Humphries, Mark (2002) The Lexicon of Abuse: Drunkenness and political illegitimacy in the late Roman world. In: UNSPECIFIED Cambridge University Press, pp. 75-88.

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Abstract

In the anonymous, mid-fourth century narrative known as the Origo Constantini Imperatoris (The Origin of the Emperor Constantine), several apparently remarkable statements are made about the moral fibre — or more precisely the lack of it — of the enemies of the emperor Constantine.1 Prominent among these villains are Galerius, Augustus of the eastern empire (305-311), and his short-lived associate as western emperor, Severus (Caesar 305-6; Augustus, 306-7). The relationship between the two men, so our anonymous author has it, was based on their shared propensity to heavy drinking: ‘Severus Caesar was ignoble both by character and by birth; he was a heavy drinker (ebriosus) and for this reason he was a friend of Galerius.’2 Galerius’ own fondness for drink and its deleterious effects are soon described: ‘Galerius was such a heavy drinker (ebriosus) that, when he was intoxicated, he gave orders such as should not be implemented.

Item Type:	Book Section
Keywords:	Lexicon of abuse, late Roman world
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > Ancient Classics
Item ID:	368
Depositing User:	M Humphries
Date Deposited:	31 Aug 2006
Journal or Publication Title:	Humour, History and politics in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://www.cambridge.org/
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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