Roman Political Culture by Laurens E. Tacoma;

Author:Laurens E. Tacoma; [Tacoma, Laurens E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192591180
Publisher: OUP Premium
Published: 2020-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

1. Constantine’s Rescript to Hispellum

Somewhere late in the reign of Emperor Constantine (ad 306–337) the community of Hispellum (mod. Spello in Umbria) received a rescript from the emperor. It was an answer to a petition Hispellum had sent. The city wanted to be renamed after the imperial family, it wanted to hold its own festival with theatrical shows and gladiatorial games, rather than having to send its priest to the festival at the Tuscan city of Volsinii, and it wanted to dedicate a shrine to the Constantinian dynasty. Constantine responded positively to these requests, and it was this elaborately formulated reply that the community decided to etch in stone. It erected a large stela with the inscription at the sanctuary where the festival was to be held, on the slope of the hill on which the city of Hispellum was located.

The inscription was retrieved from the site of the former sanctuary in 1733.1 Although the stone is broken into three parts, the text is preserved completely. The text calls itself a copy, an exemplum, of the imperial rescript.2 In keeping with Constantinian rhetoric, the style is verbose, and in consequence, the text is rather long.3 However, although the stone is significant in size, the layout and lettering are rather careless. The text turns out to be a rather sloppy copy of the original imperial rescript, full of spelling errors. The mistakes can to some extent be blamed on the carelessness of the copyist, but can also be attributed to changes in late-antique pronunciation.4

Although apart from the heading the text shows no divisions in its layout, the content divides neatly into a number of sections. After stating that it was a copy of the imperial rescript, the text started with the names of the emperor and his sons.

Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantine Maximus, conqueror of the Germans, Sarmatians, and Goths, victor, celebrator of triumphs, augustus, with Flavius Constantine and Flavius Julius Constantius and Flavius Constans.5

This seemingly innocuous opening has given rise to intense debate, as the clause inhibits precise dating. It is of some irony that Constantine himself had stated previously that laws without an exact date were invalid.6 Originally the rescript must have had a dating clause, but it was not included in the copy.7 The problem is that the titles for the Emperor Constantine are given in full, but that the heading also mentions three sons of Constantine (Constantinus, Constantius, and Constans), without giving further titles or any indication of their status. The use of victor rather than invictus in Constantine’s titles places the text certainly after ad 324.8 As the son from Constantine’s first marriage, Crispus, is not mentioned, the text almost certainly dates from after his execution in ad 326. The year of Constantine’s death, ad 337, is the terminus ante quem, with the proviso that during the months following his demise rescripts were still issued in Constantine’s name.9 The period between the elevation of Dalmatius, Constantine’s nephew, to the caesarship in ad 335 up until his murder

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