After being more or less expelled by his son Maxentius, Maximian in the
year A.C. 308 marched to Gaul and married his daughter Fausta to
Constantine; at the same time conferring upon him the title of
Augustus. About this time Galerius made his friend Licinius an Augustus
in the place of Severus; whereupon Maximin, the Governor of Syria and
Egypt, demanded and was granted that title also.

There were thus in the year A.C. 308 some half-a-dozen Roman Emperors
instead of one; there being Constantine and Maximian in the west,
Maxentius at Rome, and Galerius, Licinius, and Maximin elsewhere; not
to mention Diocletian, who was content to remain in retirement.

This decided break-up of the Roman Empire was Constantine's
opportunity; and he was favourably placed, for he had a warlike and
faithful people under him.

Moreover by reversing so far as lay in his power as ruler of Gaul the
traditional policy of Rome towards Christianity, and setting himself
forward as a champion of a non-national religion which had been
persecuted because it was non-national, Constantine was secure of the
enthusiastic backing of all the Christians to be found in the dominions
of his various rivals.

In A.C. 310 Constantine either executed his father-in-law the Emperor
Maximian, or caused him to commit suicide; and the first of his five
rivals was disposed of.

In A.C. 311 the Emperor Galerius died from disease, and Constantine's
most formidable competitor, and one who undoubtedly had a better claim
than himself to the position of sole emperor, thus opportunely made way