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

which were not entirely favoured by the Catholic party, but which were potentially
favourable to the Donatists, but this, obviously, is pure speculation.
Conclusion
But any indications of conciliation from Constantine would not necessarily be
out of the question even at this late stage. Constantine's initial involvement shown in
his letters to Caecilian and then to Anullinus display no evidence of any anti-Donatist
sentiment and indeed it is quite possible that not only did the emperor know nothing
of the dispute, but that he may not even know of Caecilian himself. Even when it is
clear that he did know of a problem in his letter to Miltiades announcing the Lateran
council of October 313, he must still be regarded as fair and conciliatory in order to
achieve his overriding policy of a united Church conducting correct worship. Possibly
the ‘packing’ of the Lateran council by Miltiades with his supporters was one reason
why Constantine agreed to the Donatist request for a further council; and it is only
after the council of Arles in August 314 that Constantine's tolerance of the situation
began to come under pressure. Even then, however, in his letter to the Donatist
bishops Constantine still showed hopes of a settlement and indicated that he was not
implacably opposed to the Donatists. This is also evidenced in his apparent support
for, or acquiescence in, the plan to appoint a third, compromise bishop to replace both
Caecilian and Donatus. Any suggestion that Constantine was instinctively pro-
Caecilianist should be dispelled by his letter to Celsus in which he treats both parties
equally. Even then, the Donatists had the opportunity to swing matters their way
through another enquiry. Constantine consistently regarded it as being in his interests
to secure ‘right worship’ and that he had a duty to create an atmosphere in which that
might be achieved. The failure of the clerics to achieve this enabled him to move into
their affairs and to do so with an ideology which demanded that he end his benign
policy of tolerance towards the Donatists and enforce unity; not just for the sake of
the empire, but for his own personal salvation. By the end of this stage, Constantine
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