Untitled - Shattering Denial

THE INQUISITION
287: "We thus decree," 1
he writes Julianus, "against these
men, whose doctrines and whose magical arts you have
made known to us: the leaders are to be burned with their
books; their followers are to be put to death, or sent to
the mines." In comparison with such a decree, the legis
lation of the Christian Emperors was rather moderate. 2
It is somewhat difficult to ascertain how far these laws
were enforced by the various Emperors. Besides we are
only concerned with the spirit which inspired them.
The State considered itself the protector of the Church,
and in this capacity placed its sword at the service of the
orthodox faith. It is our purpose to find out what the
churchman of the day thought of this attitude of the State.
The religious troubles caused chiefly by three heresies,
Manicheism, Donatism, and Priscillianism, gave them
ample opportunity of expressing their opinions.
The Manicheans, driven from Rome and Milan, took
refuge in Africa. It must be admitted that many of
them by their depravity merited the full severity of the
law. The initiated, or the elect, as they were called, gave
themselves up to unspeakable crimes. A number of
them on being arrested at Carthage confessed immoral
1
Boeking, Corpus Juris antejustiniani, vol. i, p. 374.
2
Justinian, however, made the laws against the Manicheans more severe.
His code decreed the death penalty against every Manichean without excep
tion. Cod. Just., book i, tit. v, law ii (487 or 510), ibid., law 12 (527). Cf.
Julien Havet, L heresie et le bras seculier au moyen dge, in his (Euvres, Paris,
1896, ii, 121, n. 3.
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