526 APPENDIX fixed by Justinian. This Ecloga, aa it is called, may be described as a Christian law book. It is a deliberate attempt to change the legal system of the Empire by an application of Christian principles. Examples, to illustrate its tendenc}-, will be given below. The horror, in which the iconoclasts were held on account of their heresy by the image-worshippers, cast discredit upon all their works. This feeling had somethiug to do with the great reaction, which was inaugurated by Basil I., against their legal reforms. The Christian Code of Leo prevailed in the empire for less than a century and a half ; and then, under the auspices of Basil, the Roman law of Justinian was (partially) restored. In legal activity the Basilian epoch faintlj- reflected the epoch of Justinian itself. A handbook of extracts from the Institutes, Digest, Code and Novels, was published in a. d. 879, entitled the Prochiron (or 6 Trp6xei.pos vojxos), to diffuse a knowledge of the forgotten system. But the great achievement of the Basilian epoch is the Basilica — begun under Basil, completed under Leo VI. — a huge collection of all the laws of the Enpire, not only those still valid, but those which had become obsolete. It seems that two commissions of experts were appointed to prepare the material for this work. One of these commissions compiled the Prochiron by the wfey, and planned out the Basilica in sixtj- Books. The other commission also prepared a handbook, called the Epanagoge, which was never actuallj* published (though a sketch of the work is extant), and planned out the Basilica in forty Books. The Basilica, as actually published, are arranged in sixty Books, compiled from the materials prepared bj- both commissions. The Basilian revival of Justinianean law was permanent ; and it is outside our purpose to follow the history further, except to note the importance of the foundation of a school of law at Constantinople in the 11th century by the Emperor Constantine IX. The law enacting the institution of this school, under the direction of a salaried Nomophylax, is extant.'-^ John Xiphihn (see above) was the first director. This foundation may have possibly had some influence on the institution of the school at Bologna half a century later. To illustrate the spirit of the legislation of Leo III. , an attempt to reconcile the discrepancies between civil and canonical law, we may glance at his enact- ments as to marriage, the patria potestas, and the guardianship of minors. In the law of Justinian marriage had by no means the sacrosanct character which the Church assigned to it. Like all contracts, it could easily be dissolved at the pleasure of the contractors, and concubinage was legally recognised. The Ecloga enacted that a concubinate should be regarded as a marriage, thus legally abolishing the relation ; and in this matter the Macedonian Emperors maintained the principle of the Iconoclasts ; Leo VI. expressly- asserting (Nov. 89) that there is no half-waj' state between the married and the unmarried. Roman law had defined a number of hindrances to the contraction of marriage. The tendency of the Church, which regarded marriage as not an admirable thing in itself but only a concession to weakness, was to multiply hindrances. Justinian had forbidden marriages between Christians and Jews ; the Ecloga recognises only marriages of Christiana (and orthodox Christians are meant). ^ But the chief obstacles lay in degrees of relationship. Justinian's Code forbade marriage between blood relatives in the direct line of ascent and descent, between brothers and sisters, and between uncle and niece, nephew and aunt. The TruUan synod of 692 extended the prohibition to first cousins ; the Ecloga went further and forbade the marriage of second cousins (Sicrf^(i5e(poi). These prohibitions were preserved bj- the Macedonian Emperors, and it was generally recognised that marriages within the 6th degree were illegal. It was even regarded as a question whether marriages in the 7th degree were permissible. They were forbidden by the Church in the 11th century, and this decision was confirmed 2 Ed. Lagarde in the Abhandlungen der Akad. zu Gottingen, xxviii. 195 517^. STheophilus however recognised marriages between Romans and Persians as valid.
