Christus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro,
Signabat labarum, clypeorum insignia Christus
Scripserat: ardebat summis crux addita cristis.
—In Symmachum, vv. 487-489.
[449] Hist. of Christianity, bk. iii, chap. i. From the time of Constantine the monogram became common on the coins of the Empire. Valentinian III. and his wife Eudoxia first wore it on the imperial crown. In later Greek art the cross is generally accompanied by the letters ΙϹ-ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ, that is, “Jesus Christ is conqueror.” Eusebius describes a statue of Constantine at Rome bearing this monogram. (Hist. Eccles., ix, 9.)
[450] See [Fig. 104], chap. iv. Paulinus refers to the bitter cross surrounded by a flowery crown:
Ardua floriferæ Crux cingitur orbe coronæ.
—Epis. xii, ad Severum.
[451] De Rossi, Inscrip. Christ., No. 576. Of course there may be earlier examples which are undated.