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I AM aware that it is reported by the pagans that Constantine,
after slaying some of his nearest relations, and particularly after
assenting to the murder of his own son Crispus, repented of his evil
deeds, and inquired of Sopater, the philosopher, who was then master
of the school of Plotinus, concerning the means of purification from
guilt. The philosopher, so the story goes, replied that such moral
defilement could admit of no purification. The emperor was grieved at
this repulse, but happening to meet with some bishops who told him that
he would be cleansed from sin, on repentance and on submitting to
baptism, he was delighted with their representations, and admired
their doctrines, and became a Christian, and led his subjects to the
same faith. It appears to me that this story was the invention of
persons who desired to vilify the Christian religion. Crispus, on
whose account, it is said, Constantine required purification, did
not die till the twentieth year of his father's reign; he held the
second place in the empire and bore the name of Caesar and many laws,
framed with his sanction in favor of Christianity, are still extant.
That this was the case can be proved by referring to the dates affixed
to these laws, and to the lists of the legislators. It does not
appear likely that Sopater had any intercourse with Constantine whose
government was then centered in the regions near the ocean and the
Rhine; for his dispute with Maxentius, the governor of Italy, had
created so much dissension in the Roman dominions, that it was then no
easy matter to dwell in Gaul, in Britain, or in the neighboring
countries, in which it is universally admitted Constantine embraced
the religion of the Christians, previous to his war with Maxentius,
and prior to his return to Rome and Italy: and this is evidenced by
the dates of the laws which he enacted in favor of religion. But even
granting that Sopater chanced to meet the emperor, or that he had
epistolary correspondence with him, it cannot be imagined the
philosopher was l ignorant that Hercules, the son of Alcmena,
obtained purification at Athens by the celebration of the mysteries of
Ceres after the murder of his children, and of Iphitus, his guest
and friend. That the Greeks held that purification from guilt of this
nature could be obtained, is obvious from the instance I have just
alleged, and he is a false calumniator who represents that Sopater
taught the contrary.
I cannot admit the possibility of the philosopher's having been
ignorant of these facts; for he was at that period esteemed the most
learned man in Greece.
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