Res Gestae

Now peace was broken by consent of both sides; Constantine sent Crispus Caesar with a large fleet to take possession of Asia, and on the side of Licinius, Amandus opposed him, likewise with naval forces.

Licinius himself had covered the slopes of a high mountain near Hadrianopolis with a huge army. Hither Constantine turned his march with his entire force. While the war went on slowly by land and sea, although Constantine’s army had great difficulty in scaling the heights, at last his good fortune and the discipline of his army prevailed, and he defeated the confused and disorganised army of Licinius;[*](324 A.D.) but Constantine was slightly wounded in the thigh.

Then Licinius fled to Byzantium; and while his scattered forces were on the way to the city, Licinius closed it, and feeling secure against an attack by sea, planned to meet a siege from the land-side. But Constantine got together a fleet from Thrace. Then Licinius, with his usual lack of consideration,[*](I.e., without consulting Constantine; cf. § 9, above.) chose Martinianus as his Caesar.

But Crispus, with Constantine’s fleet, sailed to Callipolis,[*](Modern Gallipoli, on the Hellespont.) where in a sea-fight he so utterly defeated Amandus that the latter barely made his escape with the help of the forces which he had left on shore. But Licinius’ fleet was in part destroyed and in part captured.

Licinius, abandoning hope on the sea, by way of which he saw that he would be blockaded, fled with his treasures to Chalcedon. Constantine

Later, when they saw Constantine’s legions coming in Liburnian galleys, the survivors threw down their arms and gave themselves up. But on the following day Constantia, sister of Constantine and wife of Licinius, came to her brother’s camp and begged that her husband’s life be spared, which was granted. Thus Licinius became a private citizen,[*](See note 1, on 5, 18, above.) and was entertained at a banquet by Constantine. Martinianus’ life was also spared.

Licinius was sent to Thessalonica; but Constantine, influenced by the example of his father-in-law Herculius Maximianus,[*](See note 4, on § 8 above. The second wife of Constantine’s father was a daughter of Maximianus; see 1, 2, above.) for fear that Licinius might again, with disastrous consequences to the State, resume the purple which he had laid down, and also because the soldiers mutinously demanded his death, had him assassinated at Thessalonica,[*](Cf. Eutr. x. 6, 1, contra religionem sacramenti privatus occisus est. ) and Martinianus in Cappadocia. Licinius reigned nineteen years and was survived by his wife and a son. And yet, after all the other participants in the abominable persecution[*](Of the Christians; see § 8, note 1, above.)

In commemoration of his splendid victory Constantine called Byzantium Constantinople after his own name; and as if it were his native city, he adorned it with great magnificence and wished to make it equal to Rome. Then he sought out new citizens for it from every quarter,[*](Hieronymus says that he nearly depopulated the other cities of the empire.) and lavished such wealth on the city, that thereon he all but exhausted the imperial fortunes. There he also established a senate[*](According to Zos. iii. 2, Julian established a senate at Constantinople; see Amm. xxii. 9, 2, and cf. Paneg. Lat. xi. 24 (Gratiarum actio Juliana), cum Senatui non solum veterem reddideris dignitatem, sed plurimum etiam novi honoris adieceris. ) of the second rank, the members of which had the title of clari.[*](The Roman senators were clarissimi. )

Then he began war against the Goths, rendering aid also to the Sarmatians, who had appealed to him for help.[*](In 334.) The result was that almost a hundred thousand of the Goths were destroyed by hunger and cold through Constantinus Caesar.[*](The son of Constantine the Great, afterwards Constantinus II; see § 19, above.) Then he also received hostages, among whom was Ariaricus, the king’s son.

When peace with the Goths had thus been secured, Constantine turned against the Sarmatians, who were showing themselves to be of doubtful loyalty. But the slaves of the Sarmatians rebelled against all their masters[*](The Limigantes; see Amm., xvii. 13, 1; xvii. 12, 18 ff.) and drove them from the country. These Constantine willingly received, and

Constantine was also the first Christian emperor, with the exception of Philippus[*](Philip, the Arab, emperor from 244 to 249.) who seemed to me to have become a Christian merely in order that the one-thousandth year of Rome[*](The one-thousandth year since the founding of the city.) might be dedicated to Christ rather than to pagan idols.[*](The words are those of Orosius, vii. 28.) But from Constantine down to the present day all the emperors that have been chosen were Christians, with the exception of Julian, whose disastrous life forsook him in the midst of the impious plans which it was said that he was devising.

Moreover, Constantine made the change[*](From the pagan to the Christian religion.) in a just and humane fashion; for he issued an edict that the temples should be closed without any shedding of pagan blood. Afterwards he destroyed the bravest and most populous of the Gothic tribes in the very heart of the barbarian territory; that is, in the lands of the Sarmatians.

Constantine also put down a certain Calocaerus,[*](He was a camel-driver.) who tried to achieve a revolution in Cyprus. He made Dalmatius, son of his brother of the same name,[*](See 2, 2, note 6, above.) a Caesar; Dalmatius’ brother Hannibalianus he created King of Kings and ruler of the Pontic tribes,[*](See Amm. xiv. 1, 2, note 2.) after giving him his daughter Constantiana[*](This was Constantia, wrongly called Constantina in xiv. 11, 22 and elsewhere, afterwards wife of Gallus Caesar.) in marriage. Then it was arranged that the younger Constantine should rule the Gallic provinces, Constantius Caesar the Orient, Constans Illyricum and Italy, while Dalmatius was to guard

Now during the reign of Zeno Augustus[*](Emperor of the East, 474–491.) at Constantinople, the patrician[*](See Vol. I, Introduction, p. xxviii; at this time a patricius outranked a praetorian prefect.) Nepos came to the Port of the city of Rome,[*](Portus Augusti, modern Porto; see Index I, Vol. I.) deposed Glycerius,[*](Emperor of the West, 473–474. Nepos forced him to become a priest, and soon after that he was made a—bishop at Salona. Julius Nepos was emperor from 474 to 475.) who was made a bishop, while Nepos himself became emperor at Rome. Presently Nepos came[*](The present participle in this writer is often used as a finite verb.) to Ravenna; he was followed by the patrician Orestes with an army,[*](Nepos had given him command of the troops in Gaul.) and in fear of his coming Nepos embarked on board a ship and fled to Salona,[*](Or Salonae (Caes., B.C. iii. 9, 1 f.), a Dalmatian seaport; modern Split (formerly Spalato) in Yugoslavia.) where he remained for five years; but later he was slain by his own men. Soon after Nepos left Rome Augustulus was made emperor and ruled for ten years.

Augustulus,[*](His title Augustus was changed to Augustulus in mockery of, or perhaps because of, his youth.) who was called Romulus by his parents before he mounted the throne, was made emperor by his father, the patrician Orestes. Then Odoacar made his appearance with a force of Sciri[*](See Pliny, N.H. iv. 97, and note 1, p. 507; they served as mercenaries in the Roman army, but revolted.) and killed the patrician Orestes at Placentia, and his brother Paulus at the Pine Grove,[*](Pineta is a late form for Pinetum. ) outside the Classis[*](Classes, or Classis, was a part of Ravenna near the harbour of the praetorian fleet.) at Ravenna.

Then he entered Ravenna, deposed Augustulus from his throne, but in pity for his tender years, granted him his life; and because of his beauty he also gave him an income of six thousand gold-pieces[*](See Amm. xx. 4, 18, note 5.) and sent him to Campania,[*](Cf. Jordanes, 46, in Lucullano Campaniae castello exilii poena damnavit. ) to live there a free man with his relatives. Now his father Orestes was a Pannonian, who joined with Attila at the time when he came to Rome, and was made his secretary, a position from which he had advanced to the rank of patrician.

Then, after Zeno was made emperor by his son Leo,[*](Leo the Thracian, also called Leo the Great, having no son, named his son-in-law Zeno as his successor. Since the people of Constantinople did not approve the choice, Leo associated with himself his grandson Leo, who survived him a few months only.) who was the offspring of the daughter of Leo the Great, Ariagne by name, he reigned for a year with his son Leo, and it was through Leo’s merit that Zeno retained his power. But after sharing the rule with his son for one year, Zeno was emperor for fourteen years more; he was an Isaurian of high rank, trained to arms, and worthy to receive an emperor’s daughter in marriage.