Chapter XIV: The Rise of Constantine
Read it here, here or here.
1) Good quotes
Actually not that many in this chapter, which is full of incident rather than rhetoric. But here is Gibbon on the idea that Constantine's mother was a British princess: This tradition, unknown to the contemporaries of Constantine, was invented in the darkness of monasteries, was embellished by Jeffrey of Monmouth and the writers of the xiith century, has been defended by our antiquarians of the last age, and is seriously related in the ponderous history of England, compiled by Mr. Carte (vol. i. p. 147). He transports, however, the kingdom of Coil, the imaginary father of Helena, from Essex to the wall of Antoninus.
And on the revealing design flaws of a well-known monument in Rome: The triumphal arch of Constantine still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity. As it was not possible to find in the capital of the empire a sculptor who was capable of adorning that public monument, the arch of Trajan, without any respect either for his memory or for the rules of propriety, was stripped of its most elegant figures. The difference of times and persons, of actions and characters, was totally disregarded. The Parthian captives appear prostrate at the feet of a prince who never carried his arms beyond the Euphrates; and curious antiquarians can still discover the head of Trajan on the trophies of Constantine. The new ornaments which it was necessary to introduce between the vacancies of ancient sculpture are executed in the rudest and most unskilful manner.
Gibbon is habitually inaccurate on geographical detail but seems to have a much better eye for art and architecture.
2) Chapter summary
Diocletian's system does not long survive his abdication. His four succesors squabble among themselves, and at one point there are six mutually recognised rulers of different bits of the Roman Empire. But one of them, Constantine, defeats all the others, through superior statesmanship and military skill. The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine, from his first assuming the purple at York, to the resignation of Licinius at Nicomedia, have been related with some minuteness and precision, not only as the events are in themselves both interesting and important, but still more as they contributed to the decline of the empire by the expense of blood and treasure, and by the perpetual increase, as well of the taxes as of the military establishment.
The whole chapter is an impressive marshalling of historical facts, complex narrative and geography running from Britain to Asia Minor over a period of almost two decades; I am surprised that my Wordsworth Condensed edition omits it.
3) Points arising
i) sources
We have clearly turned a corner in the number of sources available for Gibbon to use - one senses that his problem is selecting among the detailed material available for Constantine's early life and early reign, rather than extracting what nuggets of interest he can from the Augustan History. Of course the problem is that too much of the later material is hagiographical, and he tries (not always very successfully) to take the prejudices of the available sources into account when reporting them. But one can say for him that he is transparent in what he is doing and the way he does it.
ii) Christianity
Still barely mentioned. I think this will change.
iii) astrology
I was fascinated by Gibbon's hint that the best evidence that Constantine was born at Niš comes from an astrological text: The claim of Naissus is supported by the anonymous writer, published at the end of Ammianus, p. 710, and who in general copied very good materials; and it is confirmed by Julius Firmicus (de Astrologiâ, l. i. c. 4), who flourished under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objections have been raised against the integrity of the text, and the application, of the passage of Firmicus; but the former is established by the best MSS., and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de Magnitudine Romanâ, l. iv. c. 11, et Supplement.
Sadly for me, the Firmicus passage is not an actual horoscope but just a general encomium of Constantine which includes the crucial words 'apud Naisum genitus', which are pretty unequivocal. (I was a bit startled to find an online copy of the 1499 edition published by Aldus Manutius which has 'apud Tharsum genitus' and could be read as ambiguous about whether it means Constantine or one of his sons, but everyone who has looked at the actual manuscripts, including particularly the definitive 1897 Kroll and Skutsch edition which I also found online, seems to agree that this is a mistake by Manutius.)
iv) rape
The worst thing Gibbon has to say about Constantine is that he was over-zealous in punishing the crime of rape; which immediately raises the hackles of today's liberal reader, but once Gibbon has set out his case we have to admit that he has a point. Of course, Gibbon's disgust has a different basis from ours. Women are still to be treated as men's property; Constantine's monstrousness for Gibbon is not so much in penalising consensual sex as in his inconsistency in doing it. Still, I can manage one cheer out of three for Gibbon on this one.
v) Rome
Maxentius' elevation is presented as the result of a genuine popular rebellion in Rome, not (as with all such previous incidents) as a power-grab by a single man (or small number). I wonder if that is right, both for Maxentius - did he really have popular support? - and for the others - did they lack it?
vi) This week's Balkan geography gripe
Cibalis, today's Vinkovci, is not on the River Sava but about 40 km away from it. It was on the front line during the 1992 war in Croatia. I've been there a couple of times.
4) Coming next
Chapter XV: The progress of the Christian religion, and the sentiments, manners, numbers, and condition of the primitive Christians - one of the classic ones, and if you've only been skimming up to now this is a good point to jump in. Read it here, here or here.
1) Good quotes
Actually not that many in this chapter, which is full of incident rather than rhetoric. But here is Gibbon on the idea that Constantine's mother was a British princess: This tradition, unknown to the contemporaries of Constantine, was invented in the darkness of monasteries, was embellished by Jeffrey of Monmouth and the writers of the xiith century, has been defended by our antiquarians of the last age, and is seriously related in the ponderous history of England, compiled by Mr. Carte (vol. i. p. 147). He transports, however, the kingdom of Coil, the imaginary father of Helena, from Essex to the wall of Antoninus.
And on the revealing design flaws of a well-known monument in Rome: The triumphal arch of Constantine still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity. As it was not possible to find in the capital of the empire a sculptor who was capable of adorning that public monument, the arch of Trajan, without any respect either for his memory or for the rules of propriety, was stripped of its most elegant figures. The difference of times and persons, of actions and characters, was totally disregarded. The Parthian captives appear prostrate at the feet of a prince who never carried his arms beyond the Euphrates; and curious antiquarians can still discover the head of Trajan on the trophies of Constantine. The new ornaments which it was necessary to introduce between the vacancies of ancient sculpture are executed in the rudest and most unskilful manner.
Gibbon is habitually inaccurate on geographical detail but seems to have a much better eye for art and architecture.
2) Chapter summary
Diocletian's system does not long survive his abdication. His four succesors squabble among themselves, and at one point there are six mutually recognised rulers of different bits of the Roman Empire. But one of them, Constantine, defeats all the others, through superior statesmanship and military skill. The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine, from his first assuming the purple at York, to the resignation of Licinius at Nicomedia, have been related with some minuteness and precision, not only as the events are in themselves both interesting and important, but still more as they contributed to the decline of the empire by the expense of blood and treasure, and by the perpetual increase, as well of the taxes as of the military establishment.
The whole chapter is an impressive marshalling of historical facts, complex narrative and geography running from Britain to Asia Minor over a period of almost two decades; I am surprised that my Wordsworth Condensed edition omits it.
3) Points arising
i) sources
We have clearly turned a corner in the number of sources available for Gibbon to use - one senses that his problem is selecting among the detailed material available for Constantine's early life and early reign, rather than extracting what nuggets of interest he can from the Augustan History. Of course the problem is that too much of the later material is hagiographical, and he tries (not always very successfully) to take the prejudices of the available sources into account when reporting them. But one can say for him that he is transparent in what he is doing and the way he does it.
ii) Christianity
Still barely mentioned. I think this will change.
iii) astrology
I was fascinated by Gibbon's hint that the best evidence that Constantine was born at Niš comes from an astrological text: The claim of Naissus is supported by the anonymous writer, published at the end of Ammianus, p. 710, and who in general copied very good materials; and it is confirmed by Julius Firmicus (de Astrologiâ, l. i. c. 4), who flourished under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objections have been raised against the integrity of the text, and the application, of the passage of Firmicus; but the former is established by the best MSS., and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de Magnitudine Romanâ, l. iv. c. 11, et Supplement.
Sadly for me, the Firmicus passage is not an actual horoscope but just a general encomium of Constantine which includes the crucial words 'apud Naisum genitus', which are pretty unequivocal. (I was a bit startled to find an online copy of the 1499 edition published by Aldus Manutius which has 'apud Tharsum genitus' and could be read as ambiguous about whether it means Constantine or one of his sons, but everyone who has looked at the actual manuscripts, including particularly the definitive 1897 Kroll and Skutsch edition which I also found online, seems to agree that this is a mistake by Manutius.)
iv) rape
The worst thing Gibbon has to say about Constantine is that he was over-zealous in punishing the crime of rape; which immediately raises the hackles of today's liberal reader, but once Gibbon has set out his case we have to admit that he has a point. Of course, Gibbon's disgust has a different basis from ours. Women are still to be treated as men's property; Constantine's monstrousness for Gibbon is not so much in penalising consensual sex as in his inconsistency in doing it. Still, I can manage one cheer out of three for Gibbon on this one.
v) Rome
Maxentius' elevation is presented as the result of a genuine popular rebellion in Rome, not (as with all such previous incidents) as a power-grab by a single man (or small number). I wonder if that is right, both for Maxentius - did he really have popular support? - and for the others - did they lack it?
vi) This week's Balkan geography gripe
Cibalis, today's Vinkovci, is not on the River Sava but about 40 km away from it. It was on the front line during the 1992 war in Croatia. I've been there a couple of times.
4) Coming next
Chapter XV: The progress of the Christian religion, and the sentiments, manners, numbers, and condition of the primitive Christians - one of the classic ones, and if you've only been skimming up to now this is a good point to jump in. Read it here, here or here.