a.d. VII Kal. Ian.
December 26 in Ancient Rome
Constantine: final judgments stay final
politicsAD 319
Julian date · ≈ Dec 27 on our calendar
Constantine ruled that petitions and imperial rescripts could not reopen a case already decided without appeal, and that those who obtained them be turned away from the courts.
Constantine
Background
In the Roman legal system, people who lost a case sometimes tried to bypass the courts by petitioning the emperor directly. An imperial reply (rescript) obtained by a skilful petition could reopen a matter already decided, leaving the winner never quite secure.
This law of Constantine, dated 26 December 319, ruled that once a case had been decided and no appeal had been lodged, it could not be reopened by petitions or rescripts. Anyone who obtained such a rescript was to be turned away from court.
For ordinary litigants—a farmer in a boundary dispute, a widow claiming a dowry, a tenant fighting a landlord—this offered some certainty: a judgment that stood could not easily be overturned by a wealthier opponent with connections at court. The frequent repetition of such rules in later law suggests the problem persisted modern observation.
Ancient source: Theodosian Code 4.16.1 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 12°/5°C (54°/41°F) · rain 36% of days
Rome in DecemberDecember's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December).
Fields & crops
Olive picking and pressing, wood-cutting, and indoor work on rainy days; sowing ideally finished by the Kalends per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Courts closed for the Saturnalia; quaestors gave gladiatorial shows in December in late antiquity per the Chronography of 354.
Senate & politics
New tribunes of the plebs entered office on 10 December; outgoing magistrates closed their accounts before the year ended Republic.
Military
Winter quarters. Soldiers too kept the Saturnalia, choosing a mock 'king' per the Acts of Dasius, a late and disputed martyr text.
Festivals & religion
Faunalia (5 Dec.), Agonalia and Septimontium (11 Dec.), Consualia (15 Dec.), Saturnalia (from 17 Dec.), Opalia (19 Dec.), Divalia (21 Dec.), Larentalia (23 Dec.), and later the birthday of Sol Invictus (25 Dec.).
Daily life
December's highlight was the Saturnalia (from 17 December). Business stopped, people wore the casual pilleus cap and gave small gifts, and households let enslaved people eat with, or even be served by, their owners per Macrobius 1.7, Seneca Ep. 47. Seneca, though, notes that the inversion lasted only days; the rest of the year enslaved people stood silent and hungry while masters dined, and could be beaten for a cough per Seneca, Ep. 47. Seneca himself grumbled that the whole city "sweats" with feasting Seneca, Ep. 18.
On farms, olives were picked and pressed, and enslaved workers repaired tools and baskets on rainy days per Columella 11.2.
Sources: Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Chronography of 354 · Seneca, Epistles 18 and 47 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10
All days in December →
LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis.
“Wish to be what you are, and prefer nothing else.”
Martial, Epigrams 10.47 · translation ours (literal)
