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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §33.6.12.pr

Difficulty in Defining the Limits of Old Wine

Passage 5053 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus points out that if a standard other than the one mentioned in the preceding section were adopted, it would be extremely difficult to define the limits and beginning of old wine.

[PAULUS libro quarto ad Sabinum. ] §33.6.12.prnam aliter obseruantibus quis finis aut quod initium ueteris uini sumeretur?
[PAULUS, On Sabinus, Book 4] For to those who observe otherwise, what limit or what beginning of old wine would be established?

Notes

  1. §33.6.12.praliter obseruantibus — The present participle obseruantibus (dative plural of obseruo, "to observe, keep, follow a custom") is used substantively and functions as a dative of reference or judgment (dativus iudicantis). Combined with the adverb aliter ("otherwise"), it means "for those who follow or observe a different standard (from the one previously mentioned)."
  2. §33.6.12.prsumeretur — The third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of the verb sumo ("to take, assume, establish"). It is used here in a rhetorical question to express a potential or counterfactual outcome, implying the impossibility of setting a boundary: "how would it be established? (implying it could not be)."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §33.6.12.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:33.6.12.pr

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