Diocletian's Marriage Edict

This document is found in the Codex Gregorianus, column 31*

of Hand’s edition. It is here given as a specimen of the Emperors moral

feeling, and of the strong practical turn which his religion took: and also of

the state of public morals at the time. The translation cannot aspire to much

grace of literary style: but nothing can be heavier than the edict-Latin of the

period.