emperor constantine and christianity (early christianity)

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emperor constantine and christianity (early christianity)

who was the first emporor to convert to christianity..

This Lecture Is Given By Yale University And Below Is A Trancript of the Video For Thhose Who Rather Read Than Listen Or Who Would Like To Compain Both Reading And Listening..

0:02PAUL FREEDMAN: Today, we’re going to talk0:02about what is arguably the most important event of the0:08first part of our course, the conversion of Constantine, the0:11Roman emperor, to Christianity.0:14Important not because of Constantine’s0:17own particular opinions.0:19The fact that he embraced Christianity is, as we’ll see,0:22a little hard to explain on purely strategic grounds.0:25But its importance is that it represents a permanent change.0:29It represents the beginning of the Christianization of the0:32Roman Empire, a very unexpected result.0:36Because not only had Christianity been illegal in0:40the prior history of the empire, that is to say, for0:45over 250 years, but of course, the god-man Jesus had been put0:52to death by the forces of the Roman Empire.0:56And as we’ve discussed, Roman religion, with its emphasis on1:01what we’ve called “civic polytheism” or the performance1:05of ceremonies in public, ceremonies that have to do1:08with local patriotism, emperor worship, the tradition of the1:13Olympian gods, and, above all, polytheism, was very foreign1:17to Christianity.1:19The Christian religion thus seemed to be a kind of1:24annoying epiphenomenon of Roman society when, in fact,1:30with this event, Constantine’s conversion, it becomes first a1:38tolerated religion, then a favored religion, and very1:44quickly, within the course of the fourth century AD, the1:48official and almost the only religion of the Roman Empire.1:53How can this be?1:55We’ll discuss both the specific events today, and2:00their meaning, and how they play out.2:04We recall then that what is called “paganism,” a2:08traditional religion of the Roman Empire, was2:10polytheistic, was many gods, ceremonial, had a lot of local2:17variation, and it was eclectic–2:21eclectic meaning that you could worship different gods2:25in different places, different gods for different purposes,2:29different gods for different times of your life.2:39There was a certain emotional vacuum, or at least a2:44perceived vacuum, in this religion because it seemed to2:47deny individual longing and longing in general, that2:53longing, that sense internally that there is more to life2:58than there appears to be.3:01So that many adherents of other religions, including,3:04but not limited to, Christianity believed that3:07some part of their body was immortal, or the soul was3:13immortal, or that the immortal soul had to be healed by3:17religion, and not that religion should simply be a3:22pathway to good fortune or to easing the anxieties of the3:26material world.3:28So Christianity, we’ve said, is not so much otherworldly,3:34focused on heaven.3:36It is that.3:37But even more important perhaps is its innerness, its3:41inner worldliness, the sense that people have a interior3:47soul that yearns for something eternal and more significant.3:52And then Christianity was accompanied by other so-called3:56″mystery religions,” religions that also spoke to an4:00immaterial, heroic, non-civic, non-urban type of piety,4:08Mithraism, for example, the worship of the4:12mother goddess Cybele.4:15Christianity had certain advantages in terms of4:20reaching a population, the promise of an afterlife, the4:24commitment that it demanded of people, a religion that4:28appealed both to the elite and to the common people, and a4:32very strong local organization.4:36But Christianity was alien to the Roman Empire.4:40The Romans did not always persecute Christianity, as4:44they did under Diocletian.4:46But they found Christianity alien.4:50They didn’t like the fact that Christianity was intolerant.4:53Every other religion of the Roman Empire, with one4:55exception, accepted other gods.4:59If you worshipped Isis, you had nothing against other5:01people worshipping Jupiter.5:03If you worshipped Cybele, you had nothing against other5:05people worshipping Mithra.5:07But Christianity, of course, ridiculed all of these gods.5:10The only other religion that was like this was Judaism.5:14But Judaism made some accommodations with the Roman5:16Empire, recognized the authority of the Roman5:20emperor, and did not defy the state in the way that5:24Christianity at least appeared to.5:28And Christianity was not a Roman religion in many of the5:33ways that it rejected worldliness, rejected5:37engagement in or enjoyment of the material world: the5:43pleasures of the theater, the circus, the celebrations of5:48civic paganism, emperor worship, law courts.5:53Well, law courts may not be pleasurable.5:56But this sort of civic involvement of the emperor and5:59the Empire are rejected by Christianity.6:02Christianity, when you see what Roman pagans write about6:07it, is a kind of killjoy religion.6:09It’s a religion of people who seem to have their eyes6:13focused on anything but the actual process of getting6:17ahead in Roman society.6:20All of this notwithstanding, it should be emphasized that6:23Christianity was not persecuted constantly nor was6:28the persecution very intense.6:31We have Nero in the late 60s AD, the Decian persecution of6:36the mid-third century, and of course, the great persecution6:40under Diocletian.6:43Christianity received just enough persecution, one might6:46say, to fortify its spirit, to give it some backbone, but not6:53enough to break it.6:58Constantine emerged from the chaos following Diocletian’s7:03abdication.7:04Diocletian, and as you’ll recall, had created this four7:08man rule, the Tetrarchy, in order to divide what was7:14perceived as an excessively large empire with an7:17excessively large administrative structure.7:20The Tetrarchy was, at least we can say with hindsight, doomed7:25to failure.7:26These four emperors would not cooperate.7:29They would tend to be rivals.7:32Constantine was the son of one of the caesars, one of the7:36subordinates.7:37Remember there were two augusti, two caesars.7:39His father was Constantius Chlorus who was appointed when7:43the Tetrarchy began in the West in 293.7:47So there was an Augustus of the West and a Caesar of the7:50West. The Caesar of the West was Constantius Chlorus.7:55The young Constantine was sent east to serve the eastern8:00Augustus, who succeeded Diocletian, Galerius.8:14Constantine was left out of the succession8:17when Diocletian abdicated.8:21Galerius appointed somebody else,8:23and Constantine rebelled.8:25Constantine, in 306, raised an army in faraway Britain,8:33marched on Gaul, and eventually was grudgingly8:37recognized by Galerius as caesar.8:41At the same time, another disinherited son of an8:44augustus, a man named Maxentius, rebelled in Rome.8:55And I will not burden you with the whole working out of these9:01intrigues, of the fightings of armies, of the quarrels of9:04augusti and caesars.9:06But basically, in 311, Galerius, who had been ill9:12with cancer, died.9:15And Galerius was succeeded by an emperor in9:19the East named Licinius.9:23And Licinius allowed Constantine to deal with the9:27usurper Maxentius in the West. So we have Licinius in the9:32east in 311, and then in the West, Constantine and9:35Maxentius fighting it out.9:37Galerius has died.9:40Constantine defeated Maxentius at a battle not far from Rome,9:45the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.9:58The Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312.10:01And Constantine was now Augustus in the West,10:04Licinius, Augustus in the East. The Battle of the10:08Milvian Bridge is the context for whatever had happened that10:13changed Constantine’s mind about his religious10:16orientation.10:19Just before the Battle of the Milvian10:20Bridge, something happened.10:23There are two stories that purport to explain the event.10:27One is that Constantine had a dream.10:31And in this dream, an angel spoke to him and ordered him10:34to paint a symbol combining the Greek letter chi and the10:41Greek letter rho on his soldiers’ shields.10:53The rho, the R in Greek, and the chi written as an X. The10:57two letters symbolize, or at least were taken later to11:02symbolize, Christ, the first letter being a chi,11:08the second a rho.11:12The second version, which is later, that is, later in11:17circulation as a story, but seems perhaps to have been11:21attested by the emperor himself to11:24his biographer, Eusebius.11:27According to Eusebius, Constantine was marching with11:32his army before the battle.11:34And he, along with the army, saw a cross in the sky.11:39And superimposed on the sun, against which background the11:44cross appeared, were the words, “In this sign, you will11:48conquer.” Hard to say which version, if either, is what11:58Constantine thought happened to him.12:02The argument for the second one is partly Eusebius’s12:05description, partly the fact that angels in a dream are a12:08standard kind of story.12:13On the other hand, the Chi Rho symbol is not previously a12:16sign of Christianity.12:20So the very fact that there isn’t a background to that,12:26that this is something that we hear of now for the first12:30time, might indicate that that’s the true story.12:33But more important than what actually happened is that12:39there’s no reason to doubt Constantine’s sincerity.12:45There is no reason to believe that this was a calculating,12:48cynical, or politically astute move.12:54This is not because Constantine wasn’t devious.12:57He was.12:58But because it’s hard to imagine any emperor thinking13:03that Christianity was a good idea.13:07Because Christianity was subversive of Roman values.13:11And it was particularly subversive of the values of13:15the Roman army, whose crucial aid Constantine depended on13:21and of which Constantine had to be the leader not only in13:25order to defeat Maxentius, but simply to survive in power.13:30Christianity was pacifist. At this time, it took more13:34literally than it would later the admonitions of Christ in13:39the Gospels not to fight, not to hit back, not to engage13:48oneself in the pursuit of worldly13:51gain by means of violence.13:54So it’s hard to imagine anything more unlikely than an14:00emperor becoming Christian and gaining the14:02support of his followers.14:07Now that doesn’t mean that Constantine became some sort14:11of monk, interpreted the Gospels literally, told his14:15soldiers to put down their weapons.14:17It’s clear that Constantine regarded the Christian god14:20much as other emperors had regarded, say, the Invincible14:24Sun, or the genius of the divine emperor, or any other14:28pagan deity that brought victory in war.14:32Constantine, like all emperors, saw himself as a14:35child a fortune, as someone who was favored by fortune,14:40depended on fortune, and who needed to placate, to mollify,14:47to please whatever god it was that controlled fortune.14:52What’s unusual is that he would deem the Christian god14:55to be this sort of god, a leader of war, a giver of15:01victory in battle, a companion to the emperor.15:08None of this would seem, at first glance, to be likely in15:11Christianity.15:13The fact that not only does it work, but that it would work15:16for centuries later is just part of the cataclysmic nature15:21of this event, or if not cataclysmic, at least15:24unexpected.15:28Constantine was not ignorant.15:29He’s someone who had studied philosophy, who was quite15:34literate, knew Greek pretty well, familiar with Latin15:38literature.15:40But nevertheless, he was obviously a man of affairs.15:43He’s not an intellectual, contemplative person, poring15:47over philosophy books.15:48He’s a man of power, decisiveness, strategy, and15:53not a little cruelty and brutality.15:58And we can see that after his conversion experience–16:01and indeed, I should point out he did beat Maxentius–he16:05accepted the Christian god, he went to battle with the16:11usurper, and he defeated him.16:15But even after his victory, he doesn’t become, in every16:20respect, a totally committed Christian at least in terms of16:24the symbols of power of his office.16:28His coins, for example, which are a very good mark of16:32propaganda and self-regard, his coins kept the imagery of16:39the earlier pagan deity associated with the emperor,16:42the Invincible Sun.16:45After a little while, you start to see the Invincible16:47Sun on one side of the coin and the cross on the other.16:50And only later in his reign do we have just the cross.16:57Constantine’s first substantive act as a Christian17:04or as someone who favored the Christian church was the Edict17:09of Tolerance.17:10The Edict of Tolerance or Edict of Toleration issued at17:14Milan in 313 was jointly the product of Constantine and17:19Libanius, now the two last guys standing.17:23The Augustus of the East, Libanius, and Constantine, the17:28Augustus of the West.17:30Libanius was a pagan.17:32He did not share Constantine’s bizarre17:36enthusiasm, but all right.17:37If he wanted to tolerate Christianity, this was fine.17:41This was part of their–17:42I’m sorry.17:43It’s not Libanius.17:46Libanius is a philosopher.17:48Licinius.17:54Licinius.17:54Constantine and Licinius.17:55Licinius was a pagan, but he was willing to go along with18:00toleration.18:02At this point, Christianity was legalized.18:07But in the west, Constantine came to favor the Church and18:11do more than merely accept it as legal.18:14For example, he returned property confiscated in the18:18Diocletianic persecutions.18:22He exempted the Church from state taxation, an incredible18:27gift, and allowed church officials, bishops and others,18:31to use the imperial communications system, the18:34so-called post system whereby they could get fresh horses to18:38go from one place to another, greatly speeding up their18:43journeys and making the journeys, in effect,18:47chargeable to the state.18:51Constantine left the pagan and ceremonial center of Rome18:56alone, for the time being at least, and built two great18:59basilicas on its outskirts.19:01One, Saint Peter’s.19:04The St. Peter’s that stands today is, of course, a product19:07of the Renaissance and the Baroque.19:09But the old church that was destroyed in the sixteenth19:14century was that of Constantine.19:18And he also built the Lateran Basilica.19:20Both of these outside the walls of Rome.19:26As we’ll discuss, he also attempted to mediate in19:30disputes involving the church.19:35He never, however, completely19:36marginalized the old religions.19:40He emphasized the diversity of religious practice.19:43He didn’t require a single form of worship.19:46But by the time he died in 337, the pace of conversions19:50was such that perhaps as much as half of the Empire had19:56embraced Christianity.20:01And this brings us to a crucial question, of course,20:05that we’ll be discussing really throughout the20:07semester, and that is what was the effect of Constantine’s20:12conversion on the Church?20:14Or beyond the mere event of 312, what did it mean for the20:19Church to go from persecuted minority20:22to established majority?20:27What explains Constantine’s ability not only to change the20:32course of the Roman religious practice and tendencies, but20:38to do so permanently?20:41For the Church, was this turnaround a providential sign20:46or a kind of Trojan horse gift in which the Church would now20:50be so tied to the official culture that it would never be20:55able to shake off Rome, administration, and20:59bureaucracy to get back to its original, charismatic,21:04individual, powerful foundations?21:09The era of Constantine establishes the problem of the21:13Church in the world for the Middle Ages21:16and, indeed, beyond.21:17This problem is is the church a collection of special people21:23who have their eyes fixed on heaven or, is it a kind of21:27universal society that is hard to distinguish from just21:32worldliness and engagement with the world of business,21:36life, death, and other banalities?21:42It is Saint Augustine who is going to deal with this most21:45forcibly in terms of theory, but that’s a century later or21:49so, well, 75 years later.21:52Externally, the Church adapted very quickly to success.21:59We can see this in terms of the pace of22:02conversion, as I said.22:04Not only were 50% of the people, perhaps, Christian by22:08337 when Constantine died, but by 390, the time of the22:14Emperor Theodosius and his death, 395, probably 90% of22:21the population was at least nominally Christian.22:27The reasons for this success.22:29In other words, how could Constantine’s particular22:32gesture have such a decisive impact?22:38Some of this has to do with Christianity’s willingness to22:41adopt to the customs of the Empire.22:45Some of it may have to do with the weakness of the official22:48religion of Rome and of the urban elites who were its22:51chief support.22:56Those who held out against Christianity were, on the one23:00hand, people in the rural areas, so peasants, whose23:06fundamental beliefs tended to be directed to agriculture,23:10local deities, deities that controlled the weather, and23:13water, and things like that.23:16The army, for reasons I’ve just said, that is,23:20Christianity is not, at first glance, congenial to people23:23who fight for a living.23:26And then the third group that held out were the23:28intelligentsia, particularly of Roman and Athens, the23:31people who had a substantial cultural investment in Greek23:37and Roman philosophy, the intellectual23:39side of the old elite.23:46Well, Constantine fell out with Licinius.23:49And after some small skirmishes, Constantine23:52managed to defeat him at a place called23:55Chrysopolis in 324.23:57Licinius fled from the battlefield, Constantine’s24:00forces caught up with him, and Licinius was executed.24:07This event, this Battle of Chrysopolis,24:13important in itself–24:20P-O-L-I-S–24:21important in itself was even more important because it24:26showed Constantine the importance of the small24:30fortress city of Byzantium, not far away.24:35Byzantium who is the ancestor of the city that Constantine24:48would found there, Constantinople.24:53And of course, modern Istanbul in its24:59twenty-first century incarnation.25:03Byzantium commanded a strategic point of access25:08east-west and north-south.25:11It was the point of access between the Black Sea and the25:17Mediterranean.25:19The Bosphorus is a narrow strait that25:21separates Europe from Asia.25:24Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul stands on the west25:30bank, the European side, but it commands and controls the25:35channel by which anyone would go from the Mediterranean to25:39the Black Sea.25:40And since the Black Sea is the gateway to central Asia, it,25:44in effect, controls communications between two25:48commercial, strategic, and military zones.25:52It also controls the route from the Balkans, southeastern25:59Europe, into Asia, into, specifically in this case,26:03Asia Minor or the Asian part of what’s now Turkey.26:09Byzantium is, therefore, strategically located in terms26:14of communication and, at the same time, located so that an26:20army can get to two of the most dangerous frontiers of26:24the Roman empire in a reasonable amount of time26:27without having to commit itself to one26:30or the other totally.26:31It is not far from the Danube frontier, which was, as we26:36said, one of the points at which the empire met the26:41Barbarian tribes and which the empire had sort of decided on26:45as its natural frontier.26:47And Constantinople was also not that far from the eastern26:51frontier of the Roman Empire, the frontier with Persia,26:54which ran along what’s now eastern Turkey, Armenia,26:59western Iran, and Iraq.27:05It was the city, also, within the27:09richest part of the empire.27:12As we said, one of the problems of the Empire in its27:15later years, its later centuries was that the east27:18was becoming richer, more urban, more commercial.27:22The west was lagging behind, more rural, less successful in27:27its commerce.27:29Constantine wanted an eastern capital for both strategic and27:34for economic reasons.27:36For strategic reasons having to do with the movement of the27:39armies and the protection of the frontier.27:42For economic reasons having to do with taxation and27:45administration.27:46The city of Rome itself was somewhat isolated, strangely27:51enough since, of course, the whole empire had grown up27:54around Rome.27:55But Rome was the historical origin of the Empire, but not,28:02in the fourth century AD, its actual living capital.28:08It would be too much to compare it, say, to the28:12relationship between Portugal and Brazil.28:14It’s not quite that lopsided.28:17But Brazil is a former colony of Portugal.28:21They speak the language of Portugal.28:23Yet on the world stage, Brazil is larger than Portugal, more28:28important than Portugal, richer now than Portugal.28:33So whatever preeminence Portugal or its capital,28:36Lisbon, has within the world of culture, no Brazilian would28:41take Lisbon to be the be all and end all of the Portuguese28:46cultural world.28:48So similarly, by this time, Rome has become less important28:52even within the western empire.28:56And this relocation of the capital to Constantinople, the29:01relocation of the capital to the east is significant29:04because it shows us the permanent29:08result of the Tetrarchy.29:10As we’ve said, Diocletian’s experiment was a failure in29:14the sense that the emperors and29:16caesars would not cooperate.29:19And such a scheme was never tried again.29:21But the division of the Empire between east and west would be29:27something that would eventually become permanent.29:31Its first traces are with Diocletian, and that’s one29:35reason why we begin the course with him.29:37It is also something that continues under Constantine29:42without the addition of the caesars.29:46Constantine ruled over the whole empire.29:48He did not divide it himself, but he facilitated its29:52conceptual, and eventually real, political division by29:55creating a new Rome, a new capital in the former fortress30:02of Byzantium, a town that he modestly named after himself.30:09Constantinople, as this town was called, was planned to be30:12a new Rome.30:14Like Rome, it would have a forum; it would have civic30:19spaces; it would have races and sporting events.30:24It would have imperial palaces and gardens; it would have30:28victory columns, triumphal arches, aqueducts, the whole30:33panoply of classical civilization.30:37It wouldn’t have a whole lot of temples.30:39Churches would be more important than temples, not30:42that Constantine totally banned temples from30:45Constantinople.30:46But these were not the highlights of the city.30:51It is an ideological statement like other planned, great,30:56imperial sites.30:58So we could compare it to, in the modern world, Saint31:02Petersburg, created by the czars as a certain kind of31:06statement, with a certain kind of plan, and a certain kind of31:10look evoking western Europe in particular.31:15Or Versailles, not a town at all, but rather a kind of31:19palace city fit for the king of France.31:28At this point, Constantine becomes considerably more31:35devout and somewhat more intolerant.31:38We start to see him interact with the Christian Church in31:45its most intimate way, that is to say, doctrine.31:51Constantine is appealed to by the Donatists, schismatics–31:59well, we’re calling them schismatics–32:00or heretics, as they were decided to32:02be, from North Africa.32:06The Donatists taught that the priests who had given over the32:18scriptures under persecution at the time of Diocletian were32:21not legitimate priests.32:23And we’ll talk later about the implications of this.32:26The implications, briefly, are that the Church cannot cover32:32for priests, that the office is not greater than the man.32:36If the man has committed a sin, such as what was called32:41treason, the handing over of the scriptures to the32:44persecutors, he no longer can baptize validly, he no longer32:48can perform the sacraments with validity.32:52Donatism, then, implies that the Church itself is really32:58just as good as the character of its officials.33:04The Donatists were strong in North Africa, and they appeal33:08to Constantine against decisions that had been made33:12against them within the Church.33:15The fact that Christians are appealing to the emperor33:19already, as early as 317, shows the acceptance of the33:25emperor as a Christian arbiter.33:27But it also shows a kind of, in retrospect, dangerous33:32intermingling of what we would consider to33:34be church and state.33:37Similarly, Constantine would get involved in controversies33:41over the relationship between God, the Father,33:45and Christ, the Son.33:49This, too, we’ll go into in more detail, but this is the33:52Arian heresy–33:53Arian with an “i,” not with a “y”–33:56named after a priest named Arius who taught that while34:03Christ is God, he is, in some sense,34:07subordinate to God the Father.34:10This is a controversy over the nature of the Trinity in which34:16Christ is seen as coming from God, as emanating from God.34:22And as I think I warned at the beginning of the course, if34:26you don’t like doctrinal and theological controversy, I’ll34:31try to spare you all its ins and outs, but you can’t teach34:34this course without it.34:37Again, what we’re talking about now is not the content34:40of Arianism, who embraced it, why, but the fact that the34:44Emperor gets involved in these controversies.34:49On the one hand, this shows the quick adaptation of the34:54Church to imperial rule.34:56On the other hand, because Constantine was able to solve34:59neither the Donatist nor the Arian division, at least not35:03definitively, and at least not yet, it shows how difficult it35:07was for an emperor who could conquer all of his secular35:10rivals, who could control this vast realm from Gibraltar to35:16the Tigris and Euphrates, but couldn’t get a bunch of North35:20African peasants to obey his orders about how to worship or35:24Egyptian priests either.35:29Constantine, we can see, is frustrated by this.35:34You can see in the reading from Jones, his difficulties35:38in dealing with this in the usual way.35:42The usual way being the emperor is petitioned by35:46people, he appoints some arbiters or judges, the judges35:50make a decision, and then the emperor announces to these35:52people that that’s what it’s going to be.35:54The problem is that, of course, people like the35:57Donatists were already used to martyrdom.36:00Threatening them with imprisonment, threatening them36:02with torture, denouncing them, trying to use the awesome,36:09awe-inspiring power of the emperor against them was not36:12going to be sufficient.36:16Nevertheless, Constantine, far from abandoning Christianity36:19in frustration, becomes more and more engaged in trying to,36:26if not officially Christianize the Empire, at least legislate36:31as a Christian emperor.36:34By 330, he has come to see himself not merely as an36:39emperor who has a kind of peculiar favor or a peculiar36:43god that is following him, but as the implementer of the36:48mission of the Church.36:50So for example, he starts promulgating laws against36:54married men having concubines–36:56ineffective–36:57or the seduction of wards by their guardians, or punishing37:04rape by burning, all orientation towards sexual37:08crimes that shows a more Christian horror of them than37:14the more easygoing Roman attitude.37:20Constantine favors the church, enacts legislation recommended37:25by the church, favors the bishops, and even in the 320s,37:33presides over the first ecumenical council of bishops37:38of the Church called at Nicaea across the Bosporus from37:43Constantinople, the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea called to37:49deal with the Arian controversy.37:52And here, we see Constantine as something different from an37:58emperor merely the companion of Christ or the companion of38:01God, but the emperor as, in some38:05sense, head of the Church.38:07Constantine appears at the council, he is deferred to by38:13the bishops.38:14Nevertheless, he is not himself a bishop.38:19He is not himself, however imperial the Church may look,38:23able to legislate by himself for the church.38:28Because unlike many other religions–38:31and certainly when we come to Islam,38:33you’ll see the contrast–38:34the political leader of the Roman Empire is not the38:38designated leader of the religious practice of the38:42Church because he is not a priest. Now who is the38:48designated leader of the church is not clear yet.38:51Certainly, it’s not yet the pope in the 320s.38:56It is the collectivity of bishops, but in that case,38:59then some bishops have more power than others.39:02Nevertheless, this is the beginning of an era in which39:06we have a blending, but not a total equivalency of secular39:15rule, imperial rule, on the one hand, and spiritual or39:20church rule on the other.39:21And that’s one of the things that, of course, characterizes39:24our image of the Middle Ages, a period in which the church39:27and the state were overlapping if not actually fused.39:34Constantine in relation to Diocletian, to conclude.39:39Differences and similarities.39:42Obviously, their similarities are great.39:46Both Diocletian and Constantine remade the Roman39:51Empire as a much more tightly administered state, a more39:56bureaucratically complicated state, and a39:59more militarized state.40:02Constantine continued Diocletian’s military and40:07administrative structure.40:12Like Diocletian, in order to do this, he had to rely on40:15very heavy taxation.40:18If anything, his taxation had to be greater because he had40:21exempted the Church and its clergy, and someone was going40:25to have to make up the difference.40:30But Diocletian had persecuted the Catholic church, whereas40:34Constantine would favor it.40:37And that is, of course, a crucial difference.40:41On the other hand, even here there are some connections.40:45Under Diocletian, the emperor was a god.40:47The emperor was a distantly glimpsed figure.40:51He was no longer, even in pretense, first citizen, guy40:55just like you and me, hand-shaker, baby-kisser,40:59anything like that.41:00But this was also true with Constantine.41:04Constantine, too, had a ceremonial, distant, and–41:11because of his association with the Church–41:15semi-sacred status.41:18He couldn’t be worshipped as a god, to be sure, but he was41:23something a bit more than merely a follower of41:29Christianity.41:32Constantine ended the Tetrarchy, but he really set41:37the seal on the division of the Empire east and west, as41:40we’ve just said, by the establishment of41:42Constantinople.41:44And finally, Constantine was a little more successful41:46economically.41:48Diocletian did not have the means available to Constantine41:54who had a certain amount from the old pagan temple treasures41:58that he was able to confiscate.42:01And also, by virtue of his victory over Licinius, he was42:07able to rule pretty tightly over the Empire.42:12The fourth century often is seen as a period of decline42:18because we’re focused–42:21we– historians are focused on the collapse of the Roman42:24Empire in the late fifth century.42:28But obviously, people in 337, the year that Constantine42:30died, did not know that in 476 the Western42:34Empire would collapse.42:35They did not know that in 410 Visigoths would invade and42:39plunder the city of Rome, no more than we have the faintest42:42idea of what’s going to happen 75 or 100 years from now.42:47From their point of view, the Empire had been restored.42:50The Empire, which had been endangered in the third42:53century by invasions, inflation, armed forces out of42:58control, chaotic imperial succession, was now stable.43:03It was clear who the emperor was.43:07The barbarians had been pushed back behind the frontiers.43:10Trade, culture, civilization seemingly flourished.43:15And if we trust the impressions we have of43:18contemporaries, both formal, written work and informal,43:23things like the slogans that people put in their dining43:28room mosaics, for example, good times had been restored.43:32This seems to be the constant theme.43:35And I emphasize this because, again, it’s a lesson in how43:40history cannot be seen from the front backwards.43:44You can’t use hindsight to tell what43:48people should have felt.43:50People in the fourth century at the time of Constantine43:53were optimistic.43:54No more so those people who had embraced Christianity as43:58the coming thing, as the religion of not only truth,44:02but of success.44:04What is odd is, of course, that thus far, Christianity44:08would have seemed to be unlikely.44:10Christianity would have seemed to be alien from the Empire.44:14And even if some emperor embraced it for weird reasons44:18of its own, his own, it wouldn’t have seemed to have44:21been the most favorable context for the preservation44:27of the Empire.44:28And indeed, of course, the Empire would fail in the west44:31within a century and a half or so of the embrace of44:34Christianity.44:35And it’s no surprise, then, that the English historian of44:39the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, whose Decline and Fall44:42of the Roman Empire sort of sets the agenda for any course44:45like this one.44:46It’s no accident that Gibbon blamed Christianity for the44:49fall of the Empire.44:51But indeed, in the fourth century, it seemed that44:54Christianity was one of the forces that44:55had saved the Empire.44:57And not only that, as we will see as this course unfolds,45:01much of what was preserved from the debacle of 476 and45:06successive problems of the preservation of civilization45:10would be preserved through the action of the Church.45:15Thanks very much.