Emperor

by Colin Thubron

First published 1978

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2.5(5)

In AD 312, Constantine leads an army from the Rhine frontier across the Alps and into northern Italy, challenging Maxentius for control of the western Roman Empire. During the campaign around Verona, Constantine waits for his wife Fausta, who is also Maxentius’s sister, and the political struggle becomes entangled with a marriage marked by distance, suspicion and divided family loyalties. The novel is assembled from Constantine’s supposed journal and from letters and records written by members of his household and military entourage, allowing the campaign to be seen through competing private perspectives.

The march on Rome unfolds during a period of religious as well as political transformation. Constantine’s uncertainty about the traditional gods, his encounters with Christians and the vision associated with his advance against Maxentius give the story its central historical tension. The victory that culminates at the Milvian Bridge removes Constantine’s principal western rival and becomes inseparable from the later growth of imperial support for Christianity, while the novel keeps its focus on the doubts, ambitions and personal relationships behind the public events.