In the weeks following his entry into Rome, Constantine moved to solidify his rule over the entire Western Empire. The Praetorian Guard was gone, their barracks demolished, their name struck from the military rolls. The Senate, suitably cowed and grateful to be free of Maxentius, voted him the title of Senior Augustus, a formal recognition of his supreme authority. From the Palatine Hill, Constantine's directives now flowed not just to Gaul, Britannia, and Hispania, but to Italy and North Africa as well.
He found the administration of Rome to be a bloated, inefficient tangle of ancient traditions and entrenched interests. He began the slow, arduous process of imposing his own cold logic upon it, streamlining bureaucracies and demanding accountability. The city, for the first time in years, felt the touch of a firm, active, and present master.
