Constantine statue in England, by Philip Jackson‘A Roman Noble on Constantine the Great’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society October 13, 2024 Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . A Roman Noble on Constantine the Great Setting: A villa on the outskirts of Rome, ab urbe condita 1082 (329 A.D.) Cornelia, no. The household gods should stay. Wait till the clothes and furnishings are packed, And then we’ll have the Lares and Penates stacked Inside the wagon. As we leave, we’ll pray. Will they still guard our name once we quit Rome? One hopes! They’ll be the first thing off the ship Assuming we survive the three-week trip And reach our new Constantinople home. What grief I feel! I never dreamed that we Would leave this place, this navel of the world Whose banners are on every shore unfurled; Established in the mists of history By Romulus, who led the Sabine rape, And built a capital with siege-proof walls. O, Rome! Well, time to fold the veils and shawls. Those scrolls are damaged? Wrap them with this cape. Cornelia, there’s no need to hide your yawn. I’m tired too. These weeks have flown too fast. I’m heartsick that this day has come at last. This villa’s been my home since I was born. Damn Constantine! The futile things he seeks! He says security will be increased If Rome relocates to the Thracian East Where we’ll be forced to live among loud Greeks. He says the East is where lies fabled gold And that old Rome cannot be well-protected. What’s that to me? This man leaves me dejected. He writes us nobles off as bent and cold When he’s the one I find depraved and base. This move is an eccentric, futile plot! When Constantine is dead, he’ll be forgot While we’re stuck in the sticks in rocky Thrace. His mother? Bah. As dull as apple-sauce; A stable-maid who joined that Eastern sect Of Convict-worshippers—they genuflect To that thin pallid Jew pinned to a cross! To think Helena’s son now rules the Earth! O, how he grates, great Constantine! He’s wrong On everything! Yet Marcus thinks him strong In aiming to restore Rome’s wealth and worth. Imperious! Impatient! Crass and coarse! He’s boorish and addicted to attention. A hypocrite! What “virtues” can I mention But recklessness and vulgar use of force? Unless you’re Christian. Then he slaps your wrist, While we of Rome’s Old Guard get nought but strife. He murdered his own son! He killed his wife! Narcissus with a greedy, iron fist. His leniency with Christians is all ruse— As if they were a force to be respected When they should be extracted and ejected! They’ve caused as many problems as the Jews. While Nero went too far, some harsh reform May not be out of line. But Constantine Would have these Convict-worshipers be seen To inundate us like a locust swarm. “New Rome”? What foul aesthetic will it flaunt? “Constantinople?” Bah. A fetid place No doubt, devoid of glamor, charm and grace— A stone’s-throw from the dreary Hellespont. This move, he says, grants Rome 1,000 years! But mark my words—it won’t see more than twenty. Cornelia, no old togas. We have plenty. Just leave them here. Along with hope and tears. Ah me! Forgive me that I’m tart and sad. I just wish things could stay the way they were. That Marcus won’t condemn the emperor Bewilders me. He loves this ruthless cad Who says he’ll make Rome great yet tears it down! That Marcus feels this way is unexpected. He thinks such courage is to be respected, That with it Constantine has earned his crown! . Poet’s Note Constantine the Great (272 AD—337 AD) is one of the most consequential figures in human history. In 312 AD, after famously experiencing a vision of the Cross on the eve of battle with the message “in this sign you will conquer,” he won his battle, subsequently emerging as the sole emperor of all of Rome. He legalized Christianity throughout the empire and, though born pagan, became Rome’s first Christian emperor. Soon thereafter, he made the monumental strategic decision to move the capital of the Roman Empire to the site of ancient Byzantium, a small Greek town on the Bosphorus. His new capital, Constantinople, was founded in 324 AD and dedicated as a Christian city on May 11, 330 AD. Constantine strongly encouraged the nobles of Rome to relocate to the new capital. A city of fabled wealth and glory, it remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (which we call “Byzantine”) until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. “Constantinople” was renamed “Istanbul” by the Turkish Government in 1930. Constantine’s devoutly Christian mother, Helena (246 AD—330 AD), went to the Holy Land while in her 80s (amazingly old and hearty for that time!) and identified for posterity many of the sites and relics recorded in the Bible. She was acclaimed as Saint Helena some time before the Ninth Century. . . Brian Yapko is a retired lawyer whose poetry has appeared in over fifty journals. He is the winner of the 2023 SCP International Poetry Competition. Brian is also the author of several short stories, the science fiction novel El Nuevo Mundo and the gothic archaeological novel Bleeding Stone. He lives in Wimauma, Florida. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 26 Responses Bg October 13, 2024 My dad has been translating the texts this poem is based on from Russian for the last 2 or 3 decades. He was VERY happy. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 13, 2024 Thank you, Bg. I’m not sure what texts you’re referring to, but am happy that the poem gives the impression of having a more refined pedigree than it actually does! I was, frankly, looking for a historic corollary to one of our consequential yet unpopular presidential candidates. As I discuss making Rome great again I thought this might get people thinking about the fact that not every great leader is a popularity-contest winner. Reply Cynthia Erlandson October 13, 2024 MRGA! This is a very clever comment, Brian. I’m grinning! Brian A. Yapko October 14, 2024 Not to mention Constantine Derangement Syndrome! Happy to have tickled your funny bone, Cynthia! The entire concept behind this poem was my thought that men such as Trump have existed in the past and have been equally polarizing, misunderstood, resented… and effective. He is no saint, but love him or hate him Donald Trump is one for the ages. Eric Kaplan October 13, 2024 Apart from a few forced rhymes, as a retired history teacher I enjoyed this poem very much. Mr. Yapko captures the anxiety of a patrician family encouraged to relocate to a remote backwater in the largely Greek-speaking world. I do wonder how many Romans ultimately felt relief by moving to Constantinople, given the frequency of barbarian inroads on ‘the navel of the world’ in the 4th and 5th centuries. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 13, 2024 Thank you very much for the comment, Eric. I often consider how people fear change — even when it’s for the better — and wanted to present that as an age-old aspect of human character. I also wanted to show how short-sighted some people might be — simply because they don’t like a politician does not mean that this leader can’t achieve great things. On the folly of making Constantinople the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire… well, this poem’s speaker was monumentally wrong and history has the last laugh. Reply Cynthia Erlandson October 13, 2024 The way you are able to get inside the minds of your characters, and bring the reader into an empathetic understanding of them, is a real gift you have, Brian. This poem is just one example of that gift, along with “Kristallnacht”, “Married to the Mob”, and I’m sure there have been others. Your storytelling skill makes me want to keep reading. “Convict-worshippers” is such an insightful phrase; it is easy to imagine this noble and others coining and using it. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 14, 2024 Thank you very much indeed, Cynthia, for this generous comment! I really do enjoy writing dramatic monologues for the freedom they give me to consider how others may perceive the strange circumstances of our strange world. I’m particularly pleased that you like my choice of “convict-worshipers” because I worried that it might give offense. But, as you’ve deduced, I tried to look at Christ from the point of view of a Roman pagan. This was actually valuable to me in my own faith to consider the strangeness of giving veneration to a religious leader who is NOT rich, NOT powerful, NOT gigantic in stature and NOT arrogant, NOT martial and NOT material. The very concept of Christ — of God incarnating as a humble carpenter who allowed himself to be tortured and executed — must have baffled and repulsed many of the pagan Romans. Roman revulsion is a fascinating point of view to consider since those of us who are Christian take Christ’s humility, lack of materialism and rejection of worldly power for granted. Reply Joseph S. Salemi October 13, 2024 A great many Roman nobles of the patrician class had pagan sympathies, usually combined with a nostalgia for the old Roman republic. For them, the coming of imperial rule was a disaster. They knew that (as with all monarchies) you could have brilliant and sensible rulers like Augustus, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, or you could have monsters like Caligula, Domitian, and Heliagabalus. On the other hand, there were plenty of timeserving Roman nobles who would do anything the emperor wanted. The Christians realized that once you converted an emperor, a whole bunch of toadies and camp followers would immediately follow suit. No one at the time could possibly see that Constantinople would last another thousand years as a Graeco-Roman center of civilization. Moving to an eastern backwater on the Bosphorus must have seemed utter folly to many sensible Romans. This is a great poem, Brian. It gets into the head of someone living centuries ago, and imagines his pain and discomfort. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 14, 2024 Thank you very much, Joe. I appreciate your generous assessment of the poem as well as your thoughts regarding historical context. I especially appreciate your understanding of my inferred psychology of unsupportive Roman nobility — their bafflement with the rise of Constantine and the monumental decisions he made — decisions which must have made so many Romans deeply uncomfortable. As I have explained, I wrote this poem with President Trump in mind because of the deep discomfort he causes so many people who are entrenched in a corrupt system which they would literally kill to keep. I imagine Rome had its own form of “Deep State” and probably on multiple occasions. The first Roman Deep State that comes to mind is that reflected by the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar some 350 years earlier than the events in my poem. But it also seems probable that, with the instability and uncertainty of life during and after the early 4th Century Tetrarchy, a similar fearful mindset would have emerged around traditional pagan Romans and the threat to their traditions and institutions by an increasingly popular Christian community — one which was, no doubt, deeply distrusted by the Old Guard. Constantine came to shake things up. Few men in history have had such confidence. Imagine having the chutzpah to take Rome itself and, despite the naysayers, remold it into something so resilient it could last another 1000 years! I’m sure Constantine generated enormous contemporary resentment and fear of the future. But history very rightly considers him “Great.” Reply Joshua C. Frank October 13, 2024 Wow, Brian, this is really good! Getting inside the mind of someone at that time… I never really thought about what people must have thought about the changes from Constantine. It’s also really interesting when someone is able to accurately portray what someone of an opposing view would say and do (in this case, a Christian writing an anti-Christian, pagan character). “Convict-worshippers” is a brilliant description of how pagan Romans would see Christians. Well done! Reply Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much, Josh! I’m glad you enjoyed this poem and my attempt to get into the mind of a pagan disgruntled by Constantine’s changes to Rome. Accurate? Who can say? But human nature is human nature no matter the century. And as I’ve mentioned above, I was hoping to draw some parallels with contemporary Deep State clingers and those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. I’m especially pleased that you, like Cynthia, liked my coinage of “Convict-worshipers.” I was, of course, looking for something condescending and derogotary that a Roman noble might seize upon to sneer at Christians. But in terms of contemporary parallels, I was also hoping for readers to experience the shock of recognition: that Christians and Jews were persecuted 1700 years ago — and that they are persecuted now (albeit more by atheists and social justice warriors than by pagans.) It’s striking how little things have changed! Or, perhaps more accurately, how they have reverted back to a more hostile age. Reply Margaret Coats October 14, 2024 Brian, the high quality of this poem has much more to do with the sublime themes you treat, than with the character of the speaker. He is a predictable pagan patrician. You steer him to touch blindly upon (1) the nature of greatness, (2) the unfolding of history as it cannot be foreseen even by history’s great men and women, (3) the identity of Romanness, and (4) the concept of an omphalos or navel or center of the world. It is in fact appropriate that your chosen speaker feels trapped by circumstances in a place where he, by his own acts, loses his identity in futile regrets over a past in which he never participated as he thinks he was born to do. In his time, Rome had been governed for centuries by a series of emperors, not all Romans or patricians born, who won their crowns by military success. Old ideals of virtue in both war and agriculture had long passed. This speaker is now willing to give up his agricultural villa and take his chances on attendance at a faraway court. He himself judges the move to be futile (uses the word twice) and in effect degrades himself. What is greatness? I see by the link title, Brian, that you call this poem, “The Grating of Constantine the Great.” The only virtue the speaker finds in Constantine is courage. You find more. Constantine is remarkable in history for the two things that grate on your speaker: tolerance for Christians, and the strategic move of the imperial capital to Byzantium. I’ve just read up on Constantine, and historians agree that the tolerance granted Christians would have been earth-shaking to the ancient world. Tolerance of local cults in a conquered region was normal. Tolerance of Jews throughout the Roman empire was a bit different, but Jews were already more widely dispersed than many nationalities, and it made sense to allow their private observances. Your speaker takes note of this and finds it almost as troublesome as Christianity. Christians, however, came from all nations and had no land of their own. Tolerating them, and building a new Christian city as capital where there was no great metropolis before, are the legacies of the greatness of Constantine. The emperor could not foresee such greatness. To him, his admittedly courageous acts were practical at the time. But your poem, Brian, cannot help but look toward 1000 years of Graeco-Roman Christian civilization (not to mention the Holy Roman Empire, lasting until 1806). The learning and culture of the ancient East came together in Constantinople. And in the West, Constantine left the city of Rome to be governed, after a time, by the popes as leaders of the universal Church. Confronting the barbarians, the Church created another new civilization. I’ll note that Constantine especially tolerated the strange Christian custom of celibacy, allowing monasticism to spread civilization into barbarian Europe. We know of monastic libraries, but little realize how much of Europe came to be farmed by monks who were willing to take the least valued land and cultivate it. Monks spread a renewed ideal of the value of manual labor in lands both imperial and barbarian, where labor was despised as the work of slaves. And they joined it to a truly human spiritual life. Constantine abandoned Rome, but Romanness spread for a millenium and more by means of celibate missionaries he tolerated. This is much beyond the purview of your poem, Brian, but it follows on the courageous policies of Emperor Constantine. Rome is still the Eternal City to more persons than ever lived there in ancient times. Many of the words in your poem and my comment necessarily belong to the Latin language of Rome by derivation. Rome remains a navel or center of the world in ways a short-sighted ancient patrician could not imagine. And that’s where this poem leads, taking a sidetrack by way of Constantinople, a city of innumerable saints and Church councils and still influential writings. Among influential persons, I’m glad you remember Helena. She turned the view of the world in her time toward the Holy Land–and indeed we could say that as a destination for the world as a whole, she did more than anyone to invigorate that concept of a Holy Land sanctified long before she lived. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Margaret, thank you for this very generous and detailed comment – you offer so many topics for discussion that I feel we could write about them in depth for hours. That would be fun but impractical, so I’ll try to keep my reply focused. I believe you very astutely identify the major themes that my poem’s speaker explores – or at least touches upon. My mention of “the navel of the world” refers, as you point out, to the concept of the omphalos – an ancient concept in which a specific location was indeed considered the navel or center of the world. Delphi was such a one. I first encountered this concept upon seeing a marble stone called an omphalon in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This was where the Byzantine emperors were crowned and it was considered the center of the world – an interesting evolution in thought since Rome had previously been considered the center of the world and since the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem also bore this title. One wonders – how many navels can a world have? But still, this is a fascinating exploration of what it means to identify something as sacred space. I’m very glad you identified “greatness” as one of the themes of this poem because I was most eager to articulate the idea that a great man or woman is not necessarily a likeable or a popular or even a perfectly moral person. In another recent poem I explored the fact that God often chooses flawed people to do His work. David and Noah, for example. But what about secular examples? Someone like Lincoln who was in some ways politically unscrupulous and severely depressive? Or Churchill who was far from universally liked? Or, outside of politics, someone like Oskar Schindler, who rescued thousands of Jews from the gas chambers and yet was a philanderer, adulterer and heavy-duty manipulator? In the end, my point is that it’s “futile” (there’s that word again) to search for perfection in the character of a person who has been called to serve as an agent of destiny. Ordinary human beings have no business claiming perfection. Such perfection belongs to one and one only. I’m also glad you address the subject of historical anticipation. You are absolutely correct. Constantine could not possibly know Constantinople and the Eastern Empire would last another 1000 years. My poem relies on the educated reader to see the disconnect between my speaker’s poor judgment and the historical reality which proved my speaker wrong. But I must say that there are some leaders of vision and sagacity who can certainly anticipate where things are likely to lead. I’m not referring to prophecy here but, rather, to a perceptive reading of history and the possibilities of the future. Men of vision. Someone like Thomas Edison was able to envision a world lit by electric lights and entertained by flickering moving pictures. DaVinci, Columbus, Peter the Great, the Founders of the U.S. Constitution. Constantine is, I believe, prominent among those who have been consequential through the force of their great imaginations. I greatly enjoyed your discussion of Rome and it’s post-pagan/post-capital significance to the West as it developed under the popes and in a very different direction under the influence of barbarian threats and then secular rule. I’ve long known about the rule of monasteries in preserving Western culture but I did not know there was a Constantine-derived aspect to their development or that they were so responsible for new attitudes towards agriculture going into the Middle Ages. Their interplay with fiefdom institutions must be particularly fascinating. And yes, Constantinople was a place of astonishing significance for most of its existence with influence as far north as Scandinavia, as far south as sub-Saharan Africa and far into the Orient. There is a reason why its history and culture is fabled. As for Helena, what a woman! Her pilgrimage had enormous consequences in terms of locating countless sites which were then marked with important churches – the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the site of Calvary in Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to name a couple. And she is reputed to have found the True Cross. I don’t know if she established the acquisition of holy relics as an institution of the Church but she certainly expanded its significance. And all in her 80s. She is worthy of a few poems herself! Reply Roy Eugene Peterson October 14, 2024 This is a highly imaginative and inordinately well detailed description with great insight into the move of Roman nobility to Constantinople incorporating the fascinating fictitious thoughts of the characters involved. You continue to amaze with your adept abilities and artistic talents. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much Roy! The process of getting into people’s fictitious thoughts is great fun for me. Well, depending on who the speaker is! Reply James Sale October 14, 2024 Excellent work Brian – really these historical ‘reconstructions’. It’s been said before, but I think there is a touch of Browning in you with these monologues – and that is not a bad thing at all! For as GK Chesterton noted, ‘The boldest plans for the future invoke the authority of the past.’ Reply Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you very much indeed, James! As you may know, Browning is one of my three favorite poets so to have my work remind you of his is deeply satisfying to me! And Chesterton was a wise man. The authority of the past is massively important and all-too-often discarded these days by history-hating anarchists. Reply jd October 14, 2024 I really enjoyed your poem and all the commentary it sparked, Brian. You are blessed with talent and it’s obvious that you work hard in appreciation of it. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much for this truly kind comment, jd. When I write a poem I do try to sweat the details. I very much appreciate your noticing that effort! Reply Mike Bryant October 14, 2024 Brian, your ability to flesh out history by stepping into the minds of those shaped by it is unbelievable. You somehow always make your narratives feel truthful and connected to now. I did try to find forced rhymes in this narrative… couldn’t do it. You make it all look easy… I know it isn’t. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much for this appreciative comment, Mike! No, it ain’t easy. A lot of effort goes into my attempt to make an ancient voice sound period but not stilted, sufficiently contemporary to be relatable but not so much so as to seem obviously anachronistic. It’s a process. You’ve seized upon a key to my historical dramatic monologues. If I write it, it’s probably because I’ve noticed some echo of the past intruding into the present — one hopefully worth pondering. I looked for those forced rhymes too and, at this point, will attribute the observation to variations in pronunciation and give it no more thought. Reply Adam Sedia October 16, 2024 Another Browning-esque dramatic monologue. I quite enjoy your forays into history, which you give a human touch with analytical depth (we must always consider who the speaker is in a dramatic monologue). The indirect portrayal of Cornelia is I think a masterful touch. I also see an allusion to Trump in the last stanza. Although Christianity was embraced by the nobility first, here we have the perspective of a recalcitrant noble who is married to the old ways. He derides the changes, yet his comments do not age well — an interesting commentary on the interplay between tradition and the need for preservation. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 17, 2024 Thank you so much, Adam! I know you love ancient Roman history so am particularly pleased that you enjoyed this one. It is no secret that Robert Browning is one of my poetry heroes so having my work described as “Browning-esque” means a lot to me. And I’m also very glad that you saw a little of Trump here as I attempt to make the point that greatness does not demand likeability or being inoffensive. Reply Jeff Eardley October 17, 2024 Brian, I always love your, “History from the perspective of the folks who were in it.” As ever, I reach for Wikipedia to learn more. Your poetry is so inspirational. Thank you. Reply Brian A. Yapko October 18, 2024 Thank you so much, Jeff! If my poem sent you to Wikipedia it means I’ve tickled your imagination. A poet could not ask for anything more! Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Bg October 13, 2024 My dad has been translating the texts this poem is based on from Russian for the last 2 or 3 decades. He was VERY happy. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 13, 2024 Thank you, Bg. I’m not sure what texts you’re referring to, but am happy that the poem gives the impression of having a more refined pedigree than it actually does! I was, frankly, looking for a historic corollary to one of our consequential yet unpopular presidential candidates. As I discuss making Rome great again I thought this might get people thinking about the fact that not every great leader is a popularity-contest winner. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 14, 2024 Not to mention Constantine Derangement Syndrome! Happy to have tickled your funny bone, Cynthia! The entire concept behind this poem was my thought that men such as Trump have existed in the past and have been equally polarizing, misunderstood, resented… and effective. He is no saint, but love him or hate him Donald Trump is one for the ages.
Eric Kaplan October 13, 2024 Apart from a few forced rhymes, as a retired history teacher I enjoyed this poem very much. Mr. Yapko captures the anxiety of a patrician family encouraged to relocate to a remote backwater in the largely Greek-speaking world. I do wonder how many Romans ultimately felt relief by moving to Constantinople, given the frequency of barbarian inroads on ‘the navel of the world’ in the 4th and 5th centuries. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 13, 2024 Thank you very much for the comment, Eric. I often consider how people fear change — even when it’s for the better — and wanted to present that as an age-old aspect of human character. I also wanted to show how short-sighted some people might be — simply because they don’t like a politician does not mean that this leader can’t achieve great things. On the folly of making Constantinople the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire… well, this poem’s speaker was monumentally wrong and history has the last laugh. Reply
Cynthia Erlandson October 13, 2024 The way you are able to get inside the minds of your characters, and bring the reader into an empathetic understanding of them, is a real gift you have, Brian. This poem is just one example of that gift, along with “Kristallnacht”, “Married to the Mob”, and I’m sure there have been others. Your storytelling skill makes me want to keep reading. “Convict-worshippers” is such an insightful phrase; it is easy to imagine this noble and others coining and using it. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 14, 2024 Thank you very much indeed, Cynthia, for this generous comment! I really do enjoy writing dramatic monologues for the freedom they give me to consider how others may perceive the strange circumstances of our strange world. I’m particularly pleased that you like my choice of “convict-worshipers” because I worried that it might give offense. But, as you’ve deduced, I tried to look at Christ from the point of view of a Roman pagan. This was actually valuable to me in my own faith to consider the strangeness of giving veneration to a religious leader who is NOT rich, NOT powerful, NOT gigantic in stature and NOT arrogant, NOT martial and NOT material. The very concept of Christ — of God incarnating as a humble carpenter who allowed himself to be tortured and executed — must have baffled and repulsed many of the pagan Romans. Roman revulsion is a fascinating point of view to consider since those of us who are Christian take Christ’s humility, lack of materialism and rejection of worldly power for granted. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi October 13, 2024 A great many Roman nobles of the patrician class had pagan sympathies, usually combined with a nostalgia for the old Roman republic. For them, the coming of imperial rule was a disaster. They knew that (as with all monarchies) you could have brilliant and sensible rulers like Augustus, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, or you could have monsters like Caligula, Domitian, and Heliagabalus. On the other hand, there were plenty of timeserving Roman nobles who would do anything the emperor wanted. The Christians realized that once you converted an emperor, a whole bunch of toadies and camp followers would immediately follow suit. No one at the time could possibly see that Constantinople would last another thousand years as a Graeco-Roman center of civilization. Moving to an eastern backwater on the Bosphorus must have seemed utter folly to many sensible Romans. This is a great poem, Brian. It gets into the head of someone living centuries ago, and imagines his pain and discomfort. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 14, 2024 Thank you very much, Joe. I appreciate your generous assessment of the poem as well as your thoughts regarding historical context. I especially appreciate your understanding of my inferred psychology of unsupportive Roman nobility — their bafflement with the rise of Constantine and the monumental decisions he made — decisions which must have made so many Romans deeply uncomfortable. As I have explained, I wrote this poem with President Trump in mind because of the deep discomfort he causes so many people who are entrenched in a corrupt system which they would literally kill to keep. I imagine Rome had its own form of “Deep State” and probably on multiple occasions. The first Roman Deep State that comes to mind is that reflected by the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar some 350 years earlier than the events in my poem. But it also seems probable that, with the instability and uncertainty of life during and after the early 4th Century Tetrarchy, a similar fearful mindset would have emerged around traditional pagan Romans and the threat to their traditions and institutions by an increasingly popular Christian community — one which was, no doubt, deeply distrusted by the Old Guard. Constantine came to shake things up. Few men in history have had such confidence. Imagine having the chutzpah to take Rome itself and, despite the naysayers, remold it into something so resilient it could last another 1000 years! I’m sure Constantine generated enormous contemporary resentment and fear of the future. But history very rightly considers him “Great.” Reply
Joshua C. Frank October 13, 2024 Wow, Brian, this is really good! Getting inside the mind of someone at that time… I never really thought about what people must have thought about the changes from Constantine. It’s also really interesting when someone is able to accurately portray what someone of an opposing view would say and do (in this case, a Christian writing an anti-Christian, pagan character). “Convict-worshippers” is a brilliant description of how pagan Romans would see Christians. Well done! Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much, Josh! I’m glad you enjoyed this poem and my attempt to get into the mind of a pagan disgruntled by Constantine’s changes to Rome. Accurate? Who can say? But human nature is human nature no matter the century. And as I’ve mentioned above, I was hoping to draw some parallels with contemporary Deep State clingers and those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. I’m especially pleased that you, like Cynthia, liked my coinage of “Convict-worshipers.” I was, of course, looking for something condescending and derogotary that a Roman noble might seize upon to sneer at Christians. But in terms of contemporary parallels, I was also hoping for readers to experience the shock of recognition: that Christians and Jews were persecuted 1700 years ago — and that they are persecuted now (albeit more by atheists and social justice warriors than by pagans.) It’s striking how little things have changed! Or, perhaps more accurately, how they have reverted back to a more hostile age. Reply
Margaret Coats October 14, 2024 Brian, the high quality of this poem has much more to do with the sublime themes you treat, than with the character of the speaker. He is a predictable pagan patrician. You steer him to touch blindly upon (1) the nature of greatness, (2) the unfolding of history as it cannot be foreseen even by history’s great men and women, (3) the identity of Romanness, and (4) the concept of an omphalos or navel or center of the world. It is in fact appropriate that your chosen speaker feels trapped by circumstances in a place where he, by his own acts, loses his identity in futile regrets over a past in which he never participated as he thinks he was born to do. In his time, Rome had been governed for centuries by a series of emperors, not all Romans or patricians born, who won their crowns by military success. Old ideals of virtue in both war and agriculture had long passed. This speaker is now willing to give up his agricultural villa and take his chances on attendance at a faraway court. He himself judges the move to be futile (uses the word twice) and in effect degrades himself. What is greatness? I see by the link title, Brian, that you call this poem, “The Grating of Constantine the Great.” The only virtue the speaker finds in Constantine is courage. You find more. Constantine is remarkable in history for the two things that grate on your speaker: tolerance for Christians, and the strategic move of the imperial capital to Byzantium. I’ve just read up on Constantine, and historians agree that the tolerance granted Christians would have been earth-shaking to the ancient world. Tolerance of local cults in a conquered region was normal. Tolerance of Jews throughout the Roman empire was a bit different, but Jews were already more widely dispersed than many nationalities, and it made sense to allow their private observances. Your speaker takes note of this and finds it almost as troublesome as Christianity. Christians, however, came from all nations and had no land of their own. Tolerating them, and building a new Christian city as capital where there was no great metropolis before, are the legacies of the greatness of Constantine. The emperor could not foresee such greatness. To him, his admittedly courageous acts were practical at the time. But your poem, Brian, cannot help but look toward 1000 years of Graeco-Roman Christian civilization (not to mention the Holy Roman Empire, lasting until 1806). The learning and culture of the ancient East came together in Constantinople. And in the West, Constantine left the city of Rome to be governed, after a time, by the popes as leaders of the universal Church. Confronting the barbarians, the Church created another new civilization. I’ll note that Constantine especially tolerated the strange Christian custom of celibacy, allowing monasticism to spread civilization into barbarian Europe. We know of monastic libraries, but little realize how much of Europe came to be farmed by monks who were willing to take the least valued land and cultivate it. Monks spread a renewed ideal of the value of manual labor in lands both imperial and barbarian, where labor was despised as the work of slaves. And they joined it to a truly human spiritual life. Constantine abandoned Rome, but Romanness spread for a millenium and more by means of celibate missionaries he tolerated. This is much beyond the purview of your poem, Brian, but it follows on the courageous policies of Emperor Constantine. Rome is still the Eternal City to more persons than ever lived there in ancient times. Many of the words in your poem and my comment necessarily belong to the Latin language of Rome by derivation. Rome remains a navel or center of the world in ways a short-sighted ancient patrician could not imagine. And that’s where this poem leads, taking a sidetrack by way of Constantinople, a city of innumerable saints and Church councils and still influential writings. Among influential persons, I’m glad you remember Helena. She turned the view of the world in her time toward the Holy Land–and indeed we could say that as a destination for the world as a whole, she did more than anyone to invigorate that concept of a Holy Land sanctified long before she lived. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Margaret, thank you for this very generous and detailed comment – you offer so many topics for discussion that I feel we could write about them in depth for hours. That would be fun but impractical, so I’ll try to keep my reply focused. I believe you very astutely identify the major themes that my poem’s speaker explores – or at least touches upon. My mention of “the navel of the world” refers, as you point out, to the concept of the omphalos – an ancient concept in which a specific location was indeed considered the navel or center of the world. Delphi was such a one. I first encountered this concept upon seeing a marble stone called an omphalon in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This was where the Byzantine emperors were crowned and it was considered the center of the world – an interesting evolution in thought since Rome had previously been considered the center of the world and since the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem also bore this title. One wonders – how many navels can a world have? But still, this is a fascinating exploration of what it means to identify something as sacred space. I’m very glad you identified “greatness” as one of the themes of this poem because I was most eager to articulate the idea that a great man or woman is not necessarily a likeable or a popular or even a perfectly moral person. In another recent poem I explored the fact that God often chooses flawed people to do His work. David and Noah, for example. But what about secular examples? Someone like Lincoln who was in some ways politically unscrupulous and severely depressive? Or Churchill who was far from universally liked? Or, outside of politics, someone like Oskar Schindler, who rescued thousands of Jews from the gas chambers and yet was a philanderer, adulterer and heavy-duty manipulator? In the end, my point is that it’s “futile” (there’s that word again) to search for perfection in the character of a person who has been called to serve as an agent of destiny. Ordinary human beings have no business claiming perfection. Such perfection belongs to one and one only. I’m also glad you address the subject of historical anticipation. You are absolutely correct. Constantine could not possibly know Constantinople and the Eastern Empire would last another 1000 years. My poem relies on the educated reader to see the disconnect between my speaker’s poor judgment and the historical reality which proved my speaker wrong. But I must say that there are some leaders of vision and sagacity who can certainly anticipate where things are likely to lead. I’m not referring to prophecy here but, rather, to a perceptive reading of history and the possibilities of the future. Men of vision. Someone like Thomas Edison was able to envision a world lit by electric lights and entertained by flickering moving pictures. DaVinci, Columbus, Peter the Great, the Founders of the U.S. Constitution. Constantine is, I believe, prominent among those who have been consequential through the force of their great imaginations. I greatly enjoyed your discussion of Rome and it’s post-pagan/post-capital significance to the West as it developed under the popes and in a very different direction under the influence of barbarian threats and then secular rule. I’ve long known about the rule of monasteries in preserving Western culture but I did not know there was a Constantine-derived aspect to their development or that they were so responsible for new attitudes towards agriculture going into the Middle Ages. Their interplay with fiefdom institutions must be particularly fascinating. And yes, Constantinople was a place of astonishing significance for most of its existence with influence as far north as Scandinavia, as far south as sub-Saharan Africa and far into the Orient. There is a reason why its history and culture is fabled. As for Helena, what a woman! Her pilgrimage had enormous consequences in terms of locating countless sites which were then marked with important churches – the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the site of Calvary in Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to name a couple. And she is reputed to have found the True Cross. I don’t know if she established the acquisition of holy relics as an institution of the Church but she certainly expanded its significance. And all in her 80s. She is worthy of a few poems herself! Reply
Roy Eugene Peterson October 14, 2024 This is a highly imaginative and inordinately well detailed description with great insight into the move of Roman nobility to Constantinople incorporating the fascinating fictitious thoughts of the characters involved. You continue to amaze with your adept abilities and artistic talents. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much Roy! The process of getting into people’s fictitious thoughts is great fun for me. Well, depending on who the speaker is! Reply
James Sale October 14, 2024 Excellent work Brian – really these historical ‘reconstructions’. It’s been said before, but I think there is a touch of Browning in you with these monologues – and that is not a bad thing at all! For as GK Chesterton noted, ‘The boldest plans for the future invoke the authority of the past.’ Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you very much indeed, James! As you may know, Browning is one of my three favorite poets so to have my work remind you of his is deeply satisfying to me! And Chesterton was a wise man. The authority of the past is massively important and all-too-often discarded these days by history-hating anarchists. Reply
jd October 14, 2024 I really enjoyed your poem and all the commentary it sparked, Brian. You are blessed with talent and it’s obvious that you work hard in appreciation of it. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much for this truly kind comment, jd. When I write a poem I do try to sweat the details. I very much appreciate your noticing that effort! Reply
Mike Bryant October 14, 2024 Brian, your ability to flesh out history by stepping into the minds of those shaped by it is unbelievable. You somehow always make your narratives feel truthful and connected to now. I did try to find forced rhymes in this narrative… couldn’t do it. You make it all look easy… I know it isn’t. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 15, 2024 Thank you so much for this appreciative comment, Mike! No, it ain’t easy. A lot of effort goes into my attempt to make an ancient voice sound period but not stilted, sufficiently contemporary to be relatable but not so much so as to seem obviously anachronistic. It’s a process. You’ve seized upon a key to my historical dramatic monologues. If I write it, it’s probably because I’ve noticed some echo of the past intruding into the present — one hopefully worth pondering. I looked for those forced rhymes too and, at this point, will attribute the observation to variations in pronunciation and give it no more thought. Reply
Adam Sedia October 16, 2024 Another Browning-esque dramatic monologue. I quite enjoy your forays into history, which you give a human touch with analytical depth (we must always consider who the speaker is in a dramatic monologue). The indirect portrayal of Cornelia is I think a masterful touch. I also see an allusion to Trump in the last stanza. Although Christianity was embraced by the nobility first, here we have the perspective of a recalcitrant noble who is married to the old ways. He derides the changes, yet his comments do not age well — an interesting commentary on the interplay between tradition and the need for preservation. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 17, 2024 Thank you so much, Adam! I know you love ancient Roman history so am particularly pleased that you enjoyed this one. It is no secret that Robert Browning is one of my poetry heroes so having my work described as “Browning-esque” means a lot to me. And I’m also very glad that you saw a little of Trump here as I attempt to make the point that greatness does not demand likeability or being inoffensive. Reply
Jeff Eardley October 17, 2024 Brian, I always love your, “History from the perspective of the folks who were in it.” As ever, I reach for Wikipedia to learn more. Your poetry is so inspirational. Thank you. Reply
Brian A. Yapko October 18, 2024 Thank you so much, Jeff! If my poem sent you to Wikipedia it means I’ve tickled your imagination. A poet could not ask for anything more! Reply
