XVII
34 THE BURGUNDIAN CODE 3. If there is a way-pointer (tracker, veius)l present and he has received his payment (vegiatura) and he to whom he points the way is not able to find them (the animals), let the way-pointer (tracker, veius) pay for the theft in fee simple because he lies that he has pointed the way to them. XVII OF OTHER CASES AND THE REMOVAL OF LIABILITY FOR PUNISHMENT . 1. All cases which involve Burgundians and which were not completed before the Battle of Chalons are declared dismissed. 2. If anyone shall identify his slave or maidservant, let him receive him back. 3. For a freeman killed previously twenty solidi may be imposed and let all further prosecution cease. 4. And also we wish it to be particularly observed, that if any Burgundian has been twice admonished for any cause by him who brings a case against him that he should come to court and provide a guarantor (oathtaker) and, if he does not provide a guarantor (oathtaker) or come to court, and the summoner is able 1 Cf. DuCange, op. cit., VI, 753-54. The word uegius seems to refer to some type of soothsayer, rophet, or diviner (harioli, uates, diuini) whom the Saxons call oigilert anBthe Germans uiclrrs, whence uiglias means soothsayers , for these consult the auspices to determine whether slaves and animals have been taken away by theft so that they might point out where they are. The payment for providing this information is called uegiaturum. Others deduce a meaning from the Saxon word ueg or uaeg, which means a road, thus they are road-pointers (uegii) who point out the tracks of animals. Cf. XCV. 1 The Battle of Chalons or of Mauriac (the Lex Gundobadu refers to it as pugna Mauriacellsis) is the battle which took place in 451 in which a federate army of Romans and barbarians under Aetius faced an invasion of the Huns who, under their leader, Attila, were threatening to subjugate all of Gaul. To face this threat, Aetius got together an army consisting of imperial troops and Franks, Burgundians, Bretons, and Visigoths. The Huns were turned back at Chalons, but Theodoric, king of the Visigoths and the most influential of the barbarian leaders at this time, was killed. That the date 451 seemed an important one to the barbarians is attested by the fact that the ear 451 is a delimiting date in the L a Guniobadu and in the Visigothic Codie of Euric. Cf. Fmg.Visig. (Antiqua, ed. Bluhme, p. 4). 2 Davoud-Oghlou suggests that a master may seek back such an identified slave even when the loss of the slave dated prior to the Battle of Chalons. Cf. Davoud-Oghlou, op. cit., I, 420(L,48). BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS 35 to prove this fact with two or three native freeborn witnesses, let him (the man who refused to come to court) pay a fine of six solidi and nonetheless be compelled to come to judgment. 5. With the further condition that a Roman freeman who has a case with a barbarian (serf) should admonish either his master or his overseer (actor), and if the overseer shall not come after he has been admonished repeatedly (twice?) to reply to the charge in behalf of the serf (originarius) committed to him, let the overseer receive a hundred blows. XVIII 1. If any animal by chance, or if any dog by bite, causes death to a man, we order that among Burgundians the ancient rule of blame be removed henceforth: because what happens by chance ought not to conduce to the loss or discomfiture of man. So that if among animals, a horse kills a horse unexpectedly, or an ox gores an ox, or a dog gnaws a dog, so that it is crippled, let the owner hand over the animal or dog through which the loss is seen to have been committed to him who suffers the 1 0 ~ s . ~ 2. In truth, if a lance or any kind of weapon shall have been thrown upon the ground or set there without intent to do harm (simpliciter ), and if by accident a man or animal impales himself thereupon , we order that he to whom the weapon belongs shall pay nothing unless by chance he held the weapon in his own hands in such a manner that it could cause harm to a man. 1 By the phrase "the ancient rule of blame" perhaps this statute...
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