which Theodosius II. caused to be made by several jurists be- tween the years 429 and 438. It contains the laws of the Christian emperors from Constantine down, adulterated with many heathen elements ; and it was sanctioned by Valen- tinian III. for the western empire. A hundred years later, in the flourishing period of the Byzantine state-church despotism, Justinian I., who, by the way, cannot be acquitted of the re- proach of capricious and fickle law-making, committed to a number of lawyers, under the direction of the renowned Tribo- nianus,^ the great task of making a complete revised and di- gested collection of the Roman law from the time of Hadrian to his own reign ; and thus arose, in the short period of seven years (527-534), through the combination of the best talent and the best facilities, the celebrated Codex Justinianeus, which thenceforth became the universal law of the Roman empire, the sole text book in the academies at Rome, Constantinople, and Berytus, and the basis of the legal relations of the greater I part of Christian Europe to this day.^ \ ^ The Codex Gregorianus and Codex Hermogenianus ; so called from the com- pilers, two private lawyers. They contained the rescripts and edicts of the heathen emperors from Hadrian to Constantine, and would facilitate a comparison of the heathen legislation with the Christian. ^ Tribouianus, a native of Side in Paphlagonia, was an advocate and a poet, and rose by his talents, and the favor of Justinian, to be quaestor, consul, and at last magister officiorum. Gibbon compares him, both for his comprehensive learning and administrative ability and for his enormous avarice and venality, with Lord Bacon. But in one point these statesmen were very different : while Bacon was a decided Christian in his convictions, Tribonianus was accused of pagan proclivities and of atheism. In a popular tumult in Constantinople the emperor was obliged to dismiss him, but found him indispensable and soon restored him. * The complete Codex Jiisthiianeus, which has long outlasted the conquests of that emperor (as Napoleon's Code has outlasted his), comprises properly three sepa- rate works : (1) The Institutiones, an elementary text book of jurisprudence, of the year 533. (2) The Digesta or Pandecice {irdvSeKTai, complete repository), an ab- stract of the spirit of the whole Roman jurisprudence, according to the decisions of the most distinguished jurists of the earlier times, composed in 580-533. (3) The Codex, first prepared in 528 and 529, but in 634 reconstructed, enlarged, and im- proved, aj:d hence called Codex re'petltm prcB'cctionia ; containing 4,648 ordi § 19. ELEVATION OF WOMAN AND THE FAMILY. Ill This body of Koman law ' is an important source of our knowledge of the Christian life in its relations to the state and its influence upon it. It is, to be sure, in great part the legacy of pagan Rome, which was constitutionally endowed with legis- lative and administrative genius, and thereby as it were pre- destined to