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| How Constantine entertained the Bishops on the Occasion of His Vicennalia.
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Chapter XV.—How
Constantine entertained the Bishops on the Occasion of His
Vicennalia.
About this time he completed the twentieth year of his reign.3251
| 3251 Compare Prolegomena, Life. | On this occasion public festivals were
celebrated by the people of the provinces generally, but the emperor
himself invited and feasted with those ministers of God whom he had reconciled,
and thus offered as it were through them a suitable sacrifice to God.
Not one of the bishops was wanting at the imperial banquet,3252
| 3252 At the risk of seeming trivial in sober and professedly condensed
annotation, one cannot help noting that the human nature of ancient and
modern councils is the same,—much controversy and more or less
absenteeism, but all present at dinner. | the circumstances of which were splendid
beyond description. Detachments of the body-guard and other troops
surrounded the entrance of the palace with drawn swords, and through
the midst of these the men of God proceeded without fear into the
innermost of the imperial apartments, in which some were the
emperor’s own companions at table, while others reclined on
couches arranged on either side.3253
| 3253 For notice of these couches, see Smith, Dict. Gr. and Rom.
Ant., article Lectica. | One might
have thought that a picture of Christ’s kingdom was thus shadowed
forth, and a dream rather than reality.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
