The Death of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge

He was already drawing very near to Rome itself when God himself, to spare him the need of fighting all the Romans for the tyrant’s sake, drew the tyrant a long way outside the gates, as if by hidden cords. And now God confirmed in very deed, to all alike, believers and unbelievers who saw the wonders with their own eyes, those miracles recorded in the sacred Scriptures that he had worked long ago against the ungodly, which most people dismiss as fables but the faithful believe. For once, in the days of Moses and the Hebrew nation, who were worshipers of God, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has cast into the sea, and his chosen chariot captains are drowned in the Red Sea.” In the same way, at this time, Maxentius and the soldiers and guards with him “went down into the depths like a stone.” This happened when, fleeing before the forces of Constantine, who had God’s help, he tried to cross the river that lay in his way. He had bridged it strongly with boats and had built a device for destruction on it. In truth it was against himself, though he hoped by it to trap the one whom God loved. For the one had his God standing by to protect him, while the other, godless, turned out to be the wretched inventor of these secret schemes to his own ruin. So one might well say, “He made a pit and dug it, and has fallen into the ditch he made. His trouble will come back on his own head, and his violence will come down on the top of his own head.” So it was here. Under God’s direction, the device built on the bridge, with the ambush hidden in it, gave way unexpectedly before the appointed time. The bridge began to sink, and the boats, men and all, went straight to the bottom. First the wretch himself, and then his armed attendants and guards, “sank like lead in the mighty waters,” just as the sacred words had described long before. So those who had won this victory from God might well sing and speak about the godless tyrant of old as the people of God’s great servant Moses did, if not in the same words, at least in the same spirit: “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been greatly glorified. Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. He has become my helper and my shield, for my salvation.” And again: “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, marvelous in praises, doing wonders?” [a]