Dawn of a New Rome
Chapter 40: The Master of Rome

Chapter 40: The Master of Rome

The morning after the battle, the muddy waters of the Tiber gave up their dead. When the body of Maxentius was dragged ashore, bloated and stripped of its dignity, Constantine looked upon the face of his defeated rival without a flicker of emotion. He gave a single, cold order. The head of the tyrant was severed and mounted on the tip of a spear. It would serve as the grim herald of his victory.

His approach to Rome was not the march of a conqueror, but the arrival of a foregone conclusion. The city’s populace, freed from the grip of a ruler they had come to fear, poured out through the gates to greet him. They threw flowers before his horse, shouting his name, hailing him as a liberator, a savior sent by the gods. Constantine received their adulation with a stony, impassive face. The roar of a mob, he knew, was as fickle as the wind.

He led his legions through the ancient streets, a river of iron-hard discipline flowing through the heart of the world. The citizens stared in awe at his battle-scarred veterans from the Rhine, at the towering Alemanni warriors, and most of all, at the strange, stark symbol painted on every shield. The Chi-Rho was a mystery, a topic of fearful, whispered speculation. It was the emblem of the victory, the sign of their new master’s unfamiliar power.

Constantine bypassed the Forum, ignoring the cheering crowds, and made straight for the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill. Once inside its sprawling halls, his first act as the undisputed master of the West was not one of celebration, but of cold political surgery. "Valerius," he commanded, his voice sharp. "Take the Scholae Palatinae and five cohorts of the VI Victrix. Surround the Castra Praetoria. The Praetorian Guard is to be disbanded. Permanently."

Valerius and the other officers present stared, stunned by the audacity of the order. The Praetorians had been the personal guard of emperors for over three centuries. They had made and unmade rulers at will. To disband them was to break a pillar of Roman power. "They are a cancer," Constantine stated, his single eye glinting with absolute resolve. "A privileged, politically corrupted body that has repeatedly sold the throne to the highest bidder. They serve no purpose but to threaten the stability of the state. Disarm them, strip them of their rank, and demolish their fortress. I will not have a king-making mob nesting within my capital."

His second order was just as brutal. He had the head of Maxentius paraded through the Forum before being sent to North Africa to prove to the last of his rival’s provinces that their master was truly gone. There would be no lingering doubts, no false Maxentius’s rising to challenge him.

Only then did he summon the Senate. They gathered in the Curia Julia, the ancient senate house, their faces a mixture of relief at Maxentius’s demise and deep apprehension of the one-eyed, twenty-six-year-old general who had so violently replaced him. They were the old aristocracy of Rome, men of immense wealth and tradition, and they were now face-to-face with a new, hard power from the provinces.

Constantine entered the Curia flanked not by lictors, but by his own battle-scarred Protectores. He did not ask for their confirmation or their blessing. He spoke to them as their ruler. "Honorable Senators," he began, his voice calm and carrying to every corner of the hushed hall. "I have come to Rome to free this city from the grip of a tyrant. That task is complete. Maxentius is dead, and his Praetorian puppets are disbanded. I will restore the dignity and safety of the Senate, and I will respect its ancient traditions." He paused, letting his gaze sweep over them. "But let there be no mistake. The governance of the Empire, the command of the legions, the final word on matters of state – that authority rests with me alone. Serve me with loyalty, and you will find me a just and generous Augustus. Obstruct me, and you will find my judgment swift and absolute."

It was a declaration of autocracy, wrapped in the thinnest veil of respect. The senators, looking at the formidable warrior before them, understood the message perfectly.

Later that evening, Constantine stood on a balcony on the Palatine Hill, looking out over the endless sprawl of Rome. He saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the glow of a million lamps. This was the city that had dominated the world, the city whose history he had spent a lifetime in another world studying. Yet, he felt no sense of awe, no triumphant homecoming. He saw a vast, decadent, and strategically vulnerable metropolis, a relic whose time as the true center of power had passed. His mind, Alistair’s mind, saw the future, and it was not here. It was in the East, at the crossroads of the world, in a city he had not yet seen but knew he would one day build.

His victory here was total. The West was his. But it was only a beginning. Licinius and Maximinus Daia still ruled the East. The Empire was still divided. He had conquered a city, but he had not yet saved the world. His work was far from over.

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