Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Dedication
- DEBATES AND CONTEXTS
- LAW AND EMPIRE
- LAW CODES AND CODIFICATION
- 4 Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition
- 5 Diocletian and the Efficacy of Public Law
- DEATH, ECONOMICS AND SUCCESSION
- COMMERCE AND LAW
- PROCEDURE
- Index
5 - Diocletian and the Efficacy of Public Law
from LAW CODES AND CODIFICATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- List of Abbreviations
- Dedication
- DEBATES AND CONTEXTS
- LAW AND EMPIRE
- LAW CODES AND CODIFICATION
- 4 Roman Law Codes and the Roman Legal Tradition
- 5 Diocletian and the Efficacy of Public Law
- DEATH, ECONOMICS AND SUCCESSION
- COMMERCE AND LAW
- PROCEDURE
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Early in his speech to the Roman emperor Maximian, probably delivered in Trier in the spring of AD 289, a Gallic orator catalogued the duties of imperial office. Maximian had been appointed co-emperor by Diocletian four years earlier, and in keeping with the conventions of the genre of panegyrical oratory, is said to have fulfilled his responsibilities with distinction. Those responsibilities are:
admittere in animum tantae rei publicae curam et totius orbis fata suscipere et oblitum quodammodo sui gentibus vivere et in tam arduo humanarum rerum stare fastigio, ex quo veluti terras omnes et maria despicias vicissimque oculis ac mente conlustres ubi sit certa serenitas, ubi dubia tempestas, qui iustitiam vestram iudices aemulentur, qui virtutis vestrae gloriam duces servent, accipere innumerabiles undique nuntios, totidem mandata dimittere, de tot urbibus et nationibus et provinciis cogitare, noctes omnes diesque perpeti sollicitudine pro omnium salute transigere
to admit into your mind concern for so great a state, to assume responsibility for the destiny of the whole world, to forget yourself somehow and live for the people, to stand at the lofty pinnacle of human affairs, from where it is as if you look down on all land and sea, and you survey with eyes and mind in turn where calm is assured, where storms threaten, which judges copy your justice, which generals maintain the glory of your virtue, to receive countless messengers from everywhere, to issue as many commands, to give thought to so many cities, nations and provinces, to spend all night and day in endless concern for the wellbeing of all (Panegyrici Latini X(2) 3.3–3.4).
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- Chapter
- Information
- Beyond DogmaticsLaw and Society in the Roman World, pp. 105 - 122Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2007