but were merely deciding a case of conscience. But
this theory was unsatisfactory. To reassure their consciences, they
tried another expedient. In abandoning heretics to the secular arm,
they besought the state officials to act with moderation, and avoid
"all bloodshed and all danger of death." This was unfortunately an
empty formula which deceived no one. It was intended to safeguard the
principle which the Church had taken for her motto: _Ecclesia
abhorret a sanguine_. In strongly asserting this traditional law, the
Inquisitors imagined that they thereby freed themselves from all
responsibility, and kept from imbruing their hands in bloodshed. We
must take this for what it is worth. It has been styled "cunning" and
"hypocrisy;"[1] let us call it simply a legal fiction.

[1] Lea, op. cit., vol. i, p. 224.

. . . . . . . .

The penalty of life imprisonment and the penalty of confiscation
inflicted upon so many heretics, was like the death penalty imposed
only by the secular arm. We must add to this banishment, which was
inscribed in the imperial legislation, and reappeared in the criminal
codes of Lucius III and Innocent III. These several penalties were by
their nature vindicative. For this reason they were particularly
odious, and have been the occasion of bitter accusations against the
Church.

With the exception of imprisonment, which we will speak of later on,
these penalties originated with the State. It is important,
therefore, to know what crimes they punished. As a general rule, it
must be admitted that they were only inflicted upon those heretics
who seriously disturbed the social order. If the death penalty could
be justly meted out to such rioters, with still greater reason could
the lesser penalties be inflicted.

The penalty of confiscation was especially cruel, inasmuch as it
affected the posterity of the condemned heretics. According to the
old Roman law, the property of heretics could be inherited by their
orthodox sons, and even by their agnates and cognates.[1] The laws of
the Middle Ages declared confiscation absolute; on the plea that
heresy should be classed with treason, orthodox children could not
inherit the property of their heretical father.[2] There was but one
exception to this law. Frederic II and Innocent IV both decreed that
children could inherit their father's property, if they denounced him
for heresy.[3] It is needless to insist upon the odious character of
such a law. We canno