one of the most distinguished of the Roman jurists, has been supposed, without any good reason, to be of Greek origin, and from a Phoenician town.
Others conjecture that he was a native of Patavium (Padua), because there is a statue there, with an inscription, Paulus ; but the statue and inscription may refer to another Paulus (Gellius, 5.4, 19.7). Paulus was in the auditorium of Papinian (Dig. 29. tit. 2. s. 97; 49. tit. 14. s. 50), and consequently was acting as a jurist in the joint reigns of Septimius Severus and Antoninus Caracalla, and also during the reign of Caracalla. Paulus was exiled by Elagabalus, but he was recalled by Alexander Severus when he became emperor, and was made a member of his consilium (Aurel. Vict. De Caes. xxiv.; Lamprid. Alex. 25). Paulus also held the office of praefectus praetorio : he survived his contemporary Ulpian. In two passages of the Digest which have been already referred to, Paulus (Libro tertio Decretorum) speaks of two cases in which he gave an opinion contrary to Papinian, but the emperor decided according to Papinian's opinion.
[G.L]