Licinius Warns His Soldiers Against the Standard

By now Licinius had learned by experience of the divine and mysterious power that lived in the saving trophy, through which Constantine’s army had grown used to victory. So he warned his soldiers never to aim their attack at this standard, and never even to let their eyes rest on it carelessly. He assured them that it had a terrible power and was especially hostile to him, so they would do well to take care to avoid any clash with it. Having given these orders, he prepared for a decisive battle with the man whose kindness still made him hesitate and put off the fate he foresaw for his opponent. The enemy, however, trusting in the help of a host of gods, advanced to the attack with a powerful array of troops, with certain images of the dead and lifeless statues carried in front as their defense. On the other side the emperor, secure in the armor of godliness, set the saving and life-giving sign against the enemy’s numbers, both as a terror to the foe and as a protection from every harm. And for a while he held back, keeping at first to restraint out of respect for the treaty of peace he had approved, so that he would not be the first to begin the fight.