Eusebius of Caesarea · a new plain-English translation from the Greek
1| About this sign a long account could be given, handed down to the initiates by men versed in theology. For this truly saving thing, a wonder to tell and far more wonderful to ponder, no sooner appeared on earth than it covered over all the falsehoods told about gods from the beginning of time; it consigned error to darkness and oblivion, and, shining a spiritual light into the souls of men, it revealed to all the only true God.
2| That is why everyone who has changed for the better now spits in the faces of dead idols, tramples on the lawless rites of demons, and laughs at the old deceit handed down from his fathers. Everywhere people have founded schools of the sacred words, and in them they are trained in the saving teachings, so that they are no longer awed by the creation that the eyes of the flesh can see, nor, when they look up at the sun, the moon and the stars, do they let their wonder stop there; instead they confess the one who is beyond these, the hidden and invisible Creator of all things, and they have been taught to worship him alone.
3| Such are the boundless blessings that this great and marvelous sign has brought to light for mankind. Through it everything evil has ceased to be, and what did not exist before now shines among all people with the rays of piety.
4| Words, teachings and exhortations to a sober and God-fearing life are proclaimed for all nations to hear, and the emperor himself proclaims them. And the greatest wonder of all is that so great an emperor has cried out with the loudest voice to the whole world, like an interpreter of God, the King of all, calling all those he shepherds together to the knowledge of him who truly is.
5| In the very halls of the palace the drivel of godless men is heard no longer, as it was before; instead priests and worshipers of God hold festival, solemnly praising the emperor's piety in hymns. The one God himself, the King of the universe, is announced to all; the gospel word of good things joins the human race to the King of all, bringing the good news that the heavenly Father is gracious and friendly to his sons on earth; choirs of every kind honor him with songs of victory; and the whole mortal race sounds in harmony with the angelic companies in heaven.
6| Rational souls, through the bodies in which they are clothed as though through musical instruments, send up to him fitting hymns and the theology they owe him. Those whose lot lies in the west are taught his lessons at one and the same moment as those who live in the east; those who hold the northern regions sing songs in concord with those in the south, pursuing the God-fearing life by the same ways and the same words. They praise the one God over all; they acknowledge the one only-begotten Savior as the cause of all good things; and they recognize one emperor as the restorer of order on earth, together with his sons, beloved of God.
7| And he, like a wise helmsman seated high above the steering oars, steers on through calm weather, carrying all who are under him with a favorable wind toward the safe and tranquil harbor. God himself, the great King, stretches out his right hand to him from above. For now he makes him victor over all his enemies and foes and increases the power of his reign through long cycles of years; but he intends also to show him a sharer in better blessings, confirming to him by deeds his own promises. These the present moment no longer permits me to speak of; we must wait for that world, since things divine are not by nature to be grasped by mortal eyes and the ears of the flesh.
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