Constantine was also the first Christian emperor, with the exception of PhilippusPhilip, the Arab, emperor from 244 to 249. who seemed to me to have become a Christian merely in order that the one-thousandth year of RomeThe one-thousandth year since the founding of the city. might be dedicated to Christ rather than to pagan idols.The words are those of Orosius, vii. 28. But from Constantine down to the present day all the emperors that have been chosen were Christians, with the exception of Julian, whose disastrous life forsook him in the midst of the impious plans which it was said that he was devising.

Moreover, Constantine made the changeFrom the pagan to the Christian religion. in a just and humane fashion; for he issued an edict that the temples should be closed without any shedding of pagan blood. Afterwards he destroyed the bravest and most populous of the Gothic tribes in the very heart of the barbarian territory; that is, in the lands of the Sarmatians.