\()iir forefinger. I'or tlie rest, with the help of Ciod a fuller knowledge of them will eome to \'oii from the larger volumes of the Digtsf or PimJccts. 'I'liis sole reference to (jocI has no parriciilar legal or religious significance. This rime, as we shall see later in this chapter, the explanation for (iod's absence fromJustinian's is that the compilers were working from classical models, particularK’ from the Institutes of (iaius. I'anaticalK Cdiristian B\'zantium appears in Justinian's and h/stitntfs t irrualle godless, and not at all (diristian. The fV;r/chas more of religion in it, hur(strangely?) much less than is in the Vhcodosuni Code (d 4?y-' An\’ feeling for the relationship between (lod and Man in earl\ I5\ zanrium does not appear straight inJustinian's compilation. Ill Another tantalizing issue is the balance of legal materials. Justinian claims at the outset of the histitntes (y.i.1.4) and Digest {D.\.\.i) that there are two branches of this stud\'; public law and pri\ ate law. But he then proceeds to deal in the histitntes onl\' with pri\ ate law, with the sole final title (4.1S) denoted to criminal trials. Nor is there much public law in the Digest, and what there is is mainl\- that of an earlier era, out of date. d'he e.xplanation is that for ancient, historical reasons the classical Roman jurists were almost entireh' concerned with the interpretation of prit ate law."’ Little of their work concerns public law. 'The bizarre approach of Justiniati's compilers to law-making preser\es this earlier balance. NotoriousK' bureaucratic Bx zantium appears to 9 For more detail, see Watson, Out of Context, pp. 4off. 10 See Watson, Sp/r/r, pp.42ff. 49
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