Table of Contents - The Barnes Review

with the persecution of Christians in Persia, after the reinstating
of Zoroastrianism there, economic prosperity happened to
reign in both empires. Chlorus handles himself with humanity
during the ordeal, bringing down only the physical structures of
the Christians. Diocletian fails to stabilize the silver coinage, so
officially he introduced the gold standard of the international
bankers.
Diocletian, 305, resigned and obliges Maximianus to do so.
Galerius and Chlorus are elevated to senior and junior augusti
respectively. Chlorus being absent, Galerius ordained two caesars,
neither being a relative to himself or to Chlorus. Flavius
Severus, an evil man, is made the west caesar and as Galerius is
about to ordain the other, the crowds turn their eyes upon
Constantine. Galerius pushed him aside and guided forth Maximinus
Daia, a nephew of base character. Constantine sought to
leave in 305; some try to say he escaped. Quickly he joined his
father to reconquer Britain. Chlorus governed his quarter of the
empire out of Eboracum (York). Loved by pagans and Christians
in the West, he admonished Constantine to be fair with
Christians as they were clean and made responsible citizens. In
a year Chlorus died. Constantine’s army raised him to augustus
while Galerius recognized him only as caesar. Maximianus, in
307, recognized Constantine the west augustus, obliged him to
divorce his Minervina of non-status background, and gives him
his daughter Fausta in marriage.
In Rome the people, agitating for their capital back, in 306,
declared Maxentius the augustus. For both Maxentius and
Constantine to be west augusti by act of Maximianus meant that
Maximianus with secret backing wished to get rid of Galerius.
Galerius made Severus the caesar for the west. Maximianus and
Maxentius provoked Galerius and Severus. Severus crossed into
Italy in 307, and his troops, suddenly and somehow being
instilled with fear of sacrilege to invade sacred soil, at the last
moment abandoned him to be seized and executed. Humiliated,
Galerius recognized Constantine the west augustus.
Maximianus petitioned Diocletian in 308, both retired, to
allow him back his throne, but Galerius and Diocletian rejected
him. His son refused to abdicate in his favor and, as a result, his
troops mutinied. Escaping to Gaul, he conspired with his daughter
to murder Constantine, his son-in-law, to take his title and
power. She told her husband. Maximianus escaped and in Marseilles
“strangled himself,” or was executed by someone. Germanic
border uprisings, with his demise, become quieted.
Maxentius, evil as his father and eyeing the western
provinces, then announced he would avenge his father. Constantine
moved quickly across Gaul. His adversary had 188,000
men. He had 108,000, but half must defend the Rhine. His soldiers,
suddenly, too, see as sacrilege and tremble at the prospect
of violently entering Italian soil and laying siege to the sacred
Capitolium Hill. His generals remember Severus’s fate.
Meanwhile Galerius conceded to allow Christians to worship
as long as they prayed for the emperor—a condition
Orthodox Christianity held through Ottoman Muslim and athe-
48 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 3
ist communist rule until today. Galerius then restored all properties
to the Christians. He died in 311, perhaps poisoned, as his
favorites, Licinius and Maximinus Daia, split his domain.
Constantine and his army, Christians and pagans, in high
noon see a “cross” of light hovering above the sun with the inscription
in Greek “by this sign conquer.” That night Constantine
dreams of the Christ of God and the imperial standard adapted
to the celestial sign. The new standard, the “labarum,” is of a
gold-plated spear, a gold-plated crossbar, a suspended square
piece of purple silk cloth with the gold-threaded Greek “Chi Rho”
monogram, surmounted with a wreath.
Constantine enters Italy with 40,000 men, bearing shields
with the “Chi Rho,” each unit led with a “labarum.” Taking Torino,
Milano and Verona, he marched to Rome. Constantine, marched
out across the Tiber in full array and defeated Maxentius. Fleeing
toward Rome, Maxentius falls off the Milvian Bridge and
drowned.
The next day, October 28, 312, Constantine enters Rome,
the sole emperor of the West. He keeps to a moderate policy, for
he is emperor of all Romans of all religions. He remains unbaptized.
He maintains the ancient pagan title of pontifex maximus,
as it is an authoritatively managerial title of state. In his triumphal
ceremony he does not sacrifice to the pagan gods; nor
participate in the yearly equestrian procession of ascending the
Capitolium to offer sacrifices to the gods per ancient custom. He
donated pieces of imperial land to build churches and granted
privileges to the church. He warns the clergy: “Do not be dis-
Pagan practices meanwhile were manifesting increased activity in secret rites,
superstitious practices, sorcery, narcotic hallucinations, enchantments,
all of which by older laws were, as questionable practices, forbidden.
tracted by any secular [treacherous] offers. When you are free [of
oaths, obligations to other men] to render the highest service to
the Divinity you bestow a great benefit upon the state.”
The senate proclaims Constantine the augustus of the
west, builds an arch of triumph and sets up a monument with his
statue holding the victory-delivering spear with cross-bar and
with the Greek inscription at the base, “By this saving sign, the
true expository of bravery, I freed your city from tyranny and
restored liberty to the senate and the people of Rome.” All his
inscriptions avoid mention of ancient gods or of the Christian
God, favoring the abstract “divinity” as a conciliatory gesture.
That the Greek language is employed is not shocking, for the
inhabitants of Rome have been bilingual for 400 years. Matters
of law and order are in Latin; matters of philosophy and now of
Christianity were in Greek.
Constantine and Licinius, in 313, met in Milan. Constantine
gave his sister in marriage to Licinius as the two eventually
settled matters of state and proclaimed the Edict of Milan for
the tolerance of all religions. From this, the Jews lose their
uniquely special status. The empire’s easternmost co-emperor,
Maximinus Daia, while Licinius is absent from the Danube,
feigned agreement, scheming under clandestine advisement and
backing to be the sole emperor of the East. Surging across the
Bosporus, he was repulsed by Licinius at Adrianople, and again
at Byzantium. Returning to Nicomedia, he then killed himself.
Two emperors were left. Licinius, in the east, now being