HUMANITAS E CURA DELLE ESIGENZE UMANE NEL CODICE TEODOSIANO
HUMANITAS AND CARE FOR HUMAN NEEDS IN THE THEODOSIAN CODE

Summary/Abstract: In 1960, Richard M. Honig, professor at the University of Göttingen, wrote an interesting book (Humanitas und Rhetorik in Spätrömischen Kaisergesetzen) where he illustrated the different contents of the concept of humanitas in late Roman imperial legislation. Among these contents, the author identified – in some leges between 340 and 409 AD, included in the Theodosian Code, and in some novellae following this code – assistance, help for people for some reason in a situation of difficulty (Humanitas als Fürsorge). This paper retreads on the path walked by Honig, a path that was already followed by the commentary of Gothofredus, to highlight that a moral-psychological value of the term, which is perhaps more familiar to the modern interpreter, cannot always be found in this field. Humanitas sometimes seems to recall satisfaction of the vital needs of man, especially food, as it can be seen in CTh. 9.3.7 in relation to the prisoner. Therefore, it is possible to see other meanings that approach humanitas to aequitas, pietas, and iustitia.

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