Only when he stepped back, did he dare look directly at Amianus, but saw no fear in the Christian’s face. In fact, the eyes of the condemned man burned with a light fully as bright as the torch Constantine had used to set the flame. And his look was one of such eagerness that Constantine could believe he would run to meet death, were he not bound to the stake.
A great “Ah” went up from the crowd as the flames from the burning faggots leaped up to envelop the slender form standing so erectly against the stake. The acrid smell of burning cloth floated across the square as his clothing caught fire, but not even a whisper of agony came from him, only a shout of exultation:
“Lord Christ, to Thee I commend my spirit! Not my will but Thine be done!”
Constantine remained
As the flames and smoke from his burning clothing suffocated the condemned man, the frail body sagged forward loosely within its bonds, and a cry of disappointment went up from the crowd. Galerius, who had halfrisen from his throne when the faggots took fire, sank back upon it and shouted for the bearers to carry the chair up the steps into the palace. Constantine remained only until the massive doors of the palace had closed behind Galerius. Then signaling the decunon to take command, he turned and plunged through the crowd toward the military compound and his own quarters. He was bending over the copper bucket in the comer of his room, retching, when Dacius entered.
Drink this! The old soldier handed him a cup of wine which he drank gratefully, feeling its warmth course through his middle and bring stability where only turmoil had been moments before. Wiping his face with a wet towel Dacius handed him, he staggered to the small table and sank into a chair beside it, while the centurion hung his helmet on a peg and straddled the second chair.
“So the sight of a burning man makes you retch,” Dacius said. “I’m glad to see you are thoroughly human, in spite of your ambition.”
“Did you ?”
“Almost puked my guts out the first time,” Dacius said cheerfully. “I remember the whole thing well. It was ”
“Spare me, please.”
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