The Justice of Constantine: Law, Communication, and Control

Conclusion

Conclusion The Constantinian legislation on appeal, which culminated in the edict of August 331, ties together the separate threads and major themes of this book: the utilization of distinct forms of legislation to communicate with distinct audiences; the practice of addressing the inhabitants of the empire generally in universal edicts, in a manner that goes far beyond the apologetic language exemplified by the edict of Alexander Severus on aurum coronarium or the Edict of Maximum Prices; a profound mistrust of the imperial administration, expressed both in edicts and in official letters, that ally the emperor with his subjects against the imperial bureaucracy itself; and, in imperial constitutions generally, the effort of Constantine instill loyalty in his servants and subjects and to affirm and strengthen his own authority. The edict of August 331 contained not only a lengthy recapitulation of the procedural rules governing appeal under Constantine but also paragraphs devoted to several distinct subjects of law. The thunderous edict ad universos provinciales, preserved as CTh. 1.16.6–7, which is treated at length in chapter 4, followed three months later, less than two weeks after the controversial letter de iterando post sententiam iudicio, CTh. 1.5.3 treated in chapter 8, was sent to the praetorian prefect. The later edict of 331, preserved in CTh. 1.16.6–7, with its stern insistence on proper procedure and passionate deprecation of illegal judicial fees, seems to crown some twenty years of judicial legislation. There are noticeably fewer constitutions of Constantine’s in the Codex Theodosianus after 331. Given that Constantine now resided chiefly in Constantinople, if he had continued to issue constitutions at the rate observed in previous years, one would have expected the Theodosian compilers to have recovered more. Study of the record of Constantine’s legislation in the Codex Theodosianus , however, suggests that the compilers gathered Constantine’s / 251 / constitutions from one or more unknown intermediate collections that derived ultimately from Rome and Carthage. It is likely for this reason that the record of Constantine’s legislation begins only after he had defeated Maxentius (chapter 1). The innovations of Constantine were a lasting contribution to the law of the Later Roman Empire, but his constitutions affected not only substantive law. The patterns of communication and control within the imperial administration had been set for the next century. Constantine utilized edicts to address the totality of his subjects, but Constantinian edicts did far more than disseminate new law and procedures that affected the empire: by means of an edict, Constantine could project his voice into the far corners of the empire. Constantine harnessed the publication and dissemination of such edicts by provincial administrators from high to low, from praetorian prefect to provincial governor, to appeal directly to his subjects and court their loyalty. The conventions of Roman edicts were less important than the immediacy of communication with the Roman provincials that Constantine achieved by them. Although Roman edicts were traditionally formulated as declarations, in which the magistrate or emperor avoids familiar forms, such as “you,” Constantine frequently uses edicts as letters to entire populations, to represent himself and his goals before the people on whose behalf he acts (chapter 2). The revelatory style of Constantinian legislation follows important tetrarchic precedents, which should not be overlooked. Already the tetrarchs cultivated a majestic Latin style in their edicts; they appear to have introduced the same style in official correspondence with imperial administrators . Constantine inherited these practices and began to issue even private rescripts in the same grand Latin style. Every imperial utterance became an occasion of ceremony and carefully wrought self-representation. A significant change of emphasis can also be observed in the enactments of Constantine. As Constantine envisioned one god over all, so as ruler he envisioned himself as the sole person responsible for the welfare of his subjects . Constantine’s approach to legislation may be adapted from practices in the later years of the tetrarchy, but he invested his legislation with a peculiarly personal vigor. The tetrarchs appealed to the Roman people and the Roman gods behind a mask of uniformity and concord. The tetrarchic “We” was not merely royal but an ideal and a statement of policy. As Constantine dispensed with his rivals, so too with their pretensions—and their gods. Whatever alliances he formed, or the formal arrangement of power, 252 / the justice of constantine Constantine was always prepared to...