Religious Intolerance in the Later Roman Empire - Bad request ...

to in CTh. 9.16.9. Also, and at the same time, it would be unreasonable to suggest that
Valentinian was either lying or that he was exaggerating the nature or tone of these
lost laws. It does seem quite possible that Valentinian’s government would have issued
such laws within the terms of the sentiments expressed, not only on the evidence of
what CTh 9.16.9 actually says, as well as from CIL 6.31982, but also on the evidence of
his and his government’s attitude to religious affairs as contained in other extant laws
discussed above.
Conclusion
Much of Valentinian's religious legislation on the Church conferred some
symbolic and cost-free privileges to Christianity, but little substantive benefit to the
Church (CTh. 15.7.1, 9.38.3, 9.40.8 and 8.8.1). Like his predecessors, Valentinian
legislated to ensure that important functions carried out by the councils (CTh. 16.2.17
and 12.1.59) and even by bakers (CTh. 14.3.11) would not be jeopardised by the
Church. The rights of individual clerics were even partially curbed by CTh. 16.2.20
and 22, though possibly only to maintain and support existing rights pertaining to
families and their wealth. Evidently Valentinian favoured Christianity, but there is
little evidence that he inclined to one interpretation of Christianity over any other.
He initially approached the Ursinian problem with the strict practicality of attempting
to ensure peace in Rome. He responded to Damasus’ petition and that introduced an
element of ideology into his correspondence, but that influence did not last. He
showed himself to be very magnanimous in his third letter on the subject (CSEL 35.5)
in allowing the Ursinians to return to Rome without, apparently, any conciliatory
moves from them. Despite the thwarting of his intentions, Valentinian never carried
out his threats of “severe punishment” and instead simply extended the boundary
around the city from which the exile took effect. The rhetoric did increase as the
correspondence increased, but much of that increase seems to have been the result of
the emperor trying to persuade officials to see the situation his way. Like the laws
178 Testes sunt leges a m e in exordio im perii m ei datae, quibus unicuique, quod anim o inbibisset, colendi libera
135