the brother of Bassianus. This meant war. Constantine took the
offensive as he had done before, pushing into Pannonia with no more
than 20,000 men, and attacking Licinius at Cibalae, where he was
endeavouring to cover Sirmium. He had 35,000 against him, but a
hard-fought battle (8 Oct. 314) ended in a complete victory, and the
capture of Sirmium. Licinius fled towards Hadrianople, deepening the
quarrel on the way by giving the rank of Caesar to his Illyrian general Valens. A new army was collected; but another great battle on the
Mardian plain was indecisive. Constantine won the victory; but Licinius and Valens were able to take up a threatening position in his
rear at Beroea. So peace had to be made. First Valens was sacrificed:
then Licinius gave up lllyricum from the Danube to the extremity of
Greece, retaining in Europe only Thrace, which, however, in those days
reached north to the Danube. So things settled down. Constantine
returned to Rome in the summer to celebrate his Decennalia (25 July
315), and in 317 the succession was secured by the nomination of
Caesars, Crispus and Constantine the sons of Constantine, and Licinianus the son of Licinius. Crispus was grown up, but Constantine was a baby.
The treaty might be hollow, but it kept the peace for nearly eight years. If Constantine was evidently the stronger, Licinius was still too strong to be rashly attacked. So each went his own way. It soon appeared which was the better statesman. Constantine drew nearer to the Christians, while Licinius drifted into persecution, devising annoyances enough to make them enemies but not enough to make them harmless. Thus Constantine allows manumission in church, judges the Donatists, closes the courts on Sundays, loads the churches with gifts, and, at last (May 323),[1] frees Christians from all pagan ceremonies of state. Licinius drove the Christians from his court, forbade meetings of bishops, and meddled vexatiously with their worship. This gave the war something of a religious character; but its occasion was not religious. The Goths had been pretty quiet since Aurelian had settled them in Dacia. It was not till 322 that Rausimod their king crossed the Danube on a foray. Constantine drove them back, chased them beyond the Danube, slew Rausimod, and settled thousands of Gothic serfs in the adjacent provinces. But in the pursuit he crossed the territory of Licinius; and this led to war. Constantine’s army was 130,000 strong, and his son Crispus had a fleet of 200 sail, in the Piraeus. Licinius awaited him with 160,000 men near Hadrianople, while his admiral Amandus was to hold the Hellespont with 350 ships. There was no idea of using the fleet to take Constantine in the rear.
- ↑ Recent opinion (Jonquet, Pears) seems to place the campaign in 824. The question is difficult: but the Council of Nicaea seems firmly fixed for 325, the preparations for it cannot have begun till the war was ended, and no room seems left for them if the battle of Chiysopolis is placed in Sept. 324.
