D. xlviii. 8. 1; D. 1. 16. 233. 2.

Lex Cornelia de sicariis, passed during the dictatorship of Sylla, B.C. 80.

6. Alia deinde lex asperrimum crimen nova pœna persequitur, quæ Pompeia de parricidiis vocatur. Qua cavetur, ut si quis parentis aut filii, aut omnino affectionis ejus quæ nuncupatione parricidii continetur, fata properaverit, sive clam sive palam id ausus fuerit, nec non is cujus dolo malo id factum est, vel conscius criminis existit, licet extraneus sit, pœna parricidii puniatur. Et neque gladio neque ignibus neque ulla alia solemni pœna subjiciatur, sed insutus culeo cum cane et gallo gallinaceo et vipera et simia, et inter eas ferales angustias comprehensus, secundum quod regionis qualitas tulerit, vel in vicinum mare vel in amnem projiciatur: ut omnium elementorum usu vivus carere incipiat, et ei cœlum superstiti et terro mortuo auferatur. Si quis autem alias cognatione vel affinitate conjunctas personas necaverit, pœnam legis Corneliæ de sicariis sustinebit.

6. Another law, the lex Pompeia de parricidiis, inflicts on the most horrible of crimes, a singular punishment. It provides, that any one who has hastened the death of a parent or child, or of any other relation whose murder is legally termed parricide, whether he acts openly or secretly, and whoever instigates, or is an accomplice in the commission of the crime, although a stranger, shall undergo the penalty of parricide. He will be punished, not by the sword, nor by fire, nor by any ordinary mode of punishment, but he is to be sown up in a sack with a dog, a cock, a viper, and an ape, and inclosed in this horrible prison he is to be, according to the nature of the place, thrown into the sea, or into a river, that even in his lifetime he may begin to be deprived of the use of the elements, and that the air may be denied to him while he lives, and the earth when he dies. He who kills other persons allied to him by cognation or alliance, shall undergo the penalty of the lex Cornelia de sicariis.

D. xlviii. 9. 1. 9; C. ix. 17.

Lex Pompeia de parricidiis, passed in the consulship of Pompeius, B.C. 52. The punishment mentioned in the text is borrowed from the legislation of the Twelve Tables. The lex Pompeia, under the term parricidium, embraced the murder of any ascendant of a husband or wife, of consobrini, of a step-father, step-mother, father-in-law, mother-in law, &c., of a patron, and of a child if killed by the mother or grandfather, but not if killed by the father. (D. xlviii. 9. 1.) If there was no river at hand, the offender was torn to pieces by wild beasts. (D. xlviii. 9. 9.)

7. Item lex Cornelia de falsis, quæ etiam testamentaria vocatur, pœnam irrogat ei qui testamentum vel aliud instrumentum falsum scripserit, significaverit, recitaverit, subjecerit; quive signum adulterinum fecerit, sculpserit, expresserit sciens dolo

7. Also the lex Cornelia de falsis, otherwise called testamentaria, punishes any one who shall have written, sealed, read, or substituted a false testament, or any other instrument, or shall have made, cut, or impressed a false seal, knowingly and wilfully.

malo. Ejusque legis pœna in servos ultimum supplicium est (quod etiam in lege de sicariis et veneficis servatur), in liberos vero deportatio.

The penalty is, upon a slave, the extreme punishment of the law, as is pronounced by the lex Cornelia upon assassins and poisoners; that upon freemen is deportation.

D. xlviii. 10. 1. 13. 16. 1.

Lex Cornelia de falsis, or Cornelia testamentaria, was passed under the dictatorship of Sylla, B.C. 80.

8. Item lex Julia de vi publica seu privata adversus eos exoritur, qui vim vel armatam vel sine armis commiserint: sed si quidem armata vis arguatur, deportatio ei ex lege Julia de vi publica irrogatur; si vero sine armis, in tertiam partem bonorum publicatio imponitur. Sin autem per vim raptus virginis vel viduæ vel sanctimonialis vel alterius fuerit perpetratus, tunc et peccatores et ii qui opem flagitio dederunt, capite puniuntur, secundum nostræ constitutionis definitionem ex qua hoc apertius est scire.

8. Also the lex Julia de vi publica seu privata punishes those who are guilty of violence, whether with armed force or without. For violence with armed force, the penalty inflicted by the lex Julia de vi publica is deportation. For violence without arms, it is the confiscation of a third of the offender's property. But in case of the rape of a virgin, a widow, a person devoted to religion, or any one else, both the ravishers and all who have aided in the commission of the crime are punished capitally, according to the provisions of our constitution, in which may be found fuller information on this head.

D. xlviii. 6. 10. 2; C. ix. 13. 1, pr. and foll.

Lex Julia de vi, passed in the time of Julius Cæsar or Augustus, but its exact date is not known.

9. Item lex Julia peculatus eos punit, qui pecuniam vel rem publicam vel sacram vel religiosam furati fuerint. Sed si quidem ipsi judices tempore administrationis publicas pecunias subtraxerint, capitali animadversione puniantur; et non solum hi, sed etiam qui ministerium eis ad hoc exhibuerint, vel qui subtractas ab his scientes susceperint. Alii vero qui in hanc legem inciderint, pœnæ deportationis subjugantur.

9. Also the lex Julia de peculatu, punishes those who have stolen public money, or anything sacred or religious. Magistrates, who, during the time of their administration, have stolen the public money, are punishable capitally, as also are all who aid them in their robbery, or who receive their plunder from them. Other persons who offend against this law are subject to the penalty of deportation.

D. xlviii. 13. 1. 3; C. ix. 28.

Lex Julia peculatus. The exact date of this law is also unknown. It probably belongs to the same epoch as the lex Julia de vi.

10. Est et inter publica judicia lex Fabia de plagiariis, quæ interdum capitis pœnam ex sacris constitutionibus irrogat, interdum leviorem.

10. There is also the lex Fabia de plagiariis, which inflicts, in certain cases, capital punishment according to the constitutions, sometimes a lighter punishment.

C. ix. 20. 7.

Cicero refers to this law (pro Rabirio, 3), but nothing more is known of it. A plagiarius was one who knowingly kept in irons, or confined, sold, gave, or bought a citizen (whether freeborn or a freedman) or the slave of another.

11. Sunt præterea publica judicia, lex Julia ambitus, lex Julia repetundarum, ex lege Julia de annona, et lex Julia de residuis: quæ de certis capitulis loquuntur, et animæ quidem amissionem non irrogant, aliis autem pœnis eos subjiciunt qui præcepta earum neglexerint.

11. The following laws also pertain to public prosecutions: the lex Julia de ambitu, the lex Julia repetundarum, the lex Julia de annona, and the lex Julia de residuis. These laws apply to certain special cases, and do not carry with them the punishment of death, but lesser punishments against offenders.

D. xlviii. 11; D. xlviii. 13. 2. 4, 5; D. xlviii. 12. 2, pr. and foll.; D. xlviii. 14. Lex Julia de ambitu, made in the time of Augustus, to repress illegal methods of seeking offices. (D. xlviii. 14.) Lex Julia repetundarum, made in the time of Julius Cæsar, to punish magistrates or judges for receiving bribes.

Lex Julia de annona, made to repress combinations for heightening the price of provisions.

Lex Julia de residuis, made to punish those who gave an incomplete account of, or misappropriated, public moneys committed to their charge. (D. xlviii. 13. 2.)

It is uncertain whether these last two laws belong to the time of Julius Cæsar or of Augustus.

12. Sed de publicis judiciis hæc exposuimus, ut vobis possibile sit summo digito et quasi per indicem ea tetigisse: alioquin diligentior eorum scientia vobis ex latioribus Digestorum seu Pandectarum libris, Deo propitio, adventura est.

12. This notice of public prosecutions has only been meant to give you the merest sketch that might serve you as a guide to studying them. You may, with the blessing of God, gain a more complete knowledge of them from the fuller account given in the Digest or Pandects.