Religious Intolerance in the Later Roman Empire - Bad request ...

or enter into several matrimonies at the same time.” 273 Unfortunately it is not known
why this law was issued, but some hint of the background is provided by Theodoret in
his commentary on St. Paul’s First Epistle to Timothy. Theodoret comments that
pagans and Jews would take more than one wife simultaneously and that this practice
continued into his own day. 274 The reasons for this Jewish practice in Theodoret’s day
may have been rooted in Deuteronomy 25.5-6 in which whenever a man died childless,
his brother was to take his widow in order that “his name will not be obliterated from
Israel.” On marriage, the Jewish Encyclopaedia notes that polygamy was practised,
especially by the Kings and that, although it was discouraged by the time of the
Prophets and that monogamy became the norm by the Roman period, there remained
some “notable exceptions.” 275 Therefore this law may have been designed to prevent
any practices of polygamy amongst the Jews based on Deuteronomy that could have
been continuing at this time, but if so, the law appears to be heavy-handed in
apparently banning all Jewish marriage customs and on this basis may be judged to be
intolerant. Although against that should be noted the lack of any punishments.
Conclusion – Theodosius Judaism
One of the most striking features of Theodosius' legislation on the Jews is a
consistent desire to draw lines of demarcation between the Jewish community and the
rest of Roman society. This is most notable in the two laws that dealt with Jewish-
Christian relations (CTh. 3.1.5 and CTh. 3.7.2), but it is also apparent in legislation
that ostensibly concerns wholly the Jewish community. Indeed the evidence of CTh.
16.8.8 suggests that this desire to demarcate lines of responsibility was so strong as to
actually be an impediment to the supreme authority of the state in all matters. This
ceding of responsibility, although ostensibly tolerant and fair-minded, in fact would
have reinforced the sense that the Jewish community was not quite part of Roman
273
Nem o Iudaeorum m orem suum in coniv nctionibus retin ebit nec iuxta legem suam nuptias sortiatur nec in
div ersa sub uno tem pore coniugia conv eniat.
274
PG 82.805; see Hill (2001) Vol. 1 for a translation and commentary. Linder (1987) 192
275 Adler and Singer (eds) 1901-1906
257