Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/57

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. .jl) gions, or to inspect the state of the provinces. Treves, cn A P. Milan, Aquileia, Sirmiuni, Naissus, and Thes.salonica, '^'^• were the occasional places of his residence, till he founded a new Rome on the confines of Europe and Asia ^ Before Constantine marched into Italy, lie had se- His alh- cured the friendship, or at least the neutrality, of Lici- lSuI'.'' nius the lUyrian emperor. lie had promised his sister ^^•1^-313. Constantia in marriage to that prince : hut the cele- ' bration of the nuptials was deferred till after the conclusion of the war ; and the interview of the two emperors at Milan, which was appointed for that pur- pose, appeared to cement the union of their families and interests'. In the midst of the public festivity they were suddenly obliged to take leave of each other. An inroad of the Franks summoned Constantine to the Rhine, and the hostile approach of the sovereign of Asia demanded the immediate presence of Licinius. Maximin had been the secret ally of Maxentius, and War be- without being discouraged by his fate, he resolved to ;,„,„ ^^j try the fortune of a civil war. He moved out of Syria '-'^'nius. A. D. 313. towards the frontiers of Bithynia in the depth of winter. The season was severe and tempestuous ; great num- bers of men as well as horses perished in the sdow ; and as the roads were broken up by incessant rains, he was obliged to leave behind him a considerable part of the heavy baggage, which was unable to follow the rapidity of his forced marches. By this extraordinary effort of diligence, he arrived, with a harassed but for- midable army, on the banks of the Thracian Bospho- rus, before the lieutenants of Licinius were apprised of his hostile intentions. Byzantium surrendered to the power of Maximin, after a siege of eleven days. He h From the Theodosian code we may now begin to trace the motions of the emperors ; but the dates both of time and place have frequently been altered by the carelessness of transcribers. ' Zosimus (1. ii. p. 89.) observes, that before the war, the sister of Con- stantine had been betrothed to Licinius. According to the younger Vic'or, Diocletian was invited to the nuptials ; but having ventured to plead his age and infirmities, he received a second letter filled with reproaches for his supposed partiality to the cause of ^Maxentius and Maximin.