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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.13.7.pr

Sentencing Criteria and Penalties for Sacrilege

Passage 8318 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Ulpian explains that the penalty for sacrilege must be determined according to the status of the offender and the circumstances of the crime, outlining specific limits and criteria for punishments.

[ULPIANUS libro septimo de officio proconsulis. ] §48.13.7.prSacrilegii poenam debebit proconsul pro qualitate personae proque rei condicione et temporis et aetatis et sexus uel seuerius uel clementius statuere.
[ULPIAN, Book VII on the Office of Proconsul] The proconsul must determine the penalty for sacrilege either more severely or more leniently, according to the quality of the person and according to the condition of the thing, and of the time, age, and sex.
et scio multos et ad bestias damnasse sacrilegos, nonnullos etiam uiuos exussisse, alios uero in furca suspendisse.
And I know that many have condemned sacrilegious persons to the beasts, have even burned some alive, and have hanged others on the gallows.
sed moderanda poena est usque ad bestiarum damnationem eorum, qui manu facta templum effregerunt et dona dei noctu tulerunt.
But the punishment of those who, having formed a band, broke into a temple and carried away the gifts of the god by night, must be limited to condemnation to the beasts.
ceterum si qui interdiu modicum aliquid de templo tulit, poena metalli coercendus est, aut, si honestiore loco natus sit, deportandus in insulam est.
Otherwise, if anyone has carried away some small thing from a temple by day, he must be punished by the penalty of the mines, or, if he is of more honorable birth, he must be deported to an island.

Notes

  1. §48.13.7.prSacrilegii — Objective genitive modifying the noun poenam, indicating the punishment "for" sacrilege.
  2. §48.13.7.prmultos et ad bestias damnasse sacrilegos — Accusative with Infinitive (A.C.I.) construction serving as the object of scio. The accusative subject of the infinitive damnasse is multos ("many [judges]"), while sacrilegos ("sacrilegious persons") is its direct object. The subsequent pronouns nonnullos and alios are also direct objects of exussisse and suspendisse respectively, with the implied subject remaining the same.
  3. §48.13.7.prmoderanda poena est — Passive periphrastic conjugation formed by the gerundive moderanda and est (third-person singular present of esse), expressing obligation or necessity: the punishment "must be limited" or "must be moderated."
  4. §48.13.7.prmanu facta — Ablative absolute consisting of the ablative singular of manus ("hand", by extension "band, troop") and the feminine ablative singular of the perfect passive participle facta (from facio). Literally "a band having been formed," meaning "forming a band" or "in a group."

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.13.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.13.7.pr

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