ABSTRACT
Our first case is hardly a matter of criminal law in the strict sense. It is legally interesting because it provided, or was made to provide, a model for some future developments, but it is doubtful if there was any pre-existing legal justification for the actions taken. On the other hand, the episode does undoubtedly reveal Roman attitudes – as much, perhaps, those of the end of the Republic as of the early second century BC – to crime and punishment. We are given by Livy an extraordinarily detailed story, told in highly coloured language, designed to produce reactions of shock, horror, and prurience, and at the same time to show the Senate as the guardian of the Roman people.
