Dacius came in just then, a smile warming his craggy face as he put a hand on the boy’s shoulder in a gesture of affection. “You have a fine son, here, Augustus,” he said. “With the makings of a good soldier.”
“Dacius himself planned the military training program at Autun,” Constantine told Crispus.
“Then I know I shall like it,” the boy said eagerly. “Will you excuse me now, Father? King Crocus has invited me to go with him to the chariot races.”
“By all means do. Dacius and I have much to talk about.”
“He is just such another as you were at his age,” the old soldier said, when the door closed behind the boy. “Your mother has done a fine job of bringing him up.”
“Did she object to letting him come? I explained to her in my letter that it was time for him to begin his military training.”
“She hated to lose him, but she knows he is old enough now to leave the nest.”
Licinius and Galerius
“What about your mission to Licinius and Galerius?”
“Licinius is playing a waiting game, but I’m sure he will come over to your side once you win control of Italy.”
“And Galerius?”
“Our old enemy suffers much from a plague that has afflicted his whole body. You’ll find this hard to believe, but he is obsessed with the conviction that he has offended the Christian god and is being punished because of it.”
“I don’t know anyone who deserves it more.”
“I suspect Galerius realizes that. But having filled his treasury with Christian gold and enriched himself with their property, he now wants to make peace with them. He has even published an edict of tolerance, allowing Christians all the rights they enjoyed before the persecutions.” Dacius took a parchment scroll from a pocket in his tunic and handed it to Constantine. “Here, read it for yourself.”
The document was simply worded, informing all officials that henceforth members of the Christain faith were to be allowed to worship as they pleased, to rebuild their churches and to regain the honors many of them had enjoyed before the edicts of Diocletian.
“What about Maximin Daia?” Constantine asked. “Will he obey this edict?”
“Daia does as he pleases, from what I heard. As long as a single gold coin can be extorted from the Christians for his own purse, he will continue to afflict them. What are you going to do about Galerius’ edict?”
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