Note 314 — LIX WHEN JUDGMENTS SHOULD BE SEVERE AND WHEN THEY SHOULD BE MERCIFUL

This is probably an allusion to the edict of Theodosius II “which interposes a salutary interval of thirty days between the sentence and the execution.” Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, III, 176; Mommsen and Meyer (editors), Theodosiani Libri XVI, I, part 2, 503 (viii, 40:13). The edict was probably a part of the penance exacted from the Emperor after his massacre of the Thessalonians. See Ambrosius Saga in Heilagra Manna Sögur, I, 40.