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politan Museum of New York possesses a large mural decoration by Constant representing "Justinian in Council." Constant was a writer of repute, having contributed a number of studies on contemporary French painters. Consult Stranahan, Modern French Painters (New York, 1893). CONSTAN'TA. See KÜSTENDJE.

CONSTANT DE REBECQUE, kôN'stäN' de re'běk', HENRI BENJAMIN (1767-1830). A distinguished French politician and novelist, born at Lausanne, October 23, 1767. His family was Protestant, and had taken refuge in Switzerland from religious persecution. Till thirteen, Constant studied at Lausanne, then successively at Oxford, Erlangen, and Edinburgh, laying the foundations of a cosmopolitan culture that explains his affinity for Madame de Staël. He was a moderate Republican during the Revolution, and after 1795 settled in Paris, where his political writings, especially his pamphlet, De la force du gouvernement actuel de la France, attracted great attention. In 1799 Bonaparte called him to the tribunate, but he opposed the First Consul's attack upon constitutional rights, and was exiled in 1802. His political career thus checked, he turned to literature, and accompanied Madame de Staël, like him an exile, on her travels. At Weimar he learned to know Goethe and Schiller. He translated, or rather adapted, the latter's Wallenstein. He also wrote Adolphe (1816), a literary result of his relations to Madame de Staël, who had put her experience with him into Delphine. This sole novel of the versatile politician is a clear, keen, relentless analysis of the mutual degradation resulting from ill-assorted matings. It is brief, almost cruelly simple, and told in a style as precise and dry as that of a mathematical demonstration. Chivalrous toward Madame de Staël, he is pitiless to himself, to his father, to his former love, Madame de Charrière, and to their officious friend. Madame Récamier. Constant's Correspondence, his Journals, all that we know of his life, show him, as he reveals himself here, always seeking emotion, never attaining to passion. With this novel still unpublished, he returned to France after Napoleon's first abdication (1814), with the prestige of his stirring pamphlet De l'esprit de conquête et de l'usurpation (1813). He hoped to find the Restoration more favorable to constitutional liberty than Napoleon's 'government of mamelukes,' but he was soon undeceived. During the Hundred Days, he coöperated with the returned Emperor, and assisted in drawing up the acte additionel to the Constitution. After Waterloo he retired to England, but was permitted to return to France in 1816. He joined the liberal writers of the day, and was elected Deputy in 1819. He became the acknowledged leader of the opposition to Charles X., and the most brilliant champion of a constitutional monarchy. He deplored the violence of the Revolution of July, which occurred while he was convalescent in the country. At the request of Lafayette he returned, and for the few months that remained to him of life supported the Government of Louis Philippe and the principles to which his political life had been dedicated. He died at Pau, December 8, 1830. Constant was not a graceful speaker, but a singularly effective writer. His speeches are collected as Discours (2 vols., 1828); his essays on representative government as Cours de politique constitutionelle (4 vols., 1817-20).

He wrote also Mémoires sur les Cent Jours (1820), and De la religion considérée dans sa source, ses formes, et ses développements (182431), in which he undertook to show that the religious instinct remained essentially unaffected through all changes of dogma and forms. In teaching that Christianity had "introduced moral and political liberty into the world," he widened the breach with the thought of the eighteenth century shown and in part caused by the Génie du Christianisme of Chateaubriand. "Lucian was incapable of understanding Homer," he said; "Voltaire has never understood the Bible." Consult: Faguet, Politiques et moralistes (Paris, 1898), and Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux Lundis, vol. i. (Paris, 1863), and Por traits littéraires, vol. iii. (Paris, 1864).

The

CONSTANTIN, kôN'stän'tǎN', ABBÉ. lovable, benevolent old parish priest in Ludovic Halévy's graceful romance L'Abbé Constantin (1882), a revulsion from the sensational work of the naturalistic school. It tells the simple story of the good abbé and his old housekeeper, the wealthy American woman who becomes his colaborer in good works, and her sister, who falls in love with a young lieutenant. A successful comedy under the same title was adapted from the romance by Crémieux and Decourcelle, and presented at the Gymnase in 1887.

CONSTANTINA, kōn'stán-te'nå. A town of

Spain, in the Province of Seville, about 40 miles north-northeast of Seville (Map: Spain, C 4). It is in a mountainous region, and has silver and tanneries. Population, in 1901, 9687. and lead mines, lumbering interests, distilleries,

CONSTANTINE, kõn'stån-tēn'. A fortified city and a Catholic episcopal see, the capital of Constantine, the easternmost department of Algeria (Map: Africa E 1). It is situated on a precipitous hill with a flat summit, three sides of which are washed by the Rummel, flowing through a deep and narrow ravine. The fourth and west side is connected by a natural mound with the surrounding mountains. It is 830 feet above the river and 2162 feet above the sea. It is surrounded by walls constructed by the Arabs out of Roman sculptured stones. The streets in the Moorish or older portion of the town are narrow and dirty, and the houses mean. The chief ancient buildings are the Kasba, or citadel, of Roman construction; the palace of the Bey; the harem of Salah; and three mosques, one of which, Suk-er-Rezel, dating from 1143, is now the Christian Church of Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs. The modern and French portion of the town is marked by wide streets and open squares. Its principal buildings include the Palais de Justice, administrative buildings, the Protestant church, and theatre. The Mohammedans support a medreso, or religious seminary, and the French Government maintains a college and other educational institutions for Arabic and European culture. There are an archæological society and museum of local antiquities. The town has manufactures of woolen cloths, saddlery, and other articles in leather, and a considerable grain trade with Tunis. Its seaport for foreign trade is Philippeville, 50 miles to the northeast, with which and the principal towns of Algeria it is connected by rail. Constantine, anciently one of the most important towns of Numidia, called Carta by the Carthaginians,

and Cirta by the Romans, was a royal residence. It was destroyed in the wars of Maxentius against Alexander, about A.D. 311, but was soon rebuilt by Constantine the Great, from whom it derives its present name. It was a flourishing town in the twelfth century, its commercial relations extending to Venice, Genoa, and Pisa. Subsequently it shared in general the fortunes of Algeria. The French captured it by assault, after a long siege, in 1837. Population, in 1901, 48,243, including 15,096 French resi

dents.

CONSTANTINE. The name of two popes. -CONSTANTINE I. (Pope 708-15). His pontificate was marked by the submission of Felix, Archbishop of Ravenna, to the supremacy of Rome, and by his voyage to Constantinople, at the invitation of Justinian II., to confirm the decrees of the Quinisextan Council, which his immediate predecessor had refused to do.-CONSTANTINE II. (Pope 767-68). He was forced into the see by his brother, Duke Toto of Nepi, but within a few months was overthrown and blinded by an opposing faction, his deposition being solemnly confirmed by the Lateran Synod of 769, which laid down the rule that the Pope must be chosen from the College of Cardinals.

CONSTANTINE I., FLAVIUS VALERIUS AURELIUS CONSTANTINUS, surnamed 'the Great.' A Roman Emperor (A.D. 306-337). He was born soon after A.D. 270, at Naissus, in Mosia. He was the eldest son of Constantius Chlorus, and first distinguished himself by his military talents under Diocletian, in that monarch's famous Egyptian expedition (296); subsequently he served under Galerius in the Persian War. In 305 the two emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, abdicated, and were succeeded by Constantius Chlorus and Galerius. Galerius, who could not endure the brilliant and energetic genius of Constantine, took every means of exposing him to danger, and it is believed that this was the period when he acquired that mixture of reserve, cunning, and wisdom which was so conspicuous in his conduct in after years. At last Constantine fled to his father, who ruled in the West, and joined him at Boulogne just as he was setting out on an expedition against the Picts in North Britain. Constantius died at York, July 25, 306, having proclaimed his son Constantine his successor. The latter now wrote a conciliatory letter to Galerius, and requested to be acknowledged as Augustus. Galerius did not dare to quarrel with Constantine, yet he granted him the title of Cæsar only. Political complications now increased, and in a short time no fewer than six emperors were 'in the field'-viz.: Galerius, Licinius, and Maximin in the East, and Maximian, Maxentius (his son), and Constantine in the West (A.D. 308). Maxentius, having quarreled with his father, forced him to flee from Rome. He took refuge with Constantine, but was ungrateful enough to plot the destruction of his benefactor. This being discovered, he fled to Marseilles, the inhabitants of which city gave him up to Constantine, who put him to death (A.D. 309). Maxentius professed great anger at the death of his father, and assembled a large army, with which he threatened Gaul. Crossing the Alps by Mont Cenis, Constantine thrice defeated Maxentius- first near Turin, then under the walls of Verona, and finally near

the Milvian Bridge at Rome, October 27, 312, Maxentius himself, in the last of these engagements, being drowned in an attempt to escape across the Tiber. It was during this campaign that he was said to have had the apparition in the sky of a luminous cross with the words Hoc signo vinces, "by this sign shalt thou conquer,” as the contemporary historians Eusebius and Lactantius record. Constantine now entered the capital, disbanded the prætorians, and adopted other judicious measures for allaying the public excitement. He was honored with the title of Pontifex Maximus, or supreme dignitary of the pagan hierarchy.

Constantine was now sole Emperor of the West. Similarly, by the death of Galerius in 311 and of Maximin in 313, Licinius became sole In 314 a war broke out Emperor of the East. between the two rulers, in which Licinius was worsted and was fain to conclude a peace by the cession of Illyricum, Pannonia, and Greece. Constantine gave Licinius his sister Constantia in himself vigorously to the correction of abuses in marriage, and for the next nine years devoted the administration of the laws, to the strengthening of the frontiers, and to chastising the barbarians, who learned to fear and respect his power. In 323 war was renewed with Licinius, who was defeated and ultimately put to death. Constantine was now at the summit of his ambitions-the sole governor of the Roman world; but Rome was no longer the political or geographical centre of this world, and he determined to move the capital to Byzantium, which he solemnly inaugurated in 330 under the name of Constantinopolis, the City of Constantine. From here he ruled his vast empire until his death, which occurred May 27, 337. From the reign of Constantine, Christianity was not only recognized and tolerated, but became the religion of the rulers themselves. As to Constantine's personal feeling in the question of Christianity and paganism much has been written. By birth and education he was much inclined toward the growing faith; his mother was a Christian, and his father Constantius, though a pagan, was very tolerant, and would allow no direct acts of violence in his part of the Roman domain during the great persecution of 303. Constantine was by nature mild and kind-hearted; his legislation was governed by humane principles. He abolished the system of branding the faces of convicts; ordained that masters who killed their slaves were guilty of homicide, and published an edict of toleration which insured liberty of conscience throughout the Empire. The Christians were as yet but a minority of the whole population, but the Emperor openly sympathized with them and did not hesitate, upon occasion, to insult the pagans. Yet his Christianity was not deep-seated, though doubtless quite sincere as far as it went. He looked upon his overthrow of Maxentius as due to the help of God, instinctu divinitatis, as the inscription on his arch in Rome (see CONSTANTINE, ARCH OF), built in 315, shows; but the very form of expression displays a concession to pagan sensibilities that a rigorous Christian of the period would not have made. He retained the traditional pagan title of Pontifex Maximus, as did his Christian successors of the fourth century, and his coins still bear the figures and names of the old gods. In the Arian controversy he sided with the Catholic bishops,

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and it was he who called the great Council of Nicæa (Nice) in Bithynia in 325 (see NICE, COUNCIL OF), and presided at the first sitting. By this council the doctrine of consubstantiality was defined, and the Nicene creed was adopted. He did not receive baptism until shortly before his death. Consult Firth, Constantine the Great (New York, 1905).

CONSTANTINE II., or JUNIOR, FLAVIUS CLAUDIUS CONSTANTINUS. A Roman Emperor (A.D. 337-40). He was the eldest son of Constantine the Great, and was born A.D. 317, at Arelate

(Arles), in Gaul. He became joint Emperor with

his brothers, Constantius and Constans, on the death of their father, in 337, receiving Gaul, Brit

Poland in 1862, but failed in his attempts to reconcile the Poles, and resigned soon after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1863. In January, 1865, he was appointed president of the Council of the Empire. On the accession of his nephew, Alexander III., he was deprived of most of his offices, and soon retired altogether from public life.

CONSTANTINE (KONSTANTIN), PAVLOVITCH (1779-1831). A Grand Duke of Russia, the second son of the Emperor Paul I. After the Congress of Vienna, the government of the newly created kingdom of Poland was intrusted to him by his brother, the Emperor Alexander I. In

ain, Spain, etc., as his share of the Empire. In January, 1822, on his divorce and remarriage

340 he invaded the dominions of Constans, and was killed in the battle of Aquileia (A.D. 340). CONSTANTINE VII., PORPHYROGENITUS (905-59). A Byzantine Emperor. He became, at the age of six, associate Emperor with his father, Leo VI., at seven the associate of his uncle, and at eight sole ruler; but in reality he was the ruler only after the death of his fatherin-law, Romanus (q.v.), in 944. Even then, he paid more attention to literature than to State affairs, leaving the latter to his wife Helena. It is reported that he was poisoned by the wife

He

of his son Romanus, who was his successor. wrote a life of his grandfather, Basil I., and a number of political works, including: On the Themes; On the Ceremonies at the Court of Constantinople; and On the Administration of the Empire. Some of his works are published, in three volumes, in the Bonn edition of the Byzantine Historians. Consult: Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (Nördlingen, 1891); Rambaud, L'empire grec au Xe siècle; Constantin Porphyrogénète (Paris, 1869). CONSTANTINE XI., PALEOLOGUS (140453). The last of the Byzantine emperors.

He

out of the ranks of royalty, he executed a private deed by which he resigned his claims to the throne in the event of Alexander's death, and, when that event took place in 1825, he adhered to this resignation, although he had been proclaimed Emperor in the so-called Decembrist uprising. (See RUSSIA). The succession thus fell to his younger brother Nicholas. The character of Constantine's administration in Poland was not such as to conciliate any class of the people, and a widespread conspiracy was formed. The Revolution of July (1830) in France supplied the spark which was needed to kindle the revolu

tion in Poland, and he was obliged to flee for his life. He died soon after of the cholera.

CONSTANTINE (1868-), Duke of Sparta, Crown Prince of Greece. He was born in Athens, and studied at the universities of Berlin and Leipzig. In 1889 he married the Princess Sophia of Prussia, sister of Emperor William II. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Greek troops operating against the Turkish forces under Edhem Pasha, in Thessaly, in March, 1897, and conducted the retreat from Dhomokos in May of that year. See GREECE;

was the son of the Emperor Manuel II., and from TURKEY. ing during war. Africated

1427 to 1446 was engaged in almost continuous warfare against the Frankish princes of the Peloponnesus. His brother, the Emperor John VIII., died in 1448. and Constantine became Emperor, He entered Constantinople in 1449, and showed himself an intelligent, brave, and resolute ruler, but his position was a hopeless one. Mohammed II. was preparing for the final assault on Constantinople, and Constantine appealed in vain to the princes of Christendom. A long siege preceded the capture of the city, which was finally accomplished May 29, 1453. In the desperate battle waged at the gates of the city Constantine fell, slain by some unknown hand. Mohammed gave his body honorable burial. Consult Miyatovitch, Constantine, the Last Emperor of the Greeks (London, 1892). See BYZANTINE EM

PIRE.

CONSTANTINE, KONSTANTIN NIKOLAYEVITCH (1827-92). A Grand Duke of Russia, the second son of Emperor Nicholas I. and brother of Alexander II. He was grand admiral of the Russian fleet, and, in addition, held numerous military offices. During the Crimean War he commanded the Russian fleet in the Baltic, and directed the defensive preparations which held the English and French armaments in check before Cronstadt. He earnestly supported his brother's liberal reform plans, and endeavored in many ways to promote the cause of enlightenment in Russia. He was appointed Governor of

CONSTANTINE, ARCH OF. A famous arch at Rome, between the Palatine and Cælian hills, southwest of the Coliseum, at the junction of the Sacred and Triumphal ways. It was erected in A.D. 315, to commemorate the Emperor Constantine's victory over Maxentius. The arch is the best-preserved ancient monument of Rome, probably because the fact that its builder was a Christian Emperor saved it from destruction during the devastations of the Middle Ages. It has three openings and four columns on each face. Little more than the brickwork was contemporary with Constantine, the marble facing, the statues of the Dacian kings, the eight columns, and the entablature having been taken from other buildings, especially from a destroyed arch of Trajan.

CONSTANTINE, BASILICA OF. A vast basilica begun by Maxentius and completed by Constantine, on the site of a former market at Rome. It had a nave over 100 feet high and 80 broad, supported on eight white marble columns, of which one is now standing in front of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The entrance. originally facing the Coliseum, was later changed to the north, facing the Sacred Way. The preserved portions of the basilica have served as a cattle-shed, a riding-school, a hayloft, and a drilling place for recruits. The vaulting of the south aisle is still standing.

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