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Deep Waters - FAJournal 228
13 years ago
General
Carausius & Allectus: Deep Waters
I have been reading mystery novels in the “hard-bitten Roman detective” genre again. In the last of an excellent series by Rosemary Rowe, set in the time of Commodus, the detective is Libertus the mosaic-maker. (He is good at patterns, you see?) Following the clues, the detective implicates the Admiral of the British Fleet in a serious crime. This reminded me somewhat of yet another British Admiral of the Fleet who found himself in hot water, more than a century later.
He was a Roman also, though born a Belgian. His name was Carausius and if his story is to be believed, he was a successful and trusted Admiral of the British Fleet during the late 3rd century, during Diocletian’s Tetrarchy. At least, he was … until he turned on the legitimate emperors and proclaimed himself the fifth emperor, ruler of Britain and Northern Gaul, thus creating an unauthorized “quintarchy.”
Although charges of corruption may have been the trigger for Carausius’s revolt, he was by all accounts a fair-minded and capable leader – while the party lasted. Alas, the music died 13 years later, when the Western Caesar, Constantius, father of Constantine the Great, ousted Carausius from Gaul in 293 AD. The British emperor’s defeat on the continent undermined his power in Britain as well, ending with his murder at the hands of his own accountant, Allectus. Think about that the next time you go to H&R. Block … Allectus barely had time to settle the mantle of rule around his shoulders before Constantine launched an invasion of Britannia, and the usurper was killed in battle.
What is it with British Admirals, one wonders, that their loyalties are so fickle? First the fictional villain in the time of Commodus, then the real-life Carausius in the 3rd century. Even as I read the conclusion of the mystery, I could not help but think that this would not the last British Admiral to find himself in a pickle rather than on the brine.
I have been reading mystery novels in the “hard-bitten Roman detective” genre again. In the last of an excellent series by Rosemary Rowe, set in the time of Commodus, the detective is Libertus the mosaic-maker. (He is good at patterns, you see?) Following the clues, the detective implicates the Admiral of the British Fleet in a serious crime. This reminded me somewhat of yet another British Admiral of the Fleet who found himself in hot water, more than a century later.
He was a Roman also, though born a Belgian. His name was Carausius and if his story is to be believed, he was a successful and trusted Admiral of the British Fleet during the late 3rd century, during Diocletian’s Tetrarchy. At least, he was … until he turned on the legitimate emperors and proclaimed himself the fifth emperor, ruler of Britain and Northern Gaul, thus creating an unauthorized “quintarchy.”
Although charges of corruption may have been the trigger for Carausius’s revolt, he was by all accounts a fair-minded and capable leader – while the party lasted. Alas, the music died 13 years later, when the Western Caesar, Constantius, father of Constantine the Great, ousted Carausius from Gaul in 293 AD. The British emperor’s defeat on the continent undermined his power in Britain as well, ending with his murder at the hands of his own accountant, Allectus. Think about that the next time you go to H&R. Block … Allectus barely had time to settle the mantle of rule around his shoulders before Constantine launched an invasion of Britannia, and the usurper was killed in battle.
What is it with British Admirals, one wonders, that their loyalties are so fickle? First the fictional villain in the time of Commodus, then the real-life Carausius in the 3rd century. Even as I read the conclusion of the mystery, I could not help but think that this would not the last British Admiral to find himself in a pickle rather than on the brine.
They prove not to be worth their salt, hmm?