Wrestling with so many evils, he gained a consciousness of the things he had dared against the God-fearing. Gathering, then, his mind into himself, first he made acknowledgement to the God of the universe; then, calling those about him, he commanded them, deferring nothing, to bring the persecution to a stop, and by law and imperial decree to urge on the building of their churches and the performing of the customary rites, while offering prayers on behalf of the imperial house.
Straightway, accordingly, the deed having followed upon the word, imperial edicts were spread abroad throughout the cities, containing the recantation of the things concerning us, after this manner:
The Emperor Caesar Galerius Valerius Maximinus, invincible, Augustus, supreme high priest, Germanicus Maximus, Aegyptiacus Maximus, Aegyptiacus Maximus, Thebaicus Maximus, Sarmaticus Maximus five times, Persarum Maximus twice, Carporum Maximus six times, Armeniorum Maximus, Medorum Maximus, Adiabenorum Maximus, holding the tribunician power for the twentieth time, Imperator for the nineteenth, Consul for the eighth, Father of his country, proconsul;
and the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus, pious, fortunate, invincible, Augustus, supreme high priest, holding the tribunician power for the fifth time, Imperator for the fifth, Consul, Father of his country, proconsul;
and the Emperor Caesar Valerius Licinnianus, pious, fortunate, invincible, Augustus, supreme high priest, holding the tribunician power for the fourth time, Imperator for the third, Consul, Father of his country, proconsul, to their own provincials, greeting.
Among the other things which we are ever decreeing for the advantage and benefit of the public, we, for our part, had formerly willed to set all things right according to the ancient laws and the public order of the Romans, and to make this provision: that the Christians also, who had forsaken the persuasion of their own parents, should return to a good purpose.
For by some reasoning such great covetousness and folly had taken hold of them that they did not follow the practices established by the ancients of old—the very things which their own forefathers had perhaps formerly instituted—but instead, according to their own purpose and as each one wished, made laws for themselves and observed them, and gathered together various multitudes in various places.
Therefore, when such a command had been issued by us, that they should bring themselves back to the institutions established by the ancients, very many were subjected to peril, and very many, being thrown into confusion, suffered deaths of every kind.
And since, while the greater part persisted in the same madness, we saw that they neither rendered to the heavenly gods the worship that is due, nor gave heed to the God of the Christians, having regard to our own benevolence and to our perpetual custom, whereby we are wont to grant pardon to all men, we judged it right most readily in this matter also to extend our indulgence: that they may once more be Christians, and may rebuild the houses in which they used to assemble, on condition that they do nothing contrary to good order. And by another letter we shall make known to the magistrates what they must observe.
Wherefore, in accordance with this indulgence of ours, they ought to entreat their own God for our welfare, and for that of the commonwealth, and for their own, that in every way the public good may be preserved in health, and that they may be able to live free from care at their own hearth.
These things, rendered as far as possible from the Roman tongue into the Greek language, are after this fashion. It is now time, then, to consider carefully what came to pass after these things.