Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/852

Rh V34 CONST ANTIN US. nach on the Rhine in Germany as some pretend, Constantine had a vision, seeing in his sleep a cross with the inscription eV toJt viKa. Thus, it is said, he adopted the cross, and in that sign was victorious.* Constantine crossed the Cottian Alps (Mount Cenis), defeated the vanguard of Maxentius at Turin, entered Milan, and laid seige to Verona, under the walls of which Maxentius suflFered a severe defeat. Another battle fought near Rome on the 28th of October, 312, decided the fate of Maxentius : his army was completel}'^ routed, and while he tried to escape over the Milvian bridge into Rome, he was driven by the throng of the fugitives into the Tiber and perished in the river. [Maxkntius.] Constantine entered Rome, and displayed great activity in restoring peace to that city, and in removing the causes of the frequent disturbances by which Rome had been shaken during the reign of Maxentius ; he disbanded the body of the Praetorians, and in order that the empire might derive some advantage from the ex- istence of the senators, he subjected them and their families to a heavy poll-tax. He also accepted the title of Pontifex Maximus, which shews that at that time he had not the slightest intention of elevating Christianity at the expense of Paganism. The fruit of Constantine's victories was the un- disputed mastership of the whole western part of the empire, with its ancient capital, Rome, which, however, had then ceased to be the ordinary resi- dence of the emperol-8. At the same time, impor- tant events took place in the East. The emperor Galerius died in a. D. 311, and Licinius, having united his dominions with his own, was involved in a war with Maximin, who, after having taken Byzantium by surprise, was defeated in several battles, and died, on his flight to Egypt, at Tarsus in Cilicia, in 313. [Maximinus.] Thus Licinius became sole master of the whole East, and the em- pire had now only two heads. In the following year, 314, a war broke out between Licinius and Constantine. At Cibalis, a town on the junction of the Sau with the Danube, in the southernmost part of Pannonia, Constantine defeated his rival with an inferior force ; a second battle, at Mardia in Thrace, was indecisive, but the loss which Lici- nius sustained was immense, and he sought for peace. This was readily granted him by Constan- tine, who perhaps felt himself not strong enough to drive his rival to extremities ; but, Satisfied with the acquisition of Illyricum, Pannonia, and Greece, which Licinius ceded to him, he establish- ed a kind of mock friendship between them by giving to Licinius the hand of his sister Constan- tina. During nine years the peace teraained un- disturbed, a time which Constantine iemployed in reforming the administration of the empire by those laws of which we shall speak below, and in defending the northern frontiers against the in- roads of the barbarians. Illyricum and Pannonia were the principal theatres of these devastations, and among the various barbarians that dwelt north of the Danube and the Black Sea, the Goths, who had occupied Dacia, were the most dangerous. Constantine chastised them several times in Illyri- cum, and finally crossed the Danube, entered Dacia, and compelled them to respect the dignity Btantin le Grand," by Du Voisin, bishop of Nantes. CONST ANTIN US. of the Roman empire. His fame as a great mott- arch, distinguished both by civil and military abi- lities, increased every year, and the consciousness of his talents and power induced him to make a final struggle for the undivided government of the empire. In 323, he declared war against Licinius, who was then advanced in years and was detested for his cruelties, but whose land forces were equal to those of Constantine, while his navy was more numerous and manned with more experienced sailors. The first battle took place near Adrianople on the 3rd of July, 323. Each of the emperors had above a hundred thousand men under his com- mand ; but, after a hard struggle, in which Con- stantine gave fresh proofs of his skill and personal courage, Licinius was routed with great slaughter, his fortified camp was stormed, and he fled to By- zantium. Constantine followed him thither, and while he laid siege to the town, his eldest son Crispus forced the entrance of the Hellespont, and in a three days' battle defeated Amandus, the ad- miral of Licinius, who lost one-third of his fleet. Unable to defend Byzantium with success, Licinius went to Bithynia, assembled his troops, and offered a second battle, which was fought at Chrysopolis, now Skutari, opposite Byzantium. Constantine obtained a complete victory, and Licinius fled to Nicomedeia. He surrendered himself on condition of having his life spared, a promise which Con- stantine made on the intercession of his sister Con- stantina, the wife of Licinius ; but, after spending a short time in false security at Thessalonica, the place of his exile, he was put to death by order of his fortunate rival. We cannot believe that he was killed for forming a conspiracy ; the cause of his death was undoubtedly the dangerous import- ance of his person. [Licinius; Constantina.] Constantine acted towards his memory as, during the restoration iri France, the memory of Napoleon was treated by the Bourbons : his reign was con- sidered as an usurpation, his laws were declared void, and infamy was cast upon his name. Constantine was now sole master of the empire, and the measures which he adopted to maintain himself in his lofty station were as vigorous, though less bloody, as those by which he succeeded in at- taining the great object of his ambition. The West and the East of the empire had gradually become more distinct from each other, and as each of those great divisions had already been governed during a considerable period by different rulers, that distinction became dangerous for the integrity of the whole, in proportion as the people were accustomed to look upon each other as belong- ing to either of those divisions, rather than to the whole empire. Rome was only a nomi- nal capital, and Italy, corrupted by luxury and vices, had ceased to be the source of Roman gran- deur. Constantine felt the necessity of creating a new centre of the empire, and, after some hesita- tion, chose that city which down to the present day is a gate both to the East and the West. He made Byzantium the capital of the empire and the residence of the emperors, and called it after his own name, Constantinople, or the city of Constan- tine. The solemn inauguration of Constantinople took place in a. d. 330, according to Idatius and the Chronicon Alexandrinum. The possibility of Rome ceasing to be the capital of the Roman em- pire, had been already observed by Tacitus, who says (Hist, i. 4), " Evulgato imperii arcano, posse
 * Compare " Dissertation sur la Vision de Con-