[292] Considering the intellectual stagnation of the time, it seems quite possible that the Justinian code was unheard of wherever it was not actually the law of the land. Vinogradoff gives the conclusion of modern scholarship as to this when he says (_Roman Law in Medieval Europe_, London, 1909, p. 8): “The _Corpus Juris_ of Justinian, which contains the main body of law for later ages, including our own, was accepted and even known only in the East and in those parts of Italy which had been reconquered by Justinian’s generals. The rest of the western provinces still clung to the tradition of the preceding period, culminating in the official code of Theodosius II (A.D. 437).” Compare also Conrat, _Die Epitome Exactis Regibus_, Introd., pp. 248–257; Flach, _Droit Romain au Moyen Age_ (Paris, 1890), especially pp. 52–57. Conrat, in his _Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des Römischen Rechts in Früheren Mittelalter_, pp. 150–153, maintains, first, that there is no trace of evidence elsewhere in Isidore’s works, of a knowledge of the existence of the Justinian code; and, second, that the internal evidence in the _De Legibus_ points to the use of other sources. See also Ureña, _Historia Crítica de la Literatura Jurídica Española_ (Madrid, 1897), vol 1, p. 294. The purpose of the _De Legibus_ was, no doubt, to serve as a text-book.[293] The amount of space given to it, which is about the average of that allotted to each of the liberal arts, and the fact that it treats of law in a general way, point to this conclusion. Its position in the _Etymologies_, following, with Medicine, immediately after the liberal arts, is also an indication of its educational character. The best proof of this, however, is found in the number of separate manuscripts in which the _De Legibus_ is reproduced in a catechetical form.[294] At least eight of these are in existence, and the earliest of them is attributed to the ninth century. [293] The _De Legibus_ should not be regarded as a text-book for a law school, but for the subject of law as forming a minor part of the preparation of a priest. See Introd., p. 87, and Flach, _op. cit._, the fourth section of which (pp. 104–128) deals with the teaching of law from the sixth to the eleventh century. [294] For an account of separate MSS. of Isidore’s _De Legibus_ (often containing also legal matter from bks. ii, ix and xviii), see Joseph Tardif, _Un Abrégé Juridique des Etymologies d’Isidore de Seville_ in _Mélanges Julien Havet_ (Paris, 1895). EXTRACTS Chapter 1. On law-givers. 1. Moses first of all set forth the divine laws in the sacred writings for the Hebrew people. King Phoroneus was the first to establish laws and courts for the Greeks. 2. Mercurius Trismegistus first gave laws to the Egyptians. Solon first legislated for the Athenians. Lycurgus first made rules of law for the Lacedaemonians and pretended Apollo’s authority for them.