“Maximian has a son.”
“Maxentius is nothing but a cruel and oppressive libertine,” Helena said with scorn. “In Africa he put thousands of innocent people to the sword, for no reason at all. The common people of the Empire hate him, and the Praetorians only support him because they think he might make Rome the capital again, after Maximian abdicates.”
“The Emperor told me himself that he will not name a son of any Caesar or Augustus to succeed his father.”
“Only because none except you are fit for the post. You stand high in Diocletian’s favor, with access to his innermost chamber. Surely you can convince him that he should change his mind.”
“We shall see.” Constantine finished his wine and got to his feet. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go to bed now. When does the young man wake up?”
Best night’s sleep
“Leave him to me,” Helena said. “I’ve placed you in the farthest room from his crib and will try to keep him quiet until you awaken.” Constantine enjoyed the best night’s sleep he could remember since leaving Drepanum to start the expedition into Egypt. When he awoke, he heard the gurgling laugh of the baby in another part of the house and went to pick Crispus up from his crib and hold him high in the air. The child showed no sign of fear but laughed and demanded more. When Constantine departed three days later for the short ride to Nicomedia, it was with a renewed feeling of purpose and no more doubts about whether he had been wrong in not going to Armenia.
High in the heavens above Drepanum he had seen what he was sure was his star once again and now he had every reason to follow it without any slackening of the faith in his own destiny. For another would soon be walking in his own steps, as he had walked proudly in those of Constantius.
It had been fully twenty years since a triumph had been celebrated in Rome. During that time the once proud capital of the world’s greatest empire had been reduced to hardly more than a hollow shell of its former position of authority, though retaining some semblance of its traditional glory.
With the accession of Diocletian, the Empire had taken on the character of an oriential monarchy, ruled largely from the East. And though authority was shared with Maximian, the more or less constant state of rebellion on the Rhine frontier and across the Fretum Gallicum in Britain had forced the Augustus of the West to move his court to Milan in order to be nearer the fighting.
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