Letter 2014: When I was surveying in writing the civil and military achievements of our lord Theodosius [Emperor Theodosius I, r.

From: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman Senator To: A friend (name lost) Date: ~372 AD Context: Symmachus praises a recent law of Emperor Theodosius renouncing imperial claims to fideicommissa (testamentary trusts) and codicil bequests, while worrying that private greed will continue unchecked. When I was surveying in writing the civil and military achievements of our lord Theodosius [Emperor Theodosius I, r. 379-395] -- I confess I touched on everything rather than doing justice to each -- I included his laws among the blessings of peace. I had known they had stripped the ancients of their claim to admiration, but I had not expected them to leave us an equal glory. Yet this recent decree concerning fideicommissa [trust bequests -- a common Roman legal device for indirect inheritance] and the benefits of codicils [supplementary wills], which the excellent emperor has permanently renounced, surpasses the brilliance of all previous legislation by as much as it is nobler to set limits on oneself than to impose them on one's subjects. If only private greed would understand the mind of the lawgiver and draw its morals from his laws! It is no secret what a man who was first to recoil from suspect profits wants others to do voluntarily. I truly fear that the thirst of the unscrupulous will claim for themselves the windfall gains [bona caduca -- property that fell to the imperial treasury when intended heirs were disqualified], and that the position of honest men will grow worse if the opportunity for fraud falls only to those restrained by neither law nor shame. Therefore, since the emperor's own position has been restricted, let the remedy of law address private cupidity. Old decrees have long gone cold among the criminal class -- their force died with the legislators who issued them. Just as much severity must now be added to the laws as offenses have grown. Otherwise, if the correction of the greater part of society is abandoned, the emperor has bound himself with harsh rules to no purpose -- he who was always good and upright in character. Farewell.

Cum civiles et bellicas laudes domini nostri Theodosii stili honore percurrerem — magis enim contigisse me omnia quam satisfecisse singulis fateor — , etiam leges eius bonis pacis admiscui, quas ut noveram priscis ademisse admirationem , ita reser- vasse nobis parem gloriam non putabam. verum haec recens sanctio de fideicommissis et codicillorum commodis ab optimo principe in aetemum repudiatis tantum claritudine 20 egreditur lucem superiorum , quantum augustius est regend Bibi quam subditis modum 2 ponere. atque utinam privata avaritia mentem latoris intellegat et mores de legibus trahat! neque enim latet, quid sponte ceteros velit facere, qui suspecta conpendia primus exhorruit. ego certe vereor, ne improborum sitis ad se existimet pertinere quaestum caducum fiatque innocentium causa deterior, si ad eos tantum falsi redeat 25 occasio, qui neque lege neque pudore cohibentur. ergo quia dominorum condicio 3 restricta est, privatis cupiditatibus medicina iuris occurrat. frigent iamdiu apud homi- nes criminosos vetera decreta, quorum vigor cum latoribus suis occidit. tantum denuo legibus severitatis addendum est, quantum flagitia creverunt. alioquin, si maioris partis deseritur emendatio, frustra se asperis sanctionibus solus imperator adstrinxit, 30 qui semper bonus et integer moribus fuit. vale. 19 Cod. Theodos. IV 4, 2 dat. Mediolani X k. Febr. Timasio et Promoto coss. iectu uicissim V flde P 1 m. V 8 summiseris V adimisae P 1 m. seruasse VM 19 nouis luretiu fldei commisisset V 20 ab om, P, fori. serib. optimo principi 21 regenti sibi] luretus^ regendis PVMDP^ regiis Mommien 22 latorea intellegat P 1 m., intellegat latores V 23 lateat V suspecta] P, suscepta VMF^ 24 ergo (r) satis P 27 iuris in ras. P frigent iamdiu] luretuB, frigentia diu PFAf 28 criminosus P 1 m. XIIII ante a. 395.