Note 382 — Chapter XX · THE FINAL REVOLTS OF THE JEWS

Jews made converts even after the prohibition of Theodosius (Jerome, Migne Patrol, 25, p. 199; 26, p. 311). One further ground for doubting the statement of Paul as it appears in the extant texts is the following: In the Digest (48, 8, 4, 2) it is only the physician and the slave that are capitally punished for castration. The owner of the slave (ibid. 48, 8, 6) is punished by the loss of half his property. Further, the penalty for circumcision is stated to be the same as that for castration. That was the case not only in Modestinus’ time, who lived after Paul, but as late as Justinian, since it is received into the Digest. Yet Paul, according to the extant text, makes the circumcision of alien slaves a capital crime (V. xxii. 4). The discrepancy can scarcely be reconciled.