Works
This Theophilus is the author of the Greek translation or paraphrase of the Institutes of
Justinian, a fact which is now universally admitted, though some of the older critics
supposed that there were two Theophili, one the compiler of the Institutes, and the other the
author of the Greek version.
The Greek paraphrase was made perhaps shortly after the promulgation of the Institutes
A. D. 533; and it was probably in A. D.
534 that, as professor of law at Constantinople, Theophilus read upon the Latin text
of the Institutes, the commentary in Greek entitled "a Greek Paraphrase of the Institutes,"
and which was intended for the first year's course of legal studies.
It may have been about the same time that Theophilus explained to his class the first part,
or first four books (πρῶτα), of the Digest, some
fragments of which are preserved in the scholia on the Basilica : this explanation completed
the first year's course of study. We also infer from the same scholia that, in A. D. 535, Theophilus explained to his class the second part, or the
seven books (De Judiciis), for the same scholia have preserved passages
from his commentary on this part of the Digest.
There are also fragments of his commentary on the third division (De
Rebus). His labours, apparently, did not extend beyond A. D.
535, and he may have died in A. D. 536, as it is
conjectured. Thalelaeus, one of his colleagues, in the school of Constantinople, speaks of
him as dead; and probably Thalelaeus wrote about A. D. 537.
Ἰνστιτοῦτα Θεοφίλου Ἀντικένσωρος (
Instituta Theophili Antecensoris)
The title of the paraphrase of Theophilus is Ἰνστιτοῦτα
Θεοφίλου Ἀντικένσωρος,
Instituta Theophili
Antecensoris. It became the text for the Institutes in the East, where the Latin
language was little known, and entirely displaced the Latin text. It maintained itself as a
manual of law until the eighth and tenth centuries, though others were subsequently
published by the Greek emperors. This text was employed, as we see, on all occasions where
the Institutes were used, even to the time of the Hexabiblos of Harmenopulus, the last Greek
jurisconsult. It is conjectured, however, that there was a literal Greek version of the
Institutes, for in some of the scholia (Basil. ed. Heimbach, i. p. 611, schol. 2) the text
of the Institutes, which is cited several times, is not that of Theophilus. It is also
conjectured that Theophilus was not the editor of his own paraphrase, but that it was drawn
up by some of his pupils, after the explanation of the professor; and the ground for this
opinion is that certain barbarous expressions are found in it, that the variations of the
manuscripts are very numerous, and that several passages are repeated. The paraphrase is,
however, of great use for the study of the text of the Institutes, many passages in which
would be unintelligible without it.
Editions
The first edition of the paraphrase was by Viglius Zuichemus, Basle, 1531,
fol.; and it was followed by several others, among which that of Fabrot was the
best. But the most complete edition is that by G. O. Reitz, Haag, 1751, 2 vols.
4to.
Translation
There is a German translation by Wüstemann, 1823, 2 vols. 8vo.