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

natural loss of the texts (which doubtless occurred) in the 120 years prior to the
compilation of the code under Theodosius’ II commissioners.
Also notable, is the greater physical length of Theodosius' heretical legislation;
some of this enhanced length is due to an increase in rhetorical invective directed
against the heretics: “madness of their excessively obstinate minds,” the
“contamination” of various heresies who were variously described as a “pestilence” a
“poison” a “sacrilege,” a “crime,” a “perfidy” and a “sectarian monstrosity,
abominable.” These are from just the first two paragraphs of Theodosius' first law,
CTh. 16.5.6 which is the richest in terms of derogatory rhetoric, although by no
means unique. The laws also tend to excel in what might be termed ‘excess verbiage.’
That is, they are often characterised by a tendency to use more words, and in a more
grandiloquent manner, than was probably strictly necessary. CTh. 16.5.14 preferred
to say of the Apollinarians, for example, that they should be “prohibited from all
places, from the walls of the cities, from the congregation of honourable men, from
the communion of the saints” rather than the simpler “exiled.” In the case of this law,
that order was repeated at the end: “They shall go to places which will seclude them
most effectively, as though by a wall, from human association.”
The greater length of the laws is also explicable by an increased thoroughness in
the range and depth of their application. Heresies of various types, from the greatest
to the apparently smallest, were dealt with under many of the names that they might
have used. That in itself shows a degree of intolerance in that fewer groups would be
able to slip through Theodosius' ‘anti-heretical net’ by the use of differing semantics.
Moreover, as the legislation continued throughout Theodosius' reign, it tends to place
increasing pressure on the heretics. First, heresies were condemned and their churches
confiscated (CTh. 16.5.5 and 8), then they were forbidden to assemble in newly
acquired or built churches (CTh. 16.5.11) and then were forbidden to create their own
clerics (also CTh. 16.5.11) and then for teaching and creating bishops (CTh. 16.5.13
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