The Period in Retrospect

Abstract

The second part of the life span of the Roman empire, considerably shorter than the first one, is generally spoken of as the Dominate, a label far more descriptive than the usual French term of le Bas Empire, contrasting with le Haut Empire of the Principate. The appellation denotes the decisive political fact that the emperor has ceased to be the first citizen — princeps - of the civitas, superior to all other free citizens in authority only, though not in rights; he has become the master - dominus - of all his subjects, exalted in rank and power over all other agencies of the state.¹ Three emperors were the main architects of the Dominate: the Illyrian Aurelian (270 to 275) who, chronologically antedating it, set the trend; Diocletian (284 to 305), another Illyrian, laid the solid foundations of its governmental institutions; and finally Constantine, called the Great and sole emperor (325 to 337), actually perfected a pattern of human rule generally characterized as “bureaucratic despotism.” As a political system, the Dominate embodied institutions and techniques altogether different from those of the Principate: It established the absolute monarchy by the grace of God. The emperor is the apex of the pyramid of a hierarchically stratified, centralized bureaucratic establishment which serves no one else than the emperor, who himself may, or may not, pretend to be guided by the utilitas publica; this new concept, signifying the public interest, was interpreted at his discretion.