Humanitext Reader

Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §4.6.42.pr

Exclusion of Ambassadors for Private Affairs from Public Absence

Passage 805 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

It states that a person who is on an embassy for his own private affairs cannot be truly considered as being absent on public service.

[ALFENUS libro quinto digestorum. ] §4.6.42.prNon uere dicitur rei publicae causa abesse eum, qui sui priuati negotii causa in legatione est.
[ALFENUS, Digest, Book V] It is not truly said that he is absent on public service, who is on an embassy for the sake of his own private business.

Notes

  1. §4.6.42.prNon uere dicitur ... eum ... abesse — A construction where the impersonal passive verb `dicitur` governs the accusative with infinitive clause `eum ... abesse` (where `eum`, qualified by the relative clause `qui...`, is the subject accusative of the infinitive `abesse`). It means 'it is not truly said that...'.
  2. §4.6.42.prsui priuati negotii causa in legatione — An embassy (`legatio`) is inherently a public duty, but here it refers to a seemingly contradictory situation of being 'on an embassy for the sake of one's own private business' (`sui priuati negotii causa`). It indicates that those who obtain an embassy status primarily for private interests are excluded from the legal relief granted to persons absent on public service (`rei publicae causa absens`).

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §4.6.42.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:4.6.42.pr

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