Christiana Dignitas: New christian criteria for citizenship in the late Roman empire

Medieval Encounters

Volumn 7, Issue 2-3, 2001, Pages 146-164

  Lo Nero, Carolina ^a  

^a GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 33751560559     PISSN: 13807854     EISSN: 15700674     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157006701X00021     Document Type: Article

References (117)

1. J. Juster, Les Juifs dans l'Empire Romani: leur condition juridique, économique et sociale. (Paris: Guethener, 1914), 2:23ff.
2. V. Colorni, Legge ebraica e leggi locali: Ricerche sull'ambito d'applicazione del diritto ebraico in Italia dall'epoca romana al sec. XIX (Milan: Giuffrè 1945), 17ff.
3. N.Q. King, The Emperor Theodosius and the Establishment of Christianity (London: SCM Press, 1961), 95 and appendix D
4. A.M. Rabello, "The Legal Condition of the Jews in the Roman Empire," Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, 2, 13 (1980), 727
5. idem, Giustiniano, Ebrei e Samaritani alla luce delle fonti storico-letterarie, ecclesiastiche e giuridiche (Milan: Giuffrè, 1987), 1:23
6. G.G. Archi, Teodosio II e la sua codificazione (Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1976), 109
7. A. Linder, The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987), 57
8. The concept of citizenship in classical Roman law is not the object of this article, although many references will refer to it. For a much more complete analysis see A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1964)
9. A.N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship, 2d ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973)
10. C. Nicolet, The World of the Citizen in Republic Rome, trans. by P.S. Falla (London: Batsford, 1980)
11. Jane F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen (London: Routledge, 1993)
12. King, The Emperor Theodosius, 50-53, 115-18
13. Linder, The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation, 67
14. D. Hunt, "Christianising the Roman Empire: the evidence of the Code," in The Theodosian code. Studies in the Emperial Law of Late Antiquity, ed. J. Harris and I. Wood (London: Duckworth, 1993), 145ff.
15. Rabello, Giustiniano, Ebrei e Samaritani
16. G. Ferrari dalle Spade, "Privilegi degli Ebrei nell'impero romano cristiano," Scritti Giuridici, 3 (Milan: Giuffrè, 1956)
17. V. Colorni, Gli Ebrei nel sistema di diritto comune fino alla prima emancipazione (Milan, 1956)
18. King, The Emperor Theodosius, 50
19. C. Humfress, "A new legal cosmos: Late Roman lawyers and the Early Medieval Church," to be published in The Medieval World, ed. P. Linehan and J.L. Nelson (London: Routledge, 2001)
20. T. Honoré, Law in the Crisis of Empire 379-455 A.D.: The Theodosian Dynasty and its Quaestors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 22-23
21. P. Stein, Roman Law in European History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 24
22. Honoré, Law in the Crisis of Empire 379-455 A.D., 133
23. E. Dovere, "Sistematica compilatoria e "catholica lex" in C.Th. 16.11," Labev 40 (1994), 325-47
24. P. Brown, Power and Persuation in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992)
25. Archi, Teodosio II, 136
26. C. Vatin, Citoyens et non-citoyens dans le monde grec (Paris: Société d'Enseignement Superieur, 1984)
27. P.B. Manville, The Origins of Citizenship in Ancient Athens (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990)
28. H.F. Jolowicz, Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law, 3d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972 [1932]), 352-54
29. Sherwin-White, Roman Citizenship, 267, observes that by the middle of the second century A.D. The political content of the citizenship to which the outsiders were admitted had been whittled down
30. Institutiones Iustiniani, ed. by P. Krueger (Berlin: Weidmann, 1886) [hereafter Inst. Iust.] 1.16: "de capitis munitione: Maxima est capitis deminutio, cum aliquis simul et civitatem et libertatem amittit . . . minor sive media est capitis deminutio, cum civitas quidem amittitur, libertas vero retinetur . . . minima est capitis deminutio, cum et civitas et libertas retinetur, sed status hominis commutatur . . ." J.B. Moyle, The Institutes of Justinian translated into English (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912), 23
31. Inst. Iust. 1.16: "quibus autem dignitas magis quam status permutatur, capite non minuuntur: et ideo senatu motos capite non minui constat." Status and dignitas are distinguished by Ulpian in Dig. 1.5.20: "qui fuere coepit, et statum et dignitatem in qua fuit et magistratum et potestatem videtur retinere, sicut rei suae dominium retinet." J.B. Moyle, Imperatoris Iustiniani Institutionum, 155-58
32. P. Garnsey, Social status and legal privileges in the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), 225
33. Theodosiani libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis, ed. by Th. Mommsen (Berlin: Weidmann, 1905) [hereafter C.Th.], 16.5.54: "damna quoque patrimonii poenasque pecuniarias evidenter inponimus viris, mulieribus, personis singulis et dignitatibus pro qualitate sui quae debeant inrogari . . . scilicet senator, qui nullo munitus extrinsecus privilegio dignitatis, inventus in grege Donatistarum centum libras solvat argenti, sacerdotales eandem summam cogantur exsolvere, decem primi curiales quinquaginta libras argenti addicantur, reliqui decuriones X solvant libras argenti, quicumque in hacresi maluerint permanere."
34. C.Th. 16.5.14: "ipsi quoque episcopi nomine destituti appellationem dignitatis huius amittant."
35. Linder, The Jews, 329ff.
36. C.Th. Novella III: "sancimus neminem Iudaeum, neminem Samaritam ad honores et dignitates accedere, nulli administrationem patere civilis obsequii, nec defensoris civitatis fungi saltern officio nec patris honorem adripere concedimus. Nefas quippe credimus . . . et adquisitae dignitatis auctoritate muniti adversum Christianos et ipsos plerumque sacrae religionis antistites velut insultantes fidei nostrae iudicandi vel pronuntiandi . . . habeant potestatem . . . cum dispendio fortunarum capite puniendum censemus . . . immo qui ad honores et dignitates inrepsit, habeatur, ut antea, condicionis extremae, etiamsi honorariam inlicite promerucrit dignitatem."
37. See Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879 [1993]), 577-78 "dignitas": 1. Lit. a being worthy, merit, desert. 2. dignity, greatness, authority, rank; official dignity, honorable employment, office"
38. Peter Garnsey, Social Status and Legal Privilege, 224-25
39. J.Ph. Lévy, "Dignitas, Gravitas, Auctoritas testium," Studi in onore di Biondo Biondi (Milan, 1965), 2:27-94
40. J. Hellegouarc'h, "Dignitas et la notion de convenance dans le vocabulaire latin," Revue des Etudes latines, 38 (1960), 46
41. A.H.J. Greenidge, Infamia. Its Place in Roman Public and Private Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894), 2ff
42. Garnsey, Social status and legal privileges, 224
43. The first book is only known through the index of the paragraphs, while for the second book the manuscript tradition is blank for the constitutions of the first title
44. G. Clemente, La "Notitia dignitatum" (Cagliari: Editrice Sarda Fossataro, 1968)
45. Clemente, La "Notitia dignitatum", 11
46. Cic. De inv. 2.166: "Dignitas is the meritorious reputation of someone which is worthy of esteem, honour, and reverence."
47. Dig. 50.13.5.1: "Existimatio est dignitatis inlaesac status, legibus ac moribus comprobatus, qui ex delicto nostro auctoritate legum aut minuitur aut consumitur." Garnsey, Social status and legal privileges, 228
48. Dig. 1.9.2 and 4
49. Dig. 50.13.5.1
50. Dig. 50.13.5.2: "minuitur exsistimatio quotiens manente libertate circa statum dignitatis poena plectimur . . . vel cum ordine movetur, vel cum prohibetur honoribus publicis fungi . . . quae edicto perpetuo infamiae causa enumeratur."
51. Codex Iustinianus, ed. by P. Krueger (Berlin, 1877) [Hereafter Cod. Iust.], 1.1.2 (381): "ut cunctis orthodoxis episcopis, qui Nicaenam fidem tenent, catholicae ecclesiae toto orbe reddantur."
52. And similar assertion is also reported in Cod. Iust. 1.1.7 (533), where the councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon are also quoted
53. Cod. Iust. 1.5.12
54. Cod. Iust. 1.5.12: "huic enim ex origine subjectos eos teneri volumus [neque] ex mala fide sua excusationem habere;"
55. Linder, Jews, 356ff. Cod. Iust. 1.5.18: [haeretici, pagani] . . . ad ipsorum errorem traitant et hoc modo ignaviores eos adversus veram puramque orthodoxorum fidem reddant"
56. Linder, Jews, 241ff
57. Linder, Jews, 168ff
58. C.Th. 16.7.2
59. C.Th. 16.7.4 and Cod. Iust. 1.7.3 (391)
60. C.Th. 16.5.7
61. This expression was used for slaves and children in their minority
62. See De iure personarum in Theodosio and in the Epitome Gaii 3.3
63. C.Th. 2.1.10 (Cod. Ius. 1.9.8)
64. Rabello, Giustiniano, Ebrei e Samaritani, 751-52
65. Linder, Jews, 204
66. S. Riccobono, ed., Fontes Iuris romani anteiustiniani, I, Leges (Florence: Barbera, 1941), 461-63, n. 95
67. Fontes Iuris romani anteiustiniani, 463: "oppidum fuit ex antiquissimis temporibus, ab origine etiam civitatis dignitatem obtinuit . . . Ita enim ei situ adque ingenio locus opportunus esse perhibetur, ut ex quattuor partibus eo totidem in sese congruant viae, quibus omnibus publias mansio ca medialis adque accomoda esse dicatur. Aquarum ibi abundantem afluentiam, labraca quoque publica privataque eorum, istatuis veterum principum ornata . . . Quod est indignum temporibus nostris, ut tam opportunus locus civitatis nomen amittat . . . quod omnes ibidem sectatores sanctissimae religionis habitare dicantur."
68. For the present purpose I will use the Latin translation of John Chrysostom's "Homily XVII" in Migne's Patrologia Graeca, 49 coll. 171ff
69. For the English translation see W. Mayer and P. Allen, John Chrysostom (London: Routledge, 2000), 104-17
70. C.Th. 16.1.2
71. PG, 49, col. 176: "inhabitantium [Christiana] virtus et pietas, haec est dignitas"; "Quae tandem est civitatis nostrae dignitas? Contigit primum Antiochiae discipulos appellari Christianos (Acts. 11.26); col. 177: "Haec civitatis dignitas, haec praestantia, hoc ipsam facit metropolim, non in terra, sed in caelo."
72. R.L. Wilken, John Chrysostom and the. Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late 4th Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 24
73. J.H. Liebeschuetz, Antioch, city and imperial administration in the later Roman empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 225
74. Brown, Power and Persuasion, 37
75. On the reconstruction of the historical events see Frans van de Paverd, St John Chrysostom, the Homilies on the Statues: An introduction. Serie Orientalia Christiana Analecta 239 (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1991), 15ff.; for the day of the tribunal described in homily XVII, 64-64
76. PG, 49, col. 177: "Mihi civitas non habens pios cives omni villa vilior est, et quacumque spelunca ignobilior."
77. PG, 49, col. 176: "Doles quod civitatis dignitas ablata sit? Disce, quid tandem sit civitatis dignitas, et tunc manifeste scies, quod si habitatores ipsam non prodiderint, auferre poterit alius nemo civitatis dignitatem"; col. 178: "Non civitatis magnitudo, sed animi virtus ornamentum est et minimentum. Si vero civitatis quoque dignitatem esse putaveris magnitudinem, cogita quot lenones, quot molles et perditi, et innumeris pleni malis dignitati huic communicant, et tandem hunc contemne honorem."
78. Mayer and Allen, John Chrysostom, 112. PG, 49, col. 176: "Non quod metropolis sit, neque quod praedita sit magnitudine et ornatu aedificiorum, neque quod multas habeat columnas, et latas porticus, et deambulationes, neque quod ante alias civitates praedicetur; sed inhabitantium virtus et pietas, haec est dignitas, et ornatus, et tutela civitatis."
79. PG, 49, col. 176
80. PG, 49, col. 177
81. R.A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970)
82. J. Duquesnay Adams, The Populus of Augustine and Jerome. A Study in the Patristic sense of Community (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971)
83. PG, 49, col. 179: "Cum vis civitatis laudcm efferre, ne mihi Daphnen suburbanam dicas, nec altitudinem cupressorum et multitudinem, nec aquarum fontes, nec multos homines civitatem habitare, ne usque ad profundissimam vesperam cum multa libertate in foro versari, nec venalium rerum copiam habere, sensibilia haec omnia cum sint et usque ad praesentem permaneant vitam; sed si dicere possis virtutem, mansuetudinem, elemosynam, nocturnas vigilias, orationes, modestiam, animi sapientiam, ex istis civitatem commenda. Haec si et eremum habitantibus adsint, omni civitate splendidiorem ipsam faciunt, et contra civitatem omnium vilissimam, si haec illius non adsint civibus."
84. C.Th. 16.7.3 [Brev. 16.2.1]
85. C.Th. 16.7.4
86. Dig. 50.2.3.3: "Eis, qui Iudaicam superstitionem sequuntur, divi Severus et Antoninus honores adipisci permiscrunt." Archi, Teodosio II, 66ff.
87. Linder, Jews, 103ff
88. Linder, in his Jews in Roman legislation, 212, notes that "when Jews alleged the "ancient customs" they probably referred to their exemption from liturgies involving transgression of their religion."
89. C.Th. 16.8.13, 16.8.15
90. Linder, Jews, 222ff
91. Linder, Jews, 280ff. It seems that the employment opportunities in the court were not seriously diminished for Jews, even after the issue of the law which forbade the employment of non-Orthodox in the court (C.Th. 16.5.42)
92. Nov. III
93. Valentinianus, Nov. XVIII [Haenel XVII, Brev. II]
94. C.Th. 16.8.24
95. Linder, Jews, 280ff
96. This line of analysis on terms like "religio," "superstitio," "secta," is followed by Linder, Jews, 55ff
97. While a much more complete study is available in Honoré, Law in the Crisis of the Empire, 165ff
98. Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary, 84-85
99. J. Gaudemet, "Les Romains et les 'Autres,'" in his Droit et société aux derniers siècles de l'empire romain (Naples: Jovene, 1992), 301-31
100. Cod. Iust. 1.1.7, 1.1.8 (a. 533); cf. The Latin version
101. Cod. Iust. 1.1.8
102. C.Th. 16.2.5 (a. 323)
103. Cod. Iust. 1.5.19 (a. 529)
104. See the heading "ludaei" in A. Berger, Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Roman Law (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953), 517
105. Rabello, Giustiniano, Ebrei e Samaritani, 2: 660ff
106. On the concept of existimatio within Roman law, see P. Garnsey, Social status and legal privileges, 227-28; Dig. 50.13.5.1
107. Cod. Iust. 1.1.7 (a. 533), the Latin version
108. Cod. Iust. 1.1.7-1.1.8 (a. 533), the Latin version
109. Cod. Iust. 1.5.12. Linder, Jews, 356ff
110. A.M. Rabello, "The Samaritans in Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis," Israel Law Review, 31 (Jerusalem, 1997), 724-43
111. repr. in The Jews in the Roman Empire: Legal Problems, from Herod to Justinian (Aldershot: Variorum, 2000)
112. See A. Berger, "La concezione dell'cretico nelle fonti giustiniance," Atti dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei: Rendiconti Morali, 8 (1945), 10:253-68
113. Juster, Juifs, I, p. 253
114. C.Th. 16.8.19 (a. 409)
115. Cod. Ius. 1.8.12
116. Linder, Jews, 256ff
117. Cod. Iust. 1.5.4