The Laws on the Childless and on Wills Reformed

So many were the benefits of this kind the emperor conferred on every province that they would give ample material to anyone who wanted to record them. Among them we may name the laws he completely reshaped and set on a fairer footing. The nature of this reform can be explained briefly and easily. Under the old law the childless were punished by losing their inherited property. It was a merciless statute, which treated them as outright criminals. The emperor repealed it and decreed that people in that position should inherit. He settled the question on the principles of fairness and justice, arguing that it is willful wrongdoers who should be punished with the penalties their crimes deserve. But nature herself denies children to many who long, perhaps, for a large family, but are disappointed in their hope by bodily weakness. Others remain childless, not from any dislike of having descendants, but because their burning love of philosophy makes them turn away from marriage. Women, too, consecrated to the service of God, have kept a pure and spotless virginity, and have devoted themselves, soul and body, to a life of complete chastity and holiness. What then? Should such conduct be thought to deserve punishment, or rather admiration and praise? For to desire this state is honorable in itself, and to keep it is beyond the power of unaided nature. Surely those whose bodily weakness destroys their hope of children deserve pity, not punishment; and the one who devotes himself to a higher aim calls for special admiration, not punishment. On such principles of sound reason the emperor corrected the faults of this law. Again, as to the wills of the dying, the old laws had required that they be expressed, even at the very last breath, as it were, in certain fixed words, and had laid down the exact form and terms to be used. This practice had led to many fraudulent attempts to keep the wishes of the dead from being fully carried out. As soon as our emperor learned of these abuses, he reformed this law too. He declared that a dying man should be allowed to state his last wishes in as few words as possible and in whatever terms he pleased, and to set out his will in any written form, or even by word of mouth, provided it was done in the presence of proper witnesses able to carry out their trust faithfully. [a]