. Constantine the Great; the reorganisation of the empire and the triumph of the church . gth theonce famous, but now simply notorious, Donationof Constantine. The legend is so grotesque thatone wonders it ever imposed on the credulity evenof the most ignorant. For it represented Constan-tine as being smitten with leprosy for having perse-cuted the Church and for having driven the goodPope Sylvester into exile. The Emperor consultedsoothsayers, priests, and physicians in turn, and wasat last informed that his only chance of cure lay inbathing in the blood of little children. Forthwith, anumber
. Constantine the Great; the reorganisation of the empire and the triumph of the church . gth theonce famous, but now simply notorious, Donationof Constantine. The legend is so grotesque thatone wonders it ever imposed on the credulity evenof the most ignorant. For it represented Constan-tine as being smitten with leprosy for having perse-cuted the Church and for having driven the goodPope Sylvester into exile. The Emperor consultedsoothsayers, priests, and physicians in turn, and wasat last informed that his only chance of cure lay inbathing in the blood of little children. Forthwith, anumber of children were collected for this dreadfulpurpose, but their cries awoke the pity of Constan-tine and he gave them respite. Then, as he slept,Peter and Paul appeared to him in a dream andbade him let the children go free, recall Sylvesterfrom exile, and submit at his hands to the rite ofbaptism. This was done; the baptism was admin-istered ; Constantine was cured of the leprosy, andin return he made over to Sylvester and his succes-sors full temporal dominion over the city of Rome,. The Murders of Crispus and Fausta 249 the greater part of Italy, and certain other is the story, which was long accepted withoutdemur and confidently appealed to as the origin ofthe Temporal Power. It is now universally ad-mitted that the whole legend is a fraud and theletter of Constantine to Sylvester announcing theDonation a forgery of the eighth century. Con-stantine never persecuted the Church; he never hadleprosy; he never contemplated bathing in infantsblood ; he did not receive the rite of baptism untilhe was on his death-bed, and he did not hand overto the Pope the fee simple and title deeds of Romeand Italy. The Donation of Constantine belongs tothe museum of historical forgeries.* But if the repentance of Constantine did not takethe form of stupendous endowments for the Bishopof Rome, we may be tolerably sure that it did man-ifest itself in the increased zeal of the Empe
Size: 1309px × 1909px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectconstantineiemperoro
