Constantine’s recusatio imperii: a discontinued strategy of legitimacy
Abstract This paper examines the only account of Emperor Constantine’s recusatio imperii after his proclamation in 306, recorded exclusively in the Panegyricus Latinus VI (7) of 310. By means of historical and literary analysis, it demonstrates that this rejection of power is a rhetorical construct with no factual basis, introduced as a specific legitimising strategy in an unfavourable political context. The research outlines the passage within the literary tradition of the recusatio imperii topic and explains how, because of the subsequent consolidation of a dynastic narrative, it is a technique which is discontinued by subsequent authors. It concludes that its exceptional nature in the literary tradition reflects a specific moment of ideological experimentation in the propaganda of Constantine’s imperial chancellery.
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Barnes, Timothy. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674280670
Barnes, Timothy. Constantine. Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444396263.
Béranger, Jean. “Le refus du pouvouir”. Museum Helveticum, 3, 1948, 178-196. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24811361.
Béranger, Jean. Recherches sur l’aspect idéologique du principat. Basel: Reinhardt, 1953.
Birley, Anthony. “Making Emperors. Imperial Instrument or Independent Force?”. En A Companion to the Roman Army, editado por P. Erdkamp, 379-394. Malden: Blacwell, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470996577.ch22.
Bolafi, Ezio. “La dottrina del buon governo presso i Romani e le origoini del principato in Roma fino ad Augusto compreso (II)”. Latomus, 14(2), 1955, 271-284. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41520332.
Bucci, Teresa. Il panegyrico del 307. Bari: Carucci, 2015.
Castellanos, Santiago. “Naciste emperador: el panegírico a Constantino del año 310”. En Constantino, ¿el primer emperador cristiano?, editado por J. Vilella, 47-51. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2015.
Doležal, Stanislav. “The Political and Military Aspects of Accession of Constantine the Great”. Graeco-Latina Brunensia, 24(2), 2019, 19-32. https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2019-2-2.
Doležal, Stanislav. The Reign of Constantine, 306–337. Cham: Springer, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97464-0.
Dovere, Elio. “Indicios de práctica constitucional en la narratio historiográfica de Evagrio”. Gerión, 13, 1995, 185-208.
Doyle, Chris. The Endgame of Treason: suppressing rebellion and usurpation in the Late Roman empire AD 397-411 [PhD]. Galway: University of Galway, 2015. https://doi.org/10.13025/15823.
Durry, Marcel. Panégyrique de Trajan. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1964.
El-Nowieemy, Magda. “Catullus 68 and the Tradition of the Recusatio Poems”. Bulletin du Société d’Archéologie d’Alexandrie, 46, 2001, 249-277.
Enenkel, Karl. “Panegyrische Geschichtsmythologisierung und Propaganda: Zur Interpretation des Panegyricus Latinus VI”. Hermes, 128, 2000, 91-126. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4477347.
Escribano, Victoria. “Constantino y la rescissio actorum del tirano-usurpador”. Gerión, 16, 1998, 307-338. https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/GERI/article/view/GERI9898110307A.
Escribano, Victoria. “La primera visión de Constantino (310)”. En Sueños, ensueños y visiones en la Antigüedad pagana y cristiana, editado por R. Teja, 85-94. Gijón: Fundación Santa María la Real, 2002.
Estrada, Gabriel. Propaganda gentilicia (ss. IV-VI). Estrategias para la construcción de genealogías imperiales y nobiliarias. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2024.
Ferrary, Jean-Louis. “À propos des pouvoirs et des honneurs décernés à César entre 48 et 44”. En G. Urso (ed.), Cesare: precursore o visionario?, editado por G. Urso, 9-30. Pisa: ETS, 2010.
Freudenburg, Kirk. “Recusatio as Political Theatre”. Journal of Roman Studies, 104, 2014, 105-132. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43286868.
Galletier, Edouard. Les panégyriques constantiniens. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1952.
Hartke, Werner. Römische Kinder Kaiser. Eine Strukturanalyse römischen Denkens und Daseins. Berlin: Akademie, 1951. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112651322
Humphries, Mark. “From Usurper to Emperor: The Politics of Legitimation in the Age of Constantine”. Journal of Late Antiquity, 1, 2008, 82-100. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.0.0009.
Hurlet, Frédéric: “Pouvoirs extraordinaires et tromperie. La tentation de la monarchie à la fin de la République romaine”. En Private and Public Lies, editado por A. Turner, J. Chong-Hossard y J. Vervaet, 107-130. Leiden: Brill, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004187757.i-439.26.
Huttner, Ulrich. Recusatio Imperii. Ein politisches Ritual zwischen Ethik und Taktik. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2004.
Icks, Martijn. “Great Pretenders: Elevations of Good Usurpers in Roman Historiography”. En Civil War in Ancient Greece and Rome, editado por H. Börm, M. Mattheis y J. Wienand, 303-320. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2016.
Jakobson, Alexander y Cotton, Hannah. “Caligula’s Recusatio Imperii”. Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 34(4), 1985, 497-503. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435941.
Jiménez Sánchez, Juan Antonio. “Iohannes Augustus. Biografía de un emperador maldito”. Klio, 105(1), 2023, 289-363. https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2022-0011.
Kolb, Frank. Diocletian und die Erste Tetrarchie. Improvisation oder Experiment in der Organisation monarchischer Herrschaft?. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1987. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110846508
Kolb, Frank. “Die Gestalt des spätantiken Kaisertums unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Tetrarchie”. En Usurpationen in der Spätantike, editado por F. Paschoud y J. Szidat, 35-46. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1997.
Lafranchi, Thibaud. “Caesar and the Tribunes of the Plebs: Process and Events”. En How Republics Die, editado por F. Vervaet, D. Rafferty y C. Dart, 330-361. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111705446-013.
McIntyre, Gwynaeth. “Making and Breaking Emperors: The cohors praetoria and the Transition of Imperial Power”. En Brill’s Companion to Bodyguards in the Ancient Mediterranean, editado por Mark Hebblewhite y C. Whately, 202-222. Leiden: Brill, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004527683_011
Moreno Resano, Esteban. “La política de fundación de ciudades de Constantino (306-337)”. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie II, Historia Antigua, 19-20, 2007, 285-307. https://doi.org/10.5944/etfii.19.2006.4456.
Moreno Resano, Esteban. “Observaciones acerca del uso de las ordalías durante la Antigüedad Tardía (siglos IV-VII d.C.)”. Cuadernos de Historia del Derecho, 21, 2014, 167-188. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CUHD.2014.v21.47720.
Müller-Rettig, Brigitte. Der Panegyricus des Jahres 310 auf Konstantin den Grossen. Übersetzung und historisch-philologischer Kommentar. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1990.
Mynors, Roger. XII Panegyrici Latini. Oxford: Clarendon, 1964. https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00148117
Nixon, Charles y Rodgers, Barbara. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors, the Panegyrici Latini. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520342828
Omissi, Adrastos. Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198824824.001.0001.
Paniagua, David. “La Epitoma re militaris de Vegecio y el imperator invictus”. Voces, 14, 2003, 165-183.
Rebeggiani, Stefano. “The Chariot Race and the Destiny of the Empire in Statius’ Thebaid”. Illinois Classical Studies, 38, 2013, 187-206. https://doi.org/10.5406/illiclasstud.38.0187.
Sabbah, Guy. “De la Rhétorique à la communication politique : les Panégyriques latins”. Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, 43, 1984, 363-388. https://doi.org/10.3406/bude.1984.1678.
Schulmann, Jeffrey. Political Culture in the Age of Constantine (AD 284-324) [PhD]. Gronningen: University of Gronningen, 2025. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.1220414439.
Seager, Robin. “Some imperial virtues in the Latin prose panegyrics”. En Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar, 129-165. Liverpool: Cairns, 1983.
Sivan, Hagith. “Was Theodosius I a Usurper?”. Klio, 78, 1996, 198-211. https://doi.org/10.1524/klio.1996.78.1.198.
Szidat, Joachim. Usurpator tanti nominis. Kaiser und Usurpator in der Spätantike, Sttutgart: Franz Steiner, 2010.
Timonen, Asko. “Emperor’s ars recusandi in Biographical Narrative”. Arctos, 27, 1993, 133-148.
Van Gennep, Arnold. Religions, moeurs et légends. Paris: Societé du Mercure, 1908.
Vervaet, Frederick. “Arrogating despotic power through deceit: the Pompeian model for Augustan dissimulatio”. En Private and Public Lies, editado por A. Turner, J. Chong-Hossard y J. Vervaet, 133-166. Leiden: Brill, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004187757.i-439.32.
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. “Civilis Princeps: Between Citizen and King”. The Journal of Roman Studies 72, 1982, 32-48. https://doi.org/10.2307/299114.
Ware, Catherine. “The Severitas of Constantine: Imperial Virtues in Panegyrici Latini 7(6) and 6(7)”. Journal of Late Antiquity, 7(1), 2014, 86-109. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2014.0008.
Ware, Catherine. A literary commentary on Panegyrici Latini VI (7). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316421796.003.
Warmington, Brian. “Aspects of Constantinian Propaganda in the Panegyrici Latini”. Transactions of the American Philological Association, 104, 1974, 371-384. https://doi.org/10.2307/2936098.
Barnes, Timothy. Constantine. Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444396263.
Béranger, Jean. “Le refus du pouvouir”. Museum Helveticum, 3, 1948, 178-196. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24811361.
Béranger, Jean. Recherches sur l’aspect idéologique du principat. Basel: Reinhardt, 1953.
Birley, Anthony. “Making Emperors. Imperial Instrument or Independent Force?”. En A Companion to the Roman Army, editado por P. Erdkamp, 379-394. Malden: Blacwell, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470996577.ch22.
Bolafi, Ezio. “La dottrina del buon governo presso i Romani e le origoini del principato in Roma fino ad Augusto compreso (II)”. Latomus, 14(2), 1955, 271-284. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41520332.
Bucci, Teresa. Il panegyrico del 307. Bari: Carucci, 2015.
Castellanos, Santiago. “Naciste emperador: el panegírico a Constantino del año 310”. En Constantino, ¿el primer emperador cristiano?, editado por J. Vilella, 47-51. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2015.
Doležal, Stanislav. “The Political and Military Aspects of Accession of Constantine the Great”. Graeco-Latina Brunensia, 24(2), 2019, 19-32. https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2019-2-2.
Doležal, Stanislav. The Reign of Constantine, 306–337. Cham: Springer, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97464-0.
Dovere, Elio. “Indicios de práctica constitucional en la narratio historiográfica de Evagrio”. Gerión, 13, 1995, 185-208.
Doyle, Chris. The Endgame of Treason: suppressing rebellion and usurpation in the Late Roman empire AD 397-411 [PhD]. Galway: University of Galway, 2015. https://doi.org/10.13025/15823.
Durry, Marcel. Panégyrique de Trajan. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1964.
El-Nowieemy, Magda. “Catullus 68 and the Tradition of the Recusatio Poems”. Bulletin du Société d’Archéologie d’Alexandrie, 46, 2001, 249-277.
Enenkel, Karl. “Panegyrische Geschichtsmythologisierung und Propaganda: Zur Interpretation des Panegyricus Latinus VI”. Hermes, 128, 2000, 91-126. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4477347.
Escribano, Victoria. “Constantino y la rescissio actorum del tirano-usurpador”. Gerión, 16, 1998, 307-338. https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/GERI/article/view/GERI9898110307A.
Escribano, Victoria. “La primera visión de Constantino (310)”. En Sueños, ensueños y visiones en la Antigüedad pagana y cristiana, editado por R. Teja, 85-94. Gijón: Fundación Santa María la Real, 2002.
Estrada, Gabriel. Propaganda gentilicia (ss. IV-VI). Estrategias para la construcción de genealogías imperiales y nobiliarias. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2024.
Ferrary, Jean-Louis. “À propos des pouvoirs et des honneurs décernés à César entre 48 et 44”. En G. Urso (ed.), Cesare: precursore o visionario?, editado por G. Urso, 9-30. Pisa: ETS, 2010.
Freudenburg, Kirk. “Recusatio as Political Theatre”. Journal of Roman Studies, 104, 2014, 105-132. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43286868.
Galletier, Edouard. Les panégyriques constantiniens. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1952.
Hartke, Werner. Römische Kinder Kaiser. Eine Strukturanalyse römischen Denkens und Daseins. Berlin: Akademie, 1951. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112651322
Humphries, Mark. “From Usurper to Emperor: The Politics of Legitimation in the Age of Constantine”. Journal of Late Antiquity, 1, 2008, 82-100. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.0.0009.
Hurlet, Frédéric: “Pouvoirs extraordinaires et tromperie. La tentation de la monarchie à la fin de la République romaine”. En Private and Public Lies, editado por A. Turner, J. Chong-Hossard y J. Vervaet, 107-130. Leiden: Brill, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004187757.i-439.26.
Huttner, Ulrich. Recusatio Imperii. Ein politisches Ritual zwischen Ethik und Taktik. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2004.
Icks, Martijn. “Great Pretenders: Elevations of Good Usurpers in Roman Historiography”. En Civil War in Ancient Greece and Rome, editado por H. Börm, M. Mattheis y J. Wienand, 303-320. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2016.
Jakobson, Alexander y Cotton, Hannah. “Caligula’s Recusatio Imperii”. Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 34(4), 1985, 497-503. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435941.
Jiménez Sánchez, Juan Antonio. “Iohannes Augustus. Biografía de un emperador maldito”. Klio, 105(1), 2023, 289-363. https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2022-0011.
Kolb, Frank. Diocletian und die Erste Tetrarchie. Improvisation oder Experiment in der Organisation monarchischer Herrschaft?. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1987. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110846508
Kolb, Frank. “Die Gestalt des spätantiken Kaisertums unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Tetrarchie”. En Usurpationen in der Spätantike, editado por F. Paschoud y J. Szidat, 35-46. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1997.
Lafranchi, Thibaud. “Caesar and the Tribunes of the Plebs: Process and Events”. En How Republics Die, editado por F. Vervaet, D. Rafferty y C. Dart, 330-361. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111705446-013.
McIntyre, Gwynaeth. “Making and Breaking Emperors: The cohors praetoria and the Transition of Imperial Power”. En Brill’s Companion to Bodyguards in the Ancient Mediterranean, editado por Mark Hebblewhite y C. Whately, 202-222. Leiden: Brill, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004527683_011
Moreno Resano, Esteban. “La política de fundación de ciudades de Constantino (306-337)”. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie II, Historia Antigua, 19-20, 2007, 285-307. https://doi.org/10.5944/etfii.19.2006.4456.
Moreno Resano, Esteban. “Observaciones acerca del uso de las ordalías durante la Antigüedad Tardía (siglos IV-VII d.C.)”. Cuadernos de Historia del Derecho, 21, 2014, 167-188. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_CUHD.2014.v21.47720.
Müller-Rettig, Brigitte. Der Panegyricus des Jahres 310 auf Konstantin den Grossen. Übersetzung und historisch-philologischer Kommentar. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1990.
Mynors, Roger. XII Panegyrici Latini. Oxford: Clarendon, 1964. https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00148117
Nixon, Charles y Rodgers, Barbara. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors, the Panegyrici Latini. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520342828
Omissi, Adrastos. Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198824824.001.0001.
Paniagua, David. “La Epitoma re militaris de Vegecio y el imperator invictus”. Voces, 14, 2003, 165-183.
Rebeggiani, Stefano. “The Chariot Race and the Destiny of the Empire in Statius’ Thebaid”. Illinois Classical Studies, 38, 2013, 187-206. https://doi.org/10.5406/illiclasstud.38.0187.
Sabbah, Guy. “De la Rhétorique à la communication politique : les Panégyriques latins”. Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, 43, 1984, 363-388. https://doi.org/10.3406/bude.1984.1678.
Schulmann, Jeffrey. Political Culture in the Age of Constantine (AD 284-324) [PhD]. Gronningen: University of Gronningen, 2025. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.1220414439.
Seager, Robin. “Some imperial virtues in the Latin prose panegyrics”. En Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar, 129-165. Liverpool: Cairns, 1983.
Sivan, Hagith. “Was Theodosius I a Usurper?”. Klio, 78, 1996, 198-211. https://doi.org/10.1524/klio.1996.78.1.198.
Szidat, Joachim. Usurpator tanti nominis. Kaiser und Usurpator in der Spätantike, Sttutgart: Franz Steiner, 2010.
Timonen, Asko. “Emperor’s ars recusandi in Biographical Narrative”. Arctos, 27, 1993, 133-148.
Van Gennep, Arnold. Religions, moeurs et légends. Paris: Societé du Mercure, 1908.
Vervaet, Frederick. “Arrogating despotic power through deceit: the Pompeian model for Augustan dissimulatio”. En Private and Public Lies, editado por A. Turner, J. Chong-Hossard y J. Vervaet, 133-166. Leiden: Brill, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004187757.i-439.32.
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. “Civilis Princeps: Between Citizen and King”. The Journal of Roman Studies 72, 1982, 32-48. https://doi.org/10.2307/299114.
Ware, Catherine. “The Severitas of Constantine: Imperial Virtues in Panegyrici Latini 7(6) and 6(7)”. Journal of Late Antiquity, 7(1), 2014, 86-109. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2014.0008.
Ware, Catherine. A literary commentary on Panegyrici Latini VI (7). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316421796.003.
Warmington, Brian. “Aspects of Constantinian Propaganda in the Panegyrici Latini”. Transactions of the American Philological Association, 104, 1974, 371-384. https://doi.org/10.2307/2936098.
Nieva, A. (2025). Constantine’s recusatio imperii: a discontinued strategy of legitimacy. Studia Historica. Historia Antigua, 43, e32165. https://doi.org/10.14201/shha32165
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