Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/707

Rh LABEO. Iinrm have I done in admitting into the senate one whom you allow to be pontiff?" The answer was clever, and not unacceptable to the emperor, who wished to be pontiff himself, but could not make lip his mind to go to the length of depriving Le- pidus of that dignity. A proposal was made in the senate, that the senators should guard Augustus hy turns, by passing the night in his ante-chamber. Jiabeo, not liking the plan, but not wishing openly to oppose it, excused himself by saying, '* I am a snorer, and not fit to sleep near the emperor. (Dion Cass. liv. 15 ; Suet. Aiig. 54.) We have already [Capito] fully adverted to the contrast between Labeo and Capito, and have given an account of the different legal sects which they founded. Tacitus {Ann. iii. 75) calls these two great rival jurists of the age of Augustus duo decora pacis. The statement of Pomponius {L c), that Labeo refused the consulship, seems to be inconsistent with the statement of Tacitus (/. c), that Labeo became popular from the wrong he suffered in not rising above the praetorship. The following h the most plausible explanation of the apparent inconsistency : — Labeo was of an older and far more distinguished family than Capito, whose ancestors first came into notice in the time of Sulla, whereas the Antistii are heard of in the earliest period of Roman history, and by reference to Eckhel it will be found that there are still many subsisting medals of the gens Antestia or Antistia, but none of the gens Atteia. In age, too, it is pro- bable that Labeo was senior to Capito, The wrong spoken of by Tacitus may, therefore, have consisted in allowing Labeo to remain praetor at a time when regularly he might have expected the consulship, and in promoting Capito, out of the ordinary course, over his head. This wrong would not have been purged by a subsequent offer on the part of the emperor to make Labeo consul suffectus. Perhaps the desire of leisure to pursue his studies may have been the real cause, or may have contri- buted, along with the feeling of having suffered a slight, as a cause of Labeo's refusal to accept poli- tical power, offered in such a way, and at such a time, that it possessed little value. He devoted liimself to reading and literature, and the study of his profession. Half of every year he spent at Rome in giving instruction to his pupils, and an- swering in public the questions of those who con- sulted him on legal points ; and six months he passed in the country in writing books. Of these he left no fewer than four hundred behind him, a number at which we need not be surprised, when we consider how small in general were the ancient libri and volumina. His works were more in re- quest in subsequent ages than those of most of the reteres. By Gains he is cited several times, and his name appears more than once in the Institutes. The extracts from Labeo in the Digest occupy about twelve pages in Hommers Falingenesia i'andector rum. They are sixty-one in number, but the name of Labeo occurs in other passages of the Digest no fewer than five hundred and forty-one times. He wrote commentaries on the laws of the twelve tables (Gell. i. 12 ; ib. vii. 15, where the second book is cited ; ib. xx. 1) and upon the Praetor's Edict, in at least four books (Gell. xiii. 10 ; Dig. 11. tit. 4. s. 1. § 5). Ulpian cites Labeo libro primo praetoris vrbani (Dig. 50. tit. 16. s. 19), and refers to his thirtieth book praetoris peregrini (Dig- 4. tit. 3. s. !>. § 4). The books so cited by Ulpian may form LABEO. 6f)3 part of the general work on the Pmetor's Edict. ( Wieling, de Labeonis ad Edict. LUjris^ 4to. Franeq. 1731.) Of his works, the Florentine Index mentions only Ueteavccv BcgKia oktw, and Posteriorum ^i€la 54Ka, and these are the works from which the greater number of passages from Labeo that occur in the Digest are taken. The Peithanon or Pro- babilium are cited sometimes simply (as in Dig. 19. tit. 1. s. 53), and sometimes with the addition a Paulo Epitomatormn (as in Dig. 28. tit. 1. s. 2). It is doubtful whether any of the remains of Labeo given in the Digest, even those which appear to be cited from his original writings, were not taken by the compilers from his works as they appeared in the remodelled editions of subsequent commentators. (Von Regius, 'EvavTiocpavcoy, i. 25, in Otto, Thes. vol. ii. p. 1493 ; Blume, in Savigny's Zeitschrift^ vol. iv. p. 317, &c.) The Peithanon of Labeo treated of general rules of law which, though pro- babilities, were sometimes fallacious ; and Paulus, in his notes, directed attention chiefly to the par- ticular cases which formed exceptions to the rule. (Bynkershoeck, Obs. iii. lb",) Of the Libri Poste- riorum of Labeo, and the Epitome of that work made by Javolenus, we have already treated under the article Javolenus. The Libri (qu. Liber) Epistolurum and Libri Responsorum of Labeo, are referred to under Labeo, Domitius, while his Commentarii de Jure Pontijicio and his other theo- logical works, are mentioned under Labeo, Cor- nelius. In ancient times, not only were commen- taries written upon him by Paulus and Javolenus, but we read of the Notae upon Labeo of Proculus (Dig. 3. tit. 5. s. 10. § 1 ; Dig. 35. tit. 1. s. 69 ; Dig. 1 7. tit. 2. s. 65. § 5), and of a certain Quin- tus (Dig. 4. tit. 3. s. 7. § 7) ; and we find from Dig. 2b. tit. 5. s. 17. § 5, that his Posteriorum Libri were annotated by Aristo and by Aulus (probably Aulus Cascellius). In modern times, according to Maiansius {Ad XXX. Ictorum Frdtg. Comme7it. vol. i. praef.), Sebastian Ortega com- mented specially on his remains ; but such a work (like the works of many other Spanish jurists) is unknown to the legal bibliographers. (Bach. Hist. Jur. Rom. iii. 1. § 10 ; Zimmern. R. R. G. vol. i. § 82, 83 ; Chr. Thomasius, Comparatio Antistii Labeonis et Ateii Capitonis, 4to. Lips. 1683 ; Chr Thomasius, Comparatio Labeonis et Trebatii, 4to Lips. 1684 ; Corn, van Eck, De Vita, Moribus » Sludiis M. Antistii Labeonis et C. Ateii Capitonis 8vo. Franeq. 1692, reprinted in Oelrich's Thesauna Noviis Disscrtationum Juridicarum, vol. ii. torn. 2, p. 821 — 856 ; A. N. MoUer, Selecta Quaedam, 4to, Traj. ad Rhen. 1763, reprinted in Oelrich's T^es. Nov. Dis. Jur. vol. ii. torn. 2, pp. 107 — 154 ; Neu- ber. Die juristische Klassiker, -pp. 77 — 92, and pp. 209—216 ; P. Ph. Wolff hardt, De Posterioribus Labeonis, 4to. Rentel. 1751 ; Chr. Glob. Biener, Antistius Labeo, Juris Civilis NoixUor, 4to. Lips. 1786, reprinted (vol. i. No. 9) in Chr. Glob. Biener's Opusczda Academica, 2 vols. 4to. Lips. 1830 ; Oteyza et Olano, Paralipomenon et Eleo- iorum Juris Civilis, vol. i. in Meermjin's Thesaurus^ vol. i. pp. 619—622.) [J. T. G.] LA'BEO, ATE'lUS, a contemporary of Pliny, who mentions his fancy for small pictures {H. N. XXXV. 4). Bertrandus (rfe ,/M?7.sp. i. 7. § 4) would read Antistius for Ateius, and, unmindful of chro- nology, would confound the picture-fancier with the celebrated jurist of the time of Augustus. But we y V 3