The punishment prescribed by Our predecessors against those who dare to make eunuchs are sufficiently clear to everyone. Nevertheless, certain persons, not having their own salvation in view, have recently ventured to commit this infamous offence, on account of which certain of them have undergone the penalties which they deserve, and others, after having been punished, have been sent into exile. Still, however, because these impious acts have not ceased, but, on the other hand, have multiplied, and out of the great number of those upon whom this operation is performed only a very few survive, so that certain of them have stated in Our presence that of ninety who have been castrated, hardly three have escaped with their lives; what person in authority could have so little regard for his salvation as to treat a matter of this kind with contempt and permit it to go unpunished? For if Our laws punish those who strike others with a sword, how can We close Our eyes, and let murders of this kind, which are both offences against God and the law, be committed with impunity ? Hence We have considered it very necessary, by means of this law, to relentlessly prosecute persons who are guilty of such a crime.

  Therefore We decree that any persons who, in any part of Our Empire whatsoever, have presumed, or may hereafter presume to castrate anyone, or themselves submit to the operation which they have performed upon others, and they survive, shall have their property confiscated to the Treasury on the responsibility of him who, at the time, discharges the duties of the magistracy of Your Glory, and that they themselves shall be banished to the Island of Gypsum, there to pass the remainder of their lives. Where, however, women are guilty of this offence, We order that they shall be punished, and their property be confiscated to the Treasury, on the responsibility of the magistrate whom We have just mentioned, and be sent into exile, and those who expected or do now expect to profit by the commission of such an atrocious act shall both be subjected to punishment, and lose their property. We decree that persons of either sex who confine themselves to giving orders to make eunuchs, or who furnish individuals to be operated upon in this way, or who even provide houses, or any other place whatsoever for this purpose shall, as participants in the same crime, suffer the same punishment.

  As persons became free in ancient times when they were castrated, We order that those who have undergone such an operation (no matter by whom it may have been performed) in Our Empire, from the date of the tenth indiction of the present month, shall be free, and cannot be reduced to slavery under any circumstances, nor by virtue of any agreement; and any public or private instrument which already has been, or may hereafter be executed with reference to a matter of this kind, whether it was fraudulent or not, shall be void. No investigation shall be made of the status of castrated persons, and We order that all those who hereafter take any part in the execution of contracts relating to castration shall undergo the penalty which We have mentioned. If a slave should happen to be castrated on account of some illness, We order that he shall obtain his freedom, for the law presumes that those are free in the beginning, when attacked by the disease for which this remedy is employed. Therefore We direct that castrated persons who have been made such in Our Empire (no matter in whose house this may have been done) shall be considered as emancipated from the date We have just fixed, shall become free, and shall never again be reduced to servitude. If, after the publication of the present law, anyone should dare to retain castrated persons in his house, We permit the latter who, under this Constitution, are already entitled to their liberty, if they are in this city, to apply to the Emperor, to the Most Holy Archbishop, and to the other high officials of Our Most Glorious Empire; and if they are in the provinces, to the most glorious bishops of their dioceses, and to the Governor; and they will, through the efforts of all Our magistrates, and at the risk of the officers subject to their authority be entitled to retain their freedom (both at Constantinople and in any other portion of Our dominions) for We do not intend to allow so many murders to be perpetrated under Our Government by means of castration. And if the barbarians have heard and obeyed Our orders on this subject, how, after so many enactments by Our predecessors, can We allow the crime which We prohibit again to be committed and go unpunished in Our Empire?

  Therefore Your Glory will cause the matters which it has pleased Us to incorporate in this general Imperial Law to be published and observed, not only here but also in the provinces.