Section 428
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 397 CHAPTER X. The victory of the pious emperors. SUCH a cause and circumstances, indeed, beset him on all sides. Unable as he was to sustain the magnitude of the government so undeservedly conferred upon him, in consequence of his own in capacity and deficiency in the qualities of a prudent and imperial mind, he administered his affairs in a foolish and disreputable manner, and yet foolishly elated in all, with a fulsome arrogance and haughtiness, even toward those who participated in the go vernment with him, and who were his superiors both in birth and education, dignity and intelligence, and in that wisdom and that true piety which is the crown of all, he yet dared to boast and proclaim himself the first of all in dignity and honours. Pro ceeding at length to that degree of madness in his vanity and haughtiness, he broke the league that he had made with Licinius, and undertook an execrable war. After this he soon threw all into confusion; alarming every city, and collecting innumerable armies, he went forth to give him battle, elated with his trust in daemons, whom he supposed to be gods, and the vast multitudes of his soldiers. Thus engaging in battle, he was deprived of the interposition and aid of God ; the victory being decreed in favour of the emperor Licinius, by the one only and supreme God. And first, he lost the soldiery upon whom ha relied so much, and as the guards about him all abandoned and left him destitute, and deserted to the emperor Licinius, he secretly stripped himself as quickly as possible of the imperial robes, which, indeed, he had never deserved, in a cowardly, abject, and effeminate manner, and mingled with the crowd. Then he made his escape, lying concealed in the fields and villages, and with all this caution and vigilance for safety, scarcely escaped the hands of the enemy. Thus showing in facts the reality and truth of the divine oracles, in which it is said : " A king is not saved by the multitude of an host, nor shall a giant in the greatness of his strength ; a horse is a vain thing for safety, and in the greatness of his strength he