“Must there always be war, and suffering?” Helena had barely spoken during the spirited discussion, except to make the comment about the barbarians.
“We cannot let them push us out of Roman territory,” Marios protested.
“Why not, when it originally belonged to them? We could all dwell together in peace, if we would only respect each other’s rights.”
“What sort of talk is this from the wife of a Caesar and a Filius Augusti?” Marios stopped suddenly. “I mean ”
“You’re right, Helena.” Constantine had the strange feeling that his father was speaking so his Uncle Marios would not say any more, though he had no idea what might have been revealed. “Socrates and Plato knew the answer to maintaining peace more than five hundred years ago, but we are human and, I am afraid, unable to save ourselves most of the time.”
“The Christians believe the Son of God gave up his life as a ransom for anyone who wishes to earn the right to eternal life by believing in him,” Helena said.
“I must confess that I find their beliefs attractive,” Constantius admitted. “Though they are not much different from the principles that govern those of us who worship Mithras. But I am not sure they would be satisfactory as a means of governing an empire.”
“Are you a Christian, Helena?” Marios demanded.
“No, but I could easily be.”
“Don’t,” Marios advised. “Galerius hates them. Now that Diocletian has made him a Caesar, I look for him to start persecuting the followers of the Jewish rabbi any day.”
“But why?” Helena protested.
“Politics! What else? With a new court to establish and people fawning over him, Galerius will have to raise taxes. Nothing takes people’s minds off such things like a good scapegoat and the blacker the better.”
“But why persecute people who are harmless? I’ve never heard a single word in the teachings of Jesus that urges one person to hurt another.”
Diocletian believes dividing the Empire
“Marios is not saying exactly what he means, Helena,” Constantius said quietly. “Diocletian believes dividing the Empire into four prefectures, with a strong ruler in each, will prevent war and bloodshed between those who rule in each region. Perhaps it will, at least as long as he is alive. But Maximian is weak and he has an ambitious son in Maxentius”
A snort of disgust from Marios interrupted him. “You mean a serpent hiding in the grass waiting to strike, don’t you?”
Not every man is fortunate in having such a fine son as Helena has given me,” Constantius agreed, rumpling Constantine’s hair once again. As for Galerius, he no doubt expects to rule the whole Empire after Diocletian abdicates and that means destroying me, by whatever means he can find.”
“I’ll wager it was Galerius who persuaded the Emperor to send you to Gaul,” Marios said. “He knows that nothing is more difficult than conducting a military operation across a stormy body of water like the channel between Gaul and Britain. And if the Rhine garrisons have to be depleted for the expedition against Carausius, the Franks will surely strike southward again.”
Then it is true that more than military reasons are behind your being sent to Gaul and Britain, Constantius?” Helena asked.
Read More about Constantine could stand the strained atmosphere
