Publilius Syrus Quotes
The judge is condemned when the guilty is absolved.
Adopted by the original Edinburgh Review Magazine as its motto.
Publius Syrus, 1st Century BC, Roman Dramatist, Maxim 407
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Mistakes in the criminal justice system have been with us from the birth of the nation.
This is the earliest surviving attempt of the Romans to formulate a legal code.
The Senator was referring to the large number of people who had been exonerated by DNA evidence while on Death Row.
He was referring to exonerations for capital crimes like murder. He had written a book about a case where a man who was later proved innocent was reprieved only 5 days before his execution.
This quotation has become an operational principle of most justice systems of industrial democracies.
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Publilius Syrus (fl. 85–43 BC), was a Latin writer, best known for his sententiae. He was a Syrian from Antioch who was brought as a slave to Roman Italy. Syrus was brought to Rome on the same ship that brought Manilius, the astronomer and Staberius Eros, the grammarian. By his wit and talent, Syrus won the favour of his master, who granted him manumission and educated him. He became a member of the Publilia gens. Publilius' name, due to the palatalization of 'l' between two 'i's in the Early Middle Ages, is often presented by manuscripts (and some printed editions) in corrupt form as 'Publius', Publius being a very common Roman praenomen.
