CHAPTER XXXVIII

DEATH OF MAXENTIUS ON THE BRIDGE OF THE TIBER

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.

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 very deed confirm to all alike, believers and unbelievers, who were eye-witnesses of the wonders I am about to relate. For as once in the days of Moses and the Hebrew nation, who were worshippers of God, He cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his host into the waves, and drowned his chosen chariot-captains in the Red Sea,—so at this time did Maxentius, and the soldiers and guards with him, sink to the bottom as a stone, when, in his flight before the divinely-aided forces of Constantine, he essayed to cross the river which lay in his way, over which he had made a strong bridge of boats, and 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, destitute of His aid, proved to be the miserable contriver of these secret devices to his own ruin. So that one might well say, “He made a pit, and digged it, and shall fall into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his own pate.” 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 passage began to sink down, and the boats with the men in them went bodily to the bottom. 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.” 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 has been glorified exceedingly: the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea. He is become my helper and my shield unto salvation.” And again, “Who is like to Thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, marvellous in praises, doing wonders?”