severe edicts of this year provided that slight error or deviation ("vel levi argumento a tramite Catholica") shall be unsparingly crushed. Penalties for neglect of statutes on heresy are made capital (XVI. v. 28), and c. 29 is inquisitorial and applies to all employés and officials, civil or military. All found to be "culpae hujus affines" are to be expelled from the service and the city. This is dated Nov. 23, Constantinople, so that Arcadius, or rather Eutropius, may be its author.
It is difficult to say how strictly the Honorian edicts against heresy were carried out, but no such persecution as that of St. Chrysostom is laid to the account of the emperor of the West. There is doubt, however, that the ecclesiastical legislation of 396 and following years was very severe. On March 2, 396 (T. C. XVI. v. 30), all heretical places of assemblage were confiscated and all meetings interdicted. By edicts 31 and 32 the Eunomian clergy were banished and inquiries were directed to be made after their leaders. XVI. vii. 6 deprived all apostates of testamentary power, their property was to go to their natural heirs; and by XVI. x. 14 all privileges of pagan priesthood or ministry were done away. The Jews were protected by three edicts (XVI. viii. 11–13).
The following edicts on church matters extend over 397 and 398. The Apollinarians were banished from Constantinople (T. C. XVI. v. 33) on Apr. 1, which was the only coercive measure of the year, and does not belong to Honorius. By XVI. ii. 30, Jan. 31, all ancient privileges were confined to bishops and clergy, with the proviso "Nihil extraordinarii muneris ecclesiae, vel sordidae functionis agnoscatur," repeated in XI. xvi. 22 (June 4). The Jews were protected from popular tumults (XVI. viii. 12, 13), and equal privileges and respect shewn to high-priests and patriarchs as to the higher Christian clergy. In 398 there were severe statutes on heresy. By T. C. XVI. v. 34 (Constantinople, but in Honorius's fourth consulship) Eunomian and Montanist clergy were banished from all cities and deprived of civic rights. If detected performing their rites in the country they were to be banished and the building confiscated, their books seized and burned, and keeping them was a capital offence. The Manicheans were specially attacked a.d. 399 (c. 35), and those who harboured them were threatened. C. 36 allowed testamentary rights to the Eunomians, but forbad them to assemble or to celebrate the mysteries. Their clergy ("ministri sceleris, quos falso nomine antistites vocant) were to be banished. Clerical rights of sanctuary for criminals were formally refused (de Poenis, ix. xl. 16), but intercession was permitted. This claim seems to have been pressed by the clerical and monastic body by violent means, which the authorities had difficulty in restraining. Cases in which "tanta clericorum ac monachorum audacia est, ut bellum velint potius quam judicium" were to be referred to the emperor for severer adjudication. Bishops were to punish the offences of monks. Debtors, public and private, including some unhappy curiales, had claimed sanctuary in churches (IX. xlv. 3). They were to be removed "manu mox injecta." No cleric or monk was to assert sanctuary by forcible defence for condemned criminals (XI. xxx. 7). Bishops were recommended to ordain clergy from the monastic orders (VI. ii. 32).
Ambrose had successfully resisted the reintroduction of the altar or statue of Victory into the senate-house in 384; and by 399 it may have appeared to Honorius's advisers that the time was come when paganism might be hastened out of existence. The paganism of the Roman senate and people was connected with the proudest associations of their public and domestic history, and it lingered long in the old patrician houses of the metropolis and among the rustic population. This was a source of weakness in keeping Christian emperors away from Rome. It may have been intended to end this division by direct attempts at suppressing paganism. The death-struggle of a paganism long fostered, and quite without real devotion, contributed to the final overthrow of Rome. Its immediate result in the life of Honorius seems to have been the undermining of Stilicho. The eunuch influence in both Eastern and Western courts had always been against him. There seems no doubt that Stilicho was opposed to anything which thinned his muster-rolls and weakened the hearts of his followers. Athanasius had advised Jovian (Broglie, L᾿Eglise et l᾿Empire romain, vol. v. p. 362) to bear with error; to bear witness to truth as emperor, but trust for its victory to the God of truth. Stilicho hardly reached this, as is proved by the many laws against heretics and idolaters in the code; but the accusations of Orosius (vi. 37) and the hostility of Zosimus on the pagan side seem to justify Gibbon's honourable estimate of him. In any case he had a few years of glory to come, and his great enemy was preparing for the defeats of Pollentia and Verona. In 398–399 Alaric was declared master-general of Eastern Illyricum by Arcadius, and raised on barbarian bucklers as king of Visigoths, with one man only between him and Rome (de Bello Getico, 503). Between 400 and 403 he had crossed Pannonia to the Julian Alps, taken Aquileia, subdued Istria and Venetia, and was threatening Milan. Honorius, now in his 15th year, thought only of flight into Gaul; but Alaric, overthrown by Stilicho at Pollentia and Verona, was allowed or compelled to retreat, and Honorius went with Stilicho to Rome to celebrate the last triumph of the empire (a.d. 404). The customary games took place with great magnificence, and on this occasion St. Telemachus sacrificed himself by attempting to separate the gladiators. Honorius seems not to have prevented their exhibition, though there are traces of an attempt to substitute hunting scenes, races, and grand cavalry displays, among which seems to have been the ancient game of Troy. After a stay of some months at Rome, during which he appears to have honestly done all in his power to conciliate the senate, clergy, and people, Honorius determined (a.d. 404) to fix his residence in the fortress of Ravenna, which was almost impregnable on the land side and afforded easy escape by sea. The Milanese entertained an affection for Honorius, and desired his return; but he had soon good reason to feel that his
