surnamed MAGNUS, or THE
GREAT, emperor of CONSTANTINOPLE and ROME from
The date of the birth of Justinian is fixed on the 11th of May, L' Art de Vérifier les Dates (vol. i. p. 409),
where the question is critically investigated. His birthplace was the village of Tauresium, in
the district of Bederiana, in Dardania, where he afterwards built the splendid city of
Justiniana, on the site of which stands the modern town of Kostendil. (See D'Anville, Mémoire sur deux villes qui ont porté le nom de Justiniana, in
the 31 st vol. of Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles Lettres.)
At an early age Justinian went to Constantinople, where his uncle Justin, who had risen to
high military honours, took care of his education and advancement. During some time he lived
as an hostage at the court of Theodoric, king of the East Goths. After the accession of his
uncle Justin to the imperial throne, in 518, he rose to eminence, and prepared his own fortune
by securing that of the emperor. Active in the destruction of the eunuch Amantius and his
associates, he contrived or perpetrated the murder of Vitalian, the Goth, so famous by his
rebellion against the emperor Anastasius, and who was stabbed at a banquet in the presence of
Justin and Justinian. In reward for his faithful allegiance, Justinian was made
commander-in-chief of the armies in Asia; but he was no warrior, and preferred remaining at
Constantinople, where he canvassed the friendship of the clergy and the senators. He was
advanced to the consulship in 521, and his influence became so great, that, at the suggestion
of the senate, the aged emperor adopted him, and proclaimed him co-emperor, 1st of April, 527.
Justin died a few months afterwards, and Justinian was crowned by the patriarch of
Constantinople, together with his wife, the actress Theodora, whom he raised to the dignity of
empress, in spite of the opposition of his mother and other relatives. [THEODORA.]
Justinian signalised his accession by public festivals more splendid than the Greeks had
ever witnessed, and the money alone which was distributed among the people is said to have
amounted to 288,000 pieces of gold. Had he not been an excellent financier, his extravagances
might have impeded his operations against the enemies of the empire, against whom he was
obliged to prosecute the war which had been begun by his predecessor; but lie understood
thoroughly the subtle art of emptying those purses again which his liberality had filled; and
if his generals were not successful against the Persians, it was not for want of money. The
Huns on the northern shores of the Euxine, especially around the Palus Maeotis, or the Sea of
Azof, were either subjugated or submitted voluntarily; and the Arabs, who made frequent
inroads into Syria as far as Antioch, were likewise, though with more difficulty, compelled to
desist from hostilities. The relations between Constantinople and Persia were of an
indifferent character, and an open war broke out between the two powers, when Justinian
promised to assist Tzathus, the king of the Lazi, between Pontus and the Caucasus, who came to
Constantinople to implore the aid of the Romans against the Persians. In the first campaign
against these hereditary enemies of Rome, the generals of Justinian, Belisarius, Cyricus, and
Petrus, were defeated; but their successor, Petrus Notarius, was successful. The war was
chiefly carried on in Armenia, but also on the frontiers of Syria and Mesopotamia, and lasted
till 532, when, after as many defeats as victories, but without being compelled by necessity,
Justinian made peace with Chosroes, the Persian king, who desisted from further hostilities on
receiving an annual tribute of 440,000 pieces of gold. Justinian wished for peace with Persia,
because he intended to make war against the Vandals in Africa, and to subdue, if possible, the
political factions by which the empire had so often been shaken, and which had created a
fearful riot in the very year that the peace was concluded with Persia. In January, 532,
Justinian honoured the public feast in the hippodrome with his presence, being surrounded by
vast numbers of the "Blue faction" (
Immediately after these troubles Justinian made serious preparations for a war against the
Vandals. His pretext was to avenge the deposition of the aged Hilderic, the lawful king of the
Vandals, and a great favourite of Justinian, on account of his orthodoxy, who had been
deprived of his throne by the warrior Gelimer; but his design upon Carthage was blamed by the
people, who had in mind the unhappy campaign of Basiliscus against the Vandals in JOANNES
of CAPPADOCIA.] Nor does it appear that Justinian originated the
plan, which seems to have been suggested to him by Theodora and Antonina, the wife of
Belisarius, and to which he was finally persuaded by this great general. This was the last
contest between Rome and Carthage, but on neither side was it carried on by Romans or
Carthaginians, those who boasted of the former name being Greeks and Scythian or Gothic
barbarians, while the defenders of Carthage were a mixture of Germans and Slavonians,
commanded by Germanic chiefs. An army of 35,000 soldiers, commanded by Belisarius, left the
Bosporus in June, 533, in a fleet of 500 ships, manned by 20,000 mariners, and among the
troops were several thousand archers with coats of mail, who fought on horseback, and of which
Procopius gives a description which strongly resembles that of the brave Caucasians in our
time. From the Bosporus the fleet made for Methone (Modon), in Messenia, where the troops were
landed, and remained a short time on the shore to refresh themselves; thence they sailed round
the Peloponnesus, reached Zante, and cast anchor at Caucana, about 50 miles from Syracuse,
where they were well treated by the Goths--a great act of imprudence on their part -- and they
finally landed on the African shore, near the promontory of Caput Vada, now Capaudia, at five
days' journey south of Carthage. Gelimer, having dispatched part of his army and fleet for the
conquest of Sardinia, was unable to offer any effective resistance: moreover, the aborigines
of the country, and the descendants of the former Roman settlers, received the Romans as
Catholic brethren, and Belisarius advanced as far as the palace of Grasse, only 50 miles from
Carthage, meeting only with friends, and not with enemies. At 10 miles distance from Carthage
the Romans encountered the main army of the Vandals, who were routed, and so completely
dispersed, that Gelimer despaired of defending his capital with success, and fled into the
interior, in order to collect a new army. A few days afterwards, on the 15th of September,
533, the inhabitants of Carthage opened their gates to the victor, hot only without
resistance, but with manifestations of joy. While Belisarius employed his time in repairing
the fortifications of Carthage, Gelimer succeeded in raising a considerable number of troops,
and his brother Zano, who had meanwhile conquered Sardinia, returned in haste with his army,
which, however, was only 5000 men strong, and joined Gelimer in his camp at Balla, five days'
journey from the capital. They marched upon Carthage, and their forces increased daily; so
that when they arrived at Tricameron, 20 miles from Carthage, they commanded an army ten times
more numerous than that of Belisarius. But the Vandals who defended Africa were no longer the
same who had conquered it: they were enervated by the climate and the luxuries of the South;
and in a pitched battle at Tricameron they were entirely defeated. Gelimer fled into the
mountains in the South, but was pursued by the Roman Pharas, who kept him besieged in a castle
on Mount Papua, where he was reduced to such extremity that he at last surrendered, and after
having been presented to Belisarius at Carthage, was sent to Constantinople, where he was
treated by Justinian with great generosity. [GELIMER.] After the
conquest of Carthage, Belisarius reduced the whole tract of Africa along the shore of the
Mediterranean, as far as the columns of Hercules, and brought likewise the islands of Sardinia
and Corsica, as well as the Baleares, under the authority of Justinian.
The overthrow of the Vandal kingdom in Africa was followed by a war with the East Goths in
Italy, which arose out of the following circumstances, in which the cunning and artfulness of
Justinian were no less conspicuous than the frank heroism of Belisarius. Shortly after the
accession of Justinian, the young king of the East Goths, athalaric, died, and his mother
Amalasuntha, a highly gifted woman, who was the youngest daughter of the great Theodoric,
succeeded her son, and, in order to establish her power the better, married her cousin
Theodat. It happened, however, that Justinian contemplated a marriage with that queen,
although he was already married to Theodora; and we cannot doubt that, in order to obtain his
ends, he would have sacrificed both his wife and king Theodat. Suspecting his designs,
Theodora secretly negotiated with Theodat, and made him great promises, if he would put
Amalasuntha to death. Theodat saw his danger, and lost no time in seizing his unfortunate
queen, and confining her in a castle, where she was found strangled some time after her
imprisonment (534). The anger of Justinian was extreme, and as the Gothic kingdom was shaken
by political factions, while his own power had much increased through his conquest of Africa,
he prepared for an invasion of Italy. The pretext he alleged was to avenge the murder of
Amalasuntha. He began his hostile demonstrations by demanding the fortress of Lilybaeum, in
Sicily, from the Goths: this town had been given to Thrasimond, king of the Vandals, by
Theodoric the Great, but after the overthrow of BELISARIUS. When Belisarius was recalled, the Roman army was in a critical position,
because the brave Gothic king, Totilas, had gained great advantages over Belisarius, and after
his recal the Goths made such progress as to reduce the Roman power in Italy to a shadow.
Totilas took Rome by a stratagem, restored the senate, and made it once more the seat of the
Gothic empire. Thence he sailed to Calabria, took Tarentum and Rhegium, conquered Sicily,
Sardinia, and Corsica, and despatched a fleet of 300 gallies, which were probably manned by
Greek natives of Southern Italy, for the Goths were no mariners, to the coast of Greece, where
the Gothic warriors landed, and spread terror among the inhabitants. They pushed as far as
Nicopolis and Dodona, and Totilas sent envoys to Justinian, offering him peace, and promising
to assist him against any enemy, if he would desist from his designs upon Italy. Justinian
would perhaps have accepted his offers but for the circumstance that the Goths being Arians,
the orthodox church in Italy was in danger of being overthrown by schismatics. Fresh troops
were consequently sent to Italy, and Germanus, the nephew of Justinian, who was renowned by
many victories over the Bulgarians, the Persians, and the Mauritanians, was destined to
command them, but died at Sardica, in Illyricum, on his march to Italy. [GERMANUS, No. 2.] The choice of Germanus proves the danger in which the empire was
placed by the victories of Totilas. This prince was dear to the Goths through his marriage
with Mathasuntha, daughter of Amalasuntha, and grand-daughter of Theodoric the Great; and as
he was also one of the best Roman generals, a suspicious man like Justinian must have had
urgent motives for sending him into Italy, where, in case of success, he had still greater
chances of becoming king of the Goths than Belisarius could have had in making himself
independent in Africa. But Germanus was a man of so excellent a character as to be above the
suspicions even of a Justinian. The mere fact of his being appointed to the command roused the
spirit of the Roman army, and ere the eunuch Narses was chosen to succeed him, the Gothic
fleet had been defeated, and Sicily reconquered by Artabanus. Narses led the Roman army round
the Adriatic into Italy, while a fleet followed him along the shore, and in a dreadful battle
at Tagina (July, 552) slew 6000 Goths, and dispersed the rest. Totilas fell in the conflict,
and his bloody dress was sent as the most acceptable trophy to Justinian. The successor of
Totilas, Teias, continued the war, but he likewise was killed in a pitched battle on the river
Sarnus, near Naples, and his death was the downfal of the Gothic kingdom in Italy. A host of
Franks and Alemanni descended from the Alps to dispute the possession of Italy with Narses,
and their first inroad was so irresistible that they penetrated as far as the straits of
Sicily. But in a battle on the river Volturnus, near the bridge of Casilinum, they were routed
with great slaughter by Narses, who drove their scattered remnants beyond the Alps (554).
Narses was appointed exarch, or viceroy, of Italy, and took up his residence at Ravenna, and
he united his efforts with those of his master in settling the domestic state of Italy, which
was nearly ruined through the protracted war, while millions of her inhabitants had perished
by the sword and famine.
To these conquests the lieutenants of Justinian in Africa added a considerable tract in
Spain, along the shores of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, from the south-western
extremity of Algarve in the west to the confines of the modern kingdom of Murcia in the east,
which the West Goths were obliged to cede to the victorious Romans; and the fortunate
Justinian now reigned over the whole extent of the Roman empire as it existed under the
earlier emperors, except the greater part of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, where the most warlike
of all the barbarians of those times exercised an authority unchecked by either Romans or
Greeks. The strength of Justinian's empire, however, did not correspond with its dimensions.
Both the Romans and Greeks were enervated, and little disposed to serve in the field, when
they could buy foreigners to defend Rome and Constantinople; and the practice of enlisting
barbarians proved very dangerous, since so many veterans, who returned into their native
forests or steppes, informed their brethren of the internal weakness of the Roman empire. We
thus see that, notwithstanding the fear which the victories of Belisarius, Narses, Germanus,
and so many other great generals, necessarily caused among the immediate neighbours of the
Romans, many barbarian nations, that lived at greater distances from the Roman frontiers,
pushed slowly towards Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, in order to be ready to invade the empire
at the first opportunity. From the extreme north of Germany, the Longobards, of Saxon origin,
advanced towards the Danube, and settled in Moravia and Northern Hungary, whence, but a few
years after the death of Justinian, they broke forth for the conquest of Italy. Their
neighbourhood appeared so dangerous to Justinian, that he tried to gain them to his interests,
and to use them as a barrier against other enemies, by ceding to them Pannonia and Noricum.
The latter province was, however, soon taken from the Longobards by the Franks. The neighbours
of the Longobards, the Gepidae, had founded a kingdom in Eastern Hungary and Transylvania as
early as the middle of the fifth century; and since they were always annoying the Romans in
Illyricum, Justinian availed himself of their feuds with the Longobards, and assisted the
latter. In consequence of this, the power of the Gepidae was weakened, but that of the
Longobards increased in proportion; and had Justinian lived but two years longer, he would
have seen that the final overthrow of the Gepidae had, as its immediate consequence, the
destruction of the Roman power in Italy by the Longobards. Still farther in the East, on the
river Don, appeared in 557 the Avars, a nation of Turkish origin. In accordance with his usual
policy of turning the feuds of the barbarians to his own profit, Justinian lavished his money
upon the Avars, and employed them together with his own forces against some barbarian tribes
which annoyed the Roman possessions in the Chersonnesus Taurica (the Crimea). This was in 558.
Only four years afterwards the whole of the nations north of the Danube, as far west as modern
Bavaria, was subjugated by the Avars, and Justinian II. paid dearly for the timid and wavering
conduct of Justinian I.
If we turn our eyes from the West to the East, we find that the treaty of peace had scarcely been concluded between Constantinople and Persia, before the Persian king Chosroes or Nushirwan, with his accustomed faithlessness, violated its conditions, and a new and terrible war broke out in 540. According to Procopius, however, Justinian purposely excited the Persian king to take up arms, and, at any rate, wished for a new war, which is the more likely, as he was then at the pinnacle of his power. In the year mentioned Nushirwán invaded Syria, and the Roman army being too weak to arrest his progress, he spoiled the principal towns of their riches, and laid siege to Antioch, which was defended by Germanus. This general thought his forces insufficient for an effective resistance, and consequently withdrew, a step for which he has been charged with cowardice, although on many other occasions he had shown himself a brave and fearless man. The "queen of the East" soon became a prey to the Persians, and after having been plundered, was destroyed by fire. The Asiatic provinces of Justinian would have been lost but for the timely arrival of Belisarius (541), who through a well calculated invasion of Mesopotamia and Assyria, compelled Nushirwán to leave the province of Pontus which he was ravaging, and to hasten to the defence of his hereditary dominions. Suddenly Belisarius was recalled to Constantinople, and during his absence Nushirwán collected his forces, and set out for a new invasion of Syria and Palestine. In this emergency Belisarius was again put at the head of the Roman armies in those quarters; and the mere fact of his presence was sufficient to induce Nushirwán to repass the Euphrates. Every body now expected that Belisarius would march forthwith upon Ctesiphon, when the unfavourable turn of the Gothie war required his presence in Italy (543). No sooner was he gone than 30,000 Romans suffered a severe defeat from 4000 Persians ; but the differences between the two empires were nevertheless settled to the satisfaction of Justinian, and a sort of truce was made, in consequence of which that part of the East was no longer disturbed by the Persians. It happened, however, that the Lazians and Colchians became tired of their dependence upon Constantinople, and implored the protection of Nushirwán, who accepted the offer, and placed garrisons in the principal towns of those nations. A few years were sufficient to show them that the rapacity of the king was still greater than that of the emperor, and they accordingly entreated Justinian to receive them again among his subjects, and to deliver them from their Persian oppressors. Justinian despatched Dagisteus with 7000 Romans and 1000 Zani into Lazica; and Petra, the strongest fortress of the country, was taken from the Persians by storm, after a memorable and protracted siege (549-551). This war lasted, with various success, till 561, when, tired of eternal bloodshed, the two monarchs came at last to an agreement. Through the peace of 561 the tranquillity of the East was finally restored, but Justinian bought it on the dishonourable condition of an annual payment of 30,000 pieces of gold. Yet the profit of this negotiation was on the side of Justinian, because Nushirwán renounced his claims upon Colchis and Lazica, both of which countries were then renowned for their gold mines; and the restoration of peace in all his Eastern dominions was a sufficient consideration to induce Justinian to expend so small a sum as 30,000 pieces of gold. In the beginning of the Persian war Justinian concluded a singular alliance. At that time there was a Christian kingdom in Southern Arabia, which extended over the provinces of Yemen and Hadhramaút, and was then commonly called the kingdom of the Homeritae. Dunaan having seized the supreme power, persecuted the Christians, who found assistance in the person of Eleesbam, the Negus or Christian king of Abyssinia, who came over to Arabia, and made himself master of the Homeritic kingdom. With this Eleesbam Justinian entered into negotiations, and in 533 despatched Nonnosus as ambassador to him, to induce him to unite his forces with the Romans against the Persians, and to protect the trade between Egypt and India, especially that of silk, which Justinian wished to establish by sea, through the assistance of the inhabitants of Abyssinia and Arabia. Nonnosus ascended the Nile, and was received by Eleesbam at Axum, but he did not attain his objects. Soon afterwards the Homeritae freed themselves from the Abyssinian supremacy; but the rise of Mohammedanism proved the ruin of the Christians in Arabia, for the power of the Abyssinian kings in Africa was weakened through internal discord and revolutions. Gibbon remarks with great justness, that " these obscure and remote events are not foreign to the decline and fall of the Roman empire. If a Christian power had been maintained in Arabia, Mohammed must have been crushed in his cradle, and Abyssinia would have prevented a revolution which has changed the civil and religious state of the world."
The final overthrow of the Gothic power in Italy, the peace with Persia, the reconquest of Lazica, and the last victories of Belisarius over the Bulgarians in 559, followed each other so closely, and were of such importance in their consequences, that Justinian was allowed during the last years of his life to enjoy in peace the extraordinary power which his ambition made him wish for, but which he owed entirely to the skill and heroism of Belisarius, Narses, and Germanus, and many other generals, as well as to the valour and discipline of the troops formed by those eminent officers. Nino months after Belisarius, the victim of his base ingratitude, had sunk into the grave, the emperor Justinian died, on the 14th of November, 565, at the age of eighty-three, and left an empire, colossal in size, threatening in its appearance, but rotten in its foundations, to the imbecile son of his sister Vigilantia, Justinus II.
After this sketch of the principal political events of the reign of Justinian, it remains to say a few words on the manner in which he guarded his empire against so many enemies which surrounded it, and on the system of his government at home.
The ancient Roman system of fortifying the frontiers of the empire was carried by Justinian
to an extent which plainly shows the great danger to which his subjects were constantly
exposed; for not only were the outer frontiers secured by an
The enormous sums which the defence of the empire required, together with the gold which
Justinian lavished upon the barbarians, involuntarily led to the system of his administration.
Procopius, in his Secret History or Anecdota, gives an awful description of it but however
vicious that administration was, the colours of Procopius are too dark, and his motives in
writing that work were not fair. There was decided order and regularity in the administration,
but the leading principles of it were suspicion and avarice. The taxes were so heavy, their
assessment so unequal, that Gibbon compares them to a hail-storm that fell upon the land, and
to a devouring pestilence with regard to its inhabitants. In cases of necessity, the
inhabitants of whole districts were compelled to bring their stores of corn to Constantinople,
or other places where the troops might be in want of it, and they were either not paid at all,
or received such bad prices that they were often completely ruined. In all the provinces the
officers of the crown took much more from the people than the law allowed, because the
venality of places was carried on openly as a means of filling the emperor's treasury, and the
purses of his prime minister; and those who purchased places, which were, after all, badly
paid, could not keep their engagements with the sellers, nor enrich themselves, without
carrying on that system of robbery, which is at the present day the general practice in Turkey
and most of the other countries in the East. Justinian certainly tried to check peculation and
venality (Novella, viii.), but this thundering edict was soon forgotten,
and it would seem that the emperor himself lent his endeavours to throw it into oblivion.
Another great abuse which the principal officers made of their power was that of prevailing
upon wealthy persons to make wills in their favour, to the disadvantage of the natural heirs.
A great source of revenue for the imperial treasury consisted in the numberless duties, entry
fees, andothercharges, mostly arbitrary, laid upon trade and manufactures, and we may fairly
presume that the tradespeople were as much oppressed as the land-owners. Some branches of
trade, as for instance silk, were made monopolies of the crown, and, in short, there were no
means left untried to fill his treasury. However, he never tampered with the coinage, nor gave
it an artificial value. The millions thus obtained by Justinian were not only sufficient to
cover the expenses occasioned by the army, the fortifications, the wars, and the bribery of
barbarians, but enough remained to enable him to indulge his passion of perpetuating his name
by public festivals, and especially by those beautiful buildings and monuments which were
erected by his order, and render his time conspicuous in the history of art. Procopius
describes them in his work "De Aedificiis Justiniani." The church of St. Sophia in
Constantinople, that splendid edifice, which, though now transformed into a Turkish mosque,
still excites the admiration of the spectator, was the most magnificent building erected by
Justinian. Besides this Church of St. Sophia, there were twenty-five other churches
constructed in Constantinople and its suburbs, among which were the beautiful churches of St.
John the Apostle and St. Mary the Virgin, near the Blachernae, the latter of which he perhaps
only repaired. The imperial palace at Constantinople was embellished with unparalleled
splendour and taste; and his new palace with the gardens at Heraeum, near Chalcedon, was
praised as the most beautiful residence in the world. The "Antiquities of Constantinople," by
In 541 Justinian abolished the consulship, or, more correctly, discontinued the old-established custom of choosing consuls. The consulate being a mere title, it was but reasonable to do away with it, although the name was still dear to the people ; but it was not abolished by law until the reign of the emperor Leo Philosophus (886-911.) Justinian likewise shut up the schools at Athens and Alexandria, where the Neo-Platonists still professed dogmas which the orthodox emperor thought dangerous to Christianity. In the time of Justinian, however, those schools were only a shadow of what they had been in the first centuries of our era. Christian orthodoxy was one of the most important objects which Justinian endeavoured to establish in his empire, and many of his laws testify his zeal on behalf of the church and the clergy. But his piety was exaggerated, and toleration was a thing unknown to him. He persecuted Christian sectaries, Jews, and pagans, in an equally heartless manner, and actually endeavoured to drive them all out of his dominions. Towards the end of his life, however, Justinian changed his religious opinions so much that he was considered a complete heretic. Nestorianism, which he was so active in condemning at the fifth General Council, the second of Constantinople, in 553, was the doctrine which he embraced.
The character of Justinian presented a strange mixture of virtues and vices, but he was neither so depraved as Procopius depicts him, nor so accomplished as the modern jurists of Germany and France represent him in their admiration for his legislation. His private life was exemplary. He was frugal, laborious, affable, and generous, but his mean suspicions and unreasonable jealousy never allowed him to gain the love of his friends or the esteem of his subjects. His conduct towards Belisarius was execrable. Another of his vices was rapacity, and it would seem that he considered men created to work, not for themselves, but for him alone. Thence the little regard he paid to the complaints of his subjects with reference to his perpetual wars; and although he assisted them with great liberality when they were suffering from the consequences of those plagues and earthquakes which signalized his time, his motive was vanity as much as humanity. If we look at his endless and glorious wars, we should think that he was a great warrior himself, or possessed at least great military talents : but however great his talents were, they were not in that line; he never showed himself in the field, and his subjects called him a bigoted and cowardly tyrant. As a statesman he was crafty rather than wise; yet his legislation is a lasting monument of his administrative genius, and has given him a place in the opinion of the world far beyond that which he really deserves. (Procopius, with special reference to his
The idea of forming a complete code of law has been attributed to Pompey, to Cicero, and to
Julius Caesar. Such, too, was the original plan of Theodosius the younger, although a much
more limited design was ultimately carried into effect in the Theodosian Code. [DIODORUS.] Shortly before the reign of Justinian, upon the
submission of the Western empire to Germanic rule, the Roman law was still allowed to retain
its force in the West by the side of a newly-introduced Germanic jurisprudence. The Lex Romana, as it was barbarously called, remained the law of the
subjugated Romans, while the Barbari, as the Germans were proud to be
styled, continued to live under their own Teutonic institutions. Under this anomalous system
of personal laws, many difficulties must have arisen, and it was found
necessary to make separate collections of such sources of law as were to be recognised for
the future in regulating the respective rights and duties of the subjugated Roman provincials
and their conquerors. In the West Gothic kingdom, which was established in Spain and a part
of Gaul, a collection of Roman laws was formed during the reign of Alaric II. (Breviariumn Aniani [ANIANUS], or Breviarium Alaricianum. In
Though the necessities which called for these legislative efforts in the kingdoms of the
West did not exist to the same extent in the Oriental empire, ther, were not wanting other
reasons for legal Panegyr. 10.20.) The law was oppressed by its own weight. The
complexity of practice, the long series of authoritative writings, the unwieldy bulk of
express enactments, and the multitude of voluminous commentators, were sufficient to bewilder
the most resolute jurist. In the midst of conflicting texts, it was hard to find out where
the true law lay. By the citation law of Theodosius II. and Valentinian III. (Theod. Cod. 1.
tit. 4. s. 3), the majority of juristic suffrages was substituted for the victory of
scientific reasoning. [GAIUS, p. 196.] The schools of law
established by Theodosius II. at Rome and Constantinople (Cod. 11, tit. 18) were unable to
revive the practical energy of former times. A host of pedants and pretenders came into
existence. Some quoted at second-hand the names of ancient jurists, whose works they had
never read, while others derided all appeal to scarce and antiquated books, which they
boasted that they had never seen. To them the name of an old jurist was no better than the
name of some outlandish fish. (Amm. Marcell. 30.4; Jac. Gothofredus, Prolegomena ad Theod. Cod. i.)
Such were the evils which Justinian resolved to remedy. In his conceptions of the measures necessary for this purpose he was more vast than all who had preceded him, and he was more successful in the complete execution of his plan. It seems to have been his intention to establish a perfect system of written legislation for all his dominions ; and, to this end, to make two great collections, one of the imperial constitutions, the other of all that was valuable in the works of jurists. He was personally not unacquainted with the theory and the working of the law; for, in his youth, he had devoted careful attention to the study of jurisprudence at Constantinople; and, in his manhood, had discharged the duties of the most important offices in the state.
The first work attempted by Justinian, as the most practical and the most pressing, was
the collection of imperial constitutions. This he commenced in Haec
quae necessario.) In compiling preceding constitutions, and making use of the
Gregorian, Hermogenian, and Theodosian Codes, the commission was armed with very ample
powers. It was authorized to correct and retrench, as well as to consolidate and arrange.
The commissioners executed their task speedily. In the following year, on the 7th of April,
At the end of the following year (Const. Deo Auctore, dated Dec. 15.
This extraordinary work has been blamed by men of divers views on divers accounts.
Tribonian and his associates, regarding rather practical utility than the curiosity of
archaeologists, did not scruple at times so to adulterate the extracts they made, that a
theorizer in legal history might easily be misled if he trusted implicitly to their
accuracy. Hence the emblemata Triboniani have been to many critics a
fertile topic of reprehension. The complaints of others are levelled against scientific
rather than historical delinquencies. Unity and system, say they, could result only from a
single complete code of remodelled laws, and not from the lazy plan of two separate
collections, made out of independent pre-existing writings; and though, from the
circumstances of the time, Justinian may have been forced to adopt the latter alternative,
it was unphilosophical to commence with the constitutions in place of the jurists. Those
principles which lie at the foundation of jurisprudence pervade the pars generalis--no connected statement of first principles--no regular
development of consequences. Leading maxims are introduced incidentally, and matters of the
greatest moment, as the law of procedure, are scattered under various heads -- here a
little, and there a little.
The Digest is divided into seven partes, and is also divided into
fifty books. The partes begin respectively with the 1st, 5th, 12th, 20th, 28th, 37th, and
45th books. Each book is divided into titles, and each title has a rubric or heading
denoting the general nature of its contents. The division into seven parts, though the late
Hugo often took occasion to insist upon its importance, has been little attended to in
modern times. Under each title are separate extracts from ancient jurists--sometimes only a
single extract. These were not originally numbered, but they were headed by the name of the
author, and a reference to his work (inscriptiones). Justinian directed
that a catalogue should be prefixed to the Digest with the names of all the authors cited,
and of the particular works from which the extracts were taken. Such a catalogue, though not
perhaps the genuine original, is placed at the beginning of the celebrated Florentine
manuscript of the Digest, and is thence called the Florentine Index.
The jurists from whom extracts are directly taken, often cite other
jurists, but seldom literally. These are, however, pure or literal,
though not direct extracts, from Q. Mucius Scaevola, Aelius Gallus, and Labeo. There are 39
jurists, from whose works the Digest contains literal extracts, whether made directly or at
second-hand ; and these 39 are often called the classical jurists, a
name sometimes extended to all those jurists who lived not later than Justinian, and
sometimes confined to Papinian, Paulus, Ulpian, Gaius, and Modestinus, from the special
manner in which these five are mentioned in the citation law of Valentinian III. Extracts
from Ulpian constitute about one third of the Digest; from Paulus about one sixth; from
Papinian about one twelfth. In Hommel's Palingenesia Pandectarum the
fragments of each jurist are collected and printed separately : an attempt is made to
reanimate the man--to restore his individuality--by bringing together his dispersed limbs
and scattered bones.
The internal arrangement of the separate fragments of jurists under each title would appear at first sight to be completely fortuitous. It is neither chronological nor alphabetical; nor does it consistently and uniformly follow any rational train of thought, depending on the subject treated of. Blume (as he now writes himself, or Bluhme, as the name was formerly written) has elaborately expounded a theory which, though rejected by Tigerstrom and others seems to rest upon the foundation of facts, and must at least be something like the truth. No one can form a sound opinion of the merits of Blume's theory without a careful examination of a great number of titles in the Digest. It is found that the extracts under each title usually resolve themselves into three masses or series--that the first series is headed by extracts taken from commentaries on Sabinus; the second from commentaries on the Edict; and the third from commentaries on Papinian. Hence he supposes that the commission was divided into three sections, and that to each section was given a certain set of works to analyse and break up into extracts. The masses or series he names from the works that head them : the Sabinian, Edictal, and Papinian masses; although each mass contains extracts from a great number of other works unconnected with Sabinus, the Edict, or Papinian. Besides these three principal masses of extracts, a set of miscellaneous extracts, forming an appendix to the Papinian mass, seems to have been drawn up in order to complete the selection, and may be said to form a fourth, or supplementary mass, called by Blume the Post-Papinian.
Regularly, the mass that contained the greatest number of fragments relating to any
particular title appears first in that title. The total number of fragments belonging to the
Sabinian mass exceeds the number in the Edictal, and the Edictal fragments are more numerous
than the Papinian. Hence the usual order is S, E, P. By these
initial letters (previously used by Blume) the brothers Kriegel in their edition of the
Digest (Lips. 1833), mark the separate fragments, to denote the masses with which they are
classed. The fragments belonging to the supplementary mass are marked Pp. For the details of
exceptions from this arrangement, and the reasons for such exceptions; for lists of the
works of ancient jurists, so classed as to show to what mass the fragments of each work
belong ; and for applications of the theory to critical purposes, the reader is referred to
Blume's justly celebrated essay on the
It may seem remarkable that the credit of this discovery should be reserved to so recent a
date. Most of the moderns who investigated the subject had sought, by reference to the
actual contents of the fragments, to make out the principle on which they were arranged; but
it was an examination of the inscriptiones that led Blume to his
theory. Some approximations to it had been previously made by inquirers who followed the
same clue. Ant. Augustinus had observed that, in each title, the fragments taken from
different books of the same work were regularly arranged, an extract from book 2. never
coming before an extract from book 1. Giphanius (Oeconomia Juris, 4to,
Franc. 1606, c. ult.) had gone further than Augustinus ; and Jac. Gothofredus, in his
commentary on the title of the Digest, "De Regulis Juris" (Opera
Minora, p. 719, 739), approaches more closely than Giphianius to Blume's
discovery.
It is to be remarked that most of the institutional works, and most of the dogmatic
treatises on the pure jus civile of Rome -- on the law of Rome as
unaltered by legislation or equitable construction--furnish extracts to the Sabinian mass.
The works which relate to the modifications of the original law jus honorarium fall naturally into the Edictal mass; while the
Papinian mass consists of fragments from works which relate chiefly to the practical
application of the law, e. g. cases and opinions relating to miscellaneous points in the
construction of wills. Those who are still opposed to Blume's theory think that the
compilers of the Digest were led to their arrangement of the fragments by something like a
natural development of the subject treated under each title : that they inserted at the
commencement of a title such passages as explain the law institutionally, or such as relate
chiefly to the original principles of the jus civile : that they then proceeded to the
modifications of the original law, and finally to its practical applications. According to
this theory, the principle of internal arrangement, though rude, would lead incidentally to
something like uniformity in the order of the works analysed : according to Blume's theory,
where the contents of a title proceed from the simple to the more complex, such an
arrangement is secondary and dependent on the general character of the three groups of works
analysed by different sections of the commissioners. He admits, however, that some of the
exceptions to the general rule of arrangement which his theory propounds result from
attention to the natural order of ideas. Thus, at the beginning of a title, fragments are
placed, severed from the mass to which they regularly belong if they contain definitions of
words or general divisions of the subject, or give a summary explanation of leading
principles.
Considering the short time in which the Digest was completed, and the peculiarity of its
arrangement, its compliance with the requisitions of Justinian deserves high commendation.
It was not, however, entirely free from repetitions of the same passage under different
titles (leges geminatae), nor from the insertion of fragments under
unappropriate heads (leges fugitivae or erraticae), nor from the
admission of actual inconsistencies or contradictions (antinomiae,
leges inter se pugnantes).
Justinian forbade all commentary on his collections, and prohibited the citation of older writings. It is said that Napoleon exclaimed, when he saw the first commentary on the
The emperor was desirous that the body of law to be compiled under his direction should be
all in all, not only for practice, but for academical instruction ; but the Digest and the
Code, though they were to form part of an advanced stage of legal education, led far into
detail, which could not well be understood by beginners. It became necessary therefore to
compose an elementary work for students. Already in the constitution, Deo
Auctore, of Dec.
Had it been possible to make law for ever fixed, and had the emperor's workmen been able
to accomplish this object, the desire of Justinian's heart would have been fulfilled. But
there were many questions upon which the ancient jurists were divided. Under the earlier
emperors, these differences of opinion had given rise to permanent sects [CAPITO]; nor were they afterwards entirely
extinguished, when party spirit had yielded to independent eclecticism. The compilers of the
Digest tacitly, by their selection of extracts, manifested their choice; but a Catholic
doctrine, the great object of Justinian's wishes, was not thus to be accomplished. At the
suggestion of Tribonianus, the emperor began, while his compilations were yet in progress,
to issue constitutions having for their object the decision of the ancient controversies.
These constitutions helped to guide the compilers of the Digest and Institutes; but, as they
were issued from time to time after the first constitutionum codex (the
greater part of them in the years 529 and 530), it was found desirable, when they had
reached the number of fifty, to form them into a separate collection, which seems to have
been published under the title
Even after the publication of the fifty decisions, the imperfection and ambiguity of the
existing law required to be remedied by further constitutions. The incompleteness of the
Code of secunda editio, or repetita
praelectio, care was taken to insert the constitutions of Justinian which had appeared
since the first edition. It is probable that all the Fifty Decisions were incorporated,
although we have not the means of precisely identifying them. On the 16th of Nov. Codex Repetitae Praelectionis. It is now
ordinarily called the Code of Justinian, although it is more correctly
called Constitutionum Codex, since the other collections of Justinian
are also entitled to the name of Codes. The earliest constitution contained in the Code is
one of Hadrian, the latest one of Justinian, dated Nov. 4., inscriptio, or address, and ended by a
subscriptio, announcing the place and time of its date, The general
arrangement corresponds on the whole with that of the Digest, so far as the two works treat
of the same subject, but there are some variations which cannot be accounted for. For
instance, the law of pledges and the law of the father's power occupy very different
relative positions in the Digest and the Code. Some constitutiones, which are referred to in
the Institutes, do not appear in the modern manuscripts of the Code; and it is doubtful
whether they were omitted by the compilers of the second edition, or left out by subsequent
copyists.
Justinian, though fond of legal unity, was fond of law-making. If he had lived long
enough, there might perhaps have been a second edition of the Digest. When the new Code was
published, he contemplated the necessity of a supplement to it, and promised that any
legislative reforms which he might afterwards make should be formed into a collection of Novellae Constitutiones. (Const. Cordi, § 4.)
Many such Novells (Anecdota,
vol. ii. p. 208.)
Such were Justinian's legislative works--works of no mean merit--nay, with all their faults, considering the circumstances of the time, worthy of very great praise. They have long exercised, and, pervading modern systems of law, continue to exercise, enormous influence over the thoughts and actions of men. It is true that they exhibit a certain enslavement to elements originally base, for there was much that was narrow and barbarous in the early law of Rome; but, partly by tortuous fictions, and partly by bolder reform, the Roman jurisprudence of later times struggled to arrive at better and more rational rules. The Digest is especially precious, as preserving the remains of jurists whose works would otherwise have been wholly lost, notwithstanding their great value as illustrations of history, as materials for thinking, and as models of legal reasoning and expression. If adherence to the contents of the imperial law during the middle ages cramped on the one hand the spontaneity of indigenous development, it opposed barriers on the other to the progress of feudal barbarism.
We proceed now to give some account of the literary history, and to mention the principal editions, separate and collective, of Justinian's compilations. The editions up to the end of the first third of the 16th century are scarce, for, from the inconvenience of their form, and the variety of contractions they employ, they have been subjected to the sane fate with the early manuscripts : but, like the early manuscripts, they are often of use in correcting the text.
Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still promised, but has
hitherto made no further visible progress. Among the exegetical commentators, Vinnius,
à Costa, and Otto, will be found the most useful.
The commentaries of
Paraphrasis of
Theophilus as the most useful of all commentariesDe Multitudine nimia Commentatorum in
Institutiones Juris.
The Institutes of Justinian were edited, jointly with those of Gaius,
A complete account of the literature connected with the Institutes would fill a volume.
The reader is referred for full and authentic information on the subject to Spangenberg,
Einleitung in das Corpus Juris Civilis; Böking, Institutionen, pp. 145-158; Prodromus Corporis Juris Civilis a
Schradero, Clossio, Tafelio edendi, 8vo. Berol. 1823; Beck, Indicis
Codicum et Editionum, Juris Justiniani Prodromus, 8vo. Lips. 1823; and the editions
of the Institutes by Biener and Schrader.
The literary history of the Digest has been a subject of hot and still unextinguished
controversy. The most celebrated existing manuscript of this work is that called the
Florentine, consisting of two large quarto volumes, written by Greek scribes, probably not
later than the end of the sixth, or the beginning of the seventh century. It was formerly
supposed by some to be one of the authentic copies transmitted to Italy in the lifetime of
Justinian, but this opinion is now abandoned. It is, in general, free from contractions
and abbreviations, which were strictly forbidden by the emperor, but letters and parts of
letters are sometimes made to do double duty, as necesset for necesse esset (geminationes), and AB for A B (monogranmmata). The Florentine manuscript was for a long time at Pisa,
and hence the glossators refer to its text as litera Pisana (P. or
Pi.), in contradistinction to the common text (litera vulgata). Its
history before it arrived at Pisa, is doubtful. According to the testimony of Odofredus,
who wrote in the 13th century, it was brought to Pisa from Constantinople, and Bartolus,
in the 14th century, relates that it was always at Pisa. We are strongly inclined to put
faith in the constant tradition that it was given to the Pisans by Lothario the Second,
after the capture of Amalfi, in de Regno Ital. xi. in fine.) It is certain that soon after the capture
of Amalfi, the Roman law, which had long been comparatively neglected, was brought into
remarkable repute by the teaching of Irnerius, but this resuscitation is attributed by
Savigny to the growing illumination of men's minds, and to that felt want of legal science
which the progress of commerce and civilisation naturally produces. He thinks that
civilisation, excited by these causes, not by any sudden discovery, had only to put forth
its arm and seize the sources of Roman law, which were previously obvious and ready for
its grasp.
Pisa was conquered by the Florentine Caponius, in 1406, and the manuscript was brought to Florence in 1411 (?), ever since which time it has been kept there as a valuable treasure, and regarded with the utmost reverence.
Where the Florentine manuscript may have been before the siege of Amalfi is of little
consequence ; but it is of great consequence that we should be able to decide another much
disputed question, namely, whether the Florentine manuscript be or be not the sole
authentic source whence the text of all other existing manuscripts, and of all the printed
editions, is derived. In favour of the affirmative opinion there are several facts, which
have not, we think, been satisfactorily accounted for. The leaves of the Florentine
manuscript are written on both sides and the last leaf but one, in binding the volume, has
been so placed as to reverse the order of the pages. The fault is copied in all the
existing manuscripts. The order of the 8th and 9th titles in the 37th book of the Digest
is reversed in the Florentine manuscript, but the error is corrected by the scribe by a
Greek note in the margin. There are fragments similarly reversed in
lib. 35, tit. 2, and lib. 40, tit. 4, and similarly corrected. In the other existing old
manuscripts, written by men who did not understand Greek, the error is reproduced, but not
the correction. On the other hand, an interpolation added in Latin in
the margin of the Florentine manuscript, is inserted in the text of the other manuscripts.
For this reason, the last four fragments of lib. 41, tit. 3, are wrongly converted into a
separate title, with the rubric de Solutto. In the 20th and 22nd
titles of the 48th book, there are blanks in the Florentine manuscript, indicating the
omission of several fragments, which were first restored by Cujas from the Basilica. The
omissions exist in all the ancient manuscripts. In general, where the text of the
Florentine manuscript presents insuperable difficulties, no assistance is to be derived
from the other manuscripts, whereas they all, in many passages, retain the errors of the
Florentine. Their variations are nowhere so numerous and arbitrary as where the Florentine
is defective or corrupt. Moreover, they appear to be all later than the beginning of the
twelfth century; and, in general, the older they are, the less they depart from the
Florentine.
In opposition to these facts, the supporters of the conflicting theory adduce many passages of the ordinary text in which the omissions and faults of the Florentine manuscript are corrected and supplied. Some of the variations are not improvements, some may be ascribed to critical sagacity and happy conjecture, and some may have been drawn from the Basilica or other Eastern sources : yet, in the list which Savigny has given, a few variations remain, which can scarcely be accounted for in any of these ways. Passages from the Digest, containing readings different from those of the Florentine manuscript, occur in canonists and other authors, anterior to the supposed discovery at Amalfi. Four palimpsest leaves of a manuscript of the Digest, nearly as old as the Florentine, were found at Naples by Gaupp, and an account of them was published by him at Breslau, in 1823. They belong to the tenth book, but are nearly illegible.
In most of the manuscripts and early editions, the Digest consists of three nearly equal
volumes. The first, comprehending lib. 1-24, tit. 2, is called Digestum
Vetus ; the second, comprehending lib. 24, tit. 3-lib. 38, is called Infortiatum ; the third, comprehending lib. 39-lib. 50, is called Novum. The
The editions of the Digest, with reference to the character of their text, may be
divided into three classes, the Florentine, the vulgate, and the mixed. Politianus and
Bologninus had both carefully collated the Florentine manuscript, but no edition
represented the Florentine text before Corpus Juris Civilis,
The vulgate editions have no existing standard text to refer to. The ideal standard is
the text formed by the glossators, as revised by Accursius. Their number is immense.
Bibl. MSS. p. 157) mentions the existence of an edition of 1473, of the first and
second parts of the Digest.Digestum Novum was printed by
Pücher (fol. Rom. 1476).
The commentators upon the Digest and upon separate portions of it are extremely
numerous. Among the most useful are Rationalia in Pandectas, Lugd.
1659-1663)Meditationes in Pandectas
of Erläuterungen of Glück
One of the most valuable works upon the Digest is Notae ad Digesta, cum animadversionibus Nic. Smallenberg, 7 vols. 8vo. Lug. Bat.
1804-1835.
In Brenkmann's Historia Pandectarum will be found a full account of
the early state of the controversy relating to the history of the Florentine manuscript.
The writings of Augustinus, Grandi, Tanucci, Guadagni, Schwartz, and others, who have
signalised themselves in this field, are referred to in Walch's note on Eckhard's Ermeneutica Juris, § 74; and the researches of Savigny on the same
subject will be found in the second and third volumes of his " History of the Roman Law in
the Middle Ages." For detailed information as to editions of the Digest and Commentaries
on that work, Spangenberg's Einleitung, and Beck's Prodromus, may be consulted with advantage.
The earliest manuscript containing a portion of the
The first edition of the first nine books was printed by P. Schoyffer (fol. Mogunt. 1475).
The
The first edition of the twelve books was given by Haloander (fol. Noremb. 1530).
Cujas and Wissenbach are among the best commentators on the Code. The commentaries of
the latter comprise the first seven books (in lib. iv. prior. 4to.
Franeq. 1660; in lib. v. et vi. ib. 1664 ; in lib.
vii. ib. 1664).
For further particulars as to the other editions and commentators, reference may be made
to Spangenberg's Einleitung, Beck's Prodromus,
Biener's Beiträge zur Revision der Justin. Cod., and the preface of S.
Hermanni to his edition of the Code in the Leipzig edition of the
An abstract of the first eight books of the Code, made at latest in the 9th century, was
discovered by Niebuhr at Perugia; and this Summa Perusina has been
edited by G. E. Heimbach, in the second volume of his
We possess the Novells of Justinian in three ancient forms; the Latin Epitome of Julianus, of which we have already spoken [JULIANUS]; an ancient Latin translation (the
Of the 134 Novells contained in the
The Greek collection of the Novells of Justinian was made for the use of the Oriental
lawyers, probably under Tiberius II., who reigned eparchica, formae) of the praefectus urbi and praefectus praetorio. A
list of the rubrics of the 168 Novells was first printed in Latin by Cujas (Exposit. Novell. fol. Lugd. 1570), and the original Greek text of this
list is given in the second volume of Heimbach's Anecdota. It is called Index Reginae, from having been found in the queen's library at Paris.
The Greek Novells were wholly unknown to the glossators. Haloander was the first who published them at Nuremburg, in 1531, from an imperfect Florentine manuscript. Scrimger, a Scotchman and Professor of the Civil Law at Geneva, afterwards published them from a less imperfect Venetian manuscript. The collection of Scrimger was printed by H. Stephanus at Geneva in 1558. Neither the Venetian nor the Florentine manuscript contains in full the 168 Novells. Sometimes the mere title of an omitted Novell is inserted; sometimes only the number of the Novell is given, and the lacuna is marked by asterisks.
Haloander gave a Latin version of the Novells he published. Scrimger published the Greek
without a translation; but the Novells, which are contained in Scrimger and not in
Haloander, were translated by Agylaeus. (Supplementum Novelarum,
Colon. 1560.)
The labours of Contius constituted the next important stage in the literary history of
the Novells. He formed a Greek text from combining Haloander and Scrimger. He formed a
Latin text from the Versio Vulgata, so far as he was acquainted with
it. This he supplied by a translation from the Greek, partly his own and partly compiled
from Haloander. He subjoined the matter contained in Julian's Epitome, so far as it was not contained either in the
Contius published many editions of the Novells, differing among themselves in a way
which it is necessary to remark. Some of the editions contained the gloss, and in these
the 97 glossed Novells were arranged as usual in the old nine collationes, while all the remaining Novells were subjoined as a tenth collatio. An important change, however, took place in the unglossed
edition of 1571. In this, Contius classed the 168 Novells with reference to their dates
(though there are some exceptions to the chronological order), and distributed them, so
arranged, into nine collationes, and subdivided the collationes into titles. The same order was reproduced in the edition of 1581, and
has been followed ever since in all but the glossed editions. From the account which we
have given, it will easily be conceived that great confusion has been occasioned in
references by the varieties of arrangement in different editions of the Novells. for
example, the 131st Novell of modern editions of the
Of modern editions since the time of versio vulgata, of which the original Greek has not
been preserved, and valuable critical notes.
Corpus Juris Civilis.
Among the best commentators upon the Novells may be mentioned Expositio Novellarum, 8vo.
Franc. 1608)Commentarius
Novellarum, 4to. Gryphsw. 1631. Cum notis Brunnemanni, 4to. Viteb. 1700, 4to. Lips.
1707.)
Much labour and learning have been recently expended in unravelling the intricacies of
this part of literary history, and in correcting the errors of former writers on the
Novells. Biener's Geschichte der Novellen Justinian's contains the
most accurate De Origine et Fatis Corporis quod clxviii. Novellis
Constitutionibus constat (8vo. Lips. 1844), contains some questionable views.
Mortreueil has treated of the Novells in his Histoire du Droit Byzantin, vol. i. pp. 25-60.
The separate Novells were designated by the glossators by the name
The collections of Justinian, together with some later appendages, formed into one great work, are commonly known by the name
The expression
The old glossed editions consist of five volumes, folio (usually bound in five different colours), namely : 1.
This arrangement was first departed from by
Of the unglossed editions, some have notes and some have none. Of the unglossed editions
with notes, the two most celebrated and useful are that of
Of the editions without notes the most beautiful and convenient is the well-known, but
not very correct Pars
Secundus edition, from an error in p. 150.
There is a French translation of the whole Corpus, with the Latin
text en regard, published at Paris 1805-1811. In this work we have : 1.
The Institutes, by Hulot, 1 vol. 4to. or 5 vols. 8vo.; 2. The Digest, by Hulot and
Berthelot, 7 vols. 4to. or 35 vols. 12mo.; 3. The Code, by Tissot, 4 vols. 4to. or 18 vols.
12mo.; 5. The Novells, by Berenger, 2 vols. 4to. or 10 vols. 12mo., to which is appended, 6.
La Clef des Lois Romaines, ou Dictionnaire, &c., 2 vols. 4to.
There is also a German translation of the whole Corpus, by a society
of savans, edited by C. E. Otto, Bruno Schlilling, and C. F. F.
Sintenis (7 vols. 8vo. Lips. 1830-1833). [J.T.G]
The coins of Justinian, which are very numerous, have been explained in an interesting
monogram entitled, "Die Münzen Justinians, mit sechs Kupfertafeln," by M. Pinder and J.
Friedländer, Berlin, 1843. These writers give a satisfactory explanation of the letters
CONOB, which frequently appear on the coins of the Byzantine
emperors, and which have given rise to much dispute. That CON
should be separated from OB, and and that they signify
Constantinople, seems clear from the legends AQOB, TESOB, and TROB, which indicate respectively
the towns of Aquileia, Thessalonica, and Treves. The above-mentioned writers suppose that OB represent the Greek numerals, and aurei or solidi) were equal to a pound; but as these
coins were struck lighter and lighter, it was at length enacted by Valentinian I. in CONOB for
the first time on the coins of the latter emperor.
In the reign of Justinian the custom was first introduced of indicating on the coins the number of the year of the emperor's reign. This practice began in the twelfth year of Justinian's reign, and explains the reason why Justinian enacted, in the eleventh year of his reign, that in future all official documents were to contain in them the year of the emperor's reign. (Novella, 47.) In the same year another change was made in the coins. Hitherto they had represented the emperor as a warrior with a lance; but Justinian, who carried on his wars by means of his generals, and who was more interested personally in legislation, theological disputes, and public buildings, caused himself to be represented with the imperial globe and no longer as a warrior.
The drawing below represents a medal of Justinian, which was found by the Turks among the ruins of Caesareia, in Cappadocia, in the year 1751. It was carried to Constantinople, where it was bought by Desalleurs, who presented it to Louis XV. It was stolen from the royal collection at Paris, in the year 1832, but an engraving of it had been previously given by De Boze, in the