The ancient race of the Paphlagonians was not formerly degraded, inasmuch as it sent out many colonies, and established itself in Venice in Italy, and by it Aquileia, the largest of the cities of the East, which had many controversies with kings themselves, was founded.

  This country of Paphlagonia suffered a diminution of territory during the reign of the Emperor Honorius, and lost certain cities, the reason for which is not known. We desire to restore to this province its ancient form of government, and to administer it in the same way as if it was a city, as well as to accomplish what We have done in the two Provinces of Pontus, in order that the official invested with authority who will govern the two provinces (namely Paphlagonia and Honoriades) may be designated Praetor (which is a Roman name applicable to the Governors of provinces), and have a single court of a hundred officials, made up of the members of the two previous courts combined. This magistrate shall collect the public revenues not only from the Paphlagonians, but also from the inhabitants of Honoriades. He shall also be charged with the administration of all the cities originally included in each province, that is to say, in Honoriades, Prusias, Gratia, Hadrianople, Tio, Claudiopolis, and Heraclea. Some of these, for instance, Prusias, Heraclea the capital and chief city of the province, and Claudiopolis, were originally taken from Bithynia, and as this was done, We do not deem it advisable again to deliver them to the Bithyn-ians, it will not be necessary to make any change in this respect. Thus the six cities included in Honoriades shall now form part of Paphlagonia. The Praetor shall also have jurisdiction over the six other cities which, from the beginning, have belonged to this province, namely: Germanicopolis, Gangra, Pompeiopolis, Dadybros, the heights of Amastridis, and lonopolis, and thus twelve cities in all will be embraced in the territory of Paphlagonia. We do not formulate any regulations with respect to the priesthood, but the metropolitans will continue to be consecrated as formerly, and receive their ordination from the patriarchs of this city; and ecclesiastics of inferior rank shall be ordained by them, and there shall be no dispute on this account, nor shall any confusion of jurisdiction arise. In consequence of this, there will be in the future but a single province, which, as in the case of others, will have several metropolitans.

  The official invested with the government of the entire province (which shall, as formerly, be designated Paphlagonia) must visit the different cities, but is not authorized to send deputies here and there to the towns throughout the province, even though this may not have been prohibited in former times by any pragmatic sanction. We forbid this to be done under any circumstances, as it would be disgraceful for him, after having been appointed to dispense justice in the province, to entrust this duty to someone else, in violation of the provisions of this law. He himself shall have the direction of everything, and shall collect the public taxes as quickly as possible, and, when doing so, must not exact anything more or less than is due. He shall see that Our subjects are equitably treated, and, at the same time, make provisions for any losses which may be sustained by the Treasury, and he must also prevent the cities from suffering any injury either in public or private matters. This magistrate shall receive the same remuneration formerly paid to both the others, which amounted to seven hundred and twenty-five aurei; he shall have an assessor, who will be entitled to seventy-two aurei; and a single court composed of a hundred men, selected from the two former ones, to whose members emoluments shall be paid out of the Public Treasury to the amount of four hundred and seventy and one-third aurei. As he obtains his place gratuitously, he must also administer it in the same manner, for We hereby release Our subjects from the control of those who formerly were accustomed to accept gifts, when appointed to office; the salary of the Praetor shall be paid to him by you out of the public taxes of his province; and We shall not suffer Our subjects to be reduced to servitude under the pretence of an increase of taxation. Nor shall We allow the subjects of Our predecessors, whom We have restored to their ancient freedom after they had been subjugated by the barbarians, and who have always been under Our government, to be enslaved by anyone else; for what offering could be more acceptable to God than the liberty of Our subjects, who have, up to this time, been oppressed by fresh extortions of their Governors (as far as this can be done) since God has made use of Us to bestow freedom upon many nations? What We have said does not apply to recently appointed magistrates, for they are sufficiently secure in this respect; but in the future We do not permit money to be paid to obtain the office of magistrate, nor Our people to be bought as slaves, and the right to commit injustice again to become the subject of traffic. Therefore Paphlagonia, formerly divided into two provinces (We do not know for. what reason) shall hereafter only be considered one among the Provinces of Pontus; the magistrate charged with the administration of the same shall have (as We have already stated) the title of Justinianian Praetor of Paphlagonia, and it shall even be permissible for him to be styled Strategos, in Greek.

  You will constantly remind the Praetor of the oath taken by him at his installation, when he swore to keep his hands pure and free from all corrupt gain, to increase the revenues of the Treasury by just and honorable means, and to dispense equity and justice to Our subjects in public as well as in private matters, whether these have reference to contracts or to judicial controversies. He shall visit the cities without imposing any burden upon Our subjects, so that neither he, his assessor, nor any of the persons in his train, nor any soldiers, court-attendants or slaves, may obtain any profit, or travel without incurring any expense. For he himself, and all his escort, must act with propriety, paying their expenses out of the salaries given them by the public; and the soldiers are notified that if, during their journeys, instead of being content with their emoluments, they venture to inflict injury upon Our subjects, cause them any loss, or take anything from them without compensation, this shall be deducted from their pay, by way of indemnity for the wrong committed; which the Praetor himself must attend to, and, if he does not do so, he will personally Be required to indemnify Our subjects.

  This law, which We have enacted with reference to the Paphlagonians, renders their magistrate more honorable, places him in the rank of spectabiles, and confers authority not only upon him over the soldiers stationed in his province (provided he commands them with justice) but also over others; it does not permit anyone under his jurisdiction to be released from it, even where he may be authorized to do so by reason of some privilege, or is charged with the administration of the estates of powerful persons. He should take special care to prevent any other inscription than those of the Treasury or Royal Houses to be placed upon the property of others, which is something which frequently happens in Paphlagonia. If the Praetor should learn of any offence of this kind, he must remove every trace of the inscription, and place those of the Treasury upon the property of the offender, after having broken his own over his head, if he is present. Where he is absent, and the agent in charge of the property is arrested, the Praetor shall inflict corporeal punishment upon him, and at the same time break the inscriptions over his head. The Praetor is hereby notified that if he neglects to do what We have ordered, and We should ascertain that he has allowed inscriptions to be placed upon other lands than those belonging to the Treasury, and Ourself and Our August Consort, he will render himself liable to the confiscation of his own property, for the reason that while invested with great power, he has, through negligence, permitted acts to be committed which could readily have been prevented.

  After this constitution has been communicated to You, Your Excellency will deliver to the Praetor of Paphlagonia the great emoluments to which he is entitled; and he, impressed with the dignity of his office, and desirous of proving worthy of the Honor which We have conferred upon him, should exert himself to carry out the provisions of the present law.