Religious Intolerance in the Later Roman Empire - Bad request ...

“immediately” if he was made bishop of Rome. 54 Ammianus too recorded that
whoever was bishop was “assured of the gifts of matrons” as well as other privileges
and signs of wealth. In order to secure the episcopacy candidates would “engage in the
most strenuous competition to attain their goal.” Ammianus went on to say that the
Roman bishop would be “truly happy” if he adopted the humble clothing and
demeanour of a provincial bishop. 55 However it should be noted that there is an
obvious, but perhaps only minor, chronological problem in that the law was issued as
much as three years after the biggest incident of violence following the election.
The evidence that the law was directed against Damasus personally, and against
his notorious activities seems secure, but equally, the law may also have been
concerned with securing the resources of families and with reinforcing existing
legislation which aimed to ensure that wealth flowed unimpeded from one generation
to the next. Constantine’s CTh. 2.24.1 of 29 August 324 had reinforced the rights of
children and grandchildren to inherit their father’s estate even if that was not the
intention of the will, although only in circumstances in which the will was in some
way deficient legally. 56 Similarily, CTh. 8.16.1 of 1 April 320 protected whatever was
owned by wives from interference by their husbands and three laws (CTh. 8.18.1-3)
issued throughtout Constantine's reign, proceeds from this principle to ensure that
children could inherit from their mother whatever property she had held
independently from her husband, again without interference from him. 57 However, it
should be noted that these examples from Constantine's reign are more exact in their
pursuit of securing family wealth than is Valentinian's CTh. 16.2.20.
54 Jer. c. Ioh 8 (PL 23.379) Facite m e Rom anae urbis episcopum , et ero protinus Christianus
55 Amm. Marc. 27.3.12-13 for the violence and 27.3.14-15 for the benefits of being Bishop of Rome:
ditentur oblationibus m atronarum , procedantque v ehiculis in sidentes, circum spects v estiti epulas curantes
profusas, adeo ut eorum conv iv ia regales superent m en sas. Qui esse poterant deati re v era…ad im itationem
antistitum quorundam prov incialium v iv erent. Hunt (1985) 190-191; Matthews (1989) 444-445
56 For the date see Corcoran (1996) 315
57 Humfress (2006) 212-218; Grubbs (1995) esp115-117 on Constantine’s laws and 138-139 on CTh.
16.2.20; see also, more generally, Grubbs (2001); Giardina (2000); Arjava (1996)
108