believing his own eyes, he asked those around him if they beheld the same spectacle; and as they unanimously declared that they did, the emperor’s mind was strengthened by this divine and marvelous apparition. On the following night in his slumbers he saw Christ who directed him to prepare a standard according to the pattern of that which had been seen; and to use it against his enemies as an assured trophy of victory. In obedience to this divine oracle, he caused a standard in the form of a cross to be prepared, which is preserved in the palace even to the present time: and proceeding in his measures with greater earnestness, he attacked the enemy and vanquished him before the gates of Rome, near the Mulvian bridge, Maxen- tius himself being drowned in the river. This victory was achieved in the seventh year of the conqueror’s reign.115 After this, while Licinius, who shared the government with him, and was his brother-in-law, having married his sister Constantia, was residing in the East, the emperor Constantine, in view of the great blessing he had received, offered grateful thanksgivings to God as his benefactor; these consisted in his relieving the Christians from persecution, recalling those who were in exile, liberating such as were imprisoned, and causing the confiscated property of the prescribed to be restored to them; he moreover rebuilt the churches, and performed all these things with the greatest ardor. About this time Dio- cletian, who had abdicated the imperial authority, died at Salona in Dalmatia.116 115 312 a.d. 116 Cf. an account of these events in Sozomen, I. 3. See also on the persecution instituted by Diocletian Neander, Hist. of the Christ. Ch. Vol. I. pp. 143–156; Schaff, Hist. of the Christ. Ch. Vol. I. pp. 174–177; Euseb. H. E., Books VIII.–X. Lactantius, de Mortibus persec. c. 7 seq. Diocletian abdicated in 305 a.d. 25 By what Means the Emperor Constantine became a Christian.