500 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliv admitted into the authentic body of the civil jurisprudence. The In the opinion of a philosopher superior to the prejudices of his a.d. 534-565 profession, these incessant, and for the most part trifling, altera- tions can be only explained by the venal spirit of a prince who sold without shame his judgments and his laws. 96 The charge of the secret historian is indeed explicit and vehement; but the sole instance which he produces may be ascribed to the devo- tion as well as to the avarice of Justinian. A wealthy bigot had bequeathed his inheritance to the church of Emesa; and its value was enhanced by the dexterity of an artist, who subscribed confessions of debt and promises of payment with the names of the richest Syrians. They pleaded the established prescription of thirty or forty years ; but their defence was overruled by a retrospective edict, which extended the claims of the church to the term of a century : an edict so pregnant with injustice and disorder that, after serving this occasional purpose, it was pru- dently abolished in the same reign. 97 If candour will acquit the emperor himself and transfer the corruption to his wife and favourites, the suspicion of so foul a vice must still degrade the majesty of his laws; and the advocates of Justinian may acknowledge that such levity, whatsoever be the motive, is unworthy of a legislator and a man. Theinsti- Monarchs seldom condescend to become the preceptors of 533!nov.'2i their subjects ; and some praise is due to Justinian, by whose command an ample system was reduced to a short and ele- mentary treatise. Among the various institutes of the Eoman law, 98 those of Caius" were the most popular in the East and Not. in Anecdot. p. 98). [The total number is 174 in the edition of Zacharia von Lingenthal.] 96 Montesquieu, Considerations sur la Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. 20, torn. iii. p. 501, in 4to. On this occasion he throws aside the gown and cap of a President a Mortier. 97 Procopius, Anecdot. c. 28. A similar privilege was granted to the church of Rome (Novel, ix.). For the general repeal of these mischievous indulgences, see Novel, cxi. and Ediot. v. 98 Lactantius, in his Institutes of Christianity, an elegant and specious work, proposes to imitate the title and method of the civilians. Quidam prudentes et arbitri asquitatis Institutiones Civilis Juris compositas ediderunt (Institut. Divin. 1. i. c. 1). Such as Ulpian, Paul, Florentinus, Marcian. 99 The emperor Justinian calls him suum, though he died before the end of the second century. His Institutes are quoted by Servius, Boethius, Priscian, &c. and the epitome by Arrian is still extant. (See the Prolegomena and Notes to the edition of Schulting, in the Jurisprudentia Ante-Justinianea, Lugd. Bat. 1717. Heineccius, Hist. J. R. No. 313. Ludewig, in Vit. Just. p. 199.) [See above, p. 488, n. 86. There is a useful edition of the Institutes of Justinian by J. B. Moyle, 2 vols.,
