{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/201/2010423.htm","path":"chr/ecf/201/2010423.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/201/2010423.htm","text":"Chapter XXXVIII.\u2014Death of Maxentius on the Bridge of the Tiber. 3126\nAnd already he was approaching very near Rome itself, when, to save him from the necessity of fighting with all the Romans for the tyrant\u2019s sake, God himself drew the tyrant, as it were by secret cords, a long way outside the gates. 3127 And now those miracles recorded in p. 493 Holy Writ, which God of old wrought against the ungodly (discredited by most as fables, yet believed by the faithful), did he in every deed confirm to all alike, believers and unbelievers, who were eye-witnesses of the wonders. For as once in the days of Moses and the Hebrew nation, who were worshipers of God, \u201cPharaoh\u2019s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea and his chosen chariot-captains are drowned in the Red Sea,\u201d 3128 \u2014so at this time Maxentius, and the soldiers and guards 3129 with him, \u201cwent down into the depths like stone,\u201d 3130 when, in his flight before the divinely-aided forces of Constantine, he essayed to cross the river which lay in his way, over which, making a strong bridge of boats, he had framed an engine of destruction, really against himself, but in the hope of ensnaring thereby him who was beloved by God. For his God stood by the one to protect him, while the other, godless, 3131 proved to be the miserable contriver of these secret devices to his own ruin. So that one might well say, \u201cHe hath made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violence shall come down upon his own pate.\u201d 3132 Thus, in the present instance, under divine direction, the machine erected on the bridge, with the ambuscade concealed therein, giving way unexpectedly before the appointed time, the bridge began to sink, and the boats with the men in them went bodily to the bottom. 3133 And first the wretch himself, then his armed attendants and guards, even as the sacred oracles had before described, \u201csank as lead in the mighty waters.\u201d 3134 So that they who thus obtained victory from God might well, if not in the same words, yet in fact in the same spirit as the people of his great servant Moses, sing and speak as they did concerning the impious tyrant of old: \u201cLet us sing unto the Lord, for he hath been glorified exceedingly: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. He is become my helper and my shield unto salvation.\u201d And again, \u201cWho is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, marvelous in praises, doing wonders?\u201d 3135\nThe Milvian, the present Ponte Molle.\n492:3127\nThe present Ponte Molle is nearly 2\u00bd kilometers (say 1\u00bd miles) from the Porta del Popolo (at the Mons Pincius). The walls at that time were the ones built by Aurelian, and are substantially the same as the present ones. This Pons Milvius was first built 100 years b.c., and \u201csome part of the first bridge is supposed to remain\u201d (Jenkin, p. 329). Compare Jenkin, art. Bridges, in Enc. Brit. 4 (1878), 329, for cut and description.\n493:3128\nEx. xv. 4. This is identically taken from the Septuagint with the change of only one word, where Eusebius gains little in exchanging \u201cswallowed up in\u201d for plunged or drowned in.\n493:3129\n\u201cHeavy armed and light armed.\u201d\n493:3130 493:3131\n\u201cGodless,\u201d or if \u1f04\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5is to be read, \u201cdestitute of his aid,\u201d as Bag. Much conjecture has been expended on this reading. Heinichen has \u1f00\u03b8\u03b5\u03b5\u1f76.\n493:3132\nPs. 7:15, 16, Septuagint translation.\n493:3133\nThis matter is discussed in the Prolegomena.\n493:3134 493:3135\nExod. 15:1, 2, 11, Septuagint version. This whole chapter with the last paragraph of the preceding are in the Church History, 9. 9.","title":"Nicene and Ante-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol I: The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius.: Chapter XXXVIII","type":"page"}