Editing Marcian (section)

===Economic and legal policy===
At the beginning of Marcian's reign, the Eastern Roman treasury was almost bankrupt, the result of the huge tributes paid to Attila by Theodosius. Marcian reversed this near bankruptcy, not by levying new taxes, but by cutting expenditure.{{sfn|Bury|2012|pp=236–237}} Upon his accession, he declared a remission of all debts owed to the state.{{sfn|Nathan|1998}} Marcian attempted to improve the efficiency of the state in multiple ways.{{sfn|Bury|2012|pp=236–237}} He laid out legal reforms in his [[Novel (Roman law)|novels]], or codes of law, containing 20 laws, many of which were targeted at reducing the corruption and abuses of office that had existed during the reign of Theodosius; five of which are preserved in full.{{sfn|Jones|1986|p=217}}{{sfn|Pharr|Davidson|Pharr|2001|p=562}}

Marcian mandated that the office of [[praetorship]] (officer in charge of public games and works) could only be given to [[Byzantine Senate#Admission and composition|senators]] who resided in Constantinople, attempted to curb the practice of selling administrative offices, and decreed that [[Roman consul|consuls]] should be responsible for the maintenance of [[Valens Aqueduct|Constantinople's aqueducts]]. He repealed the {{lang|la|[[Follis (tax)|follis]]}}, a tax on senators' property that amounted to seven pounds of gold per annum.{{sfn|Bury|2012|pp=236–237}} Marcian removed the financial responsibilities of the consuls and praetors, held since the time of the [[Roman Republic]], to fund public sports and games or give wealth to the citizens of Constantinople, respectively. He further decreed that only a {{lang|la|[[vir illustris]]}} (a high-ranking man) could hold either office.{{sfn|Nathan|1998}} He also partially repealed a marriage law enacted by [[Constantine I]], which decreed that a man of senatorial status could not marry a slave, [[freedwoman]], actress, or woman of no social status ({{lang|la|[[Honestiores and humiliores|humilis]]}}), which had been created in an attempt to preserve the purity of the senatorial class. Marcian adjusted this law by declaring that the law should not exclude a woman of good character, regardless of her social status or wealth.{{sfn|Bury|2012|pp=236–237}} By the time of his death, Marcian's shrewd cutting of expenditures and his avoidance of large-scale wars left the Eastern Roman treasury with a surplus of {{convert|100,000|lb}} of gold.{{sfn|Nathan|1998}}

In 451, Marcian decreed that anyone who performed [[Paganism|pagan rites]] would lose their property and be condemned to death and that no pagan temples, which had previously been closed, could be reopened. To ensure this law was implemented, he set a penalty of {{convert|50|lb|kg}} of gold for any judge, governor or official who did not enforce the law.{{sfn|Evans|2002|p=66}}