more like write or perish, but the title is the unofficial motto of the French Foreign Legion:
A regiment which I just might join lest I finish my projektz. The Working Title of the first Paper:
Radices, Annonae, & Irrigatio? (Un)usual Uses of Corruption in the Theodosian Code
In capsule, the last post was more or less a regurgitation of what we modern historians have said about “Corruption” in the later roman empire, as being evidenced in the Theodosian code, which was the predecessor to the Justinian Code – which more or less serves as the grandfather to all European (continential) law. Mommsen, the editor, was trained as a Roman jurist (19th century) and inevitably when the Justinian Code influenced him highly as he worked his way through setting up German Civil Code.
Which is really beside the point.
The point is, is: I think that if we take a look at this source, what we find is that “corruptio” + “ruptus” + “incorruptio” are used in very different ways that we might have seen. That is to say, that we have been applying our own versions of corruption UNTO how we want to view Roman civilization at its end, if it ever really did.
So that's what I did – I searched a massive tome for the words corruption in Latin – LATINUM has been paying off – and what I found surprised, if not you, i'm rather sure it won't, but it did surprise me:
notable examples are when roots are unkempt so as to hinder aqueducts – the word corruptio is used
when spoiled grain is mentioned – corruptio is used
and when a person would use the Nile River for personal irrigation uses – corruptio is used
But if you search in a modern index of the Code, under the heading for Corruption – you'll find a lot of these:
SEE “Solicitation”; “Banditry”; “Rape”; “Brigandry”; “Extortion”, et cetera.
Which isn't to say that these things weren't actually WRONG to the Roman – or at least to the Roman state- I personally enjoy being extorted, raped, and solicited, as long as it's by someone that I trust – HA – but I think a question worth asking, and worth asking seriously, is if this helps us consider what the Roman State considered corrupt – hopefully it shall.
And this will become the first chapter of my thesis.
Late For Antiquity! 