The peace forged on the bloody field of Mardia was a grim, pragmatic affair. The treaty was signed amidst the dead. As Constantine watched Licinius's battered legions begin their slow withdrawal eastward, he felt no triumph. He had won vast new lands, but the cost had been staggering. His rival, though diminished, remained an Augustus, his power in the East still formidable. This was not the decisive end he had envisioned. It was a pause, bought with the blood of his best soldiers.
He did not return west to the comforts of Trier or Rome to celebrate his gains. The work was too urgent. He marched his weary army into the newly won province of Pannonia and established his forward court in the strategic city of Sirmium, on the very edge of his new frontier. From here, he could oversee the integration of his new provinces and keep a close, watchful eye on his rival.
