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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.16.12.pr-49.16.12.2

Commanders' Military Discipline and Duties of Tribunes

Passage 8614 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Macer details Paternus' views and Augustus' instructions on the military discipline commanders must maintain, as well as the specific daily duties of tribunes.

[MACER libro primo de re militari. ] §49.16.12.prOfficium regentis exercitum non tantum in danda, sed etiam in obseruanda disciplina constitit.
[MACER, from the first book on Military Affairs.] The duty of one who commands an army consists not only in imposing discipline, but also in observing it.
§49.16.12.1Paternus quoque scripsit debere eum, qui se meminerit armato praeesse, parcissime commeatum dare, equum militarem extra prouinciam duci non permittere, ad opus priuatum piscatum uenatum militem non mittere.
Paternus also wrote that he who remembers that he commands armed forces ought to grant leave of absence most sparingly, not to permit a military horse to be led outside the province, and not to send a soldier for private work, fishing, or hunting.
nam in disciplina Augusti ita cauetur: 'Etsi scio fabrilibus operibus exerceri milites non esse alienum, uereor tamen, si quicquam permisero, quod in usum meum aut tuum fiat, ne modus in ea re non adhibeatur, qui mihi sit tolerandus'. §49.16.12.2Officium tribunorum est uel eorum, qui exercitui praesunt, milites in castris continere, ad exercitationem producere, claues portarum suscipere, uigilias interdum circumire, frumentationibus commilitonum interesse, frumentum probare, mensorum fraudem coercere, delicta secundum suae auctoritatis modum castigare, principiis frequenter interesse, querellas commilitonum audire, ualetudinarios inspicere.
For in the regulations of Augustus it is thus provided: 'Although I know that it is not foreign to the purpose for soldiers to be exercised in craftsmanly works, I fear, however, that if I permit anything to be done for my use or yours, moderation, which would be tolerable to me, may not be observed in that matter.' The duty of tribunes, or of those who are in command of an army, is to keep the soldiers in camp, to lead them out for exercise, to receive the keys of the gates, to go around the watches occasionally, to attend the grain distributions of their fellow soldiers, to inspect the grain, to restrain the fraud of the measurers, to punish offenses according to the measure of their own authority, to attend the headquarters frequently, to hear the complaints of their fellow soldiers, and to inspect the sick-bays.

Notes

  1. §49.16.12.prconstitit — This is the perfect tense of the intransitive verb consisto, but here it is used as a "gnomic perfect" expressing a general truth or permanent duty, and is therefore best translated in the present tense.
  2. §49.16.12.1debere eum, qui se meminerit armato praeesse — This is an accusative and infinitive construction (A.C.I.) depending on scripsit, where eum is the subject of debere. The pronoun eum is modified by the relative clause qui...praeesse. The verb meminerit is the perfect subjunctive of the defective verb memini, which has a present meaning ('remembers'), taking the infinitive phrase armato praeesse ('to command armed forces') with a dative object.
  3. §49.16.12.1uereor tamen ... ne modus in ea re non adhibeatur — In the subordinate clause introduced by the verb of fearing uereor, the construction ne ... non is used to express a negative fear ('I fear lest ... not' or 'I fear that ... will not'), taking the present subjunctive passive adhibeatur.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.16.12.pr-49.16.12.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.16.12.pr-49.16.12.2

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