The Battle Lasted Two Days, And Terminated In
The Complete Defeat Of Licinius.
Shortly after this decisive victory, the
Roman world was again united under one emperor, and the imperial residence
and seat of government was fixed by Constantine at Byzantium, which
thenceforth obtained the name of Constantinople.
In the middle of the fourth century Ammianus Marcellinus gives us some
important and curious information respecting the Roman commerce with the
East. According to him it was customary to hold an annual fair at Batnae, a
town to the east of Antioch, not far from the banks of the Euphrates.
Merchandize from the East was brought hither overland by caravans, as well
as up the Euphrates; and its value at this fair was so great, that the
Persians made an attempt to plunder it. To the same author we are indebted
for some notices respecting the countries which lay beyond the eastern
limits of the Roman empire, and also for the first clear and undoubted
notice of rhubarb, as an extensive article of commerce for medicinal
purposes.
Towards the end of the fourth century, the naval expeditions of the Saxons
attracted the notice and excited the fears of the Britons and the Gauls:
their vessels apparently were unfit for a long voyage, or for encountering
either the dangers of the sea or of battle; they were flat-bottomed and
slightly constructed of timber, wicker-work, and hides; but such vessels
possessed advantages, which to the Saxons more than compensated for their
defects:
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