Legions of Rome

by Stephen Dando-Collins

  Classical authors put Constantine’s age when he died, in AD 337, at between 62 and 66. [Eus., EH, LIII] Born in Upper Moesia, Constantine was the son of Constantius Chlorus, great-nephew of the emperor Claudius II, one of Rome’s crowd of emperors during the last half of the third century. Constantine’s father pursued a military career, starting out with the imperial bodyguard and rising to become governor of Dalmatia and then Caesar for the west. Constantine himself was educated as part of the court of the emperor Diocletian at his capital of Nicomedia in Asia, and served as a tribune in the army which Diocletian took on an expedition to Egypt in AD 296.

  Constantine fought the Sarmatians under the deputy emperor Galerius, the son of Diocletian, and is likely to have also served under him in his wars with the Persians. According to an anonymous contemporary biographer, “When Constantine, then a young man, was serving in the cavalry against the Sarmatians, he seized by the hair and carried off a ferocious barbarian, and threw him at the feet of the emperor Galerius.” Later in the same campaign against the Sarmatians, Constantine “slew many and won the victory for Galerius.” [Vale., 2, 3]

  On the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, young Constantine was not named as a Caesar to his father, the new coemperor of the west, as he would have expected. When Constantius sought permission from the new Eastern emperor Galerius for his son to join him on an expedition to Britain to counter troublesome Picts in the north, at first Galerius was reluctant to release young Constantine, but he eventually agreed. Constantine left the palace at Nicomedia that same evening in a carriage of the Cursus Publicus Velox and hurried west, laming the horses at each Cursus Publicus station he passed through so that no message could overtake him rescinding the emperor’s permission. [Ibid., 2, 4]

  At Bononia on the coast of Gaul, Constantine joined his father, and from there the pair crossed the English Channel by ship, then hurried north. In the spring of AD 306, father and son led Roman forces in a campaign north of Hadrian’s Wall, and won “a victory over the Picts.” [Ibid.] But in the middle of the summer Constantius fell ill, and had to return to the provincial capital, Eburacum. There, in July, with all his children around him and having anointed Constantine as his successor, Constantius died. On July 24, the Roman troops in Britain hailed Constantine as the new emperor in the west. As soon as news of the death of Constantius reached Rome, the Praetorian Guard hailed Maxentius, son of the abdicated emperor Maximian, as their choice of Emperor of the West. This creation of a rival emperor to Constantine sparked a series of civil wars that would last for years.

  From the East, the emperor Galerius reluctantly granted Constantine the title of Caesar, but would not recognize him as his equal as Emperor of the West. For the moment, Constantine accepted the role of deputy emperor, and to cement his claim to ultimate power, married the daughter of abdicated emperor Maximian and sister of Maxentius.

  Galerius, meanwhile, would not accept Maxentius’ claim to be Emperor of the West, and sent his deputy emperor Severus marching to Rome with an army to unseat him. Severus was “low both in character and in origin” and “given to drink.” [Ibid., 4, 9] His troops did not respect him, and when Severus reached Italy in AD 307 he was deserted by his army and was forced to flee to Ravenna. Maxentius’ father Maximian now came out of retirement at his son’s behest and went to Severus at Ravenna. Through deception, Maximian made Severus a prisoner and took him to Rome, after which Severus was kept at an imperial villa at Tres Tabernae, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Rome. [Ibid., 3, 11]

  Determined to punish Maxentius, Galerius himself then marched an army from the East to Rome. Camping at Interamna, today’s Terni in southern Umbria, just to the north of the eternal city, Galerius sent envoys to Maxentius in Rome to convince him to submit to his authority. Not only did Maxentius send the envoys packing, he offered bribes to Galerius’ troops, and some of them even defected as a result. Unsettled by this, Galerius withdrew from Italy, but, “in order to supply his men with whatever booty he could” and so placate their greedy demands, he gave them permission to sack the Italian towns they passed through on the Flaminian Way north. [Ibid., 3, 7] As Galerius and his looting army marched away, Maxentius ordered the execution of his prisoner, the deputy emperor Severus, humiliatingly “in the midst of his own troops, as it were.” [Eus., EH, XXVII]

  Galerius’ health was in decline; he would be dead within four years. He now retreated to Illyricum, and let Maxentius and Constantine fight it out to see who would become sole emperor of the Western Empire. According to Eusebius, who spoke to Constantine on the subject, Constantine resolved to overthrow Maxentius after “those who had attempted it,” Severus and Galerius, “had experienced a disastrous termination of their enterprise.” [Ibid., XXVI]

  On the other hand, historian Zosimus wrote that it was Maxentius who made the first move toward war with Constantine. To begin with, Maxentius supposedly fell out with his father Maximian, who sought refuge with Constantine in Gaul. [Zos., 2, 14] From there, Constantine efficiently dealt with a series of raids by the Bructeri and the Franks, “barbarians who dwelled on the banks of the Rhine,” and made allies of the Alemanni. [Eus., EH, XXV] Once he had Constantine’s confidence, the elderly Maximian then twice tried to betray him, the second time paying for his treachery with his life. Now, said Zosimus, Maxentius used the pretext of avenging his dead father to prepare for war with Constantine. [Zos., 2, 14]

  Throughout his career, Constantine had a habit of moving much more rapidly than his opponents expected. In the spring of AD 312, before Maxentius could mobilize his forces for an expedition to Gaul, Constantine crossed the Alps into Italy with an army made up of men from the garrisons of Britain, Gaul and the Rhine. The identity of individual units in his force is not known, but it was particularly strong in mounted troops—Constantine had much personal experience with the cavalry arm.

  The “obscure and imperfect narrative” of Zosimus, in the words of Gibbon, put the number of men in Constantine’s force at this time at an excessive 90,000 foot and 8,000 horse, and gave Maxentius an amazing 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse. [Gibb., XVIII, n. 22] This total, of close to 300,000 men, would have been by far the largest number of Roman troops in Italy at any time during the imperial era, a number that, at that time, is simply not credible. A more reliable ancient source put Constantine’s force at less than 40,000 men. [Eus., HE, Prole., n. 3014] From later events, 8,000 cavalry would seem a realistic figure, while his infantry probably numbered 30,000. The same source gave Maxentius 100,000 men. [Ibid.] These lesser numbers are supported by the fact that within a few years Constantine would be leading an army of just 20,000 men into battle, with his opponent the then Eastern Emperor, Valerius Licinius, commanding 35,000. [Vale., 5, 27]

  Meanwhile, from where did Maxentius amass so many troops at Rome? Even 100,000 soldiers was a huge army by the standards of the Late Empire. A number of cohorts of the Praetorian Guard were permanently stationed in Rome, but how many there were at this time is not known. Septimius Severus increased the Praetorian Guard to 15,000 men, but some Praetorians may have been serving with the Eastern Emperor Galerius and his successor Licinius. Likewise the household cavalry, the Imperial Singularian Horse, numbered 2,000 men at this time, but how many, if any, of those troopers were with Galerius is unknown.

  The 2nd Parthica Legion, stationed at Alba Longa just south of Rome, was without doubt in Maxentius’ army. In addition, Maxentius had incorporated Severus’ eastern troops into his forces after they had changed sides on reaching Italy. According to Zosimus, Maxentius’ army also included troops from Carthage, Sicily and Italy. [Zos., 2, 15] These men may have been freshly levied by Maxentius, in which case they could barely have been trained by the time that Constantine marched into Italy. The troops from Carthage, in addition to Moor and Numidian cavalry, may have also included the 3rd Augusta Legion; the only legion then based in North Africa, this unit would not be located in North Africa when the Notitia Dignitatum was written later that century. [Not. D
ig.]

  Once Constantine’s army crossed the Crottian Alps from southern Gaul it stormed its way into the pro-Maxentius town of Sigusium (modern Susa in Piedmont), in northern Italy. Constantine’s troops set fire to the town after they crashed through its gates, but Constantine had them extinguish the flames and save the town, and treated his prisoners well—so that word of his clemency would go on ahead of him and incline other Italians toward his cause and against that of Maxentius.

  As Constantine proceeded southeast, 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Susa a large opposing cavalry force arrived from its base at Mediolanum, today’s Milan, and formed up in his path on the plain near Augusta Taurinorum, modern-day Turin. The mainstay of Maxentius’ cavalry force were units of heavily armed cataphracts in chain mail, with their horses also clad in mail, and the even more heavily armored cavalry, called the Clibarnii, who wore suits of segmented armor that presaged the armored knights of the Middle Ages. This style of heavy cavalry had been “borrowed from the nations of the East” by the Romans. [Gibb., XIV] Maxentius himself was still at Rome, 450 miles (725 kilometers) away, so that the force that now opposed Constantine was commanded by Maxentius’ subordinates.

  The Maxentian cavalrymen, who had formed up in a massive wedge, point forward, “flattered themselves that they should easily break and trample down the army of Constantine.” [Ibid.] Constantine sent his mixed force of cavalry and infantry against the opposition cavalry using complex maneuvers which “divided and baffled” the Maxentians. Soon the Maxentian troopers were fleeing in disarray to Turin, with Constantine’s army in hot pursuit. The city of Turin closed its gates and refused to admit the retreating Maxentian cavalry, and outside the city walls Constantine’s men isolated and butchered their mounted opponents. “Very few escaped.” [Ibid.]

  Following this comprehensive victory, Constantine led his army on to Milan, which, like Turin before it, welcomed him. Briefly, he occupied the city’s imperial palace, as envoys arrived from cities throughout northern Italy with vows of allegiance. One city that did not submit to him was Verona. Under the command of Ruricius Pompeianus, an experienced general, the city closed its gates and prepared to defy Constantine. A cavalry force ordered west by Pompeianus to intercept Constantine’s army was sent reeling in retreat after an engagement near Brescia, and Constantine arrived outside Verona and surrounded the city. A sally outside the walls by Pompeianus’ troops was easily repelled, and Constantine prepared for a protracted siege of the city.

  The resourceful Pompeianus was able to slip out of Verona by night, and he assembled a force of pro-Maxentius troops which he then led against the army besieging the city. Constantine, on hearing that Pompeianus’ force was approaching, divided his army, leaving part to continue the siege and leading the remainder to meet Pompeianus in the field. On forming two battle lines on the plain, and finding that Pompeianus’ troops outnumbered his, with the opposition front line extending much further than his and threatening to wrap around his flanks when both sides engaged, Constantine depleted his second line to fill out the front line to match the opposition.

  This battle began toward the end of the day, and raged right through the night. Constantine, a tall man with great bodily strength and with considerable combat experience, was in the thick of the fighting. Dawn revealed a battlefield littered with mounds of bodies, and a victory for Constantine. Among the dead was Pompeianus, Maxentius’ loyal and diligent general. On August 28, when word of Pompeianus’ defeat reached Verona, the city capitulated to Constantine, who imprisoned every member of the Maxentian garrison. [Gibb., XIV]

  In the early autumn, as Constantine prepared to march on Rome, his subordinates begged him not to expose himself to danger by personally taking part in the next round of fighting, and in so doing putting the future of the Roman state at risk. He was, after all, one of the few Roman commanders-in-chief since Julius Caesar who physically took up sword and shield and fought alongside his men in battle.

  At Rome meanwhile, Maxentius did not allow news of the defeats in the north to become public. Instead, he levied more troops locally and made plans for a deciding battle outside the capital. There, he was confident, he would destroy the threat posed by his brother-in-law Constantine in the same way that he had dealt with the feeble efforts of Severus and Galerius to dethrone him.

  AD 312

  LXVII. BATTLE OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE

  Deciding who rules

  The site for the deciding battle between the rivals for the western throne was chosen by Maxentius, Constantine’s Rome-based coemperor and brother-in-law. That site was the flat river plain north of the Tiber river, just under 2 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the city. The plain was reached from the Field of Mars by the Milvian Bridge, the stone piers of which dated back to the first century BC. As part of his battle strategy, Maxentius had the wooden decking of the bridge removed, and gave orders for a bridge of boats to be built across the river nearby.

  In October, Constantine and his army came marching down the Flaminian Way toward Rome. Constantine would later tell Eusebius that one day just after noon—usually the time that a Roman army ended its marching for the day and made camp—“he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, ‘Conquer by this.’” [Eus., EH, XXVIII]

  Eusebius claimed that all of Constantine’s army also saw this sign in the heavens, but no other classical author confirms this. In fact, there would be much skepticism voiced down through the ages about the entire episode, even by Christian theologians. Dr. Ernest Richardson, Eusebius’ nineteenth-century translator, was to say, “There are all sorts of explanation, from that of an actual miracle to that of pure later invention.” Richardson, himself a theologian, suggested that perhaps what Constantine, under intense mental strain at the time, actually experienced was “some natural phenomenon of the sun,” or “a simple dream, or an hallucination.” [Ibid., n. 3019]

  Or perhaps Constantine was a very clever tactician who saw an opportunity to let his highly superstitious soldiers think that he was divinely guided and so, therefore, were they. Nor was he averse to lying to Bishop Eusebius—at the same time that he described his vision of the cross in the sky to Eusebius, he assured him that he had marched on Italy because “life was without enjoyment to him as long as he saw the imperial city thus afflicted” by Maxentius’ rule. And that accordingly “he resolved to deliver Rome from Maxentius.” [Eus., EH, XXVI] He told Eusebius this many years later, after he had emasculated Rome and made his capital elsewhere; in fact, Rome was a city Constantine disdained so thoroughly he would only visit it twice after AD 312, and only then to preside over the tenth and twentieth anniversaries of his rule and rub the noses of the Romans in his authority.

  That night after his “vision,” Constantine told Eusebius, as he slept, “the Christ of God” came to him in a dream “and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign he had seen in the heavens.” [Ibid., EH, XXIX] Next day, when Constantine rose from his bed he told his closest associates of his dream, then called together artisans of gold and precious stones and, sitting in the midst of them, instructed them to create him a new imperial standard based on the sign of the cross in his vision, in gold and jewels.

  Eusebius, who subsequently saw for himself the new battle standard created to Constantine’s design, was to describe it: “A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of a cross by means of a transverse bar laid over it.” What Eusebius described was the usual vexillum design used by the standards of emperors for hundreds of years prior to this; the vexillum, a standard also common to units of the Roman army, had always naturally, but incidentally, formed the sign of a cross. “On the top of the whole was fixed a wreath of gold and precious stones,” Eusebius went on. The wreath, representing Victory, was also a common feature of legion and auxiliary unit standards. “And within this, the symbol of the savior’s name, two letters indicating the name of Christ by means of its initial characters [in Greek], the
letter P being intersected by X at its center.” Eusebius added that “these letters the emperor was in the habit of wearing on his helmet at a later period.” [Eus., EH, XXXI]

  From the new imperial standard’s crossbar was suspended a piece of square cloth, as was the usual style with a vexillum, “covered with a profuse embroidery of the most brilliant precious stones” and “richly interlaced with gold.” Below the golden wreath with its monogram the pole bore a golden portrait of Constantine and his children—such an imperial imago had long been a common feature of legion standards. In fact, the only really novel and distinctly Christian aspect of the new standard was the relatively discreet monogram. [Ibid.]

  As Richardson was to remark, in the same way that Eusebius made Constantine’s new cruciform standard sound as if it was something entirely new and solely inspired by Christian faith, the same ancient Christian chronicler attributed a number of things to Constantine alone that were in fact “entirely customary with other emperors.” [Eus., EH, XIX, n. 3178]

  A later legend, repeated by modern authors, had it that Constantine also had his troops paint the monogram on their shields. This comes from a lone classical author, Lactantius. Yet it was not mentioned by Eusebius, who was otherwise effusive about Constantine’s adoption of Christian symbols. Later Christian writers such as Gibbon and Richardson gave no credence to the legend concerning the use of the monogram on the shields of Constantine. The balance of evidence suggests that Constantine did not instruct his soldiers to paint it on their shields until some years later, when, says Eusebius, Constantine also commanded that his troops should no longer be preceded by their golden eagle standards but only by his new imperial standard. [Eus., EH, XXI] It seems that Constantine’s Christian symbolism prior to doing battle with Maxentius extended no further than the on his glittering new personal standard.