A Test of Loyalty
A Roman general asks his officers to decide where their priorities lie.
303
Roman Britain 43-410
A Roman general asks his officers to decide where their priorities lie.
303
Roman Britain 43-410
Constantius I Chlorus was supreme commander of the Roman Army in Britain and Gaul, and a co-ruler of the Roman Empire from 293 to 306. His son Constantine the Great became the first Roman Emperor to allow Christians to worship freely, and although Constantius was not a Christian himself, it is clear where his son acquired his respect for religious liberty.
IN the days of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the order went out that Christians serving in the Army were to offer sacrifice to the gods of Rome, or be dishonourably discharged.
So Constantius, who shared government of the western Empire with Maximian, and was commander of the Imperial forces in Gaul and Britain, gathered his officers around, told them that those who would not worship the gods of Rome would be stripped of their rank, and sat back to see what would happen.
Once he had a decision from everyone, he turned to those whom he knew had betrayed their God for the sake of rank. No one, he said sternly, could be trusted to be faithful to his commanding officer who had proved so faithless to a far higher Power.
But those who had defied the Imperial order – those to whom honour had meant more than rank – he now made his most trusted counsellors, his personal bodyguard, and his closest friends.