Why Rome Fell

3 Constantine the Reformer

In The Caesars, the Emperor Julian’s satirical sketch on his imperial predecessors, his remarks on his uncle Constantine are far from complimentary. Julian charges Constantine with being wholly given over to pleasure and the amassing of great wealth, and also alludes to Constantine’s killing of his wife and son, worlds away from the image of “Constantine the Great.” Julian, a staunch pagan, also mocks Constantine’s Christianity, which, according to Julian, allowed Constantine to sin repeatedly with impunity. (Julian, Caesares, 336.) The diversity of opinion among writers ancient and modern on Constantine’s character, motivation, success, and faith begs some big questions, including the following:

• Constantine and the Dominate. To what extent did Constantine continue the policies of the tetrarchy, and to what extent did he break with them? All too often, Constantine’s rule is seen as essentially a continuation of the tetrarchy under the general heading of “the Dominate.” That there was a good deal of continuity is undeniable. But Diocletian’s failed “tetrarchy,” under which senior emperors picked their own deputies and successors, was replaced with dynastic succession, which created its own problems. An area of continuity was the separation of the military from the civilian administration, which was largely finalized under Constantine. And Diocletian’s systematic “chopping up” of the provinces and grouping them under vicars answerable to praetorian prefects ...