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

During this latter half of 315 and January 316, Constantine received a letter
(not extant) from Celsus his vicar in Africa. 101 In his reply, as with the earlier letters
preserved by Optatus, Constantine indicated his personal involvement by referring to
himself in the first person. Moreover he expressed his familiarity with Celsus by
addressing him as frater carissim e which Constantine only used in a very few instances
throughout his reign; 102 and also by pointedly reflecting and endorsing Celsus’
experience with the Donatists and his opinions of some of them. Constantine referred
to Maenalius, a Donatist Bishop, as “long in the grip of insanity, is obdurate, as are
others who have departed from God’s truth and given themselves most basely to error:
so too your eminence’s most recent letter has testified.” 103 He commended, and
sympathised with, Celsus for carrying out his “orders concerning the proper handling
of their contumacy and had been impeded by the tumult which they raised.” 104
Constantine referred to a hearing he intended to hold into the dispute and
reported that some of the Donatist bishops had sneaked back to Africa, as Augustine
was later to indicate. The emperor did not actually report that the inquiry had taken
place, but rather the letter tends to give the impression that the unauthorised departure
of the Donatists had scuppered the plans for an inquiry. Moreover, since Constantine
then announced in the letter his intention to come to Africa in person, it could have
been the case that Augustine was incorrect in assuming an inquiry had already taken
place in Milan.
101 Domitius Celsus 8 PLRE 1 195; Barnes (1982) 146; the letter is only datable from the known duration
of Celsus’ vicariate. Corcoran (2000) 306 dates it to “late 315”; Maier (1987) 194 to Autumn 315
102 Opt. App. 7; Ziwsa 211-212; Edwards 193-194; Corcoran (2000) 22 n80, 168, 239 n30, 306, 322, 323,
330; Corcoran (2000) 335-336 only lists another eleven instances of this use throughout the period with
which he deals, i.e. up to 324.
103 Opt. App. 7; Ziwsa 211 Edwards 193: persev erare Menalium eum , quem iam dudum susceperat insan ia,
ceteros, qui a v eritate dei digressi errori se prauissim o dederuntproxim a etiam grav itatis tuae scripta testata
sunt
104 Opt. App. 7; Ziwsa 211; Edwards 193: quibus inhaerentem te iussion i nostrae de m erito seditionis
ipsorum eoque tum ultu, quem apparabant, inhibitum esse m em orasti.
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