The Roman Einpire to the Triumph of Christianity 309 In the last book of the Theodosian Code — a great collection The Church of the laws of the Empire, which was completed in 438 — all dosian Code the emperors' decrees are to be found which relate to the Chris- tian Church and the clergy. We find that the clergy, in view of their holy duties, were exempted from certain burdensome gov- ernment offices and from some of the taxes which the laity had to pay. They were also permitted to receive bequests. The emperors themselves built churches and helped the Church in many ways (see below, section 52). Their example was fol- lowed by rulers and private individuals all through the Middle Ages, so that the Church became incredibly wealthy and en- joyed a far greater income than any state of Europe. The clergy were permitted to try certain law cases, and they them- selves had the privilege of being trie^ in their own church courts for minor criminal offenses. - The Theodosian Code makes it imJawful for any one to differ Heresy from the beliefs of the Catholic Church. Those who dared to ^ crime disagree with the teachings of the Church were called he7'etics. If heretics ventured to come together, their. meetings were to be broken up and the teachers heavily fined. Houses in which the doctrines of the heretics were taught were to be confiscated by the government. The books containing their teachings were to be sought out with the utmost care and burned under the eyes of the magistrate ; and if any one was convicted of concealing a heretical book, he was to suffer capital punishment. It is clear, then, that very soon after the Christian Church was recognized by the Roman government, it induced the em- perors to grant the clergy particular favors, to destroy the pagan temples and prohibit pagan worship, and, finally, to persecute all those who ventured to disagree with the orthodox teachings of the Church. We shall find that the governments in the Middle Ages, fol- lowing the example of the Roman emperors, continued to grant the clergy special privileges and to persecute heretics, often in a very cruel manner (see below, section 84).
