Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/68

 50 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, death; ami as if simple death was inadequate to the _^^Xl— enormity of his guilt, he was either burnt alive, or torn in pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. The virf^in's declaration that she had been carried away with her own consent, instead of saving her lover, ex- posed her to share his fate. The duty of a pubHc prosecution was intrusted to the parents of the guiUy or unfortunate maid ; and if the sentiments of nature prevailed on them to dissemble the injury, and to re- pair, by a subsequent marriage, the honour of their family, they were themselves punished by exile and confiscation. The slaves, whether male or female, who were convicted of having been accessary to the rape or seduction, were burnt alive, or put to death by the in- genious torture of pouring down their throats a quan- tity of melted lead. As the crime was of a public kind, the accusation was permitted even to strangers. The commencement of the action was not limited to any term of years ; and the consequences of the sen- tence were extended to the innocent offspring of such an irregular unions" But whenever the offence in- spires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. The most odious parts of this edict were softened or repealed in the subsequent reigns'^; and even Constantine himself very frequently alleviated, by partial acts of mercy, the stern temper of his general institutions. Such, indeed, was the singular humour of that emperor, who showed himself as indulgent, and even remiss, in the execution of his laws, as he was severe, and even cruel, in the enacting of them. It is scarcely possible to observe a more decisive symptom of weakness, either in the character of the prince, or in the constitution of the government^. '' See the edict of Constantine, addressed to the Roman people, in the Theodosian Code, 1. ix. tit. 24. torn. iii. p. 189. •■ His son very fairly assigns the true reason of the repeal : " Ne sub specie atrocioris judicii aliqua in ulciscendo crimine dilatio nasceretur." Cod. Theod. torn. iii. p. 193. reign of his hero, the sword of justice hung idle in the hands of tiie magi-
 * = Eusebius (in Vita Constant. 1. iii. c. i.) chooses to affirm, that in (he