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| Prohibition of Sacrifices, of Mystic Rites, Combats of Gladiators, also the Licentious Worship of the Nile.
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Chapter XXV.—Prohibition of Sacrifices, of Mystic Rites, Combats of
Gladiators, also the Licentious Worship of the Nile.
Consistently with this zeal he issued successive laws and ordinances,
forbidding any to offer sacrifice to idols, to consult diviners, to
erect images, or to pollute the cities with the sanguinary combats of
gladiators.3325
| 3325 The most accessible reference for getting a glimpse of the
legislation of Constantine in these and similar regards is the section,
The alteration in general and penal legislation in
Wordsworth’s Constantinus I., in Smith and Wace, Dict. 1
(1877). This section is on p. 636–7. Compare also the laws
themselves as gathered in Migne, Patrol. lat. vol. 8. Compare
also Prolegomena for general statement of the value of his legislation
and his reputation as legislator. | And inasmuch as the Egyptians,
especially those of Alexandria, had been accustomed to honor their
river through a priesthood composed of effeminate men, a further law
was passed commanding the extermination of the whole class as vicious,
that no one might thenceforward be found tainted with the like
impurity. And whereas the superstitious inhabitants apprehended that
the river would in consequence withhold its customary flood, God
himself showed his approval of the emperor’s law by ordering all
things in a manner quite contrary to their expectation. For those who
had defiled the cities by their vicious conduct were indeed seen no
more; but the river, as if the country through which it flowed had been
purified to receive it, rose higher than ever before, and completely
overflowed the country with its fertilizing streams: thus effectually
admonishing the deluded people to turn from impure men, and ascribe
their prosperity to him alone who is the Giver of all good.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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