Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/24

12 The first civil legislation concerning Sunday appears in the edict of Constantine the Great, 321 A.D. Nothing appears in history as demanding the legislation, or as wishing it, except the will of the emperor. He was a well-known devotee of the sun-god, as were his predecessors. His attitude toward Christianity, both before and long after the issuing of the Sunday edict, was the attitude of a shrewd politician; toward his rivals it was that of an unscrupulous, bloody-handed monarch. He gained power by intrigue, deceit, and murder. No accurate historian dares call him a "Christian emperor." Romish tradition and superficial literature have misnamed him the "first Christian emperor." The facts relative to his life and character forbid every such claim. He refused to unite with the Christian church until he lay on his death-bed, in 337 A.D., when he received baptism, hoping thus to make the most of both worlds. The text of his Sunday edict, and the surroundings, all show it to have been purely heathen. The text is as follows:

"Let all judges, and all city people, and all tradesmen, rest upon the venerable day of the Sun. But let those dwelling in the country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for the sowing of grain or the planting of vines; hence the favorable time should not be allowed to pass lest the provisions of Heaven be lost.

"Given the 7th of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls, each for the second time."—("Codex Justin.," lib. iii., tit. 12, 1. 3.)

If the foregoing law were associated with Christian laws, the testimony against it would be less damaging. But the following shows that on the next day Constantine issued another edict, which, like the above, is unmixed paganism.

Edict concerning haruspices:

"The august Emperor Constantine to Maximus:

"If any part of the palace or other public works shall be struck by lightning, let the soothsayers, following old usages, inquire into the meaning of the portent, and let their written words, very carefully collected, be reported to our knowledge; and also let the liberty of making use of the custom be accorded to others, provided they abstain from private sacrifices, which are specially prohibited.

"Moreover, that declaration and exposition written in respect to the amphitheatre being struck by lightning, concerning which you had written to Heraclianus, the tribune, and master of offices, you may know has been reported to us.

"Dated the 16th, before the kalends of January, at Seridica (320), Ace. the 8th, before the ides of March, in the consulship of Crispus II and Constantine III, Caess, Coss., 321 A.D."—("Codex Theo.," lib. xvi, tit, 10, 1. 1.)

The reader will note that nothing appears in the law, neither does