Diocletian has not enjoyed what is called good press in Christian circles, because he was the most savage of the persecutors of the church. Given the anarchy he inherited, however, and the revived empire he passed on to his successors, “Diocletian deserves to be ranked among the truly great emperors.”
"'Is there anything you want to know about me?
My eyes widened. 'Everything! What do you like most about your job? Where have you been in the world? Have you actually helped make any laws? What’s your favorite color?'
He shook his head and gave me another one of those heart-crushing half smiles. 'Blue, navy blue.'..."
Of course, if you...if you don't want to," he says into the silence, sliding his gaze away from me, "I can accept that. I won't bring it up again. I know I'm not....I know what I'm like. That I'm infuriating. And selfish. And cruel. I know I'm not perfect the way my brother is, and I manage to disappoint my parents every time. It's okay if you don't choose me, really—I never expected to be the first choice. I wouldn't blame you‚—"
"I do choose you."
He doesn't seem to hear me at first. He's still talking, rambling really, the words flowing out like rainwater. "I can't always say pretty things, and sometimes I tease you when really I just want you to look my way, and—wait." He stops. Even his breath freezes in his throat. "What...did you just say? Say it again."
"I choose you," I say quietly, glad for the shadows concealing my flushed cheeks. For the support of the wall behind me.
"You will always be my first choice, Julius Gong.
The cause of our current social crises, he would have said, is a genetic defect within the nature of reason itself. And until this genetic defect is cleared, the crises will continue. Our current modes of rationality are not moving society forward into a better world. They are taking it further and further from that better world. Since the Renaissance these modes have worked. As long as the need for food, clothing and shelter is dominant they will continue to
work. But now that for huge masses of people these needs no longer overwhelm everything else, the whole structure of reason, handed down to us from ancient times, is no longer adequate. It begins to be seen for what it really is...emotionally hollow, esthetically meaningless and spiritually empty. That, today, is where it is at, and will continue to be at for a long time to come.
“It’s his story.” Dancer traces the pitviper bites on his neck. “A man has the right to tell his own story. But this isn’t a happy one. Sad as yours. Sad as mine. Strip a man of what he loved, and what is left? Just hate. Just anger. But he was the first to know there could be something more. He found me. He found you. Who the bloodydamn are we to question him?”
