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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §29.5.19.pr

Slaves' Duty to Defend the Master and Punishment for Inaction

Passage 4565 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

This section outlines the duty of slaves to defend and assist their master when he is being killed, and specifies that failure to do so results in deserved punishment.

[IDEM libro octauo pandectarum. ] §29.5.19.prCum dominus occiditur, auxilium ei familia ferre debet et armis et manu et clamoribus et obiectu corporis: quod si, cum posset, non tulerit, merito de ea supplicium sumitur.
[THE SAME, in his eighth book on the Pandects.] When a master is being killed, his household of slaves ought to bring him aid by arms, by physical force, by cries, and by the interposition of their bodies; and if, although it was able to do so, it did not bring aid, punishment is deservedly inflicted upon it.

Notes

  1. 29.5.19.prfamilia — A collective noun (feminine singular) referring here not to "family" in the modern sense, but to the "household of slaves." Consequently, it is grammatically referred to by the feminine singular pronoun `ea` in the phrase `de ea` at the end of the sentence, though it semantically implies all the individual slaves.
  2. 29.5.19.prcum posset — A `cum` clause with the imperfect subjunctive `posset`. It functions here either as concessive ("although it was able") or as circumstantial/temporal ("when it was possible").

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §29.5.19.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:29.5.19.pr

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