Constantine the Great was a leader and victor in many campaigns, but one battle stood above all others-- the battle against Maxentius, when Constantine saw a fiery cross in the sky, and thence-forth took as his "In this sign conquer." This mystic revelation, as reported by Eusebius and other contemporaries, led to Constantine's acceptance and then devoted use of Christianity to consolidate his Empire. In ' The Miracle of the Flaming Cross', Frank G. Slaughter has re-created all the moving and colorful events of Constantine's life, in the turbulent Roman world of the 3rd and 4th centuries..."At this crucial point in the history of Christianity, a Roman Emperor arose who gave paganism the death blow. He was Constantine the Great..." At first giving Christianity equal status with paganism, Constantine was able -- for a time -- to constrain not only rebellious military rivals but also the Christian bishops who were fighting among themselves, and at Nicaea he established what was probably the first ecumenical council.