ABSTRACT
WE now enter upon a new period, that of the first pact between Christianity and thc Roman Empire. Promulgated in Rlarch 313 by Constantine and Licinius, the Edict of Rlilan inaugurated a system of liberty, but a liberty already privileged, and one which granted to the Christians something rather more than the just reparation to which they had a right. Constantine was not content with showing his favour to Christianity by the building and endowment of sumptuous basilicas a t Constantinople, Nicomedia, Antioch, Jerusalem, Bethlehem (the only one still remaining), Naples, Capua, Ostia and Albano ; by immunities granted to the Catholic clergy ; and by the juridical powers assigned to the Bishops. These favours he intended to be reserved to the orthodox Church-the Church he only entered effectually on his deathbed-to the exclusion of heretics and schismatics. As regards the traditional religion of Rome, he did not hesitate to designate i t in an official document by the word superstitio : ' " Too circunlspect to suppress the old forms of worship, he contented himself with leaving to thein their own life which
GENERAL VIET4T O F PERIOD 229 was almost a t an end, ~rrhile taking care that no onc should be unaware that he was no longer faithful to them." '
His policy towards paganism was accentuated in the most rigorous sense by his sons Constans and Constantius. But strange contradictions retarded its effects. Though he forbade sacrifices and pagan worship, Constantius gave proof, on more than one occasion, of a want of logic of which the pagan Symmachus, in thc face of arbitrary measures of quite another kind, was later on to talie advantage. I n his famous Relatio addressed in 384 to Valentinian 11,' he recallcd that " Constantius had taken away none of the privileges of the consecrated virgins ; he had filled the priestly offices with nobles ; he had not refused financial support t o the Roman ceremonies ; he had followed the Senate with much eomplacency along the streets of the Eternal City ; he had viewed the temples without cmotion ; hc had read the names of the gods inscribed on their frontals ; he hacl enquired as to the origin of those sanctuaries, he had expressed admiration for the architects. . . . 7 7
I n these strong measures which were only partially efficacious, there was, howevcr, matter to exasperate minds still faithful t o the old religion on account of the fascination which its classic literary souvenirs exercised,-those glorious souvenirs in which it seemed bound up,-or who found in the L L mysteries " sufficient outlct for their religious sense. Such minds were still numerous, especially among the upper classes. St Augustine has noted in his Confessions (VIII, ii, 3), possibly with some exaggeration, the pagan sympathies of " nearly all the Roman nobility " (tota fcs'e Romana nobilitas) in the second half of the IVth century. To Prudentius the word nobilitas, taken by itself, meant the pagan aristocracy. Highly placed personages submitted to tlie unclean and bloody rites of the " taurobola." Amongst those whom we know practised this rite, Claudius Hermogenianus Czsarius was ProConsul of Africa from 368 to 370, and Prefect of the City in 374 ; another, Sextilius Agesilaus Aldesius was director of the principal services of the Chancellery, and member of the Consistory of Public Worship ; yet another, Vettius Agorius
280 THE MORROW O F THE VICTORY Praetextatus, " sacrorum omnium praesul," " princeps religiosorum," as Macrobius ' calls him, was Prefect of the City in 367, and Praetorian Prefect in 384.= The momentary success of the short reaction inaugurated by Julian can be understood. However, twenty years later, St Ambrose could speak of his times as Christian, christiana temp or^.^ Ambrose was too clear-sighted to exaggerate the full meaning of this expression. He knew on what compromises so many minds lacking any real devotion depended for their adhesion to Christianity. But from the political point of view the victory of the Christian faith, so long harassed and hunted down, was now no longer in doubt.
