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Editor's Note—The palingenesia presented on these pages was prepared by Professor Honoré to accompany his Law in the Crisis of Empire 379-455 AD (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), ISBN 0-19-826078-4. It is reproduced here by the kind permission of the author and of the Oxford University Press. Those who consult the palingenesia are asked to observe all appropriate copyright restrictions.
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The Palingenesia lists imperial laws in Latin (and a few imperial letters which are not strictly speaking laws) betweeen 379 and 450 AD in the east and between 383 and 455 AD in the west. General information about its character is given in the preface to the book. The texts listed number 1,652, not 1,653 as one would imagine from totalling the eastern and western series. In order to avoid last-minute changes a few texts have been given a double number (E258-9, E587-8, and W65-6) and a few numbers have been duplicated (E477a, E860a, and E972a). The laws recorded come to 1,367. The difference between the number of texts and the number of laws is explained by the fact that the compilers of the Codex Theodosianus and Codex Justinianus sometimes split laws into two or more parts. The Theodosian Code is the main source, and provides the whole or part of 1,107 laws included in the Palingenesia. The sources are abbreviated as follows:
Codex Theodosianus | CTh |
Leges Novellae Theodosii II | NT |
Leges Novellae Valentiniani III | NV |
Codex Iustinianus | CJ |
Hänel, Corpus legum ab imperatoribus Romanis ante Iustinianum latarum | Hänel |
Collectio Avellana | Coll. Avell. |
Constitutiones Sirmondianae | Sirm |
Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum | Collatio |
Migne, Patrologia Graeca | Migne |
Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Collectio | Mansi |
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum | CIL |
Numbering of texts. The texts are numbered:
(i) when the year of issue is known, in chronological order according to the modern calendar by years, months and days. When the reign and consular date is known but not the month or day the text appears at the end of the calendar year in question. Within this framework my allocation of individual texts to quaestors is recorded. Hence the initial serial number preceding a text (E1...E997, W1...W656) indicates its place in the chronological sequence, there being separate sequences for east and west, marked by the initial letters E or W. If the text is not assigned to a quaestor it is designated by this serial number alone. If however the text is assigned to a quaestor it is preceded by two further numbers. The second designates the quaestor to whom it is assigned. The quaestors are numbered in chronological sequence, there being separate sequences for east and west, indicated by capital E or W (e.g. E16, W9). Details of the dates and careers of the quaestors are to be found in Table 1 in the book. The third serial number gives the place of the law in the series of laws assigned to the quaestor in question. Thus the numbers E369/11/30 precede CTh 12.1.129, which shows that CTh 12.1.129 is the 369th text in the eastern sequence and is assigned to the eleventh eastern quaestor as his thirtieth law.
(ii) when the text emanates from an emperor or emperors but lacks a consular date it is listed, if assigned to a quaestor, after the dated texts ascribed to him. If not assigned to any quaestor, it is listed at the end of the reign in question.
Texts and laws. When successive texts come from different laws, as they normally do, they are separated by a blank line. But when distinct parts of a law occur in two or more places in CTh or another source, though they count as separate texts, they are printed together, with no blank line between them. They then count as a single law for purposes of attribution to a quaestor. For example CTh 7.21.3 ad CJ 11.48.12 are thought to be parts of a single law. They are given the serial numbers W132/4/5 and W133/4/5 respectively, and are printed without a line being left between them. As the serial numbers indicate, both are attributed to quaestor W4 and they together make up his fifth law in chronological sequence. When, however, texts forming part of a single law overlap, they are treated not as separate texts but as parts of the same text. For example CTh 16.1.4 and 16.4.1, though not identical, are treated as parts of a single text (W58) in view of the overlap between them.
Reigns, consulships, dates, places. The names of the emperor or emperors are given at the beginning of reign, but are not thereafter repeated before each text enacted during the reign. In the eastern series the ruling emperors are those recognized in the east, in the western series those recognized in the west. Reigns are dated according to the historical evidence and not according to the conventions adopted by the compilers of the legal codes, which sometimes differ. In fixing the dates of emperors' reigns I have mostly followed Kienast (1990). The names of consuls are given at the beginning of the consular year but are not thereafter repeated before each text enacted during the course of the year. In determining who the consuls were I have mostly followed Bagnall (1987). In the eastern series of texts the consuls are those recognized in the east, in the western series those recognized in the west. Dates are given according to the modern calendar with abbreviations for the months (Jan, Feb, March, Apr, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec). When alternative dates occur in the manuscripts or have been suggested by leading scholars, all are given (e.g. 6/5 Apr/25/26 March 383) without indication of the source from which each suggestion comes. The preferred date is, however, placed first. Thus, in the example above the preferred date is 6 April 383. When there are alternative addressees of a law a similar procedure is followed. The place of enactment, receipt, or posting is recorded in Latin in the nominative, but Constantinopolis is shortened to Const. A similar procedure is followed as regards addressees of laws and the names of plaes of enactment, receipt, or publication, the preferred addressee or place being given first, followed by alternatives. Reliable information not found in any manuscript or editor's reading, for example the location of a praetorian prefecture known to have been held by the addressee, is given in angle brackets.
Spelling. The Latin spelling is as in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, so that for example adtrectare is preferred to attrectare but applicare to adplicare. The few words of Greek in the Palingenesia are transliterated, omega being rendered by ô and eta by ê. H denotes a rough breathing. Iota subscript is omitted.
Variant readings. Most texts come from CTh, in which case the main variant readings noted by Mommsen are incorporated in the text in round brackets along with a reference to the manuscript or scholar on which or on whom the variant rests. The variant readings are in roman and the reference to the manuscript or scholar in italic type. Examples, taken from CTh 9.27.1 and 10.18.2, are: maculasse (commaculasse H) and monilia (mobilia HGE Pith.). Manuscripts are referred to as in Mommsen's edition of CTh, but where Meyer used Greek capitals to refer to manuscripts I have converted the Greek manuscripts to lower-case roman letters, so that for example capital gamma becomes g and sigma s. The Basilica is, however, B or BS. I have indicated readings inserted in the text by Mommsen with Momm. and readings suggested by him in the apparatus by Momm.app., or, if the suggestion is tentative, Momm.app.? A similar procedure has been followed as regards readings by Krüger (Kr.) in his edition of CJ and by Meyer (Meyer) in his edition of the Novels of Theodosius II and Valentinian III (in Leges Novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes 1905 repr. 1971). In view of the use of round brackets for this purpose parentheses in the text of the Mommsen-Meyer-Krüger editions have been replaced by commas or dashes. In the variant readings omissions are indicated by omit or delete, additions by add or insert, the opinion of alii by others and that of plerique by most. Doubtful or conjectural words and letters and those supplied from Justinian's code are underlined.
Finding a text. To find a text in the Palingenesia, if the reader knows the date and whether the text is eastern or western it can be searched for directly below. If not, consult Table 2 in Law in the Crisis of Empire, pp. 278-300, which lists all the texts in the Palingenesia according to source and records their serial number.
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