ccording to the rules of tyranny, he was accused of forming a
conspiracy, and of holding a treasonable correspondence with the
barbarians; but as he was never convicted, either by his own conduct or
by any legal evidence, we may perhaps be allowed, from his weakness,
to presume his innocence. [112] The memory of Licinius was branded with
infamy, his statues were thrown down, and by a hasty edict, of such
mischievous tendency that it was almost immediately corrected, all
his laws, and all the judicial proceedings of his reign, were at once
abolished. [113] By this victory of Constantine, the Roman world was
again united under the authority of one emperor, thirty-seven years
after Diocletian had divided his power and provinces with his associate
Maximian.

[Footnote 110: Eusebius (in Vita Constantin. I. ii. c. 16, 17) ascribes
this decisive victory to the pious prayers of the emperor. The Valesian
fragment (p. 714) mentions a body of Gothic auxiliaries, under their
chief Aliquaca, who adhered to the party of Licinius.]

[Footnote 111: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 102. Victor Junior in Epitome.
Anonym. Valesian. p. 714.]

[Footnote 112: Contra religionem sacramenti Thessalonicae privatus
occisus est. Eutropius, x. 6; and his evidence is confirmed by Jerome
(in Chronic.) as well as by Zosimus, l. ii. p. 102. The Valesian writer
is the only one who mentions the soldiers, and it is Zonaras alone who
calls in the assistance of the senate. Eusebius prudently slides over
this delicate transaction. But Sozomen, a century afterwards, ventures
to assert the treasonable practices of Licinius.]

[Footnote 113: See the Theodosian Code, l. xv. tit. 15, tom. v. p
404, 405. These edicts of Constantine betray a degree of passion and
precipitation very unbecoming the character of a lawgiver.]

The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine, from his first
assuming the purple at York, to the resignation of Licinius, at
Nicomedia, have been related with some minuteness and precision, not
only as the events are in themselves both interesting and important,
but still more, as they contributed to the decline of the empire by the
expense of blood and treasure, and by the perpetual increase, as well
of the taxes, as of the military establishment. The foundation of
Constantinople, and the establishment of the Christian religion, were
the immediate and memorable consequences of this revolution.

Chapter XV: Progress Of The Christian Religio