45 Employment of Jews in the Public Service

Honorius (with Theodosius II)

10 March 418

This law, given by Honorius in his name and in that of Theodosius II on 10 March at Ravenna, was addressed to Palladius, Praefectus Praetorio of Italy.

It determined the limits of the employment of Jews in public service offices. Three of its branches, Executive Agents, Palatins, and the Military Service, were designated as entirely closed to the Jews. Jews serving as Executive Agents or Palatins at the time that the law was passed were allowed to terminate their career on its statutory term, while those serving in the Military Service were to be immediately discharged. The legislator allowed the Jews to practice freely as lawyers and to serve in municipal offices.

This law indicates that at that time Jews were still serving in the three branches to be closed to them, and that no previous interdic­tion on recruitment of Jews to the central government existed by that time. The law issued on 22 April 404 (see above, No. 33) is to be interpreted, accordingly, as dealing with a specific case of delin­quent Jewish and Samaritan Executive Agents, rather than as a general interdiction to serve in this branch of the bureaucracy imposed on all Jews and Samaritans. It seems that the employment opportunities in the court for Jews were not seriously diminished even after the issue of the law of 14 November 408 (CTh 16:5:42), which forbade the employment of non-Orthodox in the court (i.e., in Palatine offices), for that law was directed against heretics rather than against Jews. Some historians adduce Jerome’s com­mentary to 7s.L:2-3, written in 408-410, as proof that Jews were not allowed to serve in the Military Service before 408,¹ but this conclusion is not supported by the evidence, for Jerome referred to the disappearance of Jewish armies after the destruction of the Temple, and offered an allegorical interpretation to the term FWnvft UHR, which he interpreted as “a man learned in law.”²

Codex Theodosianus, 16:8:24, ed.

IDEM AA.* PALLADIO* P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O

In Judaica superstitione viventibus adtemptandae de cetero militiae aditus obstruatur. Quicumque igitur vel inter agentes in rebus vel inter palatinos* militiae sacramenta sortiti sunt, percurrendae eius et legitimis 5 stipendiis* terminandae remittimus facultatem, ignoscentes facto potius quam faventes, in posterum vero non liceat quod in praesenti paucis volumus relaxari. Illos autem, qui gentis huius perversitati devincti ar­matam probantur adpetisse militiam, absolvi cingulo* sine ambiguitate decernimus, nullo veterum meritorum patrocinante suffragio. Sane io ludaeis liberalibus studiis institutis exercendae advocationis* non intercludimus libertatem et uti eos curialium munerum honore permit­timus, quem praerogativa natalium et splendore familiae sortiuntur. Quibus cum debeant ista sufficere, interdictam militiam pro nota* non debent aestimare.

size=1 color=black face="Times New Roman">15 DAT. VI ID. MART. RAV(ENNAE) HONOR(IO) XII ET THEOD(OSIO) VIII AA. CONSS.*

THE SAME TWO AUGUSTI³ TO PALLADIUS,⁴ PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO

The entrance to the State Service shall be closed from now on to those living in the Jewish superstition who attempt to enter it. We concede therefore to all those who took the oath of the Service, either among the Executive Agents or among the Palatins,⁵ the opportunity to terminate their service on its statutory term,⁶ suffering the deed rather than encouraging it, though what we wish to be alleviated at present to a few shall not be permitted in the future.

GIVEN ON THE SIXTH DAY BEFORE THE IDES OF MARCH AT RAVENNA, IN THE CONSULATE OF THE TWO AUGUSTI, HONORIUS FOR THE TWELFTH TIME AND THEODOSIUS FOR THE EIGHTH.¹⁰

NOTES

1.        Consult Juster, II, p. 277; Seaver, p. 58.

2.        See Jerome, Commentaria in Esaiam, II, iii:2—3, ed. M. Adriaen, CCSL, LXXIII, 1963, pp. 43-44.

3.        Augusti: Honorius and Theodosius II.

4.        Flavius lunius Quadratus Palladius, Praefectus Praetorio of Italy from 415 (or 416) to 421. See AE, 1928, No. 80; W. Ensslin, PW, 1:36:2, 1949, s.v., Cols. 220-221; PLRE, II, s.v.

5.        The ‘Palatini’ mentioned in this law were the employees of the two financial departments in the Imperial court: ‘sacrae largitiones’ (formerly the ‘fis­cus’) and the ‘res privata’.

6.        Statutory term: the term ‘legitimum stipendium’, originally the military service year beginning on 1 March, designated the statutory length of service, divided into years of service. Because of its military origin it was chosen in calculat­ing the length of service of the Executive Agents. See, for instance, CTh 6:27:14 from 404, CTh 6:27:16 from 413, CTh 6:27:19 from 417, and CTh 6:27:22 from 428. It was gradually extended to other State employees with the progressive adoption of military terminology and ideas by the civil administration. See, for example, CTh 6:26:11 from 397, CTh 6:26:16 from 410(?), and CTh 6:26:17 from 416 (see above, No. 15). For other meanings of the term ‘stipendium’ consult S. Schlossmann, “Stipendium,” ALL, XIV (1906), pp. 211-219.

7.        Military belt: see above, No. 41, n. 7. Jewish sources know this term in its Greek translation and transmit it in Hebrew transcription, as DJ1T They also use the metaphor of undoing military belts as a symbol of demotion.

8.         Advocates: Lawyers authorized by the State were organized like a civil service department (militia togata), and they alone were able to practice at the courts to which they were accredited. They were not paid by the State, but their privileges, their organization and their socio-political status were of a distinct civil service character. See: Stein, I, pp. 71-72. On a Jewish lawyer mentioned in an inscription from Zippori see Y. Dan, “Cultured Liberal Professionals in the Cities of Eretz-Israel in the Byzantine Period,” Cathedra, VIII (1978), pp. 115-116 (in Hebrew); M. Schwabe, “The Zippori Synagogue Inscription,” D. Yellin Jubilee Volume, Jerusalem 1934/35, pp. 100-112 (in Hebrew). If the Greek term παράκλητος is rendered by the Aramaic word Π)3Γύ)3, we have another Jewish lawyer by the name of Jeshua in the inscription from the synagogue of Hirbbeth Sussia. See J. Naveh, On Stone and Mosaic—The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues, Tel Aviv 1978, p. 118.

9.        Mark of infamy: compare ‘nota etiam denegati honore perstrictus’, “in­jured by the infamy in that he was refused the office” (Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia, VII:3:6, ed. C. Kempf, Leipzig 1888, p. 342).

10.      Given... eighth: 10 March 418.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Godefroy, VI: 1, pp. 264-265; Juster, II, pp. 254, 263, 278; Seeck, Regesten, p. 336; Seaver, p. 58; Demougeot, “Honorius,” p. 278.