DELILLE

Les catacombes de Rome.

P. 72, 1. I r. et marqua, à^c. : the Làbàrum, or standard of the cross, was adopted by Constantine after his conversion inA.D. 324. "It is described as a long pike intersected by a transversal beam. The silken veil which hung down from the beam was curiously inwrought with the images of the reigning monarch and his children. The summit of the pike supported a crown of gold, which enclosed the mysterious monogram (;:?) at once expressive of the figure of the cross and the initial letters of the name of Christ." Gibbon, chap. xx.