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Paetus, Ae'lius

2. Sex. Aelius Paetus, the brother of Publius, was curule aedile B. C. 200, consul B. C. 198, with T. Quinctius Flamininus (Liv. 32.7), and censor B. C. 193 with Cn. Cornelius Cethegus. (Liv. 34.44, 35.9.) During their censorship, the censors gave orders to the curule aediles to appoint distinct seats at the Ludi Romani for the senators, who up to that time had sat promiscuously with others. The Atrium of Libertas and the Villa Publica were also repaired and enlarged by the censors. Sextus had a reputation as a jurist and a prudent man, whence he got the cognomen Catus.

Egregie cordatus homo Catus Aelius Sextus

Cic. de Orat. 1.45), which is a line of Ennius.

Sextus was a jurist of eminence, and also a ready speaker. (Cic. Brut. 100.20.) He is enumerated among the old Jurists who collected or arranged the matter of law (juris antiqui eonditor; Cod. 7. tit. 7. s. 1), which he did in a work entitled Tripartita or Jus Aelianum. This was a work on the Twelve Tables, which contained the original text, an interpretation, and the Legis actio subjoined. It still existed in the time of Pomponius (Dig. 1, tit. 2. s. 2.38); and was probably the first commentary written on the Twelve Tables. Cicero (de Or. 1.56) speaks of his Commentarii, which may or may not be a different work from the Tripartita. Gellius (4.1) quotes Servius Sulpicius, as citing an opinion of Catus Aelius (or Sextus Aelius) on the meaning of the word Penus. The same passage is quoted by Ulpian, De Penu legate (33. tit. 9. s. 3.9), where the common reading is Sextus Caecilius, which, as Grotius contends, ought to be Sextus Aelius. He is also cited by Celsus (Dig. 19. tit. 1. s. 38), as the text stands. The Aelius quoted by Cicero (Top. 100.2) as authority for the meaning of "assiduus," is probably Sextus Aelius.

Zimlmern takes the Aelius mentioned in Cicero's Brutus (100.46) to be the jurist, but this is obviously a mistake. (Brutus, ed. Meyer, 100.20, 46.) Meyer also denies that the whole work of Sextus on the Twelve Tables was called Jus Aelianum; he limits the name to that part which contained the Actiones. Pomponius speaks of three other "libri" as attributed to Sextus, but some denied that they were his. Cicero (de Or. 3.33) refers to Sextus as one of those who were consulted after the old fashion.

(Grotius, Vitae Jurisconsultorum; Zimmern, Geschichte des [G.L]

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