Important changes happen. Constantine divides the Roman Empire between East and West and renames the Eastern capital after himself. Christ becomes the single god of the Empire. From a pagan perspective, that alone is enough to make Christ a powerful god. The Teurings feel that their gods are doing well by them. As a skeptical philosopher, I would not put it quite like that but would nevertheless prefer a tolerant, inclusive polytheism to a dogmatic, exclusive monotheism.
Ermanaric, the most likely next king of the Ostrogoths, is said to be "...cruel and overbearing..." (p. 398) Meanwhile, Tharasmund marries Ulrica. Thus, events proceed towards the climax that we have learned to expect in 372.
In the next narrative section, 1858, Carl Farness confers with his mentor, Herbert Ganz, in Berlin so this is a good place for us to pause for the night. The narrative flows smoothly despite the large numbers of characters and time periods involved. Everard goes back off-stage but will stalk close in a later 1935 section when needed. Stay tuned.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Strictly speaking, what Constantine did was to rename the greatly expanded and refounded city of Byzantium as "New Rome."
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment