“You were right to ask, Augustus.” Adrian forced his voice under control. “After three days in the hands of the Praetorians, my niece threw herself into the Tiber. I gave up everything I possessed to come here, hoping you would avenge her.”
“She shall be avenged,” Constantine promised. “And your possessions shall be returned to you.”
“The first will be enough, Augustus.”
“Is it your belief that Maxentius intends to attack me through Raetia?”
“No, Augustus.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because larger amounts of supplies are being stocked in the area around Susa and Mediolanum Milan.”
“Then Raetia is to be a feint!” Dacius exclaimed. “The main attack will be delivered by way of Mount Cenis.”
The three principal passages between Gaul and Italy were: the northern route through the passes of Mount St. Bernard, the central by way of Mount Cenis, and the extreme southern route by way of Mount Geneva. If Maxentius, by a feint in the north, managed to lure Constantine’s forces into concentrating there, he could then drive almost unopposed through the region of Mount Cenis by way of Taurinum® and Segusio or Susa. From there he could strike a dagger into the very heart of Gaul, capturing Lug dunum and paralyzing trade between the northern districts along the Rhine and the populous and fertile areas to the south.
Watch Maxentius more closely
Turin
“We shall have to watch Maxentius more closely, Dacius,” Constantine said thoughtfully. “I hadn’t given him credit for being so clever.”
“It isn’t Maxentius but his generals, Augustus particularly Pom peianus,” Adrian said. “He has charge of the forces in the north.”
“I remember Pompeianus,” said Dacius. “He’s probably the second best man I ever trained.” Then he grinned. “So what is the first going to do?”
Constantine went to the window and looked out upon the bustling city. Once again he had to make a decision to commit his forces in a single attack, since to divide them any more than it had already been necessary to divide them, in order to protect the Rhine frontier, could be sheer suicide.
“I shall do what I have always done when the odds are against me,” he said, when he turned back to the others. “Carry the battle to the enemy.”
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