Chapter XXXV.--Massacre of the Roman People by Maxentius.
All men, therefore, both people and magistrates, whether of high or low degree, trembled through fear of him whose daring wickedness was such as I have described, and were oppressed by his grievous tyranny. Nay, though they submitted quietly, and endured this bitter servitude, still there was no escape from the tyrant's sanguinary cruelty. For at one time, on some trifling pretense, he exposed the populace to be slaughtered by his own body-guard; and countless multitudes of the Roman people were slain in the very midst of the city by the lances and weapons, not of Scythians or barbarians, but of their own fellow-citizens. And besides this, it is impossible to calculate the number of senators whose blood was shed with a view to the seizure of their respective estates, for at different times and on various fictitious charges, multitudes of them suffered death.
Chapter XXXVI.--Magic Arts of Maxentius against Constantine; and Famine at Rome.
But the crowning point of the tyrant's wickedness was his having recourse to sorcery: sometimes for magic purposes ripping up women with child, at other times searching into the bowels of new-born infants. He slew lions also, and practiced certain horrid arts for evoking demons, and averting the approaching war, hoping by these means to get the victory. In short, it is impossible to describe the manifold acts of oppression by which this tyrant of Rome enslaved his subjects: so that by this time they were reduced to the most extreme penury and want of necessary food, a scarcity such as our contemporaries do not remember ever before to have existed at Rome. [3122]
[3122] 1709, Molz. &c., add "nor anywhere else," but Bag. is undoubtedly right in translating simply "ever before." The chapter is found substantially and in part word for word in the Church History, 8. 14.
Chapter XXXVII.--Defeat of Maxentius's Armies in Italy.
Constantine, however, filled with compassion on account of all these miseries, began to arm himself with all warlike preparation against the tyranny. Assuming therefore the Supreme God as his patron, and invoking His Christ to be his preserver and aid, and setting the victorious trophy, the salutary symbol, in front of his soldiers and body-guard, he marched with his whole forces, trying to obtain again for the Romans the freedom they had inherited from their ancestors.
And whereas, Maxentius, trusting more in his magic arts than in the affection of his subjects, dared not even advance outside the city gates, [3123] but had guarded every place and district and city subject to his tyranny, with large bodies of soldiers, [3124] the emperor, confiding in the help of God, advanced against the first and second and third divisions of the tyrant's forces, defeated them all with ease at the first assault, [3125] and made his way into the very interior of Italy.
[3123] "Because the soothsayers had foretold that if he went out of it, he should perish." Lact. De M. P.
[3124] Bag.adds "and numberless ambuscades," following Valesius and 1709. The word so rendered is the word for "companies of soldiers." The rather awkward "multitude of heavy-armed soldiers and myriads of companies of soldiers" may be rendered as above, although "larger bodies of soldiers and limitless supplies" suggested by the translation is perhaps the real meaning. He had both "men and means."
[3125] At Sigusium, Turin, Brescia, and Verona.
Chapter XXXVIII.--Death of Maxentius on the Bridge of the Tiber. [3126]
And already he was approaching very near Rome itself, when, to save him from the necessity of fighting with all the Romans for the tyrant's sake, God himself drew the tyrant, as it were by secret cords, a long way outside the gates. [3127] And now those miracles recorded in Holy Writ, which God of old wrought against the ungodly (discredited by most as fables, yet believed by the faithful), did he in every deed confirm to all alike, believers and unbelievers, who were eye-witnesses of the wonders. For as once in the days of Moses and the Hebrew nation, who were worshipers of God, "Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea and his chosen chariot-captains are drowned in the Red Sea," [3128] --so at this time Maxentius, and the soldiers and guards [3129] with him, "went down into the depths like stone," [3130] when, in his flight before the divinely-aided forces of Constantine, he essayed to cross the river which lay in his way, over which, making a strong bridge of boats, he had framed an engine of destruction, really against himself, but in the hope of ensnaring thereby him who was beloved by God. For his God stood by the one to protect him, while the other, godless, [3131] proved to be the miserable contriver of these secret devices to his own ruin. So that one might well say, "He hath made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violence shall come down upon his own pate." [3132] Thus, in the present instance, under divine direction, the machine erected on the bridge, with the ambuscade concealed therein, giving way unexpectedly before the appointed time, the bridge began to sink, and the boats with the men in them went bodily to the bottom. [3133] And first the wretch himself, then his armed attendants and guards, even as the sacred oracles had before described, "sank as lead in the mighty waters." [3134] So that they who thus obtained victory from God might well, if not in the same words, yet in fact in the same spirit as the people of his great servant Moses, sing and speak as they did concerning the impious tyrant of old: "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he hath been glorified exceedingly: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. He is become my helper and my shield unto salvation." And again, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, marvelous in praises, doing wonders?" [3135]
[3126] The Milvian, the present Ponte Molle.
[3127] The present Ponte Molle is nearly 2½ kilometers (say 1½ miles) from the Porta del Popolo (at the Mons Pincius). The walls at that time were the ones built by Aurelian, and are substantially the same as the present ones. This Pons Milvius was first built 100 years b.c., and "some part of the first bridge is supposed to remain" (Jenkin, p. 329). Compare Jenkin, art. Bridges, in Enc. Brit. 4 (1878), 329, for cut and description.
[3128] Ex. xv. 4. This is identically taken from the Septuagint with the change of only one word, where Eusebius gains little in exchanging "swallowed up in" for plunged or drowned in.
[3129] "Heavy armed and light armed."
[3130] Ex. xv. 5.
[3131] "Godless," or if aneuis to be read, "destitute of his aid," as Bag. Much conjecture has been expended on this reading. Heinichen has atheei.
[3132] Ps. vii. 15, 16, Septuagint translation.
[3133] This matter is discussed in the Prolegomena.
[3134] Ex. xv. 10.
[3135] Ex. xv. 1, 2, 11, Septuagint version. This whole chapter with the last paragraph of the preceding are in the Church History, 9. 9.