CHAPTER VI

AN APPARITION SEEN IN THE CITIES SUBJECT TO LICINIUS, AS OF CONSTANTINE’S VICTORIOUS TROOPS PASSING THROUGH THEM

ABOUT this time a supernatural appearance is said to have been observed in the cities subject to the tyrant’s rule. Different detachments of Constantine’s army seemed to present themselves to the view, marching at noonday through these cities, as though they had obtained the victory. In reality, not a single soldier was any where present at the time, and yet this appearance was seen through the agency of a divine and superior power: and it was a vision which foreshadowed what was shortly coming to pass. For as soon as the armies were ready to engage, he who had broken through the ties of friendly alliance was the first to commence the battle; on which Constantine, calling on the name of “God the Supreme Saviour,” and giving this as the watchword to his soldiers, overcame him in this first conflict: and not long after in a second battle he gained a still more important and decisive victory; for on this occasion the salutary trophy preceded the ranks of his army.