74. The author of the Histoire Politique et Philosophique
des deux Indes (tom. i. p. 9) condemns a law of Constantine
which gave freedom to all the slaves who should embrace
Christianity. The emperor did indeed publish a law which
restrained the Jews from circumcising, perhaps from keeping,
any Christian slaves (see Euseb. in Vit. Constant.1. iv. c.
27, and Cod. Theod. 1. xvi. tit. ix., with Godefroy's
Commentary, tom. v i. p. 247). But this imperfect exception
related only to the Jews; and the great body of slaves, who
were the property of Christian or Pagan masters, could not
improve their temporal condition by changing their religion.
I am ignorant by what guides the Abbe Raynal was deceived,
as the total absence of quotations is the unpardonable
blemish of his entertaining history