re have always been many detractors of the Roman law, no sect
of Anti-Tribonians has ever existed under that name, as Gibbon seems to
suppose.--W.]

[Footnote 4: At the head of these guides I shall respectfully place
the learned and perspicuous Heineccius, a German professor, who died
at Halle in the year 1741, (see his Eloge in the Nouvelle Bibliotheque
Germanique, tom. ii. p. 51--64.) His ample works have been collected
in eight volumes in 4to. Geneva, 1743-1748. The treatises which I have
separately used are, 1. Historia Juris Romani et Germanici, Lugd.
Batav. 1740, in 8 vo. 2. Syntagma Antiquitatum Romanam Jurisprudentiam
illustrantium, 2 vols. in 8 vo. Traject. ad Rhenum. 3. Elementa Juris
Civilis secundum Ordinem Institutionum, Lugd. Bat. 1751, in 8 vo. 4.
Elementa J. C. secundum Ordinem Pandectarum Traject. 1772, in 8vo. 2
vols. * Note: Our author, who was not a lawyer, was necessarily obliged
to content himself with following the opinions of those writers who were
then of the greatest authority; but as Heineccius, notwithstanding his
high reputation for the study of the Roman law, knew nothing of
the subject on which he treated, but what he had learned from the
compilations of various authors, it happened that, in following the
sometimes rash opinions of these guides, Gibbon has fallen into many
errors, which we shall endeavor in succession to correct. The work of
Bach on the History of the Roman Jurisprudence, with which Gibbon was
not acquainted, is far superior to that of Heineccius and since that
time we have new obligations to the modern historic civilians, whose
indefatigable researches have greatly enlarged the sphere of our
knowledge in this important branch of history. We want a pen like that
of Gibbon to give to the more accurate notions which we have acquired
since his time, the brilliancy, the vigor, and the animation
which Gibbon has bestowed on the opinions of Heineccius and his
contemporaries.--W]

[Footnote 5: Our original text is a fragment de Origine Juris (Pandect.
l. i. tit. ii.) of Pomponius, a Roman lawyer, who lived under the
Antonines, (Heinecc. tom. iii. syl. iii. p. 66--126.) It has been
abridged, and probably corrupted, by Tribonian, and since restored by
Bynkershoek (Opp. tom. i. p. 279--304.)]

The primitive government of Rome [6] was composed, with some political
skill, of an elective king, a council of nobles, and a general assembly
of the people. War and religion were administe