I think it is very important to understand Christianity. It seems that the pursuit of secular power from a religious dispute and war makes some people hope to solve many differences purely by force.
I watched everything in amazement. Of course, my guests discussed these things fiercely, as if there had always been Christians among the guests at my desk. Now, although all of them are public, the wine is still flowing and the music is still playing.
To be clear, I have no real fear or natural aversion to Christianity. As I said, I witnessed their development with amazement.
And now-it’s been ten years since Constantine Lisini shared the empire very unsteadily, and I’ve seen something that I won’t change. It’s obvious that persecution has completely failed and Christianity has miraculously succeeded.
It seems to me that Roman thought and Christian concept are mixed, perhaps it should be said that it is a mixture of style and way of looking at the world.
Finally-after the death of Li Sini, Constantine became the sole ruler of the empire. We saw all the provinces unite again. He became very concerned that Christians were not in harmony with Rome. We heard that there was a large Christian conference in the East for the first time. The place where Pandora and I lived was still a big city, which may be more vibrant and interesting than Rome in many aspects.
The Arians [Note 11] caused Constantine’s dissatisfaction. The whole thing is that Constantine seems to be hardly debatable on a very small issue in the Bible, but Constantine presided over the expulsion of some bishops from the developing church and another important meeting held in Nicea two months later.
The meeting adopted the nicene creed [note 13], which even the current Christians recited and signed. After the bishops once again strongly criticized the Christian Arioux and his theoretical heresy, they ruled that he was burned and others were exiled by his hometown Alexandria. However, I think it is meaningless to continue to gain recognition and work hard, although the meeting has expelled him.
Another important event of the conference, which still puzzles Christianity today, is the real date of Easter or the anniversary of the resurrection of Christ. A resolution has decided that the conference will end if the date is calculated on the basis of western chronology.
Then the bishop who attended the meeting was asked to stay and help the emperor celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his accession to the throne. Of course they did, because how could they refuse?
However, when the well-prepared celebration news came to Rome, it attracted a lot of jealousy and dissatisfaction. Rome felt that all these events were completely ignored. In January of 36, the news that the emperor visited our city again made people feel quite gratified and happy.
Before he arrived, the terrorist act was accompanied by Constantine’s name. For some unknown reasons, he stopped on the way and executed his son crisp [note 14], his successor Lysinia Yunus [note 15] and his wife, the queen Fausta [note 16]. Historians can never guess what will happen. The fact is that no one knows what Constantine did. They may plot to rebel against him, or they may not.
What I want to say here is that it cast a cloud over his arrival in Rome, and when he did arrive, it did not give great comfort to the ancient ruling class, because he was dressed in very luxurious oriental satin and could not be integrated into the important ranks of Jupiter Temple as expected.
Of course, Christians worshipped him, and the rich and the poor watched him in droves, wearing oriental robes and oriental jewels, and they were impressed by his generosity because he zoned land for building more churches.
Although he hardly spent much time in Rome, it took him many years to complete the construction of buildings since Marcussen’s time and to build a large public bath in his own name.
Then there was a shocking rumor that Constantine planned to build a new city. He found that Rome was rotten and fell short of the capital, and he wanted the empire to build a new city. To make this new city stand in the East, it needs to be named after him.
Imagine it if you can.
Of course, in the last hundred years, emperors spread all over the provinces of the empire. They fought against each other and destroyed the politics of two heads and four heads. Meeting here can kill people there.
But give up the capital of Rome? Establish another big city empire center?
I can’t imagine this.
Hatred hangs over me, and I don’t understand what despair means.
All my guests were in the same pain as me. The old soldier was depressed by the news. An old philosopher wept bitterly. Another city will become the capital of the Roman Empire? Some young people are grumpy, but they can’t hide their bitterness and curiosity, and they barely guess the location of the new city.
I dare not cry because my tears will be blood.
I asked musicians to play old songs, which I taught them before, because they had never heard of us-me, human guests and me-singing together. It was a strange moment, singing slowly and sadly. We will never forget Rome’s fading glory.
It’s cool at night. I go to the garden and look at the hillside. I can see lights in the dark and hear laughter and words from other houses.
"This is Rome!" I whisper
How could Constantine give up this city? Its imperial capital has experienced thousands of years of struggle, success, failure and glory. Can anyone persuade him? This is simply impossible.
But the more I wander around the city, the more people talk everywhere; The more you walk outside the city and nearby towns, the more you will understand. What prompted the emperor to decide?
Constantine wanted to establish a Christian empire with advantages over others, but he couldn’t give up the Italian peninsula, but his people’s culture increasingly belonged to the east, and he had to guard the eastern border. The eastern Persian empire was always a threat, and Rome was not suitable for a man with high power to stay.
So Constantine chose the distant Greek city of Byzantium to build his new home in Constantinople.
I saw my home, my sacred city, a deserted city, and I accepted it as a Roman.
I can’t believe the rumor miraculously spread quickly. Constantinople has been planned and the building has been completed.
Many Romans followed Constantine to the new city. He invited or simply pushed the members of the Senate to move to the new and gorgeous place with their family property. Everyone talked about it.
Soon I heard that members of parliament in various cities of the empire had moved to Constantinople, and that baths, parliamentary halls and arenas had already stood in the new capital. Beautiful sculptures and new buildings were plundered from Greek and Asian cities.
Rome, me, Rome, what will you become? I thought.
Of course, my dinner party was not really affected. The poor teachers and historians who ate with Marius did not intend to move to Constantinople, and the curious and reckless young people did not make a wise choice.
I always have a lot of people around me, and I have taken in a few flexible Greek philosophers who have been moved to Constantinople and abandoned by their families because they suspect that they can find smarter people to teach them.
But my family companion is just a small matter.
The truth is that as time goes by, my heart breaks.
I don’t have an immortal who can understand my feelings. This has hit me more horribly than before. I wonder if Mal or Avikas can understand what happened. I know they are still hanging out in the same street as me. I heard them.
In fact, they discuss dogma because riots in some African cities have intensified because Christians are killing each other, and people want the emperor to intervene.
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