Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE
- ABBREVIATIONS
- Map
- Introduction: AUGUSTUS AND CONSTANTINE
- SECTION I A ROMAN EMPIRE WITHOUT ROME
- SECTION II A GREEK ROMAN EMPIRE
- SECTION III EMPEROR AND GOD
- Epilogue: ONE EMPEROR
- APPENDIX 1 HISPELLUM: DATE, TEXT, AND TRANSLATION
- APPENDIX 2 ORCISTUS: DATES, TEXT, AND TRANSLATION
- EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX
SECTION I - A ROMAN EMPIRE WITHOUT ROME
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- PREFACE
- ABBREVIATIONS
- Map
- Introduction: AUGUSTUS AND CONSTANTINE
- SECTION I A ROMAN EMPIRE WITHOUT ROME
- SECTION II A GREEK ROMAN EMPIRE
- SECTION III EMPEROR AND GOD
- Epilogue: ONE EMPEROR
- APPENDIX 1 HISPELLUM: DATE, TEXT, AND TRANSLATION
- APPENDIX 2 ORCISTUS: DATES, TEXT, AND TRANSLATION
- EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX
Summary
Hope and trepidation. approaching an emperor conjured up conflicting feelings in petitioners. Because emperors were a highly anticipated source of justice, generosity, and assistance, they were expected to demonstrate their accessibility and civility. When Theodosius visited Rome, he had enjoyed bantering with the crowds. To reinforce this image of himself as an ordinary citizen, he had also “banished terror.” But despite their best intentions, emperors often projected an aura of menace and intimidation. Emperors were frightening figures, usually surrounded by high-ranking advisers and armed bodyguards and with no constitutional restrictions on their exercise of power. Even as one orator praised Theodosius for his affability at Rome, he also admitted that he was still terrified to speak in his presence. Another orator had calmed his nerves in front of Constantine by openly acknowledging his uneasiness. “It is no small task to ask the emperor of the entire world for a personal favor, … to compose the words, to speak without fear, to stop at the right time, to await a response.”
Petitioners and communities approached emperors and their courts either directly in person or through letters. In a direct meeting an envoy might address the emperor with a panegyric. However nervewracking for the panegyrist, the formal occasion at least imposed a framework of traditional protocol, since the orator generally followed the demands of the rhetorical genre and the emperor was expected to listen respectfully.
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- Information
- The Roman Revolution of Constantine , pp. 19 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007