[Footnote 68: Constantine allowed the wife the right of divorce whose husband had been four years absent in the army without sending her word. Justinian first raised the period of waiting to ten years, and then entirely abolished divorce for this cause. "Dagegen blieb die Scheidungsbefugniss bestehen für den Fall der Impotenz, wobei jedoch nach Justinians Bestimmung eine Probezeit von zwei, später von drei Jahren eingehalten werden sollte." A vow of chastity or imprisonment was also counted a legal ground of separation by Justinian: GEFFCKEN, _op. cit._, 27. _Cf._ also GLASSON, _Le mariage civil et le divorce_, 205, who appears to confuse divorce _ex consensu_ and _bona gratia_.] In 363 Julian repealed the divorce law of Constantine;[69] but the principle of restricting the grounds of arbitrary repudiation was again adopted in 421 by Honorius and Constantius; though, like Julian, they allowed arbitrary separation for lesser faults, with retention of some portion of the dower.[70] Theodosius II., in 439, abrogating previous legislation, restored the law of the early empire; but "after ten years of experiment, in which divorces had alarmingly increased, gave out another law,[71] which laid down the causes for which one party might lawfully separate from the other. The woman was authorized to do this if the man had been guilty of certain crimes, among which are murder, poisoning, plotting against the government, fraud, and various sorts of robbery, cruelty toward or attempts on the life of his wife, intimacy with prostitutes, and adultery. The causes for which a man could without penalty put away his wife were for the most part of the same description with those just mentioned. But peculiar to her are the offenses of passing the night out of his house, or visiting the theatre, circus, or other public place against his will."[72] If the divorce occurs for any reason other than those mentioned in the statute, the penalty for either person is loss or surrender of the dower and the ante-nuptial gift; while in addition the woman, under penalty of "infamy," is prohibited from marrying again within five years.[73] This is a severe discrimination against the wife; but in one important matter, it will be noted, the law of Theodosius is strikingly impartial; for separation is permitted on account of adultery of the man as well as for that of the woman. In this regard the measure is far more liberal than the earlier Roman law, according to which adultery is not a crime which a husband can commit against his wife.[74] Moreover, while this offense is not always mentioned in the constitutions of the Christian emperors as legal ground for divorcing the husband, it is punished with extreme rigor. Sometimes both offenders are condemned to death. Sometimes a discrimination is made, the woman usually suffering the harsher penalty.[75]