Portae Sanctae
More scenes from summer. Last summer, I wrote an entry about walls . This summer, as I actively write the chapter on tribunician sacrosanctity and the law of property, I've been paying more attention to the other major example that is traditionally given to illustrate res sanctae - gates, or portae. But characterizing gates - and walls - as sanctae is puzzling. You could simply translate it by saying that all gates are 'holy' and 'inviolable.' But it carries a double-meaning, owing to the fact that a wall's sancta quality is the result of a law's 'sanction' prohibiting any act that would damage it. To enact or decree - sancire - such a law, to 'sanction' its enforcement, is what makes the gate sancta . The Porcellian (McKean) Gate at Harvard Check out D.1.8.9.3 (Marcian): 'Anything that is supported by a certain sanction is also 'holy,' even though it may not be consecrated to God.' One of the chapters in my Sacrosanct ...
