32 Confirmation of the Privileges Granted to the Patriarchs and to the Office-Holders Nominated by Them Arcadius (with Honorius)
3 February 404
This law, given by Arcadius in his name and in the name of Honorius at Constantinople on 3 February 404, was addressed to Eutychianus, Praefectus Praetorio of the East.
Its text has been preserved in Codex Theodosianus (CTh 16:8:15).In this law the legislator confirmed all the privileges previously granted by Theodosius and his predecessors to the patriarchs and to the office-holders nominated by them. It may be interpreted as a repeal of the legislation from 398-399 (see above, Nos. 29-31).
Codex Theodosianus, 16:8:15, ed. Mommsen, p. 890
IDEM AA.· EUTYCHIANO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O
Cuncta privilegia, quae viris spectabilibus patriarchis* vel his, quos ipsi ceteris praeposuerunt, divae memoriae pater noster adque retro principes detulerunt, suum robur tenere censemus.*
5 DAT. Ill NON. FEB. CONSTANT(INO)P(OLI) HONORIO A. VI ET ARISTAENETO CONSS*
THE SAME TWO AUGUSTI1 TO EUTYCHIANUS, PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO
We order2 that all the privileges granted by our father, of divine memory, and by the emperors before him, to the excellent Patriarchs3 and to those set by them over others, shall retain their force.
GIVEN ON THE THIRD DAY BEFORE THE NONES OF FEBRUARY AT CONSTAN
TINOPLE IN THE CONSULATE OF HONORIUS AUGUSTUS FOR THE SIXTH TIME AND ARISTAENETUS.4
NOTES
1. Augusti: Arcadius and Honorius.
The inscription is obviously corrupt, for the title Augustus was granted to the infant Theodosius II on 10 January 402, a few days after his baptism, and after that date all legislation was promulgated in the names of the three Augusti. See Lippold, PW, Suppl. XIII, 1973, s.v. Theodosius II, Col. 963.2. Order: for this meaning of the verb ‘censere’ consult lavolenus’ definition in the Digest: * “Censere” est constituere et praecipere’. “ ‘Censere’ means to legislate and to order” {Dig. 50:16:111).
3. Excellent Patriarchs: the title ‘spectabilis’, “Excellent,” usually designated, together with the title ‘illustris’, “Illustrious,” the highest rank in the politicaladministrative hierarchy of the Empire, in sources dating from the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth. Three laws dating from 392, 396, and 397 (see above, Nos. 20, 24, and 27) designated the patriarchs with the title Illustrious; our law indicates, therefore, that they were demoted between 397 and 404, either through a formal act of censure, or as a result of the recent accession of a new patriarch, perhaps Gamaliel VI, successor to Juda IV, who was not yet granted the customary superior title. It is possible, again, that our text reflects a situation in which these two titles were still considered to be of equal value, when the distinction between them was not yet as clear and formal as it was to become later. See O. Hirschfeld, Kleine Schriften, Berlin 1913, “Die Rangtitel der römischen Kaiserzeit,” pp. 646-681; W. Ensslin, PW, 11:6, 1929, s.v. Spectabilis, Cols. 1552-1568; R. Guilland, “La noblesse byzantine—Remarques,” REB, XXIV (1966), pp. 42, 45. Godefroy, on the other hand, concluded from the use of the title Excellent that our law does not deal with the Palestinian Patriarchs, but with the “Minor Patriarchs” in the diaspora.
4. size=1>Given... Aristaenetus: 3 February 404.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Godefroy, VI: 1, pp. 253-254; Juster, I, p. 386; Seeck, Regesten, p. 307; Seaver, pp. 65-66; Jones, “Collegiate Prefectures,” p. 81; Reichardt, p. 38; Vogler, pp. 58-59, 67.