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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §48.19.14.pr

Differences in Punishment Between Soldiers and Civilians

Passage 8395 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Explains the difference in punishments for offenses between soldiers and civilians, noting that soldiers face more severe penalties, such as capital punishment for engaging in theatrical professions or entering slavery.

[MACER libro secundo de re militari. ] §48.19.14.prQuaedam delicta pagano aut nullam aut leuiorem poenam irrogant, militi uero grauiorem.
[MACER, from the second book on Military Matters.] Certain offenses impose either no punishment or a lighter one on a civilian, but a more severe one on a soldier.
nam si miles artem ludicram fecerit uel in seruitutem se uenire passus est, capite puniendum Menander scribit.
For Menander writes that if a soldier has engaged in a theatrical profession or has allowed himself to enter into slavery, he must be punished capitally.

Notes

  1. §48.19.14.prpagano — Refers to a civilian or non-soldier, in contrast to the following word militi (soldier).
  2. §48.19.14.prartem ludicram — Refers to theatrical or gladiatorial arts, professions that in Roman law entailed the loss of civic honor (infamia).
  3. §48.19.14.prcapite puniendum — puniendum is a gerundive (with esse omitted) functioning as the predicate of an accusative-and-infinitive construction introduced by Menander scribit, with its implied subject being the accusative militem derived from the miles of the conditional clause. capite ('by the head') is an ablative of penalty, meaning to be punished capitally.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §48.19.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:48.19.14.pr

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