Constantine the Great: The reorganization of the Empire and the triumph of the Church

by John B. Firth

[112]. Verum insolentia rerum secundarum aliquantum Constantinus ex illa favorabili animi docilitate mutavit (x., p. 6).

[113]. We may quote the most striking sentence in the document: Ecce tam palatium nostrum quam urbem Romam, et omnes totius Italiæ et occidentalium regionum provincias, loca et civitates, præfato beatissimo Pontifici nostra Sylvestro, universali papæ, concedimus atque relinquimus. The forger forged boldly, and then went on to add that Constantine withdrew to Constantinople, because it was not just that an earthly monarch (terrenus imperator) should exercise sovereignty in the city where the Head of the Christian religion had been installed by the Lord of Heaven (ab imperatore cælesti).

[114]. De Vita Const., iii., p. 44, seq.

[115]. De Vita Const., iv., c. 14.

[116]. De Vita Const., iv., p. 5.

[117]. Ibid., iv., p. 6.

[118]. De Vita Const., iv., p. 8.

[119]. De Vita Const., iv., p. 56.

[120]. Bk. IV., c. 38, seq.

[121]. Constantinopolis dedicatur pæne omnium urbium nuditate.