Always invoking the aid of Omnipotent God and Our Saviour Jesus Christ, We exert every effort to preserve from all injury and calumny the subjects whose government God has entrusted to Us, and to prohibit the wars which men privately conduct against one another; for, by means of these wars, they cause much reciprocal suffering and are exposed to the double penalty of mutual injury, as well as of undergoing the punishment prescribed by the laws.

  Therefore, desiring to prevent men from killing each other, We have thought it proper to decree that no private person shall engage in the manufacture of weapons, and that only those shall be authorized to do so who are employed in the public arsenals, or are called armorers ; and also that manufacturers of arms should not sell them to any private individual. Nor do We permit any persons who, styled deputati, are enrolled in the army for the purpose of caring for the arms and are paid out of the Treasury, to manufacture or sell them to anyone whomsoever; but We desire that they shall only have charge of the arms of soldiers, in accordance with the duties assigned to them. If, however, they should manufacture any new weapons, these shall be taken from them, and either deposited in Our Imperial arsenal or in the armory.

  We also desire that those who are called ballistarii, and whom We have stationed in different cities, and authorized to manufacture weapons, shall only repair and place in good condition those belonging to the government, which are deposited in the public arsenals of each town. Where any workmen have manufactured arms they must surrender them to the ballistarii, to be placed with those belonging to the public, but they must by no means sell them to anyone else. The ballistarii shall, at the risk of the municipal magistrates of the cities to whom they are subject, observe what We have decreed, and the responsibility for this, as well as for the preservation of the public arsenals, shall attach to these magistrates; and where any of the workmen called deputati, or armorers, have been detected in selling weapons, the local magistrates shall subject them to punishment; shall deprive the purchasers of these weapons without refunding the price paid for them; and shall claim them for the benefit of the public.

  Therefore, God directing Our thoughts, We decree by the present law that no private individual, or anyone else whosoever shall, in any province or city of Our Empire, have the right to make or sell arms, or deal in them in any way, but only such as are authorized to manufacture them can do so, and deposit them in Our armory. We order that this rule shall be obeyed by Your Highness, as well as by those who may succeed you in office, and We appoint five of the chief chartularies subject to your authority in the Bureau of Armorers, who are skillful and of good repute, who shall be charged on their own responsibility to seek men who are manufacturing arms in this Most Fortunate City, and in the other towns of Our Empire, in order to prevent private persons, or anyone else whomsoever, from doing so, with the exception of workmen employed by the armory; and in order that, if they should find, anywhere in any place, private individuals who are rash enough to make any weapons, they may seize them and deposit them in the Arsenal of the Treasury. But if among private workmen the said chartularies should discover any persons who are thoroughly skilled in their trade, they shall employ them in the manufacture of arms, if the workmen are willing, and shall inscribe their names upon the list of armorers, and notify Us of this fact, in order that the said workmen may be assigned by an Imperial Rescript to the Public Arsenal, for the purpose of manufacturing arms, and receive remuneration from the Treasury. If the aforesaid persons scrupulously comply with what We have ordered, private individuals residing in towns, or peasants who are living in the country, will not be permitted to make use of arms against one another, thereby endangering their lives; men will cease to commit homicide; work on public buildings will not be suspended; and the fear of death will no longer compel the cultivators of the soil to resort to flight.
  (1) Therefore those selected from the above-mentioned Bureau of Armorers, who are directed by Your Highness to prevent private persons from making weapons, shall be sworn by the local magistrates, their subordinates, the defenders of towns, and decurions, that they will allow nothing which We have forbidden to take place in the future, and that they will comply with the provisions of the present law, for the said magistrates will be liable to a pecuniary penalty, as well as a corporeal one, if they should violate it. We order that, if the judge of the great City of Alexandria should fail to observe these provisions, he shall be liable to a fine of twenty pounds of gold, and shall be deprived of his office. His court shall also incur a similar penalty, as well as be subjected to capital punishment. So far as the magistrates of other provinces are concerned, they, together with their courts, shall incur a fine of ten pounds of gold and the loss of their offices. The defenders of municipal magistrates of cities shall pay a fine of three pounds of gold, and run the risk of being put to death if, after having learned of violations of this law; they permit them to remain concealed instead of punishing them, or notifying magistrates who can do so.

  But in order that what has been forbidden by Us to private persons and all others may become clear, We have taken pains to enumerate in this law the different kinds of weapons whose manufacture is forbidden. Therefore We prohibit private individuals from either making or buying bows, arrows, double-edged swords, ordinary swords, weapons usually called hunting knives, those styled zabes, breast-plates, javelins, lances and spears of every shape whatever, arms called by the Isaurians monocopia, others called sitinnes, or missiles, shields, and helmets; for We do not permit anything of this kind to be manufactured, except by those who are appointed for that purpose in Our arsenals, and only small knives which no one uses in fighting shall be allowed to be made and sold by private persons. Your Highness will publish this general law in this Royal City, as well as in the other cities of Our Empire, in order that all persons, being aware of the provisions which We have been pleased to enact, may observe them.

  Your Highness, and those who may hereafter succeed you, will hasten to cause what it has pleased Us to enact by the present law to be carried into execution; for unless you take measures for the observance of what is so advantageous to the public welfare, you will have reason to fear the effects of Our indignation.