favorite of Justinian (it has been fiercely urged) was
fearful of encountering the light of freedom and the gravity of Roman
sages. Tribonian condemned to oblivion the genuine and native wisdom of
Cato, the Scaevolas, and Sulpicius; while he invoked spirits more
congenial to his own, the Syrians, Greeks, and Africans, who flocked to
the imperial court to study Latin as a foreign tongue and jurisprudence
as a lucrative profession. But the ministers of Justinian were
instructed to labor, not for the curiosity of antiquarians, but for the
immediate benefit of his subjects. It was their duty to select the
useful and practical parts of the Roman law; and the writings of the old
republicans, however curious or excellent, were no longer suited to the
new system of manners, religion, and government.

Perhaps, if the preceptors and friends of Cicero were still alive, our
candor would acknowledge that, except in purity of language, their
intrinsic merit was excelled by the school of Papinian and Ulpian. The
science of the laws is the slow growth of time and experience, and the
advantage both of method and materials is naturally assumed by the most
recent authors. The civilians of the reign of the Antonines had studied
the works of their predecessors: their philosophic spirit had mitigated
the rigor of antiquity, simplified the forms of proceeding, and emerged
from the jealousy and prejudice of the rival sects. The choice of the
authorities that compose the _Pandects_ depended on the judgment of
Tribonian; but the power of his sovereign could not absolve him from the
sacred obligations of truth and fidelity. As the legislator of the
empire, Justinian might repeal the acts of the Antonines, or condemn as
seditious the free principles which were maintained by the last of the
_Roman_ lawyers. But the existence of past facts is placed beyond the
reach of despotism; and the Emperor was guilty of fraud and forgery when
he corrupted the integrity of their text, inscribed with their venerable
names the words and ideas of his servile reign, and suppressed by the
hand of power the pure and authentic copies of their sentiments. The
changes and interpolations of Tribonian and his colleagues are excused
by the pretence of uniformity: but their cares have been insufficient,
and the antinomies, or contradictions, of the _Code_ and _Pandects_
still exercise the patience and subtlety of modern civilians.

A rumor devoid of evidence has been propag