required his father-in-law, Diocletian,
together with his colleague, Maximianus Herculius, to divest themselves
of their power, and constituted himself emperor of the East; leaving the
West to Constantius Chlorus, whose health he knew to be very infirm. He
also associated with him in the government two assistants of his own
choosing, namely, Caius Galerius Maximinus, his sister's son, and
Flavius Severus; excluding altogether Constantine, the son of
Constantius Chlorus. This revolution in the Roman Government restored
peace to Christians in the Western provinces, which were under
Constantius; but in the Eastern provinces the persecution raged with
greater severity than before.

But divine Providence frustrated the whole plan of Galerius Maximianus.
For, Constantius Chlorus dying in Britain, in the year 306, the soldiery
by acclamation made his son Constantine, who afterward by his
achievements obtained the title of "the Great," Augustus or Emperor; and
the tyrant Galerius was obliged to submit, and even to approve this
adverse event. Soon after a civil war broke out. For Maxentius, the
son-in-law of Galerius Maximianus, being indignant that Galerius should
prefer Severus before him, and invest him with imperial power, himself
assumed the purple, and took his father, Maximianus Herculius, for his
colleague in the empire. In the midst of these commotions Constantine,
beyond all expectation, made his way to the imperial throne. The western
Christians, those of Italy and Africa excepted, enjoyed a good degree of
tranquillity and liberty during these civil wars. But the oriental
churches experienced various fortune, adverse or tolerable, according to
the political changes from year to year. At length Galerius Maximianus,
who had been the author of the heaviest calamities, being brought low by
a terrific and protracted disease, and finding himself ready to die, in
the year 311, issued a decree which restored peace to them, after they
had endured almost unbounded sufferings.

After the death of Galerius Maximianus, Caius Galerius Maximianus and
Caius Valerius Licinius divided between themselves the provinces which
had been governed by Galerius. At the same time Maxentius, who held
Africa and Italy, determined to make war upon Constantine, who governed
in Spain and Gaul, in order to bring all the West under his authority.
Constantine anticipated his designs, marched his army into Italy in the
year 312, and in a battle fought a