Justinian

MYAKES

After Herakleios, none of that dynasty lived to grow old. They didn't last long, but God and all the saints, they burned hot while they were here.

Strange to think about it, Brother Elpidios, but, do you know, Constantine could be alive today. He'd be eighty, more or less: a great age, aye, but not an impossible one. He was a fine man while he lived, maybe even a great one when you remember all he did while he ruled.

And he's been gone these past forty-five years and more, and who thinks about him today? You and me inside this monastery, and nobody else in the whole wide world. That's what fame in the world is worth. Peace with the Lord is better. Or maybe having some fun in the world and then peace with the Lord.

Oh, don't click your tongue between your teeth at me, Brother. Weren't you the one who was asking questions about women and-? All right, I'll not go on, not if you say it upsets you. It didn't upset you then. It-

Yes, Brother. Constantine. A fine man, as I say, and a pious man, a good Christian. Yes, if he'd lived longer, he might have tried holding the Empire on a more peaceful course. But he didn't live longer. That left it up to Justinian. He had his own ideas about things and, now, no one to tell him no.