[307-311 A.D.]
As Maximian found no help in Galerius, he immediately afterwards resigned the purple for the second time. From Pannonia he returned to his son-in-law in Gaul, who received him in a friendly manner, and during his absence on a campaign against the Germans intrusted him with a share in the government. Maximian, who was manifestly suffering from senility, formed the ridiculous idea of using this opportunity to overthrow his son-in-law and forcibly supersede him, although naturally neither the country of Gaul, now almost entirely Christian, nor the troops of Constantine, can have been in the least disposed to prefer him to their former master. When Maximian really made this foolish attempt, he was easily vanquished by Constantine and taken prisoner. Two years later, when he had made an attempt on the life of Constantine, the latter had him strangled (310).
Of the six emperors, Maximian, Galerius, Maximin, Maxentius, Constantine, and Licinius, only one had thus passed away; but another had already arisen in Africa and had established himself in possession of the government. This was Alexander, a wretched old man who had himself proclaimed emperor by the troops. He maintained his position for three years, and was then in 311 overthrown and killed by Maxentius, who sent a skilled general and a picked army against him. Galerius died at about the same time. Maximin and Licinius divided his dominions among them. Now only four emperors ruled the empire: Maximin, Licinius, Maxentius, and Constantine; but there was no thought of friendly relations among them.
It remained therefore for the one among them who possessed the most ability, strength, and skill to overthrow the others and to gain undivided sway. This could only be successfully effected by Constantine, whose dignified, judicious, and moderate demeanour deserves our greatest admiration. The crucial point, that which must finally determine the issue of the struggle between the emperors, was the relation of each individual ruler to the Christians. In all parts of the realm the latter formed a very considerable number, they were very closely united amongst themselves, their hierarchies and synods had remained unweakened; whilst not only had the old system of government long been undermined, but also the adherents to the old religion had been divided by a crowd of different opinions and views, and were neither held together by an inward nor an external hierarchical union. Whoever therefore had the Christians in the empire on his side must sooner or later carry the victory over his co-rulers.
Galerius perceived this shortly before his death, and had therefore issued an edict in his own name and those of his colleagues, by which the persecution of the Christians ordered by Diocletian was arrested, and the bloody strife so often begun between the state and the church forever ended (311). Even Maxentius seems to have felt it; for he had scarcely become master in Rome before he assured the Christians of toleration. But his entire conduct towards them contradicted the mild terms of the edict; the Christians could rely on him just as little as the pagans.
CONSTANTINE WARS WITH MAXENTIUS
[311-313 A.D.]
Of the other emperors, only Constantine seemed to be sincerely attached to the Christians. For a long time he remained a pagan, but continually showed himself friendly towards the Christians; and they were powerfully supported by the most influential ladies of the court. These were his wife Fausta, her mother Eutropia, but especially the mother of Constantine, Helena, who became celebrated by her great zeal for the teaching of the cross. Besides the good will of the Christians, Constantine had the great advantage that from the beginning he alone exhibited a care for law and order, whilst all his fellow-emperors showed only military violence and despotic will. Moreover he alone seemed to be satisfied with his share of the empire; the three other emperors, on the contrary, sought with utter recklessness to extend their provinces at the expense of their co-rulers.
The first whom the sagacious Constantine defeated was Maxentius, who from his speedy victory over Alexander had manifestly conceived too high an idea of his power, and in his arrogance decided to attack Constantine. That he was not in the least to be compared to him and that it was foolhardy to seek a quarrel with him, is shown by one glance at the lives of the two emperors. Maxentius had never found himself at the head of an army in real warfare; he had continually enjoyed his pleasures in idle tranquillity, and on account of his tyranny and cruelty he was loved by no one, save by his guards and a small number of other troops whom he enriched by robbing the citizens. Constantine’s life, on the contrary, had been one of constant exertion and discipline. He had served with distinction, first under Diocletian, and then under his father Constantius, and had afterwards long contended against the Frankish peoples on the Rhine. The result of the war between the two emperors could not therefore be doubtful.[b]
Zosimus gives an interesting account of the struggle, with certain embellishments that do not detract from the accuracy of his main narrative. “Constantine,” he tells us, “had raised an army amongst the barbarians, Germans, and Celts, whom he had conquered, and likewise drawn a force out of Britain, amounting in the whole to ninety thousand foot and eight thousand horse. He marched from the Alps into Italy, passing those towns that surrendered without doing them any damage, but taking by storm those which resisted. While he was making this progress, Maxentius had collected a much stronger army, consisting of eighty thousand Romans and Italians, all the Tuscans on the sea coast, forty thousand men from Carthage, besides what the Sicilians sent him; his whole force amounting to one hundred and seventy thousand foot and eighteen thousand horse.