The book has been described[citation needed] as lacking the characteristic biting satire for which Waugh is best known.

However, the figure of Constantius Chlorus, Constantine's father, was interpreted by friends of the novelist as a caricature of Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery, a man Waugh mocked as a vainglorious social climber.

More generally, the corruption and instability of the Roman society Waugh describes is reminiscent of the malaise and pragmatism that prevails over tradition and chivalric ethics at the end of the Sword of Honour trilogy.

Helena's saintliness does not allow her to save her son from an imperial destiny she fears and disapproves of (at one point she fantasises about him becoming a provincial colonel); nor is she able to save her innocent grandson Crispus from being murdered on Constantine's orders in a palace struggle.

The novel includes the tradition from Geoffrey of Monmouth that Helena was a British princess, daughter of King Coel.