Again there was a brief colloquy, at the end of which Josiah reported: “He knows of a caravan route to the neighborhood of Circesium that is little used, sir. The way is rough, though passable, and will cut several days off the longer journey. But he would have to be paid for the caravan he has just brought here, since it will go no farther.”
“Isn’t your father a merchant?” Constantine asked Josiah.
“Yes, noble Tribune.”
“Flavius Valerius Constantinus, Tribunus Primi Ordinarius, on a mission for the Emperor, asks admission to the fortress,” he announced.
Constantine meticulously returned
Nothing happened for a moment, then the gate of the fortification was pushed open and a stocky centurion in full uniform, followed by two legionaries bearing banners similar to those Constantine had displayed, strode through it. He came to a position of attention in the open space before the gate and gave the clenched fist salute of the Roman soldier, which Constantine meticulously returned.
“Lucius Catullus, Centurion of the 14th Cohort, commanding the garrison,” he announced. “Enter with your men, Tribune Constantinus. The stables are empty, but there is grain and fodder for your horses.”
When the ala was inside the fortress, Constantine and Dacius joined the centurion in the headquarters of the garrison.
“I suppose you’re wondering why we didn’t greet you with open arms,” Lucius Catullus said. “But I have always followed the principle of si pacem vis habere para bellum.”
“If you want peace, be ready for war,” Constantine repeated approvingly. “It is an excellent motto.”
“True, the fighting is somewhere to the north of us, if there is still any war,” Lucius Catullus continued. “But with the Persians on our doorstep, it’s just as well not to let them know I have emptied the garrison of all but a few household troops and sent them north to help Caesar Galerius.”
‘Then he is in trouble?” Constantine asked quickly. “We heard rumors of it.”
“If the gossip in the market place is to be believed and it’s usually several days ahead of official dispatches the Emperor’s soninlaw is about to be routed,” Lucius Catullus said. “I expect any day to be forced to retreat toward Antioch to save the skins of the few men I have left, to say nothing of my own.”
“Was it Carrhae all over again?” Dacius asked.
“Something like it, from what I hear. The Persian soothsayers have always been wiser than ours. They must have told Narses that Galerius would strike at the center instead of retaking Armenia. But why were you sent here?”
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