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A transcript of a legal protocol recording the
judge's decision in a murder case. Although the
defendant was a senator, the judge recognises the
rights of his female victims.
Case against a certain senator, Diodemus of
Alexandria, who was in love with a public
prostitute. He was dining with the prostitute at
evening time. Diodemus killed the prostitute, and
when Zephyrus learned about it, he ordered
Diodemus to be put into prison ... The other
senators ask that he be released, but Zephyrus
insists that he must remain in prison
(7) Diodemus admits that he killed the prostitute.
A certain Theodora, a old woman and a pauper, asks
that Diodemus be compelled for her support to
provide some small consolation for her daughter's
life. For she said, 'this is why I gave my
daughter to the pimp, so that I might have a means
of support. Now that my daughter is dead I am
deprived of my support, and on this account I ask
that some small amount, appropriate for a woman,
be given for my support.'
The prefect's decision
You killed this woman, Diodemus, in a disgraceful
way, a woman who gives a bad impression of human
fortune, because she spent her life in an unholy
manner and in the end sold [some letters missing].
And indeed I pity the poor creature, who when she
was alive was laid out for those who wanted her,
like a dead body. The poverty of her lot was so
insistent that she sold her body and brought
dishonour upon her name and reputation and took on
a prostitute's life with its many hardships ...
(8). I order that because you have destroyed the
honour of the city council with the sword that you
be banished as a murderer. Theodora, the poor old
mother of the dead woman, who because of her own
poverty deprived her daughter of her chastity, and
so also caused her death, is to receive as her
share one tenth of Diodemus' property; this is
what required by law, with humanitarian
considerations supporting the law's authority. |
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