_Breviarium_ was the popular name of the code enacted by the Visigothic king Alaric II. about the year 506 for his _provinciales_ in the south of Gaul.[363] It preserved the integrity of its sources, giving the texts in the same order, and with the same rubrics, as in the original. The principal source was the Theodosian Code; next in importance the collections of _Novellae_ of Theodosius and succeeding emperors: a few texts were taken from the Codes of “Gregorianus” and “Hermogenianus.” These parts of the _Breviarium_ consisted of _leges_, that is, of constitutions of the emperors. Two sources of quite a different character were also drawn upon. One was the _Institutes_ of Gaius, or rather an old epitome which had been made from it. The other was the _Sententiae_ of Paulus, the famous “Five Books of Sentences _ad filium_.” This work of elementary jurisprudence deserved its great repute; yet its use in the _Breviarium_ may have been due to the special sanction which had been given it in one of the constitutions of the Theodosian Code, also taken over into the _Breviarium_: “Pauli quoque sententias semper valere praecipimus.”[364] The same constitution confirmed the _Institutes_ of Gaius, among other great jurisconsults. Presumably these two works were the most commonly known as well as the clearest and best of elementary jurisprudential compositions. An interesting feature of the _Breviarium_, and destined to be of great importance, was the _Interpretatio_ accompanying all its texts, except those drawn from the epitome of Gaius. This was not the work of Alaric’s compilers, but probably represents the approved exposition of the _leges_, with the exposition of the already archaic _Sentences_ of Paulus, current in the law schools of southern Gaul in the fifth century. The _Interpretatio_ thus taken into the _Breviarium_ had, like the texts, the force of royal law, and soon was to surpass them in practice by reason of its perspicuity and modernity. Many manuscripts contain only the _Interpretatio_ and omit the texts. The _Breviarium_ became the source of Roman law, indeed the Roman law _par excellence_, for the Merovingian and then the Carolingian realm, outside of Italy. It was soon subjected to the epitomizing process, and its epitomes exist, dating from the eighth to the tenth century: they reduced it in bulk, and did away with the practical inconvenience of _lex_ and _interpretatio_. Further, the _Breviarium_, and even the epitomes, were glossed with numerous marginal or interlinear notes made by transcribers or students. These range from definitions of words, sometimes taken from Isidore’s _Etymologiae_, to brief explanations of difficulties in the text.[365] In like manner in Italy, the _Codex_ and _Novellae_ of Justinian were, as has been said, reduced to epitomes, and also equipped with glosses.