Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/74

 56 THE DECLINE AND FALL nil A I', and received his positive orders to force the passage of " the Hellespont, as the fleet of Licinius, instead of seek- ing and destroying their feeble enemy, continued in- active in those narrow straits, where its superiority of numbers was of little use or advantage. Crispus, the emperor's eldest son, was intrusted with the execution of this daring enterprise, which he performed with so much courage and success, that he deserved the esteem, and most probably excited the jealousy, of his father. The engagement lasted two days; and in the evening of the first, the contending fleets, after a considerable and mutual loss, retired into their respective harbours of Europe and Asia. The second day, about noon, a strong south wind'' sprang up, which carried tht vessels of Crispus against the enemy ; and as the casual advan- tage was improved by his skilful intrepidity, he soon obtained a complete victory. An hundred and thirty vessels were destroyed, five thousand men were slain, and Amandus, the admiral of the Asiatic fleet, escaped with the utmost difficulty to the shores of Chalcedon. As soon as the Hellespont was open, a plentiful convoy |l of provisions flowed into the camp of Constantine, who had already advanced the operations of the siege. He constructed artificial mounds of earth of an equal height with the ramparts of Byzantium. The lofty towers which were erected on that foundation, galled the besieged with large stones and darts from the mili- tary engines, and the battering rams had shaken the walls in several places. If Licinius persisted much longer in the defence, he exposed himself to be in- volved in the ruin of the place. Before he was sur- rounded he prudently removed his person and treasures to Chalcedon in Asia; and as he was always desirous of associating companions to the hopes and dangers of his fortune, he now bestowed the title of Caesar on '• Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 97, 98. The ciiiitnt always sets out of the llelles- ponl; and vvlien it is assisted by a noith. wind, no vessel can atteiiipi the passage. A south wind lenders the iorce of the cuiieiit almost impeicepti- ble. See Touinei'oit's X'oyage au Levant, Let. xi.