to establish Arianism alone in the empire. Hence the earnest protest of the orthodox bishops, Hosius, Athanasius, and Hilary, against this despotism and in favor of toleration ; ^ which came, however, we have to remember, from parties who were themselves the sufferers under intolerance, and w^ho did not regard the banishment of the Arians as unjust. Under Julian the Apostate religious liberty was again pro- claimed, but only as the beginning of return to the exclusive establishment of heathenism ; tlie counterpart, therefore, of Coustautine's toleration. After his early death Arianism again prevailed, at least in the East, and showed itself more intolerant and violent than the catholic orthodoxy. At last Theodosius the Great, the first emperor who was baptized in the Nicene faith, put an end to the Arian inter- regnum, proclaimed the exclusive authority of the Kicene creed, and at the same time enacted the first rigid penalties not only against the pagan idolatry, the practice of which was thenceforth a capital crime in the empire, but also against all Christian heresies and sects. The ruling principle of his public life was the unity of the empire and of the orthodox church. Soon after his baptism, in 380, he issued, in connection with his weak coemperors, Gratian and Yalentinian II., to the in- habitants of Constantinople, then the chief seat of Arianism, ' Cod. Theod. xvi. 5, 1 : Frivilegia, quae contemplatione religionis indulta sunt, catholicae tantum legis observatoribus prodesse opportet. Hcereticos autem atque schismaticos non tantum ab his privilegiis alienos esse volumus, sed etiara diversia muneribus constringi et subjici. ' Comp. § 3, above. 142 THIED PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. tlie following edict : " We, the three emperors, will, that all our subjects steadfastly adhere to the religion which was taught by St. Peter to the Romans, which has been faithfully pre- served by tradition, and which is now professed by the pontiff Damasns, of Rome, and Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. According to the institution of the apostles and the doctrine of the gospel, let us believe in the one Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of equal majesty in the holy Trinity. We order that the adhe- rents of this faith be called Catholic Christians / we brand all the senseless followers of other religions with the infamous name of heretics, and forbid their conventicles assuming the name of churches. Besides the condemnation of divine justice, they must expect the heavy penalties which our authority, guided by heavenly wisdom, shall think proper to inflict." ' In the course of fifteen years this emperor issued at least fifteen j)enal laws against heretics,'* by which he gradually deprived them of all right to the exercise of their religion, excluded them from all civil offices, and threatened them with fines, confiscation, banishment, and in some cases, as the Mani- chseans, the Audians, and even the Quartodecimanians, with death. From Theodosius therefore dates the state-church theory of the persecution of