Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/66

30 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE religion of its own, and that this should take the form of worshiping the emperor, who seemed to symbolize and to embody the great Roman power. This was the one form of worship that bound all the peoples and races of the vast Empire together, whatever might be their own local gods and religious customs. The government did not much care what other rites and doctrines the people might practice and believe, so long as they showed their loyalty by joining in the imperial cult, and did not engage in secret assemblies where rebellion might be plotted or crime perpetrated. The Roman law has survived the Roman Empire, and the laws of many European countries are still to-day based in large measure upon its definitions, principles, Roman law " M , ' ,, . . , and ways ol legal thinking, or have even retained many of its particular provisions. It is therefore essential for us to note its leading characteristics. First, it was adapted to the needs of a large empire and highly civilized society, where property relations and busi- ness life, # if not quite so complex in organization or advanced in economic development as at the present day, were yet probably more like modern conditions than in any previous age, and certainly more so than during the Middle Ages. Second, it was a scientific system consistently and care- fully worked out in its every detail by generation after gen- eration of capable jurists. These men, by their skillful inter- pretation of the old written law of the Twelve Tables pub- lished in 451-449 B.C., had enabled the Romans still to con- duct their affairs under that primitive code long after their life had greatly altered from that of the early period and their ideas of justice had become more enlightened. Then, through the edicts of successive city praetors and provincial governors, a new body of law, better suited to the require- ments of a great city and of the Mediterranean world, had been built up. Finally, through law schools, through the decisions of imperial jurists, and through the legal literature, which reached its height about 200 A.D. in the writings of Ulpian and Papinian, and which is marked by acuteness in reasoning, clearness in statement, and fairness in judgment,