Introductory Note
Jill Harries
The Theodosian Code began with the legislation of Constantine and the three chapters in this part all reflect that emperor’s influence.
One unacknowledged historical difficulty confronting the compilers, who were researching on material more than a century old, was that, for much of his reign, Constantine had not ruled alone but as part of a college with colleagues accepted at the time of their legislation as legitimate. Simon Corcoran’s Chapter (4) on the legislation of Licinius, who shared responsibility with Constantinian as joint Augustus for all imperial laws from 313 down to 324, shows how the enactments of a man categorised as a 'usurper’ after 324 could nevertheless find their way into the Code as Constantinian legislation. The compilers themselves, however, may have been both unaware of and unworried by the difficulty; although preoccupied by chronological exactness in arranging laws, they were not concerned with the historical processes which had brought them into being.No explicit justification is offered by Theodosius’ Code commissioners for beginning with Constantine. The existence of the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes of the 290s provided a pretext: the Theodosian Code was a continuation. But, unlike its predecessors, Theodosius’ Code carried the emperor’s name, it excluded rescripts, its copyright was rigorously protected and constitutions excluded from it were invalid. All this indicates a project more explicitly the expression of the imperial monopoly on legislation than the earlier Codes had been. The significance of the decision to begin with Constantine is thus enhanced. Book 16 is a monument to the process of legislation on Christianity set in motion by him, although, as David Hunt explains below (Chapter 6) imperial legislation tended to 'lead from behind’, while over-simple notions of Christianisation are 'a snare and very probably a
96 Part II.
Constantine, Christianity and the Code delusion as well’. Equally complex is the related question of how far Constantinian legislation reflected Christian, or generally accepted, moral values, as Roman law moved into its 'post-classical’ phase, and Judith Evans Grubbs demonstrates (Chapter 5) how a search for simple 'Christian’ influences is likely to mislead.Thus, while Part I highlighted the problems of the Code as text, Part II reveals pitfalls in its use. Behind the Code was a world of social fluidity and diversity, of tradition interacting with change and of complexities which could not be encompassed by 'general’ rules. The contents of the Code provide details from the canvas but are an unreliable guide, in isolation, to the character of the picture as a whole.
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