The emperor, roused to the highest pitch of indignation, impetuously crossed the British Channel, traversed Gaul, surmounted the Alps by the pass of Mont Cenis, and descended into the plains of Piedmont. He was within four hundred miles of Rome before Maxentius was aware that he had crossed the British Channel. In accordance with the barbaric customs of the times, Constantine, as he approached Rome, ravaged the States which had sympathized in the revolt of Maxentius, and made slaves of all the people. The number of captives so increased, that hundreds of smiths were constantly employed in hammering the swords of the vanquished into fetters. Maxentius was an inveterate pagan. In preparing for the conflict with Constantine, he had supplicated the aid of the Roman gods by the most gorgeous ceremonies and the most costly sacrifices. This led Constantine to feel that he must appeal to the God of the Christians for support. The following remarkable narrative is recorded by contemporary writers as given by Constantine himself. Just before the final battle, Constantine was earnestly praying in his tent to that God whom his mother had revealed to him. While engaged in this act of devotion, he observed a remarkable appearance in the heavens; when there emerged, in wonderful distinctness and effulgence, a cross with this inscription,――“_In hoc vinces_” (“By this thou shalt conquer”). The miraculous apparition was seen by the whole army. Illustration: Vision of the Cross While Constantine was pondering the significance of this sign, night came on. In a dream, Christ appeared to the emperor with the same cross which he had seen in the heavens, and directed him to cause a banner to be made after that pattern, and, beneath that banner, to lead his armies to victory over their pagan foes. However we may explain this event, whether we regard it as a miracle, or as the effect of the excited imagination of the emperor, this seems to be certain,――that Constantine himself made repeated and solemn declarations that he had seen this vision. He certainly did raise the banner of the cross,――the first time that banner was ever raised over his army. He taught his troops, pagans as most of them were, to seek the aid of the God of the Christians. Eusebius, pastor of the church at Nicomedia, one of the most eloquent preachers and able writers of the age, records that he had this story of the miraculous appearance of the cross from the emperor himself; and that the emperor, conscious of the great importance of the statement, substantiated the narrative by the solemnity of an oath. Constantine could have had no motive to perjure himself; neither was such a crime in accordance with his character. Constantine, much excited by the dream of the night, which enforced the remarkable vision of the day, rose with the earliest dawn, summoned his principal officers into his presence, and informed them of the standard which he wished to have immediately constructed.