Res Gestae

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.)