What does it mean for an emperor to publicly engage in the act of reading the Scriptures? In this paper, I will seek to answer this question by considering the significance of the theme of interpretation in the propaganda of the first Christian emperor in Roman history, Constantine (r. 306-337). I will focus in particular on the piece, ascribed to him, which survived as an appendix to Eusebius’ Life of Constantine: the Oration to the Assembly of the Saints. After discussing the dating and authenticity of the Oration, I will argue that its long interpretive excursus focusing on Daniel, the Sibylline Oracles, and Virgil, far  rom being a digression, holds in fact the key to understand the message of the piece, illustrating the strategies devised by the mature Constantine to project himself as enlightened sovereign.

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