The Emperor Maximin died at Tarsus in A.D. 313, after being defeated by Licinius, who like himself had been raised to the rank of Augustus by Galerius, and to whom the empire of Egypt and the East then fell, while Constantine, the son of Constantius, governed Italy and the West.  Licinius held his empire for ten years against the growing strength of his colleague and rival; but the ambition of Constantine increased with his power, and Licinius was at last forced to gather together his army in Thrace, to defend himself from an attack.  His forces consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand foot, fifteen thousand horse, and three hundred and fifty triremes, of which Egypt furnished eighty.  He was defeated near Adrianople; and then, upon a promise that his life should be spared, he surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia.  But the promise was forgotten and Licinius hanged, and the Roman world was once more governed by a single emperor.  The growing strength of his colleague and rival; but the ambition of Constantine increased with his power, and Licinius was at last forced to gather together his army in Thrace, to defend himself from an attack.  His forces consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand foot, fifteen thousand horse, and three hundred and fifty triremes, of which Egypt furnished eighty.  He was defeated near Adrianople; and then, upon a promise that his life should be spared, he surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia.  But the promise was forgotten and Licinius hanged, and the Roman world was once more governed by a single emperor.

CHAPTER II.—­THE CHRISTIAN PERIOD IN EGYPT

The Ascendency of the new religion:  The Arian controversies:  The Zenith of monasticism:  The final struggle of Paganism:  The decline of Alexandria.

Coming under the Roman sway, the Greek world underwent, not only politically but also intellectually, a complete change.  As the Roman conquest had worn away all political differences and national divergences, and, by uniting the various races under the rule of the empire was bringing to its consummation the work begun by the Macedonian conqueror, it could not fail to influence the train of thought.  On the one hand the political and ideal structure of Greek life was crumbling and bringing down the support and guiding principle supplied by the duties of citizenship and the devotion to the commonwealth.  Man was thrown upon himself to find the principles of conduct.  The customary morality and religion had been shaken in their foundations.  The belief in the old gods and the old religion was undermined.  Philosophy endeavoured to occupy the place left vacant by the gradual decay of the national religion.  The individual, seeking for support and spiritual guidance, found it, or at least imagined he had found it, in philosophy.  The conduct of life became the fundamental problem, and philosophy assumed a practical aspect.  It aimed at finding a complete art of living.  It