"'Assuredly so! The Latin infinitive mood with the accusative case possesses a wonderful facility for such a construction as may signify either one thing or the other.'

"Then he gave way to sudden wrath, and cried aloud: 'Curses on the lying, cheating oracles by which so many mighty men have been lured into destruction!' And, fixing his eyes upon me, he continued, 'Was there any such ambiguity in what thy boy Gaius chanted?'

"'Nay, verily,' I answered. 'He said, "A holy emperor shall add the East unto his Western Empire." Thou canst not add the East unto anything, although thou mightest add something to the East; but canst add nothing to the Western Empire, which is not thine own, and thou art not a "holy emperor!"'

"'It is only a cursed trick of the oracle to lure me on to ruin!' he exclaimed. 'The Emperor Constantine hath bribed the god to influence me so that he may invade and overthrow mine empire while my fleet is far away. I will keep mine own coasts safe with wooden walls henceforth, and not a ship shall cross the middle sea.'

"Then he said unto me: 'Thou seem'st an honest and fair-minded man, and henceforth thou may'st practice thy religion publicly in my city of Nicomedia without fear or molestation. So fare thee well.'

"I think that this completeth my account, except I should add that from the very beginning of this matter the Emperor Licinius hath zealously endeavored to keep it all profoundly secret, so that it is known to very few."

Then said Constantine unto the bishop: "What didst thou mean by saying to the emperor, 'The Christians who knew thee to be a bloody tyrant, and the desecrator of the sacrament of marriage by an infamous law'? What law was that?"

And Eusebius answered: "He hath revived the former law of Maximin, that 'no woman of rank should marry without the emperor's consent,' and for the same infamous purpose, ut ipse in omnibus nuptiis proegustator esset; and this licentiousness hath done more to set the Church against the emperor than even the murder of the bishops."

"How strange," said Constantine, "that men should think themselves fit to govern an empire who can not even govern their own brutal passions!"

Then the great emperor indulged in long-continued laughter, not loud nor vociferous, but quiet, hearty, joyous, and exultant. But, soon resuming his usual equanimity, he said unto the bishop: "Thou art the most welcome messenger that hath ever come unto me since thy brother of Cæsarea did first visit me in Gaul before the overthrow of Maxentius. Tell me what great favor worthy of Rome's emperor I can do for thee."