Summary
Jacob Burckhardt: The Age of Constantine the Great
Researchers have often tried to penetrate Constantine's religious consciousness and create a picture of the changes in his religious beliefs. Such efforts are futile. In a genius who is constantly driven by the love of glory and the thirst for power, there can be no talk of Christianity and paganism, of conscious religiosity and impiety; such a man is essentially irreligious, he even believes that he stands at the center of the church community. He only knows about some sanctity through memories or if he is suddenly seized by some superstition. The moments of inner concentration, which the religious man dedicates to prayer, he spends in a completely different kind of rapture. His thoughts about the whole world and vivid dreams lead him to think of streams of blood and defeated armies. He thinks that he will achieve peace when he achieves that goal, when he achieves what he lacks in order to have everything.
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