DECOCTOR
DECOCTOR a bankrupt (
Plin. Nat.
33.133), was used in popular language to signify any spendthrift.
The Romans were a frugal people, and spendthrifts were not only condemned by
public opinion (Catull. 41.4;
Cic.
Cat. 2.3, 5; Sen.
Ep. 36, 5;
de Ben. 4.26, 3), but punished by the censors with the
nota censoria, which carried with it
certain legal disabilities. [
CENSOR p. 401
b.] By the Lex Roscia
(B.C. 67) a certain place in the theatre was assigned to spendthrifts (
Cic. Phil. 2.18,
44;
Juv. 3.153). According to
Spartianus, Hadrian ordered that spendthrifts should be flogged
ignominiously (
catomidiari) in the amphitheatre
and turned out (Spart.
Hadrian. 18). The Roman law against
persons who would not pay borrowed money was very severe, and is explained
under
NEXUM Its severity was
mitigated by the
BONORUM
CESSIO By a constitution of the emperors Valentinian, Theodosius,
and Arcadius, any decurio who had dissipated the funds of the city (
decoctor pecuniae publicae) was to be scourged
(
plumbatarum ictibus, Cod.
Just. 10.31,
40;
Humbert in Daremberg and Saglio, s. v.).
[
W.S]
