EveningThe glow of hundreds of raging fires lights the campground. Thousands of men take their final meal before sleep.
The breeze on this crisp October night carries the aromas all over the camp. Our men eat well. They fill their stomachs with figs, dates, boiled corn porridge, roasted lamb and birds, hard tack, and olives. Soon they will rest before battle tomorrow.
The velites selected our camp well. Our camp lays on a vast land of flat pastures and rolling hills near the Tiber River. My tent sits on a hill overlooking the Milvian Bridge. I have a clear view of my century. These one hundred men are well trained and ready to take orders.
I look at the red flags identifying my fellow centurions’ tents and the white flag of our Primus Pilus. "Giacomus Carlus Ricardus," he said to me, "I look to you as the first centurion above all others." He places a great deal of trust and confidence in my experience. I hope tomorrow’s battle will prove him right.
I have two sources of motivation for tomorrow. One is that I want to win the battle for the great Constantine. The other is that I have been a soldier for many years and have worked very hard to reach the rank of Centurion. This may be my last battle before retirement.
My rank has its privileges, including the opportunity for promotion to the Praetorian Guard. One of my privileges is marriage. The lower ranks are not permitted to marry. In fact, in the early days of the empire, married recruits were forced to end their marriages. The military said that our troops needed no distractions from their duty. After I leave the army, I will move into one of the frontier areas where my military skills will be appreciated by the local people. I am not interested in taking my wife and family to live in one of the veterans’ colonies, even though they are much improved from the days of the great Augustus. I am told these colonies were mostly marshland where crops were impossible to grow.
My great Constantine treats his troops and his whole empire very well. I will have good land and a true life with my family. I will be able to take part in many activities with my family. I have been looking forward to this for years.
My life in the army has been long and tiring. I am only two years older than Constantine, yet I fought under his father Constantius in Britian. I was there when the army proclaimed Constantine "Augustus" and emperor in the west after his father died at York six years ago. I have lived through civil war after civil war for the past seven years. I have lived through the fighting between Constantine and Maxentius and Galerius and Maximian for command of the empire. They should have known that only one man could end up as emperor. Diocletian’s experiment with joint emperors did not work when he tried it years ago. Now, we face another battle, this time between Constantine and Maxentius.
I continue to think about my future life with my family. Still, I look at the troops in front of me and think about how young many of them are. But they will do their duty tomorrow. Their great Roman training has prepared them well.
A new army recruit first learns to march properly. It is common for trainees to march twenty miles in five hours at the military pace in the summer months. They are expected to run, jump, swim, and carry heavy packs to build up their physical strength. Their physical training begins without arms and equipment, then begins to gradually add equipment as the young recruits improve. Weapons training includes replacing real arms with wicker and wooden tools. All of their skills are combined in one special form of physical training. This is vaulting on horseback, not just for the cavalry recruits but for everyone, even those beyond the recruit stage.
Once recruits reach the field, they realize how important all of their training has been, especially the physical training, when they must carry heavy loads of at least ninety-three pounds. Their field training includes learning how to construct a camp at the end of each day’s march. They learn how to stand guard and watch for danger. They learn battle formations.
The most important part of the recruit’s training is the Roman emphasis on discipline and obedience. We know that we have conquered the world because of our training in the use of weapons, strict discipline in the military camps, and practice in warfare. We are successful against all other people because of our skillful selection of recruits and their daily exercises.
The soldier in battle must obey all orders. The soldier who does not is executed even if his actions are successful. A commander must know that his troops will follow his orders no matter what the circumstances are. I know that my one hundred men will follow my command tomorrow. My commander knows I will follow his orders, and the great Constantine knows that all of his officers will give him unquestioned loyalty and service.
Morning
My head is so full of anxiety that I can not sleep. It is now morning and our Primus Pilus has commanded us to a meeting of all Centurions and other officers.
I expect to receive the battle plan. I am wrong. Constantine speaks with excitement. He tells us of a vision he had of the Christian god. What are we hearing? As soldiers, we are not a religious group. We do know that fashionable Romans worship Sol Invictus as their god. We are soldiers. Our god is duty and service. Our emperor Constantine is a pagan.
What is he saying now? He tells us that the Christian god had spoken to him through the night. He said he had seen a sign from heaven, which was an image of a cross of lights. On this cross was the phrase in hoc signo vinces, which means "you will conquer by this sign." He said that the Christian god Christ commanded him to make a likeness of that sign and to use it as a sign against our enemies.
I know very little about these Christians. I know that during the time of Tiberius, a man from Galilee was put to death on a cross for saying he was the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for for over two thousand years. His followers were called Christians. I heard stories passed down that they wanted to take over the world through peace. Now Constantine is telling us to fight our battle this morning under the symbol of this Christian cross. He says that this Christian god promised victory if we do this.
Constantine tells us to write two Greek letters on our shields. These were the first two Greek letters in the name Christ. They are P and X. If we do this, the sign of the cross will help us conquer Maxentius’ troops. We will defeat Maxentius because we fight under the guidance of the Christian god.
This news comes to me as quite a shock. After all, Constantine is known to be a pagan and to just change his views and risk his empire’s destiny on this is not heard of. He said that he would remain a pagan, but would do as Christ said.
Constantine truly believes this vision. I look to my Primus Pilus for a reaction. He considers me his first centurion, but I do not know what to think. I look to my fellow centurions for their thoughts. What are we to do? We admire our leader yet we now have doubts about his sanity. How could a pagan believe in a vision, especially one that is made by the god of the Christian fanatics? We are soldiers. We have fought with Constantine for years. We know he would not put his soldiers and the empire at risk. We owe him our loyalty. What are we to tell our troops? Will their training prepare them for this test of obedience?
Evening
I can write about what happened next. The battle is now over. All of us left Constantine’s tent and went out to our men to carry out the emperor’s orders. This is when the training in duty and obedience paid off.
The battle was bloody. Most of the blood was drawn from Maxentius’ troops. Our men were armed and trained. The front ranks used their pilas very courageously. They followed their orders by throwing these short javelins first, then the longer ones. The rest of the troops used their swords and daggers. Our horses were fearless. They charged unafraid. The great Constantine prevailed again. What this morning looked like the beginning of the end, turned out to be an overwhelming victory and the beginning of the uprise of a new faith.
Not only did we defeat Maxentius’ troops, but we also killed Maxentius himself. We pushed him over the bridge and his armour sank him to the bottom, where he drowned. What was left of his troops now joined ours.
It is now evening. I think about what happened today. What does all of this mean for the empire? Will Constantine become one of the Christian fanatics? Will he order his commanders to join him in this religion? Can a soldier be a Christian? What will happen to the sun god? What will our new recruits think about this?
All I know is that our battle was a triumph. I will end my military days knowing that I was at the Milvian Bridge when the great Constantine spoke of a vision from the heavens that led us to victory.
"The Armies of the Roman Empire." http://greenspider.com/dan/rome.htmlConnolly, Peter. Greece and Rome At War. London: Greenill Books, 1998.
"Military." http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7036/military.html
Parkside Middle School. "An Ancient Roman Banquet."
http://204.122.127.80/pwc/schools/parkside_ms/food.htm
Shelton, Jo-Ann. As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. 2nd Edition.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
"The Throne of the Caesars: Emperor Constantine I (The Great)."
http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/EMPCONT/el84.htm
Watson, G. R. The Roman Soldier. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969.
Jim K. '03, Germantown Academy 1999