Iavolenus Priscus

Gaius Octavius Tidius Tossianus Lucius Javolenus Priscus was a Roman senator and jurist who flourished during the Flavian dynasty. Many of his judgments are quoted in the Digest. Priscus served as suffect consul for the nundinium (period) September to December 86AD as the colleague of Aulus Bucius Lappius Maximus.

Name

The shorter version of his name is "Lucius Javolenus Priscus", or simply "Javolenus Priscus". His full name is known from , where the second praenomen is written inside the second O of Tossiaano (sic), leading Olli Salomies to suggest in his monograph on Imperial Roman naming practices that "Lucius" was "added at some later stage, perhaps erroneously". However, several inscriptions give his name as "Lucius Javolenus Priscus".

Anthony Birley notes that his names "Javolenus, Tidius, and Tossianus all point to Umbria, and specifically Iguvium as the origo of Priscus." However Birley points to Géza Alföldy's argument that he ought to be connected with the Octavii of Nedium in Dalmatia where Javolenus Priscus had been honored. "It therefore seems quite probable that he was born a C. Octavius, and that he received his other names by adoption into an Umbrian family." He was next appointed legatus legionis or commander of Legio III Augusta in 83, serving as the de facto governor of Numidia. Birley believes it was in 84 when Javolenus Priscus came to Roman Britain and served as a juridicus (senior judge) and remained there for two years. He was governor of the province of Syria at the beginning of Trajan's reign. For the term 101/102 he was proconsul of Africa, which occupied the territory of modern Tunisia. Returning once again to Rome, Priscus was co-opted into the College of Pontiffs, the most important of the four major colleges of ancient Roman priests; their duties included overseeing the state cult and providing advice on sacral law.

He is best known for his saying that "every definition in civil law is dangerous, for rare are those that cannot be subverted." (Omnis definitio in iure civili periculosa est; parum est enim, ut non subverti posset. )