Three hundred and sixty years of
disorder and decay accelerated the progress of oblivion; and it may
fairly be presumed that of the writings which Justinian is accused of
neglecting many were no longer to be found in the libraries of the East.
The copies of Papinian or Ulpian, which the reformer had proscribed,
were deemed unworthy of future notice; the _Twelve Tables_ and praetorian
edicts insensibly vanished, and the monuments of ancient Rome were
neglected or destroyed by the envy and ignorance of the Greeks.
Even the _Pandects_ themselves have escaped with difficulty and danger
from the common shipwreck, and criticism has pronounced that _all_ the
editions and manuscripts of the West are derived from _one_ original. It
was transcribed at Constantinople in the beginning of the seventh
century, was successfully transported by the accidents of war and
commerce to Amalphi, Pisa, and Florence,[27] and is now deposited as a
sacred relic in the ancient palace of the republic.[28]
It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future reformation.
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