a.d. IV Id. Feb.
February 10 in Ancient Rome
Constantine: judges in doubt must ask the emperor
politicsAD 319
Julian date · ≈ Feb 11 on our calendar
A judge unsure how to rule should consult the emperor before giving judgment, and must not hold out the threat of a referral afterwards to scare litigants away from appeal.
Constantine
Background
Roman judges could send a hard case to the emperor for a ruling, a procedure called relatio or consultatio. It was meant to ensure correct law, but it could be abused: a judge might threaten to refer a case after ruling, to frighten the losing party out of appealing.
This law of Constantine, issued at Sirmium and addressed to the prefect of the grain supply, ordered that a judge who thought a case should be referred must not pronounce judgment, but consult the emperor about the point that troubled him. If he had already given sentence, he must not afterwards scare litigants with the promise of a referral to stop them appealing.
For ordinary people in court, it protected the right to appeal, a real safeguard when judges could be biased or bribed.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 11.29.2 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/3°C (54°/37°F) · rain 28% of days
Rome in FebruaryFebruary was Rome's month of purification and of the dead.
Fields & crops
The west wind (Favonius) brought the first signs of spring around 7 February per Columella 11.2: vines were pruned, trees grafted, and meadows cleared and manured.
Courts & law
February was when the Senate traditionally heard foreign embassies late Republic, per the lex Gabinia and Cicero's letters. Ordinary law courts kept sitting except on festival days.
Senate & politics
As the last month of the old year, February was used for the intercalary month when the pre-Julian calendar needed correcting, inserted after the Terminalia (23 Feb.), a source of political manipulation pre-Julian.
Military
Still the closed season; armies prepared for spring, recruits trained, and supplies were gathered at frontier bases.
Festivals & religion
The month's name comes from februa, means of purification. The Lupercalia (15 Feb.), the Parentalia for the family dead (13–21 Feb.) ending with the Feralia, the Caristia family reunion (22 Feb.) and the Terminalia for boundary stones (23 Feb.) filled it per Ovid, Fasti 2.
Daily life
February was Rome's month of purification and of the dead. During the Parentalia (13–21 February) families brought simple offerings—wreaths, grain, salt, bread soaked in wine, violets—to their ancestors' tombs per Ovid, Fasti 2.533–42. Death was close: perhaps a quarter or more of infants died in their first year, and tombstones for young children are common modern demographic estimate; disputed in detail.
On farms Columella says the west wind (Favonius) starts about 7 February, signalling pruning, grafting and the first spring work per Columella 11.2. The Lupercalia (15 February) saw young men run through the streets striking women with goatskin strips, believed to help fertility and childbirth per Ovid and Plutarch.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 2 · Columella 11.2
All days in February →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Nec tecum possum vivere, nec sine te.
“I can't live with you, nor without you.”
Martial, Epigrams 12.46 · translation ours (literal)
