for the ruler of Gaul.

In A.C. 312 Constantine marched at the head of the Gauls against the
Emperor Maxentius, defeated him near the Milvian Bridge outside Rome,
and entered the Eternal City in triumph. Maxentius is said to have been
drowned in the Tiber; and the Senate decreed that Constantine should
rank as the first of the three remaining Augusti.

In A.C. 313 the Emperor Maximin fought the Emperor Licinius; but his
forces were defeated, and he soon afterwards died.

Some ten years or so later Constantine went to war with his only
remaining rival, Licinius, defeated him, and became sole emperor, A.C.
324.

That despite his great qualities as a ruler the character of
Constantine was not perfect, can be easily seen from the fact that, not
content with executing the Emperor Licinius after accepting his
submission, he murdered the young Licinius; a boy certainly not over
twelve years of age, and according to some authorities two or three
years younger than that. He also put his own son Crispus to death, and
other relations as well.

We are told that Constantine was so tortured by the memory of these and
other crimes that he applied to the priests of the Gods of Rome for
absolution, but that they bravely said that there was no absolution for
such sins, whereupon this worshipper of the Sun-God turned to his
friends the Christians and they gave him what he desired.[44]

This statement seems somewhat improbable, however, as one would imagine