tions. Byzantium surrendered to the power of Maximin,
after a siege of eleven days. He was detained some days under the walls
of Heraclea; and he had no sooner taken possession of that city, than he
was alarmed by the intelligence, that Licinius had pitched his camp at
the distance of only eighteen miles. After a fruitless negotiation, in
which the two princes attempted to seduce the fidelity of each other's
adherents, they had recourse to arms. The emperor of the East commanded
a disciplined and veteran army of above seventy thousand men; and
Licinius, who had collected about thirty thousand Illyrians, was at
first oppressed by the superiority of numbers. His military skill, and
the firmness of his troops, restored the day, and obtained a decisive
victory. The incredible speed which Maximin exerted in his flight is
much more celebrated than his prowess in the battle. Twenty-four hours
afterwards he was seen, pale, trembling, and without his Imperial
ornaments, at Nicomedia, one hundred and sixty miles from the place
of his defeat. The wealth of Asia was yet unexhausted; and though the
flower of his veterans had fallen in the late action, he had still
power, if he could obtain time, to draw very numerous levies from Syria
and Egypt. But he survived his misfortune only three or four months. His
death, which happened at Tarsus, was variously ascribed to despair, to
poison, and to the divine justice. As Maximin was alike destitute of
abilities and of virtue, he was lamented neither by the people nor by
the soldiers. The provinces of the East, delivered from the terrors of
civil war, cheerfully acknowledged the authority of Licinius. [79]

[Footnote 78: Zosimus (l. ii. p. 89) observes, that before the war the
sister of Constantine had been betrothed to Licinius. According to
the younger Victor, Diocletian was invited to the nuptials; but having
ventured to plead his age and infirmities, he received a second letter,
filled with reproaches for his supposed partiality to the cause of
Maxentius and Maximin.]

[Footnote 79: Zosimus mentions the defeat and death of Maximin as
ordinary events; but Lactantius expatiates on them, (de M. P. c. 45-50,)
ascribing them to the miraculous interposition of Heaven. Licinius at
that time was one of the protectors of the church.]

The vanquished emperor left behind him two children, a boy of about
eight, and a girl of about seven, years old. Their inoffensive age
might have excited compassi