“Both being thus prepared, Maxentius threw a bridge over the Tiber [the Milvian bridge], which was not of one entire piece but divided into two parts, the centre of the bridge being made to fasten with irons, which might be drawn out upon occasion. He gave orders to the workmen that, as soon as they saw the army of Constantine upon the juncture of the bridge, they should draw out the iron fastenings, that the enemy who stood upon it might fall into the river.
“Constantine, advancing with his army to Rome, encamped in a field before the city, which was broad and therefore convenient for cavalry. Maxentius in the meantime shut himself up within the walls and sacrificed to the gods, and, moreover, consulted the Sibylline oracles concerning the event of the war. Finding a prediction that, whoever designed any harm to the Romans should die a miserable death, he applied it to himself, because he withstood those that came against Rome, and wished to take it. His application indeed proved just. For when Maxentius drew out his army before the city, and was marching over the bridge that he himself had constructed, an infinite number of owls flew down and covered the wall.
CONSTANTINE’S DEFEAT OF MAXENTIUS
(FROM A CARTOON BY RAPHAEL)
“When Constantine saw this, he ordered his men to stand to their arms. And the two armies being drawn up opposite to each other, Constantine sent his cavalry against that of the enemy, whom they charged with such impetuosity that they threw them into disorder. The signal being given to the infantry, they likewise marched in good order towards the enemy. A furious battle having commenced, the Romans themselves, and their foreign allies, were unwilling to risk their lives, as they wished for deliverance from the bitter tyranny with which they were burdened, though the other troops were slain in great numbers, being either trod to death by the horse or killed by the foot.
“As long as the cavalry kept their ground, Maxentius retained some hopes, but when they gave way, he fled with the rest over the bridge into the city. The beams not being strong enough to bear so great a weight, they broke, and Maxentius, with the others, was carried with the stream down the river. [The date of the battle was October 27, 313.]
“When the news of this victory was reported in the city,” Zosimus concludes, “none dared to show any joy for what had happened, because many thought it was an unfounded report. But when the head of Maxentius was brought upon a spear, their fear and dejection were changed to joy and pleasure. On this occasion Constantine punished very few, and they were only some few of the nearest friends of Maxentius, but he abolished the prætorian troops, and destroyed the fortress in which they used to reside.”[d]
Before the decisive battle, Constantine had tried to win over the enthusiasm of the Christians in his own and his adversaries’ army to his cause, and therefore the sign of the cross was made the principal ensign of the Roman army. The report was spread that a shining cross with this inscription, “By this sign thou shalt conquer,” had appeared to him in the sky, and that in the following night, Christ himself had commanded him in a dream to make the sign of the cross his standard against the enemy. On the day before the battle, the cross and the monogram of the redeemer appeared on the imperial standard, which from thenceforth bore the name of Labarum; and afterwards Constantine publicly announced that he had seen the cross in the sky, and had conquered his enemy by the direct aid of God.