Chap. XLVII.
So the two armies drew nigh; the trumpets gave the signal; the military ensigns advanced; the troops of
Licinius
charged. But the enemies, panic-struck, could neither draw their swords nor yet throw their javelins.
Daia
went about, and, alternately by entreaties and promises, attempted to seduce the soldiers of
Licinius
. But he was not hearkened to in any quarter, and they drove him back. Then were the troops of
Daia
slaughtered, none making resistance; and such numerous legions, and forces so mighty, were mowed down by an inferior enemy. No one called to mind his reputation, or former valour, or the honourable rewards which had been conferred on him. The Supreme God did so place their necks under the sword of their
foes, that they seemed to have entered the field, not as combatants, but as men devoted to death. After great numbers had fallen,
Daia
perceived that everything went contrary to his hopes; and therefore he threw aside the purple, and having put on the habit of a slave, hasted across the Thracian Bosphorus. One half of his army perished in battle, and the rest either surrendered to the victor or fled; for now that the emperor himself had deserted, there seemed to be no shame in desertion. Before the expiration of the kalends of May,
Daia
arrived at Nicomedia, although distant one hundred and sixty miles from the field of battle. So in the space of one day and two nights he performed that journey. Having hurried away with his children and wife, and a few officers of his court, he went towards Syria; but having been joined by some troops from those quarters, and having collected together a part of his fugitive forces, he halted in Cappadocia, and then he resumed the imperial garb.