Primary source · Koine Greek
The Life of Constantine
Eusebius of Caesarea · c. AD 337–339
What this text is
The court bishop's memorial of the first Christian emperor — the vision of the cross before the Milvian Bridge, the labarum, Nicaea from a front seat, and the imperial letters copied in full.
Profile of Eusebius of Caesarea →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Book I.28 — the sign in the sky
τούτῳby thisνίκαconquer
Public-domain translations
E. C. Richardson (NPNF, 1890)
He said that about noon… he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also.
Manuscript witnesses
Greek tradition of the Vita (with the documents)
10th c. onwardThe Life with its embedded imperial documents — whose authenticity papyrus finds have vindicated.
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 20 (Migne)
1857Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Caesarea, c. AD 337–339 — the unfinished portrait of the first Christian emperor
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Eusebius: Life of Constantine (Clarendon Ancient History)Averil Cameron & Stuart G. Hall, 1999The standard translation and commentary.
- Eusebius Werke I.1: Über das Leben des Kaisers Konstantin (GCS)F. Winkelmann, 1975The critical edition.