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

Augustine included, he omitted from both the valedictory sentences and only included
the opening sentence in the letter to Probianus of 316.
We should expect to find evidence of intolerance in the manner in which
Constantine approached the two parties; whether he was initially predisposed to one
faction over another and how such predisposition might manifest itself, whether
through policy decisions or through derogatory or dismissive language; and also, as the
affair developed whether, and to what extent, and how, Constantine showed which
side he was beginning to favour; and with that, the manner in which (whether through
rhetoric or policy) he treated the opposing side.
The Donatist schism, and after 405 heresy, 4 was centred in the North African
provinces of Numidia, Mauretania and to a lesser extent, Africa Proconsularis. 5 It
began in 307 as a result of some effects of the ‘Great Persecution’ of 303-305 and lasted
throughout the Roman, Visigothic and Byzantine periods into at least the late sixth
century and possibly into the early eighth when Muslim armies finally secured the area
for Islam. 6
The edict which began Diocletian’s persecution of 303-305 stipulated the
destruction of churches, the surrender of scriptures for burning and the loss of civil
rights, particularly for elite Christians. A second edict was apparently a specific
response to disturbances in the east and ordered the arrest of clergy there. The third
edict was again empire-wide and freed bishops who sacrificed. A final edict, apparently
4 Donatism was only declared heretical in the fifth century: CTh 16.5.37 of 25 February 405 and 38 of
12 February 405; see especially 16.6.4 of 12 February 405 and (for penalties) 5 of 12 February 405;
16.11.2 of 5 March 405; Frend (1952) 263; Warmington (1954) 99
5 There was also a Donatist Bishop of Rome and there was probably a small Donatist presence in either
Gaul or Spain, possibly both. Parmenianus, Donatus’ successor as Bishop of Carthage was not an
African, Opt 2.7 describes him as hispanum aut gallum and as a peregrinus
6 Short narratives of the beginning of the schism are in Millar (1991) 584, Barnes (1981) 54-61, (1982) 238-
247, Birley (1987) 30-32, which includes a chronological table, and (for longer discussions) Jones (1948)
103-125; Frend (1952) 3-24, 141-147; Warmington (1954) 76-102. There is a dispute over the date of the
beginning of the schism, Barnes (1975 and 1981) argues that it began in 307, against Frend’s (1952) 2, 143
original date of 312. Frend issued a rebuttal (Frend and Clancy 1977) maintaining his original date of
312. See Shaw (1992) for the end of the Donatists (and other Christians) in North Africa.
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