and heretical, liberal and fanatical, not t<> be imitated or admired, but much to be remembered, and deeply to be studied." ' His remains were removed in a golden coffin by a pro- cession of distinguished civilians and the whole army, from Nicomedia to Constantinople, and deposited, with the highest Christian honors, in the church of the Apostles,"^ while the Roman senate, at\er its ancient custom, proudly ignoring the great religious revolution of the age, enrolled him among the gods of the heathen 01}Tnpus. Soon after his death, Eusebius set him above the greatest princes of all times ; from the fifth century he began to be recognized in the East as a saint ; and the Greek and Russian church to this day celebrates his memory under the extravagant title of " Isapostolos," the " Equal of the apostles." ^ The Latin church, on the contrary, with truer tact, has never placed him among the saints, but has been content with naming him " the Great," in just and gi'ateful remembrance of his sei'vices to the cause of Christianity and civilization. § 3. Tlie Sons of Constcmtine. a.d. 337-361. For the literature see § 2 and § 4, With the death of Constantino the monarchy also came, for the present, to an end. The empire was divided among his » Stanley, 1. c. p. 320. ' This church became the burial place of the Byzantine emperors, till in the fourth crusade the coffins were rifled and the bodies cast out. Mahomet II. destroyed the church and built in its place the magnificent mosque which bears his name. See von Hammer, i. 390. *^Comp the Acta Sanct. ad 21 Mali, p. 13 sq. Niebuhr justly remarks: " When certain oriental writers call Constantino ' equal to the Apostles,' they do not know what they are saying ; and to speak of him as a ' saint ' is a profanation of the word." 38 THIRD PEEIOD. A.D. 311-590. three sons, Constantine II., Constans, and Constantius. Their accession was not in Christian style, but after the manner of genuine Turkish, oriental despotism ; it trod upon the corpses of the numerous kindred of their father, excepting two nephews, Gallus and Julian, wlio were saved only by sickness and youth from the fury of the soldiers. Three yeai's later followed a war of the brothers for the sole supremacy. Con- stantine n. was slain by Constans (340), who was in tm-n murdered by a barbarian field officer and rival, Magnentius (350). After the defeat and the suicide of Magnentius, Con- stantius, who had hitherto reigned in the East, became sole emperor, and maintained himself through many storms until his natural death (353-361). The sons of Constantine did their Christian education little honor, and departed from their father's wise policy of toler- ation. Constantius, a temperate and chaste, but Jealous, vaiu, M' and weak prince, entirely under the control of eunuchs, / women, and bishops, entered upon a violent suppression of the heathen