ABSTRACT
Between the effort of Augustus to revive the Roman deities as a mask for despotic largely military rule and the invoking of one version of Christianity—Nicene Catholicism—as the official religion of the Roman Empire, an act taken by the Emperor Theodosius at the end of the fourth century, the pendulum swung dramatically. It swung within the field of Roman politics. It swung within the annals of Christianity itself. As it transpired, the two swings, initially separate, were firmly joined together at the hip once the Edict of Milan in 313 CE declared Christianity legal throughout the empire.
