Jews and Others
The other significant theme was the succession of pronouncements banning
Jews (and Samaritans—and later also pagans) first from the imperial ser-
vice (militia), then from advocacy; finally, in Jews and Samaritans were
also barred from allhonoresanddignitates, apparently meaning offices held in
cities.^102 Throughout, none the less, it is never implied that Judaism is itself
illegal, if practised by Jews, or that synagogues do not have the protection
of the law. However, that protection, as expressed in , might be limited
and retrospective. It is moreover highly significant, as Linder points out, that
Judaism, which had earlier been described as areligio, became in , and after,
asuperstitio.^103 The vocabulary of imperial rhetoric reflects a fundamental shift
of attitudes.
All the issues sketched in this paper come together in the account by the
local bishop, Severus, of how in or the well-established Jewish com-
munity of one of the two towns on Minorca was converted under the threat
of mass violence, and its synagogue destroyed and turned into a church. The
account, printed twice in Migne,^104 and excellently discussed by Hunt, and
now by Bradbury,^105 need only be touched on here. Its importance in this
particular context lies not so much in its narrative of the sequence of events,
vivid and moving though that is, as in its revelation of the scale, organisa-
tion, and public standing of the local Jewish community as it had been up to
that point.
The Jewish community of the small town of Mago consisted of at least
persons, and possessed a synagogue situated in the town, containing silver
vessels and ‘‘sacred books’’ (libri sancti). The leading figure of the community,
Theodorus, is described as having held all the offices within the town council
(curia), and asdefensorandpatronusof his fellow citizens (municipes); he owned
property also on the neighbouring island of Majorca. Within the commu-
nity he functioned as alegis doctor(teacher of the law), surely (cf. above) yet
another reference to a ‘‘rabbinic’’ role. It must be relevant that Jerome uses the
same expression,legis doctor, to describe the learned Jew from Tiberias who
in the late s helped him with the proper names in Chronicles.^106 Seve-
. Theodosius,NovellaLinder(n.),no..
. Linder (n. ), –.
. Migne,PLXX, –; XLI, –.
. E. D. Hunt, ‘‘St. Stephen in Minorca: An Episode in Jewish-Christian Relations in
the Early Fifth Century..,’’JThSt (b): ; S. Bradbury,Severus of Minorca: Letter
on the Conversion of the Jews().
.PLXXIX, ff.; M. Pavan, ‘‘I cristiani e il mondo ebraico nell’età di Teodosio
‘il Grande,’ ’’Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia. Perugia (–): ; Kelly (n. ),
–.