Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

INTRODUCTORY
regions as the military situation demanded. This arrangement institutionalized
the accession to power of a new class from the frontier provinces which did
not entirely share Italian traditions and ideals.
Constantine, after a series of confrontations with co-emperors and rivals,
abandoned the system of collegiate power and ruled from 324 to 337 as sole
emperor. He completed the work of reorganization of Diocletian, re-established
the currency on a firm basis, founded a new second capital city at Byzantium
on the Bosphorus, and began to draw into the circle of power once again,
although only to a limited degree, the Italian senatorial class. He also sought
support from a group in Roman society which hitherto had been unconcerned
with or actually excluded from power. The Christian religion was first tolerated
and later preferred and patronized by Constantine, who sought in it a source
of legitimation of his own authority. The church, though still comprising
only a minority of the subjects of the empire, gained rapidly in prestige,
influence and wealth. Bishops formed a part of Constantine's court entourage.
The urban upper classes began to embrace the new religion in greater numbers
and to bring with them into the Christian milieu many of the attitudes and
values of traditional classical culture.
By Constantine's death stability had been restored in the military, administrative
and economic spheres. Literature and art began to find patrons once
again, and the pen began to replace the sword as an instrument of persuasion.
The last two thirds of the fourth century were not without civil wars and
disturbances. But on the whole they were an age of steady government and of
relative prosperity. Literature flourished more fruitfully than it had since the
days of the Antonines. But it was a literature changed both in form and in
content. Some genres were no longer practised. There was no epic poetry,
no drama, no forensic or political oratory. Odiers, as will be seen, extended
their range. As the Christians increased in numbers and influence, overtly
Christian writing formed an ever larger part of Latin literature. This falls into
several categories. Writing by Christians on classical or at any rate not specifically
Christian themes will be treated in the following pages in exactly the
same way as pagan writings. Works written by Christians on Christian topics
for Christian readers will generally not be discussed. This category comprises
dogmatic and homiletic writing, works dealing with ecclesiastical organization
and discipline, sectarian polemic, pastoral treatises, and the like. There remains
a considerable body of literature on Christian topics addressed expressly to
non-Christians and of Christian works couched in more or less strictly classical
form, and hence likely to be read and appreciated by the classically educated.
This literature will be discussed briefly in the light of its place in classical
literary tradition, but there will be no systematic treatment of its place in the
development of Christian thought in the Latin west. Needless to say, none of
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