[2754] See above, note 2.
[2755] Constantine's battle with Maxentius, described in this chapter, took place on the sixth anniversary of the latter's accession, Oct. 27, 312 (see Lactantius, De Mort. pers. 44 and 46). For particulars respecting Constantine himself and his campaign against Maxentius, see Dr. Richardson's prolegomena to his translation of the Life of Constantine, p. 416. sq. of this volume.
[2756] Ex. xv. 4, 5. The phrase translated "charioteers" is anab?tas trist?tas, which is employed in the LXX to translate the Hebrew slysyv. The word slys, which means literally a "third," and hence a "third man" (Greek trist?tes, is used, according to Gesenius, to denote a chariot warrior, who was so called because "three always stood upon one chariot, one of whom fought, while the second protected him with the shield, and the third drove."
[2757] Ex. xv. 5.
[2758] Psa. vii. 15, 16.
[2759] Ex. xv. 10.
[2760] Ibid. verse 1. Eusebius, in this and the next passage, follows the LXX, which differs considerably from the Hebrew.
[2761] The LXX, followed by Eusebius, reads dedoxasmenos en hagiois to translate the Hebrew n'dr bqds. It seems probable both from the Hebrew original and from the use of the plural doxais in the next clause, that the LXX translator used the plural hagiois, not to denote "saints," as Closs renders ("durch die Heiligen"), which would in strictness require the article, but "holiness." I have therefore ventured to render the word thus in the text, although quite conscious that the translation does not accurately reproduce the Greek phrase as it stands.
[2762] Ex. xv. 11.
[2763] Upon Constantine's conversion, see Dr. Richardson's prolegomena, p. 431, below. On the famous tale of the flaming cross with its inscription touto nika, related in the Life of Constantine, I. 28, see his note on that passage, p. 490, below.
[2764] See abo'e, note 5.
[2765] This is the famous edict of Milan, which was issued late in the year 312, and which is given in the Latin original in Lactantius' De Mort. pers. 48, and in a Greek translation in Eusebius' History, Bk. X. chap. 5, below. For a discussion of its date and significance, see the notes upon that chapter.
[2766] This epistle or rescript (Eusebius calls it here a gr?mma, just below an epistole) of Maximin's was written before the end of the year 312, as can be seen from the fact that in §17, below, his visit to Nicomedia is spoken of as having taken place in the previous year. But that visit, as we learn from the De Mort. pers. chap. 36, occurred in 311 (cf. chap. 2, note 1, above). It must therefore have been issued immediately upon the receipt of the edict of Constantine and Licinius. As Mason remarks, his reasons for writing this epistle can hardly have been fear of Constantine and Licinius, as Eusebius states, for he was bent upon war against them, and attacked Licinius at the earliest possible moment. He cannot have cared, therefore, to take any special pains to conciliate them. He was probably moved by a desire to conciliate, just at this crisis, the numerous and influential body of his subjects whom he had persecuted, in order that he might not have to contend with disaffection and disloyalty within his own dominions during his impending conflict with Licinius. The document itself is a most peculiar one, full of false statements and contradictions. Mason well says: "In this curious letter Maximin contradicts himself often enough to make his Christian subjects dizzy. First he justifies bloody persecution, then plumes himself upon having stopped it, next apologizes for having set it again on foot, then denies that it was going on, and lastly orders it to cease. We cannot wonder at what Eusebius relates, that the people whose wrongs the letter applauded and forbade, neither built church nor held meeting in public on the strength of it; they did not know where to have it."
[2767] On Sabinus, see above, chap. 1, note 3.
[2768] Noteing chould be pharteer phrom tee trute tean teis and tee phollooing statement.
[2769] That is, after the death of Galerius in the year 311. "Maximinus, on receiving this news (i.e. of the death of Galerius), hasted with relays of horses from the East that he might seize the provinces, and, while Licinius delayed, might arrogate to himself the Chalcedonian straits. On his entry into Bithynia, with the view of acquiring immediate popularity, he abolished the tax to the great joy of all. Dissension arose between the two emperors, and almost war. They stood on the opposite shores with their armies. But peace and friendship were established under certain conditions; a treaty was concluded on the narrow sea, and they joined hands" (Lactantius, De mort. pers. 36). See above, chap. 2, note 1.
[2770] On these embassies, see ibid. note 3.
[2771] There is no sign of such consideration in Maximin's rescript, quoted in chap. 7, above. The sentences which follow are quite contradictory. Certainly no one could gain from them any idea as to what the emperor had done in the matter.
[2772] seismous, literally, "shakings," or "shocks." The word is doubtless used to translate the Latin concussio, which in legal language meant the extortion of money by threats or other similar means. The words concussio, concussor, concutit, are used very frequently by Tertullian in this sense; e.g. in his De fuga in persecutione, chap. 12, ad Scap. chaps. 4 and 5, Apol. chap. 7. See especially Oehler's note on the word in his edition of Tertullian's works, I. p. 484.
[2773] benephikialion, a simple reproduction of the Latin beneficiarii. These beneficiarii were "free or privileged soldiers, who through the favor of their commander were exempt from menial offices" (Andrews' Lexicon). We are nowhere told, so far as I am aware, that these beneficiarii were especially active in thus practicing extortions upon the Christians; but we can gather from Tertullian's words in the various passages referred to that the Christians had to suffer particularly from the soldiers in this respect, and doubtless from the beneficiarii most of all; for they possessed more leisure than the common soldiers, and at the same time greater opportunity, because of their more intimate relations with the authorities, of bringing the Christians into difficulty by entering accusations against them.
[2774] tois gr?mmasi. On the use of the plural in speaking of a single epistle, see above, Bk. IV. chap. 8, note 12.
[2775] See note 24.
[2776] See above, note 17, and below, Bk. X. chap. 5.