Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/343

 CONSTANTINE

CONSTANTINE

the hostilf movement of the Persian king, Shapur, again summoned him into the field. When he was about to march against the enemy he was seized with an illness of which he died in May, 337, after receiving baptism.

Charles G. Herbermann.

Historical Appreclvtion. — Constantine can right- fully claim the title of Grrnt, for he turned the history of the world into a new course and made Christianity, which until then had suffered bloody persecution, the religion of the State. It is true that the deeper reasons for this change are to be found in the religious move- ment of the time, but these reasons were hardly im- perative, as the Christians formed only a small portion of the population, being a fifth part in the West and the half of the population in a large section of the East. Constant ine's decision depended less on general conditions than on a personal act ; his personality, therefore, desers'es careful consideration.

Long before this, belief in the old polytheism had been shaken ; in more stolid natures, as Diocletian, it showed its strength only in the form of superstition, magic, and divination. The world was fully ripe for monotheism or its modified form, henothei.sm, but this monotheism offered itself in varied guises, under the fonas of various Oriental religions: in the worship of the sun, in the veneration of Mithras, in Judaism, and in Christianity. Whoever. wished to avoid mak- ing a violent break mth the past and his surroundings sought out some Oriental form of worship which did not demand from him too severe a sacrifice ; in such cases Christianity naturally came last. Probably many of the more noble-minded recognized the truth contained in Judaism and Christianity, but believed that they could appropriate it without being obliged on that account to renounce the beauty of other wor- ships. Such a man was the Emperor Alexander Severus; another thus minded was Aurelian, whose opinions were confirmed by Christians like Paul of Samosata. Not only Gnostics and other heretics, but Christians who considered themselves faithful, held in a measure to the worship of the sun. Leo the Great in his day says that it was the custom of many Chris- tians to stand on the steps of the cliurch of St. Peter and pay homage to the sim by obeisance and prayers 'cf. Euseb. Alexand. in Mai, "Nov. Patr. Bibl.", !l, .523; Augustine, "Enarratio in Ps. x"; Leo I, Serm. xxvi ; Grupp, " Ivulturgeschichte der romi- schen Kaiserzeit", II, 130, 317, 348). WTien such conditions prevailed it is easy to understand that many of the emperors yielded to the delusion that they could unite all their subjects in the adoration of tjhe one sun-god who combined in himself the Father- God of the Christians and the much-worshipped Mithras; thus the empire could be founded anew on unity of religion. Even Constantine, as will be ahown farther on, for a time cherished this mistaken belief. It looks almost as though the last persecu- ions of the Christians were directed more against all rreconcilables and extremists than against the great ody of Christians. The policy of the emperors was lot a consistent one ; Diocletian was at first friendly _Owards Christianity; even its grimmest foe, Julian, Ifwavered. Caesar Constantius, Constantine's father, protected the ChrLstians during a most cruel per- secution.

Constantine grew up under the influence of his father's ideas. He was the son of Constantius Chlorus by his first, informal marriage, called concu- hnatus, with Helena, a woman of inferior birth. For hort time Constantine had been compelled to stay at the court of Galerius, and had evidently not re- ceived a good iinpre.ssion from his surroundings there. When Diocletian retired, Constantius advanced from the position of Ca>sar to that of Augustus, and the »rmy, against the wishes of the other emperors, raised

the young Constantine to the vacant position. Right here was seen at once how unsuccessful would be the artificial system of division of the empire and succes- sion to the throne by which Diocletian sought to frus- trate the overweening power of the Praetorian Guard. Diocletian's personality is full of contradictions; he was just as crude in his religious feelings as he was shrewd and far-seeing in state affairs; a man of auto- cratic nature, but one who, under certain circum- stances, voluntarily set bounds to himself. He began a reconstruction of the empire, which Constantine completed. The existence of the empire was threat- ened by many serious evils, the lack of national and religious unity, its financial and military weakness. Consequently the system of taxation had to be ac- commodated to the revived economic barter system. The taxes bore most heavily on the peasants, the peas- ant communities, and the landed proprietors; in- creasingly hea-vy compulsorj- service was also laid on those engaged in industrial pursuits, and they were therefore combined into state guilds. The army was strengthened, the troops on the frontier being increa.sed to 360,000 men. In addition, the tribes living on the frontiers were taken into the pay of the State as allies, many cities were fortified, and new fortresses and gar- risons were established, bringing soldiers and civilians more into contact, contrary to the old Roman axiom. When a frontier was endangered the household troops took the field. This body of soldiers, known as pala- tini, comitatenses, which had taken the place of the Pra>torian Guard, numbered not quite 200,000 men (sometimes given as 194, .500). A good postal service maintained constant communication between the dif- ferent parts of the empire. Tlie civil and military administration were, perhaps, somewhat more sharply divided than before, but an equally increased impor- tance was laid on the military capacity of all state offi- cials. Service at court was termed militia, "niilitarj' service". Over all, like to a god, was enthroned the emperor, and the imperial dignity was surrounded by a halo, a sacredness, a ceremonial, which was borrov.'ed from the Oriental theocracies. The East from the earliest times had been a favourable soil for theo- cratic government; each ruler was believed by his people to be in direct communication with the god- head, and the law of the State was regarded as re- vealed law. In the same manner the emperors al- lowed themselves to be venerated as holy oracles and deities, and everything connected with them was called sacred. Instead of imperial, the word sacred had now always to be used. A large court-retinue, elaborate court-ceremonials, and an ostentatious court-costume made access to the emperor more diffi- cult. Whoever wished to approach the head of the State must first pass through many ante-rooms and prostrate himself before the emperor as before a divin- ity. As the olil Roman population had no liking for such ceremonial, the emperors .showed a constantly increasing preference for the East, where monotheism held almost undisputed sway, and where, besides, economic conditions were better. Rome was no longer able to control the whole of the great empire with its peculiar civilizations.

In all directions new and ^ngorous national forces began to show themselves. Only two policies were possible: either to give way to the various national movements, or to take a firm stand on the founda- tion of antiquity, to revive old Roman principles, the ancient military severity, and the patriotism of Old Rome. Several emperors had tried to follow this latter course, but in vain. It was just as impos- sible to bring men back to the old sinii)licity as to make tlicin return to the old pagan beliefs and to the national form of worship. Consequently, the empire had to identify it.self with the progressive movement, employ as far as possible the existing resources of national life, exercise tolerance, make concessions to