omparison with
such a decree, the legislation of the Christian Emperors was rather
moderate.

It is somewhat difficult to ascertain how far these laws were
enforced by the various Emperors. Besides, we are only concerned with
the spirit which inspired them. The State considered itself the
protector of the Church, and in this capacity placed its sword at the
service of the orthodox faith. It is our purpose to find out what the
churchman of the day thought of this attitude of the State.

The religious troubles caused chiefly by three heresies, Manicheism,
Donatism, and Priscillianism, gave them ample opportunity of
expressing their opinions.

. . . . . . . .

The Manicheans, driven from Rome and Milan, took refuge in Africa. It
must be admitted that many of them by their depravity merited the
full severity of the law. The initiated, or the elect, as they were
called, gave themselves up to unspeakable crimes. A number of them on
being arrested at Carthage confessed immoral practices that would not
bear repetition, and this debauchery was not peculiar to a few wicked
followers, but was merely the carrying out of the Manichean ritual,
which other heretics likewise admitted.[1]

[1] Augustine, _De haeresibus_, Haeres, 46.

The Church in Africa was not at all severe in its general treatment
of the sect. St. Augustine, especially, never called upon the civil
power to suppress it. For he could not forget that he himself had for
nine years (373-382), belonged to this sect, whose doctrines and
practices he now denounced. He writes the Manicheans: "Let those who
have never known the troubles of a mind in search of the truth
proceed against you with vigor. It is impossible for me to do so,
because for years I was cruelly tossed about by your false doctrines,
which I advocated and defended to the best of my ability. I ought to
bear with you now, as men bore with me when I blindly accepted your
doctrines."[1] All he did was to hold public conferences with their
leaders, whose arguments he had no difficulty in refuting.[2]

[1] _Contra epistolam Manichaei quam vocant Fundamenti_, n. 2, 3.

[2] Cf. Dom Leclerc, _L'Afrique Chretienne_, Paris, 1904, vol. ii,
pp. 113-122.

The conversions obtained in this way were rather numerous, even if
all were not equally sincere. All converts from the sect were
required, like their successors, the Cathari of the Middle Ages, to
denounce their brethren by name, under the threat of being ref