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Content: The
swingeing taxes needed to support this largesse also resulted in a
loss of motivation for the middle classes, and this a decline in
prosperity. While economics was not yet a field of study in the
time of Constantine, it is now recognised that the massive
expenditure that Constantine incurred, and the legacy that he
passed on to his sons and successors, were an important
contributing factors in the decline of the Roman Empire. A further factor was the decline in education and, with it, the
decline in the skills necessary to maintain a thriving empire. The
Christian Church held that education was only necessary if it
helped in meeting the needs of the Church. Eventually, even kings
were often illiterate. Because the Church was suspicious of all
texts associated with paganism, the ancient texts were destroyed,
with even the fabled Library of Alexandria burnt. The eventual
rediscovery of the ancient philosophical texts and the re-emergence
of science and mathematics resulted from the successes of the
Muslims in Spain and elsewhere. It should be understood that there were other factors that also
led to the decline of the Roman Empire and of western civilisation,
and that many of these factors were entirely outside the control of
the Christian Church. The Roman Empire is believed to have already
been in decline by the time of Constantine. His policies, and those
of his successors, hastened that decline, but whether Christianity
was the major reason for the fall of the Roman Empire continues to
be debated.