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

out of the empire, was instead attempting to keep them out of Roman society and
separate from his other subjects: “the more the people of Constantinople, and of the
whole Roman empire, came to know the Goths, the more they learned to hate
Arianism.” 18 However Ehrhardt provides no evidence to substantiate his opinion.
McLynn suggests that the law should be seen in the context of Theodosius' initial
dependence on Gratian and that Theodosius' needed to indicate some degree of “self
assertion.”. 19
Errington has the most convincing reconstruction of the reasons both for the
law and its lack of enforcement in the east. He points out that among contemporary
historians and theologians the law appears to have made very little impact and indeed
only the lawyer Sozomen referred to it. Sozomen indicates that whilst in
Thessalonica, Theodosius became aware of the minority status of the Nicenes in the
east and in particular in Constantinople. According to Sozomen, Theodosius was
unwilling to impose his orders on his subjects and this law was designed to advise his
subjects, and especially the Constantinopolitans, as to the new emperor’s religious
attitude. Errington also indicates that the advisory and expectatory nature of the law
is shown by Theodosius' use of v olum us as opposed to the use of iubem us in the second
paragraph giving the punishments, or rather, the lack of punishments. 20
Errington also maintains that Sozomen gives no evidence that he expected the
law to go further than Constantinople, but this is in contradiction to Sozomen
himself: Theodosius “caused to be published at Constantinople [this law], well
knowing that the rescript would speedily become public to all the other cities, if issued
from that city, which is as a citadel of the whole empire.” 21 However, Theodosius'
18 Ehrhardt (1964) 11
19 McLynn (1994) 109
20 Errington (1997b) 411-415; McLynn (1994) 108 notes that Gregory Nazianzus also makes no reference
to the law in his works, despite being present in Constantinople at the time.
21 Soz. 7.5
167