User:G.W./Life of Constantine

The Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini or On the Life according to God of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, the title prefixed to chapter headings in the manuscript) is a work by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea on the life of Roman Emperor Constantine I. It was written in the interlude between Constantine's death on 22 May 337 and Eusebius' own death on 30 May 339. The genre of the work has been contested; as it survives, it has been judged an unhappy combination of biography and panegyric, with similarities to saints' lives. Modern scholars, following G. Pasquali's research in the 1960s, hold that this results from the structure of the component works. Eusebius, on this line of argument, did not write the Life in its present format, but two separate works, a continuation of his Ecclesiastical History and a eulogy on the death of Constantine. These two works were combined by an editor after Eusebius death (most likely the subsequent bishop of Caesarea, Acacius). Eusebius' authorship was once a matter of scholarly dispute, most notably by the scholar Henri Grégoire, for whom a supposed pseudo-Eusebius wrote the accounts of Constantine's vision and conversion. The authorship of these passages is no longer contentious, though multiple revisions of the text by Eusebius himself, and final editorial revisions after his death by his episcopal successor Acacius, have been detected.

The most famous passage in the Life concerns Constantine's celestial vision and conversion before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312. Eusebius assures the reader that the emperor communicated the vision to him in person, but much modern scholarship assumes that the passage is either a fabrication, a retrospective reconstruction (either by Eusebius or by Constantine himself), or a convenient misinterpretation of the facts. It is usually read in parallel with Lactantius' account of the battle in his On the Deaths of the Persecutors of 315, which describes a vision that shares few similarities with Eusebius'. Discrepancies between the Life and Eusebius' own Ecclesiastical History (which saw multiple revisions between ca. 300 and 325/6) have also been noted.

Organization
The Life may be summarized as follows:

In the manuscript editions of the Life, Constantine's Speech to the Assembly of the Saints, Eusebius' Panegyric to Constantine and Treatise on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre follow the epilogue.

Constantinian documents
The Life contains fifteen Constantinian letters and edicts excerpted in full:

The origin of most of these letters is simple and uncontroversial. Nos. 1 and 11 were meant for public distribution, as the text of the documents indicates. Eusebius must have copied them down after they were posted in Caesarea. Nos. 2, 9, 13, and 14 are addressed to Eusebius personally, and the text of no. 9 implies that he was sent additional copies of nos. 8 and 10. He was a member of the groups addressed in nos. 5, 7, and 15. Eusebius obtained a copy of no. 4 while it was in circulation among pro-Arian bishops, while Macarius (no. 6) probably advertised his imperial commission to the general public. Constantine's letter to Shapur (no. 12), however, is more problematic.

Intent

 * See also: Panegyric to Constantine

The scholar H. A. Drake traces the beginnings of Eusebius' intent to write a biography of Constantine to the speech appended to the manuscript of his Panegyric to Constantine (Laudes Constantini). The greater portion of that document (Laudes 1–11) is a transcript of the speech Eusebius delivered before the emperor on the thirtieth anniversary of his accession, 25 July 336. The last eight chapters of the Panegyric (11–18) are another speech, on Christ's Incarnation and the Holy Sepulchre. If this is the same speech Eusebius refers to at Vita Constantini 4.33, then it was also delivered before the emperor, although not on the thirtieth anniversary of his reign. The speech reflects a defensive and pro-Constantinian posture: Eusebius is explicitly defending the emperor from those who challenged his views on the importance of the Sepulcher.

Eusebius declares near the beginning of the Life (1.21) that he will focus on Constantine's pious activities.

Eusebius also declares, in the second book of the Life (2.23.2), his intent to write an honest and reliable account of his own times.

Genre and format
As presented in the manuscripts, the Life of Constantine is a compilation of three separate works: the Life proper, in four books; the Greek translation of Constantine's Speech to the Assembly of the Saints, which is often treated in the manuscripts as the fifth book of the Life; and two speeches by Eusebius, the Panegyric to Constantine and his Treatise on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A group of scholars, following G. Pasquali, argue that the Life itself is a conflation of three different parts: an imperial panegyric or basilikos logos, a continuation of the Historia Ecclesiastica (or an account of Constantine's religion, illustrated by extensive quotation from original documents), and the additions of the editor. The work contains repetitions and inconsistencies which reflect, for these scholars, a work that was still unfinished when its author died. Barnes argued that the imperial panegyric was Eusebius' original plan for the work, but was steadily revised into something more closely resembling a biography in later drafts.

The work is arranged in part chronologically, and in part thematically. The first part of the Life, a narration of Constantine's rise to power, follows a traditional chronological scheme (Vita Constantini 1.19ff.).

Influence
There is little evidence that the Vita Constantini was widely read in the fourth and fifth centuries, except among ecclesiastical historians.

Some, like Libanian scholar Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, have argued that Eusebius' wording and metaphor were the template for the later fourth century orator Libanius of Antioch's early praise of Constantine. The latter's panegyric to the emperor's sons, Constans and Constantius, delivered in Singara in 344/45, provides several examples of re-used Eusebian material. Libanius calls Constantine "the great emperor" and "the most divine", as Eusebius had in the Life. Other celebrated aspects of Constantine's character—his justice, success in war, energy, etc.—have parallels in both works. Others, like J. Moreau, have argued that Libanius' source was instead Praxagoras of Athens, a pagan historian of the early fourth century whose work survives only as fragments. Barnes argued that all three writers are independent representatives of Constantinian propaganda.

Ancient sources

 * Eusebius of Caesarea.
 * Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) first seven books ca. 300, eighth and ninth book ca. 313, tenth book ca. 315, epilogue ca. 325.
 * Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik and Documenta Catholica Omnia. Accessed 4 November 2009.
 * McGiffert, Arthur Cushman, trans. Church History. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 28 September 2009.
 * Williamson, G.A., trans. Church History. London: Penguin, 1989.
 * Laudes Constantini (In Praise of Constantine) 335.
 * Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
 * Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. Oration in Praise of Constantine. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 19 October 2009.
 * Vita Constantini (The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine) ca. 336–39.
 * Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
 * Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. Life of Constantine. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 9 June 2009.


 * Papyri London.
 * Greek Papyri in the British Museum (in Greek). Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri. Online at Perseus and the Duke Data Bank. Accessed 17 November 2009.

Modern sources

 * Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. [esp. pp. 265–71]
 * Barnes, Timothy D. "Eusebius of Caesarea". The Expository Times 121:1 (2009): 1–14.
 * Burckhardt, Jacob. The Age of Constantine the Great. Translated by Moses Hadas. New York: Vintage, 1967. [See also: Jacob Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantins des Großen (Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1890), online at the Google Books. Accessed 29 November 2009.]
 * Drake, H. A. "What Eusebius Knew: The Genesis of the Vita Constantini". Classical Philology 83:1 (1988): 20–38.
 * Fowden, Garth. Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of monotheism in late antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. [esp. pp. 85–99]
 * Wiemer, Hans-Ulrich. "Libanius on Constantine". The Classical Quarterly 44:2 (1994): 511–24.