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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §49.16.7.pr

Treatment of Traitors and Deserters as Enemies

Passage 8609 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

A regulation of military law by Tarruntenus Paternus, stating that traitors and deserters are treated as enemies rather than soldiers, and are thus subject to capital punishment and torture.

[TARRUNTENUS PATERNUS libro secundo de re militari. ] §49.16.7.prProditores transfugae plerumque capite puniuntur et exauctorati torquentur: nam pro hoste, non pro milite habentur.
[TARRUNTENUS PATERNUS, from the second book on Military Matters.] Traitors and deserters are generally punished with death and, after being dismissed from service, are tortured; for they are regarded as enemies, not as soldiers.

Notes

  1. §49.16.7.prProditores transfugae — An instance of asyndeton (omission of a conjunction), meaning "traitors and deserters." While they could be interpreted appositively as "deserter-traitors," it is more natural to view them as coordinate categories of distinct offenses under military law.
  2. §49.16.7.prexauctorati — A participle modifying the subject of torquentur (are tortured), indicating either an attendant circumstance ("having been dismissed from service") or a prior action ("after being dismissed"). It implies that since active soldiers could not be tortured, the formal removal from the military roll (exauctoratio) had to occur first.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §49.16.7.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:49.16.7.pr

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