Battle of men. CHA P. fifty miles above Sirmium *. From the inconXIV. siderable forces which, in this important contest, two such powerful monarchs brought into the Cibalis. field, it may be inferred, that the one was sudA. D.815. denly provoked, and that the other was unex8th Oct. pectedly surprised. The emperor of the West had only twenty thousand, and the sovereign of the East no more than five and thirty thousand The inferiority of number was, however, compensated by the advantage of the ground. Constantine had taken post in a defile about half a mile in breadth, between a steep hill and a deep morass; and, in that situation, he steadily expected and repulsed the first attack of the enemy. He pursued his success, and advanced into the plain. But the veteran legions of Illyricum rallied under the standard of a leader who had been trained to arms in the school of Probus and Diocletian. The missile weapons on both sides were soon exhausted; the two armies, with equal valour, rushed to a closer engagement of swords and spears; and the doubtful contest had already lasted from the dawn of the day to a late hour of the evening, when the right wing, which Constantine led in person, made a vigorous and decisive charge. The judicious retreat of Licinius saved the Cibalis, or Cibala, (whose name is still preserved in the obscure ruins of Swilei,) was situated about fifty miles from Sirmium, the capital of Illyricum, and about one hundred from Taurunum, or Belgrade, and the conflux of the Danube and the Save. The Roman garrisons and cities on those rivers are finely illustrated by M. d'Anville, in a memoir inserted in l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. XIV. the remainder of his troops from a total defeat; CHA P. but when he computed his loss, which amounted to more than twenty thousand men, he thought it unsafe to pass the night in the presence of an active and victorious enemy. Abandoning his camp and magazines, he marched away with secrecy and diligence at the head of the greatest part of his cavalry, and was soon removed beyond the danger of a pursuit. His diligence preserved his wife, his son, and his treasures, which he had deposited at Sirmium. Licinius passed through that city, and breaking down the bridge on the Save, hastened to collect a new army in Dacia and Thrace. In his flight he bestowed the precarious title of Cæsar on Valens, his general of the Illyrian frontier *. Mardia. The plain of Mardia in Thrace was the theatre Battle of of a second battle, no less obstinate and bloody than the former. The troops on both sides displayed the same valour and discipline; and the victory was once more decided by the superior abilities of Constantine, who directed a body of five thousand men to gain an advantageous height, from whence, during the heat of the action, they attacked the rear of the enemy, and made a very considerable slaughter. The troops of Licinius, however, presenting a double front, still maintained their ground, till the approach of night put an end to the combat, and secured their re R 4 treat * Zosimus (1. ii. p. 90, 91.) gives a very particular account of this battle; but the descriptions of Zosimus are rhetorical rather than military. XIV. CHAP. treat towards the mountains of Macedonia *. The loss of two battles, and of his bravest veterans, reduced the fierce spirit of Licinius to sue for peace. His ambassador Mistrianus was admitted to the audience of Constantine; he expatiated on the common topics of moderation. and humanity, which are so familiar to the eloquence of the vanquished; represented, in the most insinuating language, that the event of the war was still doubtful, whilst its inevitable calamities were alike pernicious to both the contending parties; and declared, that he was authorised to propose a lasting and honourable peace, in the name of the two emperors his masConstantine received the mention of Valens with indignation and contempt. "not for such a purpose," he sternly replied, "that we have advanced from the shores of the "western ocean in an uninterrupted course of "combats and victories, that, after rejecting an ters. 66 66 "It was ungrateful kinsman, we should accept for our colleague a contemptible slave. The abdica"tion of Valens is the first article of the treaty +." It * Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 92, 93. Anonym. Valesian. p. 713. The Epitomes furnish some circumstances; but they frequent1 y confound the two wars between Licinius and Constantine. † Petrus Patricius in Excerpt. Legat. p. 27. If it should be thought that yaugos signifies more properly a son-in-law, we might conjecture, that Constantine, assuming the name as well as the duties of a father, had adopted his younger brothers and sisters, the children of Theodora. But in the best authors yauges sometimes signifies a husband, sometimes a father-inlaw, and sometimes a kinsman in general. See Spanheim Observat. ad Julian. Orat. i. p. 72. peace. December. It was necessary to accept this humiliating con- c H a p. dition, and the unhappy Valens, after a reign of XIV. a few days, was deprived of the purple and of his life. As soon as this obstacle was removed, the tranquillity of the Roman world was easily restored. The successive defeats of Licinius had ruined his forces, but they had displayed his courage and abilities. His situation was almost desperate, but the efforts of despair are sometimes formidable; and the good sense of Constantine preferred a great and certain advantage to a third trial of the chance of arms. He con- Treaty of sented to leave his rival, or, as he again stiled Licinius, his friend and brother, in the possession of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt; but the provinces of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Macedonia, and Greece, were yielded to the western empire, and the dominions of Constantine now extended from the confines of Caledonia to the extremity of Peloponnesus. It was stipulated by the same treaty, that three royal youths, the sons of the emperors, should be called to the hopes of the succession. Crispus and the young Constantine were soon afterwards declared Cæsars in the West, while the younger Licinius was invested with the same dignity in the East. In this double proportion of honours, the conqueror asserted the superiority of his arms and power *. The Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 93. Anonym. Valesian, p. 713. Eutropius, x. 5. Aurelius Victor, Euseb. in Chron. Sozomen, l.i. c. 2. Four of these writers affirm, that the promotion of the Cæsars was CHAP. General The reconciliation of Constantine and Licinius, XIV. though it was embittered by resentment and jealousy, by the remembrance of recent injuries, peace and and by the apprehension of future dangers, maintained, however, above eight years, the trantine. quillity of the Roman world. As a very regular A.D. 315, series of the Imperial laws commences àbout this laws of Constan -823. period, it would not be difficult to transcribe the civil regulations which employed the leisure of Constantine. But the most important of his institutions are intimately connected with the new system of policy and religion, which was not perfectly established till the last and peaceful years of his reign. There are many of his laws, which, as far as they concern the rights and property of individuals, and the practice of the bar, are more properly referred to the private than to the public jurisprudence of the empire; and he published many edicts of so local and temporary a nature, that they would ill deserve the notice of a general history. Two laws, however, may be selected from the crowd; the one for its importance, the other for its singularity; the former for its remarkable benevolence, the latter for its excessive severity. 1. The horrid practice, so familiar to the ancients, of exposing or murdering their new-born infants, was be come was an article of the treaty. It is however certain, that the younger Constantine and Licinius were not yet born; and it is highly probable, that the promotion was made the 1st of March, A. D. 317. The treaty had probably stipulated, that two Casars might be created by the western, and one only by the castern emperor; but each of them reserved to himself the choice of the persons. |