FROM the strictly2 legal side the most interesting event of Hadrian’s reign3 is the fact that the opinions of the jurists, when they were unanimous, were now recognized as written law.354 The constitutions or proclamations of law of the emperors, although none were ascribed to an earlier date, had probably been issued for a century previously4, but now what is called the “Perpetual Edict” is finally arranged and authorized5, and law proceeds from an intellectual and philosophic6 source, instead of from an imperial head.
In empowering Salvius Julianus, one of the four greatest lawyers Rome ever produced, to frame an edict, and by a senatus consultum embody7 this edict in the statute8 law of Rome, the entire law of the Empire underwent a change in spirit. What had hitherto been done by Augustus, by Nerva, by Trajan, and by Hadrian himself,246 had furnished only the value of example or of an immediate9 law passed for the benefit of some particular condition. A succeeding emperor was at liberty to imitate or pass similar laws, or ignore the acts of his predecessors10 as he might choose. As we shall see, he usually ignored the noble examples of those who had gone before.
But by placing the making of the law in the hands of the jurists, men who were thinkers and scholars and under the influence of the spreading Stoic11 philosophy, many disciples12 of Zeno and Chrysippus, and some later to be under the influence of the Christian philosophy, Hadrian was laying a broad foundation for the complete passing of the Roman idea of the unimportance of the child as a child, and making way for the Christian idea which was to take its place.
By a senatus consultum, passed before the Edict of Julianus, the right of fathers to expose their children was for the first time taken away; durante matrimonio they were compelled to rear their children instead of exposing them, while later regulations made it necessary to maintain even those children born after divorce.355
This was the first attempt to prohibit the exposing of children.
As we have seen, the right of the father to reject his offspring was restricted in earliest times to weak and deformed13 children, and then only after there had been a conference with five neighbours,247 but the frequent reference to the exposure of children under the Republic and under the emperors indicates that there was little regard for this legal restraint. Even Augustus himself did not hesitate to expose the child of his granddaughter.
The law of Hadrian has not been placed by scholars and commentators14 as the first law against exposing children, partly no doubt because it was too new to be really effective. In an interesting controversy356 between Gerardus Noodt and Cornelius Van Binkershoek, as to whether there were any prohibitory laws prior to those of Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian (367 a. d.), Binkershoek maintains with great show of authority, what is undoubtedly16 true, that there were. Interesting, too, is the fact that we find in the Code of Justinian (vii., 16, 1) reference to a rescript of Hadrian in which the sale of children is referred to as “res illicita et inhonesta,” which is assumed by Walker to refer to the sales not being properly conducted,357 but which, judging from the temper of the Emperor, referred to the thing itself.
As the war-loving Trajan was succeeded by the lover of peace, the nomadic17 Hadrian was succeeded by the home-loving Antoninus Pius, who did not leave Rome for almost a quarter of a century, except for one rapid tour through Asia. He made248 it possible for children to inherit from their parents even though they had neglected to imitate a father in becoming a Roman citizen. He further showed his humanity by compelling cruel masters to sell slaves they had maltreated.
In the name of his wife, Faustina, for whom—despite the assaults on her character—he retained ever affection and respect, he consecrated18 a protective foundation for the benefit of girls, puell? alimentari? Faustinian?—the first of its kind in the world, and the initial move to save female children other than the first-born. A medal of the time, showing the Empress, bears on the reverse side Antoninus surrounded by children, with the words Puell? Faustinian? in the exergue.358 This, together with his continuous support of the pueri alimentarii, entitles him to the credit of saving more children from the “ancient and abominable” custom of being thrown out on the crossroads to die than any of his predecessors.
At the end of his reign it is evident from the inscriptions19 that endowments similar to those originated by Nerva had been made at Atina, Abellinum, Abella, Vibo, Caieta, Anagnia, Fundi, Cupra Montana, Industria, Brixia, Aquileia, Compsa, ?clanum, Allif?, Aufidena, Cures, Auximum, and other places. What is more interesting than the point of view of E. E. Bryant, in his Life of Antoninus Pius, that these “endowments undoubtedly pauperized Italians and lightened249 unwisely the responsibility of parents for the maintenance of their children? But they must certainly have been of assistance to farmers, and have supplied them with the capital necessary for successful agriculture.”359
The progress made in the matter of child history would be incomplete if one did not recall that in this reign appeared that bold and able defender20 of Christianity, Justin Martyr22. The time had gone by for darkness and seclusion23, and now, that which had been contemptuously but so well described as the religion of “slaves and women, of children and old men,” strode abroad, proclaiming its right to be heard as a rational and uplifting doctrine24. Pleading for the oppressed and the downtrodden, pleading for those the Roman world affected25 to despise, preaching a religion of humility—there is a fine, robust26, masculine note in Justin’s opening words of his apology, the challenging conviction of a man who knowingly throws down the gauntlet to the masters of the world.
To the Emperor Titus ?lius Antoninus, Pius, Augustus, C?sar;
to his Son Verissimus, Philosopher;
to Lucius, Philosopher,
a Prince Friendly to Literature;
to the Sacred Senate and to the Entire Roman People,
250In the Name of those who, among All Men,
Are unjustly Hated and Persecuted28;
I, One of Them,
It was during the reign of Antoninus that Tertullian was born.
Under Antoninus’s philosophic successor the alimentary30 institution was further developed, Marcus Aurelius showing his interest by putting the supervision31 under a person of pr?torian or consular32 rank.360 He upheld the rights of children, going one step further in the direction of freedom by ending the tyrannical power of the father to oblige his son to put away his wife, if the latter were disagreeable to the head of the family.
With Marcus Aurelius vanished the humane33 emperors—they had reigned34 long. Culminating in his beneficent sway the Stoic philosophy, from Aristotle to Marcus Aurelius, kept developing, in the midst of surroundings the least encouraging. The Stoics35, with their ideas of humanity, of mutual36 good will and moral equality, arrived at almost the same conclusions regarding religion and the same sentiment regarding humanity as did the followers37 of the Christian religion, although working from an entirely38 different source. The one reached its conclusion through the medium of patrician39 orators40, philosophers, and emperors,251 the other through the slaves, the distressed42, and those for whom life faced an unbroken wall.
From Aurelius to Septimus Severus there is little but bloodshed in Roman history. The selection of Papinian, the greatest of Roman jurists, as his adviser43 is in a way the greatest claim to fame that Severus has.361 Among his many laws was one that permitted the sons of a condemned44 criminal to retain the rights the father had over freedmen, which was considered a great indulgence—benignissime rescripsit. He condemned to temporary exile the woman who, by practising abortion45, had deprived her husband of the hope of children.
Of the bloody46 reign of Caracalla it is to be noted47 principally that he changed the lex Julia in such a way as to deprive paternity of its privileges. Those who were not married (c?lebs) and those who were married and had no children (orbus) suffered in regard to their inheritances as they had under the old law, but Caracalla filled his treasury48 by sweeping49 into the fiscus all the caduca.
While the barbarians50 are now beginning to press down on the northern frontiers of the Empire and the Christians51 beginning to rapidly and swiftly permeate52 the vast domain53, there is little but a bloody chronicle of making and unmaking of emperors up to Diocletian. Even when persecuted and proscribed54, says Ortolan, Christianity had a liberalizing and softening55 effect on the progress of252 jurisprudence and legislation. The softening effect was also the effect of a new understanding. Trajan, one of the greatest of the humane emperors, had come from Spain, and Diocletian, who temporarily braced56 up the Roman legions, put energy into the government, and held the barbarians in check, was himself from a family of freedmen. The best of the patrician blood had become thoroughly57 impregnated with Stoic ideas, although it was true that the jurists who had obtained their philosophy from Greece and were given the task of defending existing law and institutions were still against the new religion. Though the persecutors under Diocletian were unusually severe, theirs was the final burst of oppression before the new religion was to triumph in having the head of the great Roman Empire, Diocletian’s own successor, Constantine, accept the despised faith.
It matters little whether Constantine’s conversion58 was a political move, based on a desire to absorb a growing and powerful organization. This was a century in which things were happening and his was a reign (306 or 313–337) that marked a long turn in the road in the attitude of the State toward the child. Despite the progress that had been made, the practice of murdering and exposing new-born children was becoming more and more frequent in the provinces, and especially in Italy.362
253
It was due to poverty, says Gibbon,363 and the principal causes of distress41 were the unendurable taxes. The historian declares that “moved by some recent and extraordinary instances of despair,” Constantine addressed an edict364 to all the cities of Italy and afterward59 to those of Africa, directing that immediate and sufficient aid be given by magistrates60 to parents who produced children that they were too poor to bring up. Against the opinion of Gibbon is set that of Godefroy that it was not some unusual bit of misery61, some “Mary Ellen case,” that moved the Emperor to take this significant step.
The edict was published on May 12, 315 a. d., a few months before his victory over Licinius. The Christians had prophesied62 to Constantine that he would be victorious63 and he was more than likely to be influenced by their point of view, especially that of Lactantius, the noted rhetorician and teacher, to whom he had entrusted64 the education of his son, Crispus. Lactantius had just written his work on The Divine Institutes, designed to supersede65 the less complete treatises66 of Minucius Felix, Tertullian, and Cyprian. He had dedicated67 the work to Constantine, and perhaps had conversed68 with him about it, discussing one particular chapter in which the Christian Father had inveighed69, with his accustomed grace but with254 unusual force, against infanticide and the sale and exposure of infants. A new day, indeed, had come—the proud Emperor of the mighty70 Romans sits high on his throne, listening to, and moved by—a Christian Father!
This is Lactantius’s plea for the new-born, from the sixth book of his Divine Institutes365:
“Therefore let no one imagine that even this is allowed, to strangle newly born children, which is the greatest impiety71; for God breathes into their souls for life, and not for death. But men, that there may be no crime with which they may not pollute their hands, deprive souls, as yet innocent and simple, of the light which they themselves have not given. Any one truly may not expect that they would abstain73 from the blood of others who do not abstain even from their own. But these are without any controversy15 wicked and unjust. What are they whom a false piety72 compels to expose their children? Can they be considered innocent who expose their own offspring as a prey74 to dogs, and as far as it depends upon themselves, kill them in a more cruel manner than if they had strangled them?
“Who can doubt that he is impious who gives occasion for the pity of others? For, although that which he has wished should befall the child—namely, that it should be brought up—he has certainly consigned75 his own offspring either to servitude or to the brothel? But who does not255 understand, who is ignorant what things may happen, or are accustomed to happen, in the case of each sex, even through error? For this is shown by the example of ?dipus alone, confused with twofold guilt76. It is therefore as wicked to expose as it is to kill. But truly parricides complain of the scantiness77 of their means, and allege78 that they have not enough for bringing up more children; as though, in truth, their means were in the power of those who possess them, or God did not daily make the rich poor, and the poor rich. Wherefore, if any one on account of poverty shall be unable to bring up children, it is better to abstain from marriage than with wicked hands to mar21 the work of God.”
As an additional protective measure Constantine withdrew the right of liberty that the Antonines had secured to foundling children, and in order to encourage strangers to pick up waifs cast away by parents, the Emperor made them the slaves of those who raised them. The father was punished for rejecting his infant by being no longer able to claim a right that had previously been his. Rather than that there should be murder, the Emperor went further; he gave poor parents the right to sell their new-born children.
One more step and the story of the Roman child ends. The Emperor Valentinian, a strange mixture of cruelty and sense—the same who kept two ferocious79 she-bears near him and saw that they had human food a-plenty,—is in the books as the256 author of the law condemning80 the exposition of new-born infants. It was in 374 that this edict was issued in the name of the Emperors Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian, declaring that whosoever should expose his children should be subject to punishment.
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1
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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embody
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| vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录 | |
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statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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commentators
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| n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员 | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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nomadic
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| adj.流浪的；游牧的 | |
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18
consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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mar
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| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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27
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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28
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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alimentary
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| adj.饮食的，营养的 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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consular
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| a.领事的 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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stoics
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| 禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 ) | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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40
orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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44
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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abortion
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| n.流产，堕胎 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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permeate
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| v.弥漫，遍布，散布；渗入，渗透 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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proscribed
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| v.正式宣布（某事物）有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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softening
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| 变软，软化 | |
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56
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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supersede
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| v.替代；充任 | |
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treatises
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| n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 ) | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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inveighed
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| v.猛烈抨击，痛骂，谩骂( inveigh的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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impiety
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| n.不敬；不孝 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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scantiness
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| n.缺乏 | |
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78
allege
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| vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言 | |
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79
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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80
condemning
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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