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 crossed over to Chalcedon, whither, as we have seen, the admiral of his fleet had fled a short time before.

Thus the famous city, almost ten centuries after its foundation fell into the hands of Constantine, who was now sole emperor of the Roman world. His success was soon rendered complete by the defeat of Licinius at Scutari, who, with a hastily levied army, attempted a feeble resistance. The conqueror promised to spare his life after his surrender, which was abject and contemptible, and quite unworthy of one who had aspired to empire. But neither did Constantine show much nobleness of character. It is to be feared, though history is rather obscure, that he broke his promise, and, without any adequate justification, had his late rival put to death at Thessalonica, whither he had been permitted to retire. Of course there was a story that he had planned a conspiracy. Licinius, perhaps, hardly deserves our pity, but when we remember that he was the husband of Constantine's sister, and that she had pleaded for his life, we feel that his end, though unhappily by no means without precedent, is something of a blot on the fame of the first Christian emperor.

A great revolution which was to have enduring effects had been accomplished. The fragments of the empire were again united under one head; the seat of government was to be transferred from the city on the Tiber to that on the Bosporus, and Christianity was to be the established religion, we may say, of the world. As always happens, there had been a long, gradual preparation for the change, but still it is no wonder that the man