Author: Hall, Linda Jones
Title: Cicero’s instinctu divino and Constantine’s instinctu divinitatis: The Evidence of the Arch of Constantine for the Senatorial View of the “Vision” of Constantine
Review/Collection: Journal of Early Christian Studies - Volume 6, Number 4
Year edition: 1998
Pages: 647-671
Keywords: Héritage - Fortuna - Legacy, Histoire - Storia - History
Description: [Abstract] The Evidence of the Arch of Constantine for the Senatorial View of the "Vision" of Constantine* Linda Jones Hall The "vision" of Constantine, as recorded in Lactantius' De mortibus persecutorum 44.5-6 and in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History 9.9.2-10, has been debated at length. The basic difficulty in these accounts lies in their presumed Christian bias. The inscription on the Arch of Constantine, however, provides a government-sanctioned record of the "vision" from a predominantly pagan viewpoint. The expression instinctu divinitatis on the arch has been linked to the phrase instinctu divino in Panegyrici Latini 12.11.4 (delivered in 313). It seems, however, that the proximate source is the phrase instinctu deorum from the account by Florus (Epitome 1.3.1-2) of the expulsion of the "tyrant" Tarquin the Proud. The ultimate source appears to be the concept of instinctu divino as explained in Cicero's De divinatione which became a "text" for foreknowing the will of the gods. The connotation of the phrase was preserved into late antiquity, not only by the continued study of Cicero but also through such authors as...
Works:
Author initials: Hall 1998
Title: Cicero’s instinctu divino and Constantine’s instinctu divinitatis: The Evidence of the Arch of Constantine for the Senatorial View of the “Vision” of Constantine
Review/Collection: Journal of Early Christian Studies - Volume 6, Number 4
Year edition: 1998
Pages: 647-671
Keywords: Héritage - Fortuna - Legacy, Histoire - Storia - History
Description: [Abstract] The Evidence of the Arch of Constantine for the Senatorial View of the "Vision" of Constantine* Linda Jones Hall The "vision" of Constantine, as recorded in Lactantius' De mortibus persecutorum 44.5-6 and in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History 9.9.2-10, has been debated at length. The basic difficulty in these accounts lies in their presumed Christian bias. The inscription on the Arch of Constantine, however, provides a government-sanctioned record of the "vision" from a predominantly pagan viewpoint. The expression instinctu divinitatis on the arch has been linked to the phrase instinctu divino in Panegyrici Latini 12.11.4 (delivered in 313). It seems, however, that the proximate source is the phrase instinctu deorum from the account by Florus (Epitome 1.3.1-2) of the expulsion of the "tyrant" Tarquin the Proud. The ultimate source appears to be the concept of instinctu divino as explained in Cicero's De divinatione which became a "text" for foreknowing the will of the gods. The connotation of the phrase was preserved into late antiquity, not only by the continued study of Cicero but also through such authors as...
Works:
Author initials: Hall 1998
