Justinian
Justinian sits upon his throne, and thinks. So many have died. And so many more must die before he can take his rest, before his Empire will be safe. So much must be burnt. It is regrettable. The Divine Augustus – Divine no longer, he must remind himself – would turn his face away in disgust. But it is necessary.
Barbarians howl at the borders, and the People have lost their resolve. The old austerity is gone. Decadence is the essence of Rome, now. Weakness. Yes, Rome is weak. It is divided, broken into fragments, riddles, dreadful accidents. Justinian must be the uniter, the guesser of riddles, the redeemer of accidents. Rome must be made whole.
Justinian raises his head and surveys his throne room. Marble busts of his predecessors stare at each other impassively. Justinian’s gaze settles on the face of Constantine. Constantine, who is dead, but whose madness endures. Justinian cannot bring himself to curse the memory of his lost forbear - it is from Constantine that Justinian has inherited his last, desperate hope.
They follow a rabble-rouser and a doomsayer from a people of rabble-rousers and doomsayers. A nobody in a far-flung client state of nobodies, executed and forgotten. They are just another anarchist cult, with their own little Kingdom of Heaven in the greatest Empire on Earth. Their obscurity, their foreignness…they are perfect. The followers of the Way, the Christians, offer Justinian just what he needs. New purpose. Divine purpose.
Of course, Justinian has considered self-deification; it is almost a tradition by now. Claiming divine authority might win him back the influence he needs, but Justinian knows that he will die one day. Perhaps sooner than later if the dice fall badly. According to his followers, this Yeshua has already died, and found it no particular obstacle. Yes. The Cross will be Rome’s salvation. It is foreign, unknown, a synthesis of old doctrines assembled in a new form. A new faith, a new Temple, a new priesthood loyal to him, not to the army or to the nobility or to the memory of Divine Augustus. The multiplicity of gods will be replaced by one God. The multiplicity of customs will be replaced by one Law. The multiplicity of hopes will be reduced to one Hope.
And so Justinian sits on his throne, and speaks. All statues shall be smashed. All liturgies shall be burnt, save for the One he will ensure is ruthlessly standardised. All former forms of worship are pagan, are heresy. The nobility shall give up Jupiter and Mars. The People shall give up Julius and Augustus. The army shall give up Mithras and Sol Invictus. Rome shall know purpose again. Rome shall know wholeness again.
And Rome will survive.
|
etcetera.online
