Selected

Topics in Italian Studies 10

Ancient Rome and the Christianity

■ Constantine and the promotion of Christianity

² Battle of the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius

Ø Christian Writers
• Constantine was advised in a dream to mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers and
then engage in battle. He did as he was commanded and by means of a slanted letter X with the top of
its head bent round, he marked Christ on their shields. Armed with this sign, the army took up its
weapons.
Lactantius. De Mortibus Persecutorum. 44. 1-9.
Ø Pagan Writer
• Constantine received a vision of Apollo

² Constantine was a solar monotheist → Christianity
(the cult of the Unconquerable Sun God, Sol Invictus)

“Greeting, Anulinus, our most honoured Sir. It is the custom of our benevolence, that we will that whatsoever
appertains by right to another should not only not suffer harm, but even be restored, most honoured Anulinus.
Wherefore we will that, when thou receivest this letter, if anything of those things that belonged to the Catholic
Church of the Christians in any city, or even in other places, be now in the possession either of citizens or of
any others: these thou shouldest cause to be restored forthwith to these same churches, inasmuch as it has
been our determination that those things which these same churches possessed formerly should be restored
to them as their right. Since, therefore, thy Devotedness perceives that the order of this our command is most
explicit, do thy diligence that all things, whether gardens or buildings or whatsoever belonged to these same
churches by right, be restored to them with all speed; so that we may learn that thou hast yielded the most
careful obedience to this our order. Fare thee well, Anulinus, our most honoured and esteemed Sir.”
Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica X, 5. 16-17. (Nov. 312 - Jan. 313)

“Greeting, Anulinus, our most honoured Sir. Since from many facts it appears that the setting at naught of divine
worship, by which the highest reverence for the most holy and heavenly [Power] is preserved, has brought
great dangers upon public affairs, and that its lawful restoration and preservation have bestowed the greatest
good fortune on the Roman name and singular prosperity on all the affairs of mankind (for it is the Divine
Providence which bestows these blessings): it has seemed good that those men who, with due holiness and
constant observance of this law, bestow their services on the performance of divine worship, should receive

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the rewards of their own labours, most honoured Anulinus. Wherefore it is my wish that those persons who,
within the province committed to thee, in the Catholic Church over which Caecilian presides, bestow their
service on this holy worship—those whom they are accustomed to call clerics—should once for all be kept
absolutely free from all the public offices, that they be not drawn away by any error or sacrilegious fault from
the worship which they owe to the Divinity, but rather without any hindrance serve to the utmost their own
law. For when they render supreme service to the Deity, it seems that they confer incalculable benefit on the
affairs of the State. Fare thee well, Anulinus, our most honoured and esteemed Sir.”
Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica X, 7.

· munera civilia (civil duties / public officies): serving on city councils, collecting taxes for the state, putting
on festivals for the people

² Edict of Milan

"Edict" of Milan reinforced and redefined the ealier Edict of Toleration of 311 CE, which officially revoled the
persecution of Christians that started in Feburary 303. However, Maximinus Daia refused to enforce this edict,
and the persecution raged again in a different way in some regions in the East and in the West. In Feburary
313, in Milan, where Constantine and Licinius met for the wedding of Constantia, sister of Constantine, with
Licinius, the two Augusti formulated a law in favor of the Christians, and it probably spread in the form of
several letters to the various governors.

Emperor Constantine Augustus.
Pursuant to his own authority, a judge must observe that if an action should be brought before an episcopal
court, he shall maintain silence, and if any person should desire him to transfer his case to jurisdiction of the
desire him to transfer his case to the jurisdiction of the Christian law and to observe that kind of court, he shall
be heard, even though the action has been instituted before the judge, and whatever may be adjudged by them
shall be held as sacred; provided, however, that there shall be no such usurpation of authority in that one of
the litigants should proceed to the aforementioned tribunal and should report back his own unrestricted
choice of a tribunal. For the judge must have the unimpaired right of jurisdiction of the case that is pending
before him, in order that he may pronounce his decision, after full credit is given to all the facts as presented.
Codex Theodosianus I, 27, 1 (June, 23, 318)
Emperor Constantine Augustus to the People
Every person shall have the liberty to leave at his death any property that he wishes to the most holy and
venerable council of the Catholic Church. Wills shall not become void. There is nothing which is more due to
men than that the expression of their last will, after which they can no linger will anything, shall be free and
the power of choice, which does not return again, shall be unhampered.
Codex Theodosianus XVI, 2, 4 (July, 3, 321)

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² Constantine's bulding Program
St. John's Basilica (Lateran), St. Peter's Basilica, etc.

Constantine's personal conversion to Christianity and public patronage of Catholicism transformed the
Christian Church from a persecuted minority cult into an established majority religion, and the pagan empire
into a Christian commonwealth.

² From Evergetism to the Christian Charity

Peter Brown, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, Hanover: University Press of New England, 2002
ピーター・ブラウン（戸田聡訳）『貧者を愛する者―古代末期におけるキリスト教的慈善の誕生』慶応義塾大学出版会、2012 年

- Evergetism: wealthy people sustained the city and the citizens including poor people
- After the third century crisis, evergetism became a burden to wealthy people and it was abandoned.

■ Christians and the Arena

For such demons are pleased with misleading songs, with worthless shows, with the varied foulness of the
theatre, with the frenzy of the games, with the cruelty of the amphitheatre, with the violent contests of those
who undertake strife and controversy provocative even of hostility in their support of noxious characters, for
instance, of an actor in a mime, a play, or a pantomime, of a charioteer, or of a venator. By acting in this way
they, as it were, offer incense to the demons within their hearts. For the deceptive spirits rejoice in seduction;
they feast upon the evil customs and the notoriously vile life of those whom they have misled and entrapped.
Augustine, Sermons 198.3

Look at the crime-stained offerings to frightful Dis, to whom is sacrificed the gladiator laid low on the ill-
starred arena, a victim offered to Phlegethon in misconceived expiation for Rome. For what means that
senseless show with its exhibition of sinful skill, the killing of young men, the pleasure fed on blood, the deathly
dust that ever enshrouds the spectators, the grim sight of the parade in the amphitheatre? Why, Charon by the
murder of these poor wretches receives offerings that pay for his services as guide, and is propitiated by a
crime in the name of religion. Such are the delights of the Jupiter of the dead, such the acts in which the ruler
of dark Avernus finds content and refreshment. Is it not shameful that a strong imperial nation thinks it needful
to offer such sacrifices for its country’s welfare and seeks the help of religion from the vaults of hell?
Prudentius, Against Symmachus 1.379–392

· Gladiatorial combats were associated with the sacrifice to the pagan (traditioanl) Gods

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God has given us the command both to deal with the Holy Spirit in tranquillity, gentleness, quiet, and peace,
inasmuch as, in accordance with the goodness of His nature, He is tender and sensitive, and also not to vex Him
by frenzy, bitterness of feeling, anger, and grief. How, then, can the Holy Spirit have anything to do with
spectacles? There is no spectacle without violent agitation of the soul. For, where you have pleasure, there also
is desire which gives pleasure its savor; where you have desire, there is rivalry which gives desire its savor.
And where, in turn, you have rivalry, there also are frenzy and bitterness of feeling and anger and grief and the
other effects that spring from them, and, moreover, are incompatible with our moral discipline. For, even if a
man enjoys spectacles modestly and soberly, as befits his rank, age, and natural disposition, he cannot go to
them without his mind being roused and his soul being stirred by some unspoken agitation. No one ever
approaches a pleasure such as this without passion; no one experiences this passion without its damaging
effects. These very effects are incitements to passion. On the other hand, if the passion ceases, there is no
pleasure, and he who goes where he gains nothing is convicted of foolishness.
Tertullian, On the Spectacles 15.2–6

Do you ask me what you should regard as especially to be avoided? I say, crowds; for as yet you cannot trust yourself
to them with safety. [...] To consort with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some vice
attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously therewith. Certainly, the greater the mob with which
we mingle, the greater the danger. But nothing is so damaging to good character as the habit of lounging at the
games; for then it is that vice steals subtly upon one through the avenue of pleasure.
Seneca, Epistulae, 7. 1.

■ Conclusion

· The Christianity spread with the imperial assistance
· Constantine introduced the Christianity into the Roman administrative system to cover the defect of the
previous system
· Constantine granted some privileges to the Christian clerics and it assisted the promotion of Christianity
· One of the reasons of disappearance of the Gladiatorial combat was its image which associated with the
pagan sacrifice
· Christianity closely associated with the Roman Society and its tradition