sprang up, CHA P.

about noon a strong south wind
which carried the vessels of Crispus against the
enemy, and as the casual advantage 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 of provisions flowed into the
camp of Constantine, who had already advanced
the operations of the siege. He constructed ar-
tificial 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
military 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 involved in the ruin of the place.
Before he was surrounded, he prudently removed
his person and treasures to Chalcedon in Asia;
and as he was always desirous of associating com-
panions to the hopes and dangers of his fortune,
he now bestowed the title of Cæsar on Martinia-
nus, who exercised one of the most important
offices of the empire t.

* Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 97, 98. The current always sets out of the Hellespont; and when it is assisted by a north wind, no vessel can attempt the passage. A south wind renders the force of the current almost imperceptible. See Tournefort's Voyage au Levant, Let. xi.

† Aurelius Victor. Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 98. According to the latter, Martinianus was Magister Officiorum, (he uses the Latin appellation in Greek.) Some medals seem to intimate, that during his short reign he received the title of Augustus.

XIV.

СНАР.

XIV.

Battle of

polis.

Such were still the resources, and such the abilities, of Licinius, that, after so many successive defeats, he collected in Bithynia a new army Chryso- of fifty or sixty thousand men, while the activity of Constantine was employed in the siege of Byzantium. The vigilant emperor did not, however, neglect the last struggles of his antagonist, A considerable part of his victorious army was transported over the Bosphorus in small vessels, and the decisive engagement was fought soon after their landing on the heights of Chrysopolis, or, as it is now called, of Scutari. The troops of Licinius, though they were lately raised, ill armed, and worse disciplined, made head against their conquerors with fruitless but desperate valour, till a total defeat, and the slaughter of five and twenty thousand men, irretrievably determined the fate of their leader *. He retired to Nicodemia, rather with the view of gaining some time for negociation, than with the hope of any effectual defence. Constantia, his wife and the sister of Constantine, interceded with her brother in favour of her husband, and obtained from his policy, rather than from his compassion, a solemn promise, confirmed by an oath, that after the sacrifice of Martinianus, and the resignation of the purple, Licinius himself should be permitted to pass the remainder of his life in peace and affluence. The behaviour of Constantia, and her relation to the contending parties, naturally recals

Submission and

death of

Licinius.

* Eusebius (in Vità Constantin. 1. ii. c. 16, 17.) ascribes this decisive victory to the pious prayers of the emperor. The Valesian fragment (p. 714.) mentions a body of Gothic auxiliaries, under their chief Aliquaca, who adhered to the party of Licinius.

recals the remembrance of that virtuous matron CHA P. who was the sister of Augustus, and the wife of XIV. Antony. But the temper of mankind was altered, and it was no longer esteemed infamous for a Roman to survive his honour and independence. Licinius solicited and accepted the pardon of his offences, laid himself and his purple at the feet of his lord and master, was raised from the ground with insulting pity, was admitted the same day to the Imperial banquet, and soon afterwards was sent away to Thessalonica, which had been chosen for the place of his confinement *. His confinement was soon terminated by death, and it is doubtful whether a tumult of the soldiers, or a decree of the senate, was suggested as a motive for his execution. According to the rules of tyranny, he was accused of forming a conspiracy, and of holding a treasonable correspondence with the barbarians; but as he was never convicted, either by his own conduct or by any legal evidence, we may perhaps be allowed, from his weakness, to presume his innocence t. The memory of Licinius was branded with infamy, his statues were thrown down, and, by a hasty edict, of such mischievous tendency

S 4

* Zosimus, 1. ii. P. 102. Anonym. Valesian, p. 714.

Victor Junior in Epitome.

† Contra religionem sacramenti Thessalonicæ privatus occisus est. Eutropius, x. 6. and his evidence is confirmed by Jerome (in Chronic.) as well as by Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 102. The Valesian writer is the only one who mentions the soldiers, and it is Zonaras alone who calls in the assistance of the senate. Eusebius prudently slides over this delicate transaction. But Sozomen, a century afterwards, ventures to assert the treasonable practices of Licinius.

XIV.

Re-union

CHA P. tendency that it was almost immediately corrected, all his laws, and all the judicial proceedings of his reign, were at once abolished *. By this victory of Constantine, the Roman world was again united under the authority of one emperor, thirty-seven years after Diocletian had divided his power and provinces with his associate Maximian.

of the empire.

A, D. 324.

The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine, from his first assuming the purple at York, to the resignation of Licinius at Nicomedia, have been related with some minuteness and precision, not only as the events are in themselves both interesting and important, but still more as they contributed to the decline of the empire, by the expence of blood and treasure, and by the perpetual increase, as well of the taxes, as of the military establishment. The foundation of Constantinople, and the establishment of the Christian religion, were the immediate and memorable consequences of this revolution.

С НА Р.

* See the Theodosian Code, 1. xv. tit. 15. tom. v. p. 404, 405. These edicts of Constantine betray a degree of passion and precipitancy very unbecoming of the character of a lawgiver,

CHAP. XV.

The Progress of the Christian Religion, and the Sentiments, Manners, Numbers, and Condition, of the primitive Christians.

A

XV.

Import

Lady Morgan. Stals, 1114 11267..

Stay

CANDID, but rational inquiry, into the c HA P. progress and establishment of Christianity, may be considered as a very essential part of the history of the Roman empire. While that great ance of body was invaded by open violence, or under- the inquiry. mined by slow decay, a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigour from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner of the cross on the ruins of the Capitol. Nor was the influence of Christianity confined to the period or to the limits of the Roman empire. After a revolution of thirteen or fourteen centuries, that religion is still professed by the nations of Europe, the most distinguished portion of human kind, in arts and learning as well as in arms. By the industry and zeal of the Europeans, it has been widely diffused to the most distant shores of Asia and Africa; and by the means of their colonies, has been firmly established from Canada to Chili, in a world unknown to the ancients.

culties.

But this inquiry, however useful or entertain- Its diffi ing, is attended with two peculiar difficulties, The scanty and suspicious materials of ecclesias

tical