At Arles the Massilotes had built an important trading station in the time of the early Phoenicians, before the luckless Queen Dido of Tyre had founded Carthage on the African coast to the south. Julius Caesar had constructed galleys on the banks of the river in preparation for the assault on nearby Massilia, and much of Arles’s commercial importance was linked with its role as a port where river vessels transshipped their cargoes to seagoing bottoms.
The center for Roman administration in Arles lay in the western part of the city, not far from the river, while between it and the broad sluggish stream stood a giant arch completed by Constantius shortly before his death. The climate was hot in spring and summer, but a huge structure called the Cryptoporticus, with a network of underground passages, formed a cool retreat as well as a storage place for perishable goods. All in all, Arles was a happy place, far removed from the constant threat of invasion from across the Rhine that made Treves for all its magnificence a frontier city.
When Fausta became pregnant with their first child, Constantine was overjoyed. And when the baby proved to be a girl, he felt a sense of relief, for he knew Fausta would fight to preserve the succession for her own progeny, while he had always considered Crispus his successor in line of rule.
Constantine had notified
Helena had not come to the wedding, though Constantine had notified her of the date and offered to place the resources of the Imperial Post at her disposal. She did not mention it in her letter telling him she could not come but he was sure her absence was dictated by her distrust of Fausta because she was Maximian’s daughter. Bewitched with love for his young bride, he could not sympathize with that view, but he could understand his mother’s not wanting to meet Maximian, who had been responsible with Diocletian for her divorce from Constantius. His mother did report that Crispus was growing tall and strong and was eagerly looking forward to beginning his military training.
The uneasy accord between Maximian and Maxentius was not long in being disrupted by the unstable tempers of its two adherents. Maximian considered that his position as ExEmperor had provided Maxentius with backing to seize control of Italy. The son, on the other hand, cited the support of the Senate and the Praetorian Guard in his election to the post of Augustus. The controversy between them faithfully reported to Constantine in Arles by his spies finally resulted in the flight of Maximian from Rome to Illyr icum.
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