Phantom Troops in the Cities of Licinius

While these things were going on, a supernatural sight is said to have been seen in the cities under the tyrant’s rule. Different companies of Constantine’s army seemed to appear before people’s eyes, marching through these cities at noon as if they had won the victory. In reality not a single soldier was anywhere present at the time. Yet this sight was seen through the working of a divine and higher power, and it foreshadowed what was soon to happen. For as soon as the armies were ready to engage, the man who had broken the bonds of friendly alliance was the first to open the battle. Then Constantine called on the name of “God the Supreme Savior,” gave this to his soldiers as their watchword, and defeated him in this first battle. Not long afterward, in a second battle, he won a still greater and more decisive victory, with the saving trophy going in front of the ranks of his army. [a]