Flavius was the opposite, positively indulgent: playing games with the boy was a pleasure, seeking to hone his skill with sword and spear took Flavius back to his own childhood and his father Decimus doing the same with him at a time that preceded the stuff of his nightmares and seemed so blissfully innocent. There was no reserve, no seeking to avoid interrogation as Photius sought the answer to every question that entered his young mind, or feeling harassed by his attention.
As a trio they seemed like a unit and over the following weeks that feeling deepened, so when Theodora hinted that Antonina might make for him a suitable wife it was not a suggestion he dismissed out of hand. In fact, the notion entered his thoughts often as he took a full part in Justinian’s plans for the future, which harked back to a conversation they had engaged in years before, nothing less than the reunification of the Eastern and Western Empires, and in order that he should be of aid Flavius set himself to study both the history of recent events as well as the present problems.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Flavius was explaining to his paramour Justinian’s ambitions, emphasising it would not be a simple task. ‘With the east paid for and quiet he feels the time might be right.’
‘And it involves you?’
‘He wants me to command the armies. What military man, Antonina, would not want to undertake such a possible conquest?’
That she was interested at all surprised Flavius but also pleased him; he would have suggested it was hardly a subject to engage women if it had not been for Theodora, who seemed equally keen. They were sitting on a grassy bank overlooking the Propontis, their horses grazing at the pasture, reins trailing the ground. The sun was warm, the sea was blue and all seemed right with the world. It was good to get away from the palace and the constant need to be ready to jump to the needs of the imperial couple. It was just good to be alone in each other’s company.
‘So I plan how to fight and hopefully to win but that would, I am sure, bore you.’
‘No, Flavius, I wish to hear what you are doing.’
He touched the back of her hand. ‘I do too.’
She let out a peal of laughter. ‘You mean you do now know what you’re doing?’
‘I didn’t mean that, I meant you.’
‘I know, my dear, just teasing. Now, enlighten a person who is ignorant.’
‘The politics are the province of the Emperor and he is sure they are favourable.’
‘The military problems fall to me.’
When examined, certain matters appeared obvious. Italy was the bigger fish needing to be caught but there was a discontented and oppressed population in North Africa, which might prove an easier place to begin, not a statement allowed to pass without explanation.
‘In the past, the Vandal rulers made no attempt to make peace with those they had conquered. They forbade intermarriage and imposed their Arian religion on a population who looked to the Bishop of Rome for spiritual guidance. They were also inclined to kill people who sought no more than to worship in a different rite.’
‘So there’s many a martyr to avenge.’
‘Hilderic changed that policy and treated, I’m told, with Justinian for an alliance.’ Anticipating a question — her face told him — he answered before she could ask. ‘He was overthrown three years ago by his brother, Gelimer, who has seized the throne and is persecuting the Catholics and Trinitarians again.’
‘What names,’ Antonina opined, not with approval.
‘They sound as they are, barbarians. Justinian insists the time is propitious for an attempt at reconquest. This Gelimer faces not only a hostile population but those who revere the memory of his brother. Added to that, he has Moors to the west of his possessions who might ally with us, and insurrections in Sardinia and Byzacium.’
That had to be explained; Antonina had never heard of that particular province; neither had Flavius until he had begun to study the problem but he kept that to himself, an air of knowledge suited him.
‘The difficulty would be to get an army transported to Africa that is large enough to retake the land and free the majority of the people.’
‘Is it worth it?’
‘They are our coreligionists, and besides, it’s an old and valuable province that once helped to feed Rome.’
‘You sound hesitant, Flavius?’
‘It’s Justinian. He thinks we should seek to take Italy and he’s a hard man to dissuade. Attack there and Gelimer will make an alliance with the Ostrogoths, because he knows if we succeed in Italy he will be next. We cannot fight them combined and it is going to be far from easy to fight them piecemeal.’
It was difficult sometimes to contain Justinian; his desires ran ahead of the ability to meet his expectations. The east was kept quiet with gold; the west was now less peaceable thanks to the death, after a very long reign, of Theodoric, the man who had ruled Italy for thirty-three trouble-free years. But with him gone, as far as Justinian was concerned, Italy was an equally possible target for reconquest.
But it could only be invaded by sea; to seek a land route could not be kept secret from the enemy and the room to manoeuvre in the land between the Alps and the Adriatic was constrained. Not that the gathering of forces for a seaborne attack would go unnoticed, but the landing place on an extended shore calculated at having over six hundred beaches made the point of invasion too hard to fix.
‘Having said that, Sicily would be a primary target. All history tells me it would be easier to invade the mainland from there.’
‘All history? Would it trouble you if I said I have no idea what you are talking about?’
‘No. Would it trouble you if I explained?’
Antonina rolled on to her side and looked directly at him. ‘I insist you do. Being in ignorance does not cheer me.’
‘Surely you must know something of this?’
‘Why would I?’
‘It’s a long story.’
A hand caressed his bearded jaw to tickle the hairs. ‘And we are in no rush.’
‘Theodora will wonder where you are.’
‘No, Flavius, she will know I am with you.’
He was about to mention her suggestion that they marry but he hesitated too long, so to cover a degree of confusion he began to talk of the events of the last fifty years and indeed beyond, all the way back to the division of the empire in the year 364, with an enthusiasm that had to be constantly checked against her reaction. He was only too aware that what was of interest to him was not always seen in the same light by others. What he saw in Antonina’s eyes was firm interest.
If Flavius had not been at the centre of things in Constantinople he had been raised by a parent who took a keen interest in both the history and present state of the Roman Empire. Decimus Belisarius had seen himself as the heir to a thousand years of glorious expansion, the successor to legions of fighting men who had spread civilisation around the Middle Sea, defeating everyone who stood against the civilising influence.
All this had been passed on to his sons; they were Romans and the history of the empire was there to be studied and learnt from, and not for the first time Flavius was in conversation with a person who did not know the past of the polity in which they lived.
The empire had been split by Valentinian because it was too vast to administer; he gave half to his brother Valens and as long as they lived there was harmony. But, supposed to provide better security, it had not worked as it had been hoped, not least because of rivalries between those who succeeded them.
The Eastern Empire, with a huge land border, had struggled many times to repel serious barbarian invasions. They had as often inducted their enemies into the imperial fold as defeated them, for Constantinople had as its core great revenues with which to bribe the invading tribes to either depart or settle, hence the composition of the army.