Pompeius Festus: The Sacred Man

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According to Pompeius Festus, in ancient Rome, by law it was permissible for anyone to kill a bad man or criminal without any following consequences. The murder of a bad man or sacred man was not mandatory, but it was not punishable by law if it happened. Ironically, the term sacred man is used to describe a person of questionable and lack of morality, so it’s hard to determine the characteristics that make a person sacred in this context. On one hand, the present and past definition of a bad man are the same; a man that is detestable and undesirable. On the other hand, to me, a “sacred” man is a man of good virtue; a man who does no evil and is held to high esteem which seems to be the universal understanding and definition of the word today.