however, the Donatists once again felt the force of imperial
coercion, this time exerted by a Christian emperor in search of
ecclesiastical harmony (Frend 1952; Tilley 1997).
If Constantine’s conversion did not bring persecution to an
end, neither did it cause the immediate cessation of pagan oppo-
sition to Christianity. Moreover, on two occasions in the fourth
century it seemed as if emperors themselves were determined
to bring the Christian triumph to an abrupt halt. When Julian,
the last member of the dynasty of Constantine, succeeded to the
throne in 361, he abandoned Christianity (if he had ever really
subscribed to it) and sought to restore paganism. His death less
than two years later, however, meant that his plans remained
unfulfilled, tantalizing us with one of the great ‘what ifs’ of late
Roman (and early Christian) history. Some thirty years later,
Eugenius (393–4), who usurped the imperial throne in the west,
similarly signalled his intention to reverse Christianity’s fortunes.
It is said that when he travelled through Milan on his way to do
battle with his Christian rival Theodosius I (eastern emperor
379–95), Eugenius threatened the city’s bishop Ambrose that he
would soon turn Milan’s cathedral into a stable (Paulinus of Milan,
Life of Ambrose31.2). In the end, however, Eugenius’ plans too
were confounded by defeat and death.
In spite of these threatened reversals, the story of Chris-
tianity in late antiquity is one of growing respectability and power.
In the decades that followed Constantine’s conversion, emperors
(and later aristocrats as well) began to invest considerable amounts
of their wealth in patronage of the church. Imperial law provided
ecclesiastical personnel with important privileges, such as the
right to validate wills and to preside over arbitration courts. But
even these developments that seemed full of promise brought
difficulties in their wake. The wealth of the church was a cause
for concern that prompted caustic observations from pagans
as much as from Christians. At the end of the fourth century,
the pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus complained that the
extravagant wealth of the bishop of the city of Rome sat uncom-
fortably with Christian ideals of humility (27.3.13). Around theEARLY CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE
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