We, having provided a suitable remedy for such abuses as are of frequent occurrence, now direct Our attention to others which We intend to correct by the present law. We have been informed that in Phrygia and Pisidia, many popular tumults, as well as attacks of robbers, take place; and that the reason for these disorders is that the civil administration has been abolished there, and that We have placed over these two provinces, as well as those of Lycaonia and Lydia, a military commander styled a duke, or biocolyte. The inhabitants of the two Phrygias and Pisidia now ask Us that the crimes which have, for a long time, been committed in their country, shall be suppressed; stating that robberies are perpetrated there with impunity; that their provinces are no longer sufficient to support the officials; that those appointed by Us are not competent, and their subordinates are constantly running over the provinces arresting persons, and committing damage; that the country is so afflicted with military disturbances that it is becoming uninhabitable; that the higher civil judges, who are appointed by the commander-in-chief to dispense justice to the people, instead of maintaining peace among them, make use of the guards attached to their office to arrest innocent persons and oppress them.

  We, being moved with sympathy for these unfortunate people, do hereby enact the following law, by which We decree that the jurisdiction of the said provinces (We refer to Salutary Phrygia and Pacatian Phrygia, and Pisidia) shall be withdrawn from the magistracy to which they were formerly subject, together with the Lycaonians and Lydians; and, from this day, We forbid the judges having jurisdiction of Lycaonia and Pisidia to interfere with the government of the two Phrygias and Pisidia, or to send there any of their officers or any other persons under their orders, for the purpose of making arrests. And We also forbid the inhabitants of said provinces, under the penalty of a fine of thirty pounds of gold, to have recourse to the Biocolyte of Lycaonia and Pisidia, or bring either civil or criminal actions in which they themselves are interested before him, and We also forbid this magistrate to enter the two Phrygias and Pisidia, to issue any orders to those who reside there, or to claim jurisdiction over the affairs of the said provinces; for We order him to be content with Lycaonia and Pisidia, and to govern them alone, just as if, from the beginning, We had restricted his jurisdiction to these two provinces, and as if We had never given him any authority over the two Phrygias or Pisidia. In this manner We shall deliver the said provinces from all the evils with which they have been oppressed up to this time; civil magistrates will dispose of both civil and criminal matters, and they are hereby notified that if any theft, robbery, or unlawful removal of property of any kind should occur there, and they do not punish it, or do not recover what was stolen, they themselves shall be required to make good the loss, not only while they remained in office but after they have been removed. If anyone invested with the military command of Lycaonia and Lydia should himself, hereafter, attempt to go into the provinces of Pisidia and Phrygia, or to send any of his subordinates there, We hereby authorize the bishops of the towns to forbid their entrance, and to drive away the officers which the biocolyte despatched, as the present law prohibits this magistrate and the officers subject to his authority, from entering the said provinces under the penalty of thirty pounds of gold, and it also renders them liable to lose their places and their estates.

  Therefore Your Glory, having been informed of the matters contained in this Imperial Law, will, in consequence, issue decrees, and address edicts and orders to the Governors of provinces and the bishops of cities, in order that they may publish them therein, and communicate them to all Our subjects.