principal.[1] On the other hand,
Cyprian, writing in the same century, although he declaims eloquently
and vigorously against the usurious practices of the clergy, does not
specifically express the opinion that the taking of usury is wrong in
itself.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Ad Marcion_, iv. 17.]

[Footnote 2: _Le Lapsis_, ch. 5-6; Cleary, _op. cit._, pp. 42-3.]

Thus, during the first three centuries of Christianity, there does not
seem to have been, as far as we can now ascertain, any definite and
general doctrine laid down on the subject of usury. In the year 305
or 306 a very important step forward was taken, when the Council of
Elvira passed a decree against usury. This decree, as given by Ivo
and Gratian, seems only to have applied to usury on the part of the
clergy, but as given by Mansi it affected the clergy and laity alike.
'Should any cleric be found to have taken usury,' the latter version
runs, 'let him be degraded and excommunicated. Moreover, if any layman
shall be proved a usurer, and shall have promised, when corrected, to
abstain from the practice, let him be pardoned. If, on the contrary,
he perseveres in his evil-doing, he is to be excommunicated.'[1]
Although the Council of Elvira was but a provincial Council, its
decrees are important, as they provided a model for later legislation.
Dr. Cleary thinks that Mansi's version of this decree is probably
incorrect, and that, therefore, the Council only forbade usury on the
part of the clergy. In any event, with this one possible and extremely
doubtful exception, there was no conciliar legislation affecting the
practice of usury on the part of the laity until the eighth century.
Certain individual popes censured the taking of usury by laymen, and
the Council of Nice expressed the opinion that such a practice was
contrary to Christ's teaching, but there is nowhere to be found an
imperative and definite prohibition of the taking of usury except by
the clergy.[2]

[Footnote 1: Cleary, _op. cit._, p. 43.]

[Footnote 2: Cleary, _op. cit._, pp. 44-8.]

The inconclusive result of the Christian teaching up to the middle of
the fourth century is well summarised by Dr. Cleary: 'Hitherto we have
encountered mere prohibitions of usury with little or no attempt to
assign a reason for them other than that of positive legislation.
Most of the statements of these early patristic writers, as well
as possibly all of the early Christian legislative enactments, deal
solely w