ABSTRACT
As the spring of 305 came to an end, Constantine found himself in an extremely vulnerable position. His original imperial mentor Diocletian had abdicated from power, and had departed from the east for retirement at Spalatum. His new imperial master Galerius had blocked his participation in a Second Tetrarchy, and had placed loyal comrades as Caesars in Antioch and Milan to buttress his position between them. Although Constantius was the nominal senior Augustus in the revised imperial college, he was politically isolated in the west. Though Constantine was a military officer in the Roman army, he was physically endangered in the east. It appeared that Galerius had become the new lord of the Roman world. However, the paternal concern of Constantius to save his son, and the political ambition of Constantine to succeed his father, would soon destroy the designs of Galerius for imperial domination.1
