[Sidenote: Law.] The study of law, which had for centuries been among the most important pursuits of Roman thinkers, was not neglected in the last centuries of Roman life. Under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.) the imperial edicts were codified by Gregorianus, and in the reign of Constantine (323-337 A. D.) Hermogenianus continued the codification to his own time. In 438 A. D., under Theodosius II, the _Codex Theodosianus_ was compiled by a commission of jurists, and in the reign of Justinian a commission headed by the distinguished jurist, scholar, and man of affairs Tribonian, gave to Roman law its final form in three great works: the _Code_, published in 529 A. D., the _Pandects_ or _Digests_, and the _Institutes_, published in 533 A. D., which have served as the basis for all later jurisprudence. [Sidenote: Oratory.] Oratory found its chief field of activity in the Christian pulpit from the time of Constantine, but was not confined to the exposition of Christian doctrine. The Gallic school of oratory continued to flourish, and indeed Gaul was prominent in literature of all kinds during the fourth and fifth centuries. Among other orators the most important was Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, a Roman of noble family and honorable character, whose life extended from about 345 to 405 A. D. His panegyrics on Valentinian I and Gratianus resemble the other panegyrics of the period, and the fragmentary remains of later speeches delivered in the senate show no greater ability. More interesting are his letters, in which he appears as an imitator of the younger Pliny, and his official reports as prefect of the city. [Sidenote: Dictys and Dares.] A curious prose version of the story of the Trojan War was written by Lucius Septimius, apparently in the second half of the fourth century. This purports to a translation of an ancient Greek manuscript in Phœnician letters found in the tomb of a certain Dictys, in Crete. The story of the discovery of the manuscript is undoubtedly an invention, but the Latin account may be a translation of a lost Greek original. The style is artificial and full of antiquated expressions. The author most persistently imitated is Sallust. A somewhat similar little work belonging to the fifth century pretends to be a translation by Cornelius Nepos of a Greek account of the Trojan War given by a Phrygian Dares, who fought among the Trojans. The style is dry and unattractive, but the little book was much read in the Middle Ages. These two works serve to give us some idea of the kind of literature which, alongside of the Greek novels, amused the leisure hours of cultivated persons.