De cokerentia capitis et membrorum rei publicae ;
The Sacred Nature of Authority
The prince serves as an image of the Godhead, making treason a spiritual offense against divine order.
And that the prince is a certain image of the Godhead, and concerning the crime of treason, and concerning those things which must be kept in fidelity. For my part, I am convinced that it's right to place devoted shoulders under authority; I don't just endure it, but I welcome it as long as it remains subject to God and follows His order. Otherwise, if it resists divine commands and wants me to be a participant in its war against God, I answer with a free voice that God is a certain image of the Godhead for everyone on earth. It's called the crime of treason precisely because it attacks the image of Him who alone—as the illustrious Robert, Earl of Leicester, used to say while modestly serving as proconsul in Britain—retains the truth of true and noble majesty. This occurs when someone plots against the security of the prince or the people, whether by himself or through another. In the prosecution of this crime, the conditions are the same for everyone. It often happens that they aren't even released by the benefit of death—even in cases where no one had accused them during their lifetime—but once they are convicted after death, their memory is condemned and their property is taken from their successors. From the moment someone conceives a wicked plan, he is, in a sense, already punished by his own mind. From the moment someone has contracted such a crime, it is established that he can neither alienate property nor set slaves free, nor can a debtor legally pay him. Even those who are infamous, and who otherwise lack the right to accuse, are admitted here without question, as are soldiers who are otherwise unable to defend cases.
The Administration of Justice
Legal procedures for treason require careful discernment, truth-seeking, and the inclusion of all witnesses regardless of status.
Those who stand watch for the sake of peace should be admitted to make this accusation all the more readily. Servants may also freely denounce their masters, and freedmen their patrons. However, judges shouldn't treat this crime as an opportunity to show reverence for the prince's majesty, but must handle it according to the truth. The person must also be considered: whether they were capable of the act, whether they actually did it, whether they merely thought about it, and whether they were of sound mind before they presumed to commit it. A slip of the tongue shouldn't be easily punished; for although the reckless deserve punishment, they should still be spared if the offense doesn't arise from the letter of the law or require punishment as a legal precedent. Women are also heard in cases of treason; for the woman Iulia exposed the conspiracy of Sergius Catiline and brought the consul Marcus Tullius into the investigation of it. Those believed to be guilty of the crime are indeed to be subjected to torture if the necessity or utility of the situation demands it, along with those by whose counsel and instigation they appeared to have turned to the accusation, so that justice may be fully carried out against all who were privy to the crimes. There are, however, many things that constitute the crime of treason, such as if there is a plot against the life of the prince or his magistrates; if someone has taken up arms against the country; if someone has abandoned the prince and fled during a public war; if someone has incited the people to sedition against the state; if by anyone’s work or malicious intent the enemies of the people and the state are aided with supplies, arms, weapons, money, or any other thing; if friends are turned into enemies of the state; or if by anyone’s malicious intent or work it is brought about that hostages or money are given against the state, or that a foreign nation is made less obedient to the state. The same applies to one who has released a defendant who had confessed in court and was imprisoned for that reason; and there are many other such things that it would be long or impossible to recount.
The Standard of Loyalty
True loyalty is defined by the preservation of honor and duty, with severe penalties for those who violate the public trust.
But because the standard of loyalty must be maintained in this matter above all others, there are a few points from which it can be most conveniently gathered what is not permitted. For the opposite of what is necessary is impossible, and only illicit acts contradict what must be done. The standard of loyalty requires that whatever is necessarily bound to the faith must be kept safe, secure, honorable, useful, easy, and possible. We must not harm the physical safety of anyone to whom we are bound by loyalty, nor should we undermine the defenses that keep them secure, nor should we presume to commit any act that diminishes their honor or utility; furthermore, it isn't permitted to make what is easy difficult, or what is possible impossible. Moreover, anyone who receives a benefit from the one to whom they are loyal owes them help and counsel in their affairs; from this, it’s clearer than the sun how much is owed to the Lord of all, if so much is owed to those to whom we are bound by loyalty alone. But the penalty for this crime is so great that I wouldn't easily believe that even the lords of the islands, who more frequently adopt tyranny, could devise anything more severe. And, so that no one believes the severity of the penalty originated from the cruelty of tyrants, we have set forth the words of the most moderate law itself in part. It says, therefore: 'Whoever enters into a wicked faction with soldiers, private citizens, or even barbarians, or takes or gives an oath for such a crime, or even contemplates the death of the illustrious men who attend our councils and consistory, or of senators (for they too are part of our body), or of any person who serves us, shall be punished—for the laws have willed that the intent of a crime be punished with the same severity as its effect—and that person, as one guilty of treason, shall be struck by the sword, with all their goods confiscated to our treasury.'1
The Consequences of Infamy
The children and families of traitors bear the weight of paternal infamy, though daughters receive limited leniency.
As for his children, to whom we grant their lives out of a special imperial leniency—for they deserve to die by the same punishment as their father, since they are feared to be examples of the same paternal, that is, hereditary, crime—they must be considered strangers to any maternal or ancestral inheritance and succession, including that of all their relatives, and they shall receive nothing through the wills of outsiders. Let them be perpetually needy and poor, and let their father's infamy always follow them. They shall never attain any honors, nor shall they reach any sacraments at all. Finally, let their situation be such that, wallowing in perpetual poverty, death is a comfort to them and life is a punishment. Lastly, we also order that those who attempt to intercede with us on behalf of such people be marked and denied any pardon. Regarding their daughters, however many there may be, we wish only the Falcidian portion of their mother's estate to reach them—whether she died testate or intestate—so that they have a modest daughter's share rather than the full benefit and the title of heir. For the judgment regarding them ought to be milder, as we trust that, due to the frailty of their sex, they would be less likely to dare such things. As for the wives of the aforementioned, once their dowry is recovered, if they are in a condition where they are required to reserve for the children what they received from their husbands by title of donation at the time the usufruct expires, they should know that they are to leave to our treasury everything that was owed to the children by law; the Falcidian portion should also be assigned from those assets only to the daughters, and not to the sons.
The Path to Restoration
Those who repent and expose conspiracies are offered rewards or pardon, providing a way out of the cycle of destruction.
What we have decreed regarding the aforementioned individuals and their children, we also judge with similar severity regarding their accomplices, their ministers, and their children. However, if any of these people, moved by a desire for true honor at the very start of a conspiracy, expose the plot themselves, they will be rewarded by us with both a prize and an honor. But if someone involved in the conspiracy reveals the secrets of the plot while they are still unknown, they will be considered worthy only of absolution and pardon.
Read the original Latin
et quod princeps quaedam imago deitatis est, et de crimine maiestatis, et de his quae mnt in fidelitate seruaTida. Michi uero satisfactum est et persuasus sum deuotos humeros supponere potestati; nec modo fero eam sed grata est dum Deo subiecta est et illius ordinem sequitur. Alioquin, si diuinis reluctetur mandatis et me theomachiae suae uelit esse participem, libera uoce respondeo Deum cuiuis terris quandam imaginem deitatis. Et ex eo quidem maiestatis dicitur crimen, quod persequitur illius imaginem qui solus, sicut illustris comes Legecestriae Rodbertus modeste proconsulatum gerens apud Britannias dicere consueuit, uerae et ingenuae maiestatis retinet ueritatem; puta cum quis aduersus principis securitatem aut populi quid molitur siue per se siue per alium. In huius autem persecutione omnibus aequa conditio est; et plerumque fit ut nec mortis beneficio, in his etiam quos nemo conuenit in uita, liberentur; sed conuictis mortuis illorum dampnatur memoria et bona successoribus auferuntur. Nam ex quo a sceleratissimum quis consilium cepit, exinde quodammodo sua mente punitus est. Ex quo quis tale crimen contraxit, neque alienare neque manumittere posse constat nec ei soluere iure debitorem. Famosi quoque, qui alias ius accusandi non habent, sine ulla dubitatione hic admittuntur, sed et milites, qui alias causas defendere non possunt.
Nam qui pro pace excubant, magis magisque ad hanc accusationem admittendi sunt. Serui quoque dominos licenter deferunt et liberti patronos. Hoc tamen crimen a iudicibus non in occasionem ob principalis maiestatis uenerationem habendum est sed in ueritate. Nam et spectanda est persona an potuerit facere et an fecerit, an cogitauerit et an (antequam hoc praesumpserit) sanae mentis fuerit. Nec lubricum linguae ad penam facile trahendum est; quamquam enim temerarii pena sint digni, tamen et illis parcendum est si non tale sit delictum quod uel ex scriptura legis descendat uel quod ad exemplum legis uindicandum est. Audiuntur et mulieres in lesae maiestatis quaestione; nam coniurationem Sergii Cathelinae lulia mulier detexit et Marcum Tullium consulem in iudicium eius instruxit. Tormentis quidem subdendi sunt, si hoc ratio necessitatis aut utilitatis inducat, qui criminis eius rei esse creduntur cum illis quorum consilio atque instinctu ad accusationem uisi sunt accessisse, ut ab omnibus commissis consciis uindicta possit instituta reportari. Sunt autem plurima quae maiestatis infomiant crimen, ut si de morte principis tractetur aut magistratuum, aut arma quis contra patriam tulerit aut relicto principe de publico bello profugerit aut concitatum in seditionem aduersus rem publicam sollicitauerit populum, cuiusue opera doloue malo hostes populi reique publicae commeatu armis telis pecunia quaue alia re adiuuantur uel ex amicis hostes rei publicae fiunt, cuiusue dolo malo opera factum erit quo magis obsides pecunia dentur aduersus rem publicam, quo minus etiam gens extraneae regionis rei publicae obtemperet; fecerit item qui confessum in iudicio reum propter hoc in uincula coniectum emiserit; et in hunc modum plurima quae longum aut impossibile est enarrare.
Sed, quia formam fidelitatis in eo prae ceteris seruari oportet, pauca sunt ex quibus quid non liceat commodissime colligi potest. Necessarii namque contrarium impossibile est, et ei quod oportet fieri sola iUicita contradicunt. Exigit autem fidelitatis forma quae necessario fidei simt inserta, incolume, tutum, honestum, utile, facile, possibile. Ne cui fidelitate tenemur astricti, incolumitatem ledamus corporis, aut munitiones quibus tutus est detrahamus, aut praesumamus committere unde honor aut illius utilitas minuatur; sed neque id, quod facile est, difficile fieri licet, aut quod possibile est, impossibile. Praeterea qui beneficium ab eo, cuius fidelis est, possidet, a gerendis eius auxilium et consilium debet; unde quantum omnium Domino debeatur sole clarius lucet, si tantum debetur iis quibus sola fidelitate tenemur astricti. Sed et pena huius criminis tanta est ut non facile crediderim nec a dominis insularum, qui frequentius tyrannidem induunt, seuerius quippiam excogitari posse. Et, ne a tyrannorum seuitia penae seueritas processisse credatur, ipsius modestissimi iuris uerba pro parte posuimus. Ait ergo: Quisquis cum militibus uel cum priuatis uel barbaris etiam scelestam inierit factionem aut facinoris ipsius susceperit sacramentum uel dederit, de nece etiam uirorum illustrium qui consiliis et consistorio nostro intersunt, senatorum etiam (nam et ipsi pars corporis nostri sunt) uel cuiuslibet pob stremo qui nobis militat, cogitauerit (eadem enim seueritate uoluntatem sceleris qua effectum puniri iura uoluerunt), ipse quidem utpote maiestatis reus gladio feriatur, omnibus bonis eius fisco nostro addictis.
Filii uero eius, quibus uitam imperatoria specialiter lenitate concedimus — patemo enim debent perire supplicio, in quibus paterni, hoc est hereditarii, criminis exempla metuuntur — a matema uel auita, omnium etiam proximorum hereditate ac successione habeantur alieni, testamentis extraneorum nichil capiant. Sint perpetuo egentes et pauperes, infamia eos semper paterna comitetur. Ad nuUos umquam honores, ad nulla prorsus sacramenta pemeniant. Sint postremo tales ut his perpetua egestate sordentibus sit et mors solatium et uita supplicium. Denique iubemus etiam eos notabiles esse sine uenia qui pro talibus mnquam apud nos interuenire temptauerint. Ad filias sane eorum, quolibet numero fuerint, Faleidiam tantiun ex bonis matris, siue testata siue intestata defecerit, uolumus peruenire, ut habeant potius mediocrem filiae aKmoniam quam integrum emolumentum et nomen heredis. Mitior enim circa eas debet esse sententia quas pro infirmitate sexus minus ausuras esse confidimus. Vxores sane praedictorum, recuperata dote, si in ea conditione fuerint ut quae a uiris titulo donationis acceperunt filiis debeant reseruare tempore quo ususfructus absumitur, omnia ea fisco nostro se relicturas esse cognoscant quae iuxta legem filiis debebantur; Falcidia etiam ex iis rebus filiabus tantum, non etiam filiis deputetur.
Id quod de praedictis eorumque filiis cauimus, etiam de satellitibus consciis ac ministris filiisque eorum simili seueritate censemus. Sane, si quis ex his in exordio initae factionis studio uerae laudis accensus ipse prodiderit factionem, et praemio a nobis et honore donabitur. Is uero qui usus fuerit factione, si tamen incognita adhuc consiliorum archana patefecerit, absolutione tantum et uenia dignus habebitur.
Notes
- 1 ↩The term 'pob stremo' in the source text appears to be a corruption or archaic variant; translated here as 'any person' based on context.
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