[ULPIANUS libro octauo de officio proconsulis. ] §47.14.1.prDe abigeis puniendis ita diuus Hadrianus consilio Baeticae rescripsit: 'abigei cum durissime puniuntur, ad gladium damnari solent.
[ULPIAN, in the eighth book on the Office of Proconsul.] the punishment of cattle-raiders, the divine Hadrian wrote in a rescript to the council of Baetica as follows: "When cattle-raiders are punished most severely, they are usually condemned to the sword.
puniuntur autem durissime non ubique, sed ubi frequentius est id genus maleficii: alioquin et in opus et nonnumquam temporarium dantur. §47.14.1.1Abigei autem proprie hi habentur, qui pecora ex pascuis uel ex armentis subtrahunt et quodammodo depraedantur, et abigendi studium quasi artem exercent, equos de gregibus uel boues de armentis abducentes.
However, they are not punished most severely everywhere, but where this kind of crime is more frequent; otherwise, they are sentenced to public labor, and sometimes to temporary labor.", those are properly considered cattle-raiders who subtract cattle from pastures or from herds and in a way plunder them, and who practice the pursuit of cattle-driving as if it were a trade, taking away horses from herds or oxen from droves.
ceterum si quis bouem aberrantem uel equos in solitudine relictos abduxerit, non est abigeus, sed fur potius. §47.14.1.2Sed et qui porcam uel capram uel ueruicem abduxit, non tam grauiter quam qui maiora animalia abigunt, plecti debent. §47.14.1.3Quamquam autem Hadrianus metalli poenam, item operis uel etiam gladii praestituerit, attamen qui honestiore loco nati sunt, non debent ad hanc poenam pertinere, sed aut relegandi erunt aut mouendi ordine.
On the other hand, if someone takes away a straying ox or horses left in a solitary place, he is not a cattle-raider, but rather a thief. also those who have taken away a sow, a goat, or a wether ought not to be punished as severely as those who drive away larger animals., however, Hadrian prescribed the penalty of the mines, likewise of public labor, or even of the sword, nevertheless those who are born of a more honorable class ought not to be subject to this punishment, but must either be relegated or removed from their rank.
sane qui cum gladio abigunt, non inique bestiis obiciuntur. §47.14.1.4Qui pecora, de quorum proprietate faciebat controuersiam, abegit, ut Saturninus quidem scribit, ad examinationem ciuilem remittendus est.
Certainly, those who drive away cattle with weapons are not unjustly exposed to wild beasts. who has driven away cattle, over the ownership of which he was making a dispute, must, as Saturninus indeed writes, be referred to a civil examination.
sed hoc ita demum probandum est, si non color abigeatus quaesitus est, sed uere putauit sua iustis rationibus ductus.
But this is only to be approved if a pretext of cattle-raiding was not sought, but he truly believed, guided by just reasons, that they were his.