Christianity had a rocky start in the Rome Empire. Often, at best, Christians were tolerated in the empire but hardly accepted and at worst they were heavily persecuted. During its growth Christianity was often an underground religion and was often not exercised or practiced in a public way. To say one was a Christian often meant social ostracism and more often than not it was extreme persecution. This was especially true during the violent rule of Diocletian.Christians lived in relatively safely during the first half of Diocletian’s rule. However, Diocletian was a strict believer in the Roman Gods and he viewed Christianity as a threat to the purity of Roman life and therefore the Roman political system when Galerius led him to believe that a series of misfortunes could be blamed on the Christians. Under Diocletian rule, Christians suffered The Great Persecution, one of the bloodiest and most aggressive campaigns against Christianity. Churches and scripture were burned, Church property was claimed by the government, and Christians that held high offices were often arrested if they refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman Gods or to the Emperor. When Galerius came into power, already biased against Christians, the persecution that started under Diocletian continued. It was only until he got very sick that the Edict of Tolerance was decreed which made Christianity a recognized state religion in the Roman Empire but didn’t necessarily stop the prejudices that caused many persecutions. Following Galerius came Constantine. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. In his account Eusebius claims that while Constantine was getting ready of a battle he saw the sign of the cross appearing in light over the sun. Then in a dream Christ visits Constantine and gives him a battle strategy that helps him win. He then had his soldiers paint that symbol on their armor and when Constantine won the battle he claimed his success was because of his use of the Christian symbol. Constantine is most well known for his Edict of Milan which returned Church property that was previously confiscated and allowed Christianity to be practiced without oppression. Eusebius’s writings are very much in favor of Constantine and what he did. In a semi-biographical work Eusebius uses the story of Constantine to defend and preach the benefits of Christianity. His association of Constantine to Moses shows how highly he thinks of the emperor that delivered the holy people out from under the grasp of a violent tyrant. He also depicts Constantine as this holy Christian soldier who was campaigning around rebuilding and building Christian churches and razing pagan temples. Eusebius describes Constantine as the model Christian who completed his mortal duty to the Church and his fellow Christians while ever looking forward to eternal salvation. Given the divine intervention that caused his conversion Eusebius’ narration does show that Constantine had some divine blessing which made seem special or consecrated to do the work of God. Then Eusebius ties in great Biblical figures of the Old Testament and compares them to Constantine making him look equal to the great patriarchs. Overall, Eusebius’ work is more of a work of praise celebrating the fantastical nature of Constantine’s life versus just the historical facts.