You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
INTRODUCTION xxvii<br />
Afterwards he saw its odious character and tried to check it<br />
by instituting a^specLil court <strong>of</strong> ti fffipn spnatora <strong>The</strong>a-ie<br />
relapsed owing to tbf. Rvil iiifliifiiK <strong>of</strong> Spj ari^y^ ; see Aiuials vi<br />
throughout. <strong>The</strong>re was no pubhc prosecutor at Rome.<br />
Hence it was conyf-niftnt u^ liavp the.sft TJrivate delatores^—<br />
a term originally ji4jplieiL-tu-.tliosf; whn giivp infnTnvirion in<br />
respect <strong>of</strong> debts due to the exchequer. lu-an economic crisis.<br />
which took place in 33 a.d., delatures made an attack on<br />
money-lending capitalists, who set aside two laws <strong>of</strong> Julius<br />
Caesar^ <strong>Tacitus</strong> (vi 16) describes them as magria uis accusa-<br />
torum. Compare iv 36 iU qnis destrictior accusator uelut<br />
sacrosanctus erat.<br />
In iv 3 we are told that it was proposed in the Senate<br />
that rewards to delatores should be abolished in the case <strong>of</strong><br />
those found guilty <strong>of</strong> maiestas . Tiberius contra morem suum<br />
defends them as 'guardians' <strong>of</strong> justice. <strong>Tacitus</strong>' comment is :<br />
sic delatores, gemis hominum publico exitio repertum,...per<br />
praemia eliciebantur. Tn _iv_34_wp. read <strong>of</strong> a. further strfttph<br />
i n the employmen t <strong>of</strong> the law <strong>of</strong> maiestas. It is made to<br />
reach Cremutius nnrH ns for a, ]i;iss;i»jf i n a book, where the<br />
eulogy is awarded to Cassius, whic h liud pnce been spoken over<br />
iiTm by~Brutus. ypa.rfttold a.hnnt C'ordus' trial, his eloquent<br />
defence, and how he starved himself to death.<br />
<strong>The</strong> following chapters are loci classici on the subject <strong>of</strong><br />
delatio and maiestas :—iv 21, 42, 66.