COPIATA, under the western empire, signified a gravedigger. In the first ages of the church there were clerks destined for this employment. In 357, Constantine made a law in their favour, exempting them from the lustral contribution levied upon all traders. During his reign also they were first called copiatæ, i.e. clerks destined for bodily labour, from copiatio to toil. Before that time they were called decani and lecticarii; probably because they were divided into decades or tens, each of which had a bier or litter for the carriage of dead bodies. Their place among the clerks was the next in order before the chanters.