Who might say that a new frontier for him didn’t lie past the Pontus Euxinus, past the Euphrates and the Tigris, past even Armenia and Mesopotamia, within the huge territory extending to the river Indus in faroff India? It had been conquered briefly by Alexander the Nice and referred to as Ariana by him, however Rome had by no means prolonged its area there. And on the thought that he would possibly at some point rule a better expanse of the East than even the victorious Alexander had ever been capable of conquer, Constantine felt his creativeness take hearth.
“Rome is dying.” To Crispus and Dacius, Constantine appeared to be chatting with himself quite than to them. “I shall depart it behind me and construct right here a terrific metropolis from which to rule an Empire of the East, a Christian Empire better than the world has ever identified.”
Seeing the glowing mild in Constantine’s eyes Dacius was reminded of one other event when he had seen that very same look within the camp on the financial institution of the Euphrates behind the Persian strains, the place Constantine had risen from sleep and revealed his daring plan of assault. And but although Dacius couldn’t see it one nice distinction, in addition to that of age, separated the youthful commander, who had risked all that day to realize a lot, and the Emperor who stood now with the world at his toes. For whereas the youth had been crammed with confidence in his personal power, the Emperor freely acknowledged that one other Energy, increased than himself, had been instrumental at each important level in his life, prescribing by varied means the course he would comply with.
Christ at Saxa Rubra
The change had been a gradual one, it was true. However Constantine himself had already acknowledged it publicly when, in a letter to the Council of Arles two years after he had raised the usual of Christ at Saxa Rubra and gone on to Rome in victory, he had written:
The inconceivable goodness of our God forbids that mankind ought to proceed to wander at nighttime. I’ve realized this fact from many examples exterior myself, however I may also verify it from my very own expertise. There have been issues in my very own nature that have been devoid of righteousness and I appeared to see no heavenly energy that I might need been carrying hidden in my breast. However Almighty God, who watches from the excessive tower of heaven, had vouchsafed to me what I’ve not deserved. Verily previous numbers are the blessings that he, in his heavenly goodness, has bestowed on me, his servant.
Travelling 