Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

which to ground this notion: and it is probable the only snare here laid for our Saviour was, to get from him something in derogation of the law of Moses. He had often preached the doctrine of forgiveness in the strongest terms, even in such cases wherein the law of Moses allowed the same evils to be inflicted by the judge on the injurious person as had been done to the injured'. The Pharisees might hence possibly suspect that our Lord would determine absolutely against the execution of the penalties enjoined in the law of Moses, and hope to accuse him hereof before the magistrate, as well as raise a spirit in the people against him.

SECT. V.

The Romans frequently indulged the nations they conquered in the use of their own laws, even in capital causes.

I PROCEED now to give the reasons which induce me to think that the Jews had the power of inflicting death on criminals continued to them under the Roman government. First, nothing is more evident than that many cities and some whole countries had granted them by the people and emperors of Rome the privilege of being governed by their own laws and their own magistrates, some in a more ample and full, and some in a more restrained manner. Several of the cities and little nations in Italy, under the ancient republic, chose rather to be governed by their own laws than to be made citizens of Rome, and be under the Roman laws; and it was granted them, as we are informed by Livy and Tullyd. After the conquest made in the second Punic war the Romans permitted the Carthaginians to live according to

b Matt. v. 38, &c.

e Hernicorum tribus populis, Alatrinati, Verulano, Terentinati, quia maluerunt, quam civitatem, suæ leges redditæ Anagninis, quique arma Romanis intulerant, civitas sine suffragii latione data: concilia connubiaque adempta: et magistratibus, præterquam sacrorum curatione, interdictum. Lib. 9. c. 43, prop. fin. Prænestinis militibus senatus Romanus duplex stipendium

et quinquennii militiæ vacationem decrevit. Civitate quum donarentur ob virtutem, non mutaverunt. L. 23. c. 20, pr. Alios in ea fortuna haberent, ut socii esse quam cives mallent. L. 26. c. 24. prop. pr.

d In quo magna contentione Heracliensium et Neapolitanorum fuit, cum magna pars in iis civitatibus fœderis sui liberatem civitati anteferret. Pro Balbo, c. 8. (21.) p. 597, pr.

their own laws. The islands of Sicily and Sardinia, when Roman provinces, used their own laws. The Grecian cities both in Europe and Asia had their liberty and laws preserved to them when the Romans vanquished Philip king of Macedonia, which, were restored again to the Phocæenses, when their city was taken by Æmilius Scaurus, in the war with Antiochusi: for they had fallen off from the Romans to that king. To the Macedonians, after the Romans had taken Perseus their king, it was granted that they should use their own laws, choosing their magistrates every year. The Illyrians', Galatians", and Phrygians" had the same liberty. In Syria, Antioch, Gaza, Joppa, Dora, Cæsarea P, Seleucia, Tyre, and Sidon, were free cities, with many other places. In a word, there were some provinces, the greatest part of which, if not the whole, were allowed to live according to

• Ut liberi legibus suis viverent; quas urbes, quosque agros, quibusque finibus ante bellum tenuissent, tenerent. Livii, 1. 30. c. 37. "Eleσi κai vóμοis xpîσÔαi rois idious. Polyb. 1. 15. p. 705, B. Aidwow avrois σύγκλητος τὴν τ' ἐλευθερίαν, καὶ τοὺς νόμους, ἔτι δὲ τὴν χώραν ἅπασαν. Excerpt. Legat. 142. p. 973, fin.

4 Siculi hoc jure sunt, ut, quod civis cum cive agat, domi certet suis legibus. Cic. in Ver. 1. 2. c. 13, pr.

Diodor. Sicul. 1. 5. p. 296, a. Μέχρι τοῦ νῦν αὐτονομίαν τοῖς ἐγὼ χωρίοις ἀσάλευτον φυλάξαι, et p. 297, pr. Διεφύλαξε τὴν ἐλευθερίαν μέχρι τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνων. 'The historian indeed tells us that neither Carthaginians nor Romans were able to take it from them ; but I think it more probable that it was the voluntary grant of the latter.

h Omnes Græcorum civitates, quæ in Europa, quæque in Asia essent, libertatem ac suas leges haberent. Livii, 1. 33. c. 32, pr. Vid. et 1. 34. c. 22, prop. fin. 'Elevoépovs ὑπάρχειν, καὶ νόμοις χρῆσθαι τοῖς idious. Polyb. Excerpt. Leg. 9. p. 795

Urbem agrosque, et suas leges restituit. Liv. 1. 37, 9. et 32. Phocæensibus et ager quam ante bellum habuerunt, redditus; et ut legibus antiquis uterentur, permissum. L. 38. c. 39. ̓Απέδωκαν δὲ καὶ Φωκαι

εῦσι τὸ πάτριον πολίτευμα, καὶ τὴν xóраν ĥν κаì прóтeрov eixov. Polyb. Excerpt. Legat. 36. p. 844, fin.

* Omnium primum liberos esse placebat Macedonas atque Illyrios. Liv. 1. 45. c. 18. et 22. Habentes urbes easdem agrosque, utentes legibus suis, annuos creantes magistratus, c. 29. Τῶν δὲ δέκα πρεσβέων ἐκ Ρώμης αφικομένων, Μακεδόσι μὲν ἀπέδωκε τὴν χώραν καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐλευθέρας οἰκεῖν καὶ αὐτονόμους. Plut. in Æmil. p. 270, B.

1 Liv. 1. 45. c. 26. Senatum populumque Romanum Illyrios esse liberos jubere.

* Τοῖς παρὰ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ̓Ασίας Γαλατῶν πρεσβυταῖς συνεχώρησαν τὴν αὐτονομίαν μένουσιν ἐν ταῖς ἰδίαις κατοικίαις, καὶ μὴ στρατευομένοις ἐκτὸς τῶν ἰδίων ὅρων. Polyb. Excerpt. Leg. 102.

Η Φρυγίαν αὐτόνομον μεθῆκεν, scil. Bovλn, Appian. de Bell. Mithr. p. 208, D.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Joan. Malala Chron. 1. 9. p. 278, P Jos. Antiq. 1. 14. c. 4. §. 4,

Strabo, 1. 16. p. 751, D. Eutrop. 1. 6. c. 14. p. 249.

Jos. Antiq. 1. 15. c. 4. §. 1, fin. Vid. et Noris. Epoch. Syr. Mac. Diss. 5. c. 3. Spanh. Orb. Rom. p. 330-1.

their own laws. And there was scarce any one province in which there were not large districts and many cities which had the same liberty. Now if it was so common a thing with the Romans to grant a conquered people the choice of their own magistrates, and the use of their own laws, why may it not be thought that this was allowed by them in Judæa? why must we suppose that they were placed in a worse condition than so great a number of other countriest? That the Carthaginians, after the second Punic war, had the power of executing their own laws, even where the punishments were capital, I believe no learned man ever yet doubted; or that the Grecians had that power after the war with Philip. What hinders then from concluding the same with regard to all those places to which the Romans granted their own magistrates and their own laws? when the very same phrases are used by classic writers in speaking of the one, as are made use of by them when speaking of the other, what should prevent our understanding them in the same sense? or let it be shewn when these words began to vary their signification. I would also know if the Macedonian magistrates had not the power of inflicting corporal punishments and death upon malefactors, how it was possible to preserve the peace of that country when the Roman governor, who was among them, was without that power. Cicero, if I mistake him not, expressly says that such governors were sent thither in his time, and that the peace of the province was kept by the power it had within itself, i. e. by the vigilance of the magistrates in executing their own laws".

Some countries seem to have been almost wholly exempted from the rods and the axes, i. e. from the power of the governor who was sent into the province. Thus, for instance, of Massilia, (now called Marseilles,) and of all the places

Such as Sicily, Sardinia, and some time possibly Achaia, Asia, Cyprus.

The Jews were in hopes that an argument of this kind would prevail even with Caligula himself not to violate their laws; *H TEрì Toù un πάντων, καὶ τῶν ἐν ἐσχατιαῖς ἐθνῶν, οἷς τετήρηται τὰ πάτρια, ἔλαττον evéykaodai. Philo de Legat. ad Caium, p. 1026, E.

u

Atque hanc Macedoniam, domitis jam gentibus finitimis, barbariaque compressa, pacatam ipsam per se, et quietam, tenui præsidio, atque exigua manu, etiam sine imperio, per legatos nomine ipso populi Romani tuebamur : quæ nunc consulari imperio, atque exercitu ita vexata est, &c. De Prov. Consular. c. 3. prop. pr. p. 589, fin,

subject to it, Strabo says, that they were not obliged to obey the governors sent into the province. He says the same thing of Nemausus, (now called Nismes,) together with the twenty-four towns under it. Both these places were in the province of Gallia Narbonensis". What Strabo asserts of these parts of Gaul was no doubt true also of the Lacedæmonians; of whom Tully affirms, that they had lived to his time more than seven hundred years without having changed their laws. Polybius also says that Lycurgus, by the laws he gave them, preserved liberty to the Lacedæmonians longer than it had been secured to any other people of whom he had the knowledge and Apollonius calls them the freest of the Grecians. The Rhodians I am persuaded were favoured with a like exemption: and likewise the Lycians, whose council was composed of members sent from twenty-three cities; in which council their magistrates were chosen, and their judicatories appointed. Here also they had been used to consult of peace and war; but this privilege the Romans took from them, so that for the future they were not to treat of peace and war, unless by their permission or for their advantage. Strabo adds that they managed this government of theirs so well, that they remained always free under the Romans to his time. To these I might add the cities of

:

* Καὶ ὁ Καῖσαρ δὲ καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἡγεμόνες, πρὸς τὰς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ γεννηθείσας ἁμαρτίας, ἐμετρία ασαν, μεμνημένοι τῆς φιλίας, καὶ τὴν αὐτονομίαν ἐφύλαξαν, ἣν ἐξαρχῆς εἶχεν ἡ πόλις, ὥστε μὴ ὑπακούειν τῶν εἰς τὴν ὑπαρχίαν πεμπομένων στραTуwv. 1. 4. p. 181, B. Vid. et Cic. pro Flacco, c. 26. (63.) p. 492. Neque vero te, Massilia, prætereo, cujus ego civitatis disciplinam atque gravitatem non solum Græciæ, sed haud scio an cunctis gentibus anteponendam jure dicam: quæ-sic optimatum consilio gubernatur, ut omnes ejus instituta laudare facilius possint, quam æmulari.

• Διὰ δὲ τοῦτο οὐδ ̓ ὑπὸ τοῖς προστάγμασι (for so undoubtedly it ought to be read, and not rрáyμaσ) Tov ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης στρατηγῶν ἐστι τὸ ἔθνος τοῦτο, 1. 4. p. 187, A.

Vid. Strabo, 1. 4. p. 178, B. et

p. 189, C. Ταῦτα μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν νεμομένων τὴν Ναρβωνῖτιν ἐπικράτειαν λέγομεν.

Lacedæmonii soli toto orbe terrarum septingentos jam annos amplius unis moribus et nunquam mutatis legibus vivunt. Pro Flacco, c. 26. (63. pr.) p. 492.

b L. 6. c. 1. p. 459. Vid. et Strab. 1. 8. p. 376, fin. Kaì dietéλeσav Tǹv αὐτονομίαν φυλάττοντες.

с

• Ἐλευθερώτατοι μὲν γὰρ τῶν Ελλήνων εἰσὶ, μόνοι δ ̓ ὑπήκοοι τοῦ ev EvμBovλevovтos. In Vit. Apollon. 1. 6. c. Io. p. 292. C. Τοῖς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀσκοῦσιν, D.

a Vid. Liv. 1. 38. c. 39. l. 45. c. 20-25. et Epit. 46. Cic. ad Quint. Fratr. 1. 1. ep. 1. c. II. p. 1021, fin. ad Famil. 1. 12. c. 14. p. 815, pr.

L. 14. p. 664, fin. 665, pr. Οὕτως δ ̓ εὐνομουμένοις αὐτοῖς, συνέβη παρὰ ̔Ρωμαίοις ἐλευθέροις διατελέσαι,

Tarsusf and Byzantium, of which last Tully speaks when he accuses Piso of exercising jurisdiction in a free city contrary to the Roman lawss. There is no one, I think, can doubt whether these people had the power of putting persons subject to them to death in the execution of their own laws. How otherwise could it be said with any propriety, that they were not bound to obey the governors sent into the province ? For if they themselves had not the power of inflicting corporal punishments and death, but the governor of the province had, most certainly they were bound to obey him, and that under the severest penalties: or with what truth could Strabo relate that the Lycians were left free by the Romans, excepting only in the making peace and war, if at the same time the Romans took from them the execution of the punishments which their laws prescribed? most certainly that ought also to have been excepted. For what greater infringement of their liberty could they have suffered? On the contrary, though he tells us that in their convention or council they elected their magistrates and appointed their judicatories, he adds no limitation, no restriction whatever to their power in condemning and punishing of criminals. We read

Julius Cæsar gave to the citizens of Tarsus xopav, vóμovs, tíμny, éžovσíav ToÛ TOTAμoù, &c. Dio Chrys. Orat. 34. p. 415, D. Vid. et Dio. Cassii, 1. 47. p. 342, A.

Omitto jurisdictionem in libera civitate contra leges senatusque consulta. De Prov. Consul. c. 3, fin. P: 590, a. Oppidum Byzantium liberæ conditionis. Plin. 1. 4. c. 11. P. 442, pr.

To the places already mentioned I might have added the island of Cyprus, which, after it was reduced to a province by Cato, was still governed by its own laws and magistrates, as is most evident from those words of Tully: Q. Volusium, tui Tiberii generum, certum hominem, sed mirifice etiam abstinentem, misi in Cyprum, ut ibi pauculos dies esset; ne cives Romani pauci, qui illic negotiantur, jus sibi dictum negarent. Nam evocari ex insula Cyprios non licet. Ad Attic. 1. 5. ep. ult. p. 906, pr. Volusius was sent to Cyprus to administer justice

to the few Romans that trafficked there; for the Cyprians, being wholly under their own laws and their own administration, had no need of a Roman magistrate among them. They had also this further privilege, that they could not be compelled upon any pretence to go out of their own island. Upon any differences therefore between Cyprians and Romans, forasmuch as the Romans could be judged only by their own magistrates, it was absolutely necessary a Roman judge should be sent to the island. Reflecting upon this passage, a doubt arises in my mind concerning the antiquity of that maxim of the civil law, Merum imperium non posse transire; for certainly in the case before us Tully delegated merum imperium to Volusius; otherwise the Romans might still complain that justice was denied them: unless it be taken for granted that no criminal causes could happen between the Cyprians and Romans in that

« PoprzedniaDalej »