 The death of Maximian required a shift in Constantine 's public image . He could no longer rely on his connection to the elder emperor Maximian , and needed a new source of legitimacy . In a speech delivered in Gaul on 25 July 310 AD , the anonymous orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to Claudius II , a 3rd Century emperor famed for defeating the Goths and restoring order to the empire . Breaking away from tetrarchic models , the speech emphasizes Constantine 's ancestral prerogative to rule , rather than principles of imperial equality . The new ideology expressed in the speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine 's right to rule . Indeed , the orator emphasizes ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors : " No chance agreement of men , nor some unexpected consequence of favor , made you emperor , " the orator declares to Constantine . 
