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It seemed that more Christians were persecuted, even after Diocletian effectively stabilized the Empire, Christians were the official scapegoats for whatever problems remained and there were a lot of them.
在戴克里先統一羅馬帝國后，更多的基督教徒受到迫害，基督教徒仍然被羅馬官方政府認定是所有問題存在的替罪羊。
Elaborate loyalty tests were administered,
并且精心制定了測試宗教忠誠度的方法
those Christians who had not burned incense before the Emperor's statue,
不在皇帝雕像前焚香膜拜，
or swore oaths against the Christian faith were executed.
或者拒絕發誓放棄基督信仰的人都被執行死刑。
Not all Christians held to their belief under such horrible circumstances but most did.
雖然不是所有的基督教徒都能在此種條件下堅持信仰，但是大部分都堅持下來。
Moreover the courage of those martyrs who wouldn't give in won even more converts,
而且那些至死不放棄信仰的勇敢烈士甚至贏得了更多的皈依者，
proof that the secular Roman Empire was just a phase and that a human beings true reward existed only in the heavenly kingdom of God.
他們證明了世俗的羅馬帝國只是一個階段，人類真正的獎勵只存在上帝的天國。
Contrary to popular belief the Emperor Constantine the Great, 306-337 AD, did not make Christianity the state religion of Rome, he was not even baptised a Christian until just before his death.
和一般人所知道的恰恰相反，君士坦丁大帝(306-337)并沒有把基督教定為羅馬的國教，在他死時接受洗禮之前，他都不是基督教徒。
Rather it looks though, although Constantine became interested in Christianity
但是，大概是在他從四帝共治中一路摸爬滾打，
as he crawled his way up from a wannabe tetrarch to sole ruler of the Roman world.
成為羅馬帝國唯一的統治者時，他對基督教產生了濃厚的興趣。
In 312 AD Constantine and his troops stood at the Milvian Bridge
312年，君士坦丁率領軍隊站在羅馬外的米爾維安橋上，
just outside Rome preparing to attack the army of his bitter rival Maxentius.
準備進攻勁敵馬克西密努斯。
The chances of his success weren't good,
君士坦丁的勝算不大，
as tradition has it Constantine saw a vision of the labarum (the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ)
傳說他當時看到了基督教旗，也就是基督符號的字母組合，
and heard the Greek words en toutoi nika,
并且聽到了一句希臘語 en toutoi nika
"In this sign, conquer," and history tells us Constantine won despite the stiff odds.
翻譯過來就是 "這個標志 征服"，歷史記載說君士坦丁以少勝多，贏得戰爭。
This victory at the Milvian Bridge made Constantine the ruler of the Western Roman Empire,
米爾維安橋一役幫助君士坦丁成為了西羅馬帝國的統領者。
in 313 Constantine and his eastern counterpart Licinius issued the Edict of Milan.
313年，君士坦丁和控制東部的李錫尼烏斯頒布了米蘭敕令。
