Superfluous Verbiage?: Rhetoric and Law in the Age of Constantine and Julian

This paper contrasts the assumption of the lawyers who compiled the Theodosian Code, that imperial "laws" can be read solely in terms of ius, or "legal content," irrespective of the language in which they are framed, with the line taken by Eusebius among others that rhetoric was as much a part of the "law" as the legal command or prohibition contained in it. It argues that the integration of rhetoric with ius, explored in Plato's Laws 4, a text which influenced Julian's ideas of the ideal lawgiver, was essential both to emperors' affirmations of their own legitimacy as rulers and to the activity of the legislator as educator in the good life. To demonstrate that our picture of Constantine the legislator is a product of both traditions, this paper analyzes a selection of texts from Eusebius and the Theodosian Code, illustrating the importance of legislation as response, as general statement of policy, and as an exercise in education through moral persuasion.