derived his origin from Tyrus in Phoenicia, as he states himself, " unde mihi origo." (Heliog. 100.16), who
became emperor A. D. 217; but on the accession of Alexander Severus Alex. Sever. 51.) The emperor
once designed to assign a peculiar dress to every office and rank, so that the condition of
persons might be known from their attire; and he also proposed to give slaves a peculiar dress
that they might be recognised among the people, and that slaves and ingenui might not mingle
together. Ulpianus and Paulus dissuaded the emperor from this measure by good reasons.
(Lamprid. Alex. Severus, 100.27.) As a proof of his confidence the
emperor never saw any one of his friends alone, except the Praefectus Praetorio and Ulpian;
and whenever he saw the praefect, he invited Ulpian. The emperor conferred on Ulpian the
office of Scriniorum magister, and made him a consiliarius : he also held the office of
Praefectus Annonae, as we see from a constitution of Alexander in which he entitles him "
Domitius Ulpianus praefectus annonae jurisconsultus amicus meus." (Cod. 8. tit. 38. s. 4.) He
also was made Praefectus Praetorio, but it is doubtful whether he first held this post under
Elagabalus or under Alexander Severus. The epitomator of Dion says that Ulpian prepared the
way for his promotion to the place of Praefectus Praetorio by causing his two predecessors,
Flavianus and Chrestus, to be put to death. But there is no other evidence than this. (
A great part of the numerous writings of Ulpian were still extant in the time of Justinian, and a much greater quantity is excerpted from him by the compilers of the Digest than from any other jurist. The number of excerpts from Ulpian is said to be 2462; and many of the excerpts are of great length, and altogether they form about one-third of the whole body of the Digest. It is said that there are more excerpts from his single work Ad Edictum than from all the works of any single jurist. The excerpts from Paulus and Ulpian together make about one half of the Digest. Those of Ulpian compose the third volume of the Palingenesia of Hommelius.
The following are the works of Ulpian which are mentioned in the Florentine Index, and
excerpted in the Digest. The great work Ad Edictum was in 83 libri; and there were 51 books
of the work entitled Libri ad Sabinum [SABINUS
MASSURIUS]. He also wrote 20 libri ad Leges Juliam et Papiam; 10
de omnibus Tribunalibus; 3 de Officio Consulis; 10 de Officio Proconsulis; 4 de
Appellationibus; 6 Fideicommissorum; 2 libri Institutionum; 10 Disputationum; 6 de Censibus
; a work de Adulteriis; libri singulares de Officio
Ulpian wrote also libri duo Responsorum ; libri singulares de Sponsalibus; de Officio Praefecti Vigilum, de Officio Quaestoris; and libri sex Opinionum. The time when these works were written is uncertain.
The Index mentions
The Florentine Index omits the libri duo ad Edictum Aedilium Curulium, the libri ad legem
Aeliam Sentiam, of which there were at least four, and the libri singulares de Officio
Consularium and Excusationum; and also the notae ad Marcellum (
We learn from the Vaticana Fragmenta (§ 90 -- 93) that he also wrote a work De
Interdictis in four books at least, and a liber singularis de Officio Praetoris Tutelaris (
Vat. Fr. § 232).
Ulpian's style is perspicuous, and presents fewer difficulties than that of many of the Roman jurists who are excerpted in the Digest. Compared with his contemporary, Paulus, he is somewhat diffuse, but this is rather an advantage for us, who have to read the Roman jurists in fragments. The easy expression of Ulpian, and the length of many of the extracts from his works, render the study of his fragments a much easier task than that of such a writer as Papinian. The great legal knowledge, the good sense, and the industry of Ulpian place him among the first of the Roman jurists; and he has exercised a great influence on the jurisprudence of modern Europe, through the copious extracts from his writings which have been preserved by the compilers of Justinian's Digest.
The fragments entitled
There occurs in Ulpian (System, &c. vol. i. Beylage i.) has explained the meaning
of Ulpian's threefold division. The authors of the Institutiones of Justinian have introduced
great confusion by first giving Ulpian's threefold division, which they apply to the case of
slavery, and then taking the passages of Gaius, Marcianus and Florentinus, in which the
twofold division is either expressed or clearly implied. (Inst. 1. tit. 1.4; tit. 2. pr.;
tit. 5. pr.) The confusion is completed by their taking a passage of Gains in which the
twofold division occurs, and by the addition of the remark that the Jus Naturale (sicut
diximus) is the same as the Jus Gentium. (Inst. 2. tit. 1.11.)
It is generally assumed that Ulpian the Tyrian, who is named in the argument to the
Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, is the jurist, because he is called the Tyrian; but the jurist
was not a Tyrian. Athenaeus (p. 686, ed. Casaub.) speaks of the happy death of his Ulpian;
but the jurist died a wretched death; he was murdered by infuriated soldiers. Athenaeus does
not call his Ulpian a jurist, and it is clear that he did not consider him one. This
assumption leads to a great deal of confusion, and is totally unfounded. See the article Athenaeus, " Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of
Useful Knowledge."
Some attempt has been made to prove both that Ulpian and Paulus were very hostile to the
Christians. The charge is founded on a passage of Lactantius (Div. Inst.
5.11); but it is not certain that the Domitius whom he mentions is Domitius Ulpianus. And if
the passage refers to Ulpian, it proves nothing against him. If among the imperial rescripts
directed to proconsuls, there were some which imposed penalties on the Christians, a writer
de Officio Proconsulis could not omit a part of the law which regulated a proconsul's office,
even if the law was severe and cruel. A collection of the statute law of England on religion
would not have been complete a few years ago, if it omitted those statutes which contained
severe penalties against certain classes of religious persons.
Puchta, Instit. i. p. 457; Zimmern, Geschichte des
Röm. Pricatrechts, i. p. 370; Grotius, Vitae
Jurisconsullorum.