Gaius Trebatius Testa

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Gaius Trebatius Testa (* around 84 BC; † around 4 AD) is one of the most important Roman jurists of the outgoing republic and the early principate . From his work are known by the title: De religionibus ("On religious matters") and De civili iure ("On civil law").

The family - and probably also Trebatius himself - came from Velia (Greek Elea ) in Lucania . He was a student of Quintus Cornelius Maximus and teacher of the most important lawyer of the next generation, Marcus Antistius Labeo , to whom the school of the Proculians can be traced back.

Friendship with Cicero and Caesar

Trebatius was a younger friend of Marcus Tullius Cicero . In 54 BC Cicero recommended Gaius Julius Caesar to take Trebatius with him on the Gallic campaign . He became Caesar's confidante, mediated between Cicero and Caesar and stood on Caesar's side in the civil war. After his murder, he joined Octavian .

The dedication of Cicero's Topica from 44 BC is evidence of the friendship with Cicero . To Trebatius. One recognizes an intimate relationship from Cicero's letters. Trebatius does not seem to blame his friend when he makes fun of the profession and style of lawyers. So Cicero gives him good advice for the cold winters in Gaul:

That's why I think you should use a light in the open fire - Mucius and Manilius thought that was right - especially since you don't have an abundance of coats.

Publius Mucius Scaevola and Manius Manilius are the founding fathers of Roman law. The coat (sagum) is the sign of war; “Put on your coats” (saga sumere) means “get ready to fight”.

The lawyer

Despite his participation in Caesar's campaigns and his closeness to the most powerful of the time, Trebatius's existence was neither military nor political. Apparently he did not hold the offices of the cursus honorum . He was a legal advisor and appraiser. Trebatius enjoyed the greatest reputation among the jurists of the early principate. Augustus followed his advice on the recognition of informal last wills. The expert opinion that Trebatius received in connection with the prohibition of donations between spouses and the divorce of Maecenas from Terentia in 16 BC also leads to the highest social circles . Chr. Issued:

After the divorce was over, the man had given the woman something so that she could return to him. The woman had come back, and then she had got the divorce. Labeo (reported): In the case of Terentia and Maecenas, Trebatius gave the expert opinion that if the (first) divorce had actually taken place, the donation would be effective, but if the divorce was only apparent, the opposite would be the case. (Javolen / Labeo :) But it is correct, which Proculus and Caecilius also represent, that the divorce only really took place and the donation made on the basis of the divorce can only be valid if there was no new marriage or the wife did Long lived as a (divorce) widow that there can be no doubt that (living together again) is a new marriage. Otherwise the donation will not last.

Maecenas' protégé Horace immortalized Trebatius as (legal) advisor in his satires :

Trebati / quid faciam? praescribe! - Quiescas!
“Trebatius, what should I do? Instruct me! "-" You should be quiet! "

The Roman jurists of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD often quote Trebatius. Sometimes it is difficult to avoid the impression that Cicero's exaggerations are actually found in the legal work of Trebatius, for example in a quotation in Ulpian's first book on the edict of the curular aediles . It is about diseases of a slave for which his seller must be liable to the buyer:

It was asked whether a slave with bad breath was "healthy" in the sense of the edict: Trebatius says that whoever suffers from bad breath is not sick, such as a "rascal" (hircosus) or a "Müffler" (gr. Grasôs ) . Because this usually comes from the coating in the mouth. (Ulpian :) But if it comes to this because of a physical infirmity, for example because he has it in his liver or lungs or suffers from something similar, then he is sick.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Compare Porphyrios in his commentary on Horace , Ad Horatii Satiras 2,1: Trebatius ... aliquot libros de civili iure composuit et de religionibus = Trebatius has written several books on civil law and on religious matters . According to Sextus Pomponius , Digest 1,2,2,45 there were other writings: exstant ... trebati complures = there are ... quite a few [books] of Trebatius.
  2. ↑ Pomponius , Digest 1,2,2,45.
  3. ↑ Pomponius, Digest 1,2,2,47,52.
  4. ^ Cicero, Ad familiares 7.5.
  5. ↑ Cicero, Ad familiares 7,14,2.
  6. ↑ Cicero, Ad familiares 7,10,2.
  7. ↑ Inst. 2,25 pr .: cuius tunc auctoritas maxima erat .
  8. ↑ Codicilli , see Institutiones 2.25 pr.
  9. ↑ Digest 24,1,64 (Javolen / Labeo).
  10. ↑ Horace, Satires 2,1.
  11. ↑ Digest 21,1,12,4.
personal data
SURNAME Trebatius Testa, Gaius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Testa, Gaius Trebatius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman jurist
DATE OF BIRTH around 84 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH At 4