Verba carminis — On a cardinal point of Archaic Roman law

Abstract

Beginning with the well-known fact that one lost a lawsuit if he made even a single verbal mistake in his speech during the process of the legis actio (Gai. inst. 4, 11. 30), we have to examine through some examples the power of verbality in ius sacrum. (I.) We study the development of the concept of fatum (II.), a narration of Plinius maior concerning the dedicatio of the templum of Ops Opifera (III.), another narration based on a source of Plinius related to a special interpretation of prodigium (IV.), as well as parallels that can be discovered between “fruges excantare” and the ceremony of the evocatio (V.). From thes one could gain a picture of connection between Roman religion and jurisprudence of the Archaic Age and the spoken word.