XXVI
BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS 41 5. If any Burgundian has sons (children?) to whom he has given their portions, let him have the power of giving or selling that which he has reserved for himself to whomever he wishes. xxv 1. If anyone enters a garden with violence, let him pay three solidi for such presumption to him to whom the garden belongs, and let the fine be six solidi. 2. If a slave does this, let him receive a hundred blows. XXVI OF KNOCIUNG OUT TEETH. I. If anyone by chance strikes out the teeth of a Burgundian of the highest class, or of a Roman noble, let him be compelled to pay fifteen solidi. 2. For middle-classfreeborn people, either Burgundian or Roman, if a tooth is knocked out, let composition be made in the sum of ten solidi. 3. For persons of the lowest class, five so1idi.l 1 The divisions of Burgundian and Roman society in the realm of the Burgundians are not at all clear. In addition to the royal servants and officials mentioned in the reface, Constitutiones Extrauagantes XXII, 14, and various laws throughout %e Ler Gundobada, we have a more general division of all society into free and unfree with the coloni or originad occupying a halfway position between those who were free and those who were not f~ee. The present law, XXVI, deals with four classes of free men: the hi hest, middle, and lowest classes of men who were free from birth; and the ,% eedmen or slaves who had been emancipated by their masters or who had earned their freedom in some way. The freedman is obviously quite low in the social scale when we observe these tariffs, but the children of freedmen were regarded as freemen , and even the freedman himself might gain that status following the death of his former master (cf. XL, 2 ) . However, we have no indication as to how the distinctions among the freemen were determined. We may assume that the nobles, the optimates, constituted the highest class, but as for the two lower classes, there is no basis for the distinction stated anywhere in the Lex Gundobada, although from the tenor of the laws it seems that the middle class was more closely connected with the hi hest class than with the lowest class. The caste line between the free an2 unfree was sharply drawn, for the daughter of a freeman who united with a slave faced a penalty 42 THE BURGUNDIAN CODE 4. If a slave voluntarily strikes out the tooth of a native freeman, let him be condemned to have a hand cut off; if the loss which has been set forth above has been committed by accident, let him pay the price for the tooth according to the status of the person . 5. If any native freeman strikes out the tooth of a freedman, let him pay him three solidi. If he strikes out the tooth of another's slave,let him pay two solidi to him to whom the slave belongs. 1. If a native freeman breaks and opens another's fence when subject to no impedient (impairment) therefrom, only for the purpose of causing such damage, let him pay a single tremissis for each stake to him to whom the crop belongs; if a slave does this, let him receive a hundred blows, and let the fence which was broken be repaired. 2. We also command this to be observed concerning meadows and vineyards. 3. We wish all to recognize this: whoever blocks a public road (i.e., a main highway) or a country lane, let him know that he must pay a fine of twelve solidi, with the further consequence that the fence may be removed and the crops may be destroyed with impunity by travellers to the extent that they occupy space on the highway. 4. If a native freeman breaks another's fence and lets his horses or animals voluntarily into a field or meadow, he shall pay a single solidus for each animal for the damage to the crop or to the meadow. 5. If a slave does this, let him receive a hundred blows; and furof death or perpetual s e ~ t u d e to the king ( cf. XXXV, 2, 3), but intermarriage among the classes of freemen was evidently quite common. We have no indication as to what the status of the offspring of such a mixed marriage might be however. The chief...
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