ower and
sovereignty." The will of a single man, of a child perhaps, was allowed
to prevail over the wisdom of ages and the inclinations of millions; and
the degenerate Greeks were proud to declare, that in his hands alone
the arbitrary exercise of legislation could be safely deposited. "What
interest or passion," exclaims Theophilus in the court of Justinian,
"can reach the calm and sublime elevation of the monarch? He is already
master of the lives and fortunes of his subjects; and those who have
incurred his displeasure are already numbered with the dead." Disdaining
the language of flattery, the historian may confess, that in questions
of private jurisprudence, the absolute sovereign of a great empire can
seldom be influenced by any personal considerations. Virtue, or even
reason, will suggest to his impartial mind, that he is the guardian
of peace and equity, and that the interest of society is inseparably
connected with his own. Under the weakest and most vicious reign, the
seat of justice was filled by the wisdom and integrity of Papinian and
Ulpian; and the purest materials of the Code and Pandects are inscribed
with the names of Caracalla and his ministers. The tyrant of Rome was
sometimes the benefactor of the provinces. A dagger terminated the
crimes of Domitian; but the prudence of Nerva confirmed his acts, which,
in the joy of their deliverance, had been rescinded by an indignant
senate. Yet in the _rescripts_, replies to the consultations of the
magistrates, the wisest of princes might be deceived by a partial
exposition of the case. And this abuse, which placed their hasty
decisions on the same level with mature and deliberate acts of
legislation, was ineffectually condemned by the sense and example of
Trajan. The _rescripts_ of the emperor, his _grants_ and _decrees_, his
_edicts_ and _pragmatic sanctions_, were subscribed in purple ink,
and transmitted to the provinces as general or special laws, which the
magistrates were bound to execute, and the people to obey. But as their
number continually multiplied, the rule of obedience became each day
more doubtful and obscure, till the will of the sovereign was fixed and
ascertained in the Gregorian, the Hermogenian, and the Theodosian codes.
* The two first, of which some fragments have escaped, were framed by
two private lawyers, to preserve the constitutions of the Pagan emperors
from Adrian to Constantine. The third, which is still extant, was
digested in