[25] At length in its turn, in the fourth century, when,
after Theodosius, the Occident breaks loose from the Orient, it
intervenes, and it intervenes with its language, that is to say with
the provision of ideas and words which its culture provided; it
likewise had its instruments of precision, not those of Plato and
Aristotle, but others, as special, forged by Ulpian, Gaius and twenty
generations of jurists through the original invention and immemorial
labor of Roman genius. "To say what is law," to impose rules of
conduct on men, is, in abridged form, the entire practical work of the
Roman people; to write this law out, to formulate and coordinate these
rules, is, in abridged form, its entire scientific work, and with the
Romans in the third, fourth and fifth centuries, during the decadence
of other studies, the science of law was still in full force and
vigor.[26] Hence, when the Occidentals undertook the interpretation
of texts and the elaboration of the Creed it was with the habits and
faculties of jurisconsults, with the preoccupations and mental
reservations of statesmen, with the mental and verbal instruments
which they found suitable.
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