Thursday's Term to Learn - Lex Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficiis

Today's term to learn comes from my reading about Apuleius' connection to magic. The lex Cornelia de sicariis et venefici(i)s, which was passed in 81 B.C., was a Roman law on magic named for the dictator Lucius Cornelius* Sulla. According to J.D. Cloud, the law is also referred to as the lex Cornelia de sicariis and, simply, when no confusion results, as the lex Cornelia. Apuleius wrote The Golden Ass and an Apology in which he defends himself (with unknown results) against charges of magic based on this law.

We don't have the law, but according to James B. Rives in "Magic in Roman Law: The Reconstruction of a Crime," it had at least 6 sections, of which we have a good idea about 3:

• The 1st section dealt with people armed with a weapon in order to kill or rob within a mile of Rome. Rives suggests the 2nd - 4th sections dealt with the same crime, but outside the city limits.
• The 5th section dealt with someone who has sold, bought, possessed, or administered a dangerous drug, and
• the 6th section dealt with people who caused someone else to be condemned on a capital charge.

Rives further suggests that the term sicarius can be translated as 'assassin' (vs. 'murderer') and that the link between the 3 types of lex Cornelia de sicariis crimes is that:

"wrongful death [is] brought through stealth and malice aforethought."

* See Latin Adjectives

References

• "How Did Sulla Style His Law de Sicariis?"
  J. D. Cloud
  The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jun., 1968), pp. 140-143
  
• "Magic in Roman Law: The Reconstruction of a Crime"
  James B. Rives
  Classical Antiquity, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Oct., 2003), pp. 313-339
  

Apuleius picture © Clipart.com

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