Gaius, Gaia
1.
A praenomen very common at Rome to both sexes. (On the name see F. D. Allen in
Harvard Studies in Class. Philology, iii. pp. 71-87 [1891]). C (the old form
of G), in its natural position, denoted the name of the male, and when
reversed, that of the female; thus, C was equivalent to Gaius ; but C to Gaia. Female
praenomina, which were marked with an inverted capital, were, however, early disused among
the Romans. The custom after this was, in case there was only one daughter, to name her after
the
gens. If there were two, to distinguish them by
maior and
minor added to their names; if there were more than
two, they were distinguished by their number, Prima, Secunda, etc. Thus we have, in the first
case, Tullia, the daughter of Cicero; Iulia, the daughter of Caesar; and in the second,
Cornelia Maior, Cornelia Minor, etc. (See
Nomen.)
Gaius and Gaia are the typical names of husband and wife in Roman usage; and at weddings the
bridegroom and bride were called respectively Gaius and Gaia (cf. Festus, s. v.
Gaia; and the marriage formula pronounced by the bride,
Ubi tu Gaius,
ego Gaia).
2.
One of the most accomplished professors of Roman law and writers on that subject. He was a
native of the Asiatic provinces, and spent his days in Rome under Hadrian, Antoninus Pius,
and Marcus Aurelius (about A.D. 110-180). His writings were numerous; but we possess in a
tolerably complete form nothing but his
Institutiones, or introduction to the
private law of the Romans. This was discovered by Niebuhr in 1816 on a palimpsest of the
fifth century at Verona, having before been known in quotations only. The work is in four
books, the first of which treats of the family, the second and third of property, and the
fourth of legal procedure. Popular and intelligible without being superficial, it was a
favourite hand-book of law, and served as a foundation for the
Institutiones
of Justinian. As a jurist Gaius belongs to the conservative school of the Sabiniani. (See
Ateius Capito.) The first edition of Gaius
was that of Göschen and Hollweg
(Berlin, 1820), the third edition being
revised by Lachmann
(Berlin, 1842). The best text is now that of Huschke in the
Tenbner series; while translations into English with commentaries have been made by Abdy and
Walker
(Cambridge, 1870), E. Poste
(Oxford, 1875), Muirhead
(Edinburgh, 1880), and Mears
(London, 1882).
