Constantine, son of the emperor Constantius Chlorus,…

Constantine, son of the emperor Constantius Chlorus, had been seen as a youth by his future panegyrist, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, passing with Diocletian through Palestine on the way to a war in Egypt.

Constantine’s experience as a member of the imperial court—a Latin-speaking institution—in the Eastern provinces will leave a lasting imprint on him.

Educated to less than the highest literary standards of the day, he will always be more at home in Latin than in Greek.

Christianity he encounters in court circles as well as in the cities of the East; and from 303, during the great persecution of the Christians that began at the court of Diocletian at Nicomedia and is enforced with particular intensity in the eastern parts of the empire, Christianity has become a major issue of public policy.

It is even possible that members of Constantine's family are Christians.