30 Prohibition on Collecting Tax by the Patriarch
(Arcadius with) Honorius
11 April 399
This law, given by Honorius in his name and in the name of Arcadius on 11 April 399 at Milan, was addressed to Messala, Praefectus Praetorio of Italy.
Its text has been preserved in Codex Theodosianus (CTh 16:8:14). The legislator prohibited the collection of taxes from synagogues by the delegates of the patriarch and the synagogues’ officers, and ordered the sums already collected in this way to be handed over to the treasury. The law referred to the Archsynagogues, the presbyters, and the Apostles as emissaries sent by the patriarch who returned to him after they had accomplished their mission, with the money they had collected. The real situation was quite different; only the Apostles fitted this description, while the synagogue officers throughout the Empire were resident in their communities. We ignore the legislator’s motives for passing this law. His statement that it was intended to ease the burden of the Jewish populace can be taken as an expression of the government’s interest in gaining the goodwill of the Jews. Similar motivation appeared in Julian’s declaration to the Jews from 363 (see above, No. 13). It cannot be explained, however, considering the background of the relations between the two parts of the Empire, as a hostile measure directed against the East, intended to weaken it by imposing embargo on transfer of money, for the revocation of the present law in 404 (see below, No. 34) was not linked to any reduction of tension between the two parts of the Empire.Codex Theodosianus, 16:8:14, ed. Mommsen, p. 890
IDEM AA.· MESSALAE* P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O
Superstitionis indignae est, ut archisynagogi sive presbyteri ludaeorum vel quos ipsi apostolos* vocant, qui ad exigendum aurum adque argentum a patriarcha certo tempore* diriguntur, a singulis synagogis exac- 5 tam summam adque susceptam ad eundem reportent.
Qua de re omne, quidquid considerata temporis ratione confidimus esse collectum, fideliter ad nostrum dirigatur aerarium:* de cetero autem nihil praedicto decernimus esse mittendum. Noverint igitur populi ludaeorum removisse nos depraedationis huiusmodi functionem. Quod si qui ab illo io depopulatore ludaeorum ad hoc officium exactionis fuerint directi, iudicibus offerantur, ita ut tamquam in legum nostrarum violatores sententia proferatur.DAT. Ill ID. APRIL. MED(IOLANO) THEODORO V.C. CONS.·
THE SAME TWO AUGUSTI1 TO MESSALA,2 PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO
It is a matter of shameful superstition that the Archsynagogues, the presbyters of the Jews, and those they call Apostles,3 who are sent by the patriarch on a certain date4 to demand gold and silver, exact and receive a sum from each synagogue, and deliver it to him. Therefore everything that we are confident has been collected when the period of time is considered, shall be faithfully transferred to our Treasury,5 and we decree that henceforth nothing shall be sent to the aforesaid. Let the populace of the Jews know, therefore, that we have removed this depredatory tax. If, however, people shall be sent to perform this task of exaction by that despoiler of the Jews, they shall be handed over to the governors, in order that they shall be sentenced as violators of our laws.
GIVEN ON THE THIRD DAY BEFORE THE IDES OF APRIL AT MILAN, IN THE CONSULATE OF THE MOST RENOWNED THEODORUS.6
NOTES
1. Augusti: Arcadius and Honorius.
2. Valerius Messala Avienus, a pagan, served as Praefectus Praetorio of Italy and Africa in the years 399-400. See W.
Ensslin, PW, 1:29, 1931, s.v., Col. 1165; Haehling, pp. 307-308; PLRE, II, s.v.3. The Apostles were the ordained Sages sent by the patriarch and the Sanhedrin to the diaspora communities. They were entrusted with missions of various types, from political and diplomatic assignments, mainly in the centres of government, to money-raising activities within the Jewish communities. They usually transmitted the authorized calendar, with the dates of the holy feasts, and assured the control of the Palestinian centre over the communal office-holders. One of their principal duties was the organization of the “Sages’ Tribute,” designated by non-Jewish sources as ‘aurum coronarium’ or ‘apostole’, whose proceeds were consecrated to the upkeep of the patriarchs’ household and the Sages in Palestine. See Juster, I, pp. 386-388; H. Mantel, Studies in the History of the Sanhedrin, Cambridge, Mass. 1961, pp. 190-198; M. Schwabe, “The Letters of Libanius to the Patriarch of Palestine,” Tarbiz, I (1930), pp. 100-101 (in Hebrew); H. Vogelstein, pp. 427-449.
4. Certain date: most probably in the month of Adar, though the diaspora Jews did not need this yearly declaration since the perpetual calendar was made public by Patriarch Hillel II.
5. Treasury: the legislator designated here by the term ‘aerarium’ the ‘sacrae largitiones’, rather than the ‘res privata’ or the ‘area’ (the Treasury of the praefectus praetorio). See Boulvert, pp. 151-177.
6. Given... Theodorus: 11 April 399. As the consulship of Eutropius, the Eastern consul, was not recognized in the West, legislation there was dated by the name of the Western consul only. The annulment of Eutropius’ consulship in East as well, on 17 August 399, resulted in the dating of legislation in both parts of the Empire in the name of the Western consul, Theodorus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
size=1 color=black face="Times New Roman">Godefroy, VI: 1, pp. 251-253; S. Krauss, “Die jüdischen Apostel,” JQR, XVII (1905), pp. 374-375; H. Vogelstein, “Die Entstehung des Apostolats im Judentum,” MGWJ, XLIX (1905), pp. 441-442; Juster, I, p. 386; Seeck, Regesten, p. 296; Browe, p. 118; Seaver, p. 57; G. Boulvert, “ ‘Aerarium’ dans les constitutions imperiales,” Labeo, XXII (1976), pp. 162, 164; Vogler, pp. 59, 67.
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