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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §11.7.42.pr

Definition of Monuments and Distinction from Cenotaphs

Passage 1846 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Florentinus defines a monument and distinguishes between a tomb (where a body or remains are placed) and a cenotaph (a monument built solely for memory without any burial).

[FLORENTINUS libro septimo institutionum. ] §11.7.42.prMonumentum generaliter res est memoriae causa in posterum prodita: in qua si corpus uel reliquiae inferantur, fiet sepulchrum, si uero nihil eorum inferatur, erit monumentum memoriae causa factum, quod Graeci κενοτάφιον appellant.
[FLORENTINUS, Institutes, book 7] In general, a monument is a thing handed down to posterity for the sake of memory; in which, if a body or remains are brought, it will become a tomb, but if indeed none of them is brought, it will be a monument made for the sake of memory, which the Greeks call a cenotaph.

Notes

  1. §11.7.42.prin qua — The relative pronoun qua (feminine ablative singular) has as its antecedent the feminine noun res immediately preceding it, rather than the neuter monumentum.
  2. §11.7.42.prinferantur ... fiet ... inferatur ... erit — A mixed conditional structure using the present subjunctive in the protasis (inferantur, inferatur) and the future indicative in the apodosis (fiet, erit). This is a common legal style to state a hypothetical premise and its certain consequence once the condition is met.
  3. §11.7.42.prnihil eorum — eorum is a genitive neuter plural referring back to corpus and reliquiae, functioning as a partitive genitive with the pronoun nihil.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §11.7.42.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:11.7.42.pr

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