it; and in these respects his State policy reflects his own ideas.
The effect of Christianity on legislation, always slow in so conservative a region where precedent is power, begins hopefully under Constantine. The emperor put an end to crucifixion—as a desecration of the cross of Christ, the breaking of the legs of criminals, and the branding of slaves. According to Eusebius he forbade sacrifices to idols, divination, the erecting of images, and gladiatorial combats.[1] If so, the law was a dead letter; for certainly all these things went on for generations after the time of Constantine. Possibly we have here a reference to some of his pious exhortations, such as that in which he invited all his subjects to become Christians. But although Constantine even patronised the amphitheatre as late as the year 323, when he received a panegyric for so doing, and two years later sanctioned the establishment of new gladiatorial games at Spello in Umbria—the force of public passion for this cruel sport being simply irresistible among the Italians—it was never introduced into his new city of Constantinople. Then, though slavery was continued, masters were forbidden to kill or torture their slaves, and manumission was facilitated. The cruel lot of prisoners was mitigated; they were not to be so chained up as to suffer from want of light and air. Debtors were not to be scourged, and they were to be brought to trial as quickly as possible. Above all, the position of woman was elevated. Adultery was treated as a crime to be punished; concubinage was forbidden, though intercourse with a female slave was not regarded as such; the old freedom of divorce was abolished; marriage received high sanctions; and assaults on consecrated virgins and widows were made punishable with death. Thus Constantine's legislation moved in the direction of humaneness and purity—two characteristic ideas of Christian ethics.
