著者

保坂 高殿

出版者

日本西洋古典学会

雑誌

西洋古典學研究 (ISSN:04479114)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.58, pp.60-73, 2010-03-24

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The Vita Constantini(VC), an encomiastic biography containing fifteen imperial letters, is one of the most important and controversial sources on the reign and personality of Constantine the Great that the church of the post-Constantinian period ever produced. Although certain critics have sometimes questioned its Eusebian authorship, recent studies have made extensive use of the text as a reliable literary source, suggesting that the issue has been conclusively resolved. Indeed, serious debate on this matter ceased in the 1970s. However, a critical reading of the text of the VC reveals that there are marked discrepancies between its description of the religious policy of Constantine and the picture of religious policy painted by pagan literature and legal texts. Most scholars are aware of this, yet they try to explain these discrepancies away as interpolations, in order to preserve the traditional view concerning its authorship from challenge. Thus, it is possible to suggest the following: 1)The characteristics of an intolerant emperor as they appear in the VC should neither be attributed to the historical Constantine (who was in fact tolerant of pagan religious practices) nor considered as stemming from the hand of an anonymous interpolator, since this antipagan writing is permeated with subversive ideas which form its conceptual framework. The enmity towards the Roman cultural heritage should therefore be viewed as being a constituent part of the work-thereby precluding the possibility of interpolations or posthumous editorial additions. 2)The VC could have been written by anyone living during a period after the death of Eusebius when the emperor was enforcing an anti-pagan policy-that is, in the time of Constantius II or later. 3)The notion of eusebeia (piety)-generally indicating any pious act for the benefit of the gods-is extended in the VC to encompass a negative attitude towards the impious. Indeed, from the start of the third century onwards there are many recorded instances of pagan assaults on Christians as acts of expiation (for example, Tert Apol 41.2 Christianos ad leonem!). However, neither the church nor the government succumbed to the popular outcry, and it was not until the latter half of the fourth century that the notion of piety in the form of a double negation was conceived. Theodosius II prescribes punishment of religious dissidents as a holy sacrifice to secure divine favor (Novellae 3.8). 4)If the VC is assigned to the time of Constantius II, it could belong to the literary genre of specula principum (mirrors for princes)-that is, its purpose could be to instruct him on how to behave towards and rule his subjects (both pagans and Christians alike) and to caution him against interfering in the internal affairs of the church. However, assigning the VC to the era of the Theodosian dynasty would instead suggest that it was composed in reply to pagan criticism of Constantine's pro-Christian policy. This seems more probable, since it is only after the 370s that the approval of physical violence which characterizes the VC is clearly attested in Christian literature.