee v colleagues amid alone Rome Rom was toward Its Ita Mal downfall Augustus Hrh It had been governed hy by s series of uh such emperors emr a a would have I to wreck ft a still stronger empire allula and nd the a and nd the th other two undermIned soil And i sail n i 11 It a contempt for Then rlou ant anti had Ih the theme thron often or murdering their or Of old Home had kept hr her more mor distant In by b It a wise It if stern rule mule Hut of late lat th these colonies to waxing In discontented and nd wre be more mOl fIr or I less o openly to defy their maters mu muTh The Th empire pi w was so greet t and so an rich rIh a to and 10 u ther ten to I fell apart by m aon of It Its I own ut bulk No longer did It a Juan lIan hold th the reins In of power Owr The territory was waa divided Into luto all an a In and ands nd s a tern empl the former Europa the latter the orient tether was OIl a nobleman who had been b by one ne or of orth th emperors and nd had bad succeeded u to the throne The Th western Im em and Phe two let lat letter tr ter po overthrow the former no time lime In tic II promptly attacked heat t hits In batik tI and rn d him to suicide Then he turn turned hi his U to lu III s t eerie rl of tattle battle h he hI his rh al troop e and lId ded the campaign by b killing and routing hi hie army anny In a great battle at Bridge Brill lI hear ar Rome Rom on Oct ot ZI M A D This 1 len left hIm de ace emperor ot of the thet west t Durin During the campaign against ant when d ot of coping with his bill foes superior number Constantine decla declared that he paw MW in the th mid midday day Ia sky k a flaming crone and nd radar tt It the weeds In ice t in this emblem you oU shall conquer 11 He at mica tb the ernes and inscription to be on h his toped badger r anti wad vl vii Whether ethe really thought lie he saw MW a vision or It if he be heIy mealy Iy sought to win favor tor with the number of who were beginning to make their felt Rum no one une can an know In eIther case tile the story Wu wa believed and i by the thousand and nd became bl his stanch allies 11 the days of Nero It had been to 0 a greater ter or of I less extent the custom om everywhere to 0 persecute t Ute the Christians n Thy wn were pat Ut to th this sworn thrown to tINt the lions lion In the arena N burned alive their end and In had bad Men been subjected to 0 the most horrible ever Yet TM In of all thI this the neW Inapt Inspired creed flourished and grown own strong lit until by Con time It was u a torce fusee to be reckoned kon with Instead of continuing the persecutions was enough to wIn peoples people love and nd trust Ira U a decree in III III App granting to all 11 cIvil and privileges and nd pulU potting an n end et to political hardships He o i after afterward ward reI this step so ao popular lie he ed the the ot of tb the empire though 1111 allowing the heathen warship to be practised at will and nd was waa himself anally baptised Having made himself mater master of tl the wt west Constantine now turned hi his at al tendon to 10 the t Two of the three th emperor ut of th the east at had died leaving the third In fan rawer Iwer Constantine soon found to tl pick a quarrel with and nd liner two campaign and en 1111 Intern intervening III ing peace J he utterly overthrew and nd captured making m mae ter ot of the whole hole Roman Homan world He promised to pals lire life but found excuse to break tI the pledge and put hi his beaten toe to death and we wu once nines and almost for tor the last time tim un under der one mans man rue nile It wa the final tally 1 ot of the old before the miserable end and Constantine ruled WI wisely and anet mercifully Winging Into hi his reign relan many or of the lb gentle nUe precepts of the oD he had bad d He tweed from war and conquest and d sat to lead bled his hie empire empl tow toward progress and higher As AI tie the city of Rome warn waa no longer the center ot of the empire M he punned nned a mote m cantral With thi emul In view be se selected the th alt site of tb the old city of on the bank of the s aid there founded a now new capital which in ID honor boDor ot of himself later called City ot of Constantine Tracing the boundaries with a spear and d marching at th the head hd ot of a I pr he marked the city limit lIatta Onward he Ko went 1 until lie be had tar t tie bound of aa any other oily ctt then In III existence One ot of hla hi remonstrated with him on the die of the capital he was waa out nut 11 lining Re He replied I 1 shall advance until God who mo beten me shall hall tell III ins to stop Nearly eleven miles In III circumference the wu was larger t than any an other of the old world With Whit r ce and expenditure the thew t capital w was built the aunt great Christian city t has haa since become bOm t through strange tran Iron Irony ot of fate tat the gad and ot of M Ma J In 1131 A D di cI at t the age of having made ma a recognised world power and Into lit life and grandeur the tJ m of tile the Ronan Ro empire |
