Inscription in honour of Constans Aug. from Augusta Traiana by three praet. praefects
source date: 341/342 AD
edition published: 2020-03-27
availability: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Pacifico piissimoque principi domino nostro Flavio Claudio Constanti Victori et Triumfatori perpetuo Augusto, Antonius Marcellinus, Flavius Domitius Leontius, et Fabius Titianus vviri cclarissimi praefecti praetorio numini maiestatique eorum semper devotissimi, procurante Palladio viro perfectissimo praeside provinciae Thraciae, consecraverunt .

This edition is based on CIL 03, 12330 with different readings by Feissel 2014 at line 4.

“To the peace-maker and most pious prince, our master Flavius Claudius Constans, the Victorious and Triumphant, everlasting Augustus, the praetorian prefects of clarissimus rank Antonius Marcellinus, Flavius Domitius Leontius, and Fabius Titianus, most devoted to their divine spirit and majesty, have consecrated (this monument), taking care to execute it Palladius, governor of perfectissimus rank of the province of Thrace.”

(Chastagnol 1991, pp. 140-141)

“Au prince prince pacifique et très pieux, notre seigneur Flavius Claudius Constance, victorieux et triomphateur, perpétuel Auguste, Antonius Marcellinus, Domitius Leontius et Fabius Titianus, clarissimes préfets du prètoire, toujours très dévoués à leur divinité et à leur majesté, par les soins de Palladius, perfectissime, gouverneur (praeses) de la province de Thrace, ont consacré (ce monument).”

“Al pacificatore e piissimo imperatore, il nostro signore Flavius Claudius Constans, Vincitore e Trionfatore, perpetuo Augusto, consacrarono i chiarissimi prefetti del pretorio, Antonius Marcellinus, Flavius Domitius Leontius, Fabius Titianus, sempre devoti al nume e alla maestà loro; Palladius perfettissimo governatore della provincia di Tracia ebbe cura di realizzarlo.”

According to the measurements taken by Lazov (see Bojadžiev, Lazov 1987, p. 294), our monument is a high marble base (60 cm thick) and not a plaque as was supposed from another previous measurement (19 cm, see Škorpil H. and K. 1892, nr. 29, and Beševliev 1964, nr. 191). It was reused as building material in a church of Novoselec (Nova Zagora) in Bulgaria, near the ancient Augusta Traiana.

This dedication to Constans Augustus is the last known collegiate dedication made by all the praetorian prefects together. They are Antonius Marcellinus, prefect of Italy, Africa and Illyricum (PLRE I, Marcellinus 16, pp. 548-549; see PPRET 21), Domitius Leontius, prefect of the East (PLRE I, Leontius 20, pp. 502-503; see PPRET 24) and Fabius Titianus, prefect of the Gauls (PLRE I, Titianus 6, pp. 918-919; cf. Feissel 2014), listed in chronological order of appointment to the office. This monument was made in 341/342 AD (see below) under the supervision of the governor Palladius (PLRE I, Palladius 17, pp. 661-662): during his office the citizens of Traiana made a long dedication in Greek (similar to a panegyric) in honour of Constantine (Kalinka 1906, pp. 69-70, nr. 65 = Beševliev 1964, pp. 128-130, nr. 190 = LSA 1665; on this document, see Tantillo 1999); it was written on a base that was very similar to the one bearing our prefectural inscription.

Of all the collegiate dedications (PPRET 01; 02; 03; 08; 09; 17; 18) ours is the only one to refer to the high civilian official who saw to the monument’s making: a governor devoted to the Constantinian dynasty who evidently held such a long and important administrative position between the reign of Constantine and Constantius II that he could appear next to the praetorian prefects’ names. The inscription sheds light on the genesis of this type of honorary monument, according to which the provincial governors and their administrative bureaux carried out the orders received from praetorian prefects (see Porena 2003, p. 492). Gehn (LSA 1112) attributed the initiative of the dedication entirely to the praeses because «it is hard to imagine the three prefects acting in concert to set up a statue in a Thracian town. Palladius presumably named them all as an act of homage and flattery». But six other inscriptions (PPRET 01, 02, 08, 09, 17, 18) recall the joint will of the praetorian prefects to raise monuments to the sovereigns in provincial cities far and wide. Feissel (2016, pp. 1225-1226) rightly argued that the initiative should be attributed to the prefect of the East Leontius. He was responsible for the province of Thrace and by that time the transformation of the prefectorial institution into its regional form was already occurred.

Feissel (2014, pp. 162-163) has recently proposed a new reading of the text at ll. 4-5. In fact, he disagreed with all previous editions that integrated ET conjunctions to separate prefects’ names and observed through a comparison with the other collegial inscriptions that the list of prefects’ names is asyndetic. Feissel thus reads between the names of Marcellinus and Leontius, not ET but FL for Fl(avius), and considered the T preceding Titianus not part of the conjunction ET but the abbreviation of Titianus’ praenomen T(itus). Feissel is right about the first emendation (FL), but demonstrating that the T preceding the name Fabius is a praenomen is more difficult: 12 surviving inscriptions quoting Titianus’ full name – Traiana and Delphi inscriptions excluded – never mention his praenomen, which is never explicitly attested (see the list in PLRE I, Titianus 6, pp. 918-919; cf. Chastagnol 1962, pp. 107-111).

The plural in the dedicatory formula, numini maiestatique eorum (l. 6), is a matter of debate, because the figure being addressed is only one man – Constans Augustus. Mommsen (CIL 03, 12330) and also Chastagnol (1968, p. 335) are sure that the plural referred to a second inscription dedicated to Constantius II, under whose control fell the diocese of Thrace. It is probable that there were twin monuments to the two Augusti in Traiana; only the base for Constans that we are examining has come down to us. On the other hand, Bojadžiev and Lazov suggest that the plural did not refer to another dedication and conjecture that: a) in late antiquity the numeral concordance had become arbitrary, so the plural was used merely by habit; b) it could be a mistake due to the unfamiliarity with Latin in Thrace at that time, since it was predominantly a Greek-speaking area. Their hypothesis is unfounded and untenable.

The inscription of Augusta Traiana shows the reduction of the college of prefects from five to three members, occurred after Constantine's death (cf. Olszaniec 2014, pp. 38-39). The inscription records, in this order, Antonius Marcellinus, who was praetorian prefect of Italy, Africa and Illyricum, Fl. Domitius Leontius, prefect of the East, and Fabius Titianus, praetorian prefect of Gauls. Chastagnol (1968, pp. 335-336) dated the inscription between the end of February and June 341 AD, because on February 25th Fabius Titianus ended his tenure as prefect of Rome, while on June 24th the Theodosian Code attests in office a praetorian prefect that is not listed in the inscription of Traiana, Aconius Catullinus (CTh 08, 02, 01 = CTh 12, 01, 031; see PLRE I, Catullinus 3, pp. 187-188; Chastagnol 1962, pp. 121-123). Chastagnol supposed that Catullinus was the successor of Antonius Marcellinus over the central prefecture. However, according to P. Porena (see PPRET 20) Catullinus may have been the predecessor of Fabius Titianus in Gauls and the inscription from Augusta Traiana postdate his praetorian prefecture (Titianus is first attested in office as prefect of Gaul on June 30th 343 AD: CTh 12, 01, 036; but on July 6th 342 AD Catullinus was already prefect of Rome: cf. also Barnes 1987, pp. 17-19; Barnes 1992, p. 256; Migl 1994, p. 98). Porena’s solution suggests a chronology after June 341 AD and before the replacement of Antonius Marcellinus with Caecilianus Placidus (registered as last member, after Leontius and Titianus, of the college in two letters from Delphi: PPRET 23). Placidus became ordinary consul on January 1st, 343 AD (CLRE, pp. 220-221), by which time he was most likely already praetorian prefect of Italy, Africa and Illyricum. The prefects of the inscription of Traiana – Marcellinus, Leontius, Titianus – may have been in office together between the second half of 341 AD and the second half of 342 AD. In this period, Constans (and perhaps Constantius too) may well have been honoured during the Quinquennalia of the two Augusti on September 9th, 341 AD, or during the consulate of the two Augusti on January 1st, 342 AD, or (less likely) during the Decennalia of Constans alone on December 25th, 342 AD.

Škorpil H. and K. 1892, p. 100, nr. 29 = AE 1892, 0008 CIL 03, 12330 ILS 8944 Beševliev 1964, p. 130, nr. 191 Bojadžiev, Lazov 1987, p. 294 Migl 1994, p. 98 Porena 2003, p. 491 Feissel 2014, pp. 162-163

EDCS 29100142 EDH 042932 LSA 1112 PH 167747 TM 197698

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